Recipe: Panzanella

Each season has its own flavours and in summer we are particularly spoiled. Mangoes are for me sun in a skin. Peaches and cherries are Christmas. But summer, summer is sun warmed tomatoes and basil.

Each year I transform our tiny veggie patch into a tomato oasis, under planted with basil. And when it is full of sun warmed, perfectly ripe tomatoes I just love to make my version of the Italian bread salad, panzanella.

Traditionally panzanella is just bread, tomatoes and basil with a simple dressing. You use stale bread which you soak in water and squeeze out before making the salad. However, I like to add a few extra veggies and prefer my bread a bit more solid so skip the water step. I like to make this with a sourdough or Italian style bread. I recently made it with an olive sour dough and it was especially great.

This is not a traditional recipe but I think it is yummy. It goes really well with a simple steak or sausages, or just on its own.

Panzanella
(note I haven't included quantities because this recipe really is to taste. I try to have about equal amounts of bread to tomatoes) 

Day old bread
Tomatoes
Basil
Cucumber
Capsicum

Dressing:
Olive oil (roughly 2/3 to 1/3 vinegar)
Red wine vinegar
crushed garlic
sugar
salt and pepper

 Cut or tear the bread into roughly 1cm cubes. Cut up the tomatoes to an equal size and add to the bread (along with any juice that comes out when you cut them up). Roughly tear up the basil and cut up the cucumber and capsicum to similar size as the tomatoes. Drizzel with dressing and toss to combine.

To make the dressing combine all ingredients in a screwtop jar and shake.

This salad is best made at least 15-30 minutes before eating so that the flavours have time to meld.

Valentine's Day

S and I have never made a huge fuss of Valentine's Day. We don't ignore it, but we also don't go over the top with huge presents and expensive dinners either. Instead we have always given each other a simple card and had a simple meal - often just homemade pizza eaten sitting on the couch. We love each other to bits every day of the year, but it is nice on this "day of love" to acknowledge it in some special way.

This morning, as I was getting ready for work, my bleary eyed beloved emerged from his sheet cocoon (honestly I don't know how he manages to wrap himself up like that) and presented me with the most gorgeously written card and a box of Turkish delight. It wasn't some special Valentines Day Turkish delight. It wasn't in a fancy box. It was in a plastic takeaway container - because that is how it comes when it is super fresh from the deli that I like - onto which he had stuck a sticker which made it look like there was a cat in there trying to get out.

Because that is what love is, knowing that amidst the sea of red roses and chocolates, what I would love is some simple fresh Turkish Delight with a funny cat sticker on it.

I hope your Valentine's Day was as romantic as mine.

Recipe: Messing with a classic - creating a Summer Tiramisu

There are a heap of recipes that have stood the test of time, that have earned the status of "classic". They are flavours that are known and loved, so if you mess with them, you better be prepared for the fallout.

With the bounty of fresh berries at the moment, I wanted to make something that showcased them but that was also a bit of a decadent dessert. So I came up with the idea of playing with the flavours of tiramisu. I replaced the traditional coffee and chocolate - flavours that I think of more as for winter - with light citrus and berries.

The reaction was, well, mixed. Everyone really enjoyed it but with the thought of tiramisu in mind they were confused. I got a lot of "I like it but it isn't tiramisu" comments. Maybe I should call this a creamy berry pudding or something - if you can think of a better name let me know in the comments!

There is quite a bit of booze in this (plus raw egg so definitely not one for pregnant ladies), but the liqueur is all about the flavour. The recipe uses both orange and raspberry liqueurs, I used cointreau and an amazing raspberry nectar made by Centennial Vineyards in the Southern Highlands of NSW, but there are a heap of options out there. And the lemon syllabub has both wine and brandy in it, but trust me, I could eat it by the spoonful, it is just that delicious, and adds a fantastic tart element to offset the creamy richness of the mascarpone.

I have no idea how people take good photos of tiramisu, presentation wise, it looked as it always does like a bit of a mess when spooned out, but then again it getting a photo would have been tricky as it disappeared very fast. So I may have messed with a classic, and it may actually need a new name, but it would appear this was a success.

Have you played with any classic recipes recently? How successful was it?

Summer Tiramisu
Juice of one orange
3 tbsp cointreau (or other orange flavoured liqueur)
30 (ish) sponge-finger biscuits
3 eggs, separated
1/2 cup caster sugar
500g mascarpone cheese
3 tbsp raspberry liqueur
1/4 cup caster sugar, extra
1/3 cup thickened cream
mixed berries (I used a punnet each of raspberries, blueberries and strawberries)
lemon syllabub (recipe below)

Place the orange juice and cointreau in a shallow bowl.

Beat egg yolks and sugar until light and fluffy. Fold in the mascarpone and raspberry liqueur until just combined.

Beat egg whites and extra sugar until soft peaks form. Gently fold into the mascarpone mixture and then fold in the thickened cream.

Dip half of the biscuits into the orange juice mixture and place in the bottom of a 8-cup capacity rectangular dish. Spread half the mascarpone mixture over biscuits, then sprinkle over with half the berries. Repeat with the remaining biscuits and mascarpone mixture but reserve remaining berries. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

An hour or so before serving top with lemon syllabub and remaining berries.

Lemon Syllabub
1 lemon
brandy
1/3 cup caster sugar
1 1/4 cups cream
1/3 cup white wine

Thinly peel lemon. Place the peel and juice of the lemon in a measuring cup and add enough brandy to make half a cup. Cover and let stand overnight.

Strain the juice/brandy mix discarding the peel and any pith from the lemon, add the wine and sugar to the juice/brandy and stir till dissolved.

Beat cream till soft peaks form then very slowly beat in the lemon mixture. When the cream holds its shape spoon over the tiramisu.

New Linen

I am really very house proud. I love living somewhere comfortable but also attractive and while I wouldn't say I work towards any kind of theme or style, I'm pretty happy that I've created a warm, welcoming home.

That said, it isn't often that we buy new decorator or homewares so when something lovely and new arrives in the house it is quite exciting. This week some glorious new Florence Broadhurst linen arrived courtesy of a great special on Peter's of Kensington. I think it is about 4 years since we had new linen that wasn't plain white sheets, so I couldn't wait to get this on the bed.

S remains unconvinced, I think the move from shades of white to navy blue has somewhat thrown him but I LOVE it. I find myself wandering by the bedroom just to admire it and I love how it makes our bedroom look.

Have you had any exciting homeware purchases recently?

Embracing happiness

I've noticed the hash tags #365gratitude and #100happydays popping up in my Facebook feed and on Instagram a lot at the moment. It is one of those movements where someone's own personal journey has gone viral and many people are joining in.  It all makes me very happy because I know the impact that focusing on happiness can have. I started this blog as a year of happiness and it did change my life.

The change was small, but so very, very important. You see happiness, every day life happiness, is quiet. It is sitting in a ray of sunshine, a perfectly ripe peach, a silly joke that makes you laugh till you cry, it is moments that unless you paid attention to them you could miss so very easily. And that is the change, the gift that my happiness project gave me, it made me mindful.

I seek out those moments in every day and when they happen, I pay attention, I give them my focus and I raise their importance from a moment that could disappear unnoticed to the highlight of my day. And in doing so it makes every day just that bit happier, sunnier and more enjoyable.

With the current prevalence of hashtags about happiness and gratitude I hope that many others will get the benefit that I had and that the world will become just that little more mindful of the happiness that exists in every day.

Mini Break

I first heard the phrase "mini break" when reading Bridget Jones Diary. Since then I've become a dedicated fan. There is something amazingly refreshing about taking just a couple of days out of your normal routine. There isn't the level of expense and planning that a proper holiday requires, yet it provides a complete change from every day life and the result is just so refreshing.

Last week S and I enjoyed mini break on the Gold Coast. The Gold Coast wouldn't be our normal choice, too many people, too humid and being such white, white people, a day on the beach would end in hideous sunburn but we had another reason for going - a birthday party. My Nanna (who isn't my Nanna at all, I adopted her from my best friend) celebrated her 90th birthday.

It meant we got to spend most of  what would normally be a work day being wined and dined. There is nothing quite like a glass of champagne at 3pm on a Thursday when you know all of your colleagues are hard at work.

We walked kilometers each day, wandering through the shops and along the beach - which was excellent given the number of calories we ingested! After a day of celebration with Nanna, the following day S indulged me by taking me to Palazzo Versace for high tea.

It was just enormous! At least 15 items each, including sandwiches, scones and a huge array of sweet treats. Each was small, delicate and intricately crafted. My only real criticism would be that it was a bit overwhelmingly sweet, but it was a gorgeous venue and a fun way to spend a few hours before slowly wandering back, trying to walk off those calories.

It was just two days but they were two fun, refreshing, relaxing days that has stretched the summer holidays out just that bit further.

I will end with some advice from Nanna as recounted by her daughter at the birthday party.

Be kind to your mother

Keep a positive and happy outlook on life

And always have champagne in the fridge - you never know when you will need to celebrate something!

Eggplant, chickpea, quinoa and goats feta salad

In the warmer months I could quite happily live on salad. And to be frank I would be pretty much satisfied with a good old garden salad most days but variety is the spice of life and there are so many delicious salads it would be a shame to limit myself.

This one was inspired by seeing a picture of an eggplant salad on pinterest. That salad was completely different and I still intend to try it, but this salad turned out exactly as I wanted. I wanted something substantial that I could have as a work lunch, so it needed the protein and carbohydrate from the chickpeas and quinoa. I particularly love the flavour combination of goats cheese and eggplant but that can get a bit cloying so I added the parsley to freshen it up. And pine nuts - well every salad benefits from a few of these fragrant beauties.

I prefer to cook my chickpeas from dried, I think they have a better texture. But that does require a certain amount of pre-planning so canned is fine. And as with many of my recipes, the quantities are open to interpretation, if you like something more, there is nothing stopping you playing with the amount.

This salad was delicious warm but is also great cold. The flavours meld together beautifully.

What salads are you enjoying this summer?

Eggplant, Chickpea, Quinoa and Goats Feta Salad
2 medium eggplant cut into 2cm (approx) cubes
3 tbs olive oil
1.5 cups of cooked chickpeas (which is equal to about a can or 1/2 cup dried)
1/2 cup quinoa
1 cup parsley leaves picked
100g goats feta
100g pine nuts toasted

Dressing
3 tbs olive oil
1.5 tbs red wine vinegar
1 tsp honey
1/2 tsp minced garlic
salt and pepper

Lightly toss the eggplant in olive oil and bake at 180 degrees celcius until golden brown - about 20-30 minutes.

Rinse quinoa thoroughly then boil in about 2 cups of water for about 15 minutes. It is cooked when it becomes translucent and you can see the germ.

Cook chickpeas according to packet or can directions till tender.

In a large bowl combine the warm chickpeas, quinoa and eggplant with the parsley and toasted pine nuts. Crumble feta over, add the dressing and toss to combine.

Enjoy!

To make the dressing combine all ingredients in a jar and shake to combine.