foodierudy

A little while ago, I pickled some veg. Finely sliced white and red cabbage, flavoured with some onion, garlic and salt were firmly pounded with my trusty beech rolling pin and pressed into a preserving jar. I kept pressing it down from time to time the rest of the day, until enough juice had escaped from the veg to cover and seal them. Then I left it out on the bench top for a few days, making sure the veggies were submerged in their own juice. It started bubbling quite soon, and developed some acidity. About 3 days later, when it had slowed down a bit, I put the seal on the jar, and popped it into the fridge. I kept tasting once a week, both to release the pressure in the jar, and to check it was maturing nicely.

Now 5 weeks later, we’ve broken into that first jar. It has turned a nice shade of pink, and the taste of the onions and garlic have mellowed. I was surprised at its taste - tangy, but not too sour, and much less salty than the commercial stuff you buy in supermarkets. It makes a nice accompaniment to meals, and we’ve been enjoying its fresh taste and crunchy texture. M, who’s usually not too keen on Sauerkraut, even had some, and liked it! Success!

I have made another 2 jars, sans onion, to see what plain cabbage will taste like. I will keep using a mixture of red and white cabbage, because the red’s компютриanthocyanins might be good for us. Anyway, it makes for a far more interesting colour! I plan to keep us fully supplied with health-giving pickled veg every winter from now on!

Next project - Kimchi…

I love pancakes.

I’ve been searching for the perfect pancake recipe for a while now. I grew up with Dutch-style pancakes, which Dad would cook for us sometimes on Saturday evenings - thick, heavy pancakes the size of dinner plates, studded with raisins, chunks of tinned pineapple, or pieces of apple for Mum and us kids, and bacon and cheese for Dad (a man’s pancake!). A typical recipe would be 1:1:1 - 1 cup of flour to 1 cup of milk to 1 egg - even I could remember that!

When I started cooking professionally, I came across crepes - the delicate, thin French-style pancakes, which were great with lemon juice and sugar (or nutella!). Good, but I need more substance for breakfast! (more…)

It’s finally spring! One thing I’ve really missed since moving to London is a garden. I love growing stuff, getting my hands dirty, and harvesting the fruit of my labours. I grew up on a farm, and now that I’m living in a city, I miss that close connection to the land. I’m a Christian agrarian at heart.

There’s no greater lunch than some crusty sourdough bread with butter, and a nice salad made with just-picked cherry tomatoes, still warm from the sun! I miss mum’s herb-garden, where I could pick rosemary when making focaccia, or fragrant thyme for a bouquet garni. Or parsley, sage, chives, lemon thyme (great in steamed fish parcels), borage, fennel, mint - I’d find food a bit boring without herbs!

So, being a nice warm sunny day, yesterday my lovely wife M and I went to Homebase and bought some herbs, a planter, and some potting mix. Visiting a garden center made us miss NZ…

The thyme was already in flower, so I need to give it a good trim (shame really) but I’ll wait a week to give it a chance to settle in first. We’ve also got some rosemary, some parsley, and I’ve sown chives and basil.

M remarked we were becoming quite domestic… :o)

Their bright greens cheer the kitchen up too!

Due to the generosity of the many friends and family who gave us squillions in wedding gifts, we are now the proud owners of a Le Creuset 24 cm Round Casserole. It’s a good solid cast iron enameled jobby, in the timeless Volcanic (orange), and came with a complimentary grill plate!

Mum had one for some 20 odd years, and it has a lifetime guarantee, so I’m pretty chuffed.

Let the stewing commence…

On Tuesday evening I listened to the excellent Sandor Katz speaking on the topic of fermentation at the London College of Naturopathic Medicine. Sandor is a friendly hippy who explained how pretty much every culture on the Euro-Asian landmass has some way to preserve their produce using fermentation, from Korean Kimchi, to German Sauerkraut. Many of the foods we eat daily involve fermentation at some stage in their production (ie. yoghurt, cheese, wine, beer, chocolate, bread, salami, coffee, etc). Enthused, I thought I’d make some Sauerkraut… (more…)