708/1123 - Juleigh's wattleseed hazelnut meringue with wattleseed honey cream

The 30 year edition of this cookbook has some wonderful new recipes! Most excitingly, it includes a few I can eat safely without the need for adjustment. My execution of this one was very nearly a disaster, but apart from a necessary adjustment to the presentation, the flavour and texture was out of this world sensational. This is one of those, let it be the last meal I had on earth, type of recipes -  well worth the significant effort and resulting kitchen mess. 

I adore wattleseed. The smoky coffee-like flavour has me swooning, and when paired with honey, it takes this dessert to a very happy place indeed. Knowing that the majority of the honey on our supermarket shelves is sneakily cut with corn syrup or glucose, I recently splashed out on a few jars of the good stuff produced by the bees of a local keeper. The cost was significantly higher but the peace of mind (and the taste!) was absolutely worth the elevated investment. 

Let my effort here be a lesson to all - spraying the baking sheets with oil is a must! As soon as I realised the meringues were not going to lift from the paper unscathed, I decided that an Aussie version of Eton mess was in order. The flavours were incredible, further enhanced by the farm fresh cream I procured from the incredible St David dairy. 

Love this one!

706 & 707/1123 - Olive oil pastry & Pumpkin, chickpea and sage 'sausage' rolls (but with carrot)

It was my husband's birthday six months ago. After realising we didn't make a big enough deal of it, I decided to make him a special half birthday dinner tonight. These fabulous sausage rolls plus a batch of hand cut chips equaled a half birthday dinner sorted! 

The olive oil pastry was a revelation; a cinch to make, so stretchy, and lovely and crisp when cooked. And the filling! I always cook my chick peas from scratch and when blended, they made the most wonderful sticky paste that held the vegetables together beautifully. I am thinking of making the filling again and using it as a lovely chunky dip! 

The necessary substitutions I made to accommodate my tricky diet were as follows; 

 - As per Stephanie's suggestion, I replaced the pumpkin for carrot 

- I chose purple cabbage over the other options of silver beet or kale

- Salt and pepper were replaced with saltbush and smoked paprika which were cooked in with the vegetables

I did make the Tonkatsu sauce but given that the sun had gone down by the time I had finished, it was a difficult one to add in to the photo. Although not photogenic, it was an absolute hit and highly recommended as a more interesting alternative to tomato sauce. 

Both of these recipes were new in the 30 year anniversary edition, and were welcomed with open arms by my family. 

705/1123 - Winemerchant's sauce for a grilled steak

 

Another community-made recipe, this time from the most gorgeous Jen who has been on this journey with me for more years than I can count. This recipe appears in all four editions of the book and is apparently a very easy sauce to make. Jen notes that the shallots take some time to reduce so be sure to build that in when preparing this one for dinner. Apparently a fabulous addition to Bouchier’s pork sausages, even though a grilled steak pairing also sounds amazing. Thank you, Jen for getting us one step closer to completion! 

Note that with the fourth edition added to the challenge, the goal is now 1123 wonderful recipes. We've got this! If anybody would like to participate, feel free to DM me on facebook or instagram and we can have a chat. I have a spreadsheet I can send through for perusal. And it's OK to commit and then change your mind - this is most definitely a low stress endeavour!

- Kate x 

704/1123 - Maggie's pot-roasted quinces

This is the second recipe not cooked by me and another one made by my lovely mum. A longer cooking time means a wonderfully sticky finish for this brightly coloured and deeply flavoured fruit.

As of yesterday, there are now seven of us on board working together to get this challenge finished. While it still feels a little weird to not be cooking everything myself, I am so grateful to have a newly formed team around me to see this incredible project to fruition. I have big plans to expand our numbers and am wholeheartedly welcoming anybody who is keen to participate.

My thought is that we will all gather together at the end to celebrate a job well done - hopefully much sooner than the projected 8 years from now! 

Help!

With renewed enthusiasm for this fabulous challenge, I am aiming to post at least one completed recipe every week until this beast has been conquered. According to my calculations, this means I will finally be finished in 8 or so years from now. But if the momentum really gets rolling, I might start posting twice a week because 4 years doesn't sound too far away! 

So...what this means is that I need my foodie community to start stepping up! I have a spreadsheet of the remaining 400 or so recipes ready and waiting to send to anybody who would like to jump in and help. All you have to do is DM me your email address and you will be an official member of the CCC team. With 5 people already on board, I am confident we can finally get to the end of this gargantuan task. Who else is in??

The best ways to catch me are via email at kateinteralia@gmail.com, or via Facebook or Instagram

Let's goooo!

The final update

The unthinkable has happened...in the very best way! A most beautiful person offered to buy me a copy of the fourth instalment of this most fabulous book which has inspired me to again participate in the completion of this challenge alongside the community. Looking through the outstanding recipes, I was THRILLED to see how many I might be able to still eat (some with a little tweaking) and with more energy up my sleeve than I have had in years, I am excited to get stuck in. 

Like a true geek, I spent my Saturday night updating my spreadsheet and can officially confirm the new challenge parameters; 

🍽 1038 recipe goal is now 1123 

🍽 68% completion rate has dropped to 63% 

🍽 There are still 125 chapters, names largely unchanged 🥳 

🍽 32 chapters were finished, this is now down to 17 

🍽 There are still 7 chapters we have not started 

Stephanie Alexander has continued to stay up with food trends and also the newest version includes SO much more kitchen help and info. Also, it is STUNNING and what you can't see from this angle is that the edges of the pages are rainbow coloured, a beautiful nod to the previous version. Already planning my next recipe so watch this space! 

-Kate x

703/1038 - Pissaladière

 

The first of the community recipes! My mum made this one, saving me from the anchovies I can no longer eat. My mum has actually made this many times over the years so it was no effort for her to throw it together once more for the sake of the challenge. Thanks, mum! 

Exciting announcement!

I am sure that many of you know by now that my health situation has changed and that most foods are no longer safe for me to eat. My heart still imagines forging on and completing this challenge but my head is acutely aware that this is no longer a reality for me. So I have decided to broaden the scope of my very first major gastronomic project and open the Cook's Companion Challenge up to the community! 

With more than 700 recipes already cooked, the end is (practically) in sight! To participate you will need any version of The Cook's Companion (because the recipes are not mine to share) and a willingness to cook, photograph and describe the result with me. I will throw together a few questions to answer so that I can write about the experience as if I was a part of the process, but full credit will be given to the actual chef! 

I don't usually like the idea of group projects but this one has me excited! If you are keen to participate, simply name a chapter you would like to explore and I will share the recipes that are yet to be cooked. Better yet, just shoot me a message and we can find something that works for you. 

FYI: The chapters I have already finished are: Abalone Apples Apricots Asian greens Asparagus Avocados Bacon Bananas Bay leaves Beans, dried Bread Broccoli Bugs Carrots Cauliflowers Chives Corn Fennel Garlic Jerusalem artichokes Kangaroo and wallaby Lentils Mint Parsley Parsnips Pasta and noodles Pears Prawns Pumpkins Sage Sweet potatoes Yoghurt 

Let's get this thing done! 

 - Kate