An apple a day

 Our two apple trees have been keeping us well supplied - and although these organic apples look somewhat spotty they are truly delicious.

Apple crumble to Australians or apple crisp to Americans is an easy dessert that gets great accolades including an empty plate - even though our friends may have been feeling they'd eaten enough already.

Peeling these unsprayed apples takes a little more time as I cut out the dark bits (no bugs) - and for every two apples I get about one whole.

The apples are simmered until just tender in a some water, brown sugar, lemon rind, a cinnamon stick and a dob of butter.

The crumble is created by mixing butter into plain or all purpose flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon and a pinch of salt with your finger tips.

Sprinkle thickly on top of the apples and bake until brown.

I use the individual one cup dishes - but it is also excellent in a large dish.

If you don't have this recipe let me know and I will email it to you.

No need to knead.

I enjoy making bread - I like the process, the sense of achievement and of course eating it.

My success however, is a bit patchy - it usually tastes good out of the oven - but ends up being heavy the next day.   I have not been able to consistently get a crisp crust and because I don't bake bread in my city life - due to a lack of time and lots of bakeries outside our front door - I don't get enough practice.

Today I have had a revelation!

I have just finished baking a loaf of the famous no-knead bread developed by Jim Lahey from the Sullivan Street Bakery in New York. I first tore this New York Times recipe out of the Sydney Morning Herald in January 2007 and have been meaning to try it.

I would say this is the BEST loaf of bread I have ever baked.  Ever. In five easy steps.

1. Mix flour, salt and yeast and water (no kneading necessary)

2. Let rise for 18 hours

3. Pour out, fold over and rest for 15 minutes and then shape into a ball and rest for 2 hours

4. Bake in very hot oven in heated heavy covered pot for 30 minutes ( I used my Le Crueset)

5. Take lid off and bake for 15 minutes more to brown and then cool on rack.

Look at this loaf!

 It looks and smells perfect -  a good size and shape, golden brown with an amazing aroma that is now wafting through the house and into my nostrils. 

We are waiting for it to cool with taste buds running wild. 

Thirty minutes later.

Cutting into a nice, crisp crust

Holes in bread is a good sign.  I don't get that very often.

It tastes fantastic - crunchy outside, soft inside, fresh and yeasty, with a great texture and long flavour.

You must try it!

Just picked

Fresh from our garden for dinner tonight

The last of the peas, green beans and new tomatoes.

Update:

Salade Nicoise

This was our dinner.

The presentation was from the cookbook  Patricia Wells" Salad as a Meal 

She is one of our favourite cook book authors and the salad was a fresh take on this Provencal classic.

We really liked the separation of the individual components- the vegetables were individually tossed in a light lemon and oil dressing ( I added touch of garlic).

Patricia used fresh tuna, grilled- we do not have that available locally so we tried two types of Trader Joe's canned tuna- the yellow fin and solid white - both in oil.

We liked the yellow fin best- it has more solid pinker chunks as seen on the top of the plate.  It was very similar to our favourite Italian tuna which is readily available in Sydney - Sirena  

The Bandol Bastide Blanche 2011 Rose was a perfect match.

Peach Jam twice

My city life does not involve making jam.  

I have been on the farm for 4 days and have already made 2 batches using our white peaches.   

First up was  the slow cooked version.

I referred to a few recipes and tips from this book- my mother-in-law's Farm Journal
cookbook from 1963.

Mark peeled and cut up the peaches - 8 cups

6 cups of sugar!
I shut my eyes when that goes in with the peaches along with 4 tablespoons of lemon juice.
I think the lemon is supposed to counteract the sugar calories.

Cook over a medium heat until it comes to the boil.
This foam comes to the top - remove with a spoon after 10 minutes. Keep doing that.

Boil gently for an hour until you can put a blob on a cold plate and it doesn't run.
Mine took a while longer.

In it goes into sterilised jars, sealed and simmered in boiling water for ten minutes.
Done.

  2nd batch (left)                     1st batch (right) 

 Had it for breakfast today on toasted sourdough with coffee in my new mug.
A little runny - but delicious. Gorgeous rosy peach colour,  just the right amount of sweetness.

Version two was quicker - using pectin.  I miscalculated quantities and didn't add enough pectin.
It didn't set.   I now have eleven jars of sweet liquid peach.

Any takers?

PS  Googled and found out what we can do with it.
Use as a syrup for french toast, drizzle it over cheesecake, a topping for ice-cream or fruit salad.

I will be like the side of a house by the time I get back to my city life. Take some please.

And Mark has just brought in another large bowl of peaches!

What is a new Recipe?

For me – it"s trying to make something for the first time. 

This week Good Living had a very simple and quick recipe.  

It’s been on my mind all week.

It combines all my favourite textures and flavours- gnocchi, tomato, basil and garlic. Yum.

It's very easy and all I had to buy today was some fresh ricotta.  

I stress fresh. 

There is nothing else  like it.

First, the gnocchi


Ingredients

500g fresh ricotta
2/3 cup grate parmesan cheese
2 large eggs, beaten
1 tspn salt
1 cup plain flour

Place ricotta in a fine sieve over a bowl for 30 minutes to drain off any excess juice

Draining ricotta

Place drained ricotta in a bowl with grated cheese, eggs and salt. 

Add flour and mix to form a dough. Add a little extra flour if the dough is too sticky and wet. 

Mix gently- with love

Divide into quarters and gently roll into two centimetre diameter logs on a lightly floured surface.

Cut into two centimetre pieces and place on a lightly floured tray. 

Press down with a fork to make indents in each gnocchi.

Gnocchi resting 

Now the sauce

Ingredients
1 tbspn olive oil
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 punnets cherry tomatoes quartered ( I used baby romas)
1/2 cup basil leaves

Heat oil, add garlic and cook for a few minutes over medium heat. Add tomatoes and basil, cook until hot and then reduce to low and simmer for eight minutes

The finale

To cook the gnocchi,  drop into a saucepan of simmering, lightly salted water and remove as soon as they float to the top, after one or two minutes. Place in a warmed bowl, top with some of the tomato sauce and gently mix. Drizzle with a splash of olive oil and sprinkle with parmesan.

Belissimo!

Light and fluffy- and a taste of summer.

PS

I halved the recipe and it worked perfectly.  

After draining the ricotta the gnocchi took only 10 minutes to make and a few minutes to cook.

I froze half to see how that works for a quick midweek meal.

Even better,  I'll be able to make this on the farm with our own produce!