701/1038 - Buttered parsnip with toasted crumbs

As promised, parsnips have featured heavily in this house over the last few days! This was a lovely and simple recipe that again elevated parsnips beyond their not-so-exciting taste. I replaced the toasted breadcrumbs with cauliflower crumb which did make the dish wheat free but probably also took half the fun, and some of the crunch, out of the eating. Even so, a really tasty side. 

700/1038 - Parsnip tart

Recipe 700 is in the books! It may have taken 14 years to get here but a significant milestone nonetheless. 

Keen to share in this sumptuous dish, I replaced the shortcrust pastry with one made from almond flour and linseed and it was crunchy and fabulous. My best tip for gluten free pastry is to rub butter all over the pastry case (chilled, not melted) and then press bits of the pastry all over until you have a perfect shell - so much easier than trying to roll it out! Refrigerate the pastry in the tin for an hour and then bake blind before adding the filling. 

This beautiful tart had the most incredible hint of onion and improved as it cooled, firming up into the silkiest texture imaginable. It would rest comfortably as a first course or even as an accompaniment to a main course of red meat or poultry. 

Unsurprisingly, I highly recommend this incredible tart!

699/1038 - Braised pears with lemon myrtle

Yes, another pear recipe but this time from the bush foods chapter! Unfortunately I didn't have any lemon myrtle leaves but I did have ground lemon myrtle which imparted the most incredible and subtle tang to this dish. Whilst cooking a huge batch of these for dinner guests, I also made myself a white wine version and can confirm that this recipe works equally well no matter the colour of the wine!  

I served the pears cold but imagine they would also be incredible straight from the pan. My recommendation is to definitely use your good wine on this one to ensure a decadent finish. Holy cow - only one more recipe until we reach the 700 milestone! 

698/1038 - Braised and glazed turnips (with Bundarra bacon)

Turnips are a wonderful, and wildly underused, low starch alternative to potatoes. I made this as a side for a recent dinner party and served it cold so that I could relax rather than cook when our friends were here. The addition of incredible Bundarra bacon was inspired, further elevating what was already a well flavoured dish. 

My husband is the regular shopper of the family and, on the day of the dinner party, I sent him out with a short list of ingredients to procure. With other things on his mind, he returned home with an enormous bag of parsnips rather than turnips. Of course he headed straight back out to buy turnips, resolving the issue of the day but leaving me with a load of unexpected root vegetables which were not on my cooking radar.

A quick check of my spreadsheet tells me that there are three parsnip recipes I have not yet cooked so expect to see a significant amount of parsnip action on the blog in the coming days!

697/1038 - Pears baked as in Savoy

We are already five recipes back into the challenge and it appears I am inadvertently alternating between sweet and savoury posts! I quite like the synergy of this and will attempt to continue this trend for as long as is practicable.   

This unbelievably easy dish was absolute perfection, and by mid-dessert I was already receiving requests for it to be repeated. The pears were tender but with just enough give so as to not be mushy. The earthiness of the fruit was balanced beautifully with the sweetness of the sugar and vanilla bean, and the butter and cream filled sauce added a wonderfully rich mouthfeel. A brilliant dish for gluten free friends and one that can be easily timed to hit the table just as dinner is digesting and your guests are ready for their final course.  

696/1038 - Pork with prunes

Yet another recipe which included my recently made redcurrant jelly! The bright red jelly has turned out to be a very versatile little condiment and one that is low in histamine which makes me very happy indeed. The final flavour of this dish was heavenly, with a rich and deeply flavoured sauce. 

Because I no longer eat flour, I dusted the pork in coconut flour and the result was a subtle hint of sweetness in the final dish. The pork was again sourced from the fabulous Bundarra Farm and was, unsurprisingly, tender and delicate. 

Overall, a pretty fabulous dish that required no additional seasoning. Stephanie hits it out of the park again. 

694 & 695/1038 - Fresh berry tart with simple redcurrant jelly

Making desserts is one of my favourite things to do and so my family are treated to sweet things on a regular basis. There is often a wave of excitement when a new dessert is presented, followed by the leftovers languishing in the fridge for a bit before finally being demolished. Not so with this tart! Home made pastry paired with pastry cream and a berry combo is obviously the happy place for my family because this was demolished in record time.

I had grand plans of eating a version that was modified to suit my specific dietary needs (a bowl of pastry cream with berries and a redcurrant sauce sounded heavenly!) but unfortunately there was cornflour in the pastry cream recipe. Undeterred, I enjoyed a simple bowl of berries with redcurrant jelly whilst basking in the compliments that came thick and fast as we ate. I am told that the tartness of the berries and redcurrant jelly were fabulously offset by the sweet pastry cream. And of course homemade pastry is always a hit with my family, providing a much appreciated crunch. 

This is a very easy dessert, with no baking required once the pastry case has been made and blind baked. Definitely a wonderful choice for easy assembly when entertaining. 

693/1038 - Mustard sauce (and Schweinshaxe!)

My favourite pork producer has a community supported agriculture model which allows consumers to share in the costs, risks and rewards of their lovely little ethical farm. I have been a proud CSA subscriber of Bundarra Farm for some time now and absolutely love opening my box every month to see what goodies are inside. 

To ensure none of the pig is wasted, the cuts I receive are never the same. This month I was fortunate to receive two incredible looking pork hocks which were simply crying out to be turned into Schweinshaxe. Schweinshaxe is a German peasant dish that is so unbelievably tasty it might be the only thing I ever do with pork hocks. The well flavoured meat fell easily off the bone and the crackling was crunchy and fabulous. In my opinion, cheaper cuts of meat are wildly underrated and with enough care, can always be turned into a tasty meal. 

Elevating our porky dinner experience was Stephanie's dill and mustard sauce which was almost a complete disaster. Let's just say rushing an emulsion is never a good idea. Thankfully broken emulsions can be saved with a raw egg yolk and as an added bonus, the yolk added a silky richness to what would have already been a most fabulous sauce. 

692/1038 - Sweet yoghurt and saffron puddings

After a very long break, this recipe marks two milestones - two thirds of the challenge completed and thirty chapters completely cooked. The yoghurt chapter is not insignificant, with thirteen lovely recipes in all, and this one is an absolute cracker.

I adore saffron but the fact that it is more expensive than gold (by weight) means that I don't cook with it often. Saffron, the proper kind, is harvested by hand from the crocus flower which is what drives the cost beyond most people's comfort zone. To extract the wonderful flavour from the threads, they are first soaked in warm milk before being added to the pudding mix. Combined with cardamom and pistachios, the resulting flavour is simultaneously subtle and complex. The luxuriously smooth texture of the drained yoghurt was the final piece in this glorious dessert puzzle. 

I will definitely be making these lovely little puddings again, perhaps trying out different flavour combinations now that I am devoid of saffron threads. Draining the fluids (whey) from the yoghurt also provides me with the most fabulous base for my morning smoothie so it's almost as if I MUST make this on a regular basis!