New seasons growth...

Getting stuck into a hard working weekend can show fantastic results, a real sense of achievement not to mention the sore muscles, back and blisters! My good friend and I took the maroon Fairlane rocket (cats vs. dogs ABC radio - great commentary!!) to the South East to install some serious infrastructure to our fledgling hop garden.
Hops require water and and some line to grow up, so a frame work is required to get them up and away. Past harvests have been mediocre, due to lack of planning and infrastructure.
Plan: All irrigation to go underground, vertical poles and cross braces to span the width of the garden! Easy... sort of, see for your self!

The person who invented the protective work glove, should be hailed as a genius. Good quality gloves can mean the difference between a productive weekend and a pain full, blistered shambles! I will keep you posted on the progress of the crop!

Giles

Don't mention the "Bee Sting Cake" WAR ~ Review.

One of my all time favourite cakes is the Bee Sting Cake, it has a lot to do with my Mother and of course her Mother. The German Yeast Cake was always a big mover at Nana's house as well, it was always partnered with a cup of tea made in a pot which would send retro shoppers into foaming fit, fresh boiling water poured straight from a whistling jug. As Nana got older the water would boil for longer and longer until we upgraded her kettle.

Now that she has shuffled of to a floral recliner in the sky I still think of her whenever those quintessential Germanic moments come around...



My partners request for a Bee Sting Birthday Cake was promptly responded to: "Sure thing!"

With not enough time to make one on a Monday afternoon at the office, and the dinner being organised at the last minute - I decided to purchase one as my Nana used to do. Now here is a regret of mine: Not having asked(sometimes shouting) my Nana "Where do you get the cakes from?"

The local German cake maker has a reputation that is fairly well known for making reasonable pastry on a large scale, supplying many large Adelaide venues without the facility to do it themselves. I thought to myself....Self, here is an opportunity to test out The Rheinland Bakery on Port Rd. Hindmarsh. With a name like that you would assume they would know how to make a good Bee sting.

NO THEY DO NOT!!

Don't let the morbidly obese young human attendant shock you into a sense of security. I was thinking 'She/He?/It? is German, right?! She/He?/It? must eat the cakes, right?! This shop is fully German, right?!!' - FAIL!!

I was bitterly disappointed and I will not sit idly by and let these atrocities carry on! We must fight them on the beaches, and in our cafes, and in our towns. Do not let this sham continue! It is a sham because they feed on our past sensitivities, coaxing us in with 'The German' trickery and wham your choking on the asphyxiating sweetness of the cream filled delights that blinds the truth! They cannot make a decent German favourite, so how can I ever return to what is by all other accounts a reputable bakery?! I have been used - and would like to right the wrongs of the past!


Photo ripped off the web, Warren? took this phot0 at the Apex bakery in Tanunda, Barossa Valley South Australia. Now that is the real Rheinland!!
A search on the web reveals so many recipes for the beloved Bee Sting, here is one I ripped off a site as it has all the hall marks of a good Bee Sting:

Ingredients
Bienenstich cake mixture:
1 3/4 c. sifted all-purpose flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
8 Tbsp. (1 stick) of real butter
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, unbeaten
1 tsp. vanilla
6 Tbsp. whole milk
Almond topping mixture:
1/2 cup slivered blanched almonds
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup (4 Tbsp.) butter
1 Tbsp. milk or cream
Filling mixture:
2 and 1/2 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
3 egg yolks, lightly beaten
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp. almond extract
3 egg whites, stiffly beaten
a pinch of salt

Directions :
Preheat oven to 375° F (190deg.C Bloody Yanks).
Grease and flour a 9" spring form pan.
Sift together flour, baking powder and salt.
Cream the butter until fluffy, add sugar gradually, beating until light. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Add vanilla.
Add dry ingredients 1/3rd at a time alternating with the 6 tablespoons of milk.
Stir only enough to blend thoroughly.
Pour into the spring form pan.
The topping:
Heat together almonds, sugar, butter and milk or cream until the
sugar dissolves.
Pat a spoonful of flour over the top of the cake batter using the back of a spoon.
Pour the almond mixture evenly over the batter.
Bake 25 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean.
Cool cake while preparing filling.
The filling:
Combine sugar, cornstarch and egg yolks in the top of a double boiler.
Separately heat milk to scalding, slowly pour over egg yolk mixture, stirring constantly and quickly with a whisk.
Place over hot water, cook stirring constantly until smooth and thick. DO NOT ALLOW TO BOIL.
Stir in almond extract.
Beat egg whites, adding the salt, until stiff peaks form.
Fold egg whites into the yolk mixture.
Place a piece of wax paper over the top and chill.
Putting it all together:
When the cake has cooled, slice in half cross ways to
make two layers.
Place bottom layer cut side up on cake plate.
Spread with filling.
Top with the second layer with the almond glazed side up.
Refrigerate until time to serve.



Giles

Paella, Recipe ~ Video.

The big tip with this dish is to relax and enjoy the process, let the slow, smokey fire do wonders to your dish and it will surely be a crowd pleaser. The amount of ingredients is always a bit of a mystery, I tend to fly by the seat of my pants - Let your instincts do the work!

When heating up your Chicken and Fish stock throw in all of the shells and heads from the prawns, it will intensify your stock and give it the fresh fishyness you need!

Calaspara rice is by far the best rice to use for Paella, but any good quality risotto rice or carnaroli rice is OK.

Giles

Maintain the rage!!

Ben posted this comment, as an addition to the Market Crusade blog... I like it and concur whole hearted with Ben.
Benny said...
I think description of the supermarket chains as "cold and heartless" don't nearly go far enough. Coles and Woolworths have a duopoly on Australian Grocery sales. 60% of milk sales and 50% of fresh fruit and veg are sold through these 2 stores that have a 40% share of the Australian retail dollar. These companies contract producers to supply them. They expect a 40 to 50% mark up on that product to go straight in to their pocket. What I think the average punter does not realise is that when these products are on special in Woolworths, their profit margin remains constant and the poor producer has to wear the discount or risk losing his contracts.Coles and Woolies bottle shops (Dan Murphy,BWS, etc etc) actually sell beer and wine cheaper than independent bottlo owners can source it wholesale!Why the tirade you may ask? Well you do save money in when you shop at Woolies, but at the same time, buy saving the money, you squeeze the already slender margins of the independent stores, increasing the strangle hold these heartless bastards all ready have on the Australian food market.Rise up, fellow foodies! Vote with your feet and wallets and boycott these vicious bullyboys who make Walmart look like schoolgirls (They only have 15% of the US Grocery market). Support your local independent butcher and veg shop, because they are by default subsidising the losses most producers are making by supplying the majors. Spread the word and the rage and boycott Coles and Woolies in all forms to support Australia's Farmers! Check out this website for more info http://www.ausfoodnews.com.au/2008/09/02/ex-woolworths-ceo-concerned-market-dominance-may-tarnish-food-production-future.html

Peasant pleasantries...

Cold wintry weather can dampen even the most leavened spirit, but when you are in the drought stricken country side of South Australia rain seems to bring a contented feeling. Water pooling in potholes and running off furrowed earth means prosperity may be nearer for some this year.
What to do...what to do - stoke the fire, another log? Cup of tea, weekend papers? Whats 'so and so' up to? Really.....well I never!
Lunch: Mum somehow cooks a fabulous soup whilst holding an in depth conversation with all of us at the kitchen table. A soup that seems to come from no where, warm you up, satisfy every flavour urge. Peasant soup: A general name for soup that is created out of the ingredient staples of a good kitchen. Cured sausage, vegetables, legumes and stock - what could be easier.
It is a fond memory of mine when I would run through the kitchen, probably away from my marauding sister (she was not much of a bully, more of a persistently influential sibling) and was stopped dead in my tracks by that smell. "Whats that cooking Mum?" Same question every time and it always got the same response "Onions, olive oil and a little butter." I think it took me eight years before I could recognise that sweet, savoury and salivating smell. It brought joy to me and still does cos' I know that there is only good to come from it. It takes children a long time to get around so many of the flavours like certain vegetables, but there were things that I wanted immediately: Fresh made pasta, uncooked dough of any kind, mums cooking chocolate, spoon fulls of Dijon mustard, fresh horseradish, wedges of cheese, mums pesto and dads chili chutney.
There always seemed to be stores of onions, carrot and celery in the kitchen, a 'magic pudding' that came out of the wall in the back of the fridge or cupboard, and refreshed the bag, box or ancient Tupperware container.
Slice cured sausage thinly and brown with a tiny amount of oil, get the fat moving and make sure you get some colour on your pan. Don't be scared of brown bits stuck to your pan, it means things are changing and turning into great flavours. Chop some onion and some garlic and throw in with the sausage, the fat should now be moving out of the sausage and will add great flavour to your soup. If your worried about dying of heart disease, the stress of the worry is probably going to get you first - so the jokes on you. Enjoy a flavourful life! Carrot and celery should be chopped as you care, authentic peasant soup would be chopped into the pot with a small pairing knife. Chef's knifes are a luxury many grandmothers never had, let alone a decent chopping board. Heat your stock. Usually it is chicken stock that is used as the blessed bird was killed on a regular basis and served roasted after church, nothing is wasted and stock is used in dishes there after. I like to put the butter in just before the stock, get the heat high so when you tip the stock in it boils as it hits the pot, this frothing gets the bits off the pan and mixes in the butter. The butter would have been separated from fresh milk from the neighbours dairy and churned in the square timber box, paddled into shape and wrapped in wax paper... It was not so long ago, my grandma would let me know when I was spilling the fresh milk in the bucket on my way from the dairy over the road, and always look left and right when crossing the road not just the milk you just spilt. Legumes require little effort these days, canned beans are sufficient. Soak and boil your berlotti or soy beans, drain them and they apparently freeze all right. You can then toss them in frozen, return to simmer and voila! Season with plenty of cracked pepper and some salt.
I keep bread until it is nearly resembling tropical timber, to combat this I bake it in a low oven to kill any wild penicillin and really get it crispy. Break the once funky bread into your soup and throw your scarf over you left shoulder, preferably your favourite local amateur football team and tuck in. Have seconds, thirds and bloody well do the dishes for your mother you lazy ass.

Giles