Cooking In My Sleep......by Angelo Mavidis

Wow.... can sleep.... and I'm not even cooking up anything although I'm thinking of making my wife some gluten frree bread I. the morning.....

2012-01-29T00:28:00.001+11:00

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Just testing out this app on new phone...

2011-10-31T07:31:00.001+11:00

Helllllo.....

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Bread bread bread...

2011-06-06T22:54:00.001+10:00

Well where do I start, we are just a bread eating kinda family..... All of my family haha. Bread is awsome, well nearly all bread except that white sliced stuff from the supermarkets that has like a million ingredients... Ewwww.
A few weeks ago I made a small batch of Bread with about 20% Rye flour and it turned out nice, before I shaped the final dough I removed some of the dough and put it in a container and stored it in the fridge so I can use as a kind of starter to begin making a sour dough and every Sunday I add it to the new batch and again remove some dough for next week so the flavour us starting to develop a nice sour note.
This weekend that just passed I added some beer to my dough and this already added another nice tang to the bread.... Now I can't wait untill next Sunday to taste the next batch

of bread. Mmmmmm

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No title haha

2011-06-05T22:01:00.001+10:00

So I have just downloaded an app that allows me to blog from my phone..... Now this is great.....although I may say sometimes that too much technology is bad, in this case I must say that it is a good thing. So ill see how this blog comes out when I get home....

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Just checking

2011-06-05T04:08:00.001+10:00

so this is just a test once again, i have not been on in a while and i even had trouble finding the section so i can post a new blog haha whats going on... its getting more technical i think!!

no title this time round~~~~

2011-02-17T01:28:00.002+11:00

so its been a while since i last dropped myself a line in my virtual diary... i suppose i need something to show my kids when i get older. i think the last time i updated was just after i had surgery on my nose so i can breathe better, and then it started to get busy with work and bla bla. I'm not famous and i don't have assistants to update my profile etc lol so i guess i got to do with when i can be bothered although i probably would like to update more often than twice a year...
I hear blogging is a serious business these days, maybe i should write about my experience every day in the kitchen, i suppose i take enough photos with my phone all the time, even of things that may have little or no interest to most, i still like to take them so i can have a little giggle. Apart from my lack of blog entries to date, the most exciting thing since the last entry would be that i am now happily married to a beautiful woman by the name of Zoe... :) thats all the info your getting at the moment the rest is private ahhahahaha.. OH and i have joined the gym finally time to burn off my belly... im sick of it all these years, i should be a much slimmer chef.
anyways HOOOROOO

testing testing...

2010-07-02T15:48:00.000+10:00

Im hungry... and i cant taste anything.

Missing my taste buds.....

2010-07-02T13:13:00.003+10:00

ohhhh i am so missing my taste buds right now, where do i start? Basically i have had surgery on my nose, septum reconstruction so i can breath better, and I'm not allowed to eat hot or spicy foods, pretty much everything must be puree and room temperature OHHHHHHHHH this is going to be the worst week of my life... im not even allowed to have strong smells around me, i must lock myself away when my mother cooks dinner, but somehow i can still smell all those beautiful aromas creeping their way into my room and coming through the bandage around my nose lol... THANKS MUM haha,before i go further, i would like to thank my fiance Zoe who came over today and bathed me, changed me and fed me lol she is the best. I LOVE YOU, made me feel like a bit of a baby today haha was so sweet of her, same goes for my mum who comes in and ask me like every hour on the hour if i want food hahaha and water and tissues and all that, sometimes its a bit annoying but its also comforting knowing that she cares so much. I love my mum, she is the driving force behind my cooking and always telling me to give it a go and never to give up even if something does not work out keep on at it, and of course i like learning from my mistakes, and actually i like to learn more from other peoples mistakes that even better in my eyes :) At this moment in time, i don't know why I'm writing this, it must be the boredom of not being able to cook for the next 2 weeks i guess i can do some reading, many people have interesting blogs i come across but never have enough time to go through and read stuff, which brings me back to when i was in high school i remember one teacher Mr Keegan had a sign on top of the door "He who reads, is he who succeeds" at the time i never understood that but now i look back and i so get it, after buying so many books, my bedroom is literally full of cook books, i must say i have learnt alot and my investment is paying off. Zoe tells me why do u need so many books, i say why not i like to learn, and sometimes i might open a book up that i have read a few times and find something else that inspires me at that moment, I love it. The first professional book that i had bought back in 2003 a year after i started my apprenticeship was Thomas Keller's "The French Laundry" this remains my most favourite book in the world to this day, for those that know who he is and what he does will understand, for those that don't know what im talking about,READ AND LEARN ehehhe.
This down time will give me an opportunity to finalise the menu for my parents 40Th wedding anniversary, which i have been planning since the beginning of the year, buying plates, etc, i keep changing my mind on what i want to cook for them, i have done a draft last night and it looks like it will be around 5 or 6 courses. I want to do this for them as they have never came to the restaurant where i work to eat and have a nice meal/experience, so i am bringing the restaurant to them, I'm going to go as all out as i can, without going too overboard, i will be the waiter too ha ha, i doubt i will sit and eat with the rest of the family but from the food side of things, the restaurant is coming home ha ha, who is going to clean the mess? have not thought about this one but definitely my mum must remain seated and away from the kitchen on this night, i know it will be hard for her but her kitchen will be mine for the day :) everyone keeps asking me if i want help, well not everyone but but Zoe and Sophy keep asking to help me, at the end of the day I want to kind of surprise everyone and make sure they have a nice meal, so i don't know how much help they can give me with the preparations, maybe the day before i go to work can squeeze some helping hands in, and Sophy will make a nice table arrangement of flowers, which i plan to have some dry ice inside to make a nice smoking effect every now and then... :) who knows that might all change ha ha anyways i better go for now and i hope i haven't bored anyone that might be reading this... cheerio people and happy eating... FOOD IS LIFE!!!

professional photo WOOOHOOO

2010-03-15T00:32:00.003+11:00

Yay.... i managed to get a professional photo of my completed dish with the caramelised walnut crumbs on it... My work got a photo shoot done for a slide show which got used on a plasma screen at Taste of Sydney this year... im pretty excited as all my food photos are usually off my mobile phone... except this one......o0o0o0o00oo00o0o0o0o0 now my head will grow and grow and grow hahahah NOT!!!

good old pork belly....

2010-02-28T23:59:00.003+11:00

ahhh once again its been a while since i put something on here, between organising and planning my wedding with Zoe in August and working in a mad house with staff levels continuously dropping amongst some other things i don't like so much, along with trying to squeeze in some renovation and refreshing of the house time tends to fly along. I love Pork in pretty much any way shape or form, and i especially love the good old pork belly, i think its one of the most tastiest parts of the beast, roasted, braised and especially Confit, pretty much hits the spot for me. Generally when we prepare confit pork belly at work, its most likely to be portioned of into a square or rectangle piece after it has been pressed, i have occasionally cut it in a triangle something different one could say, but i have always wanted to cut it round for a long time but never get around to doing it. Finally the other day the light bulb sparked up haha and i remembered about the round pork belly i have always wanted to do i had some smoked some beetroot cubes earlier for another dish, so i threw a few scallops on the side to smoke as well, i had made a puree of beetroot before i smoked the cubes with the beetroot trims to use up in a special. I just threw together the dish above to see what my round pork belly will look like, i think it all works, i happened to find some pipettes laying around the kitchen so i put some fig vincotto in it and stuck in in the side of the pork belly, instead of putting Jus on the plate, sometimes i get sick of putting Jus on everything, plus its tang helps balance out all the flavors there. This is after all a pretty simple dish but most probably needs a little tweaking for my liking all that's missing for the moment is some caramelized walnut crumbs under the scallops and ill be in heaven!!! MMMMMMMMM get some pork on your fork!!!!

The Greek version of " Ill Put the Kettle on"

2009-11-16T20:27:00.005+11:00

ahhhhhh the smell of freshly made Greek coffee.....A real good espresso that's hard to find goes down real nice, but a correctly made Greek coffee goes down a dream, with an icy cold glass of water, of course to top it off and hit the spot for me would be to have a teaspoon of Vanilla Fondant in the iced water... also known as a "submarine" in Greek.. one of those and you've won my heart for the next hour he he... When i get a chance i love to make the guys at work a pot of Greek coffee, and the many times i have over boiled the coffee and lost the Crema (the most important part of enjoying the Greek coffee) i get carried away with so much prep to do in the mornings, but what do u do, just put another pot on and Literally watch it until its ready...So far there have been very few people who ever knock back the chance to drink one of these....They don't last long in the kitchen :)

its been a while...

2009-11-16T20:19:00.003+11:00

I know its been a while since i last drop a line on here, i have literally been to busy to scratch my ass as they say. bla bla bla i could go on about many things right now but i think ill pass for the time being.... but anyways G'day G'day and ill be back soon.... Cheerio people

just playing around with an egg

2009-07-03T00:01:00.003+10:00

The other day i was talking with the Exec Sous chef at work about eggs being cooked at certain temperatures, and the different consistencies they take on. Now not long ago i had dined at Sean's Kitchen at the casino and had some 62 Degree eggs and chips. Sensational!!! so i have been wanting to attempt it myself, now ideally i would have liked to cook them in a proper water bath that controls the temperature and keeps it precise, but as discussing the situation with Kellie, we thought we would give it a go as she had also seen something along the same lines a TV program done in a steamer for 2 hours, then i thought how about using the Combi oven at work. So eventually when i got the chance i gave it a whirl, put a sign up on the oven HANDS OFF DO NOT TOUCH, as many things tend to find themselves going in and out of the oven all day mysteriously. So this massive oven was being used for 2 hours steaming about a dozen eggs at 62 degrees. I left half in the shell and half of them were cracked open and put inside some cling wrap to hold shape and into dariol moulds. The eggs in the shells did not quite reach the setting point, so they were left in for anther 20 Min's (but will still work on that in future) now the eggs that were cracked and moulded into kind of a shape of a poached egg set beautifully and they almost look like they are not cooked, the yolk slightly set around the edge but still runny in the centre,but are so delicate and luscious, just the way i like it, probably the best part of an egg to me, OH i want some now as a matter of fact. Above is a picture of that the egg looks like cooked at 62 degrees for 2hours... Some sea salt and it got slurped right out of the plate, i lost count as to how many i had, they were so LUSH!!! Next week will be working on a dish for the 62 degree eggs, possibly something along the lines of the egg with a Pancetta Consomme, and not sure of the rest if anything else, TBC as they say, To many people eggs are just eggs, I'm sorry but eggs are alot more than just eggs, Kitchens will be lost without this very simple and versatile ingredient! Until next time then. Happy eating!!!!

A little bit of Tapas goes a long way...

2009-06-13T00:44:00.005+10:00

Wow, Wednesday night at Start City and its full chock blocked with people, i could not believe it, i thought ehh its mid week it should be quiet, so i didn't book. The original plan was to catch up and have a nice meal with my cousin Paul in Sean's Kitchen,. I have been hanging for a long time to go and eat at Sean's, ever since going for a job trial in the kitchen, i could go on all day about my 4 and 1/2 hours spent there. Eating in Sean's Kitchen was not an option as it was full, so we settled for some Tapas, which i must say was probably a good idea in itself, as i like to eat a little bit of everything. Work out great, although it was a bit over priced i must say it was worth it, i just loved the Spanish Jamon, mmmmmm $55 for a chefs selection of 3 of their finest, if i remember correctly all up there would have been 3-4 wafer thin slice of each type of Jamon, sliced by hand on the Berkley flywheel, this hand operated machine is worth $10k just to slice Jamon,they were beyond unreal, melt in your mouth and so smooth, im sorry Italianos but i have not had prosciutto that is anywhere near the mouthwatering sensation im getting now just thinking about it... i suppose pigs being fed on a strict diet of Acorns and left alone to roam freely must cost the farmers a fortune, as would the 48 months of ageing that some of the Jamon gets.... mmmmmm i want some more now. Paul, thanks for a great night and a good laugh, i never knew u enjoy going out to eat like this, and be adventurous with food, i know who ill be inviting over my place for dinner parties :) i must also add when we walked in and looked at the menu, Paul points out the 62 degrees eggs and chips and asks me what that is, i myslef have no idea, although we had ordered a few dishes to share between us, the table next to us had a serving of the eggs n chips brought to their table and the waiter serves it up to them, A dish of potatoes that i guarantee were fried in duck fat (mmmmm a wonderful ingredient to use in the kitchen) on the side of that was the 62 degree eggs, which where as it says cooked to 62 degrees, so the whites are just set and the yolk is runny, the waiter tips the egg upside down onto the chips one at a time, then goes the tomato fondue, he mixes it up and Paul looks at me and and nods, as the waiter heads back to his station , Paul calls him over and orders a serve of 62 degree egg n chips, now that was probably the highlight of the evening, we got a little show which was great, but i love potatoes and i love eggs, tasted so good, i must try my own version at home one day, minus the duck fat chips :P ill stick to the Extra virgin olive oil for home....If anybody ever gets a chance to head down to the casino and is peckish, go and try the Jamon and the 62degree egg n chips.... BEST!!!!!!

Fruity PRAM....

2009-06-08T19:17:00.002+10:00

The Fruit basket pram i made for Karen sons christening..., i have been waiting for a long time to carve this one up, had got the idea from some website i can not remember the name of, but i changed the presentation to my own liking, i have an idea for something else, SO come on someone have a baby and a christening so i can bring it along for all to enjoy....Was a hit by the way..... all it took me was about half an hour, looks like a lot of work, but very simple if you have the right tools and PATIENTS..... i would like to thank my sister with adding the finishing touches of the Lilly and the bow, it honestly did set it off.... thanks Sophy :)

2009-06-04T23:45:00.000+10:00

Here we have today's Lunch special 'meat option' which consists of Confit of Pork leg in the form of a barrel which is cooked in duck fat for 3- 4 hours on very low heat, its sitting on top of some shaved asparagus. Top right hand corner we have a ravioli made of Braised veal shanks and porcini mushrooms, under neath that i have put some broad beans n diced tomatoes, in between all this rich full flavored meat i have a roasted eschallot puree, glazed baby turnips and a Sherry Jus, doing lunch specials like this is great fun as we are given the opportunity to play around and experiment to create dishes that 'hopefully' end up on the Menu.... Its all fun and games for me :) thank fully it was not extremely busy today, because this dish was a little on the fiddly side, but well worth it id say... :)

Culinary Adventures of Angelo

2009-06-01T18:17:00.000+10:00

Culinary Adventures of Angelo

Thermomix will replace around 10 other kitchen appliances and will become your blender, juicer, coffee-grinder, food processor, grater, kitchen scales, mincer, cake mixer, bread maker and so much more! It even cooks and steams – so there is no other appliance on the market that even comes close to offering you the benefits and value you will enjoy with a Thermomix!

Greek Salad....

2009-06-01T07:45:00.000+10:00

First thing is first GREEK SALAD DOES NOT CONTAIN LETTUCE...... anybody that puts lettuce in a greek salad should not be allowed to cook.. SIMPLE!!! Also in the coming months i will be deconstructing the humble greek salad into something that most of us would not expect to see on the plate :) stay tuned.....

Last minute......

2009-06-01T00:48:00.000+10:00

This was a last minute cake i whipped up for a birhtday bbq i was to attend the following day. Inside it a Jameson Whisky and Chocolate cake with chestnut cream. Outside is a special chocolate glaze :) Ontop of the glaze on the sides we have some sexy orange macaroons, top part of the cake has some tempered chocolate with coffee bean imprints, Finally the little black things you see on the plate are cocoa nibs 'what chocolate is made from' they are slighty bitter n sweet but add another texture to the cake :) Enjoy

The first blog

2009-05-31T15:30:00.000+10:00

This is just a test of the blog as i have no idea of what i am doing, i can be computer illiterate sometimes, too much technology i say.... haha