Taste of Sydney Food Festival

I visited the Taste of Sydney festival today in Centennial Park with some girl friends. It was my first time at the festival so I wasn't sure what to expect.

The entry fee was $27 if bought online in advance or $30 at the door. My friend gave me a code to buy two tickets for the price of one, so off we went to the food fair. I should really have done my research first, because what I didn't realise was that there would be no vegetarian food there except for cheese and desserts... Of the many swish restaurants there serving their signature dishes in miniature, not a single one offered any kind of food that I could eat, except for their desserts.

Seriously hungry, I trawled the stalls for food I could eat, and came across the Grumpy Baker.

I tried several pieces of their amazing bread...

And settled on a delicious raspberry muffin. I don't usually eat muffins due to the high fat and sugar content, but this one was just amazing - the best I've ever had by a long shot.

Cheese tasting was next - representing was King Island Dairy and Tasmanian Heritage. I had the most amazing smoked cheese at the King Island Dairy stall...

And a delicious Red Square washed rind at the Tasmanian Heritage stall. I made a repeat visit and tried their Camembert and Swiss. OMG so amazing. Why is cheese so delicious?

My downfall was the McGuigan Wine stall. For $2 you could get a tasting of six wines. They had a Moscato I was desperate to sample, so ponied up the $2. It was money well spent as I was given an extremely generous serving of each wine and ended up more than a little tipsy. I bought a bottle of the Moscato and Riesling to take home.

We had put our names on the wait list at the Planet Cake stall to decorate cupcakes. After the wine tasting we made our way there and I tried hard not to slice myself with any sharp implements while the wine was whirling in my head.

The ready-made cupcakes cost $4 each, but if you did the decorating "class" you got the keep the cupcake for free. Score!

They gave us all a prepped cupcake and circle of fondant.

Simply roll on the fondant and rub the special piece of plastic over the top to smooth it down.

Class busy at work.

Rolled up pieces of dark purple fondant to make the body.

White fondant for the wings. Voila!

I finished off the afternoon with a caramel and pecan ice-cream from Pat and Stick.

So incredibly good!

My small stash - I had to restrain myself. Apart from the wine I bought some macadamia dukkah from A Taste of the Bush and red wine liquor vinegar from Pukara Estate. We're going over a friend's house next Sunday and I will be taking these, along with a loaf of Sonoma, for snacks.

I did have a really fun afternoon, and if I do go again next year I will eat some solid food first in advance...

Home Cooking Basics: Minestrone Stew

Another hearty meal meal for cooler nights. This minestrone stew makes enough for 4/5 servings, so it's great to make on the weekend and reheat throughout the week. And yes, it says "stew" not soup. It started as a soup that I kept adding chunky veges to, so now it's more like a stew - which I actually prefer.

Minestrone Stew


Ingredients

• 2 - 3 cloves garlic
• 1 onion
• 1 - 2 spring onions
• 1 - 2 potatoes
• 2 carrots
• 1 tin crushed tomatoes
• 1/2 container tomato paste
• 6 cups vegetable stock
• 1 tin four beans mix
• 1/2 - 1 cup pasta spirals or elbows
• 1 tin corn kernals
• 1 cup frozen peas

Directions
Brown cloves of garlic, onion and spring onion in a large frying pan.

Peel and dice potatoes and carrots. Add into frying pan and stir for a few minutes. Add in bean mix and stir.

Add in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste and vegetable stock. Simmer for 20 - 30 mins, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes start to soften.

Add in the pasta, corn and peas. Season to taste. Simmer for further 20 - 30 mins, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are soft enough to eat. Serve with fresh bread.

 

Fresh ingredients. Add or subtract any veges you like.

  

Browning the garlic, onion and spring onion.

  

With the potatoes, carrots and bean mix.

  

With the addition of tinned tomato and tomato paste.

  

Adding in the vegetable stock. Simmering.

  

Last step - pasta, peas and corn.

  

Served - note the stew-like appearance rather than soup?

Served with Sonoma soy and linseed bread.

Home Cooking Basics: Hungarian Casserole

It's been getting colder at night so I've been breaking out the comfort food. I thought I would give this one a go this week for the first time.


Hungarian Casserole

Ingredients

• 1 green capsicum
• 1 red capsicum
• 1 onion
• Four large potatoes
• 3 carrots
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 30g butter
• 440g tinned chopped tomatoes
• 250ml / 1 cup vegetable stock
• 2 teaspoons caraway seeds
• 2 teaspoons paprika

Crispy Croutons

• 4 slices white bread
• 1 cup olive oil

Directions
Cut the capsicums in half, remove the seeds and roughly chop. Chop the onion. Cut the potatoes and carrots into large chunks. Heat the oil and butter in a large heavy-based frying pan and cook the potatoes and carrots over medium heat. turning regularly, until crisp on the edges.

Add the onion and red and green capsicum and cook for 5 minutes. Add the tinned tomatoes, vegetable stock, caraway seeds and paprika. Season to taste. Simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

To make the croutons, remove the crusts from the bread and cut the bread into small cubes. Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Cook the bread, turning often, for 2 minutes or until golden brown and crisp. Drain on paper towel. Serve the croutons with the casserole.

 

Ingredients ready to go in. The carrots weren't in the original recipe but I thought it needed more vegetables in it.

  

Capsicums roughly cut.

  

Roughly cut potatoes and carrots.

  

Cooking potatoes and carrots in oil and butter.

  

Adding in capsicums, onion, vegetable stock.

  

With the addition of tinned tomatoes. I added in two fresh tomatoes chopped as well as my tinned tomato was only 410g.

  

Bread cut into cubes.

 

Cooked after simmering for about 20 mins. The potatoes were cut too big so it took a long time to cook.

  

Croutons lightly fried.

  

Dished up with the croutons on top.

The flavour of the sauce was really nice and the vegetables were really delicious with the sauce slowly cooked through them. Next time I will add some more vegetables and maybe some mixed beans. I'd also like to try it with sweet potato instead as it's lower GI.

Khacha Thai; Crows Nest

Thai restaurants on Sydney seem to be a dime a dozen. It takes a while to try them all and suss out the best from the mediocre.

We have a plethora of Thai places to chose from on the North Shore, and after much repeated sampling of the various offerings the husband and I decided our favourite by a long shot is the humble Khacha Thai.

This little restaurant sits on the side of the Pacific Highway, yet is always quiet inside. They have a water feature on one wall, and lots of carvings of elephants decorating the walls and menus.

What I love about Khacha:

• Quick, super-polite service
• Great variety on the menu
• Super delicious, fresh food
• Amazing presentation (Sadly not captured by my camera on this trip).

 

Bright interior.

  

Vegetarian spring rolls. Crunchy and filled with delicious noodles and veges. The sauce is plum, not sweet chilli.

 

Vegetarian Pad Thai - totally perfect.

Khacha Thai
308A Pacific Hwy
Crows Nest
NSW 2065
02) 9966 8444

The Counter; Crows Nest

I love burgers. Love them so much that when I stopped eating meat a while back the only meat I missed was the good ol' burger. Since then I've discovered a range of vegetarian burgers from both restaurants / cafes as well as pre-made patties that are sold in most supermarkets.

Not all vegie burgers are created equal. I've had some really gross ones in fact. It's all in the search for the perfect vegetarian burger - and The Counter comes very close to perfection.

Lucky for me, this restaurant is in my 'hood, so I go there a little too frequently.

Counter Burger is unique in that you can custom-make your own burger. I'm a fussy eater, so this is super for me. When you sit down, you're handed a clipboard and menu form to fill in your order. Very civilised. Select your protein, bun type and toppings. The toppings come in regular and premium with pricing to match. The bottom part of the menu has tasty additions like fries, salads and shakes.

 

The shakes are amazing. I always order a vanilla malt and slurp it up before my meal arrives. They have more creative types like apple pie, but I prefer the original - it feels very 1950s diner.

  

When we go with friends we order a few sides to share - such as the 50/50 sweet potato fries and onion rings. The sweet potato fries are addictive and there's never quite enough to satisfy everyone.

  

The regular fries are also an item we regularly order - after all, what is a burger without fries? Inconceivable! Counter fries are crisp and fresh - I usually slather them in one of the many choices of sauce the staff helpfully give us with them.

  

A friend orders the 500g beef burger. It looks insane. The burger bun is WAY too small for the patty. Our friend wolfs it down while we watch in horror and admiration. He's a growing lad after all.

  

My vegeburger is a modest affair. I add carrot strings, pineapple, cheddar cheese, tomato.

  

  

 

Sliced burger - check out the neat layers!

The problem with burger places is the compulsion to shovel the food into your mouth as quickly as possible, which makes for a short dining experience -  as well as eating remorse a few hours later when your insides expand and push against your rib cage. We never learn, and will be back, again and again.

 The Counter

118 Willoughby Rd
Crows Nest NSW 2065
(02) 9436 2700

Cool Food: Chocogram

What better way to get a message to someone you care about than through the most divine food of all? I bought this for the new husband for Valentine's Day just for a laugh. The peeps at Chocogram make it possible to order customised messages made out of chocolate. The quality is pretty good, and the presentation is very nice.

Home Cooking Basics: Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni

I have a very dear friend who is an amazing cook. She frequently invites me over for meals at various times of the day, and always has some delish vegetarian dish she's just whipped up for me to test drive. Around Christmas-time she made a spinach and ricotta baked pasta dish that I just loved. She emailed me the recipe and I gave it a go on the weekend with my new oven.

The recipe calls for conchiglioni shells (large shells), but since they're hard to find (I tried four different stores with no shells before giving up), I decided to use lasagna sheets instead and turn it into cannelloni.

The recipe is a family one combined a book recipe for the directions on cooking and using the lasagna sheets.

Ingredients:

• 1 packet fresh lasagna sheets
• 1 bottle / batch of red pasta sauce (I make my own, but you can use a store-bought one. Just make sure it's a large bottle)
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 onion
• 2 eggs
• 500g ricotta 
• 1/3 or 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
• Frozen spinach (I threw in 6 clumps in this dish, but you probably only need around 4 as it was a bit too spinachy)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to around 180 (fan-forced).
2. Cut lasagna into equal strips the size of the cannelloni you want to make. Make sure they fit the size of the baking pan you're going to cook in length ways.
3. Boil water in a large saucepan. When water is on the boil, drop 1 - 2 sheets of cut lasagna into the saucepan at a time to cook. Leave in until just before al dente. Should be about 1 - 2 mins. Remove with a wide spatula with draining holes in it. Place on the bench on a damp clean tea towel or damp paper towels to cool. Do not let them overlap.
4. In a large fry pan or saucepan, pour in a small amount of oil, brown garlic and onion. Add red sauce and simmer for 15 - 30 mins until it's a deep red in colour.
4. Cook spinach to directions. Make sure you remove all water or the cannelloni will get soggy.
5. In a large mixing bowl, mix the ricotta, eggs, parmesan cheese and spinach.
6. In a large baking pan, spoon or brush a small amount of the sauce over the bottom to just cover it.
7. Make the cannelloni by picking up each lasagna sheet and spooning the ricotta mixture down the centre. Fold the sides up and overlaps the edges to make a cigar-shape. Place in pan seam-side down. Repeat, adding each cannelloni tightly next to each other, without squashing them.
8. Divide the sauce into two parts. Add water to one part to make it runny, and spoon over the cannelloni in the pan. This is to make sure it doesn't dry out. Leave the remaining mixture on the stove at low heat.
9. Place foil over pan, and then put pan in oven for 30 mins. Remove foil and bake for another 10 mins.
10. Remove pan from oven, sit for 10 mins. Dish up required cannelloni on places and spoon on hot fresh sauce to serve.

 

Lasagna sheets cut and ready to cook.

 

Garlic and onion browning in the pan.

Cooking the lasagna sheets.

Little lasagna sheets cooling off.

Filling mixture.

Making the cannelloni.

Sealed.

Tomato sauce bubbling away.

Placed on the tomato layer in the pan.

Sauce added on top.

After being cooked in the oven.

Sliced through.

Plated with the fresh sauce on top.