food

Is there a greater adventure than one that revolves around food?We set off on a Newtown food tour today, a group of food bloggers led by Newtown local John. Food lovers are naturally treasure troves of information, and the mutual sharing of knowledge when it comes to a cuisine or a suburb is always rewarding and inspiring. I still remember the first food tour - an Indian spice tour of

If there is one dish that I've been making over and over again (apart from f ried chantarelle mushrooms in various disguises), it's this quick and spicy version of houmous, the Middle-Eastern chickpea/garbanzo dish. I love the traditional houmous to bits, but sometimes it's nice to play around with your favourites a bit. I've had my fling with a beetroot houmus , and I've been eyeing a roasted pepper houmous recipe for a while now. But first, I need to get tired of this harissa-spiked houmus recipe, and this hasn't happened yet. ( If you've got a favourite 'way with houmus', then I'd love to hear about it! ) I use Belazu's Rose Harissa, but any other favourite would work just as well. Suitable for vegetarians, vegans, celiacs as well, so a very handy recipe to have :) Harissa-spiked houmous ( Hummus harissaga ) Adapted from BBC Good Food, June 2009 ( see original recipe ) Serves 4 to 6 400 g can of chickpeas/garbanzos 2 Tbsp extra virgin o...

Did you spot Rochester Ginger in Sydney over the last two weeks? Keen foodies may have tasted this spicy non-alcoholic ginger drink which popped up at both the Good Food & Wine Show as well as the Aroma Festival in The Rocks.The Rochester Ginger drink is made to a Dickensian recipe and contains 14% raw ginger root, as well as raisins, cowslip herb and elderflower. It promises to unleash "the kick

Food bloggers. What do they know about cooking in a commercial kitchen?As of last night, four Sydney food bloggers found out a whole lot more, after gaining access to the other side of the pass at Bistro CBD when they were enlisted to cook dinner for 70 paying guests.The Food Bloggers' Dinner was a brave initiative by Merivale, who agreed to let four amateur cooks into their kitchen as part of

Charcuterie plate $13Prosciutto, Spanish salami, bresaola, roasted olives, pickles and grilled sourdoughThe smart Mediterranean brasserie, Olio, is the last thing you'd expect to find at The Forum, a jostle of takeaway stores, a supermarket and a non-stop thoroughfare of commuters. It's barely a dozen steps away from the humdrum of train travel, but Olio is an oasis of calm - a warm and

Hot and steamy. Perfect adjectives for a Saturday night, but not so appealing when it's mid-afternoon in downtown Ipoh, Malaysia. A takeaway bag of freshly squeezed kalamansi juice, packed with ice and a little salty from a ball of salted plum, does wonders. We had just come from Kek Look Tong, a temple cave that offered cool refuge from the unrelenting heat, and one of Ipoh's main tourist

It's Friday. Let's celebrate!This week's Freebie Friday celebrates Turkish cuisine with a prize for two tickets to the Efendy Celebration Dinner on August 19. This special one-off dinner follows on from the announcement of Istanbul as the European Capital of Culture for 2010. Each year the European Union chooses a city to showcase its cultural life and cultural development. In 2010, three

Yet another watermelon salad that's perfect as a light meal on those hot summer days. I made this first about a year ago, when I spotted the recipe in Rachel Allen's lovely book "Rachel's Favourite Food for Friends". I love the fresh note that lime adds to the sweet watermelon. Watermelon, feta and lime salad ( Arbuusi-fetasalat laimiga ) Serves 4 500 g watermelon (cleaned weight) 200 g barrel-aged feta cheese 1 lime 1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh mint toasted pita bread, to serve Peel the watermelon, remove the seeds. Cut the fruit into thin slices, about 4-5 cm (2 inches) wide. Place into the serving bowl. Crumble the feta cheese on top, season with finely grated lime zest and freshly squeezed lime juice, sprinkle chopped mint on top. Give it a gentle stir and serve. The salad tastes best within half an hour of preparing.

Something for the forthcoming weekend :) We usually have pancakes or crepes on Saturday mornings, and try to go for a coffee in a nice café on Sunday mornings. I cannot make pancakes, so K. is our Saturday morning chef :) However, sometimes we stay in on Sunday mornings as well, and then I have to come up with a special breakfast. Last Sunday we had these lovely coconut french toast with berries on our sunny balcony. I make French toast quite often, but always with the traditional egg-and-milk mixture. These are made without eggs, making them a somewhat lighter option. Coconut French Toast with Berries ( Vaesed rüütlid kookospiimaga ) Serves 4 8 slices of white bread (f.ex. bloomer) 200 ml creamy coconut milk 1 tsp cinnamon butter, for frying To serve: 250 g plain yogurt 1 tsp vanilla sugar a heaped cup of raspberries and blueberries/bilberries First, make the toast. Mix cinnamon and coconut milk in a deep plate. Dip both sides of the bread slices into the coconut milk. Heat some butte...

I don't know what I was worried about.Making your own chicken liver parfait -- as I soon found out -- is one of the easiest things in the world. I brought little pots of chicken liver parfait to a Christmas in July Yulefest dinner with fellow food bloggers, a little nervous and filled with trepidation at presenting my first efforts to pate aficionados. When there was no shortage of volunteers to

Although the tropical heat wave has given way to a beautiful Estonian summer (temperatures at around 25 C, with some showers), it's still warm here in Estonia. Perfect excuse for eating lots of cold summer soups. My cold soup repertoire isn't huge, I must admit. I love Ximena's gazpacho (and will be making it again and again in a week or so, when our tomatoes are ready). I also love this simple cold kefir soup with herbs and radishes . But radishes are finished for this year, so I needed a new cold soup recipe. The recipe here is slightly adapted from this Russian foodblog , and we loved both the flavour as well as the stunning colour. Our little daughter, who's almost 1 year and 6 months now, heartily approved as well!! I love roasting the beets, as this gives them an exceptionally sweet and earthy flavour. If you're short for time, then this works with boiled (and even ready-grated and vacuum-packed) beets as well. Cold Beet Soup with Kefir ( Külm peedisupp ) Ser...

Christmas in July.For most Aussies, Christmases are about fresh prawns, cold ham and oysters. The notion of digging into a hot roast with roast potatoes and gravy is at odds with our stifling hot summers, regardless of tradition. Celebrating Christmas in July is one way of beating Mother Nature at her own game, and this year Billy and The Pom were kind enough to host a small party of food

Short, fat and stumpy. The bean sprouts in Ipoh are said to be the best in the world. There is no such thing as a humble bean sprout in Ipoh. Forget about wilted, soggy and translucent imitators. The pride of Ipoh are another experience entirely. Squat in appearance, the sprouts are firm, pure white and decidedly crunchy. They are addictive to eat on their own, and I'm not usually a big fan of

... on a hot summer day. Here served with bilberries, wild strawberries and garden raspberries. I've written more about KAMA here . I love my kama with kefir, which should be widely available in various health food stores and Wholefood dairy aisles near you...

When I first went to Greece in July 2002, I was shocked about the temperatures. I spent a week on Santorini, and it felt that the temperatures never dropped below 40 C during the day and 30 C during the night. I could hardly move, and spent my days hiding inside the conference centre (yep, I was there attending a 5-day sociology conference :)) or trying to cool down in the sea. It's not as hot here in Estonia, of course, even if it feels like that. The daytime temperatures stay just over 30C and it "drops" to 20 C during the night (20 C, actually, is my preferred temperature for the whole summer, including day time). I pretty much haven't cooked anything during the last few days that requires me to touch the oven or the hob, and have been browsing through my recipe archives for various cold dishes to serve. Here's a cool and refreshing watermelon salad that I originally made a year ago. It tasted good then - and it was a much cooler summer. It would taste even mor...

Black olive biscotti with whipped goats' curdI am in love.His name is Butter and he likes to be whipped.Like so many great things in life, he's not an attention seeker but tucked away quietly in the corner. He's not even listed on our dinner menu tonight at Bécasse , the inaugural monthly Cellar Night where patrons can bring their own bottle of wine to dinner for waived corkage. The Cellar Night

Perhaps not the most seasonal dessert (local apples become available in a month or two), but it's a light dessert that would taste lovely on a hot day. You do need a cold fridge for cooling it, however! Make sure to choose crisp and slightly tart apples like Granny Smith. Green Apple Mousse ( Vahustatud õunatarretis ) Serves 4 250 g apples (cored and peeled weight) 500 ml water (2 cups) 5 Tbsp caster sugar 6 gelatine leaves 0.5 tsp vanilla extract Peel and core the apples, cut into chunks. Place in a boiling water (try adding a splash of lemon juice to keep the apples from discoloring) and simmer until apples are soft. Using a slotted spoon, remove the apples and press through a fine mesh sieve into a large mixing bowl. Add sugar to the hot apple "stock" and stir, until sugar has dissolved. Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water for about 5 minutes. Squeeze slightly, then stir into the hot apple syrup, one by one. Pour the syrup into the apple pureé, season with vanilla e...

It's VERY hot here. For the last week or two, the usually moderate summer temperatures have been replaced with about 28-30 Celsius, and the weather forecast doesn't forecast end to that heat any time soon. Perfect excuse for cold and refreshing drinks. One of my favorites has been a combination of watermelon, grated ginger and lots of crushed ice. How do you keep yourself cool these days??

How do you say Löwenbräu? Did you know the correct pronunciation is loov-en-brau loov-en-broy lurvin-broy [ack. I still got it wrong. Corrected now thanks to anon and Rissole below]? Yes, all this time I've been saying it wrong! Low-en-brau be gone, it's lurvin-broy with a rolling r from now on. Musical Germanic accent entirely optional.If there's a silver lining to the onset colder weather, it's

We're in the middle of a heatwave here in Estonia, and there's no end in sight. On the contrary, the weather forecast announces that the temperatures will soar even higher during the next few days. I'm not a hot weather person, and the heat has seriously affected my enthusiasm and ability to cook and stand by the stove. We've been eating sandwiches, tabbouleh, lots of hummus, and sugarsnap peas, carrots and radishes from our own garden. And this Danish dessert, koldskål . The traditional koldskål starts with an eggnog base that's topped with buttermilk, but modern versions often substitute raw egg yolks with thick yogurt. That's what I've done here as well. The traditional topping is kammerjunkere , but you can crumble some cantucci biscuits on top or use granola or müsli. I love the cardamom-scented " skorpor " you'll find at your nearest IKEA (those are the ones I've used here). Most of the recipes I've seen use lemon juice or vanill...

"Oh my god, they're so cute!"I don't know who utters this first, but Suze and I stare fascinated at the giant lunch box filled with clumps of dough shaped to look like spatchcock heads.We move in closer to the counter at Blancharu, admiring their perfectly shaped heads, the eyes made from cloves, delicate beaks that are every so slightly open. The salt-crusted spatchcock, featured during the

Egg Salad (called ' munavõi ' or 'egg butter' in Estonian) is a popular sandwich spread in Estonia. The traditional version contains just softened butter and boiled eggs, seasoned with salt. However, I've come to prefer this slightly lighter version over the last few years. In addition to the butter and eggs, this version contains cottage cheese or farmer's cheese. As far as the herbs go, I love chives here, but dill, parsley, savory would work as well. It can be kept in a fridge for a few days, covered, but it tastes best when freshly made. If you do make it in advance, then bring to the room temperature 15-20 minutes before serving. Serve with boiled potatoes, on home-baked rye bread, or as a sandwich filling. Cottage Cheese and Egg Salad ( Kodujuustu-munavõi ) Serves four to six 3 to 4 eggs 100 g butter, softened 150 g cottage cheese sea salt fresh chives, finely chopped Hard-boil the eggs using your favourite method, cool to room temperature, then peel. Sepa...

Doesn't everybody love a food tour? Where to go and what to eat? Where to find the hidden gems and which dishes are the specialty of the house?I'm excited to finally let you all know about my involvement with the new Food Lovers Guide to Chinatown and Haymarket published by Urban Walkabout. This free 34-page booklet highlights a mix of restaurants, pubs, sweets and more. It has been designed to

I've blogged about serving fried chantarelles on toast two years ago , but as the chantarelle season has began here again and I've been eating fried chantarelle mushrooms several times a week, I decided to blog about them again. The summer lunch of boiled potatoes and fried chantarelles is a classic, a side "salad" of cottage cheese and fried chantarelles is another current favourite, as is this bruschetta -style small toast. Lovely with a glass of chilled white wine or beer on a summer afternoon! I love pairing chantarelles with dillweed, but thyme or parsley would work as well, as would summer savory. Chantarelle bruschetti ( Krõbedad saiad praetud kukeseentega ) Serves four 8 slices of white bloomer or Italian style bread olive oil and butter, for frying Chantarelle topping: olive oil and butter, for frying 1 small (red) onion, finely chopped 250 g small chantarelle mushrooms 1 small garlic clove, crushed fresh dill, finely chopped salt and pepper Clean the mushr...

Wolgan Valley ResortIt wasn't too long ago that my idea of luxury accommodation was having the shower and toilet inside my room. On my first trip overseas on my own, I stayed in a youth hostel in London, sleeping in a triple bunk bed in a compact room with 11 of the newest best friends.Communal showers and toilets aren't all bad. I backpacked around Europe and the UK on a shoestring budget,

Chef Kumar Mahadevan2010 is a big year for Kumar Mahadevan, celebrating the 20th anniversary of his Indian restaurant Abhi's in North Strathfield. Named after his first son, Abhi's opened in 1990 and soon developed a cult following who relished his lighter touch with new and interesting Indian dishes. A second restaurant, Aki's - named after his second son - opened on the Finger Wharf in

When planning the menu for the Midsummer's Eve, I knew I wanted something more unusual in addition to the traditional pork shashlik . I ended up making this simple grilled chicken liver dish, which was much liked by everyone. Such a quick dish to throw together and cook, ideal for those quick (yet leisurely) summertime meals in your backyard. Serve with a green salad or a watermelon & feta or melon & blue cheese salad. Grilled chicken livers ( Grillitud kanamaksavardad ) Source: Finnish magazine Apu (14.3.2004) Serves 4 450-500 g chicken livers Marinade: 2 garlic cloves, minced a bunch of fresh parsley, finely chopped 4 Tbsp dry sherry 4 Tbsp olive oil 2 Tbsp runny honey salt and pepper to season If you're using frozen chicken livers, then transfer them to the fridge night before. Drain the defrozen chicken livers carefully. Cut each liver into two large pieces. Mix all the marinade ingredients in a bowl, add chicken liver. Leave to marinate for about 2-3 hours. Pierce ...