Pisco and Ceviche

I had never had a Pisco Sour until The Hotel Boliver in Lima. A reccommendation from a friend who was in the navy and was in the know. Wow......talk about knock your socks off! Two (actually they do make a double) will leave you laughing in the street. A mix of the delicious Pisco (made from grapes...smells a little tequila-ish but not really), sugar syrup, lime, bitters and egg white is the secret potion. Hubby and I set off on the quest for the perfect Pisco (unfortunately the best was actually the first! The Boliver Hotel each year wins the title for the "best Pisco in Peru" award).

Pisco is named after Pisco which is situated on the Peruvian coast, south of Lima. The story goes that it is named after the conical vase that it was aged in called a pisco. Pisco is also the cocktail of choice in Chile and Bolivia. The Peruvians and the Chileans having argued for centuries about who in fact invented it..........sounds a little bit pavlova-ish to me. Bloody Kiwis.

Ceviche being one of my all time favorites and a Peruvian National dish - I was in heaven! Luckily Ceviche and pisco compliment each other quite well.

Trout ceviche (which my brother mispronounced in Spanish and ended up ordering a very rude part of the female anatomy!!) was on every menu. The raw fish , diced and marinated in lime juice with fresh herbs and seasoning was incredible.

I also discovered a shooter of ceviche which was loaded up with the peruvian yellow or red chillies - absolutely fantastic. I think we all know a friend who will find the  fish  shake shooter too much to even contemplate...but for those that love it. This is the ultimate shot!

But like the Pisco's not every Ceviche is born equal. This particular ceviche above was the best we had - in Hancao (said Wankao...the townsfolk are known as Wankas...TRUE STORY) up in the mountains in a restaurant whilst we were killing time until siesta had finished and the shops opened (4pm).......why oh why cant we do that here???

So now the quest continues to recreate the Perfect Pisco and the Perfect Ceviche all in time for Christmas lunch when my new Peruvian in laws are coming for lunch!

Peruvian Pachamanca

Did you know that in Peru they have 3000 different varieties of potato (papa's). The produce available in Peru is amazing.....apparently a few years agao they cleaned up in the organic produce awards in Italy, winning 28 of the 28 categories available.

My family and I have been lucky enough to spend 3 weeks in Peru as my brother married a gorgeous girl whose family live in Lima. Not any ordinary tourist holiday this one.....

For my dads 77th birthday we were up in the mountains at their house in Jauja where they threw him a surprise party! A pachamanca! Pacha means earth and manca is earthen pot. This style of cooking has been around since the Incas and is now still an important part of Peruvian cuisine. They enlisted the help of Emilio, the town pachamanca specialist, who arrived early in the morning to prepare the oven and heat the rocks. Meanwhile the girls all headed to the market for the ingredients. A typical Pachamanca meal consists of potatoes (lots of 'em!), guinea pig (yes please!), chicken, pork, beef, lamb, corn tamales and green lima beans.

Typically the rocks are heated for 3 - 4 hours then all the rocks on the top are removed and the food is layered in the earth. Potatoes first followed by the beef, lamb, chicken and guinea pig (yes it was delicious...like sweet chicken), then a few more rocks are layered in and the corn tamales are placed around the rocks. Then a layer of alfalfa and the lima beans are all thrown on top.

The corn tamales were lovingly made by Pale (92 years old and just completed his law degree!!) over the
course of 2 days! Mind you the corn in peru is like it is on growth steroids - each kernal being the size of a 5 cent piece. The raw corn is put through a mincer and then Pale stirred thru some sugar and  raisins and then packed it back into the corn husks.

Then another layer of the alfalfa and a layer of bags and then the whole mound is covered in dirt until there is no smoke escaping. A cross made with 2 sticks is then placed in the top of the mound - when this falls over the food is ready!

All the food is unloaded into baskets and taken to the table where it is consumed with your hands and accompanied by bread and a special chilli sauce - made with the ubiquitous peruvian yellow chilli! What a treat! But that was not all.........while we are eating we hear a band playing in the back yard. We go out to find a 10 piece band and dancers swirling around the yard.

What an afternoon......dancing, drinking Cervesa (beer) with the band and Emilio (the undisputed pachamanca king of Jauja) in the back yard. All the locals were in the street dancing. I don't think my dad has ever had a birthday like it......not quite sure what we are going to do next year to top it!

Chinese Style Pig Trotters

Chinese Style Pig Trotters.

Serves a few as a nibble or starter - too rich for a whole meal.

I think many people don't eat these tasty little morsels simply because they don't know what to do with them and they don't know how insanely good they taste. Heres and easy recipe. By the way piggies hoofs are cheap cheap! 6 hoofs cost me $3.20.

6 pigs trotters - cut in half lengthways and then into 4 or 6 pieces.

5cm piece of ginger chopped

5 garlic cloves - crushed

50ml dark soy

100ml light soy

100ml cider vinegar

50gm brown sugar

150ml pineapple

50 ml chinese cooking wine

1 star anise

1 cinnamon quill

Heat the oil in a large pot and brown the trotters off.

Add the garlic & ginger, star anise & cinnamon and give a quick stir to release the flavours.

Add the remaining ingredients.

Add enough water to cover the piggies trotters.

Bring to the boil and then simmer for about 2 and a half hours. So simple!

These are a sensational gelatinous taste sensation. Grab a cold beer and snack away to your hearts content. YUM

White Bean & Pistachio Dip

White Bean & Pistachio Dip

This is great to whip up in a couple of minutes for a tasty snack or a delicious lunch with some vegetables.

I made it last night with some kale in it as well - it gave it a nice peppery flavour. Another tip is when I am roasting up my garlic I pop a sprig of rosemary in there too - gives a great flavour.

Ingredients:

1 x tin of cooked cannellini beans – drained (get these at the supermarket)
juice of 1 lemon

70 ml good olive oil
3 cloves of roasted garlic
4 tbspn chopped parsley – generous amount
50 gms pistachios
salt and pepper to taste

Put all ingredients into a bowl and wizz up with a bamix or alternatively put into a food processor and mix it all together (a milkshake or smoothie maker will do the trick)

Serve with another slug/swirl of olive oil on top - a sprinkle of dukkah is nice too.

This will take about 5 minutes to make and will keep in the fridge for up to 10 days.

DAMN GOOD CHICKEN PIE

THE BEST CHICKEN PIE EVER!

This one is worth the effort – make double and freeze half. Full it with vegetables and take it with you to work for a great meal when you are working hard and need to keep your energy levels up and give your soul a big nutritious hug! I like to just put heaps of celery & parsley in mine and I make about 5 pies at a time so I have them in the freezer for "unexpected" guests.

ingredients:·

1 x cooked chicken or alternatively 4 poached chicken fillets cut into nice chunks. (to poach chicken simply put in a pan and cover with water and bring to the boil then simmer for about 5-7 minutes)

· 4 stems of celery chopped

· 2 carrots chopped

. 1 bunch chopped continental parsley

· 1 pkt of frozen spinach (opt)

· Any vegetables you like really, zucchini, peas, corn, capsicum – just dice them up like the others.

· 2 cups of chicken stock – now really you can use cubes that’s fine just get good ones (massell, knorr) and add one more than they tell you or use the liquid stock you can also get at the supermarket.

· 150gm butter

. 180gm four

· 2 cup of milk

· salt and pepper to taste

· 4 pieces of puff pastry or filo (if you are gluten intolerant you may want to make a nice topping for your pie out of gluten free bread, olive oil, parmessan and chopped parsley – just sprinkle it over the top and bake as instruction)

what to do next:

1. Melt the butter in a large enough pot and whisk in the flour - cook out the flour for approx 2 - 3 mins. You are making a roux.

2. Slowly add the stock and milk in a saucepan large enough to hold all the ingredients and bring to the boil and turn heat down to simmer.

3. Saute all your vegetables in a pan – cook until tender (not soggy!) this should take about 8-10 minutes.

4. Add all the vegetables and poached chicken to the runny white sauce

5. Continue stirring until the sauce thickens. If you need more cornflour then do so. (this is a cheats version of whats chefs call a veloute which is made with milk and stock and thickened with butter and flour)

6. Add your chopped chicken – filling is made!!

7. Here it is up to you what you do with this – eat it with rice, put it in a pie dish and top with pastry (always brush pastry with egg wash -egg mixed with a bit of milk) before cooking and always cook in a hot oven (200° for about 25 – 35 minutes)

Make filo parcels and freeze some for when your schedule doesn’t give you any time for cooking! This is beautiful and a real hug from mums meal.

RAW Space cafe, South Brisbane

RAW space Cafe,

99 Melbourne Street,

South Brisbane

p: 3844 9952

Open Mon - Fri 7am - 2.30pm

Saturday Brekkey: 7am - 12pm

Cafes like Raw Space are hard to find - its like the "olden days" when a huge variety of homemade food was jam packed into a display cabinet - fresh daily.

Raw Cafe is just that, a friendly space that is kind of a gallery (rob kelly, one of the owners is an art curator) but leaning towards more a local food haven.

The only down side is that there is so much on offer it is hard to decide what to have: lasgane, beef or pumpkin & fetta ($9.50), salmon & potato Pie ($3.5), zucchini fritatta ($4), risotto of the day ($8.5), chicken burger ($8.5) or choose from a huge range of fresh cut sandwiches ,bagels, turkish ($5 - $8) - my hubby just loves the egg & lettuce sandwiches (some people are just easy pleased!)

There are salads galore - big colorful plates of greek, caesar, nicoise, roasted sweet potato, beetroot and green beans. Sooomuch to choose from. The top of the counter is laden with fresh muffins, cakes, biscuits - most made on the premises by the chefs Lucinda and Bimbi out back.

There is quite simply something for everyone. Breakfasts have just started on Saturdays - although it is available all week. Blueberry pancakes with whipped pecan butter ($12.5), israeli eggs with yoghurt, coriander and toasted turkish bread ($13.5),
housemade baked beans ($8.5), savoury mince cob ($10.5) and of course the BIG brekky ($16.5) with all the bits plus loads more offerings ...far too many to mention.

All meals are served in takeaway containers however if you "dine in" your meal gets placed on a funky green tray. I chose the Rice Pilaf - which was like a chicken fried rice. Just what I felt like with a cup of very good coffee (Abrisca $3)

The hubby had the steak sandwich which was great, onions, chutney, tomato & letteuce $8.50 served on a turkish bread - so big he bought half home for arvo tea. (he eats like a sparrow!)

Raw is a great little find and a cafe that we would all love to have up the road - pop in and see for yourself. I bet you won't know what to choose!

Sticky Pear Shortcake

STICKY PEAR SHORTCAKE

I have been making a version of this for years after one of my bosses when I was about 18 taught me this "everything" recipe. The shortcake here can have milk added to it and tuirned into a cake - it can have a bit more flour added to it and turned into biscuits - it is just an everything recipe.

So the other night I had some friends over and was making pear tarte tartin but didn't have any pastry - so thought I would just whip up my everything recipe and dollop it on the top of the caramelised pears and bake in the oven - the result was so delicious it was verging on perfection!

So here it is my everything recipe and the caramelised pears.

2 pears sliced

1/2 cup brown sugar

100 gm butter

1 tspn vanilla bean paste

dash of sweet wine

Cook in a pan that can also go in the oven.

Place butter, sugar, vanilla and a slug of something you mat be supping on in a pan with the sliced pears.

Cook over a medium heat until soft and caramelised - about 7-10 mins.

The "everything" part of the recipe.

Shortcake:

250gm softened butter

11/2 cups sugar

2 whole eggs

1 tspn vanilla paste

2 cups SR flour

Place the butter and sugar in a food processor and cream together.

Add the eggs and vanilla and give another mix until creamy.

Add the flour and make a delicious stiff doughy mix.

Place spoonfuls of this mix all over the pears and bake in the oven (160 degrees celcius) for approx 10 - 15 minutes.

Allow to sit for a few minutes then run a knife around the edge of the pan and place a plate on the top and flip out the tart.

I served with Maggie Beers Burnt Almond ice-cream but a big dollop of something creamy is perfect.

ENJOY - this is truly lipsmacking!

My favorite Pho Kitchen

Pho Hien Vuong, Pasteur -
Shop 21 Market Square

Cnr Mains Rd and McCullogh St,

Sunnybank

Open 7 days a week.

Whenever I feel like I need a bit of a warm food hug, I jump into my car and head out to Sunnybank. I love the shopping and the hustle and bustle and then I love retreating to the little pho shop in the corner. There are no airs and graces in this little premises - it is clean, has laminex tables laden with chopsticks, thermos of green tea, cups, tissues, hoi sin & chilli sauce, sugar, tub of ground chilli and some spoons. It is always crowded with locals at anytime of the day having their fix of pho.

I always like to start with a coconut juice or one of the many gorgeous drinks full of tapioca or the coconut and pandan jelly with beans. Some of them are a meal in themselves - really some tea is probably enough. But who says enough is enough - not me.

At Hien Vuong, they have all the normal stuff such as the rice paper rolls and the spring rolls but they do a roaring trade in all things pho. Queenie and the team here even do mini personalised steamboat - wow and yum!

There are many other great options on the menu. They do a great selection of Bun (m $8 Lg $9)(vermicelli salad) with BBQ chicken, the ubiquitous spring roll or tender shredded pork - all are delicious. The Com (m $8 lg $9) (rice) dishes are also great for sharing as well. The usual Vietnamese suspects are here BBQ pork chop, Crispy Chicken and BBQ Pork Rind all served with rice, shredded cucumber, carrot, some herbs and lettuce. It is such a fresh and enjoyable way to eat (doh! any eating is enjoyable - right!)

But today it was raining so I opted for straight Beef Pho (s $7) it is the greatest stock and a simple rice noodles, slices of beef, spring onions and then the gorgeous plate of beanshoots, chilli, lemon and asian basil - I want it now - again! I added some hoi sin and a bit of chilli oil a squeeze of lemon and I was off.

I stop here for lunch on our Taste Trekker Asian Sunnybank shopping tours so am lucky enough to eat here quite a bit. As they do all sorts of soups with Combination (livers, giblets, pigs blood, tendons, fat brisket) one of the fellas on the walk was really hungry so he ordered a large combination beef soup - the result: a large salad bowl ($9) full of miscellaneous beef bits that he had to pick his way through. There was no way he was ever going to finish it. I now order for everyone.

The pho kitchen is a must stop if you are out Sunnybank way and need a food hug - great value for money and some of the tastiest pho I have had in Australia or Vietnam for that matter.

Raspberry & Coconut Rice Pudding with Lime

COCONUT, RASPBERRY AND LIME RICE PUDDING

Time to prepare: 5 mins

Cooking time: 30 mins
Devouring time: Not long - none left over for seconds.

Dishes: one pot!

This recipe started from a twittersation about rice pudding and yummy things to serve for brunch. Divinepurple was saying she would like to make a coconut ice rice pudding with frozen raspberries folded through the pudding - I thought that sounded like a damn good idea. In todays Brunch Cooking Class I gave it a whirl...so here it is.

I had a recipe for rice pudding with Papaya from Christine Manfields new book Fire and then changed it a bit - this is how it turned out. It was ABSOLUTELY a hands down winner and sooo easy to make.

Coconut Rice Pudding with Raspberries and Lime
Serves 4

what you need...
160gm aborio rice
500ml coconut milk/cream
200ml milk
100gm sugar
zest of 2 limes
½ tspn vanilla paste
250ml cream
20ml fresh lime juice (about 1 lime)
150gm fresh or frozen raspberries
50gm raspberries for garnish
30gm coconut flakes or shredded for topping

what to do.....
Wash the rice under running water to get rid of excess starch as normal.
Place the rice in a pot with the coconut milk, milk, sugar, lime zest and vanilla paste. Cook over moderate heat – stirring every now and then.
Once the rice is simmering, cover with a lid and turn down low – cook for around 30 minutes or until the rice is soft and has absorbed all that liquid.
Remove from the heat and let sit for 5 mins.

Stir through the cream, raspberries and half the lime juice.
Spoon into serving bowls or one nice big one and top with remaining raspberries, lime juice and coconut.

I served it in a gorgeous glass bowl on a stand - it looked stunning! However I nearly forgot to take a pic - so this is all I could manage.

Enjoy!

Dudley Street Espresso

Dudly Street Espresso

494 Ipswich Rd.

Cnr Dudley St and Ipwich Rds, Annerley.

As I wandered along Ipswich road blindly looking for a place to get my morning hit of caffeine (I wasn't staggering home or anything untoward,my pilates studio is around the corner) - I stumbled upon the delightful Dudly Street Cafe, Espresso and Collectables. Half cafe, half funky op shop. A big long table takes up the front of the shop filled with regular caffeine junkies all getting their fill.

once again greeted by two big smiling dials of the two owners - I love a big smile to greet. Everyone should get onto that!

I ordered a toasted turkey turkish ($7.5)and a cup of their finest ($3.5). Giancarlo from Grinders is their bean of choice, not my favorite but its ok when made well. My turkey turkish was good too- I did want the buffalo mozzerella, tomato & basil sandwich ($5.5)but there were none left. A nice selection of the cafe regular assortment was available and a few salads ($8)

A nice selection of cakes and danishes are available - they all looked a bit to perfect to be churned out of an oven on site but they looked quite nice - choc tart thingy, an orange cakey one. I didn't indulge so can not give comment on taste. I will go back so will go nuts then.

The curios and collectables were interesting; world globes (you know the one you had as a kid and wondered why australia didn't fall off the bottom of the world!), clocks, boxes, tables, signs, pictures, blackboards - all very cool collectables.

Apparently the boys do a mean white hot chocolate so the lady sitting next to me said - and I believe her - the fellas here don't do a lot but what they do they do well.

Desmond & Molly Jones

Desmond & Molly Jones
Stanley St, Woollongabba.

Oh bla de oh bla dah ...ooooh how life goes on . When a new cafe springs up in my neck of the woods I am there quicker than the food reps that will no doubt turn up in their droves close behind.

I watched Desmond & Molly Jones for weeks - peeking through the newspaper that always conveniently lets one piece drop so that you can kinda see whats going on - but not really!

So after parking illegally in another shops carpark ( I know I am ashamed) - parking is at a premium in this neighborhood - I wandered around past Heinz Meats (more on that later) and into the gorgeous shop of Desmond and Molly Jones.

Exposed brick walls and funky wall paper and retro furniture. Fresh herbs out the front and old window shutters as tables clashing with the primary colored stools of the 70's - I love the simplicity of the fit out. Its all quite simple really - a few enticing dishes, great coffee and a whopper of a smile on your arrival - all make for a great start at Desmond & Molly Jones.

I was greeted by the extremely bubbly Kristina who helped me decide quickly on a greek spinach pie ($8.5) and a delicious roquette, pinenut and orange salad.

The meal was tasty and HUGE....I couldn't eat it all and I love food but this had me beat! Plus I really wanted to leave room for a Genovese Coffee as that really is my favorite. The pie was delicious, full of cheese, spinach and rice and wrapped in puff pastry with a dollop of cheesey pinenut spinach dip on top ( I wasn't a big wrap on that it was kinda more of the same). The table & chair situation is to find a comfy chair and rest your plate on your lap - its all a bit " front of the telly" style eating as the tables are small and low - but I like that. The elderly lady before me struggled a bit but she'll work it out!

The daily offering is written up on a huge wall of blackboard . Brekkey can be crumpets and jam ($4.5) , turkish toast with housemade jams ($5) or muesli with rhubarb, ginger and yoghurt ($6.5) -all sounds deliciously uncomplicated. Lunch consists of a selection of interesting sandwiches ($8.5) with fillings such as veal meatloaf, rolled pork belly and smoked chicken and the daily special (which on this day was the pie!)

The benchtop display of rocky road muffins($4), savoury muffins ($3.5) vanilla greek cake (this looked amazing!) all looked scrummy and I couldn't help but buy a rocky road muffin and it was totally indulgent, choc o bloc full of goodies.

I will definitely return to this little joynt - great value, nice choices and bloody good coffee!

Straddy, lights, action!

What a fun week I have had. I trekked off to North Stradbroke Island with my mate Kylie (shes a photographer) to do a cooking class over on Straddy to be filmed for Channel 7s Weekender. We had shot this footage before but in the nasty storms last year the roof flew off at channel 7 and many of their stories were ruined in the floods.

So off we trotted back to elandra (these houses are great, 3 houses and each sleeps 8) - as i had the same lot of eager volunteers I put together another dinner party menu based loosely around greek food. The weather was absolute crap - raining and really windy - so those shots of us all relaxing at the beach were not happening. It was interesting trying to connect all these little situations to make a story that can be told in a few minutes on tv.

We started with ouzo of course and a few snacks.....we cooked up greek lamb cigars, made some herby labna and cooked up some gorgeous blue swimmer crabs that one of the fellas had caught that day. Then we made greek lamb, smashed potatoes, fennel and baby tomato salad - followed by a chocolate and hazlenut torte - which I served half cooked as it was taking way too long to cook. I don't think they noticed I just said it was a saucy pudding and wacked a few berries over it!

The enthusiastic volunteers all then went and got their musical instruments and we ended up with a bit of a jam session going on - we even had a flute player! Sat up much of the night discussing if it is a little wierd to take nude photos of your sister while she is pregnant!!!! I thought yes.

The next morning we did a breakfast shoot out by the BBQ - same volunteers. We did baked eggs on the BBQ with yoghurt bread , apple pancake and watermelon granitas - delish!

A quick trip to the beach as the water was magnificent finished off a great couple of days - I tell you some people really do live the life we only dream about!

Breakfast at Brio

I met my friends at a new Breakfast joynt in New farm called Brio. Situated on the trendy little strip of shops along the old woolstores. Great area and some nice little places popping up. It is owned by a couple of fellas, one who already has a restaurant a little further up the road called the Vine.

The sun beats in there fairly severely in the morning but grab some shade under one of the umbrellas. The menu looked fantastic, apple pancakes with yoghurt, slow braised beef with ciabatta, zucchini cakes, cornbread with house made beans. The two chicks both couldn't resist the field mushrooms, persian fetta and roquette with ciabatta. At $9 they were HUGE - we could have shared one. A piece of lemon or some good olive oil may have given it the kick it needed - but it was tasty all the same. The bloke had the zucchini fritters which were a bit of a let down really - uncooked throughout and lacking in flavor a bit of sticky balsamic was the only thing gluing this together. A beetroot, lemon and apple juice was refreshing and even felt like it might have been doing some good!

I love Genovese coffee and Brios is good - so downed a few of those to get me on my way for the day. Even though I am on a green coffee detox - OMG it is like putting your body on fast forward - don't know how good it is for me really! Anyway I will definitely go back to Brios and give them another crack as they had only been open for a minute or two and were having a few teething issues (like staff not turning up - don't we all know about that!). The menu looked too good not to go back and have another whirl. Prices were good - with a gym across the road there is lots to look at (just make sure you have your sunnies).

first blog - election night & fish n chips

watching the queensland election - where labour has won again. No doubt we are all in for more of the same crap we have had for the past decade! People are just scared of change and maybe the fact that someone might get in and actually do something -better the devil you know maybe. Nevermind head down......... eat more food!

Tonight after finishing a full on week of cooking classes we have had fish and chips. I don't eat much junk but oh that good except why do we eat so much when we are eating shite!? Burger with the lot, scallops, home made dimmies and too many chippies. Kym and Vy's fish and chips in Ipswich Road , Annerley. Isn't it weird how our best fish and chip shop is run by a Vietnamese family. We used to kive in Brighton in melbourne aand our chinese shop was run by greeks and our fish and chip shop was run by a chinese family! strange but true!

Cooking classes over for the week I might even have a couple of vino's. I have had group classes of women all week. One group got on the champers and really i just ended up cooking them lunch - learnt my lesson there - no bubbles until we have knocked a few dishes over. My group of ladies today were a little more well behaved and did a delicious thai class - the food was fantastic and THEN they had the bubbles. One even jumpe in the pook for a swim - thinking that could be an add on. Have your class and then take a sunbed by the pool while hubby ( in a hawaiin shirt) wheels out the cocktail bar. Now that idea has got some legs.

Very excited about the start of my blog and looking forward to joining blog world. I am learning video streaming next week - a whole new world awaits me.