Monthly Archive for December, 2010

Something a Little Fishy

There is nothing worse than having a great experience at a restaurant, raving about it, and then taking, not friends who you can later ignore but your two discerning brothers and it turns into a disaster!

Two weeks ago I had the most wonderful evening at Tokonoma on Crown Street in Surry Hills. The venue is beautiful, the staff are delightful. The bar staff even graced us with a little bar action when requested. The food on the night was superb. Being a Japanese restaurant you expected good sushi/sashimi and this was great. The prices are steep; we drank the best Sake, had a good bottle of wine, ate modestly with relish and walked away with a bill of $380 for two. Yes a little steep but we didn’t scrimp.

So with this stunning evening in mind I shared with my friends and my listeners the wonderful attributes of  Tokonoma.

My brothers who love good food are on holiday and so I decided I had to take them last night (28th December). I booked a table and was told I could have one at 8.30pm. We arrived; I had dressed up as you do. A delightful young lady seated us and we began to order, our first drinks were $60 together so we were in for a pricey night.

We had spent some time pouring over the menu and when the waitress came over we began ordering. As we got to the sashimi section she smiled and said that she was sorry, they had been busy earlier in the evening and in fact now they only had Kingfish and Mackerel available in the raw fish. I was upset, what is a Japanese restaurant without Tuna, Salmon and the rest?

We ordered the Kingfish and some meat based dishes, she returned a few minutes later to tell us that they had now also run out of the Kingfish so in actual fact there was basically nothing on the menu that was fish based that we could order. It was now 9pm. We had to find a new restaurant on a public holiday, no easy feat.

Read More …

Published on December 29, 2010 in General. 2 Comments

A Cookbook with a Difference

The School of St Jude, an Australian-Tanzanian school is no ordinary school and it takes extraordinary people to get involved in making the world a better place. It only takes each on of us a small amount of our time and our money to become a part of global movements to save people around the world from poverty and starvation.

The St Judes Cookbook Cover

In 2002 a young lady, Gemma Rice (now Gemma Sisia), from a sheep farm in Australia, opened a small school in Northern Tanzania with the help of her family, friends and local Rotary Club. In a country like Australia, starvation is not a word we are familiar with but in many countries poverty is crippling and the basics like education, a single daily nutritional meal and a few cups of water are like gold.

Enter The Hopeful Chef, a book supported with recipes by the likes of Neil Perry and Matt Moran, and promoted through as many food channels as possible. The book is being sold, cash only for $45 and would make a superb Christmas or birthday gift.

Available from the Online Shop under “gift  shop” on the St Judes website. www.schoolofstjude.co.tz All proceeds go to The School of St Jude.

Tetsuya’s Recipe

Tetsuya Lent a Hand

Marinated Ceas Queensland Spanner Crab Meat

Serves 6
Ingredients
500g Ceas Queensland spanner crab meat (raw)
2 tablespoons Spanish onion (finely diced)
2 tablespoons carrot (finely diced)
2 tablespoons cucumber (finely diced)
2 tablespoons red pepper (finely diced)
1 tablespoon spring onion (finely sliced)
6 teaspoons lemon juice
4 teaspoons lime juice
1 teaspoon castor sugar
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
chives
salt and pepper to taste

Method
Place all ingredients except crab meat and olive oil in a
bowl and stir well making sure the sugar dissolves. Add
pinch of salt and white pepper to taste and then add the
crab meat and mix until the crab meat separates. Cover it
and keep in refrigerator for 20-30 minutes.

To serve spread the crab meat mix on 6 serving plates
and drizzle the extra virgin olive oil on top. Garnish
with chives.

Tetsuya Wakuda – Tetsuya’s Restaurant, 529 Kent Street, Sydney NSW 2000, Tel: (02) 9267 2900

Published on December 21, 2010 in General. Closed

What Kind of Buffalo is a Drink? + Giveaway

Ray Carter Goofing Around

Ray Carter is one of my favourite guests on the show, good looking, knows his stuff, brings good alcohol how can you go wrong with that? Buffalo Trace, St Germain and Square One Cucumber Vodka. It was a very good show or what I can remember of it!

Who: Ray Carter
What: Buffalo Trace bourbon
Where: 89.7FM studio, FoodinFocus show
Why:

  • Because the Buffalo Trace distillery has been making bourbon for over 220 years and you can’t argue with that.
  • Buffalo Trace is handcrafted, small batch bourbon from the most awarded distillery in the world, pretty cool.
  • The Spirit is crafted using the original “Rye recipe” for Bourbon – corn rye and barley, some of you may care about this.
  • Only whiskies aged between 8-12 years are selected for Buffalo Trace, impressive.
  • Every barrel is tasted for approval by an expert panel including a Master Distiller and Quality Control Director, selecting no more than 25-30 barrels, some people would like this job.
  • Every bottle is hand-corked for final approval, the loving touch goes far in my book.
  • Buffalo Trace Distillery has been named distiller of the year 7 times in the past 8 years by was the first and only American distillery to win this award.
  • I tried it and liked it. That is saying something as I am not crazy about spirits. They also have a very cool website www.buffalotrace.com

Buffalo Trace

Tasting Notes
Light bronze in colour with streaks of gold, Buffalo Trace bears  a complex aroma of vanilla, mint, and molasses. Its taste is  pleasantly sweet and contains notes of brown sugar and spice  that gives way to oak and leather. The long and dry finish has  significant depth. When enjoyed with water flavours of toffee,  dark fruit and anise are revealed. Drink it with ice or water.

Buy: For Christmas
Also Buy: Square One Cucumber Vodka, St Germain (my favourite)

St Germain and Square One Cucumber Vodka

FoodinFocus and Southtrade International will be giving away Six 50ml  bottles of Buffalo Trace Bourbon if you sign up a friend CLICK HERE to enter.

Published on December 19, 2010 in General. Closed

Just Give Them Cake

For those of you who listen to the radio show and those who know me, you will agree that I have bucket loads of very naughty humour. It is one of the reasons I love the men on my show because they will always get into the swing of things. Last weeks show featured Ray Carter from South West Trading (he is so seriously hot), Paris Cutler from Planet Cake in Balmain, she looks like a model and the coolest guy ever Sven Almenning the owner of Eau de Vie (a serious bar, well known in Industry circles). We had a total blast everyone was on form and it was a laugh a minute.

Ray and Sven in Studio

In fact we had such a good time I received this email from a lovely listener. “Dear Natasha, I am sure my husband has already emailed as he was very amused by your show. We were travelling to Wombarra on Sunday and tuned in for the first time. We loved your warmth and energy. Great show. Julie”


Paris Cutler author & owner of Planet Cake

Well more about Ray Carter later in the week but Paris Cutler is my kind of girl, she got right into the Johnny Walker whisky tasting and her gorgeous blonde looks hid a wicked sense of humour and a tough successful business woman.

Around the World with Cupcakes Amazing

Planet Cake is all over the planet. The expert team have created cakes for stars like Celine Dion, Nicole Kidman, Rihanna, Masterchef and the list goes on. Paris has launched cookbooks her latest being Planet Cake Cupcakes and she can claim the largest Cake Decorating School in Australia.

I Love You

Without doubt this is impressive but I was more enamoured when Paris arrived with three cupcakes for me each with red icing and the FoodinFocus logo proudly displayed. I was sold. More importantly they actually tasted fantastic, vanilla cupcake recipe below.

My Very Own FoodinFocus Planet Cake Cupcake

You can order cakes and cupcakes for any occasion however these are not your usual cakes and you need some serious ‘dough’ to be able to afford them. Anything from $600 to $2500, it just depends on how big, how wide and how high!

For more information on Planet Cake click here www.planetcake.com.au

Recipe for Planet Cakes Vanilla Cupcakes

Makes 12

Preparation time: 15 Minutes (+ Cooling)

Cooking time: 25-30 Minutes

Ingredients

175g (6oz) Butter, at room temperature
165g (5 ¾ oz ¾ cup) caster (Superfine) sugar
½ teaspoon natural vanilla extract
2 eggs, at room temperature
110g (3 ¾ oz ¾ cup) Self-raising flour
150g (5 ½ oz 1 cups) plain (all-purpose) flour
160ml (5 ½ fl oz 2/3 cup) buttermilk

Method

1.     Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F/Gas 4). Line the holes of a 12-hole 80ml (2 ½ fl oz 1/3 cup) muffin tin with paper cases.

2.    Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla in a medium bowl using an electric mixer until light and fluffy.

3.    Beat the eggs into the butter mixture one at a time. Add half the sifted flours and half the buttermilk, and mix in the remaining flours and buttermilk.

4.    Divide the mixture evenly smooth the tops (this will help the cupcakes to rise evenly).

5.    Bake for 25-30 minutes or until lightly golden and cooked when tested with a skewer. Allow cupcakes to stand for 5 minutes in tin before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

Dragon Cupcakes

Published on December 15, 2010 in General and Limited Table. Closed

Green Food Generation

Hayden Wood AKA Woody to those who know him is a man on a mission. There are some interesting movers and shakers in the food and beverage industry. These free spirits as I like to call them are well known for their brilliant ability to adapt. They write books, do demonstrations, they launch concepts and are totally passionate about what they do. They also get to visit me in the studio so I am very lucky.

Author Hayden Wood AKA 'Woody'

Hayden is a renowned drinks expert. In fact I think he may be the worlds most entertaining bartender. He has written books on the subject. I asked if he would do a trick for me and he managed to make a tetra-pak of wine look sexy as he tossed it around the studio. He has charisma and in this industry it gets you pretty far…. knowing how to make the good drinks takes you to the front of the pack.

Green Food Generation

His latest book Green Food Generation, RRP: $39.95 AUD, brings together Sustainable, free-range, organic, biodynamic, local, ethical – and delicious food, all in one place.  Hayden’s Australia-wide adventure to write this book took him from The Murray to Berry, Fleurieu Peninsula to Perth and Phillip Island. This is a collection of shared stories, thoughts, practical kitchen and gardening tips, as well as recipes that every (even remotely) green-conscious person should know.

Featuring chefs, restaurateurs, caterers and food personalities from across Australia including Alex Herbert (Bird, Cow, Fish), Stefano Manfredi (Bells at Killcare), David Campbell (Hungry Duck, Berry), Ben ‘Bender’ O’Donoghue (South Bank Surf Club), Stefano di Pieri (Stefano’s  Café Bakery) and OzHarvest’s Ronni Kahn, the book showcases over 200 pages of conscientious consumers and creative cooks, who are as passionate about good food as they are about the planet.

10% of the sale of every book will be contributed to OzHarvest and their expanding food rescue program across Australia.

For more information on the book and Woody visit www.woodysliquidkitchen.com

Published on December 13, 2010 in General. Closed Tags: , , , .

Sparkle to a Sticky End

Who would have thought that a cupcake could get so very adult? I hosted Kathryn the owner of Sparkle Cupcakery on the radio show and she brought in some special Christmas treats for us to try.

My brief to Justin Walters who often comes on the show as the respected wino was to bring in wines to match cheese and cupcakes. I felt a little bad about this as it was bit of a stretch and a very vague brief I know but I was really keen to see what he would bring, he has a great palate and I knew it would be fun.

Not Your Average Cupcake

Sparkle Cupcakery is a fabulous store in Surry Hills, the cupcakes of which there are 18 flavours are themed and while there are many for kids there are some really good ones for adults. When Kathryn unveiled the cupcakes in the studio I was impressed by the packaging. The black, mirrored boxes are simple and the cupcakes look modern and grown-up.

Beautiful Packaging Adds to the Giftbox Appeal

The first one I tried was called Black Velvet; seriously this was a melt in the mouth, moist, dark, chocolaty morsel that could melt any heart.  You can imagine the in-studio humour when I realised I was going to be eating a delectable Black Velvet cupcake a magical oral treat and Justin had matched it to a wine called The Sticky End.

Who Doesn't Love a Sticky End, 2009 Mr Riggs Sticky End Viognier

Inspired by the Italian Passito style, this fruit driven sticky has less botrytis characteristics and more of a typical Viognier character. Indeed a fresh, fragrant style, crisp over the palate and sticky to the end! www.mrriggs.com.au

Sparkle host cupcake making classes for kids and adults. They are licensed for those of you who like a little vino with your cupcakes and they have no silly frosting designs. Just simple elegant coloured dots, which indicate which flavour is which. For more information and how to find Sparkle Cupcakery click here www.sparklecupcakery.com.au

A Modern Take On The Cupcake Store

Drop in for a Christmas treat, perfect to take with you to the in-laws, the outlaws or your best friends. Alternatively if you are planning the office Christmas party this is a great gift for each person, six of the best.

A Sparkly Christmas

RECIPE

Here is the recipe for the melt in the mouth Black Velvet. It was so fantastic, Enjoy!

Black Velvet

Grams
290butter
200castor sugar
38water
265dark chocolate
255plain flour
35dutch cocoa
10baking powder
135egg

Melt butter with boiling water
Add chocolate and sugar
Whisk for 30 second
Add eggs and whisk for 30 seconds
Add dry ingredients and whisk for 1 minute
Bake 45 minutes at 90 degrees, turning after 25 minute

Topping

Grams
75  dark chocolate
65 pure creams, boiling

Pour boiling cream over chocolate and stir

ENJOY!

Published on December 6, 2010 in General. 2 Comments