HEIRLOOM: LASTING LEGACY
EVELYN OLSEN HAD A LIFE RICH IN LOVE, INCLUDING HER FAMILY’S LOVE OF HER RECIPES, BOTH TRADITIONAL AND, LIKE THIS ONE, LESS SO.
Country Style reader Philippa Chalkitis shares tales of her stoic great-grandmother, plus a unique recipe.
got her nickname thanks to a fall. “It was early summer circa 1973,” says her great-granddaughter, Philippa Chalkitis. “My cousin, her first great-grandchild, witnessed it and was greatly concerned. The four-year-old ran over to comfort her, saying: ‘Poor Nana, poor Nana.’” Evelyn had never been a wealthy woman – and so it stuck.
After her mother died when she was 14, Evelyn was left to raise her younger brothers, at one point forced to live in a tent by the railway. Yet she was endowed with enough resilience to recover from these setbacks, and fell in love with Philippa’s great-grandfather when he was driving trains past her humble living space. “Evelyn would place a tin can on a fence post and he would throw lumps of coal to try and knock it off – giving her free coal!”
Thanks to her happy marriage, she enjoyed a large and loving family, with her five children increasing to 15 grandchildren and no fewer than 55 great-grandchildren. They all visited her little flat in Greerton, on the Bay of Plenty in New Zealand’s North Island, and all looked forward to the delicious home-baked bread rolls Evelyn would dish up, slathered with butter and jam.
“My fondest memories are from six years old,” says Philippa, “when I had Poor Nana to myself on weekends or school holidays. We’d walk hand-in-hand down the street to the shops and pop in to the op-shop to pick up a book or trinket. At night after a hearty meal and a game of Yahtzee, I’d fall asleep listening to the sound of her ticking clock.”
Her legacy looms so large in her family’s memory that they keep a Facebook page dedicated to photos and reminiscences of Evelyn, along with her famous recipes. During lockdown in Melbourne, where Philippa now lives, she says, “Like most families, we found the time to slow down, look around and reflect. We whiled away hours recreating Poor Nana’s recipes, all the while retelling stories to my wide-eyed six- and three-year-old children.” Those recipes included this Nuts N Balls recipe, which wasn’t in line with Evelyn’s customary fare. “I found it on the family Facebook page, and it was a recipe I was a bit taken aback by, as it wasn’t quite her usual traditional creation,” explains Philippa. Yet she’s very happy to serve it at her own family gatherings. “This recipe is delicious and moreish, and is always a welcome treat.”
POOR NANA’S NUTS N BALLS
1 cup cashew nuts
1 cup salted peanuts 1 tablespoon curry powder 175g butter
2 tablespoons honey
¾ cup sugar
1 cup cooked popcorn
1 cup of crispy noodles
Lightly crush all nuts.
Place peanuts, curry and 50g of the butter in dish, and cook for 1 hour at 100C in a conventional oven.
Stir honey, sugar and remaining 125g of the butter in a saucepan over low heat until sugar is dissolved.
Remove honey mixture from heat, mix peanuts through.
Pour honey and peanuts over the popped corn, and carefully mix in the crispy noodles.
Work quickly to mould into small balls.
Allow to cool and enjoy the crunch.
SHARE YOUR FAMILY FAVOURITES
Do you have a recipe that has been passed down through generations of your family? Send it to us, along with the story behind it and a photograph of the relative who passed it on. Remember to include a telephone number. Email austcountrystyle@ aremedia.com.au or send a letter to Heirloom Recipe, Country Style, PO Box 4088, Sydney, NSW, 1028.