LAVENDER BISCUITS.

I love the lavender bush, the lavender flower, flavour and aroma. Some years ago, I introduced lavender sugar to the required list of ingredients for the 'country' cooking class where we prepared these biscuits. We made our own lavender sugar .....Place 20 lavender blossoms in a medium sized jar and fill with castor sugar, stir through the blossoms. Cover with a lid and leave for 14 days, shaking the jar every couple of days. Ingredients.......125 gm of butter / marg, 175 gm of plain floiur, 75 gm of lavender sugar, 1 tsp of dried lavender, chopped, 1 tsp of vanilla extract, 50 gm of dark chocolate, melted. Preheat your oven to 200 deg C. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Rub the butter / marg into the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the lavender sugar, dried , chopped lavender, vanilla extract and knead to a smooth dough. Roll out thinly on a lightly floured surface and cut into rounds with a biscuit cutter. place on the prepared baking tray. Bake in the preheated oven for 12 minutes or until golden. Cool on the tray for 2 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Finally drizzle with the melted chocolate. Share and enjoy. If you like and enjoy the flavour and aroma of rosemary, you can prepare rosemary biscuits easily by replacing rosemary flowers and rosemary for the lavender in the recipe above.

CARROT, APPLE AND ORANGE COLESLAW.

Ingredients...350 gm of grated carrot, 2 apples, 1 tbs of lemon juice, 1 large orange, peeled and segmented. Ingredients for the dressing.....2 tbs of olive oil, 4 tbs of canola oil, 3 tbs of lemon juice, 1 tbs of minced garlic, 4 tbs of natural yoghurt, 1 tbs of dried Italian mixed herbs, cracked black pepper to taste. Place the grated carrots in a large serving bowl. Quarter the apples, remove the core from each wedge and then slice thinly. Sprinkle the apples with the lemon juice to prevent discolouration, then add the apples to the carrots with the orange segments. To prepare the dressing....Place the oils, lemon juice and garlic in a jar with a tight fitting lid and shake vigorously. Add the remaining ingredients and shake again. Just before serving, pour the dressing over the salad and toss well.

PISSALADIERE.

Ingredients....1 and 1/4 sheets of puff pastry, 3 tbs of oil, 2 large onions, thinly sliced, 1 tbs of minced garlic, 5 tomatoes, sliced, 25 gm of dried thyme, 1 dsp of brown sugar, cracked black pepper to taste, 1 dsp of dried rosemary, 125 gm of anchovies, whole or sliced black olives to decorate. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Preheat your oven to 200 deg C. Place the pastry sheet on the lined baking tray, cut 4 small strips from the 1/4 sheet of puff pastry and set aside. Refrigerate till required. Heat the oil in a large frying pan ad the onions and cook over a high heat, stirring to prevent burning. Add the garlic, thyme, sugar and cracked black pepper. Continue cooking till the onions begin to caramelise. Sprinkle the base of the pastry with the dried rosemary, border the dough with the pasrty strips. Now spread the onion mixture over the dough and top with the sliced tomatoes. Season with the cracked pepper. Arrange the anchovies over the tomatoes in a lattice pattern and fill the diamonds shapes with the sliced olives. Place in the preheated oven and cook for 25 / 30 minutes until golden and the edges pufffed. If you are not a fan of anchovies or olives, cover the tomatoes with salami slices and strips of cheese. Enjoy...

SPICED RED FRUIT COMPOTE.

Ingredients.....4 ripe red plums, halved, 2 cups of fresh strawberies, halved, 1 and 3/4 of a cup of fresh raspberries, 2 tbs of muscovado sugar, 2 tbs of cold water, 1 cinnamon stick, 6 cloves, 3 pieces of star anise, Greek style yoghurt to serve. Place all the ingredients, except the yoghurt into a large saucepan. Heat gently, without boiling, until the sugar dissolves and the fruit juices run. Turn the heat down to low and cover the saucepan for 5 minutes to allow the fruit to infuse. Remove the spices from the compote before serving. Serve warm or cold with yoghurt. Delicious.

SPICED BEEF ROLL WITH FRIED ORANGE SLICES.

Ingredients.....1 shoulder of beef, boned, 1 cup of breadcrumbs, 1 dsp of raisins, grated rind of of one orange, 1 dsp of Italian herb mix, 4 tbs of butter / marg, plus 5 extra pieces, 1 dsp of chopped onion, cracked black pepper and a sprinkle of salt, 1 tsp of ground allspice, orange juice. Ingredients for the fried orange slices....2 oranges, 1 tsp of ground allspice, 1/4 of a cup of castor sugar, butter / marg for frying. Preheat your oven to 180 deg C. Grease a roasting pan with cooking oil spray. Mix together the breadcrumbs, raisins, orange rind, herbs, butter / marg pieces and onion. Season with a sprinkle of salt and cracked pepper. Roll the meat up with the stuffing in the centre, secure with kitcken string and rub the surface with the 2 tbs of butter / marg and sprinkle over the tsp of allspice. Place the roll in the prepared roasting pan with 4 tbs of butter/ marg and the orange juice of the grated orange. Bake in the preheated oven for one hour, basting occasionally, if the liquid reduces too quickly, add a little water. The beef will be cooked when the juices run clear when tested with a skewer. Serve with the fried orange slices.....Cut the ends from the ends of the oranges. Slice the oranges into thin rounds and cover both sides with a mixture of sugar and allspice. Melt a little butter / marg in a large frying pan over a medium heat and fry the coaated orange slices in it, turning until the rinds are lightly browned.

HUMMINGBIRD CAKE.

The hummingbird cake is a light, sweet fruit cake. It originates from Jamaica and was known as 'Doctor Bird Cake'. In 1978 a recipe was published by Mrs L.H. Wiggins from South America for Hiummingbird cake and her recipe includes 100 gm of granulated nuts. Ingredients.....450 gm can of crushed pineapple in syrup, 1 cup of plain flour, 1/2 cup of self raising flour, 1/2 tsp of bi carb of soda, 1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon, 1/2 tsp of ground ginger, 1 cup of firmly packed brown sugar, 1/2 cup of desiccated coconut, 1 cup of mashed overripe bananas ( 2 bananas), 2 eggs, lightly beaten, 3/4 of a cup of canola/ rice bran oil. Cream cheese frosting....30 gm of butter/ marg , softened, 1 tsp of vanilla extract, 1 and 1/2 cups of icing sugar. Preheat your oven to 180 deg C. Line a 23 cm square cake pan with baking paper. Drain the crushed pineapple over a medium bowl, pressing with a spoon to extractas much syrup as possible. Reserve 1/4 of a cup of the syrup. Mix the flours, bi carb of soda, spices and sugar in a large bowl. Use a wooden spoon to to stir in the reserved pineapple syrup, drained pineapple, coconut, mashed banana, beaten eggs and oil. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Leave the cake stand in the pan for 5 minutes before turning out, top side up, onto a wire rack to cool completely. Cream cheese frosting....Beat the butter / marg, cream cheese and vanilla extract in a medium bowl with your electric mixer until light and fluffy. Now gradually beat in the icing sugar. Spread the cold cake with the icing sugar.

TOMATOES FOR THE NEW YEAR.

Ten tomato seedlings were given to me by Jenni and Andrew Booth who propagated them. The seedlings are getting stronger and bigger everyday, each one is tagged and named. I am looking forward to see which variety does well in our local environment. I will plant each seedling out into individual large pots on the traditional day in Victoria to plant out new tomato plants.....the first Tuesday in Novemember, Melbourne Cup day. I grow tomatoes in large pots to compensate for lack of room in the garden, due to my collection of plants, herbs and fruiting trees. I will keep you updated on their growth.