EASTER

It is all about Easter, I am typing what I have been reading about which I thought it is worth to be shared. Basically, it is only cut and paste from the source.  You may know already everything about Easter and its tradition; however, I thought it is good to broaden our knowledge to learn more.

Easter with Us.
Food-cooking: basically cooking for Easter for me is thanksgiving for family get together, they come home. We are blessed that the children and family are home to celebrate Easter with us.
Religiously:  We celebrate our new life, through sacrifice we are saved, Jesus died for us so we can live. In the Catholic religion, people go to the rituals of Easter from Holy Thursday, Good Friday, to Easter Sunday to commemorate the love of Jesus.
YES, every day is a new day, a new life that we all have to embrace and appreciate,   Sometimes we fall and fail, but we get up to be strong again because we believe in Jesus and believe in the love of our family also in the love of people around us.
  
On Easter Sunday we get together for the celebration with beautiful food to share.  Meat dishes, bread and eggs are on our Menu every Easter.

The menu on One Easter

Roast Lamb

Steamed bread buns and a Rich bread-brioche and chocolate eggs

Fresh Boiled Eggs

Easter food symbolism
Much written about the symbolism/traditions of Easter foods.  These foods work on three levels:

1. Those items related explicitly to Christ (lamb, the 'Lamb of God')
2. Those items traceable to pagan rites of spring (eggs=rebirth, ham=luck, lamb=sacrifice, cake bread=fertility)
3. Modern interpretation & evolutions (candy and toys in fancy baskets)

"Easter foods are primarily those of Easter Sunday, the day on which Jesus rose from the dead, a day of special rejoicing for Christians, who rejoice too at reaching the end of long Lenten fast.  The concept of renewal/rebirth is responsible for the important role played by the egg in Easter celebrations, a role which no doubt antedates Christianity.  There also special foods associated with the other days in the Easter calendar. . . . In Europe, there is a general tradition, not confined to Christians, that Easter is the time to start eating the season's new lamb, which is just coming onto the market then. .. Easter bread, cakes and biscuits are a major category of Easter foods, perhaps especially noticeable in the predominantly Roman Catholic countries of south and central Europe...Traditional bread is laden with symbolism in their shapes, which may make reference to Christian faith. . . In England, bread or cakes flavoured with bitter tansy juice used to the popular Easter foods... Simnel cake has come to be regarded as an Easter speciality, although it was not always so.  The most popular English Easter bread is the hot cross bun..."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson (Oxford University Press: Oxford) 1999 (p.266-7)
(NOTE: This book (any many others) have extensive information about traditional Easter foods.  If you need more information, please ask your librarian to help you find these)

Easter Breakfast with Us 2012

Where did the Easter bunny come from?
"Among the most familiar Easter symbols is the rabbit.  The Easter bunny or rabbit is most likely of pre-Christian origin.  The rabbit was known as an extraordinarily fertile creature, and hence it symbolised the coming of spring.  Although adopted in as several Christian cultures, the Easter  bunny has never received any specific Christian interpretation."
----"Easter."----Encyclopedia of Religion, 2 edition, Lindsay Jones, editor in chief (Thomson Gale: Detroit) 1987, volume 4 (page 2580)

EASTER  EGGS
Eggs are traditionally connected with rebirth, rejuvenation and immortality.  This is why they are often associated with Easter.  On a more practical level? In the new Christian calendar, eggs were forbidden during Lent.  This made them bountiful and exciting forty days later.  Easter eggs are sometimes decorated with bright colours to honour this celebration.  Russian Faberge and Ukrainian Pysanky are two of the most elaborate forms. Conversely, the abstinence of eggs is associated with Lent.
"The Pennsylvania Dutch imported the Oschter Haws, or Easter Hare, who delivered coloured eggs to good children...By the early nineteenth century, entire Pennsylvania Dutch villages would turn out with gaily decorated Easter eggs to play games, including egg-eating contests."
---Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, Andrew F.Smith editor[Oxford University Press: New York] 2004, Volume1 (p.419)

Because the use of eggs was forbidden during Lent, they were brought to the table on Easter Day, coloured red to symbolise the Easter Joy.  This custom is found not only in the Latin but also in the Oriental Churches.  The symbolic meaning of a new creation of mankind by Jesus rose from the dead was probably an invention of later times.  The custom may have its origin in paganism, for a great many pagan traditions, celebrating the return of spring, gravitated to Easter.  The egg is the emblem of the germinating life of early spring. Easter eggs, the children are told, come from Rome with the bells which on Thursday go to Rome and return Saturday morning.  The sponsors in some countries give Easter eggs to their god-children.  Coloured eggs are used by children at Easter in a sort of game which consists of testing the strength of the shells (Kraus, Real-Encyklop die.s.v.Ei).  Both coloured and uncoloured eggs are used in some parts of the United States for this game, known as"egg-picking".  Another practice is the "egg-rolling "by children on Easter Monday on the lawn of the White House in Washington."
-----The Catholic Encyclopedia

On one Easter, I prepared these eggs for my family.

To prepare and to cook the eggs.
It is almost a recipe, but mainly about 'how to do.'
Using fresh eggs,  decorate with fresh herbs before they are boiled.  Attach the fresh leaf-herb or any leaf which has a pretty shape on the egg then wrap it up securely in stocking material.  Boil the eggs in water with onion skins, tea leaves and salt until they are cooked (not soft boiled).  When it is cold, unwrap them, polish the shell with oil and place them on a rack for a while before putting on a basket or serving dish.  They keep well in the refrigerator.



Why do we have Easter egg hunts?
"From very early days the finding of eggs has been identified with riches.  The relationship is readily apparent.  Eggs are a treasure, a bounty of nature, and when hens are unconfined, they deposit these treasures in unexpected places.  To find such a hidden nest before a hen has started to set and incubate the eggs is a perfect analogy to finding the hidden treasure."
----The Chicken Book, Page Smith & Charles Daniel [University of Georgia Press: Athens GA] 2000 (p 166-7)

Easter Egg Hunts 2013

It is fun for us to do Easter egg hunts, especially the children/grandchildren, we do it every year. Last year was raining, the Easter egg hunts took place inside the house, it was fun still. Mary Rose and Thomas were enjoying the pursuits. I remember the end of the hunting vividly,  Mary Rose found a lot, almost filled the basket with chocolate Easter eggs, she was so pleased.

For this year, we are looking forward to having the grandchildren and our children to come home, but Jane's family is not going to be here this year, she will have her Easter with her family in the Netherlands.  We shall miss Jane, her husband Ed and her son Milo.

The family knows what type of cooking I will cook, but dishes from Java are always served to complete the celebration.  To be continued.




Until Next Post
Thanks for Visiting
Susy

Hot Cross Buns

The best Hot Cross Buns in Town, they were soft, served warm and buttered, so delicious. I am proud to say, this is my first attempt to bake the buns.  What you need are right ingredients, plain flour, yeast, sugar, dried fruit, butter, egg, milk and spices, I am sure they are readily available in anyone pantry.

After a few hours working in the garden, I still had more energy to do baking, a simple and healthy pizza for the family dinner, and the hot cross buns that I mentioned before.      

The Pizza

Indeed we had lots of bread tonight but fresh fruits afterwards.

Recipe for you if you wish to try to bake,  it is not hard and is also inexpensive.  In fact, you could bake some batches to freeze to be ready for Easter.

Hot Cross Buns

Ingredients

325 g plain flour
125 g mixed dried fruits
1/3 cup brown sugar
a pinch of salt
1 teaspoon mixed spices (cinnamon, clove and nutmeg)

10 g dried yeast
150 ml warm milk
33 g melted butter
1 egg (lightly beaten)

A paste for the cross
50 g flour
100 ml of water
The glace
2 tablespoon caster sugar
2 tablespoon water
(mix and heat it up until the sugar dissolves)

Method
I use the kitchen aid for mixing.

1. In a small bowl mix the yeast with the warm milk.
2. In a large bowl of the KitchenAid mixer, put the flour, salt, spices, sugar, egg, and melted butter, mix gently and add in the yeast mixture.  Continue mixing for 3 minutes to make a smooth dough,  add in the dried fruits and mix together gently for a few seconds.
3. Take the dough out of the bowl, place on a floured board and knead it until very smooth and elastic about five minutes.  Place the dough on an oiled bowl, cover and put in a warm place to prove until double in bulk, about one hour and a half.
4. Punch the dough down, knead lightly, now the money is ready for shaping.
5. Shape into 10, about 80 g each ball, and place them side by side on buttered pan.
6. Cover with a clean cloth, set aside in a warm place to prove for 45 minutes or until doubled in size
7. To make the paste, and decorate:  mix the flour and water until smooth, place the paste mixture onto a paper bag, cut one corner of it.  Pipe crosses onto the buns.
8. Bake the buns in a preheated oven at 175 degrees C  (fan-forced oven) for 16 minutes
9. Reduce oven to 160 degrees C, and bake for 9 minutes further or until golden brown.
10. (please adjust the temperature of the oven as every oven is different)
11. Transfer the buns to a wire rack, glace the buns with the sugar glaze while the buns are still warm.    Now you have 10 glossy hot cross buns to enjoy.

The Baking

Pipe crosses onto the buns before baking (sorry no photo).  Freshly baked hot cross buns.

 Glace the buns while they are warm, then transfer onto a wire rack to cool.

The Presentation and Serving

Soft, Sticky and Glossy Hot Cross Buns

It is worth the trouble if it is.  Believe you me, it is easily achievable.  The other day Rayner did research about hot cross buns in our town, which bakery offers the best hot cross buns?.  He found it, but it is somewhere in Melbourne.  I thought . . . . . Forget it!!! It is not our town, in fact, we have to drive to go there and it will take us tow hours.

For that reason, he made me try to bake the buns myself, and I did it. I believe it is the best hot cross buns in town.  I think Rayner was pleased for me, and he loved the buns too.

Phillipa's hot cross buns are available in Traralgon, but they are far too expensive for me.  We are happy enough with our own baking, and we could enjoy them while the buns were warm, freshly baked in our kitchen and even better as they cost nothing, I got all ingredients from our pantry.

Enjoy the recipe to try and happy baking.

Until Next Post

Thanks For Visiting

Susy

No Meat-Meatless

Enough is enough, we have been overeating meat, I think it is time to have a rest from it.  No meat for lunches and dinners or at least meatless.  Here are a few meatless dishes from my kitchen, which are delicious and some of their recipes.

Mix Vegetable Pancake

Ideally, I should cook vegetable dishes substantially this week, and no extra food intake.  For lunch today I cooked mix vegetable pancake based on bakwan - deep-fried vegetables (Javanese cooking), instead of frying in deep hot oil, I pan fried with very little fat.
Put the mixed vegetables mixture (cabbage, celery, mung beans, flour, egg mix them together) onto hot fry pan with a little oil and cover, cook for 7 minutes over a low heat, then turn it over to cook the other side for 7 minutes, cover!,  after that bring the fire onto high heat and cook for a minute. It is cooked now,  leave it in the pan with the cover on for a few minutes longer.  Serve hot.

Vegetable Pancake cut into Wedges

You may want to cook this dish, here is the shopping list: cabbage, celery, mung beans, egg, flour and oil.  However, you could use any vegetables that you like.

Susy Pan fry bakwan (Pan fry mixed vegetable pancake)

The ingredients:

2 cups shredded cabbage

1/2 cup chopped celery and also the leaves

1/2 cup mung beans

1/2 cup plain flour

1 egg and salt to taste

1 tablespoon olive oil for pan frying

(Mix all the above ingredients together, you will have a sticky mixture) 

Bakmi Goreng Pasar

Bakmi Goreng is stir-fried noodles Javanese style,  often they are added with sliced meat and eggs.  Bakmi Goreng Pasar, is a simple version of it, with no meat and it is sold in the market places. There are two types of noodles for bakmi Pasar, egg noodles and rice noodles.

Noodles are one of my favourite foods, I could enjoy the very most ordinary dish of noodles and also the luxurious/fancy one; usually it has meat, egg and seafood.

Bakmi Goreng Pasar using rice noodles.

Bakmi  garnished with stuffed mushrooms

This bakmi goreng is the Pasar version with the twist, as I added sliced stuffed mushrooms for the garnish.  No, it is not very traditional.   But the flavour of truffle is good for the dish.

You can add any of your favourite vegetables or meat in bakmi.  The flavour is yours.

Rich bread for a treat.

Often I bake bread for the family, especially bread that is hard to get in the shops.  Brioche, we love brioches.   

Stuffed sweet brioche is delicious.  Brioche is a light, and buttery bread, for a change, I baked stuffed brioche with cherry and sweet bean paste.

Freshly Baked Stuffed Brioches

Cottage Cheese in Brioche is a delicious savoury using lower fat cheese, it is good to serve warm or have it cold with a salad.  Using ricotta cheese is also good.

Cottage Cheese in Brioche

Brioche recipe, please look up an older post

Pumpkin Date Scones

Pumpkin and date scones are another treat for a healthy sweet treat, serve it as morning or afternoon tea. Simply split the scone into halves, buttered or add pumpkin jam on top and sprinkle with almond flakes.  For this scone you don't need a scone cutter, simply shape it into a round and slash into four or six before baking.  A rustic and straightforward scone.

Scones recipe, please look older post.

Tofu is vegetable protein, it is made from beans and is suitable for our diet.  It is very versatile you could prepare it in so many ways, from steamed, pan-fried to deep fried to serve them as garnishes.  I like to have it for a mixed salad with other vegetables.   My best tofu dish is Tahu Guling, it is a Javanese dish made from pan-fried tofu mixed with mung beans dressed with sweet and sour dressing and garnished with krupuk (prawn crackers).  The recipe is for next time.

Tofu with Eggs

Sauteed Tofu with Boiled Eggs

2 hard boil eggs

175 g organic tofu, diced

1 garlic crushed or chopped

1 tablespoon light soy

1 tablespoon oil and sliced one fresh chilli for garnish

Saute the tofu with oil until the tofu becomes hot, add in the spices and toss them around, add in the boil eggs, keep on cooking for 2 minutes.  Place the spicy dish onto a serving bowl and garnish with the fresh chilli.  It serves for two.

Braised Tofu, eggs in sweet soy

Another tofu dish that the family loves is braised tofu with egg, the flavour is sweetish, but it is delicious to be served with rice.  The tofu is braised with sweet soy (ABC) and water (vegetable stock if you wish) flavour with onion, pepper and garnish with sweet potato and parsley.

Salad and Rice

Mung Beans Sprouts

Substantial salads are needed for meatless dishes.  I use sprouts mixed with leafy greens, add some egg or tofu and tempeh.  Using fresh nuts or roasted nuts is very good too, often I add almond flakes, cashews, walnuts or pine nuts.

Leafy green salad and bean shoots are served together for rice or noodles garnishes.  This salad is good to be served as a side dish of nasi goreng (fried rice).
Salads-vegetable protein and rice is a very healthy combination of food, and we have them often and loving it.

Garden salad to garnish stuffed mushrooms is a light meatless dish for any meals.

Cheese dishes from pizza with vegetables topping to pies, I love to bake a cake with water pastry and using low-fat cheeses for the filling, this pie is using ricotta and herbs

.

Ricotta and Vegetable Pie

Recipe for water pastry, please look older post.

Another low-fat cheese cooking.  Poach cottage cheese mixed with eggs, slice when it is cold serve with salads: leafy, tomato, garden or pasta salads.  You have to remember that cottage cheese is low in fat, but it is high in potassium.  Small serve is always advisable.

Ingredients and poaching savoury cottage cheese

Pumpkin soup garnished with this poached cottage cheese is delicious.

Mixed Green Leafy Salad garnished with poached cottage cheese is one of my family favourite salads.

Pasta dishes are so popular, everyone knows how to cook them properly.  I did pasta with pesto, it's a simple pasta dish but delicious.

Pasta with pesto,  simply boil pasta that you like, toss them up with the pesto, serve it hot and add some cheeses-Parmesan cheese or fresh ricotta cheese.  Another beautiful and healthy dish for the family.

Layer savoury pancakes: another delicious vegetable dish.  You can use lasagna sheets instead of pancakes, the process of assembling is the same,  The filling is as you like. It is a beautiful looking dish to serve.

The fillings for this dish are pumpkin puree and cheese, eggplants pure with egg, and mixed green spinach puree with Parmesan cheese.  Added white cheese sauce on top before baking.  The white sauce was using oil instead of butter.

Freshly Baked Layer Savoury Pancakes

It is served warm or room temperature with a salad.

Last but not least for a tasty meatless dinner is mushroom ragu served on a bed of wet polenta.  I think it is a perfect dish for mid-Autumn.  I will share the recipe next time.

Bread

Bread is one of our diets, most of the time I get the bread from the shop, but these particularly steamed buns are easily prepared at home.  These steamed buns are with a sweet filling

Steamed Buns

Recipe, please look for an older post.

The sweet buns are delicious for breakfasts or brunches, they are suitable for freezing.  It is better to make a lot of them, freeze nicely and you can have it for next time.

Savoury bread, quick mixed bread with nuts is delicious just served with butter and soup.

Susy Mini Loaf with Nuts

2 cups self-rising flour

1 cup wholemeal

1 cup mixed nuts (walnuts, Brazil, almonds)

1/3 cup oil 

1 tablespoon sour cream

1 cup milk

1 egg

a pinch of salt

Mix the ingredients together, mix well and quickly.  You will have a sticky dough.

Rub your fingers onto flour to knead the dough, shaping the bread and putting it into a buttered individual mini loaf (in a large tin as pictured left)

Bake in a very hot oven 220 degrees (fan forced) C for 18 minutes until golden.

Sliced and buttered to serve.

The Preparation

Freshly baked Mini Loaf with Nuts.

Cakes

Rayner Mini Pumpkin Cake

Cakes for the sweet.  Mini pumpkin cake with cottage cheese is a beautiful small cake for a sweet indulgence.

I baked only the other day and shared/served for supper after playing a game of sport.

Recipe

A cup full self-rising flour

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup oil

1/3 cup milk

1 egg

1/4 cup pumpkin puree

1 tablespoon heap cottage cheese

Method: in a bowl place the flour and sugar together and in another bowl, mix all wet ingredients together (egg, oil, pumpkin, cheese and water)

Use a blender or food processor, blend and process the ingredients together to make a smooth and thick batter.  If it is too thick, adjust it by adding more milk.  

Spoon the cake batter and put onto buttered mini muffin/cake tin (almost full)

Bake in the preheated oven at 160 degrees C for 14-16 minutes

When it is cold, fill in with pumpkin jam and whipped cream.

Rayner did an excellent job blending/processing the cake, and without leaving any mess in the kitchen, he cleaned and put away the blender/equipment meticulously.  

For his honour, I call the cake, 'Rayner Mini Pumpkin Cake.' 

The cake looks pretty, and it is so delicate and delicious to be served on any occasion.

The Preparation

This post is about sharing ideas and recipes of my cooking from the past to present for the dish less meat or without meat.  Sometimes it is good to have less meat in our diet, and they can be tasty too.

Until Next Post

Thanks for Stopping By

Susy