A Few of My Favourite Things !

We celebrated dad’s birthday, 2 Saturdays in a row.

The first time around, we happened to be having a family weekend away in Healesville. I had made an early dinner booking at the local Toolanghi Pub when I realised that Innocent Bystander (IB) had a kids menu. Taking that to mean children were welcome, I swapped our booking over to an early dinner at IB instead. We poured over the menu at our lodging that Saturday afternoon and the consensus was that we had to try the Tomahawk Steak. There was only one problem: there was a one hour cooking time and we had two toddlers coming to dinner with us.

Not. A. Good. Mix.

We tried to resolve the problem by pre-ordering and were given three reasons that it could not be done:
1. There’s a limited number of steaks so diners can’t pre-book them (We were coming at 6pm, the earliest time the steaks were being served. We would not have missed out)
2. Diners may turn up late and we can’t serve the steak cold (we are staying 5 minutes away and have 2 toddlers to feed. We will even turn up early for it)
3. We have not done it before and so cannot do it now (can’t argue with that).

We accepted that for all three reasons, we could not pre-order the steaks so plan B came into effect. Four of our party would be seated at 6pm to order the steak and the other two adults would bring the two toddlers an hour later. It worked a treat!

It’s a large open space where noise bounces off everything. Great if you have children and need that to hide their loudness and great for groups or a casual dinner date. The waitstaff are mostly of the friendly variety and you can watch the chefs “doin’ their thang”.

The Tomahawk Steak arrives, shaped appropriately like its namesake, accompanied by shallots, pumpkin, broccolini, mustard and lemon wedges.

It is only served medium rare but ours was probably closer to a medium. At the end of our meal, my 2 yo was happy to gnaw on the handle of the Tomahawk – mmmm. The broccolini was a hit with my 2 year old, but neither boys were not enamoured of the kids menu Wagyu Burger.

Our prosciutto and rocket pizza crust is thin and puffy perfection and half its deliciousness derives from watching the pizza chef tossing the dough into the air. The sashimi is good (a little cold maybe?) and mum loved the dressing on it, but above all that, it’s the parmesan and truffle frites which are not to be missed.

We returned the next morning for a 3/4 cappuccino but left with something that resembled a macchiato, as it was more like a 1/3 coffee with a dash of milk. Nevertheless, the in-house baked goods were impressive enough to overcome my coffee disappointment. The caneles were some of the best that I’ve had in Melbourne and they serve an excellent baguette.

Okay, so it’s a BIG claim. But I’m going to make it anyway. I have just made the World’s Best Banana Muffin. There. That’s it. Done.

What made it so good? Was it the buttermilk, the caramelised bananas, the addition of dark chocolate pieces? Whatever, it worked and it worked so well that I made two batches in one day. It worked so well that my son who was ‘helping’ me to hold onto his cousin’s container of muffins sneaked pieces of it while we were driving over until there were just crumbs left. All I gotta say is you HAVE to try this recipe. I know that everyone has their own best banana bread, or muffin, or cake, but really truly -this is it.

Buttermilk Banana Bread

2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2 or 3 mashed bananas
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 tbs rice bran oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 and 3/4 cup SR flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
cinnamon & nutneg
80g butter
1/4 treacle or agave syrup
1/4 cup semi-dried bananas
1/4 cup dark chocolate pieces

1. Beat the sugar & butter until thick and pale, then add eggs and continue beating for a few minutes.
2. Add the mashed bananas, buttermilk, oil, treacle/agave syrup, vanilla extract, semi-dried banana and dark chocolate pieces
3. Stir in dry ingredients until just mixed
4. Bake at 175C until done (skewer comes out clean)

My husband is a pancake man, but I’m definitely a french toast kind of girl. It would undoubtedly feature in my ‘last meal on earth’ list if I had to make one. I love cooking french toast for my two little boys too, although my 3yo tends to take after dad more in this respect and would much prefer that I make pancakes. I’m a shocking cook in the mornings however, trying to get breakfast done, heating up a milk bottle for Z (the 1yo), getting both E & Z dressed, getting myself dressed, that I regularly burn things (or come really close) if they are cooking in the pot or pan.

I have discovered a good way for making french toast that avoids this problem by cooking them in a jaffle maker (aka sandwich press). One egg and a splash of milk into a bowl with a flat bottom, soak the sourdough bread for a few minutes while I dress the boys. Pop the bread onto the jaffle maker and turn it on, then I can walk away for a few moments to get other things done without it burning. I flip it with a fork as I walk past to the kettle and a few minutes later, breakfast is served. I love adding spices to my french toast so that my boys get to enjoy different flavours. It’s often cinnamon or nutmeg but even something more unusual like cinnamon and ginger powder goes down a treat.

Even better, the cleaning consists simply of wiping it down with a sponge – that’s it.

Knowing that I would home close to dinner time, I decided to put the bread machine to work today making some pizza dough. Actually, it was the presence of La Latteria’s Scamorza Bianca that inspired me to make pizza tonight, truth be told. Good thing I was organised as I arrived home to a text message that my boys had decided to walk down to the local supermarket and needed a lift back.

My 3 year old helped me shape out the dough and to dollop on some tomato paste (he quickly started licking the spoon after that). Then he helped me to layer on the red pepper marmalade, anchovies and cheese on one pizza, while tasting everything multiple times, and olives and cheese on the other. I’m not sure whether more cheese went onto the pizza or into his mouth. While the pizzas were baking, I washed the rocket and sliced the tomatoes and these went on top of the second pizza when it came out.

Dinner was a blast. I think my 3 year old had about five slices and my 1 year old was also trying to get in on the act, having some of the cheesy crusty bits. In fact, he was still trying to put food into his mouth when hubby was trying desperately to get him cleaned up as it was about 20 minutes past his usual bedtime!

Pizza Dough (takes 50 minutes in bread machine):
200ml water
1 tbs olive oil
1 tsp salt
2.5 cups flour (I used 1.5 cups plain flour and 1 cup wholemeal)
1.5 tsp yeast

Shape dough out, layer on pizza topping, bake at highest temperature for about 8-10 minutes.

My three year old son called a ‘deer‘ a ‘quesadilla‘ by mistake the other day.

As you can tell we’ve been talking Mexican food of late (well, this post is late but seeing as Melbourne is treating us to some lovely sunshine this week, you can let it slide can’t you?). Maybe it’s the plethora of tortilla and burrito wraps that are cropping up all over the place that’s inspiring us, or maybe it’s the cool freshness of the salsas that we look forward to on hot summer days. Either way, this food is right down my alley. I love foods that you have to use your hands to eat with and even more so when you have to assemble it yourself. I think eating with your fingers makes food taste different though I do try to avoid picking off food straight off shared plates when we have company.

And so it was that A & I cooked turkey tacos for my family using leftover turkey from our Christmas Feast (yes this post is late, isn’t it?). The turkey was diced and cooked with some onions, garlic, diced tomatoes, ground cumin, salt & pepper then sprinkled with coriander at the end.

This was accompanied by three types of salsas:

1. Tomato, red onion, mint
2. Lychee and avocado
3. Peach, capsicum, cucumber, red onion

The dressings were loosely based on some recipes I pulled out of a magazine, but for the life of me I can’t find the sheet right now. Well, there are loads of recipes you can trawl the internet for or just experiment with vinegar (sherry, cider), garlic, coriander leaves, lime/lemon juice, salt & pepper. It was just lovely to be able to use some summer stone fruits to make the salsas colourful and appetising. Mum used to tell me that you should try to have a bit of red, a bit of green and a bit of yellow in the dish. That way you won’t end up with a brown dish, and these dishes are anything but.

We were standing at the counter of Almost French, ordering hot cross buns and almond croissants when our reveries of afternoon tea were interrupted by the entrance of the unmissable Alannah Hill. After ordering half a dozen hot cross buns, she turned her attention to another version of hot buns – you know the ones that come in a pair of cool blue jeans…

She very casually introduced herself as ‘Alannah…Alannah Hill. I’m a designer’. Then quickly moved into ‘You’re very good-looking. I think I’m going to pick you up’.

Completely distracted by the scene playing out in front of us, I could barely respond to the waitress’ question of ‘Is there anything else?’ until Alannah had left her number with the guy and driven off in her black Merc.

Almost French
138 Swan St, Richmond 3121
Ph: (03) 9429 2080
Open 7am-5pm Mon-Sat

The City of Yarra has forced the closure of Wildflour, reports this week’s Espresso section in Epicure, as the premise had permission to operate as a cafe but not a bakery. Pardon my ignorance, but WHAT is the difference?!

One of a handful of artisanal bakers in Melbourne, Wildflour had set tongues wagging about how good their bread was. I found out about them during a visit to Simon Johnson’s Fitzroy store where they were serving it to taste olive oils with. The bread impressed us so much that we had to ask the source. Unfortunately, we may never actually get to try their other baked goods if they don’t find a place soon. Call Tony Rees on 0404 729 458 if you can help.

I’d better hotfoot it down to Noisette in case the local council decide to close that down too…

LIVESTRONG Day, an event initiated by the Lance Armstrong Foundation, provides an opportunity for us to raise awareness about cancer issues in our local communities and on a national level.

There are many LIVESTRONG Day events open to the general public, however Barbara organised a food blogging event called A Taste of Yellow that requires participants to make a dish containing something yellow.

I had plans to bake something, cook something for this event but getting home late last night after watching the amazing Cirque du Soleil’s Varekai show, we wanted something comforting and easy. What better way to end the night than with a toasted cheese sandwich.

Very simply, place some slices of lovely pale, creamy French Comt̩ Рa cheese made from the unpastuerised milk of Montb̩liard cows Рbetween 2 slices of dark rye bread and toast until melted.

Jian Bing – a thin, crispy crepe sparsely filled with an egg, some green herbs, brown sauce and chilli, fi you like it hot. Just fatastic and my favourite breakfast in Shanghai.

Having a breakfast of toufa with the locals

Finally, the bakery that we have been eagerly awaiting since reading about it some months ago opened last Friday. It’s hidden in a laneway (as with everything good in Melbourne) off the section of Little Collins St between Queen & Elizabeth St. They had a soft opening with the cafe and are planning to expand into the back section with a casual-style restaurant later on.

At the moment, there is a selection of baguette sandwiches, pies and salads to choose from for lunch, or you can take one of their sourdough loaves away. We went with a chicken cooked in white wine pie and it was to-die-for.

Sweet pastries are also available, and one of the best spots to have your coffee, in my opinion, is the standing bar.

I’m waiting for them to go full steam ahead and keeping my fingers crossed that there will be many more varieties of bread in the future. In the meantime though, I couldn’t resist purchasing one of their chocolate and fruit loaves (price varies depending on size). I nibbled on this all the way back to the office. I mean, it’s carbs and chocolate all-in-one!