all creatures great and spicy

If shannon didn't have quite such a good turn of phrase i might not take her berating so seriously. But here she is reminding me that i have a blogging public and making me feel all guilty about neglecting you all... And if that wasn't enough she told me there's a blogging explosion and I'm missing out. If guilt wasn't enough of a motivating force, fomo^* sure is.

If I’ve been absent it’s only because I’m confused. It seems even this kind of vague and constantly qualified writing requires some sense of certainty and that, I just don't have.

But for now, let me tell you about my pets. Darling Satan (my cat) may still be with his foster family but since I've taken on my house's obsession for preserving I have a whole little menagerie to look after.

There's the sourdough starter, he likes to be fed rye flour every day and given a good belly scratch (ok, just a stir really). Then there's the sprouts (millet and rye berries at the moment) - they need a little wash every day. Out the back black olives are happily swimming in their bucket but they like their water changed every second day. And this weekend I started a new pet – little kim chi! She’s pretty low maintenance but I think it’s good to check in on her every few days or she might get sulky and go mouldy.

Adam inspired me to try my own kim chi because I totally scoffed the batch he made a couple of weeks ago – delicious. So here’s a quick recipe, because kim chi is the bestus most delicious thing ever. And it stops you getting bird flu.

For a ridiculously big batch you’ll need some ingredients roughly like this:

• 2 big heads chinese cabbage (wom bok)
• 1 large daikon radish
• 1 carrot
• ginger to taste
• chillis - 3 small ones?
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 onion

You can also add spring onions, jerusalem artichokes, celery or whatever you have around.

You'll need good big jar, crock or bucket. Leftover catering supply buckets from a deli or café are good because they’re made of food grade plastic

• Chop your cabbage and daikon up - big chunks is fine.
• Now make a brine with 3 tablespoons of salt and a litre or so of water - just boil, dissolve and let it cool.
• Cover the cabbage and daikon with the brine. Press it down with a plate and a weight to keep it submerged. If you're using a jar wedge something in the top to keep your goodies underwater.
• Leave overnight or for a few hours. Drain the brine off but keep it somewhere.
• Taste your cabbage - it should be softened a little and salty. We want noticeably salty but not grossly so. If it's not salty sprinkle a little salt on, if it's too salty soak in fresh water for a couple of hours before you continue.
• Slice the carrot and onion, crush the garlic and ginger and chillies and mix them all together with the cabbage and daikon.
• Put back in your container and squish it down real hard with your weight – I use a big 4 litre jar filled with water on top of the plate. Brine and juices should come out to cover it all. Leave it for a few hours as more brine will come out. If it’s still not covered add a little of the reserved brine.
• Stick your weight back on and cover with a cotton bag or something to keep flies out.
• Wait. The kimchi should be ready in 3 to 10 days depending on the weather. Stir the brine on top occassionally to keep mould from forming. Make sure all the bits are submerged and taste regularly so it doesn’t get sulky.

Ok, so that’s a bit of a basic recipe done from memory. Hopefully it makes enough sense to follow. The thing is, kim chi is one of my favourite things but i never thought i could actually make it. Turns out it's really simple. It even tastes good after a day when it's just lightly pickled. Also if it does taste a little fizzy after a while don't worry, that's just the bacteria getting active and it will actually taste better again a few days later when they die off.

For an even simpler method you can see this site which has very endearing photos. I didn’t know that in korea they have kim chi gloves for mixing the chilli through.

^*fomo - fear of missing out. as in "i didn't go to the party last weekend and i had the worst case of fomo."

to warm your toes

And so, the temperature drops on the abruzzo club clock (8 degrees last night) and our correspondent's mind turns to keeping her toes warm... Yes folks Melbourne autumn - sure feels like winter.

When I can't find a lovely lady to keep me warm I find that zupa ogorkowa (pickle soup) is the next best thing. I made some for darling Bindi, who has been in the surgical wars and she was as pleased as could be. I used the last of the summer's homemade pickles, added a little celery but no flour so it was nice and brothlike.

Another good way to keep warm is of course, in front of the oven. For Asha's Mexican dinner I made a batch of spicy chocolate gingerbread. The plan was to amp up the chilli flavours but instead, due to a bit of vagueness and ignorance I ended up with a crazy black almost liquorice flavoured cake. See, I just don't know that much about molasses and didn't realise how strong blackstrap molasses is until Adam raised his eyebrows at me chucking half the jar in. He had me totally freaked out, telling me nobody but him was gonna be crazy enough to appreciate the heavy liqorice flavours. But it mellowed out in the oven and was a big hit. It's moist and just doesn't taste like it looks.. People were impressed and said it tasted "adult". Personally I'm not so much into being an adult, unless it's in an adult bookstore way.. But the cake rocked. I made it with a ganache chocolate topping because I've found the gingerbeer icing disappointing...

Now, I'm off to figure out what you can bake with tamarillos..

wife-swappin'

oh dearie, I have been a bad blogger. if anyone cares, well I offer my heartfelt apologies. It's not for lack of baking either - I've been getting back into the kitchen in a major way. Soon, inspired by my latest soba and seaweed rye bread success I'm going to write a little guide to sourdough. There really isn't much better than a house that smells of freshly baked bread and the loaves are getting fluffier, sour-er and altogether better by the week.

Otherwise, well it's autumn and that means quinces (poached Armenian style with a little rosewater and lemon), hearty soups and feijoas falling from the trees.

Meanwhile can I say again how much I love the chocolate lady? today she has a post about the historic practice of box socials - a kind of wife swapping in which men would bid for a box meal (picnic) and the chance to eat it with its maker. the chocolate lady seems a little aghast at the misogyny of it but i want to throw one immediately. what a great fundraiser...

little bundles of joy

these little babies date back to long long ago.. i made them prior to the arrival of my favourite little baby. see in the lead up to my sister giving birth i was unemployed and anxious to be of some assistance. i wasn't sure what i could do to help - pregnancy being kinda a one woman job and all. then i remembered cooking - that old failsafe neighbourly help out. i think bringing people food in times of trouble is one of the best things you can do. even times of joy like breeding because people tend to get overwhelmed and are not necessarily in a real state to be cooking.

so anyway i snapped into action with a mission to fill marion and andy's freezer. and these little pirozhki from my new russian cookbook turned out so good. they are just a little flaky with moist fillings and the perfect size to serve to all those pesky guests who drop around to look at cute babies. plus i like the way they look all snug-as-a-bug.. just like isaac when he's all bundled up in his favourite cocoon impersonation. they freeze real good too. oh now i'm not scared of pastry i just want to make pies all day long.


Pirozhki
To make these I used a quick yeast dough - you could substitute puff pastry but they wouldn't be quite as good. Then I made a potato filling and a cabbage filling.. mushroom would also be great.

The recipes are below but basically all you need to do is get your pastry and roll it out until it's about 1/8 inch thick. I dunno how thick that is but i reckon 2 - 3 cardboard coasters thick is about right. Now use a big drinking glass to cut out rounds. Flatten them between your fingers and place a heaping teaspoon of filling in the middle. Fold the edges together and press firmly to seal. Then press the edges back against the pirozhok and pat it into a nice little snug shape. Place on a baking tray with the seam down. Brush your little babies with an egg wash (1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tsp milk) and bake them at 180C until golden brown - 25 to 30 minutes. Now freeze for your loved ones or just eat them. Maybe with some sour cream? Definitely with strong tea with lemon.

ps - my book also helpfully clears up some worries I'd had about pirozhki, pierogi and all that. basically in russian a Pirog is a big pie. piroghi is the plural - many big pies. Pirozhok is a little pie and pirozhki is the plural. Pierogi on the other hand is Polish for dumplings. got it?

Dough:
(according to my book this recipe is "well known to every working Russian woman."
1 package dry yeast or 2 tsp fresh
2 tsp sugar
2/3 cup lukewarm milk
1 cup unsalted butter - melted and cooled to lukewarm
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 tsp salt
3 1/4 - 3 3/4 cups unbleached plain flour

In a large bowl combine the yeast, sugar and milk and let stand until foamy - about 5 minutes.
Add the butter, egg and salt and mix well with a wooden spoon.
Stir in 3 1/4 cups flour, 1 cup at a time, mixing real well so you can get a big strong forearm like a true russian woman.
Transfer dough to a floured surface and knead gently until you have a smooth, rather loose dough, about 3 minutes, adding just enough of the remaining flour to prevent sticking.
Shape into a ball, cover with a tea towel and let stand for ten minutes.
Divide into thirds, stick them in plastic bags and refrigerate until you're ready to roll.

Potato filling:
3 tbsp vegie oil
2 large onions, chopped oh so fine
4 large boiling potato, boiled and mashed
1/2 cup famer's cheese (this is an american term for a white firm cheese - I used a polish one from the market but use what you can find - nothing strongly flavoured though)
4 tbsp butter, melted

Heat the oil in a heavy pan and saute the onions over a medium heat for a good long time until they're all browned - it should take about 15 minutes. Now mix them with all the rest of the stuff and season it well.

Cabbage filling:
1/2 head green cabbage chopped up real fine
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp vegie oil
2 hard boiled eggs, also chopped finely
2 tbsp or more chopped fresh dill

Blanch the cabbage in boiling salted water for 3 minutes. Drain well and squeeze to remove excess liquid.
Heat butter and oil in a large frypan. Add the cabbage and cook, stirring, until soft and coloured, 15 to 20 minutes.
Remove from the heat and stir in the remaining ingredients. Season well and cool before using.

feeling festive?

ok i'm not really feeling super festive either... but i made these lovely hamentaschen a couple of weeks ago for Purim, the Jewish festival of Esther. Yeah I really do have my own festival I'm not just being self-centred. It's all about how I was a really hot lover and persuaded the king not to kill all the jews. Well that's what I got from a cursory torah reading the other night.

Anyway, the food, the food.. Hamentaschen (=Haman's pockets) are meant to look like the hat that the evil Haman wore. Why are they named after his pockets then? I don't know.

I used this recipe from the pie queen and made the apricot filling she gives as well as a poppyseed filling of my own invention. The poppyseeds were a winner with my family but the apricot stuff was damn good too. And it gave me an excuse to buy the middle-eastern dried apricot sheets I'd been eyeing off for years. All in all the Hamentaschen were crowd pleasers, with their biscuity dough and sweet three sided hat-like appearance. And my housemate Adam kept saying I'd been doing biblical baking which was pretty cute.

Sorry for my lame posting absences.. I'll be back shortly.

good things

1. Fried haloumi served with apple sorbet.
At the greek place diagonally opposite Stalactites. We had to order this dish twice and it made Dan so ecstatic he couldn't pronounce orgasmic.

2. Sandy made his first cake!
First I got a text message asking if the Passionfruit Sponge was a bit hard for a first time baker. I felt mean but I had to say yes, it took me forever to get that cake right. Next day I got a text asking me what it means to cream butter and sugar and it made me nervous but he did me so so so proud making the Prune and Whisky cake. And the next day he said "this baking thing rocks! everybody loved it." Oh yes folks we have another convert.

Oh yeah, and my sister had a baby!!!! I'm still so vagued out i can't even tell you how awesome that is.

go postal

I was thinking the other day about what cakes are best for mailing. Because it's my favourite thing to bake for people and i'm not gonna stop just because of a little thing like distance. I remember a couple of years ago I was really impressed when S's mum sent her an orange and poppyseed cake for her birthday. I think the trick is to fit them real snuggly into whatever container you're posting so they can't move around. Anyway, I decided on Brownies this time because they age quite well, are solid and can be carved into cutesy little shapes if you're feeling so inclined.

Brownies of course are a bit of a holy grail type of baking - so often they disappoint, being too dry, not chewy enough or just not chocolatey. Extensive web research took me to this recipe from Orangette for "best-ever brownies". Too cocky? Maybe not because they were damn damn good. Don't think I didn't use 2 blocks of Lindt 70% proof chocolate though.

The best thing about these brownies, after posting them off to adulation, was freezing them into icecream sandwiches to put in my sister Marion's freezer. And now that she's popped my little nephew out she's allowed to eat them. They are so so so good frozen.

Chocolate Brownies
Adapted by Orangette from Baking with Julia and meddled with by me just a tad.
There's a tempting picture of these at Chef Kristy

1 ¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
240gms unsalted butter
180gms best darkest chocolate you can find
2 cups raw sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs
1 handful of chopped nuts - I used walnuts and pecans

Center a rack in the oven, and preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and salt; set aside.

Melt the butter and the chocolate together in a metal bowl over a saucepan of simmering water making sure the bowl doesn't touch the water. Stir frequently. When the chocolate and butter are both melted and smooth, add 1 cup of the sugar to the mixture, and stir it for 30 seconds; then remove the mixture from the heat, and stir in the vanilla extract. Pour the mixture into a large bowl.

Put the remaining 1 cup sugar and the eggs into a medium bowl, and whisk by hand to combine. Little by little, pour half of the sugar and eggs into the chocolate mixture, stirring gently but constantly with a rubber spatula so that the eggs don’t scramble from the heat. Beat the remaining sugar and eggs on medium speed until they are thick, pale, and doubled in volume, about 3 minutes. Using the rubber spatula, gently fold the whipped eggs and sugar into the chocolate mixture. When the eggs are almost completely incorporated, gently fold in the flour and half the nuts.

Pour and scrape the batter into an unbuttered 8-inch square pan, a heavy non-stick one is good. Scatter the rest of the nuts on top. Bake the brownies for 25-28 minutes, during which time they will rise a bit and the top will turn dry and a bit crackly. After 23 minutes, stick a knife or toothpick into the center to see how they are progressing. They should be just barely set—not too raw, but still fairly gooey (mine took about 28 and were possibly a little mushy in the middle). Cool the brownies in the pan on a rack. When they’re completely cool, cut them into rectangular bars to serve. Or carve into love hearts etc.

For ice cream sandwiches cut them in half into thin slices and put a good couple of inches of vanilla ice cream in the middle. Re-freeze. Gobble. Collapse in ecstatic goodness.

cakes and the cake lady

I love geeks who cook. This is the insides of a PC in gingerbread!

And talking of genius cakes, Nat the cakelady is doing an art project with Jo where they hitch around Oystralia and talk to truck drivers and take pictures. Pay them a visit.

the less sweet beet?

You know, I really love silverbeet. I can tell it's love because I don't just like to eat it, I feel the need to protect it. I worry about how people seem to think of it as inferior to spinach. It's so unfair because silverbeet is better really - it doesn't turn into a little pile of nothing, it doesn't make your teeth go funny and fuzzy. Best of all, it's so easy to grow so you can always have some for all your greenery needs. Still being a bit homeless myself I went over to Marion's to pick some from her crazy overrun underloved garden and made pie. Pie making seems to be what i do these days.


Silverbeet Torte
My cousin Tessa made this for Chrismukkah dinner (see picture) and it rocked. We kept calling it a pie and she got a little irate and insisted we call it a torte. As far as I knew a torte was a cake. Dictionary.com agrees. But hey, if she wants it to be a torte that's fine. Either way it's real yum and has a great texture in the middle because of the egg and potato - it's a bit like spanish omelette in that way. I made the recipe as it is below but I'd probably make the dough without using a food processor next time as I think it was a little overworked. I made mine round as suggested and a little flatter - about 3 inches high.

Dough:
200g p flour
1/2 tsp salt
1+1/2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup cold water

Whizz flour and salt in food processor. Drizzle in oil and then water. Process dough for about a minute until it forms a ball. Remove to floured surface and knead for 2-3 mins until supple and smooth. Place in bowl, cover with cloth, refrigerate for 2 hours. Preheat oven to 200c & lightly oil a 28cm pizza tray (or whatever).

Filling:
150g silverbeet leaves and stalks (or rainbow chard), washed and drained
1 tbsp salt
1 medium potato (150g), boiled whole & roughly chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp chopped parsley (I used more of course)
150g crumbled "stretchy" cheese (fontina, asiago, mozzarella or feta - I used fetta and some swiss that was in the fridge)
freshly ground black pepper
1 large egg
2 tbsp extra virgin oil
sea salt

Finely shred and chop silverbeet. Place in colander and toss with tbsp of salt. Leave for 20mins, then rinse and squeeze dry (Tessa says you can skip this step but I'm such a stickler I didn't). Mix silverbeet with chopped potato, diced onion, parsley and cheese. Season with pepper. Whisk the egg with the olive oil and mix through the filling. Taste for salt.

Roll two-thirds of dought on floured surface into a circle to cover base of pizza tray. Spoon on the filling, leaving 2cm border of dough. Stretch back the edge of dough over filling pleating it as you go. Dampen with water. Roll remaining dough a little smaller and drape it over the filling. Press to seal with the pleated edge. Pierce here and there with a fork then drizzle top with remaining oil and scatter with a few grains of sea salt. Bake for 20 mins or until golden. Leave to settle 10 mins before cutting.

simple things

Simple pleasures like zucchini from Ruth's garden quickly browned then covered in mint, fetta and eggs for omelettes I could eat everyday.

Or tomatoes tasting good like you know they won't in a month or two so you grab some basil from the garden and a bit of cheese and have the best pasta ever nestled down in front of an old musical.

High Society was just perfect. There's Grace Kelly with her too perfect waves. How does she get her hair to stay like that? There's Frank Sinatra as the cynical little reporter for the gossip rag (damn he's short!). And there's Bing Crosby all romantic fool singing sweetly. It was great to see everyone being so enthusiastic about drinking. This is a movie not just with a drunk scene but a hangover scene too. Grace even has a memory blackout about whether she's gotten it on with Frank or not!

And then I realised that this movie is the forerunner to The OC. Frank and his photographer girl are the outsiders coming to Newport (yes, the same newport) expecting to hate the idle rich. They pooh poo all their luxuries in the excellent "Who want to be a millionaire?" The pretty rich girl has all the men falling all over her and there's a nasty patriach lurking. But then surprise surprise, these filthy rich mansion dwellers turn out to be pretty darn nice people too and they teach our working pals a thing or two with a bunch of great songs. Oh if only it was all that sweet and simple.

and more friends

a little plug for foodgoat who has been having the most brilliant photo posts recently. this excellent knifeblock for one.
darth vader out of butter. for two.
cakes that look like butter. for three.
and then there's an evil satanic child with peas.
go. go see...

guess who's procrastinating?

I am trying to write job applications and, taking Az's advice, I've been using the thesaurus to avoid repeating myself over and over. But it doesn't understand me! Like when I feel geeky saying that I'm "excited" by the potential of peer advocacy I look up excited and get:
- keyed up
- thrilled
- provoked
- agitated
or maybe:
"I am hot and bothered about the possibilities offered by such an approach."

Yup, now that's super professional. Gahh I hate doing the self-promoting schtick.

and on my right...

I thought I'd take this opportunity to introduce the newest name on my links list - the chocolate lady over at In Mol Araan. I first read some of her work on a Passover survival guide my mum emailed me a few years back. Sure, Nell and I laughed at the idea of grilling matzah balls but you know, her soup recipe sure saved me some pain. That's why the chocolate lady says:
kikts in mol araan es zol zikh mertshem in gantsn oysvepn enker zup-bahole!

Or in English:
Come to In Mol Araan and watch your soup-angst evaporate!

Food and yiddish. And cute pictures. What more do you need already? More? Well she has a lovely way with words. In the current post she describes bleeding heart radishes as possessing a stormy pinkness. Ahhh, now that's the kind of wordsmithing to soothe my soul.

In other random internet news I found something actually interesting in one of the spammy comments I used to get. Apparently kimchi can cure bird flu:

"Quoting the team's test results, BBC said of the 13 chickens stricken with the influenza, 11 had shown telling curative effects after being administered kimchi extracts."

Now is that why Adam has those vats of cabbage fermenting? He is a bit of a survivalist.

please to the table

I'm trying to be grateful for how much time i have on my hands right now. It's kind of doing my head in having so little structure in my life but i know as soon as i get a job i'll be wishing i had more time for lying around, reading and cooking. So instead of moping - no actually, as well as moping - i'm living my life from a series of lists i made while i was travelling. There are pages and pages of them written up and stuck on my walls - things to research in the library, things to do right now, fun things, regular things, long term ideas and of course: things to cook.

The things to cook list is all the foods i dreamt of fondly while i was away and this walnut sauce was one of the first to make the list. "Walnut sauce?!?" everyone said yesterday when i pulled some out at the harvest festival. Ya huh. It's creamy without dairy, it's garlicky and it does something unexplainably sneakishly good.

I made this first for Chrismukkah 2004 from moro, which has the Turkish version called Tarator. Then I noticed a Georgian version in my new cookbook, Please to the table so I thought I'd try that. Please to the table says that at any good Georgian party you'll get at least three vegetables dressed with this sauce. They're called pkhali. I love it with roasted eggplant, or green beans or even thinned down on cucumber. It's also meant to be good with beetroots which i'll be trying very very soon. The main thing is to make the sauce 6 to 8 hours ahead so the garlic flavour settles and to serve it at room temperature.

Walnut sauce, georgian style
3/4 cup walnuts
4 cloves garlic
3 tbsps coriander leaf finely minced
1/2 tsp coriander seeds
pinch cayenne
1/4 tsp fenugreek
1 1/2 tbsps white wine vinegar
3 tbsps water or more
salt

Pound the garlic up in your trusty mortar and pestle. Add the walnuts and dry spices and keep pounding till they're all mushed. Add the water and vinegar until you have a sauce and then stir the coriander through. Mix through your chosen vegetables and chill for 6 hours or so.

Eggplant pkhali made a great starter the other day with warm bread - until me and Sammy pigged out on it too much and couldn't fit in the delicious cold borscht I'd made. Just chop a big eggplant or two in half lengthwise, prick with a fork a few times and whack it on a oiled tray in a hot oven. Bake until it goes all wrinkly and the flesh is soft and browning. Scoop the flesh out and mix with the sauce, thinking all the time about how the phrase "scoop the flesh out" makes you feel a bit wrong and kinda good at the same time.

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.