That day could not come around fast enough. Every time I’d see one in a cafe I’d pine for the day that I would make one myself. Then, the day finally arrived.  The recipe is a fairly easy one, but I’m very glad it was one of my days off work – it takes HOURS to prepare!… well… the doing part of the day is rather easy, it’s the waiting part that takes a bit of time. The recipe I used stated to make the pastry first, then make the lemon curd – then rest it for 3 hours! I recommend making the curd first and the pastry second.  I used the recipe here from taste, it uses all the egg yolks in the curd and all the egg whites in the meringue – so there’s no waste.

So when Mum and Dad turned up last week I looked at Dad and firmly stated ’you’re not allowed to look in the fridge!” although, we all knew what was for dessert. After dinner,we lit the candles, turned off the lights and sang that very special song. Dad even blew out the candles all in one go!

The verdict?:  ”Mmm, that was lovely, love”.

Thanks Dad, I love you too.

Happy Birthday Dad.

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

Wife exits kitchen.

Enter Husband. 3 minutes later Wife is presented with the most delicious parfait on the planet.

It was so delicious I did a mad scramble to shove my memory card back in my camera, awkwardly take a few shots and continue the parfait love affair.

The pictures are bad. The Parfait is good.

• Sad, daggy old lamington, cut into 4 slices
• Port Wine Jelly
• Sweetened greek yoghurt with passionfruit pulp (yes, who woulda thunk it – passionfruit and port work well together!)
• A drizzling of good port over each lamington layer.

layer

upon

layer

upon

layer

.

Thank you Darren! xox

COMPETITION REMINDER! 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 Steak and Crabhouse is 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!

But not today, dear readers.  Today was all about simplicity, and most of all, quantity. It started off innocently enough, with inspiration from Taylor Takes a Taste – his beautiful photos of blueberry and green iced tea seemed just the thing for a slow, quiet day at home.  But whilst out shopping for blueberries, I thought, “Surely I can put the leftover blueberries to further use! I know! Humble Crumble! I need apples!” And whilst I was at it, I thought, “Gee, I really ought to make some breakfast. Apples + blueberries = quick apple danish!” So gathering together ye darling buds of blue, I set off home with blueberries, apples, and a bit of ricotta for some added fun, and set about my blueberry adventure.

The first thing I needed was a quick breakfast, so out from the freezer came the leftover puff pastry, and I set about thinly slicing apples, and carefully arranging them on very un-fussy, awkward squares of pastry with blueberries, a sprinkle of sugar, and a smattering of ricotta.  Into the oven, and 10 minutes later, voila! An absolutely gorgeous breakfast snack.

Next up, I set to work on Taylor’s disgustingly simple blueberry green tea.  So quick and easy to prepare, and I even used the left over blueberry pulp to make some blueberry ice cubes, which I thought might make for a fun, visual effect.

Later on, after watching half of this year’s BCS National Championship (yes, I am a proud Australian NCAA  jock!), I completed the trifecta with a delightfully easy humble apple, blueberry and orange crumble.  Ohhhh so good.

What a day. 3 ways with blueberry, and 3 levels of devine, juicy, culinary heaven.  And my guiltiest sin of all on this fine day?

I used frozen blueberries, and none would be the wiser.

Deliciously Quick Blueberry and Apple Danish

I stole the inspiration for this recipe from an old Gourmet Traveller.  The rules are simple: take frozen puff pastry, cover in pretty much any assortment of fruit, add other flavours as you like, sprinkle with sugar and bake. I have also used peaches, pears, almonds, brown sugar, and even slathered the pastry with jam before adding fruit.  These are pretty impossible to stuff up, which is why I love making them so much. My version of the recipe is below, and makes 2 danishes.

• 1/4 cup of blueberries
• 1/2 an apple
• 50g ricotta
• 1/2 sheet of puff pastry (cut into 15 cm x 15 cm squares, but you can cut it whichever way you like for decorative purposes)
• 1 tsp sugar

1. Take each square of pastry, and roughly assemble your apples – I did mine in a fan shape
2. Scatter the blueberries on top
3. Sprinkle each square with 1/2 tsp sugar
4. Crumble the ricotta over the top of each danish with your fingers
5. Bake in a hot oven (220° C) for about 10 minutes, checking to ensure they don’t burn.
6. Enjoy with smug satisfaction.

Disgustingly Simple Blueberry Green Tea

Whilst wandering around tastespotting.com this morning, I was absolutely taken by Taylor’s photos of blueberry green tea. The recipe seemed simple enough: make blueberry sugar syrup; add tea; refrigerate; enjoy. What easy refreshment!

• 1 cup blueberries
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• enough green tea (or teabags) to make 2 litres of tea (this will depend on the brand of tea you have)
• a bunch of water (or, 2.25L if you’re so inclined)

1. Put the blueberries and sugar in a saucepan with 250ml (1 cup) water. If you are using frozen blueberries, heat on medium til the blueberries thaw. Once the blueberries are thawed, turn up the heat to high, and cook until the mixture is boiling.  Remove from heat, and allow to cool (10 minutes or so).
2. Boil 500ml (2 cups) water, add your tea (or teabags) and allow to steep for 10 minutes.
3. Using a fine mesh sieve, strain the blueberry syrup into a bowl, and use a spoon to mash all the juice out of the blueberries. Now add your lemon juice and stir.
4. Add your tea (removing tea bags, or, if you are using loose leaf tea, make sure you strain it), and stir.
5. Pour the whole thing into a 2L jug (or some other fancy vessel) and add 1.5L of water to your blueberry green tea mix. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
6. Enjoy ice-cold, and remark at your own cleverness.

Recipe courtesy of Taylor Takes A Taste – whose photos of the tea are MUCH nicer than mine!

Delightfully Easy Blueberry, Orange and Humble Apple Crumble

I stole the premise of this apple crumble from some food magazine or another quite a few years back, so I honestly can’t remember who to credit. The basis is you get a bunch of fruit you like (apples are the base, with whatever else you want to add – peach, rhubarb, blueberry, pear, berries etc), chuck it in a baking dish, and then squeeze orange over the whole thing before adding your crumble.  The orange gives everything a delightful, citrus zing, without being too overpowering.

• 4 sweet green apples (granny smith or similar), peeled, cored and cubed
• 1/2 cup blueberries
• 1/2 orange
• 100g butter, cubed
• 1 cup plain flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup oats
• Other stuff such as walnuts, coconut etc if you so desire

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Butter the inside of a 1.5L baking dish.
2. Put your apples into the baking dish, and sprinkle the blueberries over the top. Mix roughly with your hands.
3. In a large bowl, put your flour, brown sugar, oats, and whatever other stuff you feel like, and mix together.  I added a sprinkling of shredded coconut, but you could also add walnuts, crushed biscuits etc, as you like.
4. Add the butter and rub the flour mix and butter between your finger tips until it all resembles breadcrumbs. You should not have any big chunks of butter left when you’re done.
5. Squeeze half an orange over the top of the apples and blueberries, and then sprinkle the crumble mix evenly over the top.
6. Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes, or until the crumble mix is golden brown (make sure it doesn’t burn though!). I usually wait until the fruit is bubbling out the top! Delight in the sweet, fruity, buttery smell that fills your home while it cooks.
7. Enjoy on its own, or with custard, ice cream or cream (my fave!), as you like. Tell your friends that this is your secret crumble recipe, and watch them swoon with satisfaction, all the while marvelling at your simple, orange-infused genius.

So there you have it, i8b-ers. A day of blueberry indulgence.  The best thing about this day is that I really feel I’ve done nothing at all, and yet, I’ve eaten fresh, home-cooked food all day with very little effort involved.

Have you ever had a ridiculous day of cooking based around a handful of simple ingredients? I’d love to know! Tell us in the comments!

And don’t forget about our “Win A Case of Punt Road Ciders” comp!

I think this is what makes this granita so flipping tasty. The apple and strawberry juice I used in the recipe ACTUALLY tastes like a newly-bitten apple. It’s uncanny! It’s probably the easiest recipe going (maybe excluding this one) but the flavour was just amazing. I served it as a dessert to Darren, my sister and daughter and it had us all ‘mmm’-ing and ‘ah’-ing. All over frozen juice!

So, here it is – so simple!  Pour some juice into a container or tray, drop in a few mls of rose water and chuck it in the freezer. Every 1/2 hour or so, shake it up, or crush the ice crystals with the back of a fork. Keep doing that until it’s fairly frozen, but still ‘loose’ - not a hard lump of ice! then leave it overnight to make sure the ice is nice and ‘dry’.

Also, break open a pomegranate and with your hands, pop each pomegranate aril (seed) from its fleshy cocoon. I used 1/2 of them over a moroccan curry (which I’ll post later) and then froze the rest of them – they freeze really well. I shook them up too to make sure they wouldn’t stick together once frozen.

Then, scoop a bit of the granita and a bit of the arils into a glass and serve immediately.

This is a very sexy dessert. It’s light and refreshing with those heady, aromatic flavours of rose and pomegranate and the pink blush of the granita. Just delicious!

Ingredients
1.5 cups Apple and Strawberry Juice
3ml Rose Water

1/2 Pomegranate Arillus (seeds)

I’ve attempted crème caramels a few of times before trying a couple of different recipes. On one occasion I had trouble unmoulding them, on another I burned the caramel and in yet another failed attempt my custard didn’t set. I’m pleased to report that these crème caramels were delicious and from now on this will be my go-to recipe!

This recipe is from the book “Mexican Cantina Cooking” by Jean-Pierre Vincken.

Ingredients

• 10 tbsp granulated sugar
• 5 tbsp water
• 750mL milk
• 1 vanilla pod, split open lengthways
• 2 whole eggs
• 6 egg yolks
• 200g caster sugar

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180^oC (I had to adjust this down to 160^OC in a fan forced oven because the tops started to brown)
2. For the caramel, gently heat the sugar with the water in a heavy-based pain. As soon as the sugar gets a bit of colour, pour it into the prepared moulds. Tip the moulds to spread the caramel around the sides too
3. Pour the milk into a separate pan, add the vanilla pod and heat gently for 15 minutes to allow the flavours to infuse. Remove the pan from the heat and leave to cool for a little while
4. Whisk the eggs, yolks and sugar together in a bowl. Gradually add the milk, stirring continuously. Strain the mixture through a sieve and pour it into the caramel moulds
5. Put the moulds into a deep oven-proof dish. Fill the dish with boiling water up to two-thirds of the height of the moulds*
6. Check whether the flans are ready after 50 minutes. Prick the centre of a flan with a skewer: the skewer should be clean when it comes out. Remove the flans from the oven and leave to cool
7. To serve, turn the flans out onto small serving plates. It will help with unmoulding to run a knife around the edge of the moulds first. The moulds can also be dipped into hot water briefly to loosen them

*An interesting tip this book gave was to add a couple of egg shells to the baking dish filled with water to stop the water splashing into the crème caramels when it boiled. Just like adding marble chips to a school Science experiment!

This night Julia made her go-to dinner of salmon fillet with choy sum and seasoned broth (amazing! I make this a lot now too!) and I offered to make dessert.  I whipped up this little baby – Maple Figs on Savoiardi Biscuits.  Julia certainly seemed to enjoy it and has mentioned this recipe to a few people now. It was only a couple of  months after this night that Julia and Catherine approached me to be in on their little project – iatebrisbane. I’m pretty sure this recipe was the decision maker for them.  I’m certainly glad they invited me, and I hope they like it too.

First of all – I know some people are weirded out by figs, I was too for years!  They’re really lovely, but I think they’re even nicer if they’re grilled. And maple syrup and figs work really well together. This recipe is a spin on tiramisu, where the biscuits are steeped in coffee. I’ve soaked these in Maple Syrup, and I’ve even tried a flavoursome cup of tea. It’s a very delicate flavour. Try it with other grilled fruits like peaches or nectarines.

Ingredients

2 fresh figs
2 heaped tbsps marscapone cheese
2 heaped tbsps whipped cream OR no-fat yoghurt
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
6 savoiardi biscuits (Italian lady finger sponge biscuits)
Maple syrup
Water

 Method

1. Mix together the yoghourt (or cream), marscapone, sugar and vanilla. Taste to check sweetness.

2. Cut figs in half (from top to bottom) and place in fry pan on medium/low heat.

3. Mix 1 or 2 parts water with 1 part maple syrup (again, taste for sweetness – you don’t want it too sweet)  in a shallow dish. Dribble some of the syrup over the figs halfway through cooking – A few tablespoons should be enough.

4.Dip one savoiardi biscuit at a time into the syrup in the dish, turning it once to let the syrup soak through. Place onto a small serving dish - 3 on each plate.

5. Dollop the cream mixture over the biscuits and top with the grilled figs. Add a tiny drizzle of extra (non-diluted) maple syrup.

Headchef Minh Le is quite playful but methodical in his approach, while he toys around with a plethora of cooking techniques and regions of flavours.  Sometimes the food was almost European and homely, but at the same time had a wonderful modern kick, accented with flavours sourced from around Asia. The menu was detailed, but on more than a few occasions we were given a little happy surprise, such as the palate cleansing sorbet between courses.

The food was fantastic: thoughtful and playful. The photos of the food below speak for themselves.

Thank you to owner Todd Rumble, head chef Minh Le, and Little Lantern Foundation, to whom the proceeds of the night went to.  

Sashimi of yellowtail kingfish with ponzu vinaigrette and tomato salsa

Absolutely fresh, mild and vibrant. A stunning starter. Note the micro-herbs and marigold petals, they appeared through the next 4 courses and were a lovely way to tie the dishes together. The petals were also used as a flavour-link between the meal and the matched wines.

Beef tataki with potato Salad, quail egg and lemon vinaigrette

 This was so tender and velvety. The very Aussie potato salad, high-quality beef, and a tiny quail egg. I love quail eggs – I used to have a couple of laying quails and they make eating eggs lots of fun!

Japanese Scallop with duck ma hor, crisp prosciutto, daikon and wasabi puree

Salty and moreish. The sweet 2007 cave de Ribeauville Gewurztraminer from Alsace, France was a perfect match for this course. Sweet and salty together.

Give me more of those scallops!

Look at that perfectly crispy ribbon of prosciutto!

Then, a little surprise! A palate cleanser of Lime Chilli Sorbet, Rose and Berry slick with Lime Chilli Sherbert

Boom! What a Kick! A pleasant surprise that certainly acheived what it set out to do.

Lamb Cutlet with Prawn Mousse, sweet potato and wasabi mash, soy beans and lamb jus gras

What mumma used to make… hang on! Check out the novel asian twist on the homely classic. The potato was so smooth and creamy with a *hint* of wasabi. The nutty edamame beans we awesome too.

Slow Brased beef cheek cooked for 6 hours in Vietnamese style aromatic stock with coriander and chili polenta cake and baby vegetables

By this course we were all getting quite full and were resorting to ferreting away this very hearty morsel in our own cheeks like little squirrels. It was too good! The beef cheek was falling apart and the polenta was like a little cloud.

Coconut and white chocolate parfait infused with kaffir lime leaves served with berry consomme and basil seeds

 Well, well…what are these? Basil seeds soaked in sugar syrup until they become gelatinous and fish-egg-like! Wow. This dish was visually and textually appealling. The flavour was so delicate. A very feminine end note after the last, quite masculine, course.  The matched wine was a 2009  Patina ‘Sticky Tea’ Riesling from Orange, NSW.  It is made from the usually-discarded dregs after squashing the riesling grapes for other riesling. Waste not, want not! Very sweet and very sticky. Yum!

All these dishes will feature on Grasshoppers’ Autumn menu

Grasshopper Asian Kitchen

London Woolstores, 36 Vernon Terrace

Teneriffe, 4006

t: 3252 8622

www.grasshopperkitchen.com

Ingredients
375ml can coconut flavoured evaporated milk (find it near the long-life milk in the supermarket , or just use normal coconut milk, or plain milk! All is fine!)
375ml milk or water or both
1 egg yolk
1/3 cup tapioca seed
50g palm sugar (or just sugar)

Mango, cut into slivers
1/3 cup Shredded Coconut

Method

1. As soon as you make your mind up to make tapioca pudding, put the seed in with the milks and let soak – anywhere between 15 minutes and overnight is fine.
2. Pop the shredded coconut into a dry frypan and heat until the coconut is toasty – leave to the side

3. Put all the ingredients into a heavy-bottomed saucepan and slowly bring to the boil while stirring. Then lower temperature to a simmer.
4. STIR LIKE A CRAZY MAN – This sort of food is good for meditating!

5. Keep stirring until the grains become translucent and the custard is lovely and thick. This could take anywhere between 15-45 minutes, depending on how quick it’s simmering.

6. Serve (hot or cold) with mango shards and a pinch of toasted coconut on top.

Sometimes we all want a little bit of devilish food.  And, like most people, give me a plateful of tasty food and I’ll eat more than I really need to. This is where this little dessert is perfect! It’s sweet enough to satisfy any sweet-tooth craving, but not big enough to make you need to loosen your belt by the end of the dish. The berries are a high antioxidant blend of wild blueberries, bilberries and blackcurrants, and 80% dark chocolate was used!

JUSTIFIED.

OK, so on the naughty side – there is coconut biscuits and butter. But let’s not dwell on the negatives.

The (not so) secret ingredient in this tartlet is the Musk liqueur made by the local Tamborine Mountain Distillery. This boutique distillery creates a myriad of flavours from their small still on the top of Mt Tamborine – about an hour’s drive from Brisbane. I picked this bottle up from the Good Food and Wine Show, but you can buy it any time from the ‘cellar door’ or – “still door” in this case, or online at www.tamborinemountaindistillery.com . I do recommend going up there for a Sunday drive to experience the place for yourself. It’s a beautiful place to visit. They grow a lot of their own ingredients themselves and source them from the local community.

The next secret ingredient is sourced from over the Tasman. Griffin’s Krispie Biscuits http://www.griffins.co.nz/by-name/krispieare perfect for making tart and cheesecake bases. They truly are crispy – with a good amount of toasted coconut (and saturated fat!). And lucky enough – New Zealanders (and their Aussie wives) can breathe a sigh of relief as many Brisbane stores are starting to stock Kiwi products. I got these from Supa IGA in Mitchelton. I’ve also seen them in the lolly store in Anzac Square in the CBD. Get them! They are awesome!

Ingredients:

1/2 pack Krispie biscuits
about 50g Butter, softened

small amount of Dark Chocolate, melted (we used 80% dark – it added a great bitterness to it to even out the sweet)

Handful of frozen berries (use anything – Cherries, raspberries, but we used these ones http://www.creativegourmet.com.au/products/high-antioxidant-berry-mix-details.htm

Splash of Musk Liqueur from TMD

Icecream, to serve

Method:

1.Grease a mini-muffin tin

2. Crush the biscuits – there are a few different methods
Put it a plastic bag and bash with a rolling pin/mallet/brick wall/cricket bat
Put in a food processor

3. Mix the biscuits and butter together. It will still be crumbly
4. Press a small amount into each muffin tin until it forms a cup shape
5. Refrigerate until firm

6. Melt the chocolate and with a brush (even an artist’s brush) coat the inside of each tartlet shape with chocolate.
7. Refrigerate again

8. Throw the berries and liqueur into a hot saucepan and swirl around until warmed through

To Serve:
Put a tartlet case on a plate, add berries and icecream.

You will be able to make about 10 tartlet cases with this mix. Keep the others in the fridge for another time. It’s a really quick way to make a dessert.
Why not try:
lemon curd and cream
or
summer fruits and custard
or
chocolate ganache and raspberries
or
Cherries with port and vanilla spiked mascarpone
or…

oh man! I want to try all of these now!
Right – back into the kitchen I go!