Aug 2007
Biteclub OR "You'll never eat lunch in this town again!"
25/08/2007 12:07 Filed in: Bite Club
Just to let everyone know, the following entry was written by our Founding Father and Biteclub president/organiser Jason. As usual, my travel commitments had me circling the globe and I wasn't there to enjoy this event. Enjoy Jason's take on a fun filled, gourmet fest...
From the people who brought you Bite Club, we bring you Bite Club Lunch!
The inaugural daytime edition of our food and friends fest kicked off on Sunday, August 19. Could a weekend lunch, possibly be as successful as the traditional Tuesday night affair? After five seasons, changing time slots is always a risk. However, despite appalling weather conditions - and at least one member getting the shits, literally - it turned out to be a fun afternoon.
The day began with a clap of thunder and bolt of inspiration. Due to the torrential rain, Vanessa and I abandoned our plan to seat everyone in the spacious courtyard at Spring Street. Instead, we decided to slap two tables together and squeeze everyone inside. As they say, bad luck always comes in threes - and it did. Soon after, Paul was seconded to free a staff member from a laundry press at Valitel. Minutes later, Mark Meredith found himself knee deep in raw sewage, at Mafia Headquarters. As always, Maria arrived, with apologies from the absentees - and takeaway requests.
Nessy and Jason
In keeping with Bite Club tradition, two special guest surprise intruders were invited to add spice - newlyweds, Victoria and Ben Richards. Victoria needs no introduction. She's always a hit with the gang. As a fellow professional marathon runner, I knew Ben would have much in common with myself, Ryan and Michael. Over the course of the afternoon, he even managed to pick up a few sporty tips. Winning the City to Surf is easy - all you need to do is smell like a fragrance counter and follow the bouncing bum!
Victoria and Ben...welcome intruders
With everyone seated, we got down to the serious business of serving food. Vanessa and I opted against an overall theme for the three courses - after all, our backs are still out from doing the can can, at our Parisian night. Instead, we kept it simple. For entrée, Vanessa prepared a traditional Chinese dish: Cannelloni stuffed with ricotta, baked in a rich tomato sauce. Add a touch of rocket for extra flair. It was truly delicious. If the Great Wall can be seen from the moon, so could our waist lines, by the time the four individual servings were devoured.
Vanessa's Canelloni
For a main, I dished up spicy Mediterranean burgers. I was once given the recipe by a wonderful old Greek lady, who lives on the island of Siros, in the Cyclades. It's been passed down through her family for generations. Simply bake a sour dough bun (I started from scratch but you can buy identical rolls from the Queen Street deli). Combine fresh beef and lamb into paddies, season with parsely, ground cinnamon, garlic, peppers and chilli. Grill to taste. Prepare the rolls with a layer of sundried tomato, then add Greek yoghurt to the burgers, top with spring onion, and serve with a side of warm potato chips. Amazingly, the entire meal has zero cholesterol.
Beaut burgers
Purely for decorative purposes, I whipped up three side salads: Fennel, grapefruit, nicoese olive and walnut, in a mustard dressing. Also, basil and pinenut, in a Balsamic vingerar dressing. Finally, a traditional green salad, with cherry tomato and avocado.
healthy salads
For dessert, Vanessa baked a mouth watering sticky date pudding. Special mention must go to Albert Stangle, who expertly advised the correct cooking time. For all Vanessa's recipes, please subscribe to her Mail Ling List. Finally, with coffee, we offered fresh strawberries, home made rocky road and coconut truffles.
mmmm...fantastic options
Special mention must go to Sal, who ate everything on his plate. However, the management would like to advise that there's no truth to the rumour that his subsequent stomach bug had anything to do with Bite Club.
A thorn amongst the roses
Special thanks to Victoria and Ben, for joining us. As we look forward to the next Bite Club at Mark, Maria and Sal's place, perhaps we should ponder a question raised by Tony. Just why is it, that intruders never make a second return? (Cue creepy think music.)
From the people who brought you Bite Club, we bring you Bite Club Lunch!
The inaugural daytime edition of our food and friends fest kicked off on Sunday, August 19. Could a weekend lunch, possibly be as successful as the traditional Tuesday night affair? After five seasons, changing time slots is always a risk. However, despite appalling weather conditions - and at least one member getting the shits, literally - it turned out to be a fun afternoon.
The day began with a clap of thunder and bolt of inspiration. Due to the torrential rain, Vanessa and I abandoned our plan to seat everyone in the spacious courtyard at Spring Street. Instead, we decided to slap two tables together and squeeze everyone inside. As they say, bad luck always comes in threes - and it did. Soon after, Paul was seconded to free a staff member from a laundry press at Valitel. Minutes later, Mark Meredith found himself knee deep in raw sewage, at Mafia Headquarters. As always, Maria arrived, with apologies from the absentees - and takeaway requests.
Nessy and Jason
In keeping with Bite Club tradition, two special guest surprise intruders were invited to add spice - newlyweds, Victoria and Ben Richards. Victoria needs no introduction. She's always a hit with the gang. As a fellow professional marathon runner, I knew Ben would have much in common with myself, Ryan and Michael. Over the course of the afternoon, he even managed to pick up a few sporty tips. Winning the City to Surf is easy - all you need to do is smell like a fragrance counter and follow the bouncing bum!
Victoria and Ben...welcome intruders
With everyone seated, we got down to the serious business of serving food. Vanessa and I opted against an overall theme for the three courses - after all, our backs are still out from doing the can can, at our Parisian night. Instead, we kept it simple. For entrée, Vanessa prepared a traditional Chinese dish: Cannelloni stuffed with ricotta, baked in a rich tomato sauce. Add a touch of rocket for extra flair. It was truly delicious. If the Great Wall can be seen from the moon, so could our waist lines, by the time the four individual servings were devoured.
Vanessa's Canelloni
For a main, I dished up spicy Mediterranean burgers. I was once given the recipe by a wonderful old Greek lady, who lives on the island of Siros, in the Cyclades. It's been passed down through her family for generations. Simply bake a sour dough bun (I started from scratch but you can buy identical rolls from the Queen Street deli). Combine fresh beef and lamb into paddies, season with parsely, ground cinnamon, garlic, peppers and chilli. Grill to taste. Prepare the rolls with a layer of sundried tomato, then add Greek yoghurt to the burgers, top with spring onion, and serve with a side of warm potato chips. Amazingly, the entire meal has zero cholesterol.
Beaut burgers
Purely for decorative purposes, I whipped up three side salads: Fennel, grapefruit, nicoese olive and walnut, in a mustard dressing. Also, basil and pinenut, in a Balsamic vingerar dressing. Finally, a traditional green salad, with cherry tomato and avocado.
healthy salads
For dessert, Vanessa baked a mouth watering sticky date pudding. Special mention must go to Albert Stangle, who expertly advised the correct cooking time. For all Vanessa's recipes, please subscribe to her Mail Ling List. Finally, with coffee, we offered fresh strawberries, home made rocky road and coconut truffles.
mmmm...fantastic options
Special mention must go to Sal, who ate everything on his plate. However, the management would like to advise that there's no truth to the rumour that his subsequent stomach bug had anything to do with Bite Club.
A thorn amongst the roses
Special thanks to Victoria and Ben, for joining us. As we look forward to the next Bite Club at Mark, Maria and Sal's place, perhaps we should ponder a question raised by Tony. Just why is it, that intruders never make a second return? (Cue creepy think music.)
Penne pasta with meatballs and peas
15/08/2007 18:41 Filed in: Recipes
Huge plate of pasta!
I love pasta in any shape or form. I'll never forget slurping on my first strands of spaghetti as a child. Of course my taste buds have certainly developed and the types of pasta have changed. But sometimes you just like going back to your roots. This recipe is a hybrid taken form a number of sources over the years. There's good ol' penne, which is always in my pantry and there's chicken meatballs. I had a few chicken thigh fillets lying around and whizzed them up in a food processor with some "panko" Japanese breadcrumbs, an egg, some fresh basil and oregano, salt, pepper, grated parmesan and chilli. I shaped the mixture into little balls and baked them in a 180 dec C oven for about 40 mins. Once they were cooked I added them to a pot that had some "passata" and olive oil simmering away. I added a little chicken stock (acout 3/4 cup) and let it cook for about 45 mins. At the very end I added some frozen peas I had in the fridge. My final step was to boil the penne to the "al dente" stage and toss it all together.
As you can see it's really easy. I just play around in the kitchen sometimes and make things up as I go. Its also a good way of using up ingredients lying about.
Enjoy and feel free to add or change the recipe.
Mmmm...Enjoy!
Feel Like a Friand?
10/08/2007 20:05 Filed in: Recipes
Lemon Friand
These little beauties will excite and delight you. They may not help pay off your mortgage any faster, but you can certainly dream about it as you enjoy one with your tea or coffee. Well, try stopping at just one. Go on I dare ya! They are so moreish and delicious you'll find yourself saying "I'll start that diet tomorrow". For anyone who has never ordered these in a cafe or tried them before, they are basically a cake. A rich, moist miniature cake packed with calorific goodness. I read somewhere that they were of French origin but I personally cannot remember seeing them when I was in Paris. The recipe I used came from this month's Delicious magazine. It was in the kids section. Why should they have all the fun?
More lemon Friands...
LEMON FRIAND RECIPE
190g Unsalted butter
60g plain flour
200g of icing sugar
125g of almond meal
5 egg whites
grated zest of 1 lemon
1. Melt the butter.
2. Sift the flour, icing sugar and almond meal in a bowl. Grate the lemon zest and add it to the dry ingredients.
3. In a separate bowl beat the egg whites until frothy.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones and beat until just combined.
5. Pour into a pre greased friand tin or muffin pan. Fill about 2/3.
6. Place into a 180 C pre heated oven.
Make a batch and enjoy...
Yum Cha
09/08/2007 22:14 Filed in: Reviews
You know you want it...
Mmmmm...fresh steamed dumplings ready to be devoured! Nothing beats Yum cha for that traditional Cantonese dining experience. There is so much going on! The fast paced action of the dining room floor. Trolleys being pushed to and fro. Everyone trying to decide on what to order. Bamboo baskets exchanged. Its a hectic environment but I find every bit of it enjoyable. And like most places in the world with a Chinatown, we here in Sydney are spoilt for choice. So off we went to Zilver in Chinatown ready for a midday treat of Yum Cha. It was just after 12 and the place was pumping. There was one table left and we snatched it before you could say "fried rice". So join me on this photo journey of Chinese delights. I hope your mouth waters...
Traditional steamed pork dim sum
Salt and Pepper Whitebait
Steamed prawn dumplings
Good ol' spring rolls
Golden fried prawn dumplings
Peking Duck
Stir fried beans
Washed down with jasmine tea
Only one dumpling left
As you can see we devoured a fair few items. It was all delicious. Yum cha is still a traditional Sunday gathering for a lot of people. I'm just glad they now offer it at all times of the week. Just make sure you get there early.
Zilver (formerly known as Silver Spring)
Level 1, 477 Pitt Street (Cnr Hay St)
Sydney NSW 2000
Phone (02) 9211 2232
Fax (02) 9211 5670
Home Made Pies
03/08/2007 08:38 Filed in: Recipes Bite Club
Freshly made pies with tomato sauce
It was my turn recently to host Biteclub. Nothing excites me more than preparing a winter feast for 12! I made fresh pies! There were two types on offer. A chicken, leek and vegetable pie made with a silky smooth cream sauce and a robust red wine, beef and mushroom one. I served them with pea mash and some good quality store bought tomato sauce. I'll break up my recipes for my Biteclub over a few posts.
Pies with pea mash
As you may recall, I recently purchased a pie maker and I have been playing around with mixed results. I should be known as the official pie maker of Sydney! Anyway here are two different types I made the other night. The recipes have been adapted from Stephanie Alexander's "The Cooks Companion". I, of course played around with the recipes and changed bits and pieces here and there.
CHICKEN LEEK AND VEGETABLE PIES
500 g of Chicken thigh fillets chopped up in small amounts
300 g of Italian Pancetta
3 large leeks
2 carrots
2 stalks of celery
1 cup of Chicken stock
1/2 cup of thin pouring cream
1 cup of milk
a handful of freshly chopped continental parsley
seasoned flour for the chicken
butter for frying
Now as you can see the list is not low fat! But very delicious and comforting for this dreaded winter of ours! Roll the chicken thigh fillets in seasoned flour and fry in batches in butter. Remove and set aside.
In the same pot fry the pancetta with a little olive oil and add the finely diced carrot, celery and sliced leeks. Keep the temperature to medium as we don't want to burn this mixture. When the ingredients appear translucent, add the previously fried chicken thigh fillets to this mixture and give it a good stir. Add the milk, cream and stock and allow to simmer for about 20 mins. The mixture will be generously thick. Finally add the chopped parsley and stir through. Take it off the heat and allow it to cool thoroughly.
My pie maker provides the moulds to cut out the tops and bottoms. I used a ready made short crust pastry for the base and puff pastry for the top. If you dont have one of these beauties just place the chicken mixture into a pie tin and cover with puff pastry. Brush it with a little beaten egg and cook it in a moderate oven (about 180 deg C) for 20 mins.
PEA MASH
This is so easy to make! You can either use fresh peas or frozen ones. I used fresh peas that I blanched lightly in chicken stock with some fresh mint. After it was heated through I drained the stock and whizzed the peas and mint in a food processor along with a couple of tablespoons of creme fraiche, freshly ground pepper and sea salt. I wanted a slightly chunky mixture. It all depends on how you like your mashed peas.
Dollop the mash over warm pies and smother with a good store bought tomato sauce or relish.
Pies again
Happy eating!
Pete