Sally Wise Cooking School Molesworth in Molesworth | Food consultant

Sally Wise Cooking School Molesworth

Locality: Molesworth

Phone: +61 3 6261 1336

Address: 179 Wyre Forest Road 7140 Molesworth, TAS, Australia

Website: http://www.sallywise.com.au/cooking-classes

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25.01.2022 It's that time of the week again, excellent! Wednesday morning tea platter to share around with friends - today's offering, Lumberjack Cake. I love this recipe (comes from my book "Sweet!") - it contains the hearty flavours of late autumn/winter produce - chunks of Granny Smith apples and a generous amount of lemon rind.... The coconut caramel on top gives the cake an extra special edge. When it arrived at its destination, still warm from the oven, our neighbour topped each slice with creamy vanilla ice cream. Not a lot not to like in that combination.

24.01.2022 I bought myself a present a week or two ago (it had been my birthday after all) - a lovely 5kg box of best quality dark chocolate buttons (Chocolat de Couverture Noir). Bliss. Not to be resisted either was a 1.6kg box of chocolate batons. Last evening, time for a little chocolate play.... A piece of pumpkin fruit cake was crumbled, then mixed with coconut rum and melted chocolate to make a kind of truffle, then dipped in more melted chocolate. I could never be accused of being neat of course, but the chocolate coated those truffles like a dream. I had in mind a purpose for them - to use in the Wednesday morning tea platter offering today - portions of chocolate fudge cake topped with ganache, a disk of white chocolate (temperamental stuff that is) and topped with one of those chocolates. A bit rich probably, could have done with some acidity with a raspberry or two on top. Hope they were acceptable though. So pleased I bought all that chocolate - it will be perfect for making little homemade treats to add to individual hampers over the next couple of months.

24.01.2022 The recent rain has our property awash with small springs of water. Actually make that sheets of water, there's even a small waterfall over in the far paddock at "picnic rock". Cilla is one happy pig, revelling in the conditions. On her afternoon walk in the large paddock, she stomps and kneads the sodden ground to make a large mud patch, then rolls and wallows in it for hours. There's only one issue with that - she loves a cuddle and smooches that huge mud-covered snout a...ll over us. Makes for a lot of washing! Never mind, doesn't matter, it's great to see being the very epitome of the old saying "happy as a pig in mud".

23.01.2022 All lined up on the bench top and looking a little beige - muffins, pies and tarts. Morning tea for friends yesterday - lemon, lime and coconut blueberry muffins, egg and bacon pies and three cheese and corn tarts. As it turns out, beige is a good colour for such things and I'm told they were pretty tasty as well.

23.01.2022 On radio Saturday I was also asked about a sultana and walnut cake. At the time I gave out the recipe for a boiled version (like a boiled fruit cake, very nice) but here is another. It's my Nan's sultana cake, always very popular. The secret is to boil the sultanas first, then drain them well and cool before incorporating into the cake batter.... My Nan and her family owned a bakery when she was young. Therefore her recipes are always really, really good. I am very privileged indeed to have her handwritten (in fountain pen) recipe book. This is the cake, baked last night. Once it was mentioned I just had to make one. One photo shows the mixing and the other, the cut cake. It's really best left undisturbed for a couple of days before slicing, but Robert wanted a little something sweet to go with his coffee at morning tea time. Still cut out fine though.

22.01.2022 It's taken about 4 days in all, just grabbing a bit of time here and there to do this. Our lime tree bears prolifically, but there were a number of tiny ripe limes left in a bowl. What to do with them? Hmmm - couldn't be bothered with making lime cordial by the usual method (grate the zest of each and squeeze the juice), with those limes being not much larger (and some smaller) than a cumquat.... Bright idea, use the cumquat cordial from "A Year on the Farm"! Got distracted and used twice as many by weight than I should have done. Easily corrected next day, just made more sugar solution. Today, finally, preserved the finished syrup, just in case I did get those measurements a little wrong. The final result will now keep for ages. If its intense flavour is any indication, it will make good lemon, lime and bitter drinks, and pretty fine as a gin and lime squash.

21.01.2022 Just a little Sunday afternoon baking - the bread of the day plus a double batch of chocolate chip and pistachio cookies. Can't have the biscuit barrel get low. Incidentally, some leftover couverture used to coat chocolates last week - I melted it down and spread quite thin on a baking paper lined tray. I let it set, then cut into small squares = chocolate chips for the cookies, with no need to open a new packet of actual choc chips. Also, I used the homemade butter made a couple of months ago too - it's been frozen but still getting close to time to its use-by date. The flavour in the biscuits is pronounced, definitely worth the minimal effort to make more butter.

21.01.2022 The apricot jam ran out, oh no!! Actually it's not a great problem as last summer I stewed some ripe apricots and bottled them. They'd held their colour well, and in a comparative trice the jam was made, just add sugar and boil for a bit.... Once you start, you know how it goes, and besides, no electricity needed as the wood stove was burning. I had some frozen raspberries, into jam they went. Some ageing (but perfectly good) lemons and a few little limes from our tree made a very tasty lemon/lime butter. All of these will be perfect to serve with scones and whipped cream for the friends who are coming for morning tea tomorrow.

21.01.2022 I read somewhere recently a saying that goes something like this (in part) - "Sit with animals quietly and they will show you their heart." We've had an interesting example of this during the past week. Our four geese have always got along famously - that is until mating season kicked in. One of the males (Patch) took to beating up the other male (Pete), quite brutally.... Now Pete is no fool, he left the home (their paddock), flew over the fence and shows no desire to return. The interesting thing is that he has now made friends with the chooks, the ducks and he and Brewster the rooster are good pals. It has its perks. He free ranges with them all day, has learnt to forage as they do, and takes advantage of the fact that there are several serves of grain and vegetable scraps served morning and afternoon. He's now a much happier man, and cares not one jot when Patch screams at him from the other side of the fence. Pete has turned into a much gentler natured bird than he ever was previously - he will even tolerate being picked up and cuddled. Watching the animals here is endlessly interesting as they continue to show us their respective natures, as well as their instinctive wisdom and adaptability.

21.01.2022 A friend came to dinner last evening. I recalled he'd mentioned some time ago that his all-time favourite dessert was trifle. I made it for him last night as a surprise. It was a little bit of a variation on my usual version. A layer of jam-spread cake was cubed then drizzled liberally with what we used to call sherry (now I think it's Apera - medium). ... Next came a jelly layer, this made tastier by the addition of some homemade cordial syrup. This was followed by a layer of egg custard, then one of blueberry compote, more custard and then whipped cream and grated chocolate. He was very happy indeed. When I tasted it, I was transported back to my grandmother's kitchen. Wine trifle, as she called it despite the fact she always made it with sherry, was her specialty dessert. She would likely have used blackberries or raspberries though. However, the blueberries were delicious with their little pop of flavour and texture. I should really make this more often, a lovely cooling dessert on a hot summer's day.

18.01.2022 It occurred to me today that for about 3 weeks I've not posted the Wednesday morning tea platters. OK, so a couple of weeks ago there were blueberry and lemon curd butterfly cakes, a twist on an old favourite. Last week, well - that certainly wasn't worthy of a photo, definitely not the prettiest cake in town. I'd decided to use another recipe for a sponge. By the time it was cooked (and sank rather alarmingly) it was worthy of throwing at the wall (it would probably have... bounced back). Nevertheless, with a last minute filling of whipped cream generously laced with raspberries and fresh raspberry jam, it at least passed the taste test. Today's offering - spiced banana cake, containing more than two cups of mashed banana, therefore quite tasty. It was still too warm to ice by the time we needed to leave. Therefore I whipped 300ml cream added about half a cup of cream cheese icing I'd made a couple of days ago, a generous dollop of Greek yoghurt and a squeeze of lime juice. This was dolloped on top of each slice when we arrived. I think that was a better option after all - as the old saying goes "necessity is the mother of invention". By they way, if you add a spoonful of yoghurt to whipped cream (or even while it's still liquid in the bottle), it helps to keep the cream sweet and fresh.

18.01.2022 A little experiment this evening - air fryer Scotch eggs. They are a bit scraggy around the edges where I cut them in half (should've used a sharper knife). I was pretty pleased with them nevertheless, seeing as I wasn't even sure it could be done.... (Note the colour of the eggs, courtesy of our pampered chooks).

18.01.2022 Busy week last week, lots of lovely visitors too. There was time for a little baking though, a few new inventions or variations on a theme with some of my older recipes. First, a coffee slice, with just a touch of chocolate in the cake batter, reinforced by feather and fanned icing on top.... There was a rustic gooseberry tart - with a newly invented semolina pastry. The benefit of that pastry is that is needs no rolling, you just kind of pat it out, very quick to make - you don't even have to rest it. Speaking of rustic - a version of a cut and come again latticed fruit slice. It's not that it's just delicious so you want another piece (hopefully). It's a multiple choice kind of thing - the fruits included in this instance are gooseberry, Morello cherry, apricot and greengage. The idea is that you try whichever flavour you fancy, then go back for another flavour or two. I'd planned to make an apricot crumble for dessert for family for Saturday lunch. I always have a jar of crumble mixture on hand in the fridge for just such occasions. However, it was running short, not enough. I did have a bit of leftover shortcrust pastry from that latticed fruit slice, maybe 60g, so just broke that up a bit and sprinkled it over the top. I guess you could call it a picrumble. New texture, tasted fine. Then there was a plate to take to a party. Besides a hedgehog slice that needed a rescue remedy by topping with melted chocolate and sprinkles, there was a batch of honey jumbles. For a change, instead of the usual royal icing, I used a rich cream cheese icing. It lacks the lovely crunch of the royal icing (though it does look patchy after a few hours). Many people seem to prefer the cream cheese version - its hint of lemon complementing the spices in the biscuit dough. And so another week goes. Already planning a little more baking for the upcoming week.....

17.01.2022 And so ... back to the air fryer experimentation. I'd been very dubious about cooking a roast, how good could it be minus the lovely lashings of fat (oil) that ensures crispy roast vegetables, most especially potatoes? As the meal was just for the two of us, instead of a whole chicken (butterflied, I suspect that would have to be), I used two skin-on chicken thighs on the bone). All around those I placed chunks of potato, parsnip and sweet potato.... I just sprinkled a little paprika spice mix I always have made up in the cupboard. Popped it in into the air fryer for 20 minutes at 180 degrees. I got distracted so didn't check it until cooking had finished. I decided to turn the chicken and vegetables over and bake for a further 5 minutes, though it didn't really need it. Meanwhile I'd steamed some other vegetables on the stove top - used the water from underneath those to make a quick and tasty gravy. Re the roast itself? The photos say it all - the before and after. Verdict - very good indeed, at least equal to a "normal" roast. Incidentally, when I checked under the basket after baking, there was about one and a half tablespoons of fat. I guess that was rendered out from the skin of the chicken. This has to be healthier, surely. I'm not much of a one for kitchen gadgets, but this one might win me over yet. Looking promising. I'm kind of pleased the machine didn't come with a recipe book per se - gives me ample excuse to develop recipes of my own.

17.01.2022 New kitchen toy - air fryer. I was reluctant to buy one, thought (knew) I didn't really need to do so. However, by way of justification, I did get a question about them last time on radio. At that time I gave out a recipe (baked apples), pretty confident that it would work. I resisted the inclination to purchase for three to four weeks, but eventually the temptation was too strong. Yesterday I bought one, a 6.5 litre version.... Today - experimentation time. I started with the classic (commercial) potato fries to get a feel for it. It was the only recipe in the instruction book after all. Next - develop some recipes of my own to put the fryer through its paces. A honey and citrus infused banana cake first, then baked apples on a bed of rhubarb puree, and finally curried scallop pies. Pretty impressed with the functionality of the machine I have to admit. I think it will get a lot of use. Downside? Our little dog Poppy is terrified of it - from the beeps to the sound of the fan, though it's not really noisy at all. She makes a mad dash for the cat flap and streaks out at a great rate. She comes back in tentatively, but not until the fryer has finished. Strange little dog, she will get used to it in time I'm sure.

16.01.2022 On a happier note - here is today's Wednesday morning tea platter for friends. These are pink lamingtons and what I call lemong-tons. The jelly coating's flavour (in the case of the red) is enhanced by the addition of 2 tablespoons of preserved sour cherry syrup.... The lemon variety - the centre was filled with homemade lemon curd, as well as a whipped cream made less sweet with a little plain yoghurt. Incidentally, adding just a little yoghurt to cream ensures that it keeps well. One of the BEST things about preserving is that there is always something in the pantry (or fridge in the case of the lemon curd) to add flavour and a special touch to everyday dishes. Preserving season will very soon be in full swing again. Watch this space tomorrow as I will be announcing when and where the first preserving class of the upcoming season will take place.

16.01.2022 From the ABC Tasmania Jams and Preserves talkback this morning, a request for the recipe for pickled onions. That recipe is now on my website blog page. Photo shows a 2.5kg jar we did some months ago. we pickle at least 20 kilos each onion season.... If there were any other recipes/methods discussed during the programme that anyone would like, let me know and I will put them up in a post on Facebook or my website.

16.01.2022 The old and the new of it - in the background a family favourite of decades (my Nan's pumpkin fruit cake, dating as far back to the 1940s). In the foreground a gluten free coconut flour chocolate cake, a recipe a friend sent to me (thanks Anne). Oh my goodness - it is absolutely delicious. Both sitting waiting for any family or friends to drop in over the weekend. Two options to serve with a cuppa.... I might even get to making some sausage rolls to add a savoury note. They would probably be welcome on a cold winter's morning.....

15.01.2022 Here at lovely Molesworth, it's just a little wet (understatement). The rain today was the heaviest we have experienced since we have lived here. There were great claps of thunder also. All in all, with the roar of the creek close by, the sound and sight is beautiful beyond measure.... The sheep are perhaps not so impressed, but they do have access to shelter should they choose to use it (they didn't).

15.01.2022 Today I fell in love - with goose eggs for baking. On today's morning tea platter duck egg banana cake (cream cheese icing of course). Then to the brownies - my first experience with using a goose egg. The egg whipped up like nothing I've ever know before, and in a mere matter of moments, just fantastic.... Later in the day with a friend coming for dinner - a coconut rice custard was prepared, cooked in my small slow cooker and thickened at the last with a single goose egg. (Served with home preserved rhubarb and ice cream). I'd thought the flavour would be too strong, but it was virtually indiscernible, not too rich after all. What the goose egg did was impart a beautiful creaminess. I accept that our four geese may be terribly noisy and at times territorial and fractious, especially with visitors whom they consider to be impostors. However they certainly earn their keep now they've started laying eggs.

15.01.2022 I decided this year to branch out from my two Nans' recipes for Christmas Pudding and Cake. Tough choice though, I have so many cookbooks with tempting recipes. I love the older ones, some I've collected, others sent to me by kind people. Especially valued are the hand-written books containing favourite family recipes. Eventually a decision was made, and now the pudding is boiled and the cake baked. ... They will both just need a brushing over with rum during the next several days to ensure the outside keeps well for the required four weeks or so. However, there's still a lot of fruit to be used up, good reason to make and bake at least a couple more. I do like to have plenty on hand when visitors come to call, as I hope they will over the Christmas/New Year break. Back to the recipe books then, to try out other versions....

14.01.2022 I get SO annoyed with myself that I can't decorate the way I would like. Something always seems to go awry - like melted chocolate in a piping bag that decides to set for no apparent reason and comes out in globs. Oh well, it is what it is. I aim for flavour, have even been called a flavour chaser, so will have to be content with that. Photo is of this week's Wednesday morning tea platter.... It's a chocolate sponge cake, infused after baking with the juice from preserved apricots. It's topped with Chantilly cream and preserved apricot halves, then piped with the offending chocolate. For good measure, around the sides were truffles, infused with coconut rum. Incidentally, after making this, I went and purchased a 10kg box of good quality cooking chocolate, so hopefully no glob issues from now on.

14.01.2022 Further to yesterday's post re the air fryer Scotch eggs. Now I'm not much of a one for new fangled gadgets. As a case in point, I still have (and favour) my 1970s Kenwood Chef stand mixer, and even my original slow cooker from the same era. However, I am becoming convinced about the benefits of air fryers. I now have two, one a gift from a friend.... This is the fat left in the base of the air fryer after cooking those Scotch eggs. I had not used an inferior quality mince - it was actually marked as topside. Yet there are at least 2 tablespoons of fat - certainly that is far better not eaten. That was from a mere 500g of mince. Scary.

13.01.2022 "There's a bit of rhubarb there if you would like to pick it." said son-in-law yesterday. "You can take it all." More than a little bit, loads. Fantastic! Into the preserving bottles it will go today. Preserved rhubarb is so delicious, one of my favourites. It will be used for breakfasts (with cereal and yoghurt), and in cakes, slices and desserts, even a savoury dish or two (truly, not uncommon in some cuisines).

13.01.2022 Duck duck goose with a chook's egg to the left by way of comparison. I’d planned to make a duck egg sponge for tomorrow’s morning tea platter. However a goose egg well, I’m not sure what to do with this one it’s the first our geese have laid. I am guessing there will be plenty more in the days and weeks to come.... Suggestions anyone? Not pasta please, my husband hates pasta. It seems the birds of our menagerie have not read the information book about going off the lay. We have dozens and dozen of chooks’ eggs on hand, plenty of duck eggs and now the geese have started laying. Certainly nothing to complain about there.

12.01.2022 I'm not all that great at baking sponge cakes. However, with such an abundance of eggs as we have here at present, it seemed only logical to make one for today's Wednesday morning tea platter. This 6 egg version didn't turn out too badly. It was filled with whipped cream and topped with passionfruit icing, pipless by request.... Very pleased to have jars of preserved passionfruit pulp on hand for the purpose. I took along a coconut flour chocolate cake as well (that used up 8 eggs). Another sponge cake was made for family who came for dinner (6 duck eggs used), and a dozen small egg and bacon pies for good measure. Still there are six full egg cartons lined up along the bench. More baking tomorrow then .....

07.01.2022 During yesterday's ABC Jams and Preserves talkback, there was quite a bit of discussion about recipes for using cabbages. I've received lots of requests for those recipes, and others that are not of the cabbage kind. Therefore for anyone who would like them, I've just posted on my website blog page, the recipes for Savoury Cabbage (with bacon and onion), Colcannon and an Easy "Chow Mein". ... In a separate blog is a recipe for my Air Fryer Banana Cake. If there are any other recipes that we touched on yesterday that anyone would like, just let me know and I will post those as well. (No photos of cabbage dishes yet sorry, but here's one of the banana cake - lovely markings are a result of the tin it was baked in, a gift from a friend). Speaking of cabbages, ever since then I simply can't get out of my head that line from Lewis Carroll's famous poem "The Walrus and the Carpenter" that reads in part: "The time has come the walrus said, to talk of many things ..... of cabbages and kings", just love it.

06.01.2022 Yesterday during the ABC Jams and Preserves talkback it became obvious that we are not the only ones to have a glut of eggs at present. Lots of suggestions were given by listeners including freezing and pickling them. One method I'd heard of but not tried, salt cured egg yolks. ... So today I started a batch. I've just made 4 for a trial. It will be a while before they are ready, patience needed. After this photo was taken, another layer of the salt/sugar curing mix was added, then the dish was covered and is to be refrigerated for 4 days before dehydrating (so the methods say in the several recipes I've found). They must be stored in the fridge after that and will apparently keep for about 4 weeks. I also read that the finished egg yolks can be used as a dairy free substitute for Parmesan - can be crumbled or grated. They can be served this way over pasta dishes, risottos and blended into dressings and sauces. It will certainly be interesting to see how they turn out.

02.01.2022 Not all things go quite as planned when it comes to experimenting with flavours in home brewing. A case in point is a fruit beer we made some months ago. There is bitter and then there's WAAAY beyond bitter, perfectly fine to drink if only you could. Never mind. Miss Cilla the pampered pig loves a glass full poured into her vegetable and barley porridge each evening.... I think the smile on her face says it all here, as she sleeps contentedly under her favourite wattle tree with a full tummy and bedtime treat of that little tipple of beer.

02.01.2022 I approached with significant skepticism the cooking of (homemade) chicken schnitzel in my new air fryer. Surely it wasn't possible that they could live up to the regular version - that is, shallow pan fried in a little olive oil. Wrong, I admit I was so wrong.... The chicken breast meat was moist and delicious and the crumb coating crisp and golden. Lesson learned.

02.01.2022 Our house looks quaint to say the least, shown here just before dusk this evening. This scene appears to be lifted straight from the pages of a fairytale. While we played in the snow outside, in the house a hot dinner was cooking on the warming wood fired stove. This picturesque snowfall is just one of the many reasons we choose to live here in the Derwent Valley.

01.01.2022 I really despair of my brain some days, and today is one of them. It is of course, Wednesday morning tea platter day - I love to make something hopefully interesting and tasty to take each time. They are the best test tasters ever. I'd decided to try a recipe from someone else's cookbook - an orange chiffon cake. However, a friend had given me a lovely bag of home grown lemons, so a lemon version it was to be, with just a hint of orange for extra interest.... All was going well, the batter looked pretty good, so I placed it in the oven to bake. I turned around to clean up - oops, I'd left out the 5 egg yolks! I thought the cake would be a disaster, but it was too late by that stage to make another. I had to decide whether to feed it to the chooks and instead take a plate of pumpkin cake I'd baked yesterday. No-one would be any the wiser after all. However, I'd made lemon curd with several of those lemons last night, and I wanted to showcase this on the cake somewhere. A hastily made cream cheese icing was spread on the cooled cake, then little dollops of the lemon curd were swirled over. Hoping for the best, but with considerable trepidation took this to morning tea. Wonder of wonders, it was a great hit! SO pleased. It turned out as a very flavoursome lemon sponge with a lovely light texture. Therefore I'm just now typing up the recipe with the accidental adjustments which I will keep in there, with mental note to self that nothing is a failure if you just apply a little innovation or give it another name. The lovely morning tea-ers asked what I was going to do with those overlooked yolks. I hadn't thought about it but of course! More lemon curd, this time using yolks instead of whole eggs. It's very rich in colour and flavour, but delicious nevertheless. So thankfully, the day was rescued after all.

01.01.2022 The old and the new of it. On the right, a recipe I've made for decades - little apple pies with lemon icing, always well received. To the left - a recipe developed a couple of days ago. It's a rum and orange infused pistachio cake with citrus and cinnamon syrup. Morning tea platter for friends, done.

01.01.2022 I have always aspired to making good puff pastry. I can do rough puff perfectly fine, but so much want to master the "real deal", lovely, buttery layers of puff. Not only that, I want one that is quick and unfussy to make, a tall order really I suppose. In yet another experiment, and with visitors coming to call yesterday, I invented yet another recipe to try to fit the above criteria.... Getting there I think - layers in these savoury rolls are evident, despite the fact that the pastry was made and baked within two hours in total. Cheat's puff pastry essentially, but shows promise I think....

01.01.2022 Over the past few days I've been sending put recipes to those who have requested them. I have a suspicion I might have accidentally missed one or two. If this is the case for anyone, please message me and I will send the recipe you wanted straight away.