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Archive for the ‘Food & Friends’ Category

Chefs’ Warehouse

Posted in Cool Things, Food & Friends, tagged , , , , , on February 12, 2010| 28 Comments »

Chefs’ Warehouse, in the inner-city suburb of Surry Hills, is one of my favourite places to shop in the whole world.   Last time I was there, they kindly let me take photos to share with you.

They’re only open Monday to Friday, and if you live in Sydney and you’ve never been there, take a half-day off work and go. Make sure you take plenty of money with you, because you’ll need it!

This is Sydney’s premier hotel, restaurant and catering supplier, and the cheapest source I’ve ever found for Callebaut Belgian chocolate.  It’s available in 5kg blocks, or in callets (choc chips) in 2.5kg or 10kg bags (they’re the huge sacks on the bottom shelf).

My friend Dot insists that this is the best vanilla extract in the universe.  As we make our own, I’ve never tried it…

…but I can vouch for their vanilla beans, which are always plump, juicy and ridiculously cheap when bought in bulk.  500g gives you well over 100 vanilla beans, making them less than 75c each.  I bought a packet last year and gave half to Maude for her birthday.

There is a wonderful assortment of unusual food items (on this visit I found French hazelnut oil)…

…and more bakeware than you can poke a stick at.

All the best cookbooks are there, at great prices…

…as are top of the line kitchen machines.  This is just a small sample; there are also slicers, icecream makers, pasta machines, sauce makers and much more.

Up high, an array of copper pots and pans glow…

…contrasted by this large selection of black paella pans and burners.

As well as the hazelnut oil, I came home with a Spanish terracotta plate (see the photo at the very top), some Australian sea salt and a tub of fabulous fondant patissier from France.  Can you see why it’s one of my all-time favourite places to shop?

PS. Don’t be put off by the “Trade Only” sign at the front door.  They do sell to the public, but trade get an additional discount.

. . . . .

Chefs’ Warehouse
111-115 Albion St
Surry Hills NSW 2010
(02) 9211 4555

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Baking

Posted in Food & Friends, tagged , , , , , , on February 6, 2010| 19 Comments »

Sydney’s weather has eased slightly, and I’ve leapt at the opportunity to turn the oven on!

This kamut, potato and beer bread comes from Tessa Kiros’ Falling Cloudberries.   The loaf was soft and slightly cakey,  with a pronounced but not unpleasant bitterness from the Guinness.  It was very tasty smothered with Pete’s homemade butter, and topped with fresh tomato and sheep’s milk cheese.

The bread only used 60ml of stout, and I was loathe to waste the rest of the can, so I made a Chocolate Guinness Cake (topping up the shortfall in beer with 60ml of water).  It was moist, dark and very grown-up, and baked particularly well in my extra-large bundt pan.

Some more experiments with choux pastry – this time chocolate fondant covered éclairs and mini Paris-Brest wheels…

Finally, a comment left by Deb reminded me that I had half a carton of buttermilk in the fridge that needed using up.  I baked an old standby, the Buttermilk and Almond Cake, and dressed it up with a generous swirl of Pete’s freshly made white nectarine and raspberry conserve.

Pete, who was mildly miffed at only getting three slices of Guinness cake, declared that this one was all his…

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Chocolate Tasting

Posted in Food & Friends, tagged , , , , on January 26, 2010| 13 Comments »

Inspired by a recent series of posts at Some Say Cacao, I thought it might be fun to have a chocolate tasting.  And as I can only buy my chocolate from our friends Peter and Lisa Lee at Colefax Chocolates (loyalty must always override curiosity), it’s fortunate that they produce such an interesting range of origin chocolate bars.  I bought just three on this occasion, but they have over a dozen on offer, including certified organic and fairtrade varieties.

Even though I’m very much a dark chocolate fan, I was completely smitten with this milk block from Venezuela. At 43% cacao, it’s the darkest I’ve ever tried, and very moreish as a consequence.  It’s not overly sweet, with delicious caramel overtones and a wonderfully rich mouthfeel.  It was gone by the end of the evening…

The 64% cacao dark chocolate from Peru was also delicious, dark and slightly bitter, but with quite a sweet finish. It had a slight woodiness which I found particularly appealing, reminiscent of the cigar box/cedar aromas often found in red wines.

Naturally, we couldn’t try all these interesting chocolates without inviting the neighbours around, and the result was a most enjoyable afternoon of friends wandering over for a bit of chocolate and a cup of tea. Most of them really liked this 70% block from Sao Thome – a deliciously mellow dark bar of  subtle flavours and sweetness, without being overly bitter.

Chocolate tasting on a lazy Saturday afternoon – how sweet life can be sometimes!

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Cacao

Posted in Food & Friends, Recipes, tagged , , , on January 22, 2010| 17 Comments »

Having watched Willie’s Wonky Chocolate Factory on television recently, I was fascinated by the concept of these 100% cacao blocks – pure unsweetened chocolate with nothing else added to it.

They’re not available in Australia yet, so my friend Jo very kindly mailed me a couple of blocks, and they serendipitously arrived at the same time as the cookbook, which I’d ordered from Amazon in the UK.

The book is a great read – half autobiography and half recipes – although at £6 per 180g block, the cacao is an expensive ingredient to use regularly (even if I could buy it here).  It has a strong aroma of fine chocolate, and tastes as you imagine it would – dark and very bitter, without a hint of sweetness.

I couldn’t wait to try it, and began with a half sized version of Willie’s Tartuffo, which is basically solid ganache set in a loaf tin.  It needs to be refrigerated overnight before slicing, and it’s very rich, so a little goes a  long way.

  • 90g cacao, finely grated
  • 150ml heavy whipping cream
  • 75g pure icing sugar, sifted

1. Line a small loaf tin or bowl with cling film.

2. Melt the cacao in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water.  I actually used a microwave for this, and I’m not sure it worked as well as it could have.

3. Whip the cream and 25g of the icing sugar together until it forms soft peaks.

4. Stir the remaining icing sugar into the cacao and leave to cool slightly.  My mix seized up when I did this, but I was able to loosen it up again with the whipped cream.

5. Stir a scoop of whipped cream into the cacao mixture  until softened, then gently and gradually fold the remainder of the cream and cacao together.  Pour into the lined tin or bowl, and refrigerate until firm.

. . . . .

Here’s my reworking of Le Chocolate Chaud recipe from David Lebovitz’ The Sweet Life in Paris, using the cacao.  It creates a very different drink to one made with dark chocolate.

  • 50g of Willie’s 100% Cacao, grated into a small saucepan
  • 20g white sugar
  • 375ml (1½ cups) milk
  • pinch of sea salt

Gently whisk all the ingredients together in the small saucepan over a medium heat – keep whisking until the chocolate and sugar are melted and the mixture comes to a boil.

Reduce the heat to low, and barely simmer the hot chocolate for three to five minutes until the liquid is thick and viscous, whisking regularly.  Pour into little demitasse cups to serve, and top with whipped cream if desired.

. . . . .

And with the last 30g of my first block, I made a scaled down version of Anna’s Jewel Bites, using cacao and tiny quantities (at least for my small batch) of cinnamon, dried fruits, nuts, vanilla, rum and a scant teaspoon of honey.  Very dark and delicious!

It’s amazing how many things I was able to make with a single block of cacao. Maybe it’s not such an expensive ingredient after all!

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Joyous Figs

Posted in Food & Friends, Recipes, tagged , , , , on January 19, 2010| 8 Comments »

We were overjoyed to find a tray of figs at the back door – left by our wonderful neighbours who had harvested their tree that very morning!

When you’re given such gloriously fresh fruit, it has to be eaten straight away, while it’s at its peak.  So we had figs for lunch, sliced in half and grilled, then wrapped in St Agur blue cheese and San Daniele prosciutto..

…and made Jamie Oliver’s fig and mozzarella salad for dinner. Oliver refers to this as “The Easiest Sexiest Salad in the World”, and I think he may be right. My friend El describes it as “a party in your mouth“…

Fig and Mozzarella Salad
(adapted from Jamie Oliver’s Happy Days with the Naked Chef)

Cut a criss-cross into the top of the figs, then pinch the base of each fig to open it up like a tulip.  Place them on a large plate, and drape slices of really good prosciutto around them, allowing about one slice per fig.  Rip up balls of fresh mozzarella and scatter them, along with torn up basil leaves.

In a jar, combine 6 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, 3 tablespoons  of lemon juice, 1 – 2 tablespoons of a good, runny honey, salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Replace the lid and shake well to combine.  Taste and adjust seasonings, and then drizzle over the salad and serve.

Happy Days indeed!

 

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