Multicultural Melbourne: Homemade

Showing posts with label Homemade. Show all posts

Monday, 15 August 2011

Scarf Community Dinner

This blog has moved to http://multiculturalmelbourne.com/

Scarf Community

A few months ago, I heard about a fabulous little Melbourne organisation called "Scarf Community." For those of who you don't know about this brilliant organisation, let me tell you a little bit about it... Scarf provides hands on hospitality training to marginalised youth who might not otherwise be able to afford or get access to training or employment. They "borrow" restaurants around Melbourne from some very kind, generous owners who are willing to lend their venues to the Scarf crew on Monday nights (the traditional hospitality night off) for a 10 week period, over which the students are able to hone their skills in providing a real dinner service to real, paying customers, while being helped along by their mentors.

The mentors involved in Scarf are all people who currently work in the hospitality industry, and volunteer their time to guide their charges along their way, providing them with both industry knowledge and connections. Upon finding out about this amazing organisation, I knew I had to get involved, and immediately emailed to arrange a dinner booking.

We arrived at Mixed Business (486 Queen's Parade, Clifton Hill) at 8:30pm on a cold, Melbourne night for our dinner booking, and wondered on in just as a large group was leaving, so we stood around for a minute or two before someone realised we weren't with the departing bunch. We were quickly shown to our seats, just by the bar/counter.

Our table was set with an eclectic mix of plates and knitted napkin holders, which I loved - it had a very homely, welcoming feel.

After a few minutes, our wonderful waiter took our drink order, and then presented us with our menus. A two-course set menu for $35, we had the choice between three entrees and three mains.

With our orders placed, we waited another five minutes or so before our waiter came back with some bread and olive oil for us... great way to get our hunger happening!

We waited only another five or ten minutes before our entrees came out. Sous-Jeff ordered the potato, leek and bacon soup with crispy parmesan, and I ordered the risotto with roasted salmon, basil, fetta, lime and spinach.

Sous-Jeff enjoyed his soup, especially the crispy parmesan. It tasted like a beautiful, comforting, home cooked meal, which was perfect for the freezing cold night.

Potato, leek and bacon soup with crispy parmesan.

I'm actually not at all a salmon eater, but the combination of lime, fetta and spinach made me decide to give the risotto a try. I am soooo glad I did! Although there wasn't a strong fetta or lime flavour, it was creamy and the salmon was perfectly cooked. I really enjoyed this dish, even more so because I was so apprehensive about it!

Risotto with roasted salmon, basil, fetta, lime and spinach.

Next out were our mains. Sous-Jeff went with the braised chicken with fig and pomegranate molasses and cous cous, and I went with the Osso Bucco Milanese.

The chicken wasn't at all what we'd expected - we thought it might come out as a chicken breast or thigh covered in sticky, fruity sauce, on a bed of cous cous. What Sous-Jeff had placed in front of him instead was a stew-type bowl of chicken with a bowl of cous cous on the side. The chicken had a strong cinnamon flavour and was well cooked, and again Sous-Jeff felt like he was eating a beautifully home cooked meal.

Braised chicken with fig and pomegranate molasses and cous cous

My Osso Bucco had high standards to live up to, and it didn't disappoint. The veal was so tender and soft, it just fell off the bone. The sauce was delicious too, but lacked a flavour punch - it was just a bit under seasoned.

Osso Bucco Milanese

With dinner done and dishes cleared, we were handed a dessert menu. Well, I just can't say no to dessert, so we decided upon a piece of cake and a shared plate of home made sweets.

The raspberry cake was beautifully presented, but unfortunately for me, had quite a bit of cinnamon in it. Sous-Jeff was happy to capitalise on my misfortune and gladly polished it off! Thankfully, he left the berry compote for me, which went down very, very nicely with the small bowl of vanilla ice cream that was served with it. At an additional $12.00 for the cake, we did however feel like it really wasn't very good value for money.

Raspberry cake, $12.00

The plate of homemade sweets was gorgeous! A pink little meringue (which tasted a little like rosewater...), a yo-yo with a creamy, sugary filling, and a delicious little chocolate chip cookie all disappeared in the blink of an eye, and they were all beautiful! Perfect way to finish a meal, and at only $2.00 for the plate, it was a winner for us!

Plate of homemade sweets, $2.00

After dinner, I met up with the lovely Jess, who is one of the mentors and leaders at Scarf. She showed me into the kitchen, where our wonderful waiter was preparing to take out his next round of dishes. We also said hello to some of the other happy faces around the Scarf kitchen, the wonderful people who brought us our fantastic meal.

Our receipt for dinner, along with some Scarf info and business cards came out to our table in this gorgeous little, homemade pocket, which pretty much summed up our evening; warm, comfortable, homely.

It was a fantastic evening, and I really was impressed by the level of quality food and service provided by the Scarf team, remembering that they're not yet professionals. It truly is a credit to the hard work put in by the wonderful volunteers and students, and I was so happy to have the opportunity to support such a fantastic cause. If you haven't yet had the pleasure, I can't recommend attending highly enough. A lot of hard work, care and love went into our meal, and it was evident on everyone's faces that both the diners and the "staff" were truly appreciative of the opportunity. Our waiter, in particular, was a perfect gentleman; we were greeted upon arriving, farewelled upon leaving, and approached with a smile throughout the entire evening. A huuuuge thanks must go to him for making our night so lovely :)

If you'd like to support this wonderful organisation, a 2 course set menu dinner will only cost you $35.00 per person, with a range of beer, wine and soft drinks, as well as desserts available to you.

Email Jess at jess@scarfcommunity.org or call on 0488 777 527 to make a booking!

Would rate it 7 out of 10.

Saturday, 30 July 2011

Cornbread

This blog has moved to http://multiculturalmelbourne.com/

Multicultural Inspiration from... the world of baking!

Ever since starting out on this gluten free thing a few weeks ago, I've been constantly looking for ways to keep getting variety into my diet. I haven't been much of a bread eater for a while now, but every now and then, I just want nothing more than a nice, warm slice of bread with a bit of butter... mmm....

I discovered corn bread not long ago in a local health store. It was just a packet bread mix type thing, and it was simple enough to put together, and it was absolutely delicious. It was quite sweet - Sous-Jeff likened it more to cake than to bread, and he was right (I guess that's why I liked it so much!). So I decided to try my hand at my own version of corn bread!

I took my inspiration from the ever reliable Australian Good Taste magazine's June Cook The Issue Issue, with my own changes (of course!). Instead of following the recipe's cheese and chive method, I decided to make my own gluten free, sweeter version of the bread. Here's what I used to make this delicious loaf:

400g tin of corn kernels
400g polenta
115g gluten free self-raising flour
3 tbsp caster sugar
1 tsp salt
600ml buttermilk
150g butter, melted
3 eggs, lightly whisked

First up, preheat the oven to 180°C, and line a 18 x 18cm square cake tin (or similar sized loaf tin) with baking paper. Then, put a bit of paper towel on a plate, drain the corn kernels and pour them onto the paper towel to drain further.

Instead of using the corn kernels whole as per the recipe, I decided to throw mine into my food processor and mush them up a little first!

Into a bowl with the flour...

... and the polenta, sugar and salt.

Next in goes the processed corn kernels, buttermilk, butter and eggs, stirring until well combined.

Then, just pour the mixture into the tin and spread it evenly, smoothing it over the top.

Into the oven for around 40 -45 minutes, until it looks like this..

I let my big, square, bread loaf sit in it's tin to cool for a while before taking it out, and I know I should have let it cool a little more before slicing it open and trying a piece, but I couldn't help myself!

The result? Soft, crumbly, delicate, delicious cornbread.

It wasn't quite as sweet as the packet mix I'd made, and it had a far stronger corn flavour (given that I'd used a whole tin of corn kernels!), but it was really, really yummy! It had a very different flavour to any other bread I'd ever tasted - a bit sweet, but definitely savoury with the corn.

It literally fell apart in my fingers as I picked up a pieced to try, and crumbled away under my knife as I spread some butter onto it. Delicious, and completely gluten free! Sous-Jeff took one look at the bread, and dashed to the fridge to fetch a spoon full of his chilli jam. Apparently it was incredible; I value my taste buds, and therefore did not try any.

It actually kept surprisingly well for 4 days or so as well - surprising that it actually lasted that long! I would like to try the cheese and chives version next time now that I've mastered a basic, neutral version of the bread!

Over to you - what's your favourite bread?!

Sunday, 17 July 2011

Sous-Jeff's Chilli Jam

This blog has moved to http://multiculturalmelbourne.com/

Multicultural Cuisine of... Italy

Since starting my food blog, I've also re-developed an affinity for the plethora of cooking shows on Foxtel. And, luckily for me, my wonderful husband is slowly starting to come to terms with this, and is actually watching bits and pieces of these shows with me!

With Sous-Jeff as a school teacher, he's been on holidays for the past 2 weeks, which means that he's been around for more than a few cooking shows, and getting quite bored with nothing to do but relax for 2 weeks. He's not much of a relaxer - like me, he likes to be on the go and have something to do all the time.

So, as fate would have it, a few days into his holidays, he plonked himself on the couch next to me over lunch one day, while I was watching an episode of David Rocco's Dolce Vita, featuring some homemade chilli jam. For those of you who don't know, Sous-Jeff is a complete chilli fiend. His eyes light up like a little kid on Christmas morning when ever he sees anything with the words "chilli," "hot," "spicy," or "warning" on it. Why you'd want to burn off all your tastebuds before eating is beyond me, but for some reason completely unbeknownst to me, he insists on making almost all of his food spicy. So, naturally, his ears pricked up when he saw this chilli jam segment. As I picked up the remote control to fast forward past this (I guess opposites do attract because I cannot handle anything spicier than pepper!), he grabbed the remote out of my hand, turned the volume up, and reached for a pen and some paper.

What ensued was a lot of pausing, rewinding, and "Why is he going so fast?! Add vinegar... well, how much? Jess, why won't he say how much? Is he going to give me the recipe?? How am I supposed to know how much vinegar to add?! And how long am I supposed to be cooking it for? This guy sucks! He only has a TV show because he's young and Italian and probably good looking... I could cook this!" And with that, he resolves to make his own chilli jam this school holidays!

With the ingredients purchased and the day off, I take up my post as jam supervisor and let Sous-Jeff do his thing. He retrieves his instructions, scrawled on a few post it notes, puts on his game face, and gets ready to cook. He's adapted the recipe to suit himself, and starts off by chopping up roughly 600g of red and yellow capsicums, and chopping and de-seeding around 40g of super hot red chillies.

After re-watching the segment of the show where the vinegar is added, it's decided that he adds approximately 5 large shot glasses of apple cider vinegar. There may in fact be more required, but Sous-Jeff saw him pour 5 shot glasses on the show, so that's what went in!

It all went into a big pot, and in the end, cooked for about half an hour.

Then, it all went into the blender...

...and blended into a frothy, orange goo!

Back into the pot, and in with around about 750g of sugar. The recipe called for a kilo, but Sous-Jeff decided that was wayyyy too much. It cooked on a low heat for around an hour all up, until it started to caramelise a little and turn a much richer red.

After the 40 minutes of prescribed cooking time, we decided it hadn't thickened up anywhere near enough, so we added 400g of diced tomatoes to help it along.

After almost 2 hours in the kitchen, slaving over a hot stove, Sous-Jeff was a little upset that it hadn't turned out like he'd planned it to. He put it in a jar and left it for a few hours.

Upon returning, it had finally thickened up and was a really jammy consistency, glossy and shiny, and looking awfully red and dangerous. With a spoonful aimed as his mouth, I ask if he's sure he should try that much - "it's not THAT hot, look how much sugar I put in there!" With the spoonful down the hatch, a wide grin begins to form... followed by his eyes opening wide and his face turning bright pink. Ok, so it was a little spicier than he though it'd be, but he couldn't have been any happier with himself! By all accounts, when applied not so liberally, it was absolutely delicious, with a perfect balance between the sweetness of the sugar and tomato, and the spice of the chilli.

I couldn't have been any prouder of him; my husband, the big, tough, footy playing, VB drinking man that he is, in the kitchen, giving it a crack, and it worked out for him! With that, he may have found a new hobby, and I expect to have him shadowing me in the kitchen a lot more now :)