Highlights from sweet Paris

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Hot croissant from the oven at the Patisserie + Boulangerie around the corner from our hotel. Delicious. Mmmm the concentration - important not to drop a crumb of this croissant. So beautiful. Hot from the oven and burning your mouth but so amazing. Buttery. Flaky.

Riding the Velib through the streets of Paris. In particular riding home from the club late at night with a few drinks. The streets of Paris quiet.

The beautiful spring-time streets and gardens of Paris.

St Michel's Chapel. Remarkable. Must be seen. The most beautiful stained glass windows.

The Conciergerie - to take you back to the middle ages.

Dinner at Ave Maria - quirky ?hippie place near Oberkampf station. Mixed cuisine. Not French. Delicious food.

Moulin rouge. Strange. Tacky. Super fun :) Terrible dancing. Terrible choreography. Average food. Still good.

Opera at the Bastille. Not so fun - can't speak French or Italian so the French subtitles weren't useful. So sleepy. Actually fell asleep during it. Shall I have not included this in highlights?

Wandering through the Marais. Beautiful shopping and many Boulangerie. Need much more time here.

Markets on Boulevard Richard Lenoir (Bastille) on Sunday morning. What could beat freshly shucked oysters. 6 for 3 euros. Shucked in front of you with a good squeeze of lemon. Plenty of other beautiful fresh food. The cheeses were amazing.
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Red wine and foie every evening at one of the small french cafes.
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Champagne region - Reims - gorgeous cathedral Notre Dame. Pommery - cave tour. Getting lost on the highways around Reims. This place deserves a few days to explore. The tackiness of Moet and Chandon - truly tacky. But fun to see!
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Dinner at Chris' favourite - Relais de l'entrecote with Ange and Dan. Quite delicious. However I still don't quite understand all the hype!

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Hotel: Rive Gauche. Saint Germain area. Basic hotel. Clean, comfortable, good value. Great area. Lots of beautiful shops and restaurants nearby and very close to metro and velib.

Slow cooked Andalucian Lamb with Saffron

This is great! (That is all I need to say about this one)

From Gourmet Traveller.

Serves 6 generously

1 tsp saffron

4 cloves

8 black peppercorns

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

4 cloves garlic

2 tbsp flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped

1 tbsp sea salt

6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1.5 kg lamb leg, cut into 4cm chunks

1 green capsicum, cut into thick slices

1 yellow capsicum, cut into thick slices

2 onions, sliced

2 carrots, sliced

2 tomatoes, chopped

3 potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges

200mL red wine

Steamed rice and vegies to serve

Pound saffron, cloves, peppercorns, cinnamon, garlic, parsley and salt in a mortar with a pestle into a rough paste. Add 100mL warm water.

Heat oil in a large casserole dish over medium heat. Fry the lamb in batches for 5-7 minutes or until nicely brown on all sides. Remove to a large bowl.

Fry capsicum, onion, carrot in a saucepan for 10-12 minutes or until softened. Add tomato and cook for 5 minutes.

Add lamb, spice and water mix and red wine. Bring to the boil, cover, and simmer for 1 hour over low heat. Add more water as necessary.

Add the potatoes and cook for 20-30 minutes or until the potatoes are tender, lamb is cooked and the sauce is thickened.

Serve sprinkled with fresh flat leaf parsley, with steamed rice and greens

free-form pumpkin pie/tart

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen.

The pastry is amazing. Flaky, almost like puff pastry. Try it.

Add a simple salad of spicy rocket leaves with salt, pepper, good olive oil and balsamic vinegar. The freshness and pepperiness of the salad is perfect with the buttery, rich tart.

It would generously serve 4 for lunch or dinner. It could serve 6 as an entree.

Pastry

1 1/4 cups plain flour

a generous pinch of salt

150g butter, cut into small cubes

1/4 cup sour cream or creme fraiche

a good squeeze of lemon juice from half a lemon

1/4 cup iced sparkling water (substitute with iced tap water)

In a food processor combine all ingredients for the pastry except the water. mix until it looks like coarse breadcrumbs. Add the soda water in a stream until the pastry comes together in a ball. Do not overmix. Pour onto plastic wrap, push into a rough disc shape, wrap up well and refrigerate for an hour or up to a day or two.

Filling

1 small butternut pumpkin

1-2 tbsp butter

2 medium onions, sliced in half circles

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp ground nutmeg

good pinch of ground chilli

1/4 tsp smoky papria

3/4 cup gouda cheese, grated

1 tbsp chopped fresh sage leaves

For the pumpkin.

Preheat the oven to 180C. Peel, then cut the pumpkin into 1.5cm dice. Mix with olive oil, salt and pepper to coat and lay in a single layer on a baking sheet. Roast for 25-35 minutes or until cooked, and getting dark golden around the edges. Remove from the oven. This can be stored at room temperature for a few hours, or refrigerate for a day until ready to assemble.

For the onion.

Put the butter into a small pan. Add the onion, salt and sugar. Cook gently for 10-20 mins or until the onion is soft and starting to brown gently. Do not cook over high heat. Stir in the paprika, nutmeg and chilli. Store in the refrigerator until ready to use.

To assemble.

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Roll the pastry out to make a 40cm round. Mix together the pumpkin, onion, cheese and sage. Season to taste with plenty of pepper and salt as required. Place the pastry onto the baking sheet then pile the pumpkin mix in the middle, leaving a 3-5cm border around each edge. Fold up the edges to semi-enclose the filling. This pastry does not need glazing - it goes lovely and brown without it.

Bake for 30-40 mins or until golden brown.

Serve with a crisp fresh salad and enjoy.

yum!

The First of Julia - Saute de Boeuf a la Parisienne

Beef Stroganoff was always my favourite dish as a child. We had it with white rice and green peas. I always ate it in the most awful way possible - mixing up the stroganoff, rice and peas together into a delicious mess on the plate. The last time I attempted to make beef stroganoff it was a tough, spectacular failure.

Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cookery" volumes I and II. For xmas from Simon. Now to see what Julia can do with Beef. Here is her interpretation. The steak is wonderful and tender (we used rump). Try to keep it pink in the middle, like any good piece of beef. This recipe is adapted from Julia Child's recipe. I did reduce the amount of butter a bit. It is amazingly rich, but also amazingly delicious.

1/2 lb. sliced fresh mushrooms

2 tbsp butter

1 tbsp olive oil

3 tbsp minced shallots or green onions

1/4 tsp salt and a pinch of pepper

2 1/2 lbs. filet of beef (we used rump steak) - cut into slices 1/2 inch by 2 inches

2 tbsp butter

1 tbsp olive oil

1/4 cup Madeira (I used sherry)

3/4 cup good brown stock

1 cup cream

2 tsp cornflour stirred into 1 tbsp of the cream

Salt and pepper

Chopped flat leaf parsley, to serve

Saute the mushrooms in a 9-10 inch enameled skillet in the first lot of oil and butter. Cook for 4-5 minutes to brown lightly. Stir in the shallots or onions and cook for another minute. Season well and then decant onto a plate.

Place the second batch of oil and butter into the pan over moderately high heat. When the butter foam subsides, saute the beef, a few pieces at a time until brown on the outside, but still rosy red in the middle. Remove to a plate. Discard the sauteing fat.

Add in the Madeira and then the stock. Boil down rapidly, scraping up all the delicious bits on the bottom of the pan. Boil until reduced to about 1/3 a cup. Beat in the cream and then the cornflour mixture. Add the mushrooms and simmer for a minute more. The sauce should have thickened a bit. Taste now for seasoning.

Season the beef the return to the skillet with any juices that have leaked onto the plate. Baste the beef with the sauce and mushrooms. Sprinkle with the parsley to serve.

Make sure you have something on hand to mop up the juice - bread, rice, pasta. We had a really fresh green salad and crusty white bread.

Home again... food again

Trip to kakulas

spent at least an hour wandering the shelves.. poking, smelling, tasting everything

found these stock fish - now wanting desperately to make fish soup, they look fantastic

it will have to wait until i get back in march!

Definitely living in freo as soon as possible. What could be better than having stock fish and the markets within walking distance

freo = yum

Sunday Roast Pork with almost crackling

There is nothing quite like a roast. Feeling rather sorry for myself this morning I decided to make a roast. The pork looked lovely. Now for all the trimmings. Can't resist roasted apples and potatoes. Mum never taught me to make gravy so I had to teach myself. It was a delicious gravy. Fennel would have been delicious - but finding anything exotic such as fennel (not really exotic... but to K-town it is pretty special!) is impossible on a Sunday in Kalgoorlie. I am scared of roasting beef - the timing is crucial. To overcome this problem I choose meats that benefit from long slow cooking. Five hours later - meltingly delicious pork.

PICTURE TO COME TOMORROW.... !

1 leg of pork, bone in, skin removed

Fennel seeds

1 carrot, roughly chopped

2 stalks of celery, roughly chopped

1 onion, roughly chopped

Apples, chopped into 8 wedges

Potatoes, chopped into wedges

Rub the pork with salt, pepper, olive oil and plenty of fennel seeds. Place the vegies in a baking dish large enough to have them in one layer. Place the pork on top. Pour around enough water to a depth of 1-2cm. Place the pork into the oven and switch on to 140C (fan forced). Roast for 4-5 hours, or until very tender. Keep a 1-2cm layer of water in the dish at all times to stop the vegies from burning - these will be the basis of your gravy.

An hour before serving, in a separate baking dish mix the apples, potatoes, salt pepper and olive oil. Place in the oven. Stir occasionally.

About half an hour before serving, remove the pork from the oven (keep under alfoil to keep warm). Press the vegies through a sieve and reserve all the juice. Pour the oil layer into a small saucepan. Add about 1 tbsp of flour and cook for 1 min. Add remaining juice and water/stock to give the volume you want. Cook for about 3 mins to get rid of the flour taste. Season well with salt and pepper.

To get crackling you need to start with the oven really hot. Once the pork is out of the oven turn it up as high as it will go (250C! - remove the apples now too and keep warm, the potatoes can stay to get crispy but make sure you keep an eye on them). Score the pork skin with a stanley knife into strips. Pat the skin dry with paper towel. Rub the skin generously with salt. Place on a deep baking dish on the top shelf of the oven (ours was about 3cm from the top element). Cook like this until the skin has blistered and is crackling!

The best part of ours was definitely the little trotter that snuck in and was cooked next to the leg part - so delicious. The crackling could have had another 15 minutes to really get there... but Tim still loved it.

I cook because I can peanut butter choc chip cookies

From my favourite blog - Smitten Kitchen - you must check it out.

These biscuits are incredibly moreish. I think it made about 40 of the little things - so cute and tasty.

1 1/4 cups plain flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup peanut butter at room temperature

3/4 cup white sugar

1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 large egg, at room temperature

1 tbsp milk

1/2 cup peanuts, roughly chopped

1/2 cup chocolate chips

White sugar - for dipping

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Mix together the flour, baking powder and baking soda.

Cream the peanut butter and butter together until soft and creamy. Add the sugars and vanilla and then beat until smooth. Beat in the egg and milk. Stir in the flour mix and then the peanuts and chocolate chips.

Scoop out teaspoonfuls of mix into little rounds, roll in sugar then place onto the baking trays.

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until very lightly golden around the edges. Remove from the oven and rest for 2 minutes before placing onto the racks to cool completely.

Delicious!

Thank you orange custard cream star biscuits

It was my birthday party last night. I was spoilt rotten. To say thank you to all my kalgoorlie friends I made them these star biscuits. Recipe adapted from Nigella's Custard Cream Hearts from Feast.

Makes 22 full biscuits (I doubled it to make 45)

Biscuits

175g Plain flour

3 tbsp custard powder

1 tsp baking powder

100g butter

3 tbsp caster sugar

1 egg

1 tbsp milk, plus extra to bind

Preheat the oven to 180C. In a food processor whizz up the flour, custard powder and baking powder. Then add the butter - chopped into lumps. Whizz until it looks like breadcrumbs. Add the sugar. Whizz again for 10 seconds or until incorporated.

Whisk together the egg and milk. With the motor running pour down the spout of the processor. Add gradually and stop when the mixture forms into a ball. Add more milk as required.

Plonk the dough on gladwrap, wrap up tightly and put it in the fridge to rest for 20 minutes (or until you have done the washing up!).

Roll out the dough to 4mm thick on a well floured table. Cut out your shapes and place onto a tray lined with glad bake. Re-form the off-cuts and roll again. Bake for 15 minutes or until just cooked. Do not let them get brown.

Sandwich two biscuits together with the orange custard cream.

Orange Custard Cream

1 tbsp custard powder

100g icing sugar

Finely grated zest of one orange

50g butter

boiling water - to bind

Whizz up the icing sugar, custard powder and zest in a food processor - this will break up any lumps. Add the butter and whizz again until smooth. Add boiling water slowly until it reaches desired spreading consistency. Mine didn't need any water.

Nigella's Snow Flecked Chocolate Brownies

Writing up this recipe is making me want to eat more of them. They are great. Do not overcook them. This makes a deliciously huge batch of brownies - note the large tin size!

375g dark chocolate

375g butter

6 eggs

350g caster sugar

1 tbsp vanilla extract

225g plain flour

250g white choc chips

Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease and line with baking paper a 33x23cm tin.

Melt together the chocolate and butter in a saucepan over low heat. Be careful not to burn the chocolate. Leave to cool until room temperature.

Beat together the eggs, caster sugar and vanilla extract. Add to the chocolate. Fold in the flour and white choc chips.

Pour into the prepared pan. Bake for 25 mins or until just set. They will continue cooking after removed from the oven.

Dust liberally with icing sugar to serve.

Corn and bacon dip in a cob loaf

I haven't had one of these for years. When we decided to have a party this weekend I remembered this delicious dip. Everyone loved it. It makes quite a substantial amount of dip. It is fantastic - try it.

1 round crusty cobb loaf

4 rashers of bacon, chopped

1 onion

4 spring onions, chopped

2 teaspoons of light olive oil

1 x 400g can creamed corn

2 x 400g cans corn kernels

300mL sour cream

1 cup grated tasty and parmesan cheese

cracked black pepper

cayenne pepper

French stick warmed and cut into pieces, or crackers as extra dippers

Optional - extra fried bacon for garnish

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Fry chopped bacon until crispy. Add onion and spring onions with olive oil and fry until soft.

In the meantime slice the top off the cob loaf - this will be the lid to your 'bowl'. Pull out the soft bread from inside the loaf and pull apart into dipping sized chunks.

In a large bowl mix onion and bacon with all remaining ingredients. Season well with pepper.

Add dip mixture to the cobb loaf 'bowl', put on oven tray along with the 'lid' and chunks of bread. Bake in a moderate-to-hot oven for approximately 30 minutes or until dip is hot and bread is crunchy.

Garnish the top with some additional fried and drained bacon and chopped shallots.

Suggestions - this might be nice with some coriander stirred into it.

Is it possible to make Canneloni look nice?

This may not look neat and 'restaurant-y' but it was really good! I found the recipe while at BEGA (Aboriginal medical service) this morning waiting for the doctor. Thanks better homes and gardens! I had to (I think it is a compulsion of mine) change the recipe - changing their cream sauce to a can of tomatoes - much nicer and lighter for a week-night meal. I made some mint pesto the other night so chucked some of that in to give extra flavour. I think if I didn't have this I would add instead a good handful of chopped mint leaves, toasted pine nuts - a handful, and about 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese.

1 butternut pumpkin, peeled and cut into 1.5cm cubes (they can be pretty rough)

250g salami, cut into pieces

250g tub of ricotta

1 egg

2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg - please go out and buy whole nutmegs and grate them yourself! the flavour is far superior to pre-grated nutmeg, it is one of my favourites

Large handful of chopped soft herbs including mint and basil

1/4 cup toasted pine nuts

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

2 cans chopped tomatoes, or a large bottle of tomato passata

Fresh lasagna sheets

1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

While you chop the pumpkin preheat the oven to 180C. Put the pumpkin on a baking tray in one layer, then mix with enough oil to coat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until soft. Add the salami to the pan and return to the oven for a further 5-10 mins or until the salami is crisp. Remove from the oven. Leave the oven on while you make the canneloni.

In a large bowl mix together the ricotta, egg, herbs, pine nuts, first lot of parmesan cheese and pumpkin and salami. All pumpkins are different sizes so use your judgement. I didn't use my whole pumpkin - I have saved some for a salad tomorrow. Mix well. Season generously with pepper and a bit of salt - keep in mind there is cheese in it which is salty.

Find a large casserole dish. Pour enough tomatoes on the bottom to cover in a thin layer of sauce. Cut the lasagna sheet in half. Place a generous spoon of mixture at one end of the sheet and roll up. Place in the baking dish. Continue until you have used up all the filling. Layer with the rest of the tomatoes. Then sprinkle with the parmesan cheese.

Bake in the oven for 20-30 mins or until the cheese is golden and bubbly.

Banana Cake with Walnut Topping

Ingredients

125g softened butter

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

2 eggs

1 cup mashed ripe banana (about 2 large bananas)

1 tsp vanilla extract

250g plain flour

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground allspice

1/2 cup buttermilk, or 1/2 cup milk mixed with 1 tsp lemon juice and left to sit for 5 minutes

Topping

3 tbsp coarsely chopped walnuts

3 tbsp self raising flour

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

100g softened butter

3 tbsp brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 180C. Butter and flour a 22cm cake tin.

Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in eggs, banana and vanilla. Add dry ingredients, alternating with buttermilk. Pour into the tin.

Combine all ingredients for the topping. Scatter over the top of the uncooked cake.

Place the cake in the oven and bake for 1 hour or until skewer inserted comes out clean. Cool in tin on a wire rack for a few minutes before turning out.

Suggestions:

Add chopped dates to the cake mixture

Add chopped walnuts to the cake mixture

Vanilla Slice with Bry

I have always wanted to make vanilla slice - this one was so moorish. The original recipe calls for 2/3 cup of sugar. Next time I will be tempted to cut it down to 1/2 cup.

Ingredients

2 sheets of puff pastry

1 1/2 cups milk

1 cup cream

1 vanilla bean, split and scraped

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup caster sugar

1/3 cup cornflour

1/2 cup warm water

6 egg yolks

1 tbsp passionfruit pulp

1 tsp lemon zest

1 tbsp lemon juice

1/2 - 1 cup of icing sugar

Preheat the oven to 180C. Place the pastry on glad bake on a baking tray, then top with another piece of gladbake and finally another baking tray as a weight. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden. Press down gently while still warm to flatten slightly. Cool on a rack.

Place the milk, cream, vanilla bean and extract and sugar in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Heat until hot but not boiling. Mix the cornflour and water together to a smooth paste and whisk into the hot milk mixture.

Remove the milk mixture from the heat and pour slowly into the eggs, whisking continuously. Pour back into the saucepan and return to the heat. Simmer for 6 minutes or until thickened, and the cornflour has cooked through.

Allow the mixture to cool in the saucepan to room temperature.

For the icing mix together the passionfruit, icing sugar, zest and lemon juice to taste to get a thin, pouring consistency.

Spread one of the pastry sheets with the custard and top with the remaining pastry sheet. Drizzle with the passionfruit icing.

This would also be delicious served as a dessert with fresh strawberries or raspberries - my mouth waters at the thought of it, yum.

Old-trusty Pumpkin Soup

Greta Anna Pumpkin Soup - Always delicious!

Serves 8

Zest and flesh of two oranges, making sure to get no bitter white pith.

1.5kg pumpkin

1 large potato

Salt and pepper

60g butter

2 tsp nutmeg

6 tsp raw sugar

1.25L very strong chicken stock

300mL cream

Sour cream

Chives

Place all ingredients up to and including the stock into a large saucepan. Cook until the pumpkin and potato are tender.

Remove from heat and puree. Add the cream.

To serve reheat to boiling point. Serve each with a dollop of sour cream and 1 tsp of chopped chives.