Sweetcorn Fritters with Roast Tomato & Bacon

I have been rather busy the last few weeks & haven’t had a chance to cook up a big brekky for Michael & I for a while so I got out my trusty Bill Granger books who I always turn to when wanting a new idea for breakfast. This recipe comes from Bills Sydney Food. Let me tell you these fritters were sensational, easy to make, they held together beautifully & the flavour was a lovely sweet, soft sensation. I made heaps & the leftovers were just as good cold or heated up in the microwave. I’d say this breakfast was the best I have had in a long time & could stand up to a few of my favourite cafes & a lot cheaper too!

Sweetcorn Fritters with Roast Tomato & Bacon

1 cup plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon paprika
1 tablespoon sugar
2 eggs
½ cup milk
2 cups fresh corn kernels, cut from the cob
½ cup diced red capsicum
½ cup sliced spring onions
¼ cup chopped coriander & parsley (combined)
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 ripe roma tomatoes, sliced in half lengthways
extra virgin olive oil
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

To serve
Rocket
Grilled Bacon

Firstly get your tomatoes roasting. Preheat the oven to 180c. Place tomatoes cut side up on a baking tray, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt & pepper & roast in the oven for 40 minutes.

Sift flour, baking powder, slat & paprika into a large bowl, stir in sugar & make a well in the center. In a separate bowl, combine eggs & milk. Gradually add the egg mix to the dry ingredients & whisk until you have a smooth lump-free batter.

Add vegetables & herbs & mix to combine. Heat oil in a non-stick frying pan over medium heat, then drop in 2 tablespoons of batter per fritter & cook 4 fritters at a time. Cook for 2 minutes or until golden underneath, flip & cook the other side until also golden. Serve with tomatoes, rocket & bacon.

Mushroom Pizzetta

Friday nights used to be take away night in our house until I turned into a stay at home mum, now I usually cook for 2 reasons, a) as you know I love it and b) – a bad pizza a couple of months ago put me off take away. As Michael used to love take away night & the most common food was pizza I decided to make my own using this unusual recipe from Delicious provided by Jamie Oliver. The pancetta is actually chopped up & forms part of the base which I haven’t seen before. You couldn’t really taste pancetta itself though I do think the dough definitely was improved by this, it was salty (not too much) and the overall flavour was enhanced, of course you could just put it in top! One tip, make sure the oven is really, really hot before you put the pizza in or the base will not crisp up, mine was a bit on the soft side but I know for next time to just pump the oven right up. In the end I would much rather eat this than a take away & it really wasn’t all that difficult or time consuming either.

Mushroom Pizzetta

1 garlic clove
A sprig of fresh thyme, leaves picked
Extra virgin olive oil
2 handfuls (200g) mixed mushrooms, wiped & sliced thinly
250g Taleggio cheese, thinly sliced
A few handfuls of rocket

Pizza Dough
100g sliced pancetta
500g plain flour
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp (10g) dried yeast

For the dough, pulse the pancetta in a food processor until finely chopped. Add the flour & pulse to combine. Add 350ml lukewarm water, sugar & yeast in that order & stand for 10-15 minutes until the yeast starts to foam. Pulse once again to mix, then cover the feed tube of the processor & leave the dough to prove for 20-30 minutes until doubled in size.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 220c. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.

Bash the garlic, thyme and a pinch of salt in a pestle & mortar. Stir in 3 tablespoons of olive oil.

Pulse the dough gently in the food processor to break up a little. On a floured surface, knead the dough briefly until smooth. Cut the dough into 6 or 8 small lumps or 2 big ones, using a rolling pin, roll out into circles & place on the baking trays. Brush with the garlic & thyme oil, scatter with the sliced mushrooms & top with the cheese. Drizzle with more garlic oil, sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper & bake for 15-20 minutes until the bases are puffed & cooked through. Toss the rocket in a little olive oil & the lemon juice & scatter over the top of the pizza before serving.

Steak Sandwich with Garlic Crème

A great Friday night dinner would have to be the steak sandwich, easy to put together & its almost like having take away (which keeps Michael happy) but of course much better, this is Bill Granger’s version from Sydney Food which apparently has been on the menu at his place from the start. It has all of the right ingredients for me, onions, a bit of salady stuff, crusty bread & the garlic crème for me is ever so much nicer than tomato sauce – a condiment I don’t have a very good relationship with as un Australian as that may sound.

Steak Sandwich with Garlic Crème

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup finely sliced onion
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
8 thick slices bread, such as ciabatta
1 bunch rocket
4 ripe tomatoes

Garlic Crème
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2cloves garlic, crushed
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 cup canola or other mild oil

Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat, add the onion & cook for 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until golden. Add vinegar, salt & pepper & cook for a minute longer until caramelized. Remove onion from the pan & set aside.

Meanwhile make the garlic crème. Place egg yolks, vinegar, garlic, salt & pepper in a bowl & whisk until combined. Add the oil drop by drop, whisking constantly. When the sauce starts to thicken, add the oil in a steady stream until the oil is fully incorporated. If the crème is too thick, thin with a tablespoon of warm water.

Using the same pan as the onions, heat the remaining olive oil over high heat. Add steak to the pan and sprinkle with salt & pepper. Cook for 1 minute, turn & cook the other side for a further minute.

Spread the bread with the garlic crème. Place rocket on the 4 ‘bottom’ slices of bread & top with tomato. Place onions on top pf tomato, followed by streak. Cover with second slice of bread. Serves 4.

Spaghetti con Gamberetti e Rucola (Spaghetti with Prawns & Rocket)

This is a lovely version of one of my favourite combinations, prawns, chilli, garlic & spaghetti. The addition of lemon juice & sun dried tomato puree gives it an extra nice tangy taste. The recipe comes from Jamie’s Italy.

Spaghetti con Gamberetti e Rucola (Spaghetti with Prawns & Rocket)

455g dried spaghetti
sea salt & freshly ground black peper
extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, peeled & finely chopped
1-2 dried red chillies, crumbled
400g peeled raw prawns
1 small wineglass of white wine
2 heaped tablespoons of sun dried tomato puree or 6 sun dried tomatoes blitzed in a blender
zest & juice of 1 lemon
2 handfuls of rocket, roughly chopped

Cook your spaghetti in a large pan of salted boiling water according to packet instructions. Meanwhile, heat 3 good glugs of olive oil in a large frying pan & toss in the garlic & chilli. As the garlic begins to colour, add the prawns & sauté them for a minute. Add the white wine & tomato puree & simmer for a couple of minutes. When the pasta is ready, drain & reserve a little of the cooking water. Toss the spaghetti with the sauce, squeeze in the lemon juice, add half the chopped rocket, adding a little of the reserved water if the sauce needs loosening a bit. Correct the seasoning & serve sprinkled with lemon zest & remaining rocket.

Lentil & Beetroot Salad

I had some leftover beetroots from last week so I made this salad from the Marie Claire ‘Luscious’ Cookbook. It was good although the beetroot still needed quite a bit of cooking after the hour so plan on that in advance. The lentils were great with the salad, every time I cook them I forget how much I love them & promise myself to cook more real soon, hopefully more lentil recipes coming up soon!

Lentil & Beetroot Salad

4 beetroot, about 150g each, washed but not peeled
100g puy lentils or tiny blue-green lentils
½ teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
juice of 1 orange
100g baby rocket leaves
100g marinated goat’s cheese

Preheat oven to 200c. Sit the beetroot in a roasting tin & pour in 250ml/1 cup of water. Cover with foil & bake for 1 hour or until a knife passes easily through the beetroot. Remove the beetroot from the tin & leave to cool.

Meanwhile, put the lentils in a saucepan with 500ml/2 cups of water. Add the sea salt & bring to the boil, then reduce the heat & simmer for 20-30 minutes or until the lentils are tender. Drain off any excess water, tip the lentils into a bowl & stir in the vinegar & olive oil.

Wearing rubber gloves to stop your hands staining, peel the skins from the beetroots. Cut the bulbs into wedges, put them in a bowl & pour the orange juice over the top.

Scatter the rocket leaves on a serving platter & arrange beetroot wedges on top. Spoon the lentils over the top, season with salt & pepper & drizzle with any remaining orange & beetroot juice. Crumble the goats cheese over the top. Serves 4.

Salmon with Horseradish & Beets

This recipe comes from Jamie Oliver’s Happy Days with the Naked Chef, under the chapter, Quick Fixes which is exactly what I needed last night being busy prepping some stuff for the bbq we’re having today. It was very quick apart from boiling the beets, I had giant ones as no babies in the shops & they took quite a while so you need to get them started pretty early on. The beets were fantastic, this was a lovely way to serve them & I loved the marinade, the marjoram really stood out & has a lovely & unusual (to me) flavour, I have some growing on my herb shelf so nice to find good uses for it. If I had known how nice they would turn out I would have bought heaps & made a bowl for the Barbie today! Also the horseradish cream brought it all together, going very well with both the salmon & the beets.

Salmon with Horseradish & Beets

2 x 225g Salmon fillets, pin boned & scored ½ cm deep
salt & freshly ground black pepper
6-8 baby beetroots, cooked until tender then sliced
1 small handful of marjoram, leaves picked
extra virgin olive oil
balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons crème fraiche
2 tablespoons creamed horseradish
juice of 1 lemon
a handful of rocket or watercress

Add your salmon fillets, skin side down, to a hot non-stick pan. Lightly press them with a spatula so they don’t curl up. After a minute they should be lightly golden. Turn the salmon over, sprinkle with salt & then place under a grill for 10-15 minutes until just cooked. While cooking, marinate your beetroots with the marjoram, a little olive oil, balsamic vinegar & seasoning. Mix the crème fraiche with the horseradish & season to taste, carefully, with salt, pepper & lemon juice. Place the beets & salmon on your serving plate, sprinkle over the rocket & drizzle with the horseradish sauce.

Ricotta & Tomato Tart

For brunch with the girls the other day I made this tasty Tart from Bill Granger’s ‘Bill’s Sydney Food’. To save time I made the pastry the day before & even though when I took it out of the fridge the next day it was rock hard & I thought an absolute disaster, after leaving out for quite some time I was finally able to roll it out, it did break up a bit & needed some squishing back together but in the end it was light & buttery & fantastic, not bad for my first attempt at puff pastry I must say. As you can see mine was a very rustic looking pie indeed. The filling was really yum too & the tart made for a nice morning/afternoon with some salad, bread, prosciutto & cheese to accompany it.

Ricotta & Tomato Tart

Filling
2 ripe tomatoes, finely sliced
sea salt
2 cups ricotta
2 eggs, lightly beaten
¼ cup cream
¼ cup finely grated parmesan
a pinch of ground nutmeg
freshly ground black pepper
1 cup finely shredded rocket
1 egg yolk, lightly beaten, for glazing
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

Rough Puff Pastry
200g plain flour
½ teaspoon salt
200g chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2 tablespoons chilled water

Place flour & salt in a bowl, add butter & rub through with fingertips until the mixture resembles large breadcrumbs. Add enough cold water, cutting in with a knife, to form a ball. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap & refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Roll out dough into a 30 x 15 cm rectangle. Fold in the two short ends to meet in the centre, then fold in again. Roll the pastry into a 30 x 15cm rectangle again, then repeat folding process. Refrigerate as a small rectangle for a further 30 minutes before using.

Preheat oven to 200c. Place tomatoes in a colander, sprinkle with salt & leave to drain. Place pastry dough on a lightly floured surface & roll out to a circle about 35cm in diameter & 3mm thick. Place dough on a lightly floured baking tray.

Place ricotta, eggs, cream, parmesan, nutmeg, salt & pepper in a bowl and mix well. Add rocket & stir to combine. Place this mixture in the centre of the dough, and spread filling over the dough leaving a 5 cm border around the outside. Using your hand, lift & push the border onto the filling. Arrange tomato slices over the top of the filling. Brush pastry with egg yolk & bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes or until golden. Serve sprinkled with chopped parsley & freshly ground black pepper. Serves 8

Spaghettini with lemon, prosciutto and chilli

Another quick & tasty pasta combination from Bill Granger that Michael cooked up for me – this one’s from Bill’s Food

Spaghettini with lemon, prosciutto and chilli

60ml (1/4 cup) lemon juice
60ml (1/4 cup) extra virgin olive oil
2 small fresh red chillies, seeded & finely chopped
12 slices prosciutto, cut into thin strips
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
250g rocket leaves, shredded
400g good quality dried thin Spaghettini (or any other pasta really!)

Whisk the lemon juice, olive oil, chilli & some salt & pepper in a bowl to blend.

Put the prosciutto, lemon zest and rocket in a bowl & toss to combine.

Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil & cook pasta to packet directions. Drain & add the prosciutto mix, pour the dressing over & toss to combine.

Prawn & Chilli Linguine

Tonight’s dinner was a complete no brainer, exactly the type of thing I love to cook up after a hard day in the office when all I want to do is put my feet up. I didn’t really need a recipe however followed Bill’s instructions from Sydney Food, minus the rocket which I really wanted but had mysteriously disappeared from my fridge. Perfect, I’ve been dying for this combination of garlic, chilli, prawns & pasta for a while now & I’m glad I finally got around to satisfying the craving.

Prawn & Chilli Linguine

250g linguine
4 tablespoons olive oil (I dint use half this much)
10 green prawns, peeled & deveined
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 small red chillies, finely chopped
25g butter
50g rocket, washed & dried

Cook linguine in rapidly boiling salted water according to packet instructions. Drain well. Heat oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat, add prawns, season with salt & pepper & cook for 1 minute. Add garlic & chillies & cook fro another minute. Add butter and reduce heat to low. Add the rocket & linguine & toss until pasta is well coated.

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

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!

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.

The Brandon, Carlton – Dad’s Birthday celebrations

My Mum & Dad had thought about it for ages & just couldn’t agree on anywhere to go for his birthday dinner. I have been wanting to try out The Brandon Hotel dining Room for ages & after seeing a write up in my local weekly magazine talking it up & mentioning it was the 3AW pub restaurant of the year I knew I could talk them into it, they love 3AW! I also knew that when they saw the menu they would be complaining that it was all too fancy, by the time I got them there it was too late & they were stuck with it & I managed to explain the choices in plain English with them & stopped them from moving into the public bar for a parma & chips.

I settled on the duck special of the day which was a crispy skinned duck leg confit on potato parsley with a fennel, rocket & artichoke salad & some roasted beetroot. I also convinced my mum to have this, she hasn’t been impressed with duck in the past so I told her to trust me, if it’s cooked well it’s delicious. Myself I tried very hard not to order the duck as I always end up with duck but I love it so much I just couldn’t resist, it was delicious too & my mum loved it as well. As you would expect the meat was falling off the bone & it had a lovely rich flavour, the salad was nice & fresh & perfect alongside the powerful duck flavours & the gnocchi great to mop it all up with. My dad had the steak with polenta which was very nice but he was a bit disappointed in the size, being much more used to huge servings, it was really perfect though as it didn’t spoil his appetite for the cake afterwards! Rob, my brother had the pot roasted chicken with pea puree which he declared absolutely excellent too. Lastly Michael had the chermoula lamb rump which he says was cooked very well (nice & pink inside) & overall was very impressed.

A great pub dining room with a lovely atmosphere, the tables are well spaced, lovely art work on the walls, a warm fireplace, very attentive & knowledgeable staff, all in all a very inviting place which I will be back to one day for more.

The Brandon Hotel
237 Station Street
Carlton
9347 232

Grilled Steaks with Wild rocket and Rosemary potatoes

Tonight was a no brainer from Bill Granger’s Bills Food. Normally I wouldn’t post something this simple but as it was form one of my books I though I better add it to my recipe/cook book lists. The recipe calls for sirloin steaks, I just grabbed my usual eye fillets as I find you can’t go wrong with these. As you can probably see the steak was beautiful, moist & tender, the potatoes beaut & crispy & the rocket & lemon mix a perfect offset.

Grilled Steaks with Wild rocket and Rosemary potatoes

4 Steaks, about 2.5cm thick
2 tablespoons olive oil
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
Rocket, rinsed
60ml lemon juice
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Remove steaks from the fridge & bring to room temperature. Brush with olive oil & season with salt & pepper. Heat a large frying pan over high heat for 2 minutes. Sear the steaks for 2 minutes on each side, by which time they will be done rare, if you don’t do rare then obviously cook a bit longer.

Remove form the pan & allow to rest for 5 minutes in a warm place. Place the rocket, lemon juice, olive oil & a little salt in a bowl & toss to combine. Divide among serving plates. Slice the steaks into thick slices & place on top of the rocket with the potatoes. Pour over any escaped juices over the meat from the steaks too!

Rosemary potatoes

1 kg potatoes, cut into 2cm dice
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 200c. Place the potatoes, olive oil & rosemary in a bowl and toss. Place in a single layer on a baking tray & bake for 1 hour, or until crispy. Don’t stir for the first 40 minutes, then gently loosen with a metal spatula. Season with salt & pepper when ready to serve.

Breakfast at Mario's

Yesterday I caught up with a friend for a fabulous brekky at Mario's after a big night out tearing up the dance floor. I have been meaning to try out the famous breakfast here forever & really cant believe it has taken me this long. The place was crammed full of people as you would expect & luckily after only about a ten minute wait I managed to nab a table.

I had the specialof the day which was white bread with melted cheese on top, herbed scrambles eggs, spicy chorizo sausages, chutney & rocket. Can you tell just by looking at it how sensational it was, absolutely scrumptious & will be back for more soon!

Marios Cafe
303 Brunswick Street
Fitzroy
ph: 9417 3343

Sizzled Haloumi with sundried tomatoes & home made pesto

Today my good friend Elise came over for lunch. She is studying Bowen therapy at the moment so the deal was she got to practice & ‘do my husband’ while I cooked up some yummy lunch for us all. Michael was very relaxed after the therapy & I’m looking forward to my turn next though I don’t know if we can leave the lunch to Michael, better prepare something in advance I think! For dessert I was finally making a tarte tatin (see next post) so I wanted lunch to be nice & light so I threw together this salad inspired by a recipe in a mag some time back, cant remember which one. I used some fantastic King Island Haloumi that I picked up from the Vic market & served it with a wonderful St Andrews seed & sprout wood fired oven loaf which I bought from the baker himself over at Ceres this morning. I also made my own pesto for the recipe following Jamie Oliver’s advice in Jamie’s Dinners & served the whole lot on a bed of rocket. It was all great though the rocket & olives probably weren’t necessary, I ate most of my cheese on torn chunks of bread with the pesto sauce, god I love Haloumi. The leftover pesto will make a very quick meal tonight too stirred through some pasta, might even leave that one to the hubby.

Sizzled Haloumi with sundried tomatoes & home made pesto

12 vine ripened cherry tomatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus ½ tablespoon to coat tomatoes
Leaves form 4 thyme sprigs
4 sundried tomatoes, finely sliced
250g haloumi, rinsed, cut into slices
Handful of kalamata olives
Basil leaves to serve

Pesto Sauce
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon pesto
1 tablespoon baby capers, rinsed

Heat the oven to 180c. Coat the cherry tomatoes with 1 teaspoon olive oil, scatter with thyme leaves & sea salt & black pepper to taste, then bake for 15 minutes or so until soft but still retaining their shape.

To make the pesto sauce, mix the oil, capers & pesto together in a bowl.

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a non stick grill pan over high heat. When very hot, sizzle the cheese slices until browned on each side.

Arrange ingredients over rocket on a plate & serve drizzled with pesto sauce.

Pesto

½ a clove of garlic
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
3 good handfuls of basil, leaves picked & chopped
a handful of pine nuts, very lightly toasted
a good handful of freshly grated parmesan cheese
extra virgin olive oil
a squeeze of lemon juice

Pond the garlic with a pinch of salt & the basil leaves in a pestle & mortar, or pulse in a food processor (I used the processor). Add the pine nuts & pound again. Turn into a bowl & add half the parmesan. Stir gently and add sone olive oil – you need just enough to bind the sauce & get it too an oozy consistency. Season to taste, then add most of the remaining cheese, pour in more oil & taste again, keep adding until you are happy with the taste & consistency. Add the lemon juice at the end to give it a bit of a twang, this last step is optional – I go for it as love the extra zesty flavour it gives.

Ladro

Last night I went along to the Melbourne Affordable Art show with some girlfriends & had a magnificent time admiring most of the work, laughing in disbelief at others & not understanding the rest! Managed to pick up a piece I am very happy with too so as soon as that decision was made we started on some champagne while wandering around, lucky I had no money left by then as it all looks like the perfect piece for the lounge room wall after 2 glasses of bubbly!

So after working up quite an appetite wandering around & spending all my pennies we headed down to Yeltza for a glass of wine while waiting for our 9.30 table at Ladro which I managed to get them to squeeze us in for. Yeltza was a hive of activity & even the main bar area was becoming packed by the time we left, Thursday night was up & running. I hear they have a great beer garden hidden out the back where you can get some great food, will have to remember to check it out next summer. Great place for a drink anytime of night though.

Next was Ladro, this was the 3rd time I’ve been & finally I managed to bring my camera along. To start with we had some marinated mushrooms which are divine. We couldn’t have the stuffed olives which are to die for as they have been taken off the menu, when I demanded to know why it was explained that they were so good that they couldn’t get people to order any of their other appetisers so they had to go, can you believe it, hopefully they will come back one day? Next I ordered the same thing I have had each time I’ve been as I cant go past it, Duck Ravioli with a lentil sauce (sorry about the blurry photo again!), I love duck, love ravioli, love lentils so have can I not order this, next time I promise to try very hard so I can sample some of their other dishes which I’m sure are all fantastic too. The ravioli is superb, very simple flavours & not rich at all yet in all works wonderfully together. The girls shared the puttanesca pizza which was topped with tomato sauce, cherry tomatoes, anchovies, capers & olives, very good. The pizza are huge, the base is ultra thin & crispy & cooked to perfection in a wood fired oven. The girls were kind enough to share some with me (as I did mine with them) & tasted very yum. On the side we had a mixed leaf salad as there were some specimens included that I was yet to try, chicory, radicchio, rocket, fennel & witlof, think that was all, very nice & simple with a light dressing. I had never seen chicory before & we couldn’t identify it so our lovely friendly very knowledgeable waiter pointed it out for us & even bought us out a whole leaf which you can see I took a photo of for all those others out there as ignorant as me. Was nice, a bit on the bitter side along with the radicchio but mixed with the rest was not too much for me. This was all washed down with some nice Italian Chianti that was recommended.

Anyway after all this food you would think that we would be stuffed right? Wrong, we did a lot of walking around that exhibition floor so dessert to share was called for, a small piece of pistachio nougat & crepes filled with vanilla custard & peaches finished off the night perfectly.

The place is nice & cozy with a modern look & very warm on a cold blustery night like it was & I will say it again our waiter was perfect, attentive, funny & had an answer for us on anything we needed to know & we were an inquisitive bunch last night let me tell you. If you haven’t been seriously give it a go, just remember to book ahead as its very small & always packed

Ladro
224 Gertrude Street
Fitzroy VIC 3065
Ph: 9415 7575

Warm Salad of Roasted pumpkin, prosciutto & Pecorino

Tonight I cooked up this gorgeous salad for dinner, the mix of colors was very bright & appealing. The flavours were fantastic together & really hardly any work at all, basically just peeling & chopping the pumpkin & the rest is just banging it all on a plate, great for a tired Monday after work. Note of warning, the chilli I used had quite a bit of a kick so if you dont like it hot, maybe cut down on the chilli. The recipe is from Jamies Kitchen. When it comes to the recipe, peeling isnt specified, seeds should be left in & the pumpkin only cut into quarters. I ignored this as in my experience the bigger the pieces the longer the cooking time & I was very hungry, also didnt fancy the seeds or peel!

Warm Salad of Roasted pumpkin, prosciutto & Pecorino

Serves 4 (I halved the ingredients)

1 butternut pumpkin
olive oil
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 small dried red chilli
1 heaped teaspoon coriander seeds
20 slices prosciuto or parma ham
4 handfuls of rocket
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 small block pecorino or parmesan

Preheat your oven to 190c. Peel the pumpkin & chop in pieces, place in a baking tray & rub with olive oil. In a pestle & mortar pound up a flat teaspoon each of salt, pepper & your chilli & coriander seeds. Scatter this over the pumpkin & roast for half an hour or so until soft & golden.

Lay your prosciuto on 4 platess, sprinkle over the rocket, then pumpkin, then drizzle over the combined olive oil & balsamic & top with shaved pecorino.

Peppered Duck breast, poached balsamic figs & garlic crisps with Jus Gras

Tonight’s dinner was this recipe taken from Surfing the menu, it was a bit of an extravaganza for the amount of time & pots & pans needed. I try & do at least one fiddly dish a week if I have the time. Overall the flavour was fantastic though unless doing for a big group I would probably not bother with the whole assembly again though I would do bits & pieces & team them with other more simple sides, etc, a bit too much effort for just Michael & I I’m afraid. Also I used rocket instead of watercress & thought the flavour worked very well with this combo. The garlic crisps were probably my favourite part, delicious & a very subtle garlic flavour too. The figs were a problem as I couldn’t find any good fresh figs, a bit too late so I tried with semi dried but it just wasn’t the same I imagine. Also the Jus gave a lot of extra flavour & apart from having too cook for 2 hours was not too difficult, luckily I have some leftover to use again.

Peppered Duck breast, poached balsamic figs & garlic crisps with Jus Gras

3 tblspns coarsely ground black pepper
4 duck breasts
250ml vegetable oil
4 ripe figs
250ml balsamic vinegar
12 garlic cloves, very thinly sliced
1 litre milk
salt
2 cups watercress

Preheat oven to 200c. Place the pepper on a plate & firmly press the duck breast skin side down into it.

Heat 1 tbspn of the oil in a frying pan with heatproof handle. Fry the duck breast skin side down over medium heat for about 4-5 minutes until golden brown. They should be cooked only on the skin side to prevent them drying out. Transfer to the oven & bake for 5 minutes. Remove form oven & allow to rest for 3-5 minutes

Prick the figs with a skewer then place in a small saucepan with the balsamic, heat gently for 4-5 minutes then remove from heat.

Place the garlic in a small saucepan & add one third of the milk. Bring to the near boil, strain & return garlic to the pan, repeat this procedure twice. Pat the garlic dry with paper towel. Heat the remaining oil in a small pan & fry the garlic until golden brown, 4-5 minutes. Drain on paper towels & season with salt.

To serve, slice each breast into 5 medallions & arrange in a semi circle on four plates. Slice the figs in half & sit behind the duck. Place a small bunch of watercress & some garlic crisps on either side of the fig & drizzle a little jus over each breast.

Jus Gras (Yields about 150mls)

1kg chicken wins
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 litre chicken stock
75g shallots, sliced
3 cloves garlic, crushed with the back of a knife
5 white peppercorns
1 sprig thyme
3 bay leaves

Chop each chicken wing into 3. Heat the oil in a heavy based pan & brown the wings over high heat, 4-5 minutes. Remove the wings, drain the oil & return the wings to the pan

Add the stock, shallots, garlic, peppercorns, thyme & bay leaves & slowly bring to the boil. Simmer over very low heat, uncovered for about 2 hours or until the stock is rich & reduced to about 2/3 of a cup.

Strain into a bowl. Place a heavy pan in top of the wings to squeeze out all the juice & leave for 30 minutes. Discard the bones. If necessary, get rid of the excess fat by chilling, the fat will solidify & can be easily taken off.

Pan Toasted Sandwich with Tomato & Fontina

Well finally I have a cheese sandwich to blog. This is from Bills Sydney Food. As he is so famous for his brekky thought I would start trying out his recipes. This sandwich is described as perfect hangover food, sorry can’t confirm or deny as last night was a dry night for me. The recipe was devised by Harry’s bar in Venice. I used an olive & rosemary bread that I bought over at Ceres on the weekend & substituted gruyere for the fontina, (Michael was set to do the shopping & couldn’t find any fontina). I halved the ingredients & still had heaps of oil leftover which I have saved & still managed to make 4 sandwiches, the loaf was a smallish size. Also Bill says that if you don’t have 2 hours to hang around & wait for the tomatoes too marinate, 5 minutes will do, mine were done for about 1.5 hours & the flavours of garlic & chilli really came through, a really tasty brekky sandwich & of course the variations are limitless, add prosciutto, rocket, etc.

Pan Toasted Sandwich with Tomato & Fontina

100ml extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 red chilli, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper
4 tomatoes, cut into 1/2cm thick slices
8 large thick slices wholemeal bread
75g fontina cheese, finely sliced
16 basil leaves
50g butter

Place, oil, garlic, chilli, salt & pepper in a shallow dish & mix well, add tomatoes & marinate for 2 hours. Brush one side of each slice of bread with the oil from the tomatoes. Place the cheese evenly on top of half the bread slices on the oiled sides. Top with basil, tomatoes & a 2nd slice of bread, oil side down.

Melt half the butter in a large frying pan over medium heat & add the sandwiches, cover with a plate & weigh down with some cans. Cook until golden brown, flip & repeat.