I have to be honest here - I managed to stuff up one of the world's easiest recipes (pumpkin soup) not once but twice in the last few weeks! The first time I used too much of a really salty vege stock that just made it inedible. Then I overcorrected the next time by adding lots more water and some coconut milk and ended up with something so thin I suppose it could be best described as hot milky pumpkin water. FAIL.
Finally last night I made a decent roast winter vegetable soup with pumpkin, parsnip and carrot. It was the perfect dish for the first winter dinner party of the year. Afterwards my fabulous dinner guest Narelle and I made microwave popcorn on the stove (as my kitchen is too small to accommodate a microwave!) and watched the brilliant movie Revolutionary Road (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutionary_Road_(film)). It has probably been 15 years since I made popcorn on a stovetop; I forgot how fun it was - the sound of kernels popping instantly took me back to memories of making it with Mum.
Roast Winter Vegetable Soup
Roasting the vegetables first is so worthwhile as it both makes for a much richer flavour and means you don't have to stand around the stove sauteeing onions like you would for a simmer-only recipe. I usually make extra vege stock so that I can thin the soup when pureeing it if necessary, or can add more to the pot while the soup is simmering if it's looking a bit too thick. Sometimes I will add other fresh herbs like thyme to the roasting tray for extra flavour. Last night I garnished the soup with goats feta since I don't eat cream, which is the usual pumpkin soup garnish. The saltiness of the feta was a nice contrast to the sweetness from the carrots. Serves 4.
1 onion, cut into 8 wedges
6 cloves garlic (unpeeled)
4 cups winter vegetables (such as pumpkin, parsnip, carrot, and kumara) cubed
A few springs of rosemary
Olive oil
4 - 6 cups vege stock (depending on how thick you like your soup)
2 bay leaves
Salt and pepper
100g feta cheese (optional; I use goats feta)
Small handful of parsley (optional)
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Place the onion wedges, unpeeled garlic cloves, springs of rosemary and winter vegetables on a baking tray that has been lined with baking paper (the paper isn't completely necessary but it makes it easy to tip the vegetables into the stock). Brush with olive oil and roast until vegetables are tender and golden. Discard the roasted herbs.
2. Bring 4 cups of the vege stock to the boil and add the roasted vegetables (you'll need to squeeze the roasted garlic out of the skins) and the bay leaves. Simmer for around 15 minutes until the vegetables are soft.
3. Remove the bay leaves and season with salt and pepper. Puree with a hand-held blender or in batches in a food processor, adding extra vege stock if you like your soup thinner.
4. Serve garnished with feta cheese and/or chopped parsley if you so desire.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Birthday extravagance
Aaaah, I love extravagant birthday dinners... an excuse to order anything one wants from the menu and wine list! We started the evening with a bottle of champagne at Syracuse (www.syracuserestaurant.com.au), one of my favourite wine bars in Melbourne. It has a touch of old school class to it whilst also being quite relaxed. From there we went to the new Movida Aqui (www.movida.com.au) on Bourke Street - where upon our arrival the bartender brought over another bottle of bubbles, a gift from my bro and his fiancee in Sydney. It was such a cool present, I felt like I was in a movie!
We started by immediately ordering a round of the bocadillo de calamares - miniature ciabatta sandwiches filled with fried calamari and garlic mayonnaise. I would never have thought to put calamari in bread but damn they were tasty and just what we needed to start soaking up some of the alcohol. Our first "wave" of food included grilled fish, beautifully tender mussells cooked in sherry, and anchovy fillets with the most heavenly smoked tomato sorbet. The Tasmanian Holm Oak pinot noir was a good drop and a good accompaniment to the smokiness of the sorbet. The second "wave" began with bravas potatoes, continued with a salad of pumpkin, eggplant, quince, and green olives (my dish of the evening), and ended with a very rich dish of salt bush goat. We finished by sharing a couple of desserts. I'm writing this 24 hours later and I think I'm still full!
Hmmm, so this is the bit where I give my overally review of Movida. I always find this a little difficult, as no matter where you go it's the company that matters most - and my sister and cousin and I had a fantastic night. So often even if the food or service isn't perfect, it can still be a magical evening. Aargh, I'm putting this off a bit, aren't it. I suppose it's just that I built the Movida experience up hugely for the last week, to the point of having butterflies in my stomach during the day as I was so excited, and after lacklustre service and food which was great but maybe not the transcendental experience I was anticipating, I don't feel I can give it 10 out of 10. It was still damn good, but I think I set the bar pretty high these days. I would say the food at Bar Lourinha (www.barlourinha.com.au) or Cumulus Inc. (www.cumulusinc.com.au) is just as good. However, it is handy being able to book a table unlike the latter places, and the food is still yummy enough that I would happily go back there.
So that's another year, another birthday over. I'm glad that as always it involved plenty of feasting both in Cape Paterson last weekend and at Movida Aqui last night. Mmmm, all this talk of food, time to start planning another dinner party again soon methinks!
We started by immediately ordering a round of the bocadillo de calamares - miniature ciabatta sandwiches filled with fried calamari and garlic mayonnaise. I would never have thought to put calamari in bread but damn they were tasty and just what we needed to start soaking up some of the alcohol. Our first "wave" of food included grilled fish, beautifully tender mussells cooked in sherry, and anchovy fillets with the most heavenly smoked tomato sorbet. The Tasmanian Holm Oak pinot noir was a good drop and a good accompaniment to the smokiness of the sorbet. The second "wave" began with bravas potatoes, continued with a salad of pumpkin, eggplant, quince, and green olives (my dish of the evening), and ended with a very rich dish of salt bush goat. We finished by sharing a couple of desserts. I'm writing this 24 hours later and I think I'm still full!
Hmmm, so this is the bit where I give my overally review of Movida. I always find this a little difficult, as no matter where you go it's the company that matters most - and my sister and cousin and I had a fantastic night. So often even if the food or service isn't perfect, it can still be a magical evening. Aargh, I'm putting this off a bit, aren't it. I suppose it's just that I built the Movida experience up hugely for the last week, to the point of having butterflies in my stomach during the day as I was so excited, and after lacklustre service and food which was great but maybe not the transcendental experience I was anticipating, I don't feel I can give it 10 out of 10. It was still damn good, but I think I set the bar pretty high these days. I would say the food at Bar Lourinha (www.barlourinha.com.au) or Cumulus Inc. (www.cumulusinc.com.au) is just as good. However, it is handy being able to book a table unlike the latter places, and the food is still yummy enough that I would happily go back there.
So that's another year, another birthday over. I'm glad that as always it involved plenty of feasting both in Cape Paterson last weekend and at Movida Aqui last night. Mmmm, all this talk of food, time to start planning another dinner party again soon methinks!
Monday, April 19, 2010
My favourite recipe website
My sister put me on to the 101 Cookbooks website last year, and since then I have incorporated many of Heidi Swanson's wonderful dishes into my repertoire. Her passion for vegetarian wholefood and the inventiveness of the recipes keeps me coming back time and time again, and I have referred countless people to the website. What I particularly like is the "twist" each recipe usually contains - the addition of a few at times unexpected ingredients which elevate the complexity of flavours.
Heidi's brilliant website is: http://www.101cookbooks.com/
The dish I've probably cooked the most often is the Giant White Chipotle Beans recipe - a very more-ish recipe involving beans, silverbeet and feta cheese baked in a spicy tomato chilli sauce topped with emerald green coriander pesto and toasted breadcrumbs. If I feel like a simpler and less oil-based recipe I sometimes leave the breadcrumbs off and use fresh coriander leaves rather than making the pesto. Oh and I've yet to track down chipotle sauce but am looking forward to the day when I do.
The dish I've probably cooked the most often is the Giant White Chipotle Beans recipe - a very more-ish recipe involving beans, silverbeet and feta cheese baked in a spicy tomato chilli sauce topped with emerald green coriander pesto and toasted breadcrumbs. If I feel like a simpler and less oil-based recipe I sometimes leave the breadcrumbs off and use fresh coriander leaves rather than making the pesto. Oh and I've yet to track down chipotle sauce but am looking forward to the day when I do.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Sunday afternoon bliss...
On our way back from Cape Paterson on Sunday we stumbled across a most serene winery with an incredible view and soft green grass perfect for lying on whilst watching the clouds drift by... There was even a tree for climbing to get an even better view of Westernport. We were very lucky to have the place to ourselves for a couple of hours while we drank some reisling and pinot noir. As they don't do food you can bring your own picnic. We brought out the leftovers from Saturday's dinner party: asparagus and smoked salmon sandwiches, devilled eggs, sourdough, chevre and my favourite dips from Queen Vic market - smoked eggplant, coriander and macadamia pesto, and moroccan harissa. The winery is called The Gurdies Winery (http://www.thegurdieswinery.com.au/) and I totally recommend it for a picnic lunch. It was the most relaxing meal I've had in a long time (and it was also the first tree I've climbed in many a year!).
The inaugural meeting of the LMC
Following a fantastic birthday dinner party last night in Cape Paterson during which my wonderful friends all pitched in to create the food with me, I realised how much I wanted to keep a record of the meals and food thoughts in my life in a more organised way! And after years of keeping notebooks with my ideas and recipes, a blog seems a much more noughties way to do so. It is also my intention to pay homage to the people who have influenced me and helped spark my passion for cooking.
So I'll begin by recording last night's festivities, which were based on the theme of Mad Men, and thus had a 1960s theme. I wore a Betty Draper-style dress from a great shop in Sydney called Retrospec'd (http://www.retrospecd.com/) that makes reproduction 1940s and 1950s clothes - combined with the red gingham apron my parents bought me in Italy I looked pretty damn retro I think... The menu combined a few classic 196os dishes:
These are hilariously retro but also damn tasty. Makes 24.
1 loaf sandwich slice wholemeal bread
12 asparagus spears
150g chevre (soft goats cheese)
250g smoked salmon
Toothpicks
1. Cut the woody ends off the asparagus and steam the spears for around 4 minutes until tender. Allow to cool and then cut in half.
2. Cut the crusts off the bread and discard (or feed them to the ducks if you're into giving wildlife human food). Gently roll the bread with a rolling pin (or a wine bottle if you're in a beach house with limited utensils!) as this will make it easier to work with. 3. Spread one side of the bread with some goats cheese. Lie a slice of smoked salmon and an asparagus spear on an angle so that thespear reaches from one corner to another. Roll up and secure with a toothpick.
Devilled Eggs
I initially made these as a bit of a joke, thinking that they would look great in the photos but wouldn't be exactly popular. I was actually kind of surprised at how good they tasted! Makes 12.
6 free range eggs
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
A few drops of tabasco sauce
1 teaspoon of sweet paprika plus more to garnish
A small handful of italian flat leaf parsley
1. Hard boil the eggs. Allow to cool a little, then cut in half lengthwise and gently remove the yolks. Set the whites aside and place the yolks in a mixing bowl.
2. Use a fork to mash the yolks with the mustard, mayonnaise, tabasco sauce, and 1 teaspoon of paprika.
3. Spoon or pipe the egg mixture into the egg white halves. Sprinkle with paprika and garnish each with a sprig of parsley.
Avocado and Prawn Cocktails
This recipe is about one million times better than the shrimp cocktails I had to serve customers at my first job, which was at a dodgy pub in the deepest darkest suburbs of Christchurch...
My friend Andrew peeled 50 prawns on the night of the dinner party even though he was extremely hungover at the time!
The recipe can be found at www.taste.com.au/recipes/19034/avocado+prawn+cocktail
Smoked Fish Pie
This is a recipe from my favourite "food porn" magazine Cuisine (http://www.cuisine.co.nz/) - a New Zealand publication that's so good I've even got one of my Aussie foodie friends into it. The pie is a really good option for an easy dinner with friends, as it is quite substantial and contains carbs (golden flaky pastry and potatoes), veges (leeks) and protein (smoked fish), making it a meal in one - no need for side dishes! The addition of kalamata olives and garlic butter really set the flavours off. Serves 6.
The recipe can be found at www.cuisine.co.nz/index.cfm?pageId=53348. My friend Julie and I came up with an unintentional but very worthwhile variation whereby we made a little extra garlic butter and added some to the potatoes - otherwise they can be a little bland. I also double the amount of smoked fish used.
Baked Orange Alaska
I remember this recipe from a school cook book... do they even teach kids home economics these days? Anyway, this is a healthy-ish version, although I'm considering trying a less healthy version by soaking the fruit in alcohol. Makes 6.
3 oranges (try to find ones with flat rather than pointy ends as they need to balance on a baking tray)
3 kiwifruit
4 eggs
1/2 cup of caster sugar
300mL icecream (I used Maggie Beer's vanilla with elderflower - see www.maggiebeer.com.au/contactus/distributors/)
1. Cut the oranges in half around the middle and carefully cut out the flesh - I use a paring knife to cut around the edge and then cut segments out. Peel and chop the kiwifruits into chunks and combine with the orange pieces in a bowl.
2. Spoon the fruit mixture back into the orange halves.
3. Beat the egg whites while gradually adding the caster sugar until they are stiff and forming soft peaks.
4. Preheat the grill.
5. Add a scoop of icecream on top of the fruit and cover with a mound of meringue that completely overs the icecream and fruit.
6. Grill for a few minutes until the meringue is golden brown and serve.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
So that was the menu for my birthday dinner party this year. And while we really enjoyed eating it, what I loved even more was how much fun we had creating these dishes together. It was a really lovely example of how food is a social event as much as it is a nutritional necessity.
And what is the Last Mouthful Club? It's a joke that my foodie friend Kate and I made when we realised we both have the same habit - we'll always save a bite of our favourite elements of what's on our plate until last so that we can end a meal with a mouthful that captures the best of the dish. It can mean having to fend off people who tend to sneak bites off other people's plates! But it's always great to end a meal on a high note.
Ciao my lovelies,
Sarah
So I'll begin by recording last night's festivities, which were based on the theme of Mad Men, and thus had a 1960s theme. I wore a Betty Draper-style dress from a great shop in Sydney called Retrospec'd (http://www.retrospecd.com/) that makes reproduction 1940s and 1950s clothes - combined with the red gingham apron my parents bought me in Italy I looked pretty damn retro I think... The menu combined a few classic 196os dishes:
- Hors d'ouevres: Asparagus and Smoked Salmon Rolls and Devilled Eggs
- Entree: Avocado and Prawn Cocktails
- Main: Smoked Fish Pie
- Dessert: Baked Orange Alaska
These are hilariously retro but also damn tasty. Makes 24.
1 loaf sandwich slice wholemeal bread
12 asparagus spears
150g chevre (soft goats cheese)
250g smoked salmon
Toothpicks
1. Cut the woody ends off the asparagus and steam the spears for around 4 minutes until tender. Allow to cool and then cut in half.
2. Cut the crusts off the bread and discard (or feed them to the ducks if you're into giving wildlife human food). Gently roll the bread with a rolling pin (or a wine bottle if you're in a beach house with limited utensils!) as this will make it easier to work with. 3. Spread one side of the bread with some goats cheese. Lie a slice of smoked salmon and an asparagus spear on an angle so that thespear reaches from one corner to another. Roll up and secure with a toothpick.
Devilled Eggs
I initially made these as a bit of a joke, thinking that they would look great in the photos but wouldn't be exactly popular. I was actually kind of surprised at how good they tasted! Makes 12.
6 free range eggs
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
A few drops of tabasco sauce
1 teaspoon of sweet paprika plus more to garnish
A small handful of italian flat leaf parsley
1. Hard boil the eggs. Allow to cool a little, then cut in half lengthwise and gently remove the yolks. Set the whites aside and place the yolks in a mixing bowl.
2. Use a fork to mash the yolks with the mustard, mayonnaise, tabasco sauce, and 1 teaspoon of paprika.
3. Spoon or pipe the egg mixture into the egg white halves. Sprinkle with paprika and garnish each with a sprig of parsley.
Avocado and Prawn Cocktails
This recipe is about one million times better than the shrimp cocktails I had to serve customers at my first job, which was at a dodgy pub in the deepest darkest suburbs of Christchurch...
My friend Andrew peeled 50 prawns on the night of the dinner party even though he was extremely hungover at the time!
The recipe can be found at www.taste.com.au/recipes/19034/avocado+prawn+cocktail
Smoked Fish Pie
This is a recipe from my favourite "food porn" magazine Cuisine (http://www.cuisine.co.nz/) - a New Zealand publication that's so good I've even got one of my Aussie foodie friends into it. The pie is a really good option for an easy dinner with friends, as it is quite substantial and contains carbs (golden flaky pastry and potatoes), veges (leeks) and protein (smoked fish), making it a meal in one - no need for side dishes! The addition of kalamata olives and garlic butter really set the flavours off. Serves 6.
The recipe can be found at www.cuisine.co.nz/index.cfm?pageId=53348. My friend Julie and I came up with an unintentional but very worthwhile variation whereby we made a little extra garlic butter and added some to the potatoes - otherwise they can be a little bland. I also double the amount of smoked fish used.
Baked Orange Alaska
I remember this recipe from a school cook book... do they even teach kids home economics these days? Anyway, this is a healthy-ish version, although I'm considering trying a less healthy version by soaking the fruit in alcohol. Makes 6.
3 oranges (try to find ones with flat rather than pointy ends as they need to balance on a baking tray)
3 kiwifruit
4 eggs
1/2 cup of caster sugar
300mL icecream (I used Maggie Beer's vanilla with elderflower - see www.maggiebeer.com.au/contactus/distributors/)
1. Cut the oranges in half around the middle and carefully cut out the flesh - I use a paring knife to cut around the edge and then cut segments out. Peel and chop the kiwifruits into chunks and combine with the orange pieces in a bowl.
2. Spoon the fruit mixture back into the orange halves.
3. Beat the egg whites while gradually adding the caster sugar until they are stiff and forming soft peaks.
4. Preheat the grill.
5. Add a scoop of icecream on top of the fruit and cover with a mound of meringue that completely overs the icecream and fruit.
6. Grill for a few minutes until the meringue is golden brown and serve.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
So that was the menu for my birthday dinner party this year. And while we really enjoyed eating it, what I loved even more was how much fun we had creating these dishes together. It was a really lovely example of how food is a social event as much as it is a nutritional necessity.
And what is the Last Mouthful Club? It's a joke that my foodie friend Kate and I made when we realised we both have the same habit - we'll always save a bite of our favourite elements of what's on our plate until last so that we can end a meal with a mouthful that captures the best of the dish. It can mean having to fend off people who tend to sneak bites off other people's plates! But it's always great to end a meal on a high note.
Ciao my lovelies,
Sarah
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