Look! Rosie's friend Paul found this. Any site with an article with the term 'waistline neutral' is going straight to my top ten. What am I saying?! Any site dedicated to tea, cake and biscuits is in the top ten. They even have a taxonomy of biscuits. To a librarian that is just the icing on the cake. That is like finding out that your perfect man was actually a chef for the last ten years and wants nothing better than to cook for you every um minute.
Enjoy...
http://www.nicecupofteaandasitdown.com/
Wednesday 30 January 2008
Sunday 13 January 2008
Not a good filling
After my first swim at the Mereweather baths I was starving hungry and got a quick sandwich to eat while Verity was with her visitor. In hindsight, eggplant dip and cheddar cheese wasn't really the greatest combination. I just wanted to make a note of that to guide me, incase I had another lapse of judgement at some point in the future.
Please don't try this at home, kids!
Please don't try this at home, kids!
Saturday 12 January 2008
Larb moo
Bert made us this lovely Asian dish: it was really delicious and summery, and also relatively quick to put together.
Served with rice. To garnish, there were little pots of cucumber and toasted, ground rice.
Made on 8th January, Newcastle, NSW.
- Garlic, chilli and lemongrass, softened in oil
- Add in minced pork and cook
- Add in chopped veg of choice (carrot, green pepper, baby sweetcorn, green beans)
- When the veg is cooked add in beansprouts...
- ... then fish sauce, lime juice and mint.
Served with rice. To garnish, there were little pots of cucumber and toasted, ground rice.
Made on 8th January, Newcastle, NSW.
Thursday 10 January 2008
Newcastle fish curry and chocolate cups
I really wanted to cook something for Bert and Jim and turned to Nigel Slater for help. I adore Nigel's recipes but don't own any of his books, so it was especially delightful to open up 'Appetite' like a new adventure. I spent too, too long reading all about soups and things to do with tomatoes, so it was a hasty impulse that led me to 'a fresh tasting and really quite spicy fish curry'. I didn't stick to the recipe very well, so here is what I did instead:
First stage:
Turn left out Bert's house, walk to the river, take a right and stroll along until you come across the Fish Co-op. Here, buy salmon, white fish and shellfish. I got a big fillet of Atlantic salmon, half a Hoki fish from New Zealand waters, and more than 200g raw King prawns from somewhere local - I forget precisely where. They were beautiful and grey and long-whiskered.
Second stage:
Chop up two white onions and soften in a pan in oil.
When soft, add in a teaspoon of brown mustard seeds (I couldn't find black) and cook for a couple of minutes. Chuck in four small-medium red chillies chopped - sans seeds - two teaspoons garam masala, one of ground tumeric and let this all cook for a minute or two until it smells beautiful.
Rough chop four or five tomatoes and add to the pan; dice up one yellow zucchini (we are in Australia!) and a handful of mini sweetcorn and also add in. Let this cook for about five minutes until the tomatoes break down.
Pour over vegetable stock (I used about 375ml of ready made and added in a dash more of water - any point up to about 500ml) and, when boiling, pop in the diced up fish and prawns. I cut the fish into a pretty chunky size so it would take about five minutes to cook through - and match the prawns' cooking time. Clap on a lid and, when the prawns are pink, pour in 150-200ml coconut milk. I forgot to season, but put salt and pepper on the table.
Served with rice. And lots of chat about Thai food.
Next course...
Berto had shown me the Australian food writer Stephanie Alexander and I was reading her book 'The cook's companion' whilst watching an Aussie daytime tv show where they made very rich looking chocolate desserts - much like the chocolate pots (probably a Jamie recipe) I made, using my Hay-on-Wye espresso cups. I digress. The tv recipe looked great but, once looked up online, proved to have about a hundred egg yolks in which seemed too extravagant, so I found a Stephanie Alexander alternative - including the whites this time, to make it more moussy and light. She calls it 'Fudgy Chocolate Mousse' and after her scathing comments about the European way of cooking scallops, I didn't dare mess her recipe around, other than to change the order and specify Lindt. And the way to fold in egg whites... :
Melt 200g Lindt 70% chocolate; add in 100g soft, unsalted butter until melted; beat in four egg yolks, one at a time.
Whip four egg whites until soft peaks form; sprinkle over 2 teaspoons caster sugar and whip until 'satiny'. Fold a big spoon of egg white into the chocolate mix; when combined, mix in the rest of the whites 'quickly but thoroughly'. Spoon into Verity's ever so stylish espresso cups with brown vertical stripes and put in fridge.
Normally you should bring them to room temperature before serving, but it is so darn hot this Australian summer, that I didn't. I did, however, serve them alongside half a sliced mango, fanned over a matching plate, with the chocolate cup sitting in the half-crescent.
Post Script: We had them again the next night and although still pretty tasty, I think they were better eaten on the day. High praise from me: I think this is one of the best uses for chocolate. High praise from Jim: he didn't have a beer after football so he could save his tastebuds for the chocolate pot. That is the biggest compliment my cooking has ever received!
'Appetite' by Nigel Slater, Fourth Estate, 2001 (ISBN 1841154709)
'The cook's companion : the complete book of ingredients and recipes for the Australian kitchen' by Stephanie Alexander, Viking [Penguin Books Australia], 1996 (ISBN 0670863734)
9.01.08
First stage:
Turn left out Bert's house, walk to the river, take a right and stroll along until you come across the Fish Co-op. Here, buy salmon, white fish and shellfish. I got a big fillet of Atlantic salmon, half a Hoki fish from New Zealand waters, and more than 200g raw King prawns from somewhere local - I forget precisely where. They were beautiful and grey and long-whiskered.
Second stage:
Chop up two white onions and soften in a pan in oil.
When soft, add in a teaspoon of brown mustard seeds (I couldn't find black) and cook for a couple of minutes. Chuck in four small-medium red chillies chopped - sans seeds - two teaspoons garam masala, one of ground tumeric and let this all cook for a minute or two until it smells beautiful.
Rough chop four or five tomatoes and add to the pan; dice up one yellow zucchini (we are in Australia!) and a handful of mini sweetcorn and also add in. Let this cook for about five minutes until the tomatoes break down.
Pour over vegetable stock (I used about 375ml of ready made and added in a dash more of water - any point up to about 500ml) and, when boiling, pop in the diced up fish and prawns. I cut the fish into a pretty chunky size so it would take about five minutes to cook through - and match the prawns' cooking time. Clap on a lid and, when the prawns are pink, pour in 150-200ml coconut milk. I forgot to season, but put salt and pepper on the table.
Served with rice. And lots of chat about Thai food.
************
Next course...
Berto had shown me the Australian food writer Stephanie Alexander and I was reading her book 'The cook's companion' whilst watching an Aussie daytime tv show where they made very rich looking chocolate desserts - much like the chocolate pots (probably a Jamie recipe) I made, using my Hay-on-Wye espresso cups. I digress. The tv recipe looked great but, once looked up online, proved to have about a hundred egg yolks in which seemed too extravagant, so I found a Stephanie Alexander alternative - including the whites this time, to make it more moussy and light. She calls it 'Fudgy Chocolate Mousse' and after her scathing comments about the European way of cooking scallops, I didn't dare mess her recipe around, other than to change the order and specify Lindt. And the way to fold in egg whites... :
Melt 200g Lindt 70% chocolate; add in 100g soft, unsalted butter until melted; beat in four egg yolks, one at a time.
Whip four egg whites until soft peaks form; sprinkle over 2 teaspoons caster sugar and whip until 'satiny'. Fold a big spoon of egg white into the chocolate mix; when combined, mix in the rest of the whites 'quickly but thoroughly'. Spoon into Verity's ever so stylish espresso cups with brown vertical stripes and put in fridge.
Normally you should bring them to room temperature before serving, but it is so darn hot this Australian summer, that I didn't. I did, however, serve them alongside half a sliced mango, fanned over a matching plate, with the chocolate cup sitting in the half-crescent.
Post Script: We had them again the next night and although still pretty tasty, I think they were better eaten on the day. High praise from me: I think this is one of the best uses for chocolate. High praise from Jim: he didn't have a beer after football so he could save his tastebuds for the chocolate pot. That is the biggest compliment my cooking has ever received!
'Appetite' by Nigel Slater, Fourth Estate, 2001 (ISBN 1841154709)
'The cook's companion : the complete book of ingredients and recipes for the Australian kitchen' by Stephanie Alexander, Viking [Penguin Books Australia], 1996 (ISBN 0670863734)
9.01.08
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