Jameliche CPR!

Well! Poor little blog...a flurry of end-of-year activities has seriously stifled the posts...have we still been eating? Well..yes..but...
Nevermind! The new Nokia N900 will fix that! Jameliche goes mobile! Whoot whoot.
We also have a series of guest reviews coming up..foreign correspondent!
If only they could email samples over from their exotic destinations...
Watch this space and thank you for still checking our blog :)

Surprise chef @ the Tree House

Happy times = King Island Diary Roaring 40s blue + 12 month old queso
manchego + lots of crackers, quince paste, dried pears, medjool dates
and a figgy almond cake + a Dorcas-cat to cuddle + organic chocolate +
Julia Child's roast chicken recipe

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Nona gnocchi

Sarvelicious recently returned home in raptures about a lamb gnocchi dish she sampled in Melbourne. 

 

So, we decided to have a Surprise Chef night to produce our own version.  “Choklit Chun” came along for the fun too, and photos appear courtesy of S’s Apple-ringring-thang. 

 

The recipe began by reading Greg Malouf’s “Moorish” on a striped deck chair in the sun, sipping peach nectar and ginger beer. 

I made a lazy version of his taklia recipe and browned it off in a pan.  I then dredged the lamb shanks (hooray for Ralph the butcher at The Mezz) through flour (with paprika and ground ginger), browned them off and tipped them into a warm casserole dish while I prepared a braise (the usual suspects went in:  red onion, two sticks of celery, two diced carrots and cream of balsamic). 

I added the taklia, two tins of whole tomatoes, juice of one lemon (the preserved stuff won’t be ready for another four weeks), lots of salt, some stock, a cinnamon quill and squidges of honey. 

Popped the lot in the oven at around 150C and wandered online for a few hours, returning every 40 minutes to turn the shanks and slosh the cooking liquid about.  Total oven time…4pm till 8pm?

Around 6, I put a kilo of white potatoes into the oven in a single layer. 

Around 7, Sarvelicious arrived with some cinnamon King Island Diary yoghurt, Swiss chocolate wafers, luscious Medjool dates, shiny water and a big busty Shiraz. 

We poked the spuds but they were going very slowly, so we nibbled at blue cheese, smoked cheddar (hooray KI diary again) and fig / fennel paste (we love Maggie Beer).   

Choklit Chun arrived soon after armed with half a dozen bottles of wine, some Japanese red bean paste sweets (logs?) and bags of enoki mushrooms.  Surprise!! 

We ate more cheese while the spuds cooled, peeled them, moaned about the lack of a passatutto and then grated them up, alternating a fine and coarse grate.  The recipes I’ve read say you’re allowed to mash them but abhor the use of a food processor.  We’re not sure if that includes the grating attachment too. 

Mix in two egg yolks, about two tablespoons of grana padano (or more, if you’re cooking with us…) and double the recommended “150 to 185g” doppio floor. 

You’re supposed to knead the dough, divide it into six equal portions, work each portion into a 1.5cm snake and then cut off 1.5cm segments with a flexible knife.  This sort of happened.  All three architects fought over having a go at kneading making snakes.  It was a Bill Busfield 1^st year studio with paper clay all over again!!  Whee!!  Hubby just stood back and topped up our wine glasses every so often.  He has had little success with gnocchi in the past and we suspect an ancestor had been cursed.  “May your gnocchi always collapse into the cooking water” is pretty potent, we think. 

We got creative with the fork tines and finger indents, then Sarvelicious and Choklit Chun carefully cooked the gnocchi (“is that floating…err it sank again!”) while hubby prepared the sauce. 

We shredded the lamb off the bone (with a spoon :P), blended the veggies up and reduced the stock to a sauce.  The enokis got sautéed in some butter, lots of salt and some cream. 

I nipped out for some parsley when Choklit wandered out to his car for more wine, and we sat down to an amazingly good winter meal!  Sarvelicious topped the dish off with…more cheese! 

 

Upon plating up, we concluded we’d made enough gnocchi to feed the whole village but would probably get scolded by the neighborly nonas for being so deviantly un-Italian! 

Also, the dish was renamed nonocchi during the night, because one rogue gnocchi was so big it was dubbed the nono of all gnocchis…which is hard to say repeatedly when you’ve guzzled abit of wine. 

 

Sarvelicious had ‘nuff energy to hop up to make the Surprise Chef dessert:  yoghurt, slices of red bean thingy and dates, topped with a wafer and dusted with cinnamon.  It was probably a historical moment, we don’t think this particular Japanese / Chinese sweet has ever been served with yoghurt.  Also, I’m not sure how an Italian dish started in the pan with middle eastern spice mixes…however, given that the dinner collective comprised a mix of cultures, we thought it was appropriate to allow “fusion” cooking to run wild.  Cultures present:  Australian, Dutch, Filipino, Malaysian Chinese and Persian.  Some Spanish and mainland Chinese too, if you’re that far back along our ancestries, and don’t forget the general Malouf-inspired Lebanese presence in our kitchen! 

 

Anyway…we’ve never made gnocchi from scratch before but it was deliriously messy, fun and yum, and we’d do it again.   We’d still like to do a lychee duck extravaganza…coming soon to a kitchen near you!

 

Now, during the evening, discussing all things Italian, Sarvelicious told us about a friend, who, as a 12 year old, had asked his nona to petsit his bunny.  Upon return from holidays, he found she’d cooked and eaten it, but he commented that he understood, and asked “do you know any vegetarian Italians?”   Hmm good point…so, Jameliche-ites, do you??

 

Happy Monday!

 

Cabbage flowers

1) I'm procrastinating. My LWE project was to clean up my desk and tidy up the smattering of watercolor tubes, tax receipts, half-packed gift hampers and Registration study notes. Epic fail.

2) I don't know what they're really called, but I bought them for their texture and structure. I love living near Beaufort Street...Highgate has such a wonderful selection of florists, and come to think of it, other shops too!

Ok, last post for the day. Really. Yesterday, we walked down to Northbridge for lunch. We walked from about the Inglewood Hotel all the way down to Tra Vinh, 149a Brisbane Street. My feet hurt. But, on our way home, I bought said flowers, which made me happy!

At Tra Vinh, owner had a Sunday Times "Perth top 20 eats" list stuck to the cash register, and everyone aready knows how good the food is there, so I won't go into it. As he goes to pay, my Dad says to the owner "what number are you" and the self-depracating response is a wave of the hand and "somewhere top 20 is good enough". Dad goes "but you know you are Perth's No 1 for Viethamese food", which pleased the owner no end.

I just have to say: in addition to the usual beefball / tripe pho, you have to try their special, the oxtail soup with the special egg noodles (flat, not round like Hokkien mee), and the minced pork and crabmeat one too. Bit spicy, very prawney base, add lots of mint and taugeh / beansprouts (usually this is an 'eww' food for me). Comes with two types of extra chilli (tipped all in) and black pudding, not for the faint hearted.

Also, while we were there, we nipped into Rochelle Adonis to pick up her signature chocolate thingy. Soon leaving for their other home, my Mum packed half a suitcase full of Adonis nougat; I hope it travels well! The rose petal one is particularly good. However, you MUST eat the chocolate delight (I don't know what it's really called) on the day of purchase though, it doesn't seem to keep very well.

Now, our other stop was the newly-noticed (forgot to ask if it was newly-opened?) Casa del Dolce, and what a pleasant surprise! In a previous life, we lived in Haberfield, which is Inner West Sydney. If you've been to Sydney, you know Leichhardt to be "Little Italy". I think: not true. Leichhardt is where Italians own restaurants and feed the rest of Sydney; Haberfield is where they shop. Ramsey Street is a haven of pizzerias, fresh pasta shops, continental cheese shops, delis piled high with baccala and cured meats (don't even think of just asking for 'prosciutto'...they have at least six types on any given day!), antique shops, a brilliant fruit and veg shop, and of course, Italian pastry shops. And seriously, every third shop owner was really named Mario, and if you come across a group of grandfathers on the sidewalk, watch out for the passionately flung hands and vigorous political debate! Now, Casa del Dolce was sweetly (aha sorry) reminiscent of our time living in Little Italy. We picked out what I think were ciarduna, pignoli, zeppoli and bocconcini con crema. I'm sure I routinely amused Haberfield pastry shop owners by asking to be taught how to pronounce each name. Then again, two suburbs away in Ashfield, 90% of shop signs were in Chinese, Korean or Tagalog, and hubby probably amused grocers by purchasing in a smattering of pigeon Mandarin!

I'm self-distracting! What I meant to say was, I have nothing more to add about food, but I had to share the cabbage flowers with you. Even when I buy flowers, I think of food!

Happy Foundation Day!

Special occasion experimenting

Our friends Jacqueline and Mark recently got engaged, and to celebrate, we baked them a Queen of Sheba cake.

The cake was very French, and was given a warm reception; it doesn't get better than when guests timidly ask if takeaways are allowed! Of course they are! This household encourages it, we love to share our food!



My photography doesn't do it justice. If you look closely, I've piped their initials and lots of little hearts on, in chocolate ganache. I also helped stick on the crushed almonds, but that's it, full credit to my clever man.

Congratulations to Mark and Jacqueline, I'm so thrilled for you both, I hope you don't mind my posting your photo here :)

Thinking about it, hubby is much better at baking than I am. If there's a special occasion, he's quite confident about whipping up a cake...I say confident because 99% of the time it'll be a 'first time' recipe. Meep! Thankfully again, the group agreed that they'd happily guinea pig for all future 'first cakes'. Success!

Going through my hard drive, I've found a few other special occasion experiments.

Pashka, for a Russian flavor on our Easter celebrations, tested out on his parents. Don't worry if you don't have terracota moulds, muslin in picnic cups (with mini holes drilled out of the bottoms) also work.

And here's another one, from the Anzac Day Long Weekend - our dinner catchup with the Douthies and the Caleys. Chocolate pavlova, dark chocolate curls and wild hibiscus flowers. I'm terrified of meringues but they looked like a stroll in the park. The rest of the meal was a flurry of rosemary and a pair of soft roast chooks, and a toast to fallen soldiers. Hubby's grandpa served in the war; a dashing portrait, in uniform, graced the sideboard. Oh yes, rum. Our meal was slightly Anzac themed, so of course the ration rum had to feature somewhere. Try baking layers of sweet pototo in a mixture of brown sugar, rum, allspice and nutmeg.

I digress; my point was to blog about hubby's brilliant special occasion baking. Meep, I really should get the hang of t

his food photography thing, if I'm going to insist on doing it so often!

And speaking of long weekends, hooray for Foundation Day, and hooray for Pyjama Days...unfortunately, we don't have a Foundation Day Cake, but I'm off to persuade hubby that we should...ciao, bunnies!

The Championships continue...Part 3

The Beaufort Street Merchant
488-492 Beaufort Street, Highgate

Well, my faith in bistro food is restored by the memory of a recent great night out.

My god-daughter came to visit (oh yes, seeing as she's only 16 months old, her lovely parental units came too) from Kuala Lumpur, and we thought that the BSM would be a good venue for a casual night of fairy-god-mothering.

Our four mains included: the tasting platter (brilliant mix of flavours), two serves of the meatball dish (alas, they had run out of "The Pie") and the chicken tagine. OK, playing devil's advocate after the last post: yes it's predictable cafe fare. But done oh so well, and at cafe prices! The meatball sauce was balanced and robust, the tagine was a charming blend of spices, and the tasting platter comes with a Merchant twist...cream of balsamic dipping! Ahah! Our waiter was helpful, friendly and knew the menu very well. He pointed us towards the shelves for the cream of balsamic product, and we girls got lost wandering amongst the gourmet goodies. Mr Helpful came over to announce that dinner was served, that our menfolk had not only tucked in, but were furthermore already eyeing off our dishes. As we rushed back to the table, fellow shoppers remarked on such attentive service.

Recently licensed, the wine list is the bottleshop selection. Each time I returned to the shelves for another bottle of red, Mr Helpful was hovering discretely to whisk the bottle away to cork and pour at the table. Unless you have shifty friends, leave your wallet in their care at the table, as the Merchant staff simply add the bottles to your cafe tab.

We'd lingered too long over dinner, so, to my utmost disappointment, some lucky punters had scored the last brambleberry pie! Mr Helpful suggested we try the lemon tart instead...and it almost didn't warrant taking second place. It just oozed happiness and twinkly stars! I have photos, but they've gone to KL on someones iPhone...Princess Bossy, hint hint!! xo

Be warned - it's table service at night but counter service during the day, so if you expect to get in for weekend brunch, go early or wear comfy shoes, as the queue often snakes around the cafe and into the shop, but at least you can browse while you wait! Thankfully, they take table reservations for dinner, and the cafe layout is cozy but roomy enough for all-terrain pram manoeuvrability.

Verdict: magical! If only I could wave my wand and conjure up sparkly dining experiences all the time! Yes we'd go back, again and again!
I'm on the shop's mailing list for Scott Taylor's enthusiastic email updates, and it's obvious his passion extends to all aspects of the cafe and shop!

By the way Sarvelicious, a magical bottle of said cream of balsamic was in your cake-day hamper, let me know if the happiness carries over when we take it home, or if it only works on premises!

The Championships continue...Part 2

Bradley's
22/60 Royal Street, East Perth (Claisebrook Cove)

It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, blessed with great weather after a week of steady rain, so our weekly family lunch took itself to Bradleys, for some East Perth waterfront ambiance and a dose of Vitamin D.

The menu was strangely predictable - roast pork, lamb shoulder, salmon fillet, one pasta dish, a scallop dish...
So why was I prepared to accept Boucla's menu as "delightfully select" but not Bradley's? Let's eat on...

The beef fillet wrapped in pate and pastry sounded delicious but they had just run out, and the liver and bacon with onion rings was an interesting addition to the menu. Our friends Jen &Kryi* remarked that they thought that "Bradley's does it few but does it well". So far, I was unconvinced but willing to be converted.

Five diners sat down to:
1) SotD, cauliflower and Stilton (should always be a winner, and yes, marvellous flavors), which was ordered with another starter, the duck liver pate with brioche. I groaked alot, as it was a sure winner. The pate had a good texture, wasn't too rich, and the brioche was divine. Luckily, Dad shared it out very willingly!
2) Roast pork. Highlight: the crackling. Lowlight: where's the zing?
3 & 4) Lamb shoulders. Highlight: well-cooked. Lowlight: inconsistent. The meat poked apart with my fork but was disappointingly flat. As I voiced my disappointment, we came to agree that my lamb dishes are most enjoyed when accompanied by a soft medley of flavors, which is why we love Greek and Lebanese lamb dishes. The side of steamed veggies were boring and the roast potatoes were uninspiring.
5) Liver with trimmings: unusual, interesting, large serve, probably contained enough iron for the next few weeks!

The rest of our party hurried off as their parking had expired, but hubby and I lingered in the mottled sunlight for coffee, dessert and redemption. Hubby had the creme brulee (average) with walnut biscuits (amazing). Perhaps I'm being harsh and grumpy, as it is surprisingly difficult to make a good creme brulee. I ordered the banoffee pie, which, to my utter delight, came created as a single biscuit base round, spread thickly with toffee, topped with fresh bananas and a massive dollop of cream. The coffee was also a saving grace, with hints of tobacco and spice.

Bradley's had all the ingredients for a successful lunch story, so what went wrong? East Perth is a riot of fancy restaurants, but unfortunately a place on the waterfront doesn't guarantee a good meal. I should point out that the waitstaff were very attentive and our meals were prompt in spite of how busy they were. I wonder whether our Perth palettes have been spoilt for choice, and our expectations of an East Perth bistros are now unnaturally high! Perhaps the key word is 'bistro'; was I looking for haute cuisine and disappointed by the bistro food? Is it right for a venue to serve bistro quality food but charge haute cuisine prices?

Overall, in spite of my comments, I might return for a casual meal of pate, pie and coffee; everyone else enjoyed bits of their meals but the overall opinion was that it was average and disappointing, not warranting a second visit. Oh I feel like such a grump blogging this, but it's true, oh so true!

Nevermind, all the more reason to keep trawling through the vast offerings of Perth and greater WA...

The championship course continues: eating our way around Perth...Part 1

Well, we've been munching, brunching, lunching and crunching our way around the City. Occasionally, between bites, we remember to blog 'bout it! Some reviews follow from our most recent meals...

Boucla

439 Rokeby Road, Subiaco

April's Jameliche dinner! Chosen by blog contributor Hanini, Boucla was a cave of jewels and wonders. They don't take bookings, so Sarvelicious hurried down early to secure a table and a selection of mezze (highlight: robust meatballs with hints of cumin on a bed of rocket and tzaztiki) and some blood orange juice. Filigreed, beaten silver lanterns hung from a dark ceiling, and dining tables nestled cosily among shelves, artfully draped with jewellery and home wares. The main counter was stacked high with baklava and other tempting pastries, distracting us from our main meals. Aladdin's Cave? Indeed!

Our four mains: beef with eggplant, cinnamon and honey over rice, chicken tagine with olives over couscous, spanakopita with salad and SotD, lentils. The menu was very select, but every dish was beautifully flavored and balanced.

After dinner, we managed to fit in some kourabiedes* (crescent shaped Greek shortbread biscuits), date biscuits* and a chocolate friand. Our waiter wasn't sure which date biscuit we wanted, so he brought us both kinds, the second type was on the house! I ran back after we'd paid our bill to pick up a third date biscuit for hubby. It was buttery soft and lightly scented with orange blossom water. Even if you can't get a table, pick up a few of these biscuits with a take-away coffee.

The next weekend, I threw together a Boucla-inspired dish: beef and eggplant tagine, with honey, cinnamon and pomegranate molasses, cubes of Danish fetta and burghul. It was easier than trying to fight for a table on a Saturday night! If you're keen, it's worth the wait; Boucla has the Jameliche stamp of approval!

*P/s Jen if you're reading this and you've got a good recipe for Greek date biscuits from Mama Tombouloglou, please don't hold back...!!

Recipe: Thelma's Apple Cake

Prior to getting married, my bridesmaids (and aren’t girlfriends and old friends such a blessing!) threw me a champagne breakfast hen’s party, which incidentally started at breakfast but continued with tea, champagne and leftovers, well into the late afternoon. When the girls issued invitations, they also asked that each girlfriend who attended brought a copy of their favorite recipe(s), to add to a folder of newlywed favorites, presented to me during the breakfast.

This gem came from Milly, originally from Beverley, WA. I can’t remember if Thelma is a distant relative, as the other recipes from the family included recipes from three generations of Williamson-related women. The other potential source would be a CWA publication of Beverley / Dale / York region recipes. I’d recently watched an episode of The Cook and the Chef wherein Maggie and Simon explored the joys of hearty country cooking and baked goods, and a visit to the Williamson’s farm in Beverley always results in admiration for the Mrs Farmers out there who churn out hot breakfasts, fresh-baked goods for morning tea, a selection of sandwiches for lunch, more goodies for afternoon tea and then pudding on top of a full roast meal afterwards! I find that baking doesn’t come as naturally to me, as say, concocting elaborate dinner parties for a table of six, so I am particularly gleeful when I find such a simple cake that works a treat every time…well I expect it to now, as it worked beautifully the first time, last night, as an impulsive pre-dinner bake session!

Confession: I tried cupcakes for Sarvenator’s birthday party on Saturday, and I needed an excuse to finish off the excess of honey spiced icing.

Solution:

Thelma’s Apple Cake

Preheat oven to 180°C and prepare (grease and flour or line with g-p paper) a single deep tin (with hole in the middle…cakes baked for parties able to supply its technical name…) or two shallow pizza tins.

In a large bowl, mix:

1 cup flour

1 t baking soda

1 t allspice

1 t cinnamon

1 ½ cup sugar

Add:

½ cup walnuts

2 apples, peeled and cored and roughly cubed (I used my whiz bang apple thing again to produce lovely discs for me)

½ cup sultanas or raisins or currants (or cranberries? Goji berries? How about dried mangoes with macadamias instead? Or strawberries and pine nuts? Oo…)

Add:

215g melted butter

1 egg (No eggs at home! So I looked up substitutes online…didn’t have bananas or applesauce on hand, but the ¼ c measure (total) with 3t milk whisked in with olive oil (remainder) worked well)

Mix well (expect a thick mixture), pour into tin(s), bake for about 50 minutes (fan-forced), cool and ice.

The top is delightfully crispy because of the melted butter, and the base is quite soft. Bake longer if you want a firmer result, one tin turned out only good for pudding because I booched its removal from the tin, and the other got iced for sharing.

The icing was a variation on a butter cream, wherein you beat the butter, honey, sugar and spices for two minutes, swirl icy cold water over and tip it out, and then beat for another two minutes, repeating the process about four to five times. The icing just gets more white and fluffy and the honey aroma just wafts around the kitchen. Very weird, but the ice water doesn’t glug up the mix, it just whirls over and tips out, still clear, which makes sense when you think about it, but I don’t usually go round pouring water into the butter tub or honey pot…!

The Salad of Champions

Do you love salads but detest all things worthy and wholesome? Especially those salads that make you wish for a clean and early death while you chew on eternal chaff and humiliated vegetables? Yes? Well my friend we should meet at Schmears for lunch one day!

Schmears is a funny little cafe in the Bermuda triangle end of St Georges Terrace where Bureaucrat-Banker-Mining people come together and gingerly exchange cards and favours. In this unlikely nexus, the little red brick heritage remnants of the Old Cloisters Building harbour a safe haven for lovers of fresh food who like ripe luscious flavour bursting salads but are also in dire need of watching the waistline.

Once there, don't waste any time looking around at the fridges hoarding the same old drinks and sweets (those caramel slices that look like tiles taste like that time you drank a tin of sweetened condensed milk when your mum wasn't looking. Trust me, you don't want to eat that stuff more than once!). Rush straight to the bountiful fridge on the far right where you can make your own salad. Not impressed, I hear you scoff, I can get that at MYO! No, no you can't! Because Shmears comes equipped with a posse of champions, much like the highlanders, who entertain and beguile with luscious salads while battling it out for the one true Shmearslander.

You need to be wily, and to observe. The best of the champions will reveal themselves in the fullness of time (ok, ok you only have a short lunchbreak so I'll tell you; the girl with the ponytail who wears Pinocchio style glasses and looks like a med student is the best! she chops things finely as a true surgeon of salad should... and she doesn't skimp on portions either).

The salads are $8.60 for a small bowl and $9.40 for a large. Go large. This gets you a selection of 7 ingredients plus a green of your choice. Be warned that the mixed lettuce varies in quality and colour and best avoided. Only try when feeling adventurous and devil may care... and by devil may careI mean on Thursdays when the owner's mum comes in especially to wash and chop the salad.

The ingredients are varied and almost always fantastically fresh. A true connoisseur of borderline wholesome salads knows that the salad is not to be judged till the dressing is in and here Schmears shines. You can mix your dressings depending on your mood. On a devil may care day (not necessarily a Thursday!) you can mix ranch with mayonnaise. On being good day you can get balsamic (be warned, it has olive oil in it! still can't figure out why) and on end of month and not yet paid treat day you can get a mix of all dressings as it doesn't cost you any extra.

I am also told that the bagels (it is named Schmears, after all!) are great but much as I'd like to be able to vouch for this fact I'm afraid I haven't been able to unglue myself from the Salad Championships long enough to order a bagel.

Now, some home truths which must also be told:

• The coffee is a mixture of the awful and the vile. Best avoided. Even on Devil May Care Thursdays.

• Do not, under any circumstances, allow the owner's mother to make your salad. You'll know her by her sweet bun hair and white apron. She will take forever to make a wholesome salad and arrange everything just so, forgetting to put all the naughty favourites in. And she is such a darling you won't be brave enough to ask her to correct it.

• You have to get in early (11:55 early) or pick an odd time that does not correlate with working people's organiser meeting times (ie. on the hour or the half hour) because Schmears is popular with the city's knife and fork brigade.

• Don't tell too many people about Schmears, because it is also a good hidey hole if you are a late luncher and need a spot to hide with a good book. The cushioned loungers are heavenly comfy!

• Do not pat the seeing eye dog who comes in daily with the lovely tall vision impaired girl in impossibly high heels. Just don't. I learned this the hard way.
  

Recipe: Cherry lamb

As I munched on another hotcrossbun for breakfast, I flicked through Claudia Roden's A Book of Middle Eastern Food.  Inspired by the simplicity of the meat and fruit stew recipes, I added lamb and cherries to my grocery list and decided to do a mini "Surprise Chef" on my own tonight.

 

Come dinner, I pulled the Morello cherries out (Bulgarian or Turkish?  We went with the Turkish, but would've felt exotic either way, there's just something about cherries, isn't there), sampled a few for inspiration, and just threw things into the tagine, without consulting Roden for more guidance.  Surprise indeed!  It worked.  Beautifully!

OK I'll admit that the lamb+tagine combination is completely idiot proof, so it wasn't a huge challenge, but sometimes I get completely menu-bound, and it's nice to test my confidence of cooking...one, from other cultures and two, from the heart! 

 

I'm off to experiment with making cherry cocktails, sadly enough, without cherry brandy or the luxury of having pre-made my cherry-infused vodka...however, there's a bottle of hibiscus flower cordial tucked up the back of the pantry, waiting for such opportunity...or...rosewater and cherry something...gin?  Coconut rum?  Could ginger beer and cherries be friends?  Yesno?  I have limes...ooo...yarr...(the pirate+lime equation is ALSO idiot proof...true story...)

 

In the meantime, here's the recipe, I hope you like it :)

 

Lamb and cherry tagine

 

If you don't have a tagine, I reckon you just add 30 to 60 minutes on your cooking time, go finish another level of Zelda or something...

 

For two people:

Enough lamb for two (I cut mine from a 2 kg leg tonight), trimmed lean and diced

half an onion, thinly sliced (the other half went into a big pot with the leg bone, to make stock)

turmeric, cumin, coriander, ground or stick cinnamon

handful of Morello or sour cherries (or use dried cherries, how about soaking them in red wine or port first?)

1 green apple, thinly sliced, or use your whizbang corer-slicer gadget

I wondered about preserved lemon or fresh lemon but gave it a miss, my fruit combo had enough tang.

1 cup small grain couscous

 

Do this:

Heat your olive oil and saute the onion with turmeric.

Brown your meat, add some freshly ground cumin and coriander, and cinnamon to taste.

Approximate two fingers' depth of water to the tagine, bring to boil, cover and lower heat; simmer for 30 minutes.

Add salt, cherries and apple, top of with liquid if necessary, ensuring the meat is submersed; simmer for another 30 minutes.

Check and adjust spices to taste.

Add couscous and cover.  Cook for about 5 minutes, till the liquid is completely absorbed. 

Remove from the heat and allow couscous to swell and fluff abit more.

Toast a handful of pinenuts. 

 

In the meantime, grate half a long lebanese cucumber into a bowl of natural yoghurt, I added lots of pink salt.  The worms got the other half, no salt. 

 

Serve up with a few extra cherries on top. 

 

The fruit and spices flavor the lamb very delicately, the pinenuts are a perfect complement, and the raita gives it a velvety finish. 

 

I wonder if anyone out there has tried and blogged a duck and lychee tagine.  That'll be next week's tagine.  To be continued. 

 

And now for those cocktails...

 

Easter musings

Easter. Already? Weren't we just serving up our roast Christmas duck (stuffed with veal and wrapped with proscuitto, served with many lovely things, most importantly with a freeflow of DJ Cornflake Mai Tai's...) two or three weeks ago? Err.

While Christmas is really joyful, Easter is often quiet and aptly reflective for us. We have a household tradition of waking up early to bake on long weekends. I do the Australia Day breakfast (fresh damper), we tend to make random baked goods on the Queen's Birthday (like grape bread or the Maloufs' cheesy pull-apart yoghurt bread) and Hubby always does the Good Friday hot cross buns. We've been using a recipe from Taste for years, with minor tweaks and additions on the day. This year we added fruit peel.

We also wanted to see if letting dough rise overnight made a diff. Certainly means you sleep in abit more since the hard work was done last night! Hubby hopped out of bed at 7, cranked up the oven and brought the buns to room temp, snoozed for another 30 minutes and pushed me out of bed before putting the buns into the oven.

As cranky as I was, I still remembered to photograph them before attempting to look human to attend Church. Thankfully, a warm buttered bun later and a big mug of coffee put me in the right frame of mind and we got seats up the back.

Easter thoughts: 1) kaya on a hcb is strange but good 2) I'd never thought about what Simon of Cyrene might've thought about having to carry Jesus' cross for him 3) does coating your currants and fruit peel really help keep the fruit from sinking 4) Judas didn't choose to get a second chance, and contemporary bakers leave him out of the equation (Google Easter cakes and see what I mean, some cakes traditionally only have 11 marzipan eggs on top!)...tsk tsk...

Since Hubby's Parental Units are due back this week, we thought we'd make and Easter Cake and some cookies. I pulled an Earl Grey Tea cookie / shortbread recipe off Nibbledish, but in a pre-coffee haze this morning, couldn't remember what a stick of butter weighs. I called across to Hubby at the computer, asking him to please find out because the bookshelf was "too far away". Tappity tap tap. Mr Engineer over there mumbles "the density of butter is 0.911 g/cm3...therefore 125ml of butter is 113.875 g..." which of course earned him a Wife Look. Yes, knowing the density of butter will come in really handy some day. For example, if anyone offered to drop a cubic meter of butter of me, I could work it out and be able to say "no thanks" with authority...

Whereas if you sneak a look My Way, your favorite search engine may return a chart called "Butter Measurement Translation Chart to Defeat Nefarious Recipe Writers", which has worked it all out for you in a printable little table. Ahem. Next time I'll just walk to the bookshelf, hey?

And Easter Cake! Wow, where do you start? I suppose, being the holiest day of the year for many cultures, it's not surprising how many types of celebratory cakes there are to choose from! We eventually decided on pashka, a Russian style dessert. We didn't start give up the traditional foods for Lent, but now, reading the recipe, I wish we had...I think there's enough dairy in here to cover the last 40 days!! Eggs, ricotta, sour cream, Philly cream cheese...eek..yum...eek...yum...

Well, I'm off to unbag a few packets of Lady Grey...I'm sure that's insufficient calory-burning exercise to warrant even a tablespoon of pashka...nevertheless...

Happy Easter!

Recipe: Tiramisu Three Ways

When my brother and his housemate J helped us to move house, we thanked them with a big lamb shank dinner plus tiramisu.

J wanted to learn how to make Tiramisu, so I’ve compiled three recipes, ranging from Easy to Effort.

The “Oh No’s” were something I made up, the Medium one is probably a basic one found all over the internet, and the Effort one is from a lovely Italian cookbook (will post an edit later for a proper credit). 

Leave a comment if you’d like me to email you the neat little A4 PDF document…I’m not sure what blogspot will do to my neat little tables...

I wish I had a photo, because they always present really well, but they always disappear too quickly to be photographed!! 

Bill Granger does an ice cream version in the latest issue of Delicious mag…I’m not sure how I feel about it yet…any volunteers to come guinea pig with me? ;)

 

Easy.   I call these “Oh No’s” because if you forget that someone is coming over for dinner (oh no) you can whip these up really quickly. 

 

Ingredients: 

Custard:

300 ml thick cream

250 g mascarpone

¼ cup icing sugar

 

Base:

1 packet biscuits

100 ml Kahlua or Cointreau

100 ml strong coffee

 

Topping:

Drinking chocolate

Chocolate curls

 

Method:

Make custard – beat the cream and sugar till stiff; fold in the mascarpone and 1/3 the liqueur.

Make base – combine the rest of the liqueur with the coffee and brush onto the biscuits (or dip the biscuits in the liquid but be careful not to make them too soggy).

Fill your trifle dish / wine glasses with alternating layers of base and custard, finishing with a layer of custard. 

Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least two hours and up to 24.  Just before serving, dust with chocolate.    

 

 

Medium.  Involves eggs, minus the cream. 

 

Ingredients: 

1 C mascarpone

3 egg yolks

¼ C castor sugar

2 T liqueur mixed with

2 T coffee

 

12 biscuits

2 T liqueur mixed with

2 T coffee

 

Drinking chocolate

Chocolate curls

 

Method:

Beat egg yolks in bowl with the castor sugar until smooth, and then add the liqueur and coffee and beat again.   Brush the biscuits with coffee and liqueur as you use them, layer in a bowl and chill.    

 

 

Effort.  Involves whole eggs.   The Italian cookbook says tira mi su means ‘pick me up’ and that the dessert started as a ‘nourishing dish’ to be eaten when feeling low. 

 

Ingredients:

 

5 eggs, separated

¾ C / 170 g castor sugar

300 g mascarpone

1 C / 250 ml cold strong coffee

3 T liqueur

36 sponge fingers

80 g dark chocolate, finely grated

 

Method:

Beat the egg yolks with the sugar until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is light / fluffy. 

Add the mascarpone and beat till smooth. 

Whisk the egg whites (in a clean dry glass bowl) until soft peaks form.

Fold into the mascarpone mixture. 

Mix the coffee and the liqueur in a shallow dish; dip enough biscuits to cover the base of your dish (say 10 inch square).  Arrange biscuits in one tightly packed layer in base. 

Spread half the custard mix over, another layer of coffee-dipped biscuits, then finish with the custard, smoothing top neatly. 

Chill, dust with chocolate before serving.   

 

 

General Tiramisu Notes:

The recipes tend to serve at least four (or two hungry boys).  ‘Biscuits’ = sponge finger or lady’s finger biscuits.  You can also substitute a plain French vanilla cake recipe for the biscuits to make a tiramisu cake instead.  Make your coffee early; hot coffee results in soggy biscuits (eww).  At a pinch, you can substitute the 1 cup mascarpone with 1 cup cream cheese beaten in with 2 tbsp castor sugar.  Liqueur – some recipes call for brandy or sweet Marsala.  You can make a fruity version by using Framboise and pureed raspberries instead of the other liqueurs and coffee.  The topping can be drinking chocolate (easiest), cocoa sifted with icing sugar (substitute), or just cocoa, grated chocolate or chocolate curls (use veggie peeler and a block of 80% Lindt dark).

 

Recipe: Duck Salad

It's been awhile since we've had an official Jameliche night! Some of the Jameliche-ites meet regularly for Bruncheroos, and we've possibly got a Jameliche coming up in April to celebrate the visit of an ex-Jameliche-ite who now lives in Hong Kong...watch this space.

In the meantime, here's another recipe from our home! I had a late night at work, and although I'd planned the meal, I came home to discover that Hubby had prepped most of it and was about 10% off finishing. Ah bliss! What inspired me to blog it: he said he felt very 'restauraunteurish' and gourmet while making it, and I hope you do too; it's a lovely way to inject abit of weekend glamour into a low fuss, 'school night' meal!

Troy's Duck Salad

(Serves 2, and he deserves the credit, he made it work!)

10-12 small mushrooms (cleaned, trimmed and marinated in lemon juice, thyme and parsley)

2 large beetroots (ends trimmed and sandy bits washed off)

1 parsnip (peel, then ribboned with a veggie peeler)

2 duck breasts (score skin and season)*

2 serves of mixed salad leaf (better than plain lettuce or spinach; you want the rocket or mesculin to cut through the duck)

1 orange (peeled, seeded and segmented)

handful of whole walnuts

handful of mint leaves (chopped)

Dressing

Juice of 1 orange (make it two if it's a depressed lil' orange)

1-2t Dijon mustard

2t honey

1-2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped (or not, if you don't mind...)

1/2c (80ml) olive oil (or approximate a 1:1.5 ratio of juice:oil)

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 180degC. I like to warm up the roasting tray (with a layer of foil) in the oven.

Boil beetroot in salted water till tender (about 20 mins).

Drain and cool; peel and quarter.

Place duck, skin side down, on cold frying pan, on medium heat, for about 5 minutes.

Transfer duck, skin side up, to your roasting tray.

Dip parsnip into the duck fat before arranging on the tray.

Scatter beetroot on the tray.

Roast for about 10 minutes to achieve a medium cooked duck.

Remove tray from oven** and allow to rest while you assemble the salad.

Mound leaves in bowl, scatter walnuts through and arrange orange segments over.

Layer beetroot, parsnip and mushrooms, then slice the duck and array on top.

Dress. Add more salt (I'm loving this pink salt I got from Epicurious...the lady told me it's the salt they use at El Bulli...I haven't verified this by any means but I just couldn't go past the pink...)

Drizzle dressing and garnish with mint.

Notes:

*If you live near Mt Hawthorn or Inglewood, you can buy duck off the shelf at Meat @ The Mezz and Mondo's; ours came home frozen on Saturday and just defrosted in the fridge for two nights and finished defrosting at room temp for an hour on the bench plus 20 minutes in some warm water. I don't own a microwave, I loathe them...they make me a lazy cook!

** And if you've thought about your meals well enough, you can now put your two types of pumpkin into the oven to roast while you eat, so that tomorrow night's pumpkin soup is a walk in the park ;)

What can I say, I'm married to a total genius. We had the salad with a drop of Hardys Regional Reserve Merlot 2004. It's soft, plummy and vanilla-ish, and they forgot to try it with duck, otherwise I'm sure they would've recommended it on the label!

The warm duck was perfect for the cooling, autumn nights. The slightly bitter leaves, crunchy earthy walnuts, tangy orange, salty beetroot, herby mushrooms and fragrant parsnip...very good friends indeed!

What made the night extra enjoyable was the fact that we slipped into our evening at home together over the first glass of wine, a little household custom that we've been neglecting for awhile. Sometimes our days get so busy, it's hard to remember to put our relationship and our 'home selves' forward, when our 'work selves' and professional faces have taken charge for the last eight to 12 hours! It's lovely to come home and 'debrief' over a cup of tea or a glass of wine, to slowly transition into being at home and being together, before bustling around to get dinner ready or do chores around the house.

Glasses of wine and a lil' gourmet...a nice, easy way to inject a Moment into my week...Happy Monday!

Recipe: Vietnamese meatballs (cha bo)

I've recently developed an amusing and strange aversion to sunshine. OK, I'll admit, I'm generally not a summer bunny; my favorite kind of day: clear skies with lots of sun but a maximum of 16 to 20degC. Anything above 24degC is Too Hot. So how did I survive the Perth summer days of 35 and 40 plus? A bemused girlfriend suggested ice packs. Yes, ice packs, lots of gin and tonics, and limes.

Bags of limes. We'll grow our own lime trees one day, but in the meantime, I'm held ransom to highway robbery at our friendly local supermarket chains. I can't understand why limes cost so much more than lemons. I won't Google it, but I think it's because of pirates. Yarr, and yes, the influx of pirates in our community has driven up the cost of limes. Go on, prove me wrong? ;)

Anyway, as the season changes (it was 10deg on the train platform the other morning, yahoo!), we're looking for easy dinners that suit the weather. This one has a hint of summer, abit more warmth for the cooler weather, and yes, limes. The Vietnamese have really perfected balanced flavors in each mouthful - sweet, salty, spicy, hot and sour, and often with soup, noodles, lots of fresh veggies or all of the above!

Here's a great recipe we tried the other night, enjoy!

Vietnamese meatballs
(Serves 2)

Dipping Sauce (nuoc cham) (Make first so it cools while you make the patties)

1t Castor / palm sugar

1t rice vinegar

3T water

2T fish sauce

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

1 chilli, finely chopped (size and seeds up to you)

1 lime, juiced

Combine sugar, vinegar and water in small pain, boil and reduce to simmer ~2 minutes till sugar is dissolved.

Remove from heat, allow to cool, stir everything else in.

Patties
3T sesame seeds or 2T sesame oil <if making salad, toast extra seeds to scatter on top>

1t cumin seeds

2-3 beef steaks of your choice* or 250g minced beef
1-3 cloves garlic, finely chopped (or process with the steaks)
4 stalks spring onions, finely chopped (or process with the steaks)
1t curry powder
1t sugar (or even better, grate a smidgen off a round of palm sugar)
2T coconut cream
fish sauce to taste

Soak about 8 bamboo skewers for 30 minutes, or use your metal ones.
Dry roast the sesame and cumin seeds for about 1 minute. If you're feeling meh, just grind up the cumin and use sesame oil, it's still good!
Tip into a big bowl with everything else (see, I said easy!) and season ( I tend to leave salt out if using fish sauce).
Shape into patties, cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes while you make your accompaniments.
Anyone know if it's better to skewer now or skewer later? I don't think it makes a diff, I skewer before chilling so I don't get meaty hands again!
Anyway, if you made big patties, thread onto parallel skewers to hold better, otherwise pop the lil ones along single skewers.

When ready, heat your BBQ or charcoal grill...it was too late that night so we used a cast iron grill plate on a gas stove, cook about 3-4 minutes each side.
Bonus limes: grill halves / wedges to serve
Hubby also grilled up a few stalks of spring onion, because he knows I value presentation, even on a school night ;)

Salad & dressing
1-2 Lebanese cucumbers, peeled and ribboned with a veggie peeler
1 red capsicum, seeds removed and cut into really thin strips
half a punnet of cherry tomatoes, halved

Mix up a few tablespoons of the leftover coconut cream, a splash of sweet chilli sauce and a tablespoon of natural yogurt (I couldn't bear to make the dressing completely out of the coconut cream, not sure if the yogurt, being a Greek style one, was any better in the calorie department!!)
Sprinkle sesame seeds over.

I think it would've been lovely with abit of coconut rice too (if you don't know how, Google 'nasi lemak Amy Beh' for an easy recipe), which would've used up the rest of the coconut cream.

Notes
*1)I like to mince my own meat, 2)my food processor was one of the best gifts ever, thank you Aunty C, 3)that way you can choose how lean or fatty your meat is, 4)you actually KNOW what went into your meal.

And I suppose you already guessed what happened to the leftover lime...mmm...gin... ;)

Recipes: homemade pasta

A few birthdays ago, Hubby got given a pasta machine, an Italian cookbook and an assortment of pasts trays and cutters for his birthday (combined family present). While his Mum is visiting from the Sunshine Coast, we thought we'd make them some homemade pasta to show them how much we enjoy their present. They were so pleased with the results that they've decided to invest in one themselves!

Until last night, they thought it would be too much Hard Work but we've convinced them that it's easy enough and well worth the effort of NOT buying dried pasta off the shelf.

If you're flirting with the idea, we heartily support it as a good investment for your kitchen. I know purists will pooh-pooh the idea of a pasta machine, saying that their nonna only ever needed a marble slab benchtop, the mother of all rolling pins and some really good arm muscles...and pop-kiddies with a social engagements bursting at out of their iPhone calendars will say the San Remo fresh pasta stuff will do the trick...ah well! I say, if you enjoy eating pasta, try it out, you won't be disappointed! We've even experimented making soba noodles with it. Ahem. Abit of a disaster but quite fun nevertheless.

The latest Spice magazine has a section on fresh pasta, so check it out.

Fresh Pasta

Ingredients:

(Makes 700g of pasta...last night this served four adults plus two for lunch...or maybe will serve four hungry Italians or three hungry teenagers...anyway you get the idea...)

500g 00 / Tip00 / Doppio zero flour*

4 eggs

chilled water

polenta (for dusting your sheets / shapes)

Method:**

(If you're doing the pumpkin filling, roast it while you're making the pasta)

Mound the flour on a clean work surface or in a large bowl.

Break the eggs into the well and whisk with a fork, incorporating flour as you whisk.

Sometimes you need to add a smidgen of chilled water at a time to help the dough stick.

Turn the dough onto a floured surface. If you've done it properly, it will be play-dough soft and dry to touch. Just sift / sprinkle flour onto the mix if you've put too much water in!

Knead for about 10 minutes till your dough is smooth, elastic and slightly glossy.

Cover with a damp tea towel and rest for about 30 minutes before rolling out.

(I usually make my filling or sauce then, see below for more recipes)

ROLLIN' OUT WITH A MACHINE:

Divide the dough into two to four balls.

I usually go four to five because I'm short and I run out of arm length and height, which is useful when you have really long bits of dough. You'll see when you make it...

Keep the rest covered while you work the first ball.

Put your machine to the lowest setting and feed the dough through.

Fold in half lengthwise and then repeat.

Feed the dough through this setting about six times, till the dough holds together well. If the edges tear, mend with abit of water, but usually when you fold it back in it'll fix itself.

Then, roll it through once on the next setting up, fold, turn it up a number, roll through, fold...etc***

If you're going to fill the pasta, don't let it dry out, cover immediately.

Notes:

*You can use plain all-purpose flour and I'm sure there's alot of documentation of why or why not, but personally I think you need to sift it alot to get the same result AND it's harder to knead / roll out. In WA, Anchor makes a Tip00 floor and sells it in Woolies and Coles, so it's not a drama to purchase.

**You can do this in a food processor. As much as I love my food processor, I think it takes more effort to clean the dough out afterwards than it does to knead. About as good as a few push-ups, really!

***If we're making ravioli, we only roll to about 5 or 6, but if we're making spaghetti (it's a cross between that and angel hair...) we roll out to 8. Sometimes we make lasagna sheets as thin as 8 and it's lovely, a change from thick, doughy instant pasta sheets!

If you're cutting into shapes or fettuccine-ing, let it dry out, uncovered, while you roll the rest.
Sometimes we roll spaghetti out and stick it on coat hangers to dry.
We tried hanging lasagna sheets out one night and got a rude shock when sheets cracked and shattered in the middle of the night, onto the timber floor boards. Hehe, oops!

Pumpkin ravioli filling

Ingredients:

~1.2 kg pumpkin, half kent and half butternut

2-3 stalks of spring onion or one medium onion, chopped

sprinkle of dried chilli

sprinkle of nutmeg

few sage leaves, chopped

few rosemary needles, chopped

cheese (either 1/4 cup grated Parmesan and 1/3 cup ricotta, or equal amounts of leftover bits n pieces...I used Jarlsberg, pecorino and a mild Camembert...)

1 egg yolk, beaten (backup egg only, see below)

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 200 deg C.

Cut the pumpkin up and roast for about 45 minutes (rosemary, salt and olive oil to your taste).

Meanwhile, fry up the onion till soft in butter or olive oil, add your herbs and spices.

Remove from heat and mix into a big bowl with the cheese.

When your pumpkin is cooked, cool slightly, cut the skin off and mash into the bowl.

Sometimes the pumpkin is abit watery, either drain it or mix in the egg yolk to thicken it up.

If you're using ricotta this adds liquid but if you're sticking to dry cheese you'll be fine. You want to avoid soggying up your pasta sheets, that's all!

Lightly flour or polenta your chopping board (only do this directly on your benchtop if it's 1)yours and 2) robust to withstand being used as a cutting surface, with a knife or a fluted cutter).

See photo!

Don't overdo it, fill about 1 and abit teaspoon of filling, leaving yourself enough edges to seal.

I dip my finger in the chilled water and draw around the edges I'm going to seal, before laying a second sheet of pasta over. I start pressing and sealing the first long edge, then I do the perpendicular and short edges. Then I seal the middle long bit next, careful to expel as much air as possible, and then the other outer long edge last. I then use a fluted cutter to trip the ravioli apart.

Tortellini is also easy, you make little squares, fill the middle, fold over inna triangle, and pinch the edges together over the fat side.

Lay the pasta in a baking dish dusted with polenta and cover with a tea towel.

Cook in small batches in salted, boiling water for about 3 minutes till al dente.

I warm my bowls up in the oven (still warm from the pumpkin!) and then put the tortellini straight in.

Sage Butter Sauce

Melt some butter (2 to 3 tablespoons was enough for 4 people), put a sprig of rosemary in for flavour, remove when the butter is frothing up, add a handful of sage leaves, stir for about 1-2 minutes till crispy.

Remove from heat and drizzle over your tortellini.

OK you may be tired at this point but the first mouthful will be heaven. And the next, and the next. I forgot to make salad but nobody missed it!

Ok, another one, can you tell I have ironing to do?? Again??

Prawn and crab ravioli

Ingredients:

(serves 3 to 4 adults)

1 small onion, chopped finely

3 cloves garlic, crushed with salt

butter / olive oil to fry (equal amounts works well)

1 tin crabmeat, fresh if you have the patience

12 to 15 raw prawns, cleaned and tails removed*

splash of vermouth

1/2 tub (smallest on market in Perth...sorry I forget what size...let's call it 1/2 cup??)

herbs (thyme or sage)

1 bunch asparagus, blanched

chives, chopped

Method:

Fry the onion and garlic till soft.

Add prawns till pink, then stir crabmeat through to warm / cook.

Splash vermouth or white wine in.

Cool.

Mix with ricotta and season.

I made up half a batch of pasta only and made large seafood pillows; basically 2-3 prawns per pillow, 3 pillows per person, you get the idea.

Cook gently in boiling water, they took about 8-10 minutes each (1, blame the electric burner and 2, because they're huge!)

Make a burnt butter sauce with butter, sage / sundry herbs...thyme is good friends with seafood...and another splash of vermouth / white wine.

Lay the asparagus on the shallow bowl, top with 2-3 pillows each, drizzle sauce over and sprinkle with chives.

Notes:

*You can substitute also for equal amounts of scallop and lobster tail.

Fish or mussels don't seem to work, but you let me know if you have success!

Ahahahaa. Daylight savings has finished and my computer hasn't registered, even though I've got the "adjust for daylight..." thingy ticked. On ya, Microsoft :P

So I get a bonus hour to...iron? Watch CSIs? Blog moarz?

We'll see...buon appetito!