Celebrations For One

Christmas was a lonesome holiday this year. Usually I find myself working for the masses but the restaurant where I work now closes on public holidays. Not to say that it's a bad thing, but while my friends were off mingling with relatives I spent the day trying to avoid mine. Cooped up at home there was really only one way to entertain myself. Fortunately I pre-empted this little problem and had a special order of kingfish and ocean trout delivered to work on Christmas eve. It took me a good couple of days beforehand to figure out what I wanted to do with the fillets and even then I veered a little.
­

Totally Over-The-Top Menu For One

­

Yellowtail Kingfish & Petuna Ocean Trout sashimi

ginger dressing

­

La Goya-cured Ocean Trout

­

Salad of smoked Kingfish

pickled fennel & aioli

­

Pan-fried Ocean Trout

apple-glazed lentils & balsamic

­

Poached Rocklobster

fondant potato & foaming hollandaise

­

Lemony Peach slice

black cherry jelly & homemade yoghurt

­­

Recipes to follow shortly!

Red Apple Macarons

It's been a long time since I've made macarons. To be honest, I've never really considered myself a fan. I think I'm more of a frosting person than a cookie person. I love love love all things sweet but I'd pick a gooey custard bun with a scant dusting of icing sugar over a crunchy and dry meringue kiss any day. I think people tend to go a little overboard with sugar sometimes. I like to think of sugar as another seasoning like salt or pepper rather than as a main ingredient and only add just enough to make whatever it is I'm doing taste good. Except when the amount of sugar is directly related to texture, then whatever. Otherwise, less is more I say!


These red apple macarons are the result of many sleepless nights of tossing and turning, trying to come up with a secret santa present for someone at work. I work in the kitchen and he works on the floor. We really only ever speak in passing which makes thinking up a personal gift so much easier. Okay well.. I know he likes eating apples, he sits an apple on the shelf when he comes in and munches on it every now and then. Why not make him a gift bag with some of my jams (they have apple in them.. some of them), spiced apple cookies and to heck with it! I'll go all out and make apple macarons!

So for the Holiday Cookie Baking Event here's my recipe for not-too-sweet red apple macarons!
­
When making the apple butter, it is important to have the sugar syrup at room temperature or slightly below. If it is too hot it may cause the butter to melt and you may have to start again. If it is too cold it will set the butter while churning. You'll end up with a curdled looking mass and you'll need to bring everything back up to room temp by pouring out the syrup, beating the shit out of it until smooth then re-adding syrup. Any leftover butter can be stored in the freezer.
­
Red Macarons
Combine sugar and almond meal in a medium bowl & set aside.

155 g icing sugar, sifted
120 g almond meal
66 g egg whites
1/2 vanilla pod
4 g red liquid food colouring

Whisk egg whites until firm.
Add vanilla seeds, red colouring and whisk to combine.
Fold egg whites into dry ingredients.
Grease and line a heavy sheet pan with non-stick baking paper.
Pipe mix into 2 cm rounds with size 7 nozzle, spacing 2 cm apart.
Rest at room temp for 20 mins or until a light skin has formed.
Bake at 140ºC for 14 - 15 mins, turning halfway.
Cool on tray then sandwich together with apple butter.
­
Zesty Apple Butter
Heat sugar, salt and water together until dissolved.

150 g unsalted butter, chopped
35 g castor sugar
1 g salt
35 g water
2 g fresh thyme, leaves only
1 g lemon zest
10 g apple glaze

Cool to room temperature or cooler.
Beat butter until smooth.
Add thyme, lemon zest, apple glaze and beat until incorporated.
Slowly add sugar syrup, beat until smooth.
­

A Modest Spread

I always seem to be in a mad rush, stumbling over one idea and onto the next without really completing anything. This post included, which I originally intended to write a month ago when I made this chocolate cake.

­

My very first go at making chocolate cake was this torta cioccolata a few months back which makes this a momentous point in history as it is only the second chocolate cake I've ever made (if you don't count baking White Wings premix satchets at the tender age of fourteen har har!). I'm quite proud of myself actually. Despite its modest appearance and ingredients it really is quite a well-balanced cake, taking into consideration both the flavour and texture.

Old-Fashioned Choc Layer Cake
adapted from Death By Chocolate

4 (60 g) egg yolks
3 (100 g) egg whites
141 g castor sugar
107 g self-raising flour
115 g butter, melted
215 g dark chocolate, chopped

Cream yolks and 85 g sugar until pale and doubled in volume.
Fold through sifted flour and butter.
Beat egg whites to stiff peaks.
Add remaining sugar (56 g) and beat until glossy.
Fold through batter then fold through 115 g chocolate.
Pour into a greased and floured 6 x 10 x 1.5" tin.
Bake at 170ºC for 25-30 mins.
Cool in tin and refrigerate for 30 mins.
Turn onto a board and cut in half lengthways.
Cut each piece into 2 layers.
Spread each piece with buttercream and layer on top of one another.
Spread remaining buttercream over the top and sides.
Gently press remaining chocolate onto the sides.
Refrigerate overnight or until set.

Buttercream

114 g butter, chopped
29 g unsweetened cocoa
1 g salt
38 g icing sugar, sifted
3 g vanilla extract
42 g cream

Beat butter until smooth.
Add cocoa, salt, sugar, vanilla and beat until well incorporated.
Slowly add cream and beat until combined.

I'm On A Jam Roll!

I have successfully populated yoghurt cultures! I brought 3 spoonfuls of King Island yoghurt and a scant cup of full cream milk to temperature in a small pot with half a vanilla pod thrown in for good measure, switched off the heat and let it sit at room temp while I scurried off to another day at the office. 30 hours later (when I remembered..) I checked the mixture and voila! It had magically thickened. It was surprisingly creamy and did not exhibit the acute sourness I had so anticipated after my slight memory lapse. It is currently being housed in the refrigerator while we brainstorm ideas to transport it to a quaint little place down south called MY STOMACH.
­
Anyway, I've been on a jam making mission lately. Don't ask me why, there's nothing terribly exciting about it. I'm just waiting for these urges to stop and stop they will.. Any day now.. Last week aside from apple & blackberry jam I also made a raspberry marmalade and yesterday a black cherry jelly. It's a jelly because I added extra pectin to set it and left the fruit in relatively chunky pieces rather than wizzing it all up for a uniform texture.
­
When blanching peel I find the easiest method is to heat up a large amount of water in the kettle and with the peel in a bowl, pour over just enough to cover and let it sit for a minute. Then I tip out the liquid and repeat with boiling water sometimes up to 6 or 7 times until the liquid no longer becomes bitter.
­
Raspberry Marmalade

920 g navel oranges
215 g water
210 g frozen raspberries, thawed
385 g castor sugar
2 star anise
12 g jamsetta

Remove orange rind with vegetable peeler (100 g).
Cut into 1 cm wide strips and julienne.
Blanch peel 4 times and strain.
Chop up the orange flesh (445 g), keeping seeds aside.
Simmer seeds with 215 g water for 15 - 20 mins.
Strain, reserving pectin liquid.
Simmer rind, flesh and pectin liquid in a small pot for 20 minutes.
Add raspberries, sugar, star anise and jamsetta.
Simmer, stirring ocassionally until it reaches 105ºC.
Store in a sterile hermetic jar.
­
Black Cherry Jelly

270 g cherries, pitted and halved
160 g water
2 g citric acid
1/2 vanilla pod
220 g castor sugar
18 g jamsetta

Simmer cherries, water, acid and vanilla in a small pot for 20 mins.
Add sugar and jamsetta and bring to 105ºC.
Store in a sterile hermetic jar.
­

One Egg Anglaise

35 years ago our quarter acre property on the outskirts of Sydney was a poultry farm. Or so they told me AFTER I dug up a pile of finger-length bones as a ten year old and flung them around the backyard screaming. I have a confession to make. I'm a scrooge when it comes to buying eggs. It's not a conscious decision to be heart healthy and all that. Working for a pitance, it's rather more a case of "HMM! Instead of using five eggs perhaps I could get by with only using one. The two dollars I'll save can go towards my Better World Books wishlist..". Obviously it's not always possible to skimp on the fundamentals but I try hard to and you can too!

One Egg Anglaise

320 milk
1/2 vanilla pod
1 egg
55 g castor sugar
6 g potato starch
1 g salt
20 g unsalted butter

Bring milk and vanilla to a simmer in a small pot.
Remove from heat and allow to infuse for half an hour.
Cream egg, sugar, starch and salt in a bowl.
Temper egg mix with milk and return to heat.
Stir continuously with a spatula over low heat until it reaches 84ºC.
Remove from heat and stir to cool.
Add butter when it cools below 55ºC (higher temp will change butters setting properties).
Stir until combined and refrigerate.
Stir every half hour until cold to prevent skin from forming.

Some Food For Thought

black sesame nougatine

alice medrich's sesame seed cake
with lemon creme fraiche & bloodwood honey

Dreaming of White

I saw the most beautiful woman last night at The Bank. It was like a vision. Her curly blonde locks flowed over her shoulders and her eyes danced wickedly in the low light. A half-smoked cigarette touched her lips and at that moment I wished that I was like the cake I had made that very afternoon - smooth and sensible, delicately balanced with a hint of zest.

A yoghurt souffle cake for TongueTicklers FIC - White. King Island yoghurt, minimal butter and sugar. Sensible. Breaking through the cracked and sunken crust reveals a delightfully creamy interior which appears to melt on contact with the tongue. Smooth. And well, the zest speaks for itself.

Yoghurt Souffle Cake

5 eggs, separated
115 g castor sugar
50 g flour
2 g salt
450 g yoghurt
5 g vanilla extract
5 g orange zest
5 g lemon zest
20 g lemon juice

Butter and flour an 8" tin.
Cream yolks (88 g) and sugar until doubled in volume.
Sift flour and mix thoroughly.
Combine with salt, yoghurt, vanilla zests and juice.
Whisk egg whites (157 g) until stiff and fold through batter.
Pour into tin and bake at 170ºC for 45 mins.
Cool in tin then remove.
Serve with generous dusting of icing sugar.

Mmm.. CAKE!

I came across a product last week whilst browsing through the dairy section at Woolworths. It's called Jalna BioDynamic yoghurt and it's a lovely, light and slightly tangy organically produced whole milk yoghurt. I recently flicked through a friend's book called Decadence: Desserts by Philip Johnson which is a wonderful collection of dessert recipes ranging from the traditional steamed lemon pudding and sachertorte to blood orange & almond cakes and mandarin jelly tart. All recipes appear in metric as standard which I absolutely adore.

With biodynamic yoghurt in one hand and scrawled recipe for crustless cheesecake in the other, I thought I'd try making a gluten-free biodynamic yoghurt cheesecake with a combination of quinoa flour and potato starch, matching the nutiness of quinoa with a sprinkling of black sesame seed nougatine. It turned out beautifully light and tender and oh so satisfying. It is a bashfully simple cheesecake recipe to share with family and friends of Culinarty: ORR!

BioDynamic Yoghurt Cheesecake

500 g BioDynamic Jalna yoghurt
225 g mascarpone
125 castor sugar
20 g pure icing sugar
6 g vanilla extract
2 g salt
2 whole eggs (55 g each)
4 yolks (74 g)
30 g quinoa flour
10 g potato starch

Butter and sugar an 8" springform tin.

Line with 2 sheets of foil to prevent any leakage and place in a large roasting tray.

Whisk together yoghurt, mascarpone, sugars, vanilla and salt in a large bowl.

Whisk in eggs one at a time until well combined.

Combine quinoa flour and potato starch in a small bowl.

Mix in a few tablespoons of yoghurt mix to form a smooth paste then add together.

Whisk to combine thoroughly.

Pour batter into tin and pour enough boiling water into the roasting tray to fill halfway.

Bake at 180ºC for 40 minutes, turning halfway.

Remove foil and allow to cool in oven.

Refrigerate overnight before serving.

Blackberry Season

In just another week or two and until the end of January, blackberry season will be in full swing. It is a common misconception however that blackberries are actually berries. They are, in fact, an aggregate fruit - a bunch of tiny fruits fused together at the base, unlike real berries including surprisingly, citrus, cucumber and papaya. Well, that's about as far as my knowledge spans on blackberries unfortunately. After washing they deteriorate rather quickly so it is preferable to give them a rinse just before you use them. Fresh berries will last about 2-3 days in the refrigerator but can be frozen for a good period of time for later use in baked goods, creams and preserves. Using frozen blackberries instead of fresh in baked goods will prevent much streaking and result in a lighter, fresher flavour. Yesterday morning I thawed out some blackberries and made an apple & blackberry jam which will be my contribution to this months 'Eating with the Seasons' and a homemade Christmas gift to a lucky someone later on. I like to use hermetic jars.

Apple & Blackberry Jam

220 g Granny Smith apple (approx. 2)
200 g water
185 g blackberries
320 g castor sugar
8 g lemon juice
4 whole cloves

Peel, core and chop apples, discarding peel only.
Combine apples, blackberries and lemon juice.
Chop up the cores and in a small saucepan, boil with water and cloves for 20 minutes.
Strain out the cores and add liquid to apples.
Bring to boil and simmer for 20 minutes.
Wizz in a blender until smooth then return to heat with sugar, scraping the bottom with a spatula.
Continue cooking until it reaches 105ºC.

Chocolate Overdose

".. Antonio Raimo, sat slumped forward, his head on the table, the victim of an apparent heart attack.
Brad rushed over and felt in vain for a pulse. "Did the waiter present Mr. Raimo with the bill?" Brad asked.
"No, we were just having dessert," Jennifer Raimo, Tony's wife, answered.
"Death By Chocolate," said Antoine in a dazed monotone. It was the first time Brad noticed how suspiciously thin and fit Antoine was for a world-class chef.
"That was what Tony ordered," Jennifer explained. "He's not much around the kitchen, and he tried in vain for the last two months to make the dessert from a recipe in the Death By Chocolate cookbook. Seeing a slice of it perfectly prepared apparently was too much for his system."
"We'll have to rule out poison," Brad said, wrestling the fork from Raimo's clenched fist. "I'd better have a taste."
"I'll help," Jennifer replied.
Charles Cadbury, the homicide detective, came five minutes later.
"What happened here?" he asked.
"Death By Chocolate," Antoine replied.
But by then the evidence had disappeared .." John Ballinger

Consuming passions are too often also our demise. I recently discovered a 1992 publication of Marcel Desaulniers Death By Chocolate. On page 42 you will find a recipe for "Simply The Best Chocolate Brownie". Moist, fudgey, a chocolate indulgence. An adaptation best served with a very generous dollop of sour cream.

Chocolate Overdose Brownies

60 g unsalted butter
85 g dark chocolate
50 g milk chocolate
160 g/ 3 eggs
227 g castor sugar
42 g flour
28 g unsweetened cocoa
2 g baking powder
3 g salt
56 g sour cream
5 g vanilla extract
45 g milk chocolate, chopped
17 g cocoa nibs

Melt butter, dark and milk chocolate over baine marie.
Cream eggs and sugar until pale and doubled in volume.
Slowly add chocolate to egg, beating continuously.
Sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt 3 times.
Fold flour into egg mix.
Fold through sour cream, vanilla and chopped chocolate.
Pour into a greased and floured 6 x 10 x 1.5" pan.
Sprinkle cocoa nibs over the top and bake at 170ºC for 25 mins.
Cool for 10 minutes in pan before removing.

choco brownie cookie sandwiches

My apologies for the recent lax in posting. I have of course been working hard behind the scenes (although obviously not on my lack of photography skills). Y of lemonpi is an inspiration to me. I really have no idea how she manages to blog almost daily around the incredibly stressful working hours. I can't seem to manage anything very well myself especially this time of the year. Just this week I have walked into an open cupboard door, slid across the kitchen floor after stepping into a pile of gunky calamari skin, pushed over bottles of fish sauce, smashed a stack of drinking glasses, wiped chicken onto my face and splashed hot peanut oil all over my sous chef's hand. Here's to something I can't fuck up.

Chocolate Brownie Cookies

..which are now chocolate brownie cookie sandwiches, glued together with espresso buttercream and sprinkled with cocoa nibs.