It “oat” to be done – Granola recipe

Okay so that is up there in the bad “dad jokes” category but I couldn’t help myself.

So we bought a house… Yeah!!!! no more rent, we can do what we want, a nail here, some paint on this wall, redoing the kitchen to what WE like…. and aparantly the bathroom (?!?!?) because the shower membrane is leaking….what the F*. Yep I am guessing the previous owner knew that and had no problems not telling anyone, a coat of paint and it looks like a new bathroom… Oh well add that to the list (and the mortgage?!?!)

The other thing with owning a house is you actually have to take care of it. No more gardeners paid by the landlord to cut the lawn. So here I am, a Parisian city girl try to figure out my garden: what kind of lawn mower do I buy? how to do you the edges? what do you mean botany council doesn’t have green bins? how much do you prune the edge? what kind of plant/tree is that? Why on earth does australia have so many garden spiders? How do you kill a spider whose web takes 1/2 of your garden and is the size of your hand?

aaaarrrgggg Can I have my TV show “I am a city girl get me out of that garden”?

Since it looks like I will need a lot of energy to maintain this house and I am way better in the kitchen, I decide to make my own granola.

This was a first try for me and I have to say what a success, I will never buy granola from the shops ever again. It’s so easy and tasty. The coconut oil gives it a real nice taste, and the oat will give you all the energy you need for a good morning. I added wheat bran, to help with digestion.

Almond and Vanilla Granola

Ingredients:

• 2 and 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 3/4 cup almonds sliced and while
• 100g pepitas
• 1/2 cup (120ml) pure maple syrup
• 1/4 cup (60ml) melted coconut oil
• 3 Tablespoon of wheat bran (optional)
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 150 degrees fan forced. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk the maple syrup, the vanilla extract, and coconut oil together until combined. Add the rest of the ingredients. Make sure all of the oats are moistened.

Spread onto the prepared baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes, stirring at 15 minutes. It will get a nice crunchy texture when it cools down.

It will keep for up to 3 weeks in an air tight container.

Weekend Market: Brunch & Plums

 

I really miss french markets. They are full of colors, sounds and smells, everyone yelling to sell their products. Fresh products seem so much more appetising then the dull supermarket version. Let’s be honest going grocery shopping is a chore not a pleasure. On the other hand going to the market is a social experience, you take the time to choose your product, you have a taste of a sample, you talk to the cheese guy…

Markets in Sydney are mainly for handcrafted items and second hand stalls. You’ll find stalls selling food but food markets are rare. Eveleigh Market is one of them. Located just off busy King st, in newtown, it’s very popular but I found very limited. There is only a handful of people selling fresh products, plus a few people selling foods to eat there (although the website claims there is 70 stalls, I must admit I haven’t been there in 3 years. I really need to go back).

The most unusual is the one at the Entertainment Quarter (moore park)  . I mean there is no much happening other than this market during the day at the fox studio unless there is an event organise there. Surprisingly enough though there is some really nice food there, you’ll find some fresh organic fruits and vegetables, really nice bread, including sonoma bakery bread, and some stinky cheese (my favorite)

For a while I have been told Marrickville market is an absolute must and I should go. Turns out, from our new house, the market is only 15m away. So off we went with Paul and Amelia on a sunny sunday morning. We were not disappointed! I mean how good does these homemade donuts look like! There was some amazing croissant, the fresh fruits and veggies looked amazing and were very affordable. There is even a stand that sell you compost created from the market’s leftovers. For the french food lover, there is even a french stall La Planchette. They have a really nice selection of products but I find them a bit overprice.

   

So with our bags filled with good food and our belly full of amazing food (literally the best pork sandwich I have ever had in my life), we went back home.

 After a nice brunch made from the bread, eggs and avocado bought on the market, I was left with 2 giant boxes of gorgeous sugar plums and plums bought for 10$.

 

Believed me I got creative. First I made a jam. That was the best jam ever, on top of the sugar, I added 2 caps of cointreau in it and it was the most delicious thing ever.

 

900 g of sugar plums with 450 g of sugar and 2 caps of cointreau. I left them absorb the sugar and the alcohol for 3hours.  The goodness was oozing from them. 

With the jam, we did some little puff pastry chaussons. Just take a square of puff pastry, put some jam on half of the square, fold, put some egg wash on it and cook until golden brown.

We also did some tartelette with the jam, and added blue cheese and Jamon. You can not imagine how good that tasted. DELICIOUS!

 

At the end, we still had plums! So it was time to pull out the big guns

Plum and Almond tart

 

I am the kind of cook that is never ever happy with what they cook. this could use more/less salt, pepper, sugar, spice… or more/less time in the oven…. Let me tell you I would not have change anything to this tart! I had to physically stop myself from eating it. It’s so good that even people who say they will only have half a slice come back for seconds 🙂 not too sweet, not to sour, the fruit balance nicely the almond.

Biscuit dough (pâte sablée):

• 250g flour
• 125 sugar
• 1 egg
• 100 g butter (room temperature not cold)

In a bowl, mix the egg and sugar. Add the flour, the butter (soft but not liquid) diced in cubs. Work with your finger to incorporate everything. Sablée means sand like, so you need to create this texture with your fingers. Keep going until you reach an uniform dough. Let to rest for 1 hour in the fridge. Cook for 10 m before adding the filling.

Tart filling

•  100 g butter
• 100 g sugar
•  2 eggs
•  100 g almond meal
• 25 g flour
• 2 caps of cointreau
• Plums (raspberries works well, as well as pear and apple. you might need to poach the pear and apple)

Mix the soft butter and sugar until the mixture is white and fluffy. Add the eggs, the almond meal, the flour and the cointreau.

Add the filling on the pre cooked dough. Add the plums. Cook for 25m at 180C

 

Enjoy with some ice cream or cream

The Crepes from my childhood

2014 was full of joy and pain.. We’ll remember the joy of having our baby girl Amelia, and the pain of losing Jim.

2015 is the year of changes, getting use to being new parents, and finally settling in our house. So once again I’m trying to fill up my blog. With the renovation of our kitchen starting in a few, I am really excited to be cooking in a kitchen build to suit Paul and I. In the meantime, I’ll post update & recipes.

Most of my friends are in the recent years either getting married or having babies. My own niece and nephew are growing like weeds, my own little one is already 10 weeks. So I recently took some time to look back on my childhood. Unfortunately, my mum and grandma who were the two pillars of my childhood, passed away. But I like to think their wisdom live through me and my sister. At least, I really hope so. I think I reach an age where you are supposed to be well and truly an adult and a responsible person. I remember being a teenage rolling my eyes at the all knowing adults, who knew better then me. Turns out I really think they did.

Overall, I find this quite scary actually. Does this wealth of knowledge and experience comes with parenthood? Because from my point of view, I feel as stupid as I was 10 years ago. Sure I know more things now that I did then, but I don’t feel wiser… Oh well I guess I can ask Amelia in 20 years!

Thank god I can also look back at my childhood and have a “madeleine” of Proust moment. My childhood is filled with good food memories.  My nonna (Italian grandma) was looking after me and my sister when we were kids, and let’s face it, she could cook. But she didn’t pass on to me just the love of cooking, she also taught me how to choose the best ingredients. I guess her cheesiest, and yet truest statement was “the secret of a good receipt is love. If you cook with love, it will always taste good”. It is the corniest thing ever, yet try to cook a dinner for people you don’t really care about or dislike… For me, it’s always a disaster.

So when frustration knocks on your door in the kitchen, it’s time to go back to the classic, to a bullet proof recipe. Since I was a kid, we had this 70’s looking cooking book. It’s all beaten up, following apart, and most of the recipes ask you to put a kilo of butter, because nobody cared about their cholesterol back then! Nevertheless, this book has my childhood bullet proof crepe recipe. I have been doing it for 25 years and it never disappointed me.

Crepes are one of this wonderful french dish, that never go out of fashion. Whether you like them with a few strawberries and a dash of sugar, or with Nutella and coconut (my all time favourite), or even if you are more on the savoury side (but the batter should be a little different either with buckwheat floor and get ride of the sugar or just get ride of the sugar), crepes are loved by everyone, especially kids!

The Bullet proof Crepe recipe: 

 Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 20g melted butter

Melt the butter. Whisk the flour and the eggs together in a large mixing bowl. Slowly stir in the milk. Add the salt and (cool down) butter, and beat the mixture until smooth.

The best thing to use is a crepe pan. They are quite cheap and easy to source. Alternatively you can use any pan you want, it will just be harder to flip your crepe. Heat pan to medium. Put a tbsp of butter on a piece of paper towel. Fold to create a little bundle, and quickly go over the pan. This will help the crepe sliding off the pan, especially if you want to flip them.

Drop the crepe mixture onto the heated surface, right in the middle of the pan. You want to put one ladle of batter for each crepe. Really quickly tilt the pan with a circular motion to cover the entire pan. if you have any hole you can either leave it like that or use the back of the ladle to fill them. Crepes are not pancakes!!! Therefore you want them nice and thin

Cook each side until the golden brown brown, if you’re dared, bring the crepe at the edge of pan, letting a small amount hang outside the pan, then flip the crepe in the air. It should land on the other side (or on your rangehood depending on your skills).

This will make 8 crepes, so 2 crepes per person (that is if you are reasonable). You can divide the batter in 2 batches one savoury, one sweet.

 

Enjoy!!!

The Art of Patience

So I have been a terrible blogger. I haven’t posted anything since my birthday. To be fair I have been so busy that I couldn’t find the time. I have tonnes of recipes and pictures backed up and I just could not find the time to sit down and write them.

In between my last post and now, Paul and I have celebrated our first marriage anniversary, I started my company, Paul got promoted and we literally spent march in and out of the house and in airports without seeing each other.

Anyway the pace is slowing down, so I am back to my fraussie blog.

And to start I prepared a little medley of this term’s pottery projects that I have made:

I am experimenting more and more with the glaze and the wheel. I enjoy the wheel so much. A lot of people give up really quickly with the wheel, because centering your clay can be so tricky. But I enjoy it so much. Learning how to do a lid this term was challenging, but I love the result. This little herbs or salt dish is lovely and is just missing a spoon to make it perfect. I am the most impatient woman in world, but for some reason once I’m at my pottery workshop I have all the patience in the world and 3h seems to go in 5m.

The texture created on the white bowl looks really cool for something done with a paint brush and a lot of patience. It took me forever but I love the finish product.

I love this big white and blue bowl. The only problem is that it’s massive!!! I need to start doing giant salad or pasta and invite an army of friends to eat them. The texture on the bowl is very cool too. I used a stamp on the clay then filled the impression with colour, scraped it away so the colour will only stay where the stamp impression was. It was time consuming, but the result is lovely.

I used quite a few stamps this term, playing on texture and colour. I use the 2 other stamp example to put under hot plates at the table. I use the same technique as the bowl, they are fairly simple but I like them.

The blue bowl is very “organic”. It’sa rolled slab used on a casted mold . I used a tea towel to transfer it and the slab took the texture of the tea towel fabric and it also created wrinkles. I liked it and decided to leave it as it was, which explain the very uneven edge and the rough look.

This little bowl was a challenge because it was glazed inside and outside. Again, more experiment on the stamp/colour technique. I really enjoy this with the oatmeal glaze, it give it an old vintage look. The onion jam is one of the recipes that will be coming up soonish on the blog (I can tell you it was soooo yummy).

Another day, Another year

So here I am on the edge of turning 31…. Who would have guessed that day will come? Well pretty much every one, but I guess I was hoping it will come later rather than sooner!

So what wisdom has the 30 + category brought me? I guess I have learn that getting married works! That you can quit smoking with the right motivation! That you should never give up, life can be difficult but when it’s throwing you lemon, throw them back to it.
Well, in life like in the kitchen, you learn from your mistake. The last year has been very emotional for a lot of reasons. I decided that next year will be different. I guess I reach a time of my life where I realize that life is complicated enough, so let’s try to limit the drama. I never really had any new year resolution. I was always a firm believer that the best resolution is not to make any. But this year, on my birthday, I am going for it. A simpler life is the key for happiness, stripped of people who looks for drama and gives you heartache. To those people I am officially saying goodbye!
Overall I am glad I have someone like my hubby that stands next to me to help me through it. I know you’re thinking I am cheesy and overselling, but Paul is my rock of patience and understanding. I am probably overselling it because I never believed in marriage, and he pretty much made me do a backflip on this one!

So here it is, a new day a new year added to my mileage, but you know why I am excited. 31 sounds like it’s going to be the most exciting year yet! So bring it on, I am ready for you! And keep on throwing me lemon, and I’ll make the sweetest most delicious lemon tart you ever tasted!

In the meantime I will enjoy my wonderful weekend at the Q station

Arrancini yummy gooey balls

I read somewhere that Arancini Balls were a classic Italian appetizer. I got raised by an Italian grandmother and visited my family regularly in Italy, I had never heard of Arancini balls until a few years back. But who really cares? They’re so yummy and quite easy to do. You can make them in advance and freeze them, ready to be fried when you have people over… They’re the perfect nibble to share with friends around a nice bottle of wine. Turns out that is exactly what we are doing tonight!

This recipe is so versatile, you can add almost anything to the risotto base like sun-dried tomatoes, pancetta, mushrooms, coriander, different cheeses…

A lot of people are scared by the idea of making a risotto, thinking it’s way too complicated. Turns out to make a risotto you certainly do not need to be an Italian chef!  All you need is some Arborio rice, some wine (2 glasses, one for you, one for the recipe), and some stock! I swear it’s that easy.

Step 1: The Risotto

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp of butter
• 1 finely chopped onion (optional)
• 1 glass of white wine
• 2 cup of Arborio rice
• 1 L of chicken stock (or more if your rice isn’t cook enough or creamy enough)
• 1/2 cup of Parmesan
• 1 garlic clove

In  a pan, melt the butter and add the onion if desired. Add the rice and stir until the rice absorbs the butter and becomes transparent. Add then the glass of wine and do not stir! Let the wine be absorb by the rice.

Once that’s done, Add two ladles of hot stock to the rice and let it absorb. Once the liquid reduces, add more stock one or two ladles at the time and stir the risotto. Then leave it to absorb the liquid. Repeat until the rice is cooked and is giving this creamy look.

Turn off the heat, and add the Parmesan cheese. If you just want a risotto, serve immediately while hot and creamy.

Step 2: Making the Arancini balls

Ingredients:

• the risotto
• 125g of cheddar
• 1 cup of flour
• 3 small eggs
• 1 cup of crumbs
• dry herbs (herbes de provence)

Let risotto mixture cool down in the fridge for at least 2 hours. I usually make the night before. Cut the cheddar in small cubs.

Wash your hand and keep them wet. Use a spoon and your hand and shape a ball with the cub of cheddar in the middle.

In order to help with making the balls, keep your hands wet.

Use 3 bowls. In the first one put the flour, in the second whisk the eggs, and the third mix the dry herbs of your choice, the crumbs, salt and pepper.

Roll the risotto balls in the first, the second and the third bowl. Repeat for all the balls.

Use a pot and put enough veggie oil to cover the ball. I usually deep fry 4 to 5 in one go. As soon as they have a nice golden colour, they are ready to be taken out. Let them rest on a paper towel to cool off and get rid of the excess oil.

 

Serve hot with a little sauce on the side. I used a herb mayonnaise.

INTRODUCTION

This is Magalie’s blog. She is french, she lives in Australia with Nick and their son Benjamin. She found out she had breast cancer. This is her way of dealing with the disease and tell us what she is going through…

MAGSBLOG

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Everything that can kill you live in Australia

When I moved to Australia, the common joke was “everything that can kill you live in Australia”… They even have vicious carnivorous koalas also known drop bears… In the first year I spent in Australia, every Australian I met, did the drop bear joke.

It was especially a favorite joke of my brother in law, who even if Australian, grew up in New Zealand, where nothing can kill you… So much so that kiwis  stop flying…

So how is really life in Australia?

When you don’t have to deal with giant cockroach (not deadly but really disgusting) that drops on you from trees (true story, my version of the drop bear), you’ll enjoy a variety of spiders , the big one are actually friendly especially the huntsman , it eats your mozzies and cockroaches, so yeah to them… It’s the little one that are vicious one. I used to scream like a little girl in front of any bugs even an ant… 3 years in Australia made a lot me resilient to bugs!

You also enjoy a variety of sea creatures that can really hurt you, if not kill you. Last week we had several shark alerts in Sydney. My technique is to always have someone swimming further away in the ocean than me. My theory that is that sharks are lazy and will eat the first swimmer which will give me time to swim out of the water 😉

We also enjoy a variety of jelly fish. Getting stung by them is really unpleasant . Contrary to the common accepted theory that peeing on a jelly fish stung will help (made famous by the friends episode), it will be embarrassing but it will do you no good. Vinegar and hot water are the only help you will find. One summer Paul got stung by a sting ray, stepped on a sea urchin, and got stung by a jelly fish. By the end of summer, he did not want want go in water, at all…

I am not even going to mention the snakes and frogs which are highly venomous. Luckily enough I only saw a red belly snake once while camping. He was making a stand in front of the toilets…

If the Australian wildlife has not scared you of, since I have move to Australia there has been, floods, inland tsunami, mini tornados and now Australia is facing a heat wave that started a large number of fires in Tasmania, Victoria and south NSW.

I actually just discovered that Australia had an extra category for fire risks. As far as I was concerned, the fire risk ranged from low to extreme. In Australia, there is an extra category: catastrophic!!!! . Basically when that’s on, you don’t fool around trying to save your house, you get the hell out of there as quickly and as safely as you can.

For all these crazy things you have to deal with, Australia gives you an amazing life style, friendly people, beautiful beaches and many other things that would not me trade it to any other country!!!

Today NSW will hit records temperatures with 43 Celsius forecasts in Sydney, so stay in the cold of your A/C at work, enjoy a night time swim at the beach (it will still 30 C at 9pm), and good luck to all our wonderful firefighters, they’ll need it!

La Galette des Rois / Kings’ cake

So the holiday season is over. Most of us have eaten too much, and a lot of fatty food. While drinking and eating, we all swore we’ll go on a diet as soon as the new year starts.

That was without counting the French’s Epiphany celebration. Since we think any opportunity is good for a nice cake and a glass of champagne, the Christian celebration, of  the revelation of the Son of God Jesus Christ, is no exception.

La Galette des Rois ( also called King’s Cake especially in New Orleans) is a simple and yet so tasty pastry goodness with an almond filling… “A figurine, la fève, which can represent anything from a car to a cartoon character, is hidden in the cake and the person who finds the trinket in their slice becomes king for the day and will have to offer the next cake.” The person who finds the figure is the king or the queen and gets to picks his/her king/queen. Usually served with a glass of champagne it’s a nice Sunday afternoon indulgence

Ingredients:

• 2 pieces of puff pastry
• 2 cups of Almonds meal
• 3 small eggs
• 1 egg the puff pastry
• 1/2 cup of brown sugar
• 3 tablespoon of softened butter
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Lay down your puff pastry and cut it in a circle

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. Spread on the puff pastry leaving 1 cm on the edge

Mix the remaining beaten egg with some cold water. Using a brush, spread the egg mixture on the edge. It will seal the second piece of puff pastry to the initial one. Cover with the second piece of puff pastry, press down on the edge. Using a knife draw crossing lines and make 2 small holes on the top (mine were a little bit too big.). Brush the rest of the egg mixture on top of the pastry. Cook for 30 m at 180 C

Et voila!  the end results…

How to end 2012

So 2012 wasn’t the end of world. We all bravely survived. Hopefully the Mayans were wright in the sense that 2012 will mark the start of a new era. May be mankind will find some new revolutionary technology that will save our earth from climate change and stop our dependency on fossil fuel, who knows….

2012 was full of exciting event for us, if anything It will be the year we got married. Everyday I think about how lucky I was to find Paul, and how differently life is from what I had imagine 5 years ago.

In the meantime, 2013 will be full of changes for a lot of our friends. Some are getting married, some are having kids, and some are embarking on new exciting adventures. For sure 2013 will not be boring…

For the moment we are enjoying the last 2012 days on Long Island beach…

Life could be worst than sipping cocktails next to turquoise waters. If the end of world is for before 2013 I can die happy!

On the 31st we are off to the reef, one of the things you have to go and see before it disappears. Hopefully no jellyfish will come and attack Paul, he does have a history of being stung by every sea creature and it’s stinger season!