Patience

He caught a mouse... at 2am. And he brought it home to show us. But we were asleep, so he took it into the dining room... he likes to play with his food... We heard him romping around, so we knew he'd caught something....
Then he came to bed and slept the sleep of the innocent.
In the morning, we looked for a body - or part of a body.
No sign.
Uh Oh...

It seems, the last time he saw it ... it was underneath the refrigerator.

So he waits, poised.... patient.

It's a good thing we love him.

Mint Chutney

Digby Law was a New Zealand chef who sadly, died far too early, some years ago. This recipe is adapted from his book Digby Law's Pickle and Chutney Cookbook. He described it as 'Strong and superb, use it sparingly in lamb sandwiches, with barbecued lamb, with lamb burgers or with roast lamb.' This recipe book is one of my favourites, full of wonderful and unusual recipes - perfect for someone like me, who loves preserving food. I get such a thrill from having all the jars full and the pantry shelves groaning... (I have made this chutney both as Digby Law wrote it, using malt vinegar, and this way - it is unquestionably better in the original, but it is not gluten free - so I have had to change it - I hope he wouldn't mind)... and it is still really, really good.

Mint Chutney

250g fresh mint leaves - this is a huge amount of mint, I picked all season, freezing it as I went until I finally had enough
1 tbsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
125g raisins
50g fresh ginger - sliced
25g garlic - sliced
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup cold cider vinegar
1 cup hot cider vinegar

Blitz the mint leaves in a food processor until finely chopped
Add the dry ingredients and whizz until well chopped
Add the cold vinegar and whizz until smooth
Put the paste into a bowl and add the hot vinegar
Allow to cool and spoon into small jars and seal.

Go To Pork

I make this 'recipe' a lot. It has become a kind of comfort food. I think it is Jamie Oliver, though I'm not really sure... it's one of my collection that isn't labelled, but it 'sounds' like Jamie.
Pork with Parsnip, Apple,Lemon and Rosemary
Pork slices or chops
Parsnip - peeled and sliced
Apple - cored and sliced thickly
Garlic cloves - peeled and chopped roughly
Lemons - juice and skin (slice the skins into strips)
Oil - olive or grapeseed
Fresh rosemary - chopped

I also used gold kumara, butternut pumpkin and carrots - a one-pot meal, my favourite kind!
Put oil, garlic, lemon juice and rosemary into a big bowl
Put the vegetables, apple and lemon skins into the oil and stir to coat - use your hands - much easier
Put the vegetables into a shallow baking dish
Put the pork into the bowl and stir to coat in oily herby mix
Put the pork on top of the vegetables and tip the remaining oil over.

Bake till all is cooked and delicious.
The lemon skins go almost caramelized and cut through the richness of the pork - delicious (did I say that already?)
I didn't take a photo of it once it was cooked. Now that daylight saving is over, it is dark by the time the cooking is done and I'm having trouble with getting the lighting right...

Spiced Lamb with Pomegranate Yoghurt

This recipe was in a recent Australian Women's Weekly magazine (for New Zealand women and published monthly ! ) I love middle eastern flavours, the gentle flavour of cumin and paprika. I really love pomegranate molasses - especially as a marinade for salmon. I thought this would taste really good, but found it slightly disappointing. If I make it again I will increase the amount of molasses in the mince to 1 tbsp. The yoghurt sauce was really good, but I had changed that too...

Spiced Lamb with Pomegranate Yoghurt

500g lamb mince
1 clove garlic - finely chopped
1 medium tomato - seeded and chopped finely
1 tsp pomegranate molasses
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp sweet paprika
1 tsp dried mint leaves - I used fresh
1 tsp dried oregano - I used fresh

1/2 cup thick Greek-style yoghurt
1 tsp sumac
2 tsp pomegranate molasses extra
1/4 cup fresh mint - finely shredded - I had used all the mint, so I used a good tbsp of a mint chutney I had made last year. (Adapted from the Pickle and Chutney Cookbook by Digby Law)

Combine the lamb and spices with freshly ground black pepper and salt.
Form into patties.
Cook over medium-high heat until cooked through and browned.

Combine yoghurt, sumac, extra pomegranate molasses and half the fresh mint.

Serve patties with yoghurt mixture sprinkled with the rest of the fresh mint.

I bought these tortillas at the supermarket this week. I've never tried tortillas - even pre-coeliac diagnosis, so I didn't have any pre-conceived notions of what they would taste like... which is good, because they taste like cardboard. I threw most of them to the birds this morning and interestingly, they are not much interested in them either!

It's suddenly cold.

Wet, grey and cold. Summer is gone. I guess it had to happen. Cold nights make me think of curry. This is a new recipe to me, one of the ones I had taken from a magazine. I probably should have made notes on these recipes - whose recipe it was, which magazine I found it in... but I didn't... , so I hope I don't tread on any toes in writing it out here.

Chicken Korma

1 onion - sliced
3 garlic cloves - finely chopped
chicken thighs or breasts - thickly sliced
2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp ground cumin
300ml chicken stock - home made this time, but Massel brand is gluten free
60g (1/4 cup) creme fraiche or yoghurt
60g (1/2 cup) ground almonds

Cook onion in oil over medium-high heat for 2 or 3 minutes, then add garlic and cook for a minute.
Add the chicken and cook for about 5 minutes
Add the spices and cook until fragrant.
Add stock, creme fraiche or yoghurt and ground almonds.
Bring to the boil then cover and simmer until the chicken is cooked.
Add vegetables of your choice for the last few minutes - peas, zucchini, green beans, chopped spinach etc.
Serve with rice.
Sprinkle with coriander leaves if you have some.

This is a very quick curry to make, so perfect for a last minute, what the heck to I want to make for dinner thing. It tastes really good, the spices are warm, but gentle - nothing to offend any fussy eater - not that there are any of those here.

Barbecued Pork Spare Ribs

Pork slices - bone in - or not, but the bones are nice to suck
4 tbsp barbecue sauce - which I didn't have, so I used home-made tomato sauce
4 tbsp honey
4 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp Chinese chilli sauce
1/4 tsp five spice powder
1/3 cup sherry - the recipe says use dry sherry, but the liquor store doesn't have it - I used medium sherry
2 tbsp gluten free soy sauce
1 clove garlic - crushed
2.5cm piece green ginger - grated.

Combine  the sauce ingredients and mix well
Put the pork slices into a baking dish and pour sauce mix over, marinate at least an hour.

Bake in a moderately hot oven for about an hour until the pork is tender - baste frequently.

Soft, sticky, juicy, sweet-sour delicious.

Living in the moment

Tonight we're having coleslaw for dinner. Ina made this lovely looking coleslaw here http://glutenfreedelightfullydelicious.com/?p=7312 which I will make. But first, I need to make mayonnaise.

I actually made this by hand - rather than in the food processor. I've spent this lovely (but chilly) day tidying the shade-house. This after a sleepless night in which my little cat kept me awake from midnight on... why don't I put him outside? Because he has the sweetest trick of jumping to the window-sill and knocking on the window to be let back in... you're damned if you do and damned if you don't, because he can keep the knocking going for ages. So, now I feel like sitting quietly and doing something restful...

Mayonnaise

4 egg yolks
2 garlic cloves - peeled
1 tsp wholegrain mustard
2 tbsp lemon juice
500ml (2 cups) salad oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Put egg yolks, garlic, mustard, lemon juice and 2 tbsp of the oil into a food processor.
Blitz till smooth.
With the processor running, slowly add the rest of the oil through the feed tube.
Season to taste.
This makes a very thick mayonnaise - perfect for sandwiches. To make it thinner, add 2 tbsp of boiling water and process.
Mayonnaise will keep, covered in the fridge for 2 - 3 weeks