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Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Laser Engraved Coffee Mug with I Love Egypt
Cafe Sopra 2
It's best to get there early if you want to have your pick from the menu, as items do sell out. There were a couple of things already crossed off the board when we got there, and a few more things were crossed off as we got up to leave.
These meatballs were huge! They were unlike any meatball I had had before either. I am pretty sure they had cumin in them, there was a curry like quality to them. The pasta was so good too. We ended up buying a packet of this pasta from the shop as well.
Frankie went with the Papperdelle. I was tossing up whether to get this, so I am glad he chose it. How delicious does that look! It was all mixed together perfectly so that you got a bit of everything with each bite.
I really wanted to order a dessert at the beginning of the meal, but after eating the pastas, mixed with the zucchini flowers, I was almost bursting!
I think next time we will get one pasta and a salad to share, so I can try that banoffe pie!
They also have other outlets around the city, but I have never been. After lunch we went to Fratelli fresh and bought lots of fruit and veggies to take back to Canberra with us. All the fruit was so lovely and sweet and not expensive at all.
Cafe Sopra
7 Danks Street
Waterloo NSW
No bookings allowed
Bella Vedere - Yarra Valley
So I have been away for a while... Since moving to Canberra I haven't been excited to eat out and photograph food as much as I had in Sydney. There are some great places in Canberra, but there are a lot more places that aren't great as well.. It is also so much more expensive to eat out here than Sydney as well, which means I have been cooking a lot more than going out. 
Frankie
Me
Bella Vedere Cucina
Badgers Brook Estate
874 Maroondah Highway
Coldstream VICPh: 03 5962 6161Breakfast and Lunch served Wed - Sun from 8:30am
Dinner Friday and Saturday from 7:30pm
So my blog now will probably have more entries of my cooking than my eating out. So lets see how we go this time!
Firstly I will take you back to a couple of months ago when Frankie and I went on a week's trip to the Yarra Valley. I had never been there before, so wasn't sure which place to book for a nice dinner. I had a booking at Mt Rael, but they were doing some renovations so I had to change our venue. So I looked at what had Chef's hats in the region and Bella Vedere was close to where we were staying and had some good reviews, so I booked us in there.
They have an a la carte menu, but on Friday and Saturday nights they have a set menu of 5 courses for $95. Everyone is asked to be seated by 7:30pm so they can get everyone's drinks underway in preparation for the announcement of the menu!
Tonight's menu is heavily based on cheese and ends up being too rich for me in the end and didn't get to try the dessert. We also got matching wines with each course, and they give you very full glasses!!
We started off with an amuse bouche of risotto balls. Can't remember exactly what was in it besides rice and cheese, but it was very tasty.
This was a smoked trout soup which had a quinelle of marscapone or some type of cheese. This was so beautiful. Although the serving bowls weren't the easiest to eat soup out of being wide and shallow.
The second course was a three cheese risotto with a hazelnut and rocket salad. The risotto was cooked perfectly and very satisfying. I shouldn't have eaten all of it, maybe then I could have fit in a bit of dessert...
Next up was slow cooked lamb. I think it was cooked for 24 hours or something and then rested it by the open fire. It was so good. I love roasted lamb and this was melt in your mouth. I would have preferred a bit more salad though..
The final savoury dish of the evening was a grapefruit, mandarin, Persian feta and hazelnuts. This was a combination I hadn't had before, but it all worked so well together. I was doing well up until this point and then I had a bit more of the feta and it just pushed me over the edge.
The dessert was a bombe alaska type dessert and when they brought the dessert to the table, they poured over some type of liqueur and lit it up. It was very cool.
All the wines were from around the region and were perfectly matched. We hadn't done much wine tasting yet, so it was good to get a taste of the wines before we tried to visit every winery in the yarra valley!
Frankie
Bella Vedere Cucina
Badgers Brook Estate
874 Maroondah Highway
Coldstream VICPh: 03 5962 6161Breakfast and Lunch served Wed - Sun from 8:30am
Dinner Friday and Saturday from 7:30pm
Bavarian Bier Cafe - Parramatta
We were in Sydney a couple of weeks ago for a wedding in the Parramatta area. I had not been to Parra for ages, about 8 years I think when I used to work there. It hadn't changed too much, but I did notice a lot of restaurants down the main street. Although maybe I am not used to the abundance of restaurants in coming from a place like Canberra. Bavarian Tasting Platter - $25.50White sausage with mash underneath
Crispy Pork belly and Schnitzel. The pork belly wasn't melt in your mouth tender, but it was pretty close and the crackling was delicious and crispy. The schnitzel was probably the tastiest one I have had too and was so moist. I would definitely order this again.
Garden Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette - $11 Wiener Schnitzel with Sauteed Potatoes and Herb Mayonnaise - $27
I did walk to the Parramatta Westfield too, which was massive, and I have never seen so many women with prams! I am not talking single prams either, most of them had space for at least 2 children.
It's always tough trying to find restaurants to go to when we come back to Sydney, as there are so many different ones I want to try. We always try and go to places that you can't get that type of food in, in Canberra, which is a lot.. Sydney is definitely spoilt for choice when it comes to food.
We hadn't had German food for ages, so while we were on our way to Sydney we called up the Bavarian bier cafe and booked a table for two!
The weather in Sydney that day was terrible, as it had been for all of the week, so it wasn't pleasant walking around the streets. Luckily our hotel was in the same street as the restaurant, so we didn't have far to go.
There are a couple of entrances to the place and we happened to walk in the wrong one where there was a function going on. I saw a bouncer there and thought it was quite strange for a restaurant to have a bouncer...
Once we found the right entrance, we were seated in a booth with very comfortable chairs. I could have sat there all afternoon, and then we got some beers! I love Weissbier and I usually get the mango flavoured one to start and then move onto the real stuff, but as I didn't want to have too much to drink, as we had a wedding to go to, I just got the one beer.
I wanted to get a pork knuckle, but I couldn't see it on the menu, unless I totally missed it, so I went with the tasting platter instead.
This was so good and well priced I thought! I loved all the different types of sausages on the plate and the sauerkraut was amazing. It all went so well together.
Crispy Pork belly and Schnitzel. The pork belly wasn't melt in your mouth tender, but it was pretty close and the crackling was delicious and crispy. The schnitzel was probably the tastiest one I have had too and was so moist. I would definitely order this again.
We also decided to get a salad, as the food was quite heavy that we needed something healthy to go with. The salad was nothing fancy, but had heaps of veggies in it which was great.
Frankie went with the classic veal schnitzel. He said it was lovely. I didn't try any cause I already had schnitzel on my tasting platter and didn't want to use up more space with more schnitzel! i tried the sauteed potatoes, but they weren't really to my liking.
Luckily just before the wedding the weather cleared up for the day. The ceremony was scheduled to be in a park, so no alternative arrangements had to be made!
Bavarian Bier Cafe - Parramatta
2 - 8 Phillip Street
Parramatta
Ph: 02 8836 1400
Choc Chip Cookies
I had seen a lot of recipes around all the blogs for choc chip cookies recently which got me wanting to make my own! Choc chip cookies are my favourite type of cookie, as long as they have got heaps of chocolate in them, and these ones do. I am not one to usually put anything else besides chocolate in my cookies either, so if you want to add anything else then it's up to you.
The recipe says it makes 16 cookies, but I think I got about 19 and they were big chunky cookies too, so if you like your cookies smaller (so you can eat more) then it will make about double this.
I usually have all these ingredients lying around at home which is great to satisfy my cravings!
All the ingredients ready to go
Creaming the butter and sugar
Whisking the egg before mixing into the batter
Adding the dry ingredients
Adding the choc chips!
Put on a tray lined with baking paper
All brown and gooey!
Choc Chip Cookies
125g Unsalted butter
185g (1 Cup) Brown Sugar
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 Egg, Lightly beaten
1 Tablespoon Milk
215g (1 3/4 cups) plain flour
1 Teaspoon Baking powder
250g (1 1/2 cups) Dark Chocolate Chips
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Line a couple of trays with baking paper
2. Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl using electric beaters. Mix in the vanilla and gradually add the egg beating well. Stir in the milk
3. Sift the baking powder and flour into a large bowl and then fold into the butter/sugar mixture. Stir in the dark choc chips.
4. Drop tablespoons onto a baking tray and bake in oven for about 15 minutes, or until turning brown. Cool on wire rack.
I love cookies on their own or mashed through some vanilla ice cream! yum!
Chinese Chicken Hotpot
During the week I love to make quick easy recipes that are tasty. I have a few Donna Hay books, but haven't cooked too much out of them, although this book I have cooked a few things from. Very good recipes in this book and very easy Ingredients for the chicken part of the dish
Mixture for topping all ready to go - this is what makes the dish. I would make double quantities of this.
I found this recipe for a Chinese chicken hotpot and thought it sounded healthy and easy to make, but didn't know how good it would be, so I didn't take any photos. When we sat down to eat it I was amazed at how all the flavours worked so well together and thought it was delicious.
So I thought I definitely have to make this again and take pictures, and so I did!
The first time I made the stock with Vegeta and the second time with the Chicken flavoured version of Vegeta. Definitely preferred it the first time, so if you are planning on using powdered stock, use Vegeta!
Also in the recipe the only vegetables it says to include are snow peas, but I added in some bok choy as well, so that it had more vegetables, and it worked very well.
Most of the recipes are for 2 people as well, which is good for us being a 2 person home. Although this recipe could easily feed 3, or maybe 4..
Everything in the pot ready to be dished out.
Ready to eat with a dash of Sriracha about to go on it!
Chinese Chicken Hotpot - Adapted from Donna Hay's No Time to Cook
2 1/2 Cups of Chicken Stock
3 Slices Ginger
3 Cloves Garlic, bruised and peeled
1 1/4 Cups Jasmine Rice
3 x 140g Chicken Thigh Fillets
100g Snow Peas, trimmed
Asian Greens (such as bok choy or gai lan)
Soy Sauce and Sriracha Sauce to serve
Onion Ginger Dressing
1 Green Onion trimmed and finely sliced
1 tablespoon finely grated ginger
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons chopped coriander
1/2 teaspoon sea salt flakes
To make onion ginger dressing, combine all ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.
Combine stock, ginger and garlic in a medium pot and bring to the boil. Add rice, return to the boil. Top with the chicken and cover with a tight fitting lid. Cook for 10 minutes over low heat.
Remove pot from heat, add the snow peas and asian greens and allow to stand for 5 minutes or until all the liquid has been absorbed.
Spoon over the onion ginger dressing, sauces and serve.
Serves 2 (It can serve 3 people really well).
Monday, January 10, 2011
Chile Con Carne
One pot meals are my favourite thing to cook, if I haven't mentioned it already. I love it when you can chuck everything in a pot and leave it to cook until you are ready, and if you aren't ready then you can just leave it in there until you are.
This meal is nothing fancy, but it is very tasty, especially when you add some sour cream and avocado at the end.
I think next time I make it I will use chuck steak instead, so there are tender chunks of meat in the sauce.
Start off with some onion and garlic
Spices - Cayenne, Cumin and Coriander - the three C's
Some Beef Mince - this mince was really lean, which I didn't like. Make sure you get some juicy mince.
Throw in some tomato and kidney beans, and then add Jalapenos at the end. I love Jalapenos
Wait for a while
Then eat! Not the most glorious looking photo, I know. But it was very good.
Chile Con Carne
Ingredients (serves 4)
1 tbs peanut oil
1 brown onion, halved, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tbs ground cumin
1 tbs ground coriander
2 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
600g lean beef mince
1 x 400g can Italian diced tomatoes
2 tbs tomato paste
1 x 300g can red kidney beans, drained, rinsed
2 tbs drained, chopped jalapeno chillies (Old El Paso brand) (optional)
Salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 x 250g carton light sour cream
3 green shallots, ends trimmed, diagonally thinly sliced
2 tbs chopped fresh coriander leaves
Method
1. Heat oil in a non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic and cook for 3 minutes or until onion softens. Add ground cumin, ground coriander and cayenne pepper (omit pepper if cooking for kids) and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.
2. Add mince and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon to break up any lumps, for 5 minutes or until it changes colour. Stir in diced tomato, tomato paste and kidney beans.
3. Reduce heat to medium and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes or until mixture thickens. Remove from heat and stir in chilli (omit if cooking for kids). Taste and season with salt and pepper.
4. Meanwhile, combine the sour cream, three-quarters of the green shallots and the coriander leaves in a small bowl. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
5. Spoon chilli con carne into bowls. Top with a dollop of the sour cream mixture. Sprinkle with remaining green shallots. Serve immediately.
Creamy Watercress Soup
Watercress has long been known as one of the 'superfoods' of the world, containing more iron than spinach, more calcium than milk and three times as much vitamin E as lettuce.
I think that's a pretty good reason to eat watercress!
One of my favourite books to cook from is the Australian Woman's weekly COOK! book. I find most of the recipes easy to cook and taste delicious. I also have the other big blue book called KITCHEN which I use a lot too. I am yet to get the BAKE one though, which I am sure has some great recipes in it also.
There are some really good soup recipes in this book. I want to make all of them! I have made a few, but the last one I made was for lunch one weekend. We had a heavy breakfast, so just wanted something light to carry us over until dinner. This soup was perfect and also provided us with more lunches for the week.
First gather all the ingredients together
Then saute the onion and leek
Add in the potatoes
Add in some stock - chicken or vegetable
Wait until it cools a bit and then process in batches in the blender
Serve with some crusty bread and a dash of EVOO!
Creamy Watercress Soup - adapted from Woman's Weekly COOK!
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1 Brown Onion
1 Leek, sliced thinly
3 Medium Potatoes (600g), chopped coarsely
1 litre chicken stock
350g Watercress, trimmed
1/3 cup sour cream (I didn't have any)
1. Heat oil in large saucepan; cook onion and leek, stirring over low heat, until vegetables soften. Add potato and stock; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer covered about 20 minutes or until potato is almost tender
2. Reserve 4 watercress sprigs; stir remaining watercress into pan. Simmer soup, uncovered about 5 minutes or until potato is tender
3. Blend or process soup, in batches, until smooth. Reheat soup in same pan then divide among serving bowls; top each with 1 tablespoon of the sour cream and then a reserved watercress sprig.
Serves 4
Chocolate Cheesecake Raspberry Brownies
I have seen this recipe a couple of times on other sites and it always looked so good. I had just bought some nice organic frozen raspberries at the markets, so thought this would be a good time to use them.
I love brownies and I love cheesecake, so this was definitely a hit for me!
The photos were taken on my Iphone, as my camera had no battery left, so they are not the best quality.
First you make the cheesecake mixture
Then you make the brownie mixture
Weigh out the strawberries, then it's time for layering
Spread out 2/3 of the brownie mixture on the base
Put the whole of the cheesecake mixture on top of that, then drop spoonfuls of the brownie mixture and spread it around so it creates a marbling effect.
Put the raspberries on top of that and then bake it in the oven
Baked and ready to be cooled and then cut into pieces. The final product! It was very yummy. You can serve it with cream, ice cream, or just have it plain.
Choc Cheesecake Raspberry Brownies
Ingredients:
1 cup flour, sifted
2 cups sugar, divided
200g butter, cut into pieces
200g dark chocolate, chopped
150g raspberries, fresh or frozen
400g cream cheese, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
5 eggs, room temperature
For the brownie batter:
Preheat oven to 180ºC. Butter a 8?x 12? (20 x 30) baking tray. Line with baking paper.
Beat the softened butter with 1 cup of sugar until slightly fluffy. Add 3 eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water (or in a microwave on 30 sec bursts). Let cool slightly. Stir into the butter and sugar mixture. Add the sieved flour and carefully fold it in.
For the cheesecake batter:
Put the cream cheese in the bowl of your stand mixer. Add the 2 remaining eggs, 1 cup of sugar, and 1 tsp vanilla extract. Beat until it’s a smooth, creamy mixture.
Putting it all together:
Spread 2/3 of the chocolate mix on the bottom of your baking tray. Pour the cream cheese on top and spread it out evenly. Now drop little pieces of chocolate mix on top of the cream cheese. Lightly work it in with a fork—like you’re marbling a cake. Push the raspberries into the cream cheese.
Bake at 350°F (180ºC) for 40 to 45 minutes or until the cake feels set when gently touched in the center. Let the brownies cool off completely, preferably overnight, before cutting them in squares.
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