Cookbook 194: The Margaret Fulton Cookbook

I’ve loved Margaret Fulton since I found some of her themed cookbooks cheap at a newsagent or book store when I was in year 12. I’ve cooked from her Indian, casserole, quick meals, and Italian cookbooks. It was a sad day in 2019 when she passed away at the grand age of 94, as she was the first of her kind of writers in Australia, encouraging Australians to move away from very average stodge food (meat and three veg) to more creative dishes. I’ve just finished reading The Getting of Garlic by John Newton which is a fascinating look into the history of post-colonised Australian food and it explains why my pallet is so very different to my parents, because Australians really started getting into food in the 70s when I was born. I do recommend this book, I will probably overshare with people I’m in person with in the next little while, because it is SO very interesting.

Anyway, not the topic of this post. Today I’m writing up The Margaret Fulton Cookbook, which I bought shortly after her death and already seems to be out of print (rude). It is important to remember for whom Margaret Fulton was writing this cookbook for, given it’s a 50th anniversary reprint done in 2018. The recipes are simpler food than I normally consume these days, but regardless of that fact, they are still good, solid recipes of tasty food. Overall I give this 3.5 stars out of 5.

Braised Lamb Shanks (serves 4 – 6)

Ingredients:

• 6 lamb shanks, French-trimmed
• plain flour seasoned with salt and pepper
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 garlic (the whole bulb), crushed
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 cup thickly sliced carrots
• 2 tomatoes, peeled, seeded and quartered
• 3/4 cup red wine
• 3/4 cup stock (use a meat stock)
• grated rind of 1 lemon
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh oregano

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Wipe the shanks with a damp cloth. Dredge with the seasoned flour. Heat the oil in a flame-proof casserole and brown the shanks a few at a time. Remove and set aside. Add the garlic, onion and carrot to the casserole and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, wine, stock, lemon rind and oregano and boil, stirring well for a few minutes. Return shanks to the casserole.
2. Cover and bake for 1.5 hours or until the meat is tender. If liked, thicken the gravy with a tablespoon of flour blended with 2 tablespoons of water, adding this a little at a time. The lamb should be very tender and almost falling from the bone. Serve with steamed rice or mashed potatoes.

Notes on this recipe:

• The lamb shanks were tender and delicious. I tend to skip peeling tomatoes because I don’t see the point.

Braised broccoli Romana (serves 6)

Ingredients:

• 1 kg broccoli
• 4 tbsp oil
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1.5 cups dry white wine
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method:

1. Remove the tough outer leaves of the broccoli and then cut off the stalks, about 5cm below the heads. Peel the stalks, cut any thick stalks in half lengthwise, or, if they are very thick, quarter them.
2. Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a moderate heat, add the garlic and cook until the garlic begins to colour.
3. Add 1 cup of the wine and the broccoli stalks, season with a little salt and pepper, cover the pan and simmer for 5 minutes. Lay the heads of broccoli on top of the stalks, season again with a little salt and pepper, and cook uncovered for about 8 minutes longer, or until the stalks and the heads are tender. If too much wine evaporates, add a little more as it cooks, but 5 minutes before the broccoli is tender, raise the heat slightly and allow the wine to reduce to about 1/2 a cup. Arrange the broccoli on a hot serving dish and pour the liquid in the pan over it.

Notes on this recipe:

• I remain fussy about broccoli and this was too steamed/boiled broccoli for me to enjoy. But that’s just me. If you LOVE broccoli, then give this dish a try.
• You could definitely add some more herbs and spices to make this dish a bit more interesting, such as chilli, sesame oil, etc

Mushrooms in cream (serves 4 – 6)

Ingredients:

• 500g firm button mushrooms
• 30g butter
• 1/3 cup cream
• salt and freshly ground pepper
• 2 – 3 tbsp finely chopped herbs such as parsley, chervil or chives

Method:

1. Wipe or wash any soil off the mushrooms
2. Heat the butter in a heavy-based frying pan and sauté the mushrooms gently for 10 minutes or so.
3. Stir in the cream and simmer gently for several minutes to form a sauce. Season with the salt and pepper, then add the herbs

Notes on this recipe:

• Too mushroomy for me, but Nigel enjoyed them.
• I’d probably add garlic to the butter as well, because apparently mushrooms and garlic go well together

Scalloped Potatoes (serves 6)

Ingredients:

• 1 kg potatoes
• 1 clove garlic, halved
• 1 cup of milk (or half cream, half milk)
• grated nutmeg
• salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1/2 cup grated Gruyere cheese
• 60 – 90g butter

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Peel the potatoes and slice thinly.
2. Rub a shallow oven-proof dish with the cut clove of garlic, then butter dish generously.
3. Arrange the potato slices in layers in dish. Scald the milk and add the nutmeg, salt and pepper, to taste. Pour over the potatoes in the dish.
4. Sprinkle with the cheese and dot with the butter. Bake for 50 – 60 minutes until the potatoes are tender and golden. If potatoes seem to be browning too quickly, cover loosely with foil for 30 minutes of the cooking time.
5. Serve in the dish.

Notes on this recipe:

• Deliciously tasty as scalloped potatoes always are
• Personally I like more garlic and I’d probably include more than a hint when making this dish again.

Banana cake

Ingredients:

• 125g butter
• 3/4 cup caster sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 egg
• 2 ripe bananas
• 1.5 cups self raising flour
• 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/4 cup milk
• icing sugar to dust

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease a 23cm fluted ring tin or a deep 20cm cake tin.
2. Cream the butter and then beat in the sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg.
3. Mash the bananas and add to the creamed mixture. Fold in the sifted flour.
4. Dissolve the soda in the milk, and then stir into the mixture gently but thoroughly.
5. Turn the mixture into the tin and bake for 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
6. Serve with a light dusting of icing sugar and, if liked, a little whipped cream.

Notes on this recipe:

• A really nice and simple banana cake