She provided us the recipe, which you can find in the comments of this page here. She made the mistake of saying they might need sweetening up - so my sweet-tooth went into overdrive and I amped up the sugar content probably by 3-fold. I got a bit crazy! But they were very lovely sugary cookies. It uses the the lavender leaves, which I was really excited about. Just before I was about to chop them up and pop them in the dough I chewed on a leaf. ‘HELL NO, I ain’t putting that in a sweet cookie’ I thought. They were very peppery indeed – so I used just a lot more of the flowers instead. I sort of regret making that decision now, the flavour was very subtle, so I think I’ll try it with the leaves next time, and might even try the leaves in a few savoury dishes too.

 I had the lovely opportunity to ice these cookies with a couple of young girls who were visiting. It was such a wonderful experience. It took us way over an hour to ice them, but we were all very proud of our efforts. I can’t wait until my daughter is old enough to help me out in the kitchen. I was a bit of a nazi though and made sure I did the letter cookies! I got a bit excited with the icing sugar and it turned out a bit thick. Stick to the recipe next time Sarah! That’s what they’re there for!! But, for my first attempt at Sugar Cookies, I think I went ok. I can’t wait to be at the Martha Stewart stage … although, I’m hoping to skip the jail time.

Cookies

100g Butter

75g Caster Sugar

175g Self-Raising Flour

Either 2 heaped tbsp of lavender leaves, or lavender flowers, or a mixture of both

Sugar, for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees

 1. Cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy

2. Add the flour and mix together until crumbly.

3. Wet your hands and knead the dough, continuing to wet your hands until the dough comes together. I think I would have added about a tablespoon all up.

4. Roll it out on a lightly floured surface

5. I put some sugar and lavender flowers into a mortar and pestle and mashed it together, then sprinkled it over the dough. I don’t think i’ll bother next time. But give it a go if you choose.

6.Cut with cookie cutters and put on baking paper, then in the oven for about 15 – 20 minutes or until lightly golden.

7. Leave to cool.

Royal Icing

1 Egg white

1 tsp lemon juice

1.5 cups pure icing sugar

1. Whisk the egg white and lemon juice together until just frothy

2. slowly add the sifted icing sugar, continually whisking until all combined.

3. To make purple icing add about equal quantities of cochineal and blue food colouring, SLOWLY SLOWLY!

4. Mix until a uniform colour then transfer it to a piping bag

5. Pipe the mixture onto the cooled cookies, leave to dry

So I’ve done a handful of baking projects recently and find it quite dissimilar to cooking. That sounds odd, but it’s definitely its own art. I feel like an alchemist weighing out each ingredient and adding it at the exact right moment. It’s really not my usual kitchen style – I’m a bit rough and ready. So, I just can’t help myself when it comes to playing around with a recipe.

I found a recipe, but didn’t have half the ingredients! So I winged it, and added other things instead. It turned out perfectly! The people at work thought it was pretty good too – they’re my baking guinea pigs! Mwah Ha ha ha! I’m sure they don’t mind – and it stops me from eating a whole kilo’s worth of cake in less than a day if I share it!

We seem to go through dozens of bananas a week these days – Josie is a fruit fanatic and it’s great to have them in a bowl in the middle of the house where we can grab a piece of fruit when we’re hungry – fruit is a really cheap snack too! So, when I get any sad, brown bananas I’ve been simply popping them straight into the freezer and letting them build up until I had enough for this recipe.

Ingredients and Method

Mix all these together in the biggest bowl:

1 cup flour
3/4 tsp bi-carb soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp psyllium husk (if you want to be a hippy like me, if not, just omit this and add a little less milk)

And then in another bowl chuck this together:
All chopped:
40g crystallised ginger
35g walnuts
20g almonds
40g choc chips

And in another bowl, whisk this together:

3/4 cup raw sugar
1/2 cup soy milk
1/2 cup olive oil

And yet another bowl mash:
3 very ripe bananas.

Now, into the first and biggest bowl mix together gently all the other mixtures one by one. Pour it into a greased and floured baking tin and chuck it in a moderate oven (180 degrees) to bake for about 60 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.

Share with friends.

So why do we use cutlery anyway?  It started off with the knife of course, slicing off chunks of food, stabbing them with the pointy end and shoving it in your gob. Then came the spoon – for all those not quite pick-up-able, not quite slurpable foods (Porridgefor instance). Then along came the fork. Once this happened, tableware became all rather fancy and then ‘the rules’ kicked in. I was speaking with a group of bloggers recently and Ms Strayed From The Table mentioned her partner does not enjoy going to upmarket restaurants because he simply doesn’t know what to do. I can understand this as some restaurants can be quite daunting. Yes, it is gratifying to experience lavish food and the traditions and rituals that surround it, but sometimes its just as pleasurable to enjoy simple food, eaten simply.

Ingredients

Ridiculous amounts of veges – cut up fairly small. Try: Eggplant, zucchini, capsicum, potato, sweet potato, beetroot, turnip, parsnip, carrot, mushrooms, swede, red onion, etc

Cloves of Garlic – as much as you want

Dukkah  - I use the Splendid Blends one from the Jan Power’s Markets in Brisbane. (3352 6855), or make your own with Sesame seeds, coriander seeds, hazelnuts, chick peas, cumin seeds, mint and salt and roast it all up.

Lamb backstrap or any red meat, Free-range preferably - Or leave this out completely

Cherry Tomatoes

Chopped Nuts (I used Chestnuts, but use whatever you have handy)

Fresh Rosemary sprig (Catherine was lovely and gave some to me from her garden. I’ve kept 4 sprigs of it in a glass of water on my window sill. They’ve started to grow roots – I’ll plant them in the garden in a month or so.)

Fresh Turkish bread or Lavash/Pita Bread. I bought mine from The Hills Bakery, 170 Patricks Road in Ferny Hills (0733515277) - They’ve got new owners, and truly this is a hidden gem of the bakery world. Worth a trip out to ‘The Hills’ to try their Fresh Rosemary Turkish Bread – just delicious. And if you want to have a good chat with a true foodie, definitely spark up a conversation with the owner.

 Method

1. Turn the oven onto 200 degrees Celcius. Put all the veges into a large oven dish with the whole cloves of garlic and rosemary. Sprinkle the dukkah on everything. Cover the tray with a lid or aluminium foil.  Chuck it in the oven. Wait until all veges are tender and a little brown (usually over an hour)

2. Brush the meat with a little oil on one side and press dukkah into the flesh. Sear the meat on all sides then shove it in with the veges, along with the cherry tomatoes and nuts. Cook Uncovered for about 10minutes.

3.Take the meat out and rest it for about 5 minutes, then slice thinly.

4.While waiting for the meat to rest make a yoghurt dressing with natural greek yoghurt, lemon juice (and zest if you’re using fresh lemons… I’m slack and use the bottled stuff if I don’t have fresh lemons) a bit of mint from the garden, a pinch of dukkah, salt and pepper.

5.Toast the bread for a short while and then put the dish of veges, bread and yoghurt on the table. Squeeze the soft gooey garlic from it’s papery skin and use it like butter.  Assemble messy, open sandwiches with the ingredients with your bare hands, get TRIBAL and shove it in your gob.

Uh-mazing!

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.

1. Pregnancy
2. The Munchies
3. Extreme Hunger

Sorry Mum-in-law – it’s not the first option.

Oh – NO! It’s not the 2nd one either!

Just a case of severe boredom and an empty stomach… and an equally empty fridge!

I don’t know what I was thinking but MAN this was delicious! Potato chips cooked in the oven, julienned granny smith apple and wasabi paste mixed with that CUTE Japanese Kewpie mayonnaise.  The bub and I ate it all up!

I have the very honoured privilege to say that the first (rock) concert I ever went to was the Presidents of the United States of America. Also on the bill that night was Custard and Jebediah- all for $10 I might add! I was 15. The most vivid memory of this night was my best friend and I eyeing off the very cute, tall, purple-haired bassist in Jebediah all night, thinking he was pretty hot. We found out the next day he was actually a she. Oops! She had us both fooled!  

This recipe calls for 1 ingredient. A can of peaches. Or it could be pears, or apricots, or lychee’s or mango for that matter. It’s one of those recipes that would probably make a few foodies cringe. I actually heard about it, of all places, on a Sizzler ad last year – but it was kind of an infomercial style ad… very weird. This is what new mothers are subjected to – infomercials about miraculous exercise contraptions and funeral plans. But the upside to being at home is all the FOOD related shows on TV. For a few months there when I was pinned down on the couch by a breastfeeding baby – I would surf between the channels and for about 5 hours straight I was able to watch food shows back to back.

Anyway – this is about peaches in a can.

So… chuck an unopened can of fruit in the freezer and leave it there. Forget about it.

Then, grab it, open it up, wait maybe 10 minutes for it to thaw a bit and buzz it with a stick blender.

Ta-Da! Instant Sorbet!!

I added a little natural yoghourt to this one – the extra zing of the yoghourt softened the sweetness a little.

The origin of ANZAC bisuits is a beautiful story. When husbands, sons and uncles went across the sea to war, the dear ladies left behind were worried about the nutritional content of the food their men were eating. They decided to make a food that they could send to their men. It had to be high in nutrition and energy, but keep for a very long time while it was transported on boats. During the war there was also a dreadful shortage of eggs, hence the reason no eggs appear in the recipe.

This is my first time making ANZAC biscuits. It’s one of the only foods we were taught about in primary school, mainly because of their history. My mum also used to make them a lot when she was breastfeeding me, for the extra energy. So, here I was, thinking it was my birth right to be able to create the perfect ANZAC biscuit. One that would spread thinly on the biscuit tray while cooking, would be crispy on the edges and slightly chewy in the middle. But, alas, my biscuits are a little too tall – still quite tasty. This could possibly be because the thermostat on my oven is awfully too hot!

So, these are a work in progress. I’ll be trying a few other recipe versions, but I still wanted to share this recipe tradition with you today. Making these today; stirring the butter, rolling them in my hand, smelling them cooking in the oven; gave me a feeling of belonging to the generations that had come before me. I am very lucky to have never had my husband or father go off to war, but most of my family, and most of every generation before us, have had to endure the heartache of war. It is important that once a year we stop and remember them.

Ingredients
100g Butter
1 1/2 tbsp golden syrup (or treacle)
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup coconut
3/4 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup plain flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tbsp boiling water

Method

Melt butter and syrup together in a large saucepan. Cool. Mix sugar, coconut, rolled oats and flour together. Stir into saucepan. Dissolve soda in water and mix in . Place rounded teaspoonsful on a greased oven tray. Bake at 180 degrees celcius for 15 minutes or until golden.

Makes about 25 – 35 biscuits

But after months of an epic “we make better burgers than those guys” war, the iatebrisbane girls decided that we would try and settle the argument once and for all. So here it is ladies and gentleman: Brisbane’s Burger War.  

In the red corner, we have Burger Urge – they’ve been established in New Farm for a few years now (and they have another store in West End), and were one of the first to really make a good, solid go of the gourmet burger market.  They’ve been popular amongst locals of New Farm for many years.

In the blue corner, we have Grill’d, who came to Brisbane by way of Melbourne just a couple of years ago.  They quickly established themselves throughout suburban Brisbane as a quirky and youthful addition to the gourmet burger market, managing to avoid a McDonald’s-esque consumer feel, despite being a chain with roughly thirty stores (9 in Brisbane).

I’ve had the pleasure of trying both of these burgers in the past, and so I wanted to do my best to make the battle fair for each party. As such, I enlisted the help of Sarah, her sister Jessie and baby Josie (as a keen observer!).  We did our best to make the challenge as fair as possible: we ordered the burgers at the same time by phone, and went to collect them in person at the same time also, getting home to my Valley apartment at the same time to analyse our burgers.  We were also lucky enough to have discount vouchers for both stores (hooray!).

We ordered roughly the same burger from each – a Queenslander-esque burger.  We tried to ensure that they were as well-matched as possible, and so from Grill’d we ordered a Big Queenslander (beef, cheese, bacon, egg, beetroot, salad with relish and herb mayo) and added pineapple – cost = $13.20; from Urge we ordered the Urge Burger (beef, cheese, egg, beetroot, pineapple, salad & and relish) and added bacon – cost = $15.90.

Our experience with the customer service at both stores was good (although I must note that at Burger Urge, I waited for about 7 minutes simply to pay for and collect my order – perhaps this could be streamlined somehow?). On returning home, we commenced photography of the packages, and our initial thoughts.

First up – Burger Urge hooks you up with an awesome, industrial-strength brown paper bag, which is perfect for carrying hot foods home.  The Grill’d bag is a little thin, and with the weight of the burger, is inclined to get pretty worn on the short trip home.  It’s a minor thing, but if you’re a habitual pedestrian like myself, you notice little details like this when you carry your dinner home from take-aways regularly!

Most notable on first impressions was that the Burger Urge burger was FRICKEN HUUUUGE! I would estimate it was a good third- to a half-size bigger than the Grill’d burger.  I prefer the smaller size of the Grill’d but I certainly feel that anyone with a big appetite would be more than sated by Urge’s offerings! Another thing to note is that Grill’d gives you a choice of which bread you would prefer (seeded bun or panini).  I really like this option, as I prefer my buns soft (insert girlish laughter), whereas I know others prefer a firmer, crustier option. The panini also held up better against the inevitable burger juices (although I have no idea how their seeded bun would go), which helps prevent your burger going sloppy!

We cut each burger in half to get a good cross-section of the contents (which, I think you’ll agree, were pretty formidable!). You can see from this first look that the Urge Burger bun was starting to get a little soft from the juices.

Our first bite of the Urge Burger was very enjoyable, albeit a little hard to get our teeth around for the sheer size of it! This can be challenging, as in an ideal burger bite, you really want to get a bit of everything, which is challenging with such a big burger.  The relish was tasty, and the burger had a very homemade flavour, which we really liked.  There was a nice selection of herbs in the beef patty.  This burger also had a great deal of salad (tomato, onion, cucumber and heaps of salad greens), adding to the charming homemade flavour, and giving it a bit of a “healthier” feel!

The first chomp on the Grill’d Burger was a subtly different experience.  The meat patty was more refined (lacking that nice homemade flavour that the Urge Burger had).  This burger, however, was noticeably easier for us to eat due to its smaller size, and the bun had maintained much of its soft freshness (ie, no sloppy!) which was impressive considering it was the 2nd cab on the burger-tasting rank.  What really set the Big Queenslander apart for us, though, was the delightful herbed mayo and relish combination.  It’s such a subtle addition, but it gives the whole burger a unique flavour that compliments the rest of the ingredients so well.

The Verdict.

We debated back and forth about which burger we preferred.  It was a tough call, because both burgers were amazingly high quality, and each of the burgers had particular elements that we preferred.

Size of burger: Burger Urge won with the biggest burger, but we preferred the smaller size because we could taste all the flavours in one bite

Integrity of bun: Grill’d’s panini withstood the burger juices best

Beef patty: Burger Urge’s patty had a more homemade texture and flavour, which we really enjoyed

Salad: The salad on Urge’s burger was plentiful and fresh!

Sauces: Urge’s relish was good, but Grill’d stole the show with their herbed mayo / relish combo

Overall verdict: Grill’d’s Big Queenslander by a nose!

To all you gourmet burger chains out there: I really can’t stress enough how much of a turn-off a big burger can be for people with smaller appetites (and jaw spans!).  I really recommend that all gourmet burger stores have smaller portions that smaller people can wrap their teeth around, and not be left feeling wasteful with half a burger left over!

Congratulations to both businesses for fighting so passionately for their product – that’s what we love to see around Brisbane: food businesses working harder to show us just how high quality their overall food experience is!

Lastly, though, and most importantly – don’t take our word for it! Get out there and give your local gourmets a go! We’d love to know what you guys think!

I used to rely on a particularly well-known brand (”what if it had a flat bottom?“) for creating my Mexican authenticity, until I stumbled across a recipe to make taco seasoning myself, only to discover it was dead easy!

My new favourite taco mix? Soft corn tortillas + home-seasoned beef + salsa cruda + gaucamole / sour cream / whatever tasty sauce you’re after!

But I hear you say, “Julia, that packet mix! It just makes everything so simple!” And I will parry you with, “NAY! AVAST! DON’T DO IT!” Here are three great reasons to ditch the Old El Paso ilk and DIY taco seasoning from scratch:

1. It’s healthier! Think of all the thickeners and other yuk that you’re avoiding!
2. Gosh darn, it’s quick! It takes no longer to DIY than it does to rip open that packet!
3. And heck! It just tastes sooooooooo good!

“And what of this salsa cruda stuff,” I hear you say? Only the awesomest taco salad you’ve ever made, and again– dead easy!  When the i8b girls came over recently for our Mexican cookoff, I decided to show ‘em how its done.

DIY Beef Tacos with Salsa Cruda

For the Taco Filling:

• 500g of thinly sliced beef fillet, or beef mince (I prefer fillet, but I was cooking 1.5kg of meat on this occasion so the mince is easier to handle!)
• 1/3 cup tomato paste
• 2 tsp cumin
• 2 tsp chilli powder (or mexican chilli spice mix if you can get it)
• 1 cup water

1. Brown the beef in a small amount of olive oil
2. Add the cumin, chilli powder, water and tomato paste (or you could use fresh tomatoes with some flour or corn starch to thicken). Season with salt and pepper.
3. Cook until the liquid is reduced.  Serve!

For the Salsa Cruda:

• 1/2 spanish onion
• 4 ripe tomatoes
• About half a bunch of coriander (at least a cup’s worth, I would imagine?)

1. Chop all ingredients finely and mix (if you have a Tupperware Quick Chef chopper, chuck it all in together and go crazy!).
   NB: If your tomatoes are extra-juicy, you may wish to strain off the liquid from this mix, to avoid your tortillas getting wet and mushy!

To assemble tacos:

• Grab a corn tortilla (I prefer Diego’s Corn Tortillas, just make sure you heat them before serving lest they crack on you!)
• Spoon in some of the beef
• Top with salsa cruda, and your choice of Sarah’s Guacamole, sour cream and tabasco.

See? How easy was that! And it’s such a quick, delicious and super-authentic flavour!  Now, the next step… trying my hand at tortilla-making!

Tessa Kiros’ vermicelli soup with tomato and basil from her “Apples for Jam” book is made from four simple ingredients: stock, passata, basil leaves and vermicelli pasta. Served with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkling of parmesan it’s the perfect pick-me-up if you’re in need of some comfort!

I take liberties with this recipe and usually add significantly more passata and basil leaves for a more intense flavour.

Ingredients

• 1.75 litres water or broth (I use Vegeta stock)
• 1 tablespoon tomato passata (pureed tomatoes)
• 4 basil leaves
• 120g vermicelli or angel hair pasta, broken up
• olive oil and grated parmesan cheese to serve

Method

1. Put the water (or broth), passata and basil leaves in a pan
2. Bring to the boil, then simmer over low heat for 6-7 minutes before adding the pasta
3. Cook the pasta and then remove the pan from the heat
4. Ladle into bowls and drizzle a little olive oil over each bowl and add a good sprinkling of parmesan. Serve immediately, preferably in your most cheerful looking bowl!

Fairy Bread seems to be a tradition at most kid’s parties in Australia. There’s nothing quite like it. It’s so crunchy and rainbowy and sugary and fatty and perfect for whipping perfectly angelic cherubs into a sugar fueled frenzy! There is nothing healthy about it whatsoever – and I’m guessing that’s why our Mums only made it a few times a year… although, if my sister and I found the left over sprinkle packet in the cupboard, we would always try to make it ourselves before Mum would notice us being very quiet and cooperative in the kitchen!

For me, there are a few rules.

1. Use the freshest whitest bread possible

2. Use round brightly coloured hundreds and thousands sprinkles – none of those long cylindrical sprinkles or chocoloate hail!

3. Use real butter, not margarine

4. Each slice must be cut into 4 little triangles, with the crusts still attached

Ok – now, is that a little OCD?  Probably.  Try it. You’ll Like it!

Butter a slice of bread all the way to the edges, Pour sprinkles onto a plate. Dip the bread into the sprinkles and shake off excess. Cut into 4 triangles. DEVOUR!