This week I have been Reading
The 2011 Tour de France race guide.
Watching
An Idiot Abroad
Listening to
The xx
Discovering
(Or rediscovering) Hamlet - Nicki Greenberg's beautiful new version, thanks to the fabulous Snarkattack, who invited me along to see Nicki talk about the creative process behind the book.
Eating
- An enormous serve of bangers'n'mash and a nourishing pint of Kilkenny at the Town Hall one dismal Tuesday evening.
- A "Chachi" - chianina meatball sandwich - another brioche donut and some amazing chocolate tart at Beatrix, which Essjay has reviewed.
- A lazy Sunday lunch at The Crimean. The Polish hunter's stew (bigos) was just the thing to revive me after a chilly bike ride.
- Generous piles of fried food with oodles of chillies and sichuan peppercorns at Sichuan House
- Succulent suckling pig at Liberteene.
- An array of bright, zesty flavours at Chin Chin, where the only problem was having to choose only some of the items from what looks to be a menu that is all hits, no filler.
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By Injera, on March 29th, 2011 Students: Two student friends from Durham want to improve their cooking skills and learn to make delicious, easy and cheap Chinese food to replace their usual mince dishes.
I was interested to see how this English show covered Chinese food. It’s presented as an introduction to ingredients and techniques for a couple of budding cooks each episode and the lovely Ching-He Huang selects accessible recipes and introduces any specialty ingredients well. In this episode, she takes a couple of students to a local supermarket to shop for produce. I’m sure her heart must’ve sunk when they admitted to not being able to distinguish between a marrow and a cucumber, although I suspect they weren’t quite as clueless as this makes out. They were, after all, shown sitting down at the dinner table in their share-house to eat one of their aforementioned “mince dishes” with a glass of wine each. Anyway, their admission didn’t put her off her game, and she happily cooked up a storm with chinkiang vinegar, chilli bean sauce, yellow bean sauce and shaohsing wine.
The cooking is billed as “in minutes”, and our host certainly races through the script swiftly enough, however these things do take time. When the cooking started in the outdoor kitchen in Chinatown (Durham has a Chinatown? – I guess the filming must be done in London, although I was surprised to see that Newcastle has one!), the sun was blazing in the sky. By the time we get to the second dish, it is very dark and the students and cook were all rugged up and looking a little miserable. The food soon cheered them up and, after a demo, they were sent to do some cooking of their own.
Chinese Food in Minutes is on the Food channel on Sundays at 7.00pm and repeats are scheduled during the week. The website contains video links to individual recipes as well as printable recipes. It’s well worth a look.
By Injera, on March 16th, 2011 Modern Classics: Donna revamps some classics with her chic and easy version of Steak and Three Veg and her special twist on Pasta Carbonara.
The televisionisation of food (sure, that’s a thing, right?) has been getting along just fine without my blogging, however I have been meaning to get back into a rhythm with posts. For some reason, I thought that the new Donna Hay show would be just the kick-start I needed. [Hollow laughter]
I’ll be brief. Dot point brief, in fact.
- adding cream to a pasta carbonara is Donna Hay’s trick to “lighten” it up and make it “simple”
- chocolate and cinnamon wontons make “perfect sense” to Hay
- to “lighten up” steak and three veg, choose sweet potato, potato and parsnip as your veg, then smother them in butter and parmesan and bake1
- the perfect condiment for this refreshing new take on an old classic is garlic mayonnaise, “or aioli, for the fancy ones”
- two of the four savoury dishes are based around skinless chicken breast fillets [yawn]
- make lemon mayo by adding lemon juice to mayo
There is nothing new about this show. It’s a televised Donna Hay book. It’s not that different to [insert small number here] Ingredients or Giada or Bill. She seems comfortable in front of the camera and it’s certainly not a disaster. It’s just… boring. The only really “fresh” part of the proceedings is a welcome lack of product placement. That doesn’t mean everything is made by Hay, but then she doesn’t claim it is; in fact, she starts off by saying that it is based on using fresh produce and bought products to create simple dishes. Instead, products such as mayonnaise and icecream are repackaged in plain containers. That is not enough to make me tune in again. If she starts doing something interesting, let me know in the comments.
Donna Hay – Fast, Fresh, Simple is on Lifestyle every Tuesday at 8.30pm
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1. That’s not to say I don’t fancy the idea of some potato strips baked with butter, thyme and parmesan, it’s just that I don’t see how that can be described as “lighten(ing) up” veg.
By Injera, on February 21st, 2011 It was my weekend tweeting about C’s experimental tofu making that did it. Clearly concerned that my diet was about to deliver me out of our shared comfort zone of dedicated carnivorousness, my dear friend G greeted me at De Clieu with a kiss and this:
 I suspect there will be nary a soy bean in sight Naturally, I couldn’t wait to page through it and I’m afraid I made a rather distracted breakfast companion for my generous friend, and our visiting Taswegian, Mr Gucci. Even the immediate porcine delight of the spring onion roti with pork neck, fried egg and HP sauce was no match for the joy of flicking through “over 100 authentic recipes with vivid color illustrations” (sic).
Lest you think the (sic) refers to the American spelling of colour, I submit the following as an example of Round the World Cooking Library‘s version of authenticity:
 Although perhaps packaged hot roll mix IS an authentic German ingredient... The introduction to the meat section was enough to overcome my disappointment that the magic word “schweinshaxe” was nowhere to be found in the index.
There is a droll German proverb that “the most delicious vegetable in the world is meat” … and another that “in times of disaster sausages are eaten even without bread”.
This section (no, no tofu) contains such delights as:
- schmorbraten mit saurer sahnensauce
- schwäbischer schlachtbraten
- königsberger klopse
- geschmorte schweinerippen
- Bayerische haxen, and (my personal favourite)
- falscher wildschweinbraten, or fake wild boar. The key ingredient? Pork.
In keeping with that droll proverb, meat is not confined to the chapter “meat”. This dish is in the Appetizers and Salads section:
And this is from Casseroles:
 Mmmm, bacon! Vegetarians might find something to make in this book; vegans would be stumped even in the “desserts” and “pastry” sections, although the “beverages” on offer have something for everyone (as long as everyone loves Rhine wine).
I’m not sure that I’ll make anything from this book, but I’ll keep it handy on Mondays for a vicarious meat experience. Oh, and the home-made tofu was fabulous in this Eggplant and Tofu recipe from Gill Stannard. Can’t wait to make that tomato sauce again – I think it might even go mit schwein!
By Injera, on February 16th, 2011 So… it’s been a while.
I’ve been meaning to post, but I keep putting it off. I’ve even downloaded an app for that. It’s called iProcrastinate. I still haven’t figured out how it works; in fact, I keep putting off reading about how to use it. It’s that bad.
My (possibly vain) hope is that just getting a post – any post – up will get me back into the swing. At the very least, I’ve proven that I haven’t forgotten my password. Let’s see, shall we?
In the meantime, have a look at some snaps from winter in Hong Kong and summer in South Africa.
I’ll be back. Donna Hay has a TV show launching on March 15 – how can I resist?
By Injera, on December 11th, 2010 Most of these words are Suzanne Carbone’s, from her “Guess who came to dinner” article in The Age (online – I truly hope it didn’t make it to print). I also hope it is satirical or, at least, some sort of deranged fantasy. Unlike Sam Newman and his Footy Show pals, I don’t usually define “satire” as “I’m a talentless goon”, but in this case I am willing to make an exception as the alternative – that it’s for real and has been put in the paper – is too horrendous to consider.
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I NEVER thought I’d get to read a story called ”The night I met Oprah Winfrey”, but there it was, prominently displayed on the virtual front page of The Age.
Of course, it wasn’t actually called “The night I met Oprah Winfrey” because some enterprising sub decided to go with the headline “Guess who came to dinner in Toorak” to highlight the fact that we really are still stuck in the 60s here. And not the good 60s, either; the 60s where… well, where people of means are still stuck, which is to say the 50s. Or earlier.
Ten thousand people crammed into Federation Square yesterday to see the TV star for 12 minutes but last night Suzanne Carbone ended up at a private dinner for 20 in Toorak with her and then inflicted her breathless name-dropping recount on innocent newspaper readers some of whom [I wish I could say "most of whom" but I have no real confidence in that assessment] really couldn’t give a rat’s arse about the self-promotions of the rich and exploitative.
Suzanne’s friend Megan Castran always dreamt about Oprah visiting her in Australia – which is a specific and unnervingly limited ambition, when you really think about it – and Suzanne is so starstruck that she can report that “if there’s someone who can make dreams come true, it’s the Big O.”
Mrs Castran met Oprah in Hawaii in 2006 and sat in her Chicago audience the year later. After the show, she gave Oprah her business card and the TV star told her she would call if she was coming to Australia.
Oprah stuck to her word. She told Suzanne last night there was something special about Mrs Castran’s business card. ”There was something about her energy. I kept it in the right-hand side of my desk.”
Mrs Castran has held taco nights at her luxurious home for 20 years and when inviting Suzanne to last night’s dinner, she said it was to celebrate her birthday, which was on Wednesday. Oprah was the icing on the cake.
Mrs Castran, surrounded by devoted husband Paul and children Max and Zoe, had invited 20 close friends including golfer Stuart Appleby and his wife, Ashley Saleet, Natasha Stipanov, Ronnie Atlas, Sarah Walker and Meghan McGann, all people who Suzanne clearly thinks we have heard of and probably hopes we’ll be as breathlessly impressed by as she is.
The doorbell rang at 6pm and Mrs Castran screamed when she saw Oprah. They hugged and Oprah handed over two bottles of tequila, Porfidio and Parfida. Well, it was taco night and tequila shots were in order.
A beaming Mrs Castran, declared: ”This is one of life’s great moments.” [Suzanne doesn't report that her devoted husband, Paul, rolled his eyes here, but I'd hope he did.]
Dozens of cameramen, sound recordists, producers and PR people from Oprah’s Harpo Productions buzzed around [Dozens!]. Pearl restaurant staff took over the kitchen to prepare canapes and the tacos.
Oprah, wearing jeans and a shirt with her hair expertly blowdried, as usual, [I'm so happy that Fairfax, with it's recent cost-cutting, hasn't dispensed with the services of someone who can spot "expertly blowdried" hair] sat with us outside by the pool and picked up the taco shell with her hands – like the rest of them. Suzanne doesn’t report whether an “Old El Paso” commercial was then filmed, with people discussing the merits of hard shell tacos vs soft, but I can only assume – given the relentless name dropping so far in the article – that it didn’t happen. They learnt that she sleeps five hours a night. She reiterated that we Aussies are so ”darn friendly”, saying: ”There is a vibrance (sic) and confidence in Australia that I haven’t seen in other places.” [Suzanne omits to tell us that Oprah was saving her voice and communicating in poorly spelled notes. Either that, or she is also skilled at picking up spelling mistakes in speech.]
Then she made an announcement. ”Everyone here is coming to Sydney!” There was applause and cheers.
Pastry chef Christopher Montebello from South Melbourne speciality cake shop Let Them Eat Cake made a flourless chocolate cake of Uluru with Oprah sitting on top. Singer Paris Zachariou serenaded Oprah with his own ditty, cheekily called Billionaire.
Mr Castran, who has done well for himself in real estate, joked: ”Anyone who said money can’t buy happiness doesn’t know where to shop.”
Commenting on being wealthy, Oprah said: ”You should try it.”
Oprah asked about Australian values, our lifestyle and even mentioned ”sex”, curious how parents educated their children about the birds and the bees.
Ross Wilson, who came with wife Tania, performed his classic song Eagle Rock and Oprah danced around the pool. Wilson said: ”It can’t get better than that.”
At 7.30pm, Oprah departed with her Uluru cake, pausing on the tennis court to reflect: ”I got to meet real people in a real family setting. That was as good as it can ever get.”
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Sure, there are tongue-in-cheek elements – the “pausing on the tennis court” to reflect on real people part. But it all seems to be predicated on the basis that we will recognise the names dropped and will therefore be able to really place it as absurd. Or maybe that’s just my limited knowledge of a social set that the rest of Melbourne is familiar with…
By Injera, on November 7th, 2010 It’s been ages since I did a proper post. Updating my weekly This week I have been… has just made me lazy; I tend to view it as a real post, but we all know it’s not. Even less “real” since I’ve been belt-tightening just in case of unemployment. Of course, I guess I could include salad and avocado-on-toast in the eating section… but all those fabulous degustations and wagyu-burger-battles have focussed my attention on recording, well, more interesting food – and other entertainments – for posterity.
So, here’s what I’ve been watching, in slightly more depth than the side-bar allows:
Continue reading TV roundup
By Injera, on October 30th, 2010 This week it’s the turn of the chefs from the Central region – Daniel Clifford, Richard Bainbridge and Will Holland. Only two chefs can make it through to cook for the formidable judges and one will be going home early. All the chefs are desperate for the honour of cooking for The Prince and today they’re launching their culinary assault with the starters; braised hog’s head with apple sorbet, white onion soup with roasted muntjac and rabbit and smoked bacon salad.
When I typed the heading for this, I accidentally typed “Good TV”, which describes Great British Menu perfectly. Each week, three chefs from a geographic region of Britain (Scotland, northern England and central England so far) put up four courses over four nights, with the top two taking their menus to the judges on the fifth night. One is judged the regional winner, who moves on to the final, aiming to get at least one of their dishes onto the banquet menu.
I guess it has the potential to be a bit dry, but these guys are all pros with the competitiveness, creativity and ego that goes with that. Think Masterchef: Professionals rather than Britain’s Best Dish. In previous years, two chefs have competed for each region and have had a local “mentor” to provide feedback on the dishes as they’re developed. This season the “mentor” is now giving scores to each dish, which definitely provides some extra drama. One of the high points of each episode is the tasting – the chef disappears with the mentor to taste one plate, leaving the competitors to taste the other at the pass. You know it’s a good dish when the competitors praise it as they are extremely talented in the art of negativity, picking up flaws that the mentor and judges are unable to detect.
One of the strengths of the show is the judging panel: Prue Leith, Oliver Peyton and Matthew Fort. They bicker, occasionally agree, and always express surprise when the menus are revealed at the end of tasting. Oliver can usually be relied upon to wear the crankypants, but Matthew Fort often belies his teddy-bear demeanour in his comments. The choice of mentors has been great this season: past contestants – and big personalities – Marcus Wareing, Glynn Purcell (whose battle with Daniel Clifford for last year’s central spot was a highlight of season 4) and Jeremy Lee so far, with the website suggesting we’ll see Michael Caines and – one of my favourites – Angela Hartnett amongst others over the next few weeks.
Great British Menu is on each weeknight on Lifestyle Food. It’s repeated the following day and weekly marathons are scheduled on the weekends.
By Injera, on October 15th, 2010 It’s wet today. Relentlessly raining. The sort of day that would be best spent in bed with The Fry Chronicles and regular cups of tea. A preferred course of action, but not possible when breakfast plans have been made. Nothing other than the promise of a strong coffee, excellent eggs and fabulous company would have shifted me – fortunately that was precisely on offer: meeting Eric at Le Traiteur guaranteed both.
But first… to get there. Le Traiteur is a short walk, but that wasn’t an option. I decided to take the tram.
Which is where I saw an ad for the Salvos Stores “Buy Nothing New” month. Which made me ranty. The limitations of posters as an informative medium meant that the emphasis was on the fact that buying nothing new for a month could win participants $15,000 in cash and prizes. Have we really reached a point where we are unlikely (or seen to be unlikely by advertising creators) to participate in something that benefits the community unless we stand a chance of personal gain? Not to mention the incongruity of rewarding thrift with dosh. What next: Make Poverty History To Win $20 Million! Buy the Big Issue – Help the Homeless and Go Into The Running To Win A Penthouse! Donate to Flood Victims – Sail Away In Your Own Luxury Yacht!
Fortunately I have passed the particular stage of perverse logic where seeing a promotion so badly mangled would prompt me to embark on a spending spree of lavish consumerism. I will try to minimise my spending on unnecessary items this month, but I will not enter a competition to be rewarded for doing so.
By Injera, on September 28th, 2010 Romance: Sophie presents her perfect dishes for the three stages of romance.
Before we even get into this thing, I have to admit to being less than enthusiastic about it. That’s not to say Miss Dahl doesn’t have a decent food pedigree. Her grandfather wrote about an amazing chocolate factory, a giant peach and showed his love of food in the way he wrote about it in most of the books I can remember. Not only that, but he demonstrated the importance of food to his family with the release of a cookbook. Sophie is no stranger to celebrity – famous family, model, author – and will no doubt have a reasonable screen presence, but I doubt that she has anything new to bring to the genre.
“I’ve always been interested in food. Primarily because I’ve always been interested in eating it.” So says the eponymous Miss Dahl over the credit sequence of animated lip-smacking. She talks about having been both Rubenesque and a “mere slip”, and of learning to cook at her grandmother’s knee, thus establishing her credentials as a food show host, I guess.
Find out whether this is worth persevering with after the jump.
Continue reading Food TV – The Delicious Miss Dahl
By Injera, on September 16th, 2010
Masterchef UK is down to the final three and, as is only proper for this end of the competition, is adding location porn to the regular food variety. In the first episode of the final three competition, our three contenders – Dhruv, Dr Tim and Alex – land in Jodhpur – stunning! As is customary at this point in the competition, there are challenges all week, but no eliminations until the final day.
Naturally, they haven’t made the journey alone. Gregg and John, looking more dishevelled than is really appealing, are waiting and bellowing that they’ve chosen India because it’s all about FLAVOUR. This seems to be particularly targeted towards Alex, who has been putting up stylish plates of food, but his lack of seasoning has been the grand narrative. Dhruv uses a lot of spices in his cooking, so hopes to do the cornucopia available justice, while Dr Tim merely notes that it is “not like Norfolk”.
The challenges, after the jump.
Continue reading Food TV – Masterchef UK: Finals Week
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