Christmas holiday cooking

My sister (my whole family) loves looking at food and what I've been cooking up so here's what I've been cooking in our little kitchen that gets no rest... (esp since I've acquired these two babies in addition to my Jamie's America as Christmas gifts)

Bourke Street Bakery Cookbook from Dave + pearl necklace

Masterchef Cookbook from Mark & Winnie


Have yet to start on stuff from both the new books but I've made two dishes from Jamie's America

1st up: Chilli con carne

Some of the spices and used: Fresh oregano from my balcony herb garden, cinnamon, garlic, fresh chili and dried bay leaves.

Other ingredients: chopped onions, rump steak (cubed +minced), ground cumin, paprika, tinned chopped tomatoes, tin of borlotti beans( I ran out of kidney beans), red capsicum.


And this: "Is that soy-sauce?" Dave asked when he saw this...

"Nope, just dried chilli hydrated in coffee" ..." interesting..."
Apparently when Jamie Oliver learned the recipe, the cowboys he was with added their coffee to it as a source of liquid to keep the temperature down as they cooked it over an open fire.

First time using this ingredient

Ok... doesn't look that great but the taste really packs a punch, Dave even felt that I could have added more chilli to it. Once again Jamie Oliver's recipe impresses. Adding coffee imparted a different flavour to it. Tastes even better the next day!


And we had it with avocado + sweet corn and some steamed rice.

2nd: Velvet cupcakes with cream cheese icing

Only took pictures when the cupcakes came out, was in a rush so forgot shots with cream cheese but they were yummy.

Ok... now to attempt making my own sweet shortcrust pastry for tomorrow's bourbon pecan pie.

Summer project

Very very happy with the weekend purchase of new cookbook Jamie's America, have been watching his series on tele this past month, been so inspired, esp when he was making Tamales, using exotic ingredients like cactus and alligator.. was also drooling over the gumbo he was whipping up and when we went to "South" last week and had the best pecan pie, I knew I had to open a new chapter in my cooking adventures at home.

Some dishes I tried at "South" that I'm going to attempt

Chili con carne with cornbread

Buffalo wings, southern ribs, blue cheese sauce
& my favourite dessert of all time

PECAN Pie..

Fish Bee Hoon Soup

Comfort food, just suited for a day when life seems so uncertain and when I miss home, though I was meeting Dad & Mum in a few hours. The weekend came and went so fast and now they are on their way home.

This is how Mum would make it, but I had to dig around for ingredients in my fridge, unfortunately not as plentiful as Mum's. (hers would have prawns, mince meatballs & choy sum). I had to make do with the deep sea perch & eggs.

Its so simple and so delicious. Soup was made from frying some minced garlic and when it nice and brown, splash some water in and cover immediately to "lock in" the smokey scent.
I then added some chinese rice wine and my fish slices to cook, a splash of fish sauce & white pepper.
Then I threw in the softened beehoon. Ladel it all up and garnish with fried omelette, spring onions and chili padi.. yumyum

PhD?

This week has been a bunch of nerves for me everytime I open the mailbox.

The verdict of whether Dave & I stay in Sydney or go back to Singapore next year depends on these two letters from Usyd.

This afternoon I got one: I have been admitted for candidature for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

Score now stands as Sydney 1: Singapore 0

Letter for scholarship is now pending I've got until mid December to find out.

Kong Bak

KONG BAK: Succulent slivers of pork belly slow cooked in dark soy, 冰糖 (rock sugar)and garlic is Mum's long drooled over dish.

I pre-marinate the sliced up pork belly in dark soy sauce & five spice powder
Mum's secret to firm tasty meat is to dry-fry the pork in oil until the liquid "comes out" of the pork before you add water and the rest of the ingredients.

Ta - Da after 3 hours of low simmering.. check out the lovely skin. Our dinner guests gobbled the pieces up, skin and all.

Next I try, He bi hiam + stir-fried kang kong (water convolvulus).


La moulinette - As recommended by Donna Hay magazine, best $79 dollars spent, small efficient and easy to clean. I chuck in a handful of dried prawns + 5 dried chilli (didn't dare to add too much cos Dave won't be able to take it!) Didn't know making hebi hiam was that easy.

Stir fry blended Hebi & Dried chili in lotsa oil

My sambal kangkongStill need to work out the food photography side of things and the kong bak was a tad sweet.

Dad & Mum's visit

Looked through Dad's FB photos of the family walk and really missed the gang. Trust the ekies to pig out with hei mee straight after a fitness walk. And its not just your ordinary hei mee, its $10 hei mee with big king prawns!

It not even been a month since we're back in Sydney and I miss them, counting down the days before they come over in Dec.

This morning I received an email re scholarship, we will be informed of the outcome from 27th of Nov - 11th of Dec.
Mixed feelings: Will feel disappointed if I don't get the scholarship but at the same time sad cos it means another 3-4 years away from home, how how how?

First bloom

Went out this morning to test out the temperature outside and saw this! Yay the first bloom on my gardenia plant has appeared! I'm so happy, finally some plant has not died on me!!
Also testing out our Lumix LX3 with macro shots... its gorgeous.

Roast Pork Loin

Who doesn't love a good roast pork with crispy crackling?

Went to Glenmore Meats on Friday, love Glenmore meats home of bulk sold, affordable good cuts of meat and it was here that I found this lovely rolled pork loin for only $10 bucks.

Menu: Roast Pork Loin + Braised Red Cabbage & Apple + Slow roasted pumpkin & potatoes with sage

Look at that lovely pink flesh

Ready to go into my 220 degree oven, 30mins to crisp then 180 for an hour to cook
After an hour of slow roast, the pumpkin has caramelised and Dave loved it so much he scraped up all bits off the foil.. I can't believe we finished ALL the pumpkin.
Deglazed my roasting dish and squished all the roasted veges for all the "juice" to make gravy


Dinner!
Verdict: Dave says I still need to work on the plating.
I need to try next time with pork belly...
Loin is too lean so it ended up a bit dry and the skin not quite as crisp..

Anyhow Quiche

Looking at my sidebar of posts, I realised that I've been terribly lazy or just busy with wedding preps to blog... now I'm so "eng" and having newly acquired a really nice Lumix I'm going to blog more... and of course about food, and trying to grow food... This is what I did on Wednesday, tried to bake a quiche before going out for a marriage reunion dinner hosted by my reception place.

Kai's anyhow quiche (followed the recipe for basic quiche ingredients then added my own choice of filling i.e whatever was in the fridge)

1. Bake shortcrust pastry for 10mins, line with baking paper and rice
2. Remove baking paper & rice and bake for further 7mins.

Oh yes did I forget, preheat oven to 220C
3. While the crust is baking
4. I wanted my quiche more eggy so I added 5 eggs instead of the 2 haha ok lah becoming a fritata
5. Mix 1/2 cup cream + 1/2 cup milk + 1/4 cup grated cheddar + 1/4 cup grated parmesan, was tempted to add the brie too but it was too soft to grate
6. Mix them all together with the egg
7. Chop up some cherry tomatoes and ham, drain corn kernels
8. Cook some red onions over low heat with butter in a saucepan on low heat til soft, then cool.
9. When pastry is done, cool.
10. Scatter the dry ingredients on pastry
11. Add all the wet stuff
12. Bake for 35mins on 160C

Ok at this point, I changed and rushed out of the house, very relieved to come home to find it perfectly done! Yay.. lunch for tomorrow.

Balcony herb garden

Ok ... now that work is quiet and I'm getting home early these days and have NO more weddings to organise I'm damn free..

And since getting married, I've "upgraded" what I present before my husband for dinner each night.

This "upgrade" has resulted in the inclusion of more "exotic" and expensive ingredients, most of which I want to give a shot at cooking.
In addition, my favourite chef Mr Jamie Oliver has this insane love of using numerous herbs in his cooking and to my delight thoroughly enjoyed as well.

So instead of spending a freaking $1.79 per bunch of thyme/sage/rosemary or $3.99 per bunch of basil/oregano I'm going to grow my own. If they die I know I suck, if they survive I save a lot of money and cook better.

List of herbs I will start with
1. Thyme
2. Sage

Already have:
1. Basil
2. Oregano

To aim for:
1. Chives
2. Chilli (its like $3.99 per pack of chilli padis that Mum gets from wet market at 30 cents!!!)
3. Cherry tomatoes (ok I know not herb)

Wish me luck

Good Food Market Nov 09

First Saturday of the month, the Pyrmont good living markets are on again, we went last month and I was disappointed that I couldn't buy my hydrangea plant so this time I went charging down with Dave to get me one.

But first breakfast!

Confused scrambled eggs and bacon roll
Chorizo roll with BBQ sauce (basil and tomato version is better)


Cloudy apple juice
Dave with our goodies


My Favourite shop: Flowers!


Yay! my gorgeous hydrangeas!!!
Oh yes and Dave got what he wanted to: very delicious Venison sausages!

Brownie Cake

Celebrating a friend's birthday tonight and as usual I've been assigned cake duties.
So I've decided to bake a brownie birthday cake, recipe courtesy of an awesome birthday gift, a year's subscription to Delicious magazine, and in my 2nd copy featured a brownie recipe by Ben O Donaghue.

Man this recipe is decadent: used 2 big blocks of good quality dark choc, almost 2 blocks of unsalted butter and 5 eggs... Best part was that it was my first time using vanilla from real vanilla pods instead of the usual rubbish essence, boy did it make a difference!

And playing with icing a bit using this easy kids icing tube set I made my birthday brownie slice cake!

Submitted

Finally the applications have been submitted!

Who would have thought it would be that crazy and intense, the two days since I've been back in Sydney that was all that was on my mind.

Who would have thought Professor Copeland whom I've met only once and sounded totally dumb to would have accepted me as his PhD student

Who would have thought my big big boss would write me such a great reference letter to submit with my application for a scholarship

Who would have thought I could get it done in time, damn! maybe I should have been more relaxed and enjoyed my trip to Hanoi and Singapore more without constantly thinking about it.

I'm mad to do this I know...

Well its PhD or applying for nutrition lecture-ship in Singapore... so fingers crossed, I'll just have to see which way the cookie crumbles...

Mmmm I shall reward myself with an affogato now.. suddenly feel hungry after days of butterflies in my stomach(yuck!)

Hanoi Trip

We're going to Hanoi!

Man I'm more excited about your Vietnam adventure than the wedding dinner now... looking forward to a junk boat ride out on Halong Bay


We can't wait to trek the rice terraces of Sa Pa, meet the minority groups in villages, watch the famous Vietnamese water puppet show and EAT fantastic authentic Vietnamese food.

Oh yes and we've also decided to spoil ourselves since the estimated tour & ticket price is well below our estimated budget. We were surprised how affordable it is!

We've decided to spend our last night at the Sofitel Metropole hotel in Hanoi. Its a old grand hotel that has Asian influences and blends it with sophisticated and subdued French style. Love the furnishings!

Check it out here http://www.sofitel.com/gb/hotel-1555-sofitel-metropole-hanoi/index.shtml

Back to cooking

Unfortunately for us the building we live in does NOT allow us to keep any pets at all. Quite disappointing after I had inquired about Nellie and got quite pysched up to get her.

Anyways.. the attention has gone back to cooking, tonight this is on the menu, another one of Jamie Oliver's brilliant recipes

: Tender & crisp chicken legs with sweet tomatoes.

ingredients

• 4 chicken legs, preferably free-range or organic, jointed
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• a big bunch of fresh basil, leaves picked, stalks finely chopped
• 2 big handfuls of red and yellow cherry tomatoes, halved, and ripe plum tomatoes, quartered
• 1 whole bulb of garlic, broken up into cloves
• 1 fresh red chilli, finely chopped
• olive oil

optional:
• 1 x 410g tin of cannellini beans, drained
• 2 handfuls of new potatoes

Very easy to put together, just requires time for cooking.
Tonight will be my 2nd time making it and I've realised for us that sauce is never enough so I've decided to put more cherry tomatoes in as they literally melt in the oven and becomes this gorgeous sauce/brothy thing.

The cannellini beans was something I used for the 1st time when I first tried the recipe.. Hubby was still scrounging around for more, delicious when the garlic cloves are nice and roasted and mixes into the creamy bean mash.... oooo yah..

Nellie

Sad to discover fat little agouti rabbit below was taken already, Dave's found another cutie we could adopt.

Her name is Nellie and this is her description below.

"Nellie is a baby mini lop, who had somehow found her way into the pound. She is the sweetest little girl, and loves to snuggle up to people. Nellie is still very young, and will need training and caring owners to bring her up. Nellie does not appear to like other rabbits, so if you have a bunny existing in the family an introduction prior to adoption is best. She doesn't mind the company of guinea pigs though"

This one is great... looks like she's praying!
Or she could just be chewing something. She's in Hornsby so not too far, Dave and I shall make our trip this Saturday.