A Pretend Chef

I discovered these delicious biscuits when on holiday in Buenos Aires in March this year. Rosie and I brought back a few box loads of them. I'm not a huge sweet tooth but these are amazing, especially with coffee! This recipe is straight out of Gourmet Traveller magazine so I've taken the lazy route and pasted the recipe details below. I'm new to making sweets and especially working with shortbread pastry, so I soon discovered that considering the massive amount of butter in the dough, it rolls best when it's really well chilled. The recipe says 30 minutes for the dough in the fridge, but on a warm day, give it an hour or so to really firm up. Another piece of advice you won't find in the recipe. It's suggested you use a 6.5cm cutter, however I think these would be better a little smaller in size, so perhaps 4.5cm or thereabouts. For the tempered chocolate I recommend checking this quick video tutorial. Well worth it. http://gourmettraveller.com.au/tempered-ch...

This is a variation on a recipe featured in Gourmet Traveller from Giovanni Pilu of Pilu's at Freshwater http://gourmettraveller.com.au/malloredus_alla_campidanese.htm Ingredients 1 x celery stick (string removed) finely chopped 1 x carrot, peeled and finely chopped 1 x medium sized onion finely chopped 1 x garlic clove finely chopped 5 x pork & fennel sausages (or italian pork sausages), skin removed 1/2 cup of dry white wine 1 x sprig of rosemary leaves, finely chopped 2 x tbls tomato paste 1 x 400g tin of diced tomatoes 1 x cup roughly chopped Cavolo nero 5 x basil leaves torn 2 tbls olive oil 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil 1/2 tspn sugar 500g dried penne pasta Grated Parmigiano Reggiano to serve Method In a heavy based frying pan, fry on medium-high heat onion, celery, carrot, garlic and rosemary in the olive oil for 5-7 minutes or until soft. Add sausage to the pan and break up with back of a wooden spoon. Fry for 5 minutes until slightly brown. Add tomato paste and fry fu...

This is a variation on a recipe from the the beautiful Tugu Hotel at Canggu Beach in Bali http://www.tuguhotels.com/bali . Canggu is located approximately 15 minutes drive north of Seminyak and is relatively isolated compared to the busier Seminyak , Legian and Kuta districts, although new development sites with villas and hotels were springing up when we last visited the area in mid 2008. We spent a couple of very relaxing weeks at Tugu Hotel in 2007. The hotel houses a massive private collection of South East Asian antiques, with over 1,000 pieces on display throughout the hotel and grounds. Located on the hotel grounds is a traditional Balinese kitchen and dining area, the " Waroeng " http://www.tuguhotels.com/bali/dining%20waroeng%20tugu.htm . In here they hold cooking classes covering traditional Balinese and some east Javanese dishes. The meal we dined on the evening of our private class is still one of the best meals I've ever had in Bali. Below is a shot of...

This is an easy salad ideal for a BBQ. I love fresh beetroot and broadbeans when they are in season. Ingredients 4 large or 5 medium beetroots Broadbeans (from approximately 10 pods) 1 clove garlic crushed 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil Zest and juice of 1 lemon 1tbls of finely chopped parsley 1tbls of finely chopped basil 1 tbls of finely chopped mint Method Wash and trim the beets and place in a deep casserole or roasting tray, covered with foil. Roast the beets in an oven at 220C for 1hr 20 minutes. Remove and allow to cool. Once cool remove skin and cut the beets into 1-2 cm pieces. Blanch beans in boiling water for 3 minutes then run under cold water. Remove skins and mix in a bowl with the beetroot pieces. Add all other ingredients, mix well and transfer to serving bowl.

One of my favourite martinis, The Classic. 60ml Gin (My preferences are Old Tom, Plymouth, Tanqueray or Tanqueray Ten) 30ml Dry Vermouth (Noilly Prat or Martini) A dash of Orange Bitters Garnish with a small slice of Lemon peel (my preference - with pith carefully sliced away to avoid any bitterness) or two green olives Pour a standard ice tray full of ice into a large jug (Phil the head cocktail barman at Rambutan http://www.rambutan.com.au/ got me using a jug as it provides maximum surface area exposure between the ice and liquor allowing for a nice dilution). Add all ingredients except for the garnish. Stir 15-20 times. Squeeze your lemon rind into a chilled martini glass and rim the glass with the outer surface of the rind, then leave it in the glass. Strain the martini mix into the glass. Consume.

I've been doing oysters in the oven with a horseradish, butter and Parmesan topping for some time now, however I've recently adjusted the recipe for the topping after acquiring a copy of Pete Evans' cookbook, FISH ( http://www.peterevans.com.au/ ). I've tweaked his recipe to suit my taste, but the beauty of it is that you don't need to be exact with this one and it takes less than 20 minutes from start to table! 1 dozen oysters (I prefer larger Pacifics as they maintain their size when cooked) 60 gms unsalted butter 40 to 50 gms freshly grated Parmesan A 5-6 cm length of fresh horseradish finely grated 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest 1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil 1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley Pepper to taste Method Turn your oven grill on high. Place oysters in a large flat oven tray for grilling. Cut the butter into small cubes and place in a mixing bowl with cheese, lemon zest and horseradish. Work thoroughly with a...

I've had pumpkin pie on three occassions. The first time was on a work trip to New York at a small winery on the northern tip of Long Island (wish I could remember the name!). The last two occassions have been when Lauren Whitehead's prepared her mother's recipe. For an Australian it's a weird concept, the thought of eating pumpkin as a sweet. But this is an unexpectedly subtle and light dessert. I'm hooked! Sandra’s Fluffy Pumpkin Pie (needs to be started one day in advance) 2 cups of pumpkin puree (you can make this yourself easily: roast ¾ of a small pumpkin (butternut) for 1 hr at 180C tossed in a small amount of extra virgin olive oil and water (you don’t really want it to brown), leave in the fridge overnight and drain off the water in the morning, mash). 3 eggs, separated 1 cup brown sugar ½ cup milk 1/8 tspn ground cloves 1/8 tspn fresh ground nutmeg 1 tspn ground cinnamon 1 tspn vanilla extract Combine pumpkin, egg yokes (beaten), milk and vanilla. Add t...