Celtic Pinay

Testing

2012-02-18T22:37:00.001+11:00

Testing a blog post using my new Android! And thought I'd upload a photo of the chillies harvested from the backyard. Photo taken using Android camera phone too. I think I prefer this over blackberry to be honest!

Sorbet Specials

2012-01-22T20:50:00.002+11:00

Yes, still excited with the new toy (the Sunbeam Gelateria), I set off in creating ice cold treats, perfect for the weather - good 'ol Melbourne summer. I wanted to make sure that the sorbets generated from this machine will benefit from the the harvests from the garden... Too bad I killed the stevia otherwise I could have skipped adding store bought sugar too... but anyway...

After the successful lemon and mint sorbet, I thought future desserts for entertaining would be best served from the ice cream machine! One Sunday we had some friends over for dinner who really liked their chocolate, so the treat of the night was chocolate inspired. After a little googling of recipes for inspiration, I stumbled upon a chocolate and rosemary sorbet recipe (which is apparently under the Moroccan desserts department). Curious, I thought I'd give it a go. A bit risky to serve an untested recipe to guests, but worst case I thought the back up plan would be store bought chocolate ice cream!

It's also very easy to make. All you need are

2 sprigs rosemary, bruised (I just bashed the stems with a pestle)

60g coco powder - I used Cadbury

500ml water

Place all ingredients in a saucepan and simmer until the sugar melts. Bring to a boil for a bout a minute or two, stirring occasionally. Take the pan off the heat and let the rosemary steep into the mixture - I kept tasting every 15minutes just to check for the intensity of the rosemary as I really wasn't sure what to expect! I left both sprigs until the mixture has cooled, took the sprigs off and churned the mixture in the ice cream maker. Done! I served the sorbet with a chocolate bark, simply made by melting 200g of 70% dark chocolate and poured on top of chopped dried apricots, pistachios and sultanas.

although I probably have to improve my scooping skills to have a more perfectly shaped sorbet!

Meanwhile, the plums in the backyard have been flourishing, and this time around we have been harvesting more than we can consume as the possums cannot take their share - husband has draped bird netting over the plum tree - lesson learned from last year's disaster when the possums raped the tree and only left pips.

Some of the plums were big, some were small and cute, but all of them were tasty. Well, at least to me!

So I took about 800g worth of plum flesh (left the skin on), added the juice and zest of half a HUGE lemon (also from the backyard). The ice cream machine's capacity is 1 litre, and because the mixture will expand, the ingredients are not supposed to exceed 850mls.

It went into a blender with about 3/4 cup of caster sugar and 2 tablespoons of brown sugar. I really wasn't sure about the final white sugar measurements as I didn't want to add much sugar, and I started with 1/2 cup and just kept adding a touch here and there until I thought about adding brown sugar just for a bit more depth in the sweetness. At this point I was debating as to add any spice... my hands were twitching and itching to reach out into the pantry for something like star anise or aniseed... Then I opened the door of the drinks cabinet... and thought, hmmmm... Ouzo maybe?

Since alcohol deters freezing, the alcohol had to be added later in the process. After passing the blitzed red mixture through a sieve, it went to the ice cream machine, and then I just stirred in 2 capfuls of Ouzo when it was almost done and placed the mixture into a freezer safe container.

The next concoction is a kaffir lime and lemon verbena sorbet... Twelve bruised kaffir limes, nine leaves from the lemon verbena, 1 dried chili (just to intensify the taste), 1 cup sugar and 2.5 cups of water were boiled and left to cool to infuse. I find the taste very interesting!

let the flavors mingle

I could keep going for a while so please bear with me as I get a slight obsession with this machine! Still thinking about the next set of flavors to experiment with.... Something along the lines of thyme plus maybe something with alcohol... stay tuned!

The Huntsman

2012-01-22T20:05:00.003+11:00

Had a surprise guest today at the shower. Unfortunately he had to be put down...

...And the bath sponges replaced!

After the Rain

2012-01-09T19:34:00.000+11:00

.. one Sunday morning.

Lemon and Mint Sorbet

2012-01-08T19:27:00.002+11:00

So! It's been around 2 months since my last post, and I have a very good reason why I was pre-occupied with something else! Anyway, for the first post for this year I thought I'd show off a little toy, a gift from colleagues.

Sunbeam Gelateria

I've always wanted an ice cream maker and was actually contemplating on getting a Cuisine Art ice cream maker so getting something very similar (if not better!) was much appreciated.

So, of course it had to be tested!

Incidentally there was a bunch of lemons waiting to be picked from the tree. And since it's summer, it's a perfect time to make something refreshing. I made a lemon and mint sorbet! The lemons and mint were freshly picked from the garden on the same day as the sorbet was made. Nothing can be fresher than this!

you calling me a lemon?

this is actually ginger mint

I followed a basic sugar recipe included in the instruction manual. This has to be made ahead.

Sugar Syrup

1 cup water

1 cup caster sugar

Place water and sugar in a small saucepan. Stir over low heat until the sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil and cook for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool at room temperature before refrigerating for a few hours or until cold.

Lemon and Mint Sorbet

2 cups lemon juice (around 6 lemons)

zest of 2 lemons

handful of mint, chopped finely (I used some ginger mint as an excuse to pluck some leaves off our plant! and ordinary mint)

1 quantity of sugar syrup

Combine sugar syrup, lemon juice, lemon zest and mint. Cool in fridge for a couple of minutes (this just helps in making the sorbet quicker - just a tip I read from the manual).

The Gelateria needs some prep prior to be being used. It has a fixed cylinder and a removable cylinder inserted into the fixed cylinder. A saline solution (1 tablespoon water and 1 teaspoon salt) has to be poured into the fixed stainless steel cylinder to facilitate the transfer of freezing temperatures from the fixed cylinder to the removable cylinder (where the liquid mixture is poured). The machine also needs 5 minutes to 'chill' prior to making any ice cream/sorbet/gelato.

When the mixture has chilled a bit and the gelateria has chilled as well, pour the mixture onto the ice cream maker, start the paddle motor then sit down and relax for around 35 minutes - check the consistency after around 35 minutes, if you think it's good enough you can stop it, or check when the paddle has started moving the opposite direction. Otherwise just increase the time.

whip it, whip it

looks good

Transfer the mixture using a spatula or wooden spoon onto a freezer safe container and let sit in the freezer for a couple of hours.

Enjoy!

it was awesome - zesty, citrusy and not too sweet!

It's great to make chilled desserts ahead of time - perfect for summer treats! (Next time I will also have some sugar syrup on standby in the fridge!)

Chocolate and Guinness Cake, again

2011-11-13T21:13:00.001+11:00

Just a different take on the chocolate and guinness cake, which I've done several times - the cake base always turns out to be a winner, so the variety is really just in the cake decoration, or additional flavor... like this one's top was brushed with coffee liquer then topped with ganache and decorated with fresh apple mint and mint leaves. And tiny little pieces of colored chocolate. Made with eggs from a colleagues' chooks too!

Black Forest Wannabe

2011-11-11T18:50:00.001+11:00

We had a previous celebration a week ago where a friend of ours celebrated their 15th anniversary together. Now this called for a celebration cake - and having downloaded Donna Hay's latest iPad magazine app featuring celebration cakes, it wasn't very difficult to find a recipe from the list, based on the ingredients that I have.

The winner was a black forest cake. The recipe was meant to be for smaller, semi individual serves. However I didn't have the smaller cake tins, so I thought I'd dish out the same amount but use a 12" springform tin instead. And because I didn't have fresh cherries at hand, I had to decorate the top with strawberries, which are widely available this time of the year. I did use tinned cherries, which was covered with the cake batter, before baking.

The great part about this recipe is the chocolate shards - Donna had a very elegant (i.e. not messy!) way of creating the chocolate shards. The magazine had a video to show this, my version are in the photos below.

Prepare 2 sheets of baking paper, around 3 feet long.

Melt 300g of 75% dark chocolate (either bain marie, or microwave) and spread over one piece of baking paper. Leave a couple of centimetres away from the edge.

Place the other sheet of baking paper on top and smooth it out to remove air bubbles.

Roll it out and put in the fridge to set. I used a rolling pin to make it easier although the instructions didn't say so!

When set (maybe an hour or 2 to be sure) hold one end of the bottom baking paper and unroll the top part. This will create the shards.

I'll post the recipe later when I get the chance!

Witch's Fingers

2011-10-30T09:30:00.000+11:00

We were invited to a Halloween party on Saturday night, and it was great to think about what costume to wear and what treat to bring! There are so many ideas available once you start googling things (there you go, google is a verb) but one thing that I chose was these witch fingers (check out this link for the ingredients) ... basically it's a shortbread base, almonds for nails and a bit of food color for extra effect! I thought they looked sensational so I set off to make a batch of my own.

Heeheeheehee.

I only have small bottles of red, yellow and blue food coloring in my pantry - and I guess that's the most I'll ever need for now as these primary colors can be mixed to create pretty much any color from the spectrum. So blue+yellow=green! (although I did stop to think about it hahahaha)

200 grams of room temperature unsalted butter, cubed + 1/2 cup caster sugar. Into the mixing bowl. I used a paddle attachment and whipped till light and fluffy. Add green food color and a couple of drops of almond essence (be careful not to overdo as it can be quite overpowering)

Pre-heat oven to 190C, and line your baking tray with baking paper.

Mix 1 1/3 cup plain flour, 3/4 cup rice flour and a pinch of salt in a separate bowl. Fold into butter and sugar mixture. You'll have to get in there and use your hands to lightly knead until it comes together. Grab a small handful and shape into fingers. Remember to emphasize the knuckles and the folds of the skin! I used a butter knife to press in some lines. Then lightly press a blanched almond at the tip to make the fingernail.

Line 'em all up and bake for around 10 minutes.

When they're done and still hot (but be careful), remove the almond and tinge the 'cuticle' with red food color to make it a bit more gross! Replace the almond. Be really careful as it's a bit crumbly!

Ready for the party!

The slightly burnt ones are fingers from witches who were set on fire! Hee hee hee!

Happy halloween!

Saturday Night (cooking) Live, again

2011-10-29T17:06:00.001+11:00

Here's another long delayed entry for one of those Saturday feeling-fancy-dining-in nights, which is basically a 3 meal course enjoyed slowly with a bottle (or two) of wine.

The starter was a grilled blue marlin with salsa verde, garnished with sugar snap peas and shoots from the garden. If my memory serves me right, the salsa verde is made of a handful of parsley, 2 sprigs tarragon, 2 sprigs thyme, 1 clove garlic, I think I sneaked in a leaf of kaffir lime as well, 2 pieces anchovy, a teaspoon of baby capers, salt and pepper, blitzed with 1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil. This is best prepared ahead of time to let the flavors infuse.

For the main meal, I thought that a rack of lamb was in order as I haven't cooked one for a while! This herb crusted lamb was inspired by a Gordon Ramsay recipe.

I cleaned up the remaining sinews from the bones and wrapped it with foil. Frenching a rack of lamb after a couple of glasses of wine and Santana in the background was a pretty awesome gig :) I also scored the fat and seasoned it with salt and pepper. Meanwhile the oven was pre-heated to 200C.

After the deed is done, the lamb meat is seared on high heat with a touch of olive oil, for around 2 minutes, then it went straight to the oven for around 8 minutes.

While the lamb is in the oven, I pulsed 3 slices of stale wholewheat bread, a handful of parsley, a couple of sprigs of thyme, leaves stripped off from 3 sprigs of rosemary, and some olive oil.

The lamb was taken out of the oven and seeded mustard was slathered across the meaty part.

Then this was dredged into the herby mixture, until well covered.

It was finished off in the oven again for around 5 minutes. We like our lamb still pink in the middle so if you prefer yours well done, you'll need to leave it in there for longer!

The lamb was served with smashed swedes, rocket and silverbeet from the garden, and a mint sauce made from red wine, some sugar, and a handful of minced mint (also from the garden) thickened with a little bit of gelatin (I pretty much winged this recipe so don't ask me about the proportions, as most mint sauces I found online have so much sugar and I don't really want a very sweet mint sauce). This is also best prepared ahead of time to allow for the jelly to set. You just want it with a little wobble and not very solid though!

And last but not the least... dessert. A chocolate fondant, served with vanilla ice cream. And some left over mint sprigs! :)

This fondant is also another Gordon Ramsay recipe, and something that I've done several times, and works each time. No use altering or making my own version. And this is always a crowd pleaser. Never mind the calories - it's so good it's really worth enjoying!

After writing this I realized that I should probably rename my post to Ramsay Inspired Night!

Ok now I'm off to the gym! :)

The Irishman's Birthday Cake

2011-10-29T16:29:00.001+11:00

Sorry it's been a while since my last post! I have been a bit pre-occupied with general stuff around the house, at work, and all over the place. Sometimes I wake up on a Monday morning thinking that another week is about to commence, and then all of a sudden it's the weekend, and before I get the chance to relax, it's Monday again! Time flies and sometimes it's not funny - I have so many things to do!

Anyway one of things that I did was to bake a cake for the birthday boy, the resident Irish Man himself. A surprise trip to Mooroolbark airport for an express helicopter flying session did the trick. He liked it! The cake base was from the coles recipe from before. I'm beginning to regularly use this as the cake base for chocolate cakes. And since there are so many ways to dress up a cake, no one can tell the difference sometimes. The frosting for this was a swiss meringue buttercream. I followed this particular recipe that I found in youtube - it looked to be the simplest, no-fuss technique compared to the other ones I've seen. And it turned out to be very good! I used a sparkler instead of a candle for an extra special touch.

Happy birthday mo stor! :)

Sunday Snapshots

2011-10-02T19:14:00.000+11:00

Snapshots one sunny Sunday

Random flower arrangement, all harvested from the garden

Wisteria

Out for morning coffee

Peas

Lemon Verbena

Chocolate Mint

Guess What

Tarragon, growing better than before - the peas within the pot enriches the soil by releasing nitrogen!

Coriander

Little seedlings - tomato, okra, among others!

Today's Lavender harvest

Kaka's Cake

2011-09-29T15:23:00.000+10:00

Last Saturday was Kaka's 4th birthday celebration, and I offered to bring the birthday cake to the party which was held at Big Slide in Ferntree Gully. It was actually my first time to bake a cake for this boy, and so here it was!

The decor probably seems quite similar to Daan and Pip's cake - strawberry is cheaper this time and there is plenty around, so why not use it! I guess it is still a healthier decoration option compared to lollies!

The cake base used was from the Coles Layered Easter Cake recipe; and I think it's a winner. Very easy too!
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Daan and Pip's Birthday's Cake

2011-09-18T20:44:00.001+10:00

It was that time of the year again - the Dutch boys are celebrating their birthday. How quick does time fly?!

Daan's mum said that Daan would like a chocolate cake, so a chocolate cake it was!

The recipe that I used was the one from the Easter layered cake that I made back in April. The general feedback was that the cake was moist and tasty, so I figured that this cake would be a winner. The other surefire moist cake is the chocolate and guinness cake - but the alcohol is not really appropriate for a kid's party!

Instead of doing 4 layers I only did two, and used the same buttercream recipe but this time I added the zest of an orange, and juice of half an orange. Last year's cake for the boys was a bit naughty, with lots of lollies... so this year I decided not to wage war against the moms of all the kids and went for a slightly healthier decor of fresh strawberries. For some reason I felt the need to further personalize the cake, so I thought I'd write "happy birthday"... Which is nice, but I haven't really done a lot of writing on my cakes!

Buttercream with a hint of orange

Layer 1

Layer 2

And slathered with more buttercream. The ridges were made by lightly running through a little gadget with 'teeth' along the edges (forgot to take a photo!)

I melted some chocolate and poured it into a paper cornet. Now, need to practice first! This was tricky - being stuck in the office meant not a lot of handwriting! Good thing I still remember how to write!

And I was a bit nervous writing on the cake itself - didn't want to mess this up!

I think it wasn't too bad :)

Daan was pleased.

Pip liked it too

It was a good day :) at the end of it all, I said my byes to Daan, and he told me he loves me.

Priceless.

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Black Sesame Seed Crusted Salmon and Quick Pickled Courgette and Carrot

2011-09-10T22:41:00.001+10:00

Now if you can think of a longer name than that then please be my guest!

Saturdays usually mean fish or seafood in the menu as it is something that we can get (relatively) fresh from the fishmonger. The 'quick pickled' veggies in this dish were actually thought of mid way the prep as I was originally thinking of just serving the fish with store bought pickled ginger (the ones you'd have with sashimi) - but then a meal without some form of vegetables would feel rather incomplete especially for us who have been feeding on vegetables all week this week!

The salmon was simply seasoned and encrusted with black sesame seeds, and pan fried til the skin got crispy, and finished in a hot oven for around 7 minutes.

Meanwhile, with a vegetable peeler, the small corgette and carrot were turned into thin ribbons, placed in a shallow bowl and set aside. The 'pickling brine' was made of red wine vinegar, brown sugar, salt, crushed coriander and black pepper - i didn't really measure but it was probably a couple of tablespoons of vinegar and less than a tablespoon of sugar, a teaspoon of coriander seeds and maybe less than 10 black peppercorns - just tasted my way through. This was heated up until almost boiling, then poured into the veggies, and nuked in the microwave on high for 2 minutes (I did mention "quick pickled" right?!).

Served with rice, this pickle experiment was a pleasant surprise.

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Tortang Talong (eggplant omelet)

2011-09-10T20:44:00.001+10:00

This is a Filipino recipe that I actually have not made for quite some time. It's quick to prepare and very tasty too. Some recipes include a meat mince (usually pork) - just toss it in with the onion mixture and if that does not make it tastier, then I don't know what would!

I held off on the mince in this particular dish, as we are just easing off from a week of spring cleaning our insides (some people call it detox I think) - the past week we skipped meat, eggs, fish, seafood, dairy, sugar, flours, salt, oils, coffee and alcohol - and yep we made it despite a stressful workweek, being in a pub for a pub quiz surrounded by the smell of chips and pizza, and the traditional group lunch take away every Friday.

Anyway, on to the recipe -this one is especially documented for a colleague who loves eggplant. Thought I'd add a simple yet flavorful recipe to his eggplant repertoire!

To make this for 2 persons you will need :

2 eggplants (the long skinny ones, not the giant aubergines), so yes count 1 eggplant per person.
3-4 eggs
1 tomato
1 medium sized brown onion
2-3 cloves garlic
Cooking oil (i typically use olive oil)
Salt and pepper to taste
Tomato sauce/ketchup and tabasco, or tomato chutney, to serve

Start by grilling the eggplants. You can do this over an open gas burner or under the grill in an oven. (growing up I would have only been familiar with the gas burner approach so this is what is shown here). the intention is to scorch the skin until some parts of the skin erupt into tiny, fragrant geysers that smell of grilled eggplant. Make sure the flesh closer to the eggplant tops are also well cooked. This could take a good couple of minutes. Some people boil the eggplants but grilling them lends a smoky taste which I think is what makes this rather simple dish quite special.

When it is done it should look somethng like this :

Immerse the eggplants in a bowl with cold water to facilitate the process of removing the skins.

If the eggplants are cooked well the skins should remove easily, without any off the eggplant flesh sticking into the skin. Just leave the skins in the water, no harm done! (dipping your fingers into the water as you peel off the hot skin eases any possible burning of your fingertips!)

Dry the eggplants with a paper towel, and you're ready for phase 2.

Mince the onions, tomato and garlic. You can do this by hand (left side of the photo) or with a mini food processor if you have one bought from a tupperware party (right side of the photo).

Whisk the eggs in a wide bowl (not deep but not too shallow). Season as you go along.

Place the eggplants into the eggs and lightly flatten the flesh with a fork. This also incorporates some of the egg into the eggplant flesh.

The long shape would be transformed into a wider oblong! At this stage, a possible approach is to add the onion mixture on top of the eggplants. However, I prefer to soften the onions before doing so.

So.... Soften the tomato-onion-garlic mixture in a frying pan over medium heat, with some olive oil. You can use an ordinary kitchen implement if you don't have a funky guitar shaped flipper like the one shown below! :p yes, and again, season as you go...

When the onions are slightly translucent (or cook as you like), pile it on top of the eggplants. Don't get rid of the frying pan as it will be used again! Press the onions lightly into the flesh with the fork. Don't worry if the onion mixture spills over on to the egg mixture - it's all good.

Return the pan on to the medium heat and add a dash of oil. Slowly slide the entire mixture into the pan, retaining its shape. Cook until the bottom looks to be done (maybe around 7-10min?)

You can choose to flip the whole thing to cook the other side, or finish under the grill (which is what I did in this instance). Almost finished! You can choose to eat it all now when no one is looking, or share...

Serve on top of rice, or beside rice. Either way, it can only be served with rice from how I know it (well we eat everything with rice anyway!). And ketchup. And some tabasco. And maybe a beer to wash it all down. Can also go well with a glass of shiraz or shiraz grenache. May also be a lot more interesting with some freshly picked parsley sprinkled on top.

If you do end up trying this I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I enjoyed using my new red guitar shaped flipper!

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Chocolate Big Chip Muffins

2011-09-06T12:54:00.001+10:00

When I said big chip, I meant it - this went down a treat for some neighbors over for afternoon tea.

Recipe later!

Mt. Macedon and Surrounds

2011-08-28T19:18:00.002+10:00

It was an absolutely gorgeous day today - the sun was out, the wind was cool, and we were out and about as we took a friend for a drive out to Mt. Macedon and surrounds.

We had an early start, and fetching B was quite an adventure in itself as we haven't been to Glenroy before. After a quick breakfast of wholemeal pancakes and maple syrup, we set off for the day....

And I have completely forgotten that B was with a Filipino family, who would always offer food to eat no matter what. Therefore, we had breakfast #2 before leaving. Fried rice, fried egg and bacon. Yum.

Anyway, we head off to the Macedon ranges and went to the Memorial Cross to start with (it was the first stopover). We then headed to Hanging Rock, had scones and coffee at the cafe, went to the winery nearby, drove around for more sight seeing, had a late lunch at Gisborne, before dropping B back to Glenroy.

Going to wineries is an extreme sport for our credit cards so we have been very good for getting away with only 2 bottles of wine!!!

Some snapshots below. B said she had a great day!

Weekend Snapshots

2011-08-21T20:48:00.003+10:00

Some snapshots from the weekend that passed too quickly!

Breakfast lemonade... From lemons freshly picked from the garden, honey and sugar leaves from the herb patch

Lunch was grilled george whiting. This is the bbq pack presented to the Man of the House who is responsible for the barbie (pun intended hehehe). Contents: apron with tongs, salt and pepper, fish, canola spray and ofcourse something to drink!

Saturday night in, by the fire. It was awesome.

Dinner was baked stuffed squid. The stuffing was made with basmati rice, minced onion and fennel. This was placed in the cavity of the squid and immersed into an aromatic concoction of herbs, red wine and crushed tinned tomatoes. Baked for an hour or so at 170C.

And another night time scene - at (obviously) the favorite spot lately (which is in the front garden). Freesias are fabulous - i think they are very elegant. The small plants on the left pot are sage and rosemary cuttings - they have been there for a couple of weeks so hopefully they have developed roots by now! They still look alive so it is pretty promising. At the right side, not very visible, is mint.

Anyway, that was just a quick post - off for a night cap! Hope you had a good weekend too!

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Chocolate Cake with Coffee Cream and Chocolate Curls

2011-08-15T21:48:00.002+10:00

It was a Sunday afternoon and I just finished doing some stuff around the garden... And then I felt the baking bug bite.... And so I had to bake something!

Recalling that a colleague found a recipe from the newspaper a couple of weeks ago, I fished out the clipping from my bag and thought it might be nice to make this - it was called an Esk Valley Chocolate Cake, from 50 Fabulous Chocolate Cakes edited by Rita Erlich - except I did have a minor tweak on the whipped cream by adding coffee liquer...

Anyway, this was made from

1 tbsp butter
1/2 cup cocoa (scant half a cup)
1/2 cup boiling water
3 eggs
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp bicarb
1 tsp cream of tartar
Whipped cream to fill (about 150ml singe cream whipped with about 2 tbsp of Kahlua, if you like)

Icing
1/2 cup pure icing sugar
1/2 tbsp cocoa
1 big tsp butter blended with 1 dessertspoon boiling water

Chocolate curls to decorate (details below)

Method
Pre-heat oven to 180c. Grese and line a 20cm cake tin
Melt buttere, cocoa and mix with boiling water. Let cool

Beat eggs and sugar until fluffy (around 5-7 minutes on high, the color will be pale and if you life the beaters it will leave a ribbon-like trail)' then add the flour sifted with bicarb and cream of tartar. Add cooled cocoa mixture and pour into well greased tin. Bake for about 30-40mnutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Set aside to cool.

To make icing, sift the icing sugar and 1/2 tbsp cocoa. Blend with butter and water. I whisked this over a very low heat until the sugar has melted and hasa pouring consistency.

When the cake has cooled completely, split in half horizontally and fill with whipped cream.

Top with other half, smother with the icing and top with chocolate curls.

To make chocolate curls - melt some chocolate (i used a combination or dark and milk chocolate, about 70g) and spread out evenly into a 2mm thick sheet (this is what the instructions said, i'm not sure if i made it correctly, hehe). Allow to cool until set but not to hard, then draw a spatula at an angle of about 40degrees (again, this is what the instructions said!) along the chocolate. Chocolate that is too cold will splinter, too warm it will not form proper curls. It does take a fair bit of practice - as you can see some of my 'alleged curls' look like shavings!

I also made some chocolate leaves by 'painting' the back of bay leaves with the melted chocolate.

Finished product!

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Chocolate & Orange Mousse with Pomegranate Seeds

2011-08-07T21:43:00.002+10:00

We were invited for dinner at a friend's house and i offered to bring dessert. The guy who invited us is a certified chocolate lover, so while i have an abundance of lemons, i couldn't bring myself to make anything else other than a dessert that's chocolate based.

And because they have already experienced my chocolate guinness cake, chocolate mousse cake, and chocolate fondant (yes, with the molten center!), i had to find another recipe. I needed something that i can prepare in advance since I had a lot of things to cook for this weekend!

That's when the idea of making a mousse came about- relatively quick and tasty, and should be chilled so i can make it way ahead of time.

I googled several recipes as i usually do,and then after grasping the concept i took a stab at my own recipe.

I winged it most of the time but if i remember right the mousse ended up being composed of

100 grams of Lindt touch of sea salt
75grams nestle plaistowe dark chocolate
A tablepoon of butter
150ml pouring cream
Juice of half an orange
Zest of 1 orange
Dollop of honey
2 eggs, separated
2 tsps + 1 tbsp caster sugar
Pomegranate seeds, green leaves for garnish (i used chocolate mint and sugar leave)

Melt chocolates, honey and butter ov a bain marie. Mix in orange juice and zest unti well incorporated. Set aside. Whip egg yolks with 2 tsps of sugar until pale, and fold into chocolatea while it is still slightly warm to somewhat coo the egg (not an issue if the eggs are fresh, but i just want to minimize risks!) Whip cream until soft peaks form and fold into chocolate mixture. Whip egg whites with the remaining sugar until soft peaks form. Fold into chocolate mixture until well incorporated. Spoon into individual cups and chil in the fridge until it has set, at least an hour.

Garnish with something that would help cut the richness of the dark chocolate. In this case i used pomegranate seeds, both for taste and visual impact, and mint, for a refreshing after taste. This made 4 cups filled just halfway.

Best served with port!

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Water

2011-08-07T20:11:00.002+10:00

Pea leaves and water

Spot the difference

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Cake-a-thon

2011-08-07T19:31:00.003+10:00

One of my colleagues at work is preparing for a double marathon this year and he aims to raise funds for a cancer foundation. To help him raise funds we have scheduled a morning tea cakefeast where willing bakers from the office woud bring a treat or two and sell it to people at work.

My contribution consists of a lemon meringue pie which proved itself to be a crowd pleaser, a chocolate brioche which i have not done before (but you gotta have something with chocolate!) And for something different, a savory muffin - carrot, parsley and onion.

The savory muffins went down surprisingly well - the lemon meringue pie was pretty much sold out early too. Recipes to be posted later!

Carrot, parsley and onion muffins

Chocolate brioche, a Donna Hay recipe

Seeing double - one for guests (had some people over that weekend!) and one for the cake-a-thon

The outcome was we raised $165.75 from these plus date slices, chocolate swirly shortbread cookies, rocky road, healthy muffins and cheesecake from the other bakers!

To donate for Ed's cause click here

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Cakes Galore

2011-08-01T21:12:00.003+10:00

Two birthdays, two cakes. These are from previously tested recipes, but still with some substitutions due to constraints in available ingredients from the pantry!

John, the neighbor, has a sweet tooth, so there was no other way but to go for chocolate. This was based on the chocolate mousse cake recipe, this time topped with tinned cherries, drained from its sauce save for maybe around 2 tablespoons worth and some sugar, where it was reduced until the sauce became slightly thicker.

Christy specifically asked for carrot cake, so I whipped out one based on an a previous carrot cake recipe, except that the available nuts were walnuts and cashew nuts, so i substituted these instead of the almonds. The frosting was made from a packet of cream cheese, 5 heaping tablespoons of softened buter and 2 cups of icing sugar, beaten together... It was highly spreadable, and i thought it would be a crowd pleaser... Well, the birthday girl was pleased, for sure ;)

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Pani Puri

2011-07-25T15:17:00.002+10:00

Somewhere in Dandenong is a small Indian restaurant that serves Pani Puri, which is an Indian street food, crunchy deep fried stuffed with what looks like lentils, potato pieces, chili sauce and served with 'puri', which is water, where the crunchy pieces are dunked. As it is a restaurant we were a bit more refined, so had to spoon the water into the holes in the crunchy bread, and stuff the whole thing into your mouth. Priceless.

I still dream about these yummy treats... Especially if I can one day go to India for the real thing :)

Tea Smoked Salmon, and Other Seafood

2011-07-24T22:16:00.004+10:00

It was a Saturday and we had a quick trip to the city for some errands, and then we decided to swing by Queen Vic market for some seafood. We were a bit desperate as the local fishmonger was undergoing renovation and has been closed for the past few weeks so it was a great opportunity to go seafood shopping while we're in the city.

I have a particular fascination with markets. Growing up, I would be my mom or dad's tail as they weave through the wet market. It wasn't too far away from our house, and it would be normal to go to the market daily (especially at the time when we didnt have a proper functioning fridge) or every other day just to get fresh meat or fish. The smells, the hustle and bustle, chaos and wet slushy floors in some areas, flowers, the piles of dried shrimp and stacks of dried goods in some shops... There is an energy that radiates from markets that draw me in and i can happily spend the day browsing through things, unusual ingredients, learning, sniffing, tasting whenever possible!

Anyway, Queen Vic market is especially awesome, especially the delis and their smoked meats and sausages. Not particularly cheap, but I think you get your money's worth with stuff that you buy there (or maybe I am just trying to convince myself, hehe). But the main business was fish, so we bought sashimi grade salmon and tuna and 2 moreton bay bugs for what would be a Saturday night Seafood Platter.

The salmon got the tea smoking treatment. I know you're probably thinking - sashimi grade salmon is best eaten as a sashimi, yeah? :) But the tea smoking process does not take very long and the center of the salmon is still very pink, yet it infuses the most amazing smoky flavor that lingers (both in the palate and in the kitchen - i mean the smoke. Hehe)

The kindling is made of rice, brown sugar, lemon verbena leaves (only because i have them and the leaves die in winter...), thyme and jasmine tea, on a bed of foil.

This foil sits on top of small frying pan. The pan is subjected to high heat, and a bamboo steamer placed on top.

The salmon was just seasoned with salt and pepper, and placed in the steamer lined with a small piece of baking paper.

This is a relatively big piece of salmon, and i usually would steam a 1.5inch wide darne of salmon in 7 minutes. These pieces are 2 inches wide and i still steamed them for 7 minutes. I only placed the bamboo steamer when the 'kindling' have started to emit a lot of smoke.

The moreton bay bugs had to be prepared by splitting them into two, the innards removed, and simpy brushed with extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper before being placed under the grill for around 12 minutes (or less depending on how big they are). You'll notice the translucent flesh turn white. It is best not to overcook them so that after grilling they are still nice and juicy.

Had to take out the big guns to halve this...Nothing like a cleaver to do the trick!

(i had 2 mushrooms with garlic, thyme and olive oil grilled as well)

The tuna was simply seared for a couple of seconds, both sides. A dipping sauce of soy sauce and wasabi was prepared accordingly.

I read somewhere that moreton bay bugs take on asian flavors very well, so using a toy i purchased from a tupperware night (!!!), i made a little salsa - blitzed a cheek of green mango, half a tomato, half a red onion, half a clove of garlic, olive oil and a couple of leaves of parsley. And a dash of fish sauce. Coriander leaves would have been very tasty too, but i have a lot of parsley! This was spooned over the bugs.

This toy is basically a manual mini food processor. You pull the white handle, and out comes a string which twirls the blade in the center.

What I also love about seafood dinners is that they are quick to whip up.

Sorry there was not enough patience to make the whole platter pretty.....Just wanted to eat the lot! And yes, for the record, this served two people.

Burp.

Previous tea smoking Here

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Winter Flower Power

2011-07-23T22:31:00.002+10:00

The previous posts have been mostly around food! So to break the monotony a bit, here's the latest blooms around the garden...

Snowdrops are supposed to be around in spring! But here you go...

I have forgotten what this one is called, but these tiny white flowers are really very delicate and pretty...

Orangey lily (unofficial name, ofcourse!)

Camelia. This red one is always a showstopper. There is a pink camelia tree right beside it, taller and bears more flowers, some of the have already fallen to the ground, together with some leaves from the decidous vine across it. If i had to sweep the grounds every week, I'd be a really, really busy bee :)

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Lemon Meringue Pie, take 2

2011-07-17T10:11:00.002+10:00

We were invited to a Christmas in July party and considering the previous version was a hit, i made another pie and brought it to the party.

It was successfully demolished :)

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Lemon Meringue Pie

2011-07-11T06:43:00.004+10:00

After a constant discussion about lemon meringue tart over lunch last week with colleagues, there was no other way to flush this thought out of my mind but to actually make one. I haven't made a lemon meringue tart before, but i did make a lemon tart... The meringue makes a lot of difference for sure, in taste, texture as well as effort!

Anyway, after some research I found a recipe from this site which is one of my favorite links, with trustworthy recipes. As usual, there was a bit of tweaking involved... But very minor this time around. The only thing i changed was the addition of the zest of one navel orange to slightly offset the tartness of the lemon. This was an influence from the lemon tart recipe that i did which was an adaptation from Rachel Allen's recipe - i really liked the way the sweetness of the orange coated the mouth which complemented the taste of the tart lemon.

Here's a photo journey of this lemon meringue tart.
I mainly followed the steps in this recipe so just check this out if you want the ingredients

It started with the pastry - flour, sugar, butter...Pulsed till it resembled breadcrumbs...

.. Plus an egg. Blitz until it had come together like this.

I sandwiched the dough between 2 sheets of clingfilm to facilitate the rolling process
Into the fridge it went for about an hour.

Meanwhile, the curd was made. First it was milky white (cornflour, lemon juice, lemon zest, orange zest, sugar and water)

Then, translucent, after heat was applied!

Then it came off the heat and the butter and egg yolks whisked in. Rather vigorously.

And it went to the fridge as well.
Anyway, after about an hour the dough was ready for rock and roll.
(just wanted to make sure it fits!)

Again another trick i learned from Rachel Allen, the clingfilm also makes it easier to flip the dough into the tin...

..and to trim the excess.

Ready for blind baking

... And just like it came from a holiday from the beach - a beautiful golden color. Let cool.

Spoon in the lemon curd, and dollop meringue on top.

Looks pretty already. Although i messed up my timings a bit and i made the meringue too early, which left me with little time to fully cool the pastry shell. Or i was just impatient!

Bake until the meringue takes on a bit of color.

Serve, serve, serve! Again, just me being impatient. You're supposed to let it cool and chill in the fridge.

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Little Elsie

2011-07-05T20:57:00.002+10:00

Couldn't help myself when I saw the original photo - it seemed perfect for the colorsplash app...!

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Saturday Night (cooking) Live 2

2011-07-05T20:51:00.004+10:00

Last Saturday night was good food night :)

It started with salmon 2 ways - on the left side is pan fried salmon, encrusted with black sesame seeds, topped with crispy skin, dressed with soy, mirin and wasabe. The other side is ceviche-style, marinated with kaffir lime and lemon juice and their respective zests. All served on a bed of rocket.

Cross section (don't look if you like your salmon cooked all the way through!)

The main meal was a three mushroom risotto (enoki, oyster mushroom and shiitake)

And it all ended with a bang with a dark chocolate orange cake with vanilla ice cream and candied orange, garnished with orange powder and chocolate mint leaves.

The best part - all the above was enjoyed at home. The spring onions, rocket leaves, kaffir lime and lemon used in the starter were from the garden, the risotto was perfumed with thyme and bay leaves also from the herb patch, the orange in the dessert was from the backyard (the orange powder was made from the zest dried in a low oven, and ground with a bit of caster sugar) and the candied fruit was from a previous harvest. The chocolate mint was also from the herb patch (a variety of mint, i got it from Bunnings).

archive photos of previous candied peel (grapefruit and orange, harvested from the garden)

Oh and let's not forget the wine! D'Arenberg 2009 The High Tree cabernet sauvignon.

So far the above has been one of the best meals we've done ourselves so far. Yes, we were pleased!

----

Cook's notes:
Dark chocolate orange cake
Melt 100g of dark chocolate (85% coco), a tablespoon of honey, 50g butter, zest of half an orange and juice of 1 orange, over a bain marie. Meanwhile whip 2 eggs and a teaspoon of caster sugar until thick and pale. Fold 1 tablespoon of plain flour to the egg mixture. Fold in chocolate. Spoon into greased ramekins. Bake for 10 min at 200C and let cool.

Orange powder
Spread the remaining zest (half an orange) on to a baking tray lined with baking paper, place into 90C oven for around 35minutes. Mix in about a teaspoon of caster sugar and lightly grind together in a mortar and pestle.

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Pan de Sal

2011-06-28T20:56:00.002+10:00

One afternoon after seeing a Facebook post from a friend who baked humble Filipino bread bun pan de sal (spanish for 'bread of salt') i felt that little knot in my stomach.... Which eventually turned out to be hunger. For this bread. So i set off to make some of my own!

A previous post on pan de sal here

I was lucky to have some liver spread in the pantry... to my mind this is like a poor man's pate... This is actually one of the preferred sandwich fillings, the other options being margarine and maybe a sprinkling of sugar... Peanut butter... A sweet coconut spread... But I would have opted for tinned corned beef, sauteed in some garlic and onions, if i had some! (mental note to get some this weekend!) This could have been a Pinoy breakfast, or merienda (afternoon tea)...

I think i was homesick for a split second.

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Homegrown Giant Lemon

2011-06-25T12:51:00.002+10:00

Can't get over how big this one is... The rest are still chilling out in the tree!

Peas

2011-06-22T21:53:00.002+10:00

The new batch of peas standing proud - I hope they survive to bring forth a bountiful harvest!!!

So now we wait and see!

- Sent from my Blackberry

ColorSplash Test 4

2011-06-19T15:16:00.003+10:00

Wet in Warburton

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Centerpiece

2011-06-19T15:09:00.002+10:00

Found another use for the cake holder

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Poached Pears in Honey, and Kaak d'Essaouira

2011-06-19T14:00:00.003+10:00

We had a couple of friends over for dinner one evening, and the meal was Moroccan inspired. The starter was zaalouk - an eggplant and tomato dip with homemade moroccan bread (khobz). The main meal was a chicken tagine flavoured with chermoula and homemade preserved lemons... but I think the most interesting part of it all, which is the one I decided to actually blog about - was dessert.

I found some inspiration from this blog and saw her recipe for poached pears and figs in honey, and thought that would be quite delightful! But I also thought that a bit of crunchiness to accompany the softened pears would be nice... so after a bit more googling I came across these cookies called Kaak d'Essaouira, named after a coastal city.

A bit of a gamble to offer something that I haven't made before, but I had a good feeling about it especially after reading the recipe.

The pears were peeled and cored from the bottom, and poached in an aromatic liquid made of water, honey, crushed cardamom, 3 cloves, a cinnamon stick, and the peel of one lemon. When the pears were done, the liquid was left to reduce into a sticky syrup.

prepping the pears

green cardamom - before they were bruised a little bit

For the cookies, I had get orange blossom water from the shop. It proved to be an excellent addition to my pantry! Beautiful flavor, and smelled heavenly. Not to be overdone though, as I think too much of it may render something taste like soap! I used the recipe from this link but I halved the quantities. I had a bit of an error because I was supposed to use half a teaspoon of ground anise seeds, but ended up using a teaspoon of whole seeds.

orange blossom water - around $8 for this bottle (!)

A step by step procedure is clearly articulated in this link so the photos below are merely for me to remember how I did mine!

i used the knife as a template for the length so I end up with similarly sized cookies

i used the back of the butter knife to create the ridges... although I think I should have spaced them farther apart

let them rest before popping into the oven.... meanwhile the pears were also done during this time and were chilling!

crunchy cookies, very tasty and great for afternoon tea

the finished product quickly went for a photo shoot before it was served to guests!

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Light and Lily

2011-06-19T13:22:00.002+10:00

Light and Lily

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Pancakes and Coffee

2011-06-19T13:21:00.002+10:00

This photo was not edited :)

It was just perfect timing - a cool morning, a stream of sunlight, hot food, and my camera. Just had to capture the moment.

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Crispy Crackling Pork with Plum Sauce and Bok Choy

2011-06-19T12:33:00.003+10:00

Ahhh... pork. It is the meat of choice for (most of) us Filipinos. Cheap and tasty meat, available everywhere, can be used for a myriad of recipes, easy to cook, so flavorful....

... and also has high cholesterol :) so it is a rare treat at home where the preference is lean meat (I know there is lean pork, but pork without the fat just doesn't quite make sense to me!) But when the cravings come for pork, they come calling quite loud. So one weekend during the usual trip to the butcher, there was a nice piece of pork belly that called my name. And the rest was history.

I still had some of the plum sauce from the last batch so I thought I'd just give the meat a dry rub of sea salt+sichuan pepper and bake it in the oven in a pan as it rests on a bed of chopped brown onions, and the last few minutes under the grill to make the crispy crackling. When it's done and while the meat is resting, the pan (with the onions still there, now caramelized) is deglazed with cherry liquer, the plum sauce added in and a bit of extra seasoning.

Dish up with steamed rice and bok choy. And enjoy the crackling!

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Raisin Muffins

2011-06-19T12:32:00.002+10:00

A breakfast treat one Monday morning. I have been looking for the dark brown muffin paper cases but the shops close to our area do not have them! The closest thing were these pink ones (and there was another which had hearts in it!). It was a good thing that they faded a bit after baking... I'm not a huge fan of the color pink!

Anyway, this is one of the easiest muffin recipes :

1 1/2 cups wholemeal flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 cup quick oats
1 cup raisins
2/3 cup milk (or more if the mixture is too thick)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs

Pre-heat oven to 200C. Prepare muffin tins and cases (if using).

In a bowl, mix dry ingredients. In a separate bowl or jug, whisk wet ingredients together. Combine wet and dry, and mix only until the dry ingredients are just moistened (do not overmix, this leads to tough muffins!). Spoon on to muffin tins or cases until 2/3 full. Bake for around 20 minutes (you can tell that they're done by that beautiful smell!) or until tops are golden.

It is best served warm... or just warm it in the microwave (a quick 40 second blast should do the trick!)

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Chocolate Mousse Cake topped with Cherries

2011-06-19T12:28:00.002+10:00

A rich, decadent, chocolate cake made of 4 different types of chocolate and just a tablespoon of flour,eggs, honey butter and a tiny bit more sugar. A crowd pleaser!

200 g dark chocolate
100g bittersweet chocolatr
100g milk chocolate
100g lindt chocolate with a touc of sea salt
150 g butter, cut into cubes
A good glug of honey
1 tbsp caster sugar
4 eggs
1 tbsp flour, sifted

Grease and line a springform tin with baking paper and pre-heat oven to 220C.

Melt chocolate, butter and honey in a bain marie until well incorporated with each other. Set aside to cool a little bit.

Meanwhile, whisk eggs with sugar until pale and frothy. This could take a while (around 10minutes). It would have at least tripled in volume and would look very thick, leaving a ribbon trail. Fold in flour. Fold in chocolate and egg mixture, moving quickly so as not to loose the air. Pour to prepared tin and bake for 12-15minutes. Run a knife along the edge, and remove collar. Then let cool, and refrigerate overnight to set the center.

Top with berries, or cherries, like in this instance. I would have made a cherry coulis but I wasn't in the best form (was feeling a little bit under the weather) but I was informed that it didn't really need it this time - i guess adding a bit of milk chocolate decreased the richness compared to when i made this a couple of times before when i used more dark chocolate.

Recipe is a keeper :)

The cake was made for a colleague who celebrated his birthday and first month at work!

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ColorSplash Test 3

2011-06-19T01:37:00.002+10:00

Saturday Night Table Centerpiece

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ColorSplash Test 2

2011-06-06T20:35:00.002+10:00

Kitchen Windowsill

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Citrus Semolina Cake

2011-06-06T20:30:00.003+10:00

need to adjust the brightness in this photo! ;p

Adapted from a recipe from the 'Baking Bible' - which was originally a Lemon Semolina cake with Orange Glaze

3/4 cup self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups coarse semolina
1cup castor sugar
3/4 cup natural yoghurt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup canola oil
3 eggs
Grated zest and juice from 1 lemon
Zest of 1 freshly picked orange from the garden ;p it just happened to be lying around so I added this in!

Glaze
1/3 cups homemade grapefruit and ginger marmalade and 3 teaspoons honey

Mix dry ingredients together -instead of sifting it I like to whisk them in a mixing bowl. Mix wet ingredients and zest together in a separate jug. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour egg, yoghurt and milk mixture. Whisk into a runny batter. Pour into baking tin (i used a greased bundt tin) and bake for around 55 minutes at 180c or until top is golden.

Mix glaze ingredients and heat through in a small saucepan. Spoon over cake while still warm.

The recipe book said the cake is best served with a dollop of yoghurt mixed with some honey... :) this cake was served as it was, and was gone pretty quickly..!

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Homemade Squid Ink Pasta

2011-06-05T19:48:00.002+10:00

It was just one of those things that I've always wanted to try to make, so when I saw some whole squids at the fishmonger, I declined the offer to have it cleaned so that I can harvest the ink myself and make some squid ink pasta.

Growing up, I would bear witness to all the cleaning of fish and seafood in our kitchen, so I didn't need to google how to extract the ink. You need to gently pull the tentacles away from the body and above the eyes, there is a little sac that looks somewhat silver-ish... That's where it is. (see photo below - that little sack dangling in front of my pinkie).

I had 500grams of squid in total and about 6 small squids. With the patience that I didn't I know I had I managed to get maybe a teaspoon's worth of ink. Or less!

After that, I cleaned the casings, scraped leftover skins, removed the backbone and chopped them into rings. I used squeezed half a kiwi over them to tenderize the meat - believe me it works! (my mom can perfectly cook squids without making them rubbery at all - I on the other hand need a bit of a cook's trick to pull this off, heheh).

For the pasta, I used 300 grams of type 00 flour, 3 small eggs, a good glug of olive oil and the ink, mixed and kneaded into a ball, wrapped in cling film and left in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before rolling it.

The pasta was cooked in boiling water for around 3 minutes or until they rise to the top, then drained.

I minced 3 cloves of garlic, half a red onion, 1 green chili. A hot pan, evoo, and a couple of seconds for the garlic to turn golden brown (not burnt!) ensures a deeper taste. The onions and chili went in next, then squids for just a minute or until they turn the translucency disappears, then the drained pasta tossed into the mix.

This was served with cavollo cheese shaved generously on top, finished with cracked black pepper.

Our brains think that food which is black or grayish is not very appetizing! But give it a go, and see how good it can be!

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Stuffed Eggplant

2011-06-05T08:16:00.002+10:00

One of the tastiest vegetables that I love is the eggplant. Or aubergine as they call it sometimes. The fleshy veggie meat has a distinct taste and you can throw it into almost anything. It is also a good filler :)

This dish was made of 2 small round eggplants, halved lengthwise, drizzled generously with evoo and seasoned with salt and pepper, baked in a hot oven (200C) for around 30 minutes. I also had a leftover portobello mushroom so that went into the oven as well (ingredients summarized at the bottom of this post) :

While that's cooking, plain basmati rice was cooked the usual way(about a third of a cup), and let cool when done.

When the flesh of the eggplant is cooked (but not overcooked so as to retain the shape of the shell), spoon it out of the shell carefully and set aside. Mince the mushroom and add to the eggplants.

The spices : we like it hot so there was half a teaspoon each of whole fennel seeds, chili flakes, hot paprika and a heaped teaspoon of (homemade!) Moroccan spice. 2 small tomatoes and a brown onion were minced, and a couple of sprigs of thyme. For some reason I ran out of garlic - gasp! So this didn't have garlic! I also got some parsley for garnish.

Bring them all together in a hot wok : sauté onions and tomatoes, add spices and let the flavors infuse. Add rice, eggplant and mushroom, and stir until all the lovely spices cover the rice and veggies. Spoon over eggplant shells. Serve with a dollop of natural yoghurt on top.

might be a good starter if you only serve one half... But definitely a really good lunch :)

Stuffed Eggplants

Ingredients
2 medium sized aubergines
1 portobello mushroom, minced
1/3 cup raw basmati rice - cook according to instructions
Half a teaspoon each of whole fennel seeds, chili flakes, hot paprika
a heaped teaspoon of Moroccan spice
2 small tomatoes, minced
1 brown onion, minced
a couple of sprigs of thyme
olive oil
parsley, for garnish
greek or natural yogurt, to serve

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Saturday Night (cooking) Live

2011-06-04T20:29:00.003+10:00

Instead of heading out to get something to eat, there was a decision to create a 3 course meal, prepared as a team, one lazy Saturday night.

For the entree : scallops, black pudding and parsnip mash with horseradish

The mash was made with 1 parsnip, pan fried in butter until tender. Then it was mashed with cream, more butter, milk and grated horseradish. It was seasoned to taste and left covered to keep warm.

Meanwhile, the black pudding was pan fried in the same pan. Roughly 4 minutes before the black pudding was done, the scallops (seasoned with salt and pepper) were fried on one side of the same pan, just about 2 minutes each side. The mash was spooned onto the serving plate into 3 mini piles, the black pudding placed on top, and the scallops last. A parsley leaf on top of the tower, a little sprinkle of chili flakes to echo the heat from the horseradish... And it's a gourmet treat.

The main : baked barramundi parcels with lemon, ginger, soy and mirin

2 round slices of lemon on baking paper
Add barramundi on top
Pile 2 thinly sliced ginger
Salt and pepper
a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and
1 wombok leaf, the top part (the part of the leaf around 2 inches from the top) sliced and shredded and placed alongside the fillet
The rest of the wombok served as a cover over the fillet
A flavorful sauce made with a dash of black sesame oil, a dash of soy sauce, a dash of mirin and about 2 tablespoons water will serve as the tasty steaming liquid

... then parcel was wrapped and tied up, and placed into a 180C hot oven for 20 minutes

Ad that's done! This fish was served with par boiled potatoes finished by panfrying in duck fat, and steamed asparagus. What I would change is to serve it with plain rice, or noodles. Nevertheless, it was very, very tasty.

Dessert was a lemon souffle. The recipe was originally called 'hot lemon curd souffle' due to the lemon curd base.

The lemon curd is a quick version made of 1 egg whisked with some sugar, lemon zest and the juice of 1 lemon, and a teaspoon of cornflour. This was whisked over low heat until it thickened to the consistency of curd. This was spooned over buttered ramekins, and set aside on room temperature. Then, 2 eggs were separated, the yolks whisked with a bit more sugar and the zest and juice of 1 lemon. The whites were whisked to stiff peaks, facilitated with a teaspoon of white sugar. A spoonful of the whites were mixed with the yolks to slacken the mix, then the whites were folded in. This mixture was dolloped over the curd, and baked for 15 minutes on 180C or until the tops were golden.

A couple of minutes was worth the wait to cool the curd down a bit. The souffle would have deflated during this time, which may take some wow factor away during serving... But the taste should be able to compensate!

Served with a sliver of lemon peel just for additional color.

Every bite has to be spooned from the bottom for maximum impact,

Two bottles of shiraz later, the after glow of a fabulous dinner remains.

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Groupie

2011-05-29T23:05:00.001+10:00

FOr the month of May, the folks at the gym launched a 'groupies' gig where if you attended 20 group sessions you will get a genesis gym singlet. I thought since we were regulars I could give this a go, and it also puts a quantifiable fitness goal at the end of it all.

They had a little puncher which punched a Teddy bear shaped hole on a business card sized groupie card at the end of every session. Session 12, 13 and 14 where initialed by the instructors because someone nicked the puncher! They eventually bought a new puncher which was crescent-moon shaped... I preferred that over the teddy bear...

Anyway, job done :) I clocked in my 20 sessions - 2 sessions on Monday nights (les milles body pump and pilates), wednesday morning Body balance, thursday morning body pump and Friday morning boxing circuit.

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ColorSplash test

2011-05-29T18:46:00.001+10:00

I made this image using ColorSplash on my iPad and the uploaded to blogger via email.
I have a feeling me and my new toy are going to have quite a few adventures of our own :)

Hot Toddy

2011-05-28T21:21:00.001+10:00

I had a bit of a cold last Wednesday, following an evening spent at Jam Factory for the premier night of The Hangover 2. I blame it on the rain (that was falling, falling...)

Anyway, to avoid further damage, I amped up the vitamin C, fluid intake, and hot milk before going to bed. One night I had a hot toddy to wash down the hot milk :) scotch whiskey, hot water, honey and lemon studded with cloves - it's almost a treat, and I swaer, it works all the time!!!

Big Breakfast

2011-05-28T20:58:00.001+10:00

Today's big breakfast was composed of porterhouse steak, cooked rare and topped with creme fraiche with grated horseradish, and a poached egg, mushrooms sautéed in olive oil and garlic, and grilled tomatoes. A plain baguette and long black coffee on the side completed the picture.

No need for protein shakes with this kind of diet!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Dalmatian Fish Stew

2011-05-28T19:58:00.001+10:00

Tonight's dinner was made by him, and blogged through a new toy from him too. :)

Mussels, monk fish fillet and prawns in a spicy tomato based soup served on a bed of polenta... Perfect with red wine on a cold Melbourne night!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Today's Cake

2011-05-22T20:38:00.001+10:00

... is for my brother, cousin, and colleague,who just celebrated their birthdays!

It was a chocolate cake base, topped with homemade plum jam and candied grapefruit peel. And some other stuff within reach like the star snide and cinnamon quill, just to make it prettier and smell nicer...

Unfortunately my bro and cousin won't be able to have a slice, as they are far away.... This cake was devoured in the office!

Mirin Marinated Salmon with Red Onion and Parsley Vermicelli Salad

2011-05-22T17:44:00.003+10:00

This one was a salmon cutlet, sliced into two. I marinated it in a mixture of soy sauce, black sesame oil, mirin, cracked black pepper and apple cider vinegar for around 30 minutes. I saved some of the marinade, and placed the cutlets in foil and baked in the oven for 10 minutes. The marinade was reduced until sticky and set aside.

While the salmon was marinating, 2 handfuls of brown rice vermicelli noodles were soaking in tepid water in a pot. I placed the pot with the noodles on high heat and after a quick boil, the noodles were drained and placed in a bowl.

Half a red onion was sliced thinly, and a couple of fresh parsley from the garden was roughly chopped. Half a lemon was juiced over it and set aside.

The noodles were tossed into the parsley and red onion salad. A drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper, and the sticky marinade plus a gentle toss around made it ready.

The salmon was placed on top of the noodles.

And enjoyed as a lazy Sunday brunch.

:)

Freshly Baked Bread

2011-05-08T14:58:00.000+10:00

I think one of the best natural air fresheners around the house is the smell of bread baking in the oven. Something about that scent makes your tummy feel hungry all of a sudden, and at the same time it makes the house feel warm (probably because of the heat from the oven!) and comforting (because there will be food soon!).

I had some friends over last weekend for afternoon tea and I made a fresh loaf of rosemary bread. Very simple and no frills, and turned out to be nice, soft and chewy, with that hint of earthy rosemary flavor. Dipped in extra virgin olive oild and balsamic vinegar, you really won't need any other filling.

For the dough I use around 3 cups of plain white flour, a couple of sprigs of rosemary (minced), mixed with a very good glug of extra virgin olive oil (around 1/2 cup maybe!) and about a teaspoon of salt. In about 1.5 cups of warm water I dissolve 2 tsps of dried active yeast and about a teaspoon of white sugar. When that develops a foamy head I pour it onto the flour and knead (well I use the dough hook of my Kitchenaide, set to speed 1 for the first 2 minutes then to speed 2 when the ingredients are incorporated). When the dough is smooth and elastic, I just turn it onto an oiled bowl and leave it to rise in a warm spot, covered with a tea towel.

When doubled in size I just punch the air out and shape it into the desired loaf. Sometimes I make them into little rolls.I drizzle extra olive oil on top and maybe another sprinkling of the herbs used. You can easily alter the flavor by changing the herb, and anything pretty much works - thyme, parsley, oregano, black olives - anything you have at hand.

this one turned out to be a rosemary loaf, like a focaccia

sprinkled with sea salt

and it bakes quite easily too

around 25min in a 200C oven

these rolls were from the same dough but shaped differently

and i sprinkled some chili flakes on top

rolls in a bread basket - yum.

or maybe with a filling of your choice

or served with steamed mussels!

Nanay's Cake

2011-05-08T14:28:00.004+10:00

It's Mother's Day! And while I have baked a lot of cakes for pretty much everyone celebrating something, I thought I'd make an extra special cake for my Nanay ('mother' in Tagalog)...

I had some pears in the fridge and remembered that I once made a poached pear cake. I thought it would be a really special cake, with my nanay in my mind the whole time I was cooking. She loves flowers, so the roses were meant to bundle in cake and flowers in one package!

I only used 4 pears and a small baking tin.

peel and core the pears (william pears in this instance) but keep the stems intact

I used 4 small pears (one is missing in this photo!)

bring the following to a boil : 750ml of water, 1/2 cup of sugar,

1 cinnamon stick, 6 cloves, 2 star anise and peel & juice of half a lemon.

poach pears in the liquid until the pears have softened.

drain and discard liquid. let the pears cool.

meanwhile, make the cake batter

this one was made with 2 eggs whisked with 1/2 cup of caster sugar

when thick and foamy, trickle in around 1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil and

about 3 tablespoons of honey while still whisking the mixture.

when everything is incorporated, use a spatula to fold 1 cup of self raising flour.

pour onto greased and lined baking tin, and push the pears into the cake batter.
(this recipe is something that i just made up on the fly!)

bake in a preheated 180C oven for around 30minutes.

decorate however which way you would like

but it is best served warm!

Previous poached pear cake here.

My mom is back home in the Philippines but I do know one day I should be able to make something for her here in my very own kitchen, while she waits in the dining table, just like how I used to wait for her hot freshly cooked yummies!

Pho!

2011-05-01T20:41:00.015+10:00

Pho face off!

One of our favorite things in the world is the Vietnamese noodle soup, pho. The one on the left is from Huong Viet, the one on the right from Kha Tran. Both restaurants are in Bayswater, near the train station. At $8 for a medium sized bowl, any noodle cravings will surely be satisfied!

I am particularly fond of the beef and chicken special - a combination of chicken liver, gizzard, heart, egg yolk, beef tripe, beef slices, chicken meat pieces, and my favorite, chicken blood. Probably quite 'a bit of mouthful' (ahem!) for some, but definitely a yummy treat for me :)

Sweet Chilli

2011-05-01T20:16:00.004+10:00

Meet Pa Lo - tender pork belly cooked in a sweet dark soya sauce with herbs, served with onions, bean curd and boiled egg. Eaten with a bowl of hot steaming rice - perfect.

Rice is the main Filipino stable and (most!) Filipinos love pork, needless to say after the first mouthful of this dish it transported me back home... My heart beated faster... although it was just perhaps my arteries trying to process the extra cholesterol, but anyway...The sauce reminded me a lot of pata tim - which is braised pork knuckles in a similar sweet dark soy based sauce.

We had the Pa Lo at Sweet Chilli, a Thai restaurant, on a Friday night, when the stars were out and we felt like walking towards dinner armed with a bottle of Shiraz. The restaurant was very busy, and the food is good, perhaps giving justice to their $15-$22 price range for mains.

Not bad for a local spot indeed... now if only they also had a pub... :)

A1 Lebanese Bakery

2011-05-01T19:47:00.003+10:00

One Saturday we were around Brunswick and found the A1 Lebanese Bakery. The place is not just a bakery, but had a coffee shop and grocery as well. We found a seat at the corner, and after browsing through the menu posted on the upper part of the wall above the counter, debating on what sounds yummier over the other, and realizing that we cannot order everything, we settled for a wrap with fresh veggies and zaatar (a spice mix usually made of sesame seeds, oregano, thyme, salt and sumac) and a spinach triangle - and they were worth every bite!

And, the coffee was strong. Very strong. Which is a good thing, personally.

The bakery also had a section with condiments, Mediterranean spices and tins of things that all look yummy, and shisha contraptions for what I think is a reasonable price (compared to the other ones I've seen in Melbourne so far!) I did manage to restrain myself from an impulsive purchase and left it at the shelf - gives me an excuse to come back and get one (if I don't manage to actually buy one from somewhere in the Mediterranean sometime in this lifetime!) :)

Purple illusion

2011-04-26T21:15:00.001+10:00

I saw someone have a purple cocktail and thought it would be cool to make one. It's not really rocket science if you know your primary colors : blue and red makes violet. Dilute it a bit and you have purple. This cocktail was made of blue curacao, grenadine, vodka, rose water, sparkling water (to dilute the violet color!) and cointreau. It tasted ok, but not 'great', so I think it needs a bit more tweaking... watch this space. :)

Onion, 3 Ways

2011-04-26T21:04:00.000+10:00

If you don't like onions, this post is not for you :)

*

One day I found myself in possession of a big sack of onions. Not a big bag, but a big sack. Ten kilos of big brown onions, sold for around $3 for the lot. Who would not buy it?

So now I had to find some use for a big sack of onions. :)

Not that there is a scarcity of recipes for onions. There's always onion rings, onion bhaji, french onion soup...and I can go on and on like that guy Bubba in Forrest Gump describing how shrimp can be cooked...

I started with onion jam. I once made a batch and it can be slathered on to almost anything like steak, burgers, sandwiches... and it can surely make something very simple a lot more tasty. Then when I started chopping... I just didn't stop, and ended up with onion and potato soup and stuffed onions as well!

My onion jam was made of around 5 large onions, chopped and cooked slowly over medium low heat until wilted and almost caramelized, then a teaspoon of hot mustard, a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, a slosh of balsamic vinegar, a teaspoon or so of honey, 2 bay leaves and salt and freshly cracked black pepper went into the mix and proceeded to cook, still slowly. I used a wide cast iron pan and kept my eye on it, stirring until the desired consistency was reached. It eventually found its way into a clean jar.

While letting the onion jam simmer slowly, I found a recipe from Larousse Gastronomique about stuffed onions. 'Well that's a first!", I thought, and proceeded to read. I did not have all the ingredients required but had sufficient alternatives. Stuffing onions required a bit of fussy preparation, I later realized - scooping the insides wasn't as straightforward as I thought.

The recipe called for large onions to be peeled gently so as not to break the outer shell, stalks cut off so that the onion is reduced to 2/3 of its size. The onions are to be boiled in water for around 10 minutes, then the insides scooped, minced and mixed with the desired filling. In this case it was cooked rice fried in oil where pancetta was rendered, and finely minced garlic. (Anything with pancetta is always tasty!). This was spooned back into the onion shells, some gravy** spooned on top, and baked in a 200C oven for around 20 minutes.

onions the size of my hand

peeled ever so carefully, the top chopped off. i also trimmed the bottom to stabilize them a bit

boil for around 10 minutes or until slightly softened

scoop the insides out and mince

fry some bacon (or salami and pancetta in this case), saute the minced onions and add cooked rice

season to taste

stuff rice mixture back into onion shells, baste with some sauce and bake for around 20minutes on 200C

Now - the "gravy" was actually part of the potato and onion soup that I was also making.

I saved some of the water where the onion was boiled ("onion water"), and in a separate pan I heated some extra virgin olive oil and threw in around 4 chopped onions, and cooked them in high heat until caramelized. I let some pieces get a darker color than usual, then I added 4 cloves of finely minced garlic, and 3 sprigs of fresh thyme (from the garden of course), minced. I let them all cook together for a couple more minutes, then tipped the contents into around 2 cups of "onion water". I deglazed the pan with cooking sherry, and the tasty bits also went to the pot. Four medium sized potatoes (cubed) also went in, and about 2 cups of homemade chicken stock, and 2 bay leaves. This was brought to a boil, the heat lowered, and then simmered gently until the potatoes were cooked thoroughly. I wanted a slightly thick soup, so after some of the liquid was reduced, the mixture was blitzed in a food processor. It is ready to serve!

So, the soup was then ladled on to soup bowls. I had some old homemade focaccia (remnants of a get together with the neighbors!). I sliced the crust off and cut them into squares and drizzled with olive oil to make some sort of croutons. Into a 200C oven it went for around 10 minutes. (At this same instant, the stuffed onions also went into the oven). When the croutons are golden and toasted, sprinkle on top of the soup and add a tablespoon of the onion jam. Finish with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, and get ready to get your mind blown away.

another use for stale bread

Meanwhile, serve the stuffed onions with some greens (in this case, rocket and young silverbeet from the garden). They were moist inside and the natural sugars very obvious to the palate...the pungency is gone and all that's left is the flavor of a tasty lunch.

I hope to be able to replicate this again, especially the soup, as it had received rave reviews! (I had forgotten what I used for the chicken stock as I tend to use whatever is in the kitchen at that very instant, so the taste might vary the next time!)

Nasi Lemak

2011-04-17T08:58:00.002+10:00

This Nasi Lemak Traditional from Nasi Lemak House in Carlton has spicy sambal, marinated fried chicken drumstick, fried anchovies, peanuts, cucumber and krupuk, and is our favorite nasi lemak in Melbourne. We first had a go at this one Saturday, both slightly hungover, and thought that the food was fantastic but was unsure if it was just the hang over speaking. Last Thursday we stopped by for dinner, after checking out the King Tut exhibition in the Melbourne Museum which was in the vicinity - and can now proudly confirm that the first impression on this tasty meal was accurate!

Moshi Moshi

2011-04-17T08:57:00.002+10:00

Went out for dinner near the workplace one evening, and since the craving was for raw fish, obviously te best place to go would be a Japanese restaurant!

Moshi Moshi is a 5 minute drive from our office and it was just the 3 of us - we decided to go for the Seafood and Sushi Platter - on the menu it says good for 4 people (but on the website, it says good for two!). Anyway us being hungry people we ordered 1 serving of gyoza as well (6 pcs) - and I have to say that so far that was the best gyoza I've had - perfectly cooked with a crispy fried bottom and soft steamed top, and very very tasty.

The seafood platter was composed of King prawns, oysters, tuna, salmon, scallops, tobiko (fish roe), BBQ eel & fried calamari, and Morton Bay Bugs (although it was only half a bug). Still very tasty. Will come back next time and demolish this platter!

no flash photography that evening

Chocolate and Guinness Cake, again!

2011-04-16T20:22:00.001+10:00

This cake is always a winner! First version here.

Today's brekky

2011-04-16T20:20:00.000+10:00

pan fried brown soda bread, black pudding and poached egg

Cole's Celebration Mousse Torte

2011-04-10T21:54:00.002+10:00

Last Friday we went out for a team lunch as usual, and stopped by Coles and found their Autumn magazine. After flipping through the pages I found a recipe for a Celebration Mousse Torte. It looked relatively easy, but looked indeed very pretty.

Follow the link above for the recipe but I took some snapshots (as usual!) when I made it, one early Sunday morning. It's just quite rewarding to see results :)

oreo biscuit base. i scraped the nice sweet white bits... don't ask where it went!

melting milk chocolate + dark Lindt chocolate (85% cocoa in this case)

next in line - 1/2 cup cream, whisked into the melted chocolate after it was removed from heat;

and 4 eggs (separated);

the yolks mixed into the chocolate mixture

the whites were whipped into stiff peaks with some sugar

...and folded into the chocolate mixture.

it was poured on top of the oreo biscuit base.

then into the fridge to chill!

the ganache was bittersweet chocolate chips, smooth peanut butter, butter and water

melted over low heat

...and then dumped on top of the chocolate base.

I did this after just several hours of chilling.

had to smooth the top. not sure how to fully smooth it all into a level surface!

It's pretty good fun baking cakes from a photo and trying to make it look like the picture :) Just the previous Easter cake (and yeah maybe Easter cake take 2)

Now I just need one good full day and maybe I can make Adriano Zumbo's macaron tower (I still have that magazine too!)

Hot Cross Buns

2011-04-10T21:25:00.001+10:00

Easter is fast approaching and a classic (English) treat during this time are hot cross buns. To be honest I've only heard of these when I arrived here in Oz, growing up we would have had rice-pudding type treats during Easter :) so I thought I'd give it a go and bake some to see what they're like.

I found a recipe from the Good Food magazine and they turned out quite nicely.

3 cups plain white flour

1.5 tsps instant dried yeast

1/4 cup caster sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp mixed spice (which was made of ground ginger, ground cloves and allspice)

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

2/3 cup dried currants

1 tsp salt

150ml warm milk

50ml warm water

1 egg, beaten

50g unsalted butter

1/4 cup plain flour

2 tbsp white sugar

I just had the wonderful opportunity to mix them all together in my magical Kitchenaide, tested the consistency and texture of the dough and added a bit more flour when I found it too wet.

In the absence of this toy one can mix dry ingredients, make a well in a center and add the wet ingredients. Mix to form a dough and knead until smooth. Transfer to a clean, lightly greased bowl and let rise until doubled in size.

Place greaseproof paper on baking tray. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface and divide into 12 balls. Shape into a nice round and place on prepared tray, allowing some room for each rising. Using a sharp knife score a cross on top of each bun then cover with a tea towel and let rise again until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 180C. Combine remaining flour and some water to form a thick paste.

Spoon into piping bag (I used a sandwich bag, tip snipped off) and pipe crosses on top of buns. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until buns are golden.

While still warm, heat white sugar and about a tablespoon of water until sugar is dissolved (I just microwaved them until it bubbled). Brush over buns and serve immediately; or serve toasted the next day with a dollop of butter.

The same dough can be pretty much used for a lot of things... I liked this a lot, it's sweetly spiced buns, can't go wrong with that!

Tea Smoked Salmon

2011-04-10T13:37:00.004+10:00

I read about tea-smoking fish a while back and made it with monk fish. This time I tried it again but with salmon. Why? I don't know, I just felt like eating something smoky :) Apparently this technique has been used in the Szechuan province in China ever since...

previous tea-smoking gig :

tea-smoked monkfish wrapped in radish leaves,

and fresh radish dressed with a soy sauce and vinegar dressing

This salmon was served with potato starch noodles, wok tossed in a small amount of chili and onions, with red cabbage and baby corn. I also added some pickled ginger (the ones you'd get with sashimi) because I thought it would be a strong contrast to the otherwise delicate flavors of noodles and fish.

The basic 'kindlings' or smoking agents for indoor smoking are tea (I used jasmine, but I suppose any type will do), a handful of uncooked rice and brown sugar. Depending on the size of the fish it may take around 15-20 minutes. For this salmon it took around 10 minutes since the cut isn't very thick and I like my salmon still raw in the middle. In this instance I also threw in several leaves of lemon verbena for a slight citrus hint, although I didn't really quite taste it in the end. (Figured it was worth a try anyway!)

I made a bowl from foil (and just moulded it on a bowl!)

a handful of tea leaves, a handful of rice and maybe 2 teaspoons of brown sugar

placed on pan over medium-high heat

the salmon went to a bamboo steamer lined with baking paper

noodles!

steaming contraption

they were ready in a jiffy!

juicy-licious

'the afterburn'

Easter cake is gone

2011-04-04T16:37:00.002+10:00

I guess they didn't like it! :)

Layered Easter Egg Chocolate Cake - take 2

2011-04-03T13:15:00.000+10:00

I wasn't too happy with the frosting on the layers on the previous cake, and I didn't have the heart to use all of the ganache and frosting in just one cake (it seemed a bit too sweet for my liking)

so I thought hey why not make another cake :)

Too easy hahaha.

Except of course I didn't have enough frosting and ganache to make the same number of layers, so I resorted to making my basic chocolate cake recipe, slicing it into two, and just sandwiching the remaining frosting between the 2 layers. There was sufficient ganache for a sexy topping, and some easter eggs left so I just followed the same approach to piling them on top.

Now I can get over it, and move on to the next cake!!! :p

I originally made the cake for Sunday afternoon nibblies and bubblies with neighbors, so now I have another cake to take to office. I'm sure the office folks wouldn't mind having cake on a Monday. :)

Layered Easter Egg Chocolate Cake

2011-04-02T17:35:00.002+11:00

I grabbed a copy of the Good Food magazine last week as the cover photo grabbed my attention. I especially noted the 'triple tested recipes' bit and thought maybe I ought to give that cake recipe a try....

I wasn't able to get the exact easter eggs for decor and I think my cake cutting needs a bit more practice!

the buttercream wasn't flush towards the sides too.

(no I'm not being a perfectionist....!) :p

to be honest I was just a bit impatient/too excited to finish this cake hehehe.

This one falls under the magazine's 'super easy' recipes!

225g self raising flour

275g brown sugar

250g unsalted butter, softened

75g dark chocolate, melted

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

50g cocoa

4 eggs

ganache icing

1/3 cup cream

160g dark chocolate, chopped

buttercream filling

375g unsalted butter, softened

500g pure icing sugar

1/3 cup milk

easter eggs for decoration

(disclaimer : below is my quick-type version as lifted from the magazine so I may have omitted some words!)

Preheat oven to 180C or 160C fan. Grease and line 2 round cake pans.

Mix all cake ingredients together in a food processor and process until smooth. Pour onto prepared pans and bake for around 35minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Leave in tin for about 5 mins then turn out to a wire rack to cool completely. (I used slightly less brown sugar in this instance, maybe 75g less)

To make the ganache, boil the cream then pour onto chocolate. Let stand for a couple of minutes then whisk until smooth. Set aside until cooled slightly and thickened.

To make the buttercream, use an electric mixer to beat the butter until as white as possible. Alternately beat in sugar and milk, starting and finishing with a little sugar. (I didn't use all 500g of sugar here, I just find it toooo sweet).

Using a bread knife split each cake into two layers. Sandwich together all four layers with buttercream. Top with ganache and decorate with Easter eggs. Serve.

Now this was my interpretation :

work hazard : blade licking

ganache in the making

buttercream frosting being beaten around

the big guns got good practice for this!

that really looked like buttercream to me!

layer 1

layer 2

fast forward to finishing all the layers!

top view

it smelled great...

can't go wrong with chocolate!

Fig and Prosciutto Salad

2011-04-02T16:49:00.003+11:00

Today's artwork :

No cooking here, just assemble fresh figs, slices of shaved prosciutto and serrano ham (or other cured meat that you might fancy) from the local deli, bocconcini, cherry tomatoes, parsley, drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and a bit of balsamic vinegar. And freshly craacked black pepper. No salt needed as the cured meats and cheese should provide enough saltiness.

The flavors are unbelievably perfect.

Especially with a glass of cold James Squire Golden ale.

Life is good :)

Coq au Vin

2011-04-02T10:37:00.007+11:00

I was inspired to make this dish after seeing a TV show where the host got a bit emotional, saying that coq au vin has always brought memories of her childhood. (I can relate to this notion - everytime I come home with a headache I always remember how my mom's freshly cooked sinigang or sinampalukang manok (my all time favorites) with hot steaming rice would make it all go away.) It did remind me of our previous trip to Paris, and we just had to order one, for that 'authentic coq au vin experience' :)

This was my first attempt at cooking coq au vin - literally 'rooster in wine' - which was traditionally made of rooster marinated in wine, mainly to relax the tough meat. If using chicken, this step may be skipped as the meat itself will not really need to be tenderized, but won't hurt if you're after a more intense flavor. I made the quicker version and based the recipe from this link at Gourmet Traveller.

Coq au Vin
serves 8

olive oil

90g softened butter

1 whole chicken (around 1 kg), jointed

bacon or pancetta, diced (i used speck)

16 small brown onions or pickling onions

1-2 cups chicken or vegetable stock

24 button mushrooms (or a combination of different mushroom types)

1 bottle of red wine (i used Chemin de Papes)

4 sprigs parsley

3 bay leaves

6 sprigs thyme

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 tbsp flour

6 sprigs parsley, minced

I like to use a whole chicken because other than the joy of butchering (*evil laughter*) the carcass can be used to make chicken stock. Once you get used to jointing a chicken, you'd find it's a quick and easy process. You can also trim as much of the excess fat as you like.

before

...and after

Heat the olive oil and a quarter of the butter and brown the chicken pieces. Transfer on to a plate and drain excess fat, keep warm.

the brown bits make a huge difference in flavor!

In the same pan, add the speck (or bacon/pancetta, whatever you have) and render the fat. Add the onions and cook for around 5-7 minutes, until slightly golden or caramelized.

Add chicken back to the pan, pour the wine (almost the entire bottle, but leave a glass' worth for the cook!), stock, herbs, garlic and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and let simmer until the chicken is cooked through, about 45min.

i tied the herbs with kitchen twine to make a bouquet garni, making it easier to fish out later!

Meanwhile, cook the mushrooms in olive oil. Set aside.

When the chicken is cooked, sieve the cooking liquid into a clean saucepan and set the chicken and onions aside and keep warm. Cook over medium heat and let simmer until around a third of its amount has been reduced.

keep warm!

Make a paste out of the remaining butter and flour (a french technique for thickening sauces, called beurre manie) and whisk it into the sauce until it has thickened and coats the back of a spoon.

just mash em up!

Now to bring it all together!

Return the chicken and onions into the sauce, add the mushrooms and let them all heat through. Sprinkle with parsley. Serve with mashed potatoes, or fondant potatoes, or rice, or polenta... and maybe some more wine ;)

The dish received rave reviews from my official reviewer! :p

the coq au vin at Saint Michel restaurant, along the Seine, in Paris

(related previous post here)

Blooms and Colors

2011-03-31T20:19:00.001+11:00

Sometimes I find myself just wandering around the garden, exploring, like a kid lost inside a toy palace made of cardboard boxes.

Blooms in autumn.... some are left overs from summer's glory, plants basking in a seemingly perfect temperature...not too hot, not too cold. Seen around the front and side garden one afternoon.

kaffir limes coming up

something likes to eat the bay leaves

a little red parrot perched on top of a tree at the front garden

bloomin' beaut - i don't know it's name but when the sun starts to disappear it also looks to wither away

this is not purple rain

australian native

another australian native :)

and yet another australian native

that's just what i call flowers that i don't know about yet hehehehe

pink cuties

now this, I know, is a joya

flowers of a cambodian chili plant

iris?

nothing like the color of maple leaves that scream autumn

Salty Chocolate and Chili Meringues

2011-03-27T16:44:00.000+11:00

The right amount of salt makes almost anything tastier... and it also holds true for chocolate! I found this recipe from the Kitchenaid website although I didn't have hazelnuts and did not bother substituting, and instead of shards of chocolate I used bittersweet chocolate buttons. I think I should have added more chili flakes though :) I did this in quite a hurry so the photo on the Kitchenaid website definitely looks nicer!

Maejito

2011-03-26T21:05:00.002+11:00

Now it is a bit very cheeky but I have to say the results of this experiment was very pleasant, and hence shall be named after its creator.

Featuring the mae-jito!

This highball is based on the typical mojito recipe (mint, sugar and lime muddled together, with a shot (or two?!) of rum and topped with sparkling soda water), but this has no sugar but has sugar plant leaves in it! I also used a combination of lemon and kaffir lime.

Maejito
serves 2

8 sugar leaves
a handful of mint and peppermint leaves
1 small kaffir lime, quartered
1 lemon, quartered
4 shots Bacardi rum
sparkling tonic water, to top up

sugar leaves and mint

kaffir lime

the zest of which was used here

in a tall glass tear 4 sugar leaves and a sprig of mint and peppermint leaves

2 kaffir limes wedges and 2 lemon wedges

muddle until the juices of the citrus and the essence of the leaves are released

(muddling is a nice therapeutic activity

I used to use the end of a rolling pin for this but I have upgraded since..

so now I have a proper muddler :)

add 2 shots of the rum and top up with chilled sparkling tonic water

garnish with a mint sprig

All the leaves and fruit used for this drink are homegrown!

Enjoy :)

The Firehouse

2011-03-26T11:20:00.006+11:00

Somewhere not too far away from where we live is a cozy place called The Firehouse, an ex-fire brigade that was given a make over and converted into a restaurant. With its fine selection of food, cocktails and wines, we may just end up finding ourselves grazing over their tapas after a leisurely evening stroll.

The building definitely feels old but the interior decor is modern, with artwork for sale hung on the walls and empty wine bottles showing telltale signs of how they were once eagerly consumed. For some reason I am having a cocktail thrill these days, so I started with the curious Sage and Butterscotch Martini. It was nice, but probably too sweet for me (but hey, it has butterscotch, what was I expecting?)

Sage and Butterscotch Martini

tequila, butterscotch schnapps, lemon juice, cointreau and sage

After that first round the second drink was interestingly named "Here's Johnny 16" - apparently an Italian take on the Rob Roy cocktail. With limoncello, ginger, lemon thyme and Johnnie Walker Red scotch - who would have given it a miss?

slurped

The selection of tapas was also quite tempting, everything on the menu sounded good. By unanimous vote, the following arrived:

(left to right)
whitebait, corn and coriander egg fritters with sour cream,

marinated char-grilled octopus with fennel seeds,

beetroot cured ocean trout, horseradish mascarpone and chervil,

and country terrine of duck & pork, roasted pickled fruits, melba toast.

Across the table is a glass of Pontack's Head cabernet sauvignon.

The fritters were very tasty, the octopus so-so (but meat was tender), the beetroot cure on the ocean trout was very interesting and made us wonder how they did it :) The terrine was also flavorful, and was perfectly combined with the pickled plums.

With eyes bigger than bellies we continued on to the main course of lamb shoulder bastilla with pumpkin and cinnamon (a parcel of crispy puffed pastry with very rich meat) and another small plate of short cut beef ribs with mole sauce. Yes, it was as yummy as it sounded.

Will definitely come back!

Interested? Check out their website. Bookings essential!

* photos from my blackberry

Breakfast in Bread

2011-03-26T11:17:00.001+11:00

This was inspired by last night's episode of The Cook and The Chef where the chef (Simon) made mushroom dumplings and Maggie made an omelet using a new approach - the eggs weren't fully scrambled together, simply 'mixed' (sort of). You can still see traces of the egg whites and the yolks aren't fully incorporated. She added a touch of cream and salt and pepper.

Mushroom is one of M's favorite things in this planet, so after seeing the show he started drooling over mushrooms. I have a couple of packets of dried mushrooms (shiitake and black mushroom) stashed in the pantry so I sneaked out and started hydrating them with the intent of using them in the morning.

I sauteed the shrooms (excess water drained and saved, it is full of flavor!) in a some extra virgin olive oil and a couple of cloves of garlic, finely minced. After around 8 minutes of moving it around on high heat, I set it aside.

I wanted to see what Maggie's omelet recipe would be like, but I am not a huge fan of using cream in cooking our usual meals, except for baking (the calories are shared!) :p so I just added a tiny dash of milk and followed her style. I used 5 eggs for 2 decent sized omelets and topped it with the sauteed mushrooms. And a bit of fresh thyme for an extra heavenly scent.

The omelet was surprisingly fluffy!

Sourdough take 3 - results

2011-03-24T22:45:00.003+11:00

round 3 resulted to 3 loaves of bread :)

cross section

while these ones are great, i think there is still a lot of room for tweaking the recipe....maybe changing the proportions of sponge to flour, or maybe a stronger bread flour might yield nicer bread... there's only one way to find out...!

Kaffir lime zest, anyone?

2011-03-24T22:22:00.003+11:00

One of the most fragrant and tasty harvests that we enjoy from the garden is the kaffir lime, especially its leaves which we use for anything that I can practically throw it into :)

Zested, the fruit just gives the most amazing scent! I threw the microbits into a cake batter whipped up by my equally amazing toy (details later).

Sorry the photo looks a bit dark! (couldn't bother editing at this point hehe)

At Salford Lad's club

2011-03-24T20:21:00.015+11:00

Do you think you would like a pan fried salmon encrusted with toasted almonds and fennel, served with couscous and a salad of rocket and spanish onions? (Well, I did!)

This was lunch one afternoon at Salford Lad's Club, a relatively new joint near our office in Port Melbourne. However I cannot fully recommend that you try this dish out when you go there, because the menu varies, I think every week! And it has been great so far!

It is a pretty nifty joint for us who's office is a stone's throw away from this place. We used to be deprived of choice for coffee and lunch places - the nearest place would be Bay St which is about a 25 min walk or a 5minute drive (and fight-for-parking-space). The kitchen is open and you'll find 2 guys in a flurry of activity, cooking and assembling the meals, fresh. Lunch (such as the one featured here) is around $15. For the presentation, taste, value for money, plus a laid back ambiance - not bad, I say... not bad at all.

A bit more info about the place here!

Other meals from this place from previous occasions:

tiger prawns and pumpkin in a japanese style curry

kashmiri lamb mince

Afternoon Tea

2011-03-19T15:02:00.002+11:00

Had someone come over after lunch today, so I whipped up a quick 'biscuit' type baked goodie made of self raising flour, cream and tonic water! (It's supposed to be a lemonade scone recipe but I rolled out the dough a bit thin so not much rise...) Served with whipped cream, jam and tea, this simple treat became extra special and sweet :) total time prep and baking time : 20 minutes!

Sourdough - take 3

2011-03-18T21:30:00.004+11:00

Third attempt, different blend.

The sponge is made with 1.5 cups of wholemeal flour and half a cup of plain flour. With autumn setting in, it's cooler so I'm leaving it to do its magic overnight...

Background beers : this week's (I mean, this month's) stash, James Squires Golden Ale. Easy to drink, flavorful and certainly very enjoyable :)

The next day...

Results! Bubbly, with a distinct fermented scent (not foul - otherwise, something's wrong!)

I added around 3 cups of plain flour to 1 cup of this sponge. The rest went back to the bottle, to be kept in the fridge, for future sponges...

Check out the end result here

Carrot and Sultana Cake

2011-03-14T17:33:00.003+11:00

Although I would like to say that "due to a bit more spare time I managed to bake a cake"... that would be a lie because I tend to bake cakes on a busy week day anyway!

This one is an evolution of the tried and tested Carrot Cake recipe... but since I ran out of almonds, I substituted 3 handfuls of sultanas... and instead of white sugar, I used 1 1/2 cups of brown sugar, thinking that it would echo the deep complex sweetness of the sultanas.
I also used less than the quantity of white sugar in the previous recipe because the sultanas would be sweet by themselves...

Not quite sure yet what it tastes like... it's still cooling in its tin :) Might be taken to office tomorrow by him as I will be in Syd for the next two days...

Anyway...

This photo (as well as the one from the previous post were uploaded via my Blackberry, straight into blogger, and I'm really loving this mechanism. I'd still have to edit via the dashboard to insert the tags or to modify the position of the photo and to link previous posts, but I think it works really well for quick uploads!

That's my 'rave' review for this afternoon :)

Today's Breakfast Pizza

2011-03-14T10:10:00.003+11:00

Black and white pudding
Shredded cheddar cheese
Homegrown tomato
Cracked red chili flakes and black pepper
Parsley

On homemade thin crust pizza dough.

Must be odd for some, this 'breakfast pizza' concept - but to me it's just a different presentation of bread and cheese (plus more!!!)

Previous pizzas here.

* edit : in hindsight I realized I used the wrong cutter :D that one (small wheels) is for pastry/pasta/etc!
(Kitchen geek!) should've used my pizza cutter instead... hopefully the pizza police ain't monitoring this blog....! :p

Saturday Slacking and Martini Madness

2011-03-13T00:11:00.002+11:00

So. It's a long weekend and the unanimous vote is to stay at home and do nothing. Well... it's not really possible to do nothing, so it was pretty much chill, eat, drink and be merry.

Sounded like the best plan all week!

Started with breakfast - wholemeal pancakes with honey and homemade jam.

1 cup wholemeal flour

1 egg

enough water to make a batter which is not too thin but not too thick

whisk all together

leave to rest for a couple of minutes and dollop on to a heated non stick pan with extra virgin olive oil (instead of butter - although butter would be a very tasty option!)

serve with honey and jam (like the apricot jam or the remainder of last year's plum jam!)

AND don't forget the coffee please. :)

Lunch was Tasmanian oysters as entree (with a bunch of tasty condiments), homegrown green tomato salsa and grilled fresh sardines (with rice!).

Now, notice the beer on the side - Dry Dock - the recent Dan Murphy's purchase which was on special - but honestly, would not buy that again (sorry, just personal taste!). Average house beer on a really warm day, and... that's pretty much it though. (Not for guests!)

Anyway - the green tomato salsa had 2 variants for this afternoon. One was with the flat cilantro and the other was with parsley and verjuice (the acidic juice of green grapes - have only heard it from Maggie Beer and found it at Coles!). I was requested to remember the recipe (an instantaneous Saturday afternoon salsa recipe) so before I forget, I shall write it down...

really proud of these little babies - fresh from the backyard!

they don't look perfect but i guess that's what makes it special!

Saturday's Fresh Green Tomato Salsa
2 green tomatoes, diced
2 small sprigs each of parsley, mint and thyme, minced
dash of extra virgin olive oil and verjuice
1 green bird's eye chili, minced
Toss all ingredients together with salt and pepper to taste.
(Happy to report that all herbs are from the herb patch!)

Dinner was mussels flavoured with the (leftover) tomato salsa, extra virgin olive oil and vermouth, sprinkled with minced fresh parsley.

Speaking of vermouth.... nothing like mixing vermouth with either vodka or gin to make the classic Martini. So the whole afternoon was pretty much Martini Madness.

The base for the drinks below are mostly from 45ml vodka and 15ml french vermouth (for one serving) unless otherwise specified!

And these were shaken (not stirred) with vermouth rinsed ice in your usual shaker.

I can't really say it's a classic, because a classic would have been made with gin

I used vodka (only because we got Gordon's and MAN that can burn!) and it was tough to choose

between and olive and a lemon peel garnish

but affiliation to home grown things won!

so twisted lemon peel it was

(at least for the first round!)

the second round was a bit of a rebellious martini

instead of lemon peel, i used a kaffir lime (also homegrown)

and muddled 2 leaves from a sugar plant with vodka for a hint of sweetness

(ran out of ice at this stage - the bottom part of this glass is supposed to have ice to keep the top part cool!)

round 3 was a almost a classic except for the vodka still. and now the olives take their turn!

now this one I think is a winner

45ml vodka + 30ml vermouth

and the garnish made a lot of difference

a dried chili, speared with olives and a twist of fresh lemon peel

the longer you take to drink it

the hotter it gets

chocnut martini

same martini mix but with dry vermouth (de Bortolli)

chocnut is a sweet treat that Filipino kids would be most familiar with!

this is in memory of the drink with the same name that I had in one of my favorite places back home

There could be one or two more martinis coming up but maybe that would have to be posted later..... !

iSpy with my little eye...

2011-03-12T17:09:00.002+11:00

...Something that starts with an M...?

shaken not stirred!

Caraway Seed Cake

2011-03-12T09:04:00.001+11:00

Late Thursday before leaving work I was informed that one of the developers will be celebrating his birthday on Friday. It seems that this guy is not the type who celebrates or announces his birthday. Nevertheless I set off to find a quick recipe to make one non pretentious simple cake. I've been doing a lot of chocolate flavored ones lately and while they were always a winner, I thought I'd do something else, maybe something 'intriguing'? :)

The last time I made a Lemon and Caraway Seed Cake a lot of people were not familiar with the taste of caraway. Maybe it's worth re-introducing to see if they remembered, because I think this fragrant and flavorful seed is fabulous and deserves to be known more.

Caraway Seed Cake

175g soft butter

175g white sugar

3 eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

225g plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 teaspoons caraway seeds

Grease a square tin (or a springform tin) and pre-heat oven to 180C.

Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. I think it's important to not rush this step. Old style 'wooden spoon' creaming works (i.e. you use a wooden spoon to cream the butter and sugar together until you rub a bit of the mixture in between your fingers and you can't feel any of the sugar anymore) but if you got your gadgets, it can make this quickers of course!

Add the eggs one at a time, making sure it is well incorporated after every addition. Then add the vanilla extract, caraway seeds and fold in the flour and baking powder. Depending on the conditions the batter might appear too thick (and not a 'dropping consistency') - you can add a bit of water or milk at this stage before pouring into the tin.

Bake for around 45min or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Let cool in the tin before serving. Best served with afternoon tea or dunked in milk!

I topped it with a basic frosting of 2/3 cup icing sugar, vanilla extract dissolved in about 2 tblspns of hot water and a tinge of yellow food color to make it a bit more festive. I also sprinkled some colored chocolate bits on top.

Hope the birthday boy had a good one :)

A Chocolate Cake with a Lot of Extras

2011-03-06T20:05:00.001+11:00

It's a colleague's birthday last Friday and since we were not in office, a cake for Monday was in order. This guy has an extremely tooth (or teeth) and having witnessed how he likes his sweet stuff, the best candidate would be a chocolate cake. With some sweet extras.

The cake base is a previous tested recipe (the chocolate and guinness cake), but this time I split the batter into two tins (one of which I eventually broke as I was trying to get the cake out of it). I baked it at 180C for around 35minutes, and let the cakes cool.

After the cakes have cooled, I took one cake, flipped it over and slathered the flat bottom (which is now the top) with homemade plum jam. This version still has a bit of a tart kick to it, which I thought would be good to offset some of the overall sweetness.

After that I placed the other cake, upside down, over the jam covered cake. This is to ensure I have the level bottom as the top part again.

I also made a chocolate ganache (one of the 'extras') by heating 150ml cream and pouring it over 75g bittersweet chocolate, whisking constantly to melt the chocolate. While it is cooling a bit, I brushed the excess crumbs off the cake, and then poured the ganache on top, letting some slide down the sides. Into the fridge it went for 5 minutes. This is my 'crumb coat'. I could have covered the rest of the sides but didn't...

After 5 minutes in the fridge I took it out and poured some more (2nd layer, another extra!). I used some ready made Lindt chocolate as decoration (easy assembly - and the final 'extra') as I know the birthday boy could easily eat all these pieces.

I hope he shares it with the rest of the gang!

Thai Basil Seed Drink

2011-03-06T18:12:00.001+11:00

I could spend a full day just looking through foreign food and ingredients sold in a specialty store, for instance, asian stores, butchers, indian markets (you get my drift). I find it very interesting and I think it's always great to try something new, and opens up options for the next edible experiment.

This weekend involved a quick trip to the newly opened Asian shop around the corner (a dream come true, although there really is no scarcity of Asian shops in this neighborhood, but for it to be just right at your doorstep - bliss!). One of the things that came home with us was a bottle of Thai Basil Seed Drink.

So what is it?

It's a drink made of sweet basil seeds, which look like ordinary black seeds until they get wet after which they look like frog eggs. :) Probably not the best picture to paint for something that you're supposed to drink - but I think it could be an interesting party cocktail with just a couple more additions. Apparently you can buy the basil seeds and make your own drink at home, made sweet with either sugar or honey. If I do get my hands on some, I won't mind creating my own version, as this bottled drink came in too sweet for me.

So to down play the sweetness I added a glug of tonic water and a shot of vodka.

nothing like a bit of alcohol to spice things up a bit!

Another Lily?

2011-03-06T17:42:00.001+11:00

I'm not quite sure what it's specific name is, but it looks like a lily to me (or they all look like lilies to me?!). One day it just showed up on a patch of soil on top of our mailbox. It was a pleasant surprise, just like this other beauty that bloomed at the side garden.

*

Well, yes we're back. Had been out and about for the past week. There are some photos posted up on the photogrraphy page or just check out this Flicr link.

Couldn't sleep

2011-02-26T03:30:00.002+11:00

Plum Jam

For someone who thinks she is physically and mentally tired....

... She ends up making jam at 3am. WTH?

Old Fart

2011-02-26T01:01:00.000+11:00

the Old Fart meets Stewie

A clear amber ale with a creamy head. Not too bad, I'd say. Easy drinking, great on a summer's day. This was a trial version. Wouldn't mind getting a bunch of this though. However I did forget how much it was. Hehe!

Previous venture on drinks here

An Afternoon Treat

2011-02-26T00:48:00.000+11:00

Sometimes, the simplest things can be quite sensational, especially for fresh ingredients that need no special treatment.

We had some tomatoes from the garden and I thought I'd just make a quick salsa made of the tomatoes, parsley and spring onion, with a bit of salt, pepper and olive oil. I made soda farls (griddled, unleavened bread made of wholemeal flour, salt, bicarb and buttermilk - they are the simplest bread to make!) and opened a tin of wild salmon. And some cheese. And Guinness.

Made an otherwise lazy afternoon a lazier one. :)

PlantPower

2011-02-26T00:36:00.000+11:00

I used to receive a constant supply of flowers on Valentines Day, sometimes (or most of the time) for no reason at all, but after moving into the house on the hill, the need for florists had diminished due to our own constant supply of flowers all year round.

The funny part is although we both agree that the 14Feb celebration is 'corny', we still end up getting each other gifts. Last year, I got this gorgeous tagine. This year, I had plants to add to my little garden :) I was requested to select from a wide variety of options at Bunnings and while there was a fig tree that looked irresistible (it can really grow big - and we have plenty of big trees already) I managed to snatch these pretty things instead :

passionfruit - a vine/climber, good against the fence, with vibrant flowers

(left) pomegranate (a shrub) and lemongrass

sugar plant

now this one is very interesting

You can probably guess that the Sugar Plant is from the herbs department, and may be named as such because it tastes sweet, but you would be really surprised at how sweet it can be! I had a little sneaky taste of the leaf prior to the purchase, and it was simply amazing. After a quick google, I found more information, and it's actually a member of the sunflower family, with really really spectacularly sweet leaves. You should try it to believe it.

So, passionfruit. sugar leaf, a red-colored fruit in the guise of pomegranate.... and who thought Valentines Day was corny?

(ps : the lemongrass was a replacement for a bunch that died during that hot summer)

Lily

2011-02-17T23:37:00.001+11:00

One of the best things about the house is that it was previously owned by avid gardeners. After some time it was eventually rented out and the fabulous garden was never the same.

However, it does still show signs of how much time and attention were devoted to the garden.

Like this blooming beauty, which just showed up at the side garden :)

Luv-A-Duck and No Bake Cheesecake

2011-02-16T20:56:00.001+11:00

And so it was 14 Feb...
And to join the rest of world in celebration of love - we decided to give some love to a duck from Luv-A-Duck.

It's a store right next door to our office and they specialize in... you guessed it! DUCK!

This was a particular dish that I wanted to try out after making a batch of plum sauce. It was the perfect excuse :) And because the store really has good produce, there wasn't much needed to make the meat a lot more tastier. A very simple yet tasty meal - and if you like your duck meat still slightly pink in the middle, you've come to the right spot!

Best part is that you only get to use 1 pan for cooking all 3 components. Winner!

5 Spiced Duck Breast with
Wilted Silverbeet and Chickpeas
Served with a Homemade Plum Sauce

2 medium sized duck breasts, skin slightly scored
1.5 teaspoons five spice
salt and pepper to taste
a bunch of silverbeet, chopped
a tin of chickpeas, rinsed
juice of half a lemon
1 onion, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
3-4 tablespoons of plum sauce
dash of cherry brandy

Pre-heat the oven to 180C.

The five spice was also a homemade spice mix and echoes the spice used for the plum sauce. The silverbeet and lemon were from the garden.

Season the duck breast with the five spice mix and place skin side down on a hot pan, searing it for 3-4 minutes, then turn to the other side and let sizzle for another minute, then place it straight into the oven for 10 minutes. It should still be slightly pink in the middle if you press it and it still feels a bit firm but slightly springy.

There should be a lot of duck fat after this exercise. Let the duck breasts rest on a separate plate. Drain some and leave about a teaspoon's worth or so in the pan, and then add the garlic and onions and place back over medium heat. Stir until wilted. Toss in the silverbeet and chickpeas, and when the silverbeet is almost done (not overcooked!), finish off with lemon juice and a touch of salt and pepper.

Serve the silverbeet and chickpeas on a plate and place the duck on top. On the same pan, heat about 3 tablespoons of the plum sauce and add a dash of cherry brandy. Let sizzle a little bit.

The duck would have rested a fair bit after this time. Place the duck on top of the silverbeet and then spoon over the plum sauce. Serve immediately.

just a touch of pink

And we also got dessert!

This dessert was also a fairly simple thing to make. It's a no-bake lemon cheesecake, inspired by another Nigella recipe.

biscuit base :

125g Arnott's chocolate biscuits

75g soft butter

300g cream cheese

60g sifted icing sugar

250g double cream

juice and zest of 1 lemon

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Prepare a springform tin by greasing and lining the base and sides with greaseproof paper.

Blitz the biscuits until crumbled, then add the butter until it is like soft sand.

Press evenly on to the base of the springform tin.

Refrigerate for 15minutes or so.

Meanwhile, whip cream cheese, icing sugar, double cream and vanilla extract together until well incorporated and smooth. Add lemon juice and zest, it will thicken up a bit more. Pour on to the prepared biscuit base and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight.

And that's it! Very simple and tasty!!

You can either top it with cherries or blueberries...

or maybe serve with some bubbly?