Madeleines | The Essex Serpent

Charles commanded an awestruck girl in a white apron to bring at least a dozen of the cakes she personally liked best, and a gallon of tea. She evidently favoured coconut: there were macaroons, and speckled shortbread, and lozenges of cake doused in raspberry jam and rolled in coconut flakes. Cora, who'd walked several miles that morning, placidly ate her way towards a centrepiece of madeleines.
The Essex Serpent
Sarah Perry

I think Melbourne going into much stricter restrictions recently has driven my reading habits much more towards that of the Victoria era. I've been rushing through numerous Jane Austen's and Brontes', savouring the descriptions of the dreary moors or the spring time in country sides that seem very out of reach to myself at the moment.

The Essex Serpent was a great addition to add to the wistful dreaming. A town by the ocean, with numerous occupants and an overarching mystery of the serpent that hunts them, mixed in with a wistful romance and longing from afar? Perfect.

When I am finally allowed to take in the outside again, and spend more than just an allotted hour getting exercise, I have numerous plans of how I will spend my days. Trips to local museums, picnics in parks and a visit to the coast. The below recipe of madeleines is bound to make an appearance in many of the upcoming picnics.

Years ago, I worked at a small cafe that made all their cakes and pastries from scratch in the kitchen, I have memories of serving up delicate madeleines on floral china with cups of tea, wondering what the appeal in the tiny cakes was exactly. Now having made them - I get it. They're so good. I think my household cleared the two batches I made in one weekend within a few hours, inhaling one after another with alternating cups of tea and coffee.

*Note: aquafaba is the liquid from a can of chickpeas - it's a good replacement for egg whites. I've made this recipe with and without it - and honestly it's fine without it as well, they still turned out great. But adding it in does make the mixture more airy and light. 

Madeleines
Makes approx 18 - 20
Ingredients
120g butter, melted and at room temp
1 tbsp aquafaba *see note
100g caster sugar
90ml milk
1 lemon, zested and juiced
1 tsp vanilla extract
135g plain flour, sifted
1 tsp bi-carb soda
Sea salt
Icing sugar, to garnish after baking

1. Combine the juice of the lemon and the milk together, mix and let sit for around 5 minutes or until it curdles.

2. In the bowl of stand mixer (or if you have very strong arms and a good whisk, any bowl you want) combine the sugar, aquafaba and curdled milk, beat for around 8 - 10 minutes until well combined. Add in the vanilla extract and the lemon zest and mix till combined.

3. Remove from the mixer ad gently fold in the sifted flour, bi-carb soda and salt. Do it bit by bit, so the mixture stays slightly fluffy.

4. Slowly pour in the melted butter, it will take a bit to work it into the mixture but once you have it should be thick and shiny. Place the batter into the fridge for about half an hour.

5. Five minutes before the batter comes out of the fridge preheat your oven to 180C and prepare your madeleine tray/s, greasing with a little extra melted butter.

6. The batter from the fridge should be slightly sponge like, leave it like this and do not mix it. Use a table spoon to place a scoop of the mixture into each of the moulds on the tray, don't worry about smoothing it out - it will do so in the oven.

7. Bake for around 10 - 15 minutes, checking on them every few minutes. The edges should be slightly more browned than the middle but if you leave them too long the edges will burn and become quite crunchy.

8. When they're ready, remove them from the oven and turn the tray out onto a cooling rack - the madeleines should fall out easily.

9. Dust with icing sugar and enjoy with a coffee or cup of tea!

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!

Lemon Cardamom Buns | Normal People

Beside her on the desk is her breakfast, which she just purchased from the supermarket across the street: one black coffee with brown sugar, one lemon pastry roll.
Normal People
Sally Rooney

I'm sure many people were inspired to pick up the story of Normal People recently, with the release of the brilliant television adaptation. I was one of those people, I had read Normal People probably a year ago or so - but realised I remembered little of the plot when the ads for the show started to emerge. I think it's a bit of second read phenomenon but I utterly devoured the story this second go around. I couldn't tell you of any significant parts the first time I read it, with most of the plot seemingly a blur in my head. The second time though, I went back to read over paragraphs again and again, inhaling the words at a frightening speed - and connecting far more than I would have thought.

Moral of the story here is basically - don't give up on a book the first try, sometimes the second read if what you need.

Normal People is lacking a little in the delightful mentions of food that other authors tend to do so well with, but the lemon roll that Marianne snacks on carefully in Sweden was the only dish that really caught my attention. Possibly because I'm eternally jealous I haven't yet been to Sweden - or really anywhere in Europe. Either way, this recipe below is a bit of a twist on the classic Swedish cinnamon bun, introducing a good amount of lemon into the glaze that really left the final product as a delicious, sticky, sweet and slightly tarty treat.

Lemon Cardamom Buns
Makes approx. 7 - 8
Ingredients
Dough
385g plain flour
2 1/2 tsp dried instant yeast
60g caster sugar
240ml milk, lightly warmed
60g butter, melted at room temp
1 tsp ground cardamom, or finely ground if using pods
1/4 tsp sea salt
Filling
40g brown sugar
60g butter, softened
1tsp ground cardamom
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
Glaze
60g caster sugar
80ml water
Zest and juice of 2 lemons

1. To make the dough place the yeast, flour, cardamom, sugar and salt into a bowl - mixing well. Add in the melted butter and milk at intervals, mixing the dough together until all liquids have been added and the dough is coming away from the sides of the bowl. You may need to use your hands for this to properly combine everything.

2. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 8 minutes, until the dough softens and becomes quite smooth and stretchy. Lightly oil a bowl and place the dough inside, turning to cover it with oil - this will help stop the dough from drying out. Cover with some cling wrap and leave in a warm spot for around an hour or until the dough has doubled in size.

3. During this time is a good opportunity to prep the filling. Combine the butter, brown sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon and cardamom together, mixing until it is all combined into a paste and is easy to spread.

4. Preheat oven to 180C and prepare an oven tray with a layer of baking paper (you may need two trays depending how big they are).

5. Once the dough has doubled in size, tip it out onto a lightly floured surface and roll it into a square that is around 25cm by 25cm. Gently spread your filling onto it, so it is evenly distributed.

6. Fold your square of dough into thirds - like a business letter. Using a sharp knife, cut strips length ways down (ensuring you're cutting to get the longest possible strips of dough), each strip should be around 5cms wide.

7. I recommend looking up some Youtube tutorials for shaping these as it helped me a lot initially. One strip of dough at a time, you want to hold each end and twist gently while slowly stretching it out a little. One the strip of dough has spiralled, gently wrap it around your hand twice, tucking the end of the dough into the middle of the spiral as to seal it off.

8. Place on the oven tray, leaving as much distance between them as possible and cover with a clean tea towel. Leave for an additional 45 minutes to allow the shaped buns to rise some more.

9. While the second rise is happening, it's a good time to prepare the glaze. Combine the sugar, water, lemon juice and lemon zest in a small saucepan and cook on a medium heat until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is lightly bubbling. If you want it quite sticky and thick, you can leave it on the stove for longer to cook - otherwise remove it and leave it to the side to cool.

10. Once the formed buns have risen, bake them in the preheated oven for around 15 - 17 minutes, keep an eye on them as it's easy for them to start browning very quickly.

11. You can leave the buns to cool - but it's more fun to glaze when hot so you get the lovely sizzle. Use a pastry brush to spread your prepared lemon glaze all over the buns. Enjoy!

Anzac Biscuits | The Third Day, the Frost

She was so good in the kitchen that she intimidated me a bit; I kept to the simplest cooking: scrambled eggs, lamb chops, pasta, Anzac biscuits.
The Third Day, the Frost
John Marsden

The Tomorrow, when the War Began series was a life changing one for myself when growing - and for most Australian's around my age group most likely. It was my first exposure to the now popular YA dystopian genre, where a group of young teenagers are forced to defend themselves and their country against invaders. Growing up in the middle of the countryside probably also helped me connect to the story itself - memories of camping on all holidays (before I came to the conclusion that camping was not for me, though maybe it is a trait of getting older, I would quite like a short camping trip now and then).

I had the joy in my teenage years of attending John Marsden's, the author of the Tomorrow series, writing camp. Spending a week on his bush property learning to write while exploring the areas that clearly influenced him when penning his own work. It was lovely, and the memories of it were probably what prompted me to pick the series up again last year, thankfully my housemate had the books I was missing from my collection and I was able to finish all within a few weeks.

Outside of the classics I read when quite young, Peter Rabbit or Winnie the Pooh, I don't think any other book has given me such clear nostalgia. Of course, no Australian penned book would be complete without mention of Anzac biscuits, a classic in the early months of the year, or really - any time of the year. I did actually make these around the Anzac day weekend, realising that I had all the necessary ingredients in my cupboard at the time. I'd forgotten just how delicious they were with a cup of tea. 

Anzac Biscuits
Makes approx. 15
Ingredients
150g plain flour
100g rolled oats
80g desiccated coconut
90g brown sugar
60g raw caster sugar
135g butter
3 tbsp golden syrup
1/2 tsp bicarb soda
2 tbsp water

1. Preheat the oven to 160C and line two baking sheets with baking paper.

2. Combine the flour, oats, coconut and both sugars together in a medium bowl.

3. Heat the butter, golden syrup and water together on a medium heat, until the butter melts and the mixture is smooth. Stir in the bicarb soda (it'll froth up a little) and add into the oat mixture, stirring until well mixed.

4. Roll spoonfuls of the mixture into balls, placing them onto the baking trays - leaving about 5cms between them, pressing down on top of each ball to flatten them out. I tend to squish mine down quite a bit - I like them crispy and chewy - which does leave them a bit of a mess but still delicious!

5. Bake for around 10 - 12 minutes if you want them soft and chewy or 15 minutes if you prefer them crispy and crunchy. Leave to cool on the tray for about 15 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Enjoy!