Abercrombie & Feast

One of the nicest things about living in a big city like Sydney is having access to all kinds of stuff. Book stores full of foreign language books, bars where everything is made of ice, outdoor movie theatres, and butchers where all the meat is organic.

I grew up in a very small town. If we wanted stuff, we had to drive about 30 minutes away (and no amount of driving would get us to a bar made of ice). All of our meat came from the Piggly Wiggly. So, having a totally organic butcher just a 20 minute walk from our apartment feels like a luxury to me.

Last Sunday, was bright and sunny. We had brunch at an outdoor cafe near our place, then went for a long walk around our neighbourhood.

On the way home we popped into the lovely organic butchers to pick up some supplies for the evening. I didn’t want to go with a recipe already planned. I wanted to see what looked good and base our meal around that. Well, everything looked good! We decided on 2 veal cutlets for our Sunday night dinner.

Now, here’s the cool part. As the butcher was preparing the cutlets, I casually said to him, “How should I cook these?” And y’all… he knew exactly what to do. “Put these in a frying pan with a little bit of butter and olive oil. Cook them until they are brown on both sides and pink in the middle. Then take them out, deglaze the pan with some white wine, add some cream and some dijion mustard and reduce it to make your sauce. It will be great!”

And it was great! It was one of the nicest meals I’ve cooked in months. Restaurant quality. I don’t know why I’m so surprised. This man clearly knew just how to bring out the best qualities in his products.

And isn’t that exactly what we want from someone selling us something? We expect a car-salesman to know about the cars he’s selling, we expect the real estate agent to know about the house she’s selling. But if you asked a typical employee at a big grocery store a question about how you should prepare the meat that they sell, they probably couldn’t answer you. Call me crazy (and you know you want to) but I want the people who sell me my food to actually know something about food.

So there’s no recipe here. Instead, I encourage you to ask questions and get recommendations from the people who know the products. The answer could be very tasty!

I can’t believe I am doing this.  I am actually about to give you all my top-secret, 100% delicious, world’s best guacamole recipe.  Yes.  It is that good. 

I have been making this recipe in exactly the same way for about 3 years now (with the glaring exception of our first 2 months in Australia when I didn’t know that coriander was the same herb as cilantro, just with a different Aussie name, and thought that it wasn’t available in Sydney… tragic).  I’m sure it’s not very authentic, but it’s so, so good.  This guacamole is my favourite thing to make for afternoon bbq’s, picnic days and any trip to see our friends the Goldbergs. 

The Goldbergs are a charming family who are also from the Atlanta area and have been fabulous friends to us since our move to AU.  We have attended many a horse race, Christmas carol sing-a-long and bbq with them, and they usually request that this guacamole make an appearance.  Last weekend, the Goldbergs hosted one of their semi-regular poker nights, so the guac was in attendance. 

Before I get too far into the guacamole portion of the evening, I’d just like to spend a few minutes quietly telling you about the achievements of one of the poker players on this particular evening.  I WON!  I WON WON WON!  I WAS THE WINNER!  WINNER! CHICKEN DINNER!  I suck at poker and another player had to actually lend me a copy of her cheat sheet, but I was victorious.  A triumph never to be repeated, I’m sure, but I will forever live with the memory of my glory.

Ok.  Just had to get that out of my system. 

So, back to the guacamole.  I started making it like this after a visit to Harry’s market in Atlanta.  I was just about to buy a tub of ready-made guacamole when I decided to read the ingredients list.  It was so simple!  I could literally buy all the ingredients and make it myself more cheaply and more deliciously because I could add ingredients in proportions that seemed tasty to ME.  More chilli!  More garlic! So, on that afternoon, I made guacamole.  And I had to stop myself from eating the whole bowl of it with a spoon.  And the rest is heaven-on-a-corn-chip history. 

The lovely and talented Miss Amanda Goldberg helped me assemble the guacamole for the Goldberg’s poker night last weekend (I didn’t want to make it too far in advance and risk the avocado discolouring) and her adorable friend from London actually took these pictures. 

The girls then proceeded to wow us with their living room gymnastics routine and their multiple costume changes throughout the night.  Thanks girls!!

Greatest Guacamole

3 avocados
2 cloves of garlic
2 red chillis
1 handful of coriander (cilantro)
2 tomatoes
1 purple onion
2 limes
olive oil

It is important to add these ingredients in the order they appear here.  You’re building up the flavour and you want to give the garlic, chillis and coriander some time to infuse with the lovely avocado. 

Start by scooping out the flesh of the avocados into a large bowl.  Mash with a fork to get rid of any huge lumps.

Very finely dice the garlic.  You don’t want any lumps of garlic, so you’ll need to spend a few minutes really chopping this well.  Add the garlic to the avocados and mix.

Finely dice the chillis.  You can use fewer chillis if you’d like.  When I made this for the poker night I used less than 2 chillis, but when I make it at home I use more.  It’s up to you.  Add the chillis to the avocados and mix.

Wash and chop the coriander and add it to the avocados and mix.

Chop the tomatoes and add to the avocados. 

Chop the onions and add to the avocados.

Add a dash (about a tsp) of olive oil and mix well. 

Add the juice of both limes and mix well.  Taste.  Add salt if you’d like (I never do, but if you must, go ahead.) 

Put the guacamole in the fridge for at least 20 mins to let all the flavours mingle and become best mates.  Then enjoy the guac with cold beers, corn chips and some of your best mates!

Well, every now and then, I get to cook.  I say this because usually my lovely wife rules the kitchen, and I have to play by her rules (such as gaining permission to use the kitchen).  However, once a month she either doesn’t feel like cooking (upon which she instructs me to cook), or I request a night of ownership of the kitchen.

Tonight was one of MY nights.  I picked out a meal, looked at some recipes, and picked up the food from the market.  That being said, I did forget the rice.  Luckily, my wife was happy enough to pick up this last piece for me so that we didn’t have just a naked stir fry in a bowl.

I call this recipe: Cracked Pepper Pork

It is rather straight-forward and easy.  It is a collection of chopped veggies with sauce that you cook over medium-high heat.  Nothing fancy, and you can pick several of your favourite veggies as well.  I was even instructed by a relative (her side of the family) that leftover veggies work well for making a stir fry.  I am not necessarily recommending this (Sorry Nance).

The recipe worked well, but I would recommend adding more chili if you like it spicy.  It lacked a bit of heat for us.

Cracked Pepper Pork

This recipe serves 4 and takes about 15 minutes to cook.  Leave a bit of time for prep work – chopping vegetables, making veggie stock, slicing meat.

• 400-500g-piece pork, thinly sliced
• 3 tbs vegetable oil
• 1 tbs soy sauce
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp cracked black pepper
• 1 medium brown onion, diced
• 2 large garlic cloves, crushed or finely diced
• 1 bunch broccolini, cut into 4cm lengths
• 160ml (2/3 cup) vegetable stock
• 1 red chili, chopped
• 1 handful of snow peas
• 4-5 shallots, chopped  (spring onions)
• 1 medium red capsicum, sliced  (bell pepper)
• Steamed rice (for the final product)

Cooking steps

1. Preparing the meat – Combine the pork, soy sauce, sesame oil and pepper in a large bowl and mix well.
2. Open a refreshing cold beverage (Carlsberg in this example).
3. Heat 1 tbs of the vegetable oil in a wok over high heat until just smoking. Add half the pork mixture and stir-fry for 1-2 minutes or until brown.  Transfer to a heatproof bowl. Repeat with 1 tbs of the remaining oil and the remaining pork mixture, reheating the wok between batches.
4. Heat 1 tbs of oil in the wok over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add the onion and stir-fry for 2 minutes or until soft. Add the garlic and half the shallots (spring onions) and stir-fry for 1 minute or until aromatic. Add broccolini, capsicum, red chili, and vegetable stock.
5. At this point, add soy sauce, sesame oil, and cracked black pepper to the veggie mixture to taste.  Stir-fry for 3 minutes or until broccolini is bright green and tender crisp. Add the snow peas in the final 30 seconds.
6. Return the pork to the wok and stir-fry with the mixture for 1 minute or until mixture boils and thickens.  Taste and add soy/sesame oil/black pepper as necessary.
7. Serve with steamed rice and add remaining shallots/red chili to the top as garnish.

I just finished reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma, which I don’t mind saying has made me seriously slow down and contemplate practically everything I eat.  And now, hot on the heels of that life-altering book, comes a new challenge.  The Omnivore’s Hundred is a list of 100 things that Andrew Wheeler, co-author of the British food blog Very Good Taste, thinks every omnivore should sample at least once in her life.  In an effort to make this interactive, Andrew Wheeler has asked food bloggers to play along at home.  Here are the instructions:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

I’ve also added a few little comments in italics.  You can play along too!!  Repost your list in the comments section on this blog, or add a link to YOUR blog so I can see your list! 

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros 
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding (My Irish aunts serve black pudding for brekkie and it’s really rather good.  Might prefer white pudding though.)
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush (This reminds me, I need to post my recipe for Baba ghanoush.  It’s SOOOO good!)
11. Calamari
12. Pho (There is a fantastic Vietnamese place near my work and it’s all I can do not to have their pho for lunch every day.)
13. PB&J sandwich (I prefer it on toast.)
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar (Can’t stand smoking, so that’s a no for me)
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu (I am hoping to try this when we go to Japan in October!)
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal (If you had just read The Omnivore’s Dilemma, you wouldn’t eat this either.  Also, the idea of special sauce makes me nervous.)
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine (I would LOVE to try this!  Sounds gross and hilarious.  Also, have sampled cheese curds whilst living in South Dakota and can only imagine that they could be improved upon!)
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis (At the B&B we stayed in in Edinburgh, our hostess made us haggis every day.  It was actually awesome!)
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette (Once, by total accident, I ate chitterlings on a band trip.)
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky (LOVE!!!  This was my favourite snack when I lived in Hong Kong.)
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Molepoblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor (Why would you do this to lobster???  Just boil it and dunk it in some melted butter.  There is no need for this fancy-fied lobster.)
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

I will leave you with this shot of #80, a Bellini, that I had in a gorgeous restaurant overlooking Seoul on our trip to South Korea back in April.  I loved it because the colours of the drink were the same as the colours of the sunset we were watching. 

I know I usually write about food in Australia, or things I tried on a trip somewhere, or even my soup-lovin’ days in Central New York, but let’s be honest.  I’m from Georgia.  Land of hot summers, pick-up trucks, high school football on the radio and, best of all, sweet tea. 

Non-Southerners have a hard time understanding sweet tea, which is rarely available above the Mason Dixon.  Sweet tea is not just iced tea with sugar stirred in.  It’s a cold, sugary, caffeinated beverage totally unlike anything you can get from a Snapple bottle. 

When I lived at home, it was always my father who made the sweet tea.  I remember really hot summer days when he would make “sun tea”, putting the tea bags in water and letting the whole thing sit outside in the sun to steep.  Sometimes he would add slices of peaches to the tea and we’d have peach “sun tea”.  There is literally nothing more refreshing on a really hot day then a cold glass of sweet tea.

So this morning I got an email from my dad.  He’s a teacher and he was home sick from school for the day.  He emailed to tell me that he made sweet tea over the weekend and it made him feel so much better.  Here’s an excerpt:

“It was SO good that I was further inspired to write to you and ask you to consider making MY recipe a part of Abercrombie&Feast! Further, I’m pretty sure that our new (yankee) neighbors are in need of instruction regarding this southern delicacy, so I’ve decided to introduce them to MY masterpiece.”

A glowing review of his own recipe to be sure, but he’s earned it.  Daddy’s sweet tea is the best.  So here, in his own words, is the recipe for Tom’s Sweet Tea.  For those of you living in the South, you already know how to do this.  For the rest of you… y’all don’t know what you’re missing.

Tom’s Sweet Tea

“Boil two quarts of cold water(in a pot)…as it starts to roll (don’t overboil or burn the water) turn the heat off and add three standard issue Lipton teabags…pull the little paper tags off the ends of each and tie the three together so as to make fishing them out easier in just a few minutes… (on Sunday past I used a pair of regular tea bags and included a GREEN tea bag…and NOT for the last time!)

Immerse the bags in the boiled (though not TOO boiled) water and let stand for…it’s your call, a minimum of 5 minutes, though I like it a bit stronger, so I let stand closer to 10….the green tea gave it a remarkable extra aroma / taste / zing / punch / zap / etc.

Extract the tea bags using a fork and then press that extra goodness out of them (there’s probably a cooking related word for that) and into the mix…do not use your bare hands to do this as the water is still very hot.

After allowing it to steep for close to 10 minutes I put 1 1/2 cups of sugar into the pot and then immediately started pouring the mix from the pot to a pitcher and back again, dissolving the sugar after 4 or 5 or 6 or 7 cycles.  When there is no sugar in sight (rolling around the bottom of the pan or the pitcher) fill the pitcher up to the brim with crushed ice (cubes would be fine) and continue to pour back and forth as the ice melts into the mix and fills both containers to overflowing.

With most of the ice melted, use the end (not the dregs) of the tea left in the bottom of the pot to fill your first oversized glass (I am a big fan of those huge souvenir cups we brought home from Camden Yards and Shea Stadium) which you will have filled with ice (with your 3rd hand) only moments before.

Enjoy right after having cut the grass on your average August afternoon in Georgia (no, not the war-torn one.)  Perhaps today IS the day to offer this magical elixir to our new neighbors!”

Ahhhh… that’s better! 

We’ve just returned from a weekend away in Port Stephens and it was just what we needed.  Things have been crazy around here, so when I saw a rare (like, bald eagle rare… panda bear rare!) empty weekend in our diaries, I decided we needed to get away, tout de suite!

What is it about a road trip??  If we had stayed home in Sydney with no plans we would have been tempted to be busy.  We would have run errands, gone out to the pub, invited people over, something.  But being away allowed us to indulge in a weekend of not much.  And it was fabulous.  We booked a villa with a huge ocean view, a tiny little hire car and we hit the road on Friday afternoon.

Port Stephens is a sunny little area made up of about 4 or 5 towns just north of Newcastle on the NSW coast.  We arrived at our lovely villa on Friday night, just in time to throw some snags (sausages, saucisses) on the barbie and make a quick salad before watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics from Beijing.  (This is totally off topic, but, as many of you know, I love China and thought the opening ceremonies were just fantastic.)

Saturday we spent the afternoon cruising around the area, having a lovely salad for lunch at a cafe on the water in Shoal Bay and practicing with our new camera.  Observe: 

We spent the early evening reading, playing pool and enjoying some antipasti.  Here’s a picture of our sunset snack:

That’s a bunch of mixed olives, some spiced salami, a creamy blue cheese and, the star of the snack, an Austrian (yes, like the European country, not Australia misspelled) cheese called Ambrosia. 

Now, when I think of Ambrosia I think of my grandmother’s famous dessert.  For those of you who have been reading this blog for a while, this is the same grandmother who used to cook pork until you could barely cut it.  Grandmama was a gorgeous woman with a huge laugh and a heart of gold, but a gourmet she was not.  The Ambrosia that she made had baby marshmallows, mandarin oranges from a can, pineapples segments from a can, shredded coconut and something else… Cool Whip perhaps??  I hate marshmallows, so I would always just pick out the mandarin oranges and the pineapples and leave the rest.  It sounds yucky, but I loved those little pieces of fruit.  Possibly because they were sweet and covered in whipped cream, but more likely because Ambrosia was made for me by Grandmama. 

But, I digress… as usual.  The word Ambrosia means something very different to me than “cheese”.  So when I saw this little Austrian Ambrosia, a cows-milk cheese, I was skeptical but willing to take a risk.  Dude.  I’m very glad I did.  It was different from most cheeses I’ve tried.  It was firm like a cheddar, but the flavour was not cheddar-like at all.  It was creamy and mild and a lovely pale yellow colour.  In fact, all of those attributes also describe my grandmother’s Ambrosia, so perhaps I should give her recipe another shot now that I’m all grown up?  Or maybe I will just raise my wine glass to Grandmama whilst I enjoy another slice of this lovely cheese?

I have a confession to make.  I am a total macaroni and cheese snob.  Always have been.  Growing up, my mom always used Velveeta Shells and Cheese.  I can still sing the theme song from the Velveeta commercials… “It’s Velveeta!  Versus Cheddar!  Our Velveeta!  Melts much better!”  Sing along… you know you want to.

One summer, when we were in New Jersey visiting family, my grandmother made mac and cheese for my brother and me.  Sadly, it wasn’t Velveeta.  It was Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.  From the blue box.  (Another song I can sing… “I got the blues!  The Kraft Macaroni and Cheese Blues!”  I am a marketing manager’s dream come true.)  I can literally still remember asking my mother why we had to eat this inferior mac and cheese.  “Where are the shells?” said I.  “Be quiet and eat your dinner” said my mother.  Wise words.

When I got to college Kraft Easy Mac was all the rage.  Long night studying?  Out late drinking?  Dining hall food too gross to contemplate… again?  The magical blue box came to the rescue of higher learners everywhere.  Except me.  I have never been able to eat Kraft Mac and Cheese.  It’s not good. 

But, having said that, neither is Velveeta.  I’m not going to lie.  I still eat Velveeta Shells and Cheese (my mother mails it to me in large boxes because it’s not sold in AU… how great is she??) but more for the nostalgic childhood memories it evokes than because it tastes great.  No, in matters of mac and cheese, I have matured my friends.  I have taken that crucial step into mac and cheese adult-hood, and I’m not looking back.   

This recipe takes all the great things about the mac and cheese of my childhood (creaminess, carby-ness, cheesy-ness) and makes them EVEN BETTER!  I know!  Last week was tough- stress at work, rain and cold and the final episode of The Amazing Race for months (AU is way behind on The Amazing Race).  But with the help of this mac and cheese, we made it through.  It’s like a warm, cozy blanket for your belly.  Comforting while still being delicious and classy enough to serve to your friends.  That is, assuming your friends aren’t as annoying as I was as a kid- wanting to know where the shells are.  If that is the case, feed them the Velveeta and keep this mac and cheese to yourself.  They are clearly not ready.

Mac and cheese for grown ups

Serves 6-8

1 tablespoon butter
1 cup cottage cheese (don’t use low fat!)
2 cups milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp dry mustard
1/4 tsp cayenne (or just a pinch)
1 lb (or 500g) sharp cheddar cheese, grated (I used Cracker Barrel Sharp Cheddar)
1/2 lb (or 250g) elbow pasta (don’t pre-cook it!)

Preheat oven to 190C (about 375F).  Butter a 9 inch baking pan with the 1 tbs butter (I used a pan that was bigger than 9 inches and it was fine). 

Combine the cottage cheese, milk, salt, pepper, mustard and cayenne in a blender and blend for about 1 minute until well mixed and few lumps remain.

Set 1/3 cup of the grated cheese aside.

Combine the remaining cheese, the milk mixture from the blender and the pasta.  Stir well and pour into the buttered baking dish.  Cover with foil and bake for 30 mins.

Remove the pan from the oven.  Uncover and stir.  Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top and return to the oven.  Bake, uncovered, for 30 more minutes until browned and bubbly on top. 

Remove from the oven.  Let cool for at least 10 minutes before serving. 

Goes brilliantly with a crisp salad and a cold glass of white wine. 

I don’t know where these cookies originated.  There’s no cute story out there about the first florentine (unlike the first TollHouse Cookies, which have become food legend.)  When I tried to research the history of florentines, all I got was the history of Florence, Italy.  I’ve been to Florence so I know that the history is beautiful and the food is delicious.  So, I concluded that these cookies, which are both beautiful and delicious, would fit right in.  Hence their name, perhaps?  Who knows?

I’d never had a florentine before we moved to AU.  Even over here you only see them sometimes.  But I cannot get enough of the chewy, chocolatey goodness.  So, due to their relative rarity and my need to have what I want when I want it, I have perfected the recipe. 

I referred to a few different recipes, but ended up throwing caution to the wind and combining ingrediants in the way that seemed most yummy to me.  I’m not crazy about raisins in baked goods, so I only added a few and made up the difference with dried cranberries.  I used dark chocolate instead of milk.  A few other tweaks and… voila!  The florentine never looked so good. 

Florentines

Makes 18 cookies

1 cup flaked almonds
1/3 cup raisins
1/2 cup dried currants
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup glace cherries, sliced
1 cup corn flakes, crushed
1 small tin sweetened condensed milk (I used the 99% fat free type)
dark chocolate, melted (I used about 3/4 of a bag of dark chocolate buttons)

Preheat the oven to 180c (about 350f).  Combine the almonds, raisins, currants, cranberries, cherries and corn flakes in a large bowl.  Add the condensed milk and mix well to combine. 

Drop this mixture by large spoonfulls onto a lined baking sheet.  Bake until golden brown (about 10-12 minutes).

Remove the cookies from the sheet and allow to cool completely. 

Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water, in the microwave or in a double boiler- which ever works for you. 

Use a spoon to spread a nice, thick layer of chocolate onto the bottom of the completely cooled cookie.  Allow the chocolate to set (I popped them into the freezer to speed this up).  Admire how pretty the cookies are… then enjoy!!