THAI INSPIRED EGGPLANT SPREAD

There is nothing more special than that grand dinner party. The ones you spend weeks planning, days organizing and then months reflecting back fondly. The ones that your guest will talk about for years.  But, as gratifying as it is, it is hard work. And I’m sometimes so frazzled in the lead up that it takes the joy out of cooking with unique ingredients.

But of late I have found a way to reconcile my yearnings for grand dinner parties, but hesitancy to invest so much time in one night. Simplicity and quality ingredients. And also a little bit of creative flare. I know it seems like another modern foodie cliché, but it’s a cliché because it so true. Making just one dish that shines, in a casual manner puts your guests at ease and gives your evening an effortless flow. This eggplant spread is both sophisticated and simple, and certainly very tasty (thus memorable). It’s great to have with drinks, and if eating around meal time, you could serve it with a green salad or crudités or a cheese platter. And you can make it well in before your guests are due to arrive, freeing yourself up to be your fabulous self!

Captive companion: Benjamin, my lovely neighbor

Captive location: Rainbow Mansions, Singapore

Captivating comment: “Oh my god, what is in this?”

Captive drop: Bottle of Australian Sauvignon Blanc or/and Tiger Beers

INGREDIENTS

3 eggplants

3 onions, chopped super fine

5 cloves of garlic

1 tablespoon of olive oil

25grams of butter

¼ cup coriander

1 red chili

1 loaf of sourdough bread, toasted

1.     Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

2.     Pierce the eggplants with several insertions, place in the oven. Cook for 30-40 minutes or until the total eggplant has collapsed and is soft. Remove from oven and cool.

3.     Meanwhile, heat oil and butter in a pan over low heat and add onions and whole garlics. Cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally until onions are almost decomposed. Either remove garlics or if brave, mash with a folk and stir through.

4.     Scrape out inner membrane of eggplants into a colander, allow to drain, dispose skin, chop membrane roughly, then add it to the pan of onions. Cook over low heat for another 5 minutes.

5.     Allow to cool, stir in coriander and chili. Serve with toasts. 

NIPPON INSPIRED TACO BITES

I’m rarely inspired to recreate a restaurant dish in my own kitchen. It’s not that I don’t dine out often. And yes, I do find many restaurant creations brilliant. But I believe the two styles belong in completely different domains. Without the utensils, specially sourced ingredients, egotistical chefs (and apprentice chefs to perform all that tedious prep), how could I possible recreate something of restaurant caliber? Surely it’s far better to uphold your culinary integrity with a ‘home cooking’ style than to attempt something that belongs in restaurant territory?

But last week, whilst enjoying a Pinot Grigio at Lantern Bar in Singapore, I discovered something that I thought I could almost recreate. And I did. I lost my restaurant replication virginity.  NIPPON INSPIRED TACO BITES are the perfect snack when sharing a bottle of white with a girlfriend. Substantial enough to absorb the alcohol and keep the hunger pangs at bay, thanks to the avocado and pita crisp. Sophisticated enough to command a fine wine, thanks to the undertones of Japanese flavors. And fun enough to elicit mischievous conversation.

Captive companion: Ma petite Kasey, bold enough to try any restaurant recreation.

Captive location: On the balcony of Kasey’s Portsea beach house.

Captivating comment: “It really was so easy and I think they taste better than the originals.”

Captive drop: A bottle of Pinot Grigio (the best you can justify)

INGREDIENTS

2 pieces of pita bread

25ml of olive oil

1 avocado, cut into cubes and roughly mashed

¼ cup of Tobico (flying fish roe, available from Japanese supermarkets)

⅛ cup of Bonito flakes (shavings of smoked dried fish, also available from Japanese supermarkets)

Juice of one lime

1 tablespoon of soy sauce

1.     Preheat the oven to 180 degrees

2.     Slice pita bread in half lengthways, then in half again (perpendicular to original cut). Then cut each quarter in half so that you have 8 even triangular slices. Repeat with second piece.

3.     Lightly brush the pita with the olive oil.

4.     Place in the oven for 10-20 minutes or until golden brown.

5.     Meanwhile mix the avocado, half the Tobico, lime juice and soy sauce in a bowl.

6.     Once crisp pita has cooled, add avocado mix, top with ¼ teaspoon of Tobico on each slice, then finish with bonito flakes.

NOTE: If you really want to jazz these up and also cover off nearly every nutritional food group, add a slice of lightly seared sashimi tuna! So healthy, so yummy!

Recipe Inspiration: Lantern Bar, Singapore

http://www.fullertonbayhotel.com/dining-en.html

EDAMAME AND GOAT’S CHEESE CRUSTS

EDAMAME AND GOAT’S CHEESE CRUSTS

Simple yet chic! An unexpected yet genius combination! A reinvented classic! I could be describing fashion or food as there are several parallels between the two industries. They are both driven by trend, though fashion moves much faster. They both have lavish festivals and shows. Both foodies and fashionistas love dinning out at hip restaurants, though foodies want to try everything on the menu and fashionistas want to manipulate each dish to conform to the latest diet movement.  

Breaking a conventional, well-regarded rule in fashion or food is both bold and risky. In fashion, it could be wearing socks with open toed heels. In food it could be reconstructing a tomato soup so that it is served in a cylindrical swirl with small micro shavings of Parmesan. Perhaps not as risky is taking an ingredient or piece that traditionally stands alone and pairing it with a fridge or wadrobe staple. Edamame are a perfect starter to a Japanese meal, though if you’re taking a more Euro angle on your dining journey, these EDAMAME AND GOAT’S CHEESE CRUSTS are divine. Super easy, super simple, super chic!

Captive companion: The lovely Emma, she has the talent to break fashion rules and pull it off!

Captive location: Roof top bar in Melbourne on a summer afternoon.

Captivating comment: “Oh wow…I’ve never seen these with Goat’s cheese before!”

Captive drop: A bottle of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc

INGREDIENTS

100g of goat’s cheese feta (I prefer Meredith)

10 slices of rye or sourdough bread

2 cups of edamame

Cracked pepper

1.     Cook edamame in a pot of boiling water for 10 minutes. Allow to cool, then push beans out of pods.

2.     Toast bread (cut slices in half for bite size).

3.     Spread feta evenly across all the slices.

4.     Top with edamame then finish with cracked pepper.

Recipe Source: Joy the Baker: http://joythebaker.com/

PIZZALADIÈRE

Convivial cooking. I don’t indulge too often. Though with certain recipes (Pizzaladière) and certain company (my dear friend Ali), it can be very amusing. One person happily kneading the dough whilst the other is forced to tears from slicing so many onions. Next, one is rolling out the dough whilst the other is stirring the onions down to a puree like texture. Pass the bottle of Bordeaux, recount a cheeky story and voila the almost perfect Pizzaladière.

For me this recipe conjures so many memories. Lunch on a park bench in Provence, dinner parties in Paris and entrée at France Soir restaurant in Melbourne. But my fondest memory would be the sultry afternoons in Singapore that I spent making Pizzaladière with my dear friend Ali. She would enthusiastically throw herself into each recipe step whilst telling me stories of her time in France. Those wholesome sounds (carmelising onions, dough been thrown against the bench) were drowned out by our excited chatter. Until we reached the final step. Attention focused. Silence. Performing the cross hatch of anchovies and the olive placement in the middle of the diamond is no small feat. And how proud we both were when we added the final olive and placed it in the oven.

Captive companion: The Ali…tu me manques

Captive location: The town square in Gordes, my favorite town in Provence

Captivating comment: “Okay, now I agree with you, we did need that many onions!”

Captive drop: A bottle of Bordeaux…or any French red for that matter.

INGREDIENTS

Dough

15 gm dried yeast

400 gm strong plain flour

2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

Topping

8 large onions, sliced thin

10 Greek or Kalamta olives, de-seeded and halved

15 sprigs of thyme, leaves removed

20-30 anchovies (for lighter anchovy flavor, you can halve them lengthways)

4 Roma tomatoes, skin and seeds removed, roughly chopped

100g butter

1 table spoon of brown sugar

For Dough

1.     Combine yeast and 40ml water in a small bowl and stir until yeast dissolves. Add 2 tbsp flour and stir until combined. Cover and stand in a warm place for 30 minutes or until foamy.

2.     Place remaining flour in a large bowl, make a well in the centre and add yeast mix, 1½ tsp sea salt and 200ml water. Mix together, then knead on a lightly floured work surface for 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Divide into 4 and place on a greased oven tray, brush with oil, cover with a tea towel and stand in a warm place for 2 hours or until doubled in size.

For Topping

1.     Pre-heat the oven to 180degrees.

2.     Over medium heat in a heavy based pot, melt butter and add onions. Stir intermittently.

3.     After 10 minutes, add tomatoes and thyme, continue to stir the mixture.

4.     After 20 minutes, add sugar and then continue to cook until onions are almost breaking down (the mixture should almost resemble a puree)

5.     Roll out dough into a rectangle and spread a thick layer of the onions on top.

6.     Make an X with the anchovies in the middle of the rectangle base. Then place rows 4cm parallel to each line until a cross hatched pattern emerges.

7.     Place ½ an olive in the middle of each diamond.

8.     Place in oven for 30 minutes or until dough is golden brown

Recipe Source: For the dough: Gourmet Traveller Magazine: http://gourmettraveller.com.au/pizza-dough.htm

FRESH FIG TARTLETS

I don’t think any foodie knows true fear until they stand between a Lebanese, Italian or Turk and a ripe fig tree. This fear is maddened if the person with the fig fetish is living outside their home country. It’s food enthusiasm at it’s finest. I have seen offenders passionately devour up to ten figs in one minute…though I really can’t blame them. There is nothing that could possibly parallel eating fresh figs from the vine, whilst basking in the Mediterranean sun.

Quite simply, figs are fabulous. Surely the numerous mentions on the fig tree in the bible confirm this. In fact, it was the third tree to be mentioned, following closely behind the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge. A soft flavor, interesting texture, that matches brilliantly with common Mediterranean staples (prosciutto and other Italian cured hams, soft Italian cheeses, rocket and radicchio). I love this recipe because it really showcases the fig. Whilst they are great ingredients in salads, sometimes I feel such recipes don’t do the fig justice. So go on…let the fig shine!

Captive companions: Rita, my new Lebanese/Australian girlfriend

Captive location: Poolside at a Singapore barbeque, with a good contingent of Lebanese

Captivating comment: “I looovve figs”

Captive drop: A glass of Arak, Lebanon’s answer to Ouzo

INGREDIENTS

Makes approx. 16 tartlets

1 sheet of puff pastry

16 figs cut into four quarters

100g of Persian feta

2 brown onions, sliced super thin

25g butter

1 teaspoon of brown sugar

1.     Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees. Roll out puff pastry; prick all over with a folk. Cut into 16 even squares.

2.     Place in the oven for 10-15 minutes, until golden brown

3.     Meanwhile, caramelize the onions over a low to medium flame.

4.     Add small amount of onion to the top of each pastry. Follow with a ¼ teaspoon of Persian feta and then top with the fig quarter.

5.     Place back in the oven for 5 minutes to warm through or serve room temperature.