Almond milk is something that I’ve been wanting to make for a long time, but it wasn’t until I took an online wholefood course that I finally got up the courage to try it. It is actually quite easy to make, only takes a few minutes and tastes great, especially in smoothies, hot chocolate and hot chai tea.

There is a generous amount of almond meal left over after making the milk and this almond meal makes baked goods taste moist and fabulous (at a fraction of the cost of store bought almond meal). I have baked with it as it is once the milk is extracted, and I have dried it in the oven – both work fine although as there is more moisture in the un-dried meal, so you may need to adjust your baking recipes slightly.

Method

1. Place almonds in a bowl to soak over night. In the morning, add the dates and let them soak for 10 minutes or so until soft (you can soak these overnight as well if you like – they look absolutely terrible in the morning but are quite edible).
2. Strain almonds and rinse. Place almonds in a blender with the dates and 4 cups of water and blend on high for a few minutes until liquid and the almonds have been ground to meal. Depending on your blender, it may need a motor rest or two during blending.
3. Place a strainer over your bowl and a clean tea towel or nut bag in the strainer (cheesecloth isn’t fine or strong enough unless you double or triple fold it). Draw up the sides of the cloth and then gently twist and squeeze the milk into the bowl. Continue to do this until you have the milk separated from the meal (you may find it easier to do this in batches). The milk can be refrigerated for 2 – 3 days, it will need a bit of a shake before drinking as there is some settling.
4. The meal can be used as is, refrigerated for a few days or frozen. You can also dry the meal. To do this, set your oven to it’s lowest temperature, spread the meal onto a tray and leave it to dry for a few hours (I dried it for about 5 hours). If your oven doesn’t do low, you can heat it slightly every half hour or so and then turn it off to keep the temperature low. Alternatively, if you have a dehydrator, you can use that.
5. If you prefer, you can run the dried almond meal through a coffee or spice grinder or blender for a few seconds to get a finer texture. Refrigerate or freeze meal.

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It’s just past tomato season; I made this relish back at the end of February when tomatoes were at the peak of their harvest. This tomato relish has lots of flavour and is great with vegetable fritters, on steak sandwiches or as an accompaniment to meat.

The sweet / acidic flavours will depend on the tomatoes and apple, so add just a little of the sugar and vinegar to start with, ‘reduce’ the relish and then add a little more to taste as necessary. You can always add more, but you can’t take it out if it’s too sweet or acidic.

This relish stores well in the fridge for a few days or you can double or triple the recipe and bottle it for later. Makes approximately 1 cup.

Method

1. In a saucepan, sauté the onions in a little oil over medium heat until soft. Add the apple and garlic and continue to cook for a further couple of minutes.
2. Add the tomatoes, mustard, allspice, sugar and vinegar, stirring.
3. Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer. Simmer until reduced to a consistency that you like (I reduced mine for about 20 minutes).
4. Serve warm, bottle in a sterilised jar and process or let cool and refrigerate until use.

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A recipe that’s a little different today – something that is edible, but not something to eat.

Homemade play dough is a fraction of the cost of store bought, is something that can be whipped up in minutes (with or without the kid’s help) yet can keep children amused for hours.

Play dough is definitely a favourite activity in our house. It keeps the little fella happily amused rolling and cutting or just pressing matchbox cars into it. Sometimes he will cook me play dough sausages and pancakes in a little toy frypan he has. Other times we will make ‘worms’ by pressing the dough through a garlic press.

If the little fella wants to help me cook dinner and I would prefer him not to help (like when I’m cutting up raw chicken or I’m feeling a little frazzled), I get a clean chopping board and a small knife and let him stand on a chair and practice chopping his play dough beside me. Maybe it’s the change of location, or being able to cook ‘with’ mum, but it means we can work in companionable proximity without him getting in the way.

I tend to make up a batch of play dough and then divvy it out a quarter at a time, keeping the rest in an air tight container in the pantry. This makes it last a bit longer – it doesn’t take long before the dough is full of dirt cat hair, despite the fact that our cat ran away over a month ago. If left out, the dough dries out pretty quickly. I keep it in a little airtight container on the little fella’s table. Even in the direct sun, once it’s in the container it will stay pliable.

Method

1. Add all dry ingredients to a bowl. In a jug, combine the wet ingredients and then pour into the dry ingredients.
2. Mix until the dough comes together then turn out onto the bench and knead lightly until smooth (good job for the kids although check that it isn’t too hot first).
3. Depending on the flour or how much food colouring you add, the dough may come out a little sticky. If the dough is too sticky, knead in a little extra flour until you have a smooth dough.

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Homemade cottage cheese is so quick and easy, it’s worth trying at least once. It is only marginally cheaper than store bought (depending on what milk you use, that is), but if you have a hankering to cook a recipe that includes soft cheese, then it’s easier to whip up your own than go to the store.

One litre of milk produces about 150g of cheese or around two thirds of a cup.

Method

1. Heat milk until very hot (around 80°C or just before it comes to the boil).
2. Stir in vinegar and continue to stir for a minute or two. Curds will form almost immediately.
3. Set aside for 10 – 20 minutes or so.
4. Strain through a fine sieve (line with muslin if not very fine). Leave to drain for 20 minutes or so.
5. Pour curds into a bowl and stir in salt to taste. If it’s too dry for your taste, you can stir in a little of the whey or a little cream.

Note: There’s a lot of whey left over after making this cheese; the whey can be used in baking in place of water or even milk (bread, pancakes, muffins etc.); you can add it to soups and stews or smoothies or soak beans or grains in it. I used the whey from this batch in smoothies and the lightest, fluffiest muffins I’ve ever made.

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I know it’s probably easier to go out and buy a packet of Moroccan spice mix. But that would have meant going out. Instead, I had all the ingredients to make my own in the pantry.

And there are a few ingredients.

As I often say, the beauty of making your own food from scratch is that you can adjust it to suit your own tastes. I used less cayenne pepper, for instance and omitted the chilli powder that some recipes included, because the little fella eats the same food we do and I think chilli might be pushing it a little at his age.

I used this spice in a Moroccan inspired pilaf that I will share next week, but I’ve included other ideas for using the spice below.

Making your own spice mix and presenting it nicely would also make a great gift for an aspiring cook.

This recipe was adapted from this one found at epicurious.com.

Method

1. Mix together (I put everything in a jar and shake well) and store in an airtight jar or container.

Using Moroccan spice mix

• Use as a spice rub on meat
• Toss potatoes in spice mix and a little olive oil before baking (or any other roast vegetable like pumpkin or carrot or zucchini or a mixture)
• Use to flavour Moroccan inspired stews, casseroles or tangine
• Sprinkle over grilled meat or grilled or steamed vegetables as a seasoning
• Sprinkle over scrambled eggs for eggs with a difference
• Add to pumpkin or sweet potato soup
• Use to flavour plain cous cous

Do you use spice mixes? What are your favourite ways of using a spice mix?

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My homemade hummus is the best ever. Why? Because I can adjust it to taste exactly how I like it. And so can you. Prefer a garlic hit? Add more garlic. Like the tang of lemon? Add some more. While cooking from scratch may not save you time, it does mean you can have perfect tasting food.

I’ve been making hummus as a protein / fibre snack lately to eat on whole wheat crackers or with vegetables. I’ve never been a huge fan, but lately I’ve fallen in love with it’s subtle flavour. The biggest challenge is to make the lot last more than one day. Makes just under 500g.

Method

1. Blend or process until smooth. If the mixture is too thick, add a little water to loosen it up or until you have your preferred consistency. Taste and season, adding more garlic, tahini or lemon juice as suits your tastes.

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Our Christmas lunch with family was a bring-a-dish affair, the best way to enjoy Christmas day without having all stress and financial burden of catering for everyone. As well as potato salad, I took the raspberry swirl cheesecake above. You can find the recipe for this cheesecake here at Taste.com.au.

I baked this on Christmas eve. Being a cheesecake novice, I was nervous that I had taken on too much. The stakes were high. I had promised cheesecake and had no back up plan if this didn’t turn out.

Well, after a few choice swear words and two hours baking rather than one, the cheesecake didn’t look nearly as good as the one pictured on the recipe, but it sure tasted sensational! (Oh yeah, even if I do say so myself ).

This cheesecake recipe has a lot of ingredients, including a whole tub of mascarpone, meaning that it’s not the cheapest dessert to make. To bring the cost down, I made the mascarpone, which is relatively easy to make, much cheaper than the store bought stuff and tastes just as good, if not better.

To compare: a tub of supermarket mascarpone is $23 per kilo. Making your own with fresh cream comes in at around $7.90 a kilo, a big saving.

The recipe below yields about 400g of mascarpone cheese.

Method

1. Heat cream over medium heat in a saucepan until it reaches 85°C (a candy thermometer is useful here). Make sure you stir regularly to ensure the cream doesn’t scold on the bottom. Many recipes suggest heating the cream in a double boiler over boiling water, but I found the cream would not reach the desired temperature (even after constant heating for 20 minutes) so ended up transferring the cream to a saucepan over direct heat and this worked fine.
2. Once the cream reaches 85°C, add the vinegar and continue stirring until it is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon (a couple of minutes). Remove from heat and let sit to cool. The cream won’t visibly curdle like it would if you were making ricotta, for example, although you may see some whey. It looks more like custard.
3. Line a sieve with a double layer of cheesecloth or muslin or a new, clean chux and place over a bowl. Pour the cream into the sieve and sit in the fridge over night (I placed a saucer over the top to cover, but don’t squeeze or press down on the cream). What you will have in the morning is a thick, creamy mascarpone – thick like cream cheese, but with a creamy rather than tangy taste. Yum!

If you’re wondering how to use mascarpone, it is traditionally used in tiramisu, but is nice served with fruit (fresh, poached or char-grilled), tossed through pasta (instead of ricotta, say), spread on toasted fruit bread, or can be used in pretty much anything that asks for cream – mascarpone gives the dish a decadent touch.

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Homemade chips aren’t that much more difficult to cook than the frozen, store bought variety but the do taste light-years better and are much healthier.

Use an oil that heats well at high temperature like rice bran oil. We use macadamia nut oil and it gives the chips a lovely flavour.

You only want to use as much flour as will give the chips a very light coating. Too much will leave your chips floury once cooked. So add a little and toss, adding a little more if you need to. They don’t need to be completely coated in flour.

For homemade wedges, make exactly the same, but add some Cajun spice mix with the flour and paprika. Or for a different flavoured chip, add a little rosemary or garlic with the flour.

Method

1. Preheat oven to 220°C. Pour a little oil onto a baking tray and heat the tray in the last few minutes of pre-heating the oven.
2. Leaving the skins on the potatoes, cut into wedges and par-boil for a couple of minutes (you want them under cooked). Drain and put back on the heat for a few seconds to let any excess moisture to steam off.
3. Sprinkle the flour, paprika, salt and pepper over the chips. Put the lid on and give the pot a good shake to coat the chips and rough them up a little.
4. Spread chips onto the hot tray and cook for 30 minutes, turning once half-way through. Nice served with sour cream and chilli sauce.

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I recently read a wonderful Australian book called Healthy Family, Happy Family. Not only does it have some great ideas for ensuring children are eating healthy meals, and tips for encouraging fussy eaters, it also has many excellent recipes (like mango French toast, strawberry, honey muffins and parsley and cashew pesto). The salad dressing below (the best I’ve ever tasted) is from the book. The recipe makes a large batch, but keeps well in the fridge for a few weeks, if it lasts that long.

Method

1. Add all ingredients to a screw top jar and shake until combined. Leave on the bench for a few minutes after refrigeration and before serving to let the oil liquefy again at room temperature. Shake just before serving.

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Today is Australia day and what better way to celebrate it than with some classic Australian food. We’ll be munching on some hot fresh damper bread along with our barbie (for our non-Aussie readers, not the doll but colloquial for barbeque).

Damper is the traditional soda bread of the Australian swagman who spent weeks at a time in remote areas with only basic rations. It uses baking soda as a leavening agent rather than yeast and was cooked in the ashes of the camp fire. Damper is a true frugal bread.

‘Cocky’s joy’ refers to golden syrup which is also traditionally eat with damper (and tastes great, by the way). On brownie camp, we made damper and wrapped it around a stick before cooking it over an open fire. The hole left when the stick was removed was filled with butter and golden syrup. This beats fine dining any day!

To Australian readers: Happy Australia Day! I hope your day is relaxing and enjoyable.

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