I was reading the article in Good Living today about the new photography book by Melanie Dunea, "Last Supper" where she's taken pictures of some of the world's top chef's and what their last meal would be if they could choose anything in the world. The article is a great piece, and the book sounds extraordinary and damn I wish I could go to the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival dinner where some of the meals are prepared by their chefs!

Of course, all this got me thinking about food, or more precisely, got my thinking about food directed towards what I'd eat for my last supper. That and I already felt like death form having been drinking gin all night, the choice was easy. Good old fashioned comfort food. My last supper would have to be my favourite meal from childhood, my mother's chicken schnitzel either with Continental tomato pasta or mushroom gravy and mashed potatoes. No, definitely the mushroom gravy and mashed potatoes... I guess the reason I have such fond memories of it is because out of the standard meals my mother made, it was the nicenesst and least often burnt. Sure she made some other exceptional meals but they were usually the more complicated or time-consuming things that we'd only see on a special occasion.



She hit on a winner one day when she ran out of breadcumbs and made her own using the left over multi-grain bread, the nuttiness of the fried grains added a nice touch. I haven't had any bread in my house for a few weeks now, so I added some LSA to the breadcrumbs instead, and of course. Another option is adding Krummies, they're pre-crushed corn flakes, and everything knows that corn and chicken go well together.
The easiest, and cleanest way to pound out a chicken breast is between two sheets of plastic wrap. It helps keep the chicken intact too in case you get a little heavy handed with the meat mallet.

Tags:Chicken, Schnitzel, Mushroom

There's a party in my tummy!
So yummy! So yummy!
Now there's a party in my tummy!
So yummy! So yummy!
Now there's a party in my tummy!
So yummy! So yummy!

Tags:Gabba Gabba, YouTube

Zinfandel is a less common varietal of wine in Australia having originated in the USA where most of our wines have an origin in Europe. To me it has the flavours of a good Shiraz with black-current and some spicy notes like cinnamon and clove but the wine can still maintain a lightness like a Pinot because of the grape's high sugar content. That's probably got something to do with this particular Zinfandel having come from the McLaren Vale which is typically hot and dry compared to the cooler and wetter conditions in the Barossa Valley. A Zinfandel from the Barossa (not that I think they produce Zinfandel there because it isn't it's native conditions) would have an even lighter flavour, not as much black-current and more raspberry. It's in the $30-$50 range, so it's a little pricey but for those of you who don't like the big alcohol punch of a Shiraz but want the black-current flavours you really should give it a try. I had it with a bbq t-bone and a blue cheese sauce so it can stand up to some strong flavours in your food and would go equally as well with roasted red meat or almost any meat that's been grilled. Keep in mind however, even though it doesn't have a heavy flavour, it's still got a heavy alcohol content. This one was 15%

Tags:Wine, Red Wine, Zinfandel, McLaren Vale

May be it’s just me, but has any other Australian foodie wondered who’d win in a no-rules bare knuckle fight between the heavy weights in Aussie cooking, Maggie Beer and Stephanie Alexander? I know I have. I’d throw Margaret Fullerton in her better years in for spice, but that’s just getting off topic, she can last the distance obviously, but her style is more float like a butterfly than Maggie and Stephanie’s overwhelmingly meaty punches.

Ever since Stephanie “slow and steady” Alexander released the first edition of “The Cooks Companion”, everyone’s been waiting for Maggie “the verjuice vixen” Beer to throw a dirty left hook and bring out her own heavy weight cookbook. Maggie came into her own in the last round with “Maggie’s Harvest”. A damn fine effort and both gals have just about knocked each other out but this one is going to come down to points.

It has to be said that these are very different fighters, they have their own unique sensibilities and style and the battle will be tough but with out further a due, here’s the fight!

The Weigh-in:

	The Cook’s Companion	Maggie’s Harvest
Total Numbered Pages	1126	716
Overall Thickness	700mm	65mm
Weight	2.494kg	2.555kg
Price	Found on sale for <$80	First release price, $125
Quality of Book in itself	Solid, a true all-round work horse that will always deliver	Well polished but possibly relying on her refined good looks
Coordination (Contents, layout and index)	Utilitarian alphabetical with a tightly packed and often cross-referenced index. Looses points with some noticeable omissions from the index	Seasoned (Summer, Autumn, etc) content. Clear easy to use index, but lacking in the cross-referencing of method, ingredient, style et al that is found in TCC
Recent Wins	Stephanie has been a stalwart of the industry, and a pioneer in Australia. Full commendations to her persevering effort at all levels of the industry. She may have run further back in the pack recently, but her presence is still felt by all.	Maggie started slow but gallantly with Pheasant Farm and the associated restaurant. She slowed, focusing on her strengths then shot out with Cook and the Chef, winning acclaim, syndication and valuable marketing for her strong brand.

Round 1 – The random page:

This round is conducted in two sections, first, TCC is opened to a random page and the recipes for that section are assessed. Maggie’s Harvest is then searched for recipes in the index for that ingredient and compared for quality and originality, then the same, with the names reversed.

The Cooks Companion: Sausages

	The Cook’s Companion	Maggie’s Harvest
Pages	9	4
Recipes	9	2
Most Original Recipe	Crépettes and chestnuts	Steve’s Sausages in Grape Must
Best Sounding Recipe	Bratwurst in beer	Chicken and Tarragon Sausages with Cumquats
Quality of introductory material	Brilliant encyclopedic knowledge as with the vast majority of everything with it’s own section in this book	Anecdotal, but with good substance and can be used as a great resource for inspiration

Maggie’s Harvest: Preserves and Pickles

	The Cook’s Companion	Maggie’s Harvest
Pages	36	5
Recipes	36	3
Most Original Recipe	Pickled Sardines with Chili	Pickled Figs, Farm Follies Style
Best Sounding Recipe	As above	As above
Quality of introductory material	Again, brilliant encyclopedic knowledge within each section, and here, the side recipes prove their worth	A narrative effort again from Maggie, but she does leave you with the overwhelming feeling she’s only given you her best

Round 2 - General Content:

Stephanie’s book is cheaper and the physical book itself is a lower quality but I think this sacrifice is more than justified. To make her book in the same way Maggie did, she would have to have produced at least two volumes at at least $125 each. Both of these factors would have made the book un-economical and turned off many buyers. The Cook’s Companion truly lives up to it’s name providing a recipe for practically everything you will find in the suburban supermarket with hundreds of others for specalised ingredients, let alone the basics section which I use quite often. It really is a quick reference section for all of the basics, the simple master recipes for stock, muffins, pancakes; as well as definitions for methods and of ingredients that are in most people’s pantry but aren’t always truly understood, such as leaf gelatin.

Round 3 - Summary Findings

First off, I have to say, Maggie’s Harvest is an amazing book, her stories alone, especially the one with her and Stephanie Alexander alone in an out of the way farm house in rural France are priceless, if not suggestive, and her recipes are extraordinary. The production values of her book are un-known in the Australian market. She sacrifices no expense (because you’re the one that has to sacrifice the cost) in the book. The cover is bound in a front to back embroidery, the typeface is clear and well spaced on paper that will stand up to a very good amount of splashing in the kitchen.

The Winner: Stephanie Alexander’s The Cook’s Companion

TCC is the first cookbook you should buy. It might be intimidating with out pictures, but with all honesty it will give the foundation a potential cook should have and the solid backup an experienced cook can fall back on. Maggie’s Harvest however, is as I said earlier, a different contender. It’s not trying to be the encyclopedia that The Cook’s Companion is, but at the same time, the books compliment each other very well. There is little overlap, except where required as a fundamental for more complicated recipes where someone may not have acquired TCC first. Maggie’s recipes are well written and clear so any cook with a modicum of confidence should be able to manage. Stephanie’s can be a bit more technical, but those recipes are balanced with the simple ones people can attempt first to build their confidence.

Tags:Stephanie Alexander, Maggie Beer

Another recipe from Nigella Express, her Crunchy Salad with Hot and Sour Dressing is damn nice and surprisingly filling as she points out in the introduction to it. It's a fairly substantial salad given the dense vegetables and the strong flavours from the Tom Yum paste. If you don't have any tom yum paste, try fish sause, lime, sugar, ginger and chili as a substitute. I added some dry cunchy noodles to mine since it was all I was having for dinner tonight and it added a nice texture but it's really not needed with the other blanched veggies.

I think I'll be adding this as a staple salad, it's super fast since you're really only just tossing things into a bowl and really nice, not too hot or sour. Heck, if you were pressed for time and wanted extra crunch, you probably don't even need to cook the veggies.



Crunchy Salad with Hot and Sour Dressing - Serves 4-6

Dressing:
2tsp Tom Yum Paste
1tsp Sesame Oil
2Tbs Rice Vinegar
1tsp Honey
2Tbs of Canola or Peanut Oil
Sea Salt to taste

Salad:
125g Broccoli (I used broccolini)
125g Fine Beans (I used sugar snap peas)
125g Baby Corn
25g Button Mushrooms (I forgot them)
100g Chinese Lettuce (I used regular mixed lettuce)
150g Bean Sprouts

Whisk all of the dressing ingredients together

Cook the broccoli, beans and corn in salted boiling water for two minutes then plunge in ice cold water to stop the cooking

Drain them and add the remaining salad ingredients and dressing. Serve.

Tags:Nigella, Nigella Express, Nigella Lawson, Salad, Broccoli, Peas, Asian

Maggie Beer, every gay foodie's favourite fag hag (thanks Simon) has released a small range of ice cream. Honestly, I'm not sure when but I found it in my supermarket a few weeks ago. Valiantly, I put on 3kg so you didn't have to. The side of the tub suggests all you need to enjoy these ice creams is a spoon; and until I hit the bottom of each tub that's what I did. Seriously, I put on 3kg...

As I said, the range is small, four flavours. Vanilla and Elderflower being the most pedestrian. What makes this special is the use of real vanilla, when you open the tub your confronted with a pastel orange with millions of flecks of real vanilla that run through the entire tub. For those of you that haven't had elderflower before, it's got a slight floral/orange taste. The berries from the same bush are actually used for sambucca, but that's mixed with anise so they have a very different flavour from each other. Personally I prefer bergamot to elderflower, but that's just me. No judgement on Maggie because this is still a nice variation on vanilla. I'd go with Maggie's serving suggestion and throw a dash of liqueur or an espresso.

Next off the bat is the passionfruit. It's made with real passionfruit (16%) so there is none of that sickly artificial flavour that comes with some passionfruit ice cream. It delivers what it promises, a clean refreshing and somehow honest passionfruit flavour, although that's let down by the lack of crunch from black passionfruit pips you'd otherwise expect from a real passionfruit. Your call if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Again, as Maggie suggests, a pavlova with fresh passionfruit pulp would be ideal.

Then, you have the real adult flavours. I wouldn't suggest serving these to the kids. For those that have even a single cookbook by Maggie Beer you will know she has a few obsessions. Pheasants, verjuice and quinces. Her quince and bitter almond ice cream is great but it needs a counterpoint. To me it had an odd chemical taste to it, nothing like her quince paste. In fact, I think it's the almonds that let it down. Anyone that's had processed almond milk will know what I mean. Quince works well with fresh, roasted and honey almonds, but I'd describe it more as "Quince & Unripe Almond" if anything. Try it though, it'd work well with something to counter balance the almonds. Maggie suggests Amaretto and chocolate to compliment the quince but I'd try a glass of Muscat to contrast the almond, I really think it needs it.

Last but not least has to be the crowing glory of her range - Burnt Fig Jam with Honeycomb & Caramel. Heaven. I really don't have to say anything else here I don't think. Unless you want one of the others to match something else in a meal I'd just get this one. It's got everything going for it except pheasant and verjuice.

A list of stockists can be found at Maggie's website

Tags:Dessert, Ice Cream, Maggie Beer, Figs, Vanilla, Toffee, Elderflower, Honeycomb, Almond, Caramel, Quince

Since I moved into an apartment with a big balcony and 'harbor glimpses' I've wanted to get a BBQ. It took me forever to find one I liked. As demonstrated by an episode of King of the Hill, unlike gas, charcoal just adds that extra level of flavour that makes barbeque food barbeque. With out it you might as well be frying that steak in the kitchen and if you're as serious about a good steak as I am, it's worth having that extra level of flavour.



The first thing you notice about the Eva Solo Grill is it's striking resemblance to R2D2 and C3PO's love child. The entire thing is made from stainless steel, meaning it'll stand up to anything and last forever and it's quite well designed too. One of the side panels can be easily pulled off to revealing the ashtray and under that there is enough storage space for all it's accessories and everything you need to grill with, except the dome lid. The flat lid that comes with the grill standard can be used as a side table when not otherwise covering the grill when you purchase the optional 'legs'. I've found them surprisingly useful.

After a little practice cooking with charcoal, you can turn out some excellent meals. I've made everything from simple burgers, bbq prawns, a leg of lamb and even a few pizzas (with a pizza stone sitting on the grill bars). There aren't many downsides to this gorgeous piece of equipment, but there are some to keep in mind. It comes in two sizes, of course I got the large one, but it feels a little bit of overkill when I'm only cooking for 1-2 people, sometimes even 3 seems a little much depending what's on the menu. At the same time, with a few friends over, the smaller one would have made cooking something like the leg of lamb almost impossible. I'd still recommend going for the larger one. The only other draw back has to be said. The price. The basic grill is AUD$2300, and that just includes the grill and the lid. Everything else is an expensive optional extra, expensive even in the context of already having paid $2.3k for it. Heck, the dome lid alone is nearly $400. I'm sure you can get it much cheaper in the US or Europe, closer to the manufacturer and with a larger market. With the optional accessories, and not including the matching bbq utensils, you're looking at an investment of over $3000... The utensils will add about another $400.

Since the average bbq's life span is 5 years and this one is expected to literally last a life time, the cost per year, even over just 20 years is only $150 which starts to look more realistic.



If you're looking for a bit of the Eva Solo style with out that price tag you might want to think about the table top grill. It's made with white porceline and stainless steel inserts. For the times when I'm cooking for 1-2 or just need that bbq flavour on something, I think I might just get that too! :)

Tags:Review, BBQ, Barbeque, Grill, Eva Solo

Tonight saw me leave work at 7pm instead of my usual 5:15, meaning I couldn't be arsed cooking anything that involved more than 45 seconds worth of work. Enter Oeufs En Cototte. Nigella's introduction to the dish explains how her mother used to cook it for her as a child and is one she enjoys as a simple comfort food, and I have to agree. There is something about it that just seemed to calm me after a long stressful day at work. It was probably the simplicity coupled with the richness of an egg yoke and cream. It could have been the smoked salmon I added though!

Given I was making this for dinner, and that I don't own any ramekins, I made a fairly large one and it was just about the right size for a meal in itself, for a start her suggestion 1 egg per person would have been perfect. Come to think of it now, it would have been nifty in my espresso cups with some steamed asparagus.

Tags:Bread, Toast, Breakfast, Eggs, Nigella, Nigella Express, Nigella Lawson, Salmon, Smoked Salmon

Tuesday in my week of Nigella Express-ivness I decided on her Noodle Soup for Needy People listed in the chapter Instant Calmer where she's collected some nice quick comfort food like the Cheddar Cheese Risotto and a Berry Crumble for dessert.

This is probably one of her lazier recipes, and IMHO they don't belong in a serious cookbook, just those that are for table decoration and the quick flick through the pictures for inspiration type books. Mind, what did I expect for a TV Chef cookbook anyway? I guess she tries to absolve herself by saying when she makes it she throws in anything that's handy and the only key ingredients are stock, noodles and vegetables. For those that haven't made a noodle soup before, I guess following her additions of some brown sugar, soy, ginger and star-anise do make a difference in tilting the soup to an asian flavour as opposed to anything else. I took her advice and made some additions and substitutions.

Noodle Soup for Needy People - Serves 2
(note, this is what I made, not quite Nigella's)

175g of Soba Noodles (she used udon)
750mL of Chicken Stock (I used the stock I made from the roast chicken over the weekend)
1t Soft Brown Sugar
1 Star Anise
1t Crushed Ginger
2T Soy
75g Bean Sprouts
750g Sugar Snap Peas
75g Sliced Shiitake Mushrooms
Sliced Spring Onions to Garnish (she used coriander)

Add any other vegetables or ingredients you like, I added some carrot and some store bought fish cakes I found next to the noodles at the supermarket.

Cook the noodles to packet instructions, set aside in serving bowls. Bring the stock, sugar, anise, ginger and soy to a boil then add the remaining ingredients except the garnish. Spoon the vegetables over the noodles and top up with liquid.

Tags:Nigella, Nigella Express, Nigella Lawson, Soup, Noodles, Asian

Each night this week I'm going to be making a different recipe from the Nigella Express cookbook my brother got me for Christmas. It's a great book full of some great looking food, if a little heavy on the desserts. Given I'm trying to loose 15kg I'll have to say that's a bad thing because they look damn nice. There are some healthy ones too, including this Mirin-Glazed Salmon.

It only took 10 minutes to make from start to finish and was damn tasty! This is definitely going in the keeper list. Okay, I did make a couple of minor changes, I added some peas to the rice (edamame would have been better but it's hard to find here) plus I was out of Mirin so I used Sake instead, but it's all rice wine right? Right?



Mirin-Glazed Salmon - Serves 4

60mL Mirin
60mL Soy Sauce
50g Brown Sugar
4x 125g pieces of Salmon
2T rice vinegar
2 Spring Onions, sliced into long strips
Jasmine Rice

Mix the mirin, brown sugar and soy sauce in a shallow dish that will take all four pieces of the salmon, and marinate the salmon in it for 3 minutes on the first side and 2 minutes on the second. Meanwhile heat a large non-stick frying pan on the hob.

Cook the salmon in the hot dry pan for 2 minutes and then turn the salmon over, add the marinade and cook for another 2 minutes.

Remove the salmon to whatever plate you're serving it on, add the rice vinegar to the hot pan and warm through.

Pour the dark, sweet salty glaze over the salmon and top with the spring onion strips. Serve with rice.

Tags:Recipe, Seafood, Nigella Lawson, Nigella, Nigella Express, Quick

Tonight I made the roast chicken recipe from Stephanie Alexander's omnibus, The Cooks Companion. As with a lot of the recipes in her book, this is traditional and simple Australian food. There are a few others I prefer, but I thought I'd give this one a go. It is good, no doubt about it, it is what a roast chicken should be as your mother would have made it. The one I like most is a french version, heavy on the thyme, garlic, salt and pepper and with slices of lemon slipped under the skin which infuse the flesh with a great tang and is entirely edible after roasted. Tonight though I did cut the vegetables smaller than Stephanie would and they do look burnt but they are caramelized beautifully.



I'll be making a stock with the carcas and since I'm cooking for one, I'll use the rest of the bird through the week.


Stephanie Alexander's Roast Chicken
1 1.8kg chicken
1 lemon
3 cloves of garlic
salt and pepper
rosemary
butter
roasting vegetables (carrot, leek, potato etc)
olive oil

Preheat the oven to 220ºC. Wash and dry chicken thruoroughly and rub salt inside the cavity. Insert half the lemon, garlic and herbs. Rub the body with oil and the remaining lemon salt, pepper and herbs. Cut the vebetables and coat lightly in oil and place in the bottom of the roasting tin.

Place the bird on the vegetables on it's side, roast for 20 minutes then turn back to the other side for another 20 minutes. Turn the bird again so the breast faces up and baste with pan juices. Roast for another 20 minutes.

Take the bird out of the roasting tin and allow to rest while preparing a green salad. Carve the bird as required and serve.

Tags:Chicken, Recipe, Stephanie Alexander

For the past few days I've been staying at the Sofitel Brisbane visiting the S.O. and as far as the hotel is concerned, frankly, I'm disappointed. Sure, it can't be faulted for the location or the service, however the hotel itself is quite out dated and screams of it's 80's construction with a half dozen slap-dash makeovers.



Only the foyer and club lounge look half way modern with natural materials and tones and the unfortunately named Thyme² restaurant and someone in the Accor marketing departments' insistence on calling the buffet an 'interactive experience', so you can have an 'interactive breakfast if you'd like. What's so interactive about some tourist getting up off their fat ass and getting their own bacon and scrambled eggs from a bane marie? The club lounge though, is wonderful, if it weren't for parents using it as a play room for their screaming, bored and running a mock toddlers. Almost every single time I've been here this week there has been at least one family with screaming children. I'm not a parent myself so I can't appreciate what it's like but at what point do parents stop remembering what it's like to try and enjoy a nice relaxing breakfast and let their own children get away with running into some one else's table and knocking their cup of coffee into their plate of scrambled eggs and fresh fruit?

As far as the club lounge is concerned, toddlers withstanding, the service is incredibly personable, having the staff remember your name and continuing polite conversation throughout your stay is a great plus in my book. As I'm writing this I'm sitting in the club lounge, just finishing my new years day champagne breakfast. It's nothing special admittedly, each day it's been scrambled eggs, bacon, mushrooms and occasional tomato for hot food, plus there is a great selection of fresh fruit, yoghurt, smoothies, toast and pastries. The choices at the 'interactive breakfast' were much better, sausages, eggs benedict, pancakes,

Through out the day a cycle of sandwich fingers and small cakes and slices are run through and of an evening, an open bar with a selection of well made and tasty (ie: not the cheap crap I got at the Hilton) warm food including spring rolls, samosas etc, plus an excellent anti-pasti platter including great smoked salmon. I'd highly recommend staying on a club floor, or even just paying for the upgrade just to access the lounge.

Tags:Review, Travel, Sofitel, Breakfast, Club Lounge