Dutch babies - neither Dutch nor babies
"dramatic, rumpled crepe-like pancakes will always be more exciting than undramatic, unrumpled crepes" Deb Perelman/Smitten Kitchen This really began with an Ottolenghi newsletter but since I started with a quote from Deb Perelman, I thought I might as well start with her recipe Extra billowy dutch baby pancake - because it's just the basic recipe. And in a way that's all you need to know about this. It's a sort of a cross between a crêpe and a Yorkshire pudding, in that i
May 31
Tinned tomatoes & pasta from the supermarket
This is really a bit of a cheat post in that I'm just reporting on some reviews I found of those basics of just about every kitchen - tinned tomatoes and pasta. How did I even come to be looking at them? Well I think I had recently bought a packet of Cucina Matese pasta from Coles and since I had heard from somewhere that this was actually a Coles brand, rather, than an Italian brand I decided to look into it and somehow - first came across this Australian supermarket tinne
May 30
Really look
"The silent chat between the cook and the cooked." Thom Eagle This quote from Rachel Roddy was my starting point today: “I have been reminded of the second-most important advice in cooking (and life): just look, really look.” I chose this painting, because this lady is not really looking is she? Now I'm sure she knows what she is doing and the flames are completely under control - indeed required - but nevertheless it highlights the dangers of not looking at what you are doi
May 28
Nice - a word and a place
"By 1926, nice was said to be "too great a favorite with the ladies, who have charmed out of it all its individuality and converted it into a mere diffuser of vague and mild agreeableness." [Fowler]/Etymonline I have no idea now where my inspiration for this post came from, but I think it began with the word rather than the place - very different things - and yet, maybe that quote is indeed apt. for both of them. We shall see. Above is my very last sight of la belle France,
May 27
Supper and how to write a recipe
"Supper is simply the comforting end point to which the whole day has been leading." Bee Wilson A subtitle to this post might also be "why I love Nigel's recipes" What's the connection with supper? Well I'm down to my last few bookmarked pages in Nigel Slater's Tender volume 2 so today I decided to deal with one of them which is a recipe entitled "A supper of courgettes, tomatoes and basil" - to which I shall return - but it's also one of the reasons I love his recipes - t
May 26
Raw fish from the sea
"It turns out that sushi made with hot mustard tastes mostly of raw fish and hot mustard. Who could have predicted that?" Chris Worfolk's Blog Raw fish - very expensive if you do as they say and only buy sashimi grade - and also probably not what most of us would nominate as a favourite food. Japanese sushi lovers apart I guess. But one thing that bothered me slightly as I was researching this post was what is the difference between sashimi and sushi? Well this picture show
May 25
No pastry? Try potatoes, rice ...
"Very Easy and very cheesy" Erin Jeanne McDowell/Food 52 Today's Happy Foodie newsletter featured a whole lot of quiche recipes, which was sort of coincidental because of yesterday's galette. So I checked them out - there were ten of them and two of them were unusual in the sense that their pastry enclosure was - well I guess you would say - 'not normal'. I was intrigued and started rambling the net to find other ways of making a case for your quiche - or your tart. Now I
May 23
Friday pastry fun
"There is never enough crust." Nigel Slater Somehow or other it is now almost a tradition that Friday is for pastry - usually a quiche. It is also true that by Friday I am using up leftovers, or even leftovers of leftovers. Like today. Pastry and leftovers offer an infinity of possibilities, and a fun challenge. Behold today's challenge. What absolutely has to be used is the tiny bit of leftover vegetable toad-in-the-hole in the front. Actually the vegetables only cons
May 22
Getting going
"The morning steals upon the night, Melting the darkness." William Shakespeare The quote and the painting were featured on my art desk calendar this morning, which sort of coincided with the thoughts I had been previously been having about the routines we go through in the morning, so I thought I would begin with it. The painting is by Charles-François Daubigny and it's called Morning by the Lake painted in 1858. I am dimly aware of the artist's name, but do not know this p
May 21
Empty food containers
"For a moment you are fully present in your life, clear about the value of every last bit of it." Tamara Adler I'm still working through the pile of books on my desk and have come to another one - like David Chang and Nigel Slater - which has so many yellow stickers poking out of it that it will take me some time to deal with it. So I don't see that pile diminishing any time soon. So I decided that rather than deal with the book as a whole today I would just deal with one o
May 20
Variety
Variety - "a number of different types of things, especially ones in the same general category." Dictionary.com "Variety is the spice of life" It's late in the day so, in spite of the fact that a blog entitled Variety might actually be a quite an interesting idea, today I'm just doing a bits and pieces kind of post. A variety of things - recipes, information, disvcoveries ... But isn't it interesting how many proverbs and sayings are food related? The above rather gloriou
May 19
Polpette al limone from Sicily
"Please don't eat the lemon leaves" Massimo Mele/Gourmet Traveller It's a dismal day, and so I just decided to do an ordinary 'dish of the day' kind of thing, picking another kind of meatball from my meatball book Around the World in 80 Meatballs. This time I picked a Sicilian recipe Polpette al limone - meatballs with lemon. No picture in the book and no recipe online, but having now exlored a large number of options online I think there is no need, because really this is
May 18
Travel
"Travel is the story you tell yourself about yourself." David Prior Once a year the Australian Financial Review puts out a seriously glossy Fin! Travel magazine - inserted into their AFR Weekend edition. This weekend is that weekend. Normally I flick through it in about five minutes - even less sometimes - and discard because it's full of ads for expensive watches, cruises and hotels with articles about holiday experiences which are - well - just decadent and out of my reac
May 17
What am I to do with David Chang?
Today is the day I finish with this book which has been sitting on my desktop for a long time now, with lots of yellow stickers pointing out of it. Only two remain, and so it's decision time after a last post. Do I keep it, pass it on to my daughter-in-law who may find a use for it or put it in the street library? I think I'll eliminate that last option. It's too good for that. Because really my indecision comes down to just two things. First - I confess I am not hugely i
May 16
A classic in so many ways
"Along the way I was reminded of a kind of cooking which, in the pursuit of the new, I had all but forgotten. And I fell in love with it all over again." Jay Rayner/The Guardian This is a lucky dip post. David picked out the large format revised copy of Robert Carrier's Great Dishes of the World and the page I randomly chose included a recipe for Coq au vin - accompanied by a short essay and this old-style arty photograph of the dish - well the ingredients. Although now th
May 15
Today's challenge - persimmons
"I gave him the persimmons, swelled, heavy as sadness, and sweet as love." One of my Saturday dinner guests brought me this gift - a big bag of persimmons. She did this last year as well and I think I made chutney then. She also gave me a pot of her home-made persimmon jam. Now I have plenty of chutney and plenty of jam in my pantry - indeed I have so much jam it is also stored in the laundry. So I think it would be foolish to make more jam and chutney. So what to do with
May 14
I changed my mind
"When in doubt, choose." Lily Leung I'm a bit late for this post because it's about a dinner at home with friends on Saturday. Not so much about what we actually ate, in terms of what it was like - besides I, of course, took no photographs, but more about the selection process. And I know I have written this kind of thing before, but never mind. At least it's a way of introducing a few dishes you might like to try. So - steps one and two which were simultaneous. Two of m
May 13
Half the garden soup - if only
"improvising is what leads to discovery." Mark Diacono Time for a first recipe on a dismal day. And I guess my first recipe today - Half the garden soup - Mark Diacono/The Accidental Smallholder, if not exactly dismal is hardly exciting. Although actually it could be because of those words about improvising. The book is no. 4 of the River Cottage Handbooks - Veg Patch - and here is the River Cottage veg patch. Hardly a patch of course, and professional one too. And, of c
May 7
Yum - but when would I eat this?
"If you wanted to be really rogue you could dump every single ingredient into the loaf pan itself, mix, bake and eat." Sarah Kate Gillingham/Kitchn The above Badass smoky chilli cheese bear bread was one of the recipes I found when I was writing about yesterday's website Saucy Gander. It looked so decadently scrumptious that I saved the photograph for another post. And here it is, because I have less time today and this is probably going to be one of those - a list of reci
May 6
Who is/was the Saucy Gander?
"Hey guys I made stuff, Hey guys I saw stuff - Stuff - the stuff of legends and food blogs." Saucy Gander This began as a post about a food blog that had caught my eye - Saucy Gander - and, of course, it has morphed into a ramble around the net and its tiny corners, as well as a 'review' of a food blog. In my little Ideas notebook sitting on my desk I have one section devoted to blogs that have caught my eye for one reason or another. Some of them are huge with millions of
May 5