Hamming Around

Smoky Ham, Sage, Ginger and Pumpkin Soup


Just a quick one today.
This is one of my favourite soups ever, especially for Autumn. Something about pumpkins, maybe its the colour, is quintessentially Autumn for me. My Mum used to make Ginger and Pumpkin Soup when we where kids and its true those two flavours marry so well together, also no one can deny the combination of Sage and Pumpkin, so these four ingredients in the one pot, HEAVEN!

Ingredients
2kg Pumpkin, chopped into rough 1cm thick chunks (I generally use Jap or Butternut pumpkin)
2T Olive Oil
1 Large Brown Onion, rough dice
1 inch of Fresh Ginger, finely diced (or 2T pre-minced)
7g Fresh Sage
1 Large Ham hock
3 Bay Leaves
Water

Method
Using large soup pot heat up Olive Oil, add Brown Onion, fry until lightly brown.
Add in Ginger and Sage, fry until fragrant.
Add Pumpkin, Ham Hock and Bay Leaves, almost cover with water and bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer with no lid so that it reduces at the same time as the pumpkin cooks.
Cook for approx 2 hours (I like to cook Ham Hocks for as long as possible) if the liquid reduces too much you can always top up with a little more water or replace the lid.
Half an hour before serving, remove the Ham Hock and allow to cool to a manageable temperature, remove the edible meat from the bone, add the meat back to the pot and discard the bone. (I find if the Ham Hock has been left whole by the butcher it is less likely to 'lose' bones in the soup which can ruin the consistency after blending)
Blend soup, bring back to serving temperature, check the seasoning, the Ham Hock is often salty enough to not require further seasoning, and serve.

You can serve with crusty bread, sour cream, finely chopped parsley, anything, but to be honest I like it plain.
P.S. I really did mean to show a picture of the finished product, but I keep eating it before I remember, I hope the empty (scrapped clean) bowl will suffice.

Hipster Cafes Take Over Crows Nest

Built By Hipsters, For Hipsters, But Wasn't So Hip

The other day some mates and I went for breakfast. For some stupid reason our seasons and weather are having an identity crisis, so what should have been a fine Autumn morning was actually a terribly confused Winter morning in March. As a result we had sunlight with a wind chill factor that was more commonly felt in Thredbo, not so fun first thing in the morning. This was our first hiccup our second was that the cafe with the good food had no more tables inside and was on the wrong side for sunshine outside, we therefore opted for the untried but sunny cafe.

Now this cafe is doing new things with coffee, well new for me anyway, like cold drip and Syphon's and such. I tried the cold drip which in layman's terms I would describe as a cold short black without the creme. Now my idea of a coffee is that its like a warm, fluffy hug in the morning that tells you "as soon as the caffeine kicks in, it's going to be ok" this cold drip monstrosity did none of that, it was like waking up with a hangover to discover the Aunt you don't particularly like has decided to move in and will now be staying in your room while you take the couch, in other words, not comforting, a little awkward and leaves you feeling dazed and confused.

My other gripe about this place was the lack of eggs, when I go out for breakfast I want eggs and bacon and tomatoes and mushrooms and all the sides, basically you name it I want it on my plate BUT it starts with eggs, and not just any old eggs, beautifully poached, free range firm on the outside and oozey on the inside eggs, at this not so hip cafe they did not do eggs, they had sunshine but no eggs. I chose the the home-made honey and maple toasted oats served with cranberries, yoghurt and fruit compote, they had a nice presentation going on but to be perfectly honest, if the coffee hadn't annoyed me so much I wouldn't have bothered writing about this cafe, everyone else's consensus was so-so. In conclusion Bean Drinking in Crow's Nest is a cafe built by hipsters, for hipsters but they kinda missed the mark in the chase of trying to be so cool, it's like they forgot that they're actually serving food. On a scale of awesomeness they get a not.

Lazy, Hazy, Friday Afternoon Lunch

Autumn at its Finest

The other day my mate was feeling a little down and as all good mates should do I took her out to lunch to cheer her up. On the way to the cafe we passed the bottle shop and quickly ducked in to grab an accompaniment for our lunch, now I'm not a white wine drinker... pretty much at all. I dont mind some champers, roses, pinots or anything else thats extremely pale in colour but I've never been keen on white but it was a warm day and even I had to admit it was not the weather for a red. We chatted to the shop attendant and he suggested Saint Clair Sauvignon Blanc 2011, it was beautiful. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a wine afficionado but this didn't have the thing that I can't stand about whites and thats the incredibly acidic, eating your stomach lining away finish, instead it was light, fresh and fruity, perfect for our Autumn afternoon.

We wandered across to Relish, a little cafe in North Avalon. Normally I have only had breakfast here or have ordered a baguette to go, we grabbed a stool at the bench outside, all the other seats and tables where taken (this is always a good sign), nice weather, cool breeze, seats outside, it was a good start.

I ordered the sauteed harissa and lime prawns, mango, macadamia and avocado salad with a tahini and coconut dressing, OH MY GOD, it was fantastic, one of the best salads/lunches/meals/food I have had in a long time. The salad was a beautiful mix of sweet and spicy, all the ingredients where crispy and fresh and the macadamia's perfectly toasted, the prawns, well, the prawns where just the icing on an otherwise perfect cake, brilliant,  on a scale of 1 to awesome that was definitely an awesome.

Now I don't normally have a sweet tooth but ever since I quit smoking I have had mega sugar cravings, hello muffin tops and thunder thighs, so when it came to finishing off the meal with a little something something I was a go-er and the apple and raspberry crumble had my name all over it. In consideration to my rapidly rising weight I figured sharing my dessert was a concession that I was going to have to make, bad move, it was delicious. Served with vanilla bean icecream, fresh strawberry and a little chocolate sauce we proceeded to have spoon wars over the crumble. The apple and raspberry where balanced brilliantly, the raspberry flavour was easily detected and the apple was not over powered, all in all a fantastic lunch, if you're up in Avalon on a lazy, warm day, make Cafe Relish your lunch destination, close enough to the beach without being out of your way and fantastic food, staff and ambience.

A Poultry Excuse For A Post

Soon To Have Fresh Eggs

I have been wanting chickens for ages, or fresh eggs more to the point.  The back yard is huge, plenty of room for a coop and a big run, so I began looking on eBay for a coop. I found one at a good price, bid on it and won, I know, I know, you’re not actually “winning” per say. But the coop was mine, so I paid up and waited, and waited and then finally a whole nine days later, the freight company contacted me to say that it would arrive tomorrow, as in today (you know what I mean and if you don't I'm not going to try and explain it). So I waited and waited, and even left a note on the door when I went off to physio and I waited and at 5:30pm the courier dude rocked up (now thats got to be a late day for him poor dude) and my coop was finally here, flat packed......

Now as much as I'm a tom boy and use tools for work, I still insist on calling the screw driver with the cross on top 'the angry head' screw driver because he's cross right.... and am not the best at logic, practical yes, logic... ummm I have my own ideas on why, how, when and what, often described as 'special and different' but hey we're all unique right.

Luckily I have two of the awesomest neighbours ever, Aya and Kevo, and they ducked over  (he he he - sorry thats a fowl joke - oops) with a drill and all the attachment thingys to the rescue.
So, sans instructions Kevo proceded to fix everything and now I have a chicken coop, which this morning had its first inhabitant, thank you Aya, and this afternoon had its first live inhabitants.
I bought one Isa Brown, one Rhode Island Hybrid and one Sussex who are all currently working on the pecking order and in about 6-8 weeks time I should hopefully, all going well, have fresh eggs.

Banana, Coconut and White Chocolate Muffins

The Adventure of the Muffins

Yesterday I decided to bake some muffins. I have a recipe that I have been using and figured I'd tweak it a little and see how I go. The recipe was originally for Banana Choc Chip Muffins so there was not too much tweaking involved.

There was two reasons I was baking these, the first is that I (assuming like everyone else) constantly has bananas that get a little too ripe for my tastes to eat raw, so I freeze them and plan to one day use them in cooking, well the freezer was filling up and not just with bananas so it was time I began to actually use them as planned.

The second reason I decided to make these was I have recently hurt my back, I have a bulging disc which is painful but I must keep moving or my muscles will seize, so there has been lots of baking or cooking or just plain creativity in the kitchen.

So my adventure of the Muffins thus began.

Recipe (I'll add the tweaking in italics)

Ingredients

• 60g Butter
• 2C SR Flour
• 1/2C Caster Sugar
• 1/2C Milk
• 2 Eggs
• 2 Ripe/Frozen Bananas, mashed (if frozen defrost in microwave)
• 1C Choc Bits, I used white chocolate
• 1/2tsp Vanilla Paste
• 1/2C Desiccated Coconut

Method

Preheat oven to 200 deg C. 

Line a medium muffin tray (12 sections) with paper cases. 

Melt butter in a  heat-proof in microwave. Set aside to cool.

Lightly beat milk, eggs, butter and vanilla into the mashed banana.

Sift flour into a mixing bowl. Stir in sugar and coconut. 

Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients.

Pour banana mix into the centre of the dry ingredients. Using a wooden spoon, gently mix until 'just' combined.

Stir in chocolate bits. 

Don't over beat the mixture or the muffins will be heavy and tough.

Spoon the mixture evenly into the muffin cases. 

Bake for 20 minutes or until firm on top (use fine knife or skewer to pierce centre, if clean, centre is cooked). 

Leave in the tray for a couple of minutes. 

Transfer the muffins to a wire rake to cool.

Note: If you used frozen bananas be sure to microwave them until warm otherwise the butter will separate.

Hello World

Yo Yo Yo
I know you're all standing by with baited breath (or sitting) to see what awesomeness I will create, well it all starts with baby steps and this is mine!
Hiya