sultana scones

There's recipes that you'll spend a fortune just buying the ingredients, then add the hours that go into making the recipe and at the end of it, you're still likely to fail at the attempt in which case you start all over. My type of cooking generally steers away from those recipes. I do still look and drool over them but when it comes to me in the kitchen, the key ingredient is simplicity. The simpler the recipe, the easier it is in making, and the more satisfied you are at the end of it. As much as I love being in the kitchen I'm not one for slaving away for hours and not achieving anything (I actually get quite frustrated and take things quite badly...just ask J).

Here's the batch of sultana scones I made using the recipe from Bill Granger's 'Simply Bill'. I find myself going to Bill quite a bit these days for my recipes. Recipe was for a batch of 12 scones, I managed to get 15.

Ingredients: 1 tbsp icing sugar, 310g plain flour, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder, pinch of salt, 60g sultanas, 1 tsp orange zest, 250ml milk, 30g unsalted butter (melted). Most of the ingredients were found in my pantry/fridge. Cooking them was even easier. Sift all the dry ingredients together, add the orange zest + sultanas and finally stir in the wet ingredients. Knead together quickly until smooth, place on a floured surface and roll to about 3cm thick. Cut out 5cm rounds and place together close on a tray. Cook for about 10 minutes in an oven preheated to 220 degrees.

Serve with butter and jam!

I've actually been doing quite a bit of baking lately and less of the eating out. Quite liking Bill, my copy of 'In the Kitchen' and well Nigella is making a comeback. I got her boxed DVD set over Christmas and I'm watching my way through them (and well time to unearth all my Nigella cookbooks!). Over the Christmas break, there's been a few more additions to my cookbook collection which I'll introduce in due time. And well, blogger is telling me that this is my 300th post!

peach & cinnamon cake

My mum commented the other day that we seem to have 'a lot of' baking ingredients at home; that I seem to be able to pull out a recipe and do some baking without having to go to the shops. I just smiled politely; I do have a habit of stocking up. At one point, I was buying the 5kg bags of flour until we found bugs in one bag and decided to go back to getting the 1kg bags which were a bit more manageable. As for everything else (choc chips, dark chocolate, caster sugar, vanilla extract, almond meal, eggs, butter), I do try to stock up when they're on special at the supermarket. So yes, generally I have everything at home and I can bake on whim. I think my mum just shook her head at me when I didn't answer her question.

Despite having everything at home, it's still a challenge at times to find a recipe that I have all the ingredients for. A lot of the newer recipe books have their 'special' ingredients in them but one author that I seem to always be able to refer to is none other than Bill Granger. The following recipe is from Bill's 'Everyday', what was meant to be a fresh apricot and cinnamon cake which I turned into a peach & cinnamon cake.

Ingredients: 140g self-raising flour, 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, 50g caster sugar, 1 egg (lightly beaten), 3 tbsp milk, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 85g unsalted butter (melted), 350g canned peaches. Topping: 40g plain flour, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 35g caster sugar, 35g unsalted butter (chilled and diced)

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Grease the base of a 20cm springform tin. Sift the flour and cinnamon into a large bowl and stir in the sugar. Make a well in the centre and pour in the egg, milk, vanilla and melted butter. Mix until the batter is smooth, then spoon into the tin. Arrange the peaches over the batter and press down lightly (as per below).

For the topping, put the flour, cinnamon and sugar in a bowl. Rub in the butter with your fingertips until crumbs form. Scatter the topping evenly over the peaches.

Bake for 35-40 minutes. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

The finished product.

Recipe serves 8. I say best enjoyed with a cuppa and well, the cake is not quite big enough! I didn't think there was that much cinnamon in the recipe but if you're not a big fan of cinnamon, you may find the cinnamon taste a little overpowering. Suggest you try eating the cake on the day as the juices from the peaches can leave the cake soggy. If serving up the next day, place in the fridge and slowly let the cake resume to room temperature when you serve it (don't reheat in the microwave).

sagunja @ mandarin centre, chatswood

Makoto at Chatswood (or Makoto in the city) has always been my default choice of Sushi train. Chatswood because it's close enough to home and well, Makoto's sushi speaks for itself; the largest range of sushi on one conveyer belt, always fresh and each piece of sushi is a work of art. Admittedly they are pricey and well, the wait in the queue can put you off at times but then again, where else can I get the same thing?

Well it seems that two sushi trains have opened up in Chatswood over the last couple of months to rival Makoto. One just outside Chatswood Chase, the other on the foodcourt level at the Mandarin Centre. I have yet to make my way to the one outside Chase but I did get the opportunity to try out Sagunja which is the one in Mandarin Centre.

All plates of sushi are $2.50 each including this seared salmon...

And this one with the scallops...they're all $2.50!

With 9 of us that night, here's what we ate! Trust me, we attracted more than enough attention with the two tables next to us each trying to compete for a taller stack and smiles all the way from the chef's making the sushi.

There's not a whole lot of seating around the sushi train. There's seating on the side which is probably a bit better if you're dining in a group.

Whilst most of us were amused by our sushi plate stack, the waitresses weren't quite so enthusiastic. Look at the concentration on their faces trying to pull the stack apart without knocking it over.

A mighty fun night with plates of $2.50 sushi! Dinner ended up being about $15pp including hot green tea which I thought was a bargain. Notably, the size of the sushi is probably a tad smaller than what you'd expect at most other places but you're still getting value. For the amount we paid, we were all full on sushi (including the boys!) which is not something I can say about every sushi place. It was amusing building our sushi plate stack, we came in at just under 50 plates so I challenge you out there to build a bigger stack!

quay @ overseas passenger terminal, the rocks

Hope everyone had a good christmas and happy new year! I had a week off work which swept by in a whirlwind and going back to work today felt like I didn't even have a break. I guess that's what work does to you. Well given the new year, I've been asked a couple of times what my new year's resolutions are and I have to say, amongst the many is the need to clear my backlog of posts. Over the break, the pile seems to have grown and here goes for an attempt at sticking to this resolution for this year.

For my birthday (it's not too bad, just a month ago), J had organised for 4 of us to go to dinner at Quay. The booking was made months in advance, during which time J probably called half a dozen times to change the booking and well, on the day, I was joined for dinner by Mrs Rookie and her hubby.

Mrs Rookie & me.

We asked for the menu whilst we waited for Mr Rookie to find parking (generally not the best on a Saturday night) and was asked whether we wanted the complete go-through of the menu with the 3 of us at the table as apparently it takes a good 10 minutes to go through. We opted to wait as we had already had a quick squiz off the menu outside at the front door.

Mrs Rookie and her hubby have both been here before and suggested taking the 4 course menu @$155pp (which I thought was just right at the end of the night). Otherwise, on offer is also the Signature menu which consists of 7 courses @ $210pp. To be honest, if you're dining as a group of close friends you can actually try more getting the 4 course menu and just taking forkfuls of each other's dishes. Anyway, starting the dinner that night was this amuse bouche of tuna with creme fraiche, horseradish and tapioca. I love tapioca as a sweet and was very surprised how fitting it was in this savoury dish.

I'd read about them and sitting down at the table, Mrs Rookie already said that this was a must order. The Sea Pearls - a combo of sashimi tuna, aquaculture caviar, sea scallop, smoked eel, octopus, mud crab, abalone. This dish does come at a $20 supplement which might seem a little excessive when you're first looking at the menu but you can't say you've been to Quay unless you've tried this dish. There's every reason why this is one of Quay's signature dishes.

The prettiest of them all. This was Mrs Rookie's Confit of shaved South Australia squid, garlic custard, baby radishes, flowers, roasted squid consomme.

There were 3 types of bread on offer that night: organic white, malt and sunflower seed bread. As usual, J had a good time eating his bread :)

Crisp confit of pig belly, braise of abalone and cuttlefish, handmade silken tofu, Japanese mushrooms, chive flowers. This dish tasted uncanningly like one of the dishes that my dad cooks at home - which is usually a braise of leftover pork belly, tofu and asian mushrooms. Both flavours the same but this one was definitely much more artfully presented.

Here was my second course: Gently poached quail (usually partridge breast but wasn't on offer on the night), bitter chocolate black pudding and walnut crumbs, truffle custard, fresh palm hearts, white borage buds. I was intrigued to order this one by the range of flavours and unusual ingredients in it. It's probalby not as pretty a dish as the others but definitely one packed with new and intriguing flavours.

Slow cooked red mullet, tomato and mussel confit, pink onions, octopus, wild mountain radichhio, chilli threads, radish flower.

This is actually a meat dish (the meat is just hiding behind); sous vide pure bred Suffolk lamb loin, spring vegetables, comte-infused fresh milk curd, roasted quinoa, sunflower seeds, pine nuts, hazelnuts. How and where does the chef come up with such amazing combos?

A complimentary side green salad, lightly dressed.

Crish pressed duck confit, kabu turnips, winter melon, hasuimo, garlic scapes, sea scallops, duck juices. Mr Rookie's comment after tasting was that this was yet another Asian inspired dish. It reminded him of the crispy BBQ duck you buy at Asian BBQ stores.

Slow braised Berkshire pig jowl, maltose crackling, Pedro Ximenez noble sour vinegar, prunes, cauliflower cream, perfumed with prune kernel oil. Quite a sweet dish and the toffee like crackling is simply luscious.

The four of us!

For dessert, we ordered 4 different ones to share amongst the table. Here's the well matched combo of mangosteen, rose jelly and meringue.

My favourite dessert for the night would be this Eight texture chocolate cake featuring Amedei 'Chuao' chocolate. I ended up asking one of the waiter what the 8 textures were and well, I'm keeping that one a secret for now. Do try this if you find yourself at Quay.

White Peach Snow Egg. Another one of Quay's signature dishes which you just have to try to see how good it is.

Wild strawberries with butterscotch icecream. How tiny and juicy were the strawberries!

It goes without saying that we cleared each and every plate that landed on our table, and that includes even the butter dish/es! And well, had they left the bread basket on the table, I'm sure J and Mr Rookie would've been more than happy to eat it all.

Service here was immaculate and wait staff were friendly and knowledgeable about the food on offer. Every waiter that we interrupted or came to our table eagerly went through each dish with us and you could see how their faces lit up when they were talking about the food. That's certainly a first for me at any restaurant and kudos to you for it.

And did I mention that our table looked out onto the water and the Sydney Opera House? Couldn't really get any good photos once it started to get dark but one amazing view, paired with good wine, good food and good company, I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend my birthday. Thanks Mr & Mrs Rookie for joining us for dinner - the night wouldn't have been the same without you both. Thanks J for organising. You guys are the best!

sake @ argyle st., the rocks

For my birthday, my friend K organised for 12 of us to have dinner at Sake @ The Rocks; a most recent addition to The Rocks precinct. Getting to The Rocks, I was actually curious as to where the restaurant was and was much surprised to find that the restaurant had opened up where my best friend got married earlier this year. What was previously The Argyle Function Centre is now home to Sake.

It was actually a little strange walking in to the restaurant given the last time I walked through the doors I was linked arms with one of the groomsmen and had about a hundred pairs of eyes following me as we progressed to the bridal table. Well this time round, I found myself dazzled at how the place had been transformed. I could still make out the venue from my last visit in May but what was once an empty space was now a bubbling, decked out restaurant. Thumbs up to the design team that created the space.

Greeted by the menu as you sit down. Usually when you eat out in a group of 12, you expect to be quite squished at the table, it was quite the opposite at Sake where we ended up having the waiter's take one of the joining tables away so that we could sit a bit closer together.

It took us awhile to get through the menu and to finally decide what to order. When K made the booking, they did suggest that we take the banquet menu but we'd decided to order separately to try a few more dishes. What we ended up doing was order a handful of entrees to share and each ordered a main each. Here's the Kingfish jalapeno - not spicy at all and was a great way to start the meal.

Spicy Miso Chips (with diced tuna & salmon sashimi, coriander & kogichun miso). Again, not spicy but beautifully presented and I wish there were more on the plate!

Nasu Miso (Grilled eggplant, sweet den miso & sesame seeds). In this case, I think the photos speak for themselves; if only there were a few more pieces on the plate to eat!

Miso butterfish (miso marinated butterfish with pickled ginger and lime). This one was actually a main that we ordered to share as my friend L had highly recommended it. After eating it, I would definitely recommend it myself.

Beef teriyaki (beef sirloin cooked medium rare, served with daikon radish, chive & yakiniku sauce). To be honest, I didn't quite expect the beef teriyaki to come out looking like this but it was a lovely dish nonetheless. This was probably one of the more generous servings out of the mains ordered at the table.

The platter of rolls! Actually, this was actually four orders put on the one platter.

Sushi Set (chef's selection of nigiri-8pcs, tamago, classic thin roll-6pcs and miso soup). The sushi is great and probably something to order if you need food to fill you up (as most of the other dishes on the menu are quite small) but I don't think it stands out enough for the price you pay for it.

The miso soup.

I think part of the reason why it took so long for us to order was that we ended up getting quite distracted looking over the desserts (well the girls anyway). Between the 12 of us, we ended up ordering 4 of the 5 desserts. Here's the green apple mille-feuille (green-apple mousse with layers of crispy thin pasty and vanilla bean sauce). One for the sweet tooth as the green apple syrup that comes with it can be tooth achingly sweet. Also the pastry isn't quite in the traditional sense of a mille-feuille so can be a bit of a let down.

Matcha bombe alaska (green-tea ice-cream wrapped in sponge & meringue, baked and served with white chocolate sauce).

Deconstructed russian cream (buttermilk panna cotta, raspberry jelly & raspberry coconut salad). If I were to order any of the desserts again, it would have to be this one.

Chocolate fondant with white sesame icecream. The fondant was unquestionably delicious, as was the icecream but I found it too filling to end a Japanese meal.

Service varied throughout the night. From being attentive and friendly to a bit scatty later in the night. Could be cause the restaurant started to fill up but then I can't quite explain why we had to ask twice for things (which they apologise for in the first instance) and well, there was the case of the overcharge. When we booked, K had to put down a deposit and this was not taken off at the end of the meal. Could have been a slight oversight but well, meant that most of us were reluctant to tip at the end of the meal.

On the whole, it was a great place to celebrate a birthday and I couldn't have asked for better company. Thanks K for organising and for everyone that came!