Your Local Markets

Farming in Australia: an uncomfortable truth

2012-02-04T15:05:00.002+11:00

So what's happening in the state of agriculture in Australia? It's always interesting to have a look at the stats which give a snapshot of what is happening in the industry. Rather than the rhetoric.

Basically what is happening is that farms and getting fewer and bigger. Supermarkets such as Coles and Woolworths control around 80% of the market for fresh food and this in turn is having an effect on the size of the operations who can supply them with the volume and prices they demand.

In her 2009 Sydney Morning Herald article, "Suburbs will swallow Sydney's market gardens", Debra Jopson asserted that in 2004 there were more than 4,000 vegetable producers in Australia and predicted that the number would soon drop to less than a thousand. This article was written in 2009 so it would be interesting to know just how many are left in 2012.

The following stats from the Productivity Commission Research Paper, "Trends in Australian Agriculture" 5 July 2005, are worrying, to say the least:

over the 20 year period to 2002-3, the number of farms declined from around 178,000 to 132,000;
the average size of Australian farms increased from 2720 hectares to 3340 hectares (or by around 23%);
the proportion of farms with a value of operations less than $100,000 declined by 13% while the proportion of farms with a value of operations over $500,000 increased by 8%;
farm production has become more concentrated on large farms - the top 20% of broadacre farms account for 64% of output.

Across many industries, the volume of food being produced is increasing and the number of producers is decreasing. Production of grain fed beef has more than trebled in the period since 1991-2, with grain fed beef comprising over 30% of total beef production in 2003-4. The number of cattle being 'finished' in feed lots has been consistently increasing from around 200,000 in 1991 to 700,000 in 2003-4, an annual average increase of around 11%. The Meat and Livestock Association website states that "600 accredited feedlots in Australia representing a total capacity of almost 860,000 cattle". [http://www.mla.com.au/TopicHierarchy/InformationCentre/LotFeeding/Default.htm]

But wait. There's (unfortunately) more. In her article about intensive and free range pig farming, Amanda Woods cites figures from Australian Pork Limited which show that in relation to the Australian Pork Industry, from 1980-2007 the number of Australian pig farmers fell by more than 90 per cent. At the same time, pig meat production almost doubled as pigs were taken out of fields and raised intensively, leading to an increase in the average herd size of nearly 900 per cent. ["Happy as a pig in Mudgee" Amanda Woods, The Australian, 20 February 2010]

This is the same industry which has came under public scrutiny for its intensive operations and appalling treatment of animals.

Surely the farmers must be winning though?

In 2008 the National Farmers' Federation stated that the amount paid to farmers ranged between 5-40% of the retail price of the product and that there is an increasing gap between the amount paid to farmers and retail prices. ["National Farmers Federation Submission on the ACCC Inquiry into the Competitiveness of Retail Prices for Standard Groceries" March 2008; p. 7]

There is a notion pushed by the large supermarket chains and politicians that our food is too expensive and the increase in volumes and corresponding drop in prices is a good thing. OECD comparisons are often cited as a reason why we are paying too much for our food in Australia.

However what is not taken into account is that Europe has a much higher concentration of people and a much smaller geographic footprint, so we should expect their fresh food prices to be cheaper than ours in Australia, where food often has to be transported long distances, our weather is extreme and our population much smaller. We really should pay more for food.

However, we've been brainwashed into thinking that we're paying too much for food and that prices should come down. In her article "Australian farmers sold short by cheap food", Sarah Kanowski notes that Australian's spent 22% of their household income on food in the 1960's; whereas now we spend only 14% of our household income on fresh food. [Sarah Kanowski, "Australian farmers sold short by cheap food" www.eurekastreet.com.ai; 9 March 2010]

Whether these figures take into account working women and an increase in household incomes is unknown, however she also cites in her paper, "The Farm", that agricultural products represent only 4% of the economy, whereas in the 1960's they were 14%. [Sarah Kanowski, "The Farm" Griffith Review, edition 27]

Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma in an interview with Elizabeth Meryment says that the unflinching push for cheaper, artificially tastier food has resulted in supermarkets filled with highly processed "edible food like substances" that don't resemble real food. He goes on to say that "conventional food is unnaturally cheap and I know people like cheap food but the reason it is cheap is because there are all sorts of hidden subsidies." ["Michael's beef with modern day food", Elizabeth Meryment, Taste, Daily Telegraph, 16 March 2010.]

Subsidies are only part of the issue. Large scale farming operations with enormous volumes and cheaper prices are another part.

Farming operations which are able to supply the demand of the supermarkets are gerenally big-businesses. With the dominance of such large companies controlling agriculture, smaller farmers are gradually disappearing, which will mean less competition, less choice and a lack of diversity.

Not only that, but our environment suffers. Large scale farming (also known as monoculture) is more susceptible to devastation by pests and therefore uses chemicals to prevent this. The soil becomes less nutrient and in an effort to continue production, chemical fertilisers are pumped into the earth, degrading it further. Intensive animal farms wreak havoc on the environment and often keep the animals in sub-optimal conditions.

Is this the world we want to live in?

If not, how do we take control of the situation and reverse some of these trends? We, the Australian consumer, are the ones in the driving seat when it comes to what's in our wallets. We can choose to buy all our produce from a supermarket. Or we can grow some or all of our own food (an option for those who have the land to do it). We can spend our money at smaller shops, like greengrocers, bakeries and local butcher shops. Like we used to.

Or we can shop at farmers' markets, where the money we spend goes directly to the person who sells us the food and keeps that small farming operation afloat. Yes, it might be more expensive than what you buy in the supermarket, but your money is buying fresh, nutritious food and it is going directly to someone who grew the food, not a multi-national corporation.

I know that I want choice. I want to know that I can buy organic or free-range, or even just conventionally-grown produce from a large farming company or a small boutique operation. I want my buying dollar to matter and I want to direct it where I think it should go. I want small family farms to stay in business and I want them to keep the big guys honest. Is this too much to ask?

What do you want?

Recipe: Meatless Monday - Thai veggie curry

2012-02-04T12:55:00.000+11:00

This recipe was one of those things I just threw together using the best of available seasonal produce from the markets. I was inspired by the 10 Thai eggplants that I bought from Rita's stall that day and knew if I didn't do something with them immediately, sure as night follows day, they'd turn into compost by week's end. Aren't they gorgeous??

Luckily I had all the ingredients to make a red Thai curry, but I honestly hadn't made one in, like, forever. And what a difference a year or two made (and using fresh produce from the markets). Oh me. Oh my. I know I rave about these Meatless Monday recipes, but the combinations of flavours and textures, the sweet squirtiness of the cherry tomatoes, the seedy crunch of the Thai eggplant and green beans and the reliable squishiness of the kumera made this "the best curry ever made in our house" according to Mr YourLocalMarkets. Big call.

Try it, I assure you, you won't be after me for a money back guarantee ;-)

Ingredients
1 tablespoon oil
10 Thai eggplant, halved. You can substitute other types of eggplant but it just won't be the same
400g chopped kumera
400g of chopped green beans (yes that's a lot, but you need your greens)
1 punnet cherry tomatoes or several generous handfuls
1 can baby corn
About 10 small mushrooms, cut in half (shitake is best but I used Swiss Brown, in season)
2 cans coconut cream
4 tablespoons good quality red curry paste (many in the jar are free of additives and preservatives)
5 kaffir lime leaves, sliced finely
Handful fresh basil and coriander leaves, chopped

Method
Heat oil in large pot and cook curry paste and kaffir lime leaves. Add 1/2 cup coconut cream to mix paste & cream together, then add rest of coconut cream.

Add kumera and eggplant and cook until soft (about 15 minutes). Then add all other vegetables and cook for around 5-10 minutes, ensuring that the beans are still bright green with a slight crunch.

Serve with rice and garnish with fresh herbs.

War: What is it good for? Milk & produce wars in Australia

2012-02-04T11:11:00.002+11:00

Coles announced on Monday 30 January 2012 that it would cut certain fresh produce prices by 50% on a rotational basis, each week. On Australia Day in 2011 Coles announced that it would sell its home brand milk for $1 a litre.

At first glance this may seem like a win for Australian consumers. Who wouldn't want their fresh produce half price? Milk at $1 a litre? But like most issues, especially economic ones, it's just not that simple.

Coles argues that it will simply be cutting the price of fruit & vegetables that are in surplus (the “bumper crop due to ideal growing conditions around the country”), so that farmers can sell it, rather than ploughing it back into the ground. However Coles has also admitted that it will be slashing prices of a range of vegetables, not just those that are abundant.

Many farmers are saying that these lower prices may force them out of business. The rationale is that for farmers who don't supply Coles (many small farmers) they will be forced to offer the same or similarly low prices without the benefit of a supply contract with Coles. And if they don't cut their prices consumers will shop at Coles and they will lose their customers. Lose-lose for growers.

Part of the problem with Coles' cutting prices, is that Coles and Woollies between them hold massive market share: more than 80% of the grocery market between them. That's a huge market share which means that they control a lot of what is sold and produced in Australia.

For years farmers, other industry participants and commentators have complained that the large supermarkets are putting pressure on growers to supply larger and larger volumes whilst pushing down prices for food.

The Supermarkets dominate many areas of retail: food, liquor, fuel & they're moving into hardware and want to get into pharmacies (don't get us started on them selling health when they're the largest sellers of tobacco products). Their dominance is such that they are now looking at other areas of the food industry to dominate, such as the supply and processing chain, and home branded products.

One way they can increase their home brand market share is to allocate valuable shelf space to their own products and price them lower, thus taking market share away from the branded products. In the most extreme scenario, the home branded product gains more market share than its branded cousins and the manufacturer of the branded products goes out of business, leaving the consumer with less choice. And the supermarket with more power over pricing. The supermarkets get bigger and its competitors gradually disappear.

This all sounds like pie in the sky stuff, but it is exactly what happened in the UK dairy industry.

In relation to milk however, it's part of the story. The processors also play a part in the merry dance. Processors are paid less money for processing home branded milk. So as the home brand market share increases, the processors get less for the milk. They in turn must recoup the losses somehow so naturally would turn to farmers and pay them less for their milk. Margins are slashed for a grocery item that is already priced lower than water or soft drink.

When Coles and Woolworths started the "milk wars" on Australia Day in 2011, home brand milk was dropped to $1 a litre. Farmers need to raise, feed and milk cows. And make a profit. And keep up with inflation. $1 a litre is currently less than a bottle of water. Water. Which doesn't come from an animal and you would think, costs a lot less to put into a bottle and sell than milk.

The supermarkets say that they are working with industries to help them become more efficient. However this doesn't seem to apply to many other industries. Prices for everything are rising, but farmers are expected to take price cuts for milk because they're not efficient.

It's just not fair.

This kind of price cutting also encourages farmers to pump their cows full of hormones to keep them milking all year round in conditions that are less than favourable to the animals. An industry that actively encourages intensive farming seems to be an anomaly when consumers are becoming more concerned about the environment and animal welfare. Conversely, it also discourages smaller enterprises (organics or those that are kinder to animals and the environment) that charge more for milk & dairy products.

The milk wars may have claimed their first well-known casualty: Lion processing (who own Pura and Dairy Farmers milk) announced in November 2011 that it made a loss on its plain milk processing. You've got to wonder what it will do to the farmers further down the line over time.

Back to fruit & veggies.

So what happens to the money that is paid to farmers when the price drops 50%? Presumably most supply contracts to the supermarkets have prices for farmers locked in, but what happens when those contracts are up for renewal and the supermarkets start insisting that their revenue/profit from produce has dropped?

The other concern is that with many other retail businesses, the supermarkets can raise the price of one (say, fuel) to ensure they don't suffer losses. The result being we pay more for fuel and destroy agriculture in Australia.

Cutting prices of vegetables by 50% is very unlikely to benefit the dwindling number of small growers who do not supply Coles. They are already having a difficult time surviving and each year, more and more disappear. We need to do something about it before the 2 supermarkets control 100% of all vegetables bought in Australia. Before it's too late.

Exercise - "The Training Effect"

2012-01-31T16:29:00.002+11:00

I haven't spent much time on this blog discussing issues, which is totally my fault! I did have a very long, academic article all done in draft and then piked because it was too long and academic and as a result refrained from discussions on this blog. When I have time to redraft my missive I will do that, but with the new year and new resolutions, it's time to get on my soapbox.

One such issue besides the state of the food industry in Australia is the importance of exercise for every day living.

I know, I know. Everyone already knows how important it is. Every study that comes about about every Western disease practically concludes that exercise is beneficial. Along with healthy diets, exercise can lower blood pressure, lower risks for diseases from cardiac disease, strokes and diabetes to Alzheimers. It makes you feel good. There is no doubt that it can also make you look good, or at least better than you do when you don't exercise. But why don't more people do it? Why don't more people eat correctly too?

I've been reading a lot of really interesting articles on the topic of exercising and its benefits. But one that really struck me is the idea of the "Training Effect". In a nutshell, the Training Effect is what happens when a person starts regularly exercising, and they get stronger, more flexible, faster and their body becomes generally more efficient. Exercise doesn't just benefit one muscle group or one organ in the body, rather the body as a whole benefits from the exercise. Metabolism also increases. Its really very cool and one of the main reasons we should exercise (apart from preventing all those nasty Western diseases).

However, one fitness professional, James Fell, mentioned in his article in au.askmen.com titled "Exercise and Eating Connection: Why You're Still Fat" in regard to losing weight:

"The first step to losing weight is to focus on exercise, not calorie burning. Exercise breeds healthy eating. The more you exercise, the less you crave junk.

I can't tell you how much this resonated for me. In my previous life as a corporate wannabe, I was often accused of being "the health nut" and my well-meaning co-workers would often curl up their top lips with distain at my daily lunchtime salad and poke fun of my consistently healthy eating.

However one thing was inextricably linked to my salad & fruit obsession: and that was my gym obsession. If I skipped the gym for a couple of weeks, the diet would slide too. However after a good workout, I literally craved healthy unprocessed foods. And this has happened consistently over the years since I first discovered Hi NRG aerobics in the late 80's. [Now I'm really showing my age ;-)] *

So, it would appear, I am not the only one who thinks that good eating habits follow regular exercise.

Which started a bit of research on the point. I found a reference to the issue at http://www.thephysiocompany.com which refers to a study by Miguel Alonso, a researcher at Harvard University in Boston who stated that epidemiological studies have suggested that:

“Physical exercise seems to encourage a healthy diet. In fact, when exercise is added to a weight-loss diet, treatment of obesity is more successful and the diet is adhered to in the long run.”

"Several previous studies which have measured changes in the brain and cognitive functions in relation to exercise, have found regular physical exercise to cause changes in the general working and structure of the brain, Alonso also said."**

Fascinating. I am living, breathing, healthy proof of this.

So: if your diet is unhealthy, you're overweight and you would like to do something about it, perhaps it is time to do just start exercising every day and see what happens.

So, it could be that the key to people eating better is exercising more. But that then begs the question: how to get people off the couch and away from the TV and Facebook? I guess if I knew how to do that, I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing now :-)

Has anyone else experienced this connection between exercising and wanting to eat healthy food?

* Happily I have moved on from my g-string, fluro leotard wearing Hi NRG aerobics classes
** See article here. And while you're there, check out the article too on how to avoid injury whilst Irish dancing! LOL

Recipe: Buttermilk seasonal fruit cake

2012-01-30T16:23:00.000+11:00

I was lucky enough to find this recipe on Twitter care of our friends at @StonefruitAU as the recipe had been adjusted to include nectarines on top of the cake. It was originally penned by the recipe blog 101 Cookbooks. I've since tried using raspberries and white peaches on top and both are delicious and very impressive looking, without spending hours toiling away in the kitchen. In fact, this recipe is so easy I've practically memorised it and bang it out with gay abandon whenever friends drop by. Gay or not ;-)

I've got a thing for lemon zest and this cake contains the zest of 2, which makes it extra zingy. The lemon doesn't overpower the cake but just adds depth. And freshness that cuts through the dense wholemeal flour.

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups wholemeal flour (I used organic spelt)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup caster sugar or brown sugar (If you prefer the cake sweeter you can double the quantity)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled a little
zest of 2 lemons
1 punnet of raspberries (more if you like) or other fruit in season - blueberries, peaches, nectarines... experiment!
3 tablespoons large grain raw sugar (I used coffee crystals)
1 teaspoon large grain salt

Method

Heat oven to 200C degrees. Grease and flour (or line bottom with baking paper) a 25cm tart/quiche pan.

Combine the flour, baking powder, and sugar and salt in a large bowl. In a separate smaller bowl whisk together the eggs and the buttermilk, whisk in the melted butter, and the lemon zest. Pour the buttermilk mixture over the flour mixture and stir until just combined - try not to over mix and its generally fine if you can still see bits of unmixed flour in the cake.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, pushing out toward the edges. Drop the berries across top or place slices of peach, nectarine etc. Squish some with your fingers so the colour bleeds into the top of the cake in the oven.

Sprinkle with the coffee crystals (raw or plain sugar will do, I've experimented with all and coffee crystals work the best) and then the salt. Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until cake is done (or a toothpick in the center comes out clean).

Be prepared for the oohs and ahhs that will greet this little beauty. Serve with organic vanilla yogurt, thickened cream or icecream. Serves about 12 as the cake is quite filling.

Recipe: Meatless Monday - Vegetable Tagine

2012-01-30T12:42:00.000+11:00

I must confess straight up that I don't have one of these very cool ceramic tagine thingamies, with its lovely round spouted lid, heavy lipped plate and shiny ceramic outer casing.

I have wanted one for ages and in fact, I almost bought one just to make this recipe as authentic as possible. But Mr YourLocalMarkets threatened that we'd need to knock out a wall in the kitchen to store it if one entered the house, so I refrained from buying one and conceded that the Le Creusset pot would make a perfect substitute, even without its lovely Moorish shape.

With pot at the ready, I set about to make this vegetable tagine for family members who are vegetarian and found the recipe at Lifestyle Food from the lovely Anna Gare. I really only tweaked it a little, and the results were incredible. The flavours danced around in our mouths and had the perfect combo of spices, garlic and lemony zest to really bring the pot of veggies to life. One word of warning though: this is not a 30 minute Jamie Oliver quickie; rather, it's more when you have a few hours to prep and cook it, on a lazy Sunday perhaps.

Suitable for vegans too; just don't garnish with yogurt.

Vegetable Tagine - Ingredients
Chermoula marinade

1 roasted red capsicum
3 cloves garlic
1 red chilli
4 cloves ground
3 tsp coriander seeds ground
3 tsp cumin seeds ground
1 tsp smoked paprika
¾ cup coriander (50gms)
¾ cup Italian parsley
10 mint leaves
Rind and flesh of 1 lemon (disregard pith)

Veggies

400gms kumera
3 baby fennel, quartered (or use 1 fennel, quartered)
5 purple carrots (you can use potatoes if you can't find this heirloom carrot)
1 red capsicum, cut into thick strips
3 baby eggplant, cut in half length ways
1 zucchini, cut into about 6
4 roma tomatoes, cut in half (I could only fit 3 in my pot as they were big roma's)
1 cinnamon quill
1 bay leaf
2 cups vegetable stock
10 pitted prunes
1 cup chickpeas, cooked

Method: Chermoula
Roast the red capsicum in a moderate oven for 30-60 minutes, until the skin is charred. Remove from the oven and place in a plastic bag so the steam helps to lift off the skin. While the capsicum is roasting, lightly roast ground coriander and cumin seeds in pan. Grind roasted cumin, coriander and cloves in a mortar and pestle. Put all chermoula ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. Add a little water if the paste is too thick to blend properly.

Method: Veggies
Coat kumera, carrots, fennel, capsicum, eggplant and zucchini in marinade mix and lightly fry in big heavy based saucepan or tagine.

Top with tomatoes, cinnamon, bay leaf, prunes and vegetable stock. Cover and cook for about 1 hour until vegetables are tender. Add cooked chick peas and cook for a further ½ hour. Serve with couscous and natural yogurt.

The original recipe says it serves 4: however 4 of us ate and the photo at the top is the tagine after we'd had dinner, leaving us lots of lovely leftovers for Meatless Monday today. So probably serves closer to 6.

Did I mention that this was absolutely freakin' delicious? As this was more labour intensive than most of my Meatless Monday meals, next time I make it I will double the chermoula ingredients and freeze the chermoula paste for another occasion. In fact, chermoula could become my 'pesto de jour'.*

*Kitchen cupboards may be removed soon to accommodate a lovely new shiny tagine......

Recipe: World's easiest roast chicken meal

2011-11-10T11:04:00.000+11:00

I owe this recipe to Donna Hay and her "Fast Simple Fresh" show on the Lifestyle Channel. When I saw it on TV I couldn't believe how easy it was, so I just had to try it.
The flavours in this recipe are even more sensational than the lack of prep time involved. I think this is known as a WIN!! The chorizo infuses all of the other ingredients and makes it incredibly swoon-worthy, so much so that I have been telling everyone about this recipe, including my hair dresser. He recently served it for a Sunday lunch with friends and apparently it was a big hit. I think that means I will get an extended head massage at my next appointment ;-)

Ingredients
1 whole chicken but into pieces. Or if you're lazy like me, use 6 drumsticks, 6-8 chicken wings, maryland pieces (skin on) and chicken thighs
2 chorizo sliced lengthwise
1 punnet cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup Sicilian olives
1 lemon, cut into 4 pieces, lengthwise
1 head of garlic, cloves removed into pieces but skin on
Thyme or oregano
Olive oil
Salt & pepper to season

Method
Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.
(You will love this): throw everything in the tray. Drizzle a little olive oil over the contents. Season.

Put in oven for 45 minutes. Remove, eat and I dare you not to swoon! Serves 4, always try and make more to have some leftovers. We never do.

Recipe: Meatless Monday - Summery black bean salad

2011-10-18T09:42:00.009+11:00

I love this recipe because it combines some of my favourite things in the world: avocado, mango, haloumi & coriander. And just check out those colours! This served 2 hungry adults as a main meal. The avocado and haloumi will satisfy hunger pangs, so don't worry about there not being enough food.

Ingredients

A can of black beans, if you can find them, or a cup of cooked beans (you can substitute other beans like kidney or cannellini) 1 medium avocado, cut into 2 cm cubes
1 mango, cut into 2cm cubes
1/2 red capsicum
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons lime juice
I cup chopped fresh coriander
180g haloumi (1 packet), sliced
1 or 2 shallots, finely sliced (I didn't use them coz I'm not a fan of the onion family)

Method

Sear the haloumi in a frying pan or on the bbq for a couple of minutes each side until golden. If you cook the beans you will need to allow cooking time. Black beans take about 50 mins but I had some left over from my Enchilada Bake recipe which I had in the freezer. Alternatively, canned beans are much quicker but make sure you rinse and drain them well.

Toss all ingredients together and voile! You and a friend are the proud owners of one healthy, colourful, more-ish meal.

Recipe - Meatless Monday: Crunchy Vietnamese salad with noodles

2011-10-17T08:33:00.000+11:00

I saw this recipe in the Taste liftout of the Australian a couple of weeks back and it reminded me how much I love a Vietnamese salad with all its crunchy raw ingredients and fresh flavours, enhanced by the mint and coriander. I must confess however, the fried noodles, whilst crunchy AND delicious, kind of tipped me over the edge, so next time I think I will omit them. I'm trying to consciously eat a lot more raw food so bolstering the veggies and taking out the noodles results in a healthy, crunch-filled salad with bite. My favourite kind.

Ingredients

1 long red chilli, finely chopped
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup caster sugar
1/2 Chinese cabbage (wombok), finely shredded (the recipe recommended a mandolin but I found it was more difficult & messy than just shredding with a knife)
1 carrot, finely shredded
1 cup mint leaves, roughly chopped
1 cup coriander leaves, roughly chopped
2 cups bean sprouts, picked
100g fried egg noodles (optional)

Method
Combine chilli, rice wine vinegar and sugar in a saucepan with 1 tablespoon salt. Cook over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Increase heat and simmer for 2-3 minutes to slightly reduce. Set aside to cool completely. If you're time poor and you want an Asian style dressing, you can cheat with (organic) sweet chilli sauce, a bit of rice wine vinegar and sesame oil.

Toss all the remaining ingredients together, then add the chilli dressing and toss to coat. Serve immediately as the fried noodles will eventually soften.

To add protein for a more filling meal, add sliced tofu, or if you're not a Meatless Monday fan, sliced barbequed chicken breast. 2 hungry adults ate about 2/3 of the salad (dressed separately in individual bowls, noodles added last; and I added chicken to the leftover salad ingredients the following day for lunch, sans noodles, with the cheats dressing. Needless to say, it was just as crunchy and tasty. This could be my new favourite salad!

Recipe - Meatless Monday: Apple berry crumble

2011-10-10T15:43:00.001+11:00

Berries, berries, berries. I'm a bit loopy for strawberries at the moment and super-excited that they will be in season until Christmas. Hoorah!

One of our favourite desserts is an Apple Berry Crumble. It’s a cinch to make but watch out, it is quite filling and could tip you over the edge if you don't pace yourself before hand. Otherwise you'll be pushing through the pain barrier ;-)

Filling Ingredients
6 Pink Lady apples, peeled & cut into 1 cm wedges
1 tablespoon caster sugar
1 teaspoon orange zest, finely grated
juice of half a lemon
1 tablespoon water
400g fresh strawberries (can be substituted for frozen berries when not in season; I added a handful of mixed berries for interest)

Crumble ingredients
1 cup plain flour
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup hazelnut or almond meal
1 teaspoon cinnamon
100g unsalted butter, cubed and chilled

Method

Preheat oven to 200°C or 180°C fan forced. Lightly grease 4 small ramekins.

Place apples, sugar, lemon juice, orange zest and water in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Simmer for around 10 minutes until the apple starts softening a little. Add berries and cook for a a further 5 minutes.

With a slotted spoon remove the berries and place in ramekins and continue cooking the liquid for a further 10 minutes until thicker. Pour the liquid equally into the ramekins and set aside for about 20 minutes to cool.

Combine flour, sugar, hazelnut/almond meal and cinnamon in a large bowl. With clean, dry hands, rub the butter into the dry mixture or process in a food processor until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Being lazy, I used my lovely Kitchenaide food processor ;-)

Sprinkle the crumble mixture over the fruit. Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes or until the crumble is crunchy and golden.

Serve with vanilla ice cream or double cream.

Strawberries, apples, almond meal & lemon all available from our Gold Coast and Bondi Junction markets.

Recipe - Meatless Monday: Black bean enchilada bake

2011-10-10T15:15:00.001+11:00

I haven't really cooked Mexican since I started reading labels in the supermarket aisles and recoiled with horror at the list of numbers, preservatives & unpronouncables on the back of Taco seasoning mix. As I'd never really given it much thought I assumed I couldn't recreate Mexican flavouring with natural ingredients. Not only was I wrong, but I realised I've been missing out all this time, dang! However, now is as good a time as any to get back on the Mexican horse and ride it into the kitchen.

I'd also go out on a limb & suggest the basic flavours could be adapted for tacos & burritos. Arriba!

Ingredients

2 cups chopped onion (I used only one small cocktail onion & the flavour was fine)
1 1/2 cups chopped red capsicum

2 zucchini, grated
2 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 cup salsa or good quality tomato passata
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 cup black beans or a 400g tin if you can find them
3 square corn wraps (the recipe called for 12 6-inch corn tortillas but I preferred to use wraps with numbers & preservatives)
2 cups grated cheese

fresh coriander leaves to garnish (optional)
3 tomatoes chopped (optional)
1/2 cup sour cream or natural yogurt (optional)
1/2 cup sliced black olives (optional)

Method

Preheat oven to 180/350 degrees.

Measure 1 cup black beans & cook in boiling water for around 50 minutes, until they are soft. Combine onion pepper, garlic, salsa, cumin, zucchini and black beans in large skillet and bring to simmer over medium heat. Cook, stirring for 3 minutes.

Place one corn wrap in the bottom of a 23cm (9 in) square baking dish. Spread half of bean mixture over tortillas and sprinkle with half of the cheese. Repeat layering process with remaining wrap, bean mixture and cheese.

Cover dish with foil and bake for 15 minutes. Garnish with tomatoes, sour cream and olives if you're not watching your weight. I served it with yogurt, coriander and a big green salad. Served 2 hungry adults with 1 serving leftover to freeze. Adapted from the recipe found on http://vegetarian.about.com/

Recipe: Meatless Monday - Veggie pizza

2011-09-12T08:35:00.000+10:00

Pizza doesn't have to be fattening or unhealthy, especially if you make it at home using fresh vegetables and not too much cheese. I love Monday night pizza night, because its something to look forward to on a Monday night and is a cinch to make. And we usually have all the ingredients in the fridge. If you have kids, they can help make their own. And we all know how much they love to get messy in the kitchen and make their own food ;-)

This is another recipe with a "use what ever you want" instruction. It's not a cop-out, its just that seasonal fresh produce from your local area is best. And go crazy with the herbs at the end, they rock the flavour factor!

We also have an electric pizza oven (a random, yet awesome gift that is used on a regular basis) and it has a stone base and heating element on top. It is fantastic because it give the pizza added crispness underneath as well as on top. If you find that you love Monday night pizza night as much as us, then it's worth investing in a home pizza oven.

Ingredients
Wholemeal lebanese or flat bread. Aim for 1 round per person. Try to be a label nazi and buy bread without preservatives. You'll be amazed how difficult it is to find plain bread. Ergh.
Good quality passata, bottled tomato salsa/pasta sauce or pesto
Vegetables in season: try zucchini cut length-wise, cherry tomatoes, roasted kumera, roasted capsicum, eggplant, mushrooms etc.
Yoghurt, goats curd or cheese
Herbs: basil, coriander, mint, oregano, thyme etc

Method
I like to crisp up the base first, but that is a personal preference. Top the base with tomato salsa (or you could use pesto sauce for a little basil and garlic kick, then add your veggies of choice. Try not to overload the pizza as it will become too moist. Less is more on a pizza, including cheese IMHO. Top with yoghurt or cheese or both. Pop in the pizza oven for several minutes, until the cheese has melted or until the ingredients are bubbling away nicely, but not burning.

Remove from oven, top with loads of fresh herbs & serve with a big salad (of course).

For non-meatless nights, add prosciutto, prawns or whatever you like, but remember to keep the ingredient list to around 2 or 3 items.

Recipe: Meatless Monday - Roast/BBQed vegetable, pesto & goats cheese salad

2011-08-29T16:26:00.002+10:00

Roasted or barbequed seasonal vegetables are delicious and appear in a number of my Meatless Monday dishes. I normally roast or barbeque much more than I need so that I can throw them in salads through the week to ramp up the flavour factor (for I am the unofficial salad queen).

Tonight we're having barbequed veggie, pesto & goats cheese salad. Frankly, I couldn't be bothered listing quantities here (it is Monday, after all), so just use your judgment for how many people you'll be cooking for and whether you want leftovers. I assure you all will be good!

Ingredients

Big salad bowl of washed and cut seasonal vegetables: my faves include corn on the cob, zucchini, red capsicum, fennel, kumera, beetroot. Get creative!
1/2 to 1 whole jar of good quality pesto, although I prefer to make it myself (whole bunch of basil, 2 cloves garlic, 125g parmesan cheese, good quality extra virgin olive oil, salt, blended)
100g goats cheese
Few handfuls of wild baby rocket and grated raw vegetables (or rainbow salad mix: julienned carrots, beetroot & broccoli stalks)
2 handfuls roasted pine nuts

Method

Roast or barbeque the veggies and let them cool. Stir pesto in with the roasted veggies. Assemble with rocket, rainbow salad, crumbled goats cheese & top with roasted pine nuts. Voile! Excuse the photo below: my food stylist was on holidays ;-)

Serves 4.

Recipe: Meatless Monday - Spaghetti with cherry tomatoes, caperberries & rocket

2011-08-15T08:20:00.001+10:00

Want a quick pasta recipe that takes about 15 minutes to prepare and cook? Well you've come to the right place. And if you're anti-anchovy, I beg you to give these little guys another go in your pasta dishes. Most of the time you can't taste them and they add a body and depth to tomato sauces that you can't get just by using salt. If you're not sure, just use one anchovy and see how you go. I tend to lean heavily on the anchovy side of things, so adjust as necessary.

Serves 2

Ingredients
250g spaghetti
1 punnet cherry tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, minced or chopped
2 cups wild rocket
2 anchovies, chopped
2 tablespoons caperberries, halved
zest of 1 lemon (alter to taste but I lerrrrve lemon zest)
Freshly grated parmesan cheese, to serve

Method
Boil pasta according to the instructions on the packet. While it is boiling, sautee anchovies, garlic and caperberries using some of the oil from the anchovy jar.

Drain pasta when cooked. Mix through sauteed ingredients and rocket. Top with lemon zest and parmesan cheese. If you wish you could also add olives. Dead easy.

Recipe: Osso Bucco

2011-08-14T14:19:00.005+10:00

This recipe is such a comfort-food classic and its richness just can't be beaten on a cold winter's night. As I was searching online for the right recipe to cook, this one really jumped out due to its inclusion of a garlic, anchovy & parsley puree at the end. And let me tell you, it absolutely makes the dish. So thank you to SBS food for its inspired Osso Bucco recipe.
Ingredients
4 x 350-400g, centre bone cut pieces of veal osso buco
100mL extra virgin olive oil
2 medium to large onions, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped or minced
2 anchovy fillets
1 cup dry white wine
1kg fresh tomato, crushed with skins and seeds removed (you can use tins of tomatoes)
1 cup veal stock (or just use beef if you can't find veal)
2 large sprigs of fresh thyme
2 large sprigs of fresh sage
1 large sprig of fresh rosemary
1 fresh bay leaf (I used dried)
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Purée
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tbsp finely chopped parsley
2 tbsp finely chopped good quality anchovy
Method
Preheat oven to 170°C.  Season the veal with the sea salt and pepper. Heat half the olive oil in a large pot and brown the veal osso buco pieces evenly on all sides. The veal should be well coloured but be careful not to burn the meat. This should take about 10 minutes.

Remove the browned veal shanks from the pot and set aside. Add remaining olive oil to the same pot and then add the onion, garlic, anchovy and herbs and sauté slowly for about 5 minutes or until translucent. Turn up the heat and add the wine to deglaze the pan. Cook until the wine is almost completely reduced before adding the tomato and stock.

Bring to the boil before lowering heat slightly and placing the veal pieces back into the pot. Slowly bring to the boil again before allowing to simmer slowly. Check for seasoning and adjust, and add a little sugar if the tomatoes are too acidic.

And this was the tricky part of the recipe: it didn't actually say when to put the pot in the oven, but I guessed at around 15 minutes after simmering the veal on the stove, but who knows..... Cooking time in the oven will vary depending on the thickness of the cut of veal but will take somewhere between 2.5 and 4 hours.

The veal should just start to separate from the bone when you move them from the oven. Do not remove until meat is falling off the bone, otherwise it will taste like dog meat - and you don't want that!

To make the purée, combine the garlic, anchovy and parsley. Easy peasy.

After you have removed the veal from the sauce, stir in the puree. Serve veal pieces with mashed potato, parmesan polenta or something similar to soak up the sauce. And don't forget some green veggies too.

Recipe: Meatless Monday - Roast vegetable & Persian fetta frittatas

2011-08-08T14:36:00.001+10:00

I especially enjoy the challenge of Meatless Monday and although I often feel I don't have time searching for inspiration, there are plenty of recipes around of the meat-free variety that it's really not that hard to do. I'm constantly amazed by all the new recipes I'm pulling out of my hat and how much my partner enjoys them. So much so I need to revisit them often. This is one of the ones he asks for again and again. Which is awesome because it's dead easy and impressive.

My version was adapted from a recipe in a Grazia Magazine, which is even better because I can now indulge my passion of reading trashy mags ;-)

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 fat cloves of garlic, skin on
Half a kumera or sweet potato, peeled and cut into 2cm pieces
15g butter
6 large eggs
1 capsicum, roasted and skin removed
2 zucchini
60g Persian Fetta (or more if you wish)
100ml single cream
Fresh dill for garnish
Salt
Baking paper

Method

Heat oven to 200 degrees C and spray muffin tins with olive oil. Pop red capsicum, kumera pieces and garlic clove on baking paper on tray. Spray with olive oil, season with salt and bake until cooked, around 1 hour. While the veggies are baking, peel zucchini into ribbons with a potato peeler.

Remove roasting veggies from oven and place capsicum in a plastic bag with some air and seal it, so that the steam helps to lift the skin from the capsicum. Once capsicum has cooled, remove from the plastic bag and peel off the skin, this should fall off quite easily.

Squeeze the garlic from the clove, it should be like a paste and add one egg to it and mix it up. Add the rest of the eggs, cream and dill together, whisk together and season well. Cut baking paper into squares that will fit into your muffin pan but leave enough for the paper to stick out. Insert paper, one at a time, followed by some roasted veggies.

Add the egg mixture and top with a couple of scoops of Persian fetta and a sprig of dill.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until puffy and golden. Leave to stand a few minutes before removing from tray.

You can do what I did and substitute vegetables in season, like zucchini flowers, cherry tomatoes, eggplant or potato and play around with herbs like basil, thyme or oregano. Trust me, most variations are delicious. Happy Meatless Monday!!

Recipe - Meatless Monday: Moroccan carrot & chick pea hot pot

2011-04-18T16:24:00.000+10:00

This baby is still simmering on the stove, but I thought I'd blog the recipe in the event that anyone was searching for a yummy looking autumn dish. The proof of course, will be in the eating, which I can't wait to do in a couple of hours.

This recipe comes from it by the Delicious Magazine's Faking It by Valli Little. I've substituted parsnip for half a kumera and a small eggplant because that's what I had in the fridge.

Ingredients

2 tbs olive oil

1 onion, thinly sliced (I accidentally chopped)

3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1/2 tsp each ground coriander, cumin, turmeric, ginger, cayenne pepper and paprika

2 bunches baby carrots, scrubbed, trimmed with some stem left intact

1 parsnip (or substitute like me)

400g can tinned chopped tomatoes

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 cup vegetable stock or water (I used stock, more flavour)

400g can chick peas, drained & rinsed

1/3 cup chopped coriander leaves

2 tsp chopped mint leaves

Couscous, to serve

Method

Heat the oil in a large sauce pan over medium heat & add onion, stirring for 2 mins or until starting to soften. Add the garlic and spices and stir for a few seconds until fragrant. Add carrots and your other veggies and stir to coat in the spice and onion mix.

Stir in the tomato, lemon juice, stock/water and cover for about 20 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Add the chick peas and heat through for 2-3 minutes.

Remove from the heat, then stir through the coriander and mint. Serve with couscous.

Photos of final product will be added at dinner time!

Recipe - Roasted vegetable and red quinoa salad

2011-04-12T09:04:00.000+10:00

I couldn't face another veggie pizza on Meatless Monday (not sure why, they're very tasty), so I improvised and made this quinoa salad instead. Another bloody delicious quinoa meal, it comes up trumps again as my new favourite grain.

Ingredients

1.5 cups uncooked red quinoa (but you can substitute white or black quinoa)

4.5 cups chicken stock

1 onion, chopped

3 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 teaspoon each ground cumin seeds, ground turmeric, ground coriander seeds

2 small kumera, cut into small pieces and roasted

1 small eggplant, cut in half lengthwise, roasted

3 zucchini, cut into thin slices, lengthways

1 red capsicum, roasted, skin on

Half a punnet cherry tomatoes, halved

1/2 bunch mint, chopped

1/2 bunch coriander, chopped

Method

Roast veggies and once done, put the red capsicum in a plastic bag and seal, to enable steam to help lift the skin off. Once cooled peel off the skin. Peel the skin off the eggplant and cut into 2cm cubes. Fry zucchini on a griddle fry pan or similar. A normal fry pan will do the trick, I just happen to like the charred stripes.

Add chicken stock to quinoa and cook quinoa according to directions. My packet of red quinoa said to boil for 15 minutes but that wasn't nearly enough, I found I cooked it for over 20 minutes. It shouldn't be too crunchy or gluggy, so keep testing it. [Don't worry, it will taste better than it smells, which is a bit like yellow split peas]

While quinoa is cooking, fry onions for a couple of minutes in 1 tablespoon of oil, then add remaining oil and spices. Cook for several minutes more until fragrant.

Once quinoa has cooked, allow to cool. Place cooked quinoa into a salad bowl and add onion & spice mix, then roasted veggies, cherry tomatoes and finally, chopped herbs.

The only thing missing in this salad was a bit of crunch, so you could add chopped fennel, or just do what I did and serve with a crunchy side salad.

Serves 4-6 if serving as a side dish, serves 2 as a meal (and you'll still have some leftovers for lunch the next day).

Sydney Restaurant Review: Bronte Road Bistro 25 March 2011

2011-04-11T17:31:00.000+10:00

When the local restaurant's chef boasts credentials such as Tetsuyas, Forbes and Burton, it is embarrassing to admit its taken me about 2 years to actually get there to eat. I think its a bit like travelling overseas. So often we go further afield when a little piece of heaven is right on our door step.

Bronte Road Bistro is our little piece of heaven.

We sat in the airy annex over looking the courtyard with the yellow and white stripey awning in sight. For me, there is something really appealing about looking at a yellow and white stripey awning. It is memories of The Ivy? Surely not. Maybe its a flashback to the Gold Coast in the 80's which to me, conjures feelings of summer, possibilities, fun and old age.

Back to the restaurant.

As soon as we sat down Miss 9 decided to have a tantrum about something inconsequential and Stu Parsons, the co-owner, handled it with style and grace. Stu got some well-deserved points before we ordered.

Although light on kid-friendly options, we managed to choose some fish & chips for one child and deep fried prawns with lime aioli for the second. We started with the charcuterie plate ($27) which offered a selection of wagyu bresaola, salami, jamon de trevelez, cornichons and chicken liver parfait, served with Iggy's bread. The parfait, I might add, was particularly par-fait, spread liberally on the Iggy's bread, especially with a wee bit o' cornichon..... The parfait was light and airy and delicious, full of livery goodness.

That was enough of a starter for me, but hubby, the one of the hollow legs, ordered half a dozen Sydney rock oysters ($3 each) which he assures me were amazing.

The kids meals were also very good. Miss 9 thankfully assured us that the fish and chips ($15) was better than the standard beach side fish & chips. Phew.

Our mains then arrived. I ordered an entree sized seared scallops with peas & spring onions ($18). The scallops were incredibly tender and moist and were lovely with the pureed peas. This sort of dish reminds me of spring.

Hubby ordered the mulloway with crispy polenta, swiss chard and agrodolce sauce ($31). We forgot to even ask what the sauce was, but being adept at google searches, I later discovered (thanks to Wikipedia) that agrodolce sauce is is a traditional sweet and sour sauce in Italian. Its name comes from "agro" (sour) and "dolce" (sweet). So basically its a fancy-schmancy way of saying "fish with sweet & sour sauce". Hubby said it tasted very fancy-schmancy too.

Apologies for the embarrassingly bad photography. I really must take my digital camera out with me more often. Shocker!

Our side had me swooning in green veggie heaven. The 3 pea salad, marjoram & fetta salad ($10) was a crispy, crunchy delight and even though I was thoroughly peed with my scallops I wanted to pea some more.

To go with the meal we ordered a 2009 Shaky Bridge "Pioneer" pinot gris from New Zealand ($45). I loved it. Not too fruity and very drinkable indeed, perfect with our seafood.

As we'd taken so long to visit Bronte Road Bistro we thought it would be rude not to sample a dessert and since I am a big fan of a lemon tart with vanilla icecream ($12), we ordered that with 2 spoons. Except we tucked in so quickly that I forgot to take a photo of it when it hit the table. Oh well. The spoon action shot will give you an indication of what it was like ;-)

And the verdict? Bronte Road Bistro is an excellent local bistro/restaurant. The prices are a little steeper than other local restaurants, but I think the food is better and you really can't beat that beautiful courtyard for al fresco dining. So good we've been back already and other family members have also made a return visit. Approval dutifully stamped!

Bronte Road Bistro

282 Bronte Rd

Charing Cross

Ph. 9389 3028

www.bronteroadbistro.com

Sydney Restaurant Review: Sake Restaurant: 5 April 2011

2011-04-09T16:34:00.000+10:00

For our [lucky] 13th wedding anniversary dinner I wanted to choose a special restaurant, preferably one that neither of us had been to. Quay is definitely on the list, but after all the hoo-haa of the snow egg and Masterchef, the waiting list is a mile long and I just haven't been that organised.

Knowing @Chef_Ali was definitely a plus when it came to choosing the venue, however I'd independently heard great things about Sake Restaurant and knew it had recently won a chef's hat, so booked that and kept it a secret from Mr YourLocalMarkets.

And what a fab surprise it was.

From the moment we walked in, all the staff wished us Happy Anniversary. Ahh, so nice to feel special. The fit out of this restaurant screams fabulous, funky & delicious. From the drums on the wall (above) to the art work, the exposed chunky wooden beams and wonderful open kitchen, I loved this restaurant from the word go.

We hadn't done any research on what to order so we just went with what sounded good and tried to steer away from anything that sounded like traditional sushi. So we ordered:

Wagyu new style (thin slices of wagyu beef lightly seared with hot oil and finished with ginger, chives and yuzu soy):

Tasty, incredibly tender and most definitely moreish. The teeny tiny garnish of chives on top just added that extra ker-pow to the dish. Perfect.

Then arrived some steamed prawn dumplings. We didn't order these and sent them back, until they boomeranged and we discovered they were a little gift from the kitchen. We had purposely not ordered anything traditional, but OMG! Best prawn dumplings EVER! Pardon the dodgy iPhone photo. Must learn: do not to move arm when taking photos!

These little guys were actually encased in a swirl of rice noodles rather than a sheet of rice noodle. And the prawns were subtle and tender, much nicer than anything I've ever had at yum cha.

Next came the sashimi tacos (tuna and salmon sashimi filled baby tacos with chilled tomato salsa matched with Kozaemon Junmai "sake shots':

This was my favourite dish for the night. Tender, soft, crunchy, flavoursome. They were even topped with.... wait for it... raw spanish onion and you won't believe it, but the spanish onion actually tasted like a real spanish onion, with a very mild onion flavour. Not like those monstrosities from the supermarket that just taste like a normal onion. [Onion rant over now]

I would go back just to have these alone. And the sake was amazing, the top of the shot glass was encrusted with sugar. Perfecto!

Then came the tonkatsu cups (4 pieces of panko-fried pork belly & spring onion bites, served in lettuce cups with mustard miso and Japanese barbeque sauce.

Yummy, but they were a little too deep fried and as a massive pork belly lover, weren't porky enough for me. They were more like a (dutch fritter).

Next on the list was the sashimi plate.

All of the fish was amazingly fresh and firm, but melt-in-your-mouth soft. I must admit I'm a little over the sashimi at those conveyor belt sushi places being all washed/thawed out. This sashimi was straight out of the ocean. My favourite, which I have never eaten before as sashimi? The scallop. Incredible.

The next dish to arrive was ocean trout, which had been pan-seared served with edamame puree and Asian mushrooms tossed in butter soy. Delicious the edamame puree being a delightfully creamy counterpoint (in colour, texture and flavour) to the rest of the dish. The seared edge of the salmon was slightly crunchy whilst the inside remained a soft medium-rare. Mmmm. Tummy starting to fill up now.

Our final savoury dish was the miso-cream scallops, pan seared with baby corn, asparagus, shitake mushrooms & yuzu miso cream. Heavenly. Ali made this dish. What a talented young chef!

I'm not sure how I managed to find a secret pocket of my tummy to squeeze in dessert, but like with most things, I managed to do it with some effort. Luckily the Russian Creme dessert was really light, kind of like eating nothing, but far sweeter and tastier!

I can't recommend Sake more highly. The food, service & ambience was off the richter. We've already pencilled-in our favourite sake-drinking friends for a night out in the near future and I can't wait to return to try some other dishes.

Sake Restaurant & Bar

12 Argyle St

The Rocks

Tel: +61 2 9259 5656

hello@sakerestaurant.com.au

http://www.sakerestaurant.com.au/sydney

Recipe - Deconstructed Sushi

2011-04-05T12:55:00.001+10:00

Much as I heart Delicious Magazine and its cook book, "Faking It" by Valli Little, I almost collected $200 and passed go when I flicked past its "Sushi Rice Bowl" hiding in the Noodle & Rice section. However, the photo had me checking out the ingredient list before I had time to yawn. As I read through the list I knew I had to give this a whirl as my next Meatless Monday meal.

It was freakin' delicious. Even if I do say so myself. But hubby also swore a little bit (in a good way) when he tried it. This needs to be shared. Widely. Thank you to Delicious and and Valli Little for including an eye-catching photo of this meal so I didn't sail past and get stuck in the Chocolate section. Although that wouldn't have been such a bad thing..... ;-)

Ingredients

2 cups brown rice

Grated zest and juice of 1 orange and 1 lemon

2 tbs caster sugar

2tbs Japanese shoyu [I couldn't find anything so fancy-schmancy, even in the health food store, so I used organic soy, just to make my halo extra shiny]

2 tbs brown rice vinegar. [ Again, I just used Asian rice vinegar, which was perfectly fine]

A slurp of Mirin [not in the recipe, but why not?]

400g firm tofu, patted dry & cut into 2cm cubes

1 tbs sunflower oil

4 sheets nori, cut into 5 cm squares

4 spring onions, sliced on the diagonal [the onion hater in me left these babies out and it did not suffer for flavour]

1 lebanese cucumber, sliced into long thin strips on the diagonal

1 avocado

50 grams snow pea sprouts [these were not in season so I used snow peas but any green crunchy veggie would do]

Black sesame seeds [these are FAB for colour & movement]

Method

Cook the rice. I cooked it in the microwave for about 20ish minutes but you can boil it according to the instructions on the packet. Don't use that pre-cooked stuff though. Have you checked out what's in it? There's stuff in there keeping it fresh and not good stuff - eww. Unprocessed & fresh = good.

Meanwhile, zest the orange & lemon and combine with the sugar in a saucepan over a medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar.

Remove from the heat and stir in the soy and vinegar. Stir half the dressing over the cooled rice.

Heat a char grill pan or fry pan over medium heat. Brush the tofu with the oil and cook for a few minutes. I like mine charred. A word on my nuggets. I forgot about reading the recipe (whoops!) and just cut it, then realised I had these tiny little things rolling around in the char grill pan. Oh well, still tasted good, but next time I'll READ the recipe and stick to the recommended size and make them a little bigger.

Here comes the good bit. Basically mix everything together into separate bowls and add black sesame seeds last for garnish. Add the rest of the dressing. Season with soy & extra ginger at the table if you like.

The recipe book showed the tofu chargrilled on some tres funky wooden chopsticks, but bereft of chopsticks or skewers, I used toothpicks for presentation but it looked a little bit ridiculous. My advice: just mix the tofu into the salad with everything else. No need to get clever here. It's better through the salad, trust me.

The recipe book also says to line the bowls with the whole nori sheet but I chopped it up into 5cms squares and mixed it through the salad. I think its easier to eat that way, otherwise you're pecking around with chopsticks or other implements trying to separate it and eat it. The nori really is delicious in pieces along with all the other bits.

Serves 4, but you're eating as a whole meal, I'd say it serves 2, especially if you have a boy at the table who is tall with hollow legs.

Recipe - Rabbit Cacciatore

2011-04-04T21:47:00.001+10:00

As the weather cools, I start reaching for my warm cardi and slow cooking recipe books. Whilst this recipe isn't a slow-cook recipe per se, I was inspired when chatting to the goodly folk at Oaklands Produce who sell sustainably reared meat at the Bondi Junction Village Markets. Amongst their fantastic produce for sale are whole, farmed rabbits. A customer ordered a rabbit last week and I realised I had never bought and cooked an Oaklands Produce rabbit. Quel horreur!

Customers at markets are an invaluable source of inspiration and information. Not only did this gentleman inspire me to cook the said bunny, but to make a rabbit cacciatore. Perfect for a Sydney autumnal day!!

I googled "Rabbit Cacciatore" and found a recipe at www.simplyrecipes.com. And here it is, with my alterations (of course)

Ingredients
1 whole rabbit, cut into 6-8 pieces

Salt & freshly ground pepper

3 tablespoons fresh oregano (the recipe called for thyme but I didn't have any so used the oregano from the garden)

1 teaspoon rosemary (I didn't have any of this so didn't use it)

Plain flour

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 chopped onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup mushrooms, quartered

3 cups very ripe tomatoes (or 1.5 cans tinned roma tomatoes)

2 red capsicum, seeded & cut into 2cm cubes

1 bay leaf

16 kalamata olives

Method

Sprinkle rabbit pieces generously with salt and pepper, rub half of the oregano leaves into the pieces, then sprinkle with flour to lightly coat. Heat olive oil in large skillet on medium high. Place the rabbit pieces in the pan in a single layer. Don't move them. Cook for 2-3 mins on one side until lightly browned then turn and cook for another few minutes. Remove the rabbit pieces and set aside.

Reduce heat to medium and add the onions, cook for a minute and then add the garlic, capsicum and mushies and cook for a couple of minutes more. Add more oregano.

Pop rabbit pieces back into the pan.

Cover with tomatoes and the bay leaf. I also added some water here, feel free to do the same. Cover the pan and cook for 35 minutes.

Uncover the pan, add olives. Increase heat to high and cook to boil of excess moisture and reduce the sauce. When the liquid has reduced by half, check the seasoning and add more if necessary. remove from heat & serve.

This was delicious served with brown rice & snow peas but I think this would be much better served with a garlic mash & green beans. I think next time I'll experiment and cook the rabbit for a few hours to see if the meat will fall off the bone. I do love a casserole where the meat does that, like magic. Yummy.

Oaklands Produce can be found at the Bondi Junction Village Markets each Thursday, Friday & Saturday, 9am - 5pm

Eating from the pantry, fridge & freezer: February's belated result

2011-03-30T15:18:00.001+11:00

Okey dokes folks, before you ooh and ahh over my massive pantry slim down, let me start by confessing the above is not my pantry. Nor would I want it to be! My new pantry resembles my old pantry, but just with a few things missing.

I had high hopes for the challenge. I envisaged myself cutting a swathe through the pantry, emptying the fridge and freezer and inventing some highly exotic and appealing recipes. I also thought I'd save heaps of dosh and be a transformed shopper at the end of it all, shunning wasteful purchases in favour of a more sustainable existence. So how did I fare against my own expectations? Let's see.....

Cutting a swathe through the pantry: Semi-fail. Or if the glass jar is half full, perhaps that's a semi-win? Our pantry was so out of control that there were only so many lentils and beans I could add to my almost daily lunchtime salad without turning into a hippy. And apologies to all the bean fans and hippies I just offended. I did create a rather tasty home made baked bean dish and added them to salads but sadly I still have some left.

My other challenge was that strangely, during February, we ate out a bit, so the opportunities for gobbling the contents was actually reduced rather than broadened. And I'm also embarrassed to admit that the preserved lemons I preserved last year which would have ROCKED in an invented quinoa salad recipe remained hidden behind all manner of cupcake baking materials. Never to worry, I'm gonna use them up very soon.

On the win-side, to end on a positive note, I did use all our cans of tinned fish, most of the piles of pasta I definitely reduced the bean count.
Emptying the fridge and freezer: Semi-win. I bought less and used more of what was in both. I cooked with most of the frozen meat & fish. I even used up some of the condiments and experimented with using Relish This beetroot relish on a salad instead of salad dressing, with delicious results. And I definitely bought less. But I didn't use up the frozen soup. Not yet anyway, will wait until the weather gets colder.
Inventing some highly exotic and appealing recipes: Mostly fail. Although in doing the recipe count, I found I did cook quinoa, home made baked beans, crab & lemon pasta and some wilted grape tomato & anchovy pasta which I otherwise would never have cooked had I not been on the challenge. But they're hardly exotic recipes. Luckily the ones I did cook were all appealing! My problem is that perhaps I don't have enough imagination when it comes to cooking and am slightly risk averse when it comes to flavour. Basically I'm a bit of a pig, so would rather wolf down something scrumptious than try to cook something which might not be. Meh. There are worse things I guess.
Saving heaps of dosh: Mostly win. I definitely cut back on shopping and only bought what was necessary. And I resisted the urge to "just get another tin of beans" if I wasn't sure how many hundred I already had in the pantry. I must say, I found this the most liberating part of the exercise. Not only was my wallet lighter, but so was my shopping trolley and my conscience.
Becoming a transformed shopper: Mostly win. I must say the month's challenged definitely changed the way I think about shopping at the markets AND the supermarket. Unless I need something now I just don't buy it (except, perhaps, for loo paper). I've reduced the amount of self-saucing veggies and walls of cans in the pantry AND the amount of money I spend (and waste) every week.

So: whilst I didn't meet all my unrealistic expectations, I would say that the challenge was definitely a success, if only from the perspective that I'm now quite conscious of not over-buying. I may shop a little more often for the ingredients I suddenly need, but once I get organised and plan the week's meals (yes, pigs can fly) then I'll well on the way to getting my pantry, fridge & freezer constantly under control.

What about you? Would you consider the challenge? Could you do it for a month? If you've done the challenge, what were your experiences?

Recipe - Valentine's Day Dark Muscovado Brownies (not the healthy kind)

2011-02-14T17:06:00.001+11:00

These brownies rock my world. Universally voted by all who try them as being "the best brownies ever", I have been asked to publish this in time for a last-minute Valentine's bake-off.

Muscovado sugar, with its consistency similar to palm sugar, is the secret weapon. Don't bother using its poor cousin, brown sugar or even palm sugar. Muscovado has a taste all of its own which permeates the finished brownie. It really is worth buying it for the taste.

A word of warning though: cut the brownies into small pieces because like Bill Gates, they're really really rich.

Valentine's Day Dark Muscovado Brownies

Ingredients

350g dark chocolate (55-70% cocoa solids)
200g unsalted butter
250g or 1 1/4 cupes dark muscovado sugar
3 large free range eggs
70g or 2/3 cup plain flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch salt

Method

Preheat oven to 170 degrees C or 325 degrees F. Butter and line a brownie tin or deep square cake tin.

Melt the chocolate and butter together in a heat proof bowl over a pan of hot water or in a microwave on medium and stir until smooth.

Place the sugar in a bowl and if it is slightly lumpy, remove the lumps with your fingers. Microwaving can help this process. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Slowly add this to the melted chocolate mixture, stirring well.

Sift in the flour, baking powder and pinch of salt and gently fold together. Tip mixture into the tin and bake for 35 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted into the middle comes out with moist crumbs. It should also feel just firm when you place the palm of your hand gently on top (don't burn yourself though!).

Remove tin on to a wire rack and allow to cool for 30 minutes and then cut into pieces. The recipe recommends 16: I made mine about 3cms x 3cms. Better to come back for more than create a pain barrier you regret. Leave until completely cold before removing the brownies, which, can be torture. Best to leave the house for a few hours so you don't pick, like hubby did below ;-)

Eating from the pantry, fridge and freezer: Winner Dinner!

2011-02-09T21:42:00.001+11:00

This was my first off-piste recipe so I was a little nervous. Particularly using crab meat. Not really sure how, when or why that made itself into the cupboard, but it was my mission tonight to eliminate it. Forthwith.

But after polishing off my second bowl, I proudly declare this pasta dish to be a double-thumbs-up WINNER!!!

Tomato & crab spaghetti with caperberries and lemon zest

Ingredients

500 grams spaghetti
1 clove garlic, thinly chopped or minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
170g tin crab meat
I 400g bottle tomato passata
2 tablespoons caperberries, halved & stalks removed
Zest of 1 lemon
Parmesan or grana padana to taste

Method

Boil water for pasta.

Heat oil in pan & sautee garlic until light brown. Add tomato sauce, crab meat, caperberries & lemon zest. Heat through on low heat.

Cook spaghetti according to instructions.

Serve pasta with sauce on top. Add a few shavings of parmesan and zest.

Serves 4.

If desired you can forget about the crab meat, particularly for Meatless Monday. The combination of tomato, caperberries & lemon zest adds so much flavour and ZING that it would work regardless.

Eating from the pantry, fridge & freezer - Day 2

2011-02-01T22:47:00.003+11:00

I can proudly claim Day 2 of the Pantry, Fridge & Freezer (PFF) challenge a resounding success. Breakfast was the breakfast of champions, home made berry bircher muesli.

Lunch was Morroccan Quinoa Salad (using lentils instead of black beans) with rainbow salad (above). After I ate it I felt dangerously healthy. Dangerously. Which is kind of ironic since I am fighting a sore throat.

As the mercury soared to more than 37 degrees today, the thought of cooking was as about appealing as sticking my sweatty face in a hair dryer. So after peering into the pantry, I discovered a pristine packet of rice paper roll wrappers hiding behind the mountains of pasta (but more on that below). That packet had been nestling there for at least 12 months.

My rice paper rolls were stuffed with leftover chook from the kids' drumsticks dinner. Other ingredients? Peanuts, coriander, mint, bean sprouts, carrot, rice paper rolls, fish sauce, lime juice, brown sugar, soy sauce, carrot, cucumber and tofu (tempeh). And sweet chilli dipping sauce.

During the day I snacked on my obsession, Emma & Tom's Cacao & Orange Life Bars.

Since I am so in love with these bars *swoon* and can't bear the thought of not having one in my handbag for those mid-afternoon emergency hypo-glycemic moments, I have 2 boxes of 12 in the pantry and don't doubt, with or without the PFF challenge, that they will be consumed. They ROCK!

Tomorrow's breakfast of bircher is soaking in the fridge and as hubby is going interstate for a few days I suspect the next few days will play host to a few rounds of salads, incorporating some of those pesky and numerous cans of legumes. How DID I end up with so many???

After the cans, I will tackle the pasta. Sheepishly: I can now admit to 10 packets (yes, 10) of spaghetti and 7 packets or boxes of short pasta like fusili and penne.

But don't even get me started on the relishes, pickles and condiments!

Eating from the pantry, fridge & freezer

2011-01-31T11:59:00.005+11:00

I have an embarassing problem.

If you're a foodie like me and have touches of the hoarder within, your pantry, fridge & freezer resemble those that would furnish a bunker. I often find with dismay, that when I return home from grocery shopping that there is stacking-room-only for the newly purchased cans of chick peas & kidney beans beside all the other cans of chick peas & kidney beans (they're healthy in salads, right?); that a complete audit must be conducted on the fridge only to find those beautiful new green beans for the nicoise salad I never made have been hiding at the back of the vegetable crisper and are now self-saucing; and the cooked brown rice in the zip lock bag that has been in the freezer for 7 months needs to be turfed to make room for more important things like meat and fish.

But there is a solution.

It's called "Eating from the pantry". Or if you want to get more serious: "Eating from the pantry, fridge & freezer".

This is a great idea to clear out the mountains of cans in your cupboards and also save money. There are websites devoted to this practice and whilst others have implemented differing reasons and rules for taking on the challenge, its a great way to spring clean your kitchen, save money and save the planet a little by minimising food waste. Some bloggers have reported losing more than 5 lbs and saving hundreds of dollars. Me: I just want to be able to see into the cupboard.

If you're interested in reading more, just google "eating from the pantry".

I'm going to take the challenge in February, and not because its the shortest month ;-) However just to break my own rules I'm going to start today, being Monday 31 January. Apart from starting one day early, my rules will be that I may buy meat, fish, poultry, dairy, fruit, veggies and eggs when they run out, but I must use everything in my fridge and freezer before that happens. And when I buy these things I must use them. I'm not sure how I will punish myself if I don't adhere to my rules, but perhaps the public embarassment of reporting the results on this blog will be enough to motivate me to do the right thing.

Anyone care to join in?

A word of warning however. We have a pretty healthy pantry. We've always shunned junk food in favour of healthy options, but if your pantry looks more like the party aisle of the supermarket, I suggest you actually bring your bin over to the pantry and tip all the rubbish into it. I'm sure Michelle Bridges fromThe Biggest Loser and the 12 Week Body Transformation would endorse this: and let's face it, you don't want to eat crap for the next month and during January, your waistline could probably do without it if you're planning a trip or two to the beach. So bin the bikkies; melt the icecream in the sink and donate the extra packet of tim tams to your skinny next door neighbour and concentrate on the food in your pantry.

Tonight's dinner happens to be a Meatless Monday dinner but I'm a little worried it won't be enough for Mr Sixfootfour. We already happen to have goats cheese, walnuts, a tin of baby beets and heaps of rocket in the house so that will be a yummy and meatless salad for tonight, but it may not fill hubby's hollow legs, so I'm planning a side of quinoa salad as well.

So.... watch this space. Posts detailing innovative pantry recipes and photos of declining walls of food pending.

Recipe: Corn, zuchinni & coriander hotcakes

2011-01-18T15:22:00.002+11:00

For some reason, I always seem to worry I'm going to run out of recipes for Meatless Monday. However, as a veggie lover this fear is quite unfounded. I have heaps of vegetarian recipes and always have loads of veggies in the fridge. Perhaps all I need is a better memory, more organisation and inspiration (or a kick up the patootie)...

So how good did I feel when I was trawling through a recent NW and stumbled across Ben O'Donohoe's recipe for "corn and coriander hotcakes"? Monday night dinner, doneski. Never content with a recipe as-is, I decided to up the veggie content and add some zucchini just for the fun of it.

Corn, zucchini and coriander hotcakes

Ingredients

11/4 cups plain flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
4 eggs, separated
3/4 cup milk. (low fat can be used)
1 cup ricotta (I used low fat)
2 cobs of corn, cooked and kernels cut off (recipe calls for 1 cup canned corn kernels, drained, but why used anything canned when corn is so sweet in season?)
1 zucchini, grated
bunch of coriander, chopped
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
50g butter

Method

Combine flour, baking powder and salt un a bowl. Make a BIG well in the centre and add the egg yolks and milk. Whisk until mixture is smooth, then fold in ricotta, corn, zucchini and coriander.

Whisk egg whites in a separate bill until soft peaks form, then gently fold into the hotcake mix.

Melt some butter in a frypan on medium heat and fry large spoonfuls of hotcake batter. It's quite easy to make them round as they tend to hold their shape nicely on the frypan, but try to ensure the thickness is even.

Depending on the heat of your stove, cook for several minutes on one side and turn when golden brown, cooking for a further 2 minutes or so on the other side.

Keep these little guys in a dish covered with foil and place in a warm oven until ready to serve.

I served them with a tomato and eggplant salsa and a lovely big salad.

I've made corn fritters before, but I must confess that the yum-factor was off the richter due to the large amount of coriander, which works perfectly with the sweet corn, especially at this time of year when it's juicy & delicious.

Makes about 18-20 depending on the size. Serves 4. As it was dinner for 2, hubby took some to work for lunch and we froze the rest for another night.

Gold Coast Restaurant Review: Mecca Bah, Broadbeach 8 January 2011

2011-01-09T16:19:00.002+11:00

One of our Gold Coast stallholders recommended Mecca Bah which was serendipidous as we were looking for a place to dine on a Saturday night (read: too lazy to cook).

We called that afternoon to book and were advised there was only a 5.30pm or 9.30pm sitting available. For a restaurant that opened its doors 2 days before Christmas, this was a good sign.....

particularly for a restaurant the size of Mecca Bah. We calculated it would seat around 150. In the current retail/hospitality environment the fact that this 2-week-old restaurant was fully booked was a fantastic sign.

The decor was lovely, very Moroccan (funny that) and nice low lighting, but not so low that you can't decipher the menu or recognise your dining companions.

First up were drinks. We went off piste and ordered a cocktail not on the menu, a caprioska.

It was limey and fresh but could have done with some mint. Small criticism though.

Despite there not being many people in the restaurant at 5.30pm, we waited a little while to order, although we did have a few visits from different and friendly staff prior to ordering. We did attract the attention of a waiter eventually who was very helpful with the menu, recommending the mezze entrees of spicy Turkish lamb kofte with yoghurt & mint sauce ($13); chickpea battered mussels, almond skordalia ($15); and Bastilla (Moroccan chicken pastries) ($14). We ordered a beautiful pinot, a 2009 Central Otago Maude Pinot, which was quite steep at $115. The Maitre 'd explained to us later that the limited number and range of wines was due to not having the requisite equipment, which would be delivered soon.

In a word, the mezze were all TDF (for the uninitiated: To Die For). The lamb kofte was very moist and contained delicate middle eastern spices. The chickpea mussels were the biggest surprise. Not only were those little guys delicious, but our kids tried them and ordered a plate for themselves after their their kids cheese pizza disappeared. The final mezze was my favourite of the three: the slightly sweet, lightly spiced shredded chicken Bastilla pastries wrapped in oh-so-light filo pastry. The addition of cinnamon and icing sugar dusting was heaven.

Lamb Kofte

Chickpea battered mussels with almond skordalia

Chicken Bastilla (dusted with icing sugar & cinnamon)

On the recommendation of the aforementioned stallholder, we ordered the spit roasted lamb, rocket, yoghurt & sumac Turkish pizza (422). The spit roasted lamb was tender and the flavours combined nicely, but in retrospect it might have been more adventurous trying one of the following Turkish pizzas on offer:

Pastirma (Turkish cured beef), roast garlic, fennel & goats cheese ($21);
Sardine, caramelised onion, roast tomato & olive ($20);
Spiced chicken with eggplant, rocket & tahini sauce ($22); or
Roast pumpkin, chilli, pomegranate jam & fetta ($21) Pomegranate jam? OMG! Why didn't we order that??????

And then.... my favourite dish of the night: the Roasted vegetable tangine with eggplant, zucchini, carrot, onion, cous cous and chermoula spices. The cous cous was sunken in the depths of the tagine and I would have preferred it to be on the side, but the sunken cous cous was forgiven because the flavours from the tangine were so beautifully subtle; the eggplant was soft and had absorbed all of the soupiness of the tagine whilst the other veggies were fine tagine party pals. The tagine was topped with a generous amount of fresh parsley and coriander. Fresh herbs. Mmmmm.

We did experience a few service hiccups (20 minutes for the bill, not having a dedicated waiter for our table so therefore lacking some attention, getting the wrong wine glasses for our pinot) however as a new restaurant with excellent food and a lovely ambience, these aspects can be forgiven. We will definitely be back and highly recommend this restaurant.

Mecca Bah
18-26 Charles Ave
Oracle Boulevard, Broadbeach
Ph: (07) 5504 7754
Web: http://meccabah.net/goldcoast/ (the website doesn't do the restaurant justice)

Queensland Restaurant Review: Canteen, Noosa Junction 5-7 January 2011

2011-01-08T13:30:00.000+11:00

This unassuming cafe at Noosa Junction is always crowded during the peak summer period and by rights, should always be crowded. Whilst not on the main drag at Hastings Street, and without the view of Gympie Terrace, it would be easy to over look this little gem at the junction. However consider this: Canteen serves really fresh, honest food, has a lovely vibe and is littered with attentive but casually friendly staff.

The menu isn't huge but has a number of yummy-sounding breakfast and lunch options. We made at least 3 visits over 3 days to this little beauty, having tried many others on Hastings Street. By why queue for something inferior?

Over the course of the 3 visits we ordered several breakfast and lunch dishes:

Bircher muesli trifle. I'm not sure why I don't make this for myself at home BUT I AM GOING TO START! Awesomeness disguised as a healthy, tasty treat:

Poached eggs with mushrooms, rocket & goats curd:

Big breakfast of poached eggs, bacon, chorizo, mushrooms, rocket, roasted tomato & tomato chutney. Heavenly flavours, although my dining companion noted the tomatoes were a little overdone. We could overlook the overdone when the rest was so good:

Fried eggs with bacon, rocket & tomato:

[I am pleased to report that all the eggs were soft & runny]

Tomato tart tartin with goats cheese and caramelised onion (although truthfully, I couldn't taste any goats curd in the dish) which was beautifully presented and contained gorgeous, dark green rocket which was bursting with peppery-freshness (unlike some other recent destinations who chose to serve the older, yellowing variety):

Thai beef salad with cucumber, snow peas, coriander, tomato, cashews & nam jim dressing... A party of flavours and textures in one divine salad:

The kids shared the calamari with aioli (and I ate their orange & fennel salad):

and slurped chocolate milkshakes which contained illegal amounts of vanilla icecream & chockie sauce:

We all shared the chippies which were crunchy on the outside, soft & fluffy on the inside:

Oh. And the coffee. Very good indeed. Apparently if you buy a coffee or juice you also get 1 hour of free internet too.

Our visit to Noosa this year was short but personally I'm very glad we spent so much time at Canteen. We'll definitely return next time we're in Noosa.

Canteen Cafe

Shop 24-6 Sunshine Beach Road

Noosa Heads, 4567

Ph: 07 5447 5400

Open 7 days: 7.30am-5.30pm, Closed Xmas Day and New Years Day

Sydney Restaurant Review: Cafe Sopra, Walsh Bay: 7 December 2010

2011-01-08T12:35:00.000+11:00

This is one of my favourite restaurants, full stop. I love everything about Cafe Sopra. I love the big blackboard, the seemingly endless menu and the range of choices, including salads. I love that unless you're seated right near it you need to stand up and move closer just to see what's in store for that day and by necessity, to give a polite smile to the diners near the blackboard. I love the small deli-come-fresh-food grocer on the other side of the restaurant which provides much of the fresh produce for the restaurant (or is that the other way around?). I love that occasionally you can indulge in some celeb-spotting. And I love the food and wine.

We sat down, pre-theatre, and ordered caprioskas. They were sweet, limey and not at all alcoholic tasting, which is just about perfect (and dangerous) in the mild weather that day. Like drinking summer.

Quite often I have trouble choosing something from the blackboard, as there are so many delicious-sounding dishes. Tried and true or new? Talk about first world problems!

In order to achieve a win-win situation with my other two dining companions (who are large, fit men with decent appetites) we decided to order a few entrees and share. First cab off the rank was the parma ham with fresh figs to celebrate summer. The figs were sweet and honey-like, the ham deliciously soft, salty and creamy. We were off to a perfect start.

Then came the stuffed zucchini flowers with Italian cheeses. OMG! I failed to ask what cheeses those babies were stuffed with but I suspect one of Sopra's current faves, gorgonzola, was invited to the cheese-stuffing party.

We also opted to share the salad of shaved baby cabbage with reggiano & aged balsamic on the recommendation of our very charming waiter. And he was right, despite its lacklustre look. It was simple but oh-so-good. The crunch of the baby cabbage was a perfect marriage with the salty reggiano & sweet balsamic. When my dinner guests weren't looking I reckon I scoffed half of this salad.

As were were sharing starters (and some were high in cals), the dish I chose for my main was an old fave: the white anchovy salad with asparagus, tomato & vino cotto. It was, as always, perfect. The salty but comparatively creamy white anchovies, the fresh slightly acidic, but ripe tomatoes and the sweetness of the vino cotto and the asparagus, capers and touch of basil all combined into the perfect summer salad (okay, okay, I exorcised the raw onion). I felt like I was eating summer.

My companions ordered the smoked chicken & sweet corn risotto with pecorino. It tasted fantastic, its just a pity the presentation was a little lacking. Cafe Sopra do food so well I was surprised by the look of this dish, especially since we eat with not only our mouths, but our eyes:

My mate did polish off the whole dish however so I guess that the proof is in the eating.

My other companion ordered the whole baked trout with mint and marjoram. It was declared to be one of the best fish he has ever tasted. I loved my salad but had immediate dish-envy.

After all that food we were, to coin a phrase, as full as a fat lady's shoe. However, I'm so glad we ordered the dessert of lemon sorbet with strawberry puree and prosecco. It was like heaven in a glass and would also make an entirely wicked cocktail. All those bubbles. All that pink! Frothy strawberry-lemony perfection. How could you not be happy with this to finish the meal?

I thought our night couldn't get much better, but as we said a fond farewell to one of my favourite Sydney restaurants and waddled over to the Sydney Theatre, a limo passed us and the occupants emerged just as we entered Sydney Theatre. Jake, next time I recommend you skip room service and dine at Cafe Sopra at Walsh Bay instead.......

Cafe Sopra @ Fratelli Fresh
16 Hickson Rd

Walsh Bay
ph. 8243 2777 (no bookings, so we recommend getting there early to avoid queuing)

Monday - Friday 11am - 7pm

Saturday, Sunday 10am - 7pm

customerservice@fratellifresh.com.au

Gold Coast Restaurant Review: Little Beans, Nobbys Beach 2 January 2011

2011-01-03T15:22:00.000+11:00

I was a teensy bit excited about discovering some of the cafes in the Naked Guide given my initial success with Vintage Espresso. Even though technically I discovered Vintage Espresso all by myself, without the Naked Guide. Whatevs.... The Naked Guide promised a whole lot of hidden gems in tucked away places on the Goldie that only the locals would be lucky enough to know about and I was keen to try them out.

The take away Merlo coffee I bought from Little Beans earlier that day was piping hot and promised proprietors who knew their stuff.

I arrived with my good friend and 2 slightly sick & cranky kids who desperately needed a change of scenery away from the tv & nintendo screens.

We sat on a lounge with a coffee table between us and the vibe was relaxed and friendly. A nice start.

The lunch menu was a bit sparse and didn't offer anything I was interested in, so I went the Vego Nosh, comprising poached eggs, avocado, mushroom, roast tomato, potato rosti & toast. I figured since this cafe was listed in the Naked Guide the toast situation would be higher than the usual standard. The kids both ordered bacon & eggs. My mate ordered the Little Beans Special Salad with roasted beetroot, baby beets, roasted walnuts, fetta, baby watercress, mustard greens & house dressing. That would have been my second choice.

Bacon & eggs was fairly basic:

...however only one out of 4 eggs was runny. Shame. And the packet butter was molten.

Next came the Vego Nosh (with a strawberry on top. What the?). I was relieved by the sight of my half roasted tomato. Excitedly, I cut into my poached eggs and BOTH yolks were hard. Gah! I had to trade a soft poached egg with a generous child in exchange for post-breakfast gelato. The things I do.

Sadly, the packet potato rosti also disappointed. It was so deep fried that it there was no soft potato on the inside, it was oily and crunchy all the way through. Like a big, fat, oily, packet hash brown. Wait a minute. It was a big, fat oily, packet hash brown. More potato crisp than potato rosti.

The mushies, spinach and avocado were all fine so I concentrated on those. My toast was also sub-par due to the fact that it was merely bread whacked on the grill so lacked the necessary crunch that toast should have (in my opinion anyway). It was just like bread popped on the grill for a minute or two. Funny that.

My friend's salad was lacking in the volume of baby watercress that she had expected and the bed of mustard greens (rocket) had seen better days and was starting to yellow (as was the watercress). I know that it's really hard to keep lettuces perky for more than a day in the heat of summer in Queensland, but I don't think food businesses should use this as an excuse, particularly when we're paying $17.50 for the privilege of the salad. More disappointment unfortunately.

The atmosphere was relaxed & friendly as was the service, however I don't think I'll return. Maybe for a take away coffee. Or I noticed that the cafe is now open some nights and has live music, so perhaps with its relaxed vibe its a better spot for a few drinks & some late night groovin'....

Little Beans Cafe & Lounge Bar

5/ 2215 Gold Coast Highway,

Nobbys Beach

Ph: (07) 5572 0844

Gold Coast Restaurant Review: Yellowfin Restaurant, Broadbeach 30 December 2010

2011-01-02T19:55:00.000+11:00

If this restaurant wasn't on twitter and I hadn't tweeted with Staci, then I probably wouldn't have tried it. Yellowfin Restaurant is just around the corner from the main restaurant drag at Broadbeach and looks somewhat less dressed up than some of it's swankier neighbours. However, you should never judge a book by its cover and before arriving I had checked out their website and seen the seafood that was on offer, which looked fresh, generous and tasty.

We arrived with kids, ordered the food and didn't have to wait long. Our American waitress (whose name I have now since forgotten, sorry!) was breezy, smiley and helpful. Sadly Staci was on cocktail duty at 1two3 Restaurant that night, which sounds like an excellent excuse to try 1two3!

It didn't take long for our our entree (and kids meals) to arrive. Ace, I love that.

The dozen Hervey Bay scallops were plump & juicy and the sun dried tomato topping was a lovely accompaniment and didn't overwhelm the flavour of the scallop. Our 8 year old even declared them to be delicious.

I ordered wild barramundi with a chickpea salad whilst hubby ordered battered squire with balsamic salad. We asked what a squire was and our lovely waitress informed us it was like a baby snapper. Hubby apparently heard "snapper" and ignored the "battered" bit.

The barra was wonderfully moist with the crispiest skin I've ever eaten and I'm a big fan of crispy skin fish. The chicpea salad (with tomato and eggplant) was lovely with hints of cumin & other middle eastern spices. Although I love my greens, I think the dish could have done without the broccoli, or at least been served on the side. The greens were a little overwhelming and the flavour didn't really marry with any of the other flavours in the dish. So I'm going to say that a little bowl of broccoli on the side would have been preferable.

When hubby's dish arrived he was surprised that it was battered, but as I mentioned, the waitress had described it as being battered. It's not something I'd ever order in a restaurant. Too much battery batter, too much like fish & chip shop fare for me.

However once hubby could peel back some of the batter and dig into the bed of balsamic salad, he was swooning. Swooning!

The kids ordered calamari & chips and neither could finish their serves. They were generous and the calamari was fresh and piled high.

So: never judge a book by its cover. Yellow Fin Dining may not be as glitzy or cool as some other Broadbeach restaurants, but it does serve beautifully fresh, well cooked seafood, with generous portion sizes and lovely service. A good honest Gold Coast Restaurant that I'd be happy to return to with the family.

Yellowfin Seafood Restaurant

6/20 Queensland Ave.
Broadbeach Q 4218

Ph: 07 5504 5335
Fax: 07 5504 5336
Function enquiries - justine@yellowfinrestaurant.com.au

Gold Coast Restaurant Review: Crema Espresso, Main Beach 1 January 2011

2011-01-02T18:38:00.000+11:00

The morning of 1 January is traditionally not a time when I'd get up and "seize the day", however I was keen to embrace the New Year with energy, enthusiasm and a healthy attitude. 3 months on the Michelle Bridges 12 Week Body Transformation program also helped with a positive mindset and eliminating excuses not to exercise or be healthy.

JFDI was the mantra of the day. Just Friggin Do It!

So despite the wind, the rain and the special fine sand that was whipped up by the rain to land with a *sting* on ones lower legs, we walked for 40 mins in the rain before we could take no more. We were drenched and in search of food, water & shelter.

We ducked into Crema Espresso on Tedder Avenue, Main Beach. We'd had good coffee there before and were keen to repeat our previous, positive experience.

I ordered poached eggs, tomato, toast with a side order of spinach, whilst hubby ordered eggs benedict with smoked salmon. It was too late in the day for coffee for me, but hubby ordered a latte. It almost never seems to late in the day for him to drink coffee.

My eggs tasted a little like the vinegar they'd been poached in. And a few words on the tomato. When the menu says "Eggs poached...with tomato and toast" I had imagined my tomato being a plump little half tomato (at least), either cooked on the grill or roasted. Even a whole, halved cooked tomato perhaps. But a slice? Granted, it was cooked. But what was on the plate was a stingy portion (garnish?) and certainly not enough to warrant a mention on the menu. Pfft. It's not like tomatoes are $20 a kilo around these parts. I think they're $4 a kilo, retail at the moment. Double pfft. And I know it's nit-picky, but my spinach had a slightly dodgy yellowish bit in it. Don't the staff see that?

The toast was simply toasted multigrain with butter already on it. I like to butter my own toast, if at all, but perhaps I should have thought of that when ordering. The choice was white or multigrain, which is a bit ordinoire. It would be nice to have turkish or a little sourdough to get the toast party started.

The eggs benedict was better. No complaints there. But see in the photo? There is a garnish of tomato.

The latte, was apparently a thumbs up.

Would we rush back? Hmm. The coffee is good so we may grab a take away coffee there again, however I think there are some other cafes on Tedder that we'll try first before we hurry back. Or maybe we'll just take a flick through the Naked City Guide to the Gold Coast and discover a few more hidden gems.

Crema Espresso
27 Tedder Avenue
Ph: 07 5526 4858

Gold Coast Restaurant Review: Vintage Espresso: 29 December 2010

2010-12-31T14:37:00.003+11:00

We returned to our fave new cafe on the Goldie, Vintage Espresso. The courier new typeface sign welcomes the diner into a retro world of chandeliers, old furniture and gilt-edged mirror walls. Sure, this look has been done before in larger cities, but it's such a welcome sight on the Gold Coast, which is usually known for its shiny newness.

Decor aside, the best thing about this cafe is the food. And the coffee. And the staff. And the patrons. Oh, and the interior.

As we queued for take away coffee, however quickly snapped up an eat-in table, yey, so decided to stay for breakfast. He ordered pumpkin toast with field mushrooms, persian fetta & rocket. Topped with a sprig of thyme, nice touch. I ordered the fruit platter with yoghurt.

The mushrooms were big and fresh, the persian fetta delightfully creamy. And the pumpkin toast was a nice variation. My fruit platter was sweet, juicy & delicious. It made a welcome change from the "fruit salad" we'd ordered from a strip cafe at Broadbeach the previous day which consisted of granny smith apples, orange, grapes & 2 slices of banana. I mean, who still makes fruit salad like that? Not the folk at Vintage, I can tell you that.

This is also the sort of place you can get naked. That got your attention. Not naked, naked. You can pick up a copy of the Naked City Guide to the Gold Coast. Of course, Vintage is featured in the cafes section and we plan on trying some of the others if the standard is as good as Vintage.

The staff are all smiley and friendly and almost a reason in itself to return. However the coffee & food will see a few more visits before we leave. Personally, I can't wait to try their bircher muesli and down a few more coffees.

Vintage Espresso
1/43 alfred st, Mermaid Beach
Gold Coast, Australia

Ph: 55 277878

Another visit to Vintage Espresso on Tuesday 4 January ;-)

Couldn't help ourselves. Along with more coffee, we ordered yet another fruit plate (my fault)

and a scrambled eggs with Persian fetta with pumpkin vienna, roast tomato & spinach. Oh and follow up to my comments on limited or drab selections of bread. Vintage Espresso have Turkish; megagrain; sourdough; English muffin; gluten-free rice and pumpkin spelt; bagels, fig, fruit & hazelnut toast; olive & rosemary toast; and walnut toast. That's 9 types of beautiful, breakfast-worthy toast. See. It can be done.

Sydney Restaurant Review: Souk in the City, Darlinghurst: 29 September 2010

2010-12-31T12:58:00.000+11:00

We originally sought one of our fave Vietnamese restaurants in the St Margarets complex in Darlinghurst, An Nam, but were crushed to find it had closed. A cold wet winter, combined with a too-large restaurant sadly spelled disaster for the lovely folk at An Nam.

Despondent, we sulked into Souk in the City, about which we had heard good things. One thing we failed to hear about was the rose petals in the face when you walk in. Pfft, pfft. A nice idea but it did catch me by surprise.

A cocktail was just what the doctor had ordered. On the recommendation of the waiter, my hubby chose something a little uncharacteristic of him: a girlie drink: Pomegranate & Rose Water Martini: vodka, pomegranate liqueur, pomegranate juice shaken with fragrant rosewater. This is usually something I would love and he would hate. But it was a little too sweet and perfumey for me. Too sweet for me? That's saying something.

We loved the menu. It was adventurous and promised much. We ordered the Ras el hanout cured ocean trout, rose water pickles with sumac spiced croutons and the spiced seared scallops, zaater crumble, vanilla & watercress, lemon & pear, orange oil. Both were divine.

Leaving enough room for dessert we ordered the Moroccan version of a sticky date: Moroccan pudding
with dates and figs. We fought over it.

Uncharacteristically, we ordered less than we actually needed to eat (what's need got to do with eating out?) so vowed to return with friends so we could sample more of the menu.

Souk in the City
st margaret's | shop 5
'henry' 431 bourke st
surry hills sydney

Tel (02) 93 577 577
dining@soukinthecity.com

Sydney Restaurant Review: Ms G's, Potts Point 17 November 2010

2010-12-30T17:39:00.001+11:00

When friends drop in from London, its always a good excuse to go out and try and new restaurant. The risk of course, is that if it's an ordinary meal it can take the shine off the excitement of catching up with old buddies. However if its a cracker nosh-up, well, then you have all the makings of an awesome night.

It was a Monday, so not many restaurants are open on a Monday. I decided to risk good friendship by suggesting a new Merivale Restaurant which I read about in my daily email from Daily Addict. I've always had good experiences in Merivale Restaurants: the food, service and decor is always great, so I decided to chance Ms G's, their new baby in Potts Point. I hadn't heard anything about it yet, but figured if Dan Hong and Jowett Yu were at the helm, it should be memorable.

Red neon lights at the door. I like it already.

The first impression as we stepped through the door as we walked past the bar was that of a terrace-come-tree-house. There were lovely big trees out the back window with hanging ropes. Very Famous Five.

The rest of the interior is what could be described as a stylish mish-mash. Later, we would discover the sheer delight of recipes plastered on the walls of the ladies loos from the early 70's. Awesome. We were led downstairs and chose a booth rather than a window table. There's something comforting about booth seating.

We were starving, but eager to catch up, so across the top of our conversation we turned our attention to the menu, which looked amazing. Between 4 hungry, enthusiastic diners we had nominated around 8 dishes we wanted. We were a little excited to see one another and eat this food. Our waitress Lauren was smiley and helpful.

We were given mis-matched crockery, in keeping with the decor, which was quite beautiful. Mis-matched crockery doesn't anything remotely cool or beautiful in my house. But that's the point I guess.

Amongst us we ordered 2 cocktails: an Aloe Vera (which sounded suspiciously similar to Zeta Bar's New York Foam with Absolut Vanilla vodka, limoncello, crushed lemons, Aloe Vera foam) and the impossible-to-pass-up Ms G's Famous Yuzu Slushee (with Limoncello, Russian Standard Vodka, yuzu juice & Regan's Orange Bitters). The slushee arrived, trumping the Aloe Vera on presentation. Because it looked exactly like a slushee, complete with plastic on top. I am, after all, a child of the 70's:

As we had a vegetarian amongst us, the first dish to arrive was Ms G's grilled corn on the cob with parmesan & lime. The photo and description doesn't do the taste justice. It had a definite tex/mex flavour going on, not at all what we had expected but was so delicious I could have happily sat down to a meal of Ms G's grilled corn and nought else. The corn was juicy and combined with the aioli & parmesan, was a little messy and possibly not first date material (unless you wanna get down and dirty early on) but ahhhh, I know immediately that I will return to Ms G's if only for the corn.

The next dish comes quickly: Mini bánh mì- 2 crisp pork belly and 2 chicken katsu. Not at all how we expected it to look. We didn't have a clue what bánh mì were, thinking they would be skewers or similar. However since then I have brushed up on my Vietnamese cuisine and found that bánh mì are actually baguettes with pickled veggies, coriander and usually pork or chicken. I used to eat these a lot when I worked in Redfern and loved them. These little guys, masquerading as burgers, looked fab, but I would say at the time in my muddled-bánh-mì-skewer-head I thought they could have done without the buns. Ha! Imagine popping downstairs to the kitchen and telling Dan Hong I would have preferred to have his bánh mì without the buns. This is why I tend not to speak to chefs. If you are a chef and see me coming, hide. I'm the one with my foot already in my mouth.

The next dish to swiftly arrive was the “Buddha’s Delight” - A textural vegetarian salad with tofu, seaweed, bean sprouts and some sort of jelly situation, the details of which I have since forgotten (sorry). Clean, healthy, crunchy, tasty. I wanted more.

Hot on the heels of Buddha's Delight was the prawn toast with yuzu aioli and herbs. I hasten to add that I would never have ordered this from the menu, however one of our companions was dead keen on it. I tried it and it was a tasty turn on the old favourite, but having just lost 5 kilos I was a bit gun-shy of the sordid, but come-hither deep-friedness of it. But man oh man, the crunch! The sesame! The prawny toast!

Our next dish arrived at the same time as the toast and hubby already started complaining that the dishes were coming too quickly... the stress of trying to finish off the preceding dish was interfering with his enjoyment of the meal. He was right. The dishes were coming a little too quickly, however as I was S T A R V I N G, I didn't mind so much, it was a great excuse to hoover quickly. The grilled calamari, black pudding & coriander salsa verde is also something I probably wouldn't have ordered due to the inclusion of blood sausage, but I was convinced to try it and it was heavenly. The calamari was tender, the sausage didn't taste like blood but a tasty, well..... sausage, and the coriander lifted it with a zing! But then I thought too long about the blood sausage being a sausage filled with congealed blood and left the rest for the boys to demolish.

Goodness. There was more food? The egg noodles with XO sauce, braised duck and soft poached egg promised to be right up my alley. I heart duck, I heart egg. What else could I want? Sadly, this was my least favourite dish. When I think about it, I prefer a roast duck so the braising possibly didn't float my boat. Dunno. Hubby pronounced it his favourite, so I bequeathed my unfinished portion to him. Which was a good thing, as I was running out of tummy real estate.

Did I mention we were boisterous? Lauren, took our noise in her stride and with good humour. She answered all our inane questions and offered suggestions. She also highly recommended the crispy spiced tofu and fried eggs, cherry tomatoes, coriander and thai basil and said she thought it would make an awesome breakfast. We complimented her on her knowledge of the menu and she said that even though the restaurant had only been open 4 days to the public, the staff had sat through explanations of all of the dishes on the menu and were encouraged, over these 2 nights, to try everything. Lucky gal. However this also explains why Merivale do hospitality so well. And 4 days? How did I end up being such a finger-on-the-pulse chick? Thank you, Daily Dose.

Anyhoo, this dish ROCKED. Second favourite dish of mine. That poached, then deep fried egg was un-be-lieve-able. Lauren was truly awesome herself as this would indeed be a spectacular breakfast. The fried egg is that big lump on the right hand side. The yolk was gooey but not too gooey.

Incredibly, there was yet another dish which arrived. Stir fried rice noodles, wagyu beef, chilli, herbs and peanuts, minus the beef. Our veggo friend declared this to be her favourite, and we ordered a second plate of it, which was quite a feat given how much food we had ploughed through.

And, I'm ashamed to admit, we ordered 2 desserts, to share. One decadent, one no so. We hoed into the “Stoner’s Delight” first: banana ice cream, chocolate, rice bubbles, pretzel, peanut brittle and marshmallow. Oh my freakin god. I needn't describe the sheer indulgence and deliciousness of that one. It was magnificent.

We lamented the fact that we ate that one first but quite honestly, the “Splice” pine-lime granita with lychee sorbet and whipped cream was a perfect palate cleanser to finish off the meal.

As we'd broken all world speed records eating that much food in so little time (1.5 hours?) we tumbled (or should that be waddled?) out on Victoria Street by 8.30pm in time to linger over cocktails at Jimmy Liks for a cheeky nightcap. The tall cocktails at Jimmy Liks were $18 each and full to the brim with ice, so not particularly good value. For my money, I prefer the bar area at Ms G's. Next time, we will linger longer. We'll definitely be back. The only criticism was the speed of the dishes, but Ms G's definitely deserves another visit. And soon!

Ms G's
155 Victoria Street
Potts Point
Reservations: 8313 1000
Open Mon-Sun dinner; Fri & Sat lunch
Food menu
Wine list

Sydney Restaurant Review: Guillaume at Bennelong: 23 November 2010

2010-12-29T18:41:00.001+11:00

We were tempted to return to the Oyster Bar just one week after our last pre-theatre visit, however we needed to collect our Ballet tickets from the Opera House prior to that night's performance. A little voice from Guillaume at Bennelong was calling us.

Again: we had no booking and thought we'd just wing it. If there was a table it was meant to be. If not, we had a booking we'd try the Oyster Bar again. And order the coleslaw without the onion ;-)

As our (good) luck would have it, they had just received a cancellation. We were in! Yippee!

Our maitre'd was an absolute delight. The type you want to be friends with. We decided on the 2 course pre-theatre menu. For a restaurant of this calibre, $66 we thought was excellent value for 2 courses.

Being a recent expert in the field of oysters in and around Circular Quay, my date ordered 6 freshly shucked oysters with shallot vinegar. I tried one and OMG. These oysters were SO fresh, so plump and so.... oysterish.

I ordered King Salmon Sashimi with a brunoise of cucumber, apple and finger limes, on a bed of white peach puree. The salmon was melt-in-your-mouth tender, creamy and perfectly accompanied by the brunoise (small, cubed food). The only problem was that it was such a breathtakingly beautiful work of art I was reluctant to eat it, especially the gorgeous pink translucency of the white peach puree with the micro herbs as a colour counterpoint. But I got over that and ate it anyway. The sweetness of the peach was brilliant with the creaminess of the salmon and the bitey herbs and (dare I write this) raw onion.

Yes folks, I am sheepish to report there were small pieces of raw onion in the brunoise but it was actually perfectly balanced and didn't over take the dish. I am a hyporcrite, I admit it. But I'm ok with that ;-)

I'm a big fan of the 2 entree option, so I ordered an entree dish, the scallops gently sealed & served with cauliflower puree, shitake mushrooms and chicken jus. I could have eaten a main sized serving of this dish. I LOVE scallops and these babies were perfectly cooked. They were seared lightly so they were cooked on the outside, but were beautifull tender on the inside. Scallop heaven. The freshly sauteed baby spinach in the middle was a wonderful accompaniment, because I do love my greens....

My date ordered the barramundi on a bed of carrots and ginger puree, coriander and pomme allumette (potatoes, in the shape of matches). The barra was firm yet moist, and the skin was extra crunchy. The dish was exquisite. We died a little that night and went to eating heaven.

And we ordered a side of green beans with pesto. I want to learn how great restaurants do their beans so they're still dark green but they're tender and cooked right through.

Ok, so there were more raw onions perched atop the beans. I skillfully removed these but they did remain on the plate. I should discount half a point for the inclusion of the beans, but the beans were so heavenly I can't quite bring myself to do it. Besides, our waiter smiled so sweetly and told us a lovely story about the Brasserie Bread they use, so how could I take points from Guillaume?

The desserts looked so good that we ordered the pavlova with passionfruit cream, mangoes, mixed berries and vanilla bean ice cream to share. Needless to say, there was a bit of push and shove over the pav. I just can't go past a pav at the best of times. And these were certainly the best of times as far as pavlova was concerned.

So Guillaume was an absolute stunner, especially considering it was such an unexpected surprise. And although I feel unfair comparing the oysters at Guillaume with the Oysters at the Oyster Bar, the oysters at Guillaume definitely win. Hands down. By a long way. However Guillaume offers a different dining experience. It's definitely more formal and more grown up, and doesn't offer the immediate harbour view like the Oyster Bar. And the Oyster Bar is probably better for a group of people who want a more relaxed, casual experience right on the harbour. But I do know where I'll be going again, very soon. Next time I'm anywhere near the Opera House....

Guillaume at Bennelong
Bennelong Point, Sydney
Phone: +61 2 9241 1999
Email: reservations@guillaumeatbennelong.com.au

Sydney Restaurant Review: The Sydney Cove Oyster Bar: 17 November 2010

2010-12-29T17:36:00.000+11:00

One evening before the theatre at the Opera House after weeks of cold and rainy weather, Sydney put on a magic day reminicent of the spring weather we were usually treated to in years gone by. Arriving at Circular Quay nice and early we intended to go to the Opera Bar, but alas, it was already full to the brim with a large gaggle of Sydney-siders equally thrilled with the turn in the weather. So a'wandering we went, and decided to give the Sydney Cove Oyster Bar a whirl (aka the Oyster Bar). The last and only other time I had been there was around 1990 so it was time to give the old girl another go whilst not wearing shoulder pads and a bouffant fringe.

The signs were good, the stars were aligned. We fronted up with no reservation but big smiles and a huge amount of optimism and bagged the last available table. Score! It had a beautiful view of Sydney Harbour. Double score! Now, to order, eat and get to the theatre within an hour, that was our challenge.

We started with 2 glasses of Veuve for no other reason than it was on the wine list and we wanted it. Mmm. Veuve. I believe that was score number 3.

We ordered all of our food to come at the same time. I started with half a dozen Wakame oysters, topped with wakame seaweed & soy mirin. My dining partner ordered half a dozen wakame, half a dozen natural with red wine eschallot vinegar. I loved the combination of the saltiness of the oyster with the sweetness of the mirin and seaweed, whereas my partner preferred the natural oysters with the vinegar (which was slightly too acidic & not sweet enough for me). The oysters were fresh, plump and as you'd expect in an establishment calling itself the Sydney Oyster Bar. All good.

Then came the Cured Hiramasa kingfish, pickled cucumber & mint salad. It was fresh, light and everything I didn't realise I wanted until I crunched my first forkful. I love it when a salad is perfectly balanced with sweetness, freshness, crunch and bite. It was delicious and healthy, which makes me happy.

I had searched the menu for a salad-salad. You know, the kind with lots of raw veggies, lettuce, herbs and a light dressing without anything meaty or proteiny in it. Not the kind which is something else with a few leaves around it. And definitely not the kind with a heavy dressing. Sadly, my only criticism of the Oyster Bar was that there was a limited selection of fresh salad-salads available. I didn't want a pretend caesar salad (Baby cos leaf salad, coddled egg & croutons) or anything with onion. Perhaps it was the lack of food prep space, the lack of refrigeration behind the scenes, but I was a little disappointed as I am a salad-salad gal from way back.

The waitress, who was helpful, suggested I order the baby coz leaf salad but with the dressing on the side, a la Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally. It sounded like a reasonable, yet slightly unsatisfying compromise considering I didn't want a pretend, dry caesar salad. What was delivered however was the herb & radish coleslaw, with an acceptable light dressing but (unfortunately) harbouring quite a lot of shaved raw onion amongst the cabbage and carrot.

A word on raw onion. I am a hater of raw onion. A strong word, I know, but it flavours everything within a 1 metre radius and MAKES YOUR BREATH SMELL, NOT TO MENTION OTHER AREAS! I'm ok with non-raw onion haters, even those who love raw onion. I can overcome my raw onion prejudices and share a table with such folk. You just won't catch me kissing them or sharing a bed with them. Or a salad.

After poking through the entire salad very OCD-style to retrieve EVERY SINGLE SLICE OF RAW ONION and put it on the side of my plate, what was left of the herb & radish coleslaw was actually very tasty. Crunchy, light, fresh & herby. It was actually exactly what I wanted. It was just a pity this slightly obsessed raw onion hater had to spend my time on a search & destroy mission.

So how would I rate the Sydney Oyster Bar now, in 2010, 20 years after my first visit? Despite the onion incident (which actually, wasn't really that bad) I'd give it a good 7 out of 10. The view is spectacular, the service was attentive (enough) on a busy night. We got the wrong salad, and there was onion in it, but hey, I actually enjoyed the coleslaw post the raw onion removal. And we got to the theatre on time. Score!

Sydney Cove Oyster Bar
No.1 East Circular Quay, Sydney.
8am til late, 7 days.
Phone: +61 2 9247 2937
info@sydneycoveoysterbar.com

Recipe - Moroccan Quinoa Salad

2010-11-25T16:43:00.002+11:00

Quinoa (pronounced "keen-wah") is apparently an ancient grain that has been rediscovered and found to be a super food, because it has a low glycemic index and is full of protein. So immediately we were skeptical as to its taste.

So after obsessing about it for a few days we bit the bullet and wondered where keeen-wah had been all our lives? What a tasty little grain you are, keeen-wah! Try this Moroccan Quinoa Salad, we guarantee you won't be disappointed.

Kind to the waist too, if you don't eat the lot ;-)

Ingredients - Salad

1 1/2 cups fresh chicken stock

1 1/2 cups water

3 cups cooked quinoa (1 cup dried)

1 1/2 cups canned black beans (from health food stores or you can substitute borlotti or kidney beans)

1 1/2 cups corn kernels (fresh is best but you can use canned or frozen)

1 cup cherry tomatoes, quartered

1/4 cup chopped kalamata olives

1/4 cup fresh chopped mint

1/4 cup fresh chopped coriander

Ingredients - Dressing

2 teaspoons ground cumin seeds

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/3 cup lemon juice (juice from about 2 lemons)

Method

Cook quinoa in chicken stock and water for around 12-15 minutes depending on the directions on the pack, it generally needs 3 times the amount of liquid to dry ingredient. Stir to ensure it doesn't stick to the saucepan.

While quinoa is cooking, whisk together lemon juice, cumin, salt & sugar into a small bowl.

Combine cooked quinoa with remaining ingredients (except fresh herbs) into a medium sized bowl & refrigerate for an hour so the flavours combine. Add fresh herbs just prior to serving.

The whole salad contains 1340 calories and will serve 5 people easily. So that's around 258 calories per serve. We served with a healthy green salad.

Bircher Muesli: the healthy version

2010-11-05T22:54:00.000+11:00

I’ve been making this bircher muesli for a few years now and still love it. In fact, anyone who tries it becomes instantly hooked. As it’s made the night before with a lot less yoghurt than its traditional friend, its a super-quick & healthy breakfast. If you're rushing to work, take it with you for a guilt-free desk-breakfast. And because it contains strawberries & blueberries, its high in anti-oxidants. Anti-wrinkle & cancer fighting. Yeah!

Ingredients

1/2 cup natural (untoasted) muesli (172 cals)
1 large apple, grated (106 cals)
1/2 tub low fat, fruit yoghurt (83 cals)
3 strawberries, diced (21 cals)
1/2 cup blueberries (39 cals)
1/4 cup unsweetened apple juice (27 cals)
2 dates, chopped (52 cals)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (negligible)
TOTAL cals (500)

Serves 2.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. It should be quite wet. Cover with cling film overnight in the fridge. Serve in a bowl the next morning. Dead easy!

TIPS: when berries aren’t in season experiment with other seasonal fruit, like cherries, nectarines, or mango in summer; pears in winter. Anyone not watching their weight can drizzle honey over the top to make it extra-special & add some extra fruit. Enjoy!!

Back in the kitchen! Healthy jaffa bombs

2010-10-17T17:10:00.003+11:00

Truth be told, we never really left the kitchen, but our blogging and eating out was temporarily put on the Miele back-burner because we launched our new Bondi Junction Village Markets in Sydney and all our energies were focused on launching 3 consecutive weekly markets.

What a ride it has been. However, this post isn't about our Sydney market journey, its back to what we love most: food!!!

Whilst we love all types of wonderfully indulgent, fresh seasonal food, we're always on the look out for banging healthy recipes that are good for our bodies but also taste better than a cardboard box. And after we discovered & fell truly, madly & deeply in love with Emma & Tom's Orange & Cacao Live Fruit & Nut bars, we decided to have a little dabble in the kitchen to see if we could make something that was just as healthy and half as delicious. And something we could make with the ankle-biters. Result? Our Healthy Jaffa Bombs are truly da bomb!

Can we just say how excited that we are to have found something so yummy, sweet & chocolatey that isn't bad for us?? Doing a little jaffa happy dance....

Healthy Jaffa Bombs

Ingredients

10 medjool or California dates, pitted
1 cup raw cashews
1/2 cup seedless raisins or sultanas

3 tablespoons cocoa powder

20 drops sweet orange oil (available from good health food stores, usually in the aromatherapy section). You could also substitute peppermint oil if you were keen on choc-mint bombs.

Olive oil

Method

Using a food processor or hand held whizz stick, process cashews until finely ground, but with still a few smallish pieces in the mix. Set aside in a separate bowl. And while you're looking at the photo, pause a moment and take in the glory of our new Kitchenaid Food Processor . Its our new baby and we love it ;-)

Pit 10 dates and place in food processor. Add raisins & orange oil. Process until thick and smooth. Then add cocoa and blend again.

Finally, add cashews, leaving some aside to roll the balls in, and process again for a minute or two.

Add a little olive oil to your palms. Using a teaspoon, take teaspoonfuls of the mixture and roll into balls. The oil will stop the mixture from sticking to your hands, although you may need to 'oil-up' a couple of times. Makes about 20 balls

Refrigerate for several hours so they harden a little. Voile! You now have a scrumptious, healthy snack that everyone can eat, sans the guilt. They're also a bit of fun to make. Enjoy! About 70 calories each.

Recipe - Haloumi, fig & pomegranate salad

2010-03-13T09:58:00.000+11:00

On the same page of the Donna Hay cookbook, Seasons, as the Fig & Goats Cheese Tarts, is this recipe for a haloumi, fig & pomegranate salad.

Ingredients

1/4 cup (60ml) olive oil
250g haloumi, thinly sliced
1 cup mint leaves
100g rocket (or arugula if you're American)
8 green figs, halved (I used ripe lovely brown ones)
1 pomegranate, seeds & juice removed (Warning: wear an apron!! Pomegranate seeds jump further than beetroot)
1 tbsp red wine vinegar (I used the fabulously delectable Italian vino cotto)
2 tbsp olive oil, extra

Method

Heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan over high heat. Cook the haloumi for 2-3 minutes each side or until crispy. Place the haloumi, mint, rocket, figs, pomegranate seeds & juice in a bowl, drizzle with vinegar and extra olive oil and toss to combine. Serves 4.

Recipe - fig and goats cheese tarts

2010-03-13T09:29:00.001+11:00

I reckon Eve was tempted not by an apple or a pomegranate, but a fig. If Adam was waving one of those babies at me I'd think that original sin was a good idea too. I love figs and I love goats cheese, so when I saw this recipe in Donna Hay's beautiful Seasons cookbook I had to make it.

All the ingredients are available at our wonderful farmers markets (bar the frozen pastry). Figs are in season NOW so make the most of their availability, I promise you won't regret it!

Ingredients

2 x 200g sheets store-bought shortcrust pastry. I used puff and it worked just fine
125g goats cheese
4 black figs, halved
3 eggs
3/4 cup (185ml) single (pouring) cream: next time I will just use organic milk & see what happens
1 tbsp chopped chives
1/4 cup (20g) finely grated good quality parmesan cheese
sea salt & cracked black pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C (355F). Cut each pastry sheet into 4 squares. Line 8 lightly greased 8cm-round, fluted tart tins with pastry. I had a pie maker with ceramic tart cases so I used those instead. If you have them, you should ensure they're dusted with flour so they don't stick. I had to spear mine out with a sharp knife....

Trim excess pastry and lightly prick bases with a fork. Divide the goat's curd and fig halves among the cases. Place the eggs, cream, chives, parmesan, salt & pepper in a bowl and whisk until well combined.

Pour the egg mixture into the cases and bake for 25 minutes or until puffed and set.

The recipe says to cool to room temperature, but I like them a little warm. Makes 8. Serve with rocket, parmesan and pine nut salad.

Recipe - Marshmallow cupcakes "for the kids"

2010-03-07T21:10:00.003+11:00

I'm not sure if this recipe exists in its pure form somewhere (I assume it does), however today I achieved two momentous things:

I successfully baked; and
I created my own recipe, and it not only worked, but was damned delicious!

Nigella Lawson had a theory that you were one of two people: a baker or a cook and never the twain shall meet. Well, until she mastered the art of baking. So I figured if an international cook with a swag of cookbooks, TV shows and years of experience can do it, so can I. Right ?!?!?!

I, like Nigella used to be (before she mastered both), regard myself as a cook. I can taste something in a restaurant and pick the flavours and sometimes if I'm lucky enough (and the dish isn't too complicated or elaborate), I can cook it at home.

However, give me a shortbread recipe and I develop recipe dyslexia. Huh? How many grams of unsalted what?

So today, after having created these incredibly delicious and decadent baby cakes, I was so excited with my efforts I had to blog the recipe immediately. After all, if I can bake it, anyone can.

I adapted the Taste Basic Cupcake Recipe. Click here for the cupcake recipe. I also referred to the Exclusively Food Vanilla Cupcake Recipe and adaped the icing recipe. Click here for the icing recipe.

Ingredients
Cupcakes

200g unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup caster sugar
3 eggs- I brought them to room temperature
2 1/2 cups self-raising flour, sifted
1/2 cup milk
My addition: 1/4 to 1/2 packet marshmallows, quartered (with about 12 aside for icing). I am a cook after all, just throw in as many as you want!

Icing

175g (1 1/4 cups) pure icing sugar, sifted
5g (1 teaspoon) butter, softened
22ml (1 tablespoon plus 1/2 teaspoon) boiling water
My addition: couple of drops of cochineal
My addition: couple of drops of strawberry essence (entirely optional as it is quite OTT)

Instructions
Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C fan-forced oven. This is the first time I've seen an alteration for a fan-forced oven. No wonder I had been going wrong. Line muffin or mini-muffin pans with paper cases.

Using an electric mixer, beat butter, vanilla and sugar in a small bowl, starting on low speed and increasing to high once the sugar is mixed in. Beat until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition (mixture will separate at this stage). Transfer mixture to a large bowl. Stir in half the flour. Stir in half the milk. Repeat with remaining flour and milk until combined. Add marshmallow pieces.

But don't overmix, just combine.

For 1/3 cup-capacity muffin pans use 2 level tablespoons of mixture. Of course, I was liberal with my spoon measurements. I just kind of plonked it in. Almost to the top but not bursting. More of a respectable fill.

Bake for 15 to 17 minutes. Alternatively, for 1 tablespoon-capacity mini muffin pans use 1 tablespoon mixture. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.

If you filled your cupcake cases as much as I did, some of the marshmallow near the top will have oozed out over the edges. It becomes very sticky and toffee-like, so you should hoik them out of the muffin tins asap. Try not to squish them too much. Hoiking them out is a fine art.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool. You can see that I am sprung. I hedged my bets by halving the mix & making choc-chip cupakes as well.

Icing

Stir icing sugar, butter, cochineal, strawberry essence and boiling water together in a small bowl until smooth. Ice immediately, adding a marshmallow on top. If you're like me, you'll need to add the occasional extra teaspoon of boiling water if the mixture sets mid-glazing.

Happy baking, from a newly crowned baker ;-)

Recipe - Vietnamese chicken salad

2010-03-05T21:57:00.003+11:00

I was watching the Lifestyle Channel the other night & stumbled across one of Bill Grangers cooking shows. It was perfect timing, really. He made his Vietnamese Chicken Salad which is exactly what me & Mr YourLocalMarkets needed after what seemed like a few too many successive nights of red meat.

The recipe was pretty basic (important for this pretend cook!) so I decided to make it the next night. And the best thing is that there was a lot of food, mostly raw, crunchy & light and I felt great after I ate it. And the next morning I had loads of energy in my spin class. Yey!

Ingredients
Chicken Salad

3 pieces 200g chicken breast fillets
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
sea salt
White pepper use black if that is all you have
1 cup bean sprouts
1 cup Vietnamese mint leaf
1 cup Asian basil leaf or basil leaves
4 cups Chinese cabbages finely shredded (I used about 1/4 chinese cabbage & this was HEAPS)
1 cup carrot peeled and finely julienned

I also added some crushed peanuts to sprinkle at the end.

Dressing

60 ml Lime juice
60 ml Fish sauce
2 tablespoons Rice vinegar
1 tablespoon caster sugar
2 very finely chopped Garlic Cloves optional ( I used 1)
3 finely sliced red Asian shallots or 1/2 red onion (I only used 1 shallot)
2 small very finely chopped Red chilli's remove the seeds if you don't like the heat (I only used 1 chilli & it was hot enough, but I'm a woos sometimes)

Instructions
Salad

Preheat the oven to 220°C (425°F/Gas 7).
Heat a frying pan over a high heat, and while the pan is heating, brush the chicken with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
Place the chicken skin-side down and sear for 2 minutes, turn and sear for another minute.
Put the chicken on a baking tray and cook in the oven for 8 to 10 minutes. Leave to rest for 20 minutes.
Shred the chicken into thin strips with your hands and place in a large bowl.
Add the remaining ingredients and toss to combine.

Dressing
Place all the ingredients in a small bowl and stir until the sugar is dissolved.

Serves 4. If making it for 2, don't dress the whole salad, just serve it into bowls or onto plates & dress separately & you'll have leftovers for lunch the next day.

Recipe - Sage roasted free range pork belly

2010-03-04T11:34:00.001+11:00

I bought some free range pork from the delightful folk at Ormiston Free Range Pork who are based in Mudgee but we do have lovely free range meats at Your Local Markets on the Gold Coast in Queensland that you can use for this recipe.

This recipe is courtesy of Donna Hay's beautiful "Seasons" cookbook. I've also added a homemade apple sauce to go with the pork.

Ingredients

Pork
2 heads of garlic (I used one)
1/4 cup olive oil
2.3 kg pork belly, on the bone (I used a kilo as there were only 2 of us)
1/3 cup sea salt flakes
4 bunches sage

Apple sauce
2 apples, peeled, cored and sliced into thin slices
1 cup water
3 tbs caster sugar
squeeze lemon juice
sprinkle of ground cinnamon

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C (350F). Arrange the garlic over the base of a baking dish. Rub the olive oil all over the pork and rub the salt into the skin. Place skin side down on top of the garlic and cook for 3 hours.

While the pork is cooking, drop the apples, water, lemon juice, sugar and cinnamon into a saucepan.

Simmer over a low heat until water reduces significantly (so that you can just see the water amongst the apple pieces). Cool and then blend or spoon into a food processor and blend until smooth.

Or you can leave it a little chunky if you like it like that. I blended mine into a smooth apple sauce.

Back to the pork: Increase the heat to 180C (355F). Turn over the pork, add the sage. and cook for a further 30 minutes or until the skin is golden and crunchy.

This was truly-ruly, voted by 2 roast pork piglets as "the best roast pork ever cooked in our house".

Serves 4-6, depending on how hungry and piggy your guest are ;-)

Recipe - Chinese roast duck salad & pineapple with cashew nuts & chilli lime dressing

2010-03-03T16:12:00.001+11:00

This recipe comes courtesy of Neil Perry's "Good Food" cookbook. The chinese ducks are available roasted from any good chinese barbeque shop. I would not even attempt to roast one myself, even if my chef brother has assured me it is easy.

I also added lychees. Because they're yet another thing I'm obsessed with.

Ingredients
Salad
1 Chinese roast duck, flesh and skin sliced (you can ask them to do it for you)
1 sweet pineapple, peeled, cored and cut into bite sized chunks
About 10 lychees, with the seed removed and torn into a few bits
2 lebanese cucumbers, halved lengthways and sliced on the diagonal
10 cherry tomatoes (I always add more)
4 French shallots, halved and thinly sliced (although for non-onion fans, it does not lose anything if you omit like I did)
90g (3 1/4 oz/1 cup) bean sprouts
1 handful coriander (cilantro) leaves
1 small handful mint leaves
2 spring onions (scallions) sliced on the diagonal (same comment applies to the shallots)
sea salt
100g (3 1/2 oz/ 2/3 cup) cashew nuts, roasted until golden, roughly chopped

Dressing
1 garlic clove
3 wild green chillis, roughly chopped (I used 1 small red chilli)
sea salt
1 tbs caster sugar
2 tablespoons fish sauce
juice of 2 limes

Serves 4

Instructions

Prepare the dressing first. In a mortar, place the garlic, chilli and a pinch of salt and pound with a pestle until a paste forms.

Add the sugar, fish sauce and lime juice to taste and stir to combine.

For the salad, put all the ingredients except the cashew nuts in a bowl, add dressing and mix well.

Divide the salad among four large plates or bowls and sprinkle with the cashews.

Recipe - Grilled zucchini with caprese salad and pesto (Meatless Monday)

2010-03-03T14:51:00.000+11:00

This recipe comes courtesy of the March 2010 edition of Delicious Magazine. However I substituted freshly made pesto for the rocket salsa. If you're interested in the original recipe, click here.

Searching high and low for some interesting "Meatless Monday" dishes I stumbled across this in the March 2010 edition of Delicious Magazine and decided to give it a whirl. The recipe recommends serving with a meat-based dish, which of course you can do, but this served 2 of us (with a big salad) for Meatless Monday. It was so good this will form part of my repetoire until Mr Your Local Markets gives me the old nudge to let me know (gently) that he's sick of it.

Ingredients

4 zucchini, very thinly sliced lengthways
1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
4 vine-ripened tomatoes, seeds removed, chopped. I used beautiful grape cherry tomatoes for their flavour.
2 x 120g buffalo mozzarella balls*, drained, chopped. I substituted this for Mudgee Persian Fetta.
1/2 cup basil leaves

Pesto Sauce

1 cup basil leaves, stems removed
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
Handful good quality parmesan cheese or Grana Padano
1/2 cup (120ml) extra virgin olive oil
3 tbs lightly toasted pine nuts
Salt to season

Instructions

For pesto, combine all dry ingredients in blender or food processor and blend, drizzling oil in as you go. Feel free to use less or more oil, as I don't measure, I guess quantities ;-) This is why I am a lousy baker.

Preheat char grill or barbecue to medium-high. Brush zucchini with oil and grill, turning once, for 5 minutes until lightly charred. Arrange zucchini on a platter and top with tomato and mozzarella/fetta. Season, then drizzle with pesto and garnish with basil leaves.

Recipe - Paprika spatchcock with tabbouleh, rocket salad and yoghurt

2010-03-03T14:06:00.001+11:00

This recipe comes courtesy of the March 2010 edition of Delicious Magazine. This was my first attempt at cooking spatchcock, so I wanted it to be yummy. I searched around for a suitable spatchcock recipe and when I couldn't find one, I found inspiration in the Delicious Magazine I had bought the previous day.

I substituted chicken for these free-range Thirlmere spatchcock from Urban Food Market. I also substituted quinoa with cracked wheat, but a chunky variety, just because it looked a little different.

Ingredients

1 cup (200 g) cracked wheat or quinoa
1 bunch flat leaf parsely, leaves picked, finely chopped
2 tbs finely chopped mint or coriander (I used mint, and used more)
8 cherry tomatoes, however don't restrict yourself. Feel free to bump up the raw food intake in all meals!
3 spring onions (I only used one - not a huge fan - and sliced it really finely)
1/4 cup (60 ml) extra virgin oilive oil (I reduced the amount because it felt like A LOT of oil!)
2 tbs lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp paprika, plus extra to sprinkle
1 tsp ground cumin
pinch cayenne pepper
1 tsp caster sugar
100g low fat thick greek yoghurt
1 tbs olive oil
Few handfuls of rocket
pine nuts
oil & lemon juice for rocket salad

Prepare the cracked wheat or quinoa according to the packet directions. Allow to cool after cooking. Add herbs, tomato and spring onions and toss to combine.

Combine oil, lemon juice, 1/2 tsp paprika (warning, not all of it like I did), cumin, cayenne pepper and sugar, then season.

Place yoghurt in a bowl and drizzle over 2 tsp dressing, then sprinkle with some paprika. Toss cracked wheat or quinoa salad in remaining dressing.

Toss rocket, pine nuts, oil and lemon.

Preheat grill or barbeque to medium-high. Mix oil and remaining paprika, season, then brush over spatchcock. Grill until cooked (ensure flesh is not pink, but cooked through). Ours took around 20 mins.

Serve with cracked wheat or quinoa salad, rocket salad and yoghurt.

Recipe - Moroccan Dinner Party: Saffron scented fresh figs with cinnamon and honey

2010-03-03T13:35:00.001+11:00

This recipe is courtesy of www.recipezaar.com.

If fresh figs are in season, this is your lucky day. This dish is incredibly quick, simple and delicious. You will receive "oohs" and "ahhs" and the great thing is that it actually looks and tastes impressive.

Ingredients

50 g white sugar, I used castor sugar
saffron (1 large pinch)
1 cinnamon stick
2 tablespoons honey
8 fresh figs, cut in half lengthways (or 2 figs per person)
150 g thick sweetened Greek yogurt, to serve
Gound cinnamon to serve

Instructions

Place 300ml cold water, the sugar, saffron, cinnamon stick and honey in a large pan, stirring to dissolve the sugar.

Bring to the boil gently and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the syrup has reduced slightly.

You will see that the syrup will turn a beautiful amber colour and you'll be able to smell the saffron and hints of cinnamon.

Add the figs and simmer for a further 5 minutes or until tender. Remove from the heat and discard the cinnamon stick.

Serve the figs warm with the yogurt and drizzled with the saffron syrup. I also sprinkled some ground cinnamon over the top.

Recipe - Moroccan Dinner Party: Couscous salad with dried apricots and mint

2010-03-03T13:14:00.003+11:00

This recipe is also courtesy of www.allrecipes.com and is the copyright of Readers Digest.

I can't believe I didn't take any photos of this dish. Actually, yes I can. I totally forgot to photograph all the final dishes, but I did take a photo of the left overs the night after, and you can see the "gourmet cous cous" I used (being Gabriel Gate's Couscous Pearls):

Ingredients

1 cup couscous (I used the "gourmet" variety for something different, which was fun)

½ cup dried apricots, diced

⅓ cup currants

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons orange juice

1½ tablespoons lemon juice

½ teaspoon honey

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

1 garlic clove, crushed

freshly ground black pepper to taste

4 spring onions, chopped

⅓ cup chopped fresh mint

⅓ cup toasted pine nuts, or shelled, chopped pistachios (I used pine nuts because I am pine nut obsessed)

Instructions

If using the gourmet pearly-type couscous (which I think is actually pasta), follow the instructions on the pack. Place couscous, apricots and currants in a heatproof bowl. Pour over 1 cup boiling water, stir, cover and stand for 5 minutes. Fluff up with a fork. Cool.

Combine oil, orange juice, lemon juice, honey, cinnamon, garlic and pepper in a medium bowl or a jar with a tight-fitting lid. Whisk or shake to blend.

Combine couscous, spring onions and mint in a large bowl. Add orange juice dressing and toss to coat well. Just before serving, sprinkle with nuts. The salad will keep, covered, in the refrigerator for up to a day.

Recipe - Moroccan Dinner Party: Butternut pumpkin with honey and raisins

2010-03-03T13:02:00.000+11:00

This recipe also comes courtesy of www.allrecipes.com and is the copyright of Readers Digest.

Ingredients

1 butternut pumpkin, peeled, seeded and cut into cubes
2 onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
100 ml vegetable stock, hot
2 teaspoons Moroccan seasoning or Middle Eastern spice blend (such as harissa)
⅓ cup raisins (although as an American recipe I think they mean sultanas. I used sultanas mainly because I couldn't find raisins)
2 teaspoons honey
salt and freshly ground black pepper
a few fresh chives to garnish

Instructions

Put the pumpkin, onions and garlic in a saucepan, pour over the stock, then cover and cook gently for 15 minutes.

Sprinkle the vegetables with the seasoning or spice blend and add the raisins and honey.

Season with salt and pepper, stir well, then cover and cook gently for a further 10–15 minutes until the pumpkin is tender and the stock has evaporated.

Scoop the pumpkin mixture into a serving dish and garnish with fresh chives. You will find that the pumpkin will be very soft and squashy. I quite liked it like that, but if you like your pumpkin firmer, reduce the overall cooking time by at least 10 minutes, and test as you go.

Recipe - Moroccan Dinner Party: Braised Snapper with chermoula

2010-03-03T12:33:00.001+11:00

So I got it in my head that I wanted to do a Moroccan themed dinner party, then realised I didn't have any Moroccan cookbooks. D'oh.

However, having had great success with Google previously, I googled "Moroccan Recipes" and chose the simple and most appropriate recipes to cook.

This recipe comes from www.allrecipes.com (copyright of Readers Digest) and the dinner party menu was as follows:

Braised Whole Snapper with Chermoula
Butternut pumpkin with honey and raisins
Couscous salad with dried apricots & mint
Saffron scented fresh figs with cinnamon and honey

This recipe called for whole sea bass, but there was none available and so I substituted whole snapper instead. Always use what is in season!

Ingredients

1 whole sea bass or snapper, salmon, jewfish or firm white fish (about 1kg)
4 garlic cloves

1 small red chilli, seeded

40 g fresh coriander

1 teaspoon paprika

½ teaspoon ground cumin

¼ cup (60 ml) vegetable oil

1 lemon, juiced

175 g thin green beans, halved

600 g floury potatoes, peeled

2 spring onions, finely chopped (I'm not a huge fan of onions & sping onions, so I just popped 2 whole ones in with the fish)

250 g grape or cherry tomatoes - I used beautiful heirloom cherry tomatoes from the markets for their colour & size differences

⅓ cup (50 g) pitted black olives

300 ml diluted or homemade fish stock, hot

Instructions

Cut about six deep, diagonal slashes in the flesh on each side of the fish. Place it in a wide, non-metallic dish.

Put the garlic, chilli, coriander, paprika, cumin, oil and lemon juice in a food processor and process until blended finely. Season to taste. Spread about half of the chermoula inside the fish and into the slashes.

Cover the fish and the remaining chermoula, and leave in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to marinate.

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Drop the beans into a saucepan of boiling water and blanch for 1 minute, then drain and refresh in cold water. Thinly slice the potatoes and spread in a shallow layer with the spring onions in a wide, deep ovenproof dish. Scatter the beans, tomatoes and olives over the top.

Pour the stock over the vegetables and place the fish on top. Cover with foil and cook in the oven for 40–50 minutes until the potatoes are tender and the fish flakes easily when tested with a fork.

Serve the whole fish with the vegetables on a platter, with the reserved chermoula as a sauce.

Recipe - Lip-smacking, low fat mango icecream

2010-03-02T23:02:00.004+11:00

In December 09 I went to my hubby's work Christmas dinner. It was held at his colleagues' place - Sam and John's, to be precise - in Bondi, overlooking the beach. They served the most beautiful organic food and then at the end of the meal, when I thought I couldn't eat any more, they presented us with this irresistable mango icecream.

I am the kind of person who will put mango in just about any kind of salad, and during the peak of the mango season have been known to just eat it for lunch with avocado & balsamic vinegar. Or I buy a whole box, take a photo and then plough my way through them.

So naturally after I hoovered this dessert and heard that Sam & John had made it themselves, I hassled them mercilessly for the recipe. And I'm not really a dessert maker. More a dessert eater. Since then I've made this recipe 4 times.

Sam's mum Sian was the keeper of the recipe and the delightful Sam and John graciously passed it on to me!

This is one of the world's easiest recipes - and its like eating pure, frozen, sweet mango. AND its much lower in fat than other icecreams. There's no cream in this and if you use reduced fat evaporated milk, there is barely any fat at all. So basically, it's like eating mango air ;-)

Sian's Mango Icecream Recipe

4-6 Mangoes
1/2 – 1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup boiling water
1 cup sugar
1 unbeaten egg white
1 large cup of low fat (carnation) evaporated milk. Not sure what this means?? A cup is a cup! Maybe be heavy handed in your measuring

Melt sugar in water (on stove) and cool. Or if you're impatient like me, pop the saucepan in your freezer. It will cool very quickly!

Put mango pulp in blender with lemon juice & pureè.

Add dissolved sugar, carnation milk, unbeaten egg white & mix well.

Pour into plastic container & place in freezer.

Take out when partly frozen and beat well. I used an electic beater and whipped it quite well. Place back in freezer and freeze for several hours. Its common sense, but it freezes more quickly if you put it in a big, flat container and the mixture is only about 5cms high.

To serve

Take out of freezer and place in ordinary fridge for approximately 1-1/2 hours before serving. Or if you're somewhere hot, just take it out of the freezer for half an hour. Use an icecream scoop for a professional looking ball of icecream and serve with fresh berries.

I don't mind admitting that I just ate a little of this icecream with berries for breakfast - the dangers of a mid-morning photo shoot ;-) Ahh, not bad work if you can get it.

Enjoy!

Recipe - Nanna's Famous Shortbread

2010-03-02T22:39:00.003+11:00

My beautiful nanna, Joan, died just before Christmas 2009. She was 93 when she died suddently and was an amazing woman. Educated, opinionated, feminist and smart. Definitely before her time. Or maybe not. She set a fabulous example for her children, grand children and great-grand children.

Every Christmas (until a year or two ago) she would make her famous, and utterly delicious, perfectly buttery, dry melt-in-your mouth shortbread for family members. The gift became highly prized and around my family, the jar of Christmas shortbread became something to be protected from sibling five-finger-discounts. We took our eyes off the prize at our peril - because they'd miraculously disappear...

In honour of Joan, I tried to make some of her shortbread. Tried, being the operative word here. I tried at least 3 times. I discovered not only that I am a cook (intuitive) rather than a baker (precise) and that the baking of shortbread is more complicated than I thought.

Or perhaps I'm just a domestic ditz....

I discovered, quite quickly, that too much beating of the mixture, especially during a hot summer, will make the biscuits crunchy on the bottom and they won't hold their shape once they're in the oven and kind of become blob-like instead of the desired pert little bikkies. You also shouldn't handle them any more than is necessary. There's no need to aim for a perfect little round ball that will become a perfectly round shortbread. It seems the oven takes care of proportions and shapes quite nicely, thank you.

And another tip. My cousin, who annoyingly made the shortbread perfectly first go, said she beat the whole mixture with a wooden spoon (and with my Poppa by her side). So the key here could also be not to overmix. Repeat after me. Do not overmix. Do not overmix.

But don't let this put you off! Give it a go and see whether you can conquer this culinary Everest. Even the dodgey ones will still taste DELICIOUS. Ironically I still had no shortage of guinea pig relatives willing to risk health and happiness to sample my shortblobs.

Nanna's shortbread recipe

250g butter, softened

125g icing sugar (sifted)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

pinch salt

250g plain flour & 30g corn flour (mix these together and sift).

Cream butter & icing sugar until well-mixed. Add vanilla & salt. Add plain flour/cornflour mix until mixed together. Do this with a wooden spoon rather than a beater. Stir until just mixed.

Scoop teaspoons of the mixture with 2 teaspoons (otherwise the mixture gets too gooey and this effects the end result, believe me). Roll quickly in a ball and flatten slightly with a fork and make a cross shape with the prongs.

Cook in 180 degree oven for 15-20 minutes until very light brown. Remove after 5-10 minutes and place on wire racks to cool.

For an authentic nanna look, place baked biscuits in a Moccona jar & add a circle of Christmas fabric with a rubber band & red or green ribbon. I put mine in some fancy-schmancy trays with red cellophane. A word of warning about red cellophane. The colour will come off on the shortbread. I learned this the hard way, so I recommend clear cellophane if you are inclined to use it ;-)

Recipe - Roasted Roma Tomatoes

2010-03-02T22:18:00.001+11:00

As best I can remember from my dusty culinary memory, in her first cookbook, Donna Hay included a recipe for roasted roma tomatoes. They weren't any ordinary tomatoes, no siree. They have sugar in the mixture. The sugar brings out the flavour in the tomatoes and just add that extra zing you need (and transforms a salad or pasta dish).

The recipe is easy-peasy. I cook these every week and my tomatoes encourage me to eat salads day in, day out. So even though they've got sugar in them, I figure eating salads most day is good for me, no? Plus cooked tomatoes contain lycopene, which is a great antioxidant and prevents cancer.

Donna Hay's famous roasted tomatoes

Ingredients

Bag of roma tomatoes, the riper the better
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons brown sugar, packed down hard
2 tablespoons olive oil.

Instructions

Cut roma tomatoes in half length-wise and place face down in tray. Combine all ingredients. Pour over tomatoes. Easy, huh?

Bake in oven 180 degrees centigrade for between an hour & an hour & a half, until mixture thickens and goes a bit gooey/toffey-like.

These can be used in any tomato-based pasta dish, like the Pancetta & Tomato Pasta Recipe on our blog. Or, if you find salads boring, these will entice you into serial salad territory on a regular basis (think rocket, goats cheese, pine nuts....).

Warning - you will become addicted!