Cindy’s Cob

Don’t you love those hand written recipes that people give you? This one is from a friend (Cindy obviously). It’s a hit whenever she brings it along, which is most times that she visits – I swear this isn’t the only reason we invite her! It’s impossible to stop eating the retro-goodness until you’ve finished the lot.

The cob has a cult-like following: other friends are now asking me for the recipe – or inviting me along and asking me to bring it (again, hopefully not just for the cob). 

Cindy’s cob

• Large unsliced cob bread loaf
• 250g creamed cheese
• 250g grated cheese
• 250g sour cream
• diced bacon
• shallots

1. Cut a lid in the top of  cob loaf, keep in tact
2. Hollow out the cob. Break bread into bite sized pieces.
3. Combine remaining ingredients in a large bowl*
4. Place mixture inside cob. Put the bread lid back on.
5. Cover loaf with foil.
6. Bake at 180°C for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and stir.
7. Return unwrapped cob and add in the bread pieces. Bake, uncovered, for a further 20 minutes.
8. I think you know what step 8 is.

* If you’re really anxious to get dipping, you can heat this mixture in a microwave and skip steps 5 and 6.

The chicken soup you wish your Mum had made for you

Seven ingredients, infinitely heartwarming

I always heard about how good chicken soup was for you, but our staple as a kid was always pea and ham. Satisfying, but not the soul soothing soup that I want when I’m under the weather (self inflicted or otherwise).

This recipe is adapted from Gourmet Traveller and is exactly the sort of thing I love: a short list of ingredients, easy to make and a blissful broth. I found the original recipe didn’t have as much liquid as I like. Because I usually reheat it, I make it with their recommendation of 3 litres of water and then add boiling water to it when I’m eating the leftovers. The taste is good enough that it isn’t diluted.

Coming out… of the pantry

The Passive Gourmet

I started this blog nearly two years ago. It was what I thought (at the time) would be an exercise in writing that might get the words flowing on my PhD. I was hoping that by doing some writing in an area I was passionate about, it might transfer to an area that I was (at the time) less than passionate about. It didn’t. I lived. I learned.

The Perfect Crime

Believe it or not, avocado is one of Layne's favourite foods

It is the perfect crime. Chocolate cupcakes that have two vegetables cleverly concealed within: avocado and the oft-reviled cauliflower.

I have written about my love of the Deceptively Delicious philosophy and recipes previously. Actually, I’m a raving fan and should be getting a commission on those books!

Let them eat cake

(The then) Miss2 checking out potential birthday cakes

I wrote in my bio that my family doesn’t have any food traditions, but my very young blog is already showing me that we do. Nice!

One of these is I think a very common one in Australia. And that is the Australian Women’s Weekly Birthday Cake Book. I remember looking at this book year-round and agonising over which cake I would have for my next birthday. I’ll have to go through my childhood pics at Mum and Dads and work out what I had. I do recall the piano, the maypole and the blackboard. My soccer mad brother had the soccer field and my sister had the swimming pool several years in a row. My husband’s family had the same book (not surprising, the book has sold half a million copies), and he had the fort multiple times. Apparently we aren’t the only ones: there’s a Facebook group.

Best. Ingredient. Ever.

More passive than passive?

Can you get more passive than passive? Obviously I can!

It’s been 11 months (close enough to round up to a year) since last posted. Why? Well, for one thing, I originally started this blog in hope that it might get my PhD writing juices going. It didn’t, but I’m pleased to say that I attended a wonderful workshop that did. So things were going well. I was cooking, doing a bit of blogging and making some genuine progress on my thesis.

Hugh’s Pear & Almond Cake

I’ve got a bit of a crush on Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.  His River Cottage series’ are just divine. Uplifting.

But the food always seems a bit hard. Even some of the  ingredients that aren’t gathered from a hedgerow are a  bit hard to obtain in regional Australia.

Two Dads’ Chilli Mud Crab

Both my Dad and my Dad-In-Law love Chilli Mud Crab.

The recipes (and their origin) are quite different.

Going all the way with Bread

I have made this basic bread recipe a few times before, but I can’t remember ever having gone all the way.