Fifteen Melbourne - Finally a look in!

A couple of weeks ago when I heard that Fifteen was opening for reservations I suggested to Michael that it would be great if he could get us a booking there, you know a nice surprise seeing as how I'm normally the one doing all of the organising for the 2 of us. I thought the booking line might be a bit busy but had no idea that within a matter of days they would be booked solid until the end of January next year, amazing what a tv show can do for you. Anyway Michael being the fantastic hubbie that he is, got on the line & waited for 1.5 hours (on speaker phone while he was working so it was bearable!) & got us a booking for a Saturday night no less, very impressive.

There have been a lot mof mixed feelings out there about Fifteen so I was quite curious to see exactly what it would be like. I love the idea of what Fifteen stands for, helping those in need but at the same time providing us with a (hopefully) great experience in oder to achieve that goal. At the same time I think that for $90.00 a head for the 6 course tasting menu which is your only option for dinner, the food has to be bloody good & stand up to other great Melbourne restaurants.

I had very high expectactions for the food, a few months ago I did a Queen Vic Market cooking night with Tobi Puttock & the food was to die for so I was hoping for more of the same.

Ok so now down to last night. On the decor, I loved it & it was totally different to the 'artist impressions' as seen on tv. The colorful bar area which Jamie knocked looked great & the colors were much more toned down, oranges, reds, very warm & filled with wine very subtle too. The place is split into 3 areas, the private dining room which I spied a corner of, looked very dark & gothic from what I could see, would be nice having a private party there with some friends, I believe it seats 10. Then onto the main area, on entering you walk down some stairs where you can see straight into the kitchen, then around the corner the bar area with more casual looking dining area in front, light wooden seats & tables, etc. this is split down the middle where you go into the second dining area which is where we were seated. I loved this area, all dark wood furniture, dark wood floors, black walls & ceilings, a purplish couch forming the back seat for the tables on the side & back walls & long mirrors along the walls too & some very funky globe light fittings hanging here & there. Ask Michael, I love black & the trend seems to be now to have everything all nice & light so this darkess worked well for me.

Now onto the food, as mentioned it is a six course set menu, soup, seafood, pasta, main, dessert & cheese platter with a choice of 2 dishes offered for the pasta & main course.


First course was Borlotti bean & pasta soup with fresh grated parmesan & Fifteen olive oil.

This was really nice, though needed a bit of salt, luckily there was a dish of Pink Murray River salt flakes on each table - nice touch - which did the job. As you can see it was a very thick, hearty, warm & homey soup which I would love to replicate at home.


Next was fried whitebait, sage salt, lemon & aioli.

As you can see a very small serve but dont be put off, by the end of the night we were well satisified & if the courses were any biggger we would have struggled to fit them in. The fish was cooked perfectly, nice & light & the salt/aioli combo went very well with it.

For the Pasta course I opted for the Fifteen ravioli with biodynamic riccotta, free-range egg yolk, served with white asparagus & butter broth.

Yummo, nothing beats home made pasta & the runy egg filling was quite unusual, quite a big ravioli too as you can see. Michael went for the Risotto of calamari, squid ink, celery, chilli & fifteen olive oil which he reallay enjoyed too.


For the main we both had the Slow roast Bachus Marsh grass fed beef, Nicola potato & fennel al forno, braised greens & salsa verde. The other choice was Tasmanian Salmon. The beef dish smelled divine which I think was mainly due to the whole clove of roast garlic hidden amongst the greens which I happily devoured. The beef was very tasty though mine was a bit on the cold side which is obviously a bit dissapointing. Mine pictured was cooked a little extra as I'm not supposed to be eating any raw or underdone meat at the moment, Michaels was as per the menu & pretty bloody which is a good thing, nothing worse than an overdone piece of cow.

Dessert was Vialono Nano Tiramasu, little twist on the traditional with crostoli.

The twist was rice instead of sponge/biscuits in the tiramasu, I have to say that this & the crostoli were fantastic & by far by favourite course of the night.


Lastly, the cheese course. pear, quince paste, muscatels, grissinei, some fruit bread & of course the cheeses, sorry have forgotten what they were except tto say that one was lovely & oozy & the other was as bitey spanish crumbly one, both fantastic, in fact the whole cheese course was really great.

Overall the whole experince was enjoyable, the staff were very friendly & helpful, extensive wine list to choose from, fast servce though not too fast that you had no time between courses & the food was good, presentation & tatse. For 2 weeks of opening & a bunch of kids that a couple of months ago had no idea it is pretty amazing to see how far they have come though I would like to see them improve some more & lift the food from being just pretty good to being fabulous!

Fifteen Melbourne
115-117 Collins Street
Melbourne
1300 799 415 www.fifteenmelbourne.com.au

Pink-Eye potato, olive and Caper Salad

Being of both Polish & Lithuanian background I am a very big fan of the humble potato & am always looking for new ways to dress it. I love anything from a simple mash, a hearty baked spud jammed packed with tasty fillings, crispy roast ones & of course a great potato salad. My all time favourite potato salad is the family recipe which I have eaten my whole life, its pretty much boiled potatoes, peeled, mixed with chopped onion, boiled eggs, tons of mayo & some salt & pepper, very simple yet very tasty. Occasionally however I do like to try something different so the other night I tried Ben O’Donoghue’s take on the dish from the surfing the menu cook book of series 1. It was great, the olives & capers added a nice zing to the dish. Very repeatable, we served it alongside a good steak for a quick & simple meal.

Pink-Eye Potato, Olive and Caper Salad

1kg pink eye potatoes
½ garlic clove
salt
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped flat leaf parsley
100g baby capers
200g pitted large green olives
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
100ml extra virgin olive oil
freshly ground pepper
finely peeled zest of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons white celery leaves

Place the potatoes in a large pan & cover with cold water. Add salt, bring to the boil & simmer until tender, about 20 minutes depending on the size. In a large mortar smash the garlic with a little sea salt, then add the parsley & roughly smash. Add the capers & olives and do the same to give a coarse, roughly broken up texture.

Peel & cut the potatoes in half while still hot. Add the vinegar & oil. Cool fro 10 minutes, then add the olive & parsley mixture. Season with salt & pepper & toss through the zest, celery leaves & remaining parsley.

Squashed Ginger Biscuits & a disaster!

Yesterday I slaved away all morning making some lemon meringue pies at the request of my mother. Alas they were a complete disaster & had to be dumped. The pastry was fine (even though I misread the recipe & added too much butter), the meringue tops were fine & even the filling tasted pretty good but it just didn’t set at all so a bit difficult to eat unless you like lemon meringue soup! I have a feeling that I should have cooked the filling & bit longer and allowed it to thicken more even though I already had cooked it for double the time the recipe suggested. Needless to say I am throwing out that recipe & it will be a while before I attempt these again.

So to make up for my disaster today I whipped up a batch of very simple ginger biscuits, pretty sure the recipe is from the latest Donna Hay. They were a cinch to make & Michael loved them, they had a lovely ginger & spice flavour that wasn’t too subtle or overwhelming. My only comment would be that if you have a fan forced oven, cook them at a lower temperature & a bit shorter duration as mine were quite crunchy despite the fact the recipe states you will end up with soft biscuits. Still crunchy was good.

Squashed Ginger Biscuits

115g (1/3 cup) golden syrup
100g butter
150g (1 cup) plain flour
2 tablespoons white sugar
3 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon each of mixed spice & ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 220c. Combine golden syrup & butter in a saucepan & stir over low heat until butter melted. Sift remaining ingredients together in a large bowl, add golden syrup mixture & stir to combine.

Roll tablespoons of the mixture into balls and place on baking paper lined oven trays. Bake for 5 minutes then reduce heat to 180c and using a spatula, flatten biscuits & bake for another 10 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. Biscuits will keep for up to 1 week in an airtight container. Makes approx 18.

Banana and Date Bread

Last week the latest edition of Donna Hay Magazine was delivered to my door & flicking through I knew I just had to make of this luscious sounding bread which even sounded remotely healthy, I mean it did have fruit in it so it must be good for you right? After popping it in the oven to cook for a tantalizing 1 hour & 10 minutes of the most lovely aroma wafting through the house, I did a bit of spoon licking, let me tell you the raw mix was pretty damn good, lucky I tried it after starting the cooking or none might have made it into the pan! Also I have to mention that one and a half cups of bananas is a lot at today’s prices so I was very lucky to score a bag of lady fingers at Coles going for $4.00 a kilo, they weren’t even that brown but were just perfect for mashing up for the cake mixture. The end result was divine, dates and bananas are another perfect combination I’ve decided, the cake was nice & moist on the inside & had a crispy outer shell, Michael and I both scoffed heaps while it was still warm out of the oven.

Banana and Date Bread

125g unsalted butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 ½ cups plain flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder, sifted
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 ½ cups mashed banana
¼ cup maple syrup
1 cup chopped dates

Preheat oven to 160c. Place the butter & sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until pale & creamy. Gradually add the eggs & beat well. Fold through the flour, baking powder, bicarb soda, nutmeg & cinnamon and stir well to combine. Stir in the banana, maple syrup & dates. Spoon the mixture into a 7 x 32cm lightly greased loaf tin lined with non-stick baking paper. Bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Allow to cool in the tin & slice to serve.

Poached, East Brunswick

This morning Michael & I went out for a leisurely walk down Lygon Street in East Brunswick in search of somewhere new to try out for Brekky. We settled on a new place called Poached. It’s right near sugardough. At 10am we easily got a table, unlike down the road at Small block where you usually have to wait 15 minutes or so. I’m sure once more people try this place out it will soon become packed too. The interior was quite spacious with maybe 10 or so tables spread out with plenty of room to move. The main tables being set against the wall where the wall is a couch, very comfy, I am a big fan of the couch chair, lots of room to dump bag & whatever else you may be carrying around too. There are also tables out on the sidewalk & we spotted some out the back too which I’m sure will be put to use when the sun is out & more people about. It has quite a modern feel with black couches, tables & seats & the floor was some sort of colored stone work that had a sort of Flinstone effect on me, I liked it. To eat I settled on Eggs Florentine with a side of bacon, this was served on sautéed baby spinach, mushrooms, English muffin & topped with hollandaise. It was cooked to perfection, really good, the bacon was also a very tasty cut & cooked just to my liking, not too crispy but not like some places where it appears they’ve only flicked it in the pan for a second or so. I also had a café latte which was a really good coffee & a chocolate milkshake, hey don’t laugh I need all of the calcium I can get & I am eating for 2 so have to use whatever excuses available to me at the moment & make the most of the situation! My eggs came in at 10.00 which is pretty cheap around these parts so was happy with that too. The menu also had lots of other interesting choices for another day, omelette’s, pancakes, French toast & the like & all with some interesting ingredients thrown in, sorry cant remember what I didn’t try! Another great place in this strip which is slowly building up, lots for me to try & blog about yet.

They are open for brekky & lunch & closed on Sundays.

Poached
169 Lygon St
Brunswick East VIC 3057
(03) 9387 2396

Quince and Red Wine Duck

The other night I had planned on cooking dinner but after a hectic day/week in the new office, got a bit caught up so once again Michael was a darling & did the prep. I have made this dish several times before, its so easy & really, really yummy, great for a simple dinner alone or even impressive for guests – or so I have been told. It has a lovely sweet flavour that goes perfectly with the richness of the duck meat. I always serve with mash potato & greens on the side even though the recipe suggests couscous. The recipe comes from Marie Claire ‘Zest. Sorry the photo is not the prettiest, don’t let that put you off. I also find that a bit further cooking time is required so they aren’t completely raw & that the skin does crisp up nicely.

Quince and Red Wine Duck

12 thyme sprigs
250ml (1 cup) red wine
2 garlic cloves, sliced in half
4 duck breast fillets, skin on
3 tablespoons quince paste
1 teaspoon cumin

Preheat oven to 200c. Arrange the thyme sprigs over the base of a baking dish to form a bed for the duck. Add the wine & garlic to the dish. Rinse the duck fillets under cold water then pat dry with paper towels. With a sharp knife make several incisions through the fatty skin on each of the fillets. Rub the quince paste into the skin, sprinkle with cumin & season with salt & pepper. Sit the duck fillets on top of the thyme, skin side up. Bake for 5 minutes, then remove form oven & spread the paste over the fillets with a knife. Return to the oven for a further 10 minutes. For crispy skin put the cooked duck under a hot grill for 2 minutes. Allow to sit for a few minutes then slice. Serve with cooking liquid drizzled over.

Baked Chocolate tart

Today Rach was coming over for a bit of a catch up, she is a bit of a sucker for chocolate (just like me in my present state!) so I whipped up this tart of Jamie Oliver’s from ‘The Naked Chef. I had some left over pastry in the freezer from when I made the lemon lime tart so this cut down considerably on my prep time which was excellent, means I got to spend the whole morning in the garden! I’ve included the pastry recipe as per previous post. I served the tart with fresh strawberries & blueberries & let me say this, it was sensational, absolutely delicious. The fact that it was dark chocolate made it very intense without being too sweet, it tasted a little like a chocolate pudding but solid of course & of the sweetness of the berries was perfect along side. Also I have to say home made short crust pastry definitely kicks ass over the frozen kind. Make this tart & trust me you will not regret it.

Baked Chocolate Tart

1 x 25cm flan or tart shell, baked blind
140g butter, unsalted
150g good quality chocolate, (70% cocoa solids)
8 tablespoons cocoa powder, sifted
small pinch salt
4 eggs
200g caster sugar
3 tablespoons golden syrup
3 medium heaped tablespoons sour cream or crème fraiche

Place the butter, chocolate, cocoa powder and slat in a bowl over a pan of simmering water & allow to melt slowly, stirring occasionally until well mixed in. In a separate bowl beat the eggs & sugar together until light & well creamed, and then add the golden syrup & sour cream. Stir your choc mixture into this mixture, scraping all of the chocolate out with a spatula. Once you’ve mixed it well pour it into the pastry shell. Place into a preheated oven for 40-45 minutes at 150c. During cooking a beautiful crust will form.

Carefully remove the tart from the oven & allow to cool on a rack for at least 45 minutes, during which time the skin will crack & the filling will shrink slightly. Serve with fresh berries

Short Crust Sweet Pastry

To make 2 x 30cm/12 inch tart moulds
250g butter
200g icing sugar
a medium pinch of salt
500g flour
4 egg yolks
4 tablespoons cold milk/water

You can make this by hand or in a food processor. Cream together the butter, sugar & salt & then rub or pulse in the flour & egg yolks. When the mix has come together, looking like coarse breadcrumbs, add the cold water or milk. Pat & gently work together to form a ball of dough. Use minimum movement as the more you work it the more elastic it will get, causing the pastry to shrink & be chewy. Roll into a large, short & fat sausage shape, wrap in glad wrap & place in the fridge for at lest 1 hour.Carefully slice off thin slivers of pastry lengthways, around 5mm thick. Place the slivers in & around the bottom & sides of your tart mould, then push the pieces together & level out. Now it needs to rest again for at least 1 hour in the freezer this time.Bake the tart for about 15 minutes at 180c, completely cool & fill with any uncooked fillings.For baked fillings, bake blind first at 180c for only about 12 minutes. You can fill the shell with rice, baking beads, etc but if your pastry is straight out of the freezer you shouldn’t have problems with shrinkage, etc.

Lebanese Lemon Chicken

After a week away & eating our for every single meal I was looking forward to getting back into my kitchen & cooking up something hopefully delicious. I decided to try this dish from Jamie Oliver’s Jamie’s Kitchen. I used some chicken marylands instead of a whole chicken cut up as frankly I couldn’t be bothered with the chopping. Wow, this dish was amazing, unlike anything I have ever cooked before, very different. The aroma of aniseed while cooking was intense thanks to the fennel bulb & seeds. The bulghur wheat was fantastic, I haven’t really tasted or cooked with this much at all in the past & I loved it, it went all crisp & brown around the edges & the rest was just melt in the mouth full flavour. The flavours in the crispy chicken skin were gorgeous too & it all went so well together especially with that final dollop of sour cream to bring it all together.

Lebanese Lemon Chicken

1 large chicken cut into pieces
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
½ teaspoon cumin seeds
½ teaspoon chilli powder
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
1 teaspoon salt
3 heaped tablespoons plain flour
extra virgin olive oil
1 large bulb fennel, roughly chopped, herby tops chopped & reserved
1 red onion, peeled & roughly chopped
2-3 small preserved lemons, chopped
1 small bunch fresh rosemary, roughly chopped
150g farika or bulghur wheat
1 wineglass of tequila, vodka or white wine
565ml chicken stock or water
1 small tub sour cream

Preheat oven to 180c. Bash all of the spices up in a mortar & pestle with the salt until you have a fine powder. Add the flour & mix well. Rub this all over your chicken, any flour left over, reserve for later.

Heat an appropriately sized casserole type pan on the stove and add 5 tablespoons olive oil. Brown your chicken pieces on all sides, do this in one layer. Once they are coloured, remove to a plate, turn down the heat, add the onion, fennel, lemons and rosemary to the pan. Fry for around 5 minutes or until nicely softened. Then add excess flour & farika or bulghur wheat, give it all a good stir.

Add the tequila, vodka or wine & allow to cook down. Cover with chicken stock until it reaches the same level as the grains & veg. Now make a cartouche (A piece of greaseproof paper cut to fit the size of your pan). Run it under the tap to make it flexible then rub with olive oil. Place over the grains & veg in the pan & put the chicken on top. Place in oven & cook for 45 minutes until the chicken skin is really crisp. Serve with a dollop of sour cream & the fennel tops.

Cook Islands Trip

We have just returned from our week of Paradise in The Cook Islands, as you can see from the photo, it is gorgeous over there & the pic doesn’t even do the place justice. We even got to spend a day & night in Tahiti as on the way there some very strong winds – apparently 120kms/hour, prevented us from landing so we had to divert, thanks to Air New Zealand for providing all we needed it was actually really enjoyed rather than being the disaster it could have been. They put us up in The Intercontinental which was beautiful, we spent the day swimming in their gorgeous & mammoth pool, walking around & chilling out. As for the food, well I know resorts aren’t usually the best but I have to say the buffet lunch was pretty awful so the eating extravaganza I had planned was not off to a good start.

All in all our food experience did not end up being that great apart from a couple of good feeds, for the most part I thought it was pretty awful, so as you can imagine I was very disappointed. Most of the food is imported from New Zealand which brings the prices up for a start, they are more or loss on a par with Australian restaurant prices which I wouldn’t mind paying if the quality was the same. The fact that it wasn’t & there really weren’t any cheap & easy options available for dinner didn’t make me any happier paying these prices. Lunch was a bit better with more available & at more reasonable prices. We had a tropical breakfast included daily which was fine, not much can go wrong with cereal, fruit, toast & pastries after all! I hate to write about bad experiences but really wasn’t left with much option. So anyway that being said now I will tell you about the good bits.

When we finally made it The Cooks, our first port of call was the stunning Island of Aitutaki, the photo is actually One Foot Island which is one of the surrounding motu’s (Islands). We did an Island cruise taking in a few surrounding Islands & some snorkelling – fantastic, and we had a local lunch on Honeymoon Island put together by the cruise people. This was great as they laid out a platter of traditional fruits & vegetables including Sea Grapes, these were very weird looking, a small branch with lots of very small ‘green grapes’ attached, squeezed with lime juice very tasty & apparently very good for you too, paw-paw, guava, lady bird bananas (as you can imagine I made the most of readily available bananas & stuffed myself with them for the whole week), some baked tapioca pudding – yum, steamed tapioca, purple kumara, fresh coconut & some fresh tuna sandwiches. Most of it was delicious though I was a bit iffy on the kumara & steamed tapioca. It was all served in a tiny little open hut on woven plates lined with freshly picked leaves of some sort, really enjoyed this experience.

That night was Sunday & not much is open on Sunday nights in Aitutaki so we opted for Te Vaka Bar & Grill, we caught a taxi there & the lovely driver gave us a piece of sponge cake for the ride that she had freshly baked that afternoon, it was delicious & moist & as you can probably tell the people here are very friendly, a very nice experience & cheap too! The restaurant was in a lovely open air building with the usual wicker furniture & Island feel, the food here was quite nice too, not fantastic but pretty good. Michael tried the Cook Islands speciality ‘Ika Mata’ which is fresh tuna marinated in lemon juice then tossed in coconut cream with onions, garlic, tomato & cucumber, he gave it the thumbs up, being pregnant I had to take his word for it as raw fish off the menu for me for now. I had Garlic chilli prawns, these were good too, with the marinade all making a lovely thick jammy sauce for the prawns. Michael then had some coconut topped Mahi Mahi (very nice fish if done the right way – we had a lot of it over the week) with calamari & I had an Island chicken curry, absolutely huge servings, don’t think I even ate half of mine. I then had some ice cream with freshly grated coconut & chocolate fudge sauce, their desserts were not overly creative! All in all it was a pleasant experience.

As you can probably tell by now they are very big on coconut on EVERYTHING in The Cook Islands, I was ok with it at first but by the end of the week hated it as most of the time thought it was way overdone & think it will be a while before I eat anything with coconut again which is a shame as I really like the stuff.

Anyway back on the mainland, Rarotonga a couple of places worth mentioning. FBI fish and chips , near the main bus stop in town. As we were getting off the bus we could smell it and you know what that smell does to you, we had no choice but to then find the place & order up. The fish was Parrott fish & the batter was light & crispy & all seemed to be cooked in nice fresh oil & at NZD11.50 for the 2 of us very good value for a change.

We went to Trader Jacks for dinner one night which is apparently the place to go, unfortunately I thought the food was crap here, our char grilled octopus was very tough & chewy & the coconut braised lentils it was served on well, yuk! For the mains Michael had some Wahoo fish, pan fried with garlic, lemon, fresh herbs & fries, this was nice & simple & really good, I ended up eating half of it as my Mai Mai wrapped in banana leaf & served on a bed of ginger, coriander, chilli & COCONUT cream was disgusting, I had one bite & didn’t go any further. So I was pretty hungry after this & ordered dessert, Chocolate & apricot cake with chocolate fudge & ice cream – bad mistake again, cake was dry & I don’t know what the fascination is with bloody vanilla ice cream & hot chocolate fudge on anything either! The place had a good feel & was fun but I would definitely order plain if going again, the bar pizzas looked & smelt terrific too – maybe that’s the way to go?

For our last night we went to Tamarind House, recommended as the best spot on the Island I had high hopes & it didn’t disappoint, the setting is a majestic restored colonial era building & the piano player perched in the corner all night also added to the ambience. Michael started with the seafood chowder, another Island specialty which he enjoyed & I chose the chicken & mushroom won tons which were delicious, I finally learnt not to order Cook Islands food which I have developed an intense dislike for! For mains I had some smoked salmon spaghetti & Michael some Island style swordfish, we both left very happy customers for once.

All in all it’s a gorgeous & relaxed place for a holiday, Aitutaki was the highlight & highly recommended but if you go don’t have too high expectations for the food, hope I am not being too critical here, who knows maybe its just my pregnant taste buds after all.

5 things to eat before you die

Reb from Cucina Rebecca has tagged me for the latest meme which seems to be spreading like wild fire, 5 things to eat before you die. This all started not so long ago by Melissa at The Travellers Lunchbox. Here is my contribution which doesn’t contain quite as many fancy things as some, when I came to thinking about my favourite things, they all came back to pretty simple stuff!

1. Pierogi – Home made & Polish style the way my grandma used to make them. One of my best memories from childhood was visiting my Grandma when a fresh batch of pierogi were made, or even better making them with her, this was a whole day affair as when you make them you make 100's so you can give them out to the whole family to take home of course. I think the fact that they were made on this mammoth scale each time is what has deterred me from making my own so far. Pierogi are a European pastry, hers were filled with mashed potato mixed with loads of onion fried in butter. They are then boiled, drained, lots of butter applied until melted & then served with lashings of sour cream. The seconds were then pan fried a golden brown & again served with sour cream. So this simple fair is something I miss dearly & have vowed to stop being so lazy & make & perfect myself before I die. Now that I am about to start my own family hopefully this will inspire me so that my children can grow up with them as I did.

2. Cherries - these luscious beauties would have to be my favourite fruit of all time. I love them & eat them all on their own, they are so sweet & heavenly that I find they need no embellishment. The only downside to cherries is that the season is so short that from beginning to end I eat as many as I can before its all over for another year.

3. Chocolate - sorry to be so general but good chocolate in any shape, size or form is on my ultimate food group list for obvious reasons

4. A picnic of fresh local produce somewhere fabulous with the one you love. A couple of memorable ones for me would have to be a spring picnic in Paris in the botanical gardens with Michael, eating French cheese, bread & wine amongst other delights & the recent picnic I had in Lorne for my wedding anniversary which as well as some fantastic fresh food we topped off with a bottle of Dom Perignon which we had picked up in Champagne itself a few years ago, great food for me does not have to be fancy, the setting & company can play just as major a part & nothing beats eating fresh regional food where its made, ie Fresh bread, local cheeses, chutneys, jams, fruit, dips, chocolates

5. Grilled Haloumi on fresh bread. Something more specific for number 5. Haloumi grilled with a bit of oregano & drizzled with some lemon juice on top of some really good fresh bread would have to be one of my favourite ways to eat cheese, I do love all cheese however this is number one & is so good can pretty much eat enough so that it is a meal in itself

And before I go I will pass this on & tag (hope no one else has got to you first!)

Mellie at Tummy Rumbles
Sarah at Sarah Cooks
Niki at Esurientes
Kaylyn at Kaylns Kitchen
Ellie at Kitchen Wench

Scones with cream & Strawberry Jam

For afternoon tea with my parents the other day I had a hankering for some scones with whipped cream & jam, nothing could be more simple yet also so delicious at the same time. Rather than use my standard recipe I thought I would try Bill Grangers. As I’ve said before I love his sweets so wanted to see if his variation made them extra special. The recipe is from Bill’s Food , and everyone gave it the thumbs up, can you see how good they look inthe photo?

Also this will be goodbye for a week or so as Michael & I are off to the Cook Islands for a week of paradise. Hope to brng back some lovley food stories & photos soon

Simple Scones

1 tablespoon icing sugar
310g (2 ½ cups) plain flour
1 ½ tablespoons baking powder
a pinch of salt
250ml milk
30g butter, melted

To serve
Jam
Whipped cream or double cream

Preheat oven to 220c. Sift the icing sugar, flour, baking powder & salt into a bowl. Add the milk & butter & stir to combine with a knife. Knead quickly & lighly & then press out onto a floured surface.

Use a glass & cut our rounds, roughly 5cm/2 inches in diameter and 3cm/1 ¼ inches deep and place close together on a greased baking tray. Gather the scraps together, lightly knead again, then cut out more rounds. Cook for 8-10 minutes, until puffed & golden. Serve with Jam & whipped cream. Makes 8.

Blueberry butter cake and Goodbye Sharon

Saturday Sharon had a bit of a going away bbq & I of course thought it was a great opportunity to test out a new cake. I chose this luscious Blueberry butter cake from Bill Granger’s Bill’s Sydney Food. I love his cakes, so far they have all been perfect so whenever I can I knock out another one. As blueberries are a bit expensive at the moment I used frozen ones, they were being cooked so figured it wouldn’t hurt. These worked fine though I think because of the moisture content the cake need about an extra 15-20 minutes over the recommended 50 minutes, after 50 there was a pool of liquid on top which I poured off & the cake was still pretty much raw in the center. I have to say I was a bit worried at this stage but luckily the extra time cooked it & there was no damage, ie burnt top that I was panicking about! The cake went down perfectly with lots of very nice comments. It’s a pity I don’t have a photo of the cut cake as it looked fantastic, in the center the fruit had dropped to the bottom so it was sort of spread through the whole cake & the crumble topping just made it, all in all another winner from Bill.

Blueberry Butter Cake

For an old-fashioned Sydney experience you’d use mulberries from the tree that always stained your mother’s washing on a windy day – and get your fingers and lips red in the picking. The blueberry is more urbane.

Topping
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
¼ cup plain (all purpose) flour
75 g (2 ½ oz) unsalted butter, cold

Cake
2 cups plain (all purpose) flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
125g (4 oz) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup caster (superfine) sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup sour cream
2 cups blueberries

To make the topping, place brown sugar and flour in a bowl, add butter and rub in with fingertips until mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
To make the cake, preheat over to 180c (350F). Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a mixing bowl. Place butter and sugar in a bowl and cream together. Add the eggs, and mix. Add the dry ingredients, alternating with sour cream, mixing well after each addition.
Pour the cake batter into a greased 23cm (9 in) spring form cake tin. Sprinkle with blueberries and topping mixture.
Bake the cake for 50 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack, topping side up.
Serve warm or at room temperature with fresh cream. Serves 8.

Weekend Herb Blogging - Lemongrass - Thai Pumpkin & Seafood Curry

For this weekends herb blogging hosted by Kalyn of Kayln's Kitchen I'm concentrating on lemongrass

Lately I have been taking a lot of inspiration from other blogs. I see a recipe & I just have to have it. So when recently I saw one of my favourite Nigella recipes made by 2 of my local bloggers I realised it had been way too long since I had this lovely curry. The first time I did this I made it as per the recipe, ever since I have omitted the prawns as I didn’t think they added that much & much preferred the taste of the salmon in this curry. So anyway thanks to The Next Nigella, Sarah and of course Nigella Lawsons’s Nigella Bites, where the recipe came from.

For today’s’ version I have used Lemongrass from my little herb shelf, it is the first time I have harvested any so got out the gloves & dug out 3 bulbs. The grass is quite sharp so you definitely need to wear protective gloves & glasses or goggles to avoid any nasty injuries, especially as you will be getting right down into it pushing & pulling to wrench the tough buggers loose. The smell as you’re freeing them is lovely & intense. Once loose, cut off the leaves, peel back the tough outer layers & cur off the roots. I have shown photos of the various stages so you can see what it looks like before it gets to the stage you see it in the shops as.

I also used some fresh lime leaves & coriander from the garden, I love being able to walk outside & pick fresh ingredients as I need them, if only I had room for a veggie garden too, oh well maybe one day. Anyway this recipe is really quick & easy & tasty so do try it out if you haven’t already.

Thai Yellow Pumpkin & Seafood Curry

400ml tin coconut milk
1-2 tablespoons yellow or red Thai curry paste
350ml fish stock
3 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons palm or caster sugar
3 lemongrass stalks, each cut into 3 & bruised with the flat of a knife
3 lime leaves, de stalked & cut into strips
½ teaspoon turmeric
1kg pumpkin, peeled & cut into bite sized chunks
1kg Salmon fillet, cut into large bite sized chunks
Pak choi or any other green vegetables of your choce
Juice of 1 lime
Coriander, to serve

Skim the cream off the top of the coconut milk & put it, over medium heat in a large saucepan with the curry paste. Let it sizzle & using a wooden spoon beat together until combined. Still beating gently, add the rest of the coconut milk, fish stock, fish sauce, sugar, lemongrass, lime leaves & turmeric. Bring to the boil & add the pumpkin. Cook a fast simmer for approx 15 minutes until the pumpkin is tender. If leaving at this stage to finish off later, leave the pumpkin with a tiny bite to it so it doesn’t overcook when reheating for the final stage.

To the simmering pan add the salmon & cook until cooked, about 3-4 minutes, also add the green veggies. Towards the end add the lime juice. When done sprinkle over coriander & serve with tice.

Spiced Slow-cooked Lamb Shanks

The other day I realised that winter is nearly over & to my shock & horror I haven’t made a single batch of lamb shanks this season. Well of course I had to rectify that immediately & cooked up this tasty version from Jamie Oliver’s The Naked Chef. The thing I love about this dish is the fact that really you just chop everything up, cook it a bit then chuck it in the oven for a couple of hours & wallah you have a gorgeously tender piece of meat falling off the bone, complete with intensely flavoured veggies, a little mash, polenta or whatever takes your fancy on the side & your meal is complete.

Spiced Slow-cooked Lamb Shanks

4 lamb shanks
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon corianders seeds
1 small dried red chilli
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon dried marjoram or oregano
1 tablespoon flour
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
1 large carrot, quartered & finely sliced
6 sticks of celery, quartered & finely sliced
2 medium onions, quartered & finely chopped
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
170ml dry white wine
6 anchovy fillets
2 x 400g tins of plum tomatoes
1 handful of fresh basil, marjoram or flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped

Season the lamb with salt & pepper. Smash up the coriander seeds & dried chilli & mix with rosemary & dried oregano. Roll the lamb in this mixture, pressing it well. Dust the lamb with the flour.

Heat a thick bottomed casserole pan, add the oil, brown the meat on all sides & then remove from the pan. Add the garlic, carrot, celery, onions & a pinch of salt and sweat until softened. Add the vinegar & allow it to reduce to a syrup. Pour in the wine & allow to simmer for 2 minutes. Add the anchovies & tinned tomatoes, kept whole. Shake the pan & return the lamb to it. Bring to the boil, put on a lid & simmer in the oven at 180c for 1 ½ hours, then remove lid & cook for a further half an hour. Season to taste & stir in the fresh herbs.

Pancakes USA Stylie

Well after I can’t remember how many gorgeous photos of pancake blogs lately, Matts being the last, I finally gave in & made my own. Normally I make very thin crepe style pancakes but for the stack I obviously needed some fat little babies so I looked through my books & Jamie’s recipe for USA stylie pancakes from Happy Days was about the only one for which I had all of the ingredients handy without having to make a dash to the shops. In this recipe the egg whites need beating before adding which personally I thought didn’t seem to make that much difference & was one step that made these a bit on the fiddly side. They did taste quite yummy though, especially drenched in maple syrup & yes Vanilla Ice Cream!

Pancakes USA Stylie

3 large eggs
115g plain flour
1 heaped teaspoon baking powder
140ml milk
a pinch of salt

First separate Add the flour, baking powder & milk to the egg yolks in a bowl & mix to a smooth batter. Whisk the whites with the salt until they form stiff peaks. Fold into the batter. Heat a good non-stick frypan on medium heat. Pour some of the batter into the pan (I buttered my pan though the original recipe doesn’t call for this) & fry for a couple of minutes until bubbles appear on the top, flip with a spatula & fry until golden on both sides. Serve with whatever takes your fancy.

I Carusi Pizza

Well this little Pizza place that you would not even notice unless looking really hard for has to be Melbourne’s best kept secret. The place is always jam packed full of people so don’t even think about turning up without a booking. The menu consists purely of pizza (apart from a couple of salads & some olives). It’s lovely & warm inside, some nice music playing in the background & dimly lit so quite atmospheric. Michael & I were seated opposite the pizza production line last night which was fascinating. I swear these guys could win a world record they crank them out so fast. We had a small pizza each, they come in either 10 or 13 inch, we really should have had the large as they are very thin based so not over filling especially for a man & someone eating for 2. Michael had the Genovese, tomato, goats cheese, pesto, roasted peppers & prosciutto. I had the Greg Oregano, tomato, prosciutto, rocket & Parmeggiano. Sorry about the crappy photos, not sure what was going on with the camera last night so you will have to trust me that these were divine & there are so many fantastic sounding combinations that you just want to order every single one. They have dessert pizzas too which sadly we didn’t have time for last night as we had to rush home to watch The Pies have a mighty win over Port Adelaide, maybe next time. Do yourself a favour & get down here fast.

I Carusi Pizza
46a Holmes Street
Brunswick East
9386 5522
BYO & Cash only

Burgers & Confessions

Well I have a confession to make. If you have noticed that in the last few weeks my blogging has gone downhill somewhat & been quite erratic it’s because I’m Up the Duff & the last thing I have felt like doing was cooking! Believe me I could barely look at food let alone get home from work & prepare something tasty. So with a lot of help from Michael I have mainly been living on comfort food that has been pre prepared & stuck in the freezer so I could put it down & collapse on the couch after work. The worst of it seems to be over now & I have my appetite back & once again can stomach the thought of such things as vegetables & healthy food in general. So I’m slowly easing myself back in while I’m getting my energy back, hopefully before long I will be back to 100% normal. Michael prepared these burgers below so all I had to do was whack them in the frying pan & put it all together, he has been an angel. The recipe comes from Jamie’s Dinners & actually comes with some lovely homemade rosemary chips to which I said I don’t think so, maybe another time. Very, very tasty burgers, nice & juicy too without dripping & they held together very well as well.

The Ultimate Burger

1kg good minced steak
1 onion, peeled & finely chopped
olive oil
a pinch of cumin seeds
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
a handful of freshly grated parmesan cheese
1 heaped teaspoon English mustard
1 large free range egg
115g breadcrumbs
8 burger buns

In a big frying pan, slowly cook the onion in a little olive oil for about 5 minutes until softened but not coloured. Add the onion to the mince in a large bowl. Using a mortar & pestle, bash up the cumin & coriander seeds with a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper until fine & add to the meat. Then add the parmesan, mustard, egg & half the breadcrumbs and mix well. If the mixture is too sticky add a few more breadcrumbs.

Lay some greaseproof paper on a tray & sprinkle over some of the remaining breadcrumbs. Shape the meat into 8 fat burgers & place these on top of the crumbs on the tray. Sprinkle more crumbs on top & gently press down. The burgers are better if they are chilled before cooking so put them in the fridge for an hour or so.

When ready to cook, fry them in a little olive oil on a medium to high heat for about 8 to 10 minutes, turning occasionally. Serve on buns with anything you like, sauce, lettuce, tomato, some cheese, beetroot, egg, whatever…

SOS

Yesterday for lunch I was lucky enough to be taken to SOS by some clients. Unfortunately for you I didn’t have my camera with me, thought that would be going too far on a business lunch! For those of you who haven’t heard of SOS it’s the new restaurant run by Paul Mathis, whose previous endeavours include Transport, Upper+Lower House and Soulmama. The menu features seafood that has been sustaibably produced & ethically harvested & seasonal produce, that’s right, no meat in sight. Don’t’ worry the wine isn’t all organic & quite a nice list to choose from.

The location might put you off but don’t let it, it’s on level 3 at Melbourne Central amongst the cinemas & other pretty average looking eating establishments, the whole floor has a bit of a fancy food court feel to it if you ask me. However SOS is neatly hidden away from all of this, in fact we walked right past the entrance & had to go back & search it out. It is a concealed door in a wall of dark brown panelling which when you stand in the right place magically opens & lets you into the oasis within. You then walk down a long dark, lowly lit hallway before you are led into the restaurant itself. The interior was quite funky & modern with some nice music streaming through the speakers. We chose to sit out on the balcony as it was a lovely sunny Melbourne Winters day & the balcony was heated & well protected from the wind. Its always great when the weather starts to cheer up & you can finally do the el fresco dining thing again, makes me believe that Summer might actually return one of these days after all.

The service was very attentive throughout with our waiter being very helpful & the sommelier even paying us a visit A great choice of bread was offered first, wholegrain, sourdough & corn bread from what I remember, I had the wholegrain which was superb, very fresh & we were regularly asked if we wanted more, that’s always a good sign for me, hate stingy bread givers! Next we had a complimentary taster of salmon tartare. After this we hopped straight to the main course, being 3 girls we thought we would forego entrees in favour of leaving room for dessert. I went with the special of the day which was Paradise Prawns (from new Caledonia) with homemade wholemeal tagliatelle & broccoli, think the sauce was some sort of foam concoction, frankly I can never remember the lengthy descriptions the waiters give you, regardless the dish tasted fantastic, the prawns were very good, pretty big & lots of them too, the pasta was oh so fresh & perfectly cooked, the wholemeal lending a lovely flavour too & of course nothing beats home made for flavour & texture. A nice size serve but luckily still some room for dessert which was absolutely luscious, I had the Zucotto Servito con sorbetto al cioccolato e salsa al vin Santo - Traditional Italian style zucotto served with chocolate sorbet & vin santo sauce. In English this is a trifley type dish though of course as you would expect here it was perfectly presented & exquisite, I’m still dreaming about it & wishing for more today.

All in all I really loved this place, there were heaps of dishes on the menu I would love to try & I do like the concept of where it is all coming from too. Will be back for more soon

SOS
Level 3, Melbourne Central
La Trobe street, Melbourne

9654 0808

Shinjuku, Brunswick

Saturday Night Michael and I wanted to grab a quick bite to eat & felt like some Japanese, somewhere simple & close to home. We chose Shinjuku on Sydney Road which has been there for years. It’s a quiet spot and best of all no bookings required to get a table at 8pm on a Saturday night. The décor is clean, lots of wooden (pine?) furniture & the typical Japanese prints & hangings adorning the walls & celings. The prices are very good here too, in fact we managed to eat more than enough and have a couple of beers all for about $50.00, pretty good value if you ask me. To start with we shared a very generous serving of gyoza, as you can see from the photo they look a bit wonky but tasted quite nice, I wouldn’t say they were perfect but there was nothing wrong with them either, as I said, pretty good. Next we had a main serving of tempura prawns & vegetables & a beef dish labelled *Beef Tepinyaki*, really just a beef & vegie stir fry along with some steamed rice. The tempura was great, the batter nice & light & neither the prawns or veggies overdone, 3 huge prawns & lots of veggies so again quite generous. The beef too was a huge platter, I was less impressed with this as some of the pieces of meat were a little tough & chewy & the flouvourings were very plain, still ok & overall a good choice for something quick & cheap.

Shinjuku
148 Sydney Rd, Brunswick
(03) 9380-9824

Orange and Poppy Seed Ring

Today I made this lovely cake, the recipe comes from the August 2004 Table magazine, yes it has taken me 2 years to finally get to this one! It is delicious, very light & fluffy, the poppy seeds give that lovely crunch to the texture too & of course the orange flavour is nice & zingy in this butter cake. Very easy to whip up too so recommended.

Orange & Poppy Seed Ring

125g butter, at room temperature, chopped
¾ cup caster sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
¼ cup milk
¼ cup orange juice
2 cups self raising flour, sifted
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
grated rind of 1 orange

Syrup
¾ cup orange juice
½ cup caster sugar
zested ring of one orange

Preheat oven to 180c. Lightly grease a fluted cake pan (20 cm). Using an electric mixer, beat butter & sugar until creamy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition & scraping down sides of bowl. Beat in vanilla. Combine milk and orange juice, then alternating with flour, lightly fold into butter mixture, beginning & ending with flour. Mix in poppy seeds & rind. Spoon mixture into prepared tin, smoothing top. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until cooked when tested.

Meanwhile, make syrup by combining juice & sugar in a saucepan. Bring to the boil, stirring , then reduce heat & simmer, without stirring, for 5 minutes. Add rind & cook fro another 5 minutes, then remove from heat.

Cool cake in pan for 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack over a baking tray. Pierce in several places, then spoon syrup over. Allow to soak in before serving.

Classic Penne Carbonara

This dish is perfect for weeknights, the whole thing only takes as long as it takes to make the pasta & who doesn’t love a bit of carbonara every now & then. This recipe is taken from Jamie Oliver’s Happy Days & I like the variation of pancetta instead of bacon, very nice indeed!

Classic Penne Carbonara

500g dried penne
10 slices of pancetta
olive oil
5 egg yolks
100ml double cream
125g parmesan, grated
freshly ground black pepper

Cook the penne in salted boiling water until al dente. Meantime, slowly fry the pancetta in a little olive oil until crispy, break it up & leave aside. In a bowl, whip up the egg yolks, cream & half the cheese. When the pasta is cooked, drain & then immediately toss through the egg mixture & pancetta. Season to taste & serve with remaining cheese

Pollo Alla Cacciatora (Hunter’s Chicken Stew)

Michael cooked up this lovely dish for dinner with only a little help from me. I varied the recipe slightly in that firstly I had bought chicken thigh fillets instead of pieces on the bone as the recipe called for as I always find these work well & you end up with a nicer result in the end. Also I didn’t have any Chianti on hand so rather than go out & buy a bottle I used something from my already plentiful wine collection, went with a Sangiovese in the end having no idea what to substitute the Chianti for. This seemed to work well & didn’t cause any disasters. The recipe comes from Jamie Oliver’s Italy & as usual with his recipes it was sensational! I have made this dish before from other recipes & this was definitely the best, I think the baking in the oven was what did it, the intensity of all of the flavours, combined with the chicken so tender it was falling apart made for a mouth watering feast. I seem to have got one part wrong though, according to Jamie it should have been I who cooked this after my man spent a hard day out in the countryside, oh well! And seeing as how it is still Winter we served this with a good size helping of mash rather than the suggested salads. Fantastico!

Pollo Alla Cacciatora (Hunter’s Chicken Stew)

Cacciatore means ‘hunter’, so this is obviously the type of food that a
hunter’s wife cooks for her fella when he gets home from a hard morning
spent in the countryside. This is also a great dish for big parties, as it
looks after itself in the oven.

1 x 2kg / 4lb chicken, jointed, or use the equivalent amount of chicken
pieces
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
8 bay leaves
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
3 cloves of garlic, peeled (1 crushed, 2 sliced)
½ a bottle of chianti
flour, for dusting
extra virgin olive oil
6 anchovy fillets
a handful of green or black olives, stoned
2 x 400g tins of good-quality plum tomatoes

Season the chicken pieces with
salt and freshly ground black pepper and put them into a bowl. Add the bay
leaves and rosemary sprigs and the crushed clove of garlic and cover with the
wine. Leave to marinate for at least an hour, but preferably overnight in the
fridge.

Preheat your oven to 180c / 350F / gas 4. Drain the chicken,
reserving the marinade, and pat dry with kitchen paper. Dust the chicken pieces
with flour and shake off any excess. Heat an ovenproof pan, add a splash of
olive oil, fry the chicken pieces until browned lightly all over and put to one
side.

Place the pan back on the heat and add the sliced garlic. Fry
gently until golden brown, then add the anchovies, olives, tomatoes (broken up
with a wooden spoon) and the chicken pieces with the reserved marinade. Bring to
the boil, cover with a lid or a double thickness layer of foil and bake in the
preheated oven for 1 ½ hours.

Skim off any oil that’s collect on top of
the sauce, then stir, taste and add a little salt and pepper if necessary.
Remove the bay leaves and rosemary sprigs, and serve with a salad, or some
cannellini beans, and plenty of Chianti.

Maccaroni Cheese My Way!

Maccaroni cheese to me has to be made with this recipe the way I used to have it at home when I was growing up. There is nothing whatsoever fancy about the dish, in fact it even uses a block of Kraft cheddar that you buy of the shelf – yes you know the one in the blue packet – not even sure if you can call it real cheese, but for the recipe to be authentic you have to use this. This is my ultimate comfort food & I try to restrict myself to one batch each Winter it is so bad for you. I think that may be part of the appeal, wicked=bloody good every time if you ask me. Trust me, one mouthful of this carb filled, cheeze oozing goodness & you will be hooked forever

Macaroni Cheese

500g Macaroni
30g butter
2 bacon rashers, shopped
250g grated kraft cheddar cheese, grated
¼ cup plain flour
2 ¼ cups milk
¼ tspn dry mustard
3 tomatoes, sliced
breadcrumbs

Cook macaroni & set aside. Meantime fry chopped bacon. Add butter, stir in flour, mustard, salt & pepper & cook for 1 minute. Gradually stir in milk until sauce boils & thickens. Stir in ¾ cheese & macaroni. Place in a casserole dish & top with sliced tomatoes, breadcrumbs & remaining cheese. Bake in oven preheated to 180c for approx 30 minutes or until tomatoes cooked, and cheese browned.

Iced Cinnamon Snail Rolls

Yesterday I was visiting my family & wanted to take along a tasty treat for all to indulge in. Flicking through my books, the usual cakes, muffins & bickies did not appeal, I felt like making something a bit different. I finally came across this recipe which was in Bill Granger's Sydney Food. I love bread & don’t mind a bit of baking so this seemed perfect, also had not made anything like this before so definitely keen to see how it would compare to shop bought delights of a similar nature. The preparation & assembly were really quite easy & not that far off making bread dough though the ingredients are a little different, the only factor you would need to consider making these is time as you have to let the dough rise twice, I found mine needed about an hour each time too & dont they look delicious even before they're cooked? Straight out of the oven & time for a quick icing & taste test, really good, the dough was quite fluffy & not too heavy or dry. The wicked flavour combination of butter, sugar, cinnamon, sultanas & currants was very evenly balanced, I find sometimes these can be too bready with not enough flavouring, no such problem with these. And the final touch of the icing really finished them off beautifully, rounding off all of the flavours. I think these would also be great with some chopped nuts though with Michael being allergic, I wont be trying that option too soon! Yum!

Iced Cinnamon Snail Rolls

Dough
2 x 7 g sachets dried yeast
¼ cup lukewarm water
1 cup milk
125g unsalted butter, cubed
4 cups plain flour
a pinch of salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/3 cup currants
1/3 cup sultanas
80g unsalted butter, melted
¾ cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Icing
1 cup icing sugar
1 tablespoon warm water
½ teaspoon vanilla essence

To make the dough, dissolve the yeast in warm water in a small bowl. Place milk & cubed butter in a medium saucepan and heat until butter is melted. Sift flour & salt into a large mixing bowl. Add sugar & stir to combine. Make a well in the centre and add eggs, & milk & yeast mixtures. Stir until a dough forms.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface & knead for 6-8 minutes, working in extra flour if too sticky. Add the currants & sultanas in the last 2 minutes of kneading. Turn the dough into a large, lightly greased bowl & cover with plastic wrap. Keep the bowl in a warm place & let the dough rise for 30 minutes to an hour until the dough has doubles in size.

Punch the dough down & turn onto a lightly floured bench. Roll it into a 23 x 60 cm rectangle. Brush generously with the melted butter, reserving some for later, and sprinkle evenly with the brown sugar & cinnamon.

Roll the dough up from the short end, swiss roll style, to make a log. Cut the roll, seam side down, into 2 cm thick slices & place on baking trays that have been lightly greased, leaving 1.5 cm between each slice. Brush the tops with the remaining butter. Cover loosely & leave to rise until doubled.

Preheat oven to 180c. Bake trolls for 20-30 minutes. Remove from the oven, allow to cool on rack for 10 minutes, drizzle with icing.

To make icing, place sugar, water & vanilla in a mixing bowl & stir until smooth. Add extra water if too thick to drizzle. Makes 12.

Coyote Cafe, North Fitzroy

Last night Michael & I thought we would try out the new Mexican place, The Coyote Cafe that opened a few months ago on Nicholson Street in North Fitzroy. The place serves Traditional & New Wave Mexican food, it all looks very interesting though last night we stuck to the basics thinking we would be more adventurous next time. We shared a small plate of Nachos to start with, they were really good, layered pinto beans on the bottom, corn chips, lots of warm melted cheese, jalapenos & pepper sauce, all served with guacamole, salsa & sour cream on the side. I was impressed that with all the cheese the corn chips managed to stay crispy throughout which gets a big star from me. Also the serve was so big for a small that between the 2 of us we were nearly full after the starter! Next we shared the fajitas, this was a mix of char grilled beef, chicken & chorizo with onion, capsicum & Mexican rice, served with warm tortillas, salsa, sour cream, guacamole, lettuce & cheese so you can build your own tasty parcels. As we were sharing, they were kind enough to give us an extra serve of tortillas at no additional cost & we didn’t even ask for them, again it was all pretty tasty although the rice was a little overdone after sitting on the char grill plate for so long & more than enough to share. Add in a couple of coronas & the whole meal set us back under $50.00 so very kind on the hip pocket too. All in all nothing fancy, but nice for a casual meal out any time. They also do take-away & I believe on some weeknights they have margarita specials & the like too.

Coyote Café
414 Nicholson Street
North Fitzroy
9489 0077

Lemon & Lime Cream Tart

For dessert on Saturday night I totally ignored my Curry theme & made a gorgeous lemon & lime tart, I thought the tanginess of this tart would be perfect after a night of curries. The recipe comes form Jamie Oliver’s The Naked Chef. To start with you make the pastry & there is enough for 2 which is handy as next time I need a quick dessert it’s just a matter of filling the case up! I also used the food processor option which makes it so easy. I love a lemon tart & this one is pretty good, very tangy & rich though so only the smallest piece is needed & berries of any type are great on the side.

Short Crust Sweet Pastry

To make 2 x 30cm/12 inch tart moulds
250g butter
200g icing sugar
a medium pinch of salt
500g flour
4 egg yolks
4 tablespoons cold milk/water

You can make this by hand or in a food processor. Cream together the butter, sugar & salt & then rub or pulse in the flour & egg yolks. When the mix has come together, looking like coarse breadcrumbs, add the cold water or milk. Pat & gently work together to form a ball of dough. Use minimum movement as the more you work it the more elastic it will get, causing the pastry to shrink & be chewy. Roll into a large, short & fat sausage shape, wrap in glad wrap & place in the fridge for at lest 1 hour.

Carefully slice off thin slivers of pastry lengthways, around 5mm thick. Place the slivers in & around the bottom & sides of your tart mould, then push the pieces together & level out. Now it needs to rest again for at least 1 hour in the freezer this time.

Bake the tart for about 15 minutes at 180c, completely cool & fill with any uncooked fillings.

For baked fillings, bake blind first at 180c for only about 12 minutes. You can fill the shell with rice, baking beads, etc but if your pastry is straight out of the freezer you shouldn’t have problems with shrinkage, etc.

Lemon & Lime Cream Tart

1 tart shell, baked blind (For his tart egg wash before blind baking!!!)
340g caster sugar
8 large eggs
350ml double cream
200ml lime juice
100ml lemon juice

Egg wash your tart shell, then blind bake. This will keep the pastry crisp for longer.

Whisk together the sugar & eggs. When mixed well, slowly stir in the cream, lemon & lime juices. Put the shell back in the oven & slowly pour in the filling (this will reduce spillage). Bake for around 40-45 minutes at 180c or until the filling is set but semi wobbly in the middle. After cooling for an hour the filling will have firmed up. Don’t cut any earlier or it will be gooey & ooze out. If preferred dust with icing sugar to serve. Serve with fresh berries.

Tags: lemon, lime, tart, recipe

Curry Night

Last night I had a few people over for dinner & decided to do another curry night. I started off with some vegetarian samosas which I didn’t think were that good, they were a bit on the oily side so I have skipped the recipe. For the Main course we had some curries, rice dishes, rotti & raita. I used Jamie Oliver’s favourite curry sauce from Happy Days which I’ve made heaps of times before, I love it, the flavours are very fresh & it can be used many ways which came in handy as one of the guests tonight only eats fish, so I doubled the recipe, then split the sauce in half & did half chicken, half fish. The Lemon Rice is from this book also & really is worth that little extra effort over plain steamed rice, it’s absolutely delicious. This is the first time I am making it with the urad dhal as I finally found some at my local Asian grocer, it added a lovely crunchy texture to the rice The raita was a simple mix of yoghurt, grated cucumber & toasted cumin seeds and the Rotti I picked up form the local deli.

Curry Sauce

5 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 teaspoons mustard seeds
1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
3 fresh green chillies, deseeded & thinly sliced
1 handful of curry leaves
2 thumb size pieces of fresh ginger, peeled & coarsely grated
3 onions, peeled & chopped
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1 teaspoon turmeric
6 tomatoes, chopped
1 x 400ml coconut milk
salt

For the fish version
225g white fish fillets
1 knob tamarind paste or 1 teaspoon tamarind syrup
baby spinach
handful fresh coriander, chopped

For the chicken version
4 chicken breasts, sliced into 1cm strips
1 tablespoon coriander seeds, crushed

Heat the oil in a pan, and when hot add the mustard sees. Wait for them to pop, then add the fenugreek seeds, fresh green chillies, curry leaves & ginger. Stir & fry for a few minutes. Using a food processor, chop the onions & add to the pan. Continue to cook for a few minutes until the onion is light brown & soft, then add the chilli powder & turmeric. Using the same food processor, pulse the tomatoes & add to the pan. Cook for a couple of minutes, then add 1 or 2 wineglasses of water & the coconut milk. Simmer for about 5 minutes until it has the consistency of double cream, then season carefully with salt.

Ok so now I am splitting the sauce in two. For the fish verion, add the fish & tamarind & simmer for 6 minutes. Add some baby spinach & coriander at the end.

For the chicken version, stir fry the chicken strips & coriander seeds until lightly browned, then add to the sauce & simmer for about 10 minutes.

Lemon Rice

455g basmati rice
5 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons mustard seeds
2 teaspoons urad dhal (small dried split peas)
1 handful of curry leaves
rind & juice of 2 lemons
fresh coriander, chopped
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

Thrown the rice into boiling water, cook for 10 minutes & drain.

Heat the oil in a small frying pan, over medium heat. Add the mustard seeds & as they begin to pop add the urad dhal, curry leaves & strips of lemon rind. Leave to cook for 1 minute until the urad dhal & lemon peel are lightly coloured.

Add the drained rice to a bowl & pur over the cooked spices, lemon juice & chopped coriander. Season to taste.

Marinated & Pot roasted beef fillet with a brilliant potato and horseradish cake

Well I’m finally getting around to telling you about the main course content of Wednesday nights feast. The following recipe comes from Jamie Oliver Jamie’s Kitchen. The beef was sensational, all of the juices & herbs soaked through to give it a lovely flavour & kept it nice & moist & tender despite the fact that I discovered I had no garlic to use & substituted with onions! The potato bake was ok, I wasn’t overly impressed, Michael loved it though. I didn’t think the flavours came together all that well & it was a bit dry, I would definitely make the meat again but probably serve with mash instead.

Marinated & Pot roasted beef fillet with a brilliant potato and horseradish cake

1 x 900g whole fillet of beef, trimmed
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
2 handfuls of fresh rosemary sprigs
1 bulb of garlic, broken up, cloves left whole with skins on
extra virgin olive oil
2kg desiree or Maris piper potatoes, peeled & sliced 0.5cm thick
3 heaped tablespoons creamed horseradish
½ bottle of red wine
170g butter

Generously season the beef with salt & pepper. In a pestle & mortar bash up about a quarter of the rosemary with a clove of garlic to make a paste. Lossen with 5 tablespoons of olive oil & then rub this all over the beef. Tie the beef with 4 pieces of string then poke the remaining rosemary sprigs under the string.

Preheat oven to 250c. Parboil the potatoes in boiling salted water for 5 minutes & drain in a colander. Transfer to a bowl & add enough olive oil to just coat, season well. You can make this in a non stick cake tin or oven proof non stick frying pan or make small individual ones. Place half the potatoes in the pan then smear the horseradish cream over the top & place the rest of the potatoes on top, pat down & put to the side.

Brown off the meat in a snug fitting roasting tray until all sides are coloured. Add the garlic cloves to the tray, place the beef on top & put on the oven with the potatoes on the shelf below. Cook fro 20 minutes, then turn the beef over, baste, add the red wine & butter & place back in the oven for another 15-20 minutes or until cooked to your liking. When ready, rest the beef for a few minutes, then cut off the string & carve. Return any juices to the pan , mush up the garlic & put through a sive & use this sauce as your gravy. Serve with the baked potaotes

Weekend Breakfast blogging

Nandita at Saffron trail has started a fortnightly event called weekend breakfast blogging

I thought I would remind you all of a wonderful Christmas breakfast I made last year that I truly reccomend you all try, here it is again


Sweetcorn & Ricotta hotcakes with smoked salmon & basil dressing

To use up some more of my smoked salmon I cooked up a treat for Michael & I on Christmas morning, we were not expecting the whole family over until dinner time so wanted something nice to start the day.After doing the Allan Campion cooking class at Vic Market & him making it look so easy I thought I would try this recipe out for myself. Again it was really easy & have heaps of leftover hotcakes to have for brekky over the next few days. Think the corn & smoked salmon teamed with the basil is a great combination too.The recipe is from 2006 Seasonal Prodcue Diary, here it is

Sweetcorn and ricotta hotcakes with smoked salmon and basil dressing

1 cup basil leaves
1 garlic clove, peeled & sliced
120-160 ml (1/2 - 2/3 cup) olive oil
salt & freshly ground pepper
2 medium eggs
250g ricotta
60 ml (1/4 cup) milk
125g (1/2 cup) natural yoghurt
150g (1 cup) self raising flour
1/2 tspn baking powder
1/2 tspn salt
2 corn cobs
olive oil for cooking
rocket to serve
12 slices smoked salmon

Place basil & garlic in food processor & blend until chopped. Slowly add the olive oil until the basil is pureed & forms a thickish sauce. Season with salt & pepper & set aside.Beat eggs & ricotta. Add milk and yoghurt & beat until smooth. Sift flour with baking powder and salt & add to ricotta base, stir until combined.Remove husks and silky tassells from corn. Run a sharp knife down each cob to remove the kernels. Stir kernels through pancake mixture.Heat a heavy based pan over medium heat. Add a splash of oil to hot pan, then a few ladlefuls of ricotta mixture. Mixture should spread to abt 6 cm wide. Cook until bubbles form on top & base is golden brown. Turn over & cook for a further 2-3 minutes. Keep warm until all hotcakes are cooked.Place one hotcake on each plate, add a handful of rocket, place another cake on top. Add more rocket & arrange 2 slices of salmon on top. Repeat with remaining hotcakes. Drizzle basil oil around hotcakes & serve immediatleyPS - As you can see from the photo I didnt do the fancy arrangement just for the 2 of us!

Molten Chocolate Puddings

Last night my good friend Megan came over for dinner & I’m skipping straight to dessert which was pretty bloody good & so easy it wasn’t funny. You even get to prepare the whole thing in advance so after dinner you just have to pop them in the oven & 20 minutes later like magic you have a pot full of hot gooey chocolate bliss, very highly recommended. The recipe comes from Allan Campion & Michele Curtis’ Food with Friends which hasn’t let me down yet

Molten Chocolate Puddings

350g dark chocolate, chopped into chunks
50g soft butter
150g caster sugar
4 medium eggs, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons plain flour
cream to serve
6 x 125ml ramekins

Grease 6 x 125ml ramekins & place on a baking tray. Put chocolate in a heatproof bowl & set over a saucepan of simmering water until it has melted. Beat butter & sugar until light & fluffy. With the mixer still going, gradually add the beaten eggs. Add the flour & ensure all ingredients are well combined. Add chocolate & beat to a smooth paste. Divide mixture between ramekins. You can set these aside at this point if leaving until later.

Preheat oven to 180c. Place tray with ramekins in the oven & cook fro 18-20 minutes. Check puddings by inserting a skewer: you want them to be gooey in the middle, but cooked at least 1 cm inside from the edge. Serve straight from the oven with cream.

Steamed Fish Fillets with Ginger & Spring Onions

Tonight was Michael’s cooking night for the week & he chose this simple recipe from Kylie Kwong’s Simple Chinese Cooking. As Kylie says it’s healthy, light & very clean tasting.

Steamed Fish Fillets with Ginger & Spring Onions

4 x 100g Firm white fleshed fish
1/3 cup water
2 tablespoons shao hsing wine or dry sherry
2 tablespoons ginger julienne
1 Chinese cabbage leaf
½ teaspoon white sugar
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
¼ teaspoon sesame oil
½ cup spring onion, julienne
1 ½ tablespoons peanut oil
¼ coriander leaves
pinch ground white pepper

Place fish in a shallow heatproof bowl that will fit inside a steamer basket. Pour water & wine/sherry over fish, then sprinkle with half the ginger. Place bowl inside steamer & place over pot of boiling water & steam covered for 5-6 minutes.

Cut Chinese cabbage leaf into 4 squares & slip inside steamer. Cover & steam for a further 2-3 minutes or until fish is just cooked.

Remove cabbage from steamer & arrange on serving plates. Place the fish on top of the cabbage. Pour any liquid left in the bowl over the fish, sprinkle with sugar & drizzle with combined soy sauce & sesame oil, then sprinkle remaining ginger & half the spring onion. Heat peanut oil in a small frying pan until moderately hot then pour over the fish. Sprinkle with remaining spring onion, coriander & pepper.

Choc-Orange cupcakes with orange whipped icing

Sunday I had an urge to bake & the flavour required was choc orange. After searching through a few cookbooks & my folder of magazine cut outs I finally found this recipe for choc orange cupcakes from a recent Donna Hay magazine. I have to say the cake mixture was delicious so was off to a promising start. I was however a bit worried about the icing as I have never used this method before & as I was beating it didn’t know when to stop, ie how thick would it get? It was still quite runny but spreadable when I figured nothing much else was going to happen so I spread away keeping my fingers crossed that it was harden up after a while. On tasting the cake part was delicious & the topping of crushed jaffas gave it some lovely orangey crunch, also the tangy icing was a great offset to the chocolate cakes & it did harden up a little though not rock hard. So all in all pretty yum

Choc-Orange cupcakes with orange whipped icing

250g butter, softened
1 /4 cups caster sugar
4 eggs
2 ¼ cups plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 cup milk
200g dark chocolate, melted
1 cup chocolate orange balls, roughly chopped

Orange whipped icing
1 cup caster sugar
¼ orange juice
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
2 ½ tablespoons orange flavoured liqueur
3 eggwhites

Preheat oven to 160c. Place butter & sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer & beat until light & creamy. Gradually add the eggs & beat well. Sift over the flour, baking powder & cocoa & beat until combined. Fold through the milk, stir in the melted chocolate & spoon into 2 12 hole ½ cup capacity tins lined with patty cases. Top each cake with crushed choc orange balls & bake for 15-20 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Cool on wire racks.

To make the icing, place the sugar, orange juice, cream or tartar & liqueur in a saucepan over high heat & stir until the sugar is dissolved. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat to low & simmer for 3 minutes. Place the egg whites in an electric mixer & beat until soft peaks form. While the motor is running, gradually add the sugar mixture & beat until thick & glossy. Spread the icing over the cupcakes with a palette knife. Makes 24.

Iliana Pizza

Normally I wouldn’t do a post on take away pizza so this is an exception. I thought I just had to let everyone know that the best take away pizza in Brunswick comes from Iliana on Nicholson street. They have a great thin crispy base & the toppings are perfect, never overdone & they even use real ham, pretty amazing stuff wouldn’t you say? Last night I ordered half Aussie & half vegetarian, this way I can fool myself into believing I am eating healthy food. I don’t normally go for Aussie but theirs is suberb, lovely chunks of just crispy bacon & the egg gets right in there, its sensational. As for the veggie, you can prob see its topped full of onions, zucchini, mushies, capsicum & olives as well as the usual tomato & cheese. They also have a range of Gourmet pizzas as well as pasta (pretty good too) & even some burgers & fish & stuff, have never strayed that far form the pizza or occasional pasta myself. Anyway if you live in the area make this your local, you won’t be sorry!

Iliana
128 Nicholson Street
East Brunswick
9381 0404

Veal Cutlets with Tomatoes, Capers & Polenta

Michael has been taking on the task of cooking a meal a week for me these days & this week he chose this great recipe form Bill’s Food. We didn’t use Bills method of making the polenta as it need 1.5 hours & who has that kind of spare time after work? Instead he made the cheesy Polenta from Allan Campions Food with Friends that we have made before. Great dish, love polenta & looovvve it when someone else cooks for me for change!

Veal Cutlets with Tomatoes, Capers & Polenta

4 large rip tomatoes, each cut into 8 wedges
1 tablespoon fresh oregano leaves
2 tablespoons capers, rinsed & squeezed dry
2 garlic cloves, sliced
1 red onion, cut into fine wedges
2 tablespoons olive oil
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
4 veal cutlets

Polenta to serve

Preheat oven to 200c. Put the tomatoes, oregano, capers, garlic & olive oil in a small roasting pan & toss together. Sprinkle with salt & pepper. Cover with foil & bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Remove the foil & bake for another 10 minutes.

While the tomatoes are cooking, brush the cutlets with oil & season liberally with salt & pepper. Heat a large frying pan over high heat for 1 – 2 minutes until very hot. Add the veal & cook for 1 minute on each side, or until sealed. Remove from the pan & place on top of the tomatoes & bake for 10 – 15 minutes until veal is cooked. Serve with polenta.

Chicken breast Baked in a bag with Mushrooms, Butter, White wine & thyme.

This is a great winter dish that takes no time at all. Seriously it takes 5 minutes to gather & prepare the ingredients & then you just pop it into the oven to cook for a while. I like to serve with Mash potato so you can soak up all of the deliciously wicked juices formed from the butter, wine, garlic & thyme. Also I skipped the porcini as didn’t have any handy. Lovely comfort food. The recipe comes form Jamie Oliver’s Happy Days with the Naked Chef

Chicken breast Baked in a bag with Mushrooms, Butter, White wine & thyme.

2 x 200g skinless chicken breasts
1 handful of dried porcini
250g mixed mushrooms, torn up
1 large wineglass of white wine
3 large knobs of butter
1 handful of fresh thyme
2 cloves of garlic, peeled & sliced

Preheat oven to 220c. Using foil, places 2 pieces n top of each other, about the size of a shoe box, fold 3 sides over leaving one open. Mix everything together in a bowl & place it all, liquid included in the bag, taking care not to pierce the foil. Seal the remaining edge, place on a baking tray & bake for 25 minutes. When opening the bag after cooking, be careful as a lot of hot steam will escape & you don’t want to burn yourself.

Rocket & Leek Frittata

This recipe was published in the Weekend Australian back in August 2005 & I have finally got around to trying it out for lunch today with Rach. I wanted something fairly simple & light for lunch & this seemed the perfect dish. So simple its not funny & really very tasty, nice & cheesy

Rocket & Leek Frittata

2 tablespoons Olive Oil
3 rashers bacon, chopped
3 leeks, washed & thinly sliced
6 eggs
150ml cream
salt & freshly ground black pepper
Handful of grated cheddar
Handful of rocket

Preheat oven to 180c

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large non stick, oven proof frying pan over medium heat. Add the bacon & leeks & cook for 5 minutes or until leeks have softened. Combine eggs & cream, season with salt & pepper. Pour the eggs into the frying pan & swirl the mixture a little. Stir through a handful of grated cheddar & a handful of rocket.

Transfer to oven & cook for about 20 minutes or until set, golden & puffed up a little. Serve straight from the pan or invert onto a large flat plate, warm or at room temperature.