Apple and Raisin Tart | The Woman in Black

The landlord recommended a glass of mulled wine, which I drank sitting before the fire, listening to the murmur of voices on the other side of the heavy door leading to the public bar, and his wife made my mouth water in anticipation of the supper she proposed - home-made broth, sirloin of beef, apple and raisin tart with cream, and some Stilton cheese.
The Woman in Black
Susan Hill

Winter has well and faded from my life now, and the sunny weekends that are beginning to spring up are just more of an indication. It's a little odd this side of the world - Halloween was never part of my childhood, outside of the odd mention of it in American television shows or movies, but there was never a night spent trick or treating or dressing up. It seems to be creeping further into Australian culture these days - in cities at least, and I've spent the last few years handing out lollies and icy poles to costumed children each Halloween evening.

A little of the atmosphere of Halloween is lost without the autumn months, instead of pumpkins and falling leaves, we have sunshine and new plants sprouting everywhere. This hasn't gotten in the way of my pre-Halloween reading though, even if it does leave me craving stormy weather and mulled wine.

My latest spooky read in preparation was the classic, The Woman in Black. I flew through this book - as someone that does not enjoy horror films (I should probably stop saying this, as I do like well made horror more so), I thoroughly do enjoy a bit of a scary story in book form. My only other glimpse to the plot of the book was a viewing of the play, The Woman in Black, something that is so incredibly well done I cannot emphasise enough that people should see a production of it when they have the chance.

In line with the somewhat autumn style that Halloween and the almost cosy atmosphere that comes along with it, the food within The Woman in Black has that warmth to it also. Mulled wine, roasted hunks of meat and an array of tarts. We have quite lovely apples throughout the year in Australia luckily, and I really can't go past my favourite, the Granny Smith. It's somewhat sour, tarty and my childhood years were basically formed around having a slightly chilled on in my lunchbox to munch into every recess. In this tart, they turn into a caramelised deliciousness that will have you eating an entire tart in one sitting. True story.

Apple and Raisin Tart
Serves around 6 people 
Ingredients
Crust
550g plain flour
50g caster sugar
220g butter, broken into pieces
185ml milk
Filling
4 apples, I use Granny Smith usually
30g brown sugar
30g caster sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 lemon, juiced
300g apricot jam
Pinch of sea salt

1. Start the crust of the tart by combining the butter, flour and caster sugar together into a bowl. Use your hands to work the butter into the flour and sugar until it resembles wet sand. Make a hole in the middle and add in the milk, mix until there are no lumps and it comes together into a ball. Wrap in cling wrap and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before using.

2. Preheat your oven to 180C approximately half an hour before you're planning to roll the dough. Once the dough has chilled for long enough, remove it from the fridge and roll it out thinly - you should be able to press it into the edges of a tart case without it tearing, but keeping in mind not to have it too thick. Line the dough in the case with baking paper and using baking beans, actual dried beans or rice, weigh the paper down and blind bake the tart case for about 20 minutes. Remove and leave to the side to cool. You can leave the oven on at this stage if you're planning on preparing the rest of the tart straight away.

3. Core each of the apples (you can peel if you want, I tend not to) and slice them thinly. You can do this part however you like - if you want it to be quite neat try and keep each slice the same size, but it really doesn't matter.

4. Once all the apples have been sliced place them into a bowl with the lemon juice, the sugars, cinnamon and sea salt. Mix well so that the sugar and cinnamon covers every slice of apple.

5. Heat the apricot jam lightly until it begins to soften and melt a little - place to the side.

6. Spread a thin layer of the apricot jam across the bottom of the blind baked tart case so it covers the whole bottom of the tart. Place the apple slices across this until they are all in the tart case (any pattern you want to do it fine). Try and avoid getting too much liquid into the tart at this stage, otherwise it will make the bottom quite soggy.

7. Glaze the prepared tart with any remaining apricot jam and place into the oven for 30 minutes or until the apples have softened and the tart case is a golden brown. Remove and let cool before serving. Enjoy!

Bath Buns | The Railway Children

Whenever an Editor was sensible there were buns for tea.
One day Peter was going down to the village to get buns to celebrate the sensibleness of the Editor of the Children's Globe, when he met the Station Master.
The Railway Children
E. Nesbit

Whenever I can't sleep I seem to retreat to the kitchen, making the ridiculous choice to bake something that requires almost 3 hours of proofing time before they can be even baked. While it felt ridiculous at one am, waking up to freshly made Bath buns made it all kinds of worthwhile. I've been rereading classic books from my childhood lately, taking the time in lockdown to dive into a river of nostalgia.

I had never heard of Bath buns before and it took an embarrassingly long time before I realised the name was a result from them originating in Bath, England - not that they were some kind of bun eaten in the bath. They are referenced just once within the pages of the Railway Children - as a treat a lady within the pages enjoys. It made sense that they would likely be similar to the buns Peter buys for the family's tea - the result of an Editor being sensible of course.

Since trying this delicious, brioch-y bun I'm full convinced it would be the perfect treat for a celebration at tea time. The flavour of the caraway seeds melds in so lovely with the richness of the dough. Like many classic recipes there are different variations of how these can be made - I chose to fill mine with currants and zest. Some recipes I took a lot at incorporated a sugar cube folded into the unbaked dough of each bun as well, something that I'm definitely interested to try next time.

Bath Buns
Makes 12 buns
Ingredients
2 tsp instant yeast
250ml milk + 2 tbsp for glazing
3/4 cup currants
450g bread flour
225g butter
1 tbsp caraway seeds
30g caster sugar
1 tsp sea salt
Zest of one lemon
Topping
2 tbsp caster sugar
2 tbsp water
1 tbsp caraway seeds
4 - 5 white sugar cubes, roughly crushed

1. Heat the milk until just warm, add in yeast and sugar and leave to sit for a few minutes until it becomes frothy.

2. Combine the flour, caraway seeds and salt in a bowl and work the butter in with your fingers tips until it resembles wet sand.

3. Add in the yeasty milk and mix well until all combined. Leave to rest for about 10 minutes.

4. Tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes, or until the soft has become soft and elastic-like. Lightly oil a bowl, place the dough inside and cover with a damp tea towel. Leave in a warm place for 1 - 2 hours or until doubled in size.

5. Once the dough has doubled in size, turn it back out onto a surface and and press the currants and zest into it - you may need to lightly knead it again to work them in.

6. Divide the dough into 12 pieces that are around the same size. Shape into a ball by using your fingers to form a cage against the table, rolling the dough beneath it. Repeat will all the dough, placing the prepared buns onto a baking paper lined tray - leave a decent amount of space between them as they will expand and rise.

7. Cover the prepared buns with a damp tea towel and leave for another 30 minutes to rise again.

8. Pre-heat your oven to 180C when you have about 20 minutes of rising time left. During this time prepare the sugar glaze for the top as well. Combine the sugar and water in a saucepan and cook on a low heat - the sugar should dissolve after a few minutes. The longer you leave it to cook the stickier it will become, so you can really do this part however you like.

9. Once the buns have doubled in size, using the remaining milk to brush the tops of them before baking them for 20 - 25 minutes. You can test when they're down by tapping the bottom and listening for the hollow noise.

10. Use a pastry brush to spread the sugar glaze over baked buns, sprinkling with the caraway seeds and crushed sugar cubes so they stick to the still wet glaze. Enjoy!

Blood Orange Marmalade | A Bear Called Paddington

'I daresay you'll be wanting some marmalade.'
A Bear Called Paddington
Michael Bond

My life has been taken over by marmalade while in lockdown. I've made so many batches of it now I've taken to sending it off to friends across the country, with my fingers crossed that there are no leakages within the journey (only one so far and I kind of blame the post for that!).

Despite never really taking to marmalade in my youth - who would want orange flavoured sugar when you could have jam? - it's begun to take up a spot in my cupboard in recent months. I still stay away from the traditional orange marmalade, but the flavours with a more sour or tart note have definitely grabbed my focus. I've sampled so far blood orange, pink grapefruit, kumquat, tangelo and a few other varieties - but the blood orange has almost definitely solidified itself as a favourite.

Of course, there's no other book that this meal could be from other then Paddington. I don't think much of an explanation is required there.

Blood Orange Marmalade
Makes approx. 1 ltr of marmalade
Ingredients
5 - 6 blood oranges
1 k of white sugar
2 lemons
Water

1. Half and juice all the oranges into a bowl. Use a spoon to scrape the flesh, pips and white membrane of the oranges out as well, keeping them to the side.

2. Using a sharp knife, slice the peels of the oranges thinly - you want the strips to not be more than a few inches long and quite thin. Place into the bowl with the juice. You want around 1 litre of juice now, so if it's too low add some water to compensate.

3. Gather all the insides of the oranges together (seeds, membrane, flesh etc) and using a cheesecloth (or anything else that will work), make them into a bundle with the cloth. Place the cloth bundle into the bowl of juice and refrigerate the entire lot overnight.

4. The next morning place a plate into the freezer so it's ready for when you need to test the marmalade.

5. Transfer the juice, cut peel and bundle of the orange insides into a large pot and bring to a slow simmer. Leave on the stove for around one hour - or until the peel has softened. Leave to cool.

6. Remove the pieces of peel and place to the side for later. Strain the juice, getting rid of any flesh parts of the orange that may have snuck in, making sure that you liberally squeeze the cloth bundle, getting as much juice from it as possible. The juice likely will reduce when you cooked it - so measure it and add water in if needed - you should have 750ml of it.

7. Place the strained juice back into the saucepan onto a medium heat, adding in the juice of both lemons. Add in the sugar and stir until it dissolves. Add the peel back in and bring to the boil.

8. Leave to boil for around 10 minutes - to test if the marmalade is ready, take the plate from the freezer and drop a spoonful of the marmalade onto and wait around 20 seconds. Use the spoon to push the marmalade across the plate - if it wrinkles when pushing, it's ready.

9. Leave the marmalade to cool before distributing it evenly into clean, prepared jars. Enjoy!

Clam Chowder | Moby Dick

Oh, sweet friends! hearken to me. It was made of small juicy clams, scarcely bigger than hazel nuts, mixed with pounded ship biscuit, and salted pork cut up into little flakes; the whole enriched with butter, and plentifully seasoned with pepper and salt.
Moby Dick
Herman Melville

I love winters, I love pouring rain that lasts all day, I love thunderstorms that shake the world outside, I love hail that falls and litters the ground white. Growing up in the middle of the bush meant that all of these things were accompanied by the delights that can only be experienced when living in the middle of the trees. The sound of rain on the tin roof, the winds smacking around the tree branches outside and the lighting that would light the room up, unimpeded by buildings or city lights.

I live far away from all those delights now, but I still look forward to winter every year, to don my raincoat and go for long walks in the rain with an audio book or podcast keeping me company. For dinners of stews, curries and soups, anything that will keep you warm inside for the day. A lot of Australia likely don't get to experience the winters that I have, Victoria and Tasmania are really the key states that have such vivid seasons.

While this years' winter has not been particularly rain or storm filled, it has been bitingly cold. The description of the clam chowder inhaled by Ishmael and Queequeg was a delight to read and left me feeling indescribably hungry for something as filling as they had. As people may have noticed, everything on this blog is plant based - I don't eat animal products. The trickiest thing about this recipe was figuring out what to replace the clams with. I landed on shiitake mushrooms, while miso paste and soy sauce likely would not have been used in a traditional clam chowder recipe, it helped to make the little bites of mushroom juicy and sweet and, hopefully, reminiscent of what the clams would have added to the chowder.

*Note: I used just a generic plant based bacon from my local supermarket - if you're using real bacon, no need to add in the butter beforehand - there will be enough fat from it. I also used a coconut cream, but you could use any type of cream or even milk and it would be great. 

Clam Chowder
Makes approx. 2 large bowls
Ingredients
Clams
1 tbsp butter
200g shiitake mushrooms
1 tbsp white miso paste
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1/2 tbsp soy / tamari sauce
Soup
2 rasher of bacon, diced *see note
2 tbsp butter1 large carrot, diced
2 lage potatoes, diced
1 onion, finely diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
500ml vegetable stock
3 tbsp plain flour1/2 cup of cream, *see note
Sea salt
Fresh black pepper

1. To make the 'clams', sliced the shiitake mushrooms, if they're quite large I would recommend dicing them a little. Heath the tbsp of butter into a saucepan and add in the sliced mushrooms once it begins to melt.

2. Add in the miso paste, soy / tamari sauce and the rice wine vinegar. Make sure you mix these in well with the butter so that it coats the mushrooms - keep them moving in the saucepan to avoid them sticking. Once they are browned and soft, you can remove them and put them to the side.

3. Add the 2 tbsp of butter to the saucepan, adding in the diced bacon and cooking until it is browned, remove from the heat and put to the side. Place the diced onion into the saucepan with the remaining melted butter and cook for around 1 - 3 minutes or until the onion softens before adding in the carrots and potatoes.

4. Add in the plain flour and minced garlic, stir it quickly so it coats the vegetables and mixes with any remaining butter in the pan. After a minute or so, add in the cream and mix well with the flour and vegetables.

5. Add in the vegetable stock - there should be enough to cover all the vegetables in the saucepan, if not use a little more. Add in the bacon and shiitake mushroom ' clams' at this stage, and leave on the stove to simmer for around 15 minutes or until the potatoes have softened. Remember to keep stirring during this time, as the soup will begin to thicken from the flour. Add a little more stock in if it gets too thick.

6. Serve immediately and enjoy!

Bagels | Sweetbitter

Bagels sometimes work, but not with anything on them besides cream cheese. You think you want lox, but you don't. You think you want bacon, but you don't. Salt will promote your headache.
Sweetbitter
Stephanie Danler

I spent fourteen years working in cafes, bars, bakeries and restaurants. Usually as a role out the front, but occasionally ducking into the kitchens to develop whatever kitchen skills I could. It was only in the previous year that I left that industry, moving to an office job. While I do enjoy my current job immensely, I still think back on those years working in restaurants with an odd fondness. The book Sweetbitter only brought those memories to life again, the after work drinks that inevitably went too long - the hungover chef desperately pleading for a coffee at 6am as they struggled to whip up a hollandaise, and the general camaraderie of it all.

I have to disagree a little with the claim from Sweetbitter's Tess in the quote above - nothing quite fixed my hangover in my barista days quite like a bacon and tomato sauce roll (back before I went strictly plant-based of course, now I'm all about those facon sandwiches). It was common for the breakfast chef in one particular cafe I was at, to make up a plate of them for the front of house staff, a silent exchange for unlimited coffees provided throughout the breakfast service.

The ever delicious 5 & Dime Bagel is amazingly, right near my office - they do vegan cream cheese, vegan lox and are generally all around awesome - they have been a saviour (even before I even worked in the office) in the days where a carb hit was desperately needed. I've been missing them thoroughly during Melbourne's lockdown and  decided instead this past week to make my own - I've tried before, and the result was delicious but not a bagel. It was airy, quite crunchy and not really what you want. I used this great recipe for these ones and adjusted it slightly - I found the first time I made it, the dough wasn't quite right so I've altered the amounts a bit.

Bagels
Makes approx. 5 - 6 bagels
Ingredients
2 tsp instant yeast
2 tsp caster sugar
200ml warm water
4 cups bread flour
Sea Salt
Toppings
Sesame seeds
Poppy seeds
Garlic
Can be anything you like!

1. Combine 120ml of the warm water with the yeast and the sugar. Leave to sit for around 5 minutes or until the yeast becomes a little foamy.

2. In a large bowl mix the flour and 2 tsp of sea salt, make a well in the centre and pour in the yeast mixture. add in the remaining 80ml of warm water and mix the dough together, until it forms a firm dough. You may need a little more warm water during this part if it's too dry.

3. Lightly flour a surface and turn the dough out onto it. Knead firmly for around ten minutes, or until the dough has become smooth and elastic like. If the dough is too sticky, you may need to work a little more flour into it - or a little more water if it's too dry.

4. Lightly oil a bowl and place the prepared dough inside, turning it so all the dough has a light layer of oil. Cover with a clean tea towel and leave in a warm place for one hour or until the dough doubles in size.

5. Once the dough has doubled in size, turn it out onto a clean surface and press it down. Split it into 5 - 6 pieces (depends how big you want your bagels!) and roughly mould each piece into a ball.

6. Making your fingers into a sort of cage around a ball of dough, roll it on a surface until it becomes smooth. Use two fingers to press a hole into the middle of the ball, gently widening the hole until it's as large as you like. Place onto a piece of baking paper and repeat the process with the rest of the dough, cover with a clean tea towel and leave for around 12 - 20 minutes to rise again.

7. While the bagels are rising put a large (depending how many bagels you want in at once, it doesn't have to be that bit) pot of water on and heat it to a boil. Preheat your oven to 180C.

8. Gently - I recommend using a spatula here - place each bagel into the boiling water (you can do multiple or just one at a time), leave in for around 6 minutes, making sure you turn it so both sides of the bagel are at covered in the water. Place the boiled bagel onto a baking paper lined oven tray, while the top is wet you want to sprinkle your toppings on - sesame seeds, poppy seeds etc.

9. Once all the bagels have been boiled and are on the baking tray, place it in the oven to bake for around 25 minutes or until they become golden brown on top.

10. Transfer to a cooling rack or dig into a fresh one straight away!

Pies and Pickles | Five Go Off to Camp

They all sat down to dinner. There was a big meat-pie, a cold ham, salad, potatoes in their jackets, and home-made pickles. It really was difficult to know what to choose.
Five Go Off to Camp
Enid Blyton

I don't think there's much I can say about Enid Blyton that hasn't already been said. Basically every book of hers was my entire childhood and even now I have a vast collection of vintage Enid Blyton books that is growing worryingly large.Famous Five was probably my key story of choice out of all her works. Something about a group of children ruining plots and spending their summers camping by themselves was incredibly appealing to myself (and any young child I'm sure). I have memories of diligently going around and tapping the walls of my aunts old house, positive that there must be a secret passage way hidden somewhere.

Of course, the thing that stands out the most from any Famous Five story is, and will always be, the food. How did Blyton make something as simple as fresh bread and butter sound so delectable? I remember vividly wanting to snack on sardines and apricots from tins - because that was the five's meal of choice when picnicking by the beach.

I've gone with something a little less ration like for this particular recipe, and a little more towards the feast they would get at every farmhouse they came across. A large meat pie with some homemade pickles to go with it (I say meat pie - a more plant based version, as usual, is what I actually made).

*Note: I used vegan stewed beef chunks for this recipe - you can find them at most Asian stores. If you want to use actual beef - this recipe will work perfectly fine with that as well. Just make sure to check the meat is properly cooked before you take it off the stove.

Pie and Pickles
Makes 5 pies and 2 jars of pickles
Ingredients
Pickles
1 cucumber, sliced anyway you like
1 cup vinegar (you can use apple cider, white, red wine, rice wine - it all works. I used a combination of apple cider and rice wine)
1 1/2 cups of water
2 tbsp salt
3 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp black peppercorns
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
Pies
Pastry
450g plain flour
220g butter
1 tsp salt
110ml ice water
Filling
500g beef chunks *see note
2 carrots, diced
1 brown onion, diced
200g button mushrooms, diced
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp oil
3 tbsp plain flour
400ml beef stock
1 tbsp soy sauce / tamari
1 tbsp Worcester sauce
2 sprigs fresh or dried rosemary, finely chopped
Black pepper
Sea salt

1. To make the pickles, combine the salt, sugar, water and vinegar in a saucepan and bring to the boil.

2. While that is heating get two jars ready - make sure they're well cleaned - I can't really say what size they should be considering I just used leftover jars from sauces. Figure out beforehand how much space you need for the cucumber and decide that way.

3. Divide the sliced garlic and peppercorns between the two jars, layering in your slices of cucumber along the way.

4. Using a funnel or a jug, carefully pour the hot liquid into the jars, submerging all the cucumber pieces. Cover them with a clean tea towel and leave them to cool - once done you can place into the fridge. They will take about 12 hours to start to taste good, but will get better the longer they sit. These last around two - three weeks usually in the fridge.

Pie Pastry

1. Combine the flour and salt into a mixing bowl, break the butter into small pieces and rub into the flour mixture until it resembles wet sand.

2. Make a well in the middle and pour in the ice water, mixing the pastry until it comes together with no lumps. Wrap in cling wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes before using.

Pie Filling

1. In a large saucepan heat the oil, adding in beef chunks and cooking them until they're lightly browned. Remove the beef from the pan and put to the side.

2. Add the butter into the saucepan and add in the diced carrots, diced mushrooms and diced onion, cooking until softened. Add the beef chunks back into the pot with the vegetables along with the plain flour.

3. Mix until everything is covered and there are no lumps and then add in the beef stock, along with the rosemary. Add a general amount of freshly cracked black pepper as a good pinch of salt. You can allow it to come to the boil slowly but reduce the heat and cover the saucepan as it does - leaving it on a gentle simmer for about 30 minutes. Place into the fridge to cool properly.

4. Preheat oven to 180C.

5. By now your pastry should have had enough time to chill - divide the dough into 5 even amounts (or if you want to make one giant pie leave as is!).

6. Leaving enough dough for the lid of each pie, roll out each part into a circle - you don't want the pastry to be thicker than a few centimetres otherwise it will end up uncooked in parts.

7. Lightly oil your pie tins, gently pressing the rolled out dough into them, using any scrap parts to press over any holes that may tear in them.

8. Once all the pie shells are pressed into the tins, you can spoon the filling evenly into each. When placing the lids on top, brush the underside of each with a bit of water. Use a fork to poke a few holes into the top of each pie and then place on a tray and into the oven for around 40 minutes.

9. Enjoy fresh from the oven with a side of homemade pickles!