A new kind of food blog and culinary scrapbook.
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More from Melbourne
January 27, 2012 — 3 Comments
I have not forgotten about you! Just been a bit busy at the end of our visit here in Melbourne.
Here is my list of Must Visit places:
Prahran market in South Yarra is foodie heaven – fresh seafood, organic meats, local honey, cheese, bread, and produce. They also sell all kinds of kitchen supplies. There is an excellent store and cooking school called The Essential Ingredient.
I visited Burch & Purchase sweet studio, like I planned. The entire store smells delicious, with concoctions like Jamaican ginger cake layered with mango jelly and little gingerbread men balancing on top.
We also shopped for fish and visited Queen Victoria Market on Suzuki Wednesdays, which is one big summer fest of fun.
Books for Cooks in Fitzroy/Collingwood is a dangerous place for a foodie, with a very complete collection. I bought some local books including one called Is Emu on the Menu?
And we did go to Gingerboy. It was as delicious as I imagined. I particularly loved the chili jam-packed son-in-law eggs, the duck salad, and the fried snapper. Cocktails are great, service is wonderful, and I wish I could fit their 10lb huge cookbook into my bag. I’ll try to order it online.
Postcard from Melbourne
January 23, 2012 — 10 Comments
Hello from Australia!
It feels like we’ve been here forever yet I never want to leave.
Some quick restaurant impressions: The Aylesbury is a happening new gastropub/wine bar with terrific food and atmosphere. Try the cold-smoked kingfish with freeze dried olives (above) and the duck. And the bread is amazing.
Right nearby is the fusion Seamstress where I got totally carried away tasting everything! The pork neck was the favorite, by far. The gingery scallops were pretty great too. Overall, it’s definitely a nice destination for a foodie.
Bhel Puri
January 20, 2012 — 8 Comments
At last week’s supperclub, Priyanka made a wonderful, crisp and savory Indian dish called Bhel Puri made of puffed rice, potatoes, tomatoes, onions, and cilantro, with plenty of tamarind sauce and mint chutney.
The puffed rice mix is spicy! But I love it.
You’ll need:
- 4 cups puffed rice mix (mixture of puffed rice and sev, little savory fried noodles you may have seen in snack mixes)
- 1/2 cup diced tomato
- 1/2 cup chopped raw red onion
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
- 1/2 cup chopped boiled potato
- 2 T lemon juice
- salt
- mint chutney
- tamarind and date chutney
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Spread the puffed rice mix in a deep baking dish and toast lightly to warm through, about 20 minutes.
2. In the meantime, boil the potatoes and chop all of the vegetables and herbs so that you are prepared to assembly the dish.
3. When you’re ready to eat, divide the puffed rice mixture among your serving bowls then add he potatoes, tomatoes, and onions (about 2 T of each), top with cilantro, a pinch of salt, and a spoonful – or more – of chutney and sauce. Mix well and enjoy!
Sometimes, bhel puri is also served with fresh mango on top – I think that would be delicious in the summer! In fact, what I love about this dish is how easy it transitions from winter to summer months.
Cooking of the Pacific Northwest
January 19, 2012 — 10 Comments
I love the food culture of the Pacific Northwest – fresh, local, sustainable and delicious! Needless to say, my friend Val and I jumped at the chance to take a Pacific Northwest cooking class.
The menu included:
- Butternut squash soup with apple-hazelnut phyllo triangles
- Dungeness crab salad with roasted shallots and pomegranate vinaigrette
- Fire-roasted oysters with wasabi-ginger butter
- Pan-roasted venison with cherry-port reduction
- Cedar planked salmon with maple-ginger glaze and cucumber-ginger vinaigrette
- Wild mushroom fricassee
- Roasted fingerling potatoes
- Oregon Pinot Noir and raspberry sorbet
- Nanaimo bars
Everything was delicious yet unexpected. And there was a LOT of butter (perhaps, the influence of a French chef!)
My favorite unexpected dish was the crab salad – it’s simple yet surprising so, I am sharing the recipe below. This recipe comes from Rover’s Restaurant in Seattle and Chef Thierry Rautureau.
You’ll need:
- 1 head garlic
- 2 shallots
- 3 T plus 4 t olive oil
- 8 slices baguette
- 1/4 cup plus 1 t pomegranate juice
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 6 oz Dungeness crabmeat
- 2 t minced chives
- handful chervil leaves
- 1 t extra virgin olive oil
1. Preheat oven to 375F. Trim a bit of the root end of the garlic, peel away some of the papery skin. Trim the root end from the shallots as well. Set the garlic and shallots in foil, drizzle with 2 t of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Wrap up and roast until tender, about 1-1 1/4 hours.
2. Heat a large skillet over medium heat, add 4 t olive oil. Add the baguette slices and toast well on each side, about 3 minutes total. Set aside on a paper towel.
3. Combine 1/4 cup pomegranate juice and the vinegar in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and reduced to 2 T, 5 to 7 minutes. Take pan off heat and whisk in 3 T olive oil. Set aside.
4. Pick over the crabmeat to remove any shell or cartilage. Mix the crabmeat with the pomegranate vinaigrette and chives, and season to taste with salt and pepper (not too much). Toss well.
5. Squeeze roasted garlic and shallots from their skins and coarsely chop. Toss with the remaining t of pomegranate juice and season lightly.
6. To serve, spoon the garlic-shallot mixture onto the toasted baguette slices and top each with some of the crab salad. Top the crab with chervil dressed lighty with the extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of salt.
Onwards: more travel
January 17, 2012 — 4 Comments
By the time you read this, I will hopefully be enveloped in the summer warmth of Australia.
I cannot wait to see friends in Melbourne and do some work/research and, of course, make some foodie time too.
On my list of places to visit:
- The intriguingly named Naked for Satan
- Donovan’s, for tradition’s sake (and what a wonderful tradition it is)
- Gingerboy
- Movida
- Sonida for hot chocolate
- Burch & Purchase for sugar heaven
Overall, it will be such a treat to enjoy fresh produce, seafood, chilled soups, and very icy beverages for a few weeks and retreat back into summer goodness.
See you on the flipside!
Kumquat coleslaw
January 16, 2012 — 6 Comments
More kumquats! I hope you’ve managed to find some in the meantime, they are really a terrific, under-appreciated little fruit. (Maybe kumquats are the unofficial ingredient of the month.)
As easy and bright as can be, this coleslaw will brighten up a winter’s day.
You’ll need:
- red cabbage
- green cabbage
- 2 carrots
- about 10 kumquats
- for the lemon vinaigrette – 1 clove of garlic (minced), 1/3 cup lemon juice, 2 T mustard, olive oil.
- salt, pepper
1. Julienne the cabbage and the carrots. Add salt and pepper and mix together in a large bowl.
2. Cut the kumquats as thinly as you can – they don’t have to be paper thin, but the thinner the better. Mix into the cabbage-carrots.
3. Make the dressing by combining the lemon juice, garlic, and mustard and slowly whisking in olive oil to get an emulsion. Adjust for taste and add to the salad.
You can add a bit of kumquat zest in there too, if you want, for that extra zing.
Truffle risotto with peas and collard greens
January 13, 2012 — 12 Comments
When I came back to New York last week, we still had some truffles to work with so we ended up making this terrific Sunday early dinner of truffle risotto with petit pois and collard greens. Indulgent but fresh at the same time!
You’ll need:
- 1 T butter
- 1 T olive oil
- 1 shallot
- 1/4 cup dry white wine
- 1 cup carnaroli rice
- 5 cups chicken stock
- 1/2 cup peas
- 1 cup collard greens (cut into strips)
- 1 T black truffle paste
- 2 T shaved white truffle
- 3 T grated parmesan
- salt and pepper
1. Heat up oil and butter in a large pot (preferably cast iron). Dice the shallot and add to the oil and butter mixture.
2. Add the rice and toast until the rice kernels are translucent around the edges, stirring often.
3. Add the wine and a pinch of salt and pepper. Lower heat. Have the stock ready to go.
4. Ladle in the stock, one cup at a time. Cook, stirring constantly, until the stock is almost completely absorbed, about 5 minutes per cup.
5. About halfway through, add the peas, greens, and truffle paste. Taste for seasoning and doneness after the fourth cup (you’ll likely still need to add the fifth). As the starch breaks down, the risotto should be at once creamy and have a slight al dente bite.
6. Take off heat, stir in cheese and top with thinly shaved truffle. Serve immediately.
Avocado, kumquat, and rice salad
January 11, 2012 — 4 Comments
Do you like kumquats? Have you ever had them? They are my new winter citrus fruit addiction. They look like tiny little oranges and can be eaten whole (just take out the seeds) – the rind is very sweet and the center of the fruit is tart and juicy.
Kumquats are great for salad dressings and pair off well with fresh green flavors, Asian cuisine, seafood, and other tropical fruit.
For this salad, you’ll need:
- 1 avocado
- about 12 kumquats
- 2 cups sushi rice
- olive oil
- mirin or rice vinegar
- sesame seeds
- sea salt
1. Make the sushi rice first – use Japanese sushi rice and prepare according to package instructions, fold the rice vinegar, salt, sugar mixture into the warm rice. You can also add sesame seeds, if you’d like.
2. Slice the kumquats thinly and take out the seeds. Slice the avocado as well.
3. Layer rice, avocado, and kumquats in a bowl. Dress lightly with the reserved kumquat’s juice, olive oil, and a sprinkle of sea salt.
Winter green salad with walnuts and pomegranates
January 9, 2012 — 5 Comments
This kale and asparagus salad makes a wonderful lunchtime treat or a dinner accompaniment – it’s one of my favorites this January. The walnuts and the little pop of pomegranate make it that much more satisfying.
You’ll need:
- 1 bunch kale
- 5-6 spears of green asparagus
- 1/2 cup walnuts
- 1/3 cup pomegranate seeds
- 1 T chopped fresh rosemary
- balsamic vinegar
- walnut oil
1. Prepare two pots – one with boiling water, another one with a little bit of walnut oil on medium-low heat. Wash and cut the kale. Do the same with the asparagus – remove the thickest part of the stalk, and slice on the bias.
2. Blanch the asparagus and pop into an ice bath to keep it crunchy. Wilt the kale for about 3-4 minutes until bright green and more tender.
3. Toast the walnuts lightly in the oven or on a dry pan. Mix with kale and asparagus.
4. Dress with a generous drizzle of balsamic vinegar and finish with pomegranate seeds.
A visit to the Defilippis pasta factory
January 2, 2012 — 12 Comments
When we were in Turin last week, Nina organized a visit to the Defilippis pasta factory for us.
It is an old, family-run business – although the brand name was temporarily sold by the Defilippis heir when he developed an interest in cycling rather than pasta-making – native to Turin.
It’s a pretty small operation, but they manage to churn out a supply of fresh pasta for their two own stores and a few restaurants, and signature dried pastas every day.
All the ingredients are measured out approximately and though a lot of the work is done by machines, the pastas are still folded, cut, and dried by hand. Defilippis is part of the prolific Slow Food movement in Turin.
The kitchen is pristine and houses both old-school and new machinery.
pasta wheels/grinds
One of the signature local pastas is the Agnolotti del Plin (in the top picture), often served with sage butter. It is delicious!
