Rice Pudding with Honey and Cinnamon Roasted Fig

Recipe adapted from Sweet Food, published by Murdoch Books.
Rice pudding
20g unsalted butter
3 tablespoons Arborio rice
3 eggs
¼ cup castor sugar
1¾ milk
½ cup cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cinnamon and nutmeg for sprinkling
Preheat oven to 160°C.
Grease an ovenproof dish with butter.
Cook the rice in a saucepan of boiling water for 12 minutes or until tender. Drain well.
Beat eggs lightly in a bowl.
Add sugar, milk, cream and vanilla essence and combine well. Stir in rice.
Make a bain-marie in a deep roasting tin by pouring in enough hot water to cover half the greased ovenproof dish.
Pour mixture into the ovenproof dish. Sprinkle a light layer of cinnamon and nutmeg on top.
Bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown and a skewer comes out clean.
Rest for 5 minutes out of the water before serving.
Honey and cinnamon roasted fig
2 tablespoons honey
1 cinnamon quill
4 fresh figs, quartered
½ teaspoon vanilla essence
⅓ cup water
Preheat oven grill to moderately hot.
Place honey, cinnamon, vanilla essence and water in a small saucepan. Bring to the boil and then simmer gently for 6 minutes.
Place figs on a shallow baking dish.
Pour honey mixture over figs and grill until the fig juices just start to come out.
Enjoy!

Smoked Salmon Salad

Smoked salmon with avocado, baby spinach, red onion, feta and fresh mint, dressed with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and lime juice. Garnished with fried ginger strips. I foodgasmed. Twice.

Peanut Butter and Jelly

Toast, peanut butter, strawberry jam and pan-fried banana. My keyboard is sufficiently sticky and loved up now.

1 banana
1 teaspoon flour
1 teaspoon brown sugar
Knob of butter
Peanut butter, for spreading
Strawberry jam, for spreading
1 piece of toast

Peel banana and cut into quarters.

Place flour and sugar in a shallow bowl. Coat banana in mixture, pressing gently to make it stick.

Fry in a pan on a low to medium heat until golden brown.

Spread a layer of peanut butter and a layer of strawberry jam onto a piece of toast.

Place banana pieces on top and squish down with a fork.

Enjoy!

Pan-Fried Salmon

As much as I love poached salmon in restaurants with fancy creamy sauces, my favourite way to eat salmon is with fresh herbs and crispy skin. Don't be afraid to buy salmon with the skin on, even if it means having to scale it yourself. After that messy affair, you've truly earned that delicious fillet of fish.

You'll need:

Salmon, preferably tail portion
Spring onion
Coriander
1 small chili
Bok choy
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon fish sauce
Juice of half a lemon
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon minced ginger

Make deep scores along the salmon. Rub spring onion, chili and half a teaspoon each of garlic and ginger on the fillet and into the scores.

Marinate in soy sauce, fish sauce and a squeeze of lemon juice in the fridge for half an hour.

Pan-fry for about 5 minutes on each side, or until cooked through.

I like to serve this with some gently smoked bok choy and a wedge of lemon. The crunchiness and freshness of the bok choy goes beautifully with the tender and salty flakes of the salmon.

Enjoy!

Japanese Food in Sydney

Tokyo brings back memories of sushi and bloody marys for breakfast, chocolate truffles and bento boxes from Mitsukoshi, gyoza at every ramen house, ramen at every ramen house and copious amounts of fish. Once you have the real thing, you can't go back to Sushi World. I've only been to a few places in Sydney that come close to real Japanese food. My girlfriend Justine and I love Fujiya on George St for a casual dinner. Zushi and Kobe Jones are great for contemporary Japanese sushi. For the taste of authentic ramen, nothing can compare to Ichiban Boshi. And for fast sushi, Hokka Hokka makes their sushi fresh and with love.

Where do you go for Japanese food?

Chocolate Mousse Trifle

When I think Summer, I think pastel sundresses, straw hats and fun-shaped popsicles. However, since chocolate cravings transcend seasons and I love the way the blood pink of cooked strawberries looks under the sun, this chocolate mousse and strawberry trifle is a fitting way to kick off this blog on a fine Summer's day. It is so simple to make and so, so delicious.


You'll need:

100g milk chocolate, melted
100g dark chocolate, melted
6 egg whites
230ml thickened cream
¼ cup icing sugar
1 punnet strawberries
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup water
8-10 Butterscotch Fingers
Kahlua

Serves 4-6

Place strawberries, sugar and water in a saucepan and simmer over low heat until the syrup becomes a deep red. Cool in fridge.

Melt chocolate in a glass bowl above simmering water. Use the lowest heat. Remove from heat right before the last pieces melt completely.

Beat egg whites until soft peaks form.

Fold the melted chocolate into the thickened cream. Fold in egg whites and icing sugar.

Layer strawberry coulis, biscuits (drizzled with Kahlua) and mousse mixture into martini glasses.

Set in freezer for 3 hours.

This mousse is ridiculously rich and indulgent. It's intensely chocolatey, velvety and thick - well worthy of the attention a main course demands. Enjoy slowly!

I am going to write it as simply as Defoe did the autobiography of Robinson Crusoe. And she has and this is it.

When I was 11 I cooked on my own for the first time. I thought to heat oil in a covered saucepan on a high heat. When I lifted the lid 10 minutes later, a burst of flames and smoke flew up in my face. While I like to believe my technique has vastly improved, I'm still learning. That's what's great about cooking: food is a generative source of interesting textures and flavour and colour combinations. We are all creators and cooking is about tapping into the endless possibility.

So join me on my journey of eating ludicrous amounts of good food and sharing recipe ideas with all of you!

Also, Dan, Madz and Lionel (who has an awesome photo blog, http://spineiro-photos.blogspot.com/) thank you guys so much for helping me set this thing up. I don't know where I'd be without family and friends like you.