Italian pizza in Australia on Lebanese Bread

It wasn't until moving to Sydney that I was able to fully appreciate some of the nuances of the Australian accent. Sure, I grew up watching Neighbours, but how often did they say 'pizza'? Or more to the point, 'poiza'?
Jonathan used to make his own dough for our pizzas & tomato sauce for the base. Now for a quick meal he uses lebanese bread with tomato paste spread on as the base. 
Favourite toppings include: basil, mushrooms, olives, capers, mozzarella, artichokes, baked ricotta & lately - anchovies. 
The lebanese bread goes really crispy and crunchy and they don't take long to cook at all. 
Poiza anyone? Yes ploise! 

Easter Saturday Menu

EASTER SATURDAY DINNER

with Cathy, Roger, Bec & Jane

served by Jonathan & Mel

ENTREE

Roasted figs with gorgonzola served on a witlof leaf & garnished with fennel & white peach, dressed with mirin & grapeseed oil jus & topped with finely sliced parsley

MAINS

BBQ salmon with a horseradish crème & caper salsa, garnished with fennel, chives, coriander & dill

Mushroom, caramelised onion & gorgonzola tart

Mushroom, caramelised onion & artichoke tart drizzled with chilli butter sauce

Salad of nashi pear, with parmesan & pecan, dressed with a white mustard seed dressing

DESSERT

Mini sticky date puddings with vanilla ice cream topped with pecan crumble & soaked in an Khalua & caramel sauce, garnished with sweet sugar droplets

Cauliflower Cheese Please

We were lucky enough to be adopted by Jo & her family this Christmas as we stayed in Sydney. We went over to Jo's place in Bronte for dinner and they had prepared a beautiful Christmas feast. There was ham & turkey and lots of vegetarian options for Jonathan & me. One of them was cauliflower cheese - & it was delicious. It was so long since I'd had this dish & since Christmas I've made it quite a few times. I'm not a real fan of winter, but I do like winter food & am looking forward to having this cheesy dish again as the months get colder.

To make this I parboil the cauliflower and then cover it in a baking dish with a cheese sauce - much like the one you'd use for lasagne. I use whatever cheese we have at home, but like to include something with a bite, like parmesan or extra tasty.

I lightly cook some onion rings that go on top before the dish goes in the oven. On the meal pictured below I've added some dukkah that Jonathan had made for another meal. It gave a really nice crunch & flavour as it had cumin and coriander seeds in it.

Once you've got your cauliflower cheese in the oven & it starts bubbling & the top has gone a lovely golden colour, get it onto your plate & enjoy that delicious cheesy-ness this winter.

Crispy roasted beetroot stems

Yum! Some people love beetroot. I like it enough, but when we roast it, its the stems I love! We all know you can eat the root & the leaves, but what about the bits in between? Keep those stems & roast them in olive oil & salt until they're crispy & delicious.

For this meal we had baked parcels (see Baked feta & rosemary parcels - my current fave), roast beetroot & stems served with cottage cheese & cracked pepper.

Baked figs with gorgonzola & mirin jus

Our neighbours in Taumarunui had a fig tree that we used to climb & eat the fruit of. More often than not though the figs would be left on the ground to rot.

I think my Mum would have made jam given the chance, but its hard to believe we could have let the fruit go to such waste.

Jonathan's parents came to visit last weekend & bought some lovely fruit while here - mango, passion fruit, plums and figs.

Jonathan baked the figs in a deep dish and put the gorgonzola on just before taking them from the oven. Many people don't like gorgonzola - if that's you I'd suggest buying dolce ('sweet') as it has more of a creamy taste.

Jonathan mixed the caramelised fig juice from the baking dish with some grapeseed oil & mirin. Grapeseed oil is lighter than olive oil and mirin is a sweet rice wine available in most supermarkets. He then poured this mix over the figs, before garnishing with fresh parsley from our balcony garden. The mirin in the sauce is a great sweet complement to the blue cheese.

These make delicious entrees and you would only need one or two each because of the strong flavours - great with a glass of wine.

Note: this is the first time I've used the world 'jus' - but a quick search tells me it means 'the natural juices given off by the food' so I think it fits perfectly.

Golden Sugar Magic

Keeley & Mat came for dinner last weekend & it was my job to make dessert. I made Sticky Date Pudding from a recipe in the Essential Vegetarian Cookbook. The recipe was really close to being the same as the one in Stephanie Alexander's book which surprised me, but perhaps its a recipe thats been perfected & doesn't need much work?

What we did differently though was use our beloved muffin tin to make individual serves. It worked really well & I'd highly recommend it. Instead of cooking for 55 mins, this way it took just under 20 mins & its really easy to serve them with delicious vanilla ice cream.

Jonathan told me he wanted to try something he'd seen on Poh's Kitchen that morning and set himself up in the kitchen with aluminium foil & a pastry brush while I entertained the guests (ie/ made vodka cocktails and laughed heartily at my own jokes).

Meanwhile, Jonathan heated four parts sugar in one part water over a good heat and stirred it until the sugar dissolved and the liquid was clear. Then he stopped stirring and let the water bubble. He had some cold water & a pastry brush on hand to wipe the sides of the pot so no sugar would stick to the sides & burn.

At this stage you need to keep a careful eye on the sugar mix as it will eventually & quite quickly turn golden. It's important now to take it off the heat before it gets to the colour you want as it will continue to darken. Put the pot in cold water to stop the sugar cooking. The sugar is now molten hot so be really careful around it!

Jonathan then got two forks & crossed the tines over & dipped them in the sugar mix once it had cooled down to a gooey consistency. Next, from a great height, he kind of tossed the forks in the air over the aluminium foil as though he was 'painting a fence really fast, up and down.'

The sugar goes everywhere so you need a big space with aluminium foil on it. The sugar will then harden like toffee and you can break it off and put it on your dessert. The higher you can throw the sugar mix, the more likely you are to be able to make a kind of sugar net.

I'm not sure I would have even attempted this culinary feat, but I'm considering removing the kitchen cupboards above the bench just to see how high Jonathan can work that sugar magic.

Asparagus & black sesame tarts - no tomato sauce allowed

Another take on the mini frittatas - this time by Jonathan. He went off into the kitchen one night and came back with these fabulous creations. Mushroom, cheese & asparagus tarts with truffle oil, caramelised onion & broccolini, topped with black sesame seeds. The rocket salad was delicious: marinated artichokes & pine nuts with a white balsamic dressing.

The craziest thing was these puff pastry triangles that accompanied it. So yummy & great decoration. He baked them in the oven & drizzled them with olive oil. There's something about puff pastry that always makes me want to reach for the tomato sauce - but to do so this night would have been a sin punishable by sentence of a lifetime of sausage rolls, so I resisted the urge.