LADYMACARON20TEN

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2017-01-16T11:21:00.000+11:00

Due to traumatic events I don't cook anymore.
Please continue to be inspired by my blog and make my recipes. Lots of love ladymacaron20ten xoxo 💋

Happy birthday little r - Mrs A. B. Marshall's Cornets & Meringues

2014-02-26T18:29:00.000+11:00

My how fast the year flies. It only seemed like yesterday that I was busy in the kitchen mastering a violet croquembouche for little r's birthday when in a blink of an eye another birthday has arrived!

This year I've made something different. Inspired by a woman that was quite the celebrity chef and entrepreneur back in the Victorian times - that coincidently shares the same surname as me - I decided to make some intricate little sweet fancies that would not only be just perfect for a little girls birthday party but would also withstand the scrutiny of aristocrats at a banquet table. My sweet treats are perhaps not as perfect as Mrs A. B. Marshall's but nonetheless perfect for little r.

Cornets

Mix together 113g ground almonds with 56g of caster sugar, and 56g of fine flour, a pinch of salt, one whole egg, 1/4 tsp of vanilla essence, and 1/2 tablespoon of orange flower water to form a paste.

Note: I decided not to follow Mrs A. B. Marshall's method to make the cornets instead relying on the convenience of modern technology - cooking cornets in an oven is soooo one hundred & twenty six years ago!

Heat a mini pizzelle iron. To make the cornets, place a teaspoon of the mixture into the pizzelle. Allow to cook for a few seconds then remove and roll into a cone. Allow to cool then garnish the edges with pink and white royal icing (see recipe below).

Royal Icing
Mix 113g of icing sugar with 1 teaspoon of powdered egg white, two or three drops of strained lemon juice; and enough water to make icing that's stiff enough to pipe. Divide into half. Colour one bowl with a couple of drops of Queen's cochineal and mix thoroughly; and leave the remaining icing plain. Using a piping bag pipe alternate dots around the top of each cornet and allow to set. Note: I used powdered egg white because I didn't like the idea of making my gorgeous girls sick with the use of raw egg white!

Just before serving fill the cornets with some sweetened and flavoured whipped cream as detailed in Mrs A. B. Marshall's recipe above or alternatively follow her tips for other fillings for example ice cream, custard, sorbet, granita and/or fruit.

My Pizzelle iron

This cornet recipe is circa. 1888

Getting ready to garnish the cornets with Royal Icing

You can also roll the icing in coloured sugar for a different effect

Passionfruit sorbet

Lychee Sorbet was the favourite of the day - yum!

And, then we had meringues...

I followed Mrs A. B. Marshall's recipe but added a couple of drops of Queen's cochineal to the meringue mixture then painted the inside of the piping bag with Wilton orange gel paste and used a large star nozzle to achieve the pretty orange ruffle effect. We decided not to make them with cream as they're perfect just the way they are. I took a vote whether to flavour the meringue mixture or not but the girls decided they wanted them plain. If I were to make them for adults, I'd flavour them with some essences such as rose, violet, vanilla, orange, lavender and/or coffee and chocolate.

I looove you little r - xoxooxoxox

Jamie Oliver's Strawberry Trifle topped with Italian Meringue

2014-02-07T21:40:00.001+11:00

Each time we go to Jamie's Italian in Canberra we order the JI Trifle for dessert... fresh strawberries with strawberry jelly, custard and glazed Italian meringue. Last time we went however, we were devastated because it wasn't available - one of the machines in the kitchen had broken down. Seeing the disappointment in my daughter's eyes - it was her 18th birthday - a few days later I decided to make her my version.

LM Trifle... fresh strawberries with raspberry jelly, vanilla creme patisserie, madeleines, dollops of double cream and luscious clouds of glazed Italian meringue lovingly placed in one of my favourite 1930's green depression glass dessert bowls and presented to my gorgeous girl for her 18th birthday and 1st year at University.

Here's what you need:
250g strawberries
300ml double cream
1 quantity of raspberry jelly (see recipe below)
1 quantity of creme patisserie (see recipe below)
Enough madeleines to cover your bowl or mini madeleines for individual glasses (recipe below)
1 quantity of Italian meringue (see recipe below)
1 blow torch

Raspberry Jelly
3 gelatine leaves (gold strength) (soaked in cold water for 5 minutes)
115g caster sugar
250ml water
225g frozen raspberries

Heat sugar, water and 80g of the raspberries in a small saucepan until the sugar has dissolved. Squeeze out the water from the gelatine leaves and add to the saucepan. Blend with a stick mixer. Ensure gelatine is fully dissolved before adding the remaining frozen raspberries. Pour into a large fancy dessert bowl or into individual fancy glasses. Cover the surface with cling wrap and refrigerate.

Vanilla Creme Patisserie
450ml milk
Seeds from 1 vanilla bean
50g egg yolks
50g caster sugar
50g cornflour
50ml milk (extra)
25g softened butter
1 drop of egg yellow food colouring (if desired)

In a medium saucepan, bring the milk, food colouring (if desired) and vanilla seeds to the boil.
In a bowl, mix the sugar, cornflour and eggs and slowly pour in the extra milk whilst mixing. Sieve to remove any lumps. You have just made the egg mix.
Pour some of the boiling milk into the egg mix then pour the hot egg mixture into the boiling milk. Turn on the stove and reheat until it reaches 80 degrees celsius. Take off the heat and beat in the soft butter. Pour the custard into a stainless steel container, place cling wrap over the surface and refrigerate until firm. If it becomes too solid, put it into a bowl and use a hand mixer to make it soft and luscious again.

Madeleines
80g sugar
2 eggs
120g plain flour
25g milk
60g butter (melted)
3g baking powder

Preheat a conventional oven to 190 degrees celsius and grease the madeleine moulds. Alternatively you can use patty pan tins.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk the sugar and eggs. Sift in the flour and stir to incorporate. Add the milk and the melted butter. Lastly, add the baking powder and stir gently to combine.

Pour into the madeleine moulds and cook for approx. 7 minutes or until golden and turn out onto a cake rack to cool. Store in an airtight container.

Italian Meringue
150g sugar
37g water
60g egg whites

Place the egg whites into a bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment. Heat the sugar and water in a small saucepan. When the syrup reaches 118 degrees celsius remove from heat and pour into the egg whites. Whisk on high speed until the meringue is thick and glossy. Remove from bowl and place into a piping bag with a large star nozzle.

Assembly
Remove raspberry jelly from fridge. Wash, dry and slice 250g strawberries so that they look like love hearts. Place strawberries on top of the jelly and against the side of the bowl or glass in a single layer to create a decorative border.
Dollop a thin layer of creme patisserie over the jelly and against the strawberries. Place the madeleines on top. Cover with the remaining creme patisserie.
Next dollop a thin layer of double cream.
Pipe the Italian meringue on top and using the blow torch glaze to your liking.

No idea what Jaime put in his trifle but my girls absolutely loved this. Just a word of warning though, keep your portion sizes small as it's very rich - enjoy!

p.s my daughters joined in on the fun and decided to assemble their own individual glasses. Here's how they turned out.

Aguille Du Midi

Chamonix

Recipe to Riches Rosie's Almond Meringue Biscuits Gluten Free

2013-10-18T18:53:00.001+11:00

Decided that I'd visit Woolworth's today all excited to buy Rosie's Kitchen Almond Meringue Biscuits. After all, I have to support my fellow contestants. But upon looking at the picture of the biscuits on the front of the box a wave of disappointment came over me. Why? Well, because these almond meringue biscuits looked too much like bad macaron shells! Mmmm, somehow I think Rosie has been ripped off and come to think of it maybe someone else too! But, on the other hand I was also glad. Glad, that these bad almond meringue biscuits weren't mine ha ha ha ha!

Anyway, you be the judge as this is what my box looked like.

Mmmm, is that an attempt at 'pied'?

OMG, there is so much oxygen inside the biscuits that it comes complete with an oxygen absorber - lol!

For those lacking in education with quality Italian and French biscuits I'm sure these will be a hit but for those who know better sadly, they just don't cut it!

Initially, I was really excited and proud to have appeared on the show but after seeing this I've since changed my mind! Categories seem to be blurred and I don't really know what to make of the rules (if there are any).

Recipe to Riches Australia - Something Sweet - Karen Marshall - Macarons made with Edible Perfume!

2013-10-01T12:41:00.000+10:00

Soooo thrilled to bits that I made it on to Recipe to Riches Australia in the 'Something Sweet' category! To make it into the top 3 within my category and to appear on national TV was crazy, exciting and one of the best experiences I've ever had... loved every minute of it! A big thank you to Darren Robertson (Chef), David Nobay (Ad Man) & Carolyn Crewel (Entrepreneur). I'd also like to thank Fremantle Media and Channel 10.

Assembling my French macaron

Violet Parfum French Macaron

My friend and competitor Garth Midgley won the show with his product Chocorn. Garth's product was very innovative and creative and is now available for purchase at Woolworths supermarket.

I taught myself how to make perfumed French macarons and experienced failure after failure before finally mastering them. When the going got tough, however, I would remind myself of Oprah Winfrey's quote below:

Think like a Queen. A Queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another stepping stone to greatness.

I love making French macarons because I can create wonderful colours, flavours and textures. For me, making them is more than just cooking it's also about science and art.

There is a market for luxury perfumed French macarons but it's not in the supermarket!

My daughter Ruby who is only ten helped me considerably in the kitchen and I think that she is the most amazing taste tester in the whole world! Ruby Marshall I love you to bits!

Here's what the Recipe to Riches Contestant page said about me:

Week 6 Contestant

Karen Marshall
State: Canberra
Occupation: Public Servant
Product: Violet French Macaron

Karen's chocolate ganache-filled, violet macarons are much more than a mouthwatering sweet. For Karen, they symbolize her power to overcome adversity. The mum-of-two lost her sense of smell and taste after a mild head injury. Violet is important to her as it's one of the scents she can sometimes detect.

And, to the guy that took a bite of one of my macarons at auditions and said,'... it just felt like I'd been kissed...' - thank you as you made my day!

Recipe to Riches Australia Tuesday 1 October 2013 on Channel Ten - Don't Miss It!

2013-09-25T18:46:00.000+10:00

Screaming with excitement... make sure you tune into Channel Ten on Tuesday 1 October 2013 to watch Recipe to Riches Australia and me :)

http://ten.com.au/tvshows/recipetoriches-karen-marshall.htm

Not Quite Bernard Chu - MasterChef Lolly Bag Cake

2013-08-10T23:10:00.002+10:00

Today, was no ordinary day. It was the day that I planned to make Bernard Chu's Masterchef lolly bag cake. My vision was of perfection... gorgeous even layers of silky lolly loveliness lying on my kitchen table waiting to be dressed in a luxurious cloak of rich velvety raspberry Redskins. I was super excited and my mise en place was meticulous. I weighed out my mint leaves even though it said 300g on the packet - there was one too many so I ate it. I learned that 200g of egg yolks equates to eleven eggs exactly (if you use the free range eggs from Woolworths Select xlarge min 700g). I'm full of optimism and I take simple delight in watching the 100s and 1000s bouncing around as I measure them out. Everything looks so pretty and I just can't resist putting the lollies into gorgeous vintage coloured glass bowls.

These lollies are special as they take me back to my childhood. I think it's quite appropriate to use vintage bowls as my daughters think that I'm now vintage too!

Thankfully, I wasn't under the watchful eye of cameras like the Masterchef contestants and had the luxury of time. Sure, I could try and complete my cake in a mere three and a half hours but the thought of mucking up just one layer after spending so much time and money sorting out my ingredients made me baulk at the idea. Instead, I decided to devote the whole day to my task but of course this also included disruptions. I still had to feed my knight in shining armour and two gorgeous girls... although the thought of letting them just eat cake was pretty tempting.

Anyway, I took lots of photo's and this is how it went.

Mandarin Jaffa Ganache

Preparing the silicone mat with spray oil and go-between.

Gold strength gelatine after soaking in cold water.

Mandarin jaffa ganache just placed into the freezer.

Musk Mallow

Musk sticks, water and sugar on the boil to make a sugar syrup.

The musk stick sugar syrup.

Whisking the musk mallow till light and fluffy.

Don't be shallow, here's my mallow - musk!

Mint Paste

Mint leaves and water.

Mint Paste

Spearmint Leaves Buttercream

Mint paste and egg yolks ready to be whisked.

Whisking

Silly me, I prepared the food colouring then spilt it.

Oh yay, now I've got a green thumb - literally!

The hot milk is added to the mint paste and egg yolks.

If you add the food colouring whilst the buttercream is whisking it blends better.

Gently folding the buttercream and meringue.

Freckles Crunch

All measured out and ready to go.

100s & 1000s, Pink Murray River Salt & Paillete Feuilletine

One giant square freckle!

Banana Syrup

The banana syrup is brushed onto the almond joconde.

Almond Joconde

Almond joconde in the making.

Ready for the oven.

After 8 minutes on 220 degrees celsius in a conventional oven.

Almond joconde with the chocolate coating.

Everything in Bernard's recipe seemed to work perfectly and I found each element fairly easy to make. However, as I've just received a new commercial quality kitchen blow torch the most terrifying thing for me was trying to use it! When I turned it on it sounded like a jet plane taking off and because it doesn't have an automatic on and off switch it scared the bejesus out of me. This is when I started to panic as I had the flame going whilst I was trying to sort out my layers - yikes. The whole time I was thinking, "oh, please oh please don't burn the house down or burn a hole in the wall, or worse burn myself"! Anyway, I got my third layer done and then went to reach for my mandarin jaffa ganache only to find out that it hadn't set and was more like chocolate sauce - damn! This broke my heart as I'd worked sooooo hard and everything was going so well.

Anyway, minor hiccup - so I made the decision to turn off my smokin' hot blow torch and wrap all the other lovely lolly bag cake layers in go-between and I popped them back into the freezer. I've decided that enough is enough this weekend and it will now have to wait. I should have known better as the concentrated mandarin puree that I made clearly wasn't concentrated enough and there was too much liquid in the ganache for it to set. I'm going to finish off the cake next weekend and I'm going to replace the mandarin puree with mandarin zest and orange oil instead. This should work fine and I'll be back on track. Now the only problem I'll potentially have is sorting out the layers of the cake with the blow torch whilst they're frozen and not melting the buttercream when I apply the Redskin glaze. If a lesson can be learned from me, it's that all is not over if one of your layers doesn't work out. Preserve your other layers and try again. Still super excited and can't wait to get the glaze on and play with the isomalt as this bit will be fun - oh yeah! Watch this space...

Back again. Today, I made another batch of Mandarin Jaffa Ganache and I'm much happier with the result. I also gained more confidence with using the blow torch. But, this time I turned it on and off each time I needed to use it without putting myself under undue pressure. Soooo happy with how it's all starting to come together.

Mandarin Jaffa Ganache - lovely jubbly!

Almond Joconde with Banana Syrup

Hot or not?

Not finished yet but already, I'm dancing in the kitchen!

Chinese cleavers are perfect for cutting Red Skins!

Preparing the Red Skin Glaze

The Red Skin Glaze splits but then comes back together.

Playing with Isomalt

Applying the Red Skin Glaze

Lots of hard work but it was worth it!

Let them eat cake!

My girls thought this was yummylicious!

How many kids go to school with home made lolly bag cake for morning tea?

Thanks MasterChef for creating such a wonderful challenge as I absolutely loved it but oh, you are soooo cruel and evil only giving the contestants three and a half hours to do this... Christina you're a super star in my eyes - would love to visit your "Nostalgia" restaurant when it's open! And, Bern (Bernard Chu) a big thank you for providing me with advice via twitter whilst I made this!

Now, I just need to perfect my cake slicing skills as I think we'll be eating cake for a month of Sundays.

MasterChef Lolly Bag Cake by Evil Genius Bernard Chu

2013-06-22T22:03:00.002+10:00

Australian MasterChef was all about kids this week. Not only did the show appeal to the younger audience but it also managed to tap into the inner child in a lot of us adults too, especially the ones that grew up with corner shops and lolly bags... like me. So when I found out that there was going to be an elimination challenge and the contestants were to create a lolly bag cake I started to get excited. MasterChef you had my curiosity, but now you've got my attention.

A childhood favourite - Red Skins.

Lolly Bag

Red Skins, Bananas and Spearmint Leaves in lolly bags plus 100s & 1000s.

If you're familiar with my macarons then you would already know that I've made musk macarons inspired by the iconic Australian musk stick and I've made Adriano Zumbo's Strawberry Bubblegum macarons using Hubba Bubba bubblegum. But what I've not told you is that our local milk bar still has an original 1960's lolly counter and yes you can still buy bags of lollies. Prices are a tad different instead of 10c and 20c bags they cost one or two dollars. It doesn't stock all of the lollies I was familiar with when growing up but it's not bad. A plethora of sweets is still available; cobbers, bananas, mint leaves, chico babies, freckles, strawberries & cream, pineapple gums, chocolate coated pineapple chews, red skins, milko, milk bottles, strawberry clouds, raspberry clouds, racing cars, snakes, wizz fizz and pop rocks. When I'm grocery shopping I often give the kids a couple of bucks and they run flat to the boards to the milk bar to get their sugar hit. Not so good for their teeth and the dentist is making a fortune but I enjoy giving them the same type of memories that I had when I was a kid.

I reckon that the MasterChef Lolly Bag Cake challenge was awesome and if you tuned into social media a lot of others thought the same and it certainly created a buzz of excitement.

After the challenge was done and dusted and Christina completed the most amazing cake ever in a mere 3 hours, I knew that I wanted to make it but I also knew that I didn't want to make one that costs a bomb. If you go through the recipe and start doing some simple addition you quickly realise that oh, shit you're up for about a hundred odd bucks for chocolate, popping candy, isomalt, paillette feuilletine, powdered food colouring and the like and that's only the start.

Even though I'm not going to be posting any cakes today, I will show you how to make the mandarin puree, hazlenut paste and the Paillete Feuilletine, which are probably the most difficult ingredients to source. I've also included some info about prepping some of your own popping candy. I plan to make the full recipe. No idea whether it's going to turn out or not but I'll certainly try. If all goes well I'll post the pics, if not I'll just sulk in silence. I'm going overseas in just over a week so will probably make it when I get back but in the meantime at least I can get some prepping done.

If you were to buy a kilo of Boiron Mandarin Puree it would cost about $27 AUD. It just so happens that mandarins are in season so if you want to save yourself some money try making your own.

Concentrated Mandarin Puree
6 x Imperial mandarins
caster sugar

Peel the mandarins and remove as much of the white part as possible and remove any seeds.
Place the mandarin segments into a bowl and weigh them - mine weighed 277g - then blitz them with a mini chopper or pop them into a food processor.
Sieve the puree into a small saucepan and add 10% of the weight of your mandarins in caster sugar i.e. 27.7g caster sugar.
Bring the puree to a boil and simmer until it has reduced by more than half and becomes a thick paste.
Allow to cool. Store either in the fridge or freezer until required - I'll be freezing mine.
Tip: You can easily make a bigger batch of mandarin puree, just add as much fruit as you think you need and, if you want a bit more zing you can also add some zest.

Hazelnut Paste
125g hazelnuts
15g vegetable oil (approximate)

Roast the hazelnuts for 10 minutes on a baking tray lined with parchment paper at 180 degrees celsius or until light and golden.
Using a tea towel remove the skins whilst the nuts are still warm.
Blitz in a mini chopper or a food processor using enough oil to make a smooth paste.
Tip: If you need to make more you can easily increase the quantities for this recipe or if you'd rather cheat you can also use a hazelnut spread such as 'Nutella'.
Adapted from a recipe in Adriano Zumbo's book "Zumbo".

Paillete Feuilletine

30g butter

30g flour

30g caster sugar

120ml milk

1 small egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

In a small saucepan, gently heat the milk, butter and vanilla extract.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, sugar and egg. Whisk until smooth and it's free from lumps.

Pour the flour mixture into the milk mixture in the saucepan whilst still on the stove and whisk continuously until it starts to thicken and looks like crepe batter. When ready, remove from heat.

If the batter has developed a few lumps, strain the mixture through a sieve back into a clean bowl.

Place a couple of teaspoons onto a Silpat mat or silicone mat, smooth out with a pastry scraper or palette knife and bake on 150 degrees celsius for about 8 minutes or until the crepe is golden and looks a bit like lace. When cooked, either use a spatula to fold the crepe or simply break it up into pieces and allow to cool.

When finished turn off the oven. Place all of the cooked crepe batter back onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper and leave in the oven for an hour to an hour and a half until brown and crispy. Store in an airtight container in a cool place for up to 5 days. I've put mine in the freezer in an airtight container surrounded by some paper towel to absorb any moisture. When I need them, I'm going to put them back into the oven whilst still frozen to crisp them up again instead of allowing them to defrost. This recipe makes about 60g of Paillete Feuilletine.
Adapted from recettes-bretonnes

The flour, sugar and egg mixture.

A gorgeous crisp Brittany lace crepe (otherwise known as crepes dentelles or gavottes) before it's broken up into pieces to make Paillete Feuilletine. Not bad for my first ever attempt.

Homemade Paillete Feuilletine

100s & 1000s, Popping Candy, Pink Murray River Salt & Paillete Feuilletine

Popping Candy

If you love the idea of popping candy (also known as pop rocks) but you don't like the idea of spending $33AUD on a 200g tub try preparing this too with the store bought variety. I found a great article here about coating popping candy with chocolate. Alternatively, you could buy some pure raw organic cocoa butter (Brand: Cacao Power), melt it and when cool use it to coat them. Make sure though that the cocoa butter is really cool as any heat will activate the pop rocks. Doing it this way will also add to the theme of the lolly bag cake as you'll get the added flavour of yet another lolly. If you couldn't be bothered going to the trouble of prepping popping candy however, you could always just take a risk and throw it in when you're making the Freckle Crunch.

Isomalt
I plan to decorate my cake with Isomalt. Unfortunately, I couldn't get clear or red but managed to buy pink. Google Isomalt and you can buy it online. If you don't want to spend the money you could always try spinning some sugar. I made some to decorate an ice-cream cake - you can find the recipe here. To make invert sugar you can follow this link.

If you're after moulds make sure that you contact Jess and her team at Ecotelasia as they shipped my moulds out super fast and the whole team is absolutely amazing! You can also buy them at Savour School.

If making the ingredients for the lolly bag cake seems a bit too labour intensive you can always buy the ingredients from the Melbourne Food Depot or from Savour School .

For my international readers you can order all of your Australian lollies here as they deliver world-wide.

If you need to access the recipe visit http://tenplay.com.au/channel-ten/masterchef/recipes/lolly-bag-cake

To see my journey making the cake visit my post on Not Quite Bernard Chu.

Potato and Rice Croquettes

2013-06-15T14:42:00.000+10:00

Potato and Rice Croquettes
Ingredients
1 1/4 cups Coles Italian Arborio Rice
2 large baking potatoes (I chose the ones still covered in dirt, washed them but didn't bother scrubbing them)
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 large rashers of bacon finely chopped
1/2 cup Coles Finest Parmigiano Reggiano Stravecchio Dop (Aged for 36 months) finely grated
2 tablespoons finely chopped continental parsley
2 garlic cloves, crushed
Maldon sea salt
Ground black pepper
1/2 cup La Molisana 00 Farina flour for coating
Vegetable oil for deep frying

Method
Boil the Arborio Rice for about 12 minutes, drain and store in the fridge until cold.
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius and bake the potatoes in their skin for about an hour. When ready split them open and scoop out the fluffy potato. Place into a bowl and store in the fridge until cold.
In a large bowl, mix the potato, rice, egg, bacon, parmesan, parsley and garlic and the desired amount of salt and pepper until well combined.
Cup your hands and mould into 7 cm long torpedo shaped croquettes.
Gently dredge in the 00 Farina flour shaking off any excess and deep fry in oil heated to about 180 degrees celsius for 3-4 minutes.
Serve with Parmigiano Reggiano Stravecchio Dop grated on top and a sprinkle of parsley and a drizzle of lemon juice. My gorgeous girls absolutely love them!
Adapted from Womans Day.

Great Gatsby inspired Pink Champagne Macarons - "Extravagance"

2013-06-08T23:26:00.000+10:00

The Glitz and Glamour is yet to come.

My latest creation 'Extravagance' pink champagne macarons are inspired by the glitz, glamour and luxury in Baz Luhrmann's film 'The Great Gatsby'. I haven't seen the movie yet but can't wait to see it on the big screen in 3D.

Jewel Tone Sugar Syrup

Look at the colour of the gorgeous head scarf and pink pearls.
Source: http://feliciafbaby.blogspot.com.au/2013/05/121365-review-great-gatsby.html

Gold Dust & Spun Sugar

Extravagance just got more decadent!

Source: www.aceshowbiz.com Warner Bros. Pictures The Great Gatsby

Pink Champagne Macarons - 'Extravagance'
To make these macarons follow my basic macaron recipe but divide the quantities in half and colour them pink. To make the champagne ganache use 250g white couverture chocolate to 110g cream and 15g pink champagne in addition to a pinch of pink powdered food colouring.

Ice Cream - 'Decadence'
If you're up for a challenge and want to be a bit more creative, make the ice cream below and freeze it in a fancy mould. When ready unmould it and decorate it with the pink champagne macarons and spun sugar.

Orange Blossom, Vanilla & Violet Ice Cream - 'Decadence'
600ml pouring cream
1 litre milk
300g caster
7 egg yolks
3 tablespoons orange flower water
1 teaspoon natural vanilla extract
1 tablespoon violet syrup

Place a third of the cream, orange flower water, vanilla and violet syrup in a large bowl over ice and set aside. This is the reserved cream. Combine remaining cream with milk and a third of the sugar in a saucepan over medium-high heat, stir to dissolve sugar and bring just to the boil. Whisk yolks and remaining sugar in a heat proof bowl for 4-5 minutes until pale. Pour the cream mixture over the yolks and whisk to combine. Return to the saucepan and cook stirring continuously until mixture thickly coats a spoon (6-7 minutes). Strain into the reserved cream, stir to combine and set aside to cool completely. Pour into a fancy silicone mould and freeze for a minimum of 12 hours.
Adapted from Australian Gourmet Traveller

Spun Sugar Icicles
1 cup caster sugar
1/3 cup water
2 tablespoons glucose/ corn syrup
Place all ingredients into a small saucepan and boil until the syrup turns a light golden colour. Line the kitchen sink with parchment paper and use either a whisk or 2 forks to spin the sugar onto the parchment paper. Use for decorating macarons and/or cakes.

Dried Strawberries

2013-06-02T21:10:00.003+10:00

Dried strawberries are super easy to make. Preheat the oven to 80 degrees celsius and line a baking tray with parchment paper. Thinly slice the strawberries and place them on the tray. Sprinkle with icing sugar and bake for 1 hour then take them out and turn them over. Bake for another hour. When cool, store in an airtight container.

These have an amazing texture and are great as a snack or used as a topping on cupcakes or your favourite dessert.

Fat Rascals

2013-05-31T21:03:00.001+10:00

Fat Rascals - curiouser and curiouser! Their origin is from Yorkshire, England but their history is somewhat obscure. Nonetheless, intrigued by the name I absolutely had to make them. If you're a tad on the skinny side I'm sure these lovely biscuits will fatten you up in no time given the amount of lard in the recipe!

Fat Rascals
450g plain flour
70g brown sugar
100g lard, chilled
125g unsalted butter, chilled
100g currants
150ml milk
Extra caster sugar for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius (conventional).
Place the flour, sugar, lard and butter into a large bowl and mix together with your finger tips until it resembles bread crumbs.
Add the currants and enough milk to form a lovely soft dough.
Lightly flour your bench top and rolling pin and roll out until 1/4 inch thick.
Using a biscuit or scone cutter, cut out circles and place on a tray lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle with the extra caster sugar and bake for about 12 minutes or until your gorgeous fat rascals are nice and golden. Allow to cool on the baking tray for 10 minutes then pop them onto a cooling rack.

Recipe adapted from Feast Magazine

Fancy Rose Geranium Dainties

2013-05-29T20:20:00.000+10:00

Fancy Rose Geranium Dainties
Ingredients
195g pure icing sugar
75g plain flour
155g almond meal
2 eggs
180g unsalted butter, melted gently
6 drops rose geranium essence

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius. Grease a mini cupcake silicone mould in a fancy pattern with butter. Sift sugar, flour and almond meal into a bowl. Make a well then add the egg, butter and essence. Combine. Using a small palette knife fill the mini cupcake moulds with the batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden. Allow to cool in the silicone moulds before removing. Simply dust your fancy dainties with icing sugar or drizzle with lemon icing. Tip: don't overfill the moulds, make sure the batter is level. If the cakes start to brown but still aren't cooked place some kitchen towel on top.

Icing
The juice of lemon (gently warmed in the microwave) mixed with sufficient icing sugar to drizzle over these little dainties.

Vintage Baking - Quince Honey from 1909 turns into Prince of Azerbaijan

2013-05-26T17:36:00.000+10:00

It was a tad chilly this morning, minus 3 degrees celsius to be exact. I could of easily pulled my duvet up over my head and had a bit of a sleep in but instead I decided to get up early and head off to the Farmer's market. I giggled as I shut the front door as I'd managed to escape the house without the kids waking up.... woo hoo! I don't often skip but today I did... all the way down our front path to the garage in fact. Could I manage to get the car out and down the driveway without the piercing screams of little ogres? You know, the ones that magically turn into angels as soon as their heads hit the pillow. My youngest gorgeous girl is watching me now as I type and as I read aloud word for word she starts to look at me in horror and starts to growl - oh no, I'm really scared as she looks like she's just about to turn into a werewolf! Now, we're both in fits of giggles. Where was I? That's right, Quince Honey. Sounds mysterious doesn't it. Quinces have been around forever and were plentiful at the market today so I bought a couple of kilos worth and decided to not only make a Quince Tagine for dinner and travel to Morocco (flying on the magic carpet under our dining room table of course) but to also attempt a vintage recipe that dates back to 1909 and earlier for Quince Honey. Not one to always follow recipes I started out with this:

Quince Honey (1)
Ingredients. - 5 large quinces, 1 pint water, 5 lb. sugar.
Boil sugar and water well, then add the quinces, which have been grated. Boil 15 minutes.
Source: Home Cookery for Australia, Third Edition 1909

And, ended up with this:

Prince of Azerbaijan (Your genie in a Jar)
Ingredients. - 3 large quinces, 300 ml water, 1250 grams sugar, 1 teaspoon lemon zest, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1 tablespoon Monin Rose Syrup, 4 drops rose essence, 1 pinch citric acid

Boil sugar and water until it becomes a thick, clear sugar syrup (about 15 minutes). Cut, core and grate the quinces. Add the quinces, lemon juice, lemon zest, rose syrup and essence to the sugar syrup. Boil uncovered for about 15-20 minutes then add the citric acid. Stir to combine then bottle into sterilised jars.

Prince of Azerbaijan is the magic genie in your pantry... whenever, you need something a bit exotic remember to reach for this and you'll instantly be transported to magical faraway places. If you can't afford to travel at least we can pretend.

Vintage Baking - Cockles from 1912

2013-05-22T23:21:00.002+10:00

Cockles
Quarter of a pound of flour, 1/4 lb. cornflour, 1/4 lb. sugar, 1/4 lb. butter, 1 small teaspoon of baking powder, a pinch of salt.

Beat butter and sugar together; break in 2 eggs one by one; mix well, add other ingredients.

Drop in small teaspoonfuls on a buttered tin, and bake in a quick oven. Stick two together with jam.
Recipe from The Goulburn Cookery Book 1912 Edition

Tips and Conversions:
1/4 lb. equals 125 grams
Use 2 small eggs or 1 large egg (I used one large egg).
The mixture needs to be quite stiff.
Cook on 180 degrees celsius in a conventional oven for 15 minutes.

I omitted the jam and flavoured my cockles with lavender and dusted them with icing sugar.

What started out as cockles, cockles by the sea shore ended up more like a walk in the English countryside picking narcissus. As much as I love cockles, I think flowers look much prettier and I thought that it would be lovely for my gorgeous girls to open up their school lunch box tomorrow to find cute edible flowers that tasted of lavender. I used a mini silicone narcissus cup cake mould. For this recipe, small teaspoonfuls of batter should be put onto a flat baking tray. The mixture spreads and you end up with cake type biscuits that look like cockle shells. They are sometimes sandwiched together with jam. My gorgeous girls decided that they didn't want the jam, these cake type biscuits are perfect just the way they are!

Vintage Baking - Queen Cakes from 1912

2013-05-19T01:28:00.003+10:00

Queen Cakes is a recipe from 'The Goulburn Cookery Book'. According to the Southern Tablelands History Matters website, The Goulburn Cookery Book was compiled by an Irish lady by the name of Mrs William Forster Rutledge of Gidleigh, Bungendore. She gave the copyright to the Church Society of the Anglican Diocese on 2nd October 1899, and for thirty years the cookbook brought in a steady income to Church funds, selling 205,000 copies in thirty editions. By the thirty-sixth edition in 1936, the book had been reprinted almost every year with either 5,000 or 10,000 copies. There were three more editions, the last in 1945. I have the Twelth Edition from 1912. The pupils of the Goulburn Public School Cooking Class contributed several recipes, and three are from the National School of Cookery, London.

Girls living in the country were brought up to manage a household and to be self-reliant. There was much work to be done to provision a country house. Milk from the dairy was set in flat open pans and skimmed for cream. Butter was churned by hand, the surplus clarified and used for cooking.

So lovely ladies apply your brightest red lipstick, pop on your tiara, a pretty dress and a retro apron and let's get baking. I made my Queen cakes miniature size. They look absolutely gorgeous when served up on a vintage plate for afternoon tea. Guaranteed, when you eat one of these little darlings you'll feel like royalty!

Queen Cakes
Half a pound of flour, 1/2 lb. sugar, 6 oz. of butter, 1/2 lb. of currants, 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder, 4 eggs, a little salt, 1 teaspoon brandy.

Beat the butter and the sugar to a light cream; add the yolks of the eggs; sift in flour and baking powder; add whites of eggs, beaten till stiff, add the currants.

Blending the currants & stiff egg whites into the cake batter.

Put into buttered patty-tins and fill half full. Bake from 15 to 25 minutes, according to the heat of the oven. These cakes are nicer if the baking powder is omitted; but in that case the mixture must be beaten for an hour. The brandy may be omitted.

Ready to be popped into the oven.

As a six generation Australian, I am sooooo proud to say that I can still buy products in the supermarket that were around over a hundred years ago!

White Wings Flour Australian Owned & Milled for Over 100 Years!

Since 1926 Sunbeam Australian Grown Currants

Australian Western Star Butter since late 1800's

Anchor Since 1854 Baking Powder Proudly Made in Australia

Now you may be wondering... mmmm, how much is half a pound or how much is 6 oz? Worry no more as I've included conversions and tips below :)

Half a pound is equal to 250 grams
6 oz is equal to 180 grams

Tip: I decided to make miniature Queen cakes so took the chance of omitting 2 eggs to obtain a stiffer cake batter. Luckily, they turned out just perfect. I cooked them at 170 degrees celsius in a conventional oven for 15 minutes. The only problem I had was trying to prevent my gorgeous girls from eating them before dusting them with icing sugar!

Pink Rose Sugared Pistachios

2013-05-16T21:59:00.000+10:00

If you really want to impress someone special why not try making some pretty pink rose sugared pistachios.

Here's what you need:

100g unsalted pistachios

100g caster sugar

20g water

red food colouring

2 drops rose essence

Place the sugar, food colouring, rose essence and water in a small saucepan and bring to the boil.

When the syrup reaches 135 degrees celsius remove from the heat and add the pistachios. Stir with a chopstick and pour onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper to cool.

Making the Rose Syrup

Raw Pistachios

Voila!

Fairy Floss Marshmallows (Guimauve Barbe à Papa)

2013-05-11T12:32:00.004+10:00

Tomorrow is mother's day and my little gorgeous girl has organised a picnic hamper with baguettes, lemon and chocolate ganache tarts, elderflower cordial, fruit, cheese, nuts and crackers and more.... Since she's done all the hard work I thought that I'd make her some little Fairy Floss marshmallows - perfect little powder puffs for a little lady.

Belvoir Elderflower Cordial

Little Lemon & Chocolate Tarts

GUIMAUVE BARBE à PAPA
Ingredients for the Bloom
21g powdered gelatine
fairy floss essence
75ml water

Ingredients for the Sugar Syrup
150ml of water
500g caster sugar
75g glucose syrup
pink food colouring

Ingredients for the Meringue
6 egg whites
25g extra caster sugar

Powder Puff Mix
1/4 cup confectioners sugar
1/4 cornflour

1. Line a non-stick lamington tray with parchment paper and lightly spray with canola oil.
2. To make the bloom, place the gelatine, fairy floss essence and 75ml of water in a small bowl. Set aside for 10 minutes then gently heat in a small saucepan to dissolve the gelatine. Alternatively, if you're in a bit of a hurry and don't want an extra saucepan to wash just add the gelatine mix as is in Step 7.
3. Place 150ml water, sugar, glucose and food colouring in a medium saucepan.
4. Bring the sugar syrup to the boil until it reaches 130 degrees celsius.

5. Start whisking your egg whites when the sugar syrup reaches 120 degrees celsius. Add the extra 25g caster sugar when the egg whites become white and frothy. Continue to whisk until well combined.

6. The meringue and the sugar syrup need to be ready at the same time.
7. When the sugar syrup is nearly ready add the gelatine mix and combine. Pour into the meringue in a slow steady stream. Whisk on medium-high for 7-10 minutes until the mixture becomes thick, fluffy and glossy.

8. Pour into the lamington tin and leave to set overnight.

9. Cut the marshmallow into squares with an oiled knife.
10. Combine the confectioners sugar and cornflour and use this powder puff mix to coat the marshmallows.

11. Store in an airtight container in the fridge or freeze them in little zip lock bags.
12. Perfect with a hot cup of tea or bubbly champagne.
Recipe adapted from Laduree

We'll be eating our fairy floss marshmallows for afternoon tea with posh little cups filled with "T2 Rose by the Sea - a warming black tea blushing with floral blossoms of safflower, cornflower, lavender and red rose buds with citrusy freshness of orange. Just gorgeous with rose buds and pretty petals bobbing around for our affection".

Blue Violet flavoured Mantou Style Buns inspired by Alice in Wonderland

2013-04-28T01:06:00.001+10:00

Trippin' out

Spinnin' around

I'm underground, I fell down

Yeah, I fell down

I'm freakin' out

So where am I now?

Upside down

And I can't stop it now,

It can't stop me now

Ohhh

I, I'll get by

I, I'll survive

When the world's crashin' down

When I fall and hit the ground

I will turn myself around

Don't you try to stop it!

I, I won't cry

I found myself in wonderland

Get back on my feet again

Is this real?

Is it pretend?

I'll take a stand until the end

This won't mean a lot to many of you and I don't expect you to understand but almost 4 years ago my world came crashing down and I found myself in wonderland - a place where everything is possible!

My latest creation is inspired by Alice in Wonderland, Absolom the Blue Caterpillar, the Mad Hatter's Tea Party and both the Red & White Queens. I've made Blue Violet flavoured Mantou style buns.

The potion for these buns has lots of wishful thinking, some violet essence and a little bit of pork fat but none of the other stuff - lol! Mmmm, although, jasmine tea does look a bit like wee!

Lard is the secret ingredient chefs use to make the perfect pastry and cakes!

I need a pig here - I love a warm pig belly for my aching feet!

Little Blue Caterpillars

Blue Violet flavoured Mantou Style Buns
Dough
450g plain flour
14g dried yeast
115g sugar
225ml warm water
1 egg white
1/2 tsp vinegar
3 Tbsp pork fat (lard)
2 drops violet essence
2 drops blue food colouring

Sift the flour onto a pastry board or kitchen bench. Make a well in the centre and add the water and the remaining ingredients with exception of the blue food colouring . Knead into an elastic, smooth dough. Divide into two portions and colour one portion blue. Place kneaded dough into two separate greased bowls and cover with plastic wrap.

Place the bowls either in a warm spot or a warm water bath for one to one and a half hours or until the dough doubles in size. Knead both portions of dough into a square or rectangles of similar size.

Place the blue dough over the plain coloured dough. Roll up into a sausage shape and cut into 1 inch discs. Place each disc onto a small piece of parchment paper and put into a bamboo steamer. Allow to rise for 15 minutes then steam for 12 minutes. Serve hot with some jasmine tea.

Just Perfect for a Mad Hatter's Tea Party!

Eat Me!

My Little Red Queen!

Recipe adapted from Foundation Dim Sum.

Wing Woo Grocery Store, Wellington Street Central, Hong Kong

2013-04-16T23:47:00.003+10:00

Wing Woo grocery store was located in Wellington Street, Central and was one of the oldest stores in Hong Kong. Apparently, Mr Kwan the store owner started working here at the age of 14, when Wing Woo was run by his uncle and his uncle's friend. Later, Mr Kwan became the owner and managed the store with his wife for 60 years. Sadly, just before I left Hong Kong this quaint little store closed it's doors forever to give way to a new redevelopment. I loved visiting this little store.

This is my recollection of the store in photo's.

Hong Kong's version of the little corner shop!

The shop was so old it requires support to prevent it from collapsing

Different varieties of Rice

Chinese Century Eggs

A treasure trove of magnificent delights!

One of many song birds

Pink Long-Johns - too cute!

I loved shopping at Wing Woo!

Chairman Mao's Red Braised Pork

2013-04-14T13:39:00.005+10:00

After reading Fuschia Dunlop's "Shark's Fin & Sichuan Pepper - A sweet-sour memoir of eating in China" whilst still living in Hong Kong, I enjoyed it so much that I went to my local wet market, bought a 2lb slab of pork belly, the required ingredients and hurried home to make Chairman Mao's Red-Braised Pork.

Upon arriving home, I went through the recipe again but decided that I'd experiment with the spices based on my knowledge of the local wet markets. In addition to the star anise, red chillies and cassia bark used in Fuschia's recipe, I added 2 bay leaves, 2 pieces of sand ginger, 1 small piece of tangerine peel, 1 slice of dried licorice root, 1 clove and 3 white peppercorns. I also used brown slab sugar instead of white sugar with only a teaspoon of white sugar at the final stage of cooking and a drizzle of dark soy sauce for colour. The end result was absolutely amazing! If you haven't read Fuschia's book I highly recommend it. To buy a copy of Fuschia's book click here.

Back in Australia, I find the pork belly is much thinner and fattier than the cuts I used to buy in Hong Kong. Also, it's quite expensive. I experimented by using a pork forequarter roast that cost $14 a kilo and it worked perfectly.

If you want to achieve that lovely deep red colour add some red fermented bean curd. This is the same ingredient that gives traditional Cantonese Cha Siu (BBQ Pork) its gorgeous red hue.

Chairman Mao's Red Braised Pork (without the water chestnuts)

Serves 4

500g/1 lb 2 oz belly pork (skin optional)
2 tbsp groundnut oil
2 tbsp white sugar
1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
20 g/3/4 oz fresh ginger, skin left on and sliced
1 star anise }
2 dried red chillies
a small piece cassia bark or cinnamon stick
light soy sauce
salt and sugar
a few lengths of spring onion greens

Plunge the belly pork into a pan of boiling water and simmer for 3 to 4 minutes until partially cooked. Remove, and when cool enough to handle, cut into bite-sized chunks. Heat the oil and sugar in a wok over a gentle flame until the sugar melts, then raise the heat and stir until the melted sugar turns a rich caramel brown. Add the pork and the Shaoxing wine. Add enough water to just cover the pork, along with the ginger, star anise, chillies and cassia. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for 40–50 minutes. Towards the end of the cooking time, turn up the heat to reduce the sauce and season with soy sauce, salt and a little sugar to taste. Add the spring onion greens just before serving.

From 'Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook' by Fuchsia Dunlop (Ebury Press)

Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/features/hot-stuff-chillis-are-the-ultimate-feelgood-ingredient-969617.html

Homemade Cha Siu Bao (Steamed BBQ Pork Buns)

2013-04-13T23:15:00.000+10:00

Homemade Cha Siu Bao (Steamed BBQ Pork Buns)

When I lived in Hong Kong I reckon I belonged to some exclusive dim sum society as I absolutely adored drinking delicate jasmine or a lovely Pu-er/ Bolay tea and snacking on the most amazing selection of delightful sweet and/or savoury treats you could ever imagine. I loved visiting the Jumbo Floating Restaurant and Luk Yu Tea House but more often than not you would find me at my local haunt the Lin Heung Tea House at 160-164 Wellington Street Central. This restaurant is one of the oldest tea houses in Hong Kong and one of the most busiest - without a 'gweilo' in sight - except for me. I'd sit next to complete strangers on a little stool and would briskly walk over to the dim sum cart when it came out of the kitchen to see what was on offer. My favourite savoury snacks included Cha Siu Bao, Beef Balls, Har Gow (Shrimp Dumpling), Cheung Fan (Rice Noodle) and Sui Mai.

Before I left Hong Kong I made sure that I stocked up on some bilingual Cantonese cook books so that when I felt like a hit of dim sum I could pull one of them out with the hope of reproducing them.

This weekend, I decided to make Cha Siu Bao from a book called "Chinese Buns". As I read through the recipe however, I hit my first major problem - the bun dough includes two key ingredients that are next to impossible to buy on the Australian market i.e. lye water (an alkaline liquid that is extremely caustic) and ammonia bicarbonate. These two ingredients are crucial to achieving a white, fluffy, springy dough and that amazing split when the bun is steamed, so although I was keen to make them I knew before I even started that it was impossible to get the same result that I was used to eating in Hong Kong - damn!

Two days before I started, I made a sour dough starter which I'll call the "1st Fermentation". The next day I used some of this starter to make another sour dough "the 2nd Fermentation" and today I made the actual bun dough and the pork filling. Although, I'm going to post photo's I'm not going to post a recipe just yet as I wasn't happy with how this one went. I followed it to a 'T' with exception of the lye water and ammonia bicarbonate but there was far too much pork thickening and not enough dough. So I've popped the pork filling/thickening into the freezer and will make another batch of dough some time in the future. Next time I'm going to try fresh yeast with baking powder to see how that goes so watch this space.

Just made - the 2nd Fermentation sour dough

The 2nd Fermentation after about 24 hours

The Cha Siu Filling

Whilst I was making the Cha Siu Bao my youngest gorgeous girl was practicing how to make them by using a small ball of dough as the filling.

My youngest gorgeous girl's very first attempt at making Cha Siu Bao after practicing with dough!

My little dumpling princess in action.

Chinese Style White Cut Poached Chicken

2013-04-07T18:46:00.002+10:00

I've been very very bad, I know that I should have made dumplings of some sort this weekend for dearest Emily at http://emilycookingforays.blogspot.com.au but instead I made Chinese style white-cut poached chicken... sorry Em :(

Prepare the Chicken
Wash a corn fed chicken (preferably free range) in water inside and out and pat dry with paper towel. Remove the chicken fat from inside the cavity and place in a small stainless steel bowl. Rub the following ingredients inside the chicken:

1 tablespoon ginger juice (grate the ginger and squeeze out the juice to obtain desired amount)
1 tablespoon shaoxing wine
1 teaspoon sugar
a pinch of white pepper

Bruise 1 spring onion and 3 slices ginger and also place this in the cavity. Set both the chicken fat and the chicken aside.

This is how I make ginger juice

Poaching Liquid
To a large stock pot add:

3.5 litres cold water
3/4 cup shaoxing wine
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
3 cloves garlic
4 slices ginger
2 spring onions
1 small lump yellow rock sugar (about the size of a teaspoon)

yellow rock sugar

Bring the poaching liquid to the boil then turn off the heat. Add the chicken, breast-side down and make sure that it's fully submerged - put the lid on. After 30 minutes turn the heat onto high and bring the poaching liquid back to a near boil. During this time tilt the chicken whilst still in the poaching liquid to empty the cavity and re-fill it with the just near boiled poaching liquid to ensure that the insides cook through. Turn the heat off again and pop the lid back on. Leave the chicken in the poaching liquid for another 25-30 minutes then plunge the chicken into ice water to stop the cooking process and seal in the juices.

Drain the chicken and place onto a serving plate then rub the following ingredients all over the top:
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon salt

Cover the chicken with aluminum foil and allow to cool. Strain the poaching liquid and reserve for the chicken rice (below). When the chicken is cool, remove from the plate and place onto a chopping board. Section into small pieces then place back onto the serving plate.

Rendered Chicken Fat

Sorry lovely ladies - not an attractive sight

After you place the chicken in the poaching liquid get to work with rendering the chicken fat so that it's ready about the same time your chicken is cooked. You will use this fat and some of the poaching liquid to make chicken rice.

Bring some water to the boil in a small saucepan and place the small stainless steel bowl containing the chicken fat over the top. Let it simmer away until the fat renders down - this can take up to an hour. Remember to refill your saucepan periodically with boiling water from your jug so that the saucepan doesn't run dry! Discard any solid pieces of fat when done.

This chicken fat has been rendering down for about 20 minutes

Chicken Rice
Pour a drizzle of the rendered chicken fat into a non stick pan and gently fry 1 clove crushed garlic and 1 slice finely minced ginger until golden. Remove and set aside.

Pour the remaining rendered chicken fat into the non-stick pan and add 3 cups of jasmine rice. Gently fry until the rice absorbs the chicken fat and the grains are slightly translucent. Remove and pour the rice into a rice cooker. Add the cooked garlic and ginger and 1/2 teaspoon chicken powder. Pour enough of the strained poaching liquid into the rice cooker until it comes up to one joint on your index finger then follow your rice cooker instructions. Cook the rice until light and fluffy.

Ginger Sauce
Place about 3/4 cup of finely chopped ginger and 3/4 cup of finely chopped spring onion into a small bowl. Heat 3/4 cup peanut oil until sizzling then pour over the top of the ginger and spring onion. Allow to cool.

Serve by placing the chicken rice into individual bowls, top with poached chicken and drizzle the ginger sauce over the top. Add slices of cucumber (optional).

I also served my poached chicken with a chilli dipping sauce but I've only kept the recipe to the ginger sauce so that you don't have to make yet another recipe :)

Pork Dumplings with Hand Made Wrappers

2013-03-17T18:46:00.002+11:00

Making dumplings for the first time can prove a little tricky but with tips and a bit of practice you'll be making your own in no time. Pop them into the freezer and you have a delicious snack that you can prepare quickly. My gorgeous girls love them and they are great for tots.... mmmmmmmmmmmmm.

If you have a cleaver, go to your local butcher and ask for pork belly and try mincing your own meat, this way you will end up with a spongey, moist filling that is flavoursome and juicy instead of dry.

Chinese cooks use two cleavers to mince their meat but I only feel comfortable using one thanks very much!

Here we are aiming for half fat and half lean pork so that the fat renders down whilst cooking and keeps the filling moist.

Slice the ginger then fan it out and shred it finely.

In a fan type motion with your knife or cleaver, dice the ginger finely in a similar way that you'd finely chop herbs.

Mix hot water into the flour first before adding cold so that the water cooks the flour and it ends up looking like this. This is an important step as the hot water helps to make the dough elastic and it is easier to fill your dumpling wrappers.

Keep kneading the dough just like bread so that it ends up looking like the dough below.

Here, the gluten has started to relax and the dough is still soft and a little sticky. Try not to spread too much flour on your working surface or you will lose the stickiness in the dough. If you have to use a little flour only use cornflour otherwise, plain flour and the like will be absorbed into the dough and make it unmanageable.

Cut the dough into portions and cover them in plastic wrap ready for use.

Roll the portion of dough into a long rope and cut with a plastic scraper, similar to gnocchi. Notice that there isn't too much flour on the work surface.

Press the piece of dough down with the palm of your hand, cut surface facing up, so that a circle is formed then roll the wrapper as above. I have a dim sum rolling pin but you can go to your local hardware store and have a small bit of wood cut to suit.

When you fill the dumpling it is important to leave a a rim so that you can fold and pleat the wrapper. Oops, in the above photo I dredged the dumplings with too much cornflour which made it difficult to pleat and seal the wrapper - not good.

To form the dumpling, fill the wrapper, fold it in half then pinch the right hand corner. Start pleating the front side of the wrapper whilst pinching against the back of the wrapper and there you have it. Notice that I haven't dredged the bench or dumpling with much cornflour and the result is a lot better.

Pork Filling

300g pork mince

2 tablespoon sesame oil

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp shao xing wine

1 tsp light soy sauce

1/2 tsp white pepper

3 large slices ginger chopped finely (I don't normally measure the ginger and put lots in for health benefits)

1 1/2 tsp cornflour

Marinate the pork with the sesame oil, sugar, salt, shao hsing wine, light soy sauce and pepper for 20 minutes then add the finely chopped ginger and cornflour. Mix well to combine. Set aside.

Dumpling Wrapper

300g plain flour

1 tsp sesame oil

2/3 cup hot water

1/3 cup cold water

cornflour for dredging (see photo's and tips above)

Sift flour into a bowl then add the sesame oil and hot water. Mix together with a pair of chopsticks. Add the cold water a little at a time until the dough forms then knead until smooth. Cover with cling wrap and allow to rest for 10 minutes.

Cut the dough into portions. Roll each dough portion into a rope and cut with a plastic scraper similar to gnocchi. Use cornflour sparingly to dredge the dumplings (if required) to prevent them from sticking to the bench top.

Press the piece of dough down with the palm of your hand, cut surface facing up, so that a circle is formed then roll the wrapper - see photo's above.

Fill the wrapper with the pork mixture and pleat the dumpling. Place the finished dumpling on a tray lined with parchment paper. Cover with a damp cloth so that they don't dry out. At this stage you can cook them in a pot of boiling water for about 5 minutes or you can add them to a pan with oil and water to make pot stickers. Alternatively, you can freeze them. Serve with Chinkiang vinegar with slivers of ginger - enjoy.

If you have some left over pork filling, roll it into little balls and freeze them. For a quick snack boil up some chicken stock with some finely diced coriander root and add the pork balls. When the pork is nearly cooked add some choy sum and cook for another 1-2 minutes. Serve with coriander leaves, some finely sliced spring onion and a drizzle of sesame oil.

Rice Noodles with Beef & Soy Sauce

2013-03-17T18:19:00.003+11:00

These noodles were my absolute favourite in Hong Kong and I think I make a pretty mean version of them. A chef located at Causeway Bay has a reputation for making the best version of this dish, he uses pork fat in his recipe and so do I...

Ingredients:

2 small rib eye beef steaks (sliced finely)
3 cloves of garlic (chopped finely)
2 tblspn fresh ginger (chopped finely)
1 bunch of garlic chives (cut into 1 inch lengths)
pork fat (walnut size)
1 packet of fresh rice noodles (sliced thickly)
1 cup of oil (to blanch the beef)
1 tbsp oil extra

Marinade:
1 tsp bicarbonate soda
2 tsp water
2 tsp shao xing wine

Sauce:
3 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp chicken powder

1. Marinate the beef in the marinade for 15 minutes. Make sure that you dissolve the bicarb soda well in the water before adding it to the beef and mix thoroughly. After 15 minutes pour the beef into a sieve to remove excess moisture then using one cup of oil, blanch the beef in the wok (on high heat) until it changes colour - remove. Pour the oil through a strainer and either dispose or store for later use. Rinse the hot wok under running tap water and clean with a nylon brush then put it back on the wok burner for later use.

2. Pour a few drops of dark soy sauce onto the fresh rice noodles (in a bowl) and mix thoroughly so that they become a lovely brown colour.

3. Heat the wok on high until it smokes. Add 1 tbsp cold oil (drizzled around the middle of the wok so that it runs down to the bottom) then add the chopped ginger and garlic. Stir-fry a few seconds then add the strained beef back to the wok, add the garlic chives and stir-fry continuously until the garlic chives start to wilt. At this stage, add the pork fat then the rice noodles. Stir-fry until the noodles become soft and separate.

4. Add the sauce and stir-fry until the noodles and beef are well coated.

Note: For the pork fat I went to my local butcher and asked for the fat that surrounds the kidneys. This fat renders down to a liquid and imparts a smoky flavour to the dish. Garlic chives and the fresh rice noodles are available from your local Asian grocery store. Below is a picture of the packet of fresh noodles that I used.