Paaah-paaah! (pie-pie)

Inspired by the new blog event started recently by some great and inpirational foodbloggers over there in the northern hemisphere, ‘waiter, there’s something in my…” this month being “waiter, there’s something in my.. PIE” and by miss Sascha, who requested for her birthday a few months ago “paaah-paaah” and got me working, here is:

Beef, Aubergine and Fetta Pies

(12 x Texan muffin size)

diced beef (we trimmed and diced just under 1kg of steaks),

chopped garlic (5 cloves) and onions (2)

1/2 a small-ish pumpkin, peeled and cubed

cubed aubergine (I used 2 large finger aubergines)

2 blocks low fat, firm style fetta

olive oil, nutmeg, fresh thyme, tomato paste, cracked black pepper, a splosh of red wine, some peas or any other veges really..

puff pastry, yep, conveniently frozen & pre-rolled: 12 sheets makes… 12 pies!

the assembly: brown beef, add onions and garlic, spices, well.. everything except fetta really.. stew a little (or more if less tender meat), adding a bit of water, until nicely thickened. add fetta. now.. to fit JUMBO or TEXAN muffin trays: trim off approx 4cm strips from 2 adjacent (not opposite!) sides of each pastry sheet. fit the trimmed squares into the muffin holes, fill with vaguely cooled beef mixture, then with the left over strips, halve to weave cute pie tops. wash with milk or egg and bake pies on a med heat - 180 c -ish, for about .. eerrrr.. 40 mins? not too hot or the pastry will burn but not cook… sweet!

YUM!

A weekend in Sydney; Japanese and beer

spent the first of what will be many weekends in Sydney, now that Tom is back down there, but I am still up here!

sooo.. we ate. lunch: twice at Tokyo Ramen in Hornsby (their website is in Nihon-go, which I took - and failed! - at uni last year, so obviously I can’t translate for you!) Tokyo Ramen do awesome ramen. yep. also katsu don, gyoza and other tasty tasty things. it’s long and narrow, and always busy. everything comes out quick-as, and I just love it.

we also went to Redoak Beer Cafe on Clarence Street for dinner (ok. beer) for Tom’s birthday. I ate the Twice Cooked Duck on Sesame Noodles, Tom had Redoaks Spice Cured Ocean Trout, Bob ordered Brick Pastry Wrapped Jewfish (what’s brick pastry? well, it came with a little 5cmx5cm cube/brick of pastry on top. maybe that’s what brick pastry is?) anyway, there were 15 of us, so I won’t go any further with the descriptions, and the photos aren’t swell either, but I can recommend it as a social venue..

although there was an Australia v England cricket game on, and even though the restaurant section was less then 1/2 full all night, they put us right at the front, which is pretty much next to the bar. it was friday night, there was loud ‘bar music’, and cheering Britons to shout over. the back of the eating section was much much quieter, and empty when we arrived and for the rest of the night, so that would be the only complaint - plus, we would have been able to sit at a long table, rather then be split onto two.. but, enough quibbling, because: BEER! they brew! they know their stuff! it’s yummy and fun, and I love that the staff make sure you have a huge water glass, which they constantly re-fill. that is such a good policy.

then, more Japanese. Bob organised dinner at Sushi Samurai in Neutral Bay (who also seem to have ventures in Pyrmont and Darlinghurst - on business card, couldnt find a website). Bob has unbelieveable taste, and Sushi Samurai rocked. the set meals are sooo very worth getting, 6 of us ate far too much food, ordering both sets and assorted entrees and mains, and ended up being approx $25 pp! Bob’s tofu/seeweed salad, Ben’s pork belly, Andy’s sushimi salad.. ok, I’ll just say it was all great, otherwise I’m going to just list everything, and this post will be way too long. HIGHLY RECCOMMEND! and the staff are sooo cute and friendly - upon entering and exiting, you get a chorus of “Irashimase! Welcome!” and “Arigato gozaimasu! thank you very much!” from every staff member in sight.

oh. and the ice-cream (your choice of lychee, green tea or black sesame, all good) comes with Savoy Cake (dense sponge roll sort of thing) and nestled on a bed of…. cornflakes. which really works. hello, next dinner party trick!
YUM! I’m can’t wait to go back to Sydney to eat see Tom! xxx

The Wet

it’s rainy season (”The Wet”) here in the dry tropics, and boy is it raining! but it’s also 100% humidity, and 28 degrees C today (that’s 82.4 F for all you non-metrics).. yuck!

for those who venture outside, mere mortal umbrellas are no match for these torrential downpours. everything and everyone is soaked. hiding inside, the rain even manages to get into almost-shut louvres, defying gravity and somehow flinging itself upwards and inwards.

there are mushrooms popping up all over the place (not to mention an unbeatable plague of mould creeping in the door and window frames. resolve to attack once wet is over), this little colony arrived in the last two days underneath the letterbox. cute! I wonder if they’re edible?

it’s so wet and depressing. what’s a girl to do?

MAKE BROWNIES! mmmm.. brownies.

I’ve never made brownies before, so some research was in order. after some trolling, I found Johanna, the Passionate Cook, has an awesome looking Banana, Chocolate and Pecan Brownie on her site. I am very bad at following recipes exactly, or quoting them. I probably should have followed Johanna’s recipe, but, nah, I just chucked everything in together, liberally making it up as I went! except I added mashed banana, a la Johanna. so: no recipe on this one yet! if you want one, please visit the Passsionate Cook.. but roughly:

250g butter (awesome organic butter I had to resist eating, thank god I had no bread in the house, or the brownies would have been abandoned altogether)

Johanna’s recipe had 200g chocolate. I used 300 melted with the butter, + another 100 roughly chopped (= smashed, still wrapped, with the back of a cleaver.sooo satisfying) and added as ‘choc chips’ (hey, better not to have a block of cooking chocolate lying around unused for months in the fridge)

3 eggs, whipped well, with ummm.. some brown sugar. 100-200g? I didn’t measure. sorry.

1 ripe banana. mashed. awesome addition, adds sweetness without being too sugary, plus moistness and texture.

mixed all of the above together, (exept the ‘choc chips’ ), added some self-raising flour (100-200g), folded in the chipped chocholate now + some chopped almonds.

baked for 30mins at around 190 degrees C. I cut it into 15 LARGE squares.

served warmed (in the microwave), with vanilla icecream and a DVD.

am taking the rest to work, too dangerous in the house.