A trip across the ditch

I'm off across the ditch to play in the New Zealand vineyards and eat all their yummy food, so no posts for a while, readers.

I'll take lots of food pictures and relive my experiences when I get back.

bye for a while!

The Wrap Up: Good Food Month 2006

The belts have been released a few notches, the elastic-waisted trousers have been retrieved from the drawer, the box of antacid tablets is empty, and the gym looms ominously before the round of Xmas excess. Yes, Good Food Month has come to a close. We’ve lunched and dined our way around Sydney, noodled ourselves senseless, marketed and faired to our hearts’ content, given ourselves sugar highs, and envious lows if we missed that special event.

So here’s what we all enjoyed organised by event type.

Let’s Do Lunch!

Dispatches from a selection of yummy establishments were posted including Anna at Yoshii, Georgia at Forty One, Jen (Milk and Cookies) at Galileo, Kat at The Wharf, and I crammed in a massive four lunches at Zaaffran, Bécasse, Quay and Tabou.

Sugar Hits

Great dedication was shown by Helen who checked out The Park Hyatt, The Four Seasons, The Intercontinental and the Sofitel. Kat is neck and neck with her, squeezing in Sebel Pier One. Sofitel, the Swissotel and the Park Hyatt.

Jen got into the Sugar Hits at Sofitel Wentworth as well as the Westin. , Jen from Milk and Cookies covered The Four Seasons, and Swee took in the Sheraton on the Park.

Markets, Fairs and Tours

The Good Living Growers Markets got the once over from Helen, Jen, Julia, Swee and Yours Truly.

The Hyde Park Night Noodle Markets enjoyed an extended run this year and received thumbs up from Jen (Milk & Cookies), Helen (twice), Kathryn , Jen, and Swee. The Noodle Markets provided a venue for a food blogger rendezvous and you can read about it in pots from Kathryn, Julia and Helen.

Both Kathryn and I headed west to the Mangia Italiano, while the Spring Picnic fared well with visits from Jen (Milk and Cookies) and Helen.

Winding down to the close of the month one of the last and most festive food events was the Sydney Food and Wine Fair at Hyde Park. It got a look in from Helen, Y and new foodblogger Ali K. A late addition from Kathryn told us about the Kathryn and Swee are not to be missed!

Hat’s Off! Degustation dinners and Special Events

Helen covered Bécasse, while Anna braved the Manta Oyster Forum. I went to the Gordon Ramsay Lunch at the Four Seasons Hotel, as did Julia, and we both got to have goes of Gordon. Jen made it to the Hat’s Off at Forty One

Hands on

I slipped in to Oh Calcutta for Afghanistani and Pakistani dishes as well as Sonoma Bakery for their Sourdough ‘class’. Jen (Milk and Cookies) dusted off the ice cream churn at Serendipity in a two part post.

Cornucopia

Kathryn followed an artistic bent to take in the Shoot The Chef photography exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW. She also did some creative tours of her own based on the GFM Guide at Campsie and along Hawkesbury Growers Trail.

While these weren’t official GFM events they certainly are in the spirit of the month. Helen showed us the Danks Street Festival and Gordon Ramsay’s appearance at David Jones and I welcomed in the light at the Dewali Banquet at Aki’s.

I think some special mentions are in order. I want to give the Industrial Pancreas Award jointly to Helen and Kat. Attending four sugar hits each, never was so much sugar consumed by such dedicated dessert eaters. The Devilish Detail Award has to go to Anna for her post on the Manta Oyster Forum. When it comes to oyster information, if it’s not in her post it’s not worth knowing. The Girl Guide Be Prepared Award should go to Kathryn who didn’t let little things like overbooked events and date miscalculation stop her from getting involved. And finally the Hands On Award goes to Julia for getting near enough to Gordon Ramsay to almost get a proper snog. Lucky bugger. What was your favourite post or special mention? Leave a comment here or on the blosposts themselves by following the links. Here’s to next year’s GFM and thank you to everyone who participated in the round ups.

Have I had enough, I hear you ask? No way! I’m off to New Zealand for the next three weeks to check out the new year’s vintages in Marlborough and the Wairarapa, sample the delights of Kiwi produce, and check out the restaurants in Wellington and the top of the South Island. All to be documented for you in Technicolor when I return.

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Tabou: Let's Do Lunch

Left: Kir Royale.
Coming in on the last day of the month, our final GFM lunch was everyone's favourite cute French Bistro in Surry Hills, Tabou. Rare roasted duck breast with blood orange, watercress and kipfler potatoes was the menu of the day, so we saved it til a delectable last. I felt like a real stayer fitting in as much as I could right up to the dying light of October.

As always with these lunches you have to have extra. We started with a Kir Royale to toast the month and welcome in November. With our mains we threw in some blanched snow peas plus a lovely, and architecturally impressive, beetroot, walnut and fetta salad.

Of course we needed afters. The PoD went for the creme brulee, served in a wide shallow dish allowing for maximum caramelised sugar crust. M sensibly partied with the Dessert Assiette and MN, L and I shared the cheese plate. Light on description today, but plenty of pix. I'll let them do the talking :)

Above and below: Rare roasted duck breast
with blood orange, watercress and kipfler poatatoes

Beetroot, walnut and fetta salad

Snow peas tossed with herbs and butter.

Dessert assiette

Vanilla creme brulee

Cheese selection

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GFM: Roundup # 4

The city has been a hive of activity this week as food soldiers grab the last offerings of GFM.

Jen from Milk and Cookies has been a very busy girl fitting in the Spring Picnic, a Sugar Hit at The Four Seasons, Let's Do Lunch at Galileo and a Hands On Ice Cream class at Serendipity.

Jen from Jenius dived into the Hat’s Off! Dinner at Forty One and Kathryn ventured to Five Dock for the Mangia Italiano.

Sugar Hits are always popular and Kat has been beavering away in the spirit of research at the Sofitel, the Swissotel and the Park Hyatt. Helen checked out the Spring Picnic and the Danks Street Festival. I guess it's not an official GFM event, but Helen also caught the special appearance of Gordon Ramsay at David Jones during the week if you want ot have a look. Great pictures on the man in action.

The culmination of the week was the Sydney Food and Wine Fair in Hyde Park, a charity event for the AIDS Trust of Australia. I didn’t cover the event itself but I volunteered to help set up the Fair in the morning and Kathryn and I worked away helping stallholders set up and marshalling cars around the park. I know someone out there must have gone along and blogged the feast to be had, so send me a link and I'll add it to the round up.

I started the week with a fun lunch with Gordon Ramsay as did Julia and we both agreed it was a I great event. I fitted in the Dewali Banquet at Aki’s which I’m not 100% sure was part of GFM, but I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt as the SMH promoted it so extensively. I also swanked into three hatter Quay for Let's Do Lunch … I have one more lunch to do, the month’s not over yet!

However I will be closing off my round ups on Tuesday 31^st at 6pm and publishing a list of the whole month’s activities. So if you’ve left something out, send the link to me before then if you want it included in the final version.

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Quay: Let's Do Lunch!

Left: the bunny
This restaurant is among the most consistently awarded three hat restaurants in Sydney. Chef Peter Gilmore’s ability to not only win but maintain this rating is legendary and well deserved. And he’s a dab hand with the sweets. Ok, the interior looks like its been refurbished with 70's disco remnants, complete with LSD inspired carpet and mirror ceilings, but in a room with these views you don't look inside, you look out ... and at the plate.

What attracted us to Quay was not only its stellar status but the published lunch offering for GFM. “Slow-braised Macleay Valley rabbit with spring-vegetable risotto”. While slightly over punctuated (kind of like the decor) it sounded fantastic. I love bunny. And of course you get the celebrated view of the Opera House to go with it. The matched wine was Brown Brothers Sangiovese which I humbly thought was a little heavy handed given the delicate flavour of the rabbit. What was worse was the waiter trying to pour it into L’s barely finished glass of Spy Valley Pinot Gris. We had to request a new glass. (Mon dieu! Trois chapeaux? Quelle scandale!).

Left: THAT dessert

I browsed the wine list, which is about the size and global breadth of a National Geographic magazine, and while it is amazingly extensive and thoughtfully compiled, I notice that the NV Pelorus – a sparkling pinot noir chardonnay from the Cloudy Bay vineyard in Marlborough, is $81 in comparison to the same wine at Aki’s (where we dined earlier in the week) listed at $52. I can handle variations in prices at restaurants, but $30 on a single bottle? For the bargain hunter or bulk buyer it retails for around AUD$25-27, so you do the sums.


Left: Cheese selection

Anyway, back to the bunny. Gorgeous. A luscious fillet, sweet and tender. If you haven’t eaten rabbit before, or have had a bad experience of a stringy, overcooked lump of tasteless meat, take heart because the restaurants and butchers of Australia are reacquainting themselves with it. I’ve read and heard about the Macleay Valley white rabbit, farmed on the north coast of NSW, but this was my first taste of the produce. And where better to sample it than Quay? I was well impressed. Perfectly executed, a melting morsel of aromatic lapin swathed in rich jus. The fillet is stuffed with a herbed rabbit farce, providing both an heightened flavour dimension and texture counterpoint. The risotto was a little undercooked. It was a good five minutes prior to al dente, so the centre was hard and flinty rather than just giving yet firm. The vegetables were great. Succulent baby peas, teeny weeny spring onion bulbs, sugary and just set. We order an extra salad plate of green leaves to accompany it.

Salad leaves
As always with a set one course menu, you have to gaze at the afters. J ordered the Mille Feuille with rose water cream and raspberries ($22). When you look at my snaps, you might recognise this as the dish whose picture graces the cover of the 2007 SMH Good Food Guide. Garnished with toffee and gold leaf, it whispers to the palate every bit as seductively as it looks. L and I share a well sized selection of the four cheese plate ($25), comprising (from bottom to top of the pic) a vine leaf wrapped goat cheese, Roquefort, washed rind, and young herbed sheep’s milk cheese. All were delicious and a talented choice of combination served with crispy lavosh and fruit bread (below).

However… there always has to be a ‘but’ doesn’t there? As a product of dining at so many fabulous places this month, I can’t help but compare. When one dessert among four was ordered at Bécasse we were treated to a palate cleanser and petits fours with coffee. At Quay, despite a dessert and cheese plate, nearly $50 on top of the GFM menu price, no such amuse gueule hospitality was offered. Despite the brilliant meal, and considering the waiter’s faux pas, it made us feel as though Bécasse had the slight edge on this Sydney institution – another indication that Bécasse is definitely punching above its headwear.


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Aki's: Diwali (Deepavali) Festival Banquet

Menu cover at Aki's
I’m going to start with an apology. These pictures are crap. The light was low, beautifully moody with candles, and I hate using a flash if I’m in a restaurant. I don’t want to encroach on the pleasure of other diners because I happen to have a penchant for photographing my food and writing about. I can get away with a great deal at lunch, but sometimes dinner is much more difficult. So through wrestling with the night conditions, my respect for others, and my desire to be unobtrusive, you have to put up with bad pictures. Sorry, but don’t let that detract too much from the experience, the food was divine. And the dishes are just as they came out on the plate. I'm not taking the rap for odd food styling as well as the crap photos.

What I can do is give you an extensive menu description for this $58 multiple dish banquet menu to celebrate the Hindu festival of Diwali, or the coming of the light.

The menu was divided into four sections. The first entrée (left) was a trio of vegetable morsels. Kulzhi Paneeram, a fermented rice and coconut dumpling served with sesame, tamarind and red chilli chutney (top right). Tawa Paneer Anari, a cubed paneer tossed with Ajwain, ginger, fresh chillis, coriander and pomegranate seeds (botton right). The last was Baingan Kachri, chickpea battered eggplant fritters served with date and tamarind chutney (top left).

These were all outstanding and very different in flavour. The paneer was the most intriguingly spiced of the three and the soft cheese texture mingled with the spice seeds to produce a wonderful mouth feel and sparky palate pepping taste. The eggplant was crisply battered and the tamarind blanket provided a foil for the batter with an intense sour sweet syrup.

The second triplet (left) took us to the sea. For the Meen Sunti, the publicised sword fish steaks were replaced by tuna and marinated in onion juice, browned coconut, cumin, coriander seeds, red chillis and pepper then smoked in tandoor (top right). Jumbo Prawn, was a tandoor roasted prawn in a marinade of Ajwain (carom seeds), lime, ginger and turmeric (top left), and the third, Balmain Bug Milagu consisted of Balmain bug meat tossed with shallots, fennel, mustard seeds, cracked black pepper and fresh curry leaves (botton centre). The bugs were soft an tender as you’d expect and although the tuna was luscious, I can only stand so much cooked tuna (I prefer it raw) and passed half to a comrade who gobbled it up enthusiastically. The prawn was a bit of a disappointment. Cooked in the shell it was well underdone so the spices hadn’t penetrated and the flesh had the squeaky mouth feel of partially cooked crustacean, in a bad way. I left it on the plate.

Our main course arrived with Hara Chicken Khorma (left), a mint and coriander flavoured chicken in a rich sauce of cashew nut and poppy seeds, and Lamb Dalcha (below), a slow cooked spicy curry with yellow lentil, cinnamon, fennel, and tomatoes, finished off with fresh coriander leaves. The potato Karakari, were cubed chat potatoes steam roasted and finished with black mustard seeds, sweated onions and chilli powder. The mains were accompanied with ghee rice, naan bread and raita. All were delightful and unique in their spice profile. Each complemented the other, but I couldn’t get through too many of the piquant potatoes with the wealth of food presented to us.

By this stage I was feeling well satiated but the desserts provided fresh relief. A Panna Cotta with Blood Orange and Berry Salad was light and delicate with the clean notes of citrus. The Date and Cashew Halwa looked admirable but I must admit by this time I was defeated. I had well and truly welcomed Rama and the light and I didn’t think he’d mind if I left a bit.

(left: naan bread)
I always struggle with the wine list at Indian eateries. If the food’s too spicy it will destroy a good wine, the palate will be assaulted with the other flavours. Too big a red and the subtle spices will get lost in a torrent of hand-to-hand combat berries and tannin. I know, you’ll say drink beer or lassi, but I wasn’t with that sort of crowd. They wanted their vino and they didn’t want white. I chose a 2003 Jaboulet ‘Parallèle 45’ Côtes du Rhône at $42. This wine costs about €6.55 which is about AUD$11.00, take shipping and import and GST into account, brings it up to about an RRP of AUD$20 to buy it locally. So their list was not too bad a price and it definitely matched well with the food.
(Left: dessert plate)
We lumbered under this feast, as truly sumptuous as it was. Generous servings, generous spirit, happy service and even the Australian Miss India was there to have her photo op.



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Close Encounters of the Ramsay Kind

Love him or hate him, you can’t ignore him. Having only encountered his screen and print personas I was gigglingly exuberant at the thought of a direct encounter with Rammers. Well direct-ish. Just me and 500 other close Ramsay buddies at the Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney. An intimate lunch for 500, one of whom was GR. I got in on a cancellation so was seated at a back table far enough away to not be able to see the details of his famously battered visage.

I’ve never been much into celebrity. My brushes with fame are rare and usually obscure. I only count three as much worth recounting. Running up to Peter Ustinov in the Forum in Rome and then not knowing what to say to him. Hearing Jacques Derrida speak at the Sydney Town Hall and finally understanding his work on deconstruction in one blinding crystal clear insight. And when John Ralston Saul quoted me in a public lecture that I attended, well, that was swoon material. But other than Ustinov, don’t worry if you don’t know who these people are, I told you they were obscure. I wouldn’t know Paris Hilton if I fell over her, and many people I know wouldn’t have a clue who Gordon Ramsay is either, which just goes to show our fame preferences are all resolutely individual. But I digress.

After some champagne to start and the opportunity to purchase a range of Dymocks’ Ramsay collection, including the new cookbook and memoir, we settled down to have a chat with the people at our table who all seemed similarly buzzed to be there. A hush. Sotto voice. There he is. Where? There. Look. He’s here. Necks craned, eyes darting. GR nimbly waltzing through the tables down to the front. Right. Now we have action.

A few things crossed my mind while contemplating this lunch. Would we be treated to a famous Ramsay outburst? Would there be a tantrum of Krakatoan proportions? Would he drop the eff word every sentence? How much biffo can I expect for my $68.00? The note at the end of the menu reads “please switch off all mobile phones”. A clue for a would-be troublemaker wanting to rile La Ramsay? We’re greeted by Don Dymocks and reminded about the raffle with prizes of Ramsay’s new Royal Doulton crockery and glassware collection. What the heck, it’s for charity, 3 tickets for $10.

Our plates arrive and the De Bortoli Willowglen range flows freely. The menu is from the new cookbook Sunday Lunch. Lamb Rump with Herb Cous Cous and Spiced Aubergine (picture above). A ruddy hunk of meat atop the aubergine, which comes in the form of a puree, and a smattering of cous cous. Bloke food. Cooked just right, pink and tender. Carved thick. Which brings me to another musing. How would you go in the kitchen of a big hotel function department cooking a meal for Gordon Ramsay and 500 of his new best friends from his own recipe book? I bet there are more than a few frazzled nerves out there at the moment. I bet the dealer is doing a roaring trade today.

Some of my suspicions are borne out when Rammers applauds the lamb but is strangely silent on the subject of the lemon tart dessert (pictured left). It’s ok, but a tempered citron hit, cloudy, slightly grainy in texture, shrinking away from the crumbly pasty which is a little too thick on the outside rim and perhaps a tad underdone. Ouch. Someone’s pastry fingers are about to get burnt.

So it’s on to the entertainment, with a few anecdotes and stories about life, food, tempers, empires and how great it is to be back in Sydney. True to form there are the digs at other colleagues (‘never trust a chef with a pony tail’) the media (‘Tracey Grimshaw – can’t we just leave it at Tracey Grim? No part of her body is more than six months old’) and possible new TV shows (‘I couldn’t tell you who we’ve picked for Kitchen Nightmares in Australia … Luke Mangan’s restaurant!’). Then questions from audience members who were predictably heckled by Ramsay for being cheeky or asking tough questions, or just for standing up – all very good naturedly, for sure.

Applause, thank you’s and on to the book signing as the queue grew and snaked around the room. As I waited to ease my way through the queue and the crush of departing diners, I felt two hands on my shoulders as someone squeezed past me, and a soft British accent said from behind “S’cuse me darling. My! Doesn’t everyone look glamorous today?” Touched by Gordon Ramsay. Wow. That might have to go on my ‘brushes with fame’ list next to Peter Ustinov.

But whereas I got the hands-on-shoulders treatment, Julia (who was also there that day) got the business end, so to speak. I totally understand the mumbling, burbling effect it has on you.

Others have alluded to the Mr Darcy effect, but he puts out more of the Rhett Butlers for me.



Ultimately it was an entertaining gig with very decent food. And not that I’m obsessing, but at only $18 more than a certain ‘hands on’ cooking experience I recently attended, exceptionally good value. But enough about that, time to move on.

Oh, and guess what? I won the raffle. A set of Ramsay glassware by Royal Doulton is on its way to me as I write. There’s nothing like celebrity and luck all rolled into one.

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GFM Roundup # 3

This week saw the last of the noodle market adventures with the wrap up of the markets on Friday night. My last visit was Thursday and boy was it packed! I couldn’t manage to get a photo without someone walking in front of me at an inopportune moment, but Swee managed to brave the crowds, as did Kathryn who recorded the event when a few of us foodbloggers caught up for a noodle hit. Julia had the goods on our meet up as well and the ensuing sugar hit at the Sofitel, as did Helen, the ever diligent documenter of all her food escapades.

Swee managed a sugar hit at the Sheraton on the park as well and does't it look soooo pretty!

Georgia sampled the Let’s Do Lunch at Forty One and while on the Let’s do Lunch theme, I ventured into the Restaurant of the Year Bécasse to check out their plate. While not as extensive as their GFM Hat's Off dégustation that Helen attended, it was still pretty impressive.

I also got time for two Hands On offerings at Oh Calcutta and Sonoma Bakery with some interesting experiences for me to write about.

Kathryn wrote about the Hawkesbury Growers Trail experience, just showing that some of these tours can be effectively reconstructed by the enthusiast, even without an official guide. I headed not quote that far west for the Mangia Italiano.

Stop Press: An addition because I've had a few late entries for last week's frenetic activities. I thought I'd squeeze them in now before this week's lot.

Jen gets into the Sugar Hits at Sofitel Wentworth as well as the Westin. And the Night Noodle Markets too. My, we all packed in our visits there!

Kat also ventured into Sugar Hit land to the Sebel Pier One. Haven't seen their offerings yet this month and they look impressive.

We’re in our last week, so I can’t wait to see how the events of these final days turns out for everyone. I know a few were aiming for the Spring Picnic and the Danks Street Festival and I’d love to know how it went. Remember to add your technorati tag as well.

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Sonoma Bakery Sourdough: Hands On

This is beautiful bread. No, really, exceptional bread. The texture and taste is chewy and sour, crusty, it has a delicious aroma. Hot and warming, straight out of the oven. Satisfying and well crafted, hand made artisan produce for sure. You find this bread at Aria, Tetsuyas, Café Sydney, Bondi Icebergs – and many other great eateries.

This bread, pictured left, cost $100. Yep. These two loaves: a c-note. This bread, taken home by us two participants cost as much as lunch for two at Bécasse not three days prior, even including an extra drink each. Am I mad? Maybe. Let me tell you the story.

Left: unbaked rustic loaves in the retarding fridge.
Sonoma offered a sourdough bread making class as part of GFM at their new-ish Alexandria bakery space, and they are soon to open a retail outlet there as well. Sonoma is a renowned NSW and Sydney bakery that furnishes many top restaurants with their loaves and rolls and Andrew Connole, who is one of the owners and took our class, is obviously a passionate and talented bread maker and very committed to his task. Their blurb in the GFM program read “Go behind the scenes at one of Sydney’s best sourdough bakeries and learn to make naturally leavened loaves.” At $50 a head I did expect a hands on experience and a bit of tutoring in the sometimes elusive art of starters, mixing, shaping and so on. I have to say up front I was disappointed.

Left: Sourdough starter at the bakery.
Maybe I’m too harsh. Maybe my definition of learning is too stringent. Maybe my definition of ‘hands on’ is too literal. But I didn’t learn a lot and didn’t get to do too much. But I did get a loaf of bread and some dough. The thing is, did the dough parted with equate to the dough received.

Left: Andrew Connole explaining the scoring of loaves and rolls.
Maybe I also need to manage my own expectations, or the bakery does. I originally tried to book in to the Bourke St Bakery class, but within less than 24 hours of the GFM Program coming out, it was booked solid. This led me to believe they would be pretty small classes. I quickly rang Sonoma and got two places. Yay.

Turning up on the day amid not only the Sunday Hillsong Church happy clappy crowd, but also the impending Danks St Festival that morning, I was glad to get a parking spot. As it transpired there were 36 people there for the class. Hmmm. Forget the personal attention enjoyed at Oh Calcutta for $45, where there were about 10 involved with three chefs. We went through a preamble about the founding of the bakery – much hardship, long hours, night time baking, driving hundreds of kilometres, hawking wares to restaurants – yadda yadda. Yes, these people are driven and impassioned.

Then donning our hair nets we ventured into the warehouse space with the equipment and two bakers preparing the lunch order for the day to be delivered to waiting restaurants.

Left and below: unbaked dinner rolls; and the same rolls ready to be packed off to Aria for lunch service.

For an hour of our 90 minute ‘class’ it was very much eyes on rather than hands on. We viewed the starter in a plastic tub, which was a little less riveting that an evening of watching paint dry, watched the two bakers shaping dinner rolls and baguettes at lightning speed, and were paraded past some rustic loaves sitting in a retarding fridge which were later to be baked and taken home by us. With 36 people in a room full of whirring equipment, ovens, and other baking paraphernalia it was also hard to hear what Andrew was saying. It was impossible to hear any questions asked and therefore the answers he gave were meaningless. Along the lines of “shhhhsssmmmmrrrrmmmrrrrr?”. Andrew: “Yes very important, no more than an hour”. Great. Glad we’re clear on that one.

After more watching experienced bakers dispose of loaves and rolls in seconds ready for baking, it was on to the actual baking of bread in a gazillion dollar hearth-based gas powered oven. It looked like a space shuttle. I’m sure we didn’t need to watch 40 loaves being dumped out of baskets and scored, but hey, why not. Our bread was baking. As an aside, can anyone tell me why men who are over six foot tall insist on elbowing their way to the front of any demonstration, leaving shorter women to struggle to see past them? At least half the people there tried vainly to dodge past these gawping twits who seemed to think they were the only people entitled to see what was going on. Sometimes I just give up on the human race and their ineptitudes and inability to spare a thought for people around them. But that's just a personal gripe and not the fault of the bakery.

Next we had 10 minutes of hands on. Right. Now I can get to grips with the whole sourdough thing. Our dough was divided ready for us to play with, and there was enough for all of us to have a go astride two long tables. A quick extra demo by Andrew and onto the work. Roll, push, slide back, turn into itself, tuck under, repeat til you have a smooth, tight skin on the dough. Cool. I played and rolled and flipped and folded and within seconds had a reasonable round loaf. So reasonable that he said as he eyed my dough “you’ve done this before” I said no, not really, but he insisted I had. Well maybe with yeast, but not sourdough. He winked. The six-foot-plus brigade's loaves looked the consistency of macaroni cheese, so all that elbowing and effrontery got them nowhere.

Now the value added. The dough we’ve been playing with was our own to have. This was important, as one participant pointed out, because we can use it for a starter. Ah hah! All the sourdough I can conjure for the rest of eternity. I felt like Dr Faustus. The saying goes, give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime. Problem is, I have my sourdough starter and I can shape the loaves, but I’m still a little unclear about the middle bit, despite the hand out and ‘formulas’ or recipes. I can follow them, sure, but it would have been really nice to be in a smaller group and have a go at some of the steps in between. In essence I feel like I’ve been on an expensive factory tour and given that Deb recently enjoyed a similar thing at another prominent bakery for free, I’m wondering why it cost $50. The only difference seems to be playing with and taking away some raw dough. I still don’t really have the learning that was promised.

So some tips for Andrew for next time.

1. Smaller groups. No more than a dozen. No one can hear with all that machinery if they’re standing and further away than right next to you.
2. Give people a go at mixing the dough. Kneading isn’t important in sourdough, so we’re told, but to know how the dough feels with starter, water and flour, and the consistency it should be, would be invaluable.
3. Educate people better about how to store and care for a starter and how to propagate it from dough effectively.
4. Provide a selection of breads to take away – even smaller rolls of different varieties would be good.

For this you could charge $50. If you want to leave it as is and give a few more samples, then charge no more than $20, because it’s little more than a factory tour as it stands.

But no matter what, the bread is still sublime.

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Mangia Italiano

Billed as a self guided eating tour around one of Sydney’s premier Italian food providore areas, Mangia Italiano takes you at your own pace through pasticceria, delicatessens, fruit and meat retailers. And of course there’s the coffee. Five Dock has long been a Mecca for Italians and Italophiles yearning for the offerings of the old country.

Left and next two pictures below: the gorgeous display at Pastocceria Tamborrino

The assigned meeting place is hard to find. Café Migliore is the publicised starting point, but despite the fact that I’ve been to Five Dock before, a drive up and down the strip yields nothing. Our start point is decided by the proximity of parking rather than the official guide. And shopkeepers are more than happy to help out, with many of them having the little postcard guide available at their counters for you to collect. You can also download the guide from here and print it for yourself. Ultimately you could really start anywhere you like. This little guide also has the addresses and opening times of the participating retailers, so if you can't get there in October I'm sure you could construct your own 'Mangia' when you have time.

There are six official stops on the list, although there are many more shops to wander into and browse. A good chat with one of the people at P.N. Raineri Delicatessen (number 4 on the list) sets us up for the morning and guides us in the right direction with tips and recommendations. While we chat we nibble away on samples of Pannetone, cheese and olives, sip on a complementary short black (their own blend of coffee) and generally take in the bustle of this busy deli packed with treasures.

We buy some lovely hand rolled Calabrian pasta ($3.90 for 500g, $8.50 for bronzato style extra long spaghetti), a brick of coffee ($4.90 for 250g of Café Kimbo Neapolitan Espresso, my favourite Italian coffee), slices of super fresh mortadella with green olives, and in a purchase that will make funghi fanatic Neil green with envy, some fresh (frozen) porcini mushrooms imported from Italy ($65 per kilo, pictured below). I can see dinner on the plate already.

The guide says that spending over $30 in any of the listed retailers gets you a free cooler bag. Unfortunately they've run out and our helpful assistant rolls his eyes and berates the Council for not giving them any more. They ring and try to complain as we finish the last of our espresso, and I undertake to call the Council myself and ask them to deliver more bags to Raineri. So you might not get a bag if you decide to wander along to check out the Mangia Italiano.

Left: Jellies from Pasticceria Tamborrino

Onwards for some sweet stuff at Pasticceria Tamborrino (number 3 on the list). Run by a Roman family who’ve been there about a year, this small shop is like walking through the gates of heaven. Or what I imagine would be the pasticceria in heaven. Rows of delectable pastries, cakes, ice cream cakes, decorations – you name it. We have another espresso and a ricotta filled mini cannoli that is blissfully crisp and whisper smooth inside. We away with more treats for later.

As we stroll down the main drag we also see some lovely bread to buy to go with the mortadella and stop in at a fruit shop (not the official one) because the artichokes (pictured left) look so inviting. We grab 10 for $5.00 and resign ourselves to an afternoon of artichoke peeling and poaching. Maybe they’ll come in handy for a risotto.

I also wonder in this metropolis of coffee and sublime Italian pastries how on earth the Gloria Jean’s and Michel’s Patisserie can possibly make any money. I cannot understand who’d want to be in Five Dock and have a cinnamon hazelnut cappa-frappa-cino-late-grande-soy-skim-double-decaf. Iced. And some boring commercially made Danish to go with it. “Wake up and look around!!” I feel like shouting at the chain-store losers. It’s ok as a last resort in a sugar or caffeine deprivation emergency, but there’s 50 superb cafes and 12 sublime pastry shops within your direct line of vision! Oh well, some people never learn.

Left: Sugar animals from Pasticceria Tamborrino

We keep wandering and come across the last two on the list, which given the thrills of the deli and pasticceria are a little disappointing. We nearly have a veal argument in Caminitti’s butchery (MN is very, very fussy about veal and will not have yearling topside foisted on her, and becomes quite indignant when butchers try to tell her it’s veal when it looks like beef steak). We make a graceful retreat after he agrees “that” sort of veal – pale pink and pearly – is almost impossible to get. Whatever. If you look hard enough you can find it in the right season.

In all it took just over an hour to have a reasonable look around, but I’m sure you could spend longer. My problem is that I am now itching to get home and do something with the porcini and the artichokes, and the weather's getting very warm anyway. But I think I’ve switched allegiances from Haberfield (my regular Italian shopping haunt) to Five Dock. And after all the treats from Tamborrino (see picture left) are gone (and it didn’t take long I can assure you – we’re talking minutes not hours) I want to go back straight away.

That evening, after browsing through my Italian cookbook collection, I decide upon a simple recipe from The River Café’s Ruth Rogers and Rose Gray. Porcini sautéed in butter, herbs, lemon zest and a little white wine, finished with a little cream, served tossed through the delicious hand rolled pasta (below). Ah, Bella Italia. Mangia Buonissimo!



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Bécasse: Let's do Lunch!

Left and below: the set GFM lunch of ballottine of Glenloth chicken with potato puree, sauté of mushroom and wilted spinach

It was with a mixture of delight and trepidation that I approached lunch at Bécasse.

Delight because it has been well publicised not only for the fantastic food adored by most critics, but also its recent restaurant of the year award. Delight in that I was fortunate enough to taste a sample of their style at the Growers markets recently in a cooking demo by Justin North. Delight because the menu looks divine.

Trepidation came in the form of a less than flattering (and in my opinion sourly mean spirited) review from Elizabeth Meryment in the Weekend Australian last week.

I don’t think someone who writes about food for a living should be so churlish as to criticise a French restaurant for writing some things on the menu in French, and then claim not to understand what they mean. And subsequently slap the place for not spontaneously explaining every term on the menu, when a request for elaboration had not been made. She commented that the waitress was abrupt to boot, and she didn’t like her table.

Trepidation also snuck up as a bit of attitude I received from the staff prior to my visit. A call many days prior to increase my lunch booking from three to four people was met with a terse “that’s not possible” and the receiver going down. Oh god, maybe Meryment was right? Gobsmaked, I calmed down and waited a few hours, rang back, spoke to a different staff member, and the same request was met with “certainly, no problem whatsoever”. Phew. Someone was having a bad day, but at this end of the market I don’t think you can afford to put people off.

However all was well on the day. I sat in the same part of the room as Meryment, and for my money they were the best seats in the house. A ringside view of the open kitchen and nine chefs executing the ballet of a busy production crew feeding the crowd in a two-hat restaurant that was fully booked. It’s a joy to see the precision and concentration of a team like that effortlessly producing the dishes on a substantial and complex menu. This ain’t grilled steak and potatoes.

Left: tropical fruit salad with Champagne jelly and yoghurt sorbet

Our $35 set lunch for Good Food Month consisted of ballottine of Glenloth chicken with potato puree, sauté of mushroom and wilted spinach. The confit leg is stuffed into the thigh, and then roasted and served with a reduction sauce. It is meltingly tender and intensely flavoured, the potato like a pillow of air mingling with the juices. The accompanying wine is a Brown Brothers red and the price includes coffee as well.

M can’t resist a dessert and orders the rum and muscatel omelette soufflé with Grand Marnier ice cream ($22 pictured left). Luckily we all get to taste a spoonful and it’s light and subtle flavour complements the dark squishy rum- soaked muscatels and tart orange of the ice cream. It’s preceded by a complementary tropical fruit salad with Champagne jelly and yoghurt sorbet to cleanse the palate, and our coffee comes with a delectable plate of dainty petit fours.

The staff are utterly charming, so I’m not sure who Meryment struck the night she went there or if she was being overly critical. The menus are available at the restaurant’s website, so have a read and see what’s on offer for the à la carte and dégustation menus. This sample, which given the restaurant’s high standards, is not only excellent value but is definitely a teaser for a return match. I’ll be back.

Clockwise from below: the petit four plate; chocolate macaroons; vanilla sablé with lemon curd; and shortcake with raspberry crème.

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Oh Calcutta! Hands On

To show that I don’t just eat my way through Good Food Month, I’ve also booked into some hands-on classes. This first one at Oh Calcutta in Darlinghurst featured food from Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Above: Yellow dahl accompaniments to the dumplings

Our mission was to make Mantu, spiced and steamed lamb dumplings, and Ashak, a poached dumpling full of garlic chives coriander and chilli, both of which are on the menu at Oh Calcutta. I was also lucky enough to test drive the Mantu at the Noodle Markets this week so I was looking forward to knocking up a few myself.

Left: steamed mantu after the class.
Basil Daniell, the bubbling personality and energy behind the restaurant, and his two helper chefs took a dozen of us through the steps in the cleared space on the ground floor near the kitchen. We donned our aprons and watched as a few Ashak were first expertly prepared and then we set upon our own bundle of pastry. The ingredients were pre-prepared so no tricky knife skills were required. A talent at dumpling filling and pinching certainly came in handy.

The session was extremely well organised. We had the option of cook and eat immediately or take home and try. MN and I chose the take home option. As well as copies of all the recipes we needed, take away containers were available, along with all the accompanying condiments, and large paper bags to carry away our treasures.
Left: Mantu as prepared in the restaurant.

We made three or four Ashak dumplings each and tucked them away between non-stick paper to steam later. Basil had stacked up neat little packs of raita, jackfruit chutney and sumac to garnish with after poaching. While the kitchen makes their own pastry for restaurant diners, we used ready made won ton pastry which is certainly a quick and effective domestic alternative.

Left: Fillings and spices for the Mantu

Next we graduated to Mantu, lamb and onion dumplings spiced with cummin, corriander, garlic and chilli. We watched as the lean lamb filling was cooked and spiced, cooled a little, and folded into the pastry.

Mantu are best made, steamed and eaten to order, so this time we filled and steamed a few to try straight away, as well as having a plate of Mantu as prepapred in the retaurant using their home made pastry.

We each had a generous serve of lamb filling and a stack of pastry to make up and steam for ourselves at home. A little pack of yellow lentil dahl (not overcooked so the lentils were still nice and al dente) came with this as well so we could recreate the dish as it’s served in the restaurant.

Left: cucumber and spices for raita.

The food we made was delicious and not too highly spiced, each with its individual subtle flavour. The two little delights were also very light and reflected Basil’s philosophy of lean, healthy fresh food. Before we left, Sonja the helper chef also showed us how to make a simple raita of yoghurt, cucumber, cumin, and pepper. After 90 minutes I had dinner in the bag and was heading home.

Left: Sonja whisks up yoghurt for raita.

The Ashak survived pretty well for a few hours, with only one succumbing to soggy pastry disintegration. Once the Mantu were made they steamed perfectly and with all the condiments provided looked almost identical to the plateful from the kitchen we all shared. I think Baz would have been proud of me.

Below: Ashak (on the left of the plate) and Mantu (right of the plate) at home topped with raita and dahl with jackfruit chutney on the side.

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Too Cool for Effen School

As a testament to the fact that I no longer frequent bars (a habit for a much younger body and organs and formerly larger corporate salary) I was amazed when I walked into Zeta bar at the Sydney Hilton. Miss L, the PoD and my good self had arrived for the launch of Effen Vodka, held at said swank establishment, and we were about to be plied with a range of cocktails, schmoozed to our hearts’ content, and tossed a bottle of the good stuff on the way out. I have previously written about Effen Vodka and very much enjoy its smooth flavour. I wouldn’t go to the launch of crap vodka, now, would I?

After coming in from an evening-lit city street and up the elevator, the doors opened into what at first I assumed to be the empty floor of an office building with all the lights turned off. Plunged into darkness I thought we’d pressed the wrong button in the lift. Slowly little shapes bobbed in my field of vision. They were people … oh and some furniture underneath them and a table or two appeared.

I chuckled and ventured that either there’d been a sudden blackout and the hotel was running entirely off a small generator, or else it was a meeting of the Sydney Séance Society, but apparently I was wrong. In serious terms, this is, I am told, cool. I doubt I would have recognised my own mother if she came up to me, but being cool is so much more important. Especially in a bar. I felt my way along the walls (whoever you were, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to grope, I was just trying to find the door handle) to the entrance of our private roped-off room. This is also cool, as it separates us from the punters who have to pay for their cocktails. They squint enviously through the shadows at us, assuming we are very important guests. Maybe even celebrities. They can probably only see well enough to make out that in this light I bear a faint resemblance to Angelina Jolie. Even I was feeling cool by this stage. As I was dressed in black and have dark hair, I must have looked like a disembodied head floating through the ether. I’m sure it made me look thinner. And younger. Cool.

Once inside, the combination of my eyes adjusting, and the light from QVB across the road shimmering weakly through the windows, helped me make out a bit more of the room. This was assisted by a flickering fire in a glass-paned faux fireplace. As Sydney is in the grip of an October heat wave I find this puzzling, but recognising the paradox I decide it must be really cool. I think I’m getting the hang of this cool thing.

Within no time stilettoed waitresses with Effen written all over them are ferrying an assortment of cocktails aloft. The reflected glow from their platinum bleached blonde hair extensions allows me to just make out the colours of pink, pale green and orange in the martini glasses, although the offering of ‘would yous like one?’ somewhat dulls the cool ambience I have constructed. The Watermelon Crushes (very refreshing), Original Sins (not very sinful but pleasantly tart), Hypnoses (very tropical), and Dracula’s Kisses (too hard, can’t remember, next question please) arrived thick and fast. As did little shots of the Black Cherry and Vanilla Vodka I already fancy.

The Global Marketing Poobah woman told us lots about Effen (the Dutch vodka sold by the U.S. company Planet 10 Spirits) and after six or seven mixed drinks of various hues, and a few straight shots, it was all compellingly captivating. We were even prepared to forgive the Aussie promotions manager for wearing white shoes after Labour Day. (Well I was, but my opinion was based on which hemisphere we were in, and the argument eventually got quite complicated).

The Effen brand, so we’re told, is described by consumer focus groups as “the sort of person you want to hang out with in the bar”. Assuming that person isn’t the interesting looking, bearded, mumbling old drunk in the corner, brimming with a retinue of fascinating ribald anecdotes about the war and his time in the joint, I guess this works as a marketing tag. We’re also told about villages in the Netherlands full of armies of cheerful, strong-armed Dutch ladies who painstakingly pull the neoprene sleeves over the bottles. I decide not to ask a question from the floor about where the company stands in relation exploitative industrial relations practices in foreign countries, and have another cocktail instead. It would have been uncool.

Effen is now the third leading luxury brand Stateside behind Grey Goose and Belvedere. We are all impressed with this stellar feat of alcohol brewing ingenuity and marketing prowess. Hoorah! We toast with another clocktale. Effen is also not only made from a roooly good sort of wheat but is also filtered through peat. We cackle and make jokes about peat bogs and vodka. And about whether Pete is a better filter than Bill or Fred. Hahahahaha. Hilarious at the time. Down the hatch.

Effen is also the officially endorsed vodka of ... wait for it … THE ROLLING STONES. How cool is that? The company must be doing well because I try to mentally calculate how much global annual profit might be consumed by Keith Richards and rapidly get to a five figure sum. And now the international Effen juggernaut reaches its black cherry-flavoured tendrils to our own sweet shores, so we can have goes of it.

After a few more yummy mixes and some pretty decent finger food, we manage to find the elevator again, which in our Effen enthusiasm we believe we can hijack and fly to Amsterdam. Unfortunately we are disgorged into the much less cool bright night light of George Street. Maybe some of the cool will linger for a bit. I can contemplate it and our fun evening while sipping on my smooth vodka at a later date. It’s a vodka that not only has Effen great taste, but a definite sense of humour.

Effen plain or Black Cherry and Vanilla is available from Liquorland and Vintage Cellars, RRP $49.99.

World Bread Day: Pizza with Anchovies

It’s Italian made, bright red, constructed from metal, and has the brand name 'Ferrari' on it.

No, unfortunately it’s not my car, it’s my pizza oven.

And for World Bread Day I thought I’d contribute a pizza made from a favourite ingredient: anchovies.

A while back I had a discussion with Neil about the merits of this little beastie, particularly about the Rolls Royce anchovy fillet from the Spanish company Ortiz.
So here I’m eating anchovies my favourite way – unadulterated by too much other stuff, and complemented simply by some garlic and good olive oil to let the flavour of these delicious morsels shine. If you really don’t warm to these little fishies, this brand is for you. I have converted many a turned up nose with a coaxing sample. Ortiz anchovies come from Cantábrico in the Bay of Biscay and you can buy them at Simon Johnson for AUD$14.50 for a 47.5g pack (pictured above). About enough for the pizza pictured here. Extravagant I know, but the taste is worth it. They don’t taste overly salty have a sweet intense succulence, and the ozone perfume of the sea. With the fragrance of them sizzling on top of this pizza you can close your eyes and smell the ocean wafting up your nostrils. They bear little resemblance to the hard, feather-boned, brackish bullets of brine you sometimes find in lesser brands. Give them a try. Go on. I dare you.

Dough:
1 sachet (7-8g) instant dry yeast
2 cups plain flour or pizza flour
½ tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1tbsp olive oil
¾ - 1 cup of lukewarm water

Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl and add the water and oil. Mix until just combined and turn out onto a floured surface or board and knead for about 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. If the dough is a bit sticky, dust it with a little flour as you knead it. It should spring back into shape when you press it with your finger and not be too stiff or dense. Oil the bowl you mixed the dough in and place the dough back in it (see picture above). Drizzle a little oil to moisten the top and cover with cling wrap or a clean tea towel. Place in a warm spot for an hour to rise and it will look like the picture below. We hope.

While it’s raising, mix together one clove of finely chopped garlic and a few tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and let it infuse. Slice your anchovies in half lengthways.

Pizza comes from a long line of traditional flatbreads, but the one we probably know best in its contemporary incarnation is the Pizza Margherita, created for Queen Margherita of Italy in 1889 by Rafaelle Esposito in Naples. Representing the Italian flag, with red tomatoes, green basil and white fresh mozzarella cheese, it became her favourite. So I couldn’t leave my post without a sample of this classic as well.

I prefer my pizza thin and crisp with just a hint of topping, the way it’s served in Florence and Rome, rather than with miles of thick dough and weighed down by heavy ingredients. Once the dough is risen, punch it with your fist, knead it again on a flat surface, and set it aside, covered, while you roll bits out. It will continue to rise, it has a life of its own. Divide it into 4-6 portions, and roll it into a circle ready for baking. Do one pizza at a time and leave the rest of the dough covered. If you don’t have a pizza oven, use a high heat in the conventional oven (about 250°C) and bake really quickly until the dough is crisp.

For your Margherita, use your favourite home made or store bought tomato sauce/ passata/ sugo and smear the top of the rolled out dough with it, making sure it’s not too wet. Top with sliced mozzarella or bocconcini and scatter with basil leaves and olive oil.

For the anchovy, brush the top of the dough with the garlic oil and place the anchovies around so each slice will have several strips of anchovy on it.

And if you’re interested in the pizza oven, you can get them from good food equipment stores. Personally I think they work best with homemade raw dough because they get SO hot they burn pre-made bases. But with a little fiddling you can get the heat right for commercial pizza bases as well. They have a stone element at the base and an electric element in the lid so it cooks the pizza fiercely from both sides giving a perfect crisp base and a melted bubbling top. As you can see here the pizza puffs in the middle of the dough as the air expands and then settles a bit when it's rested. It gives a very light and airy result. A pizza cooks in 2-4 minutes, so with a production line going you can churn out quite a few different varieties to hungry hordes, and cater for individual whims.

Tag: world bread day '06

Good Food Month: round up #2

Sailing into our second week of culinary pleasure we have quite a few starters.

Anna and I both headed off to “Let’s do Lunch” events. Anna has cast a critical eye over Yoshii with some interesting results.

I booked in for the same deal at Zaaffran Indian restaurant Restaurant in Darling Harbour. Mmmmmm …. lobster.

I‘m a bit worried about the state of Helen’s blood sugar after not one, not two, but three Sugar Hits at prime Sydney hotels. And if that’s not enough she also went back for the joys of the Noodle Markets. I did wonder how you could get to all those stalls in just one visit.

Jen also checked out a Sugar Hit at the Harbour Kitchen and Bar with interesting info on the booking vs non booking situation.

Kathryn hurried off to the Noodle Markets as well, perhaps prompted by her recent disapointment. All was not rosy in her gastromonic garden this week. She paid the penalty for leaving bookings too late and had to DIY it.

I had the luck of getting a call back this week from The Herald. Because of cancellations I got my tickets to the Gordon Ramsay lunch at the Four Seasons. Stay tuned!

To finish off the week Anna partook of the joys of Manta's Oyster Forum, you can read her very detailed description, as well as tasting notes and expert commentary ... and mouthwatering pix to please any oyster lover.

Only two more weeks to go.

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Zaaffran - Let's Do Lunch!

108 Sydney Restaurants are offering special Let’s Do Lunch menus presenting a main course dish, glass of wine and coffee for $35. The menus are all published in a special section of the Good Food Month Guide so you can pick and choose your options.

The menu at Zaaffran in Darling Harbour sounded too good to miss: Lobster and prawns glazed in a clay oven, mesclun, spiced potato wedges, beetroot raita and mushroom naan.

The lobster and prawns were lightly coated in mustard, cumin, coriander, turmeric and just a hint of chilli. Cooked to perfection they were juicy and succulent and a more than generous serve.

The raitas that accompanied were a normal mint and yoghurt, an astringent vinegary beetroot, and smooth avocado puree. The naan was crisp at the base with abundant mushrooms scattered over the top in a buttery pillow. The spiced potatoes seemed to be missing that day, but the serve was so large I don’t think we could have done them justice anyway.
I’ve eaten at Zaaffran previously and have always enjoyed the food – this GFM special certainly didn’t disappoint either.

(Left: Mushroom Naan)

Zaaffran
345 Harbourside Centre,
Darling Harbour
Ph: 9211 8900

Tag: gfm06

Happy Birthday to CucinaRebecca

Today I’m one.

A year ago on October 11, I fumbled through a clumsy post with scant description of the food and dopey fuzzy pictures of lunch at Sugaroom. You gotta start somewhere. When I look at what I’ve written and photographed in the past 12 months I think I can see a bit more organisation and dedication to my task. Although food and cooking have been a lifelong passion of mine, this is the first time I’ve indulged that obsession publicly. Although I partly write for a living, that sort of writing is academic and theoretical, rather than for whimsy or pleasure. My blog has given me the creative outlet to explore different forms of writing, which I’ve enjoyed immensely. And I hope I’ve given people some entertainment, practical advice, recipes and reviews along the way.

The help and encouragement I’ve received from you readers and other bloggers has also made me feel part of a community – and a very warm and happy community indeed. Even if you’ve never left a comment, thanks for reading. I know you’re out there. And for those of you who have taken the time so say hi, thank you for being motivated enough to give me feedback.

But special mentions are always necessary. Helen from GrabYour Fork, although she maintains a phenomenally energetic blog, is never to busy to give me help and advice, not to mention being a fun lunch companion. To all the bloggers who host events every month – I know it’s ultra hard work, but it builds many global connections. Well done. And all the people who regularly engage in back and forth discussions through comments and links to my blog (Ed, Neil, Deb, Ellie, Julia, Jules, Jen, Suze and heaps more besides) thanks for keeping the dialogue lively! And to everyone who bothers to keep a blog that includes food – keep going. I love reading all about your gastronomic adventures.

Anyway, they’ve started playing the music. I’d better get off now. Thanks again :)

Oh . … and I know you want the recipe for the cupcake

Chocolate Sponge Cupcakes with Peppermint Butter Cream Icing.
4 eggs
½ cup of caster sugar
1/3 cup plain flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
¼ tsp baking powder
50g melted butter

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Sift the flour baking powder and cocoa three times.
Place eggs and sugar in a deep bowl and using an electric mixer beat for about 10 minutes until the mix is pale and tripled in volume. Sift the flour and cocoa mix into the eggs and sugar in two lots, folding very gently with a metal spoon to combine but keep as much air as possible in the mixture. Fold through the melted butter. Fill cup cake papers (it’s easier to sit them in a 12 hole muffin pan) to about ¾ full and bake for 20 minutes or until the cakes are risen and spring back when lightly touched with the tip of your finger.

For the mint icing, mix ½ a teaspoon of peppermint essence with a tablespoon of softened butter and add 3 tablespoons of icing sugar gradually until you have a frosting consistency (you may need more or less icing sugar depending on the day, heat, and moisture content in the air).

Good Food Month: round up #1

As we launch into the first week of GFM, bloggers are limbering up for the marathon of events ahead. True to form, and displaying the tenacity and dedication that has made her one of the most widely respected and read food bloggers in Australia, if not globally, Helen from Grab Your Fork was first post in, sampling the sumptuous delights of the organic and sustainable dégustation at Bécasse, recently crowned Sydney’s Restaurant of the Year.

Jen is an early starter at the Night Noodle Markets in Hyde Park with some very atmospheric pix of the fairy lights and gorgeous Archibald Fountain in our well loved Sydney landmark. Looks like great food to be had for a song there all through the month.

Kathryn from Limes and Lycopene followed an artistic bent to take in the Shoot The Chef photography exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW.

Setting a cracking pace Helen was off to both the Night Noodle Markets and the SMH Growers Markets. The noodle market looks like it’s bigger than ever and I’m sure looking forward to getting down there in the next few weeks!

I started off my GFM with a visit to the Growers Markets on Saturday which, as a special event for the month, had respected food celebrity Joanna Savill emceeing while Justin North from Bécasse rattled the pans in a cooking demonstration plus giveaways of produce and his new book.

And proving just as eager, Jen headed down for the full Pyrmont Markets experience as well.

It seems that the Good Living Growers Markets have to be the winner this week for the most popular event, with Julia and Swee also posting their adventures there for our reading pleasure.

Thanks to all those who got in early and posted their first week’s experiences. As GFM moves into full swing I’m sure there’ll be many more. And don’t worry if someone’s posted about an event you’re going to as well – everyone has a different take on the food and atmosphere and it’s always great to compare notes, impressions and tastes. And if you missed out posting on something that you’ve been to this week, write it up and I’ll include it in next week’s round up.

*Don’t forget to add your technorati tag. Just click on this link to go to technorati and paste the code into the HTML of your post: gfm06

Tag: gfm06

Go the goat

I love young goat meat, but strangely enough we don’t seem to warm to it too much in this country. It’s hard to find it to buy, except at specialist butchers. The most memorable goat you will have is probably in Greece, Italy or Spain or slow braised in an Asian style dish.

One of the best bits of the produce at the Growers Markets are the people who bring us young goat, or kid, often called capretto (milk fed up to 4 months old) or chevon (grass fed up to 12 months old). Most cuts of goat you can cook in a similar way to lamb, with a few provisos to compensate for the lack of fat in the meat.

I find that because goat meat is so very lean, it needs some help in the moisture department from vegetables and olive oil. The flavour of goat is quite flinty, not as sweet as young lamb, and with a very tight grain structure through the fibres. Older goat can be gamey, but kid is sweeter and lightly pungent, rather than overpowering in taste. It needs to be treated a little more delicately to bring out its milder flavour.

I’ve cooked from various parts of the beast, but this time I chose a little de-boned leg of kid to play with, from Cootamundra Kid and cooked it using an Italian method, from recipes inspired by Melbourne’s Guy Grossi and that wonderful Italian cooking bible The Silver Spoon. This 'abbacchio' is usually made with very young lamb and served at Easter, but works equally well with capretto.

Abbacchio Alla Romana (roast kid with herbs, breadcrumbs and parmesan).

1kg de-boned suckling kid leg
1 small onion – finely chopped
4 small roma bella plum tomatoes, quartered
4 sage leaves, chopped
3 sprigs rosemary chopped
1 bay leaf (fresh if possible)
1 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley
2 cloves garlic chopped
1 small chilli chopped
200ml white wine
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
50 mls good olive oil;
50gms breadcrumbs;
50gms freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Preheat oven to 180 C. In a small roasting pan place the onion, tomato, herbs, garlic, and chilli to make a bed for the kid. Place the kid leg on top and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle over the olive oil and pour the white wine around the sides over the vegetables. Sprinkle the top of the lamb and veges with the breadcrumbs and Parmesan. Bake for 40 minutes until the meat is very tender and has a golden brown crust.

Let the roast rest for 10-15 minutes and serve sliced with the vegetables and juice as a sauce. Serve with roast potatoes and your favourite rocket salad.

Good Living Growers Market

Fortune favours the brave. The early bird catches the worm … and other go get ‘em cliches.

I dragged myself out of bed early with the expectation that the October growers markets would be p-a-c-k-e-d packed, being Good Food Month and all.

Armed with cloth bags and determination, I met up with Miss L and walked purposefully down to Pyrmont to arrive a shade after 7am. Already there were many dedicated shoppers facing off the produce. The line at Toby’s Estate coffee was only six deep, so I knew we’d made the right decision to come early. I needed orange juice. A fresh squeezed blood sugar hit to enable me to skip through the crowds with the necessary energy, and the crowds certainly started building.

After a wander and a good chat to the Cootamundra goat meat man, who was in an excellent humour mostly because it was such an outstanding day to be outside, we casually picked up a front row seat to watch Justin North from Bécasse give a special cooking demo for Good Food Month.

Joanna Savill (pictured here at left, on the demonstration stage with Justin North) from the Food Lovers Guide to Australia did a great job crowd wrangling, and fielded questions while Justin whipped up two delicious morsels.

Tomato and Earl Grey Consommé, plus Seared Yellow Fin Tuna on Crushed Potatoes with Sautéed Prawn Tails and Lemon Grass Tea Vinaigrette (see pictures below).





Not that I think he’s suffering from over exposure, but in Sydney, Bécasse is the new black. North has a new luscious cookbook out (see the website to order), he’s just won the Good Food Guide’s Restaurant of the Year Award, and you see his or the restaurant’s name pop up everywhere.

It was fantastic watching the ease with which he put together these dishes, and as a bonus getting the recipe sheet to re-create each one, but there was more of a treat in store.





There were about 20-30 portions available for the audience to taste!

Hooray for the front row seat! The consommé was sublime – a delicate, yet intensely tomato flavoured, clear ‘tea’ infused with the bergamot notes of earl grey, with chardonnay vinegar, eschallots, white wine and basil, served with tiny cubes of tomato concassé.

The wonderful favours of Spring were such a palate reviver! Added tips from the chef included also serving this as a jelly, a granita, or sorbet. My little picture here is a bit dodgy, but the sun was so bright and the consommé so pale that I had a hard time getting anything at all and had to wing it.

The tuna and prawns were seared and served with a salad of baby leaves, micro cress and a crush of luscious herb and spring onion-scattered Dutch Cream potatoes.

But the sit-up-and-take-notice vinaigrette was made from Mariage Freres Marco Polo tea (which has a distinctly berry chocolate aroma) chardonnay vinegar, pounded ginger and lemongrass, and extra virgin olive oil. A fabulous union of flavours on the nicest piece of tuna I’ve ever tasted (I tend to like my tuna raw not cooked).

The maestro also described the ballotine of confitted Glenloth chicken on offer for Let’s Do Lunch at Bécasse this month. I’m booked in for this about mid way through October and my mouth is already watering.

After such a fantastic breakfast treat we made off with some purchases: a deboned leg of kid (more on that later) and some pungent garlicky Ladysmith Lamb marinated patties which (as they're made the day before the markets) freeze very well and taste great BBQ’ed.

By just after 9am all the stalls were looking besieged by eager food types, clambering for produce, so we made a quick exit for a coffee elsewhere. What a great treat for this month’s markets.






Other fantastic produce included this black truffle cheese and sensational blue from Ocello (left) as well as spanking fresh veges like these baby beets (below).

Tag: gfm06

My clever mate Marty

My friend Martin (pictured here second from right) has won the amateur section of the Vin De Champagne awards for 2006. He's so clever. To win you have to answer a range of detailed questions about champagne flavour profiles, production, and food matching, and the responses are judged by a panel of experts.

The awards dinner was held last week at Glass Brasserie at the Sydney Hilton. Seven amazing courses from the hands of Luke Mangan were matched to fifteen Champagnes from the houses of:- Ayala, Bollinger, Bruno Paillard, Charles Heidsieck, Laurent-Perrier, Lanson, Louis Roederer, Moet et Chandon, Mumm, Nicolas Feuillatte, Pol Roger, Ruinart, Taittinger, Veuve Devaux and Veuve Clicquot. Now he's off for a 2 week study tour of the Champage district with the winners in the other sections. Such dedication to research *sigh*.

Nutty rice pilaf

A while back Neil from Food for Thought was chewing through the gritty question of whether to wash or not wash rice. He seemed to be a ‘not wash’ kind of guy – rice wise I mean – and there were many comments about rice type-specific washing trends around the globe. Food bloggers are nothing if not cutting edge, tackling the tough issues of domestic cookery.

I offered the comment that I don’t wash basmati rice (or indeed those other varieties that are suitable for risotto or paella) but do for sushi or jasmine rice. I had neglected to ponder the pilaf. Having recently made a biryani, it brought back to me the need to sometimes wash the noble basmati grain, to achieve that really well-cooked-yet-separate sliver, so sought after in the cuisines of the subcontinent.

Flicking through SFI (Super Food Ideas) like the total cooking mag slut I am, I came across a recipe by Adrian Richardson. While he's not owning and running La Luna in Carlton, Melbourne, he endures the tortures of Ready, Steady, Cook which, if it were around in Dante’s time, would surely be configured as a circle of hell. I’ve changed the recipe a bit to suit what I was whipping up at the time and to include one of my favourite spices, cardamom, so this is what I’ve come up with. And the rice is, yes, washed.

2 teaspoons cumin seeds
1 teaspoon of coriander seeds
1 teaspoon cardamom seeds
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 ¼ cups basmati rice, soaked for 15 minutes then rinsed til the water runs clear
½ cup mixed cashews and pine nuts (see picture left)
2 tbsp peanut oil
500 mls chicken stock
½ cup of chopped coriander leaves.

Grind the spices in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder. Heat the oil in a deep lidded pan over a medium heat and add the spices and garlic. Stir for a few minutes until aromatic then add the nuts. Stir ‘til the nuts are slightly golden then add the rice, stirring to coat with the oil and spice mixture for a few minutes. Add the chicken stock and bring to a simmer. Cover and simmer 10-12 minutes then remove the lid, fluff the rice with a fork, replace the lid and let stand 5 minutes. Stir through the coriander and serve.

This rice pilaf and baba ghanoush go well with baharat lamb cutlets.

Baba ghanoush

Like fat, purple mirrors, aubergines are magnificent right now. I believe nothing complements the flavour of aubergine like the smoky tones of this Mediterranean/ Middle Eastern side dish, especially when served with grilled or BBQ’d lamb. Resist the temptation to chuck the eggplant in the oven, and let loose the inner pyromaniac to do it over a naked flame. It honestly gives the finished result an entirely different flavour with predominant smoky aroma and taste. Even if you have to use a makeshift cake rack over a gas burner, do it. You won’t be disappointed. I have lost more cake racks to this technique than I care to mention, but in the scheme of things, cake racks are expendable.

1 large aubergine/eggplant
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
1 clove of garlic
¼ cup tahini
2 teaspoons of ground cumin
½ cup chopped fresh coriander leaves
¼ cup yoghurt, optional
Paprika and olive oil for dressing

Put the eggplant over a flame and turn it every so often until it is charred and collapsed – the flesh should be very soft. (If you rally can’t do the flame thing, pierce it with a skewer a few times and bake in the oven for an hour). Peel the skin off the eggplant and place the flesh in a food processor along with all the other ingredients. If you want a creamier texture use the yoghurt, otherwise leave it out. Blitz until everything is combined and you have a smooth, slightly liquid paste. Spread onto a plate and make a well in a circular shape with the back of a spoon, drizzle oil over and a sprinkle of paprika.

Good Food Month in Sydney – get blogging!

(logo and photo from SMH website)






For the last nine years the main metropolitan broadsheet newspaper in Sydney has promoted October as 'Good Food Month' (GFM). While I think every month is good food month in Sydney, October is an organised food extravaganza for the eager gastronaut to negotiate. Every day offers a cornucopia of events drawing together producers, growers, restaurants, critics, commentators, and chefs. Too much for one girl to get through alone, although she will try her darndest. I’m sampling special menus at a variety of stellar restaurants, combing food districts for authentic ingredients, donning the apron for hands-on classes, and going to a selection of outdoor offerings. If only time and my budget could stretch further *sigh*.

That gave me an idea. Let’s pool our resources. All you Sydney food lovers will attend several GFM events, and if you’re bloggers you’ll write about them. So ... I’ll collate a link list of your posts each week so we can compare notes, go green with envy if we’ve missed an event, and generally celebrate the Sydney food landscape. Then people from other cities and countries can relish our experiences, get a vicarious kick from our culinary journeys, and see this cuisine-drenched city through our food-obsessed eyes. So spread the word!

If you want to participate just do the following:

• Place a link to this post somewhere in your blogpost about a GFM event (that way people can get to the central list I collate each week and others who read your blog can contribute)

• Send me an email to: rha9538(AT)bigpond(DOT)net(DOT)au that gives me your name, your blog’s name and a link to your post
  

• Place a technorati tag at the end of your post for GFM06: gfm06

Send me as many posts about GFM as you like and we should end up with a mouthwatering list to browse. I’ll do a roundup list each Sunday in October that links to all the posts published during the week, then a full list at the end of the month.

If you read this or any other Sydney blog regularly but don’t write a blog yourself and would like to contribute your experiences, email me at rha9538(AT)bigpond(DOT)net(DOT)au with your contribution pasted into the text of an email (no attachments) with your name (as you’d like it to appear as the author of the post), a title for your post, and the name of the event you’re writing about. I’ll host them, with links, on a separate site.

The program came out last week and is available online here. Some events are already sold out, so book in quickly!

GFM October 1-7

GFM October 8-14

GFM October 15-21

GFM October 22-28

GFM Full report

Tagged with: gfm06