oven poached quince

Autumn brings with it pears, quince and chestnuts. 



When I saw quince in the fruit market I brought a few home with me. I decided to poach them and dived into my copy of Stephanie Alexanders 'The Cooks Companion' for a recipe.



Quince are tough little numbers so you need a sharp knife to deal with them. Some people pot roast them whole but I find trying to remove the peel, seeds and core from the cooked quince a bit too fiddly for my liking.



Quince are inedible unless cooked and they need long slow cooking. As they cook they change colour from pale green to a rich ruby red. I initially cooked the quince for 2 hours and although they were cooked I wanted them to be ruby red, so I continued cooking them for a further 2 hours. You can see how the colour changes with cooking time.




Here's the recipe for you and it's beauty is in it's simplicity.

Stephanie's poached quince
6 quinces, washed and peeled
2.25 litres light sugar syrup
1 vanilla bean
juice of 1 lemon

To make the light sugar syrup, heat 2 parts water to 1 part sugar and stir until the sugar has dissolved.

Preheat oven to 150°C
Cut quinces into quarters or sixths. Cut out cores and tie loosely in a piece of muslin.
Put sugar syrup in a cast-iron pot with vanilla bean, lemon juice and muslin bag, then add quince. 
Cover tightly and bake in oven for at least 4 (and up to 8) hours until quince is deep red. Do not stir or the quince may break up. 
Split the vanilla bean and scrape seeds into the syrup. I reduced the syrup over a medium heat for about 10 minutes
Cool the quince in the syrup.  



I can't really describe the taste of quince. It really is unique. So far I've eaten the poached fruit with some stewed apple and yoghurt and I've served it with  pannacotta. I found a recipe for quince cake that I'm dying to try so if I get round to making it, I'll share that with you.

See you all again soon,

Jillian

in the garden - brisbane

I unexpectedly went home to Brisbane for the weekend. I spent a part of Mother's Day with my Mum and spent the rest of the day getting back home to Sydney. I did take my camera with me but it rained most of the time I was home. Between rain showers I managed to get out into the garden where I took a few photos.



I'm not much of a gardener so it's probably no surprise that many of my favourite plants in our garden are in fact weeds, just like this one. I've always loved it's red berries!



Our beloved custard apple tree which still manages to produce the occasional custard apple despite it's advanced years.



My parents pride and joy - a beautiful orchid.



They have an equally lovely orchid indoors.



I hope you all had lovely weekends. I didn't get a chance to get into the kitchen at all during the weekend except to make some macaroni cheese but I do have a recipe to share with you on Wednesday.

See you all again then.

Bye for now,

Jillian

apple blintzes and mother's day

When my Grandmother was still alive she used to host a Mother's Day Morning Tea. It always seemed a little unfair that the most senior member of the family did all the cooking but that was the way Grandma liked it. Grandma always served cheese blintzes made with her home made white cheese. Grandma's cheese blintzes were not sweet and I've not found a recipe that's similar to her blintzes anywhere.

 

So instead of cheese blintzes, apple blintzes are my specialty. I've been making these for so long now, I can't remember when I first started making them but they're an excellent make ahead dessert and really easy as well.



The recipe originally came from the Australian Woman's Weekly and the filling was made using a tin of pie apple. As apples are so lovely at the moment I stewed a few large granny smith apples for the filling.



The blintzes can be made well ahead of time and pan fried just before serving. Otherwise you can fry them and reheat them later in the oven covered with foil to prevent them drying out or zap them in the microwave covered in plastic wrap.



Here's the printable recipe for you.

Apple Blintzes
 
Pancakes
½ cup Plain Flour
2 eggs
¾ cup milk
Oil and butter for frying

Apple Cinnamon filling
400 g cooked apples or one 410 gm tin pie apples, mashed with a fork
2 tablespoons caster sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ cup sultanas (golden raisins)
½ teaspoon grated lemon rind

To serve
Additional sugar and cinnamon
Vanilla ice cream

To make the filling, mix all the ingredients together in a small bowl and set to one side.

To make the pancakes, sift the flour into a small bowl then add the egg stirring to ensure there are no lumps. Gradually add the milk to form a smooth batter. Transfer the mixture to a small jug and rest for 30 minutes.

Heat a small pan and grease it well. Pour 2 – 3 tablespoons of batter into the heated pan. Cook over a medium heat until the underside of the pancake is light golden brown, then turn out onto a wire rack. Leave the top side of the pancake uncooked. Continue with the remaining batter to make 8 pancakes. Don’t wash out the jug as in a moment you’ll need the leftovers.

With the cooked side uppermost, spread 2 tablespoons of the filling into the centre of the pancake spreading it out a little with a small spatula.

Brush the edges of the pancake with a little of the uncooked batter; this helps the edges hold together when cooked. Fold in the 2 sides of the pancake, overlapping slightly. Brush the remaining ends with a little of the batter and fold the ends into the centre overlapping a little to make a small parcel.

Heat a little oil and a teaspoon of butter in a small pan. Place the blintzes seam side down and gently fry for a few minutes until golden then flip and cook for a further 2 minutes until both sides are browned. Drain on absorbent paper if necessary.

To serve, sprinkle with sugar and a little cinnamon topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Serves 4




They're especially yummy served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.





Happy Mother's Day to all those mothers out there, especially to my own Mama.

See you all again next week,

Jillian

shopshoot - west elm

Hi Every-one,

When I heard West Elm would be opening a store in Sydney, I knew I had to photograph it. Why, you may ask? Well I literally live around the corner and I've walked past the building site every day for the past couple of months watching the building grow.



West Elm opened for business last Thursday and I dropped by at opening time on Saturday morning. The store is spread over 2 levels and this is is what I saw when I walked in.



Even though the doors had just opened, the shop was already crowded with people. It looks as though I wasn't the only Sydney resident waiting for the store to open it's doors.



Upstairs there were loads of images of both Bondi and Brooklyn. I really liked the organic wooden spheres but I was in photographer mode so came home empty handed. I guess that means I'll have to return to West Elm but this time to shop!



As well there were furniture displays and a wall of vases, cushions and paper flowers all in shades of blue.



It's autumn in Sydney and I noticed lots of autumnal shades in the store.



I just loved this mirror and had to do something a little arty with it.




When I went downstairs, I found more furniture, lighting, bedding, soft furnishings, vases and some items for the kitchen and bathroom.



I also found this little fella just hanging around.

 

Some pretty bedding in blue.



If you'd like to visit in person you can find West Elm just opposite the entrance to Westfield Bondi Junction at -

472 Oxford Street
Oxford Street Mall
Bondi Junction NSW 2022

Phone: (02) 8973 5900 

If you live outside Sydney you can also shop online.

I hope you liked my little visit to West Elm. I'll see you all again on Wednesday with some food.  P.S If you'd like my recipe for lemon meringue tarts, you can find it here at decor8.

Bye for now,

Jillian

an apple orchard

A few weeks ago I decided to do something I'd not done before - go apple picking. Apples are in season and I wanted to bake something appley. I checked the Hawkesbury Harvest website and decided to visit Pine Crest Orchard in Bilpin. I left home really early and arrived in Bilpin about 20 minutes before the orchard opened.



I took a few photos of the local petrol station. Aren't the old petrol bowsers amazing?



Pine Crest Orchard was only a short drive away.



I arrived so early, I was the first person there but by the time I left Pine Crest the car park was full.



I'd hoped to pick some granny smith apples but the season at Pine Crest had just finished so I came home with a bag of Pink Lady apples instead. I was a bit hungry so I ate a few apples on the long drive back to Sydney. Apples fresh from the tree taste so much better than apples stored for months in cold storage. Pine Crest is all picked out and is now closed until December when the stone fruit season commences.

I'm looking forward to a return visit.  

See you all next week with an apple treat,

Jillian

shopshoot - high tea with mrs woo

Last Christmas I was on the hunt for some Paper Boat Press stars. I knew High Tea with Mrs Woo stocked some of Kylie's products so off I went. Unfortunately they didn't have any of the stars but I still left with a few goodies. I'd not visited the shop before and I found it to be charming and made a mental note to return one day to photograph the store.



I don't know if you've been along Oxford Street Paddington recently but it's a bit of a sad affair these days. So many shops are empty and have been for quite some time. Well the same can't be said for High Tea with Mrs Woo - the shop was buzzing with people the duration of my stay.



The shop is part clothing store/part gallery space and the clothing is all designed by the three Foong sisters. As well as the Paddington store, the sisters run another High Tea with Mrs Woo store in Newcastle.



If you look really carefully you can see an old holiday photo of the three sisters.



High Tea with Mrs Woo's philosophy.



Some items from their clothing line



Another corner of the store.



Some of the jewellery and ceramics on display.



A vignette of earthy textures with a touch of green



High Tea with Mrs Woo hosts regular pop up shops. Heaven in Earth was the pop up shop when I visited the store and some of the items you can see here are from their online store. Since then Rebound Books has moved into the store and will be there until the end of May.



Some Heaven in Earth, Sunday Morning Designs and East of India products.



A final vignette from the store.



Here is where you can find High Tea with Mrs Woo.

SYDNEY STORE
72b Oxford Street, Paddington
NSW 2021 Australia
PHONE +61 2 8065 5345

NEWCASTLE STORE
74 Darby Street, Cooks Hill
NSW 2300 Australia
PHONE +61 2 4926 4883

If you can't make it to one of their stores, they have an online shop here. 

Many thanks to the Foong sisters for allowing me to shoot their shop.

See you all again on Wednesday. 

Until then,

Jillian

almond cake

Whenever there's a celebration in our family we serve Mum's famous almond cake. Today I'm sharing a recipe for a chocolate almond cake that's very similar to my Mum's almond cake. I made the cake in my sweet little 17 cm cake tin but if you want to make a 23 cm cake, just double all the ingredients and keep the baking time the same.



It's a Dutch Chocolate cake heavily adapted from a recipe in Das Neue Kiehnle-Kochbuch, which uses eggs as the raising agent so there are a scary number of eggs in the recipe.



The finished cake is nice and moist and has loads of texture. There is no flour in the cake just dried breadcrumbs and ground whole almonds and the cake is flavoured with lemon and chocolate. When I was growing up Mum and I would hand grate the chocolate and use a mouli mill to grind the almonds. These days I use a food processor to grind the almonds but if you can buy whole almond meal that will save you a step.



Once the egg whites are beaten you need a gentle hand to fold them through the batter otherwise the cake won't rise. I like to make the cake the day before it's served to allow all the flavours to develop.



The original recipe topped the cake with a chocolate ganache but we've always served the cake with lashings of whipped cream. As I made the cake to celebrate Farmer Andrew's birthday, I made some chocolate shards to top the cake.

Here's the printable recipe for you. 

Dutch Chocolate Cake (makes one 17 cm cake)
100 gm softened unsalted butter
100 gm caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
4 large eggs, separated
60 gm dark chocolate, grated
1 small lemon, rind grated and juice strained
60 gm ground whole almonds
60 gm dried breadcrumbs
1 extra tablespoon caster sugar

To serve
300 ml whipped cream
chocolate curls

Grease and line a 17 cm spring form tin with baking paper.
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F
In a medium size bowl, cream the butter, 100 gm caster sugar, lemon rind and vanilla until light and fluffy.
Beat in the egg yolks one at a time until thoroughly mixed.
Add the ground almonds, grated chocolate, breadcrumbs and lemon juice in 3 batches, mixing thoroughly.
In a clean dry bowl, beat the four egg whites until stiff peaks form. Add the extra tablespoon of caster sugar and beat until the sugar dissolves, then gently fold the egg whites through the cake batter.
Gently spoon the cake batter into the prepared tin and bake for approximately 1 hour at 180°C/350°F until the cake tests cooked and the edges pull away from the sides of the tin.
Allow the cake to cool completely on a wire rack before removing from the tin.
Serve with lashings of whipped cream and chocolate curls.



The cake disappeared in a flash as you can see by the photo and it tasted just like my Mum's cake. I do hope you enjoy the recipe.

I'll be back next week with a shopshoot for you.

Bye for now,

Jillian