Picnic food: Soft Tortilla Wrap with Tuna and Chickpeas aka Garbanzo Beans

Summer. Finally here! Our little baby daughter turned 4 months on Satrúrday and we celebrated this with a picnic in park with a gorgeous seaview. There were a number of lovely dishes on offer - rhubarb muffins, two dishes from David Lebovitz (pain d'epices and cheesecake brownies), an excellent local Brie, and more. One of the items we had brought were these tortilla wraps with a curried tuna and chickpea mixture. I saw the filling idea on a Swedish recipe booklet many years ago, prescribing the use of one of the ready-made dip mixtures. As I had no access to that particular product, I had to come up with my own.

Despite of the curry powder, the filling  of these tortilla wraps is surprisingly mild. But chickpeas add a lovely bite to these, and the wraps are surprisingly filling, making them an excellent choice for either a leisurely picnic in a park or for a snack after a long and exhausting walk in the wild.

Soft Tortilla Wraps with Chickpeas and Tuna
(Tortiljarullid tuunikala ja kikerhernestega)
Makes 8

8 soft wheat tortillas (medium size)
400 g canned chickpeas/garbanzo beans
200 g canned tuna fish
150-200 g sour cream or creme fraiche
2-3 tsp curry powder
salt, to taste
fresh parsley, finely chopped (optional)

Rinse the chickpeas and drain; drain and flake the canned tuna.
Crush the chickpeas with a fork, mix with flaked tuna and sour cream. Season with salt and plenty of curry powder, and fresh parsley.
Spread the mixture on wheat tortillas, leaving about an inch free on all sides. Either roll up or wrap into an envelope (tuck the sides in first, then roll up).
Wrap in clingfilm or pack into a picnic container and place into the refrigerator for about 12 hours to let the flavours mingle.

Ambala Samosas

Ahhhh, samosas- food of the gods. Deep-fried pastry stuffed with a spicy vegetable mix. An ideal quick snack. How can you go wrong? And yet so often they have gone wrong, very wrong.
I remember my mum making samosas every now and again when I was younger. They definitely were an occasional treat, as they were pretty time consuming to prepare. She'd make the filling with potatoes and peas, cooked with a few spices such as whole cumin seeds, chilli and some fresh coriander. Once this had cooled she'd make the dough for the pastry casing, roll it out into small sections, and then form these into sort of upside down pyramids which would be filled with the vegetable mix. Once sealed these would then be fried in batches in hot oil. Eaten hot these samosas (or shingaras in Bengali) would have a light, crispy outer skin, filled with a soft, spicy vegetable mix inside.
Unfortunately, most ready-made, supermarket-bought samosas seem to have mutated into a totally different creation. These flat, distant relatives of a proper Indian samosa are usually wrapped in a weird, stretchy, filo-ish type pastry (which still manages to be completely non-crispy on heating), and filled with a sort of bland, vegetable mush. Ugghh.
Luckily, there is an amazing alternative to samosas made by an Indian mother, and those are the samosas made by Ambala. I might even go so far as to say that I prefer the Ambala samosa (controversial I know!). Ambala has a number of outlets across London and other locations with big Asian populations, and sells a range of sweets and savouries (which I might review at a later date), but one of their best products is their samosas. The pastry is flakey, and quite dense but without being heavy. Inside is a mix of crushed potato with sweetcorn, peas, carrots and spices. I don't know exactly which spices they use but I can see (and taste) whole cumin, mustard seeds and ground chilli. Each samosa is generous in size, never excessively oily and the only issue I ever have with them is restraining myself from scoffing half a dozen in one go.


Cost: Hmmm- can't quite remember this, but something like £0.70 each.
I rate them 9.5/10.

Tesco Finest Sunblush Cherry Tomato and Buffalo Mozzarella Margherita Pizza

Back in the day (around twenty years ago-eeek), every few weeks or so my mum would announce that our traditional rice and dhal would be replaced and that we'd be eating 'English' food for dinner. This meal would often consist of oven chips, peas and 'pizza'. The 'pizza' was a round, six inch disc of frozen brilliant white, spongy dough covered with an orange gloop and flecks of cheese. On cooking, the 'cheese' would form a crispy, dry, brown crust that could be lifted off in one go to reveal the gloop-covered base below. Unsurprisingly, my first ever teenage visit to Pizza Hut was a revelation. The thick bread base was dense and rich, the tomato sauce tasted as if it might actually have been in contact with some real tomatoes at some point, and the cheese was delightfully soft and stringy when melted. I decided then that I might like pizza after all.
Well, things have moved on even more since then, and Pizza Hut with it's fare of oily stodge, has been left behind in favour of the thin, crispy bases and authentic Mediterranean toppings of Pizza Express. As a dining experience it's hard to go wrong with anything from the Pizza Express menu, but what about those nights when you can't be bothered to leave the house and chuck twenty quid at a pizza, salad and drinks? Well, a good alternative is the Tesco Finest sunblush cherry tomato and buffalo mozzarella margherita pizza. When cooked directly on the oven shelf, this pizza has a thin, light crust with just enough cheese to provide a contrast to the sweet tomato sauce. I'm very keen on adding my own toppings to a basic shop-bought margherita, so the pic below shows the pizza augmented with red onion, chestnut mushrooms and asparagus.


Instead of following the instructions I put my pizza on the middle shelf of the oven for longer than the six minutes advised, in order for the vegetables to have time to cook through without the crust burning. A little drizzle of olive oil is also beneficial. Oddly enough the one thing that I'm not that keen on is the sunblush tomatoes. Halfway towards being a full-on sundried tomatoes, I find these chewy morsels just a little too sharp, although some may like their tartness.
So it may not be straight from a wood-fired oven or have a hand-pulled dough base, but it's certainly good value for money, as the large (12 inch-ish) version should feed two with a side salad.

Cost: £3.49 for the larger version (full price but often on special offer)
I rate it 7.5/10.

Freebie Friday: Win tickets to see Gordon Ramsay at the Good Food & Wine Show, Sydney

It's a Happy Friday to you because Grab Your Fork has another competition giveaway!Thanks to Johanna from Stellar* Concepts, Grab Your Fork has a swag of prizes for the upcoming Good Food & Wine Show in Sydney. This ever-popular event runs over three glorious days, enticing visitors to eat, drink, taste and purchase a huge range of food, drink, wine, cooking and entertainment products.Good Food &

kid food, cool attitude.

Most of you probably know that I have a 2.5 year old son. I'd love to lie and say, "Oh, he just eats whatever we eat! Ha ha ha! I rule at parenting!" but the cold reality is that no matter what I cook for dinner, the little turd angel begs for cheese. I know that, like most parents- I harbored asinine ideals about parenthood before I actually had a kid. "Oh, my kid is going to eat whatever I serve him because I'm only going to offer him HEALTHY CHOICES! Ohh, my superior parenting skills are going to prevent my kid from having tantrums!" etc.- of course, now that I'm in the thick of the "terrible twos" (whatever dude, newborns suck so much more than toddlers- give me a 2 year old over a caterwauling 2 month old any day of the week, thanks) I fully understand how stupid I was being. Duh, my son is a human being. A human being who wants to survive solely off of cheese and Trader Joe's honey whole wheat pretzels. ("Cratzels!")



So, imagine my delight when I came upon the realization that I could combine 2 of my son's favorite things- dairy products, and Shrek- and convince him to devour MONSTER NOODLEEEESSSSSSSSS. It's just noodles with pesto, duh- but you'd think I laced it with crack rocks, the way he gobbles it down. The only way I could get a better reception is if I gave him a heaping plate of noodles drenched in butter and parmesan cheese- but we reserve that for special occasions. (like when I don't feel like cooking real food.) Anyway, now my kid loves monster noodles and I really like pesto, so it works out for everyone. Plus I am stoked when he eats it because I add spinach to my pesto, (an absolute abomination, according to some, but what the hell ever!) so it's basically one of the 2 green things he'll eat. (Sometimes he'll eat broccoli.)



Anyway, where was I going with this? Oh yeah, I wanted to make a point- I've flipped through those "sneaky chef" type books and I have to say- in general, I am not a fan of lying to kids. I'm not going to sneak blueberry puree into my son's brownies and pretend like they're healthy, in fact, the whole "puree" thing seems like a ridiculous ploy, to me. Teaching your kids to prefer babyfood-style, overcooked, mushy vegetables doesn't seem like a very good idea. But, that doesn't mean I'm not above sneaking in vegetables wherever I can. I don't do it to trick my family, I do it because they taste good and I want to be healthier!

Anyway, this simple dinner consisted of:

Half a package of spiral noodles
A few scoops of fresh pesto
Chopped vegetables- zucchini, summer squash, bell pepper, and tomato (added raw at the end) or whatever you can find in your fridge that sounds good

To make the pesto, just throw pretty much all of a package of fresh basil leaves, a large handful of spinach (SHUT UP, EMILY. IT'S GOOD FOR YOU. AND I LIKE SPINACH, OKAY?), a few handfuls of grated parmesan, 1 clove of garlic, a large handful of walnuts, and a huge glug of olive oil- all into a cuisinart (Thank you, wedding registry. It's been 4 years and every time I use all the awesome crap in my kitchen, I think to myself, "God, I love being married.") or blender. While blending, drizzle in olive oil until the consistency is smooth, and add salt & pepper to taste. You can spread it on sandwiches, throw it on noodles, dip veggies into it.

I like to either roast or lightly saute my chopped vegetables, then I just toss everything together in a large bowl. I add the pesto, throw in fresh chopped tomatoes, and then I inhale it while my son showers me with praise. He even ate a few of the vegetables, woo hoo!

I wish I could say I had tons of leftovers, but my husband came home from work late and inhaled the rest of the bowl. Luckily I still have some leftover pesto in the fridge.

Caffé Latte Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Do you like a cup of coffee first thing in the morning? Moreover, do you like a sprinkling of cinnamon on your morning latté?* If yes, then these are the perfect cupcakes for you. A hint of coffee, a hint of cinnamon - and a generous slashing of cream cheese frosting on top of that all. Oh - and even if you cannot really taste the cream liqueur in the finished cupcakes, the fact that you know it's there, makes these especially tempting :)

* I do. 

Caffé Latte Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
(Kohvimuffinid toorjuustuvõõbaga)
Makes 12 medium-sized cupcakes



2 large eggs
150 g caster sugar
100 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
50 g sour cream or creme fraiche
150 ml milk
1 Tbsp instant coffee granules (I used Nescafé Gold)
2 Tbsp cream liqueur (Bailey's, Vana Tallinn or such like)
200 g plain/all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon

Cream cheese frosting:
50 g butter, at room temperature
100 g plain cream cheese (I used Philly), at room temperature
80 g confectioner's sugar

Whisk eggs and sugar until thick and foamy. Fold in the melted butter, sour cream, milk, coffee granules and cream liqueur. Combine flour, baking powder and cinnamon in a separate bowl, then stir into the wet ingredients.
Spoon the batter into 12 muffin tins lines with paper muffin cups. Bake in a preheated 200 C/400 F oven for about 15 minutes, until the muffins are cooked through (test for doneness with a wooden toothpick - it shoud only have couple of moist crumbs on it, when inserted into a muffin).
Transfer onto a wire rack and cool completely. Remove the paper cups carefully.
To make the cream cheese frosting, stir the softened butter, cream cheese and icing sugar until thoroughly combines. Pipe or spread onto the muffins.
Decorate the cupcakes with chocolate coffee beans, instant coffee granules or a dusting of ground cinnamon.

Eat, Drink, Live Italian food festa, Martin Place

Eat, Drink and Live Italian.This is the theme of the two-day food festival currently on at Martin Place as part of the Sydney Italian Festival. Unfortunately an open-air trattoria doesn't have quite the same appeal when it's cold and drizzling although that didn't stop curious city workers stopping in for a look and a quick feed.Orecchiette on the stoveMass platingThe tented mobile kitchen is a

RockSalt Restaurant, Menai

Before Kids. And After Kids.These are the milestones by which many of my friends now define their social lives.I remember the days I could buzz people and within an hour we'd be doing the car pool and on our way to an impromptu dinner. These days it's a minefield of nap-times, bed-times, fevers and sniffles to negotiate.And it's not until you have kids, or hang out with kids, that you notice the

a simple sandwich.

Tonight I had a pretty delicious combination of stuff laying around- brioche buns, freshly made pesto, heirloom tomatoes, avocado. The solution seemed pretty obvious.





Sorry my food blog has basically devolved into the occasional update of food porn, haha! I keep sitting here trying to think of something witty to say, but I've got nothing. Brain fried, y'all!

Cheesy Oatcakes for your Picnic Basket

Planning a picnic soon? Or need something to nibble while working away at the desk? Try these savoury oatcakes with cheese. They're soft and slightly chewy, quite filling and very easy to make. The recipe is adapted from a Finnish magazine. I used an Emmenthaler-type cheese, but good old Cheddar or Monterey Jack would work just as well.

Cheesy Oatcakes
(Kaerahelbeküpsised juustuga)
Makes about 2 dozens

100 g old-fashioned oats
135 g plain/all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
75 g cheese, grated
250 ml / 1 cup milk
40 g butter, melted
0.5 tsp salt

Mix oats, flour and baking powder in a large bowl. Add the grated cheese, milk, melted butter and stir, until everything is combined. The batter with be rather soft.
Take spoonfuls of the batter and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Bake in a preheated 225 C/450 F oven for about 15 minutes, until the cookies are golden.
Transfer onto a wire rack to cool.

Spicy Chicken Couscous with Rose Harissa

Here's a lovely, and rather fiery, chicken couscous that I made on several occasions earlier this year. The chicken is first marinated in a yogurt-harissa mixture, then gently cooked in the same marinade, before mixed with couscous and some additional ingredients. It's got plenty of taste, good texture and it's definitely not dry - a problem I find with so many couscous dishes and couscous salads.

I used Belazu's Rose Harissa - a rather expensive, but very tasty British harissa paste available in deli shops. But I'm sure your regular harissa would work, too.

Spicy Chicken Cous-Cous with Rose Harissa
(Maitsev kanakuskuss harissaga)
Serves 6

500 g chicken breast or thigh fillets
200 g plain yogurt
1 heaped tsp Rose Harissa paste

CousCous:
300 ml water
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
250 g medium-grain couscous
2-3 Tbsp butter

In addition:
250 g cherry tomatoes
handful of spring onions (white and light green parts only)
handful of fresh coriander/cilantro

Cut the chicken pieces into small strips (about an inch long and 1 cm wide). Fold harissa into the yogurt, then throw in the chicken pieces, stirring, so all chicken pieces are covered with marinade. Cover and place in the fridge for an hour.

Prepare the couscous. Heat the water, salt and oil in a saucepan. Remove from the heat and whisk in the couscous. Cover the saucepan and leave for 2-3 minutes. Return to the heat, add the butter and heat for 2-3 minutes, stirring, until the butter is melted. Remove from the heat and keep covered.

Take a small frying pan, add a splash of oil, rinsed cherry tomatoes and season with salt and pepper. Sauté for 2-3 minutes, until the cherry tomatoes are hot. Add to the prepared couscous and cover again. /No need to stir at this point/.

Take a large frying pan and dip in the chicken strips with the marinade. Heat over a moderate heat for 7-8 minutes, until chicken pieces are cooked through and the marinade hot. Pour over the couscous.

Stir the whole lot gently with a large spoon, then scatter chopped spring onions and coriander leaves on top.

Serve.

Adriano Zumbo, Balmain

There was a definite spring in my step this morning. After a week of wind and rain, Sydney woke to a surprise burst of morning sunshine. Today was the launch of the latest collection of seasonal desserts by Adriano Zumbo, an event that appeared to give even Mother Nature something to smile about.A newly revamped website details Zumbo's recent return from a two-month stay in France where he

Kefir or Buttermilk Pudding with Jam

Here's a delicious pudding I made last November. We use lots of dairy products in Estonia, and drink copious amounts of milk, buttermilk, kefir (and that includes adults). We also eat lots of dairy-based desserts. So it's not surprising that I think of thissimple pudding made with kefir or buttermilk as typically Estonian. For a moment I thought of blogging about it back in November - especially as I quite like the photo - but then I decided it's too humble, you see :) 

However, yesterday I saw a very similar recipe over at Elise's great Simply Recipes site - Buttermilk Pudding - so I thought I hop on the buttermilk pudding bandwagon and post my recipe as well (I actually used kefir to make this particular raspberry pudding, but buttermilk would work just as well). My version isn't as creamy and rich as the one over at Simply Recipes, but it is made with delicious (home-made) raspberry jam. Of course, you can use other type of jam, if you don't fancy the raspberry one.

Did you know that kefir is good for you? The friendly bacteria in kefir can aid in lactose digestion as a catalyst, making it more suitable than other dairy products for those who are lactose intolerant. It can also suppress an increase in blood pressure and reduce cholesterol levels.

Kefir or buttermilk pudding with raspberry jam
(Keefiritarretis maitsva moosiga)
Serves 4 to 6

500 ml (2 cups) kefir or buttermilk
300 g raspberry jam
6 gelatine leaves
4 Tbsp (1/4 cup) water, heated

Place gelatine leaves into a bowl of cold water and soak for 5 minutes. Heat the 4 Tbsp of water. Squeeze the soaked gelatine leaves lightly, then stir into and dissolve in the heated water.
Mix kefir/buttermilk and jam in a bowl. Pour in the gelatine mixture and stir thoroughly.
Divide the pudding between small dessert glasses or ramekins. 

Cover with clingfilm/plastic wrap and place into the refridgerator for at least 4 hours to set.

Alphonso mangoes

Ok, so mangoes don't exactly fall into the ready-made food category but they are certainly pretty instant in eating terms. There's only really one type of mango that I eat, and that is the Indian alphonso mango. Once you've tried this fragrant, golden mango, with it's soft, sweet, creamy flesh there is no going back to the horrible, hard, green things that lurk on supermarket shelves.

Alphonso mangoes are in season now, and should be available in any Indian grocery shop (although probably more commonplace in bigger stores in areas with large Asian populations).

Cost: Can vary; box of 12 in Greater London approximately £8.00

I rate them 9/10.

Rhubarb Fruit Soup aka Rhubarb Kissel Recipe

Rhubarb season is in full swing here in Estonia. Every rhubarb season means that I'm trying out a number of new recipes, but it also means I'm cooking old and traditional favourites. Rabarbrikissell aka rhubarb kissel or rhubarb fruit soup is definitely one of them. It's so easy and effortless to make (slice, heat, thicken), has such a delightful flavour, and it's cheap to make :) It's something my mum would make couple of times a week during late Spring and early Summer when we were kids, so it's firmly imprinted in my culinary memory :)

Note that rhubarb contains oxalic acid, which, if consumed in excess, is toxic (oxalic acid is also present in carambola, spinach, chard, sorrel, beans, cocoa, and most of the berries). As oxalic acid inhibits the absorption of Calcium by the human body, it's recommended to serve rhubarb with dairy. This fruit soup goes well with a dollop of whipped cream or some curd cheese dessert (see photo below), or even thick Greek yoghurt.

Other fruit soup recipes @ Nami-Nami:
Cranberry fruit soup
Raisin fruit soup

Rhubarb fruit soup
(Rabarbrikissell)
Serves six



500 grams of tender rhubarb stalks
1 litre of water
200 g sugar
2 Tbsp potato starch/potato flour (see Note below)

Rinse the rhubarb stalks and slice thinly (5 mm or 1/5 of an inch). If you're using tender rhubarb stalks, then there's absolutely no need to peel them first.
Place wter and rhubarb into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer for 5-7 minutes, until rhubarb softens.
Add sugar, stir until dissolved.
Mix potato starch with some cold water until you've got a runny paste. Pour this into the fruit soup, stirring constantly. Bring back to the boil and remove IMMEDIATELY from the heat (if cooked for too long, the fruit soup becomes thin again).
Let cool and serve.

Note on the use of starch. It's more common to use potato starch in Estonia, but you can certainly use cornflour (UK)/cornstarch (US) instead. If doing so, cook the kissel for a few minutes after adding the starch, as cornflour/cornstarch needs to be heated properly in order to kick-start the thickening action.

Stomach's Eleven: A French feast

Savoy cabbageLet me set the scene.Only forty minutes before, I'd been eating six different desserts at the conclusion of chocolatesuze's flavour tripping party. Before that we'd been sucking on lemons, eating citric acid and drinking vinegar. Because we could. And prior to that, we'd gorged on a late lunch of roti canai, sticky glazed ribs, fried seafood dumplings, mushrooms, pumpkin salad,

Potato Mash with Wild Garlic

The wild garlic - also known as bear's garlic - is in season here in Estonia. The season is short, so I'm trying to eat as much as possible of this delicious and health-boosting spring green. Here's a simple way to incorporate wild garlic into your regular mash. Looks bright and pretty, doesn't it?

More wild garlic recipes @ Nami-Nami:
Wild garlic butter
Wild garlic pesto
Tomatoes stuffed with wild garlic

Potato Mash with Wild Garlic
(Kartulipuder karulauguga)
Serves 6

1 kg floury potatoes
200 ml (just under a cup) of milk, heated
50 g (2 Tbsp) butter
100 g fresh wild garlic, rinsed and finely chopped
1 tsp salt
0.25 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Peel the potatoes and cut into large chunks. Cover with fresh water, season with salt and bring to a boil. Boil for 15-20 minutes, until soft, then drain.
Return the saucepan to the hob and mash using whatever way you usually do it (I love to use my 'Spudnik' for that, which results in a rather coarse mash). Pour over the hot milk, add the butter and finely chopped wild garlic, and continue mashing and stirring, until you've got a bright green and fluffy potato mash.
Season with salt and pepper, stir thoroughly and serve.

Julia Child's Waterzooi Recipe - well, almost

Ruth Van Waerebeek describes this famous Belgian dish in her book Everybody Eats Well in Belgium Cookbook as "a confusion of a soup with a stew, chock-full of herbs and vegetables". Julia Child names this as 'the most interesting recipe she's clipped'. Originally made with fish (perch, preferrably), this dish from the Ghent area of Belgium is now more commonly made with chicken. The chicken is poached alongside julienne of vegetables in a mixture of stock and vermouth, and thickened at the end with heavy rcream and egg yolks. When researching the recipe, I did come across recipes for waterzooi using lemon juice instead of vermouth, but vermouth - as used by Julia Child - sounded so much better :) Eventually I settled for Julia Child's recipe (available here), but adapting it slightly. We thought it was really delicious and rather elegant, and wouldn't look out of place on a slightly more special dinner party.

Now, I wonder what the most famous Belgian of all times, Hercule Poirot, thought of Waterzooi. :D

I used a packet of chicken fillet strips, but sliced chicken fillets or boneless chicken thighs would work as well. You can obviously play around with vegetables, but leeks and carrots are a must here - one for the flavour, the other for the colour.

Belgian Chicken Stew Waterzooi
Serves 4



3 large carrots
1 large leek (white and tender green part only)
1 medium sized onion
4 celery ribs/sticks
1 tsp dried tarragon
50 g butter (2 Tbsp)
0.5 tsp salt
450-500 g chicken filet strips (1 pound)
250 ml (1 cup) extra dry vermouth (I used Italian Filipeti)
250 ml (1 cup) light chicken or veal broth
100 ml (just under 1/2 cup) heavy/whipping cream
2 large egg yolks
2 tsp cornstarch
salt and freshly ground black pepper
a large handful of finely chopped fresh parsley

Trim and wash the vegetables. Cut carrots, leek and celery ribs into 4-5 cm (2 inch) julienne matchsticks. Peel and halve the onion, then cut into thin slices.



Heat the butter in a heavy casserole dish, add the vegetables, half a teaspoonful of salt and dried tarragon. Sauté for about 5 minutes, without browning! Transfer 2/3 of the vegetables into a bowl.



Layer the sautéed vegetables and chicken strips into the casserole dish in this order, starting from the bottom: a third of vegetables, half of chicken strips, a third of vegetables, half of chicken strips, a third of vegetables. 



Pour over the vermouth and chicken or veal broth, so the chicken and vegetables are just covered (you may need a bit more broth). Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat, cover and simmer gently for about 30 minutes, until the vegetables are soft and chicken cooked through. 

Now strain the cooking liquid into a bowl. Whisk egg yolks, cream and cornflour until combined, then add the hot cooking liquid, spoonful at the time in the beginning ('to temper' the egg yolk mixture). Pour the sauce back into the casserole dish over the chicken and vegetables, stir in most of the parsley and heat until the first bubbles appear. Remove immediately (overheating will cause the egg yolks to curdle).

Divide into hot soup bowls and serve with boiled new potatoes, gnocchi, noodles or good French bread. 

just a quick reminder.

This photo is just here to remind you that Ned Ludd still rocks my socks. We popped in for dinner for a second time last night, and I annihilated this trout stuffed with sorrel, lemon, and fennel. Jason had lamb, we shared cheeses, and I sipped on a glass of riesling from these guys, because my inner geek cried out to me when I saw the name on the wine list.

On another note, STAR TREK WAS AWESOME, NO JOKE.

Mangal Chana Masala Spice Mix

Chana Masala....yummmmm. This is basically a chick pea stew, made (depending on Indian region and Indian mother concerned) with a variety of spices and a base that involves a combination of ginger, onion, garlic and tomato. This is something I occasionally make from scratch but somehow my spice combinations never quite pack the punch of the ready made commercial mixes- admittedly an unusual situation for me (as I come from an Indian family, I tend to avoid these often generic blends). However, the Mangal chana masala mix is actually made in India and therefore Indian housewife approved. And despite cooking quite a lot of Indian food, spices such as amchoor (mango powder) and anardana (pomegranate powder) are still relatively hard to get hold of, and as they're not used in that many other dishes a ready made mix containing them is very convenient.
The Mangal mix also contains another dozen or so spices including star anise, cumin, cloves and fennel, together with a big kick of ground chili. The instructions only say to add the mix to base of fried onions, but I also add my own fresh ginger and garlic too to increase the depth of flavour. I also add tomato puree but this is definitely optional. You can use the mix with tinned chickpeas, which obviously won't need as long to cook as their dried counterparts (around 20mins of simmering), but still absorb a lot of flavour. The finished chana masala has a lot of umami-savouriness with a hint of sweetness, and is very dark and rich without being heavy. These flavours are well balanced with the heat of the chili, which although strong is not over-powering. I'd recommend eating this with a cooling salad or yoghurt raita, and some rice, naan, parathas, or luuchi/poori to soak up all the spiciness.

Cost: around £1.35 depending on outlet (cheaper in India!)
I rate it 8.5/10

Indomie Mi Goreng Instant Noodles

So let's start by saying that I find most types of 'Western' instant noodles pretty unpalatable. I have tried Pot Noodle, and found it pretty yuck, not for reasons of snobbishness, but just because it tasted so unpleasant- a strange powdery non-flavour, combined with slimey noodles with the odd pea tucked into the mix. I'll admit that this experience was probably over a decade ago now, and I'll retract the above if it turns out that there has been a breakthrough in Pot Noodle edibility since then, but somehow I doubt it. I've also been rather put off by the Super Noodles that I've tried recently, which was quite suprising as I remember them being perfectly adequate.
However, the above shouldn't detract from the fact that for a speedy hot snack, or something to bulk out a simple meal, instant noodles are pretty handy. Indonesian brand Indomie Mi Goreng instant noodles are definitely my favourite in this field.

Along with the usual block of thin noodles, comes sachets of seasoning powder, chili powder, seasoning oil with garlic and onions and thick soy sauce. Even without any further embellishment this makes a perfectly tasty bowl of food, and with a few vegetables or some eggs it's an entire meal.

Price: around 29p
I rate them 8/10

Etch Dining, Sydney

Lolly tray. It's these two words that make my heart skip a beat, as we make arrangements for lunch at Justin and Georgia North's latest restaurant, Etch.CockerelHoused in the InterContintental Hotel, on the former site of Mint Bar & Dining, we enter to find a dining room that is large and airy, a sea of dark wooden tables bathed in natural light. Overhead are several enormous drum lightshades

Saturday morning pancakes

Small buttermilk pancakes, made using eggs from these free-roaming chicken and served with the last of wild strawberry jam and a cup of milky coffee. All made by my dear K.

One cannot ask for more...

loafwich

If it seems like I've been absent- well, I have. I've mostly been hard at work, drawing like a madwoman whenever I get the chance (for instance, right now my son is conked out on the living room floor after a particularly raucous morning at the park- so as soon as I'm done here, I'm heading straight to my "desk" - the dining room table.) for my other blog, 10 dollar drawings. I'm amazed and super psyched on how well it's taken off- it seems I've been a steady 20 drawings deep on my list ever since I started at the end of February. That's a LOT OF DRAWING, GUYS. That doesn't mean I haven't been eating delicious food- far from it. It just means I've been eating some our old standbys, which doesn't make for very interesting blogging. I even come back to my own blog for recipes- haha! A few weeks ago, I made this cream of zucchini & leek soup and it was awesome! I even froze some and saved it, which was great for the cold I battled all this week.

Last night, my husband made an awesome meat loaf, something I normally would have jumped on to blog- but I was out shooting a feature for my friend Lisa at Pigeon Toe Ceramics. Keep an eye out for a studio tour in the next coming weeks, my photographs will be featured. It was so rad to get a peek at how each piece is handcrafted, it really takes a lot of time! Anyway, when I got home, my husband was just wrapping up my dinner to pop in the fridge, so I wolfed it down without even looking at it. Then, at lunch time today, I realized I had a hunk of meat loaf leftover, so I had to eat it. First, I sliced 3 thin pieces, and fried them in some olive oil until they got brown and crispy on the sides. Then, I dumped a little bit of red sauce over the top and heated it up. Then, I just fried some bread in butter (what? IT'S DELICIOUS.) and then smushed the whole thing together, and it was ABSOLUTELY TRANSCENDENT. We like to use a combination of ground beef and pork sausage for our meat loaf, and we had a few pinches of fresh oregano from our buddy's garden, so it came out pretty delicious. SORRY IT LOOKS SO MUCH LIKE DOG FOOD.

Anyway, visit my other blog, keep yourself occupied. Check out Pigeon Toe Ceramics for some awesome handmade porcelain, and then eat some damn meat loaf.

Moroccan lamb pizza

Pizza. The simplest and quickest way to turn dough into a meal.I love its appeal from kids through to teens through to hungry adults. It's more than just party food, or home delivery for a night in front of the telly. Once you get in the kitchen and start making your own version, good pizza knows no bounds.Homemade pizza is the perfect menu for a casual weekend meal with friends. Prep the

Super Bowl, Chinatown Haymarket, Sydney

Yes. We did just have a roast dinner.Yes. My stomach does have a very short memory.Which is why, after some aimless and protracted meandering of the streets after dinner, Chocolatesuze and I inexplicably find ourselves heading towards Chinatown.In search of roti."Rotiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii" trills Suze, with a crazed look in her eye.Except we arrive at Mamak to find the floor being swept and the

Beetroot Salad with Cottage Cheese and Leeks

Well, it's been a while since I posted a recipe using beetroot. But no worries, your Beetroot Princess is back and here's a recipe for a simple salad. I don't usually cook with shop-bought pickled beetroot, but I've tried (successfully) couple of recipes recently. There was this delicious pickled beetroot and blue cheese quiche, and then this simple salad I made just a few days ago. So if you've got a jar of pickled beets lurking somewhere in your fridge, here's your chance to use it! It's a great side dish, or perhaps a filling for a jacket potato?

Beetroot, Cottage Cheese and Leek Salad
(Peedi-kodujuustusalat)
Serves 4

400 g pickled beets
1 leek, white part only
200 g cottage cheese
freshly ground black pepper

Drain the beets, and cut into matchsticks or small cubes, if necessary (I had ready-grated beets).
Halve the leek lengthwise, rinse to get rid of any grit, and cut into fine slices.
Mix beets, leek and cottage cheese in a bowl, season with black pepper and serve.

Chophouse, Sydney

Don't you just love a novelty plate too?Dining tableTonight we're at the Chophouse, sister restaurant to Kingsleys Steakhouse, and one that continues the theme of protein within testosterone-friendly environs.A modern version of the typical New York steahouse, there's a manly sense of charm about the place. The tables are all dark wood colours, surrounded by maroon leather banquettes, the room

Zucchini Rolls with Herb-Marinated Mozzarella Balls

Given that so many of you were interested in my recipe for Zucchini Rolls with Goat's Cheese aka "Makis" au Chèvre that I served on the Easter table, I wanted to share a recipe for another kind of Zucchini Rolls that I served on my Birthday table. This time the courgette slices are blanched first, and the goat cheese has been replaced by herb-marinated mini mozzarella balls. The ones available here are aboiut the size of a large cherry tomato, so I used medium-sized courgettes/zucchinis. If you get hold of really small mozzarella balls, you may want to use smaller courgettes to wrap them in..

Zucchini Rolls with Herb-Marinated Mozzarella Balls
(Suvikõrvitsasse mähitud ürdised mozzarellapallid)
Adapted from Finnish food magazine Glorian Ruoka & Viini
Makes about 30



2 packets of mini mozzarella balls, drained
2 medium sized green courgettes/Zucchinis

Herb marinade:
4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp white balsamic or white wine vinegar
3 Tbsp of finely chopped fresh herbs (I used chervil and chives)
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

In a medium-sized bowl, mix finely chopped herbs, olive oil and vinegar, season with salt and pepper. Add mozzarella balls and stir gently, until they're coated with the herb vinaigrette. Leave to stand for 30 minutes, stirring couple of times:



Wash the courgettes/zucchinis. Take a vegetable peeler and cut thin long strips of the courgette, first along the lenght of one side, when seeds appear, then another side. Blanch them in a salted water for 2 minutes, then drain and place in a bowl of cold water to cool.



Drain the zucchini slices. Take one slice at a time, and put a herb-marinated mozzarella ball at one end. Roll up, and place on a serving tray. Continue with the rest of the zucchini slices and mozzarella balls.

Sprinkle with some sea salt flakes, herbs and crushed black peppercorns and serve.

Miracle fruit, flavour tripping and a wig party

Miracle fruit. It's the latest craze to hit foodlovers' tables, if recent media coverage is anything to go by.The reason for this interest? The berry, originally found in West Africa, contains miraculin, a molecule that disables the tastebuds that detect sourness. This alters the brain into thinking that sour or tart foods taste much sweeter. Lemons will apparently taste like lemonade and

A Minimalist Banana Bread

Don't get me wrong. I still love Nigella Lawson-style lusciously rich full-of-rum-soaked-raisins banana bread. But sometimes I feel I don't deserve all that deliciousness. Or there's that feeling that perhaps, just perhaps, I don't need all that richness in a cake. 

Well, this minimalist banana bread is just the cake for those occasion. Still lovely, still tasty. But it won't spend a moment on your lips, followed by a lifetime on your hips.

Minimalist Banana Bread
(MInimalistlik banaanikeeks)
Serves 8



2 large eggs
100 g caster sugar
150 g plain/all-purpose flour (about 300 ml or 1 cup + 4 Tbsp)
2 tsp baking powder
2 ripe medium-sized bananas (about 200 g peeled weight)
100 ml milk (about 7 Tbsp)

Whisk eggs and sugar until pale and frothy in a large bowl.
Mix flour and baking powder in a small bowl.
In another bowl, mash the peeled bananas with a fork, then mix in milk.
Fold the dlour mixture and banana-milk mixture into the egg and sugar mixture. Stir until just combined.
Pour the batter into a lined 2-litre loaf tin and bake in the middle of a pre-heated 175 C / 350 F oven for about 50 minutes, until a wooden toothpick pushed into the cake comes out clean.
Let cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then trasnfer onto a metal rack to cool completely.

A Swedish Classic: Almond Tosca Cake Recipe

Here's a recipe for a classic Swedish cake that I've been making for quite a few years. I'm sharing it with you, as I've got several Tosca-inspired recipes coming up, so I've got something to link to :) It's a simple sponge cake that's brought to another lever by a crispy and buttery almond topping. Here's a basic version that I love. But a friend of mine adds a large grated apple to the base, just to make it moister (though it's by no means a dry sponge cake to start with).

A true keeper and a star on any coffee table.

Have you tried a Tosca cake before? And which yummy variations on the theme can you think of?

Swedish Tosca Cake
(Toska kook)
Serves 8-10

3 large eggs
200 ml sugar
400 ml plain/all-purpose flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
100 ml milk
125 g butter, melted and cooled

Tosca topping:
75 g butter
100 g almond slices
150 ml sugar
4 Tbsp whipping/double cream
1 Tbsp plain flour

First make the sponge cake: whisk eggs and sugar until thick, pale and creamy. Mix dry ingredients, then fold gently with milk and melted butter to the egg mousse.
Pour the batter into a buttered and lined 25 cm springform tin. Bake in a pre-heated 200 C/400 F oven for 20 minutes.
Mix the tosca topping ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Spoon onto the half-baked cake.
Bake in a 225 C oven for another 10 minutes, until the topping is lovely golden colour and cooked.

Read more about Tosca Cake:
Several variations on the Tosca theme on Anne's Food
Clivia's Tosca Cake
Evelin's Tosca cookies

Freebie Friday: 50 free $10 delivery vouchers

Thank God it's Friday. Has your week felt as long as mine?Well perk on up because it's Freebie Friday, a new feature at Grab Your Fork that will appear sporadically on, you guessed it, Fridays!Menulog is offering Grab Your Fork readers around Australia a free $10 voucher for home deliveries in May. This offer is available to the first 50 redemptions so make sure you get in quick!How to receive

leftovers for lunch.

Hey guys, you know what's hella awesome? A giant poached egg on top of a bowl of leftover roasted vegetables! Best 5-minute lunch ever, thanks.

Coca-Cola cupcakes

The idea of a coca-cola cupcake seems to send everyone I tell into flabbergasted fits of wonder."Coca-Cola? In a cupcake?" It's as though the concept is both horrifying and too-good-to-be-true.But when you consider the ingredients in cola: sugar, caramel colour and acid, its addition to baking and general cooking starts to make more sense. Nigella Lawson is probably one of its more well-known

enchilada sauce.

I've been really lazy about putting this recipe up, so I'm forcing myself to do it before bed- if it's not now, it's never going to happen. It's nothing too exciting, but still sort of mind-blowing to a girl who grew up with the absolute knowledge that enchilada sauce comes from a can. I'm not on a diet, and I'm not 100% strict with my eating habits, but I am making a pretty decent effort to avoid nasty foods, (hydrogenated oils, refined shit, etc.) just for overall health reasons. That doesn't mean I'm not going to have a salt bagel when I go to work, but it does mean I'm reading labels even closer than I was before, and if it's something we can whip out in a few minutes, why not make it at home instead of buying a gnarly can of mystery liquid?



My husband gave me the recipe after we had dinner the other night, and I keep staring at what I've written down, thinking- "Really? That's it?" It seems so simple, but OKAY DUDES- here you go. You want to make some enchilada sauce from scratch? Here's what Jason did:

Enchilada Sauce

1/2 cup chicken or vegetable stock
3 seeded & soaked California chilies. (they're the ones that are about 4 inches long. you can find them in the Mexican aisle at the grocery store.)
1 clove of garlic
2 tbsp (more or less) chili powder
cumin "to taste" (I'd say a tablespoon or so?)
salt
a generous glug apple cider vinegar
1 can of tomato sauce
IMPORTANT EDIT!: my husband was just looking at this post and said, "Oh hey, you forgot to put down the corn starch." apparently it's pretty crucial for texture- just add about a tablespoon to the cuisinart and mix it in.

Seed dried chilies (it's easier to get the seeds out when they're dry) and soak in cool water until pliable. Combine all ingredients in food processor and taste periodically until, you know- it tastes like enchilada sauce. TA DAAAA. You made enchilada sauce. See? Now you understand why I keep second guessing myself and thinking I've forgotten something. This made about half a Classico jar of sauce, so like, 2 cups? A little less than 2 cups. It was enough for what we needed.



For the actual enchiladas, we just rolled up some corn tortillas with some grilled chicken that had been mixed up in a big bowl with cheese and the sauce, then topped them with more cheese and sauce, and baked them until the cheese got all melty. Jason went easy on the sauce because he was afraid he'd run out, but there was plenty, and I ended up just dumping all the leftover sauce on top of the uneaten enchiladas, to soak in for the next day. I was seriously blown away that this just tasted like enchilada sauce. I keep comparing it to what it must be like to taste homemade ketchup for the first time- which is seriously inspiring me to make some homemade ketchup. I'm on a roll, you guys. Homemade condiments? Why not?

A Taste of Sweden, IKEA Restaurant and Sweden Shop, Rhodes

Care for a meatball?Has anyone ever managed to leave IKEA a) in under an hour, and b) without buying anything?Huh, me neither.The great big escalator at the entrance takes you up to IKEA Land, straight into the oh-so-organised, 'wouldn't this look great, honey?' modern-looking demonstration rooms. Oh the efficient functionality. Oh the cleanness of design. Oh the quirky cheerfulness of 1970s

Festive Menus: Spanish Royal Couple visits Estonia

Photo © Õhtuleht

Almost two years ago, President of Estonia went on a State Visit to Spain, where they were treated to a festive Spanish meal. This week, the King and Queen of Spain, Juan Carlos I & Sofia, are on a return visit to Estonia. The festive state dinner took place last night atthe Estonia Concert Hall. Eighty local dignitaries were treated to a meal designed by Jevgeni Jermoshkin. Here's what they ate:

Official dinner at Estonia Concert Hall
on May 4, 2009

Tallinn sprats with rye bread, quail's egg and tomato vinaigrette

Cream of beetroot soup with potato-barley ball and sour cream mousse

Halibut with basil and cauliflower risotto and sparkling wine jus

Warm rhubarb tart with chocolate-covered ice cream and Vana Tallinn liqueur sauce

Sounds all rather delicious, IMHO. Too bad I wasn't invited :D

PS Curious to know what the Queen of England or the Emperor of Japan and other foreign dignitaries were served on their official visits to Estonia? Click on the Festive Menus label on the right hand side to find out.

Ground-Elder and Vanilla Muffins

From the recipe archives, updated in May 2009, orignally posted in May 2008.

Ground-elder, you may wonder? Well, I wrote more about that healthy wild green a while ago (check out my It's a Wild Thing: Hortapita or Greek Pie with Wild Greens post). Here's a recipe for delicious and unusual ground-elder muffins, adapted from a recipe seen in a local food magazine in early 2008. I must admit I first thought 'ground-elder muffins' are savoury ones, so seeing sugar and vanilla in the list of ingredients suprised me a little. However, I did follow the list of ingredients, changing the proportions and instructions as I went along, and was extremely pleased with the end result. The muffins were sweet, very slightly green-tasting, and very pleasant indeed.

Should you come across young and bright green ground-elder leaves in your garden, you should really try this recipe.

Ground-Elder and Vanilla Muffins
(Kevadised naadimuffinid vaniljega)
Ready in 30 minutes
Makes 12


30 g young ground-elder leaves (just over a cup when lightly pressed)
3 large eggs
150 ml caster sugar
100 g unsalted butter, melted
50 g sour cream

300 ml plain flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract

0.5 tsp salt

Pour some boiling water over ground elder leaves and leave to stand for a few minutes.
Whisk eggs with sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the cooled melted butter, vanilla. Mix flour, baking powder and salt, then fold into the batter.
Drain the ground-elder and squeeze dry. Chop finely, then stir into the batter.
Divide into prepared muffin cups* and bake in the middle of 220 C oven for 12-15 minutes, until muffins are lovely light golden brown.

* Either lined with paper muffin cases or generously buttered and dusted with flour.