tag:blogs.cuisine.com.au,2008:/cuisine/1 2008-07-04T05:17:21Z Movable Type 3.36 tag:blogs.cuisine.com.au,2008:/cuisine//1.29 2008-06-26T00:47:54Z 2008-07-04T05:17:21Z

Risoni is a rice-shaped pasta traditionally used in soups. It is also referred to as orso, which means barley in Italian. Risoni, or orso, is available from supermarkets and food stores along with other dried pastas. I first found it...

Monika Jansch Risoni is a rice-shaped pasta traditionally used in soups. It is also referred to as orso, which means barley in Italian. Risoni, or orso, is available from supermarkets and food stores along with other dried pastas. I first found it when holidaying at the home of my mum's former catering partner in WA. I was cooking field mushroom risotto and she produced it as an alternative to arborio rice. I was about halfway through my chef's apprenticeship, had never come across risoni before and was dubious. However, she assured me she used it all the time and that I should cook it exactly the same way I would cook risotto. The result was excellent and I've never looked back - mushroom risoni has become a Strode family staple. I prefer the mouth feel of risoni to rice and it is much more forgiving than arborio. The following recipes Osso bucco, gremolata and risoni pilaf, Pumpkin, bacon and sage risoni and Vegetable and risoni soup are just a few examples of how to use risoni, although the possibilities are endless. I'm even keen to experiment with a sweet risoni pudding. Jane Strode]]> tag:blogs.cuisine.com.au,2008:/cuisine//1.28 2008-06-11T00:18:02Z 2008-06-11T01:19:03Z

Sharp and tart, rhubarb's lip-smacking qualities perfectly partner a good dose of sugar in these warm desserts....

Monika Jansch Sharp and tart, rhubarb's lip-smacking qualities perfectly partner a good dose of sugar in these warm desserts.]]> Rhubarb yeast cake and Rhubarb gingerbread sponge pudding. See for more Rhubarb recipes.]]> tag:blogs.cuisine.com.au,2008:/cuisine//1.27 2008-05-16T06:54:25Z 2008-05-16T07:06:35Z

Out of all the countries I've visited, Italy is where I have spent most time and it's always close to the top of the holiday home wish-list. When I was four, my parents and I travelled through Europe in a...

Monika Jansch Feed the yeast and you'll eat your dough Bread and pizza dough won't rise effectively unless the yeast is properly activated and all yeast needs is food and moisture plus warmth. To feed yeast, mix it with sugar, then add warm water. Test the water temperature before you add it: blood heat is about right. If the water is too cold or warm this will reduce yeast activity or kill it altogether. Once the yeast, sugar and water are mixed in a bowl, leave it in a warm place for about 10 minutes. Bubbles should form on the surface, indicating the yeast is active and ready to use. What do you think the best toppings are? Are you a purists or willing to push the pizza boundaries? ]]> tag:blogs.cuisine.com.au,2008:/cuisine//1.26 2008-04-10T07:01:00Z 2008-05-28T07:29:41Z

Much more than a last-minute dressing for fish or sliced into a gin and tonic, lemons make lip-smacking preserves and pickles....

Monika Jansch Much more than a last-minute dressing for fish or sliced into a gin and tonic, lemons make lip-smacking preserves and pickles.]]> lemon curd and now I'm making big batches of Greg Malouf's fabulous lemon and date chutney in his book Arabesque , and the recipe below from food writer Tom Jaine, Spiced lemon pickle. And I am keeping most of my friends in lemons. I have two treasured bergamot oranges. I had six fruit from the larger of the trees and the fragrance from the peel is absolutely lovely. It contributes the scent that makes good Earl Grey tea instantly recognisable. On the other hand, the very expensive espaliered meyer lemon I succumbed to from a fancy nursery has completely disappeared.]]> tag:blogs.cuisine.com.au,2008:/cuisine//1.25 2008-04-10T05:12:48Z 2008-04-10T05:30:59Z

Coffee is a subject close to my heart. My appreciation for it coincided with beginning my chef's training. When every aspect of the dining experience is taken seriously, a high standard for coffee is of great importance....

Monika Jansch Coffee is a subject close to my heart. My appreciation for it coincided with beginning my chef's training. When every aspect of the dining experience is taken seriously, a high standard for coffee is of great importance.]]> With the long hours everyone works, it is craved and revered. I was fortunate to receive guidance in the art of making a good coffee by several obsessive waiters. My favourite way to start a late shift at Rockpool was with a short black and a fresh date. During my time at Langton's restaurant in Melbourne it was hard to resist the offer of a fifth or sixth flat white when staring down the barrel of an 80-hour week but I don't recommend this habit. There's a theory that if coffee was discovered today it would be deemed an illegal substance due to its stimulating properties. True or not, I am thankful coffee has been consumed since about the 10th century and there seems little threat of it being outlawed. Jane Strode tag:blogs.cuisine.com.au,2008:/cuisine//1.20 2008-02-24T23:34:38Z 2008-02-26T04:28:11Z

What wonders one pot can hold; a whole, nutritious meal cooked and sometimes served in one pot, perfect for the busy lives many of us lead. Then there's the bonus of less washing up to do at the end. Of...

Monika Jansch Paella, Lamb and pea hotpot, and for the vegetarians a Lentil and sweet potato curry. What are your one-pot favourites?]]> tag:blogs.cuisine.com.au,2008:/cuisine//1.19 2008-02-07T06:09:01Z 2008-02-07T06:16:11Z

Taste good, smell good, look good - figs add style and flavour to sweet and savoury dishes. There were fat purple figs in the markets before Christmas at a special-occasion price. Is the season very early, I wondered, because of...

Monika Jansch Taste good, smell good, look good - figs add style and flavour to sweet and savoury dishes. There were fat purple figs in the markets before Christmas at a special-occasion price. Is the season very early, I wondered, because of the drought? Some fig trees crop twice, a smaller one early in the summer and the main one several weeks later. I hope this means the season will extend for many more weeks. Fig trees are hardy and notoriously difficult to eradicate. They can reappear from basal suckers after severe frost or fire or even poison. Fig-tree owners will probably have to share their luscious crop with the birds unless they want to net the tree or bag the fruit. Owners of large trees often have fruit to share and this is the time to make fig jam. I have written more about the varieties of fig available in Australia in The Cook's Companion. My favourite is the White Adriatic, a smaller fig with a green to amber skin and strawberry-red flesh. This fig is usually available until the end of February. Fig-loving friends prefer the Black Genoa, with deep-purple skin and dark-red pulp. Because the fruit is so delicate, it should be picked or bought and eaten as soon as possible. If it is slightly underripe, the stem end will ooze a sticky latex sap that can irritate the skin. Figs can be cooked at this stage. If they are to be eaten fresh, store them in a cool spot (not the refrigerator) on a wide paper-lined plate with stems facing up for a day to fully soften. Figs are marvellously versatile in sweet and savoury dishes. There is the classic combination of thin slices of prosciutto with sliced fig. They are also excellent with triple cream or full-fat cheeses such as gorgonzola. Figs eaten fresh can be peeled or not, as you prefer. Arrange peeled, quartered, ripe figs in a shallow dish, sprinkle with sugar and a little brandy (or green Chartreuse) and leave for two hours. To serve, spoon over some softly whipped cream and shavings of the very best dark chocolate. Many varieties have thin skins. To cook these figs, leave the skins on so they don't collapse. Whole small figs can be dipped in a yeast batter and deep-fried. Drain very well and sprinkle the fritters with cinnamon mixed with castor sugar. Or arrange them in a buttered dish with a little wine and bake to accompany grilled duck, as in the recipe below. And don't ignore the leaves. Apart from looking beautiful on a cheese platter, fig leaves can be oiled and used to wrap a chunk of fish for the oven or barbecue. The leaves will char and smoulder and give off an aromatic, coconut scent and the fish within will be super-moist. But don't eat the leaves - they don't taste great. Vino cotto, or vincotto, used in the following recipe, means "cooked wine" and is made by concentrating grape juice and sharpening it with wine vinegar. tag:blogs.cuisine.com.au,2008:/cuisine//1.18 2008-01-16T00:13:28Z 2008-01-16T00:18:30Z

Everyone loves a boiled corn cob smothered in butter, but grating the kernels produces some surprisingly 'sweet' savoury dishes too. Share your favourite corn recipes with us...

Monika Jansch Everyone loves a boiled corn cob smothered in butter, but grating the kernels produces some surprisingly 'sweet' savoury dishes too. Share your favourite corn recipes with us Everyone loves a boiled corn cob smothered in butter, but grating the kernels produces some surprisingly 'sweet' savoury dishes too. I emphasis in The Cook's Companion the need to rush sweetcorn from the garden to the pot so it stays sweet. This is certainly true if you are growing a non-hybrid variety such as golden bantam (an heirloom variety available from Diggers Seeds). However, most of the sweetcorn grown commercially and available for home gardeners is a hybrid, bred to have higher sugar levels and to delay the conversion of sugar to starch for days so the need for speed is not as urgent. These sugar-enhanced or super-sweet hybrids have names such as "breakthrough", and "honey and cream breakthrough". I have never seen corn sold by name, so this information is useful only if you are a home gardener deciding what to grow. Nonetheless, freshness is always preferable. Buy sweetcorn at a farmers' market or somewhere where it is sold with the silk and husk intact so you can check that the husk feels soft rather than tough. The wisps of silk should feel a little damp and the stem should look fresh and pale green, with no suspicion of brown. If you must store the cobs, wrap them in a slightly damp tea towel and keep in the crisper for two days maximum. Boiled sweetcorn rolled in butter is delicious. For an offbeat variation, try sprinkling it with a mix of sea salt and cayenne pepper, and squeeze over a lime wedge. At Asian markets you will see stalls where the pomelos and peaches are displayed alongside a saucer of mixed salt and cayenne, and there is always a lime nearby. The same combination of lime and cayenne would add a little zing to a plate of warm sweetcorn fritters topped with fresh crab, or try working lime juice and cayenne into butter and adding a slice of this to a sweetcorn soup. Share your favourite corn recipes with us. tag:blogs.cuisine.com.au,2008:/cuisine//1.17 2008-01-15T23:43:20Z 2008-01-16T00:36:02Z

Share your favourite Summer salad recipes...

Monika Jansch Share your favourite Summer salad recipes During summer I would happily eat salad all day. For breakfast it's a tropical or stone-fruit salad with muesli. Avocado, rocket and ripe red tomato make a wonderful salad for lunch and one of the salads featured today is perfect for dinner with some barbecued meat or fish. We are blessed to have excellent produce and the long evenings to enjoy them over dinner. I like to use herbs as often as possible and in abundance as they bring our taste buds to life. The addition of fruit in salads is refreshing, especially after a hot day at the beach. tag:blogs.cuisine.com.au,2007:/cuisine//1.16 2007-12-17T00:00:23Z 2007-12-17T00:23:37Z

For Jeremy and me, enjoying a meal is intrinsically linked to time spent with friends and family....

Monika Jansch For Jeremy and me, enjoying a meal is intrinsically linked to time spent with friends and family.]]> At Christmas, it all comes together in abundance. With the restaurant closed for the public holidays and a short break on the horizon, we can relax and catch up with the people we love. My family always hosts Christmas Eve dinner and the numbers vary over the years, sometimes swelling to more than 30 people, when chairs, plates and cutlery are BYO. It seems the whole house is rearranged to accommodate the six-metre dining table but we all thrive on the activity and anticipation of one of the year's most special nights. The kitchen is a hub of activity, perfectly orchestrated by mum, with jobs divvied out to anyone in a 10-metre radius. More than once I've rushed home from work to find a few mud crabs sitting nervously in the laundry sink waiting for me to prepare them as an entree or there's a turkey, duck and two chickens to be boned and stuffed. Our table was always filled with a mixture of family, friends and neighbours. The numbers may have shrunk a little these days and I'm not expecting any mud crabs in the sink this year but each dinner is as memorable as the last and this year, our son Hunter is just old enough to know Santa is coming. See all Cuisine's Christmas recipes here tag:blogs.cuisine.com.au,2007:/cuisine//1.15 2007-12-16T23:55:29Z 2007-12-16T23:59:50Z

Every family seems to have its own idea of the perfect trifle, and there is much to consider....

Monika Jansch Every family seems to have its own idea of the perfect trifle, and there is much to consider. ]]> trifle recipes on cuisine.com.au ]]> tag:blogs.cuisine.com.au,2007:/cuisine//1.14 2007-11-27T23:04:47Z 2007-11-27T23:07:36Z

First hint of summer...

Monika Jansch First hint of summer]]> I spent five years growing up in the desert. My father, a financial controller, was transferred from Sydney to Kalgoorlie to manage a goldmine in the early 1980s and the rest of the family went with him. So, from the age of seven I felt as if I was living an almost eternal summer. It was fantastic. We lived in a rambling Federation house. Its verandas were covered in grapevines that produced more fruit than we could ever eat. We had pomegranates, cumquats, apricots, grapefruit, oranges, lemons, tomatoes, pumpkins and a bountiful herb garden. With all that sun, you just need to add water. My mother is a city girl at heart and she had to make quite an adjustment. To keep busy, she started a catering company with a girlfriend and brought tabouli, coriander, spinach and feta triangles to Kalgoorlie. I used to help, sometimes folding filo triangles or rolling curried meatballs and it was during this time that my love affair with food began. So each year, at the first hint of summer - the trill of a cicada or biting into a perfectly ripe, deep-red tomato warm from the sun - I get to revisit my youth and those long, hot, dusty days under the cloudless West Australian sky. Jane Strode tag:blogs.cuisine.com.au,2007:/cuisine//1.13 2007-11-27T23:02:19Z 2007-11-27T23:04:20Z

Inspired by a trip to Perugia, these recipes are a twist on traditional Italian dishes....

Monika Jansch Inspired by a trip to Perugia, these recipes are a twist on traditional Italian dishes.]]> Inspired by a trip to Perugia, these recipes are a twist on traditional Italian dishes. As an admirer of Patrizia Simone's cooking and her generous nature, I knew I would be in for a treat at her recent residential school in Perugia. Patrizia's parents, aunties and cousins all live in and around our villa and the highlight of my 10 days were the times the house party joined the family - for a pizza evening, a Sunday picnic and our final farewell party. The Simone family (Patrizia, husband George, and son Anthony) are obsessed with food. There were early morning outings to collect: a smoked goose neck from a nearby chef; some specially harvested red-skin potatoes; a "back-up" of eight kilos of handmade tortellini Patrizia's mother had made (just in case); and some special brodo (a light soup). I also visited the pastry shop to make sure I had my fill of bomboloni, the gorgeous custard-filled doughnuts popular at breakfast. Other outings took us to the remote hilltop village of Castellucio - its altitude making it perfect for drying smallgoods. The local sheep are all for milking; the blond horses are for eating. The wild chickpeas and lentils had all been harvested, the hills were bare and stony and there was a smell of mint in the air. We travelled to other hilltop villages - Norcia, Trevi, Assisi and as far as Greve in Chianti to taste traditional dishes made by chefs and aunties: pasta with a percentage of semolina to add texture; ribollita (soup) so thick it was ladled over bread in each bowl and eaten with a fork and spoon; torta testa the cheese-flavoured damper-like bread cooked on an iron plate over a wood fire; potatoes baked in the ashes and served split and doused with olive oil; goose stuffed with pigs liver and braised slowly for hours and served as a crostini; a sciachiatta thickly studded with wine grapes and walnuts; and modern interpretations of traditional combinations such as eggplant rolled with roasted peppers around mozzarella and grilled; rabbit stuffed with olives; and stunning pasta with grated zucchini. The pizza night had all the women lined up making the toppings - slicing potatoes, peeling capsicum, slicing eggplant, grating truffles, slicing porcini. Giant pillows of risen dough were shaped and thrust into a brick oven. In less than five minutes we were helping ourselves. Pizza cutters are unknown; the women used scissors. There were some astonishing conversations between the Italians and the Australians despite there being no common language but there was lots of back-slapping and laughter, and a few glasses of Alberto's homemade wine. The family has built a permanent shelter and brick oven and fireplace at its own picnic spot on land bordered by scrub oaks and broom, with the ridged Apennines in the distance. I was intrigued by the barbecue procedure. They shovel the coals from the huge oven to a flat bed of concrete and settle iron grilles right down onto these white-hot coals and fan the coals as the food cooks. The grills contained skewered chicken, ribs of pork, sausages and chunks of pig liver wrapped in pancetta. While the meats cooked, the women served pasta to 35, cooked all at once in a copper-sized pot on a portable gas jet. Once lifted into serving bowls - gigantic - it was tossed with a generous mix of grated parmesan and Umbrian summer truffles. After lunch, the food lovers in the group went truffle hunting with a local expert who later turned out to be a pastry chef. The dog found three truffles in several minutes. The final party was back at the villa. We had porchetta and salads and cakes. There were strings of lights in the courtyard and a local trio with keyboard. Everyone danced from the eight-year-olds to the 70-year-olds and I waltzed with an older gent and wondered when I had ever been whirled around a floor (and a brick floor at that) with so much skill. We were so privileged to have been invited into a warm and loving family and made so welcome. A million thanks to Patrizia, George and Anthony - my perfect hosts. What are your favorite Italian recipes? tag:blogs.cuisine.com.au,2007:/cuisine//1.12 2007-11-14T22:44:32Z 2007-11-14T22:49:01Z

Children develop a taste for good food when they grow and cook their own, writes Stephanie Alexander....

Monika Jansch Children develop a taste for good food when they grow and cook their own, writes Stephanie Alexander.]]> Much of my time over the past six years has been spent establishing the wonderful kitchen garden at Collingwood College. At the school, every child in years 3 to 6 spends 45 minutes a week tending the organic fruit and vegetable garden and then 11/2 hours cooking delicious "real" food with the harvest. They then sit down and eat with classmates, teachers and the volunteers who have become essential to the program. Throughout these six years, I have been approached almost weekly by other schools, parents and community groups, all wanting to know more. The questions they asked mostly related to the nuts and bolts. How did it happen? Where did the money come from? How did we convince the staff that the project was important? And as the years rolled past and the garden and kitchen became more established, the most common question became, "How can we do it too?" So with the book Kitchen Garden Cooking with Kids, we set out to write a realistic blueprint that we hoped would inspire others to contemplate a kitchen garden in their own school. I believe the earlier children are helped to experience all aspects of good food in an enjoyable way, the more likely it is they will develop an interest and appreciate the wide range of textures and flavours that are available to everyone. But they need to be encouraged and they need practical skills. So our students know about worms, compost and heirloom varieties, and they also know about the surprising range of salad leaves and how to stuff freshly made pasta with ricotta and silverbeet, how to saute and how to chop with proper chefs' knives. Children can do most things as long as there is a bit of sensible adult supervision where sharp shovels, secateurs or knives and boiling water are concerned. Every recipe in the book has been cooked by a student aged 8 to 12 and, just as importantly, has been enjoyed by those same students. tag:blogs.cuisine.com.au,2007:/cuisine//1.11 2007-11-14T22:41:17Z 2007-11-14T22:44:09Z

Pepper (Piper nigrum) is the most regularly used spice in the world and one of the oldest. It is referred to as the common spice and the king of spice....

Monika Jansch Pepper (Piper nigrum) is the most regularly used spice in the world and one of the oldest. It is referred to as the common spice and the king of spice. ]]> The pepper plant grows best close to the equator and is a perennial vine indigenous to India. A climbing plant, it is sometimes encouraged to grow around living trees or up framework. After three to five years, the plants fruit from white flowers which then turn into slender clusters of red berries. It will continue to fruit every three years for up to 40 years. The berries turn green and are then picked by hand, sorted and stems generally discarded. To produce black pepper, the berries are dried in the sun and raked several times during the day until they are black and wrinkled. This takes about a week. To produce white peppercorns, the berries are harvested a little later and then packed in sacks and soaked in running water for a week. This allows the outer husk to be removed, leaving the whitish seed. White peppercorns are not as pungent as the black and have a cleaner, subtle flavour that I prefer when seasoning dishes. Green peppercorns are the unripe seeds of black pepper and are only available fresh occasionally. Thai cooking uses green peppercorns and they also complement duck and game dishes. They are just as hot as black pepper but the flavour is lighter.