Happy Birthday! - Good old fashion satisfaction!

Well, this recipe demonstrates the alchemic nature of baking. I know you love your berries so I found a recipe which I hope you like. It's a sponge but somewhat untraditional with hazelnut and after a 4.5 hour baking session here is the result - hope you like it!

Did you know the ability to whip up the perfect sponge cake was once considered essential in a potential bride and the inability to do so spelled social disaster :)

Love you lots and hope you have a wonderful birthday!

Kisses!




Ingredients

190 gm plain flour, plus extra for dusting
50 gm hazelnut meal
80 gm butter, melted and cooled, plus extra for brushing
8 eggs, at room temperature
220 gm (1 cup) caster sugar
130 gm good-quality raspberry jam, melted with 40ml raspberry liqueur, cooled, for brushing
Chocolate-raspberry cream
250 ml (1 cup) pouring cream
150 gm dark chocolate (54% cocoa solids), melted
20 ml raspberry liqueur
70 gm raspberries, lightly crushed, plus extra whole raspberries, to serve

Method

1 Preheat oven to 160C. Process flour and hazelnut meal in a food processor to combine, then triple-sift and set aside. Brush two 20cm-diameter cake tins with melted butter, line bases with baking paper, dust sides with flour.
2 Triple-sift flour and set aside.
3 Whisk eggs, sugar and vanilla seeds in an electric mixer until thick, pale and tripled in volume (7-8 minutes). Transfer to a mixing bowl.
4 Sift over flour in three batches, folding each batch in with a large metal spoon.
5 Fold in melted butter.
6 Divide evenly between tins, bake until light golden and centre springs back when pressed lightly with your fingertip (20-25 minutes). Pull cake gently away from sides of tin with your fingers or carefully loosen with a knife. Turn onto a wire rack, remove baking paper, turn back over, then cool completely.
7 Meanwhile, for chocolate-raspberry cream, whisk cream, chocolate and liqueur in an electric mixer until soft peaks form (3-4 minutes, don’t over-whisk or mixture will split). Fold in raspberries, refrigerate until starting to firm (10-15 minutes).
8 Brush one cake half with jam mixture, spread with chocolate-raspberry cream, sandwich with remaining half, dust with cocoa and serve with extra raspberries.

Auguri per il terzo mese di matrimonio

Congratulations Valerie & Mike - it's been 3 months. Where does the time go? Well in your case Val, going on a honeymoon, attending Marketa's wedding in Prague, having the in-laws over, opening wedding presents, enjoying the terrific Belgian summer and baking and lots of it. I thought I'd send you a simple yet non-traditional recipe to add to your collection and something to try while you still have those gorgeous berries available in Europe and you're still in the honeymoon phase of lovingly preparing breakfast in bed for your man - hehe!!!




Buckwheat pancakes with mixed berries

Ingredients

1/2 cup of self-raising flour
1/2 cup of buckwheat flour
1 tablespoon of caster sugar
1 1/4 cups of buttermilk
1 egg
250 g strawberries hulled & quartered
150 g of raspberries or blueberries
1 tablespoon of icing sugar

Maple syrup or low fat natural yoghurt to serve

Method

Sift the self raising flour into a bowl, then stir in the buckwheat flour followed by the sugar, and make a well in the centre.

Whisk the buttermilk and egg together in a jug. Pour into the dry ingredients, then mix slowly, drawing in the flour to make a smooth batter. Cover and allow to stand for 30 minutes which is really important.

In another bowl, combine the berries and icing sugar and set aside.

Heat a non-stick frying pan to medium heat (large enough to cook two pancakes). If you have some heart forms, use those to surprise your husband.

Pour 1/4 cup of batter into pan and cook until golden brown (usually until bubbles form on the surface. You can cook the entire batch of pancakes and keep them warm in the oven or do them fresh to plate whichever you prefer.

A little more info on Buckwheat - it's a good source of protein as well as magnesium and iron. It's a handy flour to use if you wish to use less wheat as it's free of gluten and has a low GI.

Happy Birthday Mate!

Today I am writing to celebrate a very special friend. A friend who flew all the way from Australia to Europe to celebrate my wedding with me.
A friend who helped to organize a wonderful hen weekend in Berlin full of food, chats, laughter and prosecco (lots of prosecco!!).




A friend who came to Rome with me and - instead of visiting the eternal city or flirting with Italian men - discussed our table plans and flower arrangements and helped to make 150 petal cones (at midnight!).



A friend who stayed calm and sweet, even when I was losing my nerves and sometimes my temper.



A friend who embraces life and celebrates food wherever she goes (and definitely when she goes to Italy!). Below some illustrations:


Falling in love with a roasted hazelnut and chocolate torta in Anguillara


Eating the first gelato of the day way before lunchtime at Gelateria della Palma in Rome and going back for more the next day!(oh, and guess which flavor she chose: Bacio i.e. chocolate and roasted and caramalized hazelnuts)


Drinking the very first caffe' ever! (Well done, Heidi! If there ever was a place where you should crack and have your first coffee, it certainly is Italy!)


Indulging in truly sinful chocolate-hazelnut tartufo at La Piazzetta in Santa Marinella (after a hearty portion of gnocchetti in a wonderfully simple tomato-mozzarella sauce)

Thank you Heidi for always being there and for being such a wonderful friend! May the next year bring you love, happiness and many special and cherished moments. And may it bring you HEAPS of chocolate and roasted hazelnuts! I wish I could bring you a birthday cake but since that's difficult I baked you some brownies instead. Happy birthday my dear friend!

Dulce de Leche Brownies
(adopted from David Lebovitz)



These brownies are truly wonderful since they are chewy throughout with some gooey Dulce de Leche islands. You could leave the Dulce de Leche out and the brownies would still be delicious, but with it they become something very special. Making the Dulce de Leche is really easy and so worth it! You can adjust the level of gooeyness by using smaller or larger dollops of the Dulce de Leche and by swirling it just a little bit or more thoroughly. The Dulce de Leche is also gorgeous as a spread on toasted bread or on top of ice cream (while dreaming of Italy...).

115g salted butter, cut into pieces
170g bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/4 cup (25g) unsweetened cocoa powder
3 eggs
1/2 cup (100g) sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or one package of vanilla sugar
1 cup (140g) flour
1 cup (100 g) toasted pecans or walnuts, coarsely chopped
1 cup Dulce de Leche

Preheat the oven to 175 C (350 degrees)).
Line a 20 cm (8-inch) square pan with parchment paper that covers the bottom and reaches up the sides.

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Add the chocolate pieces and stir constantly over very low heat until the chocolate is melted. Remove from heat and whisk in the cocoa powder until smooth. Add in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the sugar, vanilla, then the flour. Mix in the nuts.

Scrape half of the (very sticky) batter into the prepared pan.
Drop one-third of the Dulce de Leche, evenly spaced, over the brownie batter, then drag a knife through to swirl it slightly. Spread the remaining brownie batter over, then drop spoonfuls of the remaining Dulce de Leche in dollops over the top of the brownie batter. Use a knife to swirl the Dulce de Leche slightly.
Bake for 35 to 45 minutes. The brownies are done when the center feels just-slightly firm. Remove from the oven and cool completely.

Hot off the Press!

The Press Club in Melbourne definitely ranks as one of my most enjoyable dining experiences to date. It rarely occurs that all elements of the dining experience delight the senses in such a pleasurable way. Well that may sound quite pompous to some but really all I could think about for days after was how I could get another booking to go back and to try even more of the modern Greek cuisine that George Calombaris and his team so lovingly prepared.

We opted for the Kerasma menu which is greek for small tastes but unlike other degustation meals the key to eating Kerasma is all about sharing. My dining partner and I were overwhelmed by the quantity of food but the quality of greek food on offer was what really astounded us. If your experience with greek food is a slimy overly dressed greek salad with greasy souvlaki then I recommend you rediscover the delicacy of what Greek food is all about.

First up is the complimentary three types of bread that arrive still warm from the oven. Forgive me for not remembering and sharing every taste we encountered that evening as it was simply overwhelming to experience that kind of variety in one seating. Anyway back to the bread, I recall one was a lovely light pistachio bread which was almost cake-like in consistency. The bread was accompanied by a subtle and smooth olive oil and served with a volcanic rock salt from Greece.

My recommendation is to not over indulge in the bread because when the Mezedes (tasting) platter arrives you’ll want to try absolutely everything that is put in front of you. As a vegetarian, I was particularly impressed by each waiter kindly pointing out the vegetarian options. I reckon there were at least ten tastes on offer including the most divine kalamata olives I have ever tasted. The other interesting tastes included the saganaki martini - please check out the link for recipe details http://gourmettraveller.com.au/saganaki_martini.htm, a feta and capsicum dip, soft-filled dolmades, a lovely pickled cabbage ever so subtly sweetened with just a touch of honey.



The Orektika or appetisers were particularly satisfying with a lovely cumin-roasted beetroot salad with pistachio biscuit and labna balls (oh yum-yum), a thin slice of garfish which was lightly seared and garnished with a greek herb and oil sauce which proved to be a good match for the Craggy Range Sauvignon Blanc from the Martinborough region in New Zealand. A far cry from the average souvlaki, the lamb kofta was roasted and served on a thin wooden skewer over a tzatziki shot glass which one mixed with the lamb skewer to get the combined tastes of greek yoghurt, cucumber and garlic. The Salates & Lathera (salads & vegetables) consisted of the ubiquitous greek salad although not the soggy, slimy variety encountered in other greek restaurants. A tasty but simple roasted eggplant salad was more like a chunky dip than salad and was a great accompaniment to the rest of the flavours on offer. The lemon potatoes were crispy and tangy and were another great addition to the meal.



Course four was the Kyrio or main dish which consisted of a crispy thin filo filled with roasted pumpkin and almonds for the vegetarian option. A slow-roasted greek style lamb was offered as the main which went beautifully with the rest of the dishes.



While we opted for the 4-coure Kerasma, my biggest disappointment was not having the stomach capacity to enjoy the mouth-watering desserts I saw going to other tables. However, even without sampling the dessert offerings, the entire evening was such a wonderful experience. The open kitchen gives you a small glimpse of the genius and composure going on in the kitchen while the waiters execute the service with a loving attention to detail. If you get the chance to dine at The Press Club,and have the patience for the six-week waiting list to get a table I am sure you will be equally impressed that you have experienced the best of what Greek food can be.

It was a Berry good time...

When a friend offered me to stay at his house in Kiama on the South Coast of Sydney for a week of relaxation after leaving a stressful job, it was a relatively easy decision. Going on holidays of course means there is even more time to indulge in good food and there were plenty of opportunities in the midst of my relaxing to enjoy some good food on the South Coast.

Each day started with an invigorating one hour walk on Seven Mile Beach – near the town of Gerroa. It didn't take me long to realize there’s a great café overlooking the ocean called Seahaven, which actually received an award from Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide for best regional café in NSW. They do a good big breakfast including a vegetarian version. As I had some time on my hands I did manage to get there for afternoon tea as well and sampled a very delicious passionfruit hazelnut torte. For those of you reading my blog who don’t know, I’m somewhat of a chocolate fiend and find it very difficult to go past any chocolate dish on the menu. Clearly the fresh air of the South Coast was playing with my senses and I was tempted to try something a little different and I must confess I wasn’t at all disappointed. The hazelnut layers sandwiched between some fluffy fresh cream (and I'm not a lover of fresh cream either) were lovely and light and not overly sweet which compensated for the passionfruit syrup on top.

Being the good tourist, I had to take in all the sights so I took a drive to a small town called Berry which is around 15 minutes from Kiama. It’s a quaint little place with lots of gift shops and good cafes to sample. It was in Berry that I discovered the Woodfired Sourdough Bakery which is located on one of the back streets of Berry. And what a find it was – with a gentle bustling ambience and polished wooden floors I was treated to my all time favourite ‘pain au chocolat’ – it’s chocolate what can I say! I also picked up some lovely chocolate (again) and pear tarts which were absolutely perfect for dessert that evening. However, it was the bread that really impressed me. Having spent a number of years in Germany, the Germans did a good job in instilling into me what constitutes a good loaf. My expectations are high and I’m constantly reminded by my German friends in Sydney about the poor bread baking skills of the Australians but this place does a respectable range of sourdough breads. The Berry Sourdough is delicious although probably still doesn’t meet my German friends’ standards although I'll get back to you on that. The Woodfired Sourdough Bakery is a great place to sit and read the morning paper but if you happen to lose your car keys as I did when I was leaving, you’ll find the staff to be extraordinarily helpful and they remind you of the good things I miss from my childhood of living in small town where people are friendly and go out of their way to help you – I’ll be going back for sure if not for the food definitely for the relaxed country style service.


After all those treats, a walk along Weri Beach in Gerringong in the late afternoon is a perfect way to end the day. The amazing thing about the South Coast is you have the place to yourself – hardly bumping into another soul which is what I love when I’m doing my walks – it’s my own kind of meditation. Afterwards, you can head to the Weri Beach Fish Shop which is a really down to earth fish & chip shop where you can grab your fish & chips and sit by the water and enjoy the views. I had a lovely battered piece of Snapper and they do the chips (aka fries) nice and crispy just the way I like them.

I did manage to do some cooking of my own as well including sourcing some local ingredients to make a delicious pesto which I served with Tagliatelle and shaved zucchini and broccoli. I call this Pesto my Twisted Traditional Pesto because it's got a slight twist but still traditional in its ingredients. It's true garlic is not always in a traditional pesto but it does tend to give your pesto more bite which is a quality I love. In this receipe I have created, I roasted the garlic for around 10-15 minutes in a hot oven. Leave the skin on the garlic clove and that way it will crisp up and you simply ooze out the garlic pulp. Your kitchen will smell divine while roasting garlic. The other ingredient I like to roast is the pine nuts. Personally I'm not much of a fan of raw pine nuts but roasted these guys are divine and their flavour is stronger. I tend to just throw my pine nuts in a saucepan without any oil as nuts contain enough of their own oils to not allow them stick to the pan. Keep an eye on the pine nuts as they have a habit of burning right at the end.

Twisted Traditional Pesto

2 bunches of basil leaves
75 gm of pine nuts (roasted)
1 handful of good quality parmesan cheese freshly grated
2-3 cloves of garlic (roasted)
A good pesto is so easy to make. Place all ingredients in the food processor and slowly add enough olive oil to give the pesto the right consistency. Simple but delicious when it’s fresh.

This was such a fantastic food week – can’t wait until I have my next holiday on the South Coast!
See you next time!
Heidi

How to please an Italian

Have you ever lived with an Italian and cooked pasta for him or her? Believe me, it’s intimidating. It's at least as intimidating as a job interview or a first kiss. You are terribly worried you will fail and that it will all become very embarrassing. Before I met my (Italian) boyfriend I was cooking and eating pasta on a regular basis and thought that both, the cooking and the eating part were quite straight forward. Little did I know!!! When I met Mike, he introduced me to a whole new world. A world of complicated rules, of do's and dont's. Lot's of dont's I tell you. Don't eat pasta with a spoon! Don't put parmesan cheese on pasta with sea food! Don't use any pasta with any sauce (there's a whole philosophy behind which shape and size of the pasta goes with which type of sauce). Now, you could say: who cares. But that's certainly not how Italians feel about it. And neither does my boyfriend. Alas, the more I learned about how to correctly consume pasta, the more intimidated I got about doing it the wrong way. I'm that type of girl. I really like to do things the way they are supposed to be (at least most of the time...).

Therefore in the early days of our relationship, Mike was doing all the pasta cooking and I did all other cooking. Since Mike is a good cook it was a good deal and for quite some time we kept it at that. I was watching and eating and learning all these strange rules. And then it started to itch me. I realized that I could not and would not give up making pasta and so I began to slowly but surely reconquer the territory. At first, I would simply put the water to boil. You think that's fool proof? It's not, believe me. Over- or (even worse) undersalting the water are big, enormous DONT'S! Once I mastered that trick I would test whether the pasta was al dente. Or (I agree, a rather pathetic step) heat a ready-made Barilla pasta sauce on a busy week night when we would come home from work starving. And one brave night, three or so years into our relationship, I did the whole thing for the first time again: I made a full-fledged pasta dinner and served it. Mike had a fork full, another one and while I gazed at him anxiously he said: "Not bad. Not bad at all." I sighed in relief.

It is still Mike who is cooking most of the pasta in this household. But every now and then I jump in with a new sauce or an idea. Sometimes we are even making our own pasta together (more about this another time). The recipe I want to share with you today is one of those that I feel comfortable with making for Italians. The basis is a richly-flavored walnut pesto. The beauty of it is that you can make it well in advance and store it in the fridge. In a jar with a little bit of oil on the top it keeps in the fridge for up to three weeks. It is therefore the perfect weeknight dinner staple since all you have to do is adding it to hot pasta just as such or mix it with whatever you feel like. Heidi and I used it as the basis for a courgettes-walnut lasagna one night and it was delicious. But usually when I make it for us for dinner, I mix the pesto with a bit of ricotta and fresh parsley and basil. With a generous amount of parmigiano reggiano on top of it even the most picky Italian should be pleased.

Tip: To sterilize your jars, wash them in hot soapy water or in a dishwasher, and rinse them well. Place the jars and the lids on a baking tray and dry in a warm oven for at least 20 minutes. Don't use a tea towel. Leave to cool before filling in the pesto.

Walnut Pesto with Ricotta
Adapted from Bill Granger

Serves 4-6

For the Walnut Pesto
125g/1 cup walnuts
2 garlic cloves, chopped
50g/1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
1 handful of flat parsley leaves, chopped
Olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

To Serve
500g of long pasta, such as tripoline (my favorite), pappardelle, or fettucine or (we use De Cecco pasta)
100 g Ricotta
1 teaspoon fresh basil, finely chopped
1 teaspoon fresh, flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
Parmesan, grated
Olive Oil


Preheat oven to 150°C. Spread the walnuts on a lined baking sheet and toast in the oven until fragrant, for about 10-15 minutes. Take out, let cool a little and chop them, Place walnuts, parmesan, parsley in a food processor and mix until well blended. With the mixer running, add olive oil a little at a time until pesto has a smooth consistency. Season generously with salt and pepper. Store in sterilized jar (see above).

To serve, cook pasta al dente in salted water. In the meantime, mix the pesto with the ricotta in a big bow. Add 1 or 2 tablespoons of the hot pasta water to get a smooth consistency (you might need more or less, depending on how thick your pesto is, so you might want to reserve some of the pasta water). Drain the pasta, don't shake off all the excess water and immediately transfer to the bowl with the pesto-ricotta mixture. Mix well and add the reserved pasta water if the mixture is to dry. Add the parsley and basil, mix one more time and serve immediately with parmesan and freshly ground black pepper.

Sharing a little chocolate happiness

It seems a timely occasion to launch our blog on Valentine’s Day as I get to write about one of my favourite things: chocolate. Of course Valentine’s Day is more than just the chance to indulge in a delectable chocolate treat. For the single, 30-something living in Sydney like me, I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to wanting a slice of Valentine’s Day romance or a box of my favourite Lindt chocolates to come my way this Valentine’s day. Loving food the way I do, I like the idea of being wined and dined on Valentine’s Day but I expect some originality when it comes to choosing the restaurant of choice. I’ve been told I’m far too choosy in the men department but really when it comes to food there is no point in compromising and I guess the same can be said about men too.

I read an interesting article this week about Sydney’s three-chef-hat restaurant, Tetsuya’s where on Valentine’s day the mantra is ''Share the happiness - share the table''. I liked the sound of this idea as there’s nothing worse as a single person to be stuck in a restaurant surrounded by couples. Tetsuya’s have come up with a unique way to fine-dine only allowing bookings for four or more on Valentine’s Day forcing couples to share tables with strangers. Those couples that wish to dine alone, need to cough up $350/head to do so.

So in the spirit of Tetsuya’s, this Valentine’s Day I’ve decided that I will share some happiness and love of my own, by giving my friends their very own Valentine’s Day Cupcake. Based on a Nigella Lawson recipe they are extremely decadent and just too cute to refuse. For an extra special oozing chocolate centre, add a small piece of chocolate into each cupcake paper after you fill them.

Here’s the recipe if you too want to share some happiness this Valentine’s Day!


Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes
Recipe adapted from Nigella Lawson’s Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes from ‘How to be a Domestic Goddess’
Makes 12.
Ingredients

125g soft unsalted butter
100g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
300g raspberry jam or as in original morello cherry jam
150g caster sugar – use less sugar if jam is very sweet.
pinch of salt
2 large eggs, beaten
150g self-raising flour
12-bun muffin tin and papers

For the icing

100g dark chocolate
100ml double cream
2-3 tablespoons icing sugar
12 small red sugar hearts (I bought mine at The Essential Ingredient but you could easily make them if you have a few extra hours each day)

How to make

Preheat the oven to 180?C/gas mark 4


Put the butter in a heavy-bottomed pan on the heat to melt. When nearly completely melted, stir in the chocolate. Leave for a moment to begin softening, then take the pan off the heat and stir with a wooden spoon until the butter and chocolate are smooth and melted. Now add the raspberry / cherry jam, sugar, salt and eggs. Stir with a wooden spoon and when all is pretty well amalgamated stir in the flour.

Scrape and pour into the muffin papers in their tin and bake for 20-25 minutes. Cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes before turning out.
When the cupcakes are cool, break the chocolate for the icing into little pieces and add them to the cream in a saucepan along with a small amount of icing sugar to add a bit of sweetness to the dark chocolate mix. Bring to the boil, remove from the heat and then whisk – by hand or electrically – till thick and smooth. Ice the cupcakes, smoothing the tops with the back of a spoon, and decorate with small sugar red hearts.

PS: If you can’t get enough chocolate just like me, then check out all the rave at Oriol Balaguer which in Sydney can be sourced from the The Spanish Pantry. If you want some more traditional Belgian chocolate, Jeff de Bruges, Sydney has lovely little boxes. Happy Valentines Day everyone!

PPS: Photos courtesy and copyright ThomasBlochPhotography