For the longest time, I didn’t know what to make for dessert. What was french and wasn’t creme caramel or creme brulee? Then Kev suggested Opera Cake. I google’d that up and immediately went “Not a chance in hell!”

I had to eat my words - coz I made it.

The original recipe came from Masterchef but I’ve since tweaked it as it wasn’t enough of some things, and way too much of others.

Opera Cake

Serves 10

Ingredients

Jaconde

4 whole eggs
150g icing sugar
150g almond meal
60g plain flour
45g melted butter
4 egg whites
40g caster sugar

Coffee Essence

75g white sugar
2 x 30ml shots coffee
15g freeze dried coffee

Coffee Syrup

125ml water
125g white sugar
1 tbs coffee essence

Coffee Buttercream

150g caster sugar
3 egg yolks
250g butter, softened
2 tbs coffee essence

Chocolate Ganache

400g dark chocolate
225ml thickened cream
22.5g butter, at room temperature

To assemble and serve

30g dark chocolate, melted
Cocoa powder, to serve
Crème fraiche, to serve (optional)

Phew! Did you get through that ingredient list? I cut down and chopped down some of the quantities as the amount it was making meant that you had loads and loads of ganache and buttercream leftover. Sure they are nice to eat and all, but when you have a whole bowl of buttercream, and a whole opera cake to get through with only just the two mouths to feed….

My extra ganache went to making a chocolate tart! Some of you even had the chance to taste it! Hope you liked it, I’ll share the chocolate tart recipe here soon-ish. You will laugh, as it’s so easy to make!

Alright, onward to the methods.

Method

For the Jaconde

1. Sift the almond meal, plain flour and icing sugar together.
2. Whisk whole eggs to aerate and then fold in the sifted dry ingredients then the melted butter.
3. Whisk the egg whites to soft peaks then add the caster sugar a little at a time until all incorporated.
4. Fold the egg white mixture into the yolk mixture.
5. Spread onto 2 sheets baking paper then carefully arrange the paper onto a baking tray.
6. Bake at 200°C for 5-8 minutes or until light golden around the edges. Trim the edges while hot then set aside to cool.

For the coffee essence

1. Combine all the ingredients together in a saucepan and bring to the boil, simmer until thick and syrupy. Set aside to cool.

For the coffee syrup

1. Combine all the ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat.
2. Bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar.
3. Simmer about 5 minutes then remove from heat. Set aside to cool.

For the buttercream

1. Dampen sugar with a little water in a saucepan, place onto stove and bring to boil, brushing edges down with pastry brush dipped in water to prevent crystallisation.
2. Bring the syrup to soft ball (121°C).
3. Meanwhile whisk egg yolks until light and fluffy on high speed in an electric mixer.
4. Once sugar has come up to temperature, add to yolks in a slow thin stream, whisking continuously until all has been added.
5. Continue to beat on low speed until the mixture cools to room temperature. Once cool, gradually add butter and 2-3 heaped spoonfuls of coffee essence, beating until well combined.

For the Ganache

1. Shave chocolate into a bowl, add butter and set aside.
2. Bring cream to the boil then pour over chocolate mixture.
3. Mix well until combined. Refrigerate until set.

To assemble

1. Cut each jaconde sponge in half.
2. Brush 1 sheet of sponge with the melted chocolate and turn over onto piece of baking paper on a chopping board.
3. Brush the sponge generously with coffee syrup, then apply a thin, even layer of butter cream.
4. Place another jaconde sheet on top, pressing to secure.
5. Brush with coffee syrup and then apply a thin even layer of ganache on top.
6. Repeat the layers again and this time finish with a slightly thicker layer of chocolate ganache.
7. Allow to set in fridge.

To serve

1. Once set, trim with a hot dry knife that has been dipped in hot water and wiped dry with a tea towel.
2. Heat and dry the knife again each time before cutting and cut a rectangle for serving.
3. Dust with good quality cocoa powder.
4. Place on plate and top with a quenelle of cream fraiche and a piece of gold leaf.

Top tips!

1. Use parchment paper instead of baking paper if possible. Baking paper is a pain to remove from the Jaconde!
2. It’s easier to remove the Jaconde from the baking paper when it’s hot.
3. Soft ball sugar - if you do not own a candy thermometer, you can check for it by dropping a tiny bit of sugar into a bowl of cold water. If the sugar holds its shape in the water and doesn’t collapse, then you have it at the right temperature. If you remove the ball from water, it will flatten like a pancake after a few moments in your hand.
4. Set aside at least 4 hours to make this if you haven’t made it before. They are simple processes but they do take time.

And after all that, and you’ve done it right… this is what you will end up with.

A slice of heaven, sitting on your plate.

I liked it so much, I baked it again last week. So I have more opera cake sitting in my fridge, looking incredibly sinful and after writing up this post I think I have just earned myself a nibble of the Opera cake.

If you haven’t tasted this before, I really suggest you try to make it. Then again, I kinda wish I hadn’t tasted it before now as no other cake is quite like an Opera cake and I am doomed to have a craving for this for the rest of my life. Oh who am I kidding. It’s Opera cake. The cake that will make you weep tears of joy when you bite into it.

Oh Lordly Lord.

Macarons have taken Melbourne by storm. Maybe even Australia, or the world. They seem to be the new ‘in’ thing and while I personally like them, I don’t like them enough to be eating them everyday. But eating is easy, making is hard. I’ve heard so many horror stories about macaron baking from various friends that I’m a little scared to even start trying. Perhaps I will, if I have my awesome friends who are amazing at macaron baking by my side as my failsafe.

For this month’s French theme, Sefie made macarons for dessert. And my personal opinion is that she did an incredible job. Macarons are one of the most fickle things there is to bake, and she did brilliantly. I can only hope that my own ‘first batch’ will be even half as decent as hers!

Macarons - 2 ways

Source: Masterchef

Ingredients

For the vanilla macaron shells

225g pure icing sugar
130g almond meal
3 egg whites
60g caster sugar
1.5 tsp vanilla extract

For the peppermint macaron shells

Same ingredients as above, replace vanilla extract with peppermint essence
5 drops of green food colouring
2 drops of blue food colouring

Coffee cream cheese frosting

1 tub Cream cheese
1/4 cup coffee essence
1 tbsp vanilla sugar

Dark Chocolate Ganache

400g dark chocolate
300ml thickened cream
30g butter, at room temperature

Method

1. Preheat oven to 120°C.

2. Sift icing sugar and almond meal into one bowl. Sift the mixture into a second bowl, then sift ingredients back into the original bowl (almond meal mixture is to be sifted 3 times).

3. In an electric mixer, add 3 egg whites and whisk until doubled in size. While machine is running, slowly add the caster sugar, then whisk until mixture forms firm peaks. Add vanilla / peppermint essence to taste, then carefully add food colouring if needed.

4. Fold almond meal mixture into the meringue until the mixture is smooth and glossy, then place mixture into a piping bag. Pipe 4-5cm diameter circles onto a lined baking tray. Leave to rest for 20 minutes until macarons form a skin.

5. Place macarons into the oven, bake for 20 minutes or until macarons can be lifted from the tray. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

To make the cream cheese frosting:

To make the cream cheese frosting: Whip cream cheese after bringing it to room temperature. Drizzle in coffee essence while cheese is being whipped and add sugar to balance the flavour.

To make the dark chocolate ganache:

Shave chocolate into a bowl, add butter and set aside. Bring cream to the boil then pour over chocolate mixture. Mix well until combined. Refrigerate until set.

To assemble the macarons:

pipe some frosting/ganache onto the base of half of the macarons. Top with remaining macarons.

Truly labour of love, these macarons. Super yummy, tho a tad bigger than what I’m normally used to. The peppermint ones were interesting! Much like a dinner mint but with the peppermint on the outside of the chocolate instead of the other way round.

Do you like macarons?

I was rather surprised by this dish, because obviously I hadn’t done my research (as was mentioned before as I hadn’t realise that Garlic Prawns was french. Well, I suppose the name “French Garlic Prawns” should have been a dead giveaway. Ahem.

Our hosts for the night were also the ones behind the delightful garlic prawns: Celina and Toby. They whipped up the dish in no time at all, now that’s skill!

Recipe: French Garlic Prawns

Serves: 6

Ingredients

300g prawns
2 cloves of garlic (chopped)
parsley
salt and pepper (to taste)
butter
cream
white wine

Method

1. Shell the prawns, and sauté with butter, garlic, parsley, salt and pepper till prawns are pink.

2. Remove prawns. Deglaze pan with white wine and add cream to infuse the flavour in the pan. Add milk or flour to thicken or dilute accordingly.

3. Once the creamy sauce is done, return prawns to the pan and reheat them.

4. Serve!

Simple yet incredibly yummy. I was licking my lips, fervently hoping for more despite knowing that I had to save stomach room for dessert. (I’m not a typical girl - I don’t have an separate stomach for dessert).

Give it a go, you won’t be disappointed!

When I came up with the French theme for our cookoff, I knew in my heart that there was only one dish I’d be cooking. I didn’t even look into any other dishes nor do any further research. My little heart was set on making the dish that had captured Julia Child’s editor’s attention: her Beef Bourguignon.

But some days, you just don’t have any luck. Some days, everything is determined to go against you. And the day of the cookoff was such a day.

While browning the beef, my casserole pot split in half and fell off the stove. Half of it landed on the cat’s water bowl and broke that in half too. Oil dribbled all over the stove and I stood there, too stunned to move, watching my hot plate burst out in flames.

I know I often lament that I want a gas stove, but not quite like this.

Needless to say, I had to start my Beef Bourguignon all over again. And this time, without a casserole pot. So embarrassingly, I compromised and made up my own ‘beef bourguignon’ stove top style.

I’ll share the original recipe with you, which I did remake awhile later, but I have no photos or process photos from that. The next time I make it, I promise I’ll update with a blog post!

Julia Child’s Boeuf Bourguignon

Source: ABC News
Serves: 6

Ingredients

1 6-ounce piece of chunk bacon
3 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
3 pounds lean stewing beef, cut into 2-inch cubes
1 carrot, sliced
1 onion, sliced
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons flour
3 cups red wine, young and full-bodied (like Beaujolais, Cotes du Rhone or Burgundy)
2 1/2 to 3 1/2 cups brown beef stock
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 cloves mashed garlic
1/2 teaspoon thyme
A crumbled bay leaf
18 to 24 white onions, small
3 1/2 tablespoons butter
Herb bouquet (4 parsley sprigs, one-half bay leaf, one-quarter teaspoon thyme, tied in cheesecloth)
1 pound mushrooms, fresh and quartered

Method

1.Remove rind from bacon, and cut bacon into lardons (sticks, 1/4 inch thick and 1 1/2 inches long). Simmer rind and bacon for 10 minutes in 1 1/2 quarts of water. Drain and dry.

2. Preheat oven to 230 degrees celsius.

3. Sauté the bacon in the oil over moderate heat for 2 to 3 minutes to brown lightly. Remove to a side dish with a slotted spoon. Set casserole aside. Reheat until fat is almost smoking before you sauté the beef.

4. Dry the stewing beef in paper towels; it will not brown if it is damp. Sauté it, a few pieces at a time, in the hot oil and bacon fat until nicely browned on all sides. Add it to the bacon.

5. In the same fat, brown the sliced vegetables. Pour out the sautéing fat.

6. Return the beef and bacon to the casserole and toss with the salt and pepper. Then sprinkle on the flour and toss again to coat the beef lightly with the flour. Set casserole uncovered in middle position of preheated oven for 4 minutes. Toss the meat and return to oven for 4 minutes more. (This browns the flour and covers the meat with a light crust.) Remove casserole, and turn oven down to 325 degrees.

7. Stir in the wine, and enough stock or bouillon so that the meat is barely covered. Add the tomato paste, garlic, herbs, and bacon rind. Bring to simmer on top of the stove. Then cover the casserole and set in lower third of preheated oven. Regulate heat so liquid simmers
very slowly for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. The meat is done when a fork pierces it easily.

8. While the beef is cooking, prepare the onions and mushrooms. Set them aside until needed.

9. When the melt is tender, pour the contents of the casserole into a sieve set over a saucepan. Wash out the casserole and return the beef and bacon to it. Distribute the cooked onions and mushrooms over the meat.

10. Skim fat off the sauce. Simmer sauce for a minute or two, skimming off additional fat as it rises. You should have about 2 1/2 cups of sauce thick enough to coat a spoon lightly. If too thin, boil it down rapidly. If too thick, mix in a few tablespoons of stock or canned bouillon. Taste carefully for seasoning. Pour the sauce over the meat and vegetables. Recipe may be completed in advance to this point.

For immediate serving: Covet the casserole and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes, basting the meat and vegetables with the sauce several times. Serve in its casserole, or arrange the stew on a platter surrounded with potatoes, noodles, or rice, and decorated with parsley.

Phew! Have you tried making anything of Julia Child’s before? That woman is a genius and I’m fawning over my copy of her cookbook. I’ve been yearning for it for over 6 months and I finally got mine when Myers did their stocktake sale.

When I remade this beef bourguinon (the proper way, not the bastardized stove top way), it was absolutely delicious. The richness, the gooeyness, the everything and everything of this dish was just pure perfection. The way the tastes and flavours blended together, the way the wine brought out the delicacy of the beef. Just a word of warning, don’t get greedy and ate too much chunk bacon in. Oh boy, that was a mistake.

I’ll update with process photos and hopefully better (and more) photos when I get around to remaking this again. Or better yet, why don’t you give it a go and tell me how you went?

It seems that the reporting of these cookoffs will never be on time. I’m not proud of that fact, but what can you do but accept fact?

June was the month for French - a theme I had begged for and wanted since the start of the cookoff dinners in January. It was when the Julie and Julia movies were still showing in cinemas and I was all wide-eyed over seeing the collision of the two worlds I love: Blogging and Cooking.

And let’s tell the truth here: my love for cooking was never quite as intense as when I started blogging what I cook about. I started caring about cooking, the techniques, the produce, the recipes and the many, many other aspects of cooking.

The movie did more than just inspire me, it had me fall head over heels in love with Julia Child and her recipes, and it created this incredible itch to cook French. So in June, we did.

For starters, we had Sefie dish up the most perfect Vichyssoise and Pain au Levain I’ve ever tasted.

Recipe: Anthony Bourdain’s Les Halles Vichyssoise

Source: food.com
Serves: 6

Ingredients

4 tablespoons butter
8 leeks, white part only, cleaned and thinly sliced
2 medium potatoes, cut into small cubes
2 cups chicken stock
2 cups heavy cream
4 fresh chives, finely chopped
1 pinch nutmeg
salt and fresh pepper

Method

1. In a large, heavy bottom pot, melt butter over medium-low heat. Once butter is melted, add the leeks and sweat for 5 minutes, making sure they do not take on any color.

2. Add potatoes and cook for a minute or two, stirring a few times.

3. Stir in the chicken broth and bring to a boil.

4. Reduce heat to a simmer. Cook on low heat, gently simmering for 35 minutes, or until the leeks and potatoes are very soft. Allow to cool for a few minutes.

5. Slowly, and in SMALL batches, puree the soup at a high speed in the blender. Do this bit by bit, never filling the blender too high. Make sure the benders lid is on, and lean on the top when you turn on. If not the burn you will get is awful, and a most frequent accident in even professional kitchens.

6. Return soup to the cooking pot and whisk in cream and nutmeg. Season with salt and pepper. Return to a boil, reduce to simmer and cook 5 minutes. If you want to thin soup out, add more broth, if needed.

7.Transfer soup to the mixing bowl an chill over the ice bath, stirring occasionally. When soup is at Room temperature, and only at room temperature, cover in plastic wrap and put int the refrigerator to cool.

8. Check seasoning, sprinkle with chives and serve in chilled bowls.

C’est magnifique! There is no other way to describe it. How is it that the French aren’t fat with such amazing food at their finger tips? If I had soups like these everyday, I’d be lapping it up from a great big bowl. As it was, it took every ounce of my strength to maintain my table manners and not pick the bowl up to lick it clean.

The sourdough bread was also another work of art. I have deep admiration for anyone who can bake their own bread from scratch (no, I’m sorry but that doesn’t include you bread machine lovers). I won’t be repeating the recipe here, but you can find the recipe Sefie used on culinate.com. Do try it out!

Stay tuned for more French action tomorrow!

I’m sure many of you are already familiar with how Taste of Melbourne works, but if you aren’t, then very quickly:

From the Taste website:

Taste of Melbourne is unlike any other food and drink event.

For four days, selected restaurants will set up full professional kitchens to deliver a degustation menu like no other. These restaurants are offering over 40 of the city’s most tantalizing signature dishes and this is just the start. It all takes place under one roof at the fabulous Royal Exhibition Building in Carlton and will be the ultimate dinner party experience.

These taste-sized signature dishes are purchased with “Crowns” – the festival currency which can also be used to buy fine wines, champagnes and specialty beers from a range of bars and quality drink purveyors. Each signature dish will cost just 8-12 Crowns ($8 - $12).

A Taste Session lasts for 4 hours (5 on Sunday) and allows you enough time to browse around the event and enjoy the various features such as The Australian Gourmet Traveller Taste Kitchen, Taste Wine with Gourmet Traveller Wine, the Australian Gourmet Traveller Chef’s Table and the Producers Market with over 100 fine food and drink exhibitors.

Let me just begin by saying that 4 hours is hardly enough to eat AND browse through the event. I didn’t get the chance to go through all the different stalls and try out all the different wines! That said, I did enjoy myself incredibly. Here are the dishes I tried on the day:

Menu for Taste of Melbourne 2010

This was amazing. The salmon was melt-in-your-mouth awesome and every little bit of this dish just screamed magnificent. Done to perfection and I’d be very happy to pay the full price for this dish at Maze anytime. If it was based on this one dish alone, I’d be very happy to make a booking for a dinner at Maze right this instant. It was that good.

This was my first time tasting wallaby, which was part of my reason for picking this dish. Kangaroo, wallaby, kangaroo, wallaby… I think I can’t quite pick a favourite between the two and having tasted both now, I like them equally. It was good! But the soy sauce was just a tad too salty. Not enough push factor from this dish to start seriously contemplating going to Charcoal Lane though. Having said that, this restaurant does come highly recommended, so I might add it to my restaurant list anyways.

I didn’t actually try it myself but I have it on good faith that this was really really good. It did sell out on opening night after all! I heard that it was a little dry on the Saturday so obviously there’s some lack of consistency going on. I wish I had tried the eye fillet from The Palace. Maybe next year!

Having heard so many rave reviews on twitter for this dish, it was with high expectations that I handed over my 8 crowns for this. Unfortunately, despite claims of how amazingly tender the pork cheek was, mine was like a brick. The spork that I use to jab at it bent upon contact. It was with great effort that this dish was finally finished, after having been tried and rejected by everyone in our group. Perhaps the one I got was a dud. Who knows? It was definitely a waste of 8 crowns.

Definitely one of the highlights of the evening. Stokehouse shone like a bright star on a dark night and for me, this was the restaurant that was King. The Wagyu beef cigars were a true stroke of genius and we had lots of fun posing with the cigars before devouring them like a small child. The artichoke tapenade and horseradish went beautifully with the cigars and I cannot wait to try them again. In fact, I’m eagerly awaiting the reopening of Stokehouse as I’d love to make a booking for the later part of this year.

This was a downright no for me. Cold and clammy, the pasta was also thick and chewy. The duck filling was indeed very tasty and it would have been a pleasant dish if not for the fact that the pasta ruined it all. I am keen to give The European the benefit of the doubt tho, and might try to book myself in for a night there. Maybe. Does anybody have any opinions on them? Like them, hate them? Let me know!

The panna cotta was creamy and rich and every bite was luxurious. But there was one pertinent problem - I couldn’t taste any pistachio in it. When I spoke with some other stallholders who had tried this dessert, they too said that they couldn’t taste the pistachio in it. Did you try this at the event, and if you did, could you taste it?

The popcorn on the other hand was worth every single crown we had paid for it. I’d have dearly loved a larger quantity as it was incredibly satisfying to eat! My mission now is to make popcorn like Sarti. I could live on a diet of caramel salted popcorn.

Charcoal Lane

It was pleasant but not particularly attention-grabbing. 2 out of 3 of Charcoal Lane dishes and both had failed to impress. But as I mentioned before, the recommendations behind this place are solid. Perhaps I just need to find the dish that has my name written all over it.

And for the rest of the event, I did heaps of wine tastings, cheese tastings and even managed to score some of my favourite Kiwi wine from the Yarra Valley regional producers. I thoroughly enjoyed myself at Taste, and if you went to this year’s Taste of Melbourne, I hope you did too!

Thank you to 65degrees, Green & Black and Penny for the tickets to this event. You made me and my friends very happy!

Here are some other bloggers who have covered the event:

Jeroxie
Iron Chef Shellie
My Food Trail
Off the Spork
Kitchen Wench

See you at Taste 2011!!

Yup, it’s the beef stroganoff from the Masterchef Finale Party

Despite being a pasta lover, I must admit to not having had stroganoff prior to the Masterchef Finale Party. In fact, I didn’t even know of it till Masterchef came along. So my very first time making Beef Stroganoff was the day of the party, and I was serving it straight up. Thanks to my guests for being such awesome guinea pigs!

The source of the recipe is obviously from Masterchef and can be found here. However I’ve made some tweaks to the recipe, mainly to the pasta recipe as the quantity given was not enough. The original recipe was supposed to serve 4, but we doubled the recipe to serve 5 and it was still inadequate. Either we are all gluttons (ahem!) or the recipe was written for people with really tiny appetites.

Recipe: Beef Stroganoff

Serve: 4

Ingredients

2 tbs sweet paprika
100g flour
500g piece beef eye fillet (from the tail end), sliced into strips
¼ cup olive oil
40g butter, plus extra to serve
200g Swiss brown mushrooms, thinly sliced
3 eschalots, finely diced
2 tbs tomato paste
½ cup brandy
1 cup beef stock
2 tbs Worcestershire sauce
1 cup crème fraiche
2 tbs extra virgin oil, to serve
baby parsley, to garnish

Fettuccine Ingredients

400g pasta flour
4 eggs
4 tsp olive oil
4 tbs parsley leaves, chopped
2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

This is where I own up that not only was I serving up Beef Stroganoff for the first time ever, but this was also the first time I made fresh fettuccine. I’ve previously tried my hand at ravioli making before, but I made an incredible rookie mistake by adding eggs to semolina flour… don’t do it. Not if you value your jaw and teeth. It makes the toughest and most chewy pasta you’ve ever eaten. Trust me, I know this from experience and my poor housemates who had to put up with that for dinner that night will vouch for its chewiness.

Lady luck was by my side (after having a rather disastrous day in the kitchen the previous day), and my pasta came out flawless. Not jaw-breaking tough and chewy but with enough bite to eat to make for a pretty satisfying mouthful. Success!!

I didn’t add enough parsley though, so my pasta didn’t turn out green. Ah well, next time.

Let’s move on to the directions:

Pasta making method:

1. Place flour, eggs, olive oil, parsley, pepper and a generous pinch of salt into the bowl of a food processor. Mix until dough comes together. Turn out onto a clean work surface dusted in flour and knead for a few minutes by hand until the dough is firm and elastic. Wrap in cling film and leave to rest for at least 10 minutes.

2. Divide the dough in half. Form each piece into a rectangular shape. Dust the pasta rollers in flour and turn to the largest setting. Feed pasta through the rollers, folding the dough into 3 after changing each setting. Roll dough out to the 2nd thinnest setting. Repeat with remaining dough. Hang to dry for 5-10 minutes.

Beef Stroganoff cooking method

1. Combine paprika, flour and 1 teaspoon of sea salt in a bowl. Toss beef in the mixture to coat.

2. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large frying pan over high heat and sear the beef for 1-2 minutes or until browned. Remove and set aside.

3. Reduce heat to medium-high; add half the butter and remaining the olive oil. Cook the mushrooms until caramelised.

4. Reduce the heat to medium, add remaining butter, eschalots and cook for a few minutes until softened.

5. Add the tomato paste, brandy, stock, Worcestershire sauce and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium, stir in crème fraiche, reserved beef and juices, then season with salt and pepper.

6. To serve, toss cooked fettuccine with extra virgin oil and garnish with baby parsley.

I didn’t manage to present it prettily on the day of the Masterchef finale party. I was more concerned with getting the food up! So here’s a better attempt at presentation, tho it is hardly up to the likes of Donna Hay.

I’m hungry again!

What do you think? Personally, I think I’ll put this onto the menu for this weekend once more. Too yummy!

And what do you know, we did. Only we weren’t quite as hardcore as to go fishing by the riverside or the sea, or even the lake. We did fish, but we went to a trout farm to fish. (And even then, it took forever before we got a bite because we weren’t doing it right. Oh fail.) My housemate calls it: Fishing with training wheels.

Tuki trout farm is situated on historic “Stoney Rises”, a traditional sheep grazing property. Not that we saw any sheep on our drive in. From the road, it was then a two kilometre private drive that eventually led to the reception.

Tuki Trout Farm offers the option of fishing for your own trout and cooking it up for your lunch on the spot if you like. This was our original plan but a failure to have breakfast that morning meant that we were really hungry by the time we reached the farm.

We got there late in the morning and made the decision to have lunch before venturing out to fish. Tuki trout farm has their own little restaurant and while it doesn’t sit very many, it is the home to really awesome trout dishes. Right in the middle of the room is a big warming fire that welcomes you into the dining area, and with it being absolutely freezing out, one can’t help but feel immediately at ease and relaxed in front of the cozy fire.

The restaurant menu isn’t very long. We were eager to get into the good and heavy stuff so we skipped appetizers and went straight for mains.

Bread was brought to the table before the mains. Disappointingly the one I had was stone cold. Everybody else at the table said theirs were fine and beautifully warm, so I must have been unlucky. Thankfully food came up fast, so I wasn’t left nursing my cold bread for too long.

Here’s what we ordered:

Fresh baked trout, served bone free with green peppercorn dressing, locally grown potatoes, garden salad and crusty bread

The trout came to the table still wrapped in a cocoon of aluminium foil. Our waiter (who I suspected to be the owner of the restaurant) expertly served up the fish bone-free, deboning it on the spot with two large spatulas. That’s skill right there!

This was exquisite. There’s no two ways about it. The taste, the texture and the way in which the trout flesh practically melted in the mouth was amazing. Plus there’s something magical about eating fish without having to worry about bones. I hate fish bones.

We also ordered:

Tuki roast lamb, or a lamb fillet. Grass fed lamb served with a little garlic, locally grown potatoes garden salad and crusty bread.

My only complain here was that our waitress didn’t actually ask us if we wanted the roast lamb or the fillet. In terms of the dish, another winner despite its rather plain appearance. The folks here at the farm definitely know how to respect their produce and they do the amazing local produce incredible justice. As we were seated there eating lunch, we watched as they roasted lamb over the open fire. The dripping oil as the lamb roasted, the licking flames creating beautiful scorch marks across the rack of lamb… It was enough to make anyone hungry!

Tuki prime beef ribeye steak

Donna Hay most certainly didn’t work in this kitchen, but these simple dishes worked wonders upon the appetite. Not to mention, the rustic manner in which the dishes were presented fit right in with the farmhouse style of the restaurant. The steak was slightly too tough for my liking: the waitress had neglected to ask how we’d like the steak to be cooked so it was rather too well done for me. Still tasty, but lacking the tenderness that usually accompanies a good steak.

Salads came with the mains, and these were polished clean. So so good, and so refreshing as well! The mustard seeds were a genius addition and really kicked the salad up quite a few notches.

After lunch, we left the comforting warmth of the restaurant to brave the wind and cold outdoors to go fishing! Tuki trout farm guarantees a catch to everybody and hires out the fishing rods and bait needed. Of course, what we didn’t realise was that fishing wasn’t just a matter of casting the line into the water and waiting. You’ve gotta make sure that the line is long enough, and goes deep enough into the water to start with, which we didn’t. So we stood around for the first half an hour or so wondering why the little kids next to us were catching rainbow trout every few minutes while we had nary a bite.

Thankfully, the farm workers noticed our pathetic state and came to the rescue and soon we were fishing like pros. (Or as pro as you can, in a ‘guaranteed catch’ scenario.) I caught a total of two rainbow trout, while the housemate hooked up the same number. These were cleaned, scaled and gutted by the farm workers and wrapped up so we could bring them home. I had them for dinner that night, and how amazing is fish when it’s fresh?

Here’s a few photos from the day and of the farm surrounds. If you feel like taking a day away from the hustle and bustle of the city, I recommend doing a drive up to Tuki Trout Farm. Even if you are a pro at fishing, just being able to taste the amazing food and take in the amazing nature that stretches for miles and miles around the farm is well worth it.

Credits: Scenary (and fish!) photos taken by the amazing K.

The internet is a powerful thing. Following links upon links, I chanced upon Asian Gourmet Hut in Doncaster. A malaysian restaurant! Accordingly with a good reputation especially for their Ban Mian! The urge for local food (local being Malaysian/Singaporean) is never quelled, in fact it’s probably stronger than ever before, so a cold wintery Melbourne night saw me driving over to Doncaster to check out Asian Gourmet Hut.

Warm chinese tea in thermo flasks are common sight these days and given the temperature, I was glad for it. Warming my fingers around the tiny cup, I glanced through the menu and quickly came to a decision. Looking back, I wonder why I didn’t order the Ban Mian, considering that’s what they seem to have gain a reputation for but who knows how the mind works on an icy cold night?

The food was fast to arrive, and I sipped at the double-boiled soup I had ordered as a starter, appreciative of its warmth. It was Pork Belly with Pickled Vegs and White Pepper soup. To be honest, it didn’t smell appealing, and the soup was way too peppery which ended up overpowering everything else. But I finished it anyways as the warmth from the soup was able to warm me from within. Taste wise, nothing to write home about.

For mains, my housemate got his standard fare: Ma Po Tofu with rice. We cook this a lot at home, but still order it when we go out as we can’t get enough of this dish. Asian Gourmet Hut however does it in a rather interesting fashion - with added black fungus and other ingredients not normally found in a typical Ma Po Tofu dish. Everybody’s allowed to add their own creative flair of course, and it would have been a pleasant dish if not for the fact that the rice was painfully dry.

For myself, I ordered Wan Tan Hor. It wasn’t unpleasant, but it wasn’t memorable either. I distinctly remember mentioning to my dinner partner that the Wan Tan Hor found at the asian eatery in Chadstone was better than this rendition of it. I asked for chopped green chilli to go with my dish (which is a standard, typically) but was informed that they only had chopped red chilli. Bit disappointing especially since you can easily get green chilli from the asian groceries or markets.

If I were in the area, I’d be happy to go back and try a few more dishes, but seeing as I’m not particularly near, I don’t think I will be making the drive again. It wasn’t a bad meal, but it wasn’t BANG!WOW in-your-face awesome either.

Have you been to Asian Gourmet Hut, and if yes, what did you think of the food?

Today I’m going to be sharing my Top 10 in Singaporean/Malaysian Desserts that will sweeten your day. After going through it all, I came to the realisation that my preferences tend to lean towards chinese desserts, and seeing as that is my heritage, I cannot deny a bias. Soupy desserts are amazing! There, I’ve said it.

Without further ado - let us eat.

Image Source: The Malaysian Cuisine

1. Bubur Chacha

Taro and Sweet Potato cubes served with coconut milk and sago - so incredibly tasty! It can be served warm or cold though my favourite is when it is served cold as it is incredibly refreshing as a cold dessert. Growing up, this was a really awesome treat that I always look forward to and fairly easy to prepare as well!

Image Source: Spideman

2. Cendol

You often hear people waxing lyrical about cendol but if you haven’t tried it for yourself, the idea of eating ‘green noodles’ can be rather offputting. Commonly available as street food, cendol is a popular dessert to help cool down which is very useful in the humid and hot weather that Singapore and Malaysia is famous for. But what exactly are the ‘green noodles’? They are strands of cooked dough made from green pea flour and the green juice of pandan leaves. The standard bowl of cendol will consist of these green noodles, coconut cream, shaved ice and palm sugar. But the cendol you can obtain from roadsides these days are a far cry from the cendol I remember eating as a kid. Diluted coconut cream is part of the problem and poorly made green noodles make for some rather awful cendol. So I’ve stopped buying them myself, instead I make them. Want to know how? Stay tuned!

Image Source: Boo_licious

3. Or Nee / Taro dessert

Or Nee (芋泥) is made from Taro and is traditionally topped with Gingko nuts. Personal observation is that it is not a dessert that is widely popular within the younger generation of Singapore/Malaysia. In fact, most people seem to dislike Taro these days, which makes me sad. The making of Or Nee is simple, but to obtain a perfect Or Nee isn’t. The best Or Nees are smooth and silky without making you feel sick afterwards from the heaviness. Usually served warm, this dessert originates from the Teochews but is now enjoyed by others as well. I have made a promise to a friend to make some for her, so you’ll be seeing some Or Nee action on the blog very soon!

Image Source: Skrb

4. Pulut Hitam

Bubur Pulut Hitam means Black Glutinous Rice Dessert. One of my personal favourites, though again I know the colour black as a dessert may put some people off. I’ve had friends look at it and then look at me with a dubious look before asking “Is that truly edible?”

Trust me, it is not only edible, but it is also the most heavenly dessert you will find. Made from black glutinous rice cooked into porridge form along with some pandan leaves, and then topped with coconut cream, or milk, or even ice cream for a simple, quick and yet heart-warming dessert. You can serve it both warm and cold, but personally I prefer it warm. The warmth that spreads from the core of your body after eating this dessert is an impossibly amazing feeling. You’ve gotta try it to believe it.

Image Source: Azrianna Azmil

5. Pisang Goreng

Pisang Goreng is Malay for Fried Banana. Possibly one of the most popular of all desserts, Pisang Goreng is also commonly eaten as a snack for tea time. A mistake commonly made by folks is to call this food “Goreng Pisang”. While it may just be a simple matter of flipping the words around, the meaning has been changed from ‘Fried Banana’ to mean the action of ‘Frying the banana’. If there was a king of street food, Pisang Goreng would probably be it. It is found on almost every street corner, and is often sold by street vendors that build a pop-up kitchen just for a few hours a day. The banana is battered and then deep fried. These days, these simple snack foods seem to come accompanied with a variety of toppings and dips like chocolate ice cream, cinnamon and so on. In my opinion, the best way to appreciate Pisang Goreng is by eating it plain. The sweetness from the banana is more than sufficient sugar for this snack food. Don’t forget that the best bananas to make Pisang Goreng from is Pisang Emas. Unfortunately I do not know the English name, but it is the short and stumpy bananas with the thin skin. They are incredibly sweet and plump, thus making them perfect for frying up into Pisang Goreng.

Image source: Thorn

6. Ice Cream Sandwich

This is also sold in Malaysia but it’s not quite as famous as the ones sold along Orchard Road in Singapore. Possibly because the Malaysia version doesn’t usually come with the multicoloured bread. What multicoloured bread?

Image source: Melting Noise

This multicoloured bread.

What this really consist of is just a scoop of ice cream and a piece of bread to wrap around it. Absolutely simple, but actually really tasty! Try it at home, if you don’t believe me. Plus in the hot and humid weather of Singapore, at $1 per ice cream sandwich, it’s easy to succumb to its temptation - after all, ice cream is still ice cream, even if it’s wrapped with a funky multicoloured bread. A must try if you are ever in the area!

The other popular version of ice cream sandwich is the block of ice cream sandwiched between two thin pieces of wafer.

On that note, don’t try looking for these ice cream sandwiches in a fancy pants ice cream store. You will have better luck obtaining them off the ice cream vendors on motorbikes. Look out for the multicoloured umbrellas!

Image source: Thorn

7. Ice Kachang

Not everybody is a fan of Ice Kachang. Oh bugger it, to be honest I’m not a fan of it! But heaps of Singaporeans and Malaysians swear by it and I think I’d love it more if not for the fact that my teeth hurt something awful everytime I eat it. To hell with sensitive teeth.

Ice Kachang is made from shaved ice and topped with a variety of different syrups and toppings. Unfortunately not everybody knows how to make good syrup, and there’s quite a lot of awful Ice Kachang out there as a dear friend found out when she excitedly ordered Ice Kachang for the first time in KL. Needless to say, her first impression was terrible. So be careful when you are picking up your next bowl of Ice Kachang - try to ask for recommendations!

Image source: boo_licious

8. Tong Sui (Sugar Water)

While Tong Sui literally means Sugar Water, it is actually a collective term to mean soupy desserts. Having said that, these days the term seems to be used to mean Longan Tong Sui - a soupy dessert made from longan, snow fungus, red dates, sometimes pandan leaves and the all important ingredient - rock sugar. Again, the option of having it either warm or cold is completely up to you and even the ingredients can differ and change according to the family recipe, but it is generally always good. How can anything with rock sugar, red dates and longans in it not taste good?

Image source: Roboppy

9. Tau Foo Fah

Depending on the dialect, this is also known as Dou Hua, Dou Fu Hua, Tau Huey and so on. It really all means the same thing: it is a tofu pudding made from very very soft tofu. While the soft tofu is a constant, depending on where you are (Northern Malaysia or Sourthern; Singapore; and so on) the syrup that comes with the tofu may differ. Varieties include hot and sweet ginger water, sugar syrup infused with pandan, sugar syrup infused with gingko nuts or sugar syrup made from brown sugar, so on and so forth. You can buy Tau Foo Fah at the night markets, and my parents used to buy them without fail every single week after our weekly trip to the night markets. Pop them into the fridge and they made for a fantastic before bed dessert. Going down your throat silky smooth and all that!**

** a very small in-joke nod to my Singapore girlfriends.

Image Source: eleven

10. Tau Suan

Lucky last is a (yet another) soupy dessert that is made from split mung beans. Normally served warm and with pieces of You Tiao (Chinese Donuts). A bowl of good Tau Suan will present itself as a multitude of small yellow beans (the split mung beans in question) that are still whole and floating in a clear, thick liquid. It is akin to eating porridge, but a sweet and soothing version of it. Personally I find it a little odd to be eating You Tiao as part of my desserts, but in the world of Malaysian/Singaporean desserts, the weird is plenty and you learn not to question and to just eat and savour the beauty that is Malaysian/Singaporean food.

So there you have it, a quick Top 10, that is by no means exhaustive. These are the Top 10 Desserts in my books and will most likely be different to other folks. But if you are interested in learning how to make any of these dishes, do come back as in the coming weeks I will be slowly cooking and eating my way through my Top 10s.

Header pic: DullNeon