Day 4: When I cave in and buy a banana

The psychology of not being able to buy whatever you want is interesting. I am not starving or hungry. I have eaten rather well for the past few days on the $35 Challenge for Anti-Poverty Week. Last night for instance I feasted on a very nice baked potato with chicken meat (from two chicken wings from the freezer), salad and cheese. The other day I had scrambled eggs on toast for breakfast. I've been munching on crisp chilled apples as a snack.

But today I really wanted chocolate. Sugar. Anything bad for me. And that's when it happened. I used $1 of my precious funds to buy a banana.

Yes I know, that's ridiculous. I did say I wanted chocolate.

Now I have $2.30 going into the weekend.

Day 1 - Eating well

After a horrendously late night followed by an early morning exercise session I was pretty much ready to eat a horse. I had anticipated this would happen and had prepared myself the previous night. I cooked soup, made salad, baked chicken wings and prepped my brekkie. I felt pretty pleased with myself afterwards if I do say so myself.

Here's what I ate today:

Breakfast
Porridge with chopped dates and milk
(before that banana)
Snack
Orange

Lunch
Spicy Garlicky Chicken Wings
Vietnamese Salad

Dinner
Jamie Oliver's Storecupboard Soup


I made an enormous batch of my favourite salad at the moment. It's from the Zest cookbook. I've omitted a few ingredients like the chili and chopped peanuts as it's lovely and fresh as it is. I never really make the dressing that goes with it either as it doesn't need it.

Vietnamese Salad

Serves 6-8

2 cups finely shredded Chinese Cabbage
2  lebanese cucumbers (I used 1 telegraph cucumber instead with the seeds scooped out as it only cost $1)
1 small turnip
1 carrot
1 bunch mint, leaves picked
1 bunch chives, cut into 2 cm slices (I used parsley as they didn't have hcives at the markets)

Combine ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Distribute serves among plastic containers and pop in the fridge to use for the next 2-4 days.

Taking the $35 Challenge for poverty

“It looks like you’re going on a diet.”

“Hmm… this looks really, uhm, healthy…”

The comments about my food plan for the week have all been along the same lines. But no, I’m not going on a diet. I’m taking a challenge. The $35 Challenge. It’s a great initiative run during Anti-Poverty Week, 14-20 October, by food blogger Lauren Quinn from Corridor Kitchen to bring awareness to poverty. Basically for week I will be living on $5 a day.

Today I did the big shop, trying to stretch my dollars as far as they would go. Luckily I had to meet some friends near Paddy’s market so I stopped by for some fruit and veg and saved myself about $4 in total.

So what did I buy?

Veg:  $15.15
Pantry: $11.05
Meat: $5.45
Total: $31.70








More on what I'll be eating soon!

Lunchtime favourite

I love salads. They make a great dinner and an even better lunch. But growing up, salad as a main meal was only ever served in summer for lunch. I still remember how outraged my dad was one winter evening when I suggested we have tuna salad for dinner. "It's freezing outside, why would I want something cold for dinner"?  In a way he's right. There's nothing cosy about having chilled greens when the temperature outside is -40.

As the weather warms up here in Australia I'm making more salads again. This Tuna and Bean Salad from Petrea King is quick, fresh and healthy and there's enough for the lunchbox the next day.


Tuna and Bean salad
serves 2

150 g green beans trimmed and halved
1 cup cooked cannellini beans
1/4 Spanish red onion, chopped
10 cherry tomatoes, halved
8 kalamata olives
180 g can tuna, drained
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tsp dijon mustard

Blanch the green beans in a saucepan of boiling water and refresh in cold water. Combine with the canellini beans, onion, tomatoes and olives and place on 2 plates.

Break the tuna into flakes and place on top of the salad. Whisk together the oil, vinegar and mustard and drizzle over the salad.

The Birthday Cake

Mr N is partial to anything with chocolate, and particularly Black Forest Cake. For his birthday this year I attempted (again) to bake him "the ultimate chocolate and cherry cake". It's been a six year process, but I think I might have finally cracked it.

This Dark Chocolate Cherry cake is stunning. Yummy, densely chocolately and with a hint of cherries. It tastes even better the next day. I couldn't find any fresh cherries so I decorated with white choc dipped strawberries which I think worked really well. If there's one criticism... I might cut back on the cinnamon next time as it was a bit too strong. And the base is very delicate. I cut the bottom layer too thin meaning breakage. That said, nothing a bit of ganache won't fix!




Recipe from Swedish cooking magazine Allt om Mat:



Dark Chocolate Cake with Cherries

175 g butter, softened
300 ml sugar
4 eggs
200 ml full fat milk
200 ml plain flour
100 ml cocoa powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla sugar

Chocolate filling
400 g dark chocolate (70%)
250 g butter
100 ml icing sugar
200 ml cherry jam

Method:

1. Turn the oven to 175 degrees. Using a 24 cm springform attach baking paper to bottom, butter sides.

2. Beat sugar and butter until fluffy. Separate eggs and put eggwhites in separate bowl. Add egg yolks one at a time to butter and sugar mixtures and then milk. In a separate bowl mix dry ingredients then add to batter.

3. Whip eggwhites until stiff peaks form. Fold carefully into batter.

4. Pour into prepared tin. Bake in lower part of oven for 50 minutes. Let cake cool in pan.


Filling:

1. Melt chocolate and butter in a saucepan. Sift icing sugar into mixture and stir until dissolved. Put aside 300 ml of filling to ice the cake. Let cool to room temperature.

2. Cut cake in three. Spread chocolate filling on one cake. Put second cake on top and spread with cherry jam. Put third cake on top and pour the preserved icing on top and onto sides.

3. Decorate with cherries or chocolate dipped strawberries.

4. Chill the cake for at least 30 minutes. Let it stand in room temperature for 15 minutes before serving. 

It's spring time let's Tosca

Looking through my photos just lately I seem to have been baking a lot. So maybe it's time I shared some recipes.

It's spring time in the southern hemisphere and this Swedish classic Tosca cake is lovely with a coffee in the sunshine.

This is a buttery sponge with a nutty caramel topping. What's not to like! I used a recipe from Swedish food magazine but doubled the topping as it was a bit on the stingy side.

To the recipe

Celebrating today

 
My lovely colleagues put on a beautiful morning tea for my birthday. Wasn't too bad after all being at work today. The Pavlova was absolutely delicious!

On Capital Hill

"Why the hell would you go to Canberra for a romantic weekend?"

Yes, my colleague does have a point. Why would you want to spend a cozy weekend in our nation's capital?  

Why not I say! Here are some of my top reasons:

- It's quiet.

- The air smells good.

- You can rent a segway. Wiiiii!

- There's hardly any traffic.

- There are lots of museums.

- They have Koko Black. I repeat they have Koko Black. End of discussion.

- You can actually spot a real Australian bird or two. And no offense to the imposter Sydneysider the Indian Myna bird, I saw a hawk, huge green parrots (Swift Parrots methinks), Cockatoos and Galah's. I haven´t seen that much colour since I left Perth, it was doing my head in!

- Oh, and I forgot to mention that the drive is straight down the highway from Sydney. Easy as.

Rhubarb and strawberry pancakes at Urban Food:



Hot chocolate at Koko Black:



Goodies from the Old Bus Depot undercover markets:

Classic Swedish Cinnamon Buns

It's the most popular and well known variety of Swedish baked goods, and I've been meaning to write about them for a while now. But whether I make these or not always depends on two things. Time... and fresh yeast. A few days ago I found myself with both so here goes. Lets talk about Cinnamon Buns.

You may have had some some kind of Australian sweet bun with icing (and more often than not sultanas). You've probably heard of or had American sticky cinnamon buns.
Swedish Cinnamon Buns my friends are none of these.They're no nonsense, soft sweet bread buns that have been filled with butter, sugar and cinnamon, often topped with pearl sugar. Of course you can use other fillings, but I´m talking the classic version here.

The buns are usually presented in scrolls, knots or vega style. Today I present you with the knotted version.

If you can't get your mitts on fresh yeast don't ask me how to subsitute it, because I really don't know.

Here's how you make them:

Classic Swedish Cinnamon Buns

Makes 48
130 g butter (salted or unsalted doesn't matter)
500 ml milk
50 g fresh yeast
1/2 - 1 tsp salt
100 ml sugar
2tsp cardamom seeds, ground in mortar and pestle
About 875 g plain flour

Fillling
100 g butter, softened
75 ml sugar
2 tbsp good quality strong cinnamon (cassia)

1. Melt butter in a saucepan on the stove. Add milk and warm  until luke warm (37 degrees). You'll know it's lukewarm if you dip your little finger into the mixture and it is the same temperature as your finger.

2. In a bowl crumble the yeast and add the milk and butter mixture. Stir until dissolved with a wooden spoon.

3. Add sugar, salt, cardamom and almost all of the flour. Add the flour bit by bit until the dough is plyable but not overworked. Save some flour for later.

4. Let the dough rest in the bowl under a clean towel (away from drafts and aircon) for 30 minutes until doubled in size. 

5. Turn the oven  (conventional) to 225-250 degrees celsius. Mix softened butter, cinnamon and sugar to a paste.

6. Sprinkle some of the flour on a clean table or baking table. Knead the dough very gently and then divide in 2.
  7. Using a rolling pin, lightly shape the dough into two 25x50 cm slabs.

8. Spread half the filling over one half of a slab and then repeat with the other slab.





9. Fold each slab together.



10. Cut your two slabs into into 2cm strips. Twist each strip.




11. Make  each strip into a knot and place on a large baking sheet covered with baking paper. Leave the buns to leaven under a clean cloth for 30 minutes.



12. Lightly whisk 1 egg and baste each bun with eggwash. Sprinkle pearl sugar on top of each bun.

13. Bake for 5-8 minutes in the middle of the oven.

14. Let cool under dry clean teatowels. Don't leave them out for too long!

15. Enjoy with a glass of milk. Best eaten within a day of making or freeze as soon as buns have cooled.

The case of the Cinnamon imposter

"Do you know the difference between Cinnamon and Cassia"?

The question from the shop assistant takes me a bit by surprise. It shakes me out of my reverie amongst the spice shelves at Herbies in Rozelle, the one stop shop for all things spicy.

"Eh... Yes", I mutter, wanting to add a droll "doh".

Of course I know the difference between Cassia and Cinnamon. I'm pretty sure Cassia is like a Cinnamon imposter. A fake, less fragrant stepsister of Cinnamon.

How wrong I am.

I soon find out that in Europe most Cinnamon sold is actually Cassia. In Sweden Mexican and Indian cinnamon is also common. It's no wonder it's confusing.

Swedish journo Lisa Förare Winbladh writes that there are about 50 cinnamon related species of trees in the world but only one true type cinnamon - Ceylon Cinnamon. Discovered by the Dutch in Sri Lanka it is very delicate and mild. I sniff it at Herbies and to me the fancy cinnamon is the one that smells like the imposter. Delicate indeed. More like barely smells like anything at all.

At Herbies they tell me that it's not really suitable for baking and can be ruined by cooking. I later find out it is best suited in desserts or perchance with an apple compote.

Lisa Förare Winbladh writes that what we actually know and love as Cinnamon is almost always the stronger, more robust Cassia or other cinnamon varieties.
Growing up in Sweden I have fond memories of this lovely spice. Sprinkled over rice porridge for Christmas, in gingerbread, cakes and last but not least the Swedish Classic Cinnamon Buns.

I leave Herbies with a bag of Bakers Cassia and some high quality Cardamom seeds. When I try the cinnamon out a bit later I conclude that it's some of the best "Cinnamon" aka Cassia I've ever used.

 If you're a fan of this subtle and comforting spice I highly recommend Lisa Förare Winblad's article about cinnamon and cassia . You can read it in Swedish on her blog.