Short black cupcakes

AND what is quite possibly my best food picture ever - if only there was a touch more light, but still, the best so far!!!

I had a pretty crappy day today, for no particular reason. I just wasn't doing what I wanted to be doing and I didn't know what it was that I wanted to do. I tried to perk myself up by going shopping and when that didn't work, I tried making cupcakes.

The recipe for these short black cupcakes comes from JenJen's blog Milk and Cookies and you can find the recipe here. They are a lovely mix of coffee and chocolate flavours with a meringue frosting which is also coffee flavoured.

I found the instant coffee that I used to be a bit too bitter for this cake though - not unusual, as I find it bitter to drink too. Next time I will be more careful in my coffee selection. It was lovely and easy to make, except that my stupid stand mixer can't mix 3 egg whites so I had to do it by hand, but that's hardly a fault of the recipe.

However, the mixmaster did a masterful job of creaming the butter and sugar and egg, so I do have to give it some credit.

And credit to to my (well, DD's) four year old Canon Powershot with no optical zoom to speak of for helping me get a nice picture in spite of my shaking hands!

Ice cream

I haven't made ice cream for a long time. I was a little discouraged because I wasn't able to get my ice cream maker to freeze the way it was supposed to freeze. When I posted about my worries last time Brian from The Chocolate Gourmand suggested that I try putting half the mix at a time in the ice cream maker. I did that this time (I'd only made a half batch) and success!!!! Thanks Brian!

Once again, it is the Vanilla Ice Cream from The Chocolate Gourmand. I love that stuff.

Fragrant Fish Parcels

We went to the Farmer's Market this morning and came home with a swag of green things. We bought some Thai basil, Vietnamese mint, coriander, parsley, watercress, bok choy, gai lan, lemongrass and lime. They are all so fresh and so beautiful, but they are all in massive bunches that do not want to fit in the fridge.

So, I had to cook something with them. I bought some lovely snapper at Chermside this morning and decided to make Bill Granger's fragrant fish parcels. The recipe is in his book Every Day, but I just throw things in there now.

First line a baking dish with a two big sheets of aluminium foil. Big enough so that you can wrap up your fish and a big pile of herbs into a parcel. Throw a stalk of bruised lemongrass into the parcel and then a pile of Thai basil leaves. Add a sprig of coriander and some finely sliced kaffir lime leaves. Lay your fish onto the herbs. In a bowl, mix 1 tsp of brown sugar, 2 tsp lime juice, 2 tsp fish sauce and 1/3 cup coconut milk and then pour over the fish. Wrap the parcel up securely and cook in a 200 degree celcius oven until fish is cooked. Serve over white rice.

I also added some bok choy on top of my fish and garnished with bean sprouts.

Fragrant Fish Parcels
from Every Day by Bill Granger

(serves 4)

4 x 150g (5.5 oz) firm white fish fillets (such as cod, snapper or ling)
80 ml (2.5 fl oz/ 1/3 cup) coconut milk
2 tsp lime juice
2 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp soft brown sugar
1 lemon grass stem, outer layers removed, bruised and thinly sliced
2 makrut (kaffir lime) leaves, centre veins removed, very thinly sliced
small handful fresh coriander (cilantro) leaves
small handful fresh Thai basil leaves

To serve
lime wedges

Preheat a BBQ or chargrill plate to hot. Put each fish fillet on a 30cm (12") long piece of foil

Mix together the coconut milk, lime juice, fish sauce and sugar and spoon over the fish fillets. Scatter the lemon grass, makrut leaves, coriander and Thai basil over the fish

Fold in the sides of the foil to make parcels. Cook on the BBQ or chargrill for 5-10 minutes, depending upon the thickness of your fish - the fish should be just cooked through. Serve with lime wedges.

My note: Although Bill suggests cooking these parcels on the BBQ or chargrill, when he made this on Bill's Food he used the oven, and I found the oven to be the easiest way. I got the oven temperature (200 degrees celcius) from the episode. He suggested cooking the parcels for 10-12 minutes, but I have found that it really depends on the type of fish I use.

Spice rack makeover, part one

The sorry state of affairs that was my spice collection

I love my spice rack, but it is not the most fashionable of setups. Especially not when compared with someone such as Deb's from Smitten Kitchen, which I have shamelessly copied in this makeover because I loved it so and wanted one of my very own.

The problem with all my spices was that there was no uniformity in size or shape of their containers. The Masterfoods jars are slightly smaller than the McCormick's ones, and the gourmet market sells the ones that are in the resealable packets and are not in jars at all! So I had my jars on the rack and the overflow jars and packets in little trays in the pantry. The jars are stacked two deep, which makes it very difficult to find things.

Now, armed with inspiration from Deb, it was time for a change.

I found some seamless tins online at a candle supply store for $1 for a 2 oz tin. I bought 20 on a whim, as I was not sure how big 2 oz would be, or indeed if they were airtight or even suitable for what I wanted to do. However, they were perfect. The only problem I had was that I have more than 20 spices, so I was only able to do half of the makeover today. The picture below gives you an idea of what I'm aiming for though - it's making me a very happy camper!!!!

Beautiful half-finished spice rack

And here are the sad, left-behind spices waiting for my next order of tins.

Apple Tart

Well, let's pretend it is, anyway.

I was reading about the simplest apple tart on Smitten Kitchen and I thought that something so simple has to be easy to make, right? It probably is, but I'm not sure pastry is my strong point.

This was my first experience with pastry, and I chickened out in the first instance by using frozen shortcrust rather than making my own. I also do not (or did not yesterday) own a tart pan, or indeed anything that could possibly resemble a tart pan, so in my wisdom - or lack thereof - I used a springform tin (please don't leave, I promise I won't do it again!). I also overcooked it, but did not burn it. It still tasted really good, and you should totally go and see how it is supposed to be made before you base any opinions on my results.

So, what have I learned?

1. Bought pastry is very handy, however, there's really not that much trouble in making your own. I might get the hang of cooking pastry with the bought stuff before I start in on the home-made stuff though.

2. Springform tins are not good for any kind of tart-type goodness with the amount of pastry that I had. Maybe with more pastry to roll out it would have been okay, but it won't matter in the future as I now own a proper tart pan.

3. I fail at rolling dough. The amount of times I tore it or it stuck to the bench or had a pastry-related mishap couldn't be counted. In the end it wasn't even round or thin enough because I was sick of it and just wanted to get onto my apples. I wasn't particularly patient last night.

4. Take the tart out of the oven before the edges start to go black. Sound advice, common sense, really. I don't know where mine was.

5. When you make ice cream with a base that needs to sit in the fridge overnight to get down to the right temperature to put in the ice cream maker and you intend on having it with the tart, making them both on the same night isn't going to work. Again, common sense deserted me last night. Luckily, there was always cream.

So, with these lessons well and truly learned and some new baking implements added to my kitchen arsenal (I also got a baking sheet), I think it will be time to try this again. Especially since I did not use all of my apples.

PS: if there is anybody out there reading this who hasn't read Deb's fantastic blog and seen her beautiful pictures, go there - now!

Cream Patisserie Boulangerie

I recently started reading The Poison Doughnut blog and I love reading the blog of another Brisbane foodie.

Apart from bowing down before their List of specialty and gourmet food stores and delis in Brisbane (sorted by suburb!), I also loved reading about the various restaurants and coffee shops that I've never been to.

One of these was Cream Patisserie Boulangerie at Coorparoo. We wandered out there the first Saturday after reading the review.

Cream is a small cafe/patisserie on a stylish stretch of Cavendish Road. It's fairly small, with its pastry range on display in the front window. It's mainly outside seating, there is only four or so tables in the relatively narrow inside area. We didn't stay to eat or drink, ordering 2 Spanish-style hot chocolates and four pastries to take away.

The barista warned us that the hot chocolates were quite thick and rich and offered to tame them a little bit, however we told her it wasn't necessary. The service was wonderful. She was lovely and friendly and quick, even though they were very busy and she seemed to be on her own. We've been back again (for more takeaway) since this visit and received wonderful service from another staff member, too.

The hot chocolates were an eye-opener to those of us used to the chocolate-flavoured warm milk that you get so often. It was as thick as YoGo, and you almost wanted to chew it as you drank it. It was decadently delightful, but I couldn't even get close to finishing mine.

I tried taking some photos to show how thick this was, but I don't think they do the drink any justice. Just remember that the drink tasted much better than my photos make it look!


We also bought the four pastries that you see in the first photo. Two chocolate eclairs and two mini chocolate fudge cakes. I didn't end up tasting the fudge cake, but DD assures me it was good, but it was nothing compared to the eclair. I did taste the eclair, and I agree with DD - it was awesome! Lovely light pastry, beautiful creamy filling and thick chocolate coating. We bought these again on our return visit, but learned a valuable lesson: don't try and eat a whole one in one sitting. The richness gets too much. The first time we had half with our hot chocolates and saved the other half for later. It was the perfect way to enjoy these, twice!

Cream Coorparoo
Shop 3, Cavendish Central
380 Cavendish Rd
Coorparoo
Ph 07 3324 2713
www.creamstyle.com.au

Fruit salad, yummy yummy

Passionfruit, cherries, seedless grapes and white nectarines.

The title would make more sense to anyone who's ever watched The Wiggles.

Herby Christmas present

Craig's mother gave them to me (us) for Christmas. There was some basil, thyme, parsley and coriander. Unfortunately, they have not survived. I don't know what I did wrong. I tried not to over water them, I had them in a protected position that still got sun. I don't know!

I moved them to the patio table which is in full sun most of the time and now the basil is having a great time, but unfortunately, the rest of them have moved on.

D's birthday

DD's birthday was on New Year's Day. For his birthday cake he chose a Moist Chocolate Cake from Nigella Lawson.

Flourless, dense, chocolatey, rich... what more could a birthday boy ask for? (Well, he asked for - and received - tickets to a Dream Theater concert, but that's another story)

Two dinners

DD hates seafood, everything from the sight of it to the smell of it to the whole idea of it. I love seafood, and because I know how much he hates the smell/sight of it I don't have it very often. When Mum came down for Christmas it was great because she loves seafood too, and with two of us wanting to eat it, DD was willing to put up with it.

So, one day, Mum and I stopped at a fish and chip shop that also sells a great selection of fresh seafood and bought some lovely king prawns. We marinated them in some olive oil, garlic, chilli and parsley and had them for dinner with a beautiful salad of snow pea sprouts, baby spinach leaves, vine ripened cherry tomatoes, avocado and danish feta and a roasted garlic vinaigrette. It was the perfect, light summer dinner.

However, this would not do for DD. We bought him a nice fat chicken breast fillet, opened it up, stuffed it with some sliced ham, red onion and feta and then rolled it up and baked it in the oven. He had it with chips and loved every bite. Mum and I thought ours was better though.


The chicken wasn't actually pink. It was a combination of an unfortunate shadow and pink ham!!!

Ricotta and Herb Stuffed Chicken

This is a day after photo, I forgot to take a picture before we ate!

Mum and I spent some time watching the DVD of Bill's Food Season Two over Christmas and we loved the idea of this Ricotta and Herb Stuffed Chicken, so we made it for our Christmas Eve dinner.

It was very easy. Mix your ricotta with some chopped chervil, chives and lemon zest and then season with salt and pepper. Spatchcock your chicken - Mum did this, a big cheer for her! - and then loosen the skin over the breast. Spread the ricotta mixture under the skin and roast.

It was really good, but next time I would salt the ricotta mix a bit more. I thought it needed just a little bit more kick, and my primitive mind just thought salt. DD and Mum loved it as it was.

Toast a la Bill Granger

Tahini, tomato and feta and lightly mashed avocado on crusty fresh sourdough. Yum!

Christmas Part 4: The Table

Christmas Part 3: The Sides

Along with your typical roast vegetables and some steamed greens, we had:


Cucumber Salad

My Nanna used to make this all the time, and then Mum would make this for me, so it's special to me because of the nostalgia as well as because it tastes awesome.

White vinegar
White sugar
Cream
Cucumber
Red onion
Salt and pepper

Mix a half to three quarters of a teaspoon of sugar in three-four tablespoons of white vinegar in bowl until sugar dissolves. Add cream, stirring, until the mix tastes nicely tart and creamy. Add sliced cucumber and red onion, then season with salt and pepper. Leave to sit in the fridge for a few hours or overnight before serving.

It really is a recipe that depends on taste, and I often add too much cream and then have to balance it out again by adding more vinegar. It's worth it though.


Yorkshire Pudding

DD mentioned how much he loved Yorkshire Puddings recently, and asked if I could make them for Christmas. I have never had these before, never even seen them before, so it involved some research on my part. I found a nice simple recipe on Recipezaar and we made them on Christmas Day.

Yorkshire Pudding
Recipe courtesy of Marie Alice on Recipezaar.

2 eggs (at room temperature)
1 tsp salt
1 1/3 cup milk (at room temperature)
1 cup flour

1. Beat the eggs together until light

2. Beat in the remaining ingredients well

3. Let stand, covered, for 1 hour

4. Fill muffin tins 1/4 full of oil or drippings and put into a hot oven until the fat is sizzling hot (nearly smoking)

5. Fill each muffin cup half full of batter, Place in a 450*F oven and bake for 20 minutes, gradually lowering the oven temperature every 5 minutes by 25 degrees until puffed, crispy and brown.


I had read through some of the comments on this recipe, and many reviewers had said that 1/4 muffin tin of oil was way too much, so I cut it down so that my oil only just covered the base of the muffin tin. They turned out very well, I think. DD seemed to like them.

Christmas Part 2: The Meat

We had a little bit of a decision to make about the meat, because DD doesn't like pork or lamb, and Mum and I really like pork and lamb, and I love turkey and have to have turkey and DD loves ham and has to have ham and then Mum and I found a Bill Granger roast chicken recipe that we wanted and we went round and round deciding for ages.

In the end, we decided to try a little bit of everything.


We did get the chicken too, but that ended up getting cooked for Christmas Eve.

Nothing fancy happened here, just a bit of juggling to fit everything into our tiny oven.

Christmas Part 1: The Cake

I know that Christmas was a few weeks ago, but what better way to relive the fun than by blogging about it later?

Christmas this year was nice and quiet, just DD and me and my mother who came down from Cairns. My Mum loves food and cooking too, and since my love of food and cooking only developed since I've lived away from home, we really never had a chance to play together so I was very excited to show her the markets and the delis and all the places we like to go to.

Needless to say, with two women who love cooking in the house, DD got very spoiled.

He requested this Coffee and Chocolate Meringue Cake which I found one day while browsing through the UKTV Food website. It was one of their videos, and I thought it looked awesome. It was terribly rich and decadent, so I've only made it twice since I found it 2 years ago. DD must have liked it, because it was what he chose for his Christmas dessert.

It's very simple in theory, just a layered cake of meringue and chestnut/coffee cream. First make a typical meringue mix, with some cocoa folded in with the cornflour at the end and bake in a swiss roll tin. Whenever I make this cake, I can never get the meringues to be nice and flat and of a consistent thickness. Once the meringue is cooked and cooled, cut it into three equal strips. I can never do this evenly either, so I always end up with a rather lopsided cake.

To make the filling, just combine some coffee, chestnut puree and some double cream, then layer! Meringue, cream, meringue, cream, meringue and cream.

Very yum. It's nicer too if it's eaten next day (in my opinion, you do lose a little of the freshness of the meringue though). You might be able to compromise and just make the cream filling the day before. I made it all on Christmas Eve, we were too full to eat it on Christmas Day, and so it didn't get tasted until Boxing Day. It was still good though.