Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Sweet Potato and Chick Pea Patties with Beetroot/Carrot Salad and Minted Yogurt


Serves 2

Ingredients:

Patties
-          Sweet Potato 2 (about 400gm)
-          400 gm  canned chickpeas, drained
-          1 tbsp Baharat Lebanese Spice blend (garam marsala could also work)
-          2 tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves
-          1 tbsp Olive oil
-          10 small stems (with leaves) of coriander – or the equivalent
-          Plain flour

Mint yoghurt sauce
-          1/2  cucumber, seeds removed and finely chopped
-          100g plain yoghurt
-          2 tbsp, finely chopped, mint leaves

To serve with
-          1 carrot, peeled and coarsely grated
-          Equivalent amount of beetroot (to the carrot), peeled and coarsely grated (Note: I just put the carrot and the beetroot into the food processor instead of grating to save time)
*Option to serve this as a hamburger, just fry and egg and pop it all into a bun

 Method:
1.       Roughly chop sweet potato and add to a saucepan of cold salted water, bring to the boil over high heat and boil for 15 minutes or until tender. Drain.
2.       Add sweet potato to food processor, sprinkle over Baharat, and add oil, salt and pepper and mix till it’s almost smooth
3.       Stir in the chick peas
4.       Using wet hands, form mixture into ½ cup patties and (if you have time) refrigerate for 30 minutes
5.        Heat oil in a large frying pan over high heat. Dust patties in flour, add to frying pan and cook, in batches, for 2 minutes each side or until golden, then transfer to
6.        An absorbent paper-lined plate.
7.       For mint yoghurt sauce, combine all ingredients and season to taste.
8.        Toast cut side of burger buns, top bun halves with carrot, beetroot, patties, fried egg and mint yoghurt sauce, sandwich and serve immediately.

Monday, February 27, 2012

Review For Fish on Parkyn - Mooloolaba

The photos speak for themselves! We ordered the seafood platter for 2 to share between 3 and it would have to be the best selection of seafood I've seen on a platter in a long time. Some may say it looks like more of a tasting plate than seafood platter and that's fair enough but really ... why worry about semantics when it's this good!

There were hand made fresh prawn/crab spring rolls, salt and pepper calamari, salmon bruschetta, oysters two ways, tempura battered fish, muscles & prawns in a Thai style broth, bugs in a burnt butter sauce, hand cut fries ... the list goes on and for nearly everything there was an accompanying sauce.
Dessert was spectacular. They called it a tartino. Neither google or I have heard of a tartino and when I asked the waiter about the name he smiled awkwardly and went ... somewhere. I'd call it more a self saucing pudding but again, semantics, it was amazingly delicious!!!

Would highly recommend.

Friday, February 24, 2012

Review For Pendolino - Sydney




I've been very lucky to have been to both Bambini Trust and Pendolino in the one week and I really can't say which I prefer? I LOVE the New York style feel to Pendolino - everything about the vibe absolutely does it for me. Only issue we had with surroundings was that it was like a sweat box - bikram dining!

It’s rare for me to eat the bread on arrival (usually bread for me serves only a 'savour every last drop of the sauce' purpose) but there’s no way to resist sampling the bread selection at Pendolino, especially as you're given a sample selection of their olive oils to accompany.

For my entree I had the Spaghetti Chitarra Con Pesce D’acquadolce - Freshly-made Chitarra Spaghetti with Barramundi, Wild Prawns, Chilli, Capers, Garlic and Pinot Grigio White Wine. For my main, the duck leg (pictured) which was served with polenta and lentils. Last, the honeycomb dessert (pictured) which was so fantastic it was ridiculous. Thanks to our sommelier we had the perfect wine to match all our courses and for 3 people, 3 courses the bill came to $310 which included the $75 bottle of wine.
Definitely must cook back and definitely must purchase their pasta cook book when it’s released.http://www.pendolino.com.au/

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Review For Abdul's Restaurant - Surry Hills


Why anyone would go past the banquet, I do not know. The team we extremely flexible to tweaking the banquet for one full vegetarian and one chicken only meat eater. The food kept coming and was great, authentic Lebanese food. Yes it is a tad on the oilier side for some dishes (aka ‘flavour’ in middle eastern speak) but it does taste darn good so that’s only the tiniest of critiques. The environment is canteen style and if you feel like being feed well, bringing along a your own favourite wine (with no byo penalty) and paying next to nothing, you can’t go wrong with Abdul's Restaurant in Surry Hills

Monday, February 20, 2012

Chicken Chilli Con Carne


This recipe was inspired by Justine Schofield’s Chicken version http://www.lifestylefood.com.au/recipes/16510/chilli-con-carne-with-skirt-steak

I would happily serve this for a casual dinner. It really was delicious. I sprinkled cheese over mine and loved that addition - but that's just me and I do love cheese at any opportunity to add it!

Note: this recipe can be done without a slow cooker. Just use a casserole dish and after the ingredients start to boil, transfer the dish into the oven and cook on 170C for 2 – 3 hours

Ingredients
-          800g chicken breast
-          2 tbsp olive oil
-          1 onion, finely chopped
-          4 cloves garlic, crushed
-          1 red capsicum, seeds removed and diced
-          1 tsp smoked paprika
-          1 tsp cumin
-          ½ tsp cayenne pepper
-          2 small teaspoons cornflour
-          400g kidney beans, drained and rinsed
-          400g can of diced tomatoes
-          2 chillies, finely chopped (optional)
-          Salt and pepper
-          Zest and juice of a lime
-          1 tbsp tomato paste
-          1 cup chicken stock (or water)
-          Half a bunch fresh coriander, roughly chopped (garnish)


Method:
1.       Start up the slow cooker
2.       Season the chicken with salt & pepper.
3.       In a fry pan, add oil and seal the meat on each side until golden brown.
4.       Transfer the meat into the slow cooker
5.       In the same fry pan, add the remaining olive oil, onion, garlic, chillies, chopped tomatoes and capsicum and cook until they begin to soften. Add the paprika, cumin and cayenne and cook for a further 2 minutes. Mix the tomato paste in.
6.       Add to the fry pan the zest and lime juice, beans, cornflour and stock.
7.       Bring to the boil, and allow to boil for two mins or so
8.       Transfer into the slow cooker
9.       Cook for 5hrs or until the meat is easy to tear apart.
10.   Remove the chicken from the sauce and using two forks, shred the meat in opposite directions. Place the meat back into the sauce and combine well. Garnish with freshly chopped coriander and serve with rice and/or guacamole

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Review for Delicado - McMahons Point

What a great find. The parking is easy, the food is divine and the whole package does make you feel like you just might be in Spain. Delicado can be found at 134 Blues Point Road, McMahons Point NSW 2060.

We had for starters: Seared Scallops, cauliflower cream, crispy jamon, olive tapenade & Pimiento, chickpea, mushroom, sumac/coriander. We shared the Chargrilled chicken salad for a main and finished with the Pear Tartin. Everything was amazing and the glass of Rose we each had was sensational and the total bill was less than $60. Highly recommend.

http://www.delicadofoods.com.au/

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Review For Bambini Trust - Sydney

Wow what a great meal! 5 of us went for dinner starting in the wine bar at 6 and migrating into the restaurant at 7. We all decided to do main and dessert (and needless to say, wine). I had the duck pappardelle (pictured) which was to die for and I can't wait to make a version of my own soon. One of the gang had the spatchcock (pictured) which I tasted and it was also incredible. I can't say the dessert menu overly exited me but that's just personal preference as I'm fussy with desserts. I had a chocolate and salted caramel dish (pictured) and it was nice. I just felt a base of crumbled biscotti or something to add a variety to the texture would have made sense. The bill was $400 for 5 people and for the quality I think it was worth every scent. Especially as we were treated to a complimentary starter of tuna tartar. Last, even though the staff are in an almost pretentious setting this hasn't got the better of them. They were all down to earth, knowledgable, polite and just thoroughly delightful.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Pasta Al Forno

-        1 medium onion
-        3 garlic cloves
-        500g chicken mince
-        1 cup white wine or chicken stock
-        Add a jar of pasta sauce with herbs
-        Season with pepper and salt
-        Cook till fragrant (approx 15 mins)
-        Cook penne until it’s al dente
-        Stir a little oil through
-        Mix everything together
-        Add fresh basil
-    Sprinkle cheese on top

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Review For Jamie's Italian - Sydney


Heaven. This is heaven. I tried out this restaurant with my oldest friend (in friendship tenure vs. age) and love love loved it. The vibe reminded me of Fratelli Fresh  – it’s all about loving fresh food and loving life. I believe you can’t book but this wasn’t an issue as we went at 6:00pm on a rainy, cold, miserable summers (?) Thursday. Really can’t faulty anything as the service was great – the waitress we had was clearly a career waiter she was that efficient. The food was fresh, tasty and presented beautifully. One word of advice I have is this: I’m a chilli wimp (one taste and I’m downing litres of water). I asked for my fish with no chilli. I was asked if I was allergic to which I said no. There would have been at least 4 whole small chillis in my dish. I showed the waitress but she was totally unfazed and wasn’t compelled to offer a dessert or wine or anything else as an apology. In some ways fair enough as I had eaten every last bite so I guess she thought my mouth said ‘no’ but my stomach has said ‘yes’. So that’s the only thing – your password to getting what you asked for in terms of removed ingredients is ALLERGIC. Don’t be afraid to use it - otherwise the kitchen will just do as they please.

We had the following along with a really nice bottle of Pinot Noir and the bill was $140 with tip.
Starters: SWEET MINI CHILLI PEPPERS - Stuffed with whipped ricotta, mint & lemon + FAT GREEN OLIVES ON ICE - Large green olives, black olive tapenade & crispy "music bread". Mains: FISH BAKED IN A BAG- Local fish of the day with clams, mussels, fennel, chilli, anchovies & Sicilian cracked wheat + VEAL SALTIMBOCCA - Wafer-thin veal with sage & prosciutto flash-grilled with a spicy tomato, basil & chilli salsa. Dessert: THE ULTIMATE BROWNIE - Chocolate, raspberry & amaretto brownie with vanilla ice cream (shared it)



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Sunday, January 29, 2012

Strawberries, Cointreau and Cream Cheesecake


Serves 10

This recipe comes from my new cookbook – Legless. This was a gift from my dear friend Jo who knew too well that this book was a perfect match for me J

Ingredients – Base:
-          250g plain biscuits
-          125g butter

Ingredients – Drunken Strawberries:
-          1 punnet strawberries
-          60ml (1/4 cup) cointreau
-          1 teaspoon castor sugar

Ingredients - Filling
-          125ml (1/2 cup) boiling water
-          1 tablespoon gelatine
-          180g sugar
-          I tablespoon lemon juice
-          250g cream cheese
-          300ml (1 ½ cups) cream
-          125 ml (1/2 cup) strawberry liqueur

To Make base:
-          Crush biscuits into vey fine pieces
-          Melt butter and add to crushed biscuits, mix well and press into a spring form cheesecake tin, packaging mixture tightly in to form a crust.
-          Refrigerate to set

To prepare strawberries:
-          Trim tops from strawberries and cut in half
-          Place all strawberries in a bowl
-          Add 60ml (1/4 cup) Cointreau and the castor sugar to the bowl
-          Toss to coat strawberries well

To make filling:
1.       Sprinkle the gelatine over the boiling water, stir until dissolved and leave to cool
2.       Place sugar and melon juice in a blender and mix lightly
3.       Add room temperate cream cheese and continue to blend
4.       Add cooled gelatine mix, strawberry liqueur, drained cointreau from the strawberries and cream and blend until smooth and mixed well
5.       Pour half the mixture onto the biscuit base then top with two-thirds of the strawberries
6.       Add the remaining mixture
7.       Refrigerate to set (allow 3 hours at least)
8.       Keep remaining strawberries in the refrigerator to use as a garnish when you serve the cheesecake.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Leftovers Lasagne


Recently I bought a number of savoury ingredients for a home-made pizzas dinner. I had a lot of chopped vegetables left over so what better way to use them, than in a cheat-version lasagne!

Ingredients:
-   Spanish onion, diced
-   2 cloves garlic, crushed
-   500g chicken mince
-   Up to 600g chopped mixed veg (I used a combination of capsicum, zucchini, mushrooms and pumpkin)
-   Up to 100g baby spinach
-   400g can tomatoes
-   Five Brothers Oven Roasted Onion and Garlic pasta sauce
-   Lasagne sheets
-   Tasty Cheese
-   Parmesan Cheese

Method:
-   Preheat the oven to 180'C.
-   In a saucepan fry the Spanish onion and garlic in a little olive oil till soften
-   Stir in chicken mince till browned
-   Stir in the chopped mixed veg
-   After two minutes add the canned tomatoes and pasta sauce
-    Leave the sauce to gently bubble for 20 minutes
-   Stir in the baby spinach
-   Line a medium sized baking dish with baking paper
-   Layer lasagne sheets along the base
-   Pour in half the vegetable mix
-   Top with another layer at lasagne sheets
-   Pour in the remains of the vegetable mix
-   Sprinkle cheeses over the top
-   Bake for 30 minutes, and then serve.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Review For Michaels Charcuterie - Double Bay


Salads Glorious Salads

What a great line up on salads they have at Michaels Charcuterie in Double Bay. If I worked in Double Bay I would be very happy having a salad from there every day for lunch.

Mum and I went there for a light lunch on the go and both couldn’t resist getting a selection of salads to try. Must make one of these the next time the meal calls for a salad.

1.    Broccoli salad
-       Broccoli
-       Mayo
-       Cashews
-       Cherry tomatoes

2.    Smoked Trout Risoni
-       Smoked Trout
-        Risoni
-       Peas
-       Zucchini?

3.    Pea and Mint
-       Peas
-       Mint
-       Fetta
-       Sundried Tomato

4.    Chickpea and lentil salad
-       Baby Spinach
-       Chick peas
-       Lentils
-       Zucchini

5.    Snow Pea and Sesame Seed Salad
-       Snow Pea
-       Sesame Seeds
-       Mushrooms
-       Capsicum
-       tomato

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Chicken and Mushroom Risotto


Serving size: Serves 4-6

INGREDIENTS

·         50g butter
·         1L chicken stock, warmed
·         ½ cup (125ml) white wine
·         ½ Bunch Shallots
·         ½ bunch chives
·         3 cloves garlic
·         400g chopped mixed mushrooms
·         2 Chicken Breasts, cut into thin strips
·         Parmesan
·         Cooking Cream
·         2 cups (400g) Calasparra or Arborio rice
·         Sea salt and pepper

METHOD

1.       Using a lge saucepan, heat butter over a medium heat. Cook shallots until soft, add garlic and cook for a further 2 minutes.
2.       Add chicken strips and brown
3.       Increase the heat to medium-high; add rice to pan, stirring continuously until rice is coated in butter. Pour over wine, stirring continuously until absorbed by rice.
4.       Continue adding ladlefuls of stock to the rice.
5.       When only one ladleful of stock remains, add the mushrooms
6.       Mix in last ladle until well combined, add chives, salt & pepper, 1 cup parmesan and ½ cup cooking cream. Cover with the lid and stand 5 minutes before serving.

Spoon into large bowls and top with extra parmesan if desired.

Review For Bombe Alaska - Willoughby

Zucchini Flower 
Spatchcock

This is a great find tucked away in Willoughby. If you’re after modern Australian food at fairly reasonable prices (2 entrees + 2 mains = less than $100) you should be quite satisfied. The menu is full of variety – although in some cases there are entree/main combinations that I don’t think match each other. I had the zucchini flower for my entree then the Spatchcock for the main. The zucchini flower was great and the spatchcock was lovely just a little on the dry side... The sauce with it was nice. It was only us there and a group of four arrived half way through our time there. We became a little forgotten about when the second group arrived so the service, while pleasant, wasn’t the greatest when the waitress had to multi-task. Overall I would recommend it and I think there’s no need to book as they do always seem quiet and I’m really not sure why as it truly is a great find.

Monday, January 2, 2012

NYE Dinner for Peg & JP - Braised Calamari with Pine Nuts and Currents


October 2011 Greek Edition of Gourmet Traveller
Prep time 45 mins, cook 1 hour 25 mins (plus cooking)
Serves 4 as a light meal


Ingredients
-          150g long-grain rice
-          40gm butter, coarsely chopped
-          2 tbsp olive oil
-          1 onion, finely diced
-          2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
-          125ml dry white wine
-          200ml fish stock
-          2 tbsp pine nuts
-          1 tbsp currents
-          30ml lemon juice
-          2 tbsp each coarsely chopped flat leaf parsley, mint and dill, plus extra flat leave parsley to serve
-          8 cleaned calamari tubes (about 800gm)

Tomato and Red Capsicum Sauce
-          50gm butter, coarsely chopped
-          2 red capsicum, sliced into 2cm strips
-          2 garlic cloves fine chopped
-          2 tsp each ground coriander and paprika
-          200ml fish stock
-          150ml white wine
-          800gm canned crushed tomatoes
-          1 fresh bay leaf
-          ¼ cup each coarsely chopped dill and flat-leaf parsley
Pinch of caster sugar.


Method
1.       For the tomato and red capsicum sauce, heat the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Reduce heat to low, add capsicum and garlic and stir occasionally until starting to soften. Add spices and stir until fragrant (30 secs), then add stock and wine and bring to the simmer. Add tomato and bay leaf and simmer until thick (20-25 mins). Season to taste and stir through herbs and sugar.
2.       Meanwhile, par cook rice in boiling water (3-5 mins) drain and set aside
3.       Heat butter and olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat, add onion and garlic and stir occasionally until tender (5-6 minutes). Add wine and stir to combine, and add rice and stock, season to taste and bring to simmer. Reduce heat to low, add pine nuts and currents cover and simmer until rice is just cooked through (12 – 15 mins). Remove from heat, stir through lemon juice, season to taste and spread on a tray to cool. Stir in herbs, and then fill calamari tubes ¾ full. Secure with a toothpick and refrigerate until required.
4.       Preheat oven to 180 and place calamari in a single layer in a baking dish, cover with sauce and bake until calamari are cooked through (23-30 mins). Season to taste and serve hot scattered with parsley, with crusty bread.
















Sent from my iPhone

Recipe - Roast chicken with chorizo and tomato



Ingredients
  • 800 gm small potatoes, such as kipfler, scrubbed and quartered
  • 1 Spanish onion, cut into thin wedges
  • 120 ml extravirgin olive oil
  • 2 tbsp each coarsely chopped thyme and oregano, plus extra leaves to serve
  • Finely grated rind and juice of 2 lemons
  • 1 garlic clove, coarsely chopped
  • 2 tsp smoked paprika
  • 4 chicken Marylands, halved through the joint
  • 2 chorizo, thickly sliced
  • 300 gm cherry tomatoes or small truss tomatoes, cut into clusters
  • 200 ml chicken stock
  • 2 tbsp sherry vinegar, or to taste
  • To serve: crisp leaf salad

Method
  1. Preheat oven to 200C. Combine potato and onion in a large roasting pan, drizzle with 60ml olive oil, season to taste and place in oven while you prepare the chicken.
  2. Pound herbs, rind, garlic and paprika in a mortar and pestle until a paste forms, stir in half the lemon juice and remaining oil. Transfer to a bowl with chicken, stirring to coat well, and stand to marinate for 10 minutes.
  3. Heat a large frying pan over mediumhigh heat; add chicken pieces and cook, turning once until browned (2 minutes on each side). Add to roasting pan with chorizo and tomatoes, drizzle with any remaining marinade and return roasting pan to oven.
  4. Reduce oven down to 120
  5. Meanwhile, return frying pan to medium high heat, deglaze with stock and simmer until slightly reduced (12 minutes). Add remaining lemon juice, season to taste and pour into roasting pan. Cook until potato is tender and chicken is cooked through. Add vinegar to pan, then serve chicken, chorizo and vegetables hot with pan juices, scattered with extra herbs, with a crisp leaf salad.
  6. Serves 4
Source:

NYE Dinner for Peg & JP - Char-Grilled Vegetable Salad with Red Wine Vinegar Dressing


I did a seafood cooking class at Sydney Fish Markets with my friend Fay and this salad was one of the dishes. We did this on a bbq but my new bbq hasn't been unpacked or set up yet so I used the oven for the capsicum and my health-smart grill for the other vegetables. My grill doesn't change the flavour, i just love the look of the striped char marks that it creates.

Serves 4 as a side dish

Ingredients
-          2 baby eggplant, cut into 1cm thick slices
-          2 zucchini, cut into 1cm thick slices
-          1 red capsicum
-          1 banana chilli (sweet chilli)
-          Extra virgin olive oil
-          Salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Dressing
-          ½ tablespoon red wine vinegar
-          1 ½ tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
-          ½ teaspoon castor sugar
-          ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
-          ½ teaspoon salt flakes

Method
1.    Heat BBO.
2.    Brush whole capsicum and banana chilli with oil and place on BBO, turn as needed to blacken all sides.
3.    Meanwhile, make dressing: whisk all ingredients together in a large bowl. Set aside.
4.    Brush eggplant and zucchini with olive oil, season with salt and pepper.
5.    Put eggplant and zucchini onto BBO, turn once after 2 - 3 minutes, when well coloured.
6.    Remove when cooked and place into bowl with dressing.
7.    Remove capsicum and chilli when all sides are blackened and place into a plastic bag until cool enough to handle. Peel and remove seeds and membrane, slice into strips.
8.    Combine with other vegetables, toss to coat well with dressing and serve.