Because trees are more fun when they bear fruit

Once in a while, when I finally get my act together, I would spit the dummy at the sight of the mess in my room and start on a cleaning rampage throughout the house. Floorboards would be scrubbed, along with all other surfaces, and any unwashed laundry would be promptly stuffed into the drum of a run-down washing machine and hung out to dry.

It is on rare occasions that I bother venturing into that garden of mine - which is a shame really, because I actually think I have a pretty nice garden with lots of fruiting trees.

This weekend, as I was hanging out the laundry on the line, a little something caught my attention in the corner of my eyes. At first I thought it was just a yellowing leaf, but then just as I turned back and resumed what I was doing, it suddenly occurred to me just how GINORMOUS that leaf was.

And so I moved closer...

and closer...

and closer...

and closer still...

And then I realised...

Hell no it ain't no yellowing-mutant-leaf! It was a STARFRUIT!

My baby tree was finally bearing fruit! And not one, but TWO beautiful babies! I quickly ran to grab my camera and took a few snaps and then proceeded to pick them before some bird found it.

Seriously I've spent half my life trying to fight off birds from my fruit trees, though I can't really blame them 'cos these homegrown fruits really do taste good.

The Most Diet-Unfriendly Cake You'll Find Here

...and it's all thanks to Donna Hay.

Over the years I've found Donna Hay recipes to be a tad on the sweet side for me. This then got me into the habit of messing around with the measurements and what not - which probably explains why half my baking adventures fail miserably. However, this Chocolate Truffle Cake really leaves me with nothing to complain about - except perhaps the fat content.

I am going to repeat this once again. If you are health-conscious, turn away now. Otherwise, buckle up and enjoy the ride.

This is also a time consuming cake, but it definitely is worthy of every minute spent labouring away in the kitchen.First you need to sift the flour and cocoa flour. Not once. Not Twice. But THREE times.
Do it. Or you'll be kicking yourself.
Next grab 4 eggs ad 1/3 cup of caster sugar.

I'm a strong believer of Free Range Eggs. The thought of my own garden-hogging chickens flap up when I get tempted by the price of caged eggs.

Won't somebody think of the chickens!?!
Beat the egg and sugar until light and fluffy. You'll notice your mixture growing in size. It's kinda cool like that. Next, fold in the cocoa and flour mix. I always use either a rice paddle or a metal spoon when I fold - I think the metal spoon idea came from Huey's.

Pour the mixture into a springform tin (one of the most awesomest bakeware ever). Smack the tin down on the bench gently to pop any large air bubbles which may have been trapped inside.
Pop it into an 180°C oven for 25 minutes. You may want to make the truffle filling at this point.

See, I told you it would be time-consuming and lots of hard work.
For the filling, grab about 400g of dark coverture chocolate and 2 cups of single cream. The original recipe asks for more, but I prefer this ratio. Melt it while stirring over a double boiler.

I find the Nestle Cooking Chocolate works fine, but if you're a chocolate connoisseur then by all means use high quality stuff to your liking.
It was some time here that the timer on my oven went off and I had to go rescue the cake. I know this because the ordering of photos on my camera tells me so.
I'm also going to use this opportunity to show you oven mits (?) that SK got me from the U.S. It took me ages to work out what the shape was meant to be, so I'm just gonna it leave it there for everyone to guess.
Back to the chocolate mix. Remember to keep stirring or it may just catch on the bottom.
After it is melted, set it aside and let it cool.
Next, separate six eggs. You'll need the yolks. The whites you can use for meringues or macarons. You can even make them and then stick them as decoration on the cake, or do something trippy and make it all Adriano Zumbo-esque.
Put the egg yolks with 1/3 cup of caster sugar over a double boiler. At this point I'm going to say I hope you have a power point near your stove, or you're going to need an extension cord.
Next, beat the egg and sugar over the double boiler. Make sure you scrap the bottom regularly with a spatula to make sure that the egg doesnt cook on the side of the bowl.
When the mixture is thick, put it aside and let it cool slightly for about 2 minutes.
Next, fold in the chocolate cream mixture from before. Make swift, gentle folds so that the mixture stays light.
And then place it into refridgeration for 30 minutes.
While the truffle filling is cooling, proceed to slice the cake into two. Don't be like me, cut them evenly, please.
Place the bottom half of the cake back into the springform tin. At this point I will stress that you remember to tighten your tin. Nobody likes runny truffle mixture all over the benchtop.
Pour half of the truffle mixture over the bottom layer. The mixture, at this point, should be at a consistency so that it will naturally spread itself over the layer without the need for a spatula, but it should not be so runny that the sponge cake will start absorbing it like syrup.
Put the top layer of cake on top of the truffle mixture...
...then pour the rest of the truffle mixture on top.

Easy right?
Then pop the entire thing into the fridge and leave it there for at least 5 hours. I experimented once with 5 hours, and once overnight. The overnight one was definitely more cutting friendly and was better texture-wise.

Once the cake is set, detach the springform tin carefully. It should come off quite easily without needing to run your knife around the edge.
Then just cut it up and serve!

(from Donna Hay Modern Classics Book 2)

Lemon and Orange Tea Cakes

A box of lemons randomly appeared in our kitchen a week ago (or so). It seemed like such a pity to let them go slowly to waste, so I've been picking my brain as to how on earth I was going to get through an entire box of lemons.

The first things that popped into mind were the likes of lemon butter, lemon meringue pies and lemon tarts. I'm not a fan of lemon butter, and I have not yet recovered from my epic failure in making shortcrust pastry to even consider attempting the latter two.

Eventually after much hunting and gathering, the idea of a simple lemon and orange tea cake hit me. Much like a pan to the face, except less painful.

So I got to work tonight, grating up the rind of about 4 lemons to produce 1 tablespoon of lemon rind and a pinch of orange rind.

Mmm citrus. Plenty of Vitamin C is perfect for winter.

Oh and before I forget, preheat the oven to 160°C.

Then, juice the lemons and oranges. You'll need about a 1/4 cup of orange and 2 tablespoons of lemon. This, my friends, is caster sugar. You need 2/3 cup.

Next, proceed to cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Don't be like me and treat it with a little patience. I was a little agitated tonight.

Add the rind into the mix and continue beating. You want the mixture to be nice and pale. It should also smell rather citrus-y.

Proceed to beat in 3 eggs. One. At. A. Time. Please.

Fold in sifted flour and baking powder into the mix. I used bicarb soda and lived to regret the tale. Also fold in the orange and lemon juice.

*Note to self: remember to convert measures between baking powder and bicarb soda next time.
Grease muffin tin and spoon the mixture in. The mixture should be quite gluggy and sticky.

Look at the army of tea cakes. They are going to be golden babies of mine very soon.

This is the point where I emit an evil cackle of sorts.

After a slow 25 minutes...VOILA! Don't be too eager beaver and carefully take them out and cool them on a cooling rack. You need them cool, or the cream will melt.

Wait what? Cream?

Yes, cream. And orange syrup. I'll post the recipe for the orange syrup in a separate post. I wasn't happy with the photos of this batch. (i.e. something went weird with my DSLR.)

While you wait for the tea cakes to cool, proceed to whip up some French Vanilla Cream. Do as much or as little as you like.

After the cakes are sufficiently cool, carefully cut the tops off them. Cut the tops down the middle and set aside. Drizzle a teaspoonful of orange syrup into the cake, allowing the cake to completely soak it up. Don't pour too much. Nobody likes a fully drenched cake.

Spread a little cream on top of the tea cakes, then wedge the two halves of the cut-off top into the cream like a pair of butterfly wings. Serve with a little more orange syrup, or whatever rocks your boat.

Lemon and Orange Tea Cakes
Makes 12

To Buy:
175g Unsalted Butter
2/3 cup Caster Sugar
1 tblsp Lemon Rind
1/2 tsp Orange Rind
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
3 tblsp lemon juice
1/4 cup orange juice
Cream, to serve

To Make:

1. Preheat oven to 160°C
2. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy
3. Add eggs while beating, one by one
4. Sift flour and baking powder, add to mixture with lemon and orange juice
5. Spoon mix into greased muffin tins and bake for 25mins
6. When cooked, remove from oven and cool on rack
7. In the meantime, whip up as much or as little cream as you like with your cakes.
8. Once cake is cool, slice the top off each cake and cut down the middle of the cap which has just been cut off
9. Spoon a little orange syrup (recipe to follow) over the cake, allowing the cake to fully absorb the syrup
10. Smear whipped cream over the top and wedge in the cut pieces of cake in a butterfly shape
11. Serve with another drizzle of orange syrup
    

Review: Mad Cow (Merivale Winter Feast), Sydney

Oh gosh, I've been waiting for these photos. I forgot to pick up the DSLR from JL so I had to borrow SK's camera to take these photos.

A few weeks ago my boss SJ treated us girls at work to the glorious Mad Cow, situated within the Ivy. It was an occasion to farewell one of my best friend (and also my workmate) HH as she is jetting off to go on exchange in France.

For those of you wondering, yes, I've tried my best, in all my weird and quirky ways to convince her to pack me in her suitcase and take me with her.

At least now I know I'm less convincing than I thought I was...

Now, moving onto topic, as you walk into Mad Cow, it would seem that you are instantly taken away into a secluded garden in amidst the chaos of Sydney. The furnishing are vibrantly coloured, with splashes of yellow and grassy green all around the walls and lounges.

I know I'm stating the obvious when I call the design of the place classy. I mean, seriously, it's the Ivy and all...but the strange thing about Mad Cow is the quirkiness of an Alice-in-Wonderland type of feel which gives it the sort of character that distinguishes it from the general (and sometimes seedy) image of "class" you find around Sydney.

There was nothing to complain about the service here really. We were quickly seated, and the waitress and waiters were perfectly flexible and happy to cater to our requests. A multigrain bread was soon brought to us with a slab of smooth butter. At first glance it brought back memories of that delightful bread we had at Silk's in Leura. However, there was no scent of the sweet honey that lingered around the table, and I knew straight away that it was just not the same.

Still good bread though. I was perfectly happy to keep nomming.

Braised Wagyu Beef Cheeks, Mushrooms, Celeriac, Broad Beans

For those who already know about Merivale's Winter Feast, you would know that for $35, the menu provided in each restaurant is fairly limited in selection, but embraces a large spectrum of tastes and styles. At Mad Cow, there was a clear standout in the menu (at least for our table). About 3 or 4 serves of the Braised Wagyu Beef Cheeks were ordered and it was absolutely delightful. The meat was fork-tender and moist with a deep, robust taste of the red wine sauce it is braised in. I don't usually like broad beans, but heck, these little green pellets around the dish were sweet and just cooked and went perfectly with the meat.

Risotto of Pumpkin, Spinach, Sage, Parmigiano Reggiano

SJ had originally ordered the Beef Cheeks as well, but quickly changed to the Pumpkin Risotto upon seeing that everyone had ordered the same thing. She said she had done it for me (and my research purposes), so I was absolutely thrilled, even though deep down I regretted letting out a small whinge that everyone had ordered the same thing.

I was a little surprised by the presentation of the dish. It seemed rather out of character and below-par when compared to the other dishes that came out.

People say beauty is only skin-deep -- I extend that to the realm of food as I genuinely believe that some of the most ugly looking dishes are often the nicest tasting ones. This one was no exception. The idea of the dish is simple, subtle and understated, but the taste that comes from it is wonderfully generous and playful - if that's even a way to describe food?

I only had a small spoonful, but I think I would've probably licked the plate clean if I had ordered it.
Crispy Skin Ocean Trout Fillet, Olive Caper Tomato Salsa

SK ordered the Ocean Trout (also just to be different for research purposes). She said that the skin was really crispy and the salmon was flaky but cooked really well such that it wasn't dry nor undercooked.

I knew secretly she was waiting for dessert...

Crisp Meringue, Raspberry Sorbet, Blueberry Compote

And then it came to us.

I think at this point I nearly fell off my lounge, even though it was rather physically impossible. Doesn't the meringue and cream just look like balls of fluffy clouds, gently sustaining the quinelle of raspberry sorbet?

No complaints here, except maybe there was too little of it.

Single Selection of Local and Imported Cheese, Gala Apple, Walnut Bread (and Muscatels)

Others on the table opted for the selection of cheeses. Cheese is life in a really stinky package. Seriously. Some people love durian, I love cheeses.

(Pardon my forgetfulness, but I can't remember where these cheeses were from)
We received, in order from the top, a slice of blue cheese, a block of mixed goats and soft cheese (?), and a slice of pecorino.

The goats cheese was the outstanding winner of the three and I was tempted to ask for more. The pecorino was not so popular as it was a bit too strong and overpowering. And lastly, the Blue cheese was, is, and always will be a huge divider of the table. I personally liked it, but couldn't handle very much of it. It wasn't like the creamy goats cheese where I could simply just keep eating more and more.

Overall we had a great lunch there. SJ left us early to get back to the office, and the rest of us just sat around gossiping and wishing HH all the best in France. Like I said earlier, this lunch happened a while back, and HH had already hopped on the plane last Thursday.

It's only been a few days and I miss her dearly already. Au revoir mon ami.


Mad Cow
Level 1, 330 George Street
Sydney, NSW 2000
Tel: (02) 9240 3000
Website: http://www.merivalewinterfeasts.com/Default.aspx

Merivale Winter Feast @ Mad Cow :: $35 for 2 courses, $45 for 3 courses.
Includes glass of wine/James Squire