Affogato is Italian for drowned; the ice cream is drowned in espresso with the liqueur served on the side. It is the easiest of all desserts, once you have mastered the ice-cream making. Make your Crème Anglaise vanilla bean ice cream as per my recipe. When ready to serve, make your espresso shot, place one [...]
My butchers, Barry and Mario from Kirkpatrick's Butchers at the South Melbourne market, sell the most delicious and tender racks of lamb which I frequently buy for a simple and quick mid-week dinner. The butchers sell them, 2 ways, ‘frenched’ or ‘unfrenched’. ‘Frenched’ is the term used to describe the process of cutting the fat [...]
Prunes and apples always team well with pork, so if you prefer, substitute apples for the prunes. For the pork, you can select various cuts, female pork neck, pork scotch, a boned, rolled pork shoulder, or even a pork leg. These cuts are delicious as they are fatty and succulent; the fat runs through the [...]
Hollandaise sauce is a classic emulsion* sauce, made with egg yolks and butter, seasoned with lemon juice, salt and a little white pepper to become a thick, yellow, creamy sauce. It is the traditional partner to asparagus, artichokes, and eggs Benedict. It is perfectly matched with poached fish and vegetables. I love it drizzled over [...]
In France, on our Betty B barge, I frequently cooked a simple coq au vin as it was easy to manage in my small barge galley kitchen, the ingredients readily available and it can be made ahead the day before and reheated. I always tried to cook it in one pot! In France they have [...]
This is a classic, regional, warming, hearty braise originating in Normandy, France, the region famous for its dairy produce, the creams, butters and cheeses, such as Camembert, and apples and Calvados. Chicken and apple is a delicious, yet uncommon match. The chicken is braised with the onions, leeks and mushrooms, the apples give a light [...]
Serves 6 as lunch-time serves It is winter here at the moment and we are in Week 4 of Melbourne’s Covid-19 lockdown, so comfort soups are a great idea. Over the recent cold and wet weekend, I made this soup and was extremely pleased with the result. It was very satisfying, flavoursome, tasty, nourishing and [...]
Serves 4 – 6 This is a marvellous dish for a party, although it is sometimes hard to serve and cut through the aubergine slices and the melted mozzarella is always very drippy. So, for a more attractive presentation, I often make individual pots and serve them with some wok-tossed green vegetables on the side. [...]
This is a flavoursome classic Burgundian dish, with red wine playing a major role in the flavour, along with lardons, button mushrooms and tiny onions. The flavour of this dish, like many others, improves when the dish is refrigerated and served the next day. It is traditionally cooked on the stove-top, however, you can also [...]
Yesterday, I made my usual chicken stock using 5 chicken carcasses, 1 kg of chicken necks, 2 onions, 2 carrot, 1 leek, 2 celery, 2 bay leaves, 10 black peppercorns, 1 tbsp dried thyme, 10 parsley stalks, covered with plenty of water and slowly brought to the simmer and continued with a lazy bubble, what [...]
