Spanakopita...A Greek classic

I haven't really ventured into much Greek food cooking on this blog. I constantly get asked about the title of my blog/website and how this relates to me. Well you can read a little about it here. I promise to provide a few more greek recipes as I go along. I also don't want to keep this blog too one dimensional. But I digress...

First off, let's start with an instant Greek classic. "Spanakopita" is a traditional Greek pie made with spinach and fetta cheese encased in that ever so thin pastry called "filo". Filo has numerous meanings in Greek but for this instance it refers to a piece of paper. Or as thin as a piece of paper. Spanakopita is served everywhere in Greece. From the hustle and bustle of busy Athens to local Greek villages. And everyone has their own version of it. Without going into too much detail, my grandmother used to roll out her own filo pastry (a hard skill to fathom...it takes years to master!) and use wild green spinach with a goats milk fetta as the filling.

Well, with the convenience of modern supermarkets I just buy my filo ready made! I also changed the filling slightly by mixing the fetta cheese with some ricotta and a little grated parmesan. Quite easy actually. Just be wary when using the filo pastry to do so quickly or it dries up very quickly. A good tip is to keep it covered with a damp tea towel while you work with it. You can also make individual triangular "spanakopites" (that's plural!...sorry for the Greek lessons folks!) and fry them. Hmmm...If I had more time I would attempt this but everyone knows my hatred for frying. Remember also with cooking that nothing is set in stone so feel free to play around with the ingredients.


Popeye would be proud

SOUVLAKI FOR THE SOUL'S SPANAKOPITA RECIPE
2 big bunches of Spinach (silverbeet works well too...maybe you can mix it up a little?)
200g of good quality fetta cheese
200 g of fresh ricotta
about half a cup of grated Parmigiano Reggiano
5 tbsps of finely chopped dill
10 spring onions finely chopped including the green bits
2 eggs
salt and pepper to taste
50g of melted butter for brushing filo pastry

METHOD
1. Chop up the spinach roughly discarding the stalky ends. Wash thoroughly! Once washed blanch in hot water.
2. In a food processor whizz up the fetta, ricotta, parmesan and eggs. We're looking for a creamy consistency with a little texture. Transfer to a bowl.
3. Add the dill and chopped spring onions to the cheese mixture along with the cooled down blanched spinach. Give it a good mix. Season accordingly.
4. Preheat your oven to 180 deg C
5. Spray a rectangular baking dish with some olive oil
6. Take the filo sheets out and start brushing them with the melted butter laying them on the bottom of the pre oiled baking dish. Stack them up about 10 or so. Make sure there's enough to make a base.
7. Transfer the spinach and cheese mixture and lay it over the buttered filo sheets.
8. Next, start brushing the next lot of filo sheets with butter. Lay these on top of the spinach and cheese mixture. Again use about 10 or so. Just make sure there's enough to form a decent pie top.
9. Transfer to hot oven and cook for about 45 mins.

Serve with a crisp side salad or cut into pieces to serve as a snack. The kids will love this and so will the adults!

Enjoy!
Pete

Tags:recipes Greek

My favourite Thai restaurant

As you may have read previously, Thai food is an absolute favourite of mine. It's a cuisine which manages to blend all senses of the food spectrum and make it succeed. Having been spoilt over the years with my many trips to Bangkok, I held a particular snobbery to Thai food here in Australia. I always found the local Aussie version of Thai food to be too sweet and devoid of any character. Well wouldn't you know it. I discovered a place recently that transports me to Bangkok with every morsel off the menu.

Located in the CBD end of Surry Hills is SPICE I AM. (Don't you just love that play on words!!!). It's a smallish place and it has received rave reviews here in Sydney for its original presentation of Thai cuisine. Sujet and his very capable team pack them in every night. Start queing at 6 pm if you want to be sure of a seat. None of the dishes disappoint. All the favourites are there including a number of specials every night. Join me on another photo journey of beautifully created food.


Vegetarian Spring rolls

Crispy spring roll pastry encasing a medley of vegetables. All perfectly cooked. served with a sweet Chilli dipping sauce.


Thai Fried Rice with Beef

My absolute favourite dish ever. Thai style fried rice. I had mine with beef. This dish is a staple of mine in Thailand. Presented with freshly cut limes and cooling cucumbers, I also add lashing of fish sauce with chilli or Prik Nam Plah as its known in Thailand.



Som Tum Salad

When I saw the Som Tum on the menu I was nearly emotional. This is another classic Thai food found almost anywhere. Grated green papaya mixed with peanuts, tomatoes, chillis, lime juice, dried shrimp and fish sauce. It was true to its origins and tasted exactly like the one in Bangkok. Mmmmm....


Baby Kai lan with oyster sauce

In order to balance out our eating we also ordered the baby Kai lan stirfried with oyster sauce, chilli and garlic.


Garlic Prawns

A Thai inspired dish of stir fried prawns with garlic and chilli. Spicy and mooreish. It was ravenously consumed. This was a featured special that evening.


Basil and Chilli Chicken

Another avourite. Chicken stirfried with basil and chilli. Succulent, moist, sweet, pungent, sour..all thesenses were being awakened. Man this stuff is good. All our dishes were accompanied with steamed Jasmine rice.


Fish sauce with chilli

I just had to feature my favourite Thai condiment. This stuff goes on just about most things I eat with Thai food. I love it. I love the way its presented here at Spice I am.

If you live in Sydney or if you plan on visiting here do yourself a favour and check it out. The best Thai food ever. Ever.

SPICE I AM
90 Wentworth Avenue
Surry Hills
Sydney 2010

Tags:restaurants Thai Sydney

Banana pancakes drizzled with maple syrup

I had the pleasure of staying overnight at a friends place yesterday. Facing the world after a double espresso, I contemplated making some pancakes for my kind hosts thanking them for their generous hospitality. While they were still catching 40 winks, I tinkered around the kitchen finding the ingredients needed for a semi luxurious breakfast. I hadn't cooked pancakes in years and I really wanted to try out a recent recipe scoured from the internet. Past pancake recipes had yielded me rubber discs void of any texture. This time, armed with experience, I made sure no to overbeat the mixture to oblivion. A few bananas lying around provided me the topping I needed along with the organic maple syrup found in the pantry. My hosts were good shoppers so i had everything I needed at hand. Follow this recipe for a fool proof rubber free result.


Fluffy and delicious

PANCAKE RECIPE
1 & 1/4 cups of self raising flour
3/4 cup of milk
pinch of salt
1 tsp of caster sugar
1 egg
Dash of vanilla extract
60 g of melted butter

1. Sift the flour into a bowl and add the remaining dry ingredients.
2. Mix all the wet ingredients together.
3. Make a well in the centre of the bowl with the dry ingredients and gradually pour in the milk mixture.
4. Using a balloon whisk mix everything till its just combined. DO NOT OVERBEAT!!!!
5. Let the mixture rest in the refrigerator for about 15-20 mins
6. Take the mixture out and dollop amounts onto a medium hot pan. Use either a soup ladle or a large tablespoon. If the mixture seems a little thick, thin it out using a little milk, BEFORE placing onto hot pan.
7. As you make pancakes transfer onto a plate and keep covered with a tea towel
8. Top with your favourite ingredients. I used bananas because they were on hand. Drizzle with maple syrup or honey.
9. Consume immediately!


Eat me!

Tags:recipes Sweet Treats

Food bloggers are a unique bunch. Apart from writing about their passion for food, they have to actually cook something and then photograph the results to make it look edible. Sure you can type away on a keyboard as long as you like but generally with food blogging some kind of evidence, usually through pictures is required.

We also tend to be ignored in a lot of blogging circles. Not anymore. A very passionate food blogger, The Leftover Queen or Jenn as she is really known has come up with a way to get food bloggers noticed. She came up with the Foodie Blogroll. The Foodie Blogroll allows everyone with a food blog to join a very long list of food bloggers and place a bit of code on your blog's sidebar. Instant Blogroll and links! It's a great idea and I think you should check it out.

Talk about using leftovers wisely! She has a cool website with forums, where foodies can exchange ideas and talk about culinary delights. Head on over there and give it a shot.

Pete

Tags:Blog

Glamorous Biteclub setting

I landed in Sydney and quickly made my way to the next Biteclub hosted by Mark, Maria and Sal. These guys always put on a fantastic spread. Just have a look here and you'll see what I mean. As I walked into their cool digs, Mark was already being the perfect host and had everyone's wine glass filled. Sal was busy making the last adjustments to the menu and Maria was finishing up with the table decorations. What a team!

A familiar, pungent aroma had saturated the dining and kitchen areas. Mmmm. What was it? Maria explained that she had purchased some Parmesan cheese that day and it would be featured in a few of the dishes. Folks this isn't your regular store bought parmesan. This was a Parmesan cheese made from Buffalo milk, similar to the Buffalo mozzarella. I had never heard of it before so was curious to see its appearance in some of the food. Maria had stylishly put together a tasting platter for all, as a bit of a starter. They had grissini, Ligurian olives and of course the Buffalo Parmesan. The cheese certainly lived up to its expectations. Costing nearly the same as a mortgage in Sydney you'd want it to be! Nutty and mellow and very suited with the olives and grissini.


Grissini, Buffalo Parmesan and Ligurian olives


Olives

After a good ol' catch up we sat down for the first course. Sal had taken inspiration from his Italian aunties and delivered a traditional Italian style menu with a bit of a modern twist. First off, Linguine tossed with fried broccolini , garlic, extra virgin olive oil and finished off with shavings of Buffalo Parmesan.



Broccolini with Linguine

The simplicity of the above dish is phenomenal. I mean how easy is it to throw a few things together and deliver a taste sensation? And really its not that difficult.


Polpette with sugo

After a delicious start and another mini break we proceeded to get ready for the second course. Out came the polpette or meatballs for you non Italian speakers. They were cooked in a sugo, (a rich Italian tomato sauce). Sal had thrown together some veal and pork mince, a few eggs (remember there are 12 of us!), some breadcrumbs, salt and pepper and the star of the evening, the Buffalo Parmesan! Combining the ingredients together he formed the large polpette and cooked them in an Italian tomato sauce. I asked Sal if he fried them first and he said no. Hmmm...more Italian secrets! They were flavoursome, filling and the flavour of the Parmesan was strong with out it being too overbearing. Served with a crisp salad complete with a beautiful Balsamic vinegar form Modena.

Again, the Italians had shown us a thing or two at this Biteclub. I have often said it and I will repeat it again if necessary. Simplicity is really the only way to go with cooking. Too many combinations can spoil food. Relying on a few ingredients and using them wisely is the secret. As we saw, the buffalo Parmesan featured three times tonight and it worked beautifully with the presented menu.

Great job guys!
Pete

Tags:Bite Club

Smiling faces everywhere

All this travelling has left me no time to post. I'm behind about 6 entries but I'll get there. I recently had 12 hours transisting in Narita which is Tokyo's airport hub. Not much time to venture into Tokyo itself (I was so bloody tired!) but enough time to take a few snaps and indulge in some food of course!! These lovely ladies posed for me as I wandered the narrow streets of Narita. (It's an interesting place, sort of a "waiting room" for travellers who are waiting for connections on to other destinations). Anyway, these lovely, friendly ladies had just been to the temple and were returning home and through broken Japanese and English we worked out which way I should head to grab a meal.


Narrow, winding streets

I navigated the streets snapping away like a madman! Here are some shots.


The Golden Arches are everywhere!



Vending machines. These sell everything...


Cute little houses

I came across this restaurant and it was open.


Hello!...Anyone home?

I was promptly greeted and showed a menu. Thank god it had an English version on one side. On previous visits here, I have always eaten well. There is a mythconception, about Japan and how "expensive" it is. The yen and the dollar are quite comparable now, so prices are quite cheap. Also, if you think like a local, you can eat like one too. I ordered a set meal and for under 10 Aussie bucks this is what I got.



Mmmmm...feast on this

On my walk back I discovered heaps of other places all selling a variety of food for less than 10 Aussie dollars. Lets break my meal down:



Japanese fried rice with pork and egg


Iceberg salad with tomatoes and corn smothered with 1000 island dressing


Sweet corn and chicken soup


Japanese Gyoza

Of course you will hear me say how delicious and filling it was. And it was. I also had 2 deep fried and breaded cutlets delivered (I forgot to photograph them!). Next time I hope to get into Tokyo itself and take some pics and munch on a variety of other foods.
Enjoy folks.
Pete

Tags:destinations Asia

Continuing on from yesterday, I wanted to make this post about the food in Singapore. While there are numerous establishments serving everything from local to "mod" interpretations (you know those places...everything has some kind of "foam" in the dish) I'm going to let you in on where I eat when I'm staying in Singapore.

Singapore truly has a huge selection of eateries. Too many. (Not that that's a bad thing of course...we love food choices here...trust me!). There are Italian restaurants, American steak houses, Japanese sushi houses and even a themed restaurant serving food in a hospital environment, complete with wheelchairs as seats!!! (cue creepy music...). Walk down to Serangoon Rd and you find yourself transported to India. Otherwise known as "little India" to the locals. The smell of cardamon and turmeric permeate the atmosphere. Chicken Biryani and vindaloos compete for space with Indian sweets made from chick pea flour. Its mind blowing and paradoxically numbing at the same time.

Due to the huge Malaysian influence of the region there are also a lot of places serving "halal" food. Restaurants clearly state this on their windows and display this on their menus. Interestingly, the Malaysian influence is also found in "nonya" cuisine. Nonya is the word used to refer to the women of the Malacca region who married the Chinese men who were sent on trading missions in the 1400's. A cultural and of course, culinary union was formed with the signature dish being laksa. And who doesn't love laksa. Rich broth swimming in coconut milk, garnished with seafood, fried tofu and a squeeze of lime. Lets not forget the soft, roti breads, the fierce spicy chilli pastes, and the aromatic pungent curries flavoured with ginger and turmeric. And who could forget the satays? I can go on forever and as you can see I have eaten well over the years here!

And finally lets not forget the Chinese food. Lots of regions are represented from China, namely from the Hainan region. Order Hainanese Chicken rice and you will experience comfort food like no other. Moist, succulent chicken cooked in a broth of ginger and spring onions and lightly bathed in sesame oil. Presented with rice cooked in the same broth, this dish has the ability to soothe the soul. And we love "soul" foods on this website! Spring rolls, deep fried carrot "cake", flat noodles, thin noodles and fish balls. Again, the list is endless.

My recent eating adventure included me indulging in my favourite eating place. Maggies. A non descript restaurant located near the Raffles complex, Maggies does have a huge expat following but people usually go back because of the consistency. Fantastic food, good service and big cold beers offering relief from the stifling heat and humidity.


Beer...a favourite with Chinese food

I order the Chicken with black pepper sauce.The chicken is cooked with cracked black peppercorns and peppers. It has a hint of spice but with out it being over the top. The flavour is addictive. I keep on wanting more but I remember I have greedily ordered about another 5 items!


Chicken with black pepper sauce

The squid arrives next. This is reffered to as "butter squid" on the menu. Crunchy batter surrounds squid pieces cooked to buttery perfection. It truly is a cholesterol counters nightmare and you can't stop at one. Spicy chilli sauce and rich, creamy mayonaise accompany the dish.


Butter squid



Mayo and chilli

And finally to be really good I order some vegies. Gai lan stir fried with oyster sauce and garnished with fried eschallots. Its a fantastic balance of bitter and sweet flavours. You really cant go wrong and the menu is extensive with a few adventurous choices on offer.


Stir fried Gai Lan

So there you have it in a nutshell. A quick guide to food in Singapore. Well, my experience of it. Look out for more write ups on my culinary adventures in Singapore.

Pete

Tags:destinations Asia

Singapore Skyline

A lot has been said about Singapore over the years. While many view it as a "stopover" on their way to Europe there is a whole lot more to this city/state than meets the eye. I have been a regular visitor here on and off for 15 years, namely for work. Initially I hated the place. I found there were too many rules for my rebellious nature. There were fines for everything. Trust me, I was petrified the first time I visited. Especially about the "no chewing gum" law! Anyway, as time passed and I visited again and again, I saw the city and culture from a different perspective. I'm going to offer you my perspective on the place, namely through pictures ( I love my new Nikon DSLR!!!). Of course we will not forget the food!!!! This place definetly has it going on in the food stakes. With a huge Indian, Malaysian and Chinese mix the food is diverse and different. Of course you will find the usual suspects of American fast food chains and coffee houses here. (These places are popping up everywhere).

Singapore runs on efficiency. From the moment you are transported form the award winning Changi airport onto the island, you will notice perfectly manicured gardens and clean, neat parks. Much of this is reclaimed land and there is always some piece of land being reclaimed. The streets are very clean, giving you the impression that they are mopped down and hosed every night!!! Speed limits are adhered to by cautious drivers and shopping centres or "malls" as they are reffered to are everywhere. And I mean everywhere. Even underground. You can't miss them and Singaporeans love to shop with excessive abandon. Sundays are the busiest days for shopping, so you have been warned.

Singapore boasts an impressive modern CBD with a lot of multinational companies using it as their base in Asia. (Skyscrapers dominate the skyline and it is one impresive skyline!). Hence, there is a huge expatriate community living there from all corners of the globe. It just adds to the diversity. Lets not also forget that Singapore has strong colonial ties from its past and this is evident in a lot of the buildings in the "older" parts of the city. The Raffles hotel is a good example of this but unfortunately the price tag to stay there is not "old". Here you can immerse yourself in old world charm while sipping Singapore Slings while your wallet receives a good sling! Just a little tip. I often go and have breakfast/brunch at the Raffles hotel at the Ah Teng Bakery. They make the most amazing sandwiches for about $10. Take your sandwich into the Raffles courtyard and enjoy it there, while soaking up the old world charm. But I digress. There is simply just too much to say about Singapore. Here are some photos I snapped while I was there recently.


Impressive night scenes


Towering skyscrapers



Famous Singapore landmark
The Fullerton Hotel


Fullerton Hotel with CBD in background


Looking up on the buildings of the CBD

Hope you liked my quick insight and pics of a place I have nearly labelled as my second home. Tomorrow, lets get back to basics. The food.

Pete

Tags:destinations Asia