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It's the time of year for pumpkins and they are everywhere. Having grown up in Canada, pumpkins always remind me of the fall, the time of the year when the leaves change and it's get colder. And it’s the cold outside that invites us to eat more warming, hearty dishes.This is one of them. These pumpkin and apples are cooked with plenty of woodsy herbs like rosemary, sageand bay leaves. T
Oh finally. Finally, another post! I'm sorry my loyal friends but I finally got myself together to do a post and it's on a subject near and dear to me - cookies. I have, on many occasions, rambled on to friends that I have not been able to find a delicious cookie here in Australia (sorry Aussies!). Cookies, often called biscuits here, are simply not cookies. Biscuits are awfully hard and crunchy.
Hello my lovely friends. How are you? I've been so preoccupied with other projects this year that I've let things slide - I know excuses, excuses...I hope you've been able to check up on my latest collaboration with a few friends - Artisan Magazine - a great source for beautiful and delicious food, filled with recipes and other visual treats. Check out Issue 2 here.***I wish you all a very happy h
A little bit of this and a little bit of that...that's all it takes to make a flavourful and delicious stew for your next dinner. The only effort this fragrant seafood stew requires is a trip to the nearest fish market or seafood counter.When cooking with seafood it not only makes a huge difference to buy it as fresh as possible but also to cook it as fast as possible. In this particular stew I us
Quinoa (pronounced 'keen-wah') is considered a superfood. While I can't speak much on the reasons why this is the case, I can tell you that quinoa is actually an ancient seed and that it's quite delicious too. It's packed with protein and a perfect substitute for folks with wheat and gluten allergies. I know it's on the list of many healthy food eaters but even the more indulgent eaters of
Hello friends! I have been meaning to post but it's been a hectic month so far! I do, however, have something to show for all the busy work.A cover issue of Sunday Life Magazine! Photography: Katie Quinn Davies Food Preparation: Caroline Marson and food and props styling by yours truly. The cover featured a delicious fish and prawn pie (trust me, I ate it!). This recipe was part of the magaz
There is a cafe in an area of Toronto called Kensington Market. When I lived there I used to spend my Saturdays getting a deliciously hot and strong cappuccino and walking from stall to stall to see the various fruits and vegetables grocers had to offer. My morning was finished with a snack or lunch at an amazing vegan food spot called Urban Herbivore.***Now this is the type of cafe I
It's amazing that just a few ingredients can create such a delicious treat. Banana bread is one of those baking staples for when you are lacking time or patience. It's not just easy to put together but even when you mess up the recipe a little it often still turns out wonderful and moist!***This recipe combines the sweet and creamy textures of overripe bananas (there are many in this recipe
Delicious. Chocolate. Brownies. It doesn't take much to appreciate the sweet, rich density offered by a bite of brownie.***These days I've been eating a lot of chocolate. It's been Easter and therefore almost impossible to ignore all the stands of chocolate treats set up absolutely everywhere!If you're going to eat chocolate you might as well find another way to eat it -- for example, in a b
Autumn is here in Sydney. I actually cannot believe that summer flew by so quickly - even though it was definitely not the warmest, sunniest summer I've experienced here. In fact it's been rainy and cloudy a lot!***The fall is quite lovely and its cooler evenings mean that certain deliciously hearty and pastry-rich items feature back on the house menu.Given the buckets of plums being showcased in
Oh, and chocolate! You can't have fruits and nuts without a touch of chocolate.This delicious combination of fruit, nut and chocolate came together to make these delicious banana and hazelnut muffins. Perfect for the morning or any other time of the day, these muffins are exploding with banana flavour and a touch of spice.***Sometimes muffins can be heavy and dense but using half flour/half
It's golden, crumbly and slightly sweet -- a topping like no other. Underneath you find golden yellow peaches flecked with sweet crunchy specks of sugar and cut with a slight tang of blueberry flavour.This is cobbler.Such a simple but understated dessert. I've never made a cobbler before but I have made many crumbles. Quite similar desserts but a cobbler is more like a deconstructed pie -- and any
Hello friends - just an exciting bit of news for this post...here is the latest cover of MasterChef Magazine - styled by yours truly! Photography: Ben Dearnley. If you happen to live in Australia make sure to get the magazine (paper or ipad version) as it's full of tasty and delicious recipes covering a range of diverse flavours - along with plenty of great foodie stories and information. Will def
If you’ve been to my blog before you are familiar with my celebrations of simplicity. Simple, fresh ingredients are usually all you need to make things taste delicious and look beautiful. One of the simplest dishes that I make often are salads – all kinds, whether they consist of many ingredients or just two, have roasted vegetables or fresh and crunchy ones. I love my salads.**
Summertime calls for many things – icy cold treats, fresh fruit for breakfast, cold mint tea…all things fresh and light. There is, however, one food very wintry in nature that I cannot resist even in summer: squash. ***It may be a hearty root vegetable but there is no denying its bright, golden-orange hue belongs in my notes for summer … This vegetarian pasta has ever
Happy New Year folks! I hope you all enjoyed your holidays and that much fun was had while copious amounts of food and wine were consumed – this is how I like to celebrate! Speaking of celebrations, December was a month of fun at my house. It’s the month of my birthday and my wedding anniversary – and those great gift-giving days of Christmas fun – so many reasons to eat, drink and be merry.***For
Happy Holidays Everyone! A meandering mango has taken a short break this holiday season but I'll definitely be back with more things delicious and beautiful in the new year!
There is a place in Toronto that sells my most favourite smoothie – a date almond and banana smoothie. It's almost more like a thick milkshake – rich, creamy, sweet and not even bad for you!Read more here...
Spring is in the air – it’s sunny and breezy and fresh in Sydney. For the rest of my Northern hemisphere friends, I know it’s strange to hear of warm weather when snow is on the way for many of you! To celebrate spring I’ve made something filled with colourful vegetables: a spring vegetable tart.Read more here...
I don’t usually think of myself as a person who finds comfort in a particular routine; in fact my life has been driven by change and randomness – even in my love for food. Very rarely do I have foods that I eat every day – or every Tuesday etc. I thrive on change…Read more here...
If you’re a regular visitor to my blog then this post on yet another cheesy baked item won’t be a surprise. We love cheesecake. When I say ‘we’ I mean my husband M and I -- cheesecake is one of our favourite desserts.Read more »
This morning I had my favourite combination for breakfast: a cup of hot coffee, a banana, and a delicious little muffin. Not a regular muffin but a pumpkin-carrot one with light orange glaze. OK – the glaze part doesn’t really sound like healthy breakfast but we are eating our veggies here, so no complaints! I love vegetables. Raw, steamed, sauteed or baked in any way – they are a
Pastry making is an art that I never really had an interest in until I went to cooking school. It's there that I learned to make different types of pastry – sweet, savoury and the famously scary puff. Of course the perfectionist in me wanted to do the best job I could. Well, it turns out I can’t make a very good puff pastry – but I find it comforting to know that many great chefs have
Did someone say chocolate? Yes, but not just any chocolate – dark, rich and creamy and smooth chocolate mousse. I apologize for the delayed first post of the month. I’ve been feeling a bit stuck -- it's that time of year where I have to re-think life and work, and torture myself with deep and existential questions.Now to get out of this rut. I guess one way is to just throw yourself into something
Spring in Sydney – an end to the colder months and a welcome to longer, sunnier days and flowers. It’s just the beginning of my favourite time of year, and to celebrate it I put together a few spring-inspired foods.At the grocer, I picked up a bunch of vegetables and herbs. I made a simple salad of sliced vine-ripened tomatoes, cherry tomatoes and torn basil and dressed the two ingredients with ex
Like the rest of those foodies out there I love everything about food – searching through stores and markets for the best produce, talking about food, eating it and of course cooking and baking. When I’m in my kitchen with the ingredients I love I’m a happy person; conceptualizing a dish from start to finish and then working to create it is not only stress-relieving but also a wonderful creative o
I was given a few zucchinis the other day and wondered what I could make with this beautifully fresh and green vegetable. I love the taste and texture of raw sliced zucchini in my salads or alternatively in stick form with a delicious dip of hummus. I don’t really love the cooked version – sorry ratatouille lovers (I did love the film though!) To say I don’t like a vegetable cooke
A bad week – ups and downs and everything in between – calls for some cake. As life moves on we get busy and forget to take a moment to stop and relax and just be still. Stillness requires food of course – and what better food than cake. Polenta cake, to be precise. Polenta is basically cornmeal and you can find it in most food stores or Italian grocers – it comes in fine or cours
Cherries are such a beautiful fruit – small, almost berry–like, dark and sweet, the perfect pick-and-eat fruit. Cherry trees are also some of the most prettiest trees out there – their blossoms so gorgeous and pink. I have many childhood memories of having kind of overdosed on fruit - sitting under cherry trees in friends' backyards, happily eating way too many cherries. While I enjoy eati
I’ll start this post by saying sorry -- I’m late! My life has been a little hectic and so, in keeping with that theme, I’ll be adding some more quick-to-make and easy-to-eat recipes. ***I find that the easiest, quickest way to ensure you have a delicious meal is finding one or two special ingredients to serve as the stars of your dish. I often look to vegetables – in winter hearty vegetables
You don’t have to sacrifice flavour and taste just because you don’t have a lot of time. I know I sound like one of those cooks on television but I do think there is something to what they’re saying. When I don’t have a lot of time but crave something delicious I look to one or two main ingredients to help me - for instance, my special ingredient tonight: the sweet potato.Ok here I go…Sweet potato
In the world of food the word 'simple' is used a lot and in quite different ways. These days, when life is hectic for so many people, to say that a recipe is 'simple' is a sure-fire way to sell it. Often a simple recipe implies that it will only use a few ingredients (hence cooking shows and books aptly name 'four' or 'five ingredients') and that assembly is straightforward and quick (30 minutes o
You know that time around 3pm when you hit that afternoon slump, can’t keep your eyes open but still have lots more work to do? At that time I need either caffeine or sugar (or both). Yes, I know that caffeine and sugar aren’t the healthiest options for sustenance. But my oatmeal cookies are not all that sweet, and they do a great job satisfying afternoon cravings and giving you a little boost of
It has been raining every day in Sydney. Cheesecake is the kind of comfort you need on rainy days or when the weather is cold.I love the creamy, smooth quality of the cheese against the crunch of the biscuit base and the sweet aftertaste. You don’t need a lot of sugar in cheesecake – somehow its richness is satisfying enough.Sweet, creamy, tangy and refreshing – are some of the words that co
How can chocolate be so comforting? Its sweet, dark richness never fails to help me when I need to feel better, and I love finding ways to cook, bake and eat chocolate in new ways.Molten lava cake, otherwise known as chocolate fondant, is one of the simplest and most satisfying chocolate desserts. It is a little bit like a flourless chocolate cake in that it has a similar moist and gooey interior,
When I was little my sister and I frequented a convenience store nearby our house. The store was a kids' dream – full of an endless variety of candy. While I would often go for hard, sugary candies like 'gobstoppers', my sister typically went for a yummy pastry filled with jam and cream, aptly named ‘passion flakie’.Over time I have also come to appreciate creamy, flaky pastry items. While I
It’s cold in Sydney – OK, not freezing but still cold here, especially at night. And somehow, despite my Canadian tolerance for seriously painful cold, I’ve become a wimp. My new inability to deal with cold keeps me indoors mostly - and what better thing to do when it’s chilly outside than to stay in, stay warm and eat.The coldness urges me to grab a blanket, a glass of red wine and mak
When you crave something creamy, sweet and smooth but also light, why not make some custard. Much like tapioca (see my earlier post) custard has a reputation as an old-school, boring pudding - but I disagree. Adding a bit of flavour and love can turn a plain egg custard into amagical treat.My custardly creation is based on a traditional crème caramel making process: I use a base of brown sugar car
Australians love their pumpkins and so do I (see here and here). This orangey gourd is a commonly used ingredient all year round; it’s in sandwiches, pastas, desserts and my favourite – soups! Pumpkin's sweet and creamy flesh lends a great thick texture and earthy touch to any dish.Each time I make pumpkin soup I change my recipe. This time, I roasted the pump
Tapioca needs a new image. Considered to be one of those old-fashioned, plain and boring items, tapioca is one of those desserts that all too often appears in hospital food. But these wonderful, chewy pearls are so much more exciting thank you think. They have serious potential.A number of cultures use tapioca – a starch that comes from the cassava root – in their cooking and baking. G
Dear friends I have something excitng to share with you. A little while ago, my new blogger friend Aurelie at Pause Gourmande (a lovely French blog) asked me to participate in an interesting blogger project. She was going to put together an online magazine and asked me to share a few photos and recipes.***Here is the link to the magazine’s spring issue. I think it looks great and
Did you know that carrots were originally purple? I remember hearing this piece of information years ago and I also remember wondering why they would ever change such a beautifully coloured vegetable. Later, when living in Holland I learnt more about the Dutch, their love of orange and the making of the orange carrot.***After spotting these dark-purple-almost-black heirloom carrots at the store I
The other night I had a serious craving for a snack that was sweet and salty. I thought about baking but I just couldn’t muster the energy to actually get off the couch and whip, beat and mix anything in a bowl!So my next thought was popcorn - not the regular kind, but the most deliciously sweet, salty, sticky and crunchy caramelised popcorn. I aptly named this creation: sea salt and caramel popco
Do you know what halloumi is? If not, you are seriously missing out on this delectably delicious and ‘moorish’ treat. Halloumi is often referred to as the ‘vegetarian’s bacon’ (but it doesn’t taste like bacon!). It is a hard cheese traditionally made with goat's and sheep’s milk, but also often with cow’s milk. Its origins are Cypriot, Greek and Turkish and while I’ve combined it mostly with Middl
It’s autumn in Sydney. The change in season has brought rainy days but also a change in the produce available. The fruits of the summer – mangoes and berries – have been replaced by apples, peaches and pears. Pears are the least expensive fruit at the moment so I buy a lot of them. What do you do with a kitchen full of pears, you ask? Try poaching them.For some, poached pears may conjure up bad me
Spaghetti - a thin, long and stringlike type of pasta – is the quintessential Italian food. It is typically eaten with meatballs or in a tomato-based meat sauce. I love spaghetti, but I often prepare it in a non-traditional way. I enjoy cooking tomato sauce from scratch but - especially when the weather feels like spring (even though it’s autumn!) - I want something lighter and fresher but still h
I miss a number of things about living in the Netherlands - mostly I miss my wonderful family living there. But I also miss a couple of common or everyday Dutch items like beautiful dark bread.Dutch people, much like other Northern Europeans, love their dark bread and take it seriously. I remember strolling markets and stores and seeing shelves stocked with many different shades of dark brea
It’s the end of ‘love week’ (not the ‘end of love’ week – just to be clear). Valentine’s day this year was celebrated in usual fashion by eating delicious food and chocolate.We started the week with dinner at Blancmange – a modern Australian restaurant. It’s a sweet little spot in an unlikely neighbourhood. We ate three filling courses – all showcasing local and seasonal ingredients.***By th
With only a few ingredients left in my fridge and no energy to get groceries, my options for dinner the other night were definitely a little limited. Luckily I was up for a challenge and decided to throw a few things together and make salad!A salad can seriously be anything you want it to be. You can use raw or cooked ingredients – or a combination. Often I add beans, cheese and/or nuts to add som
