I love raspberries

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Freshly-picked raspberries - Nootka and Williamette

Late autumn is slim pickings for fruit but for raspberries! And autumn raspberries are, I think, better than summer raspberries.

So what to do with them? Well of you can even get them in the house pretty well every dessert is improved with the addition of raspberries. I think though that anything with chocolate is enhanced with fresh raspberries. So, here goes, one of my favourite cold weather desserts chocolate pudding topped with fresh autumn raspberries.

What you need:
60 g butter
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teasp. vanilla extract
1 cup SR flour
85 g castor sugar
2 tbsp. cocoa
 topping
4 dessertsp. cocoa
2 dessertsp. brown sugar
2 cups hot water

What to do:
Melt butter in the milk over heat. Add vanilla.
Stir through dry ingredients to make smooth batter.
Spoon into dish or four ramekins.
Spoon cocoa and brown sugar on top of mixture.
Ladel over hot water.
Cook in a moderate oven (160 degrees Celsius fan forced) 45 min for dish; 30 min in ramekins.

Self-saucing chocolate pudding with raspberries - easy!

Very late autumn - green tomatoes

After a rotten season for tomatoes (too hot, dry and windy during the day; too cold at night) we have a least no shortage of green tomatoes.

What do you do with green tomatoes? Pickles, of course!

So what's my recipe? Well after looking at several books, I couldn't find one to suit ... so I kinda made this one up using the bits of other recipes that I liked - it seems to have worked (second prize in the Goulburn Show).

Green tomato pickles
You will need:
4 lb (1.8 kg) green tomatoes
2 lb (0.8 kg) brown onions

1/4 cup rock salt
2lb (0.8 kg) sugar (I use white for colour but you can use brown for flavour)
750 mL vinegar (once again I use white for colour but you can use malt for more flavour)
1 teasp. peppercorns
1 teasp. cloves
1 teasp. allspice
1 teasp. nutmeg
2 tabsp. mustard powder
1 tabsp. curry powder
1 dessertsp. tumeric
3/4 cup plain flour

[A lot of ingredients but do you want the flavour??]

What you do:
Dice tomatoes and onions and place in a decent sized bowl. Sprinkle with salt and cover with water. Leave overnight - be prepared for your house to smell of onions!!

Next day, drain the liquid off (I put the mix into colanders and let it drain whilst I get the rest organised).

Heat vinegar and dissolve sugar. Tie peppercorns and cloves into a muslin bag and throw in with the tomatoes and onions - simmer for about 15 minutes. During this time, make a paste out of the flour and spices - mix with vinegar - I use a small flat whisk.

Pour in the spice mix stirring all the time until thickened. Simmer for another 10 minutes or so just to cook out the flour and develop the flavours.

Bottle in warm, sterilised jars and seal.

The finished product.

 

 

Late autumn - pears

Autumn is a great time for fruit! Pears, apples, quinces and pomegranates. More about them later - for now I'm looking at pears.

Josephine pears care of my neighbour, Kevin.

There are many things that can be done with fresh pears - best of all, just eat them! But cooking fresh pears is a lovely thing to do - pear and ginger jam (love it!) or a crumble are among my favourites.

Pear and alpine strawberry crumble

To make the crumble I peel and core the pears then cut into eight pieces. These are then rinsed and simmered with star anise for maybe about 15 minutes.

The crumble is made with oatmeal, brown sugar and almond meal/almond pieces bound together with melted butter.

I throw in some other fruit dependiug on what's available - this season there are still alpine strawberries so ... yum!

I cook the crumble for around 30 minutes in a moderate oven - easy! So easy that you don't need exact quantities for anything.

Enjoy with sour cream, icecream, cream or all three.