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February 13, 2008

banana bread recipe?

Ok, so I'm on the baking thing again. Made an amazing cake the other day - it's a Two Fat Ladies recipe for Danish apple and prune cake. It's more almond meal than flour (omg!), and I substituted figs for prunes last time, and this time I used fresh strawberries instead. Basically it's a rich, sweet cake made from a batter (ie don't over beat it) which you put sliced fruit on top of. Then sugar. Then cinnamon. Oh MAN it is AMAZING. Will post recipe when can be buggered.

But NOW I need a good banana bread recipe. I am distinguishing between banana cake and banana bread, here. I want something that's not as sweet and sticky and glucky as banana cake. I want something heavier or doughy-er and not as sweet. No icing. No way.

Anyone got a good recipe?

"banana bread recipe?" was posted by dogpossum on February 13, 2008 8:09 PM in the category fewd | Comments (1)

May 13, 2007

jerusalem

fartechokes. We had them for dinner and it's added an extra level of interest to watching Eurovision tonight.

"jerusalem" was posted by dogpossum on May 13, 2007 12:54 AM in the category fewd

May 7, 2007

excessive sensuality

Last night I did some fancy cooking.

It's been a while since I really cooked - you know, the sort of cooking where you use every single pot and pan, the blender, the food processor and at least sixty zillion ingredients. Sure, I cook regularly, and have people over for meals, but I'm talking serious cooking. And for me, serious cooking means Indian cooking.

When I first moved to Melbourne I lived in a 4 person vegetarian share house. I took to it with a will, and relished our proximity to the Vic Markets. But it didn't take long for me to get into dancing hardcore, and then I discovered that not everyone in Melbourne likes to eat. I was incredibly disappointed by swing dancers' dining habits. And still am. There's far too much bullshit pizza and ordinary pasta. No Indian. No Very little Asian (meaning any Asian cuisine) and far too many over-priced variations on meat and three veg.
The hours that I kept, as a hardcore dancer, meant that there wasn't time to cook fancy food, and there wasn't really much point when I wasn't home long enough or often enough to enjoy it. I did enjoy the household - which had shifted from vegetarian to vegan, heavy on the co-op. I liked going to the co-op at UniMelb to pick up grains or to make my own peanut butter. I liked the Vic Markets very much, and eating sixty zillion types of veggie slop a week. But my inner epicure missed the challenge of serious cooking.

Seeing as how I'm now living the patriarchy's dream - the little housewife* staying home to keep house while her man goes off to hunt down the bacon** - I've started getting serious about my domestic duties. I've started cleaning again (and now I'm thinking of PavCat and her post which sticks in my mind - I should print it out and stick it up on the wall), so our house is nice and I don't have to wear thongs inside. I've been buying groceries regularly so we don't get scurvy. I've been doing laundry regularly as well. And I've decided I needed to step it up, culinary-wise.

I am more than a little ob-con. I like order, I like strucure, I like tidying and sorting and putting things in containers. When we moved into this house The Squeeze was worried he'd come home one day to find his underwear in jars, lined up with the flour and sugar and lentils in their brand new Arc homes. If I'm working on something acka, it doesn't matter if the house is blown up and there's nothing to eat, so long as the words are all lining up nicely and carefully divided into chapters. But now that the whole writing thing isn't working so well...
I've decided that I need to get into the hardcore cooking.

Last time I was into hardcore cooking, the rest of my domestic life wasn't going so great. My seven year relationship was crumbling, my Masters was being squeeezed out of me, very slowly, and my family was kind of exploding. But fuck, I was eating like a princess. Home made pasta. Six course Indian feasts. Chutneys. Baked goods out the wazoo. Etcetera, etcetera.
Now I realise all that was seven years ago - it's not long til I've been living in Melbourne for ten years. Ten years! I'd never made a definite plan for how long I'd live here, nor where I'd go next. Right now, I'd really like to go somewhere new, do something new. But that's not really an option. Melbourne is great - I love it. But it's getting kind of ... old.

But, look, I'm off track, and wandering on with the introspection in a way that's making my male readers uncomfortable.... holy crap, can you believe I actually wrote that?!?! GEEEZus. I really am slipping.

So anyway, back to me and what I want to cook.
Now I have this time on my hands, I'm thinking about getting jiggy with the food. Last night I was home alone for the third or fourth time this week (it's been a busy week for The Squeeze, what with APPA and work meetings and interviews and things), and decided that I wasn't going to cook stupid pasta again for my dinner, nor would I buy some dumb takeaway. I was going to use some of the neat veggies I'd just bought and get some curry action happening.

I have a few favourite Indian recipe books. Madhur Jaffrey, of course. A couple of others. And this great job. This is Camellia Panjabi's 50 Great Curries of India (though mine's cover looks more like this). It's one of those lovely books with lots of useful desriptions and histories and tips. The recipes, though, are freakin' hardcore. No canned coconut milk here - only fresh, grated coconut (which is kind of hard to get in Brunswick). Six zillion spices per dish. Whole Spices, though - no ground action. You roast them, then you grind them up. And spices and ingredients I've never, ever heard of. We're talking a level above black cardamon here, at least.
So last night (at about 7pm, I should add), I decide that I'd like to whip up a veggie curry. At first I was kind of clumsy. I couldn't figure out how to fit all the jars of spice on the counter. Then I realised all those spices were kind of old and neglected. Then I found my two cans of coconut milk had gone off (I subbed in a bit of dessicated coconut and some canned coconut milk for the fresh coconut - you have to fry the grated coconut a bit and the flavour is incredible. But adding too much dessicated coconut to a curry gives you a big pot of all-bran - chewy, kind of flavourless, frustrating). Things weren't looking too great, so I swapped recipes. And then it was like my fingers and some unconscious part of my brain suddenly remembered what to do. I was the queen of frying whole spices, grating ginger, chopping cauliflower.

Midway through, I realised that I'd made this recipe before and not really liked it (I should have removed the cinamon stick rather than blending it in - it's too strong), so I decided to whip up a quick chickpea curry. Do you know how long it's been since I made chickpea curry?! That's how far I've fallen. It took me about 10 seconds and I even remembered the recipe, after at least five years! But then I needed some greens. There was cauliflower, sweet potato and carrots in the curry, I'd found some frozen peas in the freezer (ask The Squeeze about those) and I had a big stack of spinach. So, while the rice was cooking (brown rice, because we'd run out of Basmati (!!) and I felt like it), I threw some chopped garlic and mustard seeds into some olive oil, then some chopped spinach into that. And I cooked it just right - still bright green and full of watery goodness, but not underdone - and it was perfect!

And then I sat down to a plate full of lovely goodness and at least three episodes of Gilmore Girls (did you know that Sam from Supernatural was Rory's boyfriend? Or that Peter Petrelli from Heroes was her other boyfriend?!).

The smells! The aromas! How could I have gone so long without this?! I haven't cooked Indian from complete scratch in years - there's nothing at all like it. Nothing so sensual, so pleasing. And when you're in there, making that spice paste, about an hour in and with at least an hour to go before you even put the rice on, you think this is complete indulgence. No freaking housewife would take this much time and effort! Cooking like this is pure indulgence. It is luxury. It is taking a whole lot of time to do something that could take half an hour. It's taking cheap ingredients (all those vegetables) and making something truly special. And I didn't even get into naan (of which I am a master) or sweets!

But really, this sort of cooking is cooking for pleasure. When it's not the cooking you were raised with, or the sort of cooking you're expected to do, it's extravagance. Profligance even. And it makes me think about the way cooking means different things in different moments. It's the luxury of time - to cook, to hunt down ingredients, to research recipes and particular food items and utensils. It's also a marker of affluence and social opportunity. And when you get into things like Jamie Oliver and Nigella Lawson, it's about ideas of luxury and being wealthy enough to afford Oliver's cuts of meat in London, or Nigella's kitchen accessories. Or - perhaps more importantly for women - being able to simply indulge, indulge, indulge. Without consequence. No calory counting. No expanding girth. No increasing weight. No guilt. It's the complete and selfish absorption in a utterly sensual and unnecessary activity. This isn't subsistence cooking, it's intensive gastronomy. It is about waste. There's time alone, cloistered in a lovely clean kitchen with just the right tools and raw materials. There are the physical sensations - the softness of fresh dough, the sting of cut chilli, the earthiness of ground spices. The intellectual and creative stimulation - considering how it will taste, making decisions about which ingredient to omit or increase and knowing how this will effect the end product. And the pleasure of expectation - imagining how it will taste, how it will look, how it will smell when it is done and displayed on just the right plate.

It all sounds very artyfarty, wanky, ridiculous. And that's because it is, and that is what sells television like Nigella's stupidly ill-focused and unsteadily filmed program and creates cults for cooks and chefs. There's certainly an element of power and control - at least for me. When I'm cooking, I'm the boss. If there are mistakes, they're my mistakes. If there are successes, they're my successes. And there are always new and uncharted territories to explore. Or more excitingly, reams and reams of charts to be ferreted out of bookshelves, stalked in book shops and television guides and on the internet.

So I'm off to the shops in a minute. The Indian grocer is next door to the fresh pasta guy on Lygon Street, just up from a middle eastern nut shop. And then I have to get to the greengrocer on Sydney Road before I finish off at the Halal butcher for some goat. Or perhaps some lamb mince - Madhur has a nice recipe for boiled eggs wrapped in mince and then cooked in curry. Something The Squeeze would like.
Or perhaps, even better, I'll just get a bunch of things I know I'll like and make them for myself.

*I should point out here that 'housewife' is meant to refer to that imaginary beast who happily spends her entire existence thinking only of others, cooking, cleaning, entertaining, buying white goods, fetching, carrying for children and husband. Career? Are you kidding?! She doesn't write books (or blogs) or draw pictures or sew anything other than clothes for her children or herself. She doesn't teach or talk about anything more interesting than which brand of soap she should buy. She aspires to nothing more than domestic harmony and pleasing other people.

This housewife is not the same person as the woman who chooses to be the primary caregiver in her family yet doesn't switch off her brain. This housewife is the person whose entire being is validated and justified by her service to her family, and she would never, ever consider dropping it all for a quick trip across to Richmond to chase down Japanese quilting fabrics, or that mythical Jazz shop in St Kilda or to take photos of installation art in the CBD.

**There is more than a little bitterness here. All that tertiary education and no corrections, and for what? A clean fucking house? Nice. Glad I put that effort in. Sure, being a housewife is fine, but not for me. In fact, for me, it's like the world is saying "hey, you know how you're really clever and can really write and research and stuff? It means nothing. Everything you are - it is worth less than your ability to wield a broom.

"excessive sensuality" was posted by dogpossum on May 7, 2007 2:02 PM in the category fewd and gastropod | Comments (6)

January 15, 2007

monster rabbits

Remember this fuzzer?

Apparently he's become a bit of an international celebrity. The breeder, not the bunny.

An east German pensioner who breeds rabbits the size of dogs has been asked by North Korea to help set up a big bunny farm to alleviate food shortages in the communist country. Now journalists and rabbit gourmets from around the world are thumping at his door.

Read the entire article here.

I can't imagine an 8 kilo bunny. That's fricking HUGE.

"monster rabbits" was posted by dogpossum on January 15, 2007 9:27 AM in the category coooteeewooteee and fewd | Comments (4)

December 31, 2006

by the by

Anyone have any good cake recipes that use oil rather than butter? I'm always after a good lacto-less cake recipe.
Actually, anyone got an unusual (yet rocking) cake recipe that they'd like to share? Please.

"by the by" was posted by dogpossum on December 31, 2006 7:23 PM in the category fewd | Comments (9)

December 28, 2006

pav's cat is blowing me up

Now I need to make this. Curse you, pc - I was trying to be good after the christmas binge.

"pav's cat is blowing me up" was posted by dogpossum on December 28, 2006 10:23 AM in the category fewd | Comments (3)

December 26, 2006

trifle = go

We made the trifle and it was wonderful!
I made custard for the very first time (and it was amazingly light, fluffy and lovely), we used lots of lovely fresh berries (though I'd have used even more, and forgot a few of the things in the fridge - fresh figs, blueberries, etc), I forgot the jam layer (but we decided it wasn't necessary as it would've made this even sweeter, and we liked the tartness of the fruit), we used lovely local Taswegian plum liqueur stuff instead of kirsch on the cake layer, we had to use bodgy bought cake for the bottom layer because we only decided to make the trifle at the last minute, but it was all GREAT.
Now I will have to make it with old sponge cake (for historical accuracy), or perhaps a dryer cake/bread base.
Follow the links from this photo on my flickr account to see a sort-of/abridged fewd bio.
pav, you're the BEST! This recipe has convinced me trifle is worth my time: no jelly! No urky rum or cooking sherry! No sloppy custard! No runny cream! No canned fruit! YAY!

"trifle = go" was posted by dogpossum on December 26, 2006 11:45 PM in the category fewd

December 24, 2006

berry it up, baby

The wonderful pavlov's cat has blogged her recipe for trifle and I figured, what better thing to do with some of these sexy beasts?

These are wonderful organic raspberries, purchased at the Salamanca Markets yesterday. We will make trifle with them tomorrow (though I must admit, I find it difficult to resist nabbing a couple each time I go into the fridge): YUM.

And of course, thank you so much, pav: you've saved me from urky trifle! And prevented family dischord! Huzzah!

"berry it up, baby" was posted by dogpossum on December 24, 2006 9:37 PM in the category fewd

hot christmas fewd action

Yesterday we made mince tarts. Well, actually, a few days earlier we made the mince meat (currents, sultanas, a couple of golden delicious apples, a ya pear, orange and lemon rind, brown sugar, butter, contreau... and some other stuff I've forgotten) and then kept it in the fridge. But yesterday we made 20 odd mince tarts. The Squeeze is King of Pastry - I am crap with pastry - and these were fabulous.

Here I am adding the filing to the shells. Check out the rest of the pics for more enthralling fewd action.

"hot christmas fewd action" was posted by dogpossum on December 24, 2006 9:29 PM in the category fewd

December 22, 2006

yay! pears

There's something about the smell of ya pears that drives me wild. There are a couple in the kitchen right now, and I can smell then whenever I go in there (which is quite frequently). I love the smell - it's a perfume.

I love them. I love ya pears. I do. Unfortunately, I can only find them in the supermarkets and I'm sure they're full of chemicals and are a scary hybrid thingy. But I just imagine what they're like if they're organic. Mmmm...

"yay! pears" was posted by dogpossum on December 22, 2006 3:36 PM in the category fewd | Comments (2)

December 21, 2006

more fewd

Last night we went to Fish in North Hobart. The father had the stripey. The mother had flounder. The Squeeze and I said 'no thankyou' to interesting fish dishes, opting instead for the glutton option. I love seafood more than anything and simply can't pass up the opportunity to stuff myself on it when we're down here. So we ordered a platter thing. It had giant fresh prawns (of course) half a dozen oysters (of course - huge and awesome and fresh, though a bit gritty for my liking. I take that as a sign they didn't do an excellent job shucking them), some calamari in an interesting batter, some giant, lovely white fish in a light batter, some interesting fish cakes (sort of shaped like fat little sausages and very tasty), some awesome smoked salmon and... it all came with their house salad - rocket + pear + parmesan.
All extremely awesome.

Tonight we had some family friends around for dinner, and because The Squeeze loves ham, we baked one for him. The mother and I had had a minor miscommunication and she'd ended up scoring a raw ham. From a butcher in the glorious Eastlands shopping center. Now, a raw ham is a rare beast (ahahhaha... sigh), and I had to ask for advice from the butcher about what to do with it. He suggested simmering it (ie boiling it) for 2 - 3 hours, then roasting it. So I did. In fact, we over cooked it a bit, so it was kind of falling off the bone when we took it out of the pot. I can assure you, there is nothing so unappealing... no, so utterly gross as a giant, boiled ham joint with the fat still with a few bristles in it and kind of slobbering away from the meat. And the smell...
So the father and I quickly peeled away the fat (though, in retrospect, we should have left it on to keep it moister... but I don't like to cook ham with the fat on), poked in a few dozen cloves, and popped it in the oven with the glaze. The glaze is an orange and mustard one from Gourmet Traveller 2004 and is very very lovely. It cooked longer than it should have, looked a bit dry to me, but tasted quite spectacular.
We really like that glaze - it's very tasty. And while the boiling was a pain in the arse, it sure added to the depth of taste (like I know what that means).
We had it with a nice big green salad (our standard - baby spinach, rocket, tomatoes, red capsicum, a few boiled eggs, some pieces of cheese, fresh mushrooms and with a dressing of olive oil + red wine vinegar + garlic + honey + seeded mustard) and the potato salad with the red onions, capers etc (though not the chilli - :( ). It was all very lovely. After that we had some blueberries, raspberries, assorted other fruit and some King Island Dairy yoghurt (insanely expensive but very lovely) and/or mascarpone. It was quite lovely.
We also put together the mincemeat for the pies yesterday, so had some contreau left.
I don't drink, ordinarily, but the father has such good taste in wine, I'm always tempted to a half glass of something. This time it's been a few nice New Zealand wines - Vavasour savignon blanc last night at Fish. And tonight a guest brought another nice New Zealander. Then we had a spot of contreau.

The food has been really bloody ace so far. And I haven't even mentioned the pies we had at Jackman and McRoss yesterday lunchtime.

But here's the ham glaze recipe. I thoroughly recommend it if you're doing a ham this festivus.

Cider-mustard glazed ham (serves 15-20 as part of a buffet)
560ml dry apple cider
100g firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup dijon mustard
2tbsp cider vinegar
40ml port
finely grated rind of 1 orange
1/4 tsp each ground allspice, ground mace, ground cloves
5kg leg of cooked ham rind removed and fat scored in a criss-cross pattern
cloves to decorate

1. Combine 1 cup cider, sugar, mustard, vinegar, port, rindand spcies in a small saucepan and stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves, then simmer for 2 minutes.
2. Stud ham with cloves, then place on a rack in a roasting pan, brush with cider mixture, then pour remaining cider and cider mixture into base of pan and bake at 180 degrees celcius for 1 hour or until glazed and golden, brushing frequently with pan juices. Remove from oven and stand for 10 minutes before serving warm or at room temperature.

I often cut off as much as the fat as I can and it's plenty moist enough. The layer of fat can be really quite revolting, and I say this as the sort of person who quite likes a bit of fat on meat. As I said, the boiled ham was far tastier than the usual supermarket one we cook (we prefer a 'boneless ham'... though it disturbs us to think of the boneless piggies on the farm - all that fat comes from an (understandable) lack of exercise on their part), but it was a pain in the arse. If you're up for that action, just boil it on a low heat for 2 - 3 hours.

We also find that there's a lot of the sauce left (make sure you baste regularly, btw), so we pop it in a little jug on the table, just in case people are after a little sauce. The Squeeze prefers to add his own mustard, though.
And, of course, this ham action is perfect for sandwiches the next day.

"more fewd" was posted by dogpossum on December 21, 2006 10:40 PM in the category fewd and tasmania

some more salad recipes

Here is a 'salad' I've been making a lot lately. It's one I ripped off Maria in Brisvegas taught me and it's very nice.

Basically, you make some couscous (I just rinse it under warm water, then sit it in a bowl with some warm water til it gets fluffy. I usually have to nuke it to make the consistency right as I'm crap at making couscous).
While that's sorting itself out, you chop up some tomatoes (I've found just slicing cherry tomatoes in half is good enough), chop up some fresh coriander and fresh basil and put it all in a bowl. Add a can of rinsed chickpeas (of course, avoid brands like master food - use a decent brand). Make a dressing of vinegar, olive oil and crushed garlic. Mix everything together.
I like to make enough dressing to make everything taste nice.

I've made this a few times lately, serving it with barbequed sword fish (my most recent passion) and another salad:

dice one green apple
dice a small cucumber (you know the type - not the giant ones, but the small ones)
slice some mint finely (not too much, but not too little)
add a generous handful of bean sprouts (the usual type - mung bean sprouts I guess)
and mix in a bit of white vinegar to give it all bite

This is an awesome salad to have with fish. I often make it with pineapple instead of apple, though I simpy can't bring myself to pay more than a dollar for a pineapple... and when they never seem to get below $3 in Melbourne... It sucks, because I have a few really good recipes which use pineapples, but they were so cheap in Queensland, I just can't bring myself to spend up big on them.

Anyway, these two salads go awesomely with fish. Especially big, fat swordfish steaks.

"some more salad recipes" was posted by dogpossum on December 21, 2006 10:32 PM in the category fewd and tasmania

December 2, 2006

the Great Barbeque Effort of 2006

I had considered blogging each of the photos from the cooking efforts last week, but decided flickr was the appropriate tool for this job.

I suggest beginning with this photo in flickr, then following the 'more' arrows to the right.
Duh me for uploading in the wrong order.

NB: for recipes consult the Gastropod Wednesday entry.

NB2: Thai sent me an email with the following:

This cookbook that has all the recipes that I made on Wed:
How to Grill: The Complete Illustrated Book of Barbecue Techniques (Paperback)
by Steven Raichlen
http://www.amazon.com/How-Grill-Illustrated-Barbecue-Techniques/dp/0761120149

Via Amazon's search-inside-the-book feature, I believe you can just
search for "asparagus rafts", "corn on the cob", and "portobello
mushrooms" to see the recipes in the book without needing to buy it:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0761120149/ref=sib_dp_pt/#reader-link

Sneaky googlers.
NB3: I believe Thai is mistaken.

"the Great Barbeque Effort of 2006" was posted by dogpossum on December 2, 2006 6:15 PM in the category fewd and gastropod | Comments (5)

November 22, 2006

quick fewd update

The quails were $10 for 4, so I ditched them (after scaring myself at the green grocer with the bill there - but really, veggies are the important thing). Buying a dozen awesome rolls for $3 made up for it.
Otherwise I picked up some cute mini sausages, chicken wings and chicken thigh.

I'm off to the supermarket now (only the safeway, not the mediterranean supermarket as I really can't be arsed) as I forgot my list before.

Then I'll put meat in to marinate, cook some rice for the salad, and then sit about on my arse for a while.

If we plan to eat at about 8-8.30pm (provided all the planes arrive on time (around 7.30) I will do the potatoes for the salad about 6pm, and get into the fish salad about 7.30.

Who knows, re the meat cooking times. I need Crinks to think of that.

But I have added corn to the bbq list, and bought some medium-sized mushrooms as well.

...I am half tempted to do a delicious brown rice salad. Quick post your favourite brown rice salad ideas!

"quick fewd update" was posted by dogpossum on November 22, 2006 1:12 PM in the category fewd | Comments (3)

November 21, 2006

gastropod wednesday

We are organising a barbeque for our houseguests and selves (and a few others) tomorrow night.

Here's the menu:

• Fish and Herb Salad
• Orange and Spinach Salad
• Kumara Salad
• 'Mexican' Potato Salad

and assorted meats, including these possibles:

• chicken-on-sticks (thigh meat marinated in coriander, garlic, lemon, etc)
• chicken wings (in soy, ginger, etc)
• quail (possibly a la Maggie)
• Nino and Joe's sausages
• possibly ribs

As you can see from my lack of decisiveness on the meat front, the salads are the main focus.
Here are the recipes I'll use:

Fish and Herb Salad
300g smoked cod
3 tbsp lime juice
1/2 cup flaked coconut
1 cup cooked and cooled jasmin rice
1/2 cup chopped fresh Vietnamese mint
3 tbsp chopped fresh mint
1/2 cup chopped fresh coriander leaves
8 kaffir lime leaves, finely shredded

Dressing:
1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander root
2cm piece fresh ginger, finely grated
1 red chilli, finely chopped
1 tbsp chopped lemon grass (white part only)
3 tbsp chopped fresh Thai basil
1 avocado, chopped
1/3 cup lime juice
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp soft brown sugar
1/2 cup peanut oil

1. place the cod in a large frying pan and cover with water. Add the lime juice and simmer for 15minutes, or until the fish flakes when tested with a fork. Drain and set aside to cool slightly before breaking into bite-sized pieces.
2. Brown the coconut. The recipe reccommends doing this in the oven, but I dry-fry it. Discard if it burns.
3. Place the fish, coconut, rice, Vietnamese mint, mint, coriander and kaffir lime leaves in a large bowl and mix to combine.
4. To make dressing: place the coriander root, ginger, chilli, lemon grass and basil in a food processor and process until combined. Add the avocado, lime juice, fish sauce, sugar and peanut oil and process until creamy. I find that just smooshing it in a bowl is enough. Or you could use a barmix.
5. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss to combine. Serve immediately.

This salad is AMAZING. But it doesn't keep, so eat it all on the day - it's very ordinary cold.
(this recipe is from this useful book).

Kumara Salad
1kg cubed orange sweet potato (kumara)
2 tbsp olive oil, plus 2 tsp
1/2 tsp yellow asafetida poweder
3/4 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp seeded, finely chopped green chilli
2 tbsp fresh lime or lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup finely shredded coconut
2 tbsp roasted peanuts, powdered
1 tbsp sesame seeds, preferably unhulled, dry-roasted and powdered
2 tbsp fresh coriander leavs for garnish.

Boil sweet potato until tender but not overcooked. Remove, drain and keep warm.
2. Pour 2 tsp olive oil in a wok or large pan over moderate heat. When hot, add the yellow asafetida powder, stir briefly, then remove the pan from teh heat. Allow the oil to cool a little, then add the garam masala, cayenne and chilli. Mix well, then add the lime juice, salt and the rest of the olive oil. Fold in the potato and stir gently to coat with the spices. Add the coconut, peanut powder and toasted sesame seed powder and stir gently to combine.
3. Allow the sald to cool and the flavours to mingle, then serve with a garnish of fresh coriander leaves.

I don't bother powdering the peanuts and seeds, I just smash them a lot with the mortar and pestle.
This is a tasty salad that I make when we do Indian feast. It's especially nice as a sweeter accompaniment (ditching the chili) with hot curries.

(This recipe came from this great veggie cookbook which you can pick up all over the place - I got mine in Community Aid Abroad. I don't think they sell it at the ABC/SBS shop any more).

Mexican Orange Salad
6 oranges peeled and all white pith removed, sliced crosswise
2 red onions, sliced
90g/3oz toasted almonds, chopped
2 medium fresh chillis, chopped
1/2 bunch fresh coriander
4tbsp fresh mint leaves
1/4 bunch/125g/4oz English spinach, leaves shredded

Place oranges, onions, almonds, chillies, coriander leaves and mint in a bowl, toss to combine and stand for 30 minutes. Line a serving platter with spinach then pile salad on top.

This salad is really nice and fresh. I find it's a good idea to keep the juice which spills when you slice the oranges. I can't remember if I add a basic vinegrette (sp?), but I doubt it. I usually ditch the chilli if I'm doing the following potato salad as well.

(This recipe is from this book which I picked up somewhere cheaply. It has some really neat recipes in it, including some fairly detailed descriptions of bean dish preparation. It doesn't, though, have a recipe for tortillas and other breads from scratch :( We are fond of Mexican type foods in our house)

Potatoes in Chilli Vinegar
2 kg baby new potatoes, halved
Dressing:
2 red onions, sliced
3 jalapeno chillis, seeded and chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2-3 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp capers, drained
2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
1 tbsp fresh oregano leaves
4 fresh or dried bay leaves
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup water

1. Boil potatoes until tender. Drain and put in a serving bowl.
2. To make dressing, place onions, jalapeno and red chillis, garlic, sugar, capers, thyme, oregano, bay leaves, vinegar and water in a bowl and mix to combine. Pour dressing over warm potatoes, toss to combine and stand at room temperature for 2 hours before serving.

This potato salad rocks. We are a bit over creamy spud salads (though I do make a good one with kalamata olives and ham and a mayo/yoghurt dressing), and this one is really nice - really fresh and sassy. I have found, though, that timid guests who don't eat chilli very often find it a bit scary - it's pretty bitey for noobs. It's important to let the warm potatoes sit in the dressing for a while at room temperature - they suck up the flavours.

(same souce as above).

I'll see if we can get some preparation photos as we go along, but it'll depend on whether or not The Squeeze is around and interested. You can see some of the dishes we cooked last year for the Bandidos party here.

"gastropod wednesday" was posted by dogpossum on November 21, 2006 7:00 PM in the category fewd and gastropod | Comments (3)

September 8, 2006

Gastropodry: bunny and Jay

Right now I have a bunny (on) the oven... oh, look, I'm sorry. That was far too desperate.

To restart: I've finally succumbed to the temptation and am cooking my first rabbit. It's the perfect opportunity: The Squeeze (who loathes meat on the bone, and finds the thought of eating bunnies distressing) is out, it's Friday night so I can stop worrying about all the things I have to do - until tomorrow, and my new Jay McShann album arrived today. Gotta love that Kansas City action.

I'll report back later on the bunny.

"Gastropodry: bunny and Jay" was posted by dogpossum on September 8, 2006 8:12 PM in the category digging and domesticity and fewd and gastropod and music | Comments (3)

June 2, 2006

nutella bad? no!

I've just stumbled across choice, the mag produced by the consumer affairs association. I'm not sure how I feel about it, beyond the fact that it's perfectly suited to generating low level anxiety about rather inconsequential things.*

Perhaps the most upsetting thing I read in this mag was that nutella has so much trans fat it'd be banned in Denmark.
This distresses me because nutella is the one sweety we buy at the supermarket and keep in the house. All other lovely sweeties are bought spontaneously and randomly.

And what is trans fat? Bad. And it's in manufactured foods. Here, read:

Trans fat is found mainly in deep-fried fast foods and processed foods made with margarine or shortening. It’s created by a process called hydrogenation that’s used by food manufacturers to improve the stability of vegetable oils and to convert liquid oils into the solid fats needed to get the right consistency in foods such as cakes and pastries. Trans fat is also created naturally by micro-organisms in the rumen (or forestomach) of cows and sheep — so beef, lamb and dairy foods also contain small amounts of trans fat, depending on the overall fat content.Trans fat is bad for your heart. Weight for weight, it’s probably worse for you than the saturated fat that we all know to avoid. Trans fat increases the level of bad LDL cholesterol in much the same way as saturated fat. And worse, it seems to also lower the concentration of good HDL cholesterol that’s protective against heart disease.

(from this page)

I guess the bottom line is, eat organic fruit and veggies, if you're going to eat cakes and biscuits, make your own (using butter or olive oil) and don't eat shitful takeaway food. Not really big news, is it?

*no, don't be silly. of course i'm not implying that the consumer affairs people are carp. i's just being picky.

"nutella bad? no!" was posted by dogpossum on June 2, 2006 11:21 PM in the category clicky and fewd

May 21, 2006

gastropod Saturday

In the spirit of practicality, I think I'm going to declare Saturday or Sunday gastropod day, seeing as how we only eat crappy food on Friday nights. This time it was an awful 'middle eastern' chicken and cous cous dish which I once knew how to cook but now, obviously, can no longer manage.
Thank god I followed it up on Saturday with an easy 'Moroccan chicken'* dish which was delish.
Basically, you grate up some ginger, crush some garlic (however much you dig), chop up an onion, fry it all til the onion is transparent, then add an overflowing tsp of ground cumin**, 2 massive tsps of ground coriander, 1 tsp paprika, fry for a minute or til it smells good, then add some water, stirring or whisking to get the stuff combined well. Add some chicken legs and cook for 20 mins. Then pop the chook legs in the oven for 20-30mins (til they're done), simmering the wet stuff on the stove top til it thickens and reduces. Plop the cous cous on the plate, pop the chook on top, stir some fresh parsley and coriander (I add quite a lot as I really like this bit) into the wet stuff and serve immediately (rather than dropping the herbs on top - this way they flavour the wet stuff nicely) with lemon wedges and fat olives. And a salad of greens, mint, tomato and cucumber with an olive oil/lemon juice/garlic dressing.

ROCK the kasbah!

*I'm not quite sure what 'Moroccan' means in this instance, but heck.
**That's pronounced 'kew-min' in our house, thanks. None of this 'kumm-in' rubbish.

how much chicken? as many drumsticks per person as you can manage. That's eleventy for me and 0.5 for The Squeeze, who is revolted by meat on the bone.
how much water? ti it covers the chicken.
what's reduced? when the wet stuff is thicker, and there's enough to wet the cous cous on the plate properly, but not drown it.
how do i make cous cous? now you're scaring me. put some in a bowl. take it out and rinse it in a sieve til the water runs clear. put it back in the bowl. cover with hot water, stir. let it sit til it's absorbed. stir with fork. if the grains are soft, rock on. if not, add a bit more water. or follow the instructions on the box. or google.
how do i make the salad? get a recipe book, or get a CLUE.

"gastropod Saturday" was posted by dogpossum on May 21, 2006 7:36 PM in the category digging and fewd

May 19, 2006

gastropod friday - last week

Forgot to note: bought some ace pancetta from nino and joe's last week, then chopped up a bunch, fried it in virgin olive oil and garlic, added a hydro tomato, then some baby spinach and rocket and a bit of dried chilli. Served with pasta from pasta man, local parmesan on top, and some lovely fresh bread from the mediterranean supermarket.
It was so wonderful i nearly died. Fat? Hell YEAH! We're not babies here! That pancetta is the serious shit (I'm pronouncing it the way everyone in Brunswick does - pan-che-tta - as I type). It has such a ... robust. I have to say robust, even though it's wanky food talk. It's saltier and gamey-er than bacon, and has a more full-on flavour than insipid bacony rubbish. You don't need as much in your dish, and it has a more fierce taste that really works well with stronger flavoured Italian greens or cheeses. I hadn't cooked it before. It comes in a piece, a bit like spec (specula? that bacony-type thing), sort of like the bit of bacon rashers that's not the eye. Well, the piece I bought was. It's darker than bacon, keeps for aaaaages, is kind of greazy but is harder than bacon. I guess it's cured for longer. One piece cost me $4 (or 6, I forget) and lasted me 2 dinners. Dunno how much it weighed.

The local parmesan is stinking out the fridge.

"gastropod friday - last week" was posted by dogpossum on May 19, 2006 2:30 AM in the category fewd | Comments (2)

May 5, 2006

gastropod friday

Today is, as declared in previous entries and enthusiastically promoted by galaxy gastropod friday.

I haven't a whole lot of impressive things to say, what with Friday usually being 'eat out day' because it's the end of the week and we're tired.
But.
Yesterday I went to the pasta dood over on Lygon St (upper Lygon St, thanks, not that tourist trap end) and spent another ridiculous sum. Mostly because The Squeeze had pleaded tearfully with me to buy him some more fresh pasta from the man.

The pasta shop is great. It only sells pasta, a couple of cheeses, olive oil and tomato paste. If it sold garlic, we'd be set. It might, actually, but I haven't seen it.
They sell mostly plain pasta, but in every single size and shape, dry (still better than store-bought pasta), frozen (mostly filled, and including gnocchi to die for) and fresh (all in trays like ham at the deli - you buy by the weight). I bought a kilo (or half a kilo?) of frozen cheese-filled round ravioli things (I can't remember their names - I'll have to check), a kilo of dry curly-edged fettucini (like parpadelle, but narrower), a kilo of half-circle tubes with frilly edges (dry). I figured it was time to stop at $20, even though the pasta man, once again, was disappointed in my failure to purchase fresh pasta. But I couldn't be sure of when we'd eat it, and I was running out of room in my backpack.

This pasta is amazing. It's not a chic, foody-porn shop like the ones in lower Lygon St, with fancy 'hand tooled' wooden shelves and quaintly aproned middle aged maggie beer types. It's got white tiles on most surfaces, big freezers with semi-legible hand-scrawled tags that don't actually list all the pasta available (but that's ok as the dood follows you around, fetching stuff out for you), and stacks and stacks of piles of pasta all over the place. There are some wooden shelves, but they're stacked with bags of pasta, so I'm not sure how chic they are. This is pasta-ville. And you can get decent olive oil (though everyone who Knows pops over to the Mediterranean Supermarket for oil - Note To Self: buy tin of virgin olive oil NOW).
The best bit is the old dood serving you. Quite often when I arrive and push through the not-chic plastic anti-fly strips in the doorway, he's sitting on a stool in the kitchen area out the back napping. I make sure to stomp so he hears me. I should yell out 'bon gorno!' like everyone else in Brunswick, but I'm shy. Then he walks out a little unsteadily to help. He is REALLY old. And really helpful. He knows pasta like nobody knows pastas. He's also Italian (duh). And nice. And very old-school gentleman, so he's a little ruffled by the way I stuff everything into my bike and then take it all out to lug on the bike home. We have shared a few chuckles over my having to ride really fast so my frozen stuff doesn't melt on summer days.

Anyhoo, after that, I busted in on a new veggie shop over the road where i wrangled free home delivery for my goodies from a Russian chick who scared me a bit. It's cheaper than La Manna, but doesn't have the range. But still, home delivery. It's good. Seeing as how I can't carry all our veggies home in my backpack with pasta.

Then it was off to the IGA on Sydney Rd near Albion St for 'local' parmesan. I don't know what 'local' means, but it's some awesome stinky shit. Hey, anyone know what the difference between pecorino and parmesan is? I also bought some procutio, some ham, some awesome mozarella, some spicey sausage slices (dunno the name), some semi-dried tomatos, forgot to count varieties of olives (there are 12 at the safeway near the bike path), got some shitty skip wafer biscuits (i couldn't find the italian ones which rock - need to go to the med. sup.) and went home.
We had less than excellent pizza (Squeeze liked it, I wasn't convinced) that night and enjoyed all that good shit.

But tonight is pasta night. Filled pasta with some little meat balls I made a while ago with Nino and Joe mince (man they rocked!) and froze raw. They'll be served with either a tomatoey sauce or a spinachy one. I will see how I feel. If I'd remembered I'd have picked up some boconcini to make yum-o basil, tomato, baby spinach and boconcini salad as well.

So I guess it really was a gastropod Thursday, what with me stuffing all that goodness into my excellent backpack. I was a little, wheeled snail with a house full of food on my back.

"gastropod friday" was posted by dogpossum on May 5, 2006 4:13 PM in the category fewd | Comments (3)

April 21, 2006

rolled shoulders

So today I scored a new haircut (scored as in paid for).
It's slightly different to my usual very-short. Uli said "what will it be this time? short?" and I said 'Yes, but I think I want something different".
So now I have 'girly bits' at the front.

...

Which is nice. And anyway, I tried to colour it myself. Two problems:
1. dud colour (some crap Loreal product - I need their oldschool hyper-red but can't find it)
2. missed some bits at the front through conservative application of colour
3. I got no idea what's going on at the back there.

I guess it'll look ok. It's kind of tame, though - it looks like a 'natural' red (well, as natural as a chick with black eyebrows and eyes can look with red hair) and I like toxicly unnatural reds.
Sigh.
Will see what I can find out at the shops tonight.

On other fronts, a trip to the hairdresser is always a great opportunity to secure local community gossip. Uli is a member of the Sydney Rd Assoc (I think it's called) and has lots to do with the council. Apparently the giant Sortino across the road (Sortino = wonderful Italian furniture. Say yes to white, to gold, to marble) will soon become a Priceline. So I might be able to get my hair colour there soon. The big old reception place/furniture store place is to be an Aldi, which we're not pleased about in Little Sweden's home of Fine Hair: the local small businesses will suffer. And I agree. I'm not sure why they think a German supermarket will do well in Brunswick (land of Middle Eastern, Mediterannean and Subcontinental -ness), but heck.
I passed on the wonder that is Nino and Joe's and we tutted over the urban renewal generally.

Speaking of Nino and Joe's...
went in for a bunch of sausages, came out with $50 worth of fucking amazing meat.
We got:
- 8 fat sausages (2 pork spicey, 2 pork normal, 2 beef spicey, 2 beef normal) because I wanted to test them all. These aren't the pale and insipid bangers filled with beige paste you find tagged 'BBQ' in the supermarket. They're fat, they're textured a little like my thighs (helloooo cellulite), they're kind of blotchy-coloured, owing to the combination of stuff inside them. They taste FANTASTIC.
- 1 rolled beef shoulder roast (1.2kg at $12.99 a kg) - pancetta, swiss mushrooms, garlic, etc. It looks fantastic. It had better be.
- 1 pork chop (because)
- some beef 'stir fry'. Ordinarily I buy steak and we cut it up ourselves, but I trust Joe. Well, I'll trust him just this once
- 2 chicken breasts
- 1 pork loin (hellloooo stir-fry)
... and something else I've forgotten. At any rate, it took two bags and I had to squish it into my bike bag. This is enough meat to feed us forever. I should perhaps buy fresh rather than freezing, but I wanted to be sure we were stocked up.
I'm a bit excited about the rolled beef. The Squeeze barely tolerates roasted meats, but he likes beef. And I was excited by the pancetta. Though I'll probably die from botulism, leaving cured and raw meat cohabiting in the fridge for 24 hours.

And from whence does the funds for all this bounty come?
Well, we can thank the Melbourne lindy hop community for the most part - I've DJed 9 times since the 23rd February. That's 9 times in an 8 week period. Going from 0. DJ drought? Naaaah.
I'm certainly learning quickly. Well, I guess I'm learning quickly, because it seems to be going well. Last night was my second time doing the second set at CBD and the room was PACKED and FRENZIED til 12. I DJed for 2.4 hours for $25.
I was abused and been-mean-to by some loser arseholes, but everyone else seemd to really dug my action. I know that the floor was always full, and the reports from dancers were overwhelmingly positive - "Man, it's really pumping out there. There's a really great vibe in the room." That's really nice to hear, but it's a bit hard watching your mates flail about in a sweaty, endorphine-charged euphoria while you have to stand up there playing the best music in the world. Thankfully, people seem to have grasped the idea that I like to be visited when I'm DJing, so I spent a large part of the set laughing so much with the Rubinator I thought I'd broken my face laughing.

The few dances I did have were quite awful: I have forgotten how to dance. But I think perhaps it's recorded music. I only dance to live bands now. heh.

I'd like to end this post with a witty reference to sausages or perhaps rolled shoulders... no, I won't go near that awful punnage about my own rolled right shoulder impeding my following. Even I won't stoop that low. Though I could, now that I have super-dooper yoga-strength.

"rolled shoulders" was posted by dogpossum on April 21, 2006 4:54 PM in the category fewd and lindy hop & other dances i have known and music

March 31, 2006

I like Brunswick.

Right now there's 3/4 kilo of beef bones sitting in 3L of water with some onions and garlic and a bay leaf. I know they're enjoying themselves - I can smell it.

This is in preparation for a pumpkin soup I'm making this evening. See, the "potatoes, potatoes, fresh and new" guy came around this week and I bought a whole pumpkin. And the most amazing onions. I'm not usually one to wax lyrical about onions, but these... they're purple spanish onions, and when you slice them they're so fresh and bright - the layers seem clearer and crunchier than usual onions. We really enjoyed cooking with them and making them into onions last time (don't get me started on the tomatoes - oh MY GOD!!): organic = yes baby. The taste is far superior to chemicaled crap: you don't need so many herbs and spices to make flavours, and can really explore simple, effective flavour combinations. Plus everything is so happy and healthy. No gross chemical urk to wash off. Yay!

any hoo...

So I check out Stephanie's big orange book for pumpkin options - I wanted an interesting pumpkin soup or curry recipe. I love love love a pumpkin and mustard seed curry I've had at Nepalese restaurants, but don't have a recipe. I also like Thai-ish pumpkin and coconut milk soups. But I settled for a sort of Spanishy/European pumpkin soup. Uses bacon bones to make stock, then add pumpkin and spud (oh, what's that I see? Some organic potatoes (fresh and new)? how wonderful!), and finally some chorizo to finish.

Yesterday, after lunch with J I stopped off at the Spanish supermarket to get some Spanish chorizo (no, not Portugese. Spanish).

Today I got my veggies from la manna, then went over to the Mediterranean supermarket to get some fresh Italian sausages (no thanks to the Italian chorizo - I'm good), side-stepped a brawl between two Italian nannas and tried (in vain) to find that good parmesan Brett buys. Looks like I've got to go up to the IGA to get some. Yes, our local IGA sells fucking AWESOME Italian cheeses. We live in BRUNSWICK - home to spotlight and the best food shops EVER.

Then, I dropped in at Nino and Joe's, a new, fancy (and huge) butcher I'd not been into before (we usually go to Istanbul Meats or up to Coburg to the Chinese dood) to get some bacon bones to make the stock for the soup. No joy on bacon, but they did give me 1 1/3 kg of beef bones for free with some awesome lamb shanks, steak, etc etc. That butcher ROCKS. They do huge, sexy boned lamb leg roasts, a sweet looking rolled beef roast, and even their pre-prepared chicken dishes looked good (marinated drumettes). I don't usually eat that sort of shit because I hate jarred sauces and stuff - too much salt, too much sugar, too many preservatives, too many extra 'flavours' - and frankly, why would you buy that crap when you live 5 minutes by bike from such AMAZING delis? But the ones in that butcher looked good. The herbs were actually fresh herbs. Plus the Italian nannas were buying it, so....

So tonight we're having soup. I had thought to do the sausages with a fennel salad on the side, but I don't think I could fit it all in my belly...

Anyway, I do love living in Brunswick very much. And, if you followed those links to the various providore I frequent, they're all listed under 'ethnic'. Which is so weird - the crappy skip butcher next to spotlight isn't listed under 'ethnic' (even though it should really be listed under 'don't fucking buy meat here'). Sure, sure, I could get onto the whole whiteness = ethnicity thing, but you know the drill. And can google.
But it just seems weird to hear these places popped in the 'other' basket, when for me they're just my local shops. I go to la manna because the veggies are good and fresh and they deliver (though which days they deliver vary depending on who you ask). I go to the mediterranean supermarket because it's across the road from la manna and sells canned tomatoes for 55c (as well as dried pasta for 90c, fresh pasta, dried fish, chorizo (Italian, thanks) and has a coffee shop full of Italian nannas and poppas and cakes). I went to Nino and Joe's because it's around the corner from all these other places. And of course, Spotlight is right there in the middle of it all. All on one block in Brunswick.

The people I see in all these places are my neighbours, and I often run into them at each place or on the bus or street. I like it that the skips are in equal proportion to the Greeks and Lebanese and Syrian and Lebanese and so on.

And I can't imagine the sort of shit that went down in Sydney going down here in Brunswick... though I did worry when that nanna got shitty in the supermarket. She would totally kick my arse. It just seems like such a mellow, friendly family area. The local high school has kids from at least 30 different ethnic and language groups enrolled. The Chinese butcher in Coburg greets the Greek and Italian nannas with "ciao senora!" The Hope Street Bus* driver will stop to pick you up, even if you didn't waive him down, just because he saw you walking along the road (and he always waves to me on my bike). I don't much care for all the young hipsters moving into the area - they're far more interested in the pubs than the greengrocers and care far too much about their fashion. Arseholes.
But I love Brunswick.

Remind me to tell you the story of the three old Greek doods and the the time I carried three giant plastic crates home on my bike. It's a good one.

*yes, the Hope Street Bus route is only about 1.5km each way (roughly 10minutes by leg or 3 terrifying high-speed minutes by bus. If you see/hear the Hope Street Bus coming when you're riding down Hope Street you get on the pavement. You just do). It's for nannas. And you can get on or off it anywhere. Everyone sits up near the front and talks. Most people get it if theyr'e too tired to carry 10 kilograms of lamb or a charcoal grill home.

"I like Brunswick." was posted by dogpossum on March 31, 2006 3:42 PM in the category fewd | Comments (2)

January 2, 2006

mince pies

Dave demonstrates his mastery of pastry once again. I'd add a photo of the pies I made for Christmas day, but they're all gone, and his were so much better it'd shame me to show mine.
Long live the home-made mince pie, with home-made fruit mince and home-made pastry... oh, and home-made stars.

"mince pies" was posted by dogpossum on January 2, 2006 12:07 PM in the category fewd | Comments (1)