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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

When I saw the recipe/photos for the sweet sushi in two books in the same week I thought they definetly must be worth making. We so happened to be launching the book “Humeur Gourmande” at La Cocotte two weeks ago which has this recipe. For the launch we served a La Cocotte adaptation of the recipe, made with dulce de leche. They went down a treat. I’m not much of a fan of dulce de leche since I bake all the biscuits at La Cocotte with it.

The other recipe appears in Sushi box which is very well illustrated by Hisayuki Takeuchi (founder of the nouvelle japanese cuisine in Paris) with photos showing every step. His recipe for sweet sushi is slightly more “haute cuisine/japanese” with the use of nori (dried seaweed) paper and plain sushi rice.

I’ve gone with the Humeur Gourmande recipe but used the traditional hand method of making the forms. I was also lazy and made the rice pudding with my rice cooker (I love my rice cooker, it’s so useful!). Once you have the rice pudding base which you could flavour with vanilla, almond essence, orange flower water, cinammon, cocoa powder…You can combine the rice base with any kind of fruit you fancy. Although mangoes, tinned peaches, apricots and pears look more “raw fish” like.

Sweet sushi

inspired by Bruno Viala from Humeur Gourmande – serves 6

250g sushi rice or short grain rice (risotto rice will work too)
500ml milk
100ml double cream
50g sugar
3 tsp almond essence (but you could whatever flavour you like)
selection of fruit – I used tinned apricots

Wash the rice well. Combine the rice, milk, cream, almond essence and sugar in a pot. Place on a medium heat and stir occasionally as the sugar may cause the rice to stick to the bottom and burn. This should take approx. 15 minutes. Leave the rice to cool slightly but keep it covered with a clean tea towel.

For the easier option:

Pour the rice into a rectangle dish/container which is 2/3cm deep and chill. When the rice has set solid, run a knife around the edge of the container and then turn it upside down onto a board. Cut into rectangles and place slices of fruit on top.

For the more traditional option:

Leave the rice until it’s cool enough to handle. Have a large bowl of cold water and a plate to place the sushi on next to you. Dip your hands into the water and take a small amount (a little less than the size of a golf ball) of rice and form into the sushi shape. It’s important that your hands are wet otherwise the rice will stick to them. Make sure you press the rice together well. Once you have all the sushi shapes made, add the fruit slices on top.

Next Saturday will be the grande finale of a project which has taken over my life for the last six weeks. I’m catering and managing a party of 80 people. 12 canapés per person, platters and giant cake. I’ve been working on the menu since July. With a week to go the menu is set and now I just need to start making it. I see lots of early morning starts and late nights coming my way next week.

One of the sweet canapés on the menu is a champagne bellini verrine. Super simply to make but very delicious.

serving depends on size of glass – should serve 6 normal size glasses

400ml champagne
1 large tin of peaches (reserve the syrup)
8 peaches
2 1/2 leaves of gelatine

Soak the gelatine. Pour the champagne and 200ml of the peach syrup into a bowl. Melt the gelatine over a gentle heat. Add a couple of spoons of the champagne to the gelatine. Mix well and then add to the rest of the champagne. Pour into a rectangle container and refridgerate for at least 6 hours or overnight.

To assemble: Puree the tinned peaches. Chop 6 peaches into small cubes. Remove the jelly from the fridge. Cut the jelly into small cubes (keep the jelly in the container though). I find this gives the jelly a more interesting texture. Now take your glasses and alternate layers of chopped peach, peach puree and champagne jelly. Refridgerate for a minimum of an hour. Before serving garnish with peach wedge.

Apparently it’s fashion week something I’m quite oblivious to. I only really notice it when I see the super skinny, super tall girls in the metro with their books and paris maps in hand. I’m really tempted to point them in the direction of the nearest tasty bistro

So while the rest of Paris are deliberating over next season’s cut and colour I’ve been running around like a headless chicken prepping 300 canapés for an haute couture fashion event. And what does one make for an event like this? Well, I wasn’t sure either so I went with a variety of small little “oh so chic” bites.

One of the bites on the menu will be mini versions of these whiter than white lychee panna cotta (ok, I know I’ve added lychee juice which technically makes it more of a jelly than a panna cotta). Creamy but fruity and in a beautiful shade of white. I’m hoping it might even tempt the models.

Whiter than white lychee panna cotta

3 gelatine leaves
250ml lychee juice from the tin
250ml double cream
1 tin of lychees, chopped

4 ramekins

Soak the gelatine in cold water until soft. Heat the all the other ingredients (apart from the lychees) in a pan until it comes to the boil. Take off the heat. Squeeze out the water from the gelatine, add to the cream mixture. Stir well until all the gelatine is disolved. Add the lychees to the ramekins (keep some for serving) Pour into ramekins and leave to cool. Once cool put into the fridge and chill for at least 4 hours (or overnight).

To unmould: Run a sharp knife around the ramekin and then dip the ramekin in a large bowl of hot water for 10 seconds. Place a plate on top of the ramekin and turn over. Decorate with lychees.

I’m very sorry for the slight absence recently. Lots of things happening (some good, some bad). As you can see I’ve been busy doing some coding. I decided to give my blog a little “facelift” and decided to host the site myself which has given me the plus of being able to add more images. Let me know what you think.

Roland Garros just finished in Paris which means Wimbledon is just around the corner. And Wimbledon means strawberries and cream. It’s an absolute “must eat” at the tournament. You usually end up eating them while you’re waiting for the rain to clear. If you’re lucky you might get Cliff Richard doing an impromptu performance

I’ve eaten strawberries and basil before and they go very well together. I recently read that pepper supposedly brings out the sweetness in strawberries. So, I was looking of a way of bringing everything together and thought of a pavlova (partly because I have copious amounts of egg whites leftover every week, any recipes with egg whites welcome ). If you want something more classic just leave out the pepper and replace the basil with mint (or leave it out altogether).

Pepper Pavlova with strawberries and basil syrup

Meringue
3 egg whites
150g sugar
2 pinches of freshly ground pepper

Preheat the oven to 120°c. Whisk the egg whites, add the sugar and pepper halfway through. Beat until stiff. Place 2 large tablespoons of the meringue mixture on the baking paper lined tray. Make sure you leave some space between each meringue. Bake for 30 minutes and then switch the oven off and leave until the oven is cold. I tend to make them the night before and leave them to cool overnight.

Garnish

2 tbsp of chopped fresh basil
A handful of small fresh basil leaves, decoration
50g sugar
50ml water
1 punnet of strawberries, washed and quartered

250ml whipping cream
1 tbsp sugar

Place the sugar and water in a pot and bring to the boil. Shred the basil leaves (save a few small ones for decoration), add to the syrup and leave to infuse. When the syrup is cool, add the strawberries. Gently mix together. Whisk the cream and sugar until stiff.
To serve: Take a meringue, heap some cream in the middle and pile the strawberries on top and garnish with a basil leaf.