Tag Archives: Bread

Melbourne Foodie Day Part 2: Movida Next Door and Hosiers Lane art work

10 Aug

Multicultural Cuisine of… Spain



We arrive at Hosiers Lane with around 12 minutes to wait until opening time of Movida Next Door. Perfect for me; I absolutely LOVE the amazing art work adorning the lane. Instead of telling you about it, let me show you some of it…

The following pieces surround Movida and Movida Next Door – they’re very vibrant, very fun, and very Melbourne.

At this point, we see a bit more movement in the kitchen… it’s almost tapas time!

Movida Next Door
Cnr Flinders St and Hosiers Lane
Melbourne
(03) 9663 3038
Visit Website

At 12:05pm, the doors finally open, and the line of people who have been gathering since 11:50am pour in through the doors. We’re promptly seated by the front windows, and handed our menus. Our lovely waitress ran through each and every item on the specials menu (somewhere around 10 different items), and did a magnificent job of reciting each one by heart.

With our decisions made and orders placed, we sat at our little bench, taking in the beautiful, random few minutes of Melbourne winter sunlight, and were brought some lovely, soft, fresh bread and olive oil, which we nibbled on while we waited for our tapas (we were starving by this point!). We were also very glad that we were there as early as we were, because the stream of people coming in (and being turned away) did not stop for the entire hour we were in there!

Sous-Jeff, the beer connoisseur, also ordered himself a Moritz beer; I won’t pretend to know a thing about beer, and declined when offered a sip, but by all accounts it was great!

Now, for the food…. First out was my choice, the cheese! Smoked sheep’s milk cheese, with a few little figs on the side. Sous-Jeff hated it (not really a big cheese fan unless its Cracker Barrel…), but I really enjoyed it – had a great bite, and was complimented perfectly by the figs.

Queso Idiazabal, $6.50

Next out were the croquettes, crumbed, deep fried, and filled with wild mushrooms. They were creamy inside, crispy inside, and the mushrooms had an amazing flavour. This would have to be my favourite little nibble that we tried.

Croqueta, $3.50 each

Coming out with the croquettes were the “bombas.” These little balls of deliciousness came very highly recommended, and did not disappoint. Now, being the spice fearer that I am, I asked if we might be able to get the sauce on the side, as I’d heard that it did have quite a kick. The bombas themselves were little potato balls, filled with chorizo. The sauce was a little spicy, so Sous-Jeff was glad to have it all to himself. My bomba was beautiful, soft and delicious, and came runner up to the croquette as my next favourite.

Bomba, $4.50 each

Sous-Jeff’s choice was next – the chicken skewer. Marinated in lemon and parsley, and grilled on charcoal, seasoned with sea salt, it was amazing. The chicken was so soft and just fell off the skewer, and the simple flavours complimented the fresh chicken perfectly.

Pollo, $7.00 each

Last out was my pick from the specials menu, the tortilla. A traditional Spanish omlette, it’s filled with potato and onion. I’m a big fan of the tortilla, and this one was amazing – warm and soft, and fell apart under my fork. Even Sous-Jeff (who isn’t usually a fan) loved this!

Tortilla (can’t remember how much this one cost… $3 or $4 I think!)

It’s been a long time since I’ve been trying to get to Movida – since last October when Sous-Jeff and I had some of our wedding photos taken out the front! But it was worth the wait, the food was amazing and certainly didn’t  disappoint. Can’t wait to tick off Movida, Movida Aqui and Movida Terraza off the list next!

 Would rate it 9 out of 10.

Part 3 on it’s way :)

MoVida Next Door on Urbanspoon

Cornbread

31 Jul

Multicultural Inspiration from…

the world of baking!

 

Ever since starting out on this gluten free thing a few weeks ago, I’ve been constantly looking for ways to keep getting variety into my diet. I haven’t been much of a bread eater for a while now, but every now and then, I just want nothing more than a nice, warm slice of bread with a bit of butter… mmm…

I discovered corn bread not long ago in a local health store. It was just a packet bread mix type thing, and it was simple enough to put together, and it was absolutely delicious. It was quite sweet – Sous-Jeff likened it more to cake than to bread, and he was right (I guess that’s why I liked it so much!). So I decided to try my hand at my own version of corn bread!

I took my inspiration from the ever reliable Australian Good Taste magazine’s June Cook The Issue Issue, with my own changes (of course!). Instead of following the recipe’s cheese and chive method, I decided to make my own gluten free, sweeter version of the bread. Here’s what I used to make this delicious loaf:

  • 400g tin of corn kernels
  • 400g polenta
  • 115g gluten free self-raising flour
  • 3 tbsp caster sugar
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 600ml buttermilk
  • 150g butter, melted
  • 3 eggs, lightly whisked

First up, preheat the oven to 180°C, and line a 18 x 18cm square cake tin (or similar sized loaf tin) with baking paper. Then, put a bit of paper towel on a plate, drain the corn kernels and pour them onto the paper towel to drain further.

Instead of using the corn kernels whole as per the recipe, I decided to throw mine into my food processor and mush them up a little first!

Into a bowl with the flour…

… and the polenta, sugar and salt.

Next in goes the processed corn kernels, buttermilk, butter and eggs, stirring until well combined.


Then, just pour the mixture into the tin and spread it evenly, smoothing it over the top.

Into the oven for around 40 -45 minutes, until it looks like this..

I let my big, square, bread loaf sit in it’s tin to cool for a while before taking it out, and I know I should have let it cool a little more before slicing it open and trying a piece, but I couldn’t help myself!

The result? Soft, crumbly, delicate, delicious cornbread.

It wasn’t quite as sweet as the packet mix I’d made, and it had a far stronger corn flavour (given that I’d used a whole tin of corn kernels!), but it was really, really yummy! It had a very different flavour to any other bread I’d ever tasted – a bit sweet, but definitely savoury with the corn.

It literally fell apart in my fingers as I picked up a pieced to try, and crumbled away under my knife as I spread some butter onto it. Delicious, and completely gluten free! Sous-Jeff took one look at the bread, and dashed to the fridge to fetch a spoon full of his chilli jam. Apparently it was incredible; I value my taste buds, and therefore did not try any.

It actually kept surprisingly well for 4 days or so as well – surprising that it actually lasted that long! I would like to try the cheese and chives version next time now that I’ve mastered a basic, neutral version of the bread!

Over to you – what’s your favourite bread?!

Queen Victoria Market: The Foodie Tour

16 Jun

 Multicultural Cuisine of…

Turkey

and Spain

and Mexico

and France

 

 

I love living in Melbourne. LOVE it. I love being surrounded and influenced by so many different cultures. If you can think of it, chances are Melbourne has it. It’s a city of art, sport, fashion, drama, architecture, and of course food. It’s a city where everyone fits in – you can’t stereotype a Melbourne-er because we’re all so different. But despite the incredible diversity in inhabitants, Melbourne does have a strong culture and “vibe” to it. And I honestly believe that there is absolutely no better place to immerse yourself in the culture of a city than in one of its true epicenters – the market.

Arriving at the market

With that in mind, for those of you who haven’t yet been to Melbourne, or just haven’t made it to this wonderful place, let me introduce you to the Queen Victorian Market. The Queen Vic, QV or the Vic Market, is one of Melbourne’s most famous landmarks. It’s been around since 1850s as a small little market, and slowly expanded to the 17 acre colossus it is today. The Queen Vic now houses stalls selling everything from fresh fruit to ugg boots, seafood to scented candles, deli foods to clothing.

One of my favourite times of year to go to the market is in winter. I know the idea of leaving a warm house and trekking through a market on a cold, grey Melbourne morning sounds awful to most people, I just love the idea of donning my beanie, scarf and jacket, getting out and experiencing all the market has to offer. My sisters and I used to make this trip with our parents when we were younger, and I’ve loved going ever since. So on that note, I drag Sous-Jeff out of the heated house and off to the cold train station to begin our trip through the treasure trove that is the Queen Vic Market. Enjoy the ride :)

 

 

Queen Victoria Market

Cnr Victoria and Elizabeth Sts,

Melbourne

(03) 9320 5822

Visit Website

We arrive in the section of the market that houses the delicatessen goods, cheeses and pastries. This is probably my favourite section, being the pastry fiend that I am. Here’s some of what’s on offer…

Cold meats
Anti pasti
Dips
Breads

Within about three minutes, Sous-Jeff notices that every fourth person is clutching a white paper bag with something doughy and delicious smelling poking out the top. We make it our mission to find these things, what ever they are, and soon come across an enormous line of people out the front of one of the shop fronts. Bingo. What we’re after, are “boreks,” a Middle Eastern/Eastern European baked, filled pastry. I believe this particular stall sells the Turkish style boreks, which are more of a bready outer (as opposed to a pastry), and the majority of the ones we’re seen seem to be filled with spinach.

We push our way to the front of the line, as we observe the stern looking ladies behind the counter losing their patience with indecisive and gently customers. Sous-Jeff orders two spinach and ricotta boreks, around a foot long, and for the bargain price of $2.50 each. What we get is a soft, bread like outer, with a soft, tasty spinach and ricotta filling. They are absolutely delicious, and exactly what we felt like to start our day.
Spinach and ricotta Borek, $2.5

We continue weaving our way through the stalls…

Cheese
More cheese
Organic goods
Dozens of different types of flours

… and eventually weave our way out and towards the fruit and veggie section and the meat section, passing the famous American Donut Van on the way – they make a fabulous jam donut, but we aren’t stopping for them today, as we have another donut stop coming up…

The famous American Donut Van (even spelt the American way!)

We wonder out from the cover of the fruit and veggie section, and start working our way up and down the sheds and find another of my favourite stalls, one of the many selling dried fruit and nuts…

 

Continuing our tasting tour, I can’t resist some dried apricots and dates – I looooove dried apricots, but am not normally a fan of dates. These, however, look so sweet and juicy that I must try some. I was not let down; they are so sweet and delicious, by far the best dried dates I’ve ever had (and the apricots were fantastic too!). I’d definitely eat dates more if I could get my hands on such good quality ones more often.

Sous-Jeff opts for a mix of spicy nuts and soy crisps, which last the length of the shed. And for 100g of Sous-Jeff’s mix and 160g of my dried fruit, we paid only $3.80. Wow.

We continue on our way, discovering more fabulous foodie finds…
Every spice and seasoning you can imagine
Shitake mushrooms
Beans, lentils and raw nuts
Random assorted goods
Tin signs – some great kitchen ones too!
Hand made leather and beaded bracelets
A view of the market

We turn a corner and approach my childhood favourite stall – selling super fresh eggs… and little, tiny, fluffy, baby chickens!!! I begged and begged my grandparents to buy me one every single time they took me as a child… and never got one. Now each time I go with Sous-Jeff, I beg him for a pet chick. Still no luck. Ah well, onwards we go!

Next up, we stumble across my new favourite stall; I’ve never seen it here before, so I’m fairly certain it’s a newbie. Meet Confectioner’s Favourite!
Confectioner’s Favourite (03) 3261 5557

Visit Website

This wonderful little place sells cupcake cases, cookie cutters, cake decorations, and other confectionery delights. I bought about $18 worth of cupcake cases, including giant ones (a little bigger than a Texas muffin pan size), and they are well worth the visit to the market for – ranging between $2.50 – $3.50 per pack.

Our next stop is my favourite part of any trip to the market – the Spanish Donut van. Makers of the best churros I’ve ever had.

Spanish Donuts

QVM

Visit Website

This van is a Melbourne institution. They are real, authentic, spectacular churros, made fresh. The line we join, 14 people long and not a single word of complaint for having to wait, is a testament to the deliciousness of these donuts.

The churros come out of the deep fryer in a giant coil, and are deftly cut up by the man with the scissors, then dumped in the bain-marie, and quickly scooped into paper bags and distributed to the masses.

Doused in icing sugar, they’re super crunchy on the outside, super soft inside. Perfect.

Churros, $1.00 each, or 7 for $6.00

More laps around the market builds our hunger, and soon enough it’s lunch time, and there’s only one place for us to eat: La Cantina.

La Cantina

Shop 24, Shed F

Queen Victoria Market

Visit Website

La Cantina is a miniature Mexican restaurant – it’s like sitting at the kitchen bench of a Mexican friend, who happens to have a great bar and amazing food. It’s run by the same crew as the churros van, so you know it’s gonna be good.

 

After a quick glance at the menu, we make a quick decision…

Nachos…

Nachos for 1 (with homemade salsa, guacamole, tasty cheese and sour cream), $7.50

… and a beef burrito.

Beef burrito with guacamole, rice, cheese, homemade salsa, black beans and lettuce, $9.50

The nachos are perfectly crisp with perfectly melted cheese, and the homemade salsa is just incredible. The burrito is magnificent – you can tell everything is incredibly fresh, it’s perfectly put together and we could’ve eaten another 7 of them. Kudos to you, La Cantina. We’ll be back!

A few more laps around the market, and it’s time to head home. But not before one last stop in the pastry area for some dessert. This particular pastry shop has everything from big, fresh loaves of bread in all varieties you can think of, to meat pies, to danishes, mud cakes and cheesecakes. But it’s the macarons in the corner that catch my eye.

I decide on a Strawberries and Cream macaron, a French Vanilla Creme, and a Double Belgium Chocolate.

Vanilla, Strawberries and Cream, Chocolate, $2.70 each

Strawberries and Cream: beautiful flavour, tasted exactly like strawberries and cream, and really enjoyed the little bit of strawberry jam in there!

Double Belgium Chocolate: incredibly rich and chocolate, no complaints here though! Was suuuuper chocolate and I loved it! Great crunch on the shell and soft, smooth ganache inside.

Last up is the French Vanilla Creme – the vanilla macaron is my flavour of choice, and the barometer against which I compare all macarons. So far, the best vanilla I’ve tried was from Shocolate. This one is pretty darn good too though; I was especially excited when I got three quarters of the way through and discovered some raspberry jam hidden in there – yum!! The vanilla flavour itself if perfectly balanced, both soft and rich.

With tired legs and full tummies, we waddle back to the train station, vowing to eat something healthier for dinner, but secretly excited to try out something decadent and delicious in my new giant cupcake cases. I hope you’ve enjoyed my food tour of the Queen Vic Market, and I’d love to hear about the local markets where ever you guys live too! What’s your favourite market and why?!

The Borek Shop on Urbanspoon

La Cantina on Urbanspoon

Potato and Rosemary Soda Bread

1 Jun

Multicultural Inspiration from…

the world of baking!


On my last trip to the supermarket, I picked up a copy of the Australian Good Taste magazine on my way to the check out. I like to be surrounded by food ideas, so I figured why not?! Once we got home and unpacked all the groceries, I plonked myself on the couch and flicked through my magazine – turns out it’s the “readers issue,” so it’s full of readers’ choices of recipes, both reader tested and rated. Turns out there’s also a competition running, where you can re-create the recipes in the magazine for the chance to cook-off against a few other highly awesome home cooks if your re-creation was deemed worthy by the judges. ‘Maybe I’ll give a few a go,’ I tell myself, putting the magazine down and dragging myself off to bed before another 6am wake up call.

The next day, I wake up to my alarm and I am siiiiick :( damn. Even worse, Sous-Jeff is sick too. Dual sick day. I curl up on the couch with my magazine, flicking pages while semi-watching the TV. I see a few pictures of beautiful, soft looking bread. By 10am, I want nothing more than some warm bread with a bit of butter. But of course we don’t have any. We did, thankfully, have the ingredients required to make a loaf of bread featured in the Good Taste magazine. Interestingly enough, it doesn’t require yeast – just bicarb soda to make it rise… worth a try I figure! Worst that can happen is that it doesn’t work and I have to drive down the road for a fresh loaf!

Here’s how it went down…

  • 600g (4 cups) of self-raising flour
  • 1 tsp bicarb soda
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 600ml carton of buttermilk
  • half a Baby Cream Delight potato, thinly sliced
  • 1 sprig of fresh rosemary, leaves picked

First up, preheat the oven to 190°C and line a baking tray with paper.

Then, I sift the flour, salt and bicarb into a bowl. Mix the together and make a well in the centre of the mix.

Time to pour the buttermilk into the centre of the well – stir it in until a dough begins to form.

Turn it out onto a floured surface and knead for a minute or two – until it’s almost smooth. Shape into a log and place on baking tray – see below.

Next, take a sharp knife and cut slashes diagonally into the top of the loaf – approximately 1cm deep and 2 – 3cm apart.

Into the slashes, bury the thin slices of potato – I took some creative license here and included some sweet potato, because I had some and I love it!

Overlap them slightly, and insert the rosemary too.

Time to pop it in the oven, cross my fingers and hope for the best – bread with no yeast, but bicarb soda….??!?!

40 minutes later, out it comes… Sous-Jeff and I impatiently wait for it to cool down enough for us to slice it. Finally, we can’t wait any longer, and I commence my careful surgery on the loaf. Sous-Jeff grabs the butter from the fridge, knife in one hand, the other hand held out awaiting his first slice.

Oh. My. God. This bread. Is. INCREDIBLE!!! Just wow! Sous-Jeff was three bites in when he begged for more. I started slicing him another piece – no, he meant make another loaf. Every 3 days, if possible. It was soft, doughy without being undercooked, crumbly without being dry. I smelt like the sensations coming from a bakery when you walk past first thing in the morning, and the first loaves are coming out. It was just so delicious, and the butter just brought out the rosemary and potato flavours and made them really pop without taking over from them bread.

I’m sure the bread purists out there who are used to working with proper bread flour and yeast will be having conniptions, but I swear on Donna Hay, this is the absolute BEST bread I have EVER had. And I’m a wog, so I’ve had a LOT of bread! Try it. Now. Quick!


Friday Night Tapas

28 May

Multicultural Inspiration from…

Spain


I love Fridays. LOVE them! Why? Coz it’s my day off work, which means it’s also my “me day.” My day to get my creativity on, to draw, write, cook, bake, shop, what ever I want. It’s also one of Sous-Jeff’s favourite days, because by the time he gets home from work, my creative juices have been in overdrive and I’ve got something amazing in the works for dinner. Last night was no exception. Recently I’ve discovered a fascination, bordering on obsession, for tapas.

Because I’m such a food lover, it really frustrates me having to pick only one dish at a restaurant. Then, a few months ago, I discovered tapas; I could have a bit of everything! Brilliant! Now I understood the big fuss over it all and why everyone was getting involved in the tapas revolution! So, I decided to make last night Friday night tapas night!

Without going into too much detail, here’s what I came up with…

First up, crusty bread – no I didn’t make it (didn’t have quite enough time for that!), just bought a nice crusty loaf, sliced it up and popped it on the over for 10min to get it a little crispy and ready to dip in the next dishes!

 Chorizo in red wine: slice and cook the chorizo, remove from pan and add half a cup of red wine and a few sprigs of thyme. Simmer to reduce and thicken slightly, then pour over the chorizo.

Ham croquettes: my new favourite! Add 3/4 of a cup of milk, around 30g diced onion and a few sprigs of thyme in a pan, and bring to almost boiling point. Strain mixture into a bowl and let sit for a few minutes. In the meantime, add around 10g of butter (sorry the measures aren’t exact – I was just cooking by feel this time!) and melt, then add a tablespoon and a half of flour. Mix constantly until it browns, then add the milk mixture, stirring constantly so lumps don’t form. Cook for another few minutes until it thickens, then add in around 60g of diced, fried up ham or bacon. Pop it all in a bowl and refrigerate over  night. The next day, take it out and form into croquettes. Dip in bread crumbs, then a whisked egg, then re-dip in bread crumbs and refrigerate until ready to cook (fry with oil and a bit of butter on a fry pan, for 3 – 5 minutes or until golden). In a word: amazing.

Eggplant fritters: Super easy and yummy. Slice up an eggplant cross ways, and slice up some cheddar cheese at the same thickness. Put a toothpick through to keep them together. Then dip in flour seasoned with some salf and pepper, then dip into a whisked egg, then back into the flour. Heat a fry pan with oil, and fry for a few minutes on each side, and rest on paper towel until ready to eat.

Patatas Bravas: Well, my version anyway! I cut up the potatoes in bite sized pieces and par-boiled them. Then, I heat up some oil and a bit of butter in a pan, and cooked up the potatoes with a few whole cloves of garlic until they were crispy and golden.

Spinach with pine nuts and garlic: Super easy – just heated a little bit of oil in a pan and added the pine nuts, browning for a few minutes. Then, added some finely chopped fresh garlic for 30 seconds, then threw in the spinach, until wilted. Season with a little salt and pepper, and off you go!

Last up are the meatballs in sauce: Combine some beef mince, finely chopped onion and garlic, grated parmesan cheese, salt and thyme in a bowl and roll into little tablespoon sized meatballs. Cook up in a fry pan with a little oil. Once cooked, transfer to a medium saucepan and add in your favourite pasta sauce (I use my nonna’s home made passata coz it’s the best!), and some more finely diced garlic, salt and pepper, and simmer for 15 minutes, so the sauce reduces a little and the meatballs become soft and tender.

Serve it all up, get the bread ready to start dipping, and enjoy :) Special thanks to Tapas: Delicious Little Dishes Spain for the inspiration!

Oh yeah, and I made a jug of sangria too… went down so well we forgot to get photos of that! Woops!

What are your favourite little nibbles to make?!

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