I had to come up with a little more then Lucky strike cigarettes and alcohol for a Madmen dinner I had been asked  to organise for the girls of mylittleparis. I had done a similar style event last year at the Cha cha but this one was a lot more fun as it was a more intimate event which meant I had time to add my own little signature touches.

The event took place in a stunning Parisian apartment which had some great views of the Eiffel tower and the rest of Paris. I rocked up laden like the donkeys I saw in Marrakech and started working my magic in the kitchen and the rest of the apartment.

Doing these kind of events you always have the problem of not having access to a prop department like on a film set, so the ambiance has to be set up with easy to make/find objects. I’ld found a whole bunch of old 1960s American ads which I had collaged together to create the placemats. Serviettes were ironed into suit shapes (thanks to my lovely assistant, Thomasine).

I’ld been hassling all my friends who smoke Lucky strikes for the empty boxes but with no luck. Plus now a days all cigarette boxes come with the ugly big warning ‘Smoking kills’ which wouldn’t look so good as props (stylists don’t care about the health hazards as long as it looks great So using my Arts background I designed myself my own lucky strike packaging which I printed out on my home printer and then made into little cigarette boxes. Mini grissini sticks were used as edible cigarettes and served with dips in ashtrays (obviously washed!).

Of course Madmen wouldn’t be Madmen without the cocktails! If you like most people don’t have a cocktail bar then all you need is an ironing board plus a white tablecloth. You might want to be a little bit careful with putting stuff on there though.

Being fairly new to the whole mixing culture I hired an authentic mixologist straight off the boat from Manhattan (well off a plane) who showed me a trick or two about making cocktails. For instance to make your lemon twists for your cocktails simply scrape out all the insides from lemon (see pic) and cut into rings.

I’ld been having a fairly sleepless week with the amount of work I had on (5am starts and midnight finishes) which resulted into me breaking 5 plates (and then breaking another in the shop when I went to buy the replacements) and slicing half my finger off while using the mandoline. The picture above is me before the accident. Note to myself: do not be distracted under any circumstances while using a mandoline. It’s lethal!

The injury was well worth it though. Look at the beautifully sliced vegetables for the main course. Dinner kicked off after the canapés and martinis with a Lucky strike baked fig with mozarella and roquette. The Lucky strike element came in the form of a sugar syrup which had been infused with Lucky strike tabacco. Normally you would infuse the syrup with an expensive cigar but I felt this was more in keeping with the ‘Madmen’ spirit.

Main course was a hommage to season 1 episode 6 where Roger Sterling and Joanne aka Red are in a hotel where he has ordered Rockefeller oysters and Beef Wellington: Roger Sterling’s Beef Wellington and Red’s roasted mash and vegetables. To finish, a New York New York cheesecake served on little New York skyline plates I had made. The soirée was rounded off with the perfect Madmen mix of music.

‘Finger food’ : deconstructed eclairs – raspberry and vanilla pastry cream with eclair choux pastry fingers which had to be worn in order to be dipped into the cream, created for the vernissage of an exhibition at the Slott gallery in June this year.

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.

Breakfast at K.L. airport: Soft boiled eggs, Kaya toast and Tee tarik

Sky chefs loading food onto Malaysian airlines plane

The journey began with a Eurostar train from Paris to London followed by a 12 hour flight from Heathrow to Kuala Lumpur where I had to strip off all my winter layers (tights, jumpers, jacket, scarf, gloves, woolly socks…) as Malaysian heat is like being in an enormous Sauna. Enough time in Kuala Lumpur to enjoy some Won Ton Mee, one of my favourite dishes. Quick breakfast of soft boiled eggs, Kaya (coconut jam) toast and teh tarik before boarding another 8 hour flight to Sydney. Food on the flights consisted of a curry option for dinner, lunch and breakfast. That’s Malaysian airlines for you.

8 hours later touchdown in Sydney where it was pleasantly hot but thankfully without the stickiness. It was straight in a cab to Edible Immigration Tales Headquarters. No time for jetlag as there was plenty to discuss, prepare and organise. My fellow foodie partner in crime, Frankie and I had been working on this project since November when I had booked my flight. Menu ideas, press and marketing campaign, bookings and other bits ‘n bops had been  done via emails, skype calls, photos and waving things at our tiny web cams. So it was good to be able to sit down and discuss things face to face

The following 5 days were a mad rush of running around, cooking, shopping, organising, sticking…. basically turning an apartment into a restaurant. I got stuck into writing all the menus, tea labels and edible immigration facts by hand with a pot of ink and quill which took me a good half a day to do. Needless to say by the end of it I had hand cramps and my fingers were stained black from the ink.  I did manage to get out and visit Sam the butcher, the local organic shop and the supermarket.

Wrapping up the damper bread - Ask first © 2010 R khooks. Rachel Khoo. All rights reserved.

Last minute testing/cooking would kick off once Frankie had come back from her day job (still don’t know how she managed to do both). We then roped in the whole family with Frankie’s parents picking up various groceries, chairs and running other errands. Frankie’s sister helping out on the night and Frankie’s boyfriend putting up with having a restaurant in his home three nights running. BIG thank you!

On the day of the first event it was an early start as Frankie and I were pretty excited about checking out the Sydney Morning Herald to see what they had written about us. We were relieved to see that it wasn’t an exposé about the “illegal” underground dining scene

Things started to come together when I saw the table set up. We had collected plenty of jars, tins and bottles for the table setting. Naturally they were all scrubbed meticulously before hand. I nipped to the beach to pick up some sand and shells to make little glass candle lanterns.

Handwritten menu with a list of things to do - Photo: Howard Trang eatshowandtell.com

My attempt of sketching out the dishes - Photo: Howard Trang eatshowandtell.com

A wall with sketches of all dishes/courses, guestlist and rundown for the night were hungup in the kitchen. Followed by more cooking. Cutlery and glasses polished. Nice soap and candles in the bathroom. Quick tidy in the kitchen. Then a last minute shower and some warpaint (make up). A last run through of the menu. The aprons were tied on, candles lit and Australian music mix put on and a BIG deep breath before we opened the door to the first guests…to be continued

There were no sausages on this menu which explored the East/West divide in Germany. Fellow foodie Caroline Hobkinson and I got cooking in her amazing Berlin kitchen. Dishing up two different menus (one East, one West). Each representing their relevant culinary history. Guests on arrival were assigned their sides for the nights. They bartered, they smuggled and some sneekily stole from the opposite side to get a taster of the forbidden food.

500 biscuits to make for The School of life Sunday sermon on Good Design held by Alice Rawsthorn, Design critic for the International Herald Tribune . They weren’t just any old biscuits which had everyone at the Conway Hall, London on the 28th June 2009 munching.

Specially designed “digestives” or better “designtives” were mixed, kneaded, rolled out and baked by hand. Yes, all 500 of them.

Digestive biscuits were invented in 1892 by McVities and in the UK we now consume 52 chocolate digestives per second. They originally claimed to “aide” digestion but this has been proven untrue. In the States it’s still illegal to sell the biscuits under the name. Rachel Khoo has improved on the design of the digestive but giving it added “digestion” properties.

Read more here on how they were ‘designed’ and the recipe.

If you are on a picture and you want it to be removed, please send me an email.

Photos from event taken by Bronia Stewart.

Well I hope your Honey doesn’t . I whisked these up for a little teatime snack. They go great with a hot cup of a tea or a cold glass of milk. With the cold weather at the moment I have the tendency of snuggling under my duvet with a big cup of tea, something to nibble and a good book or dvd. For me it’s preferably an old classic with Cary Grant…sigh. They just don’t make men like that anymore.

Honey Bites

175g butter
60g brown sugar
60g runny honey
2 eggs
100g ground almonds
80g wholemeal flower
20g plain flour
3 tbsp of milk
2 tsp baking powder
1 handful of chopped almonds for garnish

Makes 24 bites (mini cupcakes) – alternatively you can bake in one large tray and a cut into small squares. Allow for extra baking time though.

Preheat the oven to 180°c.
Beat butter and sugar together. Add eggs, honey and milk while beating the mixture. If the mixture curdles, don’t worry. It will come together once you add the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl sift the flours, baking powder and almonds together. Add the dry ingredients to the batter. Spoon into mini moulds and sprinkle with chopped almonds (if you have an extra sweet tooth you could drizzle some honey on top too). Bake for 15-20mins or until bites bounce back when you touch them.

These little spoons make fancy canapés with not much work effort and a small budget (total ingredients 7.23€). If you want to see some of the stuff which has been keeping me away from blogging. Take a look here and here.

Credit crunch cucumber & Snow white mousse spoons

200ml whipping cream
150g soft goat’s cheese
1 cucumber, washed
2 tsp of lemon juice
1 small jar of “fake” caviar (i.e. Herring roe)

Makes about 15 spoons.

Chop 3/4 of the cucumber into small cubes and mix with lemon juice. Keep the rest for the garnish.
Whip the cream until stiff. In a separate bowl whip the goat’s cheese until soft and smooth. Beat a couple of spoons of the whipped cream into the goat’s cheese and then fold in the rest of the whipped cream. Scoop into a piping bag with a star shaped nozzle.
In each serving spoon add a tsp of chopped cucumber. Pipe the mousse on top and garnish with a little of ‘fake caviar’ and a slither of cucumber.

If you don’t have the spoons, you could either use squares of dark wholemeal bread or a thick round slice of cucumber (instead of chopping the cucumber up).

Right now I’m busy prepping for my first cookery class @ La Cocotte this Thursday. I’ve been busy researching, testing, tasting, doing all things muffiny…so much so I think I’m actually becoming a muffin. I found out the word muffin comes from the old french term “moufflet” (=soft). And that the American muffins did originate from the English ones but quickly developed their own style.

The polenta, feta & sundried tomato muffins are ones I’ll be putting in the goody bag which everyone at the cookery class gets to take home (with a few sweets ones too). I’ll let you know how it goes.

Wish me luck!

Btw I tend to use a mini muffin tin because the size is great for snacks or dinner party canapés. But you can make it any size you like, just change the cooking time accordingly.

Polenta, feta & sundried tomato muffins

240g plain flour
150g polenta
2 tsp baking powder
150g sundried tomatoes
150g feta
1 handful of parsley
1 tsp of salt
1 egg
250ml milk
2 tbsp olive oil

Preheat the oven to 185°C. Chop the feta, sundried tomatoes and parsley smaller. Mix all the dry ingredients together. Then mix all the other ingredients. Combine both mixtures (don’t overmix will result in tough muffins). Spoon the mixture into the muffins cases. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes until they are golden. To verify poke a wooden skewer into the centre, if cooked it will come out clean.

“When the going gets tough, the tough gets going!” Everyone has some phrase or another for times which are trying. I’ve been hearing a lot of them recently. And I think the saying above is great way of handling things. So I went on a bit of a mission this weekend. Sleeping was definetly not on the menu. Discovering new things, places and lots of dancing (I love dancing = instant happiness for me). On Saturday I came across a new blog which described an exhibition in Paris I just had to go to. I instantly rang to make a reservation, crossing my fingers they would have some spaces free.

Luckily they did, so the next day I made my way to find this 3 day only café/exhibition. Hidden behind a heavy door and up some winding steps, the gallery was situated in two apartments. Anne, the curator and creator of the exhibition gave me a guilded tour. Explaining the work of Guillaume Hillairet and the beautiful ceramic objects she had made. The tea salon was situated in the living room which had wonky doors and floors. She served a warm orange flowerwater rice pudding with orange compote and a buckwheat biscuit. The tea cup (which was designed by Anne like all the tableware) came wrapped up in the cutest red and white polka dot fabric. She also had a very interesting documentary on Japanese food preparation running on two screens in the tea salon.

So all in all I had a delightful Sunday afternoon and weekend. No recipe unfortunately but I thought I’ld share this with you instead!

Talking about sharing some gems, a while ago I was awarded an Excellent blog award by Happy Love Strawberry. The idea is you pass on the award to 5 other food bloggers. It’s a pretty difficult one to do as there are so many beautiful food blogs out there. But here’s my selection (in no particular order):

Whiteplate

The fact I don’t understand what Liska @ Whiteplate writes about (although she does translate the recipes sometimes) is outshone by her tasty and beautifully photographed recipes.

Fayeki

With recipes like Cherry blossom cardamom English cream or Raspberry swirl brownies and stunning photography, how could you resist?

Sooishi

Ok, it’s in French (but google does a fairly good translation and I’m sure Sooishi would help you if you ask nicely ) Great inspiration if you want to try something a little different.

Nordljus

If only I had just half the patience and skill to make these amazing dishes.

Nectar & Light

A little less foody but there’s just something about these images. Looking at them you know that the dishes have been made with a lot of love.

And voilà my little selection. Tough one to make with so many amazing blogs out there.

Just a quick mention: Last week I won the DMBGLIT edibility category for my Blueberry pancakes. Thanks you judging panel! I could not believe it. I had to do a little celebration dance when I saw the results announced on Cookbook catchall.