2012 Roundup

First of all, I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I mentioned in my previous post that I was hosting a Christmas meal at my place, so here's a few snaps of some of the food that was devoured.

Clockwise from top left: Prawn, mango and avocado salad (made by mother dearest); Roast prime rib of beef with glazed carrots and beans; Chocolate cherry pavlova; Strawberry and mint tiramisu

It's hard to believe that we're already at the end of another year. At the start of 2012, I remember thinking how long this year was going to be, but looking back now, it feels like it's flown by. I've finished off my Masters degree, learned to ski and fell in love with it, and bought our first car (and learned to drive manual!). It's been a busy year so at times this blog got a little neglected, but that doesn't mean there wasn't plenty of delicious food!

Christmas Shortbread

Only 4 more sleeps til Christmas! The lead up to Christmas can be stressful and crazy - especially when shopping centres are packed and it takes half an hour to even get into the carpark - but I think it makes me appreciate Christmas even more, since it's usually quite a relaxing time for me.

The thing I love most about Christmas is the gathering of family and friends to share a meal and exchange gifts. This year, I'm hosting a Christmas Eve dinner at my place, which is sure to involve lots of mayhem in the kitchen! I've tried to be organised though by making some things in advance, like this Christmas shortbread.

This recipe is super easy to make, and are perfect as little treats to go with a tea or coffee after a meal, or wrapped up as take-home gifts for guests. I took a regular shortbread recipe and injected some festive cheer into it by turning half of the dough into cranberry and white chocolate shortbread, and the other half into green tea shortbread.

I love the contrasting colours of the two shortbreads together. They also have quite different flavours with the cranberry and white chocolate being sweeter with pops of tartness from the cranberry, and the green tea shortbread being ever so slightly bitter. Regardless, they are both delicious, and I think they will become part of my regular Christmas baking routine from now on!

I hope everyone has a fabulous Christmas! May you stuff your bellies full of tasty food and may Santa make all your Christmas wishes come true :)

Dulce Luna Viennoiserie, Sydney

Sponsored by Nuffnang

Pastries. Delicious, buttery pastries. I have this dream of going to Paris and eating a freshly baked pastry from a different patisserie every day. I don't think my waistline and arteries would approve, but I'm sure my tastebuds would! Until I can make it to France, I'll have to seek out pastries and croissants in Sydney.

Dulce Luna, a hole-in-the-wall store on York St definitely fits the bill, dishing out thousands of gorgeous, glistening pastries every day - just like the ones above. I attended the launch of Dulce Luna, where we were able to find out more about the pastries on offer, and do a bit of taste test as well.

So what is a Dulce Luna? Gus Mendez, founder of Dulce Luna, explains that they are a product influenced by many different parts of the world, including the French croissant, the Italian cornetti and the Argentinean media luna (half moon) from where the product gets its name.

Clockwise from top left: creme patisserie - $3; raspberry - $3; ham, cheese and bechamel - $3.50; dulce de leche - $3

Ippudo, Sydney

The latest global phenomenon to hit the shores of Sydney is Ippudo, located on level 5 of Westfield Sydney. Before, Sydneysiders were queueing up for Laduree's pretty macarons, but now it's all about the ramen. We visited on a weeknight but still had to wait for around 30 minutes. Thankfully, there is a bar out the front and the bartenders are more than happy for you to order drinks and bar snacks while you wait.

Ippudo pork bun - $4

Puntino Trattoria, Woolloomooloo

If you're a cheese lover and you haven't tried burrata yet, you are seriously missing out. Inside this plump, knotted ball of cheese is cream and soft mozzarella that oozes out once it is cut into. It is rich, creamy and oh so delicious! The promise of burrata and wood-fired oven pizza is what drew us to Puntino Trattoria, which is hidden away on the Woolloomooloo side of Crown Street.

Cacio di cavallo - $16.90

We're being treated tonight with a multitude of cheeses and treats from the wood-fired oven, starting with the smoked provolone that is baked in the wood-fired oven with shaved black truffle. The truffle aroma hits as soon as it lands on the table, and we use the tongs to take a piece of the melty, stretchy cheese and eat it with the accompanying bread.

Calzone ai formaggi - $10 (left) and calamari in padella - $16 (right)

Other entrees that we sample also include the calzone ai formaggi - a wood-fired pizza folded over with mozzarella, parmesan and garlic - and a simple but delicious flash friend calamari with lemon and garlic. The calamari pieces are especially good as they are slightly tangy from the lemon and very tender.

Mozzarella degustazione platter - $15.50pp (min 2 ppl)

Gingerbread Christmas Tree

You know that Christmas is here when there is the unmistakeable aroma of gingerbread wafting through the kitchen. It's become somewhat of a tradition of mine to make gingerbread for the holiday season, and since I've done gingerbread men and gingerbread houses before, I thought it was time for something new.

I received a Gingerbread Tree kit as a gift and decided to put it to use. It came with a base and two different sized wooden dowels for the interior stem of the tree, as well as a set of five graduated star cookie cutters and a circle cutter. Everything I needed to make my very own Gingerbread Christmas Tree.

Making the gingerbread was easy enough. I just used my usual recipe and cut out about 5 stars of each size using the five graduated star cutters. If you are going to thread it through a wooden dowel, don't forget to also cut out a hole in the centre of the stars. I cut an extra small star for the top of the tree as a topper as well.

I decorated each star with royal icing before assembling the tree, which just involved placing the stars in order of size on top of each other, so that the base of the tree has the biggest stars going to the top of the tree with the smallest. If you don't have a stand, you can also use the icing to glue the stars on top of each other, which will create the same effect. And that's all it takes to make a Christmas tree of the edible variety! Half the fun is actually taking it apart and eating it :)

Mino Sushi & Sake, Willoughby

Although there's no shortage of Japanese restaurants around my area, I still love finding out about new ones. I'd been meaning to try out Mino in Mosman for a while, which offers a very affordable kaiseki 6-course dinner. When I found out that Mino had also opened a restaurant in Willoughby, I went to try it out ASAP.

Mino Sushi and Sake in Willoughby focuses more on a la carte dishes than the multi-course menu that is offered by its sister restaurant. This gave us more choice when ordering, almost too much choice, especially when there were several tapas-style offerings that were available per piece, like a grilled scallop with garlic soy butter ($4), or a yakitori chicken skewer ($3.50).

Large assorted sushi (12pc) - $26

Peter Gilmore's Festive Season Menu @ Quay

Christmas madness has officially begun! My Christmas tree is up, I've started my Christmas baking (more about that in another post) and I wish I could say that I've finished my Christmas shopping but I've only just begun that...

At least I've pretty much got the Christmas meal sorted since I got some great ideas from a recent masterclass I attended, where Peter Gilmore (of Quay Restaurant fame) shared his Christmas menu. We sat on the upper level of Quay, which is reserved for functions with a spectacular backdrop of Sydney Harbour and its landmarks, and also has an Electrolux kitchen installed at one end.

We sat around the kitchen and watched as Peter Gilmore cooked and plated up his three-course Christmas menu. The dishes were simple to prepare and most of the work can be done ahead of time to minimise the chances of you running around like a headless chicken after the guests have arrived!

Steamed freshwater marron with herb butter, young leaf and flower salad