Foodie photos from this year

I upgraded my awful Blackberry (yes, I went there) to an iPhone 4S this year. And while I've been lazy about blogging working on some other projects, my foodie pics are turning out much better. Here are some of my tastiest memories captured this year!

Beaut BBQ Corn from the Norfolk Hotel

A little pineapple upside down cake

A lovely tuna with anchovy paste - my talented partner's creation

This was just some scrambled eggs and smoked salmon for a Sunday brekkie

A few of my favourite dishes, pork belly with crackling, sticky rice with Chinese sausage and beans. I saw that the local pub had this dish on the menu - but I have to say, my version's better. ;-)

Prawn congee - the perfect comfort food to nurse a cold

The Masterchef franchise

Last week the partner and I checked out MasterChef Live! Thanks to some free tickets from a friend. It was my first time to see the exhibition and it was miserably wet and rainy.

What I was amazed by was just how easy it was for a multitude and variety of brands that were now able to get MasterChef creds. After 4 seasons of 24 contestants, you just need ONE of the 96 to endorse you and you're suddenly a franchise product.

The show has done some wonders to he industry - but it's not the chef hats establishments that have come out on top. It's the aspiring home cooks looking to recreate an authentic experience from the show.

Anzac Day

My partner made some tasty looking traditional treats for Anzac Day!

A very spa-ducken Christmas - the result

The final verdict, spa-ducken is tasty.

It was a good feat, even though the final glaze turned out a little bit burnt but the rest was 100% fine. Definitely a great experience, but probably not something we'll try again - even though my boyfriend's brother, who is in charge of hosting Christmas next year suggested I bring the main. Yeah, right.

So happy holidays all and see you in the new year. Here's to a delightful and delicious 2012.

Spa-ducken

Spatchcock, deboned completely
Medium sized chicken, deboned completely
Medium sized duck, deboned with wings and legs in place
Sticky rice and chinese sausage stuffing
1/2 bunch thyme
Few sprigs of oregano
Salt/pepper
Rice wine and stock for roasting

Pre-heat oven to 160 degrees.

Start with the duck laid out flat skin down. Spoon a liberal amount of stuffing on meat and spread evenly.

Place chicken on top skin side down and repeat with stuffing. For the final spatchcock layer, I put in thyme and oregano.

Carefully wrap the birds around each other, trimming the meat that doesn't fit. (who knew chicken breasts were si large???) Secure the final wrapped birds with twine and toothpicks to close the opening.

Lay in roasting tray skin side up. Garnish with vegetables. Pour rice wine and stock over the top. Cover and place in oven.

Roast for 3.5 hours, removing the foul for the last 30 minutes and bringing the. Temperature up to 200 degrees. You can glaze with soy, oyster sauce and honey if you wish. Rest for 20 minutes before serving.







Before glazing bit blurry

It is a very spa-ducken Christmas - pt 2

Ah Christmas Eve. Where shoppers leap for the last sprig of rosemary and fret with traditional pre-Christmas spirit over the misplaced shopping list left forgotten in a supermarket aisle.

Meanwhile, in our little flat, the very spa-ducken Christmas is well on its way.

But first, to get into the spirit of the season, some festive decorations.

And in preparation for the cooking of the great feast the birds are deboned.

And the stuffing prepared.

As you can see I'm taking a bit of an Asian twist using my favourite staple, sticky rice and Chinese sausage.

Tomorrow the cooking and feasting.

Merry Christmas everyone! We'll be posting the final spa-ducken results after the holidays. In the meantime to all a good night.

A very spa-ducken Christmas - pt 1

It's going to be a spa-ducken Christmas! That's right, spa-ducken!

Let me explain. We're hosting Christmas this year for 7. While I love cooking our house doesn't really have room for big dinner parties, but since it's family, they can deal with the tight squeeze.

I've always wanted to try to make a turducken, ever since I first read about it in Jeffrey Steingarten's book. If you haven't read It Must've Been Something I Ate, it's a must read fir any adventurous foodie.

Only problem with the infamous turducken (for the uninitiated, it's the chicken stuffed in a duck stuffed in. A turkey) is that it feeds 16-18! Even with my partner's brother and brother-in-law who could eat for 3 each, we'd still have way too much meat.

So jnstead we're trying the spa-ducken, that is a spatchcock stuffed in a chicken stuffed in a duck. Should be a much more manageable size.

So...we're going to need some practice runs especially with the deboning of things. So 34 days until Christmas....

First up deboning the spatchcock. This was surprisingly okay with a sharp paring knife and some good YouTube instructions - I even managed to get some of the wing meat out.

Since it was a trial, it turned into dinner with some herbs, olive oil and some thyme.

Have you any Christmas dinner tips? Especially in the poultry department?

Salt baked crusted spatchcock

Yum - great salty goodness. I've never actually made a spatchcock before but it didn't really seem like it would be that different to chicken. Make the crust as below and ensure to completely enclose the poultry with no gaps or holes. I left it in 200 degree celsius oven for about 45 minutes and let it rest for about 5 more.

The sides are steamed sticky rice with chinese sausage and shitake mushrooms with some steamed chinese broccoli.

Crust:

1 1/4 cup rock salt crushed with mortar and pestle
2 cups flour
1/2 cup chopped fresh thyme
Couple of sprigs rosemary leaves stripped from stalks
2 egg whites
200 ml of water

PS oh yeah - In case it's not obvious, DON'T EAT THE CRUST!!! :D

Bourke st bakery Flourless chocolate cake

260 g dark chocolate
135 ml milk
40 g yoghurt
4 eggs
105 g caster sugar for eggs
4 egg whites
160 g caster sugar for egg whites
135 ml pouring cream
55 g unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted

Preheat oven to 150 degrees. Grease 20 cm spring form pan and line base with baking paper. Paper should protrude 2.5 cm over edge of tin

Put the chocolate in a large stainless steel bowl and set over saucepan of simmering water to melt. Boil water for 2 minutes and stir chocolate to melt.
Put milk and yoghurt in saucepan over medium high heat and bring to boil. Turn off the heat, mixture should be curdled milk.
In a separate bowl, Whisk eggs and caster sugar for about 10 minutes. Mixture should be light and nearly double in volume.

Whisk egg whites in very clean bowl to soft peaks. Add sugar for the whites and whisk into shiny meringue. Don't over whisk. Place in fridge.

Whisk cream into soft peaks and place in fridge.

Next, you will need all of the components ready to fold together, the melted chocolate, curdled milk, eggs, meringue, whipped cream and cocoa powder. Pour curdled milk into chocolate and fold and then add cocoa - whisk well until fully incorporated. Fold in whipped eggs in 3 batches, making sure first batch is fully incorporated before adding more. Lightly fold meringue into whipped cream. Fold this mixture into the chocolate mix in 3 batches making sure you fully incorporate the first batch before adding more.

Using spatula, scoop batter into prepared tin and tap on bench to even out the mix. Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes. Do not disturb the cake cooking for the first 45 minutes. After that, rotate to ensure even cooking. You can cover top of cake with baking paper and lower temperature if the top is starting to brown. Check if cooked by placing hand and on top to feel if it mix is set through. Let cool 30 minutes before serving. Serve with sharp knife that had been warmed in hot water and clean blade completely between cuts.

Image credit

Masterchef - Gary's Blackforest Cake & why do you cook?

I've been meaning to try this out for some time now - and with quite a bit of stress over the past couple of weeks, I figured the best thing to do to de-stress over the weekend was to make a cake. :)

For me, cooking and baking is a way to deal with stress. Because it's so unlike anything else I do in my day to day - and it requires the utmost concentration, it really helps to reboot my brain and relieve stress. Back in 2001, when 9/11 happened, I wasn't in New York at the time as I was in college. The whole thing was so mind numbing and impossible to take in, I ended up making pasta alfredo for everyone to give me something to mentally cope. (Mind you, it tasted absolutely horrendous.)

Gary's Blackforest cake

http://www.masterchef.com.au/black-forest-cake.htm

While the recipe is quite complex and involves quite a number of techniques and creations, the whole thing wasn't actually that bad. As you can tell, I didn't end up with the 5 tier cake like the one on the show simply because it was too late to try and make a second sponge cake (I only had 1 springform pan) and I hadn't bought enough marscapone cheese. Plus, when we served it up, most people had already eaten dessert anyway, so it was probably a good thing that it was a little smaller in size.

Yummo.

Why do you cook? What hobbies help you destress?

Five Spice Bacon Salad

Five spice pork is a lovely traditional chinese dish - the sweet and savoury taste of the five spice seasoning goes lovely with natural richness and juiciness of pork chops...

And bacon. :)

With summer well and truly here, salads have been the most appetising and easiest simple dinner option to enjoy - but it's been important to keep salads interesting, and filling. This salad is exceptionally light, but the addition of the bacon (and even the little bit of bacon grease!) makes it a hearty dinner option. Serve with a little bit of rice for an even more filling option.

Five Spice Bacon Salad

Ingredients:

6 slices of middle bacon
2 tbs chinese five spice
30 g snow pea sprouts
150 gram mixed lettuce
1 ya pear cut into thin slices

Cut bacon into sizable chunks (but not small bits for now) - I usually stack the slices on top of each other and cut through. Coat the "chunks" liberally with five spice seasoning.

In a heated pan, bring the coated bacon to a sizzle. Let cook for about 6 minutes, just until the bacon cooks through without becoming too crispy. Save the grease to drizzle lightly over the salad, if desired.

Remove from pan and cut into bite size pieces. Toss together lettuce, snow pea sprouts and pear slices with the bacon pieces. Drizzle remaining bacon grease into salad (definitely tasty but not the heart healthy option - I also realise that I'm watching the Biggest Loser while I write this, so maybe NOT the most responsible recommendation I can make). Otherwise, you can dress with a light soy and some sesame oil.

Serve over rice for a nice hearty dinner option. (that still counts as "salad").

Avocado Pesto

Mmmm - avocado, what an amazing and versatile fruit. Great on toast with a sprinkle of S&P and an absolute must have for any sushi lover.

With the incredible heat in Sydney this past week, it's been a real challenge to whip up dinner after work - the last thing you want to do in the 40 degree heat in a non-airconditioned apartment is turn on the stove!

This lovely pesto went perfectly with a simple salad of spinach leaves, roma tomatoes, barbecue chook and spanish onion - and no cooking required!

Finally, the cool change is here. Personally, I'm pretty done with summer!

--

Avocado Pesto

Ingredients:

1 bunch basil
2 small garlic cloves
1 avocado
salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup olive oil


Pick just the leaves from the bunch of basil. In a food processor, pulse basil leaves with garlic. Use a stick mixer to puree avocado and basil, garlic mix while slowly adding the oil in a steady stream until the mixture is smooth. Salt and pepper to taste.

Great for leafy summer salads - and works well with cold pasta salads as well.

A delectably delicious new year - chocolate crusted lemon tart

My friend went to New Zealand and the Cadbury factory last month and came back with the Green and Black's chocolate cookbook - lotsa awesome recipes including this one for a divine lemon tart. Definitely a holiday hit.

This year, I hope I'll be able to include more about the foodie community. There are so many great food bloggers out there, especially here in Sydney and I would love to become more involved with it. Hopefully that also means I get myself off my lazy butt and blog more!

Have a very happy new year everyone and here's to a delectably delicious 2011!

http://www.greenandblacks.com/ca/recipes/online-recipes/green-and-blacks-chocolate-crusted-lemon-tart.html

What's your comfort food? (and Har Gow Recipe)

Mac and cheese, lasagne, chicken noodle soup, casserole - we all have our comfort foods. Most of them will probably stem from our childhood and our fondest memories - when mum tucked us in with a blanket in front of the TV and served up a piping hot bowl of tomato soup with our fav cartoons.

Being asian, a lot of my comfort food is chinese - although when I was sick, my mum usually gave me a bowl of some sticky black bitter herbal concoction that was supposed to make me better. Much worse than cherry cough syrup. Anyway, my point is that a lot of my "comfort" foods come from comforting routines my family had established. Because my dad worked in a restaurant I didn't get to spend weekends with him when I was in school - but during school holidays we always went out for lunch, usually to some chinese noodle place where I would always order roast pork and wonton noodle soup. Or we would go to yum cha and I always had the har gow. So those are at the top of my list for "comfort food".

What's on yours?

Har gow recipe

Taken from http://www.anyrecipe.net/asian/recipes/hagow.html

Filling

300 g prawns
150 g water chestnuts minced
2 1/2 tbs corn flour
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp black bean sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sesame oil
1/4 tsp grated ginger

Wrapper
1 1/4 cup wheaten corn flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1 cup boiling chicken broth
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp oil

Peel and devein prawns and cut into 1 cm pieces. Mix with filling ingredients and set aside.

Mix wheaten cornflour and tapioca flour with broth and oil. Knead into dough - if it's too sticky, add more wheaten cornflour.

Break off about 1/4 of the dough and cover the rest to keep moist. Roll into a 1.5 cm thick tube then divide into eight pieces.

Roll each piece out as a flat dumpling wrapper - using a flat bottom of a pan to press down on the dough really works! Your wrapper should be round and no more than a couple of mm in thickness.

Pleat the edges of about 1/2 the circumference of the wrapper so you have a small little 1/2 cup. Traditionally, 8 pleats iis a lucky number in chinese culture. Place filling into the "cup" and fold over to form a half moon shape. Fold the corners in a little and flatten the bottom on a piece of grease paper to form the rest of your dumpling shape. Repeat with the rest of the dough.

Steam in a bamboo steamer lined with grease paper for about 7 minutes. Let sit for 3 minutes before serving.

Crab, ricotta and chive parcels

So we're finally back on track with the cooking/blogging. Over the past month I've done little else except make failed batches of macarons - although I did revisit some of the old favourites including Portuguese coffee tarts and roast pork with my mum visiting for a few weeks. I did finally conquer the macarons - well, sorta. I ended up with some great tasting macarons that stayed up (instead of being flat as a coin) using a recipe from Tartelette. (Shout to to Julie Mak for the heads up - she has an awesome food blog btw that you should all check out - http://idreaminchocolate.wordpress.com)

The only thing was - that my macarons still didn't have the little feet. :(


Anyone with any more suggestions??

Meanwhile, I of course, a long with the many MasterChef fans out there - have been eagerly following the launch of the pint-sized version, Junior MasterChef. I really have to say I am amazed at how mature and inspiring these kids are when it comes to cooking. You can really see the depth of their passion - and how disciplined and process driven one has to be to achieve.

I do hope that these kids remember that every now and then - it's just as important to get into a mud pie!!

One of the little darlings had a great idea for making ravioli in wonton wrappers. "I use the wonton wrappers so the skin gets crispy," she says. (I'm paraphrasing here - sorry). But it is a great idea - and really easy! I served these with some rice noodles, coriander and sprouts with a dressing of fish sauce, lime juice and rice wine vinegar

Crab, ricotta and chive parcels (in wonton wrappers)

Ingredients:

1 cup shredded crab meat (in a pinch I used tinned crab meat)

150 grams ricotta

1/4 cup chives, finely chopped

wonton wrappers

Method:

Preheat over to 180 degrees Celsius. Mix crab meat, ricotta and chives in a bowl. Put about a heaping teaspoon of filling in the centre of a wonton wrapper and gather up the corners, using a bit of water to seal.

Line the parcels up on a greased baking tray. Bake for about 20 minutes or until edges are just about crispy.

Flat Macarons again

Foodies - I'm at a loss. I tried to make the macarons again for the 2nd time. I got a new little egg beater thing to make sure I beat the eggs to peaks. And again everything seemed to be going well - in fact the little macarons were definitely rising in the oven! I have a picture to prove it!!


See? Rising macarons!!



But low and behold - when I took them out of the oven - collapse! They went back to being flat as coins (again I have a picture to prove it!)

See - FLAT macarons. :(


Any help? Advice? Suggestions? Has this happened to you? If you know anything about meringue and how it's supposed to crust over and not collapse - help would really be appreciated.

Slow cooked salmon

A co-worker pointed me to this exciting concept, slow cooked salmon. The idea is to brush and bed a beautiful piece of salmon and then cook it in an oven at just around 100 degrees for 30 minutes. The result - beautiful tender and juicy salmon that is moist and flavoursome - delicious!

http://steamykitchen.com/96-tropical-island-salmon.html

We started with a brush of olive oil, salt, pepper and ground coriander. We then threw the salmon skin side down in skillet to crisp it up a bit.

For the bed, we used caramelised onions quickly sauted in a fry pan with some fine white wine and a few chunks of navel oranges. Lay the salmon, skin up, on the bed and top each fish with a slice of orange. Cook in oven at 100 degrees for 30 minutes.

Ground some macadamia nuts and chillis and roast in pan to release flavour. Mix nut mixture with some finely chopped mint. Remove salmon from oven and top with nut and mint. Serve.

Too easy!

When life gives you flat macarons - make cookies!

Inspired by Adriano Zumbo's macaron tower, I really wanted to try making macarons myself. I checked a number of recipes including from Poh's kitchen. I sieved almond meal and icing sugar to grainy fineness, whipped egg whites to peaked perfection, and folded everything together to that magma like consistency that all the experts harp on about - well, given my first hand familiarity with magma.

The macarons flat as a pancake - literallly the size and thickness of a 20 cent piece.

I'm not sure what I did wrong - maybe my egg whites weren't separated early enough (I left them for the day instead of overnight) maybe my 15 year old oven can't cope with pre-heating to 200 and then turning it bakc DOWN to 160. Macarons, I'm sure, are just temperamental things that take awhile to master...

The challenge for me was what to do with the 2 cups of sensational blueberry ganache I had made for the macaron filling...

Make sugar cookies. :)

Sugar cookies with blueberry white chocolate ganache

Ingredients:

Cookies:

2.5 cups flour
1 cup butter
1.5 cups white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tbs baking powder.

Ganache:

300 mL thick cream
1 can blueberry pie filling or 1 cup fresh blueberries
1 bar (280 g) white chocolate, chopped roughly

Method:

Start with the ganache. In a saucepan, bring cream and blueberry puree to gentle boil. Remove from heat. Stir in white chocolate and mix gently until smooth.

Spoon out mixture into large tray and let set at room temperature for one hour.

For the cookies, preheat oven to 190 degrees. Mix butter and sugar until creamy. Add egg, flour, vanilla and baking powder and work the mixture into a soft dough.

Spoon out the dough in round circles about the size of a 20 cent piece and bake for 8-10 minutes until just brown along the edges. Allow to cool.

Sandwich ganache between two cookies to finish it off!

Which potatoes should you use to make chips?

So MasterChef favourite Aaron failed to make the cut for the final 6 – his downfall – the wrong potatoes.

I’m gonna be honest and say that I have no idea about different types of potatoes – I always generally assume a potato is a potato and there isn’t that much different between the different types. I’ve also never tried to make chips...

So a quick rundown on potatoes:

Russet potatoes – these are starchy potatoes with low moisture content, making them perfect for chips (sorry Aaron), baked and jacket potatoes. They produce a beautiful fluffy texture when cooked, so they’re perfect for mash. Look for them by their brw

Chat potatoes – these little cocktail potatoes are small and waxy in their texture. This makes them ideal for boiling, steaming and serving in salads as they hold their moisture and have a lovely potato flavour that is not too dry.

Larger sized white potatoes can also be used for boiling and have a similar high moisture content.

Desiree potatoes - these medium starch potatoes have a pale pink skin and are great for roasting and mashing.

The problem is that it seems if you go to Coles or Woolie’s in Australia, you seem to be limited in your potato selection with your choice of tubers being “brushed” “washed” or cocktails. The cocktail potatoes are the chat potatoes above, while potatoes generally tend to be Nadine potatoes, which like the chats, are of a higher moisture content. If you can find them, desiree potatoes will probably be your most likely candidate for higher starch content.

The Perfect Man spruiks the perfect cheese - Parmesan!

If you live in Australia, you've probably seen the Perfect Italiano advertisements featuring the Perfect Man - he's sensitive, athletic and a great cook to boot. I especially love the part where he looks into the camera and says "And when there is no woman to listen to, I practice my listening face."



Pretty hilarious!

Anyway, the Perfect Man has got the right idea about what I have come to think is one of the world's most perfect cheeses: parmesan!

I had two good experiments with parmesan recently. The first was parmesan carrots. A fairly simple dish, made with Dutch carrots and fresh breadcrumbs. I usually don't like carrots but parmesan and breadcrumbs really makes everything delicious.

The second was a really simple idea - parmesan crisps! All you need is parmesan - and you're in cheese heaven!


Here are the two ideas below!

Parmesan Carrots

Ingredients
1 bunch dutch carrots - stalks trimmed (approx 500 g)
2 cups fresh bread crumbs
2 tbs seasoning - I used middle eastern
1/3 cup freshly chopped parsley
1/2 tsp chili flakes
2 tbs freshly grated parmesan
zest of 1 lemon
Flour for dusting (approx 6 tbs)
2 eggs beaten
Oil for frying

Method

Wash carrots thoroughly and allow to dry.

In a large bowl, mix together bread crumbs, seasoning, parsley, parmesan, chili flakes and zest. Lay out the flour and the eggs in separate bowls.

Dip the carrots first in the flour to coat, then in the egg and finally in the breadcrumbs - ensure they are well coated.

Use about 2 cups of oil in a fry pan, enough to create a shallow layer of oil. Heat to frying temperatures and lay out the carrots. Shallow fry on both sides until golden brown. Serve with aioli mayonnaise.

Aioli tip: You should try and make mayo from scratch but if you're short on time, mix 1 tsp minced garlic with 3 tbs store bought mayo. Mix well.

Parmesan Chips

This is way too delicious and too simple not to try! They are perfect accompaniment to a light cream soup.


Ingredients:

2/3 cup grated parmesan cheese (or as much as you want to make!)

Method

Preheat oven to 190 - 200 degrees Celsius. Lay out a couple of sheets of baking paper on a tray.

Place egg rings on to the paper and layer grated parmesan in each, spreading evenly. Each ring should have about a thick (1 - 2 mm) layer of cheese. If you space your circles out, you can remove the rings for a more "lacy" look.

Place the parmesan rings into the oven and bake for about 5-8 minutes or until a crisp golden brown. Remove from oven, let cool and remove your beautiful, delicious parmesan crisps!

What delicious recipes do you know with cheese?

MasterChef, Jamie Oliver and Dressing the board

As many of you are probably aware, I live in Australia and am a big big fan of Australian reality show, MasterChef. Amateur cooks compete in these amazing challenges recreating siganture dishes from some of the world's biggest culinary icons - Matt Moran, Kylie Kwong, Neil Perry - and at the end one is left standing to be named the MasterChef and gets a publishing deal, money and prestige. Anyway if you haven't seen it - you should - the eps are here - http://www.masterchef.com.au

Anyhow, this week, the show's being filmed in London, home to some of the biggest cooking names around - including of course, Jamie Oliver. I've seen his shows, read about his philanthropic work - he was showcased in a cover story I had worked on at my old job. To see this guy doing his thing on ANOTHER show though I one he's not the producer of - was actually quite phenomenal. You can see Jamie is the real deal, passionate - bursting with energy - completely eccentric and running at 50 million miles a minute!

One of the interesting concepts he presented was a new way to cook steak - he called it "dressing the board" - quite a simple concept but really brought out some fresh new flavours. Here's what we tried:

Ingredients:

1 thick juicy 200 g sirloin steak
3 tbs mint, finely chopped
2 small chilis finely chopped
1 tsp mince garlic
2 tbs olive oil
1 tbs balsamic vinegar

Large wood chopping board

Method:

Cook the steak in a pan as desired. While the steak is cooking prepare your dressing ingredients and mix the mint and chili well on the board. Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic and stir through. When the steak is cooked take it straight out the pan, place it on the board with your dressing and coat liberally. As the steak starts to cool and seal off, it'll take on the flavours of the board - so you have a well flavoured piece of gorgeous and juicy steak - without the typical burning of the marinade! Genius!

Disclaimer: blatant self promotion and update. Sorry folks, but I'm using my own blog to my own gain. :) Outsie of cooking - I write kids books, including girls books age 8 and up and my first book is out! I would love if you would take a moment to check it out! Okay - that's it, I promise! Thanks for reading.