If you’ve watched Despicable Me – and its sequel – I’m pretty sure you’ll agree that the Minions absolutely stole the show with their adorable antics and costumes. Naturally, children love them too. So in a bid to win my young nephews’ affections – it is, after all, one of their favourite shows – I made them Minion pancakes! And with inspiration from Pinterest, I’ve learnt that there’s only one thing you need to make any cartoon pancake you want.
It’s Sunday morning, and despite your best efforts to sleep in, your stomach starts rumbling. You have a dream. A dream that magically, with minimal effort, you can have an enjoyable brunch with an oozing egg, hearty beans, but also looks like you’ve slaved over a hot stove.
Well, you don’t have to look too far.
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I’m starting to think that I’m a complete Japanophile. Japanese food is one of my go-to comfort foods, and many of the ideas that come to me in the middle of the night – yes I’m that obsessive about food – seem to revolve around Japanese flavours and ideas.
So when it came to coming up with canapé ideas for my little dinner party, the classic Japanese chawanmushi came to mind, but I was going to serve them in sake cups! Aren’t they cute??
Now I know that by definition chawanmushi should be steamed in tea cups, but sake cups are just the perfect size for canapés, and allows your guests to try a variety of things without getting too full!
If you’ve never tried chawanmushi, it is a light, moreish, delicate Japanese steamed savoury egg custard that can have a variety of ‘toppings’, from chicken, to gingko nuts, to mushrooms, to fish cakes…whatever floats your boat.
I happened to get given extremely fresh sea urchin from Cando Fishing – who also gave me lots of information about when’s a good time to buy sea urchin – and I thought that I should keep the actual egg custard simple.
I used:
The important ratio here is that of the eggs to the dashi. You can use some other stock, if you’d like, but I find it simpler to make my own dashi by softening some konbu (kelp) in water, bringing the water up to about 60C, removing the kelp after about 10-20 minutes and adding dried bonito flakes. Simply bring the water up to a simmer, and simmer it till you like the flavour (about 10 minutes for a small batch). Strain, and you’ve got your dashi!
Let the dashi cool before you add them to your beaten eggs and strain. Then pour them into your prepared containers, add your ‘toppings’ (not the sea urchin, though) and steam. Because the egg mixture is so delicate, it’s a good idea to par-cook or fully cook your toppings before adding them into the raw egg mixture. I just lightly simmer the shimeiji mushrooms in some stock or salted water before adding them to the bottom of the cups. Remember to keep the mushroom water though – it’s incredibly tasty and ends up being like a mushroom stock that you can use somewhere else.
Then cover your little cups of goodness with some foil and steam them till they are just set. They will never really stop wobbling till they’re pretty much overcooked, so I find that turning off the heat when they’re at the stage of the softest silken tofu, the mixture changes to an off-white, opaque colour, and leaving it to finish in its residual heat is the most effective.
Then carefully lift them out and using a tea spoon, gently top them with sea urchin – if you’re using any. You can also just serve them straight out of the steamer as is – I know that it’s a breakfast favourite for me. I find that it’s a great starting canapé because it really whets the appetite, and prepares your guests for more.
IT’S MY BIRTHDAY!!!!! Well, it was my birthday. Thanks to the lovely people at the Trish Nichol Agency and 3to7, I got to have a lovely birthday brunch to start off my day.
It actually came out in a capsicum cup. HOW CUTE IS THIS????!!! Considering that I didn’t ask for the long list of specifications I have for this drink, it came out very well balanced and completely delicious. My dining partner ordered a coffee, and as an ex-barista, he’s very particular. Personally, I don’t know too much about coffee, but I’ll take his word for it that the extra strong cappuccino he ordered didn’t need any sugar, it was so good.
With the drinks, we also decided to order a sharing platter ($24 per person).
Clockwise from left: Smoked kipfler potatoes with chorizo, homemade baked beans, scrambled eggs, chicken bagel.
Clockwise from left: Coconut french toast, Arabesque pancakes with banana and salted caramel, toasted crumpets
If you’re one of those people who love variety – like me! – and love having a little bit of everything, this is the option for you. This platter is a glorious selection across their menu, and if I hadn’t asked about the other items – I’ll get to that soon – I would totally have been satisfied with it.
As with most platters, items can be a little bit hit and miss, and I’m glad to say that this one had more hits than misses. The scrambled eggs were absolutely divine, and PERFECTLY COOKED! For once, I didn’t have to specify that I wanted my eggs underdone, and have them come out over anyway. These were silky and luscious, and a real credit to the chef. The baked beans were delish also, packed full of flavour and giving a hearty oomph to the meal. The arabesque pancakes are also worth a mention – light and fluffy pancakes are covered in a rich caramel sauce and pieces of cooked banana, with a scoop of orange clotted cream on the side. If you love a rich breakfast, then this is for you. The only small thing for me is that the banana was slightly under ripe, and left a milk chalky taste in my mouth. The coconut french toast was a surprise – I’m normally not a fan of coconut, but it was well soaked and had the texture of pudding (I like!). Besides the fresh berries, the french toast was also paired with some fruit that was cooked with cardamom. That, I found a little bit strong for my liking. Just a touch.
But here are the truly magical bits.
According to the lovely and informative waitress, one of the items that are not on the platter is the steak sandwich. So the chef kindly sent out a few pieces of the steak for us to try. OMGOMGOMG. It was seriously one of the best steaks I’ve had to date. The steak was cooked sous vide – low temperature, submerged in a water bath – and so it’s never overcooked, and consistently turns out the same amazing results. As I was having the steak on its own, I did have to add a touch more salt to it. but it was melt-in-your-mouth tender. I love sous vide cooking.
And speaking of melt in your mouth tender:
I think the salmon is the piece de resistance. Seriously. Confit steak of salmon is paired with perfect 63C eggs, little fried pieces of lemon ricotta and a quenelle of vanilla butter. It’s so surprisingly simple on the palate – it was almost as if everything was in its purest flavour and form – the textures were unbelievable. The temperature of the oil for the confit salmon – I’m told – is also controlled by an immersion circulator, and the eggs are also cooked sous vide. If you’re wondering about all the hype regarding a 63C egg, you should really try this.
SEE THAT YOLK???? *drools* It’s like yolk porn the way it oozes. The salmon was also silky tender, but still flaked with the slightest pressure. Sure, everything needed a touch more salt – for me – but as I’m sure you know by now, I’m a bit of a salt fiend.
In all, it was a marvellous birthday brunch. The waitress provided excellent service, and the food was incredible. And it’s all wrapped up in a hip waterloo location, with amazing light and a relatively quiet street. Great for a Sunday morning get together.
Note: Tammi from Insatiable Munchies and her dining partner dined as guests of 3to7 and the Trish Nichol Agency.
We ate at:
3to7
0499 418 895
3-7 Danks Street
Waterloo
NSW 2017
Eastwood is home to a plethora of different cafes and bakeries, and I LOVE IT. So one morning, before doing the groceries, a leisurely brunch seemed to be in order.
This quaint little cafe has an adorable decor, with wood grain tracing all over the walls of the cafe. It had a great ambience to kick back and have a chat with friends.
The big breakfast was a little pricey – it was about $15 – but the fare was decent. Everything that was meant to be hot, was hot, and everything that was meant to be crispy, was crispy.
We also had the Eggs Benedict.
This wasn’t the best breakfast by a long shot. I had asked for the eggs to be underdone, and the eggs were clearly overdone. The ham and muffin wasn’t actually toasted, and was left cold, and the wilted spinach was stringy and not silky like I expected. The hollandaise sauce was thick and creamy, but not actually buttery like it should be.
In all, the food was average, although a bit pricey, and the service was very dicey. A few of the staff members were quite friendly, but the person that was actually standing behind the counter was disinterested, dismissive, and looked like he really didn’t want to be there.
I wouldn’t mind taking away a coffee there again at some point, but I’m not that inspired to have another meal there any time soon.
We ate at:
Caffe Cherry Beans, Eastwood
Eastside Shopping Centre
Shop 201, 62-80 Rowe St.
Eastwood NSW 2122
The lazy, rainy weekend is over, and Monday morning rolls around. I begrudgingly get out of bed and make all the appropriate noises and mumbles about wanting to get back in. Then my tummy rumbles and tells me that I might as well get up because it’s hungry. And when it’s hungry, it’s turns me into the hulk.
So what to do for breakfast?
Well I made ricotta pancakes over the weekend, and as always, I made more compote than I needed. Well together with just a few more ingredients from my fridge and pantry. I’ve got a light breakfast that gets me through the morning and quells my hungry tummy.
I used:
I love how a sweet cereal, but I know that it’s full of sugar. So I try to use it just as a topping, to keep my sweet tooth satisfied, while keeping
Lazy Sunday mornings. Rain pattering softly against the glass of the window. You know what you need for breakfast? Pancakes.
Pancakes are actually very simple things to make. It can be as involved or as easy as you want. Now, I like a certain texture to my pancakes (fluffy) and there are a couple more steps than just mix wet and dry. But let me assure you, the results are completely worth it.
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As we all know, I have a thing for soft boiled eggs (oh Mappen how I love you!). But rather than making a trip into the city every time I want a soft boiled egg fix, I decided to conduct my own experiments regarding how to get that perfectly soft boiled egg at home.
Out of all the instructions I’ve found online, Heston Blumenthal’s seemed immediately doable. It was simple, and when Heston says that it works every time, then I’m happy to trust him. He said to cover a room temperature egg with just enough cold water and bring it to a boil fast, over high heat. After that, turn the heat off and leave the egg to cook n the residual heat for 6 minutes. Slightly involved, but it sounded doable.
The other method that I tried was one that has been working for me every time. Bring a pot of water to the boil, then take an egg out of the fridge (which is where most of us keep them for convenience sake) and put it in the boiling water and reduce the heat to low so the water is simmering, for 6 minutes.
The results? Heston’s method seemed to produce a really nice hard boiled egg, but hard boiled nonetheless. My method produced a hard boiled white, but with a runny yolk.
I’m not too sure why exactly, but I think the going theory at the moment is that the eggs were too small — I used medium sized eggs, the smiley faces on them got to me! — and maybe too big a pot, because that meant that the water took longer to get to a rolling boil. My method got a consistently runny yolk, but I’ve been experimenting with decreasing the boiling time and increasing the resting time to get to a soft, just-cooked white as well.
I’ll keep you updated on the eggy eggsperiments, but I’m absolutely open to suggestions! What are your secrets to a perfectly set soft boiled egg?
Oh I love blogger events, especially the ones that include friends and family.
Which is why when the nice people at Nuffnang and Yoplait emailed me with the chance to attend this Blogger Day Out, I jumped on the chance! And of course my family came along too.
Heaps of fun activities were planned:
We could make beaded necklaces and bracelets
Get our faces painted
Do some plaster painting
And eat some awesome made to order crepes!
And of course, what else would you have at a Yoplait event?
As much yoghurt as you can possibly stomach!!!
They even have yoghurt tubs as balloon weights!!
How cute is that?
As an avid yoghurt eater, I LOVE these new fruity flavours. Citrus tastes a bit like a lemon cheesecake, and mango is an awesome reminder of summer. But my FAV has to be the Apple and Cinnamon!! It totally tastes like an awesome healthy version of apple pie with ice cream. LOVE IT.
By the end of the day we were stuffed, painted and beaded. The weather was just perfect, and it was great to relax with family. Things have been a little bit tough lately, and this picnic just gave me the break that I needed. Picnic blankets and all the picnic peripherals were provided too! Don’t they just think of everything?
Special thanks once again to the lovely people at Nuffnang and Yoplait for organizing this great day out for my family and me.
=)
Sorry for taking so long!! I feel like my poor blog has been neglected because of other things, but never fear, I’m back and hungrier than ever!
Which is why when I got invited to this Olive Oil Brunch (in my head it’s a feast) by Simon who had passed on the invitation from Fouad, I was uber excited. I’ve always loved the celebration of the harvest, and this definitely did not disappoint!
The brunch was held at Efendy, located in Balmain.
The olive oil was served in various ways:
Labna
Hummus
Dukkah
Baba Ghanouj
And all the dips were served with Turkish bread
Seriously, the food was DELICIOUS. Maybe it was because I was really hungry, but I actually think it was just because there was an abundance of deliciousness going around.
The olive oil is from Fouad‘s father’s land, and is organic, hand-picked and cold pressed. The olive oil is quite mild and light, and it made me feel healthy just eating it. I had envisioned women wrapped in finely woven scarves dancing to a primal beat, luring you into the symphony of gorgeous flavours. This oil, for me, is a great carrier of flavours, and seemed to complement and augment the flavours of everything that I ate it with.
As the brunch was winding down, a gorgeous crate of ripe figs came out to play.
I decided to try the figs with the olive oil, and MAN WAS IT TASTY!
The oil carried the sweetness of the figs so well, and gave me a certain kind of creaminess that added luxury to the fresh fruitiness of the figs.
It makes me want to try all my fruit with olive oil.
Many thanks to Simon and Fouad for the invite and the event!! I so need the recipe for that Baba Ghanouj…