Spring 2007 Issue 15
Email: prdeakin@optusnet.com.au
Welcome to Roslyn Deakin’s cookbooks on fruit and vegetables.
I have a range of recipe books, which include
Apricot, Dried Apricots, Beetroot, Blackberry, Blueberry book 1, Blueberry book 2, Blueberry book 3, Boysenberry, Broad bean, Broccoli, Brussel sprouts, Cantaloupe, Cauliflower, Cherry, Choko, Eggplant, Fig, Grapefruit, Green Tomato, Kumquat, Lemons, Loganberry, Mandarin, Mulberry, Nectarines, Olive, Orange 1, Orange 2, Passionfruit, Peach, Plum, Pumpkin, Quince, Raspberry, Rhubarb, Silverbeet, Strawberries Book 1, Sweet Potato, Rhubarb, Tomato Book 1, Tomato Book 2, and Zucchini.
All my books are designed to be interesting with wide range of variety with recipes from all over the world from soups, main meals, cakes and preserves.
Updates
I have completed the boysenberry, blackberry, loganberry, raspberry and mulberry recipe book.
What’s in season!!!!!
Fruits
Kumquat, lemon, mandarin, orange, strawberry, and raspberry.
Vegetables
Broad beans, Broccoli, cauliflower, silverbeet, pumpkin and tomato.
Books of the Season
Broad beans
Broad Beans are also known as fava or faba beans. In U.S.A. they are called Windsor beans. Broad beans are the oldest of all our beans, dating back to stone age times. Mystical beliefs were that broad beans, when offered in marriage ensured the birth of a baby son. They are full of phosphorous, vitamin A and C and is notably rich in protein. They are used extensively in Middle Eastern dishes. In Italy the raw beans are served with a piece of Pecorino cheese and in Greece they are also traditionally eaten raw, washed down with some intoxicating ouzo.
Strawberry
Strawberries should be eaten as soon as possible. Do not wash until you are ready to consume them. If you must store strawberries, place them on a paper towel in a tightly-covered container in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days. They may also be frozen whole or in pieces. To freeze, wash and hull, sprinkle with 1/3 cup sugar, and toss gently with your hands. Place in freezer containers or zip-top bags. Use within 1 year.
Select bright red berries with their caps intact. Smaller berries are usually more sweet and flavourful. Avoid soft, mouldy and/or shrivelled berries.
Strawberries are one of the few sources, along with grapes and cherries, of ellagic acid, a compound which has been shown to prevent carcinogens from turning healthy cells into cancerous ones.
Home cooking tips and hints
* Store berries in the refrigerator without washing them. Wash and hull just before serving.
* To keep cauliflower white while cooking -
add a little milk to the water.
* Buy mushrooms before they "open." When stems and caps are attached snugly, mushrooms are truly fresh.
* It's important to let a roast -- beef, pork, lamb or poultry -- sit a little while before carving. That allows the juices to retreat back into the meat. If you carve a roast too soon, much of its goodness will spill out onto the carving board.
* Microwave a lemon for 15 seconds and double the juice you get before squeezing.
* A dampened paper towel or terry cloth brushed downward on a cob of corn will remove every strand of corn silk.
* Fresh eggs' shells are rough and chalky; old eggs are smooth and shiny.
* Noodles, spaghetti and other
starches won't boil over if you rub the inside of the
pot with vegetable oil.
Special Offers
* Our special in Spring is 4 books for the price of 3 offer.
* For the month of September, October and November the Broad Bean and the Strawberry books will be $15.00.
* Order a Kumquat Broad Bean and the Strawberry book by 30th November 2007 and go into a draw for a free copy of the Raspberry recipe book (results will appear in the Summer newsletter).
Web page
Don’t forget to check out my specials, BLOG and information on my books from my web page
Recipes of the Month
BERRY DIPS
300 mls cream, 1 tblspn orange peel grated, ½ cup strawberries;
crushed, 250 grams strawberry low fat yoghurt
For Dipping: fresh strawberries or peaches sliced, melon
sliced, pound cake cubed Mix half of cream and orange
peel in small bowl. Mix remaining cream, strawberries (½ cup crushed
strawberries) and yogurt in separate bowl. Dip mixture with whole strawberries,
peaches, melon slices and pound cake cubes into mixtures. Makes 5¼ cups Store
leftover dip in refrigerator
SUMMER PUDDING
six 1 cm thick slices French bread (each
about 15 x 10 cms), 1½ cups hulled strawberries (about 185 grams), 1½ cups
frozen unsweetened raspberries, unthawed, 1½ cups frozen unsweetened
blueberries, unthawed, 1½ cups frozen unsweetened blackberries, unthawed, ½ cup
castor sugar, ¼ cup cranberry juice cocktail, lightly sweetened whipped cream
Preheat oven to 200c. Place bread slices on baking sheet. Bake bread until
slightly dry and firm, about 8 minutes. Trim crusts and discard. Arrange enough
bread slices over bottom and up sides of 6-6½ cup bowl or pudding mould to line
completely; trim overhang and reserve. Combine strawberries, raspberries, blueberries,
blackberries, castor sugar and cranberry juice cocktail in heavy large
saucepan. Stir over low heat just until frozen berries thaw and sugar
dissolves, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Ladle warm fruit and juices into
bread-lines bowl. Cover fruit with reserved bread trimmings. Place small plate
atop pudding; weigh down plate with cans or weights. Refrigerate overnight.
Remove weights and plate. Invert pudding onto platter. Cut into wedges and
serve with sweetened whipped cream. Serves 6.
STRAWBERRY SAUCE Microwave 750 grams strawberries, washed and hulled, 1½ cups castor sugar, 1 tspn lemon juice Place strawberries in a medium-sized, heat-resistant, non-metallic bowl. Pour castor sugar on top and stir to mix thoroughly. Heat, uncovered, in microwave oven 5 minutes. Stir. Heat, uncovered, an additional 5 minutes in microwave oven. Add lemon juice and stir to mix thoroughly. Cool before serving. Makes 2 ½ cups.
BROAD BEAN SOUP
120 grams onions chopped, salt, ground pepper, 60 grams butter, ¼ tspn sugar, 250 grams broad beans shelled, 60 mls cream, ½ tspn sage or ½ tspn savory or ½ tspn parsley chopped, 1 litre water
Fry onions in butter in a saucepan without browning until soft. Add the broad beans together with the water and bring to the boil. Add the savory, sage or parsley, season with salt, sugar and pepper. When the broad beans are cooked take out a tablespoonful of so refresh under cold water, skin and reserve them. Puree the soup in a blender. Reheat to simmering point, stir in cream, correct the seasoning and add the reserving broad beans. Serve hot with freshly cooked croutons.
BROAD BEANS - GERMAN STYLE (Germany)
1 kg fresh broad beans, 1 chicken stock cube, 50 grams streaky bacon, diced, 2 onions, chopped, 3 tblspns plain flour, 1 tblspn parsley, chopped, salt, pepper, pinch of grated nutmeg, 250 ml single cream
Shell the broad beans and cook them in boiling, salted water until tender. Reserve 250 mls of the cooking liquor, topping up with extra water if necessary. Dissolve the stock cube in it. Fry the bacon and onion gently together in a saucepan for about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the flour. Gradually stir in the stock. Return pan to the heat and cook gently for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly until sauce thickens. Remove from heat and season to taste with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Stir in broad beans and cream and heat gently for 5 minutes more, stirring. Serve garnished with chopped parsley. Serves 4
BROAD BEAN and CAPSICUM SALAD
450 grams broad beans shelled, 1 red capsicum chopped, 4 spring onions chopped,
Dressing: 2 tblspns lemon juice, 6 tblspns vegetable oil, ¼ tspn dry mustard, ¼ tspn sugar, salt and pepper
Blanch broad beans in salted water for 5 minutes. Drain and plunge into cold water, then drain again. Put broad beans into salad bowl with the capsicum and spring onions. Place the dressing ingredient s in a jar and toss until well blended. Pour over the salad and toss until the vegetables are evenly coated. Chill for 1-2 hours or overnight. Serve with cold chicken or pork.
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