Nom Nom Nom de Plume

Slack-ish

2011-05-17T17:26:00.001+12:00

I seem to be quite slack at updating this thing regularly. I do cook and I do take pictures, but by the time I've had dinner I don't really feel like sitting down and writing about it. So instead, you get the content in batches of when the inspiration strikes. On the upside, you get several recipes at once, so if you're a "once a week" reader, then it's perfect really :)

This month I've been trying to be extra frugal and not spend any money that isn't planned. I was whittling away hundreds of dollars on the incidental "I'll just pop into the supermarket on the way to the train station" purchases. Literally, hundreds! So this month, I said to myself, "No more spending unless it's from a list". The first four days were really really hard! I wanted that takeaway coffee or to go out for lunch or there's a sale on at that store. It's amazing how much time you spend thinking about buying things when you don't have any money!

A few days later it settled down. I realised that I have a ton of food at home and I should make do with what I have instead of constantly buying more. I borrowed a book called The $21 dollar challenge that focuses exactly on that - cooking with what you have instead of buying things you don't use.

On the second weekend of the month, I ventured out to the markets to buy some supplies. Only bought the things that I needed for a couple of recipes: potato bake (already had potato but needed bacon), chicken casserole (The Mad Butcher had thighs for $4.99 a kilo!!), and apple crumble (a friend at work gave me a whole bunch of apples from her father's orchard). Also bought a few household supplies, such as coat hangers and toilet cleaner. I haven't yet ventured out into the world of baking soda for cleaning, but I'm sure the time will come!

Today I noticed that Whitcoulls has a massive sale on books (they're in administration), so bought Yates Garden Fresh Cookbook. It has recipes but also a lot of information on how to grow your own vegies. It's good because it talks about having a continuous vegetable garden, not just about how to grow one thing and be done with it. Might get inspired!

So yes, I have been spending far less money. Unfortunately that means I am not cooking things that all that fancy and they are kind of making me fat. The cheaper food choices are also paired with my current medication that specifically states "watch out as it may lead you to overeat", so I have to be extra-vigilant. But that ice cream just seems so good! Have to be strong.

I also went to a cooking class the other night. I've never been to one before, and I bought this for me and a friend as a birthday/Christmas gift for her. We got all the ingredients and recipe provided and the instruction, and we cooked it right there, and then ate it and shared a bottle of wine. It was really quite nice for $40 each. They do classes several times a week.

Fried mozzarella and aubergine sandwiches with tomato salad

2011-05-01T16:43:00.000+12:00

I got this recipe off Hairy Bikers (man, I love that show). It's very filling, and I assume it is quite low in calories as most of the ingredients are vegetables. I watched them make this recipe on TV and recreated it from memory. Which means I forgot half the ingredients :)

So my salad only had tomatoes, olives, gherkins, salt, and a dash of olive oil. Was still tasty though!
Surprisingly I remembered everything that went into the sandwiches, except the flour. But seeing as there's already breadcrumbs, I figured I didn't need it. I left the frying pan a bit too hot and let the sandwiches burn. Next time must remember to use lower heat as my stove is super powerful -- medium heat is enough to boil water (ie. high heat on every other stove).

We ate these for Sunday brunch and it was quite pleasant to start the day with so many vegetables :)

Pan-fried lamb with leeks and beans

2011-05-01T16:38:00.000+12:00

I got this recipe off Hairy Bikers. Except I didn't have pork, so I used lamb. Real lamb, not hogget or mutton that pretends to be lamb, mind you. Now that I go to the Saturday markets, I've become quite the lamb snob :)
I didn't have flageolet beans either, so I used a can of "Mixed Beans". And I didn't have Calvados, so I used Apple Schnapps, and I didn't have apple juice, so I used leftover stock that I had in the fridge. Frugal!

Three leeks turned out to be a LOT of vegetables, and the lamb turned out perfect. The creamy sauce is really tasty and is a perfect fit to the leeks. I didn't have any sage leaves either, so I just went without that part of the recipe. Actually, come to think of it, I didn't have any garlic that day, haha, I did use more mustard that it said, so it was quite noticeable.

In the end, it was quite a variation from the recipe, but it was still delicious and didn't cost me a fortune having to buy things I didn't have :)

Russian Fudge

2011-05-01T16:20:00.000+12:00

This is a recipe I got given at work. It seems to be doing the rounds, with everyone at work making it. It's extremely simple, and, like the carrot halwa, is made in the microwave.

Combine the sugar, condensed milk, and butter in a microwave safe dish. Microwave for nine minutes, stirring thoroughly every three minutes. Stir in the white chocolate melts and microwave for three more minutes. Put in a slice dish to set (or on a lined baking tray).

I didn't have Nestle melts, so I just used Pam's white chocolate buttons. And I had ghee leftover from making the carrot halwa, so I used that instead of butter. Didn't seem to make much of a difference.

Watch your microwave power settings as mine is too powerful, and I ended up with half the fudge on the rotating tray instead of in the dish. Was quite a mess! I cooked my fudge on medium power (1200 watt microwave), and it still came out in the last three minutes before the buttons go in.

Not for diabetics :)

Ingredients:
3 cups brown sugar
1 can condensed milk
125 g butter
375 g packet Nestle white chocolate melts

Carrot Halwa

2011-05-01T16:12:00.001+12:00

I got this recipe off the Hairy Bikers. As I was baking for people at work (self-celebrating my three year anniversary with my current employer), I doubled all the ingredients and rolled out the halwa on a tray so it would make a slice.

This recipe is extremely expensive if you get the saffron and the vanilla pod for the cream. I did buy them and only then noticed how expensive they were. In the end, I didn't make the cream as I was taking the slice into work, so the vanilla beans are still unopened. For the price of gold, it's just as well! Ghee is also not cheap, and you don't actually have to double the ghee if you double the rest of the recipe, because it's used just in the frying of semolina. An Indian person at work said that the whole liquid off the frying is supposed to go into it, but I just poured off the fat into the sink and chucked in the fried semolina.

For the final step, I didn't serve it in glasses or with cream, but simply lay it out on a baking tray, pressed it flat, and put it in the fridge. It set nicely overnight, I then sliced it to take to work.

This is a really tasty dessert. It's not as sweet as I expected it to be (and apparently not sweet enough to be truly Indian, hehe). The cardamom makes it extremely moorish. You can also go without the saffron as it's just for the colour I think.

White Chocolate Cheesecake

2011-05-01T16:00:00.001+12:00

My friend Amy linked me to this blog, from which I took this recipe. I am a bit of a klutz when it comes to baking (but not cooking for some reason!), so it was somewhat of a disaster. But the cake still turned out delicious, yet not quite cake-like.

The biggest challenge was melting the white chocolate. The first block I burned. I've got to say though, burned white chocolate is absolutely delicious. Kind of like a caramel cookie. I didn't know what to do when it burned (this was 1 minute + 1 minute + 1 minute in 1200 watt microwave, so anything less nuclear will probably be just right), at first I went through a mental list of friends who could bring me new white chocolate, even thought of the ex's parents that live miles away. Then it struck me -- the dairy down the road! Whoa, this being self-sufficient business is quite a feat!

So here I was, traipsing through Naenae, in pouring rain, in the middle of the cold dark night, in search of white chocolate to go into my cheesecake (yeah yeah uphill both ways in the snow, world smallest violin, etc etc). There was a massive dead seagull on my way even. In fact, I thought it was a dead cat until I saw the wings. Huge.

Naturally, the dairy had every which chocolate bar but white! I did find one block hidden behind some others though, so the cheesecake was saved. Didn't have much luck melting this block properly either, so ended up with a few lumps in the cheesecake. The people at work said it was actually a nice surprise.

I have a silicone cake pan, and didn't quite fit into the baking pan to which you add water. So the cake was misshapen, and when I took the silicone pan out, the cake split as the pan took its original shape. Also, I think I didn't bake the cake enough, so it was a bit mousse-like. It was still delicious though, albeit quite expensive. Dairy is really a luxury item now, isn't it. :( I'm sure it'll be a better cake if I make it another time.

I decorated mine with tinned strawberries.

Dad's Favourite Carrot Cake with Whiskey Praline Cream Filling

2011-04-24T12:10:00.000+12:00

This recipe is from The Newlywed Kitchen -- Delicious Meals for Couples Cooking Together by Lorna Yee and Ali Basye, page 206. Once again they're limiting their market by not only the book title but now also the recipe title! Why dad is involved I have no idea. Well, actually I do - it says it at the front of the recipe that the recipe was created for the author's dad, but still, it seems rather odd now announcing "Dad's Favorite Cake" when it's not my dad. I shall refer to it from now on as the Awesome Whiskey Carrot Cake.

This cake is amazing. I actually cooked something with whisky a while ago and had some leftover, so went looking for other recipes that also use whisky. That's when I stumbled on a couple of blog posts that described preparing this recipe. The blogs didn't have how to make the recipe though, so I had to order this book at my local library. It's finally arrived and I get to use the brand new book for free (Did you know you can order books at your local library? Brilliant!)

This is not an easy cake. It's two layers, has a filling between the layers and rather ostentatious frosting. I think there is two much frosting, so you could probably make less. There is probably about a million calories per slice, so don't you be thinking about your waistline when you're eating it. It's just as well it's Easter and I've let myself go :) (I ate a block of chocolate in one sitting on Friday!)

Another annoying thing in this recipe is some weird measurements. I guess it's the American way, but I have no idea what a stick of butter or a cup of butter is (unless it's a cup of melted butter!). Luckily, Google came to the rescue with a butter converter! So I've added grams below.

Preheat the oven to 350F (180C). Grease two 9-inch (23 cm) round baking pans and line the bottoms with baking paper.

In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, and salt. This is just your dry ingredients.

In a large bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter and sugar together for about four minutes. I found it helpful to cut the butter up into smaller chunks and microwave it for 20 seconds (I have a 1200 Watt microwave), otherwise all the bits of sugar and butter will just fly everywhere.

Add the eggs and oil and beat until just combined. With a wooden spoon, stir in the carrots, walnuts, pineapple, and coconut, and thoroughly mix together. Add the dry ingredients mixed earlier and stir until well combined.

Divide the batter into the two pans and smooth the tops with a rubber spatula. It's a really heavy cake, so it won't rise much more. Bake both of them for about 35 minutes. Check with a toothpick or a bamboo skewer -- it should come out clean. Both of my pans fitted into the oven on the same level, but it might be different if they have to go on separate levels. You don't have to do anything while the layers are baking, so just clean up the dishes or whatnot.

Cool the baked layers on a rack. I don't have a cooling cake rack, so I just turned a drying dishes rack upside down and put some baking paper on it. It took about an hour or two for the layers to cool.

While the cakes were cooling, we made the praline and the cream cheese frosting.

The praline is quite fiddly and you have to make sure all the ingredients are measured out and are sitting within the hand's reach before you start. It took three of us to make it, mostly because the cake was getting baked at the same time and it rang the timer at the same time as critical steps of praline making were taking place. It was a bit chaotic! I'd say just take a breather while the cakes are baking, and make the praline while they're cooling.

Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan and put them on a high heat. It'll soon boil and not do much else for a little while. Just keep watching it. Soon you will notice light brown colour appearing. When that starts happening, start dragging the edges with a wooden spoon into the middle, kind of like making scrambled eggs. You want to keep it moving so it doesn't burn in some places more than others, but you do want it to go deep amber colour. Keep watch because once it goes brown, it starts darkening really quickly. As soon as it's gone dark, take the pot off the heat and drop in the cold cream. It'll bubble and boil, keep stirring. Add the butter and stir some more until it's all melted. Put the pan back on the stove, lower the heat, and cook it until it's reduced and thickened, about two minutes. Add the walnuts, salt, and whiskey, and set the pot aside to cool.

For the frosting, beat the butter and cream cheese (once again, nuke the butter a little bit first) until smooth. Add the icing sugar, orange liqueur, and orange zest. Beat for about six minutes. The orange liqueurs are Grand Marnier or Cointreau. The bottle stores often sell sample sizes of expensive stuff, which is perfect for baking. I bought a small Cointreau bottle for seven dollars. Same with Whiskey actually, but my friend gave it to me :)

To assemble the cake, place one layer on your plate or cake stand, put the praline on top, cover with the second layer, and then frost the entire cake, sides and all. You can then press the walnuts to the sides for garnish. I added almost an inch of frosting and still had some leftover, so I think you can reduce the amounts there.

Also, we went a bit overboard with the alcohol in this cake. I suggest following the recipe as I think adding too much means both the praline and the frosting stayed too soft. I will probably be making this cake again soon and will try to contain myself with the alcohol addition :)

Once again, I have no photos because my phone is still getting repaired, but this photography blog has some.

Ingredients:
Cake:
2 cups flour
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened = 225 g
1 3/4 cup sugar
4 large eggs
1/4 vegetable oil
3 cups grated carrots
1 cup chopped walnuts
One 8-ounce can crushed pineapple, drained well = 230 g
1/2 cup flaked coconut
walnuts for garnish
Whiskey praline cream filling:
1/4 thickened cream
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons water
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon whiskey
Orange cream cheese frosting:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter = 225 g
Two 8-ounce packages cream cheese = 450 g, but I think less is better
2.5 cups icing sugar
1 tablespoon orange liqueur
zest of a medium orange

Zucchini Fritters with Tangy Yoghurt Sauce

2011-04-24T11:32:00.001+12:00

This recipe is from a book called The Newlywed Kitchen -- Delicious Meals for Couples Cooking Together by Lorna Yee and Ali Basye, page 8. I don't know why they limited their market with such a title because this book has the most delicious recipes I've ever seen. Silly marketing strategy if you ask me!

First you mix the grated zucchini and the salt. Then you're supposed to squeeze it out over a sieve to remove about the half a cup of liquid that is in it. I don't have a sieve! So we just used our hands and squeezed out handfuls over the sink.

Then mix the zucchini with the garlic (I just use minced garlic that comes in jars -- one teaspoon = one clove), egg, pepper, Parmesan, and flour. Stir and fry tablespoonfuls in oil. About three minutes each side, until browned. It's pretty easy! We got 10 fritters out of this mixture.

Yoghurt is even easier! Mix the youghurt, lemon juice, chopped parsley, salt and pepper in a bowl. Done!
By sheer coincidence the flavourings in the yoghurt were the same as what went on the fish, so it was a perfect match! Yay :)

Ingredients:
Fritters:
3 cups grated zucchini
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 large egg
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1/2 cup flour
olive oil
Yoghurt:
3/4 cup plain Greek yoghurt
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
salt and pepper

Crunchy Fish Fillets

2011-04-24T11:19:00.002+12:00

This is a recipe I picked up at a supermarket -- those little leaflets you get near the checkout.

Recently I've decided that once I've stocked my pantry and freezer with some essentials, I'll just go to the fresh markets on the weekend and get the vege/eggs/fish/meat for cheaper and any dairy stuff at a supermarket. I've spent $280 on countdown online shopping, my freezer is overflowing with frozen meals, and I still spent $40 at the supermarket and $40 at the markets. Hmmm! Oh well, hopefully it'll even out eventually.

I recently watched Hairy Bikers on the Food Channel, and they had a segment on how to butterfly a sardine (now, this is a large sardine, not the type you get in a can!). It seemed easy enough, so I was kind of inspired to get a whole fish. So at the markets I got a whole butterfish to go for this recipe. It was already gutted, but needed filleting.

I've never filleted a fish before, but it seemed easy enough. I probably didn't get as much meat off it as I was supposed to, but butterfish seems like a really meaty fish, so it worked out.

The recipe is really easy - just cover the fish fillets with mayonnaise, and then with a mixture of breadcrumbs, parsley, and lemon zest. Then put under a grill for eight minutes.

It was absolutely delicious. I think it's because the fish was so fresh -- not just freshly bought, but also freshly cut. I have a feeling that the fish starts going 'fishy' as soon as it's filleted, so the meat being inside the fish protected it from that.

Filleting the fish was a fun experience too :)

I served the fish with zucchini fritters and tangy yoghurt sauce.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
2 Tbsp chopped parsley
grated rind 1/2 lemon
4 x 125g white fish fillets
1/2 cup Heinz Seriously Good Original Mayonnaise

Doom, Gloom, and Comfort Food

2011-04-18T23:25:00.000+12:00

The weather is giving us a taste of winter, gail winds, rain, really cold. I leave work at 4.30-5, and still get home in the dark. Miserable. The house is cold and uninviting. The birds go to sleep when the light dims, so even they're not awake to greet me when I arrive.

My phone is broken, so no pictures. No recipe either because there isn't much in the way of ingredients at the house today. Just kinda all doom and gloom really.

But I was feeling motivated to cook something. So I grabbed a pasta bake sauce from the pantry. However, it called for pasta and some bacon and I had neither! So instead I cooked some potatoes and saveloys and mixed those up with the pasta bake, piled some cheese on top and voila! tasty, fattening, and very much the perfect comfort food. For all those times when I need reminding that I still have a mortgage to pay and not that much money to pay it with. ¡No Pasarán!

Lamb cutlets with grilled goat's cheese

2011-04-03T16:06:00.001+12:00

I found this recipe in The Instant Cook by Donna Hay, page 102. It's actually a very simple recipe, not needing a lot of time or preparation, but I managed to stuff it up nevertheless!

Problem number one: it's not easy to get lamb cutlets in New Zealand. You'd think in the land of sheep, we'd have every cut of lamb available, but noooo, lamb cutlets can be bought only from Moore Wilsons and are expensive. It's basically a cut up rack of lamb, so I guess I could have bought one and separated them, but meh! I went with lamb steaks.

Now, there's a difference between lamb steaks and lamb steaks. I had a pack I bought from a supermarket and a pack I bought from Saturday markets, and what a difference! The smaller tender ones come from Wai-Ora Farm, and they usually go to various markets around the country. Those three were only $3.50 and way nicer than the pack of the two large ones from the supermarket.

All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.

The different size of the steaks also contributed to my failure in preparing this recipe, as I overcooked the meat and it was rather dry and chewy.

The other difficulty in this recipe was finding the goat's cheese. I thought it'd be just feta, but then wasn't sure what the big deal is with it being goat's rather than cow's. But the picture in the book makes it obvious that it is not feta as it appears more solid and not crumbly. A quick google fu pointed me towards chèvre. Luckily New World Metro at the Wellington Railway Station is poncy enough to have a cheese island with all sorts of different (and ridiculously) expensive produce.

Place the lamb cutlets in a dish with the combined lemon juice, oil, salt, and pepper, and set aside for 5-10 minutes. Now, the book does not explain how you're supposed to spread the three tablespoons of liquid amongst 10 cutlets, so I just laid them out on a tray and brushed both sides.

Place the cutlets under a preheated hot grill and cook for 1-2 minutes on one side. I was too scared the meat would be raw and ended up overcooking it. Don't be scared, two minutes is plenty! Turn the cutlets and cook for one minute. Sprinkle with oregano or marjoram and top each cutlet with a slice of the goat's cheese. Grill for three minutes or until the cheese is golden. This instruction might have additionally contributed to my timing failure as the cheese never went golden. It didn't melt outside, it didn't brown, it just basically warmed. Once we started eating it, we saw that it had liquefied in the middle and was rather delicious, but the lamb overcooked :(

Serve with the lemon wedges and steamed greens or a simple salad.

Looks can be deceiving :)

Ingredients:
8-10 lamb cutlets, trimmed
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
sea salt and cracked black pepper
2 tablespoons oregano or marjoram
8-10 thin slices goat's cheese
lemon wedges to serve

Gü desserts

2011-04-03T15:36:00.000+12:00

If you have not tried these yet, you must definitely check them out. It's a British brand and has recently become available in New Zealand. It's very expensive ($8 for two small serves) but my god, it's so very much worth it.

Tried these chocolate puddings the other night, 70% cocoa chocolate, microwave for 20 seconds, and voila, the most delicious thing you've ever tasted.

I've also tried the lemon cheesecake, it was so good I couldn't resist and ate both. The little cheesecakes come in glass jars, which you can reuse for storage or whatnot, the presentation is really superb.

Chicken in Hoegaarden with prunes

2011-04-03T15:15:00.001+12:00

I found this recipe in Leiths Simple Cookery by Viv Pidgeon and Jenny Stringer, page 214. It's actually an excellent book -- it contains not only recipes but also explanations of how to make basic sauces, cuts, roasts, what to stock your pantry with, and what vegetables are available in each season. Although, I imagine, the season stuff is irrelevant to New Zealand, and the varieties of potato, for example, aren't the same here either.

I used chicken thighs (tenderloins) instead of chicken breasts because they are cheaper and taste far far better. It's impossible to overcook chicken thighs, they always come up juicy and delicious. I find chicken breast meat too dry. Instead of sunflower oil, I used olive oil because, once again, there is some sort of New Zealand specific or maybe just Wellington specific shortage on what seems like such a staple ingredient. And I didn't have dark brown sugar, so just used soft brown sugar.

I imagine the fact that I used thighs and not breasts and the obvious lack of chicken weight in this recipe is why my casserole was more liquid that I expected it to be. I used about 500 g of chicken thighs, so use more if you're going to do what I did :)

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Trim any fat off chicken. Heat a little of the oil in a frying pan and brown the chicken on both sides. Transfer to a casserole dish. Now, to the same pan where the chicken was cooked, add the onions and sweat over low heat for 10 minutes. Sweating means not letting them brown but just making them very soft, so it's important to leave the heat quite low.

Add the tomato purée and flour, and cook for another minute, stirring well. Slowly stir in the beer, bring to the boil, and simmer for two minutes. Pour into the casserole with the stock, sugar, mustard, bay leaves, and vinegar.

Cover the casserole and bake in the oven for 45 minutes.

Add the prunes, then return to the oven for 20 more minutes. If the casserole is too thick, add more liquid; if it's too thin, remove the lid for this part of cooking.

Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve with mustard mash or steamed green vegetables.

Yummo!

Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts, skinned and boned
2 tablespoons sunflower oil
2 onions, finely sliced
1 tablespoon tomato purée
2 tablespoons plain flour
300 mL Hoegaarden beer (or pale, blonde beer)
300 mL chicken stock
1 heaped tablespoon soft dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon wholegrain mustard
2 bay leaves
1/2 tablespoon white wine vinegar
12 ready-to-eat prunes, pitted
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Mustard mash

2011-04-03T15:14:00.002+12:00

You'd think mashed potatoes are mashed potatoes are mashed potatoes? And you'd be wrong! Turns out there is more than one way to make this delicious accompaniment to all things delicious! Of course, the ingredients are what you would normally use for mashed potatoes, but it's the technique that makes these something out of this world.

I got this recipe in Leiths Simple Cookery by Viv Pidgeon and Jenny Stringer, page 359. It's suggested as something to serve with Chicken in Hoegaarden with Prunes.

Place the potatoes in a saucepan and add enough cold water just to cover them. Salt the water well and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat slightly and simmer for about 15 minutes, until the potatoes are tender.

Drain the potatoes well and mash them with a potato masher. Heat carefully, stirring, to allow the potato to steam-dry a little.

Push the potato to one side of the pan. Set the exposed part of the pan over the direct heat and pour in most of the milk. Add to the milk the butter and salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste. Tilt the pan to allow the milk to boil and butter to melt.

When the milk is boiling, or near it, beat it into the potato. Check the seasoning and add a little more milk if necessary. Stir the mustard into the completed mash. I used two tablespoons of wholegrain mustard, because it tastes super awesome!

Ingredients:
900 g floury potatoes, peeled and cut into large even pieces
150-200 mL milk
60 g butter
nutmeg
salt and freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon mustard (wholegrain, English, or Dijon), or more mustard if you prefer a stronger flavour.

Knife

2011-04-03T13:46:00.000+12:00

Was a little bit dissapointed with the knife that arrived in the mail -- it does not have a slightly curved edge, so I cannot get the piston motion going that is suggested in the video. Oh well, used Flybuys to pay for it, so no big deal. Will be looking to find the 'perfect' knife for me -- I think I need a slightly shorter edge that a chef's knife, with some carbon steel content, a curved edge. Found this one online, but will make do with what I have for now, until at least I have the cutting skills down pat.

Knife and Board

2011-03-29T20:37:00.001+13:00

Yay they arrived :)

Knife Skills

2011-03-28T00:37:00.000+13:00

Found this video randomly when I was trying to research what to spend my Flybuys points on. Not sure why I never bothered to learn how to cut things properly, but now that I've watched the video I will definitely make more of an effort to slice things correctly!

I also ordered a new knife and chopping boards because my Flybuys points were expring this month. Can't wait for them to arrive.

Dessert Wine and Raspberry Tiramisu

2011-03-27T22:03:00.001+13:00

I got this recipe from The Instant Cook by Donna Hay, page 174.

I think it's pretty vital to buy the packet sponge fingers because if you just use ready made sponge, it won't have enough sweetness. Also, the texture between sponge fingers and sponge are quite quite different.

Mascarpone and whipped cream are almost the same in texture and flavour, and without the sugar of the sponge fingers, it's pretty much just butter! I always thought tiramisu is a difficult dessert to make, but really it's just assembly. Although knowing what goes into it makes me less likely want to eat one - heart attack on a plate! Definitely for sharing.

First things first, find a suitable container. The recipe recommends a 10 cup capacity serving dish. As I was planning to take this to work to share, I used a fairly large plastic container.

Place the cream in a bowl and whisk until soft peaks form.

Whisk, whisk, whisk, sore arm. Screw this, bring out the big guns.

Fold the mascarpone through the cream and set aside.
Quickly dip both sides of half the biscuits and layer the base of the container. 13 didn't quite fit into my container, so settled for 12.

Spoon half the cream mixture over the layer of biscuits, and layer with raspberries. Repeat. Dust the top with cocoa and refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.

The sponge cakes come 21 in a pack, so I had two packs. Had enough to make tiny little tiramisu-in-a-lunchbox. I'd make a great mother, really, I would. Start the kid with a heart attack, he'd be the envy of all his chubby peers :)

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups cream (single or pouring)
500 g mascarpone
1 cup dessert wine (I used Brown Brothers Orange Muscat & Flora)
600 g defrosted frozen raspberries (they only sell this in half kilo packs, so I only used 500 g)
26 store-bought sponge finger biscuits
cocoa powder for dusting (I used one of those chocolate topping duster thingees that come packed with Nestle coffee drinks)

Potato Salad

2011-03-27T21:00:00.001+13:00

Recently I asked on Facebook to give suggestions for ingredients to cook with. One of the suggestions was pickled cucumbers. Apparently there is not much use for them other than a delicious snack or a topping on a pizza.

I've found this recipe in Kitchen Sense by Mitchell Davis, page 73. It specifically states that the secret to this recipe is to use plenty of chopped pickle and pickle juice. The salad tastes delicious, so I declare it "Mission Accomplished".

I went by "Three large potatoes" part of the recipe, and thinking I should have gone by "Two pounds" instead, because the amount seems rather small to make six serves. I guess New Zealand large isn't quite American large :) I served the salad with some saveloys to stretch the serving size.

The salad really doesn't take any time at all to make. The trick is to cook the potatoes and the eggs the night before. The recipe says to cool them for 2-3 hours, so unless you're preparing for some events, I don't see the point of making it on the same day. The next day the whole exercise takes less than 10 minutes.

Day 1: Place the potatoes and eggs in a large saucepan and cover with cold water. Add two teaspoons of salt and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Lift out the eggs and cool under cold, running water. Continue to cook potatoes until they are tender when pricked with a fork, but don't overcook or the salad will be mushy.

Drain the potatoes and cool to room temperature or refrigerate the potatoes and the eggs 2-3 hours or overnight.

Day 2: Peel the potatoes and eggs, cut the potatoes into small cubes and place in a large bowl. Chop the eggs and add them to the potatoes, along with the celery, onion, pickles, pickle juice, mustard, mayonnaise, parsley 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and a generous amount of black pepper. Mix well, taste, and adjust the seasoning if required. Chill until ready to serve.

Chopped red onion

Chopped eggs

Mixed well!

Ingredients:

2 pounds boiling potato, unpeeled (about 3 large)
2 large eggs
Salt
2 celery stalks, finely chopped -- I omitted celery because I don't like it raw.
1 small white or red onion or 3 scallions (white and green parts), finely chopped -- I used a small red onion
5 sweet midget gherkins or 1 large dill pickle, finely chopped, with 2 tablespoons pickle juice
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
3/4 cup Best Foods mayonnaise (it really is the best, and this recipe specifically asks for it!)
1-2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley or other herbs -- I used rubbed thyme
Freshly ground black pepper

Zibibbo

2011-03-27T16:31:00.002+13:00

Adam Newell is a Michelin Star chef and runs his restaurant Zibibbo on Tory St in Wellington. After Citron closed down, it is my most favourite restaurant. Zibibbo is also more accessible to every day dining, and is not at all pretentious as more upscale restaurants tend to get. The service is always fantastic, and the food is simply amazing.

There is a bar downstairs, and they also have a small functions room for group dining. The Zibibbo bar is my go-to place for the most delicious mojito in town.

The dining room has great atmosphere, with the chef prominently visible in the middle of the area. The tables are on a different floor from the bar, removing some of the drunken noise that might arise on a Friday night.

Zibibo does a set menu lunch during weekdays, with two or three courses, allowing a small selection for each course. The best part is that the menu changes very regularly -- it already does not have the items we had for lunch last month! If you do go, pay extra attention to the sides as they are often to-die-for. Special memories belong to the cauliflower gratin and to the roasted beets with walnuts.

Recently they did a deal through DailyDo and I just could not resist going there for lunch. Of course I paid for it with pain as it was far more food than my stomach was prepared to deal with. The flavour overload was totally worth it though.

Apple and Rhubarb Crumble with Pistachio Ice-cream

Faux Venison and Aubergine Moussaka

2011-03-27T16:03:00.004+13:00

The reason it's faux venison is because Lower Hutt is too ghetto to have venison mince in the supermarkets, so we substituted high quality lamb mince :) I do think it'd be a much better fusion of flavours with venison mince as leek and prunes definitely call for a more sharp gamey meat.

This is Adam Newell's recipe from his book Dine In, page 115.

The finished product. Dellissimo!

This was quite an ambitious recipe to make because it is quite fiddly. I think the leek we got from the supermarket was far larger than what Adam used in his recipe because it made a tonne of moussaka and the sauce was quite thick -- I ended up adding a bit of water during cooking. The frying of aubergine took two frying pans and a George Foreman grill because I didn't read ahead and had to do it in a rush. D'oh!

Slicing tomatoes and eggplants.

Frying of the aubergine.
Cheese/mince/leek sauce is resting in the background.

Slicing of all the vegetables.

I have a mandoline for slicing of harder vegetables into equal thickness slices. I got it at the Food Show in Wellington, and, unlike many "bought on TV" gadgets, it's actually really good and of high quality. It's indispensable for potato gratins. I used it to slice the potatoes and eggplants for this dish.

My oven dish was too small, so we made two moussakas at the same time. This was actually quite opportune as for one of them we added less oil to see the difference.

The two moussakas, straight from the oven.

Recipes never tell you these things in advance, and I'm too daft to read ahead. So, in case you're like me, here's the important stuff you'll need later. Preheat oven to 150°C. Make chicken stock if using cubes. Slice the eggplants and fry all the slices.

First off, the mince was poached in the stock and thyme for 10 minutes, then strained (reserving the stock), and set aside. I've never poached mince before, and I found this method of cooking it much more enjoyable. Frying raw mince always smells like fish food to me, I usually find it quite off-putting.

Poaching mince

Using the same pan (so all leftover mince 'bits'), sauté leek and garlic in butter for two minutes. Add the flour and cook for two more minutes.

Mince is resting, leek is sauteéing.

Slowly add the hot stock a little at a time, stirring to combine. Simmer for five minutes, then season with salt and pepper. Add the cream, bring to the boil, then add the cheese and cooked mince. Gently cook for two minutes, stirring.

Arrange a layer of eggplant in a large ovenproof dish. Add a layer of sliced tomato and season with salt and pepper. Spoon in a 5 mm layer of venison sauce, followed by a layer of sliced potato. Repeat the layers, finishing with a layer of prunes, Cheddar and Parmesan. Drizzle with the oil (I omitted the oil for the second dish and it didn't really make much of a difference, tastewise).

Bake, covered with a lid or a layer of tinfoil, for one hour, then uncovered for a further 20 minutes until a golden crust forms.

Serves 6.

Ingredients:
500 g venison mince
200 mL chicken stock
1 tbsp chopped thyme
75 g salted butter
1 large leek, sliced
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
100 g all-purpose flour
salt and pepper
100 mL cream
150 g Cheddar cheese, grated, plus extra for topping
50 g Parmesan cheese, grated, plus extra for topping
2 aubergines (eggplants), sliced and fried
4 tomatoes, sliced
4 large potatoes, peeled and sliced
50 g prunes, pitted and chopped
75 mL extra virgin olive oil

Yet another food blog

2011-03-20T14:20:00.003+13:00

In the inspiring steps of Julie & Julia and a thousand and one TV chefs out there, I feel compelled to add yet another pollutant to the world of blogosphere.

I am not going to cook every single dish in a book. Mostly because I never like every single recipe in a cooking book. I do have many cooking books. In fact, there is an entire book shelf in my kitchen, filled with recipes. I never considered myself a cook -- I resent the idea of "having something on the table after a day of work" or "It's dinner time, let's eat". For me, food is more than just the fuel that powers my body. It must be delicious and there must be something good on TV to watch or some pleasant company to interact with before I even consider eating. I would never "just grab something" or eat in the kitchen. For me, it is an experience, a joy in and of itself. Besides, food tastes faaaar better when you're hungry :)

I must define my constraints:

A couple of years ago I felt very overweight and I joined WeightWatchers. I was very successful and lost nearly 20 kilos to date. I went from size 14 to size 8 (New Zealand sizes). The non-gimmicky calories in/calories out science-based concepts of WW really connected with me. I used to have "Cheesecake days" to test the programme, and it still worked. So I am conscious of not eating too much, but I would never restrict myself to "healthy" recipes that in reality mean "rabbit food". After all, it's the portion sizes that really matter.
I recently had a change in personal circumstances and no longer have as high an income at my disposal. And most of the income that I do have will need to be ring-fenced towards my mortgage. While I am aware and very anxious of it, I still do spend ungodly amounts of money on food. But it also means I am not going to cook 70 dishes in one week just to show to the world what I can do. I like doing this because I like blogging and I like the process of cooking, but at the end it's still my meal. I often cook things that serve 4-6 people and then subdivide it into portions in plastic containers and freeze them. I have a stand alone upright freezer that has drawers (as opposed to those ridiculous "dump everything into this skip bin" freezers that you can never find anything in). It took me a while to find it, and it's amazing -- food doesn't go off and I always have something to eat when I don't feel like cooking. Plus, lunches!
My laziness comes and goes and I get bored easily. At the moment I enjoy the process of cooking itself. I find Chef Academy more fun to watch than, say, MasterChef or Iron Chef, because it's more about the process than the creation of recipes. I don't really come up with new things, I like following instructions and basking in the glory when I get it right.
I like interaction with people. It's very likely that I might find this blogging business largely dissatisfying and forget to update it. Oops.

With all that preamble out of the way, Onwards!