If you’re keen on a drink or two, you may well be interested in a forthcoming dinner at the Edinburgh Hotel, in Mitcham.

On Tuesday 22 June, Eurocentric Wine (with some help from Wine Academy) will be hosting a meal in the hotel’s High Street Bar, featuring a selection of red and white Burgundies.

Burgundy is never cheap and some of the wines that will be tasted on the evening retail well in excess of $100 (and the remainder hover dangerously close to the $100 mark).

White Burgundy is Chardonnay – but not as you know it. Unlike the ripe tropical fruit flavours, laden with vanilla that you might be familiar with, Chardonnay from Burgundy has more green apple like flavours (that’s due to the cooler climate), and much more restrained vanilla and buttery characteristics (that’s due to how oak is used).

Red Burgundy is made from Pinot Noir, a grape which is notoriously difficult to grow and almost always results in highly priced wines. The chances are you’ve enjoyed Pinot Noir from areas like Tasmania, the Adelaide Hills or parts of New Zealand. Pinot Noir from Burgundy is something a little bit different (and special) and if it’s a wine you haven’t experienced before, this is a great opportunity to try a whole pile!

Seating is limited to just 40 people so you should book sooner rather than later … The best thing is that you can book online … you don’t have to move, find a telephone or anything … just head over to Eurocentric’s online store.

We eat pasta at least once a week and, often, it is an emergency meal.  We get home late from something and throw some frozen filled pasta in boiling water and mix through some bought pesto.  Proper lazy food.

But then there are occasions (all the time, really) where there is no excuse for such laziness.  As Susan, at the Well Seasoned Cook, is hosting Pasta Presto Nights this week I took this as an opportunity to NOT crack open a jar but instead use up what was in the fridge.

Fortunately, the fridge was well stocked for pasta making.  We had half a jar of passata – absolutely essential for a fast pasta sauce, as well as half a small pot of tomato paste.  An excellent start.

If you’re using dried pasta, start cooking it before you start on the sauce.

I started by heating some olive oil in a pan, and crisping up a couple of rashers of bacon, chopped up.  Then I added a roughly chopped leek and 3 minced cloves (large!) of garlic.  Once the leek had softened, in went the passata, and I rinsed out the jar with some of the red wine that was open.  Then I mixed through the tomato paste, and added a teaspoon of oregano and a tiny scotch bonnet chilli (the first of what is looking like a very large harvest), very finely chopped.

And I just let that all very gently simmer while the pasta cooked.  Shortly before the pasta was ready I stirred through the remnants of some mascarpone (probably about 75g worth).

Mix the pasta through the sauce, and serve, topped with plenty of parmesan and black pepper.

From start to finish, this took less than half an hour (in fact, the sauce was finished before the pasta had finished cooking) and it was absolutely delicious.  The tiny chilli added a lovely background heat that built up as we ate and the mascarpone and tomato paste both enriched the sauce and made it fabulously creamy.

The only problem?  We don’t always have a fridge so conveniently stocked for pasta sauce making!

Entertaining on a weekend is always easy.  And by easy, I mean that, as a rule, I am able to get organised and spend time fiddling about with complicated, multipart recipes.  That all makes me extremely happy.

However, there are always occasions where food needs to be put together in a hurry and it’s useful to have a few familiar recipes that I know can be made without too much fuss, too many ingredients, and with very little time.

This is my standard ‘dessert in a hurry’ recipe.  Originally, the recipe comes from Gordon Ramsay’s Sunday Lunch*, where it appears as Coffee and Chocolate Mousse Cups.  This version is thanks to Almost Bourdain.

The recipe is both egg free and gluten free.

Note that it’s important to beat the mascarpone and icing sugar well.  Some mascarpone can be a little grainy (I think this might be a quality thing) and the beating helps reduce this.  Also, the (cold) mascarpone and sugar mix is very stiff.  I find my (good quality) plastic whisk is not quite up to the job.  Of course, using a mixer (such as a KitchenAid) makes this easier but adds significantly to the washing up load …

Also, this is not really a mousse in the way that I think of mousse.  It’s more a very dense, but hopefully smooth, chocolate and coffee cream.

Begin by beating 125g of mascarpone with 2 tbsp of icing sugar.  Beat well, until the mixture is smooth.

Mix in 4 tbsp of strong espresso coffee and 100g of melted, good quality dark chocolate.

Melting chocolate in a microwave is quicker than on the the stove top but I think it requires a little more attention.  Break the chocolate into pieces and microwave (I use med-high because I worry) for just a minute.  Stir.  Another minute in the microwave.  Another stir.  That should be just about done …

Finally, whisk 150mL of cream to soft peaks and fold this into the chocolate/coffee/mascarpone mixture.  Try to avoid buying ‘thickened cream’.  Almost all the cream in my local supermarket appears to have thickening agents of some type in it – you need to look out for something labelled ‘pure cream’.  If you’re in the UK, use double cream.

Spoon the mixture into small containers.  I’ve used small martini glasses and shot glasses.  You could also use espresso cups.  It won’t look like a lot but the mixture is dense and rich so no one needs a massive bowl full!

Refrigerate for as long as possible.  Overnight is ideal but you can get away with a couple of hours.

Serve with cream or icecream.

See!  I said it was easy!

*Also available from Amazon US or Amazon UK.

date of visit: Friday 30 April 2010

We were tootling around town doing a bit of after work shopping and decided to grab something to eat. Andy nominated Indian and we headed down to The Village, on Gouger Street (close to Morphett Street).

The decision was driven by the fact that we’ve eaten at The Village once before, with a group of friends and possibly after more than one beer, but the overall impression had been positive.

At The Village there’s no specialisation in one particular area of Indian cuisine and every dish on the menu is annotated with its area of origin. There are plenty of dishes you’ll recognise (such as butter chicken and chicken vindaloo) and others that may be new (chicken 65 – chicken fried with coriander seeds and pepper which was on our list to try but was unavailable).

In typical curry eating style we over ordered …

We started with pappadums, which were served with mint and tamarind chutneys. I always say that I make my mind up about a curry house based on the mint chutney and/or the hot lime pickle. The Village’s mint chutney definitely passed muster.

For entrée, I chose, unimaginatively, the vegetable pakoras while Andy opted for the chutney chicken kebab. We were going to share but I didn’t like the sound of this … Actually, I would have been perfectly happy with the kebab but I did prefer my vegetable pakoras. They had a good heat about them and, laced with the mint chutney, they were absolutely delicious. It was a large serve, of four big patties. If you were expecting individual pieces of battered vegetable (as pakora sometimes appears) you would be disappointed but there were enough distinct pieces of vegetable in the patties to keep me happy.

For main course, with no chicken 65 available, I opted for the lamb dhansak and Andy chose the chicken kadai. The dhansak came on a large tray, with the lentils (dhal makhani) on the side, rice and even a piece of chicken tikka. I accompanied this with a really good paratha – flaky and super buttery. The sauce was tart and spicy. Andy’s kadai sauce was also reasonably spicy and very tomatoey. In both cases, the meat was tender and juicy, well sized and nicely proportioned.

As usual, after stuffing myself on entrée and pappadums, I struggled a little with my main course bit I made sure to finish the paratha!

A standout feature of The Village is the cheerful, attentive service. My water was kept topped up, after our entrées, both our waiter and front of house checked we were enjoying our food, and at no point did we feel either forgotten or suffocated.

At the end of the evening, we left feeling extremely well fed for around $80 (this included a couple of beers). And obviously, we have to go back again to check out that Chicken 65 …

The Village, 125 Gouger Street, Adelaide, SA, 5000
phone: +61 8 8212 2536

date:  April 2010

Pad thai is such a staple of Thai restaurant menus that it’s something I’ve never thought of making at home.  To be honest, I very rarely even order it.  But we had some prawns in the freezer and I found a simple pad thai recipe on the UK Delicious website.

At short notice we weren’t able to pull together all the ingredients from the local supermarket, so you may want to consult the original recipe.  However, we were really impressed with our finished product so don’t panic if you can’t rustle up all the ingredients.

I started by soaking some rice vermicilli in hot water.  I suspect that I either did this for too long (or the noodles spent a little too long in the wok) because they ended up rather short and clumpy – so I advise you to read the instructions for whatever noodles you use!

Make a dressing by mixing together 1½ tbsp fish sauce, 1½ tbsp palm sugar (we found this in our small local supermarket and I really recommend seeking it out – the taste is amazing and distinctly caramel like), and 1½ tbsp of rice wine vinegar. This is the sweet/sour/salty combination that Thai food is well known for.

Heat some oil (we use peanut) in a wok and add chopped garlic (to taste) and one chopped onion. Cook for a few minutes and then add chilli flakes (also to taste – I opted for hot!) and then the drained noodles. Stir fry for a couple of minutes and then push to one side. Now, tip a lightly beaten egg into the wok and scramble, before mixing in to the noodles.

Mix through the dressing before adding your prawns (or chicken, or vegetables – no reason why you can’t turn this into a vegetarian pad thai!). Toss well to ensure prawns are cooked (if green) or warmed through (if already cooked).

Finish with chopped spring onions and serve dressed with chopped coriander.

How easy is that?

Make more than you think you’ll need – I was expecting leftovers for lunch the next day but we scoffed the whole lot in a single sitting!

Saturday 3 April

Pork is one of my favourite meats, and I’m often frustrated by people who claim it is dry and tough.  Like most things, it’s all in the cooking and if you insist on turning your piece of pork into a crisp then, yes, it is dry and tough.  But many people have a horror

I find pork fillet a little more tolerant than other cuts (with pork chops the most truculent), so even though it’s expensive I don’t find myself fretting when I cook it.

Unfortunately, though, pork fillet needs something doing to it … you can’t just fry it up and whack it on a plate like you can with a nice piece of steak. I turned to The Silver Spoon* for inspiration. This is a brilliant, Italian reference manual – most of the recipes are extremely simple, so you’ll either have all the ingredients for a dish or you’ll be able to muddle through with little difficulty. This is a great example of that simplicity.

First, heat some olive oil and butter in a pan and brown your pork fillet on all sides. Don’t play with it – pop it in the hot fat and leave it until it comes away of its own free will – that’s when it will be nicely brown. Once browned all over, put the pork in a baking dish and finish the cooking in a hot oven. At 180°C our 400g pork fillet took about 30 minutes: we did allow some resting time and we prefer our pork a little less cooked. If all else fails, jabbing a knife in the fattest part of the fillet should give you a good idea of how things are progressing.

While the pork is finishing in the oven, deglaze the pan with a generous splash of dry white wine** (I’d reckon at around the 100mL mark). Scrape up all the good brown bits from the bottom of the pan and reduce the wine by about half. Reduce the heat and add about 100mL of cream and a heaped teaspoon of grainy mustard. Stir or whisk to combine. You don’t need to be too fussed about quantities here – simply make as much sauce as you want and don’t forget to taste as you go along!

Set the sauce aside and reheat gently when the pork is ready. We served the fillet sliced on puy lentils, with roasted rosemary potato wedges. And, of course, the remainder of the bottle of white!

* The Silver Spoon is also available through Amazon US and Amazon UK.

** I’d recommend using a white with a bit of weight and acidity, to match and cut through the creamy sauce. On this occasion I used a Hunter Valley Semillon with rather too much age on it. A younger Semillon would work really well, as would a very lightly oaked Chardonnay.

April 2010

For my birthday last year I received Dolce!, a book of Italian desserts.  For some reason, it’s taken me until now to make anything from it.

I chose the Mocha Cake purely because all the ingredients were in the cupboard and I couldn’t be bothered heading down the shop.  In many ways, this cupcake recipe may seem like a variation on my easy chocolate cake.  But sometimes simple is best.

Rather than making a whole cake I opted for cupcakes, because they seem to be far easier to take to work!

Start by preheating the oven to 180°C and, if you’re organised, put your cupcake cases in the muffin tins (this recipe will make 12).

Beat 120g of unsalted butter with 100g of caster sugar, before adding 2 eggs, 100g of self-raising flour, and 3 tbsp of cocoa.  Mix well and add a pinch of salt.

Mix 1 tsp of baking powder in 2 tbsp of milk and beat in, before finishing by mixing in an espresso cup of cooled espresso coffee.

Spoon into the cupcake cases and bake for approximately 20 minutes (or until a skewer comes out clean).

The original recipe actually has you pour the espresso over the batter once it’s in the tin, followed by a sprinkling of cocoa and sugar – this apparently creates a sort of sauce.  However, with the cupcakes I figured incorporating the coffee into the batter was a far better idea.

Once the cupcakes were cool I iced them with a chocolate rum icing – just melt some unsalted butter and mix in icing sugar, cocoa and a generous splash of rum.

All that’s left to do is eat them … chocolate and coffee cupcakes?  Too easy!

date of visit:  20 April 2010

A friend is heading to Hong Kong for a 3 month stint and, as a final farewell dinner, requested something ‘not Asian’.  Having walked through Leigh Street that same morning, I suggested Rigoni’s Bistro, which I last visited in November last year for a wine dinner with Nicolas Belfrage MW, hosted by East End Cellars.

We had an early booking (6:30pm) but even at this stage of a Tuesday night the restaurant was reasonably busy.  We were tucked in the back corner, at a well sized round table, and immediately started with drinks and plenty of water.

The menu at Rigoni’s is seasonal (so you’re not faced with the same food, year in year out) and falls in to a category that I call ‘interesting Italian’.  Many Italian restaurants feature a menu packed with spaghetti (or variation) carbonara, amatriciana, pesto … and a few token meat dishes and pizzas thrown in with little thought.  It is always refreshing to come across an Italian menu offering variety.  If you’re in Melbourne and after a similar experience I can recommend Balzari, in Carlton.

The great disappointment of the evening was that the prawn ravioli, my first choice for main course, had sold out at lunch.  Our waitress informed us that the ravioli are made in house and there had been no time to prepare more.  I turned to my (very close) second preference – the porcini tagliatelle with swiss brown mushrooms, taleggio, chestnuts and thyme.  For an entree, I opted for the tomato bruschetta (in fact, it was bruschettas all round).

Being brutally honest, I felt that $5.90 for the tomato bruschetta was a little too much.  I really enjoyed it (Andy thought it only so-so) but I suspect many would consider the portion too small.  A single slice of (good) bread, laden with a fresh, garlicky tomato topping.

However, my main course was wonderful.  The tagliatelle (also clearly made in-house) was itself flavoured with the porcini and so was a deep chocolate colour.  The taleggio was cubed and melted gently against the heat of the pasta, the mushrooms were buttery and soft, the chestnuts provided a contrast in texture and the thyme added even more richness of flavour.  The waitress had warned me it was a rich dish, but I think I would have had no problems demolishing a portion twice its size!

Andy’s choice was the venison with rosemary and juniper, served with pickled red cabbage.  The meat appeared to be perfectly cooked and he said it was very tender.  He commented that, on its own, it could be considered a little salty, but the sweetness of the red cabbage offset that perfectly.

Heading in to dessert territory, Andy chose the chocolate tasting plate (a very popular choice at our table of 7) and I went for the lemon tart.  The lemon tart was lovely – served with a small salad of grapefruits and mint and, rather than cream, a yoghurt lebne.  I’m not a fan of grapefruit but in this instance the salad worked very well: the extreme tartness of the grapefruit was balanced by the pink grapefruit and mint.  The tart itself had super short pastry and was deliciously creamy, with a caramelised topping.  In some respects, the yoghurt could be considered superfluous, but it was very light and acted as a counterpoint to the already rich tart.

I hope it’s apparent that the food at Rigoni’s exceeded expectations and I am keen to head back, if only to get my hands on the prawn ravioli.  The service was excellent – attentive but not intrusive and I found the meal well paced.  The only annoyances are that the restaurant is a little noisy and that it is only open Monday to Friday!

Rigoni’s is also open for both breakfast and lunch throughout the week.

date of visit:  March 2010

At Eating Adelaide we are keen eaters of curry.   One of my complaints while living in Headingley was that there was no decent, nearby curry to be had.  In fact, for an area with an above average population of students much of the takeaway food available was depressingly ordinary.  Other places I’d lived in the UK had been far kinder and at one stage I’d even lived next door to a curry restaurant.  I was such a good customer I never had to pay for naan.

So our hopes were high for Kartees.  The vivid orange restaurant is on South Road, right by Flinders Medical Centre.  Initial reports (all third hand – via twitter and other sites) sounded promising so we headed off to see for ourselves.

Kartees has a small, basic restaurant attached to what seems to be predominantly a takeaway business.  As we waited for our order there were two couples in the restaurant area.  The restaurant is licensed and corkage is $5 per bottle (wine only).

The first thing I noticed about the menu was the incongruous appearance of both spring rolls and dim sim amongst the entrées … not exactly what I’d expect at an Indian restaurant.

We skipped entrées in our (massive) order: butter chicken, chicken masala, dhall, pilau rice, a naan and 8 pappadums. This set us back around $40 and was more than enough for two people for dinner and then lunch the next day.

Unfortunately, the quality of the food was all over the place. The pappadums were quite greasy. I actually really enjoy them like this but I recognise that it’s a sign that the oil in which they were cooked was not hot enough. The naan bread was the disappointment of the meal – it was singularly woeful. It was obviously straight from a packet, and was tough, tasteless, and downright scary. I had just a few pieces – and for me to leave carbs is really saying something.

The highlight of the meal was the dhall – you could taste the curry leaves, and it had good flavour and consistency.

And everything else was in between. The chicken curries were (we think) mislabelled … after serious consideration we came to the conclusion that the butter chicken was incredibly bland and, while the chicken masala had more flavour, it was certainly not the ‘hot’ marked on the menu. The real problem with both these dishes was that the large pieces of chicken were very over cooked. They were dry and stringy – even if the sauces had been incredible the meat alone would have rendered the dishes below average.

Andy rated the pilau rice quite highly whereas I remained on the fence … I’m not a big fan of peas in anything so I’m not the best person to pass judgement! The portion was huge and, in addition to the peas and spices, it also came with chicken, so you could actually treat this as a main course.

I really wanted to like Kartees – it’s relatively close to home and good take away curry is worth its weight in gold (well, depending on how tired and hungry you are). But, despite the tasty dhall, the experience fell short. On the one hand, it wasn’t particularly expensive, but on the other, I’m not sure I’m that happy about paying for bland, over cooked chicken. We’ve got a good collection of spices at home and putting together a quick, mid-week curry need not be a performance.

Unfortunately, Kartees hasn’t made it on to our emergency take away food short list.

1423D South Road, Bedford Park, SA, 5042
phone 08 8277 0393

date of visit: March 2010

The relatively recent acquisition of a reliable car has meant that culinary forays can be made a little further afield than the CBD. An outing to Thebarton Theatre provided the perfect opportunity to pay a flying visit to Vietnam Sunrise.

I love Vietnamese food for its light, fresh flavours – a crude description could be “Thai without the chilli”, and I’d driven past this unprepossessing restaurant enough times to take note of it. It shares its shop frontage with a supermarket, a pasta shop and a charity shop on Henley Beach Road, just opposite Holbrooks Road. As you drive past it looks tiny and possibly a little dark and maybe even shabby.

Reality could not be further from this. The restaurant is deep, well lit and furnished with well spaced tables and bright red chairs. We wandered in just after 6pm on a Thursday evening and were seated at the front, giving us the perfect opportunity to watch our fellow diners.

Hmm, just one table to people watch then … but during the course of our meal the restaurant began to fill up (and, as is depressingly common, noise levels increased). I suspect that were you wishing to dine on a Friday or Saturday evening a booking would be well advised.

As we were on a schedule there was time just for main courses. I couldn’t convince Andy to try a Vietnamese beer, so beverage wise our choices were limited to a James Boags and a pineapple juice. Food wise I couldn’t go past the Vietnamese roast pork. In a manner, I’ve had this dish before but I wasn’t entirely sure what I would get – but as long as it contained plenty of belly pork with crackling I knew I would be happy. Andy chose the Seafood Treasure Basket, which promised scallops, squid, king prawns and mussels in a crisp noodle basket. As the evening wore on it became obvious that this was a very popular choice amongst Vietnam Sunrise’s diners.

When my pork arrived I couldn’t have been happier … 2 huge slices of crispy, crunchy belly pork with perfect crackling, accompanied by pickles and a ton of salad, including plenty of fresh mint and coriander. Being me, and lacking instructions otherwise, I ate everything separately, reserving my mint and coriander for my vermicelli noodles. It turns out that what I should have done is wrap my pork in lettuce leaf and add the salad, pickles and noodles to the package. Well, I know for next time!

At first, Andy’s seafood basket looked a little short on the seafood front, but as he dug through to the bottom there were no complaints. He enjoyed the sauce, which softened the bottom of the basket, making it easy to eat (although, personally, I enjoyed the crispy edges!).

Both dishes were generously proportioned and priced at under $20 and we left spending under $50 for our entire meal. On subsequent visits I’d be inclined to share (both entrees and mains) in order to maximise exposure – there’s no way I could manage 2, let alone 3 courses.

Aside from needing instructions with my roast pork, the only criticism of our meal would have to be the noticeable wait between the arrival of my pork and Andy’s seafood basket. Given that we were only a table of two in a restaurant less than 50% full when we ordered the gap was disconcerting.

We left Vietnam Sunrise full and happy. We’ll definitely be heading back!