.I get excited when I meet people with a strong passion for what they do.  Restaurateurs are some of the most passionate people I’ve had the pleasure to encounter. Every ounce of creativity and drive goes into transforming the seed of their idea and vision into a memorable experience for their patrons. They want you to enjoy your experience. Kingsley’s is no different. They strive for excellence and have a team of competent and ambitious people to steer it in the right direction.

CHECK OUT THE COMPETITION AT THE END OF THIS ARTICLE!!

Situated right on the river on Eagle St, the restaurant has an opulent outlook across the water to the Storey Bridge.  The fitout has a slight art-deco feel with low pendant lights and train-carriage style booths in one corner, a semi-private dining room, and large indoor and outdoor dining areas. This is a perfect place for a business lunch or a fairly formal dinner with friends.

Matt Yurko, Head Chef, is celebrity chef material. Unfortunately, another chef has already trademarked the first name and haircut! To quote their website “Matt brings to Kingsleys an old school style of cheffing, combining discipline, technique and tradition…” and this was simply quite noticeable by seeing him speak.

The entree was a selection of bites from their  menu.

Clockwise from top left:

Steak Tartare - my first taste of tartare. It was buttery and tender. A nicely balanced dressing accompanied it

A prawn dish with scheschwan salt – smoky and delicious with the accompanying wine

Kingfish sashimi with blood orange – a big nugget of dense flesh, zesty and fresh

Natural oyster – need I say more.

Bloody Mary oyster shot – I could have a dozen of these.

Tempura oyster with wakami and roe – Julia very much enjoyed this one

It was all balanced on moistened salt and a cucumber slice to stop it from teetering on the plate - I’ll definitely try this technique at home!

We were asked what our favourite was – and we simply couldn’t choose. It was all very well excecuted.

Next up were the Alaskan King Crab Legs with mayonnaise and a lemon wedge

Before                                                                              and after.

Fresh, sweet, salty. Naturally a stringy meat but very tender. It tasted pure, and the mayonnaise was very light and not at all cloying.

Well, since I put Julia’s mug in there I better put mine in too!

Main. A choice between T-Bone, Rib eye and Striploin. I chose the rib-eye and it was nice and tender. All steaks were served with a red wine jus, on a bare plate….

…with sides to share. This concept always makes me enjoy eating with friends more. Blanched beans served with toasted flaked almonds, brocollini, a salad of baby spinach, beetroot and fetta and thick cut chips.

And sir, madam, would you like some mustard with your steak? The horseradish made my eyes water!

Cheese time – and it was probably time for me to make more effort with my photos! A few good wines will do that to you. The blue cheese was my favourite by far (which surprises me everytime!) and the gooey, inhouse-made quince paste was a perfect match with the soft cheese.

 Kingsley’s Steak and Crabhouse knows their stuff.  They know what they want and they’re going for it. Belinda, our host for the evening, welcomed our group, a tableful of food writers and bloggers, by sincerely telling us why she invited us. To engage not just the traditional media, but to start to use social networking and engage the new media. Word of mouth is, afterall, one of the best marketing strategies. Belinda and the whole team have a strong passion for what they do and what they want to acheive.

Something I’ve started to notice at these blogger dinners is the food and service we recieve is impeccable, which is understandable given they hope we will write lovely things about them. But sometimes that standard is not always acheived for other patrons, and there will always be a few nasty ranting reviews online somewhere about even the best restaurants. I think it’s important to remember that most restaurants strive for a high standard, but may not get there because they’re  just SO busy that night, or other factors. To reach the quality we experienced this night, most restaurants want feedback, not nasty rude rants anonymously online, they want constructive criticism – how else will they ever improve? This is something Kingsley’s asked for on the night, but it was hard to fault them.

 At the end of the night Kingsley’s provided us all with a goodie bag full of delicious treats, including A summit “The Pinnacle” White wine, which proudly displays Matt Yurko’s recipe for Mooloolaba Prawns with Scheswan Salt.  I’ll have a go at cooking that recipe soon and having the matched wine with it. Also included in the pack was a 700g aged rib steak, elegantly packaged in a box displaying comic-strip style drawings that my Dad would happily have a chuckle at. I half-near killed the damn thing by cooking it for a little too long and it was still deliciously tender. And there is nothing better than that caremelised flavour of seared beef fat on a good steak.

We served it with a Raspberry Jus - Recipe as follows:

Rest the steak in alfoil once you’ve cooked it in a pan, and save the juice from the steak, but pour some of the oil away. In the dirty steak pan drop in a good teaspoon of raspberry jam and stir it around over a medium heat. Add the pan juices to deglaze the pan and a good crack of pepper.  No need for any salt as there will be enough in the steak juices from when you seasoned the steak. Strain the raspberry seeds out and serve with the steak.

Well, enough of this teasing… One lucky reader will WIN not one, but 2 x Rib on the Bone steaks, a bottle of The Pinnacle white wine (with that fancy prawn recipe emblazoned on the back) and a very sturdy waiter’s friend corkscrew!

Kingsley’s was very generous and is sponsoring this competition – Thank you!

The competition will be open to Brisbane residents (or people looking for a sunshine-filled Queensland holiday  – what a great excuse huh!) and of course you must be aged 18 or above. The prize is to be picked up from Kingsley’s direct.

So, please tell us, What is your favourite accompaniment with steak?

We’d love to know – tell us a good story (we love a good yarn!) and the best comment wins! The comp will run until Friday the 24th September, and you can comment on any post.

Remember to leave your email address when you add the comment, and add the words “I LIKE STEAK” in the comment field - so we know you want the steak!

Yeah – me too. Not a pretty picture is it. Actually, it’s so unpretty that I want to show you something. This is what you get when you google images for  ‘leftover silverside’

H-ORRIFYING

So, when my brain stopped working and google stepped in, which is often the way in this fancy new century, I was a little bit scared. I had a big hunk of leftover silverside sitting there in the fridge, and no idea how to proceed. There was no way I was going to put any of those creations up there in my mouth.

Until I spotted a little picture of a taco. For the last few months Mexican food has been my go-to food. I am in love with the fresh flavours and the simplicity of it all. I figured it should work! Also, a few months ago in the first edition of the Masterchef magazine there was a Curtis Stone recipe for Tacos that used white cabbage instead of lettuce.

Revelation!

Try it – you won’t be disappointed. So I’ve used that idea here. When preparing the salad ingredients I was tossing up as to how  I would serve up the silverside. Cold or Warm? I decided to cut it into thin strips then heat it in the pan, just until warmed through. But it started to get a bit of colour on it – and I had a brain wave (Take that Google! It still works!)

BEEF BACON!

Bacon is cured Pork.

Silverside is cured Beef!

Why hadn’t I thought of that before? Why, given the bacon-fueled bacon madness that the food world is experiencing, have the savvy silverside manufacturers not begun marketing it as such?

Of course, it doesn’t have that pork flavour, and not at all as salty - but a great beefy, subtle saltiness that really suited the mexican food.

Ingredients

A hunk of left-over silverside/corned beef – sliced thinly into strips and fried in a bit of olive oil until lovely and crispy and brown

Tortillas - heat them up on a hot frypan about 20 seconds a side

1/4 head of cabbage - VERY finely shredded

couple of carrots, sliced SUPER thinly – julienned

avocado – chopped, with a squirt of lime juice over it and salt and pepper

Tomato, thinly sliced

Any other vegetables that you desire - capsicum is a good one

Coriander/cilantro/mint/parsley

A bit of cheese maybe

Limes - you’ve gotta have limes!

Cholula Hot Sauce

OR

Tajin Chili Powder  (if you can find it – I was given a bottle by a Mexican friend, but i’m going to go searching once I run out! )

OR

Charred Salsa

OR

Anything!

Method

Chuck it all together, squeeze over some lime, drizzle some hot sauce and use your hands!

By the way – For the first iteration of Silverside – I served it with my honey mustard white sauce! (one of the first recipes I posted on i8b.) Delicious!

I posted on porridge a little while back and I thought I’d found the secret formula. But alas I was wrong. THIS is the best way to eat porridge!

LEMON BUTTER AND STRAWBERRIES!! It is SO tasty!

I add a teaspoon of honey and a few drops of vanilla to the oats, then spread a tablespoon of lemon butter over the top, add strawberries and some dry pan roasted almonds on top. A bit of banana is good too.

WOW.

I bought this lemon butter from the Kelvin Grove Markets. It’s made by Ken and Dot Windolf, out at Laidley. They’re number is 07 5465 1899. It’s lovely and fresh and tangy.

Kitchen Garden update!  I would love to say that the strawberries atop my porridge were from my garden, but sadly no… but! We have one lovely glossy red strawberry in our garden that will hopefully be ready tomorrow! I hope we get to eat it before the possums do!

It got me thinking. Most of the food we eat that tastes brilliant is the food that has love stirred in. Simple food is turned into mega-stars by giving it some love and energy. That’s why a lot of fast food really just sucks. It could taste great. A home-made hamburger can be to die for and I can imagine some southern deep-fried chicken the way momma used to make would have been super tasty. But the ‘Evil Clown and Feckless Chicken’ just don’t care, and as a result it tastes like cardboard soaked in kerosene.

So stir in a little love, a little magic and reap the rewards.

Spiced Chicken and Chickpea Individual Pies

Ingredients

2 Chicken Thighs, chopped

2/3cup each diced celery, carrot and sweet potato

2 medium red onions, sliced

4 cloves garlic, crushed

1 thumb of ginger, grated

1 can tomatoes

1 can chickpeas

2 tsp grainy mustard

sprinkle garam masala

1 tsp paprika

2 tbsp flour

1 cup stock

handful of herbs from the garden - savoury, thyme, oregano, rosemary, parsley etc.

Method

Use a “sticky” pan – i.e. NOT a non-stick pan. This is the secret to making a kick-arse pie filling. You want it all to stick to the bottom and go brown so you can scrape it up and add the flavour to the pie filling. It adds SO much flavour!

1. Caramelize the onions with some olive oil on medium heat until they’re nice and brown

2. Add the celery, carrot, sweet potato, ginger, garlic and cook on a high heat, stirring until looking cooked.

3. Add the chicken thigh and cook again, get it all nice and brown, scraping the bottom of the pan

4. Add the drained and rinsed chickpeas

5. Add the spices, mustard, and fry off for a bit then add the flour and mix and scrape the pan until the raw flour taste is cooked out. You want it to be nice and brown. (seeing a theme here? Nice and Brown!)

6. Add the tomatoes and stock and herbs, stir through and then let simmer until really thick. It will stick to the bottom, keep scraping it off as you go. Let it get nice and thick.

This makes enough for 4 big individual pies. I halved it and put the leftovers in a zip lock bag in the freezer – it’s like a free meal a month later!

7. Heat the oven to 180 degrees. Put the pie filling in a dish and pop a puff pastry lid on top. Brush with egg wash and bung it in the oven. Serve with steamed vegetables (we served it with sauteed kale from our garden)

The idea for the recipe (mainly the lemon) came from a Donna Hay cookbook. So, thank you for inspiring this dish Ms Hay!

Ingredients serves 1 or 2 people

1 small very fresh zucchini

about 8 radishes

handful of lettuce (I used the lovely butter lettuce seedlings from the garden)

1 lemon, cut in half

salt and pepper

sprig of garden mint

a glug of good olive oil

Method

Put the lemon on a hot ridge grill, cut side down until it becomes caramelised

Meanwhile use a bean peeler to thinly slice the zucchini, cut the radish finely and arrange in a bowl with all the other ingredients. Toss.

Serve with the lemon wedges on the side, perhaps with some crusty bread to soak up the dressing.

I’ve also used radish sprouts instead of radishes in this salad

COMPETITION REMINDER!! We have a mixed case of 24 bottles of Apple and Pear Cider to give away from Punt Road Wines. To enter, all you have to do is write a comment on ANY post on iatebrisbane and add your suburb name in the comment. Open to Brisbane (and surrounds) entrants only (could you imagine the international shipping fees on a case of cider?!). Check out the details and the tricky little fine print here.

I didn’t have any pate for the wellington, so I thought this mix would work instead - it sure did! It was so flavoursome and smooth.

Ingredients – Makes 2

1 large portobello mushroom, finely diced
1/2 brown onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic
a sprig of Thyme
handful almonds
salt and pepper

2 sheets of Puff Pastry

2 quite small beef rump steaks (less than 100g each)  – preferably organic

Method

1. Add a little butter or oil to a pan and add the onions and garlic. Cook on a medium-low heat until caramelised and brown. Add the mushrooms and cook until they sweat and most moisture evaporates.
2. In a food processor, or with stick blender, buzz the almonds until they become almond meal. Buzz it for a minute longer until it starts to get sticky (the oils are starting to be released)
3. Add the sticky almond meal to the pan, with about a 1 tbsp of water, salt and pepper, stir until it turns into a smooth paste then turn off the heat. Set it aside to cool.

4. Brush the steaks with a little oil and season.
5. In a very hot pan sear every side of the steaks, quite quickly – you don’t want to start cooking it. Just sealing the edges.  Take off the heat to rest.
6. Take the puff pastry sheet, cut out squares from each corner (like in that fuzzy out of focus photo down there)

7. smear the puff pastry with the mushroom mixture, top it with a steak then fold the edges of the pastry to seal.
8. Brush the whole top with egg wash.

9. Bake in the oven  at 180 degrees until the pastry is puffed and golden.

COMPETITION REMINDER!! We have a mixed case of 24 bottles of Apple and Pear Cider to give away from Punt Road Wines. To enter, all you have to do is write a comment on ANY post on iatebrisbane and add your suburb name in the comment. Open to Brisbane (and surrounds) entrants only (could you imagine the international shipping fees on a case of cider?!). Check out the details and the tricky little fine print here.

This is what we get every few months or so when the Food Bloggers of Brisbane get together to break bread, share stories and learn a thing or two about blogging, food and about each other. I love it. Blogging can be sometimes a little isolating. As I write this I sit in the back room of my house, we like to call it the ‘Library’, but really it’s just a junk room.  And I write. And I fiddle with photo post-processing, but the best bit is getting out there and finding things to write about. Cooking and gardening is wonderful, But sharing a meal with like-minded people is one of my favourite things about this blog. It has allowed me the opportunity to meet so many new and different people, with such varying backgrounds, but we’re all brought together by our love of food.

Tognini’s at Spring Hill very kindly offered to host us for the night. Their warm hospitality and homely meal made us feel so warm and calm after such a cold week here in Brisbane. Narelle Tognini, the owner (along with her husband Mark) of the 3 Tognini restaurants in Brisbane sat with us and shared the meal, which was a very communal affair, large, overflowing platters of slow-cooked, nurtured food was brought to the middle of the table and we all served each other.

The cheeses were specially selected by Narelle, who explained to us about each… while we all sat impatiently waiting for someone to take the first nibble of cheese! All three were delightful. The Italian Gorgonzola Dulce was the best blue I’ve ever tasted (I’m not much of a fan of blue cheese, so this was pretty amazing), a French soft (and very moreish) wash-rind cheese and Testun di Pecora Chestnut – a very hard sheep’s cheese wrapped, and flavoured, with chestnut leaves.

This is Narelle Tognini (by the way, fellow pronounciation-nazis! She vocalises the ‘g’ – i.e. it’s not silent!). She’s pretty amazing, and quite insprirational. She has worked hard at this business for 17 years and it’s paid off! Her passion for what she does shines through.

One of the mains was in-house hickory smoked chicken breast with Mediterranean vegetables and a delightfully soft polenta. The chef came out to let us know what was in it. Now, I do apologise Mr Chef, but you did tell a table-full of bloggers your recipe. So hence, I must spill the proverbial beans.

This is the recipe!

1 part polenta

2 parts milk

1 part cream

1 part…. butter.

and lots and lots of love.

My mouth waters as my arteries harden!

This was served with slow roasted kipfler potatoes and a simple rocket and parmesan salad.

Also served with the polenta dish was a mound of risotto, with mushrooms, peas and crumbled Italian sausage. Risotto is growing on me slowly. This was very rich but very flavoursome. We can only take a reasonable guess and surmise that the risotto was just as ‘healthy’ for us as the polenta!

Ok, so here’s a sneaky peak around in the fromagerie – the cheese room. Lordy look at those dairy delights! Truffle Infused Pecorino anyone? They also have a whole range of takeaway food, the “Turbo Range”. This is cooked in the restaurant kitchen and vacuum packed. Because the chefs are so creative the range changes constantly. You can pick up a gourmet meal and cook it yourself in under 10 minutes. They have a full complement of deli goods, something that is truly lacking here in Brisbane.

Dessert was a lovely and rich creme brulee with poached quince. It was quite dense but velvety.

To be honest, I don’t think I have EVER eaten so much dairy in one sitting before. The food was beautiful though and you could tell a lot of love and affection went into making it. I really felt like I could have been sitting around an old table in a sprawling backyard in a small Italian village, under a chestnut tree – with family and friends.

The scenery is breathtaking as well: this weekend, we were at Hinze Damn, were everything is lush, green and peaceful, and we idly chat away, paying little attention to the fishing, basking in the natural beauty. Best of all, though, is the catch: we take what we catch as a group back to the campsite (providing, of course, it’s of legal size and limit) to cook up to enjoy for dinner.

This year, we enjoyed plenty of bass amongst a group of about 30 anglers (Ellen, below, is posing as Rex Hunt with one of her catches), along with a massive haul of Red Claw Crayfish which were caught in traps by one of the fishermen. Red Claw are actually a pest species in Hinze Dam, having been introduced from up North, so you’re legally required NOT to release any you catch – which is fine with me, thankyou very much, because they taste absolutely sensational.  And we had such an overflow of Red Claw that I was able to bring some back with me to Brisbane, even after having fed an army of anglers the night before!

So what of these Red Claws? Well, I’ll apologise that I got them too late to get a photo of a whole one for you (they were almost all shelled by the time I arrived at camp) but I have included a photo that I found here so that you have an idea of how they look whole! 

Deep blue in colour, their bodies are about 10cm long, and the flavour is pretty similar to Moreton Bay Bugs – perhaps a tiny bit sweeter. When cooked, they are firm to the bite, but quite tender and succulent. And slather them in butter and garlic and you’re well on your way to a meal made in heaven. But tonight, I decided to use them in my favourite pasta dish. It’s simple, classic Italian flavours, it’s full of flavour, and it’s always a crowd pleaser. In fact, if you’re feeding a big group of people any time soon, I can highly recommend it, because you can use any shellfish you like, and it takes about 15 minutes to cook – yet it tastes as good as any meal that you might slave over for hours!

Preparing the Red Claw

1. Work on a stable surface.
2. Start by removing the head of the Red Claw by twisting it at the neck.
3. Place the Red Claw shell side up, flat on a chopping board.
4. With a large, very sharp knife, cut down the centre of the shell (bottom left photo, above), cutting all the way through. You will need two hands to do this, and quite a bit of pressure, so make sure you keep your fingers on your secondary hand well tucked under, so you don’t cut them off!
5. With both hands, “break” the shell apart. From here, the white flesh of the Red Claw meat will come away pretty easily from the shell with your fingers.

This method also works well for Moreton Bay Bugs, which are more expensive but much easier to source. Please note, though, that you don’t need to remove their heads before cutting, and that Bug shells are much tougher to cut through, so take extra care with your fingers!

It’s Red Claw Pasta Time!

• 50g butter
• 2-3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 tins whole roma tomatoes
• A splash of red wine
• 1 tsp sugar
• A handful of fresh basil leaves
• 300-500g Red Claw flesh (approx 0.5kg – 1kg of whole Red Claw flesh, more or less as you like!)
• Spaghetti, enough for 4 serves

1. Cook your spaghetti til al dente, rinse under cold water and set aside.
2. Heat butter and garlic in a large frying pan, until butter melts.
3. Add the Red Claw flesh, and cook until it becomes white and opaque, and just a little bit golden (don’t overcook! you want it nice and tender!)
4. Add the roma tomatoes, roughly breaking them apart with a wooden spoon, a good splash of red wine, and the sugar (which will help cook off the alcohol).
5. Take the basil, tearing it roughly in your hands, and add it to the pasta. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Simmer the sauce for about 5 minutes, and taste for seasoning.
7. Serve sprinkled with fresh basil and a good glass of red wine.
8. Buon appetito!

Serves 4. Recipe courtesy of my mum!

For those of you interested, this is the bass I caught – Hinze Dam bass are absolutely delish!

When I visited Finland there was always lots of rye bread to nibble on. The rye bread there was so moist and dense, hopefully I’ll be able to make some like that soon!

Ingredients I used today….

this was enough to feed 2 of us.

Dark rye bread, toasted or fresh (I got this rye bread from the Kelvin Grove Markets on Saturday)

1 stick celery, sliced

2 swiss brown mushrooms (or any mushroom)

small amount of red onion, sliced thinly

a few sweet spiced pickled gherkins, sliced

a few pickled onions, sliced

2 hard boiled eggs

some radishes from the garden

a few lettuce seedlings from the garden

a few sprigs of fresh dill

I made a ‘fake’ sour cream with:

3 parts no-fat greek yoghurt

1 part whole egg mayonaisse

1 part grainy mustard.

Then all you do is stack it all onto the pieces of rye whichever way you like, dip the celery and mushrooms into the creamy sauce and crunch down on the radishes.

My love affair with Finland started a few years earlier though and I have my old choir conductor, Sandra Milliken to thank for this. She also took a study-tour to Finland to learn new choral techniques and instantly fell in love with the country. She has been back many times, mainly in winter, to spend time with friends and write a number of choral songs for choirs to sing. Since then she taught the choir and me a number of Finnish choral pieces and about the Finnish culture. We became well known for our Finnish language singing (one of the hardest languages in the world to learn) and had the great honour to sing for the former-Prime Minister of Finland Paavo Lipponen when he made a trip out here. He said our pronunciation was impeccable!

Finland holds a lot of good memories for me. The choir spent time in Helsinki in the heart of winter where I fell in love with the wide cobbled streets, the open air markets and the cold, frozen harbour. We sang a concert in the “Rock Church” , carved out of the rock, where initially I felt like I was having an out-of-body experience while singing one of the more beautiful songs – it turned out to be a heavy case of jetlag! We then skipped up to a village an hour out of town for another concert. This is where I encountered karjalanpiirakat for the first time, on a table full of sweet treats as a snack during the rehearsal with our host-choir.

They had made a number of spiced biscuits and sweets, and also these pastries. At first they look like a sweet too, but they are quite savoury, earthy but very moreish. The filling is made simply of rice and milk and the pastry is made from rye flour. It is served with a mixture of chopped boiled egg and butter. They are extremely tasty, but if you are a staunchly patriotic Finn, you may not want to read the next bit… these pastries beg to be meddled with. A sweet version of a rice custard with cinnamon and a mixed berry compote on top would be divine. Or perhaps a mushroom ’risotto’ with a piece of prosciutto sandwiched between the pastry and filling. Maybe curried egg instead of plain egg on top… I will definitely be trying these again and having a play.

I worked from a few recipes for this but this turned out to be my version

Rice Filling

1 cup Water

1 cup Rice (I used medium-grain, some recipes call for ’shortgrain glutinous rice’ but it shouldn’t matter too much)

1 Litre Milk (or Soy Milk)

Pastry

1 cup Water

1 cup Flour (and a little bit extra)

1 1/2 cups rye flour (it took me 3 shops to find rye flour! You can get it at Woolworths)

1 1/2 tsp salt

Glaze

1/2 cup milk

1/6 cup butter

Eggy mixture

2 hard boiled eggs

2 tbsp butter, softened

Method

1.  Put the water and rice in a saucepan and cook for about 5-10 minutes until the water is absorbed.

2. Add the milk (it looks like HEAPS but it will absorb!) and simmer for about 50-60 minutes, stirring every once in a while until the consistancy of thick porridge. Add the salt and let cool.

3. Mix all the pastry ingredients in a bowl until you get a thick paste. Roll out into a sausage shape the ‘thickness of your wrist’ and cut it into 16 equal sections.

4. Roll out on a well floured surface until it’s about 20 cm in diameter and quite thin

5. If you want to be a bit OCD (or if you are just as bad as me at creating perfect rounds of pastry) trim the sides of the pastry to a perfect circle. For the mums out there – I found using an old lid from a formula tin worked PERFECTLY!

6. take a large spoonful of rice and press it onto the pastry in a oval shape. This is sticky work, you’ll need a clean teatowel to wipe your hands after you do this. Then fold the edges of the pastry over just the edge of the rice in a crimped pattern. It doesn’t have to look perfect.

7. Heat the milk and butter in a pan until boiling. Brush this mixture over the entire pastry and pop in an oven at over 250 degrees celcius (one recipe said 290 degrees! My oven doesn’t get that hot!!)

8. After about 10 minutes brush again with the milk mixture, Then continue to cook until they look golden.

9. Take the pastries out of the oven and brush again with the milk mixture and cover with a clean tea towel so the pastry softens.

10. Boil the eggs until hard, then cool.  (I cannot recommend more highly the contraption pictured above - it’s an “Egg Perfect Egg Timer” and you can get it from homewares shops. As it heats up the edge will change colour and will tell you when it is soft, medium or hard boiled. I’ve never had any surprises (or nasty greeny-grey yolks) when using this product) So… chop up the boiled eggs and mix with the softened butter.

11. Serve warm or cold with a spoonful of the egg mixture on top.

These are great for a snack during the day. We had ours for dinner with a bit of ham and a salad. I served these at work for morning tea last week and they were a hit! I’ve had  few requests for the recipe. Perhaps they might be the next macaron?