Ode to Autumn

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness!
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;
To bend with apples the mossed cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o'erbrimmed their clammy cells.
[1st verse, Ode to Autumn, John Keats]

There's nothing like Keats' lovely tribute to ease my passing of the season mourning.
I'm holding on so tightly to the last leaves that cling to our big old Manchurian pear tree. I've told myself that when they are all gone I must embrace winter. I figure I have about a week left (unless I get so desperate I super glue a few leaves to a branch...
The littles have been paying their respect to the lovely colours of the season with a bit of leaf frolicking.

And we've also been bringing the colours inside the kitchen and our tummies through some sweet and salty and seriously delicious pistachio biscuits.



See you next year friend.

White Chocolate and Pistachio Biscuits
Nigella Lawson :: How to be a Domestic Goddess
100g soft unsalted butter
125g caster sugar
100g brown sugar
1 tspn vanilla extract
1 egg
150g plain flour
1 tspn bicarb
100g ground pistachios
125g whole pistachios
125g white chocolate
Preheat oven to 180°C. Cream butter and sugars. Add vanilla, then egg, then flour and bicarb. When you have a smooth, thick dough add the nuts and chocolate and mix to combine. Roll walnut-sized balls and place on greased and lined baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Leave on baking sheet to firm for a few minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Autumn recipe list

It's hard to believe we'll be doing this again very soon!

Phew! I’m done collating my recipes for the new season — 28 all up. I figured a few spare nights a month should be left for eating out, eating at friends’ places or a leftover night. I’ve tried to stay in season with produce (I’m still learning in this area). As we’ve recently moved here I’m sure next year will be more successful as I get to know what’s best around here during Autumn. I’ve also tried to mix it up as much as I can while respecting the palates of family members. It feels great to know that a whole season is sorted (although I will allow for some recipes to be omitted if the family is really persistent — even though I have banned the word “yuck” at the dinner table my kids still let me know in no uncertain terms it if they don’t like something). My main sources were:









I give you THE LIST:
Pizzas (Hawaiian Small Fry & Margarita Mama & Papa)
Vegetable Soup
Pork Cutlets with Apple Sauce
Spicy Chicken Meatballs
Lamb Cutlets with Beetroot Salad
Lemon Chicken
Spaghetti with Garlic Oil & Herbs
Bow Tie Creamy Pasta
Battered Flathead with Sweet Potato Fries
Vongoli Linguine
Aleppo Chicken
Pumpkin Soup
Gruyere, Leek & Bacon Tart
Pork Noodle Salad
Minestrone
Tuna Patties with Green Bean & Lentil Salad
Sang Choy Bow
Chicken & Leek Pie
Peas with Crunchy Bacon
Pork Dumplings
Chicken Nuggets and Wedges
Gnocchi with Mushrooms
Pan Fried Veal
Chicken & Basil Stir-Fry
Steamed Salmon on Potato & Leek
Pork Sausages with Le Courge au Gratin
Roast Chicken
Brown Rice Pilaf

I’ll make weekly menus from the list and shop the meat and non-perishables monthly. Fresh produce will be a weekly shop. If we invite guests over I’ll go with whatever is scheduled and just get extra for the recipe in the weekly shop. I like to put my list on the fridge each week so that I can see what I need to get out of the freezer each morning.

Week One :: Autumn cooking
I’ll list my weekly menu each Monday and some of the recipes. I think it’s a bit cheeky for me to list all the recipes out of cookbooks so I’ll just be listing my “own” recipes (that is, ones I have adapted, received from friends or made up) and anything from magazines. I may list the odd one from a cookbook, I figure that's just promotion for their book, right? All my recipes serve two adults and two kids. Here’s this week’s menu list:

Monday :: Pork Sausages with Le Courge au Gratin
I am not really a sausage fan but my kids love them. A new stall at our market carries free range pork sausages so we’re giving them a try. The Le Courge au Gratin recipe is a pumpkin mash of sorts with nutmeg and egg from Elizabeth David, Country Cooking.
Tuesday :: Gruyere, Leek & Bacon Tart
This recipe is from Women’s Weekly: The Complete Book of Modern Entertaining that my daughter gave to me (via Daddy) for my birthday. I haven’t done savoury tarts before so fingers crossed I can pull it off.
Wednesday :: Sang Choy Bow
Also from The Women’s Weekly Cookbook. I do love the Weekly cookbooks, all their recipes are tested A LOT (I know people who used to work for them) and I have yet to make one that doesn’t work. We’ve got lots of lettuce in our vegie patch at the moment so this one is an attempt to use some of it up in a way other than salad.
Thursday :: Steamed Salmon on Potato & Leek
Ingredients:
3 salmon fillets (about 200g each)
3 potatoes
1 leek
1 lemon
chives or dill
Make it:
Preheat oven to 180°C. Slice potatoes (about ½ a cm thick) and leek. Put 2 tablespoons butter and 1 of olive oil in a shallow baking tray and pop in the oven for a couple of minutes to melt the butter. Arrange potatoes on baking tray in a single layer and sprinkle with a little sea salt, cracked pepper and drizzle of olive oil. Bake in oven for approx15 minutes, then turn and bake for another 10 minutes. Meanwhile place your salmon fillets in a bamboo steamer with lid on and steam for approx 15 minutes over a saucepan of simmering water. Once salmon is on heat 1 tablespoon on butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a pan over medium/low heat. Put sliced leek in pan, sprinkle with sea salt and cracked pepper and allow to sauté for about 10 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes. You might like to add a little more butter as it is cooking. When everything is ready arrange a layer of potatoes topped with leeks on plates then pop your salmon fillets on top and squeeze some lemon over them and sprinkle with a little cracked pepper and chopped dill or chives.
Friday :: Pizza Night
For the dough (we use a recipe from an issue of Delicious a few years back, it makes enough for two large pizzas):
2 cups strong flour
1 tablespoon caster sugar
1 teaspoon salt
200ml warm water
1 tablespoon olive oil
7g sachet dry yeast
Sift flour into a large mixing bowl. Add yeast, sugar and salt. Make a well and add combined oil and water. Mix thoroughly and then turn sticky mixture out onto a floured surface and kneed for five minutes. Put ball of dough into a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a tea towel. Sit in a warm spot to rise for one hour. Dough should double in size. When ready, punch dough down with your fist and then split into two even balls. Place balls one at a time on a floured surface and sprinkle the top with flour and roll out for pizza base. Place bases on lightly floured pizza trays.
For the toppings:
Small (no more than 100g) jar of tomato passata or tomato paste
4 bocconcini balls
150g ham or bacon, chopped
12 pieces fresh or tinned pineapple
1 cup grated parmesan
2 egg tomatoes
12 basil leaves
8 anchovies
Spread each base with passata to approx. two centimetres from the edge.
Hawaiian Small Fry Pizza :: Slice two bocconcinis thinly and spread evenly on sauced base. Scatter with chopped ham or bacon and pineapple pieces. Sprinkle with half a cup of parmesan. Cook at 180°C for approx 12 minutes or until base is crisp and golden and toppings are cooked.
Margarita Mama & Papa Pizza :: Slice two bocconcini thinly and spread over sauced base. Slice egg tomatoes and scatter evenly on pizza. Place basil leaves on top. Finish with anchovies and half a cup of grated cheese. Cook at 180°C for approx 15 minutes.
Saturday :: Chicken Nuggets & Wedges
Ingredients:
500g chicken breast fillet
6 large potatoes
Make it:
Cut chicken fillet into strips (approx 5x2cm) and set aside. For crumbing you will need 3 bowls: 1 containing 1 cup of flour, 1 containing 2 eggs lightly whisked, 1 containing 2 cups bread crumbs. I don’t make my own bread crumbs, I buy them from a baker who makes organic breads and then add a bit of sea salt, ½ cup of finely grated parmesan and 2 tblspns of very finely chopped parsley. Now crumb each piece of chicken — lightly coat with flour, dip in egg and then roll in crumbs until thickly covered. Once it’s all crumbed cover and pop in the fridge.
Preheat your oven to 210°C. Scrub and chop potatoes into wedge like chunks. Put wedges into a saucepan of cold salted water and bring to the boil. Let them boil only a few minutes then drain and tip onto a tea towel and pat dry. Sprinkle with sea salt. In a deep baking tray heat 1 cup olive oil. Place potatoes into heated oil with tongs and return to oven for about 1 hour, turning once. Keep an eye on them, if they are browning up more quickly reduce cooking time. When done place on paper towel for a few minutes before plating up.
When wedges are about 20 minutes off being ready heat 2 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat and cook your nuggets for about 5 minutes on each side or until cooked through. You might need to add a bit more butter to the pan as you go. Serve with dipping sauces of choice (we go for sour cream and tomato sauce).
Sunday :: Lamb Cutlets with Beetroot Salad
Ingredients:
10 lamb cutlets
1 cup red wine
2 tblspns balsamic vinegar
1 crushed garlic clove
8 chopped mint leaves
To make:
Combine red wine, crushed garlic, chopped mint leaves, sea salt and some cracked pepper in a large bowl. Place lamb cutlets in marinade, cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge. Try and get this done at least 2 hours before you intend to cook.
Make the beetroot salad according to this recipe of mine (just multiply the ingredients by the amount of people you are feeding).
To cook the cutlets remove them from the marinade and place in a fry pan over medium heat. Cook for approx 10 minutes on one side, turn and give them 5 minutes on the other side. Serve with salad.

Don't forget the milk...

It may not be the most exciting of jobs but someone's gotta do it and more than likely the person who takes care of getting the fridge and pantry stocked in your home is YOU.
How often do you shop? Weekly? Fortnightly? Daily?
And what's your approach? Do you plan your meals or do you make from what's in the fridge?
The method I've gone with for the last few years is to plan a menu and do a fortnightly supermarket and meat shop and weekly fruit, veg and other fresh produce shop.
But I've recently decided to revise my shopping approach and shake it up. Yeah that's right, I live it on the edge.
When we moved to the country I thought I was restricted to two supermarkets and one rather over-priced (but to be fair good quality) fruit/veg/deli. Then I discovered our local farmers' markets brimming with gorgeous seasonal produce and my grocery shopping life changed (like I said — on. the. edge.)
It has really made me look at the way I structure meals, pay attention to produce provenance and cook with what's in season.
And so, because there's a shift in season coming I'm working on a menu plan that will see us through Autumn. I'm aiming for 25 main meal recipes (I promise to share) to use throughout the season and want to get the supermarket shop for staples down to once a month.
For lists of seasonal produce try here and here and check out and talk to local growers to get to know what is fresh and best in your area.
Whilst I consult my recipe books and get a kickin' Autumn menu plan in place here's a little gift for you — my grocery master lists for those who don't have one. I've listed EVERYTHING I use throughout the year so that I didn't have to keep writing new lists as I changed my menu (just click the links below and you can download the files). I like to keep them tacked up in my pantry so I can fill it in as things run out. Enjoy.
Grocery list
Fresh produce list
And if you have any Autumn recipes to share bring 'em on.