Norm Mai Chi

My little brother and I have spent a greater part of our childhood in the kitchen as our parents owned a small Chinese takeaway business. Because we spent every moment being immersed in the culture and food, we generally prefer cooking anything but Cantonese Cuisine ... but the fact is my Mum's generation is not going to be around forever and I feel it is important to continue to carry on culinary traditions. My workplace is holding an international Australia's Biggest Morning Tea, so I decided it was the perfect opportunity for Mum to tutor me in the art of making Nor Mai Chi. Nor Mai Chi are custard filled sweets, enveloped in a glutinous rice flour pastry and finished with a dusting of coconut. Mum and I had lovely afternoon and I thought I would share with you a snippet of the conversation:

Mum: "We could put a piece of cherry on top of each one?"

Me: "I don't like my food looking like a boob."

Mum: "But it's the Cancer Fund and we could make two big ones."

Me: * Groan. * "It's Australia's Biggest Morning Tea, not Pink Ribbon Day."

My Mum's such a dork but I was a great bonding session. What have you learned to cook from your parent/s?

Apple Pie

I used to work with a lady who used to bake when she was angry. Maybe it's just me, but I can't cook when I'm emotional as I will most certainly will stuff it up. My first attempt at this pie ended up with mushy apples and over worked pastry. I retained the apple, binned the pastry, took a break before starting again. I then peeled, cored, sliced 7 large Granny Smith Apples. I then halved those slices and added them to a saucepan with 1/2 cup of water.

The apple and water was then brought to boil. I then reduced the heat to a simmer, covered the saucepan for approximately 10 minutes. The halved apple slices should be slightly softened. Drain the apples and then add 1 teaspoon of lemon rind and 1/4 teaspoon of ground cinnamon. Leave the mixture to cool.

In a bowl combine 2 cup plain flour, 1 cup self raising flour, 1/2 cup cornflour, 1/2 custard powder, 2 tablespoons of caster sugar and 200g of cool coarsely chopped butter. Rub the butter and the flour between your finger until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Then add two egg yolks and 1/2 cup of cold water (use your judgement as you may need more water) and knead until smooth. Halve the dough, roll and then smooth the pastry into a 25cm pie dish. I decided to use a flan tin.

Here is the lined tin. I then placed the tin in the fridge for 30 minutes to rest and preheated the oven to 220C/200c fan forced.

After the 30 minutes had pasted, I then brushed the case with egg white, filled the pie with the apple mixture, rolled the remaining dough out to create a lid. I brushed the lid with more egg white and sprinkled it with sugar. I made a small cross in the center before popping the pie into the oven for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes passed, I reduced the oven to 180C/160C fan forced and continued for 25 minutes or until golden.

Here is the finished pie and I was tell you it is delicious. It's the perfect winter warmer and smoothing balm for my soul.

Cupcake Parlour: Australia's Biggest Morning Tea Part 2

Today is the official launch of Australia's Biggest Morning Tea, which meant using all my cunning to devise a plan to procure a Cupcake Parlour Limited Edition Australia's Biggest Morning Tea Cupcake. Luckily for me, our CEO's Executive Assistant is expecting her first little born and is craving chocolate. So after planting the idea, I managed to hitch a lift to cupcake goodness. Yay! The Cupcake Parlour shopfront is enrobed in pink and chocolate and decorated with white outdoor furniture positioned on astro turf. It's an eclectic beast that fits perfectly into its West End surrounds.

As we walked through the door our eyes were delighted by the giant cup cake. It was just awesome ... but my hips objected so I decided to select from their range of delightful full size ($3.50 each) and bite size ($2 each) options.


This is only a sample of what you will encounter at the store and I can highly recommend the visit. The Oreo Cupcake is incredible but I also spotted a Cherry Ripe topped one that looked delicious. If anyone has sampled it, how did it taste? Caring is sharing the experience verbally. :)

Spanish Garden Steakhouse

The Breakfast Creek Hotel Steak is a Brisbane icon and you can enjoy it in two ways: The Staghorn Beer Garden or the Spanish Garden Steakhouse. The Spanish Garden Steakhouse basically consists of breezy courtyard (perfect in Summer but rug up if you dare to enter this icebox in winter) and full table service. For a few dollars more you receive the same Breakfast Creek Hotel Steak. We started our meal with some bread and I was disappointed to find the garlic bread was cold. Also disturbingly I found it difficult to determine what was actually on the Italian Bruschetta.

I decided to order a rare Petite Eye Fillet, with mushroom sauce, traditional coleslaw, bread roll and an idaho potato. The steak was just perfect, fresh, cooked perfectly and I enjoyed it immensely with a dab of mushroom sauce. The traditional coleslaw, however needed a little more dressing. Though it wasn't a bad experience, I didn't view the Spanish Garden Steakhouse as a highlight either. If you want to enjoy this icon, then the Staghorn Beer Garden is the way to go.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.
Address: 2 Kingsford Smith Drive, Albion, QLD 4010.
Open: 7 Days a week. Licensed hours: 10am - 2am.
Phone: (07) 3262 5988
Price: Entrees: $6.50 - $29. Steak: $32 - $40.50. Desserts: $7.50

Peasant

Being astute individuals, I am certain that you have begun to pick up a number of common threads in this blog. These include my love of Asian cuisine and the Barracks Complex. I do adore the Barracks as its close to the city center, offers free parking, numerous entertainment opportunities and a diverse array of cuisines. This particular evening Tania of Awesome and I decided to have dinner at Peasant before heading off to see an improvised theatre show. Peasant is a Spanish Tapas bar and offers a cosy bustling interior or a relaxed courtyard. We decided to settle in the courtyard and were soon presented with a miniature black board outlining the menu options. After some consideration we settled on the Seared Kingfish escabeche with white gazpacho (pictured above), Steamed Mussels, chorizo and Manzanilla and a gorgeous roast pork belly dish with potatoes and aioli.

The star dish was the steamed mussels as they were butter soft and the chorizo had imparted gorgeous fatty, smokey flavours. They came beautifully presented in a metal dish and were oh so moreish!

The special of the night was roast pork belly and this was a generous dish with large chunks of pork, golden potatoes and velvet aioli. The crackling and the potatoes were beautifully crisp but this dish was a little too fatty for my palette. However it isn't spoil my evening as each dish was beautifully fresh, the service was prompt and the warm atmosphere inside the establishment was pleasant. She isn't a peasant, she's a lady.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.
Address: 61 Petrie Terrace, Paddington, QLD 4000.
Open: Tuesday - Friday: 10am - 9pm. Saturday: 11am - 9pm. Sunday: 12pm - 9pm.
Phone: (07) 3367 8066
Price: Tapas: $6 - $26. Shared Plates: $25 - $32. Desserts: $12 - $22.

Mediterranean-style Picnic Cob

Some of you might have noticed that things have been a little quiet around the 'Eats Food, Hates You' sphere. It's not that I don't love you all or have lost interest in food, it's just be a frantic month between full time work, studying, impro, socialising and riding. Last week I competed in the Gap Active Rider's Group (TGARG) Dressage Day and to ensure I had something delicious for lunch, I made this Mediterranean-style Picnic Cob from Taste.com. It is dead easy to make, absolutely amazing and I highly recommend it. Don't be freaked out about their request for Eggplant dip with Shallot, I'd just substitute it with Baba Ganoush or Spring Onion Dip. Go on, give it a go ... it's so moreish.

Lasagne Vincisgrassi

The latest MasterChef Magazine has just arrived on newsstands and features the dreamy Adriano Zumbo on the cover. There are a number of recipes from Adriano Zumbo but I decided to have a good at the Lasagne Vincisgrassi recipe. Here is 20g of porcini mushrooms soaking in 250ml of boiling water. After they were soft, I drained mushrooms, finely chopped them before putting them into a large bowl. I also reserved the liquid.

500g field mushrooms (stalks removed) and 500g swiss brown mushrooms thinly sliced.

After sauteing the mushrooms, I added them to the large bowl containing the finely chopped porcini. I then chopped 60g prosciutto, 50g truffle paste and 3/4 cup of chopped flat leaf parsley. I then set the oven at 180C and turned my attention to the white sauce. The white sauce was made in two parts. In one pan add 750ml milk, 250ml cream, 1/2 cup of porcini liquid, 1 bay lead and 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg. Bring to almost a boil on medium heat. In another pan melt 100g butter and 100g plain flour. Cook until grainy. When both items are ready, gradually whisk the milk mixture in and it will soon thicken. Cook the sauce for another 5 minutes or until it thickens. Pour half the sauce into the mushroom mixture and reserve the rest.

In a lightly greased rectangular baking dish, coat the base with white sauce and then lay a lasagne sheet on top. Layer half the mushroom mixture, add 25g grated parmesan, lay another a lasagne sheet, the rest of the mushroom mixture and add another 25g grated parmesan.

Finally top with a lasagne sheet, the remaining white sauce and a layer of parmesan. Cook in the oven for an hour or until golden.

Cool for ten minutes before slicing and you can then tuck into your gorgeous piece of Lasagne Vincisgrassi.