Mothers Day Desserts

Posted on May 12, 2013 by Natasha J Stewart

9 people have just unloaded out of my tiny apartment. I was the host of mothers day dinner tonight– providing the space and in charge of desserts. My two nans turned up as well so we had a full house as we crowded around the makeshift dining table on the communal first floor. My middle sister was cooking the food. She turned up with a slow cooker, a few pans, meat and vegetables. For the past couple of days I’ve been planning the desserts.

I actually started designing the main dessert a few weeks ago. I was working on an incredibly interesting, but also frustrating, essay on Vietnamese national identity and the celebratory banh chung. So while looking for many ways to procrastinate I designed a dessert. I bought half sphere silicon moulds a while ago, and I’ve been looking for an excuse to use them ever since.

This was the original design. A chocolate shell filled with chocolate mousse, chocolate ganache, and a honey comb and choc biscuit base. I would have loved to have topped it with gold leaf as well, but I didn’t get a chance to buy any. Instead I changed a few things. I made a hollow teardrop shaped chocolate pipe in the centre of the shell (teardrops were easier than cylinders). This was surrounded with mousse and then ganache. I filled the pipe with a raspberry coulis that after a bit too much reduction resembled more of a raspberry jam. Then I decorated with a few chocolate shavings, bits of homemade honey comb, and a few raspberries. The end result:

You can’t see the raspberry centre because I only filled 5 of them and we had two unexpected guests turn up.

It wasn’t quite as I’d pictured it, but I was happy with the results. Initially I’d planned to have some kind of anglais or chocolate sauce to pour over the top, but in the end I ran out of time and ingredients. Thankfully it didn’t let the dessert down.

Of course it wouldn’t be a family gathering without my nieces so I whipped up something for them too… quite literally. My go to dessert is an eton mess. Chantilly cream, strawberries, and meringue. The only tricky/time consuming part is making the meringue. Apart from that you just need to chuck everything together at the last moment. That way the meringue stays crunchy throughout the cream and strawberries.

I’ll try and add some recipes up a little bit later, but for now I’ll just leave you with the pictures. I’m off to China on Tuesday for two weeks, so I won’t be in the kitchen again for a while. Perhaps I’ll get some inspiration while I’m away.

How did you celebrate mothers’ day? Was there anything sweet on the table?

Heading in a Sweeter Direction

Posted on May 12, 2013 by Natasha J Stewart

Last night I uncovered a new dessert in front of my housemates. They crowded around as I poured the warm chocolate sauce over a mousse filled dome. The trick didn’t work. The casing may have been too cold, the sauce not hot enough, or I might have made the chocolate layer too thick. Whatever the reason, it failed to cave in. You wouldn’t have known it because they still oohed and ahhed over it anyway. They were even happier when I told them they could eat the test run.

This is why I love desserts. They make people happy and fill them with excitement. Desserts aren’t for nourishment, they’re for enjoyment. Sometimes there’s a bit of theatre involved, like a dissolving chocolate shell or a bomb alaska set alight at your table, but it’s not a requirement. This is also why I’ve decided to take a bit of a different direction with this blog.

I’m focussing on sweets, desserts, sugary stuff. I don’t really need much more of an explanation. More time in the kitchen, less money at restaurants, happier housemates. For now I’m off to work on some desserts for our mothers day dinner. I’ll give you a hint: one of them contains meringue.

Top 5 January Food Bites

Posted on February 1, 2013 by Natasha J Stewart

One month of 2013 has already done and dusted. It’s been quiet, in all respects. I haven’t been at TAFE, I’m not back at uni yet, and I haven’t even been working as much as I should. Instead I’ve enjoyed time with my nieces, some lazy days by the pool, and a few too many television episodes. But things have still been churning, and so I’ve got a list of 5 of my favourite things to happen this January.

1. Summer Fridays are Back

These are the markets that got me started on this whole crazy baking journey. The place where I found out people would actually pay me money to buy cupcakes. I went to the first market on a whim, and I only went back because people asked me to. Now I’m half the way towards becoming a pastry chef, I’ve catered for weddings and birthday parties, and I’ve been featured about 4 times in magazines and newspapers. It’s a pretty sweet feeling.

caramel cupcakes, the cupcake table, adelaide cupcakes

My caramel cupcakes. Vanilla cake with gooey caramel centre and crunchy caramel popcorn.

If you want to come down, I’m there every Friday until the end of March. You’ll find us on Ebenezer Place, just behind Rundle Street. Keep your eyes peeled for the Cupcake Table.

2. Food Blogging Friends

We had another food blogger meet up in January, a lovely picnic at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens. I of course brought along some cupcakes, and while it was small it was a great reminder of how much I love catching up with other local food bloggers. Hopefully we’ll get a few more people at the next one.

Yes, 11 Cupcakes for 4 bloggers.

In other food blogging news I also found out that someone I went to school with has an LA based food blog with his girlfriend. It’s called Boy Meets Girl Meets Food a food blog “created as a way for us to connect with each other, as well as anyone who loves food, while we were in a long-distance relationship.” Then there’s Tyson from Tempting Tyson who has just been announced as the new sous chef of the White House Hahndorf. Chris Wilson, one of my chefs from TAFE, is the head chef; now I have no excuse to not go check out their new set up.

3. Cancer Free!

It’s not really food related, but it’s been one of my favourite parts of January. Late December I had to go in for a check-up after having a few symptoms, and ended up having a polyp removed. I’ve always known that my family has a strong history of bowel cancer, thanks to the lovely MSH2 gene mutation. I had the test done when I was 16 and found out I carried the gene, but this was the first time it really hit home for me.

Usually I wouldn’t have started testing till I was 25, but luckily I did, because my doctor said if the polyp had been left for another 6 months it would have most likely developed into cancer.

For now it’s a bullet dodged, but a reminder that you’re never too young to get cancer. My cousin and a friend participated in the Undies Run for Bowel Cancer, an event that focusses on the importance of talking to your doctor.

4. Moving Music

I helped out at Moving Music with Yelp, who were handing out free water on the day. If you haven’t heard of Moving Music you should really check it out. It was a great afternoon/night walking through the city, seeing plenty of bands I’ve never heard of because I’m so out of the loop, and seeing some spaces around Adelaide in a new light.

the happy motel, moving music, arabic food, falafel, bbq chicken

Chicken & Felafel from the Happy Motel

Of course there was also food, once again thanks to the Happy Motel. Thankfully there were only two choices available which made things pretty easy, I’d get both. Everyone else went for the chicken, but while the chicken was delicious, the falafel created a major case of food envy from everyone else. They were the best falafels I have ever had, crunchy on the outside, but soft on the inside, and full of flavour. They both came served with yoghurt and sweet pomegranate, and a cucumber and feta salad that had slices of chili hidden amongst it.

5. RecipeYum & Howtoi
Last but not least are the two new sites, spin-offs from Weekend Notes where I currently write and edit. RecipeYum is (if you couldn’t guess) a recipe site. Writers share their recipes with their own pictures, and get paid based on how many views they get. There are bonuses like competitions, and awards. It’s got very humble beginnings, but I’m hoping over time it might attract a few food bloggers, because I’d love to see the quality of recipes and photos soar. I’m going to be the chief editor of the site, which is exciting for me, and I’m looking forward to seeing where it goes.

Poppy with our tissue paper pom poms.

Howtoi is a similar concept, but instead of recipes it’s got ‘How To’ guides. I’ve been having lots of fun crafting with my nieces to ger some articles ready for the site. So far my favourite are the tissue paper pom poms.

That’s my slow and steady January. What sort of a start has your year got off to?

Eat: Onyx Dessert Lounge

Posted on January 30, 2013 by Natasha J Stewart

One of Adelaide’s most highly anticipated dessert bars, Onyx Dessert Lounge opened in November of last year, but I took my time to visit. To be honest, I didn’t want it to be good. Before I even arrived Onyx left a bad taste in my mouth.

cocktail, onyx dessert lounge

I love all things dessert. I love making them, eating them, looking at them. Everything. But I struggled to get too excited about a place that clearly thought it was so far above the rest. We’ve got a budding network of dessert bars in Adelaide, each has it’s faults, but most also have their own unique charms. The desserts aren’t always groundbreaking, and they’re often more cosy than chic, but they’ve carved out a market that really doesn’t exist interstate. No doubt the already established dessert scene is the reason Onyx is calling Adelaide home in the first place.

Their About Me page feels conceited and condescending, as if we should feel truly blessed that Onyx has come to save us from the shabby dessert places that used to satisfy out sweet cravings.

Putting all that aside, I was still looking forward to dessert at Onyx. I don’t believe in judging something until I’ve tried it, and no PR-ridden website was going to keep me away from desserts and cocktails.

We’d only just been able to get in. We’d plan on arriving without a booking, we were planning an early trip anyway, but mid way through the day they announced they were all booked up. After a quick phone call they said we’d have a table, but funnily when we got there it was completely empty.

The colours are bright, and a little gaudy, but after we settled in I actually warmed to the surroundings. It’s definitely different. The large chairs were comfortable, and a lot better than some of the stools you encounter at late night spots. Yes. The menus are on tablets. We were given one, and it was slow and unresponsive. We were pretty indecisive, so flicking back and forth was not an easy task. Some restaurants integrate tablets well, but Onyx falls a little short.

We ordered 3 savoury dishes, to be followed by three desserts. The SA king prawns and scallops were served in mini cones, with roe popping as you take your first bite. They were beautiful and fun, maybe a little too trendy, but I loved them. We also got the smoked cylinders with edible sand, lovely fresh fish with a strong umami flavour, and sweetness thanks to the seeweed. The smoke billowed inside the glass dome, before being released once placed on the table. A nice bit of food theatre to go along with the evening.

smoked cylinders
The chicken was lightly seasoned, getting it’s kick from the wasabi. Not as enchanting as the other dishes, but we didn’t want to get too swept away.

We managed two cocktails each throughout the night. Despite a poor first choice with the misleading Ice Cream Treacle (Gosling’s black seal rum, white chocolate syrup, vanilla vodka, whisky barrel aged bitters, grated nutmeg, orange twist), I made the top pick with the Balsamic Strawberry Fizz (mint, balsamic glaze, vanilla vodka, strawberry liqueur, strawberries, soda). It was like grabbing a fistful of of the freshest strawberries and plopping them straight into your mouth, just with the added freshness of of mint and soda water. It was pulpy and rich, and I’d happily sip it instead of a mojito next time I’m relaxing poolside.

Vic insisted on the sticky date pudding. It’s a comfort food, and something that many will pick off a menu with glee, but I just always find it so boring. This was the best sticky date pudding I’ve ever eaten. The vanilla ice cream was hidden inside, and it was moist, gooey, and rich. There are times when it pays to listen to your older sister.

We also got the deconstructed pavlova. I’ve had some great deconstructed dishes in the past, this just didn’t hit the mark. It was pleasant enough, but nothing about it really captured the idea of the pavlova. Sometimes deconstructing a dish allows you to have fun with flavours and textures that otherwise wouldn’t work, but I kind of just wished I had a regular pavlova. We polished the plate clean, it just left me wanting.

Finally the bombe alaska, my go-to dessert. I’m always interesting in seeing how it’s presented. Whether the meringue is already toasted, with a ring of alcohol lit around, or whether it’s set alight in front of you. I’m always guiltily a fan of the latter option, I love the charred meringue after it’s gotten that little bit too burt. This was lit before us, but the flame was a bit tamer than some others I’ve seen. Once again a bit of theatre bringing an added spark to the meal.

I’d struggle to really fault the food at Onyx, and the service was also fantastic, but there’s no denying that the big empty room felt a little bit hollow. I’m definitely going back, and I’ll probably keep going back time and time again; the food was skillful, creative, and fun. I just think that they need to realise that their food can carry itself, without the constant need to inform us all of it’s greatness. Drop the PR-speak and give us some real personality.

Onyx isn’t for everyone, it’s more expensive than your average dessert bar, and the chic setting and tablet menus will be all too much for some. What do you think? Is Onyx worth it, or are you struggling to find the love it so clearly thinks it deserves?

Neon Lobster @ Alpha Box & Dice Winery

Posted on January 22, 2013 by Natasha J Stewart

I’m considering changing the name of this blog to Times I’ve Eaten Food Cooked by the Happy Motel, after all, it seems to have become a pretty consistant theme amongst blog posts.

This was my first time down at Alpha Box & Dice’s McLaren Vale cellar door, for a post Christmas feed courtesy of the Happy Motel and their Neon Lobster Taqueria. They were set up over over three days on the 28th, 29th, and 30th of December. Initially I’d planned on heading down twice, once with my sister and once with Celeste and Christina, but after an emotionally draining Christmas and granddad’s funeral on the Friday, the two lunch dates were merged.

Celeste picked us up from Moana, and an unfortunately fluey toddler meant Christina wasn’t joining us. I’ll never get tired of the drive down to McLaren Vale, and then the drive home. The rolling hills covered in rows of lush green vines, with the sea and sand just visible in the distance. It’s things like this you only grow to appreciate once you get a bit older, the Fleurieu Peninsula has a hold on me that I just didn’t get as a kid.

We settled on a litre of sangria; not as strong as my dad usually makes, but more palatable for my tastes. We joined the line-up in front of the taqueria, and once the menu finally became legible we started to make our choices.

The beef taco was nice, but it felt a little overshadowed by the fish taco. Fish, mango, lime, coriander, cabbage; I think I just listed three of my favourite foodstuffs. Fruit with savoury food? Another favourite. It’s not really surprising that the fish taco came out on top, it was sweet and fresh, and considering the weather was co-operating with a beautiful summer’s day, perfect.

We finished with a bottle of Alpha Box and Dice Tarrot, first tasted at our Happy Motel Adelaide Magazine Dinner. It was a nice disconnect from the week prior, and an ideal summer’s day. Sadly we got up for thirds just as the kitchen announced there was no more.

If you’re yet to eat food from the Happy Motel, or if you’re back for seconds, the Happy Motel will be part of Barrio again in 2013 as part of the Adelaide Festival.

Coming up soon: That Time I Handed Out Free Water at a Music Festival, and Then Ate Food From the Happy Motel.

Christmas Cooking: An Eton Mess Recipe

Posted on December 28, 2012 by Natasha J Stewart

I’d intended to pop this recipe in the December Sweet Adventures Blog Hop. As soon as Christina announced the theme ‘Sweets for Santa‘ I knew that this red and white dessert would be perfect. But then life goes ahead and happens, and things don’t always go to plan. Thankfully, the Eton mess is really easy to make, and while I didn’t get a blog post up in time it still made it onto our Christmas table.

In the early hours of this year’s Christmas Eve my granddad passed away. He’d been sick for a while, and after many Christmases that might have been granddad’s last one, this was the first one we were going to have without him. My aunt made a toast for him at dessert, his favourite meal, and I think every time I make this Eton mess I’m going to have a little smile thinking of granddad.

There are three things you need for a basic Eton Mess:

Chantilly cream
Strawberries
Meringue

You can start getting fancy with other fruits and other flavourings, but sticking to these three means you’ll have a beautiful and popular dessert.

The meringues are the first things you’ll need to make. They’re a basic mix of sugar and egg whites. I used about 120g of egg whites to 240g of sugar. Beat the egg whites until soft peaks begin to form, and then start adding the sugar. I use caster sugar but you can use plain white sugar. Keep beating them till you have stiff peaks.

Then pipe the meringue into disk shapes on a lined tray. It doesn’t really matter if they touch, because you’ll be breaking them all apart in the end.

The oven should be preheated to about 120ºC, but once you put them in drop it to 90. They’ll take about an hour and a half to bake. If they don’t seem to have dried out enough leave them in the oven overnight (that’s what I did). Make sure it’s switched off!

The meringue can be made in advance, just make sure that it’s not too humid or they will lose their crunch.

On the day you’re planning on serving your Eton mess get set on the rest of the components. Wash and dice your strawberries, leaving some whole to decorate the top. I used around 4 regular sized punnets.

Then start whipping your cream, I used 1.2L of regular thickened cream, but it really depends on the size of your bowl. Once it starts to get thicker add in sifted icing sugar and vanilla bean paste. Add both to your taste.

In a large bowl mix the cream with most of the chopped strawberries and with the crunched up meringue. Save some of the strawberries to layer in the centre, and save some meringue to sprinkle on top. Spoon the mix into your serving bowl, and once it’s about halfway full cover it with a layer of chopped strawberries and some crushed meringue. Then spoon the rest of the mix into the bowl. Sprinkle the top with the remaining crushed meringue, and cut the tops of your remaining strawberries, placing them on top with their points in the air.

Now it’s time to enjoy.

Losing someone at Christmas makes it all the more special when you get to share it with those that are still around. Everyone hugged each other a little bit tighter this year, and while we all had our moments when we were wiping tears from our eyes, it was also a great time to be with family.

We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas lunch at my sisters house, Christmas morning with my four nieces is always my favourite part. They’ve recently all chosen new names for themselves to appear on the blog because I always seem to forget which pseudonym I refer to them by. Somehow my funny little nieces all went with flowers, the eldest is Poppy, then there’s Primrose (Prim for short), next is Daphney (nicknamed Daffodil), and finally Buttercup.

Buttercup insisted in helping me with the Eton mess, she mostly just played around with the meringues I wasn’t using, but she did help press in all the strawberries. At the funeral today she was so well behaved, only being a little cheeky while she sat on my dad’s lap. At one point it got a bit too much for her, and she just started crying because she couldn’t stand to see all the people she loved so sad, even if she didn’t really understand what was going on.

On Christmas Eve we all opened out secret admirer Peter Alexander pyjamas, except for Daffodil and Buttercup who had gorgeous pyjamas from Eternal Creations. I was lucky enough to get some great books for Christmas including How Baking Works, The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Pastry Arts, The Advanced Professional Pastry Chef, and Mad About Macarons. I also got the Heston’s Feast box set.

For us Christmas is about food, keeping old traditions and starting new ones (like watching Love Actually and opening our Christmas Eve pyjamas), but mostly it’s about family. This year did a great job at reminding me just how much I love mine.

What was Christmas like for your family this year? Did you have any special Christmas desserts?

Eat: The Brasserie

Posted on December 13, 2012 by Natasha J Stewart

Back onto birthday dinners, and this time I was at the Brasserie with my best friend. We don’t get to catch up as much as we’d like these days. She’s busy, I’m busy. So grabbing dinner with her & her boyfriend was a good way to celebrate my birthday. We’d been to the Brasserie together before, but it was while they were doing renovations, so this time we were down in the proper restaurant.

I met them in the bar, and we decided to start with a cocktail. I chose a lychee cocktail, Roxy went more tropical with passionfruit and pineapple, and Rowan’s kiwi fruit cocktail was set alight. We hadn’t quite finished when we decided to walk over to our table.

We actually all ordered the same thing, a surefire way to eliminate food envy. Usually I try and con people into ordering separate dishes, and I’ll often sacrifice my first choice if someone else wants to have it. Tonight wasn’t about writing a review, or sampling an entire menu (or so we thought), it was simply about enjoying good food with some of my favourite people at one of my favourite restaurants.

We started with the pork belly buns. I’ll admit that I was a little sad to see the Brasserie menus change, they no longer had the details about where the various foods were sourced from. There was still a lot of local produce, so their practices haven’t changed, but I used to enjoy sitting back and dissecting the menu. But, back to the pork belly buns. One of the things I am excited about is that the new menu seems to be having a little bit more fun. It takes on a few ‘trends’ and does them so well.

The pork belly buns were actually quite light, and there was a great freshness that came from the cucumber and the herbs. I would have loved a little more pork belly inside, but hey, is there ever a time that I don’t want more pork belly? At the end of the dish we were craving more, I joked to the waiter that we could order 10 more, but we didn’t want to spoil the rest of the dinner.

Next up were the ribs.

Sticky and sweet, the meat was falling off the bones. I was expecting good things with this dish, considering the delicious ribs I’d eaten the week before at Eat Drink Blog. The style was different, but the meat itself was just as good. We got some green veggies on the side, and the ribs also game with thick wedge like chips. We couldn’t even finish our chips, even though they were crunchy and delicious. The ribs and the pork bun were more than enough, and I was glad I hadn’t ordered a second bun.

Before we could take a look at the dessert menus our waiter came over and told us that the kitchen had a special dessert for my birthday. It’s times like this that I’m thankful I have a second dessert stomach.

We had a sample of every dessert on the menu, all to share between the three of us.

To be honest, we were a little scared. It was epic, and being dessert freaks we knew there was no way we were leaving a speck of dessert on that plate. There was lemon curd and meringue with native Australian berries, delicious caramel filled profiteroles, a hazelnut ice cream sandwich, honey bombe alaska, some kind of cherry ripe dessert, and a creme brulee.

My favourite would be a tie between the bombe alaska (they’re always a favourite of mine), and the filled profiteroles.

We managed to finish the platter, and felt like we would roll out of the door. I remember being amazed by the desserts when we were there for my 21st, but this topped it.

I’m hoping to head back to the Brasserie soon to try some more of their buns. They also do a kim chi and a pulled pork bun, and I’m all for food trends when they’re tasty. It’s a bit disappointing that the kim chi bun isn’t available at lunch, I’d love to be able to go in and order a trio of the buns during the day, I’d feel a little weird going into the restaurant at night just to order three starters by myself.

The Brasserie remains one of my favourite places in Adelaide, but it’s not somewhere I get to very often. Thanks to the Entertainment Card I get there about once a year, and I haven’t been disappointed yet.

Playing House

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