off the spork

Japan: Koyasan - shojin ryori at Rengejoin Temple

2009-11-11T21:20:00.000+11:00

After Takayama, we headed to Koyasan. To get to our accommodation in Koyasan, it took us 7 hours, 7 trains, a cable car and a bus ride!

Rengejoin Temple

Koyasan, a small town located on Mount Koya, is the center of Shingon Buddhism in Japan. Shingon is a Buddhist sect which was introduced to Japan in 805 by Kobo Daishi. Kobo Daishi is one of the most significant personalities in Japan's religious history.

Koyasan is located in an 800m high valley amid the eight peaks of Mount Koya (the terrain is said to resemble a lotus plant, which is why the location was selected). With a population of about 4000, the town supports over one hundred temples, but in its glory days, Koyasan is said to have contained over 9,000 temples, shrines, and other buildings, with a monastic population of approximately 90,000. In 2004, UNESCO designated Mt. Koya as a World Heritage Site.

When walking through the small town, you can literally trip over temples. They are everywhere!

Rengejoin Temple

At Koyasan, we stayed for two nights in a Buddhist monastery, Rengejoin Temple, where we had the opportunity to participate in mediation and morning prayers.

Our room at Rengejoin Temple. There were paper screens between the rooms, so you could hear EVERYTHING.

After arriving at the temple and checking in, we joined the Head Monk for mediation. We had to sit still in a dim, incense filled room for forty minutes. Yes, we struggled!

After mediation it was time for dinner. We headed off to our dining room, where individual tables were set out for us. On offer was shōjin ryori, which is purely vegetarian food that is intended for monks. As well as no meat, no garlic and onions were used in the cooking.

We were served Koya tofu, which is a special preserved tofu that is attributed to the monks in Koyasan (in the middle of the photo above, above the beans). Historically, it was made by monks, who cut tofu into thin slices and put it outside to freeze. Then the tofu was brought back in, thawed and pressed, before being dried in warmed sheds. This preserved the tofu, ensuring that it could last a long time without refrigeration. When rehydrated, the tofu becomes very spongey, soaking up a great amount of liquid. It’s literally like biting into a sponge, with liquid gushing out! In the same bowl as the Koya tofu was seaweed that had been stewed with mushroom broth, soy sauce and sugar.

In addition, there was a small bowl of beans that I found too sweet for my liking, and a bowl of clear soup, inside of which was fu (wheat gluten). Naturally, there was rice, pickles and tea.

There was also goma tofu / sesame tofu. This is technically not tofu, as it is made out of ground sesame paste, water and a thickener (arrowroot powder). This had a very soft, jelly-like texture, similar to coconut pudding that you get in Chinese restaurants. It was topped with a dab of wasabi and sitting in soy sauce. The goma tofu didn’t have much flavour but it had a wonderful texture and I thought it was delicious.

We also had vegetable tempura – beans, carrot, seaweed, eggplant, pumpkin and sweet potato. As well as this, there was a bowl of somen in a mushroom broth. And finally there were a couple of slices of apple for dessert.

(You can see slightly more clearly the preserved tofu mentioned in the previous paragraph at the bottom right of the photo above.)

Breakfast was also served. It was just a small breakfast, with seaweed, miso soup with mushrooms and wakame, more Koya tofu, cucumber pickles and rice.

(There was a second dinner and breakfast at the monastery, but the food was very similar to the ones described, so I won’t go into details.)

I enjoyed the meals at Rengejoin Temple. They didn't reach the exquisite gluttony of Takayama, but they were simple and wholesome. It was probably exactly what we needed to detox after the excesses of the previous dinners!

Rengejoin Temple
700Koyasan, Koya-cho,
Ito-gun, Wakayama Prefecture 648-0211,
Japan

Japan: Takayama, Ryokan Asunaro, Part 2

2009-11-10T20:54:00.001+11:00

Our room at ryokan Asunaro

See the previous post for more information about kaiseki dining and details about a previous dinner and breakfast.

Dinner #2

We were fortunate enough to have a second dinner at the ryokan in Takayama. Just like the previous night it was fantastic.

On offer again was Hilda beef, this time sukiyaki style with tofu, taro noodles and enoki. This was cooked at our table in a small burner.

It was so tasty - here it is cooked!

This mayo looking sauce is actually made out of tofu. The yellow pieces are actually made out of fish, and there were a couple of different pickles in the bowl. It was all mixed up before eating.

Doesn't this look beautiful! Here we had a little plum lollipop, a piece of sweet potato, and at the back was some cold pork.

Inside this bowl is yuba. Yuba is made from boiled soy milk – thin films of tofu form at the top of the milk and are scooped off. Here it was served with a little soy sauce. It's quite interesting - it's soft and tastes faintly of soy.

There was a small bowl of fried whitebait.

And here was white fish with moss. Another interesting item, it was quite citrusy.

I have to be honest here and tell you that my notes on this bowl don't make much sense! From what I can make out, I believe the white objects are fu, and the yellow items are shrimp covered with egg. (You may remember from the last post that fu is wheat gluten, and is often used as a meat substitute.)

There was some rather salty smoked salmon.

On this plate was grilled saury (a type of fish), served with teriyaki sauce and sprinkled with sesame seeds. Delicious. Apparently saury is a common autumn fish, and we saw it a lot during our trip.

At the back of this plate was a tempura prawn that was covered with shredded burdock root. At the front was a shrimp coated with mochi and yuba, and beside it was the teeniest, tiniest eggplant I've ever seen!

There was rice, clear soup, and pickles.

And finally, for dessert was persimmon and persimmon agar agar jelly.

Dinner was just incredible. Like the previous night, everything was delicious and beautifully, beautifully presented. Alastair and I only had a very small lunch, but even so couldn't manage to finish everything. We were still full from breakfast!

Breakfast #2

The following day, we were up early and had breakfast at the ryokan before we left Takayama. On this plate was (clockwise from the front) egg in deep fried bean curd, shredded ginger, potato salad, seaweed/hijiki, boiled squash and carrots, and sweet beans. In the middle was a bowl containing fu and deep fried soy bean curd.

In addition, there was a piece of fish that was seasoned with sake remains. This was surprisingly sweet and fishy, but very nice.

In another small bowl was pork with mushrooms. The pork was really tender and creamy.

Cooking away in a small burner, was a little plate of egg and ham.

And of course, there was rice, soup and pickles.

After the brilliant meals we had eaten, we were rather sad to be leaving Takayama. On the other hand, if we had stayed much longer we may have left several kilos heavier so it may have been a good thing. We certainly detoxed on our next stop..... coming up shortly!

Ryokan Asunaro
2-96-2 Hatsuda-cho
Takayama-shi
Gifu-ken 506-0008, Japan

Japan: Takayama, Ryokan Asunaro, Part 1

2009-11-05T21:17:00.000+11:00

After Tokyo, our next stop was Takayama. Takayama is a small city located in the mountainous Hida region of Gifu Prefecture, west of Tokyo. Takayama was very isolated until about 50 years ago and has retained a traditional touch and well preserved old town. It is really very pretty.

In Takayama, we stayed at a ryokan (traditional inn) and included in our stay were two dinners, and two breakfasts. I’m going to spilt this post into two, as there are a lot of photos and details. Plus, as you'll see, the meals were pretty amazing!

One of the highlights about staying at a ryokan is kaiseki dining, a traditional, multi-course dinner. A kaiseki dinner can consist from 6 to 15 different kinds of food, and the food served changes according to the seasons and the area that the ryokan is located in. The design and display of the food is very important, as is the tableware, which is chosen to enhance the appearance of the food as well as the seasonal theme. We visited in early autumn.

Dinner #1

We arrived at the ryokan in the late afternoon and after checking in and a quick walk around the town, it was soon time for dinner. I had no idea what to expect of the dinners, and was pleasantly surprised when we walked into ryokan’s dining room. It was a large room with tatami mats, and individual tables set out for each guest. The tables already had some food laid out, but during the meal more courses were brought out to us. So many, in fact, that we had trouble fitting them all on the table!

Right, I'll get into it. Settle in, this will be a long one!

Underneath the house shaped cover above, were two layers of food.

The top layer held three items. At the front was tempura - soybeans, corn, and a leaf rolled around a meat filling. At the back we had angler fish liver and on the right was a mochi topped with sweet miso. I saved the mochi for last (dessert!). It was sweet and salty at the same time with the mochi having that lovely soft chewiness.

I didn't know what this was at first - it's angler fish liver. It has a rich fattiness, with the texture similar to a firm pate. It's apparently a delicacy, and I really enjoyed it.

Underneath the tempura and angler fish liver, sat a tray of soba noodle sushi.

Also on the table, under the green leaf shaped cover, was Hilda beef with miso. It was cooked on a little burner that was lit at the beginning of the meal.

There were alternating layers of beef and pumpkin that cooked away while we ate other items. The beef was tender and delicious.

This little dish was eel with ginger. It was slightly pickled (the ginger?) so there was a bit of tanginess to it.

There was a little glass of plum wine (although apparently the fruit is closer to an apricot). It was a very sweet liqueur.

More Hilda beef - this one was topped with shabu shabu sauce. I loved the nuttiness of the sauce. I thought we were done at this stage, but no, the little old lady serving us kept bringing out food!

This was a taro dumpling sitting in a broth with mushrooms, chrysanthemum, ginger and dried citrus fruit rind. This was very fragrant with the citrus, and the taro dumpling had that soft, almost sticky taro texture (which I personally love about taro).

Everyone loved this one - tempura prawn covered with shredded potato. It was like a chip covered prawn. What a genius idea!

Beautifully presented tuna and seabass sashimi. The sashimi wasn't as good at the sashimi we had at the Tsukiji fish market but it was still pretty good!

There was a salty clear soup, inside of which was a bonito fish ball.

Tea, rice and pickles, natch. I ate the pickles before I took this photo - whoops!

And last but not least, there was some poached nashi and kiwi fruit.

As you can see, everything was beautifully presented and ohmy it was delicious. It was one of the best meals I've ever had..... until the following night, that is!

Breakfast #1

Breakfast the next day was another great meal. Fortunately for our stomachs, it wasn't as large as dinner!

Part of breakfast was hoba miso, which was cooked on top of the little burner at our tables. Hoba miso is a version of miso where sweet miso is grilled on a hoba (magnolia) leaf and served as a dip or for eating with rice as is. It sounds pretty simple, but it’s really tasty as the heat caramelises the miso and you end up with a soft, salty-sweet paste.

In this box we had cooked spinach like vegetables with shabu shabu sauce on the left. In the middle looks like vegetables with gingko nuts, and on the right is tamago (egg). In the middle of the box was a little umeboshi - a pickled plum that was very salty and sour.

At the back left was a little piece of grilled salmon.

And at the back on the right were a few different types of tofu. One was a preserved spongey tofu. The tofu soaked up so much liquid, that when I bit into it, liquid came sloshing out.

There was a wonderful steamed savoury egg custard – chawanmushi - at the bottom of which sat a prawn and gingko nuts. It was the best steamed egg custard I’ve ever had, with the silkiest, smoothest texture.

There was miso soup, with fu (wheat gluten). Fu is soft and spongey and doesn’t have much flavour on its own but soaks up the flavour of whatever its in. After this, we kept seeing fu everywhere, to the point where if I didn't know what something was, I just assumed it was fu!

Naturally, there was also rice and pickles, as well as some fruit to finish off.

Phew! I feel full just looking at those pictures. But coming up is part 2, where we had another amazing dinner and breakfast! To be continued...

Ryokan Asunaro
2-96-2 Hatsuda-cho
Takayama-shi
Gifu-ken 506-0008, Japan

Japan: Soba noodle making class

2009-11-01T17:37:00.000+11:00

Note: Sorry, it's another photo heavy post!

While in Tokyo, Alastair and I took part in a soba noodle making class. Our teacher was Hashimoto-san, and he showed us how to make soba noodles by hand. After the demonstration, we then made our own batch of soba.

Soba noodles are made from buckwheat flour, wheat flour and water. The flour ratio varies, but in Tokyo they traditionally use 80% buckwheat flour and 20% wheat flour.

Hashimoto-san started off by pouring the wheat and buckwheat flour into a large bowl and then formed his hands in a "bear claws" shape. He looks very stern in this picture, but he had a fun sense of humour!

The fingers were then placed into the flours and mixed around quickly - "swimming through the flour - with turns at 50 metres!".

After the flours were well mixed, he created a well in the middle, and poured in about 80% of the water. The water required varies depending on the humidity and the body temperature of the person making the soba. The water was pre-measured for us, so unfortunately I can't remember the amount!

Instead of touching the water, Hashimoto-san covered the water with the flour, and then pulled his hand through the flour from one side to the other. He kept repeating these two steps, alternating the direction that he would pull his hand through. This prevented the water from getting on his hands and making all sticky, and eventually all the water was mixed into the flour.

Then it was time for "fast swimming" until the mixture become like small breadcrumbs and was no longer sticky.

Most of the water (apart from a couple of teaspoons) was then poured in, and he kept mixing it together with his hands. At this point we could smell the soba scent - it was very nutty and fragrant. The soba mixture started to clump together into larger balls.

He added the rest of the water and started rolling the mixture under his palms.

It started to come together in large circular balls under his hands, until gradually it all came together in a dough.

The dough was kneaded about 40 times.

Then Hashimoto-san started making a chrysanthemum shape, by first rolling it into a disc, putting the disc on its side, placing the side of his right hand at 3 o'clock, turning the whole disc to 10 o'clock, and then pushing it down slightly with the side of his hand. There was a definite art to getting the chrysanthemum shape, and I have to confess that when it was our turn, I couldn’t quite figure out how to do it. Fortunately Alastair understood the steps!

Once he was satisfied with the shape, he started rolling it into a cone. He then squashed the cone down into a disc, pushing down with the heel of his hand until it was 20cm and resembled a big wheel of cheese.

He pulled out a long rolling pin and taught us how to do the rolling movement. The hands are shaped like cat claws, placed on the rolling pin, and then moved together or apart to move the rolling pin.

He kept rolling the disc until it was about 40cm across, turning the disc every now and again to make sure it was even and round.

Then it was time to make the soba dough square. He spread flour down the middle of the disc, and then rolled it up around the rolling pin.

He gently patted the dough down, in a forward rolling motion, about five times. He then unrolled it, turned it 180 degrees to the opposite side and re-rolled it around the rolling pin. He repeated the patting down movement 3 times.

He unrolled it again, and turned the dough around 90 degrees to repeat the previous two steps for the other side of the dough.

When he was finished, it was looking squarish!

Next he used the rolling pin to even out the angles.

And kept rolling the dough until it was about 45cm x 80cm big.

When he was happy with the size and the evenness, he rolled the dough on to the rolling pin.

He turned the dough around and unrolled most of it, leaving a small section still on the rolling pin. He scattered buckwheat flour over the top of the dough.

Lifting the rolling pin and the remaining dough that was still rolled up, he folded the dough widthwise.

Scattering more flour on top of the dough, he folded it over again.

It was almost time to cut the soba! He pulled out the chopping board and sprinkled on a lot of buckwheat flour.

The dough was placed on top of the chopping board, and more flour was scattered on top.

He showed us the large knife and taught us how to hold it. The Chinese characters were on the outside, and the hand holding the knife had the index finger pointing down towards the board. On top of the soba dough Hashimoto-san placed a wooden chopping guide. On the chopping guide, he placed his other hand, with the fingers in a "fox shape" - pinky and index finger pointing down, and the middle and ring finger folded in. He then taught us how to cut the soba.

The knife was placed hard up against the chopping guide - he tilted the knife a tiny amount (which moved the chopping guide slightly), pulled the knife back up and then pushed down to cut the soba.

After repeating this movement, the soba was cut into thin strips.

He cut the soba very quickly and thinly - it was very impressive!

And his noodles were beautiful.

After the demonstration, Alastair and I tried making soba noodles ourselves. We shared a bowl and made noodles together, which is a good thing because a batch of soba noodles makes enough to serve 5 people! The cutting of the noodle took a bit of practice, but I think we did really well, and our noodles turned out nice and thin (those are our noodles in the photo). We made the best ones – haha!

We then had the opportunity to eat the noodles we made. Hashimoto-san cooked our noodles in a large pot of boiling water for 60 seconds, and then rinsed them thoroughly in cold water before dunking them into ice water.

We ate them dipped in soba sauce - yum!

I love cold soba, and the noodles were doubly delicious because we had made them ourselves. It was fascinating to learn the process in making soba noodles by hand - I hadn't realised it was that labour intensive. But it was good fun and we got to eat our work. What’s better than that?

Japan: Tsukiji fish market + sashimi breakfast

2009-10-28T22:04:00.000+11:00

Note: This is a photo heavy post! And a warning to anyone who may be squeamish or who doesn’t like to see dead animals, there’s lots of pictures of dead fish ahead.

While in Tokyo, we visited the Tokyo Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market / Tsukiji fish market to see the tuna auction. We left our ryokan (inn) at the insane time of 4.50am to get there in time, as the tuna auctions start at 5.20am and finish around 7am.

I had heard lots about this market - that it is the largest seafood market in the world and that it handles over 2,000 tons of seafood per day and more than 400 different types of seafood. Well, I knew the market was busy, but I didn't know just how busy. And no one had ever said to keep an eye out for the death barrels!

What’s a death barrel, you say? That thing up there is a death barrel. There were hundreds and hundreds of these things, whizzing around at top speed, barely slowing for other oncoming death barrels and hapless tourists. There was a ban on tourists visiting the tuna auction between Dec 08 and Jan 09, and after being there, I’m kinda surprised that they lifted the ban. I'm surprised that they let tourists visit at all! The market is REALLY busy and I felt like I was constantly in the way (and about to be run over by a death barrel).

Nevertheless, we made it to the tuna auction area safely. One of the changes the market made after lifting the ban is that tourists can only view the auction in a designated observation area and no flash photography is allowed. Well, the observation area is a skinny little area of the floor that has been cordoned off, and it’s pretty tiny. We managed to just squeeze ourselves in to get a look at the action. It was fairly difficult to stay there for long as there were so many people – most people just seemed to content themselves in taking a couple of photos and then leaving.

Buyers checking the quality of the fish

After being in the tuna auction area for a while, we left and had a wander around the seafood stalls. So much seafood!

There was lots of interesting seafood for sale. I wish I knew what everything was!

Fresh wasabi - so amazing!

We also had a walk around the vegetable and fruit section. This was MUCH more sedate than the seafood area.

Afterwards, we stopped at one of the small restaurants inside the market for a sashimi breakfast. The tiny shop seated 10 people along a counter. During our breakfast, the owner gave us Japanese lessons. He was a real character!

On the plate we had tuna, bonito, octopus, a raw prawn/shrimp, and a cooked prawn. I particularly loved the bonito. It had a melt in the mouth texture and was delicious. The raw prawn/shrimp was also a revelation – it was very sweet and creamy. We were told that they were a specific kind called sweet shrimp.

Along with the sashimi, there was also rice, miso soup and pickles. They barely got a look in - it was all about the sashimi. Gosh it was a memorable meal, it was some of the best sashimi I’ve ever eaten, and definitely the best sashimi we ate on our trip!

Plane food: Cathay Pacific

2009-10-25T22:03:00.001+11:00

And we are back! We had a fantastic time in Japan and I have many, many food tales and a gazillion photos.

We flew to Japan on Cathay Pacific via Hong Kong, mostly so I could stop there and hang out with my mum on the way back. It was really nice to have that time there (even though it was stinking hot and busy).

On our first flight, from Melbourne to Hong Kong, we were served dinner and breakfast.

Dinner was a choice between braised shredded pork with preserved vegetables in light soya sauce and steamed rice or pan-fried basa with tomato, parsley and lemon myrtle sauce, mashed poatoes with green peas. There was also a vegetarian pasta choice.

I had the pork. It was okay. Nothing amazing but still edible.

Alastair had the fish. His meal looked like it was the better choice.

There was also coleslaw with salami and a little lamington for dessert.

There was no choice for breakfast – it was a croissant, a pastry, a muffin, fruit, and yoghurt. A bit too much sugar for my liking.

It was a short flight from Hong Kong to Japan, and we were served lunch. Thank goodness too, because we hadn’t eaten. This was Alastair's lunch, and for the life of me I cannot remember what it was. Chicken? With rice?

And my lunch - fish with rice. It was fine.

On our way home, from Japan to Hong Kong, Alastair and I both choose the chicken (with rice, natch!). Note the little Tim Tam for dessert!

After a busy stop over in HK, we then headed home to Melbourne. On the flight back home, we were served dinner and breakfast. For dinner, Alastair choose the fish with potatoes. This looked pretty good. Better than my choice...

Which was pork strips with rice. It was okay, but it was pretty similar to all the other meals on Cathay Pacific thus far!

There was an ice cream for dessert. No lamingtons this time.

And breakfast was similar to when we flew out to Japan. There was a warm bread roll thingie with mushrooms and cheese, a muffin and a little pastry. The bread thing was quite nice but I found the muffin too sweet and couldn't stomach more than a bite of the pastry.

All in all, economy food on Cathay Pacific? Pretty average, with the meals being mostly uninspired. The price of being in cattle class, I suppose! Ho hum. Fortunately the food we ate in Japan was a million times better - stay tuned for more!

Bagels

2009-10-14T08:00:00.000+11:00

Note: This is a scheduled post - Alastair and I are currently in Hong Kong and will be back home soon. Normal programming will resume shortly!

At my old job, I had a terrible habit of not taking breakfast to work, and buying breakfast at the cafe in our building. I also had a bad habit of taking breakfast into work, not eating it, and buying something instead. Gaaah.

Finally, something clicked, and I realised I was doing this because I didn’t like what I had planned for breakfast! I kept buying bagels for breakfast, and "ding ding" I realised that I could just make my own.

So I did! And they were awesome. They were very chewy, which I do like, but due to the chewiness I preferred them toasted rather than fresh. I stashed several in the freezer for future breakfasts.

The recipe says that when the bagels are put into the water for boiling, they should sink first and then rise back to the surface. Mine all floated – and rather annoying, there was nothing to indicate how to make them more “bagely” so they would sink. And for some reason, when they came out of the water, they were all lumpy! So not very attractive, but I managed to hide the lumpiness with sesame seeds and poppy seeds.

Bagels

The recipe is from here. I have rewritten it to make it easier to follow, but I recommend you read it through because it has some useful tips.

6-8 cups bread flour
4 tablespoons instant yeast
6 tablespoons sugar or light honey
2 teaspoons salt
3 cups hot water
Vegetable oil
Water for boiling
3-5 tablespoons malt syrup or sugar
A few handfuls of cornmeal (I used fine polenta)

Pour 3 cups of warm water in a large bowl. Stir in the sugar or honey. Sprinkle the yeast over and stir to dissolve. Set it aside for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, the yeast should be nice and foamy (if this doesn’t happen, start again with new yeast!). Add 3 cups of flour as well as the salt to the yeast mixture and start mixing it in. Add more flour, half a cup at a time, mixing each addition thoroughly before adding more. Eventually, it will become a stiff dough (you may not need all the flour).

Turn out on to a clean, dry countertop and knead until it is smooth and elastic. It should be heavy and stiffer than a normal bread dough.

Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover it with a damp kitchen towel. Leave the bowl in a dry, warm place and leave it to rise until it is doubled in volume (I left mine for a couple of hours).

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. When the dough has risen, get the boiling water ready. Get a large pot and fill it with a generous amount of water. Put it on high heat and let the water come to the boil. When it reaches a boil, add the syrup or sugar and turn down the heat so the water barely simmers.

Turn out your dough on to a clean work surface, punch it down, and divide into about 16 even-sized pieces. To form the bagels, shape the dough into a long cylindrical snake shape. Wrap it around a rolling pin, push the two ends together to join, and then roll the bagel up and down the rolling pin to smooth out the sides.

When all the bagels are formed, let them rest for 10 minutes. They will rise slightly, ideally by about 1/4th volume.

One by one, drop the bagels into the pot of simmering water. Only have two or three bagels in the water at a time – and they will puff up so watch out for it. The bagels should sink first and then flat to the top. Let the bagel simmer for three minutes then turn it over and simmer for another three minutes.

Lift the bagel out of the water and set on to a clean kitchen towel. The bagels should be shiny, due to the malt syrup/sugar in the boiling water.

When all the bagels have been boiled, sprinkle baking trays with cornmeal. Arrange the bagels on top, put them in the oven, and bake for about 25 minutes. Turn them over and bake for another 10 minutes. This helps to prevent flat bottomed bagels.

Remove from the oven and let them cool completely on wire racks before slicing.

Lunch at Horoki

2009-10-08T08:00:00.000+11:00

Note: This is a scheduled post. Alastair and I are still in Japan and will be off to HK in the next couple of days!

At my old job, JC (a colleague) and I would tally up favours that we would do for each other. We would mark up the favours on a whiteboard, and from the beginning I was waaaaaaaaaay out in front.

JC offered to take me to lunch before I left work. I'm sure it was a way to equalise the favours board but I never say no to a lunch!

We went to Horoki. During lunchtime, they do a lunch platter for $13.90. You choose rice or bread, and then you pick three items off a list of about ten items. For an extra $2 you can also have a bowl of miso soup.

I choose....

The tuna and tofu salad - discs of lovely soft tofu, flaked tuna and salad. I loved the dressing on top - a sweetish, nutty, sesame sauce.

The mini scotch fillet steak with onion sauce. Some tender beef and a bit of green!

And the salmon and spinach croquettes - deep fried mashed potato with salmon and spinach.

I think it's a great value lunch. Even though the servings of the three items are small, it's just the right amount for lunch. Everything is tasty and beautifully presented.

Read about a previous visit to Horoki here

Horoki
19 Liverpool St
Melbourne 3000
Phone: 9663 2227

Dinner at Horoki

2009-10-02T08:00:00.000+10:00

Note: This is a scheduled post, Alastair and I are currently eating our way through Japan!

A couple of weeks ago, Alastair and I had dinner with Maria and Daz at Horoki. We ordered several dishes to share.

The first item out was a sashimi and daikon salad. The salad consisted of finely shredded daikon, salad, shredded seaweed, cherry tomatoes, fish roe and soy based dressing. Around the sides of the salad was several pieces of sashimi. The salad was great - crispy, salty, and fresh. I particularly loved the bursts of salty flavour that the seaweed provided.

Next was octopus in garlic butter. This was served with bread - perfect for soaking up all that garlicky buttery goodness!

We ordered four stuffed chicken wings (styled by Maria!). The wings had been deboned and stuffed with leeks (?) and... I forget what else! I do remember that they were juicy and delicious.

This isn't something that I normally would have ordered, but I'm glad that Maria and Daz did! This is the Teriyaki chicken pizza. The thin crispy base was topped with cheese, teriyaki chicken, seaweed and spring onions.

We ordered two serves of the soft shell crab. Goodness knows what has happened with the photo! The soft shell crab had been battered, deep fried and was served with a lemon mayonnaise. We knew when we ordered that we would enjoy it - hence the two serves - and it met our expectations. Yum.

And last came the roast duck and eggplant - slices of roast duck laid out on slices of eggplant and in a dark plumish(?) type sauce.

I really like the food at Horoki and thoroughly enjoyed dinner.

Read about a previous visit to Horoki here

Horoki
19 Liverpool St
Melbourne 3000
Phone: 9663 2227

Vanilla vanilla cupcakes

2009-09-26T08:00:00.000+10:00

Note: This is a scheduled post - Alastair and I are currently on holiday!

When I told Twinsy that I was interested in making vanilla cupcakes, she lent me her Crapapple Bakery cupcake cookbook and told me to try the vanilla cupcake recipe. The book says that the vanilla cupcake is the biggest seller at the bakery. After making them, I can see why!

The cupcakes are really light and fluffy - even when it’s still at the batter stage you can tell how fluffy they're going to be. I don’t like cakes and desserts to be too sweet, and these fit the bill. They’re not too sweet, they’re fluffy, and they have a strong vanilla flavour. They're really, really good.

On top of the cupcakes is a vanilla buttercream. I didn’t follow the buttercream recipe from the Crabapple Bakery cookbook though – just reading the recipe made my teeth ache because it asks for 8 cups of icing sugar for about 200g of butter (For comparison, the recipe I use has 3 cups of sugar for 225g of butter and it is definitely sweet enough for me!).

The recipe makes a large amount - I made about 28 cupcakes out of one batch. If you don't want to make as many, try halving the recipe, although I'm sure you wouldn't have any problems sharing them amongst friends if you made the full batch. I must stress again how good they are – the best cupcakes I’ve ever made according to my friend Rukiye.

On my last day at my old job, I took a batch of mini cupcakes into work for my colleagues. I halved the recipe and managed to get 47 mini cupcakes. I thought they were very cute and they went down a treat. :)

Vanilla cupcakes

From the Crabapple Bakery Cupcake Cookbook

Makes 24 cupcakes

2 & 3/4 cups plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
200g unsalted butter - softened
1 & 3/4 cups caster sugar
4 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 170°C. Line two 12-hole muffin trays with liners.

In an electric mixer, cream the butter on high for a couple of minutes until pale and fluffy. Add the caster sugar a third at a time, beating for several minutes before the next addition.

When the mixture is light and fluffy, add the eggs one at a time, beating on medium for a minute after each one. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.

Add the flour and milk alternately to the butter mixture in several batches and beat on low speed until just combined.

Spoon mixture into the cupcake liners and bake for 18-20 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Remove from the trays immediately and let cool completely on a wire rack before icing/frosting.

Vanilla buttercream

Thanks to Maria

250 grams unsalted butter, cut into cubes and very, very soft
3 cups sifted icing sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Beat the butter in an electric mixer on high until it is very pale and fluffy.

Gradually add the icing sugar (I do this a tablespoon at a time), beating well between additions. Beat until the buttercream is very fluffy - about 5-6 minutes.

Heat the milk in the microwave until it's very warm. Add to the butter cream and beat on high for another couple of minutes. Add the vanilla extract and mix to combine. Pipe on top of the cupcakes.

Farewell lunch at Takumi

2009-09-22T18:36:00.000+10:00

Not only was yesterday my last day before going on four weeks leave, it was also my last day at my current job. Sadness!

A crowd of us went out for a farewell lunch at Takumi, a Japanese restaurant that specialises in wagyu.

I had the wagyu pattie bento box ($13.80). Inside the bento box was sashimi - thinly sliced pieces of scallop and salmon, a big wagyu beef pattie, fresh salad, and rice topped with furikake.

It was very good! The sashimi was nice and fresh, and the pattie was juicy and full of flavour. I really like the furikake on the rice too.

A couple of others on my table had the wagyu beef burger. It was massive and looked awesome. It's hard to see, but inside it had a big meat pattie, salad and even a fried egg!

And others had the ebi bento box - similar to the pattie bento box except with a couple of crumbed prawns and fish. All the bento boxes came with a bowl of miso soup.

Takumi is tastefully decorated, with chocolate brown walls and a polished floor. We were a large group, and the staff were friendly and helpful in dealing with our orders. It was a lovely place for lunch on my last day.

I will really miss my colleagues (particularly Twinsy!) but on the upside, I have a holiday to look forward to. We leave in a few hours! It has been almost two years since our last decent holiday, so I’m looking forward to some long overdue time away.

I probably won't be posting while I'm away, but I have a few posts scheduled to publish over the next few weeks so keep coming back for some food goodness. I will probably be slower than usual in replying to comments though. See you when we get back!

Cheese party and Rogan Josh

2009-09-20T22:58:00.000+10:00

Alastair and I are going on holiday soon (Tuesday in fact). We're going away for almost four weeks, so last weekend I organised a catch up dinner with Dany, Ben and Lisa.

Randomly, Lisa and I have a couple of running jokes relating to cheese. One is about a travelling cheese salesman, and another one is about a cheese party. When I sent Lisa an email about dinner, she asked whether it was going to be the fabled cheese party.

Yes it will be a cheese party, I told her, but only if you bring the cheese. And I made sure to tell her that one cheese does not make a cheese party. Neither does two cheeses. In fact, for a cheese party, you need at least FIVE cheeses.

Lo and behold........ I don't know why I was surprised when Benisa arrived on Saturday bearing five cheeses!

And not only were there five labelled cheeses (what's a party without a name tag?), check out the flags Lisa made - the cheeses are partying! Have you ever seen anything like it?

For dinner, we veered away from the cheese party as I had prepared an Indian feast. I made a rogan josh, chicken saag, daal, (store bought) roti and basmati rice. I was pretty pleased with how things turned out, particularly the rogan josh, which was the star.

The recipe for the rogan josh I copied out of a cookbook a long time ago and I neglected to note down the source. I think it may have been a Madhur Jaffrey cookbook - I will have to try and find it so I can try the other recipes in the book. On first read the recipe seems like a lot of fuss with lots of ingredients. Once you get started though, you'll find that it's not so bad, and is well worth the effort. With all the yoghurt, the end result is a pretty mild curry which is aromatic and flavoursome. I have made it before, and will definitely make it again!

Oh! Our holiday! We are off to Japan and Hong Kong - in Japan for almost 3 weeks and HK for 5 days on the way back. Ooooooh the excitement!

Rogan Josh

Adapted from....?

2 x 2.5cm chunks of fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped
8 cloves garlic, peeled
4 tablespoons water plus 300ml water
10 tablespoons vegetable oil
900g boned lamb or beef
10 cardamon pods
2 bay leaves
6 cloves
10 peppercorns
2.5cm cinnamon stick
200g onions, peeled and finely chopped
1 teaspoon ground coriander
2 teaspoons ground cumin
4 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 & 1/2 teaspoons salt
6 tablespoons natural yoghurt
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
Black pepper

Put the ginger, garlic and 4 tablespoons of water into a blender and blend into a smooth paste.

Heat the oil in a wide, heavy pot over medium-high heat. Brown the meat in several batches and set aside. Into the same hot oil, place the cardamom, bay leaves, cloves, peppercorns, and cinnamon. Stir it once and wait a few seconds for the cloves to swell and for the bay leaves to colour. Add the onions and fry for five minutes, or until the onions are medium-brown.

Add the ginger-garlic paste and cook for 30 seconds. Add the coriander, cumin, paprika, cayenne, and the salt, and fry for another 30 seconds.

Add the browned meat and any meat juices to the pot. Add 1 tablespoon of the yogurt and stir and fry for about 30 seconds until the yogurt is well blended. Add the remaining yogurt, a tablespoon at a time, in the same way. Cook for another 3-4 minutes.

Add the water and scrap down the sides and bottom of the pot. Increase the heat to high, and bring the contents of the pot to a boil. Cover the pot, turn the heat to low, and simmer for about an hour or until the meat is tender. Stir the pot occasionally.

When the meat is tender, remove the lid, increase the heat and boil off some of the liquid, stirring all the time, until the sauce is thickened (I skipped this step - mine had lots of gravy!)

Mix in the garam masala and black pepper just before serving.

Vietnamese Coconut Waffles

2009-09-16T21:23:00.020+10:00

After Alastair and I rolled out of bed one Sunday, we wandered into the kitchen in search of food. Alastair started making coffees, while I stared blankly into the fridge and tried to think of what we could eat.

Suddenly – bing! Waffles! I went online and started searching for a waffle recipe. I found a couple of simple ones and then I looked over at the milk container and realised that Alastair had used all the milk for coffees.

Doh! How was I supposed to make waffles without milk? Breakfast was going to be delayed until someone could go and buy some.

And then I came across a recipe for Vietnamese coconut waffles. Instead of using milk, coconut milk is added. Ding ding! Breakfast needn’t be delayed after all. I was happy (and so was my growling stomach).

These waffles smell divine while cooking, and the eating is pleasant too. I poached a couple of peeled and cored pears in sugar syrup while the waffles were cooking, and we ate them with just the pears and without syrup. They were delicious - fragrant and coconutty. Initially I wasn’t going to blog about them, but they looked so cute with the pear perched on top that I couldn’t resist taking a photo!

If you like your waffles crispy, leave them in the waffle iron until they are dark brown and put them on a cooling rack after you pull them out. They crisp up quite well.

Vietnamese coconut waffles

Adapted from Vietnamese World Kitchen

1 cup plain flour
7 tablespoons caster sugar
1 & ½ teaspoons cornflour
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg, separated
1 cup coconut milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 & ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

Heat up the waffle iron/maker.

In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cornflour, salt, and baking powder. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolk, coconut milk, butter and vanilla extract.

Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir gently until incorporated.

With an electric mixer, beat the egg white to a stiff peak.

Fold a third of the egg white through the waffle batter before folding through the rest of the egg white.

Add the batter to the waffle iron and cook for about 3 – 5 minutes, or until golden brown. Pull out of the waffle iron and cool on a rack – they will crisp up as they cool (darker waffles will be more crispy).

Q Eleven

2009-09-13T23:04:00.000+10:00

The other weekend Alastair and I started things off with a rather good brunch at Q Eleven. It must've been a sign of things to come because we enjoyed good eating for the rest of the weekend. That evening we met up with Maria and Daz for dinner at Horoki before going to see Tripod. Dinner was great, and Tripod were fantastic. On Sunday we had a home made breakfast (pictured above) with scrambled eggs, fried chorizo, a big fat grilled mushroom and hash browns (supermarket ones... I'm not ashamed to say that I like them!). For afternoon tea later that day there was freshly baked banana cake with a cup of strong tea, and then finally for dinner Bro and I made Hainanese chicken rice. It was so good. I just about had to roll my way out of bed on Monday.

But back to Q Eleven. Alastair and I were in South Melbourne for my regular market wander. Food shopping bores Alastair senseless, so he rarely gets dragged out for food shopping these days. Bro and I normally go together, but as he was busy Alastair had to be the dutiful husband. I thought that he needed some food to shore up his patience so we headed to a cafe for breakfast.

Q Eleven is "cozy", and seems pretty popular, so we were fortunate to get seats! It's popular for good reason - as soon as I opened the menu, I was excited. It's not just bacon and eggs here! With items like the creamed sago pudding with lime, coconut, berries and yogurt, or the warmed rhubarb and apple compote with pistachio crumb fingers of French toast, or the refried beans, with fried eggs, pumpkin and coriander roesti, salsa and chipotle mayo, choosing only one thing to eat was difficult!

Alastair had the omelette with crispy potato, roasted capscium, feta and gremolata ($13.50). He gave me a taste, and even though I've mentioned before that I don't like open omelettes, this was pretty good. No rubberiness here!

I had the ham and roesti stack ($16.90). It truly was a stack - out came a soft poached egg on top of a slice of Kassler ham, a quinoa and potato roesti, and spinach. Perched at the very top was onion jam, and on the side of the stack was rosemary roasted tomatoes. It was good, the rather salty ham providing the seasoning to the gooey egg, soft roesti and spinach. I really enjoyed it.

Fortified by a good breakfast, we were able to make the market rounds. As for Q Eleven, I would definitely go back - even now I'm still wondering about the creamed sago pudding. Next time!

Q Eleven / Q11
303 Coventry Street,
South Melbourne
Phone: 03 9645 7311

Flan!

2009-09-06T22:30:00.000+10:00

“Flan, flan, it’s our plan! If you can’t flan it, no one can!”

Yep, that’s my daggy flan chant. And yes, I chanted it around the house after I had made flan (flan!).

The other week we went to see the lovely Emily and Mark. I was pretty excited because we were going to meet the new addition to their household – wee baby Felix!

Naturally, I don't expect someone who has a two year old and a 6 week old to cook for me, so I brought dinner to them. I made a chorizo, chicken and fish stew, which seemed quite dull at home. But after I reheated it at their place, and added the fish to cook, it seemed much more interesting. I'll have to try it again sometime and perhaps document it.

And dessert, of course there was dessert. For dessert, we had flan (flan!). The flan tasted good and was rich and sweet, but the texture was firm rather than silky smooth. It wasn't too firm, but it certainly wasn't what I was expecting. I'm not sure if it was the recipe, or whether the flans had been in the oven for too long. It's possible that they were baked too long as my ramekins were largish (and in hindsight I should've used smaller ones!) so the flan was very shallow.

I'd like to try making it again, but perhaps I'll try a different recipe next time.

Flan, flan! That's the plan! If you can't make flan, no one can!

Flan

From Taste.com.au.

Serves 6

1/2 cup (110g) caster sugar
395g can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 eggs
Thin cream, to serve

Preheat your oven to 170°C. Lightly grease six 3/4 cup ramekins.

Place the sugar and 1/4 cup water into a saucepan and stir over low heat until the sugar is dissolved. Let it simmer for 10-15 minutes, occasionally brushing down the sides of the pot with a wet pastry brush, until the mixture is golden brown.

Pour immediately into the prepared ramekins, and swirl each one so the caramel coasts the sides (it will set quickly, so be fast!). Set aside to cool.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the condensed milk, vanilla essence and eggs. Strain into a jug.

Place the caramel lined ramekins in a roasting pan and pour the milk mixture between them. Pour enough boiling water into the roasting pan to come up halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Cover the pan with foil and bake for about 35 minutes or until just set. Remove from the pan, let cool, and then refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight.

Before serving, dip the base of each ramekin into a bowl of warm water for 30 seconds. Run a knife around the edge of the ramekins to release the flan, then invert into a shallow bowl. Serve with cream if desired.

Lemon meringue cupcakes

2009-08-31T22:11:00.005+10:00

After all the cupcaking over the past month, you would think that I would want to take a break from cupcake baking. Erm... nope! After reading Maria's post, lemon meringue cupcakes have been on my "to bake" list for a while... a rather long while, I'm afraid. But I finally got around to it last weekend - and now I wonder why it took me so long!

I started off making the lemon curd, following a recipe that I found on taste.com.au (I have rewritten the overly complicated recipe below – there is enough curd there to make two batches of cupcakes). Next I baked the cupcakes, which is fairly easy, and waited for them to cool before I tackled the meringue. The meringue required a sugar thermometer and a stand mixer to make, but the end result was light, delicate, and delicious. I confess to eating rather a lot of meringue.... erm, let's just say
I was cleaning the beaters prior to washing up. Finally, after I had gorged on enough meringue, the cupcakes were assembled - I cut a small hole in the middle of each one, filled the holes with lemon curd, and then piped the meringue on top. Alastair expertly blow torched the meringue for me (and we won't discuss how he set a couple on fire!).

And the result? Ohmygod! They were amazing - heaven in a mini cake form. The cupcakes were really moist, and delightful with the gooey, sourish lemon curd and sweet fluffy meringue on top. Swoon!

If you like lemon based desserts, try these. It may seem like a lot of effort, but it's totally worth it!

For the cupcakes, see cuisine.com.au for the recipe.

Basic lemon curd

Adapted from taste.com.au

2 tsp finely grated lemon rind
½ cup lemon juice
200g caster sugar
3 x 60g eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
100g unsalted butter, cut into 1cm cubes

This recipe makes more than you’ll need for 12 cupcakes so have a sterilised jar handy for the rest of the lemon curd (if you need instructions for sterilising a jar, go to the original recipe).

Place the lemon juice and sugar in a stainless steel bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir to combine.

Pour the eggs through a sieve into a separate bowl, and use a wooden spoon to gently push the egg through.

Add the strained eggs to the juice and sugar mixture. Mix to combine. Bring the water to a gentle simmer and stir the mixture for about 20 minutes or until it thickens and thinly coats the back of the wooden spoon.

Remove the bowl from the pot and add the butter, a couple of pieces at a time, stirring until the butter melts and mixture is combined.

When you have stirred in all the butter, add the lemon rind and pour into sterilised jars. Cool to room temperature before storing in the fridge.

RSPCA Cupcake Day recap

2009-08-17T23:10:00.000+10:00

The Cupcake Bakeoff for the RSPCA Cupcake Day went well at work today. We had a good assortment of cupcakes - along with mine there was also carrot, lemon, banana, and vanilla with different toppings. There was some tough competition from bumblebee cupcakes (see below) but the fondant toppers and the booze in mine got me over the line and I won the bakeoff. Sweet!

Jennie organised a great event. There was a good variety of cupcakes, and a really good turnout with many people coming from other floors/branches. Most of the cupcakes sold at morning tea time, with the leftovers gradually disappearing by the end of the day.

And money wise, we raised over $240 for the RSPCA - a good result!

Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes with chocolate whisky ganache and Baileys buttercream

2009-08-17T10:20:00.001+10:00

Hooray! After weeks of practice cupcake baking, the Cupcake Challenge is finally here! (Quick recap - today is the RSPCA Cupcake Day. We are participating at work with a little bake off, with all proceeds going to the RSPCA.)

As soon as I saw these cupcakes on Hold the Beef, I knew immediately that I wanted to make them for the Challenge. Because - well just listen to the description - a chocolate Guinness cupcake, filled with a chocolate and whiskey ganache, and topped with Baileys buttercream... swoon!

I baked a practice batch a couple of weeks ago, and discovered that the cupcakes were as delicious as they sounded. You can't taste any alcohol in the cupcakes, but the Guinness does seem to add something that I can't describe. There's no bitterness from the stout - most likely because there's two cups of sugar in the recipe! I've heard chocolate Guinness cake being described as very rich, but in cupcake form it's moist and not at all heavy. The other bonus of the Guinness is that you get more than a cup of liquid in a can, so you can drink the rest while you bake the cupcakes!

The middle of the cupcakes are filled with a chocolate whiskey ganache. I know, it couldn't possibly get any more decadent.

For the Cupcake Challenge, I also made fondant toppers. I made ducks, penguins, little cupcakes, sheep heads, bunnies and bumblebees. I actually purchased some Playdoh to practice with before making these! Fondant doesn't have exactly the same consistency as Playdoh (it's softer) but I found that practicing with Playdoh still helped a lot.

I was quite pleased with how the fondant toppers turned out - I think my favourites are the sheep heads and maybe the bunnies.

(The toppers aren't on the cupcakes because I didn't want to put them on until the last minute.

So what do you think? Do you reckon I have a fighting chance in the Cupcake Challenge?

Chocolate Guinness cupcakes with chocolate whiskey ganache and Baileys buttercream

Adapted from Hold the Beef, and originally from Smitten Kitchen

I have adapted some of the measures to metric but not all of them. I know that you're not supposed to have a combination of weight and volume measurements in a recipe, but that's the way I bake. The buttercream recipe is thanks to Maria who has been unbelievably helpful in all things cupcake!

For the cupcakes:

1 cup Guinness
225 grams unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups plain flour, sifted
2 cups caster sugar
1 & 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs (I used 3 eggs, as mine were small)
2/3 cup sour cream

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line 24 cupcake cups with liners. (The first batch of these I baked, I managed to get 28 cupcakes. With the second batch I made larger cupcakes and only got 18.)

In a saucepan, heat the Guinness and unsalted butter until simmering. Turn off the heat and whisk in the cocoa powder until smooth. Set aside to cool slightly.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.

In a mixer, beat together the eggs and sour cream. Add the Guinness mixture, and beat to just combine.

Add the flour mixture, and beat briefly on a slow speed until combined.

Spoon into the cupcake liners, and bake for about 17 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

For the ganache:

230 grams good quality dark chocolate, chopped in rough pieces
2/3 cup thickened cream
30 grams butter, room temperature
2 teaspoons Irish whiskey (or more to taste - I used double this quantity and would still have been happy with more!)

Either melt the chocolate and cream in a double boiler, or do what I do and put the chocolate and cream in a microwavable bowl. Microwave in 30 second bursts, stirring between bursts, until melted. Add the butter and whiskey, and stir until combined. Set aside to cool slightly.

Filling the cupcakes:

When the cupcakes are cool, use a small knife and cut cone shaped chunks out of the middle of the cupcakes, making sure that you don't cut all the way to the bottom (the other recipes say to use an apple corer or biscuit cutter but I found it easier to just use a knife). Eat the cupcake middles as you go and remember that the bigger holes you make, the more you get to eat! Spoon the ganache into the cupcake holes and fill them to the top.

For the Baileys buttercream

250 grams unsalted butter, cut into cubes and at room temperature
3 cups sifted icing sugar
2 tablespoons Baileys

Beat the butter in an electric mixer on high until it is very pale and fluffy.

Gradually add the icing sugar (I do this a tablespoon at a time), beating well between additions. Beat until the buttercream is very fluffy - about 5-6 minutes.

Heat the Baileys in the microwave until it's very warm. Add to the butter cream and beat on high for another couple of minutes. Pipe on top of the cupcakes.

Jammy cupcakes

2009-08-10T21:25:00.000+10:00

Another weekend, another batch of practice cupcakes before the Almighty Cupcake Challenge.

The recipe for this batch was adapted from Australian Women’s Weekly “Bake”. They are basically a vanilla cupcake base, with a dollop of jam swirled through the top. For the icing, I thought I’d try a buttercream with the addition of a couple of teaspoons of powdered raspberries.

Erm. Buttercream – I suck at making buttercream. Why? I have no idea! It should be the easiest thing in the world! After putting the buttercream into my piping bag, I realised it was too thick. Back in the mixer it went with a touch of milk. Tried piping again – nope, still too thick. Back into the mixer. It just kept getting worse and worse and worse, until I finally gave up. I ended up melting the buttercream in the microwave and then spooning it over the cupcakes like a glaze. This actually worked quite well, although it was a pain in the arse wiping the drips off the cupcake liners.

And the cupcake itself? Unfortunately I didn’t think much of it – I thought it was too dry. Fortunately the recipe, which I'm not posting because I didn't like it, only made a dozen cupcakes.

But while this batch of cupcakes wasn't a success, I still learnt something from making them. All this cupcake baking has meant that I finally "get" the whole cupcake thing. Before I'd never really understood why people were so obsessed by cupcakes, but now I get it! Cupcakes are fun (even when everything goes wrong and your buttercream is shit and the cupcakes are dry and boring).

The Almighty Cupcake Challenge is finally happening next Monday. The weekend before last, I baked a test batch of the cupcakes I’m going to make for the Challenge – and wow they are good! I won't post them until next weekend so you'll have to wait and see (don't want to give my almost twin any ideas..... aye, J?)

Lemon and poppy seed cookies

2009-08-02T21:31:00.000+10:00

I’m a bit of a sucker for kitchen gadgets and kitchen tools. Some would say that all you need is a good saucepan and a good knife, but I like my kitchen stuff. One of my favourite kitchen things is a microwave steamer for steaming vegetables in. I love this thing so much that when we bought a new microwave, I made sure that the steamer fit first! (Yes, yes, I know that you can steam vegetables on top of the stove but with this I don’t need to drag out a pot and pan and take up a hob – plus it takes four minutes in the microwave.)

Last weekend I was keen to make cookies (or biscuits if you prefer) and I wanted to use my cookie press, just one of my many kitchen gadgets. When I was looking up cookie recipes online, I decided that I wanted to do something with lemon and poppy seeds. After some searching, I found a simple recipe for cookie press cookies that I was able to adapt.

They were pretty easy to put together but it did take me a while to get all the cookies pressed out and baked..... because I ended up with about 80 of the little buggers! I tried out several different shapes - the hearts tended to lose their shape but I found that the flower shapes faired better.

But presentation isn't as important as taste, and the verdict? They were awesome! The cookies were buttery and crisp, but kind of melted in the mouth. They had just the right amount of sweetness, were rather lemony, and the poppy seed added a bit of savouriness. Oh my, they were moreish. I found it really, really difficult to eat only one... One day I came home after work and found myself eating six in a row. Gulp! Cookies are a sometime food, people.

Note – if you don’t have a cookie press, I think it would work if you rolled the dough into small balls and flattened them. But if you love kitchen stuff like me, you might have a cookie press too?!

Lemon and poppy seed cookies

Adapted from this recipe.

Makes about 80 small cookies

225 grams butter, softened
1/3 cup caster sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
Finely grated rind of a lemon
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups flour, sifted

Preheat your oven to 200°C.

Cream the butter until pale and fluffy. Gradually add the sugar and beat until well combined. Mix in the egg, vanilla essence, lemon rind, poppy seeds and salt. Gradually add the sifted dry ingredients and mix until combined.

Fill a cookie press and shape on to an ungreased cookie sheet. If you don't have a cookie press, roll the dough into small balls and flatten with a fork or your hand.

Bake until golden brown - my cookies were small so I baked them for six minutes. If you have larger cookies, bake them for longer.

Transfer to a wire rack and let them cool completely.

Lemon and blueberry cupcakes with lemon cream cheese icing

2009-07-26T21:47:00.000+10:00

Practice run 2 in preparation for the Cupcake Challenge - lemon and blueberry cupcakes with lemon cream cheese icing.

I really liked these ones. They were moist, fragrant with the lemon, a bit tart from the blueberry and not too sweet. The sweet and tangy cream cheese icing topped them off perfectly - and look how pale the icing is! Yay!

But while they were tasty, they're probably not a cupcake challenge winner. Still, they were pretty moreish and let me practice my atrocious piping skills.

Lemon and blueberry cupcakes

Adapted from this recipe.

Makes 24 small cupcakes

Cupcakes:

1 & 1/2 cups of plain flour + an extra 2 tablespoons
135 grams caster sugar
1 & 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
55 grams butter, melted
1 large egg
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup milk
Finely grated rind of one lemon
3/4 cup fresh or frozen blueberries, thawed

Lemon cream cheese icing:

110g unsalted butter, at room temperature
125g cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup icing sugar, sifted
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon rind
1 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation

Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease 2 x 12 cup muffin pans or line the holes with paper cases.

Sift together the 1 & 1/2 cups flour with an additional 1 tablespoon flour and baking powder, and baking soda in a large bowl. Add the caster sugar and salt and mix to combine.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the melted butter and egg. Whisk in the buttermilk, milk, and the lemon rind to the butter mixture.

Add the buttermilk mixture to flour mixture, stirring just until moist. Toss the blueberries with the remaining 1 tablespoon flour and fold the blueberries into tge batter.

Spoon the batter into the prepared cupcake cups - filling about 1/2 way. Bake for approximately 20 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove from the pan and cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

Icing:

Beat together the butter and cream cheese until pale and fluffy. Gradually add the icing sugar. Stir in the juice, rind and vanilla extract. Spread or pipe over the cupcakes.

Soup Sunday: Mushroom soup

2009-07-24T23:32:00.000+10:00

I bought a soup recipe book recently, and it has given me tons of soup ideas! Most of the soups have been easy to put together, and this mushroom soup was no exception.

This soup relies heavily on the mushrooms for flavour – there’s not much else in it! I used big flat brown mushrooms, and they made the soup rather intensely, super duper mushroomy.

When I was younger, mum made a lot of soup at home, but it was always Chinese style soups. One of the only exceptions was mushroom soup, and it was pretty good. It was very similar to this one, but I suspect she added a lot more cream to hers! I was happy with the smaller amount of cream in mine though. It gave the soup just a bit of creaminess at the end but wasn't enough to make it feel heavy and rich.

Mushroom soup

Adapted from Soups

1 tablespoon butter
1 onion, finely chopped
1kg of flat brown mushrooms, wiped and roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 litre vegetable stock
2 tablespoons (or more to taste) pouring cream
Salt and pepper

Melt the butter in a large saucepot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for about five minutes or until soft. Add the garlic and cook for a couple more minutes.

Add the mushrooms and fry for another 5 minutes, then add the stock. Increase the heat and bring to the boil, before turning down to a low simmer.

Let it gently simmer until the mushrooms are soft, and blend using a stick blender until smooth. Stir the cream in and season well with salt and pepper.

Bastille Day dinner at the brasserie by Philippe Mouchel

2009-07-22T21:14:00.001+10:00

On Bastille Day last week, we joined Benisa for dinner at the brasserie by Philippe Mouchel. A four course set menu was being served in celebration of all things French (or so the promotional email stated!). When we arrived, the first thing we saw was a guy in a beret playing the accordion. Is an accordion particularly French? I don't know! It was kind of funny though and fortunately he was pretty good (insert disparaging accordion joke here), since he played the entire evening.

The first course were snails wrapped in cabbage, on top of a poached liquorice bouillon. The snails were diced and mixed with finely cut vegetables inside the cabbage leaf. I think that even people who would normally have issues with snails would have no problems with this dish. I couldn't really taste the liquorice in the bouillon, but the broth was very nice and worked well with the sweetness of the cabbage. The snail meat reminded me of the texture of paua/abalone - which wikipedia says is a sea snail. That would explain the similarity!

For the second course we received sautéed scallops with couscous and vegetables and Argan oil vinaigrette. Look at those scallops - they were lovely, perfectly cooked and flavoured with ginger and chives. A small amount of cous cous and a couple of little vegetables were on the plate, but the scallops were really the star.

Next course was a slow-braised wagyu ox cheek with carrots and mashed potatoes. I've had a larger version of this dish before, when Alastair and I went to the brasserie for lunch a while back, and was happy to eat it again. The meat was very, very tender and braised in that dark, rich sauce. It was on the verge of being too salty, but when eaten with a bit of the smooth mashed potato it was fantastic.

Dessert was chocolate fondant with vanilla anglaise and pistachio ice cream. Hard to go wrong with chocolate fondant, especially when it was -

Mhmmm, gooey......

And finally some petit fours to finish off. Bro and I made everyone wait while we had a cup of tea (served in a very cute little teapot) and finished our petit fours. Yum.

Read about a previous visit to the brasserie here.

the brasserie by Philippe Mouchel
Riverside at Crown,
8 Whiteman Street,
Southbank
Phone: (03) 9292 7808

Crepes!

2009-07-17T23:30:00.000+10:00

Last weekend's breakfast - banana crepes with maple syrup

We've stopped eating out as much this year, particularly for brunch. Last year we would have brunch at a cafe almost every weekend, while this year we have been very good and have cut it down to once or twice a month.

During the weekend I try and make something more interesting than toast or cereal, and one thing I've been making a lot recently is crepes. I love that they're pretty quick to prepare and cook.

I use this basic crepe recipe from taste.com.au and if I make savoury crepes (ham and cheese!) I just leave out the sugar. The recipe is supposed to make twelve crepes, but the most I've ever managed to get out of a batch is six. I obviously need to practice my crepe making technique to get them thinner, but otherwise I'm pretty happy with them!

Soup Sunday: Spicy lentil, potato and spinach

2009-07-15T22:16:00.006+10:00

Gak! I'm being slack with posting Soup Sundays. After this one I still have two to post - plus I'm sure I'll have a new one this Sunday. Better get on to it!

This soup was made on one of those freezing cold evenings we've been having lately. I say this every year around this time - I can't wait until summer!

On this particular evening I felt like something spicy, filling, and it had to be vegetarian because I didn't have any meat around. Lentil soup seemed to fit the bill, and because I wanted something fairly quick to make I opted for red lentils.

It was another one of my "throw stuff in a pot" soups. In a dry pan, I gently toasted a teaspoon each of ground cumin, ground coriander, ground turmeric, chilli powder and cumin seeds for a few minutes until all nice and aromatic. Into a pot with a splash of oil went a diced onion, a couple of diced carrots and a couple of diced celery sticks. To that I added a cup of rinsed red lentils, a 400g can of tomatoes, a couple of peeled and diced potatoes and enough water to just cover everything. It simmered for 20 minutes and then I added four cubes of defrosted frozen spinach and seasoned it with salt and pepper and let it cook for another 5 minutes.

It wasn't bad for about 30 minutes worth of work and helped warm me up a little. I still can't wait until summer though!