Sunday 25 October 2009

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

Monday 19 October 2009

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.

Monday 12 October 2009

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.

Wednesday 7 October 2009

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