Salmon 'Wellington' and Cook Cucumbers

Finally, after a week and a half I’m germ free!

I got tired of baking salmon, so inspired by Beef Wellington I made Salmon Wellington ... well it’s just salmon wrapped in puff pastry and baked in the oven. The salmon was seasoned and sprinkled with my home dried dill. Then wrapped in puff pastry and baked until the pastry was golden. I was nervous putting the little fillet of salmon in a 30mins oven. I expected it to turn out really dry and it wasn’t! It was a little over but not dry at all.

To accompany the salmon, I made cooked cucumber and fennel in butter sauce. Yes, that’s right – cooked cucumber. I’m not sure where I got the idea from .... I must have seen this done on tv, maybe the Cook and the Chef?

I heated 2tbsp of butter in a small pot on medium heat – don’t use oil because the temperature will get too hot and will fry. Once melted, I added capers, then the fennel and cook for around 1 min. Add the cucumbers and cook for another 2mins, stirring to coat the cucumbers in butter. Add some pepper and dill and you’re done. To my surprise (two discoveries in one day!) it was really nice. It’s a great accompaniment to fish dishes.

Drying your own herbs

Sick of buying a bunch of herbs only to use two springs then a week later you have to chuck the whole thing out? Now you can buy fresh herbs and keep them! How? Dry your own!

Pick your herb and place them on a paper towel, several bunches at a time.

Zap them in the microwave on high for 15secs. Check then zap again for 15secs. Keep on zapping and checking in 15secs slots until it is dried through. You must make sure every piece is dried or else the non-dried ones will go mouldy and ruin all your work.

Get an old spice jar and store them! Home made dried herbs is tastier and smells fresher than the store bought variety.

Diary of a Domestic Goddess

5.30pm – Arrive home. Managed to avoid eye contact with the giant stick insect on the way in.
5.35pm – Wash face (requirement of a domestic goddess: good skin) and realised the apple tea cake recipe has been left at work.
5.45pm – Unmake bed, remake bed with fresh sheets and pillow cases. Wash sheets. (Domestic goddess loves clean sheets)
5.50pm – Make apple tea cake with only vague memory of the recipe.
6.10pm – Wash dishes.
6.20pm – Prep dinner for Swiss brown mushroom risotto.
6.50pm – Start cooking dinner while checking cake.
7.00pm – Unload sheets and hang. Cake done.


Apple tea cake

7.01pm – No room on the dining table or kitchen. Cake will have to cool on the coffee table.
7.30pm – Still cooking dinner.
7.40pm – Dinner done. Cake cooled.


Swiss brown mushroom risotto

7.45pm – Taste test a piece of cake (quality control is important to a domestic goddess).
7.50pm – Pack dried dishes and wash more dishes.


...all in a day's work ...

94wines

It’s been that long since my last post?! November is proving to be a busy month indeed.

Summer is coming and as the temperature sores, there’s less baking to be done. Christmas decorations are making their appearance in the shops in October. That only means one thing ...nothing like a bottle of wine to start the festivities. If you’re a wine non-drinker/novice like myself and always find the selection of wines in the bottle shop mind boggling, then the team from 94wines might be able to help. By answering a series of questions on the website, they can determine what your WineID is. Every wine (number) has been carefully selected and processed by the company. All the wines come from France, and each number contains its own region and grape variety. My WineID was #2 Smooth, #23 Bold and #51 Luscious.

Aren't these colours festive?

I think I’m more attracted to their contemporary packaging than anything else. You can also personalised the bottle with a text message, photo or even video. Each bottle can be given an unique QR code which can be read by using the camera of a mobile phone.

Moroccan Eggplant with Chicken

I have been distracted of late because one of my good friends asked me to do her table decorations for her wedding next month. Yippee! In my distracted state I’ve been flicking through wedding/home ware blogs trying to come up with ideas. I have assembled some ideas from various blogs and am determined to find more!





So back to food ... Last night I made Moroccan Eggplant with Chicken. It’s a fairly simple recipe (similar to the one from my cooking class at Selah) and in our haste (we were too hungry!) I didn’t manage to take a photo. You can prepare the chicken any way you like: pan fry with a bit of salt and pepper, roasted in the oven or you can even use a store bought roast chicken.

Moroccan Eggplant
Serves 2

Ingredients
I large Eggplant
2 tsp Moroccan spice mix. Or 2 tsp roasted cumin seeds will work just as well.
Squeeze of lemon juice
2 tbsp Flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
¼ Spanish Onion, finely diced
Salt to season

Method
1. Roast the eggplant in the oven until soft.

2. Scoop out flesh and chop roughly. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and serve.

Sunday Lunch (Oct 09)

L-R: Haloumi, Baked Tassie Salmon, Spring Salad of Asparagus, Broad beans, Butter beans & Jamon.

I'm always anxious when I cook salmon, you don't want to under cook (unintentional half cooked fish is not nice) nor do you want to over cook (dry). Not to boast or anything but today I cooked the most perfect salmon. Low oven (160c), for the portions above (3 med size fillets, halved length ways) around 13-15mins, take it out to rest for 5mins. No oil required because salmon is already an oily fish, I always find it too oily for my tastes if I add oil unless I'm pan frying. Seasoned, lemon zest, dill and a squeeze of lemon juice. Some capers to finish the dish would be nice too.

Haloumi is one of my favourite cheese. It's not exactly 'low fat' because you need oil to pay fry it. Pour enough oil to cover the pan then fry on med heat - it should only take a few minutes. I added dried rosemary to serve. Next time I will add a squeeze of lemon juice and smoked paprika.

It's Spring over is Oz, so I blanched some spring veg, sprinkle with salt and balsamic, bit of lemon zest and top it with jamon.

You might recall my excitement for Elderflower. I've finally made the Elderflower syrup I do desired. There were a few recipes on the net but I made up my own. I think it worked fine and the best of all it was pretty simple. Make equal parts water and sugar for the sugar syrup then add lemon rind and juice to taste. Turn the heat off when it comes to a simmer and the sugar has melted, when the liquid has cooled, add Elderflowers, cover and refrigerate for 48hrs.

I added the Elderflower syrup to my manuka honey pannacotta. I'm calling it pannacotta because it was intended to be pannacotta but I added a leaf too much of gelatin, oops! It was still good right?

Manuka honey pannacotta with blueberries and elderflower syrup

Marinated beef with roasted eggplant and salad of cos, radish and broadbeans.

Time to road test the eggplant dip made at the cooking class at Selah. Roasted the eggplants, mushed it up with salt, lemon juice and garlic. It wasn’t bad, I’ve probably put too much garlic though – it would also be nicer if I roasted the garlic. I cheated a bought pre-marinated meat.
Trying to re-create the look of the dish, I made up a salad using baby cos (sliced), radishes and broad beans. I tried to make the plating look less messy as I don’t have a pvc ring .

You can't really see the eggplant in the photo as the cos has managed to spread itself out - haha!

Market Day

Black grape tomato, Rose and Lavender marshmallows, Lindt cooking chocolate, cool spatula, cake decorating stars and elderflowers.

I always get excited about market day thinking about all the yummy fresh produce. I told myself I won’t go crazy on the veg as I always buy too much and stay away from expensive items that I would hardly use like smoked ocean trout or a leg of salt bush lamb.

Walking past the baby salad leaf/micro greens/edible flowers stall, this time I had to buy some edible flowers. I’ve always wanted to use them to decorate cakes or to put in a leafy green salad. To much excitement, I saw elderflowers! All rational thoughts went out of my mind, I need to buy the elderflowers! I love elderflower cordial and have seen the flowers being used in one of those country/farm style cooking shows from the UK. Hurrah, $4 a box! Now, err what do I do with them???

I don’t usually buy cakes/pastries/sweets. I walked past the Sweetest Patisserie stall, there were free samples ..free samples! Who would pass that up? I manoeuvred myself in front of the marshmallow jar. Hmm...lime, hmm..lemon, ohh is that chocolate? They were oh so light, I need to buy a packet! A pretty pink and lavender coloured one caught by eye. I picked it up and the stall holder informed me that packet is Rose and Lavender flavour. “Do you like the flowers flavours?” she asked. I umm-ed and arrr-ed a bit, memories of unpleasant encounters with flower flavours filled my mind (e.g. rose petal jam with lots of rose petals so much that you feel like you’re eating paper). Seeing my hesitation she urged “Try one”. I took the sample piece of rose flavoured marshmallow, popped it into my mouth and hoped for the best. The marshmallow was light and airy, and to my delight the rose flavour was subtle but fragrant. I was sold.

After the markets, I went a bit nuts in the Essential Ingredient.....that's a story for another day.

Cauliflower and Coriander Soup

I was still too full to eat a full dinner last night so I decided to make soup, cauliflower soup... I love making soup, it’s so easy and healthy.

Cauliflower and Coriander Soup

Ingredients

½ a cauliflower, cut into florets1 small onion
1 clove garlic
1 small potato, diced
Coriander leaves, chopped finely, to taste

Method
1. In a medium sized pot, cook the garlic and onion in a little oil until translucent.

2. Add in cauliflower and potato. Top the pot with water until the ingredients are covered. Cook on a low heat until the vegetables are soft.

3. Take the vegetables outs and puree in a food processer. Do not pour out the cooking liquid as it will retain the flavours.

4. Once pureed, stir it back into the cooking liquid. Heat it up again. Add coriander, salt and pepper to taste.

Candied Orange Mini Cupcakes

Excited by how easy it was to make candied orange peel from the Selah cooking class (below), I had to try it at home (and mainly because I had nothing to do yesterday) and yep! easy peasy.

Candied Orange Mini Cupcakes
Makes approx. 20

Candied Orange
4 oranges
¾ cup water
¾ cup caster sugar + extra to coat

Method

1. Use a vegetable peeler to peel the oranges and julienne. In a small pot, bring some water to the boil. Add peel and let it boil for 30 secs. Take them out and plunge them into ice water. Drain and pat dry.

2. Make the sugar syrup by adding equal parts water and sugar (3/4 cups should be enough for 4 oranges). When it comes to the boil, add the peel and boil until translucent.


Translucent

3. Put the peel onto a wire rack to dry. Once dried coat them in caster sugar.

Tip: Don’t throw out the syrup. You can use it to pour over cakes, puddings or use it as bitter orange cordial.


Bitter orange cordial

Candied Orange Cupcakes

Ingredients
100g butter, room temp and cubed
1/3 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
1 cup plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
Dash of milk
2 tbsp candied orange peel

Method
1. Cream the butter and sugar, then add egg one at a time until mixed.

2. Add the candied peel, flour, baking powder and milk. Mix until combined.

3. Put in mini cupcake cups and bake for approx.10mins.

Before


After

To decorate
Melted dark chocolate
Candied Peel

Method
Spread the melted chocolate on top of the cupcakes and decorate with the candied peel.

Cooking class at Selah

As part of the Sydney International Food Festival, my friend and I attended a cooking class at Selah (near Circular Quay). Having only been to one other cooking class at the Sydney Fish Markets, I didn’t know what to expect. To my absolute delight, the class consisted of 8 other lovely people and we got to cook in a commercial kitchen!

The owner Sam, took orders for coffees and gave us the recipes for the day. Entree – King Prawns, tomato concasse, muscatels, gnocchi with burnt butter. Main – Spiced lamb backstrap, eggplant, witlof and roasted capsicum salad. Dessert – Toffee pannacotta with gingerbread, praline wafers, orange compote and candied orange. I was pleasantly surprised, I expected something simple (steak with mash etc.). The chef, Gavin, introduced himself, explained the day and took us into the kitchen where we also met Frankie one of the apprentice.

We toured the kitchen, Gavin explained to us how they work and we stood where all the action was about to begin. We began with the dessert because the pannacotta and gingerbread needed to set and bake. I’ve always wanted to make candied orange and didn’t realised how easy it was.

Then we moved onto the entree, Gavin gave us tips on making gnocchi. You bake the potatoes on rock salt. The rock salt draws out the moisture (you can reuse the rock salt) or you can boil them but leave the skin on and scope out the flesh afterwards. If you peel the skin first, the potatoes will absorb water and the gnocchi will more wet. Push the potatoes through a ricer or you can mash but never put it in the food processor - it will make it gluey. Then cool to room temp before you add the flour and egg. The muscatels went amazing well with the dish.

I learnt the lamb back strap doesn’t have that lamb taste because it’s a leaner cut, less fat (the fat gives the taste). I never knew and it’s the only cut of lamb I buy (easy to cook). The eggplant was roasted and made it into a ‘dip’ to sit under the salad, which was under the lamb (I will definitely be making it again as a dip) with garlic and parsley.

It was fantastic watching a chef work and understanding why they do things a certain way. We were stuffed after the entree but I managed to eat every bite of the main and dessert. All the dishes were do-able at home, so I will definitely make them again. I forgot to take my camera, silly me, so I’ve asked one of the participants to send me their pics. I will post it up when I received them.

Rhubarb and Lavender Mousse Cake

Created one day at work when a colleague mentioned a rhubarb and lavender tart. I thought “Hmm..interesting...” but I really wanted to make a light mousse cake so I decided to give this concoction a go. My 'spreading' technique could be a little better - heehee.

Take a basic sponge recipe and half it so you only get a 2cm layer. Bake and leave it in the tin to cool. Once cooled, spread the lavender mousse on top and refrigerate for 1-2hrs, then spread the rhubarb mousse on top. I’ve added gelatin to the lavender mousse to see how the texture will turn out. I suggest adding the same amount of gelatin to the rhubarb as well. The gelatin makes it more moussey rather than creamy.

The Mousses
500ml of thicken cream (reserve ¼ cup). Whip and divide into 2 separate bowls.

Rhubarb Mousse
1 bowl of the thicken cream
Rhubarb Puree (see below)

Fold puree into the cream. Depending on taste, you might not need all the puree. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Rhubarb Puree
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup water
200 grams rhubarb stalks, chopped

1. Make a sugar syrup with the water and the sugar by boiling them together. When it comes to a boil, reduce heat and the rhubarb. Cook on low heat until soft and tender. Set aside to cool.

Lavender Mousse
Lavender (available from speciality food shops and DJs food hall)2 tbsp Caster sugar
3 gelatin sheets

1. Put 1 tsp of lavender into a tea strainer. Pour the reserved cream in a small pot and put in the tea strainer. Warm the cream to infuse the lavender but do not boil. Once heated stir through the gelatin and leave the tea strainer in and cool.

2. In a mortar and pestle, put 1 tbsp of lavender and 2 tbsp of caster sugar. Grind until powder fine.

3. Once the cream has cool, take the strainer out and stir in the lavender powder. When mixed, fold through the other bowl of whipped cream. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Curry puffs with Beetroot, Apple and Radish salad

Since I’m all about health these days, this is a healthier version of the curry puff. I’ve used philo pastry instead of puff pastry. I also used egg to brush the in-between layers instead of butter. I’ve used lime juice to ‘marinade’ the apples to stop them from browning and to give it a tang. I used gala apples because I want the sweetness to counter the hotness of the curry powder. Fuji would work well as opposed to the red delicious variety as that will be to sweet.

Curry Puff
Makes approx 10

Ingredients
250g mince (I used chicken)
1 small onion, diced finely
1 small potato, diced finely
¼ cup peas
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp smoked paprika
Philo pastry
1 beaten egg

Method
1. Brown the onions, then add mince. Once the mince is cooked, add potatoes and cook for 10mins. Add peas, curry powder and paprika. Cook for a further 10mins or until potatoes are cooked. Season with salt. Set aside to cool.

2. Once the mince mixture is cooled. Take 1 sheet of Philo pastry brush with egg and lay another sheet on top. Brush with egg, then fold in half, you should get a square. Cut the square in half length way.

3. Take 1 tbsp on the mince and place it at top-center of the pastry. Brush edges with egg. Fold in one corner, encasing the mince to make a triangle. Keep on folding the triangle down until you get to the end. Put it on a baking tray and brush with egg. Repeat with the reminder of the mince. Bake for 10mins or until golden in an 180c oven.

Beetroot, Apple and Radish salad

Ingredients
3 small beetroots
1 gala or fuji apple
Juice from ½ a lime
Handful of radishes
Balsamic vinegar

Method
1. Wrap beetroot in foil and bake in a moderate oven until tender (approx 30-40mins). Once cooked, cool and peel with a small knife. The skin should come off easily. Cut into chunks and stir through balsamic vinegar.

2. Meanwhile, peel, core and cut the apples into chunks. Mix through lime juice and refrigerate until needed.

3. When ready to serve, cut the radish into chunks and sprinkle with salt. Combine with beetroot and apple.

Peruvian Potatoes

I was at the local fruit/veg shop when I spotted these. With the skin on they look rather like err...you know what and I was fascinated by the purple colour once I’ve peeled them. Would it taste like taro? After a quick sniff (yes, I smelt the potatoes) it smelt like a regular potato but I still didn’t know what it will look/taste/smelt like after cooking.

What was the safest way to go about cooking these? Make chips of course! Anything can taste good in chip form. After the boiling and baking process (no frying, I’m healthy) I was pleasantly surprised with the result. It tasted and smelt like a regular potato but more starchy and something else that I can put my finger on. Peeling them is a pain though – darn finger potatoes!

Peruvian potato chips, grilled corn with snapper and beans

Pierre Herme

My friend, ‘the cake baker’, pointed me in the direction of patissier Pierre Herme from France. “Let me google”, I replied and my-oh-my ... yum! Even the chocolate bars sounds delicious.

TABLETTE CHOCOLAT NOIR AU CITRON ET À LA BERGAMOTE: (A bar of dark chocolate lightly flavoured with lemon and bergamot, with bits of candied lemon.) Reminds me of earl grey tea chocolate since earl grey contains bergamot.

TABLETTE AZUR: Chocolate bar with a chocolate yuzu ganache filling with bits of candied grapefruit.

Plénitude: chocolate macaroon, dark chocolate chips with pure sea salt, bitter chocolate mousse, bitter chocolate ganache, crunchy caramel

Millefeuille Montebello: Pistachio and Raspberry Millefeuille

Tarte Infiniment Vanille: sweet tart dough, white chocolate and vanilla ganache, biscuit moistened with a vanilla juice, vanilla mascarpone cream)

Perfect Flavor Ice Cream

What’s with all the frozen dessert posts lately? You ask. I must be dreaming of summer...the longer days, warmth of the sun, the general population looking happy, the mark of the end of another year....and of course there’s ice cream/sorbet/gelato/frozen yoghurt. At Perfect Flavor ice-cream, they let you create your own ice cream creations – bliss!

First, you choose the base: mousse, sweet cream, cheesecake, French custard, gelato or sorbet.

Next, add your base flavour: chocolate, vanilla, caramel or coffee.

Then, you choose the ‘mixins’ which besides the usual chocolate, nuts, caramel, berries includes: marshmallow, cardamom, ginger, saffron, brioche, earl grey tea, lavender and white pepper ..to name a few.

I assume *sigh* that it only ships to the U.S. Then again, I probably won’t even buy because at $119.99US for a 4 pint tub, it ain’t recession friendly!

Last Supper (well, alomst)

I managed to cook up a meal which took effort last night. Wedges with rosemary salt, Moroccan sirloin, roasted carrots with spinach and tomato salad. Rare for a weeknight ...the usual weeknight meal normally has fewer ingredients done in the oven or one-pot style (less washing!). I’m not sure if it’s because we are moving next week and I’m preparing myself for a few days of take-away, pasta+sauce and Korean 2mins noodles.

I’ll be saying goodbye to the ‘light it yourself’ gas appliances. Must admit I was a bit afraid at first to light the oven, thoughts of “What if my arm catches on fire?’ ran through my mind. Next week, I’ll be saying hello an electric stove top (gasp!) and oven. Happy about the oven part - it’s easier to control but I hope it doesn’t take 30mins to boil an egg (as my mum would say) on the stove. I am also very excited about the newer and bigger kitchen. Bench space! Woo!

Rosemary Salt

Wedges...mmmm

Moroccan sirloin with veg

Pinkberry Frozen Yoghurt

From the list of 'why can't we get this in Australia?'... I present you Pinkberry.

Pinkberry is frozen yogurt chain specialising in low-fat, soft served style yogurt with distinctive flavours and fresh toppings resulting in a 'perfect marriage of extraordinary taste palates....'. I'll just let some of the flavours speak for themselves.....

Pomegranate

Coconut

A few of the toppings include (depending on season): blackberry, pineapple, kiwi, cookies and cream, Italian caramel and cherry.

There's also fruit parfait

I'll have a pomegranate yogurt with cherries and dark chocolate chips please!

Gourmet Popcorn

I would love to cook and entertain more but time and apartment size doesn't always allow for that. From here on, I will include my cooking/entertaining stories but also information, sites and pictures of exciting food products that I come across.

Popcorn, once reserved for the movies (the buttered kind) and kids parties (the sweet muti-coloured kind. Funny ... sugar & colouring for a room full of kids!), is not much of a gourmet food. The gourmet-ist that it got was the salt & vinegar and honey flavours from Kernels. Until I came across this ....

479 degrees Popcorn from the States serves up small but tasty selection. My favorites are:


Chipotle Caramel + Almonds: I love chilli chocolate, but chilli and caramel? Yum!



Black Truffle + White Cheddar: Oh la la, truffles. To be honest there probably won't be much truffle flavour. Buy it for the la-di-da factor.





Ginger Sesame Caramel: you don't expect this for popcorn.

High Tea

Having been given the notice to ship out of our apartment by the end of the month, there can be no better way but to say farewell with high tea (the high tea was actually planned before but where's the drama in that?).

I made my own Raspberry Jam in the microwave and cheated by adding gelatin to set the jam. It tasted pretty good and it was so quick and easy. I used 1 cup frozen raspberries, 1 cup caster sugar, squeeze of lemon juice and 2 sheet gold strength gelatin leaves. First you microwave the berries and lemon juice for 5mins, then add sugar, stir and microwave for a further 10mins (be careful as it might boil over the bowl). Soak the gelatin leaves, squeeze the excess water, stir into the mixture, put it in the fridge and voila! homemade jam.

To save time, I brought the sweet tart shells and filled it with various flavoured creams. You can add anything to whipped cream: berries, lemon, lime, chocolate, nuts, candied fruits....the list goes on.

Also, thanks to the 'cake baker' for baking such a yummy flourless Mandarin and Almond cake.

Buttermilk Scones
Ingredients
1 tbsp icing sugar

2 1/2 cups plain flour

1 1/2 tbsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

1 cup buttermilk

30g butter, melted

Method
1. Pre-heat the oven to 200c.

2. Put all the dry ingredients into a bowl and mix. Add the wet ingredients and stir with a cutting motion with a knife.

3. Knead quickly and press out onto a floured surface to 3 cm thick. Cut with a scone cutter or round cookie cutter.
4. Bake for approx 10mins until slightly golden and puffed. Served warm with jam and cream.

Chocolate Mousse
Ingredients
250g dark chocolate
200ml thicken cream

Method
1. Chop the chocolate into fine pieces and put into a bowl. Heat 1/3 of the cream but do not boil. Once warm, pour into the chocolate and mix until smooth.

2. Whip remaining cream until thick and fold into the chocolate mixture. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Lemon and Mint Cream

Ingredients

250ml thicken cream

zest of 2 lemons

2 tsp vanilla

handful of mint leaves, finely chopped

Method

1. Whip cream until thick and mix in lemon zest and vanilla.

2. Just before serving fold in mint leaves.

The tea and coffee bar

Pre-high tea chocolates

Flourless Mandarin & Almond Cake, Moroccan Chicken and Smoked Salmon finger sandwiches

Scones with homemade Raspberry Jam and Chocolate Mousse Tarts

Lemon and Mint tarts