A Goddess in the Kitchen

My "go-to" dish...

2008-05-11T16:46:00.007+10:00

My family of Origin.. we've all got one... Mine are...ummm......welll.... errrr..... different. The really are the Family that put the Fun back in Dysfunctional... and I mean that in really, a fun way. I posted about our Xmas dinner earlier, and promised to give them all Internet names. Which I did, not EVER in a million years thinking that any of them would actually take the time to read the blog of the cuckoo in the nest.

Well they did. And they're not happy, Jan.... So at Mother's day lunch today, I promised to give them all BETTER Internet names. I will list them later, but suffice it to say that lunch today was rather different.

Only at my fam's table can you get a conversation about how the Billings Method of Birth Control might apply to mammals other than Homo Sapiens (specifically bovines) and the rational possibility of frozen sperm (all that liquid Nitrogen, you know) having a negative affect on a latex glove.

Don't even ask about the Spaghetti Tree and the Mop Up Bull. Really.. Don't. Ask.

One of the things my fam does is not so much talk TO each other, as talk AT each other. Amongst 12 different people, there might be 8 different and disparate conversations going on. People pick and choose which conversation to be involved with. Sometimes more than one convo at a time. It's like Speed Dating... on Speed. Or like Tennis fans... their heads going back and forward,...... on Speed... back and forward between one conversation and another.

You have to have your wits about you to hold your own in this fam.If you were to stand on the outer and just listen you might hear something like this:

And the Rotolactor
Just wanted to KILL the jetskier
And the young Mop-up Bull said
it's important to know if the underpants were Y-front or Boxers
So the grapevine took about 25 minutes to
wonder if you were out with a new squeeze
and I tried to stalk you through Docklands but
why do you need me to look at your computer?
and bra-Girl
and Mr Charisma By-pass
used electronic stimulation
on Jack Ass
but the Romeo and Juliet complex meant
Stormin' Norman is a pillock
and he keeps the glove in his bedside drawer..
EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!

Originally, Furry... who comes from a fam of 3 used to spend most of his time with my fam rocking foetally in the corner. It took him a LOOOOONG time to realise that my terrible habit of interrupting him mid-sentence is actually and ingrained family survival skill.

The one thing you CAN be assured of at one of my Fam dinners, is that I will be asked to bring my potato salad. They are MAD for it. I often think I might try something different, but it's my potato salad they want. And it's so freakin easy... boil at last 2 spuds per person. Allow to cool. Throw in a bowl with 1/2 sour cream and 1/2 a good quality whole egg mayo (I use best Foods or Thomy), some random spring onions, 6 boiled and sliced eggs and top with oven-crisped bacon (run over randomly with a mezzaluna)

My family aren't really foodies (I WILL post that Cat's Vom recipe one day, I promise), and poor Aunti Linney thought the bacon crisps were chocolate, but apart from that... and the conversation about how they get the sperm for artificial insemination into those tiny straws, (again, DO. NOT. ASK.. but the words "old man" and "condom drainage" were touted)), it all went pretty well.

I felt like I was having a bad acid flash-back.. but that's pretty much par for the course at one of MY family get-togethers.

So, without further ado, may I present MY FAM...

Mater Beige, whom you all know and love,
Uncle Maximus (he of the Mop up Bull Story)
Auntie Linney,
The Princess
M and M (If you read this M, take pleasure in the fact that I am not happy with this.. if you come up with a better one, let me know!)
Jazzy J,
Stew
Bluey
Naxaw,
Little Purple Princess
Uncle Mo
The Meringue
Yardglass

Furry and pg are proud to announce the arrival of...

2008-05-11T16:13:00.006+10:00

Our very first (and only) organic pumpkin!!! We'd especially like to thank our midwife, Possumchops, who has been with us right from the start, when we decided to try to conceive (our organic garden). Without her help and support, we'd never have got this far. Who knew that someone, anyone? knew THAT much about vegetable sex?

We live in Glen Waverley, veritably the goegraphical heart of Melbourne, in a converted 1950's Brick Venereal, with a backyard slightly larger than a matchbox. And 2 dogs who like to dig. So we planted this beauty in the front yard (there's the Wog in me coming out again!) and trained it up over the dodgy 50's white iron balustrade. Under possum's careful tutleage, I have resisted harvesting her until the vine died back, but now.. here she is!!

I hand polinated over 30 plants (and developed a somewhat disturbing penchant for veggie sex), but this is the only one that took. Several more got to the size of baseballs and then went all manky and black and mouldacious....I think I meed some veggie IVF next year.

So, despite a few scars from the forceps, here is out baby... Stand by for futher reports of how she turns out (curried? soups? bakes? bread? gnocci?)

liquid lunch?

2008-05-10T12:14:00.005+10:00

Is it Full Moon?? Every lunatic on the fringe-rug of life either rang or attended my office yesterday. If I get one more **insert nasal American computer-generated Marge Simpson voice** "CONGRATULATIONS!! YOU HAVE WON AN OPPORTUNITY TO......(at which point I always hang up) call, or some freak from Mumbai trying to sell me a better deal on my mobile phone, I am going to go grab a large bore automatic weapon and find the nearest clock tower.

My boss, Elvis (for what else are you going to call a middle-aged Jewish Surgeon?) and I are run off our feet at the moment. What with associate staff being sick and going overseas for 5 weeks, we're paddling hard against the current.

I am probably the most Type A person I know. If I don't start cleaning my house at the exact same point (by the microwave, on the left) every time and clean my house in a distinct order, then it's not "clean".. so chopping and changing theatre sessions at work, and re-organising patient lists has left me feeling quite frayed.

And on Friday, I forgot my lunch.

Long gone are the days when I could party like a rock-star until the wee smalls and then head off to work, not eat all day, and make it to 5 o'clock unscathed.

By the time I had repeated my "happy place" Mantra for the umpteenth time yesterday, I was feeling dizzy and most unwell.

And I recently discussed my alcohol consumption with a friend and remember distinctly saying "I don't ever recall actually NEEDING a drink"

Well, bugger me backwards with a spoon, but on the drive home last night, I counted down the minutes until I could get home, peel off the work duds and down a chardy or seventeen.

But, as I have mentioned.. I hadn't eaten a thing all day.

And we all know what happens to middle-aged women when they drink on an empty stomach. I just KNEW that within 2 glasses, I'd be caterwauling "Tainted Love" into an empty shampoo bottle and making trashy, tearful phonecalls to friends I have recently neglected. Hell, I might have even got out the wedding video and made Furry watch it... Who knows how low things might have got??

So what is a poor girl to do??

V-8 and vodka, that's what!!! It's got all the nutrition of veggies ("1 glass= 3 serves of veggies", the bottle proudly proclaims!)

A glass of V-8, a splash of Absolut, a splash of Wooster-Sooster, a drop of Tabasco and finish with a sprinkle of "Slap yo' Mama" cajun seasoning! Mix with a random spring onion that Furry had earmarked for garnishing dinner.

2 of these little beauties and everything is alllllll right in the world.

Except you forget to really look when you're taking pics for your blog and end up getting the dodgy lace cafe curtains you loathe with an consuming passion, in the background of your photos.

oooops.

C.c.c.c.c.changes

2008-05-07T08:03:00.003+10:00

I'm a capricious bitch. This blog layout has been annoying me for weeks. When I started blogging I went with my initial layout which was a shocking Pepto-Abysmal pink.. it was the closest to purple I could get.

Then I chose this layout... seemed to be redolent of smoke in a vineyard, calm, peaceful.

But I am restless, strange things are afoot at the Circle K, as they say in the classics.

There is "stuff" going on in pg's kitchen... random thoughts and opportunities. I feel I am at a crossroads, and I am not too sure which way to go. How to turn some recent opportunities into realities.

I look around at blogs I admire and they all have one thing in common (well, apart from food!).. They're well laid out and catch your eye.

They stand out.

So, I am off to research how to make this place less generic and more.... me.

So, dear regular readers, if you drop by the kitchen over the next few days, you may find it in a bit of disarray.

Renovating is a messy job.

Bear with me until I get this place JUUUUUUUST the way I want it.

There's always a chair in the corner, and a bottle of white in the fridge.

Just don't trip over the drop cloths.

pg

Free Icons From A Veggie Venture

2008-05-02T13:48:00.002+10:00

Alana, over at Veggie Venture, has created a number of icons similar to this one. They are all free to a good home. Go over and check them out

Spaghetti Marijuana

2008-05-01T08:55:00.006+10:00

I have NO idea why we call it that.. it's one of those stupid family things. Someone said it once, it was funny at the time and it thus entered the Furry Family lexicon.

NOT THAT I'D KNOW, but I believe that my marinara has similar properties to its illicit namesake. It leaves you feeling calm and replete, a warm glow from your feet to the top of your head. It is so good, that it has, in the past, led to fits of uncontrollable giggling. The upside is, it fills you up and there's no attack of the munchies!!

Marinara, like Carbonara, is one of those dished that is fought over constantly in food forums... is it authentic?, Does the addition of **insert random ingredient** change it from its very Marinara nature to something else? Chowhound et al abounds with hundreds of posts devoted to whether the addition of cheese or cream or tomatoes or peas creates something, but it cannot be called Marinara.

I don't subscribe to the traditionalist view, and the nature of "authentic" food is a whole 'nother post. The only thing I insist on is either a) making the marinara mix myself, or b) buying SUPERB quality pre-mix.

What, in our house, is clearly NOT marinara, is anything with pre-cooked shrimp and/or that revolting seafood "filler"

This is a question from ABC2's Science forum:

Dear karl,
recently, while shopping for ingredients to make a spaghetti marinara, i purchased some "seafood extender", in the large part due to the incredibly cheap price of the product.
Seafood extender, incase you are unfamiliar with the substance, is a processed product made from seafood off cuts, which is generally white-ish in colour and has one side painted orange to emulate crab meat.
Upon making the spaghetti marinara (mostly from genuine seafood ingredients), i was left with quite a bit of surplus seafood extender. Given the price, i had no hesitation in throwing the surplus into the bin.
The following evening, after coming home quite late, i opened the cupboard door where the bin is located, and noticed a dim light inside. Further investigation revealed that the light was in fact the remaining seafood extender GLOWING!
The small chunks continued to glow until the following evening, each having a consistent light blue glow.(Seafood extender, by the way, does not exhibit the same odorous effects of other seafood, adding further suspicion to it's origin).
Why is this so?

As a scuba diver i know that the ocean has a considerable level of phosphorous present, which glows green when the water is agitated in the dark of night. Crustaceans, being the scavengers of the ocean, and assuming that they are in fact the main ingredient of seafood extender, would therefore be expected to consume a large amount of phosphorous in their lives.
However, this does not explain why my seafood extender glowed blue, and why therefore don't prawns and other crustaceons glow (not that i have left them in the bin long enough to find out).

Much as the story is quite entertaining at parties, for health reasons i am curious to know the answer, and would be very appreciative if you could provide one.

SEE WHY I DON'T USE IT!!??!!

Our friends, Joon and George provided last night's bounty. Joon, bless her curly red locks, is a most wonderful person. But a cook, she ain't. She holds the dubious honor of once cooking tuna mornay, only to forget to add the tuna. I once physically removed her from her own kitchen, when I watched her make **ahem** risotto. She was very nearly charged with Crimes Against Arborio, and I have warned her, that when I am Empress of the Universe, it will be illegal for her to touch foodstuffs.

She is perfectly okay with this.

George, bless HIS little heart, obviously listens to my maniacal ravings about food. Last night he presented my with not only the BEST pre-fab marinara mix I have ever eaten, he also provided a dozen fresh oysters and proudly declared their origin (Ceduna). My Sole Mama rantings are coming home to roost!!

Apparently he got this mix from a seafood wholesaler in Clayton, somewhere on Dunlop Road.

As you can see from the pics, this marinara mix was the real deal... plenty of goodly chunks of salmon, baby octopus, calamari, mussels and RAW prawns.

THAT'S IT.

No seafood extender, no pre-cooked shrimp,

I did the oysters Kilpatrick, Joon's favorite. I was going with an Asian theme (terryaki, crispy shallots and lime) but her pathetic pleadings for Kilpatrick touched my soul. Sorry.. no photos as they were scoffed as quickly as I could serve them.

For the marinara, here's what I did.. Traditionalists might sniff and scoff, but this is my food blog, so bite me.

pg's Spaghetti Marijuana.

Make up spaghetti as per preferred method.

In a large cast iron frypan, wilt a single chopped tomato in good olive oil. All you want is to melt the tomato somewhat, and flavour the oil with a hint of fresh tomato. You cannot sub tomato paste/sugo/passata for this. They're too rich. You gots to use the real thing.

Once the tommie has melted a bit and the oil has taken on a pale red colour, add the seafood and crank up the heat. cook until the octopodi legs have curled. This is the perfect mark, as this will leave the calamari tender, the prawns pink and juicy, the mussels perfectly done and the octopodi untoughened. Add a handful of chopped parsley and a splash of cream. Seriously, just a splash. You just want to bring all the ingredients together and create a small amount of "gravy" to coat the pasta.

Serve and scoff with a Haughton's White Burgundy

Australian Food?

2008-04-24T09:32:00.007+10:00

I am often asked on other food forums "What is "typical" Australian food?".. and at first thought, I am always tempted to say meat pies, lamingtons and Vegemite. But the reality is that Australian food is so SO much broader than that. Historically, Australian food prior to the 50's was linked back to England. Australia was culinary, politically, spiritually, socially tied to King and Country. Our collective subconscious was Mother England all the way.

In the 50's, with the post-war immigration boom, and more importantly, the Snowy River Project,

The workers and their families
More than 100,000 people from over thirty countries came to the mountains to work on the project. Up to 7,300 workers would provide their labour at any one time.

Seventy per cent of all the workers were migrants. They came to Australia to work on the project, attracted by the relatively high wages. At that time, soon after the Second World War, work was hard to come by in Europe.

At first, most of the workers were men who had left their families at home in Europe. Their plan was to work hard, save money and bring their families out when they could afford to.

The work was hard and the conditions were tough. Because ninety-eight per cent of the project was underground, there was a lot of tunnelling, often through solid granite rock. Work in the tunnels was dirty, wet, noisy, smelly and sometimes dangerous. More than 120 workers died in the project's twenty-five year period.

Living conditions were also hard in the camps and towns built in the mountains to house the workers and their families. Often these dwellings were not suited to the freezing conditions. They were cold and the water would freeze in the pipes. When the workers' wives came to join them in the townships, these women had to work hard to overcome the hardships and establish communities in the strange, new, wilderness environment. When work in one area was completed, the dwellings were dismantled and moved to another area, so very little remains of these towns today.

The majority of the workers stayed on to live in Australia after the project was completed, making a valuable contribution to Australia's modern multicultural society

(from "Snowy Mountain Scheme: Australia's Cultural Portal")

From 1949 until 1974, Australia saw an influx of new cultures, new ideas and more importantly, new food.

The blonde, blue eyed migrants assimilated, but the Greeks, the Italians, the Turks all suffered at the hands of the White Australia Policy (itself a result of interracial tension between "Australian" and Chinese migrants in the 1850's. It was all well and good to have those "dirty wops" digging our power scheme, but to actually have them living here???

The White Australia policy is a term used to describe a collection of historical legislation and policies that intentionally restricted non-white immigration to Australia from 1901 to 1973.

The inauguration of White Australia as government policy is generally taken to be the passage of the Immigration Restriction Act in 1901, one of the first Acts of the new national parliament upon federation. The policy was dismantled in stages by successive governments after the conclusion of World War II, with the encouragement of first non-British and later non-white immigration. From 1973 on, the White Australia policy was for all practical purposes defunct, and in 1975 the Australian government passed the Racial Discrimination Act, which made racially-based selection criteria illegal.

(from Wiki)

It's a testament to the ingenuity and tenacity of non-white migrants, that they actually stayed, suvived and went on the thrive. And in doing so, sowed the seeds for the insanely multicultural food that is now available to us. Can you imagine Melbourne take-away without a souvki? The Manly Corso without a falafel bar?

Preceding this of course, was the indentured labour of the Chinsese migrants during the Victorian Gold Rush and the Kanak workers for sugar cane in Queensland. In Melbourne, the Chinese population survived in small, cloistered, insular ghettos in central Melbourne.

Arthur Caldwell, himself the son on Irish immigrants, uttered his infamous "Two Wongs Don't make a White" in 1947. (This quote, taken out of context, was to become the catch cry of the White Australia Policy WELL into my youth)

The arrival of Vietnamese "boat people" in the 70's and 80's saw yet another round of immigration and racism, which today translates as most Australians knowing what pho and banh mi are.

The history of Australian cuisine is the history of Australia's adolescence, the history of defining itself (ourselves?) as something separate from our "Mother" (Country). It's the history of racism. From exploitation to negation, to marginalisation to grudging acceptance and finally into mainstream society, ethnic groups in Australia have all held on to one thing. Their cuisine. And in doing so, have made "Aussie food" as varied as the iconic pie (thought to have been brought to Australia by *duh* MIGRANTS!) to Chili Crab, from the pav to Mongolian Beef.

The latest migrants to be vilified are the Somali's, but I hold out hope of mufo and baasto gelling into the Australian food psyche

And it's only very recently that Bush Tucker (traditional aboriginal food) has become mainstream. (But that's a WHOLE 'nother post!)

So, with all of this in mind, we FINALLY come to last night's dinner.

Mongolian Beef.

dry fry 1/3 cup of sesame seed until golden. Place in a mortar and grind with garlic and ginger. Add 3 chopped spring onions, 2 tablespoons of both dark and light soy and a tablespoon of sesame oil. Mix to a paste.

Take 500g of beef strips and marinate in this mix for a couple of hours. Fry off in a wok and serve on rice.

EXCEPT... (and here's where all of this rambling post comes together, folks!), because of the culinary history of Australia, here's what Furry and I did:

Make the beef up as above, serve with Hokkien (Chinese) noodles, wok-fried with onion and yellow caps (Generic Asian). Serve sprinkled with bean sprouts (Vietnamese) and hand-torn basil and coriander (Thai)

And had Blue Ribbon Vanilla Ice cream with chocolate sauce from Daylesford for sweetie!!

Australian Fusion Food at its finest!!

Nam Jim Chicken

2008-04-23T09:04:00.003+10:00

My Furry, bless his hairy little toes, is a WHIZZ in the kitchen. After the Double Heart Attack of 2005, he bought hisself a couple of low-fat cook books, and went from making bachelor food (wraps, nachos, etc.) to experimenting with other cooking methods and flavour combos. His Furry Balls (Pork Gow Gees) are a staple in our house.

He's recently re-discovered his cooking jones, and is now producing some SERIOUSLY good and interesting food.

Furry is an interesting case study in food and food habits. When I met him he "hated" sushi, didn't eat Thai and thought "Chinese" food consisted of Sweet and Sour Pork or Lemon Chicken. It's less a testament to his love for me, and more his inherent inquisitiveness, that he now produces some wonderful dishes. It's even more interesting to watch him change and modify recipes as his palate and his skills grow.

He's still a bit scared of high heat, of strange ingredients and of buggering things up, but I tell him no TRUE cook doesn't have a story which goes "so I thought I'd swap the (A) for some (B) and cook it a bit less than the recipe said, and it turned out crap!"

So last night, I was presented with this.. Nam Jim Chicken.. Here's Furry's take on it....

Take a packet of Hokkien noodles, loosen in hot water, drain well and set aside.

Slice 2 chicken breasts into strips and coat with a mix of grated palm sugar, a pinch of cumin and some salt. . Allow to sit for 1/2 hour.

Make the Nam Jim Sauce.

2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 large green chillies, chopped
2 coriander roots
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons grated palm sugar
3 shallots (75g), chopped
¼ cup (60ml) lime juice

Combine all above ingredients and set aside

(adapted from the Women's Weekly Low Fat Cook Book)

Fry off the coated chicken fillets in a heavy pan until cooked. Set aside. Add a splash of sesame oil to the pan, and fry off well-drained noodles for about a minute.

Plate up noodles, top with fresh bean sprouts, chicken and torn up Thai basil and coriander leaves. (Because we'd had a discussion about Thai food and flavours and textures being such an intrinsic part of what Thai food is!)

Spoon Nam Jim sauce over the whole shebang and scoff.

Brudda from anudder Muddah?

2008-04-18T07:59:00.005+10:00

I know women who work together can be "in sinc", but bloggers??
Twice this past week, I have been thinking about recipes, only to find that the delightful
g o b b l e r has been there before me.

Firstly with his treatise on the humble, yet amazing Quince (of which I dreamed about last night) and then again with his recipe for Gratin Dauphinoise. Even his suggestions of paring it with a rib eye steak was a little freaky.

I'd guess it is because both gobbler and I both proudly and loudly advocate eating fresh IN SEASON local produce, so the chances of us both blogging about the same ingredients are not too bad.

But twice in a week??

I'd like to thing that the Universal Energy that binds (and sometimes blinds) all food bloggers has been working its majik through us.

Here's the recipe for the Gratin Dauphinoise. As for my steak, I took them out of their cryovac bags, and removed the weird little bone condoms (What the hell ARE those things, BTW?) and let them come to room temp.

My tips on the perfectly cooked steak can be found here.

I seared all sides in a cast iron pan, setting off the smoke alarms, and then because they were so incredibly thick, I whacked the in the oven next to the Gratin Dauphinoise. Furry's for 10 minutes, and mine for 5.

They were perfect!!

2008 is the Year Of The Potato (apparently), and this dish is unbelievably easy and fabulous for these cooooool Autumn nights.

Enjoy!

Bah.. Just realised that I have left my camera uploady cord thingy at home. Pics later today.

Quince and Bergamot Fool

2008-04-14T13:01:00.005+10:00

My very first experience of the Quince was some 20 years ago, when my beloved Hobbit and Mater Beige took me on a day-trip to Gulf Station, an heritage listed farm on the outskirts of Eastern Melbourne.

As we were walking back across the old orchard, my father cried out "Oh, look!! Quinces!! My favorite fruit!"

In order to experience whatever it was that made my father cry out in such wonder, I picked a windfall quince and promptly bit into it. (Mater Beige remembers The Hobbit doing the same thing. I have no recollection of that, nor anything after I sunk my teeth into the raw quince)

It was as if every salivary gland in my mouth not only constricted, but actually inverted back upon itself, creating a million microscopic vacuums in my mouth.

My head nearly caved in on itself, my mouth was a veritable black hole of quince-flavoured anti-matter.

It was years before I tried one again.

Maggie Beer and her quince paste were my gate-way drug back into the aromatic, sensual world of the COOKED quince.

Over the years, the quince has been derided as the Fruit of Original Sin, honoured as The Fruit of Love. g o b b l e r has a wonderful scree here about this oft maligned fruit.

So it was with wonder, and no small sense of foreboding, I bought some quinces from my local organic shop on Saturday. Heng was unable to tell me EXACTLY what type of quince it was, but I suspect it was a Smyrna, as it lacked the discernable "tropical" smell of the Pineapple quince.

After much consultation, decided on George Biron's Quince and Jasmine Fool... but as is my want, I decided to do a little tweaking to his basic recipe.

I didn't peel the quinces (3, equaling 1.4kgs uncooked) , but did core them, and cut them into random bits. These I put into my crockpot with 1/2 a bottle of Muscat, 100mls of honey and 1/2 cup raw sugar.

I left these to cook on slow for 14 hours, at which stage they had developed that succulent, meaty, ruby red goodness and my house was permeated with that indescribable warm candy aroma that is a cooked quince.

I had no Jasmine tea at home, and didn't relish fighting the Mongol Hordes at the Glen, simply for a random handful of it.

Now, I've never claimed to be a "supertaster" but I do have an uncanny ability to be able to differentiate flavours and spices in complex stews/curried/casseroles, and I **ahem** taste in colour.

I don't actually know how to describe it, but if I read a recipe, or hear someone say "I cooked the onions in OO until golden", I can taste that. And then someone might add "And then I threw in some bacon", and as I read or hear that, I can physically taste the change in my mouth and the "colour" of the flavour changes.

So, with a mouthful of the stewed quinces, I stuck my nose into my collection of teas.

I rejected the ginger and lemon, the red currant, the Rooibos tea, but as I took a big nozzie of the Earl Grey tea, and the idea took place.

Over the still-simmering quinces, I placed a stainless steel bowl and in it poured 400ml of King Island Cream, into which I threw 3 Earl Grey (Twinings, I think!) tea bags. I covered the bowl with a lid and left it to sit and steep for about 2 hours.

On removing the teabags, I squeeze a disturbingly oily brown liquid into my (very expensive) cream.

The result was a heady Bergamot aroma that married amazingly well with the quinces.

I beat the cream to stiff peaks., folded in 400 mls of custard (sans vanilla pods)

The result was an headyingly aromatic (perfumatic?) marriage.

I delicately folded the now-cooled and slightly mashed quinces through the custard mix and then drizzled the top with thick, ruby-port, life-blood deep red juice.

UNBELIEVABLY GOOD

Canadian Wild Smoked Salmon

2008-04-11T08:07:00.005+10:00

We are lucky enough to have, by virtue of the Internet, made friends around the world. So last week marked our second visit from Canadian friends, Lil and Marc. And knowing Furry and I as they do, they presented us with a HUGE box of Canadian Wild Smoked Salmon. I was verily aquiver with anticipation at eating this delux delight!! (We had previously scoffed their offering of Elk and Whiskey Pate.... le swooooooon!)

I had originally planned to go with some sourdough bread, the salmon and a perfectly poached egg, but after Agnes's wonderful offering of home-made bagels, lox and cream cheese, I had a hankering for something different.

So I asked my wise and worldly friends at Chowhound, who came up with the idea of doing ti Japanese-style. Thinly sliced at room temp, on hot steamed rice, with dipping sauces of terryaki, fresh ginger and lime juice. I also added a dipping sauce of light soy and wasabi.

There we were. Furry and I, ready to chow down.....

and then we opened the salmon....

Rather than being the light, orange, SLICE-ABLE fillet we expected, we were faced with a deep, dense meaty slab more reminiscent of a smoked mackerel. There was absolutely no way we could slice it. It was flaky and dense, redolent with the alder smoke.

It was absolutely divine, but NOT suited to the purpose of slicing and not really suited to the light Japanese flavours I had to accompany it.

Think double-smoked trout, or those lovely oily/dry meaty fish you can get in Greek deli's.

It probably went better with the ginger and lime dipping sauce than it did with the darker soy and wasabi. Eventually, I poured the dipping sauce over my rice, ate that separately and then tucked into the salmon as a finger lickin' snack of its own.

I had entertained ideas of blinis with creme fraiche and caviar, but I think this meat is even to heavy for that.

This salmon is not fit for dainty morsels and subtle flavours, this is a salmon to chow down on in the middle of the Canadian winter before you jump on your trusty steed, all Dudley Do-Right and wade thru 20ft snow drifts to save Miss Nell from Darstadly Dan!

Luckily, there is about 1/2 left, so next time, I am going to go with a more Scandinavian idea... or maybe back to the original of sourdough and poached eggs.

Bloggers Banquet.. the recipes

2008-04-09T12:44:00.007+10:00

Fig, Blue Cheese and Caramelised Onion Tart.

Take 3 large red onions, slice very fine on a V slicer. Sautee until very golden in unsalted butter. While they're bubbling away, use some of the melted butter to grease a large baking tray. Divide a packet of good quality phylo pasty into 1/4's. On this tray, lay a 1/4 of a packet of phylo pastry. Brush with melted butter. Roll the 3 remaining 1/4's into sausages (for the sides of the tart. 2 rolls will be exactly long enough and one will need to be cut in 1/2)

**NOTE** In all the excitement, I forgot to brush the rolls as I went, as I was rolling them up... This meant when I served it, the sides of the tart were dry and a bit nasty. Note to self.. brush butter as you roll!!

Place sides on base to form tart case. Brush with melted butter.

When onions are done, taste test for sweetness. Mine weren't as sweet as I had hoped, so I added a little home made Balsamic reduction. Spread the onions evenly over the tart case. Sprinkle with fresh thyme (from my own garden). Top with crumbled blue cheese (in this case Red Hill Cheese's "Granny's Blue" ), 8 figs, (also from my garden) quartered and a further drizzle of Balsamic reduction.

Bake at 180C for 20 minutes until pastry is golden. Allow to cool to room temp and serve.

Now THIS recipe was the funniest event of BB II! I had defrosted a rolled roast of lamb from Rutherglen Lamb, just incases we didn't have enough food (like, riiiiight, as my 16 year old daughter would say!) My theory was, that if I didn't use it for BB, we had gorgeous friends out from Canada, so I'd use it sometime over the weekend.

So there is was, sitting forlornly in the fridge.

And as I watched each new blogger come in, each seemingly carrying ANOTHER SWEET TREAT, I got more and more aprehensive! Thanh and his lemon/white chocolate/coconut cake (although he did bring poor man's potato's as well!), Vida with her Oblatna, Michael with his Chocolate & cream cheese Brownies (Thank goodness for Cindy's tofu balls!), Jon with his chocolate ganache tarts, Duncan with his macarons, Claire's Layered freeform cheescake with stewed cherries, rhubarb and hazelnut brittle..

Agnes was my only hope, and she bought smoked salmon and cream cheese bagels, and carmelised onion tarts!

Hurriedly, I grabbed some random ingredients, a couple of anchovies, some sundried tomatoes, a woj of fetta, some black olives and stuffed the roll with said ingredients, I grabbed some fresh oregano from the garden and mashed it with some olive oil and smeared the whole shebang with it.

Popped it into the wood fired oven for about 2 hours and voila!!

Let's do it again some time, yes??

Photos courtesy of Jon from Melbourne Foodie.

Bloggers Banquet, The Sequel.

2008-04-09T08:33:00.002+10:00

Cindy and Michael - Where's the beef

Thanh's - I Eat Therefore I am

Agnes - Off the Spork

Vida - Vida at Penthouse 2

Claire - Melbourne Gastronome

Duncan - Syrup & Tang

Jon - Melbourne Foodie

All the above attended Bloggers Banquet II, this Saturday past at Chez Fur.

What a hoot, guys!!

I hope I haven't upset too many of you with my childhood culinary tales, and Duncan.. I checked the freezer. They were indeed Marathon dimmies.

I hung my head in shame.

I can't tell you how chuffed we were with all the left overs, guys!! Claire's free-form cheesecake didn't look as nice the next day, but MAN, did it taste good.

Jon's chocolate ganache tarts were lovely for breakfast, along with Thanh's white chocolate, lemon and coconut cake.

Agnes gets my vote for "I would NEVER have attempted that, and I am utterly impressed!" award with her bagels, the honey note being more pronounced the next day.

Let's do it again soon.

And just waiting for permission to nick some photos from other people, before I post my recipes, as guess which idiot forgot to get out the camera?? (**insert embarrassed shuffling**)

Menu for Hope. Winners Feedback.

2008-04-09T08:20:00.001+10:00

Dear Ella and Ray,

Thanks so much for the use of Chez Fur du Mer this past weekend. We
really enjoyed having the base in Dromana for exploring the
Peninsula. You'll be pleased to know we spent most of our time
eating, or so it seemed. But we didn't get to the Tasting Station or
Darling Park Winery, so we'll have to go back for those another time.
We did have great coffee/meals in Dromana (including dinner at Two
Buoys), and got to Sorrento for breakfast. We also went to
Queenscliffe by ferry, and had another great meal there.

Your home is the perfect place to relax. We especially enjoyed
sitting in the garden (glass of wine in hand of course) reading the
newspapers and watching the birds. It was good to have the tutorial
on the light switches, I don't think we'd have found the one over the
doorway on our own.

Thanks again, it was a treat!

Catherine

SOLE sistas (and bruffers)

2008-04-04T08:21:00.005+11:00

FANTASTIC tasting platter from Darling Park winery

lamb cutlets from Rutherglen lamb

What I have discovered is that SOLE/localvore is easy. Easy as asking questions. What I have also discovered is that, apart from Google, there is no easy way to find a list of suppliers or products that come under the SOLE umbrella. So here's the deal. Rather that have a list of recipes here on the blog, I am going to list all the food purveyors I know of. either having tried myself, or recommended by YOU!!

So, in my comments here, list your fave SOLE/localvore supplier, and we'll get a list going that other people can used.

Share your knowledge, guys, and spread the word.

I want names, addresses, telephone numbers, HOW it fits into SOLE and why you recommend it.

Hit me with your best shots!!

Bloggers Banquet, The Sequel.

2008-03-28T08:43:00.004+11:00

Just a reminder to all fellow bloggers that BBII is NEXT Sat, that's Sat 5th April.

12.30 onwards.

BYO everything.

If you still haven't RSVP'd, or you've lost the address, just email me at

minor(underscore)deity1 (at) hotmail.

The outdoor oven will be fired, and obviously indoor cooking facilities will be available if ya needs them.

There's also a 8 burner BBQ with wok attachment if you need it.

This event is open to all food bloggers.

If you haven't applied, it's not too late... send me an email, with a link to your blog, so I can check it out.

Looking forward to catching up.

pg

Come and spend an hour in my tower, with no power!

2008-03-26T10:01:00.005+11:00

Ok, it's a cheesy title, but I couldn't resist combining a bad 70's pick up phrase with an agent of social change.. I'm kinda like that.

Anyhoo.. Earth Hour.

It started with a question: How can we inspire people to take action on climate change?
The answer: Ask the people of Sydney to turn off their lights for one hour.

On 31 March 2007, 2.2 million people and 2100 Sydney businesses turned off their lights for one hour - Earth Hour. If the greenhouse reduction achieved in the Sydney CBD during Earth Hour was sustained for a year, it would be equivalent to taking 48,616 cars off the road for a year.

With Sydney icons like the Harbour Bridge and Opera House turning their lights off, and unique events such as weddings by candlelight, the world took notice. Inspired by the collective effort of millions of Sydneysiders, many major global cities are joining Earth Hour in 2008, turning a symbolic event into a global movement.

For more info go here.

As part of my family's commitment to SOLE and all that it entails, we'll be taking 3 of the kids into Melbourne (Yeah, I know.. carbon emissions.. but the 4th kid has a function in town, and we made the decision to stay in the city for the duration of the party, and then pick her up, rather than make 2 return trips).

Before we leave, we're turning off all out appliances at the wall (except fridge and freezer), and we're packing a SOLE picnic dinner to have in town. We have spoken to the kids about Earth Hour and why we're doing it.

I am hoping to find out if there are any candle powered events in town, at Birrarung Mar or Fed Square. I'd appreciate it if anyone knows it there is anything on in town, otherwise we'll just find a park, or have our picnic in Fed Square. Any Melbournites are welcome to bring a basket and join us!

So, what are YOU doing for Earth Hour??

From pizza to jambalaya via omelettes.

2008-03-25T09:47:00.003+11:00

you've seen enough pics of my pizzas to know what they look like. However, what the hell does one do with enormous amounts of left-over sliced tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, anchovies, antipasto, ham and capsicums??

You make omelette's for breaky, thats what.

Take 4 organic, free-range eggs, break into a bowl and add a splash of milk, a twist of pepper and some salt. Pour mix into a hot cast iron pan, seasoned with some browning butter. Here's the key to perfect light fluffy omelettes. LEAVE THE BLOODY THING ALONE. Don't poke it, prod it, swirl it, just stand back and wait until the sides pull away from the pan and the mix is mostly set. Then whack in a handful of grated cheese and pop under a griller until fully set and the cheese is melted.

While this is happening, grab random handfuls of ham, tomatoes, onions and mushrooms and fry off in another pan until all smooshy and juicy. Add more cheese, (in the vain hope of getting thru all these bloody leftovers. Sigh meaningfully when you realise that you STILL have 3 kgs of cheese and enough sliced tommies left over to fix the World's hunger crisis)

Serve the omelette topped with the meat mix and scoff. Believe me, this will get you thru a long day of cleaning up after the day before and preparing your house for the winner of Menu for Hope next week.

FINALLY make it home to GW and unload everything you loaded into the car only an hour ago. Eventually find time to think about dinner. Decide to freeze the remaining ham, but using the leftover prawns as an inspiration, come up with a jambalaya kind of thing.

Slow braised the remaining onions, tomatoes, capsicums and mushrooms in some of the left over sun-dried tomato oil, until completely broken down. This took me about three hours. Add 2 leftover anchovies for depth. If the mix becomes too dry, add a slurp of white wine. When all lovely and smooshy, add some arborio rice and let this absorb all the juice. When rice is cooked, add the left-over prawns and top with a sprinkle of Louisiana's finest "Slap yo Mama!" jambalaya seasoning. Serve with a wedge of lemon.

Families are weird creatures.

2008-03-25T09:16:00.003+11:00

yes indeed they are. My history is littered with times where I haven't seen **ahem** eye-to-eye with my fam of origin. Because of various ishews.. some clearly self-inflicted and induced, there has been a history of being on the outer of my fam.

So I was both shocked and chuffed when Furry suggested we invite the fam to Chez Fur for Easter lunch. And equally shocked and chuffed when, en masse, the accepted.

Being the cuckoo in the nest, particularly in regard to food, I dithered furiously over what to serve.

I erred on the side of caution and went with pizzas in the outdoor oven. My table was laid with a variety of goodies, ham and salami, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, capsicums, prawns, cheeses, sun dried tommies, grilled capsicums and anchovies.

**side SOLE note** A V slicer is a SOLE-ful way of preparing veggies. 6 large end-of-season beefsteak tommies can be sliced fine enough on a V slicer to provide pizza topping for 20 people.

$200 got me everything I needed, and as per my previous post, only the pizza bases, anchovies and pasata was not locally sourced. The mushrooms were Victorian (Northern Melbourne).

I am thrilled to say the whole day was a huge smash hit!! Cousin JJ manned the oven like a pro! for a family often obsessed with hygiene, eating with the fingers, from communal platters proved a huge hit. Aunties and SIL's bought fresh fruit and meringues, Mater Beige made her marvelous iceream slice, chocolate googie-eggs abounded and much laughter, mirth and merriment was had by all.

It left me to thinking, about families and all, that despite glaring differences (whether they be religious, ethics, social justice or politically based), that sometime food really IS the great leveler. And that eating together really does (re) inforce bonds of blood.

SOUL lunch for 25

2008-03-20T08:25:00.004+11:00

It's Easter, Eostre, Samhain (here in the Southern Hemi).. whatever it is you celebrate at this time of the year... and like Christmas, it's essentially a Christian holy-day that most people celebrate in an increasingly secular way.

Most Easters in our house mean a trip to Dromana where Furry and I have our wee shack, and also my family has its holiday house, dating back to 1967. Usually we catch up, do an Easter egg hunt for the kiddies and then go out to lunch somewhere as a family. Memorable outings have been the Cape Schanck Country Club, but last years visit to the Safety Beach Golf Club left us all with a bad taste in the mouth. This is a family that consumes my darling mother's Cat's Vom Stew, but even people with taste buds ruined by that particular dish baulked at the swill that was served last year.
So this year, now that the oven is up and running, I have offered to have all the fam to our house. About 25 people all up.

And this is my challenge to myself..

I am going to do a lunch based, as much as I can, on SOLE.

I have ordered my smoked ham and bacon from Coolart Smokehouse (8 Erramosa Road, Somerville, ph: 5977 5733) who source all their beasts from a single sourced free range herd in Hastings.

I am off to the farmers market on Sat morning for the last of the season's tommies, capsicums and asparagus (if I'm lucky)

My sources have yet to find a mushroom supplier down on the MP, but I hold out great hopes of my Greek friends knowing where to get some.

A quick trip to the organic shop on Cape Schanck Road for some free range googie eggs and a few other titbits.

And home via Red Hill Cheesery for some fetta and cheddar

Shopping SOLE-y AND having a lovely relaxing drive at the same time!

Now... if someone can tell me where to get SOLE pizza bases or pita breads, so I don't have to make my own dough I'll be a happy camper!

Food Porn Meme

2008-03-19T07:29:00.005+11:00

Smokey Mountain Breakdown: Food Porn Meme Friday ~ The Food Porn Meme

I just got tagged in my first meme!!! Huzzah!!! And by a long time lurking fan!! I feel like my wee little blog is all growed up!!

Initiated by Rosie, over at Smokey Mountain Breakdown.

"she is a writer of Southern Gothic fiction and erstwhile keeper of goats. I'm laying the blame for the following nonsense squarely at her feet! Food Porn she has requested, and food porn she shall get."

from Kazari over at "I think I have a recipe for that."

So, thanks to my tagger, Silver Moon Dragon, over at Dragon Musings, I present my answers!!

1. What food do you consider the best “date” food? In other words, what meal or food item do you think is sexiest to eat in the company of someone you would like to look sexy around?

Hmm... Well, there's "sexy" food, AND then there's date food. Things I consider a complete no-no on first dates are thinks like slurpy pastas and exploding souvies. If a snog is a possibility I avoid anything with garlic or onions. Furry once told me, early on, that he loved to watch me eat, as I do it with "gusto", but we've been together long enough that I get still get a shag, even if I've had the chilli garlic ginger onion bhaji's and he's gone the salad.

Sexy date food (as opposed to early on "I-might-get-a shag-or-at-least-a-snog" date food) is anything that makes you moan, anything that makes you dribble a bit of sauce and have to lick it off your chin.. or your forearm, anything that makes you sigh.

Eating with your hands is sexy. Getting messy is sexy (all those thought of cleaning each other up, hmm...), so I am voting for a cold, local Mornington Peninsula seafood platter, with various dipping sauces

2. What well-known person would you like to share a meal with—with or without clothing. (saying whether or not clothes are involved is optional).

I want to eat Bruny Bay oysters off Angeline Jolie's naked body. Johnny Depp, also nekkid, will be waiting in the wings, smeared with chocolates and studded with Red Hill organic strawberries, for dessert.

Is that sharing??

3. What does your perfect breakfast-in-bed look like? (Food AND the details, please. Candles? Music? Flowers? Hot tub? Dancing girls?)

The Age and the Australian Sunday papers, unlimited time to do the cryptic crossword, sourdough bread, toasted, 2 perfectly poached eggs, some smoked salmon, some crispy bacon, a grilled tommie or two, with a side of grilled organic filed 'shrooms, out Chez Fur on a winter's day. The rain is hammering on the tin roof, the house is warm and Furry's made the breakkie.

After completing said breakkie and crosswords, I roll over and go back to sleep

Not very porn-y, but hell, I am a working mother of 5.. this is about as luxurious as it gets!!

4. What do you consider the best application of whipped cream to be?

I don't DO whipped cream, except as an ingredient in ice cream or chocolate Cointreau mousse.

But if Johnny and/or Angelina turned up at the door, BEGGING me to lick it off, well... I guess I'd force myself.

(Hell, if Johnny or Angelina tuned up covered in someone else's snot, and begged me to lick it off, I'd do it!)

5. Oh-God-No, Biff, the yacht is sinking! You are sent to the galley to retrieve the food. What luxury food items do you snatch first? The champagne? The caviar? Smoked Salmon? Truffles? Chocolate? Or something else?

Biff, daw-link.. the yacht is sinking! Send a servant to the galley (cos I have no idea where such a place would even BE!) and grab the Jamon Iberica haunch, the 18 doz Bruny Bay oysters, the Iranian Special Reserve Beluga, the Monte Cristo No. 2 Cuban cigars, the kilo of Alba truffles!! Angelina, Johhny and I will meet you in the life boats!!

And I tag:

Gobbler (cos I reckon he's a bit of a naughty lad, and I'd like to see his answers)
Squishy (cos she's a mum of a blended family like me, and I reckon her answers would rock!)
Duncan (cos he's another dark horse, whom I suspect has a "naughty" side)
Possum chops (cos I'd like to get to know her better)

and in the spirit of my meme predecessors, someone I lurk at, but have never had any contact with:

Stone Soup (cos she's recently started snogging a cute Irish boy, and may have more to add....)

Garden Street Cafe

2008-03-18T09:12:00.010+11:00

Garden Street Cafe.

Crn Garden Street and Powder Works Road

North Narabeen, NSW

02 991312 33

fig and chocolate meringues

A HUGE selection of teas!

Get this stuff toasted for breakkie!!

Read about this here

On our recent sojourn to Sydders, we stayed with lovely friends in the Tree house... and the best bit of all?? Across the road was this wee place. Go and say Hi to Marrianne, and get some of her banana bread toasted, or a REAL chai... not that crap powdered stuff. She makes her own muesli (ask for the Under the counter stuff.. not as pretty as the one on display, but MUCH better) and does a mean trade in bacon and egg rolls. Her vegetarian frittata is da BOMB! and her fig and chokkie meringues are UNBELIEVABLE!!! She'll whack you up a chicken and vegie rissole on ciabatta or a smoked salmon sanga. Excellent value and quality food!

Random pics that I'll never blog about.

2008-03-18T08:46:00.007+11:00

Sigh.. that's the thing with blogging.. particularly about food.. you end up with more ideas that you could ever hope to blog about. I knew I was a food obsessive when Furry went from complaining that I took photos of food, to pausing and waiting before tucking in, so I could get "that" shot.

So, on cleaning out my camera, in preparation for this Sunday's SOLE/localvore luncheon, I realised that I have 197 photos on my camera, and only 2 of them contain a human face.. and then, only unexpectedly!! OH.. and one was of a spider web for the never-written "Sunday arvo on the balcony in the tree house" post.

So, dear reader.... sigh with the possibility of all that might have been, and make up your own stories.

Best Laksa EVER!!!

2008-03-15T12:00:00.005+11:00

To's Malaysian Gourmet

Shop 3

169 Miller St, North Sydney, NSW 2060

(02) 9955 2088

I am a laksa eating fool. Seriously, laksa is good for whatever ails you. It's perfect Summer food. perfect Winter food, perfect snack food, perfect hangover food. It's also bloody easy. Which is why I am often disappointed with the quality of what is passed off in some establishments as "laksa". Note to readers: The crap that is sold as laksa in most suburban "food courts" is not LAKSA.

So I was chuffed when, last week in Sydney, the delicious Grocer asked Furry and I to accompany her to her fave laksa house. Jokes about my syntax and typing skills aside, we had a wonderful time. The laksa served here is the real deal. The balance between sweet and salty was perfect. The fish sauce was subtle, but present enough in the second note to perfectly compliment the coconut milk. The chicken was fall-apart tender, and the skin tofu was generous. A super generous helping of smokey chilli paste added another dimention.

Furry, who was suffering through the 2nd worst hangover of his life was initially skeptical, but a serve of their AMAZING spring rolls and some deep-fried tofu skin wrapped around sweet pork, set him aright!!

A quick jaunt back to Grocer's to meet WORLD'S BEST DOG (Hi, Fella!!) and to sample WORLD'S BEST MILK, made for a most excellent day!

Heading North...

2008-03-04T08:23:00.002+11:00

Unfortunately NOT to Alaska, but instead to the beautiful Sydney!! Hopefully to catch up with Grocer and stay with some mates.

Stand-by for pie reviews as we head up the Hume, maybe a burger review or two, and plenty of food porn from our holiday.

See y'all next week!!