Saturday was a beautiful day which was spent walking down Smith Street, browsing in a few of the beautiful furniture and homewares stores and finishing up having an early dinner at Shop Ramen. This place is one of my favourite places to eat, especially when you want a good, healthy and cheap feed. I have to admit, I don’t eat a lot of Japanese so I’m no connoisseur but Shop Ramen’s ramens are the best! I particularly love the vegetarian Ramen they make with cashew milk as they use the tastiest little marinated mushrooms I’ve ever eaten. I don’t even like mushrooms but they are too good to push to the side.

My impromptu dinner at Shop Ramen had me inspired to make my own ramen at home. I was so inspired I went home and researched to find a delicious recipe I could make my own. But my excitement soon turned and I became quite daunted by the task; Japanese food really isn’t my forte and I didn’t know what I’d got myself into! But, me being the sort of person I am, I had to press on. I’d also decided to make my own noodles as we received a pasta making machine for our wedding. I was keen to get it out of the box and make it look well used!

After looking at loads of recipes, I finally decided keep it simple (at least for my first attempt) and make a really simple miso ramen, also known as Shoyu Ramen. Overall the result was a success! It was super delicious and I’d highly recommend making it when you’ve got some homemade stock after a roast.

x e.

Easy Miso Ramen with Homemade Noodles

Feeds 4

Stock

8 cups homemade chicken stock (about 2 cartons of store bought stock)
2 carrots, chopped
6 spring onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2cm square ginger, sliced
3 tbsp mirin
2 x 6g packet of miso soup
1 sheet of nori
enoki mushrooms

Garnish

2 eggs
6 spring onions, thinly sliced
1 sheet of nori, thinly sliced
handful of bean shoots
pinch of sesame seeds

1. Add stock to a large stock pot and add all ingredients in and let cook for a good 30 minutes

2. Meanwhile, boil eggs for 7 mins for the correct consistency and cut in half. Prepare all garnish ingredients and start making the noodles.

3. When you’ve cooked the noodles, prepared the garnish and the stock is done, divide the noodles between four bowls. Add stock and garnish each bowl with half an egg, bean shoots, enoki mushrooms, chopped nori and some sesame seeds.

Noodles
1.5 cups plain flour
2 egg
1.5 tsp salt
2 tbsp water
1. Place dry ingredients in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre  and beat eggs and water inside. Slowly combine all ingredients until it comes together in a dough.

2. Once combined, place the dough on a clean work bench dusted with flour. It should be a little stiffer than bread dough. The dough is ready when your hands become fairly clean and the dough isn’t too sticky. Add more flour if need be and keep kneading.

3. When you think the dough is at the right consistency, roll it through your pasta machine on the thickest setting. If it feels a little sticky still, add some more flour, fold over and roll it through the pasta machine again. Move the settings down each time so it becomes thinner than pass it through the noodle or spaghetti setting when it’s thin enough. If you mess it up the first time, roll it out and start again!

4. Place noodles in a pot of boiling water for 1-2 mins max, strain and add to your ramen just before serving.

By Emily On 10/04/2014 In Food With No Comments Permalink

I was just about to say, it feels like an age since I last posted but that’s because it has been! Three whole months since the Amsterdam Gingerbread House I made… golly! I’m so sorry it’s been so long but unfortunately, planning a wedding takes up a lot of time. It’s even more time consuming when you plan on making and crafting everything yourself (with the help of some good friends of course). Yes I had quite a few crafternoons with some very creative friends who helped me cut, sew, tie and glue together a whole lot of decorations for the big day. Without them we couldn’t possibly have had the beautiful wedding we were so fortunate to have.

Just over two weeks ago I finally said ‘I do’ on our fourteenth anniversary. Yes! Fourteen years and I’m now officially Emily Godfrey. We were seventeen when Seb asked me out at the school fair and have been inseparable ever since. We got hitched on the beautiful Tasman Peninsula at Cascades Colonial on the Sunday of a long weekend, and lucky for us we had beautiful weather. The night before the wedding we organised a BBQ and pop-up drive-in movie night on-site at Cascades Colonial – needless to say the ‘John Candybar’ was in full swing with popcorn and lollies on offer. It was a great way to keep everybody’s ‘powder dry’ for the following day and still have an entertaining night! It’s not too often you can watch a great movie projected onto the side of a convict mess hall in the middle of nowhere – huh?

I’ll write a little more about the wedding in my next post (hopefully I’ll have some of the photos to share then) but for now I thought I’d share pictures of our wedding invites – they were a bit of fun. Seb, the cleaver little minx, designed our wedding invitations (in 3D with pink and green 3D glasses!), RSVP, information, map and thank you cards – I absolutely loved them. Our very talented friends Simon and Jenna at The Hungry Workshop were kind enough to print the invitations for us and they looked absolutely amazing! If you ever need wedding invitations designed or printed then these are the guys you need to talk to – they’re the best!

On that note, I’d like to to thank everyone who helped us out along the way; I dedicate this post to you guys. Seb and I are both so, so lucky to call you our friends. Our day was just as amazing as we had imagined, and it couldn’t have been possible without all your help – you know who you are ; )

Anyhoo, this weeks recipe is a Strawberry Swirl Pound Cake with Strawberry Buttercream which was roughly based on a pound cake recipe I found in my book The Art of French Baking. It’s one of my favourite books. My brother gave it to me which makes it extra special. I had a dig around for a strawberry cake recipe as I had a punnet of strawberries in the fridge… little did I know that strawberry cakes don’t really exist! After looking at a few Strawberry Buttercream recipes I decided I could use some of the strawberry syrup to swirl into the cake, and… it was delicious! The Strawberry buttercream is amazing and tastes incredible.

So this weekend, why not invite your friends around and bake for them. Friends are very special people, and what better way to show the people you love than to cook for them :)

x e.

Ps. I found my love heart bake tin at the Evendale Market in Tassie. This place is fantastic, aaaaaand they still only charge 20 cents entry! Love Tassie!

3D Wedding invitations: designed by Seb at Open Season, printed by the talented Hungry Workshop

3D Wedding invitations, RSVP & thank you cards: designed by Open Season, printed by the talented Hungry Workshop

left: wedding favours – loose leaf tearight: thank you cards – designed by Open Season, printed by the talented Hungry Workshop

Strawberry Syrup

1 cup strawberries, hulled and chopped
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup white sugar
muslin cloth (optional)

1. Add strawberries, water and sugar in a saucepan and bring to the boil

2. Let simmer for about 10 minutes then remove from heat and let cool. If you prefer a smoother syrup without the annoying little seeds, use some muslin cloth to strain the mixture.

 Strawberry Swirl Pound Cake

based on the recipe by Ginette Mathiot – The Art of French Baking

300g plain flour
300g butter, melted
240g sugar
6 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 160*C. Grease two 20cm cake tins.

2. Melt butter and set aside to cool. Measure out the flour, sugar and separate the eggs.

3. Whisk egg yolks and sugar for about 5 minutes, until the mixture is pale and double in size. Slowly fold in flour, vanilla extract and butter a spoonful at a time until combined.

4. In a separate bowl, whisk egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Once whisked, gently fold egg whites into the yolk mixture.

5. Pour in a quarter of the cake mixture into each pan and add 3 tablespoons of strawberry syrup into each. Add the remaining mixture into the pans and gentle swirl the batter with a knife 4 or 5 times (you don’t want to over mix). Place in the oven and bake for 30-40mins or until golden brown.

Strawberry Buttercream Frosting

1 cup butter, softened
4 cups of icing sugar, sifted
4 tablespoons strawberry syrup

1. Beat together butter and 1/2 cup of icing sugar at a time until all sugar is completely combined. Slowly add the strawberry syrup a tablespoon at a time and then bean on high for about 15 seconds.

2. Pace a small amount of buttercream icing between the two cakes and continue to decorate the outside with the remaining mixture.

Enjoy!

By Emily On 26/03/2014 In Food With 2 Comments Permalink

Merry Christmas everyone! Festive season is well and truly here – and I’m loving every minute of it. I’m a Christmas freak if you haven’t figured that out already! I’ve even discovered a radio station on our digital radio called ELF radio, playing Christmas carols 24/7. Amazing!

This weekend we went to a big Christmas BBQ, which was a great excuse to catch up with friends. I’ve been so busy lately, I feel like I’ve hardly seen anyone. Anyway, the lead up to Christmas is a great excuse to get everyone together before we all disperse off to our little pockets of the globe.

In the spirit of Christmas, I thought I’d make a gingerbread house to take to the BBQ. Now this take a little planning and foresight, as I don’t have much time of an evening. You really have to make it over a few nights – it took me three! The first night I made the cookie dough. The following night I cut out and baked the walls and roof, and the final night was spent doing the fun bit, decorating. Let me tell you, it’s not for the feint hearted; my right hand had cramped from icing for a few straight hours. BUT all in all it was TOTALLY worth it. It was a hit at the party, in all it’s two-story-Amsterdam-style glory! Damn it was cute!

I made my first gingerbread house two years ago – which you can see over here. I also recently shared it on instagram. It was then that somebody told me that it’s tradition to smash it with a rolling pin? Not sure how much fact there is in that, do you know? Anyway, as I made the damn thing, I get to SMASH it! Let me tell you, it takes quite a few whacks to demolish it – quite the sturdy feat of architecture. You can see the image below at the point of impact! Well, I guess you’ll have to wait another two years to see my next one (every year is a bit too much me thinks!).

Are you going to try your hand at making one this year? Let me know if you do! I want to see photos!

x e.

ps. I’ve also included some photos of us from a couple of weeks ago  in Tassie finding the perfect Christmas tree!

The smash!

Gingerbread House

3 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1 cup plain flour
1 tablespoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
185g butter, chopped
1/2 cup golden syrup
2 eggs, lightly beaten

2 egg whites
3 cups icing sugar

By Emily On 17/12/2013 In Food With 4 Comments Permalink

Christmas is just around the corner folks! Crazy – I know but it’s true. I’m super unorganised at the moment in practically every aspect of my life: with the blog, organising the wedding, work, so I haven’t even thought about Christmas baking. In fact, I’m trying to be super healthy this year (especially with the wedding around the corner) so my baking will be very limited this year – booo. In saying that, we’re going to a big Christmas BBQ this Saturday so I’m planning on baking to my hearts content (get it out of the system) and everybody else can eat it for me. Happy days!

I just love baking. I’ve got a few ideas running around the top paddock, but for now I’ve got this little brekky’ recipe for you. Granola is one of my favourite treats in the morning. It’s pretty special when people make their own home batch for you too. This is a super healthy version, it’s not too sweet but contains all the nutty goodness you’d expect from a delicious granola. Pop it in a nice big jar with some pretty ribbon and you’ve got yourself  a lovely homemade gift from the kitchen. Christmas can’t get much better than that!

Also, just a quick reminder that the Adeline & Lumiere Christmas book is available for sale over here at my Etsy store. It’s only $25 and makes a perfect stocking filler for the one you love, a colleague’s kris kringle, or heck, just a little something something for yourself! It’s also available to buy in-store at the Hill of Content Bookshop, a new shop called Melbournalia (I want everything in there) and in Dymocks Hobart.

Till next time gadgets…

x e.

(ps. 15 days till Christmas!)

Christmas Presents: Homemade Granola

150g dates, pitted
2 tsp vanilla essence
2 1/2 cups rolled oats
95g quinoa
40g  pepitas
50g almonds, chopped
1 tsp ground cinnamon30g shredded coconut
handful of crasins (or sultanas)

1. Preheat oven to 150ºC and line two trays with grease proof paper. Put the dates into a medium size bowl and cover with 1 cup of boiling water. Let sit for 20 minutes to soften. After this time, add dates (keep the water) to a food processor and blitz until smooth. Add the water a little at a time and stir by hand until combined.

2. Place rolled oats, quinoa, pepitas cinnamon and almonds into a large bowl. Pour the date mixture over the top and stir well until it has coated all oats and quinoa. Spread the oat mixture out over the two trays and place in the oven for 10 minutes.

3. Stir the granola then place back in the oven for a further 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven, add coconut and crasins then let cool. Store in an air tight container and consume within two weeks.

By Emily On 10/12/2013 In Food With 2 Comments Permalink

Busy busy busy…and it’s only going to get worse with the silly season fast approaching! Yes – the festive season is hot on our heels, only 5 weeks away. GULP! So with that in mind, I’ve been busy arranging a reprint on the Adeline & Lumiere Christmas book. Last year I was so busy designing the book, arranging the printing, sending them out, it was all a mad rush to ensure everybody had them before Christmas. To make a brand new book was a little bit too much for me this year, so I thought I’d just reprint the book as it was so popular. I’ve added the book on Etsy so you can buy your copy of the book —>  here!  <—- At just $25 each, they’re the perfect present for Kris Kringle or just a stocking filler. I’m hoping to have a few stockists in Melbourne & Hobart but I’ll let you know on my social media channels so keep your ears to the ground. JUST so you remember what the book looks like, I thought I’d pop a couple of pictures in of the page layouts.

Delicious Fruit cake!

Hmm! I’m still pretty chuffed with it – even a year on!

Anyway, now on with the usual recipe. With the impending holiday season filled with naughty eating I thought I’d try to be very healthy over the next couple of weeks. This week is a delicious salad filled with wholesome nutty brown rice to fill you right up, with deliciously roasted pumpkin and capsicum with fresh pomegranate. I swear, anything with pomegranate sprinkled over the top just makes a dish go from zero to hero. Fact. Together I’ve added some pomegranate molasses which I think really makes this dressing. Try this salad this weekend by it’s self for lunch or with a bbq – either way it’s a perfect healthy feed.

x e.

Roasted Pumpkin, Capsicum & Pomegranate Salad

Feeds 2 as a main meal or 4 as a side salad.

1 cup brown rice
700g pumpkin
1 red capsicum
1 handful baby spinach
1 pomegranate1 tsp cumin
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
1 tbsp pomegranate molasses
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
salt & pepper

1. Cook the brown rice according to the packet instructions. Once cooked, place in a large salad bowl

2. Dice the pumpkin into cubes and pace on a well oiled tray. Sprinkle cumin and season with salt and pepper. Cut the capsicum in half and place in the same baking tray if it fits (saves on washing!). Roast for 30 minutes on 200ºC or until golden brown and the capsicum skins are blistering. Remove from the oven and once cool, peel the capsicum skins off and cut into thin strips. Place all ingredients into the same large salad bowl as the rice.

3. Meanwhile, add the chopped parsley and handful of spinach leaves. Cut the pomegranate in half. Squeeze any excess juice into a small jug and remove the pomegranate seeds into the salad bowl. In the same small jug with the pomegranate juice, add the pomegranate molasses, red wine vinegar and olive oil and mix well.

4. Toss all the salad ingredients together and pour the dressing over the top.

By Emily On 19/11/2013 In Food With No Comments Permalink

Well things have progressed slowly with the wedding plans, although I’ve still got a lot of the essential things that need doing. You know, just things like caterers, buses and accommodation… but THE dress has been bought! It’s amazing and I love it. Yes! Unfortunately you’re all going to have to wait until March to see it. Don’t worry, I’m sure it’s going to come around really soon. Gulp. So much to do!

Righto, as you may (or may not be aware) today is the MELBOURNE CUP! It’s the race that stops the nation. (C’mon number 5, 6 or 17 – I’ve spent up a big fat $2 on each of you!). Anyway, it’s a day of fancy frocks, facinators, French champagne and fast horses – so I thought I’d better arm you with the bestest’ most delicious boozy drink to make at your Melbourne Cup party – too fun! This is a lovely (slightly sweet) fresh drink that would be perfect on a nice warm day (which today is supposed to be (in Melbourne anyway – fingers crossed). So, pop down to the shops, pick up some strawberries (they’re in season), a lime and a wine. Blitz it all in the blender then pop it in the freezer before your guests come around.

I highly recommend you give it a go. It’s something a little different for your Melbourne Cup party, or for any one of your summer BBQs.

Giddy up.

x e.

Strawberry & Mint Riesling Slushie

2 1/2 cups strawberries
juice of one lime
750ml Riesling or another sweet wine
2 tbsp sugar
a handful of mint finely chopped

1. Set one cup of Riesling aside.

2. Place all other ingredients into a food processor and blitz until smooth. Pour the mixture into an ice tray (I used a mini loaf tin which worked perfectly) and freeze for a minimum of four hours.

3. After the mixture has frozen, place it back in the food processor with the remaining cup of Riesling and blitz until smooth. Serve immediately in glass with a cute paper straw!

By Emily On 05/11/2013 In Food With 2 Comments Permalink

I think marmalade gets a bit of a bad wrap. I used to go through phases when I was a kid but generally I quite liked it, just as long as it wasn’t the bitter kind. A couple of weeks ago I thought I’d try my hand at a mandarin marmalade. In fact I actually tried to make it twice, both times with no luck at all. Silly mistake, but the first time round, I’d forgotten it was on the stove. It cooked for too long and almost turned to burnt toffee! Thick and impossible to spread. My second attempt I actually ruined a cast iron pot… I don’t know what my problem was, but mandarin marmalade wasn’t my thing. However, I was dead-set on trying to make some sort of preserve with our delicious citrus fruit before it’s all out of season.

Nothing is without reason though. Whilst making the mandarin marmalade I’d discovered that it was better to blend the fruit before adding it to the pan. I thought I’d apply this knowledge to my simple orange marmalade to ensure a super smooth consistency. The one thing I disliked when I was a kid was discovering a big chunk of fruit in my jam. I can’t say it was smoother than a non-blended marmalade but the texture, for me, was perfect!

So, it may not have been the most ground breaking recipe but at least I learnt something – and that is what cooking is all about.

Now I’m interested, do you guys like marmalade? If not, perhaps you should give it another go?

:)

x e.

Ps. I have a very special recipe coming up shortly. Watch this space!

Sweet Orange Marmalade

6 Valencia oranges or other sweet variety of orange

600g white sugar

1. Wash and peel oranges and put the skins to the side – you’ll need them later. Place the flesh of the orange in the food processor and blitz until smooth. Place the orange juice in a large heavy bottomed pan on medium heat with 3 cups of water.

2. Once the orange juice starts to boil place the sugar in the pan. Meanwhile take the skin of the oranges and cut into super fine slivers. Place about 50g of the chopped peel into the pot and let cook for about an hour. Place a small saucer in the freezer – you’ll need this to check when it’s almost ready

3. After an hour, place a small spoonful on the frozen saucer. When the marmalade is ready it’ll be a good thick consistency.

4. Next you’ll need to sterilize your jars. Wash both the jars and lids in hot soapy water and rinse them thoroughly. Place them in a preheated 140ºC oven for 10 minutes right side up. Ensure the jars aren’t touching each other and in the last 5 minutes place the lids in the oven as well. I don’t like to leave the lids in for too long otherwise the rubber seals in them melt!

Serve on thickly sliced bread with lashings of butter. So simple but so delicious.

By Emily On 22/10/2013 In Food With 3 Comments Permalink

I’m the sort of person if you tell me I can’t do it, I’ll give it my all to prove you wrong. This was also the case when I was about 16. It was my Grandfather’s birthday and I wanted to make something nice. Mum had mentioned that he had fallen in love with the profiterole since living in France. So with this I decided to make a mini croquembouche for him. Mum had warned me: ‘they’re hard to make, my oven isn’t good enough, they’ll surely ruin, it’ll be a waste of time’ but this only fueled my determination to make the best goddamn croquembouche a 16 year old could make! That was it – I had set my mind to it. Mum was happy to help out. Now don’t forget, this was the late 90s, before the days of Googling for a good recipe if you didn’t have one. Luckily for me Mum found a recipe in her old French cooking book and translated it for me so I could get cracking on my mega-creation. This book was the real deal.

As it turns out, my choux pastry was perfect and I nailed the custard! I filled half the batch with coffee and the other half chocolate. I covered them all in toffee and oh my… they were delicious. I’ve never seen a smile so wide on my Grandfather’s face.

I’ve been meaning to make these little guys again, ever since starting the blog two years ago. Although these are eclairs, they’re essentially the same thing (plus I had my mum’s vintage eclair tray that I’ve wanted to use!). These are sooooo good for a special occasion (as it turns out I had a birthday party I could take them to) but I wont lie – it’s a bit of a process, but it’s definitely worth it. This is the first time I’ve made a salted caramel version so I slightly altered my original recipe. I hope you enjoy them!

What’s your favourite French pastry? I have another favourite that comes a close second to these which I hope to bake for you soon ;)

x e.

Choux Pastry

Makes about 20-24 10cm long eclairs.

120g butter
1 cup water1 cup flour, siftedsalt4 eggs – lightly beaten

1. Preheat oven to 200ºC. Bring butter and water to boil, remove from heat and add sifted flour and salt. Return to heat, all the time beating mixture until it forms one ball and leaves the sides of the saucepan, roughly 3 minutes.

2. Place pastry into a mixer and beat until it cools to a luke warm temperature. Then slowly add in the eggs until it’s all thoroughly incorporated.  Place the pastry into a piping bag and pipe 10cm lines onto a lined baking tray (or you could make mini versions). Let cook for roughly 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Custard Filling

 1/2 litre  milk
60g flour1 cup sugar1/4 cup water1 whole egg + 1 egg yolk – lightly whiskedpinch of salt

1. Place 3/4 cup of sugar and the water into a heavy based saucepan. Let the sugar boil for 8-10 minutes or until the sugar turns a caramel colour. You should also be able to smell once it has caramelised. Take the pan off the heat and place the base in some cold water. This will stop the sugar from burning. Add the milk a little at a time and then place back on the heat on low. Keep stirring, the caramel will harden but then soften and melt as the milk warms up.

2. In a separate bowl mix the remaining sugar, flour and salt. Slowly add the eggs whilst beating the mixture to prevent lumps. Add this to the pan of milk a little at a time and just keep mixing for 2-3 minutes! If all else fails and the mixture becomes lumpy you can always bamix it. (I did!) You’ll need to get rid of all the lumps as this may cause issues when piping into the pasty.

3. Place the custard into a piping bag. Create a small hole in the end of the pastry and poke the nozzle into the end and pipe! Hold the eclair and you should be able to feel when it’s full.

Caramel Sauce

100g  butter
150g soft dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons of golden syrup
50ml of double cream

A generous pinch of good quality salt to serve – I used Murry River Pink Salt

1. Place the butter, sugar and golden syrup in a saucepan and bring to a gentle boil until the sugar is dissolved. Add the cream and whisk together. Bring to a steady simmer for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly before drizzling over the top. Sprinkle with a little salt

** These are the quantities I used. I actually doubled the initial choux pastry recipe I used but only made a single batch of custard (I didn’t quite have enough milk at the time to make two). I found the custard filled almost all the choux pastry casings but I did have piping bag problems (it went everywhere) and thought it may be enough after all. Please let me know how you find the quantities. Please email me with any questions.

By Emily On 07/10/2013 In Food With 4 Comments Permalink

A couple of weeks ago the friendly people at KitchenAid were kind enough to send me the Meat Grinder and Sausage Stuffer attachments for my beautiful stand mixer (her name is Roxy and she’s a treasure). I bought her about 2 years ago when we’d just moved back to Australia. I was living back at home at the time and had a little extra disposable income, so I just went out and bought one. I figured the sooner I bought it, the more use I’d get out of it, and that was that. My pride and joy sits on our kitchen bench and always twinkles at me whenever I walk out in the morning. I was so excited when KitchenAid offered me the attachments as I hadn’t even thought about the extra bits and bobs you could get for it. I can already tell I’m going to get a lot of use out of the meat grinder. I wont ever have to buy mince meat again – and now I’ll know exactly what goes into it.

I also know EXACTLY what has gone into these delicious homemade Pork, Apple and Caramelised Onion sausages. I think it makes them even more appetizing too. This is the first time I’ve made anything like this and I totally winged it. I was a little nervous at first so I watched a few youtube videos to learn the basics. There are a few small things I would now do differently if I were making them again. It took me a little longer than I first anticipated, but I really enjoyed the whole process and I reckon I could whip up a batch in no time at all now. Life skills I tells’ ya! It’s good to challenge yourself with small culinary hurdles, and this was most certainly one of them. I would, however, say that the hurdle was more mental as these delicious homemade sausages aren’t actually that hard to make – just give yourself a bit of time first time round! I served mine with gourmet mash – that’s what we call it at our house. It’s not really that gourmet, just good ol’ buttery delicious mash packed full of veggies and garlic. More of a smash than a mash. It’s so good, especially with fresh bangers!

As you may or may not have noticed, this year I haven’t been as regular with the frequency of my posts and I do feel terrible. I’ve mentioned it a few times, I know, but I thought I’d tell you that I’ve decided to scale the posts back to once a fortnight. I’m sure you can all appreciate the time it takes to cook, style, photograph, clean (or coax others to clean for me) and write the blog. I’m finding it a bit hard to fit in other things I need to do on the weekend – like plan a wedding! Don’t worry, I’ll have more time after early March – du dum da dahhhh.

BTW – I haven’t been paid for any of these comments. I only ever write about products and goods I think are worth writing about.

x e.

PS: For all my Aussie readers, these bangers would make for an impressive treat at this Saturday’s AFL Grand Final BBQ… just saying!

Homemade Pork, Apple & Caramelised Onion Sausages

500 g free-range pork mince pork
1 red onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
2 small Granny Smith apples, grated
handful parsley and oregano
1 tsp mustard powder
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp seeded mustard
1 tsp salt

1.5 meters of natural castings

1. Add a large bowl and all sausage making equipment into the fridge to let them all chill. It’s best to keep all meat and appliances cold so the fat in the sausages doesn’t melt. Clean hands are also essential so wash them regularly. Rinse sausage casings and let soak in fresh water whilst preparing the meat.

2. Add to a hot, well oiled pan the finely diced red onion and cook on low heat until golden and translucent, roughly 15 minutes. Then add sugar, a pinch of salt and balsamic vinegar. Let cook until the onions become sticky and thick. Set aside and let cool.

3. Once the onions are cool in the chilled bowl add all ingredients apart from the casings. Lightly mix everything through but try not to overmix. Drain the casings and pat dry with paper towel.

4. Attach the KitchenAid meat grinder and add the meat mixture into the feed and turn the mixer on. Placing it through the grinder will ensure everything is mixed properly and chopped finely. Once the mixture has been through, then attach the sausage stuffer and slide the casings over the long tube. Place the meat mixture into the top of the grinder again and turn the machine on. Once the meat starts coming out of the nozzle help steer it out and also keep feeding the meat in the top. It is easier to have someone help you at this stage. Once all the meat has been squeezed through, turn the mixer off and trim the casing. Separate the long sausage into normal sized portions and twist 3 or 4 turns one way and then twist the next link 3 or 4 times in the opposite direction. Watch this video to see how the pros do it and extra tips.

5. With a sterilized pin prick the casings to expel any trapped air. Hang sausages and let them dry for an hour or so before refrigerating. They will keep in the fridge for up to one week or place them in the freezer for up to 6 months. OR cook and enjoy them straight away!

Gourmet Mash

6 medium potatoes, peeled an chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
handful of green beans, trimmed
1 cup of peas
4 cloves garlic
1/2 tbsp butter
4 tbsp milk
salt and pepper to taste

1. Add potatoes and carrots into a pot of boiling seasoned water. Let cook for about 8 minutes then add beans and peas for the last two minutes.

2. Once all veggies are cooked, drain and roughly mash with a potato masher. Add butter, garlic and milk a little at a time until you’ve reached the correct consistency. Add salt and pepper and serve with your well cooked homemade sausages.

By Emily On 24/09/2013 In Food With 3 Comments Permalink

I don’t know about you but I had a fantastic weekend! On Saturday a friend of mine had a few of us over to her place for afternoon tea. It was a beautiful afternoon, complete with sparkling rosé and cucumber sandwiches, a great way to spend a sunny afternoon. Later that night we celebrated a friends 30th at a bar/pizzeria in Fitzroy called Feldmans (named after Corey Feldman!). Great pizza, great music, definitely worth checking out.

On Sunday we had a good friend come and visit from Sydney. We thought we’d get out of the city, and took a road trip out to the Yarra Valley. We stopped at Chandon for a wine tasting, this place is so beautiful! Their wine was so delicious so we bought a couple of bottles before heading on to Healesville for lunch at (the always impressive) Innocent Bystander. It was such a beautiful afternoon. Sharing good food with great friends, the sun was shining and the wine was flowing. I didn’t want to drive back to be honest!

Now not everything in the Adeline & Lumiere kitchen goes to plan. This weekend, as you can see, was very busy. I had intended to make a mandarin marmalade and I did just that, but it didn’t quite turn out as planned. I was in a rush so I didn’t read the recipe properly. Actually I didn’t even really follow the recipe. It all just went downhill from there. It was a disaster, so this week I don’t actually have a recipe – sorry! I do have some photos from a shoot I did a couple of weeks ago. This is the famous Drunken Admiral’s chowder. It’s been on their menu since opening in 1979! Delicious. This is one of the dishes I shot for a book they’re putting together about the history of the restaurant (it is said to be haunted!) and surrounds. As well as a handful of recipes. I took all the shots in the book, and my other half is designing it / putting it all together. It should hit the shelves by Christmas, but I’ll keep you posted on that closer to the date. ; )

How was your weekend? Just as busy or more of a relaxing one?

x e.

The Drunken Admiral’s famous seafood chowder

Pirates treasure!

By Emily On 10/09/2013 In Food With No Comments Permalink