Shakshuka

I love Shakshuka! I also love the fact there's a few versions being Spanish baked eggs and Mexican baked eggs too.

I first had Shakshuka at the Subiaco Farmers Markets where Eli, the son on Riki Kaspi owns the popular little stall.

This recipe can be varied and is great to use up the left over meats and veggies in the house.

This recipe is always a winner in my house. It’s very simple to prepare and is a crowd pleaser.

Here's my basic version.

Shakshuka

1x Brown Onion, finely diced
2 tsp Garlic, crushed
1 TBSP Moroccan Spice mix
1x 120gm Pack D'Orsogna Chorizo (or Salami, or bacon or ham)
1x can Red Kidney Beans (or cannellini, or navy beans, or baked beans)
2x cans Crushed Tomatoes
1x TBSP Tomato Paste
2 Cups Chicken Stock
2 eggs Per Person
Crusty Bread
2 TBSP Finely chopped Parsley (optional)

Sauté Onion, Garlic, Spice Mix in a little oil until fragrant. Add Chorizo, Beans, Crushed Tomatoes, Paste, and Stock, season to taste , stir and simmer covered for 30-40 mins, stirring occasionally.

Remove lid and carefully crack eggs into the sauce, trying not to break the yolks. Simmer uncovered on low until the eggs are done to your liking. Sprinkle with Parsley.

Scoop eggs with sauce into serving bowls carefully and serve with crusty bread!

This recipe is great for feeding a few people at breakfast/brunch time!

*You can vary this recipe a lot buy using what's in your fridge and cupboard at the time. Sprinkle with Parmesan or Feta and you can also add Mexican or Spanish Spices or a mix of your favourite spices to create a new flavour!

I've also added Sausages and some sprinkled Feta Cheese and had it for dinner once!

Serves 6-9

Prep Time: 10 mins

Cook Time: 50 mins

You can find this recipe in the La Cucina section of the D'Orsogna website.

 This recipe was created in partnership with D'Orsogna Smallgoods

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Aprils Ricotta Gnocchi

I've made Potato Gnocchi before, so I decided to give the ricotta version a go. Reading up about it on the internet I found a lot of people say that the ricotta gnocchi is just as traditional as the potato kind.

After researching the ratios I then came up with my own recipe to suit the amount of ricotta I had.

Aprils Ricotta Gnocchi

250G Ricotta Cheese
2 Eggs
1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese (finely grated)
Salt & Pepper to taste
1 TBSP Parsley (finely chopped)
1 Cup + 2 TBSP Pasta Flour, plus more for dusting

Mix the Ricotta, Eggs, Parmesan, salt n pepper, Parsley in a bowl with a whisk until smooth.

Add the flour and mix until a smooth dough is formed. Place dough onto a floured bench and knead gently for 30 secs or so.

Pinch off tennis ball sized balls of dough and roll to form a thin sausage. Cut the sausage into smaller pieces.

You can leave them this shape or you can use a gnocchi roller, sushi mat or fork to create the 'ridges' in the gnocchi. I used a sushi mat!

Place gnocchi on a floured plate and cover and refrigerate if using later.

To cook: Bring salted water to the boil and gently boil until the gnocchi float then scoop them out.

I served the gnocchi with a rich tomato sauce and dropped some shelled prawns in for the last few minutes.

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Jamie's Italian - Perth

We decided to visit Jamie's Italian a few months ago, and had heard stories of people lining up for a while and not being seated at a table for HOURS!  So, being eager to try out the famous Chef's Trademark restaurant and not be disappointed, we chose to dine in for lunch on a weekday during my Hubby's holidays.

We arrived just before opening time (11am) and were about the 4th couple from the front, so we were seated very quickly when the doors opened. Once seated, we had our drinks order taken and were given our menus. The place was filling up quickly but only ended up being about half full for this lunch service.

It was also different to see the waiters have their own little bread stations set up around the restaurant where they prepare the baskets full of assorted breads drizzled with Olive Oil, free of charge.

For entrée we chose to share the Crispy Arancini Balls and Crispy Squid. The Arancini Balls were huge and 3 were definitely enough for an entrée for 2 to share.

Our mains took a long while to come out, about an hour, as I was told they hadn't prepared the Ravioli and were frantically making it from scratch. I was promised it would be the freshest ravioli I'd ever eat! Whilst we were waiting I ordered a Mojito. Though what came out was a Ginger Mojito, the non-alcoholic version, boo! where's the fun in that!?!?

Finally our mains arrived and my Hubby had the Crab Risotto which was perfectly cooked, creamy with the subtle sweetness of the fresh crab.

My Mushroom Ravioli was al-dente with a lovely tomato and mushroom sauce. I thought it was great they didn't make me choose another main and prepared it fresh, though we did wait a while for it.

In the end, they knew we had waited a long time and with my Mojito being 'non-alcoholic', they didn't charge us for my main and my cocktail.

Despite it being a relatively cheap lunch outing I know my next experience at Jamie's will be a good one.

*These pictures were taken about 6 months ago and they have since changed their menu.

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Chocolate Lava Cake

I have adapted this recipe from The Healthy Food Guide Magazine, though I cannot find the original recipe, so I have just gone from memory of what I think the recipe was.

This recipe makes 4 small ramekin sized cakes.

Chocolate Lava Cake

100gm Dark Chocolate (I used 70% Lindt)
1/2 cup Lite Evaporated Milk
1 egg
3 TBSP Raw Caster Sugar
4 TBSP Plain Flour

Preheat oven to 200C.

Scald milk in microwave/saucepan and pour over chocolate in a heatproof jug. Stir until smooth, let cool slightly.

Whisk egg and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 mins. Add cooled chocolate mixture and plain flour and whisk a few times until combined.

Pour into greased and sugar lined ramekins or dariole moulds and bake for about 10 mins.

You want the edges to be risen slightly and the middle still slightly undercooked, for it to be molten in the middle.

Invert onto serving plates and serve with all things dessert, being custard, cream, ice cream, chocolate sauce, caramel sauce, I could go on and on... :-)

Enjoy.


*This recipe can be made gluten free by using GF flour or almond meal.

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Pemberton Finger Limes

After seeing the hype surrounding the quick season of Australian Finger Limes a few weeks ago, I contacted WA local Supplier, Pemberton FingerLimes and asked where North of the River can I find their lovely finger limes for me to purchase and have a play around with in the Kitchen.

I was so surprised and thought it was lovely to have Jacquie ask for my address and show up on my door step a few days later with a very small cardboard box in her hand for me!

I don’t know what I was expecting, as I’ve never seen a finger lime in the flesh, and was amazed at these sausage shaped, dark reddish-brown citrus fruit.

I spoke with Jacquie for a bit about the weird shape and what recipes I could incorporate them in. She quickly handed me over a little booklet with a few amazing looking recipes for me to follow or use as a guide. Jacquie also said some people use them in drinks like gin and tonics too!

 

 The best way to get the caviar-like pearls out, is to cut them in half cross-ways (not lengthways) and use a rolling pin to roll from the bottom all the way slowly to the open end onto a chopping board. The little pearls will slide out very easily then with a sharp knife scrape the small seeds (yes they have seeds but not many) to the side to discard.

As mentioned before, the Finger Lime season is a quick one, only lasting from roughly early April till the end of May each year; and as Pemberton Finger limes have a shelf life of about 4 weeks, they are one of those special Products like fresh Truffles, that you can only get at certain times of the year.

I only had time to try out 2 of the recipes featured in the booklet given to me, because as soon as I got these I was chosen as 1 of 4 finalists for WA’s Signature Dish cook-off for the Great Southern Region in Denmark, WA. So as I was busy planning my trip down to Denmark for a few days, I had just enough time to re-create the Scallops with Chorizo and Pemberton Finger Limes recipe before I left.

 

 

 

This recipe calls for the chorizo to be cooked first in the pan then the scallops seared in the leftover tasty oil. I bought only a few scallops in their shells from Kailis, but wish I had bought more. They certainly looked very fancy, tasted great and it’s only when you start to chew that you get the little bursts of the citrus-y lime flavour.

 

 

The next recipe was a No Bake Lemon Cheesecake with Pemberton Finger Limes. For this one, I used vanilla instead of lemon for the cheesecake. I love cheesecakes so this was a winner also! Plus I made up 4 glasses, so we had this 2 nights in a row for dessert!

 

 

I wish I’d had longer to experiment more with this awesome product, in particular the Salmon Recipe. I can see why chefs across WA love to use these on their menu’s at the right time of the year.

Pemberton Finger Limes is a family owned and run company operating in Pemberton, Western Australia by Rob, Jill & Jacquie Baker and family. Sadly, this years season has finished, but Jacquie and her family will be back in full swing early 2015! Visit their website or follow their Facebook page for more info.

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The Gaya Restaurant Applecross

Having only been blogging for a short time I was very excited to have received an email from Chef Leo, Owner of The Gaya in Applecross.

He invited my Hubby and I along to dine at his restaurant in return for an honest review. He also mentioned to me that his restaurant serves Modern Korean Cuisine - something I've never experienced before, so I was very curious and booked a table on a Thursday Evening.

Based NOR we drove 45 mins through peak hour traffic and arrived a bit late. I was surprised to find an empty restaurant but figured most diners would pile in later as it was still early in the evening.

I've read that The Gaya is BYO and that gave us a chance to bring a bottle of Forest Hill 2013 'The Broker' SBS which I thought would go well with both our meal choices. We were quickly seated by the friendly waitress who quickly put our bottle on ice and gave us our menus.

After not too long the waitress arrived to take our order and served us with complimentary Starters which consisted of fried rice pancake and fried cheddar cheese with a dot of a sweet type sauce. Everyone receives this complimentary starter and also a small side dish before your mains arrive, though they change what is served each time, its great to try something you haven't ordered!

For Entrée we ordered the Beef Cream Roll, asparagus, inoki mushroom, capsicum, cucumber and cream cheese wrapped in a thin layer of beef, grilled and served with Gaya special sauce. This dish was fantastic, the sauce was salty and sweet and the creaminess of the thin, tender beef with the cheese was a great combination. It was almost like a beef stir fry in a roll! My hubby would have picked these up and eaten them like a spring roll if he was at home!

Crumbed Oysters were another one of our entree's and this is the first time I've tried a cooked oyster. Crispy crumbed, almost panko-like and deep fried these were crunchy and fishy and served with a Sumac Mango Red Onion Salsa.

I've read a few reviews from other bloggers and regular diners on Urbanspoon and knew I'd join the pack and order the 36 Pork for one of our mains, a signature dish for The Gaya. 36 Hour sous vide pork belly, served with Sweet Potato Puree, Korean Chive Salad, Sumac Spiced Apples and a Soy Bean Paste Sauce topped with Red Onion, Radish and Crispy Garlic.

The Pork was lovely and tender, not dry like some slow cooked pork belly can be. The sweet potato puree along with the Apples married well with the pork and the Soy Bean paste sauce tasted a lot like tamari which added a nice contrasting earthiness to the traditional pork and apples.

Beef Bulgogi was the other Main, this Beef type soup was served with a Sticky Rice and Sweet Chilli Sauce in separate bowls. The beef was sliced very thinly and was tender in the hot, sweet n salty broth with Rice Noodles and was topped with Inoki Mushrooms and Spring Onions.

Before our mains came out we were served another lovely complimentary course each which were 2 little plates with 3 small items, one of them being a Spicy Pickled Celery, Yellow Radish and a Zucchini Korean Pancake. My Hubby loved the Celery, it was still crunchy and was sour and spicy.

By now we've shared 2 Starters, 2 Entree's, 2 Mains ,2 Side dishes and a Bottle of wine so we opted to order a Red Misu and 1 Chocolate Pave.

The Red Misu was smaller than I expected and was beautifully presented, almost like you shouldn't eat it! A Tiramisu with added Red Bean Paste presented in a Cute little Pot complete with Chocolate 'soil', chocolate 'rocks' and a green leaf. We wasted no time (after photos) and got stuck in, and I immediately noticed the Baileys and then the Red Bean Paste. With 3 spoons eating this, it was gone quick! I think I should have ordered 2!

Chocolate Pave was 3 handmade truffle-like chocolate squares differently flavoured being 'Wholemeal' 'Green Tea' and 'Cacao' presented beautifully and topped with 24 Carat Gold Leaf. Call me crazy but the Green Tea Flavour brought out the flavour of the Crumbed Oysters I had for Entrée! Strange...........

The Gaya offer a $45 Set Menu and also a la carte. They're open for Dinner Tuesday - Sunday and Saturdays for Lunch.

The menu, I found, had variety, was reasonably priced with generous servings and if you choose to BYO it can be an inexpensive night out trying Modern Korean Fusion Cuisine.

They're also in this years Entertainment Book which offers 25% off up to $30, great value!

The stand out for me was definitely the yummy Beef Cream Roll.

I dined as a Guest of The Gaya in return for an honest review. This is the first time I've received an invite to dine anywhere.

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Lunch at Pepper & Salt Restaurant and my WA Signature Dish experience Denmark WA April 2014.

I was soooooooooo excited to have been chosen as the 1 in 4 top finalists for the Great Southern Region in the search for WA's Signature Dish.

WA Signature was a competition held by Buy West Eat Best showcasing 4 of the many regions in Western Australia being Perth & surrounds, Great Southern, Southern Forests and the Gascoyne.

From the Buy West Eat Best Website you could choose any 1 of the regions and the ingredients listed and produce a dish you'd think would be crowned WA's Signature Dish.

I chose Mt. Barker Free Range Chicken Breast from the Great Southern Region as the main component in my dish.

I chose to butterfly the breasts, on top of some layered prosciutto with spinach leaves on top then rolled them up. Served with a grilled vegetable stack of sweet potato, zuchinni and potato, some grilled WA tiger prawns and a creamy white wine butter sauce.

Living in Perth I was a bit overwhelmed with the cook off being a 4 hour drive from my home in the lovely town of Denmark. "just do it" hubby said "it's a great opportunity and you've put so much effort into it". Who was I to disagree! I felt on top of the world being asked to re-create my dish in a commercial kitchen of Pepper & Salt Restaurant at Forest Hill Winery with Chef Silas Masih as the Head Chef.

 

 

I was lucky to cook off against 3 lovely Ladies, and although I didn't win, a fantastic winning dish was produced. Well done Clare with her Celebration of Beef Fillet Thai Style, using fantastic WA Butterfield Beef.

I was lucky enough to meet Rob Broadfield, Perth Restaurant Critic and Editor the of West Australian Good Food Guide. It was so funny, i'd say to people 'I met Rob Broadfield.....!!" and they'd look at me with a blank look 'who's he?' I guess you'd only know if you were a foodie. Sigh. Follow Rob on Twitter!

 

 

Anyhoo, being down in Denmark and having to cook off on the Monday, we decided to book ourselves in for a nice Lunch at Pepper & Salt Restaurant on the Sunday before, mainly to calm my nerves and get a 'feel of the place I'd be cooking off in the next day!

The views at Forest Hill/Pepper & Salt are amazing!! Rolling hills, high and low and rows and rows of vines. Some being the oldest vines in WA!

Walking into the restaurant, its very open and has windows all the way around to take in the stunning views. We were also impressed to find they had a kids menu and crayons for our daughter to keep herself occupied with.

We chose a bottle of Forest Hill 'The Broker' SBS, which was lovely and dry and paired with both our dishes well.

We decided to give an entrée a miss and so my hubby chose The Scottsdale marron, shiitake mushroom water chestnut dumpling with bacon hock broth for his mains.

The marron slid right out of the shell and my hubby said the bacon hock broth was very flavoursome and satisfying.

I decided to go Chef Silas' chilli coconut prawns, curry leaf and kang kong in vermicelli rice noodles. The prawns were butterflied and perfectly cooked. The sauce spicy but nothing too hot, reminded me of a Laksa!

I've never heard of kang kong before and loved the fact Silas has put a 'glossary' of cooking terms and ingredients on the menu some people might not be familiar with. Turns out Kang kong is a highly nutritious water spinach that can eaten cooked or raw.

We all shared a Sour cherry and dark chocolate pudding with chocolate anglaise and a sour cherry and chocolate parfait. YUM!

After lunch we went downstairs the Wine Tasting Room and talked to Cellar doorman Lee who was very helpful in helping us choose some bottles to take all that way home to Perth!

 

 

We tasted a few reds and whites and came home with The Broker SBS, Cabernet Merlot and a fantastic 2012 Reisling, which I can say is the BEST wine I have drank to date! It was a fab light, dry tasting drop. I'm on the hunt for a stockist in Perth.

With our bottles in hand we walked around to the vege garden and out on the grassy fields to take more photos.

Lunch was great and being involved in the Competition was an amazing experience!!





Watch The WA Signature Dish Story Here! Part 1


Read The Write Up On Yahoo for WA's Signature Dish - Great Southern Region

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