cactus salad

Dhivya from Culinary Bazaar has launched an exciting new vegetarian cooking event, covering a new country every month: A Worldly Epicurean’s Delight or AWED for short.

For the first very month, our country of focus will be Mexico. What a great choice! There are so many vibrant, flavoursome options to choose from.

And what better ingredient to focus on than one featured in the Mexican coat of arms?

Can you spot it? The spiky cactus perch under the eagle?
I am talking about nopales, the young paddles of the prickly pear cactus.

The Mexican Coat of Arms depicts the founding of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital. The Aztec god, Huitzilopochtli, told the nomadic tribe that they should settle where they found an eagle devouring a snake, perched on a cactus, growing from a rock in the middle of a lake. Kind of specific.

Their divine sign came two hundred years later, in 1325, and the Aztec (Nahuatl) word for the Opuntia cactus, tenochtli, named the city.

And where is Tenochtitlan today? Buried beneath modern-day Mexico City with the original market square smack bang under Mexico City's own zócalo (main square).

Native to Mexico, Opuntia cacti are most commonly farmed from the Opuntia ficus-indica, although most Opuntia cultivars are edible anyway. The cactus can be sold fresh, canned, bottled or dried. In Australia, where only really the fruits are harvested, we import bottled nopales from Mexico, but I'm sure in other countries you could get your hands on the fresh paddles.

Fresh paddles need to be carefully prepared because they are full of cactus gel (like an aloe vera plant), however bottled nopales need only be washed and then used immediately. They are slightly sour, but are very mild and almost have a capsicum tinge to them.

Nopales, also known in their diminutive form nopalitos, are quite common in Mexican cuisine, served alongside eggs or in tacos. They are also gaining popularity in New Mexican and Tex Mex cooking.

They have great health benefits to them as well being rich in insoluble and soluble dietary fibre, magnesium, potassium, manganese, iron and copper as well as the vitamins A, C, K, B6 and riboflavin. Nopales also reduce the glycemic effect of a meal.

Opuntia are a genus in the cactus family Cactaceae and are native to Mexico and the south-west USA, but they are also very cold tolerant and can grow as far north as Canada!

The cacti grow flat, rounded paddles or platyclades which contain both large, fixed spines and small hairy spines known as glochids. It is the glochids which detach from the paddles and embed themselves into skin causing significant pain.

I once picked up some nopal paddles and was pricked through a thick layer of plastic. It was horrible and the pain in my fingers lasted a long time after I'd removed all the tiny spines. I can only imagine how bad it would be to get one in your tongue or throat!!!

The vividly coloured green, pink and deep purple fruits are known as prickly pears, cactus figs, Indian figs and tuna. They are edible once you carefully peel the outer layer and remove the very fine glochids (spines) to ensure they do not injure the throat or mouth.

Opuntia littoralis has been introduced to southern Europe and flourishes in the south of France, along the Struma River in Bulgaria, in southern Portugal and Madeira, mainland Greece, Corfu, Cyprus, southern Spain and Gibraltar, Malta and southern Italy. In Sicily the fruits, known in the singular as ficurinnia, are very popular and are used in jelly, jams and drinks.

In Malta the pears are eaten as a summer fruit (known as Bajtra tax-Xewk) and turned into a pink herbal liqueur known as Bajtra. In the south Atlantic island of Saint Helena, the potent Tungi spirit is distilled from the Indian Fig Opuntia.

Nopales are also really important to the dye industry, as the Dactylopius coccus scale insect, which is responsible for producing naturally occurring Cochineal (red dye) is native to tropical and subtropical South America and Mexico and feeds exclusively on Opuntia cacti. Aztecs and Mayans were been farming the insect for its dye long before the Spanish conquest and it was once an extremely valuable commodity. Due to recent discoveries that artificial red dyes have carcinogenic effects, the natural Cochineal has become commercially valuable again and harvesting operations have sprung up all over the world, even Australia.

Ensalada de Nopalitos (Cactus Salad)
Anna & Jonas’ recipe. Serves 2.
Ingredients:
250g bottled nopalitos
¼ white cabbage, shredded
1 tablespoon fresh coriander, chopped
4 pickled jalapenos (jalapenos escabeche), chopped
1 tablespoon lime juice
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
Salt and pepper
Methods:
1. Drain and rinse nopalitos. Soak in a bowl water for 2 minutes. This helps to remove any remaining slime/gel.
2. In a bowl, whisk together lime juice, vinegar and olive oil.
3. Drain the nopalitos and pat dry.
4. Toss together all the ingredients with the dressing, season and serve.
Variations: you could also add tomatoes or substitute cabbage for lettuce.

Interesting trivia from Wikipedia:
*In Israel , the cactus fig is called tzabar (צבר). This is the origin of the slang term sabra, meaning a native-born Israeli Jew.
*Opuntia stricta were imported into Australia in the 19th century, in an attempt to establish a cochineal dye industry, and quickly became a widespread invasive weed, rendering 40,000 km² of farming land unproductive.
*Apart from cochineal, the red dye betanin can be extracted from some Opuntia plants directly.
*Indian Fig Opuntia (and probably others) might have a reducing effect on alcohol hangover by inhibiting the production of inflammatory mediators.
*The gel-like sap of Opuntia can be used as hair conditioner.
*According to Reuters, some 10,000 farmers cultivate nopales in Mexico, producing around $150 million worth of it each year.

Tags: morsels and musings food blog food and drink australia recipes ensalada de nopalitos nopalitos nopales cactus salad vegetarian recipes salad recipes nopalitos recipes nopales recipes cactus recipes mexican recipes mexican food mexican cuisine

Photo & information sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prickly_pear
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nopales

coco y crema

I have been coveting this recipe for quite a while, but I think it’s time to share. The world deserves the Coco y Crema.

It could quite possibly be the best cocktail I’ve ever made.

That’s a big call, I know, but it has to be pretty good if it can get Jonas drinking a whole glass of coconut milk and then ask for seconds. He usually hates the stuff.

But this is wonderful. Just wonderful.

It’s a creamy, summery, tropical drink that's so ridiculously moreish you’ll be cursing coconuts for having such high fat contents.

This is my contribution to Mixology Monday’s rum theme.

I’ve used two types of rum: a rich, strong, dark rum (Mount Gay) and a light, coconut rum (Malibu - gasp). The condensed milk does give it a great additional flavour but if you wanted a vegan version sugar syrup would suffice.

The ice is really important though, because the low temperature of the drink ensures it’s not cloying. Use lots of ice.

The instructions are simple, the ingredients are all easily available, and all you need to do is hit a button on a blender and sit back with your drink.

Coco y Crema
Anna’s very own recipe. Makes 4 tumblers.
Ingredients:
400ml coconut milk
200ml sweetened condensed milk
150ml coconut rum
150ml dark rum
2 cups ice
Method:
1. Put in blender.
2. Process until smooth.
3. Drink with relish.

Our MxMo host this week is TraderTiki. Check out his blog to see what other rum based goodies are on display.

Tags: morsels and musings food blog food and drink australia recipes cocktailcoconut coconut milk rum coconut milk recipes drink recipes dark rum recipes coconut rum recipes rum recipes coconut recipes cocktail recipes

portuguese chicken

Australians are obsessed with Portuguese chicken.

It all started in 1986 when Antonio Cerqueria, a Portuguese migrant, opened his charcoal chicken shop on Bondi Beach and spawned Oporto. This was only 3 years after the first Nando’s in South Africa.

Ironically in Portugal and former colonies, the dish is known as Galinha à African or African chicken since it uses African inspired ingredients, while we call it Portuguese chicken since it was the Portuguese that brought it to the world.

So what is it? How about delectable morsels of chicken marinated in fiery piri-piri chillies, spices and garlic and then chargrilled and basted in sauce. It’s just too good!

There are as many recipes for this chicken as there are families in Portugal, but the one below is my variation on a recipe from Peter Evans, a fairly well-known Aussie chef whose only crime was to name his daughter Chilli.

Perhaps this reveals his love affair with the spicy red fruits and should portend an excellent, spicy chicken recipe for the adventurous.

But why not two for one Portuguese recipes?

I’ll even chuck in Sopa de Coentros, a warm coriander soup that I discovered on Home Gourmet, a blog by Portuguese foodie Suzana. The soup recipe, one of Suzana’s grandmother’s, is pure comfort food.

here’s our entrée . . .

Sopa de Coentros (Coriander Soup)
Anna’s version of Suzana’s grandmother’s recipe. Serves 6.
Ingredients:
3 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoon olive oil
3 garlic cloves, crushed
300ml vegetable stock
300ml water
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
1 cup cilantro leaves, coarsely chopped
3 tablespoons cilantro roots, chopped
3 boiled eggs, chopped
3 tablespoons, chopped fresh cilantro
1 chorizo sausage, very thinly sliced and fried
Method:
1. In a large stockpot, heat the olive oil over a medium-high flame. Add the onion and the garlic and sweat until soft, about 3-5 minutes.
2. Add the potatoes and cilantro root and stir well to prevent sticking.
3. Add the stock. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Bring the soup to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are soft, about 15 minutes.
5. Add cilantro leaves, stir until wilted then remove from heat.
6. Blend in a food processor until smooth.
7. Ladle into bowls and garnish with boiled egg, fresh cilantro and chorizo.
Note: Suzana includes a turnip, which I would have too if I hadn’t forgotten to buy it! I suppose you could use small salami instead of chorizo too.

and now for the main course . . .

Galinha à Africana (Portuguese Chicken)
Anna’s version of Peter Evans' recipe. Serves 2.
Ingredients:
2 char-grilled capsicums (bought from the deli section)
1-2 dried piri-piri chillies, crumbled
1 large, long red chilli, deseeded & chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
½ teaspoon coriander powder
½ teaspoon smoky paprika
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
2 boneless chicken thighs
Olive oil
Lemon wedges, to serve
Fresh coriander leaves, to serve
Method:
1. To make the piri piri sauce, put the peppers, dried and fresh chillies, red wine vinegar, garlic, paprika and coriander into a food processor. Add enough olive oil to make a loose paste
2. Spread the piri piri over the chicken and marinate overnight.
3. Set the BBQ or griddle pan to hot and cook chicken both sides until crispy and brown.
4. While cooking, heat the remaining marinade in a small saucepan to use as additional sauce.
5. Sprinkle with chopped fresh coriander and serve with lemon wedges, extra sauce and crusty bread.

Since I’ve done coriander to death, this Weekend Herb Blogging theme ingredient is the piri-piri chilli. It has other names too, such as the peri-peri (South Africa), peli-peli, African birdseye, African devil, African red devil and malagueta (Brazil), but I'm told in Portugal it's called piri-piri.

The cultivar seems to have originated in Portugal’s former African colony of Mozambique, where it is used in almost everything from sauces and marinades to roasts.

This cultivar is extremely spicy, ranking 175,000 on the Scoville scale, just under the Scotch bonnet that I covered a few weeks ago. If you’re not sure what that ranking means, as a comparison the jalepeno only ranks a maximum of 8,000. So it’s a spicy little devil, that’s for sure.

This week's WHB host is Laurie from Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska. Doesn't just the name of her blog intrigue you enough, without the added persuasion of the week's herb posts? Well how about her recipe for carpaccio with wild greens like dandelion? Yum!

Tags: morsels and musings food blog food and drink australia recipes weekend herb blogging whb soup main course coriander bbq chilli chicken piri-piri peri-peri peri-peri recipes piri-piri recipes peri-peri chicken recipes piri-piri chicken recipes bbq recipes chilli recipes chicken recipes soup recipes coriander recipes coriander soup recipes portuguese soup recipes portuguese chicken recipes portuguese recipes portuguese food portuguese cuisine

j'adore les gâteaux

Adriano Zumbo is being hailed the next best thing in Sydney’s dessert scene. His own pâtisserie is one year old, and he’s done stints at neighbouring Victoire bakery, but there has been a recent explosion of media attention on this young guy and now I know why.

His creations are magnificent.

I read somewhere that he trained at l’Ecole Lenôtre, and I also know he was a finalist in the Australian World Chocolate Masters event. But he’s still just a baby (late 20s).

But it seems Zumbo is the buzz word right now and, for a city with a distinct lack of creative, elegant pâtisseries, Zumbo certainly fills a void.

So, during the Balmain Rozelle Food Week (21-27 April), I signed up for his class entitled J'adore les Gâteaux.

This was not a slickly organised cooking class. In fact it was more like your first day as an apprentice pastry chef. He gave us aprons, cloths, recipes and then pointed at his industrial kitchen and said “get cooking!”

It was very intimidating at first, and for uncertain cooks it was almost enough to bring on a nervous breakdown, but it was also amazingly fun.

We were given free reign over the kitchen, delving into the pantry to find inverted sugar and dark Callebaut chocolate, rummaging through the cool room for 1kg of raspberry purée or perusing the walls to select a 1 metre tall blitzer to bind together industrial sized batches of 50+ cakes.

Adriano and his assistants, Dean and Walid, wandered through the class answering questions from the recipes, which were written for professionals rather than an amateur cooking group. They were cocky and good humoured, making the experience playful but no less daunting in its ambitiousness.

You really did feel like you were part of a (busy) pastry kitchen, complete with boyish banter and incessant teasing, but by the end we had produced two masterpieces: Chocolate Modena and Tuk Tuk Nothing.

The Tuk Tuk Nothing (above) is a cute dessert of coconut dacquoise sandwiching a round of pandan, coconut and ginger mousse studded with passionfruit pulp, chunks of pineapple and lychees. The edges are coated in white chocolate and rolled in toasted coconut, while the sides are dusted in green-glitter snow sugar. It certainly had a playful, tropical feel.

My favourite dessert was the Chocolate Modena (above). Flourless dark chocolate meringue biscuits were layered between raspberry ganache and balsamic ganache before being topped with shards of cocoa nib toffee. The grand finale were ropes of chocolate which Adriano made by piping thin lines of liquid chocolate onto a frozen stone then wrapping them into circles before the chocolate completely hardened.

Admittedly, Zumbo assembled the chocolate dessert since it required some skill and, although there were three cake/pastry makers in the class who might have managed it, very few of us amateurs could have pulled it off.

Working in groups, sometimes with strangers, is always a little tough. I had to control myself not to get too bossy, which everyone who knows me knows is practically impossible.

Also along for the ride was our very own Coco Chanel and fellow food blogger, Nat, from Breath of the Wok. She took loads and loads of photos and asked so many questions. I have to say it was great to have another food nerd in tow.

It was Nat who put me onto Zumbo in the first place. She was swooning for days over his passionfruit tart and even bought me white truffle and hazelnut macarons, just like the ones my Parisian foodie, Jean-Baptiste, brags about from Pierre Hermé’s winter offerings.

Not Quite Nigella and Oohh, look… both attended an earlier J'adore les Gâteaux class making totally different tarts and cakes. Their blogs are filled with links and photos too.

Now I know cakes aren’t good for you, but it was still shocking to see just how much butter goes into everything. Butter, butter, butter. There is a lot of butter. Trust me. A lot.

I was also surprised to realise how easy making beautiful cakes can be if you have the right equipment. I have always been in awe of bloggers like Joycelyn, Béa and Keiko because their creations seemed simply impossible to replicate at home. Yes, I know that’s silly since these lovely ladies do make their desserts at home, but I’m talking about us mere mortals, not pastry goddesses.

Now I know that if I had the right equipment, like palette knives, metal moulds etc, and knew some of the little techniques, such as water knives, then I think perhaps I could do it too. Repeat think and perhaps.

After just one night with those pastry chefs, I picked up a thousand techniques which will assist me in all my dessert cooking going forward. Just imagine what I could do after a week course! Or an apprenticeship!

It makes me realise I could do other things with my life.

But the downside to being a pâtissier is the hours. These guys have tough lives. Just like chefs they have horrible hours, starting around 3pm and leaving after 1am. Then do it all over again the next day.

Sure it’s tough on the body, that goes without saying, but imagine what it does to your life, your relationships, your ability to pay bills, have tradesmen come to your house to do work, visit the doctor etc. It’s gruelling.

Jonas is lucky, he’s got me as his backup “daywalker” representative to the world, but what if you’re single? How do you get all that stuff done? How do you even get out and about to meet someone?

And that 3.5hr lesson was tough on us. So after we were thrown in the deep end, Zumbo plied everyone with glasses of rose bubbly, packed two of each of the cakes into little boxes and fancy carry bags and then sent us on our merry way.

Nat, Coco Chanel and I headed down to Rosso Pomodoro and, in the parking lot of an industrial wharf, ate beautiful pizzas off the hood of Coco Chanel's BMW. As Nat said, it was "very mafia".

What a night. Pure bliss!

pineapple pulisseri

Meeta has called on her fellow bloggers to whip up something under the Bollywood Cooking theme for her May Monthly Mingle.

Non-Indian readers have it easy, since we are invited to pick one of our favourite Indian dishes, whereas Indian food bloggers are thrown a more complex challenge and have to make something slick enough to be served to glamorous Bollywood starlets and heart throbs.

I’ve gone for a dish that’s always intrigued me: the pulisseri. This curry usually combines a sweet fruit with chillies and sour curd.

It is sublime.

Although mango seems the most common option, I’ve gone for a pineapple pulisseri because I wanted a fruit that would hold its shape and remain chunky in the sauce.

The recipe turned out really well. The sweetness of the pineapple shone through, but it wasn't overbearing and the heat from the chilli and sourness of the yoghurt really brought it back to a savoury dish. I'd definitely make this again.

I found the recipe on another blogger’s site and followed it carefully, so this post has turned into a Recipe Road Test as well!

Pineapple Pulisseri
Recipe by The Budding Cook. Serves 6.
Ingredients:
550g pineapple chunks
½ teaspoon turmeric powder
5-6 curry leaves
375ml yoghurt, whipped (sour curd)
Salt
For the paste:
4-5 tablespoons grated coconut (frozen is fine)
½ teaspoon cumin seeds
5-6 red chillies
For the seasoning:
1 tablespoon coconut oil
½ teaspoon mustard seeds
½ teaspoon fenugreek seeds
2-3 red chillies
3-4 curry leaves
A pinch of yellow asafoetida (hing)
Method:
1. Grind the grated coconut, cumin and red chillies until they form a paste.
2. On medium heat, cook the pineapple cubes with the curry leaves, salt and turmeric powder in a little bit of water until the pineapple is soft.
3. Add the ground paste to the cooked pineapple and continue cooking for another 3-4 minutes.
4. Reduce heat and add the yoghurt. Mix well and remove from heat to prevent curdling.
5. In another pan, heat the coconut oil and add the seasoning ingredients. Fry until fragrant then add to pulisseri as a garnish.
6. Serve with steaming hot rice, thoran and pappadams.

Bollywood Cooking is a great theme for me because I had already set myself a challenge to investigate various Indian regional specialties throughout 2008.

This dish is from Kerala, a region of south-western India along the Malabar Coast, known as the Land of Coconuts. Interestingly, Kerala has the highest living standards in all of India and its biggest agricultural outputs are rice, coconuts, tea, rubber, cashews, spices and seafood.

Previously Kerala was made up of two states (Travancore and Malabar) which have different cuisines. Travancore tends to be spicier than Malabar and often vegetarian.

Generally Kerala’s cuisine seems to focus heavily on coconuts (cream, milk, freshly grated) and they usually use coconut oil for cooking.

Other common dishes from the region include idli (fluffy rice pancakes) and dosa (huge, crispy crepes stuffed with savoury fillings and served with chutneys and dal).

On another note, today is my sister Shamu's birthday and I want to wish her a whale of a day!!!


Map: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Kerala_map.jpg
Tags: morsels and musings food blog food and drink australia recipes pulisseripineapple pulisseri curry yoghurt recipes fruit recipes pineapple pulisseri recipes pulisseri recipes pineapple recipes curry recipes indian recipes indian food indian cuisine

aam ki lassi

Chris from Mele Cotte is hosting a playful mango themed event that I only discovered today: Cinco de Mango!

With the revamp of the Is My Blog Burning? website there is an avalanche of great food blogging events and I was lucky to be able to catch this one.

Mangoes are simply delicious. As a child they were an integral part of my Christmas. Stomach already bulging enormously from lunch, I’d sit in the swimming pool eating mangoes since it didn’t matter if my face got messy. And the buoyancy of the water would always take the weight off my bursting tummy.

I am sure the Northern Hemisphere readers are perplexed with this story, but when your Christmas is in summer, it’s just not Christmas without trays and trays of ripe mangoes.

One of my all time favourite mango recipes is the lassi, an Indian yoghurt shake perfect for cooling down after spicy foods. It’s also an excellent breakfast shake.

And why not post an Indian recipe, since mangoes are the national fruit and India accounts for more than half of global mango production. Along with China, Mexico and Thailand, the four countries comprise more than 80% of global production!

I am sure there will be several entries for the humble mango lassi in this Cinco de Mango event, but here’s my version:

Aam Ki Lassi (Mango Yoghurt Shake)
Anna’s very own recipe. Serves 4.
Ingredients:
250ml plain yoghurt
200g fresh mango pulp
2 green cardamom pods
Ice and ice water, to taste
Method:
1. Split the cardamom pods and remove the tiny seeds. Crush to a fine powder with a mortar and pestle.
2. In a blender combine all the ingredients until smooth.
3. Adjust the consistency to suit use by adding ice water and ice. Serve immediately.

So this is my contribution to Cinco de Mango. The round-up will be posted on Mele Cotte on the 5th of May, just in time for the real Cinco de Mayo celebrations in Mexico.

If you’re after some more mango information or recipes, try the Australian Mango Industry Association or the US National Mango Board.

On another note, this drink contributes to one of my 2008 Food Resolution, to explore foods from India's different regions. Apparently the lassi comes from the northern Indian region of Punjab, although it has now spread throughout the country, the region and the world!


Tags: morsels and musings food blog food and drink australia recipes milkshake shake drinkaam ki lassi mango lassi mango milkshake recipes mango shake recipes mango lassi recipes mango recipes drink recipes milkshake recipes shake recipes drink recipes lassi recipes indian recipes indian food indian cuisine

zucchini breakfast bake

I’ve been a bad blogger this week.

Jonas’ restaurant has been going through a terribly slow period so he’s been home every night. This means I spend time with him rather than blogging or taking my chub to the gym.

Naughty, naughty.

I have yet to share with you all the amazing cooking class I experienced last week with Sydney’s gateaux darling, Adriano Zumbo, and I have a backlog of pickles and preserves to blog about after a weekend of domestic bliss.

In the meantime I bring you one of my favourite breakfast creations, a happy accident that came alive after throwing the scant ingredients from the fridge into the oven.

This dish doesn’t have to be eaten at breakfast. It could be a great entrée (starter for the Americans), a side dish to your main course or even a light dinner served with a side salad and some crusty bread.

But I like it for breakfast: warm, soft, cheesy and gentle flavours reminiscent of Greek cooking.

Zucchini, Mint & Feta Bake
Anna’s very own recipe. Serves 2-4.
Ingredients:
2 large zucchini, coarsely grated
4 eggs
150g feta, crumbled
4 tablespoons yoghurt
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh mint
¼ cup parmigiano, finely grated
Pepper, freshly ground
Olive oil, for frying
Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180’C.
2. Heat the olive oil then fry the garlic until soft.
3. Add the zucchini and fry until soft and it has shrunk in size and released some of its moisture.
4. In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs then add the yoghurt and whisk to combine.
5. Add the zucchini and garlic mixture and stir thoroughly, then add the mint and feta and stir again.
6. Pour into a medium baking dish (or two ramekins) and bake for 20 minutes or until mixture is set and starting to separate from the sides. Do not let it brown and go dry, but you can decide whether you want it slightly runny or firm.
7. Top with grated parmigiano and return to oven for another 5 minutes or until cheese is melted. Serve immediately.

That's my contribution to Weekend Herb Blogging this week. Usually I provide a rundown on my key ingredient, but I've already written about zucchini before so if you're interested you should follow that link.

The WHB host this week is the beautiful Anh of Food Lover's Journey. Be sure to visit her recap.
Tags: morsels and musings food blog food and drink australia recipes weekend herb blogging whb entrée starter breakfast courgette zucchini egg recipes courgette recipes yogurt recipes yoghurt recipes fetta recipes feta recipes mint recipes zucchini recipes breakfast recipes

grape & spiced nut salad

I love Maggie Beer. Her enthusiasm about food is infectious. She places so much emphasis on using seasonal and regional produce and all her recipes look simply delicious. Almost every dish she cooks are exactly the kinds of flavours, ingredients and recipes that inspire me.

Her cohost on The Cook and The Chef, Simon Bryant, is also inspirational. He’s a chef with amazing skill but he’s down to earth and has no airs about making food. He promotes good food, not wanky food and even if some of his dishes are more complicated and advanced they are never esoteric. And he’s a vegetarian, so he gets Jonas’ vote.

If you’re looking for interesting, delicious dishes using ordinary ingredients in extraordinary combinations then I suggest you peruse their website where their recipes from every episode are shared with the world.

Maggie Beer was pretty much responsible for introducing verjuice as an acidulate in Australia. I remember, as a teenager, coming home from school and seeing a fancy 750ml bottle of “verjuice” in the fridge. I poured myself a nice cold glass and gasped when I realised it was almost vinegar. I learnt about verjuice pretty fast!

Maggie drinks verjuice over ice, but as I discovered this is pretty sour, so instead she developed one of the most beautiful non-alcoholic drinks I’ve ever had: Desert Pearls.

Made from Cabernet grapes, Desert Pearls has a champagne bead and seems almost like a wine, but then you taste flavours like rose and green tea and the drink ends with a sour finish, almost like sour cherry. I absolutely adore it and could easily drink an entire bottle on my own. Luckily it’s not alcoholic! They recommend you drink it with “anything with mushroom, game, kangaroo or venison but also the richness of duck or goose…brochette with sardines, white bean puree and shaved parmesan, a beautiful quail egg with caviar, seared tuna with a black pepper crust”.

Other Maggie Beer products which have become an institution in Australian gourmet circles are her burnt fig jam, her fruit pastes and her pates.

Last year The Cook and The Chef March autumn episode featured a lot of grape dishes and, since I noticed an abundance of delicious grapes in the shops this year, I decided to replicate this delicious salad.

We served it as part of an autumnal feast that Jonas and I made a few weekends ago. After a white truffle and cauliflower soup, we ate this grape salad alongside Hungarian chicken paprikas (mushroom for Jonas). It cut through the richness of the main course and added sweet, juicy freshness. Superb.

Grape, Rocket & Spiced Nut Salad
Recipe from The Cook and The Chef. Serves 4.
Ingredients:
1 cup grapes, halved
1 green apple, julienned
Rocket leaves
60g sultanas soaked in verjuice or marsala
1 cup mixed nuts (almonds, hazelnuts, pistachios, walnuts)
2/3 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon coriander seed
½ teaspoon cassia bark
¼ teaspoon allspice
3 cloves
10 green cardamom seeds (not pods).
1 tablespoon olive oil
Drizzle of walnut oil, to finish
Method:
1. Put all the smoked paprika, coriander seed, cassia bark, allspice, cloves and cardamom seeds in a grinder to make a spice blend.
2. Lightly dry fry the nuts in a pan. Add spice mix. When they start to glisten add a little olive oil and fry. This process is really important to stop the nuts from going soggy in the dressing.
3. Cool, and drain on a paper towel. Sprinkle with salt and a little more paprika then spread over the serving plate.
4. Pile up the grapes, apple, sultanas and rocket on the plate.
5. Dress with walnut oil and a touch of salt to finish.

Grapes, of the genus Vitis, are very useful fruits coming from a woody, perennial, deciduous vines.

Most grapes are Vitis Vinifera cultivars, which originated in the Mediterranean and Central Asia. Only a few grapes came from Asia or the Americas, such as Vitis labrusca (US/Canada) and Vitis amurensis (Asia).

According to Wikipedia, the top ten wine grape producing countries are, in order from most to least: Spain, France, Italy, Turkey, United States, Iran, Romania, Portugal, Argentina and Australia.

Around 71% of the world’s grapes go towards wine production, 27% are sold as fresh fruit and 2% are dried.

These days seedless grapes are by far the most popular and since most vines are started from cuttings, this doesn’t seem to be a problem for farmers. Ironically, seedless grapes do not contain the important nutrients attacged to the grapoe seeds and are therefore less healthy.

Raisins, currants and sultanas share a confusing history. While sultanas were once the dried fruit of a specific Turkish grape, raisins were named after a French word for any dried grape and currants were dried Zante grapes, a corrupted word from the French raisin de Corinthe.

Grape skins and seeds seem to contain a polyphenol antioxidant called resveratrol which is suppsed to act as an antifungal as well as prevent heart disease, degenerative nerve disease, viral infections, mechanisms of Alzheimer's disease and even cancer.

Weekend Herb Blogging is being hosted by Margot from Coffee and Vanilla. Be sure to check out the round-up!

Tags: morsels and musings food blog food and drink australia recipes weekend herb blogging whb grape salad recipe grape and nut salad recipe grape and nut salad starter snack arugula rocket arugula recipes rocket recipes salad recipes nut recipes maggie beer recipes grape recipes

jerk pork

Carrying on the Caribbean theme after my Bajan pikelets, here’s something straight from Jamaica: jerk!

No, I’m not shouting insults. I’m talking about Jamaica’s dry-rub spice used on chicken, goat, pork, fish . . . hell, I’m sure you could spice up anything with jerk.

From all recipes, it seems the two most important components of jerk are the allspice berry (pimento) and the scotch bonnet pepper.

The scotch bonnet, a habenero cultivar, is one of the hottest chillies in the world and ranks third after the Naga Jolokia and Red Savina Habanero. It's Scoville rating is 100,000-350,000 whereas a Cayenna is only 30,000-50,000 and the Jalapeño is a piddly 2,500-8,000. Yes, the scotch bonnet is one hot chilli!

Authentic jerk is cooked slowly on allspice wood over coals. Since it’s a little difficult to gets your hands on any allspice wood in urban Sydney, I had to forgo the allspice wood for a regular barbeque.

The word jerk originates from jerky, an anglicised version of the Spanish charqui (dried meat).

Jamaicans serve their jerk alongside foods that cool down the spices such as dumplings, rice, potatoes and beans.

The exact recipe for jerk spice varies and many Jamaicans keep their blend a closely guarded secret, but there are enough published versions to develop a spice rub to suit your own tastes.

This one I got from Lonely Planet World Food: Caribbean, but I added fresh ginger, garlic powder and orange juice.

Jerk Pork
Recipe from Lonely Planet World Food: Caribbean. Serves 6.
Ingredients:
1 tsp allspice berries
1 tsp dried thyme leaves
1 tsp cayenne powder
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp freshly grated ginger
1 dried red chilli
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 tablespoon sugar
¼ cup vegetable oil
¾ cup cider vinegar
Juice of 3 limes
Juice ½ orange
Scotch bonnet peppers, add one at a time to taste
6 pork chops
Method:
1. Dry fry allspice berries, cayenne powder, black peppercorns, nutmeg, cinnamon and red chilli until aromatic. Cool and grind in a spice grinder with the thyme leaves until a powder if formed.
2. In a blender, combine spice mix with all the remaining jerk spice ingredients and blend until smooth. Be sure to only add one scotch bonnet pepper at a time and taste in between because they are lethal!
3. In a non-metallic dish, place meat and cover completely with marinade. Ensure everything is coated. Cover and marinate in fridge overnight.
4. The next day, slowly cook the meat on the barbeque, basting with jerk sauce as you cook.

Tags: morsels and musings food blog food and drink australia recipes main course spice blends jerk pork jerk spices marinade recipes sauce recipes jamaican jerk recipes jerk pork recipes pork recipes spice recipes jerk recipes caribbean recipes caribbean food caribbean cuisine jamaican recipes jamaican food jamaican cuisine

plantain pikelets w rum-butter sauce

When the weather starts getting cooler, I start craving warm desserts.

Pikelets are great afternoon treats, perfect served with a blob of jam and even a dash of whipped cream if you're feeling decadent.

Here I went for a Bajan (Barbadian) flavour, using Barbados' Mount Gay dark rum and squishy ripe plantains which taps into my plan to discover Caribbean-style food over 2008.

Bajan Plantain Pikelets w Rum-Butter Sauce
Based on a recipe from Mossop Honey. Makes 15 pikelets.
Ingredients:
Pikelets
1 cup self raising flour
1 egg
¾ cup milk
1/8 cup sugar
25g butter, melted
1 ripe mashed plantain
2 tablespoons honey
Pinch of salt
Butter, for frying
Rum-Butter Sauce
¼ cup dark rum
2 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons honey
Toasted coconut, garnish
Method:
1. Make sauce by combining over a low heat until honey and butter has melted. Simmer for 1 minute then remove from heat and keep warm.
2. Start the pikelets by beating the eggs and sugar together.
3. Stir through small batches of flour and milk alternately until just combined.
4. Add salt and melted butter and combine.
5. Combine mashed banana, rum and honey together then add to mixture.
6. Heat fry pan and grease with butter. Spoon pikelet mixture into pan, turning when bubbles appear on upper side.
7. Serve with rum-butter sauce and a sprinkle of toasted coconut.

Tags: morsels and musings food blog food and drink australia recipes desserts sauces pikelets pancakes rum plantains sauce recipes rum recipes plantain recipes pikelet recipes pancake recipes dessert recipes caribbean recipes caribbean food caribbean cuisine

rosemary & cheese biscuits

Jonas and I made these cookies for the first ever housewarming party we threw, a few weeks after Jonas arrived in Australia in 2001. Those were the days when sweet and savoury confusions were not so well known and our friends scoffed when we presented savoury biscuits.

It was funny to serve these biscuits again, a few weeks ago, to some of the same friends who scoffed at them the first time. Perhaps they tried them with more mature concepts of food (or palates), but this time they declared them a success.

Jonas and I smiled at each other. It only took them seven years!

These are a type of savoury shortbread, heady with the aromas of rosemary. They are a wonderful contribution to any selection of snacks and appestisers and are perfect picnic food too.

They are easy to make and very addictive.

Rosemary & Cheese Biscuits
Cocktails and Finger Food by Murdoch Books. Makes 50.
Ingredients:
1 cup plain flour
100g chilled butter, chopped
1 tablespoon sour cream
60g cheddar cheese
60g parmesan cheese
¼ teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons fresh rosemary, chopped
3 teaspoons fresh chives, chopped
½ teaspoon black pepper
Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180’C. Line two baking trays with baking paper.
2. Sift flour into mixing bowl. Using fingertips rub butter into flour until the mixture is fine and crumbly. Do not overmix.
3. Add remaining ingredients, mix well with a knife. Press mixture together into a ball, wrap in plastic and refrigerate 10-15 minutes.
4. Roll teaspoons of mixture into balls and place on baking trays, allowing space for spreading. Flatten slightly with fork.
5. Bake 10-15 minutes or until lightly golden. Cool on wire rack
Variation: instead of mixing the salt through the recipe, sprinkle crushed rock salt over the biscuits just before baking.
Note: cookies can be stored in airtight container for 1 week or dough can be stored in the fridge for 2 days before cooking.

Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) is a woody, perennial herb which is native to the Mediterranean region, which is still the main source of commercial dried rosemary today.

Despite the many connotations to Christian beliefs and Jesus’ mother Mary, the word rosemary derives from Latin rosmarinus, which translates to “dew of the sea” and was probably named because it grew in arid, coastal areas. It was also closely linked to Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love who rose from the sea.

There was an ancient belief that rosemary stimulated and strengthened the memory. Ancient Greek students would bring rosemary to their exams and in European cultures the herb has always symbolised remembrance.

Rosemary has been used as a medicinal treatment for thousands of years. External applications of rosemary oils and spirits can relieve muscular and arthritic pain, rheumatic conditions, bruises, and circulatory problems, stimulate the hair-bulbs to prevent premature baldness and prevent/treat headlice.

Internal ingestion shows rosemary is a good source of the minerals iron, calcium, manganese, Vitamin B6 as well as dietary fibre. Due to its levels quinones, which inhibit carcinogens, it is high on the list of anti-cancer herbs and is said to protect from free radicals, lowering the risk of strokes and neurodegenerative diseases.

Rosemary is supposed to assist gall bladder and liver diseases, act as an anti-inflammatory to reduce asthma attacks, treat dizziness from inner ear infections, and is also used as a sedative, diuretic, stomach relief, aromatic, antispasmodic and antiseptic.

As an antiseptic it is used to treat flu, viruses and colds and infused in warm water is a good gargle for mouth ulcers and canker sores, and as a mouth wash for halitosis.

Consuming a lot of rosemary, however, can lead to spasm, vomiting and fluid in the lungs, which can be fatal! It can also cause autoimmune diseases.

Health professionals warn pregnant women against eating too much rosemary, even if they are just breastfeeding.

Epileptics are also warned against medicinal rosemary, which can aggravate seizures.

Fresh rosemary should be stored in the refrigerator wrapped in a slightly damp paper towel, while dried rosemary will keep fresh for about six months if stored in a tightly sealed container. Fresh rosemary sprigs can be frozen with water in ice cube trays then added to soups and stews.

This week the WHB host is Susan from The Well-Seasoned Cook. Be sure to visit her blog to read over the recap!

One last thing - I scoured the web for other interesting rosemary recipes, and this is what I found:
Breads & Snacks
Rosemary Popcorn
Rosemary & Lemon White Bean Dip
Rosemary Provencal Almonds
Pinenut Rosemary Shortbread
Rosemary & Polenta Breadsticks
Rosemary Feta Beer Bread
Rosemary & Ham Scones
Rosemary Jelly
Sides & Soups