10 wonderful things to do in Autumn (while eating earl grey tea and pear cake)

Isn't Autumn wonderful? I don't think I've felt so excited about it since I was a teenager who thought she hated hot weather (in fact, she loved it). The afternoons are warm and the evenings are cool, things begin to turn different shades of red and gold all around you and the light is just perfect. I've been spending early-morning train trips to work fantasising about perfect ways to spend this precious time - so here are 10 of my ideas, with a new recipe too, naturellement. I hope you enjoy, and please do share the Autumn love and leave your own ideas.


1. Bake an earl grey tea and pear cake. I'm eating a slice of this right now as I type, alongside a cup of tea and it's delicious. The recipe is based on one I found in this month's issue of Donna Hay magazine for an earl grey tea cake. Hers had a couple of grated apples stirred into the mixture which I've swapped out for diced pear. Diced, the fruit is a bit more of an event in the cake, in that it turns into little pockets of sweet ripe cooked pear in a moist base dark and rich with brown sugar, pureed dates and strong earl grey tea. It reminds you a little of a really good banana cake in terms of texture and appearance, but is altogether more appropriate for Autumn afternoon teas and post-dinner, DVD break snacking. Recipe follows.

Couldn't get enough of Tourism Victoria's 'Visit Make Believe' Dandenong Ranges campaign, in which the above picture appears. Ophelia will float by any second...

2. Day-tripping. The mornings are cool but the afternoons are glorious, so heading out early on a day trip to the countryside is perfect in Autumn. If you're in Melbourne, the Yarra Valley and the Dandenong Ranges are stunning at this time of year and are under an hours drive from Melbourne. Visit gorgeous gardens, drink wine, go antiquing, eat lavender scones. For a (more indulgent) weekend away at this time of year, visit Bright, where there's an Autumn festival each year. There's lovely B&Bs, but also gorgeous camping grounds. Eat chestnuts, go on lazy drives to nearby farms and towns, sit by the fire in the evenings, eat full cooked breakfasts, or:



3. Go apple-picking. If you live in the city, you can go a long time without seeing the actual source of the things that you eat. Going to an orchard in apple season can remedy this, reminding you that food actually does grow on trees. If you do take a trip to Bright, visit nearby Wandiligong, a very small town (around 250 people) full of orchards. You can pick apples there, but also pears and nuts. For closer to Melbourne and Australia-wide, see this list. Take a picnic and some Robert Frost.



4. Buy some beautiful tea. Treat yourself to a new blend of loose-leaf tea and get your teapot fired up! I know everyone goes nuts over T2, but I love the Earl Grey loose-leaf at Tea Party, as it has plenty of bergamot and smells absolutely gorgeous. They also do French Earl Grey (with rose petals), Lady Grey (with lemon and pretty blue cornflowers) and a whole host of other gorgeous herbal, black, white and green tea blends. You can visit them at the Victoria Market, or you can order online. Yay for internets!

5. Watch Douglas Sirk films. Spend Sunday afternoons getting lost in and inspired by Douglas Sirk's technicolor world. You can - and should! - read more about the man here.

All That Heaven Allows (1955)

Imitation of Life (1959)

Written on the Wind (1956)

6. Knit a scarf. Haberdashery stores in town - Clegs, Lincraft, etc - have their range of wools in now. Maybe you should knit a scarf? Relaxing Autumn afternoons are perfect for tea-drinking and knitting, and by Winter you'll have a cosy scarf to wrap around your neck. If you need more convincing, just look at these showgirls passing the time: they're loving it! Scarves are very easy, so they're the perfect project if you're new to knitting, and they don't require much yarn, so aren't expensive to make. Patons yarns have a good learn-to-knit guide you can purchase in stores, or get it online for free here.






7. Make some pickle. Make like it's WWII (not really) and preserve some bounty for gifts and the months ahead. I made a rhubarb chutney this week with rhubarb and apples from the garden, but you don't need a glut of produce or even a whole heap of time to whip up a few jars of pickles. Try this cauliflower pickle; you only need one head of cauliflower, a few onions, vinegar and spices and a few old jars. Buy some cheap gingham fabric and tie squares over the top with string. Presto! Homemade hostess gifts with loads of charm.



8. Buy new tights. New tights or stockings are my favourite budget-friendly way to get through the shift in seasons with a little touch of luxury. Student incomes might not allow new bracelet-length dresses or suede boots, but if I'm feeling shabby, a new pair of fancy patterned tights will freshen a repetitive outfit and put a little spring back in my step. I love browsing for hosiery at department stores, but often you can't beat prices online. My current favourite online stores for hosiery are Modcloth, MyTights and Fantasy Lingerie. Yes, that's a dirty dirty lingerie store, but they've got some great stockings if you can look past the crotchless body-stockings. And plastic pants, heh. P.S. Don't type 'stockings' into google image search with children around. P.P.S. No, I don't own Louis Vuitton tights. But yes, I'd like to.

9. Make hot mulled cider. Because the evenings can get cold in Autumn, you should make some mulled cider. Yep, that's cider warmed with spices (and a little brandy, if you're feeling jolly). It's so lovely to greet visitors coming in from the cold with. Think of it like a cold-weather sangria. I've been making this recipe for Mulled Cider with Calvados from epicurious and it's great. But once you've got the formula down, there's tonnes of room to play.

10. Humble, humble porridge. I couldn't be happier about porridge, or oatmeal, being back on the menu for chilly mornings. To take a simple serve of porridge and turn it into a bowl of Autumn, top with cinnamon, some bits of walnut or good maple syrup. Try grating an apple into the mixture before cooking, adding some frozen blueberries, or swapping your regular rolled or instant oats for multigrain or a barley and oat combination. I find these keep me full for longer and provide more sustained energy to get me through until lunchtime and to run from bears, etc.

earl grey tea and pear cake

Adapted from donna hay magazine, Apr/May 2011

Makes 1 loaf

1 cup (or 140g) chopped fresh dates

1 tsp baking soda (bicarb)

3/4 cup (or 180ml) strong earl grey tea

3 small - medium pears, peeled, cored and diced

1 1/4 cup (or 185g) self-raising flour

3/4 cup (or 135g) brown sugar

150g unsalted butter, melted

1 tsp vanilla extract

4 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 170°C (335°F). Grease and line loaf tin with baking paper.

2. Put the dates and baking soda in a bowl and pour over hot tea. Set aside for 10 minutes. Using a stick blender or mini food processor, blend until smooth. Set aside.

3. Place flour and sugar in a large bowl and whisk to combine and aerate. Add chopped pear and stir gently to combine. Add melted butter, vanilla, eggs and date mixture. Mix well.

4. Pour into lined loaf tin and bake for 50 - 55 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Allow to cool in tin 10 minutes, then turn out to cool completely.

What is فريكة‎ ? Why, it's freekeh. What is freekeh?

Today I'm stuck on the couch with a cold, but instead of watching Dr Phil and Oprah, I thought I'd use the time to geek out over my latest grain obsession, freekeh. Maybe everyone out there already knows about this magical, nutty stuff? But after I was introduced to it at Hellenic Republic in the salad you'll find below, I went looking for it - and many didn't even know who my little friend was, let alone where to find him! So just in case you haven't met, let me introduce you to freekeh.


In case you couldn't tell from the title of this post, freekeh is a grain used mostly in Arabic cooking and it's actually green wheat that has been sun dried, roasted and then rubbed, or thrashed - a process that (somehow?) gives the grain a uniform appearance and a very special flavour that is both nutty and smokey. It's so tasty that you can eat it on its own (with a little olive oil and maybe some yogurt?), but it's used in stuffings, pilafs, salads and a host of other preparations. Some types are cracked into smaller bits, others are left whole - the one I use at home is a whole grain type.

Not only does is it delicious, but is a nutritional powerhouse. Because it is harvested young, it retains more fiber, protein and vitamins. It's low in fat and low GI and even if it wasn't, I'd eat it anyway. It's the bomb. To prepare it, you need only to boil it until tender. The whole grain variety I use takes about 30 minutes to reach tender but with some bite (how I like it), but if you have the cracked grain, cooking time will be considerably less. Once it's ready, you should try it in this salad:


This is George Calombaris' Cypriot Grain Salad, and I first ate it at Hellenic Republic a few months ago with the rest of the Kannas clan. I'd visited HR before and the food had always been good, but the stars must have been aligned that night because we ate a truly glorious meal of slow-cooked lamb, cabbage salad, chargrilled octopus, saganaki with figs and this unforgettable salad. As soon as I got home I googled it and thanked the lord for the TV chef phenomenon, because I instantly had the recipe. Not that you really need one; it's really just a great idea that you can play with in all different ways. The freekeh, along with some just-tender puy lentils, form the bulk of the salad. This is seasoned with briny baby capers, sweet currants, chopped red onion and plenty of chopped parsley and coriander. Then you add crunch: toast a bunch of slivered almonds, pumpkin seeds and pine nuts until golden and throw them in. Bring the whole lot together with great olive oil and the juice of a lemon and top with a cumin-spiked yogurt that hides just a smidgen of Greek honey. In each bite, there's a bunch of different things happening, but all the flavours are at the same party and, baby, it's a good one.

When we ate it at Hellenic Republic it was topped with fresh pomegranate seeds and they were perfect: little jewels bursting with sweet sour juice that explode into the rest of the flavours when you bite in. Sadly, I couldn't find any this week, so I topped the yogurt here with a dollop of pomegranate molasses, to remind me of that first taste. I served alongside some quickly fried slices of spicy Greek loukanika (leek and pork sausage). It was good. I hope you think so too.

Cypriot Grain Salad
Adapted from George Camlombaris' recipe, published on ten.com.au

Notes: Freekeh is available at Middle Eastern grocery stores and some health food shops. The one I buy is produced in Lebanon and sold at Hassoun's Coffee, 384 Gilbert Road, Preston. An aside: this store is so ace I can't believe I'm publishing the address on the internets. Click here for more information about Australian freekeh. Serves 6 as a side dish. This salad keeps really well for a couple of days, so makes a great brown bag lunch dish.

1 cup freekah (or cracked wheat)
½ cup puy lentils
1 bunch coriander shredded
½ bunch parsley shredded
½ red onion finely diced
2 tbsp baby capers
½ cup currants
2 tbsp pumpkin seeds
2 tbsp slivered almonds
2 tbsp pine nuts
Juice of 1 lemon
3 tbsp extra virgin olive
Sea salt to taste
½ cup thick Greek yoghurt
½ tsp cumin seeds toasted and ground
½ tbsp honey
fresh pomegranate seeds, or molasses to taste

1. Cook freekeh and lentils separately until just tender. Drain and set aside to cool.

2. Meanwhile, add coriander, parsley, onion, capers and currants to a large bowl.

3. Toast pumpkin seeds, almonds and pine nuts until golden, being careful not to burn. Add to bowl.

4. Add drained and cooled lentils and freekeh and stir gently to combine. Add sea salt, lemon juice and olive oil and continue to stir gently until the salad looks nicely dressed.

5. For yogurt topping, stir cumin and honey into yogurt. Top salad with yogurt and pomegranate seeds or molasses, if using.

'absent friends' coconut cream pie

I call this pie 'absent friends' coconut cream pie for two reasons: 1) I was listening to the Divine Comedy when I was baking it and, 2) it was inspired by a piece of pie I shared with my pal Emma on my last night in New York, without our mutual friend Jane there to help us out.


Not only is Emma one of Time Out's Most Stylish New Yorkers, but she's a regular at a brilliant little bar called The Great Jones Cafe. There's more than a dozen reasons I'd recommend visiting this place while you're in town, but here's two: 1) the greatest jukebox I've ever come across and, 2) the coconut cream pie.


Everything that came out of that little kitchen behind the bar smelled and looked Delicious - and I can personally attest to the fact that the cornmeal catfish, the okra, the burger and the sweet potato fries are Delicious. Oh - and the coconut cream pie. But before I tried it, I totally had to be convinced. Despite food being like the centre of my gluttonous universe, I really am not that big on cream. Stoopid, huh? I like custard, and ice cream and even pannacotta - but my inner-lactard just starts freaking out when I'm presented with a pile of the freshly whipped stuff. In any case, I needn't have worried, because coconut cream pie at The Great Jones is just not like all those other pies. It's creamy, but with rich, coconutty custard atop a short and sweet crumb crust that balances perfectly with the silky filling. There's no giant layer of cream spread on the top of the pie: instead, it's adorned with a mound of toasted, shredded coconut - and the cream is served on the side, if you want it. Of course, as soon as I got home, I had to start trying to make this.


So this was my first attempt - and I'm actually very happy with it. I cobbled together a couple of recipes to approximate the Jones's beautiful pie, including the cracker crust from The Hummingbird Bakery's Key Lime Pie and a coconut milk custard from a recipe on epicurious. I skipped the cream top, folding only a little into the custard to lighten it before pouring it into the crust and topped the whole thing with freshly-roasted coconut. It was (and is) really good. I even just got some licks of approval from Quincy Cat, who's eating some with me now. When I ate it with Emma we were missing our friend Jane, back in Melbourne. As I eat it now, I miss Emma - and those great nights at the Jones. At least I can always raise my fork; absent friends, here's to them! x

absent friends coconut cream pie
Adapted from the hummingbird bakery cookbook and epicurious

Notes: I originally made a full quantity of crust, but there was far too much for this pie. I threw some mixture away and still thought it was a little too thick, so I've halved the recipe here: should be about right. I used less coconut than specified in the filling, but was surprised to find it could have done with the extra after all, so I've included the original amount here. Finally, some recipes say that this is best eaten on the day it's made. I think this pie is lovely (and even more coconutty) even two days later, so there!

cracker crust
250 gm digestive biscuits or graham crackers
100 gm unsalted butter

coconut cream filling
2 1/4 cups canned unsweetened coconut milk
2/3 cup sugar
4 large egg yolks
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornflour
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons shredded unsweetened dried coconut, toasted
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup heavy (whipping) cream
1/2 tablespoon icing sugar

1. Preheat oven to 180/355. To make cracker crust, process biscuits until finely crushed (you can do this with a rolling pin if you like). Add melted butter and process or stir until crumbs come together. Using a large spoon or the bottom of a drinking glass (I find this easier for the sides), press the crumb mixture into a pie tin to form the shell. A good trick for the sides is to use your thumb to keep the mixture down at the rim, while using the glass to press and form the side. Keep doing this around the circumference of the pie, and you should have a nice, even shell. Bake for around 20 - 25 minutes, or until set and golden.

2. Heat the coconut milk to just below boiling point. Remove and cover to keep hot. using an electric mixer, beat the egg yolks with the sugar until pale and voluminous. Whip in the flour, corn flour and salt.

3. While still beating, gradually pour in the warm coconut milk. When all is incorporated, return the mixture to the saucepan and cook over medium-high heat, whisking constantly, until it comes to a boil and thickens, then boil for 1 minute, whisking constantly. Remove the pan from the heat, add the butter, and whisk until melted. Add 3/4 cup of the coconut and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla.

4. Transfer the coconut cream to a bowl and let cool to room temperature, whisking occasionally to prevent a skin from forming. When cooled, cover the surface with plastic wrap (push in against the custard) to prevent a skin from forming and refrigerate for about 2 hours, until thoroughly chilled and set (You can do this a day in advance).

5. Beat cream with the icing sugar until it holds stiff peaks. With a rubber spatula, gently fold the cream into the coconut custard. Using the spatula, transfer the filling to the crust and smooth the top. Sprinkle the top of the pie with the remaining toasted coconut and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, or for up to 4 hours, before serving to set.