Eating our way through Cabramatta with Betty and Jen

 Among the many events in the Crave Sydney International Food Festival (throughout October) are tours that explore the fascinating food culture of Sydney.  And one of those tours is organised and run by Jennifer Lam of Jenius and the I ate my way through company.

The 3-hour tour, called 'I ate my way through Cabramatta', takes you through the bustling arcades, streets and shops in Sydney's Little Vietnam.  Jen is assisted by Betty Pham (of Betty's Bites), and Betty led the tour we went on this Saturday.

Believe it or not, I'd never visited Cabramatta before - I lived near neighbouring Liverpool until I was 5 years old, but back then (in the Dark Ages), it was just another Australian suburb.  These days, Cabramatta is the hub for all things Vietnamese, and that includes groceries, fresh produce and, of course, restaurants.

Let's start the tour in the No. 1 Shopping Centre:

 There are a couple of fruit and veg shops here, a fishmonger, florist, butcher and food court. The quality of the vegetables is amazing, and so cheap. Makes me wonder why you can't get such great produce anywhere else, ie. near where I live.

Then you step out through the carpark area at the back into another arcade:

 Huge number of jackfruit and durians for sale - and the durians were massive! Betty gave a great commentary on the produce for sale, including ways of preparing and cooking them.

Then we stopped for a quick bite (pre-lunch):

Tan Viet restaurant is famous for its crispy chicken, and it lived up to its reputation. The chicken can be ordered with a number of accompaniments, and we had it with tomato rice, egg noodles and clear soup and bean sprouts. The queue of diners out the front is a sign that this place is gooood!

But there's more... we strolled down John Street to our next dining destination.  Here are some of the shops along the way:

Heaps of dress shops, fabric shops and cute children (children not for sale).

Lunch #2 is at Bau Truong:

 Another fabulous restaurant, and the dishes that Betty ordered were a fantastic selection of typically fresh and delicious Vietnamese cuisine.  We had prawn and pork with green papaya salad, prawn and beef rice paper rolls, deep-fried beef rolls (you wrap them in the lettuce and herb leaves), beef with green mango salad, Vietnamese pancake with yellow beans and pork rice paper rolls.
And yes, that's a big menu.

The tour winds up with a visit to a couple of grocery stores and a dessert stop:

Typically, the stores also stock kitchenware, joss sticks, prepared food to take away, and drinks.  It's a great chance to buy some of the foods and ingredients that we'd come across on the tour, and to check out the cool products (Barbie soda, anyone?).  That's Jen, me and Betty in the pic above.

The tour was a wonderful way to experience Cabramatta. Coming from someone who had not visited before, it's almost like being in another country.  Betty and Jen are knowledgable and passionate about the area and Vietnam in general. And they do know all the best places to eat and the dishes you must try.

Details of the I ate my way through Cabramatta tours can be found here.  They run on selected weekends in October and cost $55 per person (food is paid for separately).  You also get a groovy hessian market bag and a copy of Jen's book.
Excellent value and experience!

And finally, after marvelling at the beautiful green mango salad at lunch, I wanted to try it at home. Betty helpfully pointed out that you can buy peeled and sliced packs of green mango (comes with chilli salt). I also got some spiced pork roll embedded with chilli and herbs.  Dinner is ready:

For the green mango salad, I made a dressing of grated palm sugar, fish sauce, lime juice, crushed garlic, chilli and hot water.  Really delicious and salty, sour and sweet at the same time. A fine way to end our local tour of Vietnam.

Another fine Mess - Apricot and Turkish delight

 Turkish delight - one of the Middle East's most wonderful inventions!

I know that some people can't abide Turkish Delight's sweet, fragrant stickiness, but I love it.  There are several different flavours available, and I always get the rose.  This brand of Turkish delight is made in Australia (by the Real Turkish Delight company) and it's particularly fine, with a clear, vibrant coral pink colour.  It looks brilliant with the apricots in this version of Eton mess.

Apricot and Turkish delight mess
serves 2

Ingredients
100g mascarpone
50g Greek yoghurt
25g icing sugar
1 medium store-bought meringue, broken into pieces
6 apricot halves, chopped (if using tinned apricots, drain before using)
3 cubes Turkish delight, chopped
2 tblsp pistachios, chopped

Method
1.  Combine the mascarpone, yoghurt and icing sugar in a bowl and stir until well combined.
2.  Fold in the remaining ingredients and gently mix together.
3.  Divide the mixture between 2 small bowls and sprinkle with extra pistachios before serving.

Recipe adapted from BBC GoodFood (UK)

 Ingredients (clockwise from left): rose Turkish delight, big meringue, tinned apricot halves, pistachios, Greek yoghurt, mascarpone.  I also used the icing sugar that covered the Turkish delight.

 Serve the mess in glass bowls to show off the fabulous colours.

And the mascarpone and yoghurt are refreshingly light and not-too-sweet.

Let's Do Lunch 2010 at Aria

It's October.  It's the Crave Sydney International Food Festival. It's Let's Do Lunch!

Aria Restaurant is always a popular spot for the Let's Do Lunch event.  And with almost a full house on the first days of the event, the kitchen and waitstaff at Aria already had the lunch routine down pat.

There was a queue waiting to be seated at 12pm when my lunch companion, Caroline,  and I arrived.  Short wait to be shown to our window table (Circular Quay view) before we decided to have the Let's Do Lunch special, with a glass of Brown Brothers savagnin (white wine) for Caroline and San Pellegrino sparkling mineral water for me ($35 each, for the main and a glass of wine, water or beer).

I like how you get bread and amuse bouche included:

Two mouthfuls of a rich, intensely flavoured Gazpacho to start. With grain bread with butter.

The featured main dish this year is a roasted fillet of Wild River barramundi, on a bed of crab and pea risotto. The fish was wonderfully moist, and hot (nothing worse than a cold fish!). The risotto had a good flavour, but was more al dente than I normally like.

We also shared a side of green beans with pears, walnuts and Roquefort (extra $14):

The Roquefort cheese was amazingly good, and the beans were crisp and moreish. The pear appeared to have been marinated (or was it actually quince?).

Dessert is an extra $20. There is a great selection of desserts, including a selection of cheese.
We went with the oeufs a la neige.

This was a beautiful plate of poached meringue, saffron cream, orange sorbet, chopped pineapple and ginger, and sesame seed wafers. Quite a strong scent of saffron in the bright yellow smear of cream, while the oeufs (meringue) were soft and melt-in-the-mouth.

Desserts are a highlight at Aria, I've found.  And as our waiter said, they are made for sharing. Caroline also had a flat white (around $5), though they didn't have the soy milk version she asked for.

As I mentioned before, the operation for Let's Do Lunch at Aria is like a well-oiled machine.  We were served by around 4 different, very efficient waitstaff during our 1 hour lunch. A bit rushed, but nothing to complain about.  The setting is also fantastic, and it's fun to gaze out the window at the camera-toting tourists strolling along the waterfront. Just as long as this camera-toting diner can have a lovely meal and dessert and take some pretty pictures.

My visit to Aria last year for Let's Do Lunch can be seen here. See if you can notice the similarities between the 2009 main dish and this year's...

 Aria is at:

1 Macquarie St
Sydney NSW 2000
Ph: 02 9252 2555

Lord luv a duck! Duck ragu pasta

I think I’ve eaten more duck in the past few months than I have in my entire life. Duck breast here, duck breast there, Peking duck legs everywhere. I had thought that my duck-eating phase was over, but then some duck that had been lurking in the back of the refrigerator somehow waddled its way to the front…

For this duck ragu pasta recipe, I used some overlooked duck shanks from the Luv-a-Duck people that I’d picked up at the Good Food and Wine Show (note to self: must write about that fine event *I am super bad!*). Yes, there are things called duck shanks – they are like a smaller, cutdown drumstick (on the bone), and they do have a bit of meat on them. The Luv-a-Duck ones are marinated and pre-cooked, and just need to be microwaved before using.

If you don’t have pre-cooked duck on hand, you can pan-fry some duck breast or duck legs in some butter and olive oil until cooked, then shred the meat off the bones for this tasty recipe.

Duck Ragu with Pappardelle

serves 2

Ingredients

200g cooked duck meat, shredded
1 tblsp olive oil
3 slices pancetta, chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
1 bay leaf
10g porcini mushrooms, soaked, drained and chopped
2 tbs tomato paste
1/2 cup (125ml) dry red wine
400g canned diced tomatoes
1 cup (250ml) chicken stock
Pappardelle pasta and grated parmesan, to serve

Method
1.  Heat 1olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add pancetta, onion, garlic, carrot, celery and bay leaves to the pan and cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes until they start to colour.
2.  Add the duck to the pan together with the porcini, then add the tomato paste and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the red wine and cook for 2-3 minutes until the liquid has reduced slightly.
4.  Add the diced tomatoes and chicken stock, bring to a simmer, then reduce heat to low, cover and gently simmer for 45 minutes or until the sauce has thickened slightly.
5.  Season the sauce to taste, then serve the ragu with the pappardelle and parmesan.

Recipe adapted from taste.com.au

Ingredients, including pappardelle, pancetta, dried porcini, bay leaf, onion, celery, carrot, tomato paste and diced tomatoes

Very rich and tasty duck pasta, with grated parmesan cheese

 

And it has some vegetables as well, for the vege-conscious.

Ooh, Look... is in PRINT - Foodies of the World

There is a fantastic new book out,
Foodies of the World,
a 'Guide to the Best on the Web'. 

It gives you the story behind dozens of food blogs from Australia, Barbados, Canada, France, Germany, UK, USA and more.

It has over 100 recipes from these blogs.

It is filled with gorgeous photographs by the bloggers.

It contains profiles of internationally-recognised bloggers as well as some who are really worth discovering.

It is an invaluable guide to the diverse world of food blogs.

And...

I'm in it !!!

When I was asked by the Slattery Media Group to contribute to this book a few months ago, I thought, 'Why not? It will be fun and I'd like to see what it ends up like'. Now that it's out, I'm blown away by the beautiful production of this book.
The paper is thick and matte, the text, recipes and photos are crisp and clear. And the content - it's so interesting to read about other blogs (and see pictures of the bloggers).
Of course, discovery of new food blogs is the main benefit, including some from 'exotic' places like Turkey and the Netherlands and some from right here in Australia.

In case you hadn't noticed, I'm pretty chuffed to be involved with this book!

How do you get it?
The book is available from good book stores from 1 October 2010. Recommended retail price is AU$40.
OR (even better)
You can purchase it using the exclusive link in the sidebar of this blog.  Or, click here to buy. Cost is AU$40 plus postage.

Why should you use the exclusive link?
Bloggers were not paid for their contribution to the book, but a small royalty is paid for any book purchases made through the link. So, if you are thinking of getting the book (and after this great rap, how can you not be convinced???), then it would be awesome if you could use my link for your purchases. Thank you!. 

My pages in the book (including delicious recipes!)

A Tale of Two Brunches at Efendy

There hasn’t been an Eating Out post here at Ooh, Look... for quite a while, has there? That’s because I’ve been cooking and eating at home like a thrifty, parsimonious, cost-effective, houseproud homebody! So there.

I did venture out a month or so ago, for brunch at Efendy restaurant, and again to Efendy last weekend. I think the lovely Spring weather is starting knock its warming, sunshiney fingers on this homebody’s door, so expect some more dining out experiences soon. I hope...

The previous time at Efendy was for the brilliant Journey to Istanbul dinner. This time, I met up with Rose, Trissa and Denea for a Balmain girls brunch. All being ‘locals’, Efendy is perfectly situated on the cusp of Rozelle, Birchgrove and Balmain to suit all of us.

Drinks all round – I went with the sour cherry and mastic smoothie. This was really good: sour cherry juice mixed with ice cream and milk. Just like a chocolate milkshake, only BETTER.

We shared some meze to start, and this included borek cigars, tomato, cucumber, fetta, sucuk (spicy sausage) and pastirma (thin slices of dried meat). And lashings of Turkish bread all round. I was holding myself back for my main dish, but still managed to make a sizeable dent in the mezze.

Then our mains (breakfast) arrived:

I had the Kallavi (big breakfast) – 2 fried eggs, mushrooms, more sucuk and pastirma. Denea had the Incirli Kaygana (pancake with figs and walnuts). Rose had Menemen (vegetarian scambled eggs) with a side of haloumi.  And I forgot to take a photo of Trissa’s dish (sorry!)

It was nice for us to chat and enjoy the food. If I remember correctly, some of the conversation decried the many ‘For Lease’ signs along Balmain’s Darling Street, and the movement of popular food haunts, such as Victoire bakery and the Adriano Zumbo cafe, to neighbouring Rozelle. And the service was brilliant, by the way, thanks in no small part to the presence of lovely Denea, who is a popular gal and knows everyone.

And last weekend, the sunny skies and great food brought me again to Efendy. We sat outside in the courtyard and enjoyed this:

Big breakfast – the meat and sausage was a bit drier this time, and the presentation not as pretty as my original version. But it still tasted good. I had Hellim, which is grilled haloumi cheese with poached eggs and asparagus. It was perfect. To drink, we had sour cherry juice and watermelon juice with mint, very refreshing after the salty haloumi and sucuk.

So that’s three fantastic visits out of three for Efendy. If you’re in the Balmain area on the weekend, you have to stop in for the brunch. It’s served from 9am to 2pm. Otherwise, the dinner menu is even more exotic. And there’s bound to be something to tempt you out of the house.

And my birthday week is coming up, so hopefully *fingers crossed* there will be a couple more eating out events really soon.

Efendy Modern Turkish Restaurant is at 79 Elliot St, Balmain, NSW. Ph: 02 9810 5466. http://www.efendy.com.au/
Open for Breakfast Saturday and Sunday. Lunch and Dinner Wednesday to Sunday.

Hello Spring: Alex Kearns' broad bean pancetta egg salad

If you read this blog, then you may be aware that I love my magazines. There are advantages and disadvantages to this, viz:
Pros -
 - food mags provide lots of inspiration for meals, cooking, eating out and food styling
 - home mags show you other people's amazing houses in the suburbs and it ignites a flame of hope that your house could be like that
 - fashion mags provide pics of Hollywood starlets in the latest trendy getup (good for a laugh)

Cons -
 - there are so many gorgeous food mags that I have to get them all, and I don't have any more shelf space
 - the beautiful homes are always owned by other people and I know that, really, there's no way my house could ever be like that
 - I have no idea who some of the starlets are, and just giving their first name doesn't help - who the heck are Fearne, Jess and Khloe??

Regardless of their shortcomings, though, any doubts about the usefulness of my magazines is swept aside when I spy a fabulous recipe (with photo), leather Swan chair (in white), or Daphne Guinness taking a tumble in ridiculous platform booties (thank goodness for paparazzi).
Case in point: this wonderful recipe from Gourmet Traveller. It's by chef Alex Kearns (of Glebe Point Diner and Neutral Bay Bar and Dining), and it's full fresh, zingy flavours and brilliant colours and textures.  It's the Dolce and Gabbana of spring eating.

Broad bean, pancetta and poached egg salad
serves 2 as a light meal

Ingredients
150g podded broad beans
4-5 thin slices pancetta
2 tblsp white wine vinegar
2 eggs, at room temperature
150g podded peas
2 tblsp parsley, finely chopped
1 tblsp mint, finely chopped
1/2 tblsp dill, finely chopped

Lemon vinaigrette
2 tblsp lemon juice
2 tsp caster sugar
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic, crushed

Method
1.  Make the lemon vinaigrette: whisk together the lemon juice, sugar and a pinch of salt. Then whisk in the olive oil. Season with salt - the vinaigrette should be quite sweet. Add the garlic and stir.
2.  Put the broad beans in boiling water, and return to the boil for 3 minutes.  Peel the broad beans and set aside.
3.  For the pancetta: place the pancetta on a baking tray and heat in a 180C oven for 6-8 minutes, until crisp. Drain on paper towels then break into pieces.
4.  For the poached eggs: bring a shallow saucepan of water to the boil. Reduce heat to a low simmer, then add the vinegar. Crack an egg into a cup, and, one at a time, slide the egg into the water. Stir the water to make the eggwhite swirl around the yolk. Cook until soft, 3-4 minutes.  Remove eggs with a slotted spoon and drain.
5.  For the peas: cook peas in boiling water for 4 minutes.  Add the broad beans for the final 20 seconds, to warm through. Drain, transfer to a bowl, add the parsley, mint and dill, and mix together.
6.   Add half the vinaigrette to the beans and peas and toss to combine.  Add the pancetta pieces. Divide the salad among bowls, top with an egg. Drizzle with remaining dressing, season with black pepper, and serve.

Recipe adapted from Gourmet Traveller (Oct 2010)

 Ingredients: peas, broad beans (skins removed), pancetta and eggs.

I used frozen peas and broad beans which makes this dish possible even when they're not in season.

The lemon vinaigrette is sweet and tangy at the same time.

Really delicious.

And the soft-poached eggs let their runny centres meld into the salad...

Grand Marnier Truffles

Here is the final instalment of the petits fours trilogy: Grand Marnier truffles

Chocolate truffles are such a classic sweet. And it wasn't until I first made them (at a chocolate class here) that I realised that they are called truffles because they resemble the buried-in-dirt, pig-snout-discovering, black gems (that cost a fortune).

These Grand Marnier truffles follow the standard formula: rich, dark chocolate that's made more exciting by a spoonful or two of alcohol. Or, you can use a tablespoon (or two) of ground coffee instead - just as delicious without the booze.  And with their not-quite-perfect oval shape, they do look a lot like truffles.

Grand Marnier Truffles

makes about 30

Ingredients

175ml (6 fl oz) double cream (45% fat)

300g dark chocolate, melted

30g unsalted butter, chopped

3 tblsp Grand Marnier

unsweetened cocoa powder, for dusting

Method

1.  Bring the cream to a boil in a small saucepan.

2.  Melt the dark chocolate and mix with the cream.  The dark chocolate can be melted in the microwave oven, in bursts of 60 seconds, on low heat, stirring in between.

3.  Add the butter and stir until the butter melts. Stir in the Grand Marnier.

4.  Transfer mixture to a bowl and cover and refrigerate 3 hours or until firm.

5.  Remove the firmed chocolate from the refrigerator and roll teaspoons of the mixture into balls. Refrigerate balls until firm.

6.  Dip the balls into the sifted cocoa powder and refrigerate for an hour.

The truffles are best served at room temperature. They will keep for 10 days in the refrigerator.

Not being a *huge* drinker, a mini-bar bottle of liqueur was enough for this recipe

Rolling the chocolate into balls is a very messy business.

And no, you cannot just lick the chocolate off your hands...

The truffles were served in paper cases, for ease of use

.

And here is a final look at the petits fours lineup:

Truffles, palmiers and caramel chocolates!

Introducing... Ooh, Look... CRAFT

Announcing a new CRAFT blog

Ooh, Look - Craft

I am moving my craft-related posts to a new blog.  And also taking the opportunity to (maybe) do a few more crafty projects.

I hope you'll come and visit Ooh, Look - Craft soon!

Elegant Palmiers

One of my favourite weekend treats is to pick up something sweet from the local boulangerie (Victoire) or pasticceria (Bertoni).  From Victoire, it's usually a rhubarb tart or palmier, or from Bertoni, it's a ricotta zuccerati or squashed Nutella donut.

And while the chances of my making a rhubarb tart or zuccerati at home are zilch, palmiers are really easy to do.  They are rolled slices of puff pastry, with sugar or sometimes a savoury cheese embedded in them.  The ones I made for the French dinner are small and many, though you can also make larger ones - the ones at Victoire are about 15cm (5 inches) long, and I admit that I sometimes struggle to eat it in one go... (for shame)

Palmiers

makes 50

Ingredients

1/4 cup raw sugar or white sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

375g (or 1 x 25cm/10in sheet) ready-rolled puff pastry

20g unsalted butter, melted

Method

1.  Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.  Sprinkle half the cinnamon sugar on a clean work surface and place the pastry on top. Then sprinkle with the remaining cinnamon sugar.

2.  Press the sugar down into the pastry by moving a rolling pin over the pastry.  Cut the pastry sheet in half, then brush each half with some of the melted butter.

3.  Roll up the each long side of a piece of pastry until they reach the middle.  Try and roll as tightly as possible.  Repeat with the other piece of pastry.

4.  Brush the rolls with the remaining melted butter, then wrap the rolls in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes, until firm.

5.  Preheat oven to 200 C / 400F.

6.  Remove pastry from the fridge and slice each roll into 1cm (1/2in) pieces. Place 2cm apart on a paper-lined baking sheet, and bake for 8-10 minutes, or until lightly golden.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Palmiers will keep in an airtight container for 1 week.

Recipe adapted from Petits Fours (Murdoch Books)

Ingredients, including some very puffy Careme pastry

The cinnamon sugar mixture is embedded into the puff pastry, which is then brushed with melted butter, rolled, chilled, then sliced.

The palmiers are light and flakey, with delicious caramelised bits

And they are elegant enough to serve on a petits fours platter.