Homemade Gnocchi with Chorizo, Snowpeas and Exotic Mushrooms

One night I've decided to make gnocchi... one thing that I haven't made for a long long time!

Serves 4

Ingredients:

4 desiree potatoes, peeled, quartered

Salt & white pepper to season

1 egg, lightly whisked

300g plain flour

20g finely grated parmesan

1 Chorizo, sliced

Handful of snowpeas

200g exotic mushroom

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 tsp truffle salt

1. Bring a saucepan of water to boil, and steam the potatoes covered for 15 min or until tender.

2. Pass the cooked potato through a sieve using a spoon.

3. Add the egg and stir with a wooden spoon until combined.

4. Add half the flour and parmesan and stir until combined. Add the remaining flour in 2 more batches until a firm dough forms.

5. Divide the dough into 4 portions, and roll each portion into a log shape about 30cm long, then cut it into 2cm pieces.

6. Roll each 2cm piece into a ball, and flatten slightly with a floured fork.

7. Bring a saucepan of salted water to boil, then add the gnocchi in in batches, and cook for 3 minutes or until they float to the surface. Drain.

8. Heat up a fry pan with a tbsp of butter, add in garlic then chorizo. Once the chorizo is slightly browned, add in snowpeas and mushrooms. Stir continuously, then add in truffle salt. Lastly stir in the cooked gnocchi until everything is well combined.

I must admit this time my gnocchi was a little heavy and dense.... disappointing! =( But the flavour was awesome, I reckon it was the magic of truffle salt! Although the truffle salt didn't do much to the chorizo, because chorizo itself already has strong spicy flavour, but it definitely helped to bring up the flavour in the exotic mushroom!!!! Also the snowpeas added an extra crunch to the whole dish, creating a contrast with the gnocchi! Sometimes you just need that contrasting texture or flavour to make the dish more interesting!

Next time, I'll try making a ricotta base gnocchi, which apparently can avoid it becoming heavy and dense!

New Shanghai @ Ashfield

"What's for the dinner?" This question kept on popping up in our minds while hubby and I were driving back from Canberra after the Floriade!

By the time we come back to Sydney, it would be around 7:30, 8pm... so we didn't want to go anywhere that was too out of the way. Hurstville, Beveley Hills, Strathfield, Ashfield.... ASHFIELD.... how about some Shanghainese food?!??!?! OK... deal!

Hubby drove all the way to Canberra and all the way back, so he deserved some rewards! Pan Fried Pork Buns.... his favourite!

When we go to Ashfield, basically there are only two Shanghainese restaurants that we go to, either New Shanghai or Shanghai Night, they are just side by side to each other. These two eateries are probably the only 2 places that are always full! I feel sorry for the other nearby Shanghainese restaurants which are usually empty or with only 2-3 tables of customers! I guess this explains the quality of food in New Shanghai and Shanghai Night!

We walked into New Shanghai, and it was packed with people, there was a table just about to leave, so we were lucky! We sat down and had a look at the menu, one plate was already set - pan fried pork buns, and for the second dish we picked Drunken Chicken.

This place is similar to the Chatswood outlet in the sense that it has a glass room which enables people to see their dumpling making process. However, it doesn't have the overall up market decor as the Chastwood one! I guess their target market is quite different!

Drunken Chicken

The drunken chicken arrived at the table pretty quickly. The chicken meat was velvety smooth, and the texture was soft and tender. The amount of alcohol taste was just right, not too powerful that it becomes bitter like some I've tasted before. This dish was beautiful!

While we were waiting for our Pan Fried Pork Buns, we saw so many plate of this walked pass us! Every time we saw one came out of the kitchen, we would guess... 'is this ours? is this ours?' We were hoping that it came faster because both of us were very excited about it. We very rarely order this dish because there are 10 buns in one dish, and that's a bit much for just the two of us! Since this was a reward for hubby's driving effort, so this was a treat for him!

Pan Fried Pork Buns

Finally our plate arrived, 10 identical buns sat nicely and steadily on the plate waiting for us to pick on them! What was so nice about this dish was it has a pan fried crispy bottom, but a soft fluffy top, when you bite into it, it has a pool of pork soup that is full of flavour, and a ball of juicy meat inside!!! What I usually do is.... bite the top off, then suck the soup out of the bun, then pour some black vinegar inside and then eat the rest of it! Yummmm.... But be careful of the soup, it's boiling hot! I always ended up having a sandpaper like tongue afterwards from sucking the hot soup! =P

One thing that I would say about these pork buns is they could have pan fried them a little longer to get them just a bit more crispier!!!!

New Shanghai Chinese Restaurant

273 Liverpool Road,

Ashfield

Sesame Seed Bagel + Date Cinnamon Bagel

"Is bagel hard to make?? Can you make it??" My dear hubby asked one day...

Well, I've never made bagel before, but I know that it involves boiling it which gives the chewy texture! I guess it can't be that hard, making bread is always just a matter of time, and I'm sure that I have a recipe somewhere in my collection.

Woke up at 8am on a Saturday morning, had a quick breakfast, checked email... then started the bagel making process at 9.... Yeah... needed to start this early so that we can have the bagel in time for lunch.

Makes 4

Ingredients:

200g bread flour

10g butter, melted

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp instant yeast

170ml water

1.5 tsp salt

1 tbsp honey (optional)

Egg, beatened

1. Place the flour in a large bowl, add in melted butter, then sugar and yeast.

2. Heat up the water just slightly warmer than body temperature. Add half of the water into the yeast, then knead the flour together with the water. Add in the rest of the water and knead into a dough. Add in salt and continue to knead until the dough is smooth.

3. Wrap the bowl with glad wrap, and leave in a warm place to rise for about 50 min or double in size.

4. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface and punch out all the air.

5. Divide the dough into 4 portions, and cover with a wet towel and rest for 15 min.

6. Knead each portion to remove air, and roll into a long tube, then form in a donut shape.

7. Place each bagel onto a baking tray lined with baking paper. Then cover with wet towel and rest for 20 minutes in a warm place for second rising.

8. Fill half the pan with water and 1 tbsp of honey (optional). Heat up the water, and just before it boils, place the bagel into the water and cook for 1 min on either side.

9. Dry the bagel with paper towel, and return to baking tray. Brush with beatened egg, and bake for 20 min at 220C.

I just love the smell of freshly baked bread!!!! Yummmmm.... my bread turned out to be a bit burnt... only slightly though... hahaha... maybe because I added a hint of honey in there to give it a bit of a sweet taste! Also I sprinkled two of the bagels with sesame seeds, which hubby absolutely loved! And the other two I knead them with some cinnamon and chopped dates in step 6 - just to give it a bit more variety! Feel free to add in your own creative flare!

Although the surface of my bagel looked a bit burnt, but it actually didn't have any burnt taste at all! These freshly made bagels have a soft outer shell, and the inside texture is nice and chewy - just like a perfect bagel!

Silo Bakery @ Kingston, Canberra

I've been living in Sydney for the past 20 years, and can you believe that I haven't been to the Canberra Floriade?!?! Well... somehow it never really interest me until last year when I saw the photos of some of my friends took at the Floriade that made me think maybe I should pay a visit!

One year later, Canberra Floriade is back!!! And initially I wasn't gonna go because hubby and I couldn't find a time that we're free for this day trip, but because of a little incident that all of a sudden we have a few free days on hand! So I said to my hubby.... lets go down to Canberra to see the Floriade!

The day before the trip, I was going through people's food blog - this has become my daily habit now! And I saw on Not Quite Nigella's website that she blogged about the Silo Bakery in Canberra, and I thought.... just the right time, we'll go there for a visit, since it's only 10 min drive from the Canberra city!

After the 3 hour drive, we reached the Canberra Info Center to grab a map and some info. I flipped through the brochure quickly to the food section to see what's there... and Silo Bakery was also mentioned as a must visit destination, so off we went, drove straight over there to have our lunch! On Not Quite Nigella's website, she mentioned about the breakfast menu, but when we got there at 12pm, the lunch menu was on show! This small bakery was constantly full of customers, tables were full at all times, and people come in and out to get coffee, bread and pastries. Pastries were all lined up at the front counter on a marble benchtop, loafs of sourdough bread were sitting against the white tiled wall behind the counter. What's so special about this bakery is, it also has a cheese room!!!!

When we got there, we were lucky that they had one table left, at the very back of the bakery right next to the entrance to the baking area! Nice.... I had a quick glance at the menu, and found that each item on the menu is matched with a glass of wine! Very tempting, but at the end I said no to the wine and ordered coffee instead! The menu consisted of only light lunch ideas such as clear soup, pizzas and nibbling plates. I had my eye on the Potato, Anchovy, and Chili Jam Pizza and for the second plate.... I was tossing between the Antipasto Plate and the Lunch Cheese Plate.... At the end the antipasto plate won.... no particular reason though... but when I think about it now, we should have ordered the lunch cheese plate, since it has a cheese room, their cheese must be good! Maybe next time!

Freshly baked bread ready to be put on shelves

The Cheese Room

Cappuccino & Flat White

Our coffee came without waiting for long, and while waiting for our lunches to come, I took a peep at the front counter and tried to decide what to have as our dessert... haha... Tarts are probably one of their specialities because they have more than 10 different flavours in the glass cabinet! Half of them have some form of berries in them, which I needed to rule out because hubby doesn't eat berries.... =( THE tart that made my eyes glittered was Vanilla Brulee! The cream brulee tart at Bourke St Bakery has been my favourite of all tarts so far, and I want to see how this vanilla brulee compare with the bourke st bakery one!

Antipasto Plate $24

Potato, Anchovies & Chili Jam Pizza $18

The antipasto plate came with 7 different bits drizzled with olive oil... let's see whether I can remember them all. Proscuitto with seedless grape (which looked live olives!), tomato with cheese, chorizo on toasted bread, fresh oyster, field mushroom with cheese, roasted vege stack, and...... can't remember the last one. =P This dish was simple yet nice, all 7 pieces were beautifully presented on the round plate. Very appetising indeed!

After finishing the antipasto plate, we dug straight into the potato, anchovy and chili jam pizza! The crust of the pizza was thin and delicious, it was very different to the usual pizza base you have at any of the gourmet pizza places! I might be a bit vague here, but I can just tell that it was different... in a nice way... but can't put in words how is it different..... maybe just the lack of my vocabulary! Better go and try it yourself! =P Thinly sliced potatoes were arranged neatly on the crust with anchovies scattered randomly on top, and a dollop of chili jam on each square of pizza to finish off! Yummmm.... The random anchovies helped to give the pizza some saltiness to the sweet tasting potato, and the mild spiciness and sweet sensation from the chili jam added an extra dimension of flavour to the pizza! Heaven!!!!

Ok... lunch finished... time for dessert... I walked out to the front counter again to reassure myself that vanilla brulee is THE pick! As soon as I reached the counter... I've found that half of the cabinet was empty already, and there was only ONE left of the vanilla brulee... okok... need to order quickly before it goes!!!!

Vanilla Brulee Tart

I used my fork to tap the top of the tart... ummm... no sound, it's soft! Shouldn't the top crust of a brulee be hard?!??! Unlike the Bourke St Bakery tart which has a flaky tart base, this one is the traditional buttery tart base - very tarty base!!!! If you like a tarty tart... then this one you'll love! The filling was smooth and full of vanilla flavour, the only thing that let the tart down was the cameral top, which I reckon should be sweet, thin and crusty!

While hubby was at one side of the front counter paying the lunch bill. I was at the other end of the counter choosing some more pastries to take back to Sydney... it was around 1:15pm and ALOT of the pastries were gone already, I hope that they were in the process of baking more! But since we were in a rush to get to the Floriade, we couldn't really just stand there and wait for the next bake off, so I just had to grab what was left there! Two of these and two of that please... I said to the girl behind the counter.... hehehe... and then I asked her... 'by the way... what are they!!?!?' 'Apple, sultana and almond in croissant pastry, and blueberry brioche'.

Blueberry Brioche & Apple, Sultana and Almond in Croissant Pastry

One of each was given to my parents, and we had the leftover for breakfast the next day. I heated up slightly at the microwave so that they are warm, and here comes the exciting moment... I had a bite into the brioche, and the texture was soft yet dense, while the croissant pastry was buttery and flakey!!! Delicious.... best to wash down with a cup of coffee!!! Usually pastries wouldn't be on my breakfast list because of their high fat content and calorie count.... but every now and then, I guess it wouldn't hurt! =P

Silo Bakery

36 Giles Street,

Kingston, Canberra

Fried Dough Wrapped with Egg Omelette

hahaha... something very random! The other night I've decided to make chicken congee as dinner with fried dough... and we had 1 left over fried dough after dinner, so what should I do with it?

I remembered that in some Northern Chinese Restaurant, sometimes they have this dish that have the fried dough wrapped in egg omelette... so I thought I can mimic that, can't be that hard - crack a couple of eggs in the frypan and the dish should be done!

Firstly I reheated the fried dough in the oven, so it becomes crispy again. Then I added a little oil in the frypan, whisked two eggs together with some salt, then pour in the hot pan....

Ummm... sometimes the easiest dish is the hardest to make it tastes good! My omelette was a bit too thick, maybe 1.5 egg would have worked better... but that will leave me with half an egg left over! =.=" and because I was in a rush... so I didn't heat the fried dough for long enough in the oven to make it crispy!!! Bad bad bad.... crispy fried dough should be the important part of this dish and I let that down! =(

Will need to have a second go at this dish next time!

Roberts @ Hunter Valley

Last Saturday, us 7 girls drove up to Hunter Valley for Irene's Hens Night - the bride to be needs to say goodbye to the name of Miss Kwok and welcome Mrs Liu very soon!!!!

After a morning prayer for Irene at her house, we were all geared up to take the drive. Carol led the way with Camay as her map reader! Me as the passenger fell asleep half way through the road trip! =P As I was having my sweet dream, I suddenly fell a 360 degrees sharp turn!!! ummm... something was wrong... we missed the exit!!!! Lucky that we were back on track very soon, and this time I stayed awake! When I saw the Cessnock sign, I also saw a huge sign which says 'Hunter Valley Exit'.... then I quickly screamed out, how did you guys managed to miss the sign?!?!?! Camay replied "hahaha... we were probably laughing at this guy's messy hair in the car next to us when we drove passed the sign!" =.="

We booked a table at 1pm at Roberts, but didn't end up getting there until 1:30pm, all of us were starving and busting to go to the loo! This restaurant was actually quite hard to find, it sits on the Pepper Tree premises on the other side of the carpark. But the outside was so shabby that you would thought that it's only a storage house for old tools, not a restaurant! But as soon as we walked in, the deco was amazing! We walked through this verandah which had private rooms on either side which looked warm and cosy with beautiful decor that reminded me of a farmhouse. The whole restaurant had a wooden interior, which made you feel as if you were in Switzerland, and outside should be snowing, not with the Australian sun!

As soon as we sat down, we asked for the menu straight away and ignored the wine menu on the table, because all of our stomach were rumbling!!!!

Bread roll $2

Salt, Olive Oil & Balsamic Dip, Butter

After we ordered, we were served some bread rolls... after the first bite... we all thought... hope these were complimentary! I usually love my bread, but these rolls were actually VERY chewy that if I wasn't that hungry, I'd give it a pass! But lucky the olive oil and balsamic dip helped it to come to life! This balsamic was probably one of the best I've tasted, it was more towards the sweet side and complimented well with the olive oil!

Complimentary Salmon Canape

Deep Fried Zucchini Flower

Buttermilk Fried Soft Shell Crab & Tuna with Watercress Salad

Ballotine of Local Quail with Fig and Walnut

I ordered the Zuchhini Flower as entree, and Duck Breast as main. After my first taste of zuchhini flower at Sopra, every time I see it on the menu, I'd order it... but so far, I haven't been able to find a restaurant that could beat Sopra! But this one at Roberts is not bad, I reckon it could have gone a little crunchier which will create a perfect match with the soft melt in the mouth filling inside! The aoli was nice and smooth, with the right amount of garlicky taste to it, not too overpowering!

Star Anise Glazed Duck Breast and Confit Leg, Carrot Puree, Pearl Onions, Speck, Duck Jus $40

Spice Infused Mandagery Creek Venison, Crisp Organic Polenta, Autumn Vegetables, Vanilla and Chestnut Jus $44

The duck was very tender and cooked to perfection, and the meat just fell off the bone with a flick of the fork. The must mention is the carrot puree, the texture was sooooo smooth together with the sweetness of carrot was divine! I must mention here that I actually don't like carrot under normal circumstances in whichever way it was cooked! So this puree must be really good for me to make this 'divine' statement! It was so nice that somehow it actually became the hero of the dish and I liked it better than the duck itself. Haha..

Overall, it was a nice experience at the Roberts, the waitstaffs are very friendly and attentive, and the atmosphere was relaxed with french door on either side of the restaurants, so that you could have a complete view of the greenery outside. Food was great.... probably not the bread roll though... and it ended up to be not complimentary. =(

By the end of our main, it was 3:30 already, and we were so stuffed that we couldn't have any dessert! Plus our plan was to hop to a few wineries to pick a couple of wines for our cheese and wine night tonight, so we had to get going!!!

Roberts Restaurant

Halls Road, Pokolbin,

Hunter Valley