Dinner… During holidays

Holidays always inspire my cooking. Usually in the form of baking (for some reason I always bake cookies when I am sick with a cold… Weird?) but over Christmas my mother gave me a cookbook of Italian food. One recipe stuck out as being incredibly easy so thought I would make it tonight while the creative mood struck me.

The recipe was Rabbit with Pappardelle and involved finely chopping an onion, carrot and celery stick (which I cheated and threw them into the food processor – which is a trick I learned courtesy of Lydia’s Italy… Can’t believe I didn’t think of it! All those years of chopping…) sautéing them and browning some rabbit. Turning to low heat I stewed the meat and vegetables in a cup of red wine for 40mins. A more enterprising version of myself would have made pasta from scratch, but frankly – it’s holidays, I’ve had 2 glasses of wine, and can feel a lazy, holiday buzz ensuing so I opt for some dried Pappardelle all’uovo.

Regardless, the end result was a somewhat healthy, easy dinner option using a not-too-common meat. That’s what I love about Sydney- it’s so much more common to find not only a local butcher, but one that caters to all tastes.

Below: the end result of my arduous (ha!) meal.

Enjoy the new year tomorrow night!

Snag stand

First quick post from the iPhone!

Check out this dreamy snack… Discovered ‘Snag Stand’ in Westfield Sydney today – first gourmet sausage (fast food) eatery I have seen or experienced… And it was amazing. At first I was hellbent on tasting the ‘Toulouse’ (Bangalow pork sausages with Rosemary mushrooms, onions and truffle aoili) – that was until at the last moment I spotted this wonder of the fast food world. Spanish chorizo, grated goats cheese, rocket, sun dried tomatoes and chipotle in a brioche bun. OMG. Sausages will never be the same. Must go back for the Toulouse sometime in the near future…

 

Aperitivo

Apologies for being late all… this blog is long overdue – in fact the culinary experience was undertaken a month ago i’m sad to report! But, i’m here now…

After debating for quite some time about a place to dine whilst a friend of mine was in Sydney, we finally (well I, to be frank!) settled on Aperitivo in Leichardt.  What was a bit of a random choice at first (taken out of the Entertainment book – a great source of restaurant ideas!), one peek at their menu and i was hooked.  Not to mention, having 3 at the table provided for an even greater selection of food to taste…

I’ll step you through the delight that was Aperitivo:

1. Fiori Di Zucca (Zucchini flowers)

May i just say, having only ever tasted Zucchini flowers since entering my 30′s (not long, but long enough!) i am saddened i was never able to taste them earlier.  Stuffed Zucchini flowers are a thing of amazement and this was no exception… unfortunately they were all gobbled up before i got a chance to photograph them!

2. Melanzane (eggplant dish)

Oh dear lord… this was delicious.  If the flowers weren’t enough, this dish truly heightened our excitement that the night was going to be one of many culinary delights.

beautiful eggplant with the most amazing mozzarella.  There simply wasn’t enough to share!

3. Polenta (as the menu describes “Grilled polenta with melted raclette cheese, saute porcini & wild mushroom”).

This dish was lovely, but quite rich – not my favorite of the night but definitely not to say it wasn’t enjoyable.

4. Duck Salad

Next up on the list was the duck salad, with pomegranate dressing.  Really lovely salad, tangy and not too rich, and the pomegranate complemented the duck very well.  We all enjoyed this at the table and it cut through the richness of the polenta perfectly.

5. Beef medallions

It’s rare (no pun intended!) that you can go wrong with beef medallions and this was no exception.  The beef was cooked wonderfully and accompanied by super sweet shallots.  We were feeling a bit stuffed by this stage, but there was no turning back now!

6. Maiale (Pork fillet with parsnip puree)

I’m not usually a lover of pork unless it’s been slow cooked or braised for millions of hours, so i wasn’t looking forward to this dish.  By the time it came i was not feeling as peckish as i had been (particularly after the protein of the last course!) but it was still a lovely meal, although looking back, we probably should have ordered a lighter course in between.

7. Finally.. the course I had been waiting for – braised de-boned goat with caramelized shallots & date jus.

Dear lord… this was the best part of the meal by far – the goat was melt in your mouth and perfectly accompanied by the sweet shallots & date jus.  I only wish i had chosen this as my main so i didn’t have to share!

The best part of dining at Aperitivo though, was not the amazing food (which was, amazing!) but the overall package – the restaurant is not sardine packed, the staff were very knowledgeable and friendly – you were never made to feel rushed and most importantly you were made to feel at ease.  Wine could be ordered by various method (ie glass, carafe etc) – perfect if you want to try a few different wines with dinner, when dining with friends, which is what we did.  Whether it was the decor, the ambiance, the wine or everything all together i vow to return to Aperitivo and sample the dishes i didn’t get a chance to this time around!

And as some parting shots… a couple of pics of the fabulous desserts we shared night all!

Nutella Tart w/ banana ice-cream and honeycomb shards

Italian doughnuts w/ nutella fondue

Profiteroles with Toblerone ricotta & vanilla creme anglaise

Tapas?

Tonight we dined at Emmilou’s at Surry Hills.

I’d heard a lot about this restaurant, from reading reviews of other food bloggers to word of mouth.  So it was no surprise to me, that the restaurant itself was an upscale tapas bar serving exotic cocktails and an even more exotic menu amongst a clean and sophisticated Surry Hills setting.

I’d researched the menu beforehand and immediately determined i would be ordering the tasting menu.  Partner (+1) has a cold and is irritable, and did not immediately warm to the idea, but I swung him over to the dark side with some glaring looks & a touch of the silent treatment.

The night started well… an amazing starter – 2 in fact – a scallop, pear and puree toothpick pierced delight and a smoked seafood morsel (the name of which I have unfortunately forgotten). Very nice… Obviously being a tapas restaurant we expected small morsels throughout the night and both this dish (devoured in a few bites) the next were no surprise.   The waiter was very attentive and mentioned he was happy for us to tell him if the meals were coming out too fast or too slow – lucky for us, they were at just the right pace.

The second dish was the potato croquettes with mustard vinaigrette.  Very nice, although for the +1 they were a little on the spicy side, but I enjoyed them.  Nothing overly fancy, exactly what you would have expected from the menu item.  The third dish was the real treat of the night.  Stuffed zucchini flowers with goats cheese and truffled honey was amazing.  The batter was crisp, the zucchini themselves were a little hard, but delicious and cutting into them and seeing the cheese concoction pour out onto the plate was amazing.  I truly loved this dish (although I knew I would, I always adore zucchini flowers).  I should mention… there was a slight weird situation whereby a waiter brought us some cute little sourdough squares  in a bowl (of which +1 had a couple, and he put 1 on my plate to be eaten) and shortly after the zucchini was brought out, the bowl was quickly snatched away without a word… we were a little scared we had received the wrong meal! Either that, or they thought we were done.. most likely the latter.

Second to last was the Serrano ham and salami served with pickles, sourdough and a few other condiments. This was very nice, the Serrano ham was melt in your mouth amazing, and just what I love on a Saturday night.  +1 enjoyed it also, although he does have a delight for pickles (insert your own joke here) however, just as we were finishing up (he saved the pickles for last) our plate was quickly snatched up (obviously the waiter thought we left the pickles as we didn’t like them!). Sad face for +1. No pickles for you.

Lastly the night finished up with the pork belly.  Beautiful, rich and exactly what you would expect, however by that stage I was really not in the mood for a very rich pork belly dish (side with potatoes and aoili which always makes me feel a little ill).  After eating half, I gave mine to the +1 to devour.

During this time we had some pretty intense discussions on the topic of cost.  +1 is quite frugal, and I am devoutly opposed to discussing cost at a dinner table – especially at the place we are dining!  +1 assured me that the cost was for the entire meal, not per person, and I assured him, he was 100% wrong.  When the bill came to us (at this stage, we had shared the tasting menu and had 3 ciders and a sparkling mineral water all together) to around $190 he was appalled.  I have to say, although I knew how much it would be (as I researched it before coming) having had the meals, I was slightly disappointed.  True, it was no ordinary tapas, but then again, it was no Urbane degustation menu either…

All in all, I’m glad I went but honestly i probably wouldn’t go again.  It’s a fairly confined space, is perfect if you probably want to be ‘seen’ but not really the place I want to sit down on a Saturday night and chill with the +1.  Maybe  a good place for a first date if i was 22 again… but alas, dreams are dreams

That’s me 1500 calories over my daily limit for the night. night y’all!

Here, there and everywhere

So as I hinted earlier, my friend is in town, and today we were going to choose some of the top casual diners and cheap eats from the 2011 Time Out Food Awards as a way of getting to both see the city and have a fun mission-esque food hunt throughout Sydney.

Before I go on, I should mention that at this time in my life, inevitably I find myself asking the following questions when visiting an eatery south of the bridge:

1) Is it worth crossing the bridge and finding a parking space? (Usually for a first time or two, it is!); and

2) Is it worth taking out my Invisalign, the bane of my adult life at the moment…

And with these questions in mind, I almost find I’m weighing up every experience against the two.  Quite judgemental indeed, I know.  Secondly, I should mention I had thought of going through the casual/cheap eats of Sydney guide a couple of weeks ago and started out with a trip to Makan @ Alice’s in Pennant Hills.  Nice food, but not as particularly ‘cheap’ as I had imagined (the suggested $45 for a meal for two was slightly exaggerated unless they had only ordered a main and entrée to share with rice) and waaaaaaay out-of-town, so I was somewhat dismayed by the zeal with which it was recommended  BUT I gave the magazine the benefit of the doubt and thought this was a great way to try the rest…

So first stop along the way (we were a bit early so decided for an early morning dessert, as you do!) was the Guylian cafe in Circular Quay.  Not sure if anyone could ever have a bad dessert here, but I certainly didn’t, it was wonderful.  From the menu I chose what I thought would be the simplest item – the Guylian baked chocolate cake.  But it was anything but simple…

The chocolate ice cream (incredible) was surrounded by chocolate orange aero-like crumbles which was a surprise and the cake was just perfect – heavy and moist.  Exactly what you want for a dessert like this.  Coupled with a hot chocolate from their menu, our day started off well!  Would I cross the bridge for yes? Oh yes, yes and more yes! Would I take out my Invisalign? Gladly, in fact for a tasty morsel such as this I’d even do it in public… and may well have

Our next stop was Opera Kitchen on the lower concourse of the Opera House to sample Time Out’s recommended rice paper rolls from Miss Chu.  We opted to share a chicken one on the go given we had many more places to visit during the general 12-3pm lunch hour rush!

The rice paper rolls were nice – not too spicy, the rolls were filling and packed with coriander.  But I must consider that this is probably more of a ‘on the go’ food than something I would go out of my way to sample.  Next time I’m at Opera Kitchen, I think I’ll choose of my own from the menu rather than Time Out’s recommendation.

So off we left for a spot of shopping… cut scene to our trip out to Surry Hills to sample the famous $5 tacos from El Loco.

Now don’t get me wrong… for $5, they are a good price and I can see the mass appeal of these (given their spice and ease with which they go down) with beer.  But to go out of my way to try one?  I wouldn’t do that again.  The venue is incredibly trendy in its casual way, the food spicy and the atmosphere warm, but if I’m not in the Surry Hills area, and I’m not hankering for spicy food, I doubt you’ll see me back here.  Next time I’ll be trying El Capo I think!

From here we decided to do one more stop of the day and take a quick ride over to Newtown to sample something from Black Star Pastry.  Unfortunately the day was still bleak (raining and cold) and by the time we arrived at Black Star, the (very small) room was packed with people not really allowing us to get inside out of the rain, and after some of the other recommendations we had sampled during the day, we opted to simply go for a stroll along King St instead.

Lesson of the day: Forget recommendations from Time Out, and simply start to look for recommendations of my own!!!

Welcome!

Map – check

Time out guide – check

Walking shoes – check

 

Time to begin our very own culinary journey through Sydney and beyond!  My name is Lucy and the goal of this blog is to document and capture some of the very best food, places and wine I experience throughout Sydney.

 

This weekend coming up marks the start of tracking some of the best eats in Sydney as dictated by the Time Out food Awards 2011, trying the dishes and restaurants for myself with the aim of finding a few hidden treasures of my own to share with you