PICNIC

The weather has been good, warm, sunny and it is dry with a cool breeze which is very pleasant to be outdoors.  Walking and visiting parks is fun, it is the perfect time of the year for picnics and don't forget to take along the picnic basket.  We could do so much to fill it, from savoury food, fresh fruits, salad, drinks to sweets.

Ideas or suggestion as for what types of food that are suitable for picnics with easy preparation and transportation.

My Picnic Basket': Susy Meatloaf, Crispy pastry with cheese and spinach, herb bread and more. Also, lumpia basah, nasi goreng, arem arem for Javanese flavour.  Fresh fruits: watermelon, oranges and all fruits in season.  Coffee or tea for hot, water or juice for cold drinks.

Cooking and Preparations

Susy Meatloaf

Meat Loaf with Fresh Herbs

The meatloaf is delicious to be served hot or room temperature.  Slice, have it with herb bread and a salad.  On the day you cook it, serve it warm, but it is excellent to be served cold too.

Another food that is suitable to be taken away for eating outdoors is pastry dishes, such as pies. Cold pie with raised pastry is excellent for a picnic.  I have a pastry dish that is easy to prepare, which is spinach and cheese in a crispy pastry.

Crispy Pastry

Spinach and cheese in crispy pastry

Using Susy water pastry. Fill and spread the mixture of cooked spinach ( I used Swiss rainbow chard of my garden) with cheeses ( tasty and Parmesan ) between the layers of the pastry. You could use Feta cheese instead of ricotta.

The two dishes: meatloaf and the spinach and cheese, are served for ten people.  It is good cooking for a family of six to eight.

The Fresh Fruits:  fresh apples, bananas and pears, I would take them as they are, but for watermelons and oranges I would clean, peel, cut and slice then keep the fruit in a proper airtight container.

single or mini herb breads

The herb bread: what you need are self-raising flour, mixed herbs, butter, egg and sour cream,  It is the same preparation as making scone, so this bread will take you about 35 minutes for the prep and the baking.  Not bad !!! Individual herb bread is handy too.
While you are baking this bread, you could prepare a quick cake mix for the sweet.  Do we need sweets for a picnic? Why not, it is good to go with the coffee.  More reasons for having a long walk after the food, or as a treat that can be looked forward to after the activities. Apple, pear quick mix cakes are tasty.

Salads: 
Cos lettuce is the best, as it is perfect in transportation, which is better than butter lettuce as it is too delicate.

Tomatoes are always good, but I would take it as they are, slice before serving and take along the dressing that you like.

Indeed, at a picnic, we tend to eat extra, but the activities that we do will help to consume good food.

A long time ago, my family was taken to a picnic at the Glenelg beach in Adelaide by our friends, the Ferrarrettos.  Lena baked pizza the night before, and she took the pizza for the picnic.   I remember vividly that she said, cold pizza is delicious, it is good to have it for a picnic, and it is OK that we eat more.

Susy Pizza

I bake the pizza with little topping, and also I use a variety of cheeses.  This pizza has Feta cheese instead of Mozzarella.

To many toppings make the pizza soggy with a soft crust.  A good pizza should have crusty edging and delicious but simple topping.

Sliced Susy ' Arem Arem '

Other cold food that is good for a picnic is nasi goreng,
a good taste from Java.  It is good to eat at room temperature.  A better Javanese food that is practical for picnics is 'are arem', it is rice rolls stuffed with spicy meat or vegetables.  Prepare the night before, eat cold or room temperature.

No, I have no recipe for you this time.

Shredded omelette to garnish for Nasi goreng

Lumpia basah (recipe in an older post) is pancake rolls with mixed vegetables filling.  Two of my favourite food from Java that is easily prepared the night before, and are an excellent food for picnics, but the nasi goreng has to be reheated into the warmish stage; otherwise, the taste won't be as good.

A lot of preparation when you think of it, but going out for a picnic it can be comfortable too.  Fill the picnic basket with bread rolls, sandwiches, biscuits, fresh fruits and a thermos of hot drink.  That will do.

I would pack sandwiches with a lot of herbs, they are very refreshing.  Particularly nasturtium flowers, have them as mouth cleanser, but also they are healthy and taste great.

Another meatloaf is meatloaf with mushrooms.  Little preparation was only and inexpensive.

Meatloaf with mushrooms

Ingredients
350 g mincemeat (chicken. pork or beef)
1 cup mashed potato
1 egg
Salt and spices: pepper, nutmeg, onions, parsley and salt
2 tablespoon olive oil
250 g large mushrooms, sliced
1 egg for egg wash
Butter (softened) for the mushrooms
For cooking: foil and baking paper (45cm x 30cm) each piece



Method
Preheat the oven to 185 degrees C (a fan-forced oven)

Place all the ingredients in a large bowl, mix them together to combine.  Gather it and shape into a fat sausage.  Keep aside.  Butter the baking paper and place it on top of the foil, place the sliced mushroom neatly to make the same size as the meat sausage mix.

Lay the meat on top which has been brushed entirely with egg wash.  Place some sliced mushrooms on top, and brush or smear with softened butter. Roll the foil over to enclose the mushrooms and the meat entirely.  Put it on a baking tray and bake in the preheated oven for 33-35 minutes
Take it out let it rest on the baking tray, open then transfer to a dish to cool.
Sliced to serve.
A delicious meatloaf for a family meal, and it is good to be taken away for a picnic, serve hot, cold or room temperature.
** Basically it is meat mixture with sliced mushrooms which is cooked and baked wrapped in foil.

My other meatloaf is the meatloaf which is baked in a dish as the picture at the very top.
These what you need: baking dish, use a baking tin if you don't have the dish, baking paper.  The ingredients are minced beef, couscous, vegetables-diced carrots and peas.  Oil, egg, salt, herbs and spices.  Nuts for the topping.

Susy Meatloaf

Ingredients
300 g good quality minced beef
1 cup cooked couscous
1/2 cup cooked peas
1 large carrot, peeled and diced
1 large onion, peeled and diced thinly
1 egg
Mixed dried herbs: rosemary, bay leaf powder, paprika
1 tablespoon almond flakes
2 tablespoons olive oil
Method
Preheat oven 175 degrees C (fan forced)
Line the baking tin or dish with baking paper
Place all ingredients in a large bowl, mix them together, add salt to taste.
Spoon the meat mixture onto the prepared tin, or a baking dish with a lid. Spread the mixture evenly.
Sprinkle the almond flakes on top, press slightly.  Cover with the lid or cover the tin with aluminium foil.
Bake in the oven for 45 minutes.

Susy Simple Meatloaf

 Sliced Meatloaf to Serve

I think my Picnic Basket is acceptable.  You could do more, food that is good to be eaten at room temperature and easy to be transported is the best for a picnic.  There is a lot of them, the choice is yours.
Obviously, you could take a bottle of wine if you wish; however, you must remember that
the non-alcohol drinker has to drive you home.

Going out for a picnic is fun, fill the basket with goodies that you have and also a short distance trip is better, you will get there sooner and enjoy the outing.
Make the best of the lovely weather, have a good time to be outdoors, spending quality time with family and friends.


Added pictures of  Susy 'Arem Arem' today 10-12-2013


Until Next Post
Thanks for visiting
Susy

SHARING

Broad Beans
In our club, we often share what we harvest from the garden, from lemons, pears, kumquats and other fruits to vegetables, such as squash, silverbeet to broad beans.
Last Thursday I went home from the club with these fresh broad beans from Oliver's garden, they were enough for the two of us.

Picture - Courtesy of Wiki

Preparing broad beans is a labour of love; first you have to peel them from the pods, then you must peel the membrane to get the gorgeous green beans.  It can be tedious, but it is worth it.
These beans are delicious steamed, sauteed with oil or butter or if they were very young broad beans, you can simply blanch them in hot water, dress them with oil afterwards.   From here use the broad beans as you wish, they can be for a salad, or mix with other vegetables and so forth.

Leftover beef for the love of salads

In My Kitchen

Preparation for The Broad Beans

I thought the broad beans will be delicious to mix into my beef salad for our dinner.  I have to honour these fresh home grown vegetables.  The family is not very keen with broad beans, but I am sure they will enjoy the leftover roast beef salad.

Other vegetables which complement the beef are asparagus stalks, lettuces-cos and butter.  I also add fresh mixed herbs and thinly sliced shallot. The beef salad was dressed in lemon, mustard and olive oil.

Roast Beef and Vegetable Salad Garnished with Broad Beans.

The salad was served with turmeric rice, it looked good, and it's delicious.  You could enjoy it with crusty baked rolls if you wish to.

Turmeric rice with Roast Beef Salad garnished with Broad Beans.

I don't think that you need the recipe to prepare the salad, it is very straightforward.  Improvise, my idea of sharing is that broad beans can be made simply but so good.

Using leftover roast is easy enough, slice thinly for sandwich filling, also for a mixed salad,  and chop finely for pie filling.  If we are creative enough, we can use the leftover meat for other hot dishes, such as a stew or a pie. 

Nasturtium in my garden has been great, the flowers are so bright,  it lights up the place.  They are pretty to look at and also they are suitable for salads and garnishes.
Beautiful pictures of nasturtium in my backyard, exceptionally healthy plants with a lot of flowers. I could not help myself to use this beauty in my cooking.

The other day I cooked the leaves with a little water, then transferred to cold water.  It stayed green, looked so fresh and appetising.  The cooked nasturtium was dressed with olive oil, salt and lemon juice, garnished with the boiled broad beans if you wish.  The salad is delicious to be served with double cooked beef.

Cooking the Nasturtium Leaves and the Flowers

 The cooked nasturtium leaves dressed with olive oil and lemon juice

Sharing ideas about using leftover roast beef for a hot meal is so practical, comfortable and yet very fast to prepare.

Double Cooked Beef

Using a cold roast beef, slice the meat thinly, dip into nasturtium batter, fry in shallow oil until golden brown.

Here, I am trying to share about fresh is best, a celebration of fresh produce of the backyard garden.  Also, make the best of a leftover to become new dishes which are easy to prepare but delicious.

With extra effort, broad beans can make the dish a winner, I won't' be surprised if the family decided to love them since I served the salad.  As for nasturtium, however, the preparation may be, it's always welcome to us.

If you are lucky enough to have nasturtium in your garden, now you could prepare the batter and use it to fry any meat or vegetables that you like, such as chicken fillets, fish, cauliflower, celery, eggplant etc.

Sharing Recipes

Batter with Nasturtium
1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 cup water
1 small egg and a pinch of salt
some chopped nasturtium leaves and the flowers
Mix all ingredients together to make a thick batter.  You can add Parmesan cheese if you wish.
Happy Cooking and Have Fun!


Sharing - Baking
Baking is one of a big part in my cooking for the family, and sometimes I share the baking of the day with our club. The last one was the humble date, scones.  Date scone is sweet but healthy enough to serve with tea or coffee after playing a sport.

I was also glad that the scone brought back Lyn's memory of a baking lesson when she was at school awhile ago.  She told me it's nice to know.

To serve my date scones, the rustic date scones, simply cut in half and butter.

It can be a family treat, especially after you had a long walk or hard work in the garden.

Bake before you do the activities.

For variation, and thought of people who don't eat sweets, my savoury scones were also appreciated.

Preparation and Dressed Savoury Herb and Sundried Tomato Scones

The Recipe For The Date Scones

Susy Rustic Date Scone

Makes 20

Ingredients

flour, butter and dates

4 1/2 cups self - rising flour

Extra four for kneading

1 tablespoon white caster sugar

175 g, seeded dates, chopped

100 g unsalted butter

Extra butter to serve the scones

2 cups milk and 1egg lightly beaten

Extra flour for kneading.

Method

Preheat the oven to 225 degrees C (a fan forced furnace)               

milk and egg mixture

Rub the butter to flour

Rub the chopped date with some of the flour

Add in the sugar, the time onto the flour mix and mix together

Stir in the lightly beaten egg and milk mixture

Mix together quickly

Rub your hands with some of the flour, take the dough and Transfer it onto a floured board.  Knead and roll lightly, shape it into rectangular with the same thickness

Dip a sharp knife into flour, cut the dough onto 20 squares

Put them on a lined baking tray, bake in the preheated oven for 11 minutes

Take the scones out of the oven, and leave them on the baking tray for 5 minutes

Transfer the scones on a cooling tray, and when they are cold, split each scone onto two, butter them to serve. 

Forget about scone cutters for this rustic date scone, use a sharp knife dip in flour to cut the dough, it is quick to do, not to much mess and no waste.

Scone freezes well, do in the same day of the baking.  I do it sometime, particularly for the savoury scones,  thaw as you need it, and serve at once.



The other day Alistair shared a lot of fruit cans for the club, we were not there, but he thought of us.  We got them too,  only yesterday, they were peaches and pears, thanks, Al.


Sharing and being with people and friends is great, we all are good at it and loving it.

Today,  the second day of Summer, lovely and warm, a fun time at the table tennis with bonus-freshly grown broad beans from Irene.  Thank you.


It is going to be a delicious dinner for us tonight.





Thank You for Visiting
Until Next Post
Susy

Fruit Trees

Pomegranate
After a long wait, the pomegranate tree is flowering.  I have to admit though, last year I saw one flower, but it did not stay, the flower fell off the tree, that's the end of it.  But this year the tree has a few buds, I am very excited, I know that pomegranate flower is so pretty.

Pomegranate Tree

I planted it six years ago, it was a gift from my daughter Melanie, she will be glad about it. The tree has settled and grown well, I won't be surprised if I could harvest the fruits this year.


Nectarine-Apple
Other trees, the nectarine and apple trees are fruiting.  Rayner is so happy about his apple tree, the tree is doing better than last year's, we will have more apples,  he said.  But the nectarine just has enough fruits.

Nectarine - Apple Tree

Figs
The latest fruit tree that I planted was a brown turkey fig, and now it is fruiting.  I did not believe what I saw, they are a few baby fruits on it, especially it is a tiny potted fig tree.

Potted Brown Turkey Fig

The fruits are so small, but indeed they are fruits.  I will keep you informed, next time you will see real fig fruits.

The other potted fig is looking great, it is getting bigger,  and also has a few small fruits, these are the green fig fruit with pink inside.

The Large Potted Fig

Olive Tree
There won't be any olives this year, it is good to have a break from the harvest and preserving.

The Olive Tree

Citrus Trees

Other fruit trees are citruses which are doing alright, mainly the Tahitian lime, it has millions, but the mandarin has only a few.  Last but not least is the Lisbon lemon,  it has some, it is a new plant, within a few years when the tree is mature then it will bear more fruits.

Tahitian Lime- Loads of Fruits

The Lisbon Lemon

On the other hand, two ornamental fruit trees the twin crab apples are having a rest this year, I don't know what happened to them, they had loads of flowers but no fruits at all.  At present, the trees look very slim after they were pruned.

Crabapple Tree

The Twin Crabapple Trees 

 

The twin crabapple trees are our ornamental trees from which we get the enjoyment out of the beautiful flowers and cute small red fruits.  It is a fantastic view when they are in flowers, they are pretty and pink, dropping down like curtains dividing the place.


Having fruit trees is a lot of work for all gardeners.  They need regular care, such as fertilising, pruning, and watering during the hot season, also when they are fruiting, the trees need special protection from the birds.  However, the discipline and hard work pay off with the fresh fruits.  It Is Worth It.

All these fruit trees are growing in our backyard, and they are protected by the green wall - the tall hedges.  Recently the gardener came to trim them about one meter off for easy maintenance, it took him a whole day to do it.  I got used to it already, I am quite happy to see that the fruit trees are still shorter than the hedges-the green wall, the fruit trees are safe.

This year is not a drought year in Australia, I hope all gardeners have an easy time and better harvests.  Enjoy!




Thanks for Visiting
Until Next Post
Susy