caramel chocolate tart

This rich tart is my celebratory 500th blog post.

It takes a long time to prepare but it's worth it because it's extravagant deliciousness.

I'm not a big fan of caramel in general, but this tart caught my eye as I read delicious magazine last year and I've been dreaming of making it ever since. Hence why this is another 2009 Food Challenge.

There was quite a lot of caramel leftover from the recipe and, since it's so good, I've had to control myself from eating spoonfuls of it straight from the fridge while I try to figure out what I'm going to use it for.

I also had lots of extra chocolate custard too, so, unless I did something wrong, you might want to come up with some other desserts to use up the leftovers.

The recipe recommends serving with whipped cream, but it's so rich you might prefer it with crème fraîche parfait.

Caramel Chocolate Tart
Recipe from delicious Magazine (March 2008). Serves 6-8.
Ingredients:
395g can sweetened condensed milk
250g block Carême dark chocolate shortcrust pastry
225g good-quality dark chocolate, roughly chopped
2 eggs
150ml thickened cream
100ml milk
Method:
1. Remove and discard label from can of condensed milk. Using a can opener make two small holes in the top.
2. Place in a saucepan (open side up). Fill pan with cold water to come almost to the top of the can (about 1cm from top).
3. Bring water to the boil then reduce to medium-low and simmer for 3 hours until a caramel forms, topping up with water to keep the same level.
4. Carefully remove can and cool. Scoop out caramel then set aside.
5. Lightly grease an 11cm x 35cm loose-bottomed tart pan.
6. Roll pastry between 2 sheets of baking paper to 5mm thick, then line tart pan. Chill for 20 minutes.
7. Preheat oven to 180’C.
8. Line the pastry with baking paper and pastry weights or uncooked rice.
9. Blind-bake for 10 minutes then remove paper and weights and bake for 5 minutes or until pastry is dry.
10. Reduce oven to 150’C.
11. Place chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of gently simmering water, not letting the bowl touch the water. Allow to melt then stir until smooth. Remove from heat.
12. Gently whisk eggs in a separate bowl to just combine but not froth.
13. Heat cream and milk in a saucepan over medium heat until just below boiling point.
14. Pour over eggs in a thin stream, whisking constantly to avoid scrambling eggs.
15. Return the mixture to the pan over a low heat and stir for 5 minutes until thick.
16. Pour through a sieve over the chocolate and stir until completely combined and smooth.
17. Spread three-quarters of the caramel over the pastry.
18. Pour over chocolate custard then bake for 5 minutes or until just set.
19. Turn oven off. Leave tart in cooling oven, with door closed, for 1 hour.
20. Remove and cool completely before slicing.
21. Serve with extra caramel, whipped cream or cream swirled with caramel.
Note: For my tart, on top of the cooking times above, the caramel needed about 1 hour longer to form, the pastry needed to blind-bake about 5 minutes longer to dry out, the custard took a few minutes extra to thicken and the chocolate top needed to bake about 5-10 minutes longer to set.

braciole napoletana

This is one of the best dinners you can eat. At least that's my opinion!

Thin slices of veal are rolled around a stuffing of parsley, raisins, pine nuts and parmesan, then browned before being finished in a rich tomato & red wine sauce.

It could be a summer or winter meal, the flavour easily adjusted with summery lifts like lemon zest or wintery warmth from chilli or irony spinach.

I discovered braciole years ago and yet I only recently made it for the first time as one of my 2009 Food Challenges. It's definitely a keeper and could be a weekly staple dinner. In fact it could be the creative parent's sneaky way for getting kids to eat their vegetables (not that I have kids yet, but I did note bracioles multiple applications).

It’s very easy to make but looks complicated so that guests are impressed, plus it tastes amazing.

Braciole comes highly recommended from me.

Braciole Napoletana
Recipe by Armando Percuoco from delicious Magazine, May 2008. Serves 6.
Ingredients:
6 x 150g veal escalopes
¼ cup olive oil, for frying
Stuffing
80g (½ cup) toasted pine nuts, roughly chopped
½ cup raisins, roughly chopped
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
25g (1/3 cup) freshly grated parmesan
2 bunches flat-leaf parsley, leaves roughly chopped
Sauce
60ml (¼ cup) olive oil
1 large onion, roughly chopped
375ml (1½ cups) dry red wine
4 vine-ripened tomatoes (600g), seeds removed + chopped
2 tablespoons toasted pine nut, to serve
1 tablespoon raisins, to serve
Method:
1. Halve veal escalopes lengthways. Pound with meat mallet, between plastic wrap, until 3-4mm thick.
2. To make the stuffing, combine the pine nuts, raisins, garlic, parmesan and parsley (reserve a little parsley for garnish). Season with salt and pepper and mix well.
3. On the shorter end of each veal escalope, place 2 tablespoons of filling then roll to enclose and secure with toothpicks.
4. Heat the olive in a large, deep frying pan over medium high heat.
5. In two batches, brown the braciole all over, turning, for 2 – 3 minutes. Remove to plate.
6. To make the sauce, add the additional olive oil to the same pan and cook the onion on medium heat, stirring, for 2 – 3 minutes until soft and slightly golden.
7. Increase heat to medium-high, add red wine and cook for 6 – 8 minute until the alcohol has evaporated.
8. Reduce the heat to medium, add the tomatoes and simmer, occasionally stirring, for 25 minutes or until soft and reduced to a thick sauce.
9. Return the veal to the pan and heat through for around 5 minutes.
10. Place 2 braciole on each serving plate, top with sauce and garnish with pine nuts, raisins and parsley.
Note: I added chopped baby spinach to the stuffing for an extra nutrient boost.


This parsley-rich stuffing is my contribution to Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted by Winnie from Healthy Green Kitchen.

lebovitz's watermelon sorbet

It was a warm summer weekend in Sydney and given the beautiful, sunny weather it’s the right time to post my 2009 Food Challenge recipe for Sorbetto all’Anguria or watermelon sorbet.

It’s down in the food memory category because I have rich memories of eating scoops and scoops of watermelon sorbet during the spring I lived in Rome. As the city heated up, the watermelon sorbet was the perfect cooler and I devoured it in miraculous portions.

Even though I made the sorbet to eat at the end of a Vietnamese feast, it still brought back warm memories of Rome and the family I have now have there. I can’t wait to see them all again when I take Jonas (for his first time in Italy) in the first week of January.

It will be the middle of winter, so no sorbetto all’anguria, but there will be other delights to share.

Making this sorbet also knocked off another 2009 Food Challenge, to purchase David Lebovitz’s book of frozen delights The Perfect Scoop.

I am a big fan of David Lebovitz (like many bloggers out there). Not only do his posts contain cheeky insights into Parisian life, but his recipes are interesting, appetising and achieveable. When I had just started blogging more than three years ago, David was kind enough to leave an encouraging comment on one of my posts. I was thrilled.

Now I’m even more thrilled to have this cookbook. I couldn’t find it anywhere in Australia and was ridiculously jealous of bloggers in the US and Europe talking about it, so when Jonas and I were in the US in July I made sure I swung by Books A Million, or some such megastore, and grabbed myself a copy.

I have not been disappointed with the recipes nor their outcomes. The usual suspects are in there of course, but it’s flavours like Guinness-Milk Chocolate; Anise; Black Currant Tea; Saffron; Chartreuse; Goat Cheese; Rice; Sweet Potato & Maple and Eggnog that have me itching to try them.

So far I’ve made Watermelon Sorbet and Dark Chocolate and Roasted Banana ice creams.

In the pipeline are Roquefort & Honey, Peach, Salted Caramel and Passionfruit.

And that’s just the ice creams! I haven’t even touched on the sorbets, sherbets, granitas, sauces and toppings that this mighty book contains.

Basically, if you like ice cream, buy this book.

Here’s the recipe:

Sorbetto all’Anguria (Watermelon Sorbet)
Recipe from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz. Makes 1 litre (1 quart).
Ingredients:
3 cups (750ml) watermelon juice
½ cup (100g) sugar
Big pinch of salt
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
1 – 2 tablespoons vodka (optional)
Method:
1. In a small, non-reactive pan heat ½ cup (125ml) of watermelon juice with the sugar and salt, stirring until sugar is dissolved.
2. Remove from heat and combine with the remaining watermelon juice, lime juice and vodka.
3. Chill thoroughly then churn in your ice cream machine according to the manufacturers instructions.
Tip: David says “I find that I get about 3 cups of watermelon juice from a 1.5kg (3lb) chunk of watermelon. Cut away the skin and rind then cube the flesh, remove seeds and puree in a blender or processor."
Note: David adds 1 to 2 tablespoons of tiny mini-sweet chocolate chips to the last minute of churning to give the appearance of watermelon seeds.

pork chops & sauerkraut

I forgot to delete some of my recent recipe photos from my camera and now that I lost my old computer (and all the files) I'm glad I was disorganised.

I've bought a new laptop so I can at least blog about the images I found, and I'm happy to say this includes all the recent recipes from my Vietnamese feast as well as two 2009 Food Challenges (this one for chops & kraut plus a wonderful braciole).

Unfortunately I still need to install Microsoft Office and Photoshop etc, so my posts might be a little sketchy for a while yet.

Not to mention trying to recover the more than 100 backlog of recipes I had on the corrupted hard drive of my old computer! Sigh.

This recipe for Pork Chops & Sauerkraut was one of my food challenges for 2009 under the category "food memories". I have a lot of sauerkraut memories, all good.

It is a signature dish of my 90yr old grandfather who would make big pots to feed the entire family, harping on the days when his own mother would enlist his help to cook for his five brothers.

When I was five, my grandparents returned to the US and my parents continued the regular family dinner of pork chops and sauerkraut, a favourite for my brothers and I.

Sauerkraut was such a normal part of our week that I never realised other families didn't eat it. It wasn't until my parents' divorce, with new partners and children who looked at the bland pile of shredded cabbage in shock and horror, that I realised my family was a rare breed of Aussie kraut eaters.

Unfortunately, this meant sauerkraut fell out of favour in both homes, much to the dismay of us kids.

As a teenager I travelled to Slovakia to meet my grandfather's family and suddenly understood the origin of this dinner. It was a strange, emotional moment for me when I perused a Bratislava pantry to realise that this Central/Eastern European dish had travelled three continents and four generations to link me to my heritage.

Since then I have eaten this dish a few times in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, and more than a few times on what used to be annual work trips to Germany. One particularly good experience with sauerkraut and porkiness was the Schupfnudeln mit Sauerkraut und Kasslerwürfel that I ate in Koblenz. It was delicious!

So . . . onto the recipe. Pork chops and sauerkraut is the perfect winter dinner served with mashed potatoes. Enjoy.

Pork Chops & Sauerkraut
Anna's very own recipe. Serves 6.
Ingredients:
6 pork chops
450g canned sauerkraut
750ml (3 cups) vegetable stock
½ green apple, peeled + grated
1 white onion, sliced
2 dried bay leaves
Salt and pepper, to taste
Olive oil, for frying
Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180’C.
2. Heat olive oil in an ovenproof pot and brown pork chops for 1 minute on each side. Set aside.
3. In the same pot, fry onion until softened.
4. Spread onion across the base of the pot then add a layer of sauerkraut.
5. Next add the pork chops, bay leaves, salt and pepper and grated apple.
6. Top with remaining sauerkraut then pour over 2 cups of vegetable stock.
7. Cover with pot lid then back in oven for 1-5 to 2 hours or until chops are tender. The remaining cup of stock can be used to top up the pot if it's drying out.
Note: Serve with mash.

computer blues

My computer died.

It's very sad because my backlog of photos and recipes (not to mention the last 5yrs of my entire life) was all on that computer. Hopefully I'll be able to recover it though.

But this means no more blogging for a while.

tahu goreng pedas (spicy fried tofu)

This dish was made as part of a big Balinese feast I made all the way back in September 2008.

The original recipe of for this dish involves (I think) blending the tofu together with the other ingredients to create little tofu patties (bregedel tahu) but Jonas and I decided to keep our tofu slices whole and simply dip them into a spiced batter before frying.

If you don’t like the flavour of tofu much, do the patty version, otherwise this is a delicious (semi) vegetarian dish.

Tahu Goreng Pedas (Spicy Fried Tofu)
Anna & Jonas' variation of various internet recipes. Serves 4 as part of banquet.
Ingredients:
300g firm tofu
3 tablespoons fried shallots
1 red chilli, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, crushed
3 teaspoons grated ginger
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
¼ teaspoon roasted shrimp paste
2 eggs, beaten
2 kaffir leaves, finely sliced
3 teaspoons palm sugar
Salt and pepper, to taste
Oil, for frying
Method:
1. Blend all the ingredients except the tofu and fried shallots.
2. Into the blended mixture, stir in the fried shallots.
3. Dip the tofu into the mixture to coat, then fry in hot oil, over medium heat, until browned and warmed through.
4. Served with fresh chilli or a fiery sambal.

bò tái chanh - lemon sirloin w rice paddy herb

After perusing through Helen’s recent posts about her food tour in Cabramatta, I became ravenous for Vietnamese food and determined to cook my own Vietnamese feast.

Ms Correct and I set the GPS to John Street then chatted until we reached our destination: Cabramatta, effectively Vietnam in Sydney.

The place was buzzing. The fruit, herb and veggie range was extravagant and the prices were absurdly cheap. As Ms Correct correctly asks “Why don’t we shop here every week?”

The whole time we were there, we must have seen only six other Caucasians and we marvelled at how exotic, exciting and foreign Cabramatta felt, even though it was still in Sydney. Ms Correct is quite tall at the best of times, but among Cabramatta’s Vietnamese population she was like Gulliver in Lilliput. We were certainly identified as outsiders and blatantly stared at, but people were welcoming and we felt comfortable.

We both felt so excited that Sydney had such a beautiful microcosm to explore.

Both Ms Correct and I have visited Vietnam, and Cabramatta felt like a cleaner, better-dressed version of HCMC, even down to the architecture of crowded market arcades and busy main streets. The local government, Fairfield City Council, is always touting Cabramatta as a tourist destination for Sydneysiders and visitors alike, and now I have to agree with them.

Navigating the narrow market aisles was difficult, but in true Vietnamese style other shoppers took no offence, and in fact didn’t even notice, getting whacked with the odd shopping bag.

We bought a huge range of things, the highlights being (left to right):
Top: mít (jackfruit), tía tô (perilla/shiso), mãng cầu xiêm (soursop)
Centre: bắp chuối (banana blossom), rau muống (water spinach), măng cụt (mangosteen)
Bottom: đậu bắp (okra), ngò om (rice paddy herb), ngò gai (sawtooth coriander)

Many of the shop and stall owners don’t speak English and your mere non-Vietnamese speaking presence can be a cause of anxiety for them, so make sure you bring your understanding and patience with you. Don’t take offence when people shrug and walk away without helping, they probably just don’t understand you. Instead, wander to the next shop until you find someone who can speak English. There are many who do.

Like the shop keeper Ms Correct and I discovered at the end of our day. She was full of good advice and helped us navigate the Vietnamese-only signs and food labels. After learning I planned to make ice cream, her suggestion to buy frozen soursop pulp instead of fresh fruit was genius. Not only was the pulp super ripe and flavoursome but it had been skinned and deseeded and when it was blended through the hot custard, the icy cold temperature chilled everything immediately making the base ready to churn on the spot.

Once we were loaded up with goodies, we headed back to my place to cook up a storm from the beautiful cookbook The Secrets of the Red Lantern (tick off another food challenge).

Siblings Pauline and Luke Nguyen, and Pauline’s partner, Mark Jensen, are Sydney’s tres-chic experts on both traditional and modern Vietnamese food and their first cookbook is full of amazing recipes and heart-wrenching stories (that made me blubber like a baby).

Little Em, Stinky, M.E. and Tia Bicky joined Ms Correct and I to eat:
* Bò Tái Chanh (lemon-cured sirloin w rice paddy herb)
* Nước Chấm (dipping fish sauce)
* Nem Nường (lemongrass pork sausages)
* Rau Muống Xào Tỏi (water spinach w ginger & garlic)
* Gỏi Mực Bắp Chuối (banana blossom & squid salad)
* Canh Chua Cá (tamarind & pineapple broth w perch)
* Kem Mãng Cầu Xiêm (soursop ice cream)
* Kem Dưa Hấu (watermelon sorbet)

I will post these recipes one by one over the coming months, but first up is this amazing little starter of juicy raw beef topped with the most delicious, unusual herbs. The best description can only come from the recipe’s author, Luke Nguyen:

“This traditional salad is a perfect starter. It is a ‘rare’ treat – refreshing, crisp and aromatic. Described by some as a ‘Vietnamese carpaccio’, Bò Tái Chanh is a particular favourite . . . rice paddy herb and sawtooth coriander are essential for this dish and should not be substituted. The rice paddy’s sharp citrus character and the sawtooth’s powerful aroma perfectly match this lemon-cured dish.”

I discovered that I love rice paddy herb (or ngò om). The flavours are like cumin and lemon and pepper altogether and I discovered it goes quite nicely on sweet pineapple slices too.

Sawtooth coriander (ngò gai) is also very special and is much more potent than regular coriander (cilantro), but I still think you could substitute them for each other if you needed to.

But you can’t substitute the rice paddy herb!!!

Bò Tái Chanh (lemon-cured sirloin w rice paddy herb)
Recipe from Secrets of The Red Lantern. Serves 6.
Ingredients:
400ml lemon juice
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon fine white pepper
500g sirloin steak
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 large handful sawtooth coriander, roughly chopped
1 large handful rice paddy herb, roughly chopped
½ small red onion, finely sliced
1 large handful bean sprouts
2 tablespoons chopped roasted peanuts
1 birds eye chill, sliced
Nước mắm chấm, to serve (see below)
Method:
1. Trim the sirloin or fat and slice as thinly as possible.
2. Heat 1 teaspoon oil and fry garlic. Remove and reserve both garlic and ½ teaspoon of the oil.
3. Combine the lemon juice, fish sauce and mix through the salt, sugar and pepper.
4. Arrange the slices of beef in a single layer on a plate and marinate in the lemon juice for 10 minutes, ensuring the meat is entirely covered in the curing liquid.
5. Remove the beef from the lemon mixture and drain the excess juice,.
6. Combine with the garlic, garlic oil, herbs onion and bean sprouts.
7. Transfer to a serving plate and garnish with the peanuts and chilli. Dress with nước mắm chấm at the table.

Nước Mắm Chấm (Dipping Fish Sauce)
Recipe from Secrets of the Red Lantern. Makes 1 cup (250ml).
Ingredients:
½ cup (125ml) water
3 tablespoons fish sauce
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 birds eye chilli, finely chopped
2 tablespoons lime juice
Method:
1. Combine the fish sauce, rice vinegar, sugar and water in a saucepan.
2. Heat on medium, stirring, until just before boiling point. Cool.
3. To serve add chilli, lime juice and garlic and stir well.

Rice paddy herb (Limnophila aromatica) is native to tropical South East Asia and grows in water logged environments . . . like rice paddies! In the west it’s been used mostly as an aquarium plant but in Vietnamese (and some Thai & Khmer) cuisine it plays a strong role.

If all you’ve been doing is sticking in your fish tank, you’ve been missing out!

The leaves taste like lemon and cumin and is quite delicious.

Here’s some advice on how to grow your own: “Get some fresh stems from another plant or your local Thai or Vietnamese grocer. If placed in water, they will develop roots within one or two weeks; in the meantime, they must be covered with a plastic bag or the like to give them enough humidity. In this phase, direct sunlight will kill the plants, so put them in a shadowy but not dark place. When enough roots have been formed, plant the stems into a high, transparent container filled with soil to cover most of the roots. A mixture of ordinary soil plus small, porous grains of burned clay is perfect. Keep the plants warm and humid. After a few days, they will tolerate (and even appreciate) intensive sunlight.”

If substituted, it is often done so with coriander, sawtooth coriander, perilla, mint or basil.

Other names include:
Cantonese - séui fuh yùhng, tìhn hēung chóu, jí sōu chóu, séui fā
Mandarin - shuǐ fú róng, tián xiāng cǎo, zǐ sū cǎo
English - finger grass
Estonian - järvelemb
German - reisfeldpflanze
Indonesian - daun kerdemom, selasih ayer kecil
Japanese - shiso-kusa, rimonohira
Khmer - ma-om
Korean - soyeob, soyop, soyop-pul
Lithuanian - kvapioji pelkenė
Malaysian - beremi, kerak-kerak
Polish - limnofila pachnąca
Russian - амбулия ароматная ambuliya aromatnaya
Thai - ผักแขยง, แขยง phak kayang, kayang

This week our Weekend Herb Blogging hostess is Haalo from Cook (almost) Anything At Least Once.


References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limnophila_aromatica
http://www.uni-graz.at/~katzer/engl/Limn_aro.html

chinese pork & garlic chive dumplings

Chinese pork & garlic chive dumplings, otherwise known as Jiu Cai Jiaozi, happen to be one of the most delicious things on earth. Pan-fried and served with strong, black vinegar and spicy chilli . . . . one of my all time favourite things to eat.

I wasn't daring enough to make the dough, but I thought I was pretty brave to attempt assembling them myself. I was very pleased with the results and even shared the excess with Stinky and M.E., who seemed very happy with that.

To decide how to make them, I scoured the internet for Jiu Cai Jiaozi recipes and came across the very simple steps provided by Billy from A Table For Two. They were so good I kicked myself for forgetting to thank him when we ran into each other at a Peruvian degustation (see Billy, there was a reason I thought I knew you).

These seriously good dumplings are my pasta offering to Presto Pasta Nights hosted by fellow Aussie blogger Haalo from Cook (almost) Anything At Least Once.

Jiu Cai Jiaozi (Chinese Pork & Garlic Chive Dumplings)
Recipe by A Table For Two. Makes 30 dumplings.
Ingredients:
500 gram pork mince
1 bunch garlic chives (chopped)
3 cloves garlic (chopped)
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 packet of dumpling skin (30 skins)
1 tbsp corn flour
2 tbsp rice wine
Soy sauce
Sesame oil
Salt & pepper, to taste
Method:
1. Add all ingredients into a large bowl (except the dumpling skins) and mix well together.
2. Fill a small bowl with water and set aside.
3. Scoop a tablespoon of the mixture and lay it in the centre of a dumpling skin.
4. Dip your index finger in the water, then run it around the edge of the dumpling skin.
5. Fold the skin in half from bottom to top, press the skin together and seal the mixture inside.
6. From the centre, overlapping the skin inwards from both sides until it reaches the pointy edges.
7. Run the edges and press tightly with 2 fingers to make sure the dumpling is properly sealed.
Steaming Method:
1. Inside bamboo steamer baskets, lay some iceberg lettuce and make sure is flat enough to put dumplings on top without falling over.
2. Arrange 6 to 8 dumplings inside basket without touching each other so they don’t stick together when cooked.
3. Use a wok and pour 2 cups of water and let it boil in medium heat. Place the steamer basket inside the wok and cover it with a lid. Let it simmer for 10 – 15 mins or until the dumpling skins looks translucent then it is ready.
Frying Method:
1. Heat up a frying pan with a little bit of vegetable oil.
2. Put some dumplings in the pan and lay flat on one side. Make sure they don’t touch each other to avoid sticking together.
3. Pour 2 tablespoon of water in the pan, and quickly cover it with a lid.
4. Few minutes later, flip the dumplings and fry the other side. Again, pour 2 tablespoon of water and cover it with a lid.
5. Fry the dumplings until crisp and golden brown then it is ready.
Billy's note: the dumplings usually go with condiments of soy sauce, sesame oil and black vinegar. A hot spicy chilli paste is also an essential condiment with the dumplings.
Anna’s variation: I added that grated fresh ginger for extra kick.

salpicón de camarónes (veracruz prawn cocktail)

This recipe comes from Saveur, an American food magazine which I love.

The best way to explain a salpicón, is to take the words straight from Saveur:

“The word salpicón, which comes from the Spanish sal, salt, and picar, to chop, refers, in classic French cooking, to a mince of poultry, game, or vegetables bound with a sauce. In Mexico, however, it can mean anything from a shredded beef salad in the north to this citrusy shrimp appetizer”

As summer comes closer to Sydney I begin to crave raw seafood drenched in lime or lemon (but never both at the same time!). Adding chillies, coriander and avocado is an additional blessing and this dish is one of my all time favourite meals in summer.

It's also another 2009 food challenge since it's another Mexican recipe.

Salpicón de Camarónes (Veracruz-Style Prawn Cocktail)
Recipe from Restaurante Doña Lala in Tlacotalpan, Mexico.
Printed in Saveur Issue #12. Serves 4.
Ingredients:
1 lb. cooked small prawns (shrimp)
1 cored chopped tomato
½ small white onion, peeled +chopped
1 garlic clove, peeled +minced
1 fresh jalapeño, seeded +sliced
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
Salt & freshly ground white pepper
1 avocado, peeled + sliced
Lime wedges
Method:
1. Peel shrimp.
2. Mix together shrimp, tomatoes, onions, garlic and jalapeño.
3. Stir in oil and parsley, season to taste with salt and pepper.
4. Top with avocado and garnish with lime wedges.
Note: I added coriander and used cherry tomatoes.

As my Weekend Herb Blogging entry, I’m focusing on the avocado. Our host is Katie from Eat This, so go check out the round-up.

Avocado has been my theme ingredient in two other WHB posts, one in 2007 (cold avocado soup from the Ivory Coast) and one in 2008 (avocado shake from Vietnam). So here’s 2009 and some avocado information copied dircetly from my 2007 post.

The word avocado comes from the Aztec (Nahuatl) word ahuacatl, via Spanish aguacate and means “testicle”. Perhaps because of its appearance, the Aztecs believed avocadoes were an aphrodisiac and called it "the fertility fruit". Apparently during avocado harvesting, virgins were kept indoors to prevent any promiscuity taking place.

This reputation stuck with the avocado for such a long time and many people in South America wouldn’t eat it because they wanted to appear wholesome. Companies had to undertake serious PR campaigns to dispel the myths and get the fruit out to the public.

The Nahuatl word ahuacatl makes up other words like ahuacamolli, meaning "avocado soup/sauce” which the Spanish transformed into guacamole.

In 2005, the world’s top ten avocado producing nations were, in order: Mexico, Indonesia, USA, Colombia, Brazil, Chile, Dominican Republic, Peru, China and Ethiopia. As trees need well aerated soils and subtropical or tropical climates to thrive, this makes sense.

Propagation by seed takes around 5 years to produce fruit and the quality is never as good as the parent tree. Commercial plantations therefore graft new seedlings.

Avocadoes mature on the tree but ripen once harvested. The fruit is high monounsaturated fat contents and contains 60% more potassium than bananas, vitamin Bs, vitamin E, vitamin K and folate.

In Brazil, Vietnam, the Philippines, Jamaica and Indonesia avocadoes are blended with sugar and milk to create a milkshake.

It is also interesting to note that avocado foliage, skin and pits are said to poison animals such as birds, cats, dogs, cattle, goats, rabbits and fish.

~~~

This time previously on M&M:
2008 - Sago gula bali (Balinese coconut sago dessert)
2007 - Fatteh (Syrian chickpea & yoghurt breakfast)
2006 - Japanese-style tomato carpaccio

banana & honey frozen yoghurt

It seems rather decadent to have ice cream for breakfast, and unhealthy too, but this recipe couldn’t be better for you!

Would you eat a bowl of natural yoghurt, some banana slices and a drizzle of honey? Well this recipe uses all the same ingredients only blended and frozen in an ice cream machine.

This is a case of having your ice cream and eating it too!
But, you will need to eat your frozen yoghurt on the day you make it.

Sugars and fats are what stop ice cream from seizing up so, since this recipe doesn’t have much of either, you can be sure 24hrs in the freezer will lead to one solid block. If this does happen, you can put chucks into a blender and churn out soft serve, but then you’ll need to eat it fast!

Banana & Honey Frozen Yoghurt
Anna’s very own recipe. Makes approximately half a litre.
Ingredients:
500g natural yoghurt (I used low fat)
1 ripe banana
2 tablespoons honey
Method:
1. Combine ingredients in a processor or blender.
2. Taste for sweetness.
3. Chill according to ice cream machine instructions.
4. Serve (on the same day) with chopped pistachios and a drizzle of honey.
Variation: add ¼ teaspoon of ground cardamom or cinnamon.

a taste of peru

(photo from SMH.com.au)

Sometimes it’s wonderful being a blogger.

Like last night when I was shouted a great meal by Peruvian chef Alejandro Saravia whose only request in exchange was that I experience the special produce his country has to offer.

Even better I was able to bring my little sister, Stinky, who visited Peru a few years ago and remembers her time there fondly.

I was truly excited by this opportunity because I adore trying new tastes and ingredients and, having learnt so much about Andean cuisine when I made it one of my 2008 food challenges, I could finally taste some things I’d only read about.

So what did I taste for the very first time?
*ají – Peruvian yellow chilli pepper
*beef heart
*rocoto – Peruvian red pepper (capsicum)
*sea urchin
*huacatay – a herb also known as black mint or tagetes minuta
*alpaca meat
*purple corn

Croquetas de Yuca y Queso Manchego con Salsa Huancaina
cassava and Spanish cheese croquettes with Huancayo sauce
These crispy spheres were a salute to the Peruvian classic Papa a la Huancaína (or Huancayo style potatoes). Normally slices of boiled potato sit in a sauce of fresh cheese, ají, evaporated milk, salt and garlic. In this exciting version, mashed and chunky starchy yuca was complimented by an ever-so-slight spicy burn and beautiful, strong cheese that I would never have guessed was manchego. This canapé was absolutely lovely.


Causa de Trucha Orgánica del Titicaca
potato mortar terrine with organic trout from Lake Titicaca
Both the potato and trout gave these morsels a real earthiness. The fish was salty-sweet and the avocado added creaminess. It was doused liberally in rosemary and black pepper oil. Very enjoyable.


Anticuchos de Corazón y Salsa Criolla
beef heart skewers with ají sauce
This was the best taste of the night. The meat was very salty (in a good way), extremely tender and rich in iron flavour. The sauce so divine I wanted to lick it off the plate. The flavours were rich with olive oil, lemons and fresh onions and a mild spiciness lingered in the mouth moreishly. Too good.


Santiago Queirolo Pisco Sour
This cocktail made from lemon juice, syrup, egg white, bitters and pisco (Chilean/Peruvian grape spirit) was a well made Sour and similar to other tangy, lemon drinks. It was good, but I didn’t swoon even though the pisco tasted lovely and smooth.


Canete Plumgrapes Santiago Queirolo Pisco Martini
Although we ordered the Don Santiago Pisco Punch, we were served this martini in a tumbler and told it was punch. We were disappointed and then we tasted it. It was amazing! The drink was so fragrant and aromatic, with a sweet aroma, sweet entry flavour and then a sour ending that left you wanting more, more, more. It was made from plum pisco liqueur, grapefruit bitters, old fashioned aromatic bitters and a pink grapefruit twist. Simply delicious!


Kingfish Tiradito in Two Oils
The fish had a gentle flavour and toothsome texture, but I couldn’t detect the pisco it had been cured in. In fact it was slightly dry, but once you flipped it quickly in the rocoto and basil oil it bounced right back. The basil added a slight aniseed flavour which was pleasant, but at the time I thought coriander would have been a better choice. Later, finding coriander in a few other dishes, it occurred to me that the chef might have been avoid a repetition of flavours throughout the night. The Peruvian rocoto (red pepper) was delicious, adding a spiciness that many capsicum don’t contain.
Served with Brown Brothers Prosecco 2008


Passion at the Pacific
This was a ceviche using passionfruit and ají to cure generous portions of pink snapper, prawns and sea urchin. Tasting the thick fatty texture and mild salty-milk flavour of the sea urchin ticked off another 2009 food challenge. The snapper was deliciously tender and the prawns had the most perfect firm, inviting texture when so often they become slimy and soft when served raw. But best of all was the spicy and quite acidic curing sauce, flecked with coriander. I found this dish very impressive and perfectly balanced for my tastes.
Served with Brown Brothers Vermentino 2008


Pisco & Citron Granita
As a palate cleanser this granita fell a bit short since it arrived practically melted and tasted like an extreme mouthful of Pisco Sour. It was refreshing though.


Oxtail, Rocoto & Solterito Salad
I was dreading this dish because it’s premises was a stuff capsicum (pepper), a vegetable I detest. It came cold in soft shreds on a bed of lukewarm oxtail ragu which was unfortunately gristly and not very flavoursome. Interestingly it was the rocoto that lifted the flavours of the dish. This tiny round pepper was sweet and spicy all at once and tasted the way I’d always hoped other capsicums would taste. Good work rocoto! Alongside it was a truly wonderful salad of doughy, popcorn-like corn kernels called choclo (reminded me of hominy), feta cheese, broad beans and a huacatay dressing (black mint or tagetes minuta). I adored this salad, but does solterito mean bachelor?
Served with Brown Brothers Tempranillo 2006


Cured Alpaca with Quinoa Taboulé
I was really excited about trying alpaca meat, and it may have been the large amount of wine I’d consumed but it was one of the best meats I’d tasted in a long time. It seemed to be strong like beef or game, yet impart an incredible richness like pork. It certainly had the potential to be dry and chewy (Stinky’s slices were overcooked) but my pink strips were delectable. Unfortunately the quinoa’s earthiness tasted more like dirt and was overpowered by chunks of colourful capsicum.
Served with Brown Brothers Heathcote Shiraz 2006


Purple Corn Ice Cream
Our dessert seemed like a tribute to Chicha Morada, a Peruvian drink made by boiling purple corn with spices and pineapple. This was the ice cream version, slightly purple, lightly spiced with cinnamon and sitting on a bed of macerated pineapple and strawberry pieces. I just loved the flavour of the ice cream and think I could make my own version if I could get my hands on some Chicha Morada powder.
Served with Brown Brothers Moscato Rosa 2009 (delicious!)

~~~

Overall, it was wonderful to taste so many new and exciting ingredients from an area of the world so seldom featured in food media.

Thank you Chef Saravia for the amazing experience and, for those Sydney-based people who want to experience their own taste of the Andes, visit the Peru Concept website.

For impressions from other bloggers spotted on the night check out:
Not Quite Nigella
Grab Your Fork
ChocolateSuze
A Table for Two

broccoli & stilton soup

This Nigella Lawson recipe is simply delicious. Jonas and I almost devoured the entire between us and I've been craving it ever since.

Luckily it's very easy to make and the ingredients aren't very expensive. Too good.

Broccoli & Stilton Soup
Based on a Nigella Lawson recipe. Serves 4 as supper or 8 as a starter.
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons (45ml) garlic oil
6 spring onions, finely chopped
2 teaspoons dried thyme
1kg broccoli, broken into florets
3 cups (1.25L) hot vegetable stock
200g crumbled or chopped Stilton
freshly ground pepper
Method:
1. Put the garlic oil in a large pan over a medium heat, add the chopped spring onions and cook for a couple of minutes.
2. Add the thyme and the broccoli, and stir in the heat for a minute or so.
3. Add the hot vegetable stock and bring to a boil, then cover and cook for until broccoli is soft.
4. Remove a few broccoli florets and reserve.
5. In batches, liquidise in a blender with the crumbled Stilton
6. Pour back in the pan, add florets and pepper then reheat. Serve hot.
Note: Nigella uses frozen broccoli, I used fresh.


Broccoli is from the Brassicaceae family, along with cauliflower and cabbage. It’s been part of the European diet for more than 2,000 years and was well-loved by the Ancient Romans. It’s very name denotes its origin, coming from the Latin brachium or branch/arm.

Broccoli travelled from the Mediterranean into Asia Minor, only to head back to Italy in the 16th century, northern Europe during the 17th century and then finally to England in the 18th century. Broccoli was introduced to the USA by Italian migrants in the early 1800s, but only became well known in the 1920s.

Broccoli is jam packed with dietary fibre, Vitamin C, Vitamin K and Vitamin A. It provides the vital vitamin B that prevent birth defects, is also good for boosting immune systems, maintaining stronger bones, protecting against prostrate cancer and heart disease and contains all kinds of good stuff that equates to a major cancer fighter.

This week our Weekend Herb Blogging host is Yasmeen from Healthnut. Be sure to check ou her round-up.

The time previously on M&M:
2008 - Muzlu Süt (Turkish almond & banana milk)
2007 - Omani Spiced Tuna
2006 - Spaghetti con Zucchini

Reference:
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=9
http://www.freshforkids.com/veg_pages/broccoli/broccoli.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broccoli

kentish pigeon w plums

It was a case of Revenge of the Dinner!

When I stuck my hand into my pigeon to clean out the cavity, the sharp claws of the little beast dug into my flesh and scratched me quite painfully. The little bird unknowingly committed a small act of retribution before he was roasted and devoured.

As promised when I posted my Duck w Cherries recipe, here is a great Autumn recipe for those in the northern hemisphere. I suppose it's named after the area of the UK where the recipe comes from?

Like many ingredients that taste great together, pigeons and plums become widely available at the same time of year, allowing you to easily prepare this delicious Autumn dinner.

Just make sure there’s enough for everyone!

Kentish Pigeons w Plums
Recipe from cookitsimply.com Serves 4.
Ingredients:
25g (1 oz) butter
15ml (1 tbsp) vegetable oil
4 young pigeons, prepared
10ml (2 tsp) plain wholemeal flour
1 medium onion, skinned and chopped
2 cloves
1 tbsp chopped fresh herbs (rosemary, sage, thyme) or 1 tsp dried
100ml (4 fl oz) port
450g (1 lb) purple plums, stoned and halved
Salt & pepper, to taste
Freshly grated nutmeg
Method:
1. Heat the butter and oil in a large frying pan.
2. Coat the pigeons lightly in the flour, shaking off any excess, then add to the pan and fry, turning occasionally, until lightly browned on all sides. Transfer to an ovenproof casserole.
3. Stir the onion into the frying pan and fry gently until beginning to soften. Spoon over the pigeons, then sprinkle the cloves and herbs over the top.
4. Stir the port into the frying pan, bring to the boil, then pour over the pigeons.
5. Arrange the plums over the top. Cover tightly and bake at 170°C for 1½ hours, until the pigeons are tender.
6. Transfer the pigeons and plums to a warmed serving platter.
7. Boil the juices for 2-3 minutes to thicken them and concentrate the flavour.
8. Season to taste with salt, pepper and nutmeg, then pour over the pigeons. Serve at once.

For Weekend Herb Blogging this week I'm focusing on the pretty little plum.

In Australia, where there are more than 200 varieties grown, plums are available from October to May with the peak season being February to March.

European plums are more oval whereas Asian plums are rounder and heart-shaped.

Plum skin is usually rather tart whereas the flesh is quite sweet. Most of the sugar in plums is glucose (rather than fructose or sucrose).

One of my mother’s favourite memories was when she left me alone with her father and a tray of overripe blood plums. Since those plums were so squishy, and neither my grandfather nor I had any teeth, when she came back we were both smothered in red juices! Generational pincer movement!

I was surprised to learn than red-fleshed plums have more nutrients and high sugar contents than yellow-fleshed plums. Maybe that’s why my grandfather and I were so eager to eat those juicy blood plums!

Prunes are just dried plums, and both are known as natural laxatives. I’ll never forget how annoyed my brother was after I absentmindedly shared an entire bag of prunes with his 3yr old daughter.

Substances within the plum’s seed can decompose into hydrogen cyanide gas and in large enough doses could be harmful, so don’t leave two tonnes of plum seeds to compost in your backyard.

This recipe and the plum are my Weekend Herb Blogging entry for the week, hosted by Cinzia from Cindystar a lovely blog from Lake Garda in Italy.

Other online plum recipes:
Brioche Plum Tarts - A Whisk & A Spoon
Chicken Plum Pie - Ja Mange la Ville
Damson Jelly - The Cottage Smallholder
Dimply Plum Cake - Smitten Kitchen
Ginger Plum Jam - Andrea Meyer
Green Gage Plum & Vanilla Jam - Chez Pim
Hungarian Plum Dumplings - FXCuisine
Moroccan Nectarine & Plum Chicken Tagine - Closet Cooking
Plum & Blue Cheese Pannacotta - Cook (almost) Anything At Least Once
Plum & Muscat Gelato - White on Rice Couple
Plum & Peach Crisp - 101 Cookbooks
Plum & Radicchio Panzanella - Not Eating Out in New York
Plum Cake - La Tartine Gourmande
Plum Chutney - Green Gourmet Giraffe
Plum Kernel Oil Ice Cream - David Lebovitz
Plum Mayo Dressing - Simply Recipe
Plum Sorbet - Simply Recipes
Plum Tart - Rutic Kitchen
Quetsche Plum Tart w Walnut Cream - Chocolate & Zucchini
Roasted Plum Mousse Cannelee et Vanille
Rosewater & Plum Compote - 101 Cookbooks
Rosemary Plum Jam - Lucullian Delights
Upside-Down Plum Ricotta Cupcakes - Baking Obsession
Wild Plum Sauce - Fat Free Vegan Kitchen
Yeasted Olive Oil Plum Cake - Wild Yeast
Yellow Plum Sorbet - The Nourishing Gourmet
Zwetschgendatschi (Bavarian plum cake) - Delicious Days

This time previously on M&M:
2008 - smoked salmon, raisin & feta spoons
2007 - moqueca de peixe (Brazilian dendê oil & coconut fish)
2006 - grape & aniseed schiacciata & pavlova martini



References:
http://www.freshforkids.com.au/fruit_pages/plum/plum.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plum

lemonade & wattleseed scones

I have wanted to cook with wattleseed for many years now, but this year I formalised it when I made it one of my 2009 Food Challenges.

Wattleseed is a native Australian product with a delicious coffee-chocolate-hazelnut flavour. Around the world there are so many species of Acacia but only about 120 species (all native to Australia) provide seeds which have delicious culinary value.

The Australian Aborigines have eaten wattleseed for around 6,000 years but it’s the recent interest in native produce that has seen wattleseed truly take off in Australia.

If you have a choice, it’s best to buy wattleseeds whole then dry roast and grind them yourself. This way the flavour remains strong.

Wattleseed can be added to coffee, shakes, whipped cream, ice cream, cookies, pancakes, chocolate sauce and muffins. It’s also useful in a savoury context, being added to beer, bread, sauces and marinades.

Lemonade & Wattleseed Scones
Recipe by Maggie Beer. Makes 8.
Ingredients:
1 cup lemonade
1 cup cream
3 cups of self-raising flour
3 teaspoons ground wattleseed
1 tablespoon sugar
Milk, for brushing
Method:
1. Preheat oven to very hot 220C.
2. Sift flour, sugar and wattleseed.
3. Add lemonade and cream.
4. Mix to form soft dough with pastry cutter or finger tips, then place mixture on floured surface. This is a soft wet mix.
5. Bring together to a 2cm thickness and cut with a floured cutter.
6. Place close together on tray, brush with milk and bake for 10 - 15 minutes.

These wonderful little scones are my contribution to the High Tea Treats themed Monthly Mingle, hosted by Aparna from My Diverse Kitchen.

References:
http://www.cherikoff.net/cherikoff/index.php?id=130
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wattleseed

cambozola & taleggio potato bake

This is last of the Potato Week recipes and is the best potato bake ever! It’s rich, hearty, cheesy and simply delicious.

Using two oozey, melty cheeses I think we hit perfection (and the heights of cholesterol inducement).

(photo courtesy of www.gourmetgirlmagazine.com)

First up is Cambozola. If you’ve never tried it before, once you do you’re going to regret living all those years without it!

Cambozola is a soft, cow’s milk cheese from Germany. It’s white rind exterior and soft, triple cream centre is a similar to Camembert, while it contains threads of mild blue mold just like Gorgonzola.

If you had a cheese plate, buy a wedge and leave it out at room temperature before serving. The oozing, delightful result is just divine.

The name Cambozola could be a reference to Cambodunum, the Roman name of the city (Kempten) where the manufacturer (Champignon) is located. It might also refer to the cheese being a unique combination of Camembert and Gorgonzola.

(photo courtesy of www.gourmetgirlmagazine.com)

The second cheese is Taleggio, which most of you are very familiar with. It’s a soft, washed-rind cow’s milk cheese from Italy that melts easing with heat. It’s mild but has a strange yet pleasant flavour, not unlike overripe fruit.

Cambozola & Taleggio Potato Bake
Jonas & Anna’s very own recipe. Serves 6 as an accompanying side dish.
Ingredients:
1kg potatoes, peeled and sliced into thin rounds
100ml milk
100g crème fraîche
200g cambozola, sliced
200 taleggio, sliced
½ cup parmigiano, finely grated
1 large red onion, sliced into half circles
2 garlic cloves, crushed
Salt and pepper, to taste
Method:
1. Preheat oven to 200°C.
2. In a large bowl mix the milk, crème fraîche, crushed garlic, salt and pepper. Whisk until well combined.
3. In a large baking dish, make alternate layers of potato slices, onion, taleggio and cambozola.
4. The final layer should be covered in taleggio then sprinkled with parmigiano.
5. Pour the cream mixture over the potato layers and flatten potatoes with a spatula so that the top layer is resting in the sauce.
6. Cover with foil and bake in oven until potatoes are tender (about 1hr 15-30mins).
7. Once potatoes are tender, remove foil and continue baking until top has turned golden brown.
Note: this recipe was written after we made it when we were trying to remember everything! Use your instinct with the measurements (ie more or less cheese / cream mixture etc.