Recipes

Comfort for a cold day

Melissa

It’s rapidly sliding into winter here, even though we have most of a month left of autumn. I should be used to this, but after growing up in the sunny shores of Perth, where autumn slowly drifts into winter in early June, it can be hard.

Naturally, my thoughts turn to winter foods—thick hearty soups, tasty stews and slow-roasted dinners. I’ve even dragged out the slow cooker! But this particular meal, shepherd’s pie, was a bit of a winner with my young family. Both girls declared it DELICIOUS and polished off a large bowlful.

Traditionally, shepherd’s pie is made with lamb, quite often with leftover lamb from a roast, but equally as tasty from lamb mince. If you use beef, it’s cottage pie. It’s a complete meal in a bowl, with plenty of vegetables and of course the generous topper of mashed potatoes. It works equally well as a big family sized pie or prepared in individual pie plates. It’s not a particularly photogenic dish, but it certainly warms the soul.

And next time I make it, I think I’ll play a bit more with the recipe—maybe add some rosemary, and definitely some garlic. I’ll let you know how it turns out!

Shepherd’s pie

Adapted from Modern Classics Volume 1, by Donna Hay

Serves 4-6

1 Tbs olive oil
2 onions, chopped
2 medium carrots, chopped
600g lamb mince
2 Tbs tomato paste
400g can peeled italian tomatoes
1 c beef stock
1 fresh bay leaf
1 sprig thyme
1 c frozen peas
sea salt and cracked black pepper
 
1kg potatoes, peeled and quartered
75g butter
1/4 c milk
1/2 c grated parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 190C.

Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large saucepan. Cook the onion and carrot for about 5 minutes until soft and golden. Add the mince and cook for 3 minutes until browned. Stir through the tomato paste and tomatoes, the stock, bay leaf and thyme and bring to a simmer.

Cover and simmer for 15 minutes, then add the peas and simmer uncovered for a further 15 minutes, or until liquid has evaporated. Season to taste with sea salt and pepper.

While the meat mixture is cooking, add the potatoes to cold water and bring to a boil. Gently boil until the potatoes are soft.

Drain and mash with the butter and milk, then stir through the parmesan.

Spoon the meat mixture into a 4-cup capacity ovenproof dish and top with mashed potato. Bake for 35 minutes until potato is golden brown.

Notes:

1. It’s a good idea to use a tray underneath the dish while it’s in the oven, as it can bubble over from underneath the mashed potatoes.

2. This can also be be made in individual servings using small dishes.

Beads

Works in progress

Melissa

I’ve had a busy couple of weeks, and life’s popped up a few surprises to keep me on my toes.

It means I haven’t had as much time to make jewellery as I’d like. And I seem to have several pieces going at once!

This one is the remaking of a turquoise necklace for my mum. She bought these enormous turquoise beads last year in Spain and wants them restrung with coral coloured beads in between each one. They are HUGE! I’m not sure they are actually real turquoise, given the price she paid for them, more likely they dyed howlite, whcih has that characteristic veined appearance of turquoise. And the “coral” nuggets are also dyed howlite. Anyway, this is where I am with it, just need to make it longer than choker length —I have plenty more turquoise and coral beads so that’s not going to be an issue. I’d like to use chain at the back because, to me, those big nuggets would be uncomfortable to lean back against. But I am having problems finding silver-plated or silver-filled chain in the right style. It needs to be big to match the rest of the necklace.

These beads are to make a necklace for a friend to give as a present. They are a deep amethyst-hued Czech crystal with a lovely lustre finish. I plan to combine them with silver-plated chain to make a delicate necklace.

Finally, this is the focal I have made for the Beading Forum Design Quest 24 challenge. It combines Czech peacock daggers and small teardrop beads, that I have attached to a Vintaj brass filigree. And then there is a crystal rivoli popped onto the front, also wrapped in a Vintaj filigree beadcap. I’m pretty chuffed with how it’s turned out actually!

I’ll post more pics of the finished pieces when they’re done. On the schedule this week are a couple of mother’s day gifts, hopefully I’ll have time to make at least one of them!

Recipes

When life gives you pumpkins

Melissa

Sometimes, life gives you pumpkins. In our vege patch this summer, we ended up with a rogue pumpkin plant that gave us 3 small but delicious pumpkins. I’m not entirely sure, but I think they were Golden Nugget pumpkins. And they were definitely the nicest pumpkins we’ve grown in the last few years.

Anyway, when faced with a bounty of unexpected pumpkins, you have to think of something to do with them. They were too small to make much pumpkin soup, so one I roasted alongside potatoes and a chicken for a delicious roast dinner. Another went into a curry. But the third made us a delicious meal combined with lamb, green beans and almonds. The recipe was a hybrid, combining the best parts of two Donna Hay recipes: one for a roast pumpkin and couscous salad (from her cookbook The New Cook), and the other for lamb with couscous and spiced almonds (from Simple Dinners). The result was a delicious autumn meal!

Lamb and pumpkin couscous with spiced almonds

Serves 4

1 small pumpkin, peeled and cut into chunks
1 and 1/2 tsp ground cumin
3 tbs olive oil, plus extra for brushing
120g blanched almonds
2 tsp sesame seeds
2 tbs honey
2 X 250g lamb loin/backstrap
sea salt and black pepper to taste
400g (2 c) instant couscous
2 c water
50g butter
1/2 c mint leaves, roughly chopped
150g green beans, trimmed
Tzatziki to serve

Preheat oven to 200C.

Toss the pumpkin with 1/2 tsp cumin and 2 tbs olive oil and a large pinch of sea salt, and spread out on baking tray. Roast for 20-30 minutes until tender.

Toss almonds and sesame seeds with 1 tbs olive oil, 1 tsp cumin and honey and spread out on non stick baking paper on a tray. Bake for 10 minutes until golden. Cool slightly and break or chop into rough pieces.

Brush meat with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Cook for 3-4 minutes each side in grill pan or frying pan over high heat, or to liking. Rest for 5 minutes then slice.

Cover green beans with water and microwave for a couple of minutes to blanch (or steam or boil until bright green but still crisp).

Place couscous into heatproof bowl. Boil 2 c water and pour over couscous, swirl to mix. Add butter, cover and stand for 5 minutes until liquid is absorbed. Fluff with a fork.

Toss couscous with pumpkin and green beans. Divide between plates. Top with sliced lamb and scatter with mint and spiced nuts.

Serve with tzatziki if desired.

Beads

Boho bangles and bracelets

Melissa

As I write, my arm is jingling with bracelets. Today is the reveal day and blog hop for Tracy Statler’s Wrapped Stacked and Layered Bracelet Challenge.

I ended up making quite a few bracelets, mostly in the last week! I do wish I had made time to make another leather wrap bracelet as I love the style. But in the end, I had bracelets aplenty for a couple of different sets. Bangles wrapped with wire and sari silk. A stretchy loop of almost iridescent Czech glass beads. A few gemstones and some lampwork beads. Brass chain and an eclectic combo of Czech crystals.

The first set, which I’m calling “Dusty Roses”, incorporates the two bracelets I showed in my last bracelet post, but I added a stretch bracelet I found among my jewellery that matches the colours really well. I also made a bangle using a Vintaj creative hoop, a gemstone nugget that could be agate or possibly quartz, and some beautiful frayed sari silk that I wrapped around the bangle and overwrapped with antique brass wire. I can see myself wearing this combination a lot with jeans.

The second set, uses more vibrant colours. I’ve called this set “Boho Peacock” for its turquoise, green, and lavender hues. It includes three bangles, a double-wrapped braid of sari silk, a stretch bracelet of iridescent Czech glass beads, and a pretty little bracelet of brass chain and Czech beads. I think this combo will be great at night.

I think the bangles also work as a set on their own. One of the bangles uses a gorgeous lampwork pillow bead from Etsy lampworker Vivian Houser. Her shop is Dragyn’s Fyre Designs. Another bangle has a small lampwork bead from Australian lampworker Angela Gensch (her Etsy shop is Genschi). The sari silk comes from another Etsy shop Designtalentedone. The gemstone nuggets in the third bangle is rainbow fluorite. And I’m not entirely sure what the faceted gemstone nugget is in the fourth bangle, but as I said above, it’s probably agate or quartz.

I have to say, I have learnt a lot while doing this challenge. My wire-wrapping skills are definitely improving. It’s been fun incorporating sari silk into my jewellery designs. And I have lots more ideas for bracelets and bracelet stacks.

Here is the list of participants in the challenge—there are almost 80! Go and have a look at what they’ve made! I know I’ll be spending a bit of time browsing these blogs tomorrow! Thanks again Tracy for this great challenge!

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Recipes

Easter feast

Melissa

For the first time in a few years we were home for the Easter weekend. And, as it happened, so were some of our very good friends. So plans were made to spend some time together on Easter Sunday. To make it even more fun, an old friend from our Californian days was in town for a family event, and he joined us too.

What better to serve at Easter than roast lamb? But this wasn’t just any roast lamb. I got boned lamb shoulder from the local butcher, and roasted it slowly in lemon juice, herbs and olive oil, until the meat was falling apart. A quick blast under the grill to crisp up the edges and then a scattering of creamy salty feta cheese to round it off. Yum! It was beautifully complemented by quinoa and barley salads brought by our guests, as well as baby roast potatoes.

After a week of warmer weather, we headed back to winter over the Easter weekend, and to warm us all up I made a bread and butter pudding using up some of the hot cross buns we had left over. I used chocolate hot cross buns—not very traditional but so delicious—buttered and soaked in a simple custard before baking. It was a chocolate-y oozing mess of comfort.

 

Slow-roasted greek style lamb shoulder

This recipe is really a combination of two Karen Martini recipes published a few years ago in The Age’s weekend magazine Sunday Life.

2 lemons, zested and juiced
large handful of fresh oregano, roughly chopped
2-3 stalks of fresh rosemary, chopped
6-4 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp sea salt
100 ml olive oil
freshly ground black pepper
1 lamb shoulder, boned and trimmed of excess fat
100 g feta cheese 

Preheat the oven to 160C.

To make the marinade, combine the lemon juice and zest, chopped herbs, and olive oil in a jug. Pound the garlic to a paste in a mortar and pestle with the sea salt and add it to the marinade along with black pepper to taste.

Open out lamb shoulder in baking tray and pour marinade over it, making sure you get it under all the folds. Cover the tray tightly with foil.

At this point you can let it marinate in the fridge as long as overnight or you can put it in the oven straight away. Cook for 3-4 hours until the lamb is falling-apart tender.

Remove from the oven and pour off half of the juices. Turn oven up to 250C and put the grill on and place lamb back under grill to brown for 5 minutes until the edges are crisp.

Remove from the grill and rest for 10-15 minutes, then shred into chunks using a fork. Transfer to a serving platter and scatter with crumbled feta cheese.

 

Chocolate hot cross bun bread and butter pudding

6 chocolate hot cross buns, slightly stale
unsalted butter
2 c milk
3 eggs
3/4 c sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp butter, extra 

Preheat the oven to 170C. Butter a large ceramic or glass baking dish (approx 20 X 30 cm).

Split each hot cross bun in half and generously butter each slice. Tear or cut each half into 4 pieces and place in the baking dish in one layer.

Whisk together the milk, eggs, sugar and vanilla extract until well combined. Pour evenly over buns, pushing the pieces down into the mixture. Dot the top with butter.

Set the pudding aside for at least 30 minutes to allow the liquid to really soak in to the bread.

Bake for 40-45 minutes until puffed and golden. Remove from the oven and sit for 10-15 minutes before serving with icecream, cream or even a tangy yoghurt.

 

Notes

1. One lamb shoulder will easily feed 4-6 people. And the pudding serves at least 8, as it is very rich and a little goes a long way!

2. You can serve the lamb with fresh pita bread, tzatziki, and a grain-y salad.

3. For a variation on the pudding,make it with traditional fruit hot cross buns instead. Try adding some orange zest to the custard mixture or scatter some chunks of 70% chocolate through the buns.

Beads, Uncategorized

Bracelets on my mind

Melissa

I’ve signed up for another challenge. This one is the Wrapped, Stacked and Layered Bracelet Challenge started over at Tracy Statler’s Make Bracelets blog and it’s all about stacking and layering bracelets to create a unique-to-you look.

The big day is 21 April, when all the participants (and there seem to be quite a few signed up!) post pics of their bracelet on their blogs.

The thing I like about layering bracelets is that it’s all about texture, mixing different beads and techniques to get an eclectic effect. Different metals, like silver, copper or brass, beads made from glass, clay, semi-precious stones, dangling charms and beads sliding along, leather, chain and fabric all mixed up together.

I’ve got a few bracelets I’ve made, and a few more that I have acquired along the way, and I’m putting together some more in the next couple of weeks, so hopefully I’ll have a few to choose from. And I’ve been having a lovely time fossicking around the web, looking for inspiration. I think I could almost start a separate Pinterest board just for ideas!

Some of the bracelets I have already made include this wrap bracelet in the Chan Luu style. It’s made from brown leather and pink rhodonite beads and finished with an antique silver button. I’ve got earrings made out of the same pink stone too.

This one was made by knotting together a set of Gaea ceramic beads on natural leather. I finished it off with antique brass findings. But I think I need to hang something else from the closure side, to balance it a bit, as it keeps sliding around so that the pretty beads don’t keep ending up on the inside of my wrist.

Now I just have to decide whether to go for a silver bling-y effect or an antique-y boho look. Or maybe I’ll do both! See you on the 21st for the big reveal!

Recipes

Sunshine on a plate

Melissa

A couple of weekends ago, we had one of those glorious late summer days, where the sun was shining, there was no wind and the day was just begging for a lazy afternoon of friends and BBQs. Lucky for us, we’d seen the weather forecast and invited a few families over to lounge around our backyard watching the kids play.

The day also coincided with ripe corn growing in our vege patch. So I decided to make a salad with just picked corn to go with the BBQ. I searched around the web for a recipe that kind of matched what I had in mind—I didn’t want anything too complicated. And I found an old recipe on US celebrity chef Emeril’s website that ticked all the boxes.

It matched the day perfectly—sunshine on a plate!

Corn, feta, tomato and risoni salad

Inspired by Emeril’s Orzo Salad with Corn, Feta and Tomatoes.

3 tbs lemon juice
1 tbs olive oil
3 garlic cloves, crushed
sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 cup uncooked risoni pasta
4 ears of fresh sweetcorn
250g cherry tomatoes, halved
3 spring onions, chopped
1 jar of marinated feta cheese in olive oil, drained and cheese crumbled into small pieces
 

To make the dressing, combine the lemon juice, olive oil and crushed garlic in a jar and shake to mix. Adjust seasoning to taste.

Use a knife to cut the kernels off the ears of corn. Cook risoni for 5-6 minutes in boiling water. Add the corn kernels and cook for 2-3 minutes more, until both corn and pasta are tender.

Drain corn and pasta and transfer to a large bowl. Add about half of the dressing and toss to coat.

Allow to cool, then add the remaining ingredients and toss with the rest of the dressing.

Serve at room temperature or chill before serving.

Notes

1. Risoni is a small rice shaped pasta similar to orzo.

2. I used marinated feta cheese because that’s what my husband brought home from the shops. You could substitute regular feta cheese, crumbled into small pieces. You could also use some of the marinade from the cheese in the dressing in place of olive oil.

If you’re interested in seeing more of my recipes click here.

Beads

Challenges and more

Melissa

I recently decided I needed to stretch my wings a bit, give myself a challenge. Beading Forum runs a challenge twice a year—the Designer Quest—where members of the forum can purchase a set of beads for a modest price. The challenge is to make a piece of jewellery with the beads provided, and there is both a judged prize and a popular prize up for grabs.

This is the selection of beads I received for Designer Quest #24. 3 packets of seed beads in purple and a golden yellow, including some very tiny size 15/0 ones, a packet of triangle beads, Czech fire-polished faceted beads, round Czech beads, Czech teardrops, the big purple glass beads, small peacock dagger and even a faceted crystal. Yes, there are a lot of seed beads, something I don’t have a lot of experience with. And I’m certainly not going to launch myself into large scale bead-weaving or bead embroidery, not my thing. But I’ve got a couple of ideas based on a bracelet design in polymer clay art bead designer Heather Powers’ Jewelry Design from Nature that I plan to work on. I have a bit of time yet, but I think I need to get cracking soon!

Meanwhile, I received a lovely email the other day, informing me that I had won the Humblebeads & Vintaj Forest Friends Giveaway, which includes a fantastic selection of Vintaj brass and copper components and some gorgeous polymer clay beads and pendants from Humblebeads/Heather Powers. From the picture, it looks like a substantial stash of beads and bits, enough to make quite a few things! I’m really looking forward to receiving this package! Thanks so much Vintaj! And I’ll definitely post pics of what I make with my prize!

(Pic courtesy of vintaj.com)
Recipes

Bill’s green chicken curry

Melissa

A few weeks ago, we went to a local, and very good, Thai restaurant for dinner with friends. And a few days later, when I asked Matty what he’d like for dinner, he suggested green chicken curry. So I looked around for a recipe that was easy enough to prepare for a weeknight dinner, but “from scratch” enough to feel like I was really cooking. Enter Bill Granger, whose latest cookbook Bill’s Everyday Asian has been gracing my bookshelf (or rather, balancing precariously on my sideboard) since Christmas.

I didn’t play around much with the recipe, other than to swap out some of the veges for what I had to hand, namely some lebanese eggplants and zucchini from our garden. It was not a difficult recipe, and the bonus is that there is enough curry paste to make a second batch.

Verdict—this was a lovely tasting, gently spicy and fragrant curry. Definitely a keeper!

Bill Granger’s Green Chicken Curry

Based on the recipe in Bill’s Everyday Asian.

For the curry paste
1 tsp white peppercorns
1 tsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp sea salt flakes
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 lemongrass stalk, white and pale green parts roughly chopped
6 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
4 spring onions, roughly chopped
2 tbs coriander roots, washed and chopped
3cm piece of ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
4 green chillies, deseeded and chopped
2 tbs sunflower oil
 
For the curry:
1 tbs sunflower oil
3 tbs green curry paste
125ml chicken stock
250ml coconut milk
1 anchovy, finely chopped
4 kaffir lime leaves, torn
500g chicken breasts, cut into 2cm chunks
100g green beans, trimmed and cut into 2-3 cm lengths
1/2 tin baby corn
1/2 tin bamboo shoots
100g lebanese eggplant, cut into 1-2 cm rounds
100g green zucchini, cut into 1-2 cm rounds
100g yellow zucchini, cut into 1-2 cm rounds
1 tbs white sugar
2 tbs fish sauce
1 tb lime juice
handful of basil leaves, torn
 

To make the curry paste:

Heat a small fry pan over medium heat and dry-toast the peppercorns, coriander and cumin seeds for 1-2 minutes until fragrant.

Add to a food processor with other curry paste ingredients and blitz to make a paste.

To make the curry:

Heat oil in a large saucepan over high heat. Fry the curry paste for 2 minutes unti fragrant.

Add the stock, coconut milk, anchovy and lime leaves and cook over medium-low heat for 5 minutes. Add chicken and cook for a further 5 minutes, then add the vegetables, sugar, fish sauce and lime juice and simmer for 15 minutes until vegetables are tender and chicken pieces are cooked through.

Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Serve with steamed rice.

Notes

1. When I make this again, I will pound paste mix in a mortar and pestle before I blitz in the food processor, as I found my machine didn’t do a good job. I ended up transfering the paste to the mortar and pestle for a good pounding to get a good paste consistency.

Beads

Silver heart

Melissa

I love the combination of leather and sterling silver. This necklace was made on a whim a couple of weeks ago. It’s inspired by several necklaces in the Sundance Catalog, which carries a gorgeous, but pricey range of jewellery. I used tiny Thai silver beads stamped with flowers, wire-wrapped freshwater pearls and a Thai silver heart, also stamped with a flower, and knotted them along a long piece of black leather.

Thai silver is a purer metal alloy than sterling silver, up to 99% pure compared with the 92.5% silver in sterling. In theory that means it doesn’t tarnish as easily, and retains its bright lustre.