I know I only said recently that should I ever try and make puff pastry that you should take this as sign to call the mental health authorities and in my defence Your Honour, I truly meant it. You see I had seen Delia make puff pastry on her show and it didn’t look great. Can I even say that? Will I be banned from visiting all Commonwealth countries for saying that? But to plead my side of the case, I had success with a filo pastry which I thought I’d never see occur and the natural progression is then Puff Pastry which readers and friends assured me would be ok.
The other reason why I made the puff pastry is because I didn’t want to buy any Puff Pastry as I wanted to clear out the freezer because we are moving house! Yes that’s the big news for us and if I’ve been curiously silent or busy on twitter or facebook recently (I just started this facebook page yesterday-come join us!), it’s because we’ve been busy buying our first apartment. We’re renovating our bathroom and kitchen which will be exciting but not without trepidation. For those that are familiar with Sydney, we’ll be moving from the Lower North Shore back to the Eastern Suburbs where I grew up and we’re both very excited about the move. So hopefully I’ll be able to clear out my cupboards and fridge/freezer without blogging about bizarre dishes like “What’s left in the freezer prawn head and quince paste soup” (yes I keep prawn shells to make seafood soup stock).
For the puff pastry, I used a recipe I found on the lovely blog Kitchen Unplugged which was a quick puff pastry although it still took a few hours. I rolled and rolled and rolled and even though mine didn’t look anywhere as neat as hers, when I baked it it became a golden, buttery wonder. There were so many layers I was stunned. Did I just make that? Really? I felt as proud as a new mother whose baby has just spoken a full sentence. If you do get the urge, and of course I don’t expect many of you to as it takes a long time, do try and make this puff pastry using your best butter. The supermarkets puff pastries are not usually made from butter (and if they are they’ll definitely be branded so and more expensive) and the amount of layers I got from this was simply astounding. The crunch, the butteriness and the delicious apple put rest to any apprehensions I had about it. Who knows, I might even be persuaded to make it again!
Dear Readers, if anyone has any advice on bathroom or kitchen renovations or any recommendations, please let me know! 
Oh and before I forget, Every Wednesday I’ll put up a new Wallpaper picture. We all know Wednesday is possibly even a worse day than Monday as you are neither fresh and relaxed from the weekend like on a Monday nor are you tired but looking forward to the weekend like you are on a Friday. There’s a reason why they call it Hump Day. So in the spirit of trying to get over the hump, instead of changing your job, you can change your Wallpaper! Sure it won’t give you a six figure salary boost or a job travelling the world but every little bit counts right? 
Welcome to the first Wallpaper of Wallpaper Wednesdays!
For instructions on how to install Wallpapers or to see past Wallpapers, click here!
Click here to read the full story
|
June 10, 2009
by Not Quite Nigella
Does the Log Lady means anything to you? If so, you were probably a Twin Peaks fan from way back. Not everyone tuned in to watch David Lynch’s dark, disturbing but also very comical and sensual TV series called Twin Peaks. However I was most definitely a Peakie or Peaker and stayed until the very end never missing an episode and would float away to the fictional smalltown in Washington to the strains of the haunting and evocative song “Falling” (and as I write this, I am listening to it).
The one dish that always had me salivating was the Cherry Pie at Norma’s RR Diner. FBI Agent Cooper would always order a cup of coffee and a slice of Cherry Pie whenever he’d visit the diner. “Coop” was one of my favourite TV characters ever and I like to pretend that Kyle McLachlan stopped acting after Twin Peaks. His roles as the impotent Trey McDougal and emasculated Orson Hodge completely lack any sort of sex appeal.
As for this tea set, I brought up the Log Lady earlier for a reason. I received this tea set from my parents for my birthday. The minute I saw it, I knew it had to be mine and when they asked me what I wanted I pointed them squarely in this direction. They’re from an online store called Have You Met Miss Jones and are made of the most gorgeous bone china with a detailed “driftwood” pattern although I just thought of the Log Lady and Snow White in the forest when I saw it. And of course another item that I got for my birthday was from Suze - an adorable stand Mixer timer (which I feel Norma would have used).
Now that Twin Peaks has been released on DVD I can dance dreamily to the music in the privacy of my imaginary Great Northern Hotel room accompanied by the Agent Cooper, Audrey, Andy, Donna, the log lady, the giant and the dwarf. And we’re all eating Cherry Pie.
Click here to read the full story
|
June 2, 2009
by Not Quite Nigella
I’ve spoken many times about my obsession with food from the Southern United States. From a purely surface view, the lyrical names always draw me in and upon closer inspection, the list of ingredients could have you either running away scared at the amount of butter and sugar or running towards it in a slightly perverse way. Of course I’m the latter.
It was cold and rainy weather but then out came a rainbow
Originally a recipe from the Pennsylvania Dutch and Amish, the Shoo-fly Pie (named because of the flies that it tends to attract that need to be “shooed” away) is a molasses pie with a delicious crumble topping. I confess that I do have an ulterior motive. It’s getting cold here in Sydney – seemingly suddenly so – and last night when I woke up at 4am I looked at the ceiling to where we have the weather projected from our weather station clock and saw that the dreaded numbers flip from 11.0 degrees to 10.9. Abominable really. And may I add we are supposed to still in Autumn?
If you make your own crust, it is a bit of a production and for this recipe I’ve just specified that you buy a pre-made crust so that the pie is incredibly easy to do). I tried to do something fancy with the crust, for no reason but to be decorative but it turned it from a very easy pie into a huge production. Nevertheless once cooked, I stuck my fork into the pie to see what it was like. The grainy sand part on top is a delicious, buttery crumble topping, but the molasses layer underneath is thick and rich and smokey. My husband gulped it down, loving the sweetness. I liked the first few bites but found myself worrying about my blood sugar levels half way through. And we know that’s no way to truly embrace Southern Cuisine.
Click here to read the full story
|
May 20, 2009
by Not Quite Nigella
There’s something I know for certain: it’s pie season. The cooler temperature and shorter days signal to me, the need for comfort food and even thought the temperature itself hasn’t dipped that much, it’s low enough for me to yearn for the heat of the oven. I’m a different creature in Winter. During Summer it’s all about salads and water but in Winter, it’s a pastry and soup fest. And this comparatively cool Sydney evening made me hanker for some pies.
We try and eat vegetarian a few nights a week for health reasons and to reduce our reliance on meat. That’s not a sign that I am about to go full time vegetarian – I tried that once and it wasn’t for me but it feels healthier and better for the environment to do so three to four nights a week. It also lightens our grocery bill which is a nice bonus for my husband who tears his hair out at the things I like to put in my trolley.
If you’re a hardened carnivore, you could certainly add some chicken to these but I do think that they are perfect as is although by all means substitute it with whatever vegetables you have to hand – 3.5 cups will do. One thing that I never really saw any point to was making your own pastry. That is, until I found an amazing Pâte Brisée shortcrust pastry recipe. I will say that if you are not so inclined to make your own, you can use store bought but this Pâte Brisée pastry is to die for. But don’t worry I haven’t lost the entire plot, I still bought the puff pastry. That would probably signal a descent into utter madness if I were to make my own puff pastry. Feel free to call the authorities to pick me up should that ever happen.
Click here to read the full story
|
May 5, 2009
by Not Quite Nigella
I’ve often thought to start a new series of recipes. They’d be called the “Ugly but Delicious” range. Whilst they may not elicit the same gasps of delight or frisson of electricity amongst the crowd as a delicate French Macaron, after an initial “Huh?” the eater would be reduced to making moaning, guttural noises of unchecked pleasure. This dish is one of them. A cobbler is like an upside down pie, or at least that was the way described to me when I first had one at South restaurant in Neutral Bay.
The cobbler topping recipe is adapted from Epicurious, after all it is an American dessert so I figured they would have a great recipe for it. As for the rest, banana is not really that frequently used as a cobbler filling as say peach, apple or cherry, but pay no mind to the historical inaccuracy. It tastes phenomenal and I think that’s all that should matter. I also used some caramel filling I made a while back and stashed in the freezer. Bananas and caramel are two perfect bed partners. And after serving this to someone, they’ll be dying to take you to bed too*.
*I give no actual promises of rumpy pumpy
Click here to read the full story
|
April 11, 2009
by Not Quite Nigella
What is NQN up to now?
NQN on Facebook
RSS
