Spatula, Spoon and Saturday

It is a very unfortunate thing when you discover a fabulous restaurant by accident, it gave you such a great impression and got you excited with its genuine, interesting. good food and then you never to get around to blogging about it until months later. So now you fear you won’t do it justice. That or maybe you start wondering if it was all in your head in the first place.

Such is life. And naturally I’m digressing.

We rocked up to South Yarra (not an area I frequent) to attend the monthly company drinks which were held at, of all places, a posh car dealership. As I can only get so much networking (with fairly limited drinking ability in my current condition) done with my fellow nerds-in-suits, I still needed to eat dinner. We searched around for a restaurant nearby on the interweb and decided on Lento.

Lento (Josh didn’t quite understand why you would name your restaurant ‘slow’ in Italian but he is a music boy and not a foodie boy, innit) is a slow food Italian restaurant. Now I still have no freaking idea what slow food is meant to be because I have seen it being arsed around so much so I would just not comment but suffice to say, in food terms, slow is now good (as at 2010). Read the rest of this entry »

(our ‘lure’)

Pim and Hong came over to Melbourne. And of course one of the top ‘to-do’ list is eating out on Lygon Street, the Italian heart of Melbourne (Seriously, do I sound like a food journo yet? Can I quit my IT job now?)

I love Lygon St. Sure it’s a bitch finding parking there on Friday/Saturday night but I just can’t get enough of it.

(awww, first date I’m sure)

On that night, I could swear all of Melbourne were on Lygon St. Every single restaurant was packed. We couldn’t get a seat at our favourite restaurant but let’s face it pretty much every Italian restaurant on Lygon St. served more or less the same thing. Pim and Hong had wanted ‘a good spaghetti meal, maybe with vongole’ so as we walked past Pasta Rustica, a nice Italian gentleman managed to lure us in (I’m loving how they all hire men with Italian accent to stand outside the restaurants and talk you into them).

So we went in. Intent on a good pasta meal, we all went for pasta options. Entree size, of course, because let’s face it we are not Italian. Entree size is definitely plenty!

(Linguini Vongole – $19.90 entree size)

Pim got her wish with Linguini Vongole – linguini with clams, white wine, tomato and caper sauce. It was on the specials board. I can’t imagine it ever leaving the specials board actually since it’s one of those really popular pasta dish. The sauce was very good with just a slight toss of chopped fresh tomatoes. Read the rest of this entry »

Last post on my Central Australia trip. Yay! Are you guys bored of reading about it yet?

(Bush food – an Aboriginal survival presentation at Alice Springs Desert Park)

We spent the last two nights in Alice Springs before travelling back to Melbourne. We drove from Alice Springs to Adelaide (yes in one day) before a stop over in Adelaide and then back to Melbourne the next day. I don’t think I can ever drive that much in one day again.

(Joshua’s kinda carbonara)

Just some quick pictures of a few meals that we cooked ourselves in Alice Springs as we were back to having a fully equipped kitchen. We did a round of fresh food shopping at Coles in Alice Springs, which was rather big and very stocked.

(the carbonara sauce, recipe here)

Josh made spaghetti carbonara, his usual way with mushrooms and capsicum. We had it for lunch back at the apartment one day.

I made stir-fried beef with onion, chilli and snow peas (recipe here, just add snow peas).

The snow peas were nice at the supermarket so I bought them instead of green beans. I served it with rice and omelet soup.

(omelet soup)

Omelet soup!?! Yep. Omelet soup. I might talk about it sometime later to include recipe but now is not the time.

Also made some more pasta sauce (with broccoli, zucchini, olives, bacon and capsicum) using the Leggo’s stir-through sauce for lunch on the road.

(rock wallaby)

And that concludes most of the foods that had been consumed during my time away from home! I shall leave you with some pictures of a cute rock wallaby at the Heavitree Gap resort in Alice Springs and Adelaide’s West Beach.

More Melbourne eating from now on!

(Ayer’s Rock Resort’s communal kitchen at around 9pm)

Wow I never thought I would ever do this. I figured I have already missed my boat on the whole backpacking/youth hostel thing. We were camping out at the camp ground at the Ayer’s Rock Campground near the Uluru-Kata Tjutu National Park because I planned the whole trip out in two days and I couldn’t get us reasonable accommodation that didn’t cost, like, $500 a night. So sleeping in a tent, it was.

(the choice of cooking implements were sadly lacking)

It seemed like, though, that everyone around us was well prepared and came with their own portable stove and cooking equipment. We only had some provisions, plates and cutleries and a billy can! I actually planned to just buy food there but the choice was so sadly lacking that when we by chance discovered the communal kitchen, I decided that I would hit the supermarket and make us some food. It was absolutely packed at first but once we made a trip to the supermarket and came back, the crowd had died down and the kitchen was nice and empty.

(I didn’t realise there was a water boiler there, I actually set a huge wok to boil some pasta)

To the certain extent I was prepared for everything to cost more, but I didn’t expect everything to nearly double in price! Amazingly, the only thing that wasn’t double in price was the steak. They loved their steak out there. That was the only thing in that entire Ayer’s Rock Resort IGA that didn’t cost much more than it would in Melbourne!

(pasta sauce with broccoli, zucchini and bacon)

So I ended up making us two meals there on both nights we camped there. The first night I made pasta with vegetables and bacon, having all the ingredients from the box. The second night, Mum insisted on some more meat and so I made green curry with beef and mushrooms and stir-fried lettuce with bacon.

(we had salad every night)

Things I already had in the provision box (some of which desperately needed to be used up):

1. 1 x 500g. fusili
2. 1 jar of Leggo’s Stir-Through pasta sauce
3. 2 slices of bacon
4. an iceberg lettuce
5. cooking oil
6. fish sauce
7. seasoning soy sauce
8. salt
9. green curry sauce (Mum bought this in Thailand so it really wasn’t so bad)
10. 2 tomatoes
11. 1/2 broccoli
12. 1/2 zucchini
13. 3 x mushrooms

(our pasta mean on the first night)

The rest I had to acquire at the supermarket, of course. I cut up some bacon, broccoli and zucchini. I stir-fried them in a bit of oil and added the Chilli, Tomato and Olive Stir-through pasta sauce in this mildly-filthy frying pan that I had to stir with a bent-up ladel. The shared equipment’s cleanliness had a lot to be desired I have to admit. Mum insisted on rewashing everything but some of the burnt on filth just wouldn’t come off. Ah well. The food they were selling there didn’t look much more appetising though! I’d rather have something I made!

(pasta dinner for three, cooked in a communal kitchen, served in provided bowls)

I ended using all of the pasta and sauce and we had some for lunch the next day (we needed to energy to climb the Uluru!)

(green curry with beef and mushroom, this is me breaking every Thai cooking rule here)

The second night saw us procuring some very nice and reasonably priced scotch fillets, which Mum promptly grilled up (in a wok I might add as it was the only thing we could lay our hands on because we went in during peak time on that day). I sliced the other one up and marinade it in 1 tbsp of fish sauce.  I brought the green curry sauce to boil and added the steak and mushrooms and simmer and cooked them quickly so that the beef stayed nice and tender.

Yes I know. There is no mushroom in any Thai curry, ever. But I needed to use up the mushrooms as we didn’t have a fridge and I would be damned to store anything in the communal fridge! Again, I made a lot of food hoping to have it for picnic lunch the next day. Not a great idea with the curry as the fat solidified, so we saved it (and thankfully it lasted) until we get to Alice Springs where we had a microwave!

(stir-fried lettuce with bacon)

I also stir-fried lettuce and bacon together quickly in very hot oil. I only used salt as a flavouring ingredient. Everyone thought it tasted great. But the wok was so filthy it really put me off that I just couldn’t enjoy it knowing it was cooked in such a filthy communal wok. I literally added a heap of salt into a heated wok to clean out all the burnt bits that were on there that couldn’t be removed by detergent and scouring. It was rather disgusting to see what came off it. Although I cleaned it rather well, the memory lingered! I know the lettuce probably wasn’t a traditional stir-fry veggie but everyone should try it. It’s rather good.

(Rice cooked in a billy)

I made some rice in a billy! The trick is to use a lot less water because the billy is much taller and narrower so there’s less room for water to evaporate. Still the same ten minutes, just as it takes on the stove.

I guess I wouldn’t mind cooking in a communal kitchen again. I loved the big space and industrial-sized stove. The cleanliness had a lot to be desired but I think I’ll be happy to do it again provided that I bring my own saucepan, wok, frying pan, etc!

I saw a few families cooking in the kitchen together and it seemed like a great family bonding experience. I think that’s what everyone should do at home. Cook with your family. Sit down and eat the meal you have all prepared together. It was an experience for me observing all the family dynamics that were going on. I found it very interesting.

<Start Non-Food Babble>

(Coober Pedy above ground. Definitely more interesting underneath!)

We arrived in Coober Pedy late afternoon. Because it was Sunday and the tourist information centre was closed, I pretty much parked the car, left it running, ran into our awesome underground hotel and said ‘Here we are. But we want to go and see things before they close. Is there a mine tour/museum place we can visit at 4pm on a Sunday afternoon?’ Luckily, there was an opal mine/museum right next door. We were assured that they will close it a bit later if there were still people looking around in the mine. I was so happy because we just did not have time to spend in Coober Pedy other than that night.

(the corridor of our hotel for the night – it also used to be a mine)

The mine was awesome. I went to another mine (apparently the more popular one) and it wasn’t anywhere near as interesting as this one. We had a good time looking around at the exhibit. I even bought a couple of pieces of rock with some opal in it. So if you’re in Coober Pedy, I definitely recommend The Old Timers Mine.

<End Non-Food Babble>

Mum had decided that she has had enough of eating in and wanted to go out and have dinner in town. My mother is a big believer in eating-out. She only eats breakfasts at home! John’s Pizza Bar came highly recommended by the hotel owner, so we headed there. It seemed, though, that every tourist in Coober Pedy had the very same idea. John’s was right opposite to the Desert Cave, which I think was one of the biggest hotels in Coober Pedy. And in winter, Coober Pedy does get very touristy.

We ordered at the counter and were given a number. Judging from the crowd (they also do a lot of takeaway service) with empty tables, I knew our food would be long time coming.

(John’s Special Parmagiana – $20.00)

I was right. Half an hour later, Josh’s meal: John’s Special Parmagiana turned up. It was described as ‘Chicken or veal parmagiana with ham, salami, mushrooms, anchovies, olives, capsicum and cheese’ on the menu. It was huge. One thing I observed though, there has been a recent trend (I’m hoping it doesn’t catch on) to start treating a parma like a pizza base. So wrong. I disapprove of this practice. I also disapproved of this parma. But Josh enjoyed it. He couldn’t finish it, so we packed the rest of it away and he ate it cold as a schnitzel sandwich the next day.

(meat dishes came with side salads)

The parma also came with a side salad. The dressing was a tad on the vinegary side but fresh salad was always a welcome addition.

(Spaghetti Boscaiola – $14.00)

My pasta arrived at the same time. I had decided on Spaghetti Boscaiola. I vaguely remember from reading a cookbook a long time ago that it means something like a walk in a forest, which means the star of this dish is mushrooms. But anyhow as you can see from the picture, the bacon overtook the starring role. Quite common with all the food places in Central Australia really. The spaghetti was way overcooked and the sauce bland and uninteresting. I expected the sauce to be even slightly garlicky but was disappointed.

(500g. T-bone steak – $19.50)

Mum, being the biggest carnivore I have ever known, ordered 500g of ‘T-Bone Fillet’ (haha), which arrived about 10 minutes later. It also came with the same chips and salad combo Josh did. She gave me all her chips (did I not mention she is the biggest carnivore ever?). The chips were quite good.

(medium!)

As a general rule, when I’m not in a fine dining establishment in Australia, I always ask for my steak to be cooked rare so that medium rare is served. It is my experience that, without fail, they will always overcook the steak by one level. Must be the English in them. I forgot to tell Mum this so she ordered medium rare, which obviously resulted in a medium steak. I heard the guys who were a few tables away complaining loudly that their steak was way overcooked too. But, let’s pause and think about this for a moment, we just got a 500g. of T-bone for $20! How cheap is that? Other than that being overcooked, the steak was quite good. I enjoyed stealing bits of her steak and the steak did get a little rarer towards the bone which meant it was almost medium rare there.

(Caesar salad – $8.00)

I also ordered a side of Caesar salad because I didn’t know the meat dishes would come with side salads and I need veggies with my meal. Strangely, there was a lot more bacon and cheese in it than there was lettuce! It seemed like meat was a little easier to get a hold of in Central Australia than veggies!

There was a good selection of cakes and Greek desserts but we were way too full to sample any.

John’s Pizza Bar and Restaurant, Hutchison St., Coober Pedy, South Australia

I’m getting quite sick of zucchini actually but I shall soldier on.

This is from last week after I made cauliflower and cheese and had leftover Bechamel sauce (which actually sat quite nicely in the fridge for a day without complaining too much). Since I am such a terrific wife, I throw together a nice bit of pasta for Josh’s lunch.

I dice up whatever vegetables I have lying around (what’s new?) and that includes zucchini (again!), red capsicum, cauliflower (how much food can one make from cauliflwer? I still have some more left), and a bit of ham. I toss them into the tasty Bechamel sauce and simmer them for about 5 minutes or until the veggies are tender.

On the side, I boil up some wholemeat pasta. Once done, toss the pasta into the sauce. I find a nice vine-ripened tomato from Jim’s garden, peel it and squash it in. I dress the tomato slightly with a bit of balsamic vinegar mixed with olive oil. And then it goes into the lunchbox with leftover cauliflwer and cheese for Josh for the next day with some shaved parmasan.

This is bastardization at its best. It’s basically pasta with, um, tomato sauce. And when I say tomato sauce, I mean tomato ketchup. So I suppose a brilliant Thai person read about how the Italians eat pasta with tomato sauce and decided that ketchup should be used to flavour pasta! It’s one of those favourite childhood dishes simply because kids just love it. If you grew up in Thailand, you’ve had it. It featured in every school dinner.

We want to start off with some cooked pasta (macaroni, as the name suggests is generally the popular choice). As this being a bastardized Thai pasta dish, we want to overcook the pasta. No, I’m not kidding. I am suggesting you can forget all the al dente principle and just cook the hell out of the pasta the way the Thais generally do. This, after all, is a Thai dish. We also need half an onion, sliced. Half a carrot, sliced. A handful of sliced cabbage leaves and some chopped spring onions.

Just like my omuraisu, I used a hot dog (which is a very normal thing to do by the way) but you can used sliced chicken breast. Prawns are another popular choice.

So just like any other stir-fry, it’s a quick and easy thing. We start by frying off the hot dog in a bit of butter until it’s browned. Throw in the carrots, onion and cabbage. Toss around until the veggies are cooked (it might be a good idea to nuke the carrots for a minute or so in the microwave actually). Add the cooked pasta. three tablespoon of tomato sauce and a tablespoon of light soy sauce and stir around for a minute or so. Once it’s come together nicely, push the pasta to one side of the wok and crack an egg in. Scramble the egg around until it’s set slightly and toss the pasta over it (pretty much the way you would do to a fried rice). Fry until the egg is well cooked. Top with the chopped spring onions.

It may sound horrid but it’s really not bad. One has to wonder how one comes up with this. I have seen something similar at a Vietnamese restaurant but never got around to trying it (love the pho too much!)

And yes, I realise that I make a lot of pasta dishes.

This is just one of those really quick dishes that always hit the spot. Before getting onto how to make it, I would like to make a statement. Low-carb diets can go to hell. Seriously. How can you live with no/little bread or pasta or fruits!

I went to Holland Village today with a friend and bought two loaves of freshly baked Swiss Bake bread (I have always found Swiss Bake to be decent.) One of them happened to be the most fantastic loaf of rye bread I have ever had (really for $7, it’d better be.) The texture and flavour were just so wonderful that I thought wow I can’t believe I’m enjoying a piece of bread this much. Anyway! I’m definitely digressing this time.

You can make this in about 10 minutes. In go two handfuls of penne in a pot of salted boiling water. In goes some olive oil in a frying pan on medium heat. While waiting for the oil to warm up, clean and slice a bulb of baby fennel (or a quarter of a normal-sized fennler – you need about 1/2 a cup of sliced fennel), reserving the funky green top for garnish later. Toss the fennel slices to cook in the olive oil on medium heat until soften – this takes about 3-4 minutes.

Meanwhile open a small can of chunky tuna in brine (you can use tuna in oil or in spring water, up to you. I personally like oil but you know, I should attempt to be healthy sometimes. Unfortunately, not healthy enough to go for the spring water option). Make sure you buy chunky tuna (not sandwich tuna) so you get actualy tuna and not some leftover flakes.

Toss in a third of a jar of Leggo’s Stir Through pasta sauce (I think the sun-dried tomato one is best but any tomato-based one is good) into the cooking fennel with some tuna and a tablespoon of chopped semi-dried tomatoes and a tablespoon of chopped black Spanish olives (both of which I didn’t have when I made it this time but they make the whole thing much nicer) Stir through and let it simmer for about 2-3 minutes. Add plenty of freshly ground pepper. By now your pasta should be ready. So drain it, chuck it on a plate. Top with the tuna and fennel sauce. Top with the sauce with some more tuna chunks. Top the tuna chunks with the reserved fennel top. If you like to add a bit of a kick to it, scatter some rocket leaves on top. Totally ace.

Quick eh? A bit of a cheat but still really good.

30-Apr-2009:

I found some more photos of this dish that I did back in 2006.