An Offaly Nice Recipe

My iron levels have been really very low recently

After a raft of blood tests and various poking around, my Doctor looked at me seriously and said my Vegetarian Diet would have to addressed as it wasn't fufilling all my nutritional needs! It took some time to convince him that I was indeed a confirmed Omnivore and meat- especially red meat- was featured on my plate at least once a day. Off I toddled with some strong iron supliments and a promise to eat lots of green leafy vegetables, offal and plenty red meat until my next appointment

Luckily for me, I happen to love some of the icky offally bits of meat, so Liver was the first dish that popped into mind. Cooked properly, this is a lovely cut of meat- but cooked poorly and you may as well chew on a mouthful of sawdust. I love to pair it with a tasty tomato and onion sauce with lots of bacon in it. Why? Because let's face it, everything tastes better with bacon :)


I chose Calves Liver because it was easily available and the right size for my dish. Good quality Liver should be clean, shiny and glossy looking with no discoloured bits and pieces

This may not look very pretty, but trust me, it's delicious, cheap, nutritious and actually very on trend at the moment. Just be brave enough to give it a try



Liver with Tomato, Onion and Bacon

1 nice big Liver
Lactose free Milk for soaking
1 cup gluten free Flour
Salt and Pepper

4 Tomatoes
4 rashers Bacon
1 nice big Onion
1/2 glass White Wine or Stock
2 cloves Garlic
2 Bay leaves


Before Starting:

I always soak liver in milk with a good pinch of salt in it. I find it removes some of the blood, any strong smell, and sort of rounds out the overall taste of the finished dish. You can use water with a splash of lemon juice instead if you like, but I do think milk gives a nicer taste.The liver can soak overnight or for just a couple of hours if you're in a rush

Chop the veggies and bacon into nice little pieces to turn into a sauce

Cook off the onion, garlic and bacon until lightly browned

Add in the tomatoes, bay leaves and wine then simmer away into a lovely sweet sauce while you deal with the liver. Tomatoes vary so much over the year, so if the sauce needs tweaking with sweetness and acidity add a teaspoon each of sugar and red wine vinegar

See how the liver has lightend up? Pat it dry and place on a cutting board

Next step is to remove the clear membrane that covers the liver. This membrane will just peel off with your fingers and shouldn't be too tricky. It's kinda like the silver skin that you trim off a fillet- you can leave it on but it will shrink and toughen as it cooks.

Nice and tidy!

Slice into nice thin slices so they cook quickly and evenly

Dust the pieces in the seasoned flour

Then quickly fry in a hot pan just to seal without overcooking

See, nice brown and crusty on the outside...

But nice and pink still on the inside...
They look a little raw, but they will continue to cook through as they sit in the hot sauce

Mix the liver with the sauce to heat through if you like, or just serve the slices on a bed of creamy mash with plenty Tomato Baconey Sauce

So Dear Readers, what do you think of offal and can we make a Liver Lover out of you?





 

In My Kitchen- May 2014

 

I"m Baaa-aaack!

So sorry Dear Readers, I know I left you abruptly for a while, but yet-another-health issue and yet-another-surgery and stay in hospital took the decision right out of my hands
Thankfully, Mum and Dad are here on a visit to look after me as I convalesce and also to give BigJ and the girls a well deserved break. They have all been wonderful at putting up with me and taking turns to be my personal slave while I've been stuck in bed. It's nice to know I've trained them so well  :)

 Perhaps it's fitting then that as my last post was  In My Kitchen- April  that my first post back should be In My Kitchen- May. This is to link up with lots of other lovely bloggers in Sweet Celia's In My Kitchen Roundup over Here at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial. It's lots of fun, so feel free to join in and give us a sneaky peaky Into Your Kitchen too


In My Kitchen...
Is this cute little Dumpling Kit that my Mum gave me. I can hardly wait to put it to good use- yummo!

In My Kitchen...
Is a Two Timer! Perfect for my busy kitchen where there's always more than one thing cooking at once. Another gift from my lovely Mother

In My Kitchen...
Is a couple of bags of Dehydrated Mango. All organically grown and dried by my Dad from his own trees. Some years the trees are prolific producers and luckily this year there was lots to share

In My Kitchen...
Is a great, big bottle of Lemon Grass Syrup. Delicious in soda water, especially with a sprig of mint and a couple of kaffir lime leaves for extra yumminess

In My Kitchen...
Is a set of Antique Kitchen Canisters. These belonged to my Grandmother and are in great condition. They'll happily guard another generation of tea and sago on my kitchen bench from now on

In My Kitchen...
Is a knitted cute Cup Cosy made by MiddleC. With Winter well and truly making it's minus 2*C presence felt this morning, I can rest assured knowing my Earl Grey will stay hot till the last delicious drop

In My Kitchen...
Is another new Cookbook. I got this one at Costco where the book prices are very reasonable and always manage to temp me. I haven't had a good look through it yet, but the bits I've seen certainly look tempting

In My Kitchen...
Is a cute Cup and Saucer from MiddleC, who knows that I do indeed take my tea very seriously. There is little margin for error with a good cuppa, yet sadly, not enough people care to master the art

In My Kitchen...
Are the last few tomatoes from my garden. The frost has finished off the rest, but these little gems are so sweet and juicy that you can still taste Summer in every bite

In My Kitchen...
Are the first of my Autumn Saffron crop
The long red stamen is the part that is dried and sold, the bright yellow pollen and purple petals are discarded. Every day I harvest just one or two flowers, but the honey-ish scent is strong enough to sweeten an entire room as they dry out in the sun

In My Kitchen...
Is the rest of my garden harvest.
the task of digging the root crops fell to Dad while Mum handled the above ground beds. My little patch is a far cry from their big organic farm, but I still think we did pretty well

 A close up of my Potatoes and Jerusalem Artichokes

In My Kitchen...
Is a Chocolate Raspberry Trifle made by littlej. She saw the recipe in one of my cooking magazines -maybe Donna Hay?- and presented me with a shopping list and the expectation of a trifle dish. She did a great job, but was a bit disappointed that we didn't get a photo before the layers started to run. I can tell you that it was absolutely delicious, but it took us a week to get through and I'm sure I suffered sugar withdrawal when it was finally gone!

For My Kitchen Garden...
Is a wonderful Quince Tree from my dear friend Pony and her boys. One of my favourite fruits with the prettiest blossom around. Aren't I a lucky little Chef indeed!

So Dear Readers, what's going on in Your Kitchen this month?





 

In My Kitchen- April

Welcome to another Kitchen Snap Shot as part of lovely Celia's monthly In My Kitchen roundups!

Check out the full list of participating Blogs here over at Celia's- the wonderful Fig Jam and Lime Cordial- that is chock-a-block with her recipes, garden, chickens, bread making and cheery outlook on life

This April...

In My Kitchen...
Is a This-is-all Celia's-fault Picky Platter
Celia recently posted about her beautiful antipasto-platter, and it got me all inspired to create my own. Unfortunately I got rather carried away.... On my platter is Lemon Myrtle Roast Pork, Truffle Salami, Smoked Wagu Beef Slices, Dolmades, Feta stuffed Olives, Grilled Eggplant, Pickled Artichokes, Bread and Butter Cucumbers, Dolmades, Soft Goat Cheese, Hard lactose free Cheese, Goat Brie, Horseradish and Beetroot Paste, Hommus, Chicken Cognac Pate, Truffled Anchovies, Flaxseed Crackers and gluten free Grisini- PHEW! I'm not saying how much of this was left for anyone else to eat by lunch time, but I will say that it was delicious :)

In My Kitchen...
Are a heap of Ready-to-go Freezer Meals
It's going to be a bit of a busy, mixed up month, so I've been preparing and filling the freezer with meals that just need to be popped into the oven. I label them clearly so there's no confusion, and also jot down any extra instructions required so there's no excuse for anyone to muck it up

In My Kitchen...
Is the Master List of Frozen Meals, handily stuck on the door of the fridge. I have added a few more meals to the list since that photo was taken so we have plenty of variety.If I hadn't run out of room in the freezer I'd still be cooking though, as cooking calms me, centres me, and makes me happy. I'm definitely a Feeder and love looking after my family like this

In My Kitchen...
Are the last of the garden-glut of tomatoes
I'm slow roasting them on low heat to really condense the flavours, then they'll be cooked down with red wine, herbs, and lots of garlic into a gorgeous rich sauce that can be used all year long to add a little sunshine to our meals

In My Kitchen...
Is, at last, a Canele Pan! I have wanted to make these for so long, but stubbornly refused until I had the right equipment. It really does make a difference! I couldn't afford a traditional bronze or copper pan, and I'm just not the biggest fan of silicon molds, so when I came across this heavy steel pan I no longer had an excuse.

In My Kitchen...
Are some yummy infused salts that were a gift from my lovely friend Flora, They add so much flavour sprinkled over meals, or rubbed into chicken or meat just before cooking

 

In My Kitchen...
Are ripe limes from my garden. It's the first real harvest I've had and I'm very excited!
Kaffir limes in the background- not a lot of juice, but the wonderfully aromatic rind is lovely grated into curries. Australian Finger Limes at the front- see how the juice is encapsulated in tiny little caviar type spheres? These burst with a delightful POP in your mouth, slightly sour and bitter- everything a lime should be. I love the little cuties to garnish sushi together with fish roe; they're absolutely, fantastically perfect for sprinkling on fresh oysters; great mixed through a Thai style salad for a bit of a surprise ingredient; and, of course in a nice cold GnT!

In My Kitchen...
Is this lovely condiment I found recently, Rose Harissa
You all know that I'm a sucker for floral flavours, and this one promises to be something a bit different indeed. Wow, it's hot! but not so much that you sear off your taste buds. The rose is a subtle sneakiness at the back of the burn that is sweet and very tasty. I will use this rubbed over BBQ chicken, and mixed with LF yoghurt and drizzled over lamb or potato wedges- yummo!

So Dear Readers, how do you cope with Busy Times, and what do you do that makes you happy?

 

Bird Seed Bread

My Mum is into all sorts of Natural Health and Alternative Remedies

She regularly sends me emails and information about this or that herb or vitamin and recipes that she thinks will interest me and suit my InTolerances. I have to admit though, that this recipe labelled Life Changing Loaf, languished in my in-box for quite a while, and though it sounded OK, it had no photos or really enough information to tempt me to go to the effort to buy all the bitsies and bake it. It wasn't until I saw the great photos and step-by-steps on Lovely Loraine's blog Here that I woke up and realised what a gem this recipe was. I'm really not sure where this recipe originated from, but after graciously receiving both Mum and Lorraine's blessing, I just had to post it as well and share the love with you too Dear Readers
**I've found out that the owner of this yummy recipe is Sarah from My New Roots. The original post can be found here: http://www.mynewroots.org/site/2013/02/the-life-changing-loaf-of-bread/  check out her blog for lots of yumminess!**

Bird Seed Bread

1 cup Sunflower seeds
½ cup Flax seeds
½ cup Hazelnuts or Almonds
1/2 cup Sesame seeds
1 ½ cups gluten free Rolled Oats
2 tbsp Chia seeds
4 tbsp Psyllium seed husks
1 tsp Salt
1 tbsp Honey/Maple syrup/Agave
3 tbsp Coconut/Nut/Olive oil or Ghee
1 ½ cups Water


I was glad I was able to get all the ingredients for my seedy bread at the supermarket instead of having to hunt everywhere. I always find that easily accessible ingredients mean that I will definitely MAKE the recipe instead of ADMIRING it, and I figure that most people probably feel the same :)

Pop all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix well

Mix together the  oil, honey and water stir to dissolve the honey
I used a yummy Macadamia oil to add to the nuttiness of the loaf, and that black looking stuff is a really dark candied honey that has an amazing, deep, strong flavour- delicious!

Mix the wets into the dry and stir through really well making sure there aren't any little pockets of dry mixture on the bottom

See how quickly the chia, flax and psyllium swell up and go gummy? This is what binds the loaf together and stops it from falling apart

Press the mixture into a loaf pan and leave out at room temperature for at least two hours to continue setting

Pop the loaf into a 175*C oven and bake for about 50-60 minutes
I used a silicon pan to bake mine in though and I always find that things tend to sweat in them and can become a little soggy. To make sure I got a nice toasty loaf, I turned my loaf out of the silicon and onto a baking tray after 30 minutes, then just cooked it for the rest of the time like that

Nice and golden brown! The loaf should sound hollow when you tap it on the bottom, if it's not then leave it to cook a little longer

Now comes the hardest part of the whole experience- waiting until the bread cools down totally before slicing! It will crumble into pieces if you are impatient and don't wait

 

I really, really enjoyed this bread hot and toasted, with a dab of naughty butter and a bit more of my deep, dark honey. I don't know if I would really call it Life-Changing, but it is easy, full of fibre and other healthy goodies, and most of all it is definitely delicious indeed and I will certainly be making this one regularly- yummo!

So my Dear Readers, are you into Natural Remedies and have you ever realised that you have passed up a great recipe because you didn't give it enough attention?