Spatula, Spoon and Saturday

I was totally inspired by Pasta Rustica because their spaghetti salsiccia was everyone’s favourite on the night. So I tried to create my own at home. This was actually made almost entirely out of kitchen staples. I had bought the Italian sausages from a butcher at the Camberwell Market for something but didn’t end up using it. Just as well. The sausages turned out to be really good for this recipe.

The one thing to bear in mind, of course, is the quality of your Italian sausages. Try to get your hands on some good sausages from a good butcher. It will make all the difference. Read the rest of this entry »

I have decided that I make a much better report writer than a novel writer. I always give away the ending. I just can’t help myself. And with this, I would like to say that Tempura Hajime is my new favourite Melbourne restaurant.

It was Josh’s birthday on a Tuesday night and I wanted to take him somewhere special and exciting. Since our honeymoon in Japan, we have been finding that Japanese food outside Japan just do not measure up. And I was excited when I read about Tempura Hajime. I made the booking heaps in advance (about two months?) Over the phone, the lady had asked if we had ever been and I said no. She then started launching into what tempura course is all about. I interrupted her and said that I’m well aware, I have been to Japan.

So we drove out to this non-descriptive office building in South Melbourne. The night before, I received a text from the restaurant confirming our booking with the instructions ‘enter through brown wooden door.’ Believe it or not, we wouldn’t have found the restaurant otherwise! It pretty much looked like an office building. We had to look hard for this brown wooden door with a tiny glass window. Josh said ‘wow secret restaurant, how cool!’ And that’s what the experience was meant to be. Something a bit secretive and special.

(salt and lemon juice – a tempura condiment) Read the rest of this entry »

Last time I went to David & Camy’s in Box Hill, I bought some frozen standard pork dumplings. They were a bargain at 15 for $6.50. Actually I suspect they give you 16 because both bags had 16 in them.

First things first, never ever try to defrost them. I made that mistake once and it ended up being really horrible because they just turned into mushy, wet things and they couldn’t be cooked and had to be tossed out.

Basically, you just need to boil up a large pot of water and toss the frozen dumplings in. They will sink so you will need to keep stirring them for the first 5 minutes or so. You can tell they are cooked when they start to float. If you want them fried, you can then just fry them in a bit of oil. I also use the pre-made dumpling sauce I got from an Asian grocer, which is really rather good so I never tried making my own.

(the entree platter)

Since Taste of Melbourne, I have always wanted to go back to Maha. So finally I drafted Maya, Sharon and Tong to head there for a really good nosh on a Monday night.

(table salt and spices)

Maha, as it turned out, was literally about 50 metres from the building I work in. Yep. I love my work building. It’s official. Strangely enough there was no sign outside. We suspected it was covered up while being redone. I had made a booking for the four of us but Josh unexpectedly finished early so he joined us as well. Amazingly enough (seriously why AM I still amazed?) the place was almost booked out. We were seated in the middle of the dining room almost cornered by two big corporate tables  (and this is the only thing I miss about my old job – massive entertainment budget).

(our welcome drink – the hibiscus tea)

The sufra was pushed rather heavily and I was disinclined to go with the sufra choice because I wanted to try a la carte. But unfortunately, the majority ruled me out. We decided to go with the 4-course sufra ($65 each), which meant no choice in the matter. We were asked whether we had any dietary restrictions which were catered for. The staff were extremely friendly and helpful. They took the time to explain each of the dishes when they were served. We were given a tiny shot of hibiscus tea as a welcome drink. We drink a lot of it in Thailand so it’s not as exotic for me as others.

(the lethal cocktail – $18)

Let me talk a bit about the lethal cocktail: it almost killed me the next day. I couldn’t remember for the life of me what was in it other than ‘oooh that sounds good, I’ll have that!’ It was the special on that night and it tasted absolutely fabulous. But I suffered for it the next day. Yep. I only had one.

(clockwise: lamb kibbeh in dressing, grilled eggplants, grilled Swiss brown musrooms)

Our entree arrived on a board wooden board. We were given a pile of warm Lebanese bread to share. A row of shot glasses, each containing a single lamb kibbeh (I think). Read the rest of this entry »

I love Yorkshire pudding. It’s just one of those things I grew up eating (British boarding school, y’know) and no matter how terrible they used to make them (and believe me, they did), yorkshire pudding are absolute must-haves in my kitchen when roast beef is to be made.

(searing the beef before roasting)

Josh felt like a bit of roast (‘a man has to have his roast!’ – yes it’s funny but only if you know him) and I made a mistake of letting him buy the beef. He came back with a 1/2 kilo piece of topside that was absolutely void of any visible fat at all. Seriously, how are you supposed to make great Yorkies without any beef drippings? Read the rest of this entry »

(salt & pepper calamari – $16?)

Josh and I met up with Sharon for lunch the other day. I suggested DJ Food Hall because it was a convenient location for all of us. I have had pizza there before and found that it wasn’t too bad.

We walked around a bit and ended up at the seafood/noodle bar. To be honest I’m not too sure why. Worse still, I regretted it much more when we got our food. I ordered salt & pepper calamari. I sort of expected crumbed and fried calamari but it was more of a fried calamari which was then stir-fried with various veggies. It was so godddamned salty. I kid you not. The calamari was lovely and tender but they and the veggies were covered in the saltiest thing ever. I literally couldn’t eat it. I complained and asked for rice which they graciously provided without charge. I had to scrape all the sauce off the veggie and squid piece by piece. Shudder.

(seafood chowder – $16?)

Sharon had the seafood chowder, which looked rather good with big chunks of seafood.  It had mussels and prawns underneath the white soup and looked really good. However she commented it was quite average and that the soup was thickened with (possibly) corn flour and it became thinner once it cooled. Read the rest of this entry »

I have had this dish a couple of times over the past months: at Pasta Rustica on Lygon St. and then at Gross Florentino: The Grill. I don’t mean to toot my own horn, but really, my version kicked ass!

This is really an adaptation of what I think the dish should be like rather than following any specific recipe.

For 4 servings (well we finished these for lunch but we had seconds):

1. 3/4 kg. of very fresh, preferably live, vongole*
2. 250g. of thin spaghetti or spaghettini
3. 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
4. 2-3 salted anchovies in oil
5. 1 ripe tomato, chopped
6. 2 shallots, finely sliced
7. 2 stalks of spring onions, finely sliced
8. 1/2 tsp of dried chilli flakes
9. A few twists of black pepper
10. 1/4 cup of booze, preferrably white wine but I didn’t have any so I used shao hsing.
11. 4 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
12. 2 stalks of fresh parsley, chopped

Rinse the clams in plenty of cold water to remove the grit. Or ask your fishmonger how you should clean them (I think it depends how much cleaning they have already done on them) Cook the pasta. Heat up a big pot (you need room to toss around later) with 3 tbsp of olive oil. Add chopped garlic, shallots and the white parts of the spring onions. Add the anchovies. Turn the heat down to medium high and stir around a bit until the anchovies fall apart. Add tomato, chilli flakes and some freshly ground pepper and stir. Read the rest of this entry »

(chicken salad – $12?)

Sofia’s is one of those places that has to be seen to be believed. The locals in Camberwell know that this is the place to go when you are really, really hungry. The servings are massive. My mind boggles at the amount of food dished up. In fact I tripped over once or twice because I was too busy marvelling at the size of other people’s food that I forgot to watch where I was going.

(Tristan and his Spaghetti Bolognaise – small – $11?)

We had a family lunch at Sofia’s for Josh’s birthday. I picked it because it’s close, it’s decent and it’s cheap. His side of the family is Scottish, you see. It definitely isn’t you-beaut-gourmet type restaurant but the food is decent and for such large servings it was never made half-arsed. In our experience anyway and we’ve been there a few times. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m pretty sure I made this for the very first time in Home Ec when I was in Year 8. Before I go on to lament on how Home Economics is seriously undervalued (actually, I won’t because we’d be here all day), I’d better give you the instructions in 10 words:

Heat butter. Add honey. Add sugar. Add oats. Stir. Bake.

Not enough? Ah well. I tried.

For about 10-12 slice-sized biscuits:

1. 3.5 cups of rolled oats
2. 125 g. of unsalted butter
3. 1/3 cup of sugar
4. 4 tbsp of honey

Preheat the oven to 150′C. Place the baking tray in the oven to warm.

Melt the butter on low heat. Add honey and stir until combined. Add sugar and stir until the sugar dissolves. Add all of the oats and stir over low heat for a few minutes until well combined.

Cut a sheet of baking paper to the size of the baking tray. I useLyn’s baking tray which is about 18cm x 25cm. It’s perfect for making the quantity of flapjacks that this recipe produces. This is the reason  she is not getting her baking tray back in hurry.

Take a block of butter and run the butter on the warmed tray. This is the easiest way to grease the tray. I do the same with muffin tins and other baking containers. Add the oat mixture and press it down firmly. Bake for about 30-40 minutes.

Once done, leave to cool for about 10 minutes before slicing into biscuits.

This is really basic but since I’ve been on about Thai food I might as well throw this in. As you may be aware (or not) that I am currently in love with my local fish monger (it’s an accent thing) and I have been buying some really good crustaceans and shellfish from them over the past weeks.

Josh is unfortunately not into crabs (and crustaceans in general. Lobsters had been wasted on him) the way I am. He’s just generally not mad about seafood like I am. So on a Saturday night when I was home alone, I cooked myself a seafood feast for one. Read the rest of this entry »