Fig in Hell (That was delicious)

With the fig season nearing its end, the Caramelised Onion and Fig Pizza recipe shared by a friend was very timely and just had to be made. The caramelised onions were made last week to reduce the amount of time spent on the pizza as I had also planned to make my own base along with some other sweet treats today.

Ready for the oven

Done and ready to eat

(Thank you Deborah Hurd)

Newtella

Having received several "new" Nutella recipes this week from friends, I just had to dedicate part of the day to trying 2 of them.

Nutella Crumble Slice (Loretta Ryan)

Chocolate Magic Custard Cake (Deborah Hurd)

The photo with the "original" recipe had some custard

oozing from the cake. I think to achieve that, 

the cake would have to be undercooked.

Cucumber Boat

With the Lebanese Cucumber plants going so well, we have quite a few "cueys" ripening at the same time. We generally do use a lot of them. That's why we planted some seedlings a while back. Now we need to start using them and I suppose give some away.
Decided tonight to have something simple and delicious for dinner, using a couple of them. Jen has for the past week or so, taken Cucumber Boats to work. 

Filled with Red Salmon, Mayo, Chives, Lemon Zest.

Wasabi Update #2

Just 1 month on and I can inform that Sensei Wasabi is making great progress. 
As you can see he is getting bigger and has new growth, small purple leaves. For a slow growing plant, the improvement is remarkable.

Challenge(s)

Although I see most recipes and menu courses as a challenge, the recipes and/or ingredients presented to me by family and friends with the words "what do you think?" or "what can you do with this?" add a bit of fun, and sometimes fear, to finding and replicating a dish.

From a bag of assorted mushrooms, including Pine Mushrooms* that commonly grow under pine trees, to a photo of a dessert, with description only, from a known restaurant** and then to be given a few ingredients*** to "come up with something", presented challenges that were accepted with much pleasure.

*The edible fungi became Wild Mushroom Risotto 

(Joe and Maureen Goncalves)

**Rhubarb and Ginger Pudding with

Passionfruit Tofu Panna Cotta 

and Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

(Red Lantern on Riley - Luke Nguyen)

(Deborah Hurd and Greg Haines)

***Kaffir Lime and Bay Leaves from Eline Eddy

Malaysian Chicken Curry (Kaffir Lime Leaves)

Bay Leaf Creme Brulee

The brulee was suprisingly delicious. The bay was very subtle

Then there is the recent, from this

to this. Cheesecake Chocolate Eggs

(Kath Acton)

St Paddy's 2015

Could not think of anything better to celebrate St Patrick's Day than an extra large cold Guinness and a plate of Sushi.

Not really but that is what I decided to have. After all, I have an RDO tomorrow and an oversize drinking vessel of the black stuff was always going to go down well.

The only "Irish dish" I have ever made, apart from opening and heating up numerous cans of Irish Stew back in the 70's, was in July 2013. It was the first time I had ever purchased and cooked fresh venison. Eye fillet was the cut. I was just as nervous as I was excited about preparing, cooking and serving this fine piece of prime game meat.

Chef Google came to the rescue again as a decision needed to be made as to what to serve with the venison. Parsnip Colcannon was the choice. Basically mash parsnip with cabbage and leek. The choice of sauce was Licorice Sauce. 

The fillet was cooked rare to medium rare, as venison should. All in all, a pleasing result which was shared with friends of many years.

Spiced

Wanted to try a rabbit dish, one shared on Facebook by a friend, this weekend. 
In the past, I have been known to travel considerable kilometres to obtain specific ingredients. Fresh rabbit being the item this time but the distance required to purchase a bunny was too far considering it is a meat that Jen is not too keen on. Not saying she would baulk at trying it, nor appreciate, but was it really worth the effort and time? No, not today at least. 
Do we have mud crab instead? Another friend posted last week that he was having a "free" feed of them. Ummm, decision. 
While deciding, I watched a recorded cooking show, Siba's Table. The episode was titled Cape Town Braai. Braai, pronounced bry, being South African for barbecue and a method of barbecuing meats using various citrus based marinade along with chosen flavours and/or rubs and usually cook over charcoal. That's it, decision made. Off to the shop for some tuna and pork. Doing the "surf and turf" as demonstrated
Now to the title of this post, Spiced. Many different spices are used for this meal. I was fortunate enough a few years back, for my 50th birthday actually, to be given a set of magnetic spice containers by a dear friend. They are very convenient being a big space and money saver. Would not be without them.............and the blender....the food processor......and.......well everything.

Located on the side of our pantry

Finger Limes #2

Have been making the most of Finger Limes over the past week. Several fish dinners and a dozen oysters have been topped with the tiny citrus bombs.

A few of my customers have also been recipients of samples. Could not resist sharing the experience of this seasonal produce. I am seriously considering purchasing a plant for "personal use". Yeah......sure.

Last Sundays Footy Feed

This was absolutely delicious.

Spanish Mackerel with Finger Lime and Chilli.

You first get the heat from the chilli then the burst of lime 

Vegging # 2

As well as growing herbs, we have for the past 6 months had a go at growing a few selected vegetables. The first planting was a mix of lettuce including cos and mingonette, roma tomatoes and lemongrass. While the lettuce was very successful and the lemongrass showed promise, the tomatoes failed dismally. Why? No idea.
We actually gave away a fair portion of the lettuce(s)

The second planting we went with less lettuce, baby cos this time, lebanese cucumber, which we use a lot of and wild rocket. All of these have grown extremely well. There is also a strawberry plant that has had plenty of flowers but has failed to fruit.
Today I picked our first cucumber and with some of our wild rocket and cos lettuce, used it in a salad served with some crispy skin barramundi.
Along with just stepping out the back to grab a few fresh herbs to add to your prepared dish, there is something about growing your own produce and then using it in a meal you've put together. It's an added satisfaction to the whole process.
(Note how well the lemongrass is going and how much the lawn has developed since the first planting)

Vegging

My son Adam is up from not so New Mexico (south of the border) for the weekend and staying for the night. It's time to catch up and "veg out" with him watching the televised Westigers game.

What do you have to eat when relaxing with a vegetarian son?

Vegetable Samosa
Spicy Potato Salad (aaloo ko Achar)
Stuffed Zucchini Flowers
Cucumber-Mint Raita

Friday Footy Feed

The National Rugby League (NRL) competition for 2015 started this week. Always look forward to the return of a league season and although the first game was on Thursday night, it is Friday night footy that most followers are keen for. The end of, for a good portion of people, the working week. Time to wind down, relax with your chosen beverage and have a feed on whatever the hell you want. In my case, the decision as to what to eat was simple after hearing them mentioned on a radio talkback program earlier in the day. FISH FINGERS! Birdseye of course.

Served with Homemade Tartar

  

Finger Limes

The end of February sees Finger Limes start to make an appearance in a very few fruit shops. The main harvest period for this citrus fruit is March to May. 
Finger Limes are one of those seasonal produce I look forward to each year since discovering them back in 2012.

The pulp of Finger Limes resemble caviar. The separate juice vesicles are compressed inside the fruit and burst out when the fruit is opened
Until this year, I have only used them as an additional "explosion" of lime flavour with mangoes.  

Squeezing a generous amount of vesicles into a gin based cocktail also adds a pleasant spurt of flavour. 











The pulp makes a very nice addition as a garnish to seafood. We actually tried some two nights ago with Crispy Skin Barramundi.

Over the weekend, a dozen or two oyster will find themselves topped with some of these little citrus gems.

Recommend anyone to give Finger Limes a try if given the chance to.

What Did I Do With That Wagyu?

Without a doubt, the Wagyu Cutlet was the best piece of beef I have ever had.

After allowing the Wagyu to come to room temperature, it was well seasoned with salt before being sealed on the barbie then finished off in the oven.

The combination of prime quality meat, attention to preparation and the method of cooking ensured that nothing short of excellent would be the result.

I always use a meat thermometer when cooking most meats. Leave nothing to chance to get that rare to medium rare "doneness". I do not see it as cheating. You do what you need to do so as not to stuff it up.

Served with a Basic Wild Rocket Salad

  

Inspired

During our week of first anniversary celebration, we were very happy to have dined at two rather special restaurants. The first being Fort Denison Restaurant with the second at Rose Bay, Catalina.
At Catalina, Jen's choice of entree' was the Char Grilled Quail Salad. I have only ever used quail in a Masterstock. Having been given a taste by Jen, my instant thought was how delicious it tasted. The second thought was............you guessed it, I'm going to have a shot at a char grilled quail dish.
Today was the day I enacted on that thought. The decision was also to serve it with a Quinoa and Wild Rocket Salad. I could not purchase any quail so spatchcock became the backup.