Somebody that I used to know cover – 5 on 1 guitar

I love this song, there’s something about it that hits a chord whenever it’s on. I love the original clip with the lovely Kimbra.

At the same time, this cover is pretty amazing. Five people covering the song using a single guitar…

Catching up at The Bridge Room

Sometimes (actually a lot!) in life, one can have too many photos sitting site unseen and not enough time to catch up with friends. Through Lemonpi’s sheer persistence, a group of us manager to find our way at The Bridge Room. After multiple attempts of trying to find a date, the heavenly calendar finally opened and the five of us were ready to devour our first meal together. On first impression, The Bridge Room is a lovely furnished haven of calm. The furniture and decor were elegantly casual in an understated Nordic way.

The menu is an interesting blend of South East Asia meets West, especially when it comes to the dessert.

We started with an entree, the dish below being the Salad of organic heirloom carrots ash grilled, baked in salt and raw, sheep’s milk curd.

I hade the Split Queensland tiger prawns grilled over charcoal mandarin peel butter, soft green herbs. Perhaps the subtlety of the dish escaped me, but it tasted like grilled prawn nothing too special.

Comte custard, young beetroot, pomegranate molasses crumb, hazelnuts,  cress. A creamy cheesy concoction that I will try next time.

Scallops, buttered corn, osmanthus flower,biltong, burnt butter, thyme leaves

Coffs Harbour bar cod, nonya spices, coconut, liquorice basil, puffed rice. Think South East Asian flavours of coconut and sambal, but updated.

Chicken, white cut, with its broth, ginger, coriander, sprouts and organic brown rice

David Blackmore’s wagyu rump cap, mushrooms, spinach, slow cooked veal tongue, dutch cream potato

Chocolate cannelon, Campos caramel, aerated chocolate bar, red fruits

Strawberry marshmallow meringue, strawberry ripple, strawberry paper, yoghurt.  The strawberry ripple reminded us of a strawberry roll up from yesteryear. Smells a lot like it too!

Mango, passion fruit, young coconut ice, candied palm seed, lime leaves, sugar bananas

Burnt caramel cream, candied beurre bosc pears, Pistachio crumb, mint salad, purple basil. This gorgeous dessert was a nice surprise, there were layers of flavour underneath the caramel, the pears gave a refreshing punch, balanced by the mint and basil. Reminded me of a sweet Thai salad, wed to a brûlée

CONTACT

T.  02 9247 7000
F.  02 9247 7007
E.  info@thebridgeroom.com.au

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Meatless Monday and Happy 2012 : Okra curry

With the blink of an eye and explosion around Sydney, 2012 is here. We greeted New Year sitting on a balcony overlooking the city, eating cheese and playing board games. I can only hope that 2012 will be just as chilled.

2011 in hindsight was a year of mostly ups with a few trips down the chasm. It’s probably the most active year I ever had, training for Warrior Dash, doing more running in general and doing the Inca Trip which is a highlight in itself. I wish I have more time to blog, to reflect, but in an action packed year time is not something I have buckets of. This year I would like to plan my time better, keep in touch with friends on a more regular basis and make sure my photos will see the light of day… There are many people I am grateful for being in my life, you know who you are and let’s continue rocking on in 2012.

As I said, I’m still sorting out photos from 2011 and trying to climb the blogging mountain, for a start here is the first Meatless Monday post for the year.

Taken from Good Food Magazine, this recipe for Spicy Okra Curry is incredibly easy and will be my staple whenever I have okra in my fridge.

Ingredients
5 tbsp olive oil
400g onions , sliced
500g okra , trimmed, washed, dried and sliced into 2cm pieces
2 tomatoes , diced
1 red chilli , finely chopped (or ½ tsp powdered)
2 tsp ground coriander
handful fresh coriander , roughly chopped, to serve
I added hard tofu to bulk up the  portion since I only have half the okra on hand, but this is completely unnecessary.

Instructions

Heat a large wok or frying pan over a medium heat. Add the oil, then the onions, cooking until soft. Stir in the okra. Add the tomatoes and chilli, then season. Mix well and keep stirring gently, taking care not to break up the okra. Okra releases a sticky substance when cooked, but keep cooking, stirring gently – this will disappear and the tomatoes will become pulpy, about 10 mins.
Lower heat, add ground coriander and cook for another 5-10 mins. Add 2 tbsp water, cover and let simmer for another 4-5 mins. Sprinkle with coriander and serve with basmati rice or chapati bread.

PER SERVING
209 kcalories, protein 5g, carbohydrate 13g, fat 16 g, saturated fat 2g, fibre 6g, sugar 10g, salt 0.04 g

Meatless Monday – Shitake mushroom, water chestnut and ginger dumpling

A friend held a dumpling night a while back, everyone brings a filling and we make the dumplings on a long table  ready for steaming. I never made dumpling before, but it was the perfect time to figure out how to this dumpling thing. I googled this dumpling  recipe, and made a bit of modification to the recipe.

Ingredients:

• SERVES 4 (or more)
• 1 package frozen round dumpling wrappers (or substitute regular wonton wrappers)
• FILLING:
• 3 cups sliced fresh shiitake mushrooms
• 1 cup cubed medium-firm tofu (about 2/3 package)
• 1 thumb-size piece galangal OR ginger, sliced
• 3-4 cloves garlic
• 2 spring onions, sliced
• 1/2 cup fresh coriander leaves and stems, chopped
• 1/4 tsp. white pepper
• 3 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp. sesame oil
• 225g of water chestnut
• 1 tsp. chili sauce (or more if you want them spicy)
• 1/4 cup vegetable stock

Preparation:

1. Remove dumpling wraps from freezer.  The dumpling wraps will need at least 2 hours before using.
2. Prepare a steamer by lining it with 1 or two layers of baking power (to keep dumplings from sticking). I used a traditional bamboo steamer set over a pot of boiling water, but you could also use a colander with a tight-fitting lid.
3. Place all Filling Ingredients together in a food processor or large chopper and blitz to create the mushroom-tofu filling.
4. Lay 6 dumpling wrappers out at once over a clean working surface. Also have ready a small bowl of water for sealing the dumplings.
5. Spoon a little of the filling in the middle of each wrapper (about 1 tsp.). Then dip your fingers (or a pastry brush) in the water and moisten all around the outside of the wrapper.
6. Bring the sides of the wrapper up over the filling and press together to seal. If it doesn’t seal, moisten the edges with a little more water.
7. Pinch along the seal to create a decorative edge (see picture).
8. Set the finished dumplings on a plate dusted with corn starch or flour. Steam the dumplings right away, or cover and refrigerate up to 3 hours.
9. To steam, place the dumplings in the lined steamer (they can be touching) and steam over high heat for 15 to 20 minutes (mushrooms need to be well cooked).
10. Serve with soy sauce and chili sauce with a squeeze of lime or sweet kecap manis with a squeeze of lime and chopped red chilli

You can freeze the dumplings, to do this line a baking tray with baking paper and space the dumplings so they don’t touch. Slide the baking tray in the freezer for 2 hours, take the tray out and store in a plastic container making sure you line the layer with baking tray.

 

Coastal walk – Bundeena

Going through photos yet to be uploaded reminded me yet again how crazy full this year had been. Random walks being one of the unexpected activities this year. These photos are from the coastal walk around Bundeena. We hopped on a ferry and walked around the coast, being mistaken for a pair of tourists on holiday (ok so wearing full hiking gear on my part was a tad overkill).

Saw some odd looking shell like creature that looks like something that dropped from outer space. If anyone can identify these that will be great. They literred the beach and look rather slimy in a shell kind of way. There are a couple of beaches in Bundeena, all pretty quiet in nestled in a u shape cove, perfect for a half way gate way from the more crowded beaches.

The draw card for me was the Aboriginal rock carvings found on a flat platform. From sting ray, frog, kangaroo or whale (really big outline of  a fish) they stark lines are so basic and yet so recognisable that it’s actually quite amazing.

Definitely recommended for a wander just slightly out of Sydney.

Meatless Monday – Mini vegetable fritatta

I was pleasantly surprised to find more than 500 views for my last post, thanks to Kimbra’s Facebook page. Thank you! You basically made up for my entire blog’s traffic within a single day! It inspired me a little to get back on the blogging bandwagon, so here’s today’s Meatless Monday post.

I’m a huge fan of frittata because they’re just so easy to make. It’s basically an excuse to throw left overs in the fridge and turn it into a meal. With this recipe I was looking for something small enough to pack for a hike, but still be quite filling.

 

Ingredients (makes 12 mini frittatas)

• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup pure cream or lite
• 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 potato peeled and chopped into cubes
• 1 onion
• handful of parsley
• half a leek
• handful of pitted olives
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 tbs of olive oil or butter

Method

• Heat oven to 150 degree
• Fry onion, garlic and potato until brown in the oil, add leek
• In a jug mix cream, cheese and eggs, mix in the parsley, salt and pepper, then throw in the fried mixture
• Grease a tray of muffins with butter
• Pour mixture into tray
• Adjust oven heat to 110 degrees celcius. Place tray in the oven and bake for 20 minutes.

Can be served both hot or at room temperature.

Kimbra

Too much travelling means I have so many photos and not enough time to post them. Like this gig from Kimbra’s show at the Metro a couple of months. What an incredible voice and still 21! Can’t believe her range and it took me  a while to realise that a number of her songs were sung solely by her, no other female vocals were used. I love her throaty, jazzy sounds and at times she reminded me of a young Amy Winehouse.

In real life she is surprisingly tiny, considering how large her voice is. But those red, red lips took centre stage.

Her second costume is this Spanish influenced red dress that was in danger of falling off throughout the entire show. Rather distracting really, as it came quite close to a wardrobe malfunction for a moment or two. Loved the show and can’t wait to see where she goes from here, I still have Good Intent in my head for days after.

Meatless Monday : Pumpkin Soup

I am so over this winter, colder, wetter and longer than last year it just feels unnatural not to have the sun up in the sky for days on end. No idea how I managed to cope with this ungodly weather in the UK. Cold weather means soups and finally using the Food Processor I bought for the sole purpose of making hearty winter soups by the bucket. I could never get away from the classic pumpkin soup even if I did end up swearing my head off after the first few blisters trying to carve and peel them as I go. It always seems easier in my mind when I pick up a pumpkin or two from the grocery store and drop it in my shopping trolley.

This fool proof Pumpkin Soup recipe from Delicious Magazine is perfection on a shivery cold evening. The only thing I added are extra chilli flakes and a sprinkling of ground pepper when serving. Also depending on the type of pumpkin you use, you might want to add more salt or end up with a very sweet pumpkin soup.

As great as the recipe is, I forgot that photographing soup is quite difficult. What you get is usually goopy looking orange yoghurt thing in a bowl… if I’m lucky. Perhaps I need to put a pumpkin in the background next year.

Ingredients (serves 6)

• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 leek, white part only, finely sliced
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 1kg peeled pumpkin, diced
• 1 large potato, peeled, diced
• 1L vegetable stock
• 1/2 cup (125ml) thin cream
• 1 tsp Chilli flakes

Method

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over low heat, add onion and leek and cook for 2-3 minutes, until softened but not coloured. Add garlic and spices and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add pumpkin, potato and stock and bring to the boil. Turn heat to low, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Allow to cool slightly, then blend in batches.
2. Return soup to pan, stir through cream and reheat gently. Season and add a little more nutmeg and chilli flakes if desired.

Meatless Monday: Spinach, red onion and feta tart

A crazy few weeks and being stranded in odd cities for work and leisure thanks to the ash cloud meant that I am a bit behind on posting (again1!). Nevertheless, here’s let’s hope we stay back on track with this simple, but delicious Spinach, red onion and feta tart.

I found the recipe from one of those recipe cards I picked up at Coles and was pleasantly surprised to realise that the Sydney Market has a pretty big list of recipes based on different season’s produce! Not so good is realising that their PDFs are locked and in order to reproduce the recipe I will have to type it up from scratch!

Ingredients

• 3 sheets frozen short crust pastry
• 2 bunches english spinach, leaves trimmed
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 red onion
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 4 eggs lightly beaten (I made do with 3)
• 3/4 cup thickened cream
• salt and pepper
• 60g kalamata olive pitted
• 100g feta cheese crumbled

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 200 degree celcius. Take pastry from freezer to defrost. Once defrosted use pastry to line up a 30cm loose based tart pan. Prick the base of pastry with a fork. Bake blind for 5 minutes, remove weights and bake again for another 6-8 minutes until pastry is crispy. Take out of the oven and cool slightly. Reduce temperature down to 180
2. Wash and wilt spinach in the microwave for 3-5 minutes. Remove exceed liquid and chop roughly
3. Heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and cool slightly, line base of pan with onion and garlic mix. Sprinkle spinach on top.
4. Whisk egg, cream, salt and pepper together. Pour over spinach. Sprinkle with olive and fetta, bake for 25-30 minutes until set. Cool slightly and remove from pan to serve.

Using the red onion for the base adds a lovely sweetness to the dish, balanced by the tartness of the olive and fetta. I added an extra sheet of pastry as the pastry became  a little too crispy with just 2 layers, other than that this is a very solid recipe!

Meatless Monday: Shepherd’s Pie with Lentils

Winter is well and truly here. The weather has turned from the pretty leaves on the ground stage to doonas and incredibly unattractive long john stage. With that in mind, comfort food is the way to go and nothing spells out comfort food like Shepherd Pie.

This particular recipe was taken from Taste.com.au  with a few tiny modification on my part. I have to apologise for the unlovely photo, but I have not quite mastered the art of making pies look rustic and glamorous all in the same shot ala Donna Hay. Trust me though, this is one hell of a delicious pie!

Lentil and Vegetable Cottage Pie

Ingredients (serves 4 easily)

• 1 tbs vegetable oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 celery stalks, chopped
• 1 large carrot, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 tbs sundried tomato pesto
• 1 cup (250ml) canned dice tomatoes 
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tbs chopped thyme
• 1 cup (250ml) vegetable stock
• 300g can lentils, rinsed, drained
• 250g vegetarian mince
• 800g potatoes, peeled, chopped
• 100g unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup (125ml) milk
• 100g grated cheddar (see note)
• 1 tsp nutmeg

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C. In a large pan, heat oil over medium heat and cook onion for 1-2 minutes. Add celery, carrot and garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add pesto, canned tomatoes, bay, thyme and stock.
2. Simmer gently for 15 minutes until vegetables are cooked. Stir in lentils vegetarian mince and season, then transfer to a 1.2-litre baking dish. Sprinkle nutmeg throughout. Meanwhile, cook potatoes in boiling salted water until tender.
3. Drain and mash. Stir in butter, milk and cheese. Spread over lentil and mince mixture and roughen top with a fork. Bake for 30 minutes or until bubbling and goldenNotes: I added vegetarian mince to add a bit more texture to the pie,  a bit of nutmeg also gives it a bit of zing. The original recipe instructed to stir 2 yolks into the mash, but you don’t really need eggs for this pie. 

I am listening to Lissie while I am typing this, their show at the Oxford Art Factory not so long ago still fresh in my mind. For whatever reason I forgot she wrote ‘Everywhere I Go’, the last song played in the final episode of the Dollhouse. There’s something so hauntingly sad about the song that matched the last hour of a day before another Monday passed away.

Catch you next Monday for another blog, if not before…