Archive | August, 2011

Chocolate Rush Festival 2011, Melbourne

31 Aug

A few years ago, Sous-Jeff and I stumbled across some sort of chocolate expo type event at… you know what, I can’t even remember where. What I do remember was that I completely gorged myself on chocolate, and was an unbearable pain in the ass for the next few hours as I went up and down on my sugar high. Poor Sous-Jeff, who was stuck with me for the next few hours, vowed never again to allow me to attend such a sugar-fueled event. Sadly for him, I got an email to tell me that the Chocolate Rush Festival was coming to town a few months ago. I immediately logged on to their website to purchase tickets, assuming that it was the same event that we attended previously, and having been promised an event that would teach me everything I ever wanted to learn about chocolate, and more! I was promised dozens of highly acclaimed exhibitors, a “chocolate market,” and a whole lot of information. I was awfully excited; Sous-Jeff was awfully scared.

We arrived at Shed 4 on the Docklands, all ready for our big adventure, albeit slightly miffed at the fact that after paying $25.00 a pop for tickets, we were still charged another $12 for parking! Not cool. Anyway, we paid our money, jumped out of the car, and head towards the shed. We were met with a row of white marquees, with a few select exhibitors displaying their wares. I head straight to Pud For All Seasons, as I actually recognised them from other markets I’d been to. They make both traditional puddings, and puddings that are a bit more out there, like their double chocolate and Cointreau pudding. I went straight to the mini chocolate coated puddings! Yum!

Here’s a peak into Sous-Jeff’s Chocolate Hazelnut pudding – absolutely delicious, highly recommended!

Puddings down the hatch, we continued on our way down the marquee lined dock. And were less than impressed. There wasn’t a heap there, and it was all pretty similar. So, we decided to head on inside. What we were met with there was similarly disappointing. For anyone who’s been inside one of those sheds, you know how absolutely bloody enormous they are. The festival would have been lucky to have occupied half the shed. There really weren’t a heap of exhibitors, and it wasn’t all that exciting. Not wanting to be disappointed still, we made our way straight to the Shocolate stand. I am a biiiiiiiig fan of Shocolate, and absolutely adore their macarons. More recently, however, Sous-Jeff and I have developed an obsession for their milk chocolate praline balls. So, we decided on a macaron skewer (chocolate, biscuit and salted caramel, all amazing, do get down to their shop and try them!), and a big, fat, praline ball.

Aaaaanyway, back to the chocolate. We did a lap, seeing nothing of particular interest, until the Cacao stall. Well, hello macarons and chocolate! Pleased to eat you! I walked away with a Strawberry and Cream, a Cookies and Cream, a Pistachio and a Lamington macaron (which I shared with Sous-Jeff – only a bite though, he doesn’t have the iron stomach required to digest this much sugar!), and Sous-Jeff grabbed himself a little chocolate, covered in painted bubbles – a dark and milk chocolate praline piece, with caramel ganache, coated in a dark chocolate shell, and filled with, I guess, popping candy – he looooved it! As for the macarons, they were absolutely on par with Shocolate’s, and I can’t wait to go back for more!

Next, we entered the Australian Chocolate Championship arena – a tiny little cordoned off area displaying the efforts of chocolate makers around the country. Here’s a bit of what was on display…

There was also a small bar and lounge type area, with highly inflated alcohol prices, so we skipped straight past that and went in search of one last bit of chocolate each before we threw in the towel and called it a day.

We decide to track down the pretty coloured chocolates on display, and find ourselves at The Chocolate Master’s stall. Everything looks beautiful…

We finally decide on a mango spear…

…a white chocolate ganache blue diamond…

… and a Malibu coconut truffle.

And they were all absolutely incredible! Money well spent! Unfortunately, other than the above mentioned chocolatiers, the Chocolate Rush Festival was very disappointing and not at all worth the $25.00 entry per person, especially given that everything on sale in the festival was all at retail prices.

Over to you guys – did anyone else attend this years Chocolate Rush Festival??

Pistachio, White Chocolate and Honey Macaroons

29 Aug

Multicultural Inspiration from…

France

“Remember that time we were at your uncle’s 50th birthday, and they had those awesome pistachio macaroons? They were awesome…”

Sous-Jeff isn’t a man of many words, but he certainly knows how to make a point. He’s also not a fan of the French, citing that they’re arrogant and full of themselves, and are only good for 4 things: Kronnenburg Beer, croissants, Tony Parker and Thierry Henry. He doesn’t actually know any French people, nor has he been to France, but he’s fairly certain in his convictions. However, at my uncle’s 50th birthday party, he added a 5th thing to his list – the pistachio macaroon. He’s never been a fan of macaroons before, labeling them the most over-rated dessert to come out of MasterChef. Personally, I’m a fan, but only if they’re done well. So, with that surprise comment of his out of the blue, I decided that it was finally time for me to face my culinary fears, and try to make a batch of pistachio macaroons. The stakes were high and the odds already stacked against me. With that, I prepared to battle grounds and took to the pantry, armed with my Australian Women’s Weekly High Tea cookbook. Here’s how it went down…

To make a batch of approximately 15 pistachio macaroons with white chocolate and honey ganache filling, you’ll need…

  • 45g unsalted, roasted pistachios
  • 3 egg whites
  • 55g caster sugar
  • green food colouring
  • 200g icing sugar
  • 90g almond meal

And for the ganache:

  • 60ml single cream
  • 155g white eating chocolate, coarsely chopped
  • 2 tsp honey

First up, preheat the oven to 130°C, and line two baking trays with baking paper.

Next, put the pistachios into a food processor and process until finely ground – I just pulsed mine so I didn’t process them too finely.

Separate the eggs if you haven’t already, and beat the egg whites until soft peaks form.

Add in the caster sugar and a few drops of food colouring (as much or as little as you want, depending on the shade of green you want!), and beat again until the sugar dissolves and the green is blended.

If the bowl you’ve been beating the eggs with isn’t very big, transfer the mixture to a large bowl now. Then, fold in all but a tablespoon of the pistachios, the icing sugar and the almond meal, in two batches.

Here is where I encountered my first problem – the step where you have to put the mixture into a piping bag, and pipe delicate little circles onto the baking paper. 1. I’m not particularly delicate. 2. Turned out that I had no piping bags left. Time to improvise – a thick, plastic, snap lock bag with a little hole cut into a corner. It’d have to do! If you’re doing this step properly, you’ll need a 1cm plain tube, piping them into 4cm rounds, approximately 2.5cm apart. Tap the trays on the bench so the macaroons spread evenly, sprinkle them with the remaining pistachios, and let them sit for around 30 minutes – this enables them to form a “crust” so that they cook properly.

Now the easy bit – bake the macaroons for around 20min, or until they get the tiniest bit of golden-ness in colour.

While they’re baking, you can make the ganache. This is where I struck my next problem. I followed my instructions to the letter – bringing the cream to the boil in a small pot, , removing it from the heat, and then pouring it over the chocolate and honey in a bowl, stirring it until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.

My problem was that the chocolate didn’t melt, so I panicked and added a little more hot cream. I stood my ganache as per directed, until it cooled to room temperature. Unfortunately, it didn’t thicken up anywhere near enough. Fail.

But, back to the actual macaroons themselves – they came out of the oven bang on 20 minutes. Some were perfect…

… some of them, not so much.

I can only assume the dodgy, cracked macaroons were a result of my not so perfect piping. Oh well, live and learn! Then, I had to put them together… I’d put the ganache in the fridge for 30 minutes, and it did thicken slightly, but still not quite enough! To make a thick filling. It was just still fairly sloppy and gooey, but as far as the taste went – delicious!

I nervously presented my creations to Sous-Jeff. No, the filling isn’t meant to be dripping down the side of the macaroon. No, it shouldn’t be cracked on top. No, they’re not perfectly round. Just shut up and eat it, I don’t care what it looks like, I care about how it tastes!!! Luckily for me, it passed the taste test, it was “good,” “nice,” but apparently still not as good as the ones from the 50th. Sous-Jeff’s mum, my lovely mum-in-law, tried one too; “far too sweet for my palate, but delicious!” was the verdict there. Personally, I was disappointed by the fact that my ganache was a failure, but I was thrilled with the flavours – the white chocolate and honey was a perfect combination, and yes – it was very sweet. But, I am a chronic sweet tooth, so it tasted perfect to me!

Over to you, lovely readers – when was the last time you gave something a try that you really wanted to live up to standards, and how did it go?!

Scarf Community Dinner

18 Aug

Scarf Community

Visit Website

A few months ago, I heard about a fabulous little Melbourne organisation called “Scarf Community.” For those of who you don’t know about this brilliant organisation, let me tell you a little bit about it… Scarf provides hands on hospitality training to marginalised youth who might not otherwise be able to afford or get access to training or employment. They “borrow” restaurants around Melbourne from some very kind, generous owners who are willing to lend their venues to the Scarf crew on Monday nights (the traditional hospitality night off) for a 10 week period, over which the students are able to hone their skills in providing a real dinner service to real, paying customers, while being helped along by their mentors.

The mentors involved in Scarf are all people who currently work in the hospitality industry, and volunteer their time to guide their charges along their way, providing them with both industry knowledge and connections. Upon finding out about this amazing organisation, I knew I had to get involved, and immediately emailed to arrange a dinner booking.

We arrived at Mixed Business (486 Queen’s Parade, Clifton Hill) at 8:30pm on a cold, Melbourne night for our dinner booking, and wondered on in just as a large group was leaving, so we stood around for a minute or two before someone realised we weren’t with the departing bunch. We were quickly shown to our seats, just by the bar/counter.

Our table was set with an eclectic mix of plates and knitted napkin holders, which I loved – it had a very homely, welcoming feel.

After a few minutes, our wonderful waiter took our drink order, and then presented us with our menus. A two-course set menu for $35, we had the choice between three entrees and three mains.

With our orders placed, we waited another five minutes or so before our waiter came back with some bread and olive oil for us… great way to get our hunger happening!

We waited only another five or ten minutes before our entrees came out. Sous-Jeff ordered the potato, leek and bacon soup with crispy parmesan, and I ordered the risotto with roasted salmon, basil, fetta, lime and spinach.

Potato, leek and bacon soup with crispy parmesan.

Sous-Jeff enjoyed his soup, especially the crispy parmesan. It tasted like a beautiful, comforting, home cooked meal, which was perfect for the freezing cold night.

I’m actually not at all a salmon eater, but the combination of lime, fetta and spinach made me decide to give the risotto a try. I am soooo glad I did! Although there wasn’t a strong fetta or lime flavour, it was creamy and the salmon was perfectly cooked. I really enjoyed this dish, even more so because I was so apprehensive about it!

Risotto with roasted salmon, basil, fetta, lime and spinach.

Next out were our mains. Sous-Jeff went with the braised chicken with fig and pomegranate molasses and cous cous, and I went with the Osso Bucco Milanese.

The chicken wasn’t at all what we’d expected – we thought it might come out as a chicken breast or thigh covered in sticky, fruity sauce, on a bed of cous cous. What Sous-Jeff had placed in front of him instead was a stew-type bowl of chicken with a bowl of cous cous on the side. The chicken had a strong cinnamon flavour and was well cooked, and again Sous-Jeff felt like he was eating a beautifully home cooked meal.

Braised chicken with fig and pomegranate molasses and cous cous

My Osso Bucco had high standards to live up to, and it didn’t disappoint. The veal was so tender and soft, it just fell off the bone. The sauce was delicious too, but lacked a flavour punch – it was just a bit under seasoned.

Osso Bucco Milanese

With dinner done and dishes cleared, we were handed a dessert menu. Well, I just can’t say no to dessert, so we decided upon a piece of cake and a shared plate of home made sweets.

The raspberry cake was beautifully presented, but unfortunately for me, had quite a bit of cinnamon in it. Sous-Jeff was happy to capitalise on my misfortune and gladly polished it off! Thankfully, he left the berry compote for me, which went down very, very nicely with the small bowl of vanilla ice cream that was served with it. At an additional $12.00 for the cake, we did however feel like it really wasn’t very good value for money.

Raspberry cake, $12.00

The plate of homemade sweets was gorgeous! A pink little meringue (which tasted a little like rosewater…), a yo-yo with a creamy, sugary filling, and a delicious little chocolate chip cookie all disappeared in the blink of an eye, and they were all beautiful! Perfect way to finish a meal, and at only $2.00 for the plate, it was a winner for us!

Plate of homemade sweets, $2.00

After dinner, I met up with the lovely Jess, who is one of the mentors and leaders at Scarf. She showed me into the kitchen, where our wonderful waiter was preparing to take out his next round of dishes. We also said hello to some of the other happy faces around the Scarf kitchen, the wonderful people who brought us our fantastic meal.

Our receipt for dinner, along with some Scarf info and business cards came out to our table in this gorgeous little, homemade pocket, which pretty much summed up our evening; warm, comfortable, homely.

It was a fantastic evening, and I really was impressed by the level of quality food and service provided by the Scarf team, remembering that they’re not yet professionals. It truly is a credit to the hard work put in by the wonderful volunteers and students, and I was so happy to have the opportunity to support such a fantastic cause. If you haven’t yet had the pleasure, I can’t recommend attending highly enough. A lot of hard work, care and love went into our meal, and it was evident on everyone’s faces that both the diners and the “staff” were truly appreciative of the opportunity. Our waiter, in particular, was a perfect gentleman; we were greeted upon arriving, farewelled upon leaving, and approached with a smile throughout the entire evening. A huuuuge thanks must go to him for making our night so lovely :)

If you’d like to support this wonderful organisation, a 2 course set menu dinner will only cost you $35.00 per person, with a range of beer, wine and soft drinks, as well as desserts available to you.

Email Jess at jess@scarfcommunity.org or call on 0488 777 527 to make a booking!

 Would rate it 7 out of 10.

Nonna Gemma’s Veal Scalopine

12 Aug

Multicultural Inspiration from…

Italy

It’s common knowledge in my family that mum’s mum, Nonna Gemma (Nonna is Italian for grandmother) is bloody fantastic in the kitchen. Some of my fondest childhood memories involve following Nonna around the Preston Market to gather all of our ingredients, then going back to her house, putting on an over-sized apron, and helping her make a big fat pot of risotto, or crostoli (traditional Northern Italian biscuits), with Nonno (grandfather) watching on and telling us we weren’t doing it properly. Unfortunately for me though, Nonna rarely records any of her culinary genius on paper – she just knows what to do. So, you can imagine my excitement when one of Nonna’s recipes was bestowed upon me at my Kitchen Tea party a month before our wedding last year! And not just any recipe – one of my favourites; Nonna’s veal scalopine!
Luckily for me, I’m getting much better at cooking by instinct, because Nonna’s recipes have absolutely no quantities or measurements. They’re also written completely in Italian. Poor Sous-Jeff hasn’t the foggiest idea what he was looking at when I got ready to cook this up. Thankfully, I understood every word!


My very treasured recipe is for veal scalopine – veal pieces coated in flour, and grilled in a fry pan with garlic, olive oil, mushrooms and white wine. I also like to serve it with polenta, because polenta brings back some of my most comforting and loving childhood memories :) And I threw some roast veggies in for the healthiness factor! Given that this recipe isn’t technically a recipe, I haven’t listen everything I did and used… but here’s how it turned out…

And to my utter and complete joy, it tasted just like Nonna’s!! I guess I must have been paying more attention than I thought when I used to watch her make it! If only I’d recorded how much of everything I’d used… must make it again!

And while I took a break in typing this up to grab some lunch, Kitchen Bug decided he’d keep my seat warm and try to contribute a bit too…

Over to you guys… do you have a famous family recipe that you’ve been able to successfully recreate? Or a pet who likes to help you blog?!

Melbourne Foodie Day Part 3: HuTong Dumpling Bar, Bar Americano and Mitre Tavern

11 Aug

 

 Multicultural Cuisine of…

China…

& pub life


Content after our tapas at Movida, but certainly not yet full, we continued on down to our next stop. Neither Sous-Jeff or I are big Chinese food eaters, but I’ve heard only good things about HuTong, and I developed a bit of a crush on dumplings since trying the pork gyoza at Wabi Sabi a while ago. So, we decide it’s probably time for us to give it a try!

HuTong Dumpling Bar
14 – 16 Market Lane,
Melbourne
(03) 9650 8120
Visit Website

We knew Market Lane sounded familiar for a reason, but until we arrived, we couldn’t work out why – because it’s the home of Hofbrauhaus, the German restaurant that was gutted by a fire a little while ago. It’s a family favourite, and I can’t wait to get back in and review their magnificent Schweizer Schnitzel for you guys when they get back up and running! Anyhow, we’re now in recognisable territory, and upon seeing the large amount of people inside, are put a little more at ease going into this very unfamiliar culinary territory.

The first thing we notice as we come in from the bitter Melbourne cold is how warm and cosy it is inside! Lovely! We were immediately asked if we had booked, and we had not. We were told it might be quite a wait, but as luck had it, a table cleared out within a minute of arriving, and it went straight to us! The Universe wanted us to have dumplings, and so we would. It’s also very busy, with an excited, content atmosphere. You can tell by the looks on the faces of HuTong’s customers that they were happy with what was in front of them. I also immediately fell in love with the big window that allowed me to see into the kitchen; it was absolutely mesmerising to see just how quickly the chefs worked, folding each dumpling in a perfectly uniformed manner.


Finally taking my eyes off the fancy finger work in the kitchen, it was time to check out the menu. We’d intended to just grab the one lot of dumplings to share, but upon checking out the menu, we decide to grab two – the boiled spinach dumplings, and the pan fried dumplings.

While waiting for our dumplings to grace our table, we started checking out our condiments…

… and to Sous-Jeff’s delight, uncovered a pot of chilli! Fantastic!

And for me, the slightly plainer and simpler soy sauce. Thank goodness!

Just as I was starting to panic about the fact that I’d never eaten traditional Chinese dumplings before and had absolutely NO idea how to eat them in an appropriate and non-offensive manner, Sous-Jeff passed this to me across the table – a step-by-step guide! Ahhh, relief!

With instructions studied and a vague understanding on what to do, our first lot of dumplings arrive – the boiled spinach dumplings.

Spinach dumplings, $6.80 (6 pieces)

Following my instructions to the letter, I carefully managed to pick up my first dumpling with my chopsticks and dunked it into my little bowl of soy sauce.

Then, onto my little ceramic spoon it went, and down the hatch!

I really loved these dumplings – they were fairly plain and simple, which was probably good for me being a relative dumpling novice. They were certainly packed full of spinach, as promised, and were encased in a nice soft shell.

Next out were the pan fried dumplings, beautifully shaped and presented on… actually, I have no idea what so ever what it was, but it was fried and edible and delicious!

Pan fried dumplings, $12.80 (8 pieces)

Apart from burning off the top layer of my tongue upon biting into a wayyyyy too hot dumpling first up, these were amazing. Absolutely loved them, and want more now that I’m just looking at them. Beautifully balanced mix of pork and ginger, and they had a just crispy bottom from being pan fried. LOVED!

After hearing so much about HuTong and going in as a Chinese food/dumpling virgin, I was not let down. They were delicious and well priced, and I will definitely be returning for more.

Would rate it 8 out of 10.

HuTong Dumpling Bar on Urbanspoon


We left HuTong very content and full and in need of a beverage. So, we decided to check out the relatively new kid on the block, Bar Americano. A little bar occupying the site of the former Pushka bar and the brain child of the gents behind Der Raum, it’s been promised to be the next big thing.

Bar Americano
20 Presgrave Place,
Melbourne
Visit Website

Out around the back of Bar Americano

Frankly, I was very underwhelmed. It wasn’t because of the small, dark space. It was the service and the general atmosphere. I don’t like to generalise, but the crowd really did come across as an uppity bunch. I certainly wasn’t dressed in designer garb, but it seemed to offend the patrons who looked me up and down with upturned noses. The bartender walked over to us, as if not taking us seriously in the slightest (you know that look that teenagers who walk into a pub get? That, “I know you can’t actually afford or legally buy anything in here so I won’t waste my time helping you”? Yeah, that was the look we got), leant a menu up on the bar against the wall and gave us a “these are the cocktails,” before walking back to the bar. We left immediately. The next big thing it may be, but that’s not how we roll.

Would rate it 2 out of 10.

 

Bar Americano on Urbanspoon


Frustrated and in even more need of a drink, we decided to start walking to our final destination of La Belle Miette, and we decided to just walk into the first bar we stumbled across. After a bit of a walk, we stumbled upon another lane way, which seemed to lead to yet another lane way! Not sure why, but I had a feeling we might have a decent find, so off I went, with Sous-Jeff on my tail saying “but do you know what’s down here? Is there anything?” “Dunno, let’s find out!”

And we stumbled upon what Sous-Jeff has dubbed the greatest pub in the Melbourne CBD: The Mitre Tavern.

Mitre Tavern
5 Bank Place,
Melbourne
(03) 9670 5644
Visit Website

A very traditionally English style pub, it popped up at just the right time. It didn’t look like it’d belong – an old pub in the middle of the city, on a Saturday afternoon, and it was dead quiet. There were dozens of tables outside under cover, with those awesome outdoor heaters which was keeping it all toasty warm, even outside as the rain started to fall. Sous-Jeff looked like he’d found the holy grail, after being dragged around all day in search of food. We grabbed some beer and vodka, and sat down to relax and digest.

Looking back up the street, we could see the bright red doors of Cafe Vue on Little Collins St, but we couldn’t believe how well hidden it was! The food menu looked great, and they had a steakhouse attached as well, with some amazing smells wafting out through the windows.

While we didn’t actually eat anything there, it was a fantastic pub, and we can’t wait to get back in for a dinner and a big night with our friends! Based on our beverage experience (without food) alone…

 Would rate it 8 out of 10.

Anyway, it was getting dark, the rain heavier, and our legs tired, so we decided to wrap it up and get those macarons. Unfortunately when we arrived at La Belle Miette, they were sold out. Heartbroken. Luckily for me, I have a wonderful husband who took me back to the train station via Little Cupcakes – yes, I got another two, don’t judge me!

One of my favourite things to do on a day off is to explore the little hidden gems of Melbourne, and today was certainly another win!

Over to you guys – where are your favourite hole-in-the-wall places?!

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