I named this soup after me, mainly because I love home made soup but I dislike expending energy effort for things (cupcakes and cakes excluded). I’m convinced that pumpkin peeling and cutting is a task that’s reserved for people in hell (or whatever you happen to believe in) as its thankless, difficult and may risk a potential scrape of skin or loss of finger.
So the fabulous thing about this is that you wash the pumpkin, stick it on an oven tray lined with a baking sheet, turn your oven onto 200 degrees Celsius and let it roast whole for an hour (more if you have a particularly large whole pumpkin) while you do something much more worthwhile like read a magazine or watch tv. I prefer using whole pumpkins as they last longer than the cut versions. For very large pumpkins you can speed up the cooking process if you’re losing patience with your pumpkin (and I sometimes do when I’m hungry) after an hour you can cut it open into slices as it will be very soft to cut and this makes the cooking even faster and caramelises the pumpkin slightly too. If one thing, we’re safe from pegging him with an Oedipus complex such is the vast difference between his Mother and I (although we do get along very well).
If I am working from home I usually put this in the oven in the morning at about 10am and go and do some work and before I know it, its ready for lunch. The best thing about this, like most soups, is that it freezes so well. I realise that this is more a winter dish but the way that Sydney’s weather has been lately and with the rampant flu bug going around its definitely time for a renaissance!
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January 18th, 2008
by Not Quite Nigella
Its been a long time between Ramen feeds. I had tried to take my family to Ryo’s noodles over Christmas but found it closed for the holidays so Your Honour, I did make a failed attempt. When your husband is ravenously hungry, ramen seems the logical choice to fill him up and have him slurping happily. After some shopping and browsing at the Borders “library” at Bondi Junction, I was reminded of a place I had walked past a few times that advertised the magical word… “Ramen”.
Its a lot sleeker and more modern looking than your usual quaint ramen joint and the fairly extensive menu offers not only ramen, but also udon, curry rice, fried rice and sashimi . I accidentally flip to the last page first and I see what I want to order straight away, Tonkotsu Ramen $10.90, a collagen laden pork stock boiled for 3 days along with 20 types of vegetables and dried foods, intensely flavoured and rich. How could one refuse the offer for a facial treatment while slurping on noodles?
Dithering on what to get for the other dish, we settle for the easiest option, a dinner box complete with a little of everything from the menu, seaweed salad, teriyaki chicken, sashimi, miso and rice $15.90. There is a choice of grilled salmon, pork or chicken katsu or fish teriyaki but I need the sweet salty comfort of chicken. We also choose the takoyaki octopus balls as a starter $4.90. Its scarcely 5 minutes before our takoyaki and mains arrive within minutes of each other and good thing too as we’re hungry.
Takoyaki Octopus balls 5 pieces $4.90
The takoyaki are crispy on the outside, crispier than we’ve ever had them and gloriously soft on the inside. They’re definitely a contender for the nicest takoyaki I’ve had, even the ones cooked fresh at market stalls don’t have this crispy an outer and the contrast makes the soft filling even more luscious than normal.
Tonkotsu pork soup $10.90
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January 17th, 2008
by Not Quite Nigella
Like Amy Sedaris, I admit to a minor obsession with Gypsy this and Gypsy that. I haven’t met any of course, but whenever I’d hear Borat utter something about Gypsies, it’d always make me laugh. So when I saw this recipe for Gypsy toast, well you know I just had to make it. Perhaps I am from Gypsy blood. You never know these things I guess…
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January 16th, 2008
by Not Quite Nigella
Bay Tinh is an old favourite of ours, a restaurant that was introduced to us years ago by my foodie friend Queen Viv. And if you love a good story, the chef who started Bay Tinh arrived in Australia as a penniless refugee from South Vietnam from which had a distinguished career as the chef to the South Vietnam’s Prime Minister Khiem Tran. Now retired well past the retirement age, in 2007 he sold the restaurant to another boat person who had previously cooked for him. Since its refurbishment, its lost a little of its homespun charm, it seems more like a serious business where tables are squeezed much closer together and there are men in charcoal shirts and ties overseeing the floor. One good thing however is that whilst some things have changed, the food and the menu hasn’t. The old favourites are still on the menu and there doesn’t look to be much of a price rise. Phew! We like handovers like this.
There are some items that we just have to order, its the law in our family. These are the Bonfire Prawns $18.50, Crispy Pancake Banh Xeo $10.50 and the Little Rice Cakes Banh Khot 6 cakes for $7.50. The last two are so popular that we always order two of these so that everyone gets enough. We also order the Prawns wrapped in sugar cane $13, Braised Duck with peas Bach Hac Hau Co $13.50, King Prawn Curry Tom Cari $14.50, Caramelised Fish Ca Kho To $14.50, Lemongrass beancurd Dau Hu Xao Xa $9.50 and Fried Rice $9.
Crispy Pancake Banh Xeo $10.50
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January 15th, 2008
by Not Quite Nigella
The problem with reality TV shows is that if someone is fairly unknown to you before you see them in one, reality shows trivialise their qualifications. Forgetting that they needed some sort of great reputation in order to clinch the reality tv show deal in the first place. Take Queer Eye for the Straight Guy’s Ted Allen. The one dismissed as “the boring one” or “the one that doesn’t really seem that gay”. I assumed that he was just some guy that liked cooking and eating and had some good recipes but he had quite a career in food writing beforehand being contributing editor of Esquire, food judge, restaurant critic and documentary host.
And as an antipodean, I confess that until recently when Channel 7 started broadcasting Kitchen Nightmares, I knew very little about Gordon Ramsay except that he swore at lot and got very passionate or angry, however you looked at it, in the kitchen. I didn’t know much about what he actually cooked as I hadn’t been to any of his restaurants. I assumed that it would’ve been rather excellent as he inspired a lot of awe and nervous laughter from the chefs in the restaurants that he tried to save in Kitchen Nightmares and that his furrowed forehead was a permanent fixture, capable of reducing a junior cook to visible shakes.
I picked up his book Gordon Ramsay 3 star Chef in Borders the other day, a heavy $100 bright white tome. Flicking through it I had to sit down. The pictures were nothing short of awesome, the food and recipes jaw droppingly good with combinations you’d never have thought to put together in your life but upon reflection seem perfectly harmonious. The pastry section, “The Dark Arts” was of course my favourite and this was where the artist really let loose with flamboyant, fanciful and fabulous desserts.
I even saw a few recipes that I could do myself which was heartening. And because this seemed the easiest to replicate using my tried and true ice cream recipe that does not require an ice cream maker. I thought I’d make it first: Gorgonzola ice cream. Don’t let the idea put you off, its simply divine, even if you’re not a blue cheese fanatic like myself. The reason I’ve put such varying amounts of gorgonzola is for your personal preference but please don’t use any other blue cheese. Try it and defy me please…
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January 14th, 2008
by Not Quite Nigella
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