So despite all this fat storing, my condition hasn't changed. There's something impertinent about this cold that seems to seep through all my layers, regardless of what seems like the most impermeable thermal layering on my part. Perhaps I'm just not meant for this weather? But I really do love London, even her rainy days, just not the way she bites in the cold. All I have to say is thank-God for double-glazed windows, something I've come to love over the past few months.
So, I'm afraid that this pot-belly I've acquired ain't getting any smaller and this weather is the perfect breeding ground for the flu. And, after flicking through my flickr account, I've stumbled upon a forgotten dish I made last June using quinoa- that much revered grain of the Incas. Just like now, this was made at a time when I was needing something nutritious, but something that didn't seem too healthy. Like when your parents try to hide vegetables into your food hoping you were none the wiser. Despite my penchant for desserts I do love healthy meals, although if someone ever tells me they eat only bread made of sprouted grains and drink nothing other than non-homogenised, unpasturised milk, and everything raw, I'll probably give them some look of bemusement.
This dish is healthy, but doesn't wreak of wholesomeness in that elitist sort of way that looks down on anything that has touched a stove. The quinoa grain, grown in the heights of the Andes is a quiet achiever, unbeknownst to most, quinoa boasts a solid reputation for its nutritional potency. Packed with vitamins– phosphorous, magnesium, zinc and iron, plus loads of fibre, it can pride itself as the only grain that is a complete protein, containing all 8 amino acids required by the body. And not to mention it's gluten free, so it's perfect for coeliacs; but really, it's perfect for anyone. So don't mess with the quinoa.
Frankly I don't know why quinoa isn't getting more of a rap. It's perfect. It's the kind of food that you can feed your kids knowing you won't have to disguise them as something else less healthy. And it's possibilities are endless, it might even oust rice as my favourite starch of choice, as it's just as fluffy but packs a bigger punch.
Aside from harping on about quinoa, you might know about my fascination with Eumundi Smokehouse sausages, namely in:
In The Closet, And A Really Good Pizza Recipe
Australians All Let Us Rejoice
All The Way, With Carbs Today
Lifting The Fog
And this post is no different. This time I used Chicken and Chilli sausages. It was perfectly juicy and even when a little overcooked, an oversight on my part, it didn't dry out.
I cannot mention it enough how much I miss Eumundi Smokehouse products, although I might have found some answers to this stark absence of Eumundi in my life. Aside from the various farmer's markets around London, there are a number of online grocers and butchers that are selling a large range of gourmet sausages in the UK. Here are some to name a few, if you happen to live in London:
Abel & Cole- organic grocer
Heap to Home- mail order sausages and bacon
Biggles- gourmet sausage supplier (wholesale and retail), home delivery, Marylebone store.
This quinoa dish is something you can easily whip up and eat in no time. Also it's completely versatile and open to adaptation, maybe toss a few root vegetables in with the quinoa, or eat it with a side of broccoli instead. The possibilities are infinite. I shows it doesn't take that long to get a proper meal going and this is certainly proof. Half an hour in a kitchen to eat something wholesome and sound, or a microwave dish zapped in 60 seconds devoid of any flavour and nutrition- I know which one I would choose.
Quinoa Lunch Bowl
Inspired by this recipe
Serves 4
FOR THE QUINOA
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small brown onion, diced
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
250g mushrooms
1 cup Quinoa
500ml stock (whichever is your preference, in this recipe I used chicken)*
sea salt and black pepper
parsley, roughly chopped
8 gourmet sausages
*You might need to add more stock or water if you see that the quinoa is drying up.
FOR THE GARLIC GREEN BEANS
olive oil
5 cloves of garlic finely chopped
400g green beans, cut into thirds
sea salt
MAKING THE QUINOA
In a medium pan, heat olive oil over medium heat.
Fry onions until soft and translucent.
Add the garlic, chilli and mushrooms and cook for another 2 minutes.
Add the quinoa and stock and stir to combine.
Cover pan and allow to simmer for approximately 20 minutes or until the quinoa has taken all the liquid and is translucent. The quinoa should be soft with a slight bite, if not, then add some water and cook further.
Meanwhile, grill sausages until cooked. Slice before serving
MAKING THE GARLIC GREEN BEANS
Heat olive oil in a pan.
Add garlic and beans and fry until beans have become a bright green colour.
Season with salt.
Assemble qunioa, sausages and green beans into a bowl and serve.
Happy New Year!
Where did all the time go? Months spent outside the blogosphere must equate to years. While others have kept up their posting at such a prodigious rate, I on the other hand feel like I need to reacquaint myself with the blog.
It seems that the London fog had clouded my head and sucked out every will to write, albeit, none of my will to eat. I had no intention of going on hiatus, as such, which must be the blogger’s equivalent to the celebrity stint in rehab. I in fact, had every intention of keeping up the posts at the same rate, if not even greater than in Sydney– but it just didn’t pan out that way. The excitement and responsibilities of moving to a new city, the anticipation of travel and my lack of kitchen paraphernalia all contributed to the derelict state of the blog. But it’s time I dust the cobwebs off and start the old girl back up again.
Now here’s something from the vault that has yet to see the light of day– a Chorizo and Pea risotto that I made back in August last year, not long before I left for London. Perhaps it’s not the most obvious choice for a comeback, it’s rustic and almost too quotidian– and especially if you are reading this in the heart of the Australian summer, it’s not exactly the sort of summer fare that relieves you from the blistering heat. But in the dead of one of Britain’s coldest winters in decades, this is sort of thing that really warms your cockles and staves off those sudden chills.
During these winter months, sometimes there’s nothing better than a meal devoid of any pomp and pretension and just serves you up want you want. Comfort. It seems also most hackneyed, but the idea of comfort food will never be out of place. Aside from nourishment, we all know the sensual and consoling nature of food. Just watch Ratatouille and let Remy show you the power food has over one’s sensibilities and lift us out of our momentary fog.
So to lift this seemingly pedestrian risotto out of banality, I decided to use Testun di Pecora Con Foglie di Castagne. The testun, I picked up at the Pyrmont Grower’s Market last year from Formaggi Ocello. It’s a bit of a mouthful to say, but the testun is simply a sheep's milk cheese covered in chestnut leaves. It’s aged for no less than 28 months, and at $120/kilo, it’s earned its worth in flavour.
The cheese has a subtle nutty taste, salty, with hints of sharpness and a nice sweet finish that is characteristic of many sheep’s milk cheese. I’m not sure exactly if the chestnut leaves are responsible for adding that nutty flavour to it but I imagine the wrapping serves a great purpose in imparting flavour.
The addition of the testun di pecora does lift this risotto out of the familiar and gives it that little oomph that perhaps something like the addition of truffles in pasta would do. Ok, perhaps that is a stretch, as truffles are in a league of their own, but the cheese does infuse a nuance of flavour that sets it beyond the norm.
I should add that the chorizo I used was a picante that I also procured from the markets at the Eumundi Smokehouse stall. How I miss their preservative-free gourmet sausages- this seems to be quite lacking here in England. Their love of pork becomes blaringly obvious when at the grocery store or the markets you will see shelves stocked to the brim with all manner of pork sausages, but when all you are wanting are some lamb merguez, or even just beef and Guinness, you leave feeling a little bit empty-handed. And I’m not particulary one for supermarket-brand sausages, filled with all sorts of preservatives and numbers and letters I cannot pronounce. Usually I stay away from anything with too many numbers in its ingredients list.
However, I have found a stall at the Greenwich Markets that sells lamb merguez, but when I came back to get some they had sold out. I was only gone for an hour! Which makes me suspect this could be the only place in London selling lamb merguez.
So there you have it, my first post of the year. I’ll try to be a little more proactive with the blogging, but thank you for your emails of concern when I dropped off the radar.
Chorizo and Pea Risotto
Serves 4
1.1 litres chicken stock
1 tbs olive oil
1 brown onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 chorizo picante, diced
400g arborio rice
dry white wine
1 cup freshly shelled green peas (frozen is also fine to use)
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
50g butter
125g freshly grated testun di pecora (or any other hard sheep’s milk cheese)
Heat the stock to a gentle simmer in a medium pot.
Meanwhile in a wide saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat and fry onions until soft, 3-5 minutes.
Then add the garlic and chorizo and fry until chorizo is crispy.
Add the rice and stir until the rice becomes slightly translucent.
Add a splash of white wine and stir.
Begin to add a ladle of hot stock and continue to stir rice.
Keep adding ladlefuls of stock, stirring until each batch of stock is absorbed. The rice should be soft, although not gluggy; there should be a little bit of a bite to it. Use more or less stock depending on the softness of the rice.
When the rice is just about cooked add the peas and cook for another 2-3 minutes, season with sea salt and pepper.
Remove pan from heat and stir through the butter and testun di pecora.
Place a lid on the pan and allow to sit for 2 minutes before serving.
You might not have noticed but posts have been particularly sparse on the blog lately, and it partly has something to do with the little announcement that I am making on the blog today. The news flash, might be exciting for some, or not so much for others but either which way there are no doubt still many food possibilities that lie ahead on the blogging front. So don't worry, I'm not going to turn into a knitting blog or anything. Not that I dislike knitting blogs but it's just that I don't know how to knit, not even a sock puppet, or a scarf, so I say stick to what you know.
Well, eating is what I know, and food, especially those of the sugary persuasion will still be the focus of the blog, and really nothing will change except for my location. So let's see if you can guess where Milk and Cookies is headed to this August for two years? The clue is in this dish.
Guessed it yet? I'm pretty sure this clue is a dead give away. So indeed, it's true, to the possible dismay of many Londoners, I am going to the land of the eternal pub crawl or at least I hope it is, and will be checking out what the city has to offer in terms of food.
Hey, maybe I'll run into Jamie Oliver at the Borough Markets and ask him why my banana and honey bread more resembled baseballs rather than bread rolls. But I'd much rather run into Rick Stein any day, I love how he's such and advocate for British food and produce no matter how much of a bad rap it gets. Too bad he won't have Chalky with him though, that dog was the shiz.
But there you have it, I'm on my way to the northern hemisphere, I'm doubtful about how it compares to its southern counterpart, but I guess it's home for a couple of years.
So I'm sure you don't need a recipe to make bangers and mash, but here's one for the onion gravy that I pinched from Jane and Jeremy Strode of Bistrode.
Onion Gravy
makes about one-half cup
100g unsalted butter
1 tsp brown sugar
2 medium onions, sliced thinly
1 tsp red wine vinegar
200ml beef stock
sea salt
fresh cracked black pepper
Melt butter in a heavy-based saucepan over low heat.
Add sugar and onions.
Cook slowly until caramelised, about 30 minutes.
Add vinegar and cook for another five minutes.
Add stock and season with salt and pepper and simmer for 15 minutes until sauce has thickened.
No matter how bad a rap carbs get, I'm still a staunch advocate for the stuff. How anyone could go on a diet deliberately eschewing the stuff is a mystery to me. Although for the sake of your hips, I do know how the formidable temptation of starch can be too much to bear. And sometimes under the weight of that incredible urge you give in. All the way.
I'm going through a pasta phase right now. And I've had it almost everyday this past week. If there ever was a fixation in my life right now, aside from the shopping thing of course, which probably is more gender-based than anything else, this pasta thing is probably it.
The Italians really knew how to do carbs- with their beautiful breads and pasta, they really knew how to throw a carb party. I know that there's some contention concerning the true the origins of pasta, but it's without myth or lore that the Italians were the ones who made pasta their own art form. Turning this dough of wheat and eggs into a myriad of shapes and forms. If there is an Italian nearby, I suggest you go and give them a kiss.
But enough with public displays of affection; did I mention I have also fostered an addiction to Eumundi Smokehouse sausages. I've mentioned it before, how I go ga-ga over their range of gourmet sausages and not to mention their chorizo. And although a kilo of the Russian Farmer's sausages will set you back over $30; it must be all that Vodka in it, there's no price you should put on good taste.
And you know a good thing when you smell it, as you enter their small shop in Dulwich Hill, you are hit by the aroma of spices and a curtain of smoked meat hanging from a bar suspended above the counter. Everywhere you look it's meat. And there's something to be admired about a butcher who doesn't hold back with the spices and the booze. I say the more the merrier.
Their products are all made of natural ingredients and contain no preservatives. So it's best to eat them as soon as you buy them, which is really nothing to complain about. The sausages I used for this pasta were their lamb merguez sausages, a combination of lamb, red wine, coriander, parsley, pepper, mint and chilli. When fried, it exudes a perfume that rouses the palate and gets any carnivore's attention.
And why not put the two loves together, pasta and sausages. It's simple gourmet, and I'm sure country folk everywhere tending to pasturelands in the back of nowhere have been enjoying the staple of pasta and sausages for a long time wouldn't even bat an eyelid at this dish, but it's classics like these that never go wrong. I'm not sure if an Italian would call this dish a real classic, but it's simple enough with pasta, sausages, tomatoes and a splash of white wine thrown in for good measure.
I can't think of a better way to relieve those autumn cravings for comfort than with a classic pasta dish. You can use pretty much any shape you want, I like slurping my way through it, so linguine was the way to go, but if you prefer the pasta without the loud, sloppy sucking then penne or rigatoni would do just as well.
EUMUNDI SMOKEHOUSE
402 New Canterbury Road,
Dulwich Hill, NSW
Phone: (02) 95690205
Opening Hours: Thur-Fri 11am to 6pm; Sat 7am to 2pm
Their products are also available at a number of gourmet farmers markets and gourmet food stores. Contact Eumundi for more stockists.
Sausage and Capsicum Linguine
Serves 4
Adapted from Australian Gourmet Traveller
6 (750g) sausages, skins removed and chopped into 4cm slices
1 red capsicum
3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 small red chilli, finely chopped
50g (1⁄4 cup) tomato paste
50ml dry white wine
1 can (400g) crushed tomatoes
sea salt
½ cup coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley
500g dried linguine
freshly grated parmesan, to serve
Roast the capsicum in a preheated oven at 220ºC for 20 minutes.
Remove from oven and peel skin off.
Deseed and cut capsicum into 2cm-wide strips.
Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan, add sausages and cook over medium heat, turning, for 5 minutes or until golden. Transfer sausages to a bowl.
Add onion and garlic and sauté over low-medium heat for 3 minutes or until softened, add chilli and sauté for another 2 minutes.
Add tomato paste and stir for 5 minutes or until sauce thickens, then add sausage, capsicum and white wine and cook for 2 minutes, stirring to coat sausages and reducing liquid by half.
Add tomatoes, season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, then simmer for 10 minutes or until sauce is thick.
Stir through parsley.
Meanwhile, cook linguine in a large saucepan of boiling salted water until al dente.
Drain and transfer linguine to the frying pan and combine with sauce.
Divide sauced linguine among plates and top with any remaining sauce from frying pan and serve with parmesan.
I’m still rather reluctant to share this recipe with you. Most things I share on the blog are things that have worked out for me; actually, this goes for all things I have posted on the blog. I’m by no means an expert chef, you know that, but my reasoning is, if it works for me then it will most certainly work for you. And so a recipe gets posted.
So why then am I sharing this recipe that has dismally failed on me, with you? I'm not exactly sure why, I think that cruel, self-deprecating part of me just wants to lay my shortcomings out on the table. One of those flaws is that I'm hopeless at savoury foods. I have my moments here and there, but as a whole, I'm a little lacking when it comes to dishes that don't contain sugar.
So now that the truth is out in the open for everyone to gawk and snigger at, let me share with you my grim rendition of what I suppose was a perfectly delectable recipe for cornmeal and shallot madeleines. I saw the words cornmeal and madeleines and thought what an interesting take in making madeleines with cornmeal. It certainly piqued my curiosity and when I discovered that I had all the ingredients on hand, including a tub of Gympie Farm crème fraîche from the farmer's markets, I was even more stirred to give it a go.
Casting all my savoury food failings aside I embarked upon this recipe with all hope that it would turn out a treat. And while I was following the instructions to the letter, I had every inkling that it would be successful. After all I was using great ingredients and all I needed to do was execute the recipe as instructed. Right?
Hmm, I don't know exactly where the train-wreck ensued, probably somewhere between putting the madeleines into the oven and then taking them out. They looked all right and the smelled okay, but they tasted almost like feet- crunchy yellow, onion-scented feet. I realise that many of you probably came here to be swept up by some delicious dish that incites drool to drip from the corners your mouth, but I guess this time I fail you.
So the madeleines didn't exactly taste like feet, they tasted quite buttery in fact. But aside from it's distinct onion smell, there was a slight scent of feet. I'm not exactly sure, but I imagine that your olfactory senses have a lot to do with your sense of taste, so the fact that the madeleines smelled somewhat of feet, made it seem like it tasted like feet. It almost feels inappropriate to be speaking about such a charming thing as a madeleine but sometimes you just have to call it as it is.
I must point out that the madeleines weren't a complete failure; some people did enjoy then, although some of those people included my mother, so she probably doesn't count. And when you have a glass of wine to wash it down with, you really can't tell the difference between onions and smelly feel, can you? And if you can still tell the difference, then it’s probably indication that you need to take another swig from your wine glass.
If this recipe, even after being likened to feet, still wets your appetite then by all means give it a go and let me know if you have a better result. I would be very interested to know. I had such high hopes for it that I am fairly certain that it is more likely human error that caused the slight tang of feet, rather than the recipe itself. I guess my only advice to heed is that don't serve it to guests before trying it yourself. Luckily this was only served to my hapless family who grinned and bore it through to the last mouthful.
Coming up next: Madeleines that don't reek of feet.
Cornmeal and Shallot Madeleines with Crème Fraîche
Recipe from epicurious.com
Makes 12 medium-sized madeleines
1/3 cup minced shallot
2 tbsp cold unsalted butter
1/3 cup polenta (yellow cornmeal)
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
¾ tsp baking powder
1 large egg, beaten lightly
¼ cup crème fraîche or sour cream plus additional as a topping
3 tbsp water
Preheat oven to 200°C.
In a skillet cook the shallot in 1 tbsp of the butter over moderately low heat, stirring, until it is softened and let the mixture cool completely.
In a bowl stir together the cornmeal, the flour, the baking powder, and the shallot mixture, add the remaining 1 tbsp butter, cut into bits, and blend the mixture until it resembles fine meal.
Stir in the egg, the crème fraîche, the water, and salt and pepper to taste and stir the batter until it is combined well.
Preheat a 12-hole madeleine tray in the middle of preheated oven for 2 minutes, remove the tins from the oven and into each hole spoon a heaping 2 tsp of the batter.
Bake the madeleines for 6 to 8 minutes, or until edges are brown.
Turn them out onto a wire rack, and let them cool completely.
Top the madeleines with the additional crème fraîche.
NOTE: The madeleines may be made 3 days in advance and kept chilled in an airtight container.
It's AUSTRALIA DAY today so I won't consider it too garish to get a little patriotic say a big G'day to all of you! And if you were thinking that we are all putting that trite little shrimp on the barbie then think again, first of all we call them prawns down here and were most likely going to be putting snags or chops on the barbie. Yes, snags or chops. Sausages or steaks.
You have to love the Aussie lexicon. It's baffling and nonsensical to the outsider; we love to attach silly terms to words that are in perfect working order and love to shorten everything, but if you are Australian it makes perfect sense. Like a cup of tea being a cuppa, chewing gum becomes chewie, breakfast being breakkie, and anyone called Darren, Karen and Lauren will indubitably be given the nickname Dazza, Kazza, and Lozza. I love being Australian.
Another thing quintessentially Australian and proudly so, is the barbie- the barbeque. Now I'm pretty sure it wasn't the early settlers who thought up this way of grilling meat over hot coals, I'm sure it was around for a lot longer than that. But what we do pride ourselves in are our barbies. Most people will get together today and put a few snags on their barbie, have a beer and good laugh. We're not into formality and being all ceremonious about things, and the barbie epitomises all that is casual about the Australian lifestyle.
There's something about meat that is cooked over an open flame that just makes it taste better. All that smoke and fire permeating the meat, charring the outside and leaving the inside tender. It's a joy to behold and even more so to eat.
Right now I'm on a bit of a sausage bent. I have it with my pasta, I have in my sandwiches and I have it on my pizza. Right now I'm obsessed with finding good sausages all over Sydney and for this moment my taste buds go ga-ga for any sausage by the Eumundi Smokehouse people. They are a small business operating out of Dulwich Hill and if you're in Sydney and you like your meat, then this is your Mecca. They also have stalls at several markets like the monthly Pyrmont ones and the Farmer's Market in the Entertainment Quarter and most of their stuff can be found at organic wholefood stores like Macro and Aboutlife.
Their chorizos are probably one of the best I have tasted in Sydney, and at $32/kilo for the Russian Farmer's sausage, it's gold for the discriminating carnivore. As much as the shop is filled with exotic fare, there are also simpler stuff that I find are a delight- like the beef and Guinness, lamb and rosemary, chicken and leek, Tolouse and Italian sausages. My personal favourite is the lamb and rosemary. When you cook them up, the kitchen fills up with that distinct aroma of lamb, and soon enough it's perfume has summoned everyone to the kitchen.
I went to the farmer's market at the old Fox Studios lot this week to get my ration of sausages for the weekend and it seems that most of Sydney had the same idea. By the time I had arrived at the Eumundi stall most of their sausages had already sold out including the lamb and rosemary, so I was left with what was still there. Not that the stuff left behind was second-rate. It's actually top-notch stuff that I thoroughly enjoy today.
So have a barbie and get a few sausage sangas (sausage sandwiches) and beers into your belly, be up standing for the national anthem and enjoy this beautiful land we call Australia.
Eumundi Smokehouse Sydney
402 New Canterbury Rd,
Dulwich Hill, NSW
Phone: (02) 9569 0205
Opening Hours: Thursday-Friday 11am-6pm, Saturday 7am-2pm
For the most part I never knew what a ragu was for a very long time. All my life in fact. When I heard the term ragu, my mind would usually conceive a visual image of something more along the lines of beef tripe, or something exotic and mildly freakish like ox tongue stew. But it wasn't until I made this pasta dish for a friend that they mentioned this concoction was in fact like a ragu. I gave her a blank stare, as if she had just spoken to me in Elvish or something.
Although traditionally made with ground beef a rugu is essentially a rich tomato based sauce made for pasta that is cooked slowly over low heat. The name is derived from the French ragoûter, which means to revive or stimulate the taste of. So I guess essentially this pasta sauce has the basic attributes of an Italian ragu, just without the meat.
I made this dish on a lazy day-off that I spent doing menial chores. And of all chores I hate doing, laundry is probably the one I detest most. It's not the washing part that annoys me, it's more the hanging the clothes part that is the bore. And because I want to stay eco-friendly, I always like to use the sun whenever possible. So it makes it even more a task having to put all the clothes into a basket, go outside and proceed to hang each item one peg at a time.
I've been known to leave the damp clothes in the laundry basket for hours while I try to force the most minuscule amount of motivation to bring myself to put those clothes on the line. It's a struggle every time. And then there's the part where you have to take the clothes off the line, and it all seems redundant in the end. But I guess clean clothes are a necessity in life.
But I later found out that if there was anything that would motivate me to get out and take the time to hang my laundry out on the line, it would have to be this ragu. I guess with any sort of chore, I could get through it with this ragu. See, you can start with the vacuuming, then with the dishes, then with the laundry and just before it's time to take the ragu off the stove, all you need to do is go outside and put those clothes on the line. And by that time you will be smelling the aroma of thick tomato sauce, basil and sweet eggplants bubbling away from the outside. You will have no choice but to make haste back into your house. I know it worked for me. I 've nver hung clothes with that much determination to finish.
Next time it comes around to housework, I know what will jolt me into action to get through the most mundane of tasks. With this simple pasta dish waiting at the end of your labour, I don't know what better reward there could be.
If you want you can substitute the eggplant with some shredded or ground meat or if you want the dish to stay vegetarian, then perhaps use zucchini or pumpkin instead.
And if you need more ideas to get you started with pasta dishes why not head over to Presto Pasta Nights at Once Upon a Feast. There's a bevy of pasta recipes that could keep you going for a year. Enjoy!
Orecchiette with Eggplant Ragu
Serves 8
1 small brown onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
5 anchovies sea salt
6 medium sized eggplants (aubergines), peeled and diced
50g Portobello mushrooms, diced
2 x 400g canned tomatoes
fresh basil leaves
500g orecchiette
extra virgin olive oil
cracked black pepper
Over medium heat, in a large saucepan heat about 2 tablespoons of olive oil.
Add the onions and fry until onions become translucent.
Add the garlic and anchovies and stir until the anchovies dissolve.
Add sea salt to season, mix for about 2 minutes.
Add the chopped eggplants and mushrooms and cook for about 5 more minutes or until the eggplant begins to soften.
Pour in the canned tomatoes and grab a small handful of fresh basil leaves and add to the mixture, stir to combine.
Leave to simmer over low heat for 30-40 minutes.
While ragu is simmering, boil 1 litre of water in a pot.
When water comes to a rolling boil, add a generous amount of sea salt.
Add the orecchiette and cook for the amount of time specified on the package.
Drain and drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil before topping with ragu.
Season with cracked black pepper and more sea salt to taste.
Serves 8
1 small brown onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
5 anchovies sea salt
6 medium sized eggplants (aubergines), peeled and diced
50g Portobello mushrooms, diced
2 x 400g canned tomatoes
fresh basil leaves
500g orecchiette
extra virgin olive oil
cracked black pepper
Over medium heat, in a large saucepan heat about 2 tablespoons of olive oil.
Add the onions and fry until onions become translucent.
Add the garlic and anchovies and stir until the anchovies dissolve.
Add sea salt to season, mix for about 2 minutes.
Add the chopped eggplants and mushrooms and cook for about 5 more minutes or until the eggplant begins to soften.
Pour in the canned tomatoes and grab a small handful of fresh basil leaves and add to the mixture, stir to combine.
Leave to simmer over low heat for 30-40 minutes.
While ragu is simmering, boil 1 litre of water in a pot.
When water comes to a rolling boil, add a generous amount of sea salt.
Add the orecchiette and cook for the amount of time specified on the package.
Drain and drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil before topping with ragu.
Season with cracked black pepper and more sea salt to taste.
It seemed all to coincidental that the battery on my mac died the same time I decided to take a little creative hiatus. So for a whole week I have been pretty much computer-less, thanks to Apple and their unreliable range of macbook batteries. Apparently this is a fairly common problem and frankly I am pretty pissed off. Luckily my macbook is still under warranty. And so my love-hate affair with Apple continues.
But on to better, tastier things. Like Taleggio cheese.
Taleggio is an Italian cheese that originates from the region of, surprise surprise, Val Taleggio. As a cheese, I think Taleggio is one of those that just have to revered. It's been around for centuries and the process of how authentic Taleggio is made has changed very little. The cheese is usually left to mature in limestone caves or cellars and are washed in a special salty brine every week in order to inhibit the growth of certain moulds.
The cheese has a thin orangey-yellow rind, which you remove to expose the soft, straw-coloured runny interior which bears the pungent aroma of mushrooms and fruits. You can usually recognise the smell of taleggio a mile away, I know I can and it's taste can stay on your palate for a really long time. But in a way that will leave you wanting more. It's saltiness can be quite prominent at first but after a few seconds, hints of its sweet acidity begins to take shape.
I have been known to sneak into the fridge, cheese knife in hand just slicing shards of this wonderful cheese just to satiate my appetite for it. And what better way to showcase it's beautiful taste than through a soufflé. Really, you could substitute Taleggio for any other melting cheese, however this one is one of my favourites. Those Italians sure know how to make a cheese. And when a cheese is protected by the European Union and a whole lot of legislation and regulations, you know that there is something special about it. I am just thrilled that we can get it here in Oz.
When it comes to soufflés, well there is really nothing to them than a whole lot of of hot air, but that's the thing, all this air that makes a soufflé is the very thing that can break it. Once all that hot air is gone, then poof, there goes your soufflé with it. But the wonderful thing is that no matter if this soufflé is puffed up, glorious and risen or it has collapsed into wonderful mess, it still tastes the same.
And don't worry I haven't slumped into the vapid despair of the food blogging black hole. I am finding inspiration and haven't lost the fire for cooking, baking and eating, but I am just lacking the motivation to put legs on all those things that inspire me.
But I must say a massive thanks to all your well-wishes, I didn't think that I would get such a response from simply telling you how I felt. But I do appreciate all you encouragement. Spring is here and with it comes new weather and new playthings, asparagus is coming back and so are berries. Now if I can't find the motivation from those things then I don't know what will.
Below is the recipe for a cheese soufflé, as I mentioned before feel free to substitute the Taleggio with other cheeses- I am imagining, asiago, cheddar, gorgonzola, the choices are endless!
Taleggio Soufflé
Adapted from Australian Good Taste, June 2005
Serves 8
Melted butter, to grease
breadcrumbs, to dust
30g butter
2 tbs plain flour
310ml (1 1/4 cups) milk
80g (1 cup) coarsely grated taleggio
¼ cup finely chopped fresh chives
20g (¼ cup) grated grana padano
4 eggs, separated
sea salt to taste
Preheat oven to 200°C.
Brush a 1.5L (6-cup) capacity ovenproof souffle dish with melted butter to lightly grease. Lightly dust with breadcrumbs.
Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat until foaming.
Add the flour and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes or until mixture bubbles and begins to come away from the side of the pan. Remove from heat.
Gradually pour in half the milk, whisking constantly with a balloon whisk until mixture is smooth.
Gradually add the remaining milk, whisking until smooth and combined.
Place saucepan over medium heat and bring to the boil, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, for 3-4 minutes or until sauce thickens. Remove from heat.
Add the taleggio, chives, grana padano and egg yolks, and stir until taleggio melts and the mixture is well combined.
Use an electric beater to beat the egg whites in a clean, dry bowl until firm peaks form. Add one-quarter of the egg white to the taleggio mixture and use a large metal spoon to fold until just combined.
Add the remaining egg white and fold until just combined.
Add some salt if required.
Pour the soufflé mixture into the prepared dish.
Place soufflé dishes on a baking tray and bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown and puffed (souffles are best when they're still slightly runny in the centre).
Remove from oven and serve immediately.
If you want to know more about Taleggio, why not check out The Union of Taleggio Cheese website.
No sooner than when I rejoiced over the advent of spring that winter comes back to bite us in the you-know-what. Winter weather has returned and so have the rains. I don’t know if this is Sydney’s way of welcoming the dignitaries arriving for the APEC conference, but it sure hope it doesn’t stick around for too long. I was just enjoying the sunshine and warm weather, and I could smell summer was just around the corner. Now it feels like summer is around the corner and down five more blocks away. What is with this erratic weather?
If you wanted to conjure up what the weather has been like, well it’s the kind that makes you want to stay in your pyjamas all day, the kind that makes you crave something warm for your belly and it’s the kind of weather that forces you indoors. Be that as it may, there is no need to fret. I have something sunny and light to wash away those cold weather blues.
Gnocchi- it probably isn’t the first thing you would think of when you cite being “light” as one of its qualities, it’s more words like stodgy, doughy, indigestible that come to mind. I know because I have never met a gnocchi that I have liked, they have always been too filling, too starchy and it seems like all it does is expand in your stomach after you have eaten just a few morsels. I never order gnocchi at restaurants because I just never see the point, one portion leaves you too stuffed to taste anything else- which for me means no dessert- which I just cannot abide with.
So what say you is the solution to heavy humdrum gnocchi? Add a little ricotta and change it’s colour; that’s what I did and it worked for me.
From dreading gnocchi to actually enjoying it, it was quite a reversal of opinion after tasting these. The key is the ricotta, it allows for a lighter fluffier dough as opposed to a typical gnocchi which is usually made only of flour and potatoes. It's amazing how moreish this gnocchi actually is, I never imagined myself craving another helping.
The recipe yields an enormous amount of gnocchi that I didn't know what to do with it all at first. I digressed from the initial urge to just boil them in a pot, and wanted to try something different. I have seen other ways of cooking gnocchi other than boiling, so here are the two ways that I chose to cook them- pan fired and baked. In both methods, the gnocchi develops a thin crispy outer layer while the inside remains steamy and fluffy.
Both ways contain mushrooms and Gorgonzola, leftovers from what I didn't put on the pizzas. You might be thinking that I must have wheels and wheels of Gorgonzola lying around as that it has made an appearance in some of the non-dessert items I have made lately. Well, no I don't hoard huge amounts of the stuff, I just know how to make a wedge of Gorgonzola last a really long time. The first version is the pan-friend gnocchi with sage butter, mushrooms and Gorgonzola sauce and the second one is a baked gnocchi with tomato sauce.
For the first batch all you need to do is- heat up a tablespoon of butter in a medium frypan and fry up some sage leaves just enough to infuse the butter with it's aroma. Then shallow fry the gnocchi until it is brown on both sides. Remove gnocchi from frypan and transfer to a paper towel to drain. With the heat still on, add the mushrooms (I used oyster) and fry them up until they are soft, you might want to add a little bit more butter at this point as the mushrooms will soak it up quickly. When the mushrooms are almost cooked, add a few cubes of Gorgonzola and melt. Plate the gnocchi up and place the mushroom sand sauce the gnocchi.
For the baked gnocchi, you will need to prepare a tomato sauce before hand (recipe below). Then preheat an oven at 180°C. Line a baking dish with gnocchi and drizzle with olive oil. Bake for 20 minutes or until the gnocchi begins to brown and form a skin. Then add some chopped mushrooms. Pour the tomato sauce over the gnocchi, ensuring that the whole dish is covered in the sauce. Lodge a few cubes of Gorgonzola into the sauce and return to the oven for another 15 minutes. Remove from oven and serve.
Which way did I prefer? To be honest I couldn't choose between them. The pan fried version with the sage was absolutely divine, the sage and Gorgonzola perfect compliments to each other and the beautifully crusted gnocchi was fun to bite into. While the baked version made for a perfectly smooth and creamy rendition of gnocchi. A far cry from the disasters I have tasted before and exactly what I needed on a dreary day like to day.
Basic Sweet Potato Gnocchi Recipe
Adapted from epicurious.com
2 medium sized sweet potatoes, washed and pierced all over with a fork
250g fresh ricotta cheese
½ cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
½ tsp sea salt
1 egg
2 cups all purpose flour
Preheat oven to 200°C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Place sweet potatoes on tray and bake for 45 minutes to an hour; until the skin is browned and the flesh is soft.
Remove sweet potatoes from oven and allow to cool to room temperature.
Cut potatoes in half and use a spoon to scrape out the flesh and mash.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the sweet potato flesh, ricotta, Parmesan, nutmeg, salt, egg and flour.
Combine the ingredients until a soft dough forms.
Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Turn dough out onto floured surface; divide into 6 equal pieces.
Rolling between palms and floured work surface, form each piece into a long rope 2.5cm in diameter, sprinkling with flour as needed if sticky.
Cut each rope into pieces about 1cm wide.
Roll each piece over tines of fork to indent.
Transfer to baking sheet.
Tomato Sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped finely
½ tsp dried chilli flakes
sea salt, to taste
400g can of chopped tomatoes
In a saucepan heat up olive oil over medium heat.
Fry garlic and dried chilli flakes for two minutes, add salt.
Pour in tomatoes and simmer for 30 minutes or until the sauce has thickened and become a deeper red.
As promised, here is the recipe for the mushroom pasta I made yesterday for lunch using the fabulous hunk of cheese I bought at the markets . On a lazy Saturday afternoon, the last thing you want to do is linger too long in the kitchen. Now, this pasta is so simple and so easily modified that I don't even know if I should provide you a recipe. You could almost make it up as you go, I did. But here it goes.
I used the regular swiss brown mushrooms you can find at any supermarket for this dish as that is what I had in the fridge, but really you can use any mushroom you want. If I were to make this again, I am imagining some porcini, chanterelles, oysters, or if you happen to be very lucky or loaded, you can lace the pasta with shavings of fresh truffle. Divine.
You can't tell from the picture above but the sauce becomes a beautiful seafoam green and is quite runny in consistency. The taste is quite strong because of the gorgonzola, and if you don't want such a prominent cheese taste then you can up the cream or better yet, just lessen the cheese. I didn't add any salt as the cheese gave enough saltiness, but if you think it needs a bit of salt you can add a pinch or two, or even add a spoonful of parmesan cheese instead. I decided to sprinkle more gorgonzola crumbs over the pasta so that as you are eating you are surprised by little bursts of cheese.
Also, you can even replace the pasta with penne or macaroni. It just so happened that I had this rotini in the pantry just ready to be cooked. Rotini is just the fancy Italian name for the spiral-shaped pasta.
Mushroom and Gorgonzola Rotini
serves 4
500g pack Spiral Pasta
olive oil
200g swiss brown mushrooms, sliced lenthways
1 tsp thyme, dried or fresh
1 clove garlic, chopped roughly
100g gorgonzola cheese, cubed (you can leave some extra to sprinkle over)
125ml pouring (single) cream
freshly grated nutmeg
salt for boiling
pepper to taste
salt or parmesan cheese if required
Boil a litre of water in a large pot and add salt when the water comes to a rolling boil.
Cook the pasta al dente, according to package instructions.
Drain
TO PREPARE THE SAUCE
Heat a large saucepan over medium heat and add the olive oil.
Add the mushrooms and thyme and cook for 30 seconds, then add the garlic.
When the mushrooms have softened, reduce the heat and add the cheese and stir until melted.
Add the cream and continue to stir until the sauce thickens.
Remove from heat and add the pasta and mix through the sauce.
Grate some fresh nutmeg over the top.
Add salt or parmesan cheese if needed
(Optional- sprinkle some crumbled gorgonzola over the pasta)
Add freshly ground black pepper before serving.
Sunday afternoons in Sydney are meant to be spent lazily, it’s almost mandatory, especially when our newly started winter season is unusually clement. Not that I am complaining but where have our Sydney winters gone? It seems that every year the winters get milder and milder. Could Mr. Gore be right about this inconvenient truth? Well, wherever it is our winter has run away to, it has given Sydneysiders the rare opportunity to enjoy a June weekend outdoors unladen with the burden of a thousand layers of clothing.
So what do you do when you have become locked away indoors working on a Sunday afternoon while everyone you possibly know is either lounging at home, or enjoying the Primo Italiano Food Festival?
The obvious answer would be to throw yourself a pity party and wallow in that pool of despair that you have created for yourself. Perhaps sit in a dark corner crouched in the foetal position passing the hours pondering on how much more pitiful your weekend can get. I know that’s exactly what I wanted to do every time I looked out the window, I could feel mother nature shining the sun in my eyes as if to spite me for not being outside to enjoy her good bidding. Nonetheless I was trapped, so the only thing to do was to bring my lazy Sunday lunch to work with me.
I found the perfect lazy recipe from Simply Recipes, that endorsed the philosophy that food needn’t be fussy to be tasty, namely “low-supervision, high-flavour”. That was exactly what I was looking for, for my lazy lunch at work. I had enough busy-ness throughout the day to be bothered with cooking a special meal, so this was made the night before and then packed in an airtight container ready to heated up and plated the next day. But what is a lazy lunch without a lazy dessert?
This brings us to a Donna Hay creation- Caramel Self-Saucing Puddings. There’s nothing better than a pudding that sauces itself. It does half the work for you. All you need to do is combine the ingredients for the batter, whisk up the sauce and pour it on top then bake. You have yourself a decadent dessert without all the fuss. They great thing about his pudding that it stays moist the next day, so a quick zap in the microwave (covered) brings it back to life.
Although the dishes were made the night before, they held up pretty well after a short stint in the fridge and then in the microwave. Of course if you decide to make this for yourself you won't have to wait all that time before you can actually enjoy it. But if ever you need to pack yourself some good food then this is definitely a great pick.
So as soon as the clock struck 12, noontime last Sunday, I bolted for the kitchen, got a few pieces of crockery to take my modest fare a fine dining experience, pulled out my latest piece of eye candy and pored over a great lunch and a great book.
Here’s to great lunches and lazy Sunday afternoons!
Chick Pea and Potato Curry
adapted from the book Hands Off Cooking
2½ cups vegetable stock
2 x 400g cans chick peas, drained
2 x 400g canned tomatoes
6 small chat potatoes, quartered
1 small onion, finely diced
2 tsp ginger, finely grated
1-2 tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
½ tsp dried chilli flakes
½ tsp whole cumin seeds
½ tsp while coriander seeds
In a large pot combine all of the ingredients, giving a quick stir to submerge potatoes into the stock.
Over medium heat, simmer the pot uncovered for about 35 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked all the way though and tender.
Add more salt if required.
Serve curry over some Jasmine or Basmati rice.
Caramel Self-Saucing Pudding
adapted from Donna Hay Magazine (issue 8)
serves 6-8
¾ cup brown sugar
80g unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1½ cups plain all-purpose flour, sifted
1½ tsp baking powder
¾ cup full cream milk
FOR THE SAUCE
1 cup boiling water
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp blackstrap molasses
2 tbsp pure maple syrup
1½ tsp plain all-purpose flour
Preheat oven to 180°C.
To make the pudding, beat the sugar, butter and vanilla in a bowl until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs and beat until combined.
Add the flour, baking powder and milk and beat until combined.
Spoon the mixture into a square ovenproof dish and place on a baking tray.
To make the sauce, whisk together the water, brown sugar, molasses, maple syrup and flour until combined.
Spoon the sauce over the pudding batter and bake for 35 minutes or until golden brown and set.
Serve with cream or ice cream.