Pot Luck lunches or dinners can be a funny affair. All of my friends are great when it comes to Pot Luck meals and for some reason, we never end up with doubles and everyone always bring more than is needed. However a colleague of mine’s friends can be a different matter entirely. She and her friends host weekly Pot Luck lunches and she often regales me of tales of Pot Luck Politics. One woman (the organiser, let’s call her El Presidente) tries to corral everyone into bringing something different and therefore avoiding double ups. The Presidente has a Vice Presidente who has her ear closer to the ground and echoes her thoughts and follows up by calling people the night before to ensure that there are no dreaded double ups and god forbid, anyone changes their allocated dish.
She tells me that most of “the people” fall into place but there is one couple that consistently never bring anything along but whom are close friends of the El Presidente so they are allowed to get away with it. When others ask them which dish is theirs they gesture around grandly at the whole table and say something vague like “I brought this” randomly pointing at someone else’s dish of course fooling no-one. After the fifth time they did this, there was much grumbling among the people who have brought sumptuous items such as duck, prawns and pork belly etc. Then there are some people that bring the cheapest thing you could ever make i.e. boiled rice which is all very fine if you’re not the most moneyed up and they spend the whole time being observed eating the duck and the prawns. And you can bet they’re being watched.
Then there’s the psychological analysis. The dish that one brings is very telling. The people that bring the expensive dishes are the more generous souls whereas the people that bring the cheapest dishes are stingy on compliments and not such lovely souls. Sometimes, the stingiest are the wealthiest of the crowd. Sound like a microcosm of a city in one dining room doesn’t it? 
My mother is a Pot Luck participant from way back and there is one dish that my mum makes that I absoutely love and she has made it for group gatherings and it was also the most requested fried noodle dish growing up. It’s versatile as you can make it vegetarian by replacing the stock powder with vegetable stock powder, the oyster sauce with a vegetarian version and adding tofu instead of chicken. I love the little pieces of chicken and the crunch from the lettuce and you could certainly char this more than we have to get that crunchy edge to the hokkien noodle.
So tell me Dear Reader, how are your Pot Luck dinners? Smooth sailing or fraught with political tension?
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September 10, 2009
by Not Quite Nigella
I know a lot of people hate their names. I’m not really one of them. I have to admit though that I don’t really feel like a Lorraine if you know what I mean (my parents were going to name me Selina which I think suits me better). However it’s not a bad name-I could have had worse inflicted upon me. However as a consequence, I’ve been called Quiche Lorraine quite a few times which didn’t bother me as much as that Australian-ism “Lozza” which just made me cringe.
I didn’t particularly like Quiche Lorraine growing up, only because the Quiche Lorraine that I tried was the frozen type found in the freezer section of the supermarket. So I dismissed Quiche Lorraine as something watery and eggy and not particularly nice. Until I tried a good one.
This quiche is not your typical Quiche Lorraine with egg, bacon and cheese but a version made with whatever I had in the fridge before our move which happened to be leftover roast chicken, grilled eggplant and a few cheeses. So please feel free to use whatever you have to hand that you think would go well together. I’m hoping that by making Springtime and picnic friendly dishes that the weather will continue to be gorgeous. Sydney-siders be sure to enjoy the fabulous 28 degree day predicted for tomorrow perhaps with this quiche and a picnic!
And if you’re feeling like a night in I have some good news – an offer for Not Quite Nigella readers! The people at Menulog are offering you a $10 off coupon! The Australia wide website has over 600 restaurants in their delivery database delivering you food to your door so all you have to do is cue up Dexter or Mad Men on your DVD player. And how do you get this offer? Just use the coupon code “4D64FD” when making your order oneline. This is available for participating restaurants that display the “accepts vouchers” sign and is valid until November 2009. Minimum purchase $20 and for first orders. Have fun and happy feasting!
So tell me Dear Reader, do you like or dislike your own name? And have you changed your mind about it once you got older?
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August 15, 2009
by Not Quite Nigella
Sashimi porn-yes.
I should start off with a warning about portions at Sushi Suma. Only visit here if you are starving, and even then only go if you’ve taken the precautionary measures and arranged for an emergency stomach compartment or a switch with your dessert tank. Servings here are legendarily huge and service, well it’s an in and out, stuff-em-full sort of place. Four Supermodels could probably share a dinner box and I am including those annoying Supermodels that keep telling us “Oh yes I hardly ever diet! I eat as much as I want”.
This evening we are supposed to meet Rose and Ronald at 6.30pm but we are 15 minutes late. Rose and Ronald have been kicked off their table downstairs in the restaurant and have been asked to wait upstairs in the bar area. We are given a copy of the menu and we order the items upstairs with the no nonsense man with the keypad. In order to expedite turnover, orders are taken upstairs and when the food and table are ready, diners are guided downstairs. Despite there being a bar and having a captive, waiting (and thirsty) audience, there is no bar service as the no nonsense man (we assume the owner) is busy corralling diners. Luckily we are waiting less than 10 minutes when we are shown downstairs. It’s a curious layout, the dining area is small and the kitchen is comparatively huge – larger than the dining space. As we sit down, with the super tightly laid out tables, Rose comments about how loud it is.
Complimentary Appetiser
This vermicelli noodle salad is lightly seasoned with a sweet, vinegary taste.
Complimentary Agedashi Tofu
The complimentary agedashi tofu is a nice surprise as everyone receives one. It’s delicious and one of the better ones I’ve had with a perfectly seasoned sauce (I often find the sauce isn’t flavoursome enough) but this is just right.
Kaiso Salad $8.80
We’re given our Kaiso salad and the size gives us an indication of things to come. It’s huge with a mound of shredded cabbage and thick and thin seaweed. The seaweed itself isn’t highly seasoned or flavoured but the salad has a light dressing over it and a scattering of sesame seeds.
Cream Croquette with crab meat $6.80
The items I went crazy for in Tokyo were Cream Croquettes. These are small croquettes filled with the creamiest potato. I can’t really see or taste any crab meat but I do see a couple of corn kernels.
Other diner’s plates are set down next to us and we are aghast at how big they are. The Katsu meal at the table next to us had 8 huge pieces of katsu and their Tempura had a large variety of food. We see why the sizes are legendary.
Sushi Deluxe $16.80
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July 15, 2009
by Not Quite Nigella
If I appear to be in the midst of a soup epidemic I plead guilty Your Honour. It’s cold here and looking after a patient at home for the next week or so (Mr NQN) means that soup is a weekly feature. The routine is simple. I make a big batch of soup (the flavour depending on what is in season or what is on special that week) and I then serve it to him for lunch for the next 4-5 days. You see the thing is is that it needs to be easy because I’m busy tending to the world’s worst patient. He won’t put the laptop or his phone down and gets terribly bored even when he has a host of things to watch on tv. All he wanted to do was show his friends (and anyone with the stomach) photos of his post-surgery open wound and play with his gadgets. Typical boy.
Many of you asked what he was in hospital for. It was “bursitis” with a Staphylococcus bacterial infection. I shall briefly explain: your elbows (as well as the knee and shoulder) have sacs of fluid that float over them and they can get inflamed from rubbing or by infection. His was infected by “Staphylococcus aureus” and most likely from leaning his elbow on his work desk. Yes really! I know, I know… how incredibly innocuous and random. Not from anything as exciting or daring as underwater caving, discovering a Mummy’s tomb or from hiking in the Amazon. It’s mind blowing to think that the result of this is almost two weeks in hospital with surgery, two weeks at home connected to an infuser and antibiotics, and another two weeks after that on oral antibiotics.
So if I can suggest anything to you my Dear Readers, it’s please keep your elbows off the table (mum was right!) and moisturise them. And despite the fact that it was exacerbated by his cracked elbows (men just don’t care about moistursing their elbows do they?), he refused to let me put moisturiser on his good elbow. And this is when I’m not wrestling the laptop out of his bandaged arms (it’s truly an amusing sight). He has kept his sense of humour though and laughed hard when I brought him a copy of Hemmingway’s “A Farewell to Arms” but at times he does get cranky -case in point was the very last sentance he uttered was “I don’t like French food” when I suggested lunch (yes it seems we’ve become Lou and Andy).
Anyway, back to the cauliflower soup. It’s incredibly silky and creamy. There is only the smallest amount of cream in it and when you see that you can get so many serves out of it I hope that the 1/3 cup total of cream will not put you off. Do make sure that the soup is blended well which really aids in achieving the silky texture. I love the crispy crumb topping to give it a crunchy texture. However feel free to leave it off as I sometimes prefer it without it. But I never leave off the crispy bacon bits at the top- ever.
So tell me Dear Reader, are you a good patient or a bad one? Do you follow orders or are you defiant and rebellious?
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July 9, 2009
by Not Quite Nigella
I adore soups but the one thing that prevents me from eating them more often for dinner is that I feel that they often lack body. This soup bears no such accusations, for when it is done, it is more like a tomato stew. With the onset of the brutal chill this month, I have been pushed into full soup making mode, almost kicking and screaming (where did the hot weather go? There was no warning or gentle easing). There are advantages to cold weather though: coats, boots and comfort food. And soup is undoubtedly comfort food, especially when it’s paired with crispy meatball croutons.
I admit I usually find croutons a bit of a disappointment unless they’re homemade. The ones that come in packets aren’t nearly as good as they look and one afternoon I was contemplating making my own croutons for a tomato soup when I saw that my bread really wasn’t anywhere near stale enough which meant that I needed to dry it out. So I considered a tastier version of the crouton which was more of a cross between a meatball and a crouton. Certainly the ratio of bread to meat was fairly similar which I knew would make it beautifully crispy and light. I always prefer to up the amount of fresh breadcrumbs if I am seeking comfort.
The soup was thicker (and therefore more satisfying) than I anticipated. Once I added the Orzo it sucked up a lot of the liquid although I didn’t think this was such a bad thing as it made the soup more full bodied. And in turn it meant that this was a brilliant standalone dish for a week day dinner.
So tell me Dear Reader, are you a Winter or Summer person? What do you like about that particular season?
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June 26, 2009
by Not Quite Nigella
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