Thinking I was running just a few minutes early, I found a third of the table already filled when I arrived. I managed to score a seat near Thanh and Claire, whom I first met about 2 years ago at Jamon Sushi, as well as Penny, Billy, Adrian and Emily.

So the night started with the national drink of Brazil, a Caipirinha, which I declined as I was going to be driving. After a long pause, during which we waited on a few late arrivals, the amuse-bouche of Wagyu short ribs with soy glaze and smoked eel arrived, much to the relief of all those growling stomachs whose owners had been pitifully crying out ‘I’m SO hungry. Where’s the food?’. This was accompanied by the Argentinian NV Familiar Schroeder Brut-Rose ‘Rosa de Los Vientos’, which I had a sip of thinking it’s just a sip. Talk about melt-in-your-mouth – I think that little cube of beef was falling of my little starter fork. The little potato gem could have brought its family and I would have been happy to house them all.

Next up was octopus with a mixed melon terrine, squid ink gnocchi and black garlic puree accompanied by a Barossa Valley 2006 Rockford Semillon ‘Local Growers’. The terrine looked just like my mum’s kueh lapis with its alternating layers of red and pink but it was the black garlic sludge that got the most oohs and aahs.

Until then, I was wondering where the Brazilian influence had been hiding so I was looking forward to the next dish, titled Acarajé, a traditional Brazilian street food. This is normally a deep-fried black-eyed pea patty stuffed with tomatoes and a spicy paste of dried shrimp, ground nuts and coconut milk but Steer gave us a restaurant (read ‘deconstructed’) version of it served with a soft shell crab leg and prawn. Even knowing that Brazilian food is quite eclectic and influenced by many cuisines from around the world, the spicy paste was so reminiscent of a laksa paste that I still wondered which came first. How can you not love this dish with all that deep-fried tastiness sitting atop the spicy paste? This was served with what was my favourite wine of the night – a 2007 Laplace Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh Sec from France. I should mention that by this stage I had cajoled my husband to take a train in and drive me home so all was well.

I think what was the dish of the night for just about everyone was the assiette of mushrooms – an array of pickled, braised and sauteed wild and seasonal mushrooms, duxelle tortellini and field mushroom puree. All I could think of when I was eating this was that my boys would have fallen over themselves to get to it. I would have had to draw the line for my 3 year old with the 1962 Carlo Peregrino Marsala Vergine Riserva though!

I have to say that the Marsala Vergine and the açaí sorbet confused instead of clearing my palate and my stomach had expectations that the meal was coming to an end. But no, there was a dish of roasted duck breast with caramelised witlof, confit duck leg boudin, smoked brazil nut and quinoa. I offered Adrian two slices of the duck breast but after trying it, I was ready to shout ‘give it back!’. The sausage slices however did not stand a chance against that and the sweet crunchiness of the witlof and I would have been happy to give them away. Oh, as well as the 2005 Martinus Estate Pinot Noir from New Zealand which I simply found too dry and intense.

Taking a breather at this point to step away from the Chef’s table that we were at, I had a chance to admire the decor and the artwork, as would be required when you’re sharing a site with The Olsen ‘Art Series’ Hotel, of Cezary Stulgis. I was quickly called back to enjoy the action of serving the Churrasco, whereby executive chef Stacy Thompson and his team gave each of us a turn to grab the meat with tongs as they walked around the table slicing it. A platter each of rump and sirloin slices were then brought to the table and served with feijoada, a black bean and chorizo stew, and chorizo stew and fresh orange slices. I found the rump most enjoyable of the three cuts and it still made me salivate despite protestations from the groaning stomach. I’m sure the feijoada is great but I think it was just too heavy for me by this stage. I also wasn’t taken with the only Brazilian wine of the night, a 2005 Miolo ‘Gran Lovara’.

The comeback arrived in a BIG way with dessert – a petit gateau de dulce de leche served with caramel fondant, a flourless (?) pistachio cake, cubes of goiabada (guava paste) and açaí sorbet. I want the recipe for that gateau!!! STAT! NV Chambers Muscadelle ‘Old Vine’ Classic.

Finally, our night finished off with little brigadeiro truffles made of condensed milk, butter and cocoa powder then dusted with either coconut or cocoa. I don’t have a photo but I can report that many took seconds for the road when the plate was passed round again. This was followed by a digestive, 1998 Chiyo Shuzo ‘Genshu Koshu’ sake. It smelled and tasted medicinal -herbal and bitter. Sommelier Raúl Moreno Yagüe said that it would settle our stomachs so I drank it in the same way that I might drink a herbal soup that mum brews for its cooling qualities – holding my nose.

I already want to bring my brother to try out the place but enough about the food already. There was also a surprise announcement when we were there – Steer are offering two bloggers an opportunity to undertake a 2 week stage or internship to experience a little of what goes into running a restaurant. Only a small taste, of course, but what an interesting opportunity for putting out your tentacles and getting a feel for the industry, especially if one is considering foraying from their current career path. The decision was made to come to a decision as to who would participate by COB Friday. Am I contemplating it? As with most, the concern was being able to put the time into doing it. But also, the other question is do I want it more than the four hands that went up when the question was asked?

Others who were also there included Joyce, Joanna, Ben and Phyllis, Tristan, Neil, Matt. I hope I didn’t miss anyone…please let me know if I did.

On our way home from Bright a couple of weekends ago, we stopped at Seymour to fill up. As we were finishing up at the service station, a ute laden with fresh farm produce pulled up next to us. How could we resist the temptation of purchasing the just-picked fruit that was on its way to the market?

We bought peaches, nectarines, plums, grapes…then A. spotted the green & black figs in a corner. The farmer told him that the figs would be a little more expensive than the stone fruit – $6.00/kg. What with places around Melbourne CBD sell figs at $20-25/kg, this is a bargain!

My search for a fresh fig recipe led me to a Brigitte Hafner recipe which I would love to submit for the The Mini Pie Revolution, however having misplaced the cable for downloading photos from my camera I am late, late, late for this event.

I’ll share the photos and recipe with you anyway. The pies, baked in mini tart pans, look and taste great especially with a dollop of King Island cream (or the vanilla bean yoghurt for those watching their waist) or good vanilla icecream.

Pastry:

100g unsalted butter
100g caster sugar
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
70g almond meal
200g plain flour
pinch of salt

1. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then add the egg and yolk. Mix well.
2. Incorporate almond meal, flour and salt to form a dough. Gently knead to form a smooth ball but be careful not to overwork the dough.
3. Divide into 4 portions, wrap and refrigerate for 30 min
4. Roll out each portoin of dough to 5mm thickness and line the bottom of the tart tin. Prick the base and freeze for 30 min
5. Blind bake for 12-15 min at 180C, then cool

Filling:

1.5 cups cream
zest of 1/4 orange
1 bay leaf
1 egg

1. Bring the first 3 ingredientsto a boil then simmer for 5min until reduced by 1/2
2. Remove from heat and add 2 tbs brown sugar. Allow to cool.
3. Whisk in 1 large egg.

Tart:

1. Line the pastry base with fresh figs.
2. Pour over cream mixture
3. Bake for 25 min at 175C
4. Cool and serve!

What I mean by this is that I cannot wrap wontons in the traditional way, that ‘money bag’-style. When I have tried, they would just look like I had squished the top together and taste too much of dough in one spot.

I don’t know where or when I pick up this wrapping style but nowadays my fingers automatically shape these tortellini-looking wontons.

You won’t see them looking like this at your local yum cha restaurant but they taste GOOD, and have a better texture, in my opinion. These dumplings were filled with a mixture of minced pork, roughly chopped prawns, shao hsing wine, shoyu, sesame oil and seasoned to taste. I usually form a couple of tiny meatballs and cook them up so that I can check the seasoning before wrapping the rest.

This entry is my submission to the ‘Waiter, there’s something in my… dumplings’ event that Johanna, The Passoinate Cook, is hosting.

So this month’s SHF challenge from Jennifer, to post about our most craved dessert, just about had me tearing my hair. How to choose? How can anyone be expected to choose??? ARRRGGGGGG!

To be honest, I don’t actually have one dessert that I crave with a passion above everything else. When faced with a dessert menu, I normally chicken out of having to make the final selection by pointing out about 3 choices then leaving it to my husband to order.

But I remember one cake that mum used to bake when I was in primary school that I had the greatest fun eating. An INDONESIAN LAYER CAKEthat I could savour slowly by peeling off and letting each fine layer melt in my mouth. This cake takes the baker 2 hours in front of the oven to bake so the only ones I’ve had recently are not very good store-bought ones.

It was time. I browsed through several recipes on the internet and got mum to read hers to me over the phone. Making a couple of alterations here and there, I mixed together the batter and brought a stool over to the oven in preparation. For this time-consuming cake, a spoonful of batter is ladled into the baking tin and grilled, then the next spoonful ladled on and grilled, and so on until all the batter is used up.

Based on my internet research, each layer should be grilled for 5 to 7 minutes – WRONG!!! My cake turned out completely overdone and burnt in some sections. Imagine my disappointment after spending 5 hours baking this THING! I couldn’t let it defeat me though so I tried it again the next day. This time, I listened to mum and only grilled each layer for a mere 2 minutes, taking me around 2 hours in total – PERFECTION!

The result 36 eggs and 25 layers later…

It’s not a flashy look-at-me-I’m-so-gorgeous kind of cake but it is buttery and perfect for a pick-me-up at teatime. Especially if you eat it layer by layer.

My father-in-law has the most amazing green thumb. Or should that be green thumbs? Whichever it is, I love visiting his backyard to admire the fruit trees bearing loquats, pomegranates, apples, lemons and the vegetable patch filled with a variety of tomato, cucumber, chilli and capsicum plants. They are his pride and joy and he loves sharing the fruits of his labour with us.

Recently, we received a couple of eggplants which I steamed over simmering water for about 15 minutes. While the cubes of eggplant were cooking, I boiled down a simple sauce based on a Kylie Kwong recipe of soy sauce, malt vinegar, Shao Hsing wine, sugar, sesame oil, garlic, salt & pepper.

Plate the eggplant, sprinkle chopped spring onions and thin slices of chilli, then pour over the sauce. Absolutely delicious with some white rice!

This is my entry for Heart of the Matter 4 which is focussing on vegetables this month. Head to Joanne’s for the roundup!

There’s an ongoing debate as to what exactly is a brownie - a cake, a cookie, a sheet cookie, a bar, a slice? But a brownie sits in a separate category all together. It should be denser than a cake and fudgier rather than light and fluffy.

I trawled through a large handful of recipes trying to decide which would produce a great brownie but most of the recipes I came across used baking powder. How could this produce a dense and fudgey brownie? Dissatisfied with the results of my search, the only solution was to create my own recipe.

Using a few of the recipes as a rough template, I reduced the amount of flour and sugar and left out the baking powder altogether. The chocolate and butter was melted over simmering water and the rest of the ingredients mixed in with a wooden spoon. By not beating the eggs, sugar and butter, I managed to avoid aerating the batter and this resulted in a dense, fudgey, amazing brownie…oops, blondie. I forgot to mention that I mainly used white chocolate instead of milk or dark.

It was great straight out of the oven and we’ll find out tomorrow how it tastes after sitting overnight.

Cin’s Blondie

200g white chocolate, roughly chopped
150g butter
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup raw sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/2 cups pl flour
1/4 tsp salt
50g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
1/2 cup toasted almonds, roughly chopped

1) Melt 1/2 white chocolate & butter in bowl over simmering water. Remove from heat.
2) Stir in sugar, eggs and vanilla essence
3) Mix in flour&salt mixture
4) Fold in rest of chocolate and almond pieces
5) Bake in 20cm square tin at 160C until skewer comes out clean but with crumbs. Don’t overbake.

Of course, you can’t enjoy brownies or blondies on your own so I have to share this recipe with the rest of the Brownie Babes over at Myriam’s place.

In some parts of the world spring is in the air and an abundance of delights such as strawberries and asparagus can be found in the markets. In my part of the world however the leaves are changing colours and being shed in preparation for winter but other things are springing up everywhere – mushrooms!

At the local market, I found slippery jacks, pines (aka saffron milk caps), baby swiss browns and these other ones that I can’t remember the name of but I’m sure Neil could identify. I haven’t cooked much with wild mushrooms before so I had a look at whether they had to be prepared differently. Apparently the slimy skin of slippery jacks can cause diarrhoea for some and mushrooms with gills should be blanched briefly before sauteeing. So, off came the skin of the slippery jack and into the water went the pine mushrooms. All the mushrooms were then sauteed in butter and olive oil then generously seasoned.

I prepared the pastry two nights ago according to my French friend’s mum’s recipe. When S. wrote the recipe out for me, she noted that the same pastry could be used to make a savoury pie and a ‘sweetie’ pie! I rolled the pastry out thinly then fitted it into a tin with great care but I still managed to create some tears and holes that had to be patched up. The mushrooms were spread over the base, poured over with a mixure of eggs, cream and milk, and the tart baked at 200C for 30 minutes. Keep a piece of foil handy to make sure that the top doesn’t burn though.

Well, this isn’t the ultimate spring dish but a savoury tart would be perfect for a spring picnic, right? So hopefully you will all accept this for my first monthly mingle and enjoy it all the same!

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.

Along with everyelse in blogging land, I tried my hand at the no knead bread that is light on labour but requires forward planning. Crusty exterior with a nice crumb, this one also contains mixed grains.