The comfort of food and blogging

There are a multitude of reasons why people blog; why they choose to share a part or parts of their lives with people both known and unknown to them in such a public way. I chose food – I love it and it brings me joy. I turn to it when I am unhappy and am in need of comfort. Retail therapy fails me as, when I am feeling down, nothing appears as shiny, exciting or pretty as it should otherwise be. And I don’t turn to food to eat it – feeling blue makes me lose my appetite – rather I choose to immerse myself in the method and process of it instead.

Just as I choose to tidy and clean when there is major upheaval in my life – to restore order and balance – cooking is a process which also provides control. The year I turned 30 I faced major turning points in my family life and career. I ended up with a lot of time to cook and create and feel like I was contributing something positive to this world which could be appreciated. That was my reward.

And from that love of food came this blog. I can immerse myself in the buying, cooking, eating, photographing and writing of the food which adds a little sparkle when the mundane activities get a little too mundane. I escape into a part of my world which brings me happiness and where it hopefully amounts to some joy for others.

Recently received news marks the end of an era in my life. It was news which was anticipated and which I’ve mulled over the potential follow-on effects of for years, but that doesn’t negate that it was unpleasant news nonetheless. I was scatterbrained and showed only very short spurts of concentration so I turned to this dish which is not a stir-fry, not a stew and not quite a soup.

‘Gold and silver eggs’ is a Chinese dish which is most commonly cooked with the leaves of young, green leafy vegetables such as snow pea sprouts, baby spinach and bok choy sprouts. The ‘gold’ in this dish’s poetic name refers to the hue of the yolk of a salted duck egg ‘haam daan’ (鹹蛋), although the white is also used, while the ‘silver’ refers to preserved duck eggs (aka century eggs) ‘pei daan’ (皮蛋) which are more of an ashy, charcoal colour. The Chinese preserve duck eggs as they are larger and yield larger yolks than chicken eggs. And while chicken eggs are prized for their silky texture, duck eggs are considered tougher and therefore less desirable to consume as is.

I only had baby bok choy to hand so I chopped the stalks into thin sticks and also added a block of tofu we had in our fridge. The tofu made the accompanying broth milky in appearance, but will be clear if you choose not to use it. I completely forgot about the usual inclusion of garlic, but I did say before that I’ve been scatterbrained. Mixed in with a bowl of white rice, this dish was warming, salty, slightly soppy and very, very comforting.

Gold and silver eggs with baby bok choy and tofu (金銀蛋小棠菜豆腐) (serves 2)

Ingredients:

·         6 dried shrimp

·         1 salted duck egg (鹹蛋)

·         1 preserved duck egg (皮蛋)

·         ½ bunch baby bok choy (小棠菜)

·         300g block of silken or firm tofu (your choice)

·         2 slices of ginger, sliced into matchsticks

·         2 garlic cloves, sliced (optional)

·         1 tbs cooking oil

Method:

1. Rinse the shrimp and soak in 1 cup cold water while the other ingredients are prepared.
2. Crack the salted duck egg into a bowl and use a butter knife to roughly chop up the soft yolk. Peel the preserved duck egg and chop into 1cm cubes. Set aside. 

3. Wash baby bok choy and chop leaves from stems. Slice stems into thin sticks.
4. Gently chop tofu into pieces of a desired size. Set aside.

5. Squeeze moisture from soaked shrimp, reserve soaking water, and roughly chop.
6. Heat oil in a saucepan on medium heat, add shrimp pieces, ginger and garlic (if using) and stir around gently until fragrant. Throw in the baby bok choy, increase heat to high, stir-fry until half cooked and remove from pan.
7. Add 1 cup of water to the pan as well as the reserved soaking water from the shrimp. When it comes to the boil, carefully add the salted duck egg and swirl the water to break up the eggwhite into shreds.
8. Add tofu and preserved duck egg and allow mixture to boil before returning baby bok choy to the pan. Gently move everything around in the pan to cook, taking care not to break up the tofu too much. Check for taste – some salted duck eggs can be quite salty and you will need to add more water to the pan if this is the case.

happy cooking!

Epicure Recipe Card #37: Smoked Trout Brandade

This is the longest I have ever gone without posting something here. And, you know, the longer the dry spell is the less inclined you feel to post something. You start thinking, “Well it’s been this long anyway…” but then you remember the collection of photos you have, the fact that this is a hobby and not a chore, and how much enjoyment it brings that makes it all worthwhile. The blogging bug returns and you get the itch once again.

I also feel a bit of pressure to get my act together as I started the year with fifty of these recipe cards to get through, and I fear I have skipped a couple of weeks already which leaves no room for being lazy henceforth. But as always, there is a bit of a funny story to tell. This recipe card asks for smoked trout to be used in place of the more common smoked cod. “This French technique, customarily used on salted cod, works wonderfully with the moist flesh of hot-smoked trout, turning it into a perfect picnic starter with some crusty bread.”

I went looking for smoked trout but ended up bringing home smoked cod instead, so just as well that the two can be interchanged. If it is at all possible to buy either of these already skinned then I would highly recommend it, as pulling the skin off proved rather slippery work. I expected it to be like skinning a raw fillet of salmon but the skin was adhered to the smoked flesh much, much more so. This resulted in some wastage of the fish meat.

Wikipedia describes brandade as “an emulsion of salt cod and olive oil”. Avoid this recipe if you’re not keen on fish as it does have a pronounced fishiness but is mildly tempered by the addition of lemon juice, lemon zest and chives. A smooth-ish texture is produced but there’s still a fair bit of springy bite retained. I enjoyed it on top of water crackers.

Smoked Cod Brandade (serves 2)

(adapted from The Age – Epicure 50 Best Recipe Cards, recipe by Jill Dupleix)

Ingredients:

·         1mL milk

·         1 garlic cloved, smashed

·         200g smoked cod fillet, skin removed

·         1 tbs extra virgin olive oil

·         1 tbs chives, finely snipped

·         ½ tsp finely grated lemon zest

·         lemon juice, to taste

Method:

1. Heat milk gently with garlic until just under the boil. Remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes before straining to remove the garlic and any milk skin which has formed.

2. In the meantime, finely shred the smoked cod using a couple of forks. Gradually add the milk mixture to the trout whilst beating vigorously. Then beat in olive oil until the consistency is almost fluffy.

3. Mix in chives, lemon zest and lemon juice. Add ground black pepper to taste. Serve with crusty bread, water crackers, lavosh or melba toasts.

 happy cooking!

Milk Chocolate Brownies

“A glass and a half of full-cream dairy milk” was a slogan I grew up with and Cadbury, with its famous purple packaging, was the only chocolate that was ever found in our fridge at home for a very long time. Mum must’ve felt comforted by the milk content as the dentist was forever saying my teeth lacked calcium – not sure he would’ve approved of my sugary ways of upping my intake though!

My love of chocolate is quite well known, but since my early twenties I have moved towards consuming mostly dark chocolate for its more intense cocoa flavour and I convince myself, also, for its reported antioxidant benefits. I love how Cadbury Flake is available in dark chocolate as it makes for an easy topping for cakes when crumbled. There is also a romantic nostalgia for me (like with Polaroids) associated with the tv commercial featuring the lady with the wide-brimmed white hat. I tried hard to eat my Flake like she does in the ad, but all I got were little chocolate crumbs everywhere.

When a block of Cadbury’s new Fairtrade Dairy Milk arrived in the mail (this humble blog’s very first received product – how fitting that it be chocolate!), I wasn’t quite sure what to do with it. I received it a few days before my wedding and my mind was understandably pre-occupied with other things at hand. Knowing I wouldn’t be eating a whole 200 grams of milk chocolate as is, I filed it away into the pantry for safe keeping. It was so safely kept that I forgot about it until I was looking for baking inspiration for our weekly office morning tea.

Chocolate is always a safe option when baking for people you don’t know all that well as it is rare to come across people who don’t particularly like chocolate. And because milk chocolate tends to have wider appeal than its darker sibling for the masses, out came the block of Cadbury’s for these milk chocolate brownies.

They’re definitely less chocolaty than your usual brownies but are not too sugary either. I threw in some dark chocolate and walnut pieces to appeal to my own tastes, but of course you can use any variety of chocolate or nuts that you like. You still get a nicely dense texture with these brownies and they also made a pleasing dessert for the husband.

Mademoiselle Délicieuse received the above sample of Cadbury Fairtrade Dairy Milk Chocolate courtesy of The Online Circle. Fairtrade practices help protect farmers in the industry by dictating standards for working and trade conditions.

Milk Chocolate Brownies

(adapted from Triple Chocolate Brownies from delicious. Magazine April 2007, recipe by Bill Granger)

Ingredients:

·         200g milk chocolate, chopped

·         150g butter, chopped

·         ½ cup caster sugar

·         1 tsp vanilla extract

·         3 eggs

·         ½ cup plain flour, sifted

·         100g dark chocolate, in chunks

·         ½ cup chopped walnuts (optional)

·         cocoa powder, for dusting

Method:

1. Preheat oven 160°C. Grease and line a shallow slice tin.
2. Melt milk chocolate with butter in a bowl which fits snugly over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir mixture until combined and glossy then set aside to cool slightly.
3. Beat sugar and vanilla into chocolate mixture then whisk in eggs one at a time. Add flour and beat until smooth. Stir in dark chocolate and walnut pieces.
4. Pour mixture into prepared tin and bake 40 minutes. Remove from oven and dust with cocoa but allow to cool completely before removing from tin to cut into whatever shape that takes your fancy.

happy cooking!

Gumshara, 13 March 2010

Picture this: two guys dressed in suits and two girls in cocktail dresses (one in heels, the other sensibly changed into flats) walking through a food court full of people in Chinatown. The party of four avoid slippery floor surfaces and dodge people carrying trays of steaming hot food looking for seats in order to prevent dirtying their outfits. A few inquisitive looks are garnered here and there but, for the most part, people are too busy eating to care. It is past 3:30pm and the food court is still unusually full.

We are at Eating World Food Court, home of the famed collagen-rich ramen broth that is Gumshara. Each pot of broth is made from 120kg of fresh pork bones and water, and requires seven days of cooking to break down the marrow and tendons to release the collagen within. We have time to kill between a wedding ceremony and reception and haven’t had any lunch yet. The location is a slightly odd choice given our attire but we are all keen to try their ramen, especially Idol who lives outside of Sydney and who alerted me to this place to start with.

We start with some crispy-bottomed gyoza. The wrappers are thin and the dumplings are quite a long shape. I’m impressed with the juicy and plentiful contents with none of the loose gappiness when biting into some others.

By this late stage of the afternoon, Gumshara has sold out of its tonkotsu ramen so Idol and I both have the ‘Garlic tonkotsu ramen’ instead, to which I add a soft-centred egg for good measure. The soup is thick, rich, sticky and very warming. The ramen strands are coated individually by this soup and makes for a very filling meal. The pork slices are meltingly tender with their even striations of fat and turn out to be one of the lighter components of the meal. The garlic adds an earthy pungency and I love how there is a massive sheet of nori.

Monsieur Poisson goes for the ‘Tomato tonkotsu ramen’ which is swathed in a much thinner, tomato broth. The tangy tomato helps to cut through the rich collagen in the broth base and it is reassuring to see pulpy tomato pieces towards the bottom of the bowl. The pork is the same as in my bowl but there are a few pieces of baby bok choy to the side.

The soup really is as rich and gelatinous as people say and Gumshara definitely lives up to its reputation. What I was really surprised to find was how un-salty their soup base was. Don’t get me wrong, there is lots of concentrated flavour but just not the usual thirst-inducing saltiness associated with ramen from some other places. I actually slurped quite a few spoonfuls of both Monsieur Poisson’s and my soups, and that really is a refreshing change.

Gumshara

Shop 209, Lower Ground Level, Harbour Plaza, 25-29 Dixon St (Chinatown), Haymarket NSW

Tel: 0410 253 180

Opening Hours:  Mon  CLOSED

                        Tues-Sun  10am-10pm

happy eating!

Epicure Recipe Card #35: Lobster Roll with Chive Mayonnaise

I had to keep this week’s recipe card a secret from Monsieur Poisson. He is a great lover of seafood and especially shellfish, so I didn’t want him getting too excited at the prospect of lobster. The truth is this recipe could have easily been made with bug, scampi or prawn meat as substitutes and it would have worked just as well I think. The lobster mayonnaise mix reminded me of a retro prawn cocktail actually, and it would probably make quite a nice party starter served in glass tumblers on a shallow bed of lettuce leaves. The mayonnaise was very refreshing with the slight bite of mustard and refreshing lemon, while the celery added crunch but only a hint of raw celery taste which can at times be quite harsh.

I used a bought pre-cooked lobster but obviously the flavours would be better using fresh seafood cooked yourself. Removing the meat can be a bit fiddly in any case and you really do need all the time that the bacon and tomatoes are cooking in the oven to do this. However you are rewarded with a bread roll filled with sweet seafood in a creamy dressing paired with the saltiness of bacon and sweet and mellow roasted cherry tomatoes – surf ‘n turf of a different kind.

Lobster Rolls with Chive Mayonnaise (serves 2)

(adapted from The Age – Epicure 50 Best Recipe Cards, recipe by Jill Dupleix)

Ingredients:

·         2 rashers streaky bacon

·         6 cherry tomatoes, halved

·         1 small cooked lobster

·         1½ tbs mayonnaise

·         1 tsp Dijon mustard

·         ½ tsp finely grated lemon zest

·         ½ tsp lemon juice

·         1 celery stalk, finely sliced

·         ½ tbs finely chopped chives

·         1 baguette (or any sort of crusty roll that takes your fancy)

·         handful of mixed lettuce leaves

Method:

1. Preheat oven 180°C. Roast cherry tomatoes and bacon in a lined tray for 20 minutes then remove and set aside.

2. In the meantime, pull lobster tail away from head in one piece. Cut in half lengthwise, remove meat and intestinal tract. Roughly chop meat and remove any meat from legs and claws. 

3. Combine mayonnaise, mustard, lemon zest and juice in a bowl. Season and add lobster meat, celery and chives. Mix thoroughly. 

4. Cut baguette in half then slice lengthwise leaving tops still attached. Press flat and warm slightly in oven. To assemble, lightly butter if desired then spoon lobster mayo on top. Scatter with cherry tomato halves and lettuce leaves before toping with bacon.

 happy cooking!

Epicure Recipe Card #21: Chilli con Carne

The picture on this recipe card has chilli con carne served on a bed of rice. When I think of chilli con carne, I automatically think of nachos, tacos and burritos and luckily I had some taco shells handy at the time. The problem with eating tacos, however, is the associated shell breakage and subsequent dropping of taco fillings everywhere. They are great for a casual dinner with friends where you can ‘play’ with your food over some languid conversation. It’s always interesting to see how people layer the taco fillings because everyone has a theory on the best way and why. Just make sure you know these friends quite well and don’t mind them seeing you make a mess of yourself!

The avocado tossed in lime juice is a nice addition and is much quicker to throw together than your traditional guacamole but of course you can still add a splash of Tobasco if you like. I didn’t have any tinned tomatoes at the time so I used a couple of fresh tomatoes chopped up instead, but ended up with a more watery result than desired. My advice would be to stick to the tinned ones to get a nicer consistency.

Chilli con Carne (serves 2-3)

(adapted from The Age – Epicure 50 Best Recipe Cards, recipe by Jill Dupleix)

Ingredients:

·         1 tbs cooking oil

·         ½ onion, finely chopped

·         1 clove of garlic, crushed

·         1 small red chilli, finely chopped

·         500g beef mince

·         1 tbs Dijon mustard

·         200g tinned chopped tomatoes

·         1 tbs tomato sauce

·         200g can red kidney beans, drained & rinsed

·         100mL red wine or beer

·         grated cheese, diced avocado tossed with lime juice, corn chips & taco shells to serve

Method:

1. Heat oil in a large frypan over medium heat and cook onion until soft. Add garlic and chilli and stir until fragrant.
2. Add beef, breaking it up in the pan, until cooked through.
3. Add remaining ingredients and simmer for 30 minutes or so, stirring occasionally, until thickened. 

4. Check for seasoning. Serve with corn chips and/or taco shells garnished with cheese, and diced avocado tossed with lime juice if desired. 

happy cooking!