crash landing

Killer says it's landing pain. Better than "adjustment angst". Whatever you call it though there's days that are ok, days that suck, moments of beautiful light and times that don't really bear describing. Then there's cooking. When I was away I realised I often undervalue the things that really matter to me. Cooking and gardening aren't just hobbies - they're work in the real sense of the thing... labour that creates something. My hands need to move, I need to feel I'm producing something and we all need to eat.

Wednesday night dinner... me and S. had to meet and talk. There are some things you can't say via text message. I changed the menu plan 5 times. I wasn't sure I wanted to make something really amazing if we would both feel too sick to eat. But then I wanted to make something amazing.

Crazy Water, Pickled Lemons still hasn't made it back to the library so I decided on the piadina with caramelised onions, walnuts and taleggio. Piadina is an Italian flatbread that was ridiculously easy to make - mix flour, oil and water; knead; roll out; fry in rounds. I'm cheese mad right now and taleggio might be my new favourite indulgence. It's creamy almost like brie but with more of an aged blue taste. And bubbling under the grill over a spread of caramelised onions and walnuts on the piadina... well it was so good it tasted amazing even on a clenched tight stomach. Maybe I was overdoing it because I needed to keep busy that afternoon or maybe it's that I don't know how to cook for two. But I couldn't help myself from cooking up some garden fresh zucchinis with mint and chilli, and Abla's fried cauliflower with tahini sauce. Rocket salad added the peppery greenness needed.

Later... things were going ok. As ok as can be expected. And there was this cake to bring us back to the table. It's good cake. The kind of cake that comforts, doesn't scream about itself but impresses quietly. I'm a big fan of yoghurt cakes and they're stupidly easy. That ain't a bad thing.

Yoghurt and Walnut Cake with Coffee Syrup
from Crazy Water Pickled Lemons

This cake is meant to be made the day before but I didn't read that until it was too late. It was still good on the day but better the next.

175g butter
175g caster sugar
2 eggs
175g plain yoghurt (preferably Greek style. the new Chris's yoghurt is awesome)
175g shelled walnuts
175g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
icing sugar

For the syrup:
275ml strong espresso coffee
75g caster sugar
2 tbsp brandy if you got it (I didn't)

1. Preheat your oven to 180C

2. Take 125g of the walnuts and chop em roughly. Yeah rough, they like it like that. Take the remainder and grind them in a mortar and pestle or somehow.

3. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and continue to beat. Stir in the yoghurt and nuts.

4. Sift the flour and baking powder and fold into the batter. Pour into a greased and lined tin about 8 inches across. Bake for 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

5. Mix the coffee with the sugar and boil until it's reduced by half. Add the brandy.

6. While the cake is still warm pierce it all over with the skewer and pour the coffee syrup on. Leave in the tin overnight if you're that organised.

7. Unmould the cake and dust it with icing sugar. Serve it with more yoghurt or maybe even with the Leche Merengada you just made? (see below)

better than ice cream?

Ok, I've been wanting to post this since Chrismukkah because it's one of those little secrets I wanna share. The picture is awful I know - the white blob is what we're talking about, and then that's Marion's lovely pudding, and my new shirt.

Anyway, Leche Merengada is just one of the tastiest and refreshingest things ever. It seems really classy somehow and is perfect for the end of a massive meal when ice cream might be a bit too much but sorbet just wouldn't work with the pudding. It's from Crazy Water, Pickled Lemons which we got out from the library again. I fell in love with that book all over again and this is just one of the reasons why.

Leche Merengada just means "meringued milk" and it's easier too than a custard based ice cream. You don't need an ice cream maker or nothing. So if it's hot where you are trust me on this little secret and get to it.

425 ml milk
150 ml runny cream (not thickened)
150g caster sugar
zest of 1 lemon
1 cinnamon stick
1 tbsp brandy
3 egg whites
ground cinnamon

1. Put the milk, cream and 100g of the sugar into a saucepan with the lemon and cinnamon stick. Bring to just under the boil, remove from the heat and let it infuse for about 40 minutes. Strain through a sieve and add the brandy.

2. Whisk the egg whites with the remaining sugar until stiff. Fold this into the cream and milk mixture - it will seem impossible to incorporate, but don't worry, as it will all get beaten together during the freezing process. Now put it into the freezer and just beat it with electric beaters or a food processor every hour or two until it looks good. Maybe 4 - 6 or more hours? Or use an ice-cream machine if ya got one.

3. Sprinkle with cinnamon before serving or if you're feeling really hip the book suggests you can serve it with a shot of iced espresso over the top for a "blanco y negro."

walls and all

Reading the Brooklyn Dispatch i find this disturbing article from the NYTimes about architecture and the West Bank barrier wall. Should I be surprised to read General Chavez from the Israeli Defense Forces' Operational Theory Research Institute quoting Deleuze & Guattari? Talking of smooth and striated spaces, air surveillance and swarming soldiers.

And it's just a week or two ago I was learning bout the political distinctions over at liz's blog. Striated space seemed like the trouble then.. and things seemed more hopeful, more poetic. It's kinda scary to see leftist theory regurgitated by the IDF. Kinda very.

Ok, I'm no theory head it's true.. but i'm still trying to get smarter and Killer wants to go to Queeruption this year in Tel Aviv so it's time to get thinking, don't you think?

back. and fuller than ever

Folks i've missed you.
6 glorious months staying with friends, cooking on fires and a campstove that had a tendency to burst into flames. I missed baking.

Here's Rocky the crocodile oven mit with the first of two pies i've made in recent sydney visits. I'm hoping to get some kinda reputation in sin city. I made the pecan pie in december using stephanie the pie queen's recipe. It was some excellent pie, squooshy and caramellish with a bit more body than most because of the eggs i think. It should come with a warning though - this pie is almost all sugar products. We had to lie down afterwards but hey, there are worse things than a post-pie nap.

The best bit is that i'm getting over my fear of pastry. I used the pie crust recipe that stephanie has for her apple pie and well, it just worked. No fussin. It made two crusts so of course i had to come back to sydney to use the one i stashed in the lander st freezer. Last night i used it up with a cherry pie to celebrate all the plump and tasty cherries around. Couldn't find a recipe i loved so i made one up. It was delicious and lemony though i didn't calculate how many cherries i'd need very well. So it was more of a cherry tart - not quite deep enough to qualify as pie. Maybe tarts are more classy anyway?

Well, i'm out of training with this blog business but i'll be back soon with the successful chrismukkah recipes. 'til then, if you want to give it a go:

(She's My) Cherry Pie
1 pie crust
1 egg yolk
100 g ground almonds
lots of fresh cherries - maybe a kilo?
zest of one lemon
white sugar

Roll out and blind bake your pie crust for about 15 minutes at 190C. Then brush it with egg yolk and bake it until golden. This will seal it so it doesn't go soggy. Meanwhile pit the cherries, getting red juice sprayed over everything. Stick them in a pot with the lemon juice and a half handful of sugar. Cook them just til they collapse a bit. When the pie crust is done cover it with the almond meal. Add the cherries, but maybe not all the juice from the pot. Top with cute designs made in leftover pastry and bake at 180 for about 40 - 50 minutes. Let it sit a moment and then devour with thick cream or icecream. If you're lucky like us friends will drop by to help with the devouring.

au revoir...

hey folks,
i think the time has come to say goodbye. I'm leaving on Thursday for 6 months of road tripping around this crazy land so I don't think there'll be much blogging. And probably, there won't be too much high quality cooking for a while either. So thanks for reading, it's been fun to do.

If full as a goog does return it'll probably be in a different form - i like writing about food but i'm a bit sick of it too. I used to think I should keep all my other thoughts for zines and letters but lately i wanna be a part of the thinking blog world... wanna write all the stuff that's been taking up my headspace like thinking about infatuation, booty dancing, mail love and mechanics. So we'll see...

happy baking,
xo
esther

at last, cherry dumplings

Those of you who have been reading this blog for a long time might remember how Sarah and I tried so many times to go and eat at Cafe Armenia, a restaurant we'd come across when eating Korean in Carnegie. As with all holy grail type quests, we had been rebuffed many times. This was a restaurant that seemed to think nothing of ignoring its own opening hours, or having private functions... anything to stop us getting in and trying all the morsels that tempted us on the menu: beans with walnuts and garlic, pickles, pancakes and of course, cherry dumplings.

But readers, you will be glad to know that your nights of the laminex table can rest now because on Thursday Cafe Armenia was open! I would like to state for the record, that this is the raddest restaurant in town. It was like eating in someone's lounge room. Picture a small shopfront cafe; folky paintings of Armenia (we guess) on the wall, some odd carved knicknacks, plastic tablecloths. The place looks like it's been there since the 60s, even though it's only been opened a year or two. Down one side there's a bench and shelves topped with plates, plates like your grandma might have had, with gold rims half worn off. A plasticy stereo. Up the back some old men and a woman rant at each other from separate tables. In the middle a family with one child eat some seriously meaty looking soup from a big tureen. And over all of this hangs a big black cloud smelling unmistakeably of barbecue. Yep, the perfect place for a hot date. Sarah and I almost wet ourselves with excitement that we were actually in there!

Before we ordered we were served a big plate of flat bread with a little jug of a salsa like red sauce. Very oniony and delicious. We ordered most of the vegetarian options, forgoing potato dumplings to leave room for cherry. I ordered a mineral water - they brought us a Coles brand 1.25l bottle. Food came really fast - a bowl of delicous red bean, walnut and garlic spread. Then a plate of mixed pickles - "hot" he warned us. "It's okay, we like hot." "Eat it", he urged. I nibbled an end and nodded my approval. He seemed satisfied that we were tough enough, and wandered off. Next came two pancakes - much like blintzes, they were rolled around a ricotta and sultana filling and crisply fried. Served with sour cream on top they were awesome. Then there was a big fat cabbage roll, full of rice and yummy things.

I worried we were getting full. But the unobtrusive (absent) service gave us plenty of time to digest. And finally we had enough room to order cherry dumplings. In Poland these would be described as pierogi, or in Russia, as pelmeni - basically they were little half moons of a pasta-like dough wrapped around a great cherry filling. There was bite, there was real cherry lumps, and flavour. Served with sour cream they were about as heavenly an end to this holy quest as we could have hoped for.

So viva the Armenians. I didn't know much about them - somewhere between the Middle East and Eastern Europe? Turns out it's kinda in the middle of Turkey, Iran, Georgia and Azerbijan. Prone to invasion like my poor Poland, but I guess there are culinary benefits to having all those armies passing through. You can tell at Cafe Armenia, that it must be a land where they've taken the best from all around them. Meat eaters would be very happy too - lots of crazy stews and swords of bbq meat. But we were rapt too. I think maybe divey is my favourite restaurant aesthetic and it only made me happier when Sarah went out the back to the toilet and reported that the kitchen was like a family one, complete with piles of boiled potatoes everywhere and an old lady with bright red lipstick and a ciggy hanging out of her mouth.

come fry with me...

Feeling oily? John Travolta is, and so am I.

"A deep fried party? Who's stupid idea was that?" That's what I was asked on Sunday. Well, I think it was mine. And it rocked.

Yes kids, on Saturday Bindy and I went through with our crazy plan to have a deep fry party. And although it was really nuts, I feel a strange sense of smug self-satisfaction. I fear it says something bad about my life that turning myself and a dozen friends into ill greaseballs is what gives me a sense of achievement.

We made heaps of yummy stuff. We fried. We ate. We drank beer. We clutched our bellies. We groaned. Then we went off and partied like maniacs, with lots of grease to soak up all the liquor. And I woke up feeling awesome on Sunday morning. So who said oil is so bad for you?



Here's the menu:

• Arancini - lemon risotto rolled around mozarella and then crumbed
  
• Crumbed eggplant sticks and mushrooms
  
• Beer battered cauliflower and broccoli
• Battered olives
• Crumbed camembert
• Parsnip and sweet potato chips
• Battered mini-Mars and Bounty bars
• Battered Tim Tams
  
• Pineapple and banana fritters

Oh, it seems like there was more than that. I dunno. There was great aioli, sambal and pickles. Oh yes, we did batter and fry a dill pickle too. Tim Tams didn't really work but the olives were surprisingly good. I was happy with the batter. The arancini were awesome, golden and crunchy, then ricey with gooey centres of mozarella. And I was very impressed with the Japanese "bread" crumbs I used - extra crunchy.

There wasn't as much crazy random deep frying as I thought - you know, people pulling things out of the fridge and battering them. But it was really fun gathering round Bindy's cute 70s deep fryer (strangely called "Cook n' Clean" even though it did no cleaning). Another culinary dream achieved... next stop, bomb alaska?

I just feel bad that Bindy's house smells like a chip shop.

come fly with me....

Well, it has been a mega crazy weekend. So much fun I feel quite manic... Among many exciting happenings was my first decorated cake experience.

It was Marion's 30th birthday party on Sunday so I offered to make a cake. I was shocked when she said that Andy, her "I can't cook" boyf, claimed to have it "under control."

The next day I had about 5 phone calls from Andy looking for help and advice. He wanted to do a cake that showed Marion in either a sports car or a plane and he was thinking of just buying cakes and icing from Safeway. "Safeway? Nooooo!" I screamed, knowing that Marion would be very unhappy to cut open her cake and find it bland and foamy. So I stupidly offered to make the cakes and help him put it together.

5 cake batters, 4 bowls of icing and hours of gruelling labour later we had a cake that looked a bit like a 5 year old had designed it.



But Marion and the crowd were suitably impressed and at least it tasted delicious. For the fusillage I used 3 lemon cakes and the icing was flavoured with fresh lime juice. The wings are a simple chocolate cake with a thick icing made from real chocolate. Luckily both the cakes were pretty solid and easily carved by Andy, who did do a good job of wielding the knife. And the punters were more than happy to gobble it all up, leaving things looking a little sad.



Making the cake made me realise how the woman in The Hoursfeels when she gets all the crumbs in her icing. I'm sooo not a perfectionist but I was incredibly frustrated by how the icing dripped everywhere, fell off and generally looked a bit wrong. Luckily we served the cake in a dimly lit bar. Still, this decorating business sure is hard work and it gave me a heap more respect for my old housie Nat, aka The Cake Lady (scroll down for a pic), who used to spend weeks putting together her detailed little cake sculptures.

If anyone wants to cake recipes let me know and I'll post them. I mainly chose them because they are really easy to make and quite firm, but they're definitely good stand-by cakes to have in your repertoire.

Prune and Whisky Cake

I'm not sure if I can convey how wonderful this cake is. It's amazingly moist, with a great springy texture and the glaze makes it glamourous and just sticky enough. Plus, springing out of my excellent new bundt/kugelhupf tin it looks amazing.

As I mentioned in my last post, I did have a few problems with people who have weird issues about prunes. I blame those bad American college movies where they make prune/laxative jokes. But I really doubt prunes have any more dietary effects than dried apricots - they just got a weird reputation. Anyway, maybe you should tell people it's a plum and whisky cake. Half the people at the party I took this to didn't even know that prunes are dried plums. Although maybe it's better to tell everyone what's in it and then there's more cake for those who don't have such stupid prejudices.

With that disclaimer done, may I heartily encourage you to make this cake - it is just so damn good and mine turned out perfectly risen and formed with very little effort.

Prune and Whisky Cake
(adapted from the excellent Moosewood Restaurant Book of Desserts)

For the cake you'll need:

• 2 cups pitted prunes
• 0.25 cup scotch whisky
• 2 cups water
• 0.75 cup vegie oil
• 1.5 cups packed brown sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2.75 cups unbleached white flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 0.5 tsp ground allspice
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp ground cloves
• 1 tsp ground cloves
• 0.5 tsp ground cardamon
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 cup buttermilk (I used sour cream thinned with milk because that's what I had)

For the glaze you need:

• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 0.25 cup more scotch
• 0.25 cup liquid from the prune cooking

In a small saucepan, combine the prunes, whisky and water. Simmer for 20 minutes or until the prunes are very tender. Drain, keeping the liquid. Coarsely chop the prunes and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter and flour a 10 inch bundt pan. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the oil and brown sugar with an electric mixer. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat well. In a separate bowl, combine the flour and other dry ingredients. Add the flour mixture the batter, beating until well blended. Pour in the buttermilk and beat until just smooth. Fold in the chopped prunes.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for at least an hour (mine took 15 minutes more). If you stick a knife in it should come out clean. Now cool the cake in a pan for 10 minutes. Then invert onto a serving platter and cool for 15 minutes more - still in the tin. Then remove the pan.

To make the glaze - combine all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Cook on medium-high heat for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat. Pierce the top of the cake with a skewer or toothpick in 10 places. Slowly pour the glaze over the cake, allowing it to soak in.

Serve to ooohs and aaahs. (with or without mentioning what's in it.)

is baking becoming a problem?

Nell asked me this yesterday when I told her I was going home to bake for the third time in the week. "Hmmm. Every 48 hours." she said "Could be a cause for concern."

Do I bake when I feel upset or angry?
Possibly. But it works.

Does my baking cause injuries?
Well, just a couple of burns. And a belly.

Am I binge baking?
No I never bake more than 6 cakes a night, unless you count cupcakes.

Are friends or co-workers worried about my baking?
Hell no, I don't hear any complaints from those doing the eatin.

On Wednesday, for Eve's birthday I made these cupcakes.
What is with that American thing where white cakes are Angel food and Chocolate ones are Devil's food. White-supremacy with your baking? Yes please. But the cupcakes were great. Very childhood tasting. And they travelled well so I could take them to dinner.

Friday, I made an amazing Prune and Whiskey cake in my brand-new kugelhupf tin.
(Or bundt tin if you prefer.) This was an adaptation from the prune and armagnac recipe in my desserts book. I'll post the recipe soon as I can because it was a winner - it looked awesome and was moist, sticky and irresistible. (Despite all the rude comments people made about prunes... c'mon, they're just dried plums!)

And yesterday I baked this cake - a Spicy Chocolate Gingerbread.
I think all the other perfectly risen, well formed, easy to turn out goodies had made me over confident. This brought me back down to earth - it sunk in the middle like a swimming pool. I blame the weirdo silicone bakeware my Mum gave me. But it tasted bloody delicious, had a real chilli kick and was gobbled up appreciatively by housemates and my guest.

This week I think I'll have to make some savoury foods.

drooling and mashing

Well I've been spending far too much time cruising the innahnet looking at other people's blogs. It's enough to make you drool. Of course I don't have any sensible way of keeping track of them all - I just jump around and then forget where the good ones are. But here's a little roundup. I won't be adding all these to my links - no offense it's just there's so many better collections of food links out there. And discovering is half the fun.

With its reviews of cheapo dumpling joints and chinese bakery good Grab Your Fork is right up my dark alley. If only it was Melbourne based instead of Sydney.

You'll notice I've been referencing Niki lately. Since the treacle stout cake I feel I owe her bigtime because that is one recipe that will stick with me.

Neiko's blog Nordljus is insanely pornographic - you have to see these food photos to believe 'em. Some of the recipes are a bit too fancy for me to ever try but I'm going to make the brown bread icecream tomorrow I think.

What I Cooked Last Night is a fellow Melbournian. And gave props to Scheherezade, my favourite old school restaurant. So they get a return visit.

And lastly, I love the writing at Pie Queen. The post on Red Velvet cake, Dorothy Allison and trash cakes was great. I wanna get to know this queen.

And now for a great picture:

It's no wonder my housemates were worried there's an alien in the house. But don't freak out - it's just celeriac. I think I'm gonna get off this computer now and go cook this little baby up. Probably the same way I made it last weekend - boiled with potatoes and a some whole garlics. Mashed with soy milk, butter, mustard and lots of salt. You know this cold weather sure is making me cook. If you're good soon I'll post my killer chickpea dish which I made again last night.

chocolate chilli time

You want more chocolate goodness? Well so do I, and I like my chocolate hot!

Yesterday Bindy and I finally made the brunch I've been planning ever since my sister gave me a churerra for christmas. We had churros and thick dark cinnamon hot chocolate. Churros are one of my favourite types of donuts. I think the translation that the churrera gave of "extruded fritte-finger" doesn't quite do justice to these long crisp fried delights. Ours weren't perfect, being a little too crunchy and not quite moist enough in the middle but they were pretty damn fine. Washed down with some excellent thick spicy hot chocolate they were a feasty brunch.

Anyway, for those of you who aren't lucky enough to have a churrera, or who don't want to be deep frying, I thought I'd include another excellent way to eat chocolate with a latin touch.

I first got excited about chocolate with chilli when I tried Charmaine's choc-chilli ice cream way back in high school. It was a hot fave for over a decade and I remain devoted to this taste combination, even as it has gone mainstream. (witness the chocolate chilli Tim Tams if you will.)

These cookies are a bit of a pain to make, mainly because they need flipping over, but they're not difficult and they are extremely popular. On a long car trip to Lismore one summer Camilla managed to polish off a few dozen in the front seat before the rest of us had even had seconds. Luckily it makes close to 12 dozen cookies.

This recipe is adapted from Mexico: The Vegetarian Table, a book well worth finding.

Chocolate Chilli Cookies

• 270g dark chocolate

• 1/4 cup water

• 4 cups flour

• 1/2 cup cocoa

• 2 tsp pure chilli powder

• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

• 1/2 tsp cayenne

• 1/4 tsp salt

• 12 tbsps butter (1 1/2 sticks)

• 1 1/2 cups sugar

• 1 tbsp vanilla extract

• 2 eggs

• 1/2 cup pure icing sugar

Melt the chocolate over a double boiler. Set aside. Sift together the flour, cocoa, chilli, cinnamon, cayenned and salt. Set aside. Using electric beaters if you have them, beat together the butter, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl. Beat in the eggs and water then the chocolate. Add the dry ingredients in a few batches, beating it really well after each addition. It should make a pretty solid but slightly moist dough.

Divide the dough into 4 equal parts. On a lightly floured surface roll each into a big brown poo of a log – it should be about 12 inches long and 1 1/2 inches high. Place the logs on a tray, cover with a plastic bag or something and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or up to 2 – they need to be firm but not hard or the next bit won’t work.

When ready to bake preheat yr oven to 350F. Slice the dough logs into 1/4 inch slices and arrange on ungreased baking trays. Bake them until they go a bit lighter and are crusty around the edges – 6 minutes. Now take them out and, trying not to burn yourself, flip them over. Bake for another 8 minutes or until they’re not wet in the middle. You might want to undercook them a bit for extra chew - or try different timings on different batches and see what you like.

In any case, when you think they're done remove 'em from the oven and let them cool on the tray for 5 minutes before moving to a plate. Sift the icing sugar over them. (I normally skip that bit). These keep fairly well in a airtight cookie jar if you want to take them to school for play lunch or something.

the recipe everyone wants

Chocolate Guinness Cake
Prompted by Niki's excellent stout cake, I thought I'd post my recipe for a guinness cake. This came to me from my sister, who got it off her friend Maria, who got it off a woman named Karen. Which just goes to show how good a cake it is - the kind where everyone wants the recipe. Like Niki's cake it's a piece of piss to make and very very moist. Excellent for chocolate cravings and also a good cake to take to dinners or whatever - people always seem quite impressed by it.

My chocolate cake rule is it ain’t a chocolate cake if it doesn’t have chocolate in it. I won’t stand for none of those brown cakes that just have a few tablespoons of cocoa in them. This is the cake exception that proves the rule. I think it's because the guinness makes it so moist, and then you pour heaps of chocolate over the top!

You be needing:

• 175g plain flour

• a pinch of baking powder

• 1 tsp bicarb (baking soda)

• 110g butter

• 250g dark brown sugar

• 2 eggs, beaten up

• 200ml Guinness (or another stout)
  

• 55g cocoa

• 200gm dark chocolate

• 1/2 cup cream

• 1 extra tbsp butter

Now, line your cake tin well with some spare paper and preheat your oven to 180C. You need three bowls. In the first one sift together the flour, baking powder and bicarb. In a biggish one cream the butter, sugar and eggs. In the third bowl mix together the Guinness and cocoa – don’t beat it too much as you want the Guinness to stay bubbly. Now mix all three bowls together, adding them alternately to the biggest bowl. Stir it as little as possible. Pour it into your tin and wack it in the oven. It should take 45min until it’s not gooey in the middle. Leave it to cool for a bit and prepare the icing: in a double boiler melt the chocolate, add the cream and extra butter. Pour this chocolatey goodness all over the cake. It will set a bit as it cools but it’s good wet too. Top with strawberries or kiwi slices or something for true fanciness.

baking again

Well I know I've been a little slack of lately - I've barely been cooking - both because of running around like crazy and because lately Texta's mum has been visiting and cooking all day every day. Now, I'm not about to complain about a constant variety of curries, chutneys and delicious spicy fried potatoes but I do feel a little ungrounded when I don't cook.

So Saturday morning I forced my way into the kitchen, grabbed a spare stove burner and a corner of the table and whipped up this cake from a fellow Australian blogger. It's a treacle, stout, pear and spice cake... oh yes! It's a dark, moist gingery cake and the pears are delicious. I've been looking for a good pear cake recipe for a while so I am very very happy. And as some of you would know from my chocolate guinness cake days, I love a good stout cake. Of course, the fact that it is incredibly easy to make was pretty nice too. I suspect it's one of those cakes that is virtually foolproof: it doesn't have any egg white whipping or tricky bits. So expect me to be bringing this to all sorts of events this autumn.

And maybe I'll post the chocolate guinness cake recipe soon as a comparison.

full as a goog?

I was amused to see a debate at this noticeboard about what "full as a goog" meant and what the hell a goog is anyway. Most people seem to agree with my understanding - that a goog comes from a googy egg (?) and to be "full as a goog" is to be stuffed full of food. It was nice to find out that it can also mean that you are very drunk - full up of grog I guess.

If you want to get full as a goog but can't afford cicciolina you could do worse than a big bowl of noodle soup. This genre is one of my favourites but as usual I'm a bit of a snob - there's nothing worse than a big bowl of creamy orange flavoured soup with a few fat noodles masquerading as a laksa. So two of my favourite Melbourne noodle soup haunts, one old and one new:

the penang coffee house is where I had my first laksa and it served me well for the first 16 years of my life until I fled the Eastern suburbs. The laksa here wins on taste alone, it's a complex spicy broth, more brown than orange. There's also more thin rice noodles than yellow noodles which suits me, a good range of vegies and lots of squishy fried tofu puffs. At $9 or so it's no longer the cheapest option but it is the best. I remember a time when we used to get it take away, and then if there were leftovers I ate them for breakfast... mmmm. I also love that it has pineapple in it, though I know that might gross some people (hi Sarah) out.

Penang Coffee House is at 395 Burwood Road, Hawthorn near the corner of Glenferrie Rd, which is just near Swinburne.

kimchi tray is a new addition to my list. This little korean joint seems to be an offspring of kimchi grandma and offers a smaller range of dishes that come on a tray (ah ha) in more of a quick meal environment. Sadly, you only get 2 side dishes. I dropped in with Mum for an excellent kimchi noodle soup. It was just on the comfortable side of my chilli threshold, full of excellent firm rice noodles, lots of kimchi and some shredded vegies.

Unfortunately one of my side dishes was kimchi, which was a bit redundant while the other one was a couple of slices of orange - made for a good little palate cleanser anyway. The soup was so damn good though that I didn't mind. At about $8 it's going to be my new favourite quick city dinner and it's one that is guaranteed to make you full as a goog.

Kimchi tray is on Flinders st, between Elizabeth and Queen.

and a bit more eating

Last night marked 2 years of me and Sarah (a fact I feel slightly embarassed to mention here). It seemed only right that we celebrate by doing what we have done so well - being hot and eating a lot. So we started in the spa and steam room at the St Kilda Sea Baths and moved on to Cicciolina for a damn fine dinner.

Cicciolina doesn't take bookings (too cool?) but they do have a great back bar to wait in, complete with big mafia style booths and snazzy barmen.

It's probably good they didn't have a table for us, or we would have missed out on the arancini, from the bar menu. These little golden crumbed rice balls were the best I've had. Crunchy on the outside, soft and flavourful in the middle and served with a great aioli. The cocktails weren't too rotten either - I had a great one involving raspberry puree, chambord and tequila while Sarah had a "seedy pash" (typical!) full of passionfruit, cranberry, vodka and grand marnier.

So yes, we were a little drunk and quite a bit hungry by the time we got our table. The dinner food was just as great. We had:

* blue cheese and leek tart: very strong cheesy taste, lovely pastry

* fried kefi cheese: made totally excellent by a fennel crumb

* shitake, spinach and truffle oil risotto - oh yes, mushroomy goodness

* salad w goats cheese, croutons, pine nuts - okay, so maybe we didn't need to eat this much cheese. but damn i think this was the first time i've loved croutons in a salad.

* apple tart tatin - absolutely worth killing for. apple in big chunks that were sooo melty.

*fig and grappa ice cream - mmmm. what is grappa anyway? oh.

So yes, we were two very full puppies. But very very happy. I love how Cicciolina is posh in terms of food (and sadly, prices) and the service is very good but it feels casual and not snooty. The decor is just up my alley too; lots of nice wood, good chairs and quite cluttered so it feels more european than your average minimalist yuck fancy place. So if you have a bit of spare cash or a special occasion go - just go early or be prepared to wait. Next time we might try just going to the bar for drinks and arancini - and then seeing if we can make them give us some of that tart!

garlic anyone

Well, i'm not feeling very good at the moment. whether it's because of brain damage caused by my big bike stack or something else i dunno. But it made me think of this good tonic.

Garlic Soup
Not much beats this Mexican garlic soup. I forgot how good it is until Shane came and stayed and I made him make it. He made it over and over and it always went down a treat. It's warming, golden and delicous.

Particularly good if you’ve been being a trash bag, then on Monday you start to feel crappy and suddenly want to act like you’re taking care of yourself by eating good warming garlicky food. Although I know I said it about pickle soup, this is also definitely vegetarian jewish penicillin (chicken soup).

The key is to buy good garlic if you can (not that imported Chinese crap) and be really careful not to fry it for too long. It's basically foolproof but if you burn or overcook the garlic you better start again or it'll taste bitter and crap.

You will need
olive oil
1 whole head of garlic
1/2 baguette
2 ancho chilies*, crushed dried chilli or good chilli powder
4 medium tomatoes (tinned ok if you have to)
7 cups vegie stock
salt
sour cream

Separate the garlic cloves, peel and chop them coarsely (while muttering coarse language.) Chop the tomatoes into smallish chunks. Slice the baguette into 1cm slices. If using the ancho chilies stem and seed them and chop them coarsely too.

Heat 1/4 cup of oil in a large heavy frypan until smoking. Add the garlic and stir over medium heat for one minute – or until lightly toasted. Don’t let it go more than pale golden. Transfer the garlic to a large soup pot.

Add as many slices of bread to the frypan as will fit in one layer and fry for a minute or so until it goes nice and golden and a bit crunchy. Turn it over and do the other side. Drain on some old paper and set aside. Do all the bread this way. You will probably need to add a bit of extra oil.

Now place the tomatoes and chilli in the frypan and stir until the tomatoes are a bit wilted (1-2 minutes). If you’re using the chilli powder use 1 – 2 teaspoons, the soup should be warm but not hot, chilli wise. Transfer to the soup pot and add the stock and salt. Bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes or until the garlic is soft.

Ladle the piping hot soup into bowls and garnish each serve with fried bread and a dollop of sour cream. Serve to your adoring housemates, friends and lovers.

* These are a dried chilli available from Mexican and Central American suppliers. In Melbourne try Casa Latina on Johnson St.

ogorki a-hoy

The picture above is an old German satirical picture from the wonderful Food Mania. I tried to figure it out but I couldn't. Something about the economy going to shit and immigration? Anyway, some gratuitous stories about pickles to accompany it...

1) On Saturday night people were amused at John's Russian party that I had brought a jar of pickles with me. But the pickle chaser is my favourite - nothing better gets the taste of a shot of cheap vodka out of your mouth and nothing complements good vodka better.

2) When my sister Marion was seeing The Pianist in Poland there was a man sitting behind who didn't have very good eyesight - a woman accompanying him was explaining things to him. The mood was sombre and grim, as you'd expect in a holocaust film, until a scene which featured a big jar of pickles. "What are they?" the man said "Ogorki" the woman whispered. "What?"
"OGORKI!". I still think of this and chuckle whenever I see a jar of Polski Ogorki - the only style pickle to eat.

3) When I was about 12 we took my friend Chris Evans on a family camping trip. He had never eaten pickles before and had to be goaded into trying them. He thought they were really weird. I thought he was a freak for not loving them. Luckily my friends now have better taste. On a recent camping trip with 4 mates we had to buy 2 jars of Bick's Polski Ogorki everytime we hit a town.

baking time

Lamingtons!
A while back I noticed that someone had ended up at this site searching for "lamington recipe" - which sadly, I couldn't provide at that time. But now I can.

I think lamingtons are pretty Australian, so for those of you who don't know why I'm getting so excited that I have to use exclamation marks I better explain. Lamos are basically little cubes of a light sponge cake (or genoise for the fancy bakers) that are dipped in a chocolate mixture and rolled in shredded coconut. They are a staple of the old school bakery. Sometimes they have a layer of jam in the middle which is controversial. Sometimes cream too which is just yuck. My beloved Sarah is pretty lamington obsessed so we always end up with one in the car on any country bakery mission. When they're good they really are much better than the sum of their parts.

Sarah used this recipe and made some for our afternoon tea that were pretty damn sublime - a million times better than any bakery lamington. It's adapted from an old magazine recipe I found at my house which was for orange lamingtons and involved jelly crystals - yuk. But after Sarah's first recipe resulted in a sunken 1 inch high cake we tried this sponge recipe and it hit the spot - firm enough to cut but deliciously light. I made the chocolate part up.

Sponge:
8 free range eggs, separated
2 extra egg yolks
190g caster sugar
80g plain flour
40g cornflour
40g melted butter (cooled)

Icing:
cocoa
boiling water
icing sugar
1 tbsp butter
1.5 cups of shredded coconut

Preheat the oven to 180C (350F). Beat the 10 yolks with 90g of the sugar until very pale (5 - 10 minutes). Transfer to a large bowl. Sift the flour and cornflour three times, then fold into the yolk mixture.
Beat the egg whites with the remaining sugar until stiff and glossy. Fold three quarters of the whites into the yolk mixture. Mix the melted butter with the remaining whites until well combined, then folk into the yolk mixture.
You will need a big wide rectangle baking tin (about 30 cm x 25 cm and at least 3 cm deep). Lime it with greaseproof paper and pour the mixture in. Bake for 12 - 15 minutes, or until golden and spongy to touch. Turn out onto a wire rack and cover with a tea towel to cool.

To make the icing melt the butter in the boiling water. Pour it over the icing sugar and cocoa and stir until dissolved. It should be a very dark brown - if not add more cocoa.

Cut the sponge into 8cm cubes. Dip them in the chocolate liquid - letting it soak in just a bit - and roll in coconut. This bit can be a bit messy - try forks or skewers for holding the cake. Let them set a bit before serving.

eggplant goodness

Me and Nell are working on our cookbook again. Which means more cooking and damnit, more eating.

We couldn't decide if Eggplant Parmigiana was worth including or not - it was something we made a hell of a lot when we were teenagers, but not something I make much anymore. Also I figure it's something most people know how to make. So last night I made a trial batch and the verdict was definitive - delicious and well worth including.

Sarah was a bit surprised that I made it in a kind of layered lasagne style, but this is how I was served it at (the authentically Italian) Sonia's place and I think it's infinitely superior to the dry style which is like a pseudo chicken parmigiana [how did this poor dish become some gross skip pub food?].

This is perfect for when you are craving something baked and tomatoey - the flavours all meld together and the polenta crust gives it a great texture. Mine probably tasted extra good because I made the sauce from homegrown tomatoes - but if you don't have any you could use cheap market roma's or just tinned. Make sure that your sauce has been properly cooked up though, with lots of onion, garlic and simmering time.

I haven't included quantities because this is an easy recipe to expand.. just allow about 1 eggplant for every 2 people. It takes a little bit of time, but it's not hard at all.

You will need:

• A batch of homemade tomato pasta sauce - about 2 cups per eggplant
• Eggplants (I used 3 medium sized ones)
• Mozzarella (a good white one from an italian supermarket)
• Polenta or fine cornmeal (a few cups)
• An egg or two
• Olive oil for frying
• A little knob of parmesan

Now...

1. Slice the eggplant lengthwise, about 1.5 cm thick
2. Sprinkle the slices generously with salt and leave them to sweat for about 15 minutes- this will make the eggplant more tender.
3. Cut the mozzarella lengthwise into thin slices.
   
4. Find a casserole/lasagna dish - choose a dish that will give you 2 - 3 layers of eggplant.
5. Preheat the oven to 200C (400F)
6. Rinse the eggplant slices and pat them dry with a clean teatowel.
7. Beat the eggs in a wide bowl.
8. Put a cup of polenta on a plate.
9. Put a heavy frypan on the stove and heat a thin layer of oil. (If you can, it's probably good to have two pans going at once)
10. Now dunk the eggplant in egg, and then in the polenta - getting a good crust all round.
11. Fry the slices in batches until golden brown - this bit is annoying but you don't need to do a perfect job - it's okay if they're a bit patchy or not fully cooked as they still get baked.
    
12. If the oil gets too smokey you may need to get rid of the burnt bits of polenta and start again.
13. Put a thin smear of tomato sauce at the bottom of the casserole dish and then a layer of fried eggplant. Top the slices with mozzarella and more sauce. Then add another layer of eggplant and repeat. Finish with a decent layer of sauce and top with grated parmesan.
14. Bake for 30 or more minutes or until the sauce is bubbling around the edges and the top has gone brown and a bit crisp. If you need to turn the heat up to brown it that's fine.
15. Serve with a green salad and some bread for mopping up all that yummy sauce.

Alternatively, tv fans might want to make The Sopranos' recipe... which doesn't look that good at all.