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)

So when my sister suggested we make a trip to the Gold Coast to go to Max Brenner I jumped at the chance. I had heard to expect a wait – 30 minutes or more. This is how popular he is. How exciting, I thought! We got there, and thankfully didn’t have to wait at all. We ordered at the counter and were served by a cute happy gay fellow who happily took our order. In fact, all the staff seemed to be really glad to be working there. Not one of them looked like they didn’t want to be there. They were all positively glowing whenever they gave us our order, or even when being asked for a bottle of water.  I guess when you’re working for a chocolate company this would be fairly easy, but it certainly was refreshing.

The fit out is dark – chocolatey-brown dark, hence why all my photos are blurry! But it was a great place to sit and enjoy the food.

They had huge vats of warmed chocolate in the middle of the cafe with thick tubes to make it look like the chocolate was being siphoned off into the kitchen at the back.

When we received our order of Fondue, both dark and milk melted chocolate with portions of marshmallow, banana bread, banana and strawberries,  my daughter, 20months old,  almost lost it – “OOOOHHH!!” and grabbed for the plate. I immediately thought she would grab for the big pots of melting chocolate (as I would have done) but she quickly grabbed a strawberry and popped the whole thing in her mouth! (Yay! My kid digs fruit – over and above chocolate!)

The ‘Chocolate Souffle’ was delicious, but really it wasn’t a souffle, more like a chocolate fondant, or Lava cake. I ordered a peanut-butter chocolate thickshake, the flavour was fantastic, but SO rich, like drinking pure cream! It was served in a specially designed milkshake ceramic cup with a hole for the straw, very cute!

My sister ordered a white chocolate chai and it came out in a plastic teapot with no spout. We asked for help with pouring it: this fancy contraption fits over the top of the glass and when you press it onto the lip the tea pours through a filter and out through the bottom of the pot. Genius! But not at all intuitive. I had a taste of the chai, and it was definitely my favourite of what we had ordered.

Max also stocks a number of take home chocolates in gorgeous and fun packaging. I purchased a simple slab of semi-dark chocolate. I actually found that Max Brenner chocolate is a lot nicer as a melted version (as in the fondue) than a solid block.

If you’re a fan of chocolate and design you’ll love Max. But I was hoping for a little bit more mystery. I was hoping to need a secret handshake or a nod and a wink to enter through a heavy wooden door, but really, it was a great experience, one I would like to try again, but maybe next time not order so much!

There is a Max opening in Southbank very shortly, and… there are whispers that we may be blessed with another at Chermside… but that is just a rumour… they are just so irresistible!

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.

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.

Radishes are brilliant – and here’s why:

1.  First of all, when you sow the seeds of radishes within about 3 days you can see growth. This is so much faster than anything else in the garden, which can sometimes take up to 3 or 4 weeks! We sow them fairly close together in a big bunch.

2.  As soon as they start to show their sprout leaves you can eat them, roots and all. They’re really fresh and peppery and are a great addition to salads and sandwiches. The stem has a lovely pink hue.

3.  Pick sprouts from all across the plot when ever you feel like a feed - this way you’ll progressively thin out the crop, which will leave more space for the ones you left in to grow bigger.

4.  Once they start growing their very small true leaves you can still nibble on them – Just pinch off any hairy leaves

5.  After a while the radish bulbs will start to bulge just under the surface of the soil. Pick through the plot to find the biggest radishes… and leave the smaller ones… progressively thinning, thinning, thinning the crop. We have often found ourselves standing in the garden, sifting through the plants, pulling one out, wiping it on our shirts and eating them right then and there. It’s a true pleasure.

We have had our radishes in for about 5 weeks and we’ve eaten more than half already! They are absolutely the easiest thing to grow and I recommend giving them a go in a small patch of ground, add some compost, a bit of fertilizer, a very thin covering of mulch and you’ll be laughing!

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. 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.

This year, I decided that one of my goals would be to try as many new beers as possible. What an exciting prospect! I have set off with a cracking start to 2010, ordering anything I can find at bars that is unfamiliar – along the way, I have tried locals, such as Burgleigh Brewing Co’s “Big Head“, and international beers, such as the Fourex of Finland, “Lapin Kulta“, and the more adventurous Finnish “Prykmestar Savu” (smoke beer). And by happy fortune, I went along to a beer tasting at the Platform Bar with my friend Mikael, where I enjoyed my first Stone & Wood Draught Ale, and met Beer Matt, the beer-obsessed genius behind Good Beer Lunches.

Matt’s imparted wisdom stepped up my 2010 New Beer Pledge to whole new level, and since meeting him, I have spent increasing amounts of time at Nectar, Grand Central’s Platform Bar (Brisbane’s best-kept boutique beer-serving secret), and the quite new Archives Beer Boutique Bistro in West End. I have ALSO spent a whole lot more time at various beer tastings – including one of Matt’s mouth-wateringly awesome Good Beer Lunches. You take three courses of delectable food, match them with a variety of beers, slather on a healthy dash of beer education, and you have a recipe for Sunday afternoon success.

Matt’s lunches and tastings are friendly and fun, and he welcomes both beer novices and beer buffs. Jovial and unpretentious, he happily answers all questions that are thrown at him (those that he knows the answers to, anyway), and urges guests to make up their own minds about what they like, what they don’t like, and the sorts of flavours and smells they experience in the beers.

On this particular afternoon, we enjoyed our Good Beer Lunch at the Platform Bar. The beers and food were as follows – and thanks to Matt for letting me steal bits from his tasting notes!

Stone & Wood Draught Ale on arrival
This beer is really enjoyable, and has a fresh, fruity (passionfruit) flavour. Yummo! Would be a great beer on a hot summer day!

Schöfferhofer Hefeweizen matched with Scallops with Tomato Salsa
Schöfferhofer is a cloudy wheat beer from Germany, made cloudy by the “hefe”, or wheat. I’ve had this one before and it’s absolutely sensational! Wheat beer is my favourite variety of beer! It was incredibly light and fresh with the minimalist flavour of the scallops.

Stone & Wood Stone Beer matched with Slow-Cooked Lamb Shanks
The Stone Beer is a dark lager made using the medieval technique of adding red hot stones to the brew kettle to assist with the boil. The hot stones caramelise the sugars and enhance the toffee flavours – which matched the  juicy, sweet, lamb shanks nicely. Incidentally, the lamb shanks were incredible.

Little Creatures Pale Ale with Louisiana Cajun Chicken on Sweet Potato Cake
The Little Creatures is an American-style Pale Ale. I have two things to say of this course: firstly, the chicken breast was a little dry and stringy, which overly-enhanced the spices that I think might otherwise have been quite succulent with a bit of a subtle kick. Secondly, I was pretty inebriated from all the beer up to this point, so I really don’t have a proper assessment of the matching for you! Suffice to say, though, having drunk it a few times since, this beer  has a decent amount of bitterness for a pale ale, and is quite enjoyable.

Coopers Best Extra Stout matched with Chocolate Cake, Ice Cream and Strawberry
I really enjoyed this beer. With beautiful coffee and chocolate flavours, the chocolate cake and ice cream cut nicely through the intense bitterness.

BrewBoys Seeing Double to finish!
Wow. What a crazy, crazy beer! Very few people liked this one, but I absolutely loved it! The flavour is quite literally that of blue cheese – well, blue cheese and bitters. It was marvellous! I love really gutsy flavours in beer, wine, food, and cheeses, and so this was a real treat for me. Give it a go if you’re feeling game!

So a great afternoon of beer and food! I had a fantastic time, and so did my friends who came along, all of us with different interests in beer.  I can highly recommend you head along to one in the near future. They’re great value for money, and you’ll learn a lot about beer, regardless of how much you’ve tried in the past.

Matt also runs plenty of other events, including Beer 101 classes, and the monthly Back Alley Beer Club, which features several beers from a single brewery each month.  I attended one of these last Friday, where we were privileged to enjoy a variety of beers from the Kiuchi Brewery in Japan. This evening was another big wow, because, boy do they brew em’ strong in Japan.  With a Belgian style white ale(5%), a ginger ale (7%), a beer brewed from rice (8%), an India pale ale (8%), and an unusual Belgian strong ale (7%) it’s suffice to say that Friday night was very festive night indeed!

I can’t recommend Matt’s tastings enough. Check out his upcoming events by going to Good Beer Lunches, or get the latest on beer internationally and locally by going to Australian Brews News.’

Also, the Brisbane Brewer’s Festival will be happening over the weekend of July 16-18, so if you’d like to get to know beers and their brewers a bit better, there are a range of events happening throughout the weekend which you can read about at Good Beer Lunches. Matt is hosting the opening night on the Friday at Grand Central Hotel, and Archives in West End are also running an event for the festival too.

Finally, on another bottle-related note, don’t forget about our “Win a Mixed Case of Punt Road Cider” competition that we are running until the end of July! All you need to do is comment on any post before the end of July with your Name and Brisbane Suburb, and the most interesting one will land the case! Check out the details here.

PS – excuse the average photos. It’s hard to take photos after a few good beers!

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.