Food inspires me. I think about it all.the.time. perpetually jotting down ideas and notes for future recipes, testing flavours and combinations and techniques, making things up - mad scientist style - as I go along. Luckily RJ is a willing participant and occasional ring-leader, tasting my creations, discussing over breakfast what we will have or for lunch or dinner, detouring in foreign countries for specific dishes. All this leads us back [well for this post at least] to a dinner we had at … [Read more...]
Guacamole & Pico de Gallo – Afternoon Tea, Mexico-style
Having only just settled into our breathtaking room after roughly 8 hours of travelling we were surprised buy a knock at the door ... "Hola, buenos tardes - guacamole, salsa fresca, corn chips and cerveza for you. Welcome to Capella Pedregal." We stripped off our travelling clothes, grabbed the first swimsuits we could find, slipped into our balcony-plunge-infinity-pool and cracked open the beers. Bliss. Back home I eat avocado every day, however RJ has insisted for years he doesn't … [Read more...]
Winter White Bean & Kale Soup
There is a saying in Australia - 'does what it says on the tin'. This is that, but without the tin. It is - depending on your hemisphere, the end or beginning of - winter, there is kale, and beans. Voila we have soup. I used proper dried white beans since I knew in the morning I wanted to make it for dinner, but canned works just fine. Kale is perfect but silverbeat, chard, or any dark leafy green would be just as good. Same deal wth the veggies - feel free to clean out the crisper. After … [Read more...]
Sicilian Sardines
I have been trying to churn through pics of events to post a bit of a 'what I've been up to' wrap up - yeah, maybe soon. I've been working through a restaurant meal or two to share our delicious adventures - yeah, maybe soon. Not to mention it's been a bit cake-crazy round these parts lately! So instead, a savory QuickBites recipe. As much as I love a slightly complicated cake or a multi-dish seafood feast, sometimes you just want good food, fast. One pan, throw it all in, eat standing up at … [Read more...]
Caramelized Onion Jam
Why did I make Caramelized Onion Jam at 10 o'clock in the morning you ask? We'll blame it on the Pear Sandwich. I needed something to accompany the pears and cheese and greens. Something that is savory but pretends to be sweet. Something that is so ridiculously easy to make but pretends to be posh. Luck would have it there were actually onions on hand and some left over thyme in the fridge so a few onion cutting tears later and this goodness emerged. You could put it in a tart … [Read more...]
Turkish Baked Beans
We go out for brunch quite a bit. If you haven't worked it out yet, it is easily my favourite meal of the day. My preferred lazy Saturday afternoon cafe has amazing vegetarian baked beans, and I get them probably 80% of the time. When perusing the Turkish Flavours cookbook I happened on this Turkish Baked Beans recipe and knew it would be one of the items I'd make as part of our testing the cookbook feast. Have you entered the giveaway yet? If you can believe it I'd never cooked with … [Read more...]
Caramel Bourbon Bananas and Whipped Coconut Cream
I've been bad. Not bad because I used bourbon yet again. Not bad because I want to put this on everything I eat. Not bad because it is so amazingly addictively good. But bad because I've made you wait over 2 months for the recipe. How dare I. Back in November for our first SABH challenge I made a Deconstructed Chocolate Pavlova topped 4 ways. I made it through the Red Wine Pears and the Zabaglione and the Chocolate Pudding posts but then Christmas hit and I neglected to share my favorite … [Read more...]
