Posts by tammi

Clap Your Hands to the Beet

Recipe October 24, 2010 5 Comments

Roast beetroot is AWESOME! I didn’t quite know what to make of them at first, but I was introduced, and it was yummy. So. I saw a roasted beetroot salad recipe by Jamie Oliver – when he was in Stockholm – and I just had to try it. I made some very minor adjustments, but otherwise, it’s just full of yummy goodness.

Ingredients:
Fresh Beetroot
Dill
Chives
Salt
Pepper
Olive Oil
Red Wine Vinegar

Wrap the beetroot in foil and roast in a 180C oven for about 40 min to 1 hour. To me, the way to tell a beetroot’s cooked is pretty much the way you’d tell a potato’s cooked – you stick a fork in and if it gives, it’s cooked.

Dice the beetroot into bite-sized pieces. Season liberally with salt and pepper, then add a liberal splash of good quality olive oil and vinegar (once I didn’t have red wine vinegar and used brown – it was fine). Snip some dill and chives in, and mix.

Et voila! Awesome, simple beetroot salad that frankly, I eat as a main. And beetroot salad is apparently very VERY good for you. =) =)

All win in my book.

Would you like fries with that?

Review October 21, 2010 5 Comments

When I was back in Singapore last I went to EWF by Everything with Fries with Mel! I am an absolute fries fiend. Love LOVE those strings of starchy goodness.

Mind you, they’ve got other stuff too, like this lamb burger that Mel got.

I didn’t try it, but she said that it was ok.

Om nom nom. Personally though, I wasn’t so interested in the other stuff…GIMME FRIES!

We had a selection of three types – Sour cream and chives (and I know this because of the green flecks!) which was ok. Not as strong a flavour as I’d like, but they do give you an extra dish of flavouring upon request.

We also had the garlic flavoured one, which was also slightly under seasoned to me, BUT I did quite like the roasted garlicky-ness rather than the strong, acrid burn of garlic that I was expecting. Not don’t get me wrong, I quite like the acrid burn of garlic, but not particularly on fries.

And finally, the salt and vinegar. How can we not? More than the potatoe-y starchy goodness, Mel and I LOVE salt and vinegar. Just thinking about it makes my mouth tingle. Mmmmm.

I want fries now. Honey, will you drive me down to McD’s?

EWF by Everything with Fries
181 Orchard Rd
#01-24/25 Orchard Central

Zzzzz…

Food For Thought October 18, 2010 2 Comments

Photo by Scarygami

So very tired. It’s week 11 of uni, with roughly about three more weeks till I finish. Not the just the semester, not just the year, but the the whole shebang. And since food does relieve a lot of the stress, it’s essays, baking, cleaning, tutorials, cheese-making, tests, eating, readings, essays, munching, essays, lectures…zzzzzzz.

Just three more weeks!!! Then (hopefully!) a food trip to Tasmania! What’s keeping me going now is the thought of seafood…

Say Cheese!!

Review October 15, 2010 10 Comments

I went to a cheese course!!!! I can’t stop telling everyone. As a foodie who loves loves cheese, this is somewhat a dream come true for me. I chanced upon a little sign for a one day cheese making course and I absolutely had to go!!! So excited.

Upon arrival, there were samples of the cheeses that we were going to make all laid out for us to try!! In order, the pictures are of mascarpone (and yes those black specks you see are from a vanilla pod!), feta, and my absolute favourite, camembert.

Mmmm…goey, creamy, camembert…

We also learnt how to make quarg (cream cheese), and yoghurt, but I was too busy eating that I kinda forgot to take photos of those. *sheepish*

Morning tea was also provided, and the lovely Susan baked little yummy cheesecakes…

…that we promptly smothered in strawberries and mascarpone. hehe.

Lunch consisted of spinach and ricotta cannelloni, with ricotta that we’d MADE THAT MORNING!!!!!!!! How awesome is that?? This is what I call instant gratification!

There was also a grilled chicken and haloumi salad that was so good, when I went back for seconds all the haloumi was gone!!!! (Well, there were a couple of pieces, but there was no way that I could get at them without being very unslightly and rather uncivilised.)

And a Greek Salad with feta that we were learning how to make. =)

It was so exciting learning the cheese making process! Cheese making does take a good part of your day, so it takes a while in that sense, but IT’S SO EASY!!

And so pretty. Look at the pretty camembert settling in their hoops.

Isn’t it just poetry in motion?

And the cheese cloth straining with the weight of creamy mascarpone just gets me so excited that I want to run around the room like a child on a sugar high. Cheese high. Food high. Heheheheheheheheheehhehe.

Isn’t it just absolutely GORGEOUS????? Oh what a thing of beauty!!

I swear I’m never buying cheese again. Unless it’s blue. Or crumbly. Cause I can’t make those. Ok, I’m never buying soft cheeses again!!

Oh, and we got to bring home a wheel of camembert, a container of feta, containers of mascarpone and yoghurt! Swag!

Contact:
The Cheesemaking Workshop
Ph: (02) 9958 0909 or 0412 145 017
Email: susanmeagher@optusnet.com.au
www.thecheesemakingworkshop.com.au

ALLEZ CUISINE!!!

Food For Thought October 12, 2010 6 Comments

OMG YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS VIDEO!!

I take a class called The History of the Musical, and we were watching this in a class that was talking about Les Miserables. THEN I SAW HIM!!!! Keep a lookout at 2:15.

OMG.

Food Bloggers’ Picnic

Food For Thought October 9, 2010 20 Comments

Went to the food bloggers’ mad hatter-themed picnic today!! Yes, that is my hat. Photo thanks to Billy, from A Table for Two, who also organized the whole event (*edit*) with Karen from Citrus and Candy(*end of edit. I can’t believe I missed her out. I’m so sorry Karen!!”). I won craziest hat!! If you want to make it, here’s the youtube tutorial. So happy. I won a Beef and Beer Masterclass for two at Mumu grill! hehe. =) There were heaps of prizes, including a Kitchen Aid for best dish! Naturally, just about everyone had an entry.

So yes. Bloggers started arriving, carry all sorts of goodies!!

Group shot! And how’s this for coincidence? Third from the left is my primary school classmate!! How cool is that? She’s the blogger behind Nommynomnom. And in the far right is Anna from Diary of a Ladybird.

And there was a Pinata!

And there were hats galore!! Phuoc from Phuoc’n Delicious had a candy hat!! And we picked the candy off it after the picnic.

And the lovely Anita from noredmeat!

Rosalind from Rasarosa made this lovely hat and some really good kueh!! Hats off for her patience – Kaya is notoriously hard to make.

And my entry for the food competition was Tea-ramisu served in chocolate teacups!

I made the teacups by following this youtube tutorial, with a twist. I piped chocolate handles then ‘welded’ them on after. For the filling, I soaked sponge fingers in black rose and french vanilla tea (instead of coffee) and made the filling with home-made mascarpone! (That I learnt from a cheese making class that I attended, post to come soon.)

And the food, glorious food!!! When you go to a food bloggers’ picnic, you know that you’d be well fed.

Anna made this lovely chocolate cake with salted caramel (yum!!) and it had a beautiful picnic scene that is made out of fondant! She won the best sweet dish. =)

Sook Ching made these oh-so-cute Cookie Monster cupcakes!! I forgot to mention that one of the categories is best ‘blue’ dish, and this was pretty blue!

Gianna from The Empty Fridge won runner up for craziest hat, and she brought a blue Sangria (which matches her hat lol). Her lamb pies were SO AWESOME though. Lamb mince encased in puff pastry with olives and sun dried tomatoes. Mmm.

Simon from The Heart of Food had slow cooked pork with bourbon sauce. Mmm that tangy sauce. *salivates* I feel so greedy for admitting this, but I actually took home leftovers! Sandwiches here I come!

The girls from Sugarlace even dressed up!! How pretty is that?

And Billy was nicely modeling the handbag that they brought!! lollllll.

And after all the eating, it’s time for the prize giving, with the three judges!

And of course, the poor pinata that had to die. He had a dinner voucher that Sexyninjamonkey won.

And the best dish of the picnic, and winner of the Kitchen Aid is……

Anita from noredmeat!!!! Her thai fish cakes were DA BOMB. They also happened to disappear in seconds.

She also made this caramel slice with popping candy that she didn’t bring out earlier because she thought that they weren’t “Kitchen Aid worthy”. As if! These were really yummy too, and I have two sitting in my fridge for tomorrow. =)

It was such a good day. Great weather (for me, I love cold weather), great food, and best of all, great company. =) And I do so love a themed party.

A big thanks to Billy, Karen and Nuffnang for organizing it all, and for the lovely prizes that were there to be won!! =)

Food Fight!!

Review October 8, 2010 1 Comment

Sean’s family came down to Sydney for the weekend and we all decided to go for Teppanyaki – where the chef cooks all the food on a hot plate right in front of you, and well, sometimes they throw it at you too.

The chef starts off with a massive fire.

Isn’t that a magnificent thing of beauty? *sighs* A great showstopper, and very hypnotic.

And like I said before, really good food’s getting cooked right in front of you!

Fish smothered in garlic butter. Mmmmm. *Salivates*

To fry the beef, he sets the succulent piece of meat on fire.

It’s the most juicy, tasty example of beef ever!! I could eat meat like that everyday. *daydreams about juicy beef*.

The chef also made the largest omelet I’ve ever seen!

And a picture of our cheeky chef.

And Sean’s dad getting covered with paper towel, and a bowl placed on his head to catch raw eggs!

I would’ve taken more photos, but man that chef worked fast. I was also really preoccupied with all the tasty food! There’s a whole selection of seafood and vegies that I didn’t remember to photograph just because they were so yummy!

End of show! *Applauds*

We ate at:

Ichi-ban Teppanyaki
9 Wentworth Street Parramatta 2150
96333357

Smoke gets in your eyes…

Review October 6, 2010 1 Comment

You gotta love a barbecue buffet!! There’s this new place down the road from us that opened a couple of months ago, and it’s a Chinese barbecue buffet. Myriads of skewers are laid out in metal trays, and you pick your fill of them, before cooking them right at your table!

There’s a charcoal rotisserie type thing right at every table.

You insert the skewers into the groves and they turn turn away!

Sean and I tried one (or two) of everything!

At the beginning, it takes a while for the food to cook, and we have a strong belief that staring intently at your food will help it cook faster!

They also have a selection of sides, but it really isn’t anything to scream about. Although…I really got hooked on the pickled radish…

For those who aren’t skewer fans, there are also grill thingies provided, which allow you to barbecue pieces of steak on the hot coals.

They also give you a little holder for the skewers! I think that between Sean and myself, it was a good effort.

Sean’s quite happy with his food.

Overall, it was a good experience. It’s about $30 per person, but it’s about the average price for an all-you-can-eat. I would’ve liked more variation in the marinade, but it was still really good! Personally though, I’m more a fan of the Korean table-top BBQ.

Definitely worth a try though, if you haven’t been before.

Meidi BBQ House
100 Church St Parramatta
NSW 2150
(02)9635 9098

Somewhere, beyond the sea…

Recipe October 4, 2010 5 Comments

Made Salt-Baked Fish the other day!! Surprisingly easy, with fantastic results, although it’s such a waste that you can’t have the skin. =( I like fish skin.

So.

Ingredients:

About 500g course salt (sea salt is better if you can afford it)
Zest and Juice of 1 lemon
1 Egg
Chilli flakes
Pepper

White fish (whole, you can’t do this with a fillet)
Thyme
Bay Leaves

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Mix together the ingredients for the salt covering. I used lemon-y chilli flavoured salt here, but you can experiment with the different salt flavours. The lemon does permeate the fish really well though, and the aroma that wafts around the house while it bakes is absolutely fantastic.

You also need to add some water to the salt – it should be the texture of wet snow.

Stuff the fish with the thyme and bay leaves. I’m pretty sure (something to try the next time) that you can try other herbs as well, like lemongrass and the like. Then lay the fish on a bed of salt.

Then cover the fish with salt, and bake for 35-40 mins. (It’s really supposed to be 40, but I really hate overcooked fish, so I stopped at 35 just to be safe, because the salt retains a lot of residual heat, and the fish will keep cooking for a bit.)

When it’s done, take the fish out, carve open the salt crust, and voila! Beautiful, succulent fish that just flakes off.

Oh, and remember to line whatever roasting tray you use – salt will ruin your tray otherwise.

Bon appetit!

This little piggy went to market…

Review October 1, 2010 2 Comments

Last weekend I went to the Nabiac Markets to have a look around. It wasn’t as big as I was used to, but there were really interesting things available!

There were many potted plants up for grabs. Everything that you could want in an edible garden was sold there.

I even found strawberry plants with a tiny strawberry shyly peeking out through the lush green leaves!

Inside, there were some food stalls showcasing their wares.

I didn’t get anything from the inside bit of the market though. I did, however, get these three little beauties on the way out.

The hot chilli chutney was good, but really tasted like apple sauce with chilli in it. Don’t take the “hot chilli” label at face value though, it’s really not that much of a kick, more like a subtle warmth. It really grew on me though, I kinda like the idea that I’m eating adult apple sauce lol.

Now, as a rule, I’m not the biggest fan of capsicum. In this case however, it’s not bad at all! Yes, it does taste quite distinctively of capsicum, but the jam-iness smooths it over and makes it really pleasant. I still wouldn’t use it in large amounts (just cause of personal “dispreference”) but it’s still really good.

I think out of the three I like this the best. The sweetness of the tomato brings out the natural sweetness in the chillis, and I think the heat that runs through this balances it very well. It’s like slightly mushy salsa, without the tang. Subtle, but not. Me likey.

Looks like it’s cold meats for a while then. 😉

Happy munching.