Cookbook Challenge: Week 8, Sweet

Recipe: Berry buttermilk pancakes
From: Stephanie Alexander's The Cook's Companion

The theme for this week's Cookbook Challenge is "sweet" and I decided to make pancakes. What is sweeter than a leisurely Sunday breakfast of pancakes with the one you love? Not much, I think!

The Cook's Companion suggests preparing the batter the night before, up to the stage before adding the egg whites, for a quick breakfast. Great idea, although preparing the batter from scratch doesn't actually take all that long. It's the cooking that takes the longest, though there are machines to help with that.....



The original recipe didn't specify any sugar to be added to the pancake batter, so I included a tablespoon of caster sugar. Even with the additional sugar, these pancakes aren't very sweet - smothering them in maple syrup is a definite requirement. They are beautifully fluffy though and definitely worth the effort.

And a tip - don't be tempted to just throw your berries into the batter before cooking, unless you don't mind irregular sized pancakes. I made three perfect round pancakes before I got bored and threw all the blackberries into the batter. After that, all the pancakes were interestingly shaped! Oh well. Judging by the five pancakes Alastair scoffed down, the strange shapes didn't detract from the taste!

See previous Cookbook Challenge posts here.

Update: See the round up for this week at My Food Trail.



Berry buttermilk pancakes

Adapted from Stephanie Alexander's The Cook's Companion

Makes 18 pancakes

3 eggs, separated
2 cups buttermilk
60g butter, melted
300g plain flour, sifted
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon caster sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda, sifted
extra butter or oil spray
About a cup of fresh berries

Beat the egg yolks well and then whisk in the buttermilk and melted butter.

Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture and fold in.

Whisk the egg whites to soft peaks and fold into the batter.

Heat a frying pan and lightly grease. Ladle in 1/4 cup of batter and scatter some berries over the uncooked batter. When bubbles form, flip with a spatula and cook the other side before transferring to a plate. Repeat until all the pancakes are ready.

Serve with additional fresh berries and maple syrup.

Q Eleven

The other weekend Alastair and I started things off with a rather good brunch at Q Eleven. It must've been a sign of things to come because we enjoyed good eating for the rest of the weekend. That evening we met up with Maria and Daz for dinner at Horoki before going to see Tripod. Dinner was great, and Tripod were fantastic. On Sunday we had a home made breakfast (pictured above) with scrambled eggs, fried chorizo, a big fat grilled mushroom and hash browns (supermarket ones... I'm not ashamed to say that I like them!). For afternoon tea later that day there was freshly baked banana cake with a cup of strong tea, and then finally for dinner Bro and I made Hainanese chicken rice. It was so good. I just about had to roll my way out of bed on Monday.

But back to Q Eleven. Alastair and I were in South Melbourne for my regular market wander. Food shopping bores Alastair senseless, so he rarely gets dragged out for food shopping these days. Bro and I normally go together, but as he was busy Alastair had to be the dutiful husband. I thought that he needed some food to shore up his patience so we headed to a cafe for breakfast.



Q Eleven is "cozy", and seems pretty popular, so we were fortunate to get seats! It's popular for good reason - as soon as I opened the menu, I was excited. It's not just bacon and eggs here! With items like the creamed sago pudding with lime, coconut, berries and yogurt, or the warmed rhubarb and apple compote with pistachio crumb fingers of French toast, or the refried beans, with fried eggs, pumpkin and coriander roesti, salsa and chipotle mayo, choosing only one thing to eat was difficult!



Alastair had the omelette with crispy potato, roasted capscium, feta and gremolata ($13.50). He gave me a taste, and even though I've mentioned before that I don't like open omelettes, this was pretty good. No rubberiness here!



I had the ham and roesti stack ($16.90). It truly was a stack - out came a soft poached egg on top of a slice of Kassler ham, a quinoa and potato roesti, and spinach. Perched at the very top was onion jam, and on the side of the stack was rosemary roasted tomatoes. It was good, the rather salty ham providing the seasoning to the gooey egg, soft roesti and spinach. I really enjoyed it.

Fortified by a good breakfast, we were able to make the market rounds. As for Q Eleven, I would definitely go back - even now I'm still wondering about the creamed sago pudding. Next time!

Q Eleven / Q11
303 Coventry Street,
South Melbourne
Phone: 03 9645 7311

Crepes!

Last weekend's breakfast - banana crepes with maple syrup

We've stopped eating out as much this year, particularly for brunch. Last year we would have brunch at a cafe almost every weekend, while this year we have been very good and have cut it down to once or twice a month.

During the weekend I try and make something more interesting than toast or cereal, and one thing I've been making a lot recently is crepes. I love that they're pretty quick to prepare and cook.




I use this basic crepe recipe from taste.com.au and if I make savoury crepes (ham and cheese!) I just leave out the sugar. The recipe is supposed to make twelve crepes, but the most I've ever managed to get out of a batch is six. I obviously need to practice my crepe making technique to get them thinner, but otherwise I'm pretty happy with them!

Homemade baked beans

I admit to liking some really crap food. For example, even though I know it's dreadful, I have a soft spot for canned spaghetti with "sausages". Canned baked beans, however.... Ergh. I've never liked canned baked beans and I'm not sure why. I love beans. I love things that have been stewed in tomato based sauces. But canned baked beans? Yuck.



So when I picked up a couple of ham hocks, I wanted to try making my own baked beans. My first attempt was a dismal failure - not because it didn't taste good, but because the beans I used disintegrated in the cooking process and it became a bean soup. It was a tasty bean soup but it wasn't baked beans.

On my second attempt, I used dried cannellini beans and this turned out much better. So much better that I ate it three meals in a row....!



Homemade baked beans

400g dried cannellini beans, covered with plenty of water and soaked overnight
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 carrots, peeled and finely diced
3 celery sticks, finely diced
1 medium onion, peeled and finely diced
2 cloves crushed garlic
800g canned whole tomatoes
2 tablespoons treacle (I wanted to use molasses, but I only had treacle in the cupboard)
1 tablespoon brown sugar
Bay leaf
1 ham hock, skin and fat removed
Water
Salt + pepper

Drain the cannellini beans and give them a quick rinse. Set aside.

In a large pot, heat the oil and cook the celery, carrots and onion on a medium-low for about 5 minutes or until soft. Add the crushed garlic and cook for a further minute.

Add the tomatoes, treacle, sugar, bay leaf, ham hock and beans to the pot. Add enough water to just cover and let it come to the boil. Turn it down to a simmer and let it cook gently over a low heat until the beans are soft (I did this in my magic/thermal pot - it will probably take an hour or two on the stove.)

When the beans are soft, remove the ham hock, shredding any meat and adding it back to the beans. Season well with salt and pepper and serve with crusty bread.

Granola

I've been wanting to make my own granola for ages, ever since I realised that my favourite cereal at the supermarket is stupidly pricey for what is, pretty much, just fancy schmancy oats.

I mostly followed the directions I found on this webpage. It contains some good advice and different variations for granola.

With my batch, I used dried cranberries, dried dates and pepitas, which I've been enjoying for breakfast with some good yoghurt dolloped on top. I over baked it though - I should've realised that the granola would crisp up when it cooled down - so mine is a bit too crunchy. Plus, I didn't read the instructions properly and threw the dried fruit in at the beginning of the baking time so that added to the hardness. It's still tasty though and I can't wait to make a better, improved batch!



Granola

Adapted from USAweekend.com

2 cups old fashioned oats
1/2 cup wheat germ
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 cup maple syrup
1/8 cup golden syrup
3 tablespoons canola oil
1 tablespoon water
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup of dried fruit (I used 3/4 cup of chopped dried dates, 1/4 cup of dried cranberries and a small handful of pepitas)

Preheat oven to 135°C. Lightly oil a baking tray.

In a bowl, mix together the oats, wheat germ, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon, leaving out the dried fruit.

In a small saucepan, heat the maple syrup, golden syrup, oil and water over a low heat until almost simmering. Drizzle over the oat mixture and stir to combine.

Pour the mixture on to the baking tray, and squeeze the cereal a handful at a time to form small clumps.

Bake for 30 minutes and then stir in the dried fruit. Return to the oven and bake for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. It will crisp up as it cools down.

Birthday French Toast

March in Melbourne is always a busy month. Lots of festivals and major events seem to be scheduled for March - Melbourne Food and Wine Festival, Moomba, the Avalon Airshow, the Greek Antipodes Festival, the L'Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival, and the Grand Prix to mention a few.

We didn't do most things, but we did go to the Avalon Airshow. What's that? You didn't realise I was into planes? You thought it was just about the food?



Well! The truth is that I'm not really into planes. But those of you who know Alastair personally won't be surprised to hear that he likes them! We picked the worst day to go to the Airshow. It rained - A LOT - in fact the equivalent amount of rain fell that day as during the first two months of this year. And were we prepared? Hell no! We had one umbrella and one plastic backed picnic blanket between four of us. Fortunately the weather cleared for a couple of hours, so it wasn't a complete washout. For anyone interested in planes and jets, the rest of the photos can be seen at flickr.

Apart from festivals and events, during March there is also Alastair's birthday and our wedding anniversary.



Both were very quiet events this year. For Alastair's birthday, we celebrated with Birthday French Toast in the morning. Bro and I bought him a joint present this year - an introductory helicopter training flight - a pretty freaking awesome gift for him, if I may say so myself!



That evening, dinner was Birthday Lasagne. It's a tradition - every year Alastair wants lasagne on his birthday. Since it's easy to whip up, and only a little time consuming, I'm always happy to oblige.

You'll notice that there's no mention of birthday cake. I didn't get around to it this year! Hell, we're not that into cake anyway, so I figured the Birthday French Toast, awesome present and Birthday Lasagne was enough. (It was!)



Birthday French Toast

1 Birthday
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2/3 cup milk
1 tablespoon caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 pieces of thick white bread (preferably day old)
Unsalted butter for the frying pan
Maple syrup, icing sugar and bacon (optional) to serve

In a shallow dish, mix together the eggs, milk, caster sugar, cinnamon and vanilla extract.
Melt a good sized pat of butter over medium-high heat in a frying pan.
Dip a slice of bread into the egg mixture, ensuring that the bread is well soaked through.
When the pan is hot, fry the bread on both sides for a couple of minutes or until crisp and golden.
Repeat the dipping and frying for all slices of bread (don't forget to melt more butter in the pan and be generous with it! It is a birthday after all).
Dust lightly with icing sugar and serve with maple syrup and bacon.
Have a happy birthday!

Sugarbeat

One sunny but slightly chilly Sunday, we went looking for a good brunch option. We came across Sugarbeat, a small (or intimate, if you prefer an euphemism) café in Ascot Vale.

Bro had the Catalan eggs ($13) – fried eggs topped with chorizo and corn salsa. The chorizo had a fair kick to it! And check out that yolk just about bursting out of it's skin.



I had the Bedouin eggs ($13). These were poached eggs with green harissa, spinach, feta and dukka on top of toasted Turkish bread. The harissa was pretty spicy, which I LOVED but I think some people would find it a bit much. The egg yolks were still nice and oozy - I love letting the yolk soak into toast. Yum!



Alastair had a toasted tortilla wrap ($11) – filled with egg, bacon and a bit of spinach and some salad on the side.

On the whole we had a nice brunch, but I do have one small criticism - our food was a bit cold. It didn't help that we were sitting outside in a bit of a breeze, but the food didn't seem very warm to begin with. But apart from that, we enjoyed it. As an added bonus, even my Bro thought that Sugarbeat was good. He is very picky about our brunch options, as it's hard for cafes to measure up to our favourite, but Sugarbeat received a tick of approval. Hooray!

Sugarbeat
5A North St
Ascot Vale 3032 VIC
Phone: (03) 9372 7118

Souffle omelette

So I've been lying low for a couple of weeks. I haven't been in the headspace for blogging for some reason. But I've still been cooking - pictured is a lazy Sunday breakfast we had recently.

Part of the reason for the blog quietness is that my parents are here for a visit! They arrived last week, and I was very busy trying to get the house clean and in order before they arrived. I wasn't entirely successful (I never am) but in the 5 days since they have been here they have done 4 loads of laundry, cooked us dinner most nights, bought groceries and taken us out for meals.

Why on earth did I ever leave home???



One weekend before my parents arrived (ie when I had ownership over my kitchen) I made us a soufflé omelette for breakfast. Along with jam, I put slices of mango in the middle (my first mango this side of the year!). When I reviewed the photos, I realised that the mango looked a bit like teeth!

The souffle omelette puffed up a lot in the oven, and even after it had been out for a while, I was pleased to see that it didn't completely deflate. It was nice and fluffy, not too sweet, but it was quite "eggy" (surprise surprise). We enjoyed it and it was easy to make - perfect for a lazy weekend breakfast!




Souffle Omelette

Adapted from Australian Table - September 2006

Serves 2

2 eggs, separated
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon cream
2 teaspoons plain flour
grated rind of 1/2 lemon
15g unsalted butter
2 tablespoons jam
Diced fruit (if desired)
icing sugar, to serve

Preheat oven to 190°C. Combine egg yolks, sugar, cream, flour and lemon rind in a bowl. Set aside.

Using an electric beater, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Gently fold yolk mixture and egg whites together using a large metal spoon.

Melt butter in a large ovenproof frying pan on low heat. Pour in egg mixture and place the frying pan in the oven. Bake omelette for 6 minutes, until risen and golden. Slide onto a heated serving plate and spread with jam. Place fruit on half of omelette (if desired) and fold omelette over. Dust with icing sugar, and cut crossways into thick slices. Serve immediately.

A series of brunches: Auction Rooms, Orange and Café Plum

Auction Rooms
103-107 Errol Street, North Melbourne
Phone: 9326 7749

Claire highly recommended Auction Rooms, so a couple of weekends ago we went there for brunch. It's a large, impressive space, all wooden beams, eclecticness and hipsters, and was very busy and bustling when we arrived.



After a look at the brief menu, I decided on the chorizo open sanga – a panfried chorizo with roasted red capsicum, mushroom paste and apple sauce on toasted sourdough with rocket salad ($13). I would've liked to have had a spicier chorizo, but I was happy with my brunch. The apple chunks were interesting - at first I couldn't figure out what they were. I thought they may have been pineapple due to the sweetness and appearance, but they also tasted very gingery.



Bro had the beans with bacon – Italian slow cooked baked beans, sage, basil, and rosemary infused olive oil served with sourdough toast ($11 without bacon, $13.50 with bacon).



And Alastair had the opening bid – poached eggs, roasted cherry tomatoes, bacon and spinach on sourdough toast ($15).



Coffees were very, very good. I don't have sugar in mine, but nevertheless I adored the little soup cans on the table that the sugar sat in. Bro was a bit grossed out at them (the cans did look a little rusty around the top...) but they were very, very cute and totally fit the aesthetic of the place.

Orange
124-126 Chapel St, Windsor
Phone: 9529 1644

A few weekends ago, Alastair and I made an unusual trip south of the river to have brunch with a friend in Windsor. We do tend to stick to our part of town - not because we're north of the river snobs – the truth is that we're just lazy!



My short mac came with a little jug of extra milk. How cute!



Whenever I see items on a brunch menu that's a bit different to eggs on toast, I tend to gravitate towards them. Which is how I ended up with a grilled kipper with horseradish butter, with a poached egg on sour dough toast ($15). It was a touch salty, and I thought it was a bit expensive, but apart from that I was pleased with it. The watercress was lemony and great with the kipper.



Alastair had the omelette with corn, coriander, chilli, and guacamole ($13.50). I'm sure he didn't care, but I was pleased to see that it was a proper omelette (I don't like open faced omelettes and don't consider them worthy of stomach space).

Cafe Plum
193 Flemington Rd, North Melbourne 3051
Ph: (03) 9329 8867

And of course, it wouldn't be a good brunch post without a couple of brunches at our favourite café!



During a visit several weeks ago, there was a new item on the specials board - black sticky rice with caramelised banana, surrounded by a pool of coconut milk. Alastair ordered this for brunch, and a damn good choice it was! Sweet and fragrant with chewy glutinous texture, it's not the kind of thing that I would ever think to have for brunch, but it was delicious.



I had a roti wrap filled with scrambled eggs, potatoes and bacon. Yuuuummm... the roti was crispy and jam packed with filling.



And Bro had a HUGE serve of scrambled eggs with smoked salmon, and a bit of chilli oil/sauce on top.



On a different occasion, we arrived at Cafe Plum a bit later than usual, so we all ordered lunch. Bro had herby chicken meat balls with linguine ($16.50).



And Alastair and I had shepherd's pie with a rocket salad ($15.90). Underneath the creamy mashed potato were chunks of tender meat and vege in a tasty sauce. The rocket was good too - just the right amount of peppery bitterness.

Previous visits to Cafe Plum can be found here.

Fräus Crêpes & Chocolat

On a chilly Sunday, Alastair and I headed out for brunch and came across Fräus. Fräus specialises in chocolate and crepes - both good things!

It was busy when we walked in, and as all the inside tables were taken, we were given the option of sitting in the back courtyard. It was FREEZING outside, but we were persuaded by their offer to turn on the outside heaters.

So we headed out the back, strategically choosing a table as close to the gas patio heaters as possible! True to their word, a staff member followed soon after to switch on the heat. Unfortunately he had a bit of trouble lighting the heaters, so we sat in the cold for ten minutes while he tried to figure it out.

When we first sat down out the back, I was slightly concerned that we would be forgotten about, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that service was very prompt and attentive. All the staff were lovely by the way - very sweet and charming. It was all very endearing.



There's about 20 different varieties of hot chocolate on the menu, and as it was so cold, I ordered a dark hot chocolate ($4.00 for a cup, $4.50 for a mug). Stupidly (greedily?) I asked for a mug. I should've just had a cup. The hot chocolate was soooooo thick, like eating a warm chocolate pudding. It was delicious and decadent, but there was no way I was going to be able to finish it. I think I gave myself a chocolate headache trying!



For his meal, Alastair had the salmon benedict galette ($15). It had two eggs, smoked salmon, and baby spinach in a thin buckwheat crepe with hollandaise sauce on the side.



After examining all the savoury options, I decided on the kransky galette ($12.50) - kransky sausage, mushrooms, tomato, onions and cheese in a thin crepe with tomato sauce on the side.



The night before we had spent the evening with friends drinking wine (brandy may have also made an appearance). I wasn't hung over, but I was craving something unhealthy and fatty and this was perfect. The kransky was so tasty. Yuuuuuum.

I had optimistically mentioned to Alastair that we could have a sweet crepe after our meals. But I found that my galette was very filling, and combined with the hot chocolate, there was no room in my stomach for anything else. Oh well! Guess we'll have to return in the future to try one.

Fräus Crêpes & Chocolat
345 Victoria Street
North Melbourne VIC 3051
AUSTRALIA

Waffles with cinnamon poached pears

Mhmmmm maple syrup...

We had an indulgent breakfast on Sunday. I should've let us sleep in later to make it super indulgent. Instead, I made us get up early so I could make waffles!

Unlike the last time I made waffles, I used a recipe that had baking powder instead of yeast. It was quick, easy, and actually pretty good! I don't think I'll bother with a yeast batter again, not with this particular waffle maker.

I googled for a recipe that used baking powder, and settled on this one. The only thing that I did differently was to add a teaspoon of ground cinnamon to my batter.

The waffles were quite light, and also a bit sensitive to being overcooked. They were best when they were golden and not too well done. They weren't very sweet, but it was perfect with icing sugar and maple syrup.

I served the waffles with half a poached pear. I had a lonely corella pear sitting around that I knew I wasn't going to eat. Rather than waste it, I poached it in a sugar syrup with a cinnamon quill and a couple of pieces of lemon peel. Below is the recipe that I used - increase the amount of sugar and water if making more than one pear.

If a breakfast like this isn't worth getting out of bed for, I don't know what is.


Thanks to Alastair for being my patient syrup pourer. :)

Cinnamon poached pear

1/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup water
1 cinnamon quill
2 pieces of lemon peel
1 large pear, peeled and cut in half

Mix together the sugar and water in a saucepan, and place on to a low heat.

Stir until the sugar dissolves.

Add the cinnamon quill, lemon peel and pear.

Simmer until the pear is soft and tender (about 10 minutes). Turn the pear over half way through if it isn't fully submerged.

Cafe Plum: 5

Do you find that sometimes you get bored with things that you enjoy? Fortunately that hasn't happened so far with our favourite café – Plum. The boys and I went there for brunch (again) the other weekend, and I wasn't intending to blog about it since I've already raved about here, here, here AND here. And really, how many different ways can you find of saying, "this place is great"?

Me, being me, I took photos of the food anyway, even though I wasn't going to blog the meal. Yeah, I know, I think it might be a compulsion.



Alastair ordered the French toast with bacon and (real) maple syrup (about $13 from memory). His meal came out first, and I snuck a bite after taking a quick photo. I'm glad I took a photo because:

Oh. My. God. Best French Toast Ever.

The inside of the bread was perfectly cooked and soft, but the outer edge was crispy. It was fragrant with just the right amount of cinnamon, and the sweetness was perfectly judged. So good!



It was lunch time by the time we arrived (we slept in!) so Bro and I ordered off the lunch specials board. I had the potato and ricotta fritters with smoked salmon, horse radish, creme fraiche and tomato and chive salsa ($16.50). Bro had the rigatoni with meatballs in a rich tomato sauce ($16.50).

Our meals were good, but Bro and I had food envy after we tasted Alastair's French toast. Normally neither of us would order a sweet brunch, but when Alastair couldn't finish his French toast, we polished it off for him!

After we finished, Franco (the owner/chef) came up for a chat and – get this – asked us if we had a blog. And, what's more, asked if it was this one. Totally found out! :)

On the last Sunday of the colder months, Cafe Plum does a roast dinner. We always intended to go, but never got around to it. It just so happened that the following night was the May roast dinner. Franco started telling us what was on the menu - duck. As soon as the Boys heard duck they were sold (they love it).

So the next evening, we went back to Plum for dinner! It was a three course set menu ($38). There was a vegetarian option, which we didn't try.



The first course was a beetroot soup with goats cheese crostini. Look at the beautiful colour in that soup! The soup was thick with a bit of sweetness and perfect for a cold Sunday evening.



The main course was a roast duck confit with marsala glaze and served with a parsnip gratin. Everyone received a large maryland and the small drumstick pictured. I've mentioned before that I'm not a big fan of duck, but I really enjoyed this. The duck wasn't very gamey, with the hint of marsala complementing the slight gaminess, and the flesh was moist and tender.

The parsnip gratin was eggy and cheesy with the flavour of the parsnip fairly subtle. It was a large slab and very filling!



There was also some crunchy, dressed greens - snow peas, green beans and spinach.



Dessert was a choice between cheese or a pannetone pudding with chocolate ice cream and custard. I had the pudding. A posh bread and butter pudding, it was sweet and rich, plus soft and almost gooey in the middle. There were occasional bits of glorious crunchy toffeed crust.



The cheese was a Gorgonzola with spiced walnuts and crackers. The Gorgonzola was very tingly and pungent!

I think the next roast dinner is on Sunday 29 June. Call to check (and book). We had a great time, and will definitely go again.

Cafe Plum
193 Flemington Rd, North Melbourne 3051
Ph: (03) 9329 8867