Jamie Oliver's 30-minute meal for lunch

In addition to being an amazing artist, a skilled textiles designer, a compassionate human being, and the best friend a girl could ever ask for, my friend H. is an excellent cook. I jump at any and all opportunities to dine at her place (wait, does that make me a scab? Moving on...), because it means being treated to a veritable feast, regardless of the nature of the meal in question.

My contribution to the table: a herb roasted chicken.

H. was quite emphatic that we were not to bring a thing, but I just couldn't resist trying my hand (again) at roasting a chicken. It's so simple to do, but it looks so darned impressive. Especially if you truss the bird, which, as you can see from above, is something I've had little practice in ;D Anyway, I knew H. would forgive me for being a bit of a show-off once she tasted the chook. I'll write up the recipe in a future post.

My beauuutiful chooky, all shredded up and ready to be devoured.

H. chose one of Jamie Oliver's 30-minute meal plans for our lunch. Seriously, who doesn't love Jamie Oliver? That man is single-handedly responsible for my willingness to venture beyond the realm of toss-together-various-unrelated-ingredients-and-call-it-a-salad and start cooking for real. And yet, I still don't own a copy of Jamie's 30 Minute Meals. I guess it's because his recipes are found easily enough on the Internet through people's food blogs; yet another testament to the popularity and user-friendliness of his work.

Berry fruit punch

The fruit punch is something we're used to seeing at H.'s parties, but that doesn't stop us from ooh-ing and aah-ing when we first catch sight of it sitting on her pristine kitchen counter. While H. works diligently at putting together our lunch, myself and her other guests lounge about, sipping at the cool, refreshing punch and munching on crackers and dips.

Hummus at the bottom and a salmon & cream cheese spread on top. The salmon spread is H.'s mother's own recipe, and the hummus is from a local restaurant. H. swears that it's the best hummus in Sydney.

The reference text. No copyright infringement intended.

There was a great balance of flavours and textures across the meal. The courgette salad, consisting of thinly sliced strips of zucchini (we are in Australia, after all!) and bocconcini  tossed together with olive oil, lemon juice and mint, was a refreshing accompaniment to the rest of the dishes. (ETA: my friend H. advised me just then, after reading the post, that the recipe for this salad comes from another one of Jamie's 30-minute meals).

Courgette salad.

Something which I ought to have tried long before this: pan-frying pancetta.

This made the house smell amazing. I got told off for repeatedly stealing pieces right out of the pan.

The fried pancetta was then chopped into bite-sized pieces and scattered over baby salad leaves. Instead of the melon the recipe called for, H. subbed in grapes. Salty + sweet = WIN.

Prosciutto Pancetta & melon grape salad.

The carbohydrate component of the meal came from the pasta, which was boiled and then tossed in a curious conglomeration of ingredients:

Instant pasta sauce: just add pasta!

Fascinating; I've never made pasta sauce like this before. All the good stuff in there made for a rich, creamy, and...highly nutritious dish ;D

The bountiful spread:

We had to take a break after this before we moved onto the desserts. Yes, we had a separate dessert course for lunch. I told you it was a veritable feast.

Just a gratuitous picture of yours truly, doing what she does best: playing sous chef to someone who knows what they're doing in the kitchen =D

Moving onto the desserts! H. made half a dozen pear meringue tarts from Jamie's book. I love the browning on the meringue. Guess I don't need to buy a blow-torch after all for my upcoming lemon meringue pie project. The oven seems to do a fine job of it.
 

Pear meringue tart.

P., another friend, made dark chocolate truffles (no added sugar!) and dusted them with kinako (roasted soybean powder), which was an interesting and pleasant twist on an old favourite.

Chocolate truffles dusted with kinako.

I brought along some lemon curd friands (recipe coming soon!):

As well as freshly churned vanilla bean ice cream (see: my previous post):

If we were stuffed before...we were pretty much immobile by this point.

We all retired to H.'s sofa, and spent the rest of the afternoon catching up, making fun plans for the rest of these holidays, and simply...digesting.

It was the best time I've had in months.

Vanilla bean ice cream: a tangible (and delectable) proof that homemade is best.

Is it really December? It sure doesn't feel like December. I have yet to venture outdoors without a jacket, and I still require two, thick quilts at night to keep my toesies warm.

So, my questions are:

1) Is summer really here?

2) Should I retrieve my long-sleeved pyjama tops from the back of the closet?

3) Is it too early to crank out quart after quart of homemade ice cream as a pre-emptive measure against the January heatwaves?

Not sure about 1) and 2), but 3) I can answer with ease: definitely not! Especially since an iced dessert aficionado like myself enjoys eating ice cream so much that cold weather rarely factors into the equation.

Usually, when the craving for something sweet, creamy and chilled strikes, I promptly drag my greedy behind to the nearest gelato/ice cream store and order the richest-looking flavours on offer (with an internal pledge to eat healthy for the next few days). It's usually a scoop of some permutation of chocolate, paired with a dessert-based one like tiramisu, boysenberry cheesecake, or cookies 'n' cream. Or, if I happen to be within the vicinity of Passionflower, or a similar store carrying Asian flavours, I'd invariably pick the black sesame. Vanilla - boring, old, artificial-tasting vanilla - is usually dismissed without a second thought.

I don't know what compelled me to choose vanilla ice cream when I decided to test out the Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker that my friends gifted me for my 21st birthday (I also got a food processor! My friends know me too well xD). Maybe it was the fact that I had a few vanilla beans to use up. Or because my siblings happen to like vanilla ice cream. Or perhaps some part of me instinctively knew that the fact that I would be using only the freshest and highest quality ingredients I could get my hands on would make this vanilla ice cream anything but boring, old, and artificial-tasting.

One lesson learned: always trust your instincts! This vanilla bean ice cream was amazing. I mean, just looking at that picture below...it would look right at home on a Blue Ribbon ad, wouldn't you agree? ;D I love the visible specks of the vanilla bean seeds. And did I mention how creamy and smooth this was? Totally worth the money- and calorie-splurge on Pura Double Thick Cream, with a minimum milk fat content of 48%. No wonder it tasted like spoonfuls of paradise.

 Recipe for Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
Adapted from David Lebovitz


Makes 1 litre (1 quart)

Ingredients

1 cup (250ml) full cream milk
A pinch of salt
3/4 cup (150g) white granulated sugar
1 vanilla bean
2 cups (500ml) double cream (I recommend minimum 48% milk fat), chilled in fridge until needed.
5 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (I used Queen's Natural Vanilla Extract)


Method

1. Heat the milk, salt and sugar in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over a low flame. Do not boil the milk; the aim is to dissolve the sugar in the liquid.

2. Split the vanilla bean pod length-ways and scrape the seeds into the milk. Give the milk a gentle whisk to disperse the vanilla seeds. Add the bean pod to the milk. Cover the saucepan, remove from heat, and allow to infuse for one hour.

3. In a separate bowl, stir together the egg yolks. After an hour of infusing the milk with the vanilla bean, remove the bean pods. Rewarm the infused milk over a low flame. Pour a third of the milk into the egg yolks gradually, whisking constantly. This is to stop the egg yolks from cooking from the added heat. Scrape the warmed yolks and milk back into the saucepan containing the remaining two-thirds of the milk.

4. Cook the egg yolk and milk mixture over low heat, stirring constantly. Use a heat-resistant spatula, as this will allow you to scrape the bottom of the saucepan. Do not stop stirring and scraping, as the mixture at the bottom of the pan will scramble like that! if unattended (talking from experience here).

5. Once the mixture has thickened enough to coat the back of the spatula, remove from heat. Taking it off the heat at the right time is a science in itself, and takes a bit of experience, guesswork and luck. Haha, practice makes perfect :D Allow to cool slightly.

6. Take the double cream out of the fridge and pour/scrape into yet another bowl. Set a strainer over the top of the bowl containing the cream. Strain the cooked eggs and milk (now known as a "custard) into the cream. Stir together until completely incorporated. Then strain the entire mixture for guaranteed smoothness.

7. Stir in the teaspoon of vanilla extract. Pour the mixture into an air-tight container, and refrigerate for a minimum of 6 hours. I left mine in the fridge for 12 hours.

8. Once mixture has chilled sufficiently, pour it into your ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Gingerbread House, from scratch!

Ho ho ho! Is it Christmas yet? No? Well, I'm already in the festive mood thanks to the Gingerbread House which I spent the past two days constructing. It nerve-wracking at times, and yes, I did get powdered sugar everywhere, but when I beheld my finished opus magnum sitting jauntily atop the kitchen counter, in a position visible to all that walks in the front door, I must say that it was well worth the effort!

Okay, not exactly in the same league as Bill Yosses, but this was my very first gingerbread house and I am damn proud of it! Especially considering how I'd already psyched myself up beforehand, imagining the multitude of ways disaster could strike: the gingerbread overbaking and burning, the walls crumbling from being too hard/soft, the royal icing (oh my goodness, the stuff of nightmares; more on this later), and whether I could stop myself from sticking every piece of candy within a 10-mile radius onto it.

Finding the right recipe for the actual gingerbread took much longer than I anticipated. I sifted through blog after blog, website after website in search for a recipe that would produce a 1) delicious and 2) sturdy gingerbread cookie. Ultimately, I chose the basic recipe for gingerbread dough given at Gingerbread House Heaven, a website that is literally a treasure trove of information pertaining to all things gingerbread. The recipe makes enough dough for one gingerbread house (like mine) measuring roughly 15cm x 15cm x 22cm, as well as 30-35 gingerbread people (being politically correct). I guess I could have made my house a bit larger, but I was using the template given on the website.

The dough, flattened into tiles and chilled until hard.

The recipe called for molasses instead of water. I've made gingerbread before using water, and I believe that the molasses make the gingerbread taste much better. It also adds a great colour to the house. So do use molasses and dark brown sugar if you can get your hands on it. The dough was a cinch to mix together. Once the dough had been chilled, I rolled it out, and cut out the pieces using the template.

One thing that troubled me was how the baked gingerbread appeared to progressively get softer as time went on. I assume it was because the gingerbread was sucking in the moisture from the surrounding air. By the time I was ready to assemble the house, the pieces all felt a bit floppy.

The front and back walls of the house, after baking.

Thankfully, the 'mortar' icing that I concocted really was some powerful stuff indeed, and once I stuck the pieces together, there was no way they were going any place else. So, about royal icing. Ever since I tried whipping up a batch a few months ago using powdered egg whites (which was a major, expensive disaster), I've been reluctant to have another shot at it. This time, I took the controversial route and used fresh egg whites. I'm well aware of the fears concerning salmonella, but I reasoned that 1) I've been eating runny yolks for ages and never once had a tummy upset, so the whites should be even safer and 2) these were for me and my family so it's not like I'm gonna get sued...right? xD

About to stick on the final panel. Fingers crossed!

I used two different recipes for the decorating royal icing, and the icing I used as mortar. I made the decorating icing first, and it was obvious straight away that that stuff would never work as 'glue'; it was just too runny, soft, and slippery. It did a fine job used for piping, though. Check out the details on the windows!

It was also good for making the fish-scale pattern on the roof. I used some mini M&Ms for colour:

For the mortar, I simply increased the icing sugar : egg white ratio, so that the consistency was a lot stiffer from the outset. It dried really quickly, so I had to work fast. I sacrificed a tissue box because there wasn't anyone around to hold up the pieces for me while I applied the icing. Next time (if I do decided to repeat this madness again!), I will be more careful and judicious when piping the icing, so that the mortar will be less obvious.

17, one of my favourite numbers!

The board on which I put the house looked a bit sad and empty, so I got to work adding some little details. The pile of logs sitting near the front are actually chocolate-coated finger biscuits (found lying around the cupboard). I chopped up two mini candy canes for the doorframe:

If only trees really were made from chocolate...

I attempted to create a cobblestone path out of chopped cashew nuts, but the dimensions were all wrong and it didn't really look like a path...so I turned it into a sandstone border for a lovely, green lawn instead:

The grass was green-tinted royal icing.

And, for good measure (and because we are in Australia after all!), I threw in a pool, lined with Jelly Belly jelly beans. The rocky path leading to the pool is made from sugar-coated white chocolate pieces, made to resemble, you guessed it, rocks!:

And here are some of my decorated gingerbread people:

One final picture of my edible villa:

C is for Celebration...and Cake!

HELLO!!! Guess who is finally done with her exams?! I was starting to suffer from major BURN-OUT towards the end of it. The first thing I did after my last exam was take a long walk around the CBD, just taking in the sights and sounds of life. Life essentially gets put on hold during times like those, and all one finds the energy for (apart from studying) is sleeping, eating, and maintaining one's basic bodily functions.

Enough depressing talk. It's all over now, and I, for one, am ready to do some celebratin'! Starting with baking a cake. An orange and poppy seed pound cake, to be exact.

For those not in the know, the designation "pound cake" comes from the fact that the cake is made from a pound of each of its core ingredients: flour, butter, sugar and eggs. Whoever came up with this original, golden ratio was an effing genius. This was the best cake I've ever baked, texture- and taste-wise. The crumb was dense and moist (helped by the substitution of half the butter with 250g of cream cheese, no doubt), and the flavour from all that butter was present, but not to such a degree as to overwhelm the added fragrances of the orange essence. The poppy seeds gave it a great crunch factor.

Basically, I've pretty much decided after tasting this pound cake that this will be my go-to recipe from now on for all "Western-style" cakes, buttercream, fondant and all. This cake slices really neatly, and holds its shape well.

And, best of all, there are so many ways to tweak the recipe for different flavours. Along with the orange extract (purchased from Life Organic in Newtown), I also bought a bottle of hazelnut extract. Ferrero Rocher in pound cake form, anyone? Yes please!

Haha, the goose fat didn't go into the pound cake, do not worry! I found it at the Harris Farm Markets in Broadway. I have plans to use it for roasting chicken henceforth.

Unfortunately, I overmixed the batter slightly so that my cake was had some minor "tunneling" issues (explanation of this term available at Baking Bites). I could tell while I was mixing the batter that gluten was starting to develop, because the batter had taken on an elastic quality reminiscent of the dough I once made for some Asian-style soft breads. You can see some of the "tunnels" in the picture below:

Fortunately, I don't think the texture was affected that much by the overmixing. The use of cream cheese may have had something to do with the moistness retained.

And, just in case it wasn't obvious already...these photos are the result of another (dodgy) attempt at food-styling and photography. I love looking at the beautiful photos of food placed "just so" over at Foodgawker and Tastespotting, but it always makes me so envious of the talent of the amazing people behind the cameras. These photos were taken on my iPhone, and the spotted backdrop happens to be one of my old shirts. Lol. Think I may need to enroll myself in one of those photography courses. And get a camera that doesn't come with internet and a keypad.

Recipe for Orange and Poppy Seed Pound Cake

Adapted from Elizabeth's Edible

Ingredients

Makes 1 10-inch cake

250g butter (I used salted), softened to room temperature

250g cream cheese

3 cups white, granulated sugar

6 large eggs

3 cups all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 tsp good quality orange essence or extract

Method

1. Preheat oven to 150 degrees Celsius

2. With an electric beater or mixer, beat together cream cheese and butter at medium speed until creamy.

3. Gradually add the sugar, continuing to beat until light and fluffy.

4. Add the eggs, one at a time. Mix until incorporated.

5. Sift together the flour and salt. Add to the butter mixture gradually, folding it in with a rubber spatula. Be careful not to over-mix, to prevent gluten formation (which will make your cake tough and dry).

6. Pour cake batter (which will be very thick!) into a greased and floured 10-inch Bundt pan, or chiffon/angel cake pan. Smooth the top of the batter with a spatula to make it flat.

7. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour and 40 minutes, or until cake tester inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Take out of oven, and cool in the pan on a wire rack until it can be removed from the pan without giving you third degree burns. Slice, and enjoy with a cup of tea!

C is for cake, and that's good enough for me!

Random round-up!

Still in the throes of preparing for some great, big exams *stresses*. So here's another quick quickie post :D

Firstly - Pappa Roti opened in Strathfield yesterday! There's a special offer for a free bun with any drink purchased.

Very nice piping 

Sick of studying, I ventured out under the blazing sun and brought back one of the fluffiest buns I've ever seen. The smell was absolutely incredible. 

Despite trying to spend every waking minute cramming useless knowledge into my brain, I find the time to do some therapeutic baking. I made Portuguese egg custard tarts:

As well as my very first quiche, loaded with bacon, cheese and caramelised onions. Yum! I was supposed to take it to a revision session with some uni friends, but since the date passed and I didn't hear from any of them, I was - ahem - forced to eat most of it by myself.

The quiche got me in the mood to do some more fancy cooking. I don't know if this constitutes as "fancy" to other people, but for a rookie cook like myself it seemed quite involved. Those eggs Benedict from 2042 Deli & Cafe left me craving eggs for breakfast for the next few days, and I took it upon myself to replicate a cafe-style brekkie at home:

Pan-fried eggs with smoked trout, cream cheese, and sauteed baby spinach.

Last but not least, a trip to Balmain led to an impromptu visit to Adriano Zumbo's Patisserie...oh, who am I kidding. I drove to Balmain for the very purpose of acquiring some macarons. Or Zumbarons, as they're now apparently called. I gawked at the cake display:

And came away with three 'Zumbarons': 

Must. Go. Study. NOW!

So, recently...(the Reader's Digest version)

Salutations! As much as I would love to sit down and type out a long and detailed recount of all my fabulous eats over the past few weeks, I still have two huge exams to get through before the holidays. Despite being basically house-bound in the weeks leading up to my first exam, I did manage to squeeze in some nice yummies. I find eating to be quite a good coping mechanism (not to mention procrastination device xD). It's like: oh, stuff it all, who cares about [insert complex scientific concept], I'm gonna get me a big ol' slice of CHOCOLATE MUDCAKE.

Chocolate mudcake from Pasticceria Papa



And another one -

Chocolate mudcake from Pasticceria Sulfaro

Believe it or not, I actually acquired both of these on the same day, to be eaten on the same day. Let's just say I was in a very self-destructive state of mind at the time; blame it on all those disease flowcharts I had to cram into my limited brain space!

While we're on the topic of chocolate, I developed an addiction to Lindt Excellence 85% Cocoa last week. I admit to having a weird obsessive-compulsive personality where I get fixated on one kind of food for a period of time, where I would keep eating it day-in, day-out, until I get sick of the taste. Don't be shocked by this next picture - they were on sale at Woolworths! In the week leading up to my second exam, I (no joke) ate a whole bar every. single. day. It was very liberating...

Note: only the 85% bars were on special; I bought the 99% ones from the Lindt cafe in Martin Place. They're half the size and double the price of the regular bars, so I couldn't afford to develop an addiction to them!

Being a good big sister, I somehow managed to bake and ice 165 cupcakes for my sister to take to her grade at school as part of her birthday celebration. There I was, smothering vanilla cupcakes with thick, buttery icing in semi-darkness, with only my iPad screen (showing my study notes) as the only source of illumination. Good times.

Ahem, yes, I was inspired for the design of these from a well-known cupcakery in Surry Hills...

What else, what else? Ooh, that's right - I turned 21 years old! I celebrated it with a dinner out with friends and family. My birthday cake was a whole ricotta cheesecake from Pasticceria Papa (my goodness, do I love that place or what?)

More recently, I went and had brunch at 2042 Deli & Cafe in Newtown with an old friend who happened to be in Sydney (she studies interstate). It was a delicious affair, and the joy of her company made the food taste all the better.

Perfectly poached eggs in 2042 Deli & Cafe's Eggs Benedict.

Okay, I can no longer stand the voice in my head screaming at me to "GO STUDY", so this is where I will end the entry. Will write in more detail once these exams are over! (soon...soon...)