Casa!!!

Welcome to.....

 Casa!

(Meaning home)

Location:

Devonport, Tasmania!

Ben's home....

And the site of our next little cooking endeavour...

Three awesome nights held at the local Devonport Football club

hosted by us...

Andy, Ben, Beau & Me!

Entree:

 Ceviche Tuna Tostadas

with pickled jalapeno, corn puree and chipotle mayonnaise.

Main:

Adobo Braised Beef

Shimeji mushrooms, pomme puree and cherry truss tomatoes

Dessert:

Masa Gaznates

with blistered raspberry cream, white chocolate meringue, raspberry gel

and toasted coconut parfait.

Toasted Coconut Parfait:

Step 1

'Coconut Caramel'

100g Toasted Coconut

300mL Thickened Cream

200mL Full Cream Milk

115g Liquid Glucose

140g Caster Sugar

3 Gold Gelatine Leaves Bloomed

Pop the cream and milk on the stove and bring to a simmer. Turn off the heat, toss in the toasted coconut and leave to infuse for 1 hour! :)

Strain the liquid and discard the coconut. Then pop the liquid back into a pot, onto the stove on a medium heat until it simmers again.

Meanwhile, heat a heavy based saucepan over a medium heat.

Sprinkle in a spoon of sugar and wait till it dissolves. Gradually add in the remaining sugar and stir constantly ntil al the sugar has melted and is a light golden brown.

Slowly pour the hot liquid into the caramel (be careful here there is a lot of steam!!)

Whisk until combined.

Add in the gelatine and strain into a large metal bowl and set aside to cool.

Step 2

'Bombe'

50g Caster Sugar

20g Liquid Glucose

60mL Water

160g Yolks

Pop the sugar, glucose and water into a small bowl and bring to the boil. Brush down the sides of the pot with a wet pastry brush to make sure the syrup does not crystalize.

Continuew to cook until the syrup reaches 118 degrees celcius.

In the mean time, pop the yolks in a bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment and beat on a medium speed.

Once the syrup has reached the desired temperature, remove from the heat, reduce the speed of the mixer and slowly pour the syrup down the side of the bowl into the yolks.

Once all the syrup is in, crank up the speed and mix until cool.

Step 3

'Combine'

200mL Thickened Cream

(whipped to stiff peaks)

To combine, remove bowl from mixer and gently fold in the caramel into the bombe, then fold in the whipped cream.

Pour the parfait into a 30cm x 30cm square tin lined with baking paper.

Then pop into the freezer for a few hours until firm.

To serve, 

turn the parfait out, then chop into the desired size...

(you can eat any off cuts...chef snacks!)

Enjoy! xx

A great night...

An even better team!

Photos & films were taken on my Nikon V1


(Please excuse my poor movie editing skills. My computer is so old so it doesn't display the good quality of film & photos from the Nikon V1...)

Sydney Pastry Club!

The name says it all……

‘Pastry Club’

Oh happy days! What more could a sugar head like myself want!

I was very fortunate to be invited along to the Sydney Pastry Club by The Bather’s Pavillion’s executive pastry chef Anna Polyviou to enjoy an afternoon full of sampling delicious ‘Cheese inspired’ desserts and chatting about all things pastry.

The Sydney Pastry Club is all about “creativity, sharing and generosity. The idea is to get Pastry chefs together to revisit dessert themes….gateaux Opera, the Baba, the Black forest.”

At each gathering each chef brings along their masterpiece to be tasted by other chefs….

What a great idea! For me it was so nice to meet such lovely people who are so dedicated to all things sweet!

The afternoon started with a guided taste test by Dom from Australia on a Plate who took us through tasting some of the world’s most delicious cheeses and Steve from San Pelligrino who matched sparkling and flavoured waters to the dishes presented.

 Then dessert!!

(These as just a few..)

Julien Pouteau & Tamas Pamer from Intercontinental Hotel's creation..

 Jean Michel from Baroque

Lux Bite's Blue Cheese & Fig tart

Fabien from the Park Hyatt Sydney and his truffle creation.

Bathers Pavilion signature cheese course, created by Anna Polyviou and her rocking crazy team

  

Samuel Yeo's Japanese style baked truffled goat's cheesecake with umeboshi and oat 

Locantro

Yves from the Casino Sokyo

 Some pretty incredible and inspired dishes!

Finally my dish was plated…

Spiced honey mascarpone panna cotta with blistered grapes, toffeed walnuts, walnut crumb and goat’s cheese ice cream.

My favourite part would have to be the panna cotta..so smooth in texture and flavourful from all the spices with just a touch of sweetness from the honey…delicious!

So….I’m going to share this little recipe with you J

Spiced Honey & Mascarpone Panna Cotta

4 Gold strength gelatine leaves

350mL thickened cream

300mL milk

70g honey

80g sugar

400g mascarpone

2 sticks cinnamon

3 cardamon pods

2 cloves

1 vanilla bean

Pop the gelatine ins some iced water until it has softened.  Squeeze out the water then place in a small bowl until ready to use.

In a pot, pop the cream, milk, honey, sugar, cinnamon, cardamon, cloves and vanilla bean and bring to a simmer. Turn off and leave the spices to infuse for 10 mins. Turn the heat back on and bring to a simmer again, pop the gelatine into the liquid and stir until completely dissolved.

Strain the mixture into 10 125mL dariole moulds and pop in the fridge for about 4 hours or better still overnight!

Once set, turn out the panna cottas by dipping the bottom of each mould into very hot water, tip it upside down and give it a little shake and it should slide out…be ready with a plate! J

If you don’t have dariole moulds you can set the panna cottas in glasses…this makes it easy cause you don’t have to worry about turning them out!

This is so yummy!!

Enjoy! xx

This was such an enjoyable event! Would love to say a massive thankyou to all the chefs involved in particularly Anna! If you would like to check out more of their amazing desserts check out their facebook page here…

 

These photos where taken on my Nikon V1

Pop Up!!

A pop up?!?

What is that I hear you say

Well check this out and you'll get an idea

Pop Up Restaurant Challenge MasterChef

This challenge was one of my most favourite challenges on the show...

That's a huge call when you consider some of the chefs we met 

(ahem Jamie & Heston).

I loved this challenge so much because we, the contestants, where in the driving seat the whole way along. 

It was our concept, vision and food that we could deliver to our own happy customers...

Now that the show is over, we thought, hey why not try a few pop ups without the cameras :)

So welcome everyone to the very first post MasterChef 2012 pop up at...

.....Bar H

in Surry Hills, Sydney.

This is a great little place run by Hamish, the head chef and owner, and his wife Rebecca.

(That's a picture of them and there gorgeous kids above!)

Their concept...

"We believe in preparing dishes to highlight the integrity of seasonally available produce. We love a star ingredient on the plate with a balanced supporting cast. We like our vegetables just-picked, our smooth to go with sweet and our sour spice to go with a wink and a smile."

...is something I just love!

Mindy, Audra and I felt very honoured to be allowed to borrow Bar H for the night to try our hand at our own pop up restaurant.

The night started with a line out side!!! 

And once everyone was in and seated we got started on the food!

First up:

Crispy three peppered chicken ribs with home made sweet chilli sauce...

Served in brown paper bags, designed to be torn open and shared 

I tell you what, I snuck a few 'chef snacks' and these are amazing!!

Not to spicy but oh so tastey!

The three peppers we used where white, black and szechwan.

Next up was the mains!!

Again designed to be shared because that's always more fun, 

and that's was food is about, sharing a meal...

...sharing memories!

The dishes where a slow braised Szechwan beef

(above)

Mapo tempura tofu

(below)

Served with sides of Gai Lan and steam Jasmine rice.

 

The beef was incredibly tender and the tofu, had so much flavour from the pork sauce...

I was nicking some 'chef snacks' again :)

Then finally dessert....

My little baby of the night!

Lychee granita, Black sesame ice cream, 

coconut and lime pearls, blistered ginger cream and 

crispy wontons.

Something a little different, but I really enjoyed it.

And lots of empty plated returned which is always a good sign :)

Black Sesame Ice Cream:

300mL Milk

225mL Thickened Cream

100g Caster Sugar

60g Egg Yolk

300g Black Sesame Paste

Black Sesame Seeds to garnish

Pop the milk and cream in a pot and bring to a gentle simmer.

While that is heating, pop the yolks and sugar into a large bowl and whisk until pale and thick.

Strain a little of the hot cream liquid into the yolk and sugar mix, whisking constantly.

Continue to add the liquid in, bit by bit, while still whisking., then add in the black sesame paste- and whisk until fully incorporated.

Por the mixture back into the pot you used to heat up the milk and cream, and stir over a low heat with a wooden spoon until thick. When you lift the wooden spoon out of the mixture, you should be able to draw a line down the back of it. Or if you have a thermometer, it mixture should reach 80 degrees Celsius.

Strain the mixture into a bowl and place it over a larger bowl that is filled with iced water. This stops the cooking. Stir the mixture until it is completely cooled, cover with cling wrap, pushing the cling wrap down onto the surface of the mixture- this stops a skin forming. Then pop into the fridge until completely cold or ready to churn.

Churn the mixture in an ice cream machine according to the manufactures instructions, 

then eat :) or store in the freezer...

Lychee Granita

500g Tinned Lychees in juice

Juice 1 lime

Blend the lychees, plus juice from the tin in a blender. Strain through a fin sieve and push all the liquid out of the pulp using a spatula. Add in the lime juice, pop into a shallow tray and straight into the freezer to set.

Once it is rock hard, scrape the ice with a fork to flake it up. Then serve!

An adult version of this would be great- in a shot glass with some gin or vodka ...

Very refreshing!

Enjoy! xx

Back to the night.........

And to finish off the night we though we would treat our guests with a few 

'Asian inspired' petite fours...

House made fortune cookies and dark chocolate truffles with a Szechwan sugar salt.

This was a great night!

The three of us enjoyed being back in a kitchen,

pumping out good food to great customers...

A massive thankyou to Hamish & Rebecca for lending Bar H to us,

to Renee, Cam & Alison for your help on the floor

And

To Mindy and Audra for making the night a success and so much fun!

Can't wait for the next one!

Watch out Tassie ;)

These photos where taken on my  Nikon J1

Onion Rings!

These little babies got me out of a tight spot while in Tasmania filming Masterchef!

(Find the episode here Masterchef )

They are yum! 

So enough chat here's the recipe so you can make them at home:

Onion Rings

2 Large brown onions

1/4 Cup Plain Flour

1 1/2 Cups Soda Water

1 Cup Plain Flour

Pinch of Salt

Oil to fry ( I use rice bran oil)

Chop the onions up into 5mm circles, push out all the rings then place in a bowl with the 1/4 cup flour and toss to coat.

In another bowl, pop the 1 cup flour along with the soda water and salt and whisk until smooth and is the consistency of runny honey.

Heat the oil up on the stove, to test it you can place one of the onion rings in there, it should bubble straight away.

Then in batches, shake off the flour, dunk the onion into the batter then fry until golden. 

Drain on some absorbent paper towel then sprinkle some more salt and then....

EAT!

You could try them with different flavoured salts such as a fennel salt or chili salt made by crushing together equal parts of each ingredient in a motor and pestle.

Personally I just love them with a good hit of sea salt :)

Enjoy! xxx

These photos where taken on my  Nikon J1

Gone Fishing....

You may have noticed I have been absent for a little while....well maybe this will give you a hint 

Would love to say a massive thank you to you all for all your support and well wishes!


I'll be back soon with lots of new dishes and experiences to share with you!

Much Love 

Kylie

xxx

What's Cooking Good Looking.....

I have been cooking so much lately

It's been hard to keep up

With updating this blog....

So here's a few piccies of what's been 

Happening...

Pink Rainbow Layer Cake

Cured Salmon

Lentil & Carrot Fritters

Crispy Sweet Potato Chips with a Bean Medley Salad

Little Harry & Homemade Chocolate Icecream & Cones

Ultimate Vegi Burger

The Hambuger Cake

Alice in Wonderland on a Plate

 Wasabi

Nori Chicken on Jelly & Tempura Lotus Root

Homemade Puff Pastry Tomato Tart

Healthy Kale Wraps

Homemade Tagetelli with Zucchini, Sun Dried Tomatoes & Parmasen  

Grace & Shanes Engagement Cake

3 layers- 3 Flavours with Profiteroles & Toffee

Steak Tartare- French & Vietnamese

Scallop Cerviche

Beef Cappaccio

Julia's Birthday Cake with a hidden Surprise

 Pumpkin, Spinach & Ricotta Rotolo

A long line of photos....

But Heaps of fun to put together & share..

xx