July 31, 2008
Zucchini and Chickpea (Besan) flour pancakes are delightful. Especially with gently spicy green peas.
I am in dire need of a holiday, and trying not to think about anything today (except for planning my next holiday). I have taken today off to go and farewell my mum (she is moving to Vietnam, today!) and am trying not to think about work (I feel as though I am failing, dropping the balls and disappointing people). Tomorrow I will be back and revitalised, one can hope.
Maybe instead of ordering nasty pizza for dinner tonight, I should whip up some of these wholesome, tasty and quick lovely lovely pancakes… or maybe you should 
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July 27, 2008
We all know about Maldon sea salt, clean, crunchy ultra-salty flakes. I love this sea salt, on anything and everything (except boiled eggs. On boiled eggs such flaked salt is too similar in texture to egg shell, and makes me feel as though I am crunching through the egg in its entirety).
Regular Maldon sea salt, though, is for every day. Yes is it a wonderful salt, but it is just clean, salty and affordable. There is nothing special about it (though I do miss it when only plain table salt is available). So, when I found this Maldon Smoked Sea Salt, I was excited.
It looks almost dirty, but the colour is due to the fact that it is natural, as well as the cold smoking process that the salt goes through. The smoky flavour is subtle, but most definitely there. The box recommends its use on shellfish and meats, but I have used it in Mushroom, Eggplant, Ricotta and Thyme Tarts and it lent an extra depth of flavour and an earthiness.
This smoked sea salt lends a great added flavour to your dishes, but will never replace the original unflavoured version.
Posted in miscellaneous
| Tagged salt
July 20, 2008
Success!
I would like to take this opportunity to extend an apology to those who politely forced down my partly cooked tart offering last night. I am terribly sorry.
I was so embarrassed by the tart disaster that I went shopping this morning for more flour and eggs. I needed to try again. I felt the ingredient combination had promise, and I was going to try again. If this attempt failed, I may have never baked anything again, so a lot was riding on these little tarts.
Caramelised onion, fried mushrooms and roasted eggplant slices, flavoured with thyme, garlic, and smoked sea salt (Maldon, but more on that later) and mixed with ricotta and egg, crisp, short buttery pasty – really what could be better (and also, what could be worse when things go wrong).
Luckily, this attempt succeeded! These individual tarts were crisp, delicious and easy!
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July 20, 2008
When will I learn? My. Oven. Doesn’t. Work. There, I said it, again. Hopefully my experience yesterday will make it sink in.
For some reason I wanted to make a tart. The mood just overtook me all of a sudden. I imagined a roasted vegetable tart with ricotta, crispy edges, tasty warming center, but I guess, it wasn’t to be. See,I have made plenty of pastry in my time, but none recently and certainly none in my current oven.
Everything seemed to be going well (I even baked it blind!), the edges were crispy, the bottom solid. I poured the warm filling in, returned it to the oven and waited. Finally the last eggy center set, I cooled it in the tin (probably should have removed it, but this tart needed to travel), wrapped it up and took it to a bbq.
After all the checking and cooking and rechecking and cooking some more, the edges were great, short and crisp, but the bottom was soggy and miserable.
The idea is sound, the execution though – disappointing and embarrassing. But, I’m a sucker for punishment, so after a quick dash to the shops today – guess whats for lunch? Mushroom and eggplant tart.
July 13, 2008
Schallot Pancake
I’ve been itching to get to Shanghai Night in Ashfield ever since I got back from China, so that I could revisit these amazing dumplings. (I really have to stop looking at that blog, I just want to pack up and move to China).
These weren’t the same as those lovelies from Shanghai, disappointingly. Shanghai Night is, however, definitely worth the trek to Ashfield, cheap, cheerful and terribly Chinese. And, they cater to vegetarians which is a rare occurrence.
Chinese Spinach with Garlic
Steamed vegetarian dumplings
Not much more can be said about this place that hasn’t already, but rest assured, I will be back to try something different on their extensive menu.
Shanghai Night
275 Liverpool Rd
Ashfield NSW
