Winter is here

Winter has come.  Depending on the weather it can be a balmy 20 degrees outside if the sun is shining, then down to low double digits or less if there's been overnight rain and the cloud is hanging about.  I've been working every second weekend and this weekend was my weekend off.  A chance to catch up on general house stuff, get back to the blog and into the kitchen.  As luck would have it, the weather was both sunny and warm and overcast and cool which meant perfect opportunities to get the outside and inside work done; even if it did rain just after we hung out the washing.

The chooks were well and truly due for a good clean out.  The Isas are so greedy they were even interested in the bucket of their own excrement!  Silly chooks.  They have been finding various hidey-holes in the grass for their eggs.  We were wondering if they'd stopped for winter - rather suspiciously all at once - until hubby found their secret stash of 13 eggs mid this week.  I try to leave an egg in one of the nest boxes but only one or two of them seem to understand.

While on the topic of chooks I have some sad news - It's been 8 days since my little cluck monster passed away.  I went out to feed the girls last Friday morning to find her lying on the grass.  She had no marks on her and not a single feather out of place which means I'm still at a loss to say exactly how she died - it may have been old age or perhaps lack of food coming into winter due to the bullying of the new chooks.  My main regret is that she never got to be a mummy chook.  RIP little Goldilocks, AKA cluck monster, fluffy pyjama feet, Little One, or as the neighbour's called her Mo.

Winter heralds the onslaught of the Colliwats; the first of which was picked today.  We were lining up for at least 20 of them until the Isas virtually demolished any of the vine that was remaining on their side of the fence.  Weighing in neatly at 4.5kg, this pumpkin is the biggest and first of the glut salvaged from destructive beaks.

Shortly after the pumpkin rescue the skies clouded over and rain was threatening to drench the newly hung out washing; which in due course it did.  Time to head inside and make even more of a mess of the kitchen.  I started with home made muesli bars.  You'll realise how much of rip off the shop bought ones are when you make your own, and also that they're probably not really all that healthy for you despite what the ads say.  In any case they are quick to make and a good pick me up if you need that sugar hit at work.  You can change the ingredients easily to accommodate your tastes or to suit what you have available in the cupboard.  These are raisin, mixed nuts, sesame and sunflower seed.  Dried apricot and coconut is also nice and I usually add pepitas but had run out this time.  I also use a little less butter than the recipe asks for (100 instead of 125g).  You can find the recipe here: http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/1457/homemade+muesli+bars  Do you make your own muesli bars?  I'd love to know what variations you use.  I'm keen to try cranberry and white chocolate some time.

Homemade muesli bars

Continuing my kitchen day I started a sourdough loaf of cinnamon and raisin toast.  For some reason I've been craving it all weekend.  It's possibly due to going a whole week without bread because I didn't have the time to make any last weekend.  It's funny that I've had raisins sitting in the cupboard for months and yet I've nearly used them all up in one weekend.

Sourdough raisin bread

The dough doesn't rise all that well on the bench in winter so keeping it next to the laptop air vent or in our lap does the trick!  You can probably tell hubby is helping out with this one today.  No doubt he'll ask for his dues once the loaf is done cooking.

While the dough was proofing it was time to try out one of Mel Kettle's recipes.  I'd been waiting months to find some tiny unopened button mushrooms and the time to put my mind to making this one.  I finally found some perfect sized mushrooms at the Rocklea markets yesterday and at $4.99 a kilo I was in there like a shot stuffing my reused paper bag to the brim.

This recipe combines so many my favourite things: mushrooms, lemon, vinegar, garlic, good quality olive oil and herbs fresh from the garden.  I can't wait until they're ready.

Lemon, thyme and garlic marinated mushrooms

When it's wet outside you have to bring the garden inside so I spent a bit of time preparing these asparagus seeds - some for the new place and some to give away at the next crop swap.  I know most people grow from crowns but the seeds germinate readily and mature fairly quickly.  I have a few tiny plants at the bottom of the ramp when I spilled some berries last season - read left them out so long they got knocked over into the gravel and rained on .  Please note the red berries are poisonous so if you have little ones make sure they don't pop them in their mouths.

Seeds - Aspargus "Mary Washington"

Now to tackle the mountain of dishes...

  

Loafer turned loafer

Cobber's first cob - sourdough of course

I've started evening and night shifts this week so after a little pleading hubby attempted his first ever hand-made sourdough loaf all on his own.  He was surprised how easy it was to make and that he could actually turn out something edible with fairly little effort.  Admitting this was fatal error number one because now he really has no excuses when it comes to making another loaf.  It's been great being able to sleep and still eat well after a night shift.  Luckily for him I do enjoy making bread so I won't be recruiting his help too often.

On a roll

The new sourdough starter is about a month old and smells vaguely of yoghurt and yeast.  It works well although I admit I am using a recipe with a little added yeast in the dough so to some it may seem more abomination than artisan.  For those of you who may be crusty conoisseurs, to redeem my rolls I've used honey in place of sugar and a locally grown and processed olive oil rather than butter.  The honey gives it a beautiful flavour which goes equally well with sweet and savoury, especially a slice of ham and some relish.

The remains of the first sourdough loaf

When I return to work I'm not sure how I'll go finding the time to make all our bread from scratch but at the moment our bread maker is in need of a new part for the tin and I'm on holidays so have the time to do all the mixing, kneading, proofing and shaping without the aid of modern technology.  I've also never made a sourdough loaf in the bread maker so I'll have to try out some recipes before I go back to the daily grind.  Let me know if you've got any tried and true recipes.

With only two people in the household who aren't the most consumptive crust chompers it can be hard to get through an entire batch of bread before it starts to go stale so I divided the last dough into two and made  a couple of small cob loaves, putting one in the freezer.  This time round I also remembered to slash the top to help even the rise in the oven (and make it look like a real baker's loaf) but forgot to put some water in a dish in the bottom of the oven to crisp the crust.

The sourdough also makes great English muffins.  They got eaten so quickly I didn't have time to get a photograph.  I did, however, manage to take a snap of the bread rolls before we took them to a party.

The rise of Aish

Equal parts water, flour and the primordial soup is stirred then shrouded from the light so it may develop its brood.  After a few days of careful nurturing bubbles shall arise from the depths of this thick sludge, an indicator of the exponential proliferation of lifeforms now dwelling within.  As homage to their fabled discovery by the Egyptians they shall be known as Aish meaning both bread and life.

2 cups each tepid water and flour.  Stir together in a non-metallic bowl.

Cover the mixture losely with a clean towel.  Discard half each day and add 1 cup each of water and flour.  After 3-4 days bubbles form and the sourdough starter is ready to be used.