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.

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

Chocolate-Coffee Volcano

For my Dads birthday I decided to make him this impressive sounding Chocolate-Coffee Volcano from Nigella Lawson’s Domestic Goddess – my first recipe from the book. The thing I liked about this recipe was that I could make the cake & prepare the cream & have it sitting & waiting just to throw together at the last minute. Also I used Kahlua instead of Tia Maria as that’s what I had in the bar! The cake was very moist & very chocolatey due to all of the cocoa, great tasting cake. The addition of the walnuts, crème, & caramelised sugar brought it up another level & made it that bit more special. As for the ‘look’, well I think I missed the volcano effect a bit as when I put the crème in the middle straight from the fridge there was no running over the edges like molten lava so mine was just a volcano on the brink! I think this is a great combination of flavours & everyone who had a piece loved it.

Chocolate-Coffee Volcano

Cake
300g Caster sugar
140g plain flour, sifted
80g cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
¼ teaspoon salt
4 large eggs, separated, plus 2 more egg whites (from the yolks you need for the café cream)
125ml vegetable oil
125ml water
1 teaspoon vamilla extract
25cm bundt tin, oiled

Café Cream
225ml double cream
6 large egg yolks
3 tablespoons light muscovado sugar
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder

Topping
4 tablespoons Tia Maria or rum (or Kahlua)
125g chopped walnuts
4 tablespoons Demerara sugar
Chef’s kitchen blowtorch

If making to serve right away then make the custard first so it has a good chance to cool before use. Warm the cream gently in a saucepan. Mix the egg yolks, sugar & espresso powder together in a bowl & pour the warm cream over this mixture, whisking to combine/ Pour the mixture back into the now rinsed out pan & cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until it thickens. Pour into a bowl & leave to cool.

Now for the cake. Preheat oven to 180c. In a large bowl mix together 200g of the caster sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, bicarb & salt. In a measuring jug, whisk together the yolks, oil, water & vanilla. Pour over the dry ingredients gradually, beating to combine.

In another bowl, whisk the 6 egg whites until they are foamy & forming soft peaks. Add the remaining caster sugar, a spoonful at a time, still whisking until the whies are thick & shiny & hold their shape. Briskly beat a large dollop of whites into the cake mixture to lighten it, then a third at a time, fold in the remaining whites.

Pour the mixture into the oiled tin & bake for 40 minutes, the cake should then be springy & coming away from the sides. Let the cake cool in its tin on a rack for 25 minutes before turning out.

Sprinkle the Kahlua onto the cake 1 teaspoon at a time, letting the liqueur soak in after each spoon full.

When ready to serve, place the cake on a plate with a lip & fill the centre with walnuts. Pour in the cold custard letting it overflow a bit onto the shoulders & over the sides. Sprinkle the Demerara sugar, a little at a time, so that it doesn’t soak in, on top of the cake, & use a blowtorch to caramelise the top.

Sweet Chicken & Corn Soup

This weeks soup is a classic Chinese recipe from Kylie Kwong’s Simple Chinese Cooking. I remember as a child going down to the local Chinese shop with the family I would always have this or short (wonton) soup to start with. Interesting to make it myself. I must confess as it was a work night I used ready made liquid stock as the batch I made ages ago has sadly run out by now & couldn’t be bothered making Kylie’s as suggested. The soup was really nice though I would say just a touch on the salty side so would reduce the salt or soy next time. Much nicer & of course very fresh tasting as opposed to the local Chinese.

Sweet Chicken & Corn Soup

4 cobs sweet corn
1 small white onion
1 garlic clove
5cm knob ginger
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup shao hsing wine or dry sherry
7 cups Light Chinese Chicken Stock
200g chicken breast, cur widthways into 1cm strips
2 teaspoons light soy sauce
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon finely sliced spring onion

Remove kernels from corn cobs by running a sharp knife down the sides of each cob. Peel & finely dice onion & garlic. Peel ginger and cut into thin slices and then into fine strips.

Heat oil in a medium sized heavy based pot & sauté onion, ginger & garlic for 1 minute. Add wine or sherry and simmer for further minute or until liquid has reduced to half. Stir in the corn & stock & bring to the boil. Reduce the heat & simmer for 30 minutes. Skim off any impurities (if using real stock!)

Stir through chicken & soy sauce & simmer for a further minute. Lower heat & slowly pour beaten egg into soup in a thin stream, stirring constantly with a fork. Remove soup from the stove as soon as you see the egg forming ‘ribbons’

Serve in bowls & garnish with spring onions.

Weekend Herb Blogging - Fennel, Chilli & Rosemary roast pork

I thought I would cook up a Sunday roast using some fresh rosemary from my herb shelf & finally participate in weekend herb blogging # 38 which Virginie from Absolutely Green is recapping this week. I absolutely love rosemary, it is one of my favourite herbs & it's so easy to grow that I have it handy all year round. I love it with roasts - lamb, pork & it gives the roast veggies an extra lift in flavour too, in pasta sauces, with fish, all in all a very versatile & flavoursome herb.

This recipe comes from a recent food magazine, I can’t remember which one as I rip them out for later use, sorry. I also served this with some roast potato, pumpkin & parsnip. Well the pork was scrumptious, I love fennel & the flavour of the fennel salt was really strong but not overpowering, so good that I would make the salt again & even just use as a rub on pork chops, really good.

Fennel, Chilli & Rosemary Roast Pork

1kg pork rack (8 cutlets)
Olive oil for rubbing
Sea salt for rubbing
3 teaspoons fennel seeds
3 dried chillies
3 teaspoons sea salt, extra
2 tablespoons rosemary leaves
3 brown pears, halved

Preheat the oven to 220c. Pat the pork rack dry with absorbent towels. Use the point of a small, sharp knife to score the skin into thin strips & rub with oil & salt. Place the fennel, chillies, salt & rosemary in a small frying pan over medium heat. Cook for 1 - 2 minutes or until aromatic. Place in the bowl of a small food processor & process until combined. Rub the fennel salt over the pork rack & cut into four double cutlets. Place the cutlets on a wire rack in a metal baking dish & roast for 25 minutes. Reduce the heat to 200c. Add the pears to the bottom of the baking dish & cook for a further 10-12 minutes or until the pork skin is crispy and cooked to your liking and the pears are tender. Serves 4.

Chocolate Brazil Soft Baked Biscuits

These bickies are from Green & Black’s Chocolate Recipes, love the chocolate now I have the book, hope the recipes are all as luscious as the chocolate itself. I found the dough was a bit difficult. After 1 tablespoon of milk it was still a little dry so added a bit more, then it was a bit too sticky so threw in some extra flour. It then seemed the right consistency though it was still quite difficult to roll. Anyhow cut the cookies & got to the baking, the first batch seemed a bit overdone after 20 minutes so cut down the time to about 16-17 minutes for the second tray which seemed more like it. In the end they tasted pretty good but I found them to be a little dry, I prefer my cookies on the moist & chewy side. They are for the boys at work so will have to wait & see what the verdict is from them!

Chocolate Brazil Soft Baked Biscuits

75g unsalted butter
60g caster sugar
1 large egg, beaten
175g wholemeal self-raising flour
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1-2 tablespoons milk
75g dark chocolate, minimum 60% cocoa solids, roughly chopped
75g milk chocolate, pref 34% cocoa solids, roughly chopped
50g brazil nuts, chopped
pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 180c. Grease a baking sheet with melted butter

Cream together the butter and sugar in a bowl until light & fluffy. Beat in the egg. Sift the flour once, returning the bran to the sifted flour, then fold it into the mixture. The bran gives a distinctive texture & flavour to the biscuits. Beat well, adding the vanilla extract and sufficient milk to make a pliable dough. Mix it with your hands, adding the milk in stages until the dough is fairly soft, but not sticky. Add the chopped chocolate, nuts & salt and distribute evenly through the dough. Roll out on to a lightly floured surface to a thickness of about 5mm. Stamp into rounds & place biscuits, spaced well apart, on the greased baking sheet.

Bake in the centre of the oven for about 20 minutes. Watch carefully so they don’t overcook. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the baking tray for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes 20

Small Block, East Brunswick - Brekky

Sunday morning breakfast at Small Block in Brunswick. Once again we felt like a morning walk & what better way to do it than with a brekky stop in the middle. I’ve been here many times before & never disappointed. The place is always packed & usually a wait on the stairs is the way to go before scoring a table. Today we were lucky & there was a table available outside & the sun was shining so it was actually nice, even for a winters day. The only problem today was that a few customers were letting their dogs run riot off their leashes & they all seemed to want to jump on me or slap me with their tails, not the cafes fault but really wish dog owners would keep their pets under control especially if they are bugging the other customers.

Today I had the baked eggs with tomato, chorizo & saffron ragout, this was served with some toast & was delicious, have never tried this dish before, the eggs on top were delicious & even though baked still nice & gooey. Underneath was a lovely mix of tomatoes, chorizo, onions, saffron & olives, great combination. Michael had the scrambled eggs with pesto & fetta, I’ve had this before & it’s a great full of flavour egg scramble. To drink as well as coffees I had a Phoenix Organic apple & pear juice from New Zealand, these are great juices so try one if you ever come across them. Anyway all in all I love Small block & have never had a bad feed here, I think its all excellent quality & the choices are a bit different from the usual which gets another thumbs up for the place too. Friendly staff & quick service complete the picture.

Small Block
130 Lygon Street
Brunswick East
9381 2244

The Rose Hotel, Go Pies!

Saturday night we thought it was time for some real footy, Aussie rules that is! With all of the focus on the World cup at the moment it seems to be the forgotten game. Don’t get me wrong, I too have been getting up early to watch the games & spending my days at work bleary eyed, but The Pies were up & a night at the pub was called for. So Michael, Myself & Jimbo headed down to The Rose in Fitzroy for a good old fashioned Aussie pub meal. I went right down memory lane & had a chicken kiev, something that was on every pub menu in my youth & an old favourite. For those of you who are not familiar with the kiev, it is a breast of chicken stuffed with loads of garlic butter which oozes out all over the place when cut into, all crumbed & deep fried, yum, how bad is that? This was served with chips & salad & for $11 I would have to say pretty darn good value. What can I say, it was very good, hard to stuff up but you would be amazed what some over or undercooking or bad oil can do to this beast of a dish. The boys had chicken parma & steak which when asked for comments, the parma was ok but had better & the steak for $14 was what you would expect, not bad but a bit of gristle included. Anyway I was satisfied & the pies won too! Great pub for a quick simple meal & a game of footy.

The Rose Hotel
406 Napier Street
Fitzroy
9417 3626

Mushroom Soup

This recipe is by Gordon Ramsay as it appeared in last months Delicious magazine. It is supposed to be made with Madeira which I didn’t have handy so substituted sherry as suggested as well as a couple of other little tweaks. I like the fact that as well as the mushies it contains lots of other veggies so nice & healthy. It turned out to be quite thick & tasty, another great winter warmer even though its not very pretty to look at.

Wild Mushroom Soup

1 litre chicken stock
½ cup medium dry sherry
50g unsalted butter
3 leeks (white part only), finely chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
2 celery stalks, thinly sliced
1 carrot, peeled & chopped
1 tspn crushed coriander seeds
Leaves of 4 thyme sprigs
1 bay leaf
500g mixed wild mushrooms, roughly chopped
100ml crème fraiche
Truffle oil, to drizzle

Combine the stock & sherry in a saucepan and boil until mixture is reduced by one quarter or until you have 800ml. Set aside until needed.

Melt the butter in a heavy-based saucepan over low heat. Cook the leek, onion, celery & carrot for 6-8 minutes until the onion is translucent & vegetables are soft. Add the reduced stock, coriander, thyme & bay leaf & simmer for 10 minutes. Add mushrooms & cook for 3-4 minutes until just soft.

Remove the pan from the heat, discard the bay leaf, then puree with a hand held blender. Top with crème fraiche & drizzle with truffle oil to serve.

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.

Confessions in Groups of Five

Pamela at Posie’s Place tagged me for this meme and with a spare few moments to kill have managed to fill it all out so you now all have some weird & useless facts about my life

5 items in the freezer

1. Frozen espresso cubes for making mad cocktails as suggested by Matt at Abstract Gourmet

2. Plastic Beer stein/mug picked up at Oktoberfest many years ago that has liquid surrounding it that freezes to keep your drinks cold on hot summer days – never actually remember to pull it out & use it though

3. Wine cooler that works in similar manner to above, has cute pictures of Italian waiters running around it & yes this one does get used a lot in summer

4. Lots of frozen soup to take to work for lunch on cold Winters days, I try & make at least one huge batch a week & freeze the leftovers in portions

5. Lots of ice, seems that the freezer wants defrosting every other week – freezer doesn’t get what freezer wants all that often though!

5 items in my closet

1. A Mermaid costume from a fancy dress ‘M’ party a couple of years back, I cant bear to part with it as so many hours of effort went into making it & it was always my dream to find an excuse to dress up as a mermaid

2. Two fancy hats in boxes from race days that I will never wear again

3. A hell of a lot of shoes, big weakness

4. Not many Michael clothes (have hogged the majority of space!)

5. A whole section stuffed full of cute little ‘going out handbags’, another weakness

5 items in my car

1. Picnic blanket & chairs for spontaneous picnicking – has not happened yet though!

2. CD’s of course

3. Melways – who hasn’t got one sitting in the car?

4. Dirt from shipping home plants from Bunning’s that always manage to tip over

5. Not much else, don’t drive very often so haven’t managed to accumulate much crap

5 items in my purse

1. Too many credit cards – not that they do much good as more times than not they are up to the limit!

2. Money – Although disappointingly never as much as I would like to see in there

3. Action photo of Michael & I dancing up a storm at our engagement party

4. Drivers License

5. Medicare Card

Feel free to take part if you want to share the intimate details of your life

Taxi

Sunday night my lovely husband took me out for dinner to Taxi for our 6 year anniversary (dating 6 yrs not married – yes I know I am milking as many dates as possible for fancy dinners & special treatment), I have been dying to go here for ages so yes it was my choice & not his. When we arrived at the entrance, which if you don’t know is also the Transport bar entrance, I had my handbag searched, guess they were not taking any chances on the crowds expected to arrive to watch the Oz v Brazil game later that night which we did not hang around for & luckily as a sad loss for us. Also they checked our reservation so that when we arrived upstairs they were waiting for us which was a nice touch. I have to say the service we received all night was very special & impressive, not often one comes away from a restaurant being able to say that I find. The ambience was lovely & romantic, soft lighting, funky music, nice & warm – nothing worse than a cold restaurant where you have to keep your jacket on to stay warm! I was seated on one of those long couches they have with Michael seated opposite, this was great in that I love the old couch seat, very comfy & I had the added bonus of being able to look out & see all of the city lights.

On to the food, to start with we were brought some bread rolls, which they also kept offering us all night – another nice touch not having to beg for extra bread. Then after we had placed our orders – which took a very, very long time as so much delicious sounding food to choose from, we were brought an appetiser – a shot of Carrot, ginger & 7 spices soup – was fantastic & wish I had the recipe, would make a great winter warmer soup. Next I had the Salad of Masterstock pork belly & quail with apple puree, again very nice & the apple puree the pork was placed on made a great accompaniment. For the main I had one of the specials of the day, Half a duck steamed & roasted, rubbed with schezuan spices, served on from what I can remember a salad that contained shredded pumpkin, mint & pink grapefruit amongst other things. I am a big sucker for duck & if its on a menu will order it 9 times out of 10 so have very hight standards, it very tasty & cooked to perfection, not to dry, not to pink & lovely crispy spiced skin. After this I was pretty much full but of course there was no way I was leaving without sampling some dessert from the menu, this turned out to be a very wise decision as my choice was to die for & the best course yet. I had the Cuban Dark chocolate & macadamia mille feuille, absolutely luscious & I nearly had to pick up the plate & lick it clean. Not a cheap night but great if you want something a bit special, wish I could go every week!

Taxi
Level 1, Transport Hotel
Federation Square, Melbourne
Ph: 9654 8808
http://www.transporthotel.com.au/

Pappardelle with Dried Porcini and Thyme, Tomato and Mascarpone Sauce

Saturday night Michael was kind enough to take over the cooking duties for a change & cooked up this lovely simple pasta for our dinner. The recipe comes from Jamie Oliver’s The Naked Chef, a book as you can see has been used greatly in my kitchen. Very nice & simple pasta esp as we didn’t bother making the pasta from scratch as suggested – no energy to go that far this weekend, and managed to use up the porcini I have had sitting in my pantry for a while now.

Pappardelle with Dried Porcini and Thyme, Tomato and Mascarpone Sauce

55g Dried Porcini
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 good handful of thyme, picked
¾ tomato sauce recipe (see below)
2 tablespoons mascarpone
salt & freshly ground black pepper
455g Pappardelle
fresh parmesan cheese, grated

Place the dried mushrooms in a small bowl & add about 285ml boiling water. Make sure all the mushrooms are submerged, and leave them for 10-15 minutes.

Put the olive oil & garlic in a thick-bottomed, semi hot pan & allow to cook without colouring. Pick out the soaked porcini (reserving the liquid), shake off any excess moisture & ass to the pan with the thyme. Stir & fry. As the garlic begins to colour, gently pour in some of the reserved liquid, don’t use the dregs as they may contain dirt, just gently pur in ¾ & discard the rest. Allow the mushrooms to cook down gently to nearly nothing & then ad the tomato sauce. Add the mascarpone & taste for seasoning. Meanwhile cook the Pappardelle until al dente. Add to the sauce & toss. Serve with grated parmesan

Basic Tomato Sauce
1 large clove of garlic, finely chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small dried red chilli, crumbled
2 teaspoons dried oregano
3 x 400g tins of Italian plum tomatoes
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 handful of basil or marjoram (or both), roughly chopped
salt & freshly ground black pepper
2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

In a thick-bottomed pan gently fry the garlic with the olive oil, then add the chilli, oregano & tomatoes. Mix gently, but do not break up the tomatoes as this will release the pips, which will make the sauce slightly bitter – by leaving the tomatoes whole & letting the mixture cook slowly you’ll get a nice sweet sauce. Bring to the boil & simmer gently for 1 hour. Add the vinegar, then stir & chop up the tomatoes in the sauce. Now add the vinegar, then stir & chop the tomatoes in the sauce. Now add your fresh herbs, season well to taste, and add 2-3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.

A Minor Place & A Sensational Brekky

After a big Friday night out on the town yesterday morning (afternoon!) I went for a walk down the streets for a big brekky at A Minor Place, have been dying to try this out for a while now. This tiny café is on Albion street not near much of anything so very easy to miss if you don’t know about it. I had an iced coffee to start with which was really lovely, then moved on to the Minor Breakfast. This consisted of toasted organic sour dough topped with grilled ham, perfectly done poached eggs, grilled tomato, spinach & Henry’s beans. I don’t know who Henry is but I would kill for the recipe for his beans, I could not tell at all what was in them – I know very bad for someone who loves to cook so much, but I would go back here for the beans alone. Everything else was also very yummy & the café had a very cosy, friendly feel inside. Feel I may be back again soon. One of my top breakfast places for now.

A Minor Place
103 Albion Street
Brunswick
9384 3131

Automatic

Thursday night I caught a movie after work at Crown so grabbed a quick bite beforehand at the ever reliable Automatic. The place is a bit of a fave of mine, the food is good, not too expensive & always quick, the place is nice & funky too.

Rach had the pumpkin, goats cheese & pine nut pizza which as you can see looks sensational. I had the chicken tikka with Rotti & mango Chutney. The flavour of the tikka was lovely & rich though it was a touch on the oily side as was the rotti. The mango chutney was great & packed quite a punch.

Rach felt like a bit of dessert next & made the mistake of telling them she was eating for 2, can you see the size of the pie, when it arrived people on tables near & far gasped in shock, one even coming over to comment, needless to say not even half was eaten & I helped out a bit too. It was a really good apple pie with lots of ginger which gave it a nice zing.

Automatic
Crown Casino
9690 8500

Zuppa di Zucca (Pumpkin Soup)

Another soup from the River Café cook book. All of this crazy cold weather we have been having has given me cravings for good hearty winter soups. This was a slight variation on the normal pumpkin soup I make & the little extras really helped to lift the flavour, it was very thick, the chilli gave it a nice zing & the handful of parmesan I threw in at the end gave it a nice creamy texture too. Also I used a 'Barbara' pumpkin which I picked up from Ceres, it was the shape of a butternut with the dark green striped skin similar to a jap & nice & orange on the inside. Another great soup from this book

Zuppa di Zucca (Pumpkin Soup)

1.5kg pumpkin, peeled, seeded & diced into 5cm cubes
150g new potatoes, peeled & cubed as above
3 tablespoons olive oil
50g butter
2 small red onions, peeled & finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled & cut into slivers
4 large sprigs fresh marjoram
1-2 dried chillies
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 litre Chicken stock

Heat the oil & butter in a large heavy based saucepan & gently fry the onion until soft. Stir in the garlic & marjoram, pumpkin & potato, & continue to cook for a minute. Season with the chilli, salt & pepper. Add enough stock to just cover the pumpkin, simmer until the pumpkin is tender, about 20-25 minutes. Add more stock if necessary. Puree with a hand held blender & adjust seasoning to taste.

French Toast ala Ange

This morning for a lazy Queens Birthday morning I whipped up some french toast the way my family has always made it, with cheese on top! Seriously after eating it this way all my life I cant imagine having it sweet or with bacon & maple syrup, that just seems wrong to me.

The way I make it is to dip some bread in milk, then dip in beaten eggs, then pop it into a hot oiled frypan & fry on both sides until crisp & golden. Then serve with grated tasty cheese on top, try it someday, yum!

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

Zuppa di Zucchine (Zucchini Soup)

Tonight for dinner we are sampling the first of the recipes from my new River Café cookbook (Blue) that I snapped up on ebay for a great price. I was way too busy too cook, had to do a session on the bike & pack my bags for upcoming weekend away so Michael kindly did the cooking after miraculously coming home from work early. Now zucchini soup is very basic so it is interesting to see how this version turned out. The smells coming from the kitchen whilst cooking were truly beautiful though I suspect it was mostly the aroma of slowly cooking garlic. The flavour though lived up the the smell, this would have to be the best zucchini soup I've tasted, well done Michael & River Cafe - garlic, zhucchini, cream, herbs & cheese, fantastic combination & all helped to lift this soup out of the boring category I'd always put it into before!

Zuppa di Zucchine (Zucchini Soup)

1kg Medium zucchini, trimmed
25ml olive oil
1 garlic cloves, peeled & chopped
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
500ml Chicken stock or water
140ml double cream
1 small bunch basil, chopped
1 small bunch flat leaf parsley, chopped
120g parmesan, freshly grated

Cut the zucchini lengthwise into quarters, then into 2.5cm pieces. Heat the oil in a heavy based saucepan & cook the garlic & zucchini slowly for about 25 minutes until the zucchini are brown & very soft. Add salt, pepper & stock, simmer for another few minutes. Puree with a food processor then add the cream, basil, parmesan & parsley.