If I ever find myself in London, after I dump my bags at my hotel, I think I would head straight to Yotam Ottolenghi’s restaurant.  I have blogged previously about his delicious Iranian rice and quinoa recipe (from his vegetarian cookbook Plenty) and most recently I have seen his TV series travelling through the Mediterranean.

I then become hooked on Yotam’s latest cookbook (co-written with Sami Tamimi) about their homeland, Jerusalem.  So many great recipes and a revelation to me about how fantastic the food in that city must be.

The first recipe I made from the Jerusalem book was for these pears. I know I only recently posted a recipe for pears, but you will thank me for sharing.

One word  = PERFECTION.

It is coming into Autumn here in Australia and pears are starting to flood the fruit shops. Poached pears are a simple and quick ending to a meal. We are trying to reduce our sugar intake so these were a real treat. I will try these again cooking with coconut palm sugar one day soon.   

We had the pears served with a little drizzle of cream, rather than the recommended creme fraiche as that was what I had in the fridge.  The left-over poaching syrup was delicious as a refreshing drink with soda water.

I didn’t adapt the recipe at all, other than adding a bit more water and to cut the pears in half.

Recipe here

Enjoy.

Having dined at David Thompson’s previous restaurants in Sydney, Sailors Thai and Darley Street Thai, I was very keen to try Nahm on my recent visit to Bangkok.

I’ve blogged before about some of David’s recipes and feel his food never fails to wow.

Nahm has taken Thai cuisine to another level.

This is seriously good Thai food – cooked with incredible skill. The food was hot and spicy however there was no harshness or bite – just a well rounded heat and a complexity of flavours that really does blow your mind.

We chose the banquet which has set appetisers and your choice of mains from a wide selection, and finishes with your choice of dessert.

Appetiser (entree) of betel leaves were like a Thai sang choi bao – perfectly balanced hot, sweet, sour and salty.

The chargrilled mussels were little morsels of delight but left me wanting more. There was only two tiny mussels each.

The mains, green and red curries were a masterful – I am sure I will never taste a better example of either.

The fried fish with fish sauce was nice but not on par with the other dishes – our fault we should have chosen something else, like crab salad with pomelo.

The desserts were a fantastic finale. The Khanom Buang are tiny rice flour and mung bean pancakes topped with meringue and coconut. Khanom Buang are liitle parcels of bliss made by street food vendors (which we are totally addicted to) but again Nahm takes to another level.

We also had an amazing tapioca / coconut pudding with a coconut soupy thing. It was kinda weird – but it really worked together.

Recommend booking a table in at least a week or two advance as it is always booked out for dinner.

We managed to get a table at short notice for lunch. The lunch menu is more limited compared to dinner but still allowed us experience Nahm’s offering. It cost us approximately $100 for two people (including two Singha beers).

Nahm
Metropolitan Hotel
Sathorn, Bangkok

They are ranging honey, blueberry and strawberry – 0% variety..

My emails to Aldi PR went unanswered so I am unable to provide any other details in regard to the future of this product.

Let us hope this is an ongoing product line and they will expand to supplying full fat version in the future.

Move quickly before it sells out.

In the words of Molly Meldrum, do yourself a favour.

Give it a try, you won’t look back

A cool cafe complete with polished concrete walls and floors and specialising in coffee and beverages only.

This is serious coffee made with a sexy red San Remo coffee machine, it was creamy and strong without any bitter or burnt after taste. The beans are single origin from north Thailand near Chiang Mai. By far the best coffee we have had in Bangkok.

Convent Cafe address can be found via their Facebook. It is opposite the BNH hospital.

http://www.facebook.com/convent-cafe

I came across this recipe via GOOP, Gywneth Paltrow’s very popular blog.  It was an article about healthy things to have for breakfast and the fabulous Dr Frank Lipman shared his ideas that included lots of good things.  Link here.

The Paleo (or caveman) diet follows the principles of eating eggs, meat, seafood, vegetables, fruits and nuts. It is a high protein diet. No processed foods. Nothing artificial.  No grains or legumes.  No sugar but seems honey is ok (caveman would have eaten honey from wild bee hives).   I am no expert on this diet, but there is loads of information on the internet if you are interested in knowing more.

What I liked about this bread recipe (besides the fact it is gluten-free) is that has a lower GI. I have recently become aware that replacing wheat with gluten-free foods is most likely replacing with ingredients that play havoc with blood sugar levels  - which in turn can effect our health including our cholesterol levels.

When it comes to gluten-free bread, it shouldn’t be seen as a healthier option to wheat bread.  The main ingredients of GF bread tend to be corn starch, potato flour, tapioca, maize or soy flour etc – these are all high-GI and low fiber    This recipe uses both coconut flour, almond flour and flaxseed – all of which are high fiber,  high protein and have a lower glycemic load.

This Paleo bread is more like a cake in texture than bread.  It is very moist and soft.  Try it with eggs (scrambled, fried, boiled) or topped with avocado, Vegemite or nut spreads. Not so good if you use it for sandwiches as it will fall apart. Hence the reason it is ideal for breakfast.

The bread also lasts for a few days if you wrap in foil.  It freezes well and can be toasted.

Here are some of the interesting facts they uncovered about the Octogenarians on Ikaria:

1. It wasn’t just a healthy diet, it seems being socially active was just as crucial. They laughed often and had regular social interaction.

2. They consumed 2-3 glasses of wine per day.

3. They had a coffee each day (10 oz).

4. Most have a daily nap.

5. They are physically active and most say they have sex regularly.

6. They start the day with a dose of honey, which they believe has medicinal value and consume herbal mountain tea throughout the day, again which contains medicinal properties.

7. Breakfast was usually goats milk, mountain tea, bread and honey. Lunch was usually some form of beans (garbanzo/chick peas) lentils along with Horta (wild greens) and potatoes or seasonal vegetables. Dinner was bread and goats milk. Special occasions like Christmas and Easter involved a meal of meat, usually pork.

8. All dishes were cooked with liberal amounts of olive oil. Food was prepared and served the same ways as they have for hundreds of years. They eat very little refined sugar and white flour. The flour used is stone-ground wheat and honey is used as a sweetener.

Having been lucky enough to spend a bit of time in Greece, I see a lot of these behaviours in many of the older Greeks on the islands, and live from the land.

Sadly the younger generation tend to be taking a more modern approach to eating and living – consuming a diet of white sugar, refined flour, fast food, soft drinks etc. Perhaps the story of the people of Ikaria can inspire the Greeks to re-visit the old ways their parents, and their parent’s parents lived so successfully.

It is a fascinating read, here’s the link to the whole article.

Serving up coffee from Mecca brand (the owner used to work at Mecca branch in King street Sydney). It’s good, strong but not bitter.

What is unique is that each week the cafe has a pickling day. On the board this week was Mulberry & Rhubarb jam, and Apple Chutney. They also sell their wares. I picked up a jar of marmalade.

The food is wholesome and delicious. Like kale and quinoa salad. Roman and broadbeans w housemade feta and salmogrilio salsa on toast. Its not your usual fare. Although the corned beef sandwich was a let down – needs to be a bit more than a thin sliver of beef which was mostly fat.

The fit out is very retro and nice music.

Coffee: 4/5
Ambiance: 4/5
Newspapers: yes
Gluten free: some items

Cornersmith
314 Illawarra Road
Marrickville NSW

It has been a long time since I have blogged.  Put simply I ran out of steam.  I was organising a photobook for my partner for Christmas and it took up all my waking moments for the past 6 weeks pre holidays !  We then had a little trip to Hawaii for New Year.   In addition, I have been lacking a little inspiration in the kitchen of late and cooking up pretty simple meals and reducing our carb intake. Anyway, excuses over, I’m back to blogging …and first recipe of the year is my panna cotta.

I’ve been road testing recipes for panna cotta for a few months.  One recipe was based on Greek yoghurt, another included marscapone, there was one version with vanilla and grated orange rind (Sean Moran).  Then there was the pièce de resistance, coconut cream.

I like to serve the panna cotta with a simple fruit compote.  Now this could be strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, or a mix of berries. Pomegranate also works. Passionfruit is particularly great with the coconut – and for a fabulous tropical combination add a little fresh chopped mango when serving.

What I have discovered with this dessert, is that it is pretty full proof and very difficult to stuff it up!   Follow these tips and in five minutes, voila, you have the perfect panna cotta ready to go into the fridge to set. And even better, only one pan to wash up!

1. Some recipes use powdered gelatine, however I prefer to use gelatine sheets.

2. You can substitute the coconut cream for 200ml marscapone, or 200ml Greek yoghurt, or additional 200ml full fat cream. I recommend using the Kara brand coconut cream, that come in a Tetra pak.  It is the closest to home made.

3. You can reduce the sugar to 1 tblspn, if you prefer to keep down the calories, it will be less sweet, but still delicious. My sweetener of choice is coconut palm sugar. This gives the panna cotta a slight caramel colour (rather than the traditional snowy white) and a in my opinion a better flavour – plus it is low-GI (35).  I have yet to experiment with Xylitol (a natural sweetener, that has no carbs or effect on blood sugar).

4. You can omit the vanilla bean paste and substitute with a fresh vanilla bean, but don’t bother substituting with vanilla essence, it ain’t going to cut it !

5. A very light brush of macadamia oil in the mould will help the panna cotta to slide out of the dish easily.

6. This will make 4 serves of panna cotta (½ cup capacity).  You can easily double the recipe.

7. Allow the panna cotta to set for 3-4 hours. It will get thicker as time goes one and will keep in the fridge for 2-3 days.

8. Tap each dish lightly a few times to release the air bubbles. As you can see from my pics there are a few tiny air bubbles in mine.  I only learnt this trick recently, hence why my pics have bubbles.  They still taste fab, but apparently it is a sin to have air bubbles in a perfect panna cotta

INGREDIENTS
200ml coconut milk (see substitutions listed above)
300ml thickened cream (35%)
1-2 tblpns sugar (see note above)
½ tsp vanilla paste
1.5 sheets of gelatine

METHOD

1. Mix together cream and coconut milk, add the sugar and stir on medium heat until sugar has dissolved.

2. Meanwhile, soak the gelatine sheet in some cold water in a bowl.

3. Heat the cream mix until you see a few bubbles start to appear in the cream and turn off the heat.

4. Squeeze the water out of the gelatine sheets and add to the cream mix. Stir until the gelatine has dissolved.

5. Allow the cream mix to cool to room temperature.  During the cooling down process stir regularly, this will assist the cooling process and stop a skin from forming.

6. Pour the mix evenly into four ½ cup capacity moulds that have been lightly brushed with macadamia oil.  Tap moulds lightly a few times to remove air bubbles.

7. Place the panna cotta into the fridge to set (around 3-4 hours).

8. To serve, use your fingers to gently prise the panna cotta from the side of the mould. This should create an air bubble that dislodges the panna cotta gently from the mould. If it still sticks, carefully run a knife around the edge.  Turn upside down and un-mould. Serve with fruit compote (recipe to follow).

FRUIT COMPOTE
1 cup of berries (fresh or frozen) OR pulp of 3 passionfruit
Juice of half an orange
Grated rind of an orange quarter
1 tblspn sugar (I use coconut palm sugar)

1. Place all ingredients into a saucepan and stir to combine.  Cook on medium heat for around 5 mins until the berries have cooked and the juice has turned into a syrup.  Allow to cool and serve a spoon around the panna cotta.  Can be made hours ahead.

In my journey up to tropical North Queensland I came across Rollina fruit. It looks like a custard apple however it is yellow not green. Inside it looks very much like a custard apple too.

But it tastes like … lemon meringue pie! Yep I kid you not. Creamy and lemony with a very faint meringue taste.

Mother Nature never ceases to amaze.