About Agnes

http://www.offthespork.com

Melbourne, Australia

Posts by Agnes:

Steak!

Salted steak meal

I read a blog yesterday that had a tip on how to turn a cheap cut of steak into a more tender steak – see Jaden’s Steamy Kitchen here.

If you can’t be bothered going to the link, I’ll paraphrase. The idea is that you take a thick piece of steak, coat it very liberally with salt, and then leave it for 15 minutes to an 1 hour. After the time has passed, rinse off all the salt, pat the meat dry, and then grill/fry as per normal.

And the science behind it: initially the salt draws out moisture from the meat. But after sitting for a while, some of the salty water gets sucked back into the meat, and that salt does something to the proteins that makes it more tender. Hello, tender steak!

Sounds too good to be true? I think an experiment is in order!

Today at the market, I bought some pieces of cheap rump steak. I salted two pieces as per the instructions on Steamy Kitchen with some crushed garlic and peppercorns. I used about 4 teaspoons of sea salt crystals, and crushed them into smaller crystals with garlic and peppercorns. In the interests of science, I left one piece as a control: no salt, only covered with crushed garlic and peppercorns (yay science!).

Salted steak prep

The control steak. Who loves garlic!

Salted steak prep 2

The two pieces of salted steak. Have I mentioned that we love garlic?

After 30 minutes, I pulled the steaks out of the fridge to rinse them. There was an obvious difference between the control and salted steaks. The salted steaks were glistening with moisture, and the control was dry. I rinsed the salt off the salted steaks, and the garlic and pepper off the control and patted them very dry.

To cook them, I probably should’ve used a pan, but I was lazy and stuck them in the George (Foreman Grill). After pulling them out of George, and resting them for 10 minutes, I was ready to submit the steaks to the test!

I salted the control steak just before eating, then took alternative bites of the control and then the salted steak. The salted steak WAS salty, and the garlic had penetrated all through the meat. MHMMM. Was it more tender? Yes, it was! I didn’t think it was an astounding difference, but it WAS noticeably more tender. And on the plus side for the salted steak, the control didn’t have much garlic flavour.

But, like I said, the salted steak was salty. It was just the right amount, but leaving it covered in salt for more than 30 minutes (or using more salt) would probably have been too much.

So the results are in (yes, I know I should’ve done a double blind test to be truly scientific): salting your steaks does seem to make them more tender and flavourful. It’s worth a try if you like steak.

Jamie inspired roast lamb

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Roast lamb

This (rather unattractive) roast lamb was inspired by a recipe in Jamie Oliver’s book, Cook With Jamie. In the book, he has a recipe for Mad Moroccan lamb (page 170 if you have it).

Jamie’s recipe looked wonderful, but rather involved, and it included cous cous. I adore cous cous, but the Boys are not fans. But I liked the idea of the spices, especially since we all have colds. Subtle flavours are a bit lost on us at the moment.

I served the lamb with balsamic chickpeas (adapted from Jamie’s recipe) and roast potatoes. For the potatoes, I parboiled them whole, then cut them in half and tossed in a glug of olive oil and 1/2 teaspoon of cumin seeds, coriander seeds, chilli flakes plus a good seasoning of salt and pepper. They went into the oven for half an hour.

The lamb was too well done for my liking, but it still tasted good. I’m an “bit of this, bit of that” kind of cook, so truthfully I have no idea if all the spices and stuff I put in are necessary for yumminess. Possibly not, so consider the recipe below a guide more than anything!

Roast lamb dinner


Jamie inspired roast lamb with balsamic chickpeas and roast potatoes

Serves 6-8

For the lamb

1 x 2kg shoulder of lamb
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
2 teaspoons coriander seeds
2 teaspoons black mustard seeds
2 teaspoons chilli flakes
6 large cloves of garlic
Zest from one lemon
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 teaspoons salt

For the chickpeas

1 large red onion, peeled and sliced
1 cinnamon stick
salt and pepper
1 x 400g tin of chickpeas
100ml good quality balsamic vinegar
200ml water

Preheat the oven to 220 degree C. Score the lamb in a criss cross pattern about 2.5cm apart.

In a mortar and pestle, crush the garlic cloves with the salt.

In a dry pan, toast the cumin seeds, coriander seeds and black mustard seeds over a medium heat until fragrant. Tip them into the mortar and pestle and add the chilli flakes. Crush it all together, then add the lemon zest and lemon juice. Mix it all up with a spoon, it should be like a paste. Rub this all over the meat, making sure you get it into the cuts. Put the lamb on a rack in a roasting pan and put into the oven for about 1 & 1/2 hours (mine went in for 2 hours which was too long unless you like well done meat). After the lamb is cooked to your liking, take it out of the oven and allow it to rest for 10 minutes.

For the chickpeas, heat some olive oil in a large saucepan and fry your onions and cinnamon with a pinch of salt and pepper for about 15 minutes or until softened. Don’t hurry this. Add the chickpeas with the water and the vinegar. Simmer on a medium heat until nice and thick, then remove from the hob and serve with slices of the roast lamb.

Belgian Waffles

Waffles

When we went to Auckland, there was only one thing that I wanted to take back. My mum’s waffle maker.

We bought the waffle maker over 10 years ago, and I have many fond waffle memories. I’ve had a look for a waffle maker here in Oz, but have only seen one that shapes them like a penguin. Wtf? So I was happy that our visit to mum and dad’s meant I could finally have waffles again!

First weekend back from Auckland, and waffles was on the menu! I found a recipe on from allrecipes.com here. It contains yeast, so a fair amount of time is required – over an hour before the waffles are ready to be cooked. I prepared the batter the night so that it was all ready to go in the morning.

The waffles weren’t very sweet, so they definitely needed some icing sugar or syrup. And they weren’t as thick as I wanted, but I think that’s the fault of my waffle maker. With all the extra effort that went into a yeast batter, I’m not entirely sure it was worthwhile. Next time I’ll have to try a baking powder batter to decide whether yeast is worth the time and energy.

Oh, and the recipe made a GAZILLION waffles. (If you want to be accurate, gazillion = 15.) Alastair never eats more than me, unless he’s ingesting pancakes, waffles, french toast and cake. He managed 3 and a half, but his appetite for sweet brunches is astounding and I would suggest that two is probably a more normal number to eat.

Braised pork with star anise and ginger

Braised pork with star aniseIt’s a good thing that there’s internets. Instead of having something interesting to say, I can tell you about something interesting I read! Look at this article on the Guardian that discusses food combinations, and check out the recipe for Braised Lamb Shoulder. Apparently star anise, when combined with onion, enhances the flavour of meat. I think some experiments are in order!

The recipe for the braised pork above was from taste.com.au here. The only changes I made was to substitute the dry sherry for some chinese rice wine, add another clove of garlic (we love garlic), and double the amount of soy sauce as I didn’t use stock – just water. It was a satisfying meal.

Cauliflower and broccoli fritters

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Roast cauli

Broccoli has been one of my favourite vegetables for several years. This winter though, I’ve been turning away from it in favour of it’s close relative, the cauliflower.

Last week, having both cauliflower and broccoli in my vegetable crisper, I wanted to find a way to eat them both. I often do stir fry, occasionally some roast vegies, and I wanted something a bit different. Something with a bit more oomph.

After mulling over it for half a day, a light bulb went on in my head. How about fritters? A google search soon threw up a couple of recipes for a very basic cauliflower fritter. I decided to sex it up by adding some roasted cumin seeds, which gave them an aromatic, peppery edge.

We ate the fritters wrapped in flat pita bread and with home made hummus (recipe from taste.com.au here). The following day, the three of us stood around the kitchen bench and ate them cold. Gosh they were good.

Next time I make these I will skip the flour and dip them in egg and dried breadcrumbs instead. I suggest you try that rather than following my recipe and rolling in flour.

Broccoli fritters

Cauliflower and broccoli fritters

Serves 4

600g cauliflower
400g broccoli
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
Fresh breadcrumbs
Flour
Salt & pepper

Wash the cauliflower and broccoli and cut into small florets. In separate pots, boil the florets until tender in well salted water. Drain the vegetables, transfer to a bowl and mash.

In a dry frying pan, lightly toast the cumin seeds over medium heat. Crush in a mortar and pestle and tip into the cauliflower and broccoli mixture.

Add the garlic and egg, and season well with salt and pepper. Work in enough breadcrumbs to obtain a fairly stiff mixture (possibly about 3/4 cup? I didn’t keep track…).

Wet your hands and form the mixture into balls then roll them in flour. Heat a frying pan on medium heat and fry the fritters until golden.

Drain them on absorbent paper and serve.

60 years of marriage

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Cake

My grandparents celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in the weekend. A banquet was held at Grand Park Chinese Seafood Restaurant in Auckland. I stole one of the menus that was displayed on each table, and if any of the dish names seem a bit weird, well, I copied them directly from the menu.

Grand Pork BBQ and Suckling Pig Mixed Platter

First dish out was Grand Pork BBQ and Suckling Pig Mixed Platter.

Jellyfish

Jellyfish was part of the platter. I love jellyfish. It doesn’t have much flavour, apart from the sauce that it is generally dressed in (normally sesame oil, soy sauce and sometimes chilli), but the texture is great. It’s crunchy but soft.

Pork

The pork crackling was very crispy. I love crunching through the skin to be met with the fat underneath. Mhmm. Next to the pork on this plate is some roast beef.

Stirred Scallop with Macadamia Nuts

Next was Stirred Scallop with Macadamia Nuts. There was no skimping on the nuts in this dish. Truthfully, I found them a bit weird. I like macadamia nuts, I just wasn’t sure about them stir fried with scallops and vegetables. The crispy noodle nests were good fun though. They tasted just like uncooked 2 minute noodles!

Deep Fried Golden Prawn Balls

These were the Deep Fried Golden Prawn Balls. It’s hard to go wrong with deep fried food, but they could’ve used a bit more oomph. More seasoning, or some spices perhaps.

Soup

Next we had a bowl of Shark Fin Soup with Shredded Chicken. The red stuff is vinegar. Shark fin itself doesn’t have much taste – like jellyfish it’s about the texture. This soup was a disappointment as there wasn’t much flavour.

Lobster

After the soup came the Lobster in Superior Sauce (I don’t know what made the sauce so superior!). This was a large lobster – and there was one for each table! My Bro ate half of it by himself as he was the only one willing to get messy and crack the legs.

White chicken

This dish was Steamed Marinated Chicken, eaten with a dipping sauce of oil, ginger and spring onion. Hoorah for the chicken head!

Steamed fish

The Steamed Live Blue Cod Fish was U-G-L-Y. Not sure what they meant by “live” but the flesh was soft and delicious. There’s a word in Cantonese that is used to describe the texture of food – the closest translation I can think of is silky. The fish was silky.

By the way, if you ever get presented with a fish like this, try eating the flesh from the cheeks. It’s very soft and delicate. Since no one else on the table looked interested, I ate one cheek and gave the other to Alastair.

Fish Maw and Chinese Mushroom

The Fish Maw and Chinese Mushrooms on seasonal vegetables was interesting. The abalone (paua!) in the middle was thinly sliced but slightly chewy. It had a stronger flavour than I normally associate with abalone. The interesting part about this dish was the fish maw (it’s the whitish stuff you can see). Fish maw is the gas bladder that helps fish control buoyancy. When eating it I was struck by the gelatinous texture and then the fattiness. It didn’t taste fishy at all – just fatty. Really fatty. Ick.

Two further dishes came out before cake and dessert. The last two dishes were fried rice and long life noodles. I didn’t bother taking photos of them because they were just fried rice and noodles. Everyone was so full at this stage that they were barely touched.

Read bean soup

Dessert was Red Bean soup. I wasn’t that enamoured. It needed more sugar and they used dried orange peel when cooking it. I find the dried peel too overpowering. My mum makes good red bean soup. She’s shown me how to make it, and the last time I tried, I mistook kidney beans for red beans (I don’t know where my head was at – they’re completely different!). I think I ended up making a big pot of chilli instead.

Long Life Buns.

And finally, we were served Long Life Buns. These steamed buns are shaped and tinted like a peach.

Long Life Buns inside

Inside the soft buns was lotus paste and salted egg yolk. Love the contrast of the salty egg yolk with the sweet lotus paste. I didn’t think I could eat any more but I managed two because they were delicious.

It was such a pleasure to be there while my grandparents celebrated their years of marriage. Maybe one day Alastair and I will celebrate our 60th wedding anniversary (if we’re long lived enough!). What a lovely thought.

Grand Park Chinese Seafood Restaurant
Cnr Manukau Road & Greenlane East, Alexandra Raceway (Gate B)
Epsom, Auckland

Phone: + 64 9 638 6998

Auckland: Sunshine Chinese Restaurant

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Somewhere between Auckland and Melbourne I caught a cold. Right now my head is a bit fuzzy and my memory of the dinner below isn’t great…. Even the pictures haven’t jogged my recall much so apologies for the lack of details. It didn’t help that I never looked at the menu – the ordering was done by the “adults”. No matter how old you get, when you’re with family you become a kid again.

Our first night in Auckland was my Aunt Miriam’s birthday. We loaded up the van (something that can take half an hour with my family) and headed off for an early dinner at Sunshine Chinese Restaurant. A sign on the door said that it was Auckland’s best Chinese restaurant, as decided by Cuisine magazine in 2005 and 2006.

Soup

Dinner started off with a bowl of thin Chinese soup.

Soy sauce chicken

Next out was the soy sauce chicken. The flesh was slippery and tender.

Chicken Head

The chicken head was left on for presentation. Cluck cluck!

Pork spareribs in plum sauce

Pork spareribs in plum sauce.

assorted cold meats

This was assorted cold meats – roast pork, roast beef, roast duck and, my favourite of the plate, jellyfish!

Green beans and minc

Green beans and mince – this dish was rather salty, but good eaten with rice. I would’ve preferred more spiciness.

Seafood and tofu hotpot

Seafood and tofu hotpot. The hotpot was delicious – the seafood was sizzling hot and just cooked through. I also enjoyed the tofu which had soaked up lots of sauce.

Beef strips and celery

Beef strips and celery. I think that the beef had just been dipped in flour and stir fried. It looked like the beef should be crispy, but it wasn’t.

eggplant hotpot

The eggplant hotpot was probably my favourite dish of the night. The eggplant was very, very soft. My only wish was for some chili to go with it.

Birthday cake

This was my Aunt’s birthday cake. My cousin, Anthony, blew out the candle (he’s 5).

Birthday cake

The cake was okay. I dislike fake cream, so points off for that.

Sago

And finally, a bowl of sago to finish off. I love sago. It was a good ending to the evening.

Sunshine Chinese Restaurant,
39 Market Pl, Viaduct, Auckland
Phone: +64 9 302 3322

Plane Food: Emirates

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There’s a sure fire way to gain a couple of kilos in a weekend – spend time with my family. This weekend, Alastair, my Bro and I flew to Auckland to celebrate my grandparents’ 60th wedding anniversary. (60 years! How incredible is that?!)

From the moment we got on the plane we started eating, and didn’t finish until we got back to Melbourne. Al and I flew Emirates (the first time I had flown with them) and I was impressed. I loved the plane (an Airbus A340-500 I think), I loved the hot towels they handed out just before take off, and the food – well, considering we were 40,000 feet in the air, the food was pretty good!

On the flight over to Auckland, we were served brunch. There were two choices – an omelette and chicken.

Emirates breakfast

Alastair had the omelette with gruyere cheese accompanied by creamed spinach, tomato wedge, grilled veal sausage and rosti potatoes. I had a moment of panic when the flight attendant asked me what I wanted and I choose the omelette. Al picked the chicken and we ended up doing a swap. After I saw him eating the omelette, I wanted it back. It was super cheesey, and I like cheese!

Emirates chicken

I had the sauteed chicken with mushroom sauce served with creamy mashed potatoes, buttered green beans and carrot batonettes. Even though I had cheese envy, this wasn’t bad. The mushroom sauce was well flavoured, and the vegetables still retained a bit of crunch. The mashed potatoes could have used more seasoning but I couldn’t be bothered trying to find my tiny packet of salt amongst all the other stuff on my tray.

Emirates crackers and cheese

The obligatory bread roll, and cheese and crackers. I was happy that the butter (in a little packet) was spreadable but was intrigued to see that it was white. It was Australian butter too.

Emirates fruit

What I had of the fruit was good. There was strawberry, a couple of red grapes and some pieces of rock melon and honey dew. Al got my rock melon and honey dew as I’m not a fan. I did eat a piece to confirm that I don’t like it – yes, that dislike is still there.

Emirate dessert

Light cheesecake with strawberry topping and whipped cream. This was a bit light on the strawberry flavour. And I didn’t realise it was cheesecake until I checked the menu to type out this entry!

The flight back we were served dinner, with two choices – New Zealand lamb ragout or pan-fried blue cod. Al and I both went for the lamb.

Emirates lamb

The lamb ragout was served with roasted pumpkin, buttered green beans and creamy herb mashed potatoes. This smelt SO good. The lamb was tender and the sauce was rich and savoury.

Emirates bread

I mopped up the rest of my sauce with my bread roll. And then polished off the cheese and crackers.

Emirates salad

The appetiser was sliced charsiew duck served with marinated Thai glass noodle salad. There was also a salad with ginger dressing.

Emirates chocolate dessert

Dessert was a rich chocolate gateau/mousse with pistachio and raspberry coulis. Couldn’t taste or see the pistacho, but I enjoyed the texture of the mousse and the raspberry against the chocolate.

I’ll post about the two main meals we ate in Auckland over the next few days. There was lots of food, lots of family and lots of photos!

Rainy days

Soup

A big bowl of home made soup would be perfect on a rainy day like today.

No recipe, because no one needs a recipe for beef and vegetable soup. Throw whatever you have into a big pot and let it simmer.

Soup makes me feel good about being inside on a rainy evening. I know what I’m having for dinner!

Cafe Plum (closed)

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Cafe Plum

Every few weekends, you’ll often hear a conversation in my house that goes something like this:

“Should we go to a café for brunch?”

“Okay! Where should we go?”

“Let’s go to our favourite.”

“Our favourite….?”

“You know! Our favourite café!!”

“Ummm…”

“OUR FAVOURITE! Plum!”

“Plum! Oh, that’s my favourite! Let’s go there!”

Plum is our current café of choice, and yet the Boys never know what I’m talking about. Sigh. It can be hard being the smart one in the house (haha).

Located across the road from the Royal Melbourne Children’s Hospital, Café Plum is small, but it’s cookin’. While I do enjoy a good poached egg on toast, when I go out for brunch I generally feel like something a bit different. There’s only so much eggs and toast that you can stomach before you get bored.

That’s one of the great things about Plum. The menu has more interesting things than just bacon and eggs and there’s always a couple of specials up on the board. A couple of specials that I’ve seen (and eaten): Ricotta hotcakes with smoked salmon and horse radish crème fraîche, Cuban fried eggs with fried banana and chorizo, and Mozzarella in Carrozza (fried mozzarella sandwich). For sweet brunches, there’s items like pancakes with banana and French toast with a touch of orange blossom syrup. (I can’t recall the sweet brunches as well because I prefer the savoury ones!)

The regular menu has a couple of interesting items beyond the usual big breakfast, such as marsala potatoes with sausage and spinach, and soy scrambled eggs with chinese sausage.

If the cafe isn’t too busy, often the chef/owner will come out and have a chat. From the conversations we’ve had with him, it’s obvious that he is someone who is passionate about food, and loves to see others enjoy his cooking. That’s a quality that I adore, and it’s just another reason that I love his café.

Cafe Plum
193 Flemington Rd, North Melbourne 3051
Ph: (03) 9329 8867

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