tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32970163756047197892024-03-14T17:32:41.039+11:00off the sporkAgneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02682199058521082342noreply@blogger.comBlogger315125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3297016375604719789.post-34119020273720996842010-08-07T00:45:00.000+10:002010-08-07T00:45:36.001+10:00This way please.....My blog has moved - please update links, readers and bookmarks to <a href="http://www.offthespork.com">offthespork.com</a>.<br />
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Thanks!Agneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02682199058521082342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3297016375604719789.post-36561570984817162992010-08-01T22:30:00.000+10:002010-08-01T22:30:47.910+10:00Cookbook Challenge: Week 37, Hearty<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4849112198/" title="Beef Provencale by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4142/4849112198_944579d0e6_o.jpg" width="399" height="600" alt="Beef Provencale" /></a></center><br />
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<b>Recipe: Beef Provencale<br />
From: Darina Allen's Ballymaloe Cookery Course</b><br />
<br />
The theme for this week's <A href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/2009/11/cookbook-challenge.html">Cookbook Challenge</a> is hearty, and to paraphrase <a href="http://viciousange.blogspot.com/2010/07/hearty-curry-from-sri-lanka.html">Ange</a>: almost everything I'm cooking at the moment could be classified as hearty. It's this damned weather - why oh why when Alastair and I left Wellington didn't we move to a tropical country? Or Queensland? (Oh yeah, because it's Queensland.) <br />
<br />
For the theme this week I made beef provencale - well sort of. Normally when I make a beef stew I don't follow a recipe. I just throw in whatever vegetables I have (normally carrots and celery) along with copious amounts of onion and garlic, plus whatever spices and seasoning I feel like. <br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4848490401/" title="Beef Provencale by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4101/4848490401_3cd707958d_o.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Beef Provencale" /></a></center><br />
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For this beef provencale I read the recipe, and then.... well let's just say I used it for inspiration purposes only. Marinating the meat? Didn't do that. Followed the instructions for cooking? Didn't do that. Used the same ingredients? Yep, didn't do that either.<br />
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Anyway, it's a beef stew. As long as it's cooked low and slow, it all turns out edible and delicious. I did add the anchovies, capers and vinegar near the end of the cooking, which gave it an interesting salty, sour element. And I made a large pot of garlic mashed potatoes to eat with the stew - definite hearty winter fare. <br />
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See <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/search/label/cookbook%20challenge">previous Cookbook Challenge posts here</a>.<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4849112138/" title="Beef Provencale by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4097/4849112138_81a06653cd_o.jpg" width="399" height="600" alt="Beef Provencale" /></a></center><br />
<br />
<b>Beef Provencale</b><br />
<br />
<i>From: Darina Allen's Ballymaloe Cookery Course<br />
<br />
Serves 8</i><br />
<br />
1.3kg lean stewing beef (I used gravy beef)<br />
<br />
Marinade<br />
2 tablespoons olive oil<br />
300ml dry white or red wine<br />
1 teaspoon salt<br />
1/2 teaspoon pepper<br />
1/2 teaspoon thyme, sage or annual marjoram<br />
1 bay leaf<br />
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed<br />
110g carrots, peeled thinly sliced<br />
110g onions, peeled thinly sliced<br />
Two sticks of celery, thinly sliced<br />
<br />
450g bacon, cut into 1cm lardons<br />
1 x 400g tin tomatoes, chopped<br />
150ml homemade stock (I only had chicken, though the book says beef)<br />
175g sliced mushrooms<br />
10 anchovy fillets<br />
2 tablespoons capers<br />
3 tablespoons white or red wine vinegar<br />
2 tablespoons freshly chopped flat leaf parsley<br />
2 cloves garlic, mashed<br />
<br />
Cut the beef into chunks about 3-4cm. Mix the marinade ingredients together and add the meat. Cover and place in the fridge overnight.<br />
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When ready to cook, remove the meat to a plate. Reserve the vegetables and the marinade.<br />
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Heat some oil in a frying pan and cook the bacon until crispy. Remove and then brown the marinated meat in batches. <br />
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In a large pot or casserole, add the fried bacon, browned meat, tinned tomatoes, reserved marinated liquid and vegetables, and stock. Bring to the boil and lower the heat to a simmer. Allow the meat to simmer on a gentle heat until the meat is tender - about 1.5-2 hours.<br />
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When the meat is tender, liquidise the anchovies, capers, parsley, wine vinegar and garlic. Add to the casserole with the sliced mushrooms. Simmer gently for about 10 minutes. Taste and add more salt and pepper if necessary. If necessary, thicken the sauce by whisking in a little roux (cornflour mixed into water).<br />
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Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve with mashed potatoes.Agneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02682199058521082342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3297016375604719789.post-65317621327519620892010-07-28T21:43:00.001+10:002010-08-03T13:48:50.389+10:00Christmas in July pudding making workshop at The Langham<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4833658363/" title="Pudding making class at the Langham by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4112/4833658363_a4bac6b4ea_o.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Pudding making class at the Langham" /></a></center><br />
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<i>Disclosure: I attended this event courtesy of The Langham and Media Moguls.</i><br />
<br />
So it’s July, and you know what that means, don’t you? Time to think about Christmas! Okay, perhaps it’s not <i>quite</i> time to plan for Christmas, but it will be right about the corner before you know it. Isn’t that a scary thought?<br />
<br />
Last week I headed to the Langham with several other food bloggers and food media for a Christmas in July event. I was particularly excited by the fact that we would be having a Christmas pudding making session.<br />
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After a series of canapés and glasses of bubbles (I didn’t take pictures of the canapés, but check out some of the other bloggers linked below for details), we put on aprons and chefs’ hats and headed down to the pastry kitchen. Being a food geek, I was very excited at taking the big elevator down and checking out the commercial kitchen. Oooh. It was so shiny! And clean! And bright! And shiny! Plus you should have seen the massive commercial mixer – ahhh. It was almost as tall as me – which is not saying much, to tell you the truth. I wish I had thought to take a photo of it!<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4833658795/" title="Pudding making class at the Langham by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4130/4833658795_be6c8a80c0_o.jpg" width="292" height="440" alt="Pudding making class at the Langham" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4833658849/" title="Pudding making class at the Langham by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4147/4833658849_548604d81f_o.jpg" width="293" height="440" alt="Pudding making class at the Langham" /></a></center><br />
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We were split into two groups and into two different kitchens. My group were introduced to pastry chef Zara, who talked to us about tempering chocolate and about chocolate truffles.<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4834268712/" title="Pudding making class at the Langham by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4110/4834268712_3c79543ce8_o.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Pudding making class at the Langham" /></a></center><br />
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Zara dipped pre-filled truffles in melted white chocolate, and showed us how to make the spiky pattern – by rolling it around on the rack with a fork. Easy! Well, she made it look easy anyway.<br />
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The white chocolate truffles were filled with elderflower liqueur and raspberry ganache. I always say that I don’t really like white chocolate... but I made an exception for these truffles! They were delicious and the sweetness of the white chocolate really highlighted the elderflower and raspberry.<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4833659239/" title="Pudding making class at the Langham by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4149/4833659239_67b26ee06f_z.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Pudding making class at the Langham" /></a><br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4834269224/" title="Pudding making class at the Langham by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4108/4834269224_0311aee4d9_o.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Pudding making class at the Langham" /></a></center><br />
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Zara had also prepared some rum balls that she dipped in Lindt milk chocolate and decorated with cocoa nibs. She confessed that she put rather a lot of rum in them. She certainly did! Wow wee. They were great!<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4834268458/" title="Pudding making class at the Langham by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4148/4834268458_c6fcc1a4b4.jpg" width="293" height="440" alt="Pudding making class at the Langham" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4834268402/" title="Pudding making class at the Langham by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4133/4834268402_5d1b79ce9b.jpg" width="293" height="440" alt="Pudding making class at the Langham" /></a><br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4834268638/" title="Pudding making class at the Langham by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4147/4834268638_c789605b46_o.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Pudding making class at the Langham" /></a></center><br />
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And… can you believe she told us we were free to taste the items on this bench?!<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4834269296/" title="Pudding making class at the Langham by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4090/4834269296_bf593b47b7_z.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Pudding making class at the Langham" /></a></center><br />
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I would have loved to have spent more time listening to Zara but we had to move on. We swapped with the other group and headed into the kitchen next door to make pudding. Chef Anthony Ross was in charge of this session, and he started things off by tipping a large amount of butter, almond meal and hazelnut meal on to the bench. <br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4834269416/" title="Pudding making class at the Langham by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4124/4834269416_39ed29f5d4_z.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Pudding making class at the Langham" /></a></center><br />
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He told us to get our hands into it and start rubbing the butter into the almond/hazelnut meal. (Yes we washed our hands first!)<br />
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<center><br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4834269360/" title="Pudding making class at the Langham by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4126/4834269360_e8014108e2_z.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Pudding making class at the Langham" /></a><br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4834269624/" title="Pudding making class at the Langham by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4092/4834269624_1f7cceab02_z.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Pudding making class at the Langham" /></a></center><br />
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After the butter and almond/hazelnut meal were well mixed, the fruit was tipped in. The fruit had been prepared earlier, and had been macerating in a brandy mixture. When it was tipped out, a heady scent of brandy and spices wafted around the room. It smelt amazing!<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4834269492/" title="Pudding making class at the Langham by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4089/4834269492_ef8323b74c_o.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Pudding making class at the Langham" /></a></center><br />
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After more mixing, it was all piled up and a well was formed in the middle, into which liquid was poured – I think it was a combination of juice, milk, eggs and spices.<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4833659639/" title="Pudding making class at the Langham by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4089/4833659639_193d9060d0_o.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Pudding making class at the Langham" /></a></center><br />
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Plus a couple of cans of stout and a touch more brandy.<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4833659787/" title="Pudding making class at the Langham by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4112/4833659787_76e3f06972_o.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Pudding making class at the Langham" /></a></center><br />
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After more mixing, we had pudding! Well – almost.<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4834269718/" title="Pudding making class at the Langham by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4151/4834269718_89857e32d7_o.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Pudding making class at the Langham" /></a><br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4833659901/" title="Pudding making class at the Langham by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4125/4833659901_4bfbc308eb_o.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Pudding making class at the Langham" /></a></center><br />
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We each selected a charm to put into our puddings (the charms were wrapped in tinfoil for hygiene reasons) and then the pudding was placed on top. For some reason I selected a ballerina (?!).<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4834269816/" title="Pudding making class at the Langham by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4091/4834269816_ff6e74f516_o.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Pudding making class at the Langham" /></a></center><br />
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And look – all the puddings ready for steaming! They were taken away to be steamed for a couple of hours, and we’ll receive our puddings in about five months time. Pretty cool, huh? I’ll let you know how it tastes in December!<br />
<br />
For more posts see:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://sarah-cooks.blogspot.com/2010/07/christmas-in-july-pudding-making-class.html">Sarah Cooks</a><br />
<a href="http://ironchefshellie.blogspot.com/2010/07/tis-seaon-5-months-early-fa-la-la-la-la.html">Iron Chef Shellie</a><br />
<a href="http://ieatthereforeiam.blogspot.com/2010/07/langham-christmas-in-july-pudding.html">I Eat Therefore I Am</a><br />
<a href="http://jeroxie.com/addiction/2010-christmas-in-july-at-the-langham-melbourne">Addictive & Consuming</a><br />
<br />
<b>The Langham<br />
1 Southgate Avenue<br />
SOUTHBANK 3006<br />
Phone: 03 8696 888<br />
Web: <a href=http://melbourne.langhamhotels.com.au/index.html>The Langham – Melbourne</a></b>Agneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02682199058521082342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3297016375604719789.post-5033056485870994752010-07-25T21:45:00.000+10:002010-07-25T21:45:19.152+10:00Cookbook Challenge: Week 36, Comfort Food<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4826479780/" title="Lemon delicious by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4119/4826479780_ccfaae88f6_o.jpg" width="399" height="600" alt="Lemon delicious" /></a></center><br />
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<b>Recipe: Lemon delicious puddings<br />
From: AWW Bake</b><br />
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The theme for this week's <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/2009/11/cookbook-challenge.html">Cookbook Challenge</a> is "comfort food". After a rather busy week, this weekend has been incredibly lazy so something comforting and puddingish sounded good to me.<br />
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I have rather a lot of lemons (due to <a href="http://thegourmetchallenge.blogspot.com/">Maria</a> giving me 5kgs from her tree) and I've been doing my best to cook and bake my way through them. So for this week's theme, I decided to make lemon delicious in an effort to use up more lemons. If you don't know what lemon delicious, it's a classic - a baked pudding that ends up with two layers: a light sponge on top of a tangy sauce. <br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4825871019/" title="Lemon delicious by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4073/4825871019_7ab757b437_o.jpg" width="399" height="600" alt="Lemon delicious" /></a></center><br />
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My puddings were well risen when I took them out of the oven, but by the time I got around to taking photos they had deflated. Well, they still tasted good! I loved the lightness of the sponge layer, and the almost custardy sauce. But next time I make it, I would reduce the sugar - they were a bit sweeter than I wanted.<br />
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It's such a great pudding - warm, but not too heavy. And well named too, since it really is delicious! <br />
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See <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/search/label/cookbook%20challenge">previous Cookbook Challenge posts here</a><br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4826479638/" title="Lemon delicious by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4101/4826479638_e6114e7fa6_o.jpg" width="399" height="600" alt="Lemon delicious" /></a></center><br />
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<b>Lemon delicious puddings</b><br />
<br />
<i>From The Australian Women's Weekly Bake<br />
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Serves 6</i><br />
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125g butter, melted<br />
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon rind<br />
1&1/2 cup (330g) caster sugar<br />
3 eggs, separated<br />
1/2 cup (75g) self-raising flour<br />
1/3 cup (80ml) lemon juice<br />
1&1/3 cups (330ml) milk<br />
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Preheat the oven to 180°C and grease six 1-cup ramekins.<br />
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In a large bowl, combine the butter, lemon rind, caster sugar and egg yolks. Stir in the sifted flour and lemon juice. <br />
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Gradually add the milk, stirring until combined and smooth.<br />
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Beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Fold a third of the egg whites into the lemon mixture with a large spoon. Gently fold in the rest of the egg whites.<br />
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Place the ramekins in a large baking dish and divide the lemon mixture among them. Add enough water to the baking dish to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins.<br />
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Bake the puddings for about 35 minutes.Agneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02682199058521082342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3297016375604719789.post-92026187268003245432010-07-24T00:49:00.002+10:002010-07-25T18:15:47.674+10:00Campari House: a toast to Campari House roastsAs part of the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival June roast dinner series, the Boys and I headed to Campari House with <a href="http://thegourmetchallenge.blogspot.com/">Maria and Daz</a>, where we were treated to five grazing courses accompanied by five wines.<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4812191414/" title="Campari House by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4073/4812191414_06176c04f9_o.jpg" width="600" height="450" alt="Campari House" /></a></center><br />
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When we arrived, all the glasses had been lined up on the table, and we were advised that all the wines would be poured at once. This was so we could taste each one with the different courses and make our own mind up about the wine and food matching. Which was a great idea, with the only problem being that it was a school night... and the wine pours were VERY generous and our glasses were topped up whenever they were nearing empty.<br />
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The five wines were:<br />
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Blue Pyrenees NV Brut, Blue Pyrenees Savignon Blanc 2009, Sticks Chardonnay 2009, Red Claw Pinot Noir 2008, and Campbells Bobbie Burns Shiraz 2008.<br />
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I’m not hugely knowledgeable about wines so I won’t talk about them – except to say that the more I drank, the more I enjoyed them. Isn’t that always the way? Hah.<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4812191336/" title="Campari House by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4140/4812191336_553c522af0_o.jpg" width="600" height="450" alt="Campari House" /></a></center><br />
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Our first course was a braised black trevally on wild mushroom rissoni and pistachio dust. I don’t remember tasting the pistachio dust, but I can tell you that the rissoni was AMAZING. It was indulgently buttery, strongly mushroom flavoured and cooked just right. The fish was also very good, with a crispy skin, but this dish was all about the rissoni.<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4812191466/" title="Campari House by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4076/4812191466_031c3b2836_o.jpg" width="600" height="450" alt="Campari House" /></a></center><br />
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Next up was a rabbit ballontine, with caramelised pearl onion and game jus. The jus was made with rabbit and quail (bones, I’m assuming) and the rabbit had been boned, stuffed and then rolled up into a bundle. Around the outside of the rabbit was bacon – mhmmm bacon.<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4812191540/" title="Campari House by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4119/4812191540_c94d5cf958_o.jpg" width="600" height="450" alt="Campari House" /></a></center><br />
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The third course was a cauliflower gratin with truffled white polenta. At first glance and first taste, this was a simple dish and not terribly impressive. The cauliflower was covered in a cheese sauce, and initially we couldn't find any polenta because of all the sauce. But when we dug to the bottom, we found the polenta – and lordy the polenta was fantastic. Cheesy and grainy (but in a good way), and really really moreish. We all gave up on the forks and started scraping out as much polenta as possible with our knives (classy, I know). At least we didn’t lick the plates, though I was tempted.<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4811567703/" title="Campari House by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4123/4811567703_f1b2d191c5_z.jpg" width="600" height="450" alt="Campari House" /></a></center><br />
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And for the last savoury course, there was a slow roasted mustard beef with sticky winter mushrooms. As you can see, The beef was served quite rare with a hint of mustard and the sweetish mushrooms were hidden underneath the beef. It was a nice dish without being a stand out.<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4812191654/" title="Campari House by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4081/4812191654_94aa6f73cb_o.jpg" width="600" height="450" alt="Campari House" /></a></center><br />
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Dessert was a chilled strawberry soup with basil foam and a shortbread straw. It sounds odd, but it tasted great and I think Maria will be trying to replicate this one! It would be a perfect summer dessert – it was very sweet and fragrant with the flavour of strawberries and a touch of basil. Sadly the shortbread straw wasn't a proper straw though it was nice and buttery. <br />
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I really enjoyed the evening at Campari house, and it wasn't due to all the wine! I was impressed with the food, with the standout dishes being the polenta and the risoni, followed by the strawberry soup. We spent the night on the ground floor, but I believe there's several levels, including a roof top bar which I'm sure would be great in the summer. Judging from what we ate, there's some good food coming from the kitchen at Campari House, and it's definitely worth another visit.<br />
<br />
<b>Campari House<br />
23-25 Hardware Lane<br />
Melbourne<br />
Phone: 03 9600 1574<br />
Web: <a href="http://www.camparihouse.com.au">camparihouse.com.au</a></b><br />
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<a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/1474286/restaurant/CBD/Campari-House-Melbourne"><img alt="Campari House on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/logo/1474286/minilogo.gif" style="border:none;width:104px;height:15px" /></a>Agneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02682199058521082342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3297016375604719789.post-23825400647419407602010-07-18T11:00:00.001+10:002010-07-18T12:14:06.146+10:00International Tacos Incident Party<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4803343546/" title="Tacos de Lengua by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4142/4803343546_46d2896328_o.jpg" width="600" height="600" alt="Tacos de Lengua" /></a></center><br />
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<center><a href="http://jeroxie.com/addiction/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/iip-pizza.png"><img title="iip-pizza" src="http://jeroxie.com/addiction/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/iip-pizza.png" alt="International Pizza Pie Incident Party" width="600" height="203"/></a></center><br />
<br />
Welcome to the tacos edition of the International Incident Party. We had <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/2010/06/international-noodles-incident-party.html">noodles</a>, we had <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/2010/05/international-dumpling-incident-party.html">dumplings</a>, we had <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/2010/04/international-pizza-pie-incident-party.html">pizza pie</a>, we had <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/2010/02/gnocchi-party-potato-gnocchi-with-blue.html">gnocchi</a>, and now it's time to taco it up. <br />
<br />
On offer for the party today, I have tacos de lengua. They sound much more attractive in Spanish, since tacos de lengua means tongue tacos. And they are delicious - no really! <br />
<br />
Tongue is one of my most favourite things to eat. I think many people have childhood memories of tongue being chewy and tough, but when it's cooked properly tongue becomes tender and rich, with a wonderful buttery texture. <br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4802713279/" title="Tacos de Lengua by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4095/4802713279_4ac66d8fea_o.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Tacos de Lengua" /></a></center><br />
<br />
For these tacos, I cooked a whole tongue in water until it was soft. When it was tender, the diced meat was fried with onions, (rather a lot of) garlic, red and green capsicum, as well as cumin, paprika and cayenne pepper. After that I stirred through some chopped up coriander and served them in home made tortillas. The seasoned tongue was spicy and tender, and the home made tortillas were definitely worth the effort. <br />
<br />
Although to tell the truth, there wasn't that much effort in making the tortillas - they were easy! The dough was basically just masa harina (maize corn flour) and warm water. I don't own a tortilla press, so I improvised by flattening golf ball sized balls of dough with a large cookbook (The Cook's Companion!) and then thinning out the circles even further with a rolling pin. This helped keep the tortillas round(ish). Next time I'll add a pinch of salt to the tortilla dough, but a warm tortilla straight out of the frying pan was bliss. And they taste like corn chips! Amazing. <br />
<br />
After the tongue had been cooked and diced, it looked like any other meat - except more delicious! Alastair, who doesn't really like tongue, tried a taco and he seemed to enjoy it (don't worry, he didn't miss out completely - I made a pork version for him to eat. What a good wife.). If you're not a tongue lover, I hope that I may have inspired you to give it a go. And if not, well I guess that just means there's more for me! <br />
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Check out the other attendees to the party below:<br />
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<script src="http://www.linkytools.com/thumbnail_linky_include.aspx?id=32168" type="text/javascript"></script><br />
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<div id="tongue"><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4803343258/" title="Tacos de Lengua by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4094/4803343258_9a58571c9b_z.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Tacos de Lengua" /></a></center></div><b><br />
Tacos de lengua - tongue tacos</b><br />
<br />
Makes rather a lot - serves 4-6?<br />
<br />
1st step:<br />
1 cow/ox tongue<br />
1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped<br />
4 garlic cloves, roughly crushed<br />
10 peppercorns, roughly crushed<br />
salt<br />
<br />
2nd step:<br />
1 onion, peeled and diced<br />
3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed<br />
1 red capsicum, diced<br />
1 green capsicum, diced<br />
1 chili, diced <br />
2 teaspoons cumin<br />
2 teaspoons paprika<br />
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper<br />
salt and pepper<br />
1 bunch coriander, well washed<br />
A packet of tortillas - or make your own! <br />
Lemon/lime juice<br />
<br />
Place the tongue in a large pot and cover with water. Add the onion, garlic, pepper and salt. Cover the pot, bring the water to a boil, and then turn down to a simmer. Cook for the tongue for several hours, or until it is soft (I did mine in a thermal pot overnight, so am not sure how long it would take on the stove. You can tell when it's soft if you can stick a chopstick into it easily!)<br />
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Remove the tongue from the liquid and set aside to cool. Peel the thick skin off the tongue, and dice the meat into cubes. <br />
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Heat some oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and onions, and cook until soft. Turn up the heat and add the diced capsicum, the diced tongue, and the spices. Season with salt and pepper and cook for another 5 to 6 minutes. Turn off the heat and stir through the chopped coriander. <br />
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Build the tacos by placing the meat mixture into a tortilla and serve with a squeeze of lemon/lime juice.Agneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02682199058521082342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3297016375604719789.post-57749382134436504502010-07-17T19:52:00.000+10:002010-07-17T19:52:29.120+10:00Cookbook Challenge: Week 35, Spanish<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4800759385/" title="Spanish lunch by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4137/4800759385_a7edf29644_o.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Spanish lunch" /></a></center><br />
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Hola! Welcome, welcome! Come in, take a seat, and get comfy. I would feed you all if I could, but unfortunately because technology hasn’t quite progressed to that point, you’ll just have to read all about the following lunch, and wish you had been there!<br />
<br />
The theme for this week's <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/2009/11/cookbook-challenge.html">Cookbook Challenge</a> is Spanish, and last Sunday a few bloggers came over for a Spanish themed potluck lunch. At first I really struggled with the Spanish theme and wasn't sure what to make. I don’t own any Spanish cookbooks, and couldn’t find anything in any of my other cookbooks that wasn’t paella. I didn't want to make paella, and interesting no one else made it either - we really needed <a href="spatulaspoonandsaturday.wordpress.com">Kat</a> to come and cook it for us! <br />
<br />
After a whinge on twitter, I received some good suggestions from @gastromaniac, which helped me decide on one dish - salted wrinkled potatoes with mojo verde. The following day, I went to the library and while I couldn’t find any Spanish cookbooks, I borrowed Saffron and Sunshine which contained assorted recipes from around the Mediterranean. When I flicked through it, I realised it was a goldmine and I came away with four additional recipes I wanted to make. So um, that would be five recipes altogether. Uh oh. I did consider culling my number of recipes but I really wanted to make them all.<br />
<br />
So I did! My five recipes were: <br />
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<b>Wrinkled salty potatoes with mojo verde<br />
Andalusian chickpea stew with chorizo<br />
Andalusian spiced oxtail casserole (which was actually beef)<br />
Catalan lemon tart<br />
Catalan cream fritters</b><br />
<br />
<b>Wrinkled salty potatoes with mojo verde</b><br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4801393346/" title="Spanish lunch by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4140/4801393346_d7457959a5_o.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Spanish lunch" /></a> <br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4801393406/" title="Spanish lunch by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4081/4801393406_377880f4fa_o.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Spanish lunch" /></a></center><br />
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I followed a recipe out of The Cook's Companion for the potatoes, which basically said to boil the washed, whole potatoes in a pot of salted water. One cup of salt is used per litre of water (Yes, that’s one whole cup). When the potatoes were soft, they were drained, and sat in the uncovered pot on the stove on a low heat until all the liquid evaporated and they were covered in a thin film of salt.<br />
<br />
These were served with mojo verde, which was made with a cup of coriander leaves (I just used the entire bunch, roots and all, well washed of course), ¼ cup of extra virgin olive oil, a small crushed garlic clove, ½ teaspoon of ground cumin and 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar. All the ingredients went into a food processor and were processed until smooth. <br />
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The potatoes were really nice – surprisingly not too salty, despite the amount of salt in the water! Because I reheated them in the oven when everyone arrived, they lost their film of salt, but you can see it in the photos. The mojo verde went very well with the potatoes, but coriander haters might think otherwise!<br />
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<b>Cocido con chorizo - Andalusian chickpea stew with chorizo</b><br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4801393256/" title="Spanish lunch by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4081/4801393256_21a7276867_o.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Spanish lunch" /></a></center><br />
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I am a big fan of chickpeas, but normally I go for the tinned version. However, I decided to go to the effort of using dried chickpeas for this recipe because they are cooked with ham bones and chorizo, and I thought that the slow cooking for dried chickpeas might help infuse them with some porky goodness. I think it worked. I thought they were pretty tasty, but like I said, I do love chickpeas. Although now that I've reread the recipe while typing up this post, I realise that I forgot to add potatoes to the dish. Whoops! I don't think the potatoes were missed, but for the recipe, <a href="#chickpea">see the end of this post</a>.<br />
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<b>Rabo de buey cordobes - Andalusian spiced oxtail casserole</b><br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4800759463/" title="Spanish lunch by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4137/4800759463_f5ca35f3a9_o.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Spanish lunch" /></a></center><br />
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This was meant to be an oxtail casserole, but when I went to the butcher they had sold out of oxtail (they had some the day before too – grr!). So I just picked up some gravy beef and made the dish with that instead. The meat is slow cooked in a red wine sauce and spiced with paprika, cinnamon, and cloves. I added a small amount of chilli flakes just to give it a tiny bit of kick. This was a savoury rich stew and I cooked the meat until it was very tender. It would make this again - it was delicious. For the recipe, <a href="#oxtail">see the end of this post</a>.<br />
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<b>Tortell de limon - Catalan lemon tart</b><br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4800759759/" title="Spanish lunch by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4115/4800759759_d94e6c230b_o.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Spanish lunch" /></a></center><br />
<br />
Okay, on to dessert! I made two desserts - the first being a lemon tart. To be honest, it was okay but it wasn't the best lemon tart I've ever made so I won't post the recipe. It had a very short, biscuity pastry, and a sweet but very tart filling. The top was sprinkled with sugar which was blow-torched to caramelise it. <br />
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<b>Leche frita - Catalan cream fritters</b><br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4800759699/" title="Spanish lunch by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4134/4800759699_3536134dc1_o.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Spanish lunch" /></a></center><br />
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And finally, the second dessert was Catalan cream fritters, which is basically a very thick custard, egged, breadcrumbed and DEEP FRIED. OH YES. I made a very thick custard, flavoured with a touch of lemon zest, and then poured it into a mini cupcake tin to cool and firm up in the fridge overnight. If anyone is keen on making these, I would suggest putting the custard in the freezer - I wish I had! After we had all eaten lunch, I spooned the custard out of the tin, dipped it in egg, then panko and into a pot of hot oil. They are very delicate, so I had to be careful not to break the crust. They were served dusted with icing sugar and cinnamon. They were very small little morsels, but very rich, as you can imagine! For the recipe, <a href="#creamfritters">see the end of this post</a>.<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4800759855/" title="Spanish lunch by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4101/4800759855_5480051862_o.jpg" width="296" height="296" alt="Spanish lunch" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4801393796/" title="Spanish lunch by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4136/4801393796_9540893ca8.jpg" width="296" height="296" alt="Spanish lunch" /></a><br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4801393682/" title="Spanish lunch by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4082/4801393682_1a63304806.jpg" width="296" height="296" alt="Spanish lunch" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4801393718/" title="Spanish lunch by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4079/4801393718_9e55bbf280.jpg" width="296" height="296" alt="Spanish lunch" /></a></center><br />
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And as if that wasn't enough food - check out what the other bloggers made!<br />
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<a href="http://myfoodtrail.blogspot.com/">April</a> brought along garlic and chilli prawns, plus home made bread rolls and chocolate chip friands.<br />
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<A href="http://jeroxie.com/addiction/">Penny</a> brought along octopus with olives and chorizo, buttered garlic mushrooms and baked sardines with white wine.<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4801393600/" title="Spanish lunch by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4135/4801393600_d02dc0df53_o.jpg" width="296" height="296" alt="Spanish lunch" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4800759945/" title="Spanish lunch by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4140/4800759945_14c03aaa94.jpg" width="296" height="296" alt="Spanish lunch" /></a><br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4800760017/" title="Spanish lunch by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4082/4800760017_0470ede136.jpg" width="296" height="296" alt="Spanish lunch" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4801393882/" title="Spanish lunch by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4097/4801393882_a19e9c8a9f.jpg" width="296" height="296" alt="Spanish lunch" /></a></center><br />
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<a href="http://viciousange.blogspot.com/">Ange</a> made us a <a href="http://viciousange.blogspot.com/2010/07/spanish-feasting.html">roasted pepper, garlic, onion and tomato salad with a sherry vinegar dressing</a>.<br />
<br />
<A href="http://sweetcherriepie.blogspot.com/">Cherrie</a> made morcon, which were Filipino beef rolls - a dish influenced by the Spanish!<br />
<br />
And <a href="http://chitchatchomp.blogspot.com/">Leigh</a> brought over <a href="http://chitchatchomp.blogspot.com/2010/07/cookbook-challenge-no-35-spanish.html">chorizo and pea parcels, plus three kinds of Catalan biscuits</a>. (I didn't take photos of the biscuits because I was too busy deep frying!) <br />
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PHEW. You can understand why I was highly tempted to have a nap after everyone left! Particularly since there were very little left overs - yes we ate almost everything. A big thanks to everyone who came to lunch, it was a blast!<br />
<br />
See <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/search/label/cookbook%20challenge">previous Cookbook Challenge posts here</a>.<br />
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<div id="chickpea"><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4800848709/" title="Spanish potluck lunch by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4114/4800848709_b0fbfaa8fa_o.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Spanish potluck lunch" /></a></center></div><br />
<b>Cocido con chorizo - Andalusian chickpea stew with chorizo</b><br />
<br />
<i>From Saffron and Sunshine<br />
<br />
Serves 4-6</i><br />
<br />
350g dried chickpeas, soaked overnight<br />
1 whole small head of garlic<br />
2-3 links of chorizo (about 100g)<br />
a short length jamon serrano bone or bacon knuckle<br />
1 carrot, peeled and diced<br />
1 dried red pepper, torn into pieces of 1 tablespoon paprika<br />
1-2 bayleaves<br />
1 teaspoon coriander seeds, roughly crushed<br />
13 black peppercorns, roughly crushed<br />
<br />
To finish<br />
1 large tomato, skinned, deseeded and chopped<br />
1-2 potatoes, peeled and chunked<br />
a handful of spinach or chard, rinsed and shredded<br />
salt<br />
2-3 tablespoons olive oil<br />
<br />
Drain the chickpeas and put them in a large pot with enough cold water to cover generously. Bring the water to the boil and skim off the foam that rises.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, roast your garlic - the book recommends doing this by charring it over a flame. Personally, I would just skip this step and peel and roughly crush the garlic.<br />
<br />
Drop the garlic and remaining ingredients into the pot. Turn up the heat and bring it up to the boil. Cover the pot loosely, and lower the heat to a simmer, and let it cook for about 1&1/2 - 2 hours, or until the chickpeas are quite soft. Add water if necessary.<br />
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When the chickpeas are soft, add the chopped tomato and potatoes. When the potatoes are just soft, add the spinach, bring the pot back to the boil and cook until the leaves are wilted. <br />
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Taste and add salt if necessary. Remove the ham/bacon bone, stir in the olive oil and serve.<br />
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<div id="oxtail"><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4800848757/" title="Spanish potluck lunch by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4078/4800848757_c9d82e6b70_o.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Spanish potluck lunch" /></a></center></div><br />
<b>Rabo de buey cordobes - Andalusian spiced oxtail casserole</b><br />
<br />
<i>From Saffron and Sunshine<br />
<br />
Serves 4-6</i><br />
<br />
1 whole oxtail (about 1.5 kg) cut into its natural sections (alternatively, use 1 kg of gravy/stewing beef if you can't find oxtail)<br />
2 tablespoons olive oil<br />
50g diced jamon serrano or prosciutto scraps or bacon<br />
1 large onion, peeled and diced<br />
1 clove garlic, crushed with 1 teaspoon salt<br />
1 stick celery, diced<br />
1 carrot, diced<br />
1 tablespoon paprika<br />
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon<br />
1/2 teaspoon salt<br />
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper<br />
3-4 cloves<br />
1 bayleaf<br />
150ml red wine<br />
<br />
Wash the oxtail and trim off any excess fat.<br />
<br />
Heat oil in a large casserole. When the oil is hot, brown the oxtail in batches, removing from the pan and seeing aside. <br />
<br />
Add the ham/bacon, onion, garlic, celery and carrot to the pan drippings and cook gently until the vegetables are soft. Return the oxtail to the casserole, adding the spices, seasoning and red wine.<br />
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Turn up the heat and add enough water to cover the meat. Bring it up to the boil and then down it down to low, putting the lid on and leaving it to simmer gently for about 2 hours, or until the meat is falling off the bones. <br />
<br />
Check it occasionally, adding more water if necessary. Taste it when it is ready to serve, adding more salt and pepper if necessary. Add a small amount of chilli flakes if desired.<br />
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<div id="creamfritters"><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4801393436/" title="Spanish lunch by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4143/4801393436_f1f7646ac2_o.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Spanish lunch" /></a></center></div><br />
<b>Leche frita - Catalan cream fritters</b><br />
<br />
<i>From Saffron and Sunshine<br />
<br />
Serves 4</i><br />
<br />
600ml milk<br />
25g butter<br />
75g flour<br />
1 pinch ground nutmeg<br />
2 tablespoons caster sugar<br />
3 egg yolks<br />
finely grated lemon zest from a lemon<br />
<br />
To finish<br />
1 whole egg<br />
2 tablespoons milk<br />
breadcrumbs for coating (I used panko)<br />
oil for frying<br />
sugar and ground cinnamon for dusting<br />
<br />
Place all the ingredients except the lemon zest into a saucepan. Heat it gently over a low heat, whisking and stirring constantly so it doesn't stick. Just before it comes to the boil, add the lemon zest and simmer until the mixture is very thick. Note: my mixture never came to the boil, it suddenly thickened, so I turned down the heat at that stage.<br />
<br />
Pour the custard into a lightly oiled dish in a layer as thick as your thumb - I poured it into mini cupcake moulds. Wrap it with clingfirm and leave to cool and firm overnight in the fridge. You might want to try the freezer.<br />
<br />
Mix the egg with the milk on a plate and spread the breadcrumbs on another plate. Cut the custard into bite-sized squares. Dip the squares into the egg, and then into the breadcrumbs. <br />
<br />
Heat a generous amount of oil in a heavy frying pan. When hot - if you add a cube of bread it should immediately sizzle - carefully slip in a few of the breaded custard squares. Turn them once, being careful not to break the crust. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper while you fry the recipe.<br />
<br />
Serve sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar.Agneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02682199058521082342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3297016375604719789.post-55349305393144329562010-07-13T22:22:00.003+10:002010-07-13T22:27:49.148+10:00Chocolate High Tea at the Aria Bar, The Langham<i>Disclosure: I attended the Chocolate High Tea courtesy of The Langham and Nuffnang.</i><br />
<br />
Last month I was invited to a food and fashion bloggers’ chocolate morning tea at the Langham, organised by Nuffnang. I don’t normally stuff myself with cakes and chocolates for breakfast – but you know what they say about not turning down an opportunity. <br />
<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4771171794/" title="Chocolate High Tea at the Langham by aggleton, on Flickr"><img alt="Chocolate High Tea at the Langham" height="399" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4100/4771171794_c8e68e744e_o.jpg" width="600" /></a></center><br />
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When I arrived, I walked past this table and thought, “Ooooooh is that for us?” And what do you know – it was! We were introduced to the German pastry chef, Chef Markus Bohm, who talked us through the various treats on offer. All of the items used a different type of single origin chocolate (apart from the Lindt and Callebaut) with the cocoas from places like Yucatan, Costa Rica and Madagascar. We'll take a closer look in a moment. <br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4770534753/" title="Chocolate High Tea at the Langham by aggleton, on Flickr"><img alt="Chocolate High Tea at the Langham" height="399" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4075/4770534753_0d6ea5afb9_o.jpg" width="600" /></a></center><br />
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Our table was prettily set up, with napkins and mad hatter napkin rings, silver sugar pots, flowers and delicate plates under an LCD TV showing an image of a roaring fire. It was a shame it wasn’t a real one, because it was freezing. Never mind, a bit of tea helped warm me up! <br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4771172372/" title="Chocolate High Tea at the Langham by aggleton, on Flickr"><img alt="Chocolate High Tea at the Langham" height="399" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4075/4771172372_c6a8a3aaa4_z.jpg" width="600" /></a></center><br />
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We were asked if we would like tea or coffee – I requested Earl Grey, which came out in a cute little silver teapot and a little biscuit on the side.<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4771171906/" title="Chocolate High Tea at the Langham by aggleton, on Flickr"><img alt="Chocolate High Tea at the Langham" height="399" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4122/4771171906_7b28a979d7_o.jpg" width="600" /></a></center><br />
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Let's check out some of the food. These little cakes were the Langham torte, a marizpan and almond-cake covered with two different kinds of chocolate.<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4770535037/" title="Chocolate High Tea at the Langham by aggleton, on Flickr"><img alt="Chocolate High Tea at the Langham" height="399" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4136/4770535037_590b421ece_o.jpg" width="600" /></a></center><br />
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These little strawberry tartlettes with a white chocolate shell were one of my favourite items. They had a fresh creamy strawberry filling, with the tartness of the berries helping offset the sweetness. <br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4771172030/" title="Chocolate High Tea at the Langham by aggleton, on Flickr"><img alt="Chocolate High Tea at the Langham" height="399" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4096/4771172030_1ee5bc2c35_o.jpg" width="600" /></a></center> <br />
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The lemon, lime and bitters curd tarts were also favourites of mine. Aren't they just gorgeous? They had a very smooth, tart curd, and were topped with a blueberry. <br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4770535125/" title="Chocolate High Tea at the Langham by aggleton, on Flickr"><img alt="Chocolate High Tea at the Langham" height="440" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4102/4770535125_4d1645e2ba_o.jpg" width="293" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4771172130/" title="Chocolate High Tea at the Langham by aggleton, on Flickr"><img alt="Chocolate High Tea at the Langham" height="440" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4074/4771172130_d3fc252490.jpg" width="293" /></a></center><br />
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On the left we have Jaffa chocolate shots. To be honest, I'm not a fan of chocolate and orange together, but they were very well done - smooth layers of jelly and mousse topped with a raspberry.<br />
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And on the right are Amarascata roulades with cocoa nibs. I really liked these too. They looked gorgeous, with the cherries encased with cream and a light sponge. <br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4771171850/" title="Chocolate High Tea at the Langham by aggleton, on Flickr"><img alt="Chocolate High Tea at the Langham" height="440" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4117/4771171850_210e78f748.jpg" width="293" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4770535243/" title="Chocolate High Tea at the Langham by aggleton, on Flickr"><img alt="Chocolate High Tea at the Langham" height="440" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4121/4770535243_13993c737f.jpg" width="292" /></a></center> <br />
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On the left we have the Chocolate marquise gateau with passionfruit mirror glaze. Beautiful, isn't it? It took a while before anyone dared take a slice of the cake - it was too perfect! Inside was a smooth chocolate mousse, with the passionfruit glaze providing a bit of tartness. <br />
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On the right were warm rich chocolate puddings. They were delicious - rather rich, but not too sweet because they were so dark. I would be super happy to produce a chocolate pudding like this. <br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4771172252/" title="Chocolate High Tea at the Langham by aggleton, on Flickr"><img alt="Chocolate High Tea at the Langham" height="440" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4118/4771172252_48b035d34d.jpg" width="293" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4770535361/" title="Chocolate High Tea at the Langham by aggleton, on Flickr"><img alt="Chocolate High Tea at the Langham" height="440" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4093/4770535361_c2d5079d07.jpg" width="293" /></a></center> <br />
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Somehow I seem to be missing detail shots of several of the other items! On the left, you can see almond florentines, made with caramelized almonds and dipped in milk chocolate at the front.<br />
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On the right, behind the strawberry tarts, are granola clusters with Lindt milk chocolate. I don't think I managed to try this item. <br />
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Other items I didn't get a shot of were hazelnut chocolate éclairs, mixed nut biscotti dipped in Michel Cluizel chocolate, and the Alpine rocky road made with Lindt white chocolate. Not sure what happened there - can I blame too much sugar?<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4771172586/" title="Chocolate High Tea at the Langham by aggleton, on Flickr"><img alt="Chocolate High Tea at the Langham" height="440" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4079/4771172586_75ef79ee64_o.jpg" width="293" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4770535607/" title="Chocolate High Tea at the Langham by aggleton, on Flickr"><img alt="Chocolate High Tea at the Langham" height="440" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4096/4770535607_4790efeed6_o.jpg" width="293" /></a></center> <br />
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But WAIT. In case all of that wasn't enough, THERE WAS MORE. Chef Markus Bohm started cooking up individual passionfruit and chocolate chip souffles in a little portable oven. And out also came several tiered trays of scones and sandwiches. <br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4770535511/" title="Chocolate High Tea at the Langham by aggleton, on Flickr"><img alt="Chocolate High Tea at the Langham" height="399" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4073/4770535511_37f09296aa_o.jpg" width="600" /></a></center> <br />
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Let's have a closer look at the scones. There were plain and fruit versions, served with jam and clotted cream. They were pretty good scones, with a firm crust and fluffy insides. <br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4770535563/" title="Chocolate High Tea at the Langham by aggleton, on Flickr"><img alt="Chocolate High Tea at the Langham" height="399" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4100/4770535563_dafa7a7032_o.jpg" width="600" /></a></center> <br />
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One of these things is not like the others. One of these things just doesn't belong. Can you tell which thing is not like the others by the time I finish my song? Oops! Sorry, trip down memory lane there. But yes, being the only savoury items, the sandwiches were the odd ones out. They were certainly welcome though! There was an assortment of flavours: smoked salmon, tomato and goat's cheese, chicken, plus cheese and prosciutto, and they all tasted fresh and looked appropriately dainty. <br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4771172644/" title="Chocolate High Tea at the Langham by aggleton, on Flickr"><img alt="Chocolate High Tea at the Langham" height="399" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4096/4771172644_feb201274e_o.jpg" width="600" /></a></center> <br />
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And finally, let's have a proper look at the souffles - oooh ahhh. Sadly, by the time I received the souffle I had eaten far too much and could only manage a couple of spoonfuls. This was the only thing I found a bit too sweet for me, which is pretty good considering all the decadent sweet treats on offer. <br />
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I really enjoyed the morning tea, although I wouldn't recommend eating such a decadent, indulgent breakfast every day! It's normally an afternoon tea, which to my mind and stomach is much more reasonable. It would be a very nice way of spending an afternoon. Although I must add that I would have loved a few more savoury items - so the poor sandwiches didn't feel so left out and to counteract all the sweet stuff! <br />
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For other posts of the morning, see:<br />
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<a href="http://sarah-cooks.blogspot.com/2010/06/chocolate-bar-afternoon-tea-at-langham.html">Sarah Cooks</a><br />
<a href="http://www.melhotornot.com/hot-chocolate-indulgence-afternoon-tea-aria-bar-lounge-langham-melbourne-1-southgate-avenue-southbank/">Melbourne Hot or Not</a><br />
<a href="http://jeroxie.com/addiction/chocolate-indulgence-at-the-langham-melbourne">Addictive and Consuming</a><br />
<a href="http://www.nuffnang.com.au/blog/2010/06/09/food-fashion-blogger-high-tea-in-melbourne/">Nuffnang</a><br />
<a href="http://violetlebeaux.com/2010/06/nuffnangs-chocolate-tea-at-the-langham-hotel/">Violet Le Beaux</a><br />
<a href="http://muchlove-anna.blogspot.com/2010/06/chocolate-high-tea.html">Much Love</a><br />
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<b>Aria Bar & Lounge<br />
The Langham Melbourne<br />
One Southgate Avenue<br />
Southbank 3006<br />
Ph: 1800 641 107</b>Agneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02682199058521082342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3297016375604719789.post-74569316118604001212010-07-11T21:01:00.000+10:002010-07-11T21:01:20.227+10:00Cookbook Challenge: Week 34, Soup<b>Recipe: Spicy tomato soup with chorizo<br />
From: Soups</b><br />
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This week's <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/2009/11/cookbook-challenge.html">Cookbook Challenge</a> theme is "soup". Last winter I made a lot of soup - pretty much every Sunday for a couple of months - see the <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/search/label/cooking:%20soup%20sunday">Soup Sunday</a> posts. This winter, I've barely cooked any soup, most likely because I'm busy cooking up the various themes for the Cookbook Challenge. So I'm glad that soup is one of the themes - it's like revisiting an old friend! <br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4782688252/" title="Spicy tomato soup with chorizo by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4079/4782688252_0192b20502_o.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Spicy tomato soup with chorizo"></a></center><br />
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Yesterday (when I made this soup), I spent a lot of time cooking for next week's theme - Spanish. Rather a lot, actually - you'll see what I mean next week! I didn't have much time left over to do a complicated soup, so I pulled out the Soups cookbook and flicked through it. I decided on this soup because I had left over chorizo (from my Spanish dishes) and because it looked pretty straight forward.<br />
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Well, I say it was straight forward, but the recipe has a weird way of cooking the chorizo - they are simmered in water until all the water evaporates and then they are fried in the fat that is left over. Honestly, if I was to do it again, I would just fry the chorizo in a pan and then throw it into a pot with the rest of the ingredients. Seriously, why go to all that kerfuffle? It's soup! And a rather good soup too, if you like tomato based soups, and you like it spicy. Plus if you need some warming up, it'll certainly help as it has a decent heat to it. <br />
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Stay tuned for a mammoth Cookbook Challenge post for the Spanish theme next week. We ate... boy did we eat! And see <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/search/label/cookbook%20challenge">previous Cookbook Challenge posts here</a>.<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4782688328/" title="Spicy tomato soup with chorizo by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4117/4782688328_386ccbf95e_o.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Spicy tomato soup with chorizo"></a></center><br />
<b><br />
Spicy tomato soup with chorizo</b><br />
<i><br />
From Soups</i><br />
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500g chorizo sausage<br />
2 tablespoons olive oil<br />
3 onions, halved and sliced<br />
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced<br />
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin<br />
1 teaspoon paprika<br />
1-2 small red chillies, seeded and finely chopped<br />
1.5 litres chicken stock<br />
800g tinned chopped tomatoes<br />
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Fill a large frying pan with about 3cm of cold water. Add the chorizo sausages and bring to the boil. Lower the heat to a simmer and let the water reduce, turning the sausages occasionally, until all the water evaporates. Allow the sausages to cook in any fat left in the pan for several minutes, or until they are lightly browned. Allow to cool and cut into bite sized pieces.<br />
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Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat and add the onions and garlic. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until they are soft. Stir in the cumin and paprika, chilli, chicken stock, and tomato. Bring to the boil and add the chorizo. Reduce the heat and let it simmer for about 20 minutes. Check the seasoning - adding salt and pepper to taste - and serve.Agneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02682199058521082342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3297016375604719789.post-72595805569085653092010-07-04T22:17:00.000+10:002010-07-04T22:17:11.687+10:00Cookbook Challenge: Week 33, Seafood<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4760214692/" title="Sardine tagra by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4120/4760214692_5898e525a3_b.jpg" width="399" height="600" alt="Sardine tagra" /></a></center><br />
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<b>Recipe: Sardine Tagra<br />
From: Rick Stein's Mediterranean Escapes</b><br />
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Occasionally I've made things for this blog that seemed like a good idea at the time. And then afterwards, I've thought, "What on EARTH was I thinking??" See recent examples: <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/2010/06/international-noodles-incident-party.html">hand pulled noodles</a>, <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/2010/05/international-dumpling-incident-party.html">xiao long bao</a>, <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/2010/05/cookbook-challenge-week-27-insect.html">ladybird cupcakes</a>, to name just a few. I suspect this recipe will join those entries. Why? Well, tell me - have you ever butterflied sardines before? <br />
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The theme for this week's <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/2009/11/cookbook-challenge.html">Cookbook Challenge</a> is seafood, and I knew that I wanted to make a recipe from Rick Stein's Mediterranean Escapes. I selected a recipe for sardine tagra and purchased the necessary twenty fresh sardines for it. When I started the recipe this morning, I reread the instructions and realised that I needed to clean, gut and butterfly the sardines. Doesn't sound that hard, right? How long could it take to do twenty sardines? The answer to that question is - at least one and a half hours! Oh. My. God. After which I still had to put the rest of the dish together. <br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4759581829/" title="Sardine tagra by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4141/4759581829_72828873cb_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Sardine tagra" /></a></center><br />
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I must admit that initially I didn't butterfly the sardines - massacre would be a better description. But the more I did, the easier it got, and it did get faster towards the end. Even so, it's moments like these that makes me realise - I need a kitchen slave. I can't even tell you why it took me so long. Perhaps it was the part where I had to remove the bones with tweezers. Sardines have a lot of little bones! I was probably being too much of a perfectionist in trying to remove as many as possible. <br />
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The name of the dish (tagra) takes its name from the terracotta baking dish that it is normally cooked in. There is a bottom layer of tomatoes and onion, a layer of potatoes, a layer of sardines sandwiched with charmoula, and then a final layer of overlapping tomato, lemon and green pepper slices. <br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4760214938/" title="Sardine tagra by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4134/4760214938_1cc88caede_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Sardine tagra" /></a></center><br />
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I was rather apprehensive when it was time to eat as I was concerned that it would be horrible. I can't tell you how relieved I was when the Boys pronounced it delicious. Hoorah! All that effort wasn't for nought! The dish needed a rich fish like a sardine because of all the strong flavours in it - garlic, coriander, cumin, paprika, chilli, onions, and lemon. It was a bit spicy, a bit sour, a bit fishy, and overall very tasty. <br />
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I would make it again - but only after I've forgotten the pain of preparing the sardines. Or after I get myself that kitchen slave!<br />
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See <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/search/label/cookbook%20challenge">previous Cookbook Challenge posts here</a><br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4760214772/" title="Sardine tagra by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4118/4760214772_a3f466ff2c_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Sardine tagra" /></a></center><br />
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<b>Sardine Tagra</b><br />
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<i>From: Rick Stein's Mediterranean Escapes<br />
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Serves 4</i><br />
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20 small sardines, butterflied (see below)<br />
450g skinned, seeded and chopped tomatoes (I used two 400g cans of whole tomatoes and roughly chopped them)<br />
1 large onion, very finely chopped<br />
450g medium sized waxy potatoes<br />
1 beef tomato, sliced<br />
1 small lemon, thinly sliced<br />
1 small green pepper, sliced (I left it out)<br />
6 small dried red chillies<br />
2 tablespoons olive oil<br />
Juice 1/2 lemon<br />
A pinch dried oregano<br />
Salt<br />
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For the charmoula<br />
4 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander<br />
2 tablespoons crushed garlic<br />
1 teaspoon ground cumin<br />
1 & 1/2 tablespoons paprika<br />
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper<br />
1 teaspoon salt<br />
2 large pinches dried oregano<br />
3 tablespoons olive oil<br />
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To prepare the sardines, rub off the scales and rinse under cold water. Cut the head off each fish and discard. Then slit them open along the belly down to the tail. Pull out the guts and wash the cavities clean. Open up each fish and place them belly side down on a chopping board. Press down firmly on the backbone until the fish lies completely fiat. Turn it over and pull away the backbone, snipping it off with the tail. Pull out any bones left behind with fish tweezers.<br />
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Preheat the oven to 200°C. Make the charmoula by putting all the ingredients into a mortar and pestle and pounding to a paste. Take the butterflied sardines and sandwich them together in pairs, with some of the charmoula in the middle. Set aside.<br />
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Tip the chopped tomatoes into a 26cm tagra or shallow baking dish and add the onion and any remaining charmoula. Mix together well. Cover with overlapping slices of potato and press them down well. Season with salt. <br />
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Arrange the sardine sandwiches on top of the potato, arranging them around the dish like the spokes of a wheel. Overlap the tomato and lemon slices on top of the sardines, and then follow with the slices of green pepper. <br />
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Place a dried red chilli in the centre of each pepper slice, and drizzle over the olive oil and lemon juice. Sprinkle with the dried oregano and more salt.<br />
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Bake the tagra for 1-1&1/2 hours or until the potato is tender. If it browns too much, cover with a sheet of foil. Serve straight away with fresh bread.Agneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02682199058521082342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3297016375604719789.post-62639795275377581922010-06-29T20:58:00.000+10:002010-06-29T20:58:40.822+10:00Mornington Peninsula: T’Gallant – mushroom foraging<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4735177092/" title="Mushroom foraging by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4118/4735177092_109447bca6_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Mushroom foraging" /></a></center><br />
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I’m not a big fan of autumn, winter, grey skies, and rain. Every year, I eagerly wait for summer to arrive. But even I must admit that there are some positives to the cold, wet weather – one of them being wild mushrooms.<br />
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A couple of weeks ago, the Boys and I headed down to T'Gallant for a mushroom hunt. It had been raining heavily the night before and we showed up to find that almost everyone else had gumboots on. Uh oh! Were we going to be under prepared? Trust me, if we had owned a pair of gumboots, I would have brought them, but we live in Melbourne.... where it rarely rains for more than 30 minutes. So gumboots have always seemed like a stupid thing to buy. But maybe that’s just envy talking because everyone else was so prepared! <br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4735177326/" title="Mushroom foraging by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4101/4735177326_98e78c9d55_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Mushroom foraging" /></a></center><br />
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For the first part of the day, we spent an hour looking for mushrooms – specifically pine mushrooms / saffron milk-caps and slippery jacks. Our guide took us out of the winery, talking us through the characteristics of saffron milk-caps and slippery jacks. We walked up the road for about ten minutes, and then entered private property (under prior arrangement with the land owner). Fortunately, while there was a fair bit of mud, gumboots weren’t actually required – just careful footing so we didn’t go arse over t.... :)<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4735177010/" title="Saffron milkcap by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4141/4735177010_d878127e70_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Saffron milkcap" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4734537533/" title="Saffron milkcap by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4080/4734537533_47f2477d48_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Saffron milkcap" /></a></center><br />
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Saffron milk-caps grow under pine trees, with which they have a mycorrhizal (symbiotic) association. They have a firm carrot orange cap, which is convex to vase shaped, a hollow stem, and when cut or bruised, they bleed a red-orange milk.<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4734537583/" title="Slippery jack by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4077/4734537583_78d4cea1ac_b.jpg" width="399" height="600" alt="Slippery jack" /></a></center><br />
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Slippery jacks have a slimy brown cap, with the underside being light-yellow and spongey. This particular one had deteriorated from age and insects - we found much better looking ones later on.<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4735176920/" title="Poisonous ones! by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4076/4735176920_010967a771_o.jpg" width="293" height="440" alt="Poisonous ones!" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4735176968/" title="Poisonous ones! by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4078/4735176968_dc6c534124_o.jpg" width="293" height="440" alt="Poisonous ones!" /></a></center><br />
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There were tons of mushrooms at this property – the autumn rains had obviously created the right conditions for the mushrooms to flourish. There were also plenty of toadstools too – poisonous unfortunately, but very pretty.<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4734537987/" title="Mushroom foraging by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4123/4734537987_7e201a90a5_o.jpg" width="293" height="440" alt="Mushroom foraging" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4734537807/" title="Mushroom foraging by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4118/4734537807_4cbd46f867_o.jpg" width="293" height="440" alt="Mushroom foraging" /></a></center><br />
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Obviously, you need to know what you’re doing when picking wild mushrooms. While I feel the session gave me an idea of what to look for regarding saffron milk caps and slippery jacks, I certainly wouldn’t go foraging for them myself without an educated guide or having an expert look over them. So – warning! At T’Gallant there were posters on the wall with pictures and descriptions of edible and poisonous fungi around the world. I was particularly intrigued by one mushroom that is very poisonous – but the symptoms of poisoning only show up 3-4 weeks after ingestion. And some toxic mushrooms can cause organ failure. Shudder! <br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4735177244/" title="Mushroom foraging by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4093/4735177244_b9e6bc81c9_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Mushroom foraging" /></a></center><br />
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When we had picked a basket’s worth of mushrooms, we headed back to the winery. Back at T-Gallant, we tasted some wines, and then sat down to a cooking demonstration and lunch, accompanied by two glasses of wine. (The price for the mushroom forage plus food and wine was $75pp.)<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4734538199/" title="Mushroom foraging by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4121/4734538199_93ce6e9783_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Mushroom foraging" /></a></center><br />
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During our wine tasting, we had a little snack of mushroom pate on toasts with parmesan and balsamic vinegar. We were starving by this stage, so the little snack was very welcome! <br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4735177622/" title="Mushroom foraging by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4121/4735177622_efaf245c8e_b.jpg" width="399" height="600" alt="Mushroom foraging" /></a></center><br />
<br />
After we had tasted the wines, we headed into the demonstration kitchen and were served a fantastic mushroom soup. It was a shame it was served in a paper cup because this was a soup to be savoured. It was thick and hearty, and packed with an intense mushroom flavour, probably helped by the fact that it was made with a generous amount of dried forest mushrooms as well as fresh mushrooms. <br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4734538229/" title="Mushroom foraging by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4080/4734538229_7dd4bd650c_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Mushroom foraging" /></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4734538345/" title="Mushroom foraging by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4078/4734538345_7de3d6c202_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Mushroom foraging" /></a></center><br />
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The mushrooms that had been picked in the morning were cleaned and then barbequed. I found them quite fleshy and meaty, with the Slippery Jacks having an interesting spongey texture.<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4735177750/" title="Mushroom foraging by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4121/4735177750_5260009881_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Mushroom foraging" /></a></center><br />
<br />
After the soup, out came a mushroom and onion pizza. The mushrooms and onions had been sliced thinly and baked on top of a thin, crispy base. <br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4734538611/" title="Mushroom foraging by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4114/4734538611_fb000d0ccc_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Mushroom foraging" /></a></center><br />
<br />
This was a very simple salad topped with parmesan. It had a tangy, rather addictive dressing. <br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4734538733/" title="Mushroom foraging by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4121/4734538733_efd5bbdf60_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Mushroom foraging" /></a></center><br />
<br />
We had a mushroom tarte tartin, made from a mixture of different mushrooms - button, small swiss brown and oyster, and puff pastry. <br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4734538521/" title="Mushroom foraging by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4143/4734538521_d3ca8b5c23_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Mushroom foraging" /></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4734538819/" title="Mushroom foraging by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4137/4734538819_de336b401b_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Mushroom foraging" /></a></center><br />
<br />
And our last savoury dish was a mushroom rigatoni with pine nuts and mascarpone. This was a simple dish cooked well. The pasta had a good meaty mushroom flavour, and the pine nuts gave a bit of crunchy and nuttiness. <br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4734538865/" title="Mushroom foraging by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4139/4734538865_659347f92b_b.jpg" width="398" height="600" alt="Mushroom foraging" /></a></center><br />
<br />
And dessert was brown sugar meringues with ice cream – that were plated to look like mushrooms! Cute! The meringues had dark sugary notes similar to molasses/treacle, and the ice cream tasted a bit orangey, possibly due to orange blossom water? It was a sweet way of ending the afternoon, and also a creative way of dealing with the mushroom theme! <br />
<br />
<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4735178084/" title="Winery cat! by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4122/4735178084_ebd6fdd653_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Winery cat!" /></a></center><br />
<br />
On the way out, we spotted the winery cat hanging out on a display shelf. It was a (much) slimmer version of one of our cats – awww. <br />
<br />
We had a fun afternoon and I enjoyed both the mushroom hunting and the food back at the winery. Unfortunately we attended the last mushroom session for the year, but I believe they run them every year around May/June. They book out very quickly, so keep an eye out next year if you’re interested. <br />
<br />
<b>T'Gallant<br />
1385 Mornington-Flinders Road<br />
Main Ridge 3928<br />
Phone: 03 5989 6565</b>Agneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02682199058521082342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3297016375604719789.post-28847897420021367042010-06-27T21:52:00.000+10:002010-06-27T21:52:01.505+10:00Cookbook Challenge: Week 32, Potato<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4737734421/" title="Gnocchi with mushrooms by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4094/4737734421_e50ccc71fe_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Gnocchi with mushrooms" /></a></center><br />
<br />
<b>Recipe: Gnocchi<br />
From: Made in Italy</b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/2009/11/cookbook-challenge.html">Cookbook Challenge</a>... Week 32... Theme: potato... I made gnocchi.... blah blah blah....<br />
<br />
My mind is a bit fried tonight. This morning I got out of bed early, made gnocchi, baked muffins, baked a banana cake, and went out to a 1 year old birthday party, where I drank bubbles, and ate far too much cheese and cake. <br />
<br />
The early start, combined with far too much sugar, has left me feeling a frazzled, so I'll keep this post short and sweet.<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4738368798/" title="Gnocchi with mushrooms by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4080/4738368798_10c2b1601c_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Gnocchi with mushrooms" /></a></center><br />
<br />
The theme for this week's <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/2009/11/cookbook-challenge.html">Cookbook Challenge</a> is potato, and when I asked Alastair what I should make, he replied, "Gnocchi!". I made gnocchi for the <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/2010/02/gnocchi-party-potato-gnocchi-with-blue.html">first time the other month</a>, but since I couldn't think of anything else I wanted to make, gnocchi it was. <br />
<br />
This time I followed a recipe from a different cookbook, and it worked out pretty well. I managed to roughly make the gnocchi shape by rolling it over a fork - unlike last time when it was too soft to shape. Oh! And I bought a food mill, so it was much easier this time. Whoo hoo for not having to push potato through a fine sieve! <br />
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We had the gnocchi for lunch so I sauteed some mushrooms with garlic and butter to have with it. I have to say, it was pretty good! The gnocchi turned out quite well too, fairly light and fluffy. And if we hadn't eaten such a filling, carbalicious lunch, I'm sure the bubbles, cheese and cake would have put me in a worst state. As it is, I think I'm done for the evening. Thank you and good night! <br />
<br />
See <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/search/label/cookbook%20challenge">previous Cookbook Challenge posts here</a>. <br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4737734371/" title="Gnocchi with mushrooms by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4093/4737734371_75cf7825a1_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Gnocchi with mushrooms" /></a></center><br />
<b><br />
Gnocchi</b><br />
<br />
<i>From Made in Italy</i><br />
<br />
1kg starchy potatoes<br />
2 small eggs, lightly beaten<br />
about 320g plain flour <br />
pinch of salt<br />
<br />
Wash the potatoes, and cover with cold water in a pot. Bring the water to a boil, then turn down to a simmer. Let the potatoes cook until they are soft (about 45mins - 1 hr depending on the size). Drain the potatoes - you may want to put them in a hot oven at this stage to dry them out.<br />
<br />
While the potatoes are still hot, peel them and put them through a sieve/food mill. (I found it easiest to hold the potato with tongs and peel the skin off with my fingers.) Put them in a bowl or on your work surface and create a well in the centre. Add the egg, pinch of salt, and three quarters of the flour. Mix well and as soon as the dough comes together, stop. Only add the rest of the flour if you think it needs it. Don't overwork the dough.<br />
<br />
Dust your work surface with flour and flatten your dough into a rough square about 1.5cm thick.<br />
<br />
With a knife, cut the dough into strips about 1.5cm wide. Roll each piece lightly until it is cylindrical.<br />
<br />
Lay two or three cylinders next to each other and then cut through them at the same time , cutting them into 1.5cm wide pieces. Repeat with the rest of the cylinders.<br />
<br />
Take a fork and push each piece of dough on to the prongs, so that it rolls itself up and is marked with lines. Repeat with all the pieces.<br />
<br />
To cook, bring a large pot of salted water to the boil and add the gnocchi, stirring until they rise to the surface (a minute or so). Lift them out with a slotted spoon and serve with your choice of sauce.Agneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02682199058521082342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3297016375604719789.post-56230855571309610582010-06-20T21:48:00.001+10:002010-06-20T21:51:33.800+10:00Cookbook Challenge: Week 31, French<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4716967002/" title="Pissaladiere by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4035/4716967002_989f32f365_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Pissaladiere" /></a></center><br />
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<b>Recipe: Pissaladiere <br />
From: The Australian Women's Weekly "Kitchen"</b><br />
<i><b><br />
Dear Cookbook Challengers in Melbourne! See the end of this post for details of a meet up!</b></i><br />
<br />
The theme for this week's <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/2009/11/cookbook-challenge.html">Cookbook Challenge</a> is French, and initially I was stumped. What could I make for French week that would be fairly easy and only involved ingredients already in my pantry? <br />
<br />
But after a bit more thinking, I realised there's TONS of things that come from French cooking! I almost made a dessert (it was a toss up between brulee or clafoutis) but, despite all the sweet things on this blog, I don't actually have a huge sweet tooth! (Lots of sweet things make an appearance here because they're easier to photograph.....! Confession time!) So rather than dessert, I made pissaladiere - an onion and anchovy tart. <br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4716324563/" title="Pissaladiere by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4065/4716324563_947e01faf4_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Pissaladiere" /></a></center><br />
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The recipe I followed for the pissaladiere had a bread type base, although I believe pastry can also be used. The topping is made from a rather large amount of slowly cooked onions, on to which anchovy fillets and olives are placed. Oh. Notice anything missing on mine? I ran out of olives so mine is sans olives!<br />
<br />
Despite the missing olives, the pissaladiere was DELICIOUS. There's something about the combination of the bready base, sweet onions and the salty fishiness of the anchovies that really did it for me. I know lots of people don't like anchovies, but gosh it's worth acquiring the taste for them, just so you can eat pissaladiere! <br />
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And now an announcement for all Cookbook Challengers in Melbourne! <a href="http://myfoodtrail.blogspot.com/">April</a> and I have been discussing a meet up and we have decided on a date. It'll be a potluck lunch on Sunday 11 July - with the theme being Spanish (which is the theme for the week after - so if you come, you get to tick off your dish for the following week!). Email me or comment on this post if you're interested. And if you're a lapsed Cookbook Challenger, perhaps this could be the motivation to get back into it?! :) <br />
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See <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/search/label/cookbook%20challenge">previous Cookbook Challenge posts here</a>.<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4716966922/" title="Pissaladiere by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4030/4716966922_c07c4c3dfe_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Pissaladiere" /></a></center><br />
<br />
<b>Pissaladiere</b><br />
<br />
<i>From AWW Kitchen<br />
<br />
Serves 6<br />
</i><br />
50g butter<br />
1 tablespoon olive oil<br />
3 large onions (600g), peeled and sliced thinly<br />
2 cloves garlic, crushed<br />
1 bay leaf<br />
1 sprig fresh thyme<br />
1 tablespoon baby capers, rinsed<br />
3/4 cup (110g) self-raising flour<br />
3/4 cup (11g) plain flour<br />
30g butter, extra<br />
3/4 cup (180ml) buttermilk<br />
20 drained anchovy fillets, halved lengthways<br />
1/2 cup (90g) small seeded black olives<br />
<br />
Heat the butter and oil in a large saucepan over low heat and add the onions, garlic, bay leaf and thyme. Cover the pot and let the mixture cook gently for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. You want the onions to be soft but not browned. <br />
<br />
Let the mixture cook uncovered for a further 10 minutes. Remove the bay leaf and thyme, and stir in the capers.<br />
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Preheat the oven to 220°C and oil an oven tray.<br />
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Make the base by sifting the flours into a large bowl. Rub in the extra butter, and then stir in the buttermilk to form a soft dough (mine needed more flour). Turn the dough on to a lightly floured surface and knead until it is smooth.<br />
<br />
Roll the dough into a rectangular shape that is about 25cm x 35cm. Place on to the tray.<br />
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Spread the onion mixture over the dough, up to the edges. Top with the anchovy fillets, placing them in a diamond pattern. Put an olive in the middle of each diamond. <br />
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Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the base is crisp.Agneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02682199058521082342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3297016375604719789.post-75584119286711073752010-06-20T11:00:00.007+10:002010-06-21T21:12:14.670+10:00International Noodles Incident Party<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4714133024/" title="Hand pulled noodles by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4018/4714133024_3bf52325ae_b.jpg" width="399" height="600" alt="Hand pulled noodles" /></a></center><br />
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<center><a href="http://jeroxie.com/addiction/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/iip-pizza.png"><img title="iip-pizza" src="http://jeroxie.com/addiction/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/iip-pizza.png" alt="International Pizza Pie Incident Party" width="600" height="203"/></a></center><br />
<br />
Following on from the success of the <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/2010/05/international-dumpling-incident-party.html">dumpling</a>, <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/2010/04/international-pizza-pie-incident-party.html">pizza pie</a> and <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/2010/02/gnocchi-party-potato-gnocchi-with-blue.html">gnocchi</a> parties - we're having noodles! <br />
<br />
I am a big fan of noodles, most kinds of noodles in fact. See the <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/2010/04/melbourne-cbd-ramen-hunting.html">ramen hunt</a> post as an example of my dedication to noodle goodness. As soon as the theme was announced, I had a fairly good idea of what I wanted to make. We had so much fun <a href=
http://offthespork.blogspot.com/2009/11/japan-soba-noodle-making-class.html">making soba noodles in Japan</a>, that I really wanted to make my own noodles - and what better noodles to make than hand pulled noodles?<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/126912605/" title="Oodles of noodles by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/50/126912605_ace1108965.jpg" width="500" height="298" alt="Oodles of noodles" /></a></center><br />
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When Alastair and I were in China years ago, one of our most memorable meals was a bowl of noodles at a street stall. We watched the noodles being pulled in front of us, and five minutes later we were tucking in. Amazing.<br />
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I knew that I wouldn't be able to come close to replicating that meal. Hand pulling noodles is a skill that takes lots of practice to develop, but hey - I'm always up for a challenge! <br />
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I followed the instructions on this website - <a href="http://www.lukerymarz.com/noodles/index.html">How to make hand pulled noodles</a>. The dough is easy to put together - it's basically flour, water, salt, a tiny amount of baking soda, and oil. The dough needs to be kneaded for a long time - to "destroy the gluten structure" according to the website, until it gets to a point where it stretches easily without breaking. I let my mixer do the kneading, but even after 25 minutes my dough didn't reach that point and I couldn't do the first pull without it breaking. <br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4713493491/" title="Hand pulled noodles by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4054/4713493491_6e2ff571eb_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Hand pulled noodles" /></a><br />
<i>Now panic and freak out! </i></center><br />
<br />
Finally, I figured out that if I added more water, it made the dough more supple and less prone to breaking. So eventually, after rather a lot more water, YAY NOODLES. I still had a lot of problems with the noodles breaking, and they were all uneven thicknesses, but look! <br />
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<center><object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/auhHl5-6VdY&rel=0&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xd0d0d0&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/auhHl5-6VdY&rel=0&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xd0d0d0&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="385"></embed></object></center><br />
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If you watch the above video, you can see how wet the dough is at the beginning. If I was ever silly enough to want to try pulling noodles again, I would try lots and lots more water. I wish I had started with wetter dough - it probably would've been much easier!<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4714132940/" title="Hand pulled noodles by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4015/4714132940_d132dbfbbb_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Hand pulled noodles" /></a></center><br />
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If you're considering trying this, let me tell you. It is HARD. I now have first hand experience of exactly how hard it is, and goodness gracious do I appreciate the skill that is involved in pulling noodles! It is definitely something that takes a lot of practice. <br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4714132988/" title="Hand pulled noodles by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4016/4714132988_187f2d8614_b.jpg" width="399" height="600" alt="Hand pulled noodles" /></a></center><br />
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It took me so long to make the noodles (we're talking hours...) that I was exhausted afterwards and couldn't be bothered doing much with them. Fortunately, I had a large pot of chicken stock already made, so I boiled up the noodles and served them in the chicken stock with some enoki mushrooms. They tasted okay, but not amazing.... not like I had spent hours making them! But I'm really glad I gave it a shot. <br />
<br />
That's it for my contribution to the International Noodle Incident Party. See <a href="http://jeroxie.com/addiction/">Addictive and Consuming</a> for the round up or check out the following links:<br />
<br />
<br><br />
<Br><br />
<li>Penny aka Jeroxie - <a href="http://jeroxie.com/addiction" target="_blank">Addictive & Consuming</a> – <a href="http://jeroxie.com/addiction/international-noodles-incident-party-minced-pork-with-ban-mian" target="_blank">Homemade ban mian with minced pork and mushrooms</a></li><br />
<li>Christine – <a href="http://en.christinesrecipes.com/" target="_blank">Christine’s Recipes</a> – <a href="http://en.christinesrecipes.com/2010/06/spicy-pork-mince-and-noodles-in-crisp.html" target="_blank">Spicy Pork Mince and Noodles in Crisp Lettuce Cups </a></li><li>Mardi – <a href="http://www.eatlivetravelwrite.com/" target="_blank">Eat, Live, Travel, Write</a> – <a href="http://www.eatlivetravelwrite.com/2010/06/international-incident-party-noodles/" target="_blank">Ginger scallion & Butter noodles </a></li><li>Trix – <a href="http://tastytrix.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Tasty Trix</a> – <a href="http://tastytrix.blogspot.com/2010/06/summer-noodles-of-yellow-green-zucchini.html" target="_blank">Summer ‘Noodles’ with yellow and green zuchinni with cool basil oil tomato sauce</a></li><li>Shirley – <a href="http://www.enrichingyourkid.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Enriching your kid</a> – <a href="http://enrichingyourkid.blogspot.com/2010/06/vermicilli-biryani-with-tahini.html" target="_blank">Vermicilli Biryani with Tahini</a></li><li>Natasha – <a href="http://www.fivestarfoodie.com/" onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outbound/article/www.fivestarfoodie.com');" target="_blank">5 Star Foodie</a> – <a href="http://www.fivestarfoodie.com/2010/06/homemade-soba-noodles-for-international.html" target="_blank">Homemade Soba Noodles</a></li><br />
<li>Joanne – <a href="http://secondhelping.com.au/feastonthis/" target="_blank">Second Helping</a></li><li>Cherry – <a href="http://sweetcherriepie.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Sweet Cherry Pie</a> – <a href="http://sweetcherriepie.blogspot.com/2010/06/coconut-noodles-with-honey-glazed-pork.html" target="_blank">Coconut noodles with honey glazed pork belly</a></li><li>Tracey - <a href="http://tanglednoodle.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Tangled Noodle</a></li><li>Evelyne - <a href="http://www.cheapethniceatz.com/" target="_blank">Cheap Ethnic Eatz</a> – <a href="http://www.cheapethniceatz.com/2010/06/19/incidental-noodles/" target="_blank">Incidental Noodles</a></li><li>Ms Baklover <a title="Thumbnail #17" href="http://footscrayfoodblog.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">- Footscray Food Blog</a> – <a href="http://footscrayfoodblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/international-incident-party-noodles.html" target="_blank">Zha Jiang Mian</a></li><li>Casey – <a href="http://www.caseyangelova.com/" target="_blank">Eating, Gardening & Living in Bulgari</a></li><li>Tamar – <a href="http://koreanforniancooking.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Koreanfornian Cooking</a> – <a href="http://koreanforniancooking.blogspot.com/2010/06/international-noodles-incident-with.html" target="_blank">Tteokbokki</a> <em> </em></li><li>Billy – <a href="http://www.12eaten.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Half-Eaten</a> – <a href="http://12eaten.blogspot.com/2010/06/international-incident-party-noodles.html" target="_blank">Pumpkin Miso Noodles in Shitake Dashi Broth</a></li><li>Nina – <a href="http://consumedfoodlove.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Consumed Food Love</a> – <a href="http://consumedfoodlove.blogspot.com/2010/06/international-noodle-incident.html" target="_blank">Vietnamese Noodle Salad</a></li><li>Suresh – <a href="http://3hungrytummies.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">3 hungry tummies</a> – <a href="http://3hungrytummies.blogspot.com/2010/06/twice-cooked-pork-rice-noodles-in.html" target="_blank">Twice cooked pork with rice noodles</a></li><li>Anh – A food Lover’s Journey – <a href="http://www.anhsfoodblog.com/2010/06/iip-noodles-recipe-taco-soba-noodles.html" target="_blank">Taco Soba Noodle</a></li>Agneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02682199058521082342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3297016375604719789.post-11164879477475686532010-06-17T22:37:00.001+10:002010-06-25T19:56:06.766+10:00Cumulus IncFollowing on from our punny lunch at <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/2010/05/cutler-co-puntastic.html">Cutler & Co</a>, we decided to continue the Andrew O’Connell love and headed to dinner at Cumulus Inc with Maria and Daz from <a href="http://thegourmetchallenge.blogspot.com/">The Gourmet Challenge</a>.<br />
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Since Cumulus Inc only takes bookings for large groups, Alastair, Bro and I showed up early in the evening to secure a table. Good thing we did, because it filled up fairly quickly. Although now I realise that with five people, maybe we could have booked?!<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4708959696/" title="Cumulus Inc by aggleton, on Flickr"><img alt="Cumulus Inc" height="450" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4010/4708959696_940bc70971_b.jpg" width="600" /></a></center><br />
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Between the five of us, we ordered several dishes to share. <br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4708959754/" title="Cumulus Inc by aggleton, on Flickr"><img alt="Cumulus Inc" height="450" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4034/4708959754_655d2deda8_b.jpg" width="600" /></a></center><br />
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We started with a serve of crispy school prawns, sautéed with chilli and garlic ($14), because we can’t seem to resist school prawns whenever they are on the menu - see <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/2010/04/week-of-eats-ron-mueck-persimmon.html">exhibit A</a> and <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/2009/01/persimmon.html">exhibit B</a>. They were light and crispy with just a tiny hint of heat and garlic. <br />
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Oh and we noticed the table sitting next to us shelling their prawns. Sadness. They missed out on the best part, which also would have happened to be most of the dish! <br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4708959816/" title="Cumulus Inc by aggleton, on Flickr"><img alt="Cumulus Inc" height="450" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4014/4708959816_3c9625e1f2_b.jpg" width="600" /></a></center><br />
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This was a portion of slow cooked octopus with aioli and dehydrated olive ($10). It was teeny, but the octopus was oh so tender and a very nice little mouthful. <br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4708959892/" title="Cumulus Inc by aggleton, on Flickr"><img alt="Cumulus Inc" height="450" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4007/4708959892_1c111c6e4a_b.jpg" width="600" /></a></center><br />
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Next we had the foie gras parfait with toasted brioche ($17). The parfait was very rich and smooth, but umm... there were five of us and only four small pieces of toast! We had to ask for a bread refill to finish up the parfait.<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4708959934/" title="Cumulus Inc by aggleton, on Flickr"><img alt="Cumulus Inc" height="450" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4042/4708959934_60a89b3d6b_b.jpg" width="600" /></a></center><br />
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Oh, this was gorgeous. So gorgeous. The grass fed steak tartare ($21) was delicious. We mixed in the egg and onions, cornichons etc, and tucked in. <br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4708959974/" title="Cumulus Inc by aggleton, on Flickr"><img alt="Cumulus Inc" height="600" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4052/4708959974_4e602d3356_b.jpg" width="450" /></a></center><br />
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It was served with condiments - normal tabasco, jalapeno tabasco and anchovy sauce. The anchovy sauce came with a little dripper - it was very potent! But the steak tartare was so perfectly seasoned that we found it didn't need the condiments. <br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4708960096/" title="Cumulus Inc by aggleton, on Flickr"><img alt="Cumulus Inc" height="450" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4044/4708960096_8f55c9e0c5_b.jpg" width="600" /></a></center><br />
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And for mains we had a whole slow roast lamb shoulder ($69). This is really good value for money! It was great too – the meat was so tender and juicy. We shared it between the five of us, and it was the perfect amount of meat. I think it's a main that is best shared between several people, but we saw a couple a few tables over sharing it between the two of them (as well as sides!) They ate quite a lot of it too - I was rather impressed at their lamb eating prowess. <br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4708318181/" title="Cumulus Inc by aggleton, on Flickr"><img alt="Cumulus Inc" height="450" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4026/4708318181_7acc51ae23_b.jpg" width="600" /></a></center><br />
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The lamb came with lemon and onions, and a big knife to carve it with. Thanks to Maria for carving it up for us! <br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4708960174/" title="Cumulus Inc by aggleton, on Flickr"><img alt="Cumulus Inc" height="450" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1301/4708960174_75cf07e2db_b.jpg" width="600" /></a></center><br />
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We also had a salad – the cracked wheat and freekah salad with preserved lemon and barberries ($11). Although now that I look at all these pictures, I feel like we should’ve ordered some vegetables or greens. <br />
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And then – dessert!<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4708960208/" title="Cumulus Inc by aggleton, on Flickr"><img alt="Cumulus Inc" height="450" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4020/4708960208_5d40043fb4_b.jpg" width="600" /></a></center><br />
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Alastair and I shared the pear sorbet with burnt butter shortbread and almond milk ($16). This is one of the best desserts I have eaten in ages. The sorbet was intensely peary, cold, smooth and slick. I loved the super butteriness of the shortbread and the almond milk was soft, resembling a panna cotta.<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4708318395/" title="Cumulus Inc by aggleton, on Flickr"><img alt="Cumulus Inc" height="450" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1273/4708318395_6701f58307_b.jpg" width="600" /></a></center><br />
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And Bro had the steamed chocolate pudding with hazelnut toffee and crème fraiche ice cream ($17). He said that it was rich and delicious.<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4708960312/" title="Cumulus Inc by aggleton, on Flickr"><img alt="Cumulus Inc" height="450" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4014/4708960312_0f9e5c0645_b.jpg" width="600" /></a></center><br />
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For second dessert (as you do) we all had a madeleine filled with lemon curd ($2.50 each). The slightly crisp crust lead into a fluffy, cakey biscuit that was filled with tangy lemon curd... drool. They came to the table still warm, and were gone very quickly. Next time I think I might be tempted to order two per person!<br />
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In case you can’t tell, we loved our meal at Cumulus Inc – actually much more than our lunch at <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/2010/05/cutler-co-puntastic.html">Cutler & Co</a>. It's obvious why Cumulus Inc has so many fans - and you can count me as one of them!<br />
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Read about a <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/2008/10/cumulus-inc.html">previous visit to Cumulus Inc here</a>.<br />
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<b>Cumulus Inc<br />
45 Flinders Lane, Melbourne<br />
(03) 9650 1445</b><br />
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<a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/760535/restaurant/CBD/Cumulus-Inc-Melbourne"><img alt="Cumulus Inc. on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/logo/760535/minilogo.gif" style="border: none; height: 15px; width: 104px;" /></a>Agneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02682199058521082342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3297016375604719789.post-14295123582924240782010-06-13T23:20:00.015+10:002010-06-21T21:37:11.999+10:00Cookbook Challenge: Week 30, Baked<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4695569905/" title="Treacle oatmeal loaf by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4026/4695569905_ca85937275_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Treacle oatmeal loaf" /></a></center><br />
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<span style="font-weight:bold;">Recipe: Molasses oatmeal loaf<br />
From: Quick Breads</span><br />
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We're on to week 30 of the <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/2009/11/cookbook-challenge.html">Cookbook Challenge</a>, and the theme is "baked". Easy right?! For someone who does <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/search/label/baking">a lot of baking</a>, this week's theme was great! <br />
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I was pretty keen to bake bread of some kind, but I ran out of time to do a proper loaf. Instead, I pulled out a book that has recipes for quick breads, and put together this loaf in just over an hour. It should have taken longer, but I didn't let the oats soak for the full 30 minutes - as soon as my oven had preheated I figured it was good enough. <br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4695569819/" title="Treacle oatmeal loaf by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4064/4695569819_1f66f383c6_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Treacle oatmeal loaf" /></a></center><br />
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The loaf is made with porridge oats, molasses or treacle (I used treacle), buttermilk and a mixture of wholemeal and white flour. And it is really good! The oats and wholemeal flour give a chewy, nutty, texture and flavour with a crisp crust. Because it has a mix of white and wholemeal flour, it's not too dense or heavy. When it came out of the oven, I couldn't wait for the loaf to cool completely before I cut a slice to taste. Bad, I know, but who can resist bread straight from the oven? Not me! It was great with butter (natch) and a second slice was also really good with honey. The third slice (ha!) saw the return of butter, but I do think a bit of sweetness works really well with this bread. <br />
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I'll definitely make it again. And I'm looking forward to eating the rest for breakfast tomorrow! <br />
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See <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/search/label/cookbook%20challenge">previous Cookbook Challenge posts here</a>.<br />
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Update: see the round up for this week at <a href="http://myfoodtrail.blogspot.com/2010/06/cookbook-challenge-week-30-baked-theme.html">My Food Trail</a>.<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4696204130/" title="Treacle oatmeal loaf by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4011/4696204130_38ba4711dc_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Treacle oatmeal loaf" /></a></center><br />
<span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />
Molasses oatmeal loaf</span><br />
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<span style="font-style:italic;">From Quick Breads<br />
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Makes a medium loaf</span><br />
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2 tablespoons molasses/black treacle <br />
300ml buttermilk<br />
75g porridge oats<br />
200g plain wholemeal flour<br />
200g plain white flour<br />
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda<br />
1 teaspoon sea salt<br />
25g unsalted butter, chilled and cut into cubes<br />
1 large egg, beaten<br />
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a 450g loaf tin, well greased<br />
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Mix the molasses/treacle and buttermilk in a bowl and add the oats. Stir, and let it soak for 30 minutes.<br />
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Preheat the oven to 200°C.<br />
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In a separate bowl, stir together the flours, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Add the butter and rub it in, using the tips of your fingers until it looks like fine breadcrumbs.<br />
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Add the beaten egg and the soaked oats and mix well with a wooden spoon. It will be a very thick, heavy dough. Pour it into the greased tin and press it into a loaf shape.<br />
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Bake the loaf for 10 minutes, and then reduce the oven temperature to 180°C. Bake for a further 35 minutes.<br />
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Turn out on to a wire rack and let it cool completely before slicing.Agneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02682199058521082342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3297016375604719789.post-62253882531395256872010-06-11T23:08:00.006+10:002010-06-11T23:21:58.084+10:00Week of Eats: Lunch at Pier 10, Mornington Peninsula<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4690797906/" title="T'gallant by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4027/4690797906_e6693435ee_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="T'gallant" /></a></center><br /><br />A while ago now, <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/2010/04/week-of-eats-ron-mueck-persimmon.html">back when my in-laws Annette and Terry were here</a>, we spent a gorgeous Friday down in the Mornington Peninsula laughing, tasting wines, and enjoying the sunshine. <br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4690798188/" title="Lunch at Pier 10 by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4002/4690798188_095654e0b7_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Lunch at Pier 10" /></a><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Our lunch time view at Pier 10</span></center><br /><br />After stops at two wineries (T-Gallant and Montalto), our lunch stop was Pier 10. Pier 10 used to be a weekender, and became a vineyard in 1996. It's a very pleasant spot, with the restaurant looking out over the vines and fields. I seem to remember being told that it's called Pier 10 because the structure in the front garden used to be part of a pier.<br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4690797956/" title="Lunch at Pier 10 by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4072/4690797956_3bc18ccc80_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Lunch at Pier 10" /></a></center><br /><br />After tasting a few wines in the tasting room (where we came across a bucket of seriously gigantic zucchinis that were looking for homes), we headed to the back deck for food.<br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4690163991/" title="Lunch at Pier 10 by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4014/4690163991_1d558939cc_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Lunch at Pier 10" /></a></center><br /><br />For lunch, we had an antipasto platter to share. It was all pretty good - olives, cured meats, some very good crunchy green beans, marinated vegetables and a bit of smooth pate.<br /><br />And for the mains, the options were: a wild mushroom risotto, fish and chips, roast chicken breast and pan roasted ocean trout.<br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4690798240/" title="Lunch at Pier 10 by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4004/4690798240_d2ee430bb2_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Lunch at Pier 10" /></a></center><br /><br />Alastair, Terry and I, ordered the pan roasted ocean trout, with nicoise salad and basil pesto. We were all pleased with our lunch - the trout was perfectly cooked with crispy skin, and the vegetables and salad were crunchy and fresh. Good boiled egg too!<br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4690164147/" title="Lunch at Pier 10 by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4050/4690164147_2fbab54533_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Lunch at Pier 10" /></a></center><br /><br />Annette had the roast chicken breast with mashed potato, green beans, and gravy. This looked great – and it was a massive portion!<br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4690798356/" title="Lunch at Pier 10 by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1291/4690798356_ce94c21fe6_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Lunch at Pier 10" /></a></center><br /><br />It was a very pleasant lunch – nothing fancy, but the food was well cooked and tasty. And as a bonus, we took a zucchini home for later - I told you they were massive! <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Pier 10<br />10 Shoreham Road<br />Shoreham 3916<br />Phone: 5989 8848</span>Agneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02682199058521082342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3297016375604719789.post-418711348650766192010-06-08T22:13:00.003+10:002010-06-25T19:58:29.795+10:00Provenance Food & Wine: What a Pear!In May, Provenance in Collingwood held one of their semi-regular seasonal produce events. The latest was an autumn degustation to celebrate local pears, held over three evenings, with 7 courses for $75 and matched wines for an additional $22. Alastair and I rounded up <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/wellingtondany">Dany</a> for a peary peariffic evening.<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4681356691/" title="Provenance Food & Wine - pear degustation by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4068/4681356691_d5b695cdd1_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Provenance Food & Wine - pear degustation" /></a></center><br />
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The first course was a Gorgonzola dolce pannacotta with salt pear coulis and crispy prosciutto. Interestingly, the panna cotta was fizzy on the tongue, which was a bit distracting. Apart from the fizziness, it was rich and creamy and sharp with the Gorgonzola, which I really enjoyed with the sweet pear coulis.<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4681987666/" title="Provenance Food & Wine - pear degustation by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4057/4681987666_3596a53879_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Provenance Food & Wine - pear degustation" /></a></center><br />
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Next up was a pear tarte tatin with parmesan crisp, watercress, and rocket pesto. This was a gorgeous little tart – good flakey, buttery pastry and sweet pear. While the pear was sweet it wasn’t a dessert dish and managed to find that balance. The rocket pesto was a tad too bitter for my tastes, so I left most of it.<div><br />
<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4681987730/" title="Provenance Food & Wine - pear degustation by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4037/4681987730_030a5ec5d1_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Provenance Food & Wine - pear degustation" /></a></center><br />
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After the tarte tatin, we received a whole quail that had been partially boned, with a pear and pecan farce on cavalo nero and jus gras. This was the best savoury course of the evening. Thankfully the quail had been partially boned, so it was tender and easy to eat. The pear and pecan stuffing was great and the cavalo nero helped cut through the richness of the meat and jus.<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4681356871/" title="Provenance Food & Wine - pear degustation by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4038/4681356871_bc71e0e98d_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Provenance Food & Wine - pear degustation" /></a></center><br />
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This was a pear and Roquefort millefeuille with walnuts. Instead of pastry layers, slices of crunchy pear were used, with dabs of Roquefort in between and a bit of lemon zest on top. This was fantastic, and yet so simple.<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4681356937/" title="Provenance Food & Wine - pear degustation by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4004/4681356937_fc21d46df6_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Provenance Food & Wine - pear degustation" /></a></center><br />
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The final savoury course was described as a partridge in a pear tree. On the plate was partridge breast that had been braised in pear cider, served with pear confit, and a few pear and ginger tortellini. The partridge wasn’t quite as nice as the quail, and the pear was strangely salty. I quite liked the pear and ginger tortellini.<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4681987920/" title="Provenance Food & Wine - pear degustation by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4070/4681987920_038c7b5a49_b.jpg" width="399" height="600" alt="Provenance Food & Wine - pear degustation" /></a></center><br />
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The first of the desserts was a caramel pear pudding with double cream. This was a wonderful dessert, perfect for winter and cold nights and deserved to be eaten while sitting by a fire. Gorgeous! It was a real comfort pudding - soft, cinnamony goodness in a cup.<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4681357093/" title="Provenance Food & Wine - pear degustation by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4004/4681357093_a93172edf5_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Provenance Food & Wine - pear degustation" /></a></center><br />
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And finally, our last course and second dessert was coffee assiette – espresso poached pear, a rich, dark chocolate espresso mousse, and “pear-fogato” (ahh, we love a pun in this house. Sad but true.). </div><div><br />
</div><div>The espresso poached pear was decorated to look like a Xmas pudding, with the white chocolate and fried mint leaf on top – ahh so cute! It was a bit hard to eat with a spoon though as the white chocolate was very hard to break. And the espresso for the pear-fogato was REALLY strong. I wish I hadn't poured it over the ice cream and just eaten the ice cream plain.</div><div><br />
We had a great time, although at four hours it was a long night. The timing at the beginning seemed a bit slow, but thankfully things picked up at the end.<br />
<br />
Read about a <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/2010/03/provenance-valentines-day-berry.html">previous visit to Provenance here</a> – the Valentine's Day degustation featuring berries and an indoor picnic!<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight:bold;">Provenance Food & Wine<br />
288 Smith Street<br />
Collingwood<br />
Phone: 03 8415 0700</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/1431628/restaurant/Melbourne/Provenance-Food-Wine-Collingwood"><img alt="Provenance Food & Wine on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/logo/1431628/minilogo.gif" style="border:none;width:104px;height:15px" /></a><br />
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</div>Agneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02682199058521082342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3297016375604719789.post-54380739320916347072010-06-06T21:57:00.001+10:002010-06-21T21:39:56.622+10:00Cookbook Challenge: Week 29, Blue<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4674602974/" title="Fail slice by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4023/4674602974_900190607d_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Fail slice" /></a></center><br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight:bold;">Recipe: Blueberry and pistachio muesli slice<br />
From: Australian Women's Weekly "Bake"</span><br />
<br />
For the <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/2009/11/cookbook-challenge.html">Cookbook Challenge</a> this week, the theme is "blue". And for the Challenge, I present "FAIL SLICE". What is fail slice? It's when you forget a vital ingredient when baking. Yes, major fail.<br />
<br />
But let me tell you what it's supposed to be. I baked a slice for this week's theme - a blueberry and pistachio muesli slice. Sounds okay, right? The original recipe used cranberries, which I substituted with dried blueberries to fit with this week's theme. <br />
<br />
It all started out fine. It's the easiest recipe to put together. Basically, it just involves melting sugar, butter and honey in a saucepan, and then adding the berries, oats, pistachios and self-raising flour. Oh yeah, unless you're me, and you just leave out the flour. Because why would a slice need flour?<br />
<br />
Funnily enough, when I mixed it all together, I thought to myself, "I wonder if this is supposed to have flour in it?" Did that make me reread the recipe? Nope! I told myself it didn't, and put it in the oven!<br />
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In fact, I didn't realise my error until after the slice had been in the oven for almost 15 minutes and I realised it didn't quite look right.... and it was kind of burnt around the edges... and oh. Wait, what was that about flour again?<br />
<br />
I am not sure what it tastes like. I'm sure if it's made properly, it'll taste great! Someone try it and let me know!<br />
<br />
<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4674603046/" title="Cookie monster cupcakes by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1269/4674603046_2aeb4e2fe0_b.jpg" width="399" height="600" alt="Cookie monster cupcakes" /></a></center><br />
<br />
And since it's blue week, I'll leave you with a picture of Cookie Monster cupcakes. They didn't quite turn out the way I imagined them in my head - I certainly didn't imagine them looking so <span style="font-style:italic;">demented</span> (and these are the good ones, seriously). The cupcakes are these <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/2009/09/vanilla-vanilla-cupcakes.html">vanilla cupcakes</a> with the addition of crushed oreos in the batter and the face is made from fondant, with a mini chocolate chip cookie shoved in the mouth. Cookie, cookie, cookie!<br />
<br />
See <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/search/label/cookbook%20challenge">previous Cookbook Challenge posts here</a>.<br />
<br />
Update: see the round up for this week at <a href="http://myfoodtrail.blogspot.com/2010/06/cookbook-challenge-week-29-blue-theme.html">My Food Trail</a>.<br />
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<div><br />
</div><div><br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4674602880/" title="Fail slice by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4066/4674602880_12735483dd_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Fail slice" /></a></center><br />
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<span style="font-weight:bold;">Blueberry and pistachio muesli slice</span> <br />
<br />
<span style="font-style:italic;">Adapted from Australian Women's Weekly "Bake"</span><br />
<br />
125g butter, chopped coarsely<br />
1/3 cup (75g) firmly packed brown sugar<br />
2 tablespoons honey<br />
1& 1/2 cups (135g) rolled oats<br />
1/2 cup (75g) self-raising flour<br />
1 cup (130g) dried cranberries<br />
1 cup (140g) roasted pistachios, chopped coarsely<br />
<br />
Preheat oven to 180C and grease a 20cm x 30cm slice pan. Line the base of the pan with baking paper, extending it a couple of cms over the side.<br />
<br />
In a medium saucepan, heat the butter, sugar and honey over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Tip the mixture into the prepared slice pan and press firmly into it.<br />
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Bake for about 20 minutes and cool in the pan before cutting.<br />
<br />
</div>Agneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02682199058521082342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3297016375604719789.post-63876863029430669832010-06-03T21:22:00.001+10:002010-06-03T21:31:33.174+10:00Japan: assorted snacks and sweets, mostly mochiHere are some random snacks and sweets from our trip to <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/search/label/travel%3A%20japan">Japan</a> last year.<br /><br />I'll start with the mochi and mochi type items - because I loved the mochi in Japan. It was all so fresh and delicious!<br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4662524345/" title="Best daifuku ever by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4001/4662524345_d62b64c9a4_b.jpg" width="600" height="400" alt="Best daifuku ever" /></a></center><br /><br />I’ll start with some of the best. When we were in <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/2009/11/japan-takayama-ryokan-asunaro-part-1.html">Takayama</a>, there was a sweets shop down the road from our ryokan. I wish I had taken a photo of the shop now - they had glass fronted cabinets lined with what must have been rows of 20 different flavours of individually wrapped daifuku (mochi with a filling). It. Was. Wonderful. The daifuku from there was the best I have ever eaten! The mochi had the usual characteristic chewiness, but it was really fresh and soft, and seemed to melt in the mouth.<br /><br />Just before we left <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/2009/11/japan-takayama-ryokan-asunaro-part-1.html">Takayama</a> for our next stop, I purchased three flavours to eat on the train – green tea, chocolate and the purple one was a purple Japanese fruit that we had seen at the markets, which I believe is called akebi. My favourite was the green tea with chestnut filling. The sweetness of the chestnut filling was perfect against the bitterness of the green tea. Sigh. I still remember that daifuku very fondly and wish we could get ones as good here in Australia.<br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4662523971/" title="Purple fruit by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1265/4662523971_016ff57b32_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Purple fruit" /></a></center><br /><br />This is the purple fruit that I think is called akebi. We never tried the actual fruit, but the daifuku didn't really have a distinctive taste. It wasn't memorable at all, and all I can recall of it is the red bean filling.<br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4662524913/" title="Mochi by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1294/4662524913_2ee3940f5b_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Mochi" /></a></center><br /><br />We came across these in a market in <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/2009/11/japan-osaka-takoyaki.html">Osaka</a> - they are like an inverted daifuku with the red bean paste wrapped around plain mochi.<br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4663145164/" title="MOCHI by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4019/4663145164_5ed8f72b35_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="MOCHI" /></a></center><br /><br />In this version, the green colour of the mochi wasn't green tea, as I assumed. I'm pretty sure that I was told it's due to mugwort, a herb that grows wild in Japan. It gives the mochi an earthy taste. I preferred the plain version, although this one was interesting to try.<br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4662525313/" title="Warabimochi by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4043/4662525313_de6dda2579_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Warabimochi" /></a></center><br /><br />This sweet was part of a lunch set we ate on the top floor of a department store in <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/2010/01/japan-kyoto-tea-ceremony.html">Kyoto</a>. I believe this is called warabimochi, and it’s not a proper mochi. Mochi is made from pounded glutinous rice, while warabimochi is made from bracken starch. It has a chewy, jelly like texture. We had a couple of pieces with green tea powder and some with kinako (toasted soy bean flour). It may not have been proper mochi but I loved it. It wasn't too sweet, and I really enjoyed the texture.<br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4662524469/" title="Warabimochi by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1280/4662524469_8becf1ac7d_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Warabimochi" /></a></center><br /><br />When we were in <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/2009/11/japan-koyasan-shojin-ryori-at-rengejoin.html">Koyasan</a>, we rather quickly ran out of sights to see and things to do. We ended up killing time by hanging out in a sweets shop, eating sweets and drinking tea. We tried three varieties - this one was a warabimochi with kinako covering.<br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4662524427/" title="Sweet by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4032/4662524427_d1937a3817_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Sweet" /></a></center><br /><br />I think these ones were a type of manju (fukashi manju?), a steamed rice cake with a red bean filling.<br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4663144682/" title="Sweet by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4033/4663144682_5f1db90882_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Sweet" /></a></center><br /><br />This was the third item from the sweets shop, and I will have to be honest and tell you I have no idea what it's called! It's on top of a paper bag because I bought it for the train ride to Osaka and it got a bit flattened in transit.<br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4662525247/" title="Nama Yatsuhashi by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4057/4662525247_468ebdf580_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Nama Yatsuhashi" /></a></center><br /><br />These triangle shaped sweets are big in <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/2010/01/japan-kyoto-tea-ceremony.html">Kyoto</a> and are called nama yatsuhashi. The soft, mochi-like skin is made from rice flour, flavoured with cinnamon, and comes with different fillings inside, such as red bean, black sesame, or fruit flavours. The skin can also come in a variety of different flavours. These were some of my favourite Japanese sweets – I loved the faint cinnamon flavour, and of course, the soft chewy skins. I did try a fruit version (strawberry) but I preferred the ones that were green tea, black sesame or red bean.<div><br /></div><div>They were <i>almost</i> as good as the daifuku from Takayama.<br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4663145282/" title="Nama Yatsuhashi by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4035/4663145282_a2ff8bd299_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Nama Yatsuhashi" /></a></center><br /><br />Here you can see all different varieties boxed up for sale. They can also be baked into cookies called yatsuhashi, but we didn’t try the baked versions.<br /><br />By the way, I have read that a piece of mochi that is around match-box sized has the same amount of calories as a bowl of rice. Gulp! Perhaps if I had known that I wouldn’t have stuffed my gob with so much mochi.... Nah, who am I kidding! It wouldn’t have stopped me!<br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4663144364/" title="Buying a sweet by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1268/4663144364_99367dc295_b.jpg" width="399" height="600" alt="Buying a sweet" /></a></center><br /><br />Now moving away from the mochi, and back to <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/2009/11/japan-takayama-ryokan-asunaro-part-1.html">Takayama</a>. This stall at the morning market sold sweets that were like cubes of marshmallow, covered in egg and honey and then grilled.<br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4663144402/" title="Sweet by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4012/4663144402_f9e85e3710_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Sweet" /></a></center><br /><br />The cubes were super sweet, soft and eggy. So so sweet! I had a hard time eating a whole one.<br /><br /><center> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4662523881/" title="Kit kat by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4002/4662523881_1cd7a37a08_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Kit kat" /></a></center><br /><br />Everyone knows that Japan is the land of crazy Kit Kat flavours - we came across an apple and carrot version. Sadly, it was horrible and tasted rather like bodywash!<br /><br /><center> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4663145212/" title="Chocolate covered ice cream balls by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4072/4663145212_10ff5cfeda_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Chocolate covered ice cream balls" /></a></center><br /><br />Alastair bought this box of chocolate covered ice cream balls from a vending machine. When he opened it up, we found that each ball was individually wrapped!<br /><br /><center> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4662525153/" title="Coolish by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4065/4662525153_74b93083c1_b.jpg" width="399" height="600" alt="Coolish" /></a></center><br /><br />This is vanilla ice cream in a squeezy pack – called Coolish – and yes, we did buy it because of the name! How could we have passed it up? Alastair only ate half before it was stolen off him! Okay, not really stolen - a teenage boy with Down’s Syndrome came up to him, said hello, and grabbed the Coolish. Alastair let him have it, although he said wistfully later, “I was really enjoying that ice cream.” Awww!<br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4665517823/" title="Green tea ice cream by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4038/4665517823_a198081dc0_b.jpg" width="399" height="600" alt="Green tea ice cream" /></a></center><br /><br />This was a green tea ice cream we ate in Tokyo and the reason it's up here? LOOK AT THE CONE! It catches any ice cream drips! Isn’t that just genius?<br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4663146004/" title="Mitsuya cider by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4010/4663146004_a10aa54b2e_b.jpg" width="399" height="600" alt="Mitsuya cider" /></a></center><br /><br />And now on to drinks – Mitsuya Cider was one of our favourites. There are other flavours, but the basic flavour sort of resembles Sprite, although not quite as sweet. There are also Mitsuya Cider hard candies, which fizz in the mouth as they dissolve. I loved the candies and made sure we purchased several bags to bring home.<br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4662525871/" title="Calpis by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4039/4662525871_3f8a8126cf_b.jpg" width="399" height="600" alt="Calpis" /></a></center><br /><br />We are big fans of Calpis. Big fans. I love all those fermented milk type drinks. This flavour is a "more nutritious" yoghurt version, and was fantastic.<br /><br /><center> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4663144236/" title="Chips! by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4013/4663144236_f400cf132f_b.jpg" width="399" height="600" alt="Chips!" /></a></center><br /><br />If you're still with me - yay you! Only a few more snacks to go. I had to take a photo of these potato chips because I was rather amused that the chips were encased in a bag inside the tube.<br /><br /><center> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4663144492/" title="Sweet potato chips by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4047/4663144492_6103ebda41_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Sweet potato chips" /></a></center><br /><br />Not being able to read Japanese, I purchased these chips expecting them to be salty. I was rather surprised when I ate one and discovered that they were sweet potato and therefore, sweet! After I got over my initial surprise, I quite liked them.<br /><br /><center> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4662524397/" title="Snack by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4038/4662524397_0af7eb85b6_b.jpg" width="399" height="600" alt="Snack" /></a></center><br /><br />And how about some crunchy sticks of unhealthy, fried, processed carbs? Yes please!<br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4665517719/" title="Taiyaki by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4058/4665517719_91f19675df_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Taiyaki" /></a></center><br /><br />And to finish off, here’s a photo of taiyaki, a Japanese fish shaped cake. We ate these in Tokyo, where there were numerous little shops selling freshly cooked ones. The outside is like a pancake/waffle, and inside the most common filling is red bean, although we also tried custard.<br /><br />We ate many, many more snacks in Japan, but fortunately I didn't take photos of everything otherwise we would be here all night. If you want more Japan eats, <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/search/label/travel%3A%20japan">previous Japan posts can be found here</a>.</div>Agneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02682199058521082342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3297016375604719789.post-75875529080107523912010-05-30T21:07:00.004+10:002010-06-21T21:40:55.878+10:00Cookbook Challenge: Week 28, Breakfast<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4652430048/" title="Crepes with stewed pears and raspberry sauce by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4045/4652430048_eff58ebebd_b.jpg" width="399" height="600" alt="Crepes with stewed pears and raspberry sauce" /></a></center><br />
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<span style="font-weight:bold;">Recipe: Crepes<br />
From: Stephanie Alexander's The Cook's Companion</span><br />
<br />
The theme for this week's <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/2009/11/cookbook-challenge.html">Cookbook Challenge</a> is breakfast - fortunately a much easier theme than <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/2010/05/cookbook-challenge-week-27-insect.html">last week's</a>! The only problem with the theme this week were all the options - I had visions of omelettes, baked eggs, pancakes, French toast and bacon circulating in my head. <br />
<br />
But then I got up this morning and went to the kitchen and suddenly - Crepes! I want to make crepes! As you do.<br />
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The best thing about crepes is how quick they are to put together and how quickly they cook. The bad thing about crepes is that I'm not very good at making them. Mine always end up rather thicker than the thin, lacy ones I imagine should come out of the frying pan. The recipe for crepes in The Cook's Companion says "you will get better - and so will the pancakes!" but I don't think this applies to me. I keep trying though. <br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4651812445/" title="Crepes with stewed pears and raspberry sauce by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4046/4651812445_c008c6fe5d_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Crepes with stewed pears and raspberry sauce" /></a></center><br />
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Whenever I make pancakes or crepes for breakfast, I always like to serve it with fruit - it makes me feel better about eating something that's not terribly healthy! So today I stewed a couple of pears in a raspberry sauce to go with the crepes. We keep receiving masses of pears in our fortnightly fruit and vegetable delivery but I'm not a huge fan of pears. I really only like fresh pears when they are still crunchy, but the bloody things ripen so quickly. Fortunately, I don't mind cooked pears so poaching them is one way I deal with them. <br />
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The stewed pears and raspberry sauce is super easy - I cut a couple of peeled pears in half (removing the core), and put them in a small pot with a literal splash of water and a couple of teaspoons of sugar. Into the pot went a handful of frozen raspberries, and then I put the lid on and let it cook until the pears were soft. After that, I removed the pears and simmered the leftover liquid without a lid to reduce and thicken it. When the sauce was nice and thick, I stirred in a small knob of butter, and it was ready. <br />
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If you don't like crepes (wtf) there are other pancake/waffle/crepe posts <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/search/label/cooking:%20pancakes/waffles">here</a>. <br />
<br />
See <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/search/label/cookbook%20challenge">previous Cookbook Challenge posts here</a>.<br />
<br />
Update: see the round up at <a href="http://myfoodtrail.blogspot.com/2010/06/cookbook-challenge-week-28-breakfast.html">My Food Trail</a>.<br />
<br />
<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4651812325/" title="Crepes with stewed pears and raspberry sauce by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4011/4651812325_e232a0f49e_b.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Crepes with stewed pears and raspberry sauce" /></a></center><br />
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<span style="font-weight:bold;">Crepes</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-style:italic;">From Stephanie Alexander's The Cook's Companion</span><br />
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<span style="font-style:italic;">Makes about 8-10 crepes</span><br />
<br />
30g butter<br />
pinch of salt<br />
1 & 1/2 cups of milk<br />
150g plain flour<br />
2 eggs<br />
<br />
Warm the butter, salt and milk until the butter has melted.<br />
<br />
In a separate bowl, sift in the flour, and then make a well in the middle. Break the eggs into the well and work in some flour. <br />
<br />
Add the warm milk and whisk until smooth. Refrigerate for 2 hours before cooking. Add more milk if the batter seems too thick. <br />
<br />
Heat a frying pan over medium-low heat. Wipe the pan with a piece of buttered paper for the first pancake. Lift the pan from the heat, add in a ladle of batter and swirl the pan so the batter spreads to the edges. <br />
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Put the pan back on the heat and cook for a minute. Lift the thin outer edge of the crepe with a spatula and flip to cook the other side for another minute. Repeat with the rest of the batter.Agneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02682199058521082342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3297016375604719789.post-38786337928174385652010-05-26T22:06:00.000+10:002010-05-26T22:06:51.658+10:00Picnic at Montalto, Mornington Peninsula<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4641154023/" title="Picnic at Montalto by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4014/4641154023_dfec91314b_o.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Picnic at Montalto" /></a></center><br /><br />Isn't it interesting how the older you get, the faster time goes by? Three years ago in March, Alastair and I were married (AWWW) but sometimes it feels like it was just yesterday. Should I write something embarrassingly gushy about love and all that jazz? No, I'll spare you! Be thankful!<br /><br />Since March is always a very busy month, we waited until April to celebrate our anniversary. I booked us a picnic at Montalto, a winery on the Mornington Peninsula. I have been wanting to picnic there ever since I read about it on <a href="http://viciousange.blogspot.com/2008/03/long-weekend-celebrations_12.html">Vicious Ange’s blog</a> a couple of years ago. For $70 per person, we were allocated a private picnic spot (there are five) on the winery grounds, with food and other assorted picnic stuff set up for our arrival. We checked in at the cellar door, taking the opportunity to taste a couple of wines, and were then given a map so we could walk down to our picnic spot. Our spot was Half Moon, and would have been a 5-10 minute walk from the cellar door, except we got lost a couple of times and at one point I sent us crashing through the bush in what was pretty much the opposite direction. Now normally I have a fantastic sense of direction, and am very good with maps, but this was a hand drawn one with no sense of scale – what kind of map is that?? Bah! Ultimately, Alastair had to take over and lead the way, figuring out how to get to our secluded spot.<br /><br />A good picnic is, of course, reliant on the weather and we totally lucked out. It was a beautiful sunny day, with a balmy temperature of about 25°C.<br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4641154103/" title="Picnic at Montalto by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4062/4641154103_8ac55cdab1_o.jpg" width="399" height="600" alt="Picnic at Montalto" /></a></center><br /><br />Our picnic spot was set in a clearing surrounded by trees. When we arrived, a table and umbrella had been set up for us. <br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4641154139/" title="Picnic at Montalto by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4020/4641154139_17b2096e9e_o.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Picnic at Montalto" /></a></center><br /><br />The table was set with white linen, plates and cutlery, and off to one side was a big esky fridge thing (chillybin!) that held the food.<br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4641154213/" title="Picnic at Montalto by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4017/4641154213_b4bf84d141_o.jpg" width="399" height="600" alt="Picnic at Montalto" /></a></center><br /><br />There was also a picnic basket which was loaded with a picnic blanket, insect repellent and sun screen. The insect repellent was definitely very useful as I started to get bug bites almost straight away - thank goodness it had been provided!<br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4641761402/" title="Picnic at Montalto by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4065/4641761402_cf851889ee_o.jpg" width="399" height="600" alt="Picnic at Montalto" /></a><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">The esky fridge thing!</span></center><br /><br />At the cellar door, we had ordered a bottle of wine, and someone must have driven it down while we were navigating the winery grounds, because there was a freshly opened, cold bottle waiting for us.<br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4641761360/" title="Picnic at Montalto by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4066/4641761360_9649393914_o.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Picnic at Montalto" /></a></center><br /><br />It didn't take us long to get stuck into the food. In a covered dish on the table were several chewy bread rolls, and a bowl of nice olive oil.<br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4641761450/" title="Picnic at Montalto by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4037/4641761450_03a052811e_o.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Picnic at Montalto" /></a></center><br /><br />On our first platter of food were: slices of terrine, a couple of dips (hummus and capsicum), some very good olives, smoked salmon on lentils, and a cherry tomato and basil salad. Good all round, with both of us particularly enjoying the smoked salmon, terrine and olives.<br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4641761580/" title="Picnic at Montalto by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4038/4641761580_24806072b0_o.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Picnic at Montalto" /></a></center><br /><br />After a rest, we pulled out the mains platter. For mains we had duck, roast beef with chutney, and vegetables. The duck, cooked medium, was flavoursome and not too gamey. I also enjoyed the sweetish chutney with the thick slices of beef. But I would have loved more salady stuff - there was a lot of meat on that plate!<br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4641761654/" title="Picnic at Montalto by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4029/4641761654_792bf86aa9_o.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Picnic at Montalto" /></a></center><br /><br />And for dessert, we had two kinds of cheese, crackers, quince paste, a sliced up fig, a couple of seriously fantastic strawberries and raspberries, raisins, a mandarin jelly thing, and a dense and rich chocolate cake.<br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4641154609/" title="Picnic at Montalto by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3391/4641154609_c961414e85_o.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Picnic at Montalto" /></a></center><br /><br />It was nice to spend the afternoon hanging out under the trees with the sounds of the bush around us: birds chirping, the breeze blowing, cows mooing in the distance...! Yep, we picnicked to the serene sound of the occasional moooooooooooo. Hilarious.<br /><br />We finished with a complimentary coffee at the Montalto garden café before we had to head back to Melbourne. <br /><br />We had a very lovely picnic - it's such a beautiful spot and great for a special occasion. It was very well organised, and I was impressed that small things had been thought of e.g. insect repellent being provided, the table being set, and our cold bottle of wine being driven down. It was just a shame that we couldn't spend longer hanging out there!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />Montalto Vineyard & Olive Grove<br />33 Shoreham Road, Red Hill South, Victoria 3937<br />Phone +61 3 5989 8412</span>Agneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02682199058521082342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3297016375604719789.post-69656168538895358142010-05-23T21:23:00.001+10:002010-05-30T22:55:59.857+10:00Cookbook Challenge: Week 27, Insect<span style="font-weight:bold;">Recipe: Carrot cupcakes<br />From: The Australian Women's Weekly "Bake"</span><br /><br />The theme for this week's <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/2009/11/cookbook-challenge.html">Cookbook Challenge</a> is the most challenging one we've had yet - insect. YES INSECT! I racked my brain the whole week, trying to decide what to make.<br /><br />In the end, I decided to bake something and decorate it to look like an insect. Carrot cake is one of my favourite cakes, so I decided to bake carrot cupcakes and make them into ladybirds. I made the carrot cakes on Saturday, doing so in a bit of a rush because we were heading out for dinner. I had an hour to do the baking from start to finish - but fortunately the recipe I chose was, with the help of a food processor, super quick and easy and I threw it together in 15 minutes.<div><br /></div><div>Unfortunately, I made a rookie mistake and.......... forgot to put the eggs in the cake mixture............. Sheesh! It's not even the first time I've left eggs out of a cake - I am a fail baker sometimes. Without the eggs, the cupcakes tasted fine, but they didn't rise very much. <div><br /><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4631125099/" title="Ladybird cupcakes by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4053/4631125099_503d420b6a_o.jpg" width="399" height="600" alt="Ladybird cupcakes" /></a></center><br /><br />Today (Sunday) I did the decorating. It was a very time consuming job - it took me nearly two hours to do six cupcakes! But I think they turned out pretty cute. :) My inspiration for the cupcakes was <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/franjmc/2835066393/">this image on flickr</a>. Mine weren't as polished, but it was my first time covering cupcakes with fondant (I've only made fondant toppers before - see <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/2009/08/chocolate-guinness-cupcakes-with.html">here</a> and <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/2010/04/international-pizza-pie-incident-party.html">here</a>). If you're interested, here's how I made them:<br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4631723282/" title="Ladybird cupcakes by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4018/4631723282_901686cf9f_o.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Ladybird cupcakes" /></a></center><br /><br />To start with, I iced the cupcakes with a thin layer of lemon buttercream. I had a small amount of left over buttercream in the freezer - just enough for six cupcakes.<br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4631124949/" title="Ladybird cupcakes by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3393/4631124949_72d94a3f34_o.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Ladybird cupcakes" /></a></center><br /><br />To colour the fondant, I used red and black gel paste food colouring.<br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4631124911/" title="Ladybird cupcakes by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4001/4631124911_0c29d0e5e6_o.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Ladybird cupcakes" /></a></center><br /><br />I started off with the red fondant - this was for the body. I rolled out the fondant and then cut out circles that were about the same size as the cupcakes.<br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4631723106/" title="Ladybird cupcakes by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4027/4631723106_52d1ae8a51_o.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Ladybird cupcakes" /></a></center><br />The circles of fondant were placed on top of the buttercream, and then I smoothed it down and around the buttercream with my fingers.<br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4631723022/" title="Ladybird cupcakes by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4055/4631723022_d2f4d9ca59_o.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Ladybird cupcakes" /></a></center><br /><br />To make the black faces, I rolled out black fondant and cut out smaller circles. These circles were cut in half. I wet the back of one of the semi circles, and placed it at the edge of the cupcake.<br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4631723062/" title="Ladybird cupcakes by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4061/4631723062_ffb2ed1021_o.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Ladybird cupcakes" /></a></center><br />I used my fingers to smooth and pull the straight edge of the black fondant down to the paper case, and cut off the corners that overlapped.<br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4631722982/" title="Ladybird cupcakes by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3383/4631722982_f3615b9930_o.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Ladybird cupcakes" /></a></center><br /><br />After all that, I was on the home stretch! I cut a line down the body, and then pasted on several small dots of black fondant for spots. I also pasted on some eyes and used a circle cutter to cut a smile into the face.<br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4631125155/" title="Ladybird cupcakes by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4038/4631125155_8422df8872_o.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Ladybird cupcakes" /></a></center><br /><br />And - ta dah! All done! I was very pleased with the result. My biggest problem now is I can't bare to eat them - they're way too cute! <br /><br />See <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/search/label/cookbook%20challenge">previous Cookbook Challenge posts here</a><br /><br />Update: See the round up at <a href="http://myfoodtrail.blogspot.com/2010/05/cookbook-challenge-week-27-insect-theme.html">My Food Trail</a>.<br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4631723404/" title="Ladybird cupcakes by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4030/4631723404_d286935758_o.jpg" width="399" height="600" alt="Ladybird cupcakes" /></a></center><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Carrot cupcakes</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Adapted from AWW's Bake<br /><br />Makes 12</span><br /><br />1/2 cup (125ml) vegetable oil<br />3 eggs<br />1 & 1/2 cups (225g) self raising flour<br />1 cup (220g) firmly packed brown sugar<br />2 teaspoons cinnamon<br />2 cups (480g) firmly packed coarsely grated carrot<br />3/4 cup (90g) coarsely chopped roasted almonds (the book recommends pecans, but I only had almonds)<br /><br />Preheat oven to 180°C. Line a 12 hole muffin pan with paper cases.<br /><br />In a bowl, combine the oil, eggs, sifted flour, sugar and cinnamon. Stir in the carrot and chopped almonds. Spoon the mixture into the paper cases.<br /><br />Bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until cooked. Let them stand for about 5 minutes, before placing on a wire rack to cool.<br /><br />Top with your favourite frosting and to decorate as ladybirds - see above!<br /></div></div>Agneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02682199058521082342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3297016375604719789.post-7675172706359477652010-05-21T22:59:00.002+10:002010-06-25T19:57:47.386+10:00Cutler & Co: PuntasticWe went to Cutler & Co for a leisurely Sunday lunch recently with Maria and Daz from <a href="http://thegourmetchallenge.blogspot.com/">The Gourmet Challenge</a>. On Sundays Cutler & Co have a set menu for $65, which we thought was a great opportunity to try them out.<br />
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The fit out of the restaurant is quite stunning, the long room kitted out in dark tones and with a rather flash automatic door to the loos. We were particularly taken with the industrial looking lights with a super long filament that hung above the tables.<br />
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There were four courses for the set lunch. We received all of the dishes listed for the first two courses, and then for mains and desserts we selected one dish each from several options.<br />
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We started with three small dishes: French breakfast radishes, Clair de Lune oysters, and cured ocean trout toast. <br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4626734714/" title="Cutler & Co by aggleton, on Flickr"><img alt="Cutler & Co" height="450" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4054/4626734714_f6b472d656_o.jpg" width="600" /></a></center><br />
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Bro started us off on our punny lunch by saying that the radishes were radiscal. Oh dear. I can’t say that the jokes improved from there, but I have recorded them for prosperity anyway! Apart from being radiscal, the rather cute, little crunchy radishes were mild in flavour.<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4626734666/" title="Cutler & Co by aggleton, on Flickr"><img alt="Cutler & Co" height="450" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4045/4626734666_2d5f6f2c2e_o.jpg" width="600" /></a></center><br />
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The oysters were lovely. Served raw with a squirt of lemon, they were fresh and sweet.<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4626734562/" title="Cutler & Co by aggleton, on Flickr"><img alt="Cutler & Co" height="450" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4072/4626734562_47db404c26_o.jpg" width="600" /></a></center><br />
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The ocean trout toast was also delicious, with little cubes of ocean trout on top of the crispy toast. In Bro’s words: it was troutriffic.<br />
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The bread was so good that everyone had second or third servings.<br />
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Next we received a selection of starters to share. <br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4626127881/" title="Cutler & Co by aggleton, on Flickr"><img alt="Cutler & Co" height="450" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4039/4626127881_dfb8582978_o.jpg" width="600" /></a></center><br />
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This was beetroot salad with goat's curd and apple. It was really nice – seemingly simple, but the little beets were sweet and tender, and fortunately for us non-goat-cheese lovers, the goat's curd was only a little bit “goaty”. It looked beautiful as well. <br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4626734876/" title="Cutler & Co by aggleton, on Flickr"><img alt="Cutler & Co" height="450" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4006/4626734876_8d2e4234d7_o.jpg" width="600" /></a></center><br />
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We received a bowl of pearl barley with radicchio and ricotta salata. I quite liked the firmish barley with the salted ricotta and radicchio, although it wasn't very popular around the table.<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4626734928/" title="Cutler & Co by aggleton, on Flickr"><img alt="Cutler & Co" height="450" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4008/4626734928_68d62cacd4_o.jpg" width="600" /></a></center><br />
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The next dish was garlic sausage, potato and ravigot. This perked us all up after the barley. Bold and salty sausage and a bit of potato. Nice.<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4626734986/" title="Cutler & Co by aggleton, on Flickr"><img alt="Cutler & Co" height="450" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3386/4626734986_23f76135b5_o.jpg" width="600" /></a></center><br />
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Next up: FRIED GREEN TOMATOES. Fried green tomatoes, people! Does anyone remember the movie? I have waited years to eat fried green tomatoes! They were great - crumbed slices of slightly tart green tomato on top of what I think may have been eggplant. I loved the little frying pans they were presented in as well.<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4626128081/" title="Cutler & Co by aggleton, on Flickr"><img alt="Cutler & Co" height="450" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4027/4626128081_2336aa2a87_o.jpg" width="600" /></a></center><br />
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The last dish before mains was peppers, migas and tuna mayo. This was another nice dish - the peppers were sweet, the bread was crispy, and while the tuna mayonaise sounded strange at first, we all loved it. Alastair said that it was a-mayonaising. Pun of the day! <br />
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For mains, there was an option of four dishes:<br />
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Alastair had the local line caught snapper, tomato, prawn and chorizo. It looked pretty good, particularly the big bursty prawn underneath the fish. <br />
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Bro and Daz had the roast quail, smoked sausage and sauerkraut. The sauerkraut was served separately in a small pot and it was really something – WOW HELLO PORKY PORK - there was nothing sour about that sauerkraut! (ba bow). It was all bacon porky goodness. Poor boys though, they had the biggest appetites and they received the teeniest dish!<br />
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Maria and I both had the braised lamb, buckwheat polenta and gremolata. The lamb was very tender although a bit fatty. I liked the soft polenta and the dark wilted greens too. <br />
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The fourth mains option was a baked ricotta, eggplant Calabrese and fennel salad, which none of us ordered.<br />
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And for dessert, there were three options.<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4626128281/" title="Cutler & Co by aggleton, on Flickr"><img alt="Cutler & Co" height="450" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3401/4626128281_a2bc96244f_o.jpg" width="600" /></a></center><br />
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Bro and Alastair both had the Earl Grey tea ice cream, chocolate ganache, and macerated prune. I had a little taste and thought it was delicious, and I adored the faint floral bergamot fragrance of the Earl Grey ice cream. Bro said that the ganache was also great, although I didn't try it.<br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4626735290/" title="Cutler & Co by aggleton, on Flickr"><img alt="Cutler & Co" height="450" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3357/4626735290_f2eb343565_o.jpg" width="600" /></a></center><br />
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Maria and I both had the quince baba, sheep's milk yoghurt and cherry. I found the baba a little dry - it was nice, but I was expecting it to be drenched in something. The quinces were gorgeous though. I wouldn't have minded a massive bowl of just the quinces with the yoghurt! <br />
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And Daz had... oh Daz... he selected the Gruyere d’Alpage and shiraz jelly (which I neglected to take a photo of – because I was in fits of laughter). Why was I in fits of laughter? Because Daz had been expecting dessert... and received cheese and crackers and a teeny dollop of jelly. Oh we laughed at the disappointment on his face (sorry Daz!). If I had been quicker off the mark, I could've said, "Gryuere’s your dessert?" (bah bow!) but unfortunately I only thought of that one at home. Isn't that always the way it goes. <br />
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We finished off with a round of coffees, which saw us all whip out our phones and google coffee puns. Really, really, REALLY terrible coffee puns ie if you drink a lot of coffee, you'll be in a latte trouble.<br />
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Dear oh dear. Apologies for the terrible puns. At least they kept us amused during lunch. Speaking of lunch, I think the Sunday lunches at Cutler & Co are a definite goer. There were lots of staff working that day - there seemed to be about twenty on the floor - so we didn't have any issues with service. Apart from a few minor things, overall the food was good (although not mind blowing) and good value for the quality of the dishes. We really enjoyed ourselves and I would be keen to spend a lazy Sunday eating there again. <br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Cutler & Co<br />
55-57 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy<br />
Phone: 03 9419 4888</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/1435607/restaurant/Melbourne/Cutler-Co-Fitzroy"><img alt="Cutler & Co on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/logo/1435607/minilogo.gif" style="border:none;width:104px;height:15px" /></a>Agneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02682199058521082342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3297016375604719789.post-85027719846505673142010-05-16T22:01:00.001+10:002010-05-30T23:00:30.226+10:00Cookbook Challenge: Week 26, Green<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4611535198/" title="Pandan cupcakes by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3376/4611535198_c87ce29e71_o.jpg" width="399" height="600" alt="Pandan cupcakes" /></a></center><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Recipe: Pandan Cupcakes & Green tea cupcakes<br />Adapted from: Primrose Bakery's Cupcakes</span><br /><br />Wow, it's week 26 of the <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/2009/11/cookbook-challenge.html">Cookbook Challenge</a> - and you know what that means, don't you? We're half way through the challenge! The theme for this week is "green" and I really like these kind of themes because it's so open. <br /><br />This week I really wanted to make something with green tea - but unfortunately I couldn't find any recipes in any of my cookbooks. So I decided I would bake cupcakes and adapt a recipe for my purposes.<br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4610926025/" title="Green tea cupcakes by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1383/4610926025_45cd54686f_o.jpg" width="397" height="600" alt="Green tea cupcakes" /></a></center><br /><br />For the cupcakes, I thought that using matcha powder would be best. However, when I went to the Asian grocery store I couldn't find it anywhere. Fortunately, I came across a bottle of pandan extract. Perfect - for green week AND cupcakes! <br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4610926123/" title="Pandan cupcakes by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3392/4610926123_766f08d750_o.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Pandan cupcakes" /></a></center><br /><br />For the pandan cupcakes, I followed a recipe for vanilla cupcakes, but substituted pandan extract for the vanilla extract. The extract was really green, but I wasn't sure how strong the colour would be after baking so I added a few drops of green colouring - it was for green week, after all! <br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4611535362/" title="Pandan cupcakes by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4001/4611535362_8932176abf_o.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Pandan cupcakes" /></a></center><br /><br />For the frosting, I made pandan flavoured buttercream, piping it on in a rose shape. I didn't really think it through - green roses?? Maybe I should have tried piping leaves! <br /><br />Taste wise, I didn't think that much of the cupcakes. I wish I had used <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/2009/09/vanilla-vanilla-cupcakes.html">this recipe for vanilla cupcakes</a> which I have always had great success with. I found these cupcakes a bit dry, and they weren't as fluffy as I would have liked. But the pandan in them was lovely - giving a vanilla-ish, nutty fragrance. I would definitely try using the pandan extract in cakes/cupcakes again, with other recipes.<br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4610926073/" title="Green tea cupcakes by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1180/4610926073_27285114d8_o.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Green tea cupcakes" /></a></center><br /><br />For the green tea cupcakes, since I couldn't find any matcha, I tried infusing milk with green tea. This didn't work as well as I had hoped - when they were warm and not frosted, there was a <span style="font-style:italic;">faint </span>taste of green tea But when they were cold and with buttercream on top, I couldn't detect it at all.<br /><br />Oh well! I'll have to get my hands on matcha and have another go. Now, who wants some cupcakes??<br /><br />See <a href="http://offthespork.blogspot.com/search/label/cookbook%20challenge">previous Cookbook Challenge posts here</a>.<br /><br />Update: See the round up at <a href="http://myfoodtrail.blogspot.com/2010/05/cookbook-challenge-week-26-green-theme.html">My Food Trail</a>.<br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4611535110/" title="Pandan cupcakes by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1102/4611535110_6208059517_o.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Pandan cupcakes" /></a></center><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Pandan cupcakes</span><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><br />Adapted from the vanilla cupcake recipe in Primrose Bakery's Cupcakes</span><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"> <br />Makes 12 cupcakes</span><br /><br />110g unsalted butter, softened<br />225g caster sugar<br />2 large eggs<br />150g self-raising flour, sifted<br />125g plain flour, sifted<br />120ml milk, at room temperature<br />1 teaspoon pandan extract<br /><br />Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a 12 hole cupcake tin with cupcake wrappers.<br /><br />In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter for several minutes with an electric mixer. Gradually add the sugar, beating well between additions, until the mixture is pale and fluffy. <br /><br />Add the eggs one at a time, mixing for a few minutes after each addition.<br /><br />Add a third of the flours to the butter mixture and beat on low speed. Add a third of the milk and beat again. Repeat these steps until all the flour and milk have been added. Add the pandan extract and beat until just combined.<br /><br />Spoon the mixture into the cupcakes cases. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until cooked.<br /><br />Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool. When completely cool, ice with pandan flavoured buttercream - see recipe below.<br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4610926447/" title="Green tea cupcakes by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3388/4610926447_4d3bdb157f_o.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Green tea cupcakes" /></a></center><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Green tea cupcakes</span><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><br />Adapted from the Earl grey cupcake recipe in Primrose Bakery's Cupcakes</span><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"> <br />Makes 12 cupcakes</span><br /><br />125ml milk, at room temperature<br />4 teaspoons of green tea leaves (I used sencha)<br />110g unsalted butter, softened<br />225g caster sugar<br />2 large eggs<br />150g self-raising flour, sifted<br />125g plain flour, sifted<br /><br />Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a 12 hole cupcake tin with cupcake wrappers.<br /><br />In a saucepan, heat the milk over medium heat until it just begins to boil. Remove from the heat and add the green tea leaves. Leave to infuse for about 30 minutes. Once infused, strain the milk into a measuring jug. You may need to top up the amount of milk, so do that if necessary.<br /><br />In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter for several minutes with an electric mixer. Gradually add the sugar, beating well between additions, until the mixture is pale and fluffy. <br /><br />Add the eggs one at a time, mixing for a few minutes after each addition.<br /><br />Add a third of the flours to the butter mixture and beat on low speed. Add a third of the milk and beat again. Repeat these steps until all the flour and milk have been added. <br /><br />Spoon the mixture into the cupcakes cases. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until cooked.<br /><br />Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool. When completely cool, ice with vanilla flavoured buttercream.<br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aggleton/4610926357/" title="Pandan cupcakes by aggleton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4058/4610926357_2c72ae7731_o.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Pandan cupcakes" /></a></center><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />Pandan buttercream</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><br />Makes enough for 12 cupcakes</span><br /><br />250 grams unsalted butter, cut into cubes and very, very soft<br />3 cups sifted icing sugar<br />2 tablespoons milk<br />1 teaspoon pandan extract<br /><br />Beat the butter in an electric mixer on high until it is very pale and fluffy. <br /><br />Gradually add the icing sugar (I do this a tablespoon at a time), beating well between additions. Beat until the buttercream is very fluffy - about 5-6 minutes.<br /><br />Heat the milk in the microwave until it's very warm. Add to the butter cream and beat on high for another couple of minutes. Add the pandan extract and mix to combine. Pipe on top of the cupcakes.Agneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02682199058521082342noreply@blogger.com