Homemade special brew - Ask first © 2010 R Khooks. Rachel Khoo. All rights reserved.

Once upon a time there were two Brit girls who met in Paris over muffin making at an adorable cookbook store. They soon found out that they had many things in common: a pâtisserie diplome from Le Cordon Bleu, the love for food and lots of fun.

They had many adventures in Paris and beyond. But the day came when Frankie departed to a far away land called Australia. Rachel was very sad that her fun loving foodie partner in crime was leaving but was determined that no matter how many thousands of miles away Frankie was, she would make sure they would continue to have more edible adventures.

So Frankie left for the land of Oz in September. On a cold wet Autumn night in Paris Rachel discovered her golden ticket (in form of a special Malaysian Airline deal) away from the greyness of Paris. Very excited about going to the land of kangaroos and barbecues she sent Frankie an electronic mail and that’s how they both decided to tell an edible  immigration tale in Sydney.

Many Australian history and culinary books, skype calls, emails and photos later Rachel arrived in Sydney. And this is the tale they told:

Edible immigration menu

1. Shaken and shipped to shore
Hibiscus and ginger Bundaberg rum cocktail.

2. First encounter with native grub
Goat’s curd and macadamia nut grubs on dehydrated date leaves.

3. A fling with fish before flame
Kingfish tartare served with finger limes.

4. Desperately seeking sea cucumber, serving sotong satay instead
Coconut and lemongrass rice and spicy Asian peanut caramel cake with baby octopus satay and cucumber.

5. Cuppa tea with dundee
Homemade special brew served with marinated crocodile sticks.

6. Bushbride’s ration pudding with Granny Smith’s pickle
Duck pudding with granny smith puree and pickles accompanied with damper bread.

7. Easy as peasy pie
Downunder puff pastry base with slow cooked vegemite lamb, pea purée, mushroom caramel and warrigal greens.

8. Fosters-free lager and lemon sorbet

9. The great dessert debate
Pavlova with fresh cream, strawberry jelly , lemon curd and passionfruit.

10. Freshly spun edible wool
Coffee candy floss.

Each of the dishes were based on facts that they had discovered while doing research. Here are some:

1. Rum was the number one drink with the 1st settlers and convicts.  It was even used as a currency.
2. Similar in taste to almonds, the witchetty grub was originally eaten either raw or cooked in hot ashes by aboriginies.
3. Despite being one of the richest fishing grounds in the world, meat was still favoured by the first European settlers due to it’s association with the high life back home.
4. As early as the 16th century indigenous North Western Australians traded sea cucumber with Chinese traders making it Australia’s first export item.
5. The first settlers clung to their British roots becoming the world’s heaviest tea drinkers.
6.1. One of the world’s most successful apple varieties was thanks to Granny Smith who arrived in New South Wales in 1838. She tipped some rotten crab apples into her orchard and from there the variety we know today blossomed.
6.2. Not until the Second World War or perhaps a little earlier was the pie mentioned as a national dish. Vegemite, another national favourite, was first advertised as nourishing for the whole family. Except for one irony, the spread that epitomised `family goodness`was made from brewery waste.
7. In 1864 the cookery book “Australian Aristologist” quotes a medical opinion on the “Danger of the meat pie”. Not leaving a hole in the crust traps the poisonous gases.
8. It was Baron Liebig in 1842 who discovered that Bavarian brewed beers did not turn sour on contact with air like other Australian beers. The German name was “Lager -bier” (the German word lager means to store) hence the name of Australia’s most popular alcoholic drink.
9. The pavlova is said to have been invented in Perth’s Esplanade Hotel in 1935 after the famous Russian ballet dancer. However the New Zealanders claim that a chef in a hotel in Wellington, created the dish when Pavlova visited there in 1926 on her world tour
10. With 1 million sheep recorded in 1830 (jumped from 100,000 in 1820) the wool industry was Australia’s biggest export, worth roughly 2 million dollars.

Special thank you to Howard Trang from eatshowandtell for the photos.

Check out a great write up on SBS.com and  here.

Tags: downunder, eatshowandtell.com, Edible Immigration tales, Francesca Unsworth, Howard Trang, pop up dinners, Sydney, trend, underground dining

What do you get when you cross a beetroot, a carrot and some ginger? A BEETROTINGER! Sorry that’s quite bad but when I saw this month’s in the bag challenge I wasn’t quite sure what to make of beetroot, carrot and celery. Maybe some sort of bloody maryesque cocktail but that defeats the purpose of doing a detox…After lots of hum and ar-ring. I decided to forget the celery and replace it with some ginger which is very good for detox aswell. And to be quite honest a cake is not very detox at all. So I suggest eating some celery to balance it out Celery is actually one of the few negative calorie foods which means that it takes the body more energy to digest than what the body consumes.

Beetrotinger cake

125g finely grated carrots
125g finely grated raw beetroot
10g finely grated fresh ginger
100g brown sugar
125g ground hazelnuts
50g flour
3 tsp baking powder
100g melted butter
2 eggs

Preheat the oven 180°c. Grease a tin 15 x 15 cm. Mix flour, hazelnuts, baking powder together add the grated carrot, beetroot and ginger. Mix again and then crack the eggs and add the butter. Combine all the ingredients. Spoon into the tin and smooth out. Bake for 20-25minutes or until a knife comes out clean.

Tags: beetroot and carrot cake, healthy, in the bag

Apparently today is the most depressing day of the year. Blue monday is the third monday in January and according to various scientists it’s when people feel blue the most. All that consumer spending, the weather, the economic situation…what better than good nourishing bowl of soup. Soup for the soul as they say. This soup is even better the day after, gives the flavours a chance to develop a bit.

Spicy Lentil Soup
serves 4

250g green lentils
2 onions, finely chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped into cubes
2 tbsp of olive oil
2 tsp of peri peri spice mix or chilli powder
1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
1 tin of chopped tomatoes (400g)
1 stock cube
1,5l boiling water
Bunch of coriander
salt & pepper to taste

Fry the onions and carrots with the olive oil until the onions have softened (but definetly not caramelised). Add the lentils and chopped tomatoes, stir while adding the boiling water. Add all the rest of the ingredients. Leave to simmer for about 20 minutes or until the lentils are tender. Season and serve with some chopped coriander.

Tags: Blue monday, january blues, winter warmer

I’ve been recovering from my 5 week stint here. I finally mustered up the courage to mettre la main à la pâte as the French say. It wasn’t easy to decide what to make but a cake was not definetly on the menu. Nothing better than a bit of kneading to think things over (a great bit of exercise if you do it by hand ). With every new year there’s always a mad rush to start new things or stop old things. It’s not an easy option to stick with the old and get through the difficulties much easier to give up, especially when you have so many  other “better looking” options. I guess it’s a bit like just putting an egg in one basket rather than spreading them about. A risk that 2009 is going to be for me and many others. I’ve finally decided to be a full time professional freelance food creative after several years of doing it part time. To get a better idea of what I’m getting myself into check out my professional website. It’s not quite finished yet, still having some teething problems.

I wish everyone a success, fun and delicious filled 2009!

Back to the food, I did this recipe twice. Once at home and the other at my parents. Second time round it turned out perfect, I must say myself. The bread had a beautiful texture. Crisp crust with a light airy dough inside topped off with a egg in the middle. A snack or breakfast all-in-one on the run. Yummy I’ve based my recipe on Andrew Whitley’s Bread matters book which I consider one of the best bread cookery books on the market. He uses a wetter dough technique which results in an airy bread. His recipe requires using a specific water temperature which I, being lazy just used warm water. I also tried my hand at air kneading (which involves kind of throwing/stretching the dough from one hand to another in the air) but my arms just ached too much after 10 minutes so I chose to knead the classic way, on the work surface. A little messier.
Just a note the dough will feel wet and sticky at the beginning of kneading. Don’t feel tempted to add loads of flour. Once you start kneading for a while the dough will start to come together.

Egg in a basket
Recipe adapted from “Bread matters” by Andrew Whitley
(makes 8 )

Overnight sponge

5g fresh yeast
130g Water, warm
150g Strong white flour

Mix the yeast with the water and then combine with the flour. Place in a large bowl. Cover with clingfilm and leave in a room with an ambient temperature (if the room is warmer than 25°c than place somewhere cooler) for 12-18 hours. The sponge should triple in size: bubble and have a slight beery, vinegary taste.

Final dough

285g overnight sponge
350g strong white flour
100g stroneground strong wholemeal flour
5g Salt
270g water, warm
15g olive oil
8 eggs

Mix all the ingredients into a soft dough and knead until it becomes silky and stretchy. Leave to rise for an hour. Grease two trays with some olive oil. Divide into 8 parts. Then divide each part into 3. Make 3 long “worms” and plait/braid them and join the two ends to make a circle. Make sure to leave a big enough space in the middle to crack the egg in. Leave to prove (double in size). Set the oven to 230°c or the hottest setting. Bake for 5 minutes at the hottest setting and then turn down to 200°c. After 15 minutes take the buns out and crack one egg into each hole. Bake for another 5 minutes (altogether baking time 20 minutes). Leave to cool slightly before eating or eat them cold too.

Tags: egg in a basket

It’s the season of falling leaves and the markets in Paris are fall of lots of yummy seasonal produce. One of them being pumpkins. There are many different varieties and one of my favourites are “Potimarron”(transl. Pumpkin-chestnut). This particular type has a very nutty/chestnutty taste. I simply roast mine, chopped up, in the oven and eat with a little butter, salt and pepper. However if you fancy something more sophisticated or sweet you could try making a Pumpkin & Chestnut millefeuille.

Millefeuille means a thousand leaves in French which I thought was quite fitting with so many leaves falling at the moment. Traditional it’s made with puff pastry but I had filo pastry in the fridge which needed to be used. The chestnut comes in the form of a chestnut spread which is easier found in the supermarkets over here. It’s like a jam and often used as a filling for crêpes. My version is a little more rustic compared to the classic ones you find in the Parisian pâtisseries.

If you’re looking for some more pumpkin inspired recipes, take a long at the “In the bag” event on A slice of cherry pie’s blog.

Pumpkin & Chestnut Millefeuille

Makes 2 large portions.

Roasted potimarron purée:

750g potimarron or regular pumpkin
2 tbsp spoons
100ml single cream

For the rest:

1 small tin of chestnut spread
100g melted butter
20 rectangles of filo pastry (15cm x 10cm)

To make the roast potimarron purée: Chop the potimarron into cubes (with the skin removed). Place in a roasting tray with 2 tbsp of butter. Roast at 180°c for 30 minutes or until tender. Stir the pumpkin pieces half way through roasting. Leave it to cool slightly. Blitz in a mixer with the single cream until lump free and very smooth (think baby food consistancy).

Preheat the over to 170°c. Melt the butter. Grease a baking sheet with some of the melted butter. Place 2 sheets of filo pastry on tray and then brush some melted butter on top of the sheets, repeat. Spread a layer of potimarron purée on top of the sheets and then place two more sheets of filo pastry. Making sure to brush butter in between the sheets. Then spread a layer of chestnut jam. Repeat by alternating layers of filo pastry and pumpkin purée/chestnut jam. For the top brush some more butter. Bake in the oven for about 15-20 minutes until the top is golden and the pastry is crisp. Eat while warm. You may want to serve it with some whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Tags: autumn, millefeuille, pumpkin, seasonal