A Few of My Favourite Things !

Last Saturday, we got to visit some of our favourite Melbourne CBD and Carlton places. It was too lovely a day to spend driving around so we parked on Rathdown Street, Carlton and blazed a trail around Carlton and Melbourne CBD. First stop was La Parisienne Pate, a French charcuterie that supplies homemade saucisson, pates and terrines, pies and a selection of cheeses. We picked up some duck & orange pate, cornichons, Cantal Entre-deux cheese, muscatels and a French Fantasies baguette.

We then mosied up Lygon Street to La Latteria, known for their fresh Italian-style cheeses. I wish I had a cheese stomach (and a larger enough wallet) to try one of everything in the shop, but I guess this leaves something new to try for next time. More Scarmorza for our homemade pizzas and this time some cream-filled burrata too.

From there, we dropped off our ice-packed goods in the car boot and went for our first coffee of the day at Seven Seeds. Another one of those warehousey cafes, the wait for a table near lunchtime was around 15 minutes. The takeaway line was only about 5 minutes shorter and the plates that were going pass looked pretty tempting but we wanted to continue with our jaunt, so takeaway coffee it was. A. ordered, so instead of my usual three-quarter cappuccino, I had a three-quarter latter – a little on a milky side for me but good otherwise.

Realising that we were a stone’s throw from Victoria Market at that point, we dropped by to pick up Thai basil, Vietnamese mint, coriander and some soft, thin slices of bresaola and Serrano ham. Vic Market is an old favourite for watching locals shopping and visitors doing the touristy thing. It seems to that that ability to cater for everyone and everything.

Ready now for our second coffee, we trekked south to Thousand £ Bend, a large space that is part cafe, part gallery and part events space. They are also starting to host live gigs as more bands are requesting use of their venue. Entry to these events is round the back through Heape Ct. I got to have my cappuccino – I love spooning the chocolate froth off the top, my main reason for ordering- and enjoyed just chilling out in a space that made me feel like I was at someone’s grandma’s place. In a good way.

3pm and we were finally ready for some lunch after nibbling and sampling our way through the morning and early afternoon hours. North-east back up Lt Lonsdale St took us to the Laksa Bar, a little shopfront that we had passed many times, each time vowing to head back so that we could try it. After seeing the size of the servings at adjoining tables and determining that dinner would only be a few hours away, we decided to make do with one bowl And what a bowl it was. You know how you get those oversized parmas at pubs? Well, this was possibly the largest bowl of laksa I’d ever seen and definitely not the kind of serving you’d get in Malaysia. The regular house laksa came with generous pieces of roast chicken, fried tofu, bean shoots and a slice of lemon.

Finally time to head home, so back up Lygon Street. But wait, what’s this here? Helados Jauja!!! We bought a takeaway tub of 3 flavours for $15 – Argentinian Yerba, 80% chocolate and salted caramel. This was my first experience with Argentinian ice cream and I really don’t know how I could go back to anything else. I loved that every flavour shone through authentically without an overpowering sweetness. This comes high on my list of recommendations for anyone travelling through. And if you’re not travelling through, make a special trip!

View Larger Map

(more…)

Most people know it as baklava or baklawa but we call it ‘batlewa’ – a much softer sound and well suited to these sweet pastries. I’m partial to Lebanese batlewa as I find that it’s not as syrupy sweet as, say, Greek baklava. When I was first introduced to it, I would have to travel all the way to Sydney Road for pastries from either El Faiha Sweets or Balha’s Pastry. A small family-run business, El Faiha held a special place for me. Apart from the fact that I would often be handed a lady’s finger to eat on my way out, I found that their pastries were just that bit better. Balha’s is a bigger place with a wider range though and I think customers often let that sway them away from the smaller shops.

A few years ago, there was a commotion in the community when Abla’s Patisserie opened an equally large shop in Preston that also sold spectacularly decorated cakes and chocolate gifts. There was now competition for Balha’s, who then moved to a swish new location further up Sydney Road. It looked wonderful but the fact was their service was generally surly and I did not have felt comfortable walking in by myself. What a joy it was to visit Abla’s and, more recently, to have them open up a shop at Prahran Market – a 10 minute drive from me (before moving house, sob sob).

My latest venture to Abla’s in Prahran Market (after making an FB comment and winning a platter) was made last week to pick up a box of batlewa for mum to take to relatives in Malaysia – two beribboned boxes that made it safely and received gratefully. Their chocolates are not yet up to the standards of Al Baba Sweets or Patchi but, oh, the delicate crispness of the lady’s fingers (my all time favourite batlewa), mini date-filled ma’amoul (shortbread pastries) and barazi (sesame biscuits) – ahhh, heaven with a cup of tea. Now I just need to find out if they make knafe bi jibn…

Broad beans – not around for long and a tad more effort than usual but there’s something quite therapeutic about podding them, twice. First, you pod the beans from the long bean that they are nestled in, then boil the beans for several minutes until the outer skin is easily peeled off. The beans can then be gently smashed with a mortar & pestle (a la Jamie Oliver) and seasoned. My first go saw a dollop of leftover chilli mayonnaise, , lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper – pretty sensational, especially when I had it atop a cracker with a slice of smoked salmon. Second time round was based on Jamie’s recipe so it included peas, mint, lemon juice, olive oil, salt & pepper.

I’m hooked on broad beans now although I’ve noticed that you can buy them for $7.99/kg or $2.99/kg depending where you shop. Maybe I’ll try growing them in our garden next year.

Disappointed to miss out on yet another blogger meet-up , I ensured that our weekend included a food-related adventure by dragging A away from a Saturday sleep-in to the Docklands Farmers Market at the Waterfront City Piazza, Docklands.

Apparently the opening, held last week, was pretty disastrous due to the windy weather but even the pleasant morning we had on Saturday didn’t attract a larger crowd. The market was so well attended that there could have been tumbleweed rolling across the concourse!

I have not seen most of these stalls at the other markets around Melbourne before. We discovered one that sold the most delicious lamingtons – traditional and a passionfruit.

We also picked up some ingredients for dinner. A. cooked the King Island steak to perfection while I made a salad of rocket, white peaches, prosciutto and Berrys Creek Oak Blue cheese.

We also picked up bread from two different stalls – Amici and Matisse – and an amazingly moist and tasty carrot cake.

Well, this market doesn’t appear to have reached the radars of Dockland residents yet but hopefully it soon will. It’s great to have a farmers market in the city area although, in my opinion, locating it in Southbank would guarantee more success.

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!

We don’t have a tradition of celebrating Shrove Tuesday or have an actual need to use up ingredients before Lent but as A. is an ardent lover of pancakes, I made some in honour of this day.

The pancake (yes, just a single one as he was rushing to a meeting) was served with some strawberries that we had picked up from a farmer was filling up at a Seymour service station at the same time and honey from the Milawa Mustard store.

PS- try not to acciddentally shake in too much bicarb soda or the batter will be bitter!

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!

Melbourne has been showing off with wonderfully mild weather – low 20s with blue skies – and I’ve been enjoying it fully. On Saturday morning, we walked along the Yarra River from Fed Sq to Prahran Market. The Giant Sky Wheel, the largest travelling ferris wheel in Australia, was erected in Birrarung Mar a couple of weeks ago. I spotted it on the way to the footy last week just prior to the opening and managed to get a closer look this morning. We have already had two failed feris wheel proposals for the rooftop of Crown Casino and Sandridge Bridge so I guess this will do us until plans for the Southern Star Observation Wheel comes to fruition.

These are the Federation Bells and it plays compositions from seven contemporary Australian composers at set times each day. I have only heard the 39 bell structure chime once and it sounded very discordant but maybe that’s due to the way it has been tuned.

The view from Morrell Bridge.

Before entering Prahran Market, we stopped by at Fujimart for some Japanese groceries and crockery. Having come back from Japan a couple of weeks ago where I had Mentaiko Spaghetti for the first time, I was delighted to find the spicy cod roe in the freezers here.

We finally managed to make it to the market where we picked up all our pizza topping ingredients.

We als got a few things at the organic shop just at the entrance of the market but these tomatoes absolutely floored me. Are they meant to be any different from sun dried tomatoes or is the renaming meant to rejuvenate interest?

How do you spell spelt?

Of course, we had to stop by at the Essential Ingredient where I lustfully flicked through the pages of Ferran Adria’s book, gasping in amazement at the incredible photos and creations.

We ended the perfect morning with tea, cheese and bread in the courtyard.

Giant Sky Wheel
Birrarung Marr – Lower Terrace
Adjacent to Federation Sqaure, along Yarra River
Melbourne 3000

Prahran Market
163 Commercial Road,
South Yarra 3141

Look at those fat Queensland prawns! They were very simply immersed in a brothy congee made with mixed grains and chicken stock until just cooked.

We also picked up some ‘Tabletop Grapes’ dried sultanas, crockery and teatowels from Portugal and a ‘Cowpat‘ fruit loaf that smells of chocolate and is stuffed full of figs, juicy sultanas and almonds. Gotta love a name like that!

We only spent 1.5 days there but I think we manage to fit an admirable amount of food in during this short period! On our first night, we visited Guerney Drive. It was pouring with rain so we wandered through the shopping centre next door until the skies let up. As soon as the rain eased, we were out of the shopping complex and in amongst the stalls. Good timing because we managed to get seats just before the crowd descended.

We started with Assam Laksa, one of A.’s favourite dishes, and boy was it good. Fantastically sour and spicy, the only thing it was missing was the black sauce – what’s that called again? We also tried a cuttlefish salad (Ju Hu Eng Chai) and I cannot recommend this dish highly enough – I just couldn’t get enough of it!

Of course, after reading so much about Poh Piah, we had to try this as well. Nyeh, wasn’t the greatest poh piah that I’ve had. A little on the soggy side.

This was washed down with soya bean milk, which we kinda had to order whether we liked it or not because the tables belong to that stall. Good thing that we did like it. I was told off at another table because I didn’t want to order freshly squeezed fruit juice and the guy grumbled that I couldn’t just sit there and not order from them! Ooops!

A. decided that he couldn’t leave without tasting the satay too so here’s the picture.

We came back to Guerney drive another night, after spending a couple of days in Langkawi, and ordered the Assam Laksa from another stall. This one did come with the black sauce but A. thought that the Laksa from the first stall was better.

The ice kachang served in Penang is also slightly different, made more decadent with the addition of ice cream. The one you see here had peanut icecream. Yum, I love ice kachang. I used to just eat the shaved ice sweetened with rosewater and evaporated milk from the top and leave the other stuff at the bottom of the dish for dad. Naughty, huh? I didn’t like all that red bean, corn and attap although the grass jelly was okay. Now, I’m happy to try some of it but my favourite part is still the flavoured ice.

One of my other favourites is Ban Chang Kueh, a pancake sprinkled with crushed peanuts and sugar. I had a really hard time tracking them down both this trip and the last, especially the thin crispy ones, so when we came across this stall selling Apong Manis and Apong Balik, we got a serve of each. The Apong Manis just consisted of batter spread very thinly over the little wok so it’s very light and airy. Didn’t love it. The Apong Balik was better though and I think it was filled with corn and coconut.

A. loves anything with peanuts so we tried these thingys as well. I cannot remember what they are called although I’m sure some Malaysians could help me out with this. We really liked this version cos the pastry was really thin and it was choc full of peanuts (makes it sound like a Snickers bar, doesn’t it?).