​​Marinated mushroom the easy way - of course! Plus a few Happy Hour tasties

All you need are mushrooms, herbs, garlic and oil. No cooking - hooray!

1. Slice a mixed heap of button, shitaki and swiss brown mushrooms - not too finely. Leave a few of the button mushies whole or in half, if small enough.
2. Pack into sterilised, sealable jars.
3. To each jar add a couple of whole garlic cloves (slice them if they are big), some sliced brown shallots, peppercorns, couple of bay leaves, a couple of thin slivers of chilli if liked, and a few sprigs of fresh dill. Add a few slivers of preserved lemon for extra picquancy.
4. Fill jars with a mixture of half light vegetable oil and olive oil (straight olive oil, even light, is too heavy for the delicate flavour of the mushrooms).
5. Seal and store in refrigerator for as long as you like.

*The quantity of mushrooms you use depends on how many jars you plan to make. Similarly, the quantity of each of the other ingredients per jar also depends on the size of the jars.

Lots of ways to eat these delicious, flavour-infused fungi fruit. Here's a few suggestions:
Add to smoked meats and cheeses for an antipasto platter.
Perfect Happy Hour nibbles with cheese or on their own.

While we're on the subject of Happy Hour nibbles - in sophisticated circles we would of course be referring to canapes and sherry, but here we are in caravan-land so ..... Happy Hour it is!
What delectable edibles can we rustle up in the caravan other than cheese and biscuits although there's a lot to be said for a good cheese and biscuit.
* How about some homemade dips? Humus or Broad bean (recipes later)
* Edamame with salt sprinkles
* If cheese is your thing how about serving parmesan with our marinated mushrooms or pickled/sushi ginger - absolutely delicious combination
* Thick sliced chorizo or cheese kranski zapped in the microwave for 30 sec. Bad for you I'm sure but yummy.

Unshelled green soy beans. I buy mine in Asian grocers

Obviously I'm hungry so I had better eat!

​Preserved lemons - the easy way
1. Wash and cut lemons in quarters or sixth, depending on size. Don't make the segments too small as they can go a bit mushy and can be hard to slice if you're just wanting slithers.
2. Pack them into sterilised jars (although if any microbe can live in the high salt concentration of this mixture then I'd be very surprised) but as I was saying .... pack them into jars pushing them down and squeezing the pieces just a little to burst some of those little jewels containing the juice, but without breaking the pieces.
3. Pack salt, more is better than less, into the centre of each piece, or layer if your jars are large, pop in a cinnamon stick a couple of bay leaves and cardamon pods then fill the jars with fresh squeezed lemon juice to cover the fruit (make sure the lemon juice makes its way right to the bottom).
4. Seal well with screw cap or lid and store upsidedown in the fridge for a few weeks. Make sure you wipe all salt off from around the top to ensure a good seal otherwise the salty juice will leak out around the lid (mine did anyway!).

There's not a lot you can do wrong with this recipe. Just have a go, but if you are a bit nervous try one lemon in a small jar. Remember to pack the jar to the top. I imagined that the salt would dissolve, but no, it was such a saturated solution the salt crystals remain in the jars to this day after almost a year.
If the fruit is too salty, you can always wash the salt off when you come to use the lemon.

My home-preserved, homegrown lemons (the whole fruit
is just a store-bought stand-in model!)
Note the amount of salt in the jar.

Handy travel tip: you can go through fruit fly check points and come through with lemons! I'm always looking for ways of travelling through those areas without depleting all my stores of fruit and vege.

There are so many way you can use preserved lemon. Here's a few of my experiments, but rest assured they are all, well most of them, road-tested on number 1 man!
* Steamed mussels and cockles with wine and garlic
* Stove-top chicken casserole/cassolette
* Salads - try adding to mixed greens, farro/rice, lentils, a smidgen of chilli and a touch of pickled ginger
* As a topper for baked/BBQ fish with sweet soy sauce or cajun spices (a bit like a blackened fish)

[For Cajun spice - for dry mix blend together salt, garlic powder, paprika, black pepper, cayenne/chilli, oregano, thyme. Store in airtight container. You can do a fresh version using minced garlic and fresh chilli instead of the powdered versions but dried herbs are best here. Be creative with your mix and use what you have to hand. the essentials are pepper, chilli and paprik.]

*Steamed salmon with sage, lemon grass and chilli.
*Add a little finely chopped and some juice to a small box of UHT cream to make sour cream for potato salad (tinned potatoes if you don't have fresh) and add some of those dried or frozen herbs you've packed! Quick n easy Heather style.

OK that did it, I'm going to have to go eat now!

Prep and invest!

Do a little harvesting of your own or take advantage of times of abundance.

Balcony harvest – eat the lot!

My little balcony garden - part of the side garden, we have another larger terrace
  at the front (the pots and garden beds are irrigated with a very home grown system).

You don't have to have a huge garden to produce at least some goodies for your table. I live in a high-rise in the heart of the city and have had great pleasure in harvesting from my wee garden. My mini orchard (citrus trees in big pots) has changed over the years from 3 varieties of citrus to currently one - a Meyer lemon. All have produced enough fruit to eat but also to make marmalade, put in brandy or preserve in salt. A few years ago we added a fig tree to a corner garden 'box'. Indeed! 5 floors up and that little gem - a Turkish Brown, produced enough fruit in a single season for a little feast as well as turning into jam. This year it was covered in fruit but we weren't there to harvest them. Not to worry the fruit will prime the ground for next season - I hope.
Also in large pots I have a range of herbs - Vietnamese and 'normal' mint, perennial basil (which is more of a mint than a basil), coriander, parsley, nasturtiums, rosemary, etc. All a muddled mixture and unbelievably fragrant.
It's easy enough to do. If I can do it, then anyone can. My garden is testament to Darwin's theory of 'survival of the fittest'. What works, works and what doesn't goes the way of all flesh.

Fig jam and preserved lemons from our trees. Tomato chutney from
our  neighbour's crop of tomatoes a few years ago.

So have a go and turn those potted easy-to-grow jewels into something delicious.

Nasturtiums from pot, basket or garden bed.
Lovely to pick posies for bedside or desk but try these.
* Add leaves & flowers to salads and sandwiches. Yes we all know about that but perhaps forget when the time is ripe!
* Collect and save some of the seeds for next year.
* Collect & preserve the seeds - Capres de capucine confit
Once they have flowered, gather the seeds while still green, place them in a bowl and cover with coarse salt. Leave overnight, then clean the 'fruit' thoroughly with a paper towel. Place them in jars, with peppercorns and some fine herbs (thyme and tarragon). Boil half white vinegar and half water plus a little sugar, to counteract the sharpness of the vinegar, and pour still boiling over the 'capers'. Close the jars immediately. Cure for at least a month - the taste improves with time. Voila - home preserved 'capers' without the capers! I learnt this from watching my father, a passionate gardener (sadly my sister got the green-thumb gene, not me).

Organic herbs all year
* Pesto of course from that basil, mint and or parsley. Add your own air-dried walnuts collected straight from the walnut grove NE Victoria are the best (or bought in season!), maybe add and pinenuts and evoo! It freezes well.
* Don’t let all your herbs go to seed, pick bunches and dry them anywhere there’s a bit of dry air flow. My kitchen (and at times our caravan) looks like a Chinese laundry sometimes! Then pack them in jars to use out of season or add a decorative cover and label and give them to friends. Home-grown organic herbs are a lovely gift to receive. Dry left over herbs from store-bought bunches too.
Many will freeze well whole. I have frozen sage, fresh bay leaves, lime leaves both Kaffir and Tahitian either whole or shredded. Other tasty condiments, do well in the freezer - see below.
* Let some of your herbs go to seed – collect the seeds and dry and crush, or add whole to oils or salt and pepper grinders.

Wild - opportunistic harvest
In so many countries, people have harvested wild greens from field and roadside. My Polish neighbour in Richmond went foraging along the lane ways and would boil up evil-looking concoctions. Not my cup of tea knowing who lurked in those lane ways but it is an age old tradition. That and picking wild fungi are great fun but if you plan to do it I recommend you take an expert with you or consult an expert to check them over (a wise old Greek or Italian, i.e., they have survive the practice!)

Roadside or field
Of course field mushrooms - do you remember going out after rain in autumn to gather mushies as kids? hated them then, love them now. But what about gathering hawthorn berries or rose hips. In Tassie, we gathered masses of rose hips and then dried them to make rose hip tea (I'm still working on 'perfecting' the process). Have a look at Robin Harford Eat Weeds ideas for wild harvest recipes (he has a recipe for Hawthorn Jelly). And other kinds of berries? Blackberries can be plentiful and provide a delicious snack or dessert, but be careful they haven't been sprayed.

Rose hips from country road sides. Bay leaves from Cockle Creek

While camping and Cockle Creek in Tassie earlier this year we found a big Bay tree along the beach which was one of the few things remaining from an early homestead in the area. With the ranger's blessing (because it's a 'weed') we gather bunches and hung them around the caravan to dry and then I pressed them between sheets of paper towel in a magazine under a seat. Reminds me of Gran pressing the hankies under the cushion on her chair.

A bountiful sea - or creek!

Take your shies off, wade in water and do the 'twist' like you
did ........ you'll feel the shells start to rise to the surface. 

Some of the remains of our banquet! Huge oysters from the rocks
at the mouth of Cockle Creek as well as mussels -  and
the cockle you know from whence ....! 

Cockles and mussels alive alive oh! Oh and oysters too! It's amazing how good these taste if you've collected them yourself. No tricks to it just pick them off the rocks or in the case of cockles just wriggle your feet in the sand on the edge of the water - like the sea birds do and they come to the surface.
Cook them on a hot plate over coals or BBQ or steam with chilli, garlic, lemon grass and ginger, add dash of wine (basically whatever picquant tid bits you have at hand and serve with crusty bread, rice or pasta. Delish!
The sea can yield up lots of goodies if you're game to try them out.

Simple way to cook prawns in the outdoors.
Cute fire place eh?!

A glut at the market
If we're talking about making the best use of food while it's fresh then look for the specials. Make sure you have a stock of tiny plastic bags or small plastic containers the kind you get sauce in with your take-away meals. or use iceblock trays to freeze juice or grated goodies.
*Bags of passion fruit - eat till you've had enough and then freeze the pulp or whole (whole is good because you can scoop out the spotted golden yummyness just like it was a fresh one.
*All citrus freeze well whole or in segments in their skins. Or juice and freeze in tiny plastic bags say half lemon. lime etc for ease of adding to recipes. Before you juice them though, make sure you collect the zest either with a zester or vegetable peeler. Invest in a little hand held zester and save your knuckles and fingernails from the grater, please it's worth it!
*Ginger - grate or slice or leave as whole chunks then freeze in plastic bags.
*Lemon grass - finely chop white part and freeze.
*Turmeric - often hard to get fresh but if you manage to find it, grate or slice any left over for future curries, rice, etc. it imparts a beautiful colour and flavour.

I am sure you can think of loads of other things you can do when there's an abundance. The list is endless and of course don't forget to turn excess into jam, chutneys, pickles. Try marinated mushrooms - absolutely delish!
Preserved lemon and marinated mushroom recipe next time.

Keep  your eyes open! One day I'll do a course on food photography as well as blog prettiness!

May 10, 2017 ​Let's get down to business!

As I was saying, being on the road is such a joyous thing with so much to ogle, but one always looks forward to the food (and wine) breaks - well we do anyway!
Food is never far from my mind, although that's not entirely true, but I do love to create something delish for the sheer pleasure of it and also because I require tasty food to sooth my inner beast.
So let's get down to the bones of the matter and get this conversation started. We're talking about food on the road, not haute cuisine, just simple, yummy stuff. We're all on the same page with that right!?
There's so much you can do if you have a huge larder, big fridge and freezer and a stove with oven, but if you don't have those things or limited/spasmodic access to fresh food - because you are living the life and travelling way away from the pack or you simply want to be completely off the grid, you can live very well on tinned or packet stuff with some extras tossed in to supplement. Mind you I am not advocating that you live like this always. This is just for 'those' times. And you need your fresh fruit and vege OK!? That's the health message over and done with.
I know lots of people prepare and dry meals and other food items prior to departure, but if you're not up to that or can't be bothered (I haven't gone that path - yet, still thinking about it), it's not a bad idea to do a little bit of preparation that will help you spice up simple 'tinned' food. It's all about pleasure!
I dry herbs from my balcony garden as well as leftovers from bunches bought at the supermarket. I preserve lemons and also make up little packets of spices and dried herbs to pack (you can buy great tiny plastic screw top jars from the $2 shop for those). They're unbreakable so are terrific for travelling particularly on rough roads.
Pack in some instant sauces - gravy, cheese sauce. Don't scoff we're talking about the easy life here. Add some onions and you are almost set. I pack small cans of mushrooms, capers, and capsicum too and I am sure you will think of other tasty condiments to add to your larder. Don't forget one or two sauces to spice things up. You can double these up - like using dry mustard or curry powder in say a Worcestershire sauce or simply in mayonnaise or a tiny box of UHT cream. I'll tell you some of my tricks later.
If you have a small fridge, terrific. Pack in cheese (Parmesan keeps well), minced garlic, definitely bacon, if you eat it. Also get a selection of semi dried herbs - parsley, chilli, ginger etc. And a little gem, not for the fridge of course! but a kitchen mate I have just acquired - a kitchen 'blow torch'. Well, that's what I call it. Plug it onto a butane gas cylinder and you can add an extra little je ne sais quoi to a whole lot of things. How about tinned asparagus with melted cheese topping. Of course it's not as good as the fresh stuff! I know that, but hey you're out there in the bush doing other magic things. Or should be!
If you have a large fridge and a good size freezer then you're made but without much challenge!
And don't forget to look for local food to supplement your larder. More on that another time.

Cockle Creek, Tasmania. My Man debearding mussels we collected
at the mouth of the creek. I scrubbed the cockles added a few humongous oyster
and we had a feast. We were completely unplugged - from the world that is!

Chat next time, maybe from Arnhem Land and hopefully with some more pix. Bon appetite!

Prologue - May 2017

Prologue - May 2017

It has been a wonderful and nostalgic journey recalling so many treasures from the past as a prologue to this blog - family traditions, favourite shared foods - things that link me to my past, to the warmth and safety of my family. Even if it is not immediately apparent (what do we remember from the past), much of it has involved food when I think back. Mealtimes and the like have always been an intricate part of that past and of family times. Occasions I remember so clearly are Christmases, Sunday afternoon visits to friends and relos with afternoon tea of course (remember the time when we had space for such things?), school holidays at Aunty's (she wasn't a great cook but she tried hard to please us), and so many more wonderful memories. Aren't we luck to have had so much?

Aunty Nell (she raised Mum) with me, baby brother Rob and big sister Ros (L-R)

Some of my earlier memories have improved with age as things often do - making ginger beer at Christmas (or was it just talk of that practice?) I do know that when the bottlo started up a little business at the end of Aunty's street in Caulfield, that's where we got our ginger beer, orange jelly and clotted cream again at Aunty's, the dark cool pantry at Mum's family home (Aunty's!) a place of unforgettable and evocative smells, the annual bottling fest at home with fruit hand-picked at orchards along the way home from summer holidays at Point Lonsdale as well as with tomatoes from Dad's garden, Dad's secret stash of tinned fruit (bought when 'on special' and stored in his huge shed) which mum had to swallow her pride to 'borrow' from - she pretty much adhered to a fresh whole food diet ..... until she needed something in a hurry.
Growing up, we kids ate very little fried food because of Dad's dicky tummy - ulcers. Poor darling. They were the bane of his every waking moment for decades. Mum was also rather a healthy food devotee and we dutifully followed suit - did we have a choice? For instance her soy bean fad in the 50s - hated them then, love them now. She made her own baked beans with soy beans and bought Soy bean bread which we loathed.
But she did a mean a la cart breakfast (for sensitive tummies mine and Dad's) - brain omelettes, meat or vegetable pancakes, scrambled eggs in little curled cups of dry-fried straz or Melba toast cups (we called it fairy bread made from day-old bread pressed in to cup-cake pans and baked in a very slow oven), porridge with brown sugar or honey, plus cream for dad - the oats in those days had to be soaked overnight! Summer brekkies were stewed fruit and milk, egg flip (to get our proteins and vitamins, love that woman!), no boxed cereal for us - except for the occassional wheatbix.
School sandwiches - milo!!! Heaven between bread and butter. I was a bit indulged because I wasn't keen on sangers - can you believe I would eat a quarter sandwich for lunch - oh how things change! apple, sugar and cinnamon, honey, beetroot. I have delicious images of the kitchen on school mornings - butter dish sitting over the kettle to soften the butter for sangers, breadcrusts acting as sponges to soak up the juice of tomato or beetroot so the bread didn't get soggy. What a sweetheart she was!
Picnics were always special. Mum would whip up egg and bacon pies at the last minute or would have made meat pies the night before. Yum! The occasional week night after Dad got home from work, we'd all pile into the car together with the famous 'Blue Picnic Box' (a fruit box painted blue - Mum's favourite colour in the 50-60s) and head for the lake, Lake Wendouree. Mum created yummy masterpieces straight out of that box - Dagwood sandwiches (remember those?) stuffed with cold roast lamb and every salad vegetable we would eat plus onion - a sandwich wasn't complete without a few slivers of onion. And the cake tin or biscuit jar always came along with Amy Johnson cake (named for the famous English aviator), shortbread, sponge, or chocolate cake - lots of goodies which were churned out on Friday bake-up days;  that happened in so many kitchens back then.
Saturday nights were easy nights - we didn't sit at the dining room table but ate something savoury out of ramekins in front of the fire. What a treat and we took turns (sometimes) to select the easy meal to have. My favourite was Chow Mein OMG do you remember those simple days? Such unsophisticated and rather limited palates we Aussie had back in those days.
As I got older, Mum talked about the ingredients for, and the process of making, brawn, but I don't recall her ever making it. But I do remember a jellied mystery concoction that Aunty made (it's on my list of things to attempt). Mum also spoke of the hard times during the war and what they did to make food interesting for example 'mock lobster' - silver beet stalks in a rich white sauce. sounds rather yummy!
Precious times and the memories are so vivid.
Not long ago after Mum died when I was going through some of her things, I found a diary with some jottings in it about her grandfather, Richard Hill. He was a baker and had shops at various times in Port Melbourne and St Kilda (still researching all that history), but a little gem popped out. He made fruit cake for the WWI soldiers and Percy (Mum's father) took it all down to the troop ships at Station Pier (Port Melbourne) on his bike. Not long after that, Percy enlisted! I have one of Richard's bakers recipe books still.
All these precious memories, glimpses into the past, saved recipes from mothers and grandmothers, fathers and grandfathers are an essential part of the precious chain that links us as families to the past, and hopefully the future.  All of us.

 Fun and laughter at the 2016 Family Christmas - just a third of  the family
(I always forget to get whole family shots).
NB: Pavlova with fruit topping, Pan Forte (made by Nath) and the mandatory experiment,
this year Humming Bird cake decorated with sugar bees by granddaughter Rebecca.

My little family is in the process of building new as well as continuing existing traditions. Our family's Christmas dinners always have the mandatory pavlova (my job) and now pan forte - it's a bit of a story but every little thing is important for the very reason that it is important, even if only to one member of the family - we are all building our treasure trove of precious memories. It all counts. And something my Mum always did at Christmas was to make shortbread to give as gifts, circles of pale rich buttery shortbread wrapped in cellophane; I try to follow her example, not necessarily with shortbread, but with something from my Kitchen - pan forte, chutneys, etc

Something for next Christmas? A Maggie recipe made hastily between
returning from our trip to Tassie and leaving for the Top End.
That's the time when quinces are ripe - what do you do but cook them up!

Food - don't you just love it!?