GF Cornbread with Cheese and Sage - and random thoughts

Another recipe from one of my old foodie magazines.  I haven't done that much gluten free baking lately.  It was a dreamy picture in Vegetarian Times that convinced me to have another go at GF cornbread.  The recipe also appealed because it enabled me to use up some brown spotted sage, 2-day-old cooked corn on the cob and rapidly ripening cheddar.

Many years ago, soon after I started this blog, I made a GF cornbread with cornmeal and besan flour.  It was ok but not great.I was pleased that this GF cornbread was far better.  I d neither brown rice flour nor potato starch.  Instead I used soy flour and arrowroot.  I love using soy flour as it give lots of protein and richness and doesn't give the sandy/pasty texture that I often find in GF baking.  Not many recipes seem to use soy flour.  Possibly because there are too many people around with soy allergies.

We had the cornbread with the potato, cabbage and facon soup that I made on the weekend.  It tasted delicious.  In fact, I don't think E would have known if I hadn't told him.  Sylvia was not happy about corn in her bread but in her world there is no food that cannot be improved with vegemite.  I could possibly have done with slightly less salt.  It was very savoury with all the salt, cheese and smoked paprika.  The sage flavour was quite prominent but the cheese less so.

Now for my random thoughts:

• Today Sylvia and I went for a ride (she on the bike and me walking beside) to the petrol station where we pumped up her tyres.  Giving some love to your bike deserves good karma.  Instead one of her training wheels (that is stabilisers in the UK) fell off - and as if that wasn't bad enough, it fell off while we were crossing a busy road!  
• I was surprised at the weekend to talk to a couple of twentysomethings about Harold Holt and found out that they didn't know that in 1967 Prime Minister Holt went for a swim and was never seen again.  It must be the most fascinating way that any of our Prime Ministers left office.  Just to prove it is a great tale, tonight it was one of the stories in the new ABC talkfest-cum-quiz-show, Tractor Monkeys.
• I really want to start doing some sourdough baking but still am wary about bread that requires me to give such long term care.  So I quite liked this idea on a blog that I stumbled upon today.  Grayce on the Art of the Blog   She was told to make half your dough and let it rise twice then refrigerate overnight and add in small chunks to the dry ingredients of the rest of the loaf the next day.

I am sending this to Jacqueline for her Bookmarked Recipes event.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
One year ago: Cheese and wine crunchy salad
Two years ago:  SOS Facon (vegetarian bacon)
Three years ago: Bread pudding and smoothies for vegie kids
Four years ago: Broccoli Burgers are Winners
Five years ago: WHB: In Search of the Nectarine
 
Gluten Free Cornbread with Cheese and Sage
Adapted from Vegetarian Times Nov/Dec 2010

1 cup soy milk
splash of lemon juice
1 cup coarse or medium-grind yellow cornmeal
3/4 cup soy flour
1/4 cup arrowroot (tapioca flour)
100g vintage cheddar cheese, grated
1–2 tbsp chopped fresh sage
2 and 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarb soda (baking soda)
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp smoked salt
1 egg
kernels of a cob of corn, cooked

Preheat the oven to 200 C and grease and line a loaf tin.  Place soy milk and lemon juice in a medium jug and set aside to sour.

Mix cornmeal, soy flour, arrowroot, grated cheese, sage, baking powder, bicarb, smoked paprika and smoked salt in a largish mixing bowl.  Mix the egg and corn kernels into the milk mixture and stir well.  Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until combined.

Spoon mixture into the prepared load tin and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the loaf is golden brown and coming away from the sides of the tin.  (I baked mine an extra 10 minutes at 220 C because it wasn't brown enough.)  Cool on a wire rack for at least 15 minutes before slicing.

On the Stereo:
The Sound of Music Soundtrack

Potato, cabbage and facon soup for St Patrick's Day

I have been clearing out some old foodie magazines.  A pile of choice recipes have been ripped from their pages and sit by my computer.  One such recipe grabbed my attention as perfect for St Patrick's Day.   The Potato and Cabbage Soup in the BBC Australian Good Food Magazine recipe seems to be based on this one.  I veganised it by substituting my favourite tofu bacon for the piggy bacon.  It was lovely, though it looks so so different to the photo.

You may notice in the above photo that my potato are beginning to grow eyes.  They needed to be used.  The cabbage is of the drum variety, as recommended by the Australian recipe, rather than the greener Savoy recommended by the British recipe.  Drum cabbage is quite easy to buy in quarters here.  In the background, Sylvia and E are making button bracelets!  My kitchen is like that.

The soup took me far longer than the recipe suggested, as so often happens with my cooking.  In this instance, I ended up serving E and myself dinner after Sylvia had gone to bed so we could enjoy it rather than gulping it down so we could put her to bed at a reasonable hour.  The pureed potato made a creamy base for the soft cabbage and chewy tofu bacon.  A soup with lots of interesting texture and plenty of flavour.

I am sending this to Deb for Souper Sundays.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
One year ago: WHB Cauliflower Risotto and how to avoid dinner
Two years ago:  Artichoke muffins for the zoo
Three years ago: Green salads for Paddy’s Day
Four years ago: WTSIM… Pineapple and Banana Chutney
Five years ago: MM Vegetable nut crumble

Potato, cabbage and facon soup
Adapted from BBC Australian Good Food Magazine, August 2008
serves 5-6

25g butter (or margarine)
2 glugs of olive oil, divided
2 onions, sliced
1 carrot
1 celery stick
1 kg potatoes
3 garlic cloves 
6 cups water
2 tbsp tofu bacon marinade (or use liquid smoke or smoked paprika), thinly sliced
1 tsp stock powder
1 tsp salt
150 to 200g tofu bacon
a quarter medium cabbage (about 200g/8oz), finely sliced

Heat butter and a glug of olive oil in a stockpot.  Add the onions and fry for a few minutes.  While the onions are frying, prepare and roughly chop the carrot, celery, potato and garlic.  When all the vegetables are in the pot, cook over medium heat about 5 minutes.

Add water, marinade, stock powder and salt to the pot.  (It is quite salty at this stage but the cabbage absorbs some salt later.)  Simmer for about 20 minutes or until potatoes are soft.  While the vegetables are cooking, fry tofu bacon (facon) in a glug of olive oil on a non-stick frypan until browned.  Remove about 2/3 and then continue frying remaining facon until crispy and slightly charred.  Drain both batches of facon on kitchen towel and keep separate.

Puree the potato mixture with a hand held blender.  Add cabbage and the larger batch of facon.  Simmer for about 30 minutes or until cabbage is cooked.  Check and adjust seasoning (it benefits from lots of black pepper).  Serve with remaining facon sprinkled on top.

On the Stereo:
Setlist: The Frames

St Patrick's Day - rice krispie shamrocks and other recipes

St Patrick's Day is one of my favourite days to celebrate.  I think it is a combination of pride in my Irish ancestors, indoctrination by the nuns, a love of Ireland and a fine appreciation for green.  In the past there has been green beer, green hair and an amazing cake featuring St Patrick driving the snakes into the sea (sadly photographed before I knew how to focus on food).  Today there have been shamrocks.  I have taken a healthy version of rice krispy treats and added an unhealthy dose of green food colouring.

St Paddy's Day is an occasion for the most unnatural of food dyes.  Finding a green meal for the main course is not hard but green sweet food is more of a challenge.  Avocado, some sneaky spinach or green tea powder are possible but sometimes, nothing but food dye will do.  I had my heard set on making these Shamrock Rice Krispy Treats.

There were challenges.  I wanted to find a rice krispy treat recipe without marshmallows (not each to find vegetarian ones) and no peanut butter (due to Sylvia's allergy).  I found one in Let Them Eat Vegan.  Then I sent out E last night to buy cashew nut butter and rice bubbles (as we call rice krispies in Australia).  I made the green mixture and it tasted very good.

This morning I started with baking biscuits.  Can you spot the shamrock shapes that Sylvia and I made to have for breakfast among all the little ones.  I picked up a shamrock shaped biscuit cutter last year and dug it out especially for St Pat's Day.  It is one of the best symbols of the day, as the story goes that the saint used the shamrock to teach the heathens about the mystery of the trinity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  It seems such a common symbol, that I was taken aback when Sylvia was asking how big were shamrocks, and surprised to hear they are quite small plants growing among the grass.

After making the biscuits, we had a smoothie (banana, peach and passion fruit) and then cut the rice krispy slice into shamrocks.  The shamrocks were to take to a birthday party of a friend of E's.  It seemed that I was the only one there to make food for St Patrick's Day.  Well they were gobbled up anyway.  E enjoyed them but Sylvia decided they were too sweet.  (I think it was the bowl of lollies and the pink iced bun that decided this for her!)

We also had a soup for St Patrick's Day but that will have to wait for another post.  I would love to spend time chewing the fat about my Irish ancestors, my travels through Ireland, the country's history and some of the fascinating famous 'Irishmen' (such as Daniel Delaney, Oscar Wilde, James Joyce and Denis Cotter).

Instead I have had a think about St Patrick's Day food.  There are all sorts of things you will find online but as always I have my own ideas.  They come from my upbringing.  Raised as a Catholic and fed by a mother with strong Irish heritage, I think of traditional Irish food as stodgy potatoes and cabbage, horrid corned beef, scones and soda bread.  Ironically it is colourless, yes St Pat's Day is about garish greens and colourful rainbows, cheeky leprachauns and bright shamrocks.

Below is a list of some of the foods I have made for or would like to make for St Patrick's Day.  I have tried to avoid putting in every green recipe I love, because there are many.  A few have slipped in anyway.  Mostly I have tried to stick with food that either has Irish icons or is consistent with traditional Irish cooking and baking (or my idea of it at least)!  I hope you had a happy St Pat's Day and had a little green in your day.

St Patrick's Day Recipes:

From Green Gourmet Giraffe:

• Avocado pound cake
• Fried cabbage and potato with parmesan
• Guinness chocolate cake
• Green (pea) nut roast
• Margaret Quinn's brown bread 
• Potato, cauliflower and kale pesto mash
• Potato scones (aka potato farls) 
• Roasted cabbage, baked smoked tofu and bread
• Spinach pancakes
• St Patrick's soup and sweet potato soda bread

From elsewhere:

• Baileys Irish Cream - Not Quite Nigella
• Cauliflower cupcakes with green pea frosting - Gluten Free Happy Tummy
• Chilled green borscht - the New York Times
• Colcannon quesadillas - Robin Robertson
• Cucumber leprechaun hats - Creative Food
• Fruit rainbow - Gluesticks
• Green velvet cupcakes and lots more St Pat's ideas - Love From the Oven
• Guinness chocolate cheesecake - Eats Well With Others
• Leprechaun hat cupcakes - The Domestic Rebel
• Mint choc-chip icecream - Where's the Beef

Green shamrock rice krispies
Adapted from Let Them Eat Vegan and The Outlaw Mum
Made 16 shamrocks and lots of scraps!

1⁄2 cup cashew nut butter
1⁄2 cup rice malt syrup (because I can never find brown rice syrup)
4 heaped tsp brown sugar
pinch of salt
1⁄4 tsp agar powder
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
green food dye
*4 cups rice bubbles (ie rice krispies, or other puffed rice)

Mix all ingredients except food dye and rice bubbles into a large heatproof bowl.  Heat gently in the microwave until warm and gooey.  (I think I did about 1 1/2 minutes at about half power.)  The agar should have dissolved by then.  Stir in a few drops of food dye or as much as you need for your desired shade of green.  Stir in rice bubbles until wall coated with green gooey mixture.

Tip into a greased and lined lamington tin.  Press down until smooth and even.  I used a piece of baking paper (as recommended by Dreena).  Refridgerate overnight.  (It is easier to cut if firmed up in the fridge but I am sure you could refridgerate for less time.)

In the morning, use a shamrock cutter to cut shamrocks.  If you don't have a shamrock cutter, you could use a small heart cutter to cut three hearts and push together to make a shamrocks (with a stick to be the stalk).

*Note: to make these gluten free, choose a gluten free brand of puffed rice.

On the Stereo:
Renaissance of the Celtic Harp: Alan Stivell

MLLA Chickpea and potato curry with mango chutney

Tonight Sylvia decorated a birthday card and stuck stickers on her arms and danced to Scottish music.  I rushed around the kitchen making curry for dinner.  E helped by stirring and tasting the curry.  Like most meals, it was a little later than I had hoped but it was very good.

I recently found a couple of books that I bought on our travels to Scotland last year.  I think they had been put away before I had a chance to acquaint myself with them (or add them to My Cookbook List or Eat Your Books).  Goodness, if they don't get into my systems, they really do disappear down a black hole, wishing on a star that I might stumble upon them.

The BBC Good Food: More Veggie Dishes (Good Food 101) is a great little cookbook with lots of simple ideas for dinner.  I was particularly inspired to see mango chutney in some recipes.  I have only recently bought mango chutney for the first time (not being a fan of mangos) and I knew I have seen lots of recipes using it in the past.  So I chose a curry that would use up the potatoes that are growing eyes and the spinach that is turning to water.  I messed with the flavours and instead of adding all the tomato paste, I used up three tomatoes that were so ripe I was able to peel them like an orange. 

We at the curry with bread because I was feeling too rushed to cook rice and the bread needed to be used.  E told me it needed more spice.  I agreed.  We brought the jar of mango chutney to the table and dolloped extra on.  I have amended the recipe to include more chutney and added it as a condiment for serving.  Yoghurt would have been very nice too if we had some but it was excellent without it too.  I have a feeling I will return to this recipe as it uses just the sort of ingredients I usually have around the kitchen.

I am sending this curry to PJ of Seduce Your Tastebuds for My Legume Love Affair (#57), the monthly event celebrating beans and lentils and legumes, overseen by Lisa of Lisa's Kitchen and founded by Susan of The Well Seasoned Cook.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
One year ago: NCR Chang's crispy salad with green burgers
Two years ago:  CC Dried fruit and coconut balls
Three years ago: Awards, happiness, quicklinks and a conference
Four years ago: Hummingbird Cake
Five years ago: Pomegranates - the cruelest fruit?

Chickpea, potato and spinach curry
Inspired by the BBC Good Food: More Veggie Dishes (Good Food 101)
serves 4

300g potatoes (4 smallish potatoes), diced
2 tsp canola oil
2 onions, chopped
1 carrot, chopped into matchsticks
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tsp each cumin, coriander, turmeric, chilli paste
400g tin of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
3 large tomatoes, peeled and diced
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 tbsp mango chutney
1/4 tsp salt
150g baby spinach, roughly chopped
extra mango chutney, yoghurt and bread or rice to serve (optional)

Cook potatoes in salted water.  Simmer about 10 minutes until just tender and drain once cooked.

While potatoes are cooking, fry onion in oil in a large frypan for a few minutes until translucent.  Add carrot and garlic.  Cook for another 5 to 10 minutes until onion and carrot are soft.  Add cooked potatoes and spices.  Stir for a minute or two.

Add chickpeas, tomatoes, tomato paste, mango chutney and salt.  Cook for another few minutes.  Stir in baby spinach until wilted.  Check seasoning and adjust to taste.  Serve with more mango chutney, yoghurt and either bread or rice.

On the Stereo:
Scotland the Brave: Various Artists

In My Kitchen - March 2013

In my kitchen tonight is a cool breeze that is such a relief after a 9 day heatwave!  The cool change was such a relief that I baked bread and roasted pumpkin.  I am looking forward to using the oven more.  However what I have to show you today in my kitchen is mostly kid's parties, craft and summer food.  Not much cooking!

I will start with the heart biscuit above.  Isn't it the most gorgeous bikkie you have ever seen!  Sylvia was given it as a party favour after a kid's party.  It surprised me by tasting as good as it looked.  Soft and buttery.  Not that I was given much of a taste.

I always have 100s and 1000s sprinkles in my kitchen.  I have included a picture because I bought a new packet to celebrate Sylvia's birthday.  She loves fairy bread so I made her some for her party.  For the uninitiated, it is fresh white bread, spread with margarine and sprinkled with sugary 100s and 1000s that are probably filled with unnatural flavours and colourings.  It fills me with nostalgia for my childhood.

We have also been eating lots of fruit in our kitchen.  Peaches, nectarines, plums, grapes, apricots, watermelon, passionfruit.  Above are sugar plums.  Little cloudy purple plums with sweet yellow flesh.  I bought a carton of these for Sylvia's party and was eating them for days afterwards.  At least I felt better about these leftovers than all the chocolate cake.  (The cake is still in the freezer but we are slowly making our way through it.)

 

A cute fork that Sylvia was given as a birthday present.  She is enjoying using this set.  (Thanks Susie and girls.)

Another birthday present for Sylvia that isn't actually in my kitchen but is worth sharing.  It is a kitchen set for her dolls house.  Glasses, cups cutlery, saucepans and even a coffee maker.  So so cute.  (Thanks Chris, Fergal and Dash)  I must confess that they are still unopened.  They are so tiny I am worried they will disappear into a black hole.  I hope the delayed gratification will make them seem more precious to Sylvia.

As well as presents we have had quite a bit of craft happening.  Today we found poppit beads in a craft store.  Boy, they brought back memories.  Sylvia took to them with glee.  We also made button bracelets once we finally found some thin elastic (not as easy to find as you might think, especially when it involved finding that the Brunswick Spotlight had closed).

Last week the kitchen table was covered in painting after Sylvia suggested she paint in a spare 15 minutes.  It took far longer and we forgot about whatever we had planned to do after 15 minutes had elapsed.

Sylvia and E have been eating lots of Yoplait Petit Miam.  Each pot gets washed and seconded by Sylvia.  (Yes, she even washes some of them if given the chance!)  They get filled with little and tiny things to go into Sylvia's shop.  Then they get knocked over and make a mess.  Sigh!

Sushi is not easy to find in our local shopping strip.  A week or two back they were selling sushi at our local pool.  I told Sylvia I would buy her some.  There were no vegetarian options.  Sylvia was unfazed.  She suggested we make some at home.  We have been making it regularly ever since.  I have tried it filled with leftover pate and uncooked tofu bacon.  As I haven't been that great as sushi in the past, here are my learnings:

• It works best if the rice is spread thinly (with the back of a spoon) across most of the nori sheet leaving just enough at the end to seal it.
• If there is no filling (Sylvia's preference), it works quite well to roll up the sushi in a spiral.
• I love it with avocado, carrot, cucumber and tofu bacon.
• It doesn't roll very well if you spread the rice on the shiny side (as I tried today)
• The rice always sticks to the bottom of the saucepan - but less so if simmered on smallest gas flame.
• Leftover rice in a bear mould comes out fantastically if kept in the fridge overnight

I bought this novelty dish brush at the supermarket recently.  A great way to amuse Sylvia while out shopping.  I am not sure it had cheered up E about doing the dishes.

Some time back I complained about my water bottles.  We are still searching for the perfect water bottle in my household.  The green plastic bottle has been our favourite.  It seems leakproof if you keep the lid down but Safeway seems to have stopped selling them.  The blue one was ok.  E is quite fond of the green metal one lately but says it leaks slightly so he has to carry it in a plastic bag.

I have been buying fabrics for food photography props.  Very few have made it into photos but I love their pretty daintiness.  They came from (left to right) a market, an op shop, a vintage shop and a fabric shop.   (The creases are almost enough to make me want to buy an iron but who wants that sort of clutter!)

So there ends a peek around some foodie and not-so-foodie bits and bobs in my kitchen.  I am sending them to Celia for her In My Kitchen series.

Tomato pomegranate vinaigrette and a long weekend

.  

It's hot.  I'm busy.  So I have bundled up lots of weekend photos into some collages and tried to keep this short.  But there is a lot to say.  A whinge, a celebration and a salad.  And did I mention it was the Labour Day long weekend.  It's autumn but it feels like summer.  Melbourne is eight days into its nine day heatwave.  Tomorrow is forecast to be a record-breaking 37 C.  Nine days with the temperature over 30.  That is my excuse if this post is slightly rambling.

Summer: the Bad
sweat, sleepless nights, fast-melting soft serve ice cream, mozzies, hayfever, too hot to bake, no energy, hot pavements, frizzy hair, sunburn, squinting in the sunshine, flies, getting into a hot car, airless closed up rooms, sticky tired kids, putting suncream on our white cat, plants shrivelling if not watered regularly, heat-affected chocolate

Things that most displeased me this weekend:

• No chocolate in my pain au chocolat from the supermarket.  (I know, I know, what did I expect buying them from the supermarket but they were so cheap!)
• Getting organised to go to the pool alone to swim laps and it was closed due to an outbreak of gastro.  
• Hayfever from dusty ground at the Melbourne Irish Festival (above), despite driving there in the rain!
• Supermarket sold out of all fizzy water (except the tiny bottle) late on Saturday afternoon.

Summer: the Good:
bare feet, swimming, icy poles, tomatoes, evening walks, gorgeous clouds, leaving the house without a cardigan, spills dry quickly, cold drinks, long nights, flowers, washing dried quickly on the line, summer dresses, quick relaxed dinners, summer dresses, air-conditioned shopping centres, opening the doors at the end of the day, stone fruit, the beach, listening to crickets at night, salads.

Things that most delighted me this weekend:

• Watching the step dancing at the Melbourne Irish Festival
• Eating limeade icy poles
• (Not quite weekend but) International Women's Day morning tea on Friday (great brownies, thanks Penny)
• Sylvia playing in her paddling pool
• Green fairy floss at the Melbourne Irish Festival
• A cold organic lemonade at Abbotsford Convent to combat the heat
• Sylvia playing in the Edinburgh Gardens kids park after the Melbourne Irish Festival

It is a hot weekend when Sylvia just wants her ice cream, paddling pool filled, icy poles and even sets up a play shop in her bedroom selling ice creams (made of paper and tissue paper) and icy poles (made of yoghurt tubs and wooden sticks).  At the Melbourne Irish Festival her soft serve ice cream didn't take long to fall on the ground and was replaced by pink and green fairy floss.

We also went to the BikeFest at Abbotsford Convent.  I drove my car there (sad face).  Even if I was as fit as I used to be when I cycled about more it would have been too hot, especially with a 4 year in tow.  I did get out on my bike briefly later in the weekend.

Sylvia loved the coconut-based choc-mint ice cream.  I was a bit less sure of it but it was interesting to try.  I enjoyed the pakoras and steamed dumplings from Lentil as Anything.  We also had a lovely time tasting bakes, jams and chutneys that were submitted to the food competitions.  I particularly loved the pomegranate jelly.  Sylvia had a great banana oat choc chip cookie.  I was fascinate to see a tandem bike on display and enjoyed the music.

Summer means salads.  Cold, easy, quick meals.  I searched Pinterest, Eat Your Books and Delicious.  Delicious produced great salad inspiration.  I finally am getting some success with Eat Your Books and found a burger that I made the second night to serve with the salad.

The salad was really a tomato pomengranate vinaigrette that Janet made recently.  It was easy to make and added great flavour to any fresh vegetables.  I didn't rest it in the fridge overnight and I used more salt than Janet.  It was still rather tangy but also very tasty.

I served it with different vegetable combinations over two nights.  The first night I tossed it with cooked corn, snow peas, red capsicum, spinach, feta, carrot.  The second night it was with spinach, red capsicum, mushroom, raw corn, carrot sticks.  I had a bad experience with a bag of avocados last week.  They only ripened in half the avocado.  It made me wary of buying more.  A shame.  I think avocados would be brilliant with the vinaigrette.  I think some rice or buckwheat groats or other grains would go well too.

The hot weather can't last forever.  Our days will get cooler.  So while I have the chance I am sending this to Lisa for this month's No Croutons Required (an event she runs with Jacqueline.  The theme is raw salads and soups.  While it is not technically raw, given that pomegranate molasses is boiled down molasses juice, I hope it will be close enough for jazz for Lisa.  I am also sending it to Ricki for her Wellness Weekends.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
One year ago: Ukes, Labour Day and Pumpkin facon soup
Two years ago:  MLLA Renovation pancakes
Three years ago: Bread and Roses for International Women’s Day
Four years ago: Citrus Grape Cake
Five years ago: PPN #54 The Princess of Pastas

Tomato-Pomegranate Vinaigrette
Adapted from Turquoise via the Taste Space
Make enough substantial salad for 6-8 people

1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 tbsp basil infused olive oil (or oil of choice, like extra virgin olive oil)
2 tbsp pomegranate molasses
1 tomato, chopped
1 spring onion, sliced
1 small garlic clove, chopped
1/4 tsp salt
generous pinch of pepper

Blend all ingredients (or strain through a sieve).  Toss through salad or keep in the fridge until ready to use.

Salad suggestions for pairing with the vinaigrette: spinach, rocket, corn, red capsicum, carrot sticks, cucumber, mushrooms, snow peas, feta, goats cheese and avocado.

On the stereo:
Late Night Tales: Nouvelle Vague: Various Artists

Cottage cheese and chive bread and the uke fest

Last Friday I had a child-free and work-free day after finishing up my contract.  It was lovely.  What did I do?  I want shopping.  I learnt it wasn't a good time of year to try to buy kid's bathers.  I bought tinned black beans from the organic grocery.  I bought myself clothes.  I was relaxed.  So relaxed that I made bread.  It seemed a good thing to do, given that there was no bread in the house and the cottage cheese I had bought for this bread was past it's best by date (and the dill had already gone soggy).  Freshly baked bread was just the thing I needed to make myself feel truly happy.

Fortunately chives had been on special at the supermarket so I used these instead of the dill.  I doubled the recipe to use up the cottage cheese and added some oats.  The Cottage Cheese and Dill Bread recipe had looked so easy.  Just mix and leave to rise.  Then I read that there was a dough hook involved.  I kneaded my bread and it didn't look as light.  I left the dough to rise a little longer while I picked Sylvia up from child care. 

Yet for all my fiddling with the recipe, it still was fantastic when sliced up soon after coming out of the oven.  (I have got in the habit of letting bread cool for an hour or two after coming out of the oven because it seems to help it cut better.)  The bread was very savoury and smelled strongly of onion when it came out of the oven.  It was really light and soft.

We were ready to eat and the recipe said to only leave it 10 minutes before slicing.  I served it with leftover pate, tomato salad and vegies. It was a casual night where we had tea on the knee in front of the telly.  E had bought a DVD of the Water Horse.  It was a fantastic movie, a little sad in  places but very watchable.  I had been concerned Sylvia might have baulked at the chives but they weren't very noticeable and she loved this bread as much as us.

The next morning we had the bread for breakfast before heading out.  I had tomato and avocado on mine.  E headed out to the Melbourne Ukelele Festival and I took Sylvia to a kids party.  Then we met in Northcote for lunch.  Sylvia had eaten plenty, I had eaten a little and E had eaten nothing.  We went to Palomino cafe.  E had haloumi on corn bread and pea salsa and fried egg.  It was lovely but pricey ($17).  I had some slices of delicious fruit toast and cinnamon marscapone.  The shady courtyard was just perfect on a warm summery day.

Then we headed over the Northcote Town Hall to see some of the acts at the ukelele festival.  We saw a great act that did Bohemian Rhapsody in Country and Western style and a rap version of Donald Where's Your Trousers.  And we saw E play with his group.  They were great fun to watch.

The recently refurbished mmain hall was a splendid performance space, with a ukelele marketplace at the back.  Sylvia had been given a helium filled balloon at the party so she had this with her at all times.  It was tied to a little bag of hers.  Even so, I had visions of it floating up to the roof and the tears that would have flowed.

After the concert, we headed over to Bar 303 to see the ukelele art.  It was one of the aspects of last year's ukelele festival that I loved.  Oodles of creativity are poured into making you see ukeleles in a totally different way.

By the time we got home, we were all tired.  I was pleased to be able to take out a tub of my mum's ratatouille out of the freezer, add a tin of chickpeas and call it dinner with a few slices of bread on the side.  The bread lasted for another day or two.  It was there for cheese and vegemite sandwiches, baked bean sandwiches and to eat with leftover tomato salad.  It felt like it got us through the weekend.  That is my kind of bread.

I am sending this bread to Susan for YeastSpotting, her weekly round up of everything yeasty on the web.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
One year ago: Grrrr Dinosaur Birthday Cake (from Peppa Pig)
Two years ago:  PPN Spring Rolls, Salad, Changes and CNY
Three years ago: Panzanella and return to work
Four years ago: Hospital food and mum’s cooking
Five years ago: Nutroast in the time of vagueness

Cottage cheese and chive bread
adapted from A full measure of happiness

• 2 cup cottage cheese
• 2 tbsp maple syrup (or honey, which I think I would prefer next time)
• 1 tbsp dried onion flakes
• 2 tbsp fresh chives, finely chopped (or use dill as in the original recipe)
• 2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 4 eggs at room temperature
• 5 tsp dried yeast
• 4 cups bread flour
• 1 cup oats

Warm up the cottage cheese to luke warm (I did this in the microwave in its tub but you could also do it on the stovetop in a small saucepan).  Place warmed cottage cheese, sweetner, onion flakes, chives, salt, baking soda, eggs and yeast in a large mixing bowl.

Gradually mix in flour.  If you do this with a dough hook you will probably mix it all in.  If you mix it in by hand like I do you will probably knead in the last 1/2 to 1 cup and feel it will never all knead in.  But it does.  Leave in a clean bowl (I just scraped out the mixing bowl) covered with a tea towel and prove for about an hour or until doubled in size.

I patted mine into a rectangle and folded in three.  Then I placed it in a greased large stoneware baking dish (well it is large to me).  I covered it with a tea towel and left it to rise for an hour (mine was ready by then but I left it another hour so I could put it in the oven after picking up Sylvia from child care.

Preheat oven to 200 C about 20 minutes before you are ready to put the bread in the oven.  (I used a higher oven temperature because I had double the bulk of the original recipe and my oven is so slow.)  Bake for 45 minutes until the top is golden brown (cover with foil if it starts to brown too early) and sound hollow when you knock on it.

On the Stereo:
The Crane Wife: The Decembrists