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!