Archive for the 'What I’m reading' Category

2012 Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide

Monday, September 5th, 2011

Congrats to Sepia!!! It has been named as the restaurant of the year in 2012!!

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/restaurants-and-bars/sepia-dominates-year-of-dining-simplicity-and-maturity-20110905-1jttt.html

Start planning your dining now! :)

Lemon Meringue Pie

Monday, October 5th, 2009

Last year for my birthday I was given (upon request ;) ) the Ripailles French cookbook. It’s more of an anthology, filled with beautiful recipes divided into chapters such as meat, eggs, sugar, and with every classic French dish that we Aussies would know, and more.  So I tested one of my favourites. I’m not sure if it’s French, but it was yum! The lemon meringue pie.  It said it would take 30 minutes prep, and 30 minutes cooking, and I took around 30 minutes more than that.  3 processes.  The first – the pie crust. It’s richer due to the addition of almond meal. I just ground my own in the food processor.  However, I found that it needed extra water and an extra egg yolk as my mix was too dry and crumbly to mix.  Key trick is to chill the pie crust in the freezer first, and prick it with a fork too.

lemon meringue pie 1.jpg

At the time it was chilling, I made the lemon curd. It didn’t make any difference to substitute half the butter for margarine. but you do need the full 3 lemons. It seems like alot but it’s not.  I had to add over 4 times the amount of cornflour though, to thicken it to spreading consistency.

lemon meringue pie2.jpg

As I chilled the curd in the fridge and let the tart case cool, I whipped the egg whites. I used a round tip nozzle to pipe it onto the pie.

lemon meringue pie 3.jpg

So here’s the final product out of the oven.

lemon meringue pie 4.jpg

So it’s a bit uneven coloured because of my grill. I’m sure if I had a blowtorch though it would have been fine.

lemon meringue pie 5.jpg

Next time I might add more butter into the pastry as it was a bit hard, but overall, quite okay for a first attempt.  but there’s hundreds more recipes to try as well from that book! It’s an essential for your technical cooking collection as well as just to turn through with a cup of chocolat chaud!

Must Have Cook Books

Monday, September 21st, 2009

If you’re into old fashioned treats such as slices, pies and of course, beautifully decorated buttery soft cupcakes of all manners, then London’s Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook is a must have for you.   It’s sure to bring joy to tea time with friends, and cupcakes are always a hit and great bribe to bring blissful silence to kids’ parties. But these cupcakes are so beautiful, you’ll definitely want to make them for yourself too!

Merry Christmas!!!

Thursday, December 25th, 2008

What did you get in your stocking?  I got a new Zyliss food preparation thingo – I’ve used it twice. very scared that I might slice off my fingers, and the few slices that do come out perfect worked well; but the zucchini got hacked up from the safety guard. Hmm… will give it a couple more chances but may have to be returned that one!

I also got the new Stephanie Reynaud cook book calle Ripailles. It’s a French anthology with recipes classified into chapters such as offal; game; as well as the usual pork, lamb, desserts, etc. As my friend said “it’s great – it’s got pictures, recipes and music”!! No kidding!  it’s got a divine soft cover and if you look carefully, you can get it for $55 instead of the RRP of $90. :)   I tried the creme caramel recipe. Too bad the top caramel didn’t work, but the custard was fine.   Don’t think I will be trying pheasant anytime soon though!