Spikey Mikeys

Some stuff from the web..

2012-01-29T13:10:00.000+11:00

Surfing the net you do come across some amazing sites. This is one of them: Darkside of the Force/ & these are a few of the photo's on there..

Spire..

2011-11-20T11:20:00.000+11:00

Melbourne Randomness

2011-11-14T22:05:00.000+11:00

Just

Just because

Just Melbourne...

It may not have a harbour, or a tower, or be steeped in ancient history, but my home town of Melbourne has a wonderful diversity that never fails to surprise me. Whether its the walk home, the view of a storm, the art in the laneways the evening light reflecting & highlighting structures, or even the area where I live, its all Melbourne.

A reason...

2011-08-12T07:56:00.001+10:00

There is a saying "everything happens for a reason".

Today's tram trip into work proved this saying.

I missed my first tram because it was early, for some reason the next one ignored the 4 people waiting at the stop & sped by, the next one was late & crowded, and then had the nerve to terminate early so that they could maintain their schedule. By this time i was really annoyed & frustrated with the start to my morning.

Then got off the tram & looked up and saw this.

If I wasn't delayed by the trams I never would have seen it, everything does happen for a reason.

Street Art

2011-08-03T13:57:00.000+10:00

Its always amazing what you can find down the alleyways of Melbourne....

In this case I had to squeeze past some parked cars & rubbish bins to find these:

Weekend Wanderings

2011-08-02T13:58:00.001+10:00

No motivation = no recipes or food pics :(

So you have to make do with some of my weekend ramblings in Melbourne.

Australian Natives

2011-07-18T09:23:00.000+10:00

Australian native plants are always unusual & full of surprises...

Like this one:

The flower pod

Flowering

The seed pod...

Or this one that looks like an exploding firework

Spaces

2011-06-23T07:50:00.001+10:00

Reading today's The Age website they had these amazingly beautiful photo's by Alex Cherney:

Full article is here: The Age

random thoughts

2011-06-16T09:08:00.000+10:00

Sometimes

Just because...

I can!

Looking up

Looking down...

The green path

The shining

Is it greener on the other side?

Comfort Food

2011-06-10T07:56:00.000+10:00

Every now & then you just want a quick easy snack just to comfort yourself, or indulge. This is one of those recipes - & I use the term recipe loosely, as there is nothing precise or structured about it. It just sort of came together in the most unexpected way. I was thinking as to what to create for this months Paper Chef entry. The ingredients were Bread, Chocolate, Berries, & Lime. Simple, compatible. But leading to too many choices! With time running short I went with instinct & this was the result: Chocolate French Toast with Berry syrup & Lime Cream.

the combination of the slightly bitter chocolate (70%), sweet berry syrup & tangy Lime cream worked a treat, leaving me wanting more.

Ingredients:

white bread, slices about 1cm thick

dark chocolate (70%)

cinnamon

egg

cream

lime

frozen mixed berries

sugar

Strawberry liqueur (optional) or water

icing sugar

oil

butter

Method:

Beat the egg with some cream or milk & cinnamon.

Place a block or 2 (depending on size) between two slices of bread & soak in the egg mixture.

place about a tablespoon of sugar & a tablespoon of liqueur in a small saucepan & heat until the sugar is dissolved & starting to bubble, then add the frozen berries & turn the heat to low, & allow to warm through.

Gently heat the oil in a fry pan

Zest the lime into the cream, add a little sugar & whip.

turn up the heat & add some butter to the oil & allow to melt.
Fry the egg soaked chocolate bread sandwich until golden brown then carefully flip to fry the other side. The chocolate would have started to melt so be careful flipping it so that you don't dislodge the bread.

Place onto paper towel to absorb excess oil then onto a serving plate, dust with icing sugar, & serve with the berry syrup & lime cream.

Very comforting & moreish.

Pumpkin & Ginger soup.

2011-05-16T13:56:00.001+10:00

So my mum had this big pumpkin sitting on her kitchen table. She wasn't sure what the best way to cut it up.

"Throw it on the concrete & shatter it" she said.

"Messy" I thought.

"Use the log splitter" she said.

"Not very hygienic" I thought. "I'll just cut it" I said.

"You'll loose a finger if it slips" she said.

"Typical mother" I thought....

A bit of rummaging in her kitchen drawers produced a Chinese cleaver, heavy, strong, & sharp.

Setting the big Queensland Blue pumpkin (about 20kg) on the concrete outside, for stability, I then pushed the cleaver through the pumpkin, required a bit of effort & weight on the cleaver to force it through, but eventually I ended up with 4 pieces, & no lost fingers. Now what to do with this hunk of pumpkin that I've acquired (thanks mum).

Well it was the first cold spell of the season therefore a nice soup was in order, in this case pumpkin & ginger. I'm not going to give exact quantities for all the ingredients & the quantities listed here a a guide only, as its too variable & taste dependant.

Pumpkin & Ginger soup.

Ingredients:
Pumpkin (roughly diced)

Ginger (a decent large thumb sized knob, sliced or diced)

1 onion (diced)

1 tbls butter

2 small or 1 medium floury potato (roughly diced)

1 tbls ground cumin

1 tbls dried oregano

Stock

Salt

Pepper

Fresh coriander to finish

Method:
Gently fry the onions & half the ginger over a low heat until golden & soft.

Add the cumin & oregano & cook until fragrant

Add the pumpkin & potato & toss to coat in the onion/spice mix

Add enough stock to cover & add the remaining ginger

Bring to the boil & then reduce to a simmer. Cook until the pumpkin & potatoes are soft & tender.

Use a blender or stick mixer to blend all the ingredients to a smooth consistency

If the soup seems a bit watery, let it simmer a bit longer till it has reached the consistency that appeals.
Season to taste & serve with a sprinkling of roughly chopped coriander.
Serves as many or as few as you wish...

Just because...

2011-05-11T08:24:00.000+10:00

Insignificant

Dreams....

Autumn Mushrooms

2011-05-07T08:39:00.004+10:00

My favourite dish at this time of year is a nice simple Wild Mushroom Risotto.
I normally use Slippery Jacks, Shiitake, & Pine mushrooms. Its a bit tedious cleaning & peeling the Slippery Jacks, but worth the effort!

Autumn Randomness

2011-04-11T12:52:00.003+10:00

Drangon Fruit at Queen Vic markets

View from the office window

Plants...

Finding the Path....

2011-04-09T15:08:00.002+10:00

Time to blow the dust off this baby & get it back on the road!! Where this will lead, who knows, but I'll let it find it's own way...

Paper Chef #57 - Chicken Roll

2010-10-15T07:55:00.003+11:00

Sometimes Paper Chef throws a combination of ingredients at you that leaves you wondering how you can possibly combine such diverse into one dish. This was the case this month.
The random ingredients selected by Sarah from Simply Cooked left me a bit worried. How could I pull Dried Dates, Currents, Bread, & Kale into a dish????????
Firstly I had to find a substitute for Kale (wrong season) so something from the same family to keep it similar - cavoelo nero was the choice.
Next: What to create.
Thinking about the different flavours, sweet for the currents & dates; neutral with bread (well most types); & savoury cabbage... Hmmmm.
For what ever reason (& I still don't know where it came from) I decided to do a chicken roll or stuffed chicken.
A chicken breast, flattened, with a cavolo nero (or kale), date & current layer, rolled & steamed.
Actually sounded quite nice, and tasted great, but didn't photograph well at all...

Contents:
2 tbls chopped currents
2 tbls finely diced dates
1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1/4 stp chili powder
2 tbls butter
1 tsp fresh tarragon, chopped
Handful cavolo nero leaves (no stems)
2 chicken breasts
Salt
Pepper
Process:
Clean & remove any stems from the cavelo nero - you only want the tender leaves - & place into a steamer.
Steam until very tender & remove to cool.
When cool enough to handle, finely chop.
Melt butter in a saucepan over a low heat.
When starting to bubble add the garlic & cook until starting to go translucent.
Add dates, currents & chili, & cook for a few minutes.
Add bread crumbs & gently stir allowing them to absorb all the butter.
Add tarragon & remove from heat and allow to cool.

Pound the chicken breasts into a flat roughly rectangular shape.
Place each flat breast on a piece of cling film - hindsight is amazing.
Spread a layer of the chopped cavolo nero over each breast.
Layer the sweet bread crumb mixture over it & season with salt & pepper.

Messy part now.. Tightly roll the chicken & hope the stuffing doesn't fall out too much, use the cling film to help roll it.
Wrap tightly in 2 layers of cling film.
Steam for about 8-9 minutes, just enough to cook the chicken & warm the the centre.
Gently remove the cling film - I used scissors rather than trying to unwrap.
with a Sharp knife, cut slices on an angle.
This was served with a verblanc.

56th PaperChef entry

2010-09-06T07:50:00.011+10:00

Ahhhhhh. Asa from Miss Meister's mat med mera looks like she loves to set a challenge so this month's Paper Chef had a theme, as well as the 4 random ingredient. Life is fun
So what were the ingredients & theme?
Capers
Peaches
Pumpkin/Squash
Lemongrass
and the theme: Vegetarian
To say it was a diverse range of ingredients is an understatement. What to do...
I thought something a bit different was in order, so a Pumpkin Tagine was born, with Couscous & a Parsley & caper Salad (the salad is based on a Nigella recipe) would work nicely & it did!

Components:
1 400g can chickpeas, drained & rinsed
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, sliced
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tblsp finely chopped coriander root
1 cinnamon stick
1/4 tsp dried chilli flakes
400g pumpkin, peeled and cut into large pieces
2 waxy potatoes, peeled and cut in quarters
4 yellow squash, quartered
8 cherry tomatoes
1/2 red capsicum, peeled & sliced
1/2 a preserved lemon, chopped
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup vegetable stock
water

Couscous:
100g couscous
3 large dried peaches, chopped
20g slivered pistachio
125ml water or vegetable stock
1 stalk leomongrass
20g butter

Parsley Salad
1 bunch curly leaf parsley
2 tbls capers, soaked & well rinsed
1/2 spanish onion
olive oil
lemon juice

1/2 cup yogurt
1/2 cup coriander leaves

Process:
Tagine:
In a large pot, heat the oil and butter and cook the onion and garlic until soft and lightly golden.
Add the spices, cook for a couple of minutes, then add the chickpeas, pumpkin, potatoes, tomatoes, stock & just enough water to cover.
Season with salt and simmer gently until the potatoes are almost soft.
Add the squash and preserved lemon and cook for 5 more minutes or until the potatoes and pumpkin are soft (but not mushy).
Couscous:
Place the stock or water into a saucepan over a low heat.
bruise the lemongrass stalk & place into the liquid & bring to a low simmer.
Simmer for 5 min to allow the lemongrass to infuse the liquid.
Remove the lemongrass & add the butter & allow to melt.
Remove from the heat & add the couscous & cover.
Leave for 10min.
Add the diced dried peaches & pistachio, & fluff with a fork.
Salad:
Finely slice the onion & soak to remove some of the harshness.
Remove any large stalks from the parsley & roughly run a knife though it.
drain the onion & capers & toss with the parsley.
Drizzle with oil & lemon juice
To Serve:
Sprinkle tagine with coriander & serve with yogurt on the side.
The flavours of each individual dish meld together nicely.

Paper Chef #55

2010-08-11T07:22:00.005+10:00

Its been a while since I've had the time & motivation to post a recipe, but I forced myself to do this month's Paper Chef Challenge.
As soon as I saw the ingredients that had been posted by Alessio from Recipe Taster I knew what I wanted to make - some type of fruit buns. With the random ingredients of Dried Dates, Cranberries, Flour, & Candied Orange Peel it was just a matter of what type sweet bun to make.
I settled on a type scroll, something I hadn't done before to give me a bit of a challenge. With this recipe you can change the types & proportions of dried fruits that you use. As I'm not a fan of the candied orange peel, there was significantly less of it....

Spiced Fruit Scrolls
Contents
2 cups self-raising flour
pinch salt
90g butter
2/3 cup milk
filling
60g butter
3 tbls brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
200g finely chopped dried fruit (in this case dried cranberries, dates & orange peel)
Glaze
1/2 cup icing sugar
2 tbls hot water

Structure
Preheat oven to 210c.
Sift flour & salt into a bowl.
Rub the butter into the flour using your fingertips.
Add most of the milk mixing lightly, to form a soft dough, add more milk if needed.
Knead the dough lightly & roll out into a rectangle 25x40cm.
Filling
Beat the butter, sugar & spices until light & fluffy.
Spread evenly over the rolled out dough.
Scatter the dried fruits evenly over the butter mixture.
Firmly roll up the pastry from the long side.
Cut into 3cm slices and place cut side up on a lightly greased tray. Be careful not to put them too close together (like I did) or they will turn into one solid pastry.
Bake for about 12min or until golden brown.
Glaze
Mix the icing sugar & water to form a runny syrup.
When the scrolls are ready remove from the oven & place on a rack to cool.
As they are cooling brush with the glaze.

Mace

2010-08-05T08:21:00.003+10:00

The good thing about a multi-cultural society is that you have access to a wide variety of produce & spices. European, Asian, Indian, Native Australian, & to a lesser extent Central & Southern American goods are now readily available, relatively affordable & of a high standard. Take this Mace for example. A large bag of it bought from our local Indian store just around the corner. Not some crushed up dried out leftover husks, but full pungent shells begging to be used. Love it :)

Vodka cured Salmon on Potato & Thyme Pikelets

2010-06-12T07:35:00.001+10:00

This post was supposed to be my entry into the PaperChef Challenge #53, but due to workload & lack of time it didn't get written up in time :(
The ingredient were selected by Cathy from ShowFood Chef
They were:
Dried Mushrooms
Thyme
Vodka
& her selection of Salmon.
As soon as I read that I knew what I wanted to do: Vodka cured Salmon, thyme potato pikelets & a mushroom paste.
The vokda cure is very simple & easy, but needs at least 24hrs curing time.
Simply mix 2tbls sugar, 2tbls sea salt, 2tbls (unflavoured) vodka, 1 tsp English mustard, 1 tbls fresh black peppercorns crushed (they were in season so why not). This amount of cure covers a 500g piece of salmon. rub the paste into the salmon & then place the fish skin side up on a bed of dill. Pour all the remaining paste over the fish & cover it with cling film, place a weight on the fish & leave it in the fridge to cure.
Paul created a mushroom "caviar" using the dried truffles that have been hiding in the back of the cupboard. The potato & thyme pikelets were a quick & simple recipe on which to serve these little canopes.

Geometrica

2010-06-06T08:38:00.003+10:00

Who said food isn't mathematical? Someone forgot to tell this Romanescu brocoli.
Oh & it tastes good too!!

Guava...

2010-05-02T09:45:00.003+10:00

Before....

During...

After....

Tasty!!

Nindigully Road Train Burger

2010-03-23T08:32:00.006+11:00

Everyone gets them.
The emails that circulate around the office, whether they be the funny, the spam or the interesting ones, everyone receives them.
This is one of those emails.
Read on if you dare........

ONE GREAT AUSSIE THING TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE?
STOP FOR A BITE TO EAT AT THE NINDIGULLY PUB IN WESTERN QLD?

The tiny township of Nindigully is located on the edge of the Queensland outback - 160km west of Goondiwindi, about 530km west of Brisbane, and approximately 70 km north of the Queensland/New South Wales border.
Nindigully Pub is Queensland’s oldest hotel, located in its original condition and position on the banks of the Moonie River. The licence was issued in 1864 after operating as shearers accommodation for the Nindigully Station.
The "boom" town has now been reduced to just two houses, the pub, the old general store and the town hall, with a population of six!
Nevertheless, it was voted the Best Country Pub in Australia in 2006 by 44 Australia magazine, and you can see why - it has become famous for its truckies feed of the Nindigully Road Train Burger this giant hamburger is served with French fries, onion rings and a selection of sauces, says it will feed 1- 4 people, and costs $36 - the meat patty alone is 1.2kg!

Makes those "super" burgers from McDonalds & Burger King look small...

Swordfish

2010-03-13T20:01:00.000+11:00

Do you ever find yourself flipping through a cookbook just because you're bored? Sometimes nothing catches your eye, other times a recipe will jump out at you screaming "COOK ME!".
This is what happened yesterday. Flipping through one of Paul's cook books, Regional Foods of Southern Italy by Marlena De Blasi, I came across a simple dish - Pesce Spada di Bagnara (swordfish in the style of Bagnara).
It sounded interesting, marinating the steaks in red wine, bathing it in a chili & Bay oil, & cooking it over charcoal. I thought I'd give it a try. Living in an apartment I don't have access to a charcoal fire so the pan had to do.
The portions here are one third of what was in the cookbook, with the method changed to allow for the lack of a charcoal fire.

Ingredients
1x 400g or 2x 200g swordfish steaks
2/3 cup red wine (I used Pinot Noir)
1/3 cup olive oil
3 bay leaves crushed
1/4 tsp dried chili
Salt
Black Pepper
Rosemary sprigs

Method
Place the fish into a non-corrosive bowl & add the wine.
Cover the bowl & let the fish marinate for an hour or so, turning it occasionally.
Meanwhile, in a small saucepan heat the oil till its almost simmering, then remove from the heat & add the bay leaves & chili.
Cover and let it cool & infuse.
Remove the fish from the wine & discard the wine.
Pat dry the fish with paper towel.
Pour half the cooled oil over the fish & massage the oil into the flesh.
Season well on both sides with salt & pepper.
Heat a heavy based fry pan.
Bruise the rosemary sprigs to release the oils.
place the fish into the fry pan and lay the rosemary sprigs on top.
Cook the steaks for no more than a minute, then remove the rosemary, turn the fish & replace the rosemary on top.
On a plate pour the remaining oil.
Remove the fish from the pan & place onto the plate, allowing it to absorb the oil.
Can be served immediately or allowed to cool.

Paper Chef: 50th

2010-03-08T20:00:00.004+11:00

Sometimes things just work. I like it when that happens. Sometimes there are hiccups.. as was the case with this month's Paper Chef.

Kathy of Prospect: The Pantry had selected the ingredients of: Honey, Ricotta, Dill & Eggs.
Very early on I had decided to do Ricotta Fritters with a honey mayonnaise, wasn't sure where I was going to incorporate the Dill, but a quick surf of the web lead me to believe that the Dill would work in the honey mayonnaise.

Being a Saturday we headed off to the Markets on the trusty route 79 tram.
Then all hell broke loose. Melbourne was hit with a hundred year storm. Our trusty tram became an island on what was a busy street.

An hour later we were able to get off the tram with dry feet & do our shopping, only to find that both the trams & trains weren't running & we were left with a walk home. Needless to say my creative mood wasn't there by the time we got home...

Take 2 on Monday. The Fritters were nice light & fluffy (they sank a bit in the pics), & the mayonnaise very tasty!.
Paul suggested that it would have worked well with some smoked salmon on top, which I'll try next time!

Ricotta Fritters
2 egg yolks
2 egg whites
1 cups Ricotta
1/2 cup Plain Flour
1/4 tablespoon Baking powder
1/3 cup Milk
Salt
Directions
Sift dry ingredients into a bowl
In a separate bowl mix yolks and milk
Slowly add this to dry ingredients
Break up ricotta and add to the mix
Whisk the egg whites in a separate bowl until stiff peaks and fold through the final mix.
Heat a frying pan over a low heat and spoon in a large table spoonfuls of the mix.
When the top starts to firm up, flip over and finish until golden on both sides then place into an oven while you prepare the remainder.

Honey & Dill Mayonnaise
Ingredients
1 egg yolk
100ml peanut oil
25ml olive oil
salt
pepper
1 tbl lemon juice
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon dill
Directions
whisk the egg yolk until light & fluffy then slowly add the oil a teaspoon at a time whisking until its all emulsified.
add the lemon juice.
whisk in the honey & season to taste.
just before serving finely chop the dill & add to the mayonnaise.

Dinner for One (Me)

2010-02-18T09:09:00.004+11:00

Its not often that I get to have a night to myself, but when I do I make the most of it. A DVD that tickles my fancy, usually something B-grade sci-fi, and cook something interesting for myself.
I wondered off to the shops on Carlisle St and came back with a chicken maryland half dozen baby desiree potatoes, some salad leaves, a bottle of white & the B-grade DVD: Lost In Space.
Some rummaging in the fridge revealed fresh tarragon, thyme, garlic & butter.
So here is my dinner for 1: Roast Tarragon chicken with Roast Thyme Potatoes.

Ingredients:
1 chicken maryland, skin on
5 or 6 baby potatoes
1/2 tbls tarragon
1 tsp thyme
1 small clove garlic
1 tbls butter
Salt
Pepper
2 tbls olive oil

Method:
Pre heat the oven to 230c
Peel & steam the potatoes until they are just cooked, easily pierced by a skewer.
Chop the tarragon roughly & place in a small bowl.
Peel the garlic & finely chop or microplane, add to the tarragon
Add about 1/2 tsp salt, & pepper to taste
Add the butter & combine thouroughly.
Place half the mixture under the skin of the chicken & rub the remainder over the top of the chicken.
Place into an oven proof dish just big enough to hold the chicken, skin side up.
Place the olive oil into a bowl & add the thyme leaves, pepper & salt.
When the potatoes are ready rough up the outsides with a fork and add to the bowl containing the thyme & oil, and toss coating the potatoes.
Place into a separate roasting dish from the chicken & scoop out any remaining oil from the bowl. Add a little more oil to the pan if it looks a bit dry.
Place both dished into the oven for about 30min, basting occasionally. Don't over cook the chicken!
Serve with a nice side salad and a fresh bread roll to soak up the juices.

Paper Chef #49

2010-02-07T16:18:00.003+11:00

Everyone has a creative streak in them somewhere, whether its a big streak or just a small gnawing urge to create.
Its there.
Its to be human.
& it needs to be fulfilled.
Otherwise you'll whither away, & you won't grow.
My little bit of creativity is cooking. I like cooking & creating something. Maybe its based on a recipe I read somewhere, or food I tasted somewhere, or in this case, the Paper Chef Challenge.
Not all of my attempts have been successful, tastewise or lookswise, but they have helped satisfy that creative urge.
This month's ingredients were selected Cath from ShowFood Chef. With the help of her son she selected Prawns, Sweet Pepper, & Fennel randomly from the list, and her fourth ingredient was actually a theme: Passion (I guess its because its almost Valentine's Day....)

As soon as I'd read the ingredients the first though that sprang to mind was "rice paper rolls". From past mistakes I've learnt to go with the first idea, sometimes too much thinking can be your downfall.

So here are my Prawn & Fennel Rice Paper Rolls. My creative streak shone through & I had to use one of my favourite native ingredients, Finger Lime (see here for what they are). I thought they worked in the rolls, but Paul didn't like the bursts of acidity from the popping vesicles. They were served with Kecap Manis, a dark sweet soy like sauce for dipping.

Ingredients: (for 12 rolls)
50g rice vermicelli
1/2 fennel bulb
sweet pepper, peeled & sliced into fine strips
small handful coriander leave
small handful mint leaves
small handful fennel sprigs
6 peeled raw prawns
1 finger lime
1 tsp lime juice
1 tsp rice vinegar
1 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp fish sauce
12 rice paper sheets

Method:
Skewer each prawn on a bamboo skewer (this is to keep them straight as they cook).
Place the skewered prawns into a steamer & steam over boiling water until just done (if you over cook the prawns they end up very dry).
Remove from the steamer & allow to cool, then slice each prawn in half lengthwise.
Prepare the vermicelli as per the packet instructions (normally soak in hot water until soft & clear), allow to drain of all water & then place in a bowl.
Add the fish sauce, soy sauce, vinegar & lime juice to the noodles & toss to coat them, adjust the balance to taste.
Finely slice the fennel, use a mandolin if you have one.
Roughly chop the herbs & add to the noodles along with the fennel .

Assembly:
Briefly soak each sheet of rice paper in hot water, soak it too long & it becomes a soggy mess.
Lay it out on a kitchen towel.

Place a halved prawn on the power 1/3 of the rice paper and place a couple of pepper strips either side.
Place a generous spoonful of the noodle & fennel mixture on top.
If you wish you can also add a sprinkling of crushed unsalted peanuts.
Fold the sides of the paper in, then fold the bottom up & tightly roll. Don't be upset if the first couple look wrong - it takes practice. The first few that I usually make I end up ripping open & starting again..
Repeat until all have been made.
Place some Kecup Manis in a serving dish. If you wish you can also have sweet chili as a dipping sauce.
Serve & enjoy.

Proud.....

2010-02-07T15:42:00.002+11:00

... to be who I am.

Celebrating Melbourne Midsumma Festival & Pride March 2010.

Paper Chef.....

2010-01-12T08:15:00.000+11:00

...or: how to stuff up a dish!
OK, I should have waited.
Paper Chef time is about the only time that I get really creative (much to Paul's distress). This month's ingredients were selected by Ilva from Lucullian Delights who also happens to be the driving force behind Paper Chef.
Her selected ingredients were: Red Cabbage, Rosemary, & Tuna, with the fourth ingredient being a theme this time: New! New for a new Year, or ingredient or just something new!
Paul was making pizza for dinner, so I pinched some of his dough and decided to create a Caramelised Onion & Red Cabbage Pizza with Tuna. I was basing this on the traditional Pissaladiere. I was planning on using thin strips of fresh tuna that had been marinated in some olive oil & rosemary, but the markets did not have any fresh tuna that looked appealing! So I thought I'd just use tinned tuna - and this was THE mistake....
- Paul's pizza dough - beautiful
- Caramelised onion & red cabbage (I also added rosemary to it) - tasty
- Favourite brand of high quality tuna - usual standard

Combined:
- Looked good prepared before going in the oven
- Looked good out of the oven
- The aroma out of the oven - epic FAIL
The roasted tuna was not a nice aroma at all, quite gross actually. So while it dose look good, looks can be deceiving! In hindsight I could have waited for some fresh tuna & stuck with my first idea, draping the fresh marinated strips of tuna over the hot pizza - or created something else!
& the "new" ingredient/theme?? Rosemary flowers - the start of a new cycle of life :)

Pathways

2010-01-05T07:57:00.005+11:00

.... Leading somewhere..

Sometimes straight

Sometimes twisted

Sometime obvious

Or maybe hidden

??

2009-12-23T07:32:00.005+11:00

Yes, I've been slack & unmotivated lately in regards to posting anything or even cooking anything exciting. I guess its just this time of year that does it.
Anyway here are a few things that I've come across recently & have captured my imagination....

Paper Chef Ingredients are up

2009-12-03T07:35:00.000+11:00

The lovely Jenny from I could even eat a baby deer! has selected the ingredients for the December challenge.
You can find them here

Shadow of Me

2009-11-16T07:33:00.004+11:00

Just because I can.....

Paper Chef time.... (#46)

2009-11-08T07:22:00.008+11:00

Its always interesting when Paper Chef throws a tricky one at you. Like this month. Dale from Home on the Range was the winner last month so she had the honour of selecting this month's ingredients. The first random ingredient was Pasta - I guess that can be any type or style. next was Chevre - Goat's cheese, a nice smooth creamy cheese which I love. The final random ingredient was Beetroot - a safe versatile ingredient. So far endless possibilities. Then Dale threw in the fourth ingredient of her own selection, Peanut Butter - stunned silence when I read that. What the f&^k am I meant to do with that?? A look at the ingredients of a supermarket Peanut Butter provided no inspiration or clues: peanuts, oil, emulsifiers, sugar, salt, food colouring, preservatives. The Health food store was better. They grind their own peanut butter & the only ingredient was dry roasted peanuts, but the texture was very coarse. Then I remembered that the juicer I have can also (apparently) grind peanuts to a pulp to make peanut butter. Well, at least I would know what's in it.
But what to make to combine all the ingredients?
I settled on Ravioli stuffed with Chevre & roasted Beetroot with a burnt butter & peanut butter sauce. The trick was to meld the flavours without having the peanuts dominate. And, surprisingly, it worked! The peanut butter sauce combined well with the beetroot to give a nice earthiness to the dish.
Note to self: don't leave the finished ravioli out in warm weather - the pasta dried out too much between the trial run & the photo run, cracking & leading to crappy photos.....

Ingredients
100g Chevre
1 medium beetroot
pasta dough (recipe can be found here)
1 tbls smooth peanut butter (homemade or health food store)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp nutmeg
30g butter
2 tbls chopped Coriander

Method
Coat the beetroot in a bit of oil & roast until tender.
Let cool until you can just handle it, & peel.
Grate the beetroot & weigh out about 100g.
Combine the Chevre, salt, pepper & nutmeg in a bowl then gently fold through the grated beetroot.
Chill while you make your pasta dough (see here).
Use about a small tsp of the mixture for each ravioli, & once sealed set aside until ready for cooking.
Melt the butter in a saucepan & add the peanut butter.
Cook until its a nice light golden brown colour, but watch it as it can go an unappetising dark brown very quickly.
When ready, add 1 tbls of the chopped coriander.
Coat the cooked ravioli in the sauce & serve immediately topped with the remaining coriander.

Awe & Fear

2009-11-05T14:39:00.004+11:00

I love the water, the sun, & the surf. But these waves off the coast of Tasmania I'm in awe of, and would never go near them, unlike these surfers.

(photos from The Age website)

What to do........

2009-10-30T07:33:00.004+11:00

Have you ever been in the situation where due to circumstances where all you had to cook with was in your pantry or in the fridge? I think most people have found themselves in that situation - working late, lack of funds, forgotten the shops are closed due to a public holiday?
And its happened to me recently. I was left looking in the cupboard and found a pack of dried porcini, a leek in the fridge, some dried pasta, onion, garlic. Fair enough I did have meat in the freezer, but that would take too long to defrost.
So here is a Porcini & Leek pasta creation.

Ingredients:
1 pack (20g) dried porcini
200ml boiling water
1 leek
1/2 onion, finely sliced
30g butter
olive oil
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
200g pasta (I used fusilli)
salt
Pepper
2-3 fresh sage leaves
1/2 tbls dried thyme
Grated Parmisan to serve

Method:
Soak the porcini in the water for about 20min.<
Strain the liquid through some kitchen paper to catch all the impurities & reserve the liquid.
Thoroughly clean the porcini under running water to remove any grit.
Finely chop the porcini.
Melt half the butter & 1 tbls of the olive oil in a pan over a low heat.
Add the garlic & gently fry for about 2 minutes.
Add the porchini & fresh sage leaves.
Add the porchini liquid a tbls at a time stirring & letting it evaporate before adding the next spoonful, until all the liquid is used.
Cook the pasta as directed.
Meantime slice the leek into 1cm disks.
Heat the remaining butter & a little oil in a seperate pan.
Add the leek & onion & fry for 2 minutes.
Add the dried thyme & 2 tbls of boiling water & cook until the leeks & onion are tender but not mushy.
Add the leek & onion mixture to the porchini & season to taste.
Toss in the pasta.
Serve with grated parmisan.

Randomness..

2009-10-23T08:16:00.003+11:00

Just some random photo's on my way home from work.......

Paper Chef #45

2009-10-12T19:38:00.005+11:00

Hmm... A month has past since the last Paper Chef & what have I blogged about in that time?

Nothing.

Zero.

No Street Art.

No food.

No recipes.

No enlightened social commentaries.

Maybe I've just lost the blogging mojo or have no inspiration but what ever is missing I hope it does return. It frustrates & annoys me to see just one post for the month.

But Paper Chef is here again & that always seems to stir my imagination!

This month is no different with the ingredient chosen by last month's winner Janie from musingri.

So what do you make with Chicken, Yams, Lentils, & Green Tea?

Well you rule out the Yams & invoke the substitution clause. A trip to the markets and no yams were to be found. A quick google on the mobile revealed that Taro was a close relative of Yams. Another lap of the markets & no Taro. So I had to settle for another root tuber - Sweet Potato, although it was from the otherside of the world & not related to Yams as Yams & Taro are from the South Pacific & Sweet Potato was originally from Haiti.....

The change in an ingredient didn't force a change in idea though. I had thought about it & discarded various ideas before settling on a fairly simple dish of Green Tea marinated Chicken with with Lentils & Sweet Potato (or Yam) crisps, which turned out quite well.

I'm only going to write the recipe for the marinade & chicken. Lentil you can prepare in your favourite way & the Sweet potato crisps were simply finely sliced on a mandolin & then dry roasted. The Green Tea can be brewed from either teabags or leaf. I used teabags only because it was easier.

Ingredients

2 chicken marylands

125ml freshly brewed Green Tea, cooled to room temperature

1 clove crushed garlic

1 thumb sized grated ginger

1 tbls soy sauce

1/4 tsp chili powder, more or less depending on the kick you like

Method:

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl & then add the chicken

marinade for 2 hours

remove from marinade & roast in a hot oven until the juices run clear, basting occasionally if you feel its drying out too much.

I served the chicken on a bed of lentils with the crisps, with a bit of orange zest for colour & tang.

Paper Chef #44

2009-09-08T07:52:00.005+10:00

"So many choices!!!!"
That was my first reaction to reading the ingredients for this months paper chef. The first three ingredients as selected by Deeba from Passionate about Baking were Ricotta, Ginger, and Chocolate. Pretty easy so far, but the fourth ingredient was actually a theme: Autumn. Hmmm might be Autumn on the wrong side of the world but we're heading into spring here, so its a bit hard to cook out of season but I tried.
The ingredients lend themselves to a dessert type dish. I did briefly think of doing something savoury with them, possibly ginger ricotta fritters with a chili chocolate sauce. Chili & chocolate go well together, try it sometime if you haven't already.
But I scuttled that idea and went with a sweet instead.
Ricotta fritters with a ginger chocolate sauce? Non!
Chocolate cannoli filled with ginger ricotta? Hmm maybe next time.
With time running out I settled for a Ginger Cheesecake with a Chocolate base.
The ginger I used was Baby Stem Ginger in syrup from an Australian company Budrim Ginger.

Ginger Cheesecake with a Chocolate base
Ingredients
Base
150g chocolate biscuits, crushed
40g dark chocolate, grated
80g melted butter
Filling
600g ricotta
150g castor sugar
40g preserved ginger, chopped
Ginger, shaved chocolate & mint leaves for decoration.

Method
Mix the crushed biscuits, chocolate & butter and press into the bottom of the dish. I used individual dishes, but the choice is yours.
Place in the fridge to set.
Beat the ricotta and sugar with a mixer until smooth. You can pass the ricotta through a tamis for a really smooth mixture if you wanted to.
Add the chopped ginger, more or less depending on taste and stir through the mixture.
Spoon into your prepared dish, smooth off the top, cover & refrigerate until ready to serve.
Decorate with shaved chocolate, ginger & mint leaves.

And the Autumn theme? The shaved chocolate represents the dried twigs & crushed fallen leaves, with a little sprout to celebrate Spring..........

Spring

2009-09-01T08:20:00.003+10:00

1st September. Spring is here & the trees are starting sprout leaves.

Feels like we never had a winter.....

Mushrooms

2009-08-20T19:49:00.003+10:00

I love shopping at Victoria Markets in Melbourne. You never know what you'll come across. Today, for instance there were these wonderful fresh mushrooms, Chanterelle, Morel & Oyster.

They are about to go into a Coq au Riesling.... Tasty!

Sausages

2009-08-19T07:57:00.003+10:00

This is a very very quick post & no pictures of the finished product. Why? Because it took less time to prepare this meal than it did to write this post. Seriously. The only preparation is slicing the onion & garlic.
This is my take on the classic sausage casserole with a Japanese theme:

Wagyu Sausage & Asahi beer casserole.

Ingredients:
4 Wagyu Sausages (about 450g)
2 onions
1 clove garlic
1/2 can diced tomatoes (200g)
1 bottle (330ml) Asahi Extra Dry beer
oil.

Method:
Slice the onions roughly.
Roughly cop the garlic.
Brown the sausages in a bit of oil & remove the sausages.
Add a bit more oil if required & add onions & garlic & cook until softened, a few minutes at most.
Place the sausages back into the saucepan on top of the onions.
Add the tomatoes & beer.
Cover & simmer until the liquid has reduced, about 45-60minutes.
Season to taste, but you may find that it will be fine.
Serve with some creamy mashed potatoes.

Chicken & Leek Pie

2009-08-17T01:48:00.000+10:00

Have you ever woken up in the morning with a craving for a particular dish or food?

Well that's what happened to me Saturday morning. I woke up & wanted to make a Chicken & Leek pie. Wasn't interested in any other type of pie, it had to be Chicken & Leek. With a shortcrust cover. Not puff pastry - shortcrust.

A quick rummage through some recipe books to get an idea of quantities & I was on my way.

Fresh Leeks, free range chicken thighs - do not use breast as it will dry out & be horrible. Unfortunately I had to use dried Tarragon as I couldn't find any fresh. Some lard & a nice glass of white wine (for myself) & time to start having fun.

Ingredients

Filling

500g boned free range chicken thigh or leg

150ml chicken stock

150ml water

150 ml white wine (I used Chardonnay)

1 tbls Tarragon

salt

cracked black pepper

200g sliced washed leek

20g butter

1 tbls water

2 tbls plain flour

1.5tsp Dijon mustard

3 sprigs fresh thyme

100ml cream

Crust

100g plain flour

100g self raising flour

100g lard

30ml approx cold water

1 egg, beaten, for glaze

method:

Add the stock, water, wine, half the tarragon, sprigs of thyme & chicken to a saucepan & bring it to the boil, then reduce to a simmer & simmer for 20-25 minutes until just cooked.

In a separate saucepan add the leeks, butter & water, cover & sweat down till just tender.

Remove the leeks from the saucepan with a slotted spoon allowing all the liquid to remain in the saucepan.

Add the flour & mix in to form a roux. remove from the heat.

Remove the chicken from the pot & set aside to cool.

Add the remaining herbs & cream to the poaching liquid & bring back to the boil.

Allow to boil for a few minutes to reduce the liquid.

Cut the chicken into rough 2cm pieces.

Whisk in the roux & allow to thicken slightly

Add the chicken & leeks & combine with the sauce.

Season to taste & remove from the heat & allow to cool.

Sift the 2 flours together & rub in the lard with your fingertips.

Add just enough iced water to form a dough.

Form into a flat dis, wrap in cling film & chill for 20 minutes.

Roll out to a thickness of 5mm and cut to a shape slightly larger than your pie container.

Place the cooled chicken & leek mixture into the pie dish or dishes.

Cover with the pastry & crimp the edges with a fork.

Slice a couple of air vents into the pastry & brush with beaten egg

Bake for about 25-30 minutes until the pastry is golden brown & you can hear the filling bubbling.

When ready remove from the oven & allow to cool slightly before serving.

Surfing

2009-08-16T21:26:00.002+10:00

I found this clip on the net. Not sure who it is or who filmed or where, but its pretty amazing.

Paper Chef #43

2009-08-10T07:00:00.000+10:00

As soon as I had read this month's ingredients for the Paper Chef (number 43!) i knew what I was going to make. A sweet spicy couscous. But Paul suggested a Tagine! Actually his idea was better so I went with it.
The ingredients selected by Silejeng of Javaholic were: couscous, fresh chilies, rosemary and her selection of peaches.
A Tagine is a slow cooked, North African dish that is braised at a low temperature. From what I have read there is no set guidelines as to what goes into a Tagine.
But they all do contain a mixture of herbs and spices that produce a very aromatic & tasty dish.
I decided to use pork even though its not a "traditional" North African meat, as it goes well with peaches, chili & other herbs & spices.
I've used dried peaches as fresh peaches aren't available (apparently its winter in Melbourne therefore the wrong season for stone fruits) and that dried fruit hold their shape better & release a more concentrated flavour to the dish.
Ive also used a combination of both fresh & dried Chili in the dish, Dried for the kick & fresh for the subtle flavour.
Couscous is another north African staple, I think of couscous as a "filler" to which you add the flavours and textures you want.
In this instance I've added dried peach, dried mint & pistachio nuts. Its all about the flavour & texture.

Pork Tangine with Peaches
Ingredients
For the Tagine
500g pork neck, cubed
1 small red chili, seeded & finely sliced
1/2 red capsicum, peeled & cut into strips
1/2 onion, cut into wedges
1 clove garlic, cut into quarters
6 cherry tomatoes, peeled
6 dried peaches roughly diced
1/4 tsp dried chili
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground ginger
salt to season
1/4 cup red wine
1/4 cup stock
1/4 cup water
1 sprig Rosemary
Coriander

For the Couscous
100g couscous
100ml stock
1 tbls oil
1/2 tsp dried mint
10g pistachio slivers
1 dried peaches, finely diced
1 tbls butter

Method:
Pre-heat the oven to 160c
Place the pork, onion chili, capsicum, garlic & peaches into a lidded oven proof dish.
Sprinkle all the dried spices over
Toss the ingredients to coat them in the spices
Add the tomatoes, rosemary & liquids
Cover and put into the oven for about 2 hrs

When the tagine is almost done, start the couscous.
Bring the stock & oil to the boil in a lidded sauce pan & remove from the heat.
Add the couscous stirring until it start to thicken & cover.for 10 minutes
Add the butter & fluff with a fork & then add the remaining ingredients & toss.
Sprinkle the coriander over the tagine and serve.

A Peeler

2009-08-09T09:27:00.001+10:00

Yes, its a photo of a vegetable peeler. How boring you may say. But this is no ordinary peeler. If you look closely at the slightly blurry photo you may see that it has a very fine serrated edge, in effect dozens of tiny sharp knives.
Why?
This one is made by Zyliss & is designed to peel soft fleshed fruit & vegetables like capsicum, tomatoes, peaches, plums etc.
I thought it was a gimmick till I tried it & now I love it! No more roasting the capsicums to remove the skins for me.

Ginger

2009-07-31T16:47:00.002+10:00

Fresh ginger anyone?

One of the stalls at the Victoria Markets had an abundance of fresh ginger....

Purple Gnocchi with Tomato, Rocket & Crispy Bacon

2009-07-27T15:32:00.005+10:00

Purple Congo - its a variety of potato that has a dark blue skin & dark blue flesh. I'd always been curious if the colour would remain after cooking. Well it does (see previous post). Being a floury type of potato the Purple Congo is ideal for gnocchi and the colour would add another dimension to any dish, so if you can find some try them!

Ingredients:
Gnocchi
500g Purple Congo potatoes, peeled
150g plain flour
1/2 beaten egg
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
Sauce
1x 400g can tomatoes
100g Wild rocket, roughly chopped
1 clove garlic finely chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
1/4 stp dried chili flakes
1/4 cup red wine
2 tbls olive oil
Pinch sugar
Salt
Pepper
Sprig thyme
Fresh grated Parmesan to serve
Crispy Bacon
2 rashes bacon roughly diced
Sprig Rosemary
1 tbls goose fat

Method:
Cut the potato into equal sized pieces & place into a steamer.
Steam until just cooked
Pass through a fine mouli or potato ricer & allow to cool
Add egg, salt, pepper, nutmeg & flour & combine to form a dough.
Taste for seasoning & adjust.
Rollout into a long sausage shape & cut into 2cm (1") pillows
Set aside until needed

Add goose fat, bacon & rosemary sprig to a fry pan & gently cook over low heat, stiring occasionally until bacon is crisp
Drain, remove Rosemary sprig, & scatter bacon over paper towel to absorb excess fat
Heat the oil in a saucepan & add onion, garlic & dried chili
Sweat until the onion is tender
Add thyme sprig & tomatoes, sugar, & red wine & simmer
Season to taste
Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil & add salt
Preheat oven to 200c & warm a heatproof serving dish in the oven with a large knob of butter
Cook gnocchi in batches removing from the water when they rise to the surface.
Place the cooked gnocchi into the heated dish, toss in the melted butter & return to the oven while the next batch is being cooked.
Add the chopped rocket to the sauce & stir in until just wilted
Spoon the sauce over the gnocchi & sprinkle with the crispy bacon
Serve with freshly grated Parmesan

Purple & Green...

2009-07-26T19:17:00.003+10:00

Just a very quick post..
I steamed some Purple Congo potatoes, & yes the flesh remained a nice purple colour. But what amazed me was the colour of the water....
It had turned green!
Possibly the coloured starchy liquid from the potatoes had reacted with the stainless steel?

Street Art

2009-07-21T22:56:00.004+10:00

There is always a debate as to what is considered "art".

To some people street art is vandalism. When it ruins property and that property needs to be replaces or repaired, yes that is vandalism. But if it's a blank wall, shows some style & technique, and nothing else is damaged is it still vandalism?

Paper Chef non-entry

2009-07-07T08:03:00.003+10:00

Well it was Paper Chef time the weekend just past.
We had some wonderful ingredients selected by last month's winner Kristina of Former Chef
they were:
Almonds
Chicken
Corn
& her selection of: Fish Sauce.
My initial idea was a type of Chicken Kiev dish, but with an almond butter center seasoned with Fish Sauce and rolled in polenta. But I was talked out of this & into a Korean style Chicken & Corn soup with chicken, prawn & almond dumplings.
Good idea, bad execution. :(
Dumplings were delicate in flavour but became overwhelmed by the soup which tasted fine while cooking but ended up way too rich. And to cap it all off the photo's were bad.
If that wasn't bad enough for the first time ever,I even managed to stuff up a Creme Anglaise later that day!

The stars must have been wrong that day......

Paper Chef Challenge

2009-06-09T22:31:00.002+10:00

This months paper chef ingredients were all surprising complimentary. The lovely Alison from Local Lemons selected them on a very unusual randomiser :) You'll have to checkout her blog to see how she chose them.
Her random ingredients were: asparagus, artichoke, tuna, and her final selection of vodka.
All the ingredients were readily available, especially the vodka (its always in the freezer at our place) and its starting on artichoke season.
My local fishmonger always has fresh sashimi grade tuna available and while its not asparagus season, thanks to climate controlled greenhouses its always available fresh.
So what to make? I decided on vodka cured tuna on a bed of asparagus, artichoke and jicama. The last ingredient I came across at the market. Its a Mexican yam with a flavour and texture similar waterchestnut or nashi, and I decided that it would make a nice contrast to the other ingredients. The cured tuna becomes very tender & delicate with a slightly translucent quality. Even Paul, who's not a fan of raw fish loved it.

Ingredients:
1 tbls coarse salt flakes
1 tbls caster sugar
1 tbls vodka (more if you feel in need of a shot for yourself)
1 tbls coarsely chopped dill
1 clove crushed garlic
200g fresh tuna fillet
4 fresh artichoke, prepared & halved
12 fresh asparagus spears
Fresh jicama, finely julienned
Fresh fennel finely slices
Lemon juice
Olive oil
Cream
Salt
Pepper

Method
Mix the salt sugar vodka garlic & dill in a bowl and spread all over the tuna fillet.
Place the fillet on a plate and pour any remaining mixture over it.
Cover with cling film pressing down on the tuna making sure its cover with the film.
Place another plate or board on the tuna and weigh it down with a weight.
Leave overnight or 24hr in the fridge to cure.
Steam the asparagus & allow to cool to room temp.
Make a simple dressing of the lemon juice, olive oil & cream and season to taste.
Toss the jicama, fennel, asparagus and artichokes in the dressing and plate.
Remove the cure tuna from the fridge and scrape off any dill or garlic.
Very thinly slice the tuna with a very sharp knife.
Arrange on a plate to your liking and serve.

Potatoes

2009-05-27T16:54:00.005+10:00

A few days ago, I was rummaging around in the cupboard for some potatoes for a mash that I was making, and was surprised by the variety that seems to have mysteriously accrued in the cupboard.

The dark purple (almost black) skinned variety are called Purple Congo. They have a floury texture and a purple flesh. Apparently they make great Gnocchi, so guess what I will be making this weekend....

The other varieties are (if I remember correctly) Kipfler, Pink Eye, Desiree, Toolangi Delight, & Dutch Cream. They all have different characteristics, flesh colour, texture, & even flavour. And there are alot more varieties out there!

Pizza

2009-05-23T08:17:00.003+10:00

There's a new Pizza store that's just opened near us in Carlisle St called The Green Light.
I haven't sampled their pizzas yet, but if this chalkboard special is anything to go by it could be very interesting...

Street Art

2009-05-16T18:06:00.004+10:00

Modern technology.

Wondering the streets of Melbourne.

See something interesting?

Take a photo with the trusty mobile phone...

Another Paper Chef entery...

2009-05-10T07:26:00.004+10:00

I think I'm going through an un-motivated cooking stage as looking back through my blog, the Paper Chef entries seem to be the only recipes that I'm posting.
This month's ingredients were selected by Bron from Bron Marshall with a some help from her little fairies.
They selected: Prosciutto, Floury Potatoes, Thyme, and (just for something different) a theme of Mother’s Day for the fourth ingredient.
No stuffing around with wild ideas for this one, I went with my first thought: Gnocchi, with herbed butter and crispy fried prosciutto. And the Mother's Day theme? Flowers, vivid blue Rosemary flowers, both colourful & eatable. If you're looking at the photo you maybe wondering what the black specks are. Well my partner Paul suggested adding some crushed dried truffle to the butter sauce. We had a pack of them sitting in the pantry & they hadn't been used for anything as yet.
The recipe for the gnocchi can be found here. It was my first ever blog post which I had initially posted on Paul's now closed blog Eat Me! which I moved onto here when I started Spikey Mikeys.

Ingredients:
1 portion gnocchi
100g unsalted butter
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
1 tsp fresh rosemary leaves
Rosemary flowers
5-6 fresh sage leaves
scraping fresh nutmeg
1 tsp dried truffle, crushed (optional)
salt
fresh ground black pepper
100g prosciutto
Olive oil
Fresh grated Parmesan

Method:
Fry the prosciutto in a little olive oil till it nice & crispy.
Remove & place on paper towels & allow to drain of any excess oil.
Melt the butter of a low heat & add thyme, rosemary, nutmeg & crushed truffles and allow to gently infuse.
Cook the gnocchi as instructed.
Gently toss the gnocchi with the butter sauce and place into a serving dish.
Crumble the crispy prosciutto over the top of the gnocchi.
Sprinkle with the rosemary flowers and serve with the grated Parmesan.

Happy Mother's Day Mum!!! x

Colours

2009-05-03T08:42:00.001+10:00

All I can say is it looked good.

What The ......

2009-04-29T07:56:00.003+10:00

I was at Melbourne Markets yesterday & came across these....

They were the size of an apple, a wonderful vibrant shade of red and had me intrigued.
What were they??
Would you believe they are plums!!
Unfortunately the stall assistant wasn't able to tell me what variety or what the were like but if they are there tomorrow I'll be getting some!

Hot Cross Buns

2009-04-10T08:15:00.005+10:00

Have you noticed that when you go grocery shopping at this time of year all the stores are full of different varieties of Hot Cross Buns? I've seen so may types out there: traditional, plain, wholemeal, choc-chip, chocolate, chocolate & choc-chip, mocca (coffee & choc-chip), blueberry (??) and would you believe I even saw a savoury one! I guess some bakers imagination s run riot at times.
Anyway, with all these "interesting" varieties out there I thought I'd make my own Hot Cross Buns. I based this recipe from British Food by Mark Hix. This is a half portion that makes 10 buns.

Ingredients:
325g strong plain flour (I used tipo 00)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground mixed all spice
1/4 tsp fresh ground mace
1/4 tsp salt
33g caster sugar
45 g butter
1/2 sachet dry yeast
100ml warm milk
100ml boiling water
1/2 large beaten egg
50g raisins or sultanas
33 g mixed candied peel
To finish
The other 1/2 of the beaten egg
20g plain flour
Few drops of almond extract (I used bitter Almond)
33g caster sugar

Method
Sift flour, spices & salt into a mixing bowl.
Add sugar & rub in the butter.
Add the dried yeast.
Add the milk, water & egg & mix to a soft dough.
Turn out onto a lightly floured surface & knead for about 10 minutes.
(At this stage I let my dough rise in a covered bowl till it had doubled in size - but the recipe doesn't state to do this, so you can skip it).
Add the dried fruit and knead in.
Roll into a long sausage shape & cut into 10 discs and shape into buns (I couldn't count - I made 9).
Place on to a baking sheet lined with grease proof paper, at least 2cm apart.
Cover with cling wrap & leave them to prove for about 30min.
Preheat the oven to 230c.
After they have risen, remove the cling wrap & buns with the remaining beaten egg.
Mix the flour, almond extract & a little water to form a thick paste.
Pipe this paste over the buns to form the x.
Bake in the oven for about 15min then transfer to a wire rack.
While they are still warm, dissolve the caster sugar in a little water & glaze the buns and leave to cool.
I like to eat them while they are still warm, dripping with melted butter

Yes my buns did end up looking almost identical to the picture in the book.

Paper Chef #39

2009-04-05T08:08:00.004+10:00

How time flies..
Its that time of month where my creative idea's start running wild & my part just starts running, scared, away from what ever concoction I dream up. Ah yes, the joys of The Paper Chef.
This month's ingredients were selected by Adrienne from Hungry Bruno. Adrienne's friends randomly selected three ingredients: Blackberries, Artichokes, Bulgar. The fourth ingredient was her own selection: Salmon. This was going to be fun!
First up, its the wrong season for artichokes & blackberries have just finished. So I had to rely on tinned artichokes & frozen blackberries. Now, what to create :)
I was toying with the idea of a bulgar salad with the artichoke petals, flaked salmon & blackberries, but was worried that the blackberries would turn it into a black mess... So I tossed around a few different ideas & did a bit of googling and decided on pan fried salmon with a blackberry sauce. I was tempted to use the bulgar as a coating on the salmon before frying, but decided against it, maybe next time. The bulgar you can treat like Couscous and is one of the main ingredients in Tabbouleh. My partner Paul decided to pilfer some of the bulgar & artichokes and make a salad (in case my concoction was inedible?). I decided to use the bulgar to coat the artichokes & roast them. Did it work?
Sort of...
The salmon is very hard to get wrong, the blackberry sauce was a complete success & I'll be making it again (Paul says it will be perfect to accompany pork), the texture of the cooked & roasted bulgar was good, but even after repeated rinsing the tinned artichokes tasted of vinegar. So while the ingredients may not have all been in the one dish, they did all work well together.

Ingredients:
for the blackberry sauce:
1 cup blackberries
1/2 cup red wine (I used Shiraz Cabernet)
1/2 tbls finely chopped fresh ginger
5-10cm stalk of bruised lemongrass
2 tbls vincotto
2-3 tbls sugar
Pinch salt
pinch ground black pepper

Salmon fillets
seasoned flour
400g tin artichokes, thoroughly rinsed
1 cup prepared bulgar
20g butter
Olive oil
1 clove finely chopped garlic
1/2 finely chopped onion
salt
pepper

Method:
For the blackberry sauce:
Place the blackberries, wine, ginger, lemongrass & 1 tbls of the sugar in a saucepan and bring to the boil.
Reduce the heat & simmer until its reduced by about half
Remove the lemongrass stalk and pass the remaining contents through a mouli or fine sieve to remove the blackberry seeds.
return to the heat & balance the sourness of the wine with some sugar
Season to taste.

Halve the tinned artichokes & rinse thoroughly.
in a saucepan, melt the butter and a dash of olive oil. and soften the onion & garlic.
When softened add the bulgar and season to taste.
Add the artichokes and toss to thoroughly coat the artichokes.
Place the artichokes into a greased oven proof dish & spoon the blugar mixture over them
Place into a pre-heated oven (200c) & cook until the bulgar starts browning & crisping up.

Rinse & pat dry the Salmon fillets
Coat in the seasoned flour
Quickly shallow fry on both sides
remove & drain on paper towel.
Serve immediately with the blackberry sauce.

Look Up

2009-04-02T07:56:00.002+11:00

You don't know what you will see above the streets of Melbourne...

Native Limes - Part 3

2009-03-29T08:33:00.003+11:00

Yes, I'm still experimenting :)
And this time its a Rocket & Lime salad.
As rocket is fairly peppery, and lime is sour, to balance out the flavours meant that the dressing had to be on the sweet side. The pepperiness of the rocket & sweetness of the dressing are nicely complimented by the bursts of sourness from the limes.

So here is a quick, rough & ready dressing recipe for a Rocket & Lime salad.

Ingredients:
1 large handful of wild rocket
1/2 tsp caster sugar
1 tsp rice vinegar
3 tsp olive oil
pinch of salt
1 tbls native lime vesicles

Method:
In a small bowl dissolve the sugar & salt in the vinegar
Add the oil & whisk to emulsify
Place the rocket in a large bowl
To get the vesicles out of the native lime simply cut the lime in half (they have a fairly tough skin) and squeeze the vesicles out. If the lime is ripe they will ooze out easily.
Add the lime to the leaves
Add the dressing & toss. The vesicles may become slippery & fall to the bottom of the bowl.
Place the salad into a serving bowl & drizzle the vesicles that are left in the original bowl over the salad.
Serve & consume immediately.

Native Limes -Part 2.

2009-03-28T10:51:00.004+11:00

I thinking of other ways to use these interesting & tasty limes.
One idea i had was to make a dipping sauce, with the lime vesicles suspended in the sauce.
Well the idea was good, but I failed in the execution of it. I made the sauce to the right consistency, thick enough to coat the deep fried prawns we were having, but not too thick as to overwhelm the prawns. And added the lime vesicles.
So far so good.
But the sauce actually made the vesicles a bit slippery, so they all seemed to sink to the bottom of the sauce, and when I attempted to scoop them up with the prawns, they failed to adhere & slipped straight back off.....

So no recipe this time, and back to the drawing board to see what else I can come up with.

Paper Chef 38 - The Winner is...

2009-03-20T20:05:00.003+11:00

I'm late
I'm late
For a very important date...

If you're familiar with the rabbit from "Alice in Wonderland" well, that sums up my week. Hectic. Busy. Tiring.
But I've done it.
As last month's winner of The Paper Chef, I've had the privilege & daunting task of selecting a winner. And it wasn't easy.
With four very interesting key ingredients, Figs, Mint, Anchovy & Polenta, I thought that there may be a scarcity of participants. But I was proven wrong... there were 9 eager participants with 11 very different recipes. Excluding myself as last months winner didn't make it any easier.
The contenders were:

Murasaki from Samurai Viking Cuisine with her Fig Tart with Anchovies

Amanda from Hunger for New Ways with Polenta and Goat Cheese Pizzettas with Anchovy creme fraiche

Harini from Cleanplatter with with Minty Mediterranean Croquettes & Grilled olive polenta with minted fig chutney

Mike (me) from Spikey Mikeys with a Fig Pizza-2 ways (excluded)

Lori from Lori's Lipsmacking Goodness with double entry paper chef march Minted Fig Canapes & Fig and Olive Tapenade with Polenta Fries

Janie from Musing RI, etc. with a Anchovy Mint Pesto Pork with Fig Cream Sauce and Ricotta Polenta

Adrienne was next from Hungry Bruno with a Fig and Mint Meatballs with Anchovy Tomato sauce over Creamy Polenta

Tanna from My Kitchen In Half Cups with Figs Anchovy Mint Polenta

Laura from Tiramisu' with Anchovy Pate on Multigrain Crackers

Decisions.
I'll do the easy one first, The Peoples Choice Award goes to a first time participant:
Harini from Cleanplatter with with Minty Mediterranean Croquettes
Congratulations on being select most popular.

And now the hard choice.
The winner of Paper Chef 38 as selected by an esteemed committee of one (me) is another first timer:

Adrienne from Hungry Bruno with her Fig and Mint Meatballs with Anchovy Tomato sauce over Creamy Polenta.

Congratulations Adrienne
As winner Adrienne will be selecting the random ingredients, and her choice for the next challenge, and selecting the next winner.
So start submitting your ideas for ingredients to paperchef@gmail.com and challenge yourself.

Paper Chef 38 - Fig Pizza - 2 ways

2009-03-10T19:05:00.004+11:00

With this month's Paper Chef ingredients there was a lot of scope for different combinations and recipes.

The ingredients were: figs, polenta, mint & anchovy.
At first glance you wonder what & how these ingredients will combine, but, surprising, they actually combined quite well.
After a glass or 2 of wine, I started thinking of what to do. My first idea was a modified Caesar salad with figs and polenta croutons. Next idea was a pizza with a polenta base, bocconcini figs & anchovy. Then Paul suggested a modified pissaladiere with figs melted in with the caramelised onion, again on a polenta base. Decisions!
In the end it ended up being a double pizza, but I'm still tempted to make the salad some time.

Polenta base:
1 cup prepared polenta
1 1/2 cup plain flour
7g (1 sachet) dried yeast
Salt
1/4 tsp sugar
Water

Sift flour, yeast, sugar & salt into a bowl. Add polenta & just enough water to make a dough. Knead until smooth & elastic. Leave to rise in a covered bowl till doubled. Roll out and use as needed.

Pissaladiere:
3 large onions finely sliced
3 fresh figs skins removed
Olive oil
1 tsp Dried mint
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
Fresh mint
In some olive oil, cook the onions, figs, dried mint & balsamic over a low heat until the onions have caramilised and most of the moisture has evaporated. Let cool.

Topping:

2 fresh figs cut into 1cm slices

anchovy fillets

2 bocconcini, sliced

fresh mint

tomato sauce

Roll out the dough to fit one large rectangular tray. One half was for the pissaladiere, the other was for the fresh fig.
I made a little dam out of some dough so the two different pizzas wouldn't run into each other.
Brush some olive oil on the base of the entire pizza. Spread the onion & fig mix evenly over half the base. Arrange the anchovy fillets in a diagonal crisscross pattern. Stud with the olives in the centre of each diamond.
On the other side spread the tomato sauce. Lay out the sliced bocconcini. Lay some sliced fig on top. I lightly pan fried the fig slices to remove some excess moisture. Lay some anchovy fillet across each fig slice.
Bake in a hot oven until the base is done.

Remove and sprinkle fresh mint over the whole pizza.

And enjoy.

Paper Chef 38 - The Ingredients

2009-03-04T22:52:00.004+11:00

As Terry from Taste Adventures selected me as last month's winner of The Paper Chef, I have the privilege of selecting the four ingredients for this month's Paper Chef Challenge.
There were alot of ingredients to choose from, but the rules do state that it has to be three random ingredients & the fourth to be selected by the previous months winner (me!). So after looking at the suggested ingredients, and hoping like crazy that some certain combinations didn't happen, I fired up "the randomiser" and let it do its job.....

I think the randomiser got stuck as he selected four, rather than 3, ingredients. So luckily for all participants, we do not have to try & marry anchovy with strawberry!
In case you missed it, here are the three random ingredients:
Figs
Anchovy
Mint
But what to select as my choice for the final fourth ingredient...Well it isn't going to be strawberry, but will be:
Polenta

If you need to refresh yourself of the rule, you can find them here.
Remember to post your entry on your blog & send an email to: paperchef@gmail.com
If you're not a blogger but want to participate, email your entry to the paper chef.
So good luck & good cooking :)
Oh, & if you REALLY want to be challenged, add the strawberries to the list of ingredients.

Yesteryear

2009-02-26T20:13:00.003+11:00

Scattered around inner Melbourne are these reminders of times past....

Drinking troughs for horses. I've never seen a horse drink from one & this one was on a six lane road, so not really anywhere to tie up your horse for a drink.

Australian Finger Lime Ice Cream

2009-02-22T18:05:00.006+11:00

In my previous post I asked what was it?

Its actually an Australian native, a Finger Lime.
It has an interesting characteristic, which is the juice vesicles are fairly tough, meaning that they retain their shape without bursting. Obviously if you apply enough pressure, they will burst & the juice will run out. But why attempt to juice one of these fairly small limes? They are about the size of your finger, so juicing them in the usual fashion would be a challenge.
I prefer to use them where you'd like the tang of lime but not the wet soppiness of the juice. I've previously served a traditional Russian potato pancake topped with sour cream, caviar and lime. The shape of these lime vesicles makes them look like little beads of caviar and biting into them releases an explosion of lime flavour.

There are a few different varieties available (Australian Finger Lime company has a few listed), but I have only ever seen the green variety for sale.

Today I thought I'd try something a bit different, using the lime in an ice cream. My reasoning being that the lime vesicles would hold their shape & juice within the ice cream. I was hoping to achieve a creamy smoothness of the ice cream & then bursts of the sour-tangy lime.
So I made a fairly standard vanilla creme anglaise (recipe here)and churned it in the ice cream machine.
I added the lime vesicles to the mixture just before pouring into the container.
End result? Vanilla & Lime Ice Cream.

Interesting...

2009-02-12T13:10:00.003+11:00

No, its not a surprise from the cat.

This happens to be a native Australian fruit. Any guesses as to what it it?

Paper Chef #37

2009-02-10T19:30:00.005+11:00

This month the paper chef dished up some interesting ingredients complements of Terry from Taste Adventures.

Three random ingredients from the list:

liver (calves liver to be precise);

cheese;

oregano;

and her choice of: chestnuts
Interesting.
The mind went into overdrive. What to do?!? How to combine them into a dish & hopefully eatable.
First up we had to get the ingredients. So off to the market we went, and suffered... Saturday turned out to be the hottest day on record in Melbourne hitting a top of 46.4c. This was a seriously hot day. If you have been following the news then you will know of the tragic bush fires that occurred. Luckily none of my family or friends were in the areas that were affected.
Back to the PC. And calves livers. 6 butchers later not a calves liver to be found. Time to invoke the substitute clause - chicken livers. All other ingredients were found easily. And then to decide what to make....
In the end I decided to make a ravioli dish, stuffed with liver, chestnut & Parmesan, and a oregano butter sauce.

Ingredients
200g cleaned liver
100g chopped chestnuts
1/4 medium onion finely chopped
20g grated Parmesan
1/4tsp fine orange rind
1/2tsp salt
1/4tsp ground black pepper
1/4tsp dried oregano
40g butter
Fresh pasta sheets (recipe here)
1 tbls roughly chopped fresh oregano
1/4tsp fresh thyme
30ml Brandy (optional)
Grated Parmesan to finish

Method
Melt 10g of the butter in a fry pan and add the onion, dried oregano & orange rind
When the onion is soft add the livers and quickly brown - do not over cook!
Remove from the heat and place in a bowl to cool slightly
Roughly chop the livers and return to the bowl
Add the Parmesan and chestnuts and combine thoroughly
Spoon about a heaped tsp onto the pasta sheets and create your ravioli.
When ready to cook the ravioli, melt the remaining butter in a pan. While the butter is melting cook the ravioli in boiling salted water.
Add the fresh oregano and thyme to the melted butter and allow to fry slightly.
At this point you can add the warmed brandy & flame it
Drain the ravioli, add to the melted butter and toss.
Serve immediately with freshly grated Parmesan.

Autumn?

2009-02-04T22:21:00.004+11:00

No this is not a left over photo from last Autumn (or Fall).

This is today, February 4th. One month of summer to go.

After the hot weather that we had last week (4 days over 40c) and the 2nd driest January on record (0.8mm of rain for the month) it looks like the European type deciduous trees have gone into shock & dropped their leaves very very early. 2 weeks ago these trees were a very healthy green enjoying the summer growing season with not a fallen leaf to be seen, but now these trees on our street are suffering. Will they survive? I hope so..

Autumn? No. Global warming? Maybe.

All I know is that the weather patterns are changing and we will have to adapt.

White Salt, Pink Salt?

2009-02-01T11:12:00.004+11:00

Yes, it's salt.

Yes, it's pink.

This pink salt comes from inland Australia. Its produced naturally from evaporated ground water that is high in mineral content & the colour comes from a salt tolerant algae which secretes carotene. We've started using this pink salt in our cooking & it does make a difference. Its not as harsh as your normal table salt and has a more delicate flavour.

And its also good for the environment by helping to reduce the salinity of the inland waterways.

why......

2009-01-30T21:48:00.001+11:00

Have you ever stopped and asked yourself "why?"

Tarragon Chicken Drumsticks

2009-01-25T08:22:00.005+11:00

Whenever my partner Paul tells me that I'm cooking dinner, it always seems to leave me flustered.
Its not that I can't cook, but what to cook.
So many considerations, whats the weather like, what did we have the previous night, what do I feel like having, whats available at the market. I guess its this flustered condition that Paul hates going shopping with me, cause I wonder around the stalls & shops wondering what to make, what looks tempting. Sometimes one ingredient jumps out at me & the whole meal is based around that ingredient. And that was the case with this one. Some wonderful fresh Tarragon. That led to corn-fed chicken drumsticks. A couple of different types of baby potatoes, & some fresh green beans. It ended up being a very delicious meal.

Components:
4 corn-fed chicken drumsticks
1 clove minced garlic
20g butter
1 tbls coarsely chopped fresh Tarragon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
100ml Chicken stock
50ml brandy
100ml cream
1 tbls fresh Tarragon leave to finish

Method
Pre-heat the oven to 220c
Combine butter, garlic, tarragon, salt & pepper to form a paste
Rub the paste evenly over the drumsticks and place into a small baking dish, just big enough so that the pieces aren't touching.
Roast for about 30min turning after 20min.
When ready, remove the drumsticks to a serving dish, cover with foil & allow to rest.
Deglaze the roasting pan by adding the chicken stock, & reduce the liquid.
Heat the brandy in a ladle over a flame & allow to ignite.
Add the flaming brandy to the roasting pan & allow the brany to cook out abit.
Add half the tarragon leaves & cream & allow to heat through.
Season if needed.
Pour the sauce over the drumsticks & sprinkle the remaining tarragon over the top.
I served this with roasted baby potatoes & steamed fresh beans.
But there is no photo as the camera is playing up....

Cafe Menu...

2009-01-20T16:15:00.000+11:00

I was looking through some photos on the PC and came across a couple from a few years ago.
My sister had moved upto the Northern Territory and I spent a few days around Darwin & my sister's new home in Katherine (3hr drive south of Darwin). It was the wet season, meaning it was hot & wet, as opposed to the dry season when its dry & hot. Logical. The river through the middle of Katherine was running high, at times 17m above normal, and the amount of water running under the bridges was amazing. Its about 100m from bank to bank and at over 17m deep, thats ALOT of water.

Anyway we went for a drive and at a truckstop/cafe somewhere between Katherine & Kunanurra was this menu:

Just a bit different :)

Paper Chef 36 Winner!

2009-01-17T10:00:00.003+11:00

This was an interesting Paper Chef round!

While there may only have bee four entries, they were all very different, very unique, and very good. Which means judging a winner was very difficult.
As last month's winner I had the privilege of selecting three random ingredients from the nominated list, and a fourth of my own selection. After seeing what the random generator produced as the first three ingredients (Vanilla Pod, Dried Chili, & Barley) I thought I'd play it safe and chose what I hoped was a fairly neutral ingredient, Beef.

With those ingredients in mind, let me introduce the entries:
The first entry is Terry of Taste Adventures who created a Pepper Crusted London Broil With Chili-Vanilla Balsamic Cream and Chili-Avocado Barley Pilaf.

Next up is Murasaki of Samurai Viking Cuisine, she came up with Barley Beef Spring Rolls with Cocoa Chili Vanilla Sauce .

The third entry is from Ilva of Lucullian Delights with her Barley and Chili Coated Beef Dice on a Barley and Vanilla Couscous Cake.

And finally there was my entry Chili Beef with Barley (obviously I can only take part in the People's Choice).

Like I said, four very different entries, which is part of the fun & pleasure of the Paper Chef - letting your mind run wild in the kitchen.

So who is the winner?
I'll start with the People's Choice: Murasaki of Samurai Viking Cuisine with her Barley Beef Spring Rolls with Cocoa Chili Vanilla Sauce . Congratulations!

And my choice as winner of Paper Chef 36 is:
I'd like to say it was a three way tie, but i can't so congratulations to Terry of Taste Adventures with her Pepper Crusted London Broil With Chili-Vanilla Balsamic Cream and Chili-Avocado Barley Pilaf. It was the Chili-Vanilla Balsamic Cream that grabbed my attention.
So don't be scared, be creative & see what you can create for the next Paper Chef.

Paper Chef - January 09

2009-01-05T18:50:00.006+11:00

We had an interesting selection of ingredients this month.
The three random ingredients selected (see my earlier post) were: dried chili, vanilla pod & barley. The fourth ingredient was beef.
An interesting combination to say the least! A bit of thinking, head scratching, and the usual discarding of weird concoctions lead to a decision on a central American theme, as that's where most of the interesting items came from..
Don't be put off by the mixture of ingredients, I wasn't sure if this would work either, but it did! And I'll be making it again because it was so good!

So here is my paper chef entry: Chili Beef with Barley

Contents:
1 onion finely chopped
1 clove garlic finely chopped
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp coriander seed, crushed
1 tsp dried chili, crushed
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 stick cassia or cinnamon quill
1/2 vanilla pod, split
2 cardamom pods, crushed
1 bay leaf
500g beef mince
1 red bell pepper diced
2 tsp cocoa powder
1/4 cup port
1x 400g can tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato paste
1x 400g can red kidney beans
Salt to taste

Method
Gently fry onion & garlic in a little oil till soft
Add the spices: coriander, cumin, dried chili, black pepper, cardamom & bayleaf; and fry a few minutes to release the aromas, then add the diced red pepper.
Add mince & brown
Add port, tomatoes & paste, and combine, breaking up the tomatoes.
Add cocoa, vanilla pod & cassia quill and mix in and bring to the boil
Cover and reduce to a simmer for 1-1 1/2 hrs till tender adding water or stock if it seems to be drying out too much
Just before serving add drained beans. Once they are warmed through remove the vanilla pod, cassia quill & bay leaf
Season to taste - I added a bit of Sambal (ground fresh chili paste) as I like a bit more of a kick

For the Barley
This is very simple & can be modified to your hearts content. You can add herbs & spices to the cooking mixture or other flavours after it has cooked. I used beef stock as the liquid but you can use any other liquid. The ratio should be roughly 1 part barley to 2 parts liquid.
1 cup pearl barley
2 cups stock
Handful raisins
Pine nuts
Sunflower seeds
Chopped parsley
Put the barley & stock into a rice cooker & cook until ready.
Add remaining ingredients & combine.
Season to taste.

Street Art

2009-01-04T00:00:00.006+11:00

January Paper Chef Ingredients!

2009-01-01T22:03:00.005+11:00

What a hectic time of year!

Christmas, New Year's (also happens to be the anniversary of when I met my partner, Paul) & just when I think I can take a break, its now Paper Chef time!

MizD & Chopper Dave from Belly Timber selected me as the winner of the December 2008 Paper Chef. As winner I get to select one ingredient of my choice & 3 randomly selected ingredients as nominated on The Paper Chef.
There were almost 30 ingredients nominated, & the randomising generator selected the following 3:
Vanilla pod,

Dried Chili, &

Barley

The fourth ingredient was one of my own choice:

Beef (any cut or type).

This is an interesting selection of ingredients, to say the least. So start thinking & cooking!

If you need to refresh yourself of the rules & regulations they are found here.

The deadline is midnight Wednesday 7th January in your time-zone. Remember to post your entry on your blog & send an email to paperchef@gmail.com

Non-bloggers who want to participate are also welcome. Simply send any email to the paperchef@gmail.com with the details (& photo) of your entry.

Good luck & good cooking!!

A New Year

2009-01-01T18:20:00.003+11:00

Just a quick post to wish everyone a

Happy New Year

& all the best for 2009.

One More......

2008-12-25T20:37:00.002+11:00

... bud to open.

My mum said she could never get these orchids to flower, and I have to admit that it did take 2 years for this one to flower, but like all good things, it was worth the wait.

Paper Chef - December Issue

2008-12-06T13:01:00.014+11:00

Its my favourite time of the month - Paper Chef time!
Last months winners, MizD & Chopper Dave from Belly Timber had the privilege of selecting 3 random ingredients from the nominated list & one of their own choosing. So what combination did we get to cook with?
Rice
Brandy
Blood Orange
& their selection of Crustacean (lobster, crab, prawn etc).

There was a bit of leeway with the type of crustacean. I decided to go with prawns, though the Morton Bay Bugs I saw at the market last week had me tempted. As I usually do I went through a process of ideas that were quickly rejected (blood orange & prawn risotto?) and settled on an Asian influence with sweet & spicy flavours: Blood Orange & Brandy marinated Prawns with Coconut Rice.
After fighting the crowds to get to Prahran Markets I found my favourite fishmonger had some unusual prawns available, Schooling Prawns to be precise. these were quite small, about the size of your finger or smaller. Never having cooked with them before, & it being a Paper Chef challenge, I thought why not? Being so small I asked if they were easy to peel? & the response I got was - they can be eaten as is, like whitebait.
Next time I'm peeling them. While they were eatable with the shells, the texture wasn't that pleasant. Live & learn I guess.

Blood Orange & Brandy marinated Prawns with Coconut Rice.

For the marinade:

Ingredients:
30ml Brandy
juice & zest from 1 blood orange (about 1/3 cup)
1 tbsp Balsamic or sherry vinegar
1 ½ tsp capers
1 tbsp slivered almonds, roasted
1 tbsp olive oil
1/8 cup finely chopped parsley
½ tsp dried chili or 1tsp finely chopped, de-seeded fresh red chili (add more or less to taste)

Method:

Combine all ingredients in a food processor until well blended.
Let stand at least 1 hour.

Coconut rice:
Ingredients (serves 2-3)
½ cups water
½ cup coconut milk
1 cup jasmine or long-grain rice

Method
Rice cooker:
Rinse the rice thoroughly until the water runs clear to remove any starch.
Place all the ingredients into a rice cooker & cook.
When ready fluff with a fork.
Stove top (you will need to double the amount of liquid):
Place water and coconut milk in a saucepan and bring to the boil.
Add the rice, return to the boil, then reduce heat to medium and stir well.
Cover and cook for 20 minutes.
Remove from heat and set aside, covered, for 5 minutes.
Drain and fluff with a fork.

Blood Orange & Brandy marinated Prawns:
Ingredients:

200g uncooked whole prawns

Marinade made earlier
1 blood orange, segmented & cut into pieces & allowed to drain

Method:
Shell the prawns & place in a bowl
Add the prepared marinade & marinade for 30-60 minutes.
Heat a little oil in a pan & add the prawns & marinade
Fry the prawns until they are just cooked.
Remove the prawns & cook the marinade until its sticky & thick.
Add segmented orange pieces & heat through.
Return the prawns & coat with the sauce.
Serve immediately with the coconut rice & Asian greens or rocket salad.

Street Art

2008-11-22T09:14:00.005+11:00

Wondering the streets of Melbourne you sometimes come across something curious, that grabs your imagination and makes you appreciate peoples creativity.......

Paper Chef - November

2008-11-09T09:30:00.008+11:00

Welcome to my new blog, and what better way to start than with a Paper Chef challenge.
This month the event was hosted by last months winner Magnus .
As winner he has the honour of posting this months four key ingredients and posting the round up. So this month we had Turkey, Anaheim peppers, Winter Squash, & Lentils.

A quick Google & worked out Winter Squash = Butternut Pumpkin, then off to the markets I went, where I discovered that there were no Anaheim peppers to be found. The closest I could find in shape & size were European Sweet Peppers, so that is what I used.
Next stop, my favourite poultry & game shop for turkey some turkey breast, which they had sold out of. Not good. I could have bought a whole turkey but that would have been overkill for just 2 of us, and i wasn't going anywhere near supermarket bought turkey! So another substitution happened - Chicken Breast.
And what combination was I going to do?
Poached Turkey (chicken) breast with marinated peppers on a bed of Bondi (french) Lentils and roasted caramelised butternut pumpkin.

Ingredients:
1 Turkey breast (or 2 chicken breasts)
100g French or Bondi lentils, cooked until al dente
100g butternut pumpkin (winter squash) cut into 1cm cubes
2tbls golden syrup
Anaheim or sweet peppers
Chicken stock
Handful rocket
Finely diced red pepper for garnish

Method:
Roast the peppers in a hot oven or over an open flame until the skin blisters. place in a bowl & cover with cling film & allow to cool before peeling & de-seeding. I then marinated the peppers in herbs, chilli & olive oil.
Toss the cubed winter squash in the golden syrup & roast in a hot oven until the start to caramelise.
bring the chicken stock to a simmer then poach the meat until its firm to the touch.
Remove from the stock & allow to dry on kitchen paper.
When dry pan fry the breast to colour the meat.
Toss the warm lentils with some rocket and arrange on the plate.
Slice the meat & arrange on top of the lentils.
arrange some of the marinated peppers on the meat and garnish with some of the finely diced red pepper.
Sprinkle some of the roasted winter squash around the plate.

If you wish you can drizzle some of your favourite dressing over the dish.

As with all my Paper Chef recipes all quantities are very approximate as I never know what amounts will work....

Paper Chef - October

2008-10-07T19:17:00.003+11:00

The start of a new month brings with it joys, hopes, a new season (sometimes) and always a daring instalment of The Paper Chef.
I'm excited by the concept of Paper Chef. My partner Paul, on the other hand, is not looking forward to the “science experiment” that I will invetibly come up with. My creations haven't been that bad! Seriously... But this month, upon learning the ingredients Paul announced he was cooking. How weird could I get using this months ingredients: Beetroot, Apple, Ginger & Rice??
So I am proud to present Paul's entry for the paper chef: Green Apple Risotto with Beetroot and Ginger “agrodolce” and Walnuts.

Ingredients

Risotto:

1 small brown onion, finely chopped

1 stick celery, finely chopped
A splash olive oil

200g aborio rice

50ml dry white wine

Chicken stock, heated

Fresh black pepper

Sea salt

Cheddar cheese
Parmesan cheese

Unsalted butter

200g Granny Smith apple

Freshly roasted walnuts, chopped
Agrodolce:

6 beetroot (golf ball size)
Ginger, microplaned (to taste)
10ml balsamic vinegar
10ml vincotto
pinch sugar
30ml extra virgin olive oil
Parsley leaves

Method
Wrap the beetroots & apple in foil and bake in a 180c oven until tender.
Puree the apple.
Peel & neatly chop the beetroot into 1cm cubes.
Combine the vinegar, vincotto, ginger, sugar and oil. Season with salt and pepper. Add the beetroot and allow to marinate at room temperature.
Over a low heat sweat the olive oil, onion, celery for 10 minutes- do not allow to colour.
Add the rice and cook gently for a few minutes.
Add the wine, turn the heat to medium and allow the wine to absorb and reduce. Now begin to add the hot stock, ladle by ladle. Allow each ladle of stock to be fully absorbed before adding the next ladleful. Give the rice a stir with every ladleful of stock.
Once the rice is al dente, add the apple puree and heat through.

Turn off the heat.
Add a generous knob of butter, parmesan and cheddar.

Season with salt and pepper.
Arrange the risotto on a plate with the beetroot and ginger “agrodolce” and sprinkle with the roasted walnuts. Garnish with parsley leaves.

Breaking Free

2008-09-24T21:31:00.001+10:00

Plants are amazing...
This fig tree is growing through a gap in a boarded up building.

Reaching for the sun.

Paper Chef - Swptember

2008-09-09T18:20:00.002+10:00

And this month, I do have to say, it was a tricky one.
If you haven't heard of The Paper Chef, check it out: The Paper Chef.

We have to create a dish using all four of the nominated ingredients.
This month we had to use:
Quinoa
Tomato
Yogurt
Rice-paper wrappers (or some other wrapper)

At first glance these ingredients did not complement each other at all!

And to complicate matters, I'd never use quinoa before.
After a bit of thinking I came u p with the idea of quinoa wrapped in rice paper with some dipping sauces. Boring & didn't quite have the "I want to eat it now" factor. I bounced the idea off the other half and, after he stopped laughing at my pronunciation of quinoa (pronounce it keen-wa NOT kwin-o-a), a more palatable dish appeared: spicy lamb & quinoa, wrapped in crispy fried rice paper, with 2 dipping sauces: chilli & tomato, and a minted yogurt.

Some research on the net on how to prepare quinoa was my next step, and surprisingly it is easy to prepare: thoroughly rinse the grain & then into a rice cooker in a ratio of 1 part grain to 2 parts water (no salt was added). Very easy!

The filling was based on a samosa recipe making it slightly spicy, but this was tempered by the quinoa. The mixture was then wrapped in rice-paper, fried & and served hot. In hindsight I would now have used wonton wrappers as they would crisp up better than the rice paper, but I was sticking to the ingredients.

Contents:
Filling:
2cm piece grated ginger
1 large onion chopped
2 Tbls chopped mint
2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp salt
250g lamb mince
1 tomato peeled & chopped
Juice of half a lemon
2/3 cup quinoa
Rice-paper rolls
Oil for frying

Dipping sauces
100ml yoghurt
1 Tbls chopped mint
100 ml tomato coolie
1 tsp sambal (chilli paste)

Process:
Gently fry the ginger, onion, & mint until the onion is soft and golden.
add the curry powdder & salt and stir through. add the lamb and lightly brown.
add the tomato and cook over a low heat until the moisure has evaporated.
Remove from the heat and add the lemon juice. allow to cool.
add the cooked quinoa, the amount of quinoa that you ad depends on taste, you may want more or less, and combined thoroughly.

To assemble the rolls
Soak each rice paper roll in hot water until just soft. Do not let the rice paper soak too long as it will become too soft & will disintegrate.
Lay it out on a clean tea towel
Place a heaped table spoon of mixture on the lower third of the rice paper roll
Fold in the bottom, then both sides and tightly, but gently, roll the rice paper into a roll
Repeat with the next roll.

To prepare the dipping sauces:
Combine yoghurt & mint (too easy).
Combine tomato coolie & chilli (too easy again).A tomato coolie is a reduction of tomato, onion, celery, carrot & herbs that has been passed through a moulie.
Cook the rolls in some hot oil to crisp up the skin & drain on paper towels.
Serve with the dipping sauces.

Paper Chef - July

2008-08-07T18:22:00.002+10:00

This month for the Paper Chef we had to use the following ingredients:
Fresh oregano, Walnuts, Chickpea or Chickpea flour and
Fish steaks.

Now what to do with these ingredients?
After a trip to our local market for fish I settled on creating a salad of some type. A bit of discussion with Paul as to how to combine the ingredients we settled on the following combination:

Chickpea salad with Rainbow Trout Steaks and Walnut & Oregano sauce

For the Salad:
1 onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 tin chickpea
1 tbsp sambal oelek (chili paste)
1 tbsp fresh oregano
1 large handful wild rocket

Gently sauté the onion and garlic in olive oil along with the chilli till soft.
Drain and rinse the chickpeas and add to the pan along with the finely shredded oregano.
Gently stir the chickpeas till they are heated through & coated with the onion mixture. Season with salt. Remove from the heat & toss with the rocket.

For the Fish:
2 rainbow trout fillets, cut into steaks
Chickpea flour

Dust the trout steaks with flour. It prevents the fish from sticking to the pan .
Pan fry over medium heat skin side down for about 1 minute then turn over and fry for a further 1 minute, or until cooked to your liking.
Drain on paper towel to remove the excess oil.

For the Pesto:
100g walnuts, roasted till golden
Lots of fresh parsley and oregano
50ml olive oil
Salt & pepper to season

Lemon zest & juice (to taste)

Throw it all into a food processor & blend. Add lemon zest & juice to taste & season as needed.
If the pesto is a bit thick add some water to dilute.

And to assemble:
Place the warm salad on a plate & arrange the trout steaks around salad and serve with pesto on the side.

Daring Bakers - Dainish Braid

2008-06-29T18:25:00.001+10:00

Yes its that time of month again, The Daring Bakers Challenge.
Thos month was something a bit different. Something that I had never contemplated creating, but have eaten on numerous occasions. Danish Braid.

I actually found this recipe fairly easy. There were no unusual ingredients to source and the method was nothing unusual. My only problem was timing. I didn’t read the recipe all the way through when planning my timings. I started my creation mid-late afternoon. That would have left plenty of time to prepare, rollout the pastry four times, chilling it for 30minutes between each turn, preparing the filling, and assembling it for baking. I didn’t read that I had to let the pastry chill for 5 hours after the final turn, and didn’t read that I had to let it prove for 2 hours after assembling it. Lets just say it ended up being a late night…
The recipe stated that there was enough pastry for 2 braids, So I made 2 braids over 2 nights, one with the apple filling & the other with cream cheese & black cherries.
The pictures you see here are of the 2nd braid. The first was not a braid but a rope. I’d cut the slits down the wrong (long) side of the pastry. Still, the apple filling was nice! This braid i glazed with a cherry syrup, for a dash of colour.
Now onto next months challenge. Hopefully a recipe without buttercream!

Paper Chef - June

2008-06-10T19:24:00.001+10:00

Here I am doing a last minute write up for my entry for The Paper Chef. This was meant to be created & posted yesterday, but a slight hitch with Paul’s Kangaroo tail lasagna meant everything was set back a day…. (The lasagna was divine by the way).

The gorgeous Ilva from Lucullian Delights and more recently The Paper Chef is promoting this event. And what is the Paper Chef? It’s a challenge using four selected ingredients & creating something out of it in a limited time. Think of the love child of the TV shows “Ready Steady Cook” and “The Iron Chef” and you get the general idea.
This month we had the following ingredients:

Lamb
Buckwheat
Leek
English Peas (?)

Like Ilva, I’m still trying to work out what English peas are! So I stuck with the frozen variety... Otherwise sourcing the ingredients wasn’t a problem.
Now what to do with these ingredients?
I decided to do a cross-cultural collision:
Buckwheat galettes (recipe courtesy of Rick Stein) made into parcels filled with ground lamb & peas and served with a leek soubise.
The parcel idea came from childhood memories of my grandma’s meat filled crepes.

Buckwheat Galettes
75g buckwheat flour
25g plain flour
large pinch of salt
120ml Milk
120ml water
2 medium eggs, beaten
25g melted butter, plus extra for cooking

Sift the buckwheat flour, plain flour & salt into a mixing bowl and make a well in the center.
Mix the water & milk and whisk enough into the flour to make a smooth batter.
Lightly whisk in the eggs and warm melted butter. Do not over beat the mixture or it will become elastic resulting in tough galettes.
Leave to stand for at least 30 minutes.
Just before you are ready to cook stir in a little more of the water/milk, until the mixture has the consistency of double cream.
Brush the base of a crepe pan with a little melted butter and pour in a thin layer and swirl the pan so the mixture lightly coats the base.
Cook over a high heat until lightly browned.
Flip the half cooked galette out onto a plate and continue cooking the remaining batter. Do not cook both sides!

Filling
400g Lamb mince
Oregano
Peas
Salt & pepper to taste

Brown the mince in olive oil & add oregano.
Season with salt & pepper.
Add the peas & set aside to cool.

Leek Soubise
1 leek juliennned
béchamel sauce (left over from the lasagna)
cream
butter

Sweat the leek in butter. When tender add the béchamel. Enrichen withcream. Use a stick blender to whiz some of the leek into the sauce.

Assembly:
Place 1-2 spoonfuls of the lamb onto the fried side of the crepe, the fold in the bottom, sides & finally top to create a parcel. Repeat with the remaining crepes.
Shallow fry the parcels in oil/butter over a medium heat, folded side first to seal the parcel, then flip when the parcel is a nice golden brown colour.

I served these with the Leek sauce drizzled on top, but in hindsight (an amazing thing) I should have combined the sauce with the lamb inside the parcels.

Its fun being creative & inventive & I love The Paper Chef and its challenges!
12June08 i just added the logo at the top, created by Toontz of Okara Mountain

Daring Bakers - Opera Cake

2008-05-28T18:27:00.001+10:00

Yes… another month has passed and its time for the next installment of the Daring Bakers Challenge.
This month it is Opera cake.
We were given instructions: it had to be white. No chocolate or coffee or dark colours. Why? Because its spring and everything is fresh & light. Well maybe in the northern hemisphere. But half the world is actually in the southern hemisphere and its autumn here. But I have stuck to the theme and kept it light & white & seasonal.
An Opera cake is a cake that is made up (usually) of five components: a jaconde (a cake layer), a syrup (to moisten the jaconde), a buttercream (to fill some of the layers), a ganache (to top the final cake layer) and a glaze (to cover the final layer of cake or of ganache). We were given a bit of leeway with the type of nut used in the jaconde. I went with a macadamia nut. Freshly cracked macadamias, coarsely ground to give some texture to the cake. This turned out quite nicely with a nice light colour and delicious flavour. The jaconde was then bathed in a syrup to give it some moisture. I had decided that mandarin was going to be the main flavour for my Opera cake. So the zest of the mandarin was used in the ganache and the juice was used in the syrup. As neither Paul nor myself are fans of the dreaded “buttercream” (read cholesterol, waistline spread, blocked arteries) I chose to go with a lighter vanilla ricotta cream for the layers. The only problem I had in assembling the cake was the glaze. It kept wanting to drip down the sides of the cake. Letting it cool slightly helped resolve that problem but didn’t give a mirror like finish to the cake. Oh well, can’t have everything (but I do try).

End result was a cake which I was very pleased with. Light & white with flecks of orangey/gold. And also had Paul’s approval (no mean feat!).
So another Daring Bakers Challenge is completed & consumed. What will be next?????

Daring Bakers - Cheese Cake pops

2008-04-27T18:28:00.001+10:00

This month’s Daring Bakers challenge was something a bit different, Cheesecake Pops. The idea of taking a baked cheesecake, rolling it into balls & dipping into chocolate was different & somewhat appealing. Work commitments this month actually spared me enough time to do the Daring Bakers Challenge. I admit I did make some modifications to the recipe. Bad me. But 5x 8-oz packs of cream cheese is way too much for just 2 health conscious guys. So I made 1/5th of the recipe. The other modification was no vanilla extract - just the seeds from a very plump vanilla pod. The cheesecake mixture turned out very creamy and delicious, so delicious that it almost didn’t get baked, thanks to Paul constantly tasting the mixture! But baked it was & the result was perfectly golden topped & moist. It’s definitely a recipe that will be made again.
Rather than weighing each ball, I rolled them into walnut sized balls (as stated in the recipe) and realized that I had too many balls. The original recipe said it made 30-40 balls, 30-40 divided by 5 is 6-8. I had a dozen. Oops. So I tried to increase the size. Mistake. The cheesecake was becoming too soft to remold into larger balls, so it was the walnut sized balls rather than 2oz balls. These were then frozen & then dipped into melted 70% cocoa chocolate. To let the chocolate set evenly I wedged them between two thick cookbooks (thanks to Maggie & Stephanie).

The end result? Beautiful soft delicious cheesecake coated with thin crisp chocolate coating. In hindsight I’d use chocolate with a much lower cocoa content. Even the thin coating was overpowering the delicate cheesecake. The mistake with the size of the balls was for the better. Larger balls would have been harder to eat neatly. These were just the right size.

Favourite Photos

2008-03-07T20:22:00.001+11:00

I was just tagged by Paz from The Cooking Adventures of Chef Paz for a meme called 10.

10 what?

10 of my own favourite food photo's.

It sounded easy till I started going through all the photo's that I had taken of Paul's cooking (& my own). Two days later & I've finally decided. Paul might not agree, but here they are:

I'd just come home from the markets with these very fresh tomatoes.

One of my favourite pastimes is making pasta, & eating it of course!

I really can't remember what this dish was, but it looks great.

Truffles. Do you know how hard it is to take a photo of a brown lump of fungus?

Paul had just zested some limes for a dish & left them sitting on the bench. Very much a spur of the moment photo.

Alfajores & hot chocolate...

Some artisic pics...

Tangellos

Strawberry Jam

And to finish it all off, some humour. This is what happens when you try to be too creative. I call this "sunbaking quail"

This is the part that I hate. selecting others to carry on the meme. So rather than pointing the finger at people I'll let you decide if you want to be tagged.

Paper Chef

2008-02-03T20:36:00.002+11:00

When Ilva announced that she was resurrecting The Paper Chef, both Paul & myself wanted to participate. So, rather than combining our talents and creating one entry, we decided to do one each.
You’ve seen Paul’s entry, and here is my attempt.
Given what the four Paper Chef ingredients were – bacon, potato, plum tomato, and swede, I decided to use primarily those four ingredients.
I steamed some of the swede & mashed it with some salt, pepper & cream.
I created some chips by slicing & frying the potato and some of the swede.
The plum tomato was roasted with some a touch of garlic, bay leaf & olive oil. These were then mashed & the skins removed.
And simply fried the bacon.
The end results were some petite little morsels.

To the right we have a potato chip, smeared with mashed swede, drizzled with roasted plum tomato and sprinkled with finely diced bacon.
To the left we have a tasty little sandwich of potato chip, bacon, roasted tomato & topped with a swede chip (Swedish chip??).
I enjoyed letting my imagination run riot & creating these promising little mouthfuls. Some fine-tuning and they will be superb.

Daring Bakers - Lemon Meringe Pie

2008-01-28T20:37:00.002+11:00

Another Daring Bakers Challenge.
Another interesting recipe.
Another learning experience.

This challenge was a recipe which I have never made. Lemon Meringue Pie. I’ve made that type of pastry before. I’ve made meringues and pavlova’s before. & Paul has his own recipe for citrus curd. The challenge was to follow the recipe. While making the lemon curd, Paul was standing there asking me what on earth I was doing. “Following the recipe” was the obvious response. To which he replied. “That’s not any curd recipe I’ve ever seen” and left me to follow the recipe. Using exactly the ingredients, measures & procedures stipulated in the recipe, I was a bit perturbed to see the curd thicken, then go past the point that I would have considered “ideal”. Maybe the cornflour here in Australia is different to the USA. Who knows.
I also differed slightly in the construction of the pies. Instead of one large pie, or 6 free-form pies, I made eight individual pies, 3 each of 6.5cm, 8.5cm & 2 of 10cm diameter ramekins. After cutting out the pastry rounds, I upturned the ramekins & (covering them in foil) draped & pressed the pastry over the ramekins. Saves on blind baking & gave a nice home-style finish to the pastry. After the pastry is cooked, simply flip the whole ramekin & pastry onto a cooling rack.
The rest of the construction was as laid out in the recipe, with piped meringue to top it off. The end result was a series of good looking pies. We had the 3 smallest ones as individual desserts later that day, and friends acquired the other pies. Over all it was quite tasty, Paul suggested the lemon curd could be stronger in flavour & sweeter. I also thought that the curd was too firm in texture, making it chewier than I’d prefer. Still, it was fun making them. Next challenge please…

Apples & Thyme - Figgie Lollies

2008-01-08T21:18:00.001+11:00

I have fond memories of Christmas as a child with my family. The family dinner with the various different courses prepared by my paternal grandmother. From a very young age I can remember her serving these sugar coated, rolled balls of figs. I’m sure that there was a proper name for these sweets, but we always referred to them as “Figgy Lollies”. A traditional sweet that made its way to the Australian table from the Caucasus Mountains of Russia, via Zagreb, with our grandmother. Our Christmas table is incomplete now without them.

Sadly, my grandmother passed away and for the last few years my sister, Tess, has been making them. Thankyou Tess for preserving the recipe and ensuring it remains with us for all time, and thank you to Jeni at The Passionate Palate & Inge at Vanielje Kitchen) for hosting Apples & Thyme.
This year I thought I’d make them for the family, but with a few very slight changes. My grandmother coated the balls in sugar but we decided to experiment & rolled some in cocoa, and coated others with dark chocolate. Some we left plain, and of course some were rolled in fine sugar.
These need to be prepared at least three weeks in advance to allow them to dry sufficiently. And they are excellent as simple, tasty, presents!

Components
500g dried figs (the drier the better)
1 thick skinned orange
125ml rum or brandy
400g dark brown sugar (approx)
Ground cinnamon, cloves or nutmeg

Process
Finely chop the figs by hand with a sharp knife or puree in food processor.
Add the orange juice, orange rind, sugar, liquor and spices. Combine ingredients and cook slowly for about an hour, stirring occasionally. My grandmother used a double saucepan over boiling water, but I simply used a saucepan.
The mixture should be a thick and sticky paste (do not be tempted to add water)- the colour will darken and the fig seeds obvious. The longer the mixture cooks the better, but be careful it doesn’t burn.
Spread the mixture onto a baking sheet, cover with a clean tea towel and put on a high shelf somewhere out of the way for a week or two. It is very important that the mixture be allowed to dry for 3 –4 weeks. It is ready when the mixture is dry to touch and somewhat set. Do not use an airtight container, for the obvious reason. Roll the fig mixture into balls (approx 2cm in diameter). Roll the balls in fine sugar (or cocoa and fine dark chocolate, as I did).
Place the Figgy Lollies in petit fours cases, and store somewhere dry until ready to eat.

Daring Bakers - Yule Log

2007-12-23T21:18:00.001+11:00

This was a totally new experience for me. My family never had Yule logs, & I have actually never tasted one either, so I guess I had nothing to compare this recipe to. Paul on the other hand, has made logs before, so his supervision was greatly appreciated. There were a few hiccups along the way, but I succeeded.
The first of these was the baking tray. I thought the one we had was the right size. That is until I had made the sponge mixture & was about to pour it into the tray. My esteemed partner advised me to measure the tray as he thought it was too small. He was right. It was 10x12 rather than the 10x15 (as stated in the recipe). I made the full amount anyway, then sliced it in half to make 2 slightly thinner sponges.
My second stumbling block was the buttercream. It curdled. Again Paul came to my rescue with the solution which saved the day (& a lot of buttercream). He advised whipping an amount of butter (I only had 50g left) then very slowly adding the curdled mixture a spoon at a time to the whipped butter and incorporating it thoroughly before adding the next spoonful. It worked.
Onto the sponge I spread a brandy syrup mixture, peach jam, vanilla buttercream and a dusting of cocoa powder. It was then rolled. The remaining buttercream was flavoured with coffee and applied to the log.
I decided to go with the meringue mushroom option & stuck the stems onto the caps with some buttercream and, as its summer here in Australia, I then added a few flowers for decoration.
It worked marvelously & even Paul was impressed.

Memories - Kotlety

2007-10-29T21:19:00.001+11:00

I was born on a farm in Africa…. Well not really, but it sounds good.
I was actually born in Melbourne Australia to parents of Russian decent, whose parents left Russia during the revolution. My father came to Australia at the age of 17, by himself and barely able to speak English. His mother followed later. My mother’s family migrated out to Australia when she was 5. So while my family’s cuisine is mainly Russian/Eastern European, there is also a strong English/Australian influence.
I also had the privilege of having a great-grandma for the first 20 years of my life, who did cook the traditional foods of Russia and Eastern Europe. While I remember fondly the foods that she cooked, I now have to teach myself to read Russian to pass on those recipes…
At family gatherings we still have vodka, herring, and other delicacies, but we now have a strong Australian twist on things. My sister, who much to my mother’s dismay has based herself in northern Australia, has introduced some unique foods to our family. Apart from kangaroo, emu & water buffalo, one of the more memorable is crocodile!
One of my fondest memories of childhood was the food that my family prepared. My favourite was Kotlety. Again as with all “traditional” recipes there as many variations as there are cooks. Paul has also previously prepared kotlety. I always buy my mince from a particular butcher on Carlisle St Balaclava, just near where we live. This suburb is very diverse and has a very high concentration of people of Russian background, and because of this there are some great delis, butchers & bakers on the street. Buying the meat from our favourite shop, I ended up in a conversation (with me speaking my broken Russian) with the shop assistant about different Kotlety recipes. She used potato in her recipe whereas my mother had always used egg in our recipe.
I thought I’d try her version, it is still traditional after all, and the kotlety turned out well.

Components
3 slices bread, crusts removed
Milk
1 small potato, peeled
½ small onion, very finely chopped
250g minced veal
250g minced pork
Sea salt
Fresh black pepper
Dried Greek oregano
Dried bread crumbs
Butter or oil
Sour cream, to serve

Process
Soak the bread in enough milk to moisten. Squeeze the excess milk from the soaked bread.
Grate the potato as finely as you can manage.
Combine the veal, pork, raw potato, onion and oregano. Season with salt and pepper
Using your hands combine all the ingredients thoroughly.
Form into slightly flattened balls, about 50g in weight.
Roll each ball thoroughly with bread crumbs.
Shallow fry the kotlety over a medium heat, about 5-7 minutes each side until nicely browned. My family used a combination of oil & butter, but other recipes say all butter, or all oil.
At this stage you can either serve the kotlety with sour cream and potatoes, boiled or mashed. Or prepare a sauce detailed below.

Optional Sauce
100ml beef stock
3-4tbls crème fraiche.

Remove the kotlety from the pan and set aside.
Drain the excess oil leaving any brown sediment clinging to the pan
Deglaze the pan with stock. Lower the heat before adding the crème fraiche, stirring to combine.
Return the kotlety to the pan & gently simmer for 5-10 minutes, adding a more stock or water if the sauce becomes too thick.
Serves 2 –3

Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream

2007-09-16T21:20:00.001+10:00

What to do with all these strawberries that we bought from Prahran Markets? Paul suggested making Strawberry Ice-cream, which sounded like a brilliant idea. But how to mix the strawberries into the ice-cream was the question. Do we pulp the berries & add them? Do we coarsely chop them and run the risk of frozen berry lumps attacking the teeth? Or do we make a strawberry jam & use the jam as flavouring in the ice-cream?
The picture in the previous post should have been a give away – we went with the last idea. Half a kilo of fresh strawberries made into some divine jam. I purposely left it a bit syrupy so that it would combine better with the ice-cream. The higher sugar content of the cooked berries would also help prevent them from freezing into solid lumps.

Components
500g strawberries, cleaned & cut in to quarters
500g castor sugar
6 free range egg yolks
600ml cream (35% milk fat)
40g vanilla sugar

Process
To make the jam: place the berries in a saucepan, add the sugar and cook over a medium heat, until the berries have lost most of their moisture content. The syrup should be nice and thick. A small teaspoon will set when tested on a cold plate.
Be careful not to over cook the berries, as they will end up with a burnt, caramel taste. Pour the jam into sterilized jars & let cool.

To make the ice-cream base: This is a classic Crème Anglaise, place the cream in to a saucepan and heat till it just starts to bubble. Meantime beat the egg yolks and vanilla sugar till light & fluffy. Add the heated cream slowly to the egg mixture whisking crazily to thoroughly combine the two mixtures.
Pour back into the saucepan & return to a low heat stirring constantly till it thickens.
Strain through a fine sieve to a cold bowl & keep stirring to help remove the heat from the mixture. I have also read that you can place the bowl in chilled water to help cool it.
Let the mixture cool to room temperature.
Once cooled, add a few spoonfuls of your fresh strawberry jam, how much depends on your taste buds & your sweet tooth. I used about 100ml of the jam.
Mix thoroughly, cover & leave over night in the fridge.
Next day pour the mixture into an ice-cream churn & churn till it thickens & starts setting. Pour this into a clean container & place into the freezer to set totally.
Serves 4. Needless to say, eat as quickly as possible while its fresh.

Homemade Strawberry Jam

2007-09-15T21:21:00.002+10:00