Italian Dinner Feast

On Sunday night I had a group of friends over for the first of my winter dinner feasts.  The theme for night was Italian.  As always I had to cook a three course meal with each course being something I'd never done before (practice is ok).  So, the entree was pizza, the main fettuccine marinara with home made pasta and dessert was panna cotta with blueberries.

I had made pizza a few months ago and was rather happy with the way it all worked out.  I used Jamie Oliver's recipe and instructions for how to make the base.  That guy is genius.  His instructions are always simple to understand with just enough detail.  You can almost put anything on a pizza but I think the trick is to not over do it.  I went with a tomato, prosciutto and basil and a red onion, pumpkin, pine nuts and rocket.  Oh and I used Buffalo cheese which is so tasty. Usually I'm a little tight for time with preparations but this time I had all the ingredients chopped up and ready to go.  The pizza base was a little thicker than last time but the result was pretty good.  I used a bit of semolina flour and that gave the base a bit more flavour.

Making your own pasta is a lot more rewarding and more fun than I thought it would be.  Last weekend I bought a pasta machine and had a crack at making fettuccine.  Given the only ingredients are flour and eggs you'd think it would be straight forward.  There are a few little tricks which I was to learn the hard way.  Getting the texture of the dough right is pretty important.  It can be a bit difficult to roll out the pasta if it's too dry and if it's too wet the dough will stick together and you'll end up cursing away like I did.  The pasta machine works really well.  The pasta comes out really smooth and silky.  When you get the hang of it, it's quite quick to make a batch.  I've got two friends to vouch for that.  They came over a little early and ended up making a portion of pasta from scratch in 25 mins.  Jamie would be proud, he taught me and I passed it on to two others.  Fresh pasta cooks much faster than packet pasta and getting it to be al dente is also much easier.

This feast had two firsts.  It was the first dinner feast in my new place and it was the first time that the main meal's recipe was completely made up by yours truly. I did get some inspiration from a few recipes and Gill's Diner which by the way makes the best marinara.  I started off boiling white wine, a couple of thyme sprigs, a bay leaf and a bit of butter in a big pot.  I then cooked the mussels until they started to open.  Next was the prawns.  I then let the stock boil away until I had enough to use with the pasta.  In a frypan I cooked a couple of salmon fillets.  Next was to fry up some chilli, french onions and garlic in a good amount of olive oil.  With that all done I was ready to mix it all together, add some parsley and lime juice.  Using the stock gave the meal a lot more flavour and by the six clean plates I'd say it was a success.

And last but not least was the panna cotta, well sort of.  I went to a cooking class at the South Melbourne markets last year and they did a slightly different version of a panna cotta.  Instead of being a full cream recipe, I used half cream and half greek yoghurt.  It's really quite simple to make.  I would recommend getting the gelatine sheets instead of the powder.

Overall, I had a great night and really enjoyed learning how to make each course.  There were lots of laughs and a cheeky new challenge was started.  We had red Italian wine and even dessert wine.  Thanks to all for coming.  The next one is Indian.  Hmmmm.  Curry.

Luck

I found out last week that I hadn't won the 7 peaks challenge prize.  I knew the odds were pretty low but I still had high hopes of winning an awesome trip for 2 to the Tour De France.  I'm certainly a believer that you make your own luck and although I had to climb 4 peaks to get a ticket in the draw I'd still consider winning the draw pure luck. 

On my ride home from work I started cursing at the fact that for all the competitions I've entered I've won nothing.  Why did I not having any luck what so ever.  Then I started thinking about other events in my life where I've had pure luck.  The first one that came to mind was my parents' decision to move from South Africa to Australia.  I certainly had nothing to do with that decision but would consider that to be the luckiest thing that has ever happened to me.  If I was given a choice between winning lots for prizes or moving to a place with endless opportunities I'd take the latter every time.

If anyone hears me cursing about having no luck give me a good slap.

Summer Alpine Tour

It's a bit late but better late than never.  Here is my write up on the awesome cycling trip I had over the new year's break.

Some people like to ride along beach road, some people like to ride in the city, others like to ride in the hills but I like to ride in the mountains.  As do two of my other good friends Rachel and Brendan.  So over the new years weekend we travelled up to Porepunkah (just outside of Bright) where we embarked upon an epic alpine cycling adventure.  We have all entered into a competition called the Seven Peak Challenge where by if you climb 7 of the peaks in the Victorian Alps you get 4 chances to win a trip for 2 to the Tour de France.  How good is that!

The exact plans were still in the making on the long drive up from Melbourne.  We were feeling pretty energetic and confident so made an ambitious plan to tackle Mt Buffalo, Mt Hotham and Falls Creek.  That would tick off 3 out of the 7 in 1 trip which is not bad at all.  The adventure started on a hot Friday afternoon.  At 5pm we set out to ascend Mt Buffalo.  I was feeling pretty solid and kept up a good rhythm for the first 1 hour of the climb.  Fatigue then started to set in and the pace dropped off a bit as I tried to recover my form.  We got some relief towards the top before the last tough 3km on gravel road.  After 31km and 1:45 of climbing I reached the horn feeling pretty tired.  After waiting for the others to arrive we all descended back into town.  The only thing on our minds was food and where to get it.  Eventually, lights went out around 11:30pm and we needed all the sleep we could get for the next morning as Mt Hotham awaited us.

We awoke to another beautiful morning in the Victorian Alps.  The legs felt a little heavy but generally speaking were not too bad.  With breakfast in the belly we set out for another challenging day.  Given the previous days effort we decided to start out from Smoko which I think in hindsight was a very good idea.  The climb up Mt Hotham is arguably the toughest in the Alps.  The first 10km's has a pretty steep gradient.  I found a good rhythm and seemed to make good progress early on.  The next section is rather flat but for some reason that's how I started feeling.  I had an energy gell just over half way and that seemed to help because when I reached 10km to go I started feeling more energised.  The last third of the climb is just magnificent.  You come out of the tree line where a 360 degree view of the alps comes into view.  With lots of cyclists in front of me on the road I had flash backs to this years Tour de France and the battle between Cadel and Andy Schlek.  I was almost in the red zone by the time I reached the 1km to go mark.  Granny gear was now unavoidable and as I made my way around the last corner the summit ski lift came into view and relief started to flow through the veins.  After 30km and 1:44 of climbing I finally reached the finishing line.  Brendan had again gone back to ride with Rach and they rocked up not far behind me.  It was a pretty good feeling getting to the top especially considering this was one of the hardest climbs you can do in Australia.  The descent down was rather fun except for the 2 short but rather steep climbs at the start.  Lunch awaited us in Bright but not before a quick dip in the Ovens river.  The rest of our new year's eve was spent chilling back at the motel followed by a BBQ on the back deck looking out over the Oven's river with the sun setting behind Mt Buffalo in the background.  Awesome!

The new year had arrived and what a way to start with a morning ride in the Alps.  My plan was to head out to Tawonga Gap and back.  The other two were planning on continuing on for another 60km.  Crazy!  By the time we got to Tawonga, about a 9km climb, Rach had decided to head back with me.  Brendan on the other hand powered on for what ended up to be a 110km ride.  Super effort from him.  With Brendan still on the road Rach and I headed into town to get us all lunch.  We had chicken and salad sandwiches in mind.  We didn't have any sharp knifes with us so needed someone to cut up a chicken for us.  Thankfully the lovely staff at the Bright Woolworths cut up a fresh and hot BBQ chicken for us.  We were very impressed with their service and so decided to make the effort and tell the store manger what a great job his staff were doing.  We figured people are very good at complaining but not so good at rewarding.  Once again we sat out on the back deck having a well earned meal.

The final day in our epic adventure started at Mt Beauty.  We met up with some other cycling friends and so the 5 of us set out to tackle Falls Creek.  This would arguably be the easiest of all the climbs which is just as well given it was the last one.  We stayed together for the first 13km and the pace was nice and easy.  Once we arrived at the steeper part of the climb it was on for young and old.  Brendan as usual took the lead and I just tried to keep up.  After 3 days of some intense cycling I was feeling pretty good and quickly found a decent rythm.  I could see Brendan in the distance and slowly started catching him before he then pulled away in the last 5kms. After 30kms and 1:31 of climbing I reached the top.

And so after 4 days and 4 climbs our adventure had come to an end.  Rach and I ended up doing 280kms over the 4 days and Brendan did 325kms.  I've always enjoyed climbing hills on the bike but this trip just took that enjoyment to a new level.  Thanks to Rach and Brendan for a great trip.  You guys rock.

Sandy's fishing trip

On the weekend I went fishing on the bay as part of a surprise birthday party.  I think the surprise was pretty well kept except for the last half an hour when one of the guests pretty much walked right past the birthday boy as he was having coffee.  Fortunately Sandy didn't see them and the surprise was kept in tact  until he reached the boat.

The weather forecast was sounding pretty good and as we headed out from the St Kilda pier it looked like it was going to be clear with light winds.  The last time I went on a fishing trip I spent at least half of the trip lying down horizontal in the cabin feeling absolutely terrible.  I faired some what better this time around.

After about half an hour or so the skipper dropped the anchor and the fishing started.  With 15 lines out in the water I was expecting some action fairly earlier.  How wrong was I.  We had all comfortably had lunch before yours truly landed the first fish of the day, a 2.5kg snapper.  Not long after that the birthday boy landed a 3kg snapper, very appropriate.  Next was Nick with a 2kg snapper followed by the most modest of us all, Uncle Cootsie with a 2kg snapper.

By now the sun had come out and you couldn't have asked for better fishing conditions.  From the same spot on the boat I landed another snapper this time around the 4kg mark.  So far, everyone that had caught a fish had worked on the same IT project some years ago.  That statistic would not change.  Uncle cootsie managed to land another decent size snapper somewhere between 3 and 4 kg just before the anchor went up and we headed home.


After giving the smaller one away I had one decent size snapper to cook for dinner.  I decided to smoke it on the webber with a few herbs and spices.  On late notice I managed to get a couple of friends to come over to help me eat it all.  As well as the fish I made a potato and mint salad as well as a chick pea salad.  I cooked the fish for just a tad too long which is a lessened learned for next time.  The salads however got top marks.

All in all it was a great day and a great dinner.

Sporting Update

Well it hasn't been a great couple of months of running but things are looking up.  I've been for a few runs now and haven't felt my knee at all which is great.  I've managed to find a truly excellent physiotherapist in Michael Vadiveloo at the Melbourne City Baths.  He had the pleasure of informing me that my ass was too weak and that I needed to work on my glutes in order to correct a bio-mechanical problem with my running.  I've also been working hard on my calfs, a serial pest in my attempt at running longer distances.  I've missed training with the Crosbie Crew but hope to now start getting back to the usual training sessions.

In the mean time I've found a new passion, kayaking.  I started last year but I've started to enjoy it more and more.  I kayak with Vigor Kayaking and we train on Wednesday nights, Friday mornings and Sunday mornings.  I was planning on doing the Murray Marathon but that plan has fallen through unfortunately.  Will definitely want to do that at some stage in the future.  Mean while I'll be looking for some kayak events to enter over the summer.

The cycling is also coming along nicely.  I bought a new bike a couple of weeks back and loving the new smooth ride.  The bike is about 3kg lighter than my old one so going up hill is even easier now.  The bikes maiden ride was from Sorrento to Melbourne (100km) as part of the round the bay in a day event.

Stay tuned for more updates.

French Dinner Feast

Well, its been a little while since I've updated my blog.  I've had plenty of things going on and just haven't had the time (I'm making up excuses) to sit down and do my food write ups.

Last Sunday I had a great bunch of friends over to sample my French cooking.  I had tried out all of the recipes at least once and so was confident of pulling it all off without any problems.  The first dish was a French Onion soup which I have to say was better than the one I had previously done.  I was working off two recipes which felt rather strange but worked out well.  The first recipe was a little vague on instructions but the quantities seemed right and the second recipe had clear instructions but the quantities were for 12 people.  I used 8 onions which seems like quite a lot but they do shrink down quite a bit over time.  I think the key was getting the onions brown and tender.  On top of the soup I placed some croutons and my favourite gruyere cheese.

For the main I made a duck confit cassoulet.  The cassoulet has its origins in the south of France and dates back as far as 1355.  I think that makes it one of the oldest recipes I've used.  The first attempt at the cassoulet was a bit of a failure. I used smoked bacon but just added too much and the smoky flavour of the bacon drowned out all the other flavours.  So it was just as well I had a practice run otherwise it would have been disastrous.  So for my second attempt I basically stewed onions, carrots, celery, haricot beans and salted pork belly in a thyme, bay leaves, tomato paste, garlic and wine broth.  After about 1:45 I added toulouse sausages which had been browned and potatoes.  I then added the duck and sprinkled bread crumbs over the top and backed for a further 25 mins.  The potatoes could have gone in a little earlier as some of them were a little hard but all in all it turned out really well.

There was only going to be one option for dessert and that was a creme brulee.  I know there are plenty of other fabulous French desserts but when else do I get the opportunity to use a blow torch.  The first attempt was fantastic except for the caramelisation of the suger.  I used plain brown suger and so it just wasn't crispy enough.  Sunday nights attempt was a bit of a reversal.  The filling didn't quite set as well as it should have and didn't have the same intensity of vanilla flavour which I really like.  On the other hand the caramelisation of the sugar was great.  I used Demerara sugar the second time around and that made all the difference.

And so that was my French dinner feast.  Thanks to all that were present for a very enjoyable evening.  It was one of the more rewarding feasts I've done.

For my next feast I will be doing Indian.  Stay tuned and check out the photos below.

Great Ocean Road Marathon

Last weekend I headed down to Apollo Bay for the Great Ocean Road Marathon.  It was the first time I had made the trip for the event and it won't be my last.  What a weekend!  The crew had a big contingent present in the 14km and 23km event and a few in the 45km event.

I headed down on Saturday morning which seemed a little rushed but got there for the 14km event with plenty of time to spare.  I hadn't run 14km in about 6 months so it was going to be an interesting run.  Everything started pretty well and by 4 or 5km was just delighted to be feeling great running again.  I don't think my time really mattered at that point.  Got to the half way mark still feeling great and caught a glimpse of Stormin' and Victoria ahead of me and so set my sights on catching them.  After creeping up behind Stormin' with about 3km to go I was starting to feel it.  I then managed to catch Victoria only for her to catch me again with about 100m to go.  With some frantic yelling from the crew supporting I managed to pip her on the line.  A big thanks to the both of them for getting me home in such a cracking time.  You guys ran really well and we all got under the hour so job well done.

After a nice hot shower and a bit of a power nap it was off to Big Kev's apartment for a crew dinner.  The place was a buzz with so many of the crew, probably over 40 of us.  Everyone had brought a plate for dinner and there were some wonderful creations.  We had everything from pancakes, cannelloni, pasta, fried rice, meet balls and soup.  There was even dessert.  Some of us had already run so we headed off to the pub for a few drinks before calling it a night.  Those of us that were running the half had an early 5am start.

In the morning we had breaky and then headed down to cheer on our friends running the half.  It was so great to see so many of us down there on the finish line cheering everyone on.  We had a decent group come through the half at around 85 mins which was just awesome.  Everyone was breaking PB's by minutes rather than seconds.  I've posted a few shots of people so check them out.  I think the highlight for me was Joanne's finish.  Well done Jo, great run.

After a relaxing afternoon reading my book and then hanging out with the chicks a much smaller group headed off for dinner.  What would one of my blog posts be without a report on food.  As an entree I had mussels in a tomato and basil sauce which was followed by ocean trout with pesto and a tomato, basil side.  The food was great and the company excellant.  It was then off to the top deck apartment for a few more drinks and a few more from a happy Grechy.

Overall it was a fantastic weekend.  It's great to be able to go away with a great bunch of people who share a passion for one of my biggest passions, running.  A big thanks to Terese for organising the accommodation.  See you all there next year.

Smoked Roast Chicken

After last week's resounding success in smoking an Australian Salmon it was time to try out a whole roast chook.  I've had this a few times with my old man but this was the first time I was going to do it.  I spontaneously decided to throw in a few side dishes that might be on the menu for my Moroccan feast in a few weeks time.

Smoking is a relatively simple process with the webber.  Soak some hickory wood chips in white wine, preferably a dry wine, for a minimum of 1 hour.  Once the coals are no longer black put the wood chips in and make sure that they don't catch a light.  If they do then put the lid on the webber and close the vents for a couple of minutes.  I cut the chicken down the spine and placed it on indirect heat with the rib cage facing down (spread eagle).  For a 1.2kg chook it took about 45 mins which was just perfect.

For the side dishes I prepared Moroccan baked peppers, Stuffed zucchine and dutch carrots.  The filling for the baked peppers was cos cos, tomatoes, carrots, onion and a mixture of spices.  I cooked the peppers for about 30 mins but could probably should have cooked it for another 5 - 10 minutes.  To prepare the stuffed zucchine I removed the white flesh of the zucchini so that the skin was just visible.  I then added onion, chilli and cheddar cheese together with the zucchini insides.  I baked the zucchine shell for about 10 mins and then added the filling until the cheese was just about to brown.  The only problem with the zucchine was the amount of chilli that I added.  It was just a tad too much and took away the flavours of the other ingredients.

For a somewhat impromptu Sunday dinner I was rather pleased.

Autumn Break

For the autumn break I headed down to Marlo, Cape Conran and Lakes entrance.  Marlo is just over 4 hours drive East of Melbourne and is most known for being the town that sees the snowy river meet the ocean.  I stayed at the Marlo Ocean Views camping ground and I won't be going back.  I found the campsite to be overcrowded and the staff generally unfriendly.  The town itself is not particularly close to anything exciting with most of the highlights being to the east.  I spent an uneventful afternoon fishing at Point Ricardo where the only thing I was catching was a nasty headache.

I've been wanting to start reading the book On Food and Cooking for a while and the trip provided plenty of quality reading time.  The book is written by Harold McGee and its purpose is to bring a touch of science into the kitchen.  Given I studied organic chemistry at Uni I was looking forward to seeing how I could resurrect some lost knowledge.  It's all been good timing as I've recently started watching Heston Blumenthal's amazing cooking adventures.

Then it was off to Cape Conran which turned out to be much more interesting and exciting.  My headache had gotten a lot worse so I wasn't really in the mood for a lot of walking which is a shame because the walks in that area would be amazing.  So back to some fishing it was and this time a lot more eventful.  I managed to land a 47cm, 2kg Australian Salmon which was pretty cool.  Its the biggest fish I've ever caught and probably the best tasting.  More on that later.

After gutting the fish and putting it on ice I headed to Lakes Entrance where I stayed the night in a beautiful Bed and Breakfast called the Goat and Goose.  I was very warmly welcomed by the host Joy and had a good chat over a cup of tea.  I highly recommend a stay and I'm in no doubts that I will be back there in the future.  All in all a very enjoyable and relaxing break.

Monthly Dinner Report - Peruvian Feast

Last weekend was the second of my monthly dinner parties.  The night was inspired by my trip to South America in 2009 where I visited Peru and Bolivia.  One of the things I remember most about the trip was the food safari's that a few of my travelling buddies and I undertook.  We took particular interest in the local bakeries where I was pleasantly surprised to find a high quality of pastries.  One of the delicious cookies that we found was called alfajores.  Each Alfajores contains two shortbread like cookies put together with dulce de leche in the middle.  Dulce de leche is a form of caramelised condensed milk.  The other pastry of choice was empanadas.  See my recent post on empanadas.  The final inspiration came from the meal I had in the little town of Puno which is right on lake Titicaca.  For dinner I had a fresh water trout with ceviche as an entree.  So for dinner I prepared ceviche and the empanadas as entrees, rainbow trout escabeche as the main and alfajores as the dessert.

I was really happy with how the food turned out.  Surprisingly the highlight for me was the fish.  I made the ceviche with sea perch, lime juice, chilli, garlic, salt, pepper, onion and coriander.  The rainbow trout was marinated in lime juice, salt and pepper then lightly battered.  I was most impressed with my judgement on how long to cook the trout for, 2 mins on either side and that was it.  The trout was garnished with a peruvian salsa and accompanied with potatoes and corn.  For info on the actual recipes click here.

The trickiest part to the dinner was going to be the alfajores.  Making the biscuits was relatively straight forward with the only odd ingredient being corn flour.  I'm assuming that because corn is so abundant in Peru it was favoured over wheat based flour.  Dulce de leche can be made in roughly three different ways. One of those ways is to put a can of condensed milk into the oven at low temperature for around 5 hours.  This may seem like the easiest way but if the temperature gets a little high then BANG you get condensed milk everywhere.  I opted for the "reduce on the stove" technique which requires continuous stirring for 45 mins.  I did manage to slightly burn the mixture but overall it came out pretty well.

All in all it was a very enjoyable meal with good company.  Now to decide on what to cook next month.