Another wedding

I'm sitting here at the end of the week feeling drained and looking forward to cracking the Verve in the fridge and spending what I hope will be a relaxing Saturday night with some of our best friends. Tim thinks I'm nuts because I want to make pasta from scratch, but since he doesn't cook, he has no veto powers. It's actually not that hard or time consuming and I'll share my recipe for spelt pasta next week. It's also highly satisfying to plop your pasta into a pot of boiling water and watch it cook without falling apart. But I digress...

In a few days, Tim and I will have been married for six months. Six months! When did that happen? It feels so much longer. I still haven't gotten my dress back from the shop and I'm only hoping they've managed to repair the damage they did when they attempted to clean it. Sigh...

On the other hand, our godparents, Ali and Dave, have notched up 25 years! That's right folks, a whole quarter of a century. A silver wedding anniversary! And these two still act like teenagers in love. (It can be a little sickening to be honest.) Congratulations!!!

To celebrate, we threw a party and they renewed their vows. It was a really beautiful day with wonderful weather and wonderful friends , some of whom were at the first wedding. Ladybug doubled as flower dog, complete with silver tutu, and she was great (although she had to be dragged down the aisle) and the food was well received. Champagne flowed and the mostly white chocolate and berry cake didn't melt. I burned myself on the oven, but champagne's a great anaesthetic. I can only hope I can still cook for 35 people without batting an eye for Tim and my silver anniversary in 24.5 years!

[Ali is the stylish lady in red in the middle of the top photo and David is the old bloke (who also scrubbed up pretty well) talking to me in the bottom photo.]

Sausage rolls

Sausage rolls are another Tim favourite. I remember being able to eat them - the tasty, salty, meaty filling with just the right amount of fat and all encased in light puff pastry and beautifully enhanced by a good splash of tomato sauce. Sigh...

My mother's are brilliant. Tim raves about them and she knows it. I sometimes get the question from him on a Friday night: "I wonder if Christiana is making sausage rolls this weekend?" How would I know?

I also get calls from her when she has made them and they've just gone into the oven. It's a sort of sausage roll alert system, if you will. I can be at work, or scrubbing the bathroom or out with friends and if that call comes through, it's usually followed by "now, can you come and pick some up for Tim while they're still hot?" Of course mum. I'll just leave my job/chores/friends right now and come get some sausage rolls for my under-fed husband. (!) Neither of them think this request is unreasonable.

Last weekend I decided to whip up some of my own. They're super easy and much healthier and tastier than anything you'll get at a shop. If you make the large variety, one (or four in Tim's case) will make a good meal with some salad.

I was pretty happy with these. I still can't eat them, but Tim tells me they worked for him, although they weren't the same as Christiana's. Not better or worse, he tells me, just "different." I'd be concerned, but then being different didn't stop him from devouring the whole batch!

Ingredients

500g beef mince

1/2 cup grated carrot

1/4 cup bread crumbs

1 small shallot, finely chopped

2 eggs

2 tbsp tomato paste

1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper

1 tsp salt

2 sheets puff pastry

sesame seeds

tbsp milk

In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients except for one of the eggs, the milk and the pastry. Mix well with your hands, making sure everything is properly combined. Wear disposable gloves if your squeamish about touching meat because this is one occasion when a wooden spoon won't cut it,

Make up an egg wash by beating the second egg and the milk together. Brush each sheet of pastry with the egg wash and cut in half.

Divide the meat mix into four equal amounts. Place one quantity of the mix into each of the four pieces of pastry and roll. You may need to flatten the roll out so it makes a large, cafe style roll. Brush each roll with egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Bake for 30 minutes (or until golden and puffy) at 180º C.

Dinner with Maggie Beer

Earlier this week, Tim casually suggested we go somewhere nice for dinner on Friday night. He said he'd make a booking and I thought we'd probably go to one of our favourite places in town. Yesterday morning, I asked him where we were going and after mentioning things like 'that pizza place' he said we were going to dinner with Maggie Beer. I didn't really believe him.

Anyhow, it became clear last night, once we were rounding State Circle that we were headed for Old Parliament House and Maggie's Table.

Pre-dinner drinks with friends in the courtyard were nice, followed by a Maggie-inspired three course meal. There was a live band, nice wines and Maggie and Janet Jeffs regaled us with some funny stories and Janet's vision for food in Canberra. Maggie and Janet then went from table to table to thank everyone for being there. It was a nice touch. I also managed to meet Maggie on the stairs and she graciously agreed to let Tim take our photo.

The Kitchen Cabinet is officially opening today and once the hysteria of a Maggie opening dies down, I'll go and have a look. I love the idea of having another outlet for regional and seasonal produce that supports local growers. The notion that Canberra can become a Barossa-style centre for food is one that appeals to me and was a theme of last night. Canberra is quite capable of making its mark as a great food destination. The region has so much to offer in culinary terms and I for one will be making more of an effort to support our local industry.

Minestrone: the right kind of soup

I’ve never really been into soups all that much. I have to really be in the mood. I don’t order them when I go out, and I rarely make them at home. However, when the mood does strike me, I’m happy to cook up a big pot of something hearty and tuck in.

One thing I can’t do is leftover soup. Don’t ask me why. Perhaps it’s the fact that a lot of soups sort of congeal into a slippery, stodgy looking, unattractive mass when refrigerated. Perhaps it’s the sight of waterlogged pieces of veg or meat floating like so many corpses in cold broth that turns me off. (Not that I've ever actually seen a floating corpse, but I watch a lot of Midsommer Murders.) I suppose it’s a question for the ages and best left alone, lest I turn anyone else off.

I think the one exception for me is a decent minestrone. Not any old minestrone, but one that I know the providence of. Seriously. The issue for me is that so many versions of minestrone seem to contain too many indiscernible ingredients tied together by mushy shell pasta and labelled ‘minestrone’ as if that’s meant to comfort and convince. I won’t touch it with a ten foot barge pole. Or soup spoon for that matter.

Minestrone should have a clean, strong, wholesome feel about it. It should be hearty and satisfying. It shouldn’t be strewn with random vegetable matter, but with carefully combined ingredients. The pasta should go in at the end, having been par-cooked and drained. If meat is included, it should not be great, soaking, sinewy chunks. Minestrone should be able to count as a meal all on its own and able to stand up for itself the next day. But for that to happen, you need a solid recipe. Here’s mine, based on years of contemplation.

Ingredients

1 small brown onion, finely chopped

1 large clove garlic, finely chopped

1 1/2 cup potato, diced

1 cup carrot, diced

2/3 cup celery, diced

1/2 cup red capsicum, diced

1 x 400g tin kidney beans

1 x 400g tomatoes (crushed or chopped)

1 raw chorizo, diced (optional)

1 sprig thyme

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1 tbsp fresh chopped parsley

1/2 tsp smoked sweet paprika

enough beef or vegetable stock to cover ingredients

salt & pepper to taste

1 cup small shell pasta, par cooked and drained

This is completely simple. Lightly brown the onion, garlic and chorizo together in a large pot. Throw in all the other ingredients and cover with stock. Let it simmer gently until the veg starts becoming tender but not soggy. Once the soup is cooked, add the pasta. The pasta will soak up the juices and flavours and soften so you don't need it to be too soft to start with.

A bit of a tart...

I was inspired the other week by some stuff I saw in a cafe display case. Not inspired in a good way mind you - just inspired to do better. Sorry if that sounds trite, but the half dozen ordinary looking, still partly frozen savoury tarts in the display case did nobody any justice. I could see the condensation collecting on the limp strip of pepper draped over the top as they slowly thawed. Yuck! They looked soggy and unappetising.

In the week that followed the defrosting tart incident remained very much on my mind. Am I obsessive? Maybe. Am I determined? Definitely. What did I do about it? I decided to get creative and make my own.

Now I don't come from a quiche or tart sort of family. Dad didn't eat that sort of thing, so mum didn't cook it. It was as simple as that. And, since I do come from a 'everything is made from scratch' type of family, we never bought the ready made variety when he wasn't around. My point is that my experience is somewhat limited to the occasional lunch at a friend's house or cafe adventure.

But back to my plan of action. I rummaged about in the fridge, and found some seasonal ingredients that I really love: leek and potato. What a marriage made in culinary heaven these two are. Throw in some free range eggs, some nice cheese, parsley, etc, and there you have it - a potato and leek version of the humble savoury tart. It was pretty quick and simple too and kept well in the fridge and lunchbox.

End result? I was pleased. Very pleased. So was Tim. (Especially since I took the easy route, used bought pastry and couldn't eat any of them myself!)

Ingredients:

50g unsalted butter

1 cup sliced leek (white part only)

200g thinly sliced potato

1 sheet short crust pastry

2 eggs

1 tbsp light sour cream

1 tbsp milk

1 tsp finely chopped fresh parsley

1/4 cup freshly grated grana padano

Place half the butter in a fry pan and soften the potatoes for about five minutes at a low temperature. Add the rest of the butter and the leek and cook for ten minutes. Salt & pepper to taste.

Lightly beat the eggs, and then add the cream, milk, parsley and cheese.

Oil four 10cm (diametre) tart tins, quarter the sheet of pastry and gently ease each one into a tin. Cut the excess pastry away. Prick the bottom of each with a fork.

Spoon a quarter of the potato and leek into each tin, spreading it out evenly. Then spoon in the egg mix over the top. Tap the tins to settle the mixture.

Bake for 20-25 minutes at 180º C. Serve with tomato relish, salad and a glass of white wine.

Australian Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Awards

I like the idea of an award for the best maitre 'd. See story in the SMH.

Take 5 - again!

Well here we are in all our glory as the Take-5 Reader's Choice winners. I would like to state for the record that this photo doesn't look much like me (don't know why that is) and I definitely do not talk like that. Oh, and my mother has never called me darling. That's all.

Thanks to everyone who voted!