So the kitchen isn’t really closed. We’re still eating every day.
And on Sunday we ate very very well indeed.
Details, including background saga, costumes and full menu have already been blogged by the children over here.

The freezer is almost empty, the spare pantry *is*
We’re down to our last bags of dried beans and wheat.
We don’t have a hope of using up the coffee or spices.

I had visions of finishing all the links on this site before we took off, but with only three weeks until we leave, I can safely say I’m not going to do any more at all. We’re about to pack away the kitchen non-essentials, keeping out just enough to cook for us and Father Bear’s work colleagues one night soon.

Any gastronomical adventures will find their way onto Pilgrims’ Progress over the next year….until we open up a new kitchen upon our return.

Toad in the Hole with Roasted-Onion Gravy

Grandpa comes for dinner most nights. And he washes the dishes.
Sometimes he even brings the dinner with him. His most popular dish is Argentinian Beef, but recently his specialty has been Toad in the Hole. He used to eat it at pubs when cycling round the UK in his youth. Maybe we’ll be able to eat it with him after a day of riding soon!
Here’s his recipe:

Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 7, 425ºF, 220ºC

The batter
3 oz (75g) flour
1T baking powder
Sieve into a large bowl

1 large egg 
salt and pepper
Add to flour and mix

75ml milk
Add very slowly, beating well to mix in (can use an electric beater for this)

The onion gravy
8 oz (225g) onions, peeled and sliced
2 t oil
1t caster sugar
Toss together. Spread on a 14×10 inch baking tray. Place on a high shelf in the oven.

6 pork sausages
Place in a solid-based, flame proof roasting tin with a base of 9×6 inches and 2 inches deep on a lower shelf of the oven, and set a timer for ten minutes. When the timer goes off remove the sausages from the oven, but leave the onions in for 4-5 minutes - they need to be nicely blackened round  the edges. When ready, remove and put aside .
Place the roasting tin containing the sausages over direct heat turned to medium. When the tin is really hot and the oil is begining to shimmer -it must be searing hot- quickly pour the batter all around the sausages.
Immediately return to the oven, this time on the highest shelf, and cook the whole thing for 30 minutes.

Back to the gravy
1 heaped D flour
1t mustard powder
Place the onions in a pot and then add these ingredients

1D Worcestershire sauce 
425ml vegetable stock
Add slowly and heat gently. SImmer for 5 minutes. Season if necessary.

When the toad is ready, it should be puffed brown and crisp and the centre should look cooked and not too stodgy. Serve it immediately with the gravy.

We used lamb and mint sausages for a Kiwi twist….and they were good!

(Thanks for typing this up J12…and for cooking it too!!!!! I really appreciated getting all those little jobs under control and all that packing done too. Luff, MamaDear) 

Round here Father Bear makes The Best Omlette in the Whole Wide World.
But that’s not the only way to eat eggs. The kids love to make me a fried plastic-y egg or a scrambled rubber egg. When *I* make them, they don’t turn out that way. But when the kids get to the stove, something happens. None of my little teaching tips (like scramble *slowly*) have helped. Ever.

So could you help me? What are your egg cooking secrets?

* boiled * scrambled * fried * poached *

Ah yes, poached eggs. The recipe book says to break the egg onto a suacer and slip it into gently bubbling water. Apparently it will come out of the water as a perfect circle. Not at my house it doesn’t. Again, not ever. In fact, I’ve given up trying. But I do so like poached eggs, so if someone would be kind enough to tell me where I’m going wrong, I’d be most obliged.

When you don’t have time to bake a boxful of bikkies to take to a friend in need….bake one batch, buy two packets and pop them both in a nice vintage tin with hand-embroidered linen

Chocolate Chip Cookies
(BTW, do any other kiwis find it interesting that we say cookies for these ones, but biscuits for all others? I digress)

250g butter
1/2C sugar
6T condensed milk
splash of vanilla essence
Cream until light and fluffy

3C flour
2t baking powder
Sift and mix into wet ingredients

1C chocolate chips
Stir in
Roll tablespoonfuls of mixture into balls, place on greased tray and flatten with a fork.
Bake at 180ºC for 20 minutes

It is no easy task for a mother to say, “Yes Dear” to a child who decides, three days before his birthday, that he no longer wants the funky cake she had been anticipating making, but the one that doesn’t even look good in the cake book with professional photographs. She gently tried to persuade him towards the other dinosaur that at least didn’t look like Egyptian hieroglyphs, but he was not to be persuaded. In fact, he was not even to be bribed.

So mother offered the task of cake decorating to anyone who was interested and thankfully there was one taker.

Apart from the hiccup of adding too much water and not having any more icing sugar…and proceeding to pour the icing on anyway (requiring a scrape-up-operation and mercy dash to the local shops for more icing sugar)….it ended up looking just like the one in the book. Which isn’t saying much.

But M5 M6 loved it.

Butter Chicken

olive oil with a splash of peanut oil
1kg chicken meat (we threw the bones in another pot to make soup)
Fry and set aside

some butter
2t garam masala
2t paprika
2t ground coriander
1T fresh ginger, grated
1/2t chili powder (or more or less)
1 cinnamon stick (or a pinch of cinnamon)
seeds from 6 cardamom pods
Fry for a minute or so

130g tomato paste
Add and stir

400g tin chopped tomatoes
1T sugar
Add with the chicken. Simmer a wee while.

1/4C plain yoghurt (we used coconut cream coz we didn’t have yoghurt)
1/2C cream
1T lemon juice (which I forgot to add)
Stir these in just before serving

We made a triple batch, which served 27 people and there was still enough left over for a Dadda’s lunch and to top a pizza for dinner.

J12, you need to put the recipe in!
Thanks for making dessert. It was scrummo.

250g flour
2t baking powder
pinch of salt

          Sift together.

30g butter

          Rub in.

1 egg
100ml milk or water
          Beat and add to flour. 
          Roll 5mm thick.

2 apples
45g sultanas
30g nuts, chopped
2T honey

          Spread on dough. Roll up from long side. Cut into 2.5 cm slices. Place in a greased baking dish, leaving plenty of room.

450g sugar
15g butter
1t cinnamon
1L boiling water

          Pour over dough. Bake at 180°C for 35-40 minutes.

Every time one of the children turns eight years old, Grandpa and Gran buy them a Very Special Present. By the time L7 turns into L8, we’ll be in Malaysia, and so on their way through Auckland last weekend, they gave a totally surprised L7 his equally unexpected present (more Lego that he hadn’t dared with for!) What’s more, late Saturday afternoon, I decided we’d do him the cake he had been hoping for, but understanding he’d not be getting. He had been a wee bit down in the mouth at the prospect  of no cake this year, and so it was an extra bonus. Add to that, a treasure hunt made by bigger siblings, and this boy’s joy was complete.

Borsch and Black Bread

First the soup.

500g beef, cut in bite-sized pieces
250g bacon, diced
Brown in a large pan
NB: we doubled the recipe, but not the meat content and it was fine

1C onion, chopped
1 carrot, grated
Add to the pan and cook until soft

2t dried oregano
1t celery salt or seeds
2t dill seeds
1T minced garlic
2 bay leaves
Add and cook for a few minutes

3T red wine vinegar
Stir in

1t salt
1t ground pepper
2l water or beef broth
Add and simmer for a few hours

3T tomato paste
750g red beets (green tops removed, roasted in oven and chopped)
1 large potato, peeled and diced
6C green cabbage, shredded
3T fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
sugar to taste
Add and simmer until the potatoes are cooked

1C sour cream
1/2C fresh dill, chopped (we didn’t have any left in our winter garden)
Add to individual bowls

We have since made another version with a lamb leg broth instead of beef, and it was difficult to tell the difference.

Black Bread

Here’s a link to the recipe I used, and here’s my adaptation written out

4C rye flour
5C wholewheat flour (or 4C wholemeal & 2C bran)
Combine and set aside

1t sugar
2t salt
2T caraway seeds, crushed
2t instant coffee granules (not sure how authentic this is!)
2t onion powder
1/2t fennel seeds, crushed
2T dry yeast
Combine all these ingredients with 2 1/3C of the flour mixture

2 1/2C water
1/4C molasses
1/4C vinegar (yes, really)
25g unsweetened chocolate (no, don’t be tempted to eat it!)
1/4C butter
Warm over a low heat and gradually add to dry ingredients
Beat for two minutes, occasionally scraping down the sides of the bowl
Add flour, half a cup at a time and mix in thorougly, until you have a soft dough
Cover and let rest for 15 minutes
Knead until smooth and elastic – about 10-15 minutes (dough will be sticky)
Place in a greased bowl and turn to grease the top. Cover and leave to rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk (about one hour)
Form into two loaves and place on greased tray (or in 9×5 inch tins)
Preheat oven to 180ºC and bake for 45-50 minutes

1t cornstarch
1/2C cold water
Cook over a medium heat, stirring constantly for 1 minutes. As soon as bread is baked, brush mixture over tops of bread and return to oven for 2-3 minutes until the glaze is set.

After the taste-sensation of this bread, you’ll never eat another cheap loaf of bread-from-the-corner-dairy again!