Melbourne Larder

My chocolate cake quest continues

2010-10-05T20:23:00.007+11:00

I cannot resist a chocolate cake recipe. Just when I think it is not possible to add yet another one to my burgeoning files - there must be at least 100 chocolate cake recipes already there - along comes a new one.

My latest cake recipe comes from New Zealand food writer and author Annabel Langbein. My friend John, a secret foodie at heart, has discovered Annabel through her series screening on ABC 1, and he kindly sent me a link to her website, thinking I would enjoy it. And I have. Annabel has travelled extensively and written 10 cookbooks, one of which, Assemble - Sensational Food Made Simple, won the Gourmand World Cookbook Award for "Best in the World for Easy Recipes".

Annabel also features recipes on her website, one of which is for "Magic Chocolate Cake and Chocolate Ganache". This is a brilliant cake, which can be made either as one large cake, two medium cakes, or 10 small ones. It has a reasonably long list of ingredients but you throw them into a food processor, whiz for 30 seconds, pour into a cake tin and then bake, making it possibly one of the easiest cakes ever to make. As Annabel notes in her recipe introduction, "If you have never made a cake before, let this be your first. It is so simple and the results are satisfyingly impressive."

The secret ingredient in this mix is 100g grated carrot (or pumpkin), which adds a lovely moistness to the cooked texture. It also has mixed spice, cinnamon, golden syrup and espresso coffee, which sounds like a lot of flavours to pack into one cake but it really works, adding a lovely spicy undertone to the chocolate notes. I encourage you to head over to Annabel's website to check out this cake recipe, as well as the other recipes and features.

Slice of heaven

2010-09-27T17:17:00.006+10:00

My family's first stop at the Royal Melbourne Show is always at the Country Women's Association stand for Devonshire tea. Textbook perfect scones, baked fresh that morning by one of the CWA's army of talented bakers, accompanied by a small pot of thick cream and some strawberry jam, is one of life's wonderful little indulgences.

This year, I explored the sale stall at the back of the room, with knitted tea cosies, printed tea towels and recipe books all jumbled together. When I picked up The A to Z of Cooked and Uncooked Slices, I knew this was one purchase I had to make. It was impossible to resist seventy pages of good old-fashioned slices, most made with plain ingredients found in any self-respecting country larder, and designed to feed hungry mouths in search of a sweet treat, whether hard-working farmers or children after school.

Chocolate, caramel, apricots, cherries, ginger, walnuts, coconut, coffee, dates, hazelnuts, lemon and passionfruit are just some of the stars of this book. The beauty of slices, particularly old-fashioned ones, is that they turn simple ingredients into something special with a minimum of fuss and effort.

It was difficult to choose which slice to bake first but I narrowed down my list to those with ingredients I already had in my larder: cherry nut slice and coffee streusel slice. I love the short no-nonsense tone of the recipes, which assumes a large degree of knowledge by the cook (but one that was perfectly in tune with the times - any self-respecting home cook would have known this information). These slices are suitable for a morning tea at home or they can be dressed up and taken out for company - in my case, these slices went perfectly with coffee during half-time at a friend's AFL Grand Final party.

Cherry nut slice
Recipe from Isobel Green, Member of Honour, CWA Victoria branch

Base
1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup icing sugar
125g butter

Rub butter into flour and sugar and knead well. Press into 18cm x 28cm greased tin.

Topping
Combine 2 eggs and 1/2 cup sugar into a bowl and beat well. Add 1 cup coconut, 30g chopped walnuts or pecan nuts and 30g chopped glace cherries. Add 1/2 cup sifted self-raising flour and mix well. Pour over prepared base and bake in a moderate oven (160 to 180 degrees, not fan-forced) for 25-30 minutes. Ice with pale pink icing (made with 2 cups icing sugar mixed with enough boiling water to be spreadable) and sprinkle with chopped walnuts,

Spring bounty

2010-09-20T13:11:00.004+10:00

The weather has been wintry but our gardens know that spring is here, with buds and blossom shooting out from trees and spring vegetables appearing in the markets.

On a visit to the Victoria Market, I was rugged up in a winter coat and scarf to keep the icy wind at bay, but my trolley was full of spring freshness: sweet corn, asparagus, leeks, baby potatoes, peas, pineapple, strawberries and melons. Normally I rush around the market, my mind racing with ideas, and buy far too much produce that I won't have the time to prepare, or the crowds to devour.

But this time I was restrained and concentrated just on dinner, which had all the freshness of spring, even if the gale outside my kitchen window was suggesting a thick soup or stew would be more appropriate. From the meat hall, I found a perfect little spring lamb roast, with a macadamia and sun-dried tomato stuffing, for $12. It roasted in the oven while I steamed baby potatoes and tossed them with some Warrnambool butter and home-grown parsley. The final touch was some lightly steamed asparagus and dinner was served - minimum effort and maximum flavour.

Morning sun blazes at night at Nosh's third wine dinner

2010-09-07T21:50:00.006+10:00

A boutique Mornington Peninsula vineyard, Morning Sun, was the star of Nosh @ Newport's third wine dinner. The award-winning cool climate wines are produced from two vineyards, located 1km apart, at Main Ridge. The vines are planted on elevated slopes facing the morning sun, which creates a long and even ripening period each day with no direct exposure to harsh afternoon sunlight. The main varieties produced are pinot noir, chardonnay and pinot grigio.

At the age of 70, Mario Toniolo fulfilled a childhood fantasy when he began the winery in 1995 and he can still be found pottering around the vineyard most days.

The wine dinner began with a wild mushroom soup shot with sherry and goat's cheese croute, paired with a 2009 semillon. The intensely flavoured soup, full of wild forest fungal notes, was nicely balanced by the crisp floral and citrus bouquet of the wine.

It was followed by another dish packed full of flavours: crab with celeriac and asparagus remoulade on potato spring onion pancake with hazelnut oil. The 2008 chardonnay matched to this dish was robust enough to stand up to these strong flavours and not be overwhelmed by them.

The next dish was a blend of sweet and savoury: a confit duck leg with red quinoa salad, cranberry, brazil nuts and onion jam. The salad was light and fresh but packed full of flavour, aided by fresh parsley and coriander, with the nuts adding a delightful crunch. The matched wine was, naturally, a pinot noir; a classic pairing.

Palates were given a break with a sharp and cleansing green tea, vodka and lime granita, before moving onto another main course: beef cheek bourguignon with cauliflower puree and celery watercress salad. The beef cheeks were so tender they flaked at the touch of a fork. A rich, robust shiraz, made with grapes sourced from Heathcote, was a match made in heaven.

A farmhouse clothbound cheddar from West Country England was paired with the same shiraz, which worked equally well.

The final dish was an unusual, and not entirely successful, dessert of caramel pumpkin pannacotta with ginger and chilli. It paired well with a botrytis from Plunkett but the strong ginger and chilli notes meant this dish would work better as a finale to an Asian-inspired meal.

Morning Sun is one of the lesser-known Mornington Peninsula vineyards but it is well worth seeking out to try some of its impressive wines.

For more information about Nosh's wine dinners, contact Nosh on 9391 6404.

New York coffee break: Ground Support

2010-06-08T16:53:00.003+10:00

Shopping and sight-seeing around SoHo can be a serious and time-consuming business, so a decent coffee stop is very welcome. And Ground Support in West Broadway is just the ticket.

Light, airy and open, Ground Support was once an art galley and funky artwork still adorns its walls. It attracts a mixed crowd of locals and tourists, who cram inside at rough wooden tables, or spill outside into the adjoining courtyard.

A smooth cafe latte is strong and nutty, or there's single-origin Chemex drip coffee or cold-brew iced coffee. Sandwiches are artfully wrapped in brown paper tied with string and are big enough to share between two.

Ground Support
399 West Broadway (Spring St)
SoHo

New York coffee break: 88 Orchard

2010-06-01T22:08:00.006+10:00

While waiting for our tour of the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, we stumbled across 88 Orchard, a little cafe on the corner of Orchard and Broome Streets in the Lower East Side. Once one of the most miserable areas in New York, its tenements crowded with recently arrived migrants, this little pocket is now gentrified, with cafes and expensive clothing stores occupying the ground floors of renovated tenement buildings with beautifully artistic and decorative wrought-iron balconies and fire stairs. It's difficult to reconcile this pretty area, its streets crowded with expensively dressed locals and tourists, with the misery experienced by some of the migrants who moved here in the 1800s. (If you are visiting New York, I highly recommend a visit to the Lower East Side Tenement Museum - one of the highlights of our trip).

88 Orchard is a two-storey cafe, with the serving area and counter on the ground floor and more tables available downstairs, which was fully occupied by people tapping away on laptops on our visit.

The coffee is served in coloured mugs that are more like tea-cups than coffee cups. Our cafe lattes had a chocolatey aroma and the milk was creamy. The sandwiches and salads looked enticing but we didn't have time to eat before our tour. This is a good little cafe to pass the time while waiting to visit the museum.

88 Orchard Cafe
88 Orchard St (at Broome St)
Lower East Side

New York coffee break: Iris Cafe

2010-05-27T14:34:00.009+10:00

Iris Cafe is a perfect little neighbourhood cafe. Situated in a pretty corner of Brooklyn Heights, with tree-lined streets of beautiful old brownstones, Iris's little shopfront windows almost blend into the surroundings.
Although the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway is just behind this residential pocket, it is a quiet area and the traffic noise is just a low buzz in the background.

Inside, the French-accented decor is perfectly suited to the pressed metal ceiling and exposed mellow brick walls. Gilt frames hold blackboards featuring the menu, while the subtle yet pretty burgundy-brown striped laminate on the tables proves that practicality doesn't have to be ugly. Artworks includes artisan black-and-white photos of busy hands, kneading bread and holding grapes or quiche.

The simple menu focuses on breakfast and lunch dishes. Maple granola is crunchy and sweet, while the egg salad baguette is stylishly wrapped in brown paper tied with string. The salad is fresh, with plenty of egg mixed with tangy mayonnaise and lettuce. A highlight is the sticky cinnamon bun: soft bread loaded with plenty of cinnamon flavour but it is not tooth-achingly sweet.

Cafe lattes are served in huge cups almost the size of soup bowls. Thankfully, the lattes are made with double shots, so there is a good taste of strong espresso, which is not overwhelmed by the milk.

Iris Cafe is a perfect little neighbourhood cafe. Another homely touch is added by the "Please place your dishes here" sign in the corner (where patrons dutifully deposit their dirty crockery). If I could replicate one New York cafe in its entirety back home in Melbourne, it is this one. If you're planning on walking the Brooklyn Bridge to Manhattan, allow an extra hour and come here first for breakfast or lunch. You won't be sorry.

Iris Cafe
20 Columbia Place (Joralemon St)
Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn

New York review: Bubby's

2010-05-24T17:23:00.008+10:00

Honest home-style cooking might not sound like the best enticement for a cafe but Bubby's proves there is a market for food that combines the best of home cooking with a chef's flair.

Brunch is the main attraction at Bubby's in Tribeca (there is also an outlet in DUMBO, Brooklyn). With just 100 seats, chef Ron Silver says Bubby's still manages to serve brunch to more than 1400 people each weekend, whether they are locals, celebrities or tourists.

The menu's focus is on American cookery from every region. Ron Silver says he has collected recipes over the years, many of which are family heirlooms handed down for generations. "My goal has been to create, with a few changes, home cooking the way I remember it from my childhood," he writes in his Bubby's Brunch Cookbook.

The breakfast menu includes Bubby's famous sour cream pancakes, wild Maine blueberry pancakes, egg dishes using free-range eggs from Shady Maple Farm, Anson Mills whole hominy organic Carolina grits and homefries.

We opt for two plates of Bubby's Breakfast: two eggs, homefries or grits, bacon and toast. The servings are huge, with four pieces of toast, but the food is well-cooked and delicious. The grits are satisfying smooth while the homefries are tasty and crispy. It is an excellent way to start the day and it's easy to see why Bubby's has been embraced by locals since it opened in 1990.

Best of all, you can buy Bubby's Brunch Cookbook or Bubby's Homemade Pies on your way out and recreated your own little piece of Bubby's at home.

Bubby's, 120 Hudson St, Tribeca
Tue-Sun open 24 hours (Sat and Sun brunch 9am-4pm)
Mon open until midnight

New York coffee break: Maialino

2010-05-21T06:57:00.008+10:00

If you want glamour with your coffee, Maialino is the place to go. Located inside the Gramercy Park Hotel, opposite the fenced, pretty and private Gramercy Park (only people residing around the park have a key), Maialino is a Roman-style trattoria that is winning plaudits for its food.

The long angular space, which opens off the hotel's lobby, has bay windows overlooking the park. There is an elegant bar, with rustic wooden tables and weathered floorboards, while things are a little more upmarket in the back section, where the tables are covered in cloths. The separate stations for bread, salumi, cheese and dessert are buzzing with busy waiters.

Although more known for its food, Maialino takes its coffee seriously. There is a pour-over drip bar set-up in the morning, while espressos and cafe lattes are served all day. Late on a Thursday afternoon, the bar area is filled with suits drinking wine, and the back restaurant section is almost full.

While we wait for coffee, a waitress brings us a complementary basket of grissini, olive rolls and sourdough bread, along with a bowl of fruity olive oil. The cafe lattes, served in large mugs, arrive shortly afterwards. Adorned with a perfect rosetta, the lattes are creamy but have a strong and chocolatey afterkick of caffeine.

Maialino is definitely worth a visit if you're in the area; next time we'll allow more time and make sure we stay for food as well.

Gramercy Park Hotel
2 Lexington Ave, New York
http://www.maialinonyc.com/

Absolute Bagels - an absolute must in New York

2010-05-20T18:57:00.011+10:00

Although bagels were invented in Europe, they are synonymous with New York and it's worth seeking out some local examples while visiting.

While many bagels are just baked, New York bagels are boiled first, then baked, and they come in many varieties: plain, poppy seed, sesame seed, cinnamon and blueberry are just some of the versions on offer.

Debate over where to get the best bagels in New York is fierce and H&H Bagels on the Upper West Side is usually named as one of the contenders. We did visit H&H and got a cinnamon bagel to munch on as we headed to Joe's for a coffee and then to Central Park. The downside at H&H for us was that their bagels are served unfilled (all the better to go with the feast of goodies available from Zabar's across the road), but we wanted ours ready to go.

Absolute Bagels at 2708 Broadway (between 107th and 108th Streets) on the Upper West Side was recommended to us. A short subway ride from our Midtown hotel got us there at 9.30am, where we found all nine tables packed, along with a queue and a regular stream of take-away customers. Fortunately service is quick and turn-over is high and we snagged a table before we even had a chance to order our bagels. I chose the quintessential New York bagel: a lox smear (cream cheese mixed with smoked salmon), while Adam opted for bacon and cheese.

The bagels have great vertical height and are evenly balanced between the bagel layer and the smear, which is a misleading name - this was a huge hunk of smooth cream cheese, mixed with very finely chopped smoked salmon. The bagels have a crispy surface but are soft and chewy inside and a delight to eat. Adam enjoys his bacon and cheese bagel, but I found the orange-coloured small dices of cheese off-putting.

Service is brisk, bordering on curt, and it pays to know what you are after before you get in the queue, but the dumb questions from bagel novices such as ourselves were answered patiently and our bagels were ready in double-quick time. The internet is littered with reviews naming Absolute Bagels as the best bagels in New York. We didn't try any others to compare but we were completely satisfied and this will be one of the first visits on our next trip.

Absolute Bagels
2708 Broadway (between 107th and 108th Streets)
Upper West Side

New York coffee break: Think Coffee

2010-05-19T19:52:00.008+10:00

Think Coffee is a cafe that many university students would love to have as their local. Open from 7am to 11.30pm weekdays (from 8am on weekends), Think's three outlets offer so much more than good coffee made from Fair Trade organic coffee that is roasted in Brooklyn. Wine and beer, cheese platters, a good range of teas, baked goods (including muffins, cookies, brownies, pies and cakes), and a menu featuring sandwiches, salads and soups are all part of Think's package. Events, including art exhibitions and bands, are also held, while barista classes are offered at the Think Lab.

Think's outlet at 248 Mercer Street in Greenwich Village is large and packed with students from nearby NYU, many who are busy tapping away on laptops. Others are enjoying a glass of wine at the marble bar area or a coffee while they discuss homework. French club music is playing and the lighting is low, even at 5pm.

The barista is slow to make the coffee but he is very careful and precise in his brewing and our cafe lattes are sweet and nutty, with a thick, creamy texture and crema. The atmosphere here is as much an attraction as the coffee and you may find yourself lingering much longer than you planned.

Think Coffee
248 Mercer Street (West Fourth Street), Greenwich Village
1 Bleecker Street (the Bowery), NoHo
123 Fourth Avenue (East 12th Street), Greenwich Village
thinkcoffeenyc.com

New York institution: Katz's Deli

2010-05-17T14:51:00.008+10:00

Some places become famous and then turn into overpriced tourist traps. Listed in guidebooks, they still pack in the tourists but locals shun them.

Katz's Deli, which has been operating since 1888, is famous and touristy (especially since it was the venue for Meg Ryan's famous scene in When Harry Met Sally - the table where the scene was filmed is marked with a sign) but there's also a large number of locals who visit here too.

When you arrive, you are given a little ticket that you need to hang onto, as you'll need to show it to the cashier when you exit. You can line up at the long cafeteria-style bench, where up to 10 men are kept busy slicing and chopping meat and preparing sandwiches, or you can sit at a table and get wait-service. The room is vast and the decor is minimal: stark white lighting, plain laminated tables and walls adorned with photos of celebrities who have eaten here over the years.

We sat at the wait-service tables and were very quickly served with a complimentary plate of pickled dills and cucumbers. Adam opted for the half-sandwich (pastrami) and soup (split pea), while I chose the Reuben.

The split pea soup arrives quickly. It's a huge bowl - a meal in itself - and is impressively thick and full of flavour. Katz's boasts that its sandwiches are "the largest and best you'll ever try ... we dare you to finish one." It's no idle boast: even a half-serve of the famous pastrami sandwich is almost too much. Two thick slices of fresh rye bread are kept apart by a 10cm stack of thick, juicy pastrami slices. The Reuben is even bigger, piled with corned beef, melted Swiss cheese and sauerkraut.

This is not the world's greatest food but it does not aim to be. It is well-cooked and well-made deli food and it is a New York experience. We enjoyed our meal and it was great fun to eat at a place we felt we knew because of its reputation (and its film cameo). Of course the serving sizes are totally over the top but that is part of the deal and you can always get your leftovers packed into a doggie bag (although I think they taste best when eaten fresh at Katz's). It's definitely worth placing Katz's on your "to do" list.

Katz's Deli
205 East Houston St

New York coffee break: La Colombe Torrefaction

2010-05-16T19:54:00.007+10:00

Coffee is unashamedly the focus in the streamlined and minimalist La Colombe Torrefaction store in SoHo. There's no merchandise and little branding - just slick walls that point customers towards the coffee counter. As owners Todd Carmichael and Jean-Philippe Iberti point out on their website: "[We have] an unapologetic devotion to tradition not trend - a place where taste always trumps novelty."

La Colombe Torrefaction is a coffee roasting company based in Philadelphia, with a focus on medium and dark roasts. There are two outlets in New York: one in Lafayette St, SoHo, and the other in Church St, TriBeCa.

In the SoHo store, there are a few seats along one wall but most of the traffic is for take-away. A lot of customers were opting for a coffee that seemed a strange concoction to our eyes: a tall plastic glass filled with black coffee that is topped up with milk and lots of sugar sachets by the customer. We opted for cafe lattes, which were well-made and creamy, although the coffee was surprisingly light for a medium-to-dark roast and is perhaps more suited to an espresso than a milk-based coffee. This area of SoHo seemed a little quieter to us than the areas between West Broadway and Broadway streets, but it is worth seeking out this little shop, especially if you are in the area visiting Balthazar's or the MOMA Design Shop.

La Colombe Torrefaction
270 Lafayette Street (Prince Street), SoHo
www.lacolombe.com

New York breakfast: Clinton St Baking Company

2010-05-14T20:59:00.011+10:00

In a city of 8 million people, queues at peak times are not unexpected. But at mid-morning mid-week? This is normally a quiet time where diners can be almost guaranteed a table the minute they walk in.

At 10.30am on Wednesday, it was almost impossible to get in the door of Clinton St Baking Company for the amount of people milling around waiting for a table. A waitress quickly took our name and told us there would be a 30-minute wait. This suited as, we could visit Cafe Pedlar for coffee (situated in the same street at no 17) or the nearby Thompson Park, which apparently featured in Die Hard 2.

When we returned for our table, the crowd had not lessened and hopefuls were still putting their names down for a table. Clinton St Baking Company does not take reservations for brunch, and seats just 32, so this is the only way to get a table. I can't imagine what the queues are like on weekends!

If you do queue, don't despair as the wait is definitely worth it. Clinton St Baking Company has won a slew of awards and recognition, including "Best breakfast or brunch" by Time Out NY and "Best Pancakes" by New York Magazine, as well as being nominated for "Top 10 brunches" by the New York Observer.

The inside of the cafe is light and airy, with sunlight streaming in from the large windows looking streetside. It is busy and the place is buzzing with satisfied diners. Waitstaff whisk past with plate after plate loaded with meals and turnover is quick. As enticing as the brunch/breakfast menu sounded - buttermilk biscuit sandwich, truffle fried eggs and asparagus, southern breakfast or Spanish scramble, anyone? - pancakes was always going to be our choice.

But first up, to get us in the mood, was a decadently rich classic extra thick chocolate milkshake, made with ice-cream from The Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory.

It was a short wait for our plate of heaven: three pancakes drizzled with Wild Maine blueberries or banana and walnuts, with a dish of warm maple syrup butter on the side. The pancakes, almost the size of the serving plate, are paradoxically fluffy yet substantial: the texture is delicately light but it will be a very hungry diner who will be able to finish all three. The thick warm maple syrup butter has a dulce du leche flavour and is just as good being dipped into as it is drizzled over the pancakes.

So popular are the pancakes that they're on the menu all day - dinner is also served here. The cake display cabinet and dessert menu is also loaded with treasures that we unfortunately did not have the appetite to sample: an impressive-looking black and white layer cake, blueberry cheesecake, sour cherry lattice pie and classic hot fudge sundae.

In good news for New York visitors like me, who can't pop down for a regular fix of the best pancakes I've ever tasted, Clinton St Baking Company is scheduled to publish its own cookbook in November 2010.

Clinton St Baking Company
4 Clinton St (between East Houston and Stanton Streets)
www.clintonstbaking.com

New York coffee break: Cafe Pedlar

2010-05-13T17:30:00.007+10:00

For most of its history, the Lower East Side has been a poor, working-class neighbourhood, providing the first home in the United States for generations of immigrants.

But in the past 10 years, the Lower East Side, like many inner-urban areas of major cities around the world, has undergone gentrification. And with gentrification comes coffee.

Cafe Pedlar's Manhattan outpost is in Clinton St, which is sandwiched between Williamsburg and Manhattan Bridges. Clinton St itself is well-known for its dining establishments (including Clinton St Baking Co, famous for its pancakes). The street (which is easily reached by catching the F subway line to East Broadway) has a nice neighbourhood feel to it and there's an eclectic mix of shops. The street hasn't been taken over entirely by stylish cafes: little neighbourhood shops, such as a dry-cleaner, a newsagent and a hairdresser (advertising for braiders with experience) still fulfill the needs of local residents.

Cafe Pedlar has a very Melbourne feel. It is long and narrow, with exposed brick walls, but it's not dark, as light streams in from the large front windows. Shelves holding bottles of wine speak of its other life as a wine bar.

The cafe uses coffee beans from Stumptown (an independent coffee roaster and retailer based in Portland, Oregon) and all drinks are made with double shots - which is just as well, as the cups are twice the size of a standard Australian cup.

Intricate double rosettas on the cafe lattes make a pretty touch. The latte is quite milky but there is a strong, dark cocoa undertone that rounds out the creamy milk nicely.

Danishes, rolls, pretzels, tarts, muffins, cookies and cakes feature on the simple pastry-based menu. This is a great neighbourhood cafe, perfect for locals, but well worth a visit if you're in the area.

Cafe Pedlar
17 Clinton St (East Houston St), Lower East Side
210 Court St (Warren St), Cobble Hill, Brooklyn
www.cafepedlar.com

The perfect neighbourhood bakery

2010-05-11T21:14:00.011+10:00

You can smell Levain Bakery before you see it. The unmistakable odour of fresh yeast and hot-out-of-the-oven cookies wafts up from the underground bakery and out into the street.

Located in one of the Upper West Side's many leafy streets, Levain is an artisanal bakery that opened 15 years ago. Its French-style sign at the 167 West 74th Street site is understated but the delicious smells mean you won't miss the subterranean bakery. The bulk of the shop is given over to the kitchen, and you can perch at the little counter and watch the bread and cookies being made.

Levain Bakery is best known for its divine six-ounce (approximately 200g) cookies but it offers a full range of bakery goods, including bread - sourdough loaves and rolls, ciabatta, wholemeal walnut raisin rolls and olive bread - pizza slices, muffins and cakes (sour cream coffee cake on our first visit).

Pizza slices ($7.75) make a fabulous late morning breakfast. We chose the caramelised onion with parmesan reggiano. The crispy, flat bread base was generously layered with sweet dark onions and melted drops of parmesan. The staff thoughtfully cut it into four pieces for us and we ate it in raptures on the park bench outside the bakery.

A sweet treat was next and we chose a sourdough brioche stuffed with Vahlrona chocolate ($3). The dense and chewy texture of the brioche perfectly offset the richness of the dark chocolate. It is served either hot or cold - we chose it cold but next time I would try it warmed.

While the breakfast was delicious and I was keen to return to sample more goods, the real reason for our visit was the Levain Bakery cookies ($4), which are justifiably celebrated. They come in four varieties: chocolate chip walnut, dark chocolate chocolate chip, dark chocolate peanut butter chip and oatmeal raisin. Each cookie is at least an inch thick and about four inches in diameter. The biscuits are decadent - each chewy mouthful delivers a chunk of chocolate and walnut, or a nutty undertaste to the rich chocolate. The double chocolate version was extremely rich and we definitely could not devour it in one sitting. In fact, the cookies were perfect for all-day nibbling - a piece here and a piece there were often enough to satisfy any sugar cravings.

Unfortunately, but understandably, Levain Bakery does not publish its recipes but many people have tried to come up with their own version, which is available on the bakery website (http://www.levainbakery.com/)

While in New York, we tried to visit as many new places as possible. But we returned several times to Levain Bakery for its cookies. I only wish I could have brought lots home with me!

Levain Bakery
167 West 74th Street, Upper West Side
Mon-Sat 8am-7pm, Sun 9am-7pm
There is also a Hamptons outlet, open seasonally - see www.levainbakery.com for more details

New York coffee break: Joe's

2010-05-10T05:42:00.015+10:00

Mention the words "New York" and "coffee chain" in the same sentence and serious coffee drinkers will shudder, expecting weak, watery drinks or, worse, coffee disguised with sugary syrups.

But Joe's, a boutique coffee chain of five stores, is different. This is a company that treats coffee seriously. First, the beans are sourced from Ecco Caffe, an artisan coffee roasting company based in California. Second, coffee classes, including espresso fundamentals, milk steaming techniques and a cupping series, are offered at Joe's University (13th Street, Waverly Place and Columbus Ave stores). Private classes and home visits are also available.

Joe's opened as Joe the Art of Coffee in 2003 but renamed itself to plain Joe last year. It also opened its fifth store, on the Upper West Side, "bringing serious coffee to an underserved neighborhood", according to the New York Times, which nominated Joe's as one of its 10 outstanding coffee bars that "not only produce extraordinary coffee at the highest standards, but also do so with consistency day after day."

The Upper West Side store is at 514 Columbus Ave (West 85th Street).

It is small but has a great vibe and makes good use of the limited space available - a tiny office alcove is hidden behind one of the blackboards behind the counter, reached by a small pull-up ladder. About a dozen people can be seated at the tiny tables, just big enough for a laptop and a coffee cup. There's also two park benches out the front that adds some extra seating - best on warm days only. Central Park is also nearby if, like us, you find Joe's is filled to capacity when you visit.

Coffee is made with a house blend or single origin blends are available. The house blend makes an excellent cafe latte - a nutty aroma gives way to a smooth and creamy drink that slips down effortlessly. Despite the coffees being larger than Australia - the smallest one is served in a 12oz cup - there is still a strong caffeine taste and the espresso is not overwhelmed by too much milk.

Our second visit to Joe's was at 11am on Sunday and we had to join a queue stretching out the door. Parents with prams, babies and dogs dominated the park benches out the front and there was barely room to move inside, which was crammed with joggers from nearby Central Park fuelling up after a run. But the baristas worked overtime and, despite there being at least 10 people ahead of us, we waited only 10 minutes for our coffee, which was just as excellent as our first cup.

Another Joe's outlet is in the Graybar Passage of the Grand Central Terminal (89 East 42nd Street). It is a tiny little shop that serves take-away only, but the quality across Joe's stores is consistent and our coffee from this store also hit the spot.

Joe's can be found at five locations:
514 Columbus Avenue (West 85th Street), Upper West Side
89 East 42nd Street (Grand Central Terminal)
141 Waverly Place (Sixth Avenue), Greenwich Village
9 East 13th Street (University Place), Greenwich Village
405 West 23rd Street (Ninth Avenue), Chelsea
See joetheartofcoffee.com for more information.

Where to eat? Our first night in New York

2010-05-09T11:56:00.010+10:00

On a cold and wet Monday, Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village is looking far from the appealing, vibrant area that was described to us. Students mill around neon-lit entrances to pubs that reek of stale beer. Minetta Tavern, our planned destination, looks closed but the door opens to reveal a venue too crowded to fit us in anyway.

But, a few doors up MacDougal Street, we find Hummus Place. It's small and dimly lit but it looks inviting: the "Zagat Rated" sticker and only one empty table seal the deal.

It is tiny inside: barely three metres wide and a kitchen area that is almost the same size as the dining room mean that this place truly fits the cliche of "shoebox-sized". It seats about 24 people, with two-person tables dominating. The simple decor - just a few coloured platters on the wall - mean there is little distraction from the excellent food.

As the name suggests, this is a specialist venue. Of the eight entrees (mains), four are hummus-based. But don't be put off - this is hummus like you've never had before. It is gloriously thick, with a rich, complex layering of flavours that puts supermarket versions to shame. It is served with a basket of puffy, home-baked pita bread that will be replenished as often as you need. Hummus masabacha ($6.95) is plain hummus, topped with whole chickpeas and a dusting of paprika. Other hummus dishes come topped with whole fava beans and a boiled egg, tahini or sauteed mushrooms and onions. The unadorned version allows the pure flavours to shine through, but the caramelised mushrooms and onions add an extra layer that offsets the richness of the creamy hummus.

Before you get to hummus though, be sure to sample some of the five appetisers (entrees) on offer. Labane ($3.95) - a dish of strained yoghurt cheese with za'atar and olive oil - is a dish that sounds simple - perhaps even off-putting to some - on paper. But the description does not do it justice: the texture is similar to that of thick, whipped cream without the heaviness, and there is an underlying flavour reminiscent of spring in its fresh lightness. This sublime dish is perfect in every way and it is impossible to stop at just one scoop.

The roasted eggplant ($3.95), topped with tahini and lemon dressing, is also worth trying: the eggplant melts in the mouth, while the tahini topping adds a subtle smokiness.

Another specialty of Hummus Place is the shakshuka ($7.95), a rich stew of tomatoes, roasted capsicum, onions and eggplants topped with two fried (organic) eggs. This is a hearty and satisfying dish, yet it doesn't leave you feeling heavy or full afterwards.

There is a dinner special served Sunday to Thursday, with two appetisers, two entrees and a bottle of house wine (from Israel) for $39.95, which is a great way to sample the menu.

A place that is essentially a one-dish show might not sound lucrative but Hummus Place is now a mini-empire with five venues. But small can be good: this is a place that has its eye firmly on its product and has perfected it to the finest degree.

Hummus Place
99 MacDougal St (Bleecker St)
West Village
Also at four other locations: see www.hummusplace.com for more details.

Good coffee in New York - does it exist?

2010-05-08T06:09:00.019+10:00

Our mission: could two caffeine addicts, spoiled for choice in their home city of Melbourne, find a decent cup of joe in New York?

Friends warned us to prepare ourselves for a week of disappointment and deprivation, saying that drip or percolated coffee abounded. Although I generally deplore travellers who want to eat food just like they have at home, coffee is different. In Melbourne, we take excellent coffee for granted and I find it difficult to get my daily hit from weak, milky pretenders.

But a few weeks before our departure, the New York Times came to the rescue, featuring an article by Oliver Strand on “New York is finally taking its coffee seriously”. “New York used to be a second-string city when it came to coffee. No longer,” Strand wrote. “Over the last two years, more than 40 new cafes and coffee bars have joined a small, dedicated group of establishments where coffee making is treated like an art, or at least a high form of craft.”

The article listed the 40 best coffee places around Manhattan and Brooklyn and this list became our bible for the next week. Some days we planned our itinerary around coffee shops we wanted to visit but generally we found it useful to refer to when we were already in a neighbourhood and needed a caffeine hit.

On our first morning in New York, thirty-six hours after we left Melbourne and with only weak, tepid aeroplane coffee to sustain us in that time, we set out to blast away the jetlag with some good coffee. Our destination was Culture Espresso Bar in West 38th St, the closest cafe to our hotel that had been rated by the New York Times as “one of the few serious coffee bars in Midtown.

As noted recently by both the New York Times and The Age, Australian baristas are teaching New Yorkers about great coffee. Culture Espresso Bar is part of what the New York Times dubbed the “Australian coffee diaspora”, as one owner is Australian, as is Ross the barista who made our coffees. Overhearing our order for two cafe lattes, he asked, in an accent as broad as our own despite his 10 years in New York, whether we wanted our lattes served in glasses.

As he expertly made our coffees, we asked Ross about his experiences with coffee in New York and he laughed but conceded that things were getting better, especially as the US has easy access to some of the world's greatest coffee beans.

Culture Espresso opened in mid-2009 and has proven to be an oasis in Midtown, which locals deplore as an area deprived of decent food or coffee places. It uses beans from Intelligentsia Coffee and Tea and Four Barrel Coffee. An espresso is $2.50, and a latte is $4.

Our lattes look good, with textbook-perfect latte art on top. The aroma is nutty and the first sip transports us to coffee heaven: dark cocoa undertones to the creamy milk and a good hit of caffeine (as all drinks are made here with double espresso shots). This was a seriously good coffee that would easily rank highly in Melbourne.

The decor here is funky and the most is made of a small space. With just 22 seats, it can be difficult to snag one of the small tables (on our three separate visits, the cafe was always busy), although there are worse seats in the world than one here at the window bar overlooking a busy street in the heart of Manhattan. Purple-patterned wallpaper, a sparkly chandelier and modern artwork add to the ambiance.

Breakfast staples of granola, muesli and eggs are supplemented by more exotic dishes such as a Tuscan breakfast platter, and sweet-tooths will be satisfied by jumbo muffins, cookies and croissants. Sandwiches predominate on the lunch menu.

Culture Espresso Bar is a cafe that easily ranks highly on its own merits. But in an area of Manhattan that is lacking in decent coffee places, it is even more of a beacon.

Culture Espresso Bar
72 West 38th St (Sixth Avenue), Midtown
Monday-Friday 7am-7pm
Sat-Sun 8am-4pm
www.cultureespresso.com
(212) 302 0200

Coffee break: Eclipse

2010-04-21T20:34:00.004+10:00

Don’t be fooled by the Collins Street address: the entrance to Eclipse is in Flinders Lane, hidden away at the back of the refurbished Intercontinental Hotel.

Red-brick walls hide a nightclub-like interior, its darkness illuminated by spotlights on the walls. The serving area and Synesso machine dominate the small interior, with a few wooden tables, including two communal tables, and a glass cabinet of pastries the only other furniture of note. There's also plenty more tables outside for those who can't cram inside, and table service is offered.

Queues are long at peak times but the city-cool-chic staff are quick and gracious under pressure. Although most customers take away, the pastries and a lunch menu that has expanded considerably since Eclipse opened, offer a reason to stay in.

But the focus is on the excellent coffee. An aromatic espresso, a rich brew with unsweetened cocoa and woody notes, is a powerful drink, while a toasty, nutty cafe latte is equally masterful: a balanced blend of chocolaty coffee with creamy milk that slips down very easily. Rotating single-origin beans on offer might include a chocolaty Brazilian blend that teases the palate with a brief burst of flavour.

A relative newcomer to the CBD coffee scene, Eclipse is already overshadowing nearby rivals and promises to be a stayer.

Eclipse
7A/495 Collins St (enter off Flinders Lane), Melbourne

Fast and tasty muffins

2010-04-19T17:03:00.009+10:00

Some people don't believe me when I tell them I find it faster and easier to bake than I do to buy a cake or biscuits. Because I have a well-stocked pantry, I can mix up flour, eggs, butter and sugar into a tasty cake as quickly as if I loaded two children into the car, drove to the supermarket, agonised over the multitude of choices in the biscuit aisle and then queued to pay.

Of course, there are always times when convenience will win out, but a recipe such as for these tasty muffins shows that baking can be just as quick and easy. There's also the added bonus of minimising preservatives and additives and, to me, home-made always tastes better.

Not only are these muffins, which come from Allan Campion and Michele Curtis's excellent In The Kitchen cookbook, very quick to whip up, they are also toddler-friendly: it's easy for little hands to mix together, although you might find a few of the white chocolate bits make it into little mouths rather than the finished product!

Raspberry and white chocolate muffins

Recipe from In The Kitchen by Allan Campion and Michele Curtis

200g self-raising flour

150g caster sugar

Zest of 1 lemon, chopped

60g melted butter

125ml milk

1 egg

100g raspberries

95g white chocolate chips

Icing sugar to serve

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Line a muffin pan with paper cases.*

Mix the flour, caster sugar and lemon zest together. Beat the butter, milk and egg together in a separate bowl. Mix the dry and wet mixes together to form a smooth batter, then fold through the raspberries and chocolate.

Divide the mix into the muffin cases and bake for 20 minutes, or until risen and golden brown. Allow to cool, then dust with icing sugar to serve.

* Note: the recipe says this makes 10 muffins, but I found it made 18 small-sized (not Texas) muffins.

The ultimate comfort food

2010-04-18T16:12:00.008+10:00

Baked custard might be an old-fashioned dessert but it is a dish that deserves to be made more often. It is the ultimate comfort food: its silky-smooth texture makes it deceptively easy to eat half of the dish before you realise how much you've eaten, but it also has an easy elegance to it that is more than the sum of its simple parts of cream, milk, eggs and sugar.

Thankfully, Donna Hay has resurrected this lovely dessert in the latest issue of her magazine. There's a step-by-step guide to making basic baked custard, plus twists to the base recipe using spices, chocolate, rice and brioche for a modern take.

I had forgotten how much I loved this dessert until I made it recently. Surprisingly, my toddler was not overly enthused by the custard, but Adam and I quickly polished off the dish before we realised how quickly we'd eaten it! Not to worry - this is a dish that doesn't keep and tastes best warm from the oven. Its comforting texture will enfold you like a cosy doona and it is a dessert to enjoy on cold nights.

Baked custard
From Donna Hay Magazine, issue 50

500ml single (pouring) cream
250ml milk
1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped, or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs and 3 egg yolks, extra
110g caster (superfine) sugar

Preheat oven to 150 degrees Celsius (300 degrees Fahrenheit). Place the cream, milk, vanilla bean and seeds in a saucepan over high heat until the mixture just comes to the boil. Remove from heat and set aside.

Place the eggs, extra yolks and sugar in a bowl and whisk until well combined. Gradually add the hot cream mixture to the egg mixture, whisking well to combine.

Strain custard into a 1.5 litre capacity (6 cups) ovenproof dish.

Place dish in a water bath* and bake for 1 hour 25 minutes or until just set.

Remove from the water bath and allow to stand for 15 minutes before serving. Serves 4-6.

* To make a water bath, place the custard dish into a deep-sided baking dish and pour in enough boiling water to come halfway up the sides of the custard dish.

Coffee break: 65 Degrees

2010-04-17T14:33:00.008+10:00

The north-eastern end of Exhibition St is an unlikely home for a world champion barista. It's a quiet area, away from the main CBD shopping strips, but that hasn't stopped 65 Degrees becoming a big hit with those in the know. There's a steady crowd of loyal regulars lining up for take-aways - even three businessmen, who were in Melbourne for just six hours, were thrilled by the tip-off that led them there. "We'll definitely be back!" they chorused as they left.

Con Haralambopoulos, one of three brothers behind the cafe, has an impressive list of coffee titles to his name, including world espresso champion and world latte art champion. The brothers previously ran 7 Grams in Richmond, but closed that to start this new venture. The obsessive attention to coffee detail even extends to the name: 65 degrees Celsius is the correct temperature for milk when making coffee.

The narrow but light-filled interior has tall tables and stools at the front and smaller tables at the back. The best seats are those by the leadlight full-length windows that overlook Exhibition St. This end of the street is quite pretty, lined with trees, and with less traffic than other, busier streets in the CBD (there were even some carparks available out the front on the morning that I visited).

A substantial breakfast and lunch menu is chalked on a blackboard at the front of the cafe and the glass display case is full of sweet and savoury treats. But the focus is on coffee, made here with beans from Gridlock, and Con's impressive coffee skills. Warm cocoa notes dominate in a smooth and silky short black that is a delight to sip. The café latte is simply stunning: there’s a hint of toasted nuts but no flavour predominates in the smooth, balanced brew that slips down without effort. I am in raptures as I drink it: this is, quite simply, the best cafe latte I've ever had in my life!

The only drawback to 65 Degrees is that it is at the opposite end of town to my office, so I can't visit as often as I would like. If you love coffee, do yourself a favour and get to 65 Degrees as soon as you can: it's a must-visit destination.

65 Degrees
309 Exhibition St, Melbourne
Mon-Fri 6.30am-4pm

Hot pies

2010-04-16T18:01:00.012+10:00

Subscribing to food magazines makes me realise how quickly the months slip away. I feel like I've just opened an issue and a new one is already on the doorstep. Donna Hay Magazine's 50th birthday issue has just arrived, and it has a magnificent chocolate layer cake on the front cover that is begging to be made.

I haven't missed an issue of Donna Hay Magazine since I first subscribed to it and I find inspiration in every issue. To make sure I get the most out of my food magazines, I file them according to season (so I put all the autumn issues together). Each year, when the season changes, I take out that season's past issues and flick through them to see what I've made in the past that I enjoyed, or to get some new recipes to try.

Tonight's dinner came from my random flickings. I rediscovered this easy but tasty pie dish that I had first made in 2008 and marked as "definitely make again". It is such an easy dish to make but it is very impressive, whether you serve it as a weeknight dish for the family or dress it up for dinner with friends. The Dijon mustard is the hidden secret here, adding piquancy to the pie filling. I made two large pies, as specified by the recipe, some smaller pies for the children, and had some filling left over that I piled into ramekins and topped with leftover pastry scraps to make a lid. The pies are easy to reheat as leftovers.

Easy chicken, leek and mushroom pie

From Donna Hay Magazine, issue 38 (April/May 2008)

1 Tb olive oil

50g butter

1 leek, sliced

200g button mushrooms, chopped

2 x 200g chicken breast fillets, trimmed and chopped

sea salt and cracked black pepper

2 tsp Dijon mustard

6 sheets store-bought butter puff pastry

1 egg, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan over high heat, add the butter, leek and mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes. Add the chicken and cook for 2-3 minutes until sealed and lightly browned. Add salt, pepper and mustard and mix to combine.

Cut 4 x 14cm rounds from 2 sheets of pastry and 4 x 16cm rounds from remaining sheets. Place 14cm rounds on baking trays lined with baking paper, top with chicken mixture and brush edges with egg. Top with remaining pastry, press edges to seal and brush with egg. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden. Serve with steamed green beans or a simple salad.

Preparing for an Easter feast

2010-03-28T20:19:00.009+11:00

My latest issue of delicious magazine has arrived and I've already bookmarked lots of recipes to try. My favourite spread is the Easter baking
feature by editor Kylie Walker. White chocolate truffle cake, Easter biscuits, braided fruit loaf, orange drops, chocolate coconut Easter cakes - I want to try them all!

The hot cross muffins particularly attracted me. I like the idea of an alternative to hot cross buns, which, while fun to make and delicious to eat, are reasonably labour-intensive. These looked easy to make and I had all the ingredients in my larder, so I decided to try out a batch in preparation for Easter. This recipe gets the thumbs-up: easy to make and even easier to eat! The aromatic muffins are a cute twist on tradition and, if you leave off the cross, they are also yummy enough to whip up year-round

Hot cross muffins

From delicious magazine, April 2010

135g dried cranberries

1 cup (150g) currants

2 1/2 cups (375g) self-raising flour

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

2/3 cup (165ml) sunflower oil

1 cup (250ml) buttermilk

2 eggs

200g caster sugar, plus extra 2 Tbs

80g icing sugar

1 tsp lemon juice

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Grease a 12-hold muffin tray and line with paper cases.

Soak dried fruit in just enough boiling water to cover for 10 minutes. Drain well, then pat dry with a paper towel.

Sift the flour, soda and spices into a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, buttermilk, eggs and sugar until combined. Add to the dry ingredients and stir to combine. Gently stir in the fruit. Divide the mixture among muffin cases, then bake for 20-25 minutes until lightly browned and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Meanwhile, place the extra 2 Tbs sugar in a pan with 2 Tbs water and simmer over a low heat, stirring, until sugar dissolves. Brush the glaze over the muffins.

Sift icing sugar into a bowl. Add lemon juice and just enough hot water to make a thick, pipable icing. Use a piping bag, or drizzle from a spoon, to draw a cross on each muffin, then serve.

A cure for most ills

2010-03-24T06:49:00.007+11:00

When you enjoy baking as much as I do, baking for others can sometimes be more stressful than people expect. Friends and family are surprised if I stress about what cake to bake or dish to cook. "But you're a good cook," friends say. "You have heaps of recipes to choose from."

And that, in a nutshell, is the problem. Too many recipes, too much choice, too much pressure to come up with the perfect dish for the occasion. A simple slice is easy to make but will it have the 'wow' factor? Should I risk making a new cake that I haven't tried before? Biscuits are a nice treat but will they seem too small and boring?

Of course, all this pressure is self-imposed. Most people are impressed simply by the fact that someone has gone to the trouble of baking something homemade for them. The cook may bewail the fact that the corner of the cake broke when it came out of the tin, that the icing didn't set properly, or that the finished product doesn't look picture-perfect, but I guarantee that most of the recipients won't even notice.

If you want to impress people, I find that a homemade chocolate cake is always a winner. A chocolate cake can be dressed up or down, adorned with simple butter icing or a rich ganache, filled with whipped cream, or left plain. Morning tea, afternoon tea, dessert, birthdays - chocolate cake suits all occasions.

This chocolate cake, from Allan Campion and Michelle Curtis's excellent In The Kitchen, is a recent addition to my repertoire but an instant hit and one I've made several times since. I made this cake recently for the regular Friday morning tea at my work. Although I normally serve it plain at home, usually dusted with a mixture of icing sugar and cocoa, this time I dressed it up with a chocolate ganache. It is a rich fudgy cake that is guaranteed to impress - there were definitely no seconds when I served this one!

Artisan bread - Dench's Bakery

2010-03-11T16:38:00.004+11:00

I've long wanted to visit Dench's Bakery in North Carlton, especially as my friend John continually regales me with tales of this wonderful bakery, its enticing aroma of freshly baked bread, and the wide variety of breads available.

Dench's has an impressive website, filled with some of the most stunning, evocative shots I've ever seen. Ciabatta, baguette, focaccia, schwarzbrot, panini, beer, farmhouse, spelt, brioche, raisin, potato and walnut, apricot and honey are just some of the loaves available from its store in Scotchmans St, North Fitzroy. There is also a cafe, which serves breakfast and lunch and baked treats such as pastries, cakes, tarts and biscuits, and Genovese coffee.

My friend John recently discovered that Dench's also sells bread at the Queen Victoria Market and he brought me in a loaf of grain bread as a present. Although the loaf sat in my bag under my desk for the day, every now and then I would catch a smell of fresh bread, which made my mouth water. I couldn't wait to get home and try some!

Made from wholemeal flour, the grain bread also contains sunflower kernels, linseed and sesame seeds. It is soft and chewy, with the seeds giving it body and depth. This bread elevated my simple sandwich of ham, cheese and lettuce to another level, making it truly special. I can't wait to try more loaves in the range.

Dench's Bakery, 109 Scotchmer St, North Fitzroy

The milkman returns

2010-03-08T10:32:00.005+11:00

I didn't grow up in the city, so the milkman delivering milk early in the morning was never part of my life experience. Growing up in the country, all of my neighbours were dairy farmers, so we bought billies of fresh milk from them. It wasn't until I moved to Melbourne as an adult that I began to drink what I called "shop milk" from a carton.

Now, with two rapidly growing children, we consume a large amount of milk, as well as bread, butter, cheese and orange juice. Many times I've had to load the children in the car or pram to duck out and buy some milk and bread to replenish supplies. And supplies always seem to dwindle or run out just when we are busiest and have no time to go to the shops!

So I was thrilled when my friend Trudi told me about Aussie Farmers Direct, a free home delivery service offering fresh products that are 100 per cent Australian owned and produced. AFD has a My Milkman, My Green Grocer and My Butcher, meaning that most of your fresh produce needs can be met.

The AFD website says that it cuts out the middle man, ensuring that the produce comes directly from farmers and is delivered straight to the customer's door. Orders are taken online, making it a fast and easy service to use.

The AFD milkman delivers to my area on Mondays and Thursdays and my first order arrived this morning. Packed in a soft esky bag (provided free of charge), my milk, bread and orange juice were fresh and cold. We didn't hear the milkman but the order was on our doorstep when we checked at 7am.

I'm very excited to discover this service. Not only is it saving me time in rushing out to buy a few essentials, but I'm always happy to support Aussie farmers.

Coffee break: Coffee Hit, Doncaster

2010-02-26T21:19:00.004+11:00

Shopped-out fashionistas will find a caffeine hit here that’s a cut above the usual shopping-centre offerings. This is a cafe that takes coffee seriously: as well as grinding and roasting its own beans, Coffee Hit sells beans, utensils and books, and the Australian Barista Champion 2009 runner-up is on staff.

Situated in a light-filled atrium near upmarket grocery stores, Coffee Hit has a classy fitout of dark timber furniture, with space for prams or shopping bags. There’s sandwiches and cakes for sale but the high-standard coffee is the main deal. A very short espresso has an intense, spicy aroma that fills the mouth but fades quickly. The initial tobacco aroma of a long black fades into a mellow, slightly earthy taste that doesn’t linger, while a latte, full of caramel and nuts, is an easy-sipping palate pleaser. Just as pleased are the outer-suburban shoppers who now have a caffeine indulgence to equal their inner-city counterparts.

Coffee Hit
Shop G217, Westfield Shoppingtown
619 Doncaster Road, Doncaster

Rich iced birthday cake

2010-02-22T16:18:00.005+11:00

I'm an absolute sucker for magazines that feature Christmas feasts. It doesn't matter how many recipe features I have with Christmas dishes (and I already have my own extensive collection of family favourites that I usually make each year), if I see a new magazine with an enticing spread, I buy it.

I admit that the December issue of Notebook magazine was one such purchase. I am a big fan of Notebook magazine, which seems to be one of the few women's magazines that addresses women who might want to read something more substantial than celebrity gossip and sealed sex sections. There's always lots of inspirational reading, with articles on finance, personal improvement, spiritual wellbeing and work-life balance interspersed with fashion and cooking spreads.

One of the dishes that caught my eye in the December issue was the rich iced mud cake with boozy berries. I didn't have time to make it at Christmas (nor did we really need extra cakes!) but I bookmarked it and decided it was the perfect cake to make for Adam's birthday.

It's always a risk to make a new cake for a special occasion, in case it doesn't work, but the method was easy and the combination of chocolate, coffee, Marsala and mascarpone was tempting. It's a big cake, suitable to serve at least 12 people, so it's an excellent occasion cake. The original method called for the cake to be made in two loaf tins but I made it in one big square cake tin and just had to adjust the cooking time accordingly.

The end result was enthusiastically received by both the birthday boy and the family members who attended the birthday feast. The cake is moist and dense, with the subtle coffee and Marsala flavours blending harmoniously with the chocolate. A mixture of mascarpone, whipped cream, Marsala and icing sugar sandwiches the cake together. The alcohol softens the rich mascarpone and ensures that this cake, while rich, is not overpowering and will not leave you feeling like you've overindulged.

We made it - paella

2010-02-18T20:11:00.005+11:00

Paella is one of my favourite dishes. It is a very traditional dish and there are many versions. Frank Camorra from Movida says that a paella is an outdoor dish, cooked over a bed of coals, and it is customary in Spain for men, rather than women, to make paella. His version, in his superb Movida cookbook, includes white rabbit, mussels, king prawns, periwinkles, squid and firm-fleshed fish. It is a reasonably complicated and time-consuming dish.

But there is also a place for an easier version of paella. Although purists may scoff, and argue that this is not a traditional paella but more of a tomato and rice-based dish, it is still a way to enjoy the flavours of paella on a busy weeknight. And so it was that the first dish I made from this month's Donna Hay Magazine in the We Made It challenge was the chicken, prawn and tomato paella dish.

It was extremely easy to make and absolutely delicious. Next time I would add some chorizo for some extra flavour and spice. I'm sure this moves the dish even further away from traditional paella. But, call it what you will, I urge you to make this dish: it is wonderful!

Chicken, prawn and tomato paella
Recipe from Donna Hay magazine, issue 49, Feb/Mar 2010

1 1/2 Tb olive oil
1 x 200g chicken breast fillet, trimmed and chopped
200g green (raw) prawns, peeled, tails intact
1 small brown onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp chilli flakes
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
3/4 cup (150g) medium-grain rice
1 x 400g can diced tomatoes
1 1/4 cups (310ml) chicken stock
flat-leaf parsley leaves and lemon wedges, to serve

Heat 1 Tb of the oil in a medium non-stick frying pan over high heat. Add the chicken and prawns and cook for 4-5 minutes or until golden and cooked through. Set aside and keep warm.

Add the remaining oil to the pan with the onion, garlic, chilli and paprika and cook for 2 minutes or until softened. Add the rice, tomato and stock, reduce heat to low and cover with a tight-fitting lid. Cook for 20-25 minutes or until the rice is cooked. Stir through the chicken and prawns and cook for a further 1 minute. Top with parsley and serve with lemon wedges. Serves 2.

We made it - Donna Hay magazine under the spotlight

2010-02-02T20:43:00.006+11:00

Donna Hay is one of my original cooking inspirations. I loved her stylish and simple cooking that first appeared in Marie Claire magazine in the 1990s. Easy-to-obtain ingredients, simple techniques and delicious food stylishly presented on white plates - it all added up to restaurant-style food that could be cooked and presented by home cooks.

I have all Donna's early cookbooks - Dining, Cooking, Food Fast, Flavours - and I was one of the first 50 subscribers when she launched her magazine (I know this because I received an Alessi cheese grater, which was offered to the first 50 people to subscribe). I've never missed an issue and regularly refer back to the old issues to make tried-and-tested favourites, or to get new inspiration. The photography is excellent: not only are the dishes beautifully presented and photographed but many of the features tell a story - perhaps an autumn picnic in the country or a summer beach holiday - and this adds to the overall charm - you can just imagine yourself undertaking such glamourous holidays and effortlessly producing culinary masterpieces to wow your family and friends.

The latest issue - Feb/March 2010, issue 49 "summer" - is the choice for this month's "We Made It" challenge, where Suzie from Munch+Nibble and I select a food magazine and try to cook from it as much as we can. There is lots of inspiration this month - salads, fruit desserts, tomato dishes, a Fast 50 feature with speedy dinner ideas for weeknights and a lovely tropical island feast photographed in the Cook Islands. I'm looking forward to trying out many of the dishes!

We made it: roast lamb

2010-01-31T17:29:00.004+11:00

My friend John believes that there's nothing a cup of tea can't fix. I feel the same way about roasts. There's something so soothing and satisfying about a good roast, especially for Sunday lunch or dinner. It's one of the easiest meals to put together - throw your meat and vegetables into the oven to roast, cook some carrots and greens separately, and you have a wonderful meal with a minimum of effort.

So you might think that a recipe for a roast is not necessary - and normally I would agree. But the Dec/Jan issue of delicious magazine included an intriguing recipe for shortcut roast lamb with watercress and hazelnut salad and I had to try it. It wasn't just the idea of a salad with a roast that attracted me (although it's the perfect way to enjoy a roast in summer) - the actual salad attracted me first, and the roast was a useful addition.

I urge you to try this recipe, even if you don't normally make roast. The salad is absolutely delicious on its own but it partners so well with the lamb - the soft cheese, toasted nuts and Dijon and balsamic dressing seem to pick up and highlight the crispiness of the lamb.

This recipe is another one in the "We Made It" challenge that Suzie from Munch+Nibble and I are conducting, where we aim to actually use our food magazines rather than just bookmarking them.

Shortcrust roast lamb with watercress and hazelnut salad

Recipe from December 2009/January 2010 delicious magazine

1 ficelle (half-baguette), thinly sliced
1 1/2 Tbs olive oil, plus extra to rub
1.5kg easy-carve leg of lamb
1 red onion, cut into thin wedges
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 Tb balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup (80ml) extra-virgin olive oil
1 bunch watercress, sprigs picked
150g soft goat's cheese, crumbled (I used marinated fetta and it was an excellent substitute)
75g hazelnuts, lightly toasted

Preheat oven to 170 degrees. Brush bread with oil, then bake for 15-20 minutes until crisp and golden. Remove and cool.

Increase oven to 190. Rub lamb with extra olive oil and season well with salt and pepper. Roast lamb for 45 minutes, then add the onion to the pan and roast for a further 15 minutes. Remove lamb from the oven, cover loosely with foil and leave to rest for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, whisk mustard with vinegar, then gradually whisk in the oil to make a dressing, and season with salt and pepper.

Place the watercress in a bowl and toss with half the dressing. Add the roast onion, croutons, cheese and nuts and toss together.

Carve the lamb, then divide among the plates. Serve with salad and remaining dressing on side.

We made it: buttermilk chicken

2010-01-30T12:29:00.004+11:00

There's something incredibly tempting and moreish about fried chicken. We know it's not healthy for us, but a crispy fried chicken, lightly spiced, is a thing of beauty. But it should be home-made and as light and drained of fat as you can make it (and not resembling the chicken served up from corporate food chains).

Jill Dupleix's buttermilk fried chicken in the Dec/Jan issue of delicious magazine caught my eye for this reason. Her feature was about simple summer food, good for a picnic, and this dish looked just the ticket to be the next dish in the "We Made It" challenge that Suzie from Munch+Nibble and I are running in a quest to actually use our food magazines, rather than just bookmarking them. Suzie had also made this dish and raved about it, so I took the plunge and made it as well.

The end result was mixed. The buttermilk does tenderise the chicken and the baking does dry it out so that the fried crust is not too fatty. But perhaps I skimped on the spices a little (not wanting to scare the children) and Adam and I both found the end result a little bland. Next time I would add more spice - I think it perhaps loses some sizzle in the frying process.

Jill Dupleix's buttermilk fried chicken

Recipe from December 2009/January 2010 issue of delicious

4 chicken marylands
1 cup (250ml) buttermilk
1 3/4 cups (265g) plain flour
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp ground cumin
Sunflower oil, to shallow-fry

Cut the chicken marylands through the joint to separate the drumsticks and the thighs.

Wash the chicken pieces, then dry well with paper towel. Toss in buttermilk, cover, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees and line a baking tray with baking paper.

Place the flour, cayenne, paprika, cumin and 1 tsp salt into a plastic bag (or zip-lock bag). Add drained chicken, 2 pieces at a time, shaking well to coat in the spice mixture. Remove and shake off any excess, then repeat with remaining chicken pieces until all coated.

Heat 1 cm oil in a large heavy-based fry-pan over medium-high heat to 180 degrees (a cube of bread will turn golden in 30 seconds when the oil is hot enough). Cook the chicken pieces, in batches of 4, for 4-5 minutes until well-browned. Turn and cook on the other side for 1 minute, until golden, then transfer chicken to the baking tray. Bake for 15 minutes or until cooked through, then remove and allow to cool. Serve at room temperature.

We made it: homemade crumpets with raspberries and lemon

2010-01-27T19:34:00.006+11:00

There is something quintessentially English about crumpets. To me, they evoke images of lazy breakfasts in summer, taken at a little table on the terrace overlooking sweeping gardens brimming with the colours and scents of masses of flowers.

Of course, the supermarket variety aren't that glamorous and I'm more likely to eat them in winter slathered with melted butter and honey.

But Jamie Oliver's recipe for homemade cinnamon and lemon crumpets with raspberries and honey in the Dec/Jan issue of delicious magazine sounded heavenly and perfect for a summery morning, especially with berries from our recent berry picking expedition in the Otways.

I've made Bill Granger's homemade crumpets before, which are absolutely divine but a little fiddly, requiring a long proving time for the yeast to activate (not the thing you can whip up for a hungry tummy after a sleep in). The beauty of this Jamie Oliver version is that the yeast requires only 10 minutes and the crumpets can be cooked. The drawback is that they take up to 25 minutes to cook, so you might want to have several fry-pans on the go at once or you will be spending a long time at the stove while everyone else is tucking in! Aside from this minor qualification, these crumpets were delicious - heavier and more bun-like than the supermarket variety but more hearty and delicious because of that - and the honeyed ricotta and raspberries are a perfect combination - all the flavours of summer packed into one small dish.

This recipe is part of the "We Made It" challenge that Suzie from Munch+Nibble and I are giving ourselves: the challenge is to actually use our food magazines rather than just bookmarking them.

Jamie Oliver's homemade cinnamon and lemon crumpets with raspberries and honey

Recipe from December 2009/January 2010 issue of delicious

250g fresh ricotta
Zest of 1 lemon
2 Tbs honey, plus extra to drizzle
3 large handfuls fresh raspberries
Sunflower oil, to grease

Crumpets
500g strong (baker's) flour
1 tsp caster sugar
7g sachet dried instant yeast
A pinch of bicarb soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Place all the crumpet ingredients into a food processor with 2 tsp of salt. Pour in 600ml tepid water. The water needs to be warm enough to activate the yeast but not so hot that it kills it. Blitz all the crumpet ingredients together until you've got a loose batter. Leave to stand for 10 minutes to let the yeast develop. The mixture should be quite wet, just about dropping consistency.

While the yeast develops, make the topping by putting the ricotta, lemon zest and honey into a bowl and beating together until light and fluffy. Place half of the raspberries into another little bowl and mash up with a fork. Fold the mashed raspberries into the ricotta - don't be tempted to over-mix it, as you're looking for a beautiful pink rippled effect.

You may need to cook the crumpets in batches. First, grease the inside of metal crumpet rings (I used egg rings) with some sunflower oil. Place a non-stick fry-pan on medium heat, and put the rings into the pan. When it's nice and hot, spoon some mixture into each ring, to about 1cm deep. Turn the heat to low and leave for 15 minutes to cook through. Check the pan is not getting too hot and burning the bottom of the crumpets. After about 15 minutes - once the bubbles on top have formed into crumpet-like dimples - turn them over, using tongs to lift away the rings. Cook for another 5-10 minutes, until cooked right through.

Serve the crumpets with a generous spoonful of ricotta, an extra drizzle of honey and some lovely raspberries.

Coffee break: Seven Seeds

2010-01-11T19:49:00.006+11:00

Melburnians are truly spoilt for choice when it comes to coffee. Baristas take pride in their product and the use of freshly roasted beans, whether secret house blends or single-origin beans, is expected. New places, some in little more than shopfronts, open all the time and it becomes a game to see who knows the newest, secret venue that caffeine fiends are chatting about.

One venue that has received widespread coverage for its excellent coffee, and is no longer a secret, is Seven Seeds in Carlton. It's been on my list to visit for quite a while now and I was pleased to finally make it there. Seven Seeds gets my vote for the best coffee in Melbourne right now. I'm not the first person to nominate them for this honour, and I certainly won't be the last, as the baristas there are churning out a quality brew.

Seven Seeds is inside a converted old warehouse, situated off the main drag in nondescript Berkeley St, Carlton - but still close to Queen Victoria Market and Melbourne University - and surrounded by other old warehouses and new high-rise apartments. Inside, the atmosphere is industrial chic. The high ceilings and large interior lend an air of spaciousness and there is certainly plenty of room to fit in a pram for caffeine addicts with littlies in tow (the only downside is that most of the tables are high, with stools, so toddlers may need to stay strapped in the pram).

A Synesso machine takes pride of place in the spacious serving area. There is an extensive coffee menu, with different blends noted, and a basic breakfast and lunch menu.

Coffee of the day when we visited was 'black cult'. It is syrupy and thick in the mouth, with spicy fruit building to a rich chocolate finish. It is a smooth and mellow coffee that rewards sipping. Adam's cafe latte, decorated with a textbook-perfect rosetta, is smooth and creamy and he votes it as one of the best lattes he's ever had.

It was a rushed visit but we vow to return as soon as we can to try more of the excellent coffee here. This is a venue that takes pride in its coffee, from the sourcing of beans to the serving of the finished product. If you live in the area - lucky you! If you don't - make the visit; Seven Seeds is definitely worth it.

Seven Seeds, 114 Berkeley St, Carlton

Monday-Saturday 7am-5pm, Sunday (and public holidays) 8am-4pm

We made it: sweet chilli caramel sauce

2010-01-09T13:12:00.009+11:00

This is my first "official" post in this month's We Made It challenge, a challenge that Suzie from Munch+Nibble and I set ourselves. Each month, we choose a food magazine and aim to cook as much out of it as possible, in the vain hope that we will become users of the magazine rather than just gazers.

This month's highlighted magazine is the December/January issue of delicious magazine, which is packed full of recipes to help celebrate the festive season and the summer holidays. I adore delicious magazine. I love the mix of easy and challenging recipes, some that are easy to whip up on a weeknight after work, and others that are more elegant and suitable for a dinner party. I don't think I've ever had a failure from a delicious recipe yet.

The first dish I cooked this month was a sublime Tobie Puttock recipe, maltagliata di pollo con limone (pan-fried chicken with lemon). It's a recipe that was a huge seller when he was an apprentice at Melbourne culinary institution Caffe e Cucina and I can see why. It is supremely easy to cook and tastes wonderful. It's a great dish for weeknights.

But I neglected to take a photo of that masterpiece, so the first "official" dish I have to present in the We Made It challenge is seared beef with sweet chilli caramel sauce. The mix of sweet chilli and caramel sounded intriguingly delicious to me and it was one of the first dishes I marked to try. Not having the audience for a 1kg beef fillet, I decided to improvise and use the sauce with seared steaks instead. I can report that this was a huge success. The sauce is very easy to make and extremely tasty. I made a half-serve and still had plenty left over to freeze for another night. This recipe is highly recommended.

Seared beef with sweet chilli caramel sauce

Recipe from delicious magazine, Dec 2009/Jan 2010 issue

Serves 4-6

1 1/2 cups (330g) caster sugar

2 long red chillies, deseeded, chopped

10cm piece ginger, chopped

4 garlic cloves

2 Asian (red) eschalots, chopped

2 coriander roots, chopped

1/4 cup (60ml) lime juice

1/2 cup (125ml) fish sauce

2 Tbs sesame oil

1kg whole beef fillet

2 Tbs olive oil

Micro herbs and edible flowers to serve (available from growers' markets)

Combine sugar and 1/4 cup (60ml) water in a pan over low heat, stirring to dissolve. Increase heat to medium-high and cook, without stirring, for 3-4 minutes until you have a golden caramel.

Meanwhile, whiz chilli, ginger, garlic, eschalots, coriander root and 1 cup (250ml) water in a food processor to form a coarse paste. Add paste to the caramel (be careful, as it may spit) and stir to combine. Cook, stirring for 2-3 minutes until smooth. Remove from the heat, then stir in lime juice, fish sauce and sesame oil. Cook to room temperature.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 200 degrees.

Season the beef fillet all over with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in an ovenproof frypan over medium-high heat. Sear the beef for 5-6 minutes, turning until seared on all sides. Transfer to the oven and roast for 15 minutes for medium-rare, or until your liking.

Remove the beef from oven, cover loosely with foil and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Thickly slice beef, then divide among plates. Pour over the sauce, then garnish with micro herbs and flowers.

Cafe review: The Farm Cafe

2010-01-07T21:20:00.007+11:00

One of the most enjoyable places in Melbourne is the Collingwood Children's Farm. A peaceful slice of rural life just five kilometres from the city, its paddocks, orchards, gardens and animals feel a world away from the skyscrapers of the CBD. Children can see the cow being milked, feed chooks, or pat goats and guineapigs.

An additional bonus is the well-patronised Farm Cafe, which forms an integral part of the site. Fresh farm produce is a major staple of the menu, which offers breakfast favourites such as farmers' breakfast, granola, eggs and bacon and zucchini fritters. On a warm, sunny morning, with our trolley waiting to be filled with goodies from the Collingwood Children's Farm Farmers' Market, I can think of no better place to be.

We arrived early, in order to secure a table before the mid-morning rush of Farmers' Market shoppers. Our coffees, sweet and nutty lattes, are served quickly and our meals arrive shortly after that, which is always a welcome bonus when dining with small children. We both order the
'green stack': two softly poached free-range eggs with sunshine-yellow yolks, served with roasted tomatoes, pesto, avocado, baby spinach and parmesan on sourdough toast. It is an excellent and fortifying combination.

The children are particularly taken by a cupcake decorated with soft icing and lollies. I'm always dubious about bought cakes, which are often dry and crumbly, but this cake has a buttery and moist textured crumb and we eagerly eat the leftovers.

Breakfast is served and devoured quickly and we head off to stock up with supplies of fresh fruit and vegetables and to wander around the farm. A visit to Collingwood Children's Farm is one of Melbourne's best weekend treats.

Collingwood Children's Farm,, St Heliers St, Abbotsford
The Farm Cafe is open Monday to Friday 9am-4pm and Saturday and Sunday 8am-5pm

Coffee break in the country

2010-01-05T08:39:00.005+11:00

The early morning rush to get four adults and two children ready and on the road for our day of berry picking at Pennyroyal, nearly two hours' drive away, meant that there was no time for a heart-starting shot of caffeine before we headed out the door.

By the time we arrived at 10.30am at Deans Marsh, a little town of nearly 700 people between Lorne and Winchelsea, our caffeine-deprived brains were screaming for a fix, and we pulled over when I spotted the words "take away cappuccinos" on the wall of the Deans Marsh General Store.

My mum grew up in Deans Marsh, so this town was like a second home to me when I was growing up, as we spent most school holidays here visiting our grandparents. Back then, it was a general store in the old-fashioned sense of the word. It sold newspapers, milk, butter, ice-creams, pies, lollies, tinned food and other grocery items - in short, everything you would need to pick up if you didn't have time to go into Birregurra or Colac to do your big weekly shop, or you ran out of an item mid-week. One thing it certainly did not sell was take-away cappuccinos.

But times have changed. Deans Marsh is no longer predominantly a farming community. Olives, grapes and llamas are some of the new local industries and artists and "tree-changers" have moved in from the city. The old Presbyterian church is now adorned with artistic rainbow-coloured ribbons and the garage has a cafe attached. And the Deans Marsh General Store makes coffee using Jasper Coffee, an Australian-owned company based in Collingwood.

The take-away cafe lattes were excellent: smooth with an aroma and flavour of caramel and a soft, mellow aftertaste. Deans Marsh has certainly changed but I'm thrilled that good coffee is now available there.

My second rural coffee of the week came during a day trip to Torquay on the Bellarine Peninsula. After a picnic lunch in the sun with friends, a dip in the ocean for the kids and an ice-cream to round things off, we farewelled our friends and went for a stroll and then a drive around town as we searched for a caffeine hit. There were several open-fronted cafes on the Esplanade but they looked upmarket and more for meals than a casual coffee with two rapidly tiring children in tow.

As we drove down Gilbert St in the town centre, I spied a cafe that looked like it might be OK and Adam miraculously found a carpark in the main street. As I opened the door, I found myself face to face with a Jasper Coffee - Caffeine Dealers banner and so I headed instead into Farm Foods, a butcher shop cum deli. I was a little sceptical when I first entered the shop: there was one person at the butcher's counter at the back of the shop and a man totting up the till at the front. I hesitantly asked if he served take-away coffees, which he did, and he turned to the large red Wega machine behind the counter. He made the coffee slowly but seemed to know what he was doing.

My first surprise came when he charged me $5 for two take-away lattes. I haven't paid $2.50 for a coffee for years! And certainly not in a beachside tourist town where coffee is usually more expensive than in Melbourne. The second surprise came when I took my first sip: this was, quite simply, one of the best coffees I've ever had. A nutty aroma, followed by a smooth-as-silk sensation on the palate with a lingering caramel aftertaste. It was such a drinkable coffee that I wished for a never-ending cup. Farm Foods will be my first stop next time I'm in Torquay.

Deans Marsh General Store, 1419 Birregurra Road, Deans Marsh

Farm Foods, 4a Gilbert Street, Torquay

A day in the country

2010-01-03T19:47:00.007+11:00

The sky above the green hills was bruised with rainclouds and the cool rainy weather was a shock after several days of heat. But the Otway region of Victoria always seems cool and green to me. Although it was five hours' drive from my home, it was where my mother grew up and we spent most school holidays here visiting my grandparents. I know we visited Lorne in summer, so there must have been hot days, but my memories are mostly of cool, rainy weather or rambles over green hills under grey skies.

My grandparents died many years ago, so it's been a long time since I stayed at Deans Marsh, a little town of nearly 700 people midway between Winchelsea and Lorne. But now a new tradition has begun, as we visit once a year to go berry picking at the Pennyroyal Raspberry Farm, a five-minute drive from Deans Marsh.

I don't think the berry farm existed when I was a child, although I remember visiting the Pennyroyal Tea Rooms on this site (and eating some of the best scones I can ever remember eating). Thankfully scones, freshly made, are still available at the farm now, served with homemade raspberry or blackberry jam - or pickles, if you choose the cheese scones.

The blackberries, brambleberries and boysenberries were abundant and we quickly filled our containers with ripe, juicy fruit. One for me, one for the container...

The raspberries had been heavily picked, so we had to hunt among the leaves to find ripe berries and it took longer to fill our punnets.

I find berry picking relaxing and fun and it's great fun with kids. Daniel quickly learned the colour of ripe berries and which ones he should pick.

It's also very economical - we paid $16 a kilo for our berries. I've seen 125g punnets of raspberries in the shops for $5, which works out to be about $40 a kilo.

The first thing I did when I got home was to make a batch of raspberry jam. This is one of the easiest jams to make, as raspberries are high in pectin and you don't have to worry about adding lemon juice or commercial pectin. If you are new to jam-making, I suggest that you try raspberry jam as your first - it will give you confidence.

The raspberry jam recipe I use is extremely easy and is from Cookery the Australian Way, the textbook I used in my year eight home economics class. This classic book is still an essential reference and provides simple, clear instructions for many basic dishes (eg jams, sponges, scones), as well as advice on why dishes may fail (eg undercooked sponges that flop).

Raspberry jam

Put 500g of raspberries into a heavy-based saucepan and mash with a wooden spoon. Bring to the boil over medium-high heat. Add 2 cups of sugar (if you wish, you can warm the sugar before you add it). Bring back to the boil, boil for six minutes and then test* to see if it's cooked. Once cooked, pour into hot sterilised jams, let cool a little and then seal.

* I do the saucer test to test if my jam is cooked: place a saucer in the freezer for a few minutes. Remove from freezer, place a little jam on the saucer and return to freezer for a few more minutes. Remove from freezer and push the jam with your finger. It should wrinkle as you push it - this means the jam is cooked. If it doesn't, cook jam a little longer and then repeat the test.

Pennyroyal Raspberry Farm, Division Road, Murroon (between Birregurra and Barwon Downs), phone 5236 3238

Some homework

2010-01-02T20:37:00.008+11:00

The magazine spotlight that Suzie from Munch+Nibble and I are shining in our We Made It challenge has moved this month from Gourmet Traveller to delicious magazine. But I am making a belated last effort to make a few more dishes from GT before I move onto delicious.

One of the first dishes that Suzie made from GT was the fried quail with cucumber and lettuce wedges in the "Gourmet Fast" section. Her description of the meal inspired me to try it myself. But I wasn't very organised and didn't have any quail on hand so decided to try the marinade with chicken to see how that would turn out.

I'm pleased to report that it was a success. The salty soy-based sauce was sweetened with caster sugar and spiced with star anise and ginger, with a citrus scent provided by orange rind. The salty/sweet mix was very pleasing on the palate and the lettuce and cucumber were the perfect off-set dishes. I think this dish would be better with crispy quail but the substitute chicken breasts also worked well, although they didn't crisp up as much as quail would.

I've given the original recipe below; I just substituted two chicken breasts for the four quail and halved the marinade ingredients.

This is probably the final dish I'll make from the December 2009 issue of Gourmet Traveller (although I do still have a few of the salads bookmarked...) I enjoyed the challenge of actually forcing myself to make dishes that I liked the look of, rather than just bookmarking them and then putting away the magazine. I don't think I cooked enough dishes this month to choose a favourite, although the dark berry trifle was an absolute winner and was worth the magazine price alone.

If you'd like to join in with our We Made It challenge, just drop Suzie or myself a line.

Fried quail with cucumber and lettuce wedges
Recipe from Gourmet Traveller, December 2009

4 jumbo quail, butterflied and halved lengthways
200ml light soy sauce
100ml chicken stock
40gm caster sugar
2 pieces orange rind, removed with a peeler
10gm (2cm piece) ginger, thinly sliced
1 star anise, coarsely crushed
Vegetable oil, for deep-frying
1 tsp each Chinese five-spice and dried chilli flakes
1/4 iceberg lettuce, cut into thin wedges
1/2 telegraph cucumber, cut into 4cm batons
Lime wedges and coriander sprigs, to serve

Place quail in a single layer in a non-reactive dish and set aside. Combine soy sauce, stock, sugar, orange peel, ginger and star anise in a small saucepan, stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Cool, pour half over quail and set aside to marinate for 10 minutes. Return remaining mixture to heat and cook until syrupy (5-7 minutes), strain through a fine sieve into a heatproof bowl and set aside.

Meanwhile, preheat oil in a deep-fryer or deep-sided frying pan to 180 degrees. Combine five-spice, chilli and 2 Tb sea salt flakes in a small bowl and set aside. Drain quail (discard marinade) and pat dry with absorbent paper. Deep-fry in batches until golden and crisp (3-4 minutes). Toss through reduced marinade, season with five-spice salt and serve with lettuce, cucumber, lime and coriander.

The showstopper dessert

2010-01-01T13:29:00.011+11:00

I admit that I bought the December 2009 issue of Gourmet Traveller based on the front-cover picture of dark berry trifle alone. A stunning mix of dark berry jelly, layered with sponge and creme fraiche, it beckoned like a siren from the newsstands.

Suzie from Munch+Nibble and I had set ourselves the We Made It challenge, where we select a food magazine each month and try to cook as many dishes from it as we can, rather than just bookmarking it and relegating it to the cupboard.

If it wasn't for the challenge, I think this trifle would have been one of the many recipes that I bookmark and then put away. We are big trifle fans in my household, but I've never attempted a trifle as elaborate as this. Fortunately, I had family to stay, a bottle of pink moscato donated by my father and dark berries in the freezer to use up, so these were also good incentives to make this dessert.

Before I talk about the recipe, I would like to state that this is quite simply one of the best dessert recipes I've ever made. It is the perfect showstopper dessert to bring to the table to show off the prettily coloured layers before you cut it up and serve. The seductive dark berry jelly mingles with the light-as-air sponge and the cream layers, all softly scented with vanilla and an alcoholic tinge.

As the recipe is for 15-20 people, it is the perfect party dish. As I didn't have that many people to serve, I halved the recipe with no problems. It still makes a very large dessert and if you have a small household, you'll be eating this for days.

Some notes on the recipe: I didn't have creme de mure or creme de cassis, so I substituted brandy and a tawny port. I'm sure the special blackberry liqueurs give it an extra dimension, but I found that the brandy and port provided a hint of alcohol, which I presumed was all that was needed. I also substituted whipped cream as I didn't have access to creme fraiche. I didn't need the milk to thin the cream but I did include the lemon rind and icing sugar to flavour it.

I made my sponge in a 20cm round cake tin and was lucky enough to have a glass bowl in which the sponge round fitted perfectly, so I didn't need to do any trimming of the sponge to make it fit. I'm not sure how a square cake, which is specified by the recipe, would work, but the layers should meld together anyway.

And please take note of the infusing and setting time - although each individual step is easy, it will take you all afternoon to make this dessert, once you allow for this time. The trifle should also sit overnight in the fridge so that the flavours can mingle and settle.

But these are all minor qualifications. Make this trifle: you won't be sorry!

Dark berry trifle

Recipe from Gourmet Traveller, December 2009

Serves 15-20

1.5kg blackberries or mulberries, plus extra to serve

300gm caster sugar

2 vanilla beans, split and seeds scraped

10 gelatine leaves (titanium strength), softened in cold water for 5 minutes

300ml pink moscato

Juice of 1 lemon

330ml creme de mure (or substitute creme de cassis)

1.25kg creme fraiche

150ml milk, or enough to thin

Finely grated rind of 2 lemons

40gm pure icing sugar, sifted

Sponge

8 eggs, at room temperature

250gm raw caster sugar

250gm plain flour, sieved

50gm butter, melted and cooled

For sponge, preheat oven to 175 degrees. Whisk eggs and sugar in an electric mixer until tripled in volume (7 minutes). Fold through flour in batches, fold in butter, pour into a 28cm-square cake tin lined with baking paper. Bake until golden and centre springs back when pressed (20-25 minutes). Cool in tin, turn out, halve sponge horizontally, trim each half to fit a 6-litre capacity glass bowl, then remove from bowl and set aside, reserving trimmings.

Meanwhile, combine 1kg berries, sugar, 1 vanilla bean and seeds and 1.1 litres water in a large saucepan, simmer over low heat until infused (50 minutes). Strain through a fine sieve (discard solids), transfer 1 litre hot liquid to a bowl (reserve remainder). Squeeze excess water from gelatine leaves, add to bowl, stir to dissolve. Add moscato, lemon juice and 80ml creme de mure. Strain half into trifle bowl, scatter over 250gm berries and refrigerate until set (2 to 2 1/2 hours). Chill remaining berry jelly, removing from refrigerator if it starts to set.

Reduce 250ml remaining liquid (discard excess) over high heat to 50ml or until syrupy (10-15 minutes). Refrigerate until required.

Meanwhile, combine creme fraiche, milk, lemon rind, icing sugar and remaining vanilla seeds in a bowl, adding extra milk if necessary until spreadable. Spread one-third over set jelly, top with a sponge round, fill any gaps with trimmings, drizzle with 125ml creme de mure. Scatter over remaining berries, pour over remaining jelly (mixture should be starting to set) [my note - make sure the jelly is starting to set and is not liquidy or it will simply soak through the sponge, rather than sitting on top].

Refrigerate until set (2 to 2 1/2 hours). Top with half the remaining creme fraiche mixture, then remaining sponge. Drizzle with remaining creme de mure, top with remaining creme fraiche mixture. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Serve scattered with extra berries and drizzled with blackberry syrup.

A simple little salad

2009-12-31T07:22:00.005+11:00

After the feast that was Christmas, simple meals are on the menu for us now. Given the hot weather we've been having, salads are just the ticket. While there's always a place on my table for a basic little green salad, I also like salads with some more interesting ingredients, or those that could double as a light meal with some bread or grilled fish or chicken on the side.

Fortunately, the December 2009 issue of Gourmet Traveller, which is the magazine that Suzie from Munch+Nibble and I are focusing on in our We Made It challenge this month (where we select a current food magazine and try to cook as much as we can from that one issue) has come to my rescue, with a whole feature, "Dressed for Success", on salads.

From the delicious spread available, I chose to make the carrot and barley salad with dates and raisins. The beauty of this salad is that most of the ingredients are readily to hand (or easily obtainable, although it's always nice to be able to throw something together without having to make a special trip to the shops). As well as being an interesting mix of sweet and savoury, this salad is a cinch to put together and can be served as either a light meal or a side dish. It would also be a good addition to a salad buffet.

Although the recipe specifies that the coriander and cumin seeds should be dry-roasted and then pounded in a mortar and pestle, I took the lazy option and just used ground spices for this salad. Although the flavour is not as intense, it did cut down on cooking tasks and time.

Carrot and barley salad with dates and raisins

Recipe from Gourmet Traveller, December 2009

300gm pearl barley

1 tsp each coriander and cumin seeds, dry-roasted and coarsely pounded in a mortar and pestle

3 carrots, coarsely grated

40gm pine nuts, toasted

40gm golden raisins, soaked in warm water for 5 minutes, drained

3 dates, pitted, cut into slivers

1/2 tsp sweet paprika

1/4 tsp turmeric

1 bunch coriander, coarsely chopped

1/4 cup (firmly packed) flat-leaf parsley, coarsely chopped

1 tsp red wine vinegar

2 Tb extra-virgin olive oil

Cook barley in boiling salted water until tender (20-30 minutes). Drain, transfer to a bowl and set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, combine spices with remaining ingredients in a bowl, toss to combine. Add barley, season to taste, toss to combine, serve.

A Christmas Day lunch

2009-12-25T21:32:00.009+11:00

There's nothing more satisfying - or necessary - than sitting down with a soothing cup of peppermint tea and putting up your feet after hosting a successful Christmas Day lunch. The food has been devoured, the dishes washed and put away, the wrapping paper tidied up and presents sorted. In my case, I have a lovely stack of glossy new cookbooks to add to my pile. I can't wait to start cooking from them.

We hosted 16 people at our Christmas Day lunch but it was nowhere near as daunting as that sounds. Everyone was delegated to bring something: drinks, nibblies, a salad or two, dessert etc. As hostess, I was providing the ham and the turkey and lots of salad bowls and white platters for presentation.

My family likes a traditional Christmas lunch (by that, I mean the Anglo traditional lunch, with ham, turkey and plum pudding) but we are happy to add our own twists and interpretations. None of us are huge fans of a whole cooked turkey and I didn't want to spend Christmas morning trapped in the kitchen with a hot stove. So I ordered a turkey breast roll from my excellent local butcher (much faster to cook, with lots less angsty) and found a recipe for roast herbed turkey roll in the December 2009 issue of Gourmet Traveller (a magazine that Suzie from Munch+Nibble and I are focusing on this month in the We Made This challenge, where we aim to cook as much as we can from a selected magazine each month).

This is a lovely recipe - very stress-free for Christmas Day, with an excellent end result that belies the minimal effort involved. Combined with ham, roast chicken, a vast array of salads (including seafood, sweet potato, green salad, roast potatoes and a beetroot, walnut and feta salad) and several bottles of Seppelts Sparkling Shiraz, this dish was part of our stunning Christmas feast that satisfied all and meant groaning stomachs could barely accommodate dessert, let alone tea that night.

Roast herbed turkey roll with Meyer lemon mayonnaise

Recipe from the December 2009 issue of Gourmet Traveller

1 turkey breast (about 1.4kg), skin on (note - my turkey breast was 2kg and I did not adjust the recipe but this portion was adequate)
1 cup (loosely packed) each basil, flat-leaf parsley and mint, coarsely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
Finely grated rind of 1 Meyer lemon (Meyer lemons are slightly sweeter than regular lemons, but it is fine to substitute if you can't find Meyers)
60ml extra-virgin olive oil

Meyer lemon mayonnaise
1 egg yolk
25ml Meyer lemon juice
2 tsp Dijon mustard
150ml light olive oil
Finely grated rind of 2 Meyer lemons

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Place turkey breast skin-side down on a work surface and make an incision lengthways along the thickest part of the breast to butterfly. Open flat and season to taste.

Combine herbs, garlic, rind and half the olive oil in a small bowl, season to taste and spread evenly over turkey. Roll into a long cylinder, tucking ends under, then tie securely at intervals with kitchen twine./

Place turkey on a wire rack in a roasting tray, drizzle with remaining oil, season to taste and roast, basting occasionally, until golden and juices run clear when pierced with a skewer (1 hour 10 minutes to 1 hour 15 minutes - longer if your turkey breast is larger). Remove from oven, cover loosely with foil and rest for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, for Meyer lemon mayonnaise, combine yolk, juice and mustard in a small bowl, whisk to combine, then add oil in a thin, continuous stream, whisking continuously until incorporated. Add rind, season to taste and set aside.

Serve sliced turkey with mayonnaise to the side.

A spicy side of Christmas

2009-12-10T16:15:00.006+11:00

Heady spice mixtures and plump dried fruit feature heavily in Christmas baking. Many of the traditional dishes we've inherited from England, such as Christmas cakes, fruit mince tarts and plum puddings, are chock-full of these ingredients. But other nations have similar traditions: the spicy Dutch speculaas biscuits and golden fruit-studded panettone or panforte, a spicy mix of glace fruit and nuts, from Italy, for example.

For many years I've made a chocolate panforte at Christmas. No matter how full we are, everyone always finds a small hole in their stomach when the plate of panforte, dusted with icing sugar, comes out with coffee. In last year's Christmas issue of Gourmet Traveller, I found a recipe for panpepato, which is very similar to panforte. With a newborn in the house last Christmas, there was no time to make the panpepato but it was one of the first things on my list for this year (as this recipe came from the December 2008 issue, it doesn't strictly fit into the We Made This challenge that Suzie from Munch+Nibble and I are doing, but I'm including it anyway, as I haven't had a chance to cook as much from this year's edition as I'd hoped!)

According to Gourmet Traveller, panpepato is a Christmas specialty from the Siena region of Italy. It is similar to panforte but is spiced up with black pepper and cocoa or chocolate. "The hsitory of panforte and panpepato are intertwined and it's difficult to distinguish which came first and what their true provenance is," Emma Knowles wrote in her article on panpepato. "Legend has it that panpepato possessed powerful aphrodisiac qualities and also had the ability to stop husbands and wives from fighting, both of which are great reasons to whip up a batch yourself."

Panpepato is easy to make, although you will need a sugar thermometer and some confidence in cooking a soft caramel. The mixing stage needs to be done very quickly or you end up with a big, gluggy, unusable mess on your hands.

The recipe specifies that the panpepato should be baked in five 10cm-diameter springform pans. I made mine in a 20cm springform pan, as I don't have the smaller pans, and adjusted the cooking time slightly. The end result was fine but I do think the smaller versions would work very well if you wanted to give these away as gifts. Panpepato would make a wonderful gift for your friends: this is a wonderful cake, like a sexy older sister version of panforte. The dark cocoa gives it a luxurious element, while the spicy aftertaste of peppercorns lingers teasingly on the palate. This is a dish that I will definitely be making again.

Panpepato

Recipe from Gourmet Traveller, December 2008 (available on the GT website)

2 sheets of confectioner's rice paper
50gm plain flour
40gm Dutch-process cocoa
1 Tb ground mixed spice
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp coarsely crushed pink peppercorns
200gm candied orange, coarsely chopped
80gm almonds, roasted
80gm each walnuts and hazelnuts, roasted and peeled
150gm caster sugar
150g honey
Pure icing sugar, to dust

Preheat oven to 150 degrees. Lightly grease five 10-cm diameter springform pans, line bases with baking paper and then rice paper, trimming to fit. Sift flour and cocoa into a bowl, add spices, orange and nuts and toss to coat well in the flour mixture.

Heat caster sugar, honey and 2 Tb water in saucepan over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Do not stir again, as mixture may crystallise. Bring to the boil and cook until mixture reaches 120 degrees on a sugar thermometer (soft ball stage). Working quickly with a lightly oiled spoon, pour caramel over nut mixture, mixing well. Spoon into prepared pans and smooth tops with an oiled spatula. Bake for 10-15 minutes (time it carefully because this cake will not firm up or colour as it cooks). Cool completely in pans, turn out, then dust liberally with icing sugar. Serve cut into wedges (note that this cake is rich and a little will go a long way).

Panpepato will keep, wrapped in baking paper, and then plastic wrap in an airtight container in a cool place, for up to one month. To present as a gift, wrap panpepato in baking paper before wrapping as desire.

Waste not, want not: The Thrifty Kitchen

2009-12-05T21:40:00.006+11:00

Many people who would baulk at the idea of shredding a $50 note at the end of each week don’t think twice about throwing out the equivalent amount in unused, soggy vegetables each week.

Wasted food is just one side-effect of a society that is becoming increasingly disconnected from the idea of seasonal food and thrifty kitchen practices, such as using up leftovers rather than throwing them out.

Lack of time and lack of cooking knowledge are often blamed for the increased reliance on packaged or takeaway food. But a new cookbook, The Thrifty Kitchen, by Suzanne Gibbs and Kate Gibbs, aims to inspire people to eat more healthily and cheaply at home.

Kate says the global financial crisis has helped focus people’s minds on their expenditure and be more careful with their money, and this was part of the inspiration for the cookbook.

“This is a book that needed to be done,” she says. “An enormous amount of money is being wasted by people not being strategic and planning their meals. People need to think about their food as if it’s similar to a business and not buy food if they’re not going to use it.”

The Thrifty Kitchen contains plenty of useful tips on how to shop thriftily, including how to get the best value at the supermarket, how to get your money’s worth when buying meat, and essential items to keep in the pantry.

As well as chapters on work lunches and weeknight meals that are cheaper, healthier and more delicious than takeaway, sections of the book are devoted to meals that can be made from leftovers and weekend meals to cook and keep, allowing even the busiest people to plan ahead.

“A lot of us know how to do this but we can all improve in the way we do it,” says Kate. “Be forward thinking in terms of the meals you and your family want to eat. Make a double quantity of spaghetti bolognaise and freeze some so you don’t need to get takeaway. If you cook a roast chicken for two people, you can put the leftovers in sandwiches or make a lovely pasta dish with some cream.”

While cooking your own food gives you ultimate control over what you put in your body, it is also much cheaper to cook for yourself, and using up leftovers helps reduce waste and lessens the impact on the environment. But Kate says it is important that cooking is realistically integrated into people’s day-to-day lives and the book shows people ways that they can best use their time to fit cooking into their life.

“We’ve given lots of useful advice along with the recipes, including some clever ways to be thrifty in the kitchen. We believe cooking is connecting with food. It’s about knowing what you eat and knowing how to develop and incorporate variety into your diet.”

Kate comes from a fine food pedigree: her grandmother is the doyenne of Australian cooking, Margaret Fulton OAM, and her mother, Suzanne Gibbs, is a Cordon Bleu-trained chef who published her first cookbook at 24.

Food was integral to Kate’s childhood. She and her sister would often awake to delicious cooking smells wafting from the kitchen. Over breakfast , they would plan meals for the weekend and Kate says she always wanted to be involved in the cooking.

“We’d have family days where we would go to the fish market, buy mussels and come home and make Provencal soup. It was a lovely family event. You don’t need to spend a lot of money going out somewhere – you can just all get together and cook.”

Talking to Kate, recipes flow freely throughout the conversation. While pondering the answer to a question about her favourite recipe in the book, she digresses into a quick list of ingredients to make ricotta pancakes for breakfast.

“Food plays a massive part in my life. I choose my friends around how much they like cooking!” she laughs. “I’m lucky with my food background but, even if someone doesn’t grow up like that, you can still becoming engaged with food.

“When you love food, you’re not prepared to settle for second best.”

The Thrifty Kitchen is published by Lantern, Penguin Books, $49.95

We made it: Speculaas

2009-12-03T16:24:00.009+11:00

Suzie from Munch+Nibble and I are taking part in the "We made it" project, where we choose a food magazine each month and cook as much as we can from it. It's an attempt to actually use the magazines we subscribe to, rather than just bookmarking them.

This month's magazine is Gourmet Traveller and the first dish I made was from the "Classic Dish" section: speculaas. This is a thin and crispy spiced biscuit from Europe. According to GT writer Emma Knowles, the Dutch and German versions of speculaas are heavily spiced, with cardamom and ground white pepper added to the mix. Emma also added star anise and mace to her interpretation.

I have a simplified speculaas recipe from Miranda Sharp that appeared in Epicure a few years ago and it makes a very moreish biscuit. But the spice mix in this GT version sounded more robust and interesting, with cardamom, cloves, star anise, white peppercorns, mace, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg all featuring. Rather than using ground spices, you grind up the cardamom, cloves, star anise, peppercorns and mace yourself. I made it the old-fashioned way, using a mortar and pestle, and it does produce an intense spice mix with an almost medicinal smell. However, letting the dough rest overnight softens the harsh edges of the strong spices and mellows them into an aromatic biscuit. The aroma while baking is heavenly. As Emma notes, it's a good thing that the recipe makes a lot of biscuits, as it is almost impossible to stop at just one.

The verdict: An intense, addictive biscuit that would find favour at any time of year but is particularly welcome at this time of year; aromatic spices feature heavily in Christmas baking. While this is an easy biscuit to make, it does involve some labour and you need to allow time for the dough to rest (at least eight hours, but preferably overnight), as well as chilling the cut biscuits before making them. So while I thoroughly enjoyed this biscuit, it is not something you can whip up in a hurry. My simplified speculaas recipe is better if you're in a hurry; but the intense spices in this version make it a winner.

Speculaas

Recipe by Emma Knowles, p 38, Gourmet Traveller, December 2009

500g plain flour, sieved

2 tsp baking powder

220g butter, softened

250g dark brown sugar

2 Tb milk

Speculaas spice

8 green cardamom pods

8 cloves

5 star anise

1 tsp white peppercorns

1 piece of mace

2 Tb ground cinnamon

2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp finely grated nutmeg

1. For speculaas spice, finely grind cardamom, cloves, star anise, peppercorns and mace in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle. Transfer to a large bowl, add cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg, stir, add to flour and baking powder and set aside.

2. Beat butter, sugar and a pinch of salt in an electric mixer until creamy (3-4 minutes). Add milk, beat to combine, then add flour mixture and mix until just combined. Form mixture into a dough with your hands on a word surface (add extra milk if the mixture is too dry), shape into a disc and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate to rest (eight hours to overnight).

3. Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius. Roll pastry on a lightly floured surface to 5mm thick, then refrigerate until firm (30 minutes). Cut into desired shapes and place on trays lined with baking paper. Chill until firm (20 minutes), then bake in batches until light brown and crisp (10-12 minutes). Cool for 5 minutes on trays, then transfer to wire racks and cool completely. Speculaas will keep, stored in an airtight container, for 1 week.

We made it: Gourmet Traveller

2009-12-01T07:14:00.009+11:00

Addict: devote, apply habitually or compulsively (to a practice); person addicted to a habit.

My name is Melinda and I'm addicted to food porn. My books are pushed aside to make way for more glossy cookbooks, out-of-season food magazines are stored in boxes in the cupboard until their seasonal time arrives, and I have storage boxes stuffed full of recipes clipped from magazines and newspapers. I want to organise them and file them but every time I pull out the box to do so, I get side-tracked by hypothetically conjuring up the dishes until I've run out of time. The clippings are piled back into the box and put away until the next time.

Thankfully, I'm not alone in my addiction. My friend and fellow blogger Suzie from Munch+Nibble is a fellow food porn addict - and possibly even more addicted than me! Whenever Suzie has spare time on her hands, she dives into a newsagent for another hit.

Several months ago, I surprised myself by cooking at least 10 dishes out of that month's issue of Gourmet Traveller. Suzie was suitably impressed, as we both tend to drool over each issue, bookmark dozens of recipes, and then file away the magazine without actually making anything. We have now set ourselves the challenge of picking a different magazine each month and try to cook, review and post as much as possible from that magazine in that month. Hopefully our pristine copies will soon be covered with the splotches and splatters of use in the kitchen.

If anyone else would like to join in with our "We made it" project, you are more than welcome - just drop a comment to either Suzie or me.

So, for our inaugural "We made it", we have chosen the December 2009 issue of Gourmet Traveller. This magazine is a favourite of mine: it is beautifully written, photographed and edited. I believe that Australian food magazines are among the best in the world, especially in the way the food is photographed and presented.

Gourmet Traveller has several regular columns that I really enjoy: Fare Exchange, where readers can write in and seek recipes of favourite dishes from chefs around Australia; Classic Dish, where a classic dish is featured, including its history and a recipe to try; Perfect Match, a wine and food match dish, and In Season.

A stunning trifle, glossy dark berries perched on top of a custard and sponge base, is the enticing cover photo of this month's issue. Inside is lots of inspiration for Christmas, with some old favourites given a modern twist, and Sydney star pastry chef Adrian Zumbo providing some zany Christmas dishes to make.

If you would like to join in the fun of cooking from Gourmet Traveller this month, leave me a comment, and make sure you go and visit Suzie at Munch+Nibble to see what amazing dishes she is whipping up. Check back regularly this month, as we plan to post throughout December about the different dishes we're trying.

If you are unable to buy Gourmet Traveller, you will find many of the recipes from each month's issue featured on its excellent website: http://www.gourmettraveller.com.au/

Snowy drifts of sugar

2009-11-30T13:17:00.004+11:00

So many of the traditional Christmas baking dishes that we favour seem wrong for our climate: hot roast dishes, rich puddings and dense spicy treats are perfect for a snowy, northern hemisphere Yuletide but seem inappropriate when we're more likely to be heading to the beach.

Yet the tradition persists. To me, the aroma of spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves are the essence of Christmas and conjure up images of sweet treats that we can eat with a reckless abandon that doesn't exist during the rest of the year (or why else are the January magazines full of post-Christmas diets?)

It is a time of excess, particularly in relation to baking. A slice of panforte here, a wedge of fruit cake there, here a mince tart, there a spiced biscuit ... there's plenty of excuses to indulge.

Despite my mounting pile of recipes, it's nice to return to some old favourites. I adore spiced biscuits and cakes - put the word "spiced" into the title of a recipe and you have my attention immediately. These cute little spiced biscuits by Donna Hay, finished off with a dusting of snowy icing sugar, are a perfect way to offer season's greetings.

Sugar-dusted spice biscuits

125g (4 0z) butter, softened
3/4 cup (150g/5 oz) brown sugar
1/4 cup (95g/3 oz) golden syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 3/4 cups (235g/7 oz) plain flour, sifted
1/2 cup (55g/ 1 3/4 oz) hazelnut meal
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
icing sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit). Beat butter, brown sugar, golden syrup and vanilla extract with an electric mixer until pale. Add the egg and beat well. Add the flour, hazelnut meal, spices and soda and beat until just combined.

Roll two teaspoonfuls of mixture into balls and place on baking-paper-lined baking trays, allowing room for spreading. Bake in batches for 8 minutes, or until light golden. Cool, then dust with icing sugar.

Recipe from Donna Hay Magazine, issue 12

Restaurant review: The Station Hotel, Footscray

2009-11-21T21:02:00.004+11:00

Gentrification and renovation has swept much of the previously overlooked inner-western suburbs over the past few years, with many a fine old Edwardian or Federation house with lovely bones finding itself modernised. Along with the influx of artistes and yummy mummies has come a passion for good coffee and decent cafes, which has been largely catered for in Yarraville and Seddon.

Now Footscray has joined the throng, with the stately old Station Hotel, built in 1864, being brought into the modern era by highly regarded chef Sean Donovan. Footscray has long been the place to go for Asian and African food but diners west of the CBD now have a more upmarket option.

Donovan, who has worked at Michelin-starred restaurants in both London and France and formerly weaved his magic south of the river at The Botanical, has waved his wand over the Station Hotel and turned it into the area’s first gastro-pub. While the surrounding area may seem less amenable to fine dining than South Yarra, London or France, his chef’s eye for detail and use of excellent produce has transformed the pub into a thriving local where it’s difficult to snare a table if you don’t book ahead.

The focus here is firmly on the food. The dining room interior is pleasantly neutral, with one wall papered in a subtle grey paisley pattern. The wooden tables, adorned with cloth napkins and heavy cutlery, are positioned quite closely together, although the noise levels never rise unacceptably and it’s possible to conduct a conversation without shouting.

When the Station first reopened, diners ordered and paid at the bar but this has been sensibly replaced by table service. The waitstaff are friendly and helpful, eager to answer any questions about the menu and not shy about complimenting patrons on their dining choices.

While the menu does reflect Donovan’s training, there are still some traditional pub favourites, albeit with a cheffy twist, such as beer-battered fish and chips or a burger with onion fries. There is a choice of eight different steaks, either Black Angus or wagyu, grain or grass-fed. Then there are the gastro-pub offerings: blinis, farro risotto and terrine de campagne. There is also evident pride in the produce used, with names such as Fratelli Galloni Prosciutto di Parma, Coffin Bay scallops, Smoky Bay oysters and the provenance of each steak detailed on the menu.

Seafood makes up the bulk of the short entree list. Marinated ocean trout is folded delicately atop four pancake-sized buckwheat blinis. The blinis are crispy and a little oily but saved by the accompanying sauces, one zinging with piquant horseradish and the other full of little salmon roe that pop sensuously in the mouth.

The Cashel blue cheese and leek tart is an upmarket, but well made, quiche. The pastry holds the firm eggy filling without sogginess but still has a flaky lightness to it. The blue cheese adds a subtle bite and the tart’s richness is offset by a salad of radicchio and thinly sliced apple.

The relative simplicity of the entrees disappears with the more elaborate mains. On paper, the spicy wagyu beef sausages with Gorgonzola, soft polenta, candied walnuts and sage – essentially a glamorous bangers and mash – sounds messy and complicated, with too many ingredients competing for attention. But there is a harmony in the dish, with the different flavours complementing each other and the smoky sweetness of the candied walnuts adding an extra sizzle of flavour. The waitress rated the sausages as “7 out of 10” in the heat stakes but our palates clearly differ, as I found the sausages to have nothing more than a pleasing warmth to them. They are coiled on a pillow of soft and creamy polenta, flecked with herbs and Gorgonzola. Radicchio and shaved parmesan add some lightness to the pure comfort food element of the dish.

Just as detailed on paper is the black pudding dish, which features Donovan’s gelatinous, slightly spicy black pudding. When the crispy, pan-fried skin is cut, the black pudding spills out over its accompaniments of caramelised onion, a brie and duck egg omelette and a mound of lentils and bacon. A slice of walnut and fruit toast adds a firm-textured dimension. Despite the many ingredients, this dish works, and the interesting juxtaposition of sweet and sour tastes makes it memorable. Black pudding is not to everyone’s taste, but if you are a fan, this is an excellent version.

The serves here are generous and desserts are no exception. A hot Valrhona chocolate cake, about the size of an entree plate, has surprise packages of poached quince pieces hidden inside. The fruit, and the bitter notes of good-quality dark chocolate, save the cake from being cloying or overly sweet, and it is finished off with a scoop of Jock’s vanilla ice-cream. The Station’s version of ubiquitous sticky date pudding is excellent: a large wedge of pudding is studded with walnuts and doused with a thick butterscotch sauce.

The Station Hotel has been embraced by locals and it’s easy to see why. While simple dishes are executed well and will not scare off those who are after a pub meal, there is enough innovation, passion and pride in the food here to attract those who want something a little more adventurous.

The Station Hotel
59 Napier St, Footscray
(03) 9687 2913

Melbourne Larder Christmas cake

2009-11-19T16:52:00.012+11:00

When I started planning to make my Christmas cake, I didn't factor in the weather. I imagine that it would wonderfully comforting at this time of year in cold England to have an oven emitting warmth and a kitchen filled with spicy aromas as a fruit cake gently cooks in the oven, but it is definitely the wrong thing to be doing in a hot Australian kitchen when the temperature is already 30 degrees at 7am.

But the dried fruit had been macerating in Irish whisky for three days and I couldn't put off the baking any longer. It was time to whisk up the cake batter and turn on the air-conditioner and let my cake bake slowly for three hours.

Fruit cakes seem to have fallen out of favour over recent years. I know very few people who still bake a Christmas cake every year. Fruit cake is certainly not glamorous or showy like a chocolate or celebration cake but it does have a certain richness and comfort factor. A rich cake densely studded with plump fruit and nuts and laced with alcohol is a delicious afternoon treat with a cup of tea, especially in winter. And, although it is not ideally suited for a hot Australian summer, fruit cake has a Christmassy air about it to me. I confess that my favourite Christmas treat is now a slice of spicy, chocolatey panforte but I still have a soft spot for a good old-fashioned Christmas cake.

In Christmas 2007, after reading through my collection of fruit cake recipes, I came up with my own version, which was a hit with the family. Most fruit cakes are quite similar - it's a matter of choosing your preferred dried fruit and then working out the proportions of butter, sugar, eggs, flour and spices for the cake batter.

People often think they need to set aside a large portion of time to make a Christmas cake. However, the cake is actually very easy to make and just requires preparation and forward planning in order to allow time to macerate the fruit and then to bake the cake. Long, slow baking is the key that turns the thick batter into a rich, dense cake. The other secret is to line the cake tin with brown paper to help protect the cake from drying out through its long cooking time.

Melbourne Larder Christmas cake

250g sultanas

250g currants

250g raisins

60g prunes

100g dates

100g dried apricots

100g glace cherries

300g plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

250g butter

250g brown sugar

4 eggs

150ml brandy (or sherry, port or whisky)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon mixed spice

1 teaspoon ginger

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon golden syrup

zest of 1 lemon

Soak dried fruit in 100ml brandy overnight. (This year I soaked the fruit in 150ml Irish whisky for three days in the fridge and this gave a deeper, mellower flavour. If you have time, I recommend this; but the cake will still taste fine if you only macerate the fruit overnight.)

The next day, pre-heat the oven to 150 degrees and sift together the flour, baking powder and spices.

Cream the butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and flour mix alternately. Lastly mix in the vanilla extract, soaked fruit, golden syrup and lemon zest.

Turn into a lined 20cm square cake tin.* Scoop centre into a light hollow to allow for rising. Place whole blanched almonds in a pattern around the edges of the cake. I sometimes make a little flower pattern in the centre as well.

Bake for 2 to 3 hours (cover with foil if the top is browning too much). Remove from oven and drizzle over the extra 50ml brandy. Cool completely in the tin and then turn out. Wrap the cake in several layers of greaseproof paper and then in foil and store in an airtight tin in a cool place until Christmas.

* The base and sides of the cake tin are lined twice - with brown paper and greaseproof paper. Lay two sheets of brown paper onto the bench, making sure it is larger than the tin. Trace around the base of the tin and then cut diagonally in from the sides to the base-line. This will allow the paper to fold neatly into the tin with no cracks for the cake to leak through. Repeat with a sheet of greaseproof paper.

Preparing for the festive season

2009-11-16T13:55:00.008+11:00

Christmas-time is my baking highlight of the year. I stress the word "baking" because savoury dishes such as turkey and ham don't really come into the equation, although I do enjoy planning the main meal as well. I love baking Christmas treats: gingerbread, panforte, panettone, lebkuchen, shortbread, mince tarts, Christmas cake ... the list is long.

It's time to load up my shopping trolley with bags of dried and glace fruit, different types of nuts, spices such as ginger, cinnamon and mixed spice, and plenty of flour, sugar, butter and eggs. The kitchen fills with the heady, mouth-watering aroma of cakes and biscuits as they cook - a spicy smell that I always associate with Christmas and its delicious traditional dishes.

There are many cliches associated with Christmas and it can be a difficult time of year for people who feel forced to try and live up to the ideal of "festive cheer". But I'm fortunate in that Christmas was always a fun and social time of the year for my family. With relatives spread around the state, it was a good chance for everyone to get together and indulge themselves with good food.

The Christmassy treats that we served up for morning and afternoon tea were just as much a part of our celebrations as the turkey, ham and plum pudding. Everyone had a specialty and we eagerly looked forward to the chance to savour delicacies only available at that time of year.

I love learning about the different traditional dishes and adding them to my repertoire. To my Anglo traditions of shortbread and mince tarts, made to my grandmother's recipes, I've added a decadent chocolate panforte and my auntie's lebkuchen biscuits. Other dishes I've tried included buche de Noel (France), stollen (Germany) and panpepato (Italy).

But each year the list grows longer, as I find more books and recipes to add to the pile. Murdoch Books has recently released Cooking for Christmas, a sumptuously photographed book that has recipes for soups, entrees such as potted prawns, main dishes with all the trimmings, puddings and edible gifts. I'm trying to resist buying another cookbook but there are some excellent recipes in there...

I have the delicious magazine Christmas special from last year, to which I've added a Women's Weekly version that I bought last week. I'm eagerly awaiting the December issues of delicious, Gourmet Traveller and Donna Hay Magazine to find out what goodies are on offer this year, and I've been busily combing through past issues of Donna Hay Magazine to gain inspiration.

What dishes will make it onto my baking list this year? Chocolate and Grand Marnier buche de Noel from Gourmet Traveller? Stefano de Pieri's panettone? Gourmet Traveller's recipe for panpepato? Or old favourites, such as my chocolate panforte or a panforte that matches perfectly with Rutherglen muscat? It's time to write out the shopping list and fire up the oven ...

Going dotty

2009-11-14T18:26:00.014+11:00

Certain things are guaranteed to always catch the eye of children, particularly if it involves lollies or bright colours. Smartie-studded biscuits, cute little iced gingerbread men and sugary honey-joys are a magnet for my son Daniel's eyes.

I believe that moderation is the key to eating well and I have no problem with the occasional treat of a cake or biscuit. However, I very rarely buy them. Sometimes it's because the promise never seems to live up to the taste (many cafe cakes are disappointingly dry) but it's mostly because I prefer home-made because I know exactly what is going into it and there's no hidden preservatives or additives.

So these sweet little vanilla-scented buttery biscuits are perfect. Budding little cooks will enjoy helping mix up the dough and will most of all love to decorate the biscuit with brightly coloured smarties. Quick to mix, quick to cook, a creative outlet in designing patterns on the biscuits ... this is a lovely little project that has kept Daniel amused many times. Best of all, these are certainly a lot cheaper to make than the cafe versions, which often sell for $2.50 each.

Dotty biscuits

125g butter, softened

125g caster sugar

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

125g plain flour

125g SR flour

1 cup (250g) smarties

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Line a baking tray with baking paper.

Cream butter and caster sugar together until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and mix in.

Sift the flours together and fold into the butter mixture with a wooden spoon to form a soft dough. Turn out onto a sheet of non-stick baking paper, cover with another sheet and roll out to about 5mm thick. Cut out circles with a biscuit cutter (I used a 6cm diameter), place on the lined baking tray and press smarties into the biscuits.

Bake in the oven in batches for 10-15 minutes or until golden. Cool on a wire rack.

Book review: Cravat-a-licious

2009-11-12T20:24:00.004+11:00

Many Australians have recently discovered food writer Matt Preston through his role on Masterchef and suddenly Matt and his cravats are everywhere.

But veteran Epicure readers such as myself have known and loved Matt and his witty restaurant reviews and food articles for nearly a decade.

It would be easy to dismiss this collection of articles (billed as "selected works") as a quick publishing response to cash in on Masterchef's fame. But the writing in Cravat-a-licious easily stands on its own merits. Preston's incisive and witty columns feature in Epicure, delicious magazine and Vogue Entertaining & Travel, among others.

The book is divided into five parts: Eat, Cook, Revere, Travel and MasterChef. The Eat section ranges from humorous essays on "25 things you should never do in the kitchen" to more thoughtful articles on migrant food and refugee catering (both of these essays contributed to Preston winning the World's Best Food Journalist in 2008 at the Le Cordon Bleu World Food Media Awards).

In Cook, we follow Preston on his searches for the perfect tomato sauce, perfect risotto, perfect ice-cream and perfect home-cooked slice. All interesting forays through the history of the dish, and recipes are included.

Revere features profiles of well-known chefs, including Margaret Fulton and Skye Gyngell, while Travel looks at different world cuisines. A few essays on the MasterChef phenomenon wrap up the book.

The best thing about this collection is that the articles haven't dated. Even those that are nearly a decade old still sparkle with freshness and vigour. I've read most of these articles before (the articles and recipes on slices, biscuits, ice-cream and risotto still reside in my bulging recipe files) but I enjoyed re-reading them again. "How to win a ribbon" (a 2001 article about how to win a ribbon in the cookery sections at country shows) and "Preserving knowledge" (on how to make jam, published in 2007, and then followed up again earlier this year) are my favourites from this collection, perhaps because they tackle subjects close to my heart (keeping the art of home baking alive).

Preston writes as you imagine he would speak and his unabashed love of food and life shine through his writing. Experienced cooks and foodies will enjoy Preston's masterful knowledge and excellent writing, while novices will find plenty to help broaden their own knowledge. Highly recommended.

Party time!

2009-11-11T21:59:00.007+11:00

I wanted to show photos of platters filled with tasty morsels of food but, sadly, the guests gobbled them up before there was time to organise the camera. So here are the remnants of our feast, a lonely plate of leftover savouries: caramelised onion tarts, potato and fetta pastries, and corn and ham mini-muffins.

The potato pastries were served by my colleague Susie at a work morning tea recently. They were rapturously received and we requested the recipe from Susie. She happily provided it, although she said that the dish was really too simple to require a defined recipe. She's right; you can mould the basic ingredients to fit your own requirements. Best of all, the pastries can be baked the night before and refreshed in a hot oven for a few minutes before serving.

Susie's potato pastries

I haven't given defined amounts for these pastries, as you can adjust the amounts to suit the number of servings you want to make. Each pastry sheet made about nine squares. For the party, I used four sheets of pastry and about three large potatoes.

The beauty of this recipe is that you can tailor the ingredients to suit yourself: perhaps substituting goats' cheese for fetta, or adding a sprinkling of finely chopped prosciutto.

potatoes (ones that are good for cooking)

marinated fetta (I used South Cape marinated fetta, which is absolutely delicious, as the cheese is marinated in herbed oil

sheets of ready-rolled puff pastry
sprigs of rosemary, finely chopped

sea salt and black pepper

Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Set out the puff pastry sheets to defrost.

Peel the potatoes and slice into thin slices. Bring a saucepan of salted water to the boil and cook the slices until just tender (about five minutes or less), then drain.

Lay a sheet of pastry on a lightly floured bench (to stop it sticking). Place slices of potato across the sheet (I got about nine slices to a sheet, but you could get more or less, depending on how big your potato slices are. You want a little border around each slice.)

Top the potato slice with some crumbled fetta, chopped rosemary, a sprinkle of sea salt and some grindings of black pepper. Pop into the oven and cook until the pastry is puffed and golden (about 20 minutes). Remove and cool on a wire rack.

Pastry pinwheels

These pinwheels came about because I had two sheets of puff pastry left over from the potato pastries. This must be the simplest snack ever and disappeared quickly, with the adults clamouring for them as much as the children!

I used pesto and parmesan for the adult versions, and promite and cheddar for the children's version but the adults loved the promite version just as much, so I would suggest making a mixture of both to serve.

Again, adjust the quantities to suit the number of servings you want.

sheets of ready-rolled puff pastry

home-made or store-bought pesto

Promite or Vegemite spread

parmesan and cheddar cheese

Spread pesto over a puff pastry sheet and sprinkle over finely grated parmesan. Roll up like a sausage and slice into 1-cm pinwheels. Repeat using Promite and finely grated cheddar.

Place pinwheels on a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper and bake at 200 degrees Celsius for about 20 minutes, or until pinwheels are puffed and golden.

Happy birthday! Part 2

2009-11-08T20:55:00.004+11:00

Shiny wrapping paper lies shredded on the floor and the helium is slowly leaking from the balloons but there is no post-party flatness. Family and friends gathered to help us celebrate Emily's first birthday and the party euphoria and sugar high lingers.

Hosting a party, particularly at home, brings a whole host of administrative issues on top of the catering. Cleaning, dusting, putting precious objects out of reach of 15 stampeding toddlers, sorting out toys into boxes for different age groups, sweeping the back deck, setting up outdoor furniture, arranging the pot-plants, buying the balloons and streamers ... the list is endless. But an inveterate list-maker like myself finds it satisfying ticking off each item.

Also satisfying, and much more fun, is planning the party menu. With up to 50 people coming, we can't just throw together a few platters and hope that will be enough. Luckily there are good cooks on both sides of the family and all are drafted in to help fill the white platters that are marching out of the cupboards, eager to be used. Of course we have bowls of chips and lollies to put out, but there's also pastry pinwheels, club sandwiches, potato and fetta pastries, corn and ham mini-muffins, caramelised onion tartlets and smartie biscuits.

I'll share some recipes in a future post. In the meantime, here is the fairy toadstool birthday cake that I made for the party.

Happy birthday! Part 1

2009-11-04T06:41:00.005+11:00

Today my baby girl Emily turns one. It's the common lament of most parents but it really is true: where has the time gone? This past year has really flown by and she is growing up so quickly.

We are having a proper party to celebrate on the weekend, and I've already planned the birthday cake from The Australian Women's Weekly birthday cake book. But for our little family dinner tonight I made a sweet little marble cake, all swirls of multi-coloured cake butter, topped with rose-pink icing and silver cachous.

The marble cake is very easy to make (although it does use a few bowls) and can be whipped up in surprisingly quick time. It is a basic butter cake mix that is coloured with cocoa and pink food colouring. It makes a lovely afternoon tea cake but is also nice for a little birthday celebration, particularly for a gorgeous little girl.

Marble cake

This is not a huge cake, so I make it in a loaf tin, which makes a good-sized bar cake. However, you could double the mixture and make it in a square or round cake tin (you may need to adjust the cooking time to suit).

50g butter, softened
115g caster sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
250g self-raising flour
125ml milk
2 tablespoons cocoa
1/4 teaspoon bicarb soda
1 tablespoon milk, extra
few drops of rose-pink food colouring

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees (160 degrees fan-forced). Grease and line a loaf tin (it usually measures about 10cm x 24cm).

Cream the butter and sugar together with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Gently beat in the egg and the vanilla extract. Sift the flour and mix in alternately with the milk. Divide the mixture into three bowls. Beat the sifted cocoa and bicarb soda and the milk into one bowl. Add a few drops of rose-pink food colouring (a little goes a long way but you do want this to have a strong colour) into the second bowl. Leave the third bowl plain.

Drop spoonfuls of mixture into the prepared cake tin. When finished, use a skewer to swirl through the mixture. Bake for 40-45 minutes (you may need to cover the top with foil if the top is browning too quickly) or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Cool in the tin for about five minutes and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

When cold, ice with a basic butter icing (beat 25g softened butter, 125g sifted icing sugar and a few teaspoons of boiling water until smooth. Add a few drops of rose-pink food colouring, mix to a smooth consistency and ice) and decorate with silver cachous or sprinkles.

Sojourn in Sydney

2009-10-27T19:58:00.006+11:00

After Melbourne's cold start to spring (winter coats and flannelette sheets still a necessity), Sydney's balmy sunshine acts like a tonic. Layers are shed and upper arms exposed. Colourful spring outfits beckon from shops along Oxford St, Paddington, and credit cards are just begging to be used.

The occasion is a girls' weekend in Sydney and several girlfriends and I have flown up from Melbourne to spend time with some friends who are now Sydney-based. First stop is a fortifying sandwich at a little streetside cafe on Oxford St, where I spy a piccolo latte for $3 on the coffee menu. I first heard the term "piccolo latte" two weeks ago when a colleague from my Sydney office mentioned it was his drink of choice. Suddenly I'm seeing the term everywhere (although I've yet to order one; it sounds similar to a macchiato. Can anyone offer me more information?)

Letting six women loose along Oxford St makes for an interesting few hours (one person is heard to mutter something about "herding cats") but we manage to loosely stay together and not do too much damage to the credit cards. We freshen up at home and then it's time for cocktails at Blue Sydney at The Wharf at Woolloomooloo. The dark-toned bar is cavernous, with strategically placed low tables, comfortable couches and screens, and old hardware from the days when it was a working wharf is still visible. The cocktail menu is extensive and makes a choice difficult, so we settle for a mixture of sangria, champagne and mojitos. When the bill arrives, we also make the acquaintance of the $12 "service charge", which is applied for "table service" (although this seems a misnomer to me, as customers are steered gently but firmly to tables and I did not see a general bar where drinkers could prop). Perhaps, like the $50 main, this is a Sydney trend that is yet to filter down to Melbourne?

Dinner is at The Pier Restaurant in Rose Bay. It is a delightful setting, with a long, narrow dining room boxed with glass windows on both sides, offering beautiful views over the Harbour. Everyone chooses plump Coffin Bay oysters for entree, which are perfectly sublime with a squeeze of lemon juice. Yellowfin tuna, barramundi and John Dory and some of the options for mains. Most of the table opts for roasted barramundi, although yellowfin tuna also gets a vote. The barramundi's crispy skin contrasts nicely with the soft flesh and is complemented by sweet roasted carrots. Side dishes of salad and divinely creamy mash are wonderful accompaniments.

Although I'm normally a sweet tooth, the four options on the dessert menu leave me cold, especially at $28 per dessert. We order another bottle of Dixons Creek chardonnay and continue our reminiscing about the direction our lives have taken since we graduated from university. We take it in turns to ask the table a question (about joys, achievements and regrets). One question makes everyone think hard. What single possession would you choose to save from your house? Husbands and children are ruled out, as they are not possessions, and it is assumed that you are wearing precious engagement and wedding rings and don't need to save them. To stop everyone from giving the same answer, photos are also deemed inadmissible.

After thinking hard, my choice is my collection of cookbooks and recipe clippings collected over nearly 20 years. It would actually be very difficult to save all of these from a burning house (I would probably need a trailer or trolley to do so!) but, hey, it was a theoretical question. Some of my favourite books, such as The Cook's Companion by Stephanie Alexander and recent titles by Maggie Beer, Gordon Ramsay, Frank Camorra, Bill Granger, Donna Hay, Jamie Oliver and Belinda Jeffrey are all still in print and available, so they could be left behind. But what about my precious scrapbook of recipes clipped from The Age's Epicure section since the early 1990s? Irreplaceable. Epicure once ran a "My Favourite Chocolate Cake" section and I diligently clipped each recipe and snapped up the book version, 50 Fabulous Chocolate Cakes when it was published by Anne O'Donovan in 1995. I can still picture myself in the bookstore in Rathdowne St buying the book, which came with a Gabriel Gate desserts book as a bonus (Not all the chocolate cakes that featured in the newspaper made it to the book, so it was worth my diligence!)

Other cookbooks to go into the save pile are a mixture of the sentimental and the no-longer-available: the metricated version of The Margaret Fulton Cookbook (the first cookbook I was given when I left home); The Cookery The Australian Way (third edition) (which I used in my year eight home economics class); my hand-written recipe book that was a Christmas present in early high school (only my absolutely favourite recipes were ever transcribed in here, but perhaps I would prefer to forget that the first risotto recipe I was given used long-grain rice!); Margaret Fulton's Book of Chocolate Cooking (picked up for $2 from an op shop in the late 1980s and the recipes and photography have stood the test of time); Irish Soups & Breads and the Kilkenny Cookbook (both mementoes from a trip to Ireland a few years ago), the RuffArtz little black book of coffee and cake (an absolute treasure trove of good old-fashioned cakes and slices from country cooks, collected to raise royalties for a small volunteer arts organisation in Ruffy in north-eastern Victoria); my mum's original copy of The Women's Weekly Birthday Cake Book (it contains some of my favourite childhood birthday cakes, which did not make it into the updated edition that I have); and my personally autographed copy of Jill Dupleix's Old Food.

Just like my old friends, these books have stood the test of time and have so much more meaning to me than just a collection of ingredients and methods. As I look at the books, I recall where I bought them, why I bought them and what I made from them. I don't know why some cookbooks occupy a more precious place in our lives than others but I like to think that sometimes it's the memories, as much as the recipes, that is the special glue that bonds me to these cookbooks.

Cafe review: Treat

2009-10-22T17:55:00.009+11:00

Here is a cafe that is aptly named. Imaginative use of quality ingredients and excellent coffee makes Treat a favourite spot with locals, whether it's sharp-suited buyers' advocates and real estate agents, impeccably attired eastern suburban matrons, or designer-dressed bubs with their yummy mummies.

The outlook is pure urban industrial: a jumble of overhead train and tram cables, straggly trees wrapped around a chain wire fence that barricades the train tracks, and trams and cars jostling through the busy intersection of Malvern and Orrong roads.

But inside is elegant and refined, like much of the clientele. This wedge-shaped corner cafe is filled with light through its floor-to-ceiling windows. Designers have made clever use of the difficult triangular block, with a narrow entry widening out into a serene, inviting space that is busy without being crowded. One wall is lined with a dark brown leather banquette scattered with artsy cushions. Other small tables are grouped around the cafe, with the prize spot being a table-for-two overlooking Beattie Ave and bathed in soft sunlight.

This is a favourite spot for ladies who lunch and the menu caters accordingly. Use of excellent and expensive ingredients, such as yellowfin tuna, Atlantic salmon, ocean trout, smoked duck and zucchini flowers, makes Treat a place where you can indulge yourself with a fine meal during daylight hours.

During the warmer months, elegant salads and lighter dishes predominate on the lunch menu. A salad of crispy-skinned ocean trout fillet with kipflers and a delicate lemon caper sauce errs on the small side but is perfectly pitched to its audience.

For anyone not watching their weight or carb intake, there are more robust dishes on offer. Corned beef might be an old-fashioned ingredient not often seen on menus (although, in the post-GFC world, previously unfashionable cuts of meat are enjoying a resurgence), but here it is sexed up into elegant and satisfying comfort food. Three thick slices of warm corned beef and melted cheese is sandwiched with pickles and Dijon mayonnaise between sourdough bread. Testifying to its popularity, it's migrated from a permanent spot on the specials board to a place on the fixed menu. Another option is the satisfyingly large veal schnitzel roll. A crispy schnitzel and gruyere is folded into a roll, with roasted potatoes, braised soft red cabbage and a little bowl of garlicky mayonnaise on the side.

Sweet treats change daily and might feature a moist pistachio cake or a subtle Masala-laced date and rice pudding that is more of a tart than a pudding. Excellent cafe lattes come adorned with latte art.

If you prefer to be out and about earlier in the day, the breakfast menu also looks welcoming. Brioche French toast, salmon and sweetcorn hotcakes, semolina pancakes, toasted breakfast bagels and an egg white omelette are some of the options that should get your day off to a good start.

Treat, 736 Malvern Road, Armadale

The disastrous day trip

2009-10-20T20:54:00.007+11:00

I've lived half my life in the country and half in the city but I forget how "citified" I've become until a small incident shows that there can still be a gulf between rural and urban life. Let me explain.

For several years, I've hankered to visit Kyneton, a small town in the Macedon Ranges and a comfortable drive from Melbourne. Specifically, I wanted to visit Annie Smithers' Bistro, which kick-started the culinary revolution in Piper St and which this year received its third successive The Age Good Food Guide hat. Since the bistro opened, Piper Street's lovely old bluestone and historic buildings have slowly been revived, with cafes, cake shops, an upmarket pizzeria, a gastropub, homewares stores and a gallery all crammed into a relatively short strip just out of the main centre of an otherwise ordinary Victorian rural town.

Two weeks ago, with some time off work and the children being looked after for the day, Adam and I decided to head to Kyneton for a day trip, with the planned highlight being lunch at Annie Smithers' Bistro. It was only as we drove up to the beautiful old bluestone building that houses the Bistro, which looked suspiciously dark and unoccupied, that it dawned on me that I should have checked the opening hours. Right on cue, Adam asked me "Did you check the opening hours?" And I had to confess that not only had I not checked, but that the thought had not occurred to me. I've become so used to Melbourne's seven-day-a-week culture that I did not stop to think that country towns, especially those that rely on weekend traffic from Melbourne, were likely to have a few days off early in the week. It was a Tuesday and the bistro's opening hours were Wednesday to Sunday.

Not to worry, we consoled ourselves. There were plenty of options in Piper St, as highlighted in the article and photo spread in the September issue of Delicious magazine. But, alas, most of the other options were also closed. Thankfully, Slow Living, at 54 Piper St, was open. It's a lovely, welcoming big open space, with lots of spacious wooden tables and a central counter stocked with a coffee machine and some cakes and biscuits. There's a grassed area to one side that would be perfect on a sunny day, with plenty of space for children to play while the parents relax with food and coffee.

The smallish menu features locally grown and mostly organic food, with several breakfast options and a couple of lunch specials each day. We chose the vegetarian lentil burger, a generously sized pattie bursting with lentils, chickpeas, corn, carrot and some spices. It came on a thick slice of sourdough, with salad and spiced yoghurt to the side. It may be just mind over matter, but there seems to be so much more flavour in organic food. This lentil burger was an excellent meal in its own right and was worth the drive from Melbourne.

To rub salt into our wounds, the cover story in today's Epicure is all about the revival of Piper St and Kyneton, and just reiterated to us how much we want to visit again (probably on a weekend!) and try out some more options. Next time, I will be more organised and will definitely check ahead for opening hours!

The future of food magazines

2009-10-19T20:11:00.007+11:00

For a small market, Australia is blessed with some excellent food magazines, so I don't often look offshore for recipes (although The Times and The Guardian newspaper both have excellent food sections on their websites). I was interested to read Jill Dupleix's recent "Table Talk" column in the Sydney Morning Herald on "Has the food magazine had the chop?"

In this article, she noted that Conde Nast recently closed down the 68-year-old food magazine Gourmet, edited by Ruth Reichl. As a fan of Ruth's books, I've looked at their website a few times and once found an inspiring section on Christmas cooking that I kept. As I find the conversions of measurements and ingredients quite time-consuming, I don't often look to US magazines for inspiration, but Gourmet did have an interesting website and it's sad news to hear that it's closing. As Jill noted in her column: "Media pundits say we will never again be able to walk into a newsagent and have such an incredible variety of magazines to choose from. Good news for trees, bad news for those who take their fave foodie mag to bed with them. How will this affect us and where will we get our foodie info, recipes and cheffy restaurant news from in the future?"

"It is sad news indeed that Conde Nast felt there was nothing they could do with Gourmet magazine but fire everyone and cancel the next print run. It would have been wonderful if, instead, they had parlayed a few of the magazine’s great resources - terrific writers, photographers, food stylists - into a new form of online food content. The very fact that they didn’t, is also perhaps one of the reasons for the magazine’s demise - it’s called not quite getting with the programme, not engaging with the new media world, not picking up on new possibilities.

"But there is no doubt the world is changing. These days, we get our recipes, cooking ideas, produce news, food shop info and inspiration from a variety of different sources as well as magazines - effectively editing our own ‘foodie magazine’ to our own taste."

I agree with these excellent points. I love nothing more than settling down with a cup of coffee and the latest glossy food magazine, flicking through and enjoying the lavish photo spreads and planning new menus. I add post-it notes to pages, make lists of dishes I want to try and transfer recipes that get the thumbs-up into my special recipe folder.

But when it comes to finding a recipe quickly, or wanting to find a new recipe to try - perhaps I was given a bag of lemons and need to find new ways to use it up - I search online, rather than through the magazines. I'll usually go to the taste.com.au or the Gourmet Traveller website but so many of their recipes are on their website that you don't have to buy each month's magazine if you don't want to. Still, I don't think anything compares to thumbing through a fresh issue and you certainly can't snuggle up in bed with the website or read it easily on the train.

The gift of food

2009-10-15T14:09:00.003+11:00

Slices are wonderful. They are usually easy to prepare, quick to cook and are generally good for feeding large groups. Because slices are generally baked in large slabs, you can stretch them out to accommodate numbers and I find that a small piece of slice is a lot more satisfying than a small biscuit.

Slices can be simple concoctions of a few pantry staple ingredients or elaborate mixtures with a base, filling and icing. When I was growing up, afternoon teas at the local primary school or tennis club always featured several slices, including hedgehog, jelly slice and lemon slice. A good housewife always had several decent slice recipes in her repertoire, and at least one slice in a cake tin in the pantry.

This week at work, we held a morning tea to farewell a colleague off on a six-week European and US holiday. With no sure idea of exact numbers, a slice seemed the safest bet, offering a slice of sweetness to break up the morning workload, without going over the top. One of my favourite cookbooks is Belinda Jeffrey's Mix & Bake, which has a whole chapter devoted to simple slices. Her walnut and caramel bars were the perfect morning tea solution, supplemented by some rich chocolate brownies. Although the brownies disappeared in a flash, the walnut and caramel slice receive rapturous admiration and requests for the recipe. It is extremely simple and incredibly moreish - Belinda writes in her introduction to the recipe that she is "forever trekking to and fro [from the fridge] for just another fine sliver!" Enjoy!

Walnut and caramel bars

Base
160g plain flour
70g caster sugar
120g cool, unsalted butter, cut into small chunks

Topping
2 eggs
70g caster sugar
70g brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
200g walnuts or pecans, coarsely chopped
Icing sugar, for dusting

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Butter a 23cm square cake tin and set aside.
For the base, put the flour and sugar into a food processor and whiz together for a few seconds. Add the butter and whiz again until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. It will seem a bit dry but that's OK. Tip the mixture into the prepared tin, shake to level, and then press down firmly on the mixture to form an even layer. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown. Remove from oven and sit it on a wire rack while you make the topping.

For the topping, put the eggs, caster sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract into a large bowl and whisk them together until well combined. In another, smaller bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt, then sift them into the egg mixture. Stir until it is well combined, then mix in the nuts.

Scrape the mixture evenly over the warm base. Return to oven and bake for another 20 minutes or until the topping is brown and firm to the touch. Leave to cool in the tin on a wire rack.

When the slice is cool, cut into fingers or squares in the tin. Dust with icing sugar to serve. Leftover slice can be stored in the fridge for up to a week.

Recipe from Belinda Jeffrey's Mix & Bake.

Where have all the avocados gone?

2009-10-14T20:37:00.005+11:00

Where have all the avocados in Seddon gone? If you're having trouble finding any, perhaps it's because they're all being used in what has to be my breakfast dish of the year, the Promite Special at Le Chien cafe.

It's a deceptively simple dish that Adam raved about and I was keen to try. I love my Vegemite but I also have a soft spot for the sweeter, gentler Promite. A generously thick slice of bread is smeared with butter and Promite, then sliced avocado and tomato is jumbled across the top of two gently poached eggs perched on the bread. The combination of eggs and fresh avocado is a winner in my book anyway but the Promite adds a subtle, yeasty caramel note that lifts the dish into the realms of breakfast heaven. This is no small dish either: the kitchen does not skimp on the avocado or tomato and you will feel satisfied for hours afterwards.

We weren't the only ones in love with this dish, as plate after plate of the Promite Special appeared from the kitchen and was placed on almost every occupied table.

The finishing touch here is one of the best coffees in the inner west. Made with the Supreme blend, the long black is sweet and pure, with no need for sugar, while the cafe latte is simply perfect. It's easy to see why Le Chien inspires a strong and loyal following from locals.

Williamstown Farmers' Market

2009-09-13T20:35:00.004+10:00

Today was the first day of the new Williamstown Farmers' Market, held at Commonwealth Reserve in Nelson Place. It's a delightful spot for a market, with the pretty buildings of Nelson Place a backdrop on one side, and stunning views across the bay to the CBD skyline.

The old market ceased operating a few years ago but the popularity of farmers' markets around Melbourne continues to grow and so it was exciting to see what produce was on offer. Despite the arrival of spring on the calendar, it was a cool morning, with a few spots of rain. Early risers (the market opens at 8am) found plenty to fill their baskets with.

First stop was the Matisse sourdough bread stall. The range includes a fruit loaf, rye and sunflower seeds, fig and fennel, olive rolls, baguettes and ciabattas, as well as several varieties of home-made dips. A large loaf, generously studded with plump fruit, was the first purchase.

Past the muffin stall, generously stocked with large and mini muffins, the Arctic Fox beer tent and the Robinvale olive oil stand, we came to a stall selling sweet, juicy Pink Ladies, my favourite apple. After tasting a sliver, which was one of the most delicious apples I've ever had, we had to buy a bag. Then to counteract this healthy fruit, we came across a tart stand, with delicious combinations such as gin and lime, double chocolate and lemon curd.

Fresh vegetables, cakes and pastries, curry sauces, free-range eggs and fresh milk from Warrnambool, smallgoods, Boosey Creek cheeses, and pates and terrines were some of the other goodies on offer.

The range of produce was excellent for the inaugural market and I, for one, love to support Victoria's small producers. Many of the stall-holders had travelled long distances from rural Victoria to be at the market and I think we should do all we can to support them. The taste of a fresh apple from a small orchard cannot be compared with the supermarket specimens that spend far too much time in a coolroom.

Williamstown Farmers' Market, Nelson Place, Williamstown (Melway 56 D9).
Second Sunday of each month, 8am to 1pm.

Review: Donna Hay chocolate cookies

2009-09-07T10:17:00.013+10:00

Packet mixes of cakes and biscuits are not often a feature in my trolley. I prefer home-made treats where possible, mostly for taste reasons but also because I know exactly what's going into the final product and there's no hidden preservatives or chemicals.

But I admit to a twinge of curiosity when Donna Hay recently launched her own brand of cupcake and cookie mixes. I'm a huge Donna fan and have all her cookbooks. I couldn't imagine her putting her name and brand to any product that wasn't of the highest quality.

Last week, when visiting Andrew's Choice in Yarraville, which is so much more than a butcher's shop and stocks a great range of deli items, my son Daniel found a box of Donna Hay chocolate chunk cookie mix, conveniently placed at exactly his eye level. He was entranced by the enticing picture on the front of the box and no doubt thought he could open the box and find the biscuits inside, waiting to be devoured by a hungry toddler.

So, in the interests of research, the cookie mix came home with us and we baked the biscuits. Making biscuits is not a hugely time-consuming exercise at the best of times, but mixing up the biscuits was so fast that the 12-minute cooking time felt like an eternity. We provided 80g of soft butter and a melted egg, and the box provided the cookie mix and a generous bag of dark chocolate buttons.

The raw dough tasted as good as anything else I've made and the final product was delicious - one of the best chocolate chip cookies I've eaten. In fact, it tasted exactly like the Donna Hay chocolate cookies that I make from her cookbooks. Checking the ingredients list, I discovered that the mix contains wheat flour, brown sugar, natural vanilla flavour and raising agents 450 and 500. There are no added artificial colours or preservatives.

The verdict? This product gets a huge thumbs-up. Most people would not be able to pick that the biscuits originate from a box and it certainly does save time in the kitchen. The only slight downside is the price: on the Donna Hay website, they are listed at $14.95 (although currently on special at a more reasonable $8.95). I know choc bits and other baking goods have recently increased in price but $15 seems quite steep for a box of biscuits - I don't think it would cost that much to make a batch from scratch.

But that is a minor quibble - chocolate chip cookies are a treat, rather than an everyday indulgence anyway. As Donna says on the box, these biscuits is "as good as baking from scratch, only foolproof." I'll definitely use this product again.

Baking with toddlers

2009-08-24T15:15:00.006+10:00

Being surrounded by fresh food and a busy kitchen from a young age is surely one of the key ingredients to becoming a cook. If you see cooking being done on a regular basis, see how easy it can be to transform simple ingredients into delicious meals, and learn that food comes from pots and pans rather than cardboard boxes or tin foil containers, that will surely teach you more about how to eat well (in season, in moderation etc) than heavy-handed nanny state messages about X food bad, Y food good.

I come from a family of excellent home cooks but I don't remember the message ever being rammed down my throat that I must learn to cook and like it. Cooking was a life skill that you acquired, along with other skills necessary to function in life, and it was a bonus that I enjoyed it. Cookbooks were in the house, recipes were clipped from magazines and we were encouraged to try our hand in the kitchen, no matter how much of a mess we made or how many mistakes happened. There's nothing wrong with making mistakes in the kitchen, as long as you learn from them. You'll only forget to grease a cake tin once; the resulting mess, and disappointment, as you try to scrape out a cake glued to the tin will stay with you and ensure you don't forget again.

My son Daniel is almost three-and-a-half and he loves helping in the kitchen. Measuring, mixing and scraping (and, of course, tasting!) are all things he can easily do to help and he gets a real buzz out of seeing how a runny mixture can be transformed into a delicious cake or biscuits (although he's not so keen on the wait involved!)

This week we decided to make "gingie men" (gingerbread biscuits). I've got dozens of recipes but this dough is easy to mix up and there's no need for it to relax in the fridge, so this is a simple recipe for rainy days or when the demand for biscuits needs to be met quickly! It's based on a recipe from Notebook magazine. You can ice your biscuits or decorate them with currants to make them fancy, but I don't usually bother.

"Gingie men"

125g butter, softened
100g brown sugar
125ml golden syrup
1 egg yolk
375g plain flour
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 ground cloves

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Line two oven trays with baking paper. Use an electric mixer to beat the butter, sugar and golden syrup together until pale and creamy. Add the egg yolk and beat until just combined. Add the sifted flour and spices and use a wooden spoon to stir the mixture until it's just combined. Tip out onto a lightly floured bench and use your hands to knead the dough until smooth.

Divide the dough into two portions. Put one portion aside and roll out the other portion to about 5mm thick. Cut into shapes using biscuit cutters and bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly golden. Transfer from trays to a wire rack and cool.

On the cusp

2009-08-20T15:14:00.009+10:00

The season is starting to turn. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, the days are lengthening. Work days don't start and end in inky blackness, with daylight glimpsed through office windows but gone before you get home to enjoy it.

There is a hint of warmth in the breeze and the sun is starting to get some spirit into its rays. Bulbs are popping up in the garden, with splashes of purple and yellow enlivening the grey winter soil. Soon my kitchen will be full of spring greens and lighter, simpler meals will be on the menu. I'm especially looking forward to the arrival of asparagus.

In the meantime, the nights are still cold. The unpredictable Melbourne weather means that a warm spring-like day will be followed by one of rain and biting wind, so warming, soothing soups and stews are still welcome at this time of year. While they are a heavy meal, stews are simple to make and most require only copious amounts of time, bubbling away on the stove, or cooking gently in the oven, to turn them into a meal to warm you up from the inside.

So there's still time to make some stews before putting away the stockpot. I have quite a collection of favourites but I'm always finding new recipes to add to my repertoire.

One of my favourite non-food magazines is Notebook magazine. It has an excellent food section each month but it also has very interesting, thought-provoking articles that go beyond the usual fluff about celebrities, make-overs or diets, and give you pause to reflect on relevant issues affecting us, whether it's the environment, managing finances or reading about strong, intelligent women.

The June issue featured a delicious-looking French lamb and cannelini bean casserole with rosemary dumplings. Just the title was enough to catch my interest and it was certainly worth making. The dumplings are cooked at the end, without a lid, and get a pleasant crispy crunch to them. I've adjusted the liquids from the original recipe, as I prefer my stews quite thick, and this one had a thin sauce. If you make only one more stew this winter, make this one.

French lamb and cannelini bean casserole with rosemary dumplings
Adapted from a recipe in Notebook magazine, June 2009 issue

1 tablespoon olive oil
500g lamb shoulder, cut into 3cm pieces
12 baby pickling onions, peeled
2 carrots, peeled, thinly sliced
2 celery stalks, sliced
1/2 cup (125ml) white wine
1 cup (250ml) beef stock
1 bouquet garni
1 rosemary stalk
400g can cannelini beans, rinsed and drained
Dumplings
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
30g butter
2 teaspoons finely chopped rosemary
3/4 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees. Heat half the oil in a large, flameproof casserole pan over high heat. Cook the lamb in batches until brown all over, then transfer to a bowl.

Add the remaining oil to the pan over medium heat. Add the onions, carrots and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until the onions are golden brown. Add the lamb, wine, beef stock, bouquet garni and rosemary. Remove from heat and bake in preheated oven, covered, for 1 1/2 hours, or until lamb is tender. Add the cannelini beans and stir to combine. Increase the oven temperature to 200 degrees.

Meanwhile, to make the dumplings, place the flour in a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Use your fingertips to run the butter into the flour. Add the rosemary and stir to combine. Add the milk and use a round-bladed knife to stir until mixture just comes together.

Remove the casserole from the oven. Spoon tablespoons of dumpling mixture over the top. Bake in oven, uncovered, for 15 minutes or until dumplings are golden brown and cooked through. Serve with steamed green beans.

Magazine month

2009-08-17T13:25:00.003+10:00

I eagerly anticipate the publication of new food magazines each month. Our small market in Australia is quite spoiled for choice, with several excellent local food magazines to choose from, with a wide range of recipes and wonderful photography. The Internet has also made it easy to access recipes from food magazines and writers around the world and my bulging shoebox file is testament to the fact that you can never have too many recipes!

Too often, though, I find myself eagerly marking up a new issue with recipes to try and then never finding the time to make my choices before the next issue arrives. So I recently made a concerted effort with Gourmet Traveller's June issue, which featured a decadent triple chocolate praline tart on the front cover (sadly, one recipe I haven't yet made from the list).

Flicking through, I found myself marking recipe after recipe to try: white bean veloute, chocolate sour cherry cake, braised lamb neck moussaka and tarka dal, from the "Fare Exchange" section (which features readers' requests for recipes from restaurants around the country). The "quick meals" section yielded scotch fillet with mash and rosemary butter, prawns with tomato, preserved lemon and couscous, char-grilled chicken with warm cabbage and celeriac salad (tick, tick and tick - all to be made again). There was a whole feature on pumpkin dishes (the pumpkin with speck and apple was particularly delicious with smoky cheese kranskys) and the "Nice as Pie" article featured both sweet and savoury pies. The brisket and Cheddar pie with sour cream pastry might have taken nearly a whole day to make but it was the best damn pie I've ever eaten in my life and worth every second of the preparation time. To top it all off, there were seven of the richest, decadent chocolate recipes I've ever seen and all will be made in the next few months.

Not only were all the dishes that I made from this issue worthy of a repeat, there was also a satisfying feeling to finally making good use of an issue, rather than just reading it and filing it away for future drooling sessions.

Nibbles: Carman's Muesli Bites

2009-08-03T13:53:00.003+10:00

Hot on the heels of the recently released Carman's Rounds, Carman's has now released Muesli Bites, snack-sized little muesli bars that contain less than 100 calories per serve.

Available in fruit muesli or apricot muesli, the bites are GM-free and contain no preservatives. Unlike the Rounds, which had a biscuit-like texture and are marketed as a breakfast replacement, these Bites taste just like Carman's muesli. They are not too sweet and are a reasonably filling snack. The small size makes them easy to tuck into handbags or backpacks.

Carman's is an Australian-owned company, with the factory based in Melbourne, and no preservatives, genetically modified ingredients or artificial colours or flavours are used in their products.

Carman's Muesli Bites are available from all major supermarkets.

Nosh @ Newport: wine degustation dinner

2009-07-21T20:58:00.003+10:00

A tiny kitchen is no limit to the imagination of great chefs. This was proved at the inaugural Nosh @ Newport wine dinner where chef David Azzopardi sent out seven tasting plates matched to wines from Red Hill Estate on the Mornington Peninsula.

Nosh is primarily a daytime cafe, serving excellent coffee and food to cafe-starved locals, who have flocked there since it opened in 2007. It's particularly popular with local mums and bubs because of its relaxed ambiance and healthy children's menu that offers no fried food.

Nosh now opens on Friday nights, where Azzopardi, who has cooked upstairs at the Stokehouse and at Ezard's, is given more of a chance to strut his dining stuff. The inaugural wine dinner was also a chance for him to display his talent. Forty people gathered at Nosh to eat Azzopardi's food and hear Red Hill Estate winemaker Michael Kyberd discuss the wines.

Dinner started with a glass of blanc de blancs, a dry aperitif wine, matched with a chestnut soup drizzled with truffle oil. Despite the soup's rich flavouring, it was quite a light broth and this married well with the dry wine, as there was no strong contrast between the two to produce disharmony on the palate.

Next were half-shelled scallops on baba ghanoush with parsley, pine nut and preserved lemon salad, matched with a pinot grigio. The wine was sweet at first sip but then dry, with no aftertaste. It was balanced perfectly by the smoky ghanoush and juicy scallops.

A glass of buttery, full-bodied chardonnay was paired with ocean trout on sauteed kipflers, cherry tomatoes, broad beans and lemon butter sauce. This was a strong dish but the flavours of both food and wine were of equal intensity. The lemon butter sauce highlighted citrus notes in the chardonnay.

Then it was time to move onto reds. In a classic pairing, confit duck leg with marinated beetroot and watercress was matched with pinot noir. The pinot's ripe cherry taste subtly counterbalanced the saltiness of the duck. If the trout and chardonnay were examples of flavours that bridge each other, this match was an example of flavours that complement each other.

A pink grapefruit granita was served as a palate cleanser before the next dish, which was voted by the audience as the dish of the night. Beef braised in black vinegar with coconut rice, broccolini, hot and sour salad and crispy garlic was an amazing dish in its own right but even more so when paired with a full-bodied shiraz. The tender melt fell apart at the touch of a fork and the coconut rice was sublime. The shiraz stood up well to these strong flavours and its slight sweetness was balanced by the savoury dish.

A very runny, salty soft brie, from Locheilan Kaarimba, was matched with botrytis semillon. On paper, it might sound like a strange combination, but the saltiness of the cheese was well balanced by the sweet, sultana-like wine.

The final pairing of the night was liqueur muscat, made with grapes from Rutherglen, matched with a rich chocolate fondant with orange semifreddo and honeycomb. Winemaker Michael Kyberd explained that, when matching desserts, the wine needs to be sweeter than the dessert or the wine's flavours will disappear. This dish was a good example of that.

Judging by the happy patrons spilling out onto the street, Nosh @ Newport's inaugural wine dinner was a success and many are eagerly looking forward to the next one.

My idea of heaven

2009-07-11T10:01:00.004+10:00

The children are in bed, the house is quiet, I have a warm drink and I've been to the newsagent and library and stocked up on recent food magazines to peruse while the wind gusts outside.

Is there a better way to spend a winter evening than drooling over food magazines and making a list of recipes to try?

I don't think so.

Banana cake

2009-07-06T14:36:00.006+10:00

There are very few food items that I dislike or don't eat but bananas are one of them. I've never liked them - can't stand the smell, especially when they're getting very ripe, nor the taste.

When I was a child, mum often used to make banana splits in special dishes, the banana covered by perfect scoops of vanilla ice-cream and a river of chocolate topping . I ate these under sufferance, gobbling the banana as fast as I could so that I could get to the ice-cream. But, alas, the banana flavour had already permeated into the ice-cream, so it really wasn't that enjoyable.

Mum also used to make a banana cake, which, as banana cakes go, was actually very nice. It had raisins sprinkled throughout the cake and it was iced with lemon-flavoured icing and dusted with cinnamon. Again, it was something I ate under sufferance, purely because I wanted cake and that was the only option.

While I tolerated bananas growing up, now I avoid them where possible, which is quite hard, given that my husband and children adore them. Adam has lately had a craving for banana cake and has been requesting a recipe from anyone who cooks. I persuaded Mum to pass on her recipe and she generously even cooked it for us recently while she was visiting. If you enjoy banana cake, this is a good cake, nice and moist, with the raisins adding interest, and the icing rounding it all off. If you don't like bananas, do what I do and make chocolate cake instead!

My mum's banana cake

125g butter

2 eggs

1 cup raisins, chopped

1 1/2 cups SR flour

1/2 level teaspoon bicarb soda

3/4 cup sugar

3 bananas, mashed

1 tablespoon milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Cream butter and sugar. Add vanilla, then eggs. Warm milk and stir in bicarb soda (it should fizz). Add mashed banana and flour at same time with raisins and milk. Cook at 180 degrees for 30-40 minutes in a greased and baking paper-lined ring tin.

Ice with icing made with 1 teaspoon of melted butter and 1 cup of icing sugar. Add a small amount of boiling water and lemon essence and mix to a smooth paste. Ice cake, allowing some to dribble down the sides, then sprinkle with ground cinnamon.

My new favourite thing

2009-07-04T11:46:00.004+10:00

Anyone who knows me well knows that I much prefer home-baked biscuits and cakes to store-bought versions.

But I've lately discovered a sweet little biscuit that I'm quite partial to - and it's not home-made! It is petit ecolier, little chocolate-topped biscuits from France with a gorgeously intricate picture of a little schoolboy imprinted into the chocolate layer. The biscuit base is similar to a shortbread and the topping is either milk or dark chocolate.

These biscuits are perfect entertaining biscuits when there really is no time to bake something. We've been serving them at our French classes and they are the first thing to disappear from the plate. The crisp shortbread and good-quality chocolate combine together in the most pleasing way. It really is very hard to stop at one!

Cafe review: Cornershop

2009-07-01T21:13:00.004+10:00

Sometimes it's easier to identify when a cafe is doing something wrong, rather than when it's doing something right. Bad decor, poor lighting and acoustics, indifferent wait staff, bland food - these are all obvious markers. But a cafe that gets things right often does so in an unobtrusive way: the vibe just feels right, the coffee is good, the food is interesting and well executed, and you leave feeling upbeat.

Cornershop in Yarraville is a cafe that's doing things right. Run by a former partner at Le Chien, it ticks all the boxes. The vibe is warm and welcoming. Seating options include seats looking out of the big windows onto Ballarat St, at the rectangular communal table, at little tables along the wall or outside in the small, sunny courtyard which is heated with gas heaters in winter. Solitary diners tapping away on laptops, people reading books or newspapers and mums with bubs and prams in tow are all part of the mix.

Despite the large windows, the interior is quite dark but it's more welcoming and clubby than drab and uninviting. The dark floor and dark wooden tables are brightened by splashes of colour from the very busy, but not noisy, red coffee machine and the work/bar area is lined in pale-green pressed metal. The specials are featured on an old bookies' tote board , while the generous counter is lined with old-fashioned cake stands and platters full of cakes, biscuits and muffins.

A long black, made with the house Supreme blend, arrives quickly and is sweet on the palate, while the flat white is one of the best I've had in Yarraville. It's smooth and sweet, with no bitter aftertaste. Breakfast options include the usual suspects - scrambled or poached eggs, fruit toast and jam and Bircher muesli - plus some more special offerings such as ricotta hotcakes, Spanish beans with paprika and chorizo, and baked eggs, the composition of which changes each day. The lunch menu includes zucchini fritters, a steak sandwich, crystal bay prawns, salads and toasted pides.

Avocado on sourdough appears on both the breakfast and lunch menus. Rather than serving the toast with pre-mashed avocado smeared over it, this dish comes with a perfectly cut half of a large ripe avocado, topped with a jumble of rocket and fetta crumbles, beside two smallish pieces of thick sourdough, toasted to just the right golden-brown shade and generously buttered. It's a lovely and fresh summery dish, with the rocket and lemon juice adding a zing to the creamy fetta and smooth avocado.

Ricotta hotcakes come with fruit adjusted for the season: perhaps basil-poached peaches in summer and poached autumn fruits later in the year. Three misshapen ovals, shaped like pikelets but with a lighter texture thanks to the ricotta, are piping hot and barely any time must have elapsed since sliding them from the pan onto the plate and out the door to my table. The poached pears and dates are nicely spiced, with peppery star anise adding some bite to the soft cinnamon flavours.

There are several outstanding cafes already in Yarraville Village but Cornershop has carved out a comfortable niche for itself in a short time. Great coffee and an innovative menu ensures that this cafe is never short of a customer, despite the local competition and imminent demise of the restaurant industry predicted by pessimists spooked by the global financial crisis. Cornershop proves that cafe owners and operators who understand their market and get the fundamentals right will always have a loyal audience.

Cornershop, 9 Ballarat St, Yarraville.
9689 0052

Pressure cooking

2009-06-29T19:52:00.005+10:00

One of the cooking utensils that Adam brought into our relationship (along with a fabulous set of excellent chef's knives) was a pressure cooker. It's a lovely modern cooker, with a low-pressure and high-pressure gauge, not at all like my mother's old stainless steel pot with its jangly little bell. It used to whistle on the stove, rocking around with the pressure of the steam, and my sisters and I were always fearful it would blow up. Mum usually used the pressure cooker for corned silverside and not much else, so I don't have many recipes for pressure cookers and Adam and I really haven't used it much.

But a recently released cookbook has inspired me to pull out the pressure cooker, dust it off and give it a try. The Pressure Cooker Recipe Book by Suzanne Gibbs features more than 80 recipes, many of them a surprise to me. Of course a pressure cooker is a logical choice for braises and casseroles, turning a long slow-cooked casserole that would normally take several hours into a quick weeknight meal that can be whipped up within 20 minutes or so. But Suzanne includes recipes for nibbles such as hummus and lentil tapenade, terrine, stocks and soups, vegetable braises and even desserts such as lemon cheesecake and puddings. I was impressed by the range and variety of dishes, many of which could be cooked in a conventional oven but would take much longer. As Suzanne notes in her introduction, "The pressure cooker has brought back into my life those delicious braises and stews that used to bubble away on the stove for hours. Now I think nothing of making a melt-in-the-mouth osso bucco or a French daube at the drop of a hat. Those many hours of long, slow cooking have miraculously turned into half an hour. A great bolognese sauce that used to take three hours now takes just twenty-five minutes."

When we moved house last year, we planned to sell the pressure cooker in a garage sale but somehow it missed the sale. Now I'm really glad it didn't and I'm equally glad that this new cookbook has opened my eyes to a range of recipes to try. I still enjoy having a casserole cooking slowly on the stove for hours but, for days when I don't have time, I'll gladly be pulling out the pressure cooker to replicate the end result.

Daring Bakers challenge - Bakewell tart

2009-06-27T10:59:00.006+10:00

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800s in England.

Bakewell tarts are a classic English dessert, supposedly originating from the town of Bakewell in Derbyshire. Like many ancient, venerated dishes, its beginnings are obscured by time but it appears to have been in existence since the 1820s (or perhaps it was the 1860s).

I have several recipes for Bakewell tart from well-known English chefs, including Gordon Ramsay, Nigella Lawson and Jamie Oliver. Most are fairly similar: a sweet shortcrust pastry is layered with jam (traditionally strawberry jam) and then topped with an almondy frangipane. It is a delicious sweet treat, to be enjoyed either as a dessert or a sweet snack during the day. As Jasmine and Annemarie wrote in their recipe introduction: "Enjoy it with a cup of tea or coffee or just eat it sneaky slice by sneaky slice until, to your chagrin, you realise the whole tart has somehow disappeared despite you never having pulled out a plate, fork or napkin with which to eat it." Having successfully made this tart, I can vouch the truth of this statement. Several times I found myself wandering past the tart, cutting off a teeny slice to nibble on, and then returning some time later for some more, and some more ...

I'm not sure of the provenance of Jasmine and Annemarie's recipe (perhaps it's a combination of all the Bakewell tart recipes they've come across) but it is an excellent version. The tart is easy to make and tastes wonderful. We ate this slightly warm from the oven as a dessert, which received a big thumbs-up, but it was just as nice the next day as a mid-morning snack. However, I felt that the tart was best eaten the day it's made, or the next day at the latest. By the following day, the pastry base on the remaining small sliver of tart, was starting to get a little soggy. But this is such a delicious treat that I doubt you'll have many problems with leftovers!

Although the recipe traditionally uses strawberry jam, I opted for raspberry, as I prefer its flavour. Unfortunately I've used up all my home-made raspberry jam, so had to make do with a bought version. Other DBs successfully made this with cherry conserve, and I think I will try that next time.

Thanks to Jasmine and Annemarie for a great challenge this month. This is a recipe that I will definitely make again.

Bakewell Tart…er…pudding

Makes one 23cm (9” tart)
Prep time: less than 10 minutes (plus time for the individual elements)
Resting time: 15 minutes
Baking time: 30 minutes
Equipment needed: 23cm (9”) tart pan or pie tin (preferably with ridged edges), rolling pin
One quantity sweet shortcrust pastry (recipe follows)
250ml (1cup (8 US fl. oz)) jam or curd, warmed for spreadability
One quantity frangipane (recipe follows)
One handful blanched, flaked almonds

Assembling the tart
Place the chilled dough disc on a lightly floured surface. If it's overly cold, you will need to let it become acclimatised for about 15 minutes before you roll it out. Flour the rolling pin and roll the pastry to 5mm (1/4”) thickness, by rolling in one direction only (start from the centre and roll away from you), and turning the disc a quarter turn after each roll. When the pastry is to the desired size and thickness, transfer it to the tart pan, press in and trim the excess dough. Patch any holes, fissures or tears with trimmed bits. Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 200C/400F.

Remove shell from freezer, spread as even a layer as you can of jam onto the pastry base. Top with frangipane, spreading to cover the entire surface of the tart. Smooth the top and pop into the oven for 30 minutes. Five minutes before the tart is done, the top will be poofy and brownish. Remove from oven and strew flaked almonds on top and return to the heat for the last five minutes of baking.

The finished tart will have a golden crust and the frangipane will be tanned, poofy and a bit spongy-looking. Remove from the oven and cool on the counter. Serve warm, with crème fraîche, whipped cream or custard sauce if you wish.

When you slice into the tart, the almond paste will be firm, but slightly squidgy and the crust should be crisp but not tough.

Sweet shortcrust pastry

225g (8oz) plain flour
30g (1oz) sugar
2.5ml (½ tsp) salt
110g (4oz) unsalted butter, cold (frozen is better)
2 egg yolks
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract (optional)
15-30ml (1-2 Tbsp) cold water

Sift together flour, sugar and salt. Grate butter into the flour mixture, using the large hole-side of a box grater. Using your finger tips only, and working very quickly, rub the fat into the flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Set aside.

Lightly beat the egg yolks with the almond extract (if using) and quickly mix into the flour mixture. Keep mixing while dribbling in the water, only adding enough to form a cohesive and slightly sticky dough.

Form the dough into a disc, wrap in cling and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Note: you can also make this pastry using a food processor, which is much faster.

Frangipane
125g (4.5oz) unsalted butter, softened
125g (4.5oz) icing sugar
3 eggs
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract
125g (4.5oz) ground almonds
30g (1oz) plain flour

Cream butter and sugar together for about a minute or until the mixture is primrose in colour and very fluffy. Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. The batter may appear to curdle. In the words of Douglas Adams: Don’t panic. Really. It’ll be fine. After all three are in, pour in the almond extract and mix for about another 30 seconds and scrape down the sides again. With the beaters on, spoon in the ground nuts and the flour. Mix well. The mixture will be soft, keep its slightly curdled look (mostly from the almonds) and retain its pallid yellow colour.

Perfect winter dish

2009-06-18T16:19:00.004+10:00

"I can't believe how quickly the year is disappearing!" we comment to each other, as appointments are booked for July and August, and spring fashion is starting to appear in the shops while we're only just getting into the swing of wearing our winter coats.

It's a common refrain about how quickly the time seems to disappear. For me, I measure how quickly the year is going by the appearance of my Delicious magazine. I feel like I've barely glanced at the previous month's issue before the new one is in my letterbox. Some issues are full of inspiring dishes, while others barely stir my cooking passion. But the July issue, which arrived yesterday, is packed full of dishes I can't wait to try.

Generally, I flick through issues and mark which dishes I want to try. Some get made that month; unfortunately most don't and join my long list of "recipes to try". But this month was different. For the first time, I marked a recipe and made it the very next day. This is a first for me. But this was also a special dish. It was lamb shank cassoulet.

Cassoulet is a dish I've long wanted to try and I've collected many recipes over the years. It's a rich, slow-cooked casserole, originating in the south of France, that contains meat,m such as pork, goose or duck, and white beans, usually haricot, but cannellini beans are a good substitute. The dish is named after the cassole, the distinctive deep round earthernware pot with slanting sides in which the cassoulet is traditionally cooked.

Cassoulet doesn't seem a particularly complicated recipe but it does require planning and preparation - most of my recipes seem to involve duck confit and/or duck, which either require an extra trip to a specialist shop or, in the case of confit, another long preparation process - and it does require long, slow cooking time.

So this lamb shank version sounded ideal, especially as all ingredients were easy to hand. It's time-consuming but not complicated and the end result is a revelation. I think this is one of the best dishes I've ever made and I can't wait to make it again. It's an ugly duckling sort of dish: it's not the most attractive dish to look at but the flavours are sublime. The lamb shank meat becomes meltingly tender, while the cannellini beans give it guts and the crisp breadcrumbs sprinkled over the top add an extra flavour dimension. If you are after this winter's perfect recipe, I urge you to make this as soon as you can!

Lamb shank cassoulet

From the "French Connection" article by Valli Little, Delicious magazine, July 2009

1/4 cup (60ml) olive oil, plus extra to fry
4 lamb shanks, French-trimmed
50g pancetta or speck, cut into strips
2 onions, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tsp chopped rosemary leaves
2 Tbs tomato paste
2 bay leaves
4 thyme sprigs, plus 1 Tbs chopped leaves
1 cup (250ml) dry white wine
1 litre (4 cups) lamb or chicken stock
4 Toulouse sausages (I was unable to get these, so substituted with four mild Italian pork sausages instead)
2 x 400g cans cannellini beans, drained, rinsed
30g unsalted butter
1 cup (70g) fresh breadcrumbs
2 Tbs chopped flat-leaf parsley

Heat 2 Tbs oil in a flameproof casserole or heavy-based pan over medium-high heat. Season lamb, then brown for five minutes, turning, until sealed on all sides. Remove and set aside. Add pancetta to pan and cook, stirring, for 3-4 minutes or until crisp. Add onion, garlic and rosemary, season, then cook for 3-4 minutes. Add tomato paste, bay leaves and thyme sprigs, stir for 1 minute, then add wine and simmer over medium-high heat until reduced by half. Add stock and lamb shanks. Cover surface closely with a sheet of baking paper, then simmer on a very low heat for 2 1/2 to 3 hours until lamb is very tender.

Meanwhile, heat a little extra oil in a pan on medium-high heat. Brown sausages for 3-4 minutes. Remove, then slice into 2cm thick slices (they'll finish cooking in the sauce).

Remove lamb shanks from pan. Skim excess fat from sauce, then boil over medium heat for 3-4 minutes until reduced. Reduce heat to medium-low , add beans and sausages, then simmer for 10 minutes or until sausage is cooked. Return lamb to pan to warm through. Keep warm.

Meanwhile, melt butter in a pan over medium heat, add breadcrumbs and chopped thyme and cook, stirring, for 3-4 minutes or until crisp. Stir in parsley. Serve cassoulet sprinkled with herbed crumbs.

Daring Cooks Challenge - potsticker dumplings

2009-06-14T16:01:00.003+10:00

Yum yum! This month's Daring Cooks challenge was Chinese dumplings/potstickers, one of the more popular bites at Chinese restaurants. Host Jennifer, of Use Real Butter, provided a version of her family recipe for the Daring Cooks to try. The one proviso of the challenge was that the dumpling dough had to be made by hand (no cheating by using bought wonton wrappers!)

Making the dumpling dough was not difficult. It was a little time-c0nsuming but not enough to put you off. You could make these dumplings in about an hour or so. It's obviously not something you could whip up in a flash but it's also not something you need to put aside a whole afternoon to make.

Jennifer provided both a pork and a shrimp (prawn) filling for the Daring Cooks to try. "The beauty of the Chinese dumpling/potsticker is that the filling is very versatile. That's why there are so many different kinds of dumplings when you go to dim sum," Jen wrote to the Daring Cooks.

"The important thing to keep in mind is that the filling needs to 'stick' to itself or else you will make your life incredibly miserable wrapping up filling that keeps falling apart."

The dumpling dough is made of just two ingredients - flour and warm water - demonstrating, once again, the wonderful chemistry of cooking. Who would have thought that mixing and kneading flour and warm water together would produce a sturdy dough that could then be rolled out into neat little wonton wrappers, filled with a teaspoonful of a sticky filling, and then cooked to make luxurious little purses of goodness.

Although Jen provided two recipes for potsticker filling, I chose to make an adapted version of a Donna Hay potsticker filling of pork and coriander. I'm not a huge fan of pork mince, so I substituted beef mince instead, and this made a delicious filling.

For the final result, we could choose to boil, steam or pan-fry the dumplings. Although I had planned to try each version, in the end I pan-fried all my dumplings to make potstickers.

I absolutely love Chinese dumplings and this was a great recipe to try. I was very pleased with the final results. My folding and pleating of the dumplings does need some practice - I certainly wouldn't be able to get a job as a dim sum chef! - but I thought they looked quite good for home-made dumplings. I would definitely make this recipe again. I loved the filling, so I could cheat next time and just use bought wonton wrappers to save time, but most of the fun was in making the dumpling dough. A big thanks to Jen for choosing such a great challenge!

Potstickers
Based on the recipe provided by Jen from Use Real Butter

250g plain flour
115g warm water

Place the flour in the work bowl of a food processor with the dough blade. Run the processor and pour the warm water in until incorporated. Pour the contents into a sturdy bowl or onto a work surface and knead until uniform and smooth. The dough should be firm and silky to the touch and not sticky. [Note: it’s better to have a moist dough and have to incorporate more flour than to have a dry and pilling dough and have to incorporate more water).

Knead the dough about twenty strokes, then cover with a damp towel for 15 minutes. Take the dough and form a flattened dome. Cut into strips about 1 1/2 to 2 inches wide. Shape the strips into rounded long cylinders. On a floured surface, cut the strips into 3/4 inch pieces. Press palm down on each piece to form a flat circle (you can shape the corners in with your fingers). With a rolling pin, roll out a circular wrapper from each flat disc. Take care not to roll out too thin or the dumplings will break during cooking - about 1/16th inch. Leave the centres slightly thicker than the edges. Place a tablespoon of filling in the center of each wrapper and fold the dough in half, pleating the edges along one side. Keep all unused dough under damp cloth.

To pan-fry (potstickers): Place dumplings in a frying pan with 2-3 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Heat on high and fry for a few minutes until bottoms are golden. Add 1/2 cup water and cover. Cook until the water has boiled away and then uncover and reduce heat to medium or medium low. Let the dumplings cook for another 2 minutes then remove from heat and serve.

Potsticker filling
Adapted from a Donna Hay recipe for pork and coriander potstickers

300g beef mince
3 green onions, chopped
1 tablespoon kecap manis
1 tablespoon sweet chilli sauce
½ teaspoon finely grated ginger
¼ cup chopped coriander leaves
1 eggwhite
vegetable oil, for pan-frying

Place the pork, green onion, kecap manis, sweet chilli sauce, ginger, coriander and eggwhite in a bowl and mix until combined. Use as directed in master recipe above.

Dipping sauce: I made a dipping sauce of 2 tablespoons lime juice, 1 tablespoon brown sugar and 1 teaspoon fish sauce. You could also add one finely chopped red chilli to this sauce if you wished.

Nibbles: Carman's Rounds

2009-06-06T15:24:00.002+10:00

Carman's colour-coded boxes of breakfast muesli and muesli bars are a staple in many kitchens. But for those who are too time-pressed to fit in even a small bowl of cereal before they leave for work, Carman's now has an answer: breakfast rounds.

Marketed as a "breakfast replacement", the rounds come in classic fruit & nut or apricot & almond varieties. They are GM free and contain no preservatives. The rounds are more like a biscuit than a breakfast dish; they taste like muesli but have a dense biscuit texture. Each round is individually wrapped and easily transportable for breakfast on the run. I found them too sweet and too small to satisfy me for breakfast (unlike the muesli) but the rounds made a good snack during the day.

Carman's is an Australian-owned company, with the factory based in Melbourne, and no preservatives, genetically modified ingredients or artificial colours or flavours are used in their products.

Previously available on Qantas flights, the breakfast rounds are now available from Coles and Franklins stores.

Speedy baking

2009-05-31T20:30:00.008+10:00

Following on from my recent post about easy-to-prepare meals that will feed you quickly and healthily without the need to resort to takeaway, I've discovered some speedy baking recipes that will give you a delicious bite of sweetness in the same time it would take you to get in the car and drive to the supermarket to pick up a packet of tasteless mass-produced biscuits.

Although baking (and here I'm referring to baking cakes and biscuits, rather than meals) tends to be a reasonably quick preparation process - it doesn't take long to beat up some eggs, butter, flour and sugar - it can take some time in the oven. Some cakes will be done in 30 to 45 minutes, but most require about an hour, meaning that they can't always satisfy you, or unexpected guests, as quickly as you would like.

Biscuits, on the other hand, usually can. A short mixing process and about 10 minutes in the oven will see your first batch ready and cooling on a wire rack while the next batch bakes.

In the past week, I've twice found myself in a situation where I've needed some sweet nibbles at very short notice. It might sound crazy but, if I'm short of time, I find it more convenient to quickly bake something than I do to buy something from the supermarket. By the time I load up the car and then negotiate supermarket aisles with a wonky trolley and a baby and a toddler, it really is much easier to cream butter and sugar and add some flavourings such as chocolate chips!

So, in the past week, two new super-quick and easy recipes came to my rescue. In about 15 to 20 minutes (the same time it would have taken me to buy a packet from the supermarket), I had some fresh honey biscuits ready to eat. These biscuits, made up of only four ingredients (honey, butter, flour and ground ginger), were from a recipe by Matthew Evans, published in the Good Weekend magazine of the Saturday Age. I've collected Matthew's recipes for years but unfortunately don't try as many of them as I should. This one was a winner and filled the kitchen with a sweet perfume that lingered long after the biscuits were devoured.

The second recipe, for nuvoletti (little clouds) came from Rosa Mitchell's new cookbook My Cousin Rosa. I've eaten several times at Journal Canteen, where Rosa is behind the stoves, and the food has always been excellent (especially the divine mulberry tart I had there one day, made with mulberries freshly picked from Rosa's tree). This is a delightful cookbook, with old family recipes interspersed with Rosa's childhood memories of Sicily. Nuvoletti are made with eggs, caster sugar and flour but the end result is so much more than these simple ingredients: moist, slightly chewy biscuits that have a fluffy, airy texture. Perhaps this is what a little cloud would taste like if you were able to nibble at its edges. These biscuits symbolise something that I love most about baking: that you can take simple, everyday ingredients and transform them into something else with a minimum of effort. Eggs, flour and sugar don't sound like much on their own, but they are basic ingredients found in most pantries. Combine a few simple ingredients with some imagination and you have a snack without a preservative or artificial flavouring in sight!

Honey biscuits
From "The weekend cook" column by Matthew Evans in Good Weekend

100g butter
100g honey (a good floral version is best)
135g plain flour
1/4 tsp ground ginger, or use a generous pinch of mixed spice

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter with the honey over low heat until just dissolved. Don't let it get too hot. Tip in the flour and ground ginger and stir well until the mixture is smooth.

Line two baking trays with greaseproof paper and dot dessertspoon-sized bits of biscuit mix in rows, leaving room for them to spread and not touch.

Bake for 5-10 minutes (it will depend on the thickness of your dough) or until well-tanned but not dark. Cool on the tray for a couple of minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling. Store in an airtight container.

Why would anyone bother with takeaway?

2009-05-27T13:06:00.007+10:00

Take-away foods are marketed to us as convenient time-savers. Come home from work, worn-out after a long day of meetings, pick up some pizza or Thai food, and plonk yourself on the couch to eat dinner out of a box. No preparation, no serving, no dishes. Sound enticing?

Well, actually, no it doesn't. The hidden costs of take-away food include fat and sodium, not to mention all sorts of additives that aren't found in fresh ingredients. I may be a purist and a food snob but, to me, take-away food is no more fast and convenient than home-cooked food and nowhere near as tasty.

A new survey by CHOICE concurs with this view. Surveying the nutritional value of take-aways, CHOICE found that these meals were generally high in saturated fat, sodium and kilojoules. Thai food was found to be the unhealthiest choice overall because of its high levels of saturated fat, salt and kilojoules. Pizza, especially those with stuffed crusts and extra toppings, is high in sodium, fat and kilojoules. While CHOICE found that Chinese and Italian take-away food (excluding pizza) were generally better for your waistline in terms of kilojoules, they were still high in saturated fat and sodium.

"On average, most of us spend 10 per cent of our weekly food budget on takeaway food and the percentage is on the rise. But with the convenience comes a cost in terms of nutrition," said CHOICE spokesman Christopher Zinn.

I know we don't all have hours to spend in a kitchen, making a slow-cooked casserole or soup (and nor do some of us have the inclination), but there are many dishes that you can make just as quickly as if you ordered in take-away. The key is preparation. By that, I mean you need to have a pantry stocked with some key ingredients. These ingredients can form a meal on their own, or they can be supplemented with some fresh vegetables you pick up on the way home.

Many may groan at the thought of planning and preparing for meals, particularly if you don't enjoy cooking. But we plan for many other things, so why not food? You wouldn't let your car run out of petrol just because you couldn't be bothered to go to the petrol station that week. You wouldn't forget to book plane tickets to get to your holiday destination. So why should your meals be any different? Food is an integral part of life, even if you don't enjoy cooking and regard food only as fuel. What you put in your body, though, will have an impact in every other area of your life, so why would you choose to fill it up with fat and salt when there's so many healthy, tasty options instead?

Top of my list for a quick, standby meal is tuna tortellini with peas. Cook a packet of Barilla cheese tortellini, adding a cup or two of frozen peas about four minutes before the pasta finishes cooking. Heat a large tin of Sirena tuna in a frypan (I usually saute some chopped garlic, anchovies and capers in some of the tuna oil before I add the tuna). Mix all together, add a little of the pasta cooking water if extra moisture is needed, and serve (adding some chopped parsley if you're feeling fancy). Dinner is on the table in about 15 minutes, with enough leftovers for lunch the next day.

Other fast options include:

Pizza. You can make your own dough if you have the time and the inclination. Otherwise, use low-fat pita breads as the base - you can keep these in the freezer and pull out for last-minute meals. The other bonus is that you get to decide exactly what goes on your pizza and can make it as healthy or unhealthy as you like!
Stirfrys. Keep some noodles in the pantry and all you have to do is pick up some chicken or beef and some vegetables on the way home. An even better idea is to shop on the weekend and have these ingredients already in the fridge and freezer. Chopping up the vegetables for stirfry does take some time but, once it's done, dinner is cooked in a flash.
If I cook rice to accompany a stirfry or similar, I always cook extra. That rice can then be used to make a quick fried rice for lunch or dinner the next day.
You can do worse than have a meal of meat and three veg - after all, it fortified a generation of Australia's farmers! It's also surprisingly quick. While some steak, sausages or lamb chops cook, boil some potatoes for mash and cook some carrots and peas in the microwave.
Even soups can be quite quick to make. Last night, I sauteed some onions and garlic in some olive oil, added three diced parsnip and two diced potatoes, poured in 2 cups of vegetable stock and simmered for about 20 minutes, until the parsnip and potatoes were soft. A quick whizz with the Bamix, a sprinkling of salt and pepper and the soup was ready to eat.
You can always plan ahead and make a batch of soup or some bolognaise sauce on the weekend and freeze to have on standby during the week.
Invest in a Donna Hay cookbook. Most of her meals are quick, tasty and use readily available ingredients.

I can't vouch for the calories in these meals above, as I'm not a calorie counter. I simply believe in keeping food as fresh and unprocessed as possible and having control over what you put in your mouth.

Inaugural Daring Cooks challenge - ricotta gnocchi

2009-05-14T13:43:00.008+10:00

The Daring Bakers group, which has been running strong for nearly three years, now has a new component - the Daring Cooks. I'm not technically sure of the difference but I think the bakers concentrate on baking (eg cakes, pastries etc) while the cooks tend to focus more on, well, cooking things.

The inaugural Daring Cooks challenge was Ricotta Gnocchi, using the recipe from The Zuni Cafe Cookbook by Judy Rogers. Our hosts this month were the wonderful DB and DC founders, Lis and Ivonne.

Ricotta gnocchi was a nice, easy challenge for us to ease our way into this new endeavour. I find ricotta gnocchi fractionally easier and less time-consuming to make than potato gnocchi. It's a simple concoction of ricotta, eggs, melted butter and finely grated cheese. The only fiddly bit is that it's best to drain the ricotta for at least eight hours, and up to 24 hours, before you make it, as wet ricotta will mean the gnocchi won't form properly. But this is only a slight hitch; it just requires you to plan ahead.

Ricotta gnocchi has a lovely silky texture and I find it more forgiving of a less-than-perfect technique than potato gnocchi. If the potato mash is not pushed through a food mill or potato ricer (or sieve if you're desperate), or if too much flour is added, or the temperature of the cooking water is too hot or too cold, potato gnocchi tends to be claggy, stodgy or fall to bits, thus ruining your dish. I also find ricotta gnocchi has a light, airy texture and taste, and it is a good partner for a buttery sage sauce, which I find too rich with potato gnocchi.

Not having any sage in my herb garden at the moment, I served my gnocchi with a simple butter and leek sauce, made by sauteeing finely sliced leek in a large hunk of melted butter until it was soft and melting. I mixed the cooked gnocchi in this sauce and served it topped with shaved parmesan. I was worried that this dish might taste too buttery and rich, so I served it with a very untraditional side dish of broccoli and peas, as I thought some greens would help alleviate any richness.

Thank you to Lis and Ivonne for adding a cook's challenge to The Daring Kitchen and for choosing a delicious recipe to kick things off.

Ricotta gnocchi (from The Zuni Cafe Cookbook by Judy Rogers)

For the gnocchi:
500g fresh ricotta
2 large cold eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 or 3 fresh sage leaves, or a few pinches of freshly grated nutmeg, or a few pinches of chopped lemon zest (all optional)
1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
1/4 teaspoon salt
plain flour, for forming the gnocchi

You need to prepare your ricotta the day before you plan to make the gnocchi. The gnocchi will not form properly if the ricotta is too wet. Place the ricotta in a sieve lined with paper towel, cover and stand over a bowl so it can drain. Refrigerate for at least eight hours, and up to 24 hours.

The next day, place the drained ricotta in a large bowl and mash as best you can with a rubber spatula or large spoon. Add the lightly beaten eggs and mix in. Melt the tablespoon of butter (add in the sage here if you're using it) and add to the ricotta and egg mixture. Add in any other flavourings you're using (eg nutmeg or lemon zest), then the Parmigiano-Reggiano and the salt. Beat all the ingredients together very well. You should end up with a soft and fluffy batter with no streaks.

Fill a small saucepan with water and bring to the boil. When it boils, salt the water generously and keep it at a simmer. You will use this water to test the first gnocchi that you make to ensure that it holds together and that your gnocchi batter isn’t too damp.

Fill a large, shallow baking dish with a bed of plain flour. With a spatula, scrape the ricotta mixture away from the sides of the bowl and form a large mass in the centre of your bowl.
Using a tablespoon, scoop up about 2 to 3 teaspoons of batter and then, holding the spoon at an angle, use your finger tip to gently push the ball of dough from the spoon into the bed of flour.
At this point you can either shake the dish or pan gently to ensure that the flour covers the gnocchi or use your fingers to very gently dust the gnocchi with flour. Gently pick up the gnocchi and cradle it in your hand rolling it to form it in an oval as best as you can; at no point should you squeeze it. What you’re looking for is an oval lump of sorts that’s dusted in flour and plump.
Gently place your gnocchi in the simmering water. It will sink and then bob to the top. From the time that it bobs to the surface, you want to cook the gnocchi until it’s just firm. This could take 3 to 5 minutes.

If your gnocchi begins to fall apart, this means that the ricotta cheese was probably still too wet. You can remedy this by beating a teaspoon of egg white into your gnocchi batter. If your gnocchi batter was fluffy but the sample comes out heavy, add a teaspoon of beaten egg to the batter and beat that in. Test a second gnocchi to ensure success.

Form the rest of your gnocchi. You can put 4 to 6 gnocchi in the bed of flour at a time. But don’t overcrowd your bed of flour or you may damage your gnocchi as you coat them.

Rest the formed gnocchi on a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper and dusted with flour.

You can cook the gnocchi right away; however, Judy Rodgers recommends storing them in the refrigerator for an hour prior to cooking to allow them to firm up. (Note: I rested half my gnocchi for an hour or so and these held their shape much better than those that I cooked straight away).

Fill a large, wide saucepan with water and bring to the boil. Salt generously and then drop the gnocchi into the water one by one. Once they float to the top, cook them for 3 to 5 minutes (as in the case with the test gnocchi).

When the gnocchi float to the top, you can start your sauce while you wait for them to finish cooking.

With a slotted spoon, remove the gnocchi from the boiling water and gently drop into the butter sauce. Carefully roll in the sauce until coated. Serve immediately.

To make my butter and leek sauce: melt a large hunk of butter (the amount is really up to you and how rich you want the sauce - I probably used about 100g) in a fry-pan. Finely slice a leek and saute until soft and caramelised. Mix in the cooked gnocchi, pile onto plates and top with shaved parmesan.

A heated debate

2009-05-13T12:14:00.006+10:00

A big glass of milk, fresh from the cow and with a thick layer of cream on top, was not a treat but an everyday occurrence when I was a child.

It's only now that I look back on my childhood days on a farm and realise how blessed we were: eggs laid by our own chooks, fresh milk from our dairy-farming neighbours, fruit and vegetables from our orchard and garden, meat from the livestock - I would be in heaven now if I still had access to this bounty (sadly, I don't, as the family farm was sold a decade ago).

When I was growing up, I didn't realise that drinking a glass of fresh milk, unhomogenised and unpasteurised, would become a heinous crime, according to the food police. The germs! The danger!

The vexed topic of milk was the subject of this week's cover story in Epicure, specifically why we seem to have lost the taste for real milk. I find it bizarre that a product as simple as milk has so many weird connotations, myths and beliefs surrounding it.

As author Richard Cornish explained, milk has been marketed over the past 20 years as "both healthy, because it is calcium rich, and harmful, because it is fatty". "Our relationship with the white stuff has now been reduced to grasping a colourful carton from a supermarket fridge where hundreds sit side by side. There is low-fat, lactose-free, milk with plant sterols, high calcium, high protein and milk with an added dollop of cream."

Aside from all our hang-ups about whether milk is healthy or fatty, the most contentious aspect is around raw milk, which is not homogenised or pasteurised. This is seen as evil and it is actually against the law to sell this milk. Richard explained in his article that raw milk is sold in some shops as "bath milk" and labelled not for human consumption.

This, to me, is an example of the weird and tangled relationship we have with food. At a farmers' market that Richard attended, he was warned "You can't drink it [raw milk] because Dairy Food Safety Victoria says that because it is not pasteurised it may contain listeria, E.coli, salmonella or staph."

Now, I'm not a scientist and perhaps things have changed over the past 20 years, but I drank fresh milk, now known by the unappealing moniker as "raw milk", every day for 18 years and never once was I sick from it, nor were any of our friends. Milk was milk and that was it. The one thing I hated when visiting my grandfather's house during school holidays (he lived five hours' drive from us) was that I had to drink milk from a carton, or what I called "shop milk". The homogenised, pasteurised milk had no flavour for me and I didn't like it at all. I much preferred our big billy at home, where the top half would often be cream, and we drove two kilometres up the road every couple of days to visit our neighbours and buy six litres for about $2. Life seemed much simpler then. When - and why - did food become so complicated?

Is cooking just about following a recipe?

2009-05-12T17:54:00.006+10:00

"If you can read, you can cook."

I smiled when I heard this comment on talkback radio last week. At its most basic, this is a true statement. If you can read, you can follow a recipe. "Heat oil in a heavy-based saucepan, then add onion and garlic..." might be the start of a soup recipe and surely any literate person would understand those instructions?

But there is so much more to cooking than just following a recipe. There is jargon in cooking, or at least terms that are taken to be commonly understood and not require explanation (particularly in old-fashioned cookbooks, where recipes are rarely more than two or three sentences long). Terms such as "saute", "sweat", "al dente" and "cream" have a specific meaning that novices may not understand. I find that most cake recipes now ask the cook to beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, whereas all my old recipes simply state to "cream butter and sugar " before moving onto the next step.

In terms of cookware, sandwich tins, lamington tins and slice tins have special, standard measurements that also don't need explanation.. I was reminded of this when I posted a recipe for a slice that stated that the mixture should be cooked in a slice tin and a friend asked me what exactly was a slice tin. Sandwich tins are commonly referred to in old-fashioned recipes; do most modern cooks know that they are used, not to make or carry sandwiches, but to bake sponges?

But more than specialist terms and jargon, cooking is about passion and the soul. Yes, anyone who can read should be able to cook but will they enjoy it? Will they be inspired to seek out new ingredients? Will they enjoy spending hours to concoct a dish that may be polished off in minutes? If you don't enjoy cooking, or see it as a boring chore to be completed as quickly as possible, then you can make meals as fuel but you are not a true cook.

Dishes cooked with love, whether it's for family, friends, neighbours or a new lover, no matter how plain or simple, taste better because they have that secret ingredient of love mixed in. I think that's why sometimes old family recipes don't taste the same, regardless of how faithfully the recipe is followed, because they are missing that ingredient. Mum's roast chook or hedgehog slice doesn't taste the same if mum doesn't cook it.

Cafe review: Mart 130

2009-05-08T14:22:00.001+10:00

Commuting is a necessary but unfortunate aspect of urban life, made especially frustrating if public transport is unreliable, as is often the case in Melbourne with our privatised public transport system. Train commuters regularly arrive at stations to find trains running late, while tram commuters adopt a particular stance that involves peering hopefully up the line to see if a tram is in sight.

If more tram stops and train stations had a cafe like Mart 130 available, commuters might be a happier bunch. Mart 130 is a bright, busy cafe located in the old stationmaster’s office at the Middle Park light-rail stop (it’s stop number 130 and “mart” is “tram” spelt backwards – cute). You can tuck yourself away in the warm interior that overlooks Carmelite tennis club and Albert Park, and imagine that you’re at any normal cafe, or sit outside above the platform and watch the trams glide past.

At 10.30 on a wintry Friday morning, Mart 130 is packed, so I take a table outside on the platform. As an icy wind drifts along the tracks, I feel a familiar, jaded commuter expression settle on my face and I can’t help myself peering up the line to see if anything’s coming. But, happily, I have a long black on the way and an interesting breakfast menu to peruse, which puts me in a much better frame of mind than a commuter running late for work who can’t even stop to grab a take-away.

The staff are friendly and efficient and, before my long black arrives, a waitress tells me a spot has become free inside at the window bench, so I quickly move, grateful to be under a heater. Why does the temperature at tram stops and train stations always seem to be a few degrees cooler than elsewhere?

Aside from the usual cafe breakfast standards such as porridge, granola muesli and Bircher muesli, there are some imaginative takes on other dishes on the menu. A triple stack of pancakes comes with either a berry compote or bacon and maple syrup. The French toast, made with brioche, may have a Middle Eastern influence of pistachio mascarpone and orange syrup, or be served with the more conventional grilled bacon. The menu sternly notes that “no alterations” are allowed to the four egg dishes, but this should not present a problem, as the options will tick most people’s boxes. Scrambled eggs come with chives, shaved parmesan, truffle oil, mushrooms and spinach. Large free-range poached eggs, with intense yellow and runny yolks, are served on a thick slice of sourdough bread, perhaps smeared with avocado and folds of smoked salmon.

Oven-roasted corn fritters, plump with juicy corn kernels, are stacked in a tower with alternating layers of grilled bacon and accompanied by sweet tomato relish and a scoop of sour cream (the coriander noted as part of the dish on the menu turns out to be a sad, solitary stalk). The bacon is full of intense, smoky flavours, and the fritters are pleasantly robust, although some spices in the fritters, or a more spicy tomato relish, would have lifted this dish to near-perfection.

There are large muffins or some cakes for the sweet tooths, while toasted pides and salads are on offer for lunch. Genovese is the brand of coffee served here and the coffee machine whirrs constantly in the background. Life as a commuter is infinitely sweeter with a cafe such as this at your tram stop but you’ll enjoy this place even more if you’re in no rush to head off somewhere else.

Mart 130, 107a Canterbury Rd (light-rail station), Middle Park
Open daily, 7.30am to 5pm

A food quest

2009-05-06T13:49:00.014+10:00

One of the lovely things about being passionate about food is the little adventures and knowledge quests this passion takes me on. Sometimes just a word, a phrase, or an image is enough to spark interest and further research.

The Age's restaurant critic, Larissa Dubecki, recently reviewed Embrasse in Carlton and this sentence caught my eye: "... a truly memorable side dish called aligot, a cheesy potato mash from the south of France so voluptuously gooey that it needs to undergo a double-spooned twirly ritual at the table to transport it from the copper pot to the plate. It's the comfort food that dreams are made of."

I've never tasted aligot before but the thought of a rich, cheesy potato mash was irresistible. I immediately started searching the Internet for recipes. Coincidentally, I'm going through a French cooking phase at the moment (as I have finally, after many years of wanting to, started French classes, so I'm immersing myself in all things French) and had several French cookery books from the library in the house. Voila! Here, in The Food of France, was a recipe for aligot. It is an unbelievably easy dish but oh, so decadent! It has been so hard to return to plain mashed potatoes after this feast for the palate.

Aligot

This cheesy, potato puree is a specialty of the Auvergne region.

800g floury potatoes, cut into even-sized pieces
70g butter
2 garlic cloves, crushed
3 tablespoons milk
300g Cantal (or substitute mild Cheddar cheese), grated

Cook the potatoes in boiling, salted water until tender. Meanwhile, melt the butter over low heat in a small saucepan and add the garlic. Mash the potatoes and use a food ricer, potato mill or push through a sieve to give a really smooth puree.

Return the potato puree to the saucepan and set over a gentle heat. Add the garlic butter and milk. Mix together well and add the cheese in handfuls, beating to mix in the cheese, which will melt and make the mixture stretchy. Season with salt and pepper and serve immediately.

Recipe from The Food of France: a journey for food lovers, Murdoch Books, 2000.

Happy birthday!

2009-05-04T16:17:00.020+10:00

Today my little boy Daniel turned three. I can't believe how quickly the months have flown since he was born. Everyone warns you to treasure every moment because it goes so quickly but it's hard to believe this until it's happening to you.

We had a family party to celebrate and once again the trusty Australian Women's Weekly birthday cake cookbook provided the inspiration for the cake. The cakes look impressive but are surprisingly easy to put together: a butter cake, some butter cream tinted with bright colours and some lollies for strategic decoration and you have a masterpiece! As tigers are one of Daniel's favourite animals, it was a given that I would make the tiger cake for him.

In the months leading up to his birthday, Daniel enjoyed flicking through the book and looking at all the cakes. The only problem was that, each time he looked, he chose a different cake that he wanted! I decided to ignore his whims and stick with the tiger but I was a little worried that when I brought out the cake, he might wail "But I didn't want that one!"

In the end, we had the opposite problem: Daniel loved the tiger cake so much that he was distraught when I produced a knife to cut the cake. In fact, he burst into tears and I had to give him a cuddle while Nanna quickly patched the cake back together!

Luckily, fellow playmates, lollies and balloons distracted him and we were able to serve the cake with no more tears; he happily ate two pieces and told everyone how much he loved the tiger and that tomorrow he was going to have a lion cake. Guess that's next year's cake sorted then ....

Which cookbook did I exploit?

2009-05-01T12:54:00.005+10:00

April was "cookbook exploitation month", as explained by Dan from Casual Kitchen. His theory is that we cook 80 per cent of the time from 20 per cent of our cookbook collection, so he nominated April as the month to dig out an old cookbook and exploit it by cooking recipes from it.

After perusing my many cookbooks, and sadly concluding that Dan's 80:20 rule was correct, I chose to exploit The Food I Love by Neil Perry. This was a wedding present from a good friend and I remember excitedly flicking through the pages and planning all the meals I was going to make. But after I marked it up with post-it notes, back it went, unused, on the shelf.

Neil Perry is one of Australia's best-known chefs. He has three restaurants in Sydney, Rockpool Bar & Grill at Crown Casino in Melbourne, appears on the food channel on Foxtel and coordinates the in-flight catering for Qantas. I've been lucky enough to dine several times at Rockpool in Melbourne, including one magical meal in the private dining room. Everything I've eaten at Rockpool has been sublime but it was the side dishes, normally an afterthought to the star of the meal, that blew me away. Velvety creamed corn, sexy broccoli (yes, it can be done), decadent macaroni cheese - each of these dishes was a gem and a highlight in its own right. I thought no more of these dishes until I opened The Food I Love - and there were the recipes for these very dishes! Tres excitement! Of course, my heart nearly stopped at the amount of cream in the macaroni cheese dish, and I need to get a juicer in order to make the creamed corn as velvety as Neil's, but no matter - now I know how to do it!

As I flicked through the book, my list of dishes to try grew longer. There were breakfast recipes, pasta dishes, seafood main courses, plenty of steak and chicken options and a few desserts. I found the dessert chapter disappointing; although the classic dishes featured, such as creme caramel, bread and butter pudding, summer pudding and hot chocolate souffle, were all beautifully executed, there was no sexy new dish that took my fancy or inspired me to rush into the kitchen. However, there was plenty of inspiration in the savoury chapters, so this is only a
minor quibble.

Despite my long list, I made only a handful of dishes from the book and, unfortunately, I don't think I exploited it enough. However, several of the dishes I made were so good that they've entered my "repeat repertoire" and I'll definitely be making them again. The Spanish-style chicken casserole, with a rich tomatoey paprika-scented braise sauce, was full of flavour and a great dish on a cool night. It takes an hour to cook with chicken legs, but the time can be considerably cut down by using chicken breasts.

The gnocchi with braised veal shanks and parmesan was also a winner, although I substituted lamb shanks for the veal. This was ridiculously easy to put together and it was then left to simmer for a few hours on the stove, reducing to a rich, thick braise with meltingly tender lamb shank meat flaked through it. I even made my own gnocchi, as per Neil's recipe, to accompany the lamb braise, and this is another dish I'll be making again.

Barbecued chicken, its smoky flavours beautifully offset by a sauce of velvety pureed zucchini and garlic, will also go into my repertoire. It's amazing how something so easy to cook can look and taste so impressive once plated. I loved learning Neil's cheffy tricks to help impress the family.

Other dishes we enjoyed this month were zucchini and parmesan soup, pea and pumpkin risotto, braised lamb shoulder with gremolata, cauliflower with saffron, pine nuts and raisins (a good match with the Spanish-style chicken casserole) and parsnip puree. Those at the top of the list to try soon include the Moroccan eggplant salad, flathead with beer batter, the many different BBQ beef dishes with different sauces, the Persian-style lamb stew and more of the magical side dishes. It's great to see vegetable accompaniments treated with the same respect and imagination as main courses.

I won't be leaving this cookbook to languish unloved on my bookshelf again but will be referring to it much more often. Now I just need to rescue some more of my cookbooks from the same dusty fate. Thanks to Dan for coming up with such a great concept - look forward to participating again!

Lolly heaven

2009-04-29T16:31:00.009+10:00

As a child, we had lollies only on special occasions. There would be pretty glass bowls filled with mixed lollies at our birthday spreads and Santa Claus would usually bring us a bag of lollies at Christmas-time. I always got chocolate bullets, my middle sister always got jaffas and my youngest sister got strawberries and cream. I'm not sure whether we asked for these specific types because we liked them or whether our parents just found it easier to give us the same lollies each year! (I think it must be because we liked them, as chocolate bullets are still my favourite lolly now).

These were the days when 20 cents would buy you a good-sized bag of lollies to munch away on during the afternoon: white chocolate whirls, caramel-filled mates, whizzy rainbow sherbets, raspberries, milk bottles and bananas. We'd linger over the selection, choosing as wide a selection as possible to go into the white paper bag that the shopkeeper would finish off with a slight twist at the top.

If we were ever given - or found on the ground - 50 cents ... well, that was a special treat! It bought you a big fat bag of lollies that could keep you going for a day or two. I loved going to the local shop, where the glass cabinet, conveniently located at the height of a child's eyes, was filled with small cardboard boxes of different lollies, some costing 1 cent each and others 2 cents. Am I showing my age? This was only the 1980s - doesn't feel so long ago to me!

Alas, many corner shops and milk bars have disappeared, put out of business by big open-nearly-all-hours supermarkets and convenience stores. Lollies appear to be one of the five food groups for most children now, rather than a special treat. But the demise of the milk bar has meant there are now some specialist lolly shops that cater to old-fashioned tastes instead: Sweet Port in Port Melbourne, Brighton Chocolates, the Williamstown Chocolate Shop, the Old Village Lolly Shop in Yarraville and the Original Lolly Store in Carlton. And, tucked away in a nondescript shopping strip in Melbourne Rd, Newport, situated among a maternity shop, a pet store, a Thai takeaway and the local vet, is Snowballs Ice Cream & Lollies shop.

This shop is crammed full of every type and sort of lolly you could wish for, especially old-fashioned lollies that are difficult to find: spearmint leaves, chocolate rock, speckles, sour dummies, wine gums, bananas, strawberries and cream, raspberries, chicos, pineapples, jelly babies, snakes, dark and milk chocolate bullets, white raspberry bullets, Newman's dark and milk chocolate ginger, peppermints, Belgian milk and dark chocolate couverture chocolate chips, Wizz Fizz, zombie bars, raspberry licorice straps, blocks of European chocolate, Cocoa Farm wine chocolates, Pink Lady chocolates, licorice all-sorts, striped lolly-pops, boiled lollies, fudge, humbugs, rocky road, coconut roughs and cherry bites. There's also Norgen-Vaaz ice-cream and you can order ice-cream cakes.

Every available surface in this shop is crammed with lollies and sweet treats and I found myself lost in nostalgia as I found many lollies I hadn't seen for years. I also find this shop very useful for sourcing lollies to decorate birthday cakes. Every year, like my mother did for me, I make my children's birthday cakes from the classic Australian Women's Weekly birthday cakes book, which has quite specific requirements in what lollies it uses to decorate and create masterpieces. My local supermarket has an increasingly restricted range - can you believe I couldn't find spearmint leaves there when I looked last week? - and I never have a problem sourcing what I need from Snowballs. It's good to have such a treasure on my doorstep.

Snowballs Ice Creams & Lollies, 320 Melbourne Road, Newport

Daring Bakers challenge - cheesecake centrepiece

2009-04-27T07:46:00.006+10:00

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey’s Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

Although I enjoy eating baked cheesecakes, I’ve never made one before. It’s not that I felt daunted by it; it’s just that I didn’t have a decent recipe. My favourite cheesecake is a simple lemon cheesecake, the recipe given to us by a family friend called Coral. A mixture of condensed milk, whipped cream, cream cheese and lemon juice, it’s as easy to make as it is delicious to eat. It’s also unbaked, with the ingredients combined and then set through refrigeration.

So I looked forward to this month’s challenge, cheesecake centrepiece. Although the recipe was quite basic, our challenge this month was to play with the basic recipe and add our own flavourings to make a unique, showstopper of a dessert. The recipe Jenny used is that of her friend Abbey, who is well known for her fabulous cheesecakes – hence the recipe title!

With all the family coming for a special lunch to celebrate our daughter’s christening, the cheesecake recipe provided the perfect dessert. I flavoured the cheesecake with coffee and Baileys Irish Cream, which was a hit with the eager audience. Although Jenny wanted us to go all out with an impressive topping for the cake, I ended up keeping it simple. I had planned to make some caramelised walnuts to sprinkle over the top but I ran out of time and I was also concerned to not overpower the cheesecake with too many flavours or too much sweetness. In the end, though, the cheesecake was perfectly balanced with the coffee and Baileys flavours; anything else would have made it too rich and sweet.

I really liked the texture of this cheesecake, as did my audience. It was firm and rich but not overpowering or cloyingly sweet. Although very easy to make, it did, however, require quite a time commitment: at least one hour of baking, one hour of cooling in the oven and then overnight refrigeration. It is an impressive dessert, though, and this is one recipe I’ll be adding to my repertoire. But I’ll still be keeping my simple lemon cheesecake recipe for those occasions where I don’t have as much time.

Thanks very much to Jenny for choosing such a great recipe. I apologise for presenting it so plainly; some of the photos of cheesecakes that other Daring Bakers have produced have been absolute masterpieces! But I think the real highlight of this cheesecake was how it tasted, not how it looked.

Here is Jenny's recipe, with my Australian modifications.

Abbey’s Infamous Cheesecake

Crust

1 packet digestive biscuits (I used McVittie’s but you could also use Marie or Nice, or the original recipe specified graham crackers, although I don’t think we have them in Australia)
125g butter, melted
(The original recipe also called for 2 tablespoons of sugar and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, but I omitted these, as I like a plain crust and thought the sugar would make it unnecessarily sweet)

Cheesecake
3 x 250g packets of cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup sugar (I used caster sugar)
3 large eggs
1 cup thickened cream
1-2 tablespoons instant coffee powder
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1-2 tablespoons Baileys Irish Cream

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Boil the kettle or a large pot of water (to use in the water bath).

Crush the digestive biscuits and mix with the melted butter. Press into a 20cm springform tin, pressing into both the bottom and up the sides. Wrap the springform tin in alfoil to make it watertight (some recipes specify to just wrap it around the base, but I use a large sheet of alfoil so that it fully encloses the tin. At the very least, you need to make sure the alfoil is higher than the halfway mark of the tin, as otherwise water will seep in when you place the tin in the water bath). Set aside.

Beat the cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer until smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg.

Take one-quarter of the cup of cream and heat (I found in the microwave is best) until hot. Stir in the instant coffee powder until dissolved. Add the cream, coffee cream mix, vanilla extract and Baileys and blend until smooth and creamy.

Pour into the prepared crust and tap the pan a few times to bring all the air bubbles to the surface. Place the springform tin into a large baking dish and pour in boiling water to come about halfway up the sides of the tin.

Bake the cheesecake for 45 to 55 minutes, until it’s almost done. This is hard to judge but you’re looking for the cake to hold together but still jiggle in the centre. It shouldn’t be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let the cheesecake rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently so that it won’t crack on the top. After one hour, remove the cheesecake from the oven and lift carefully out of the water bath and put onto the kitchen bench. Let it finish cooling on the bench and then cover and put in the fridge to chill overnight.

The next day, unmould, serve and enjoy the adulation!

Chocolate to the rescue

2009-04-20T15:31:00.003+10:00

There is such a thing as too many recipes. Adam is always lamenting the amount of recipes that I clip from magazines and newspapers and the fact that I have far too many food magazines to fit into our bookshelves. I usually laugh off the criticism, confident that his protestations will be silenced by the next culinary masterpiece I serve up from one of these new recipes.

But when friends asked me to bring dessert to a dinner party last Saturday night, I was confronted with a dilemma. What should I make? It's the culinary equivalent of looking in my wardrobe and wailing that I have nothing to wear. How could I possibly not find a special dessert recipe among my collection?

Well, the short answer is that I didn't know where to start. So, rather than choose a recipe, I started knocking out contenders. Our friends made cheesecake for the last dinner party, so, in the interests of variety, that was struck off the list. It had to be something already prepared and easy to transport, so that ruled out hot puddings and souffles. No cakes, because that is too similar to afternoon tea. Perhaps a tart? That is easily prepared in advance and easy to transport. Of course, chocolate is always a winner for dessert, so now I felt I was getting close. And, at last, there was Jill Dupleix's recipe for bitter chocolate tart with Baileys, a recipe I've long had marked too try. Perfect!

As well as being a sinfully rich finale to a meal, this tart is also a cinch to prepare ahead. Its impressive appearance and taste belie the easiness of the method, which makes it a winner on all counts.

Jill Dupleix's bitter chocolate tart with Baileys

Pastry
75g butter
75g caster sugar
75g ground almonds
125g plain flour
A pinch of salt
2 tablespoons iced water, or more

Filling
300ml thickened (or whipping) cream
200g dark chocolate (70 per cent)
50g butter chopped
2 tablespoons Baileys Irish Cream

For the pastry: whiz the butter, sugar, ground almonds, flour and salt in a food processor until smooth. Add water a spoonful at a time, still whizzing, until the pastry clumps into a ball. Place in the base of a greased 20cm tart tin and gently press the mixture down, working from the centre out, to cover the base and up the sides. Refrigerate for 1 hour. Heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Line the tart with non-stick baking paper and weight down with pastry weights. Bake for 15 minutes, remove the weights and paper and bake for a further 5-10 minutes, or until lightly golden. Cool.

For the filling: Heat the cream until just before boiling point. Chop chocolate and place in a heatproof bowl. Add cream, leave for 1 minute, then mix well with a spatula. Add butter and stir until smooth. Stir in Baileys and pour into the tart case. Leave in a level place to cool, then refrigerate for at least three hours before serving.

This serves 8-10 but is very rich, so serve in thin wedges.

Happy Easter!

2009-04-13T20:17:00.005+10:00

As soon as I saw the picture of hot cross bun bread on the cover of the April issue of delicious. magazine, I knew I had to make it. I usually make a batch of hot cross buns each year but I was attracted to the idea of something different. This bread is basically a giant hot cross bun, baked in a 20cm round cake tin. It is ridiculously easy to make (as long as you're comfortable working with yeast) and makes a gorgeous dish for Easter. We enjoyed ours for morning tea.

Another treat we enjoyed this Easter was the Farmers' Market at the Collingwood Children's Farm. It's an oft-made comment about the Farm but it is still true: it is hard to believe that this slice of the country is so close to the Melbourne CBD. We arrived early and enjoyed bacon and eggs at the busy Farmers' Cafe, which offers bucolic views over farm paddocks and Yarra River cliff banks. Then it was time to wander through the stalls and take our pick of peak autumn produce; there was a wonderful array to choose from.

Stalks of rich red rhubarb were first into the trolley, followed by a bag of Royal Blue potatoes. I've bought these before and they're wonderful all-rounders. We stopped at the honey stall, whose owners travelled from Kyneton for the market, and came away with a jar of mildly aromatic yellow-box honey, perfect for our toddler son. Pale-green leeks, fat pumpkins, sweet carrots, ripe radishes, leafy bunches of herbs, fresh pears, chestnuts, organic chocolate and Gundowring ice-cream all beckoned. A tin of Persian fetta from the Yarra Valley Dairy and pistachio and white chocolate biscuits from Michel's in Castlemain were indulgent purchases. We bought a bag of Jonogold apples, a sweet, juicy variety that I haven't tried before. Recipes spun through my head as we wandered from stall to stall and it was difficult to restrain myself from buying everything in sight. We are so lucky in Melbourne to have wonderful farmers' markets to give us access to fresh produce and speak to the growers.

After filling our trolley, we wandered among the farm animals, thrilling our toddler son. Heather the cow was being milked and 11 piglets were running around in the sty. It was a wonderful day out and I can't wait to visit again. The next farmers' market at the Collingwood Children's Farm is on 9 May and there's one at the adjacent Abbotsford Convent on 25 April.

How do you take your coffee? Part II

2009-04-04T15:02:00.009+11:00

Melburnians, despite their love of good coffee, are yet to discover the wonders of single origin specialty coffee beans, says coffee hunter Stephen Hurst, from Mercanta the Coffee Hunters.

As I recently wrote, Mr Hurst believes that the future of coffee lies in the "flavour discovery" of single origin specialty coffee beans. He says consumers are used to drinking the industrial blends offered to them but he believes good coffee starts from single estate, or single origin, specialty coffee beans.

Unfortunately, like most good things in life, quality comes at an expense. While not specifying prices, Mr Hurst did acknowledge that single origin estate coffee would be more expensive. When penning my original article, I queried whether people would be willing to pay more for premium coffee, especially when a good coffee depends on so much more than the beans (a decent barista and coffee machine are also necessities).

Now, thanks to the good folk at Melbourne Coffee Merchants (the local offshoot of Mercanta), I have sampled some single origin estate coffee - and it is seriously good!

The coffee was El Guabo from north-eastern Peru. The beans were roasted, but not ground, and, in order to enjoy the coffee at its best, I also received a special filter cup, filter papers and an A4 sheet of instructions on how to correctly prepare filtered coffee.

The roasted beans had an intense, earthy caffeine smell that was quite intoxicating, especially once ground, although the aroma faded once the coffee was poured. It didn't have the same intense caffeine smell as a coffee extracted from a machine. There's no crema with a filtered coffee, so it was the blackest coffee I've ever seen.

The coffee was very smooth on the palate and quite sweet. Drinking this is how I imagine eating silk would be like. It slides sweetly down the throat with no acid aftertaste or puckering on the palate. I kept sipping, craving more, and suddenly the cup was empty. I drank this coffee black and there was no need to add sugar. There was a shortish aftertaste but this coffee improved after each sip and became more mellow.

The next day, I ground the beans and got Adam, who's the expert barista in our house, to make some coffees from the machine. I had a long black and Adam added some sugar but this was a mistake, as it made the coffee too sweet. The taste was softer on the palate than the filtered coffee but it was also not as flavoursome. The second coffee Adam made was a flat white and this was a massive disappointment. The milk did not blend well with the coffee. It tasted sickly and the coffee flavour was masked. The best way to enjoy this coffee is as a long black with no sugar added; this allows the full flavours and characteristics of the bean to shine through.

So I am a convert to this coffee. But what cost would there be to my hip pocket? Well, it turns out to be not as bad as I feared. St Ali sells 250g of the El Guabo coffee for $13.50, as opposed to $11 for 250g of the St Ali espresso blend (which also makes a very nice coffee). For such a small price difference, I would be willing to buy single origin estate coffee beans, as I think the extra flavour sensation is worth it, particularly if, like me, you make and drink a lot of black coffee at home. And I also think I would buy a coffee made from single origin estate beans from a cafe, as long as it was a cafe that took its coffee seriously, had an excellent barista, and the single origin beans were competitively priced against the industrial blend beans.