PPN Holiday cooking - Nut Roast and Pasta Napoletana

We've had a lovely Easter weekend.  I made hot cross buns on a quiet relaxing Good Friday (and will update that recipe soon).  Yesterday and today we spent in Geelong with my parents and family.  It was a whirlwind of catching up with my sister's Irish family, easter egg hunts, a big Easter lunch and visits to the park.  I was pleased to fit in a few impromptu recipes to get us by and will share these at the bottom of the post.

Sylvia had a lovely time playing with her cousin Dash.  Last night we let them share a bed, sleeping top to tail.  Well, they were actually having more fun than sleeping.  They were very excited about the Easter Bunny visiting them.  Even more exciting this morning were the Easter egg hunts.  One early for the wee ones and another one (with clues by my brother-in-law Fergal) when the older cousins arrived later.  Kids seem to love possessing Easter eggs as much if not more than eating them.

The family were very generous with easter eggs.  Sylvia was given quite a few.  Special mention though goes to my sister-in-law Erica who made her own easter eggs and packaged them in a colourful bags.

Meanwhile I whipped up a nut roast for lunch today (see top photo).  I was pleased that I was able to make one at short notice in my mum's kitchen with no recipe.  Those who read my blog regularly know I make them regularly as the centre to a roast dinner.  Even so, I was impressed that I managed to get this one made while my brother Dave squeezed (and sieved) orange juice for breakfast.  Everyone (except Sylvia) found it delicious.  I ate it with a vegetarian gravy, golden roast potatoes, roast pumpkin, cauliflower cheese and peas.

I guess that Mum and Erica decided that we had enough chocolate about and it was not to be found in the desserts.  Erica's angry chicks cupcakes looked very cute alongside mum's caramel tart, pavlova and sponge cake.  I was very taken by the caramel tart which was superb.

After an afternoon of chatting in the loungeroom, backyard sport and a visit to the park, we set off for home.  After a large midday meal and a wee bit too much chocolate, I wanted a quick and easy dinner.  I took out some fancy fettuccine from the pantry, made a quick tomato sauce and unpacked my suitcase while the pasta cooked.  I call it Napoletana (or Napolitana).

The pasta was just what we needed.  All it needed was some basil from my mum's garden, if only I had thought to pick some before I left.  As I don't make this sort of dish often these days, I have written what I did in a recipe below for future reference.  It strikes me as representing a meeting of my past and present: the cooking I learnt in my student days coupled with some flavours I have discovered through blogging.

I am sending the fettuccine napolitana to Gillian of So So Simple Life for Presto Pasta Nights #259, a great pasta event coordinated by Ruth of Once Upon a Feast.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
This time last year: Memes are due. Thanks are due.
This time two years ago: SOS KC: Beets, Greens and Chickpea Curry
This time three years ago: A Nutroast Tribute
This time four years ago: A Long-winded Nut Roast Post

Cheesy carrot nut roast
serves 4 with sides

slurp of olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, grated
1 cup fresh breadcrumbs
1/2 cup ground almonds
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
generous grind of salt and black pepper, or to taste
80g grated cheese
2 eggs

Fry onion and carrot in olive oil over medium heat in a large frypan until vegies are soft.  Transfer to a large mixing bowl.  Stir in remaining ingredients to make a fairly thick mixture.  Check seasoning and adjust to taste.  Tip into a silicone loaf tin (or a greased and lined metal loaf tin).  Cook at 180 C or 350 F for about 30 - 40 minutes or until golden brown and firm when you touch the middle of the loaf.  Let sit for about 10 minutes before turning out of tin onto a serving tray.  The nut roast can be reheated in the oven or sliced up to eat.

Fettuccine Napoletana 
serve 4-6

slurp of olive oil
1 onion, chopped
few cloves of garlic, finely chopped
good glug of red wine (about 1/4 cup)
about 400ml tomato passata (or 400g tin of diced tomatoes)
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp French lavender salt (or salt and mixed herbs)
drizzle of maple syrup (about 1 tsp) 
knob of promite (about 1/2 tsp)
shake of ground chillies
500g egg fettuccine
finely grated parmesan cheese to serve
chopped baby spinach to serve

Fry onions in olive oil on low heat until browned.  Add garlic and cook for a minute or two.  Tip in the red wine - this was sort of like a deglazing - and simmer for a few minutes.  Stir in passata and remaining ingredients.  Check taste and adjust seasonings.  Bring to the boil and simmer.

While the tomato sauce is simmering, fill the kettle and bring to the boil.  When boiled, pour water into large saucepan with a pinch or two of salt over high heat.  When water boils in the saucepan, add pasta and put the lid on.  When water boils yet again, turn the heat to low and set the timer for the cooking time on the packet (usually about 10 minutes).  When pasta is cooked, drain and return to the pan.

Toss pasta with tomato sauce. Serve hot with parmesan and spinach.

On the Stereo:
Tricheurs (LP): Peer Raben

WHB Purple carrot soda bread, wildlife and sandcastles

My sister has come to visit from Ireland with her husband and son for a couple of weeks.  Her little boy Dash is the closest cousin in age to Sylvia.  It has been great to see them together.  They have had fun playing in the sandpit in our backyard, playing with a parasol at a wildlife park and making sandcastles at the beach.   They don't always get along.  A bit like me and cooking this week!

The purple carrot and chia soda bread, based on a Carrot and sunflower seed recipe from Haalo seemed like a miss at first, but ended up the welcome backbone of many meals this week.  I have also had great success with some mock tuna salad, soba noodle salad, hot cross buns (more on them soon) and a smoky stirfry of zucchini, cabbage and capsicum.  E said the latter was quite salty but when he tasted tonight's gnocchi with kale and pesto, he found out how horribly salty dinner could be.  The shop bought gnocchi was unbearably salty and my idea of adding chopped green tea pumpkin seeds made it taste like it had cardboard shrapnel in it.  Enough about bad food, let me tell you about some of the adventures and the lovely soda bread!

On Wednesday Sylvia and I went to the Jirrahlinga Koala and Wildlife Sanctuary with the family.  We have been before and seen koalas up close but this time the little fur balls were asleep and hard to spot in the trees.  We did enjoy seeing kangaroos, wombats, dingos, a kookaburra, emu, goannas, and wallabies.

I am not usually an echidna fan but I really loved this cute little fellow and the way he was looking up at the onlookers when I took his photo.  Jirrahlinga is right by Barwon Heads so we went to the beach there after seeing all the animals.  It was nice to go there because E and I have been working our way through the Sea Change boxset.  The tv show was set in the town.  It is hard to look at the iconic bridge (see top photos) without thinking of the show.

For lunch we had fish and chips overlooking the below playground.  For Sylvia and me that meant chips and potato cakes, which were very good (once she got over falling off the picnic seat).  Then Sylvia's cousins got their bathers on and went for a swim in the mouth of the Barwon River.  Sylvia refused to go in.  She loved the huge sandcastle they built with a moat that was continually refreshed with buckets of water from the river.  Finally she decided to go in the water in her t-shirt and skirt.  Fortunately I had some clean clothes for her to change into afterwards. 

Sylvia was so tired out by all the fun with her cousins that she fell asleep in the car and tumbled straight into bed when she got home.  I was quite tired too and was glad to have some easy dinner to dish up.  Soda bread, mock tuna salad and some spinach and feta pie that my mum had made for me (see bottom picture). 

I had made the soda bread the previous evening with some purple carrots that I found at the Queen Vic Markets.  When I told my nieces that we had purple carrots they thought that I was making it up.  I wouldn't have believe it when I was a kid either.  Those of us who know our food history know that carrots were eaten in many colours up until a few centuries ago.

The purple carrots reminded me of beetroot with their readiness to stain anything in their path.  In fact, in the middle of grating the carrots for the soda bread, my neighbour visited with her 3 year old.  I loved the delight that both Sylvia and Gordon took in my purple stained hands.  The colour was even more interesting than beetroot because once it dried my skin took on blue and purple hues like a bruise.

And if you don't get excited by coloured hands, then perhaps check out the purple marbling of the dough when the bread was ready to go in the oven.  The colour when it came out was even more startling.  A dark deep colour that seemed to shift between purple and blue.  The bread was soft and pleasing.  My only criticism is one that I have addressed in the recipe below.  I only put a pinch of salt and then bread needed more seasoning.  It was delicious when topped with promite, cheese or cream cheese and jam.

As I originally was inspired to make this bread by Haalo's post, it only seems right to share it with her.  Hence, I am sending this risotto to Haalo of Cook Almost Anything.  She is this week's host for Weekend Herb Blogging #328, and the coordinator of this event which was founded by Kalyn.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
This time last year: Strawberry muffins, new oven and an allergy
This time two years ago: WHB Easter nut roast and reflections
This time three years ago: Carrot Miso Soup
This time four years ago: Tartan Day Stew

Purple Carrot and Chia Soda Bread
adapted from BBC Olive Magazine via Cook Almost Anything

350 g plain white flour
150 g wholemeal plain flour
2 tbsp chia seeds
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 to 1 tsp French lavender salt (or regular salt)
150g purple carrots (or use orange carrots)
300 grams plain yoghurt
½ cup milk, approx (I used soy milk)

Preheat oven to 180°C.  Grease an oven tray (Haalo suggests warming an ungreased tray in the oven and playing baking paper on it when bread is ready.)

Mix flours, bicarb soda, salt and grated carrots in a large mixing bowl.  Make a well in the centre and gently stir in the yoghurt and most of the milk.  The dough should come together into a soft and slightly sticky ball.  Add more milk if needed.  Turn out onto a lightly floured surface.  Knead for about a minute or two until it is a smooth ball.

Place the dough on the prepared tray.  Flatten slightly and cut a cross in the top with a sharp knife.  Bake for about 30-50 minutes.  (I thought mine was ready after 35 minutes because it had a good crust on it but when I opened it the middle was still a bit doughy and because it was still hot I could put it straight back in the oven to cook further.  Perhaps I could have stuck a skewer in the middle to check if it was cooked through.)

Serve warm.  If you have any left, cool on a wire rack and it will be delicious kept in an airtight container and eaten at room temperature or toasted over the next two to three days.

On the stereo:
The Sound of Music soundtrack

Plum almond tart

On the weekend we turned the clocks back for the end of daylight savings.  The days are milder but still pleasant for children to play outside.  The nights are darkening.  When I rode home last night the streetlights were on.  It must be plum season.  Which means time to heat up the oven and bake.

Plums are the only stone fruit I seem to bake with.  Peaches, apricots, and cherries all are in season when it is too hot to bake.  Plums arrive just as the weather cools enough to make baking a pleasant prospect.  When I bought some plums, I decided to try a plum tart from Smitten Kitchen.

You only need to look at the above picture to see that I am no expert at pastry.  I rarely make it.  Even so, I was surprised to find that I did not have one dessert recipe with pastry in my recipe index.  I don't have the right tins and I was not helped by my poor translation from Fahrenheit to Celcius when baking the pastry.  My oven is usually so slow that it wore the blame at first.

I crammed the plums into the tart.  When uncooked it looked like too many.  Yet four plums didn't seem that much.  Once the tart was cooked, the plums didn't seem excessive.  Not to me anyway.  Neither E nor Sylvia were big fans of the fruit.  E politely left some at the side of his plate as usual.  Sylvia pulled her plums out and flung them where they landed.  She did love the pink places where the plums had been. 

I haven't made many desserts lately.  It took me days to get around to making this one.  As I was trying to get this tart into the oven, Sylvia had one of those moments when she collapsed in a flood of tears for no good reason.  I baked it at a lower temperature than the recipe said (due to above mis-translation) so it took longer to bake.  As it came out of the oven, I checked the recipe again and couldn't believe that it was meant to be served at room temperature.  More waiting!  Finally, I had my wedge of tart on the plate and it was lovely.

At first I wasn't sure that there was enough filling but by the time we finished it, I loved it.  Yet despite E's compliments on the pastry, I am not sure I will return to this recipe as it just doesn't feel right for me.  It has made me want to try a few more pastry desserts to find one that calls my name.

The tart is not a great tale of success in the kitchen.  So I wanted to end on a more positive note.  I made another dish last week that was inspired by Smitten Kitchen (via Eat Me Delicious).  It was a Roast Sweet Potatoes topped with pecans, goats cheese and celery.  However I used seasoned lentils (a bit like these) instead of the pecans and chopped quince paste instead of dried cranberries.  It was fantastic.  Yet I don't feel ready to give a recipe and could probably repeat it without one.  I tried it the next night with roast pumpkin but I think it worked with the sweet potato better.  Ironic, isn't it, that I leave you with a recipe for the tart that wasn't a great success but I am unable to give you a recipe for this dish that I loved.  Life's like that sometimes.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
This time last year: WHB: Plum and Cinnamon Oat Slice
This time two years ago: Apocalyptic Dreams, Hot Cross Buns and Banana Nutella Cake
This time three years ago: Pooh Bear Honey Slice
This time four years ago: Pumpkin Apple and Sage Risotto

Plum-Almond Tart
Adapted from Bon Appetit, October 1998 via Smitten Kitchen
Serves 8

For crust:
1 cup plain white flour
1 tablespoon sugar
pinch salt
125g cold butter, chopped
2 tablespoons cold water

For filling:
50g ground almonds
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
55g butter, room temperature
350g red plums (I used about 4 medium), pitted, cut into 1cm-thick wedges
raspberry liqueur (or other booze) and red currant jam (or other jam), optional
Cream to serve, optional

To make crust:
Preheat oven to 190 C or 375 F and grease a 22cm round springform tin (ideally a pie dish but I only had a cake tin).  Combine flour, sugar and salt in processor.  Add butter and process until the mixture resembles fine crumbs.  Add water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until mixture comes together into a ball of pastry.  Remove from the food processor and transfer to a lightly floured surface.

Roll out to about 28cm diameter and use to line the tin.  Trim any excess.  Freeze for 15 minutes and blind bake for 30ish minutes until golden (I missed the bit about freezing it and blind baked at the wrong temperature and then returned to the oven to bake until golden without the beans so it started to swell and I had to prick the pastry!  Not recommended!)  Cool slightly.

To make filling: 
Mix ground almonds, sugar egg and butter until combined (I did mine in the blender).  If you wish, add a couple of teaspoons of booze such as raspberry liqueur.  I found this mixture was a lot thicker than I expected and quite small in volume.  Tip it into the baked pastry case and you will find as I did that it is sufficient.  Arrange plum slices in the almond filling.

To bake:
Bake pie for about 50 minutes or until plums are tender and filling is golden brown. Warm a little booze and jam and brush over pie.  Cool to room temperature.  Serve with cream if desired.  Keeps a couple of days.

On the stereo:
At the Crescendo: Arthur Lyman

Spinach crackers and hummus for a potluck

After the unravelling of my plans for a green vegan potluck for bloggers on St Pat's Day, it was postponed until the last weekend in March.  Which was fine.  The purpose, after all, was to eat lots of yummy green food and get together with some local bloggers.

In an attempt to plan ahead, I had a practice run of spinach crackers and zucchini cake ahead of time.  Yet the day of the potluck still found me up early baking cake, making crackers, riding to the supermarket for a last minute purchase, whipping up cream cheese frosting, whizzing up some green hummus, chopping vegies and tidying up, while E kept our dishes and young child under control.

I'd instantly bookmarked the spinach crackers that Angela had posted on Oh She Glows recently.  I loved making the green sludge of spinach and water that held together the flour and butter.  As with Angela's crackers, the mixture was greener raw than cooked but still retained enough colour to please. 

I was also very pleased with my new purchase of French lavender salt (salt, coriander, aniseed, lavender, fennel, chilli pepper, garlic, ginger).  It gave amazing depth of flavour to the crackers.  They were an instant hit with everyone in the household.

I also made some spinach hummus.  It didn't have the brilliant green of Angela's but it was rather tasty so I have included the recipe I used below.  In addition to crackers and hummus, I chopped up green vegies and had purchased a few green snacks.  We loved the pea snacks from Miaow Miaow - E said they were a bit like cheezels (think flavoured fibreglass!) but greener and tasted more of pea than cheese.  The green tea pumpkin seeds were less successful but interesting to try.  I bought wasabi peas for others because they are too spicy for me.  Lastly I bought a packet of edamame.

Our guests added to the spread of green food.  I asked them to bring vegan food as the majority of people I invited were vegan bloggers.  Mel of Veganise This! brought along spinach arancini with tofu bacon stuffing - she knows how much I loved tofu bacon.  Michael of Where's the Beef not only brought along a spicy but tasty Green Couscous Salad but also wore a green t-shirt with a giraffe on it! 

You might notice not all the food was green.  I didn't want to be didactic about green as a theme so I left it to bloggers to interpret it.  Cakelaw of Laws of the Kitchen took a lateral approach and interpreted it as environmentally green and bought a hearty Cannelini Bean Casserole that complemented the other dishes perfectly.

Dessert also had plenty of interesting flavours and textures.  Alexe of Soy and Chocolate (and partner Steven) brought along an impressively high vegan gluten-free chocolate cake with green avocado frosting.  Cindy made delicious mint choc chip ice-cream (my favourite flavour as a girl) that astounded us because it was dyed green with spinach.  I made a very soft zucchini cake with green cream cheese frosting (post on this to come).  Cakelaw made some healthy and berry nice Buckwheat Apple and Berry Muffins.  Mel brought along Pistachio Burfi - a lovely soft nutty fudge (not pictured).  E loved it even better than most Indian sweets because it wasn't tooth achingly sweet.

It is always a joy to share a meal with bloggers, taste their recipes and meet some new faces.  We chewed the fat over Blogger, captcha codes, urls, copyright, travel, recipes and where to buy liquid smoke and edamame in Melbourne.  Cindy had kindly brought me a bottle of liquid smoke.

Sylvia was very shy when Cakelaw first arrived but warmed up.  She and Dolly had a lovely time entertaining everyone once Sylvia had eaten all the edamame she could.  Sylvia slurped her melted ice cream.  Dolly beeped.  Sylvia sang.  Dolly cried when she was hit by another doll.  Sylvia threw Dolly to me to catch.  Sylvia threw herself to me to catch.  Dolly jumped.  Sylvia asked why cake need icing (to which Cindy replied with great sweet tooth wisdom why does icing need cake)!  She was so enthusiastic about our visitors by the time Mel left last, that Sylvia was begging to go home with her. I was also sad to see everyone go.  It has been a good lunch.  I hope we might do it again.

I am sending the Spinach Crackers to Jacqueline of Tinned Tomatoes for her Bookmarked Recipes event.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
This time last year: Nut roast renovation: raw and rescued
This time two years ago: Eating by colours – orange burgers
This time three years ago: Marvellous Mars Bar Slice
This time four years ago: Seduced by Strawberries and a Pudding

Spinach crackers with French lavender salt
Adapted from Oh She Glows
Makes about 36 medium crackers or 60 small ones

1 and 1/4 cups wholemeal flour
1 and 1/2 (scant) tsp of french lavender salt
55g vegan margarine (I used Nuttalex)
1/4 cup + 1 tbsp water
30g baby spinach

Preheat oven to 200 C (400 F) and line three medium baking trays with baking paper or silicone mats.

Place flour and salt into a medium to large bowl and rub in the butter until you have the consistency of fine breadcrumbs.  Blend water and spinach until smooth and add to the flour mixture.  Stir until combined and then knead lightly on a floured surface.

Cut dough in half and roll out one half until quite thin.  Cut out shapes or cut into rectangles with a sharp knife and transfer shapes/rectangles to prepared trays.  Prick with a fork (or I found that they develop air pockets in the oven).  Repeat with remaining dough.

Bake until lightly browned and dried.  Angela suggested 9-10 minutes.  They took 12-14 minutes in my oven which is not very powerful.  A few got quite brown and were quite crispy rather than slightly chewy.  Cool on a wire rack.  Ours have only kept a few days.

Spinach Hummus
Adapted from here

2 spring onions
1 handful of parsley (thanks mum)
2 garlic cloves
85g baby spinach
2 tins of 400g chickpeas, rinsed and drained
juice of 1 small to med lemon and 1 lime
1 tsp French lavender salt
3 heaped dessertspoons of tahini
dash of cayenne
about 1/4 cup olive oil (or two very generous splashes)

Process the spring onions, parsley and garlic until finely chopped.  My food processor couldn't cope so I finally took it out and finely chopped it.  I returned it to food processor and added remaining ingredients.  Puree.  Check seasoning and adjust until the flavours were balanced nicely.  Keep in the fridge in an airtight container for a week or two.

On the stereo:
Sleeping Beauty - 23 Alltime Favourite Songs & Stories: Jack in the Box

WW Skye's tomato and pumpkin curry and copyright issues

I've never got on the Skye Gyngell bandwagon.  There was never any reason to.  Not until Lucy wrote up this Tomato and Pumpkin Curry with Lime and Coconut.  Though I fancied the recipe, it was really the serendipitous arrival of curry leaves in my kitchen that prompted me to make the curry.  I loved the way that Skye wrote the recipe which has prompted me to reflect on some of the copyright discussions going on in the blogosphere lately.

My mum was at my place and needed to take curry leaves along to the centre where she volunteers in the kitchen.  I gave her the last of my (much neglected) stash in the freezer and in return she brought me some from her garden.  She also brought along some basil and parsley.  It seemed foolish to go out and buy fresh coriander (cilantro) which I don't like anyway when I had fresh herbs in the house already.  So began my tweaking of the recipe.

It seems a good a time as any to bring up the thorny issue of copyright and recipes.  It has surfaced in a few posts I have seen lately.  Vanessa Kimbell (who recently became a published cookbook author) has posted a blogger code of fair practice that includes only posting recipes where bloggers have requested permission to use them.  Lucy of The KitchenMaid has removed a recipe upon request due to copyright issues.  And Amanda of Lamb's Ears and Honey has boldly refused a request to remove a recipe on the grounds that she has not breached any copyright issues.  All posts (with their comments) make fascinating reading.

I have spoken before about where I stand on recipes and copyright.  I have seen a few furores about copyright during my time blogging. Not Quite Nigella and ACP, Alosha's Kitchen and America's Test Kitchen, and Monica Gaudio and Cook Source.  I have also recently stumbled across a photographer who is grappling with copyright issues and Pinterest.  In fact I thought I would never finish this post because I keep getting drawn into fascinating posts and comments.

[Update: I've found two more interesting links since uploading this post - BlogHer article on Elise Bauer of Simply Recipes finding her blog content made into an e-book for sale on Amazon and reflections on Pinterest by Meeta on What's for Lunch Honey. And I found one positive one at The Window Seat about Pinterest's changes.]

One of the best pieces of advice about food blogging copyright issues that I have found is on recipe attribution by David Lebowitz.  To summarise the law as I understand it: you cannot copyright a list of ingredients but you can copyright creative expression in how a method is written.  As Jennifer Geuvin puts it so nicely "Sharing recipes is, after all, part of the tradition of cooking. But sites are still struggling with defining the line between what's acceptable or even beneficial copying, and what's damaging their brand or profits."  Recipe copyright feels like tradition and technology colliding ever so awkwardly.

This whole copyright debate seems to be about more than the law.  It seems to be about moral rights as well, which I think is a murkier area to dabble in.  Whatever the law, argue some, you will be taking away a cookbook writer's income by reproducing recipes.  I agree, however, with those who say that blogging can promote a cookbook.  I actually discovered Dan Lepard (who is central to much of the recent debate) through blogging.  However I think part of the issue is that the internet has changed how we share information and for every person like myself who wants to abide by copyright law, there are many more who just don't care.  Though I don't know that there are many people who would - or could - find all the recipes from any one cookbook on the web rather than buy the book?

For me, if I read about a recipe on someone's site I really want to see their version of the recipe.  Which doesn't mean that I wont go to the original recipe and might even buy the book.  This brings me in a roundabout way to Skye Gyngell's recipe for Tomato and Pumpkin Curry with Lime and Coconut.  When I read about it on the KitchenMaid, I was curious to know how Lucy had adapted it, especially as she lives in my region and uses different pumpkins to those that Skye has access to.

I also can't help but think that it must be frustrating to get a recipe just right, only to find someone like myself who doesn't eat fish sauce, doesn't like coriander, has access to different pumpkins, wants to bump up the protein with nuts, prefers to add the spinach in the curry rather than on the side and just doesn't follow the method.  Every now and again in this sort of situation, I question if it is even the same recipe but I like a recipe to have a heritage even if it sometimes looks quite different to the original.

I don't think that my recipe was quite as successful as Skye's because E had to eat bread with his because it lacked something.  I didn't manage to get the balance of flavours quite right but it was close enough for jazz (ie very good if not excellent).  The aroma while I cooked was amazing.  It was one of those pleasant early autumn evenings where it was a joy to potter in the kitchen while E and Sylvia sat on the verandah and played with coloured beads for the spokes of the bike wheels.  E did call the meal a "tightener" because it was very filling.  It was also pleasantly spicy from the fennel and mustard as well as the chilli.

The recipe made me think I could become a Skye fan as much for her wonderful way with words as for her interesting flavours.  I wish I could write so eloquently that people delight to read it - for example: "The curry should be pleasantly (not aggressively) hot; sweet (but not sticky); sour (but not so much that it makes you squint); and salty enough to underpin and ground the dish."  Such lyrical writing makes sense of copyright laws.  Of course if I copied out this recipe word for work, I can understand why it would be frowned upon.  But I hope you will agree that I am entitled to share my below version of the recipe.

I am sending this curry to Ricki for her Wellness Weekends event.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
This time last year: New Kitchen, Old Stuff
This time two years ago: Eat Drink Blog Conference - notes and reflections
This time four years ago: Dahl, Panch Phoran and Candlelight

Skye's Tomato and Pumpkin Curry with Lime and Coconut
Adapted from Skye Gyngell in the Independent
Serves 4

1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 red onion, peeled and finely sliced
3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
1 green chilli, chopped (I left out the seeds)
10 curry leaves
1/2 cup of raw cashews
850g pumpkin, peeled, trimmed and chopped
2 tbsp caster sugar (or other sweetner)
1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce (maybe more next time)
1/2 tbsp umeboshi vinegar (maybe leave it out next time)
Juice of 1 and 1/2 limes
15-20 baby roma tomatoes, halved
400g tin of diced tomatoes
270ml tin of light coconut milk
two good handfuls of baby spinach (about 120g), chopped
1 handful of basil (or fresh coriander), plus extra for serving

Dry fry fennel and mustard seeds in a small frypan over medium heat until the mustard seeds start to pop.  They will be quite well cooked and fragrant by then.  Use a pestle and mortar to grind the seeds. 

Heat the vegetable oil in a large frypan or wok.  Fry the onions for about 10 minutes over low to medium heat until soft.  Add garlic, chilli, curry leaves and cashews and cook gently for another couple of minutes.  Add ground mustard and fennel and continue cooking for another 5 minutes.  Add pumpkin and cook for about 10 minutes (I did 5 but next time would do 10 minutes as in Skye's recipe).

Now add sugar, soy sauce, umeboshi vinegar (if using), and lime juice.  Taste to check for a good balance of hot, sweet, sour and salty.  At this stage I wouldn't do too much adjustment to the hot and sweet flavours because they will be affected by tomatoes and coconut but check it is sour and salty enough.

Now add both the fresh and tinned tomatoes and cook for about 20-25 minutes until the pumpkin is tender (I did 20 but probably could have had the pumpkin a little more cooked.)  Stir in the coconut milk.  As my pumpkin was needing to cook a little more I also added 1/2 cup of water and I then simmered it for about 15 minutes (longer than in Skye's recipe).  A few minutes before it is ready, throw in the spinach so that it wilts in the curry.  Once pumpkin is cooked, turn off the heat and stir in a handful of basil leaves. 

I served the curry with rice but I think it would go really well with rice noodles too.  Serve with a few torn basil leaves scattered on top.  Skye advises letting it sit overnight for the flavours to mature but I served it straight away, though the leftovers were lovely the next day.

On the stereo:
This is the return of cult fiction: 30 classic film and tv themes - Various Artists

Snag Stand - cosmopolitan takeaway

Update: Snag Stand is now closed in Melbourne but still seems open in other states.

When we went to the Children's Book Festival at the State Library (below) on the weekend, there wasn't much food on offer but the library is surrounded by places to eat.  One of the most convenient places to go was Snag Stand, which I had intended to return to, despite learning the hard way that their sauerkraut has bacon in it. They do after all have a potato, smoked apple and sage vegetarian sausage.  That kind of attention to detail is rare in veggie sausages.

The first time I tried their snags was some months ago.  I ordered The Vegetarian.  This consisted of their potato, smoked apple and sage sausage with fried onions, rosemary mushrooms and truffle aioli on a brioche roll.  It was ok but a bit heavy for my tastes.  On my second visit I thought I would get a bit experimental and try the sauerkraut but found that it has bacon in it (though this is not stated on the menu which is a black mark against them).  On my last visit this weekend I noticed that they now have a Vegetarian Spicy Spanish Chorizo served with semi sun-dried tomatoes, chipotle aioli, baby rocket and shredded goats cheese on a brioche roll.  Kudos for having two vegetarian sausages.

Snag stand is clever, pricey and aimed at the hipsters.  I am sure it no coincidence that it is diagonally opposite RMIT University.  A sausage in a roll with toppings costs around $10.  From a hole in the wall.  And it is called a 'haute dog'.  A buzzer accompanies your wait so that you can be buzzed when your order is ready.  Well, at least they aren't yelling out your name!  And there are some seats on the footpath where you can wait or even eat your snag once it arrives.

Back to Saturday, I left Sylvia and E watching some of the book fest antics while I ordered for all of us.  E got a spicy meat kransky.  Sylvia had a plain sausage and sauce.  I went off the menu again and ordered a vegetarian sausage with fried onions, cheese and tomato sauce.  Then I found that I had a vegetarian version of the Australia Fare but with a poppyseed roll.  I also ordered chips because Sylvia loves them so much and I was unsure how she would go with her snag.  When I asked, our snags were packed into a bag in closed cardboard boxes rather the the open boxes in which they usually serve them.

The chips were great.  Hot, well seasoned and crispy.   I was pleased that Sylvia ate half of her sausage.  She might have even eaten more but E decided that he preferred the veg to the meat sausage and ate the other half.  My onion and cheese topped sausage was not the prettiest but it was delicious and satisfying, in an old fashioned kind of way.

It was an easy family meal for us but caters for a broad range of people.  The sausages can be plain as Sylvia's or quite gourmet.   Gluten free sausages are available (see Where's the Beef for more information on the veg sausages) and if you are after anything vegan, you might be interested to read Louise by Degrees' post.  I will definitely be back to try out more combinations.

Snag Stand
Cnr La Trobe and Swanston St (outside Melbourne Central shopping centre)
Melbourne CBD
Tel: (03) 9639 6544
Email: info@snagstand.com.au 
http://snagstand.com.au/

Update: Snag Stand is now closed in Melbourne but still seems open in other states. 

BC Spiced carrot pancakes and our weekend

Yesterday morning, Sylvia and I went to an op shop to drop off some old clothes.  We didn't leave empty handed.  I found a pretty Royal Tudor plate, among other things.  I had planned to make Carrot Cake Pancakes for breakfast but it seemed serendipitous that I was too disorganised and made them for lunch instead so I could photograph them on my lovely new plate.  It augured well for a pleasant weekend of good food and good fun.

After a week of very little new ideas in the kitchen, I had a lovely weekend of trying some of the great recipes I have been bookmarking.  As well as making pancakes after breakfast, I also made some toasted muesli that you can glimpse in the background of the above photo.  It was not exactly as I expected but I am already envisioning that it might work in muesli bars so stay tuned.  I also have experimented with some French lavender salt in some green crackers.  More on that later too.

Today we had a great time at the Children's Book Festival at the State Library of Victoria. The first thing we did was leave Sylvia's stroller at the pram parking station.  It was the first time we have come across such a service and it was brilliant.  It was so much easier to navigate the crowds and steps without Sylvia's stroller.  Then we went and queued for face painting for Sylvia.  I was impressed that there was an Indigenous face painting tent.  Sylvia chose a wombat but the woman painted a story on her face - the wombat, its tracks that led to a fireplace with lots of animals about it.

Of course, being at the State Library of Victoria meant that I had to have a wonder through the library.  I am very fond of the domed Reading Room that is a magnificent space.  It makes me nostalgic for my student days when I ordered books from the stacks here.  Since then the room has been renovated.  It is brighter and more elegant these days but I miss some of the shabby charm I remember.

The State Library is a great historic building.  I love the gallery of Australian painting.  It was hard to find time to give the artwork much time because I was too busy chasing around after Sylvia but there is a wealth of art, including a painting of one of my lecturers from my undergrad degree.  But just seeing the space is a joy because it is remniscent of some of the beautiful historic galleries in Europe.

We went to Snag Stand for lunch (more on that another time).  In a thoughtless moment I had promised Sylvia that she could have an ice cream after her sausage.  So true to my world we had a tub of mini-melts on the lawn in front of some entertaining children's musicians (the Kazoos).  I've never had these mini-melts before but I think they are great for children and an Australian summer.  They are small very very cold frozen beans of ice cream that melt in your mouth - once you get over the coldness.  Sylvia took ages to eat hers but we had none of the ice cream dripping down her arm or ending up as a pile of slush.

The book festival also had some great activities for kids.  Sylvia was too young for the readings but she loved the craft tables with boxes of fabrics and paper to glue on paper.  Older kids seemed to be enjoying writing their own books that the staff then "published".  I think they took a copy of every book.  I am not sure what happens to them but would be fascinated to know.  We also did some chalk drawing on Little Lonsdale Street, checked out the fire engine and had a wander through the petting zoo.

Tonight we had a delicious dinner of roast vegetables with chickpeas, yoghurt and pesto on top.  (A bit like this winter salad.)  The weather has really cooled down over the last few days.  The washing is not drying on the line so quickly but it is weather for roasting vegies and baking bread.  Can't complain too much abut that!

I always seem to have lots of carrots about these days.  Even after roasting a few tonight and putting quite a few more into pancakes yesterday.  The carrots make the pancakes a brilliant orange.  I misread the amount of ginger needed and it was a bit too overwhelming.  I also found that the pancakes were soft rather than fluffy inside, probably due to all the vegetables.  And I burnt most of them - no doubt I was distracted as usual.  Yet we really enjoyed them for lunch and Sylvia polished off the leftover two after her dinner.

Deb of Smitten Kitchen served hers with a sweet cream cheese topping and Joy the Baker put sultanas and walnuts in hers.  I stepped right back from the Carrot Cake theme and served mine more simply.  Many years ago while visiting a friend in Washington DC, I learnt of the joys of cream cheese and jam on toast.  It is still a favourite combination and went very well on these pancakes.

However Sylvia is not so keen on cream cheese and stuck to Nuttalex margarine and jam on hers.  I mention this because Ruth of Makey Cakey is hosting The Breakfast Club event this month and chosen Deliciously Dairy Free as the theme.  Sylvia has never been keen on dairy milk but lately has taken to drinking soy milk so that is our milk of choice lately.  It makes it even easier to cook dairy free.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
This time last year: WHB Peach crumble
This time two years ago: Flat pack chocolate chip cookies
This time four years ago: Polenta Pizza Tart

Spiced Carrot Pancakes
Adapted from Joy the Baker via Smitten Kitchen
Makes about 12 medium pancakes

1 cup soy milk (or other milk)
1 tsp lemon juice
400g carrots
1 egg, lightly whisked
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup plain white flour
1/2 cup wholemeal flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground ginger (or less)
pinch of salt
butter or margarine for frying (I used Nuttalex)

Mix soy milk and lemon juice and set aside for about 5 minutes so that the milk sours.  Peel, trim and finely grate carrots (you shoudl have about 2 cups).   Mix milk and carrots and add in egg, brown sugar and vanilla.

Combine remaining ingredients in a largish bowl,  Pour the carrot mixture into dry ingredients and gently stir until well mixed.

Heat a large frypan over medium high heat.  Melt a small knob of butter on the frypan and drop 3 pancakes into the pan, measuring about 2 dessertspoons of mixture per pancake.  Heat until mixture bubbles.  Flip pancakes and heat on second side for about a minute or until the pancakes are golden brown.  Serve hot.

On the stereo:
This is Hardcore: Pulp