This is a pretty simple dinner or a great picnic lunch since it can be left overnight to go cold and tastes just as nice; it travels pretty well too. I had it straight from the oven with some of Donna Hay’s Caramelized Onion.

My mum used to make this with puff pastry and no spinach. Puff pastry would have been nice for the flaky top but the short-crust I used still worked.

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Tags:Recipe, Baked, Pastry, Eggs, Cheese, Spinach, Onions

This morning, day two of my short break between contracts was a little more relaxed. A little. I still didn’t get to sleep in, I had to head into an interview with my new employer at 9am (went well) and the rest of the day was dedicated to preparing everything for my housewarming this weekend.

After I got back from the meeting I headed off to the Victoria’s Basement outlet in Alexandria with a pit-stop at a little café I’d spotted once before that seemed a little odd out on it’s own on an otherwise desolate strip of Mitchell Road.

I took a gamble and went for the salmon egg benedict roll, an unusual presentation in itself but buoyed by the fact that it looked delicious. Tasted good too! The only thing I was annoyed with was the poached egg was hard, not runny at all - but then, given that it was obviously meant to be eaten by people with a well defined palate with out any time it made sense. I won’t mind stopping in again one weekend and picking up a quiche or something else to see how that goes. Stay tuned.

Salmon Egg Benedict Roll @ La Cachette Alexandria

With the exception of the coffee (burnt and bitter, what a surprise there), I was pleasantly surprised. Stop by if you’re going past the area and peckish.

Food, 7/10 - Better than you’d expect for what looks like a workman’s lunch-bar
Service, 4/10 - The girl was training and seemed lost
Coffee, 0/10 - It was undrinkable
Value, 6.5/10 - $10.50 for a brea-roll and a coffee, but what a bread-roll
Location, 4/10 - In the middle of nowhere

Tags:Eggs, Eggs Benedict, Coffee, Alexandria, Bread, Breakfast

Isn’t it always the way, you’ve got a day off work but all you do is more work than you’d do at work?

0900 Breakfast with Puppet
1100 Orthopantograph (full mouth dental x-ray)
1200 Optometrists Appointment
1400 Meeting with new employer
1530 Pick up remaining belongings from existing employer
1600 Pick up washing from laundromat
1700 Hardware store - new light bulbs
1730 Clean kitchen
1900 Cook dinner
2000 Clean kitchen again
2030 Blog about dinner

So with that schedule, I wanted something quick and easy for dinner and with left over crispy skinned duck in the fridge and a packet of wild rice in the cupboard a jazzed up fried rice was great choice. Simple and easy and best of all, using those little bits of stuff you’ve got laying around.

Fried Wild Rice with Crispy Duck

Fried Wild Rice with Crispy Duck - Serves 2 as a main, 4 as a side
2 eggs
2 cups of wild rice
2 cups of cooked duck, shredded
4 rashers of bacon, diced
½ cup frozen stir-fry veg (or peas, carrots, corn etc diced)
1 cinnamon stick (optional)
1 star anise (optional)

Whisk the eggs together and fry in a wok, swirling around to create a thin omelette. Turn the omelette out and dice.
Cook the rice and leave to cool.
Fry the spices, duck and bacon until the bacon is crispy, add the vegetables and fry until almost cooked and add the rice. Fry until the rice is loose and not clumping any more, add the egg and heat through. Serve.

Tags:Asian, Rice, Duck, Vegetables, Eggs

This Saturday after pulling a monster of a 21 hour shift at work (hope you’re enjoying the Commonwealth Bank’s new phone banking system by the way) I woke up with a couple hours sleep and went to enjoy some pleasant company and to staid my sleep-deprived cravings for fat and sugar. John and I agreed to meet at Corelli’s, a café just south of Newtown Station on the King Street side. He’s mentioned it once or twice as we’ve walked past together and it seemed like a perfect opportunity to see what all the fuss was about. Turns out, there was a bit of justification for it.

Corelli's Café - 352 King Street, Newtown

Being the heart of Newtown it manages to still have that feel of Bohemia about it, which is odd because Arcangelo Corelli was Italian not Slavic; nor was he gypsy. In fact he was long dead before the French even coined the phrase. The point though, is that Corelli’s has that aire of real Newtown about it with it’s cramped tables, mismatched paintwork and staff that will get around to taking your order when they’ve stopped day-dreaming as they watch the foot traffic.

As for the food, the menu seemed skewed towards breakfast, proven by dinner there tonight with my pick of the menu being the bangers and mash (not too bad but simple as it should be). For that breakfast though John had the generously portioned eggs benedict with an obviously not store-bought hollandaise sauce. You could tell it was made with fresh egg and lemon.

Eggs Benedict @ Corelli's Newtown

To satisfy the need for sugar and fat though I couldn’t turn up the made-to-order Belgian waffles with strawberry and rhubarb compote, maple syrup and fresh cream. Good lord it hit the spot — then stomped around on it for a while. The waffles themselves were light and fluffy with just enough sugary-caramelised crispiness, balanced with the sweet and tart compote and the lusciousness of the cream. I think John’s arse clenched when he tasted some! Are you reading this John? :P

Waffles with Rhubarb and Strawberry Compote @ Corelli's Newtown

Tags:Restaurant, Review, Newtown, Breakfast, Sausages, Rubarb, Eggs Benedict, Waffles

Via The Kitchn, I came across something stunning that I knew I had to bake as soon as humanly possible. A Hazelnut and Brown Butter Cake covered in chocolate ganache. Of course, I threw in my own twist with a layer of apple between the cake and the chocolate, to make it my own. Pears would have worked well too but I happened to have some delicious apples sitting around that were begging to be eaten.

Hazelnut and Apple Cake with Chocolate Ganache

This isn't any ordinary cake, it's more of a dacquoise which is a meringue or cream with ground nuts mixed in. Today I used Hazelnuts left over from the torte I made a few weeks ago. The tricky things with this cake is the air bubbles from the beaten eggs is what gives this cake its light and delicate structure, and probably explains why mine sunk a little in the middle and broke apart as it cooled. Chocolate to the rescue to cover those bits up though!

Apple and Hazelnut and Brown Butter Cake

1 Cup of Hazelnuts
3 Apples
250g Unsalted Butter
1 Vanilla Bean
1⅓ Cups of Icing Sugar
⅓ Cups of Flour
5 Egg Whites
3 Tablespoons of Castor Sugar
100 grams Dark Chocolate
⅓ Cup of Thickened Cream

Pre-heat the oven to 170°C

Place the hazelnuts on a baking tray and bake for 15 minutes. When done wrap them in a tea-towel and let them steam until cool. Rub them in the towel to remove all of the skins.

Line the bottom of a 10" cake tin with baking paper and butter the edges. Slice the apples thinly and layer evenly on the bottom of the cake tin.

Place the butter and seeds from the vanilla bean in a saucepan and melt together, stirring often until the butter has browned.

Grind the hazelnuts and icing sugar together until the nuts are fine, mix with the flour and set aside.

In a stand mixer, whisk together the egg whites and castor sugar until stiff-peaks are formed in the egg whites. Alternating between the nut mixture and the butter in thirds, combine with the egg whites. Pour the final mixture over the apples in the cake tin and bake in the oven for 40 minutes.

Let the cake cool completely and turn out, upside down on the platter you're going to serve it on so the apples are on top.

While the cake is cooling, over a double boiler melt the chocolate and then whisk in the cream. Pour the ganache over the cake and spread evenly. Allow to cool and set.

Update: Actually, after typing out the recipe, I think I forgot to add the flour! It still looks and tastes okay but it would add to the reason the cake was so delicate.

Tags:Recipe, Hazelnut, Nuts, Chocolate, Dessert, Butter, Vanilla