Monkey Bananas

Hey, have I told you about the tours I have been doing at Prahran Market?

No? Oops sorry.

Well instead of me rabbiting on, have a look here and here or even better just come along one Saturday! All the details are here.

Now the intention of this post was not the market but these extremely cute monkey bananas that I brought after a tour a few weeks ago.

This variety are my absolute, hands down favourite. Firm texture, even when very ripe and small enough that they are not a meal in themselves as some of those ginormous cavendish bananas can be.

What I loved so much about these hands in particular was the bunch on the right, they were particularly tiny, just minuscule as you can see next to the 20 cent piece.

I asked at the counter as I paid for them, "so, do you have any smaller?" The woman looked at me with the strangest frown and then just absolutely cracked up.
"No, they are the smallest".

I totally believed her.

Persimmons, different styles for different uses

A few years ago I learnt the difference the hard why. But since then I haven't seen the offending (when firm) acorn shaped persimmon that often.

I'm still cautious though whenever I buy one of these vanillian scented beauties.

The acorn shaped style on the left should be soft and a deep orange orange colour when its jellied flesh is ready to be spooned out.

The tomato shaped style on the right should be firm and a apricot orange colour whrn its crunchy flesh is ready to be cut into wedges or eaten as an apple.

Nice and simple.

Oh and thanks to Jess for beating me to the idea...! ;)

The last tomato

Could this be Melbourne's last tomato?

Being strictly of the seasonal food camp, it has greatly amused me that my tiny courtyard garden has proven to be so unseasonal this year.

When everyone else was experiencing bumper crops of tomatoes, my heirloom bushes barely had a flower and the fruit that did eventuate died in our desert like heat wave of 40+ degree temperatures.

And now when I should have pulled out the dying vine months ago (but I held out hope for this tiny slowly growing tomato), I have this a gorgeous Black Zebra tomato, my last.

As you can see from the first picture, the vine is totally dead apart from the one stem holding on to my tomato, just grown in a pot in my sunny courtyard in St Kilda.

Weird unseasonal stuff huh!

Chilli chocolate dipped cherries

I prefer to make small foodie gifts if I can, and came up with the idea for these as I stood in the chocolate aisle of my supermarket earlier in the week. I was about to grab the 70% cocoa Lindt when the chilli flavoured caught my eye... Umm an idea in the working.

A lap around the supermarket collecting random necessities, and I had justified the combination in my mind, yes cherries dipped in chilli chocolate should be very good.

And you know what, they were fabulous!

Chocolate and chilli is no revolutionary idea, both originally from South America, the flavours have a strangely alluring relationship together.

Chilli and fruit is another inspired combination. In South East Asia I love the little pounches of chilli/sugar/salt that comes with sliced seasonal fruit, the street food in Bangkok is the best in the world, and this is a definite highlight for me.

So thinking laterally, using chilli chocolate for my dipped cherries is not a crazy stretch of the palate, and this is coming from someone that would usually prefer the classic food combos over the fashionable.

Do you need a recipe?
No way... Just melt the chilli chocolate or infuse your own if you're feeling fancy (but getting the portions right scares me!), make sure your cherries are straight from the fridge, dip in the hot chocolate and lay out on baking paper lined trays.
Refridgerate until set and firm. Eat as soon as possible.

I placed mine into a vintage glass bowl and wrapped in pretty paper and ribbon and had an impressive Christmas inspired gift with a twist.

NB Would you believe that when we shared these after lunch, I had not disclosed the chilli flavour, yet the first taster blew the fun for everyone announcing - "wow that chilli chocolate is great"! Bloody ex-sommeliers and their freaky palates!

Merry Christmas everyone.

An addiction

Hacked open with the tiny blade from a wine knife, the treasures inside are addictive and cheap.

About 50c AUD for eight locally grown panama passionfruit in Dalat, Vietnam.

I ate them like mad before holidays as well, and combined them to make an exotic twist to My Mums Impossible Pie.

It really is quite impossible... how easy it is.

A bit 'left', organic rolled oats

I've become a little more 'green' or 'left' orientated lately.

I intended to buy my usual Uncle Tobies traditional rolled oats at the supermarket (not Safeway, the other one) but I saw these on the top, difficult to reach shelf, and decided that I should buy them instead.

Makes a rich, risotto style porridge that with careful stirring teases out the sticky love from the oats and becomes nutty and stodgy. Great for a winter, warm-me and fill-me brekkie.

I had mine with gorgeous poached quince. Need a recipe?

Fancy a Feijoa?

What about a feijoa, lime zest and palm sugar jam?

You know it's fresh when...

Got to love organics, lucky I am not vegetarian!

Guilty pleasures

Ok Ok, it's gotten to this. Last week I had deemed I just wasn't going to finish this post, I had even crossed it of my "Must post" list. But I have the guilts, I promised.

So here it is.

My Pick for February (Erhh!) recipes

Frangipane, fig and raspberry tart

This tart is actually quite quick and easy to make. I used some pre-made pastry that I blind baked flat onto a tray, like a square pizza but you could do it a bit more conventionally if you like with pretty fluted edges in a tart pan.

I just made this up as I went along from the idea of a basic fruit tart with a moist frangipane base.

Figs - the honey and black styles look great together
Raspberries
slivered almonds -untoasted

Frangipane
100g butter
120g caster sugar
200g almond meal (ground almonds)
2 eggs
4 tbsp brandy or a matching fruit liqueur - I used half brandy and half Chambord (a French wild raspberry liqueur)

To make the frangipane
Cream together the butter and sugar, then add the almond meal, eggs and brandy

To make the tart
Blind bake* your pastry base
Spread the frangipane over the base of the tart and then decorate with the figs and raspberries. I liked the look of the figs so left them chunky in quarters but you could also play around and slice then and make a stylised arrangement.
Sprinkle with the slivered almonds and bake in a moderate oven until golden brown and the fruit has started to seep a little.
Serve with a dollop of double cream, perhaps whipped with some extra Chambord

*Blind baking is were you cook off the pastry before the filling is put on top, this ensures that it is cooked though and crispy at the same time as the filling. Just simply line the chilled pastry with baking paper and top with some rice or dried beans, so as to weigh the pastry down. Bake in a moderate oven until it is light brown. Remove the baking paper and rice and you are ready to go.

Fig and star anise jam (or is it more like compote?)
Star anise is a heady, fragrant spice that is an elegant match with sweet honey figs. I'm not sure exactly what to call this, I didn't use a thermometer or anything chefy, I just cooked it until the consistency was right. I deliberately left the fruit quiet large, as I like my jam chunky, I want to actually see the fruit.

Figs - as many as you can handle
raw sugar - a third of the weight of the figs
two star anise wheels
lemon zest and juice - try about half a lemon per kg of figs

Cut the figs into quarters or eights
Toss with sugar, star anise and zest in a large saucepan
Gently bring the figs to a simmer with the lid on, discard the star anise
Remove the lid and cook without stirring until it is a little pulpy and the juice is thick and jammy
Add the half the lemon juice and taste, its should be sweet but with a slight tang and a fragrant hint of the anise
Spoon into a sterilised jar and chill

We have nearly finished the figs now. I have enjoyed them on crumpets with some goats curd, the sweet and savoury combo made me think of dessert, yet this is a perfectly healthy breakfast.

Fortunately, I am still seeing figs at my local grocer, so there is plenty of time to enjoy them in these ways or hundreds of others.
What a relief, I'll sleep easier tonight having these figs off my mind.

Eclectic produce this week

Fresh nuts are one of the most beautiful things, just like the almonds a few months ago, the flavours are delicate and colours bright. I am usually also surprised at how inexpensive they are, perhaps people don't understand how much of a special delicacy they are and how little time they are around for. These are brand named kiwi berries, essentially just that, mini kiwis with no fury skin, just pop them straight in your month, oh and incredibly cute!
The erratic weather has made my watercress go crazy, it's now trying to grow out of the base of the bay tree pot and into the wild of my untamed garden. Not enough yet for a salad, but a very pretty garnish or a grazing nibble while watering the herbs.
Enjoy the weather while it lasts!

The highs and the lows of a week

I've had a bit of a tough week.
Until yesterday I was still sulking.

I took this picture of that fig tree I have had my eye on.



Planning that the next day I would very discretely aquire my bounty, BUT I the next day I found this. (sorry it was windy and the my images look like a drunk person took them)
The possums had struck!

So I have been sulking, until the others started to ripen and I had renewed hope...

I decided not to risk the fruit over night again and picked it, though it was not totally that dark bruised purple colour I would want from this type of ripe fig. But I just could not risk being that picky.

And then my boundy was realised, and I remembered why I was desperately stalking these poor figs. This truely is the most amazing tree, the fruit has a intense level of sweetness, yet it has a high level of acid and a fleshy firm textured seed crunch. The fig was heavy and full of tiny blooms, not somewhat hollow as some can be.

These really are the most intense fruit. I am uncertain if they are so remarkable because they are so fresh or whether it is the specific type of fig, but it was started a new stake out in my mind... one for a tree trimming.
(And I'd probably ask this time, I'm a terrible thief. I've been paranoid that my neighbour is on to me for days.)
I wonder if I could sprout a small trimming and then plant my own amazing fig tree, I'm not sure if it works this way.
Any hints?
Jack

Figs - My Pick for February

My love of whatever is 'good' at the market, has lead me to start this series of posts; 'My Pick'.
I find that when a favourite produce is newly available at the market with the change of a season I can't get enough, I can end up eating the same component over and over. The seasonal produce is always, fresh and in good condition, inexpensive and readily available.
So what I'd like to do is over the month create a few dishes from the same feature ingredient, if you have one to share, I'd welcome you to get involved as well.

So for February, My Pick is Figs

Figs are one of those flexible ingredients that when they are in season I become torn, I can think of the perfect entree, main course and dessert to incorporate them into yet, I can't have them for every course -or could I?
Figs are actually a tiny cluster of flowers inside a soft pod, techically not a fruit, they are in season late summer and early autumn in Melbourne.
The two types of figs above are the main ones I see at the markets, they go by a variety of names but roughly something like black fig or genoa for the larger purple-y ones and honey or white fig for the smaller lime green ones. I also love the little bite size 'wild figs' that you can buy semi dried, in the dry goods section. These are often imported but you can also get some fantastic quality ones from South Australia.

Baked black figs with gorgonzola dolce and Parma prosciutto
I served three of these figs with a small salad of tangelo segments, shaved baby fennel and some wild rocket as a main course.
Cut the figs into quarters and stuff with a generous wedge of gorgonzola, gently form into the fig shape again and roll in a little blanket of prosciutto. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and a grind of white pepper. I find you don't need to salt these as the cheese and ham gives plenty of seasoning to the fig.
Bake in a slow to moderate oven until the prosciutto is crispy and the cheese is hot and molten.Rest the figs for a few minutes after the oven, so as to not burn your tongue as soon as you taste how good they are.
Jack

NB Don't worry, I have not forgotten about the fig stake out, its sooo still on, just nothing seems to be happening at the moment, immediately upon the first signs of ripening, you'll know.

Stake Out!

These beauty's will grow into the most luscious figs I have ever tasted, I know, I had some from the same tree last year.
I am not sure what the variety of fig is - though I'd love to know - but this is not my biggest concern. The problem is... I don't own the tree and they are only marginally 'over' the fence - if I stretch my arm right out.
The stake out is on.
Updates to come...
Jack

Spanish tomato salad

Tomatoes evoke memories of summer games as a child, playing 'sprinkler' games, nibbling cherry tomatoes as 'energy pills' at each end of the sprinklers reach. Ohh..., the days before water restrictions and before the urban areas, were possums have the run of the courtyard, under the cloak of darkness...
This salad I made in advance, and served to friends, as a little side dish to some panfried whole garfish.

The tomatoes are just from a local green grocer that often has something interesting on offer. This day he had some black russian tomatoes, that I buy when I can, some loose baby romas and some stem on cherry tomatoes.

These were combined with torn basil, arbequina olives that I ripped apart to deseed, and a generous glug of extra virgin olive oil, sherry vinegar, white pepper and Murray river pink salt.

My tomatoes are still happy little green marbles on the numerous plants in my courtyard. But I have very low expectations of actually eating the fruit as the possums are very sneaky and are known from previous seasons to rather Houdini like in their ability to slip through nets and elaborate traps. So, I enjoy these while I can and hope that I have at least a few to show for my newly found green thumb.

Jack

White cherries

I picked these shiny, blushing white cherries, a couple of weekends back just after Christmas. White cherries are one of those things you may see very occasionally at markets, yet would not buy as the perception is that the other, black or dark purple ones are better, sweeter, intenser. As I discovered, that perception is wrong.
At the Ellisfield Farm in Red Hill, I picked these cherries for $7 a kilo, it was a tougher process than I thought, as it had rained a few days prior and there was a lot of split and rotting fruit on the trees, such a shame.
I also purchased some black cherries from the farm and 'tasted' some of the morello cherries straight off the trees. The black cherries were reduced in price from $15 a kilo (that's picked and ready to go, not pick your own), to $10, because of a few marks made again by the rain, what a frustrating life of a farmer, one minute drought and then next minute reduced price, rain damaged fruit.
Back at home, tasting the black and white cherries one after another, it was very clear that the white was my pick. A slightly softer texture and not as meaty at the stone, the white cherries also a little lower in acid and therefore perhaps a bit more scoffable.

So with a few kilos of cherries in the fridge, what to do with them?
~Bring to room temperature and snack on a highly antioxidant fruit
~Poach a kilo of washed fruit with a splash of water and a couple of tablespoons of sugar, slowly until they are soft and eat for breakfast with muesli or dessert with ice cream or left over 'eggnog crush'
~Slightly pickle in equal quantities of vinegar and sugar ( add a few flavours if you like such as bay leaves, cloves, orange peel) and serve after a few weeks with pate or terrines.~
~Preserve some in your favourite spirit, perhaps some vodka or brandy
~I have been known to also take the left over poached cherries once we get sick of them and don't finish the pot and reduce it even further to make a thick sticky reduction to serve with white mould cheese

Jack

Christmas with Jack

I had a quiet Christmas at home this year, PDC had been working like crazy, so I decided to prepare a modern Aussie style Christmas lunch for the two of us.

One of the difficult things about working out what to serve is that a lot of otherwise beautiful produce is usually so over demanded at this time of the year, that what is available is generally of poor quality. Take seafood for example, there are only so many fish/prawns/oysters etc to be caught and sold over that period so the chances of getting good produce over the other thousands at the market (no matter what you are prepared to pay) is slim, as the retailers will stretch themselves (and their prices - why were raspberries $6.50 a punnet last weekend, yet $4.00 the one prior, when the season is actually getting better?) to supply as much as they can sell.

Therefore my mission was to create a special, 'Christmas feeling' lunch without using the produce that everyone else wanted and would be easy to 'finish' on Christmas day and partially prepare the day before.

Therefore, the menu...

Entree
San Daniele prosciutto and seared scallops with saffron and manzanilla braised leek, peas and their tendrils

Main
Rare venison fillet and quince sauce with anchovy and asparagus stuffed zucchini flowers and taleggio polenta chips

Cheese
Chaource with pecans and bread to dip (actually on the menu but postponed until dinner...)

Dessert
Black cherry and almond clafoutis with eggnog crush

So the entree (scallops, fitted my requirements as some of the best ones comes frozen from Canada or Japan) - served on a glass plate that you can't see here!

The San Daniele ham is my new favourite thing, I can't believe I have been getting by eating the plastic Australian stuff for years. After eating in Spain earlier this year and my new palate for Spanish jamon, I can confidently tell you this is truly up there!
The entree was matched beautifully by PDC with a fancy white burgundy, 1996 Bonneau du Martray Corton-Charlemagne.

You can tell its summer when the zucchini flowers are at the market.

I (or PDC actually) stuffed the flowers with a very quick combination of a finely sliced asparagus spear, a couple of chopped anchovies, a blob of goats curd, lemon and S+P. The flowers were panfried and then finished in the oven, the stuffing leaked a little when i turned them but still offered a powerful flavour punch that you could not miss.

Pre cooked and set buckwheat polenta, cut into 'chips' to be seasoned and panfried.


The cherries before the batter... (and during PDC's nap - hence time for a few extra photos)

They were large cherries, but not plum sized as they look here... And then...

Baked... yes trust me it tasted as delicious as it looks here (I was very proud!)

We ate this with what I ended up calling eggnog crush, essentially my recipe for eggnog that I froze some of this year, in the hope of turning into a rough ice cream, yet as I discovered my taste for booze in the eggnog also stops it freezing hard, so we ended up with s slushy consistency for the 'crush', but the flavour combination was outrageously good.
The incredibly interesting thing about the clafoutis was that if I had not cooked it myself, I would have argued about the fact that I could DEFINITELY tell that the cherries had been soaked in Amaretto. But since you can tell from the first photo there was no soaking just beautifully plump, fresh, fat cherries, the flavour had come from the seeds, the exact reason why they are traditionally left in this dish. I love it, and love the way the best understanding of something comes from doing it yourself.

I hope you also had a very merry christmas
Jack

Poached rhubarb and strawberries

The rhubarb lady, Di I believe her name is, that frequents the local farmers markets is very passionate about her rhubarb, perhaps to the point of being a bit bossy about the way it is prepared... She has a little printed slip of paper that she gives out about how to prepare it which I think is great, but she can also be over heard constantly saying, "don't add anything to my rhubarb, no apples, just the rhubarb..." on and on. Of course, I and I'm sure many others comply, and have been rewarded with what has to be a some of the best stewed rhubarb on the planet (trust me it really is that good!).
When I was queuing to get my hands on some at the St Kilda markets last weekend, Di was advising that due to the lack of rain the rhubarb may need some orange juice to stop it sticking. I felt like I had been given premission to fiddle with 'the rhubarb'.

Poached rhubarb and strawberries
A bag of Di's fabulous rhubarb (or about 500g of the ordinary stuff)
A punnet of strawberries
A couple of tablespoons of brown sugar

Cut the rhubarb into bits as long as your thumb
Place in a large saucepan with the brown sugar and gently heat on the lowest stove top setting.
Once a little liquid has dropped, place the strawberries on top of the rhubarb in the pot, cut the larger ones in half, don't stir
Cover and gently cook until just before the rhubarb pulps down

I love this rhubarb for breakfast with bircher muesli or perhaps with some custard for dessert.
Jack

Some beautiful food photos from France and Spain

Hope you enjoy some of these beautiful food related photos from my recent trip.

Striped heirloom tomatoes from a Paris market.

I've titled this 'blushing salad', one of the 15 courses I ate at Mugaritz a few weeks ago. It was a pretty little herb and blossom salad on top of a emmentel cheese broth. As I gently moved the leaves to begin eating, the baby vegetables hiding underneath, namely the beetroot moved and tinted the broth this pretty colour. (All the Mugaritz experience to come)

These picture perfect ceps were just sitting on the bar in San Sebastian, Spain.

Fruit jellies in Lyon, France.

This one is for PDC, I think we took more photos of this hill than at the Louvre.

Some jamon with prices in Euros at the La Boqueria market, Barcelona.

Pimms in London...

Wild Strawberries at Cal Pep, Barcelona, just before they were put in the bottom of one of the 'foams'.

Perhaps not a beautiful photo, but a beautiful dish at Gandarias, San Sebastian, Spain. The leg of a suckling pig that was roasted until the skin was crispy and the flesh soft and falling from the bone. Simple delicious food.

Hope you enjoyed them.

Jack

The taste of summer

The cold weather, has reminded me of these beautiful strawberries I ate in Marseilles, France.
They were sold in the pretty little wooden box with pale blue trim and wrapped in paper in the store. The were probably the best strawberries I have ever eaten, so ripe that the fragrance was intoxicating and that the stalks pulled away from the flesh in your lips.
Bring on summer!
Jack