Tuck in your caulis
Date & nut loaf
You can bake the round fruit loaf in a nut loaf tin (try your nan’s cupboards), recycled 400g tin cans (cover the tops with a double layer of baking paper secured with string), or a regular loaf pan.
11⁄ cups pitted dates, chopped
2
70g walnuts, chopped
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed 1 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp butter
1 cup boiling water
2 cups flour
1⁄ tsp salt
2
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
Heat oven to 170C. Grease 2 nut loaf tins (or 4 x 400g recycled tin cans or a 4-cup capacity loaf pan) with cooking spray or butter.
Place dates, walnuts, brown sugar, baking soda and butter in a bowl. Pour boiling water over and mix well until butter has melted.
Sift over flour and salt and mix in with egg and vanilla until well combined but not over-mixed.
Divide mixture between tins and press down firmly (it should not fill more than two-thirds). Stand tins upright and bake for 50-60 minutes (or about 30 minutes for recycled tins). Cool for 10 minutes before removing lids and turning loaves on to a wire rack. Makes 2 nut loaf-size loaves
Citrus almond tart
This lovely tart has a very easy, noroll pastry. Stewed fruits make a nice accompaniment to serve with it; rhubarb with a dollop of fresh cream is particularly delicious.
Pastry
11⁄ cups flour
2
1⁄ cup icing sugar
4
100g cold butter, cubed
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp cold water
1 lemon, finely grated zest Filling
125g butter, softened
3⁄ cup caster sugar
4
Finely grated zest of 1 orange,
1 lemon and 1 lime
2 eggs
21⁄ tbsp flour
2
1 cup (110g) ground almonds 70g pine nuts
4 tbsp liquid honey, warmed
Pastry: Mix flour, icing sugar and butter in a food processor until mix resembles fine breadcrumbs. Combine egg yolk, water and zest. With motor running, pour in egg mixture and process until pastry comes together in a ball.
Using lightly floured fingers, press pieces of pastry evenly into a greased 24cm loose-bottomed flan tin. Chill 30 minutes until firm.
Heat oven to 200C. Prick pastry case with a fork, line with baking paper or tinfoil then fill with pastry weights. Bake 10 minutes then remove the lining and weights. Return to the oven and bake a further 3-5 minutes until lightly golden. Cool pastry while making filling.
Filling: Lower oven temperature to 180C. Cream butter, sugar and grated zests until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, mixing well between each addition. Gently fold in flour and ground almonds.
Spoon mixture into pastry case and smooth top. Sprinkle pine nuts over. Bake 25-30 minutes until golden. Remove from oven and brush top with warmed honey. Bake a further 3-5 minutes. Serve pie warm or at room temperature. Serves 8
Beetroot, raspberry & cream cheese brownie
Beetroot intensifies the chocolate taste and adds to the moist texture of these fudgy brownies. You will need about two medium beetroot, roasted in foil or boiled until tender, or you could buy readycooked, vacuum-bagged beetroot from the fresh vege section at the supermarket.
200g butter
250g dark chocolate melts
or buttons
200g caster sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
60g flour
1⁄ tsp baking powder
2
30g cocoa powder, plus extra
for dusting
300g cooked peeled beetroot, processed until very finely chopped 250g cream cheese
125g white chocolate melts 125g fresh or frozen (do not thaw)
whole raspberries
Heat oven to 150C. Line a
32cm x 22cm baking pan with baking paper.
Place butter and dark chocolate melts in a microwave-safe bowl and heat in 20-second bursts, stirring after each burst, until melted (or melt in a double boiler over simmering water).
Place caster sugar and eggs in a large bowl and beat until pale and thick. Beat in vanilla.
Stir in the slightly cooled chocolate mixture then sift over flour, baking powder and cocoa, mixing to combine. Add beetroot and mix well.
Place cream cheese, and white chocolate melts in another microwave-safe bowl and heat in 20-second bursts, stirring after each burst, until chocolate has melted (this can also be done in a double boiler over simmering water).
Pour half the beetroot mixture into prepared pan. Add the white chocolate mixture in one layer then top with remaining beetroot mixture. Swirl a knife through the brownie to roughly combine the layers. Dot raspberries across the top.
Bake for 50 minutes – the brownie should still be just slightly wobbly in the middle. Remove from oven and allow to cool then cover and refrigerate 5 hours, overnight if possible.
Dust with cocoa powder if desired and cut into small pieces to serve. Brownie is best stored in the fridge, where it will keep for several weeks (if you can resist it that long!).
Makes a 24 x 30cm brownie
Edibles
Folding broccoli and cauliflower leaves back over the top of the heads protects the heads from rain damage – and from being eaten by birds (and, fingers crossed, from rats, rabbits and possums).
Sprout (aka chit) new season seed potatoes ready for planting in August or September.
Cut down and dig in green manures to give them plenty of time to break down by spring planting time.
If the soil clings to your boots when you walk on it then rule of thumb is that it is too wet to work – doing so many damage its structure, so best hold off till it dries a bit.
Plant strawberries in all but the most frost-prone zones.
Prune grapes and kiwifruit vines, and autumn-fruiting raspberries.
Plant deciduous fruit trees.
Rose pruning
Roses may be pruned in all but the coldest districts when the prudent may hold off till August.
All roses can be pruned in winter – except banksias, climbing roses and those old-fashioned varieties which are not repeat flowerers. These are best pruned after flowering.
While pruning is not vital (consider how well they grow in the wild), nor an exact art (I have known roses to be pruned annually with a chainsaw to no detriment), they generally flower better after it, as the trimming stimulates new growth.
Arm yourself with protective gloves, clean sharp secateurs and saw before you begin pruning.
Aim for an open bush – remove weak, spindly, criss-crossing or dead stems. Then cut remaining stems back to a few buds above where last year’s growth began, ensuring the top bud faces outwards.
Once you have pruned to your satisfaction, spray the whole rose, as well as the soil beneath it, with lime sulphur to help to remove rose scale from the stems and destroy fungal spores in the soil.
Ornamentals
With few flowers in the garden now, it may be time to plant some shrubs for their beautiful winter stems, such as some of the dogwoods.
Cornus alba, aka the red-barked dogwood, has brilliant autumn leaves which drop to reveal fiery red stems. Cut back each year, the shrub will provide a mass of stems for a splendid display both indoors and out. Also notable are Cornus sericea and Cornus sanguinea. Plant roses.
Add compost or manure to garden beds – especially where greedy (or gross as they are called) feeders are to grow – the likes of sweet peas, dahlias and stock.
In most areas it is too cold to sow sweet peas directly into the soil outside, so start them off in pots under cover or in a heated glasshouse.
– Mary Lovell-Smith