Category Archives: Food Glorious Food

Date and Orange Spiral Biscuits

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Date and orange. The two flavour combinations had been stuck in my head and were not going anywhere. I wanted to play….

Date and Orange Icecream, Date and Orange Cake, Date and Orange Lamb Tagine, Date and Orange Sourdough…ok maybe not the last one…or mayyybbe…but certainly these little babies.

Date and Orange Spiral Biscuits

Date Mixture

300 gms Medjool Dates

1/2 grated orange rind

juice of 1 orange

In a pot slowly cook up mixture, until dates soften and mixture becomes like a thick paste. Cool.

Biscuit Dough

120gms softened butter

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 grated orange rind

1 beaten egg

1 cup plain flour

2/3 cup S/R flour

Cream the butter and sugar and then add the orange rind and beaten egg. Then add flours. KNead lightly and roll out on to a lightly floured surface. Roll to about 1cm thick.

Add date mixture to the dough, carefully spreading out mixture. Roll up and trim edges.

Gently pressing in the roll and turning as you go, to get any air spaces out. Cut to 1cm thickness, and line on a tray with baking paper. Bake at 180C for approx 30 minutes.

need to sing a little aria…

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Sometimes a bit of the city comes out of the hippy farm girl. Sometimes that city part needs to be nourished, embraced and relished in. Sometimes, just sometimes that city living is enough to make you want to sing…

Sing an aria.

I have been singing all week. Ever since I got the confirmation email…”we are pleased to confirm your reservation…and look forward to welcoming you to ARIA restaurant.”

Now call me a dag, call me a curd nerd, call a ‘bloody hippy’, but you can also call me a Matt Moran fan. Why?…There is something about that guy that and his food that catches my attention. I had wanted to go to his Sydney restaurant (two hatted) for quite a few years now and here I was finally about to get that opportunity.

…and yes I was singing with excitement.

A gorgeous day out with my man, they could have served us canned baked beans and I would have been happy. Why?

1/ We don’t go out that often by ourselves…actually, um never.

2/ The Monkeys weren’t grappling my legs. Instead happily tying their grandmother to a door frame at home, lighting small fires under her feet and taunting her. (As long as we didn’t get a phone call, that was fine.)

3/ It really is the most stunning harbour, sometimes I need to be poked and prodded and reminded of this.

So did they serve baked beans?

amuse bouche- leak and potato soup

Kurobuta sweet pork belly (the best I have EVER tasted) with pickled watermelon and crackling

cured goose breast with chicken liver parfait, poached rhubarb, black pepper and ginger bread

seared fillet of Murray cod (so crispy skin), spinach purée and fricassée of salsify and borlotti beans

char-grilled Rangers Valley sirloin with a cauliflower and bacon croquette, roasted king brown mushrooms and a grain mustard sauce. (otherwise known as the best steak we have ever eaten.)

custard tart with poached pears, nutmeg and ginger bread ice cream

chocolate deliciousness of some kind or another

complimentary petit fours- turkish delight, lamington, nougat
So was it good?….
It was sooo good. The food really was amazing. A truly gorgeous afternoon for a special occasion.
Stand out dishes. The pork- oh sweet mama it just melted on your tongue and made me do embarrassing little groans at every mouthful as it was so good. The poached rhubarb black pepper a combination that I really need to steal. The steak was served with a steak knife- No need, it was the softest, most melt in your mouth steak I have ever come across. And I don’t even like steak!
The custard tart soft and delicate, the gingerbread icecream with a heady taste of spices that makes you roll each bit around on your tongue.
All simply delicious and inspiring.

Truly beautiful food that I got to share with my lovely Mr Chocolate on our wedding anniversary, on Sydney harbour, next to the Opera house….

Book us in again for next year please.

Iced VoVo’s

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The humble Iced VoVo I mentioned back here in this post. Since I mentioned it, I have been plagued by thoughts of these biscuits. I eyed them off in the supermarket, $1.90- bargain…but so full of ‘stuff’. Tickity Tock goes my brain... lets give them a crack. Not the most wonderful thing I have ever made… But they were fun, and I really did have a giggle while eating them.

Now I’ve made them, I can move on.

Iced VoVo’s

Biscuit Base

125gms softened butter

1/2 cup caster sugar

1 beaten egg

2 tps vanilla

1 1/2 cups plain flour

Cream butter, sugar, vanilla, egg and then add flour. KNead to a smooth dough. Roll out to an approximate square shape and then with a knife cut out squares the size you would like. Bake at 180C, until light golden and cool.

Coconut Icing

Equal parts icing sugar to desicated coconut, adding a little water as you go. Just enough to bind the two together.

Squish it together and lay them on the biscuits, add a dollop of jam in between (I used my Vanilla Plum Jam) and viola…Iced VoVo biscuits (of a sort.)

Sri Lankan Love Cake

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What do I think of when I think of Sri Lanka, little island in the Indian Ocean?

Beautiful white sandy beaches with swaying palm trees. Swinging in a hammock, being hypnotized by the sound of crashing waves.

Fish on your plate at dinner time. So fresh, you can still hear the whispered words of the fisherman I wonder how much I will get for this big one?

Wild majestic elephants being heard in the near by jungle as you sip your locally grown tea.

A selection of short eats (small entree sized finger food, Sri Lankan style tapas/yum cha to go- if you will) to choose from as you wonder around in search of the next ancient Buddhist temple to discover. Sri Lankan cuisine that is so full of flavours that your taste buds want to sing every time you eat.

Ancient rock fortress, Sigiriya. With so much history within its rocky walls, that you feel quite overwhelmed at the thought of how much this amazing rock had seen.

A kind of driving that can be only described as tiring. Honk when you are going to over take, honk when you are over taking, honk when you have over taken, honk when you would like to over take…and then begin again.

A country floored by the 2004 Tsunami.

Umbrella Lovers- if you wonder down to the beach, you will be sure to find some young couples sharing some ‘alone’ time, sitting under an umbrella. These umbrellas dot the surrounding areas, as couples shield themselves from prying eyes.

Buffalo yoghurt being made in earthen ware pots, lining the sides of the roads sitting in the sun. (similar to a Greek style yoghurt- thick and creamy, and oh sooo delicious.)

Love Cake, a cake with so many different recipes and variations. Usually made for celebrations. I hadn’t actually tasted this one before, but with the ingredients and the name…

Whats not to love?

Love Cake

150 gms crushed cashew nuts (cadjunuts)

125g semolina

3 eggs

150g sugar

125g softened butter

1 tbs rose water

1 1/2 tbs brandy

1/2 tps cinnamon

1/2 tps cardamom

1/2 tps nutmeg

Separate the eggs. Whisk together softened butter, 3 egg yolks, and sugar. Add semolina, cashews, rose water, brandy, spices.

Whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks appear and fold into mixture. Cook in a square tin, greased and lined with paper. Bake at 180C for approx 25 minutes or until golden.

(recipe taken from a local Sri Lankan cookbook and adapted.)

Travels with Sourdough

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Almond and Raisin Sourdough

The underside of the Almond and Raisin Sourdough. A toasted almond crunch to a slice.

Wholemeal sourdough.

Sunflower and Linseed Sourdough Panini.

Date and Pecan Sourdough

350gms starter

600gms flour

2/3 cup chopped medjool dates

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1 tbs raw sugar

good shake of cinnamon

1 1/2 tps salt

I made this sourdough on the warmest day so far that I have toyed with the sourdoughs. Consequence- a lighter sourdough then I would normally make as it rose so quickly. I did two lots of folds in between proves. Verdict- um yes please! (My mum liked this one too, and said that I could make some next time I came down to visit. Have starter…will travel.)

Cumquat and Lime Marmalade- Adults Only

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I am an adult and I like marmalade.

I am an adult and I also like dark chocolate and espresso coffee.

I am an adult and can stay up late at night, (I can… but, I dont.)

I am an adult and I can say no thanks to steamed fresh beetroot, purple cabbage and offal…and I like that I can say no.

I every time I take a bit of this delicious marmalade, it screams to me I am an adult. Why? As The Monkeys don’t like it and it’s all for me.

Me, me, me.

Last time my dad came to visit, he brought a bag full of fresh cumquats. This was a fruit that I hadn’t tried before but knew it was frequently used in marmalades. Did a little reading, researching and then tasting (souRRR!) There wasn’t enough to do only cumquat marmalade but lucky for me my dad had also brought a whole lot of huge limes from his tree. So Cumquat and Lime it was.

Finely slicing up all the fruit and reserving all seeds from the cumquats. Seeds were soaked in 1 cup of water overnight and sliced fruit covered in water and also soaked over night. The next day looking at my little bowl of seeds and water I was absolutely thrilled to see all the pectin had oozed out. A clear gelatinous little bowl full that gets cooked up in the marmalade, (ditching the seeds of course.) Sugar added. Cook it up and ready when a small saucer has been placed in the freezer, and a spoonful of the marmalade sets when placed on the cold saucer.

Result, one adults only marmalade. (Although its kind of worth it to get the kids to try it, just to watch their faces screw up…or is that the evil me?)

Passionfruit Shortbread

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When Mr Chocolate came home with a whole stack of passionfruit, my mind was thinking oh what to make, what to make? As I am pretty much the only one in the household that likes passionfruit, I could do as I pleased with those tarty little treasures that originate from South America. Feeling the pull of the trusty biscuit, Passionfruit Shortbread it was.

I also made some for Monkey Boy’s pre-school fundraiser cake stall. They already had at least 20 people doing cupcakes, so I decided to stand alone with the biscuits. If nobody bought them, I knew Mr Chocolate would…its the kind man he is.

Passionfruit Shortbread

125 gms softened butter

1/2 cup sugar

Cream butter and sugar together, then add

pulp from 3 passionfruit

add flours

1 cup plain flour

2/3 cup s/r flour

Mix together and then place on a lightly floured board, roll with rolling pin until approximately 5mm thick and cut out. Cut out to desired shapes. Bake at 180C until pale golden.

Eat with enthusiasm, or sell them off at the next cake stall.


Strawberry Vanilla Birthday Cake

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Birthday time and I wanted a simple cake, with not a crazy amount of sugar, no colours, kid friendly, easy to make, to be enjoyed by everyone and truly delicious…(small drum roll), please step up Strawberry Vanilla Cake.

Strawberry Vanilla Cake

cake part

150 gms butter softened

3/4 cup caster sugar

2 tps vanilla

1 1/2 cups s/r flour

3 eggs

Cream butter and sugar together. Add vanilla and eggs one at a time. Fold in flour. Bake cake at 180C for approx 1 hour (on 2nd shelf). Once out and cooled, cut carefully in half.

icing

300gms mascarpone

1/2 cup icing sugar

1 scraped vanilla pod

whip it all up in a mixer or with a hand held whisk and then layer half of the mixture between the cake with a layering of freshly sliced strawberries. Top layer of cake on and mascarpone mixture smoothed over and decorate with strawberries.

****

A really simple cake, that was thoroughly enjoyed, keeps well in the fridge for a few days and doesn’t lose any of its charm over time. (We ate this one on Little Monkeys’s birthday, now officially two.) I did catch Monkey Boy trying to get the “hair” out of his cake- he was trying to get the vanilla pod seeds out.

Honey Almond Nougat Gift ideas

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Gift ideas. Sometimes I can get completely stumped for ideas for gifts. I want to give something, but don’t want the present to be a token something. I want there to be some kind of thought behind it. A little present to say Happy Birthday, Merry Christmas or a simple I’m thinking of you.  Not something that screams… uh oh I forgot your birthday up until an hour ago, and this was the first thing I saw…Isn’t it pretty!

Here’s one idea for a gift. First stop, go to your local second hand store.

One Donna Hay tea cup and little white dish later. ($2 dollars spent, for perfect condition.) Add some recycled ribbons that I had got via a whole bundle from a LETS trade a while back. Now to fill them.

Kecap Manis Roasted Almonds

Your desired quantity of raw almonds, coat them lightly in Kecap Manis (Indonesian Soy Sauce). Then put them on a tray and slow roast them in the oven. Done when an almond is cut in half, and lightly browned through.

Honey Almond Nougat

2 cups caster sugar

1 cup glucose syrup

1/2 cup honey

1 cup toasted whole almonds

1 tps vanilla

2 egg whites

75grams softened butter

rice paper sheets

Mix sugar, glucose, honey, vanilla in a pan. Stirring until sugar dissolves. Boil uncovered until reaches small crack stage (a tps of mixture snaps when its dropped into cold water.) This usally takes about 6 minutes or until reaches approx 138C.

Beat egg whites until firm peaks form. With mixer running, slowly add hot mixture in a thin stream. Mix for 3 mins or until the mixture holds together, then add the butter. When combined add the nuts.

Quickly spread into greased and lined with rice paper tray. Smooth the top down and press the remaining rice paper. Wait until it gets to room temperature, and then cut into desired shapes.

Two easy hand made gifts that are made with love, using recycled dishes, and ready to be given to someone that needs a good present.

Sourdough Apple Rolls

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“Mama my taste buds can’t believe how good this is, they just want to keep eating and eating this” Monkey Boy

Right. Mental note to self, must make these again. And I did, then I did again.

Sourdough Apple Rolls

sourdough, into round parts- flatten a little

add some sliced cooked apple

a sprinkle of sugar

a sprinkle of cinnamon

some sultanas

Then pull the edges into the middle and slightly twist to make sure it binds.

Now turn it upside down so the smooth side is up, and let it rise for awhile. Cook as you would normal bread.

This picture was of a sultana free one, and the first batch that I did. Perfect for a breakfast on the run, snack, lunch etc. Easy to freeze, and delicious eaten slightly warm. Monkey Boy loves them in his pre-school lunch box. I love them as an instant breakfast, then I can keep doing other things.

For the love and taste of it all.

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I get a kick out of food.

There I’ve said it. I’ve hinted at it, I’ve alluded to it and now I’ve said it…

I get a kick out of food. Nothing makes me happier than making something, unsure of how its going to turn out and then being blown away by the results. To buy something from the shop and then get home and think…actually I can make that, then do that and make it taste sooo much better. I get a real buzz from that. I’m not interested at this point in my life in super fancy pancy foody creations. I need things that will keep my family fed and contented, (and healthy.) Down the track I’m sure, actually damn sure I will want to spend 6 hours creating a particular meal, but for the moment when my time and attention is taken up predominantly by two small kids I like doing the basic cooking and having fun with it. Being able to provide that food for my family makes me so seriously happy, I sometimes wonder there may be something wrong with me.

Do I sound like a bit of a nutter, going over minute details of a particularly tasty pastry. Or the subtle tones of a handmade chocolate with hints of pepper, tobacco, and orange? Probably…But I can’t stop… I love it.

Making marmalade yesterday by 7.30am, seeing how it has set beautifully, using the natural pectin from soaking the seeds, running my fingers over the labeled recycled jars in the cupboard…true happiness. Making sourdough, letting the smell waft through the hall, hearing my husband say I think I need to have one of those rolls after dinner…makes me smile with pride. Proud that I made them, and proud that even after dinner he finds the bread so enticing that he wants to eat a bit more.

For me cooking is a creative outlet, I find it a lot of fun to build something up out of simple ingredients. Its also fascinating seeing how different concoctions of things come out with so many different results.

Bought food can give me a kick just as well. A delighted smile, when I taste something I wasn’t expecting. Trying to work out what the ingredients could be and how they made it. Looking at something lovingly created and amazingly produced. From an artfully decadent Adriano Zumbo creation, to just knowing where my free range ham came from.

Having bought some ham recently, Mr Chocolate and I were raving about the taste. The taste… I can’t tell you how different it is to regular store bought ham. The ham tasted drier, the flavours more in depth, there is a layer of fat around the outside and every bone in my body wants to eat that said fat as I know it will just add to the flavour. Compared to the regular bought one that tastes watery, salty, and a little slimy, it truly doesn’t compare.

Its expensive at around $40 a kilo but I seriously don’t mind paying the price. Not because we are rolling in money as we are not. But because I know where I bought it, I know who cured it, I know where that pig was raised in a free range environment, and I know that when I put a slice of that delectable pig on my tongue it will just slowly dissolve. So for us, I would rather pay more for ham and just eat it less frequently. When it is eaten, its eaten mindfully and every mouthful is enjoyed.

Since making more foods from scratch, we have set ourselves up with a certain standard though. A standard that means more work in the kitchen, but really and truly most of the time I don’t mind compensating that. As it means I know what went in to the food, and how it was made, and I truly, truly enjoy it, we all benefit from it.

The kick I get from eating my sourdough bread, with my own jam or marmalade, home made pasta with a little lovingly made ragu, a tarty yoghurt with an apple crumble, and while watching The Monkeys eat a biscuit that has 4 simple ingredients in rather than a whole paragraph. It really makes my heart swell with pride and my taste buds sigh with contentment.

Simple things that I truly love and just make a lot of sense to me.

(Down the track, add my own produce from my garden, and having built our own house and oh!…)

Lemon Meringue Pie

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Lemon Meringue Pie was always my childhood favourite dessert. Mums recipe was a little cut out one from some out dated ’70’s magazine and I thought it was heaven in a pie dish.

Actually I still think its heaven in a pie dish.

There are so many sweet lemony concoctions that pass as lemon meringue pie. Pastry base vs biscuit base. Tangy vs sweet. Meringue that is sky high or just slapped on.

I get nervous ordering this if I am out somewhere as its such a let down when the taste isn’t up to scratch.

My mums lemon meringue pies have actually evolved a little over time, and depends on who is coming to visit on which type she will make. For me the original is still the best, with a few tweaks from me if I make it though. I’ve only made it a few times as,

1/ I’ll eat it all with no holding back and,

2/ When something is such a favourite, I actually get a little nervous cooking it. High expectations!

The original recipe calls for a biscuit crumb base, but I think the pastry does it more justice though.

Lemon Meringue Pie

Pastry

300gms (2 cups) plain flour

150gms butter

1 tsp vinegar

1/2 cup icing sugar

a little cold water

Knead dough lightly, cover in cling wrap and rest in fridge for about an hour. Roll dough out. Cutting to pie shape (I did individual sized ones), bake blind at 180C. Pastry does shrink a little, so allow room for that. Any left over pastry can be put in the freezer for another time.

Lemon Mixture

1 tin condensed milk

1/2 cup lemon juice

grated lemon rind of 2 lemons

3 egg yolks

Add all the ingredients together, combining well, and then carefully spoon into cooked pie shells.

Meringue

3 egg whites

1/2 cup caster sugar

In a mixer slowly add sugar to egg whites until forms stiff meringue peaks.

Dollop meringue on to lemon mixture in the pie shells, and bake at 180C until peaks start to colour (approx 15 mins).

I also had some left over lemon mixture and meringue, so rather than make up more pies I made a Lemon Meringue Cake. Just added a cup or so of S/R flour to the lemon mixture and then folded the meringue through. Whack it in the oven and bake until springs back and golden. Easy- peasy.