Fat Feminist Foodie

Cupboard Mushrooms and Backyard Bok Choy!

2010-10-26T18:19:00.000+11:00

For my birthday this year (which was in May . . . yes, I'm still that far behind), I told people who asked that I wanted things that would grow or facilitate growing and so got amazing books, gardening tools, seeds and plants. Thanks, peeps!

Here is my first post of things I've grown in our backyard (and cupboard, in this case).

Siobhan, Robin & M got me a "grow your own mushrooms" kit which I have set up in old linen cupboard. After a couple of weeks, I have mushrooms!

The kit I was given is half button mushrooms, half portobellos and I only have white button mushrooms so far but, boy howdy, they are TASTY!

They grow super fast once they are up and it is so much fun to open a cupboard and have something you've grown yourself!

The lovely S&D over at Vegan About Town gave me bok choy and spring onion seedlings which grew like great guns. I used the bok choy in stir fry and as steamed greens with other dinners. So good!

Again, it was amazing to be all "I'll just nip out to the backyard and grab some greens for dinner" which, I know makes me an insufferable city person but I am trying to grow more of our food. We just reinvigorated our herbs this weekend.

Red Star Cafe, Daylesford

2010-10-24T17:57:00.005+11:00

Back in July, Esther and I went to Daylesford for the weekend. It was my birthday present from my family and it was filled with amazing food, relaxing, cider and crafts. NICE.
Above is the mineral spring we happened upon when trying to find the cidery and we drank from and everything.

On the sunday, we went to Hepburn Springs and had lunch at a place we'd only ever had coffee at before: The Red Star Cafe.

We had the Ploughman's Lunch which had some bread, cheese and pickles (as you'd expect) as well as a big salad with a really tasty dressing, a little frittata and the MOST AMAZING RELISH EVER.

The only disappointment on the plate (and, even then, it wasn't really that disappointing) was the bread which I wish had been a nice chewy sourdough. Despite that, this was a great lunch and the sort of thing I love to eat.

We also shared the Vego Tart which, after months, I have no recollection of the flavours: feta and something?!

Tasty but overshadowed by the MOST AMAZING RELISH EVER; so much so that the relish is in pride of place in the photo.

The service was friendly and fun, the food was tasty and there was a good selection of things for the vego i.e. me. We will definitely go again next time we are up that way.

We then, on the spur of the moment, decided to go to the lavender farm nearby. Lavandula was, actual facts!, the best thing ever. I got all persnickety about having to pay to go in — I believe it was $4 or something ridiculous like that so who knows why I was hesitant — but it was worth every cent. It was just nice to walk around, play some petanque and look at the beautiful gardens.

Red Star Cafe
115 Main Rd
Hepburn Springs VIC 3461
(03) 5348 2297

Four Things (take 2)

2010-10-21T22:18:00.005+11:00

I wrote a long-winded and detailed post but it was eaten! Here is the quicker version of a bunch of stuff I made.

1. Cauliflower & Caramelised Onion Tart (from smitten kitchen)

So delicious. So easy.

The pastry was flaky and tasty, the filling was the sort of things that dreams are made of and it was all easy enough to make quickly after work. Do it.

2. Franken-brownies

Or, what happens when you decide to add other foodstuffs to brownies.

NW: gummi bears

NE: mini M&Ms

SE: mini marshmallows

SW: turkish delight

Science was the winner. Also, turkish delight.

3. Chocolate Banana Bread

I love bananas. Just not in things.

Until now. This recipe has changed my banana bread-related life. I am now the kind of person who makes banana bread regularly.

4. Pickled Carrots

We get a fruit & vegie box from Organic Angels once a week and, sometimes, we end up with an excess of stuff. I generally use a bunch of carrots during a week but we always seem to have more. They multiply in the fridge. I needed to take action.

I decided on pickled carrots using this recipe from David Lebovitz but instead of fennel, I used coriander and cumin seeds and some peppercorns. SO GOOD OMG.

Remember me?

2010-09-04T14:46:00.006+10:00

Probably not.

I'm going to try and not make excuses because blogging isn't meant to be an obligation but I will say that I have still been cooking and eating and having adventures and, overall, I think my complete lack of blogging for the past 8 months has been due to the fact that learning how to be a teacher takes up a lot of time! A LOT! Particularly when you are trying to work two other jobs around it. Holy mackerel, kids! (Also, my camera's screen has been playing up a bit. It is frustrating.)

That said, yesterday afternoon signalled the end of my teaching rounds for this year. Obviously, I still have uni for the rest of the year but no more school time. It's weird - I am totally jazzed that time is passing and I am closer to becoming a teacher but it is also really sad. The school was fantastic (the kind of school dreams are made of, particularly for rounds) and the students were engaged, bright and funny. I think I will miss my two classes of Year 11s the most and, to thank them for being so awesome to teach, I made them some Catastrophe Cookies for class yesterday. They were very popular and, thus, I bought the love of my first class. Note to self: food works.

Anyway, let's use this moment to clear some of the 8 months worth of photos I have on hand. There probably won't be heaps of info but, hopefully, it will get me in the mood to do some more up to the date blogging.

At some point in February, I made my first ever spring onion pancake. Please excuse the iPhone photo:

So easy and tasty. In fact, I believe I lured our 'new' flatmate, Byron into moving in by promising him spring onion pancake. I have yet to make it again. Oops.

For Easter, I made an amazing carrot cake (recipe from The Pioneer Woman) and it was super-tasty.

I also made some Hot Cross Buns, using the amazing BBC recipe which they have since changed! WHY, BBC?!

For the lovely Miss Jen's birthday, I made this Gingerbread Layer Cake with Lemon Frosting.

The birthday girl seemed to enjoy it and I remember it was nice but not groundbreaking. It was, however, a lovely birthday picnic and anytime you rock up with
a cake and cake stand in the middle of the botanic gardens, you do become very popular.

Three Bags Full. Believe the hype. (Also, get there ridiculously early to get a table.)

The lovely M and I have been baking buddies for the past little while. Our first effort was a Rainbow Cake.

Don't worry - I checked with her mother before filling her full of food colouring.

A month or so later, we decided to make something else. She had wanted to make a chocolate cake but as soon as she saw the pink jelly cakes in the recipe book, it was impossible to convince her otherwise.

They looked pretty enough . . .

Expectations were high . . .

But . . .

Oh, I hear you, bb. They weren't so great. As M said, "I thought they had a flavour but they don't."

Finally (for now), the other day we made the most ridiculous brownies the world has ever seen.

Each quarter was a different stroke of evil genius: marshmallow, gummi bear, mini m&ms and turkish delight.

AND THEN WE MADE OURSELVES SICK EATING THEM.

Marshmallow and Turkish Delight were the best. Would make again.

Anyway, I do have some other stuff (Daylesford, St Andrews Market, misc other things) but this has become a bit ridiculous already. I will be back soon - I promise!

Lamingtons

2010-01-31T15:35:00.002+11:00

Esther and I spent Survival/Invasion/Australia Day watching this video and watching the Gilmore Girls and doing much-needed washing. My one patriotic thing (apart from ignoring this ridiculous holiday which, I think, is a fairly patriotic stance to take) was to make lamingtons because they involve coconut, jam, cake and chocolate.

There's lots of talk about lamingtons being too much hassle to bother about that I've heard but I think they're fun to make. I mean, if I had to make 70 once a week or some such, then yes, it would blow. But as a once in a while thing - totally worth it!

I have made lamingtons in the past - gluten-free lamingtons no less - and had a whale of time doing so. That time, I simply made a gluten-free butter cake (from a cake mix) and then did the whole chocolate/coconut business. This time, I started from scratch.

Lamingtons

for the sponge (based on Nigella's Victoria Sponge recipe):
225g soft unsalted butter
225g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 large eggs
200g self-raising flour
25g cornflour
1 tsp baking powder
4 Tbsp milk

Prehear oven to 180C and line whatever tin you wish to use. I went with a deep brownie pan which meant my cake was quite thin and I needed to do a double layer of cake on some of my lamingtons.
Crack out your food processor (you can do it without one but it is so simple with one).
Put all the ingredients bar the milk and process until it is a smooth batter. Then pulse as you slowly add the milk.
Pour into your pan and bake for around 25 minutes (or until the cake is coming away from the edges of the pan).
I leave the cake in the pan to cool for about half an hour or so and then flip out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

If you aren't using a food processor, cream the buter and sugar, add the vanilla and the eggs, one at a time, adding a spoonful of flour between each egg. Fold in the rest of the flour and cornflour and don't add the baking powder. When it is all mixed in, add as much or little milk as you need.

NOW FOR THE COCONUTATION!

2 cups icing sugar
1/2 cup of cocoa
66g butter
1/2 cup of boiling water
Jam of your choice (I used strawberry)
A whole lot of coconut (I used shredded but dessicated is more traditional)

Cut the edges off your cake, as well as slicing off all the delicious brown bits, leaving it all exposed white sponge that is ready to suck up the chocolate icing. (You can keep all the bits for trifle or similar). Cut your cake into your preferred shape - I ended up with rectangles but squares, stars, circles - it is up to you! I then halved them and put a bit of jam in to stick them back together.

Mix the boiling water and butter in a largeish bowl. When the butter has melted, sift in the cocoa and the icing sugar. Stir it around into a a delicious chocolate soup. Pour your coconut into relatively shallow bowl, good for rolling things in and set up a little assembly line - jammified cake, chocolate soup, coconut, final plate.

Let me level with you, peeps - I use my hands for this bit. It is messy but totally easier.
Dip the cake into the chocolate, making sure your coat all of the outside. Then roll in the coconut and plop on the plate. They are pretty delicate so it is best to leave them for a little bit to set (if you can stop yourself).

Tandoori Tofu Salad

2010-01-29T12:00:00.001+11:00

Another summer salad!

This is a vegification of something that we used to make with chicken and it was surprisingly successful!

I coated cubed tofu with a tandoori and natural yoghurt mix and then baked it for 20 minutes (or until I was ready for it). Made a simple salad of butter lettuce, cucumber and tomato, put the baked tofu on top and then crumbled papadums on top as delicious papadum-y crutons. I made a yoghurt-y dressing (natural yoghurt, lemon juice and mint) to drizzle over the top.

Delicious and easy.

This is also totally gluten-free (as long as you check the tandoori paste ingredients - all the ones I've ever used are gluten-free) as papadums are totally gluten-free (lentil flour FTW)!

Daring Bakers: Nanaimo Bars

2010-01-27T10:00:00.002+11:00

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca.

This month's Daring Bakers had me very excited as I love Canada and I love bars and I have actually been to (well, through) Nanaimo. I was also excited because the host, Lauren is a coeliac and she asked everyone to try the gluten-free baking path. I spent four years being a gluten-free home cook and it is so awesome to make coeliacs something that they haven't had for ages i.e. croissants.

In the end, I ended up making the glutenful version because I was running out of time and I didn't have enough gluten-free flour in the pantry so I feel a bit like I betrayed Lauren but I was so happy that gluten-free baking was in the spotlight this month.

We had to make the graham crackers first which was a bit thing for me. As an Australian who grew up reading the Babysitters Club, Sweet Valley High and various other trashy books that involved smores and other exotic food. All I gleaned from these books at the time is that graham crackers were involved in some way. When I made these the other day, I ended up making a smore by melting a marshmallow over my gas stove and mushing it the cracker and trying to melt the chocolate using the gas as well. It wasn't super successful but I totally dug the concept. Go, BSC!

Anyway, crackers! I kind of imagined these as being a Marie biscuit or a digestive biscuit but they were much more gingerbready than that. There was also something of a Tiny Teddy (honey, not chocolate) about them too. They were delicious and we still have a whole bunch left, waiting for me to think of something to do with them. I know a bunch of people had an issue with the dough being supersticky but I didn't have this issue at all.

Then I made them into Nanaimo Bars! The bottom layer is essentially like a hedgehog slice - I put graham crackers, chopped almonds, coconut and rice bubbles. Possibly too many additions but I couldn't help myself.

The middle layer is a sort of buttercream with custard powder added. It was super sweet so I added in some lemon juice and a little bit of cream cheese to cut through the sweet.

The top is melted chocolate - something I did too quickly and so it went lumpy. FAIL.

All in all, these were amazing but super-sweet. I enjoyed the challenge but I'm not sure I'd make them again because they were even a bit too much for this sweet tooth household.

Wood Spoon Kitchen

2010-01-26T12:00:00.001+11:00

Well, peeps, I am heading back to uni this year to become a Master of Teachering. I'm very excited about this - particularly as I now have a student card! - and Essie wanted for us to go out to celebrate my success and we ended up at Wood Spoon. It was a bit of a surprise as I had been mentioning wanting to go there but wasn't expecting a sms from her the day I found out about uni telling me we had a booking - she's sneaky!

Anyway, together with the boys we headed off to try this place I have heard so much about.

We shared a bunch of nibbley things to start - edamame, seaweed salad, agedashi tofu and okonoimyaki - and I chose to have umeshu while everyone else had various sake. The umeshu was one of the nicest plum wines I've had (which, admittedly, isn't hard as I've only had one other plum wine in my life) and the pear sake I sampled was amazing.

The edamame was salty and delicious and we were so frickin' hungry that they were gone in a flash.

I loved the seaweed salad - I loved the tomato and cucumber in it.

It was a tasty okonomiyaki - it has 'nom' in the name so it must be good - and I can't remember any thing else about it but it being tasty. This is the downside of writing up two weeks late!

I REMEMBER THINGS ABOUT THIS. This agedashi tofu was by far the highlight of the meal and was so fucking amazing. OMG PEEPS. Nix and I were sharing this as the omnis had the pork gyoza but we convinced Dan and Esther to try some too and then regretted our decision as it meant less tofu for us. If you eat one thing this year, make it this!

The vego miso was tasty if not quite what I expected. If I'd read the menu, I would have noticed the mention of pumpkin and sweet potato. It wasn't what I was expecting but it is tasty and full of surprise sustenance!

We shared the Dengaku Don which I loved but J found the texture a bit strange - it was a bit like tahini-coated eggplant. Which makes it sound terrible but I loved the softness of the eggplant and the sesame flavour. I can see that it might not be to everyone's cup of tea.

After our monster effort, we thought it best to go the whole way by having dessert. The sesame icecream was an intense trip to sesame land - no sugary fluff here. It went really well with our other dessert choice . . .

pumpkin dango! This was very very sweet but also fairly amazing. Anyone who has had the pleasure of going to The Dumpling House with us knows our love of the pumpkin cakes. This dish was like the insides of pumpkin cake in sweet soup. WINNER.

At this point we rolled ourselves out to my car (A+ parking spot in front of the restaurant) and went home to rub our bellies.

This was an amazing evening - the food, company and occasion - and I feel like I've already had my best meal of 2010 in the first half of January. We had excellent service all night and even though it is a small space (though, apparently, it used to be smaller), it didn't feel like we were eating on top of the other patrons. Wood Spoon also get a huge thumbs up for their clearly marked vego, vegan and gluten-free options on their menu. It makes everything less stressful when you know exactly what everyone can eat.

GO THERE AND HAVE THE TOFU! IT IS AMAZING.

Wood Spoon Kitchen
88 Smith Street
Collingwood
web

Borsch, Vodka and Tears

2010-01-21T12:00:00.001+11:00

You've got to love a work day that is interrupted with an invite to dinner somewhere you've been meaning to go for years and years. Tash smsed me an invite to dinner at Borsch Vodka & Tears last week and I spent the entire week excited by the prospect of pierogi and borsch.

Tash was particularly impressed with the care and attention that had be put into the sign reserving her table; so much so that she demanded photographic evidence of the colouring in. A+ colouring there - gold star!

Tash, Anton, Esther and I all went for various vodka based drinks - I had the best Moscow Mule of my life - and John decided on an OK Beer and a shot of one of the many, many, many, many types of vodka. I love the label on this beer - it would be wrong to get it as a tattoo, yes?

When it came to ordering, Esther and I decided to share a couple of things and then get our own mains (so to speak) and leave the rest of the table to their business.
We ended up sharing the blintzes and cheese & potato pierogi to start and we did sample some of the saganaki which was super delicious.

The blintzes were amazing - very simple, obviously, but exactly what a potato blintz should be. One of my favourite things of the evening.

Delicious saganaki and some sort of fritter in the background which I didn't sample. I did steal the pickled veg off the plate later though as they were just going to leave it! NO NO NO - pickles veg is an always food!

The pierogi were, again, simple hearty deliciousness. Tash, Anton and John raved about the meaty ones they shared for a main and, whilst these were delicious, I think that pierogi are really best at their meatiest. There are other vego pierogi that I didn't sample so I know what I'm ordering next time I go back for cocktails.

For my main, I went with the vegetarian borsch as it seemed fitting. From my understanding (and very quick wikipedia-ing), this borsch was a clear broth as it is a Polish borsch and if I had been in a Russian or Ukrainian restaurant the borscht would have been a bit chunkier - please correct me if I'm wrong. The broth was delicious and surprisingly light and very beetrooty. The highlight for me was the mushroom uszka. Wow - I could probably have eaten a hundred of these little dumplings of tastiness. Yum.

Even though we were stuffed to the gills, we decided to do dessert. We did have to have a fairly significant break in proceedings so that we weren't all automatically ill so we used that to have more cocktails. It was a this point that Esther had the best cocktail of her entire life - the Honey On Toast. Honey vodka, creme de cacao, cream and cinnamon in a honey drizzled glass. Wow. I went with a Starry Starry Night which was champagne and quince and whilst it was good, I should not have strayed from the vodka drinks as they were all outstanding.

Anyway, dessert. Esther and I had apple strudel and it was strudelicious. Probably not the best strudel I've ever eaten but an excellent end to a hearty meal.

I really enjoyed Borsch, Vodka & Tears and will probably go back with the view to sample more of the drinks list than for a meal. If I get to eat some excellent blintzes and pierogi on the way . . . well, that's just a positive.

Borsch Vodka & Tears
173 Chapel Street, Windsor
03 9530 2694

Kinda Caesar Salad

2010-01-19T12:00:00.002+11:00

Here's a quick dinner that we had during our hothot weather in the last week. It's half based on Jamie Oliver's Warm Bread Salad (aka Jamie's version of fattoush) and the Caesar Salad from Veganomicon. Obviously, this version isn't vegan but it is very easy to rid it of vegan-unfriendly things.

I make my croutons by cutting/tearing bread (rye bread in this instance) and putting them in a bowl with olive oil, lemon juice, a clove or two of garlic, pepper and a touch of salt. In terms of proportions, enough oil so that they all get a bit of a coat, a good slug of lemon juice and the rest to your taste. I put them in the oven until crouton-y which, generally speaking, is how long it takes to put the rest of the salad together.

I hard-boil some eggs (put the eggs in the cold water, cook for 12 minutes) and I break the woody ends off the asparagus, add it to the egg boiling water until it looks bright green (the asparagus, although the water will also go a bit green) and then put it into some cold water to keep it nomtastic.

Then, lettuce, snowpeas, tomatoes, dutch carrots, capers and the croutons go into a bowl. I dressed this salad with only lemon juice but you can use the delicious dressing below and then I lay the asparagus pseudo-artistically on top, broken up eggs and shaved parmesan.

Quick, easy and delicious. Winner.

Caesar Dressing (from Veganomicon)

1/3 cup blanched almonds
3-4 cloves garlic, crushed
350g silken tofu (conversion from pounds - I think I ended up using just 1 small pack of silken tofu)
1/4 cup olive oil
3 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp capers
4 tsp caper brine
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp mustard powder
salt

Pulse almonds in a food processor until crumbly. Empty the ground almonds into an airtight container. Blend the garlic, tofu and oil in the food processor until creamy. Add the lemon juice, capers, brine, sugar and mustard powder and pulse until blended. Add lemon and salt to taste. Pout into the almonds and whisk to combine. Chill for at least 30 minutes before serving.

This kept well in the fridge for a week or so and probably would have lasted longer (but there wasn't any left to check and see).

Tin Pot Cafe

2010-01-17T12:00:00.001+11:00

Tin Pot is a bit of an old faithful - not my most favourite place but always there and always with an extensive breakfast menu. Service is always friendly but a bit hit and miss with remembering things or meals coming out together. This most recent visit was odd because there were plenty of tables when we arrived but we had to stand around for ten minutes while they cleared off a particular table for us. Don't get me wrong, it was a good table but it would have been easier for everyone to let us sit somewhere else.

So, combine odd loitering in the doorway with screaming children and a strange all-white renovation, it was a very strange start to breakfast.

I went with the vego beans - they were good but fairly one note and when I got a bit of feta in a mouthful, it totally changed the whole meal. Overall, it needed a nice squeeze of lemon but it appears that there is some sort of lemon crisis happening in Melbourne at the moment. So, good beans but not a patch on the Tre Espresso beans.

Es went with porridge with banana and, despite the "NO CHANGES TO DISHES" claim at the top of the menu, she was able to sub the maple syrup for brown sugar. I tasted it and it was good. Esther said that it was nice and creamy and not too sticky or stodgy. High praise indeed.

J&D had various things that I can't remember now so . . .

Tin Pot - nice, reliable, needs more lemon.

Tin Pot Cafe
248-250 St Georges Rd, Fitzroy North
(03) 9481 5312‎

New Year's Eve

2010-01-15T12:00:00.000+11:00

Mainly a picture post of the delicious food Esther's mum made for us on New Year's Eve - amazing salad, delicious frittata and fresh bread. Best New Year's meal ever. (Even though the mac & cheese I made last NYE was pretty damn delicious!)

Hellz yes, homemade ice-cream!

2010-01-13T12:00:00.002+11:00

So, I win at Christmas.

I was totally spoilt with amazing things, all of which I love and I had an amazing time at all four of our Christmases! It was fun and relaxed and lovely!

Anyway, one of the many things Esther got me was Snowy, the ice-cream maker. And, lo, I made ice-cream.

Esther got to suggest the first flavour combination and we ended up with a very fancy Cherry Ripe-ish flavour - fresh cherries, chocolate chunks and coconut in a vanilla bean ice-cream.

It did take about four days to end up with ice-cream:
Day 1: make room in freezer for the freezy bit of Snowy
Day 2: make the vanilla bean custard. It splits and then, through my own foolishness, ends up with water in it. Discard.
Day 3: make the vanilla bean custard. It works. Put in fridge to chill.
Day 4: finally put together Snowy and make ice-cream. Eat!

The vanilla bean recipe I used was the one that came with Snowy and was very simple - the sort of recipe that can be found in 10000 places around the internet so unless someone really wants the recipe, I won't post it.

Thanks, Essie!

Quick Post: A Minor Place

2010-01-11T12:00:00.001+11:00

Here's the Banh Mi (or, as the menu insisted, "Vietnamese Salad Roll") I had at A Minor Place last week - delicious but, ultimately, not as good as the one I could get in Footscray for half the price. Also, the roll was toasted making it ridiculously hard to eat without cutlery. I think I provided entertainment for Esther at least.

In my opinion, it need more coriander and the carrot was fresh, not pickled. I love the pickled carrot in Banh Mi so it was a bit disappointing.

That said, still love A Minor Place, still want them to put The Omlette on the menu.

Lentil as Anything @ Abbotsford Convent

2010-01-09T12:00:00.000+11:00

Take two peeps, the Sunday after Christmas and the desire for breakfast. And, thus, you have Steph and I at Lentil as Anything for breakfast.

Much like Steph, I was surprised at how few breakfast things were vegan (i.e. one option) but I was keen to try the Sri Lankan Breakfast - a dosa-esque pancake filled with potato and egg curry.

It was tasty, if a bit one note - I think it needed some more acid - and I'm not entirely sure why or where the eggs was. I mean, I know it was smushed up in the curry but seemed fairly superflous to me. The crepe was a bit thicker than I expected it to be but tasty.

Steph's mushrooms were good and it was a nice change to try somewhere new for breakfast. I was very sad that I didn't get a chance to try any of Pip's amazing baking so I'll just have to go back again soon.

Lentil As Anything
1 St Heliers Street
Abbotsford

Christmas Morning Muffins

2010-01-07T12:00:00.001+11:00

Cranberries and chocolate and oranges, oh my!

We spent Christmas eve up in the hills with Esther's mum, eating falafel, opening presents and watching Wind in the Willows (2006) - seriously, Mark Gatiss = Best. Ratty. Ever.

I also decided to make these muffins that I saw on Ezra Pound Cake as they combined a bunch of things I love and I thought they sounded easy and festive.

In conclusion, DELICIOUS! I will be making these again.

Bay Road Pantry, Claremont

2010-01-05T19:49:00.002+11:00

Now, some surprise Perth blogging!

Esther and I headed over west for an amazing wedding and early Christmas with my family. My parents had literally moved into a new house the day we arrived and as opposed to it being in the Swan Valley (lovely part of the world - A+), it is in Nedlands (also lovely - A+). It is such a change for me in Perth - there are supermarkets five minutes away! Our picnic-ing spot on the foreshore was five minutes away! The beach is about ten minutes away! AMAZING!

Anywhoodle, Esther and I were up ready to have breakfast with one of my BFFs when plans changed and she couldn't make it. Es and I decided to venture out into the wilds of Nedlands to find somewhere to eat. We stumbled upon the Bay Road Pantry and thought it looked like a likely spot.

It was a quite a nice place - an old house, lots of tables, quiet street - and the breakfast was decent. The menu was small - from memory, there were only 6 things and the bruschetta with avocado I wanted wasn't available as they had no avocado yet so I ended up with poached eggs on toast with mushrooms on the side.

The eggs were pretty undercooked and if I weren't a more adventurous person, I would have sent them back (no side effects though! Yay!). The bread was delicious and sourdough-y and the mushrooms were good, if a bit salty. Esther has scrambled eggs and bacon and said that it was good, if a bit bland.

Our pre-breakfast dessert of danish was tasty but obviously not made on site. Yum - apple danish!

The coffee was fine - nothing special but par for the course for Perth coffee.

All in all, it was a fine breakfast but overpriced and nothing ground breaking.

29 Bay Rd
Claremont WA 6010
(08) 9386 1045

Daring Bakers: Gingerbread House

2009-12-25T08:48:00.002+11:00

The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.

I’m beginning to think that my Daring Bakers motto should be “best laid plans” because this was another month of shenanigans. I was very excited when I saw the challenge and started planning a very Aussie Christmas Gingerbread House i.e. backyard cricket, dry grass, tin roof. There were plans and engineering meetings and decoration conferences in the confectionery aisle of the supermarket.

And then . . .

I chose Y’s dough because I had all the ingredients in my cupboard and I liked the spices that were involved but I had a few issues with the dough - it came together easily enough but after chilling overnight, it did not roll, it crumbled. So, I stood there smushing it back together to try and get a flat enough thin to cut my wall out of. Finally, I had all my pieces and they had a cooled and it was time for the simple syrup.

Let's consider this for a moment. Me + molten sugar + pretty decorationing + tiredness = me burning myself with said molten sugar. And then Esther burning herself on the syrup. So I thought "oh well, I won't decorate it as nicely as I wanted to. I mainly just want to put it together!"

So I did. And, holy mackerel, it was ugly. SO UGLY! SO UGLY THERE AREN'T ANY PICTURES!

There's another reason why there aren't any pictures.

I smashed it. With my rolling pin. A lot.

I snapped and had had enough of this ugly gingerbread house - all the time and energy that had gone into the construction for an UGLY outcome was too much for me - it was smashing time.
At first, it wasn't very carthatic but then I hit my smashing stride and I felt a lot better.

The problem, of course, was that now there was no gingerbread house for the challenge at all. Esther to the rescue! We cut some slices off the (ample) excess dough and made some tiny gingerbread houses.

And, if i say so myself, they are about 10000 times cuter than I could have ever imagined. And so adorably cute! They are living on our coffee table and it is pretty funny watching our cats walk next to them as they look like huge panthers attacking the tiny village.

So, all in all, a less than successful challenge but I got to work some anger out. The challenge was certainly there and I'm glad that I had a go! Thanks, Anna and Y!

Factory

2009-12-14T12:00:00.001+11:00

It has only taken a year or so for Esther and I to walk the 5 minutes down the road to try out Factory and we are very glad we did! We took the lovely Josie along with us to try it out and we spent a lovely couple of hours eating, drinking and playing scrabble.

The menu isn't huge but surprisingly varied! 11 vego options! 1 outright vegan option and other veganiseable (total word, ok) things! Nice looking omin things! Coriander features quite a bit - hooray!

I went with the Vegan Brekkie - scrambled tofu with mushrooms, tomatoes, spinach and coriander, finished with a soy & lime reduction. Verdict - a one-way ticket to delicioustown! I love these sorts of flavours at breakfast and it didn't disappoint! A little bit of chilli wouldn't have gone astray but, apart from that, the flavours were nicely balanced and the nice sourdoughy bread that came with it (no butter! they totally got the vegan!) was great to dip in the sauce bit that was left.
To be honest, just writing this up makes me want to nip around the corner for some more. Yum.

Josie and Esther both went with the French Toast with banana, maple syrup and bacon and it smelt amazing and looked great. Both said that it was delicious - good quality maple syrup, nice fresh banana and excellent flavours.

There are a bunch of other things on the menu that I want to try - the ricotta pancakes, the poached pears, the baked eggs with tomato and coriander salsa and haloumi - I could go on and on. The coffee with great, there's a nice courtyard and there are plenty of tables.

Hooray for our local!

Factory Cafe
453 Victoria Street
Brunswick West
T-S 8-4

Cookies and Cream Truffles

2009-12-13T18:19:00.002+11:00

Just a mini-post about my vegan Christmas baking. Except there is no baking involved. There is deliciousness though . . . read on.

With all my other Christmas baking being a dairyfest, I needed something to make for my vegan peeps. Josie had told me about this 'recipe' ages ago and I forgot about until I was eating Oreos at the cinema the other night. BRAIN WAVE TIME!

1. Crumble up a tube of Oreos until breadcrumby
2. Add toffuti and mix. I added a spoonful and mixed it and kept adding until the consistency seemed right. I think it was about half a little tub of tofutti.
3. Melt chocolate
4. Roll the oreo/tofutti mixture into balls, dip in chocolate and leave to set.
5. Eat.

I enjoyed them immensely and the vegans seemed to enjoy them too. Easy and delicious!

Birdie Num Nums

2009-12-12T10:00:00.000+11:00

Oh, Birdie Num Nums. I had such high hopes for you and in the end you gave me a very mixed bag.

Sunday morning, Esther and I picked up our bffs for breakfast. I had declared that I wanted to go somewhere new so we drove down Nicholson Street where the place I had sort of picked was. It was closed. Tip for Melbourne cafes – open for Sunday breakfast. Anyway, we continued down Nicholson Street and arrived at Birdie Num Nums. I loved the interior – it’s previous life as a butcher was very obvious with rails and meat hooks.

Unfortunately, breakfast went from delicious to fairly horrible. My breakfast (above) was delicious - eggs perfectly poached, hollandaise good, asparagus excellent. The only down side was the insubstantial, airy toast. As Esther said, the bread was like something from Baker's Delight.

J & D got the Egyptian Eggs - crispy fried poached eggs rolled in dukkah on a potato and pumpkin stack with mint and crispy onion. From what the guys said, they were good but lacking balance. It needed something fresh or some lemon to squeeze over it.

And now for the bad - Esther's breakfast. The bacon was undercooked but covered in burnt bits and oil. The sausage was cold. The spinach was overcooked and not seasoned. There was the same issue with the bread as with my breakfast. The hashbrowns were fine but nothing special and obviously from the freezer section. The eggs were meh. She felt queasy for the rest of the day after her breakfast which generally means that place is struck of the breakfast list forever.

Farewell forever, Birdie Num Nums.

Birdie Num Nums

745 Nicholson Street, Carlton North

Christmas Baking Hooray!

2009-12-11T13:00:00.000+11:00

Last Thursday, I had a half day of work - YAY! My plan was to use the afternoon to plan my Christmas baking and ended up baking all of our baked Christmas gifts whilst Esther organised their packaging and helped me out in the kitchen. How productive of us! *preens*

Our gifts were made up of three things - two of which I had seen on the interwebs days before and one which my mum always used to make at Christmas time.

1. Walnut Shortbread from Lottie + Doof.

This was some amazing shortbread - not too walnutty (which was my fear as I was chopping them), 'sandy' and moist at the same time, made of deliciousness. I highly recommend heading over to Lottie + Doof for the recipe. This was also the first post in their "12 Days of Cookies" and each has been very delicious sounding.

2. Peppermint Bark from Judy in her natural habitat

Peppermint Bark isn't a thing in Australia - at least, I've never really noticed it - but it seems to be big in the US, seeing as I've seen approximately 10932890 recipes for it in the last couple of days. In conclusion, melted chocolate and crushed up candy canes - yes, please.

3. Chocolate Boozy Puddings from my mum!

As I said, my mum used to make these all the time and they were the most fabulous and impressive thing when you are a littlie. The thing is, they are so easy.

1. Purchase a fruit cake from the supermarket
2. Crumble it and sprinkle it with brandy
3. Roll into balls
4. Dip in chocolate. Leave to harden.
5. Drizzle/dip white chocolate on top. Top with green and red things of your choosing to make holly.
6. Impress people.

So delicious. So decadent. So boozy. Now to make some more.

We packed up them up in cute boxes from Spotlight, added a note, packed them in the car and spent Saturday driving around the greater Melbourne area dropping them on people's doorsteps. Yay, Christmas is for the baking!

Et in Arcadia ego . . .

2009-12-10T21:58:00.002+11:00

I’m sorry for ridiculous overplayed title but I couldn’t resist! After months of studying Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia for Year 12 Lit, I have a fondness for all things Arcadian. And, in retrospect, I should have had rice pudding with jam which I could swirl through it and have delightful chaosy fun.

Anyway, our lovely friend AB has just arrived from Qld and it was time for some delicious breakfast, Melbourne-style. I sent her a list of cafe names and told her to choose without any research whatsoever. Without any hesitation, she chose Arcadia (mainly, I believe, because she is living around the corner) and I was very happy with her choice, having had the Most Delicious Savoury Muffin of my life there a few weeks earlier.

We got the last indoor table at about 9:30 or so and felt very smug about the whole situation. Coffee order was taken straightaway which always makes me happy and we perused the blackboard. My eye was immediately drawn to the mushrooms because whilst I love mushrooms, I don’t cook them at home because they are not Esther’s bag at all. I was also interested in the eggs with chilli – I can’t remember the details but it sounded a bit like the Hot Indonesian Eggs at CERES which is high up on my favourite breakfasts of all time.

Esther and AB both went with (and I quote) "pan-fried mash potato cake with spinach, bacon, poached eggs, mayo and pesto" and it looked fantastic – I don’t partake in meat anymore but that was some delicious looking bacon.

The mushrooms were great and the goats’ cheese was perfect – it’s classic for a reason, peeps.

Arcadia knock out a great breakfast but there are two downsides:

1. They only do breakfast from 8 to 11:30 (M-F) and 9 to 4 (S&S). I understand that limited kitchen space sometimes means you need to shut down breakfast so you can cook lunch but their breakfasts are so good that I would love to be able to eat them all day.

2. They are a bit pricier than a lot of other places. The quality is amazing though so the extra cost might be worth it.

Arcadia

193 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy

Rain, Rain.

2009-11-28T22:16:00.000+11:00

I feel like the last person in Melbourne to make it to Hellenic Republic. I’ve also never eaten at the Press Club. *shame* And, after the whole George Calombaris hating on the bloggers, I wasn’t rushing out to try them. However, the promise of feta at breakfast time was enough to convince me and we finally made it there last weekend in the middle of the stormy weather that had our roof leaking and anxiety levels high.

Tash had been raving about breakfast at Hellenic Republic since she moved to Melbourne a couple of months ago; she and her housemate had gone one morning and all I’d heard since was “breakfast spanakopita”. Never one to shy away from filo at breakfast, I was intrigued and excited to check it out. Fast forward, two months and we had finally made a date to go and eat.

We hadn’t booked but it seemed easy enough to get a table as we were pretty early for Sunday morning breakfast (9:30). I felt strangely pleased to see that their roof was also leaking, even though it did result in Tash getting wet at the end of the meal. There were buckets set up in a couple of places over the dining room to catch the drips and the staff looked a little bit harried as well. That said, the service was great and our coffee order was taken very quickly. (One of tweeps was inspired by my early morning tweet about going to HR for breakfast and also decided to breakfast there that morning. I believe she had a 20 minute wait for her coffee order to be taken. Bad news.)

The menu isn’t huge and it is the usual breakfast stuff with an interesting spin on it. I had already decided I was having the spanakopita but I was also interested in the omelette with feta, leek and potato and, if I ate meat, I’d definitely try the breakfast souvlaki. Tash had tried the omelette before and loved it but one of her Perth friends had tried it the week before and found it a little bland. I will have to go back and try it myself soon.

The spankopita was outstanding – there was a lovely balance of flavours with the feta being nice and salty but perfectly matched by the mix of spinach and herbs, the filo was great with the bottom being particularly crispy and delicious and the eggs added a lovely element to the whole dish. This isn’t really ‘fancy’ food but it is pretty frickin’ ‘fancy’ on flavour. A+++++++++++++++++++++++

Tash also had the spanakopita because she’s an addict.

Esther had a very simple but very delicious breakfast of sourdough, spreadable feta, avocado and tomato. I’ll be honest and say that it didn’t look that exciting to me but Esther assures me that it was lovely – the avocado nice and ripe, the tomato well seasoned with good olive oil and pepper and the feta was outstanding. She was very happy with her choice and I think if I was in the mood for simple or light (for a certain value of light), this would be my choice.

And then we shared breakfast dessert because that’s how we roll. Greek doughnuts with honey and walnuts. Amazing.

So, all in all, I really enjoyed it – the food and coffee were excellent, the service was great and the atmosphere was nice. It is a bit more expensive than our usual breakfast haunts but I think it was worth it.

Also, George, I’m sorry if my unsophisticated palate and amateur review isn’t good enough for you.

Daring Bakers: Cannoli

2009-11-27T22:26:00.003+11:00

The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book.

Oh, peeps. Cannoli! One of my loves at Brunneti! One of my loves pretty much anywhere! This month I got to make my own and the results were . . . mixed.

After my last minute panic baking the last couple of months (which resulted in me not participating or not having time to give things a try if they didn’t work 100%), I scheduled a baking day as soon as we had received the assignment. BEST LAID PLANS. I chose a day towards the middle of November, little knowing that we would have a heat wave. 38C + deepfrying didn’t work for me so I postponed. Then it was Esther’s birthday and I had birthday cake to make. Then I had work, volunteer and social commitments every single day for the rest of the month. Finally, on Sunday night, as I was busy cooking up things for dinner with friends on Monday, Esther suggested making the dough so it would be ready to fry up when I got a chance. Genius woman!

The dough came together very quickly and easily and I started to worry that maybe I’d been a been over the top with my worries about making cannoli. I popped it in the fridge until Tuesday morning when I didn’t start work until ten. So I rolled and cut and fried at 8:30 in the morning. My mine problem was that I wasn’t able to roll the dough to the thinness to ensure that it went all bubbly and cannoli like. Reading through the recipe again, I realise I should have actually let it rest a bit more but I was on a schedule so it was overly thick

I made a rose and vanilla cream to fill them with, melted some chocolate and put it all together. They were delicious and fun and I may make them again one day when I have learnt how to roll dough properly.

Happy Bee-day!

2009-11-17T18:17:00.003+11:00

On the weekend, it was my lovely girlfriend Esther’s birthday! Hooray! Even though we went out to high tea with a bunch of friends and there was more cake than you could poke a stick at, I still declared that you cannot have a birthday without a homemade cake and any thoughts to the contrary were a travesty. So, a week ago, we sat down with How To Be A Domestic Goddess and Feast to start the labourious task of choosing a cake.

Official Birthday Cake Choosing Process

1. S-J to read out likely looking cake names from the book. Esther to register interest in certain cakes. Shortlist created.

2. S-J to show pictures of shortlisted cakes to Esther. More cuts made.

3. S-J to read out Nigella’s description to Esther. More cuts made.

4. Ultimate winner declared.

So, you see, birthday cakes are very serious business.

Esther chose Nigella’s Chocolate Honey Cake from Feast mainly, I think, because the bees on top were so cute. She does love honey though so it might have been a combination of factors. There was going to be more rounds of voting as I brought in my 195 delicious bookmarks but there was a clear favourite from the outset.

This was a lovely cake to make – it was fairly easy and not particularly time consuming. The best thing about it was that it filled the house with a lovely rich honey smell which was delicious. My only issue was the top of the cake catching a bit but I think that had more to do with the FrankenOven and me upping the temperature a bit to compensate for the lack of insulation of the oven and Nigella did warn against it. After about 30 minutes, I put some aluminium foil over the tin and it was fine. It wasn’t noticeable at all in the final product so hooray!

To me, this is one of those infuriating cakes where you have to let it cool completely before glazing which is just epic baking mocking in my book – the cake is there but don’t eat it! I wasn’t entirely sold the glaze until I had a finished piece of cake (why yes, I did dip a spoon into the glaze to . . . test it). The bees were made by the birthday girl herself who is supremely talented at the fondant-related crafts.

This cake was seriously delicious – the cake somehow managed to be cakey & dense and light & smooth at the same time. It was rich but not so rich that you rub your tummy and cry afterwards. And, most surprising to me considering the quantitiy of honey, the honey flavour was very subtle and added a lovely note to an outstanding chocolate cake. Well done, Nigella.

Chocolate Honey Cake
From Nigella Lawson's Feast

for the cake
100g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
275g brown sugar
225g butter, soft
125ml honey
2 eggs
200g plain flour
1 tsp bicarb
1 tbsp cocoa
250ml boiling water

for the glaze
60ml water
125ml honey
175g dark chocolate
75g icing sugar

for the bees
25g royal icing/fondant/marzipan
flaked almonds

Preheat the oven to 180c and butter and line a 23cm springform pan.

Melt the chocolate in the manner you prefer. Leave to cool slightly.
Beat the sugar and butter until airy and creamy and then add in the honey. Add the eggs one at a time, with a spoon full of flour in between each egg. Fold in the melted chocolate, the rest of the flour and the bicarb. Add the cocoa and mix. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and then (carefully) beat in the boiling water. Mix well and then pour into the prepared tin.
Cook for an hour but check regularly and cover with foil if it catches.
Let cake cool.

To make the glaze, bring the water and honey to the boil in a smallish saucepan, take of the heat and add the chocolate, swirling it around so it melts. Sieve in the icing sugar and whisk until smooth.

When the cake is cold, pout the glaze over the cake and smooth it down the sides. It takes a while to set so prepare at least an hour before you want to serve it.

To make the bees, add some yellow food colouring to the bee makings of your choice and mix in. Pinch a little bit off and roll into a little sausage. Use a skewer to paint on some stripes of left over glaze (and eyes if you wish). Use the flaked almonds to make wings.

EAT AND ENJOY! OM NOM.

Tempeh Lasagne

2009-10-27T21:31:00.002+11:00

I have always loved lasagne. Feel free to picture me as a big fat ginger and black-striped cat who answers to "Garfield" if you wish. Also, vegans, you may wish to look away now - epic dairy ahead!

When we first became vegos, I found this amazing recipe which I tried despite it seeming a little bit weird. It is delicious and has served me well, having been my contribution to a Christmas dinner and various other things. While I encourage you all to go and have a bash at that recipe, in the last few months, I've wanted my mum's lasagne.

When I was making the Tempeh Shepherdess Pie from Veganomicon, I had a brainwave (recreated below):
Me: *stirs things*
Brain: You know, you could totally use this technique and make it into bolognese sauce and then make lasagne.
Me: Huh? *stirs*
Brain: Lasagne! Like Mum's!
Me: Yeah, ok, whatever. *chops*
Brain: FOR THE LOVE OF PETE!

Luckily, I listened to my brain and my tempeh lasagne was born!

I think it is pretty damn tasty and a bunch of omni (including Esther's 21 year-old brother) agree. In fact, Jen the carnivore has raved re: my tempeh bolognese. HIGH PRAISE INDEED.

As I write it out, it seems like a long and overly-complicated recipe but it doesn't feel that way when you are making it and, frankly, you get lasagne at the end!

This recipe is dedicated to my mum and to Esther's littlest cousin Samantha who has recently become a vegetarian and loves lasagne.

Tempeh Lasagne
feeds many and makes a good lunch at work!

for the mince:
1 pkg tempeh
3 glugs of soy sauce
red wine
water

for the mince-y sauce:
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced/diced
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 carrots, grated
1 - 1.5 zucchini, grated
tomato paste
1 big can of tomatoes
misc other vegies (delicious ones I've used in the past - capsicum, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, corn)
chilli flakes
oregano
parsley
pepper
salt
wine!

for the white sauce:
6 tbsp plain flour
4 tbsp butter
2 cups milk (plus a little bit more)
cheese
nutmeg (please grate some yourself - it makes all the difference)

misc other things:
lasagne sheets (I only used one packet this time but sometimes it is 1.5)
2 handfuls of spinach (I used baby spinach this time but silverbeet would also be grand)
cheese of various types - generally speaking, a cheddar/tasty and something bitey like parmesan or pecorino

1. Crumble the tempeh into a deep frying pan over medium-high heat and add the soy and enough water so that it is covered in liquid. Add a slug or two of wine at this stage if you want. Bring to boil and keep there until most of the liquid is absorbed (about ten minutes). Pour into a bowl and put aside.

2. Put the pan back on the heat (turn it down to medium-medium for this bit) and add some oil. Sauté the onion and garlic for a couple of minutes until fragrant and delicious. Add the carrot, celery and zucchini and let that cook away for about five minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Add a spoonful or so of tomato paste - I use the squidgy bottle stuff and it is generally about three squirts and let that cook for a minute. Now, add your BIG can of tomatoes, the other veggies, herbs, spices, your tempeh mince that has been waiting patiently for you, an empty tomato can of water or stock and a good slug of wine. Stir and leave to simmer for as long as you like - the longer the better.

4. After about 30 minutes, check on your sauce and see how it's going. It should go from this:

to this:

When it looks good, make your white sauce. I stole this technique from The Pioneer Woman's Cauliflower Soup and it hasn't failed me yet. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. In a bowl, whisk the flour into the milk. When the butter is melted, pour the flour/milk mixture in and stir until thick, adding a handful (or more if you like gluttony!) of cheese and some fresh grated nutmeg into the mix. Take off heat and put to one side as you set up the lasagne production line.

5. Spoon enough of the liquid from the tempeh sauce to lightly coat the bottom of the lasagne dish. I don't know if this actually does anything but I like to think so. Layer some lasagne sheets and then layer some tempeh mince. You will probably need to add a bit more milk to make your thickened white sauce easy to pour/spread. Add a third on top of the tempeh. Put a handful of spinach on top. Repeat!

6. When you run out of room in your dish/tempeh, do another layer of sauce and spinach and then one last layer of lasagne sheets. Pour the remaining white sauce on top and then cover with grated cheese.

7. Put into a moderate oven (180C) for half an hour.

8. When done, eat it rest for about ten minutes before serving.

9. Eat. Rub your tummy in glee.

Daring Bakers: Macarons

2009-10-27T15:12:00.003+11:00

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

I now officially have a baking nemesis.

Is it a bit melodramatic to turn an entire (delicious) subset of biscuits into your nemesis? I feel after four failed batches that I'm entitled. I love to eat macarons but, boy howdy, do they not want to be baked by me.

I was excited when I saw this month's challenge as I'd made two batches of macarons previously with about half a batch of successful biscuits and I was looking forward to beautiful macarons with well-defined feet. I carefully measured and weighed and ground and folded and heated and baked . . . all to no avail.

So I tried again and had the same results. It's not that they are bad as such. They just aren't macarons.

Reading through the DB forums, I feel like other people had issues with this recipe and I think it was a combination of that, my impatience (even though I tried really really hard!) and our FrankenOven. One day, my precious. One day perfect macarons will be mine. (It doesn't help that the amazing Zumbo macarons are just one post down. Way to sabotage yourself, me!)

My Spiced Chocolate Ganache was DAMN tasty though! Hooray!

Macarons
Equipment required:
• Electric mixer, preferably a stand mixer with a whisk attachment
• Rubber spatula
• Baking sheets
• Parchment paper or nonstick liners
• Pastry bag (can be disposable)
• Plain half-inch pastry bag tip
• Sifter or sieve
• If you don’t have a pastry bag and/or tips, you can use a Ziploc bag with the corner snipped off
• Oven
• Cooling rack
• Thin-bladed spatula for removing the macaroons from the baking sheets
• Food processor or nut grinder, if grinding your own nuts (ouch!)

Ingredients
Confectioners’ (Icing) sugar: 2 ¼ cups (225 g, 8 oz.)
Almond flour: 2 cups (190 g, 6.7 oz.)
Granulated sugar: 2 tablespoons (25 g , .88 oz.)
Egg whites: 5 (Have at room temperature)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C). Combine the confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a medium bowl. If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery.
2. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks.
3. Sift a third of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine. If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don’t overfold, but fully incorporate your ingredients.
4. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip (Ateco #806). You can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off. It’s easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.
5. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper).
6. Bake the macaroon for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 375°F (190°C). Once the oven is up to temperature, put the pans back in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or lightly colored.
7. Cool on a rack before filling.

Yield: 10 dozen.

Delicious Zumbo Treats . . .

2009-10-24T12:00:00.001+11:00

that I forgot to post pictures of last time!

All these photos were taken by my lovely partner (in life and crime!), Esther who is very clever at many things, including photography, quilting, psychology, teaching and being awesome.

I wish my macarons look like this. Let me assure you that they don't.

I'm going to level with you - I have next to no idea what any of these were. They were all delicious though.

Adriano Zumbo Cafe Chocolat
Shop 5, 308 Darling Street
Balmain

(02) 9555 1199

M-F 8-4
Sat 8-5
Sun 9-5

Catastrophe Cookies (Or, the biscuits previously known as Afghans.)

2009-10-22T12:00:00.005+11:00

I'm a walker.

I love walking and discovering things and/or seeing things in a different light and/or just taking the time to see. My favourite walk has been The Ridgeway which I walked half of last year (and photos can be seen here) but I've done some amazing walks in and around Melbourne (which can be seen here.)

But what does all this walking have to do with biscuits, you ask?! Well, in March, Not Quite Nigella posted a recipe that is very close to my heart: Afghan Biscuits. I've always loved these biscuits and they are easily obtained in Perth i.e. every single cafe has them. I suddenly realised I'd never seen them in Melbourne and I was aghast.

I did a very scientific poll of my friends and the results shocked me - nearly everyone who grew up in the Eastern 2/3rds of the country had never heard of, let alone eaten, an Afghan biscuit.

I took it upon myself to write this terrible wrong and made many batches. And it was with one of these early batches that a new (and not so racist) name was bestowed on them. I'll let J, one of the members of my walking posse explain:

Just as we were leaving civilisation (well, we were about to walk into CFA territory rather than MFB territory), our map failed us somewhat by not matching up with what was on the ground. G kindly offered to ride up ahead to see whether one part of the path ended where we thought it did, and the rest of us asked ourselves why we didn’t bring a cyclist all the time. Our question was soon answered as G came off his bike, and we rushed to see what had happened. His elbow was well and truly grazed up, with one significant gouge expelling large amounts of blood. I emptied my waterbottle over his wound to wash as much of the gravel out as I could, then tied a hanky around it. We all walked to the nearest houses and knocked on doors until someone was home and let us use his bathroom. We cleaned G’s elbow a bit more and applied some Dettol cream (thank you, random man), and I cleaned the hanky and reattached it.

SJ called E, and she came with a first aid kit, cleaned the wound with saline, and attached a better dressing than my hanky! As we were waiting for her, we drank the rest of our tea and ate more delicious biscuits. It was at this point that we renamed them Catastrophe Cookies, because they were pretty much the ideal thing to eat at this stage of a catastrophe. E drove G and me to RMH emergency room, where we waited for a couple of hours before G was anaesthetised, cleaned up properly, stitched up, and given a tetnus booster. D and SJ called a taxi and took G’s bike back into SJ & E’s place.

- from here

Anyway, now you know the story of the name, let me explain why these biscuits are so delicious.

1. They are crunchy and crumbly at the same time

2. Chocolate

3. Icing. On a biscuit.

4. They are damn fine with a cup of tea.

They are also exceptionally quick and easy to make - the only frustrating moment is waiting for them to cool before pouring icing on them.

They are the kind of biscuit you expect to see at the cake stall at a school fête and, to me, that is the highest compliment there is.

Catastrophe Cookies
makes approx 16

Biscuits
170g butter, softened
100g brown sugar
180g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
3 Tbsp cocoa
60g cornflakes

Icing
3 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp water
3 Tbsp caster sugar
190g icing sugar
3 Tbsp cocoa
walnut (or pecan) halves

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Cream butter and sugar together while getting the dry ingredients ready to sift.

2. Sift into creamed butter and sugar and mix until combined. The mixture will (most likely) become one big sticky ball of deliciousness.

3. Stir in the cornflakes (or, if you are lazy like me, pour the cornflakes in and mix on a low setting until combined).

4. Roll into balls and place on a lined baking tray. Flatten them a little bit and try not to overcrowd the tray - they don't spread a lot but you do want them all to bake at the same speed.

5. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven. They'll be quite fragile at this stage but they become more hardy as they cool.

6. Cool. (Boo.)

7. Make the icing! Spoon the icing onto the biscuits and press a walnut (or, in this case, a pecan) onto the biscuit.

8. EAT AND ENJOY!

Quinoa-stuffed Capsicum

2009-10-20T17:32:00.004+11:00

Confession time! I love reality television. A lot. I mean, ask me a question about America's Next Top Model. No, really. I'll know the answer. Or about Project Runway (US, Canadian or Australian versions). Or Top Chef.

Or, and this is the hardest to admit, Australian Idol. I CAN'T HELP IT! IT IS SOME SORT OF ILLNESS!

The way this relates to food? One of my BFFs, Daniel, and I like to watch AI together and make fun of it and give hard-hitting criticism while I make some sort of dinner that is hopefully delicious. This tradition has fallen off a bit in the last two seasons of FAIL but Sunday was different. Sunday was LIZA MINNELLI DAY! (It is important to note that both Daniel and I are epic musical theatre hacks - him more than me). LIZA. ON OUR SHOW! LIZA WITH A ZEE!

Liza-excitement aside, I was feeling relatively lazy when it came to cooking so I turned to an old faithful, Stuffed Capi. I first saw this version of stuffed capsicum over at The Kitchen Sink and I loved the idea of using quinoa as the stuffing. I adore quinoa - it is fricking delicious.

Looking at The Kitchen Sink recipe, I'm actually pretty surprised at how much my version is like the original recipe but the beauty of this recipe is that you can use it as a bit of a "clear out the fridge" recipe and it is really customisable. It is already gluten-free, easily vegan and I've made it for people with fructose malabsorption.

I also love this recipe as it is delicious as leftovers and makes a handy and filling lunch. The stuffing is also delicious by itself and, whilst I haven't tried it, I reckon it would be a pretty delicious salad as well.

I won't put the recipe here as it is pretty much The Kitchen Sink recipe but I will urge you all to make it and enjoy!

The Best Omelette I Have Ever Eaten. THE BEST.

2009-10-18T23:04:00.006+11:00

We went to A Minor Place for breakfast on Friday and on the way there I was bemoaning the fact that I am, frankly, a bit over A Minor Place. I love it but I know the menu back to front and I was just feeling a little uninspired.

Then there was the Specials board and on the Specials board was The Omelette.

Asparagus, swiss cheese and herbs on sourdough. With relish.

PUT IT ON THE MENU, PLEASE.

Royal Melbourne Show

2009-10-17T12:00:00.004+11:00

Ok, peeps. This is my post about the Royal Melbourne Show. I realise that the show isn't everyone's cup of tea and I completely understand that. That said, I really like the show because of all the traditional show things - craft, scones, goats, spinning. I hadn't been to a show since my last Perth Royal Show which I reckon was twelve years or so ago. So that's how I'm justifying the ridiculously overpriced and politically fraught choice to go to the show. There aren't any pictures of animals in this post - if you want to look at things that aren't food, go here.

Sunday 20th Sept - Essie, Tash and I went to the show. My main interest was checking out the Arts, Crafts and Cookery hall and it was indeed awesome.

Most of the photos aren't superb but it is a bit difficult to get photos when there's crowds, glass and lots of stuffed crammed into cabinets.

It was interesting to see how many people won a bunch of different categories and has really encouraged me to enter next year.

Yes, one lot of cupcakes in the Schools comp are decorated like poo.

SCONES! Esther and I made a bet about the CWA selling Devonshire Tea before we left the house (i.e. there would be and we would eat some and if there weren't, I would make scones when we got home) and whilst I WON the bet, we didn't stop and eat any because the scone hall was packed.

How amazing is this gingerbread house?!

Whilst this gingerbread house is not exactly my style, it is pretty amazing as well.

SUGARCRAFT! BRAMBLEY HEDGE SUGARCRAFT!

We ate all the things you are meant to eat at the show i.e. fairy floss and donuts.

And because I am a benevolent baker, I baked scones we got home even though I had won the bet.

They were delicious.

Easy and Delicious Lentil Stew

2009-10-16T12:00:00.004+11:00

Inspired by Carla's Lentil Stew, I decided to whip up my own version for dinner (and lunch the next day).

I pretty much followed Carla's recipe but added some zucchini and (deliciously sweet) corn and we had no pasta to add.

This was such an easy and hearty dinner and filled the house with amazing cooking smells and, thus, is now an Official Favourite.

A funny thing happened on the way to making a blog post . . .

2009-10-15T15:42:00.008+11:00

Hi.

Yeah, it's been months and I have eaten delicious things and made delicious things in that time but haven't posted. Why? Who can say? My general laziness? A bunch of real-life non-food related things happening? My ongoing love for puff pastry?

So, consider this a brief round up of the last couple of months, complete with some photos and linking to other people's content!

Daring Bakers
Hasn't happened the last two challenges. You'll all be pleased to know that this month's challenge is in the bag (unless I end up having enough time to have another crack at it) and so there will be more DB content soon. I think I will try both recipes I missed (Dobos Torte & Vol-au-vents) at some stage. Stay tuned.

Enlightened Cuisine
In one of the many non-food related things (but actually quite food related), one of my Perth BFFs, Steph has moved to Melbourne. Steph is pretty much my food-blog-spiration so it is cool to actually be able to go out and eat with her a lot more. So, welcome, S & D - may the vegan noms be nommable.

ANYWAY, S&D organised for a group of Melb Veg bloggers to go out to Enlightened Cuisine for the Moon Festival which was amazing. Unfortunately, D had to go to the UK for work so we were down a person but, plus side, means we have to go again soon.

The photos can be found elsewhere: Steph and Miss T. I highly recommend Miss T's write up as the voting was both delicious and dramatic.

Would I go to Enlightened Cuisine again? In conclusion, yes. Somewhat trashy, yes but also delicious and fun and win.
Best dish: whilst I voted against the five-spice tofu when it was pitted against the mapo tofu, I think it was amazing and fully deserving of its win as OVERLORD OF ALL.

Sydney
The lovely Esther and I went up to Sydney to see my brother and sister-in-law and, frankly, it was all a front to get to Adriano Zumbo. There isn't really much to be added to everthing that's been said. It was lovely and the staff were all super-friendly and helpful and . . . just delicious.

Esther had La Vie En Rose. Never has there been a dish more fitting for a person.

My bro had the special - Croquembouche! YUM!

My sis-in-law had this which I can't remember the name of. (Basic fail. And it's not even on the website.) It was delicious and strange and exciting. Cucumber and chocolate is a surprisingly good combo.

And I had the Miss Marple Deconstructed. Mainly because I love Miss Marple. It was delicious and fresh and they were some good crepes, yo.

Friday night we had dinner at Papaya Thai in Cremorne where I had the best chili and basil tofu of my life. Please excuse the terrible photo - dark restaurant + shaky, tired hands = this.

They were very vego friendly on the surface of things - the menu marked all the vego stuff and noted that nearly everything could be made vego. Hooray. I say on the surface because I didn't ask about fish sauce so that is an unknown. However, A+++.

Saturday morning was breakfast at some cafe in North Avalon. I cannot for the life of my remember the name. (Again, basic fail.) It was pretty tasty but quite pricey - something I noticed about Sydney in general.

Essie's banana pancakes.

My vego breakfast.

In conclusion . . .

Rollerderby.

(There is going to be a post about the cakes and things at the Royal Melbourne Show but this post is ridiculously long as it is.)

Daring Bakers: Mallows

2009-07-27T21:19:00.007+10:00

The July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My first Daring Bakers. *triumphant music plays*

I must admit I was a little bit worried when the challenge was announced because I'd never made marshmallows before and I needed to make them vegetarian. I spent a good half of the month worrying about that and not actually doing any preparation. After hanging around the "Alternative Bakers" forum, I decided to use the marshmallow recipe posted by Tasty Trifles and it was so easy and fun (and delicious) that I am totally going to make home-made vego marshmallows again.

The downside (as always) was my shaping and piping skills. Or, should I say, lack of skills. I attempted to pipe my marshmallows, imaging beautiful mounds (dirrty!) of fluffy white marshmallow and getting something more like silly string. All the while, my marshmallow was becoming more firm.

Inspiration struck. Who said the long hard hours of watching Top Chef wouldn't pay off? I grabbed some spoons and made some really amateurish and not at all the right shape quenelles. And I was pretty darn happy with them.

As you can see, my marshmallows were huge. I didn't mind that at all. "Om nom nom!" said the Greedy S-J voice in my head. I left them to do their thing, went out to dinner with one of my BFFs and her mum and got to brag about making marshmallow from scratch.

The next day I was enthused to finish these suckers off and to reap my marshmallow-y rewards. The biscuit base was very simple and came together very easily. Rolling it out and using my very fancy cutters (i.e. 2 different sized glasses), I cooked my sheets of bases. I was starting to get very impatient while they baked and began getting my glaze ingredients ready.

As I was waiting for the biscuits to cool, I looked at my flat and round marshmallows and I suddenly realised what I was actually making. Wagon Wheels. Cue the epic happy dancing. I almost wept tears of joy when I realised we actually had raspberry jam on hand.

I made the glaze (which, p.s., is totally homemade Ice Magic), spread some jam on the bizcuit, smooshed the marshmallow on there and dipped it in the chocolate. Unfortunately, my chocolate dipping skills are a bit like my piping skills.

Sure, they weren't the prettiest but, by gum, they were delicious. AND HOOF-FREE! YAY!
Next time, I'm going to use the quince jam I bought today.

N.B. - I made half the cookie mixture as I'd read that some people were getting a lot of leftover dough and with my enormo-mallows, it seemed like the way to go.

Mallows(Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies)
Recipe courtesy Gale Gand, from Food Network website
Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies
Prep Time: 10 min
Inactive Prep Time: 5 min
Cook Time: 10 min
Serves: about 2 dozen cookies

• 3 cups (375grams/13.23oz) all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup (112.5grams/3.97oz) white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/8 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 12 tablespoons (170grams/ 6 oz) unsalted butter
• 3 eggs, whisked together
• Homemade marshmallows, recipe follows
• Chocolate glaze, recipe follows

1. In a mixer with the paddle attachment, blend the dry ingredients.
2. On low speed, add the butter and mix until sandy.
3. Add the eggs and mix until combine.
4. Form the dough into a disk, wrap with clingfilm or parchment and refrigerate at least 1 hour and up to 3 days.
5. When ready to bake, grease a cookie sheet or line it with parchment paper or a silicon mat.
6. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
7. Roll out the dough to 1/8-inch thickness, on a lightly floured surface. Use a 1 to 1 1/2 inches cookie cutter to cut out small rounds of dough.
8. Transfer to the prepared pan and bake for 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Let cool to room temperature.
9. Pipe a “kiss” of marshmallow onto each cookie. Let set at room temperature for 2 hours.
10. Line a cookie sheet with parchment or silicon mat.
11. One at a time, gently drop the marshmallow-topped cookies into the hot chocolate glaze.
12. Lift out with a fork and let excess chocolate drip back into the bowl.
13. Place on the prepared pan and let set at room temperature until the coating is firm, about 1 to 2 hours.

Note: if you don’t want to make your own marshmallows, you can cut a large marshmallow in half and place on the cookie base. Heat in a preheated 350-degree oven to slump the marshmallow slightly, it will expand and brown a little. Let cool, then proceed with the chocolate dipping.

Vegetarian Marshmallows (from Tasty Trifles)
Ingredients:
• 60 mL water
• pinch of cream of tartar
• 255 g sugar, granulated
• 255 g light corn syrup
• ½ vanilla bean
• 85 g egg whites (about 3 egg whites)
• 5 g xanthan (0.76%)

Ground xanthan with a tablespoon of sugar. Set aside. Heat water, cream of tartar, remaining sugar, corn syrup and vanilla to 120ºC. Discard vanilla bean. Whisk egg whites for about 2 min until still soft. Continue whipping egg whites at slow speed while adding syrup slowly. Sprinkle xanthan mix while still whipping. Turn speed up and continue mixing for 2-3 min or until meringue pulls away from sides. Sprinkle a pan or baking sheet generously with cornstarch and spread out the meringue. Sprinkle top with cornstarch, cover with plastic and leave to set for 4 hours in a refrigerator. Cut marshmallows into desired shapes and dip cut surfaces in cornstarch.

Chocolate glaze:
• 12 ounces semisweet chocolate
• 2 ounces cocoa butter or vegetable oil

1. Melt the 2 ingredients together in the top of a double boiler or a bowl set over barely simmering water.

Butterscotch Layer Cake

2009-07-16T21:52:00.002+10:00

A week ago, it was the lovely Ms Siobhan's beeeeday (her first in Melbourne) and we had her and the Elflet over for a birthday afternoon tea. I had a moment of panic re: what to make that would be easy but delicious and impressive. Silly S-J — when in doubt, turn to Nigella.

I'd made the Boston Cream Pie previously and it was fine but not quite what I was looking for. Luckily, the Butterscotch Layer Cake was staring at me from the next page and when I read about the butterscotch cream cheese icing, I was in.

Nigella's Victoria Sponge recipe is next to foolproof and always delicious. I love this woman for many reasons, one of them being her "just put it in the food processor, peeps. It's just a cake!" philosophy.

It was a really delicious cake (so much so that the one in the photos is the one I made a week later for some other friends) and a big hit with everyone. It was also surprisingly light . . . or, more to the point, not as rich as you might suspect. Don't get me wrong - it is rich but it is also possible to finish a slice. Maybe even two slices.

P.S. The leftover butterscotch sauce is delicious on ice-cream. Om nom nom.

Celebratory Tarte Tatin

2009-06-27T11:57:00.001+10:00

A couple of weeks ago I decided I wanted to make Tarte Tatin because

a) I had been browsing through my bookmarks on delicious and saw Molly's Apple Tarte Tatin again
b) my Es adored the Pear Tarte Tatin at Bistro Vue and I like to make her things she likes
c) I like a challenge.

So I went out and bought a big bag of apples that sat there and were slowly getting used up in various other things, all while the thought of Apple Tarte Tatin taunted me.

Finally, on Thursday, I decided that Es needed a special "Almost School Holidays/Hooray For Surviving Another Semester!" treat and delicious carmel-y apple-y goodness called. I set up my laptop on the kitchen bench, cranked up an episode of iCarly (don't judge me!) and got to the peeling.

Who knew it was so easy?! Ok, so my Tarte might not look as pretty as the one at Bistro Vue but I was always a bit intimidated by the thought of them.
"It must be tricky ensuring the apple doesn't disintergrate," said I. "Caramel stuff is always hard," I thought.

WRONG.

It was ridiculously easy and pretty quick and it didn't seem to mind when I realised I had my timing all wrong and so rolled up my pastry and put it back in the freezer. So forgiving! And totally worth all the peeling.

Es seemed pretty happy with her Celebratory Tarte Tatin and I've declared that everyone who comes to our house gets one from now on. (N.B. - This might not actually happen.)

Sugardough, Brunswick East

2009-06-20T21:15:00.004+10:00

Sugardough Panificio & Patisserie
163 Lygon St, Brunswick East

Es and I had a quick afternoon tea at Sugardough whilst our little pup, Beatrice was getting a clip across the road.

There isn't really much to say about Sugardough that hasn't already been said. A++++++ as always.

Julio, Fitzroy North

2009-06-20T20:46:00.005+10:00

Julio
171 Miller St, Fitzroy North

I'd never even heard of Julio before I was escorted there for a mid-week lunch with my friend S — I think that officially makes me unhip.

It was tiny and quiet and had a menu that appealed to my love of all things carbohydrate. I was almost swayed by the pancake special or the Romeo & Juliet (white cheese and guava paste on sourdough) but I ended up going the vego sandwich path.

Oh my. Someone must have informed the kitchen about my love of goats cheese. This sandwich was pretty much everything I love in a sandwish — excellent bread, excellent cheese, excellent vegies. Excellent all round.

I dug Julio so much that when my mother was in town for a couple of days and we needed a Sunday Morning Breakfast place, I suggested to Es that we try there. I figured if it suffered the usual Sunday Morning Breakfast crowd, we could cruise by CERES, A Minor Place and Green Refectory until we found a table.

Happily, despite it being pretty busy, there was the perfect table and, lo, we breakfasted.

I went with the Poached Egg Special which came with a generous helping of avocado, what was essentially a delicious huge homemade potato gem and a tasty capsicum and tomato sauce. OM NOM NOM.

Es went with the Semolina Pancakes with Stewed Strawberries and my mum had a Ham & Cheese Croissant. Everyone seemed very happy with their breakfast and I think, chances are, I'll be back to Julio.

First Post Is Nearly Always Fail.

2009-06-02T17:49:00.003+10:00

Hello my little cooking blog.

I've been thinking about you for a very long time and finally I am Taking Steps to make you reality.

I have joined Daring Bakers to prompt me into action.

LET'S BAKE!