The case of the disappearing tart

On 14 July 2008, Helen of Food Stories posted a very tempting Rainbow Chard and Parmesan Tart (with a Carrot and Oat Crust). I am always in search of a good tart with an easy crust that is on the healthy end of the tart spectrum. Last month I stumbled across the post that I had saved on my blog reader and made my own version with spinach, corn and spring onions (being the offerings of my fridge) rather than brown onions and chard. Then I decided to check the recipe on Helen’s blog.

Imagine my bemusement upon discovering that the tart had disappeared from her blog. It was inconceivable! I had seen it there! It was on my blog reader! But nowhere to be found on Food Stories.

Fortunately I decided to delay contacting Helen about this because I was too busy. When I checked the url again today before posting, I found that the recipe is now returned to its rightful place or maybe I was just looking in the wrong place all along. It’s a mystery!

When I have more time I will share more mysteries with you – grizzling babies, a lost wallet, and nutritional yeast flakes. But today I merely have time to share this recipe, which is most excellent. E couldn’t praise it enough. Even Sylvia had some.

The crust is soft but wholesome and satisfying. Helen made it when she was experimenting with healthier tarts. The filling is really just a matter of some egg, milk, cheese and what vegetables are on hand. I especially recommend the tart to those who like me are lucky enough to have a grandmother who makes wonderful tomato chutney and sends some your way. We ate it with aforementioned tomato chutney and a simple tomato and baby spinach salad. A great dinner and wonderful leftovers.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
This time last year: Polenta cups and Seasonal salad
This time two years ago: A crumble that needs company
This time three years ago: Under the Doona Comforts of Crumble

Cheesy Spinach Tart (with a Carrot and Oat Crust)
Adapted from Food Stories (who adapted crust from Bounteous Bites).
Serves 4

Crust:
100g rolled oats
100g wholemeal flour
100g grated carrots
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
100g butter at room temperature

Filling:
½ bunch (150g) spinach
3-4 spring onions, sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
kernels of 2 cobs of corn
2 eggs, beaten
¼ cup milk
40g Parmesan cheese, or to taste
60g cheddar cheese
salt and pepper, to taste (I didn’t use at all)
parsley, finely chopped (I didn’t have this but would use it next time)

Mix the carrots, oats, flour, baking powder and salt. Rub in the butter until the dry ingredients are incorporated and the mixture comes together into a dough. Press into 24cm flan dish. Helen says to chill but I didn’t. Bake for 15-20 minutes (I did 20) at 200 C.

Lightly whisk the eggs and milk together with parsley. Set aside

Heat oil in a large frypan and fry the spring onions, garlic and corn kernels for 2-3 minutes. Stir in spinach and fry till wilted. Season.

Layer the vegetables, cheese and egg/milk mixture in the tart crust (or I think I would prefer the cheese, then vegetables then egg/milk mixture but E disagreed with me on this).

Bake for 20 minutes at 180 C and then for 10 minutes at 220 C or until the top is golden brown. Sit for 5-10 minutes before slicing and serving with a simple salad.

On the Stereo:
Fold your hands child, you walk like a peasant: Belle and Sebastian

Awards and a kreativ meme

It is the weekend. Time to relax, pour yourself a cuppa and join me in some navel-gazing. I have had two bloggers – Elle and Cakelaw – who were kind enough to show their appreciation for my blog with awards recently and asked me to share some random things about myself. It seems I am constantly sharing random facts but here we go.



Some time ago Cakelaw, of Laws of the Kitchen gave me three awards: Kreativ Blogger, Honest Scrap and Happy 101. Then more recently Elle of the Bread Bakers Dog (and Feeding my Enthusiasms) gave me the beautiful blog award. Both Cakelaw and Elle are wonderful bakers and I encourage you to check out their wealth of recipes and ruminations.

Both awards came with the instructions to list seven random things about myself and then pass the award onto seven bloggers, let them know etc etc. Time being precious, I have rolled the awards into one for the sake of the meme and passing them on. As I feel like I have shared a lot about myself on this blog, I thought I would give myself a little focus and write seven random creative things about myself.

1. My sister-in-law HH is amazing with her crafting. Her creation that I love most is the cross stitch sampler she made for E and me when we got married, and now hangs in our bedroom.

2. My mum taught me to knit when I was at school and I loved it. When I was a student I knitted myself a few jumpers and was so obsessive about it that I used to knit on the tram on my way to work, before knitting became trendy. I have recently started knitting a scarf for Sylvia but it is slow going.

3. When I was at school, I once latch hooked a cushion cover with a picture of Grover from Sesame Street. I don’t know what happened to my latch hook but I wish I still had it to put tassles on Sylvia’s scarf if I ever finish it.

4. I hate sewing but I love my sewing box that I have had since I was a kid. It has an unfinished tapestry and an unfinished placemat in it, a felt scissors holder I once made, and lots of needles and thread for sewing buttons back on clothes.

5. I dream of painting a mural on a wall, preferably with a giraffe in it. Maybe one day. Meanwhile, the closest I get is plastering Ikea stickers on the bathroom wall.

6. When I was a child we always joined up with another family to perform a Christmas play for our parents. When we were young my little brother was often baby Jesus in the nativity scene. As we got older we started writing more complicated plays such as how Christmas was celebrated in different part of the world.

7. As a student I once won (a paltry amount of) money in a poetry competition. However, it was never published in the student newspaper because there was some sort of strike.

I am passing on the Kreativ Blogger and Beautiful Blogger awards to these seven food bloggers. All bloggers are creative but I chose these seven for the way they demonstrate just how creative food blogging can be (NB I excluded anyone whom I had given an award recently):

• Astra at Food for Laughter has such a joie de vivre and is always inspiring in the way she adapts recipes to be healthy even when baking the most decadent chocolate creations.
• Hannah at Wayfaring Chocolate not only makes thoughtful and amusing comments but she also has such a novel angle on food – the chocolate she meets on her travels - I have never read such involved descriptions of chocolate before!
• Jules at Stone Soup is constantly posting great lists that enlighten and entertain, whether on how to store vegetables or the must-haves for a minimalist kitchen. I love lists and every time I see a new list on her blog I know it will be a great read. (And she is having a vegetarian May so I am loving her recipes even more!)
• Katie at Apple and Spice has lots of appetising food but I am constantly marveling at her cakes. She often inspires me with her wonderful ideas for presentation and her decadent baking.
• Lisa at Bake Bike Blog is a new blog on my radar but I wanted to mention her here because I just love her idea of her mystery box. She has a box filled with ingredients written on pieces of paper and regularly pulls an ingredient out of the hat to inspire her to try different things. Such a great and creative idea!
• Nic at Nip it in the Bud has a lovely eclectic blog with delicious recipes, gardening, crafting and even a sunflower giraffe. She originally connected with me because we love giraffes and our cats.
• Wendy at a Wee Bit of Cooking has a gorgeous blog. When I started reading her blog I loved her banner with a giraffe on it but now she has a girl and her dog which is really fitting. Not only does she have wonderful recipes but she posts the most beautiful photographs, mostly of her corner of Scotland.
  

Lastly, it seems an appropriate moment to also let you know that I was included in this list of 100 blogs leading the food revolution.

I'll be back with more food soon (well as soon as Sylvia stops wanting to climb on everything in sight!)

Sticky ginger and apple cake

I mentioned in my last post that I had meant to bake my mum something for Mother's Day. Well she came and stayed for a couple of nights earlier this week to help look after Sylvia while E is away and I have been working. So I had the opportunity to make her the Sticky Apple and Ginger Cake that I had seen on Cake, Crumbs and Cooking recently.

Interestingly enough my only other experience of cooking with crystallised stem ginger is the Chocolate and Ginger Flapjacks I made based on on another recipe from C of Cake, Crumbs and Cooking. She must be my sticky ginger guru!

C raved about this cake based on a recipe from Waitrose. The Waitrose recipe was actually a simnel cake with marzipan baked on top. I wouldn't mind trying it this way some time or even lumps of marzipan in the cake (like Nigella's marzipan fruit cake). However, marzipan is not something I usually have the in house, unlike the other ingredients so I was happy to follow C's lead and bake the cake without it.

I liked the cake but would have liked a bit more fruity taste. It was a shame that the apple was overpowered by the ginger. But it was a lovely moist buttery cake and quite sweet even with my reduction in sugar because I ran out of brown sugar. I also reduced the ginger because, like C, I only had a 125g bag of the crystallised stuff.

I would not rave about the cake quite as much as C but I suspect my mum would. She loved it with a cup of tea after arriving home from a night out with my dad. I knew it would be just her thing as she loves ginger and apples. We share a lot of loves in food but not everything. After all my mum ordered tripe the other day when dining out! Hmmm, my violent dislike of the idea of tripe (never having eaten it) makes me think that maybe my enjoyment of this cake is closer to my mum's than I might think.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
This time last year: Peach Smoothie
This time two years ago: Rosy Russian Bread (and Grumpy Baker)
This time three years ago: Nila – Delectable Dosai and Peculiar Pumpkin

Sticky ginger and apple cake
Adapted from Cake, Crumbs and Cooking

• 125g crystallised stem ginger, cut into pea-sized pieces
• 170g butter
• 2 tbsp buttermilk
• 200g light brown muscovado sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 15g fresh root ginger, grated
• 195g self-raising flour
• 1 cooking apple, peeled, cored and grated (I used a pink lady)

Preheat the oven to 170C or gas mark 3. Grease and line 20cm round cake tin (I used a loaf tin).

Melt the butter in a large saucepan (or in the microwave using a microwave-proof mixing bowl as I did) and stir in the sugar. Cool slightly, then beat in 2 eggs and the root ginger. Stir in the flour, then the apple and crystallised ginger.

Scrape the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for about 1 hour or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out cleanly (well mine was clean but the recipe says it might have a few moist crumbs clinging to it). If it is getting too brown, cover with some foil but a bit of golden brown colour tastes good as it is so sweet and buttery.

On the Stereo:
Night on my Side: Gemma Hayes

Mothering Oat and Cranberry Biscuits

It has been busy with E in the UK and lots on at work. Thanks to everyone who has sent their sympathy upon the death of my mother-in-law. I had planned to bake my mum something for mothers day on the weekend but it got so busy that I didn't manage it. I did however have these biscuits I had made for Sylvia. Today I will share these with you and tell you about the good food on a mothering weekend.

On Saturday morning we went to Collingwood Children's Farm Farmer's Market. As usual it was full of interesting food: broccoli salad leaves (above), banana leaves, fresh walnuts, quinces. Sylvia chomped on some sweet and juicy corn on the cob and I was astounded by how good the organic apples tasted.

You can see my swag of goodies above, spread out on some tea towels that I got out to remember my late mother-in-law. You can see corn, kale, parsnips, pink lady apples, pink fir apple potatoes, rhubarb, sage, angel hair pasta and walnuts.

However, meeting up with my family including nieces Ella and Quin, and nephew Cooper, we were really there to see the animals. Firstly there was the cow being milked but there was such a crowd around it that it was hard to watch, although the staff seemed to be doing a good job of making sure every child got close up.

We enjoyed patting the goats. Ella got a fright when she was headbutted by a goat but she was more surprised than hurt. We walked through the field were sheep were ambling. Cooper enjoyed sitting on the rocks on the field. Then we visited the large pig. My mother showed Ella where the pork crackling comes from on the back of the pig. She was fascinated. Apparently whenever she has meat she asks what part of the animal it comes from. When she had chicken breast lately she was amused to find that 'chickens have boobies'.

We then left, passing this cow on the way to the entrance. Sylvia had a sleep at home and then went to a party with my sister Fran and her partner John. Then I drove down to stay the night with my parents, forgetting that Sylvia has swimming lessons on Sunday mornings. It was just that sort of week.

My mum had decided she would cook lunch for the family on Mother's Day. I would feel guilty about her doing it if I didn't know how much she loves cooking for the family. Saturday night she was pottering about in the kitchen preparing no knead bread dough, baking a pavlova, caramelising condensed milk, planning the menu and warming us some poached quinces to eat with a wonderful yoghurt cream. Sylvia meanwhile was very excited at a couch just the right height for her to climb on (and off).

On Sunday the family came for lunch. My sister Susie wore a necklace of gold-sprayed pasta that Grace and Ella had made. My mum made a roast dinner with an amazing array of vegetables. My plate was full with eggplant parmigiana, baked mushrooms, roasted carrots with pomegranate molasses and dukkah, roast potato, pumpkin and parsnip, a green salad and no knead bread. The warm bread was admired and quickly demolished.

But the star of the show was my mum's pavlova with crushed peppermint crisp on top. My mum has made pavlovas regularly ever since I can remember but she has felt her pavs haven't been quite right lately. This weekend she was delighted to rediscover her pav mojo! (It has something to do with beating the egg whites and sugar a long time, waiting until the end to fold in the vinegar, buying an oven thermometer to get the temperature right, and not cooking it too long because it crisps up when cooling in the oven.) This one was light and fluffy and loved by the connoisseurs of pavlova. I preferred the caramel tart, also made by my mum.

I went home on Sunday night with leftover eggplant parma. I added some spaghetti, baked tofu, peas and carrots. It was delicious and reminded me of an excellent spag bol. It was followed by an oaty biscuit.

Which brings me to my recipe today. After a few nights last week with Sylvia being unsettled, I was so pleased to have a night when she slept because I had the urge to bake. I really wanted to bake something rich and full of chocolate but I also wanted Sylvia to be able to eat it. I found this recipe for Oatmeal Raisin Cookies on vegweb.

I couldn't keep the name because if I was to Australianise it, they would be called Oat and Sultana Biscuits, and because I substituted cranberries for sultanans. I also halved the sugar, despite the recipe being described as low sugar. I made a few other changes including adding flaked coconut. The biscuit in my version was not very sweet at all but the cranberries make amends for this. Sylvia loved them and had quite a few for snacks and after dinner. I found them great to put in my bag for afternoon tea at work. They were an excellent healthy snack.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
This time last year: Pumpkin and Goats Cheese Muffins
This time two years ago: Mum’s Banana Cake
This time three years ago: Cardamom and Chocolate Comforts

Oat and Cranberry Biscuits
adapted from http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=22082.0
makes 24 biscuits

• 1 cup plain white flour
• 1½ cup rolled oats
• ½ cup flaked coconut
• 1 tsp baking powder
• pinch salt
• ¼ cup sugar
• ¾ teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ tsp allspice
• ¾ cup dried cranberries (or sultanas or choc chips)
• 1 egg
• ½ cup mild oil, such as canola or safflower
• 1 tablespoon blackstrap molasses
• 1 tablespoon applesauce (or agave or honey or maple syrup)
  
• 3 tablespoon buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 180 C (350 F). Line a baking tray sheet with baking paper or a silicone baking mat.

Combine all dry ingredients (flour through to allspice) and cranberries in a large bowl. Lightly whisk wet ingredients in a large jug with a fork then tip into the bowl of dry ingredients and mix till combined. The recipe suggests adding a little milk or water if it is too dry but I didn’t need to.

Drop teaspoonfuls onto the prepared tray and use wet hands to shape into discs. Bake for 13-14 minutes. I erred on the side of a little less than cooked and was glad of it. Cook biscuits a bit before transferring to a wire tray because they may fall apart if handled when too hot.

On the Stereo:
The Boy with the Arab Strap: Belle and Sebastian

Treacle Scones for Remembrance

Today is mother’s day here so I will share with you the story of a mother’s love. My mother-in-law died on Thursday last week. She had been diagnosed with terminal cancer last year but the doctors were still uncertain about why her condition had suddenly deteriorated so quickly in recent weeks. Then she had a seizure on Sunday and E was told to get over there as soon as possible. He caught a plane from Melbourne a few days later and went straight from the airport to the hospice. His mother died 90 minutes after he arrived. Later he found out that the doctors had expected her to die on Monday. It seems her love kept her alive long enough for one last visit from her son.

To those of us who knew her, this was no surprise. All children were special to her but there was never any doubt that her son and daughter were cherished above all. When she died in her sleep, I believe that she died in peace, knowing that she was surrounded by her family.

Yet it seems that she has gone too soon. I will remember my mother-in-law as someone who was brimming with life, laughter and generosity. I wish Sylvia could get to know her and be showered with her love. I wish my mother-in-law could see Sylvia grow and develop. We are glad, however, that at least they spent time together on our trip to Scotland last year. My mother-in-law loved watching Sylvia play with the Beatrix Potter blocks and E’s toy rubber ball that she had kept all these years.

She had a wonderful tea towel collection, as I have discussed before, and she had a fine appreciation of good food. She loved the Hydro, the Park Hotel and the Kingsmuir Hotel in Peebles, where she lived most of the time I knew her. On her visit to Melbourne a few years ago, we ate out at lots of wonderful places including The Stokehouse, Monsalvat and high tea at the Windsor.

Most of all, when I think about meals with my mother-in-law, I remember her talent at gathering people together over a meal. So though I don’t have special recipes from her I thought it might be a good time to share the recipe for Treacle Scones that I made for E’s birthday tea recently. They seem like a family recipe because he remembers his granny making them and they are just the sort of thing my mother-in-law would have loved at an afternoon tea.

I heard him talking about treacle scones long before I finally made them. Though the recipe didn’t directly come from his family, I found it in a Scottish cookbook that E’s sister (HH) gave me last Christmas. I expected them to be quite rich. They were gently spiced but not overly intense or sweet. Just like gingerbread in a scone. We ate them warm with melted butter and E was pleased that they were like his granny’s.

I am sure my mother-in-law would have loved to have been at E’s birthday tea. She missed E when he went to live in Australia but never said a word against him going. Instead, she delighted in his life down under. She loved birthdays, Christmas and always had a wonderful gift in the post. She was frequently on the phone and popping something in the post.

Her kindness and big heart will be fondly remembered by everyone who met her. My thoughts are with E's father and sister, and their extended family and friends who were embraced warmly by my mother-in-law. She will be missed dearly.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
this time last year: Plum Chutney
this time two years ago: Salad, Bread, an Event and a Meme
this time three years ago: Seeking carrot dip in a sea of recipes

Treacle Scones
from Scottish Home Baking by Judy Patterson
I made lots of small ones but it would probably make about 12-16 regular scones

• 225g plain white flour
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tsp cream of tartar
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp mixed spice
• 50g butter
• 1 tbsp black treacle
• milk (not specified by the recipe - I used about 1/2 cup )

Place the dry ingredients into a large bowl (the recipe said to sift but I didn’t). Heat the butter and treacle and add to the dry ingredients. Add enough milk to make a soft dough. (Next time I might rub the butter in and then add milk and treacle together.)

Gently knead dough on a floured bench till smooth (this should take very little time – seconds rather than minutes) and then use your hands to pat the dough into a circle of about ½ inch height. Use a scone cutter (5cm diameter for regular scones) or a glass to cut into small circles.

Place on a lightly greased baking tray and brush with a little milk. Bake at 220 C or 425 F for about 10-12 minutes or until golden brown and look cooked on the bottom (if not looking cooked, bake another few minutes and keep your eye on them).

Update: I have made a couple of batches with less then 1/2 cup milk and they are quite sturdy rather than fluffy and light.  The last batch had 1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp and it was much lighter.

On the Stereo:
The Very Best of Vera Lynn

Banana loaf and defrosted donuts

E asked me to buy him some donuts at the supermarket on Monday when I was swinging by to buy some bread on the way home from work. I picked up a packet and took them home. They tasted so bad that I thought, I can make better than this. Having seen Astra’s healthy Banana Apple Spice Bread recently, I adapted it and wondered why anyone would eat those donuts when they could whip up this delicious loaf so easily!

E tasted the bread and thought it a little fruity for his liking. But he agreed that the donuts were not great. While sitting idly at the kitchen table he read me the small print, which said, “This product is frozen from fresh and thawed from your convenience”. Whaaaaaat!!!!!!!

I go to the bakery section of the supermarket for freshly baked goods. I don't just buy food for convenience, I buy it for taste. Thawing frozen donuts and placing them in the baked goods section is a cynical exercise in money making. If they were going to be honest they would sell them in the freezer section so I could defrost them at my true convenience. But having seen this sneaky sale, I wonder what else I am missing with the small print.

Fortunately there are no such nasty tricks in Astra's recipes. She shares lots of delicious baking on her blog. It looks so good but is also healthy. Sylvia and I (and my mum) loved this loaf. With her current (no pun intended) obsession with sultanas, Sylvia particularly loved picking out the cranberries. I am not sure that the white chocolate was really needed . It was there to give a bit of sweetness for E but not enough for his liking. The maple syrup gives a lovely flavour but there isn't much sugar in there. Just what we needed after all that butterscotch.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
This time last year: PPN Cavolo Nero and Chickpea Pasta
This time two years ago: Rathdowne Street Food Store - hearty and interesting
This time three years ago: Hummus - morning and night

Banana Apple Loaf
Adapted from Food for Laughter

• 1 cup white flour
• ½ cup wholemeal flour
• ½ cup oats
• ⅓ cup dried cranberries
• ⅓ cup white chocolate chips
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 ripe bananas, mashed
• ¼ cup canola oil
• ⅓ cup applesauce
• ⅓ cup maple syrup
• 1 egg
  

- Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F). Line and grease a loaf tin.
- Combine the flours, oats, cranberries, white chocolate, chips, baking powder, and cinnamon. Set aside.
- Place mashed bananas, canola oil, applesauce, maple syrup, and egg. Lightly whisk together with a fork. Pour into dry ingredients and mix until combined.
- Pour the batter into the loaf tin, and bake for 50 minutes to an hour - until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Allow the loaf to cool for 10-15 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool (or cool in the pan as Astra suggests)!

On the stereo:
The best of 1980-1990 - U2

Scones and soup for busy days

On the weekend my dad and my sister’s partner, John, put a gate from our back yard into the back lane. As I have no practical skills in installing a gate, I made sandwiches and strawberry marscapone scones for the workers. It took most of the day and when they left, I was glad we could relax with some soup I had made the previous night.

The soup was inspired by browsing through a recipe magazine in the supermarket. I bought the magazine and days later I made the Cauliflower and Zucchini Soup with Dumplings. Fortunately E made some scrambled eggs for Sylvia and himself. He makes them with pesto, tomato and cheese. It gave me a time to make some frugal freezer stock and then use it to make the soup.

I don’t usually start from scratch like that when making soup but I had the scraps in the freezer ready to be made into stock and I know what a difference the home made stock makes. It made all the difference to this soup. I didn’t bother with any additional spices or flavouring even though the recipe call for cumin. The only problem with the recipe was that there weren’t that many dumplings.

On the third night we made the last of the soup go further by stirring in with some crumbled falafel and marscapone cheese, and serving it with steamed corn and broccoli on the side. Which brings me to lunch on Saturday. I went out in the morning and bought some fresh falafels from my favourite local falafel shop (Half Moon Café) and made salad sandwiches with falafels (lettuce, tomato, grated carrot, falafel and mayonnaise). Fresh bread and abundance of veggies always make it a joy to make salad sandwiches.

I had decided I would make scones as well. I love makings scones and had some old bananas that seemed to be destined for scones. However, in searching for a banana scone recipe (and finding one I hope to try later) I chanced upon a recipe for Strawberry Marscapone Scones. It ticked boxes of those hard to use ingredients in my fridge. The strawberries were almost past their best and I am still new enough to marscapone cheese to be unsure of how to use my leftovers from the Butterscotch Layer Cake.

I was dubious about rubbing marscapone cheese into the flour along with the butter but it worked and I am sure it helped make the scones light as a feather. They were lovely. It was an American recipe with more sugar and butter than our traditional Australian ones and eggs, which we don’t usually add. Hence it was far richer but it meant they were lovely just as they were or with a stroke of butter. As an Aussie I couldn’t resist reverting to our scone traditions and cutting them into small circles and baking them at a higher heat, as well as reducing the sugar.

The scones took a while but I was glad to have them to offer to John and dad after all their hard work. There was welding and cutting and drilling in the backyard. John had brought over equipment worth more than our car. Our electricity even went once or twice thanks to his power tools. He had a sandwich but couldn’t finish it for iron filings flying about.

When they finished, I gave both John and dad a bag of scones to take away because they had been too busy to stop and eat in the afternoon. John had one immediately but my dad waited to get home and butter his. Fran and my mum got to taste them and loved them.

These scones were so light and fluffy that I hope to make them again. My mum commented that the strawberries tasted like the jam was in the scones rather than on top. As this was such a great way for me to use some neglected strawberries, I am sending these toLynny Lu who is hosting Weekend Herb Blogging #232 this week. The blog event, which is coordinated by Haalo and was started by Kalyn, showcases how bloggers use fruit, vegetables, nuts and seeds each week.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
This time last year: Ricki’s Tempting Truffles
This time two years ago: Waste Not Want Not Cookies
This time three years ago: The Vegie Bar: a tyranny of choice

Cauliflower and Zucchini Soup with Dumplings
adapted from Recipe Plus May 2010
serves 4-6

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 brown onions, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 1.25 litre vegetable stock (I used this one)
  ½ small cauliflower roughly chopped (or a whole on if you have it, though you may need a little more liquid)
• 400g tin of cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
• 270g tin of creamed corn
• 4 medium zucchini, roughly chopped

Dumplings:

• 1 cup packed fresh breadcrumbs (I used a little less than a cup of finely chopped stale bread and used some roasted maize to make it up to a cup)
• 35g cheddar cheese, grated
• 2 eggs
• chives, optional (I didn’t use)
  

Heat the olive oil in a stockpot or large saucepan. Add the onion and cook til browned. Add garlic and stir for an additional minute. Add stock, cauliflower, creamed corn, and cannellini beans. Bring to the boil and simmer for about 10 minutes. Add zucchini and simmer for another 10 minutes. Blend the soup with a hand held blender.

While the soup is simmering, mix dumplings ingredients together to make a thick mixture and roll into about 12 small balls (about the size of golf balls).

Drop balls into soup and simmer for about 2-3 minutes – they will rise to the surface when they are cooked. (NB I just noticed that the recipe says to cook dumplings in boiling water but I didn’t read the recipe properly and my way saved on dishes.)

Serve the soup with the dumplings.

Strawberry Mascarpone Scones

Adapted from Recipezaar
makes about 20

• 4 cups plain white flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• ⅓ cup sugar
• pinch salt
• zest of 1 orange
• 125g butter, sliced
• ½ cup mascarpone cheese
• 2 large eggs
• ⅔ cup buttermilk
• seeds scraped from 1 vanilla pod
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1½ cups strawberries, diced

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and zest. Rub the butter and mascarpone cheese into the flour mixture until it resembles breadcrumbs. Set aside.

Whisk together eggs, buttermilk, vanilla, and honey.

Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Pour in the egg mixture and the strawberries. Gently stir until it forms a very soft dough.

Tip dough onto a well floured surface and knead gently til it comes together – mine was still a bit rough but I didn’t want to overwork it. Pat into a circle on floured surface and cut into 5cm rounds with a scone cutter or a glass. Brush a little milk over the tops of the scones.

Bake at 220 C for about 20 minutes or until scones are golden brown on top and have a little colour on their bottom. Wrap in a teatowel and serve warm. If they are not eaten on the day of baking, put in the freezer and gently defrost in microwave. Delicious served with butter.

On the Stereo:
Ravage: Westwind