Recent gardening and baking adventures, February 2019

The recent heat has left my poor garden suffering a bit. While I have always subscribed to the theory that if a plant needs too much care then it is not the plant for me, I feel sad when circumstances such as weather conspire against my kitchen garden. I haven't planted anything new for awhile as the heat would shrivel anything I dared to put in. We haven't had rain in awhile so all my once prolific tomato and eggplants are stunted and fruitless. Having said that, I got out there one weekend and cut everything back and harvested what there was to be picked. I ended up with a bowl of hot chillies, a handful of shallots and some spring onions. They were all used and enjoyed, so I do feel a little joy in eating the fruits of my meagre harvest. 

Some of the cherry tomatoes that did end up surviving the heat were used in one of my focaccia loaves. Even these aren't immune from the heat and I severely overestimated my proofing times. I ended up with a very puffy loaf, which although it looked a bit odd, was still tasty and enjoyed. 

After coming back from holidays over the Christmas break, I got back into the swing of baking with Lorenzo again. He's such a resilient starter, and I missed him while we were away. Shop bought bread just doesn't do it for me anymore, when I know that I can bake my own and make it just the way I like them. I think Lorenzo was happy to see me too. He put on a lovely performance for this bake. These loaves used up the very last of my beloved Trader Joe's Everything But The Bagel seasoning that a kind colleague from America brought over for me. I'm very sad about that as I haven't found another source and while I know Amazon have it, I cannot convince them to send it to Australia for me. There just isn't a comparible alternative seasoning I've found.

Although I usually shop at Coles, I find that Woolworths have really upped their game in vegan offerings of late. Over Christmas, they advertised a vegan loaf, and my philosophy is that if I don't support vegan offerings, they'll think people don't want it. So I ventured to buy one. It took me ages to find it, and I had to ask three assistants for help. Eventually we tracked it down. In the meat section. I see where they are going with that. The helpful assistant who found it also proudly pointed out the vegan patties and sausages too, located right next to the meat equivalents. The only way to tell them apart was the packaging was a slightly different green, and reading the label proclaimed they were plant based. I did try to find a link to the loaf, but it's disappeared from the site, so perhaps it was a seasonal special or others also found it hard to locate. Anyway, I saw them marked down after Christmas and bought another one to keep in the freezer. Here's what it looks like - the red thing on the bottom right of the plate. I think it was lentils, beets and a few other things. To be honest, it wasn't that great, and I probably wouldn't have continued to buy them, but I applaud Woolworths for trying (they constantly have new vegan and gluten free options advertised).

I served that loaf with maple carrots, peas (at the small man's request), some creamy potato bake (I use almond milk and haven't had any complaints). Also, gravy, loads of gravy because... gravy is delicious, but also, that loaf was dry.

Finally, I have been experimenting with some baked vegan donuts lately because I bought a donut pan and I'm not having it in the house if I don't use it! I'm not sure I like them. I find them a bit dense and more like donut shaped cakes than anything else. I think it's obvious here though from the small hand sneaking in to grab one because he just could not wait for me to take my picture, that the kids do like them. So I've been making batches when the oven is on (like for baking sourdough, also visible in the picture!), trying out various ingredients in the hope that I'll hit upon a fabulous mix, and freezing the experiments for school lunches. Miss E is in year one this year, and has quite liked taking a donut to school. By the time lunch rolls around it's defrosted sufficiently to be tasty I'm told. So at least the freezer is filling with school lunch possibilities.

I am linking this into the monthly In My Kitchen round-up, hosted by Sherry of Sherry's Pickings. What's happening in your kitchen this month? Do you have any school lunch tips to share? Does anyone know where I can source more bagel seasoning? 

Breaditation

Ever since I was gifted my sourdough starter four years ago (thanks Celia!), I have been baking bread. I'll admit it, I've had some shockers during my bread baking journey - and yet every single loaf I've turned out I've been ridiculously proud of. I still can't believe that I thought learning a new hobby with a newborn would be a smart idea. Actually, now that I think about it, I also can't believe that my little Attila the Bun will be four this year... not so little and bun-like anymore!

So years later, I'm still baking regularly. I can say with complete honesty that my loaves aren't perfect - they're rustic and not at all fancy, but they're edible and friends ask me to bring them when we have gatherings so I must be doing something right!

I like making regular sourdough loaves and I'm a big fan of fruit and nut loaves (I recently posted a pineapple and date loaf which I'd love to make again with some hazelnuts included). I can also do a decent focaccia which seems to be a hit.

Lately, I've started making extra discard on purpose, and using it to branch out from just regular *bread*.

Here are some sourdough crackers that I made using the King Arthur flour recipe as a base. They turned out great and way better than store bought crackers. I can't believe it took me so long to make them when I've heard so much about home made crackers. I love to go really heavy on the herbs and not be shy with the salt on top. These are a huge hit with everyone I've shared with.

Here's another shot with them next to some simple chia loaves that I baked to take to work. My co-workers have been asking for a loaf for awhile so I was happy to oblige!

Finally, this is my latest creation - sourdough English muffins. I was so ridiculously excited to bake these that I got up at 4am on a weekday, snuck out of bed so the kids didn't realise I'd left (they are very snuggly, clingy and warm so this was hard) and crept into the kitchen to finish off the baking after letting them rise overnight. I didn't use a single particular recipe for these, but an amalgamation of a few that I found online.

I didn't want to use dairy milk so I subbed in almond milk instead and I think they turned out pretty good. Next time I'll cook them a little longer so they brown more, but I didn't hear any complaints when I served them up warm for breakfast. I'm sticking all of the leftovers into the freezer so I don't eat them all, they are that tasty!

So, to all the bloggers who have been so generous with their knowledge and inspirations... literally thank you for giving me my daily bread. Thanks for what I've taken to calling my breaditation moments - when I sneak out of bed early, when the house is all quiet and still and I can knead and shape and bake in the silence. Then, if I've managed to do it quietly enough, I can enjoy a cup of coffee while the house is still asleep and watch the sun rise while the baking bread smell wafts from the oven. It's my favourite part of the day!

Recipe: Eggplant parmigiana

I recently posted about my eggplant glut and asked my Instagram followers for some suggestions to use up the harvest. Someone said eggplant parmigiana and I thought that sounded amazing.

It worked out well, because Mr Fork was craving chicken parmigiana so it was a nicely themed meal for everyone.

It was such an easy dish to make, very flexible and uses simple staple ingredients that I generally have on hand. I grew the eggplants and the basil used in it, I made breadcrumbs from the crust of my sourdough, and I got to include a few sneaky extra vegetables in the sauce. I was so happy with how it turned out, I thought I'd share. I think this would be great for a festive meal, and I know it's going to be fabulous as leftovers for work lunches this week too. Everyone wins!

In my opinion the key to making this dish especially delicious is the tomato sauce. I made mine from a mix of tinned and fresh tomatoes that I cooked up with onion, garlic and other seasonings, let it reduce until it was thick and concentrated, and then added fresh herbs to really jazz it up. You could always use pasata and add your own seasonings as well.

Vegan Eggplant Parmigiana
printable link

Ingredients

• 5 medium sized eggplants (or maybe 3 large ones)
• olive oil
• garlic, minced
• dried oregano
• 1 onion, diced
• tomatoes (I used a 400g tin of chopped tomatoes, and maybe another 400g fresh ones, diced)
• fresh basil
• salt
• pepper
• nutritional yeast
• a large handful of breadcrumbs (mine was made from the stale crusts of my sourdough loaves)

Method

1. Slice the eggplants into rounds, and salt them. Leave that to sit for 10 minutes or so while you get the sauce going.
2. In a saucepan, add a little olive oil, the garlic and onion, and a shake or two of dried oregano. Fry that up until it gets fragrant and then add the tomato. I also added a little water to mine, but you may not need to do that - you want the sauce to be thick and not too watery. Cover and let it simmer away for 15 minutes or so.
3. Rinse the eggplant rounds and then fry or grill them. I did them in batches in a fry pan, putting the done ones aside on a plate while I cooked the next lot.
4. Check on the sauce and season it. It should be reduced, and the tomatoes should be broken down - I added a little salt, pepper and a bit of red wine vinegar. I also stirred in some fresh basil and some baby spinach leave that needed using up. 
5. Time to assemble! I used a square dish, about 25 x 25 cm. I started with a thin layer of sauce, then a sprinkling of nutritional yeast, then a layer of eggplants. Keep going in that order: sauce, nutritional yeast, eggplant until everything is used up. Finish with a layer of sauce then a sprinkling of nutritional yeast.
6.  In a small bowl, mix the breadcrumbs with some dried oregano, salt, pepper and olive oil. I also added a bit of fresh minced garlic, but I know that's not to everyone's tastes. Sprinkle the breadcrumb mixture over the top of the dish.
7. I baked it for about 30 minutes in a 200C fan forced oven until it was all bubbly and golden.

Notes/Variations

• This was so good. Served hot from the oven and cold as leftovers for lunch, both ways were delicious. I plated it topped with torn basil on my plate, and little pieces of mozzarella for the kids.
• If you wanted, you could sub parmesan for the nutritional yeast, but I wanted a vegan version. You could also mix cheese into the breadcrumb layer as well.
• Next time for more protein and to help absorb a bit of the moisture from the eggplants as they cook, I will add some quinoa into the sauce to help thicken it up a bit. Also, I think sliced mushrooms would be a great sauce addition. 

What will you be eating for Christmas festivities?

An update, and sourdough improvements

My last IMK post mentioned I was having some problem with my starter. Lorenzo still isn't back to his former glory, but he is producing loaves with a bit more lift now. Perhaps the warmer weather here in Australia is helping. I've been experimenting with using the fridge to rise the bread, and I'm getting some ok results. The first time I did it, I didn't realise that I should have shaped the loaves before popping them in the fridge, so they lost a bit of air when I pulled the bowl out and shaped. These loaves turned out a bit better - I used polenta on the outside which gave them a nice crunchy crust. I'm loving the sourdough experimentation and different techniques I pick up from various books and blogs.

One of those loaves came along on a weekend away with us. We rented a little holiday apartment with a kitchen up at Caloundra. It's not a long drive, but I find that travelling with kids is always best if I can minimise disruptions to their routine, and give them plenty of distractions. We had a concert (Lah-Lah's big live band for any parents in the know) to go to at 10am which is a bit of a witching hour for my toddler. With an early nap, I figured he'd be fine so we decided to stay up there and let him nap at the apartment first rather than driving up on the day to have him strung out and exhausted instead of grooving to the music!

Anyway, the kids loved it - the concert and the apartment. We stayed within walking distance to the beach. On one of our wanders we saw this pelican swimming along the boardwalk. I was sad to see that it had a fishing hook embedded in its throat and the line wrapped around it's neck. It was swimming near the fisherman along the boardwalk, hunting for little bait scraps and the fish they were trying to catch. I guess I know how it got that hook!

Travelling with children is also exhausting as it's not their own space so we were constantly entertaining them. Much coffee was consumed.





Ellie recently turned four. I can't really wrap my head around the fact that I have a child who is four. The years feel like they have just flown by... and yet gone so slowly too! She insisted that I make her cupcakes to take to daycare and share with her friends. I was not allowed to make my own cakes, they must be the Finding Dory mini cupcake mix that she had spied on the shelf at the store. Since it was her day, I capitulated, but in an act of defiance (and sympathy to the children with food allergies in her class) I used Nuttelex and apple puree instead of butter and eggs. By all reports they were a hit. I'm quite taken with the edible wafers included in the pack; apparently they are made with potato starch.

One of Ellie's favourite presents was this hula hoop. I admit we have all had a bit of fun with it actually, but she is getting very good at it (although watching her learn to hula was an absolute hoot!)

We came home from our mini getaway to find the hens and hounds overjoyed that we had returned. My garden, while dry, seems to have come along in leaps and bounds. I'm especially chuffed that this little nasturtium seed that I threw into a empty pot has suddenly leapt taller and sprouted several new sets of leaves (although something has been munching on one).

I love mini holidays, and every time we do one I promise myself they'll happen more often. Here's to getting away from things for awhile!

What's in my kitchen, September 2016

As has become my new usual, I am later than I wanted to be getting this post published. September is in general a very busy month for me, so I don't feel too terrible as I have been very busy with real life things and enjoying all my in-person interactions. I find that with two small children, I very rarely take any me-time without them in tow... when I'm not actively mothering, I am actively working and vice versa. Hence, when I get time to experience adult things, like dinners out, and uninterrupted conversations, I treasure the experience as it has become something a bit rare.

Anyway, September is the beginning of birthday season at chez Fork, starting early on in the month with my own! My birthday happened to fall on the same day as Father's day this year, so Mr Fork and I both lay in bed giving each other the side eye and asking, "Are you going to make me breakfast?". In the end, we both sighed and got up to make breakfast together. Teamwork!

In my kitchen is...

Edamame! Jimmy adores soybeans, and I adore it when he adores food, so I'm happy to sit there and shell them for him (heaven forbid he should have to do it himself!). We eat a lot of these as it's one green that he will eat every time, so I was very pleased to discover Costco stocked large bags of plain beans still in the shell in the frozen section. I keep a bag in the freezer and add these to whatever meal I feel needs extra greens. They also make a delicious snack just plain and on their own too.

In my kitchen is...

Kingsland greek style soy yoghurt. I saw this at the supermarket recently with a big NEW sticker. I'm unsure if it's a new product or simply a rebranding or a new recipe. I thought that I'd have this with porridge and berries, and even served to the side of some curries, but I have to admit the taste wasn't for me. Perhaps I'm simply too used to the taste of coconut yoghurt, but I found this overly bean-y and not at all what I was expecting, although the texture was amazing and extremely comparable to non-vegan greek yoghurt. I probably won't buy this again.

In my kitchen is...

Sourdough, but not as I know it. I don't know what is going on with Lorenzo lately. He has been very moody, and takes forever to perk up. I thought perhaps it was the cold weather getting him down, but now that the weather is warming again, I'm having more fails then I'm used to. While the starter is active, he isn't behaving as he used to. He bubbles but not giant bubbles with lots of activity anymore. It takes a long time for my dough to rise, and I'm finding my loaves to be not as reliable as I expect. Sometimes they work out ok, and other times, with the exact same steps, the dough is sloppy, fragile and fails to rise to the occasion (I cheat and call those loaves focaccia, but my failure grates on me).

Can any of my bread baking friends shed some light? The bowl below is one that I had to leave rise an extra 8 hours or so and while the dough finally got to a stage where I could make a window with it,   it wasn't very airy. Usually when I go to bake my dough has risen to the top of that bowl and wants to overflow. These loaves turned out a bit sad and dense and quite sour from the extended rise I think. Help!

In my kitchen is...

A cute little drying mat, apparently for drying fruit on. It is padded and covered with lovely cheerful apples. I saw it at Aldi and as it was marked down, I had to have it. Now I just need to teach Mr Fork and the small Forks to use it. They are in the habit of just putting wet things that don't fit on the draining board down on the benches, and as our bench is wood, it gets horrible water marks and stains.

In my kitchen is...

A Norwex kitchen cloth. I've always used cloth in the kitchen instead of paper towels and when my friend had a party recently, I couldn't resist getting this one (partly because of the glorious pomegranate colour). I really do like this cloth - it's got a lovely waffle-y pattern which makes it good at picking up crumbs from my table and benches, and it rinses out nicely as well. It's made of microfibre so it's good and absorbent for the inevitable small-people spills, but it also dries out fairly quickly too. My only gripe is the price, but it does it's job so well I think it'll work out decent on a cost-for-use basis.

In my kitchen is...

A bunch of birthday flowers, which are still blooming spectacularly over a week later. I love lilies (they've opened up now and smell amazing) and how beautiful are those cheery yellow ones?

In my kitchen is...

A terrible photo, but I had to rush to take it before small hands started to help themselves. My lovely family surprised me with vegan cupcakes and a tub of salted caramel coconut ice-cream for my birthday. It really was a surprise too, as I'd had no idea they gotten them and they'd had them all hidden away for a (delicious) after dinner surprise. 

Maureen of The Orgasmic Chef has been taking a break from hosting In My Kitchen, due to health issues, so I'm sending her some positive vibes for when she returns.


What's happening in your kitchen lately?

Mornings

Mornings are like...

Sweet milky breaths

Small arms with hidden strength

Homemade sourdough, slathered with nuttelex and vegemite

Coffee, brewed fresh and hot, steaming nicely

Triumphant hens clucking to herald fresh eggs

Early morning light

All before 6:30am!

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What do your mornings look like?