nutty pumpkin salad

i love this salad. the original came from the austalian womens' weekly's great barbeque cookbook, but as with so many things, i can't leave them well enough alone.

1 kilogram pumpkin, cubed (i like jap/kent pumpkins best)
2 bacon rashers, chopped
3/4 cup pepitas
1 apple, chopped
3 green onions, chopped
1 stick celery, chopped
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 tablespoons sour cream
1/2 teasoopn ground nutmeg

microwave the pumpkin until just tender. cool.
cook bacon until crisp. drain and cool.
gently combine the pumpkin, apple, celery, mayonnaise, sour cream and nutmeg together. place in serving bowl and sprinkle the pepitas and bacon over before serving.

my gluten free yummy thing

originally, my intention was to make a salad, along the lines of a waldorf salad....

juice of one orange
rind of one orange
30 mls rice bran oil

blitz together on speed 10 until emulsified.

throw the following into the thermomix bowl

1 apple, cored and quartered
200 grams red seedles grapes
1 tablespoon sunflower seeds
1/3 cup pistachio nuts

and i blitzed on speed 7.....for just a bit too long (like 3 seconds) and i ended up with something that looked somewhat like bircher muesli, but gluten free.... i wondered what i was going to do...use it as a dressing for a still to be made salad? no...i ate it instead as it was, and it was very nice.......

apple pie

i've been making apple pie like this ever since i was in high school. it's not the traditional looking pie we are accustomed to with a crust on the bottom and top. it starts life with a crust on top with when cooked forms the base, much like a tarte tatin. i don't call it tarte tatin because i don't think it is a tarte tatin, not authentically, anyway.

1 cup plain flour
a pinch of salt
60 grams butter
1/8 cup sugar
1 egg yolk

2 quantities cooked apples

place the flour, salt, butter, sugar and yolk in a medium sized bowl and use a hand mixer to combine together to form a soft dough (if you like, you can use a food processor).
wrap the dough and place it in the fridge for 1/2 an hour.
preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius.
place the apples in a 20 centimetre oven safe dish.
roll out the pastry to fit over the apples and tuck the edges of the pastry.
place the apple pie into the oven and bake for 25 minutes or until golden.
once golden, remove from the oven and set aside for 10 minutes.
place a dish larger than the pie dish over the pie dish and invert.
serve with cream and/or icecream

apple crumble

i like my crumble quite plain, not oaty, not coconutty, not nutty ....... i like it made just with flour, brown sugar and butter. and i like lots of it and lumpy. very often, i've seen it dry and not at all generous. if you're going to have crumble, have it.

160 grams butter
1 cup plain flour
3/4 cups brown sugar

a quantity cooked apples

preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius.
for the crumble, place the butter, flour and sugar in a medium sized basin and use a hand mixer to combine them (you could use your fingers to rub the butter throught the flour, but i don't like to dirty my hands).
place the cooked apples in an oven safe dish and sprinkle the crumble mixture on top.
bake the apple crumble in the oven for 20 minutes or until golden.
serve with cream and/or icecream.

cooked apples

wenty got carried away on saturday when he went shopping with mingay and paul at flemington markets. their mission was to buy some lobsters for lunch but wenty obviously couldn't resist all the cases of fruits and vegetables around him. after several exchanges on the phone, he not only came home with 10 lobsters, but also figs, apples, pears, sweetcorn, and limes. the limes were beautiful, the pears were nice and firm, but the apples needed attending to ....... immediately.
whenever there's a glut of anything, the temptation is often to make jam and preserves so we can enjoy the bounty through the year. however, i decided that i should cook the apples and go from there.
i realise that there are different apples out there which are better for some things than others, but very often, when i make cook apples, i never worry about the apples i use as the apples i use tend to be past their prime. this has never posed any problems as we just love the apples cooked this way.

1 kilogram apples, peeled, cored and cut into wedges
1/4 cup sugar
30 grams butter

place the apples, sugar and butter into a frypan over medium heat. the butter will melt, the sugar will dissolve and the apples will release their juices.
increase the heat and stir the apples around so the apples don't catch.
continue cooking until the apples are cooked to your liking; we like the apples soft, but still retaining their shape, with most of the liquid evaporated.
at this stage, the apples can be eaten as they are, made into a pie, made into a crumble, eaten with icecream, used as an accompaniment....getting the drift?

apple and sultana scrolls

these are essentially a glorified scone, with yummy things rolled inside and drizzled on top to make them interesting. and irresistable. feel free to vary the filling and icing - think chocolate chips instead of sultanas....caramel icing instead of chocolate icing.....berries instead of apples....get the drift?
the first time i made these scrolls was in august 2004, just before i went to pick miss c and miss k up from school. the weather hadn't quite warmed up and the air was still a little nippy in the afternoon. they were just out of the oven and i made lots of chocolate icing to drizzle over them. to be really honest, the temptation is to drizzle them with chocolate icing the minute they come out of the oven. however, if you let them cool a bit before pouring the icing over, the icing will look better, so it will depend on whether you want them to look more aesthetically pleasing, or whether you want them super gooey and sticky. your call.
try not to overhandle the dough - once it is just mixed, go onto the next step of gently rolling it; there is no need to knead the dough. just think of it as toughening the dough each time you knead. this is a scone dough, remember?

2 cups self-raising flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp mixed spice
60g butter
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup sultanas
extra flour, for dusting
1 large granny smith apple, peeled, cored, finely diced

chocolate icing
1/2 cup icing sugar
2 tbs cocoa powder
3 tbs milk

preheat oven to 200°C. line a baking tray with baking paper.
place flour, sugar and mixed spice in a large bowl.
melt the butter and combine it with the milk.
make a well in the centre of the flour and add the milk mixture. use a round-bladed knife in a cutting motion to mix until evenly incorporated and the mixture just comes together. turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently use a lightly floured rolling pin to roll out dough into a 25 x 30cm rectangle.
sprinkle with apple and sultanas. starting from the long side, firmly roll dough into a log. cut the log into twelve 2cm thick slices. arrange scrolls cut-side up, side by side on prepared tray.
bake in oven for 30 minutes or until golden and cooked through.
remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack.
set aside for 10 minutes to cool.
meanwhile, make the chocolate icing; combine the icing sugar and cocoa powder in a small bowl. add the milk and stir until combined and smooth.
drizzle scrolls with chocolate icing and serve.