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A tantilizing time at Taste of Sydney 2012

Posted on May 22, 2012 by bambinaincucina

Oh. My. Lordy. I was so excited when I saw that Taste of Sydney was back in town. I had read about it many times, in fact even driving right past the event TWICE in the years before, seeing all the lucky ducks shuffling into the glorious food filled event but, alas, I had never been. So this year it was time, especially since I was lucky enough to get a sweet deal on some tickets, which made the day even more awesome. This year was a great time to go and I’m super glad I got to go with Mr. M because he always makes everything way more fun and enjoyable. He also knows all too well how to put up with my rambling on and on about what food I just saw, wanted to try, am currently trying and subsequently which delicious beverage I shall wash it all down with. He’s a good sport indeed, even taking photos for me and patiently waiting for me to take photos before we can even eat our meals.

Anyway, I shall carry on. So we went on the very last day of the event, a beautifully sunny Sunday, just perfect for wandering around in Centennial Park eating and drinking all day. As soon as we walked in we were greeted with a free Gourmet Traveller magazine, very awesome, then our first celeb was spotted. Ok, so something you should know about me is that I will get a touch bit excited about seeing anyone that has the slightest hint of celebrity about them. Now, we first came across Justine Schofield (contestant on MasterChef and now host of her own show Everyday Gourmet) hosting a cooking demo in the Taste Kitchen. I like watching almost any cooking shows, and while I do watch hers from time to time, I always thought she was a bit staged and stunned. After seeing her in person I found her much more personable and friendly and I appreciated how nerve wracking it must actually be to perform on camera and also in front of a live audience.

Croquembouche creations

Righto, now, I better get onto the best and most important portion of the day, the food. We thought it would be the right idea to meander around the whole delicious festival to see what tickled our fancy. One place we couldn’t go past was the Croquembouche Patisserie stall. Absolutely gorgeous looking sweets gazed out at us from behind the glass. With a huge selection to choose from we had to be quick and just take a punt. My first choice was a little treat  I used to enjoy getting from a local patisserie until they stopped making it :-( , so I just had to have it when I saw the opportunity. A choux pastry puff filled with silky, subtly sweet custard, coated on the outside with a beautifully crunchy toffee, topped with flaked almonds. It was luscious! Mr. M went with such a pretty little item. It wasn’t technically a macaron, but it was a raspberry macaron shell, filled with light and lovely whipped cream and fresh raspberries. As always we tasted each others choices and I can tell you it was yummy. Fresh tart raspberries matched perfectly with the sweet macaron shell and lightly sweetened cream. The last item was one to properly share, a classic and simple fresh fruit and creme patissiere tart. Short pastry, creamy custard and lovely glazed fruit, couldn’t really ever go wrong with that.

Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum! Enough said!

After a little snack, we decided it was after 5pm somewhere in the world, so it was time for a cocktail. Over at the Sensology stand you could get a range of cocktails for $10 or do a cocktail class, where you got to learn how to make your cocktail and mix it up yourself, then drink your finished product for the same price! So it was pretty clear to us, why wouldn’t you have some fun and shake your money maker and cocktail shaker at the same time and end up with a tasty cocktail?! We took the Daiquiri class. Not your shaved ice, strawberry Daiquiri nonsense, a proper, traditional style Daiquiri.

Fully equipped and ready to get mixing, shaking and cocktail making

So with all our yummy ingredients, lime, sugar, ice and Bacardi Rum ready to be combined, we muddled, shook and poured away. Sounds really simple and yes, it really was, but everything was in perfect balance and it was absolutely tasty and refreshing.

Nearly ready to serve up and have a sip

Cheers! Mr.M and I were most happy with our sippable end product

Now we’d actually had a tot around and eaten some food in between this beverage and the next cocktail we decided to have a go at, we weren’t guzzling them all down in one go, but I might as well show you the other delicious drinkable we concocted while I’m already at it :-)

Next up we were very excited to make a traditional Pina Colada. I’m sure most people are familiar with one that heavily features a creamy topping, making it somewhat lacking in refreshment, which is definitely not what it’s traditional counterpart intends to bring and fully succeeds in.

Feeling tropical with pineapple, coconut and rum, yum :-) the super sunny weather helped too

I was very eager to sample this one, it smelt so fresh and sweet. With our presentation portion of cocktail making complete, it was now time to try.

Sufficiently fancied up with a pineapple frond. Time to drink :-)

We were very excited to get into sampling some of the savouries that were on offer, we’re only two people after all,  so we couldn’t try nearly as many things as we’d have liked to. Not to worry though, whatever we had the opportunity to try made us happy enough indeed. So first up we headed off to Four in Hand run by Chef Colin Fassnidge. Some may be familiar with him from his appearances on food shows such as MasterChef, which by the way, that tv show really bugs me with all the emotional hoo-ha and over-the-top dramatics of the judges, but never the less, the call of watching people cook and make lovely food is too strong to turn me off :-)

Anyway, Mr. M was definitely lured over by the big ol’ pig on a spit being roasted out the front. We are fans of roast pork so we were interested to try the pork dish being served here. While in line I saw the other dish on offer which was the smoked salmon, mozzarella and chorizo croquette, which sounded just scrummy, so I had to grab us one of those as well :-)

Smoked Salmon, Mozzarella and Chorizo Croquettes from Four in Hand Restaurant

The croquettes were soft and creamy inside, crunchy and crisp on the outside. They were seasoned well and the flavours clearly worked well together, I definitely would’ve eaten another couple of plates of these.

Roast Suckling Pig, Coleslaw, Onion Ring and Hot Sauce from Four in Hand Restaurant

This plate looks a tiny bit worse for wear but still, you get the picture. The pork was amazingly soft and the onion ring was nice and crisp. The hot sauce could have been hotter for my preference and the coleslaw lacked a bit of tang in the dressing, but over all it was a yummy dish and we were glad to have tried it.

Slow roasted Berkshire Pork Scotch Fillet, Rosemary, Fennel, Apple, Sage, Polenta and Salsa Verde from Agape’ Organic Restaurant and Bar

So as you can see we got into this one a little bit before my mind came back into function over my mouth, to remind me to take a photo. We thought it would be a nice time to try some organic food so we picked this plate up from Chef Simon Lawson at Agape’ Organic. This little dish was a surprise, while at first bite I found the flavours to all be a bit subtle for my liking, once I persevered through, it was subtlety that really appealed to me. The polenta was firm but creamy, the pork very well cooked and all the little chunks of apple and fennel were just delicious. I really loved the sage and the salsa verde too.

Hiramasa Kingfish Ceviche from Sake Restaurant and Bar

Last but not least for our lunch was the Kingfish Ceviche from Sake where Chef Shaun Presland was working his magic. He has also featured on MasterChef showing off his vast knowledge of Japanese cuisine. This dish was lovely and fresh, could’ve done with a touch bit of seasoning but nice and refreshing to finish of our lunch with.

The Patisse stand, very keen to look at the beauties inside the glass case

I have dessert after lunch as well as dinner, so it was time to find something sweet to tantalize my taste buds. The Patisse stand had some amazing looking desserts that I just couldn’t go past. I am a huge lover of rhubarb. Since way back when I was a little girl I’ve loved it because my Grandma grew it at my Grandparents farm, she’d pick it fresh, cook it up with some sugar then we’d get to sit down and gobble up a big bowl with double cream for dessert. So English, so simple and delicious.

Rhubarb Verrine with vanilla bean mousse, topped with champagne jelly from Patisse, Executive Chef Vincent Gadan

I loved the look of the Rhubarb Verrine, the mousse was perfectly sweet, so super creamy and kind of dense. The tartness of the rhubarb and champagne jelly worked perfectly with the vanilla bean mousse. I really enjoyed this dessert, not to mention it was such a pretty little thing to look at.

The 3 French Chef’s putting on quite a show, perfect way to end our day

Before it was time for us to head on home, we were treated to a fantastical cooking demo, come competition, put on for us by very well known and well loved chef Manu Feildel, Executive Chef of Pattise Vincent Gadan and Damien Parcineau Head Pastry Chef of Shocolate. They were given obscure ingredients and about 15 minutes to come up with a gourmet dessert, hilarity ensued of course and the show ended with whipped cream all over every single one of their faces and heads.

We had a fabulous day out filled with fun, food and festivities. We will certainly be returning next year to sample many more edible and drinkable goodies :-)

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Ding Ding! Round 1 with Dumplings at Din Tai Fung @ The Star

Posted on May 14, 2012 by bambinaincucina

We were having a night out on the town and we were headed to The Star. We thought we’d check out the newly refurbished, never short of scandal, popular Sydney night spot for some dinner and drinks. We hadn’t really planned on anywhere in particular to eat, nor did we really know what would be on offer. So it was a most pleasant surprise taking a stroll through the very upmarket version of a food court. The little sister of Peter Kuruvita’s Flying Fish restaurant, Flying Fish & Chips, had plenty of fresh, delicious seafood on offer as well as some refreshing beverages. Of course the famous Adriano Zumbo has a branch of his macaron haven pattiserie at The Star, selling his signature, divinely bizarre delights for all to enjoy. Along with many other lovely eateries there is our chosen dinner destination of Din Tai Fung. I’d heard great things about their dumplings for a long time and absolutely love Asian cuisine so I was keen to try some of there much talked about treats.

Yuuum…From left: Xiao Long Bao, Cha Jiang Noodles and Pork and Shrimp Wonton

The Xiao Long Bao are probably the most popular and well known dish on offer. I felt it only appropriate to give them a try and I was quite pleased. They are a steamed pork dumpling with a brothy, soup filling inside as well as the seasoned pork mince. They are a bit difficult to eat if you’re not popping the whole thing in your mouth at once, as all the brothy goodness will come squirting out at you. As happened to me when I was keen to get stuck in but was worried about the heat of it, so I bit it in half, full well knowing it could (and did) end somewhat messily. I may have had a touch bit of soup run all down my chin with the remaining soup all over the table. It was ok, I was with friends and Mr. M is well versed with my messy and less than delicate devouring of meals. It had a nice hint of ginger and shallot flavour, along with a lovely savoury taste going on. They was fresh and delicious.

Xiao Long Bao- Steamed Pork dumplings

Also on order were the Shrimp and Pork Wontons in a tangy sauce. Yes, “tangy sauce” doesn’t really let you know what may be featuring in it, but I figured it would have to be yummy, it looked all soupy and saucy with chilli and shallots floating about, so it’d have to be good. It was very tasty indeed, tangy would be a correct term for them sauce, however you could clearly taste the heat of the chilli, soy, ginger and fresh shallots. It was salty, hot and bitey. The filling of the wontons wasn’t particularly memorable, but it was definitely most fine in texture and taste. The sauce was the real star and the wontons did serve as an unassuming appropriate vessel for it.

Shrimp and Pork Wontons in Tangy Sauce

Last but not least on order was the Cha Jiang (Zha Jiang) Noodles with minced pork. Mr. M loves noodles so we usually try and fit a noodle dish in. This was totally yummy, if not slightly difficult to eat which just goes with the noodle territory, so thems the breaks, certainly not enough to deter our food loving hearts. The noodles were cooked well and the topping was ample. A nice combination of pork mince, soy beans and bean curd, along with some veg chopped in the mix. It was a little salty, a little spicy and very delicious. A satisfying combination of flavours, not too heavy but still filling. However towards the end of the dish we decided to throw in the left over tangy sauce from the shrimp and pork wontons, and really, it only made it more tasty.

Cha Jiang Noodles with Pork Mince

So all in all we were most pleased with our first experience at Din Tai Fung. It prepared us well for the long night out enjoying the city. We will surely be heading back to try a few more interesting items and I am looking rather forward to sampling a dessert next time around too. If you have any recommendations please do let me know via twitter or by commenting below :-)

Very delicious and satisfying, a convenient little place for a meal when heading to The Star.

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Nonna’s Italian Easter Sweets

Posted on May 1, 2012 by bambinaincucina

Easter has come and gone yet again, but I am now finally sharing my most favourite Easter treats. Made by none other than probably my biggest cooking inspiration; my beautiful, funny, super special Nonna. Such a fantastic lady, I am so lucky to have her in my life, especially as she has taught me so much about family and cooking. Every year we all get together at my Nonna’s for some delicious Easter treats and these are just a few of them.

Delicious Pinsa

This is Pinsa, a mildly sweet and yeasty tasting bread. You could say it has slight similarities to Panettone, another Italian festive cake, however I find this to be more dense, yet still soft and airy. It tastes just lovely by itself, but especially good slathered in jam and dipped in a hot cup of coffee.

A nice big slab of Pinsa has been removed for the eating :-)

Another absolute delight to eat is the Potisa. I love this, it is so yummy. It is another bready item, but it is rolled and has a sweet filling made from cocoa, pine nuts, sultanas, sugar and other little scrummy things that make it just oh so special.

Pre demolition by the entire family, waiting to get stuck in

Mmm, sweet, nutty, luscious filling of the Potisa

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last but not least is the always satisfying, thankfully not confined to only being eaten at Easter, Crostoli. Crostoli is probably something more familiar to most people, the other baked goods I’ve mentioned here have probably never been come across by many. I always just assumed they were very regional as my family is originally from Trieste, a little bitty part of Northern Italy.

Crunchy Crostoli and a few traditional Aussie Easter treats thrown in for good measure

Crostoli is crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. It is probably best described as a fried biscuit. It is THE best thing to snack on, a simple sweet dough, cut into little strips, fried and then dusted in icing sugar. So. So. Good.

Well looking back at these pictures, I can’t wait for Christmas and then Easter to come around again. These are some of my most favourite sweet treats in the world, I would love to know what your favourite festive treats are, so please do let me know :-)

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Coconut Sago Pudding with a couple of twists! (Did somebody say Purple Yam Jam?)

Posted on April 12, 2012 by bambinaincucina

Yay! It was time to get experimental again, :-) Mr. M and I cooked up a storm making some steamed Ling fillets with all those Asian good things; lemongrass, ginger, shallots, mint, coriander and chilli’s. We love to cook together, we each have our parts to play. He loves cooking the proteins while I do the sides and we both come up with our flavour combinations together. It’s all very harmonious and lovely and fun and nice and makes me feel all warm and fuzzy thinking about the great time we share together when we cook. Aaaww :-p. Anyway, we didn’t always work as well together. As I’m sure many of you have experienced also, when you first cook together in a new relationship it takes a little time to relinquish all the responsibility and control of the kitchen you’re used to, so it can be a touch bit bumpy at the start. Then you work out your balance and it all comes together. We’ve been cooking together when we get the time for a few years now, so we have the system down. I do have certain preferences though, so I won’t pretend I don’t slip up from time to time with my ways.

Our tasty Asian inspired fish, pre trip into the oven

Ok, so we’d cooked up our yummy dinner and then it was up to me, the dessert fiend, to create something unusual to go with our Asian theme. I am absolutely in love with sago, fantastic texture and lends itself to lots of different flavours, so that seemed a good fit. We’d been out and about in the Asian super markets recently and I’d come upon something rather intriguing and wonderful, Purple Yam Jam. My mind did a bit of contemplating and came up with the hopefully bright idea of combining the sago with coconut milk and topping it off with a solid dollop of Purple Yam Jam.

The unique and delicious Purple Yam Jam

I’ve eaten a bit of sago in my time and my favourite way of having it is when it’s been soaked and cooked in coconut milk, then served with Gula Melaka (palm sugar syrup). Now I would’ve been more than happy to serve it with Gula Melaka myself, however I’m very particular about where my palm sugar is sourced from as a lot of the palm plantations it is produced from are plantations in Indonesia where they are taking a huge toll on the native wildlife and environment. Thousands of hectares of rainforest is cleared every minute, tearing down the forests Orangutans inhabit, leaving them homeless and just straight up killing them in the process.

I digress; so that is the reason I was reluctant to purchase any palm sugar and  contribute to the problem, as I couldn’t verify where the palm sugar came from. So rather than just using brown sugar as a substitute, which I’m sure would be perfectly suitable, I thought a little bit outside the box.

I’d heard good things about a little something called Agave Nectar. It has been around for a little while now, but it has become a lot more readily available of late and can even be found in the health food aisle of most supermarkets. It’s a sweet syrup derived from a cactus. It is a great alternative to regular processed sugar and has a slight maple syrup, treacle sort of flavour.

I had a feeling it would go quite nicely with the rest of the items I was going to get to come together and was ready to experiment.

Ok, so basically the hardest part is making the sago, which is by no means difficult, just a little bit of time needs to be taken, so you’ve got an easy recipe on your hands.

Ingredients

Creamy coconut sago

1 cup (200g) of Sago

 3 cups (750 ml) Coconut Milk

1 cup (250ml) regular milk

(You can use all coconut milk or half/half regular milk and coconut milk also)

2 x Cinnamon sticks

3 Tbsp caster sugar

Small can of coconut cream (optional)

Jar of Purple Yam Jam from an Asian Grocer

Small can of passionfruit or fresh passionfruit if you like

1 bottle of Agave Nectar

( it comes in light and dark, either is fine, but I used dark.)

Method

  • In a large saucepan add sago, coconut milk, regular milk and cinnamon sticks, then leave to soak for at least an hour.

Sago soaking in the milks

  • Once soaked, you can remove cinnamon sticks now or leave in till cooked for a stronger cinnamon flavour.
  • Put saucepan over a medium to high heat and bring sago to a boil, stirring often to make sure it doesn’t stick.
  • Once it has reached a boil, turn it down to low and stir continuously for around 10 mins or until nice and thick.

Yummy sago cooking away, soaking up all that delicious coconut flavour

  • Add your sugar and stir until incorporated into the sago.
  • Remove sago from heat.

Sago pudding thickened up nicely, nearly ready to serve

  • You can serve your sago hot or cold, as I’m serving it hot, it’s ready to be put into bowls.
  • Add a couple of scoops of sago to a bowl, as much or as little as you like.
  • Depending how sweet you like your desserts, add a big or small drizzle of Agave Nectar.
  • Add a couple of teaspoons of passionfruit pulp
  • Then top off with a spoonful of Purple Yam Jam and a dash of coconut cream if you’re feeling indulgent.

Mmm, creamy, sweet and tart. Hitting all the right spots :-) Ta da!

So whether these are all ingredients you’re familiar with or they’re very out of your comfort zone, I urge you to give it a try. It’s something different and delectable, not to mention quite lovely to look at. So I hope you enjoy :-)

A silky, satisfying dessert with a few surprises along the way :-)

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Sweet Malaysian morsels from Makan @ Alice’s

Posted on March 5, 2012 by bambinaincucina

A favourite little restaurant of ours to visit is Makan @ Alice’s. With excellent service, so many beautiful Malaysian dishes to try and perfect Malaysian delicacies on offer, you can’t go wrong.

Makan @ Alice’s is a very well known and award winning restaurant owned and run by husband and wife team, Paul and Alice Tan. They specialise in their ever popular Nyonya Kuih and Hawker food. Makan @ Alice’s has the most delicious Malaysian hawker food around, as well as the more mainstream curries etc, which are just fantastic. The Roti Canai will seriously make your mouth water, like mine is now thinking about it. The curry is full of flavour and the roti is fluffy and light, perfect for soaking up all the curry sauce. Some of our other favourite dishes are the Nasi Lemak, a combo of Beef Rendang, cucumber, peanuts, anchovies, egg and sambal, served with coconut rice. Sounds an unusual mix of flavours, but they all just work so harmoniously together. The Butter Soft Shell Crab and Lime Chicken are also firm faves.  For dessert you can’t go past the Sago with Gula Melaka. The little squidgy balls of sago come in coconut cream with a totally indulgent layer of Gula Melaka at the bottom. The gula melaka is obviously rather sweet as it is a variety of palm sugar, not necessarily sourced from the awful palm plantations that are destroying the rainforests in Indonesia, as it is often sourced from Date and Coconut palms these days. So be sure to be a sweet tooth if you order that.

Before departing this blessed food emporium, we always have to pick up a container or two of their famous Kuih. This time we were tempted by the Lapis Kuih and Angkoo Kuih. The Lapis Kuih is a combination of Coconut and Pandan flavoured rainbow layers and the Angkoo Kuih are small tortoise shaped rice flour cakes filled with sweet mung bean. Most Kuih has an unusual mouth feel and it is quite toothsome and jubbly. I wouldn’t say chewy by any means but it’s quite dense and resistant. I personally love the texture and the subtle flavours Kuih possess.

Lapis Kuih

Angkoo Kuih

So if you’ve never ventured into the world of Kuih, I’d advise you to give it a go. Even if you don’t like it, it’s always worth giving everything you can a go, because you just might well really enjoy it.

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Thanks a “Latte” Bee’s Knees Cafe

Posted on March 5, 2012 by bambinaincucina

Well that darling, unpredictable weather of ours was really putting on a show the other day. So much gloom and crappy rain, it really made my mood match the day. So rather than sitting around feeling like crap-a-doo we decided to venture out into the dreariness and find something to lighten the mood. Mr M and I often find ourselves wanting to go out, just to pop out for the sake of it. Not to do anything spesh, but just to get out of the house. By God it’d be a miracle if we could come up with something to do that would actually be classified as exciting on an average weekend. It’s totally fine though, thats how we roll, when something awesome comes up we’re there, but on our usual low key weekend we just want to toddle around, see a movie, do a bit of shopping, try something new to eat, you know, the usual caper. So since the day was so shockingly poor, we thought a nice warm cup of tastiness at a cosy little cafe would be the way to go.

Bee’s Knees Cafe is a rather quaint and quirky establishment, it being decked out with all sorts of antique and not-so-antique wares, all available for purchase. You can sit down at your table and chairs, and if it turns out you really like them, you can get off your bum and buy them. I wouldn’t say everything is affordable, but when it comes to the food and drinks, that’s another story.

We first decided to try it out because we’d heard really great things about the quality of the coffees, which can sometimes be hard to find. I don’t often have coffee as the caffeine does not sit well with my tummy, causing all sorts of unpleasant mischief. On occasion I’ll have a decaf but other than that I’m much more a tea/other delicious beverage drinker anyway. Mr M on the other hand is a keen fan of coffee. Anyway, as I have a penchant for other yummy bevvies I was very taken with the range of drinks they have on offer. Aside from the regular coffee options, hot chocs etc they have Spicy, Chocolate and Vanilla varieties of Chai tea. I absolutely love the Spicy Chai as it has a real flavour hit, strong with cardamom and sweet with the sprinkling of cinnamon sugar a top the super velvety foam.

Creamy Cappuccino with choccy dusting and the big, bold Spicy Chai with cinnamon sugar.

This particular visit they had some even more enticing items lining the menu. Now I’m sure lots of people have heard of or sampled the new addition to many cafe menu’s, the Green Tea Latte. Well for some reason, unbeknown to me, I hadn’t tried it until just the other grim, rainy day. Yum! They are super delicious. Very creamy and comforting, a lovely subtle flavour and just enough sweetness. My next warm cuppa will be coming in the form of the Pumpkin Latte. Sounds a touch bit mad, but I love sweet potato and pumpkin used in sweets. I’m a huge fan of Asian desserts which tend to use those sorts of things and a whole range of other interesting fruit and veg in their food. I believe the drink is prepared using a pumpkin powder, much like the Matcha used to make the green tea lattes. So when I get around to sampling the yummy pumpkin latte I’ll be sure to pop a picture up. I should also mention they make Green tea and Pumpkin varieties of milkshakes too which I think would be awesome.

Ultra smooth and velvety Green tea Latte. So comforting and delicious. Super cute mug and saucer too :-) really good value at $4.50

I look forward to sampling the other edible treats on offer next time. They do bits and pieces for lunch and have a good range of cakes etc. So next time I’ll have to go in hungry and ready to eat some of the things they have available, being sure to update you on its scrumptious status.

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A pudding and tart from Breadtop, Oh my!

Posted on January 25, 2012 by bambinaincucina

If you’ve read any of my articles from WeekendNotes or my other post about Breadtop on here, you’ll know all too well I’m a big fan of Breadtop. Inexpensive, huge range of items, unusual and interesting flavours and best of all, it all tastes super yum yum. So a new store opened up recently and while for the most part each store has relatively the same selection of goods, there are different things here and there, plus I can’t resist having a little look anyway. So my Mama and I toddled off to have a snoop around, of course there were plenty of things that tickled our fancy. Now my Mama loves looking at all these naughty little treats and happily buys them with no intention of actually eating any of them herself. She enjoys them more as a food voyeur rather than actually consuming them and all the calories that come with them. She indulges vicariously for the most part with the occasional venture into the world of bready goodness because if there’s one thing she won’t give up, it’s her love of bread and pasta. Come to think of it, I really should get on board with that plan because I’m just not sure how much more my thighs and caboose can take without starting to distinctly expand. Oh what a sad life that would be though, I just love my food too much to ignore it. I’ll just have to keep working out hard on my cross trainer to balance out the feasting.

Now, this trip to Breadtop finally tempted my Mama and I into sampling some delights from the fridge, there were a couple of things that just really caught our eye.

Mama got drawn in by a magnificent looking fruit tart. With an assortment of glossy fruits atop the luscious creme patissiere and crispy, crunchy short crust, it really was too good to pass up. She enjoyed it thoroughly, even if she did only eat half, sharing the rest with my Papa.

So glossy and divine, the vibrant fruit glistening.

My chosen indulgence was the Coconut and Mango Pudding, with smooth, silky, slightly dense layers of coconut mousse type tastiness and one of mango moussiness. Then a layer of fresh mango puree on top to really give it a punch of flavour. To top it all off, there was a soft, jiggly serving of sweet jelly jubblets which gave it a real freshness to cut through the layers of pudding, which by the way, were not overly sweet to begin with, just the right amount.

Left: Mango Coconut Pudding. Right: Fruit Tart

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Zippy Zucchini Flower Fritters Recipe

Posted on November 16, 2011 by bambinaincucina

I’ve long been intrigued by the delicate, pretty flowers of the zucchini. Lucky for me, one of Mr.Ms lovely workmates had been given some zucchini flowers from a friend of his who works with fresh produce, and when Mr.M expressed his interest in cooking with them, his workmate very kindly offered him the 2 trays of zucchini flowers. That was very generous of him and very awesome for me :-) So as you can imagine I was very excited when they were presented to me and I was super keen to cook with them with my love, Mr.M.

Now typically we’d seen the zucchini flowers stuffed with some sort of cheesey filling in the flower, the deep fried. While that sounds like a most delicious way to eat them, we though it best not to deep fry and maybe go down a slightly less fattening route. So, although it meant chopping up the lovely form of the zucchini flower, we decided to make fritters. Now if you were to cook the fritters in my Nonnas style or Mr.M’s Nonnas style respectively, you would most definitely find them shallow frying away in a generous amount of oil. We simply used a non stick pan and a light amount of oil to coat it. Now these fritters are super quick to prepare and just as quick to serve, so if you need to knock up a snack fast, these are a winner.

Ok, now onto the fritters.

Ingredients

10 Zucchini Flowers (approx 280g)

2/3 cup Self Raising Flour

1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese

1 teaspoon Nutmeg

2 Eggs

100 ml Milk

Salt and pepper to taste

You can always substitute the zucchini flowers with regular zucchini as zucchini flowers can be quite expensive, Im more inclined to use regular zucchini next time I make them just because it’s more affordable.

You could also add a little lemon zest for some added freshness too if you like.

Method:

Pretty, pretty zucchini flowers, before they get their heads chopped off.

  • To prepare the zucchini flowers, give them a rinse under the tap, then pat dry with a paper towel.
  • Chop the head of the flowers off and set aside, then, using a grater, grate the zucchinis into the slightly larger portions, not the super thin setting.
  • Dice up the zucchini flower heads.
  • Add all the zucchini to a medium mixing bowl.
  • Sift in the self raising flour, nutmeg and parmesan cheese.
  • Lightly beat the 2 eggs and add them and the milk to the mix.
  • Mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon until all the ingredients are combined.

Fritter mix ready to be popped into a hot pan

  • Season with pepper and salt.
  • In a non stick pan heat a little oil then spoon a couple of tablespoons worth of mix per fritter.

Fritters cooking away, almost ready to flip

  • When they become golden they are ready to serve.

Yep, yep, yep, they are ready for serving and once slightly cooled, ready for eating

If you’d like to serve them with a dipping sauce, a little yoghurt with lemon and mint would be nice or if you’re a keen fan of eating tomato sauce with everything then I reckon that’d work just fine too :-)

Plate of hot fritters anyone? :-)

Enjoy your fritters and don’t forget to share :-)

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Superb, seaside kiosk nosh

Posted on November 1, 2011 by bambinaincucina

So me and my Papa were taking a drive near the seaside after doing a delivery of plants (he’s a horticulturalist/landscape designer plus many more “slashes” regarding the horticulture industry) and we decided it was such a fabulous, sunny Sydney day, that we’d stop at the beach and grab a bite to eat. Papa said he knew of a good little kiosk down at Balmoral Beach, which sounded lovely so I was keen to see if he knew what he was talking about. The request was for some form of salad roll and if you knew my dad then it wouldn’t be unheard of for him to decide on something else that he thought was more appealing, or simply forget what you requested all together and you’d get pretty much a lucky dip. Now this time he actually did remember, but decided to get me something a little more interesting, and boy was I glad that he made that executive decision.

He toddled back over to the bench and presented me with a massive chicken salad wrap, but this was no usual chicken salad. It consisted of a light green coloured wrap, which I’d be curious to know what it was made of, smeared with a spicy hommous, then filled with smoked chicken, Moroccan carrot, onions which had been lightly pickled, which added a great sweetness and tang, cucumber, tomato, lettuce, a sprinkling of mini raisins and beautifully fresh mint. It was packed full of all those tasty ingredients and I couldn’t of had a more contented tummy after that, nothing better than having a tasty meal by the sea. So if you’d like to enjoy the same fate, I’d advise you to head off to The Bathers Kiosk at Balmoral Beach.

Super fresh, super healthy (I like to think) and most importantly, super yummy

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Canberra is hiding some fabulous food

Posted on October 7, 2011 by bambinaincucina

Me and Mr.M took a trip down to Canberra recently to visit the absolutely exquisite Floriade festival. We have been every year for the past 4 years and this years trip took the proverbial cake when it comes to the food we enjoyed while down there. We had a little place in mind to return to since we had a coolio experience there last time and this year it did not, I repeat, did not disappoint. However another highlight of our food fun was very unexpected but totally satisfying. We just needed to pop into a cafe for a sandwich after our long drive down, we were starved, although I had just planned to get a snack of a sandwich so as to not ruin my dinner.

We came across Downtown Cafe, which offered toasted and fresh sandwiches, burgers, salads etc the usual fare, but the sandwich we were presented with at the end of our order was amazing and definitely the right price. So I ordered the B.L.T, I figured a little bacon, some tomato and lettuce, not too over the top. What I ended up eating and sharing with Sweetie Man was an enormous, monster of a sandwich, which was so freakin yum and also bigger than my food loving mouth could handle.

Uuuuge B.L.T, almost too full with deliciousness to handle, but I triumphed :-)

So if you’re ever in the market for a definite tummy filler, head to the Downtown Cafe. Not to mention they also had a huge assortment of specialty chocolates on offer, but I overruled the desire to take any with us, since we hadn’t even been to Floriade yet and I knew I’d be looking at bringing home quite a haul with me from all the awesome market stalls there.

Now the next day we were headed off to Floriade, where we found lots of tasty things for us to buy from the stalls, so stay tuned as I’ll have pictures and info on where you too can purchase these fab products. Alas, onto some other plate to mouth food.

So it was finally time to return to the blessed cafe where we enjoyed a most scrumptious breakfast the year before…except something was a little different this time. At Cafe Garema, the decor had changed and instead of the tiny kitchen it had in the cafe behind the counter, where a solo woman had grills and pans sitting on almost every shelf cooking something for someone, the kitchen had not moved across a little arcade hallway and up some stairs. We were happy to give it a go, we thought maybe it had just had a bit of a spruce up and upon looking at the menu, it was all so familiar, so we hoped it was the same tremendously talented, multi tasking woman from last year, still cooking away upstairs. It was also a Tapas restaurant in the evenings among other new things it had upgraded to.

Cafe Garema, in the city centre of Canberra on Garema Pl

Through the windows you can see the little stairs that lead up to where our super yum breakfast is being prepared.

So we ordered our coffee and chai, then after much debating I settled on the Canadian style french toast, which was thick cut french toast, maple syrup of course, topped with grilled banana and bacon. Now I know the whole savoury and sweet thing doesn’t work for everyone and banana and bacon really doesn’t sound to flash together, but may I tell you, my words could never express the truly satisfying and scrumptious nature of this meal. The light and fluffy thick French toast, lots of syrup to slather all over it (yay!) and the contrast of the crispy, but not too crispy, salty bacon and the subtly sweet grilled banana just goes so superbly together.

Ooooh it was so good, I feel rather hungry just looking at it and remembering that sweet morning

 So if that doesn’t look tempting enough, just wait till you see what Mr.M ordered. Lucky for me he was keen to get the other option I was debating about. A solid favourite of ours on any breakfast occasion, the always popular, old school Eggs Benedict. He chose to get it with smoked salmon, where I would’ve stuck to ham, but the salmon was equally delicious.

Such an abundance of creamy Hollandaise sauce, yum, yum, yum.

I am of the mind set that you can never have too much sauce on Eggs benedict, or most other things for that matter. It was fantastic, lush and creamy sauce with the salty salmon and crunchy toast and the spinach and tomato to give it a freshness, just perfect.

As Im sure you can imagine, we were most content after that experience. I must now have a little day dream to take me back to that tasty morning.

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Posted in Breakfast, Cafe, Lunch, Recommendations, Restaurant, Savoury and tagged , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.
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