My quirky (=dangerous) cooktop

Here's one I wrote quite some time ago, back in August last year. I thought I'd finally post it, and then have a bit of a think about what I'm going to write for my fiftieth post. Fifty posts since October 2009 probably isn't particularly conducive to developing a solid reader base, but I've had a lot on my plate.

I learnt to cook on gas, so imagine my horror at the fact that the last three houses I have lived (including this one) have had an electric stove and cooktop.

The electric oven thing I got used to – the first two houses, well you didn’t really have to adjust the temperature by 20oC to allow for the fan forced, possibly because the ovens were a little older and more sluggish. Every time I adjusted it, I would have to cook something for half an hour longer. The oven at the new house, though, needs you to do that. I think. I probably haven’t done quite enough baking to say that for sure, but I get the feeling that I’m right, judging by how quickly the Anzacs I baked the other day browned. But that’s okay, I can deal with that (although I may need to hunt down a third shelf for the oven, because there’s only 2, and I suspect I’ll need a third one at some point).

(Note: I have done quite a bit of baking since then, and yes, you do have to adjust the temperature. And so far, I haven't had a burning need for a third shelf. Yet.)

What I can’t deal with, though, is the electric cooktop. Not only is it electric (fail!) and therefore notoriously difficult to get the heat right, but there’s also what I take to be quite a serious electrical flaw in it.

The reason I think that it’s serious is because my cooktop has a retro-fitted override switch.

Doesn’t seem right, does it.

But it gets worse.

It would seem that flicking this switch gives the front right-hand element a licence to turn on, even if the knob on the cooktop is off. No matter which other element you use, it is ALWAYS on, and I could be wrong, but I think it might be an “all or nothing” situation – there can be no adjusting of the heat of this particular element. This leads to either cooking everything on this element on high (which can work okay because it’s a smaller element, unless you’re melting butter – DON’T DO IT!!!), or just making sure you don’t put your hand/plastic/utensils/pot handles/tea towels on it.

Secretly I’m a little bit glad, though – because now I can more easily justify the purchase of a gas cooktop. Whoohoo!

Things That Excite Me

PROLOGUE: I'm really, really annoyed right now. Apparently holding down shift and scrolling up to the top of the page deletes every single last word you've written. I'd just finished a post, and was making all the text the same colour, and now I have to start from scratch. Fan-flippin'-tastic.

Anyway.

There are lots of Things That Excite Me, mostly trivial, and lots of them, as you may already have gathered, are kitchen utensils. I have already introduced you to my loaf pan and my Piranha peeler, and I now wish to introduce to the following:

1) My teensy, tiny Pyrex dishes.

The ones holding thyme and garlic hold about a tablespoon comfortably (maybe two if densely packed), the one holding lemon zest holds about two tablespoons comfortably, and the larger one holds one finely chopped smallish brown onion at a bit of a squeeze (don't ask me how many tablespoons that is!). I would imagine you could get a larger onion in there but it would be piled up quite high.

2) My offset spatula.

Granted, I have not yet had the opportunity to use it, but I'm looking forward to spreading icing and tart or cheesecake filling perfectly flat and smooth without getting it on my knuckles. I'm thinking I shall christen it on cheesecake, partly because I like cheesecake, and partly because Grant likes cheesecake more than I do, which means that because the calories can be blamed on him, that they will go to his hips and not mine. I'm not entirely sure how that works just yet, but I'll figure out the details later. I'm sure that's how it works...

A lot of non-kitchen stuff also excites me right now, and most of those things are related to our new house.

1) The venetian blind in the loungeroom, which I picked and Grant installed, excites me because it looks much nicer than before, and lets more light in, making that corner of the room lighter and brighter (you can sort of gain appreciation for that in the following photo - the window is on the right hand side).

This window, which faces the TV, originally had a double layer of crappy brown polar fleece tacked in between the window - which doesn't open - and the flyscreen. This corner was all dark and horrible until I decided to spring for the $36 blind at Spotlight, and don't ask me why the previous owners didn't take the same leap of faith that they did on the $12 Spotlight blind in the bedroom and instead opted for a rag as a curtain! Maybe I'm really excited because I have superior taste in drapery...

2) Our new dining table and kitchen dresser excite me, partly because we have somewhere to eat and enough storage space, and partly because we made out like bandits (remind me to tell you a story about that) on them both - bargain!

We bought both on sale - the table was a floor model and the last one left, so we got it at a discount, and we found the dresser at the Le Cornu Monster Marquee Sale (basically a scratch and dent sale held - as the name indicates - in a sizeable marquee in their carpark). They actually delivered the wrong dresser (same model, different dresser). A better one! It came in two pieces, and the top half was most certainly not the one we bought, which had a big split in the upper left cornice (for want of a better word), whereas the front of this one isn't glued quite as closely to the side as it should be, resulting in a 1.5mm gap down the right hand side, which I reckon I can fix with a texta! The bottom half is also not the one we bought, because I clearly remember it belonging to the other dresser that was on display, which had a top that was far worse damaged. I remember it because it has a small "is that all??" kind of scratch in it, which nearly sucked me in until I noticed how badly screwed the top of it was.

3) My new herb garden excites me, perhaps irrationally so.

The herb garden is comprised of two large (large enough for me to require man-help to lift) oblong terra cotta pots flanking our back steps. I have planted two types of parsley, dill, corriander, oregano, thyme and mint in it. I also planted rosemary in the back corner of the yard in the knowledge that it would probably grow prolifically and take over the pot (which the mint may also do - the mint is the one at the front right of the pot, and it is already three times larger than when I planted it a week ago. Best I keep an eye on that...). I also want basil and maybe sage but will be content with just the basil.

I am so excited to have herbs growing at my back doorstep, but am even more excited at the prospect of planting a vegie garden. On the list of improvements for the house (along with installing a bathtub - un-necessary, but would be nice - and a gas cooktop - not only do I abhor cooking on electric (it's so unresponsive), but my electric one is also a little quirky (by which I mean kind of unsafe, evidenced by the fact that to use it you must flip the retro-fitted override switch - I will tell you about in another post - so at least for that "want" I can cite safety as a reason!)) is one of those corrugated iron raised garden beds. I love gardening and have really missed it the last two years, and once I've got that garden bed I'll be as happy as the proverbial pig. My love for gardening doesn't always extend to mowing the lawn, mind you... *reaches for the yellow pages*

But I think the thing that excites me most about our house is the fact that it is ours.

EPILOGUE: I'm quite pleased with how this re-hashed version turned out - it's quite a lot more succinct. Pity I just missed out on an hour of sleep, though...

Emptying the Pantry: Part Four - Beef and Barley Soup

By rights, this one should be about carrot cake buuuuuut I got so carried away cooking (and eating) it that I forgot to take photos.

That happens to me a lot.

I don't know if it helps, but it actually looked quite a lot like it did in the CWA Country Classics cookbook. It's quite unusual for things to come out looking like the pictures, so it was proud moment for me! The cream cheese icing was actually a little bit sweet for my liking, but the hint of honey in it was divine. Next time I think I'll up the cream cheese content and lower the level of icing sugar.

Oh yes, there WILL be a next time!

This recipe is pretty unexciting (but tasty!), as healthy savoury things often are, and I must say I'm a little disappointed by the fact that it contained but three ingredients from my cupboard. The exciting part, however, is that I was FINALLY able to get some use out of my latest AWW cookbook - The Complete Cook. Like the write-up says, it has a lot of useful information about the fresh ingredients, but I find the layout a little frustrating. I think perhaps that you need a chef's imagination to truly appreciate it, as a chef would be able to decide on what ingredient he or she wanted to dominate a course, and then complement it with another ingredient in the following course, and so on. I think the layout is a little advanced for your average punter, but still has heaps of yummy recipes and looks pretty next to "Cook", "Kitchen" and "Bake". I'm a little surprised they went with a blue cover again, though, but pleased that they wrapped it in plastic this time! (And yet annoyed that they didn't think of it for the previous three books). And, as it turns out, it comes in handy when you're trying to clean out your cupboards and use up specific ingredients!

INGREDIENTS:

1 tbsp olive oil

500g gravy beef, trimmed, diced (2cm cubes) <-- I used ready-diced steak and it worked fine

2 medium brown onions, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

3/4c pearl barley

3c beef stock

1.5L water

1 bay leaf

1 sprig fresh rosemary

1 sprig fresh thyme

2 medium potaoes, diced (1cm pieces)

2 medium carrots, diced (1cm pieces)

2 medium zucchini, diced (1cm pieces)

2 medium yellow patty-pan squash, diced (1cm pieces) <-- nowhere to be found; ommitted

100g swiss brown mushrooms, chopped coarsely

1/2c finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

That's a lot of ingredients, huh?

Here's what I had...

... and here's what I didn't have.

Oh! OH!!! I haven't introduced you to The Piranha yet!!!

Look at its teeth.

I see beauty in their viscous glinting!

Well, okay, not really, but it peels like a mofo!

As it turns out, my life was incomplete without it. Get it here (dangerous, dangerous online kitchenwares store that allows you to make a wishlist... be afraid... be VERY afraid...)

Actually, that's not true. My life was pretty well complete without it, but it sure makes life easier. AND, you can cut your carrots into nice fat ribbons for sandwiches and salads and stuff. These things are important to me. I have yet to test it on cucumber but the Force is strong in this one so I'm sure it will be fine.

METHOD:

1. Heat half oil in large saucepan; cook beef, in batches, until brown. Remove

2. Heat remaining oil in same saucepan; cook onion and garlic until onion softens. Return beef to pan with barley, stock, water, bay leaf, rosemary and thyme, bring to boil. Reduce heat; simmmer, covered, about 1 hour or until beef and barley tender, skimming the fat occasionally

3. Add remaining vegetables to soup; simmer, covered, about 25 mins or until vegetables softened. Remove and discard bay leaf, rosemary and thyme

4. Serve bowls of soup sprinkled with parsley

The nutritional information at the bottom of the page says this has 8.8g total fat (2.6g saturated) which is pretty good. I only mention this because it took a bloody eternity to reheat in the microwave!!! (In case you hadn't figured it out for yourself, fatty stuff heats up much faster. For example, you can melt cheese in under 30 seconds, but it took at least 5 minutes for me to heat a bowl of this soup up) So here it is - reheated and messy on my desk at work. Sooooo goooood! If only I'd had some nice fresh crusty bread to go with it...

Emptying the Pantry - Part Three: Chocolate Banana Bread

I am particularly proud of my second foray into my EtP Challenge - every single ingredient here was already in the cupboard or the fridge/freezer.

I got the recipe from the AWW website. They have this nifty meal-maker recipe widget (I don't care if it's a mis-use of the word, cos I love that word), which as it turns out is very helpful when you need to find a way (actually, several ways) to use up an entire kilogram of wholemeal flour in a few short weeks!

The sea cucumber-looking things wrapped in plastic haemmoraging a mysterious pale brown liquid are frozen bananas. I put them in the freezer back in January because they were starting to turn and I knew I wouldn't have time to eat them fresh (they get to a certain point and the ethylene that is produced as they ripen makes me gag), and I LOVE frozen bananas in summer - they taste great and are far better for you than icecream. But this is a prime example of why you shouldn't leave things in the freezer forever...

Wow, I'm really struggling to keep my leftover Spaghetti Bolognese (sort of) down...

I feel a little Haiku coming on...

The banana wilts

Quietly, the girl vomits

Structureless and soft.

Oh no, no no no, I didn't mean that. As if I would ralph into a mixing bowl. Into a wok, maybe. A biscuit tin, perhaps. Actually, I have done both of those things (sometimes, when you're camping, you've gotta do what you've gotta do). True story. And colossal overshare. But no, not into a mixing bowl (maybe only because I don't bring them camping?). No no no, that's mashed banana! There's a fresh one in there too.

Heheh. This just keeps getting better. At this point I feel that it is only fair to inform you that this is a combination of banana, castor sugar, oil and egg. Nothing more.

I really am doing a top job of convincing you to try this recipe out, aren't I...

Anyway, this is where it gets confusing. See, I greased and lined my loaf pan like the instructions said.

This, by the way, is a virgin loaf pan.

Ne'er before had its smooth curves been filled by the soft warmth of a rising loaf. Grant bought it for me and it made me ridiculously, deleriously happy. Yup, I'm the kinda gal that gets excited over a $9 loaf pan. I really am that easy to please! FYI, he gets me way better stuff than $9 loaf pans too, but I just thought I'd use it to illustrate the point that the simple things in life - kitchen utensils included (especially) - make me happy. Oh, remind me to tell you a story about my awesome new vegetable peeler! It's called "The Piranha", and no, I didn't name it myself. But that's another story for another time.

Yes, I really am that sad.

Anyway, back to the instructions. I greased it like it said. And then I poured it in, checked the instructions again to see how long to bake it for, and went "uh-oh..."

I mean, I couldn't see a reason that the batter should go into two bar pans instead of one loaf pan (and I never realised there was a difference between a bar pan and a loaf pan, although having just Googled it, a bar pan isn't at all what I think it is - some idiot has patented something that looks rather a lot like a lamington tin that had a baby with a Swiss roll tin, and called it a small bar pan. Freak. I would have thought that a bar pan was a skinnier loaf pan with straighter sides, kind of like in the AWW Birthday Cake Book, you know the pan that makes up the #1 numeral cake (wow, having sourced that link, that cake looks exactly the way I remember it!)? But apparently not) - the batter came about 2/3 the way up the tin, which is about right for a loaf batter, but I put a Swiss roll pan on the shelf below it, just in case it oozed over and things turned ugly.

Lucky for me, things didn't turn ugly. No, they turned quite beautifully, in fact.

And delicious.

PS - there's butter on it because I feel that few baked goods are complete without butter in some form. That is all.