Dancing Lady salad

End of year pig-out

Today we had our end of year team lunch so we headed off to Henley Beach for a meal at the Thai Orchid. After that it was back to my place for dessert, as on Sunday after Jenna's birthday, I once again made the Chocolate Pavlova with the egg-whites left over from making the cream puffs.

The pavlova must be good because between the guys, they averaged about 3 slices each (I won't mention how many Richard had!). This time I have a photo.. or two.

Jenna is 5

The baby of the family, my niece Jenna, turns 5 next week. Today she had her birthday party. I don't believe I have ever seen her so excited, and she had so much fun all day. For a few years now she has been a fan of Dora the Explorer, so she got lots of Dora gifts, but when she hugged one of the boxes...well it just completely cracked me up. I need to also point out the uncanny resemblance my niece has with Dora...she even has the same shaped head!







Happy 5th Birthday my sweet. I love you.

Custard

There seems to be hundreds of ways to make custard but recently I nagged mum to show me how she does hers...

4 tbsp plain flour
4 tbsp white sugar
600 mls milk
3 egg yolks

In a bowl mix together the flour, sugar, eggs and some of the milk, stirring until there are no lumps in the mixture. Gradually add the rest of the milk, stirring the whole time.

Transfer the mixture to a saucepan and stir over a high heat initially, but reduce it to low when the mixture starts to bubble.

Tip - wash a lemon and cut off one end, pierce a fork through the other end and stir the mixture with the lemon for the essence.


When the mixture starts to get quite thick, take it off the heat.

If you just want vanilla custard then you can add some vanilla essence to the mixture.

For chocolate custard, put 3-4 tbsp of cocoa in a bowl and add a few scoops of the custard. Have the bowl in the sink with some cold water. Stir the mixture then gradually add the rest of the custard.

I made this custard to make cream puffs (which I bought, but can make if I have the time) to take to my niece's birthday party. I made both chocolate and vanilla, and filled the profiteroles with half vanilla and half chocolate custard. Sprinkle with icing sugar.


NB. If you need a larger portion you add more eggs and more milk only (i.e. with 6 eggs you would need 1 litre of milk).

Chocolate Pavlova

Yesterday for dad's birthday I made a pavlova that I had eaten over at the Hope's house a couple of times. It is truly delicious so I hope that Carol (or Nigella Lawson for that matter) won't mind me publishing it here. And apologies because I don't have a photo of the finished plate because I decorated it at mums.

Meringue base:
6 egg whites
300 gm caster sugar
3 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
50 gm dark chocolate, finely chopped

Topping:
500 ml thick cream
Punnet of your favourite fresh berries (I used a frozen berry mix)
2 - 3 tbsp coarsely grated dark chocolate

Preheat oven to 180c but turn oven down to 150c when the pavlova goes in!

Beat eggs whites to satiny peaks, then add 1 spoon full of the sugar at a time while beating constantly. Stop beating when all sugar is dissolved and mixture is shiny. This can take up to 15 mins.

Sprinkle in sifted cocoa powder, add vinegar and chocolate and gently fold through the mixture.

Scrape mixture onto a sheet of baking paper on tray and make a disc with the mixture approx. 23 cm in diameter. Don't spread it too much or it will be a flat pavlova.

Bake in the oven for 1 to 1.5 hours. Turn oven off but leave the pavlova in there to cool completely.

NB. Nigella says that when it is ready, it should be crisp on the sides and dry on top, and when you prod the centre you should feel the promise of 'squidginess' beneath your fingers.

You can invert the pavlova. Whisk cream and pile on top of meringue then scatter berries over the cream and sprinkle with remaining dark chocolate.

Enjoy!

Maggot cheese or mussels in coconut broth?

I am having withdrawal symptoms from not baking, but lately I have been either too tired or too busy. So tonight to alleviate the yearning, I thought I would watch another episode of Season 4 of Hell's Kitchen. But after watching that I was as bright as a button so I thought I would check out some Gordon snippets on you tube (it's 11.30pm and too late to get into the kitchen).

Unfortunately the video I wanted to post had embedding disabled, so do yourself a favour and search for "Gordon Ramsey maggot cheese" on you tube. (But only if you think you can handle it. Personally it is one cheese I won't be trying in this lifetime.)

Then I found this video, and this dish looks so good to me I reckon I would eat every last morsel.

2008 Music - year in review

Forget about the Arias. Here is where you need to come to find out about the best music releases this year... well, out of what I've been listening to at least.

My top 10 albums of this year (in no particular order):

1. Empire of the Sun - Walking on a dream (This album saw the collaboration of Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore, and oh what a collaboration!)
2. Sia - Some people have real problems (Adelaide girl who went to the UK to be heard back in Adelaide. One of the best female artists to come out of Australia I reckon.)
3. Kings of Leon - Only by the night
4. Jackson Jackson - Tools for survival (Another Oz collaboration. Another success.)
5. Augie March - Watch me disappear (Like a good wine, these guys just get better with age.)
6. Bliss n Eso - Flying colours (Ausie hip hop, who'd have thought? Play it loud!)
7. Girl talk - Feed the animals (Mash it! Love it!)
8. Goldfrapp - Seventh tree
9. Laura Marling - Alas, I cannot swim (I have raved about this girl on this blog before...so young...so brilliant!)
10. As for number 10, I couldn't decide whether to leave off Gnarls Barkley's - The odd couple, or Josh Pyke's - Chimney's afire.

Dishonorable mention:
Coldplay - Viva la vida. This is weird. I really liked this album when I first bought it, but I don't think I have played it again after the first few times. I have decided they are boring (and it has nothing to do with the news that they are snubbing Adelaide in their Australian tour next year).

My top 10 single releases of this year (in no particular order):
1. Cass Mccombs - That's that
2. Moby - Disco lies
3. Empire of the sun - Walking on a dream
4. Kings of Leon - Sex on fire
5. Goldfrapp - A&E
6. Fleet Foxes - White winter hymnal
7. Rihanna - Please don't stop the music
8. Bon Iver - Skinny love
9. Lisa Mitchell - Neopolitan dreams (This is the Lisa Mitchell that was on a recent series of Australian Idol. She got voted off, I stopped watching. Cannot wait to hear her first full album release next year.)
10. I am pathetic. I couldn't decide whether to leave off Pnau & Lady Hawke's - Embrace, or MGMT's Time to pretend.

Notes:
I am very pleased that such a large number of Ausie artists make the album list.
I am fairly certain that sometime next year I will buy an album that was released this year, and I will mentally change the list.

Arrested for possession of photographic equipment and causing aesthetic harm

When S flew into Melbourne, got into a cab, and a km away from the apartment had to turn around to pick up the bag he left at the airport... I figured I couldn't possibly do anything stupider than that.


For a few years, me and three of my friends have been organising and going on "photo road trips". The impetus behind these trips is to take photographs as we all have an interest in the art. We pick a location full of photographic opportunity, get away, have a great time together (i.e. drink too much) and take photos.

We were well overdue for another PRT (the last one being at Kangaroo Island in Nov of last year), when we finally got off our butts and organised one to Melbourne for the weekend just gone.

Being the friends that we are, we all dump shit on each other at every possible opportunity, so you can imagine the jokes we flew at S for having left his bag at the airport. That was pretty much the stupidest thing that had happened all weekend...until sometime on Saturday, I realised that I hadn't changed the white balance on my camera (that had been set at tungsten) after having taken a hundred photos of the Melbourne skyline from the apartment balcony on Friday. A few hours after that (and after having taken another few hundred shots at the Melbourne xmas pageant), I realised that I had my camera on the full manual setting (nothing unusual about that), but that I had only been adjusting the light metering and not the f-stop. In terms of stupidity, that's up there with leaving your bag at the airport!

So, whilst I had a great time in Melbourne, the majority of my photos are fucked. I was therefore arrested and here is the proof:


My camera, all my lenses and other photographic equipment have all been confiscated and given to this guy because he probably has half a brain:


I am comforted by the fact that I got to have one last coffee at this place:


Before being put behind bars until I have read and re-read every photography book in my library:

Third Wedding for the year

This year has been a year of celebrations. I have attended more weddings, engagements and birthday parties than any other year of my existence (and a couple more to go before the year is done). But last night I attended a wedding celebration for a very special couple who are already married!

My beautiful cousin Lili married her life partner Paolo, back in August of this year... in Italy. You see, they came to Australia from Italy a few years ago and stayed. They have settled in Adelaide, and so I have grown to love these two as much as if I had grown up with them. They went back to Italy to be married in front of all their family and friends. But because they are such a great couple, they have forged many amazing relationships here. Many of the Oz contingent wanted to go over to Italy and celebrate their wedding with them (including me), but logistically it wasn't possible.

So Lili and Paolo decided to have a wedding celebration just for us here in Australia. Guests even came all the way from Sydney for it. (Which proves how special these two are.) We had a great night, ate great food, and participated in their wedding by viewing a slideshow of the wedding in Italy.

For the third time this year... I really wish the couple a lifetime of happiness. They are already on the right track. If you see L&P together it appears as if they fall in love with each other every week. If I don't find a relationship like that, I'm not sure I actually want one at all...

Fettucini

Today I made my first ever home made pasta (solo effort). I know, I know, I should be ashamed, I'm a wog... how did I get to this age without having made my own pasta before? I'm not sure I know the answer to that question myself, so I won't even bother trying to analyse that here.

I used the Kitchen Aid (of course), which made light work of it, and made the whole process a lot quicker. I also nearly stuffed it up by adding too much water too soon, but quickly just added more flour. I think the dough did end up being too soft, so I will take things slower next time.

There are hundreds of different recipes for pasta, but mum uses one egg for every kilo of flour. And besides flour and egg, you only need tepid water and salt.

I obviously didn't want to make a kilo's flour worth of pasta, so I measured out about 5 'handfulls' of flour (I used 00, but plain flour is fine), and used one egg to this amount of flour. At a guess, this made me about 4 servings.

Most recipes you will see have at least 3 eggs. The more eggs you use, the heavier the pasta will be. And you can even make pasta without any egg at all.

From Alfajores in Adelaide to a Penguin in Japan

For a long time I have been meaning to make alfajores http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfajor, a traditional biscuit from South America. So I attempted them today. The end result is that they taste great, although I have no idea if they taste like the ones you might find in Argentina. But unfortunately they look a little worse-for-wear should I say. Next time I will need to roll the pastry a bit thinner, and probably make the caramel more thicker. And because they don't look great I haven't taken a photo. I will make them again some day, and hopefully I will master the aesthetic of the biscuit and post a scrumptious looking recipe.

In the post-mortem, as I was scouring youtube for tips on how to make alfajores I got, lets say, side-tracked, and found this video. I had to post it because alfajores don't belong in Adelaide and Penguins don't belong in Japan.

Viewing the subject from a different angle

I just stumbled across this blogspot and had to share it:

http://pictures-from-the-sky.blogspot.com/

Enjoy!

Cinnamon meringues

I don't seem to be coping well with working this time round... coupled with an unusually busy social life at the moment, I don't seem to have any time for myself. And of course what is suffering is the number of opportunities to get into the kitchen.

Tonight I got home from work, completely exhausted after a fitful night's sleep and decided that I had neglected my Kitchen Aid for too long, and that I should take some of my own advice and 'just get on with it'.

So I found a meringue recipe for no reason other than I wanted to test out how the Kitchen Aid handled the egg whites and sugar!

The actual recipe is for cinnamon meringues with orange curd cream, but I am only posting the meringue portion (unless someone specifically requests the whole recipe), because I really am too tired to type it all out, and I won't be making the rest of it myself tonight. The recipe has been ripped out of a Home Beautiful magazine.

3 egg whites
3/4 cup caster sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 100C. Place six large muffin paper cases onto an oven tray, but flatten them out slightly.

Place the ingredients into the mixer bowl and beat for 12-15 mins until thick.

Now, after I did this I suddenly thought 'this is not going to work'. I mean, since when does one make a meringue and just chuck the sugar in with the eggs? All the recipes always instruct to 'gradually add'. Anyway I thought, too late now and I turned the mixer on and just left it running for 12 mins. I kid you not - I didn't even check and scrape down the sides of the bowl.

The result is that I actually got a great meringue mixture:


It is baking as I type, but to finish off the recipe...

Place the mixture into a piping bag with a 1cm plain tube (although I used the star). Start from the centre and pipe a spiral almost to the edges of the cases. Pipe around top edge to form a nest. Bake for 1 and 1/2 hours. Allow to cool in oven with door ajar.

Tomorrow night I might whip some cream and dollop it onto the meringues, add some fruit and have myself a mini pavlova for dessert.

Enjoy!

Fran and Suzanne's wedding

The October long weekend saw a contingent of Italians head towards the Riverland for my cousin Francesco's wedding. It was a fantastic wedding and the happy couple were blessed with perfect weather for the occasion. The two families merged in Renmark where the Bride's parents live, and where they hosted the reception.

I have seen Francesco grow into a wonderful young man, and he has clearly met his perfect match with Suzanne. They are just beautiful together. I wish the couple a lifetime of happiness from the bottom of my heart.


The gorgeous bride:


Done and dusted:


The groom's parents:




The bridal party:


The view from the Bride's parents property where the reception was held:


The next day we went on Roseanne's houseboat for a cruise along the Murray. I should travel more in SA because I saw some of the most beautiful scenery along the way:








And a special mention to my cousin Nina and her husband Sam who came all the way from Gosford for the weekend. Grazia (left) and Roseanne (poking her head in behind Sam) are staying on the boat for the week, enjoying what the river has to offer.

Turkish Barber

Mac vs PC

Sorry, I just couldn't help myself. This just tickled me pink when I stumbled across it. There are so many of these spoofs on youtube, and then spoofs of the spoofs where Linux comes into it.

For my non-nerdy readers, you'll probably end up wondering why I find this even remotely funny. Sorry again!

Salmon with coriander and lime sauce and blanched zucchini

I am growing coriander in my garden so I am seeking out different ways to use it. I found this coriander and lime sauce recipe on the Internet which I figured would go well with the salmon I bought at the market. I was right.

Coriander and Lime sauce

3 bunches coriander, cleaned and chopped roughly
Juice of 3 limes
3 bunches spring onions, green part only, chopped roughly
1 tsp garlic, minced
1 tsp ginger, minced
1 1/2 cups yogurt
2 tbsps water, cold
1/2 tsp honey
3 tbsps canola oil (I used olive oil)

Combine all ingredients in a blender until smooth. Thin out with water if too thick. Keep refrigerated.

I cooked the salmon using my grill press for about 4 mins.

I blanched some zucchini and dressed it with oil, salt, vinegar and oregano.

And I had one of the best meals I have ever cooked for myself. I wonder what Gordon Ramsey would have thought of it?



Apologies for the bad photo - it was dark and you know how much I love taking photos in bad light. Not to mention I just wanted to get stuck into the food!

Now Antarctica comes to you

Simply amazing. I am speechless, not to mention I love the NZ accent.

Walking on a Dream

Relax Mark, this is not another post about my dreams!

For the past few weeks while I've been offline, I have been listening to the following songs over and over again:

Neopolitan dreams - Lisa Mitchell
You don't know me - Ben Folds feat. Regina Spektor
A&E - Goldfrapp (yes still)
Sex on fire - The Kings of Leon
Embrace - Pnau feat. Ladyhawke

But every morning and every night since I first heard this song, I have been listening to "Walking on a dream" by Empire of the Sun which sees the merge of Luke Steele from the brilliant Ausie band The Sleepy Jackson, and Nick Littlemore from Pnau. I don't think I will ever tire of it. I love, love, love it.



And because I love it so much, I am even posting the lyrics.

Walking on a dream
How can I explain
Talking to myself
Will I see again

We are always running for the thrill of it thrill of it
Always pushing up the hill searching for the thrill of it
On and on and on we are calling out and out again
Never looking down I’m just in awe of what’s in front of me

Is it real now
When two people become one
I can feel it
When two people become one

Thought I’d never see
The love you found in me
Now it’s changing all the time
Living in a rhythm where the minutes working overtime

Catch me I’m falling down
Catch me I’m falling down

Don’t stop just keep going on
I’m your shoulder lean upon
So come on deliver from inside
All we got is tonight that is right till first light

The King's Pathway

Hi all. I have been offline again so apologies for the lack of posts. To entice you back, I thought you would enjoy this video I stumbled across. But, be warned, I actually got dizzy watching it.



Apparently the path was built in 1905 and took 4 years to construct (how and why is beyond me). It was never maintained so eventually the local Spanish Government had to close the entrances. But apparently some dare-devils still find their way onto the path.

Cauliflower Soup

I think my favourite vegetable would have to be the cauliflower. So I recently thought I would try making cauliflower soup. I searched through my recipe books for what I thought would be a good recipe, and ended up using two recipes to come up with my own version.

Butter (about 50 or 80g depending on how much you're making)
Onion
Oregano
Garlic
Cauliflower
Stock (relative to the amount of cauli you will use)
Milk (about 1 cup)
Parsley

Melt butter in heavy-based saucepan, add onion, garlic and oregano. Stir over medium heat until onion is soft.

Add cauliflower, parsley and stock and cook until cauliflower is tender. Add milk (and some cream if you like) and reduce heat and cook until just heated through.



Blend until smooth.

Enjoy!

Gordon Ramsey and scrambled eggs

I haven't been doing much baking or cooking lately so I thought I would find some cooking on YouTube to show you instead. I found Gordon Ramsey making simple scrambled eggs. I thought I had personally started to master scrambled eggs, but I'm now going to have to try it the way the Three Star Michelin man makes them. God what I would give to try this man's cooking.



For a great interview with Gordon, go to YouTube and search for Gordon being interviewed by Michael Parkinson. I saw this and just loved him even more. Sorry, I couldn't embed the video as it wasn't permitted.

Fit this in your backyard

A confederacy of dunces

Well I have finally finished reading "A Confederacy of Dunces". It only took me about two months. It took so long for a couple of reasons. The first reason is that I am a slow reader, and usually only read before I go to bed, so if I'm tired I only get through a few pages.

The real reason though, is because I wasn't really that enamoured by it. Although I flew through the second half of it, partly because I did start to like it, partly because I was sick of reading it and partly because I found out the book would be reviewed on next Tuesday's book club, so I thought I better hurry up.

I won't give you a full review of the book, but I will tell you what I didn't like about it, but I hope what I say doesn't deter you from reading it, because it was more the style of writing I didn't like as opposed to the story itself. You see, I like "to the point" prose. I don't like verbosity, whether in the oral or written form. (Here's a tip - if you want something from me, you are more likely to get it if you just 'spit it out' rather than pussy foot around for 10 mins, as you'll probably just get a punch in the face instead.) Anyway, for me the prose was verbose.

Now that I write this, I wonder what my written word is like...?

I will also tell you that I think the author was in some ways just brilliant. Within the first few pages/chapters, I really knew the protagonist. And I hated him, oh how I hated him. Actually I still hate him. And for this reason I think the author succeeded.

I look forward to flying through my next book!

More shortbread anyone?

I bought a new cookbook the other day - Cookies, Muffins & Cakes! So even though I already have two types of home-made shortbread in the cookie jar, I decided to try another recipe from this cookbook. And, the result is that they are pretty damn good actually.

125 gm butter
1/2 cup icing sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 tsp grated lemon rind
1 tsp cream
1/2 cup cornflour
1/2 cup plain flour
60 gm chocolate melts

Preheat the oven to 180c.

Beat the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add the vanilla essence, rind and cream and beat until combined.

Add the sifted flours and beat until the mixture is smooth enough for piping (I found I had to finish off using my hands).

Spoon the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a 1.5 cm star nozzle. Pipe 4 cm lengths onto (greased and papered) trays. Bake for 15 mins or until lightly golden (I needed only about 12 mins). Cool the biscuits before transferring to a wire rack.

Melt the chocolate and place it in a small glad bag, seal, then snip one of the bottom corners (only a tiny snip). Drizzle diagonally over the biscuits. Allow to set.

Tip make sure you have some paper under the wire rack, then you can just throw it away after you've finished drizzling. It will save on the cleaning.




On a separate note. I find food photography so challenging, and using that macro lens requires skill I tell ya! But sometimes, just sometimes, it all falls into place. I had so many good photos of this shortbread, that I had to post two. And this second one looks awesome on the full LCD screen - I think it will be one that I print and frame I just love it so much. I hope it looks half decent at low-res on a blog... just checked, no it doesn't so you'll have to just trust me. But it is photos like these that just bring out the passion and make me work through the pain of taking so many duds.

KitchenAid mixer

Well I have just gone and spent a ludicrous amount of money on a kitchen appliance. I have finally caved in and ordered a KitchenAid Stand mixer.


Isn't it beautiful?

Despite the cost, I can easily justify spending the money on something that I know I will get great use of and love using every single time (besides I haven't caved in and bought an iPhone). I even rang Carol and she said she just LOVES hers, and that was all the confirmation I needed to go ahead and order.

I also shopped around and ended up ordering over the net at: http://www.kitchenwaredirect.com.au/ who were cheaper than anywhere else (incl. shipping).

Now I just have to wait patiently until I get it...

Quotable quotes

The other day I was cleaning out my old box from work (at the C'link) and came across my last project's "quotable quotes". Paul (the boss) used to collect some funny quotes that were said by various staff members. I still look back and laugh at them, but am posting them for my benefit, because most of you won't know why some of them are so funny unless you know the people (e.g. the first one).

I don't care about the out year figures. James to Nina and Richard.

I'm willing to take a pay cut. James to Paul.

That's the worst thing you've ever said to me Paul. James to Paul and Nina after tricking James into thinking he was going to have to go work with another certain team.

Would you like to step outside? Julie to Paul during a Steering Committee meeting (I kid you not, she was serious!)

September has not officially ended. James at the 4th October team meeting.

There are some things you would not buy second hand...like underpants, for instance. Richard to Paul, James and Nina.

James does it better than Richard. Paul to Nina after asking why James' was doing Richard's Change Request.

Oh my God, we've hit a toddler. James describing his initial thought after hearing Nina scream at seeing a Huntsman spider in the car.

DIMS - is that an Executive Support System? Paul to Julie. (One of my personal favourites as it was delivered so so quickly.)

Most tools will be compatible with Open Office in six months time. Jason, Dec 06.

Doug appealed to Thomas' inner nerd. Brett at the xmas party on why Thomas was late.

If things all work, it will be fine. Jason.

You get so much more done when you actually talk to people. Derek to Paul after taking Derek to an infrastructure meeting.

Steve Waugh and Johnny Depp are very similar. James.

Sometimes I think you live in fairy land and me in reality. Nina to James at James' aim at wanting all things perfect.

I was worried about the organisational imperatives, not the project priorities. Paul to Nina, Jason and James.

Your good news today does not cancel my bad news today. Paul to Nina.

A train runs through it

I have discovered that one can 'stumble' in YouTube too, and I stumbled across this video that I had to share with you. This might well be a regular segment to this blog!

Banana Bread

Another of David Herbert's perfect recipes. This is one of the best banana bread's I have tried.

1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/4 tsp salt
125 gm unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs lightly beaten
2 large very ripe bananas
1/2 cup buttermilk
icing sugar to serve

Preheat oven to 170c and grease a loaf tin.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, bicarb soda and salt.

In a separate bowl, beat the butter and sugar for 3-4 mins or until pale and fluffy. Gradually add the beaten eggs mixing well after each addition.

Mash the bananas and add to the butter mixture. Stir well to combine. (NB. The mixture looks quite gross at this point, but soldier on.) Add the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk, beating well after each addition.

Pour into the loaf tin and bake for 55-60 mins.



Enjoy!

But tell me, why is it Banana Bread and not Banana Cake? What makes it a bread?

Flawless Beauty

Last night saw the grand opening of my future sister-in-law's new business. Flawless Beauty. (She is a beautician.) It was a great night and if the success of last night is anything to go by, her business will be too. I wish her all the best in her endeavours as it is no mean feat for a young woman to go out on her own and start a business. I wish I had the guts to go out and do something like that. You go girl!

Anyway here are some shots from the salon:

Bill's Ricotta Hotcakes

Apologies for the lack of posts recently, I was temporarily on dial-up so barely bothered with the internet at all. Actually it is a bit of a shame, because there has been a swag of baking and cooking going on, but I am sure I will get to these recipes again sometime. In the meantime I have found the ricotta hotcakes recipe (from Bills in Sydney), so am posting this for Mark (no photo because I haven't tried these myself yet).

340 gm ricotta cheese
185 ml milk
4 eggs separated
125 gm plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
50 gm butter

To serve
Banana
Maple syrup or honeycomb butter, sliced
Icing sugar for dusting

Place ricotta, milk and egg yolks in a mixing bowl and mix to combine. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Add to the ricotta mixture and mix until just combined.

Place the egg whites in a clean dry bowl and beat until stiff peaks form. Fold egg whites through batter in two batches, with a large metal spoon.

Lightly grease a large non-stick frying pan with a small portion of the butter and drop 2 tablespoons of batter per hotcake into the pan (don't cook more than 3 per batch). Cook over low to medium heat for 2 mins or until hotcakes have golden undersides. Turn hotcakes and cook on the other side until golden and cooked through.

Vietnamese Chicken Salad

500g chicken breast fillets
1 large carrot cut into matchsticks
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
2 tspns salt
2 tbspns caster sugar
1 medium white onion sliced thinly
1 1/2 cups bean sprouts
2 cups finely shredded savoy cabbage
1/4 cup firmly packed fresh vietnamese mint leaves
1/2 cup firmly packed fresh coriander
1 tbspn crushed roasted peanuts
2 tbspns fried shallots

Dressing
2 tbspns fish sauce
1/4 cup water
2 tbspns caster sugar
2 tbspns lime juice
1 clove garlic crushed

Poach the chicken (I bring the chicken to the boil then take it off the heat and leave it to sit in the water for either 20 or 30 mins depending on the size of the fillets). Shred the chicken coarsely.

Combine the carrot and onion with the vinegar salt and sugar, cover and stand for 10 mins. Add the sprouts then stand for another 3 mins. Drain the pickled vegetables and discard the liquid.

Place the pickled vegetables and the chicken with the cabbage mint and coriander.

Make dressing and pour over the salad. Sprinkle the salad with the nuts and shallots.



Enjoy!

Goldfrapp

This week I am re-discovering Goldfrapp all over again, listening to their old stuff as well as their new. Here is my favourite song (A&E) from the new album.

Caramel chocolate tart

I picked up this month's edition of Gourmet Traveller for one reason only - the front cover. Yes I am that shallow. But I am now in the process of making the chocolate caramel tart that tempted me so.

I am just waiting for the chocolate to get to room temperature, but I can already tell you it's been a bit of a debacle. It is a tedious and time consuming recipe because there are four parts to it and lots of 'waiting' required. But on top of that my caramel layer didn't work so I had to throw out my first attempt and rather than have a second attempt, I completely substituted the caramel recipe with another.

Anyway here it is (with two recipes for the caramel layer because I am pretty certain the failure was something I did wrong as opposed to the fault of the recipe).

Top layer
165gm dark chocolate chopped
1/4 cup pouring cream
40gm unsalted butter, softened
Whipped cream to serve (optional)

Shortcrust pastry
1 3/4 cups plain flour
60gm caster sugar
180gm unsalted butter, chilled and chopped

Caramel
1 cup white sugar
1/3 cup thickened cream
70gm butter, chopped

Chocolate mousse
200gm dark chocolate, chopped
4 eggs, separated
3/4 cup thickened cream
2 tbsp caster sugar

For the pastry:

Process flour and sugar in a food processor to combine. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Add 2 tbsp chilled water and process until mixture just comes together.

Turn onto a lightly floured surface, form into a disc, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 190C. Roll out pastry to 5mm thick on a lightly floured surface, line a 26cm diameter tart tin with the pastry and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Blind bake for 20mins (this means cover the pastry with a sheet of baking paper and fill with weights), then remove paper and weights and bake until golden (another 8-10mins). Cool.

For the caramel:

Combine sugar and 250ml water in a heavy based saucepan and stir over low heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to high and cook, brushing down sides of pan with a wet pastry brush if sugar crystals form, until mixture is deep golden (10-15mins).

Remove from heat, add cream and butter and stir to combine (be careful as mixture will spit).

Pour into pastry base and refrigerate until firm (1-2 hours).

For the mousse layer:

Melt chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Cool to room temperature then add yolks, stir to combine.

In a separate bowl, whisk cream until soft peaks form and set aside.

Whisk egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar and continue whisking until combined. Fold a third of the whites into the chocolate mixture, then fold a third of the cream. Repeat until all combined. Spoon over the cooled caramel layer and smooth out. Refrigerate until firm (2-3 hours).

Top layer:

Combine chocolate and cream in a small saucepan, stir over low heat until chocolate melts. Remove from heat and add butter and stir to combine. Cool to room temperature, then spread in an even layer over mousse. Refrigerate until set (30-40mins).

*The caramel recipe I actually used was:
1 cup brown sugar
300ml thickened cream
1/2 tspn vanilla extract
60gm butter, chopped

Place all ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir until boiling. Reduce heat to low. Simmer for 2mins.



P.S. More frustrating than making this tart (which was worth the effort.. believe me), was taking this photo. I couldn't take the photo until after the tart was cut, I couldn't cut the tart until the guests arrived and it was time for dessert. So, the photo was taken in very bad light conditions and I should've changed lenses but I didn't. The result is that I don't have one photo of the tart that I am happy with...oh well, eat more tart I suppose.

N.B. This post was written over two days, hence the change in 'tense' through the text. And in fact I actually completed the tart over two days too.

Melting moments

I love shortbread. If I didn't have any will power I would be really fat on shortbread alone I reckon. So today I decided to try making some melting moments in between baking a loaf of wholemeal bread.

Ingredients:
250g butter, cubed
1/3 cup icing sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 3/4 cups plain flour
1/3 cup cornflour

For lemon cream:
60g butter (at room temp.)
1/2 cup icing sugar, sifted
1 tsp grated lemon rind
3 tsps lemon juice

Preheat oven to 160C.

Beat butter, icing sugar and essence until pale and creamy.

Sift together the flour and cornflour, add to the butter and mix with the beaters on the lowest speed until just combined and a soft dough forms (I did this last bit with my hands).

Roll the mixture into small balls, and place on baking tray (lined with baking paper). Use a fork to flatten each ball to about 3cm diameter and 1cm thick.

Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes or until cooked. Cool.

For the filling, beat the butter until smooth then gradually add icing sugar. Add lemon and rind. Beat until mixture is light and creamy. (NB. I wasn't too keen on this filling, so I will be seeking out another.)

Join two biscuits together with the filling.

Enjoy!

Pick me up

Tiramisu loosely translated means "pick me up", and you will perk up when eating it. Tiramisu is my signature dish and I am sharing the recipe with you here.

I searched high and low for a recipe that I thought was good enough to even attempt, and then I came across this one in Gourmet Traveller, from the chef at Cibo's restaurant in Adelaide, Salvatore Pepe. Cibo's is a well-known and popular restaurant in Adelaide that now has lots of 'shop-fronts' scattered around Adelaide (and now Brisbane) selling coffee and panini and sweets (you have to try their ricotta filled cannoli - they are amazing).

After I started to make this Tiramisu, mum stopped making hers because, and I quote - mine is better!

Lastly, whilst I follow the ingredients and measurements direct from the recipe, I actually use my mum's method for putting it together. I hope I can articulate it well.

3 eggs, separated
75gm caster sugar
250gm marscapone
1 cup thickened cream
1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa plus extra
freshly brewed espresso coffee
1 1/2 tablespoons Strega liqueur or dark rum, (I use Bacardi Gold)
Savoiardi biscuits (4 layer pack)

You will also need a tray with very specific measurements as you need to place the biscuits head-to-head, and then two layers of the biscuits as well. If you don't have such a tray you will need to break the biscuits to fit the tray.

Beat egg yolks and 55g sugar until thick and pale.


Add marscapone and combine well.


Beat cream with remaining sugar, then add to the marscapone mixture and combine well.


Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form, then add to mixture, fold in until just combined.

In a shallow bowl, combine the coffee and liqueur. Dip the biscuits in the coffee (both sides) and lay the biscuits in the base of the tray (covering the base).


Spread half the marscapone mixture over the first layer of biscuits.


Then lay another layer of biscuits on top. Spread the remainder of the mixture over the top layer of biscuits. Dust with a layer of cocoa (or do this just prior to serving).



Some notes:

You can add as much liqueur as you like to the coffee depending on how strong/weak you like it.
Allow the tiramisu to sit for at least two days prior to serving.
When dipping the biscuits you can really 'soak' them, but this will make the tiramisu quite wet. I just dip quickly, once either side as I don't like it too wet.
Between the layer of biscuits, you can add extras like slivered almonds or grated chocolate. Again it's a matter of taste.

Enjoy!

Spinach, leek and ricotta cannelloni

This is one of the food posts I didn't get to finish the other day. Anyway I took the final photo today so here it is.

The other night I tried something that I've never made before - cannelloni. I made up the recipe based on observations of other people's cooking, and I cheated - I didn't make the pasta myself, I bought the cannelloni tubes. One step at a time I say. Sorry, no measurements again.

Spinach
Leeks
Ricotta
Olive oil
Garlic
Cannelloni Pasta tubes
Paremesan
Pasta sauce (passata)

In a large saucepan heat a generous amount of oil. Finely slice the leeks and add to the saucepan with some garlic (if you like). Saute.


Chop the spinach roughly and add to the saucepan. No need to add water as the spinach will release enough. Once the spinach is cooked through you can take off the heat.

Spinach straight from mum's garden!

Put the spinach in a colander and leave to cool and drain. The mixture needs to be quite 'dry'.

Roughly mash the ricotta and add the spinach mixture. Mix well and add some paremsan cheese.

In a separate saucepan, more olive oil and saute an onion, add the pasta sauce and bring to the boil. Reduce heat, but don't cook the sauce complete, you need it a bit runny.

Cover the base of your baking tray with some of the sauce. Fill the cannelloni tubes with the spinach mixture and neatly lay them into the baking tray. Cover the tubes with the pasta sauce.

Bake in the oven until cooked. Leave to sit for some time before serving.


Enjoy.