Roasted Tomatoes

When tomatoes are at their cheapest and most delicious, I love to roast them. It's such a versatile way of preparing them. Once they are done you can do so much with them! Here are some ways I have used them:

• Eaten right off the baking tray! Addictive!
• As bruschetta - toast some ciabatta slices, rub them with garlic, plonk a basil leaf and a tomato on top!
• Made into delish roasted tomato sauce for pasta
• Freeze them for roasted tomato soup during the winter

So next time you see them at the farmer's market, get as many as you can carry. Then halve them (or slice them thickly if they are big and fat) and put them on a baking dish which you've oiled with some olive oil. chop up a whole lotta garlic and sprinkly them generously. Lots of salt and pepper. Another drizzle of oil and into a 350 F oven until they are starting to caramelize beautifully around the edges. Don't let them or the garlic burn! Finely slice some basil leaves over and devour.

Thanksgiving Pavlova

Well, I just finished my 5th Canadian Thanksgiving and it was great!

Here's what we ate:

• A huge turkey (21 lbs!)
• 2 types of stuffing (recipes to come!)
• Roast Potatoes
• Roast Pumpkin
• Smashed Brussels Sprouts
• Gravy
• Cranberry Sauce
• and...Pavlova!

As you can see, it was a cross-cultural kind of meal and didn't contain Pumpkin Pie as I loathe it (sweetened vegetables just don't do it for me). We also do roasted veggies as opposed to mashed potatoes etc. But the main event for my husband and our guest was the Pavlova for dessert. It's an Aussie thing.

For the uninitiated, Pavlova is like a huge, meringue which is crispy on the outside but billowy and soft and marshmallow-y on the inside. It's then topped with whipped cream and fruit. It's generally a huge hit. We all had seconds.

What you'll need:

• 8 egg whites
• 375g superfine (caster) sugar
• 2 tsp cider vinegar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp corn starch (cornflour)
• 500ml whipping cream
• fruit - strawberries, kiwis, and passionfruit are traditional, but anything is good. Berries are great!

Preheat your oven to 350F and then line a cookie sheet or pizza pan (not the holey type!) with parchment paper. Don't grease it.

Now put your egg whites in a bowl and use some sort of whipping device to beat it until stiff peaks form. I use my Viking mixer. Then add the sugar in a 3 batches, beating in between. It will become very stiff, glossy and lovely. At this point, beat in the vinegar and vanilla. Now sift in the corn starch and fold it in with a silicone spatula.

Take your meringue and mound it on the paper, going for a fair bit of height as is will sink in the oven a bit. try and smooth the top and sides a bit, though freeform is what it's all about.

Bake in the oven for 10 mins and then turn the oven down to 240F and bake for another hour. Leave the oven ajar while it cools. Carefully peel the paper off the bottom and put it on a serving plate. You can leave it in this naked state for a day or two in an airtight container. Shards will break off the sides, but don't worry about it.

When you're ready to serve it, whip your cream until it's whipped but not too stiff and spread it over the top. Don't be tempted to sweeten the cream - the Pav is sweet already. Now tumble your fruit over the top and drizzle some passionfruit seeds over the top. Cut it up like a cake and devour.

Sky Lanterns

Oh Happy Day

When Rachel and I were on our last camping trip, a strange thing happened. We were all sitting around the campfire and what appeared to be a small UFO floated across the sky. When it came closer we could see that it was actually a paper (!) lantern with a candle inside.

I was determined to research more on this when I got home and then I forgot. Until Oh Happy Day's post.

You can buy the lanterns (which are actually called Sky Lanterns) here. There is also a neat video on how to light them.

I'd love to buy a whole lot and release them.

Or you can be really crafty and make your own. Confessions of a Fireworks Man has great instructions here, though I think I'd just buy them (they are only about $2 each).

Don't you think this would cool on Halloween?

Frittata - the perfect clean-out-the-fridge dish

Remember the frittata from Emmett's birthday party?

I had occasion to make another one yesterday for a friend who has just had a baby (welcome to the world, Nancy!). It was when I was making it that I realized that I hadn't shared a recipe. Well, method is probably more accurate as it's different every time.

Incidentally, I whipped up one of these when I was in early labour with Eleanor and ate it right after she was born. It tasted amazing as I hadn't eaten for about 12 hours!

Here's how I do it:

Preheat oven to 350F. I generally use a 9" x 9" Pyrex dish, but any oven safe dish will do. Butter or oil it well. A skillet will also work well, but I find it's easier to use a dish.

Now, open your fridge and grab every veggie you have lying around in there. You'll need a total of about 4 cups once they are chopped, but it really doesn't matter if it's less or more. You'll just have more or less of the eggy stuff. In the photo above I used Asparagus and mushroom. Yesterday it was a box of frozen, chopped spinach (thawed in a pot) and about a cup of chopped mushrooms. Grab a large onion (essential) and chop it up. Saute it until it's soft-ish, but it doesn't have to be totally cooked because it's going in the oven. Mice up about 4 cloves of garlic and throw them in too. If you've got some bacon,  chop it up and throw it in with the onion.

Now, most veg won't need precooking, but some will - potato, (you can use leftover cooked potato), sweet potato and other hard veg will, unless you grate them. I find I like to grate zucchini too, to avoid precooking. I always precook mushrooms so they don't get a funny texture in the frittata. Other soft veg, like the asparagus can just be diced.

Beat about 6-8 eggs in a large bowl and season with salt and pepper. You can also add fresh herbs at this point. If i don't have fresh, i don't bother because this always ends up being very flavourful. A few Tbs of pesto is always good, too. Mix one big spoon of the hot onion-y stuff in first to "temper" it or bring the temperature up a bit, then throw in the rest of the onions and veg.

Now get some cheese. Lots of it. Reckon about 1.5 cups, grated. The more cheese, the better. Non-cheddar would be good too, especially Feta or Chevre. Mix it up. Live dangerously.

Mix it all up. If there's not enough eggy stuff between the beg, add a couple more eggs. Now scrape it into your dish. Put it in the oven and cook it until it's golden brown on top and not at all jiggly any more. This takes about 30 mins, but start checking after 25 mins, depending on how thick it is.

Leave it to cool and eat at room temperature. It's the perfect thing for picnics. You can also serve it for guests at a lunch on a bed of dressed micro-greens or mesclun. Yum!

Preparing for House Guests

Wrapables

My parents are coming to visit. From Australia. For five and a half weeks! Luckily we all get along very well and they are amazingly helpful with the kids.

Today we cleared up the Sunroom for them which is a really lovely place to stay in the warmer months (it's unheated, so not good in winter!). Eventually, I would love to paint the room white (it has wood panelling and - ugh - laminate flooring), but for now it's a bit log cabin-ish.

Here are some things I think about when I am preparing for house guests:

Keys
I have a spare set of keys ready for when people stay so they can come and go as they please.

Bedding
I am fairly particular about my sheets and my favourite ones are some chocolate brown high-thread count Egyptian cotton sateen ones that I bought in the States (Wamsutta). Unfortunately they are double sized so don't fit on our regular bed, but it's very lucky for our guests!

I also always include different height pillows and some extra blankets in different weights (no duvet at the moment!). My fave blanket to have on hand is a Mohair rug. It's so lightweight and gives a lot of warmth because of the loft.

Room Location
When I'm planning the room for guests, I try to consider their needs. My parents don't have any problems with stairs, so the sunroom is fine for them, but my Mother-in-Law has bad Arthritis, so she prefers to be on the same floor as the bathroom. We don't have a mansion, so when she visits we sleep in the sunroom and  put her in our bed.

Flowers
Once, when I went to stay with my friend Peter in Melbourne, he prepared my room and left a lovely bunch of violets in there. It was such a lovely touch and I've never forgotten it. I definitely plan on putting some flowers in my parents' room before they arrive.

Visual Photos

Clothes Storage
It's really nice if you can clear out a spare chest of drawers for your guest's clothes. We have a small one in the room, but because my folks are staying so long, we also included a small bookshelf (for putting foldable clothes) and a hanging clothes rack that I fortuitiously found on the kerb today.


Bedside Water/Food/Accoutrements
I don't take water to bed, but many people do, so I'd really like to get some sort of carafe like the one at the top of this post. Otherwise, I'll put a couple of water bottles in their room. If I was having less familiar guests, then I might include some snacks or even some cough drops in case they feel awkward about raiding my fridge. I also always make sure there are tissues.


Reading Material
I think I'll also leave some magazines in the guest room. If I am having guests that I don't know as well I will usually include some local info such as a map or guest guide.

Is there anything special that you do when you're preparing for house guests?

Simple Summer Pasta Salad

This is one of my favorites; a perfect salad for a summer evening or to bring to a BBQ. My mom has been making this salad for years and it has been a hit at a ton of parties; she has adapted it from a cooking course she took when I was small. It can easily be doubled for large parties, and is adaptable to taste (for those who do not like onions, use less, for example):
To start, cook one 350 g package of cheese tortellini (fresh) as per package directions. While you are doing this, chop the vegetables:

You will need:
half of a sweet onion,
half of an English cucumber,
a handful of basil (fresh is key!)
a hothouse tomato.
Dice all your veggies as you are waiting for the tortellini to cool.
Now you can make your dressing:

Start with a quarter of a cup of olive oil and slowly add approximately 3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar. This is purely to taste, so taste away!! Whisk, add a pinch of pepper and salt to taste (I like it with more salt, sometimes I add more at the end but take it slow).

Now mix everything up and pour on dressing! It is nice to marinate and cool this salad for an hour as it tastes best cold. A perfect side to any dish!