Tag: energy

Winter Tricks In My Kitchen, July 2016

Winter time and the living is – expensive. Electricity prices have increased at nearly four times the rate of inflation over the last 5 years and will probably continue to do so. One solution to the soaring power bills stemming from heating, lighting and the immoderate use of the oven, is to run away to a warmer place, preferably somewhere in Asia, where the living is cheaper and the climate is tropical. Another is to stay cocooned in a doona all day, watching  addictive Icelandic Noir drama series that makes the Australian winter look tropical. Then, like many others, you could traipse around a heated shopping centre all day, drinking coffee and playing with your smart phone. Or you could make a conscious effort to adopt some energy saving routines, at least when it comes to routines in the kitchen. This post is a reminder to myself about energy use.

Foccaccia con Zucca e Cipolle

  • After baking, use the residual heat of the oven to make other basic things for the week.
  • Boiling water is a huge energy waster. Fill up a Chinese thermos with green tea.
  • Always cook too many beans. Finding a stash of pre-cooked cannellini and borlotti beans or chick peas in a zip lock bag in the freezer is like finding a golden nugget. Soup making  becomes a breeze. Two of my winter favourite  bean based soups can be found here and here.
  • Add barley to root vegetable soups. What is it about Barley Soup that warms us up, both physically and emotionally?
  • If you have just split open a large pumpkin and are baking chunks for a recipe, double the quantity and store the leftovers in a covered bowl in the fridge. Stuff the pieces, along with fetta and herbs, into filo pastry triangles, add them to a risotto, use them with cooked lentils in a pastie, or toss them through barley to make a winter salad with spinach and nuts. Or head to Ottolenghi land and make this or this.

    filo pastry with baked pumpkin, goats cheese, herbs, honey drizzle.
    Filo pastry with baked pumpkin, goat’s fetta, herbs, honey drizzle.
  • Always double the pizza dough, whatever quantity you decide to make. Most weeks I make a 500g batch of yeasted pizza dough using this recipe. If the hungry hordes don’t visit, I stretch and shape half the risen dough to make one 35 cm pizza, more than enough for two hungry people, then stash the other half in a zip lock bag in the freezer. Then it’s simply a matter of defrosting the dough, bringing it back to room temperature, and shaping it into a slice baking tin, allowing for another short rise, before dimpling the top with oil, salt and herbs or other leftovers.
Left over dough becomes tomorrow’s foccaccia.

Pumpkin, Red Onion and Sage Foccaccia

  • risen dough, made from 250 gr baker’s white flour
  • EV olive oil
  • one red onion finely sliced
  • 1 cup pre- roasted diced pumpkin
  • sage leaves
  • coarsely ground sea salt

Preheat oven 200 c FF. Oil a small slab tin ( 26 cm X 17 cm) and stretch the dough to roughly fit. Leave for 30 minutes or more, covered with a tea towel. Push the dough into the corners of the tin and using your fingers, make small indentations in the dough to carry the oil and salt. Brush on a generous amount of olive oil, letting it pool a little in the indentations. Spread on the finely cut onions, then the pumpkin, then some sage leaves, then plenty of coarsely ground salt. Bake for around 15 minutes, check on the colour of top and bottom, and cook a further 5 minutes if needed.

This month, Maureen is taking a break from hosting In My Kitchen, but the series still goes on. Below you can find an informal link up to some other IMK posts for this month:

Celia        https://figjamandlimecordial.com/2016/07/01/in-my-kitchen-july-2016/

Amanda http://www.lambsearsandhoney.com/2016/07/in-my-kitchen-july-2016/

Sandra https://pleasepasstherecipe.com/2016/07/01/june-in-my-kitchen/

Fiona http://www.tiffinbitesized.com.au/2016/07/01/in-my-kitchen-july-2016/

Josephine https://napolirestaurantalert.wordpress.com/2016/07/01/in-my-kitchen-july-2016/

Liz    http://www.bizzylizzysgoodthings.com/blog

http://www.bitesizedthoughts.com/2016/07/in-my-kitchen-july-2016.html

Debi https://americanfoodieabroad.wordpress.com/

Johanna http://gggiraffe.blogspot.com.au/2016/07/in-my-kitchen-july-2016.html

Shaheen  http://allotment2kitchen.blogspot.com.au/2016/07/red-lentil-pasta-and-edible-crystals-in.html

Mae http://maefood.blogspot.com.au/2016/07/things-that-give-me-joy-in-my-kitchen.html

Lisa http://www.withafork.com/2016/07/whats-in-my-kitchen-july-2016.html