A new Vegemite in search of a name

I blogged once before on Vegemite and its iconic status in the Australian way of life.

There are changes afoot in the Vegemite world and I want to direct you to the wonderful post Joolz has done. Hat Tip to Linda, the Remote Treechanger for pointing it out.

Yummy in the tummy comfort food

Miss Eagle has had a difficult couple of weeks with illness. It has been the sort of time when one thinks of comfort food. So, at one stage last week, the comfort food light bulb went on in Miss E's head. Ahah! she thought. And she took this photograph to show you. This week, over at Photo Friday the topic is addiction.

Miss Eagle thought about this and decided that this comfort food would fit the bill. You see Mashed Potato and Pumpkin with Vegemite in it is a sort of latent addiction for the majority of Australians. You see, it goes back a long way in the psyche and the food memory bank. Before tinned baby food, this was what Australian babies were regularly fed.

Vegemite is an acquired taste - or should that be a not easily acquired taste - for those who have not been eating it since infancy or early childhood.

Vegemite features in other comfort food such as soldiers spread lavishly with butter and topped with vegemite.

And then there is Vegemite Soup for whatever ails you.

Wednesday 14 March 2007

Since publishing this post, Miss Eagle has discovered Kitchen Wench and her nostalgic food blogging event. So Miss E submits this post for Kitchen Wench's perusal and edification.

Brigid's Butcher's Blarney

Brigid's Butcher's Blarney

The weather here is Melbourne miserable. It has been damp and icy cold and as Miss Eagle looks out the office window the usual view of the Dandenong Ranges National Park is obscured by fog - or is it ground level cloud? So the evening repast calls for something simple, nourishing and nurturing. Hence, Brigid's Butcher's Blarney. Any good thick snag will do. These ones the butcher calls Irish Sausages. Why, Miss Eagle is not sure. Because they are pork, have a shamrock in them - or is it all indistinguishable blarney? Now quantities are not given here. Sort yourself out according to taste and quantity required. Use any thick sausages (thin ones aren't so good in this dish) and cook them in the manner described here. They don't have to be cooked through - but brown them well. Remove them from the pan. Saute onions and garlic. Make a gravy by adding flour to the oil and sausage drippings and then water. Because this is simple and relaxed, we are using froz veg - so choose your favourite (Miss Eagle's fav had cauliflower, carrot and peas) and add to the gravy along with some diced potato. But the thing that distinguishes the flavour is the addition of baked beans in tomato sauce. Now there are all sorts of varieties of baked beans on the supermarket shelf - but just choose the old fashioned sort in tomato sauce. No cheese. Add salt and pepper and, if you are going gourmet, any suitable spices you fancy. Simmer gently until the sausages along with the potatoes and veges are cooked through and tender and the gravy is nicely thickened. Keep your eye on it and add water if necessary. Serve, curl up before a blazing fire or a warming gas duct and enjoy!

This is not so posh nosh - but it doesn't take much dosh!

Apple Crumble

Individual Apple Crumbles from Queen of Tarts, Belgrave

Fifty years ago, Miss Eagle was a twelve year old schoolgirl attending St Mary's Convent School in Bowen at the northern end of the Whitsundays in North Queensland. Every two weeks, on a Thursday, Miss Eagle - along with the other girls in her Grade 7 class - would go to Bowen State School for domestic science classes. How did those nuns ever let us go - no prayers, no writing AMDG at the top of our exercise books. If Miss Eagle's memory serves her correctly, the very first thing we cooked was Apple Crumble. Miss Eagle notes that Apple Crumble, along with all sorts of fruit crumbles, are enjoying a revival in smart coffee shops in Melbourne. They are made as slices or individual puddings and have a biscuit pastry base: biscuit pastry in this case meaning a base made of crushed biscuits and melted shortening pressed into a pan with the filling then placed on top. The base is uncooked and, because of the shortening, it sets firmly in the refrigerator.

APPLE CRUMBLE

(the domestic science class recipe)

Ingredients: 6 cooking apples; 2 tabs sugar; 1/4 cup water; 3 cloves; 1/2 lemon; 1 oz. coconut; 3 oz. flour; pinch of salt; 2oz brown sugar; 1 oz butter; butter for top.

Method: Peel, core and slice apples into saucepan. Add water and cloves and bring to the boil. Cook till transparent (not pulpy). Remove cloves, add white sugar and lemon juice. Sift flour and salt into bow. Add brown sugar mix. Rub butter into dry ingredients until mixture is like sand. Add coconut. Place apples in a greased pie dish and sprinkle pastry mixture over. Place small quantities of butter on top. Bake till golden.

Miss Eagle's Notes

• Granny Smith's are the apples to use
• The coconut is dessicated coconut - that fine shredded coconut.
• If you are attempting the coffee shop model of Apple Crumble, because of the biscuit base - which should be about a quarter of an inch thick - you can use less fruit.
• Luscious served with boiled custard or thick or whipped cream.

Slow cooking food 1 - Lamb Shanks with Macaroni

In Melbourne, the weather is closing in dark and cold and often rainy. It is the time to think of the sort of food that warms the cockles of one's heart. The slow cooking sort, substantial and comforting. This means the time for our favourite autumn/winter meal, Lamb Shanks with Macaroni. These are the ingredients...

...and they are all Australian - the containers and packaging are marked "Product of Australia". Note the little Aussie flags on the Ardmona tins. The herbs, except for the garlic, are freshly picked from the garden - basil, sage, marjoram, oregano, rosemary. Miss Eagle leaves the shanks whole - to be picked up in the fingers and gnawed on, so large napkins are in order. Here are the Lamb Shanks ready for the oven. Oh, and by the way, Miss Eagle has added some mushrooms that are not in the above photograph. The copper bottomed stainless steel casserole belonged to my aunt. I don't use the lid for this dish. The casserole is cooked very slowly: 200 degrees Celsius to start with until the liquid starts to simmer. Then turned back to 150 degrees Celsius and cooked ever so slowly until the meat is falling away from the bone. Some additional water is needed during the cooking because the macaroni takes up quite a bit. The only way this could be better would be if it was cooked in a slow-combustion stove.

Scrumptious, warming, and FootFoot and Trixie love to chew on the bones.