Why make normal devilled eggs when you can make ALIEN devilled eggs! #halloween
Category: Cooking
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Guess who’s baking her first ever pav! #halloween
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An Explosive Night of Molecular Gastronomy
On Monday I was idly surfing Facebook when I saw a former colleague offering some free tickets to this event:
Prepare your senses for a culinary adventure of foams, froths and frozen treats as the father of molecular gastronomy, Professor Hervé This demonstrates the science behind famous molecular gastronomy techniques. Acclaimed Sydney chef Martin Benn of Sepia restaurant will showcase his expertise in blurring the boundaries of conventional cooking in order to create extraordinary new textures and surprising taste sensations.
A cocktail reception will follow the lecture where guests will have the opportunity to sample a variety of unique molecular gastronomy concoctions.
Hello? Science + Food = WE ARE SO THERE. Plus it was being held at Sydney Uni, which is like 5 minutes walk from our house. So I contacted Simon and he was happy for us to have the tickets. We met him Tuesday night at the Great Hall and settled in for the talk.
It was – well – underwhelming. I actually think the content was probably quite good. The problem was that the acoustics in the Hall were terrible, and Prof. This has a thick French accent. Basically, we couldn’t understand 90% of what he was saying. He seemed charming though, and very excited. He played around with egg whites and microwaves and liquid nitrogen, and we occasionally chuckled when we could figure out his point. Adam Spencer was the host for the evening, and he gamely tried to “translate” for us whenever he could. My favorite part was Martin Benn’s segment on the creation of his famous Japanese stones dessert. A video showed all the preparation for the fillings (which take two days to make!), and then he finished by actually making some of the stones live on stage. Then to our surprise, waiters started filing out into the hall to give us each our own stone to try! Mine had coconut filling, and it was lovely. It reminded me of an ice cream bar, but a lot fancier obviously. Prof. This continued to bop around the stage and expound in his charming, unintelligible way. He seemed to have hundreds of slides on the science of molecular gastronomy, but Adam was mostly able to get him to skip those (since we we were clearly not following much anyway). And then it was over! The main quad had been set up with several stands were you could see experiments and taste more wacky foods, but we were tired and hungry for our actual dinner so we headed home.
I’ll definitely be wary of going to events in the Great Hall again!
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Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals #34: Meatball Sandwich
This was our 34th cooking/blogging experiment from Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals. We’ll be going on hiatus for a few weeks due to our annual Halloween party as well as a small trip I’m taking to Victoria. Also, this time of year is just insanely busy… which is why I’m only just now getting around to posting this meal, which we actually made last weekend. Whoops. Anyway, for this one we chose “Meatball Sandwich, Pickled Cabbage, Chopped Salad, and Banana Ice Cream.” We chose it because we took a punt the week before and bought bananas, reckoning they’d ripen up in time to use. They did! I was on chef’s duty for this one and – though I thought I was speeding along – I clocked in at a disappointing 40:46. It was tasty though.
Substitutions: I actually made a double-batch of the meatballs (simply because I accidentally thawed too much hamburger). Other than that, we followed the recipe pretty much exactly!
Quick verdict: Nothing too challenging or objectionable here! Just a nice simple meal, and probably one that would appeal to kids as well. The sandwich was hearty, but I thought the meatballs were a little bland. The red cabbage really perked up the sandwich though, especially with the chilli and mint. (The recipe makes more than double the slaw actually need. We were eating it all week.) The chopped salad was very good, with the avocado and feta giving it an almost creamy texture. The “ice cream” was a bit of a gimmick, and I’m not sure the coconut added much. We both rated it an 8 out of 10. A pretty good meal, but nothing that really stood out as amazing. You could feed this one to just about anybody though!
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Brains in a Jar
I am just going nuts with the Halloween stuff lately. Brains in a Jar Cake! How cute is that?
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Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals #33: Stuffed Cypriot Chicken
This was our 33rd cooking/blogging experiment from Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals. (ARE WE DONE YET? Sheesh.) For this one we chose “Stuffed Cypriot Chicken, Pan-Fried Asparagus & Vine Tomatoes, Cabbage Salad, St. Clement’s Drink, and Vanilla Ice Cream Float.” We chose it because we had the episode recorded, and it didn’t use anything we couldn’t get this time of year. HOWEVER – we realised quickly that the book version is very different from the one on the show! It has an extra dish (the “Ice Cream Float”) and some of the instructions were different. Very sneaky, that Mr. Oliver! The Snook was on chef’s duty and managed it in a respectable 35:43.
Substitutions: We only did a half-recipe of the chicken, and we left out the rosemary sprigs. We also only did 2 flatbreads. We didn’t bother with mint for the drink, and we used espresso rather than instant coffee for the dessert. Other than that, everything was as written in the recipe.
Quick verdict: Pretty good! Nothing to complain about here. The chicken did take a bit longer to cook than we expected, but it’s visually impressive when you slice it apart. The flavours were all nicely complementary. The cabbage salad was better than I expected, with the onion giving it a welcome bit of bite. The flatbreads fluffed up without catching fire, which was a bonus. (We always seem to have trouble with his “damp greaseproof paper” instructions.) Tomatoes and asparagus are always good, and the drink was fine (if a bit unnecessary). The dessert was basically an affogato, so we both liked that. We both rated it an 8.5 out of 10. It was a nice, tasty meal, but it didn’t really have any stand out elements. It sure looks pretty though!
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Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals #32: Tomato Soup
This was our 32nd cooking/blogging experiment from Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals. (HA! I just noticed that on the Amazon.com page, it’s actually called “Meals in Minutes” in the USA. I guess they’ve given up on the whole 30 minute aspect over there!) For this one, we chose “Tomato Soup with Chunky Croutons, Crunchy Veg and Guacamole, and Sticky Prune Sponge Puddings.” We actually picked this one simply so we could justify buying a fresh ciabatta loaf and using the excess to make French toast. Lucky for us, it turned out to be one of the best meals in the book! I was on chef’s duty, and I finished this one in a blistering 28:27. (I should clarify for my fellow Americans that “pudding” in this case doesn’t refer to a custard like we tend to think. This is an English “pudding,” which is more like a sweet, steamed cake.)
Substitutions: We did half-recipes of the entire meal to avoid leftovers. We used “mini-Roma” tomatoes rather than cherry tomatoes on the vine. We had fresh green beans instead of fennel and left out the breadsticks. Instead of pitted prunes, we had dried ones that we rehydrated in syrup. We used yoghurt instead of creme fraiche. Other than that, everything was as written in the recipe.
Quick verdict: I fully expected this one to boring. I mean, tomato soup? Veggie sticks and dip? Microwave puddings?? And instead it totally blew me away. The soup was way better than anything from a can, and it was very simple to make. The Snook liked that he could taste the flavour of the red chilli without having the heat. The guacamole was so good I went back to the greengrocer to get another avocado to make more today. And the prune puddings were terrific! We both rated it a 9 out of 10. This would be an excellent dinner to make for your vegetarian friends.
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Photo Post
I found Jiffy mix at Broadway Reject Shop and FREAKED OUT. Never seen it in Oz before!
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Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals #31: Sticky Pan-Fried Scallops
This was our 31st cooking/blogging experiment from Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals. As the Snook put it: “Are we done yet??” Hey, we’re in the home stretch. For this meal, we picked: “Sticky Pan-Fried Scallops, Sweet Chilli Rice, Dressed Greens, and Quick Brownies.” We picked it because we were in the mood for seafood, we had some greens to use up, and we had the episode to watch. The Snook was on chef’s duty for this one, and he managed it in a respectable 34:19!
Substitutions: We used regular broccoli instead of “purple sprouting broccoli.” We only did half-recipes of both the rice and the brownie. For the latter, we subbed in walnuts and dried cranberries instead of pecans and dried cherries. We also had it with whipped cream instead of creme fraiche. Other than that, everything else was as written in the recipe!
Quick verdict: This one was great! We both really enjoyed this one. Sure, it’s a little light on protein just because how expensive scallops are as an ingredient. (From our fish monger, they worked out to about $1 per scallop!) But the flavours were all fantastic and really complementary. I was dubious about the rice, but it was probably my favorite component of the whole meal. The greens weren’t sexy or fussy, but they added some nice contrast in both colour and texture. And the brownie! Well, it’s not really a brownie. More like a dense chocolate cake. I loved it. (The timing, however, was way optimistic and we ended up cooking it for a lot longer.) Overall, we both rated it a stunning 9.5 out of 10! This meal is easy and quick to prepare but it would definitely impress your guests.
