Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Pizza Party - Pulse flour pizza with Ras el Hanout Mango Ricotta

Pizza Party - Pulse flour pizza with Ras el Hanout Mango Ricotta
 
 
Sometimes you need pizza. There’s no way around it. And it has to be real pizza. A real dough base, not just the usual cheat method of using a Lebanese loaf and spreading on your toppings. And then you need a beer and to sit outside in the fresh air and sunshine with your pizza and your husband and reflect on how good life can be. That despite being bone tired from a long and hard crabbing session that was mostly fruitless (although eating the crab hot out of the pot that night with fresh bread and butter still made it feel worthwhile), an afternoon of good food, good weather and good conversation is all it takes to get over the exhaustion.
 
This is a pretty simple dough that was made a bit more exciting (not to mention good-for-you) through the addition of two types of pulse flour. I had a little bit of lentil flour left over from my Secret Cake Club baking, and added some chick pea flour to total half the flour. You could use all chick pea flour seeing as that is pretty easy to get, but making your own lentil flour is pretty easy if you’ve got a coffee grinder. In which case, you could also use all lentil flour. As with my baking experimenting gone awry, the addition of a little arrowroot powder ensures the dough binds properly. The molasses in place of the normal sugar adds a smokey sweetness to the nuttiness that the beans bring. Leave it to proof for half an hour while you make the sauce and chop some veges and it’s a pretty quick way of getting a real pizza base in your life.
 
This makes two just-bigger-than single serve pizzas, by themselves enough for around 3 serves. Or 4 serves if you have a side salad. The toppings are fairly easy to change in and out of the sweet and spicy cream cheese sauce. Mine were what were to hand. Although the sauce and lentil base is flavoursome enough that the toppings play textural counterpoint as much as anything. Fresh greens on top are one of my favourite things to do with pizza, you could probably get away with just that.
 
Pizza Party - Pulse flour pizza with Ras el Hanout Mango Ricotta
Pizza Party - Pulse flour pizza with Ras el Hanout Mango Ricotta
 

Pulse Flour Pizza Base

½ cup lentil flour
½ cup chick pea flour (or one cup of chickpea flour)
1 tbsp arrowroot powder
1 cup plain flour
2 tsp yeast
1 tsp molasses
½ teaspoon salt
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp cornmeal
 
Pizza Party - Pulse flour pizza with Ras el Hanout Mango Ricotta
Pizza Party - Pulse flour pizza with Ras el Hanout Mango Ricotta
 
 

Ras el Hanout Mango Ricotta Sauce

150g smooth ricotta
1 mango
2 tsp ras el hanout
2 cloves garlic
2 tsp tamarind puree
 
Pizza Party - Pulse flour pizza with Ras el Hanout Mango Ricotta
 
 Pizza Party - Pulse flour pizza with Ras el Hanout Mango Ricotta

Toppings

¼ roast chicken, meat shredded
¼ zucchini sliced into thin rings
½ red capsicum, sliced into thin strips
Snow pea shoots
 
Mix the flours together in a large bowl with the salt and yeast. Make a well in the centre and add the olive oil, warm water and molasses. Stir the liquids together first, then slowly bring in the flour until it becomes a shaggy mess. Knead for around 5 minutes until it forms a smooth ball. Pop in an oiled bowl and cover loosely with plastic wrap and set aside to double in size.
 
Meanwhile, mince the garlic, dice the mango and mix all of the sauce ingredients together until well combine. Slice your toppings as desired. Heat your BBQ or oven to 160C
 
Punch down the dough to remove some of the air, then divide the dough into two. Roll the each ball of dough out to around 2cm thickness. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of cornmeal on two baking trays and lay the pizza bases on top. Cover with toppings and bake in the oven, or on a lidded BBQ for 15 minutes or until base is golden at the edges and the cheese mixture is browning.
 
Pizza Party - Pulse flour pizza with Ras el Hanout Mango Ricotta
Pizza Party - Pulse flour pizza with Ras el Hanout Mango Ricotta
Pizza Party - Pulse flour pizza with Ras el Hanout Mango Ricotta
Pizza Party - Pulse flour pizza with Ras el Hanout Mango Ricotta
Pizza Party - Pulse flour pizza with Ras el Hanout Mango Ricotta
 

Monday, April 20, 2015

Dining With the Skamp - Public House Argentinian Lamb Feast - Eat Drink Perth

Dining With the Skamp - Public House Argentinian Lamb Feast - Eat Drink Perth
Dining With the Skamp - Public House Argentinian Lamb Feast - Eat Drink Perth
Dining With the Skamp - Public House Argentinian Lamb Feast - Eat Drink Perth

My brother has been trying to convince me to go to Public House for ages. He works around the corner from it, so hits it frequently for lunch and after work drinks. Based on his recommendation, I added it swiftly to the “To-Visit” list (which is ever-growing), but not working in the city means I don’t go into the city that frequently. I tend to be more of a fringe dweller, hitting Mt. Lawley or Northbridge, rather than Perth proper. When the South American Lamb Feast came up as part of EatDrinkPerth, it was too good of an opportunity to pass up!

Talking to the chef (and backed up by my brother), most of the dishes that we ate on this event were similar, if not the same as what is regularly served on the menu at Public House. This was their first event like this (although the plan is to make it more regular), so they decided to make it easier on themselves by keeping with the basic foods they already serve. All paired with Spanish and South American wines.

We started with Cava and Ceviche. The fish lovely and fresh and delightfully limey. It was served drier than a lot of ceviches are, which made it the perfect canapĂ© presentation. Cava is my go-to bubbly, I find it much easier to drink and full-bodied than a lot of sparklings – not to mention a cheaper option compared to Champagnes! The fruit/sweet/dryness is balanced and refreshing.

We were then seated, long-table style and presented with the first wine and some guacamole and house-made corn chips. Both were fabulous. My brother enjoys this guac, despite really not liking avocado. But it’s perfectly seasoned and also with a nice limey/chilli kick which flavoured it enough for him. The chips were some of the best I’ve had. The perfect crunch, with a slight oiliness to them from the frying. Not enough to grease your fingers, just enough to flavour the tortilla.
 
Dining With the Skamp - Public House Argentinian Lamb Feast - Eat Drink Perth
Dining With the Skamp - Public House Argentinian Lamb Feast - Eat Drink Perth
Dining With the Skamp - Public House Argentinian Lamb Feast - Eat Drink Perth

All dishes were presented family-style – with share platters placed down for folks to dig in. A bit difficult when sharing with strangers, as you have to politely negotiate your “share” – but sharing food is the best way to start friendships, so it isn’t long before you are chatting with the folks around you. Entrees were Smoked Lamb Sausage with Burnt Lime, Brazilian Espresso and Treacle Lamb Ribs and Lamb, Mushroom and Truffle Empanada. I think the stand-out dish here was the Lamb Ribs, partly because of presentation – a paint brush for adding extra sauce! But also because the rich sauce was so moreish. The coffee and treacle was a perfect match, with the treacle providing a mildly sweet counterpoint to the bitter richness of the coffee. It was sticky and dark, rather than sweet like a lot of BBQ style rib sauces. Definitely different! The Sausage was flavoursome and not overwhelmingly oily, which puts me off of a lot of sausages. The burnt lime cutting through the smoked meat perfectly. The lamb and mushroom empanada simple, but well-balanced. The filling rich, the pastry flaky and buttery.

The timing of the main meats and side dishes was a little off. The Spit Roast Lamb Shoulder came out and we divvied it up. When that was gone, the Chimmi Lamb Back Strap with Beetroot and Goat’s Curd came out, as well as all 3 sides together (Baby Cos, Crispy Onion, Horse Radish,, Tomato, Palm Heart and Smoked Mozarella, Local Greens, Pisco Raisins, Brazil nut). By this point we were stuffed to the brim…and then the Charred Lamb Rack & Onion Textures came out. At the end of the whole meal, we were asked for feedback, again mentioning this was the first time they were trying something like this, and I mentioned this, so hopefully it was just them finding their function feet. The food was again, all delicious. The meats were perfectly cooked. Flavoursome and rich the way good lamb should be. Simply, but well seasoned to allow the meat to shine, but also using South American flavours. Smoke was present in all the flavours, and the smoked mozzarella, tomato and palm heart salad stood out to me as the best side. The sweet, rich and fresh elements were all present and played well together. As my husband pointed out to me, this smoked mozzarella also went well with the Chimmi Lamb Back Strap – more so than the softer flavoured Goat’s Curd it came with, and it ramped up the earthiness of the beets as well. Three reds were presented during this extended course, two of them Malbecs of entirely different styles. Both with the trademark body of a Malbec that paired brilliantly with the South American BBQ flavours. Sadly, I was so distracted by the eating that I forgot to take photos. But it was also beautifully presented.
 
Dining With the Skamp - Public House Argentinian Lamb Feast - Eat Drink Perth

We were thankfully given a mini-break to finish our reds and rest a little before the dessert wine and desserts were brought out. There is always room for dessert – but the rest of the servings were incredibly generous, and tasty enough for you to not want to be stingy on your serves. The dessert wine was a hugely floral Moscatel, that paired particularly well with the lime and lemon curd dark chocolate tart. The citrus and flowers was delicious. This was my favourite dessert. The dulce de leche parfait was also spot on, sweet and creamy. The brownie was fairly dry and definitely needed the apricot compote that it came with.
 
All in all, it was a very good meal. The staff were lovely and attentive, and despite finding their footing a little, it was an ultimately well executed long table dinner. We enjoyed it so much, we stayed on for a coffee to finish off the night. It’s a shame that this end of the city is so quiet on Saturday nights, as at the end of the meal, we were the only ones left in the restaurant

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Fancy Brunch Canapes - Enoki Tacos with Orange Hollandaise

Fancy Brunch Canapes - Enoki Tacos with Orange Hollandaise

Most weekends, I try to do something a little different for breakfast. Oats is a work day food, so the weekend needs to be a bit more playful! That'll mean different things, depending on time, how much I need to do grocery shopping, how much I'm feeling the night before...that sort of thing. I woke up on Saturday hungry - but not knowing what I feel like. Lance is generally unhelpful when you ask him what he wants for meals. "Whatever you feel like making", is a fairly common response. I was at a loss for ideas, so I looked in the fridge for inspiration.

5 egg yolks that needed using fairly soon. Half a packet of enoki mushrooms. Half a packet of tortillas. Bam! Inspired. I would whip up a Hollandaise sauce, adding orange from the few ripe ones recently fallen from our tree. I'd sautee up the mushrooms with a few fresh herbs. And I'd make tacos. For fun and presentation, I cut mini tortillas out of the larger sized ones before toasting a little of the stale out of them. Like this, they make a wonderful canape. Elegant and simple. But you can be lazy and have normal sized tacos if that's more your speed. Or you can make your own smaller sized ones to start with.

Either way, start to finish, this takes around 10 minutes to make, and is a bloody delicious way to start the day, if I do say so myself. (Lance said so too, if that sways you!)

And if you are serving this for brunch, a glass of bubbles to drink with it certainly wouldn't go astray!
Fancy Brunch Canapes - Enoki Tacos with Orange Hollandaise
Fancy Brunch Canapes - Enoki Tacos with Orange Hollandaise
Fancy Brunch Canapes - Enoki Tacos with Orange Hollandaise


Orange Hollandaise Sauce

5 egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tsp Tabasco sauce
1/2 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
zest from 1 orange
6 tablespoons softened butter

Set up a double-boiler with a small saucepan with a few inches of water, and a glass bowl for the top that won't touch the water. Bring the water to a simmer while you whisk together the egg yolks until lightened in colour and thickened, about 2 minutes. Whisk in the salt, Tabasco sauce, orange zest and orange juice until well combined.

Place the glass bowl over the simmering water and whisk. The eggs will lighten and thicken to a custard like consistency. One tablespoon at a time, whisk in the butter, allowing it to fully incorporate before adding the next one.

Take off the heat, taste for seasoning - adding extra salt or Tabasco as required. Cover and set aside.
Fancy Brunch Canapes - Enoki Tacos with Orange Hollandaise


Enoki Mushroom Tacos

1/2 packet of Enoki mushrooms
small handful snow pea shoots
small handful of basil leaves
bunch of coriander, finely choppeed
1 spring onion, finely sliced
to serve
5 tortillas
Orange Hollandaise Sauce
smoked paprika for dusting

Heat a non-stick frypan to medium heat. Chop the bottom off of the enoki mushrooms and discard. Separate the clumps a little. If making mini-tacos, cut the enoki in half. Add the mushrooms and spring onion. Stir frequently witha wooden spoon, breaking the mushrooms apart more as you go.

When the mushrooms are wilted and browning slightly, add the basil leaves, coriander and snow pea shoots. Stir well to combine and take off the heat.

Serve the mushroom mix on a tortilla with a generous dollop of orange hollandaise sauce and dust with smoked paprika.
Fancy Brunch Canapes - Enoki Tacos with Orange Hollandaise
Fancy Brunch Canapes - Enoki Tacos with Orange Hollandaise

Thursday, April 9, 2015

Going Green - Chimichurri, Pumpkin Seed and Greek Yoghurt Dressing

Going Green - Chimichurri, Pumpkin Seed and Greek Yoghurt Dressing
Going Green - Chimichurri, Pumpkin Seed and Greek Yoghurt Dressing

The first time I made this was the end of February. This time of year is when my desire for outrightly healthy meals kicks in. From my birthday in November, through all of the parties of Christmas and New Year (and NYEEEE) and our dating anniversary and Lance’s birthday and every other excuse under the sun we can think of to indulge in decadent meals and lots of booze means we get to mid February and both Lance and I think – hey, remember when we used to keep it simple and just have grilled meat and salad for dinner. Without wine. Or a beer. Or snacks. Back when our portion sizes were reasonable? Maybe we should do that again for a while. The fact that this thought might have occurred after a long weekend which involved a 9 course wine-matched degustation that we added a 10th dish and 10th wine to because there was an extra dish we just had to have is surely a coincidence. Not to mention the daily ice creams (or two). And cheese platters. And wine.

 And we're eating again now after the 4-day chocolate feast that is Easter!

Tuesday night’s dinner was a grilled steak and this salad, with a wonderful dressing drizzled over everything. An abundance of bright herby chimichurri flavours all blended up with toasted pumpkin seeds and Greek Yoghurt, drizzled over tart mango, crunchy shoots and peas and juicy Lebanese cucumbers. It feels decadent whilst being totally healthy. Blackening the garlic in the pan first softens the garlicky punch and adds a lovely roasted flavour to the whole situation.

 
The dressing makes much more than you require, but it’ll do meals for around 3 days if refrigerated. As well as being a dressing, it’s also a delicious sauce on baked potatoes, or stirred through quinoa or your favourite grain.

 
Going Green - Chimichurri, Pumpkin Seed and Greek Yoghurt DressingGoing Green - Chimichurri, Pumpkin Seed and Greek Yoghurt Dressing

Going Green - Chimichurri, Pumpkin Seed and Greek Yoghurt Dressing
Going Green - Chimichurri, Pumpkin Seed and Greek Yoghurt Dressing

Chimichurri, Pumpkin Seed and Greek Yoghurt Dressing

½ cup pumpkin seeds
4 cloves garlic
2 bunches coriander (about 2 cups roughly chopped)
Bunch parsley (about 2 cups roughly chopped)
Salt and pepper
7 big gloops of Greek Yoghurt (around 200g)
¼ cup water (for thinning)
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Green Mango Salad

1 underripe mango (you want it to be sliceably firm, and a tart)
Handful bean shoots
Handful snow peas, topped and tailed, then thinly sliced
1 cucumber, peeled into ribbons – seed middle discarded

Going Green - Chimichurri, Pumpkin Seed and Greek Yoghurt Dressing
Going Green - Chimichurri, Pumpkin Seed and Greek Yoghurt Dressing
Going Green - Chimichurri, Pumpkin Seed and Greek Yoghurt Dressing
Going Green - Chimichurri, Pumpkin Seed and Greek Yoghurt Dressing


Friday, April 3, 2015

Easter Treats - Spiced Honey Buttermilk Buns

Easter Treats - Spiced Honey Buttermilk Buns
Easter Treats - Spiced Honey Buttermilk Buns

We have a few very strong holiday food traditions in my family. Firstly, we have Christmas Biscuits. These are a traditional Estonian biscuit, sort of like gingerbread but soooo much better! They are a heavily guarded family secret recipe. And you are only allowed to make and eat them at Christmas (much to my husband’s dismay!)

And for Easter, we have Pasha. Pasha is a sweet lemon and vanilla cream cheese, designed to go on sweet yeast breads, such as Hot Cross Buns. It is a smooth and airy cream cheese, made by whipping a few types of cream cheese together, and adding the flavouring ingredients. The lemon makes it feel light and moreish, but it is so creamy and decadent still.

These buns here are the perfect base for Pasha, if you don’t want to go the Hot Cross Bun route. They are lightly spiced, soft and slightly sweet. They go equally well slathered in butter and jam. Or jam and cream. Or honey and ricotta. Or my Chocolate Halva Spread. You know, if you don’t have a secret family recipe for Pasha. Eat them warm, straight from the oven (after allowing to cool enough to handle!), or halve and toast them like you would a hot cross bun.

These buns are barely adapted from the Honey Buttermilk bread on Local Milk. I’ve merely added spices to make them more festive, and swapped out some of the flour for Rye Flour. I love rye bread, and I love the extra nutty/sweet flavour dimension it gives these buns. I also lazily use my KitchenAid to do all the kneading.

I find this dough is also good to leave the second rise overnight, and you can bake them fresh for the morning. Simple form the buns, then loosely cover with plastic wrap. Place in the fridge overnight. In the morning, remove the plastic wrap, brush with egg and place in the oven while it’s heating up. They will still take around 40 minutes from when your oven reaches temperature, but if they start to get too brown before they’re ready, cover the tray with foil for the last 10 minutes or so.

Enjoy! Happy Easter!
Easter Treats - Spiced Honey Buttermilk Buns
Easter Treats - Spiced Honey Buttermilk Buns
Easter Treats - Spiced Honey Buttermilk Buns
Easter Treats - Spiced Honey Buttermilk Buns


Spiced Honey Buttermilk Buns

(adapted from Local Milk)
(makes 12 small buns)
¼ cup warm water
1 tsp sugar
2 ¼ tsp yeast
1 ½ cups buttermilk
1/3 cup honey
3 tbsp butter
1 tsp salt
1 ½ cups rye flour
3 cups plain flour
1 ½ tsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp cloves
¼ tsp nutmeg
1 egg, lightly beaten for brushing

Mix the warm water with the sugar and add the yeast. Set aside to get frothy for 10 minutes.
In the bowl of your standmixer, mix together the two flours, spices and salt.

In a saucepan over a low heat, melt the butter, then add the honey and buttermilk. Keep over the heat until the buttermilk is warm. Not hot, else the buttermilk will separate, just warm. Take off the heat and stir through the yeast mixture.

Pour the buttermilk mix into the flour and, with the dough hook attached, start kneading into a dough. Leave it kneading for 5-10 minutes, adding extra plain flour 1 tbsp at a time if the dough is sticky. It’s ready when it forms a firm ball.

Grease a large bowl lightly, and place the dough in. Turn to coat the other side with oil too, then drape a clean tea towel over it and leave it in a warm place to rise for 1 ½ - 2 hours, or until doubled in size.

Grease a lamington tray. When the dough has doubled, punch down to remove the air. Divide into two equal balls. Re-cover half of the dough, and divide the other half into 6 equal balls. Roll into neat balls between your palms and place in the tray, spacing them a little. Do the same with the second half of dough.

Set aside to rise again, this time for 40 minutes or so, until doubled. They’ll probably all be touching now. That’s good. Brush with egg.


Heat the oven to 170C and bake for 40 minutes, or until toasty and golden on top, and hollow sounding when you tap the bottom. Allow to cool for a few minutes before slathering with butter, or pasha!

Easter Treats - Spiced Honey Buttermilk Buns
Easter Treats - Spiced Honey Buttermilk Buns
Easter Treats - Spiced Honey Buttermilk Buns
Easter Treats - Spiced Honey Buttermilk Buns
Easter Treats - Spiced Honey Buttermilk Buns