Holiday Food of the week - Monday, 27th October 2014

Last Saturday week, at a birthday picnic by a lake, under tall, towering eucalyptus trees, a friend offered slices of her flourless orange cake, made with ground almonds. It was delicious, very light and totally more-ish.

Last Thursday, at Ringwood Golf Club's Mister Fox coffee bar where I espied this notice....

Flourless Mandarin & Polenta.....and

Well, it was a forgone conclusion...I had to have it.....it was delicious....

I do love polenta both granular and block format, for its versatility, usefulness and easy to buy qualities.  It's good to buy from Waitrose where it's always on the shelves and, where they have many other wantable food items to buy!!!

On Friday, at Yarra Valley's The Dairy, we ate the most delicious lunch of goats cheeses, tomato and chilli chutney with good bread and crackers.  Their dining area is fairly small and situated at the rear of the building, overlooking the Yarra Valley, with flowers, hedges and grass paths observable from the wide  glass windows.  We watched the busy birds flutter towards the building's guttering and roof area, ladened down with twigs and grasses, nest building and home making.  Lunch was great, so too the household goods to buy, the bread and wine to sample and the cheeses to take away for home dining....

glorious cheese, tomato and chilli chutney and scrumptious bread - what's not to love about such a happy lunch !!!








On Saturday, we had lunch at Cloudhill Garden's Restaurant at Olinda where I could have eaten gluten-free very easily, for their menu included some very good such items but, I fancied their chicken and vegetable Hot Pot Pie.  I decided to make sure to up my water intake for the rest of the day, settling back with my Latte in happy contemplation of the meal to come.  Was I happy with my choice well, most definitely yes.  The dish was covered with a fine golden brown crust and the chicken filling, hot, succulent and well-flavoured.  Here's my photos of our food...

My Chicken Hot Pot Pie...

warming Pumpkin Soup...and

Marinated Beef and vegetables

On Sunday, we whipped up a quince Semifreddo, using Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's recipe for Strawberry and Yoghurt Semifreddo from his Book - River Cottage FRUIT everyday!  We felt the quince would be delicious with the other ingredients - eggs, sugar, cream, yoghurt and vanilla seeds and we were absolutely right.  It is a smashing semi-frozen pudding and one which I will certainly make again...

Our strawberry and quince puree dressed quince Semifreddo - just scrumptious.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Book - "River Cottage FRUIT everyday!" is absolutely packed, cover to cover, with brilliant fruit based and inspired recipes.  I'm definitely adding this book to my wish list and Christmas list.



Individual good things eaten this week included lactose free milk in my iced coffee by Gloria Jean's Coffee at a nearby supermarket, lovely breakfasts of granola or oats with banana slices, bowls of hot and spicy pork with beans + Kaffir Lime Leaves and Chilli, in a recipe by Adam Liaw from his Book - "Adam's Big Pot".  An excellent dish, full of flavour and colour and supremely easy to prepare and cook.

We've bought lovely chutney and jams from the Produce stalls at various sites, I've had iced coffee served in a jam jar and a gorgeous iced chocolate at Yarra Valley Chocolaterie & Ice Creamery, bought packets of gluten-free crisps from Yerton Station and enjoyed fine spring weather.  All in all, I'd say the week has definitely been marvellous from start to finish.   Could life get any better ?!!!

Daisy

Naturally Gluten-free Glorious Food - Monday, 20th October 2014

Today in Melbourne, Australia, wandering about the city, which is such an exciting thing to do in this vibrant, cosmopolitan venue.  Its a bright sunny morning, there's a light breeze tossing the trees about and busy folk are everywhere.  The promise of a warm day is mesmerising.

We pop into the Lindt Chocolate Cafe on Collins Street for...,,Lattes and a lovely milk shake plus macaroons....yummy!  We're going to have a macaroon make time at home very soon which we're both looking forward to.  Watch this space for my update!  Here's a view of Lindt...

Lindt's interesting menu choices...

For me, Melbourne essential shopping includes visits to  departmental stores, Myer and David Jones, for books, fashion, and everything pretty.  We didn't find the book - My Darling Lemon Thyme - by Emma Galloway, just published by HarperCollins New Zealand - ISBN 978-1-77554-021-2 which charts Emma's creative ability with natural, wholesome and flavoursome food.  Its a great book which I shall find somewhere.

We visited Laura Ashley, on Collins Street, for their wonderful clothes and home lines.  I've always loved their colours and patterns and adore wearing their clothes.

For lunch, we visited the Bluetrain restaurant on Yarra River bankside, over the bridge from Flinders Street railway terminus, where we had two great bowls of food.  I had a Risotto of chicken and kale chips with green peas and my daughter-in-law enjoyed  her tasty, slow-cooked beef with tomatoes and carrots.

Risotto of Chicken with kale chips and green peas.....gluten-free goodness!

Slow-roasted beef with tomatoes and carrots



For supper tonight at home, we've eaten lamb and vegetable Tagine with garden-fresh kale, couscous and mayo...

a nicely spiced "stew" which our garden-fresh kale complimented beautifully.

Today's been a good day for a return visit to Melbourne - bright, sunny and nicely warm - a lovely mid-spring day, I can't wait to go there again this week.  I love holiday's, don't you?

Daisy

Apple & Green Tomato Garden Harvest Chutney - Thursday, 25th September 2014

Apples picked from a friend's garden with green tomatoes from my greenhouse, onions, soft brown sugar, sultanas, seasonings and malt vinegar mixed and cooked altogether to make luscious chutney for eating with cold meats, on Christmas occasions and crackers and cheese, whenever a tasty snack is just what one needs - the perfect recipe for happy eating - wouldn't you agree?

I assembled all my ingredients, prep'd. and left them to marinate for twenty-four hours, or so, before tipping them into my preserving pan.  With the heat turned up high the mixture came to boiling point, upon which I turned down the heat to its lowest level, put my heat diffuser over the flame and sat my very hot preserving pan down to leave the mixture to simmer happily until it was done.

and here it is steaming happily...

I used the cold saucer method to test for done-ness, when a finger-tip pushed against the cold mixture should produce a good wrinkle, or a drawn finger-tip across the middle of the dollop, for a clear line of division between the two halves with none, or very little liquid seepage.  The mixture is ready to pot up.

Have all necessary utensils standing in boiling water - spoons, a fork for pushing your mixture into your jar to remove any air pockets, your funnel, a teaspoon and a good spatula and ladle, your jars are lids washed and dried in the dishwasher, ready to use and a tea towel covered tray to put your hot filled jars onto once the jar is filled and lidded.

Leave them on this tray until each jar is completely cold, then wipe and dry, label and store in a cool place for at least two months before sampling.  Really you should leave your jars for up to one year, to allow your lovely mixture to develop and mature, before opening; but goodness me, how difficult a thing that is? !!!

Here's today 2nd batch of Apple, Minced Tomato and Onion Chutney, potted up and ready for my store cupboard.

All Potted Up and ready to be stored

And.... plenty of apples to be cooked and potted, what fun!


Daisy