Gurkensalat 2.0

I love the name of this salad.  Clever Alice!  (Yes, I know it means 'cucumber salad' in German, but she has rung in a couple of changes.)  This is from Alice Zaslavsky's book Salad for Days.  Diligent readers will remember that Alice came to our local bookstore in 2023, and I made one of her cakes for the book launch of her previous book The Joy of Better Cooking.  It was delicious, and Alice was equally delicious :=)  

I made half of her recipe, as it was just for me and Mr P., but here is the full recipe below.  This is almost like a pickled cucumber dish, and as you know, you can't keep me away from a good pickled veg.!  I even made another jar of pickles the other day, as I still had one of these big boys in the fridge - or is that bad boys?  Or big, bad boys?  Take your pick :=)

I maintain that my mum was way ahead of her time, as she always did a very quick pickle of the cucumbers we had on our dinner plate.  She always used malt vinegar, and just soaked the cuke slices in the vinegar with a bit of salt and water for a while before dinner.  Mm, this brings back the memories of chunks of cheese, and grated carrot plus tinned beetroot slices ...  Oh, and iceberg lettuce of course!

ready for dressing

Serves 4-6 as a side:

ingredients:

40g./¼ cup currants  (I used half currants/half barberries)

2 Telegraph/Continental cucumbers (the long and thin ones)

1/4 red onion

1/4 tsp of sea salt flakes AND of caster sugar

Dressing:

130g./½ cup plain, thick yoghurt

juice of half a lemon

1 garlic clove, finely chopped or grated

1/4 cup parsley - yep, you guessed it - finely chopped

1 Tbs fresh coriander, chopped

1 Tbs dill, chopped (and a bit extra for garnish)

The Other Bits and Bobs (says Alice)

1 small or half a medium lemon

2 Tbs EV olive oil

freshly-ground black pepper

a scattering of toasted pinenuts - maybe 2 Tbs? (optional) 

Method:

Peel and slice your cukes finely, and slice the onion into very thin rings

Place the currants in a small bowl and pour over just-boiled water to cover; leave aside to get plump and moist (hehehe)

Your cuke slices and onion go into a medium bowl; throw on the salt and sugar, and leave 'em to get tasty for 5-10 minutes

Now make the dressing: Place the ingredients into a mixing bowl, and give 'em a good whisking. Add a bit of salt and pepper if you fancy

And decapitate that lemon; no, no, I mean cut off its top and bottom and peel every bit of skin and white pith from its citrusy little body

Slice (against the grain, says Alice) ever so finely into thin, thin discs - (my take is to halve or even quarter these discs so you don't end up with a big mouthful of ever-so-tangy lemon)

Here's where you get artistic: grab a pretty platter, and lay the cucumber and onion carefully (or not) over it - (you may have to drain them first)

Drizzle/spoon the dressing over the cucumber and onion, then place the lemon where you like, followed by the drained currants and the dill

Splash on some EV olive oil, and some freshly-ground black pepper, and scatter the pinenuts over it all, if using

I served this with some leftover chicken kebabs

Notes:

Notes?  Notes?  Nope, no notes today

slice 'em up!

arrange prettily on your platter

plated and ready to go

we had it with chicken kebabs

(Joining in with Jo Tracey from BKD Cookbook Club - Brookford Kitchen Diaries; this month's theme is healthy recipes!)

c. Sherry M.

Lemon And Bay Cake

I made this cake in Winter, so it has taken me a while to write it up - but here it is at last!  I love citrusy flavours, and this cake really fits the bill.  So being a citrus lover, I've upped the zingy citrus flavour by adding lime juice, lime zest plus some lemon zest to the glaze.  You can never have too much tang!

This recipe is from apples & elderflowers (a kitchen in Tasmania's far south), by Julia Matusik.  She moved from England (as a child) to Brisbane to Tasmania a few years ago - lucky gal!  Her cookbook reflects the produce and seasons of that fabulous Aussie state.

We have several friends down there, and have visited often.  We took our niece and nephew there to see the snow (being Queenslanders, they had never seen it), and the children of friends for their first snowy experience on Mt. Wellington.  And wow, can it get cold up there even on a summer's day!  Don't forget your jumpers when you head there.  

And speaking of snow, Mr P.'s first sighting was in Central Park, New York in our backpacking days!  It was a public holiday, so not many people about, and we ended up at MoMA to check out the Monet Water Lilies.  (I just Googled it, and saw that the original held there was destroyed in a fire in 1958!)       

Serves 8-10:

ingredients:

For the cake:

175g./6 oz white or caster sugar

zest of 1 lemon

2 fresh bay leaves

225g./8 oz plain yoghurt

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla paste

125g./4.5 oz butter, melted and cooled

225g./8 oz plain flour

1.5 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp bicarb soda (baking soda)

For the Syrup:

juice of 2 lemons

150g./5.3 oz sugar

2 bay leaves

For the glaze:

60g./2.2 oz icing sugar

2 Tbs lemon juice

1-2 dsp (dessertspoon=2 tsp) lime juice 

1 tsp lime zest

1 tsp lemon zest

Method:

Whack on your oven to 170C/340F to heat up

And butter up your 23cm (9 inch) x 13cm (5 inch) loaf tin, then line with baking paper

Whizz up the sugar, lemon zest and bay leaves in your blender; if no blender, you will have to use brute force (in a mortar and pestle maybe?) :=)  (though Julia suggests with your fingers!!)

Take out any bits of bay leaves that are still lurking, and not broken down well

Tip this sugary mixture into a medium bowl, and add the yoghurt, eggs, vanilla and melted butter

Give it a darn good stir till well-mixed and smooth

And put the flour, baking powder and bi-carb into another bowl and whisk well

Pour the wet ingredients over the dry, and mix together well

Spoon/pour the batter into your prepared loaf tin, and bake for 45-50 minutes till it bounces back when pressed lightly in the centre

Let it cool on a wire rack in the loaf tin, while you:

Make the syrup, by adding the ingredients to a small saucepan, and heat over a medium flame/burner, while you stir the sugar till it's dissolved

Bring to the boil, and simmer for about 4 minutes till the syrup is a wee bit thicker, and clear

Take out the bay leaves, pour the syrup over the warm cake, and let it all get right cool

Now you're going to make the glaze, my dears, by:

Putting the icing sugar in a small bowl, adding the lemon juice and lime juice, and mix till smooth - this will be runny, not thick - then stir in the 2 zests

Drizzle/pour the glaze over the cake when it's as cold as a snowman's nose (nah, just cooled right down)

You can add some lemon or lime zest over the glaze, if you feel inclined  see Notes 

Store the cake in an airtight container for a few days, if you don't eat it all at once!

Notes:

Julia suggests making candied lemon slices to decorate, but ... nah, buy some I reckon:=) or use more zest on top

ingredients gathered

blitz the sugary, herby stuff

whisk the dry

smooth and eggy

stir it all together

beautifully golden-brown on top

make the syrup

simmer away

pour the warm syrup over the warm cake

I added the glaze over it - really!  It just went all runny and funny!

For some reason, the glaze just disappeared into the cake.  Not sure why - maybe too much juice, and not enough icing sugar once I added the extra juice and the zests.  Anyway, still tasted great.

 

c. Sherry M.

Grilled Peach Salad With Burrata And Green Peppercorns

Happy New Year, folks!  Hope your festive season was fabulous.  Ours was! :=)  So, just to make life even more fun in 2025, I have joined another online Cookbook Club.  I chose a recipe from Salad for Days by Alice Zaslavsky.  Here in sunny Queensland, stone fruit only grows in very limited areas (if at all), so it has to be sent up from down south.  And of course, that means they send it when it's hard as a rock. 

Alice's recipe using grilled peaches means that they are softened and caramelised, adding a wonderful flavour to this fruity, herby salad.  We ate it with leftover homemade fish cakes, and a small, chickpea salad.  All very delicious, and good for you.  

Is it sacrilege to confess that neither myself nor Mr P. had ever eaten burrata before?  And to be honest, we are both very happy not to eat one again.  I mean, it was fine, but nothing amazing.  I am not a cheese eater anyway, and the weird skin on the burrata was a wee bit offputting to me, and to Mr P.  Oh well, you have to try everything in life ... even chicken hearts, or tripe or pasta with tomatoes.  IYKYK!

Serves 4-6:

ingredients:

6-8 firm ripe peaches   see Notes

1 Tbs EV olive oil, for the grilling

Green Peppercorn Vinaigrette:

1 garlic clove, peeled and smashed a wee bit  (Mr P. banged it with his fist)

1 tsp green (or pink) peppercorns

2 tsp white wine vinegar

1 tsp honey

1 tsp mustard (I used wholegrain but Alice says Dijon)

1/4 tsp sea salt flakes

a few grinds of black pepper

1-2 dessertspoons EV olive oil (optional)

Final bits & bobs, (says Alice):

2-3 burrata balls, drained (weighing about 120g./4 oz each)  see Notes

1/4 cup mint leaves, chopped or torn (or leave whole, à la Alice)

2 Tbs chives, snipped or chopped finely

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

a good splash of EV olive oil over the whole shebang

Method:

Slice the peaches in half (down the seam), then rip out the stone

Brush each half with a wee bit of the olive oil, then place the fruit cut-side down on your nonstick grill pan - over medium heat - and let 'em sit and caramelise for 5-10 minutes (Mr P. did the grilling, and he said 10 minutes)

Turn them over, and allow them to warm briefly on the other side

Now on to the vinaigrette: put all the ingredients into a small bowl, and whisk away till well-mixed (yes, this is a tiny amount of dressing, but it does the job).  I added olive oil to it (Alice doesn't), to help it emulsify

Place your grilled fruit halves - sunny-side up - on a nice platter, then plop on the burrata, spoon the dressing over sans garlic clove, and scatter over the herbs, salt and pepper, and a big splash of EV olive oil

Notes:

I halved Alice's recipe for myself and Mr P., but I have given her quantities here for the full recipe

I bought the peaches when rock-hard, placed them in a brown paper bag for a couple of days to let them soften up a bit, then grilled them (after microwaving for 30-60 seconds)

Alice says to put alfoil and baking paper on the pan when you grill the fruit, but I didn't bother, and it was fine

Use nectarines instead of peaches, if you fancy

I didn't buy enough burrata, so I added some buffalo bocconcini too

ingredients gathered

split and de-stone the fruity halves

whisk up the vinaigrette

caramelised peaches!  Thanks Mr P.

throw on the herbs, after the EVOO goes on

I added a chickpea salad too

and a leftover homemade fish cake

c. Sherry M.

In My Kitchen - January 2025

Yay!  We did it; we survived Christmas!  And what a lovely day it was, with family and friends.  We had Christmas lunch with the family on the Broadwater, with a beautiful breeze blowing.  We had the nephew staying a couple of nights; we visited friends, and went out for lunch with a few more.  A fabulous time of it was had by all.

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas/festive break also.  I am wishing you the very best in 2025!  I am planning to do more writing of short stories, more drawing, and more of the good stuff :=)  I have had a tough couple of years health-wise, so I hope that is a past story now for me.  Onwards and upwards, dear friends.

the new Kangaroo Point pedestrian bridge over the Brisbane River

We took our visiting nephew here last week.  This bridge opened December 15, and in just 10 days, over 100,000+ people had been over it.  It is an aesthetically pleasing, and marvellous piece of engineering.  We plan to take all our guests here, so be warned :=)

In My Kitchen:

gorgeous ceramics from our friend Ms. Mandy (by Renee Jeffery Ceramics)

I got another freebie Smeg knife from Coles (supermarket)

I made my annual batch of mango chutney

and jaboticaba jam from our crazy, fruity tree

our Persian friends gave me this cute glass (love that gnome!)

I made chocolate Rice Bubbles truffles

Mr P. gave me this gorgeous fishy scoop, and a Japanese plate

I bought myself this fab Debra Hood Uni of Queensland (my alma mater) tea towel

the cuz sent me this one for Christmas! Luckily our next book for Cookbook Club!

mushie spoon from the niece, wee spoon and the small, wild oregano plate
from me to me

the annual garlic haul from Elmswood Farm

the curveball: a handpainted graffiti apple by Starr Art called A Million Dreams

c. Sherry M.

c. Sherry M.

Be a part of our friendly IMK community by adding your post here too - everybody welcome!  We'd love to have you visit.  Tell us about your kitchen (and kitchen garden) happenings over the past month.  Dishes you've cooked, preserves you've made, herbs and veg. in your garden, kitchen gadgets, and goings-on.  And one curveball is welcome - whatever you fancy; no need to be kitchen-related.  

The link is open from the first of the month to midnight on the thirteenth of the month, every month.

Options for adding your post to IMK:

1. Add via the Add Link button at the bottom of this post.  Instructions can be found on the sidebar of this page, under the Add your IMK link OR:

2. Comment on this post, providing a link to your post so I can add it manually to the list below OR:

3. Email me: sherrym1au@gmail.com, with your link or any queries about the link process, or if you would like it to be added after the 13th ('cos I'm happy to add it for you later)

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter