Apr 13

Cookbook 71: The Australian Heritage Cookbook

I bought The Australian Heritage Cookbook: A collection of recipes and memories from Australian kitchens by Joy Hayes second hand – possibly sight unseen from an online book store.  I was looking for books with certain types of Australian recipes – either Golden Syrup dumplings, or jams and chutneys with Australian available ingredients.  This book has neither, but is interesting – mostly for those who aren’t vegetarian.  The book is divided into two 100 year periods, the first and second centuries after English colonisation, with the first section looking at the recipes eaten by the first lot of settlers, and the second section looking at new foods introduced to Australia by new settlers.  There is very little discussion of the foods prepared and eaten by Australia’s Indigenous inhabitants, the book focuses far more on how long it took the English colonists to start subsisting off the land, and how difficult it was for them for the first few years, though it does snarkily suggest that the First Fleet arrivals were lacking in some smarts as they didn’t ask the traditional owners of the land how they survived day to day so healthily.

The recipes I selected to cook from this book were from the second half, because apparently we didn’t do vegetarian food in the first one hundred years of Australia, apart from bread – and even then we probably covered it in dripping.  The second half of the book is a little odd really, as in the recipe choices of food that “we all know and love” is sometimes food I’ve never heard of, and certainly never had while growing up here in Australia (have had as an adult to be clear).  Overall the recipes are well set out, relatively straight forward and resulted in very tasty food. I give this 3 out of 5 stars.

Jambalaya

Ingredients:

  • 1 x 425g can whole, peeled tomatoes, chopped, and their liquid.
  • Chicken stock or water
  • 3 tablespoons butter or oil
  • 1 large onion, finely chopped
  • 1 clove of garlic, crushed
  • 1 medium green capsicum, diced
  • 2 cups long grain rice
  • salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
  • 4 slices of cooked ham, diced
  • 250g prawns, peeled and de-veined
  • 2 breasts of cooked chicken, diced
  • Tabasco
  • Chopped parsley

Method:

  1. Measure the tomatoes and their liquid and add enough stock to make 3 cups.  Heat gently until boiling.
  2. Heat the butter or oil in a large pan, add the onion, garlic and capsicum and fry gently for 1 – 2 minutes.  Add the rice and stir over low head for 2 – 3 minutes.  Mix in salt and black pepper to taste, the parsley and the ham.
  3. Add the boiling tomato mixture, cover tightly, and cook over low heat for 20 minutes, or until the rice is tender and liquid has been absorbed, adding a little more stock if necessary.
  4. Scatter the prawns and chicken over the top, replace the lid, and return to very low heat until the prawns are heated through.  Sprinkle with Tabasco and chopped parsley, and serve.

Notes on this recipe:

  • It’s not as good as the Jambalaya we made earlier, and this is a far simpler recipe (less spices and herbs for starters).  Not to say that this recipe is bad.  I actually really don’t like ham, but in this recipe, the double smoked ham I bought at Coles was delicious, and leant a smoky flavour that really worked with the rest of the ingredients.
  • We used a tin of chopped tomatoes in order to save time.  This didn’t seem to be a problem.

Mushrooms A La Greque

Ingredients:

  • 500g small mushrooms, wiped with a damp cloth
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1 clove garlic, crushed
  • 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
  • 2 medium tomatoes, peeled and chopped
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • 1/2 cup water
  • pinch of dried oregano
  • salt
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/2 cup thinly sliced celery
  • 1 bay leaf

    • 1/4 cup olive oil

Method:

  1. Trim the stems off the mushrooms, put the lemon juice in a saucepan with the garlic, parsley, tomatoes, tomato paste and water.  Bring to the boil, stirring.  Add the mushrooms, oregano, salt and black pepper to taste, the celery, bay leaf, and olive oil.  Cover and simmer for 8 – 10 minutes.  Cool and then chill in the refrigerator.

Notes on this recipe:

  • The sauce for this recipe was absolutely delicious.  We served it at room temperature, instead of fridge cold, and it was rich and full bodied.
  • The mushrooms ended up being a bit tough after boiling, which is probably more to do with the type of mushrooms I purchased than the recipe itself.

Stuffed vegetables

Ingredients:

  • 3 large, well shaped, capsicums
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1 medium onion, finely chopped
  • 1 clove garlic, crushed
  • 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • 1/4 cup cream
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 2 tablespoons wheat germ
  • Salt and pepper
  • Pinch of sugar
  • 1 x 250g can 3-bean mix, drained
  • 1/2 cup small shell macaroni, cooked and drained
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Method

  1. Cut the capsicums in halves lengthwise, remove seeds and core, and blanch in boiling water for 2 minutes.  Refresh under cold running water and drain.
  2. Melt the butter in a small saucepan and fry the onion, garlic and basil until onion is transparent.  Remove from heat and mix in the tomato paste, cream, egg, wheat germ, salt, pepper and sugar. Stir in the beans and shell macaroni.
  3. Spoon into the capsicums, sprinkle with cheese and bake in a moderate oven (180C) for 15 – 20 minutes or until capsicums are tender.
  4. Zucchini, eggplant and tomatoes may be filled and baked in the same way, but eggplant and tomatoes do not need blanching.

Notes on this recipe:

  • I ended up substituting oat germ (effectively) for wheat germ as I couldn’t find any wheat germ at the supermarket.  The purpose of the wheat germ is to soak up excess liquid and to add fibre, so oat germ performed the same function.
  • I also used fresh basil in this recipe as I had some available, effectively doubling the amount as you do when you substitute fresh for dried.
  • As the onion, garlic and basil were fried together, we all just wanted to hoe in right there – it smelt so delicious.
  • You can’t seem to buy 3-bean mix any more, so just use 4-bean mix as we did.
  • These were really tasty and I’d happily make them again.  Though I think I’d use mozzarella cheese instead so it melts and browns nicely.

Chocolate Mousse

Ingredients:

  • 125g milk chocolate
  • 3 eggs, separated
  • 1 x 300ml container thickened cream
  • toasted almond slivers
  • grated chocolate

Method:

  1. Melt chocolate gently in a double saucepan.  Remove from heat and beat in egg yolks, one at a time, beating vigorously.
  2. Beat egg whites until stiff and then whip the cream until thick.  Fold chocolate into egg whites and then carefully fold in half the whipped cream.
  3. Alternate layers of chocolate mixture and whipped cream into 4 parfait glasses.  Finish with cream on top and chill.  Just before serving top with toasted silvered almonds and a little grated chocolate.

Notes on this recipe:

  • I didn’t like the method in this recipe at all.  Melting chocolate, no problems, add egg yolks, ok I can do that… fold chocolate into beaten egg whites?  Urm… not so much but ok, fold in cream after that?  Sheesh.
  • And there was WAY too much cream.  It’s also really hard to layer thick whipped cream and chocolate, it just doesn’t want to work at all.
  • I skipped the toasted almonds and grated chocolate, because I really wanted to try the mousse.  It didn’t disappoint.  Beautifully creamy, delightfully chocolatey.  It made all the angst about how I was supposed to follow the method of the recipe worthwhile.