Chew Town

Handmade Beetroot Fettuccine and Spring Pasta

2013-06-12T10:39:00.001+11:00

AN ODE TO FRESH PASTA

Oh pasta how I love you so
I think about you day and night
I always make your silky dough
And cook it to al dente bite

I experiment with different flavours
Always trying some thing new
And creating tastes to savour
Like this beetroot pasta too

Seriously, you might think me writing an ode to pasta is a little odd. But other Italians will surely understand this true love of pasta (won't they?!). While there are some pretty amazing artisan dried pastas out there to buy, nothing will ever beat fresh pasta.

Making pasta is a tactile thing. It connects you to the end product in a way that dried pasta just can't. Working the dough with your hands and knowing the exact moment when the gluten has developed because you can feel the change - THAT is special.

Don't wait till you have people over the try pasta from scratch, just try it at home for a couple of people and get used to how it feels. It's actually rather quick and easy if you are only making pasta for two and it gets easier every time you try it.

I recently caught up with a group of five close friends who are all cooks and lovers of food. We each brought a dish with us and finished off the cooking in our friend's kitchen. As the Italian of the group, I felt it was my duty to bring handmade pasta so I decided I would try something new. I had bought a packet of beetroot powder from Herbies some months ago and decided it would make its Chew Town debut as perfectly pink pasta.

Fresh pasta can sing with nothing more than olive oil and garlic, so to serve my Spring Pasta I used fennel, pine nuts, rocket, tomato, chilli, parsley and parmeggiano reggiano.

Handmade Beetroot Fettucine

600g "00" Flour (bread and pasta flour)

6 eggs

1 tbsp olive oil

Pinch sea salt

3 teaspoons beetroot powder

NB: The best ratio for pasta is as follows: 100g flour = 1 egg = 1/2 teaspoon beetroot powder = 1 serve (so for 6 people, the above ingredients are sufficient).

Place the flour on a clean bench and sift in the beetroot powder and sea salt. Make a well in the centre and crack the eggs into it. Beat the eggs with a fork until smooth. Using the tips of your fingers, mix the eggs with the flour, incorporating a little at a time, until everything is combined. Then add the olive oil.

Knead the pieces of dough together until one large lump of dough forms. You then need to work it until the dough become smooth and silky. I should warn you, it may feel like the dough won't ever come together but keep persisting as all of a sudden it feels silky and smooth and this means it is ready. What you are trying to do is develop the gluten in the flour and if you don't do this properly, your pasta will become mushy when you cook it instead of al dente.

Once you have worked the dough sufficiently wrap it in glad wrap and put in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Remove dough from fridge and cut a lump of the dough (about the size of a small orange) flattening it out with the palm of your hand. Set your pasta machine at the widest setting and roll the lump through. Then set the machine down a level and roll the dough through again. Continue this process going down a level each time until you get it as thin as you desire (the second thinnest setting is better for fettucine). Repeat with all of the dough until you are left with fresh lasagna sheets.

Add the fettucine attachments and roll the lasagna sheets through. This will cut the sheets into fettucine. Be sure to hang the fettucine to dry, or keep the fettucine well floured until you need to cook it.

Spring Pasta

SERVES 6

Fresh beetroot fettucine (as per the recipe above)

4 tablespoons olive oil

2 garlic cloves

1 long red chilli, finely chopped

1 large fennel, thinly shaved

1 punnet fresh baby tomatoes, quartered

Pinch sea salt

Pepper, to taste

Generous handful grated parmeggiano reggiano

2 large handfuls rocket, to serve

2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts, to serve

Fennel fronds, to serve

2 large buffalo mozarella, to serve

Heat a large pot of salted water over medium heat until it is boiling.

Meanwhile, in a large fry pan heat olive oil, then add garlic and chilli till fragrant. Add fennel and tomatoes and fry until fennel is translucent.

Add fresh pasta to the boiling water and cook until al dente (this will only take a couple of minutes as fresh pasta cooks quickly). Once cooked, drain the pasta in a colander and add to the frypan with the fennel. Remove the frypan from the heat and stir in the parmeggiano cheese, rocket, and pine nuts. Mixing well with tongs till the pasta is coated with oil.

Serve the pasta on a large plate and top with buffalo mozarella torn into pieces and fennel fronds.

Chew Town Cheers - Dark and Stormy Cocktail

2013-05-31T16:48:00.000+11:00

So, it appears that Scotty has found a new love... and it is a cocktail.

As perfection is sought in all of Scotty's endeavors, once the realisation struck he was in love with the Dark and Stormy he went about researching everything there is to know, and drinking a great many of them - all in the pursuit of perfection.

A Dark and Stormy is, at its essence, black rum and ginger beer. But, that description just doesn't do the drink the justice it deserves. In the past few months Scotty has road tested many a Dark and Stormy, varying the brands of rum and ginger beer till he found the perfect combination. Then he began on perfecting the garnishes to take the cocktail to another lever. And he did this, dear readers, just so that you don't have to go through the trouble (trust me, it wasn't a challenge he took lightly).

Created in Bermuda by Gosling's Export Limited of Bermuda (makers of Goslings Black Seal Rum), this highball cocktail is popular worldwide, but mostly in British Commonwealth countries. The drink reportedly has been drunk in Australia since the 1970s after Australian rugby players took part in Bermuda's annual Classic Tournament.

While the drink was created for Gosling's Black Seal Rum, the plethora of research Scotty did on the drink suggested Gosling's rum was not the preferred tipple in the Dark and Stormy, instead all roads led to Caribbean black spiced rum called The Kraken.

The Kraken is the most fearsome of all sea monsters that lies up to 3000 feet beneath the surface of the ocean. This dreaded behemoth has been known to attack ships, dragging fearing seamen to their deaths! It has been rumoured that a large shipment of dark, spiced rum was once taken down by a Kraken in the Caribbean Sea and the resulting rum barrels drifted far and wide. This exotic Rum has been named in The Kraken's honour and is made from naturally sweet molasses from sugar cane grown naturally on Virgin Island riverbanks. Aged in barrel for 24 months to impart classic dark rum flavours of cinnamon, ginger and clove.

The flavours found in The Kraken have led Scotty to the following additions: Two fresh slices of Ginger to enhance the peppery ginger found in the rum; one thin wedge of lemon to enhance the clove found in the rum; and two thin slices of lime to give the whole drink some zing.

The ginger beer is just as important, and after much variation Scotty has decided that Bundaberg Australian Ginger Beer provides the best results (my American friends, you may have to experiment with American brands).

Without further ado... I present the Dark and Stormy.

Dark and Stormy Cocktail

MAKES ONE

4 ice cubes

2 thin wedges lime

1 thin wedge orange

2 slices of fresh ginger

45ml The Kraken black spiced rum

Bundaberg ginger beer to fill

In a high ball glass place ice, 1 wedge lime, orange and ginger. Squeeze the second lime wedge over the ice.

Pour in 45ml (1 1/2 shots) of The Kraken spiced rum and top with ginger beer.

Enjoy.

Passionfruit and Mint Panna Cotta

2013-05-28T11:16:00.000+11:00

There is nothing quite as wonderful as cutting into a bountiful passionfruit and waiting for the sweet aroma of the pulp to permeate the air around you. Part of the joy of eating a passionfruit is holding it in the palm of your hand, taking a small spoon and gently working the pulp free from the shell.

Despite the passionfruit being native to Brazil it is now grown all over, with the Australian passionfruit industry being the largest producers of purple passionfruit in the world. Available all year round, the passionfruit takes its name from the fruit's gorgeous flower which is said to symbolise the passion of christ.

When buying passionfruit look for fruit that feels heavy its their size. Passionfruit have a taut shiny skin when they are freshly picked and will shrivel and wrinkle as they continue to ripen (avoid buying excessively wrinkled fruit). When the fruit is fresh, the pulp is usually refreshingly tart with the flavour becoming sweeter and more complex as the fruit ripens.

I recently became the possessor of 7 of the largest passionfruit my eyes have ever seen. As a lover of tart passionfruit and realising how fresh these beauties were, I quickly took to eating one straight out of the shell (purely for testing and research purposes of course). With an abundance of pulp just screaming to be turned into something spectacular, I took it upon myself to avail the remaining 6 passionfruit of their pulp immediately. I delicately cut the top off each passionfruit being sure to preserve the shell, because whatever I created just had to be served inside.

Before I knew it a cunning plan started to formulate.

Clearly the passionfruit shell can handle liquid, so I decided to make a passionfruit panna cotta and set it in the shell. Topped with fresh passionfruit pulp, I knew I could serve it to friends who would not realise that it was a panna cotta until they started eating - the ultimate surprise dessert.

Panna Cotta translates from Italian quite literally to "cream cooked". A dish from Northern Italy, it is now eaten all over Italy. In its simplest form it is cream, milk and sugar boiled together and set with gelatine, and it is a dessert that is much easier to make than anyone realises. In fact I am gladly reminded of how easy panna cotta is to make every single time I cook it.

To flavour my panna cotta I added fresh passionfruit puree (sans pips) and mint. The resulting panna cotta was a heady mix of fragrant tart passionfruit and fresh mint which perfectly counteracted the creaminess of the dessert.

Passionfruit and Mint Panna Cotta

MAKES 6

100ml passionfruit pulp (to make 70g passionfruit puree)

300ml pouring cream

250ml full cream milk

100g caster sugar

6 large fresh mint leaves (or 8 smaller)

2 titanium strength gelatine leaves

Cold water

6 empty clean passionfruit shells (or ramekins)

Extra passionfruit pulp to serve

Due to the enzymes in passionfruit, the panna cotta will not set properly unless you cook the pulp and turn it into a puree. To do this place passionfruit pulp into a small saucepan and cook over medium heat until the pulp has come to the boil (this will also help remove the seeds from the pulp). Once boiled, remove from heat and strain over a bowl removing the seeds. Use a spoon to push all the puree through the sieve then set aside puree.

Bring cream, milk, sugar and mint to the boil in a saucepan over a medium high heat. Once the mixture has boiled set aside.

Meanwhile in a shallow bowl, cover the gelatine leaves with water to soften for 5 minutes and once softened, remove the leaves making sure you squeeze out the excess water, then add it to the cream mixture with 70g of passionfruit pulp and stir well until all the gelatine has dissolved.

Once dissolved, pour the panna cotta mixture through a sieve (to make sure no gelatine or mint leaves remain) and into a pouring jug and carefully and evenly transfer the mixture to the six passionfruit shells (or ramekins).

Cover the shells and place in the fridge for at least 6 hours (and up to 3 days). Once set and when ready to serve, pour fresh passionfruit pulp on top of the panna cotta and enjoy.

Chew Town would like to thank Passionfruit Australia Inc for the fresh Australian passionfruit used in this recipe. They were absolutely spectacular passionfruit which resulted in a truly special dessert!

Homemade Harissa Chicken Skewers with Antipasto Pearl Couscous

2013-05-22T10:33:00.001+11:00

At my house, weekends are the days where the kitchen comes alive with real creativity. By contrast, my midweek meals are usually extremely uninspired (I'm sure I am not alone here).

My day job is rather hectic so I'm often exhausted when I get home so quick and easy dinners are always on the cards. This can lend itself to a lot of repetition, but every now and again when preparing a weekday meal I take a moment to think outside my usual weeknight recipe box and create something new to add to my repertoire of quick weeknight meals.

This recipe is one of those new weeknight meal success stories. I've used harissa before in my harissa chicken wraps recipe, but I had bought harissa for that recipe not realising how easy it was to make - never again will I buy it! After seeing a recipe for harissa last week, I realised I just had to pop into the supermarket on the way home and make some to marinate chicken with for dinner. Coupled with an idea I had a few days earlier for antipasto couscous, this meal turned out to be extremely flavourful and fragrant. I knew I would be doing you a disservice by not sharing this recipe with you so that you can add it to your midweek meal repertoire too.

Homemade Harissa Chicken Skewers

SERVES TWO
4 Birdseye chillies, quartered with 1/2 seeds removed

2 long red chillies, quartered

2 cloves garlic

1/2 lemon, juiced

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp ground Cumin

1 tsp ground Coriander

50g spring onions roughly chopped

Pinch salt

4 skinless chicken thighs, in 3cm cubes

In a blender, place the chilli garlic, lemon, olive oil, cumin, coriander, spring onion and salt and blend until mixture resembles a smooth paste.

Place chicken pieces in a bowl and top with half the harissa paste. Mix with your hands until the paste has well coated the chicken (adding more harissa paste if you need to). Cover with glad wrap and place in the fridge to marinate for at least 30 minutes.

While the chicken is marinating, soak skewers in a shallow dish of water for 30 minutes.

Thread the chicken pieces onto skewers. Heat a BBQ grill or griddle pan on high heat and cook chicken skewers for three minutes on each side or until cooked through.

Antipasto Pearl Couscous

SERVES TWO

1 teaspoon butter

1 cup Israeli (Pearl) couscous

1/4 cup semi dried tomatoes, finely chopped

1/4 cup olives, finely chopped

1/4 cup fetta stuffed pepperdews, finely chopped

1 1/4 cup vegetable stock

Heat a small saucepan on medium heat. Melt butter then add couscous stirring for 1 minute.

Add the tomatoes, olives and pepperdews and stir till well combined. Add vegetable stock and simmer on low heat until stock has been absorbed. Remove from heat and serve.

Speck Wrapped Potato Croquettes

2013-05-13T23:40:00.001+11:00

Why speck wrapped potato croquettes? Why not!

I love a potato croquette as much as the next guy (although probably not as much as Scotty who seriously loves them). But I'm not really a fan of deep frying as I always get nervous about how dangerous it can be. Also, there is always a healthier way to make something as tasty as deep fried food is without actually having to drop it in oil.

In this instance, I wrapped it in speck. I am sure many of you will argue that wrapping potato mash in speck is still not entirely healthy... but seriously, flavour is always at the top of my list and a little slice of speck here or there really isn't going to hurt anyone!

Speck is made in a similar way to prosciutto, only it is made from the shoulder of the pig and not the leg, and is deboned prior to the curing process. It is cured in salt and spices for several weeks (often juniper berry is included) then it is cold smoked and matured for a few months.

Less like prosciutto and more bacon-like, Speck has a greater depth of flavour to bacon due the curing process and is wonderful in risotto and pasta... oh yeah, and wrapped around mash!

Do yourself a favour and try these flavourful baked speck wrapped potato gems for your next family meal.

Speck Wrapped Potato Croquettes

Makes 8

8 potatoes, peeled, boiled and mashed
1 egg
1 spring onion, finely chopped
4 mushrooms, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Few sprigs of continental parsley, finely chopped
1 teaspoon lemon zest
salt & pepper
8 slices of speck
1 tablespoon olive oil

Preheat oven to 200° Celsius.

In a bowl mix together mashed potato, egg, spring onion, mushrooms, garlic, parsley. Then add salt and pepper to taste and mix.

Using your hands form 8 potato shaped croquettes and set aside. Take each croquette and wrap with a slice of speck securing with toothpicks.

Heat olive oil in a large heavy fry pan and brown the speck surrounding the croquettes. Once browned, transfer to a baking tray and place in the oven for 20 minutes or until speck and potato are golden. Remove and serve.

River Salt Caramels announcing The Sweet Swap!

2013-05-01T01:20:00.000+11:00

For the last few months Sara from Belly Rumbles and I have been engaging in secret meetings and hushed conversations as we develop an Australian Food Blogger event called The Sweet Swap.

I am delighted to say that many a sweet lolly was consumed in the development of this online event (we are becoming lolly connoisseurs) and today we are both sharing sweet recipes in honour of our announcement - that The Sweet Swap is open for registrations for the next few weeks. So come and be a part of it!

We are also happy to mention that all registration fees (a mere $5.80 each) will be given directly to Child Fund Australia who will be providing three banana shoots to families in Uganda. While we all enjoy sweets, let's make a sweet difference to those in need.

You may remember The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap last year, well this is a more climate friendly and Australian postal service friendly take on it for Australian food bloggers (sending parcels through Australia Post around Christmas time was difficult for all of us).

You can read all about The Sweet Swap here, but below is a brief explanation.

The Sweet Swap is an online event for Australian food bloggers which results in packages of sweets arriving on your doorstep and a few new friendships formed.

Each food blogger is matched with three other bloggers and sends off parcels of home made lollies to their matches. In return three parcels of lollies arrive on doorsteps your doorstep. Post about the experience and receive sweet inspiration from your fellow bloggers.

Registrations Open - Wednesday 1 May 2013 (TODAY!!)
Matches Sent - Monday 17 June 2013
Swapper Mail - by Wednesday 3 July 2013
Recipe and Experience Posts Live - Monday 15 July2013
The Sweet Swap Event Round Up - Friday 26 July 2013

Well enough about The Sweet Swap, I know you are looking forward to my recipe for River Salt Caramels.

"River Salt?" you ask.
Australian Murray River Salt to be precise.

Given we are announcing an Australian Sweet Swap, I figured using Australian ingredients in my sweet recipe today was the right thing to do.

Murray River Salt Flakes are harvested from pure underground saline waters in Australia's Murray-Darling basin. Over time, naturally occuring minerals create a high quality salt with unique flavour and appearance. The crystals are light and delicate with a gorgeous blushed peach colour. They have a wonderfully mild taste and melt quickly and evenly in your mouth.

These flakes proved the perfect combination with chewy caramel. If you're not from Australia you can buy yourself a little pouch of these peach beauties from Australia Online.

River Salt Caramels

Makes 70

1 cup thickened cream

70g butter, cut into pieces

60g honey (I used a tasmanian leatherwood)

1 1/4 cup caster sugar

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup glucose syrup

1 teaspoon Murray River Salt Flakes, plus extra for dusting, (or use sea salt flakes)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

NB: Candy thermometer required

The key to making sweets is being extremely prepared.

Line a square 20cm baking tin with baking paper and brush/spray lightly with oil (the caramel will stick to the baking paper if you don't oil it).

Prepare two heavy bottomed saucepans as follows: in one place cream, butter and salt and stir well; in the other saucepan mix together honey, water and sugar stirring well to combine and insert a candy thermometer (making sure the thermometer is not touching the bottom of the pan.

Place the cream filled saucepan over a gentle heat until the butter has melted, then set aside.

Place the second saucepan on a high heat and without stirring, bring to a rapid boil. Continue to boil rapidly without stirring until the mixture turns a golden brown colour. When this happens, remove from heat immediately.

Slowly pour the butter and cream mixture into the golden sugar mixture (being careful as the mixture will bubble and be extremely hot). Return the saucepan to the heat and cook until the caramel reaches 120° Celsius. Once this temperature is reached, remove from heat.

Stir in the vanilla to the caramel mixing well, then pour the mixture into the prepared baking tin. Leave to cool completely at room temperature, then put it in the fridge for a few hours to firm up. The toffee should be set but not rock hard.

Tip out the caramel onto a cutting board and working quickly in a cool room cut into bite sized pieces with a very sharp and well oiled knife (mine were 2.5cm by 1cm). Sprinkle the pieces lightly with salt and wrap individually with wax paper or baking paper.

Chew Town Bites: Berry Bliss Smoothie

2013-04-28T18:03:00.000+11:00

I love a fruit smoothie - fresh, zingy, creamy and balanced. That's the key to a great smoothie, the balance of flavours. Sure, you can throw a whole bunch of things in a blender and still end up with a good smoothie, but a great smoothie? That's all about balance.

For me, a weekend smoothie is a great pre-brunch drink as it is usually made to alleviate my 'Hangry' setting when I've still got a couple of hours till brunch and start getting cranky.

I love to make these at home rather than buy them from a juice chain because the flavour is often lacking from the juice chain smoothies due to an excess use of ice.

Well, enough jabbering (this is Chew Town bites after all) on to my perfect Berry Bliss Smoothie recipe.

Berry Bliss Smoothie

Serves two

8 ice cubes

180g mixed frozen berries
3/4 cup fresh orange juice
4 tbsp yoghurt
small handful fresh mint leaves

Place all ingredients into a powerful blender (one that can crush ice) and blend until ice cubes are crushed and all ingredients are well combined. Serve in a tall glass with a pretty straw and a mint garnish.

Chestnut Meal - Chestnut & Chocolate Cake (GF)

2013-04-22T22:29:00.002+11:00

Hands up how many of you have regularly eaten chestnuts during the Australia chestnut season in Autumn each year? I'm I the only one with my hand up?

It's definitely an Italian thing. Each Autumn, My dad would bring home a case of castagne (chestnuts) that he would roast under the oven grill and then peel for us to eat. We usually only ate them grilled this way... but they are definitely much more versatile than you can imagine, you just need to know how to use them.

In fact if you ever get the opportunity you absolutely have to go chestnut picking - being from WA there are growers in Manjimup where this is a possibility. It is perhaps the most fun hunting and gathering you can do. Why? Have a look at how they grow here.

Chestnuts are typically used in savoury dishes so when I was recently fortunate enough to be given a small bag of chestnuts, I knew a dessert was on the cards. Chestnuts are great as they can be eaten raw, cooked, slow cooked, roasted, pureed, boiled, ground... and the list goes on. They definitely have a unique flavour unlike any other nut and can add a whole new flavour profile to your dishes.

I think often the problem people have when they see them in the shops is not knowing how to prepare them as the shell appears so imposing. One way I like to use Chestnuts is in the form of chestnut meal. You'll find the method for making chestnut meal below.

How to make fresh Chestnut Meal

1. Score each chestnut with a knife, cutting an 'X' shape on the flat side.

2. Preheat your oven grill then place chestnuts on a tray and pop under the grill. Grill until chestnut case has darkened and browned then turn chestnuts over and brown other side.

3. Remove from grill and wrap in a tea towel for a few minutes.

4. Peel the casing and fluffy inner casing (apparently called the pellicle) off and you will be left with the edible chestnut kernel - which you can eat now at this stage.

5. Place the chestnut kernels in a food processor and pulse until the chestnuts resemble a meal.

So, what to do with your Chestnut Meal now? Well, it is just like almond meal and can be used in baking for those with Coeliac disease or gluten intolerance.

Why not try my Gluten Free Chestnut and Chocolate cake?

It's a great recipe for those gluten intolerant friends who are sick of all the same gluten free cake options. I served it to a group of new friends recently who were all super surprised when I told them it was gluten free (best. compliment. ever).

Gluten Free Chestnut and Chocolate Cake

200g good quality dark chocolate

6 eggs

Pinch salt

100g butter (room temperature)

60g caster sugar

1 1/4 cup chestnut meal

Preheat oven to 180° Celsius.

Break dark chocolate into pieces and place in a glass bowl. Melt chocolate pieces in the microwave in short bursts stirring until melted. Set aside

Separate the 6 egg whites and yolks. Whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff peaks form.

In a separate bowl cream together the butter and sugar. Then add melted chocolate and 1 cup of the chestnut meal and stir till well combined.

Add a small amount of the egg white to the chocolate mixture and mix until combined. Add the remaining egg white mixture to the chocolate mixture and fold through gently until just combined (you don't want to work the egg white too much or the cake won't be light and fluffy).

Transfer mixture to a lined 20cm springform pan and place in the oven for 40 - 60 minutes (or until an inserted skewer comes out clean).

Remove from oven and set aside to cool. Remove from springform pan and serve topped with the remaining 1/4 cup chestnut meal.

Chew Town would like to thank Australian Chestnuts for the sample of fresh Australian chestnuts used in this recipe. It brought back wonderful nostalgic memories of my childhood eating chestnuts with my father!

Fish Tagine - HelloFresh Review

2013-04-12T13:43:00.001+11:00

Sometimes the hardest part about cooking during the week is deciding what to make and then finding time to get to the supermarket. To give you an idea of how time poor I am, I still have a dress waiting to be collected at my dressmakers and its been ready for 5 days!

If you are a lover tasty fresh food like me, then frozen and ready to cook meals are probably not your thing. So what do you do if love to cook and eat fresh, but are time poor?

For those of us living in Australia, that's where HelloFresh comes in. It's like fast food for foodies.

Every week, HelloFresh decides what you are going to eat, creates recipes for you, goes to the shops for you and then delivers all the ingredients to your doorstep. Sounds like a dream? It is.

All you do is head to the website and purchase a 3 or 5 day weekly subscription box (classic or vegetarian) for the number of people you need to feed. Then, on Monday the next week, you will get home from work and sitting on your doorstep will be a box full or fresh ingredients and a list of your recipes.

I was lucky enough to try a three day classic box for two recently (valued at $64.00 - that's an extremely affordable $10.60 per person, per meal) with thanks to HelloFresh and Dani Lombard PR.

The week I received my HelloFresh package, I arrived home on Monday afternoon to find a box full of fresh produce sitting on my doorstep. I was delighted to open the box and find ingredients perfectly portioned for the three meals inside. It took a little while to get my head around how the recipe cards and instructions worked (bearing in mind they have to cater for a 3 or 5 day box with either 2, 4 or 6 people) but once I figured it out it was pretty straight forward from then.

The three sets of ingredients and recipes I received were for the following dishes:
1. Moroccan Fish Tagine (ingredients below left)
2. Mushroom Gnocchi (ingredients below middle)
3. Pork with Beetroot and Cabbage (ingredients below right)

What struck me immediately was the quality of all the ingredients included. The vegetables and herbs were snap fresh and the dry ingredients were all brands I would usually buy for myself. Perhaps most impressive was the quality of the proteins.

As an Italian I was dubious of the Gnocchi dish given I make it from scratch, but I was heartened by the inclusion of pre-made gnocchi sourced from Italy. Also, cabbage is possibly my least favourite ingredient ever so I knew I would be modifying the pork dish significantly - but I wasn't fussed, the quality of the pork far outweighed the cabbage!

After cooking all three dishes (including the modified pork chop dish) I would seriously recommend HelloFresh to busy folk who still love to cook and eat fresh. All dishes were full of flavour and were quick and easy to cook (30 minutes tops). Even the gnocchi recipe was great (though personally I'll stick to making my own).

For those of you who are considering the service (or don't live in Australia), HelloFresh have kindly let me share one of their great recipes with you.

Moroccan Fish Tagine

Serves 2

2 teaspoons chermoula spice blend

1/4 cup continental parsley

2 tablespoons fresh coriander

2 garlic cloves

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar (or white vinegar)

3 tablespoons olive oil

350g firm white fish

150g couscous

300g water

1 red onion, cut into 8ths

2 carrots, sliced

1 vegetable stock cube

1 tin diced tomatoes

200g sweet potato, in 2cm cubes

Into the body of a food processor place chermoula spice blend, parsley, coriander (leave a little for the garnish), garlic, vinegar and 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and blend until smooth. Cut the fish into bite sized pieces and place in a bowl. Add the chermoula to the fish and coat well. Set aside to mainate.

Heat the remaining olive oil in a pot or tagine over medium-high heat. Add the onion and carrot and cook for 5 minutes until softened.

Crumble the stock cube in your hand then add to the pot with the tinned tomatoes and bring to the boil. Add the sweet potato and cook for 5 minutes. Add the fish and any remaining chermoula and cook for a further 5-8 minutes, or until the fish is cooked through.

Place the couscous in a bowl. Boil the water, pour over the couscous, stir with a fork and then cover the bowl with glad wrap and leave to sit for 5 minutes.

Divide the couscous between bowls and spoon the tagine over the top. Garnish with coriander and enjoy.

From time to time Chew Town will work with organisations whose products and brand values align with our ethos and the content we create at Chew Town. You can rest assured that we will always let you know when we do this, and our posts will always feature a recipe for you to try at home.

Herb Baked Salmon

2013-04-05T17:46:00.000+11:00

Every now and again you stumble across a gem of a dish that tastes astonishingly good with absolutely minimal effort!

My sister and brother-in-law introduced me to this dish a few years ago. It is one of their go to recipes at dinner parties. The best thing about it is that it can be adapted to suit the number of people you are feeding. You're cooking dinner for you and your partner? Then make it with two fillets. You're serving a table of 10? Then buy a whole fish and have it filleted in two large portions by your fishmonger!

Either way, all you need is a few handfuls of fresh herbs, some chilli, and a lemon to turn it into something wonderful.

Many of us are always on the hunt for a great healthy and quick mid week meal option that we can also convert into something suitable for weekend entertaining. I don't have many of those dishes in my repertoire as it often rare to find a recipe like that - but this one will fit the bill.

If you are a lover of fish, do yourself a favour and try this recipe out. The resulting fish is moist, fragrant and absolutely morish!

Herb Baked Salmon

Serves two

2 Salmon fillets, boneless and with skin on
Small handful mint, finely chopped
Small handful continental parsley, finely chopped
Small handful coriander, finely chopped
Small handful basil, finely chopped
1/2 red chilli, finely chopped
1 lemon
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 200˚ Celsius.

In a small bowl mix mint, parsley, coriander, basil and chilli until combined.

Take one of the salmon fillets and place it skin side down (it is important that you keep the skin on the salmon for cooking or the fish will dry out). Top with herb and chilli mixture and then add salt and pepper to taste. Place the second salmon fillet skin side up on top of the first and tie together with kitchen string.

Line a baking dish with baking paper and place on the baking paper three slices of lemon. Place the fish in the baking dish making sure it sits on top of the lemon slices. Top the fish with two additional lemon slices and add a squeeze of lemon over the top.

Place in the oven and bake for about 40 - 50 minutes until the salmon is cooked (depending on the size of your fillets - because they are on top of each other they take longer to bake through the centre).

Once cooked, remove from oven and cut off the kitchen string. Now, I am a lover of salmon skin so I would always leave it on but if you don't like eating the skin, remove it now and serve with vegetables or a salad (I served mine with garlic and olive oil green beans and roasted vine ripened baby tomatoes).

Chocolate Chip Hot Cross Buns

2013-03-29T19:41:00.000+11:00

So, apparently it's Easter this weekend.

How the heck did that spring up on us all so quickly? I had been planning to make hot cross buns for a few weeks and thought I had plenty of time... then BAM Easter is arriving and I realised I better get my skates on.

Lucky for me just as I was thinking I should start researching hot cross bun recipes, I was contacted by Wasamedia to see if I would be interested in joining a group of bloggers at Sweet Street (formerly Short Sweet) a French inspired patisserie for a hot cross bun making demonstration by owner and acclaimed chef Leanne Beck last weekend.

Leanne was invited to open Sweet Street in Parramatta (Church Street mall) with the backing of the local council in an effort to bring more local businesses to the area. With a great creative flair, Leanne has created a patisserie with a Surry Hills-esque cafe vibe for a fraction of money the Surry Hills hipsters spend - and she is proud of it!

With a devil may care attitude, a great affinity with the local people, and a fiery personality, Leanne fits into the local scene perfectly and its hard not to respect her.

Leanne's hot cross buns seem to sell out pretty early on a daly basis, so I was looking forward to learning her technique. She talked us through the steps as she worked in her makeshift kitchen (they are building a new one a few doors down) and seems to work with a very relaxed vibe (my kind of chef).

I loved all the spices she put in her hot cross buns and immediately knew that this was a recipe I'd have to recreate.

While we were waiting for the dough to rise, we got to taste a selection of Sweet Street's treats (say that 10 times fast) and what surprised me the most was the sheer variety of sweet and savoury items on offer - they definitely work hard at Sweet Street.

After a sweet overload (do yourself a favour and try the Lime Cheesecake - it's amazing!) we then watched as Leanne then finished off the buns and each got a couple of them to take home.

After coming home from Sweet Street I was inspired to have a crack at my own version of Leanne's wonderfully spicy buns. Now, I know purists will have a problem with this... but I was determined to make mine without the dried fruit. You see, Scotty isn't a lover of dried fruit so why should he have to miss out on these wonderful Easter treats (also, I'll tolerate dried fruit but I'm not really a lover). Leanne had told me that she thought it was totally fine to modify her recipe to make a chocolate version - so there!

Chocolate Chip Hot Cross Buns

Makes 20

Adapted from a recipe by Leanne Beck

BUNS

1100g bakers flour (or 00 flour)

15g ground ginger

45g ground cinnamon

15g mixed spice

20g salt

4 teaspoons dried yeast

200g chocolate chips

175g melted butter

500g water

TOPPING

125g flour

125g milk

15ml oil

Pinch salt

GLAZE

1/4 cup water

2 tablespoons caster sugar

BUNS

Place flour, ginger, cinnamon, mixed spice, salt, chocolate chips and yeast in a mixing bowl with a dough hook or paddle attachment. Add melted butter to bowl. Turn the machine on to mix on the lowest speed. Slowly add water whilst the machine is still mixing.

Remove mixture from bowl and place in a large bowl and cover with a damp tea towel. Once covered place bowl in a warm dry place till mixture has doubled in size. After mixture has doubled in size, cut off pieces and weigh out to 120 grams. Once mixture is all weighed out, roll each piece into balls and place onto a lined baking tray leaving only approximately 1.5cm space between each ball. Lay a damp towel on top of the balls and place in a warm dry place till once again doubled in size.

TOPPING

To make topping place all of the flour, milk, oil and salt in a mixing bowl with a paddle attachment and mix till combined. Place topping mixture into a piping bag with a round nozzle of your desired size.

Once buns have doubled in size pipe the topping onto the buns, pipe long lines from one bun to another connecting them together. Once piped both the horizontal and the vertical lines, place the hot cross buns in the oven.

The hot cross buns will take about 30 minutes in the oven and will be cooked when once tapping the bottom you can hear a hollow sound. Remove from oven and set aside.

GLAZE

Place water and caster sugar into a pot on medium high heat and stir until sugar has melted. Bring to the boil and then boil for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and using a pastry brush, brush the glaze onto the cooked buns.

Enjoy warm with melted butter.

Amanda was invited to join Leanne Beck for this demonstration and would like to thank George and David from Wasamedia.

Fig, Plum and Whipped Mascarpone Stack

2013-03-24T21:42:00.000+11:00

My dad is a lover of fruit and each week he would return from the Italian club in Perth with trays of fruit while we were growing up. He would get in trouble with my mother as he could never stop at one tray and we used to have to give large portions of fruit away to our family friends.

As a young man in his home town of Quintodecimo, he would jump fences and steal fruit from the local Italian fruit growers... he would tell us that that fruit always tasted the sweetest.

My favourite memories of living at home with dad in Perth was when he would take ripe peaches and a knife (no plate or napkins) and sit on the couch cutting them into perfect portions and handing them out to us. I do miss after dinner fruit time with dad.

Scotty isn't a lover of stone fruit or figs so it was fortuitous that when he was recently away for a work trip I saw the most perfect figs and sugar plums. I took this as a sign from the cosmos and snapped them up immediately.

When thinking about what to create with these fruity beauties I knew I wanted to make a dessert in honour of my father. I grilled the fruite and paired them with shortcrust pastry rounds and whipped mascarpone to create a wonderful dessert stack. These are so easy to make and would be impressive served at any dinner party - the perfect combination.

Now for a little disclaimer: I forgot to buy cream for the whipped mascarpone so I've amended the recipe to include it... it would be much smoother with it added.

Fig, Plum and Whipped Mascarpone Stack

24 sugar plums, halved with pips removed
2 tablespoons caster sugar
4 figs
2 tablespoons good quality honey

1 packet vanilla shortcrust pastry (I always use Careme pastry when not making my own)

300g Mascarpone cheese

2 tablespoons icing sugar

1/4 cup cream

Handful or crushed roasted hazelnuts

Preheat the oven grill. Place the sugar plum halves face up on a tray and sprinkle with caster sugar. Take the figs and cut a cross in the top of the figs halfway down. Place the figs on another tray and drizzle with 1 tablespoon of honey. Place both trays under the oven and grill until golden then remove and set aside.

Turn off grill and preheat the oven to 200° Celsius. Defrost the vanilla pastry and taking a large cookie cutter cut twelve circles from the pastry and place them on a tray lined with baking paper. Put the tray in the oven and bake until golden (about 10 minutes). Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

In a bowl place the mascarpone cheese, icing sugar, cream and remaining honey and beat until smooth and light.

To assemble the stacks, place a pastry round on the base and top with a little mascarpone, then top with 6 plum halves, top with another pastry round repeat with another layer of mascarpone and plums. Top with a third pastry round and add a dollop of whipped mascarpone to hold a roasted fig. Fill the fig with a little more mascarpone and ads a sprinkle of hazelnuts. Repeat with remaining ingredients to make three more stacks.

Serve immediately.

Larb Gai - Thai Chicken Salad

2013-03-11T19:22:00.000+11:00

I'm lucky enough to work in Surry Hills during the day, which means I am surrounded by fabulous eating options at all times. Walking distance from the OA warehouse your will find great japanese restaurants, patisseries, pubs, the iconic Bourke Street Bakery, popular movida sydney, small but wonderful Vini restaurant and many more.

A few doors down from Movida Sydney and Vini Restaurant is one of our lunchtime favourites - the very cool Muum Maam Thai restaurant. It has a great vibe and is extremely popular with the locals for its wonderfully flavourful food.

The best part about Muum Maam is that the whole Development team can head there for a communal meal if we are celebrating a birthday or a new appointment. It caters for all diets with healthy options, gluten free options, vegetarian options or full-flavoured not-so-healthy options (the best option of all).

But, while their pork belly is amazing, there are times when even I feel like a lighter option. On those days, my favourite go-to lunch is Muum Maam's version of Larb Gai (Thai chicken salad). It is spectacularly spicy, fragrant, fresh and crunchy with a spot on combination of salty and sweet.

With the eating of many Larb Gai's under my belt, I recently went about trying to recreate it at home, and I think I got pretty darn close! One thing I realised when eating the Muum Maam version is that they serve theirs with really crunchy Chinese cabbage leaves - this is definitely a winner.

Larb Gai is such a great healthy and fragrant meal and I'm convinced you'll actually feel healthier after trying my recipe below.

Larb Gai

1 tablespoon peanut oil

1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger

2 cloves garlic, crushed

Pale section on 1 stem lemon grass, finely chopped

2 large red chillies, finely chopped

500g lean chicken mince

Juice of 1 lime

1 tablespoon fish sauce

1 teaspoon brown sugar

1/2 red onion, quartered and sliced

1/3 cup coriander leaves

1/3 cup mint leaves

Chinese cabbage leaves, to serve

Heat peanut oil in a large wok over medium high heat (or fry pan). Add ginger, garlic, lemon grass and chilli and cook for 1 minute, until fragrant. Add the chicken mince and cook, stirring constantly, until chicken is cooked (about 5 minutes).

Remove from heat. Combine lime juice, sugar and fish sauce in a small bowl. Pour over chicken and stir to combine.

Add onion, mint and coriander (reserving a few leaves for garnish) and gently toss. Serve with chinese cabbage leaves which for cups to hold the salad.

Raspberry & Lime Fluff Meringue Pie - Blogiversary

2013-03-06T06:31:00.001+11:00

Two years ago today this little corner of the internet was born.

It is hard to fathom that for two years I have been regularly cooking, photographing, eating and posting recipes, while also leading a busy and stressful 'other life' at Opera Australia.

With an extremely demanding work life, the decision to start Chew Town came from a desire to feel I was also being creative in my personal life. Many people ask me how I am able to work a 55 - 60 hour day job while also posting two recipes a week on the blog. For me, coming from an Italian family with an abundance of non-stop energy (and an inability to sit down) I wouldn't have it any other way. It also helps that I have the amazing support of my partner, Scotty D.

Thank you to all of Chew Town's readers, subscribers, foodgawkers, TasteSpotters, social media followers and work colleagues for cooking / commenting / liking / loving / reposting / tagging / repinning / forwarding / tasting my recipes. Your enjoyment of the recipes and photography has been truly heart warming.

Thanks also go to my fellow food bloggers. The support of these like minded colleagues of mine in Australia and overseas has made the experience all the sweeter.

To celebrate Chew Town's milestone, I wanted to develop a recipe for a fun twist on a classic dessert. I recently bought Marshmallow Fluff at a lolly shop (Australian readers, you have to try this stuff) and knew it had to feature somehow in my recipe. Thinking about ways to incorporate the fluff led me to lemon meringue pies, but I knew I could go one step further and convinced it would work, headed to the supermarket to buy raspberries and limes.

The finished product hides a recipe with many a short cut (store bought shortcrust pastry, frozen berries and marshmallow fluff to lighten the meringue). However, the response today from those who tried them was amazing! After portioning them off to various colleagues I received emails and phone calls about how great they were and even had visits to my desk asking when the recipe would appear on the blog - quite possibly the best response ever to a Chew Town creation. People couldn't decide whether they liked the topping or filling more, but there certainly was extensive debate about it.

I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Raspberry and Lime Fluff Meringue Pie

PASTRY & FILLING

Shortcrust pastry (either store bought or homemade)

250g fresh or frozen raspberries

2 tablespoons water

3 tablespoons cornflour

Juice of 3 limes

100g caster sugar

85g butter, diced

3 egg yolks and 1 whole egg

FLUFF MERINGUE

3 egg whites (room temperature)

1/2 cup Marshmallow Fluff

PASTRY & FILLING

Preheat oven to 200° Celsius.

Defrost pastry. Cut pastry into four circles and line four 12cm fluted tart cases (with removable bases) with the pastry. Bake tart cases in oven until golden (the pastry I bought did not require blind baking but yours might - check the packet).

While the tart cases are cooking prepare the filling. Cook the raspberries and water in a small saucepan over medium heat until the berries are pulpy (about 10 minutes). Remove from the heat and push through a sieve over a bowl. Retain the puree and discard the seeds.

In a clean saucepan, add cornflour and lime juice and whisk until smooth. Add the sugar and raspberry puree and heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture has thickened and started bubbling. Remove from heat, add diced butter and whisk until melted. Add egg yolks and the whole egg, beat well and return to the heat, stirring until the mixture thickens and drops off the spoon. Remove from heat and pour into pastry cases.

FLUFF MERINGUE

In a medium bowl beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Beat in the Marshmallow Fluff, a tablespoon at a time until whites stand in stiff glossy peaks.

Place spoonfuls of fluff meringue around the edges of each tart case then pile up the remaining Marshmallow Fluff in the middle of each tart so that the filling is completely covered.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until the meringue is crisp and slightly browned. Remove, cool and serve.

Tuna Risotto Pie

2013-03-03T19:47:00.000+11:00

This is one of those dishes that I have been making for Scott for years. It is such a favourite of Scotty's that I often cook it when he has had a rough week and needs a pick me up. I haven't put it up on the blog till now because it felt like such an everyday dish to me.

I was explaining this risotto pie to someone the other day and from the reaction I received from them, I realised that it was probably about time I put it up on my little piece of the internet for others to enjoy.

My mother first introduced me to this risotto pie and I have been making it pretty regularly ever since. The best thing about it is that you can make it on the weekend, freeze it in portions and then take it to work for something more exciting than a sandwich. It always gets great reactions from my colleagues as I heat it up in the kitchen.

There is not much else to say other than it is wonderfully flavourful and moist, comes together in a jiffy and you often find yourself going back for seconds and thirds (despite not being hungry any more).

I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Tuna Risotto Pie

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 brown onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 cup basmati or jasmine rice

1 3/4 cups chicken stock

425g can tuna in oil, flaked (Sirena brand is the best)

1/2 cup semi dried tomatoes

250g baby bocconcini, halved

50g parmesan cheese, grated

150g kale leaves, roughly chopped

3 eggs

Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 180° Celsius.

Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan on a medium heat. Sauté onion and garlic until transparent then add the rice and sauté for 1-2 minutes. Add chicken stock, stir to combine and bring to the boil. Lower heat and simmer till stock is absorbed and rice is cooked (about 8 minutes). Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

In a large bowl combine rice mixture, tuna, tomatoes, 200g bocconcini, parmesan, kale, eggs and salt and pepper (to taste) and stir to combine.

Line a 20cm spring form pan with baking paper and fill with the mixture. Top with the remaining bocconcini and place in the oven for 25 minutes or until the top is golden.

Remove from oven, set aside to cool for 10 minutes then remove from pan and serve with a side salad.

Strawberry Shortcakes

2013-02-27T22:17:00.000+11:00

I have a confession: before starting Chew Town two years ago I never used to bake.

Given how often sweet recipes appear on Chew Town these days, the above confession may be a little surprising. Before starting the blog I was afraid of being creative with baking given how precise the recipes need to be to work. I have come to realise that with a great idea, a little confidence and a bit of baking research, developing baking recipes becomes easier and easier every time.

I am really enjoying creating my own versions of great classic cakes like carrot and pecan cake and banana and walnut bread, and even trying gluten free versions thanks to a colleague's allergy to wheat.

I made these cute as a button strawberry and cream shortcakes to take to my sister's place last weekend for afternoon tea. Baking the cake in a slice pan means it can be cut into shapes with large cookie cutters and layered with cream and strawberries for perfect individual treats.

These strawberry shortcakes went down brilliantly with my sister and her family. My sister's will power with food is much stronger than mine but even she couldn't stop at just one of these light, fragrant and creamy cakes!

Strawberry Shortcakes

125g butter, softened

1/2 cup caster sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla paste

2 eggs

1 cup self-raising flour, sifted

1/3 cup milk

300ml thickened cream

250g punnet strawberries

Preheat oven to 180° Celsius.

Beat butter, caster sugar and vanilla paste in the bowl of an electric mixer until pale and creamy. Add the eggs individually, beating well after each addition.Add the flour and milk alternately a third at a time, starting and ending with flour. Stir in lightly to combine.

Grease a non-stick slice pan. Add the mixture to the pan, transfer to the oven and bake for 12 minutes (until top is golden and a skewer inserted comes out clean). Remove from the oven and set aside to cool. Once cool, using a square (or round) cookie cutter, cut as many shapes from the cake as possible (I managed to cut 14 squares from my pan).

Whisk the cream until stiff firm peaks form. From here you can either transfer the cream to a piping bag with a large open star nozzle or opt for a more rustic look by spooning the cream onto the cakes.

Take a square of cake and pipe (or spoon) cream on top. Slice a strawberry and place it on top of the cream then add another cake square on top with more cream and another strawberry.

Repeat with remaining cake, cream and strawberries.

Mushroom and Asparagus Fritters

2013-02-24T09:23:00.000+11:00

I've certainly eaten my fair share of fritters in my time. My history with fritters is all thanks to my mother who often cooked them for us growing up as snacks. She would make a batch of them and leave them in the fridge for us to grab while we were staring into the fridge looking for a snack - they usually never lasted the day.

You have probably noticed my fascination with fritters thanks to my posts featuring these Roasted Cauliflower and Provolone ones, Halloumi and Vegetable ones, and Corn and Zucchini ones. So, it can't hurt to add another one to the list of Chew Town fritters, with this Mushroom and Asparagus version!

The key to coming up with your own combination of fritter flavours is understanding the cooking time of your ingredients. Those ingredients like mushroom, asparagus and zucchini don't take long at all to cook in a pan, so when the cooking time of a fritter is only a few minutes either side these types of ingredients don't need to be pre-cooked when added to the batter. However, for the cauliflower and provolone fritters, as cauliflower takes longer to cook than the cooking time of a fritter, it needs to be pre-cooked before going into the batter.

Looking into the fridge the other night I spied a fantastic bunch of asparagus I had bought at the markets on the weekend and sitting next to it was a bag full of earthy swiss brown mushrooms. A quick search of my fridge and freezer led me to the realisation that somehow we had eaten all the protein in the house without a restock. It didn't take long for my mind to lead itself in the direction of fritters. I love them because you throw everything together in a large bowl then fry them. A pretty quick and easy method for midweek cooking when you are tired and can't be bothered standing in the kitchen for too long.

I hadn't ever made fritters with the combination of asparagus and mushroom, somehow I knew it would either be great... or terrible. Lucky for me it was the former. I loved the combination of the two - the addition of the mushroom turned the fritters an earthy tone and the taste of the mushroom and asparagus together were a perfect flavourful match.

Mushroom and Asparagus Fritters

2 spring onions, finely sliced
6 swiss brown mushrooms, diced
50g halloumi cheese, 1cm dice
1 bunch asparagus, wooded ends trimmed and thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 cup plain flour
3 eggs
2/3 cup pouring cream
1 teaspoon dried oregano
Salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil for shallow frying

Place onion, mushrooms, halloumi, asparagus, garlic and lemon juice in a large bowl and mix till well combined. Add lemon juice, flour, eggs and cream and stir until combined and a thick batter forms.

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large heavy fry pan on medium high heat. Once heated drop heaped tablespoon sized portions of the batter into the fry pan. Cook for a few minutes until the underside is golden, then flip and cook the other side till golden. Remove and place on kitchen towel. Repeat with remaining batter ensuring you keep the oil topped up when necessary.

NB: I wanted these fritters to be more uniform so I dropped the batter into egg rings when first placed in the pan to cook

Homemade Ricotta

2013-02-18T13:46:00.000+11:00

Did you know that to make ricotta at home you only need four ingredients?

The key kitchen gadget you will need is a thermometer. Now, don't be put off by the word thermometer. There is a general feeling amongst people I come across who think that when a recipe requires a thermometer it must be complicated. If you are looking at a 25 process patisserie dish that requires a thermometer then sure, It probably will be complicated. But thinking logically, how complicated can a 4 ingredient recipe be my friends? Not very.

If you have ever wanted to experiment with making your own cheese, Ricotta is the perfect one to try. It will surprise you how quickly it takes to go from starting the dish to sitting down to a slice of bread topped with ricotta and drizzled with honey.

Ricotta is technically not a cheese as it is actually a creamy curd which has been cooked twice (hence the name "ri-cotta" meaning "re cooked"). Ricotta was developed by extremely resourceful Sicilian farmers wanting to get as much out of the by-product of their cheesemaking process by recooking the left over whey. It is wonderfully light and creamy and has a multitude of uses (in pasta fillings, sauces, toppings, pies, cakes, cannoli - the list goes on).

If you have a little bit of spare time on the weekend why not whip yourself up a batch of homemade ricotta? You will be proud of yourself when you sit down to eat the results, and will probably find yourself making it over and over again... like me!

Homemade Ricotta

Makes 500g

2 Litres full fat milk

4 tablespoons cream

1 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons white vinegar

Place milk, cream and salt in a large heavy saucepan stir to combine and then insert thermometer. Place saucepan on medium heat and allow milk to heat up slowly, stirring ocassionally so the bottom doesn't scorch, until it reaches 85 degrees Celsius.

Once it has reached 85 degrees, remove from heat and add the white vinegar to the pot stirring only once or twice to distrubute evenly (you will notice curds start to form straight away). Leave the pot untouched for 15 to 20 minutes for the curds to develop (the curds rise to the top and form ricotta and the remaining liquid is the whey).

Place a piece of cheesecloth inside a colander and place this on top of a larger bowl. Transfer the curds from the pot to the colander with a slotted spoon. Set aside the bowl and colander for 15 minutes allowing the whey to drain from the ricotta.

Pick up the cheescloth containing ricotta gently from the four corners. Twist the top and press down on the cheesecloth very gently in the colander squeezing out some of the remaining clear whey (if the liquid runs milky, stop squeezing).

Open the cheesecloth and there you have your Ricotta to use as you see fit.

I like to use Ricotta quite simply on toasted Italian bread topped with either savoury or sweet items - see below for my simple serving suggestions!

Serving Suggestion One - Savoury

Scotty and I often have savoury ricotta on toast as a Saturday or Sunday morning quick and easy breakfast. Top a toasted hand cut slice of Italian pane di casa bread with a couple of tablespoons full of ricotta. Top that with slices of avocado and tomato and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. Finish off with salt and pepper and a few basil leaves.

Serving Suggestion Two - Sweet

The creaminess of ricotta lends itself to being paired with some wonderful sweet items.

For those who love berries, slice 5-6 strawberries and place in a bowl with a tablespoon of icing sugar and a healthy squeeze of lemon stirring well till syrupy. Top a slice of toasted Italian bread with a couple of tablespoons full of ricotta and a drizzle of honey. Add strawberries and syrup to the top and serve.

For lovers of bananas, slice one banana and place on a baking tray with a sprinkle of caster sugar on top. Pop under the grill until golden and caramelised. Top a toasted hand cut slice of Italian pane di casa bread with a couple of tablespoons full of ricotta and a drizzle of honey. Top that with slices of caramelised banana slices and serve.

Secret Love Cupcakes

2013-02-14T00:25:00.000+11:00

It's officially 12:09am as I start writing this... which means it is Valentine's Day. Now, I don't want you thinking I'm into the whole Valentine's Day thing - but I can see how you might have jumped to that conclusion given the above image is not exactly subtle on the whole love theme.

To be honest, I am actually quite averse to celebrating Valentine's Day. For my four years together with Scotty we have neither celebrated Valentine's Day nor even our anniversary. I'm just not into being told when to express love and in fact I shower Scotty with love an affection on a daily basis - I'm not quite sure he could take much more!

In the lead up to Valentine's Day each year Scotty checks in to see if I have decided I want to celebrate it - just in case. After four years you would think he wouldn't have to ask anymore.

So, back to my reason for the very themed post. Just because Scotty and I don't celebrate this day of love, doesn't mean my love of novelty cooking is lessened! And for those of you who are keen followers of Valentine's Day, I wanted to offer you a great recipe you can cook to surprise your loved one/s - and this is one heck of a surprise.

Secret Love Cupcakes

Makes 12

CAKES

3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup caster sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

4 eggs

zest of 1 lemon

300g plain flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

90ml buttermilk (or full cream milk)

Red food colouring

BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

1 cup icing sugar, sifted

1 cup soft icing mixture, sifted

120g unsalted butter, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

2 tablespoons buttermilk

Red food colouring

CAKES

Preheat oven to 170° Celsius. In the bowl of an electric mixer (or using a handheld mixer) beat together butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs individually mixing between each addition. Add vanilla bean paste and beat until combined.

In a separate bowl place lemon zest, flour, baking powder and salt and whisk with a hand whisk until combined. Turn the mixer on to a low speed and then alternate between adding the flour mixture and buttermilk a little at a time beginning and ending with the flour mixture.

Remove 1/3 of the mixture to a separate bowl and add a few drops of red food colouring. Stir well till colour is evenly distributed (add more till you have reached your desired colour. Add the red batter to a well greased baking tray and spread it evenly. Place in oven and bake for 12 minutes until cooked through. Remove from heat and using a small love heart cookie cutter, cut as many hearts as possible.

Fill 12 cupcake baking cups 2/3rds full with the uncoloured batter and then take a red heart and push it down the middle of each cup so it stands up in the batter (make sure you take note of the direction the heart is facing - I lined up the side of the hearts with the seam of the baking cups).

Top the 12 cups with the remaining uncoloured batter and bake in the oven for 20 minutes (or until a skewer inserted into the cupcakes comes out clean). Remove cakes from oven and cool completely (I popped mine in the fridge to hurry it up a little).

BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

Cream butter and vanilla paste until smooth in an electric mixer (or using a hand mixer). Decrease mixer speed and add the icing sugar and icing mixture slowly till incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and then turn the mixer to high and add buttermilk continuing to mix for 3-4 minutes until mixture is light and fluffy. Add a few drops of red food colouring to turn the frosting pink and mix well.

Transfer frosting to a piping bag with large star shaped nozzle inserted and slowly pipe the buttercream frosting on top of the cooled cupcakes.

Serve with a knife and instruct the recipients of the gift where they should cut to see find the secret love.

Pumpkin and Mushroom Cannelloni

2013-02-12T22:21:00.000+11:00

There is definitely something special about baked pasta. My Italian ancestors were onto a winner with that combination, and I think they knew it. What I love about Italians is that when they find something they love they explore it to the absolute limits with each region of Italy having their own special versions.

I must confess that I am a bandit for baked pasta. My mother used to make pasta al forno (penne pasta baked in the oven with bechamel and parmesan) every Wednesday night growing up as she was out playing sport. Over the years a friendly competition began to develop between the remaining members of the family as we all rushed home to collect the crispiest baked corner slice - I often won... and I was the youngest in my family by a long way.

The cannelloni feels to me like it often gets overshadowed by its more beloved brother, the lasagna. But with this recipe, I hope to show that it can be more flavoursome and interesting. Also, cannelloni is still exotic enough to serve at a dinner party and is just as easy to make as lasagna.

When one thinks of cannelloni, it's easy to get caught up in the stock standard spinach and ricotta version. True, spinach and ricotta cannelloni is great for the vegetarians amongst us, but why not think a little more outside the box and you could have yourself another great vegetarian version - pumpkin and mushroom cannelloni.

For this recipe I chose to make the pasta from scratch, but it will work just as well with dried cannelloni (par boil them before you fill them) which will cut down the prep time. I do have to say that making fresh pasta from scratch gets easier and quicker the more you make it.

You've just got to give this one a try - do it for the humble cannelloni who deserves a bit more attention. I'm sure you will love the flavourful outcome just as much as we did!

Pumpkin and Mushroom Cannelloni

Serves 4

PASTA

(OPTION ONE)

200g '00' pasta and bread flour

2 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon olive oil

Pinch salt

(OPTION TWO)

12 dried cannelloni tubes

FILLING

1/2 butternut pumpkin, in 2cm cubes

2 tbsp olive oil

Pinch ground nutmeg

8 swiss brown mushrooms, roughly sliced

1 shallot, sliced

250g ricotta cheese

Salt and pepper, to taste

TOPPING

1/2 bottle of tomato passata

2 garlic cloves, crushed

zest of 1 lemon

125g ricotta cheese

1/2 cup sliced almonds

1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese

salt and pepper, to taste

8 sage leaves

PASTA (OPTION ONE)

Place flour on a clean bench. Make a well in the centre and crack the eggs into it. Beat the eggs with a fork until smooth. Using the tips of your fingers, mix the eggs with the flour, incorporating a little at a time, until everything is combined. Then add the olive oil.

Knead the dough together with your hands until one large lump of dough forms. Continue to knead the dough until it becomes smooth and silky (about 8 minutes).

Wrap the dough in cling wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes to rest. After resting, flour your bench top, cut off a quarter of the dough, and flatten the lump with your palm against the bench top.

Set the pasta machine at the widest setting and roll the lump through. Then set the machine down a level and roll the dough through again. Continue this process going down a level each time until you get it to the second last setting. Cut pasta sheet into three equal lengths. Repeat with remaining dough.

FILLING

Pre heat oven to 200° Celsius. In a baking dish combine pumpkin, olive oil and sage leaves and bake for 20 minutes until cooked. Remove from oven and place in a blender pulsing until blended. Transfer to a small bowl, add 100g ricotta, nutmeg, salt and pepper stir and set aside.

Place mushrooms and shallot slices in blender, pulse until well blended, transfer to a bowl and set aside.

To fill the cannelloni lay down a length of pasta and place a tablespoon of pumpkin mixture on one end of the pasta, top with a teaspoon of the mushroom mixture and then place a teaspoon of the remaining ricotta on top. Roll the pasta gently until a tube of pasta has formed with the filling in the middle. Repeat with remaining pasta and filling.

PASTA (OPTION TWO)
To a pot of boiling water, add dried cannelloni tubes and boil until softened (do not boil too much or it will be hard to fill the cannelloni tubes. Remove tubes from water and drain.

Take a cannelloni tube and fill with a tablespoon of pumpkin mixture, teaspoon of mushroom mixture and teaspoon of remaining ricotta. Repeat with remaining pasta and filling.

TOPPING
Preheat oven to 180° Celsius. Place tomato passata at the bottom of a large baking dish (or two medium baking dishes) and add crushed garlic and lemon zest. Place the filled cannelloni tubes gently in the tomato passata and top with salt and pepper, ricotta, almonds, mozzarella cheese and sage leaves.

Place dish in oven and bake for 20 minutes until cheese is melted and golden. Serve with a green side salad and glass of wine.

Hazelnut, Mint and Lime Ice Cream

2013-02-07T22:27:00.000+11:00

When Scotty bought me my beloved Kitchenaid (aptly named 'Beatrix') he vowed he would never buy me the attachments. This was because he wanted to continue to buy me thoughtful presents rather than the entire catalogue of Kitchenaid accessories (FYI this was his decision not mine). It seems my many hours in the kitchen marvelling at how this appliance has changed my culinary life resulted in Scotty rethinking his vow and buying me the ice cream attachment for Christmas - to my absolute delight.

When deciding what ice cream I would make first, I went through all the usual flavours in my head: chocolate, vanilla, strawberry etc. But I realised that my first ever ice cream making experience needed to be something a little more special. So I began to think about other flavour combinations I loved outside of the usual ice cream flavours.

This led me to my beloved alcoholic drink of all time: Frangelico on the rocks with a squeeze of lime and fresh mint leaves. It's earthy, refreshing and zingy. The infatuation I have with all things nuts should be obvious by now, so it shouldn't really come as a surprise to you that even my favourite alcoholic beverage would have a nutty flavour.

The three flavours of my favourite beverage felt like the perfect combination for my ice cream, so I quickly got to work researching ice cream bases and beginning the steps towards rich and creamy decadence.

When it was all finished and frozen and Scotty and I were about to taste it, I sensed some uncertainty in him, perhaps he was not as convinced that these three flavours would go together as I was. This all melted away (excuse the pun) after the first taste when I saw it had completely won him over!

Hazelnut, Mint and Lime Ice Cream

1 cup fresh mint leaves

950ml cream

Zest of 3 limes

1 cup white sugar
pinch salt

1/2 cup hazelnut meal

10 egg yolks
1 cup hazelnuts, chopped

To a small pot of boiling water, drop in the mint leaves for 20 seconds (until they turn bright green). Remove leaves immediately and place in ice water for 20 seconds. Transfer to a morter and pestle and pound until a pulp. Set aside.

Combine cream, lime zest, mint pulp, 1/2 cup of the sugar, salt and hazelnut meal in a new saucepan and heat until the mixture begins to steam and foam around the edges (be sure not to allow it to boil).

While cream mixture is warming, in a bowl whisk together egg yolks and remaining 1/2 cup of sugar. Whisk the yolks and sugar until thick and light.

Once cream mixture has steamed, add one cup of it to the egg yolks in a steady stream while whisking constantly (this must be done quickly so the egg yolks don't curdle). Then pour the egg mixture back into the cream mixture on the stove and whisk well. Continue to stir the mixture, heating the cream over low heat until you can draw a line through the back of a coated spoon (nappé consistency). This is your ice cream base!

Set aside the mixture in the fridge until completely cool (you can speed up this process by setting up an ice bath to cool the base - fill a large bowl with ice and cold water and place the container with the base inside the bowl stirring frequently.

Once mixture is cool, pour it into your icecream machine (ensuring you follow your the machine's instructions).

Churn the ice cream until it is smooth, creamy and holds thick on a spoon. Transfer the ice cream to a new container and stir in the chopped hazelnuts. Serve immediately for a soft serve consistency, or freeze for a couple of hours until more frozen.

Enjoy!

Spiced Brasil Nuts

2013-02-03T19:09:00.001+11:00

We had a small gathering of people at our place on Australia Day last weekend... yet we had enough food for an army - Overcatering is becoming our style. Our theory is that if we cook up a feast when we have guests over on the weekend, we have enough left overs for the whole week.

With Scotty demanding that he have the opportunity to cook for our friends for a change (have I mentioned before that I have a tendency to dominate the kitchen?) I let him sort out the roasted potatoes and 4 different types of BBQ meats - ribs, chicken thighs, pork sausages and grilled lamb - while I insisted that I at LEAST be able to make flavoured nuts!

Flavoured nuts are kind of becoming an obsession for me (see here, here and here), and with all of those flavoured nut recipes coinciding with the entertaining of our friends C & JJ, it's becoming the expected thing when they come over.

Sure enough our friends were over again on Australia Day and I had to deliver my nutty goods. We had gone to Foodies Market that day and I spied some lovely brazil nuts at my favourite nut stall so I grabbed a bag and began planning the next nut instalment.

I wanted to steer away from honey this time, so I got home, looked at the spices in the cupboard and got to work on sweetly spiced nuts.

They were an absolute winner and polished off in no time. These nut recipes are so easy, so there's no excuse for not trying them next time you have guests!

Spiced Brasil Nuts

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 egg white

2 tablespoon water

1 cup brasil nuts

Preheat oven to 150° Celsius.

In a bowl combine sugar, salt, cinnamon, cardamom and nutmeg. In a small ramekin, stir together egg white and water, then add to the sugar and spices and mix until combined.

Add brasil nuts and stir until nuts are completely coated with the syrup. Drain excess liquid from the bowl and place in a single layer on a tray lined with baking paper.

Bake for 40 minutes or until brasil nuts are golden and crispy. Serve

Onion, Italian Sausage and Goats Cheese Tart

2013-01-28T18:18:00.000+11:00

There are moments when you stare into the fridge looking at what is left at the end of a week, and you are stumped by what to cook for dinner (despite having a fridge full of ingredients). Then, there are more rare times when you are struck by moments of divine fridge pondering clarity where inspiration hits and the results are spectacular.

This is a tale of the latter.

Looking at the contents of my fridge the other night, I noticed the unopened jar of onion and thyme jam I bought in Perth over the Christmas break standing proudly next to the left over goats cheese. This brought the beginnings of a tart to mind. Despite a slightly disappointing start after realising there was no shortcrust pastry in the freezer, a quick search of the cupboard proved I did have all the fixings to make the pastry from scratch - so I got to work.

While making the pastry, I pondered the use of just the onion jam and goats cheese in my tart, and realised that I needed a third element - something salty to offset the sweet onion jam and sharp goats cheese - and I knew instantly that dried Italian sausage would be the perfect accompaniment.

I like to have a store of dried Italian sausage in the fridge, it's a little nostalgic for me as my dad always loved a pre-dinner snack of Italian sausage and bread while I was growing up. While it is great grilled with a squeeze of lemon juice and added to a cheeseboard, there is definitely much more versatility to be had when using it in other recipes.

I would recommend keeping some shortcrust pastry in your freezer as it would definitely have made this a quick and easy dish (feel free to try it with store bought pastry - the Australian Careme brand pastry is amazing). But, if you are in the mood to hone your pastry skills, I suggest trying this recipe as it results in flaky and flavourful savoury shortcrust pastry.

This tart was a complete success and felt extremely fancy for a midweek meal. The combination of onion, sausage and goats cheese was a wonderful and bold flavour combination and one which both Scotty and I enjoyed. I'll absolutely be making this again, but perhaps when there are a few more friends around to enjoy it with us.

Onion, Italian Sausage and Goats Cheese Tart

Serves 4

SAVOURY TART CASES
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
9 tbsp cold butter
1 1/2 tbsp sour cream
1 tbsp cold water

FILLING
4 heaped tablespoons onion and thyme marmelade
1 cups diced dried italian sausage
200g goats cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
thyme sprigs to garnish

SAVOURY TART CASES
Place flour and salt in a food processor and pulse until combined. Cut butter into small cubes then add the butter to the flour and salt and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal. In a small dish mix together the sour cream and water until combined. Add to the food processor and pulse to combine.

Transfer dough from food process to a floured bench top and cut into four portions. Using your hands shape the first portion into a round disk slightly larger than the size of your tart cases (being careful not to let the dough stick to your bench top).

Lift the pastry disk over the centre of your tart case and lay on top. Working gently, push the pastry into the bottom and sides of you tart case (extend the dough a little around the edge to account for any shrinkage that may occur when baking). Repeat with remaining dough and tart cases. Refrigerate for between an hour and overnight.

Preheat oven to 200° Celsius. Place tart cases on a tray and line each case with baking paper. Fill each tart case with pie weights (or uncooked rice) and bake for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, remove paper and weights and bake for another 15 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from oven and cool.

FILLING
Preheat oven to 180° Celsius.

Place frypan on medium-high heat and add dried italian sausage, cooking for 3-4 minutes until golden. Remove from heat and set aside.

Take a tart case and add one tablespoon of onion and thyme marmelade to the bottom, top with 1/4 cup Italian sausage and then season with salt and pepper. Top with 50g goats cheese and then garnish with a sprig of thyme. Repeat with remaining tart cases.

Place tart cases on a tray and then bake for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, place tarts under the oven grill until the goats cheese starts to brown. Remove and serve.

Carrot and Pecan Cake

2013-01-23T20:57:00.000+11:00

I quite like buying a slice of carrot cake here or there, but I'll be honest with you... up until last weekend, I had never tried to make it. It seems quite silly now because it is such an easy cake to throw together, and I have since ascertained that freshly made carrot cake is simply spectacular. Eating it while the inside is still magnificently moist and before the cream cheese frosting has hardened is another experience indeed and one which I recommend you all try.

My sister and her husband visited us last Sunday for morning tea with one of her two kids (the other was attending the never-ending roadshow of birthday parties that seem to happen when you have young kids). I had happily negotiated that if they came to us I would bake a cake for morning tea. After a speedy acceptance from my sis, we quickly got to discussing the cake I should make that would appeal to all. Bored of chocolate desserts (I know, it's difficult to understand) we ran through the non-chocolate options and settled on a carrot cake. A lover of nuts I had to include something a little nutty, and with a macadamia nut allergy to consider I decided on pecans.

On the day, they arrived a little late which meant I had enough time to cool and frost the cake before they landed on the door step. As we all sat down to esspressi and some lovely wide slices of cake we got to chatting. A few moments later I noticed that everyone had polished off their carrot cake in record time - always a good indication that it was well enjoyed.

Seriously tasty and easy to make, you'll find the recipe for the cake below because I know you'll want to try it soon. It has a few ingredients but you pretty much throw it all together and throw it in the oven.

Carrot and Pecan Cake

Serves 8

CAKE
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarb soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 cups grated carrots (about 7-8 carrots)
1 cups chopped pecans

ICING & DECORATION
250g cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup icing sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup chopped pecans for decoration

CAKE
Preheat oven to 180° Celsius.

Beat sugar and oil together in the bowl of an electric mixer for 3 minutes. Gradually and the eggs and vanilla essence and mix well. Sift in flour, baking powder, bicarb soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg and mix until well combined, then add grated carrots and pecans stirring until just combined.

Pour cake mixture into a 22cm springform pan lined with baking paper and bake for 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Set aside until cool.

ICING & DECORATION
Place cream cheese, sifted icing sugar and lemon juice in a medium bowl and beat until smooth. Spread cream cheese icing on the cooled cake, sprinkle with chopped pecans and serve!

Char Siu Bao - BBQ Pork Buns

2013-01-18T21:10:00.000+11:00

If you and I only just met and we happened to be at Yum Cha... I would fight you to the death for the last char siu bao (BBQ pork bun).

Over the years Scotty has learnt to deal in yum cha trades. Usually his trade goes something like this "ok, so I'm going to have the last har gow and sui mai as I know you won't let me have the last char siu bao". I'm usually happy to forgo anything else on the table for the last char siu bao and I'm pretty sure he uses it to his advantage.

For all my love of these pillowy soft beauties, I had never tried to make them... until now. Some might say it is unnecessary to try and make something that you can buy in Hurstville (10 mins from my house) for $1 which tastes amazing. But, in my effort to learn to cook all the foods I love so I can understand what makes them great - I knew I just had to try it and I will definitely be making them again.

I'll start by confessing that I did make it a little easier for myself by buying BBQ pork from Mr Chao's in Hurstville to use in the filling. Perhaps you lovely readers may be more likely to try to make it yourself at home knowing you don't also have to make the BBQ pork first (baby steps my friends).

I had so much fun making this recipe. I've definitely become a lot more comfortable with dough in the last few years... and my trick is? Just keep making dough! The more you make it, the easier it gets. And in most cases, you will be surprised by how easy it actually is.

I was pretty happy with the end result of my pork buns. The filling was extremely flavourful with gorgeous glossy pork. The dough turned out well too and was fluffy on the inside. I do have a feeling that I worked the dough a little too much trying to fill them (must work more quickly next time) and instead of pinching the top of each bun closed, I closed the top too tightly so they didn't break open as I hoped they would.

Still, they were wonderful and I know I'll perfect the dough next time. Practice makes perfect!

Char Siu Bao (BBQ Pork Bun)

Adapted from a Teage Ezard recipe
Makes 12

YEAST BUN DOUGH
1 1/2 tablespoons caster sugar
1 cup lukewarm water
1 1/2 teaspoons dried yeast
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
400g plain flour

BBQ PORK FILLING
1/2 tablespoon peanut oil
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1cm piece ginger, finely chopped
4 fresh shiitake mushrooms, diced
300g Char Siu Pork (bought from Chinatown), diced
1 spring onion, finely sliced
1 tablespoon Pat Chun sweetened vinegar
3 1/2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon light soy sauce

In a medium bowl place sugar and water, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Add the yeast and leave to rest for 10 min until frothy.

Add oil and baking powder and sift in flour. Stir with your hands until it comes together as a smooth (and slightly wet) dough. Cover with a damp cloth and set aside in a warm location until the dough has doubled in size. Once risen, knock it back and scrape out of the bowl. Use immediately (or within 12 hours if wrapped in cling film).

Heat the oils in a wok and add garlic, ginger and mushrooms, stir frying until fragrant. Add the pork, spring onions, vinegar, hoisin and soy and cook for 2 minutes or until the liquid has almost evaporated. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

Divide the dough into 12 balls. On a floured bench, roll each ball into a flat disc about 8cm wide. Place a teaspoon of the pork mixture in the centre of each disk and bring the edges up around the filling and pinch together at the top to seal.

Place buns in a steamer lined with baking paper ensuring you allow enough room to rise. Steam for 10 - 12 minutes, or until the tops have opened. Serve immediately with soy sauce and chilli.