Carefree days with my daughter, Lucy and partner John, in the Dordogne in France many years ago – only virtually seeing her this Mother’s Day
Mother’s Day is coming up on Sunday. It will be different for everyone this year. Many families are in different locations, or separated by social distancing. It’s always a tough day for me with my lovely daughter Lucy in Singapore with her family, and we lost my son suddenly just over nine years ago to Acute Myleoid Leukaemia. They would always make a fuss of me with breakfast in bed. My favourite memory was when they were little. I was a single Mum by then, and they brought me breakfast in bed – a flower from the garden, a peeled mandarin decoratively placed around a plate, vegemite on toast and lukewarm coffee. They had made it from the hot tap in the kitchen as they were too young to be allowed to use the kettle on their own. It remains one of my greatest feasts and wonderful memories.
This year it will be so different for many. I have written a blog with some ideas and recipe for How to make it a memorable Mother’s Day. However you mark it, hold your family close, either physically or methaphorically. I know I will. I was also interviewed by Zomato Sydney about Mother’s Day and you can read the interview here and find some of my recipes here.
L: with my late mother, Isabel, at a Mother’s Day lunch at David Jones, in the late 80s or early 90s; R with my late son Blair in the Corinth Canal during the filming of Lyndey & Blair’s Taste of Greece
Now read on or scroll down, remember there’s something for everyone in this newsletter wherever you are in the world.
Facebook Live
Spiced Rib Eye with Quinoa and Stinging Nettle Salad
Baking is all the rage, as long as you can get flour, so I thought I would share some bread recipes with you. this one is a real winner, it is my No Knead Bread with Olive Oil and Chorizo. Foolproof and guaranteed to please.
Or for something which goes the usual route with kneading this Fig, Fennel and Hazelnut Breadis really very lovely. I have been testing to come up with an Easy Homemade Bread for the July/August issue of Selector Magazine and now have a mixer with s dough hook which has really come in handy. You can alway prove (let your bread rise) and prepare the dough in a Thermomix if you have one. Banana Bread is always a winner. Or for something sweeter try my Pear & Gingerbread Loaf with Pear Crisps. To learn more about bread, and a fascinating segment on my TV series Baking Secrets, you can read Bread. Memories and Classes.
Here is a collection of 20 Bread Recipes for Beginner Bakers from Taste of Home.
And, if you can’t buy yeast, here is my simple recipe for Soda Bread Soda Bread
In Ireland soda bread is traditionally made with wholemeal flour, though the soda also helps give a brown colour as well as being the raising agent.
Makes 1 loaf
Preparation: 10 minutes
Cooking: 35-40 minutes
2 2/3 cup (400g) wholemeal flour
1/2 cup (75g) plain white flour, preferably unbleached
1 level teaspoon bicarbonate of soda or baking soda
1 level teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1¾ cups (425ml) buttermilk, more or less
Sesame seeds
1. Preheat oven to 220’C (200’C fan-forced). Oil or grease one loaf tin 23 x 12.5 x 5cm.
2. Combine the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt in a large bowl and mix well. Whisk egg in a jug and mix with wet ingredients. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture and pour the milk and egg mixture into the flour.
3. Mix well, adding more milk if dough is a bit dry. It should be soft and slightly sloppy. Pour into the oiled tin, sprinkle sesame seeds on top.
4. Bake for around 35-40 mins or until the bread is brown and crusted and sounds hollow when tapped. Leave to cool on a wire rack or eat immediately. Best eaten the same day.
Lyndey’s Note: Do not over mix the dough. Mix it as quickly and gently as possible, thus keeping it light and airy.
My Soda Bread, part of a feature I did for Selector Magazine May- June 2017. Photography Brett Stevens
Radicchio, Purple, Carrots in all colours and Desiree potatoes
Recipe of the week
Burnt Carrot Salad
Burnt Carrot Salad
This is a little something I whipped up for lunch this week.
Serves: 2 Preparation: 5 – 10 minutes
Cooking: 7 or 35 minutes depending on cooking method
1/4 cup (60ml) extra virgin olive oil
1 bunch baby carrots, scrubbed, sliced lengthways
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds (optional)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 handfuls mixed salad leaves
100g feta cheese, crumbled Vinaigrette
1 lemon, zested and juiced
1/2 teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Heat BBQ on high, preheat oven to 180Ç fan-forced or heat a large heavy frying pan on high heat for 3-4 minutes.
Toss carrots in 1 tablespoon (20ml) oil, cumin, salt and pepper. either place in a lined baking tray and cook for 30 – 35 minutes, or place on the BBQ or in covered pan for 6-7 minutes, turning after 4 – 5 minutes, until soft and charred around the edges
Meanwhile, whisk together vinaigrette ingredients with remaining 2 tablespoons (40ml) oil.
Divide salad leaves between two plates, top with hot carrots, drizzle with vinaigrette and scatter over the feta.
Carrots are right in season in Australia, and coming into season in the UK.
The carrot, with its distinctive bright orange colour, is one of the most versatile root vegetables because of its sweet flavour, and versatility, being used raw or cooked, in sweet or savoury dishes.
Up to the Middle Ages, all carrots were purple – the orange variety was first developed in 16th-century Holland by patriotic growers who bred it in tribute to the king, William I of Orange. Now, what are called heirloom carrots come in many colours – white, orange, yellow and purple.
That old wive’s tale about carrots helping you see in the dark isn’t entirely crazy; they’re very high in beta-carotene, which is an important nutrient for maintaining healthy eyes.
Selecting Carrots should be firm with unblemished, bright orange skins. In spring, look out for young, thin carrots with their feathery greens still attached – they’re particularly tender and sweet and are also edible.
Those on sale later in the season will be larger and tougher.
Preparing
Very young carrots just need to be scrubbed clean and topped and tailed. Older carrots may need to be be peeled (but try not to take too much off, as most of the nutrients are stored just beneath the skin) as well as topped and tailed.
Storing
Baby carrots will store in plastic or in produce bags in the crisper of the fridge for 3 – 4 days. Large carrots will last 7 – 10 days. Before storing Dutch or baby carrots, remove the tops.
On location at Bonnie Beef in the hinterland of the Sunshine Coast filming Lyndey & Herbie’s Moveable Feast
Take one 1961 convertible EK Holden, stir in a snippet of home-cook hero and a dollop of spice expert, set on the road to foodie heaven and voila – Lyndey & Herbie’s Moveable Feast. We’re back on SBS Food TODAY Saturday 9 May, a double episode from 6.30 – 7.30pm.
Find Lyndey & Herbie’s Moveable Feast recipes here.Many of my other shows are on Amazon Prime and other VOD sites, so it doesn’t matter where in the world you are. Here are all my titles available on Amazon Prime.
Enjoy!
When it’s all over … Come Travelling with me in 2021
L: Stunning Alberobello and R: colourful tajines in Morocco
MY HOSTED TOURS RETURN IN 2021
While I sadly had to postpone my wonderful culinary tours this year, we now have dates for next yet. Many more details to come, but I wanted to give you, my subscribers the first heads up. The brochures and final costs have not yet been finalised, and although it is too soon to be thinking about travelling overseas again, here are the dates: Culinary Adventures in Puglia and Basilicata: 10-16 October 2021 This will be similar to the one planned this year.
Morocco culinary tour approx 13 – 25 May – some information here.
Coming Up Next Week
With my friend, colleague and fellow ambassador for Cure Cancer, Michele Chevalley Hedge
First up next week, is International Hummus Day on 13 May. Find out more here.
I’ll be doing batch cooking to help you out in the kitchen, so look out on social media for that.
Most importantly, you too can be part of The World’s Biggest Virtual BarbeCURE next Saturday May 16. It’s all for Cure Cancer.
Everyone loves a barbecue – It’s a quintessential part of our way of life – so why not do one in the comfort
your own home while we are all in isolation and bring everyone together online around the BBQ.
We are asking every Australian to turn on their BBQ at home and bring together their friends, family and loved ones online for the Biggest Virtual BarbeCURE to fund some of the World’s Brightest Cancer Researchers and break the World Record. To get involved:
Join our Biggest Virtual BarbeCUREon May 16, and invite your friends, family and loved ones to our Facebook event.
Post a photo of your BBQ on our Facebook event page, donate $10, tag your friends and family and spread the word #biggestvirtualbarbecure #bbqsgalore #curecancer #bbqforaustralia Only $5 will get you a copy of Michele Chevalley Hedge and my Make It On a Barbecure Cookbook here.
I’ll be doing a Facebook Live sometime on the day, so look out on social media for details.
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