It doesnt stop there though. The following morning, the dough was taken out and left to rise, before being knocked back, rolled out, smoothered in more butter and sugar (and of course cinamon), rolled up, sliced up and placed in more butter and sugar (not forgetting more cinamon), left to rise and then baked until golden. I think I even brushed the top of the rolls with some butter too………

All this sounds pretty bad, and to be honest it was hard to finish just one of them without feeling like we’d overdone it, but really, whats the point in making something like this and trying to make it healthy, that stuff can be saved for when its nice out and I can actually pick the salad without getting drenched.

Go on, treat yourself once in a while.

Now something I do have pictures of, and was most certainly sourced from the ground, is the following…..

Whats better than eating food thats in season, you guessed it, eating FREE food in season. We were invited to do a bit of pest control on the cherry farm, which involved a gun and lots of creeping around the hills quietly to catch the unexpecting bunnies unawares… It wasnt the most productive of shooting days but we did come back with 10 little thumpers, to skin, gut and butcher for the following nights feast.

I was told the owners weren’t overly keen on the strong taste of these little pests, so I was determined to make a meal where they would happily ask for seconds. The rabbit legs would need some stewing, so I cooked up a base of smoked bacon, onions, garlic, white wine, chicken stock, grainy mustard, bay leaves from the tree in the garden and thyme from the herb patch. About 2 hours later, just before serving, I popped in the rabbit loins (about 10 minutes needed) then right at the end some fresh peas from the garden. The whole lot was served with some roasted tatties and carrots, and fresh salad from the garden, all placed in the middle of the table for people to help themselves. Seconds and thirds where even had, so I think the rabbit population may be in for a little decline shortly….

Ian brought back to the farm a huge bag of apricots from his trip to the south island, so whats the first thing to do with a big bag of fruit that will go off in a week, make jam….. The apricots where de-stoned, and cut into quarters, then mixed with sugar (I used about 70% of the weight of the apricots for the sugar). A few lemons were squeezed in too, and I also cracked some of the stones to get to the kernals, blanched them and added them into the pot too (wrapped in cloth, so I could remove them at the end). They give a nice amaretti flavour to the jam……The mixture was left to macerate for an hour or so, then put on the hob and cooked until the temp hit 104 degrees…….

Whilst the jam was cooking, I decided to use some of the apricots in a dessert. This is a tried and tested frangipane tart that I have done with figs, plums, blueberries and the list goes on, so why not apricots. First was to whip up a sweet pastry, let it rest in the fridge for a bit, then roll it out and find a suitible pie dish…..

Trim the edges (save them for something else) and blind bake until golden brown…..Whilst the tart case was in the oven, I made up the frangipane, which is a sweet almond pastry cream. Its butter and sugar, creamed together, a couple of eggs whipped in, then ground almonds and a bit of flour folded in, so apart from maybe the ground almonds, its all dry cupboard ingredients. Almond extract is sometimes used, but so is brandy or rum, I opted for the latter to give a nice kick.

Once the tart case was out the oven, I let it cool for a bit, then spread some of the apricot jam on the bottom, topped this with the frangipane mixture, then placed some apricot halves into the top, nicely spaced about…………

This was all then placed back into the oven at about 150 degrees and baked until a nice golden on top and set in the middle. About half way through baking i scattered some sliced almonds on top too for an extra little crunch. As soon as the tart was out the oven I also glazed the top of the tart with some of the jam that had been sieved of any lumps. Best eaten warm with a dollop of ice cream me thinks……..

With the left over pastry and frangipane, I whipped a smaller version of the tart up with some plums…..It always pays to make a little extra of something…….

Tonight was getting a tad overcast and cool out, so what better way to warm the cockles than a soup. Onions were finely chopped and sweated with some oil and of course some butter, this added to the richness of the soup. If you want it nice and rich, add more butter, don’t be shy! I then grated in some fresh garlic and there was a hunk of ginger lying around in the kitchen, so that was grated in as well. Again, if you like the heat of ginger, add more, it adds a great throaty warmth. Once the onions were nice and soft I tossed in the chopped carrots, sweated for a bit longer, then covered with water and simmered until the carrots were soft. Into the blender until nice a smooth, and that was dinner done. I jazzed it up a little by serving it with a simple raw carrot and coriander salad, sweetened with some honey and a blob of sour cream……easy……

To give the jelly a bit of flare when it set, I placed a glass on an angle in a bowl of rice to hold it steady, and let the jelly set overnight. With the leftover strawberries, I made a little chopped salad, with some mint and marinated it in brown sugar and a bit of balsamic vinegar, sounds odd, but I can assure you, its delicious! The whole lot topped with some freshly whipped cream, and you have summer in a glass!

Having lived in Montreal for a couple of years, one thing that was always on the ‘going out for brunch’ menu, was a Montreal Bagel, not one of those massive New York Bagels which doesnt really have a hole in the middle and are all exactly the same size and shape, suggesting they are machine made. I believe its an on going battle with Montrealers and New Yorkers, the great bagel debate and who’s is best,  but I most certainly side with montreal on this one. Seeing the bakers in St Viateur, just up from where I lived, lovingly hand rolling each bagel, boiling them and cleverly throwing them in and out of the fire heated oven, was something that would get my mouth watering. Now it was my turn to make these hand made delights.

A packet of yeast was first dissolved with a cup and a half of tepid water, 3 Tbsp sugar, 3Tbsp oil, and 1Tbsp of beaten egg. This mix was then combined with 1 cup of flour, then poured into the well of 3 more cups of flour. The whole mixture was slowly brought together and kneaded for 10 minutes or until the dough was smooth and elastic.

After resting the dough for 15 minutes, it was knocked back and split into 12 portions. Each portion was rolled into a sausage, and then looped around my hand and rolled again to join the ends to make the bagel.

The bagels were then brushed with oil and left for another 30 mins to rise a little. Following this, each bagel was dropped into a boiling pot of water for 2 minute, 1 on each side, then lifted out, allowed to dry, covered in recently harvested poppy seeds (Stephs got some pics of the drying poppy seeds on her blog), and baked for around 20 minutes until golden and hollow sounding.

Now all is left to do, is smother them in cream cheese, atop with smoked salmon and remember all the good times shared with family and friends over a bagel and refill coffee on the terrace of St Viateur, Monkland Ave……….

Hangover……….Gone!

Anyway, xmas is over and im sure there are plenty of leftovers in the fridge. Steph and I came back to the farm to discover half of ham just begging to be used up. I was simple going to slice the cold ham, which was reared within 50 metres of the kitchen here on the farm, and I was going to make a lovely warm mixed salad with other things I could gather from within that distance.

Beetroot we planted has got to a lovely size and are perfect for wrapping in foil with some olive oil, vinegar, thyme and some S and P and roasting in the oven till a knife goes in easy……..

Potatoes and sweet potatoes, chopped into chunks, seasoned well and roasted with chopped rosemary…….

That cavolo nero is still producing dark green delicious leaves, the more I pick, the more it keeps growing……

OK, so maybe this one didnt come from the vege garden, but cheese makes things better……

There’s a huge bed of shallots almost ready to be pulled from the ground and dried, but I took a couple to slice  up and caramalise to add a bit of sweetness…..

Once all the ingredients were cooked and assemble into there individual bowls, there was nothing more to do than compose the salad. Seeing as there are lots of beautiful colours to show off in this salad combo, dont ruin it by tossing it all in a bowl, but simple layer and scatter the salad onto a plate and share with friends.

Gnocchi was done the day before, so thats a potato dish I can’t do again for at least a week, Its not sunday so I can’t do roasties (although thats not stopped me before), so what to do? There are so many options but I thought I might do something a little fancier, which might take a little longer but is most certainly worth it. Its originally a rustic french dish which can be thrown together and forgot about in an oven for an hour or so, but the way I’m making this dish makes it a dauphinoise worthy of dinner parties.

The potatos were first peeled then thinly sliced on a mandolin (if you havent got a mandolin, i’ve done it perfectly well with a cheese slice or peeler). This may take a little while if doing it with a peeler so whilst busy doing that, put a pot on, with some cream, thyme, onion, garlic and pepper in. Slowly warm it to infuse the flavours.

Once all the potatoes were peeled and the cream infused, I lined a bread tin with baking paper and slowly layered the potato into the mold. Every couple of layers were seasoned with salt and the cream infusion added. This was done until the mold was full of creamy potato goodness. The tin was then covered with foil and baked in a low oven for probably around 3 hours until a knife easily went through the centre of what is now essentially a potato terrine.

Once out of the oven, I found a piece of card to cover the top and weighted it with a few tins of beans, put it in the fridge and forgot about it till the following day.

Today I had the pleasure of popping the dauphinoise out of the tin, slicing it into wedges and frying it with butter to crisp up the edges and warm it through.

Whilst in France, a favourite of mine was to serve this with some medium rare duck breast, apple and vanilla puree (for some sweetness) and some sauted spinach for something green and healthy.

There was no duck about (well, none that had been fattened up and plucked), so I served it up with plenty of sauted cavolo nero and kohl rabi leaves and of course, to add a bit of richness and sauce to the dish, a freshly laid egg, poached….

Next I sprinkle on flour to thinly cover the potato and start to work it all together with my hands. Then its all about working it together till its a little bit springy to the touch. If it feels a bit wet, add some more flour, once its no longer sticking to your hands, your on the right track.

I like to get it all in ball, and cut off chunks at a time.

Each of the chunks is rolled into a log, much like you use to do with playdoh, i’m sure. Next, its chop chop chop, into little squares.

Like i’ve said before, I blanch the gnocchi, so straight into a boiling pot of water until they float around for a bit, then into cold water, although if you’ve got a tasty sauce ready, you can throw them straight from the pot into the sauce!

I however like to fry the gnocchi in butter to get one side nice a crispy. I made some meat sauce to go with it, so they were nicely placed onto the sauce with some lovely fresh picked veg from the garden. The pea’s are starting to fatten up in their pods, so they got used, along with that darn cavolo nero again. And just to finish it off, I know its got cheese IN it, but its gotta have cheese ON it……Yum

Any, whilst in Rome, or should I say, New Zealand!

So, Its slowly coming up to the summer and its time for some outdoor cooking. First thing we need is somewhere to cook, you could go for one of those gas things, but why not make an afternoon of it and make a fire pit from scratch. The whole time making the pit, I was thinking of all the things that we could cook on it. It won’t just bring joy to you that evening whilst your roasting the last of the marshmallows on a stick but will do, over and over again when you share a smores (If you don’t know what they are yet, you better go find out!!!) with different people.

We dug a whole in the ground, sat a metal drum I’d cut the ends off into it, arranged some rocks around the outside, and fixed a grill to the top of it we found lying unused in the garage. Now that the hard bit was done, it was time to relax and enjoy some good food and good cider but most importantly, good company. Earlier in the day I had found some venison meat in the freezer, easy, thats the burgers done. I minced the meat, added some sage, S and P and even added some pork fat to them as the meat was pretty lean. I formed them into patties and let them rest until the bbq was ready. To go with the burgers, instead of the usual bun, I opted for some tatties cooked on the grill. I par boiled them first to get them started, cut them into fat slices, then marinated them with rosemary and garlic in oil for a few hours.

The fire was lit for a good hour or so to get the grill hot and allow time for the flames to die down.

All the food was brought down to the fire pit, salad was freshly picked in the adjacent garden and we all drank cider and drooled in anticipation as the sizzling of the burgers and tatties (and even some bacon that was lying around in the fridge) continued into dusk.

Once the sun had completely gone it was time to get the fire going again to keep us warm, burn some marshmallows and stare at the stars. One of many more outdoor cooking adventures to come……