Poached pears in a spicy red wine syrup

Winter calls for seasonal fruit of a warming variety and red wine........and this recipe incorporates both things!

At FIG this week we got pears again (Food Integrity Group, an organic food coop on the Central Coast, NSW)........and they were a bit hard, with not a great chance of ripening any time soon, so I reckoned that with the cold weather the way it is, red wine and a bit of simmering they should be perfect in no time at all!

I'm not sure what order the photos will upload but they show the cooking process, the finished product with a quenelle of cream (Caitie was in a "quenelling mood") and another one of how we actually ate it with a big blob of cream.

So here's the way I did it and I decided that taste testing had to come before blogging. So here I sit with a replete belly typing.

Pears In a Spicy Red Wine Syrup

serves 4 to 6 (depending on how many pears you use and how big they are)

300ml red wine

300ml water

3/4 cup white sugar

1 cinnamon stick

5 cloves

zest and juice of 1 orange

4-6 pears

Heat everything except the pears in a medium sized saucepan

Bring to the boil and boil till the sugar dissolves

Peel the pears and chop off a bit of their bottoms so they sit flat, if you're in the mood core them as well (though I don't bother)

Pop them in the pot (and a lot of people say sit them upright but it seriously doesn't matter, mine do just fine lying down)

Bring back to the boil, reduce heat then simmer for 30 to 40 minutes or until pears are soft when tested with the point of a sharp knife

Remove the cinnamon and cloves

Put in the fridge to cool (overnight is good but not essential)

Serve with icecream, cream or creme anglaise

(tonight I used whipped cream with a half a vanilla bean and a dash of sugar, I think it's called something fancy like "creme chantilly", but to me it's just the way mum used to do cream!)

Mandarin Madness......the tree that should be dead

I'm not sure what these scrummy winter fruits are called in America....I think it could be mandarin oranges but google in this case was NOT my best friend! Anyway, in Australia they are called "mandarins" and I have one lonely tree growing in my backyard and it is now winter which is when the fruit ripens. The tree has been there now for about 18 years and for the last 8 years it has been in about 1 foot square of soil and hemmed in by a pool fence, a small wall and the pool pump plus assorted pool toys that hide there when it gets windy which it was last week!

When we originally put the pool in and had it landscaped the landscaper was going to rip it out because he reckoned there was no way in the world it would survive but amazingly the tenacious little thing is still going (I wouldn't say strong, but still going) and we harvest multitudes of sweet, juicy, good sized mandarins every year. It never gets watered or sprayed or fed or cared for in any way EVER! Maybe I SHOULD love it more seeing I seriously love it's fruit but I get scared that if I actually did anything to it there is always the chance it might curl up and die on me.

Anyway, it is that time of year again and DH went out yesterday afternoon, in the rain, and decided it was time for the first picking. What to do with heaps of mandarins before they turn in to compost in the house and start attracting fruit flies I hear you ask??

Marmalade is a quite usual thing to do with mandarins and cakes and desserts of different varieties are also fairly usual but one thing I did last year (and plan to do again this year) is mandarin jelly because it is so easy and the kids love it!

BUT don't do what I did with my first batch last year and wait till the mandarins have annoyed you so much, and everyone has eaten their fill, that you have to do SOMETHING with them and accidentally add the juice of an off, putrid, sour, stinky mandarin.....your jelly will taste disgusting!

So here is the recipe using fresh, sweet smelling, yummy mandarins!

Mandarin Jelly

500ml mandarin juice

2 tablespoons sugar, or to taste

1 tablespoon powdered gelatine

heat the mandarin juice and sugar on the stove till the sugar has dissolved

dissolve the gelatine in the hot liquid

whack it in the fridge to set (after you put it in a bowl of course!)

How easy is that??? If you want "adult" jelly try substituting some of the mandarin juice (about 75ml or to taste) with an orange liqueur such as Grand Marnier.

2 basic biscuit recipes....this is for you Sarah!

DD Sarah (25) is the one who has abandoned ship and moved out on her own with her baby. This morning on MSN came an urgent request for my 2 favourite biscuit recipes that I have been making for years. I am really sorry but I can't give the credit to anyone because I have had the recipes for so long that I have no idea where they originally came from!

So these are for you Sarah! And of course anyone else who wants to give them a try!! My kids will tell you they are REALLY good!

Chocolate Chip Biscuits/Cookies

makes approx 45

250g softened butter

1 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups plain (all-purpose) flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C

Cream butter and sugar, add eggs and vanilla and mix well

Sift in flour, baking powder and salt, stir in and mix thoroughly

Add chocolate chips, mix and place mixture in spoonfuls on baking tray

Bake in oven approx 15-20 minutes until light golden

Cool on a wire rack

Peanut Butter Biscuits/Cookies

makes approx 30

90g butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup peanut butter (peanut paste)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups plain (all-purpose) flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C

Cream butter and sugar

Stir in the beaten egg, mixing well to blend

Stir in the peanut butter and vanilla extract

Sift in the dry ingredients and then mix well

Knead the mixture slightly to form a stiff, smooth dough, then roll small pieces of the dough in to balls

Place the balls on a greased baking tray and flatten them with a fork

Bake in the oven at 180 degrees C until firm, about 15 minutes

Cool on a wire rack

ENJOY!!

Morning Musings

To me this is EARLY! It's 7.22am. I know to many people that would be late but our house runs in a different time zone I think.........well it did until DH Dave got himself a second job. Circumstances changed recently, DD(25) and her baby moved out and there was a financial shortfall that needed covering so he started working for a temp nursing company. His "normal" job means he finishes at 11pm and our family for years has based their sleeping patterns on his work hours but now, with the temp work, he can also start early some mornings.......so here I am blogging at just after 7am which, like I said, to me is EARLY!

Back tracking a bit here, last night, after dinner clean up and before going to bed I realised the bread was frozen. Now it would have been easy to thaw some in the microwave but, being a good wife, I figured that it would be nice if I got up with said DH (who has toddled off to work now) and make his breakfast, make his lunch and generally keep him company while he got ready for work. BAD MISTAKE!! Well not REALLY bad just a little bit bad because I know what I'll be like tonight. DH will get home at 2pm and have a nanny nap, whereas I have real trouble sleeping during the day.

So setting this morning's scene........alarm goes off at 6am. Pull quilt back over head and try and pretend I can't hear it...........oh damn he turned the light on (in the back room but hey it's still LIGHT). So I'm lying in bed thinking "why did I not make his lunch last night again? This is winter....who wants to get out of bed on a winter's morning?" After about 10 minutes of half awake, half asleep debate in my head I finally surrender and decide I'd better do the good wife thing.

Stumble out of bed, slippers on, coffee plunger ready, jug boiled, cereal out, bowl, spoon, milk, yoghurt, bread, butter, cheese, pickles, lunch box and insulated bag........going well so far.even though my eyes are still tiny slits!

DH sitting at table expectantly...............silly me pours his cereal in to the ashtray..........woops I would have SWORN that was the bowl!!! Hey at least I didn't put the milk in as well.

Now, sitting here, I'm on to my second (and final) morning coffee, bright eyed and bushy tailed and I've already sorted the washing that was in the drier, opened all the blinds, put the next load of washing on, tidied the kitchen and got the barramundi out to thaw for dinner.

Reckon I could go back to bed for a bit? Not on your life!!!

Maybe I need to go make the bed so that I really don't crawl back in to it???

Fennel and orange salad with a verjuice dressing

I bought some fennel at the markets last time I was there and figured I had better use it somehow! I've watched a few TV shows that have used fennel in a fennel and orange salad so I figured I could do it as well.............and here is the result!

Fennel and Orange Salad with Verjuice Dressing

For the dressing:

1tbs honey

1tbs verjuice (or anything acidic like lemon juice)

salt and pepper to taste

abt 1/4 cup olive oil

Mix the honey, verjuice and salt and pepper then add the oil in a thin stream while whisking

For the salad:

1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced

2 oranges, peeled and segmented

4 cups mixed salad leaves (or just plain rocket if you want it more peppery)

After you have segmented the oranges add them to the other salad ingredients and then squeeze the juice over as well before adding the dressing, toss and serve............easy!

Serves 4

We had it tonight with some seared lamb rump. Even the "fussy one" (17yo DD) ate it all.....she did say fennel wasn't her favourite thing but if I liked it then she could tolerate it so that I could have it again! What a darling.