Summer. Food. Drinks. Friends.

I have a lot of foodie friends, and some friends who aren't so foodie but love to eat, and we love to get together for lengthy dinners.  Last time we all got together was for my 25th birthday dinner party back in July - which was kind of the catalyst for me starting this blog.  For that dinner, I prepared a five course meal and it was spectacular but I thought I would change things up this time.  For this dinner I asked my guests to bring one course each (well, each couple).  It made for a very interesting and fun evening full of lots of laughs and delicious food.  And when I say lengthy, the appetizers went out at 7:15pm and dessert was served at 11:30pm!  Check out some photos from the night.

Left: A few cocktails to start the night.

Below: Baked Polenta Rounds w Chorizo, Bocconcini and Spicy Capsicum Dip.

Above Left: Alex making his amazing bruschetta, also seen in "In Someone Else's Kitchen" November 16th 2011.

Above Right: Tomato Tarte Tatin

Right:  Tessa after plating her Beetroot and Fetta salad. 

My guests.

Left: Ben and Sam's Pizzas have also featured on my blog  ("In Someone Else's Kitchen" December 21st 2011).  Varieties were: Antipasto, Spicy Chorizo and The Famous Prosciutto and Bocconcini.

Below: Laura's Moroccan Beef and Couscous Salad (beef not pictured).

Right: A delicious dessert to finish the night - Sticky Date Pudding w Caramel Sauce, Praline and Vanilla Ice-cream - thanks to the lovely ladies, Naomi and Lea (pictured above left).

An amazing night and I already cannot wait for the next one.

Recipes - Laura's Rice

When I was 15, my friend Laura came to visit one day and we were hungry (which is a constant state for 15yr olds right?).  When I looked in my fridge I realised there was not a great deal of food so I grabbed a few things and threw them into a frying pan.  Laura was amazed that I was able to throw together something that was delicious and quick from seemingly nothing!  To this day she still talks about that dish, so here it is for everyone to enjoy.

The base of this dish is leftover cooked rice.  Rice can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days and is great for whipping up quick meals, like fried rice or this recipe.  This dish is in no way a risotto.  

Ingredients

1 chicken breast, about 350g, cubed

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 brown onion, finely diced

1 cup sour cream

70g baby spinach or rocket

2 cup cooked rice

1/4 grated parmesan cheese, plus extra to serve

salt and pepper, to season

Step 1 - Heat a good whack of olive oil in a large frying pan.  Throw in garlic and onions and fry until cooked and just starting to brown. Add chicken and fry until just cooked.
Step 2 - Turn heat to low and throw rice, spinach, sour cream and parmesan cheese into pan.  Season well with salt and pepper and stir until rice is warm, cheese is melting and spinach has wilted.
Step 3 - Serve with parmesan cheese and fresh cracked black papper.

I don't remember a time I didn't cook

age 16...

I've been cooking since I was about 6 or 7 and as a result, by the time I reached 16 I thought I  knew what I was doing (as most 16 year olds do!), especially when preparing a recipe I had cooked many many times.  

My friends and I were catching up for a movie night and I offered to bring dinner.  I decided to make my cheese and spinach pie as it is quick, easy and everyone likes it!  When I went to make it I decided to double the amount of ricotta and fetta and also add some tasty and parmesan cheese for extra flavour. Great idea, right?!

So, I take my gorgeous golden crispy pie to my friends place and we're sitting in the garage getting ready to watch movies and my friends sister says she'll run inside to grab a knife to cut the pie and some cutlery and plates.  And I say 'Don't bother getting plates or cutlery, it's a pretty solid pie, we'll be able to just pick it up and eat it.'  It wasn't until I cut the pie and lifted the first piece out that I realised the pie was very sloppy!  When I more than doubled the cheese content I didn't add any extra spinach!! 

So, I felt super embarrassed after assuring everyone we would be able to eat solid pieces of pie and we all ended up with cheese all over our hands, all over our clothes and unfortunately, all over my friends couches and carpet!  To this day, I have still not lived this one down.

But I did learn two things; 1. When you change a recipe there will  be consequences.  2. Cheese and spinach pie tastes great with extra tasty and parmesan!  

Asian Cuisine

I'm the first to admit that Asian Cuisine is not something I am overly familiar with.  For this reason, I have decided to learn as much as I can about Asian Cuisine this summer.  Everything from Chinese, Japanese, Malaysian, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese, Indonesian and Indian.  


While it is not going to be my sole focus, I want to inject more of an Asian flavour to my blog over the warmer months and lose my fear of creating beautiful, balanced Asian dishes.  I'll post all my fails and wins.  Wish me luck!

Super Sparkly Rainbow Butterfly Cake

My little girl is having a birthday party this weekend and has invited over a number of her friends to celebrate.  I love throwing kids parties, well any parties, and the pinnacle of any birthday party is the cake.  

Over the years I have made a number of interesting, time consuming and ultimately delicious cakes including a Choc Caramel Dora the Explorer and a 7 tier Castle complete with chocolate door and windows. 

Decorating cakes is not something I am particularly good at, due to the fact that I lack patience and the ability to make things neat and perfect.  But making kids cakes is something I love doing as they don't really cake about the little details (like the chunk taken out of Dora's chin)  it's all about the cake on the whole, knowing that someone put a lot of love into something for them and the 'oh my god I get to EAT this' factor.

I let my kids choose their cake design and we usually spend a few weeks and a fair bit of consultation coming to the final decision.  This year, my daughter decided she wanted a Super Sparkly Rainbow Butterfly Cake.   Together, we picked colours, designed a pattern and created a plan.

Firstly, I decided to make the cake a rainbow cake; to match the beautiful sparkly rainbow wings.   I bought six Wilton Gel Colours, 4 packet cake mixes and went crazy.  I usually use packet mixes for kids cakes as kids are more interested in the look and the icing.  Unfortunately the picture doesn't show the yellow or red too well, but they're there!  Next I cut out a butterfly, using a template I made with baking paper.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a photo of this.

Next, I made a white butter cream icing and did a 'crumb coat'.  This is something my good friend at Project Cake taught me and is a thin coat of icing to fill gaps, set crumbs and create a smooth surface to work on.  I used about 1/5 of the icing during the crumb coat, then spread the remaining icing over the top and sides in a smooth, even layer...well, almost.  Then, using icing pens, I drew the outline of the pattern my daughter and I created.  

My idea was to use sanding sugars for the wings to give them a shimmering look and chocolate sprinkles for the body to accentuate the sparkliness of the wings.  Starting from the inside and working out, I used a few dozen mini patty cases and a fair few more skewers.

A few years ago, I read a trick for putting pepper into a pepper grinder without spilling it everywhere.  The suggestion was to use a patty case.  It works a treat, so I thought it would also be a good way to spread chocolate sprinkles and sanding sugar over a cake while staying in between the set outlines.  After sprinkling the sugar I used the skewers to gently push the sugar all the way to the edges of each shape.  

Lastly, I carefully shaded the wings in blue.  After drawing some antennae and 2.5 hours, the Super Sparkly Rainbow Butterfly Cake was complete.  I'm really happy with how it turned out!  It's just what I pictured and I was not sure I was going to be able to pull it off.

Hopefully it tastes as good as it looks! 

   

Celebrate!

My bestest friend in the whole world, who lives interstate, is coming to visit me on Monday and to celebrate I am preparing a three course lunch.   I wanted to prepare three complementing courses that are fresh, flavour packed and of course delicious!

This is what I have come up with:

• Entree - Lemon Pepper Prawns on Mango Avocado Salsa
• Main - Portuguese Chicken Burgers w Peppered Lime Aioli and Gremolata Wedges
• Dessert - Pineapple Salad w Vanilla Mascarpone 

Recipes will be posted soon after the event.

Sydney

Next week I am spending a couple of days in beautiful Sydney City with my family.  I love Sydney, and while I live only an hour away, I rarely visit.  I'm really looking forwards to taking my kids to the aquarium, the botanic gardens, the museum and the art gallery.  

Most of all, I am looking forward to dining at some amazing restaurants and cafes!  But, not knowing Sydney very well, I'd love some guidance as the where I should dine.  Oh, and someone once told me about all you can eat sushi train for $20?  Please someone tell me where to find it. 

Birthday Girl!

I LOVE planning kids parties!  My little girl is turning 5 in six weeks and I have started planning her birthday party.  The other day, I sat my daughter down and asked her what sort of food she would like to serve.  With a little guidance from me, she set her menu.  Looking at the list, I am not sure her friends will be very happy about the absence of chocolate, lollies and chips.  However, I'm sure their parents will be thrilled!

The menu:

• Sushi
• Finger sandwiches - Cheese, tomato and mustard. Vegemite and cheese. Tuna and mayonnaise. Chicken and avocado.
• Dips - guacamole, hummus, cheese and chives (cheese and bacon dip sans bacon)
• Pastizzi
• Spring rolls
• Mini muffins - raspberry and white chocolate and orange and dark chocolate
• Fruit skewers
• Mini frozen yoghurt cups

And, the piece de resistance....   A Super Sparkly Butterfly Rainbow Cake!!
  

I don't remember a time I didn't cook

age 11...

I was at home by myself one day and very very bored. So I did what any bored 11 year old does, I baked a cake.  

My mum always bakes and cooks so I had an amazing pantry of ingredients at my disposal.  I took out one of my Mum's recipe books and chose the most impressive looking cake - a two tier chocolate sponge cake with chocolate ganache icing.   


It was the first time I'd made a sponge and I didn't know that sponges have a habit of collapsing if not cooked just right, which was probably a good thing cause I followed the instructions to the letter and was rewarded with two tall, beautiful, light sponge cakes.  I cut the rounded tops off each and sandwiched them together with strawberry jam and chantilly cream. 


To ice the cake I made the chocolate ganache and spread it across the top and down the sides in as smooth and even a layer as I was able. I even piped a whole lot of (mostly) evenly sized rosettes around the edge, how very 1990's!  When I was done I popped the cake into the fridge and sat down to eat a few pieces of off-cuts with the leftover ganache. 


Mum came home that afternoon and I proudly told her about the amazing cake I made that day.  She saw the container of off-cuts on the bench and said 'yum, your cake looks nice.'  I told her she needed to open the fridge and when she did so, she was rendered speechless.  She still talks about that cake.  Maybe I should make it for her again. 

I don't remember a time I didn't cook

age 14...

This was my first attempt at serving a five course dinner party.  To help my Mum celebrate her birthday, she invited seven of her closest friends over and I prepped, cooked and served a five course dinner party for eight.  To this day, I still remember the menu, which is not surprising as most of the recipes were my own.  They had:

Soup - Roast Pumpkin with Chives and Crispy Bacon

Salad - Prawn and Avocado w Mango Ranch Dressing

Pasta - Penne w Mushroom and Ham in a Tomato Cream Sauce

Main - Crispy Skin Salmon on Wilted Spinach w Creamy Mash and Steamed Vegetables

Dessert - White Chocolate Mousse filled Chocolate Cups w Raspberry Coulis  

The dinner was a total success! I remember everything tasting really good and all the guests being very very impressed.  Maybe it's time I revive some of these recipes...

Sprung!

So, my Mum, who returned from her 'European Summer Adventure' yesterday, just told me we are having some guests for dinner tomorrow night and as she is at work all day (high school teacher), I am responsible for cooking the feast!  Mum and the Honoured Guest have already worked out the menu and I was delighted to learn that not only have I never cooked the three main dishes before, it is a cuisine I have not cooked a lot of at all.  To make matters more difficult, my over active 14 month old son is home with me tomorrow and he requires a lot of my attention through the day.  Well, I do like a challenge.

The guests?  An overseas relative and my highly critical grandmother.

The menu? Indian Cuisine.

• Chicken Mughlai
• Rogan Josh
• Naan
• Basmati Rice
• Vegetable Sambal 
• Mint Yoghurt (no recipe - just mix natural yoghurt with finely chopped mint)

I'm doing dessert as well but it is not Indian so I didn't want to add it to the list above.

The Dessert?  Pineapple Salad (this one is my creations)

Hopefully I'll have enough time to take photos of ingredients and the finished product.  Now, to study these recipes, write my shopping list and work out a time plan. And then study these recipes some more.  Did I mention I have never made either curry or naan?  

Wish me luck!

I don't remember a time I didn't cook

age 10...

Once a year during schools holidays, my sister and I were shipped off to our Aunt and Uncles house.  I really loved this time with them as we took lots of day trips into the city, visited museums and ate lots of exotic food.  My Aunt and Uncle are very well traveled and aimed to expose my sister and I to as much culture as possible.  

On this particular occasion I was let loose in their shoe box kitchen to cook anything I liked, under the watchful eye of my Aunt.  I decided to make hedgehog slice, a chocolate slice with chunky biscuit pieces, something I had made many time in the past and therefore, memorised the recipe.  It is not a recipe I remember now, but i do know there was a step where you melt chocolate, remove it from heat and quickly whisk in an egg.  My Aunt decided that it couldn't be right as the egg would scramble.  I assured her that was how it was made but she insisted she was correct (did I mention she is a high school science teacher?)  So this slice was made without the addition of egg.

Later that afternoon some other family members dropped by for a visit and my slice was served.  I went back to the kitchen to ice and cut the slice, and wouldn't you know it, the entire thing CRUMBLED!  Without the addition of egg, there was nothing to hold the other ingredients together.  So this giant mess was placed on the table and people were forced to pick up crumbling bite sized pieces and quickly get them from table to mouth before they disintegrated.   

It did taste pretty good and my Aunt proudly informed everyone that I cooked the entire thing while I sat there quietly resenting the fact she didn't let me cook it properly and therefore I was being held responsible for a total disaster!  

I don't remember a time I didn't cook

age 9...

This was my first time catering a party - my own 9th birthday party!  The menu was pretty typical of a kids birthday party, a garden salad, sausages, chicken skewers, noodle salad (my own recipe - 2 min noodles mixed with mayo, sour cream, peas and cheese - it's actually really yummy!) and no 9th Birthday Party would be complete without duck liver pate in vol au vents w a green olive to garnish.   

My mum helped me make the pate and, needless to say, my guests steered clear of them.  Even when their parents came to pick them up, I offered them some and I think only one brave parent gave them a go.  

Mum and I had the best dinner that night.  

Maltese Cuisine

Being Maltese, I've grown up eating a lot of amazing Maltese food!  My Nan is always in the kitchen, and always has been, and I've grown up watching her cook and learning my culinary heritage.

Malta is a small archipelago in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea.  It's closest neighbour is Sicily, 93km north across the Malta Channel.  Due to it's geographical location, it was, historically, an important shipping port and has seen many nations conquer and rule, including the British, the French, the Spanish, the Romans and the Arabs.  While Malta is now an independent republic, it's checkered history has left many influences on the native cuisine.  

The Maltese Cuisine centres around the fisherman's catch and fresh seasonal produce.  Some of Malts's produce includes aubergines, tomatoes, olives, capers, peppers, onions, potatoes, honey, figs, peaches, oranges, almonds, dates, pomegranates, pears, grapes, melons, grapefruit, apricot and nectarines.

Seafood found around Malta's Island include bass, stone bass, grouper, white bream, amber jack, dentex and red mullet.  Swordfish and tuna are caught around early to late autumn, followed by the Lampuki (dolphin fish).  Octopus and squid are also commonly found in the catch. 

Ħobż Malti, Maltese Bread, is purchased fresh from the baker daily and served with most meals.  It is technically a sourdough, but is similar to the Italian Pane di Casa. Ħobż Malti has a flakey, dark golden crust with a dense, soft and doughy centre.  The bread is eaten with gbejniet (sheep or goat’s cheese) and is used wipe the dinner plate clean, but the most common way is to eat hobz biz-zejt (bread with oil).

Pastry of all kinds is used to encase meat, fish, cheese, rice, pasta and vegetables.  The most well known pastry is the pastizzi; a light flakey filo like pastry encasing a ricotta cheese filling.  Another traditional pastizzi filling is one of peas, olives and anchovies.  

Traditionally, a slow cooking method was used to prepare most Maltese dishes.  This is evident in the number of stews and stuffed dishes present in the Maltese Cuisine.  Stuffat tal Fenek (stewed rabbit) is cooked in red wine, garlic, spices and herbs and served on spaghetti.  Qarabali (marrow) and brunġiel (aubergine) are stuffed with a mixture of minced meat, egg and herbs and baked on a bed of onions and potatoes.

Pasta is a staple and features heavily in the Maltese Cuisine.  It is used in soup, mixed with tomato sauces and baked but one of the most noteworthy pasta dishes is the traditional ravjul (ravioli).  Ravjul are semi-ciricle pockets of pasta filled with ricotta and fresh parsely.  Once cooked they are slathered in a simple, homemade tomato and garlic salsa and sprinkled with parmesan cheese. 

Soups are common, from the aljotta (fish soup) to the minestra (minestrone), a thick vegetable soup served with fresh or dried gbejniet (sheep or goat’s cheese).  Gbejniet  comes fresh, sundried, salt cured and peppered.  Once peppered, the cheese is stored in oil and the cheese in all its forms is used in soups, pasta dishes or eaten with bread.

While sweets do not feature heavily in the Maltese Cuisine, the kannoli, a crisp, fried pastry tube filled with ricotta, chocolate and candied fruit, is one of the more common treats.  Deep-fried date-filled pastries and almond macaroons are also popular. 

Thus concludes my introduction to the Maltese Cuisine.  Recipes to follow soon.

My Chef Idols

Two chefs, two styles, two philosophies, two names - Jamie, Heston.

Jamie Oliver - I first discovered the Naked Chef while trawling late night tv shows in my early teens.  The name of the show alone piqued my interest and as I watched, I was amazed that this young, cheeky, British chef was proclaiming philosophies akin to those I had been forming myself, thanks to a similar view of cooking from my Mum and Nan.   

The philosophy?  Fresh, unadulterated ingredients of the best quality. Simple, uncomplicated, cooking methods.  Seasonal produce and complimenting flavours.  Cooking amazing, generous, wholesome, rustic, share meals for friends and family.

Heston Blumenthal - This man does things with food that are beyond imagination!  A self taught chef with a scientific approach to cooking who is challenging the common beliefs and practices of the culinary world.  Two things that have stuck in my memory are the bottled scent of candy shop served with a dessert and serving orange flavoured purple coloured jelly next to beetroot flavoured orange coloured jelly. 

His philosophy?  Anything is possible! Food should excite, delight, involving all five senses  and challenge preconceptions.  Also, food involves emotion, history, memory, intellect and nostalgia.   Food should make you feel and speak to your soul. 

July!

In a crazy moment when I wasn't thinking clearly, I thought it would be a great idea to host two dinner parties in 6 days!  Why, you might ask? Well, two reasons. Firstly, I recently moved house and some of my most amazing friends helped me, this is my way of saying thank you. Secondly, it's my birthday in July!

The first dinner, taking place on Saturday 16th July, is only for three people and must be vegetarian. The next dinner is the following Friday night and is a five course meal for up to 12 (final number have not yet been confirmed).  

I will post menu for the Vegetarian Feast later tonight.

I don't remember a time I didn't cook

and this is where it all started...

I was about two years old and my Mum was baking a batch of cookies.  My Mum has always baked, and when I was younger she would pop me in the high chair so we could chat while she was in the kitchen.

On this particular occasion, I was talking nonstop while she prepared the cookie dough.  Just as she was about to roll out the dough, I stopped mid sentence and said 'Mum, you've forgotten to add the baking powder.'  Sure enough, it was the one ingredient that she had missed.   


My Mum says that was the moment she decided to talk me through what she did when she was cooking, as opposed to letting my two year old self ramble incessantly.