new-blog-page

French toast gets a makeover

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 04:10:24 +0100

I'm working on a new project.
There's a new website under construction (stay tuned for further details) and a kitchen full of dishes from where I've been experimenting.

Greek-style french toast - lemons, feta and olives

This is a sneak preview of one of the first recipes for the site which, fingers crossed will give anyone cooking for someone who has a swallowing difficulty some inspiration.

I couldn't resist sharing this variation on french toast with you, just because it's so tasty.

French Toast, Greek-style
Scrambled, poached, boiled, fried, quiche and custard - eggs are an ideal soft food.

Dieticians might question having more than two or three eggs a week, they are high in saturated fat and cholesterol afterall, but they are nutrient dense, high in protein and immensely adaptable and useful in preparing a variety of meals, particularly for someone with the need for a soft diet.

I love crunchy toast with soft curds of scrambled egg. A smear of basil pesto on the toast and a sprinkling of salty feta cheese make simple scrambled eggs really special.
Crunchy toast however could be problematic for someone with a swallowing difficulty.
The solution is easy - french toast with a twist.

French toast is traditionally a sweet breakfast dish, sometimes served with maple syrup, grilled bananas, or even a couple of rashers of crispy grilled bacon. The technique of soaking bread in an egg mixture and then gently frying is perfectly suited to soft diets, and there are lots of ways to adapt the technique, both savoury and sweet.

Greek toast

Feta cheese, lemon and olives are classic greek flavours. Why not make a different start to the morning with a savoury eggy bread recipe.

Ingredients
Thick sliced bread, crust removed, 1 slice per person
1 large egg per person
1 tablespoon feta cheese, crumbled per person
lemon zest
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil or butter to fry
Olive tapenade* and natural yoghurt, optional to serve

Method
Combine eggs and feta cheese in a bowl and mix well to incorporate the cheese with the eggs. Add salt and pepper and lemon zest and set aside.
Heat frying pan over moderate heat and add olive oil or butter to the pan.
Dip the slices of bread in the egg aand cheese mixture, pushing the bread well into the eggs until the bread soaks the mixture up.

Gently fry the first side of the egg-soaked bread in the frying pan for two or three minutes until golden brown, turn and cook through on the second side.

Serve with a dollop of natural yoghurt and olive tapenade for an extra burst of flavour.

Olive tapenade is a simple recipe with robust mediterranean flavours.
A dollop of tapenade can add a salty hit to any meal and is ideal to boost a soup or casserole

1 cup pitted green olives - I like queen or kalamata olives for this recipe
2 or 3 anchovies
1 small clove of garlic (i like the garlic a lot)
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 tablespoon of capers
juice of a lemon

Combine all ingredients in a blender or food porcessor and process until a rough paste.

Guerilla Dinner TWO - THE PARTY PIE PARTY

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 12:03:49 +0100

Guerilla Dinner TWO: The Party Pie Party

For just a moment yesterday I wasn't sure we were going to be able to pull this party off.

The idea was simple. A park, some pies, and a party - the variable was always going to be
the weather. With a one o'clock scheduled kick-off the black clouds looming at noon were not a welcome sight.

There was a brief deluge, a sudden drop in temperature, and more than a little colourful language from me in the kitchen.
Happily, the skies cleared quickly and even though it was a bit on the breezy side, the little park at the back of the house was a perfect spot for some reclining in the late winter sunshine.

Thanks to everyone who came along for your support of the Party Pie Party and of the Guerilla Dinners concept.

It will be some time before I try and cater a party with pastry-based dishes, but I'm looking forward to building on the success of yesterday's little gathering and bring you another opportunity to get together with friends, and some strangers at another Guerilla Dinner very soon. Sign up for the email list here.

My favourite pie on the day was a flaky rough puff pastry skin filled with a gently spiced Butter Chicken curry.
This is the recipe for the pastry. For the secret to the filling you can visit the recipe page simply by clicking here.

Rough Puff Pastry
Pastry, is wonderful.
Sweet or savoury, anything presented with a crisp and flaky pastry shell is pretty much impossible to beat.
A cruchy lid magically transforms a leftover casserole into a delicious pot pie.
A lovely buttery envelope of pastry folded around the well-drained contents of a tin of peaches makes a dessert anyone would be proud to offer up any night of the week.

Ingredients
250grams plain flour
pinch of salt
250grams cold butter
150ml iced water
extra flour to dust the bench

large mixing bowl
vegetable grater
rolling pin or a clean bottle

Method
In a large bowl combine flour and salt.
Use the vegetable grater to grate the butter into the flour mixture.
The grater makes the butter easier to deal with and easier to rub into the flour.
Using your finger tips rub the butter and flour together until roughly combined. There should still be some streaks of butter visible here and there.
Add half of the iced water and mix well, add the water a little more at a time until the dough has just come together.
Put the bowl in the fridge for about 30 minutes to rest.

Sprinkle a little flour onto a clean bench and turn the pastry out of the bowl.
Sprinkle a little more flour onto the pastry and onto your rolling pin (or bottle) so it doesn't stick to the pastry, and gently roll the pastry out into a rough rectangle shape.
To help the pastry become flaky and puff up, you need to start folding.
Fold the pastry in half and give it a quarter turn on the bench.
Roll it out into a rectangle again, fold and turn.
Do this two or three more times, dusting gently with flour now and again to prevent sticking.
Wrap the pastry in some plastic and place it back in the fridge for about 20 minutes before using it to top your pie.

Bake in a 180 degree Celsius oven 25-30 minutes or until golden brown and flaky.

Muesli. No, it's not just for hippies.

Sun, 08 Aug 2010 06:44:43 +0100

I love a good muesli.
Breakfast, afternoon snack, can't be bothered to make dinner - it doesn't really matter the time of day.

Packed with goodness, the perfect snack or breakfast on the go.

There was an email in my inbox earlier this week from Muesli4Me.
These guys have a great online store where customers can pick from a fantastic range of pre-mixed muesli, or create a custom mix of their own. This muesli is definitely NOT just for hippies.

Chef, Ben Rak and his business partner Claudi Zwar were fed up with picking things out of their commercially produced breakfast muesli so they decided to set up shop (an online shop that is) to tailor make the perfect breakfast cereal.

I just had to give the service a go.

It's fantastic!
Home delivered and made to order, you get just what you want. There's nothing that you feel the need to pick out and leave at the side of your plate (like banana chips, who wants to eat banana chips?) because you chose what went into the bag in the first place.

I am officially in love the "Chocolate Lovers" pre-mix. With it's chocolate drops, sweetened cocoa and crunchy nuts it's a decadent breakfast sensation.
I also gave my own mix a go and came up with a crunchy satisfying concoction packed with yummy nibblets of blueberry, dried mango and other little pops of surprising sweetness.

Just add a dollop of yoghurt and some milk and you're good to go; or you could always spend just a few minutes and make some no-cook muesli bars - perfect for a snack during the day.

The "ants pants" muesli mix slice

This recipe is super-simple and takes less than ten minutes to pull together. This is also one of those recipes you can adapt easily to suit your mood or to cook with little kids to encourage them to get busy in the kitchen. Switch out some of the muesli for rice bubbles, or corn flakes, or even unsalted popcorn to keep things interesting.

If the kids are helping out, get them to roll the mix into balls instead of bars - food's a lot more fun when you can play with it!

60 grams butter
2 heaped tablespoons honey
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 heaped tablespoons smooth peanut butter

3 cups of your favourite muesli.

Large saucepan
Cake tin or roasting tray

Line a small cake tin or roasting tray with baking paper and set aside.
In a large saucepan over low heat melt the butter with the honey and the sugar until the sugar is dissolved.
Add the peanut butter and stir until well combined.
Remove the saucepan from the heat and add the muesli.
Stir well until the muesli is coated in the sweet, buttery mixture.

Pour the muesli mix into the lined tray and press well into the corners.
Alternately roll the mixture into golf ball-sized balls and set aside on the lined tray.

Refrigerate for 45 minutes and turn out of the tray.
Use a sharp knife to cut into portions.
Store in the fridge for up to a week - if you can make it last that long.

Who is the real winner of MasterChef Australia 2010?

Sat, 24 Jul 2010 02:57:46 +0100

As the television juggernaut that is Network Ten's MasterChef Australia draws closer towards it's finale this weekend, I've decided to add my voice to the many others that have praised, derided, questioned or lauded the series over the past three months or so.

Image: The Age

It's interesting to me the effect that a television series can have on the attitude that "average Australians" have to their food, and what they might be cooking for dinner on any given night. And also the influence that association with the show has had on its many sponsors.

Firstly the audience. Media outlets I'm thinking about here seem to think that "average Australians" are are happily popping into their local Coles supermarket, (it's where a MasterChef shops after all) to pick up a kilo of shallots to blanch and slow-roast until they are caramelised; a dozen or so succulent lamb cutlets to grill, and a crown roast of pheasant to poach and then deep fry.

Now seriously, lamb cutlets at thirty-odd dollars a kilo, or a pheasant, or indeed a saddle of rabbit are well and truly beyond the budget of your average suburban family shopping for Tuesday night's dinner.

I've got nothing against anyone experimenting with unfamiliar ingredients. I like the idea of someone giving a pigeon breast a red-hot try, or indeed a prawn scotch egg. I resent the implied pressure that these dishes should be part of the every day menu in homes from Marrickville to Moree, and Broome to Byron Bay.

Isn't there already enough pressure on families to come up with something other than chicken nuggets and chips for the kids five out of seven nights a week?

How am I really expected to manage a perfectly set creme brulee when I know the kids are going to be put off by the lemon myrtle-scented tuille biscuit I'm supposed to whip up to serve beside it.

Is little Johnny going to be expecting a perfectly glazed, whiter-than-white, eight-different-textures-of-vanilla cake for his birthday next week? And does Coles have that titanium dioxide powder shelved somewhere near the white chocolate buttons anyway?

How many time-poor Mums and Dads around the nation are under pressure to perform extraordinary acts of gourmet gymnastics every weeknight when they are shopping on a budget that doesn't allow for a brace of pheasant or a bottle of aged balsamic vinegar to find its way into the trolley.

There have been plenty of stories, in past weeks about surges in supermarket sales for unusual ingredients after they had been featured on MasterChef. Public relations spin to further reinforce Coles new market position as gourmet food supplier, or simply reporting on the phenomenon that is our fascination with cooking as an elimination sport?

According to an article in The Australian ("MasterChef sparks Coles sales surge"; Lara Sinclair, 21 June, 2010), The Wesfarmers owned supermarket has experienced impressive increases in sales across the ingredients featured in the cleverly marketed celebrity chef Curtis Stone and MasterChef recipes.

The article quotes figures of an increase in 30% for beef stroganoff ingredients, and diced pork up 480%.

Clearly the real winner of Masterchef this year is not going to be Adam, or Callum. Sure enough, one of them will go away from the show with a book deal, a pile of cash and a certain level of fame.

The real winner, for as long as our aspirational grocery shopping lasts anyway, will be Coles.

The association with MasterChef has been nothing short of brilliant for the supermarket giant who until this year at least has been playing second-fiddle to Woolworths the self-procalaimed "fresh food people".

Coles is undergoing a well deserved facelift across it's store network, with new fixtures and fittings and a more hands on approach to fresh produce. The butchers and the fismongers are back in plain sight, and the stores are being redesigned to feel more like a local farmers market than the sterile, plastic wrapped hall of groceries they had become over the past decade.

I'm giving the association with MasterChef the big thumbs up for Coles, but I'm still going to reserve judgement on the effect the show has had ramping up status-anxiety levels in the suburbs.

When life gives you lemons - squeeze them and make a pudding

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 06:36:39 +0100

Perhaps it's the pressure getting to me, but it's been too long between posts and WAY too long since I had a great lemon delicious pudding after dinner with my friends Craig and Kelly.

Truth be told it's more than six weeks since I first decided to document that dinner, and it's taken me until today to sit down and bash it out on the keyboard.

There will always be space for a light self-saucing lemon scented pudding at the end of every meal. I just wish I had some lemons in the house right now so I could crack on with a special citrus treat for after dinner tonight.

To read more about that great dinner a few weeks ago and to download my recipe for a delicious lemon delicious click here.
Or go directly to the free PDF version here.

Reinventing the leftovers

Sun, 27 Jun 2010 06:17:35 +0100

With the slow cooker going almost full-tilt at the moment, there seems to be a lot of casserole left-overs at my place.
I'm sick of rice, and equally tired of mashed potato.

I would traditionally reheat last night's meal with some extra mash and a sprinkle of parsley, but today it was time to do some inventing.

I can't think of anyone that doesn't like roasted potatoes, and I love shepherds and cottage pies. So here's a perfect combination in one dish.

Chunky roasted vegetable cottage pie

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius

Left-over casserole
1 medium potato
1 large carrot
Small piece of pumpkin
1 medium parsnip
olive oil
salt and pepper

Roughly dice potatoes, pumpkin, carrots and parsnip and steam or boil until very tender and cooked through.
While the vegetables are cooking fill an oven proof dish with your favourite left-over casserole, hot pot or braise.

Drain the vegies leaving them in the saucepan. Drizzle a little olive oil and season well with salt and pepper.
Give the vegetables a stir with a large spoon to break up a little and give the vegies a rough exterior.

Spoon the vegetables over the casserole to form a thick crust.

Roast until the crust is crisp and golden and the leftovers are well heated through. At least 45 minutes.

A three hour tour

Fri, 28 May 2010 06:03:16 +0100

A round trip today and the only foodie thing was the tasty ham and cheese omelette. Not great, but passable but hardly worth mentioning.

The real thing about the trip today was a focus on the Pass on a Book project.

I've been in Lismore this week, in Northern New South Wales, working on my other project - bringing literacy and the benefits of reading to the third world.

And today it was a trip to Kyogle to visit the team at the Uniting Church Op-Shop, and to take delivery of their first collection of children's books.

Kyogle is a small town, main street with a memorial obelisk clock, strategically-placed, akubra-hatted farmer smoking a roll-your-own cigarette - everything you'd expect.

It was great to pick up 4 big boxes of pre-loved books from Celia, Beryl and Geoff, and for the local paper to tag along to cover the project.

(l-r) Geoff, Pass on a Book founder David Barnier, Celia and Beryl have their photograph taken for the local Kyogle paper by journalist Scott Harlum.

We're starting to get some real interest, and the community support is amazing with books and offers of assistance coming left right and centre.

I'm so pleased to be involved with Pass on a Book, it's an opportunity to give the gift of reading to some of the most marginalised and disadvantaged people in the world through the simplest act - passing on a used book.

The project could use your help. We need more books - suitable for children and early readers and corporate and financial support - some funds to help us pay for shipping, storage and management of the books. Visit www.topfivekidsbooks.com for more information and to contact the project.

See the article in the local paper here.

A pumpkin scone for tea?

Tue, 18 May 2010 10:34:31 +0100

Prize winners - Maclean Show 2010

There was a time when things moved a little slower, and the "special events" were few and far between.

As a little kid a highlight of the calendar every year was the annual agricultural show, that's something that I've lost sight of until just a few weeks ago.

The Maclean show is two days of sawdust, cattle, sugar cane, sideshow alley, rides, fried food and best of all - cakes and biscuits and slices and buns; jams, preserves, fruit and vegetables; prize winning chooks, and pumpkin scones.

Oh yes, pumpkin scones.

Mashed pumpkin worked into a beautifully light and fluffy scone - TASTY!

Scones are easy! And what better than a pumpkin scone to make an afternoon tea something special.

Heat your oven to at least 220 degrees Celsius.
Combine 2 cups Self Raising flour, with 1 egg, 1 cup of cream and a pinch of salt.
Mix with a knife until just combined, and fold in one cup of cooled mashed pumpkin.

Form into a rough rectangle about 2-3cm thick and cut into scones.

Transfer to a well buttered and lined tray and into the oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden and cooked through.

Serve hot with butter.

Favourite blogs and sites

Mon, 19 Apr 2010 02:54:22 +0100

Part of the fun of having your own website is looking for excuses to wander around on the web and discover new things or visit your favourites to see what's new.

This is a list of the sites I keep being drawn back to, and a couple that are run by my friends.

Each one of them is inspirational and creative in their own way.

topfivekidsbooks.com

OK, this one is a gratuitous plug. I'm involved as a reviewer and contributor to this site. It's a great resource that looks at the best in books for children and gives hints for using books with children to encourage literacy, learning and developing imaginations.

food52.com

A community sourced cookbook is nothing new. Primary schools and other groups have been putting their own together for many years.

Sourcing the recipes on the web, and having your contributors and audience choose what makes it in is a new angle.

I am always inspired by the weekly video blogs where presenters Amanda and Merrill bring two recipes to choose from.

refrigeratorsoup.com

User generated content here again, but with a focus on amazing amateur food photography. A collection of pictures and recipes all to easily drooled over.

threadbanger.com

An energetic bunch of twentysomethings reinventing, recycling and repurposing clothing and homewares. Well made video posts and a take-no-prisoners attitude make threadbanger.com eminently watchable.

designsponge.com

Grace Bonney and her team bring budget decorating, inspiration and shopping options to the internet in a friendly, creative and inspirational blog.

Design Sponge gives a healthy nod to the shabby chic style, and also has a healthy dose of handmade, recycled and reinterpreted furniture and homewares.

The best books for kids

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 00:37:47 +0100

I've made my first review contribution to top5kidsbooks.com.

There's a great little book that made me think differently about colour and what it would be like to live without my sight.
Read the review here, and take the time to check out the Pass on a Book information on the site.