I feel like I begin most of these posts apologising for not writing them more often. I admit that for the past few months, I’ve moved writing for the blog to the back burner. I’ve been letting other things distract me from what is creatively important to me, like this little blog. Between work, family, friends…
101: CLARIFIED BUTTER
Clarified butter, and close relation ghee, is simply butter that has been processed to remove any milk proteins, sugars and water. The milk solids are what causes butter to burn if heated for an extended period at high heat. Clarified butter has a higher smoke point than ordinary butter, which means you can cook with…
101: PICKLED VEGETABLES
I am such a vinegar fiend. I’m always accused of being too heavy-handed with the red wine vinegar in our salad dressings. Pickling has been on our to-do list for a little while now. There’s nothing quite like crunching into a perfectly crisp gherkin that’s soaked up plenty of punchy vinegar, spices and salt. Pickling vegetables…
101: Homemade Chicken Stock
We’ve been making and freezing our own stock for a few months now. It hands down beats the store-bought kind (there is no comparison really) and is so much cheaper to make ourselves. I think there are too many people who never make their own stock and I’m here to encourage them to give it…
101: Curing olives
I have always loved olives but if I’m honest with you, I really had no idea what was involved in curing olives. My parents have a magnificent Manzanilla (or Manzanillo) olive tree in their backyard standing at nearly 5 meters tall. These olives have a superb fresh flavour and a generous pulp – perfect for curing. I had read that…
101: Neglected sourdough starter
Sometimes it feels like the weeks just sprint by. We’ve been caught up with our day jobs, building a new home, friends’ birthdays and the rest. When life gets busy it can be hard to catch up. Not surprisingly, our sourdough bread making has taken a back seat. I posted about our foray into homemade…
101: Organic sourdough bread
The aroma of baked bread filling our kitchen is nothing short of delightful. We attended an organic sourdough beginner’s class a few months back with Yoke Mardewi and since that class, we have not bought a single loaf of bread. Not one. If you’re like us and love eating sourdough bread, have a go at making…