cracked pepper

The rough translation of this dish, Tim reliably informs me, is “parent and child” and “served on rice”. It is so named because the dish uses both the chicken and the egg.

This recipe was given to me by a coworker, and I wasn’t sure how authentic it would be. It’s the first time I’ve attempted a Japanese broth and I had fairly low expectations of myself! However this recipe must be good, as I was amazed at how the aromas transported me to the smells of Japanese restaurants.

This dish is so good that I can see it becoming a staple.

INGREDIENTS

Tsuyu (the base of the broth)

• 4 cups of dash (can be substituted for chicken or vegetable stock)
• 5 Tbsp sugar
• 150mL mirin
• 180mL soy sauce

Everything else…

• 2 chicken breasts
• 2 medium onions, cut in half and sliced thinly
• 2 carrots, sliced
• mushrooms, sliced (I used dried shiitake mushrooms)
• 6 eggs
• Spring onions to taste
• cooked rice, to serve

METHOD

• Combine the ingredients for the tsuyu in a large saucepan, and heat gently until almost at a simmer.
• Add the onion, carrot and chicken to the broth. Cover and simmer gently until the chicken is cooked.
• Break eggs into a bowl, and break them up gently with a chopstick. Pour the eggs into the tsuyu and allow them to absorb the flavours.
• Serve the soup over rice, and garnish with a small handful of chopped spring onions.

Tip: For a beautiful garnish slice the white section of a spring onion finely and place in iced water where they will curl. Place on top of your Oyako Donburi and serve.

This recipe was a lot of fun to make, even though mine turned out nothing like the fabulous pictures I’ve seen. Google images is a treasure chest full of perfectly shaped, intricately carved laufabraud. I was a bit too rushed to put that sort of time into it today, but the results still looked and tasted pretty amazing!

This is how Laufabrauð should look: Photo by Helene Magnasson

Laufabrauð is Icelandic for “leaf bread” and is traditionally served at Christmas. The whole family is involved in preparing these beautiful, slightly sweet breads.

Mine looked a little like a pappadam, but tasted like sweet, crunchy pastry. Delicious!

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 cups plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1 Tbsp butter, melted
• 2 cups milk, brought to the boil
• hot fat for frying (I decided to use up some ghee, but traditionally you would use lard)
• powdered sugar

METHOD

• Combine flour, baking powder and sugar in a bowl. Mix in the butter and hot milk and form into a stiff dough.
• Knead the dough on a lightly oiled surface until it is smooth and cool.
• Divide the dough in half, and repeat until you have 32 parts. Roll each piece of dough into a round ball.
• Prepare a baking sheet and line with waxed paper.
• Roll out each ball of dough on a lightly floured surface until it is very thin, and approximately 20cm diameter. Repeat with the other balls of dough, separating each layer with wax paper.
• Allow the dough rounds to chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes
• Fold the rounds into quarters and decorate with a sharp knife (like a paper snowflake)
• Heat 2 inches of fat in a skillet or saucepan. When the oil is hot, fry the bread rounds one at a time until golden brown on each side. Drain on paper towel.
• Allow to cool, and sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired (trust me, you desire this!)

This recipe is best when fresh, but laufabraud may be stored in an airtight container for a few days, or even frozen.

Sometimes, for no reason at all, I scour the web for pretty cupcakes. It’s almost as good as eating them, or so I try to tell myself!

If you have a similar problem with interest in cupcakes, you might enjoy some of these lovely things from Cupcake Social:

Assorted Pretty Pastel Tulip Cupcake Liners (45)

These beautiful Tulip shaped baking cups are sure to bring a smile to anyones face who is about to peel it off a yummy cuppycake. They come in these nice pale shades of yellow, orange and green. You will get 45 liners to create some festive cupcakes, or muffins. 15 of each color.

Gro Designer Cupcake Liners (20)

These baking cups are produced from the highest quality of Swedish greaseproof paper.

The paper is 100 % cellulose and biodegradable. These baking cups are for the household baker or pastry professionals who recognize the value of having quality paper baking products in their kitchens.

Edible Hearts For your Cupcakes (35)

These are molded sugar hearts that are 1/2 inch in size. You will get 35 in an assortment of 7 different colors.

JUMBO Hillary Paisley Designer Cupcake Liners (20)

JUMBO SIZE!

Finally here- you can get them too- you will get 20 liners that come packaged in a cute box with a bow, great for gift giving.

Aren’t these liners incredible? Cupcake Social stocks a huge range of pretty cupcake liners (in mini, standard and jumbo sizes), lots of edible and plastic toppers, candles and cookie cutters.

And most importantly, they’ll ship to Australia!

This recipe comes from a cooking course I did yesterday at Spirit House, a wonderful restaurant and cooking school in Yandina, QLD.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 whole snapper scaled, gutted and scored (about 1.5kg in weight)
• 1/4 block tamarind
• 1 cup hot water
• 6 long red chillies chopped, including seeds
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
• 5 coriander roots washed, scraped and chopped
• 1 Tbs vegetable oil
• 100ml fish sauce
• 175g light palm sugar, shaved or crushed
• 1/4 cup Thai basil or coriander leaves to garnish

METHOD

Break up the tamarind and soak it in the hot water until cool enough to rub the flesh away from the seeds with your finger. Push the pulp through a fine sieve and discard the seeds.

In a mortar and pestle, pound the chillies, garlic and coriander root to a paste. Heat the oil in a wok and fry the paste until fragrant. Add the fish sauce, palm sugar and tamarind liquid. Simmer till thick.

Wrap the fish in baking paper and then foil. Cook on the barbecue for approx 10 minutes per kilo of fish, turning the fish over halfway through cooking.

Serve with the hot sauce poured over and garnished with the herbs.

This recipe comes from a cooking course I did yesterday at Spirit House, a wonderful restaurant and cooking school in Yandina, QLD.

Chilli Paste is a little time consuming to prepare, but once made will store in the fridge for months and months. It’s a staple for many Thai recipes, and the combination of chillies and tamarinds really assault the senses. This recipe is so much better than the kind you get in a jar.

GREEN BEAN AND CHICKEN SALAD

INGREDIENTS

• 250g green beans, finely sliced diagonally
• 200g cooked chicken, without skin, finely shredded
• 2 Tbs chilli paste (see recipe below)
• 2 Tbs lime juice
• 2 Tbs fish sauce
• 1 Tbs dark palm sugar
• 4 Tbs coconut cream
• 2 Tbs ground roasted peanuts
• 4 golden shallots, finely sliced
• 1/2 cup Thai basil leaves, shredded (Italian basil is a good substitute)
• 4 Tbs crispy fried shallots
• 2 Tbs thick coconut cream, for drizzling over salad

METHOD

Bring a pot of salted water to the boil and, using a sieve, quickly blanch the beans for a few seconds. Drain and set aside.

In a large bowl mix together the chilli paste, lime juice, fish sauce, palm sugar and the coconut cream.

Add the sliced beans, chicken, peanuts, sliced shallots, basic, chilli powder and 2 Tbs of the crispy shallots.

Toss well then serve drizzled with the extra coconut cream and the rest of the crispy shallots.

CHILLI PASTE

INGREDIENTS

• 100g tamarind
• 3/4 cup boiling water
• 200ml peanut oil
• 1 cup red onion cut into large dices
• 6 long dried red chillies, seeded and cut into large pieces (4 for a milder paste)
• 1/2 cup sliced garlic
• 2 Tbs dried shrimp, pounded
• 1/2 cup shaved light palm sugar
• 1/4 cup fish sauce

Don’t slice the onion, chillies or garlic too finely as they need to be fried and removed from the oil with a slotted spoon.

Break the tamarind into pieces, place in a bowl and cover with the boiling water. When it is cool enough to handle, rub the pulp into the water to loosen the flesh from the seeds. Press the mixture into a sieve and discard the seeds and fibre.

Heat the oil in a wok and fry the onion till it is becoming a rich dark brown colour. Add the chillies and fry for another minute or two then remove the onion and chilli with a slotted spoon.

Fry the garlic in the oil and when it turns a golden brown colour add the shrimp. Cook for a further minute then return the onion and chillies to the wok.

Add the palm sugar and allow it to caramelise for 2 minutes before adding the tamarind liquid and fish sauce. Boil for 30 seconds then blend till smooth in a food processor.

This recipe comes from a cooking course I did yesterday at Spirit House, a wonderful restaurant and cooking school in Yandina, QLD.

INGREDIENTS

• 1.25kg mussels
• 3 red chillies, chopped
• 1 Tbs coriander root, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 Tbs vegetable oil
• 400ml chicken stock
• 1 Tbs palm sugar
• 2 Tbs fish sauce
• 2 Tbs oyster sauce
• 1 stalk lemon grass, sliced
• 25g fresh galangal – peeled, thinly sliced and bruised
• 4 double lime leaves
• 1 large tomato, halved and cut into thin slices
• 2 Tbs coriander, coarsely chopped

METHOD

Wash the mussels in cold water and remove the beards.

In a mortar and pestle, pound the chillies, garlic and coriander root to a paste. Heat the oil in a wok and fry the paste until fragrant.

Add the stock, palm sugar, fish sauce and oyster sauce. Bring to the boil and add the mussels, lemon grass, galangal, lime leaves and tomato. Cover with a tight fitting lid and cook over a high heat until the mussels are open (about 3-5 minutes).

Add the coriander and serve immediately.





A note about some of the ingredients:

Galangal is related to ginger and turmeric. It doesn’t tasste anything like ginger, having its own unique flavour which can be quite hot. Don’t substitute ginger for galangal as this will dramatically alter the final flavours in the dish. Use fresh galangal – peel, slice and store in your freezer. Or buy pickled galangal in jars from your local Asian supermarket. In its powdered form, galangal is often called “Laos Powder”.

Palm Sugar is widely used in Asian cooking and is processed from palm tree sap. The sap flows from the tapped palm for 4-6 months, then is boiled down in large vats until thick. It is packed into bamboo tubes or halved coconut shells so when you buy it in these shapes you know it has been traditionally made.

Add it to dressings and sauces to bring out the flavours. It has a fudge like consistency and tastes like caramel or fudge. You can buy it in jars or packets – the packets are easier to use, as palm sugar is a solid lump. With your knife, shave the sides of the sugar block, then chop the shavings. Like sugar, palm sugar keeps for ages and is best stored in the fridge.

Lemon Grass is an important flavouring in Asia where the lemon tree will not grow. A thin, reedy plant of which only the bottom inner core is used. Peel off the tough outer leaves and finely slice the bottom 15cm of the stem. As the knife gets harder to use, you will know that you have chopped too far up the stem. Use the outer leaves for making lemon grass tea. This is a most refreshing iced drink on a hot day. Pour some of the cold lemon grass tea into ice cube trays and add the ice to the chilled lemon grass drink.

This recipe comes from a cooking course I did yesterday at Spirit House, a wonderful restaurant and cooking school in Yandina, QLD.

Drizzle the pickled vegetables over the fritters for a really tasty meal.

PRAWN AND COCONUT FRITTERS

INGREDIENTS

• 180g rice flour
• 75g shredded coconut
• 1 1/2 tsp curry spice
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 500g green prawns, peeled and chopped
• vegetable oil for shallow frying

METHOD

Mix the flour with the coconut, curry spice and salt. Stir in the egg, then whisk in the water to form a batter the consistency of thin cream (it will thicken as it sits). old through the prawns.

Heat oil in a pan and drop in spoonfuls of the mixture. Cook till golden brown on both sides. Drain on absorbent paper and serve with the pickled vegetables.

PICKLED VEGETABLES

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup cocunut or white vinegar
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 Tbs fish sauce
• 1 Lebanese or half telegraph cucumber (peeled, seeded and finely diced)
• Half a large carrot (peeled and finely diced)
• 2 small red chillies (seeded and finely sliced)
• 1/4 cup roasted peanuts (crushed)
• 1/4 cup chopped coriander leaves

METHOD

Heat the vinegar and sugar in a pot and boil for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the fish sauce. Allow the dressing to cool before stirring in the rest of the ingredients.

I came across this great recipe today, and had to record it here so that I wouldn’t lose it. I won’t be able to make this for a while, but I can’t wait to try it. No really, I am so excited.

Found via epicurious.com. When I get a chance I’ll convert these to metric measurements.

INGREDIENTS

Crust

• Nonstick vegetable oil spray
• 11/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1/4 cup minced crystallized ginger

Filling

• 4 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1 (8-ounce) container mascarpone cheese (Italian cream cheese)
• 5 large eggs
• 2 large egg yolks
• 2 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 2 1/2 teaspoons ground cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

Topping

• 1 1/3 cups sour cream
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

METHOD

For crust:

Spray 9-inch-diameter springform pan with 3-inch-high sides with nonstick spray. Sift flour, ginger, and salt into medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter and sugar in another medium bowl until blended. Beat in egg yolk, then flour mixture. Stir in crystallized ginger. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk. Roll out on floured surface to 9-inch round. Transfer to prepared pan. Press onto bottom and 1 inch up sides of pan; pierce all over with fork. Freeze 30 minutes.

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Line crust with foil; fill with dried beans or pie weights. Bake until set, about 30 minutes. Remove foil and beans. Bake crust until golden brown and cooked through, about 20 minutes. Cool crust completely on rack.

For filling:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar in large bowl until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add mascarpone; beat until smooth. Beat in whole eggs, 1 at a time, then beat in yolks. Add next 6 ingredients; beat until blended. Transfer filling to cooled crust in pan; smooth top. Bake cake 1 hour. Reduce oven temperature to 200°F. Continue baking until cake is set around edges but center moves slightly when pan is gently shaken (top of cake may crack), about 30 minutes longer. Remove cake from oven. Increase oven temperature to 350°F.

For topping:

Whisk all ingredients in small bowl; spread evenly over top of cake. Bake until set, about 10 minutes. Run small knife around cake sides. Chill uncovered overnight.

Can be made 2 days ahead. Chill until cold, then cover and keep chilled. Remove pan sides. Transfer cake to platter. Cut into wedges and serve.

Makes 12 servings.

This reminds me of the time I ordered a prawn, coconut and banana pizza just to know what it tasted like (and, for the record, it was great!). These ingredients don’t look like they belong together, but the combination of flavours is absolutely amazing.

A tip for toasted/panfried sandwiches – you can imitate a panini press by heating a 2nd small frypan on a separate burner, and pressing it down on the top of the sandwich while it cooks.

INGREDIENTS

• French or Italian loaf bread, sliced
• Bacon, cooked
• Bartlett pear
• Sharp white cheddar cheese (high quality)
• Butter, softened and spreadable

METHOD

Heat a cast iron skillet to medium high heat.

Layer your sandwich (bread slice, cheese, pear slices, bacon, bread slice). Spread butter over the top of the sandwich. Place the sandwich top side down (butter side down) on the hot pan. Butter the exposed side of the sandwich. Let cook for a minute and then use a metal spatula to turn the sandwich over to its other side.

While you are toasting the sandwich on the remaining side, press down on the sandwich with a spatula. The sandwich is done when the sides are toasted and the cheese is melted.

Cut in half and serve.

My recent introduction to New England clam chowder put me on the search for a good recipe that I can cook at home. I came across this one, which uses mussels as an alternative to hard-to-find clams, at benjaminchristie.com. I’m pretty much in love with it.

INGREDIENTS

• 4 rashers of bacon, diced
• 700g fresh clam or mussels meat
• 1 medium diced onion
• 3 stalks diced celery
• 300g potatoes, diced & blanched
• 1.2lt cream
• 20g butter
• 200g roux
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 15g Wildfire Spice
• 2 springs parsley, chopped
• 150ml Australian white wine
• 1/8 cups chopped fresh parsley
• 2lt light fish stock
• salt to taste

METHOD

In a deep pot begin sautéing bacon, garlic, onion and celery to release the flavours and cook till tender. Add 500ml of fish stock and white wine, bring to the boil and reduce a little. Then add clams and cook for 3-4 minutes, then remove clams and allow to cool. Then add remaining fish stock, cream and bring to the boil. Add Australian Wildfire Spice, then thicken with white roux till slightly thick consistency. Add blanched potatoes, clams and chopped parsley. Taste and season if required with salt.