Easter 2013 - It's All About Bread!

This post has been 1.5 months in the making.  Well, that's how long it has taken to get it written and uploaded! ;o)  And now I'm so fed up with rearranging photos that they are staying as they are... all higgledy-piggledy.

I made the mistake of taking the boys with me when I shopped for Easter eggs this year.  Once J had seen them, it was all he could talk about, and he was bugging me to eat them.  Having let the incentive chart on our fridge for potty training lapse, he suddenly wanted a chart so he could 'earn' those eggs!  It didn't seem to make much difference to the nagging, but it helped keep us occupied.

Here's the last of the hot cross buns we made. We gifted some away, knowing there was more bread to come this weekend.

I found a cheap egg-dyeing kit so we tried this for the first time.  I'm not sure if we'll do it again.  Neither of the boys liked hard-boiled egg, and the dye scratched off far too easily.  They both had fun sticking Easter stickers on the eggs and standing them in a little cardboard 'cuff'.  I don't know how many times C dropped his ones on the floor.

On Saturday, both boys were keen to help in the kitchen.  J helped measure the ingredients.

C helped stir the dough (in the early stages)

Then I cut the dough into ropes, rolled them and twisted them into bunnies.  J rolled all the tails and stuck them in place.  (We've been playing with playdough lately.)  You may spot a poinsettia with raisins... J saw the Christmas picture in the book next to the bunnies.

Then they baked, and were drizzled with sugar glaze.  Yum!

On Easter morning the boys hunted for the Easter eggs and chicks we had hidden around the living area.  One had a clue to find a big bunny in their bedroom.

J found them all eventually.  The chick in the pot plant was the hardest to find.

C enjoyed the bunny after lunch.

And finally, a not-so-successful gift.  I can't remember if I've blogged about this yet.  I gave N 12 new types of bread for Christmas - one each month of 2013.  I'm a bit behind, but this was the the Easter offering - an Italian wreath with a nut praline on top.  A lot like pannettone, but a bit overcooked.  I made sweet breakfast strata (bread pudding-ish) for breakfast later in the week.

Making Mozzarella

Ever since a brief mention in our now-abandoned first blog, I've been fascinated with mozzarella cheese.  On our tour of Italy we had lunch at a farm south of Naples where they served food primarily produced on the farm itself - tomatoes, basil, salami, cheeses, fruit, limoncello, and wine are mostly what I remember now!  (We consumed rather a lot of limoncello since it was soooo good.)  Behind the restaurant there were two women stirring giant stock pots on gas burners, making mozzarella and a by-product, ricotta.  So when I saw this easy recipe for mozzarella online I was keen to try it.

I wasn't sure how to find rennet tablets, but discovered some in the clearance section of our supermarket for 99c, that were good until 2014. :o)  I found that kosher salt can be a good substitute for cheese salt, and I had some in my pantry. I borrowed a candy thermometer from a friend and I was good to go! The photos and instructions in the link are far better than mine, so I won't go into the process here.  My one 'hiccup' was that the "8-10 minutes" for the curd to set was more like 3 hours, so my 30 minute mozzarella took more like 7 hours as I worked around dinner prep and bedtimes!  Here's my finished mozzarella:

 I gave some to my friend who had lent me the thermometer, and there was still plenty for a couple of meals.
We had some on our favourite artisan pizza (corn and garlic 'sauce' on a homemade base with tomato, mozzarella and basil on top).

 It didn't seem to melt as well as commercial mozza, but it sure tasted good.

Then I grated much of what was left and sprinkled it over seasoned tomato slices, grilled (broiled) them and served it over pasta tossed in olive oil, garlic, roasted yellow peppers and lemon.  The boys loved the pasta and cheese but left the tomato.  The grown ups loved it all.

The day after the marathon mozza session I followed the directions in the rennet tablet pamphlet and made ricotta with the whey and curds I had strained off during the mozzarella making.

I made about a 3/4 cup of ricotta,

 which then was substituted for most of the yoghurt in my favourite lemon cake.  (Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of the finished cake!)

By the way, my friend has 'made over' the lemon cake recipe and I'm looking forward to trying it out soon!

On a side note, I'm not the only  member of the family currently obsessed with dairy.  N is know for his late night habit of being "cheese hungry" and I caught C eating the butter I'd accidentally left out after lunch - straight!  I reckon he got about a tablespoon's worth before I caught him.  Blech!  No adverse effects immediately apparent, though some hard arteries may be on the cards if he keeps this up.

Sunrise Marmalade

Along with the family fun we had in February I also had fun in the kitchen making some marmalade from blood oranges that were part of our co-op basket one week.

The basic recipe (below) comes from my Grandma Heath.  She makes the most fabulous lime marmalade (for all those who love lime or can't have grapefruit) and when I asked for her recipe she said she just substitutes the limes for any other citrus in a recipe!  So I dug out her grapefruit recipe and went to town on my blood oranges.  It only calls for a small amount of fruit so it is perfect for my small batch preserving capacity. :o)

Beautiful fruit - the whole lot diced, flesh, rind and pith.

 Water added and simmered until tender

 Measured.

 Same volume of sugar added - yikes that's a lot!

 SLOWLY heated until sugar dissolves.  (Learned my lesson last time when I ended up with glace' peel rather than marmalade because I heated the sugar too fast!) Then boil until desired setting point is reached.

Pour into sterilised jars to within an quarter inch of the top.  Clean rims of jars if needed.

 Screw on sterilised lids.

Wait for them to seal.  Then open just one jar and enjoy the beautiful blush glow on your morning toast!

Grandma Heath's Marmalade

Mince no more than 1.5 lb grapefruit/lemons/oranges/limes.
Add 3 lb water per pound of fruit. (Yes, weigh both fruit and water.)
Stand overnight then cook until tender, about 30 minutes.
Add 1 c sugar per cup of fruit.
Boil approximately 1 hour until setting point is reached.  (If necessary, add the juice of a greenish lemon to help set.)

Mr Castle would be proud

For Christmas J was sent a book (complete with CD) of Margaret Mahy stories which included one of my favourites, Jam.

Source: amazon.com

It tells of Mr Castle, an extremely competent house-husband, who decides to make jam from the plums falling from their backyard tree.  The problem is that he refuses to waste a single plum and,consequently, every receptacle in the house is used to hold the jam.  They cheer when they can reclaim the teapot for tea, to go with their "scones, pancakes, roly polies and sponge cakes." And so they go on eating the jam.  I won't spoil the ending for you.

I have been enjoying reading and listening to the stories over the past month, especially Mahy's Kiwi accent! The excesses of Mr Castle's jam-making always seem to come to mind when I am midway through preserving a big batch of produce.  I'm sure the fruit multiplies when I am cleaning, trimming and chopping it; so it is gratifying to finally have it in jars, sitting in my pantry at the end (when it has usually returned to its former proportions)  Nevertheless, it is satisfying on many levels to consume.

My most recent session was making jam from nine pounds of strawberries (closer to 8.5 after we snacked on some.)  I ordered the fruit from our produce co-op and invited a friend to come over and help the next day.  We prepped 5 lbs of strawberries that afternoon, made 2 batches of jam, and I mixed up some to macerate in the fridge overnight.  Over the past week I made that lot up, and made two more batches with the remaining strawberries.  Phew!

I used the following recipes, with varying degrees of success, but they all taste great. I didn't buy new jars, just reused ones with rubber seals in the lids.  On the whole, my attempt to reuse baby food jars was NOT successful. So much for saving so many.  I'll be hunting on Pinterest for some other projects I think.

Plain Ol' Strawberry Jam: I did a half batch and then a whole batch.  I didn't bother processing the jam (Shock, horror! Call the food police!) but just cooked it until it was a soft setting consistency.  The total yield was 4 large [18oz?] jars.  Even the large jar that was still 2 inches below full had enough residual heat to create a vacuum and seal. Yay!

Strawberry and Ginger Jam:  A search for a recipe was prompted by a friend mentioning her German mother-in-law's amazing jam.  This yielded 1 large jar and 1 baby food jar.  The latter refused to seal so we have been sampling it.  I'll make it again.

The entire yield from 8.5lbs, minus 3 baby food jars consumed already.

Strawberry Basil Jam: I had bought some basil for another recipe and decided to use it up when I saw this mentioned.  As an experiment in water-bath canning I tried processing baby food jars in my largest pot, and this was my big fat failure!  Two jars came open while they were in the water bath, two made that satisfying 'pop' sound as the seals depressed but sadly they weren't sealed when I checked them the next morning.  Because they were being processed I didn't cook the fruit as long so the jam is more syrup than spreading consistency.  All 7 little Xs below are this yield and are now in our fridge.  The downside: I didn't have a deep enough pot to process a large jar so I only used the baby food jars.  The upside: strawberry basil syrup tastes great on pancakes!  I'll try this one again but cook until setting point is reached.

Strawberry, Ginger, Bay, Black Pepper and Lemon Jam: I made a half recipe with the last 2 lbs of strawberries. I didn't have quite enough black pepper (despite raiding our collection of little sachets that come with plastic cutlery on airplanes and the like) and I doubled the lemon zest.  This yielded 1 large jar and 1.5 baby food jars. Again the baby food jars didn't seal.  I think I'd like to make this again with more pepper.

 

All in all, a mountain of strawberries now in jars of deliciousness.  Mr Castle would be proud!

Whee! He's Three!

It's has taken me a while but here are the pictures from J's birthday at last.  He opened presents a day early (the day of his party) because we figured he'd just be overwhelmed if we spread it out!

 He's really into Spiderman at the moment, so C's gift was exciting.

 Auntie A gave him some stamps and coloured stamp pads (which he is using right now while I post this!)

The Cat in the Hat game has become popular, but it was assumed to be dress-up material at first! 

 His cake was a race track in the shape of a number 3.

 And there were shortbread traffic lights (3 M&Ms), shortbread cars (with M&M wheels), chocolate dipsticks (pretzel sticks dipped in chocolate), fruit cars (slice of apple with grape wheels attached with toothpicks), plus some veges and dip, popcorn, and club sandwiches.

We bought some Cars themed decorations, napkins and plates.

  Perhaps the best investment was in some checkered duct tape (see the edge of the countertop) and these signs...

Our friends came to play.

 And Uncle G stayed later to help J test out his Christmas present - American cricket, you know ;o)