Eat Brisbane

Beef Bourguignon

2007-09-17T01:27:00.000+10:00

Cooking French food is always lots of fun, especially when you're cooking for a real French person. This Friday, I hosted a little dinner for a few friends, one of which who's French through and through (I also suppose she'd kill me if I did injustice to her national cuisine!). Rather than going all out to do something new, I trusted my better judgement and went with an old favourite of mine that I keep handy in my arsenal for ocassions like this: la boeuf bourguignon!

I've cooked this dish many times before, both at home and at work, and it's one of those dishes that guarantee a high probability of success. I mean seriously, who doesn't have a soft spot in their heart for rich, meaty, fork-tender, slow braised beef?

For the best possible beef bourguignon that you can make, here are some tricks of the trade that I'd be happy to divulge:

1) This dish has its origins in Burgundy, France. Most of the red wine produced in Burgundy is of the Pinot Noir variety, so a deep, full-bodied Pinot Noir would be ideal for use in this dish. If you can't get hold of a rich Pinot Noir (which is highly unlikely considering the wine glut in Australia), you could possibly get by with a Merlot.

2) Choose the beef carefully. I, personally, am not a fan of the usual chuck steak or topside for stews and braises. I feel that they tend to be a tad dry and fibourous even after being cooked to a tender state. When eating a slow-cooked red meat dish, I often look for gelatinous and soft membrane-y bits that add variety to the mouthfeel of the dish. It is for this reason that I love to use the more modest cuts such as cheeks, ribs, shins, briskets and tails, which contain heaps of tough stuff that can be cooked down to gooey-goodness. On this ocassion, I used a mixture of the the first three. (You'd be surprised to learn that the lesser known beef cheeks can actually be found in many larger Woolworths supermarkets, next to where they display the offal. Beef shin is also known as gravy beef, and is commonly found in most supermarkets.)

3) "Depouiller, depouiller, depouiller." That's what a French chef once taught me as the secret to making a great beef bourguignon. Literally translated, it means: "skim, skim, skim", and it refers to the time consuming task of continuously removing the fat and impurities that rise to the top of the sauce as the meat cooks. Lesson 101 on fat and impurities: if you don't skim them off quick enough, they fall back into the sauce to make it cloudy and grainy, a.k.a. - RUINED. A good beef bourguignon should have a sauce that's deep and rich, but still clear and glossy. If necessary, the meat should be removed and the sauce strained several times before serving. As you can see, the French people take a lot of pride in making their dishes perfect, so I think we should too.

You can find a good recipe for beef bourguignon at wikipedia. But if you just apply these three pointers that I have just made in addition to that, I assure you that everyone will be blown away. Yes, even a real French person.

Chouquette, New Farm

2007-08-04T16:31:00.000+10:00

Coffee Eclair, Paris Brest, Cherry Macaroon (yum!) and Chocolate Macaroon

Hidden away from the heavy traffic of Brunswick Street, somewhere in the heart of New Farm, lies this little gem of a patisserie. Chouquette (pronounced shoo-ket) is named after a darling little French pastry made simply with choux pastry (the good stuff used in eclairs) and coarse sugar crystals. Don't get me wrong when I say this, the chouquettes there are lovely ($2 for a bag of 10 bite sized morsels), but what I'm here to rave about are actually the macaroons! The finest yet that we've come across, especially the cherry one, which boasts generous chuncks of fruit laced through the ganache filling.

Chouquettes

Among the other goodies that we sampled were a coffee eclair, a Paris Brest (a donut shaped ring of choux pastry split open and filled with cream, then topped with toasted almonds and icing sugar), and a chocolate macaroon. Just a little trivia about the Paris Brest, and how its name came about: a French pastry chef I once studied under explained to me that the these pastries were first created by a patissier whose patisserie lay along the route of the famous bike race from Paris to Brest, back in the day. In honour of the atheletes, he made these pastries in the shape of a bike wheel. People loved them and they've been around ever since!

Chouquette also specialises in breads and speciality cakes, and the next time we go back, I know I'm definitely gonna get my hands on one of those great looking, rustic baguettes.

Chouquette
19 Barker Street
New Farm, Brisbane, QLD
07 3358 6336
Closed on Mondays

Thai Deep Fried Egg Salad - Yum Kai Dow

2007-07-16T18:47:00.000+10:00

I first had this dish at a picnic cum potluck a few years back, where a Thai friend of mine, Noi, proudly presented this dish to the crowd. I was shocked at how delicious this dish was, considering the few very simple ingredients and steps involved in its preparation. Unfortunately I never got around to asking her for the recipe.

Just last week, we had invited another Thai friend of ours, Pang, over for dinner. This time, I was madly craving for Yum Kai Dao and decided that I HAD to make her show me how to prepare it. I've eaten Pang's Thai cooking before, and I can seriously vouch for its goodness; I guess I could rely on her to recreate Yum Kai Dao for me. So she did. And it was lip smacking!

Yum Kai Dao - Deep Fried Egg Salad

4 large eggs
1 brown/white onion, thinly sliced
2 tomatoes, wedged
a bunch of lettuce/salad greens
a bunch of coriander

Dressing:
1 tsp finely grated raw garlic
4 tbsps fish sauce
4 tbsps fresh lime juice
4 tbsps palm sugar
chopped fresh chilli, quantity as desired

Crack eggs into very, very hot oil and deep fry till fluffy and crispy, and yolks are cooked through. The hotter the oil, the fluffier and crispier your eggs will be. Let cool slightly, then cut into rough chunks and toss with vegetables. Combine salad dressing ingredients in a bowl and further adjust the taste as necessary to suit your liking (I like mine quite sour and hot, so I tend to give a few more bits of lime and chilli). Dress the salad and tuck in!

The Inside of a Meat Pie from Absynthe Bakery

2007-07-13T01:36:00.000+10:00

Hi folks, just to further expound on one of my previous posts regarding meat pies, I made a special journey down to Circle on Cavill, Surfers Paradise just to test out the acclaimed meat pies at Absynthe Bakery. There were only 2 types of pies left by the time I arrived, a beef and red wine pie, and a lamb and mushroom version. I got to sample both, and they were fantastic. Just to prove my point, I took a picture of the inside of the lamb pie, showing the sheer amount of filling that they pack into their pie pastries. I know it's a bit of a nasty shot, the pie being chewed up and all, but just look at the quantity of meat in that baby! For pies of that size and meat density, they certaintly make for a full meal all on their own. And boy, was I stuffed!

Baked Italian Sausages, Beans and Eggs

2007-07-11T19:30:00.000+10:00

Here's another dish to warm up your chilly winter. Preparing and cooking the beans takes a bit of time, if you are using dried beans that is. However, if you don't mind the idea of using canned beans, please be my guest; it will save you heaps of time to be frank. But for the sake of those purists out there, I will talk you through the steps right from the top, using dried beans to begin with.

Beans in Tomato Sauce with Italian Sausages and Eggs

300 gms dried borlotti/cannellini beans, soaked overnight in water
2 litres water
half an onion
half a tomato
2 bay leaves

1 onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 anchovy fillet (optional)
pinch of dried chilli (optional)
1 stalk of rosemary
3 stalks of thyme
1 litre of passata, or equal volume of tinned tomatoes

6-8 Italian pork sausages
a few eggs
extra virgin olive oil
crusty bread, to serve

Drain the beans from their soaking water. Add them to a pot with all remaining ingredients and simmer for half an hour to 45 minutes, or until beans are just tender, and not mushy. It is crucial to add the tomato half as it helps to soften the skins of the beans. Also, do not salt the beans at this point as salt causes their skins to toughen. Once done, drain and set aside. (If using tinned beans, simply omit this step and begin from below:)

In a saucepan, sweat onions, garlic, anchovy and chilli with a good amount of olive oil. Once translucent and fragrant, add in the entire bunches of herbs together with the passata/tinned tomatoes. Return beans to the pan and simmer for 15 minutes. Season to taste.

Place bean mixture in a baking dish. Randomly distribute over the sausages, pricking with a fork to prevent them from 'exploding'. Drizzle sausages with olive oil and place dish in a preheated 200 degree celcius oven. Bake for 15-20 minutes till sausages are nice and brown. Using a spoon, make a few wells in between the sausages and crack an egg into each well. Bake for a further 5 minutes till the eggs are just set. Serve bubbling at the table with crusty bread to mop up the beans and runny egg yolks. Lovely.

Buffalo Wings with Blue Cheese Coleslaw

2007-07-11T18:10:00.000+10:00

Sorry guys, we know it's been a while since our last post. Bev and I have been pretty tied up with work and all for the last few weeks. Anyway, we're back again, and here is the first of a few backlogged entries to come.

This is a recipe for buffalo wings from Bev's stack of recipe cuttings. I matched these wings with a recipe for blue cheese cloeslaw that I chanced upon at CHOW.com, one of my favourite foodie sites. And as funky as it sounds (blue cheese coleslaw), it actually makes perfect sense, seeing that buffalo wings are typically served with crunchy vegetables and a blue cheese sauce!

Just keep in mind, if you were to use the Italian Gorgonzola for the blue cheese, be sure to use Gorgonzola Picante (a sharp gorgonzola) instead of Gorgonzola Dolce (a milder, sweeter gorgonzola), as there will be huge variances in the results. Also, instead of undertaking the labour intensive task of shaving my own vegetables for the slaw, I simply popped open a bag of ready shaved coleslaw vegetables from the supermarket. Ah, the conveniences of modern day grocery shopping!

Buffalo Wings

1/2 dozen chicken wings
2 tbsps melted butter
4 tbsps tabasco sauce
1 tbsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsps salt
1/2 tsps cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp cracked black pepper

Toss wings with all of the specified ingredients. Marinate for at least one hour. Grill in a hot oven, at 210 degrees celcius, for 10 minutes on each side, basting frequently with the left over marinade.

Blue Cheese Coleslaw

recipe at CHOW.com

As Nice as Pie

2007-06-17T18:39:00.000+10:00

In this month's issue of the Australian Gourmet Traveller, the Gourmet News section on page 16 is devoted to featuring the editor's picks for some of the best pies around the country. Of these, proud Queensland establishments Bespoke, Yatala Pies, Joycelyn's Provisions and Absynthe Bakery can celebrate the great honour of making the list.

In addition to that, and just to delve further into the topic of good pies, I would like to make an honourable mention of Songbirds in the Forest, which serves a killer rabbit, mushroom and herb pie. Their's is essentially a revamped version of everyones classic favourite, served atop a mound of smoothly pureed mushy peas, and drizzled with a rich madeira jus. Yes, I know this is a little of a longshot from the usual comforts of a messy, saucy meat pie with tomato sauce, but it sure makes up for every bit of that in the taste catagory alone.

Rabbit, mushroom and herb pie from Songbirds, Mt Tamborine

Meat pies have been feeding the hungry man for ages, but sadly, aside from being an expert in devouring them, I know little else about their place in our society. Thus, I took it upon myself to research further into the literature of the humble (meat) pie.

Surprisingly, my research revealed a few neat facts:

- meat pies were described by former New South Wales Premier Bob Carr as Australia's "national dish"

- Australians consume an average of 12 meat pies each per year

- Four'N Twenty Pies produce 50,000 pies per hour

- by Aussie regulations, meat pies may legitamately contain snouts, ears, tongue roots, tendons and blood vessels (urgh!)

Personal research even led me to try Domino's meat pie pizza which, while Bev enjoyed, I was rather disappointed with (it's a pretty cool idea, but having shortcrust pastry on pizza dough is just a little too heavy on the starch for me).

On a lighter note, I discovered this awesome sounding thing called the pie floater, which is a meat pie topped with tomato sauce, and floating in a puddle of green pea soup (oooh!). Apparently it was popular all over the country at one point in time (how long ago was that?), but it's popularity gradually weaned and now its availability is limited to mostly only South Australia, where it was officially recognised as a South Australian Heritage Icon by the National Trust of Australia back in 2003!

Geez, now I really gotta sink my chops into one of those pretty soon! Maybe a little pilgrimage to Adelaide on the horizon? We'll see about that..

An old picture of me mucking around, making a beef pie

Thai Wi Rat - Our Favourite Thai Joint

2007-06-16T01:56:00.000+10:00

Thai Wi-Rat in the Valley is by many standards our favourite Thai restaurant here in Brisbane. No doubt, it could also easily stand up to any other great Thai restaurant that you'd find in this big country.

The restaurant has been around for a while now, and Bev and I have been there at least 6 times this year alone (talk about a lot, geez). And everytime we go there, the food never fails to impress. We've tried most of the stuff on their menu by now, and feel confident enough to announce to the whole of Brisbane that Thai Wi-Rat absolutely rocks!

Yen Ta Fo noodles- noodles and seafood in a tasty red soup, topped with crispy pork crackling

Unfortunately, and oddly enough, everytime we eat there, we forget to bring our trusty camera along. Perhaps its because we're always too excited about the thought of eating there that we blindly rush out of the house. Well, this last ocassion was different, and we finally arrived at Thai Wi-Rat prepared. Here's some incriminating pictoral evidence of what we pigged out on that day.

Pad Thai with juicy prawns- possibly the most well known Thai noodle dish outside of Thailand

The food boasts regional integrity, something that's increasingly hard to come by these days. The food is of Thai-Laotian influence, and deviates away from most of the run of the mill Thai-restaurant-syndrome dishes (think green, red and yellow curry, fried rice, spring rolls, etc). Although they do offer these dishes still, the focus is on the not-so-stereotypical fare. Our favourite dishes thus far have been the lipsmacking grilled thai pork sausages, stir fried pork leg slices with chilli and green peppercorns, duck larb (mince meat salad), calves liver salad, pork fried with pickled bamboo and pad see ew noodles. They do the usual fare very well too, and we adore the pad thai, som tum (green mango salad) and chicken rice just as much. But ooh, please promise me that you'd order a side serve of deep fried egg and/or fried pork cracklings (just $2 each) to top things off - superduper unhealthy, but just too darn good!

Yum Thai Wi-Rat (Thai Wi-Rat salad)- crispy fish maw, calamari and cashews with herbs and red onion in a sour dressing

To add to the excitement, the restaurant even has a couple of their own no-joke looking metallic "spice kits" which they bring around to every table when it's not too busy. If they don't bring you one of these, you should go hunting around for them; some people like to hog them at their table. Inside them you will find four compartments containing the essentials of Thai eating: chilli powder, fish sauce, sugar, and a sour chilli sauce.

Price-wise, Thai Wi-Rat serves up fantastic food that would'nt break your budget. In fact, it was even featured in the Australian Gourmet Traveller magazine's Cheap Eats column a while back. Apart from the food and the price tags, our other favourite thing about this place is that it opens early and doesn't close till late. That means that you could drop in anytime in the arvo between lunch and dinner and still be served. Now, thats one hell of a joint eh?

Thai Wi-Rat
TC Beirne Building
Shop 48
20 Duncan St
(same stretch as Burlington supermarket)
Fortitude Valley 4006 QLD
Phone: (07) 3257 0884

Technorati tags: food and drink, food, brisbane, food blogs, thai food, spicy, thai restaurant, brisbane restaurant, fortitude valley

Custard 2 Ways: Baked Creme Caramel & Frozen Vanilla Custard

2007-06-09T00:59:00.000+10:00

As spoken about previously, I promised the good people at the Mount Tamborine Winery cellar door that I'd feature a dessert dish on my blog that (hopefully) does justice to their fantastic Mountain Muscat. Now, I think I've outdone myself! Here is a second dessert, following last week's olive oil and Muscat cake, a duo of of creme caramel and frozen custard, laden with that wonderful Muscat.

I won't deny it, this dish does require a bit of effort. But irregardless of whether you're a self-confessed culinary dummy or an accomplised home cook, this should'nt be in any way out of your league. So here's how its done:

Muscat Creme Caramel and Frozen Custard

Caramel:
150 gm sugar
100 ml water

Custard:
200 ml thick cream
200 ml milk
100 ml Muscat (or other appropriate dessert wine)
seeds of 1 vanilla pod, or alternatively, a few drops of vanilla extract
4 whole extra large eggs (59g min weight)
4 egg yolks
110 gm caster sugar
8 buttered ramekins

200 ml cream (extra)

Preheat the oven to 160C.

For the caramel component of the creme caramels, simply heat the sugar and half of the water over a medium heat till the water evaporates, and the sugar begins to caramelise. Once it reaches a golden brown colour, take off the heat and splash in the remaining water to slow the cooking. Swirl it around till the caramel dilutes and cools down slightly. Distribute warm caramel among the bases of each buttered ramekin.

In a separate saucepan, heat up the cream, milk and vanilla till just scalding (ie. just before boiling point). Meanwhile, whisk the sugar, whole eggs and yolks in a mixing bowl till pale and frothy. Pour in the hot cream mixture bit by bit, whisking constantly to prevent the eggs from scrambling. Then, when all the cream has been incorporated, whisk in the Muscat. Pour the entire mixture back into the pot and heat over a medium-low flame, stirring constantly, for 4-5 minutes till it slightly thickens.

Strain the liquid mixture through a fine sieve into each of the prepared ramekins. If there are little bubbles along the top edges, remove them carefully with a teaspoon (trick of the trade: you could use a blow torch, if you have one, to blast out any small bubbles off the tops of custards). You will have some custard left over, this will be used to make the frozen custard.

Place the ramekins in a baking dish half filled with hot water (aka. bain marie), and cover the entire thing with al-foil. Place in the preheated oven and bake for 35 minutes, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Remove, wrap each individual custard with al-foil to prevent drying out, then chill for at least 6 hours, or at best, overnight. Run a hot knife around the rims to unmould them onto a plate, pouring out as much of that sinful caramel sauce as you can! The longer you leave it in the fridge, the more caramel sauce you will get out of it (within reasonable limits of course!).

For the frozen custard, mix the remaining egg custard with the extra cream and churn it in an ice cream maker. If you, like me, do not have an ice cream maker, you can most easily complete this process by placing the mixture into the freezer and diligently mixing with a fork every half an hour till it freezes. That should make it fluffy enough!

Technorati tags: food and drink, food, brisbane, food blogs, slow food, kitchen expeditions, recipe, recipes, dessert, baking, muscat wine, creme caramel, caramel, pudding, custard, anglaise, ice cream, vanilla bean, double cream, comfort food, home cooked

Save on Washing Up with a One-Pot Chicken and Chorizo Rice Pilaf

2007-06-09T00:06:00.000+10:00

Now here's a recipe thats simple to prepare, and best of all, made in one pot. That's gonna save you heaps of time in front of the kitchen sink after dinner; and if anyone asks me, that sounds like a mighty good plan!

A pilaf is a dish where rice (or other grain) is browned in oil, then cooked in a flavoured broth. There are variations of pilafs across the many different cultures of the world. The Spanish have paella, while Indian and Pakistani cultures have biryani. The Italians have risotto, and Africans can be proud to add jambalaya to this list.

Chicken and Chorizo Sausage Rice Pilaf

5 chicken thigh fillets, skin intact, cut into cubes
salt and pepper

1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground fennel
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground pepper
1 tsp smoked paprika

1 large onion, diced
1 capsicum (green/red), diced
5 cloves garlic, chopped
1 chorizo sausage, diced
3 cups long grain rice

750 ml hot chicken stock, infused with a large pinch of saffron threads
5 medium roma tomatoes, roughly diced
1/2 cup frozen peas

lemon wedges, to serve

Start off by heating a few tbsps of oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot. When hot, add in chicken pieces, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Leave chicken to cook on medium to high heat. Resist any temptation to touch or turn the pieces at this point. What you should be looking for is a very well browned and crispy crust to form on the chicken pieces. After 5-10 minutes, turn the chicken pieces, they should have formed a deep brown, crusty exterior, and release themselves from the base of the pot without much coaxing. Season again. Let them cook on the other side in the same fashion. Remove from pot when done and set aside.

In the same pot, add the spices and fry till fragrant, scratching the base of the pot to release the tasty chicken reside thats left behind. Add in onion, capsicum, garlic and chorizo, and cook for a further 5 minutes till the vegetables become translucent. Add in rice and stir to coat the grains evenly with oil. Pour in the stock, saffron threads and the tomatoes. Stir to mix everything evenly. Top with chicken pieces, and sprinkle with peas. Put on a tight-fitting lid, bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer over the lowest heat setting for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, turn off heat and let stand covered for a further 15 minutes to steam. Do not at any point in the cooking process open the lid, as this allows precious steam to escape. Remove lid and serve with some lemon wedges alongside.

Technorati tags: food and drink, food, brisbane, food blogs, slow food, kitchen expeditions, recipe, recipes, pilaf, rice pilaf, chicken, spices, cumin seeds, coriander, fennel seeds, paprika, long grain rice, comfort food, home cooked, one pot dinners

Olive Oil and Muscat Cake with Roasted Pears and Vanilla Cream

2007-06-06T22:38:00.000+10:00

Its been raining for the last couple of days and the weather forecast predicts that this will continue into the week. Thank goodness for this, our dear state certaintly needs every bit of rain it can get.

In liew of this cosy weather, here is a recipe for a stunning cake that can be both healthy and decadent at the same time (minus the cream that is), and really warms you up from the inside out. It was inspired by a recipe in Neil Perry's book "Good Food" that I received as a present from Bev a month back. Neil's recipe is based on a cake batter of olive oil and Sauternes, a wonderfully sweet dessert wine with raisin tones.

In place of Sauternes, I have chosen to use a sensational Muscat from the Mount Tamborine Winery instead, which boasts gutsy flavours of butterscotch and caramel (I think it was $25). I picked up this bottle of goodness on my last trip to Mount Tamborine, on the Gold Coast hinterland. It was there that I also promised the lovely lady at the cellar door that I'd whip up a fancy dessert to do justice to the fantastic wine somewhere in the near future. Mission accomplished.

Neil Perry finished his rendition of this dessert with Sauternes roasted pears and double cream, and I have done so too, substituting Muscat for Sauternes once again, and adding vanilla seeds to the cream for that extra bit of oomph. I urge you to give this one a go too!

Olive Oil and Muscat Cake

115 gms caster sugar
2 large eggs
185 ml extra virgin olive oil
125 ml Muscat (or other similar dessert wine)
80 ml milk
finely grated zest of 2 lemons
185 gms plain flour
2.5 tsp baking powder

Beat sugar and eggs in a bowl till pale and creamy. Add in oil, wine, milk and lemon zest and whisk to combine. Sift flour and baking powder into the wet mixture in the bowl and mix till evenly incorporated. Pour batter into a greased loaf tin (11 x 22 cm) and bake in a 180 degree celcius oven for around 40 minutes till cooked through. Rest the cake in the tin till it cools down significantly. Cut into slices and serve warm with roasted pears, and a sinful dollop of double cream with some vanilla seeds mixed in.

Muscat Roasted Pears

4 buerre bosc pears, quartered lengthwise, cores removed
80 ml Muscat
2 tbsps caster sugar
2 tbsps olive oil

Place pear quarters into a roasting tin/sheet and drizzle with wine, sugar and oil. Toss to coat. Roast in a 180 degree celcius oven for 45 minutes, alongside the cake, turning ocassionally. Pears are done when they are tender and caramelised. Cool to room temperature.

Technorati tags: food and drink, food, brisbane, food blogs, slow food, kitchen expeditions, recipe, recipes, dessert, baking, muscat wine, olive oil, cake, roasted pears, pears, vanilla bean, double cream, comfort food, home cooked

The Perfect Laksa- Mastering the Art of 'Tumis'

2007-05-30T01:48:00.000+10:00

For those new to laksa, it is a traditional Singaporean and Malaysian dish which is served with permutations of a strict few condiments: boiled prawns, fish cake, tofu puffs, bean sprouts, cockles, and hard boiled chicken, duck or quail eggs. Some vendors like to vary the toppings by adding shredded chicken or crayfish to the mix. Either way, real laksa deviates not much further from this set of toppings. So, now that you have been introduced to the real deal, if you ever see roast duck, pork, beef, scallops or bok choy coming into play, please let it send alarm bells ringing.

For an interesting article that talks about real, authentic laksa, please visit this link.

Making laksa from scratch is simpler than it sounds. All you need to do is learn the art of 'tumis'.

The art of making the perfect laksa, or any other curry for that matter, lies in this one simple process known as 'tumis'. Tumis is a Malay term that refers to the act of frying a spice paste till it is properly caramelised. All too often, I have witnessed fellow colleagues and Aussie TV chefs frying spice pastes for a mere 2 minutes before adding the other ingredients for a particular recipe. Please allow me to insist that cooking a spice paste should take at least 15 minutes, not 2 or 3. Undercooked spice pastes turn out dishes that are bland and horrible.

This techinque of tumis-ing can almost be compared to caramelising onions for French Onion Soup. You need to make sure that the base of the dish is completely and thouroughly caramelised before adding in any other ingredients, or else the dish just wouldn't take off. This, in my opinion, is the trick to cooking many a South East Asian dish.

The picture above shows a laksa spice paste which has just gone into the saucepan. It is mild yellow in colour, homogenous, and emulsified. It needs to be fried with the addition of a little oil in the saucepan till the solids in the paste caramelise. This will take a good 15-20 minutes of continuous stirring over a low heat (just imagine you are cooking risotto, keep stirring and don't walk away till its done).

This next picture (above) illustrates what a properly tumis-ed spice paste should look like. It has now transformed from a pale yellow into a deep red/orange. Notice also that the solids have 'split' away from the oil, and are now frying in their own fat. This is the easiest way to tell when the spice paste is done; the oil seperates from the paste, and the solids begin sizzling in the oil. Now now, there's no harm frying it even longer after this stage; you will just be deepening the colour and intensifying the flavour, which is always a good thing! Thus, I generally continue frying my pastes for a further 5 minutes past this point.

In the above picture, the dot of yellow stuff is a laksa spice paste that is 'raw'. The reddish dot above it is the same paste that has been cooked for 20 minutes over a slow flame, till it has been properly tumis-ed. Now, that should make for a pretty good bowl of laksa!

Laksa paste:
3 lemongrass stalks, lower 2 inches only, sliced
1 cm galangal peeled and sliced
3 candlenuts (or macadamia nuts), chopped
12 dried chillis, reconstitued in warm water
6 shallots, sliced
2 tbsp dried shrimp, reconstitued in warm water
1 tbsp tumeric powder
1 tbsp coriander powder
1 tsp shrimp paste (that smelly stuff from Asian grocers)
water
vegetable oil

Place all ingredients into a blender with a little oil and water to facilitate blending. Blend till smooth. Add more oil and water as necessary to keep the mixture blending.

Tumis as per guidelines above.

2 cups coconut milk
3 cups water
salt
sugar
noodles and condiments to serve
vietnamese mint (laksa leaf), chopped

Once paste is properly tumis-ed, add in water and coconut milk. Return to the boil and simmer for a few minutes. Season to taste with salt and sugar. Ladle over a bowl of noodles and top with condiments such as bean sprouts, hard boiled eggs, cooked shrimp and chicken. Scatter generously with Vietnamese mint, a must-have ingredient in laksa. Do not fret, Vietnamese mint, and all other ingredients listed are available in Coles and Woolworths supermarkets; the exceptions being dried shrimps and shrimp paste, which are easily available at most Asian grocers.

Technorati tags: food and drink, food, brisbane, food blogs, slow food, kitchen expeditions, recipe, recipes, laksa, tumis, home cooked, spices

Duck Degustation at Isis Brasserie

2007-05-28T20:47:00.000+10:00

Isis Brasserie is one of the places in town that I would recommend anyone to go to for some seriously good food. Chef Jason Peppler and his team have, in the past, provided Bev and I with some of our top dining experiences here in Brisbane. For all you food lovers out there, you might like to know that they're running a special degustation menu exclusively for the months of May and June. I have attached the degustation menu here. The menu costs $95 for 9 courses of food, and $155 for food and matching wines.

The feature of this degustation is duck. And my oh my, these people really know how to turn the feature ingredient inside out, manipulating the humble canard into shapes and forms that go beyond our immediate expectations. Lo and behold, duck neck skins, duck eggs, duck livers, duck wings, duck blood, and the entire duck works found their way onto our plates in the most refined and elegant manner.

There was an article in The Age about the dawn of the degustation menu age, and how these dining styles ought to be tools for chefs to showcase their talents and the quality of their ingredients. I completely agree that the chefs at Isis have done precisely that. Even my dining companions agree that they could, I quote: "taste the skill that went into the food".

I apologise for the shoddy photos. I normally have trouble taking photographs at Isis because of the combination of the following 3 factors: 1) I'm still an amateur photographer, 2) their lovely mood lighting makes for a photographer's nightmare, and 3) I just want to dig in as soon as possible, the aroma of duck is way too irresistable to hold off for too long.

Canape: Duck and pork rillettes, sour dough crostini and cornichon

Cappuccino of duck with porcini mushroom powder- my favourite course of the night

Duck neck sausage (in the style of a galantine), with a salad of quince, apple and pistachio

Duck egg pasta, seared Queensland scallop and sauce albuferra- I lapped up every last drop of the gorgeous sauce

Duck liver on brioche, crisp proscuitto and sauce soubise

Civet of duck wing, home-made duck black pudding, peas and smooth potato puree

Sorbet: Lemon and star anise- I personally loved this combination of flavours

Seared duck breast, sweet potato fondant and Amarena cherries

Lemon scented souffle (probably made with duck eggs), white chocolate sorbet

We were highly impressed with most of the dishes on the menu. In our opinion, there were 2 dishes that fell a little under the mark though. We all agreed that the duck liver was slightly overcooked, and the dessert way too sweet. But yet again, in their defence, these are all mistakes to do with the food preparation on the day itself, rather than with the core concept of the dishes. Hopefully, these glitches won't occur when its your turn to dine there!

You need to book the duck degustation menu in advance should you wish to treat yourself to this all out duckfest. I suggest you buzz them real quick as this menu only lasts for a few more weeks!

Isis Brasserie
446 Brunswick Street
Fortitude Valley
Tel: (07) 3852 1155

Technorati tags: Food and Drink, Food, brisbane, food blogs, slow food, restaurant reviews, food outings, brisbane dining, duck, degustation, duck egg, pasta, rillettes, porcini, soup, duck liver, black pudding, star anise, lemon, souffle

Pastries from Absynthe Bakery, Surfers Paradise

2007-05-27T12:31:00.000+10:00

After being at the helm of the Queensland dining scene with his restaurant Absynthe, 2 Michelin Starred chef Meyjitte Boughenout opened Absynthe Bakery on Bastille Day in 2006. Located in the new complex, Circle on Cavill, Absynthe Bakery aims to "bring quality bakery goods to the heart of Gold Coast".

We decide to drop by Absynthe Bakery while in the Gold Coast to see for ourselves if their pastries were as good as they were claimed to be. We arrived a little late in the day, and so the selection had dwindled to the remaining 7 or so varieties of tarts and cakes left in the display. I was initially very tempted to try the vanilla brioche, but decided against it, seeing that it had been left out at room temperature for what I think would have been a good part of the day. Another time perhaps, if I can get there early enough to sample it while its at its peak.

So we ended up ordering 4 types of tarts between us, and we all eagerly joined in the tasting. This is what we sampled: a passionfruit curd and meringue tart, a caramelised pineapple tartet, an apple jelly tartet with caramelised apples, and a raspberry and pistachio tartlet. It was unanimous, we all voted the sour passionfruit tart with the sweet, silky meringue as our favourite of the 4 pastries. The pate sucre (sweet shortcrust pastry) was a perfect balance of crunchy and crumbly, while the passionfruit curd was just as sour as I think sour curds ought to be.

Now I really have to come back soon to munch on that enticing vanilla brioche. I bet its darn good too..

Absynthe Bakery
Circle on Cavill
Surfers Paradise Boulevard
Gold Coast, Queensland
Tel: 07 5504 7114

Technorati tags: Food and Drink, Food, brisbane, food blogs, slow food, restaurant reviews, food outings, bakery

Settlers Cove Celebration of Australian Food and Wine Festival - Noosa

2007-05-26T22:10:00.000+10:00

The Grand Marquee

Finally the day had come! We were in Noosa, and the weather was perfect. It was the day we had all been anticipating. The Saturday of the Settlers Cove Celebration of Australian Food and Wine Festival. And what a mouthful that was, in both senses of the word.

It truly was a day to remember, and although we did not participate in any degustation dinners or guest chef cooking masterclasses (we did not have the budget for it), we were fortunate enough to have been able to participate in the culinary exhibition and food and wine tastings in the Grand Marquee at Lions Park.

Our day began with cooking demonstrations by celebrated chefs from all over Australia. Chefs Giovanni Pilu and Matt Moran were the two that I was particularly keen on seeing. And so it was. Chef Pilu teamed up with Chef Phil Scott, Head Chef of Pilu in Noosa, to prepare classic Italian dishes such as grilled sardines and tomatoes on bread, and pasta Amatriciana. Matt Moran was scheduled to present together with Fifteen Melbourne chef, Tobie Puttock, but ended up doing a solo while Tobie couldn't be present. He cooked up some fried calamari and a tuna nicoise salad, both recipes from his book. What better a way to gain publicity than that! We were all impressed by the tips and tricks he shared throughout the session, like his 2 minute 20 second quail egg technique for perfectly soft yolks.

chefs Phil Scott and Giovanni Pilu preparing classic Italian fare

pasta Amatriciana

chef Matt Moran of Aria, Sydney

seared tuna Nicoise

We then adjourned to the exhibition areas where we exchanged food coupons for plates of food prepared by chefs of local Noosa restaurants. Wonderful smells permeated the entire venue, and took us in all directions, going wherever the aromas seemed to originate from. We found ourselves indulging in orange crusted prawns with goats cheese and fresh peas, flash grilled Mooloolaba baby calamari drizzled with chilli oil and lemon aioli, and rotolos filled with Gympie Farm goats curd, rocket and mushrooms, topped with a decadent sage butter sauce.

at the food stalls

orange crusted prawns with goats cheese, fresh peas and mint

squeezing lemon aioli on grilled baby calamari

flash grilled baby calamari from Mooloolaba, sweet and succulent- one of the best I've tasted

pasta rotolo filled with mushrooms, rocket and goats curd, drizzled with sage butter

It was a fantastic day, and we even had time to head to the beach after the festival had wrapped up. This is the kind of day that I live for, and I'm certainly looking forward to next year's festival.

Technorati tags: Food and Drink, Food, brisbane, food blogs, slow food, restaurant reviews, food outings, australian restaurants, australian restaurant reviews, brisbane dining, australian food and wine festivals, food and wine festivals, festival review, sunshine coast, noosa

Roast Pork Belly with Crushed Anchovy Sauce and Cos Lettuce Hearts

2007-05-14T23:53:00.000+10:00

This is the second pork dish in a row that Bev and I are posting on our blog. We can't help it. The quality of pork in this country is nothing short of fantastic, and so we are blessed. I'd expect that in a few days time you'd see yet another pork dish featured here in our blog: pork trotters braised in milk and sage, pulled apart and tossed through some fresh egg pasta. But let's leave that till then. For today's dinner, we cooked up a roasted pork dish using a slab of pork belly purchased from Burlington Butcher in Chinatown Mall, Fortitude Valley.

Pork belly is one of the cheaper cuts of meat that you can purchase. We got ours at around $9 a kilo, and a kilo of that makes up a pretty big slab! Because it has quite a fair amount of intra-muscular connective tissue, pork belly needs to be cooked gently and slowly to make it tender and delectable. Braising, slow roasting and simmering all work wonders for this cut of meat.

Below is the recipe for the roast pork dish that we made tonight. You may think that pork and anchovies are an odd match, but allow me to assure you that it's not quite as horrible it may sound to some! In fact, the saltiness of the anchovies and the acidity of the lemon in the sauce work well to offset the greasiness and meatiness of the pork belly, rounding out the overall dish quite nicely.

Crispy Roasted Pork Belly

1 kg slab of pork belly, from your local butcher
1 tbsp coarse salt
1 tbsp chopped rosemary
1 tbsp whole fennel seeds

Score the skin of the pork belly at close, regular intervals. Make sure that the incisions run deep enough to cut through the first layer of fat. This helps the fat to render out during the cooking process, and makes the skin crispen up nicely. Mix the salt with the rosemary and fennel seeds. Rub this dry mixure into the skin and grooves of the pork. Roast in a 250 degree celcius oven for 15 minutes till skin begins to dry slightly.

Turn down the temperature of the oven to 150 degrees celcius, a temperature great for slow roasting, and roast for another 3.5 hours. Place a tray of water underneath the pork to keep the oven humid all the time. As the water evaporates, keep topping it up. This helps to prevent the meat surface from drying out too much.

After 3.5 hours, take the meat out of the oven to rest. Depending on your oven, the crackling of the pork may or may not be puffed and crispy at this point. If yours, like mine tonight, is not crispy and puffed yet, transfer it to a higher shelf in your oven and cook it at 220 degrees celcius for a further 5-10 minutes till the skin puffs up. This step is crucial in ensuring that you have a crackling that is crispy rather than 'gummy'.

Rest for 15 minutes under a loose covering of aluminium foil. Carve and serve with anchovy sauce and salad leaves. I used cos lettuce hearts, which are essentially the inner most leaves of the cos (a.k.a. romaine) lettuce. These inner leaves are more crunchy and sweet than the outer ones.

Anchovy Sauce

5 anchovy fillets from a can/jar
1 tsp chopped herb (basil/rosemary/thyme/chive)
1/4 clove garlic
juice of half a lemon
100 ml extra virgin olive oil
freshly ground black pepper

Come to think of it, this is technically more a vinaigrette than a sauce. Either way, bash the anchovy fillets, herbs and garlic in a mortar and pestle till a rough paste is acheived. Alternatively, chop them very finely with a knife. Add them to a bowl and mix in the lemon juice. Incorporate the oil in a steady stream with a fork or a small whisk. Season plainly with pepper. Anchovies are pretty salty as is, so you may not need any extra salt for this sauce/vinaigrette. It goes great with fish, white meats and obviously, salad leaves.

Technorati tags: food and drink, food, brisbane, food blogs, slow food, kitchen expeditions, recipe, recipes, pork, pork belly, roast pork, anchovy, cos lettuce

Teriyaki Glazed Pork Cutlets

2007-05-14T00:37:00.000+10:00

Teriyaki sauce is much easier to make than most would think. I do agree, it may come across as rather silly to trouble yourself in making a sauce so easily available in supermarket aisles. "It's as ridiculous as making your own ketchup!", a friend of mine once exclaimed.

Nonetheless, I'd like to tell all my dear readers that it's dead simple; it calls for only 4 ingredients (sake, mirin, soy, sugar), and takes at most 30 seconds to make! Some might be put off at the thought of finding sake and mirin althogether, but truth be known, sake can actually be found at your local bottle shop, and mirin at any supermarket. Eureka!

Teriyaki sauce goes with anything.. absolutely anything: steaks, chops, fish, prawns, vegs.. Take a minute to make up a little batch of this and it will keep in the fridge for weeks. Whip it out at any time to season grilled meats or spruce up stir fries. See, cooking IS easy when you have versatile sauces like this on hand!

Teriyaki Sauce

Basic ratio:
3 tbsps sugar
5 tbsps mirin
5 tbsps sake
100 ml Japanese soy sauce

Measure and mix all ingredients in a bowl. Simple as!

You may increase the yield of the recipe by simply multiplying the ingredients, following the same ratio.

Teriyaki Glazed Pork Cutlets

4 pork loin/leg cutlets
2 tbsp oil
1 quantity teriyaki sauce (recipe above)
Toasted sesame seeds and seaweed sheets to garnish (optional)

Grill pork cutlets in a hot pan with the oil on both sides till half cooked. Add in teriyaki sauce and let simmer until it thickens enough to coat and glaze the chops. Garnish with sesame seeds and shredded seaweed sheets. Apply this same technique to other proteins such as beef, chicken and fish.

Tip: If cutlets are cooked before the sauce has reduced to a honey-like consistency, remove them to a seperate plate first. Continue to simmer the sauce until it thickens and becomes sticky. Return cutlets to the pan and smear with the sticky sauce. Please do not be tempted to leave the already-cooked pork in the sauce just because it seems "troublesome" to take it out and put it back in again later. Overcooked pork is mighty tough and horrible!

Technorati tags: food and drink, food, brisbane, food blogs, slow food, kitchen expeditions, recipe, recipes, pork, teriyaki, japanese food, pork cutlets

Chicken Noodle Soup- an Ode to Mom

2007-05-14T00:03:00.000+10:00

This here is a different little take on the old chicken noodle soup that we are all so familiar with. This dish goes beyond the boundaries of being just an ordinary food. It can actually mean quite a lot to many people, evoking memories of childhood, rainy days and those times when the flu bug struck, and Mom saved the day with a steaming bowl of chicken soup.

Well, today being Mother's Day, I decided to cook this as an ode to my mother, for all those times in my childhood that she nourished me with these kinds of wholesome foods (Ok, there were some yucky foods that she forced upon me too, but for today's sake, I'll chose to forget those).

Chicken Noodle Soup

6 chicken wings, cut into sections
1 brown onion, diced
1 leek, sliced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 large carrot, diced
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 bay leaves
2 sprigs of thyme
2 cups of small pasta shapes or spaghetti broken into short lengths
1 litre of chicken stock, or water mixed with instant stock powder
parmesan cheese
extra virgin olive oil

Heat enough oil to coat the base of a large saucepan. Add in chicken pieces and allow to brown on all sides, for approximately 5 minutes. Remove them from the pan and set aside. In the same saucepan, throw in all vegetables and let them sweat for a good 15 minutes till they are soft and fragrant, stirring well to dislodge all the yummy chicken residue from the bottom of the pan. Return chicken pieces to the saucepan followed by the stock, bay leaves and whole thyme sprigs. Simmer for 10 minutes, skimming once or twice to remove any excess oil floating at the top.

Add in pasta to the soup. Allow it just enough time to cook (according to the specified cooking time of the particular pasta you are using). Season well with salt and black pepper. Ladle into bowls, drizzle over with some olive oil and grate over parmesan cheese if desired.

Technorati tags: food and drink, food, brisbane, food blogs, slow food, kitchen expeditions, chicken soup, chicken, pasta, soup, recipe, recipes

Home-Cured Kingfish 'Bacon'

2007-05-08T04:30:00.000+10:00

Most of us know pancetta, the famous Italian version of bacon, which is essentially pork belly that has been salted and spiced, and left to dry for around 3 months. But which of us would have thought of making pancetta with fish?

Well, thanks to the the ingenuity of Melbourne chef, Matt McConnell, the brains behind Bar Lourinha, I've had the joy of making this myself. The recipe for this dish appeared in the September 2006 issue of the Australian Gourmet Traveller, and I've been wanting to make it for the longest time, except that I couldn't find any decent kingfish around Brisbane. Or maybe I just wasn't looking in the right places.

Anyway, John West, the household name known best for tinned salmon, has recently released a range of packaged fresh seafood for Coles supermarket shelves. Within the range I found yellowtail kingfish, one of those wonderful foods that I've been hunting down for ages. In a snap, I bought a pack, and raced straight home to finally make this dish that I've been dreaming about for months.

Kingfish Pancetta

400 gm piece of yellowtail kingfish, skinned and boned

'Pancetta' spice mix:
165 gm sea salt
3/4 tsp sweet paprika
1/4 tsp each of ground allspice, ground cloves and ground cinnamon
1 tsp finely chopped thyme
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp sugar

Mix all ingredients for spice mix in a large bowl. Roll fish in spice mix and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 4 hours, then unwrap and pat dry with absorbent paper. Wrap fish in muslin cloth (you can use kitchen towels or paper towels) and continue to refrigerate overnight or for up to 4 days. The flavour will develop and intensify over time.

Before I sliced my fish, I rinsed it with water to remove the excess salt. This was not specified in the original recipe, but I found it too salty initially when I didn't rinse it first. Using a sharp knife, slice kingfish very thinly on an angle. Arrange slices on a plate and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice. Scatter with any kinds of herbs or greens as you wish. Here, I have used thyme and sliced red onion, which works very well with the saltiness of the fish.

If you can't get you hands on kingfish, I reckon salmon would be a decent alternative. Just make sure its really fresh, and not looking like those sad one that seem to have been stepped on (quite a common scene at supermarket seafood counters).

This dish makes entertaining a breeze- just slice up the fish in advance, lay it on a large platter, and scatter over the greens. When your guests arrive, simply drizzle over the olive oil and fresh lemon juice. Crack some pepper over the top and pass around with toothpicks. Everyone will be grinning, I guarantee you that!

Technorati tags: food and drink, food, brisbane, food blogs, slow food, kitchen expeditions, seafood, hamachi, hiramasa, yellowtail kingfish, curing, pancetta, carpaccio, thyme, red onion

Pasta with rocket pesto and ricotta fritta

2007-05-04T22:43:00.000+10:00

A pesto is a fabulous sauce to have on hand at any time. It can be tossed through pasta, potatoes, salads, mixed into a cream sauce for meat and seafood, or literally drizzled over anything at all. Making pesto is so simple, and the ingredients required are few. Just be sure to follow the general guidelines below. Once you have tasted your own fresh pesto, you'd never go back to buying it off the shelves.

PESTO 101

- Use a good handful of greens per batch of pesto. Basil, rocket, coriander and parsley are all widely used to make pesto, basil being the most traditional.

- Use a handful of freshly grated parmesan-type cheese (parmigianno reggiano, pecorino, grana padano, romano, etc). Never be tempted to use those longlife shelf versions, they just don't match up. Someone once compared their aroma to baby vommit.. I second that.

- Use half a clove of raw garlic (not half an entire head!). Just a little raw garlic goes a pretty long way.

- Throw in a couple of teaspoons of toasted pinenuts, macadamia nuts, almonds or hazlenuts. Pinenuts are the most commonly used. Add more if you prefer a chunkier pesto.

- Add one cup of good extra virgin olive oil. Make sure it is extra virgin, because you want that fruity flavour. Add more later, if necessary, to thin down the pesto.

- Whiz everything together in a blender, or you can opt for the more traditional method, via mortar and pestle. Do not overblend as the excess heat generated by the blades can 'kill' the wonderful aromas of the herbs. Season liberally with salt and black pepper.

-I like to add a little lemon juice to balance the oiliness of pesto. This citric acidity also adds a touch of 'zinginess'.

For dinner, I made up a batch of rocket pesto and tossed it through some hot pasta. Then I topped it off with some ricotta fritters that I picked up from Jamie Oliver's book, Jamie's Italy. For this recipe you need to use fresh, crumbly ricotta from the counter section of the supermart, or a deli. Creamy ricotta from plastic tubs will not work here.

Jamie Oliver's Ricotta Fritti

455 gm crumbly ricotta cheese
2 tbsp finely grated parmesan cheese
1.5 tbsp flour
1 large egg
salt and pepper

Mix ingredients in a bowl. Season well. Cook spoonfuls of batter in a hot, oiled pan on both sides till crispy, but moist on the inside. Eat immediately.

Technorati tags: food and drink, food, brisbane, food blogs, slow food, kitchen expeditions, italian food, pasta, pesto, ricotta, fritta, fritti, spaghetti, parmesan, fritter

Stir Fried Snake Beans, Tofu and Scallion

2007-05-04T04:04:00.000+10:00

We stumbled upon some lovely looking snake beans (a.k.a. yardlong beans) today. Snake beans are, as you can probably tell, a member of the legume family, a close cousin to the more familiar green or haricot bean. These beans are wrinkly and pretty long, measuring up to over 30 centimetres. They can often be found on Chinese restaurant menus, stir fried with a fiery and garlicky pork mince. You can easily source them from most Asian grocery stores and some green grocers.

Tonight I took a much simpler approach to cooking these. This stir fried dish literally takes minutes to prepare from the wok to the plate, or in my case, Chinese soup spoons. Lately, I've also been experimenting with the 'under 5' formula, something that I have come about to believe in. Basically, this idea holds that the number of key ingrediens used in a particular dish should be no more than 5. Hence, with such great simplicity, the beauty of the individual ingredients can truly shine through. These 5 ingredients include all solids, but exclude liquid seasonings such as oils and vinegars, and salt and pepper.

Here the fabulous 5 ingredients were:
snake beans, diced
firm tofu, diced
scallion (spring onion), diced
chilli, sliced
garlic, sliced

paired with the following seasonings:
sesame oil
fish sauce
salt
white pepper powder

Method:
Saute diced firm tofu in a wok or pan with a decent amount of oil to coat. Once cubes start to brown on all sides, add in the garlic, snake beans and a pinch of salt. Continue to fry for 5 minutes till beans soften slightly. Season with a moderate amount of fish sauce, sesame oil and white pepper. Throw in scallion pieces and chilli slices. Stir fry for a further 30 seconds and serve.

These go great with steamed rice as part of a large family style meal. Or you could even be a little more adventerous and use it as a vegetarian taco filling; there's nothing more liberating than letting your imagination run wild!

Nonya Style Glutinous Rice Parcels Wrapped in Bamboo Leaves

2007-05-03T02:00:00.000+10:00

A mouthful of a title, isn't it. Well, that's pretty much what a Nonya 'Chang' is - Nonya styled stewed meat, stuffed in a bamboo-leave wrapped glutinous rice parcel. It is an East Asian delicacy that fervent households would churn out annually to mark the month of the Dragon Boat Festival. It is tradition that Chang or Zongzi is made during the month when the festival is held. There are many variations of this delicacy, but this Nonya one happened to be the 'easier' version that I was willing to attempt as a first timer. What I also mean to say is that, as much as I welcome a challenge, I'd rather not shoot for the sky and risk setting myself up for failure afterwards (and not to mention, making a terrible mess of the kitchen and wasting good ingredients).

I got this particular recipe from Miss Lily's lovely site. Apparently, she in turn took her recipe from the book, The Best of Singapore Cooking by Mrs Leong Yee Soo. The recipe was titled Kueh Chang Babi, and a great recipe it is indeed! Most of the ingredients listed can be purchased at any large Asian grocers' here. Try Yuen's at Suunybank or Fortitude Valley and Burlington's at Fortitude Valley as well. There are also more Asian supermarkets around Sunnybank, but we usually stick to the above mentioned places.

Now, to the part where we actually make the chang.

T'was a rather daunting task for us, attempting to make chang. Not only are there several different components to prepare beforehand (soaking bamboo leaves, rendering pork fat, preparing blue dye, etc), but the long cooking process to acheive the perfect al dente yet soft, delicious glutinous rice (bursting with rich, meaty stuffing) makes the whole cooking experience an ardous but rewarding one.

May I also add that folding these little parcels of goodness is an entricate artform in itself! Right now, we're still greenhorns with a long way to go before we master the art of folding chang, or at least getting the hang of making proper symetrical pyramid shapes. Oh, and having Bjorn around didn't help much either, for he made an equal mess of them.

Fruitful as it was, the whole exercise took the most part of the day, and cleaning up wasn't funny either. But they tasted and looked nice, and we hope you enjoy the pictures nonetheless!

Technorati tags: food and drink, food, brisbane, food blogs, slow food, kitchen expeditions, chinese cuisine, chinese, chinese cooking, nonya, bak chang, glutinous rice, bamboo

Southern Fried Catfish with Mac & Cheese

2007-04-29T05:32:00.000+10:00

Catfish are very common here in the waters of the Brisbane river. 2 nights ago, Eddie and I went to the river in hopes of hooking us up some dinner. And did we indeed, with the capture of 3 fine looking catfish. Actually, I think it was him that caught all of the fish..

We decided to cook them up with a cornmeal coating, a.k.a. 'Southern' style. I also made a simple macaroni and cheese to go alongside the fish.

Catfish require a different cleaning technique compared to most other fish. Visit this website to learn how to clean and prepare whole catfish.

'Southern' Fried Catfish

Fillets of catfish, cut into chunks
1 cup full cream milk/buttermilk
1 tsp cayenne pepper/paprika
1 egg
salt and pepper
Cornmeal (polenta) for crumbing

Mix the milk, cayenne/paprika, egg and seasoning in a bowl. Add chunks of catfish and leave to soak for at least 30 mins. Dredge in a separate bowl containing cornmeal. Deep fry till golden.

*the soaking process takes away some of the muddy flavours associated with catfish. This recipe also works well with other seafoods such as prawns and calamari.

Mac & Cheese

450 grams dried macaroni (or other small pasta shape)
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 heaped tbsp of butter
1 heaped tbsp of plain flour
3 cups milk
1 cup shredded tasty cheese/cheddar
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (optional)
a pinch of grated nutmeg
salt and pepper

Cook macaroni according to packet directions and drain. Heat butter in large saucepan and cook onion and garlic till translucent. Add flour and stir constantly till flour turns slightly brown, about 2 minutes. Gradually pour in the milk while constantly stirring. Let simmer for 5-10 minutes, till milk thickens, and then stir in the cheeses and nutmeg. Season to taste with a good amount of salt and pepper. Toss hot sauce with macaroni just before serving.

Technorati tags: food and drink, food, brisbane, food blogs, slow food, kitchen expeditions, catfish, macaroni, macaroni n cheese, southern fried, buttermilk,

Barang, Indooroopilly

2007-04-26T03:53:00.000+10:00

Barang, pronounced as Bah-rung, opened barely two weeks ago along the Station Road stretch of surburban Indooroopilly. Opened by a young Singaporean couple, Barang aims to educate the general population who "can't tell between a Nasi Lemak and Nasi Goreng, Penang Laksa or Nonya Laksa" on the specifics of South East Asian food.

New Brisbane was first in to conduct a review, and it did a great job of covering much of what I'd like to say about this new eatery/retail outlet. Apart from that, what I can add is that the food is really tasty and authentic. Being particularly familiar with Southeast Asian food, I have to comment that their chicken curry beats the other Brisbane competition hands down.

All the extra little touches in their food, such as the addition of fresh curry leaves in their chicken curry, truly reinforce their claim to authenticity. Now this is the REAL stuff.

Assurance in their food is very evident here, given their 6-dish main course menu. It takes a lot of confidence for a full scale restaurant to offer such a small range of food. But true enough, the food itself does live up to the confidence they've placed in it.

Compare their 6-dish menu with the stereotypical 101-dish menus in most Asian eateries which are, for the lack of a better word, mind boggling. At Barang, we can finally rest assured that the food we order undergoes a fast turnover, and ingredient items aren't sitting in the chillers for weeks, waiting to be utilised when someone finally orders number 87 off the menu.

Concise menus: reader-friendly, educational and informative, attached clipboard-style alongside chinese newspaper cuttings. Very funky indeed.

Nasi Lemak: coconut rice, fried chicken, beef and chicken curries

Roti Prata Singapura: a must-have in Singaporean cuisine. Pan fried flat bread with their awesome chicken and potato curry

Nasi Beef Rendang: spicy beef chunks in a robust curry

Hanoi-style beef soup with udon noodles: tender beef slices cooked in a rich and peppery broth

For those who are a tad unfamiliar and intimidated by Malaysian, Indonesian and Singaporean food, have no fear: everything is explained well in the menus, and friendly owners Chris and Kat would be more than willing to guide you along. As for those who've already been introduced to these foods, just get yourselves down to Indooroopilly quick.

Barang
Shop 5/8 Station Road
(Opposite Indooroopilly Hotel)
Indooroopilly, Brisbane
Phone: +617 3720 0169

Technorati tags: Food and Drink, Food, brisbane, food blogs, slow food, restaurant reviews, food outings, brisbane dining, cafe reviews, laksa, nasi lemak, chicken, chicken curry, curry, asian cuisine, beef, beef rendang, udon, beef soup

Spatchcock Braised in Red Wine

2007-04-25T05:16:00.000+10:00

Just a little something I cooked up for dinner. I used American smoked bacon in this dish, which was purchased from Ingredients, a wonderful little deli in the Kenmore Village Shopping Centre (which also sells my favourite Spanish Jamon Iberico!). The spatchcock was from Clancy James, one of my favourite meat retailers, in Taringa.

When cooking with red wine, be sure to use a wine that you would deem as good enough to drink. Most people open a bottle of wine, find that's not quite nice to drink, then use it to cook with instead. Either that, or they think that spending the extra few dollars on a good wine for cooking is a waste of money. Truth be told, I too have been guilty of these more than once in the past.

However, costs aside, cooking does indeed condense the flavours of wines, and if you use wines that have unpleasant flavours (to you), you'll concentrate the 'bad' taste to end up with a pretty nasty final dish. So give it a try, don't scrimp on those extra few bucks when it comes to choosing wines for cooking.

Technorati tags: food and drink, food, brisbane, food blogs, slow food, kitchen expeditions, red wine, porcini, italian food, barolo

Sardines on Toast with Marinated Onions

2007-04-19T04:11:00.000+10:00

Bev and I have this weird habit of cooking at the wee hours of the morning. Granted, it does affect our waking up the next morning, but something still drives us to do it regardless.

Tonight, we were shuffling for space again in our "compact" kitchen. Bev was baking her chocolate cake (again, for the 4th time in 2 weeks!), and I was just trying to make a snack for myself as I was suffering a late night attack of the munchies.

Sardines-on-toast and I go way back. My dad used to bring me to the golf club every weekend when I was 7. There he'd slip me his membership card so I could order any food or drink to keep myself busy the entire afternoon while he'd muck around with his mates. Somehow, I'd always end up ordering either grilled cheese sandwiches or sardines on toast, the clubhouse's specialties back in the day, and then wolf them down with a tall chocolate milkshake alongside. Ah, those innocent days.

Tonight, I decided to revisit those moments by making myself something similar using some leftover baguette I had from my previous post (parsnip soup with mushroom toasts), and a can of sardines in oil from the pantry.

I topped the toasts with raw onions, just like they did at the clubhouse, but me being me, I just HAD to be meddlesome and mess with it a bit more. So, I cut one white onion into nice, thin rings and marinated them with 1 tsp of finely grated lemon rind (I rely heavily on my trusty old Microplane grater), 1/2 tsp of grated raw garlic, 3 tbsps of extra virgin olive oil, 2 tbsps of lemon juice, and salt and pepper. I also added some sliced red chilies for an extra 'bite'. The lemon adds acidity and zestiness while the onion adds some pungency and crunch, and the chilles add the much appreciated heat.

Mmm, the taste of my childhood.

Technorati tags: food and drink, food, brisbane, food blogs, slow food, kitchen expeditions, sardine, sardines, toast,

Parsnip Soup with Mushroom Toast

2007-04-17T15:33:00.000+10:00

Now's mid-April, and the weather here is starting to get a tad cooler than it was in the last 3 months. Moreover, winter's coming up again in a short while, and that only means one thing for me: lots of hearty winter foods!

Admittedly, I am highly enthusisatic to begin writing about my favourite topic.. comfort foods. I know it's still a little early in the season to be talking about pasta soups, game casseroles and baked fruit, so just to ease us into the upcoming winter, here's a simple recipe that I reckon suits the current climate here in Brisbane.

Parsnip Soup with Mushroom Toasts
for 2 hearty portions:

3 small parsnips
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 small white onion, chopped
3 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1/2 cup thick cream
salt and white pepper

2 slices of baguette, toasted
1 clove of garlic, cut in half
1 tsp of pinenuts (optional)
3 medium sized mushrooms, diced (I used field mushrooms)
1 clove of garlic, chopped
A fruity extra virgin oilive oil
Salt and coarse black pepper

Peel parsnips and cut into quarters. Remove tough inner core and discard. Dice parsnips. In a saucepan, heat enough oil to cover the base. Add garlic and onion and sweat for 2 minutes till translucent. Add parsnips to pan and saute for another 2 minutes. Now, pour in the stock and the cream and simmer for 5-10 minutes till the vegetables are very tender. Transfer to a blender and liquidise. Pour back into saucepan and season to taste. Here, you may want to strain the soup for a more refined texture, but as for me, I'd rather not do this. I find that small residual chunks of vegetables in the soup add to the rustic charm of the final dish.

Rub the warm toasts with the exposed sides of the cut garlic clove, then drizzle generously with olive oil. In a small frypan, heat just enough olive oil to coat base, and then add chopped garlic and pinenuts and fry gently till just garlic is just golden. Turn up the heat and add in the diced mushrooms. Season with a little salt and pepper and saute till mushrooms soften slightly. Spoon onto toasts.

Pour soup into bowls and top with a slice of mushroom toast. Drizzle more olive oil over the soup to make it taste more luscious.

Most people tend to overlook the quality of the olive oils they purchase. May I suggest that it is important to use olive oil of a good quality, as such simple dishes taste only as good as the ingredients that go into them. Here, I used a Cobram Estate Extra Virgin Olive Oil, which is relatively lighter in flavour and does not overpower the parsnips, and is easily available in most supermarkets.

Technorati tags: food and drink, food, brisbane, food blogs, slow food, kitchen expeditions, winter food, winter recipes, parsnip soup, garlic mushrooms, mushroom toast, soup, comfort food, simple recipes, olive oil

Cooking with Cola

2007-04-16T22:41:00.000+10:00

Yes, you read it right- chicken wings with cola.

We all love cola in so many ways: in its traditional form as a beverage, in juicy gummies and lollies, as a 7-11 slurpee flavour, and so on. However, most of us aren't quite familiar with the less-than-obvious hidden culinary utilities that the humble cola beholds.

In 2005, I visited the sunny Philippines. It was then that I was first exposed to a savoury application of this fizzy, sweet, black stuff- in a local dish of squid stewed in cola and other aromatics. It was strangely delicious. Henceforth, that single experience triggered the opening of my mind to the wide world of culinary secrets that lay within those aluminium cans.

Today, there numerous websites, such as this one, that educate us on the multitude of ways that we can incorporate cola into our everyday recipes. Very interesting indeed.

Tonight, inspired by my trip to the Philippines, I cooked up a dish of chicken wings stewed in cola and vinegar. I served it with jasmine rice mixed with annatto oil, another great ingredient that I stumbled upon in the Philippines. There, they often serve this fragrant rice with savoury, grilled meats like chicken inasal.

The method of making this dish of cola stewed chicken wings is dead simple. There are seven basic ingredients that are used to flavour the chicken, and you can adjust the quantities of these to suit your liking. Also, in the Philippines, they'd normally cook with a tangy coconut vinegar. This can be a little tricky to obtain here in Brisbane, although most larger Asian grocers do stock it. But for the sake of those who don't want to go through the trouble of searching for it, you can easily substitute it with another crisp, fruity vinegar such as apple cider vinegar.

Chicken wings with cola and vinegar

8 large chicken wings
2 tbsps Maggi/Knorr seasoning (available in supermarkets)
1 cup light soya sauce
1 cup coconut vinegar, or apple cider vinegar
2 cups cola
1 whole head of garlic
6 bay leaves
12 whole white peppercorns

Heat oil in a large saucepan or casserole and fry chicken pieces till slightly brown. Add entire head of garlic, bay leaves and peppercorns and fry for another 2 mins. Then, add in all the liquids and let simmer for 30 mins till chicken is tender.

Remove chicken wings from saucepan/casserole, leaving behind cooking liquids. Set chicken wings aside in a separate bowl. Bring liquids to boil and let reduce by half to three quarters till you acheive a sticky and rich consistency. Add chicken wings back to liquids and toss to coat. Serve hot with rice.

Technorati tags: food and drink, food, brisbane, food blogs, slow food, kitchen expeditions, cola, chicken, chicken cola, filipino food

Confit of Berkshire Pork Belly with Fennel and Apple

2007-04-13T02:58:00.000+10:00

Pork and apples and fennel.. how wrong can one get? Not very I suppose. Ye old trusted combination, reworked time and again by cooks all over. Indeed, there is good reason why the term "classic pairings" exists.

The pork was marinated with rosemary, bay leaves, pepper and lots of salt and sugar overnight. The next day, it was drained and rinsed twice. Then, the meat was submerged in oil (or lard) and baked in a 120 degree celsius oven for 3 hours. When done, it was left to cool in the fat, and stored for a week in the fridge to allow the tasty flavours to fully develop, just as with all other confits. Pan fry the pork when needed, simply to warm through and crispen the skin.

I dished it up with shaved fennel and apples dressed with a mustard vinaigrette (mustard goes well with pork too!). I also added caramelised apple and chorizo sausage slices to make it a meal fit for a hungry man like myself.

Technorati tags: food and drink, food, brisbane, food blogs, slow food, kitchen expeditions, pork confit, confit, pork , pork belly, apples, fennel

Deep Fried Toffee Apples

2007-04-13T01:50:00.000+10:00

Bev stumbled upon this fantastic online recipe for candy-ing apples. We got our hands dirty and ended up with a plateful of these crispy and sweet morsels. It's very interesting, the way the recipe calls for the apple wedges to be first fried in a tempura-like batter, then coated in caramel, and finally plunged into iced water just before serving to harden the caramel. You should really try this if you can.

Technorati tags: food and drink, food, brisbane, food blogs, slow food, kitchen expeditions, toffee apple, toffee, chinese cuisine, chinese, chinese cooking

Lure Seafood Restaurant @ The Coro Hotel

2007-04-12T23:21:00.000+10:00

Eating out:

We had heard and read much about Lure at the Coro Hotel. It was supposedly one of the best and most raved about seafood restaurants here in Brisbane. It even took out the awards for Restaurant and Catering Australia's (RCA) Best Seafood Restaurant in 2005, and Best New Restaurant in that same year, a testament to their committment to serving Brisbanians spectacular food. Sadly for us, when we went to Lure two weeks ago, the food was far short of anything spectacular. In fact, it was our least favourite dining experience in a while.

It was a close friend's birthday, and we were throwing her a surprise party. Her partner had decided on the venue, and Bev and I were one of the ten that would be in attendance. With much anticipation, we arrived at the restaurant before our 7pm reservation. Greeted by Nick, our friendly waiter, we were ushered to a long table which was specially laid for ten.

When all had arrived, and hugs and kisses had been exchanged, we decided on what to order. One of the highlights for the month of March was the Taste of Queensland degustation menu ($85), a special 7 course meal which aimed to showcase the best of Queensland produce. We confidently decided on that, then sat back and waited patiently for the food to arrive.

Watermark Soft Shell Crab, Caramelised Pork Hock, Asian Salad, Green Paw Paw, Nahm Jim Dressing

This was the first course: our first taste of what this coveted restaurant had to offer. And what a let down it was. The first thing that struck Bev and I was "SALT!". The fried piece of soft shell crab was so salty that we actually got salt burns on our tongues- not a good sign. And then the pork: it was very dry and fibrous, and was no where near what they claim to be 'caramelised'. In fact whole dish was very dry, and cried out for more dressing. Oh, and I do hate it when chefs put unrelated pieces of cherry tomatoes on a plate just to 'add' to the dish. Frankly, these break the coherence of the dish, and the act itself sends a signal of laziness- "Hmm... let's just chuck in a cherry tomato half while we're at it, it looks good anyway..."

Vanella Buffalo Mozzarella with Puy Lentils and Spicy Eggplant

This dish was much better than the first, thankfully. The eggplant was nicely grilled and topped off with a slice of mozzarella, then baked. It was accompanied with a pleasant mound of lentils below. Friends of ours who didn't normally fancy eggplant enjoyed this dish. However, like the previous course, it was begging for a sauce or vinaigrette or at least something wet on the plate. Without this liquid, the dish leaned a little towards the greasy side.

Hand Picked Mudcrab Angel Hair Pasta, Chilli, Shallots, Gremolata

This pasta course was very forgettable. What was supposed to be gremolata was missing from the dish. Gremolata is most often a finely chopped mixture of lemon zest, garlic and parsley. Here, it was not to be found. I suppose the chefs simply sprinkled chopped chives on the plate and then decided to call it 'gremolata' because "Hey, I don't think anyone really knows what's gremolata anyway.. so lets just call it that". Aside from that, this was the third dish in a row that lacked any form of moisture. There was much olive oil in the pasta, but not enough water in between to make the noodles 'slippery' as they should be; they were just dry and clumped together, sitting in a pool of oil. Technically speaking, this pasta dish was very badly cooked.

Coral Trout Fillet w Braised Fennel, Grilled Ocean King Prawns,Blood Orange Butter Sauce

Finally, a dish with a sauce! A feeling of relief swept over us as we relished the fact that after a long series of dry dishes, here was one that had some element of liquid in it. But the feeling was short lived. The fish and prawn were overcooked, and the fish felt almost as tough as tuna chunks out of a can. This is perhaps THE ultimate sin for such a self-proclaimed seafood restaurant. Dinner had hit the pits by this point. The hope and anticipation for that shining dish to save the rest of the night was fast diminishing.

Wagyu Sirloin (Darling Downs) (Marble Score 7)
with Red Braised Vegetables, Roasted Kipfler Potatoes

The menu read 'Marbling Score 7', but when our waiter introduced the dish, he said "8". Now I don't know who's lying, but at that point, I just couldn't bother anymore. The beef was cooked medium well. It tasted uniquely buttery, like Wagyu beef should, but was cooked too tough for my liking. The potatoes were really good, I must say. Fancy that- the potatoes outshining the Wagyu beef.

Anyway, let's not even carry on to talk about dessert and cheese. They, like the courses before, were nothing worth singing about. Lure's certainly not a restaurant that you'd find us returning to anytime soon. Normally, degustations are a vehicle for a restaurant to showcase the best of the chefs' abilities and the quality of the produce. In this case, Lure just messed up a really good opportunity.

We welcome any differing opinions, so please leave a comment, we'd really like to hear about your experience.

Lure Seafood Restaurant
28 McDougall Street
Milton, Brisbane
Tel: (07) 3369 9955

Technorati tags: Food and Drink, Food, brisbane, food blogs, slow food, restaurant reviews, food outings, australian restaurants, australian restaurant reviews, brisbane dining, brisbane restaurants, seafood restaurant reviews, brisbane seafood

Creamy Scrambled Eggs with Wild Mushrooms and Herbs

2007-04-07T02:40:00.000+10:00

You could circle the globe in search for new and exciting tastes, but you'll always end up drifting back to a place close to the heart where familiarity resides. For Bev and myself, we couldn't possibly resist coming back to luscious scrambled eggs ladden with sinful lashings of cream- runny in parts and velvety in others.

Scrambled eggs are one of those things that everyone, cheffy or not, has their own very personal and special way of cooking. In fact, many haughty chefs have been bickering for centuries over the definition of the perfect scrambled egg. Regardless, however runny or stiff, folded or stirred, you prefer your scrambled eggs, these things maintain a great affinity with partners such as butter, garlic, parsley, chives, black pepper, truffles/truffle oil, mushrooms, fish roe of any kind, smoked salmon, crab, and cured meats (bacon is but just one of the many).

World famous UK chef, Gordon Ramsey, does not beat his eggs initially with salt, but rather, seasons the dish only when it is almost cooked. According to him, the salt breaks down the proteins in the eggs prematurely, making them 'weep' and become watery later on. Who am I to disagree? So I cooked mine accordingly, and accompanied it with a side of wild saffron mushrooms fried with butter, garlic, parsley and chives, seasoned plainly with coarse salt and black pepper.

For fellow mushroom lovers, it may be useful to know that now is wild mushroom season here in Australia. It runs annually for three months from March through to May. Seasonal fungi such as trumpets, king oysters, pink oysters, chestnuts, maitake and these wild saffron mushrooms can be purchased from most green grocers or farmers markets around Queensland at this time. Be quick, as they're only on shelves for so long.

Technorati tags: food and drink, food, brisbane, food blogs, slow food, kitchen expeditions, breakfast, eggs, scrambled eggs, mushrooms, wild mushroom, saffron mushrooms, herbs

Taj Mahal Indian Cuisine

2007-04-06T18:14:00.000+10:00

Eating out:

Bev and myself are always on the hunt for good places to eat here in Brisbane. For the benefit of others with the same motives, it does pay off to ask around. Taj Mahal is a prime example of this.

Two weeks ago, Bev and myself attended a cocktail reception where we stumbled across some old friends. As always, conversation eventually drifted towards discussions about the local food scene. We were keenly recommended by a friend, Mervyn, to check out three places in particular: Beccofino in Teneriffe for their thin and tasty wood fired pizzas, Le Bon Choix in Albany Creek for their delectable French pastries, and Taj Mahal in New Farm for their authentic Indian fare.

It was quarter to eight on a Thursday night, and we phoned Taj Mahal for a last minute reservation. We arrived on time with growling empty bellies.

The menu has a whooping selection of tandoori-ed entrees, soups, breads, curries and sides, all divided into two sections: vegetarian and non-vegetarian. We were graciously assisted with the menu selections by a charming lady running the floor. Following her recommendations, we ended up ordering a lentil soup, 2 tandoori entrees, 2 curries and 2 types of naan to share. Bev also ordered herself a mango lassi, a 'must-have' in her books when eating Indian.

Paneer Tikka- marinated cottage cheese and vegetables baked in Tandoor

Shahi Kebabs- minced lamb grilled in Tandoor

Beef Madras and Fish Moilley with complimentary yellow rice

Aloo (mashed potato stuffing) Naan and Garlic Naan

The food was good, especially the naans, which arrived hot and crispy. These were absoultely gorgeous when dipped into the curries. The curries themselves were piquant, aromatic and coconut-ty, although they lacked a bit of heat (you'll see why in a moment); and the tandoori dishes were fragrant and served with refreshingly cold yoghurt dips on the side. Bev commented that the mango lassi was the best that she had among the Indian restaurants that she's been to around here.

Our only regret was that we specified 'medium' when asked to choose between "mild, medium and hot" for our curries. It was only after the meal when chatting with the amiable restaurant owner that we discovered the availability of more levels of heat above those offered to us initially: Indian hot. Indian hot X 2, Indian hot X 3, etc. We should have at least ordered 'hot' or 'Indian hot'!!! That would have really given the curries an added kick.

Overall, factoring in the price, the quality of the food and friendliness of service, we'd definitely say that Taj Mahal is a restaurant very much worth the visit. I'm sure the Indian cricket team would be happy to vouch for that, considering they were regular patrons of the restaurant during their 2004 World Tour!

Taj Mahal Indian Cuisine
722 Brunswick Street
New Farm
Brisbane
Tel: (07) 32542388

Technorati tags: Food and Drink, Food, brisbane, food blogs, slow food, restaurant reviews, food outings, australian restaurants, australian restaurant reviews, indian restaurant reviews, indian restaurant, indian cuisine, indian food, north indian food, tandoor, tandoori, naan, lassi, mango lassi, curries, curry

Bjorn's favourite restaurant- Pilu at Freshwater, Sydney

2007-04-03T06:19:00.000+10:00

Giovanni Pilu, Chef/Owner of Pilu at Freshwater in Harbord, Sydney, is my definition of a true maestro. Hailing from Sardinia, Italy, Giovanni brings to Australia a hearty slice of rustic, regional Italian cooking. Dining at his acclaimed 2 chef-hat restaurant is by far my most memorable and unforgettable dining experience. Mind you, I’m a grown man, but may I say that reminiscing my experience at Pilu is almost an emotional thing for me? Well without going any further, I think it is pretty obvious by now that I just can’t seem to run out of good things to say about this man and his food.

The restaurant is set in a wooden cottage overlooking the sea at a quiet little beach called Freshwater, in the suburb of Harbord, on the North shore of Sydney. Bev and I took a ferry to Manly, then a 10 minute taxi ride to arrive at the restaurant. From the moment we entered, we were completely charmed by the restaurant’s marvellous view of the bay, rolling waves and blue skies. It was the kind of place that made you never want to leave. Lunch on that weekday was a casual affair, with just about 6 or so tables being occupied. This meant that we could get a seat right next to the huge windows overlooking the beach- perfect.

Bev and I didn’t want to look like pigs, so we just ended up ordering 4 entrees and 1 main course between the two of us (what irony). And in true Italian hospitality, we were delighted to have the waitress offer to ask the kitchen to split each dish into two portions for each of us, and then plate them seperately, so we didn't have to share off a single plate. It was the first time that any restaurant had gone that far out of its way to please me, and I was honestly touched by that gesture.

So here's how the magic unfolded:

Sauteed prawns with fregola, tomato, garlic and chilli

Fregola, a type of Sardinian couscous-like pasta, was paired with fresh, sweet prawns simply cooked with garlic, cherry tomatoes and a touch of chilli. It was well seasoned and well balanced. This dish spoke of pure simplicity and sensitivity. It set the tone for the rest of the meal, and gave us a good indication of things to come.

Bread baked in lamb broth with pecorino

It arrived piping-hot and bubbling at our table, fresh from the oven obviously. Thick, crusty slices of bread layered with pecorino cheese and fresh basil, drenched with fragrant lamb broth then baked in the oven was the simple idea behind this down-to-earth dish. But yet again, we were stunned by its heartiness and warmth. To best describe the experience of eating this would be to compare it with eating a steaming bowl of chicken soup on a cold, rainy day. Who would have thought that soggy bread could be so heart warming! Bev had to literally stop me from nibbling the crusted cheese off the rims of the ramekin.

Rabbit and porcini mushroom ragu with hand rolled pasta and more pecorino cheese

Slow food at its best. Due to past less-than-desirable experiences at some restaurants, I'm not a big fan of rabbit. But boy, was that a moment of revelation for me. The meat was melt-in-the-mouth tender, and had absorbed the musty flavours of the porcini mushrooms. The rich, tasty braising liquids of the ragu that coated the pasta complimented it perfectly. And with the generous shavings of pecorino on top, what could be better?

Gnocchetti Sardi (Sardinian pasta) with grated bottarga, vongole and baby zuchinni.

I groaned with delight after my first mouthful of this. Prior to this, I was wondering how much better the meal could possibly get, considering that Bev and I were already highly impresssed with the past 3 courses. This 4th dish just broke the record. It was so darn good. How many more ways could a man express that something tasted good? Gosh, it was the epitome of 'delicious'! No single clam shell was left unsucked of the lovely grated bottarga and garlic that cling to it. The most enjoyable part of this dish was when a piece of pasta got lodged in a clam shell together with the clam; then you'd unglamourously pick it up and suck out the insides to savour every last morsel. I almost wanted to sneak around the corner to lick my plate; eventually, social graciousness prevailed and I ended up asking for more bread to wipe the plate clean instead. Till today, the taste of this dish still lingers fondly in my memory.

Oven roasted suckling pig with apple sauce

According to the friendly waitress, this was a national dish highly representative of Sardinia, and a signature dish of chef Giovanni as well. The animal used to cook this dish was to be no older than 7 weeks of age, only to be fed on the milk of its mother and nothing else. I could see why. The skin/crackling was thin as a pappadum, and roasted to a perfect crispiness. The meat itself was juicy and very tender, and in true rustic Italian fashion, roasted whole and hacked up into portion sizes later. I have cooked such suckling pigs before in my career, and in the same manner, but this is the first time that I've sat down to enjoy a huge portion of it all to myself. The cracking was the best part of the dish, obviously, and I firmly agree that such delicate crispiness can only be acheived with a young animal of that age and no older. Eating this was a pure joy, and I hate to say it, but I think that was the best piece of roasted pork I've had, ever.

Hot chocolate puddings with coffee wafers and vanilla mascarpone

By this point, Pilu had already won my vote for 'best meal of the year'. But he was relentless and wouldn't stop just there! He continued to serve us what I believe to be, dare I say it, the best chocolate pudding I've ever had!

These things go by many names in restaurants: chocolate fondants, molten chocolate puddings, soft-centred chocolate puddings, etc. But whatever you wish to call them, I stand firm when I say that Pilu has the BEST blooming version of this ever-popluar restaurant dessert. They were served with coffee flavoured tuile wafers that were meant to be dipped into the liquid centres of the puddings. We did just that. Then we scooped up the quenelles of vanilla mascarpone and dunked them into the middle of our puddings. We almost died.

I hereby conclude: if you happen to be in Sydney, even for a day, GO TO PILU AT FRESHWATER. The view is fantastic, the service is top notch, and the food is to die for. Need I convince you further?

Technorati tags: Food and Drink, Food, brisbane, food blogs, slow food, restaurant reviews, food outings, australian restaurants, australian restaurant reviews, sydney restaurant, sardinian cuisine, italian cuisine, suckling pig, bottarga, chocolate

Chocolate Buttermilk Cake with Vanilla-Lemon Curd

2007-03-30T04:26:00.000+10:00

This dessert is sort of a collaboration between Bev and myself. If I may say so myself, it is so simple to make, and yet so decadent in taste.

Bev did most of the work, and was thus responsible for baking the (fantastic) chocolate buttermilk cakes, while I prepared the simple chocolate ganache and put together a cheater bug's version of a vanilla-lemon curd (you'll see what I mean shortly).

The recipe is as follows:

Chocolate buttermilk cake

2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
230 gms butter, at room temperature
170 gms good quality chocolate, melted
4 eggs (59gm each), at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk

Beat butter and sugars in a large mixing bowl till pale yellow, and sugars have dissolved. Add eggs into mixture till fully incorporated. Then, add the melted chocolate and continue beating till smooth.

Sift all dry ingredients together into a bowl. Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients into the butter mixture and fold thoroughly. Add 1/3 buttermilk, that have been mixed with the vanilla, and fold again till smooth. Keep repeating with 1/3 each of dry ingredients, then buttermilk, till all have been used up.

Pour into individual rectangular/round/square moulds which have been brushed with melted butter. Bake at 170 degrees celsius for 20-25 minutes till cooked through. To test, insert a wooden skewer to the middle of the cake. If the skewer comes out clean, cake is cooked through.

Rest in moulds, undisturbed, till cool enough to handle.

Basic chocolate ganache

100 gm chocolate (use either compound or couverture)
100 ml thickened cream

Heat cream in a saucepan till just below boiling point.
Pour over the chocolate in a clean, dry bowl.
Mix well.
Ganache may be used immediately, or cooled and reheated later on.

sneaky 30 second vanilla-lemon curd

1 jar store-bought lemon butter or lemon curd (we got ours, homemade, from the farmers' market)
1 vanilla bean

Split vanilla bean in half. Scoop out seeds and mix well in a bowl with the lemon curd/butter. Refrigerate for at least 30 mins before using.

To assemble:

Place cake on a plate. Spread a layer of warm chocolate ganache on top of the cake, then top with fruit. The ganache helps the fruit to adhere to the cake. In this instance, I used kiwi fruit. Berries of any sort would work beautifully too. Spoon a generous amount of vanilla-lemon curd over the fruit. Garnish the rest of the plate with some chocolate ganache or lemon curd if desired.

Technorati tags: food and drink, food, brisbane, food blogs, slow food, kitchen expeditions, chocolate, chocolate dessert, cake, buttermilk, baking, desserts, lemon butter, vanilla

Steamed Black Bean Fish with Asian Mushrooms

2007-03-28T03:17:00.000+10:00

Here's a dish that's so easy to make, you could easily do it in half an hour. As much as many of us feel that the selection of Asian mushrooms available at supermarkets is generally limited to the usual shitake, enoki and oyster, these few varieties are all you actually need for this dish!

So here's how to prepare it:

1) Cut even sized fillets from a soft, white fish (eg, cod, coral trout, halibut, barramundi, snapper, etc). Marinade with bottled black bean and garlic sauce (available at the Asian food section of most supermarkets).

2) Cut fresh shitake and oyster mushrooms into small pieces. Leave enokis whole, but cut away the dirtier root section.

3) Saute the shitake and oyster mushrooms in a pan with chopped garlic and ginger for a minute. Add a few teaspoons of cooking wine (mirin, chinese cooking wine, sherry, etc), chicken stock, soya sauce and sesame oil and simmer for 3 minutes. Add enoki mushrooms to the mixture in the pan and cook a further 3 minutes till the enokis just soften and wilt.

4) Steam/bake fish fillets till just cooked through (4-8 minutes depending on size of fillets).

5) For individual servings, lay a portion of shitake and oyster mushrooms on a plate, spoon cooking liquids over. Place a piece of fish over the mushrooms and top off with a small bunch of enokis to garnish.

Technorati tags: food and drink, food, brisbane, food blogs, slow food, kitchen expeditions, fish dish, shitake, black bean, asian cuisine

Green Curry with Chicken and Quail Eggs

2007-03-28T03:16:00.000+10:00

Upcoming event: Settler's Cove Celebration of Australian Food and Wine: 18-20 May

2007-03-28T01:50:00.000+10:00

For all you fellow Queensland foodies out there, just a bit of a heads up on a great event coming our way. It's the annual Settler's Cove Celebration of Australian Food and Wine 2007, and it's held right here in Noosa from the 18th to the 20th of May.

Tickets are on sale now, and range from $25 for entry to food and wine tasting sessions, to $75 for celebrity chefs' cooking classes, to a hefty $250 for a 7 course "Great Australian Degustation", where 7 leading Aussie chefs collaborate to prepare a scrumptious tasting menu with wines to match. You can bet that Bev and I will be attending as many sessions as our wallets would allow!

Of the famous chefs participating in the event, Bev and I are particularly looking forward to welcoming Giovanni Pilu (Pilu at Freshwater, Sydney), Matt Moran (Aria, Sydney), Matt McConnell (Bar Lourinha, Melbourne), Brent Savage (Bentley Restaurant and Bar, Sydney) and Meyjitte Boughenout (Absynthe, Gold Coast) to the event. These are just a few of many big names attending and contributing to the festivities. For more information, or to purchase tickets, do visit the event website.

See you there!

Chermoula Spiced Roast Chicken

2007-03-24T13:50:00.000+10:00

Chermoula- A delectable Moroccan spice blend consisting almost always of cumin, paprika, ginger, chilli, cinnamon, pepper, onion parsley and coriander.

This morning Bev and I woke up at 6am to visit the Jan Power Farmers' Market at New Farm Park. It had been a while since we last popped by to check it out. There, we stumbled upon an interesting stall selling little bags of spices and marinades. We enthusiasticly purchased a bunch of these ($3.90 per bag, or 5 for $17), one of which being Chermoula.

When we got home we rubbed some of this potent spice over the corn-fed chicken (that had been cleaned and butterflied) and roasted at 180 degrees for about 45 minutes. This was the result:

Chermoula goes well with all kinds of meats beacause of its big, bold flavours. All you need to do is mix it with oil and lemon juice/vinegar to a paste, and then rub it on the chosen meat to marinade. The acid tenderises the meat proteins while the ground spices char to form a delicious crust on the surface of the meat when barbequed/grilled/roasted.

While on the topic of roasting chickens, I do insist on using corn-fed chickens because of their superior flavour and texture. If price is a concern, fear not, as they only cost approximately $1 more per bird than regular chickens at Coles or Woolworths. Trust me, these chooks are worth that extra dollar.

It was a relatively warm afternoon, so I chose a cooling salad of corn kernels and grape tomatoes dressed simply with olive oil and cider vinegar (fresh parsley and coriander from Bev's new herb garden were torn up and tossed in the salad too.), to go with the roast chicken. Enjoy with a huge glass of freshly made, icy cold Lemon Tea. Ah.. what a way to start the weekend!

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Ezard at Adelphi, Melbourne

2007-03-24T01:13:00.000+10:00

Eating out:
As much as our blog focuses on the foods of sunny Brisbane and it's surrounds, Bev and I do travel around once in a while. This is our first post on a restaurant outside of Brisbane/Queensland.

I was in Melbourne for a few days last year, during the Christmas season. There, I met up with my cousin, Becky whom I hadn't caught up with for a couple of years. Seems like she's doing pretty well for herself, seeing that she was recently appointed a senior position at work. So in light of the joyous occasion, we decided to dine at Ezard at Adelphi.

Ezard's a pretty well known Melbournian restaurant, always staying at the forefront of the dining scene. Teage Ezard, the chef, had just recently released his second cookbook, Lotus: Asian Flavours, which was quite a hit with foodies and critics alike.

Given that it was a weekday and we hadn't made any reservations, we were rather fortunate that they managed to fit the two of us in.

The restaurant was dimly lit, but I managed to take some decent pictures of the food. So here's what we ordered:

Blue swimmer crab tortellini with verjuice and citrus butter sauce, crispy leeks and Yarra Valley salmon eggs.
This dish was a winner right from the first bite. No wonder foodies and critics rave about this restaurant. This could possibly be THE best tortellini that I have ever put in my mouth! The skin of the tortellini was silky and soft, unlike any other that I've eaten; encased within them were generous pillows of lusciously fluffy crab meat. The sauce was well composed in it's flavours and the salmon roe added explosive bursts of saltiness to every mouthful. The petite salad of fried leeks and micro-herbs that crowned the tortellini contributed an additional textural dimension to the already refined dish. I can't believe I'm still raving about it till today. Flawless, absolutely flawless.

Beer battered zucchini floweres stuffed with herbed ricotta, panzanella, and herb oil.
This was Becky's dish. The batter was light and crispy, not cloyingly oily as most beer batters are infamous for (thanks to many a fish n chip shop). The olive oil used in dressing the panzanella (bread salad), I believe, was evidently of premium quality, displaying unadulterated fruity tones. The panzanella had just the appropriate amount of acidity to cut through the richness of the fried batter. Another very well conceived dish.

Crispy fried pork hock with chilli caramel, spicy thai salad and jasmine rice.
Possibly one of the most photographed and replicated dishes in the food scene today. Every other local restaurant seems to feature such a dish. I cannot safely say who was the first to innovate or recreate this dish in Australia, but I can certainly bet that Teage Ezard's version was one of the first; even till today, many people still see his as the 'original' chilli caramel pork hock. Would appreciate it if anyone who knew better could leave a comment to differ.

Well, back to the dish. I liked the duo of textures; meltingly soft on the inside, crispy and sticky on the outside. However, the whole dish was drowned in a sauce so ridiculously sweet that every mouthful tasted exactly the same as the last. In this case, even the pungent Thai herbs and beansprouts couldn't save the sauce from overpowering everything else. The rice which was served separately in a small rice bowl was rather hard to tackle, especially so given that I was only armed with a fork and knife.

Wagyu rump braised in Asian masterstock with Crispy shoe-string taro chips and jasmine rice.
The beef was very well braised and tasted every bit like what it should have tasted. The taro chips were indeed very crispy and obviously freshly fried to order. I really like their integrity with using the word 'crispy' unlike some other restaurants I've been to. The big let down however, was the addition of pak choy to the dish. Isn't pak choy soooo passe by now? It really gets to me when I have to endure with such pieces of oh-so-overdone ingredients in restaurants. Could someone please kindly add pak choy to that list of dreadfully misrepresented 'Asian' ingredients which currently consists of wasabi, nori, mango, sticky soy (excuse me, I believe it's called Kecap Manis?), sweet chilli, chilli jam and the likes?

Anyway, besides those few hiccups, Ezard @ Adelphi is still a restaurant very much worth visiting in Melbourne. Do remember to make a reservation though, as they are fully booked on most evenings. And finally, may I insist that if the tortellini dish is still on the menu, go for it- it's jaw-droppingly good.

Ezard at The Adelphi
187 Flinders Lane
Melbourne
Victoria
Tel: (03) 9639 6811

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Songbirds in the Forest

2007-03-23T03:35:00.000+10:00

Eating out:
The day my mom came to visit, we went to Songbirds Rainforest Retreat, a luxurious rainforest spa retreat on Mount Tamborine in the Gold Coast Hinterland. We had no intentions to stay, or to pamper ourselves with indulgent massages or the works. We were purely there to sample the highly acclaimed and awarded food at the restaurant, Songbirds in the Forest.

The retreat was a good 20 minute drive from the Pacific Motorway exit, but it was a drive worth the while.

Upon entering the sprawling grounds of the retreat, one immediately feels a sense of lightness and peace. The crisp mountain air, combined with the exotic balinese decor and landscaping, plus the surrounding tranquility all culminate to send positive vibes through one's bones. We just knew that it; we were in for something good.

Sure enough we were!

The restaurant is flanked on both sides by ledges spilling over into lush tropical gardens, where the resident bush turkeys and a whole array of other wild birds come to nest, thus the name of the establishment. It's almost like an open-concept aviary of sorts, where birds from the surrounding forests can be seen mucking around in the day. Outside of the main dining area, there are shelterd pagodas where wicker outdoor tables and chairs are set, as can be seen in the picture below. I half-wished we could have spared the time to stay on till evening to sip cocktails there. Next time perhaps.

The food was equally as good to boot, and thus stood up to the exceedingly high expectations that we had built since entering.

For starters, we ordered the:

Parmesan custard with cos lettuce, parmesan crisp, and anchovy sauce.
This dish did not leave much of an impression on Bev. She found that the different components did not compliment each other. It could have done with a little more refinement. The saving grace, to her was that the warm weather made this cold entree highly appropriate and welcoming.

Green pea and ham soup, panko crusted crab cake and crispy wakame seaweed.
The soup was poured into the plate at the table by the waiter, thus keeping the crab cake and fried seaweed as crispy as can be. I highly applaud this kind of attention to detail; to me, such a gesture sends a message to diners that the chef actually takes some bloody pride in his food (unlike in many other restaurants that I've patronised).

Confit Bangalow pork belly, roast Moreton Bay bug tail, pineapple and ginger chutney.
Apart from the dry and over-cooked bottom layer of the pork belly (it was probably confit-ed on the bottom shelf of a too-hot oven), everything else came together nicely. There was, surprisingly, a lot of 'harmony' among the many components this dish.

Similarly, the main courses that we ordered were a notch better than most of those that I've had around here:

Tempura coated soft shell crab, green mango and papaya salad, yellow chilli nahm jim.
The portion was HUGE! And the salad was pretty decent too; one of the better thai papaya/mango salads I've tried outside of a Thai restaurant.

Roasted fillet of pork, red cabbage, crispy potato rosti.
Bev's favourite dish. The pork was cooked perfectly, pinkish and juicy in the middle. I reckon too few restaurants do a good job cooking pork to that precise internal temperature.

Beef tenderlion, potato and bacon gnocchi, prawn dumpling, fried potato strings.
This was a very 'safe' dish. However, it was like everything else, pretty well exectued. Intrestingly, the gnocchi came in the form of a square patty sitting beneath the steak. My only quip about the dish was the odd prawn dumpling: it was nice, but it just didn't quite seem to fit in with the rest.

All in all, lunch at Songbirds was very pleasant and memorable. It scores pretty well in terms of food, but as far as ambience goes, 10/10 wouldn't even do it justice. Oh, and having said all that, did forget to mention that the restaurant actually clinched the coveted title of Queensland Restaurant of the Year 2006?

Songbirds Rainforest Retreat
Tamborine Mountain Road,
P.O. Box 275,
North Tamborine
Tel: 07 5545 2563

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Sprout Cafe

2007-03-23T01:31:00.000+10:00

Eating out:
This is one of the more back-dated articles that Bev and I have been holding off writing for a while. We visited the very quaint and charming Sprout Cafe in Auchenflower several months ago with rather high expectations in mind, given that it is a 1-star rated restaurant in The Courier-Mail GoodLife Restaurant Guide 2006. Service was prompt and courteous, but tragically, the food that we received left much to be desired, to put it very politely and politically.

Here's why:

Sauteed duck livers, mushroom puree and caramelised onion.
The duck livers were rather well cooked, with the middles still juicy and pink as they should be. However, the crouton that they sat upon was dry and stale, suggesting that it had been cut a considerable time before service and left out in the open to become stale, rather then freshly cut and toasted. The puree was earthy and flavourful, but just couldn't save the rock-hard crouton from blemishing the entire dish. Furthermore, the onions could have been further caramelised to render much more flavour and sweetness accociated with caramelised onions.

Crispy soft-shell crab with a Thai style salad of apples and wood ear fungus.
I have to compliment this one dish; it was the only good dish that we sampled on the day we visited. I particularly loved how they ingeniously incorporated crunchy wood ear fungus into the tart salad. That was a first for Bev and myself, and we truly appreciated that addition. Other than that, it was a perfect example of a well executed but run-of-the-mill dish which I feel that food establishments here do way too much of.

Grilled crispy skinned snapper with pumpkin gnocchi, string beans and saffron cream sauce.
It really pains me to say something ugly about anyone's cooking, considering I myself have what people in the industry term "the cook's pride". But when it came to this dish, it almost seemed as if the chefs had completely abandoned the restaurant, leaving behind god-knows-who to do the cooking.

For everything that I could possibly fault in the dish, I actually did. For starters, the skin on the fish was far far far from being crispy. To top things off, there were actually scales left on the skin of the fish; not one or two, but a whole mouthful! It was almost impossible to eat. Then came the string beans; the tough, fibrous 'strings' were not even removed, and I had to embarrassingly spit out a wad of half-masticated fibre to avoid consuming it. Then the sauce: it was watery and completely unseasoned. Yes, I know 'completely' is a very strong word, but I stick to my guns when I say that the sauce was completely unseasoned. At that point, I didn't even bother trying to rescue it by spiking it with table salt. I ended up finishing less than half of it.

Crispy duck leg confit with lentils and sweet potatoes, eggplant chutney.
Again, what was claimed to be crispy was not crispy, and by now we were pretty certain that god-knows-who was indeed cooking in the kitchen. The lentils were obviously made in bulk, and tasted 'over-overnight'. The eggplant chutney was bland, and so was the rest of the dish to be honest. The duck itself tasted as if it was, dare I say it, microwaved.

Usually when a nice waitstaff comes along afterwards and asks "How was the meal?", I would normally reciprocrate the kindness and reply with something positive that I can think of. However, on this occassion I simply looked disappointingly at him and pointed out the fish scales and bean 'strings' left on the edge of my plate. I think he got the hint.

Sprout Cafe
111 Haig Rd
Auchenflower
Brisbane
Tel: (07) 3870 3030

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Happy St Patty's!

2007-03-20T18:24:00.000+10:00

It was rather spontaneous, this one. The initial intention was a gathering of sorts, with friends for a catch up plus a games session and of course, some home cooking. But why not incorporate St Patrick's Day at the same time? Afterall, both occassions fell on the same day!

Thus the menu was set; Irish Lamb Stew with Irish Soda Bread and sides of fried cabbage and bacon, and buttered corn kernels for 12 persons. We tried to keep it authentic; but because neither of us are of Irish descent, 100% authentic is something we can't quite guarantee for now! Needless to say, we winged it once again, and eventually came up with a pretty decent meal.

Making Irish soda bread was a first for us. We got the recipe off one of Bev's baking books and immediately got cracking. The texture of the bread was wonderfully dense and crumbly at the same time; the result of yeast-less-ness and a very short kneading time (5 mins).

The recipe for the Irish lamb stew was an adaptation of the recipe at this link. I have to say, the addition of red wine (I used a Merlot) and Guinness certainly did add a distinct heartiness to the final dish. Two thumbs up for this recipe!

Technorati tags: Food and Drink, Food, brisbane, food blogs, slow food, kitchen expeditions, Cooking, St Patty's, irish stew, cabbage, bacon, soda bread, irish food, guinness, stout, wine

Braised Duck with Rice Macaroni and Ginger Coriander Paste

2007-03-14T02:38:00.000+10:00

Just a quick shout out to all you good people visiting our blog... Its been a while since our last update. Hence, we're glad to tell you that we are back in business; and what a better way to kick things off than with a series of articles on original, exotic noodle creations that Bev and myself have decided to embark upon.

This one here is a fantastic dish that we contrived out of pure fascination of a special ingredient: rice macaroni.

We first stumbled upon rice macaroni at an Asian grocery store in Sunnybank Hills. Bev and I have always been tantalised by noodles in every shape and form. Rice macaroni, for one, was a noodle that neither of us had ever tasted or heard of before. Freaking out like kids in a candy store, we bought the packet of dried rice macaroni, and rushed home to think of ways in which we could tackle, and do justice to this new epicurean discovery.

After much deliberation, and the golden stamp of approval from Bev, I proceeded to ‘construct’ the dish.

Braised duck with rice macaroni and ginger coriander paste

Braised duck
1 duck
Chinese five-spice powder
Salt
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup light soy
1/3 cup dark soy
1 cinnamon stick
5 cloves
3 star anise
1 onion peeled, left whole
1 head of garlic, left whole
Handful of peeled, sliced ginger

Rub the cavity of the duck generously with the five-spice powder and salt. Leave aside.
In a heavy-bottomed pot, combine sugar with a splash of water and place on medium heat. Do not stir. Within a few minutes, this mixture will begin to bubble. When it changes colour to a deep golden brown (reaches a caramel-like stage), take it off the heat and very carefully pour in the soy sauces and 4 cups of water.

After the splattering has subsided, replace the pot onto the heat and add in all the spices and vegetables. Place duck breast side down in the pot, and top up with as much water as necessary to fully submerge the duck. Braise for 2 hours till leg meat is fork tender. Skim regularly to remove particles from the braising liquid.

Remove from heat once cooked, and let the duck cool to room temperature in its braising juices; this is an important step in maintaining the juiciness of the meat (braised meats reabsorb moisture when they are cooled to 50 degrees Celsius and below!) Once cooled, it can be kept in the refrigerator for 4-5 days. When required, remove the duck from the braising liquid and de-bone. Slice thinly for maximum eating pleasure. The braising juices can then be strained and further reduced to make a scrumptious sauce to accompany the duck meat.

Braised shitake mushrooms and bamboo shoots
3 cloves garlic, chopped finely
7-8 large, fresh shitake mushrooms
1 small can of bamboo shoots, cut into thin strips
½ cup Chinese rice wine
2 cups reduced duck braising juices
Splash of sesame oil
White pepper

Fry garlic in oil till fragrant. Add mushrooms and bamboo shoot. Stir-fry for a minute then add rice wine. When wine has more or less fully evaporated, add in the reduced braising juices from the duck, and let simmer for 2 more minutes or till mushrooms are cook through. Season with white pepper and splash generously with sesame oil to taste.

Ginger coriander paste
2-3 bunches of coriander, inclusive of roots, washed and dried
1 good knob of ginger, peeled and chopped roughly (use more if desired)
1 clove garlic, sliced
Vegetable oil
Sesame oil
Salt
White sugar

Cut coriander into short lengths and place into a blender with ginger and garlic. Top up with enough oil to cover and blend till smooth. Add more oil as necessary to facilitate smooth blending. Season to taste with salt, sugar and sesame oil. Leave to steep for at least 1 hour before use.

~

To assemble: Cook macaroni as per packet instructions. Place in serving dishes and top with duck slices and spoonfuls of mushroom and bamboo shoots. Drizzle more duck sauce if necessary. Paint tops with ginger coriander paste, and garnish with extra coriander and sliced red chillies. Serve with chilli oil (available in glass jars from Asian stores) for extra kick.

Technorati tags: Food and Drink, Food, brisbane, food blogs, slow food, kitchen expeditions, braised duck, duck, rice, rice macaroni, macaroni, ginger, coriander, shitake mushrooms, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, asian food, original noodles

Gold Coast King Prawns

2006-11-28T01:00:00.000+10:00

As mentioned earlier by Bev, we are deeply apologetic about our long absence from the blog. Without futher ado, here's the first of many more back-logged entries to come:

Gold Coast King Prawns

We discovered these babies on a trip to the Saturday Fruit & Vegetable Markets at the Brisbane Marketplace (Rocklea). They fetch a healthy $25 a kilo (roughly 20 prawns), and usually sell out a couple of hours before the markets wrap up around midday.

That very Saturday, Bev and I decided that we should do something with these prawns, but didn't know exactly what. Bev, as always, wanted to do something clean such as a grilled application with a tomato-based pasta. I, however, was in the mood for something a little more chi-chi, and conjured up ideas of the usual fancy schmancy. Eventually, and as always, we worked around each other's differences and came up with this dish. I don't particularly like writing recipes as you know, as I seldom adhere to them, but anyhow, here's roughly how I made it.

Tomato and Leek Fondue for pasta:
2 kg roma tomatoes, blanched, peeled and deseeded
1 large leek, green part discarded, and white part roughly cut
4 cloves garlic, chopped
Olive oil
Seasoning

This is a very 'pure' form of a tomato sauce, made with only fresh tomatoes, and without the use of any canned or bottled tomato products. It is somewhat like a traditional Italian Sugo di Pomodoro Freschi, or fresh tomato sauce.

Start by crushing the tomato flesh with your hands, squishing them through your fingers to obtain a coarse, pulpy mixture. Heat up a saucepan with a few good lugs of olive oil to coat the base generously. Then add the leeks and garlic, together with a pinch of salt to speed up the softening of the leeks. Turn down the heat to medium low, taking care not to burn or colour the leeks. Once the leeks are soft and translucent, about 10-15 minutes later, add the tomatoes and cook for a further 15-20 minutes till tomatoes are soft and all the flavours meld nicely together. Season to taste. Toss with cooked pasta and a good dose of extra virgin olive oil.

Champagne and Shallot Butter:
2 medium banana shallots, chopped finely
1 clove garlic, smashed
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 cup champagne (can substitute with other white wine such as chardonnay)
200 gms butter, softened

Fry shallots and garlic in 2 tbsp butter over medium heat for 2 minutes till slightly softened and translucent. Turn up heat and add champagne. Let boil and reduce till you are left with approximately 2-3 tbsps of liquid. Then allow to cool slightly before folding in 200 gms of softened butter. Season with salt and pepper. Chill in refrigerator, covered with cling film.

Grilled Prawns:
Prawns, shelled & deveined & butterflied
Olive oil
1 quantity champagne and shallot butter
Seasoning

Toss prawns with generous amount of olive oil. Heat grill/heavy-bottomed fry pan. Place prawns on hot cooking surface and cook for 2 minutes, turn once and cook another 1 minute. At this point, add a decent knob of champagne and shallot butter to the prawns and let coat, cooking for a further minute till prawns are done. Season with a touch more salt and cracked black pepper if necessary. Serve with pasta.

Technorati tags: Food and Drink, Food, brisbane, food blogs, slow food, kitchen expeditions, Cooking, king prawn, champagne

2006-11-27T13:55:00.000+10:00

Hazelnut Macarons and Fig & Almond Meringue from Urban Bites
Apologies for the long hiatus of posts. We've been rather busy these past few months and are now in the midst of a big move. But of course, the eating didn't stop. So here's our promise to update this space once we're done with moving and settling into our new pad. Oh and we'll be doing quite a bit of travelling and entertaining in the months to come, too. So, yes, food, food and MORE food!

Technorati tags: Food and Drink, Food, brisbane, food blogs, slow food, kitchen expeditions, Cooking, macarons, macaron

A Quick Dinner of Bangalow Sweet Pork

2006-10-27T23:24:00.000+10:00

We had just arrived home from Village Meats in Rosalie. It was there that Bev and I purchased a nice, fatty rack of Bangalow Pork and a couple of Toulouse sausages.

Bangalow Pork, raised over in Northern New South Wales, is said to be free of hormones and antibiotics. It's fat content has also been scientifically proven to be over 60% unsaturated. But above all, a foodie like myself would tell you that the greatest joy in eating Bangalow Pork is the fat. Yes, the fat.

Bangalow Pork is the piggy equivalent of Kobe or Wagyu Beef. The intra-muscular fat dispersed throughout the meat of this pig renders it so much more juicy, succulent and tasty than other breeds of the same animal. As unhealthy as it sounds, let me just disclaim here and now, that consuming small quanitities of this delicacy in moderation ain't as bad as you'd imagine. Hey, I'm no nutritionist, but my personal standpoint is that it really can't be much worse than a drive-thru from the houses of Ronald or the ol' Colonel.

This time, I cut the rack down into pieces of two rib bones, sprinkled fennel seeds all over (fennel and pork are good mates), and pan roasted them very gently. Then I cooked some orecchetti and quickly sauteed it with a mixture of chopped garlic, smoked paprika, olive oil, nodules of Toulouse sausage and seasoning.

I finely sliced some fresh fennel, and cooked it very briefly just in oil and seasoning. Then the sauce: I, like many others, happen to believe that mustard and pork are pretty tight too. So I made a sauce by reducing cream and cuvee brut with some whole grain mustard.

This is the dish. It took just over half an hour to prepare, from start to finish. As I have mentioned before, Bangalow Pork and Toulouse sausage are available at Village Meats in Rosalie. Their Toulouse sausage is made with white wine, garlic and herbs, and is one of the best snags I've laid my hands on here in Brisbane. I really suggest you jazz up your next backyard barbie with some of these beauties. Enjoy!

Technorati tags: Food and Drink, Food, brisbane, food blogs, slow food, kitchen expeditions, Cooking, bangalow pork, toulouse sausage

A Date with the Pink Gold

2006-10-26T03:20:00.000+10:00

As you would have realised by now, I have this 'thing' for tender, juicy Wagyu beef. Here in Brisbane, Village Meats at Rosalie Village is such a place where you can find some good cuts of this pink gold.

Village Meats is a fantastic one-stop-shop for all your carnivorous cravings. On any given day, you may find yourself walking in to the delightful aroma of bacon being smoked with applewood chips, or like on the day we were there, lamb loins being smoked with cedar. The good people at Village Meats stock all kinds of meats, and as with other good butchers, are more than happy to entertain special requests from customers. This outlet also happens to be one of the few gourmet butchers in Brisbane to officially supply Bangalow Sweet Pork to the public. (More on Bangalow Pork in a coming post).

This day, we were after a hit of Wagyu beef. Unfortunately, we were not particularly spoilt for choice; only rumps and sirloins were on offer at the time. We opted for rump ($49.99/kilo), and headed across the road to Rosalie Gourmet Market to purchase some cheese to make an accompanying potato gnocchi.

We were kindly recommended a Capriconia goats cheese as an alternative to the conventional parmesan/pecorino for making the gnocchi. We were also offered a great tip on cooking gnocchi by the cheery lady assisting us (pity we didn't get her name): Drop a couple of fresh sage leaves into the potato boiling water to infuse a subtle hint of sage flavour to the gnocchi.

The final dish: Wagyu rump with goat cheese gnocchi, porcini mushroom ragout and wilted spinach, sprinkled lightly with Murray River salt flakes.

Technorati tags: Food and Drink, Food, brisbane, food blogs, slow food, kitchen expeditions, Cooking, wagyu beef, gnocchi, fennel

Restaurant Two

2006-10-19T04:48:00.000+10:00

Eating out:
Bev and I had gone on a quest to dine at every one of Brisbane's 3-star restaurants, as rated by the 2005 & 2006 Courier Mail Goodlife Restaurant Guides. Restaurant Two was one that we had yet to dine in.

We walked through the doors with high expectations; this was driven by the fact that out of the numerous restaurants in Brisbane, only 5 are awarded 3-stars, and Restaurant Two is one of these elite 5.

Upon ordering the degustation menu ($110pp), we sat back and let the night unfold:

Feuillitine of Queensland Asparagus and Leeks, smoked garlic and thyme butter-.
A rectangle baked puff pastry, split open and filled with leeks, green and white asparagus. The vegetables were perfectly cooked. The garlic and thyme butter sauce was the highlight of the dish, but I somehow wished I had a bit more of it on my plate to spread on my puff pastry. Nice start to the meal though. Expectations at this point, I must say, were still relatively high.

Seared Hervey Bay scallops and Mooloolaba tuna, green paw paw and Thai spiced dressing.
I personally felt that this dish was a complete waste of time. Unfortunately, the tuna was overcooked for my liking, the scallops undersalted (or not even salted at all), and the salad uninspiring. To make things worse, the "Thai spiced dressing" was diluted and weak, and flowed on the plate like water. As I sat there, I suddenly began to have doubts about what was to come.

Sauteed organic potato gnocchi, confit of Tetsuya's ocean trout, goats cheese, trout roe, preserved lemon butter.
Now, this dish was good, despite a few ups and downs. The gnocchi was a little on the firm side, but the tasty caramelisation on the surface made up for that. The confit was, in my opinion, done very brashly. I have been to Tetsuya's and eaten the 'original' version, and this was no where close to it. The intention behind the trout confit is that it barely cooks, changing the texture a little, but not the colour whatsoever. As you can see from the photo, due to overcooking, the proteins had actually been allowed to coagulate, changing the colour of the raw trout to an opaque pink. However, based on taste alone, this dish was fantastic; the goat cheese and ikura, a perfect compliment to the fish. Had it not come with the labels 'Tetsuya's' and 'confit', I would have given it a 9/10 instead of an 8.

Roast breast and confit of Rannoch Farm quail with celeriac remoulade and Madeira jus.
Nothing much to complain about this dish. I thought the quail was cooked perfectly, with a little spot of pink on the inside. It was juicy, savoury, and went really well with the remoulade.

Peking duck consomme, duck, pork and prawn tortellini.
This dish was not on the degustation menu. Because Bev was so keen to try it when she overheard it being recommended to the next table, we asked our friendly wait staff if he could somehow slip in an order of that duck consomme between our remaining courses. Ten minutes later, two degustation sized bowls of consomme arrived at our table! The consomme was served with small bits of duck meat and prawns, and a petite duck and prawn dumpling. It was a fairly refined dish; but is it just me, or have all the consommes I've had in the last 6 months been way too salty?

Crab risotto with lobster oil.
We have a winner! I adored this dish from the first bite till the last grain. The risotto was chock-full of crab meat; and from the taste alone, it was obvious that the crab meat was freshly picked, rather than out of a can (some restaurants are actually guilty of that). The rice grains were cooked spot on, the lobster oil intensely fragrant and the baby arugula fresh and crisp. I would come back to Restaurant Two again just for this dish.

Asian barbequed duck, steamed greens, fig and chilli jam, spicy cumquat sauce.
I've always been a bit skeptical about dishes that sound like that. The problem is: I'm particularly familiar with authentic Asian food, and have actually become quite a purist in that area. Thus, I'm not too enthusiastic on such dishes that attempt to 'modernise' Asian food. But being the open-minded individual that I would like to think I am, I eagerly shoved aside these reservations and dug in. The sauce was lovely, the fig and chilli jam even better, but as good as the duck was, I'd much rather be caught burrowing my face into Golden BBQ's (Fortitude Valley) authentic barbequed duck on any given day.

Rare seared 'Cervena' venison, parsnip, leek, white bean and foie gras crumble, buttered spinach, morels and bitter chocolate sauce.
The idea was there, but unfortunately, something got lost in translation. As you can see, the venison was nowhere near 'rare seared'. The crumble did not taste of foie gras at all, and it was a little too dry on the inside.

Assiette of miniature desserts.
We waited 35 minutes for this. It eventually came on a huge platter, with a selection of 5 baked goodies and at least 5 flavours of sorbet and ice cream. There was a Belgian waffle, a creme brulee, a chocolate pudding, a cheese cake with fresh coconut, a lemon tart and a fruit salad. Although I especially loved the fig sorbet, Bev and I agreed that everything else was rather ordinary.

What can I say. Dinner at Restaurant Two didn't knock my socks off as much as I would have liked it to. Did I set my expectations too high? Even if I did, I had every right to, given their reputation and 3-star rating. The whole meal was a rollercoaster of hits and misses. I would graciously suggest that Restaurant Two focuses a little more on the finer details of their food in the future; and for their sake, I sincerely hope that my ordinary dinner experience was just a one-off, rare occurance.

Restaurant Two
2 Edward Street
Brisbane
Tel: (07) 3210 0600

Technorati tags: Food and Drink, Food, brisbane, food blogs, slow food, restaurant reviews, food outings

What's in a Pickle

2006-10-17T18:47:00.000+10:00

I was browsing along the fresh fruits and vegetables section in Woolworths when the glistening red and green chillies beckoned. I just had to grab a bagful of each. They looked so plump and fresh, a far cry from the limp and embellished ones that I always come across at other times. So I decided I was going to make me some Pickled Green Chillies and try my hand at making Achar.

Achar is the Southeast Asian take on pickled vegetables (and fruits) marinated in spices, vinegar and oil. The Penang or Nonya Achar essentially consists of cucumbers, carrots, cauliflowers, pineapples and stuffed green & red chillies marinated in a spicy concoction. I headed to Bjorn's and sought assistance from the numerous cookbooks in his humble library, on making Achar. Decided on a recommended recipe from Bjorn's folder of his personal collection; recipes collected from his kitchen stints.

It's a surprisingly simple recipe although I tweaked it a little; added tumeric powder, a tiny knob of ginger, one small clove of garlic, a few dried chillies and a mixture of toasted & part-ground sesame seeds and granulated peanuts. The vegetable medley of choice: cucumbers, carrots and sugarloaf cabbage.

Cucumbers are essential in Achar. It's the 'lamb' in Roast Lamb, and the 'duck' in Duck Confit. You get the point. But you can always substitute cucumbers with jicama or omit the cucumber element entirely and have the carrot (or jicama) as the base vegetable. Play around with the combination of vegetables, altering it according to your preference.

This time however, I omited the cauliflowers, pineapple and stuffed green & red chillies. The first two, I accidentally overlooked when shopping; and the latter, well, they don't carry such Asian condiments at Woolworths, so I gave them a miss. Surprisingly though, they do sell fresh galangal and tumeric. I bought a substantial sized galangal though the recipe called for an inch worth. The rest of the root will definitely come in handy for various other Southeast Asian recipes such as Tom Yam Goong, Laksa and the various Thai curries that calls for the root. It is rampantly used as one of the primary ingredients for spice bases in Southeast Asian cooking.

Pickled green chillies are typically served as a side condiment with most South East Asian Chinese dishes. There would usually be a small dish of these little tangy beauties placed on the table before the start of the meal. These pickled green chillies are best eaten with cooked dishes as oppose to adding them into the cooking process, as with most other pickled vegetables.

Pickling the green chillies was a breeze. I 'jump started the pickling process by boiling the white vinegar and sugar mixture. Then I added the hot mixture to the bowl of sliced green chillies and let it stand, covered for about an hour or so. After it cooled, I placed them in plastic air tight containers (or glass jars) and stored them in the fridge. Usually my stash would not last for more than a month. These pickled green chillies go well in sandwiches, pizzas and even with Mexican dishes, especially Chilli Con Carne. Definitely a good subsitute when a recipe calls for pickled jalapenos.

Technorati tags: Food and Drink, Food, brisbane, food blogs, slow food, kitchen expeditions, Cooking

Casarecci with Wild Mushroom 'Ragout'

2006-10-17T13:10:00.000+10:00

Just a short entry today. Its getting late, and there's heaps to do in the morning. So, what we have here is a pasta dish that is so simple to make, provided you can find the right ingredients.

It's such a pity that wild mushrooms are rare here in Australia. Thats probably the reason why I often visit farmers markets. Its only in these places that you actually stumble upon rare gems such as wild mushrooms. These, like many of my other ingredients, were purchased from the Jan Powers Farmers Markets in New Farm.

The flavour of fresh wild mushrooms is second to none. It sure beats the hell out of those button mushrooms found on supermarket shelves. Trust me, one taste of wild mushrooms and you could be a life-time convert. On this very day, I had in my shopping bag a mixture of king oyster mushrooms, shitake mushrooms, trumpet mushrooms and fresh black wood ear fungus (not quite as foul as it sounds).

I have to admit that I'm quite a purist when it comes to mushrooms. I'd only ever cook them with a permutation of the following ingredients: butter, garlic, shallots, white wine, bacon, truffle oil, certain cheeses, parsley, chives, tarragon, black pepper. Cooking mushrooms with any other ingredients outside of those listed would require long, hard thinking on my part.

So as expected, I made a 'ragout' of the mushrooms with a combination of the above ingredients. First I sauteed the mushrooms with garlic, Gympie Farm butter and salt. Then I took them off the heat when they were barely done, and reserved them on a plate. Then I deglazed the pan with white wine, and added some porcini stock (I used a porcini stock cube). I then returned the mushrooms to the liquids and turned the heat down to low. Next, I folded in cubes of cold butter to the sauce to create an emulsification (the French call that technique "Monte au Beurre"- to heighten with butter).

A ragout, strictly speaking, is a rich stew of meat or fish. However, this funghi dish is so earthy and 'meaty' that it would be a no more than a small crime to call it a ragout. Either way, I doubt the Food Police would be coming round to arrest me anytime soon, so a ragout it is!

The pasta of choice- casarecci, short lengths of rolled and twisted Italian pasta. I admit its not an ingredient you'd find everyday at your local IGA, but you could just as easily substitute it with other fresh pasta shapes such as fusilli or farfalle. So these get cooked, and then tossed through the ragout with some grated pecorino or parmesan (I used pecorino), and a good dash of truffle oil.

Oh, and one last word from me: Please never ever overcook your wild mushrooms. They should only be cooked very briefly. You DO NOT need to cook them till they wilt and start oozing out liquids. That, to me, is pure injustice done to fine ingredients; something that may make the old Food Police really come knocking on your door for.

As always, enjoy!

Technorati tags: Food and Drink, Food, brisbane, food blogs, slow food, kitchen expeditions, Cooking, wild mushroom, farmers markets

My Fascination with Blanquette

2006-10-16T01:46:00.000+10:00

What is it about veal blanquette that appeals so much to me? Well, its probably the elegance and refinement derived from oh so common ingredients and simple techniques.

As with most other famous and celebrated French dishes, blanquette started off as a humble dish made of left-over ingredients from the day before. Technically, it is a stew of meat cooked in a white sauce. No prizes for guessing, considering that the word comes from the French term 'blanc' which means white. To look at it from another angle, Alan Davidson (Oxford Companion to Food) suggests that blanquette is the etymological cousin to 'blanket', in this sence referring to the rich white sauce blanketing the stew of meat and vegetables.

Blanquettes are commonly made with veal (today I use osso bucco), but can be just as easily made with pork or lamb. It is typically cooked with vegetables such as pearl onions, carrots, celery.. etc. However, a French purist would tell you that no matter what aromatic vegetables are used when cooking it, it is only the meat and the onions that are put on the plate eventually.

The meat is first cut to size and blanched in one round of water to remove all impurities and left-over blood traces. It is then placed back in the pot with aromatic vegetables and a bouguet garni, and simmered gently till tender. The meat and vegetables are then removed and the sauce thickened. Now here comes the interesting bit- A mixture of cream and egg yolks, known as a liasion, are whisked into the sauce over low heat, and act as a thickening agent while also giving the dish a creamy, velvety texture. The meat and vegetables are then added back in, and a good pinch of nutmeg lifts the flavour profile to another level. I live to serve it with a drizzle of porcini oil, which adds a touch more earthiness to the dish.

Many modern-day recipes call for roux in place of this liasion as a thickening agent, but me being me, I strongly believe in the latter. Roux also makes the sauce slightly starchy, which I find takes much away from the intentions of this wonderful, tradition-steeped dish.

Blanquettes are as versatile as any other stew. It can be served with rice, pasta or potatoes. You can do as I often do, mop up the lovely sauces with hunks of crusty bread. Today, I served the blanquette tossed with some fresh parpadelle, purchased from Jan Power's Farmers Markets in New Farm. If you are enthusiastic about food as I am, I sincerely hope you try cooking a blanquette too. Unfortunately, I'm not a big fan of writing recipes, because I personally never follow them. So I'm sorry if I can't provide you with a precise recipe at this time. But do know that there are tonnes floating around on the internet, and in good cook books. Enjoy!

Technorati tags: Food and Drink, Food, brisbane, food blogs, slow food, kitchen expeditions, Cooking, veal, blanquette, osso bucco, papardelle

The Joy of Wagyu

2006-10-15T04:11:00.000+10:00

Imagine being fed top quality grub and Japanese booze all day long while being constantly massaged to the tune of soothing music playing in the background. This lucky cow has it all. Until some random Japanese bloke pops by, slits it's throat, strips it down, debowels it, and then starts placing exorbitant price tags on its various muscle groups. Yum.

I am referring to Japanese Wagyu Beef, the creme de la creme of the Bos Taurus species. Any self respecting foodie CANNOT pass through this life without having at least once fed on this genetically bred, man-modified luxury.

Somewhere in Febuary 2006. It was just one of those days where I awoke with the uncontrollable urge to once again indulge myself in one of life's most decadent pleasures titled: The Consumption of Wagyu Beef.

So I found myself at the meat counter in Meidi-Ya Supermarket, at the basement of Liang Court Shopping Centre, Singapore. The array of top-quality meats was mind-boggling; but the rest didn't matter one bit, I was a man with a specific mission. "Show me the Wagyu!"

And there it was, calling out to me. $25.50 per 100 grams (approximately 4 thin shabu-shabu-like slices). I immediately purchased a small quantity (good food eats best in small proportions), and headed home. Nothing could stop me now. The following pictures illustrate what happened subsequently.

I sliced some spring onion, whipped up a light soya sauce-lime vinaigrette, sauteed some thin slices of shitake, briefly seared the Wagyu, wrapped the shitake in the Wagyu to form little parcels, plated with shichimi togarashi (Japanese red pepper mix) and drizzled them with vinaigrette. This preparation was inspired by a dish on Tetsuya Wakuda's degustation menu which I enjoyed in July when I visited his accomplished restaurant.

I was introduced to a similar beef carpaccio preparation by my Japanese housemate, Kazuhiro, from my Sydney days. It comprises of thin slices of raw beef drizzled with soy, mirin, fried garlic crisps, Japanese mayonnaise, toasted sesame seed and raw white onion. It is simply amazing, to say the least. I will endeavor to post it as an entry in the near future.

Ultimately, good food such as Wagyu Beef should never be meddled with too much. Anybody out there with good Wagyu preparations to share?

Technorati tags: Food and Drink, Food, brisbane, food blogs, slow food, kitchen expeditions, Cooking

, wagyu beef

The Joy of Risotto

2006-09-25T22:38:00.000+10:00

Risotto- "An Italian method of cooking rice primarily made by stirring stock and often wine into rice that has been sauteed in butter and/or olive oil and sometimes onion. The stock is added slowly, and the rice must be stirred continuously as it cooks, resulting in a soft creamy mass of rice.."

There absolutely nothing that satisfies me more than a rich, hearthy dish of risotto. Risotto, to me, is a fantastic backdrop for a plethora of flavours that may be showcased through it- parmesan, saffron, roasted garlic, mushrooms, peas, pancetta, the list goes on..

Ever too often I find myself out of flour, eggs or sugar; however the one thing that never goes out of stock in my kitchen cabinet is risotto rice. It is, to me, nothing less than essential to good eating.

Risottos make a spectacular meal, whether for one, or for a party of twelve. After many hectic nights in the restaurant kitchen, cooking my own midnight dinner of risotto is a pure comfort to me. Risotto is one of those dishes that requires a labour of love. You get out exactly what you put in. The more conscientiously you stir it, the creamier, the richer the end result will be. So when making your risotto, please give it the utmost care and patience, and I guarantee you will taste the benefits.

Making your risotto:

- Start off with a good variety of aborio rice. Here in Queensland, the best and most readily available varieties would be aborio and carnaroli. I personally prefer the latter, which happens to also be the favourite variety of Thomas Keller, chef of the world renowned French Laundry.

- Heat a mixture of oil and butter in a saucepan. Butter gives it a great flavour (On this day, I used natural butter from the wonderful people at Gympie Farm), while oil raises the smoking point of butter and prevents it from burning.

- Add some chopped onions or shallots. I prefer shallots as they lend more sweetness to the final dish. Be sure to cook the onions/shallots till they are well-translucent; this ensures that the maximum sweetness is extracted from them.

- Add the rice and stir to coat. Allow the rice to cook slightly in the fat; this 'opens' up the starch molecules in the individual rice grains, and facilitates their absorption of liquids. On this day, I also added venison salami to the mixture at this point.

- Add white wine (or vermouth) and reduce till almost dry, then add stock bit by bit and let simmer, stirring continuously and adding more stock as it is absorbed. Stirring the rice breaks off the surface starch, releasing it into the liquid stock, which eventually makes the dish thick and creamy.

- Once rice is al dente, with a tiny opaque spot left in the middle of each grain, turn off the heat and add a knob more of butter, and grated parmesan. On this day, I also added a good knob of gorgonzola that I purchased from Jan Powers Market the day before. Cover, and leave alone for at least two minutes. After two minutes, remove the lid and stir to emulsify the butter and the cheese into the cooking liquid. This process, known as mantecantura, helps in making the dish even more creamy and smooth.

Every one deserves the pleasure of eating a homemade risotto. Do remember to ensure the integrity of the ingredients (tinned SPAM and long-life powdered parmesan just won't do) and do not rush it. Finally, and I have said this to many people: eat risotto with a fork, not a spoon. Shovelling risotto into your mouth with a spoon makes it too easy, mechanical and monotonous, whereas a fork allows you to fiddle with it a little more. I also feel that the first taste of risotto should touch you tongue first, not the roof of your mouth, therefore a fork works best. Enjoy!

Technorati tags: Food and Drink, Food, brisbane, food blogs, slow food, kitchen expeditions, Cooking, risotto, italian

Jan Powers Farmers Markets

2006-09-24T23:30:00.000+10:00

The weather was gorgeous with the sun in its full splendour. And the occasional welcoming cool breeze. Yes, Spring is definitely here. It was a lovely, leisurely Saturday morning indeed. We decided to drop by The Powerhouse Farmers Market on Lamington Street, New Farm.

What we love about these farmers markets are the rows of eclectic array of fresh produces, hand made confectioneries, artisan breads, gourmet delicatessens and the arts and crafts stalls. And the wonderful thing about The Powerhouse Farmers Market is that its just beside the park. Overlooking the river, it makes for a splendid picnic after all that walking and purchasing wares or grub from the stalls.

We arrived a little after 10 a.m and already, it was hustling and bustling with discerning market go-ers. And at some of the stalls, the goods were nearly snapped up.

It didn't take Bjorn too long to find a stall where he made his first purchase; Venison Salami from Wilgavale and a grilled Venison Sausage for a snack. Further down the row, a stall churning out freshly made pasta on the spot, caught our fancy; and in goes a bag each of fresh spaghettini and hand rolled fusilli. Next up was a German delicatessen selling all sorts of cured and smoked meats. Needless to say, Bjorn went crazy there, and the spoils included a vacuumed pack each of their Black Forest Ham and Oak Smoked Duck Breast strips.

The fresh mushroom stall we came across next ran out of the pink oyster mushrooms, but we managed to grab some fresh shitake, wood ear fungus, trumpets, king oysters and a box of dried porcini. Right next to the mushroom place was a stall, where I got my first taste of an Argentinian sauce called Chimichurri. It is a concoction of olive oil with a variety of chopped fresh herbs, consisting mainly of parsley, coriander, basil, oregano and thyme. It can be used with bread as a dip, or as a sauce for pastas, or as a marinade for fish and meat dishes. The stall had the Original and Spicy versions of the sauce. I opted for the Original.

Next, we hunted for the Gympie Farm butter stand, renowned for their hand crafted jersey butter, which I'd heard so much about and just had to get my hands on them. We finally found the small discreet stall, whose simple set up was all but a table with their butters, cheeses and a platter of freshly baked chocolate croissants. I gleefully got myself a tub each of the salted (with celtic salt) and unsalted variety. The salted, for freshly baked breads, scones or muffins and the unsalted, mostly for cooking.

I nearly got myself a woven shopping basket. There were a few stalls to choose from. All selling an assortment of pretty, hand woven baskets and other crafts. But by the time I made up my mind, the stall was no longer there. Oh well, next time perhaps.

All in all, it was a beautiful, fruitful Saturday. We even made it to the newly spruced up Portside Wharf despite having some transportation issues. That was where we found another gem of a find; a well stocked gourmet supermarket (yes, we went crazy there too!). The weather was perfect, the company was fantastic and the day ended with a delicious dinner, using all the fresh ingredients we bought from the markets and the gourmet store earlier. More on that in the next post by yours truly.

Jan Power's Farmers Markets
Lamington Street, New Farm, Brisbane,
next to the Powerhouse.
Powerhouse Markets are held in All Weather on:
* Second Saturday at the Powerhouse
* Fourth Saturday at the Powerhouse

Technorati tags: Food and Drink, Food, brisbane, food blogs, restaurant reviews, farmers markets, food outings, food events

Isis Brasserie

2006-09-23T23:44:00.000+10:00

Eating Out:
After a tumultuous week, we decided to treat ourselves to a nice dinner. We made a list of all the places we wanted to try out and decided on one. Since both of us have not been to ISIS, this was the restaurant of choice. So, the reservation was made and schedules were cleared for that opportune date. What a night it turned out to be! We were expecting to be swept off our feet. After all, the establishment have won many awards since it opened its doors to public and is one of the few 3 Star restaurants here in Queensland (as mentioned in The Courier Mail Goodlife 2006 Restaurant Guide).

Isis Brasserie. Here we are! Upon arrival, we were promptly greeted and seated at a cozy table for 2 along one side of dining room, with a clear view into the kitchen window where Chef Jason Peppler and his team were busy churning out the grub. From where we sat, Bev commented that Chef Jason looked like a rather jolly chap. Well, to me, it doesn't really matter; a chef is judged by his/her food.

After ordering our food and asking the all familiar question: "Is it ok for us to take a couple of photos of the food?", we were quickly surprised with a complimentary amuse bouche each. Served in pretty little cups, our waitress described them to be salmon tortellini with some sort of a vegetable concoction on top. After tasting it, I concluded that the 'shady' vegetable garnish served over the tortellini was some sort of a caponata with pinenuts. The tortellini was pleasant, with a smooth salmon mousseline filling. The pasta skin, though, was a little on the thick side, and had a texture rather similar to San Remo's Ready Made Lasagne sheets. But despite that, it was a nice start to the meal.

For starters, Bev opted for the Sauteed local cuttlefish with homemade squid ink noodles. This was one of the specials for the night, and sounded like a pretty neat dish. Personally, I tend to stay away from daily specials, knowing that many restaurants see specials as a means to clear old ingredients. However, upon inspecting the a la carte menu, and not identifying any dish with cuttlefish in it, we were reassured that this wasn't the case. As for me, I chose the Tartare of wagyu beef with a carpaccio of portobello mushrooms and truffled pecorino. How could I possibly go past raw wagyu beef?

Bev loved her dish, although at first it seemed a little bland. Turns out that it was one of those dishes where you had to get everything together in a mouthful to actually enjoy it. Oh and did she indeed! The dish gave off a strong aroma of onions, but didn't taste very 'onion-y' at all. It was basically strips of seared cuttlefish sitting atop cold squid ink noodles with finely shaved onions, fennel, tomato and micro-parsley. The dish was dressed with some sort of a citrus vinaigrette that tied all the flavours together nicely. It was a very clean starter, and left her in eager anticipation of the main course.

My wagyu tartare was served on top of some very flat slices of portabello mushrooms, cut on a mandoline perhaps, with shavings of sharp percorino cheese and lashings of truffle oil around the plate. The beef itself was evidently minced by hand, rather than in a food processer or meat grinder, the way a proper tartare should be prepared. Yet again it was a very fragrant and flavourful dish, but Bev was slightly concerned that the strong aroma of truffles, the pungence of the pecorino, and the generous amount of capers in the dish would mask the flavour of the beef. I agreed with her sentiments, but ultimately, I still felt the buttery taste of the beef shining through. Towards the last few bites, the dish somehow started to get a Iittle overbearing and I was just a little disappointed that there weren't any accompanying melba toasts to tone down those bold flavours.

After our starters, we were presented with palate cleansers. These took the form of a Vietnamese mint sorbet with Chinese vinegar. Wow. Surprisingly, the vinegar matched the sorbet perfectly, lending it that well needed 'bite'. I asked the waitress if there were any fruits used in the sorbet itself, as it did taste intriguingly similar to a grape and mint sorbet I had made a month earlier. But according to her, it was just mint and sugar syrup. Either way, the sorbet and accompanying vinegar did a great job of blasting out all remaining traces of the tartare from my tastebuds, leaving me feeling fresh and ready for the main course.

For mains, Bev had the Rare seared venison with a celeriac colcannon and a Lindt chocolate sauce. The venison was cooked perfectly, juicy and pink, fanned out on top of a mound of celeriac puree, and surrounded with a bitter dark chocolate sauce. I found that the chocolate sauce to be a little wierd for my liking, neither sweet nor savoury. Bev, however, liked it very much. Also, for some reason there were entire stalks of tarragon in the celeriac puree. To me that was a little ridiculous, as the whole stalks of leaves were rather fibourous and hard to chew. However, on the whole, the dish tasted pretty good despite my few quips, and Bev wiped the plate absolutely clean, in every sense of the word.

I had the Bobby veal blanquette with asparagus, truffled macaroni and creme fraiche veloute. Its been a while since I had a good blanquette. I just love the fact that a dish cooked without caramelisation such as a blanquette, can taste so rich and flovourful like so. Anyway, it was a winner, the fork-tender veal resting on top of truffled macaroni and crunchy asparagus tips. The only problem is that I forgot that I already had a truffled dish for a starter, so the taste of truffles in the macaroni was starting to get a little bit much for me. My bad, my bad. I should have read the menu more carefully before I ordered. Either way, I too polished off the dish with no explicit complaints whatsoever.

We couldn't decide what to have for dessert, so we ordered the dessert sampler which featured 4 different desserts: a strawberry jelly with fresh strawberries and fresh coconut; an orange blossom panna cotta with an orange crisp (not very crispy); a chocolate souffle with chocolate sauce; and a slice of quince tart. Dessert was good, especially the souffle, which had unannounced sugar glazed pistachios in it, to our pleasant discovery.

Isis is one of the better restaurants in Brisbane that we've been to. I just love the way they play on the classics like tartare, blanquette, coq au vin, and cassoulet. We'll definitely be back in the near future for their cassoulet, which I'm so craving for right now.

Isis Brasserie
446 Brunswick Street
Fortitude Valley
Tel: (07) 3852 1155

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