Crafternoons - Chatter, Craft and Company!

Hi everyone!

Today we had one of our (very irregular) Crafternoons - an opportunity for friends to come, share some afternoon tea, and have some quiet social time for craft or even learn a new one :) 

I had two projects on the go today. First, I finished off my little kangaroo and joey! This pattern was super cute and much easier on the ol' fingers than Captain America was :) 

Zara the cat was highly suspicious though...

I also finished another project - a scarf using this glorious merino mohair yarn that my mum bought for me in New Zealand last year. It's been waiting around for the perfect project, but since I am somewhat allergic to wool (not really allergic, but it makes me very itchy to have it on my skin), it was always going to be a gift for someone else.

I found (and was also linked to by the lovely Anneke of Crochet in Paternoster) this Starwirbel pattern for a cowl or capelet. I loved the stitch pattern, but wasn't confident enough in sizing to make a cowl. So, I adapted the pattern a bit and made long rows of stars! 

A lovely friend on Instagram said it reminded her of Monet, so I have named it my Impressionist Scarf :) It will keep my sister lovely and toasty warm in her early mornings and late nights at work! 

There were 10 of us at Crafternoons today, sitting around and chatting together while working on a variety of different crafts. We had cutting out for Days for Girls shields... 

...and cooking - these were delicious Strawberry Tarts from a recipe by Heston Blumenthal! 

There was also a fair bit of crochet, including: 

Thor's legs! 

A Corner-to-Corner blanket! 

A small mountain of granny squares! 

We had lots of fun, as much with the company and chatter (and delicious afternoon tea) as the relaxing time crafting. I'm looking forward to the next one - a Christmas Crafternoon in December! 

Do you crochet/craft with others? 

Mich's Year of 30th - Opening Weekend

Hello and welcome to all our new readers and hugs for old friends :) 

Last weekend was my birthday, and (shamelessly stealing the idea from my friend Pat) I decided it wasn't just my 29th birthday, it was also the start of my year of turning 30! It therefore needed to be a proper Opening Weekend for this very important celebration. 

We spent the weekend up at our new house at Lake Macquarie - cooking, eating, crocheting... it was wonderful :) Here are lots of photos, taken by my amazing friend Emily Sandrussi, who is a multi-award winning photographer! Her new exhibition opens tomorrow in Sydney, and you should at least go check out the website for the exhibition! 

http://artereal.com.au/home/emily-sandrussi

But onto the photos!

We had handsome men at work in the kitchen ...

... dragons and Captain Poprocks helping themselves to some home made meringues ...

... the food was pretty impressive, if I do say so myself - all home made (except the bread and corn chips) ...

French onion dip and tzatziki

Raspberry Citrus Gravlax with Lemon Cream Cheese

Lomo (L) and Bresaola

Slow roasted pork belly with crispy crackling ...

... and bacon-y cabbage, and spiced apple jelly ... 

... and roast potatoes and carrots, with steamed broccoli.

... the company was excellent ...

 

... someone else did the cleaning up ... 

... and then there was dessert.

Eton Mess Mouthfuls

Chocolate Fudge Cake

On Sunday, we lazed about the place, painting and crocheting and sewing and building websites and playing video games...

... and some of the boys even learned how to crochet! 

Overall it was a wonderful weekend, and a good test of the new house, which now has all its furniture! 

We're all ready for Christmas at the lake now :) 

Many thanks to everyone who came, ate, cooked, cleaned, laughed and enjoyed! 

Recipe: Raspberry Citrus Gravlax

We are about to go away on holidays for a few weeks to Vanuatu! Before I leave Sydney's horrible cold, windy weather behind, I thought I would share with you a lovely little recipe that is good for all year round :) 

As you know, I LOVE gravlax. I am a latecomer to seafood, and it definitely took me a while to get the hang of raw fish! I think what I love about gravlax is that it combines the beautiful subtle flavours that work so well with fish, with a certain bacony-meaty-ness that is just oh so good...

After our beetroot experiments, we decided to have a go using different flavours to cure the salmon. I love the flavour of raspberries - that sweet and sharp taste goes well with so many foods! 

The raspberry colours the salmon beautifully, with a delicate pink tinge.

Photo courtesy of Kiah Westlund

I also love the visual of the salmon fillets bathing in that stunning pink soup! 

Without further delay, the Raspberry Citrus Gravlax recipe! 

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RECIPE: RASPBERRY CITRUS GRAVLAX

Serves many

Ingredients
1 whole salmon, filleted, skinned and pinboned 
(ask your fishmonger to do this for you!)

500g frozen raspberries
250g rock salt
170g raw sugar
1 tbsp mixed peppercorns
Zest of 2 lemons
Zest of 2 oranges
1 bunch of dill
60ml vodka

Method

1. In a food processor, combine all ingredients except salmon, and whizz until smooth.  Pour into a large baking dish that will fit both halves of the salmon and leave on the bench to defrost.

2. Snuggle your salmon fillets into the raspberry mix and make sure they are covered all over. Cover with clingwrap right to the surface of the cure to try and keep the air away from the curing meat. Put in the fridge.

3. After 24 hours, turn the salmon fillets over in the cure and stir the raspberry mix around. There should be a fair amount of juice come out of the salmon, and you want to mix that into the raspberry cure so that the salt can stay close to the meat.

4. After another 24 hours, take the salmon out of the cure and rinse really well under cold running water. Pat dry with paper towel or a clean tea towel, and wrap tightly in cling wrap. Store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

5. To serve, slice the gravlax as thin as you can (with a very sharp knife)! It's great with cream cheese, lemon and dill on some lovely rye bread, but try it however you like! 

Enjoy!

Pasta experiments!

On MasterChef last week, one of the contestants cooked chocolate pasta, and totally converted the judges to the cause. It looked so delicious, we instantly decided we had to try it! 

Of course, once the pasta machine is cracked out of the box, it only makes sense to make a big batch of at least two different kinds of pasta, so we made tomato and herb fettuccine as well ;) I'll put the recipes below, but here are some pictures from the experiments! All the pictures are courtesy of the amazing Bec Sellars, my partner in pasta crime. 

I'd love to know if any of our readers try making these pasta recipes! Post photos in the comments!

[Edited to Add: I forgot to say before that it was all SO TASTY and we are still finding it difficult to stop eating the dried chocolate pasta off the clothesline, and the house is beautifully scented with chocolate.] 

First, the tomato and herb fettuccine:

Lovely kneaded pasta dough :)

The dough balls having a rest in the fridge

The pile of rolled and cut fettuccine

Going into the water...

The delicious sauce - bacon, zucchini,
mushrooms and cream

Mmmm dishing up

And now for the chocolate ravioli:

Started off with a raspberry champagne coulis!

Melting chocolate for the pasta dough

Such a glorious colour!

Rolling rolling rolling

 Flower ravioli! We decided pretty quickly that this shape was too hard and just made circles.

The finished product! 

We made too much chocolate dough,
so some got hung up as fettuccine and spaghetti to dry :)

I hope you enjoyed these photos! Recipes below:

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RECIPE: TOMATO AND HERB FETTUCINE
Adapted from "Pasta", edited by Valerie Ferguson

400g "00" flour
pinch of salt
3 eggs
30ml olive oil
60ml tomato paste
90ml chopped fresh herbs (we used equal quantities of parsley, chives and pizza thyme)
Extra flour for dusting

Method:
1. Put flour, salt and herbs in the bowl of a food processor. Process until well mixed and the herbs are chopped down as much as possible.

2. In a measuring jug mix together the eggs, olive oil and tomato paste. Slowly pour the wet ingredients into the food processor while it is running. Mix until the dough starts to form (it'll make lots of little wet balls).

3. Flour a clean work surface. Tip the dough mix out onto the surface and knead until the mixture comes together in a smooth, elastic dough, which springs back if you poke it with your finger :) Divide the dough in half, and roll each half into a smooth ball. Wrap well in cling wrap and put into the refrigerator for 40 minutes to rest.

4. Using a pasta machine (or a rolling pin, if you need a full body work out), roll out the pasta to very thin (we went to the 6th notch on the pasta machine), and then use the fettuccine attachment to cut into strips. Toss well with flour to stop the pasta strands sticking together.

5. Bring a large pot of water to the boil, with small handful of salt. Once it is at a rolling boil, drop the pasta in and stir well. It should be cooked in about 3 minutes, but keep testing after 2 minutes in case you prefer it done a bit more al dente! 

6. Drain into a colander and rinse well with cold water to stop the cooking process. Then, either serve as is, or pour into your pasta sauce pan to thoroughly coat!

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RECIPE: CHOCOLATE RAVIOLI WITH RASPBERRY CHAMPAGNE COULIS
Adapted from who8thebean's recipe on Instructables 

PASTA
160 grams dark chocolate roughly chopped
¼ cup thickened cream
3 cups “00” flour
½ cup Dutch cocoa powder
½ cup icing sugar
2 pinches finely ground black pepper
2 pinches salt
4 eggs

WHITE CHOCOLATE MASCARPONE FILLING
120g white chocolate
1/3 cup thick cream
100g mascarpone
1tsp vanilla extract

RASPBERRY CHAMPAGNE COULIS
2 cups frozen raspberries
2/3 cup castor sugar
4 tbsp sparkling white wine
2 tsp balsamic vinegar

EXTRAS
• 1 egg lightly whisked for sealing ravioli closed
• ½ - ¾ cup raspberries extra needed for stuffing the ravioli

Method:

Coulis

1. Set a small saucepan on the stove and add raspberries, sugar, champagne and vinegar. Simmer over low heat, stirring until sugar dissolves and the raspberries become soft and pulpy. Set aside to cool.

Ravioli filling

2. Set a mixing bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water. Be careful not to allow the water to touch the bottom of the mixing bowl. Add the white chocolate melts and half of the thick cream. Stir continuously until chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Remove from heat and set aside to cool slightly.

3. Meanwhile, whisk together the mascarpone, vanilla and remaining cream.

4. When your chocolate mixture has cooled for about 2-3 minutes gently whisk it into the mascarpone and cream mixture and ensure that it is well combined. Cover and set aside in the refrigerator to chill. 

Pasta

5. Place the dark chocolate and cream into a mixing bowl over gently simmering water and melt, stirring. Once melted, set aside to cool slightly.

6. Place flour, cocoa powder, icing sugar, pepper and salt in the food processor bowl and turn it on.

7. Add eggs, one at a time.

8. As the dough begins to come together add your melted chocolate and cream mixture and continue mixing until a firm but pliable dough is formed.

9. Now pull your dough out onto a lightly floured surface and give it a good kneading until it is smooth and soft. Cover and set aside for 30 minutes in the fridge to allow the gluten to relax.

Putting it all together!

10. Once your pasta has rested, cut it into 4 portions and run it through the pasta press folding and repeating the process 2 or 3 times before gradually reducing the setting. We decided on a very thin ravioli, and went to 8 on the pasta machine settings. This should give you a nice thin sheet of chocolate lasagna.

11. Take a cookie or scone cutter and cut circles in the dough. 

12. Place a small teaspoon of the mascarpone mixture onto each ravioli and press a raspberry piece gently into the centre. Don't overstuff them, or it'll be easier for them to burst open during cooking! 

13. Using a pastry brush or your fingers, spread a very small amount of egg wash around each mound of stuffing – this will help the pasta to seal shut during cooking.

14. Take another circle of pasta and press down gently all around the filling and try to expel any air from the ravioli.

The Cooking

15. Prepare a large bowl of chilled water ready to plunge your freshly cooked pasta straight into.

16. Bring a medium pot of water to the boil. Using a slotted spoon lower the parcels into the water one at a time for approximately 30 seconds.Remove from the boiling water and plunge into the cold water briefly to prevent further cooking.

17. Serve with the raspberry coulis and any leftover mascarpone!

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