Surviving in My Kitchen during Renovations

Aussie Beef Salt Bush Pie, read on

Now that the dust has settled, literally, I have some time to write on my blog again. Have you noticed I've been a bit quiet in the blogging world? Last week after taking a deep breath, we had our whole house retiled, except for two bedrooms and the bathrooms. All the furniture was removed from the lounge, dining area, and the two main bedrooms. It happened quickly, as surprisingly the tradies were ready to do the work. So the house inside was shrouded in plastic as the first couple of days were very  dusty and noisy when the existing tiles were removed. 

Luckily, we could move into the bedroom at the back of our house near the kitchen and still use the guest bathroom until the last day of tiling. There was less upheaval for us that way, and it was quite comforting during all of the mayhem to still be in our own home and to be able to use my own kitchen and laundry, even though friends offered for us to stay at their house during the tiling, which we really appreciate. The plastic was removed from the kitchen once the old tiles were removed. I also found some comfort in going shopping!

We chose our tiles, they were laid over three days  and now we are very happy with the result. I love our new look. Mr. HRK and I moved all of the furniture back into the house, the beds, the lounge suite, the China Cabinet,  the dining suite etc,  and along the way we needed to make compromises about what we should keep and what should be sold or disposed of. This was the perfect time to scale down and decide what we really don't need. It really came down to what is essential for us now, and what we are emotionally attached to. Now our lounge, dining area and bedrooms have a whole new layout, lovely refreshing new tiles and we are happy with the result. Our backs were sore for a day after the shifting, but that was the least of our worries. It was done. However there is still some sorting through cupboards and drawers to be done, but the worst of the renovations, the heavy lifting and the decision making, is over. 

But how did we survive with enough food to nourish us during this experience? Those of you who read the last In My Kitchen post, will already know that we have a mandarin tree which has just been laden with fruit, so we have had plenty of fresh citrus to enjoy, and as I am writing this post I am sipping on some freshly squeezed mandarin juice. It's really delicious. We've had a couple of cold snaps and some rain, so the mandarins are at their peak of juiciness. We've also had lots of dried mandarins to nibble on.

I'm really happy that we didn't need to buy any takeaway meals, and we didn't dine out during all of the upheaval, as nice as that is. We were too tired to be bothered. In anticipation of what was going to happen, I made my very easy and tasty Zucchini and Bacon slice which is always a great standby during any kind of upheaval and busy times. I also delivered a couple of slices to a sick friend, and another friend who visited during the mayhem was plied with a  slice for lunch. The slice stretched a bit like the Biblical Loaves and Fishes tale.

I'm still surprised that not everyone knows about this great slice, which is so tasty and easy to make. Sometimes we just need a small reminder about how delicious these classics still are, and everyone enjoys this one. This post is about nutritious and tasty food, circumstantial and essential food, not adventurous food. Although for those that don't generally cook, I suppose it could be adventurous.

Zucchini slice was originally created, back in the 1980's to assist busy parents to cook a healthy, nutritious and very tasty savoury slice for the whole family, requiring no precooking of any ingredients, just some grating and slicing. It became so popular, that  you could depend on there being a Zucchini and Bacon slice at any family gathering or party. Bring it back I say.

There are many variations available now, however the basic ingredients of eggs, flour, cheese, zucchinis and bacon still provide the base for a popular and economical meal.

Zucchini and Bacon Slice

Ingredients:

375 grams zucchini (approx. 2 large or 4 small)
1 large very fresh onion, finely chopped
3 rashers bacon, finely chopped, fat removed
1 cup very tasty grated cheese
1 cup SR flour
1/2 cup Rice Bran oil
5 eggs
salt and pepper to taste

I added a 1/2 cup of corn this time, and 1 grated carrot.

 Method:

Grease and line with baking paper a 30cm x 20cm Lamington Tin.
Grate zucchini in a food processor and finely chop onion and bacon. Combine zucchini, onion, bacon, cheese, corn, sifted flour, oil and lightly beaten eggs.

Season with 1/2 teaspoon of salt or to taste

Pour into your lined and greased baking tray,  or you can also use a  pie dish or a large quiche dish. Top with sliced tomatoes if you wish.

Bake in a moderate oven for 30 to 40 minutes or until brown.

Homemade Chicken stock or Broth 

Homemade Chicken stock being cooked

It must be nearly Winter if I am writing about soup here in the Tropics. With three containers of my homemade chicken stock in the freezer, and the weather cooling down, it was also very easy to make some chicken and barley soup, which only takes about an hour to make. It has been a wonderful standby to have on hand for an easy dinner or lunch.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 kg chicken wings, or 1 whole free-range chicken, or 1 1/2 kgs of bony chicken parts such as necks, backs, breastbones, frames  and wings  ( whatever you have works)

3 1/2 litres of water ( so that it covers the chicken) and 2 tablespoons vinegar
2 roughly chopped carrots
1 onion, peeled and  halved
4 stalks celery roughly chopped
3 stalks fresh parsley, chopped
2 bay leaves
1 garlic clove peeled
A few peppercorns

Bring to the boil in a large stainless steel pot, and simmer the ingredients on the stove top for 8 hours so that the marrow from the bones is completely removed and enriches the stock. The longer you cook the stock, the richer and more flavoursome and healthy it will be. 

About  10 minutes before finishing the stock, add the parsley.

Remove the whole chicken pieces with a slotted spoon. If you are using a whole chicken, let this cool and remove the chicken meat from the carcass for other uses such as sandwiches and curries, enchiladas or salads. (The chicken meat can also be removed from the bones after only 2 hours of cooking when it will be nice and firm.) I don't bother removing the fat from the stock now by chilling it first and letting the fat rise to the surface, as I think the fat gives the stock a beautiful flavour. However that is a personal choice. You might also prefer to make your stock in the pressure cooker or slow cooker. The stock can then be stored in the refrigerator or freezer.

I really believe that chicken soup made from scratch is very healing. Some say it reduces allergies, improves digestion, and gives us strength. I love to give chicken soup to friends and family who have colds and flu, I'm sure it helps their recovery.

Chicken Barley Soup Recipe

2 Litres homemade Chicken Stock
4 finely chopped carrots
1 finely chopped brown onion
4 stalks celery, finely chopped
1/2 cup barley or short pasta (rinsed in water)
2 teaspoons Fish Sauce
Leaves from 4 stalks of fresh celery, finely chopped
Salt and ground pepper to taste

A Handful of fresh herbs

I make this very simply. Fry up all the vegetables in 2 tablespoons of olive oil until the onion is translucent and vegetables slightly softened.

Add the stock, fish sauce (my secret ingredient) and bring to the boil. Then bring the heat down to a simmer. Add the fresh chopped herbs including parsley, the barley, and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer until the vegetables are softened, taste to check the seasoning. and the soup is ready to serve.

Last Tuesday night our football team was playing, they are the North Queensland Cowboys. This is Rugby League football, for those who don't really follow it. Mr. HRK played Rugby League when I first met him, and then when he moved away to Teacher's College he stopped playing competitively, but never stopped loving the game. In the morning, I assembled my Salt Bush Beef Stew in the slow cooker and it was cooked by lunchtime. The Aussie meat pie and football are synonymous, and feeling that we needed some stamina to watch the football and hopefully will the Cowboys to win, I converted the beef stew into a meat pie. I added a couple of extra teaspoons of Worcestershire Sauce to give it the Beef Pie edge, and  because I was short on time and the tilers were still around, I used frozen shortcrust pastry for the base, and puff pastry for the top layer. It worked a treat. Mr. HRK loved it. After all, what's not to love about a delicious Aussie Beef Pie with Tomato Sauce. And the Cowboys had a great win. Overall, a successful night.

You can find the Aussie Salt Bush Beef Stew recipe at this link on the blog where I have loaded it previously.

Football night

Have you noticed there are no sweets listed here in my menu plan? Dessert each night was yoghurt with fresh fruit, or with Tropical Stem Ginger in Syrup from my preserves stash. Which reminds me, it's nearly time to harvest our crop of ginger again, now that the foliage is dying off.

Hope you are all having an enjoyable weekend,

Warm wishes

Pauline

Back home again and wet weather cooking

Chicken stock and homemade soup from scratch

Go straight to recipe here:

It's really nice to be settling back into normal living again at home after a wonderful family Christmas beside the aquamarine waters of the Indian Ocean on the Western Australian coast and the thriving Moore River. We've returned to a lot of very welcome rain, which has however resulted in our New Guinea bottle brush tree toppling over again, and the Thumbergia vine on it's trellis to collapse. So our second day home was spent in the garden resurrecting the trees and cleaning up the yard. We also had computer problems but Mr. HRK seems to have solved those so now I can reconnect with  my blog and my lovely friends.

Stand up paddle boarding on the Moore River, Guilderton, W.A.

Western Australian Christmas tree, a burst of colour in the dry bush

Wet cool weather in the tropics has lured me back into the kitchen so in between working in the yard and dodging the rain, I made some healthy chicken stock from scratch. I need to know I have plenty on hand in the freezer. I'll freeze it in 500 ml containers, as it is the basis of so many great dishes, sauces and stews. Now that I have the time to make it, I begrudge spending good money on buying stock that has too much salt and preservatives added. It will keep frozen for several months, or clear stock will keep for five days in the refrigerator or longer if reboiled.  During the hot summer months, I don't need a large pot simmering on the stove adding to the heat of the house, so now is the time to do it when it is cooler.

Impressive sand dunes along the length  the Moore River

Long slow cooking of the chicken bones produces the essential gelatin in the stock which has so many health benefits. I like to believe that chicken soup, homemade that is, assists in healing the nerves and our gut, improves digestion, reduces allergies, relaxes us and gives us strength. My Mother did it, her Grandmother did it, and Sally Fallon, a respected nutritionist and author of Nourishing Traditions still bases a lot of her cooking on homemade broths and stocks.

I use the following recipe when making my chicken stock, and because it is now quite difficult to buy chickens which produce a good gelatin in the stock I add a few more chicken feet, necks, giblets and wings, basically chicken bones,  as these are all so easily obtainable from the supermarket. The result is a rich chicken stock which sets like gelatin. It needs to rest, covered in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours so that any fat sets on the surface. I scrape the fat from the top, freeze the stock in  500 ml containers, and some in ice cube trays for adding to sauces etc. I generally also then use one portion of the stock straight away to make chicken barley soup, barley being my very favourite grain at the moment, particularly in summer. Although lentils and pulses are really beneficial for a change.The soup can also then be frozen in portions for those nights after a hectic day when a nourishing quick meal with a slice of toast is all that is required.

I hope that young career people, arriving home from a busy day's work, or stay at home Mum's who are busy caring for their family and home, or retirees like ourselves, can all at times just relax and enjoy a nourishing and sustaining bowl of soup in the cool of the evening.

Ingredients:

• 1 whole free-range chicken plus a couple of extra feet and necks, or 1 1/2 kilos of bony chicken pieces including necks, wings, frames, feet (perhaps 4)
• gizzards from one chicken (definitely optional)
• 3.8 litres or 4 quarts  (1 gallon) of cold water
• 2 tablespoons of vinegar
• 1 large onion, coarsely chopped with skins still on
• 2 carrots, coarsely chopped
• 3 celery sticks with leaves, coarsely chopped
• 1 bunch fresh parsley

Method:

1. Cut the whole chicken into several pieces. Place the chicken pieces and extra bony parts in a large stainless steel preserving saucepan with the water, vinegar and all the vegetables except the parsley. Let it all stand in the pot for about 30 minutes.
2. Bring to the boil, and remove the scum that rises to the top.
3. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 6 to 24 hours. The longer you simmer the stock, the richer and more flavoursome it will be.
4. After about 2 hours though, remove any chicken pieces with a lot of flesh on them, such as breasts and legs and remove the flesh, as it will now be cooked. This can be placed in a plastic container in the refrigerator for using later on sandwiches, in curries, salads, enchiladas or just chopped up in your soup. Or freeze it for later. If it is left in the stock to simmer for too long it will become too mushy to use. Return the remaining bones etc to the pot.
5. About 10 minutes before finishing the stock, add the chopped parsley. This will add additional minerals to the broth and lots of flavour. I rarely leave mine to cook overnight if I have a good quality chicken and I am using some other bony parts. 
6. After it has cooled, very carefully remove the whole chicken pieces with a slotted spoon, and remove any remaining chicken meat from the carcass.
7.  Strain the stock into a large bowl or two, and reserve for at least a day in your refrigerator until the fat rises to the top and congeals.
8. Skim off the fat and reserve the stock in covered containers in your refrigerator or freezer.

After the fat is removed and discarded, some of the stock can be used straight away to make a chicken barley soup, or as basis for any kind of soup you desire.

Cook an easy chicken soup:

I just cook up some chopped onion (1), diced carrot (2)  and chopped celery (2 stalks) in a little butter and olive oil until onion is translucent and vegetables are softened. Other vegetables such as zucchini can be added.  Then I add 500 ml of the stock with some additional fresh chopped herbs such as parsley and thyme, about 1/4 cup of washed barley, bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer. The barley will take about 45 minutes to soften and then your soup is basically done. Add some salt and pepper to taste,  a splash of fish sauce (my secret ingredient), add some finely chopped cooked chicken, and serve with some more chopped parsley or grated Parmesan. Easy peasy and delicious and so good for you. 

Oh and I generally serve it with a slice of nice hot buttered multigrain or sourdough toast as well.

I'm still enjoying the rain and cooler weather!

Warmest wishes

Pauline xx