Get Saucy...

Now and then steamed vegetables, grilled meats and simple side salads just don’t get your taste buds buzzing.

Every day meals some times become a chore rather than a pleasure to eat, especially in our busy day-to-day lives. It is time to dress things up by adding excitement to your every day meals with a few simple dressings, sauces and relishes that are sure to make meal times a sensation of flavour.

Tomato Basil Dressing
Create a sweet and aromatic salad in minutes with this unique dressing.

1 cup cherry tomatoes, chopped finely
1 garlic clove, minced
6 tablespoons good quality olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 handful basil, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
1 anchovy fillet chopped finely

Add all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Or alternatively place all ingredients in a clean jam jar and shake.

You can make this dressing in advance and store in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Creative Tip:
~Serve as a dressing on a simple salad of baby spinach, avocado and Parmesan to create a fantastic salad for any meal.
~Dress up grilled fish or chicken by adding a spoonful of this dressing on top and serve with simple greens.

Red wine and mushroom sauce
This rich and earthy sauce is simple yet succulent and perfect for adding depth to a steak.

250 g button mushrooms sliced
1 tablespoon butter
50ml red wine
50ml chicken stock or water
1- 2 tablespoons sour cream
Salt
Pepper
1/2 bunch chives, chopped roughly

In a large saucepan melt the butter over a high heat and add the mushrooms and a pinch of salt. Cook the mushrooms until dark in colour and just start to stick to the pan. Add the red wine and stock. Cook until the liquid has reduced by 2/3. Add the sour cream and season with salt and a good amount of pepper. Take off the heat and add the chives.

Serve a good spoonful on top of your steak for the ultimate indulgence.

Creative Tip:
~Try adding it to fettuccine for a rich and robust sauce. Serve with a little grated Parmesan and baby spinach leaves.
~Warm things up by adding it to lamb cutlets or any grilled meat and placing it under the grill for a minute to gratinate.

Salsa Verde
This Italian rustic ‘green’ sauce is splendid with any grilled, roasted or boiled meat or vegetable.

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped or minced
1 small handful of capers
1 small handful of cornichons
6 anchovy fillets
1 bunch flat leaf parsley, leaves picked
1 bunch basil, leaves picked
1 handful mint, leaves picked
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
120ml good quality olive oil
Salt
Pepper


Chop the cornichons and capers roughly. Place the first 7 ingredients in a food processor. Mix until all ingredients are finely chopped. Scoop the mix out into a bowl and stir in the olive oil, mustard and vinegar.

Season and store in an airtight container in the fridge. It will keep for up to 5 days.

Creative Tip:
~Add to roasted or boiled new potatoes to make a delicious salad.
~Try adding a little into mashed potato to create a tasty and fresh herbed mash perfect with fish.
~Spice up a boring bbq chicken by adding a tablespoon to 4 tablespoons of good quality whole egg mayonnaise and serve it on the side.

Honey, Wholegrain mustard and Garlic Dressing
A luscious dressing to balance the bitterness of greens such as rocket, radicchio and watercress.

1/2 teaspoon garlic, finely chopped or minced
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon wholegrain mustard
2 tablespoons lemon juice, or white wine vinegar
5 tablespoons good quality olive oil

Mix all ingredients together with a whisk or alternatively place all ingredients in a clean jam jar and shake. This dressing can stay in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Creative Tip:
~Perfect for a winter salad especially with a creamy blue cheese like Gorgonzola Dolce.
~Dress up your boiled potatoes or green beans by tossing them in a little dressing while hot.
~Make a quick sauce for pork or chicken by adding a little dressing to the saucepan you have cooked your meat in and add a little white wine and cream.


Cumin and coriander spiced yoghurt
Add some spice and Indian flare to your meals with this refreshing spiced yoghurt.

250ml natural yoghurt
Zest 1 lemon
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
2 teaspoons fennel seeds
2 teaspoons coriander seeds
1 handful fresh coriander, roughly chopped
1 handful fresh mint, roughly chopped
Salt
Pepper

Toast your spices in a clean dry fry pan over a low heat until you smell their aroma. Grind them in a pestle and mortar or a spice grinder. Stir spices, lemon zest and herbs into the yoghurt and season with salt and pepper.

Store in an airtight container (or in the yoghurt container) in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

Creative Tip:
~Drizzle over any steamed vegetables especially broccoli and scatter with flaked almonds to create a great vegetable dish.
~Add the juice of 1 lemon, 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 1 tablespoon of the yoghurt together to create a salad dressing with a difference and drizzle over your favourite raw vegetables.
~Spread on a sandwich instead of mayonnaise or butter to create a tasty alternative to your sandwiches.

This Week's Recipe: Apple Cinnamon Tea Cake

Why Apple Cinnamon Cake?

There is nothing more tantalising than the sweet smell of cooked apples, the spicy depth of cinnamon and that buttery, sugary smell of a home baked cake warm from the oven.

This cake has to be one of my all time favourites and is perfect for these colder months.

Just picture a warm cup of early grey tea, a generous slice of golden apple studded cake and a good book…. Pure heaven.

Ingredients
125g unsalted butter, soft
2/3 cups caster sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 pinch salt
2 eggs
2/3 cups sour cream
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour

3 tablespoons self-raising flour
3 tablespoons Demerara sugar
3 tablespoons ground almonds
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2-3 large green apples peeled, and cut into thin wedges

Method
Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius and butter and line a 22cm springform round cake tin.

In a mixer or by hand, mix together the cinnamon, caster sugar, salt and butter until light and creamy. Add an egg at a time and continue to mix. Fold in the sour cream and flour alternately until you have smooth batter.

Pour into your prepared cake tin.

In a separate bowl mix together the Demerara sugar, self-raising flour, ground almonds, cinnamon and apples. Toss the apples in the sugar mix.

Arrange your apple wedges on top of the batter making sure to press some apple down into the cake mixture. Sprinkle over the rest of the sugar mix.

Bake in oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until a skewer comes out clean.

Serves 6-8.

Bon Appetite

Make your own....Tomato Jam

This is not a jam in the traditional sense. Made from very ripe tomatoes this jam is fabulous to add to sauces either rich meaty gravies or tomato passatas to add that extra depth of sweet tomato flavour.

I also love to eat it with creamy sharp cheddars, sausages and even on sandwiches.

This jam is easy to make and allows you to play with flavour.

Try adding 1-2 bird eye chillies for a little kick, or a few cloves and a cardamom pod for an earthy flavour.

Ingredients

1 kilo very ripe tomatoes
750 g caster sugar
1 lemon
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon.

Method

With a small sharp knife cut out the stem of the tomato and make a little cross in the base of each tomato. Bring a large pot of water to a rapid boil and add the tomatoes. Blanch for 1 minute and drain. Cool down the cold running water.

When cool enough to handle start to peel the skin away. The easiest way to do this is with a small knife and start from the base where you made the cross, some of the skin should have already started to peel away.

Cut each tomato in half or quarters and scoop out the seeds. This may be a little time consuming but keep at it, and you will have a sweet and seed free jam. Having said that however don’t stress if there are a few, as they will look good at in the jar and remind you of tomatoes.

Once seeded chop roughly and place in a large heavy bottom saucepan and add the sugar. Bring to the boil and return to a medium heat. Add the cinnamon and continue to cook for half and hour till an hour. The tomatoes will start to look a deep vibrant red and the consistency should be a thick jelly like sauce.

Once done add the lemon juice and take of the heat. Allow to cool slightly before spooning into sterilised jars.

This jam will last 1 year in an air tight sterilized jar. Once open store in the fridge.

If you are adding chilli, slice it thinly and remove the seeds if you like. Add the chilli or spices when you add the tomato.

This recipe will make 400-500g of jam.

Enjoy!

A French Affair

Bistro de Paris: A Review



Hidden amongst the bustle of a busy street in Bondi Junction sits the quaint Bistro de Paris. Lit with yellow neon lights and dressed up with storybook red chequered curtains and dark red windowsills this restaurant makes you feel Parisian at heart.

On entering this characteristically French bistro and greeted warmly by the owner maître de Fred, one immediately feels the French ambience and rhythm. At the curtained windows sit intimate tables adorned with single flowers in vases, salt, pepper and jars of mustard (French of course), while the rest of the small dining room has tables along each wall of this yellow and maroon room. You know you are in for a French experience when vintage Pernod and Absinthe posters hang the wall and the menu and specials board is in French before English.

Fred and his wife, both French, work at the restaurant nearly every evening, sharing the roles with their predominantly French wait staff. After spending a few minutes inside this warm yet slightly kitsch restaurant you can’t help but feel you may soon become a Francophile.

While browsing the menu and wine list that features a great mix of Australian, New Zealand and French wines and beers at a very reasonable price, we are advised to enjoy one of their three appetizers. Out of a choice of Pate de Porc (House made pork pate$), Terrine de lapin au Romain (Rabbit and rosemary terrine $4) we choose the Rillette de Canard (Duck Rillettes $ 4) served on a thin French baguette is a true delight.

Simple and succulent the well-seasoned and cooked shredded meat is balanced perfectly with it’s fat to produce a rillette in its best form. Bistro de Paris’s menu claims to serve traditional French cuisine the rillette proving true - a great culinary merit to what the French do best- charcuterie.

A Soufflé à la ciboulette et fromage de chevre (Chive and goats cheese soufflé $11) interrupts my delight in the traditional and simple as it is served on a bed of leafy bitter greens, zucchini flower petals and a fine tomato concasse. Out of its ramekin this soufflé surprises as my preference for a cheese soufflé is not to mix it with a salad, but to indulge in a light yet rich and cheesy baked ‘pudding’.

While the texture and lightness is textbook, the thick slice of sharp and chalky goats cheese although warm and melting from being grilled, weighs down the effort and skills into what makes a great soufflé. Unfortunately for me their innovative approach takes away from the dish instead of enhancing, not to mention disturbing what was a perfectly cooked soufflé.

The Cassolette D’Escargot au beurre de persillade (Cassolette of snails served in garlic parsley butter $13.00) is well seasoned with a great balance between creamy salty butter and heady garlic. It was a pity however, that the snails were not in their shells and were some what hidden amongst too many mushrooms.

The Souris D’Agneau à la Toulousain (Lamb shank with white haricot beans, baby spinach, zucchini flower and French fries $20.00) as with most of the dishes Bistro de Paris serves, has its heart in the right place with well-seasoned food and a defiant knowledge and talent for traditional French cuisine. What it lacks however is the practise of perfecting each dish on the menu to all be of the same standard.


A perfectly seasoned and cooked lamb shank is succulent, sticky and soft with the meat falling off the bone with a nudge of my fork. The lamb however is in need of a satisfying garnish. Served in an earthen ware dish on a bed of boiled white beans, baby spinach, oven blushed cherry tomatoes, a little of the lamb’s cooking juices and garnished with an oddly placed raw zucchini flower this dish is typical in flavours from south-western France like the name suggests. Keeping specific to a region however does not create great flavour alone.

The choice of ingredients and concept of this dish is simple yet hearty and I can see what the chef is trying to produce- a warming and comforting meal, by cooking the garnish in one dish in the oven allowing the spinach to sauté, the beans to soak and thicken some the juices of the meat and balance the sweet acidic ness of the tomatoes. However the beans are as such, a little too plentiful and simply boiled, the spinach results in being half wilted and half raw while the cherry tomatoes sit alone on top next to an ill-fitting raw and un stuffed zucchini flower.

What I would have loved to have seen the chefs do here is toss the beans, spinach and tomatoes in a little butter and garlic (or to stick to the south- western French flavours a little olive oil) and then put them in the oven with the lamb shank - resulting in a delicious yet simple and harmonised garnish.

While I have to admit that I am a French fries lover, I did not need them with this dish and honestly don’t know how they fitted except for being French.

It was the opposite with the Fillet de boeuf Roquefort (Tender Fillet Steak Roquefort served with French fries and vegetables of the day $20) that was garnished with an over abundance of the Roquefort Sauce. Maybe I am a purist but my preference for a steak dish is the traditional steak and frit with a little sauce or butter to enhance and add to the sweet juicy meat and the perfect excuse to finish all your crunchy golden thin cut fries.

Balanced on a whole roasted tomato the fillet of beef was a little over cooked (particularly when the waitress told us that the chefs like to serve their steaks medium). A little confused about what the vegetable of the day was, either the roasted tomato or the array of more tomatoes - this time concasse style with zucchini, the Roquefort sauce was rich, creamy and sharp, the perfect balance even if there was a little too much of it. The fries lived up to their honour title ‘French’ in being thin cut, beautifully golden and crisp on the outside and that creamy potato inside that we all adore.

The dishes were more than generous in portion leaving us to pass on dessert, however the Crème Brule au Cointreau (Crème brule with Cointreau $8) looked delicious as a diner next to me cracked into the golden sugar crown to scoop up the creamy custard coloured goodness.

Bistro de Paris brings the comfort of French cuisine to our hearts in this small restaurant. While filled with good intentions some of the dishes did fall short of their promises, however it does not seem to stop the regulars coming back for more (and from what I can tell a fair few are French themselves). The well-priced wine list with a small, yet decent variety of wines and beers is pleasing to see. The menu needs a little work, possibly sticking to simple dishes that demonstrate the talent of cooking that the French know so well.

All in all I am sure I will return to this Bistro, if not for their selection of fantastic house made charcuterie, a glass or two of French wine, and a beautiful brule, but then just to feel Parisian in the company of Fred and his wait staff.

Bistro de Paris
105 Oxford Street
02 9386 5601

Open Lunch Tuesday – Friday 12.00 – 2.30
Open Dinner Tuesday – Friday 6pm till late

This Week's Recipe: Buttery Almond and Coconut Cake

Why Almond and Coconut Cake?

This is a fantastic recipe to add to your collection. I love to make this cake to take to friends’ houses or when I know that they are dropping in, as it is one of the simplest cakes to make - as well as tasting great.

The contrast between the chewy crust and buttery almond filling makes this cake one of my favourites. Although having the buttery bitter sweet almond and coconut filling this cake is not heavy, which means you know you can enjoy all of your main meals while still having enough room for dessert!

Lastly for all you gluten free readers this one is for you.


Ingredients

180g almond meal
60g desiccated coconut
250 g caster sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
200g butter, melted and cooled
2 tbsp flaked almonds
1 pinch salt

Method

Line a 24cm springform tin with baking paper, or butter and flour the base and sides. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

In a large bowl place the almond meal, coconut, sugar and salt together and whisk to break up any lumps and evenly disperse all dry ingredients.

Whisk the eggs together with the vanilla and melted cold butter and add to the dry ingredients. Mix together and pour into the lined tin. Sprinkle with the flaked almonds and bake for 30-50 minutes, or until the top feels firm to the touch.

Allow to cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes and remove from the tin. Dust with icing sugar.

Enjoy with fresh berries and double cream.
Serves 8-10.

Bon Appetite

*Note: This cake freezes fantastically. Either freeze it whole or cut into portions. It will keep for up to 3 months. Defrost to serve.