Carrying on?

In case you thought I was being melodramatic.















This was my table during the heatwave. And there was at least a bucket a day coming in still. The harvest's pretty much done now. So much so that I even felt able to pick up a few windfall peaches and apples on Gordon St today.

But I also wanted to show you something I forgot from my stone fruit crazy faze - these delicious apricot tarts from River Cafe Green.












The recipe was for one tart but made a huge amount of pastry and filling. They were very buttery and very satisfying. Worth turning the oven on during a heatwave good. Sure they did give a certain nephew a tummy ache but hey, we all have to learn somehow. And Shannon's stomach was very robust so she was a great help eating leftovers.

you're the bombe

I think that possibly, the Easter dinner we made on resurrection Sunday was one of my finest cooking moments. Yeah, I'm an ecumenical cook - I love my kneidlach for pesakh but I was pretty happy concocting a bizarre egg themed menu for Mr J.

This was one crazy cooking experience - we, the kitchen crew almost killed each other and we were cranky as all hell but we came back from some really grim moments (gnocchi dissolving in the cooking water) to pull it all off and boy was it stupendous. To start we had egg shaped potatoes all crispy and lemony, olives and cheese stuffed little round peppers. Then there were ovoid spinach and ricotta gnocchi with napoli sauce, a salad of three heritage variety eggplants, pumpkin, more potato goodness (the other gnocchi dough reinvented as fried poufes) and other things I can't remember.

And then,

there was bombe alaska.



I was nervous about this for days. Putting icecream in the oven?! Would it melt? Were we crazy? But actually it turned out pretty darn easy. I used this recipe and was so happy to discover Su Yin's blog. She is a very enthusiastic and encouraging blogger so I felt a little more confident and made some adaptations.

I made mandarin ice cream by mixing homemade marmalade through some vanilla ice cream. Packed it into a pointy bowl with a big ball of marmalade to be the "yolk". Froze for a few hours to get the right shape. Stuck it on a tray on top of some slices of dodgy swiss roll and slathered it in maple syrup. Stuck more swiss roll slices all over it. Glad wrapped it to squish it into one mass and froze overnight. Then you just gotta whip some egg whites n sugar, lather it on and bake it. Sadly we burnt the back a little bit but luckily there are some carbon fiends in my family who declared that side lovely in all its charredness. Oh and we set it on fire with brandy then poured fresh passionfruit pulp over the slices. It's apparently the flaming which makes it bombe alaska. Otherwise it's just boring baked alaska.




So yeah, the ice cream didn't melt at all - meringue is a really good insulator. The only changes i'd make in the future would be to use fresher cake and to avoid the burning of course. The swiss roll idea sounds gross but you get great stripes on the finished product due to the jam so it does work nicely. I think something very saucy on top is important. The passionfruit is good - a hot sauce would be very awesome I think.

Now I feel very very proud housewife of this effort and I'm gonna have to do some kinda retro dinner party to show it off to people who I'm not related to. I was hunting down 60s dishes thinking that was the bombe's era. Maybe it was but apparently this crazy baked ice cream idea goes as far back as 1804 when it was unimaginatively called omelette surprise. It was named for Alaska in 1876 to honour the newly acquired territory of the US. Oh nothing like a bit of conquering to get me in the mood for some baked ice cream!

tarty much?

I have been thinking lately that if I was the marrying kind maybe I would start a campaign to marry Greg Malouf. Marry Me Mister Malouf I would call it.

You see, I'm not much for celebrity chefs - those books with pictures of Bill, Jamie, Nigella or whoever hanging out o so casual with their good looking children eating boring stolen recipes. Nah. But the Malouf's cookbooks are wonderful and completely sans photos of people. Greg writes them with Lucy Malouf, now his ex-wife. I mean, the fact that he can still travel through Lebanon and Syria with her and collaborate on beautiful books like Saha makes me think what a lovely fellow he must be.

And then...
well then I saw him on SBS's food [porn] safari and he was the sweetest thing ever. Trundling around a Lebanese nut shop extoling the virtues of yoghurt, modestly preparing some outrageous looking fish for his family. Yup. food love.

So Wednesday I'm thinkin, hey I'm gonna cook me some dinner from Arabesque for my ladyfriend. Maybe it's Feb 14th, maybe it ain't - still gotta eat no matter how cheesy it seems. Suffice to say, Wednesday didn't turn out to be a cooking day but Friday was and the food got made and sometimes nice things are even nicer when they're not on officially sanctioned nice thing days.

Arabesque is the Maloufs' first book and organised around little essays about key Middle Eastern ingredients. No lush pictures but some excellent recipes and good enthusiastic descriptions that make me wanna actually cook them. All of them. But it was a hot day and I only got home at 6:30 so here's what we had:

• Fattouche - a crunchy salad with fried lebanese bread and sumac
• Green beans - from the garden, in tahini yoghurt sauce
• Soused zucchini & eggplant - I dunno what he means by soused but damn good.
• Goats cheese grilled in fresh vine leaves

and dessert of course. Maybe the silly picture doesn't show just how ridiculously decadent this was. Sticky, crunchy, drenched in syrup and inducing a sugar rush like only middle eastern sweets can. Hard to eat elegantly though. Maybe scoring the pastry would help?

Toffeed fig tart
This tart was dead easy to make and impressive. I made two but this recipe makes 4. I should add though that mine was delicious because I used the homemade filo which is my best best friend. Yes maybe I'm a snob but I find supermarket filo really gross, hard to work with and unappetising. It does that horrible overly crunchy thing in the roof of my mouth.

The homemade stuff is available from the fridge at the Sydney Rd IGA or from the Turkish shop on Smith St as well as around Brunswick shops. If you're not in Melbourne try asking at a Greek or Turkish sweets shop?

• 10 sheets of filo pastry
• 200g butter, melted
• 100g castor sugar
• 100ml water
• a splash of rosewater (optional)
• 12 fresh figs (thanks to the ranch)
  
• 2 extra tablespoons castor sugar
• 1 tbsp butter
• 100g hazelnuts, toasted, peels rubbed off and then roughly crushed
  

Layer the sheets of filo on a tray, brushing each one with butter as you go. Cut around a bowl to give you 4 circular stacks about 8cm across. Or maybe make 8 mini ones using a cup? Bake in a 180C oven until browning on top - about 10 minutes or more. When you remove them from the oven drizzle them with syrup before they cool.

What syrup? This one - while they're baking place the sugar and water in a pot and bring to the boil making sure all the sugar dissolves. Simmer it for 5 minutes then remove from the heat and add your rosewater if you want it.

Cut your figs in half. Now get a large heavy frypan and melt the tablespoon of butter and extra sugar in it. Wait for the sugar to caramelise. I started getting very nervous - something about bad history with caramel and toffee. 'It's not working' I cried in a sooky fashion. But after doing some strange cloud formation things for a long time caramelise it did. So when this happens add the fig halves and stir to coat. As the fig juice hits the caramel it'll start to toffee so get them all good and coated.

To serve you just need to stick the pastry circles on a plate and top with the figs. Greg says in 2 layers of 3 halves each but I wasn't quite that neat. Top with the nuts and serve with creme fraiche. Or if you ain't that organised, ice cream.

Ya-um!

meanwhile

So yeah, me and tal made kimchi. Using the method here. It was even better than my last batch. Crunchy and delicious.

Words are not my friend right now so expect pictures. Maybe recipes can be my friend still.

In other news, I joined myspace. Oh god. Maybe that's why I feel like such a loser now.

i shot a mousse one day

I think when people have pot luck style dinners it's always a good idea to bring the dessert. People love you when you bring dessert. I know I know, if I love myself I won't worry what others may think. But really, who doesn't want love and adoration?

For Sammy's birthday I really didn't feel like baking though. And I knew I had to work on the day of the party so it would have to be something I could make the day before. I'd never made mousse before and to be honest I only guessed it could be something good, remembering vaguely the awful instant mousses at pizza restaurants when I was a kid. I had hope though..

It's just lucky that Lish had arranged for me to get the Malouf's Arabesque for my present when I left my last job. This is their recipe and it was everything I might have wanted - rich as all hell, smooth, airy and the bringer of much adoration. Lauren said it changed her life. Now hopefully she'll change mine by hooking me up with Catherine Keener.

Cinnamon-chocolate mousse
This needs to be made the day before and allowed to set.
It's simple but there is folding of egg whites required which often flummoxes me.

300ml pure runny cream
4 eggs
100g mild honey (my mallee honey had too much flavour, use a very plain one)
100g castor sugar
400g good dark chocolate
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
3 extra egg whites
1 tbsp extra sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

to dust: 1 tsp cinnamon, 1.5 tsp icing sugar

Beat the cream to soft peaks and reserve in the fridge.

Place the whole eggs, honey and sugar in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Whisk for about 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Now take off the heat and beat with an electric beater on high for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt the chocolate over a pan of hot water and allow to cool slightly.
Fold the chocolate and vanilla into the egg mixture.

In another bowl whisk the egg whites until they form very loose soft peaks. With beaters running, slowly sprinkle in the extra sugar and the cinnamon. Continue beating until they form shiny soft peaks.

To complete the mousse fold the whipped cream into the chocolate and then gently fold into the egg whites. Place in a serving bowl or little cups or whatever and refrigerate overnight.

When ready to serve mix together the dusting stuff and sift lightly over the mousse. Serve to admiring crowd.
Hey: I reckon my mousse was a little on the sweet side but I did skimp on the chocolate and use only 40%. With 70% sweetness would not be a problem. On the otherhand some said it was not too sweet at all... Guess it's like friends, you don't always want the sweeter ones.

don't think i didn't

On friday I made a massive feast at the ranch. I think the premise was that I would make lunch in exchange for Tal working her magic with the haircutting scissors again. Suffice it to say I got completely carried away and made an Indian luncheon consisting of:

• Sweet sour chickpeas (no not dodgy chinese style but with shitloads of tamarind)
• Broccoli the Madhur Jaffrey way with chilli and garlic
• Eggplant fried all tender in a tomato and ginger sauce
• Raita
• Radish and peanut salad
  

And yes... CARROT HALVA!

Those capitals and exclamation mark show you just how excited I was about making a dessert from carrots. So excited that I kept running around going - "don't think those carrots aren't going to be dessert." To which people looked confused and later, just tired. "We know esther, the carrots are dessert... get over it already" their glazed eyes said. Maybe they were thinking carrots as dessert is old hat, like carrot cake or something... but really, this is a whole new world of vegetal dessert excitement.

And i'm here to tell you that all the double negatives were worth it. Don't think that carrot halva is not the bomb. So so good. I was so sorry I had halved the recipe.. it cooks down a lot and we hardly had enough. Don't make my mistake.

There are heaps of other recipes for this - some with condensed milk, some where you pressure cook the carrots. I'd be open to hearing about any other versions people have tried. Apparently in the Punjab they make this with purple carrots. Now that would be hot!


Carrot Halva (or Halwa if you prefer)
1 kg carrots
1 litre milk
1 cup sugar
100g ghee or butter
2/3 cup raisins or sultanas
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1 teaspoon cardamon seeds
ground cardamon

First up you need to grind your cardamon - pull out the green husks as you do. Now grate your carrots and stick them in a pot with the milk. Bring it to a simmer. Now cook it very very slowly until all the milk is absorbed. Careful it don't burn. This will take forever. Enough time for you to make 3 other dishes for your feast. Or get a haircut.

When it's absorbed add the ghee and cook until it browns a little. Mine didn't really brown, but anyway, add the sugar and cook until it's thick and dry. Add the raisins, cardamon and almonds. Serve with a few more nuts sprinkled over the top and a sprinkle of cardamon. Pass around the ice cream.

Hell yes.

success!

Hey I thought my mission to learn how to make crepes was going to be an epic quest complete with training montages and crumpled up crepes being thrown into the wastepaper basket. Yes I know I'm mixing my genres but I'm in shock because I had my first go this morning and I am full of the glow of success. This is when mum's theory really pays off.

Crepes for beginners
3/4 cup plain flour
2 eggs, beaten
2/3 cup milk
2/3 cup water
1 tbsp oil
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of salk

Beat the eggs and whisk in the flour, milk and water. Add the other bits and whisk it all real well so there's no lumps or nothin. Leave it to stand for 20 minutes. Or if your breakfast buddy shows up looking hungry like mine, 10 will have to do.

This batter is so thin it scared me but it works. Really.

Heat a crepe pan (yeah right) or heavy frypan (ok!). Add a little butter. When it's hot pour in some batter and tilt the pan so it spreads real thin. Mine went all sorts of funny shapes, dunno how you get them round.

Now the trick is to not cook them too much at all. Keep the heat pretty low. We want a very light brown on the first side and then just a few spots of brown on the other. This way they are nice and soft not crunchy like from those lame "creperie" places that have sprung up all over town. Add more butter when they start to stick.

Ok eat them now. We had a choice of blueberries, cream, maple syrup and of course, marmalade. You don't need to be so excessive. This recipe makes 10 crepes. I think I should have invited someone else to help me and Bindy eat them. Now i think I have to go lie down and recover.

Roses and rhubarb

From Crazy Water, Pickled Lemons comes this great dish. An updated version of rice-pudding with rhubarb that transforms it from English boarding school into Mediterranean delight. I made it to take to Eve's the other night and it was all polished off in a second. It is really easy and very delicious - the rice is creamy and custardy and the rose flavoured syrup works surprisingly well with the rhubarb flavour to lift it out of the everyday.

I bought gum mastic from the turkish grocer on Smith St - a few spoons of yellowish clear lumps cost me $3.50 but I do think the taste it adds is worthwhile if you can find it. It's one of those subtle tastes that you barely notice but it is distinctive - just reminds me of Greek desserts or Turkish delight. I think it's a resin from some kind of orchid. If you can't get it just leave it out.

Rizogalo with Rose scented Roasted Rhubarb
(Rizogalo is a Greek rice pudding)

• lots of rhubarb cut into 10 cm lengths (I used about 900g)
• 150 ml water
• 200 g sugar
• 1 tbsp rose water70g short grain rice
• 850ml full cream milk (I used soy milk and added a dollop of cream)
• 55g caster sugar
• 1/4 tsp mastic (ground in mortar and pestle)
• 1 egg yolk
• 60 ml double cream

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees C. (350 F)
2. Put the rhubarb pieces in a baking dish. Cover with sugar (200g) and water (150ml). Seal with foil and bake for 30 - 40 minutes.
3. Cover the rice with water and bring to the boil. Boil for 5 minutes and then drain.
4. Heat the milk with the rice, sugar and mastic.
5. Bring to a boil and then simmer gently until the milk is absorbed. It takes 15 - 30 minutes. Stir occassionally.
6. Take the rice off the heat.
7. Mix the cream with the egg yolk and then add to the rice. Turn out into a bowl to let it cool.
8. When the rhubarb is roasted - soft but still in distinct pieces - drain it, keeping the juices.
9. Boil the juice down into a syrup. Add rose water to taste and then pour the syrup over the rhubarb.
10. Serve the rice and rhubarb in two big bowls garnished with rose petals.

Did you notice I learnt to post photos? Now I just need someone to buy me a digital camera so I can record my efforts.

from the golden land

okay, so i'm away so the blog is gonna go quiet. but i didn't want anyone complaining (nell) so here's a little something to keep you going. other people should hassle nell to start her own blog which will be much more interesting as she is all into etymology and bondage and budgies.

so.. travel is normally a good eating time. but i seem to be stuck in some kind of tourist ghetto with restaurants that charge $15 for a curry. and unadventurous eating companions. it's weird - i never hang out with people who want to eat hawaiian pizza for dinner!

between the dinner options and the dodgy conference lunch (evil coleslaw with curry powder in the dressing, stodgy risotto in a bainmarie) i really miss cooking my own food. like the awesomely rich mexican chocolate custard bread pudding i made the night before i left. i was trying to make sure my housemates missed me but it was so rich that they all turned into groaning zombies... not sure if they'll miss feeling like that. needless to say i loved it and was the only one who went back for 2nds. if you too are at a film shoot and get sent home with heaps of spare bread you should try it. this recipe is from memory and might be slightly off.

250g old white bread - fluffy is best.
125g butter, melted
3 eggs
2 cups soy milk
1 cinnamon stick
180g dark chocolate, broken up
1/2 cup chopped almonds
1 apple, chopped up

preheat oven to 180 C and butter your pudding dish.

first tear the bread into small chunks (roughly 2 inch cubes). put them on a baking tray and pour the butter over. bake for 15 minutes, turning often and not letting them brown.

meanwhile, heat the milk with the cinnamon stick in it - until almost boiling. add the chocolate and stir until it melts. remove the cinnamon stick.

beat the eggs in a big big bowl and add the milk mixture. once the bread is baked add it to this mixture and leave it to soak for 10 minutes. add the nuts and apple and pour it into the baking dish.

cover with aluminium foil, poke some holes in for steam and bake for 40 minutes. remove the foil and bake for another 10 or until it's kind of glossy on top and not runny looking.

serve with cream and expect your housemates to zonk out.