Epic weekend of awesome produce

Last weekend we went on a few missions around town sourcing some of the best produce Sydney has to offer. First stop was Dank Street for a visit to Fratelli Fresh where we picked up some tomatoes, bocconcini, baby carrots and had brunch at Cafe Sopra. We ducked into Sonoma for a kalamata olive sourdough then around the corner to Patisse for some of the most divine french cakes I’ve ever laid eyes on. My taller half has been dying to take a trip over to Victor Churchill Butchers so we headed there and ogled all the amazing meat products and checked out their aging room complete with back wall made entirely from bricks of pink himalayan salt. We purchased some duck/orange terrine and some gherkins and then the lovely chap in the deli section gave us a sample of some prosciutto. Well, we only made it about 4 steps in the opposite direction before we turned and headed back to the counter to buy some of this divine meat product. At $400 a kilo we opted for a rather small, yet satisfying amount and walked away with our wares as he lured another pair of unsuspecting victims into his trap. Great sales technique and totally worth being sucked in. I popped up to the local gourmet butcher and grabbed some lamb loin chops and kicked off the eating extravaganza.

Dinner Saturday night included the lamb chops marinated in a mixture of anchovies, mint, parsley, lemon juice and olive oil. Insalata caprese using the tomatoes and bocconcini from Fratelli Fresh, basil from our garden and a balsamic glaze. Sonoma kalamata olive sourdough with Pepe Saya butter. A chocolate mousse like cake with salted caramel and hazel nuts and another vanilla, pistaccio and rose cake from Patisse.

Sunday morning breakfast included our own house smoked bacon, freshly laid poached eggs, Fratellii Fresh tomatoes all on Sonoma’s kalamata olive bread with cracked pepper.

Sunday snack/lunch included Victor Churchill prosciutto, duck/orange terrine, gherkins, more tomatoes, St Agur cheese, anchovies and more sourdough.

On Sunday I rode over to Marrickville markets. My mission: to source some amazing potatoes for dinner. There is a stall there that has a wonderful variety of potatoes and on the lady’s recommendation I bought some sapphire potatoes. The last bag. They were amazing. Such a rich full bodied flavour and great texture.

Sunday nights dinner included roast chicken with my favourite stuffing made from real bread, baby carrots from Fratelli Fresh, peas, gravy and sapphire potatoes roasted in himalayan pink salt, olive oil and thyme. What a great weekend of eating amazing food.

Summer snapper with wild rice and mango salsa

This dish reminds me of a camping trip we went on some years back where some random folk in a bunch of 4WDs pulled over near us for a breakfast stop. They delivered us a plate full of the most amazing fresh food for which we were very grateful and made short work of. It turned out that one of them was a chef and right there was my introduction to the wonder of wild rice. I love the nutty flavour and texture of wild rice. At the moment I am also loving red South Australian snapper. It has a particular sweetness to it and makes an amazing table fish. In this instance I lightly scored the skin, drizzled with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper and baked in a foil envelope in the oven on about 180º for 20 minutes. I served it on top of wild rice topped with mango salsa

Mango salsa

1 mango sliced into cubes
1/2 spanish onion finely diced
small handful of freshly torn mint
juice of 1 fresh lime

Mix ingredients together and serve. Coriander would also go well instead of mint.

 

My favourite canapé

Most people who know me, know that I love anchovies. I used to eat a jar for lunch occasionally, love to spread them on toast with a boiled egg and have been known to chase the odd tequila shot down with one.

This really simple canapé makes an appearance at nearly every do at our house, no matter how big or small said do happens to be.

You can use any kind of bread really. I prefer a baguette or a sourdough baguette for mine. You can make them bite sized or entree sized. So flexible, so easy and so delicious.

All you need is a packet or tub of good quality anchovies – you could use those jars of little hairy ones but it won’t be anywhere near as ‘WIN’ as the soft marinated ones, a tin of tomato paste, freshly grated parmesan, bread sliced about 1/2cm thick and some freshly torn basil leaves. Simply spread a sparing layer of tomato paste onto the bread slices, top with parmesan, half an anchovy and some basil leaves then place under grill until parmesan begins to melt.

That’s it. Eat away.

Whiskey cured salmon with fresh herbs and eggs

These guys have some amazing produce and if you haven’t checked them out already I suggest you do. We happened to have some of their whiskey cured salmon in the fridge when I stumbled out of bed rather late on Saturday, that I was determined to let shine on a simple breakfast plate with other fresh produce.

Daphne and Doris are happily laying away so eggs are never in short supply. We had some leftover sourdough baguette so I fried some eggs (soft centres), threw some finely chopped chives and parsley oil on the plate with the baguette, added the whiskey cured salmon and gobbled it all up in a heartbeat. Such amazing pieces of fish. I really do recommend you try it.

Stewed figs with sliced almonds, vanilla whipped cream and puff pastry

Now I’m not a big dessert maker, I find baking tedious and I don’t have a major sweet tooth but this effort will definitely go on the ‘fit to serve guests’ list. Not only was it easy but it tasted fantastic.

Orange cinnamon syrup

1 orange – juiced
2 teaspoons zest
1/2 a cinnamon stick
1 tablespoon caster sugar

Place all of the ingredients in a saucepan and simmer for 5-10 mins on a low heat. This part can be done in advance which is rather helpful.

Vanilla whipped cream

1/2 container of thickened cream ( you can use more, this was enough for two people)
1/2 teaspoon caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

Mix ingredients together and beat until the cream forms peaks.

When it comes time to have dessert pop 1/2 of 1/4 of a sheet of puff pastry (or 1/8th) per person into the oven (brushed with milk or egg white). Place another baking tray over the top to weigh the pastry down and bake in the oven on about 180ºC for 10-15 mins or until golden brown.

Meanwhile place 2 figs per person (quartered) into the syrup and warm until figs begin to soften.

Once the pastry is read place it on the plate, top with the figs (removed from syrup), cream, almonds then drizzle the rest of the syrup over the top. If the syrup is very runny just simmer it with the lid of for a short time until it begins to thicken.

Enjoy. I did.

Marinated lamb cutlets, potato and blue cheese gratin and tomato salsa

Things are comparatively quiet in life at the moment. We’re saving for our upcoming trip to NYC and the weekends staying in are seeing me rather motivated with Sunday night night dinners. This is a variation on things I have made before and, as I often do I opt for utilising as much produce that we have around the house as possible. I did go out to buy the lamb cutlets but we had blue cheese, plenty of herbs and some sourdough baguette to use up and this is where I ended up.

Marinated lamb cutlets

I marinated the lamb in mint, parsley, lime juice, olive oil and about 3 cloves of garlic for over an hour then baked in the oven on 180ºC for 15 minutes. The lamb was great quality so they were tender and juicy. I love lemon or lime juice with lamb. It really gives it an amazing zing.

Tomato salsa

I really like the idea of putting stale bread in my salads. It’s a great way to use up leftovers that sponge up all the amazing fresh flavours and dressings. I usually make a great Italian salad but this time I went more for a salsa style salad. I finely chopped two tomatoes, 1/2 a spanish onion, a handful of parsley and a quarter of an sold sourdough baguette and mixed well in a bowl with salt, pepper and olive oil.

Potato, onion and blue cheese gratin

Ok, admittedly this dish is a bit evil but if you can’t be a bit decadent every now and again what’s the point. I sliced 2 medium potatoes thinly along with half a yellow onion (also thinly). Layer the potato and onion in a ramekin with crumbled blue cheese in between each layer. Pour in thickened cream until the ramekin is about half full and bake in the oven on 180ºC for about 45 mins to 1 hour (the top should start to go golden brown).

Garnish of parsley oil

Finely dice parsley, place in mortar and pestle and grind thoroughly adding as much olive oil as desired. Leave to infuse for decent amount of time.

I made an amazing fig dessert as well but I’ll dedicate a separate blog post to that because, quite honestly, it deserves it. Delicious.

Corny breakfast treat with delicious honey and recently made basil pesto

This is so delicious although I think I can improve on the fritter recipe. I’d like to try one using buttermilk.

Basically I mixed an adequate amount of ricotta with honey (mmm), cooked the fritters and topped them basil pesto then plated it all up.

Hey p[r]esto! Breakfast.

Have it with your favourite cup of tea because who doesn’t love slowly sipping their tea over a delicious breakfast on a Saturday morning?

420g can corn kernels, drained, rinsed
1/2 cup plain flour
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh chives
2 tablespoons olive oil