Christmas pudding is a traditional favourite for most of us, even at the end of a big Christmas meal and even in the heat of a Sydney summer. In our house it’s smothered with our ‘Best Ever’ brandy sauce. Jan recommends it served with homemade vanilla ice cream as well. Real diehards may want to add custard to the list ....
Yes, it’s time to get on with the Christmas baking. The koels are waking us at 4 am, the channel-bill cuckoos are causing havoc amongst the local birds and the cicadas are drumming. Tinsel is appearing in the shops and gift catalogues in our letterboxes. All signifiers of summer and the approaching festive and holiday season ....
As our seasons here in Sydney are not absolutely defined, we segue from cool to warm to hot and back again before a new season is in full swing. To be able to declare the change we take our cue from the appearance of new season’s fruit and vegetables in the market. We now know that spring has sprung and summer’s nearly here because our markets and shops are filling up with delicious stone and berry fruits ....
Most cooks, I’m sure, will always put their leftovers to good use, reinventing them in surprising and imaginative ways but Massimo Bottura, whose restaurant Osteria Francescana in Italy is currently number 1 on The World’s Best 50 Restaurants list, lifted the world of leftovers out of the garbage bins and into true, heart-felt philanthropy ....
Recently I wanted to make an Asian dish that called for Kecap Manis, the sweet soy sauce that’s an essential ingredient in so much Indonesian and Malaysian food.
While gluten-free soy sauce is readily available these days, gluten-free Kecap Manis is still a bit of a rarity, although, as I’ve since discovered, it’s a piece of cake to make a pretty good version at home ....
When I was a small child my dad used to eat little, foil covered sections of processed cheese and I loved it too. He also ate blue cheese and I hated it. I couldn’t understand why he’d choose to put something so disgusting in his mouth. Many years later while in France I stayed with a woman who took my culinary education very seriously ....
These plump (hence the name) little biscuits are perfect with a cup of tea or a coffee. They are mixed very quickly in the food processor or by hand and although we've filled them with halva you can just as easily and deliciously fill them with jam or bake them empty and, when you're ready to serve, fill with lemon or lime curd, chocolate ganache or even nutella (sshhh) ....
On a recent excursion to the Tramsheds at Harold Park, a new food and restaurant complex in Sydney, I was impressed with the gathering of some top Sydney restaurant operators, new bakeries and groovy cafes and bars but what really caught my eye, in the supermarket no less, was a packet of gluten-free lasagne sheets ....
Rosie had been to Lario International, the Sydney importer of fabulous and unusual Italian products, and was showing Jan and me her purchases. There was some beautiful olive oil, a bottle of pomegranate balsamic vinegar, an exotic jar of pine bud syrup and a small jar of light green paste. We were given a taste to determine what it was. A pesto of some sort? No. Salsa verde with a difference? No ....
Yesterday, at the Food and Words 2016 seminar in the atmospheric Mint complex in Macquarie Street Sydney, we were encouraged to eat more vegetables and less meat. The thread of the presentations throughout the day stitched together ideas about local food, global systems, ethical production, health and sustainability. All interesting and important stuff....
It seems that when it comes to cake everyone has something to say. Of course, we all know what Marie Antoinette said. Apparently George Harrison observed “All the world is birthday cake, so take a piece, but not too much.” And I admire the tipster who suggested that to keep a cake moist just eat it in one sitting....
