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Archive for the ‘Food & Friends’ Category

Chocolate

Posted in Food & Friends, Recipes, tagged , , , , on October 14, 2009| 6 Comments »

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It’s Spring in Sydney, and the mild weather is ideal for chocolate making. I love watching the shiny tempered blocks pop out of their moulds.

The large bar below was a birthday present for Tim, made from Belgian milk chocolate.  Once you learn how to temper chocolate, you’ll never be caught short for a gift again.  This gorgeous mould came from Candyland Crafts in the US and I’ve used it at least a dozen times, more than justifying the $1.99 I paid for it.

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A bowl of tempered dark chocolate (Callebaut 811, 54% cocoa) became a chorus of chocolate frogs, studded with roasted cacao nibs…

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…a cluster of plain dark chocolates in assorted shapes (each one small enough to be an acceptable accompaniment to morning coffee)…

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…and some very special truffles, filled with a caramelised white chocolate ganache.  The end result was reminiscent of a burnt caramel truffle.  I’d offer more detailed tasting notes, but Big Boy ate most of them while my back was turned!

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Trivia of the day:

Did you know that a group of frogs is known as a chorus, a colony or an army?  By contrast, the collective noun for toads is a knot.

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A Goan Feast

Posted in Food & Friends, tagged , , , on October 13, 2009| 4 Comments »

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When I asked the Spice Girl, of Spice and More, where I could find decent Goan food in Sydney, she very kindly invited us to her place for lunch.  There we were treated to an array of interesting and delicious food, all in the company of her charming husband Andrew and their incredibly cute children.

The meal began with freshly cooked Bondas – balls of spiced mashed potato and peas, flavoured with turmeric and spices, then coated in a chick pea batter and deep fried.  I could have eaten these all day long.  These were served with a spicy mint, coriander and green mango sauce, which was just sublime.

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Pork Vindaloo – SG has some very firm opinions about how this dish  should be made.   It should only ever be made with pork,  it shouldn’t be overly hot (spicy) and its unique sourness should come from vinegar, preferably one that’s been imported from Goa specifically for that purpose.

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The curries were accompanied by one of my favourite vegetables – snake beans, mixed with freshly grated coconut.

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An absolute treat and my favourite dish of the day was the Xacuti Chicken Curry.  There were more than twenty spices in the mix, including coriander seed, cumin, fenugreek, star anise, mustard seed, fennel, cloves, and a couple of unique Goan spices that I’d never seen before.  The sauce was enriched with  onion, garlic, ginger, curry leaves and tomatoes, then finished with a little lemon juice and a handful of chopped coriander.

By the way, Spice Girl doesn’t have a spice rack, she has a spice wall. The jars were literally stacked from floor to ceiling!

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Finally, a wickedly good dessert – Chocolate, Cardoman and Expresso Cake.  With 70% dark chocolate and half the sugar of the original recipe, SG’s version of this cake was delicious and very grown-up.  The recipe is available on her blog.

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Wikipedia has an interesting article about Goa, India’s smallest state since 1987, and its fascinating blend of Portugese and Indian influences.  Once you understand the history, it’s easy to see why Goan dishes are quite different from “regular” Indian cuisine.

Thanks for feeding us, Spice Girl.  You do realise, of course, that we won’t be eating Goan food anywhere else from now on!

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Feeding the Masses

Posted in Food & Friends, Recipes, tagged , , , , , on October 12, 2009| 6 Comments »

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I’ve been baking for the school orchestra.

They have rehearsals at this time every year, and it’s become a tradition to send in afternoon tea for them.  I usually make butterscotch bars, but this year I thought I’d try something different.

Nick Malgieri’s Supernatural Brownies (pictured above) are very easy to make, and perfect for feeding a crowd.  The two batches I made cut into over ninety 2½cm x 5cm (1″ x 2″) bars.  I tweaked the methodology a little to simplify it even further.

  • 250g unsalted butter, cut into pieces
  • 225g dark chocolate chips – I used Callebaut 70% cocoa callets
  • 4 large (59g) eggs
  • 1 cup (220g) white sugar
  • 1 cup (210g) firmly packed brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons homemade vanilla extract
  • ½ teaspoon fine salt
  • 1 cup (150g) plain (AP) flour

1. Heat oven to 175C (350F) or 160C (320F) with fan.  Line a 23cm x 33cm (9″ x 13″) baking pan with parchment paper.

2. In a large pyrex bowl, microwave the butter and chocolate in short bursts on high until the chocolate begins to melt, then stir until smooth.  Set aside to cool slightly.

3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the eggs well, then add the sugar, brown sugar, salt and vanilla, whisking to combine.  Using a spatula, stir in the chocolate and butter mixture, then fold in the flour.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth over the top (the batter will be runny).

4. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the centre of the brownies comes out clean, about 30 – 35 minutes.  Allow to cool in the pan on a wire rack.  This recipe makes 24 x 5cm/2″ square brownies, although I cut the slab into 48 smaller pieces.

Of course, I had to make butterscotch bars as well.  The brass players would be very disappointed otherwise.  All up, we’re sending in nearly 180 brownies and bars with Big Boy today!

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Torrone

Posted in Food & Friends, tagged , on October 10, 2009| 7 Comments »

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Every Friday, at Flemington Markets, there is an Italian gentleman selling torrone.

He has a tiny stall, which sells nothing else but bags and bars of this handmade Italian nougat.  He stands behind his stall all morning long, hacking at giant blocks of torrone with a large cleaver, then packing  the pieces into small plastic bags for sale. I can only assume that he makes  the nougat at  home during the week,  ready for a busy Friday trade.  I find the whole set-up so appealing that I always end up buying a couple of bags.  It’s wickedly delicious, chewy and moreish.

His torrone is studded with almonds (any other nuts are simply wrong, he told me last week)  and it sells for a fixed price, regardless of how much you buy – $2 for 50g, $4 for 100g, $12 for 300g.

Look out for it the next time you’re at the markets – it’s a great weekend treat!

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Weekend Baking

Posted in Food & Friends, tagged , , , , , , , , on October 6, 2009| 5 Comments »

We’ve just had a long weekend here in Sydney, and I spent most of it in the kitchen!  Great fun – although I’ve made a serious dent in the flour supplies..

. . . . .

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been trying to improve my bread slashing skills, albeit with limited success.

Joanna, bless her, is doing her best to coach me via email and, whilst I’m making some progress, I’m still a long way from getting it right.  Luckily all the rejects are edible, so nothing is going to waste.

I tried again on the weekend.  The first loaf burst open – not unattractively, mind you, but not correctly.  The little cottage loaf, which I’m now pretty happy with, was just sitting there, minding her own business…

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The second loaf was more successful.  I tried all of Jo’s tips – final prove in the fridge, didn’t oil my hands, didn’t spray water on the dough and put the cold loaves straight in the oven.  I also added an extra slash, as the dough seemed to need more room to expand.  I’m much happier with this one, although the loaf does remind me of a watermelon.

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. . . . .

Since the oven was on, I thought I’d try Dan Lepard’s latest Guardian recipe for tapenade rolls.  My version had less added salt (8g to the 500g flour), jarred olive tapenade and, because I can’t do maths on a Sunday morning, I made twelve rolls instead of the specified ten.  They were delicious, though…

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…and so full of personality!  For some reason, the little one below reminded me of Groucho Marx.  I think it was the eyebrows.  They were perfect with soup for lunch.

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. . . . .

We’d picked up a sheet of ameerdine (apricot paste) during our trip to Harkola and I was struggling to think of a way to use it.  In the end, I made a large apricot danish, using Richard Bertinet’s sweet dough recipe and layering it with Pete’s apricot jam, some pastry cream and the ameerdine, before rolling the whole thing up and baking it in the oven.  It was a messy process – the apricot paste was quite stiff, and the pastry cream oozed out during the rolling process.  But the end result was a big hit with Pete and the neighbours!

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