Repertoire Food

Late summer in the Repertoire Food garden!

2012-02-11T16:30:00.000+11:00

Yeah, there's supposed to be passion-fruit and capsicums somewhere in there.
Photo: Penny Williams

I am an enthusiastic amateur when it comes to gardening, especially in the colder climate we now live in. I grew up in a sub-tropical climate where snails and frost were unheard of and you can grow tomatoes all year round.

So this year (our second here in Warrnambool) I have learnt from last years mistakes and there are all sorts of good looking plants all over the place. We have, thanks to our compost pile, feral tomatoes starting up all over the garden and I am leaving many of them to grow.

I had put in a passion-fruit plant and surrounded it with compost for a good start. It was promptly decimated by snails (who knew they were such fans?)Then the tomatoes grew all around it and dwarfed the poor thing. It is still hanging in there - at least the tomatoes have given the poor thing a physical barrier from snails. I am hoping it will continue to survive and outlast the tomato harvest.

Mint. Probably should be in a pot!
Photo: Penny Williams

I have planted many more herbs (tarragon, mint, basil) and put in some capsicums and zucchinis (blackjack, I think they are). The capsicums have been well, overwhelmed by the tomatoes and I have so far had a lot of zucchini flowers but no actual fruit.

I also found that the Silverbeet (Swiss chard) roots that I had composted last year had sprung back into life and now we have 2 lots of it. Which would be great if we actually ate a lot of it....I am cooking up Guillaume Brahimi's Roast Chicken with Sauce Chasseur this evening so perhaps I'll add this as a side.

Yes, there are more feral tomatoes to the left there....
Photo: Penny Williams

On collecting recipes...and a recipe for Cafe Style Banana Bread

2012-02-03T20:30:00.000+11:00

Picture: Penny Williams

One of my favourite things is searching out new and interesting recipes to try. Of course, this means that every time I find one, I bookmark it under "recipes to try". I have these sub folders in my bookmark file: "recipes to try" and "recipe sites" and "food shopping". I find a lot of these ideas at tastespotting as well as the food blogs I read on a regular basis such as notquitenigella and FOODjimoto. It is a wicked spiral of course, because on these sites I find plenty of things to cook and there IS only so much time and so many meals in one's life. Of course, that doesn't even begin to include the recipes that are found in magazines or cookbooks! I also seem to collect too many of them. So over my summer holidays had a bit of a cull a few to declutter and make more room. Of course, that made more room for the cook books I received as Christmas gifts..so of course it is a vicious cycle! One thing is for sure, I need more room in my kitchen.

Anyway, one of these recipes I found recently on the Internet is this wonderful Cafe Style Banana Bread over at Clairekcreations (a fellow Qld'er to boot! I miss my home state sometimes) I just made some this afternoon and it is just delicious. I think you have to be really careful with the banana bread recipes; this one however is lovely and moist -just as it should be. I left the walnuts out since I didn't have any and didn't feel like wandering down to the store. I love the pictures on the recipe -she has so much more patience than me to photograph the whole process!

Cafe Style Banana Bread (from http://clairekcreations.com/2011/04/cafe-style-banana-bread/)

Ingredients
1 cup mashed banana (this was about 2 and a bit small bananas)
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
40g butter, melted and cooled slightly
1/2 cup buttermilk (I didn't have any, so I followed Clairek's suggestion and used milk with some lemon juice in it)
1/4 cup treacle or 1/4 cup honey (I actually used a teaspoon of molasses, then topped up to a quarter cup of honey here, for a stronger taste)
1 and 1/2 cups plain flour
1 cup SR flour
2 tsp mixed spice
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius, or 160 degrees if you have a fan forced oven.

1. Combine the wet ingredients (banana, sugar, eggs, butter, buttermilk, treacle) in a large bowl or mixer.
2. Stir in the rest of the ingredients and then transfer to a greased loaf pan
3. Bake for 1 hour. An inserted knife or skewer should come out clean at this stage.
4. Let it cool in pan for 5 minutes then transfer to a rack.
5. Serve to your adoring masses, toasted (or not!) with butter slathered on liberally. I was going to say "like sunscreen on a hot day" but it doesn't seem right.....

Baked custard pudding

2011-12-17T10:30:00.000+11:00

Baked custard pudding is just the thing for all this unseasonably cold weather! I think here in Australia we are suffering through one of the coldest summers in a very long time. I'm no weather expert of course, so go ahead, flame away!

I tried this easy baked custard recipe a little while ago and have repeated it a few times since. It is spectacularly easy. It's just a shame it isn't quicker but I guess that is the way that custard rolls. I'll be making this again this evening since for dessert post Thai beef salad (that's another post, coming soon, incidentally. It has just reached repertoire status in our house!).

The custard takes about an hour and a half when all is said and done, but it is totally worth it. It tastes just amazing served with some fresh fruit, or perhaps some poached apricots.

Baked Custard Pudding (from allrecipes.com.au)

Serves 2 very greedy adults, or maybe 4 if you are feeling generous!

Ingredients

1¾ cups milk
½ cup cream
¼ cup caster sugar

3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
nutmeg or cinnamon
Fresh fruit (for serving)
I have also seen some recipes that throw in a handful of sultanas in the bottom of the baking dish. It does sound lovely, actually.

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees. Lightly grease a 1 litre baking dish
2. Slowly heat the milk and cream in a saucepan - do not boil. Remove from heat
3. In a large bowl, whisk the caster sugar, eggs and vanilla until well combined
4. Gradually add the milk/cream mixture into the egg mixture, whisking constantly.
5. Strain the mixture into the baking dish and sprinkle with the cinnamon or grated nutmeg
6. Place the baking dish in a large roasting pan, and fill the roasting pan with warm water (enough to reach 2/3 up the side of the baking dish)
7. Bake for about an hour, or until the surface is firm when touched lightly.
8. You can also use small ramekins for this recipe: bake them for about 35 minutes before you start checking whether they are cooked.
9. Serve warm over fresh fruit. Divine! It is also very good served cold, if it makes it that far.

Sucuklu menemen

2011-12-04T12:25:00.001+11:00

Food Critic Andrew and I recently went up to Melbourne and I stocked up on sucuk, which is a spicy Turkish sausage. Of course, you may know we are relatively new to Victoria, so I needed to find a new Turkish Butcher. I found one, caught the tram up Sydney Rd to Brunswick and bought half a dozen sucuk. I just swanned into the butcher and asked for half a dozen, sight unseen. Of course, I didn't know that they were 1kg instead of the usual 500g I am used to from my old Auburn Butcher! I lugged them back to the hotel with the help of a very unimpressed Food Critic Andrew.

Of course aside from all the Turkish pide we have been eating, I have been searching for new recipes to use up all the sujuk that is clogging up my freezer. I found a recipe stuck into one of my old recipe books called Sucuklu menemen. I tried this on a lazy Sunday evening after a long tiring day of gardening and can thoroughly recommend it for a "one pot" meal. I served it with a side salad, fresh baked bread rolls and a glass of wine! It was even better because I had all of the ingredients in the fridge/freezer/garden.

My apologies if it is not terribly authentic - it is terribly delicious though!

Sucuklu menemen

This recipe will serve around 2 people, so adjust accordingly for more/less.

Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
1onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped finely
1-2 small red chilies, finely chopped
1 large tomato, chopped
1 large handful chopped kale
1/2 capsicum, finely chopped
2 tbsp basil pesto (jar stuff is fine)
300g (at least) sucuk, available at continental delicatessens and middle eastern butchers. My Melbourne recommendation is Istanbul Halal Meats in Brunswick. In Sydney, Saddik Bros Butchers sell an awesome spicy sucuk
3-4 eggs at room at temperature
Salt and pepper

Method
1. Heat the olive oil in a small/medium pan and add onion, capsicum and chilies
2. Cook over a medium/high heat until the the onion and capsicum is soft
3. Add the tomato, pesto, salt and pepper and let the mixture simmer for about 5 minutes.
4. Add the sucuk and kale, and cook for a further 5 minutes.
5. Break eggs into pan evenly over the mixture, and simmer until the eggs are cooked to your liking.
6. Serve with bread and a side salad.

On when it all goes wrong...

2011-11-26T14:41:00.001+11:00

How the cake should have turned out...

So, the self imposed blogging hiatus is over, and I am back, ready to go! There's a cake (chocolate fudge) in the oven, and I have to confess, there have been more than a few disasters recently. I don't think I'm the only one that feels the pressure of the work bake-off. There are some seriously good cooks at my work and recently, it was finally my turn on the "cake roster". So I thought I would bake my tried and true bee-sting cake. I've made it a hundred times. It has never failed me. I would never try something new and difficult for this sort of thing -too many variables and I really dislike having to go back to the supermarket, or turn up with a bought cake (that stuff is far too expensive).

I was sooo prepared as well. I was being slightly over cautious, and bought new flour, new baking soda, new custard powder, half a dozen eggs etc etc. The best case scenario was that I would make 2 cakes, one for home, the other for morning tea at work. The worst case scenario (or so I thought at the time...) was that I had enough ingredients to make a second cake if the first one failed for any unforeseen (and unexpected) reason. I hadn't made it yet in this oven so I thought I was playing it safe.

Anyhow, cake #1 is mixed perfectly and goes into the oven. Looks great and comes out looking great. I turn around for just a second, and the damn thing has sunk! Never mind - I am prepared and can easily make a second one. I think to myself that perhaps the oven was a bit cold when I put the cake in. So I try again, of course my oven is well and truly at temperature this time....

So cake #2 comes out of the oven, looks even better. Of course, I turn around, and yet again, it sinks. Not as much as the first one, but enough to be pretty damn obvious what happened. I start negotiating with myself - maybe I can take the base from one and the base from the other.....? The night is wearing on. I pour myself a drink and resolve to buy a cake in the morning. The cake I buy sets me back $35. Seriously? It was yummy, but that was ridiculous.

The worst part? The next morning I see that one of my colleagues is interviewed for the "person of the week" feature on our internal website and my cake making skills are feted. I want to cry all over my bakery bought, overly expensive mud cake.

As an interesting side note, I mentioned this story to several colleagues, and one said that their wife had also bought the same brand of flour from the same supermarket that day, and also had a cake failure on the same night, and then on the next night, also with a tried and true recipe. So I'll blame the flour! It has been banished to pastry duty.

When your confidence is shot, the best thing to do is to get back into the kitchen and keep baking. I will make that cake again, and it won't fail.

A trip through my favourites...

2011-09-11T20:24:00.001+10:00

....Or, all the stuff I would cook if only I had the time!

A few people have asked me this week what food sites I find inspiration from, so I thought I would share a few links, both to specific recipes, and otherwise to blogs and sites that I frequent. So here are just a few...

Tastespotting - This is an absolute feast for the eyes! It has many new and interesting ideas, and happily, leads me to many new blogs and food sites. The beautiful pictures help of course, and one day I would love to have the courage to submit something to their site.

Not Quite Nigella - I have been following this blog for a couple of years now. I don't remember how I found it, but I really enjoy NQN's wonderful prose, pictures, and adventures. I visit this a few times a week, and always find something new and exciting. As a former Sydney resident, I recognise many of the restaurants as well, which always gives me a healthy dose of nostalgia

Foodjmoto - This website I stumbled across recently. I love the Japanese influence on Karolyn's cooking, as well as her wonderful stories of family life.

Paris Patisseries - when you click on this link, you'll understand why!

Diner's Journal - A source of inspiration, especially for Mark Bittman's minimalist meals.

Of course, as you can well imagine, every time I open up my browser I manage to find something else I simply "must try". Food Critic Andrew is a willing taste tester, and a few recipes even manage to make it through to these lovely pages.

And here's some epic meat for you! Bought to you by Epicmeattime - these guys are hilarious!

And not to forget "My Drunken Kitchen"...The editing really makes this...

Mobile Repertoire Food!

2011-09-03T18:15:00.001+10:00

Hi everyone,

Just a quick note to say that I have been rejigging the site a little, including getting a Facebook page up and running for the site, and smartening up the widgets. I have also made the site available for mobile phones. Enjoy - I've had a bit of a look from my iPhone, and it really is quite user friendly. Let me know if you have any problems in the comments section.

New Facebook fan page

2011-09-02T15:58:00.001+10:00

Hi everyone,

I have also started a Facebook fan page for this blog - I'd love if you joined!

Find it here

Review: Betty Crocker Super Moist Devil's Food Cake Mix

2011-09-02T15:46:00.001+10:00

Photo: Penny Williams

It is Friday, and it is the weekend for me! I get to start my weekends early because the working week at my day job starts on a Sunday. Yeah, that part totally sucks, but hey, at least it is a nice quiet day - few distractions and no hassles. I've been doing this since last November - and if I had a choice, I would like to go back to a normal "Mon-Fri" schedule. But even more, I would love to make this blog more a part of my working life (read...make some money off it!).

Anyway, for a girl working full time (or, in fact anyone), sometimes a packet cake mix really does make the day a whole lot better. Imagine, it is a Sunday evening, and you've promised your work colleagues that you will bring a cake tomorrow. This cake mix is the answer for you. Betty Crocker does one of my favourite cake mixes. It is very easy to make (4 steps only!), relatively mess free and uses ingredients that I normally have in the cupboards. Best of all, for a "packet" cake, it tastes natural and works every single time.

Cake with whipped cream centre.
Photo: Penny Williams

The only extras you need are water, vegetable oil and 3 eggs (and 50 minutes of so). A stand mixer helps, but isn't necessary. I didn't have one for years, but now I really enjoy the convenience of having one. I can start a cake whilst the dishes are being done of an evening and a few minutes later am ready to pour the mix into a pan. Of course, you can also make this recipe into cupcakes if you have some patty pans available.

The "Creamy deluxe frosting" is also included in the box and I personally think this is the best part - and the reason I prefer to buy this particular cake mix. You can buy the frosting separately, but frankly, I think I would probably sit down in front of an episode of "True Blood" and devour the whole lot in one sitting! So best to leave it well alone.

This time, you will see that I cut the cake in half and spread whipped cream all over the base, before putting the top back on and icing. Then of course devouring some.... Nope, this one certainly didn't make it to work! It won't even make it past the front door, if Food Critic Andrew and I have our way....

Thanks!

2011-08-31T20:53:00.005+10:00

Hi everyone,

Just a quick August roundup for you from Repertoire Food. Well, we've had the most traffic we've ever had per month since I started this blog way back in April 2009 - so a big thank you to all my wonderful readers and supporters of this blog.

It is the final day of winter here, and I am looking forward to shedding some layers and exploring some lighter food, I have seen some beautiful salad recipes from our friends in the Northern hemisphere and am looking forward to trying them out this summer.

The garden has suddenly sprouted into life, and yesterday I picked my first ever home grown radish. It was sort of misshapen, but I was rather proud of myself!

So onwards and upwards folks! I have some wonderful recipes coming up in September, and something cooling right now waiting for its closeup. Of course, you know it probably involves chocolate, right?

Passionfruit and lemon steamed puddings

2011-08-21T20:52:00.004+10:00

photo: Penny Williams

The spell-check function here on Blogger disagrees with me that "Passionfruit" is one word (and not two!), so we'll just have to labour under the assumption that it is, folks. The only thing that annoys me more than restaurants with "no bookings" policies is bad spelling...

Rant over.

I was recently looking for a quick dessert to make on a weekday evening, and came across steamed puddings. Of course, I have made them before, but only large puddings, which of course take about an hour and a half to cook. I spied the "1/2 hour individual moulds" on the recipe and was instantly converted. This recipe is based on that old favourite book of mine - "Cookery The Australian Way" (Fifth ed. - Cameron, Russell and Williams). I went a bit off the books with the flavouring since I had some lemons and passionfruit to use up.

This recipe makes approximately 6 ramekins, depending on their size (mine are 150ml).

Passionfruit and Lemon Steamed Puddings

Ingredients

1/2 cup (125gm) butter

1/2 cup (125gm) Castor sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 and 1/2 cups (225g) SR flour

1/2 cup (125ml) milk

juice and zest of 1 and 1/2 lemons

4 tbsp passionfruit pulp (I used tinned passionfruit pulp here)

Whipped cream, the serve

Method

1. Cream butter and sugar in a mixing bowl.

2. Add egg and mix well.

3. Stir in lemon juice and zest, then flour and milk. Mix thoroughly.

4. Into the bottom of the ramekins, spoon the passionfruit pulp evenly

5. Place pudding mixture in ramekins (being careful not to mix with the passionfruit too much), approximately 2/3 full

6. Seal tightly (leaving room for the puddings to rise) with aluminium foil and rubber bands.

7. Bring water (enough to fill a large fry pan approximately halfway) to boil and place ramekins inside.

8. Cover with a tight fitting lid and occasionally check that the water has not boiled dry.

9. Leave for approximately half an hour, until the puddings have risen underneath the foil.

10. Remove foil, invert puddings and remove from the ramekin and serve with whipped cream.

Chorizo and halloumi bake (after Nigella...)

2011-08-07T20:38:00.004+10:00

Photo: Penny Williams

No wonder I couldn't find this one in any of my Nigella cookbooks! It's been so long since I actually consulted the recipe - I actually couldn't quite remember the name of it. As it turns out, Nigella's recipe uses Merguez sausages, and I have always used chorizo. Looking up "Chorizo" in the index was no help at all. Thank goodness for Google! I just adore this recipe - it is good for both midweek dinners all the way up to dinner parties - all you need to do is adjust the amount of ingredients you put in. For example, for the 2 of us, I just out in a couple of potatoes, 1 onion, whereas the quantities are easily changed to feed many more. And, even better, if you are trying to limit your own consumption of carbs, you can fill up your plate with vegetables and you'll never feel as though you are missing out.

Chorizo and Halloumi bake (for 2 - adjust quantities for larger groups)

Adjusted from Merguez with halloumi and flame roasted peppers - Nigella Express

Ingredients

2 chorizo sausages

125gm halloumi cheese

2 potatoes

1 onion

1 each of red, green and yellow capsicum (bell peppers)

a handful of cherry tomatoes (please feel free to substitute regular cut up tomaotes if that is what you have)

To serve: crusty bread and baby spinach or other greenery

Method

1. Cut potatoes and onions into chunks and put into a roasting pan.

2. Slice the capsicums and add them to the pan.

3. Roast for approximately 1 hour at 200 degrees Celsius, until the potatoes are cooked (if you find everything else has cooked too quickly, you can take out the onion and capsicum.

4. Add the cut up chorizo sausage, and sliced halloumi.

5. Add the chorizo, halloumi and halved cherry tomatoes to the pan (put the onions and capsicums back in if you have removed them

5. Return everything to the oven and cook until the halloumi is melting and the chorizo is browned. It should take about 10-15 minutes.

6. Serve with crusty bread and baby spinach.

Photo: Penny Williams

I am sitting here in the lounge room in front of the heater. The cat seems to be enjoying the warmth far more than I am though....Just a perfect expression of a lazy Sunday evening...

Blueberry and passion-fruit cheesecake slice

2011-07-09T18:22:00.004+10:00

I have mentioned previously that I don't have much of an affiliation with Cheesecake, and Food Critic Andrew is a Cheesecake traditionalist (baked please, no topping frippery such as fruits) so you might find it odd that I have chosen to make this particular beast....and you know what? - I made this chiefly based on looks alone. Lucky I have workmates who devoured this one! I am told that is was absolutely delicious, so of course you absolutely must make it. I am not sure where it comes from, my colleague Stacey might enlighten us in the comments (or, if you happen to be the author of the recipe book in question, please let us know). Stacey scanned the recipe and sent it to me with a request for some baking.

I have made a few changes to the original recipe. I added more butter to the base (as I thought the original ingredients might make it a bit dry), and omitted the lime zest (couldn't be bothered, honestly) and the cooking time was far longer than I expected. Though be honest, it did make me wonder whether the recipe had actually been tested prior to publishing. Anyhow...without further delay:

Blueberry and Passion fruit cheesecake slice

Ingredients

250gm Marie (or other plain) biscuits

125gm butter, melted

500gm softened cream cheese

3/4 cup caster sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup sour cream (I ended up doing 1/4 cup sour cream, and 1/4 cup thickened cream, and I don't think the recipe suffered for it)

2 tbsp lime juice

1 cup frozen or fresh blueberries

1/4 cup passion fruit pulp (canned is fine)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 150 degrees centigrade, and line a 20 x 30cm slice tin with baking paper (or grease, if you prefer.

2. Process the biscuits and add in the melted butter. Press into the slice tray, pressing down with the bottom of a glass tumbler. Refrigerate.

3. Mix cream cheese, caster sugar in a mixer, at medium speed until smooth.

4. Add eggs, one at a time, then add sour cream and lime juice.

5. Pour mixture over cooled base.

6. Sprinkle the blueberries over the top, then add the passion fruit pulp evenly.

7. Cook in oven for approximately 1 hour, or until set.

8. After cooling slightly, refrigerate overnight.

9. Cut into portions as you desire.

Key Lime Pie

2011-06-20T19:36:00.004+10:00

This recipe is a big favourite of mine....I have made this several times and each time it gets better. So it is finally time to share. This one goes out to the awesome Narelle who is far far away in Hong Kong, but soon moving back to Australia.

This recipe started off as a taste.com.au recipe, but I have changed a few bits and pieces and made the pie "bigger" to suit my own pie dish. Despite there only being 2 of us, we make short work of this delicious pie sitting in the fridge.

The only thing that stops me from making this more often is that I get so impatient grating the lime zest. I really need one of those zester things.

If you haven't ever tried this, please do; it has this irresistibly creamy, yet zingy taste and I guarantee you'll be going back for another slice...

A quick note: Key limes aren't actually available in Australia as far as I know, so I used Tahitian limes instead. If you happen to know different - drop me a lime...er line....

Key Lime Pie

Ingredients

250gm "Marie" or other wheaten style biscuits

125gm butter, melted

1/4 cup ground almonds

1 tbsp caster sugar

395gm tin condensed milk

200ml thickened cream

100gm ricotta cheese

finely grated rind and juice of 4 limes

5 eggs, lightly beaten.

Method

1. Process the biscuits until they are finely crumbed.

2. In a mixing bowl, mix the melted butter, biscuit crumbs, almond and caster sugar.

3. Press into a pie dish with your fingers, then the bottom of a glass tumbler to ensure the base and sides are tightly packed.

4. Refrigerate for at least half an hour.

5. Preheat your oven to 170 degrees centigrade.

6. Mix the rest of the ingredients until smooth. Adjust for taste (I sometimes prefer to add a little bit more lime juice here.)

7. Pour into the base, and gently put into the oven.

8. Cook for 1.5 hours, or until set. In my oven, I actually turned the heat down to 150 after the first hour, as the base was cooked, but the filling wasn't quite set.

9. Cool in the fridge.

10. Serve with thin slices of lime over the top, and a dollop of whipped cream.

Why you should roast your own beans...

2011-06-12T19:20:00.006+10:00

I've been roasting green coffee beans for a few years now, and finally I think the time has come to let everyone in on the secret: it really is very easy. It's also a lot cheaper than buying roasted beans, and obviously they are so fresh!

I've been ordering my beans since 2009 over the 'net from the good folks at Coffee Snobs and have always found them to be on time and good value. Previous to that, I was visiting Withams, give them a go if you are in the Sydney area!

Coffee Snobs operate a "bean bay", where, once a month, they fill the site with new specialty coffee beans. That being said, whilst some sell out very quickly, I always find my beloved South American and Indonesian beans in stock, no matter what.

I use a popcorn popper to roast my coffee beans. I currently use a Sunbeam "Cornelius". Just so you know, I have been roasting beans since approximately 2007, and I have been through about three popcorn machines. They are easily trashed by the beans, grow dark on the inside, and with experience, I have learnt not to melt the plastic top. So: don't expect to be using your popcorn machine for actual popcorn after a few roasts. There are plenty of quality coffee roasting machines out there, but I get decent results with Cornelius for the small amount of coffee that I roast. Saying that, an I-roast 2 would be a wonderful gift someday (hint hint, Food Critic Andrew).

OK, so aside from a popcorn maker, I also need 2 large mixing bowls. One sits underneath the outlet of the popcorn maker, and catches any flying beans. They usually stay inside the popcorn maker, and a few lighter weight beans usually find their way out. It also catches the chaff, which is a waste product of the process. Some types of beans have more chaff than others.

I use the measuring cup provided with the popcorn maker to measure out a heaped lot of green bean. Then put it into the popcorn maker, and turn it on. Let the beans roast until they are your desired roast. This depends on the type of bean, I prefer a darker roast, because I drink milk based coffees and like the richness to come through.

Here is an excellent visual guide. Using this scale, I roast my beans to approximately 12-13.

After the mixing bowl is filled, I leave the beans to cool, and then package with the date. I tend to find that the beans I prefer take 7-14 days to mature to their full potential. Of course, others may vary. The chaff goes into the garden.

Deep fried macaroni (the grown up version)

2011-05-29T20:12:00.006+10:00

Food Critic Andrew and I were sitting down recently, enjoying a beautiful Saturday morning over crumpets and coffee. As is our tradition, we devour "The Saturday Age" and usually discuss the feature on page 3 of the "Life and Style"section, where the main gist of the story is a celebrity interview intertwined with a restaurant review.

Of course, one of the main topics of conversation is whether the food is actually worth the what you pay for it. So of course, when one of the dishes included some deep fried macaroni, I set about the not too difficult challenge of proving that deep fried macaroni isn't overly difficult, it also probably isn't worth the price of a restaurant meal. (Of course, I know that there are lots and lots of overhead that contribute to an expensive meal...but seriously? deep fried leftovers?)

So, a quick whiz around the internet, and I have this delightful recipe for your benefit. I am not sure whether I would make this again, only possibly as a novelty canapé or something or rather.

Of course, I did enjoy a couple of them in all their cheesy/carb-alicious goodness, but they are only a "quick make" if you have already made the macaroni and cheese earlier (which is not hugely popular in my household). As such, I will assume that the macaroni and cheese is already made, and cooled.

Deep Fried Macaroni cheese balls.

Ingredients

1 large mixing bowl of your favourite macaroni and cheese, cooled overnight

1 onion, cut finely (or, food processed for even smaller chunks)

cayenne pepper to taste

Flour (plain)

1 egg, beaten

Panko bread crumbs

Method

1. Heat a deep saucepan that is approximately 1/3 full with vegetable oil (or other oil suitable for deep frying) until a small cube of bread turns golden-brown within 10-20 seconds of you dropping it in the oil.

2. Mix the onion, macaroni, cayenne pepper in the bowl, until well combined.

3. Form small, uniform balls of your cooled macaroni and dredge in flour.

4. Dip the ball in the egg, and then finally into the panko. Roll around until well covered.

5. Gently lower the balls into the hot oil with a metal slotted spoon, and let them cook until they turn golden brown.

6. Remove from oil with slotted spoon, and place onto a paper towel on a plate to soak up any excess oil. Place into a slow oven (around 120 degrees Celsius) until all macaroni balls are cooked. Haste is important though! Serve as soon as possible, like with all deep fried foods.

So, about these danish pastries

2011-04-24T16:12:00.011+10:00

One thing I've noticed down here, is that as much as I love Warrnambool, for the life of me, I can't get my hands on fresh sour cherry danishes. So, I decided to make some for myself. I have always been a bit wary of pastry, but trying out Maggie Beer's Sour Cream Pastry was a watershed. It really isn't that hard; just follow the instructions, keep the pastry cool, and you are totally bound for pastry success!

Anyhow, I have soo much unsalted butter sitting in the refrigerator now. Now that I have practiced the laminating technique on these danishes, next stop is puff pastry for sausage rolls!

This recipe is from Nigella Lawson's "How to be a Domestic Goddess"

I looked at the pastry recipe in the "Bourke St Bakery" Cookbook, but the proportions were far too much. For goodness sake, making 36 danishes just for the 2 of us seemed a bit too far fetched, even for pastry lovers like Food Critic Andrew and myself. However, I do like the idea that the Bourke St Bakery folks have of using a ferment process. I think it would give a much deeper flavour to the pastry. Now that I am a bit more confident freezing the unused pastry (I took Nigella's advice and froze half the mixture), I think I may just give it a go sometime. Of course, I will report back... I really love sour cherry danishes!

Also, a note as to my variations on Nigella's recipe: I mixed the yeast differently, to ensure that it was still viable. I also cut the sections into 9 parts instead of 6, I felt that this made a better pastry to fruit ratio. I also omitted the sweet icing on top (not the sugary glaze; I tried that on the first lot, but it wasn't a success). I have never been a fan of the sweet icing. Oh, and I also used my stand mixer for this, so it is technically not "Processor" but "mixer"

Processor/Stand Mixer Danish Pastry

(adapted from Nigella Lawson)

Ingredients

60ml warm water

7g (1 sachet, or 2-ish tsp) dried yeast. Even better, use 15g fresh yeast if you can get it

25g caster sugar

125ml room temp milk

1 (room temp) egg

350g white bread flour

1 tsp salt

250g unsalted butter, chilled, cut into cubes

Method

1. Add the yeast to the water, along with a teaspoon of sugar and mix. Leave for 15 minutes to ensure that the yeast froths up, and is viable.

2. Add the egg to the milk, and beat to mix.

3. In a stand mixer, put the flour, salt and remaining sugar. Add the butter cubes, and mix. You still want chunks of butter visible. (I panicked at this stage and wondered if my chunks were far too big. I wouldn't worry though; in the laminating stage, the butter gets nicely mixed through).

4. Add the liquids, and use your hands to fold it together briefly. The mixture is sticky with buttery lumps though it. Cover and leave overnight (or up to 4 days, according to Nigella).

5. On the day you are ready for your pastries, take it from the fridge and leave it to go to room temp, about and hour or so.

6. Roll into a 50cm x 50cm square (I didn't quite get it that big I don't think, but aim for that at any rate)

7. Laminating: Fold the dough into thirds, like you are folding a business letter. Then turn it clockwise so that the closed fold is to the left. Roll it out again to 50 x 50, and laminate again. Do this 3 times.

8. You can cat the dough into halves and freeze one portion here.

9. Refrigerate for half and hour (this lets the gluten in the dough rest).

10. Roll out the pastry into a big square, and cut into 6 or nine pieces, depending on how big you want them to be. I recommend the 9 piece option.

11. Place on baking paper and add your sour cherries, again, you can go free form here and add any sort of fruit. I also did a few with stewed apricots, which were very good.

12. Fold over the corners, and let them rise in a warm place for about one and a half hours. They should double in size.

13. Add an egg glaze if you so choose, and bake in a preheated 180 degree centigrade oven for approximately 20 minutes. The pastry should be a coppery brown colour.

14. After removing the oven, immediately glaze the pastries in an icing sugar/water mix (I just added some water to a small bowl of icing sugar and mixed it. It should be very gluggy).

15. Let them cool slightly....

Food Critic Andrew has added extra icing sugar to sate his sweet tooth!

16. And then finally you get to eat them! A lot of steps, granted, but totally worth it, especially if you don't have access to fresh danishes in your area...

Tomato Chutney....

2011-03-04T14:25:00.006+11:00

Summer is ending, and the days are getting shorter. It is time for changes in the vegetable garden. This month, I'll be planting carrots, lettuce, and trying to get my hands on some mizuna seedlings. The tomatoes are finishing up, and the weather has prompted me to use up a glut of tomatoes into a healthy tomato chutney.

It was on the stove forever... Of course I made the beginner's mistake of leaving the lid on at first, but a quick exploration through the advice posted on various Internet sites. It is pretty good though. Here's a quick recipe for you:

Tomato Chutney

Ingredients

1.5kg tomatoes

250g chopped onions

5g garlic

635ml (about 2 and a half cups) of vinegar

6 cloves

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tbsp salt

350g sugar

Method

1. Cut the tomatoes up very roughly. Some people prefer to blanch them first to remove the skin, though I find this step unnecessary

2. Throw everything except the sugar into a large pot and cook with the lid off until the sauce thickens (between 1-2 hours)

3. Add sugar, stir until boiling then let it cook for half an hour. Pour into sterilised jars and cover.

4. After cooling, wipe clean and label.

5. Serve however you please! Food Critic Andrew loves his on toast, I prefer over halved sausages with dinner.

Macaroon/Macarons..and a rant about reality TV

2010-11-13T10:27:00.011+11:00

Firstly: I don't watch "Masterchef". I did, however, see a very pretty picture of the Zumbo macaron tower on the "Masterchef" magazine at my local supermarket. A lot of people just love Masterchef, but not me. I didn't watch either the first or second series, the celebrity version, or am not currently watching the kiddy version. I don't like the relentless march of reality TV; and I don't need to watch reality television- newspapers now report on the series as if it is ACTUAL news. Anyway, enough of my rant about reality TV. I just felt as though I had to justify making these gorgeous macarons.

Firstly, a lot of people think they are "Macaroons". This is, according to this wikipedia entry, slightly wrong. A macaroon is a meringue type biscuit with coconut in it, generally in a raised shape. What I cooked was more of a macaron (as per this wiki entry). I think these are going to be the next big thing after cupcakes. Apparently macaron shops are opening up all over New York, so I would expect that eventually this will filter through to Australia.

Anyway, I decided to attempt to make a batch, and they were surprisingly easy (though time consuming since I used too small a tip in my pastry bag, and also found out the hard way that my pastry bag is crap!)

So the photographic evidence is above, and the recipe is below. These are so delicious! I made chocolate ones, figuring they would probably be fairly successful for a work morning tea.

Chocolate Macarons with ganache filling

Ingredients

300g icing sugar
300g ground almonds
40g cocoa
5 eggwhites
Pinch of cream of tartar
75g caster sugar (1/3 cup)

Ganache

100g double cream

250g dark chocolate peices

Method

1. Sift icing sugar, cocoa and almonds into a large bowl (push through with a wooden spoon)

2. Whisk eggwhites until foamy. Add the pinch of cream of tartar and whisk until soft peaks form.

3. Add sugar, 1 spoon at a time, and whisk until dissolved. Stir egg white into almond mixture (mixture will be stiff). Don't be gentle here; the more your egg whites collapse the better. If they are too airy, your macarons will be dull and have a pitted texture after they are baked.

4. Spoon the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a large piping nozzle. Pipe small, uniform rounds on to baking paper-lined oven trays (I used about 4 different sized ones here, so grease up a couple to start then see how you go). They will smooth out with time. If you would like to smooth them out slightly, use a wet finger to smooth any bumps. I greased my paper so that the macarons would come off a bit easier.

5. S

et meringues aside, uncovered, on trays for 1 hour. Preheat oven to 200

°C towards the end of this time.

6. Set macarons into oven and immediately turn the heat down to 150°C(see below** for an explanation of why you would do this. It is optional of course; you can leave the oven on at 150°C). Bake macaroons for 20 minutes or until firm to the touch. For me ,the best ones were the ones on the bottom tray of the oven, closest to the gas flame, but you may find this different in your oven.

7. Remove from oven and cool on trays. Slide a knife under each macaroon to release from baking paper.
For the ganache, slowly heat the cream and chocolate pieces, stirring occasionally until a smooth mixture is formed. Allow the mixture to cool, and spread onto the bottom the now cooled macarons. Join the halves together to form your biscuits.

*By leaving them out for an hour, you are also allowing the macarons to minimise cracking, as the egg white on the outside to hardens slightly, which means you will have the crispy outside, and a chewy inside.

**The change in temperature in the oven helps the coveted "foot" form at the bottom of the macaron. The initial high temperature hardens the outside of the macaron, and the mixture inside is forced down and forms the "foot" on the bottom of the macaron. I find this a particularly beautiful part of the macaron!

After baking, these keep for a couple of days in a sealed container, and are even better the next day.

New feature! Now Repertoire Food is "Print Friendly"

2010-11-07T09:43:00.003+11:00

Hey everyone,

I get a lot of feedback asking me to please try and make my articles a bit easier to print. So I have done some research and have decided to add a "print friendly" widget to the bottom of each article. While I prefer not to print things out, sometimes I need a handy reference in the kitchen with me instead of having a computer precariously perched a little too close to food!

With this widget, you can choose to remove the image, or any other sections of text before printing to save a bit of ink which is a nice feature as well. From this feature you can also print to .pdf format, and tweet the article.

Have a nice Sunday everyone! I am trying out macarons today. Will let you know how it goes!

On being MIA

2010-10-17T09:51:00.006+11:00

Yes folks, I've been sort of missing in action recently and apologise. It is so hard to feel inspired when the winter seems to have gone on and on for far too long. Down here, the rain never seems to stop. Food Critic Andrew and I have moved, changed jobs (well me, Food Critic Andrew has taken up a second job to supplement writing) and we are finally settling into the new climate, and the new place! We are now in a slightly smaller place, closer to town, and has a manageable lawn. I have convinced Food Critic Andrew to dig up a bit of lawn so that I could have a little vegetable garden. It has started to come along quite nicely as well. I think we will have to expand it further - it is full though I still need room for tomatoes and capsicum that I have growing in a little greenhouse (apparently down here they cannot be planted until after Melbourne Cup day - for all of you overseas that means the first Tuesday in November).

I have sadly put on a little weight over winter so I am working really hard at controlling my portion sizes and have laid off the chocolate (it is funny - after a few days you barely notice that it is gone). It seems to kick-start my passion for cooking all over again. I am also getting back into some serious running and swimming. I am starting to feel healthy and summery again!

And of course I've been finding plenty on the Internet - Jim's pancakes is really fun! I am not sure I could dedicate a whole blog to pancakes, but I sure love them, and looking through the archives, I have to admire Jim's dedication to his art. I am totally amping up my pancake making in the future. I have subscribed to his newsletter so hopefully will be able to try some out soon.

Also, I made an amazing pasta for lunch yesterday - it was sort of based on a recipe I found at taste.com.au - Mushroom and Pancetta spaghetti. I am pretty sure I had 100gm of pancetta though, and I added quite a bit of chili as well since the recipe sounded slightly bland. I might try adding different types of mushrooms as well next time; but this really is one of those "cupboard love" recipes you can make out of stuff you'd hopefully have in your cupboard/fridge. I suppose you could use bacon instead of pancetta if that was what you have, but the pancetta give the dish a nice little kick! Now I only wish my picture was as nice as "tastes"!

Coconut milk yoghurt.....

2010-08-07T12:16:00.004+10:00

pic: www.coyo.com.au

So, I recently was stalking my friends on Facebook and noticed my friend Kathy Keynes mentioning Coconut Milk Yoghurt. Intrigued, I got in touch with them to try and source some product, however no luck! Perhaps they didn't get my email..but never-mind! Kathy was happy to provide a review for readers of this site. Thanks a lot, Kathy!

"Recently I had to say farewell my serious Greek yoghurt addiction when I gave up dairy for a few months. This is something I had been quite sure I would never do since there are so many yummy dairy products and dairy-containing items in the world, but I have since been proven wrong. So here I am, dairy free for about 3 months now, and always on the lookout for decent dairy substitutes wherever and whenever I can.

So far I have become a slave to soy products and rice milk, but the soy tends to leave a blah aftertaste in my mouth, no matter how much sugar is present. Then I heard about coconut yoghurt, Coyo, at my favourite health food store. This I had to try. The flavours available that day were passion-fruit and mango - the bright orange puree at the bottom of the container convinced me that this was the one that I wanted.

Back at home, I opened the container straight away to taste my new purchase, and saw a creamy, fairly thick 'yoghurt', similar in consistency to Greek yoghurt. While the fragrance of the Coyo was not very strong, the coconut flavour really shone through and then lingered for a bit. It reminded me of a very dense coconut cream but without the 'oily/fats' taste. The fruit puree created a nice balance to the creaminess, and I would imagine that a tart fruit puree may provide the perfect counterbalance to this product. The lady who sold me the Coyo recommended the passion-fruit flavour while a friend of mine tried the berry flavour, and thought it was quite good (and that it definitely needed the fruit).

I think it might be time for me to try another flavour soon!"

You can check out Coyo here.

Winter...

2010-08-02T11:27:00.003+10:00

We are still one month away from Spring, and, as much as I love baking puddings and all those sorts of things to keep one toasty and warm through the season, I thoroughly cannot wait until summer. I have had enough of being rugged up and wearing several layers and my hands being too cold to move when I go for a jog. The sun doesn't seem to rise until after 7am here which is confusing me. I want to drink banana smoothies with abandon! Slurp on Weis bars whilst feeling the sand between my toes at the beach! Wear sundresses and make salads for dinner!

Tomorrow we are off to Warrnambool to have a further look at a couple of rental properties that we checked out last week. Now that we are definitely moving down there, we can start to make more concrete plans. We stayed last week at the Sebel Deep Blue Warrnambool, this time we are going to stay at Aqua Ocean Villas to see what they are like. We got a good last minute deal!

Of course, I managed to fall victim to the curse of country coffee, yet again! We took a scenic drive from Warrnambool to Stawell through some countryside that I had not seen before. The Grampians are so majestic and well worth a visit if you are down this way. We stopped at Dunkeld, a small town on our route. I was tired and in need of a coffee. I really should have gone with a soft drink, that I now know. Yet another latte dumped on the side of the road....

Hopefully this week we will get to visit Seppelt's Winery in Great Western and go on one of their tours. I am not much of a wine buff but I take a scientific interest in the process. Hopefully I can take some photos to share with you.

I could pore over this for hours....

2010-07-31T15:26:00.001+10:00

I am baker

Spike's Village fries

2010-07-28T13:22:00.003+10:00

So, I've just spent a couple of hours this morning cleaning up my email inbox in an attempt to un-clutter my (digital) life somewhat. It is funny - gmail tends to keep all the email addresses you've ever sent an email to, which I guess is kind of handy, but can be confusing when you are trying to cull contacts (it makes me more confused? Who are you? Should I be keeping you? Perhaps the rule of thumb is that if you cannot remember who it is, then it is not worth keeping. Just like your freezer - if you can't remember what it is or when it got frozen, it is probably time to throw it out.

We are still in Stawell and this evening we are continuing our tour of regional Chinese restaurants of Australia. We will be moving down to Warrnambool in about a week or so, depending on the rental situation. *sigh* more moving... It is becoming rather tedious, but Food Critic Andrew and I are getting super efficient at packing and unpacking!

However, in the meantime, I have a treat for you! Spike's village fries. These are delicious and easy. Far far too easy, in fact! I had never made oven chips before and found these are well worth the peeling and cutting. As with the previous recipe, Spike Mendolsohn's sexy burgers, these are also from The Good Stuff Cookbook: Burgers, fries, shakes, wedges, and more which I can't wait to purchase for Food Critic Andrew. I didn't use the type of potato listed in Spike's recipe (red bliss; I used Sebago), however mine still turned out amazingly good. I urge you to try making your own oven fries! Again, I also made some small adjustments - apologies to Spike if you're reading this!

Spikes Village Fries

Ingredients

I kg Sebago potatoes

Canola or vegetable oil for deep-frying

1/2 cup chopped fresh rosemary

1/2 cup chopped fresh thyme

1⁄8 cup sea salt

Method

1.Wash and scrub potatoes under cold running water. Pat dry with paper towels. Cut in half lengthwise, and then into long strips about 1⁄4-inch thick.

2. In a deep saucepan or deep-fat fryer, heat about 3 inches of oil until a thermometer reads 120°C. Line a metal tray or plate with a few paper towels.

3. Add one handful of the potatoes to the pot. Fry until tender but have no color. Remove with a slotted spoon. Drain on the paper towels. Repeat the procedure until all the chips are cooked. Refrigerate until cool. (This took me about 15 minutes - luckily I had to go to the shops for some forgotten ingredients!)

4. Reheat the oil to 175°C. Line the metal tray or plate with fresh paper towels.

5. Add the cooled potatoes a few handfuls at a time and fry until golden and crispy. Remove with a slotted spoon. Drain on the paper towels.

6. Toss with the rosemary, thyme, and salt while the slices are still hot, and serve.