Beaut bush buddies (gingerbread recipe)

I have been doing a little gift shopping lately and have not been able to resist a few presents for Sylvia and myself. One of these is a present that keeps on giving. It is a packet of Australian Animal Cookie Cutters (from the Botanic Gardens gift shop).The packet had six Aussie animals – koala, kookaburra, kangaroo, frill-necked lizard, platypus and echidna. It also had four recipes for biscuit (cookie) dough. One was for gingerbread with very little sugar and a lot of molasses. Unlike many of these cut-out recipes, it didn’t say I had to leave it in the fridge to firm up. Sounded good to me. I have always been wary of making cut out biscuits because they just seem too dull and hard. I am pleased to report that this gingerbread has changed my mind. They were easy to make. Just mix everything together. I used treacle rather than molasses because they are quite similar but treacle is a lot cheaper. I also added a little golden syrup when I ran out of treacle. All cutters worked well except the kangaroo one because it had the thin bits for the tale and feet which kept falling off. I was really pleased at how cute they looked.They were very soft to eat in the first couple of days but the next couple of days they were more dense and almost chewy just like good gingerbread I had bought in the shops. This recipe would also work well for gingerbread man and women. I put a few into E’s bag to take to work for his coffee breaks. He loved them although found them quite big.The other present I had bought myself recently was a koala and gum leaf plate. It is just the plate for my koala bickies. Which brings me to a point of contention between E and me. In Australia where we use biscuit rather than cookie, we shorten it to bicky. E said it was biccy. I thought it might be bikky but was worried it looked like bikie. So I compromised with spelling it bicky. I check the web and didn’t find any definitive information so I think we will both have to be right in this instance.As well as buying gifts to send overseas I have been planning to drop off a gift for our obstetrician who looked after us with Alex, Ian and Sylvia. I can’t speak highly enough of his sensitivity in a difficult time and the support he gave. He is incredibly busy but made an effort to be available to us and listen to what we were saying. We had bought some wine and biscuits but I wanted to make something to add to the bag. So I made some decadent wattleseed cashew truffles and also put in some of these bickies. They seem a little special.

I am a little nervous about how long the gingerbread will last. I probably should have done some experimenting with the recipe but I felt this would be too organised. But I will be making these for special occasions and gifts again because they look so impressive and are so easy to make.I dropped off the giftpack this week and hope they are enjoyed. I have also included photos because I want to show just what a beautiful and happy baby Sylvia is. She is now blowing lots of raspberries at us and giggling. Yesterday she rolled over by herself for the first time and in the next week will start on her solids. She had her 6 month check today and is flourishing. She amused some of my work colleagues at lunch today, and the doctor’s receptionist commented on how good she was in my recent appointment. I know our obstetrician would love to see her and how happy she makes us. I am sure that is the greatest reward for his work.Now that I have entered the world of cut-out cookies, I am interested to try some other flavours so will list a few that I would like to try below. As well as my Australian cookie cutters, I would like to try some in my cookie press. I also want to try some with wattleseed. So stay tuned for more experiments!

Some cut-out cookies to try:

• Autumn Maple Cutout Cookies – Cooking Light
  
• Best Ever Chocolate Cutout Cookies – allrecipes.com
• Chocolate and Ginger Cookies – Home Gourmets
• Cream Cheese Cookies – about.com
• Gluten Free Vegan Gingerbread Cut Out Cookies - TasteBook
• Nibby Buckwheat Cookies - 101 Cookbookx
• Oatmeal Cutout Cookies – Avenue Food
• Orange and Lavender Biscuits - Laws of the Kitchen
• Peanut Butter Cutout Cookies with Chocolate Cream – Bake or Break
• Sour Cream Cookies – about.com or these sour cream cookies

Gingerbread Bush Buddies
From the cookie cutters packet
Makes about 30

• 125g softened butter
• 2 and 3/4 cups plain flour
• 3/4 cup treacle (or molasses)
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 beaten egg
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vinegar
• 1 tbsp hot water

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Press together with your hands until it becomes a soft dough. Knead on a floured board about 30 seconds.

(Update 19/5/2010: made these again this week - put half the dough in the fridge for a couple of days and it was so easy to cut out shapes with the chilled dough - you don't need to chill this dough but for more complicated shapes I would advise it. This is also useful for making dough ahead of time or baking in smaller batches - I have kept it in the fridge wrapped in clingwrap for over a week.)

Use a rolling pin to roll out to 5mm thick. I halved the dough and did it in two batches because it seemed too much to handle all at once. Sprinkle surface with flour. Dip cookie cutters in flour and shake out so they are lightly covered. Cut cookie shapes and transfer to a greased or lined tray – I used a butter knife to slide under them so they didn’t stick to the board.

Bake at 160 C in a preheated oven for 15-17 minutes. The recipe says biscuits will be just starting to brown but it is a bit hard to see with gingerbread. They will smell cooked, still be soft to touch and have a bit of colour on the bottoms but mostly you have to go with gut feelings.

Cool on tray 5 minutes and then they are ready to eat. But if left a couple of days in an airtight container they get a little chewy just like gingerbread in the shops.

On the stereo:
Discography: Pet Shop Boys

NCR Like some pepper in your soup, blondie?

Most days I fall into bed at night after putting Sylvia down to sleep and my mind is blank when I wonder what I did all day. So I felt quite pleased yesterday with my list of activities. Not the most impressive list, but it is a list that shows progress with Sylvia. I was too busy to do much blogging but I did manage to bake some luscious blondies and produce a superb soup for No Croutons Required.

So what did I do yesterday? I did the housework that has increased exponentially since Sylvia arrived: a load of laundry and the vacuuming. I rang the travel agent. I moved bits and pieces of an old computer to the car in preparation for taking it to a computer recycling place (byteback) on the weekend. I went to the doctors. I paid the electricity bill. I took the car to the garage that could take out Sylvia’s baby capsule and fit a new baby seat. I made dip, blondies and soup.

At about 8pm I sat down to dinner and felt I had hardly stopped all day. It isn’t such a long list but this is a lot to fit in between feeding, playing, settling. So many days I am about to do something and suddenly the wail goes up from the cot – which is not good when I am about to step into the shower. Everything takes longer with a baby. A walk to the shops is a major event. Making dinner is often punctuated by crying. Plus there is our cat who comes to the door at the most inopportune moments. After dinner I realised I hadn’t worn a cardigan all day. It wasn’t that cold but I had meant to put one on a few times and then got distracted.

I am not complaining. I know I am lucky to have time at home with Sylvia. I am just pleased when I get my act together, when the sun shines on my washing and when dinner is made and I can sit down and enjoy it.

All three recipes of the day came from Ashley at Eat Me Delicious. I am sure that shows how inspiring her blog is. One of the recipes was a Spinach and Artichoke dip, which needs work before I blog it. It didn’t look like hers and I fear that I had too much moisture and not enough artichoke. But the blondies were great. They were as chewy and chunky as the name suggested.

I have never made blondies before. In fact I have always wondered why anyone would bother to make brownies with white rather than dark chocolate. When I grew up I knew there was a band called Blondie and a comic strip called Blondie. I named one of my dolls Kathleen Blondie (to distinguish her from Kathleen Blackie). But I had never heard of eating blondies till I was an adult.

Lately I have been intrigued. Maybe it is because I am going through a brownie phase (have you noticed?). I had a look on the web for more information about blondies and found a tempting Australian recipe for White Chocolate Macadamia and Raspberry Blondies which told me that blondies have white chocolate in them, just as I thought. However, it seems this is not always the case in America. Smitten Kitten has a blondie recipe with just butter, sugar, egg, flour, salt and vanilla. This made sense when I found an entry on blondies on Vanilla Garlic that says their rich flavour comes from the molasses in brown sugar. This claim is also made by Rosa’s Yummy Yums, which says they are also known as butterscotch brownies or blonde brownies.

It is the butterscotch aspect that interested me (after reading the blondies recipe in Ricki’s Sweet Freedom Cookbook) I was further encouraged by Ashley whose blondie recipe, from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking From My Home to Your, had butterscotch chips or toffee pieces. Now I have mentioned that E has been requesting butterscotch lately. Unfortunately we don’t have butterscotch chips in Australia. Toffee pieces, however, seemed something I could do. I had recently seen a friend bake with jersey caramels so I decided I could impress E by putting these in the recipe.

E was most pleased with the blondies. He even said they were a wee bit butterscotch and when I asked if he wanted me to put some in his bag for work, he was quite definite that he wanted a piece. He also was quite happy to nibble on the leftover jersey caramels.

I used half wholemeal flour instead of all white and some dark brown sugar instead of light. The mixture was quite stiff and when I was smoothing it down in the cake tin, Sylvia was grizzly so I ended up spreading it with her in one arm. So it wasn’t really that hard. I accidentally had the oven slightly hot and wondered if this was why the top was slightly crumbly. But it was pleasingly chewy inside with lots of flavours and textures. Those Jersey caramels are good by themselves or in baked goods.

I then waited till E got home to make soup for dinner. Again, it was inspired by Ashley. She has been doing Leng’s Salad Challenge and posting some interesting salads. One salad that took my fancy had taco seasoned roasted chickpeas scattered over it. Yum! I wanted to try it but, despite some sunshine, it is not salad weather. So I thought I could use them instead of croutons in a soup. Then I thought if I was roasting chickpeas, I might as well roast some vegetables as well. I saw her taco chips accompanying her Portobello Salad with Mustard Dressing and remembered I still had tacos leftover from making my Mexican Rice Soup. Suddenly I knew what soup I was making.

It took me an hour and a half to make, so I wont make any claims on it being quick. But it was absolutely delicious. Superb, said E. The spices and intense roasted vegetables melded wonderfully. I thought it might be a bit watery but it was so thick it was like a stew. The chickpeas were great. I don’t have onion and garlic powder but I think the chickpeas would make a great snack with just a little fresh crushed garlic. They also made a nice garnish for the soup.

I was inspired to include red capsicum, green capsicum and a jalapeno chilli pepper by Jacqueline who is hosting this month's No Croutons Required Event, which she and Lisa organise each month for bloggers to make vegetarian soups or salads. The theme in August is peppers. I had to think hard about this. The only pepper I grew up with is a dried one I now know as white pepper. It was the antichrist of flavourings among me and my siblings. If one of us put it on our dinner instead of salt by mistake there would be tears and my mother would gallantly swap dinners with us.

It shows how far I have come that I managed to make this soup with black pepper, cayenne pepper, green and red capsicums and jalapenos. We might not use the word pepper as much as our British and American friends. Their red and green peppers or bell peppers are our capsicums. Their chili peppers are just chillis here. But we love them just the same. I was pleased to see red capsicums on sale. Their sweet roasted flavor was prominent in the soup, so I am sure Jacqueline will be happy to accept the soup for this event.

Roasted Vegetable Taco Soup
Serves 4

2½ tbsp olive oil
500g pumpkin, peeled and diced
2 cobs of corn
2 red capsicums, roughly chopped
1 bulb of garlic
400g tin of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 small onions, chopped
1 carrot, diced
1 large stalk of celery, finely chopped
1 green capsicum, finely chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
500ml vegetable stock
400g tin of chopped tomatoes
½ tin of water
4 tbsp fresh coriander (cilantro), chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
8 corn tortillas (about 15 cm diam
eter), sliced into strips
grated cheese, to serve (optional)extra coriander for garnish (optional)

Taco seasoning:
(adapted from Eat Me Delicious)

2 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp oregano
¼ tsp smoked paprika
¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
¼ tsp garlic powder or fresh garlic (optional)
¼ tsp salt

Lop top off garlic bulb and place on a square of foil, drizzle with a little oil (about ½ tablespoon) and bring foil up to twist ends at top to make little foil bag. Place corn, red capsicums, and garlic in roasting tray. Spray corn and capsicum with oil. Roast at 220 C for 55 min or till roasted. (NB: I roasted capsicums till skin wrinkled but not charred.)

Place pumpkin in small roasting tray with 1 tablespoon of oil and seasoning. Roast for 1 hour at 220 C (on the bottom shelf for 45 minutes and then moved up to top shelf).

Mix taco seasoning together. Toss through with chickpeas in a small roasting tray. My chickpeas still had a bit of water over them from rinsing but if you have drained yours very well you might need to add a tablespoon of water. Roast in oven at 220 C on the bottom tray for 20-25 minutes. The chickpeas will be soft but dried out a little around the edges and be coated by the seasoning.

Once the roasting is underway, heat oil in large stockpot and fry the onion, carrot, and celery for 5 minutes over medium heat. Add green capsicum and fry 3 minutes. Add jalapeno chilli and fry 1 minute. Add stock, tomatoes, water, cumin and coriander. Simmer for 10 minutes.

While soup is simmering the roasted vegetables should be about ready (if you take as long as I did with chopping vegetables). It is easiest to handle if you can have trays sitting out for 5 or 10 minutes before chopping. Squeeze garlic cloves out of skins and finely chop. Chop corn kernels off the cob. Chop red capsicum (I didn’t take skins off).

Add garlic, corn, red capsicum, pumpkin and two thirds of chickpeas to soup. Simmer an additional 10 minutes.

Meanwhile I put strips of tortilla in tray in which I roasted pumpkin because there was still plenty of oil. I tossed tortilla in this oil and roasted for 5 – 10 minutes til starting to brown but still soft.

Ladle soup into bowls. Scatter with cheese, remaining chickpeas, and coriander leaves. Serve with tortilla strips.

Chewy, Chunky Blondies
adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours via Eat Me Delicious

250g butter, room temperature
1 cups packed dark brown sugar
½ cup castor sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup plain white flour
1 cup wholemeal flour
¾ tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate soda
½ tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup toffee bits or butterscotch chips
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
1 cup desiccated coconut

Preheat the oven to 170 C (325 F). Grease and line a 30 x 20cm (9×13-inch) lamington tin.

Cream butter and sugars. I did this by hand but it was quite stiff so might do it with electric beaters next time. Add eggs one at a time and vanilla, beating after each addition. Add flour, baking powder and bicarb soda and either mix on low speed on electric beaters or by hand. Stir in choc chips, toffee bits, walnuts and coconut.

Scrape the batter into the prepared tin and smooth as best you can (it smoothes out when it cooks so doesn’t have to be perfect). Bake for 40 minutes or until the top is honey brown and a skewer in the centre comes out clean. Cool in pan. When cool cut into squares or bars.

On the stereo:
Marble Heart: Grey, Force, Wakeford

Weekend of Brownies

It was a busy weekend. My sister Fran was holding a housewarming party and my parents had a Sunday roast before they headed off on their trip to Europe. I couldn’t resist some baking.

I told Fran I would take along vegetarian sausage rolls. So I went shopping for ingredients and then baked in the afternoon. I had considered also taking along some gluten free brownies. I had an hour in which Sylvia slept before the party. It seemed just enough time to whip up the brownies. But they came out of the oven just before we headed out so I left them to cool.

Fran is indeed the hostess with the mostess. There was a drinks buffet and my brother and friends playing live music in the garage. I found it a bit noisy and crowded. I often spend parties in the kitchen. In there were dips, crudités, chips, and a table of sweet treats for later. It seemed a good place to be. Trays of pastries came piping hot out of the oven and friends helped pass around large platters piled with the warm snacks. My sausage rolls went down well, and unfortunately disappeared before Fran got a chance to try them.

Unfortunately I missed observing the pizza making activities in the garage. But I did sample some of the vegetarian ones. They were delicious with a crisp slightly charred base and lightly topped with vegetables and cheese. I didn’t get photos but every time I looked Fran’s partner was either cutting up pizzas or running around the house with a huge plate of slices.

We didn’t stay very late so we missed sampling the dessert pizzas. But we were home in time to catch the Bill on the telly and were able to sample the brownies. They were good. E was not so impressed. He said he really is more of a caramel slice man. The next day Sylvia and I went to Geelong for one of my mum’s roast dinners. I took the brownies with us while E stayed at home with jelly dinosaurs. (He did finish my project of putting my CDs in alphabetical order as well as organising for an old computer to go out for recycling so I can’t complain about him staying home.)

It is always nice to have my mum’s roast. This weekend it was a bit chaotic with trying to get Sylvia to sleep when dinner was served. Babies don’t understand timing at all. But I was about for sweets. It was apple sponge. I noticed that it was darker coloured than the apricot sponge I made recently and asked why. She told me she puts cloves in the batter when making apple sponge. She also made a gluten free option for my sister, Susie, and niece, Grace.

After lunch, we had fun taking lots of photos. My niece Quin is very creative and took charge of the camera. She had the little girls running at the camera and posing in the garden. Above is one of her photos that I found on the camera when I came home. Of course there were many photos of Sylvia. Below is one of what my brother Andy calls The Claw.


Susie and Grace, the GF ones, found the brownies too intense but my brothers enjoyed them. It was agreed by all that they were very rich. No wonder. They are full of chocolate, butter and cocoa. I also added a little wattleseed. The gluten free part is simply using chickpea flour rather than wheat flour. So simple and so good.

I found the recipe on Ilva’s Lucillian Delights blog via Lisa’s Kitchen. Ilva used hazelnuts. Lisa added cranberries. I had some walnuts that I couldn’t resist. Ilva got the idea when she saw another blogger using chickpea flour by mistake in a chocolate cake. You would never know they were gluten free if you weren’t told. You would just find them incredibly pleasing. They are fudgy and chocolatey.

I get a little confused about chickpea flour because there is an Italian one called Farina di ceci and an Indian one called besan. I asked Lisa which one she used and she said the latter. I suspect Ilva used the former because she is in Italy. I have only come across besan and used this one. I have used besan in savoury muffins before I find the flavour quite strong. But I was once told that the flavour of wheat is missed in gluten free baking so it stands to reason that using strong flavours will compensate for the lack of wheat. Like Ilva, I am now interested to try chickpea flour in more baking, especially with chocolate.

Chocolate Brownies With Chickpea Flour
Adapted from Lucillian Delights

100 g dark quality chocolate (I used 70% cocoa solids)
150 g butter
3 eggs
1 cup brown sugar, packed
3 tbsp cocoa
1 tsp ground wattleseed
pinch of salt
50 g toasted walnuts, chopped
1/2 cup chickpea flour - besan

Melt butter and chocolate together (I did it in the microwave but you could do it in a small saucepan over a gentle heat). Mix in sugar and eggs until it is glossy. Add remaining ingredients and stir to combine. The beauty of gluten free cooking is that you don’t need to worry about overworking the gluten. Pour into a greased and lined 22cm square cake tin. Bake at 180 C for 25 minutes. They are done when a skewer inserted comes out clean but they are better a bit too fudgy than a bit too dry.

On the stereo:
The singles 81-85: Dépêche Mode

Shopping, Sylvia and Soup

I am not that familiar with fennel. I know it is good in cassoulet but that it is not welcome in salads in our house. So when I saw a recipe for Fennel and Brown Rice Soup with Toasted Sourdough Bread and Ricotta in Karen Martini’s cooking column of the weekend newspaper a week ago, I was curious. It looked really good and I was determined to try it.

A potato bake was on our dinner plates most of last week but by Friday I was able to use the fennel I had bought for the soup. After a downpour of rain dampened my washing the previous day, it was great to have a glorious sunny winter’s day. Zinc, our sun worshipper cat, thought it was marvellous and it was impossible to get her indoors. She sat in the garden watching as we drove off to the shops.

Sylvia and I were off doing more gift shopping because my parents are heading off to Europe tonight and we wanted a few gifts for when they visit my in-laws. We ended up in the poppy shop on Lygon Street. I love visiting the poppy shop which greets us with colourful windmills and has lots of old-fashioned wooden toys, cheerful cuddly toys and quirky gifts as well as lovely soaps, games and greeting cards. It is always full of wonder.

A woman behind the counter asked Sylvia’s name and when I told her she sang ‘Who is Sylvia?’ My mum has sung this song before so I decided to look it up on the web. I am not sure if this is the song but I found a Shakespeare poem which was put to music by Schubert. The spelling might not be the same as ours but I love the sentiment so I thought it was worth sharing.

Who is Silvia?

Who is Silvia? what is she,
That all our swains commend her?
Holy, fair, and wise is she;
The heaven such grace did lend her,
That she might admirèd be.

Is she kind as she is fair?
For beauty lives with kindness.
Love doth to her eyes repair,
To help him of his blindness,
And, being helped, inhabits there.

Then to Silvia let us sing,
That Silvia is excelling;
She excels each mortal thing
Upon the dull earth dwelling:
To her let us garlands bring.
William Shakespeare

I have a theory that the Sylvia song that people mention gives away their generation. My mum’s generation had ‘Who is Sylvia?’ (which is also the alternate title to an Edward Albee play). Those who are a little older than me have sung ‘Sylvia’s mum’ by Dr Hook. But for me the song that instantly comes to mind is Pulp’s ‘Sylvia’. However, I am yet to hear anyone mention ‘Sylvia’ by Elvis Presley.

But I digress. The poppy shop is just around the corner from Threshermans Bakery. I went there to get some donuts for E and found a loaf of chewy ciabatta for a bargain $2 on the sale table. It was just the thing I needed to serve with my soup.

When cooking the soup I was worried the aniseed taste of the fennel might be too dominant but once it was ready the flavours were gentle and almost meaty. I wanted a bit more protein so I added the tin of lentils, and I also used up some mashed potato left over from the boston bun. I used far less oil than the 130ml in the recipe.

I only had a little ricotta so I added some parmesan cheese, but it was so tasty that I think it would be good without cheese. The ciabatta was wonderful for soaking up the lovely flavours. In fact on the second night I toasted the bread, tore it up and scattered it over the soup like croutons. However, it would make a substantial gluten free dinner without bread.

So good. So tasty. I will look forward to making this again.

Fennel Lentil and Rice Soup
Adapted from Karen Martini, Sunday Life in The Age, 9 August 2009
Serves 4

2 tbsp olive oil
1 brown onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 stalks of celery, finely chopped
1 carrot, peeled and finely chopped
1 large fennel bulb, diced
1 tsp fennel seeds, ground
1 cup brown rice
½ cup mashed potato (optional)
1 bay leaf
1.5 litres vegetable stock
400g tin brown lentils, rinsed and drained
½ bunch flat leaf parsley, chopped
1 tbsp ricotta
1 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
good bread to serve (I used ciabatta, Karen used sourdough)

In a large stockpot, heat olive oil. Fry onion, garlic, celery, carrot, fennel and fennel seeds over medium heat for about 15 minutes until vegetables are soft. Add brown rice, stock, mashed potato and bay leaf. Bring to the boil and simmer for about 20 minutes. Add lentils and simmer an additional 10 minutes or till rice is cooked and the soup has thickened. Stir in parsley, ricotta and parmesan. Remove bay leaf and serve with bread.

Update August 2013 - made this as in recipe but added an extra 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup red lentils, 1/2 a cauliflower and a zucchini.  I didn't have leftover mashed potato so I added a potato instead. Still lovely.

On the stereo:
John Denver’s Greatest Hits

Potato boston bun

Today’s boston bun is brought to you courtesy of the petty bureaucrats at the post office. I had an interview there last week for Sylvia’s passport. We were struggling to get there on time. Zinc would not come inside. I told her she would be a soggy moggy if the rain clouds delivered on their promise. ‘Meh’, she said and sat on the shed roof. Sylvia decided she just preferred to stay at home feeding. We will be late I told her. She just poked her tongue out at me.

We got there just on time and found that our form was not quite right. The problems were so petty I had smoke coming out of my ears and had to wait til I was calmer to make another appointment. So I stomped around the shops thinking I would make a chocolate cake to cheer myself up. Yes, when faced with bureaucratic red tape, chocolate is the answer!

I had some potatoes at home and thought I would make a chocolate cake with mashed potato. But this made me remember the boston bun with mashed potato and I decided that was what I needed. Perhaps it appealed because boston bun fills me with nostalgia for the simple days of childhood when I didn’t have to wrangle bureaucrats at the post office.

It seems that every weekend of my childhood my mum bought a crusty vienna loaf and a boston bun. We would slice away at both of them with a big bread knife. The bread was topped with cheese, german sausage and sometimes some salad. The boston bun was studded with sultanas and topped with a thick layer of sickly sweet icing, which was liberally sprinkled with coconut. It was cut into thick wedges topped with slabs of butter.

You could tell where the pieces had been eaten by the flecks of coconut that fell everywhere like a bad case of dandruff. At the end of lunchtime the vienna was usually finished but there might be a small piece of boston bun which would sit around on a plate for a few hours of drying out until someone finally scoffed it. The table was covered with crumbs, coconut and maybe a smear of butter. Signs that seven hungry kids had devoured lunch and disappeared to avoid cleaning and dishes.

But what I couldn’t remember is where we bought the boston bun. I asked my mum. She told me that there wasn’t a bakery in the town where we lived but there was one nearby in Birregarra. The baker would visit my mum with his wares and she would pick what she wanted – including a boston bun. If she wasn’t there, he dropped off what he thought she would like. One of his best customers, no doubt! (And she told me that her grandmother also had the butcher and green grocer visit to sell her their wares.)

When I told mum that I had made the boston bun with mashed potato, she knew the recipe immediately. I suspect most Australian women of her generation with an Anglo-Irish background would know it. Old cookbooks have information about how to use potatoes instead of yeast in baking bread. Mum tells me her grandmother kept a pot for potato peels for that purpose. I have made Nigella’s potato bread a few times and can testify to the fine results (although it has yeast too).

The boston bun recipe seems to be an Australian tradition which might come from Boston during the gold rush years of the 1850s but nobody seems to know for sure. There are plenty of similar recipes on the web. I chose one with less sugar and some mixed spice (cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice). Adding the mashed potato to the recipe does make it into a shaggy mess of dough that has a great texture when baked. Not bad for a bun made with low fat milk, no butter, no eggs, and no yeast (although if you were using leftover mashed potatoes from dinner it might have salt and butter in it).

My dad visited before I had iced the bun and had a wedge warm from the oven. He was most complimentary. This meant a great deal, considering the amount of boston buns he has encountered. He liked the chewiness of the well cooked crust. After he left I iced the bun and was pleased with how much it looked like those I used to enjoy throughout my childhood. I am not sure exactly how much icing sugar and coconut I used but it was about half of each in a mug, stirred with the knife that I used to spread it on the bun.

I had started boiling the potato for mashing at 9am and had it ready by 12.30pm. A fine achievement for the morning. I took it along to a friend’s place and it was warmly welcomed. There wasn’t much left but I did have a few pieces left for the next day. It was still soft and good to eat. I hope to make this again – without icing it is a great low fat bun, and with icing it takes me back to my childhood.

Potato boston bun
From ABC Hobart

1 cup warm, mashed potato
1 cup mixed fruit (I used half sultanas and half cranberries)
¾ cup castor sugar
2 cups self raising flour
1 cup milk
1 tsp mixed spice

Icing:
½ cup icing sugar
½ cup coconut
few drops vanilla essence
hot water
Extra coconut

Heat oven to 200C. Grease and line a 20cm round cake tin.

Combine the potato and sugar. They will be quite liquid. I had some lumps in mine because my potatoes weren't mashed quite smoothly. Some recipes say the potato should be sieved but the bun was fine despite a few lumps.

Add all remaining ingredients and mix well. Spoon into prepared tin and smooth top.

Cook for approx 40-50 mins until firm to the touch in the centre , golden brown colour and beginning to leave the sides of the cake tin. (I tried to put a skewer in to test after 50 min and it came out a little claggy but was a good texture once cooled.)

Remove from tin and cool.

To make icing mix icing sugar, coconut and vanilla essence. Add enough hot water to make a thick but spreadable paste. Spread over top of bun when cooled. Sprinkle with extra coconut.

On the stereo:
Monohalucinatory Mountain: Current 93

WHB Broccoli – brassica royalty

What a wonderful vegetable is broccoli
Its green branches are prettier than any tree
I love it for dinner
It’s always a winner
So pile some up on my plate for me

I love broccoli and couldn’t find a suitably admiring quote so I made up a little limerick to celebrate it. It wasn’t always so. When I was a child, I turned up my nose at broccoli like many green vegetables. (Unlike a friend’s wee toddler grandson who berated his father about not giving him any broccoli when served fishfingers.) But this changed when I was a student and in love with all things green. It was then that I began to truly appreciate what Denis Potter calls ‘true cabbage royalty’.

One of the encounters that endeared me to broccoli was the wonderful second Moosewood cookbook, called the Enchanted Broccoli Forest. I loved the cover, the name of the book and the idea of a dish so full of little broccoli trees that I imagine making ones way through the tangle of branches. It also makes me think of all those parents trying to convince their kids to eat broccoli by calling it little trees. Oddly enough in my student days, one of my friends had a cat that loved broccoli.

History of Broccoli

I finally made one of my favourite broccoli recipes. It inspired me to look into broccoli history. Vegetarians in Paradise gives a good overview. The Etruscans (who settled in Tuscany), originally known as the ‘Rasenna’ were from Asia Minor (now Turkey) began cultivating cabbages and migrated to Italy in 8 BCE. It is not clear to me when cabbages morphed into broccoli but apparently the Romans loved it. Pliny the Elder, an Italian naturalist and writer who lived from 23 to 79 CE, tells us that the Romans grew and enjoyed broccoli during the first century CE. The variety loved by the Romans was called Calabrese, which is the one I mostly eat. But, apparently, purple sprouting broccoli (which I have never found in Melbourne) was cultivated before the Calabrese.

Apicius, the beloved cookbook author of ancient Rome, prepared broccoli by first boiling it and then bruising it "with a mixture of cumin and coriander seeds, chopped onion plus a few drops of oil and sun-made wine." The Romans also enjoyed it with creamy sauces. The Roman Emperor Tiberius, who lived from 14 BCE to 37 BCE, had a son named Drusius who took his love of broccoli to excess. He ate it in the Apican manner for a month, excluding all other foods. When his urine turned bright green and his father scolded him severely for "living precariously," Drusius finally abandoned his beloved broccoli.

Broccoli was first mentioned in French history in 1560, possibly brought from Italy by Catherine de Medici of Tuscany. It arrived in England in the early 18th Century, referred to in Miller’s Garden Dictionary in 1724 as a stranger in England, "sprout colli-flower" or "Italian asparagus." Neither the French nor the English showed much enthusiasm for this stranger.

Thomas Jefferson recorded planting broccoli in 1767, but it seems that broccoli was received with indifference in the United States for many years. It wasn’t until the D’Arrigo Brothers from Italy began to promote their broccoli in 1922 on the radio that the American public began to appreciate it. Not everyone shared the love. A New Yorker cartoon published between 1925 and 1930 had a mother trying to convince her child to eat broccoli with the caption reading "It's broccoli, dear." 
"I say it's spinach, and I say the hell with it." But broccoli’s popularity increased after the war when Americans returning from Europe demanded it at home.

In Australia broccoli has been grown since being colonised in 1788. Siberian broccoli, a small, hardy purple variety, was first planted at Norfolk Island in that year. Throughout the 19th century, purple and green varieties were available in Australia but it was not as popular as ordinary cabbage. It wasn’t until the influx of Italian immigrants in the first half of the 20th century that it became more commonly used. More recently in the last decade, we have had the young sweeter cousin, Broccolini, which you can see below (also known as tenderstem in the UK).

The name Broccoli

The name broccoli came from the Latin brachium (or Italian ‘brocco’), which means strong arm or branch. However, I found another discussion positing that there was another variant of the same plant species that was documented in the late 17th century with the dutch name "borecole", which translates to something like "farmer's cabbage". Roman farmers called broccoli "the five green fingers of Jupiter." Broccoli is part of the cabbage or brassica family and has been known as a colewort, Calabrian cabbage or winter cauliflower.

One of the aspects of broccoli I have come to love is the name. It is a pleasure to say and read so I am not surprised to find that others also love this name enough to name their business after it. Japan has a media company called Broccoli that publishes manga, anime and video games. It is the parent company of Broccoli Music Publishing, Broccoli International USA, Broccoli Books. In the USA you will find Broccoli Media Productions, which is a television production company.

Some people eve have the pleasure of being Mr or Ms Broccoli. There is a Broccoli coast of arms here with the claim that the surname goes back to the year 1194 in Tuscany. The best known Mr Broccoli is Albert Romolo Broccoli CBE (Hon) (1909-1996), nicknamed "Cubby", who was an Academy Award-winning American film producer. He made more than 40 movies throughout his career, most notably producing the iconic James Bond films. There is also a Puerto Rican artist called Antonio Broccoli Porto.

In addition to The Enchanted Broccoli Forest by Mollie Katzen, I found a book of short stories titled Broccoli and Other Tales of Food and Love, by Lara VapnyarLara Vapnyar, and a children’s book by Barbara Jean Hicks and Sue Hendra called Monsters Don’t Eat Broccoli. It starts “The waitress in this restaurant just doesn’t have a clue. / Monsters don’t eat broccoli! / How could she think we do?”

Broccoli politics

There are many broccoli-phobes on the net. The number one broccoli hater seems to be US President George Bush. He is quoted as saying in 1990:
“I do not like broccoli. And I haven't liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I'm President of the United States and I'm not going to eat any more broccoli.”

An amusing political history of broccoli describes how Bush banned broccoli from the White House and Air Force One menus in 1990. Even when growers shipped broccoli to the White House, he donated it to food banks. Fortunately the Clintons served broccoli when Bill replaced Bush as president. Unlike his dad, George W Bush liked broccoli. The Houston Chronicle reported in 2004 on Bush Jnr asking for more broccoli.

Which begs a very important question: does Obama like broccoli? Well, apparently he likes a serving of steamed broccoli with his burger. There is a story of a pizzeria in Chicago called pi making a pizza called the Broccoli Obama. Apparently it contains many of the president’s favourite topping: Broccoli, Seasoned Potatoes, Applewood Smoked Bacon, Gruyere Cheese, Cheddar Cheese, Mozzarella Cheese, Minced Garlic, Fresh Chives (after baking). I also found a PETA video on the Road to the Greenhouse which featured, among others, Broccoli Obama. There was even a picture of Obama as a head of broccoli which I found here and have copied below.

Broccoli Haters

George Bush is not the only one to hate broccoli. I have found many on the net. For example, Dominic Monaghan said “If I could uninvent anything, I would uninvent Hitler's mum, guns and broccoli.” And Michael Stipe worries about eating broccoli when there are cameras around.

Then there are the broccoli parodies. Jim Rotondo wrote “Broccoli” as a parody of the Beatles Yesterday. It begins with “Broccoli / Gaseous vegetable of greenery / Looks like little trees of scenery / Oh I do eat my broccoli”. He then goes on to make many fibre jokes and calls it “this vile weed”. Kyle Daniels’ parody of Ebony and Ivory, called "Broccoli and Celery", is equally negative with lines like “Kids and parents both hate them / Please don't make them / Eat that junk” and “I'd rather eat glue”.

I even found a short film on YouTube called I Hate Broccoli.

Broccoli Bizarro

Although it seems not everyone hates broccoli. Some attitudes are just strange. Take this comment for example: “What does broccoli symbolise to me? … Not only is it a "green tree" ... But it is also green. What makes it green? Are they actually from gods nose? No one will know. What if the entire species of broccoli became wiped out in a freak giant lawnmower accident? What would happen to those poor broccoli that became so heartlessly decapitated? Their little leaves chopped off like the heads of tiny children.”

On YouTube you can see a song called Chopping Broccoli performed by Dana Carvey,, known to some from Saturday Night Live, but for me he is Wayne’s dopey friend Garth from Wayne’s World. You can see a guy playing Angels We Have Heard on High on an ocarina (this wind-instrument is a bit like a pre-historic recorder) made of broccoli. You can also see a short film called Night of the Broccoli, a comedy about a young man trying to impress his young lady with a cheeky meal of broccoli.

Broccoli and horror seems to be an ongoing theme. In Treehouse of Horror XI Homer Simpson is killed by eating broccoli. I am not sure whether you might think it is horror when you hear the Olsen Twins have a song called Broccoli and Chocolate. But my net surfing became bizarre when I found some strange songs and finally was intrigued by an album by Chopps Derby called You don’t know what broccoli is?. I had thought I did know but some of the odd songs on the web made me curious, I did a search and found it was slang for marijuana. There certainly is some weird stuff on the net!

Broccoli recipes

But enough quirky stuff. This is a food blog and I have some great broccoli recipes. So onto the yummy stuff - because it goes without saying that such a gloriously green vegetable not only makes a dinner plate look beautiful but is delicious and good for you. I love broccoli and often have it steamed with my dinner but there are many ways to enjoy it. I am sharing three quick recipes with you today – a main, a side and soup. You can also find a list of some of my favourite broccoli recipes from this blog and some interesting broccoli recipes from the web.

The side dish is a Broccoli with Brie and Breadcrumbs. I first came across it when living in Edinburgh and loved it because it was so quick and easy to make when I didn’t have much kitchen equipment or pantry essentials. It ranks as one of my all time favourite side dishes. Green broccoli, crispy garlicky breadcrumbs and posh melty cheese are such a great combination that I recommend you try it. In fact it would make a great light meal with a good chunk of bread or be delicious as a pasta sauce.

The main dish here is using broccolini rather than what we call broccoli. I loved the simplicity of this Broccolini and Brie Tart. I found it in a section on Valentine’s Day in a UK Vegetarian magazine. I agree that this is a perfect dish for wooing and impressing. I found that I had more broccolini than brie and probably could have done with a little more of the latter. I suspect this is because my pastry was thinner and my broccolini more than in the recipe which required 100g broccolini and served two people. My kitchen scales were out of batteries at the time so I couldn't weigh it. But the combination was lovely and can be served with a simple salad as the magazine suggested or with more robust roast vegetables and chutney as we enjoyed it.

The last dish is a Broccoli, Parsnip and Lentil Soup I made up using what was about. I have been enjoying broccoli in soups a bit lately. It tends to go with other foods so well. This was a substantial and tasty soup that I whipped up in no time at all. I made it one night before my mum was coming for lunch. She brought a good sourdough bread and I provided soup. It then gave me a few more hearty winter lunches.

Broccoli recipes from Green Gourmet Giraffe:

• Bill’s Broccoli Rice Salad (gf, v)
• Broccoli and hazelnut burgers
• Broccomole (gf, v)
• Chickpea broccoli casserole (v)
• Cream of broccoli soup
• The Enchanted Broccoli Forest (gf)
• Green lasagne with broccoli and rocket pesto
• Rumbledethumps (gf, v)
• Sicilian Drowned Broccoli (gf)
• Wanton Dumplings in Ginger Broth (v)

Broccoli recipes from other blogs:

• Broccoli crunch salad - 101 Cookbooks
• Broccoli Slaw - Smitten Kitten
• Broccoli Soup with Lemon-Chive Cream - Orangette
• Broccolini and Sun-Dried Tomato Pie (or Calzone) - Food Blogga
• Double Broccoli Quinoa - 101 Cookbooks
  
• Fruity Vegie Bread - Health Nut
  
• Healthy Broccoli Smoothie - Smoothie Web
• Raw Broccoli Salad - Taste Buddies
• Red Wine Spaghetti with Broccoli - Serious Eats
• Roasted Broccoli with Soy Sauce and Sesame Seeds - Kalyn's Kitchen
• Velvety Broccoli and Feta Pasta - The Kitchn

I am sending this post to Anh from A Food Lover's Journey (who incidently has had a lovely redesign of her site) for Weekend Herb Blogging #196, the weekly event founded by Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen and now coordinated by Haalo of Cook (Almost) Anything at Least Once.

Broccoli with Brie and Breadcrumbs
(from the Safeway Magazine, UK)
serves 2

335g broccoli florets (about one large head of broccoli)
4 tsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
50g soft freshly grated breadcrumbs
2 red onions, peeled and sliced
150g brie (I used 100g)
chilli flakes or cayenne pepper to taste

Cook broccoli in boiling salted water until tender. Drain and plunge in cold water, then drain again. (I just microwaved mine until just tender and I don’t think I did the plunging in cold water.)

Heat 2 tsp of oil in a medium frying pan (preferably flameproof). Cook garlic in oil for 1 minute and then add breadcrumbs and fry for until browned. Remove from pan and set aside. Heat the remaining oil and fry onions until golden. Add the broccoli to warm through.

If your frypan is flameproof, you can arrange dish in this (which is what I did) or if not, place onion and broccoli into a flameproof dish. Scatter over the brie and breadcrumbs and grill (broil) about 4 minutes or til cheese begins to melt. (NB in recipe it says to put breadcrumbs on dish after grilling but I did it before grilling). Sprinkle with chilli flakes or cayenne pepper to serve.

Broccolini and Brie Tart
From Cook Vegetarian, February 2009
Serves 4

250g puff pastry (I used pre-rolled sheets)
125g blue brie, thinly sliced
2 bunches broccolini

Blanch the broccolini for one minute (I forgot to do this and it was still ok). Line a greased oven tray (I used a lamington tin – 20 x 30 cm) with puff pastry. Arrange broccolini on the pastry and cover with blue brie. Season with sea salt and cracked pepper. Bake 15-20 minutes in a 220 C oven till golden brown.

Broccoli, Parsnip and Lentil Soup
serves 4-6

2 heads of broccoli, chopped
1 parsnip, chopped
750ml vegetable stock
½ cup white wine
1 apple, peeled, cored and chopped
1 cup red lentils
1 tsp maple syrup
½ tsp cumin
¼ tsp mustard powder
¼ tsp smoked paprika
2 cloves garlic

Place all ingredients in a large saucepan. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer 15 minutes or till broccoli and lentils are cooked. Blend and serve.

On the Stereo:
Rachmaninov’s The Bells