Octopus & Chorizo Salad

September 8, 2015January 16, 2019 amcarmen2 Comments

Hello Everyone! It’s the second week of Seafood Month and I’ve got something that is very simple to make, but quite possibly not commonly seen here in Brunei. I say that because for instance, I don’t exactly know where you can get fresh octopus from here in Brunei; I’ve not seen it in the markets around here before. Now you’re probably thinking, then where the heck did I get fresh octopus from for tonight’s recipe? Well, I made this dish when I was back in Sydney because I knew wouldn’t be able to cook this up when I got to Brunei. Plus, I really like this dish so I made sure I ate a satisfying amount of it before I went into deprivation.

I came across this recipe when I was at the Sydney Fish Market, I can’t remember who I was with, but we went seafood shopping. Just at the entrance of Peter’s Seafood, and the one a little bit further down the building near the fruits and veggie store (I forgot what the name of the market is called), there are these little recipe flyers that you can pick up for free. I think I took one of every recipe that they had 😛 So they had a recipe for Octopus and Chorizo Salad that I just had to try out! If you manage to get your hands on some baby octopus, I highly recommend you try this recipe out! It’s definitely a favourite of mine 🙂

PREP TIME 5 MINS* | COOKING TIME 6-8 MINS | SERVES 4

*Add 1-2 hours extra for marination time

INGREDIENTS

For the octopus marinade

400g baby octopus, washed and cleaned
1 lemon, juiced
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
3 tbsp olive oil

For the salad

1 bag (200g) mixed salad leaves
2 chorizo sausage, sliced
1 lemon, juiced
1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives, sliced
1/2 cup sundried tomatoes, sliced

METHOD

Combine all the ingredients needed to marinate the baby octopus in a medium-sized bowl. Set aside to marinate for about 1-2 hours or preferably, overnight. Before frying the baby octopi, make sure you pat dry them first.
Heat a little bit of vegetable oil in a medium-sized frying pan over medium-high, and fry the chorizo slices until golden brown. Remove from the heat and set aside on a plate lined with a paper towel to soak up any extra oils.
In the same frying pan, add the baby octopi in batches, and fry until it is cooked through, about 3-4 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to rest for about 5 minutes. Repeat with the remaining octopi.
Combine all the other ingredients for the salad in a large bowl together with the chorizo slices and baby octopi. Toss together and drizzle with a little bit of the sundried tomato oil.
Serve and enjoy!

BON APPÉTIT

– Ally xx

Pan-fried Salmon Bellies

September 3, 2015January 16, 2019 amcarmen1 Comment

Hello Everyone! Today I’ll be keeping it short as I don’t really have an elaborate story to tell for this recipe. I basically came across these beautifully cut, extra large salmon bellies when I was doing my monthly grocery trip to Paddy’s Market back when I was in Sydney. Salmon was already a favourite fish of mine, and salmon BELLY is THE favourite part of mine. To fully understand how much I love salmon belly, I can eat it all day every day, until of course that is, if I get sick from the amount of good fats I’m consuming!

Anyway, so as I was saying, while I was at the seafood market looking for some prawns and shellfish, I came across these bellies and they looked too good to pass up! They were a bit pricier than the ones that you kind find at the Sydney Fish Market, but these were fresher and handled with care when it came to cutting them. Other places that sold salmon belly cuts had bones in them and looked like they were a week old – I didn’t mind spending about 10 bucks a kilo more for a much better quality cut.

I couldn’t think of any way that I could cook these bellies so I did a bit of research online on ways to cook salmon bellies. The most popular way of cooking it was by baking it, but I didn’t want to bake them to be honest just because I know I wouldn’t like the texture of the fatty bits. Then I got to thinking about why I liked salmon belly in the first place – it was because I liked how my Mom used to cook a salmon portion back whenI was in Brunei, by pan-frying it until the skin is super crispy and the little bit of fat at the end of the portion was crispy on the outside, but then melted in the mouth when you ate it.

So that’s how I decided to prepare my salmon bellies for you guys tonight, by simply pan-frying them and then topping them off with a simple soy sauce mixture to slightly coat it with a bit of flavour – nothing too intense to mask the goodness of the salmon belly. Okay, I know I said it’d be a short introduction, but I kind of said that before I even knew what I was going to talk about – I was going to say that I wasn’t in the mood to write anything, but I guess we know now that that wasn’t the truth! 😛

PREP TIME 5 MINS | COOKING TIME 5-7 MINS | SERVES 2

INGREDIENTS

250g salmon bellies, washed and pat-dried
2 red bird’s eye chillies, sliced
2 stalks of spring onion, sliced
3 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
Ground salt and black pepper
Lemon wedge
Thumb-sized piece of ginger, julienned

METHOD

Heat the vegetable oil in a large frying pan over medium-high. Season the salmon bellies with a bit of ground salt and black pepper. If your salmon bellies are too long to fit into your frying pan, you may cut them in half.
Place into the pan, skin-side down and cook for about 2 minutes. Turn it over and cook for a further minute. Remove from the heat and set aside onto a serving plate.
Add in the ginger and chillies to the pan and sauté until fragrant, about a minute. Turn the heat off and then add in the soy sauce together with the spring onions. Pour over the top of the salmon bellies and squeeze a bit of lemon juice on top.
Best served with some steamed jasmine rice. Enjoy!

BON APPÉTIT

– Ally xx

Yeniköy Café and Restaurant

August 30, 2015January 16, 2019 amcarmenLeave a comment

Hello Everyone and welcome back to an all new Review Sunday! I have a quick review for you tonight on the blog, and when I say quick I mean that I will only be covering 3 dishes from this place. I was supposed to go back to this place a few more times to try out their lunch and dinner menu, but I didn’t get to before I left Sydney. Hopefully the dishes I cover today will make you want to give this place a try if you haven’t already paid them a visit. The dishes I will be showing you today are quite simple, but packed with flavour, and I really felt like I was in a different place – Turkey? I’m not sure since I’ve not been. If you want to check out their menu a little bit than what I will be showing you today, click here.

If I remember clearly, Jialing, Yvonne, and I were being indecisive on WhatsApp the night before – well, I wouldn’t say indecisive, more like I wanted to go to a certain place (SHUK to be exact in North Bondi), but Yvonne didn’t want to go too far off from the city because she was sick that day. Then we couldn’t agree on a time because again, BRUNCH at 10am was too early for Yvonne, so we finally came to a compromise to meet at 11am instead so that we wouldn’t miss out on Yeniköy’s breakfast menu.

Anyway! I came across Yeniköy by simply just walking along King Street in Newtown – don’t know when it was or why I was in Newtown in the first place (quite possibly to eat anyway). Also, did you know that Yeniköy is Turkish for “new village” which is a pretty fitting name for a café and restaurant to be residing in the hip streets of Newtown. I think I walked past Yeniköy a number of times, but had never actually gone in until this brunch of ours. I was quite intrigued by this place, not by the food at first, but the ambience of the place as I quickly glanced through the huge glass windows – “wood furniture, stone panelling, lanterns, and Edison light globes”, Besides that of course, I was intrigued by their menu that’s Turkish with a Modern Australian twist to mix it up a bit.

Even though we all ordered a dish each, we shared everything together so that we could get a little taste of each other’s dishes – I mean, it’s a common thing that we do whenever we eat out tougher anyway 🙂

BREAKFAST MENU

KIYMALI GÖZLEME: Beef mince and vegetables gözleme with side vegetables ($13.00)

For those of you who don’t know what a gözleme is, it is basically a savoury traditional Turkish flatbread that is filled with various meat (minced beef, chopped lamb, fresh or smoked seafood, sucuk, pastirma), vegetables (spinach, zucchini, eggplant, leek, chard, various peppers, onion, scallion, shallot, garlic), or a combination of both, and/or cheeses, then sealed and cooked over a griddle. The flatbread is made of hand-rolled dough that is lightly brushed with butter and eggs.

This was the dish that I ordered and wished I had all to myself because it was pretty amazing. I’ve had gözleme before, but only at the Glebe Markets, and those tasted pretty great too. The beef mince filling tasted really good and the flatbread was nice a crisp. The “salad” on the side was a bit disappointing though because it was just a mixed leaf salad with cherry tomatoes and cucumber (which I personally don’t like). I guess that doesn’t matter anyway since the gözleme was the highlight of the dish!

SUCUK BRUSCHETTA: Turkish sausages, tomatoes and eggs on a toasted Turkish bread, topped with melted mozzarella cheese and pomegranate molasses, and served with rocket and side vegetables ($17.00)

This was Yvonne’s dish, and I can’t remember if she liked it or not, but I remember that the only thing I really liked on this plate was the scrambled eggs – light, fluffy, and well seasoned. Again, the side vegetables weren’t anything special, and I don’t know, neither was the bruschetta to be honest. I’m actually not a fan of bread that has been toasted until crisp because then it just becomes too dry for me and too hard to chew, especially the crust – which was what this bruschetta was. I like my bread soft. But hey, the dish wasn’t a bad dish at all, it’s just my personal preference, or I guess, me being picky.

TURKISH SUCUK AND CHEESE PIDE: Traditional Turkish lamb and beef mince sucuk and cheese pide with a crack egg ($14.00)

Jialing ordered this dish, and before I start, I’m going to tell you a story. So, I can’t exactly remember where or when, but on a different occasion to this, I saw ‘Pide’ on the menu and ordered it, unsure really on how to pronounce the word. So when I ordered it, I pointed at it and hesitantly said to the waitress, “can I have the… pide (pie-duh)“. She knew I was struggling to pronounce it, and she said, “one pide (pee-deh), yeap”. So I told this to Jialing and Yvonne when we saw Pide on the menu. I told them that it’s pronounced pee-deh but Jialing insisted that it was pie-duh because one of our mutual friends said so. To end our not-quite dispute over the word, Yvonne told me to say pie-duh to the waitress and see if she would correct me – I wasn’t going to make a fool out of myself again so when the waitress came over to take our orders, I said pee-deh, but Yvonne butted in and said pretty loudly with an exclamation mark PIE-DUH! I started laughing and so did the waitress, and she said it’s pronounced pee-deh.

Anyway, so now that you know how to pronounce pide (pee-deh), on to the actual dish – it was good, but again nothing really that special to be honest.

To be perfectly honest, I was a little underwhelmed with the dishes that we had at Yeniköy, but obviously, this is just one person’s opinion. I really wished I had gone back for lunch and/or dinner because the dishes that those menus looked more enticing than what we had. All in all, we had a good time because even though the food was mediocre for us, it wasn’t bad at all. We shared a lot of laughs and remembered this day as “the time that Yvonne was sick” (a little inside joke between the three of us), and overall just enjoyed each other’s company in a very nice café on King Street. Ambience and service is a sure 10 out of 10, food a 7 maybe because I still enjoyed the food and their other menus looked great too. Value for money, maybe a 7 too – it’s not overly priced, breakfast that is, not sure about the lunch and dinner menu.

Yeniköy Café and Restaurant
480 King Street
Newtown, New South Wales
Australia, 2042

– Ally xx

Garden Bar at the Grounds of Alexandria

August 17, 2015January 16, 2019 amcarmen3 Comments

Hello Everyone and welcome back to an all new Review Sunday! Before I begin, I hope you’ve been enjoying the recipes produced by my guest bloggers, my one true love, Jialing Mew, and of course my new friend Brendon D’Souza, for the past two weeks. I’ve really enjoyed hanging out with them and cooking with them in the kitchen before I left to come back home to Brunei. Stay tuned for the next two weeks, I’ve got another friend who will be guest blogging, and a special someone whom without her, this blog may not even exist!

So anyway, for those who have been following my blog for a while now, or those who just know me personally, will know that The Ground of Alexandria is a place I keep going back to for the food and just the overall vibe of the place… oh and for the cute waiters at the Potting Shed as well *cheeky grin* If I did not already mention this in my previous review on the Potting Shed, there is another café/restaurant as well as various food stalls in and around the Grounds. I’ve been to and had food at the Garden Bar three times now and the food never fails to impress my tastebuds and fill my tummy up with delight. The first time I was here, I went alone for the Christmas Markets back in 2014, shopping for gifts for my friends, eating food, and meeting Santa Claus! Would you believe that that was the very FIRST time I ever got to meet Santa and sort of sit on his lap? Yeah, what a childhood I’ve had right? Anyway, Santa said to me “it must be my lucky day!” referring to the fact that he’s had a couple of women taking photos with him before me.

The second time I came back to the Ground and had food at the Garden Bar was with my family when they came to visit for a holiday and my graduation ceremony in early May of this year. I decided to take them to the Garden Bar and enjoy the eats of the various food stalls. There were a lot of people, as usual, and it was difficult to snag a seat for four, but luckily we were able to find one under the lovely winter sun within 15 minutes of arriving. My Mom and my sisters fell completely in love with the food, as well as the atmosphere and overall vibe of the place – just like me. The third time I came back and had food from the Garden Bar was during a catch up session with Vidhya – well, I had been stalking the Instagram page of the Grounds and found out they were selling waffles that weekend so I HAD to go (and drag Vidhya along of course since we planned to hang out that day). Vidhya, if you’re reading this, correct me if I am wrong, I think I made you fall in love with the Grounds as well!

THE GARDEN BAR BREKKY: BRUNCH BURGER
with halloumi, caramelised onions, and rocket on a brioche bun ($10.00)
add chorizo (+$3.00)

I ordered this burger before when I went to the Grounds by myself during the Christmas festivities. I ordered it with the chorizo, but then completely forgot to add on that as an extra when I ordered it for the family to share. So instead it was a vegetarian burger with extra garlic sauce; nonetheless, it tasted great without, but still would’ve been even better with the chorizo! I think I’ve mentioned this before in many blog posts, and many of my friends know this – I’m not a huge fan of burgers, and even though this tasted pretty good, I am still not a fan of them.

THE GARDEN BAR LUNCH: JUMBO SALT & PEPPER PRAWNS
crumbed and dressed with garlic, lime, coriander or chilli ($15.00)

THIS. That’s all I pretty much need to say about these prawns really; cooked, crumbed, and seasoned perfectly. The prawns melted in your mouth at every bite and tasted so well with the extra chimichurri sauce I drizzled on top! The prawns were by far my favourite dish from the Garden Bar – was sad to find out that they weren’t on the menu when I returned with Vidhya for round 2! (Side note: extra sauce comes at no price! They’re at the collection counter in massive bottles waiting to be drizzled onto your food!)

THE GARDEN BAR LUNCH: CHICKEN WINGS (feast for one, 8 wings)
crumbed and accompanied with fiery chilli or BBQ basting sauce ($12.00)

Another one of my favourites from the Garden Bar; we ordered the fiery chilli wings and though it wasn’t the fiery that we’re used to, it was still deliciously good, juicy and tender! If you’re tastebuds don’t fancy some spicy wings, I’m sure that the BBQ won’t disappoint. There’s also another option if you want more wings, which is 20 wings for $20.00!

THE GARDEN BAR LUNCH: BBQ CHICKEN ROLL
spit roasted over ironbark & charcoal, served with salsa and your choice of sauce ($12.00)

This Vidhya had when I took her to the Grounds; you have the choice between chicken, beef, or lamb as your meat, and you can either have it as a roll or a salad. Vidhya of course, only eats chicken, thus the chicken roll. I can’t remember if I had a little taste of the roll or not – I’m guessing I didn’t since I can’t remember, but anyway, I’m sure the roll tasted really good since pretty much everything on their menu had been spot on for me. Vidhya seemed to enjoy it 🙂

THE GARDEN BAR LUNCH: SMASHED AVOCADO
with tomato, feta, dried chilli flakes, and fresh mint from the garden ($9.50)

I’m usually not a fan of ordering smashed avocado when it comes to eating out. The reason being is that it’s basically just a piece of toast with smeared with smashed avocado and topped with feta, tomatoes, etc. Something that I can easily whip up myself at home to be honest. But alas, I knew that going out with Vidhya for “brunch” would turn into late lunch – and surprise surprise! We ended up getting to the Ground at 1pm when we decided to meet up at 11:30am. Anyway, yes so my instincts were right to have something to eat before meeting up with Vidhya to eat again 😛 So since I wasn’t overly starving, smashed avocado was the only light thing on the menu besides the roll/salad, or burger. Nonetheless, I did enjoy the smashed avocado – I mean, you can’t really stuff that up I guess.

SIDES: SWEET POTATO FRIES ($8.00)

When you see sweet potato fries on the menu, how can you ignore it?! Drizzled with extra garlic aïoli sauce ❤

ORGANIC JUICES: TROPICAL FLAIR
watermelon, pineapple, apple, lime ($8.00)

Refreshingly good!

GARDEN SMOOTHIES: MANGO
fresh ripe mango, dried mango, and natural low-fat yoghurt with the goodness of chia and flax seeds ($8.50)

Though it wasn’t mango season the time I ordered the drink, it tasted heavenly!

CHOCOLATE AND RED VELVET WAFFLES ($9.00)

THIS IS THE REAL DEAL HERE; basically the main reason why I keep going back to the Grounds. I cannot stress out how many times I’ve been to the Grounds for the waffle stall that left me disappointed on so many occasions. I say disappointed because no matter when, and every time I find myself at the Grounds, the waffle stall was ALWAYS closed. There was one time I even waited around at the Grounds for 2 hours for the stall to open and kept pestering the lady at the dessert stall, asking when the waffle stall would open. I got tired of waiting, and eventually just had food from the Garden Bar and then left. When the Grounds posted a picture of their Chocolate and Red Velvet Waffles on Instagram, I knew I had to make a trip over for them; I was overly happy! Even though I was already so full from all the food I had that day prior to waffle eating, I finished all three waffles (with the help of Vidhya who took one or two small bites because she too was already full). Definitely worth my 9 bucks!

Once again, the Grounds of Alexandria never fail to disappoint me every time I visit. Each time I visit is a different experience; also because I’m with different people whenever I pay a visit to explore the gardens, the markets, indulge in the food. and of course say hi to the various farm animals such as Kevin Bacon the resident pig. The atmosphere and overall vibe of the place is a sure 10 out of 10 for me – it can get very crowded during sunny weekends, but nevertheless, it’s all part of the experience really; I mean, it’s crowded for a reason! Food I’d give a 9 out of 10 (only because I feel I’d be too biased if I gave them a 10 out of 10 for food even though they really deserve the 10). Seating can be a bit of a hassle to find especially when the Grounds is packed with people and kids. Vidhya and I ended up sitting on the ledge of one of the garden beds along with other people, but if you’re okay with that, I see no problem here. The Garden Bar has a good value for money, definitely much cheaper than the Potting Shed for reasons that are apparent anyway in terms of the quality of the food served and the ambience of the Potting Shed in comparison to the gardens. If you haven’t seen my review for the Potting Shed, or want to recap on the dishes from there (the menu might be different from my review and now since seasons have past), click here.

Garden Bar at the Grounds
Building 7A
No. 2 Huntley Street
Alexandria, New South Wales
Australia, 2015

– Ally xx

Bacon, Beer & Potato Soup

July 31, 2015January 14, 2019 amcarmenLeave a comment

Hello Everyone! Today is the last day for Winter Warmer Month *sad face* and I’ve got something that the men may like: Bacon, Beer, and ‘Tater Soup (aka “Man Soup”). Towards the end of June, when I was planning Winter Warmer Month, I came across this recipe in my research and decided to give it a go for one reason, and one reason only – it was just because it was called Man Soup, which I’m guessing comes from the bacon and beer.

If you are, or have been following my Instagram through my blog, you may have noticed that I have been posting a few photographs that show somewhat symmetry (asymmetry) breakfast/brunch/lunch/super late lunch photographs that have been inspired by the symmetrybreakfast guys that have been trending last weekend. I showed them to Jialing and we then decided to have our own symmetry breakfast this past week and it’s actually quite fun! Today, as you can see above, we had bacon, beer, and potato soup, well, we were supposed to have a different brekky this morning but since I was already preparing this for the blog, we decided to have soup instead.

The original recipe can be found on Food.com – I pretty much followed the recipe, but adjusted the quantities, probably not very accurately since I kind of just winged it to make two servings.

PREP TIME 10 MINS | COOKING TIME 1 HOUR 10 MINS | SERVES 2-4

INGREDIENTS

330ml (1 bottle) beer
250g maple-glazed bacon, cut into bits
50g vintage cheddar cheese, crumbed or grated
1 cup chicken broth
2 large potatoes, peeled
1 celery stick, sliced
1/2 brown onion, halved and sliced thinly
1/4 cup plain flour
2 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp light sour cream, plus more for topping
Ground salt and black pepper to taste
Olive oil

METHOD

Preheat oven to 200C (400F or gas mark 6). Line a baking tray with foil or parchment paper and rub the potatoes with a bit of salt and some olive oil. Bake in the oven for about 45 minutes, adjusting the cooking time if needed to make sure that they pierce easily with a fork.
As the potatoes cook, heat a medium-sized pan over medium-high and add the bacon bits. Fry until crispy. Once done, use a slotted spoon to remove the bacon bits and transfer to a plate lined with a paper towel.
Next, add in the onion and celery slices to the pot with the bacon grease and sauté until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Then add in the butter and continue stirring until it melts.
Sprinkle the plain flour over the onion/celery mix, stirring continuously until it starts to form a paste-like texture, and the flour and fats are combined smoothly. Keep stirring it for a further 5 minutes until it becomes a blonde roux (a light tan colour).
Slowly pour the chicken broth into the roux, adding more and more at a time to get the roux into a creamy texture. Once all the broth has been added, pour the beer into the soup slowly, a little at a time and continue to stir.
When the potatoes are done, cut them into small chunks and add them to the pot, stirring to incorporate into the soup.
Using a handheld stick blender, mix the entire mixture into a thick stew. Add water to thin if necessary, however don’t add too much liquid until the blending is done. Then, add the sour cream and cheddar cheese, and let the soup continue cooking for a further 15-20 minutes on medium-low.
Turn the heat off, and divide equally into serving bowls (2 large bowls, or 3-4 small bowls) and top with the crispy bacon bits and a dollop of sour cream. Enjoy!

BON APPÉTIT

– Ally xx

Minty Pea & Ham Soup

July 23, 2015January 14, 2019 amcarmen4 Comments

Hello Everyone! I’ll keep today’s story short today just because I don’t have much to tell or write about for this recipe. However, I do just want to say that this was supposed to be a recipe for Pea and Watercress Soup, but for some reason I could not find watercress anywhere even if I did see them on the shelves two/three weeks ago when I didn’t need them. I had all the ingredients ready from grocery shopping two days ago, except the watercress. Maybe they’re not in season hence the lack of? Well I just did a Google search after writing that sentence and it appears that watercress is a late spring, early summer vegetable in Australia, available from October to December. Oh well. Anyway, so when I went to the shops yesterday morning as a last resort and could not find watercress, I decided to change my soup menu for today and bought a pack of ham for a pea and ham soup instead! I guess no harm done, but such hassles to find what could not be found.

I completely forgot that I had mint leaves in the fridge hence why not pictured in the ingredients shots. I think I wanted to use the mint leaves for the recipe with the watercress soup, but it completely slipped my mind when I had to change the menu. Also, at that time I couldn’t find my bottle of thickened cream when I rummaged the fridge; I found it in the end though, at the very back of the fridge…

PREP TIME 10 MINS | COOKING TIME 30 MINS | SERVES 3-5

INGREDIENTS

2 cups frozen green peas
2 cups chicken broth
1 pack (300g) shredded ham
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
1 large potato, peeled and cut into chunks
1 small red onion, diced
1 small carrot, peeled and cut into chunks
1/2 bunch mint leaves
Ground salt and black pepper to taste
Thickened cream

METHOD

Heat a little bit of cooking oil in a large pot over medium-high. Add the shredded ham and fry until browned (about 5 minutes). Remove from the pot and set aside.
Add a little bit more cooking oil and sauté the garlic until golden brown and fragrant. Then add in the onions and cook until soft. Add in the carrots and potatoes, and season with a bit of salt and black pepper. Leave to cook for about 5 minutes.
Add in the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Once boiling, let it cook for a further 5 minutes before adding the green peas in together with half of the fried shredded ham. Bring the heat down to low and let it simmer for a further 10 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.
Turn the heat off, and throw in the mint leaves. Then, using a stick blender, blend the ham and vegetables together with the liquid in the cooking pot until smooth.
Divide the soup equally into serving bowls (3 large bowls, or 4-5 small bowls) and top with the remain shredded ham, a dollop of thickened cream, and mint leaves. Serve immediately with some toasted bread.

BON APPÉTIT

– Ally xx

Hearty Chicken Chipotle Soup

July 21, 2015January 14, 2019 amcarmenLeave a comment

Hello Everyone! Another week, another soup on the blog today! Just three more soupy recipes to go until the end of Winter Warmer Month, and gosh until the end of July as well! I can’t believe time has flown by that fast! It’s making me said because that basically means that I have about 2 weeks left in this beautiful city that I have called home for the past 4 and a half years. It’ll be heartbreaking to leave, but it’s time that I get my career life together and make that transition from uni life to a professional working life.

Anyway, enough about how my life is and will be for the next few weeks/months/years, let’s get onto today’s recipe shall we? If you’ve read my previous blog post on my Moroccan Pumpkin Soup, you might remember me going on about how I can’t believe that they don’t sell chipotle peppers in any of the big grocery stores here in Sydney. Well, when I was out doing a quick shopping run at a with my friend Marissa (basically just buying extra ingredients to go with our dinner for that day), I tried my luck to see if the Asian store that we went to sold chipotle peppers. To my surprise, they did, canned and in adobo sauce as well! My reaction was sort of like a what the *bleep* is this for real kind of reaction. I even said to myself that I should’ve popped by this store before I went all Moroccan on my pumpkin soup, and this was honestly like 2 day after I had posted my pumpkin soup recipe. Since they had them in store, and only 4 cans remaining, I decided to buy a can and figure out ow I can use them for another recipe seeing as I practically went cuckoo trying to find these peppers.

Today I had actually scheduled a recipe for Cauliflower and Stilton Soup, but instead, seeing as I had the chipotle peppers, I decided to do a Hearty Chipotle Chicken Soup. The soup that I made is the exact definition of a Winter Warmer Soup; it had a nice kick to it from the chipotle peppers, and a lovely sweetness to it from the corn, while the beans and the chicken meat bulked the soup up. You can find the original recipe on Taste of Home. I’ve tweaked the method a bit as well as some of the ingredients for my recipe.

For the chicken broth, I bought 2 chicken carcasses from the butcher and boiled it together with some bay leaves, sea salt, black peppercorns, and ginger for about 45 minutes to an hour to get the flavour into the broth. I then shredded the meat from the carcasses and used them to bulk my soup up instead of using chicken breasts as the original recipe used. I also used fresh field grown gourmet tomatoes and roasted them over the gas stove to give it that flame-roasted flavour to them for my soup. Yes I probably picked the most time consuming way to make this soup, but it was all worth it in the end I believe. I completely forgot to deseed the chipotle peppers, as the original recipe stated, before adding them to the soup, but I’m glad I didn’t because, though it gave the soup a good kick, it wasn’t as spicy as I thought it be. If I had deseeded them, I don’t think they give the heat that I had with this dish.

PREP TIME 10 MINS | COOKING TIME 1 HOUR 20 MINS | SERVES 3-4

INGREDIENTS

3 cups chicken broth
3 small field grown gourmet tomatoes, flame-roasted and cut into chunks
2-3 dried bay leaves
2 large chicken carcasses, washed and cleaned thoroughly
2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, sliced or minced
2 ears of corn, cut from the cob
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
1 small red onion, diced
1 can (400g) cannellini beans, drained
2 tsp adobo sauce (from the chipotle peppers)
Fresh cilantro or coriander
Ground salt and black pepper to taste
Thickened cream or sour cream
Thumb-sized ginger, sliced
Whole black peppercorns

METHOD

Add the chicken carcasses together with the bay leaves, ginger, salt, and whole black peppercorns, to a large pot with enough water to cover the chicken. Boil for about 45 minutes to an hour over medium-high heat. Remove the chicken carcasses from the broth and set aside to cool. Strain the broth into a bowl and discard the bay leaves, ginger, and peppercorns. Set aside for later.
Once the chicken carcasses have cooled down, pull the meat from the chicken carcasses and shred to small pieces. Set aside.
Heat the same pot over medium-high with a little bit of cooking oil. Sauté the garlic until golden brown and fragrant. Then add in the onions and cook until soft. Add in the shredded chicken pieces and season with a bit of salt and pepper. Give it a good mix and follow with the adobo sauce, chipotle peppers, cannellini beans, sweet corn, and tomatoes to the chicken mixture. Give it a good mix and let it cook further for about 5-6 minutes before adding the chicken broth in.
Bring to a boil. Once boiling, bring the heat down to medium-low and let the soup simmer away for a further 10-15 minutes to ensure all the flavours blend together.
Divide the soup equally into serving bowls (3 large bowls, or 4 small bowls) and top with a dollop of whipped thickened cream and fresh cilantro. Serve immediately and enjoy!

Anyway, before I end this post, I would just like to share my experiences of how I’ve heard other people try to pronounce chipotle (chee-poat-lay). The very best, and even I still remember until now even if it’s been just about 2 years ago, I’ve heard chip-poh-lah-tay from Jack Harries (jacksgap) on YouTube when he was doing a chilli challenge with Jamie Oliver, also note the way they say jalapeño, jah-lah-pee-nose instead of HAH-lah-pen-yose.

BON APPÉTIT

– Ally xx

Cuckoo Callay

July 19, 2015January 15, 2019 amcarmen4 Comments

Hello Everyone and welcome back to an all new Review Sunday! Now, I’ve been back to the places twice already, once earlier on this year in February for my last brunch with friends in Sydney before I left to go back to Brunei. The other time I went here was with my family towards the end of May this year to try out their new menu, and to obviously take them to a favourite café of mine (yes I really liked this café from the very first visit I made with my friends). Anyway, the dishes that you are about to see below are a bit muddled in a sense that you will see dishes from their Bacon Festival which launched in the second week of February. The festival lasted for about 6 months I think, and is now no longer on their menu, but don’t fret! They have a whole new menu out and I will also be looking at a few of those dishes in today’s review.

Firstly, the Bacon Festival; sadly over, but the deliciousness will forever remain! Though I’ve been following the café on Instagram for a while back then, I never really found the chance to pay a visit. When they launched their bacon festival, I made it my mission to go at least once before leaving or else I’d miss out on the festival forever! It was such a great sunny fall day spent with very close uni friends. It was my second last day in Sydney at the time and therefore my last brunch as well before I went back to Brunei. I mean, clearly seeing that I’m back in Sydney, it wasn’t actually my very last time – I just said that at the time because I wasn’t sure if I’d make it to the June graduation sessions, and if I didn’t that meant that I’d be away from Sydney for 9 months until November 2015. I’m glad that I was able to graduate in June, so really I wasn’t gone for too long, but I do only have 2 weeks left in Sydney before I leave for good *sad face*

We decided to all order a dish each, and share amongst the 5 of us so that we’d be able to get a taste of everything bacon! Also to note down, all their bacon goods are free range and sourced from Australian pig farmers by Black Forest Smokehouse.

BACON DAWG: Maple glazed bacon sausage with gruyere cheese sauce, tomato and quince relish, crackling, and dill mustard pickles ($16.00)

My least favourite from the dishes that we ordered and only because I don’t like mustard or pickles, so dill mustard pickles? No! Otherwise if I can recall, my friends quite enjoyed this dish, but it wasn’t their top pick amongst the other dishes. I did love the sausage as it was juicy and succulent, as well as the crackling though, well what I could get of it I suppose since we were all probably going for it!

BACON ALL THE RULES: Black Forest Smokehouse maple bacon, bourbon bacon, bacon steak, bacon sausage, and bacon-crumbed poached eggs served on sourdough ($24.00)

This dish, though nothing special for me personally seeing as I could whip up something like this at home myself, was a good dish. It was jam packed with meat, eggs, and toast; a classic hefty breakfast. I know this is probably something you probably wouldn’t comment on, but the eggs we’re cooked perfectly with an oozy, runny yolk. I’m commenting on the eggs because you would not believe the many places I’ve been to that say poached eggs and the yolk was a disappointment – basically overcooked. Cuckoo Callay did not disappoint!

DON’T GO BACON MY HEART: Beer candied bacon and popcorn chicken burger served with beer and tomato chutney, mustard aioli, and ‘slaw on brioche ($19.00)

I don’t really remember if I liked this dish or not – then again I guess not being able to remember a dish means that it didn’t have an impact on me. I don’t think it was bad, but it didn’t impress either. As long as there was bacon, but not just any bacon, beer candied bacon!

BACON, GET IN MA BELLY: Pork Belly with sticky sweet chilli and fennel seed sauce with bacon, caper, coriander, and lime salad ($20.00)

This was my second favourite dish from the festival. The pork belly was chunky and crispy which was well accompanied by the sticky sweet chilli sauce/glaze it had. The squeeze of lime over the pork belly was a nice hint of freshness along with the capers and coriander. I don’t really like the taste of coriander so I just picked the capers out and ate those 😛

YA BACON ME CRAZY: Buttermilk waffles with house-made bacon, caramel and cinnamon ice cream, Black Forest Smokehouse maple bacon, maple syrup, and chocolate coated bourbon bacon ($20.00)

MY FAVOURITE DISH OF THE BACON FESTIVAL! I love bacon, I love waffles, I love caramel, I love cinnamon, I love ice cream, and I love caramel cinnamon ice cream. Altogether? Heaven. Need I say more? Well, I guess the only things I can say negatively about this dish was that the waffle was a bit soft for my liking. I’m all about the crispy waffle! Otherwise, a superb dish.

BLOODY BACON CUCKOOTAIL ($14.00)

I have no words for this, well I do but it’s going to be very biased. For starters, I’ve never had a Bloody Mary before so I was definitely taking a chance on this drink. But bacon makes everything better right? I’m afraid to say not in this case. One of my friends even made the comment saying that, “it tastes like cold pasta sauce” and after that comment, I could not get the image of drinking pasta sauce out of my head. I told you it’d be biased, but for Bloody Mary drinkers, this would probably be heaven for you guys.

So as mentioned above, I was able to revisit Cuckoo Callay a second time with my family when they came to visit. The bacon festival was sadly over (I think the weekend before they arrived actually), but they had a whole new menu out for everyone to enjoy! Before I get into the food, I need to tell you a story about what happened at the café; it’s nothing bad, in fact it was hilarious and I will never forget this story. Anyway, when our dishes came to our table, I of course, whipped out my camera and started taking photos of the dishes. Moments later, I’d say about less than 5 minutes later, our waiter (a charming and cheerful lad I might add), returned to our table and said quite loudly and playfully, “Why haven’t you guys started eating?! Is there something wrong with the food?!” followed by a small giggle. I replied, “I’m taking pictures!” to which he then responded, again playfully with a hint of sympathy, “Oh okay, so everyone has to wait I see”. My Mom then said, “She has a food blog” to which he then gave that raised-head ahhhh expression, and then walked away. It was quite hilarious! I’ve taken so many pictures of food before at cafés/restaurant, but never have I ever been why I’m not eating my food. Well honey, if you just wait for me to be done with my pictures, I’ll gladly eat the food!

Anyway, below are just a few of the dishes you can find at Cuckoo Callay:

GEORGE’S GORGEOUS COUSIN (vegetarian and gluten-free): Marinated avocado and thyme infused confit heirloom tomatoes on sourdough, goats curd, house made basil pesto, lemon herb gremolata, and a 63degree egg ($17.00)

My sister Angela had this dish and I of course had a little bite of it so that I could at least write about the taste of the dish. What I really loved about this dish was the marinated avocados; I mean avocados alone are already just good nought for me with a crack of sea salt and black pepper, but these were simply divine. I can’t quite make out what they marinated the avocados in, but they tasted a bit tangy? Anyway, they tasted so good that I think I might’ve had a bit too much of the avocados than I was offered to have!

PURPLE RAIN (gluten-free): Beetroot cured salmon, organic quinoa, chargrilled broccolini, sugar snap peas, avocado, kale, chilli, feta, toasted almonds, and 63degree egg ($21.00)

This was the dish that I had and though the avocados weren’t marinated, I still believe that I made the right choice in ordering this for myself. The dish was packed with lots of flavours and textures, and the runny yolk from that 63degree egg just tied the whole salad together. The cured salmon was something new for me in a sense that I’ve never had beetroot cured salmon before and though it was nice, nothing can compare to Devon Café’s cured salmon for me!

WE FOUND MARY’S LAMB: 16 hour slow cooked Moroccan spiced lamb, Israeli couscous, chermoula marinated eggplant, minted yogurt, and pistachio ($22.00)

My youngest sister Alyssa ordered this dish, well more like I ordered the dish for her since she had no clue on what to order. The lamb was very tender and really had that Moroccan flavour packed in it. I really liked the Israeli couscous for the way it looked only because I don’t think I’ve ever seen couscous so big and so round! Besides those two elements, everything else on the dish tied nicely together.

EGGS ON TOAST: soft scrambled ($9.00) with extra marinated avocados (+$4.00)

My mom, though she enjoys food a lot, isn’t much of a big eater and so I ordered a simple eggs on toast with marinated avocados for her. You can choose how you want your eggs, whether soft scrambled, 63degree, or fried, and what extras you would like to go with it from crispy bacon, beetroot cured salmon, duck sausage, to grilled haloumi, marinated avocados, etc. Take your pick really to whatever suits your tastebuds. Anyway, of course before ordering this dish, I had no idea how good the avocados were, so after tasting them from my sister’s dish, I was quite happy with the decision to get extra avocados for my mom’s dish only because it meant that I could have more avocados *insert evil laugh* Anyway, what else can I say? The scrambled eggs were light a fluffy, the way it should be and toast is toast.

One thing that I noticed with Cuckoo Callay’s menu (both for the bacon festival and their new menu), is that they are very creative with naming their dishes; even my Mom found it very amusing! Overall, both dining experiences were delightful, and both the company and the quality of service was on point. If I recall, we had to wait a while for our dishes during the bacon festival, and that was only because the café was jam-packed with a lot of customers. We even had to wait 45 minutes in line to be seated, but altogether worth the wait I must say. The festival did not disappoint! Value for money? Like I mean it’s definitely worth your money in comparison to other places that I’ve been too. My Mother on the other hand, of course having just arrived from Brunei where you can probably get a similar dish for half the price, found it quite expensive. However, before she and my sisters left to go back to Brunei, she did comment on how yes eating out is definitely more expensive in Australia, but you get double the portion than you do back home. I’d give value for money an 8/10. The food probably a 8/10 as well; some minor issues due to personal taste, but nothing bad or mediocre about the food to give it a lower rating.

Cuckoo Callay
Newtown Railway Station
Shop 324B Erskineville Road
Newtown, New South Wales
Australia, 2042

– Ally xx

Cayenne Crab & Corn Bisque

July 16, 2015January 14, 2019 amcarmenLeave a comment

Hello Everyone! We’ve made it halfway through Winter Warmer Month and today I’ve got something for spicy and seafood lovers out there. Well, I mean maybe not all seafood lovers will fancy this just because I know some people who do love seafood, but can’t do crabs because of its taste/texture, or even prawns because of the way it looks. Anyway, if you like spicy, crab, and sweet corn in a nice creamy soup, then this recipe is for you!

A bisque is basically a soup of French origin from a crustacean-based broth (either from lobster, crab, shrimp, or crayfish) that is smooth, creamy, and highly seasoned. Traditionally, you would extract the flavour from imperfect crustaceans that are not good enough to sell at markets. In an authentic bisque, the shells are ground to a fine paste and added to thicken the soup. Seafood bisques are traditionally served in a low two-handled cup on a saucer or in a mug. However, not all bisques contain seafood. Bisque is also sometimes used to refer to cream-based soups in which pre-cooked ingredients such as squash, tomato, mushroom, and red pepper are puréed or processed in a food processor.

Anyway, two days ago I went to the Sydney Fish Markets with my roommate Marissa (from Maiyummy) and her friend Rachel to indulge in delectable seafood plates from the barbecue and grill place, as well as purchasing some fresh seafood for our own cooking. I bought some live flame clams and blue swimmer crabs for this particular recipe. Actually, I hadn’t planned on making a seafood bisque for Winter Warmer Month, but as soon as I knew that I was going to make a trip to the fish market, I had to do a seafood soup of some sort! Anyway, enough talk and let get to the menu shall we? You can find the original recipe over on All Recipes; I changed the order of the method and the seasonings but it still worked out fine.

PREP TIME 10 MINS | COOKING TIME 45 MINS | SERVES 4-6

INGREDIENTS

450g fresh crabmeat (I got mine from blue swimmer crabs)
2 ears of corn, cut from the cob
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
2 dried bay leaves
1 small-sized onion, diced
1 cup chicken broth*
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup thickened cream
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tbsp plain flour
1 & 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper powder
Ground salt and black pepper to taste

*I made my own by combining chicken carcasses, salt, pepper, bay leaves, and a bit of ginger in a pot of water and boiled it for about 45 minutes to an hour, otherwise store bought broth, or a chicken cube/powder with water will do the trick as well.

METHOD

Wash and clean the crabs thoroughly and place in a steamer and steam for about 20 minutes. Once done, remove from the steamer and set aside to cool. If you’ve purchased crab flesh in a jar, then you can skip this step altogether.
Melt the butter in a large pot over medium-high heat, be careful as to not brown/burn the butter. Add the garlic and sauté for about a minute or two before adding the the onions and cooking them until soft.
Add in the corn kernels followed by the bay leaves, cayenne pepper, salt, and black pepper. Mix around and cook for about a minute or two before adding the chicken broth in with the mixture.
Bring the broth to a boil and leave to simmer for about 10 minutes. Remove 1 cup of the soup and set aside.
Reduce the heat to medium-low and pour in the thickened cream. Using a stick blender, blend the corn together with the liquid in the cooking pot until smooth. Turn the heat up to medium-high once again and return the unblended soup to the cooking pot and mix well.
In a small bowl, stir together the flour and milk. Slowly and constantly stir the mixture into the simmering soup. Stir in crabmeat (leaving a few pieces behind to decorate with) and cook until warmed through, about 5 minutes.
Divide the soup equally into serving bowls (4 large bowls, or 6 small bowls) and top with some crabmeat, corn, cayenne pepper, and fresh afro parsley.

BON APPÉTIT

– Ally xx

Classic Cream of Mushroom Soup

July 14, 2015January 14, 2019 amcarmenLeave a comment

Hello Everyone! I know, this recipe may not be as exciting as the three Winter Warmer soup recipes that have gone up on the blog for this month, but everybody loves an easy creamy mushroom soup. Well, at least I know without a doubt that I love me a nice bowl of mushroom soup. Even at buffets that I have been to, I always dive into a nice bowl of mushroom soup over whatever was the other choice of soup.

Anyway, I’ve made this recipe a couple of times before and I remember the last time I made this soup was last year during my meat free week which was the week before Easter Sunday. That whole week was difficult indeed because I would always be so hungry after 2 hours of having my meal which then made me sad and upset. What did I learn from this experience? I can’t live without meat in my diet, and therefore I will never be able to convert to a vegetarian. I can have a no meat day, but a week let alone forever? Nope!

You may notice that there are some ingredients missing in the picture from the list, and that’s only because I remembered when everything was chopped up already that I was missing the butter and flour. The dash of worcestershire sauce was actually unplanned, I just came across the sauce in the pantry as I was searching for the pepper mill.

PREP TIME 10 MINS | COOKING TIME 25 MINS | SERVES 2-3

INGREDIENTS

300g cup mushrooms, sliced
2 pcs portobello mushrooms, cut into small chunks
2 cups pork stock*, or vegetable stock
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 brown onion, sliced
3 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tbsp plain flour
Dash of worcestershire sauce
Ground salt and black pepper to taste
Pinch of dried thyme
Thickened cream

*I had about 2 cups of rich pork broth that I didn’t want to throw away from tenderising a piece of pork shoulder to teach my friend how to make roast pork cracking, so I reserved it and decided to use it for this recipe. Otherwise, plain vegetable stock is fine for a vegetarian option.

METHOD

Melt the butter in a large pot over medium-high heat, be careful as to not brown/burn the butter. Add the garlic and sauté for about a minute or two before adding the the onions and cooking them until soft. Then add in the mushrooms, seasoning with a bit of black pepper, salt, and thyme. Cook until the mushrooms are tender.
Add the pork stock in and a dash of worcestershire sauce. Bring to a boil. Once boiling, let it cook for a further 10 minutes. Scoop out about a tablespoon of the stock and place into a small bowl together with the flour. Mix until there are no more lumps and the mixture becomes a thick paste. Return to the pot and incorporate well into the soup. Continue cooking the soup until it starts to thicken, about a further 5 minutes.
Turn the heat off, and scoop out about a heaped ladle of the soup and mushrooms. Set aside.
Then, using a stick blender, blend the mushrooms together with the liquid in the cooking pot until smooth. Return the unblended soup to he cooking pot and mix well.
Divide the soup equally into serving bowls (2 large bowls, or 3 small bowls) and top with a dollop of thickened cream and fresh afro parsley. Serve immediately with some toasted bread.