Win one of five double passes: Taste of Melbourne 2011!

Taste of Melbourne returns to the iconic Royal Exhibition Building this September 15-18th 2011, bringing together the city’s finest restaurants and an exceptional line up of premium food and drink producers for an unforgettable gourmet experience all under one roof.

Create your dream degustation from a mouth-watering menu of dishes prepared by Melbourne’s most exciting chefs. Enhance your appreciation of coffee, cheese, fine wine and cocktails with expert-led tastings and tutorials. Sip, sample and savour the gastronomic delights of the Taste Producers Market.

Taste of Melbourne is an affordable and accessible way to sample some of Melbourne's top restaurants and food providores - and having a double pass which provides you and a friend with free entry into the event makes it even easier!

To win one, all you need to do is write me a comment below. Winners will be chosen randomly. Oh, and PLEASE make sure you leave me some way of contacting you i.e. an email address or phone number!

Competition closes Sunday 11 September at 7pm. Be in it to win it!

Salted chocolate caramel slice

I've been meaning to experiment with an old fashioned caramel slice recipe, here's my twist on the Aussie classic.

Base:


-  220g plain flour
-  165g chopped butter
-  80g caster sugar

Caramel filling:


-  1 tin condensed milk
-  120g butter
-  2 tbs golden syrup

Topping:


-  200g dark chocolate
-  100g milk chocolatee

Pre heat oven to 190C and line the base of a slice pan with baking paper (no grease).  Put the base ingredients into a food processor and pulse until it resembles breadcrumbs, press firmly into the bottom of the pan and bake for about 15 minutes.  Cool.

Put the caramel filling ingredients into a pan and melt, bring to a low simmer for a few minutes.  Be careful as you don't want it to burn - it can catch easily on the bottom of the pan.  Pour over the base.  Cool and refrigerate for an hour or two.

Melt chocolates together.  I just break it up and put it in a bowl in the microwave on low heat for 5 minutes.  Check it every minute and stir so it doesn't burn.  Pour over the caramel and spread with a spatula.  At this point I sprinkled over some pink Murray River sea salt.

Cool and refrigerate for 30 mins, then cut with a hot knife.  The salt really brings out the flavour of both the caramel and the chocolate.  I think salt is something our grandmothers secretly knew added to the flavour of sweet food, hence the use of salted butter and adding a pinch of salt to most old fashioned baking recipes.

Garlicky "green" soup

Husband T is feeling under the weather, suffering the effects of a terrible 'man flu'.  To be fair, he has actually been pretty sick - something he really struggles with being such an outdoorsy person.  A fair test of the severity of any illness affecting T, is whether he can bring himself to potter around the garden.  Four days and counting, he was still curled up on the couch on Saturday morning.

This was a rare weekend when I had no plans, so I determined to make him a very healing winter soup.  He's not such a fan of the watery varieties though, which rules out my favourite Chinese chicken soup recipe.  But he does love broccoli.  And garlic.  Both of which happen to be in season.

Garlicky green soup (man flu remedy):

• Two heads of roughly chopped broccoli
• Half  a bulb of garlic (about 6 cloves) - peeled and chopped
• Two celery stalks
• One chopped brown onion
• 2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
• 2 cups water
• 150ml cream (or milk)
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 20g butter

In a big pot, melt butter and add olive oil, onions, garlic and celery.  Saute until softened, then add broccoli, stock and water.  

Make sure there is just enough liquid to cover the broccoli - if not, add a little more.  Simmer until broccoli is cooked through, then cool slightly.  Use a stick blender to blend until smooth, then add cream or milk.  Season with white pepper - it shouldn't need salt as the garlic should give it enough flavour.

And the winner is ...

The results are in.  Thanks to all who posted comments on your favourite baking experiences, and for your ongoing interest in my modest little blog.

I'm pleased to say that the lucky winner of "the baker" cookbook giveaway is: Emma.  Congratulations Emma!  I will be in touch to arrange postage of your spanking new, hardcover bakers book.

Thanks again for your support.  :-)

Cookbook Giveaway "the baker"

It was the shortest day in Melbourne yesterday.  The start of winter solstice.  I've been blogging for the last year and a half.  I'm having a baby.  I took the day off work today.  The fridge is stocked full of delicious fresh food.

Whatever the reason.  Let's celebrate.

To thank those of you that take the time to read my blog and post comments, I'd like to reward you with a cookbook giveaway.  Just because.

I bought myself a copy of "the baker" by Leanne Kitchen.  It's a wonderful cookbook full of simple recipes plus some lessons thrown in on baking techniques, history of ingredients, and beautiful pictures of good old fashioned food.  It's so lovely, I just had to buy two.

So readers, if you'd like a copy, just tell me what your favourite thing to bake is.  Be sure to leave your email address or another way for me to contact you!

** Open to Australian residents only.  One entry per person.  Entries close 5pm AEST Sunday 26th June 2011.  

Lunch at Fenix

Yesterday I enjoyed a long anticipated lunch at Fenix with sis J.  We had the 10 course luncheon, which turned out to be incredibly popular with the restaurant filling up fast.

It's a bit of a surprise - as in, you're not sure what you'll get because they use "the best produce of the day".  It's also a "sharing menu"; several plates are placed on the middle of the table to share.

Always good to start off with some sparkling mineral water.  Cleans the palate!  I may have also had a cheeky sip or two of sauv blanc, but I promise J drank most of my glass.  It just felt nice to order it.

The first three courses were light, great for picking at and building an appetite.  This first one appeared to be a cured salmon with some radishes and seaweed.  In my current preggo-state, I couldn't eat this one, but J assures me it was scrumptious.

This, I could eat.  Baba ghanoush with tomato/chickpeas and toasted flat bread.  Smoky eggplant was a nice contrast to the zingy tomato.  There was also some type of oil sprinkled over, if I had to guess, I'd say smoked capsicum.

Again, something I couldn't touch - but again, J assured me it was delicious.  An assortment of cured meats and baby pickles.

Next up, three of "the first main course".  Gorgeous roated chicken atop sauteed baby brussels sprouts.

A bowl of the most divine assorted green olives...

And one of the best (albeit very simple looking) tomato & basil spaghettini I'd ever tasted.  A definite lemon flavour in amongst the tomato and basil goodness.

Next up, the "second of the mains":  swordfish with a goats cheese, watermelon and caramelised onion salad.

Damn.  I'm not a roast pork lover.  However, this looked so divine I did have a taste, and it was quite nice!  Roasted pork, crackling, atop creamy polenta (I think with ricotta or some sort of cheese melted through).  Plus a lovely creamy gravy on the side.

Next up, desserts.  The first one was a vanilla bean panna-cotta (absolutely perfect in texture and flavour), alongside two chocolate quenelles, fresh raspberries (where did they get those!??), and a caramel and biscuit base.

And finally, cinnamon 'donuts' with apples roasted in a caramel sauce.

What a revelation.  The food was incredibly simple, but at the same time very well considered.  Everything was fresh and delicious.  At $59 a head, extremely good value for an experience at one of Melbourne's best.

Food Processor Cake

Don't get me wrong, I love using my Kitchen Aid mixer, but sometimes I just want to whip up a quick cake with minimal effort.

That's where my food processor cake base mix comes in handy.

Basically, you can put anything into this and make it into what ever kind of cake you like.  Berries, fruits, nuts, chocolate chips - anything!  

Ingredients:

125g unsalted softened butter

¾ cup caster sugar

2 eggs

1½ cups self-raising flour

½ cup milk

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Method:

Put all ingredients (except any fruit or flavourings) in food processor and mix until combined.

Take out the blade and stir through any flavourings.  I used a cup of frozen raspberries, but you could also try orange zest + chopped dark chocolate, blueberries + slivered almonds, sliced apple + walnuts.  Use your imagination - just remember to add a little more milk if you're using drier ingredients like cocoa or a lot of nuts.

Smooth into a lined cake or loaf tin.  I sprinkled over a few more raspberries because I just love them so much.  Bake in a 180c oven for 35 minutes (or until golden and risen).