Nougat a la Eve

Prep Time: 30 minutes + 4 hours refrigeration
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Serve: 1kg

500g sugar
250ml liquid glucose
175g honey (preferably blossom honey)
2 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla essence
125g unsalted butter, softened
60g almonds, unblanched and toasted
100g glace cherries (not imitation)

1. Grease a 28 x 18cm baking dish and line with baking paper. Place the sugar, glucose, honey, 60ml water and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a heavy-based saucepan and stir over low heat until dissolved. Bring to the boil and cook at a rolling boil for 8 minutes, or until the mixture forms a hard ball when tested in a small amount of water, or reaches 122C on a sugar thermometer.

Note: The correct temperature is very important, otherwise the mixture will not set properly.

2. Beat the egg whites in a bowl with electric beaters until stiff peaks form. Slowly pour a quarter of the syrup onto the egg whites in a thin stream and beat for up to 5 minutes, or until the mixture holds its shape. Place the remaining syrup over the heat and cook for 2 minutes (watch that it doesn’t burn), or until a small amount forms brittle threads when dropped in cold water, or reaches 157C on a sugar thermometer. Pour slowly onto the meringue mixture with the beaters running and beat until the mixture is very thick.

3 Add the vanilla and butter and beat for another 5 minutes. Stir in the almonds and cherries using a metal spoon. Turn the mixture into the tin and smooth the top with a palate knife. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or until firm.

Turn out onto a large chopping board and with a very sharp knife cut into 4 x 2cm pieces. Wrap each piece in cellophane and store in the refrigerator.

Source: The Essential Mediterranean Cookbook (Murdoch Books) Cookbook (Murdoch Books)
http://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/b/better-homes-gardens/306/nougat-recipe/

The Berry Farm…review by Winsome Stavrianou

We spent two weeks in the Margaret River region of WA in November. The scenery was breathtaking, all the vines were covered with green leaves, the grass was green and the rivers were full. Pleasantly the weather was warming up. We were on the mission for a perfect lunch. We tried quite a few of the wineries and similar throughout the two weeks. The standout lunch was at the Berry Farm.

The Berry Farm is located about half an hour away from Margaret River Township. The drive takes you through lovely rural country, littered with animals and vineyards. My first impression of the Berry Farm was not fantastic. It was not well signposted, and there was construction work happening near the car park. However, as we approached the little cottage that is now the restaurant we forgot all about these little glitches. We chose to sit outside, with the cute little blue wrens and other birds.
We ordered the two pies, one each, as recommended by the owner/chef. He couldn’t chose a favourite, and between us neither could we. We ordered a beef pie with red wine sauce and a venison pie with port sauce. The pies were delicious, golden flaky pastry encrusting beautifully tender meat and sauce. The meat was real, and great big chunks of it. The pies also came with a simple salad, which was refreshing and all that was necessary. Having said that, the garlic bread we ordered complimented the pies perfectly. We could have done without the garlic bread, as we actually struggled to finish the pies after eating so much delicious garlicky bread. However our puppy, Honey, managed to help us out with that one.

Also on the menu were delicious looking scones served with jam and cream, and other lighter lunches.

Another pro of this restaurant is the friendly staff. We had puppy in tow for the duration of our trip down south. We found it difficult in some places to take us with her. Despite finding outside tables, many restaurants didn’t like her being there. In contrast the people at the Berry Farm welcomed her, and even asked where they could get one like her.

I would recommend the Berry Farm to anyone travelling to the Margaret River region as we thoroughly enjoyed it. We can’t wait to try the jams and sauces next time we get there, as after eating such a fantastic lunch we were too full to try anything more.

Winsome Stavrianou

Moist Pear Cake…recipe by Dana Kelly

In the base of 8 inch tin, 3 large pears, ripe, quarterd and cored.
Pour over 2 oz of melted butter.

4 eggs
1/4 cup fine sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2/3 cup flour 1/3 cup SR flour
1 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon mixed spice
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
50 gram melted butter, cooled
1/4 cup syrup
1/2 cup milk, or less as required

Melt butter and syrup, leave to cool (add some milk)
Sift flour, bicarb, spices, pinch of salt, leave.
Combine eggs sugar, vanilla in heat proof bowl, place over saucepan gentle simmer water (make sure does water does not touch bowl).
Beat 6-7 mins elec beater, or til pale & thick, until double in bulk approx.

Remove from heat, continue to beat for 3 mins.
Use large metal spoon, gently fold into flour mix.

Then mix in butter mix gently.

Pour over pears in tin. Bake for 180C (350F) for 25-30 mins (but can take longer).

Leave to cool in tin for 15 mins before turing out onto rack.

Dana Kelly

5 tips every serious home cook must know…Gordon Ramsay

We can’t all afford foie gras, caviar and truffles, but that shouldn’t stop us thinking like a three Michelin star chef. To introduce his new book, Gordon Ramsay discloses the recipes that made his reputation – and reveals the five tips that every serious home cook should know.

1 Timing
So many people misunderstand timing. They think it’s about everything coming together at the same moment. They’ll think, the chicken will be ready at 1pm, so I’ll put the potatoes on at 20 to, the carrots at 10 to and the peas at 5 to. Then, disaster – they’re trying to carve the chicken, mash the potatoes and drain the veg all at the same time. I wouldn’t even try that with a brigade of 15 chefs. No, what a professional chef means by timing is getting everything prepared as far ahead as possible, so that two thirds of the work has already been done and you’re just bringing together the elements for the grand finale. That means having the meat ready up to half an hour before and parboiling your vegetables and refreshing them in cold water, ready to be warmed through in a pan with a splash of olive oil. It means frying your mushrooms in olive oil and reheating them in butter. And it means turning the final stages of cooking into an assembly line, which is much easier to control than starting everything from scratch and cooking it right through. Less stress, better results.

2 Seasoning
Salt and pepper are the building blocks of any kitchen. It’s the first thing I teach my new chefs – to season with confidence and, where necessary, subtlety. Too many people wait until the end to season their dishes. That way your taste buds just get clobbered with uncooked salt or pepper. Better to add it at the beginning of cooking so the raw taste can be cooked out and it has time to enhance the flavour of your ingredients. And keep tasting, all the way through cooking, to see how the flavours evolve. Finally, don’t limit yourself: salt and pepper are only the beginning of the story. We always season fish or seafood with a squeeze of lemon or lime at the end and, increasingly, we’ll use whole bunches of herbs to infuse a soup or cream sauce, or add cloves, vanilla or cinnamon to a fish stock. Be bold. Be adventurous.

3 Cooking fish
Given how popular sushi has become, I’m amazed at how squeamish people are about eating their fish anything other than nuked. Believe me, if the inside is a bright white, the outside will be dried out and woolly. No, you want the inside of your fish slightly translucent, like the inside of an oyster shell. Start with a medium-hot pan, add two parts olive oil and put in your seasoned fillet of fish, skin-side down. Don’t worry about it sticking – once it has caramelised, the fillet will release itself. Prodding and poking will just make it fall apart. Once it is 80 per cent cooked, gently turn it over, add one part butter and keep basting it. Add the butter too early and you’ll end up with a blackened pan – and burnt-tasting fish. Finally, allow the fish to relax, during which time it will continue to cook. Like vegetables, it can be held for five minutes, and then flashed in a 200C/Gas 6 oven with a little stock to warm it through.

4 Cooking meat
The secret of cooking meat is in the resting. I find it so dispiriting when I cut into a steak and watch all the juices leak out on to the plate because it hasn’t had time to relax and reabsorb all that goodness. Start with your meat at room temperature – if you take it straight from the fridge, the outside will be burnt before the centre has had time to heat up. And remember, 85 per cent of the cooking is done in the pan, the remaining 15 per cent as it rests. For a rare fillet steak, for example, give it two and a half minutes on each side and let it rest in its own juices for three. Then, just before serving, roll it in its juices again before flashing it through a hot oven. A final word about duck: of all meats, it goes cold the quickest because it is so lean, so don’t slice a breast into more than three or four slices or it will discolour and turn an unappetising brown colour.

5 Perfect custard
It’s worth perfecting your egg-custard recipe as it is the base for so many things, from ice-cream to crème patisserie. Follow these three golden rules and you won’t go wrong. First, always use fresh vanilla pods – the difference between those tiny seeds and vanilla extract is like night and day. Second, when you bring your milk and cream to the boil, take it off the heat the moment it starts to boil; even another 30 seconds will completely change the consistency. And finally, don’t add the sugar to the egg yolks until the last second and you are ready to whisk it, otherwise the sugar will dissolve into the egg and lose the strength to make the custard thicken as you need it to.

Vegetable Filo for One…recipe by Margaret McVey

Chopped Mixed vegetables - spinach, mushrooms, olives, dried tomatoes, dried capsicum (enough for 1 person)
125 g feta - cubed
5 sheets of filo (phyllo) pastry

1. Mix vegetables and feta cheese together in a bowl
2. Grease the sheets of pastry with olive oil and layer together
3. Put the vegetable and cheese mixture at the end of the pastry and roll up. You may need to oil the join. Spread some more oil on top if it is dry.
4. Bake in a moderate oven for 30 mins

I usually cook some potatoes in the oven at the same time and serve with tomato chutney.

Grublover comment
Margaret says: This is a variation on spinach and feta pie and just about any vegetable can be used -

Christmas Cake Recipe…recipe by Eve Clarkson

500g brown sugar
500g butter
2 kg mixed fruit
125g walnuts
125g SR flour
375g Plain flour
10 eggs
2 flat teaspoons mixed spice
1/2 cup sherry
1 teaspoon almond or vanilla essence
Blanched almonds and red cherries for garnish

Soak mixed fruit in sherry while rest of ingredients prepared.

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees Celcius

Cream butter and brown sugar until light in colour.
Add the eggs one at a time. Stir in the mixed fruit, sherry and essences.
Stir in the flours and spice and fold into the mixture with the walnuts.

Line cake tines , base and sides with brown paper then glad bake (this enables the cake to cook slowly and evenly). Leave extra extending above the top of the tin.

This makes 10 cakes the size of large tuna tins, or 2 smaller cakes.

Decorate with cherry and blanched almonds.

Cook small cakes for 1 hour and larger for 2 hours ­ test with skewer and remove from overn when skewer clean.

Cool in the tins. When cool pour over 1-2 tablespoons of brandy (or you could try Ouzo for a different effect)

Wrap in glad wrap to keep if made in advance to Christmas.

Aubergine à la Simon…recipe by Simon Clarkson

1 large Aubergine (or a few smaller ones)
Olive Oil; Sesame Oil for frying
3 medium ripe tomatoes
1 large clove garlic
I small eschalot (or a very small Spanish onion)
2cm finely sliced fresh ginger
1 tsp garam masala




In mortar and pestle or appliance of choice process garlic, ginger and eschalot to a paste.
Separately blend tomatoes to a pulp.
Fry garlic/ginger/eschalot paste in some olive oil until oil starts separating and add Garam Masala then add tomato pulp and cook for 3 to 5 minutes – then set aside….

Prepare aubergine by slicing into 1.5 cm slices and brush with sesame and olive oil and fry in non-stick frypan to colour slightly.

Place Aubergine slices in shallow casserole and pour over reserved marinade.

Bake in medium-hot oven for 15 minutes…

Serve with Bok Choy stir fried with chilli marinated Tofu.

Tim’s Lentil Soup…recipe by Tim Hollingsworth

2 Cans of Whole Tomatoes
1 Can Lentils (or 1/2 cup dry lentils)
1 Large Onion (peeled)
5 Cloves Garlic (peeled
1 Cup Water
Salt + Pepper
Olive Oil
Parmesan



1. Combine in a Large Pot: Tomatoes, Lentils, Whole Onion, Whole Garlic Cloves, Water.
2. Let simmer for about 45 min. When the middle of the Onion “pops” out or is very soft, the soup is ready.
3. Serve in Bowls, then… Drizzle Olive Oil and Sprinkle Parmesan Cheese on each serving.
4. Enjoy!

Grublover comment
This is the perfect meal for a night that you are tired and just want a hearty meal without doing much work! You don’t even have to chop anything. Tim learned this from an Italian chef while staying in a hostel in France. We always double the recipe and have enough for 4. We like to use a high quality olive oil and parmesan as they can really add to the soup.

Thai Chicken and Basil from Terry Durack’s ‘Yum’…Recipe provided by Fiona T Nichols

Serves 4










500g chicken thighs, cut into strips
3-4 red or green chillies
2 tablespoon flat leaf parsley
bunch of fresh basil leaves
4 tablespoon vegetable oil
3 tablespoon fish sauce (nam pla)

Slice chillies into thin slivers and finely chop parsley. Pluck basil leaves and reserve them.
Heat oil in wok, cook chicken over moderate heat for 3-4 minutes.
Add the chillies, most of the basil and the chopped parsely.
Cook, stirring as you go, for another 3-4 mins. Splash in fish sauce and stir through.
Add remaining basil and serve with plenty of jasmine rice.

Grublover comment
Thai Chicken and Basil (from Terry Durack’s ‘Yum’, in which he says that this recipe taught him that you could toss things in the wok while half-drunk and without a care in the world, and still be able to feed people without killing them)

Sylvia’s Baklava

½ kg blanched almonds
1 packet of filo (not Pampas)
250g unsalted butter, melted

Roast the almonds until light golden.
Whiz in the food processor until reasonably fine.

First you need to assemble the filo.
Use three sheets if the filo is very thin, if not use two sheets.
Lay out a sheet of filo with the long edge towards you. Brush melted butter over it liberally. Lay a second sheet over this and butter liberally (repeat with a 3rd sheet if using).

Sprinkle the half the pastry closest to you with the almonds. Roll away from you, starting along the long edge. Roll it up completely.
Lay a separate sheet of filo on the bench and butter liberally.
Place the already rolled baklava on top of this sheet, flap side down.
Roll up tightly.

Cut the roll at an angle to form approximately 4cm long diamonds.

These can now be frozen stored separately in an airtight container. Take out of the freezer and defrost in the fridge the night before cooking, or they can be cooked from frozen.

Place separately on a baking tray and baste with butter. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes at 200 degrees celsius (or maybe a little less, keep an eye on them). Lower the oven to 170 degrees and bake for a further 10 minutes until pale golden. They may not need as long as this.

Remove from the tray, place onto a serving dish or into a storage container and then pour over the cool syrup to approximately half a centimetre deep. They may require more or less syrup.

ALTERNATIVELY the baklava can be cooked in sheets (like a lasagne).
Layer two sheets of filo with butter in between, then sprinkle with the almonds.
Repeat until there are 7 to 8 sheets of filo in total. Finish with with 1 or 2 sheets of filo.
Cut into diamonds before cooking.
Baste with butter, and then cook at 200 degrees Celsius until golden.
Pour cold syrup over hot baklava.

Syrup
3 ½ cups sugar
3 cups water
½ lemon juiced

Place ingredients in a saucepan.
Cook for about 20 minutes (or to 220 degrees celsius on a sugar thermometer)
Pour cooled syrup over the hot baklavas.

Grublover comment
Sylvia is a lovely greek chef that mum met while on holiday in the mother land (kazi). She won a baklava competition on the island, beating all the Greeks and Turks. Mum made some when she got back and it is truly delicious and moreish.

Crunchy Blueberry Muffins

Makes 8 large muffins, or 16 mini muffins





1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1 cup fresh blueberries

Topping
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter, cubed
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners.
Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups right to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.

To Make Crumb Topping: Mix together 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.

Grublover comment
These muffins are so delicious and the crumb topping just makes them all crunchy mmmmmmm. Great for breakfast.

Tigerlils II

Stupidly I returned to Tigerlils, being sucked in by a free lunch.

Again I was extremely disappointed.

No need to even comment on the food because I feel sick to the stomach thinking about it but it looked and tasted like it had been sitting around with flies laying eggs on it for hours.

I vomited straight after.

Don’t go here if you value your health at all.

Flower Drum…review by Jessica Anderson

Flower Drum Restaurant
Melbourne 17 Market Lane 3000
(03) 9662 3655




It was a rather interesting weekend when my friend decided we needed to eat somewhere fantastic. Too long had we savoured the kebab and cheap pizza, we needed something special. Flowerdrum has a reputation that all restaurants would envy and so we went to find out if it was true.

On entry we were greeted by a lovely door man who escorted us to the lift and took us to the restaurant. I must admit, the decor disappointed me and the repeated “do you have a booking?” was also frustrating, especially because the restaurant was no where near full! We did however have a booking and were taken to our table.

Any reservations I may have had after the first impressions was whisked away as our lovely waiter Barney came to look after us. We ordered the set menu, which was a modestly priced $55 for lunch (it is $150 at dinner). From that moment on, Flowerdrum became everything we hoped.

We ordered cocktails (Planter’s punch and Pimm’s punch) which were a fresh and cool alternative to wine. They also complimented the Chinese food perfectly.

Our first course was three dumplings. One was filled with a smooth crab filling, another with a bitey pork and the last, was seafood which was dipped into a soy and ginger sauce. All were sublime and had us hankering for more. The texture was perfect, the dumplings held their shape and didn’t fall apart in your chopsticks and the sizes were large, but not too big for your mouth.

The next course was a deep fried garfish. Firstly let me say ..there was not one bone. The fillets were long and perfectly fried for the crunch on the outside and the soft/flaky in the middle. This was lovely, however was the least favourite of all the courses

The third course was peking duck. The trolley was wheeled out to the table, and I almost squealed in delight. The pancakes were rolled in front of us, a large cheek of crispy skinned duck was placed with the hoi sin sauce, cucumber and spring onion. It was sublime. I savoured my first and last bite and was so relieved when the waiter asked if we were ready for our 2nd one. Same again, beautiful duck, chewy and soft texture of the pancake, all perfect.

The last course was breathtaking. Grain fed rib eye cooked medium rare in a black pepper sauce. I have never in my life had meat melt in my mouth the way this cut did. It was by far our favourite. The rib eye was cooked perfectly and the broccolini that accompanied it was firm and delicious. The cut was very generous and still rare in the middle; the restaurant could have served only this dish and would still be regarded as one of Australia’s best.

Our other waiters; Jeff, Tommy and Trainee were all as fantastic as Barney. They had pleasing, genuine smiles and they made sure out glasses of water were constantly filled (it seems like a simple gesture but was much appreciated). The timing of the meals between each course was also down to a fine art. I never felt starved, but always ready for my next meal and the waiters never made us wait too long.

We were brought coffee and some almond biscuits to finish our meal and were suitably stuffed by the end, but did not feel gluttonly full. The meal really was a great experience. I recommend it to all who are in Melbourne to try this institution on the restaurant scene.

Jessica Anderson

The Pony Club…review by Lisa Tibbits

Mt Lawley 620 Beaufort St 6050
(08) 9228 8801
www.theponyclub.com.au

I had the great pleasure of dining at The Pony Club in Mount Lawley on Saturday night. I must admit that after reading both rave and scathing reviews of the restaurant, did not have very high expectations of the place and knew that it was going to be an expensive evening. Whilst the evening definitely hurt the hip pocket, I had a great time and was definitely impressed with the food, the wine and, of course, the company!

After trying for weeks to organise a girly catch-up between 5 very busy ladies, we finally managed to lock in a 7pm start on a busy Saturday night. We arrived a little late which didn’t turn out to be a problem as there was only a hand full of diners in the candlelit room. We were seated in a corner of the restaurant near the entrance. I thought this was going to annoy me as we would have people walking past us all evening, but to be honest I didn’t even thing about it again after 5 minutes of being there. If anything, the staff would maybe have regretted seating us there as we definitely got quite loud and silly towards the end of the evening

After taking a few happy snaps and settling in, we decided to order some drinks. It took quite some time to attract the waiters attention, but eventually a bottle of the Brokenwood Semillon ‘06 (Hunter Valley) ($37) was delivered to our table. One of us decided to get into the cocktails early and ordered an ‘Emma Dilemma’ (vodka, muddled pineapple, lychee and basil) ($14.50). Both were sensational, although we were disappointed to discover that we had actually ordered the last bottle of the Brokenwood as we would have loved another bottle.

With lots of girl talk and gossip to catch up on, a glance at the extensive tapas menu revealed that we were going to have to really think about what to order and how many dishes to get between us. Thankfully we turned the menu over and discovered that we could choose from 2 ‘banquettes’ - $50 or $60 per person which showcased the best dishes on the menu. We decided to go all out and order the $60 banquet. Sorted. (I’ll quote the individual prices next the to food which we actually ate to give you an idea of prices).

While we finished off the bottle of Brokenwood, some olives with chilli garlic and lemon fennel ($6) arrived at our table, along with some salted almonds ($6). As we got stuck into the appetisers, we noticed out glasses were empty and decided to order more wine. Again, it took ages for us to attract the attention of the waiter. When we finally managed to call someone over, we ordered a round of ‘Peachy Keens’ (pompero rum, peach liqueur, muddled peach and lime) ($14.50), a few ‘How’da Like Them Apples?!’ (apple vodka and liqueur, muddled apple and cardamon pods) ($14.50), as well as a bottle of the Lenton Brae late Harvest Semillon ‘04 ($27) and ‘The Yard’ Shiraz (Frankland River) ($38.00). The Shiraz was sensational.

Our next round of food arrived and consisted of:

Haloumi, pan seared with a chilli lime pesto ($9.80)
Char Grilled asparagus spears with goats curd and porcini oil ($11.30)
Truffled honey Persian feta crostini with walnuts and torn basil ($11.20)
House cured juniper salmon served with a beetroot and orange blossom salad ($14.80) and
Char grilled king [prawn with cucumber, paw paw and pomegranate molasses ($16.20).
My favourite dish was the Persian feta, which just melted in your mouth and was absolutely divine. Each serve also catered for 5 people, so we all got an equal share of everything with none to spare.

There was probably a half hour or 40 minute wait between this course and the next round of food, but that didn’t bother us as we kept drinking and talking and thoroughly enjoying the darkened atmosphere in the restaurant. By this time the restaurant was full and all the diners around us seemed to be having as good a time as us too. When our main courses arrived there was plenty of food to go around. Unfortunately, the menu on the restaurant’s website is obviously not the current menu as I cant remember some of the dishes that we were served. However, we were served with a curry-type dish with chick peas and tomato, a beautiful lamb dish with eggplant and lentils (my favourite dish of the evening, the lamb just crumbled when transferring it from the serving bowl to your plate), a fish dish and also another dish. Every dish was amazing! Most of the main dishes are around $30 per dish if bought individually.

After that we continued drinking (I am pretty sure another few rounds of cocktails were ordered), taking photos, ducking outside occasionally to the comfortable smoking area, generally laughing and having a fun time. We never felt like we had to leave now that we had finished and we spent at least another hour at the table after the main course had been cleared. During this time we also had Churros with chocolate ganach (think doughnuts to dip in chocolate sauce) ($10.50).

At the end of the evening we split the bill evenly. At $120 each (I actually though it was going to be more to be honest!) it was an expensive, but awesome evening. It was definitely a special “once off” night… I dont think I could justify spending $60 on just food for myself again anytime soon, but we all had a brilliant time and I would definitely recommend it for a group of people looking to try something different!

Food: 7.5/10
Drinks: 8/10
Service: 6.5/10
Overall: 7.5/10

Lisa Tibbits aka Mono Lisa

Food and Sex

The world is a kitchen and everyone is a chef… some just have more imagination than others. One doesn’t have to be a prostitute to be good at sex. A chef is just someone who makes money from cooking…

Transformers Cake *Optimus Prime*

Fondant
60g vegetable shortening (copha)
2 Tb lemon juice (for a chocolate cake use 2Tb water and 1 tsp vanilla)
2 Tb water
750g icing sugar

Place shortening, lemon juice and water in a saucepan.

Heat gently, stirring until shortening has melted.

Sift 250g icing sugar into the pan. Stir continuously over low heat.

Once sugar has dissolved stop stirring. As soon as the mixture starts to boil remove it from the heat.

Gradually add enough of the remaining sugar to form a soft paste. Mix until mixture is smooth.

Dust a work surface lightly with icing sugar and knead fondant until it is no longer sticky. Add more icing sugar until fondant is firm.
Stir fondant in an airtight container so it doesn’t dry out.

Working with Fondant
It is quite difficult working with fondant the first time. Here are some tricks we picked up:
- roll the fondant on baking paper. When you have got the desired thickness place the cake on top of the fondant and then curl it up the sides. This saves you picking the fondant up as it will break if you try to do so.
- ‘Patch’ up any bits that crumble off or split with a finger dipped in water.
- If you are adding colour do it when you add the first round of icing sugar - it will be much easier.

Making Optimus Prime
Winny and I made optimus for Dan’s 26th birthday.
First we baked two square chocolate malteser cakes, and one rectangle butter cake.
We cut the malteser cakes into three and then stacked them two high, joining them with a choc malteser butter icing. We then covered them in blue fondant.

We cut the third strips into squares to make the feet and again joined them with butter icing, and covered them in blue fondant.

To make the cab we covered the butter cake in red fondant.

We decorated it using butter icing coloured in grey and black (made with black food dye) butter icing, and silver balls.

Marshmallow headlights, oreo tyres.

We made the logo out of fondant and decorated it with piped black icing.

I feel sick now from eating too much icing….

Apple Custard Streusel Slice

Makes 16 pieces







Pastry
1 and 1/4 cups (155g) plain flour
1 Tb caster sugar
80g butter, melted and cooled
1 egg yolk

Apple Custard Topping
3 green apples
20g butter
4 Tb caster sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup thick cream
1 tsp vanilla essence

Crumble Topping
1/2 cup plain flour
2 Tb dark brown sugar
1/3 cup finely chopped walnuts (or pecans)
60g butter, melted

Lightly grease an 18 x 28 cm shallow tin and line with baking paper, overhanging two opposite sides.

To make the pastry, sift the flour and sugar into a large mixing bowl. Add the melted butter, egg yolk and 2-3 Tb of water and mix until it comes together.
Roll out the dough between two sheets of baking paper to fit the base of the tin. Refrigerate for 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 190 C.
Line the pastry base with baking beads or uncooked rice or beans. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove the paper and beads, reduce oven temperature to 180C and bake for 5 minutes, or until golden (it does not have to be competely cooked or hard at this stage). Leave to cool.

To make the apple custard topping, peel, core and chop the apples and place in a saucepan with the butter, half the sugar and 2 Tb of water. Cover and cook over low heat for 15 minutes, or until soft and pulpy. Uncover and simmer for another 5 minutes, to reduce the liquid. Use a wooden spoon to break down the apples until they have a smooth texture. Leave to cool.

Whisk together the eggs, cream, remaining sugar and vanilla essence in a mixing bowl (hand whisk is fine). Spread the cooled apple mixture over the pastry and then carefully pour the cream mixture over the apple. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the custard has set.

To make the crumble topping, mix together the flour, brown sugar and walnuts in a mixing bowl. Stir in the melted butter until the mixture is crumbly (I found this was too much butter so I ended up adding more flour and sugar). Sprinkle the crumble over the custard and bake for 15 minutes. Leave to cool in the tin nbefore slicing.

Grublover comment
This slice is a real winner - absolutely delicious. It will store for up to a week if refrigerated in an airtight container.
As you can see I didn’t have an 18×28cm tin so I used a round tart tin - worked fine.

Maya Masala Indian Brasserie

49 Lake St Northbridge 6003 (08) 9328 5655
Maya Masala 2: 171 James St, Northbridge Tue-Sun 5.30pm-12am
Maya Masala coming soon to QV1 building, Hay Street
BYO

Not the best service, and not the best indian restaurant in perth but good food for a good price.

Just go there and try the lamb saagwalla (14.90). A beautiful spicy dish - lamb cooked with spinach, butter, ginger and garlic, very rich. Absolutely delicious with some naan.

We also had butter chicken (14.90).

Dosa are huge and tasty.

Great thali platters for people who just can’t decide and want to try everything.

Hollis’ Wild Rice

Serves 6

4 cups beef broth
1 medium sized onion chopped
½ cup wild rice
1 cup long grain rice
mushrooms, sauteed in butter
cashews, warmed
parsley, chopped

Make up beef broth, add chopped onion, bring to boil, add wild rice. Turn down and simmer for 40 minutes

Saute mushrooms in butter.

Turn up to high, add rice, stir. Turn heat down and simmer for 20 minutes
Remove from heat and add mushrooms and cashews, garnish with parsley.

Hollis’ Spaghetti Carbonara

450g bacon
450g spaghetti
3/4 cup freshly grated parmesan
3 Tb butter
2 eggs, lightly beaten
freshly ground black pepper

Fry the bacon until it is just crisp, drain on a paper towel, and chop into bite sized pieces.
Cook the spaghetti in a very large pot of boiling salted water until al dente, about 8-10 minutes.
Meanwhile warm a serving bowl.
Drain the spaghetti well and toss in the bowl with the bacon, cheese, butter and lots of freshly ground black pepper for a few seconds, allowing it to cool slightly.
Add the eggs and stir vigorously to coat all the strands.
Serve immediately with some more cracked black pepper.

Grublover comment
Hollis says: This recipe doesn’t have cream - so the result is a less wet carbonara. It is really easy

Lemon Semolina Syrup Cake

250g butter
1 Tb lemon rind
1 cup caster sugar
3 eggs, separated
1 cup SR flour
1 cup semolina
1 cup yoghurt


Lemon syrup
1 cup caster sugar
1/3 cup lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 180C and grease and line a 20cm baking tin.
Cream the butter, rind and sugar.
Add the egg yolks, one at a time.
Fold in the flour, semolina and yoghurt.
In a separate bowl beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold this into the cake mixture.
Spoon into the baking tin, and cook for approximately 50 minutes.
When the cake is cooled, make the lemon syrup.
To make it put the lemon juice and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar is dissolved, and bring to the boil.
Once it has come to the boil, simmer for another 1-2 minutes and then take off the heat.
Pierce the cake all over with a skewer and pour the syrup over the top so it drizzles through the cake, making it really sticky and delicious and moist.

Grublover comment
This cake is really easy to make and delicious. You can try substituting the lemon for orange for something different.
Serve with thickened cream.

7 Layer Mexican Dip

3 medium ripe avocados, peeled, cored and mashed
2 Tb lemon juice
1 tub (350ml) sour cream
1 packet taco seasoning mix
2 cans refried beans
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 bunch spring onions, sliced on the diagonal
1 jar black olives, sliced
1 pack shredded cheddar
salt and pepper
1/2 red onion, chopped finely (optional)
red chilli, chopped (optional)

Mix together the avocadoes, lemon juice, salt and pepper and red onion to make a guacamole.
Mix sour cream and taco seasoning.
Layer ingredients as follows:
- bottom layer: refried beans
- second layer - guacamole
- third layer - sour cream
- fourth layer - tomatoes
- fifth layer - onions
- sixth layer - olives
- seventh layer - cheese
Top with extra sour cream, olives, salsa etc if desired.
You could also add some chopped chillies to spice it up.
Serve with corn chips.

Grublover comment
This dip is so delicious and great to take to a Mexican party or any party where you need something quick and tasty. By the end of the night the dip looks like a dirty mess the colour of refried beans but it is demolished so quickly it doesn’t matter.
It looks really cool if you serve it in a glass dish so you can see all the layers. Make sure you use a nice deep dish so it all fits!

Anghiti Indian Restaurant

Shop 1/379 Scarborough Beach Rd, Innaloo; 9446 6222
340 Walcott St, Mt Lawley; 9443 8888

Open Tuesday - Sunday
11.30am - 2pm; 5.30pm - 10pm



Entree: $9-$24
Mains: $15-$35
Dessert: $6
Licensed. BYO (wine only) $5 corkage per bottle.

Went to Anghiti tonight after a movie at Greater Union.
The service was excellent, food fantastic, and very reasonable.
The rice was delicious - flavoured with cumin seeds.
We had:
- Butter Chicken Jalandhri ($15.40) which was maybe the best butter chicken I have had
- Goan Prawn Curry ($16.30) a great curry, nice heat to it
- nan and rice

Will definitely be back.

Joy Kitchen

Open 11-2.30pm Monday to Friday; 5.30-9.30pm Monday - Saturday
17 Point Street, Fremantle
9336 6868
http://www.joykitchen.com.au/



Danny and I went to Joy Kitchen last week, and again last night and had fantastic food both times.
Joy Kitchen is a little Chinese restaurant which has been dishing up the most delicious, authentic Chinese cuisine for over ten years. It is located in a funny spot near Target in Fremantle. The menu is extensive and diverse, with a range of Chinese dishes including soups, chicken, beef, vegetarian, seafood, lamb, duck, pork, complemented with a selection of entree’s, rice and noodles.
Last night we had:
- Sizzling Black pepper garlic lamb ($15.50) - absolutely delicious, tender, will get it again
- Satay chicken ($14.50) - best I have ever had, a real peanuty satay sauce
- Black pepper fried rice ($10.50) - fried rice with black pepper and lettuce leaves in it

Last time we visited we tried:
- Shanghai chicken - half a chicken with crispy skin and a light sauce
- Japanese bean curd with chicken - this was my favourite absolute must try
- Sizzling Mongolian Beef

The food is quick, service is great, BYO, cheap.
$42.50 for the two of us - you can’t go wrong.
A must do. This grublover will be back.

Triple-Chocolate Brownies

Makes 20 irresistible chocolate brownies

185g butter
185g dark chocolate, chopped
3 eggs
1 and 1/4 cups caster sugar
2/3 cup plain flour
1/2 cup cocoa
3/4 cup roughly chopped white chocolate (about 1/2 a block)
3/4 cup roughly chopped milk chocolate (about 1/2 a block)

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C (350F).
Place the butter and dark chocolate in a saucepan over low heat and stir until just smooth. Allow to cool.
Place the eggs and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until light and creamy.
Fold through the chocolate and butter mixture.
Sift the flour and cocoa over the mixture and mix to combine. Don’t overmix because it’s nice to keep it light.
Stir in the white and milk chocolate.
Line the base of a 23cm square cake tin with baking paper.
Pour in the mixture and bake for 35-40 minutes or until set. It may take a little longer, depending on your oven.
Allow to cool, then cut into squares.

Grublover comment
These brownies are so easy to make and turn out deliciously rich and chocolatey. You must serve them with some vanilla icecream or thick cream - they are too rich to eat alone.
Use only the very best chocolate and cocoa you can get your hands on - it is worth spending that little bit extra. Trust me.
You can see from the amount of chocolate on my face that the mixture is almost as sweet as the brownies themselves.

Pasta Maker!

My pasta maker is my latest and greatest new toy.
I bought it yesterday from the Re Store for $74.95 and made the most sensational pasta last night.
It is so easy to make, and definitely worth the effort.
Good for cooks like me who like getting their hands dirty because you have to do lots of kneading, and feeding the pasta through the machine.

Dough recipe: 100g flour to 1 egg
It is recommended that you use 1 egg for every person, but I used about 5 eggs between 3 and that was enough for a nice large bowl of pasta each.
I used regular flour but today I bought some durum semolina which is a beautiful saffron coloured really fine semolina flour which I’m hoping will make a really special pasta. I’ll keep you posted.

I refridgerated my dough for about 30 minutes before I put it through the machine - this made it a nice consistency to work with.

I made a delicious red capsicum and chorizo sauce to toss the fresh pasta through. Simple and delicious.

Red capsicum and chorizo pasta

1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 large serving spoons marinated red capsicums (antipasto)
1 chorizo, sliced
ricotta
olive oil



Fry the onion and garlic in a pan until it starts to colour.
Add the chorizo and cook until it is starting to brown.
Add the capsicum and a good lug of olive oil.
When the pasta is cooked, drain and pour into the pan. Fry for a couple of minutes, pouring through a little of the cooking water, and some extra olive oil. Toss it around so all the flavours are mixed through.
Serve with some crumbled ricotta over the top and a good crack of salt and pepper.

Grublover comment
I made this delicious simple sauce yesterday when I bought my pasta maker. It is so simple and the flavours are so nice and it compliments the fresh pasta so well. An absolute winner. Check out the link for making fresh pasta.

Bar One

QV1 Retail Plaza
250 St Georges Terrace
Perth, Western Australia 6000
T: 08 9481 8400 F: 08 9481 8422
contact@bar1.com.au
Open 7am ’til late, Monday to Friday

Bar One is a funky little bar/restaurant at the base of the qv1 building. It is packed on a Friday night for after work drinks, but generally quite quiet in the day, and relaxing with its low lighting and wood facades.

I have been here for 100s of coffees and drinks (seeing it is just under my work), but never for a meal.

Today I had lunch and was very impressed.

The wine list is extensive, and features some great Aussie wines. I love the Torbreck Woodcutters Shiraz (8.50 glass), but there is plenty more to choose from.

Today we had for entree:
- Oysters: (12/18/24): Freshly shucked, cucumber & chardonnay dressing
- Carpaccio (16.50) Seared thinly sliced beef fillet, truffle oil, capers & parmesan. Absolutely to die for dish, so salty and tasty I would love to try this again.

For mains:
Pappardelle (24.50) with duck, mushroom, vermouth, porcini ragout. Absolutley rich, delicious, decadent.

Love to try:
Capellini Angel hair pasta, blue manna crab, tomato sugo and XV olive oil

Winos

June 25th, 2007
11 Rendall Close
Margaret River 6285
(08) 97 58 7155

Wino’s is a funky bar/restaurant on the main drag in Margaret River. The food is absolutely amazing - you can never order a dud; the service is attentive and relaxed; and the wine and drinks list is extensive.

I always love going to wino’s because it’s usually the first thing I do when I get down south and it marks the beginning of a great time down there.
On this occasion we jumped straight off the freeway after work, made it to gracetown at about 8pm and got to Wino’s by 830.

It’s good fun on a Friday night - a mix of about 50/50 locals and metros, many just catching up with friends in the bar.

The restaurant is a great big open space with the bar first thing as you walk in and the restaurant area raised a step. The bar faces out onto the street so you can see people coming and going.

We sat in the lounges between the restaurant and bar for a drink before our meal.
I had the Benaves shiraz from Coonawarra ($10) which was delicious. Dan had a crazy German beer. Mum had a Chandon, and then a Riesling from Ferngrove which was very nice.

After our drinks we sat and ordered our meals. The menu is a big blackboard at the back of the restaurant with all the dishes scribbled on it.
We ordered a pumpkin and chili dip to start. It was served with dry crostini dippers, and had a lovely nutmeg, cinnamon flavour.
We also had a dish of 4 scallops ($12), each done in a different style:
- bacon
- mango
- garlicy lemon creamy sauce
- thai with chilli, peanut, coriander, lime
They were delicious, but we all fought over the thai flavoured one.
There was a bit of a wait for our mains, so the waiter brought us some freshly baked bread with an anchovy oil - it was olive oil with anchovies at the bottom - absolutely delicious.

For mains we had:
- lamb rack with almond couscous, pumpkin, beans, mint and coriander dressing ($34.50). This dish had a beetrooty taste in dressing. The lamb was served as two large racks each about 120g (quite generous), and was cooked medium rare, perfect.
- scotch fillet with cream sauce
- duck confit with wild boar sausage served with (herb flavours – rosemary, oregano), white bean and parsnip puree, roasted beetroot and carrot. The sausage was flavoured with rosemary and oregano. The roasted beetroot leaked and flavoured the puree. The duck was perfectly cooked – crunchy skin, tender meat falling off the leg.

The service was incredible: our waiter was attentive, went over the meals with us, brought us food when the meals took to long…Things I would have liked to try, and will be back for:
o frangelico affrogato $9
o braised pork rib with fennel, red cabbage
o waygu beef with parmesan truffle oil mash $49.50

Wino’s is always a great experience, amazing food, this grublover will be back for sure.
8.5 out of 10

Jamie’s Chicken Tikka Marsala

Serves 4







6 cloves garlic, peeled
7.5cm/3 inches fresh ginger, peeled
2-3 fresh red chillies, deseeded
olive oil
1 Tb mustard seeds
1 Tb parprika
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
3 Tb garam masala
200g natural yoghurt
4 medium chicken breasts, skinned and cut into large chunks
1 Tb butter
2 medium onions, peeled and finely sliced
2 Tb tomato puree
small handful of cashews or almonds
sea salt
115ml double cream
handful of fresh coriander, chopped
juice of 1-2 limes

Grate garlic and ginger and put to one side in a bowl.

Chop chilli as finely as you can and mix them with the ginger and garlic.
Heat a good splash of oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds. When they start to pop, add them to the ginger and garlic mixture along with the parprika, cumin, ground coriander and 2 Tb of the garam masala.

Put half of this in a bowl, add the yoghurt and chicken, stir, leave to marinade for ½ hour or so.

Melt the butter in saucepan the mustard seeds were in and add the sliced onions and the remaining half of the spice mix.
Cook gently for 15 minutes or so without browning too much – it should start to smell fantastic!

Add the tomato puree, ground nuts, half a litre of water, and ½ teaspoon of salt. Stir well and simmer gently for a few minutes.

Let this sauce reduce until it thickens slightly and place to one side.
Put the marinated chicken on a hot griddle pan or bbq and sear until cooked through –you can also do this on a preheated grill if you like.

Warm the sauce, add the cream and the other Tb of garam masala. Taste and correct the seasoning if necessary. As soon as it boils, take off the heat and add the grilled chicken.

Check the seasoning once more and serve sprinkled with the chopped coriander, and the lime juice.

Jamie Oliver's Lamb Cutlets

Serves 1

115g couscous
2 or 3 lamb cutlets, French-trimmed
salt and pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
evoo
½ red onion, finely sliced
a sprig of fresh thyme, leaves picked and chopped
¼ of a fresh red chilli, de-seeded and finely chopped
2 ripe tomatoes, chopped
1 handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley
juice of 1 lemon
1 small tub of hummus

Get your frying pan hot.
Place couscous in a bowl and just cover with boiling water.
With the palm of your hand bash cutlets to flatten them.
Dust on both sides with salt, pepper, cumin and add with a little olive oil to the pan.

When cutlets have browned on one side, turn them, adding the onion, thyme and chilli and moving the ingredients around so they cook evenly for the next couple of minutes.
Finely chop the tomatoes and parsley and mix into the couscous with a good lug of olive oil and a squeeze of lemon.

Season carefully to taste.

Serve the couscous with lamb and onions on top, followed by a big spoon of hummus.

Yummy Fruit Crumble

Serves 6
For the fruit
2 apricots, stoned and sliced
1 pear, cored and thickly sliced
1 punnet blackberries
1 punnet blueberries
1 punnet rasberries
1/2 apple, grated
5 Tb sugar
a good glub of balsamic vinegar

For the topping
170g/6 oz butter, chilled
225g/8 oz self-raising flour
70g sugar
a large pinch of salt
130ml buttermilk
a little extra sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 190C/375F.
Put the fruit into a pan with the sugar and the balsamic vinegar. Put the pan over the heat and cook gently until the juices begin to run from the berries. Pour into an ovenproof dish (a big casserole type dish works well).
Meanwhile make the topping.
Rub the cold butter into the flour until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
Add the sugar and salt, stir well, then add the buttermilk to form a loose, scone-type mixture.
Spoon this over the hot fruit (to get a cobbled effect, flick balls of dough randomly). Sprinkle with a little extra sugar and bake in the oven for 30 minutes until golden brown.
Serve with a big spoon of vanilla icecream.

Grublover comment
This recipe is great becuase it is very adaptable - you can use any fruit you have on hand - last time I made it I used apples, berries and rhubarb. Yum.
This recipe is from Jamie Oliver’s book ‘Happy days with the naked chef’.

Nigella’s Chocolate Malteser Cake

For the cake
150g soft light brown sugar
100g caster sugar
3 eggs
175ml milk
15g butter
2 Tb horlicks (malt powder)
175g plain flour
25g cocoa, sieved
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

For the icing
250g icing sugar
1 tsp cocoa
45g horlicks (malt powder)
125g soft unsalted butter
2 Tb boiling water
2 x 37g packets maltesers

Take all of the ingredients out of the fridge so that they come to room temperature (though it’s not so crucial here because you’re heating the milk and butter and whisking the eggs). Preheat the oven to 170C. Butter and line two 20cm loose bottomed sandwich cake tins with baking paper.

Whisk together the sugar and eggs while you weigh out the other ingredients; I use a freestanding mixer for this.

Heat the milk, butter and horlicks powder in a saucepan until the butter melts, and it is hot but not boiling.

When the sugar and eggs are light and frothy, beat in the hot Horlicks mixture and then fold in the flour, cocoa, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda.

Divide the cake batter evenly between the two tins and bake in the oven for 25 minutes, by which time the cakes should have risen and will spring back when pressed gently. Let them cool on a rack for about 5-10 minutes and then turn out of their tins.

Once the cakes are cold, you can get on with the icing. I use a processor because it makes life easier: you don’t need to sieve the icing sugar.

Put the icing sugar, cocoa and Horlicks in the processor and blitz to remove lumps. Add the butter and process again. Stop, scrape down, and start again, pouring the boiling water down the funnel with the motor running until you have a smooth buttercream.

Sandwich the cold sponges with half of the buttercream, then ice the top with what is left, creating a swirly top rather than a smooth surface.

Stud the outside edge, about 1cm in, with a ring of Maltesers, or use them to decorate the top in any way you want.

Grublover comment
This cake is absolutely delicious and works every time. The mixture is really wet so don’t be alarmed or add more flour when you are pouring it into the tins.
I like to make this into mini cupcakes for birthdays. Cook them in muffin cases at 170C for about 10-15 minutes and decorate each cupcake with some icing and a malteser.
The recipe was taken from Nigella Lawson’s fabulous book ‘Feast’.

Maya Indian Restaurant…by Eve Clarkson

I have enjoyed many meals at the Maya restaurant over a number of years.
However tonight I was somewhat disappointed.

We arrived at the restaurant and were warmly greeted and well looked after.
I ordered a Spy Valley Pino Gris from the Marlborough region of New Zealand and was delighted with this wine. A friend brought along an Alexander Bridge Cab Merlot (2003) which was enjoyed by the red drinkers in the party.
Genny particularly liked the metal drinking vessels used for the water.

We were a party of 6 and 2 members were late. As we waited we ordered an entrée of Eggplant Pakoras - marinated eggplant fried in flour with a sweet and sour fennel and tamarind sauce, along with Chicken Tikka. This was the most delicious dish of the night. Chicken fillets marinated in paprika, garam masala and yoghurt, grilled in a tandoor oven. The yoghurt sauce was not needed as the meat stood alone.

Just as the entrée were served, our friends arrived. The staff were most accommodating. One of the party took it upon himself to order the rest of the meal:

Butter chicken
Lamb Rogan Josh
Palak Paneer
Plain Pulao (Basmati rice)
Plain Naan ad Garlic Naan

Andy who ordered the food, said that it was ‘well ordered’
Trevor said that the meal was nice
Anne had no comment
Lesley stated that it was exceptional with beautiful flavours
Genny said that it was delicious but lacked ‘punch

I think that the most important comments were the comments not made…

The price for 6 people (including 2 bottles of wine and corkage on 1 bottle) was $271. This calculates out at $45 per head.

In summary - disappointing in food terms with a lack of aromatic diversity I would like to have savoured, and as well it was expensive…has there been some changes sine I was there last??

Good points - great staff and excellent service, but let down by the chef.

Out of 10, I am sorry to say that I would only rate it tonight as a 6, but as this is one of my old favourites I will be back to try again.

Eve Clarkson

Jamie's Chicken Tikka Marsala

Serves 4







6 cloves garlic, peeled
7.5cm/3 inches fresh ginger, peeled
2-3 fresh red chillies, deseeded
olive oil
1 Tb mustard seeds
1 Tb parprika
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
3 Tb garam masala
200g natural yoghurt
4 medium chicken breasts, skinned and cut into large chunks
1 Tb butter
2 medium onions, peeled and finely sliced
2 Tb tomato puree
small handful of cashews or almonds
sea salt
115ml double cream
handful of fresh coriander, chopped
juice of 1-2 limes

Grate garlic and ginger and put to one side in a bowl.
Chop chilli as finely as you can and mix them with the ginger and garlic.
Heat a good splash of oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds. When they start to pop, add them to the ginger and garlic mixture along with the parprika, cumin, ground coriander and 2 Tb of the garam masala.
Put half of this in a bowl, add the yoghurt and chicken, stir, leave to marinade for ½ hour or so.
Melt the butter in saucepan the mustard seeds were in and add the sliced onions and the remaining half of the spice mix.
Cook gently for 15 minutes or so without browning too much – it should start to smell fantastic!
Add the tomato puree, ground nuts, half a litre of water, and ½ teaspoon of salt. Stir well and simmer gently for a few minutes.
Let this sauce reduce until it thickens slightly and place to one side.
Put the marinated chicken on a hot griddle pan or bbq and sear until cooked through – you can also do this on a preheated grill if you like.
Warm the sauce, add the cream and the other Tb of garam masala. Taste and correct the seasoning if necessary. As soon as it boils, take off the heat and add the grilled chicken.
Check the seasoning once more and serve sprinkled with the chopped coriander, and the lime juice.

Linguine alla carbonara di salsiccia

Serves 4







4 good quality organic italian sausages
4 slices of thickly cut pancetta, chopped
1 lb. dried linguine
4 large egg yolks
1/2 cup heavy cream
3 and 1/2 oz freshly grated parmesan cheese
zest of 1 lemon
a sprig of flat leaf parsley, chopped
evoo
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

With a sharp knife, slit the sausage skins lengthwise and squeeze all the meat out. Using wet hands, roll little balls of sausage meat about the size of large marbles and place them to one side.

Heat a large frying pan and add a good splash of olive oil. Gently fry the sausage meatballs until golden brown all over, then add the pancetta and continue cooking for a couple of minutes, until it’s golden.

While this is cooking, bring a pot of salted water to the boil, add the linguine and cook.

In a large bowl whip up the egg yolks, cream, half the parmesan, lemon zest and parsley. When the pasta is cooked, drain it in a colander, reserving a little of the cooking water.

Immediately toss it quickly with the egg mixture back in the pasta pot.
Add the hot sausage meatballs and toss everything together.
The egg will cook delicately from the heat of hte linguine, just enough for it to thicken and not scramble.

The sauce should be smooth and silky.

If the pasta becomes a little sticky add a few spoonfuls of the reserved cooking water to loosen it slightly.
Sprinkle over the rest of the parmesan, season if necessary, drizzle with evoo and serve.
Eat immediately!

Grublover comment
This pasta is really rich and delicious. I is from jamie’s latest book ‘Jamie’s Italy. It’s really quick and easy to make and looks impressive.

Hollis’ Decadent Double Chocolate Cheesecake

Crust:
1 cup crushed chocolate biscuits (I use 1-1½ package Oreos, filling removed
3 tbsp butter, melted

Filling:
3 x 250g package Philadelphia cream cheese, softened
¾ cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
90g white chocolate, melted
90g semi-sweet chocolate, melted
2 tbsp (30mL) raspberry schnapps liqueur, optional

Ganache Glaze:
¾ cup (175mL) cream
180g semi-sweet chocolate

For crust, combine crumbs and butter; press onto bottom of 9-inch springform pan. Bake at 180°C for 10 minutes. (Then preheat oven to 220°C).

In food processor or with electric mixer, blend cream cheese with sugar.
Add eggs, one at a time, blending well after each. Add vanilla.

Remove half of batter to another bowl. Stir melted white chocolate and liqueur into this portion. To remaining batter, blend in melted semi-sweet chocolate.
Pour chocolate batter into crumb-lined pan; spread evenly.

Spoon white batter carefully on top, spread evenly. Bake at 220°C for 10 minutes; reduce heat to 120°C and bake for 30 minutes longer, or until centre of cake is just barely firm.

Remove from oven and run knife around sides. Let cool completely before removing from sides of pan.

To make the ganache, bring cream to a simmer over low heat in a small saucepan. Add chocolate and stir until melted and smooth. Spoon over cake. With metal spatula, spread to cover top, allowing some to run over edge to cover sides. Garnish as desired.

Grublover comment
Hollis says: I usually decorate it with marbled white chocolate or shards of chocolate or something similar. It looks really glam if you make those chocolate leaves out of white & dark chocolate..

Danny's Sunday Night Tuna Pasta

Serves 4 (or 2 with some leftover for monday’s lunch)








1/2 large onion
2 cloves garlic
1/2 small chilli (adjust to taste)
1 large tin sirena tuna (best flavour: chilli in oil)
1/2 jar passata or 1 tin tomatoes
olive oil
salt and pepper

Put the pasta on to boil.
Fry the onion, garlic and chilli in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Don’t let the onions brown - cook them just before they are brown, that way you get a great tang.
Add the tuna and cook for 1 minute.
Pour the passata in and season to taste. Add about 1 Tbsp dried oregano.
Turn heat down and simmer until pasta is ready.
Serve garnished with freshly chopped parsley (or some other herbs e.g. oregano) and some shaved parmesan.

Grublover comment
This is a delicious pasta and I am not even a huge tuna fan. Danny always makes it for me when I am tired and grumpy on a Sunday night after a big weekend and it always always hits the spot. It’s great becuase it’s quick and easy and you can have all the supplies on hand. Make sure you use a really good quality tuna - dan won’t use anything but sirena - otherwise the flavour is not right.
Bon appetit!

Jamie’s Best Aromatic Curry

2 teaspoons mustard seeds
1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
3 fresh green chiles, seeds removed and thinly sliced
A handful curry leaves, ripped into small pieces
2 thumb-sized pieces ginger
3 onions, peeled and chopped
6 tomatoes, chopped
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1 or 2 wineglasses water (about 10 ounces)
14 fluid ounces (400 millilitre) can coconut milk
Salt

Fish version:
4 (8-ounce/225 gram) haddock fillets, skinned and pin-boned
1 knob (1 tablespoon) tamarind paste or 1 teaspoon tamarind syrup
A very large handful baby spinach, optional

Chicken version:
4 chicken breasts, sliced into 1/2-inch (1 centimetre) strips
A few cashew nuts, toasted and crushed

Vegetarian version:
1 3/4 pounds (800 grams) mixed vegetables, chopped (potatoes, zucchini, peppers, onions, sweet potatoes, spinach, chard, cauliflower, lentils, beans)

Heat the oil in a pan when hot add the mustard seeds. Wait for them to pop, then add the fenugreek, green chile, curry leaves, and ginger, stir and fry for a few minutes.
Using a food processor, chop the onion, add to pan, and continue to cook. When brown and soft, add the chili powder and turmeric.
Using the same food processor, blend the tomatoes and add to the pan. Cook for a couple of minutes, add 1 or 2 wineglasses of water and the coconut milk. Simmer for about 5 minutes until it has the consistency of thick heavy cream then season carefully with salt. Take this sauce as a base.
To make the fish curry, add the fish and tamarind to the sauce and simmer for about 6 minutes. Feel free to add some baby spinach at the end of the cooking time.
For the chicken version, stir-fry the chicken strips, and cashew nuts until lightly coloured, then add the sauce and simmer for ten minutes.
For the vegetarian version simply add all the vegetables to the sauce at the beginning when you add the onions. Continue to cook as normal and simmer until tender.

Yield: 4 servings
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Difficulty: Medium

Grublover comment
This recipe is really fun to make and pretty easy. It takes a while the first time but it is really impressive. Serve with a nice salsa, some raita and some steamed rice. I like to steam my rice (use basmati for indian curries) with a pinch of saffron to give it extra flavour and that beautiful, rich saffron colour.

Georg Jensen Cutlery

Not for the short on change, this cutlery is an artform.

Beautiful to touch and hold and use, I thoroughly enjoyed licking the sauce off my fork at Jessica’s the other night.

The cutlery is beautifully weighted, heavy in your hand, making it a true pleasure to use.

Check out www.http://www.georgjensenstore.com

Chutney Mary’s Indian Restaurant…reviewed by Eve Clarkson

67 Rokeby Rd Subiaco 6008
(08) 9381 2099






We were looking for a good meal to share as we bade farewell to a fellow worker. Chutney Marys had it all.

The ambience is set as you approach the front door, with a carpet laid in the entrance. The atmosphere is vibrant, with large picture of India on the walls, painted in the intense warm colours of spices from the region. The staff quickly greeted us and showed us to our table. I started off with a delightful crisp Saint Clair 2006 Sauvignon Blanc a very good representative of this variety, a benchmark wine of the Marlborough region, New Zealand.

The forward planners of the group had studied the menu, available on the restaurants website. For the nine of us we selected 2 chicken dishes, 1 lamb, goat and prawn/scallop mains, as well as Saag Paneer (Indian cheese and spinac) and cuccmber raita. To accompany these we ardered some Saffron Basmati Puloo (yellow rice) and a selection
of 5 breads. The restaurant was busy, but the meals arrived in a timely manner.

Butter chicken, an old favourite did not let us down with its aromatic rich smokey flavoured sauce. Chicken Palak was again aromatic, with a bit of a bite to it. The Goat Curry, a house speciality was tender, still relatively mild, but with a more gamey flavour. The Gosht Saagwalla again had its own individual combination of spices, with the tenderest of meats. The Prawn and Scallop Molee Curry, from Kerala in the South of India would not have been a dish that I would have selected, but was surprisingly delicious. I look forward to experiencing more of these types of dishes when I visit the region this December. The Saag Paneer, Raita, rice and breads balanced the meal perfectly.

Comments from the crew :
MArgaret oh,oh,oh….she was speechless
Melissa fully..
Hils aromatic tasty food, with piquancy - thotoughly enjoyable
Vicky each dish had ist individual aroma and flavour
Viv bloody best Indian nosh

The cost - which included a great bottle of white, and some other wines by the glass - $22 per head.

Any complaints - we were sitting near the window, and the airconditioner blew directly onto the people sitting nearest to the corner, making them uncomfortably cold.

In summary - great night, superb food, attentive competent staff, good surroundings.
Will I go again? you bet.

Out of 10 I would rate it an 8

Eve Clarkson

Tim's Spicy Mutton Curry

1/2 kg mutton (or goat) cubed
1 tspn tumeric powder
1 tbspn ginger-garlic paste
1 cup oil
8 cloves
1 tspn coriander seeds
8 peppercorns
1 tspn poppy seeds
1 tspn aniseeds
1/2 coconut grated
3 tomatoes
1 cup coriander leaves
6 red chillies
2 large onions, chopped
4 potatoes, peeled, halved
Salt to taste

Marinate the meat pieces in salt, tumeric and ginger-garlic paste for 1 hour.
Heat 2 Tbsp oil in a pan. Add cloves, peppercorns, coriander seeds, poppy seeds, aniseeds and red chillies. Brown the spices mixture.
Add onions and brown them.
Add coconut, tomatoes and brown.
Remove from stove and cool.
Grind to a paste. Keep aside.
In a pressure cooker, heat the remaining oil. Add meat and potatoes. Stir-fry until brown. Add the masala paste and salt. You may need to add water. Heat under pressure until meat is soft.
Remove from the cooker, Garnish with coriander leaves and yoghurt.
If you do not have a pressure cooker then cook the meat slowly for a long time in a big pot with the lid on.

Grublover comment
My good friend Tim made this for us last week at his goodbye dinner. It is absolutely delicious - the slow cooking makes all the flavours come alive, and the meat is tender and melts in your mouth. An absolute winner.
And while you’re at it, check out tims site Soup Toys: www.souptoys.com

the twisted fork

3 Glyde St Mosman Park 6012
(08) 9385 3854
Danny and I finally visited the Twisted Fork last night. It is a beautiful venue – small, intimate, low lighting; set in the quiet, almost spooky Glyde Street in Mosman Park. The specials were written in black pen on an old ornate mirror with a gold frame.

The food was fantastic – unfortunately we both ordered the lamb ($37) and so didn’t get to try much. The lamb was served as French cutlets stuffed with onions and herbs – it had a German flavour to it – that strong, almost mincey taste. It was tender, falling away from the bone as we devoured it. It was served with mushrooms, ‘poor mans’ potatoes, roasted capsicum, and a red wine jus. They had some very interesting things on the menu – pork trotter, steak tartare, violet crumble ice-cream, coffee panna cotta. I can imagine they would all be equally delicious and if I wasn’t so full I would have definitely hit the panna cotta.

Unfortunately the service was a bit average – there was only one man serving, and he just seemed too busy to give us any time.

$12 corkage for wine and quite pricey meals (around $30-35 for a main).
Not going to be this grublovers favourite restaurant, but it’s definitely worth a try. Although it is a bit on the pricey side, they were very generous serves, and it’s worth paying if it’s good. Check out Mosman Park video while you’re there if you’re into art-house or quirky films..