Mushrooms on Toast | Wild Pork and Watercress

I liked doing things for Aunty Bella, she was a real good sort, and made the most beautiful brawn you've ever eaten. And she could turn a bucket of ordinary old mushrooms into the most delicious bacon-y creamy toast-soaking stuff you could image. She had a bit of magic, Aunty Bella. She was my best friend as well.
Wild Pork and Watercress
Barry Crump

I went through a phase I'm sure many did when they were young, where mushrooms were possibly the vilest food imaginable. That was, until, I read and subsequently became obsessed with The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. This new knowledge that my absolute favourite creatures (I'm quite short, I think I likely thought I was a hobbit at this age) were obsessed with mushrooms and craved them incessantly? Well then, guess what my new favourite food became?

The absolutely gorgeous book, Wild Pork and Watercress, from which the above quote has been taken from, inspired this late lunch this past Sunday. The book itself is a beautiful story set deep within the bush of New Zealand, any fans of Taika Waititi's work have likely seen Hunt for the Wilderpeople, which is based upon this book. The thought of going mushroom picking and then indulging lavishly in your findings feels like a distant dream when living in a city.

I have faint, faint memories of being young and being dropped at a family friend's house, spending the day with the other children running off into the neighbouring farms with a bucket, hunting down the wild mushrooms that we could find. Returning, only to have the mushrooms cooked and mushed down into almost pate that we spent the afternoon devouring.The recipe below isn't quite matching up to that memory exactly, but instead something that has become a sort of staple over the years for my own dinner. Affectionately called, stuff on toast. As it is hard to find a decent vegan ricotta or cheesy like spread without spending a small fortune, the below cashew cream spread recipe has become my go to, the perfect tart-y and creamy differentiator between the crisp toast and buttery mushrooms.

If you are a meat eater, I would highly recommend cooking up some bacon to go with this and then cooking your mushrooms in the leftover bacon fat. I believe the results would perfectly summarise the delight of Aunty Bella's mushroom dish. 

Mushrooms on Toast(with cashew cream)
Makes approx. enough for two servings
Ingredients
400g mushrooms, any kind of mushrooms will be delicious with this, sliced
2 tbsp butter
1 1/2 lemon, juiced
150g raw cashews
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup cold water
2 slices thick sourdough toast
2 - 3 sprigs fresh thyme
Sea Salt
Fresh Pepper

1. Soak the raw cashews in water for at least two hours - you can hurry this along by breaking them up into smaller pieces.

2. Drain and rinse the cashews before placing them into a blender or food processor, along with the cold water, juice of one lemon, apple cider vinegar and a good few twists of salt and pepper. Blend until smooth - it will likely have a few cashew chunks throughout, if this doesn't bother you feel free to leave as is. Place cashew cream to the side.

3. Heat a frying pan on medium heat, adding in the butter. Let the butter melt and start frothing slightly before adding in the sliced mushrooms, thyme and a few twists of salt and pepper. Cook for around ten minutes or so, moving the mushrooms around the pan to prevent them sticking, adding in a few squeezes of lemon juice. They should soak up the butter and appear a lovely caramel-y brown colour. When cooked, remove from the stove.

4. Get your toast ready and spread a good, thick layer of the prepared cashew cream on before placing the mushrooms on top. Season with a little extra salt and pepper or lemon, if you like. Enjoy!

Cheesymite Scrolls | Possum Magic

It was there, in the far north of Australia,
that they found a Vegemite sandwich.
Grandma Poss crossed her claws and crossed her feet.
Hush breathed deeply and began to eat.
’A tail! A tail!’ shouted both possums at once.
For there it was. A brand new, visible tail!
Possum Magic
Mem Fox

Daylight savings has arrived in Melbourne, and the longer days are leaving me wanting to bake doughs that require hours to rise. To leave the house smelling like fresh baked bread every morning and to enjoy thick slices layered with butter and jams. Which, luckily, is basically what I can do every weekend. A friend dropped around some Seville orange marmalade she whipped up also recently, I’m sure that will go down a treat with the next bread batch (or crumpets, if the mood strikes).

My favourite bookstore in all of the city is one called Readings. It’s multiple shelves of books that line the walls give off an aura of comfort, along with the fact that it is open most days till 11pm. There’s nothing like a few pints, followed by an excessive book shopping spree. On a recent browse throughout the store, I wandered into their sister store next door - Readings Kids. While my attention was mostly focused upon the elaborate and beautiful editions of some classic children’s novels I’d read at a young age, I found myself flipping through a copy of Possum Magic.

I doubt there is a child in Australia that has not had Possum Magic read to them at one stage in their life. Mine was from my librarian within my primary school - a woman that I can still remember with such strong, fond feelings, despite not being able to recall even the slightest memory of her face or name. The book is a beautiful adventure of Hush and Grandma Poss, exploring so many Australian concepts and delights.

This recipe was definitely inspired by the reread I hurriedly undertook within the store, the joyful memories of my first interaction coming back to me as I flipped through the pages. I baked a full batch of cheesymite scrolls for a charity bake sale that coming weekend - followed by another batch to carry along to a middle eastern inspired breakfast thrown by a friend. All disappeared quite briefly.

This recipe for Cheesymite scrolls is a classic Australian one, that every Australian likely has had once. This recipe is from Smith & Deli's cookbook - and produces the most delicious scrolls.

*Note: I used a stand mixer with a dough hook for this - but totally fine to do it by hand. Just knead it for an extra five minutes or so.

Cheesymite Scrolls
Makes approx 12 scrolls
Ingredients
2 tsp instant yeast
2 tbsp caster sugar
375ml cups lukewarm water
525g plain flour + 2 tbsp for dusting later
2 tsp salt
90ml olive oil
4 tbsp Vegemite, mixed with 2 tbsp water
250g grated cheese
30g butter, melted

1. Combine the warm water, yeast and caster sugar together in a bowl. Leave for a few minutes or until frothy.

2. Combine the flour and salt together in the bowl of your mixer* (see note), using the dough hook attachment.

3. Add the oil to the flour mixture, and add in your forty yeast while the mixer is slowly running. The dough should come together and be quite soft, if it is too sticky add another few tablespoons of flour. Leave in the mixer to knead for another five minutes or so.

4. Cover the dough with a clean cloth, and leave in a warm place to rise until it has doubled in size, or at least thirty minutes.

5. Preheat your oven to 190C.

6. Dust a bench or board with the remaining flour, and being your raised dough out onto it. Roll the dough into a rough rectangle, so that the dough is no more than a few centimetres thick.

7. Using a silicone spatula if you have one, or the back of a spoon, spread the Vegemite thickly over the rolled out dough, getting it right into each corner. Follow that up by covering the Vegemite with a good layer of cheese - the cheesier the better, of course.

8. Starting at one end, roll the dough up tightly and cut slices off to form the scrolls. Each slice should be approximately 8cm thick.

9. Place the scrolls into a baking pan that is either lined with baking paper or well greased, and leave to sit covered for another thirty minutes or so or until the scrolls have doubled in size.

10. Brush the tops of the risen scrolls with the melted butter and pop into the oven for around twenty minutes.

11. Enjoy! Best eaten hot and gooey from the oven with a cup of coffee.

Dutch Christmas Bread | The Goldfinch

Lifting the tops of the trays with a flourish. ‘Special Dutch Christmas bread,’ he said, pointing it out ironically. ‘Just for today.’ I’d ordered the ‘Festive Champagne Breakfast’ which included a split of champagne, truffled eggs and caviar, a fruit salad, a plate of smoked salmon, a slab of pate, and half a dozen dishes of sauce, cornichons, capers, condiments, and pickled onions.
The Goldfinch
Donna Tartt

The Goldfinch is really an incredible book - it draws you into the narrative of the main character in a way that shouldn’t be so fascinating, but is. The author, Donna Tartt, entices you deeply into the life of the titular character Theo and his struggles with the direction his life takes.

Another great thing about The Goldfinch is the absolute smorgasbord of food that Theo partakes in throughout the pages of the novel. Form western omelettes and home fries to caviar, fruit salad and smoked salmon pate. With so many choices it became increasingly difficult to narrow down what I would make from it (though I am sure that more from it’s pages will appear on this blog at some point in time). I ended up deciding on Dutch Christmas bread, a component of the delightfully indulgent breakfast that Theo orders on what he believed may be his last free day.

Also, because I wanted to know what Dutch Christmas bread was. A little bit of googling later and I came across the delicious looking Kerststol - a Dutch version of the more well known German stollen. A yeast-based bread filled with rum soaked fruits and nuts with pockets of marzipan or almond paste hidden within. I combined a few recipes online to come up with a vegan version that worked well - my first batch turned into a rock hard mess, but the second came out light, fluffy and deliciously warm.

Dutch Christmas Bread
Ingredients
Dough
1 1/2 cups of plain flour + 1 cup (you may need a little extra if the dough is too sticky etc)
1/2 cup milk
3 tbsp melted coconut oil
2 tsp active yeast
3 1/2 tbsp white sugar
2 tbsp water - warm
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cardamon
1/4 tsp ground gloves
1 tsp vanilla
Icing sugar - for decorating
Fruit Filling
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup walnuts
1/4 cup dried apricots
3 tbsp dark rum
Zest of one orange
Almond Paste
1 cup almond meal
1 cup icing sugar
1 tsp maple syrup
3 tbsp cold water
1 tsp almond extract

1. Rough chop the dried apricots, walnuts and sultanas, combine with the zest and cover it all with the dark rum. Put it all in a sealable container and give it a good shake to make sure they’re all covered - these need to sit in the fridge for at least one night.

2. The almond paste should also, ideally, be made the day before. Combine all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse until they all come together as a soft ball. You may need to add a little more powdered sugar if necessary. Wrap it up tightly in cling wrap and refrigerate.

3. Combine the active yeast, warm water and 1/2 tbsp of sugar in a mixing bowl. Leave for about ten minutes - until it goes quite frothy.

4. Add in 3/4 cup of plain flour to the yeast mixture, along with the remaining sugar, milk and oil.

5. Separately mix together 3/4 cup plain flour, all the spices, vanilla, salt and the soaked nuts and dried fruits (make sure you pat the excess liquid off these, otherwise they can make the dough too soggy).

6. Combine both mixes together and knead for 5 - 8 minutes, adding in additional flour if the dough feels too sticky. It shouldn’t be too dry - and should be able to be rolled into a ball easily.

7. Place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a clean cloth - leave in a warm place to rise for around two hours.

8. Once the dough has doubled in size, place it back onto a lightly floured surface and give it a quick knead before pressing down into a rough rectangular shape - around 5cms thick.

9. Place chunks of the refrigerated almond paste over the dough - depending how much you want in there. Roll up the dough tightly from the side and press the seams together.

10. Place into an oiled bread tin and cover again, leaving to rise for another two hours.

11. Preheat oven to 170C.

12. Once the dough has doubled in size, bake it for around 30-40 minutes - checking to see if it’s done by how hollow the top sounds when tapping it.

13. Leave to cool for about 10 minutes, and decorated with a liberal sprinkle of icing sugar on top. Enjoy!

Blackberry Apple Muffins | The Tale of Peter Rabbit

Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail, who were good little bunnies, went down the lane to gather blackberries.
The Tale of Peter Rabbit
Beatrix Potter

There is nothing more nostalgic for me than stories from Beatrix Potter. A friend of mine has a great online op-shop where she sells some amazing vintage finds, I was able to get from her some classic Beatrix Potter books recently which reminded me of my utter love for the characters within.

I grew up in the middle of the bush, with rabbits playing in my backyard and fox pups wrestling nearby. I have memories of a child of attempting to leave them little treats outside that I imagined they would like based off the homely characters from books such as The Tale of Peter Rabbit.

Now I'm in Melbourne and far away from the picturesque area I spent my younger years, it can be hard to recall that particular kind of nostalgia. While when I was younger I would be used to wandering down the dirt roads at home picking wild blackberries throughout summer, instead now I must compensate by picking blackberries up at my local farmer's market.While not exactly what Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail may have had, I'm sure those three bunnies would have enjoyed these muffins immensely.

Blackberry Apple Muffins
Makes 7-8 muffins approx
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups plain flour
3/4 cup raw sugar
2 tsp baking power
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup oil (vegetable or canola is best)
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp vanilla essence
100g fresh or frozen blackberries
2 small Granny Smith apples, peeled and diced small

1. Prepare a muffin tin (or two depending on how many the tin holds) with liners or by greasing the tin.

2. Mix together all dry ingredients in a largish bowl.

3. Whisk together all wet ingredients except for the fruits and add wet mix into dry. Mix until just combined.

4. Add in the apple and berries and mix until just combined. Try not to over mix.

5. Spoon into the prepared tin(s), filling them up with batter right to the top in order to get the nice, raised muffin tops. Place in oven and bake for 20 - 25 minutes.

6. The muffins are done when an inserted skewer into the middle comes out clean. Leave them to cool in the tin for at least five minutes before removing. Best enjoyed with a cup of tea.

Caramelised Pear and Walnut Porridge | The Secret Garden

 ‘Tha’ doesn’t want thy porridge!’ Martha exclaimed incredulously.
‘No.’
‘Tha’ doesn’t know how good it is. Put a bit o’ treacle on it or a bit o’ sugar.’
The Secret Garden
Frances Hodgson Burnett

Porridge for breakfast is memory that is forever buried in my mind. Oats cooked with honey and bananas, sometimes even on the old wood fire stove that sat in the middle of the house I grew up in. I’m not sure exactly at what point I decided I didn’t like porridge, but at some moment throughout the years I must have come to the conclusion that I hated it. Much like Mary from The Secret Garden I would push it away with barely a spoonful eaten if I had the misfortune of having it placed in front of me at breakfast time.

It was only a few years ago that I began searching for an easy breakfast in the morning that the prospect of porridge suddenly became appealing again. I generally get up for work at about five am most morning, which is quite tough during the winter months. Summer was easy, I’d just make a smoothie, but the cold months of winter left me wanting something far more nourishing before I’d step outside into the frosty mornings.

Porridge is a great option for an early morning, while this particular recipe does take a little longer to cook, you can instead simply use quick oats to speed up the process. Obviously you don’t need to top them with caramelised pears every morning - there’s many more options, such as honey, brown sugar, nuts, apples, bananas, or basically anything that you want.

Porridge
Serves 2
Ingredients
1 cup steel cut oats
2-3 cups of coconut milk + 1/2 cup coconut milk
2 pears, sliced however you want really
Small handful walnuts, chopped roughly
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp brown sugar
Vanilla pod or vanilla essence
Sea salt

1. Place the oats into a medium saucepan along with the 2 cups of coconut milk (leaving the extra cup to add in if the porridge thickens too much) and vanilla essence or vanilla pod - ensure if using the vanilla pod that you open it before putting it in the porridge to ensure the inside flavour comes out.

2. Place on the stove on a medium heat and remember to keep an eye on it, stirring every few minutes. Porridge will quite easily overcook and stick to the pot if you don’t stir frequently. Add in the extra coconut milk during this time if the porridge thickens to much before cooking thoroughly.

3. While the porridge it cooking, you can caramelise the pears and walnuts. Heat the butter in a small frying pan until it is foaming. Add in the pears and cook until browned before turning to the other side and repeating the process.

4. Once the pears are nicely browned scatter the brown sugar over them evenly, keeping them in the pan and on a low heat. After a few minutes the sugar should dissolve in with the butter - turning into an almost thick syrup. Make sure you use a wooden spoon to keep it all moving in the pan during this time so it doesn’t burn - plus it’ll coat the pears nicely.

5. Add in the remaining half cup of coconut milk, it will sizzle quite a bit, but that’s fine, just keep it moving in the pan. Add in the walnuts at this point also and gently mix the pears and walnuts around so they get coated in the caramel.

6. Serve the porridge immediately with the pears and walnuts spooned on top, and the caramel drizzled over.