The cooking, eating and travel blog of a hungry blogger from Sydney, Australia featuring original recipes, interviews and articles on all things food @ Not Quite Nigella

Monthly Archives: April, 2009

NQN competition: Win 1 of 3 Fair Trade Fortnight Hampers!

**THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED. STAY TUNED FOR THE WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT**

The winners are:

First prize: Jo F.

Second prize: Amy W.

Third prize: Ju Ann S.

To celebrate the upcoming Fair Trade Fortnight from May 2nd to May 17th, 2009, our good friends at Cocolo Chocolate have gathered together some of the best of Fair Trade goodies in three generous hampers for three very lucky Not Quite Nigella readers!

If you don’t know about all of the events and goodies on during this time, you can have a look at the calender on the Fair Trade website. There are markets, coffee and product tastings and chocolate fondues in each state with the Sydney Fair Trade Fiesta featuring Kylie Kwong.

And what is in these hampers you may ask?

205 comments | April 25th, 2009 - 6:00 am | Not Quite Nigella

Mumu Grill, Crows Nest

Posted in Eating,Restaurants by cuisine,Spanish,Steak,Sydney - North

All meat is just not meat, that much is clear from our first turn of the Mumu Grill’s menu page. It is a place that takes its meat very seriously. Sustainable and organic produce is their focus and it serves only grass fed beef, a beef that a lot of restaurants eschew because of the variability in quality due to the reliance on things such as rainfall which in turn affects the grass. To overcome this they have 4 beef suppliers. We read that grass fed beef is also said to contain more Omgea 3′s than grain fed beef and is said to have 3 times more Omega 3′s than farmed salmon although of course the salmon farmers would disagree on this point.

All of the pork here is Sweet Bangalow Pork and the Lamb is Arcadia Saltbush. For those unfamiliar with Saltbush Lamb, it is free range lamb that has been fed on a diet of “Old Man Saltbush”. This Saltbush is a hardy, drought tolerant perennial that also helps reduce soil salinity which means that it has the ideal characteristics for Australian soil. There is also a distinct taste from the Saltbush plant. Both the grassfed beef and saltbush lamb are lower in fat because most beef and lamb are “grain finished” which means that they were fed grain in order to fatten them up quickly before they are sent to the abattoir whereas these are not resulting in a leaner meat and therefore one that is best cooked below a medium level.

Decor is very nice indeed as is service here and we look forward to our meals, particular the Kona Coffee crusted Beef and Saltbush lamb. We start with a selection of Tapas dishes – and for tapas lovers, to the left there is a tapas bar where diners can sit with a cocktail or drink and nibble on all sorts of Spanish goodies. We have ours at the table.

Jamon Iberico de Ballotta $25

28 comments | April 24th, 2009 - 6:00 am | Not Quite Nigella

Macaroni & Cheese with Bacon

Posted in Cooking and Recipes,Dinner recipes,Lunch recipes

Macaroni & Cheese needs no introduction to anyone. It’s incredibly simple, comforting and can be fancied up or eaten in it’s most basic form to great appreciation. I bought some delicious looking macaroni from the Easter Show by Pasta Italia and thought that now was as good as time as ever to make some for my macaroni cheese loving husband especially since I’d be in the middle of my Lean Cuisine challenge and would be less tempted to sneak bits off this terrifically creamy but full blown fatteningly good dish if I already had a portion and calorie controlled pasta dish of my own.

Bacon can improve anything, and I mean anything. Having a bad day? Eat some bacon. I even think that you could make a very good bacon macaron and I’m just waiting for Adriano Zumbo or Pierre Herme to make one (after all there was the foie gras macaron). If either are out there, call me for any taste testing needs.

There is a a method to my madness in specifying such a large baking tray. You see I love the crunch on top of the cheesey breadcrumbs which contrasts with the creamy soft bottom layer. The larger baking tray allows for a shallower but wider distribution of the pasta and therefore breadcrumbs. Of course if you just like a little of the crunch put it in a deeper dish and use less breadcrumbs but if you were to ever to eat this at Chez Elliott, you’d find this version.

As for my dinner I had Vegetable Cannelloni Lean Cuisine. I adore spinach and cheese cannelloni so I was interested in this flavour. It can be truly awful stuff as I’ve experienced on one airline meal (airline shall remain nameless). I have to be honest, it looked pretty flat though when I took it out of the box. It also required 11 minutes cooking time which is longer than the others. I served it with some baby spinach leaves and corn and I was actually surprised that despite it’s rather flat looking appearance, it wasn’t too bad although I have to admit looks wise, it wasn’t stunningly appealing . But of course I did sneak bits of my husband’s macaroni and cheese.

61 comments | April 23rd, 2009 - 6:00 am | Not Quite Nigella

Etch Dining, Sydney CBD

Posted in Eating,Modern Australian,Restaurants by cuisine,Sydney - CBD and inner city

Lunch with a group of girls will always be a different sort of experience than a lunch with guys. Allow me to translate for those unfamiliar with the peculiar female creature. There will be a lot of dithering and discussion about what the eat and little pretty sounding tasty morsels will be ordered, all with a view to dessert which always features. There will be some oohing and aahing over things such as lighting fixtures and decor. But there will always be dessert. And it will always be shared.

Today, I’m lunching with Christie, Darcie, Helen, Jen, and Suze at Etch. When asked to pick a venue, I suggested Etch because of my adoration for chef Justin North’s Plan B, and Becasse and also because it was in the middle of the city so it made for easy access by all. The space itself is decorated with a decidedly feminine touch (although it doesn’t seem to stop the male of the species from eating here) with plenty of feathered angel wings, wing topped globes, silver framed portraits and bird print wallpaper.

Most of us order an appetiser and an entree each as we’re saving room for the desserts which we have already pre picked: the Etch lolly tray and the caramel date tart with burnt butter ice cream and Earl Grey tea syrup.

Fried goat’s cheese with vanilla and lavender scented honey $9

The Fried goat’s cheese with vanilla and lavender scented honey consists of two crispy coated goat’s cheese balls deep fried and doused in a headily fragrant lavender honey. It’s ambrosial and the crispy outer, creamy inner and sweet taste and floral aroma combines beautifully.

Shaved Serrano gran reserva with peppered melon, chilli and mint $12

We are surprised to see that the Shaved Serrano gran reserva ham with peppered melon, chilli and mint has watermelon, not the rockmelon that Christie and I had assumed it would be paired with. It is delicious with the chili and mint adding an extra dimension of flavour.

Crispy spiced local squid with sweet paprika mayonnaise $9

An adorable paper cone houses the crispy spiced local squid with sweet paprika mayonnaise. The squid is wondrously tender with the the paprika giving the mayonnaise a slightly spicy and bitter flavour.

Sardines on toast: Vintage sardines with celery gazpacho and green apple tartare $12

46 comments | April 22nd, 2009 - 6:00 am | Not Quite Nigella

Cooking with Kids – Three flavours of Peanut Butter Cups: Butterscotch Double Peanut Butter, Cookies & Cream, Cinnamon & Praline

Posted in Cooking and Recipes,Kid friendly,Other Sweet Things

I like being loaned children. You see I’m a fantastic aunt or friend of a parent. I can keep them entertained for a few hours usually with something food related. I don’t mean babies, I find the little things quite difficult to reason with-for starters they don’t answer back when you ask them what is wrong and try rationalising or bargaining with a baby, it just doesn’t happen. So when my friend Teena mentioned baby sitting her niece and her niece’s love of Peanut Butter cups, I knew that she was my little chef for the day.

I had been dying to make some more peanut butter cups ever since my precious supply of Elvis Peanut Butter and Banana Cups started to dwindle. Barbara so thoughtfully sent me some wonderful items to aid me in my quest for the never ending peanut butter cups. She sent me some peanut butter flavoured chocolate and a Peanut Butter cup mold. I sought out advice from some of my friends that gave me such fantastic ideas for the Pocky. I decided to make a Double Peanut Butter and Butterscotch version; Cookies & Cream Oreo and a Cinnamon and Praline Peanut Butter cup.

The measures below are approximate – it depends on the size of your pans – but if you happen to be using larger patty pans then you may have to adjust quantities. I found that they were too difficult to pop out of the Wilton mold so we resorted to making most of them in patty pans (my patty pans measured 3.5cms on the base and 2.3cms in height). As a precautionary measure I’d suggest refrigerating these, particularly the butterscotch variety. All in all it took 2 hours to make 36 of these with most of the time waiting for the chocolate to set and some time running around and watching The Disney Channel. Kids are often tough critics and they can be resoundingly blunt but Cookies & Cream Chick and her little brother as well as the adults adored these. And stay tuned for my next recipe, a Bannoffee Peanut Butter cup!

Yesterday was also Day One of my Lean Cuisine challenge where I was sent a 5 day supply of Lean Cuisine to eat for Lunch and Dinner. It’s been years since I cracked one open although I do remember liking a Chicken Marsala dish that came with rice and wild rice (well I liked the chicken part, not the rice so much). My fellow Lean Cuisine testers are ChocolateSuze and Jenius.

Sundried Tomato Cheese filled Tortellini

I was hungry, mainly because my fridge was full of cake and cake making ingredients and we were one day pre our weekly shopping expedition so I chose the Sundried Tomato Tortellini meal (368 calories, 97% fat free). I felt like pasta as it was a little chilly that day and I am crazy about sundried tomatoes. Heating it up for the requisite time I stirred it and let it cool for a bit before digging in. The pasta sauce was actually quite nice, in fact it reminded me of my favourite supermarket bottled pasta the Creamy Basil and Tomato Remano sauce from Aldi. The cheese filled tortellini wasn’t too bad although I do prefer it a bit more al dente and more filled with filling (they were a little deflated). Although considering it took all of 5 minutes to heat it wasn’t too bad at all especially for the calories.

For dinner I went for pasta again as I figured it would be more filling. I tried the Rich Beef Lasagne (388 cals). It took twelve minutes to cook in two six minute bursts and although it looked quite thin and pale, I paired it with some baby spinach, sweet corn kernels and my favourite Simon Johnson Sweet Onions of Tropea. I was happier with this dish, the lasagne was saucey and great for the number of calories. I don’t eat a lot of lasagne as I have this awful habit of attempting to eat the whole thing so this innate portion controlling suited me. I did get a bit peckish later that evening so I had a snack (wholemeal buttered bread with tuna). Now just to see if I lose any weight…

48 comments | April 21st, 2009 - 6:00 am | Not Quite Nigella