Okonomilyaki waffles

Originally published on my naturopathic website 

Waffles are currently having a hot minute on social media. Preferring savoury over sweet, hash browns were my gateway to this new craze. Craving a one-dish meal with more veggies, I wondered if the classic Japanese pancake (okonomiyaki) could be wafflised. Spoiler alert: they do!

The recipe below worked perfectly. Though an old stovetop waffle maker like mine necessitates flipping them over to cook both sides, it’s still quicker than making okonomiyaki the usual way.

This version is adapted from Hetty McKinnon, to make one egg, single serves. It’s a flexible recipe and a great way to turn wilted end-of-the week veggies into a quick and tasty lunch. In this case it was cabbage and grated zucchini that had seen better days but tasted as good as new in waffle form, with a dab of mayo and a sprinkle of my homemade furikaki.

Okonomiyaki waffles

Quantities per person/about 2 waffles

1/2 cup plain flour
90 ml (just over 1/3 cup) dashi or vegetable stock
1/4 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt – depending on how salty the dashi/stock is (optional)
1.5 cups of finely shredded or grated vegetables, eg: cabbage, Brussels sprouts, sweet potato, potato, broccoli, zucchini, potato and/or cauliflower
1 spring onion finely chopped (if you have it)
1 egg, lightly beaten
Vegetable oil to grease the waffle iron.

To serve:
Mayonnaise
Furikake, toasted sesame or finely sliced spring onion greens

Slice or grate the vegetables finely. The waffles don’t cook for long, so the finer the better.

Mix together flour, stock (or dashi), baking powder and salt (if needed) in a large bowl, to form a batter. I usually add the egg at this stage, though Hetty suggests adding it with the vegetables.

Add the vegetable to the batter, mix well for at least 30 secs. Add the egg (if you haven’t already) and gently mix it in, until all the ingredients are combined without being over worked.

Heat your waffle iron and if it’s not non-stick, brush or spray on some vegetable oil. Once hot, add a tablespoon or two (depending on the size of your waffle maker) of the veggie batter and flatten a little with the back of the spoon. You want to get towards the edges without it overflowing when you put the top down.

Cooking time will vary on the type of iron. It’s worth checking after 2 minutes, to see if the waffle is brown. Once it's cooked, remove (or flip if it’s a stovetop iron).

To serve

Okonomiyaki are traditionally served with its own special sauce (found in some Asian grocery stores or DIY) and mayonnaise, topping the pancake in lines from a squeezy bottle. Often they are finished with bonito flakes, which wave or ‘dance’ on top with the heat of the pancake.

I’m not a fan of the sweet/tangy sauce, so I serve them with mayo and a sprinkle of furikake instead.

 

Variations

Hetty’s original Insta post includes kimchi – which sounds absolutely delicious!

The recipe can be veganised replacing eggs with ‘flax eggs’/ flax seeds or similar. Kewpie now make a vegan/egg-free mayo, or use your favourite plant-based brand. Be aware that som Japanese okonomiyaki sauces contain animal products.

Gluten-free – sub GF flour or try rice flour (don’t forget the baking powder).

eating Camden

When eating out at home, 90% of the time it’s within walking distance. For my week in London I followed the same motto. After all it’s a huge city, time consuming to traverse and after a day of crawling through medical museums, art galleries and shops it’s nice to hang out with the locals.

Market 

43 Parkway, Camden, London NW1

This place is exactly what I look for in a ‘local’ - a relaxed atmosphere, unpretentious service and reliable tasty food that provokes a little bit of menu indecision.

Market, is a far cry from the grime and tat of Camden Lock. It’s a comfortable restaurant, with warm brick walls, uncluttered lines and generous serves of seasonal food. The cuisine is British with a French influence. Which really means English food, done well.

Other than side dishes there’s nothing that would sate a vegan but the seafood offerings meant I could eat rather well. There are a handful of daily specials and a small but well-formed menu. The oil based prawn linguine with a decent dash of chilli on the specials board spoke my name. As it was a very large entrée, it was lucky I was hungry as the whole fish (the type now escapes me, possibly bass), cooked simply with lemon, accompanied by a bucket of chunky chips should have been more than enough on it’s own.

My hosts ate with glee. They loved the meaty offerings. Though they left the large side order of braised greens entirely for me to devour. We drank a delightful French rose, perfect on a warm early autumn evening.

I was too full for dessert, even though the apple sorbet was tempting. From the mouthful I tasted, it was refreshing alternative to the heavier options on the menu.

Cost for three people, 2-3 courses each, plus a bottle of wine $175 (including tax and tip). They advertise 2 course meal deals for those who want to dine earlier in the evening.

It was a faultless night and my pick of places to eat in the area. Though the most amusing thing about the evening was a rather obvious first date being conducted at the next table. The poor woman was literally bored to tears as the guy, around 50, droned on and on about himself. It was so awful, at times we couldn’t help but eavesdrop. It took all my willpower to not cheer her on to walk out on the self-centred prick. 

York and Albany

127-129 Parkway, London, NW1

Away from the rabble, heading towards Regent’s Park, sits a restrained former pub. York and Albany is a boutique hotel in the Ramsay empire. There’s a relaxed front dinning room/ bar where we breakfasted. The menu offered standard options but was well done, with coffee better than average. I ate a perfectly executed eggs Florentine and the boys went for lashings of bacon and posh sausages.

The staff appeared to be have chosen on their looks and were restrained, bordering on snooty. It’s the kind of place you go when you want to impress, rather than for an outstanding dinning experience. Or perhaps if you’re a poor Antipodean who wants to sample an offshoot of Ramsay-dom, without lashing out on an expensive meal.

inSpiral Lounge

250 Camden High Street, London NW1

From the sublime to the ridiculous, this was a solo visit. Not the carnivorous hosts cup of tea at all. Camden’s hippy roots live on in the sadly shabby but not chic market district. In need of some vegan food to balance out weeks of daily fish eating, I took one of Lisa’s tips. After a lovely early morning walk down the canal I spied the open sign on the inSpiral Lounge door. Well they said they were open but only just. None the less the bloke behind the counter said that my veggie breakfast would be out in 5 minutes. Twenty-five minutes and one rather pedestrian coffee later, it arrived. What a blast from the past – veggie sausage, button mushrooms, half a barely cooked tomato, scrambled tofu and a patty of some description possibly a variation on a hash brown.

According to their site, “inSpiral specialises in gourmet optimum nutrition for connoisseurs, all freshly handmade onsite and served from our vibrant counter.”  Not sure my breakfast could be classified as gourmet or 'handmade onsite' (considering the two obviously commercially made components plus bog standard sliced brown bread) but it was exactly what I needed to counterpoint the (actual) gourmet food of the previous three weeks.

Vegan pickings are hard to find in Camden and inSpiral has plenty of raw and organic options. I enjoyed a leisurely breakfast looking out over the canal in the almost empty café. Reviews online describe it differently, noting by lunchtime it’s hectic. Many mentioned that the food is overpriced and not as good as it looks on the website. 

Like many vego establishments in the UK, inSpiral is deeply entrenched in 70's vegetarianism and neo-hippy decor. Something we've fortunately moved on from in Melbourne.

quick update from the trenches

There’s been some cooking

Accidental sorrel soup.

How to turn an average end-of-the-week-leftover-veggie soup into a stellar meal? Just add a handful of sorrel and blend. The base combo of alliums/cauliflower/zucchini/potato simmered in stock got the zing it needed when blended with the lemony green herb. A little goes a long way.

Oranges are not the only fruit.

But certainly the most abundant one in our house at the moment due to the arrival of two boxes of home-grown citrus. A batch of orange and spice vegan truffles were scoffed with alarming speed and with zest added to every conceivable dish, the fridge is full of lemons and oranges devested of their skin. As always, there’s large batch of preserved lemons on the go.

Quinoa for breakfast and dinner.

Cooked in orange and ginger juice. A superb breakfast that can be dolled up with a drizzle of maple syrup and some toasted almonds for a deceptively healthy dessert.

Speaking of dessert.

You know I’m not the queen of cooked desserts, right? But my oh my, I had a brilliant idea and minutes later dessert gyozas were on the table. I’d call them a work in progress but really they’re so simple they don’t need work. Three batches down I can’t stop long enough to photograph them before they’re gone. Will share soon, blogging mojo willing.

What’s rocking your kitchen?

finding inspiration

The secret to my sanity is a working week with hours nestled somewhere between part and full time. Having run my own business for twenty years I’m proud to say I’ve navigated two decades of self-employment with body, mind and soul more or less intact. The latest addition to my work schedule is a weekly business meeting with myself. It's comprised of a leisurely brunch somewhere different each time, with tasty food, my trusty notebook and no expectations. So far, so good. Amazing what plans can hatch with the right fuel.


breakfast special, Dench, Nth Fitzroy

Just as I’m looking at work from a different angle, my kitchen mojo has returned (no doubt helped by the recent cook-along). Two inspired experiments this week, requiring a digital note to self for future reference.

Number one needs no real recipe - just a simple risotto with new season asparagus, garlic and shallots. Towards the end of cooking I added a little lemon zest and sorrel. For the dairy tolerant some marinated soft goats cheese tossed through before serving would be perfect.


Chard and flathead pastries

Thaw some good quality puff pastry.
Set the oven to 180c.

Sauté onion and garlic in olive oil til soft
Gather your favourite leafy greens (with a garden full of rainbow chard, cavolo nero and sorrel at the moment it’s a necessity), rinse well and chop roughly.
Add to the onions and cook for til wilted. Season with sea salt and pepper.
Squeeze a little lemon juice, add some zest too if desired.

Take the mixture off the heat and allow to cool.

Chop some flathead tails. If making small parcels, you only need 3 or 4 small chunks per pastry.

Cut pastry into squares (or circles if you want cute, semi-circular pastries). Fold on the diagonal to make a triangle, open out and use the fold line to mark half of the pastry to add the filling. Leave a centimetre around the edge. Add a spoonful of the vegetable mixture and dot with chunks of fish. Fold the pastry, add a little water around the edges to help them stick and crimp together. Puncture the top of a pastry with a fork.

Bake til golden, about 20 minutes.

Hotcakes

It will come as no surprise to regular readers of the blog that Mark Bittman is one of my favourite culinary pin up boys men. If I had to nominate a top three there’d also be delicious Nigel and our own lovely Tony. But let’s not be heterosexist, my soft spot for Annabel also deserves a mention.

What all four of these cooking heroes have in common is a laid back attitude to home cooking. There's also a shared joy of homegrown produce and a relaxed approach to following recipes. All of which tick my boxes.

But back to Mr Bittman. I enjoyed his recent New York Times piece on whole-grain pancakes. The accompanying video showed him incorporating some cooked oatmeal (porridge) with a scant amount of flour, herbs, nuts and dried fruit. I took notes as I watched! I made guesses as to quantities. Why? Because at the time I couldn’t actually find the recipe.

As fate would have it, last weekend came around and I awoke to an unexpected dose of mild food poisoning (sadly from an oldish favourite on Brunswick Street). My partner suffered likewise, sealing the deal as to the source of the infection. Once my digestion calmed down all I wanted to eat was porridge. Which meant the next day, when I was fully functioning again, a cup or so of rolled oats slowly cooked with rice milk and a little banana sat waiting to be used in my fridge.

My version varies somewhat from the original but they look and I suspect taste pretty authentic. The notes in italics explain the variations. The quantities were more than adequate for two very hungry adults.

Super healthy pancakes with oats and cardamom

Combine the following dry ingredients:

2 tabs ground almonds
2 tabs raw rolled oats
I chopped the almonds roughly in the food processor then threw in the raw whole oats for a couple of whizzes. The texture in the finished product was lovely – but I really wonder if it needed the raw oats at all.
1/2 tsp salt
Seeds of about 4 pods cardamom
I pounded salt and herbs together in a mortar and pestle. The aroma was quite strong, so I used this as a guide to the amount of cardamom seeds I used. The cardamom was very subtle in the first pancake I cooked but was more noticeable in later ones.
1/2 cup unbleached flour
This was perfect, in both texture and binding of the batter.
1 tsp baking powder

Wet ingredients

Whisk together:
1 egg
1/2 c rice (or other) milk
I added a further 1/3 cup when mixing the final batter. to get to the right consistency.
1 tsp vanilla extract
As there was a trace of banana already in my porridge and I knew I’d be using the perfect runny apricot jam on top, no need for the addition of dried apricots. Even without that, I think they’d be over kill. The vanilla, though not in the original recipe, was a subtle flavour enhancer that I’d use again.

Stir into the combined wet ingredients:
1+ cups porridge
I had a bit over a cup of left over porridge cooked with a little banana and rice milk from the day before. As leftover porridge tends to congeal, using clean hands to break up the lumps through the wet ingredients was the most effective method.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir gently.
Despite my initial scepticism, it really does create a “batter consistency”, even with so little flour. They needed to be loosened a little more with milk. I decided to let the batter sit for half an hour. That’s the general rule for flour based pancake batters, the flour swells a little but more than that the cardamom has a chance to infuse.

Cook in rice bran oil in a hot pan. They needed at least 4 minutes a side. And like most pancakes I find it better to do a small one first, then the pan seems to get into its groove and the following ones cook more smoothly – or is that just me?

Served with a spoonful of the most heavenly, runny organic apricot jam a client had given me but maple syrup or a little honey would do the trick.

Verdict: When I first read the recipe I must admit my first thought was "crispy fried porridge". But my second thought was "crispy fried porridge could taste really good"! The oatmeal did make the pancakes a little damp in the middle, rather than the more cakey nature I'm familiar with. The ground nuts added a lovely texture that complemented the oats.

Overall - a delightful, very filling and healthy breakfast!

Though next time I might soak rolled oats over night, rather than cooking them to see how that works.

simply 'shrooms for breakfast

Dench olive and rosemary bread toasted with sautéed mushrooms.

Bog standard, cultivated Swiss Browns are fine as long as you treat them with respect. Cook over a low heat. Just a bit of butter and garlic, finished with parsley, salt and pepper.

pet peeves - breakfast

I caught a little of Cam Smith waxing lyrical about breakfasts yesterday on “Eat It” on 3RRRFM. Being on the road I had to restrain myself from phoning in to add to the list of pet peeves about breakfast dining. But it got me thinking…

The Food Nazi’s top 10 breakfast peeves

1. Waiting. I don’t mind being turned away at the door if a café/restaurant is full but I do mind sitting ignored at a table or waiting forever to place or receive an order in an establishment that has more seats than it’s floor or kitchen staff can handle. Though I’d pass in some circles as a morning person, not everyone is at their best til they’ve had their first shot of caffeine or got their blood sugar levels up. Twenty minutes twiddling your thumbs, waiting to give or get an order is way too long.

2. Shit coffee. This is Melbourne – stale beans, burnt coffee or weak espresso just doesn’t make the grade.

3. Frozen bricks pretending to be hash browns. These greasy pieces of crap might be acceptable at the golden arches but we expect better than a drive-through when we eat out.

4. Fried dollops of leftover mashed potato pretending to be hash browns. Slightly less greasy than the maccas variety they tend to be sloppy and dairy ridden. Call them something else and serve them but they aint hash browns either.

5. Non-disclosure of meat in a vegetarian breakfast. Enough said. *shudders*

6. Minimalist servings. This is breakfast. We’re eating out. If we wanted 1 piece of toast and a single mushroom, we’d have stayed at home.

7. Imperfect avocado. Brown, stringy, over-ripe or plain bad fruit and vegetables should not be part of any dining experience, regardless of the time of day.

8. Poached eggs that are too raw, over cooked or dripping with water and make your toast go soggy. If my father can learn to poach a half-decent egg at the age of 82, you’d think a cook could do it right each time.

9. And while we are on the subject of eggs, in this country the term “free range” doesn’t really mean anything at the best of times. If you want to justify charging patrons more for their eggs invest in organic.

10. Supermarket bread, boring menus, tinned baked beans…

I could go on all day but I’d prefer to know what your breakfast peeves are.

the changing shape of breakfast

Like the shrinking girth of models over the decades, I wish I had a ‘before’ and ‘after’ photo comparison of the once big breakfast at the Green Grocer in North Fitzroy.

But that would be unfair because a few years back they changed the name of their famous meal to the ‘Grocer’s Breakfast’, dropping the illusion of big-ness. However the ingredients haven’t really changed, just the proportions.

The fetta pancake was so big it reached the far edges of the plate, soaking up the juices of all the ‘sides’ sitting on top. Actually not just the generosity of the pancake has been altered but also the texture and taste. It is a lesser version in so many ways now.

Previously the vegetables that featured on the plate were grander: half of an avocado and double the amount of mushrooms

But is downsizing such a bad thing? There was no way I could plough my way through the original version. Though, many other diners could manage to clean their plates. In such a super-sized age, is it refreshing to be able to sample an array of flavours without leaving with our gut straining against our waistbands?

I don’t know.

The hash browns are still great, just a little less of them.

It’s still pretty but more a tasting plate than a big breakfast.



Vegetarian version of the Grocer’s breakfast, with a side of smoked salmon

Does anyone else remember the good old days of The Green Grocer?

i n e r t i a

In bed.

I am quite well thanks. Between the sheets is where I want to be right now. Actually lets clarify the time frame, now means the last couple of months. It is cold outside and the sunlight unreliable. Inside with the cat purring, competing with the macbook for my lap. A high thread count, warm, cotton cocoon.

Not lot of cooking goes on in the bedroom. I am ambivalent about what may be eaten in bed as well. Nothing too crunchy or crumbly. Something that can be consumed with a fork, a spoon or one hand. Nothing drippy or too liquid.

Spurred on by Kathryn’s challenge, you know the one that has synchronistically had many local bloggers excavating the nether regions of their pantries, I had barley for breakfast. I bought it on a long ago spring clean, no doubt with a thick veggie soup, stew or maybe some kind of risotto like concoction in mind. It never happened. Well barley porridge may work for her but it got a definite thumbs down in this house. Well soaked, adequately cooked, jazzed up with a little rice milk, maple syrup, passionfruit and a few slices of banana. The fruit made it bearable but it was boring. Good texture but bland.

Back to the drawing board.

I love oats or quinoa as warm breakfast cereals. I am tempted to make a much forgotten recipe from the Atomic Cafe Cookbook that features cornmeal and dried apricots. I may even consider millet. Buckwheat? Maybe not, surely eating something grey for breakfast on a cloudy day would tempting the blahs just a little too much.

Has anyone found the ultimate winter’s breakfast?

What do you like to eat in bed?

the bad egg

It wasn’t so much an egg, though we will get to that, rather a nasty wedge of avocado.

I am very fussy at the best of times but avocadoes bring out the worst in me. I border on phobic when it comes to blighted fruit. A black bit on an avocado, stringiness or downright past its use by date in my book means it is not acceptable to end up on a customer’s plate. When you are paying for a side order, there is an expectation that every mouthful is edible. This was not.

The slim quarter of the avocado sat innocuously enough with its pit side down. There was a pesky spot a couple of centimetres wide which I considers cutting around. Turning the fruit over for a closer inspection I found the discolouration had riddled its way right through with a dark blemish engulfing at least a quarter of the slice. The flesh around the area was old, watery and unappealing.

I caught the waiter’s eye and pointed to it saying “any chance of another piece of avocado?” There was no hesitation on her part and though she didn’t whisk the fruit away, she did head off to the kitchen in search of a replacement. During those 4 minutes I made some decent headway through my breakfast. The hash brown tasted old and tired. A home made offering, not one of those dreaded processed bricks but pre-fried possibly days ago and on its last legs none the less. The eggs while poached sufficiently, had curious whites. One was scraggy like a sea creature and the other had been sliced off in chunks leaving a rhomboid shape of just a couple of centimetres of egg white around the yolk. I much prefer to eat the yolk so I didn’t feel like I was missing out on anything but visually it didn’t look right and I wondered just how bad the offending parts had been for them to be removed in such a way.

This place is known for it’s homemade bread. After a wheat-free week I was looking forward to some good quality, crunchy toast. Yet even the amputated poached eggs carried enough water to rob the toast of its crispness. In fact it was so disappointing I may have well eaten a couple of slices of the tasteless gluten-free bread for all the flavour and texture it had to offer.

The coffee was drinkable but bland and not exactly what I’d ordered. I sipped it for a while none the less.

I dread writing a bad review of a neighbourhood restaurant. The last time I did the café closed shortly after. No not from the power of my words alone of course but we are a fickle bunch and move our loyalty elsewhere even from a favourite if it fails to perform. Just a couple of weeks ago I had a similar meal with a fellow blogger. We all enjoyed each mouthful of our different breakfasts but Black Ruby – you are officially on notice. We’ve put up with the vagaries of your odd flavour pairings in your savoury menu for years. You are a little quirky but the spirit of the place has kept pulling your though. But when breakfast goes bad – the locals start walking and as we know you have families to support we’d really like you get your act together and stay.

First the dried out black bean sausage. Now this. You can have an off day with the hash browns, the odd misshapened egg is allowable but soggy toast and a rotten avocado – come on you can do better than this.

National Porridge Day

I’ve just completed the first four steps of Flip Shelton’s advice on how to celebrate National Porridge day.

1. Start... slowly. Don't set the alarm.

2. Slip... into some woolly socks. (In this case a well worn woolly pair of ugg boots, bogan but toasty warm.)

3. Wander... into the kitchen and prepare a big bowl of Flip Shelton's fabulous new "five-grain porridge" with rolled oats, rye, barley, triticale and spelt.

4. Go... back to bed with your bowl of porridge or sit comfortably and eat slowly.

I managed to do all this without even consulting the website. How instinctive am I! But perhaps the 5th step which involves more activity (walking, pottering or generally communing with nature beyond the confines of the bedroom) will have to wait a while longer.

During the week a pack of the aforementioned “Five-grain Porridge” landed on my desk. My working life finds the odd freebie falling in my lap but rarely anything edible. As a longtime lover of porridge I was a little skeptical that this grainy, not overly processed, mix would require no cooking as it claimed. Simply a case of ‘just add (boiling) water’, cover, have your shower, then add your desired accompaniments and eat.

So I did.



The result. The grains were softened but still had a lot texture. The temperature was lukewarm after the addition of soy, a drizzle of maple syrup and a sprinkling of walnuts. Though certainly a more nutritious option than the popular instant varieties on the supermarket shelf, next time I will make it the traditional way.



But eating a bowl of porridge in bed is always a pleasant way to start the day.

If like me you are taking your time over step 4, the history of porridge makes an interesting read.

Creamy quinoa with banana, cinnamon and almonds

I’m in love!

Well, not just sneakingly with Bret from Flight of the Conchords but another foreign import.

Quinoa is a seedy/grain with when cooked is soft yet yields a subtle crunch. I have previously explored red and white quinoa in savoury recipes such as stuffed artichokes and a simple pilaf but thanks to a recent post from fellow quinoa-lover Heidi at 101 cookbooks I realised it was time to explore what this grain could offer with a little sweetness.

There is a delightful evolution that occurs through the sharing of recipes. Heidi’s starting point was a quinoa berry breakfast featured in Dr John La Puma's “Chef MD's Big Book of Culinary Medicine”, which she shared with us as her version of a warm and nutty cinnamon quinoa recipe. Being the opposite of blackberry season in this part of the world I changed the fruit, nuts, sweetener and milk to what was on hand. The method is the same, yet each combination creates another possibility of flavours.

The second star to this mighty breakfast (or healthy dessert) is a little cassia bark. I’ve always preferred the flavour of the bark found in my favourite Asian grocery store, over the dusty, milder quills of cinnamon from the supermarket. The tougher, gutsier cassia is easily grated with a microplane or grater, so sprinkling is over this cereal is dead easy. Cassia lifts this dish onto an even higher plane, not just in taste but also in health benefits. Latest research shows this versatile herb not only eases digestive upsets but is very promising in lowering blood glucose in diabetes as well as neutralising a few rogue triglycerides.



I see no need for 1% or low fat milk as the original recipe calls for. Basically you are diluting your white fluid of choice 50:50 with water, which inherently renders it lower in fat. Soy milk, if you are not allergic to it, is a pleasant way to get a dose of phyto-oestrogens (a preventer, rather than promoter of breast cancer as it has often been mis-reported), rice or oat milk would do but only resort to cows milk if you lack imagination or resources. While keeping to the original quantities there is one other variation, this made a hearty breakfast for 2 rather than 4 and kept us going all day! Every mouthful was met with mutual groans of joy. This is my new favourite cereal for breakfast, making it a great gluten-free and dairy-free way to start the days

Tip: Always wash your quinoa before using it. If you don’t the bitter residue left on the grain will make you wonder why people rave about this rather expensive addition to the pantry.

Creamy quinoa with bananas, cinnamon and almonds

1 cup soy, or other milk of your choice
1 cup water
1 cup quinoa (red or white, it doesn’t matter which but I made this with red quinoa because it looks so pretty) rinsed well
1/2 – 1 tsp cassia bark or cinnamon, try grating it yourself for freshness
a handful of almonds, cut into slivers with a sharp knife
1 banana
a drizzle of maple syrup

Combine the milk, water and quinoa in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat. While doing this if you have a gas cook top, warm a heat diffuser mat on another burner. Once boiling stir well, cover and transfer the pan to the heat mat (if not just turn the heat down to low). Simmer for about 15 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed. Add slices of banana and a generous sprinkle of cassia/cinnamon, stir through the quinoa, turn the heat off and leave the pan covered for another 5 minutes. Meantime, toast the slivered almonds in a hot pan until they begin to turn brown. Shake frequently and remember to remove from the pan from the heat the moment the almonds are done to prevent burning.

Spoon the quinoa into the bowls, garnish with another slice of banana, toasted almonds and a drizzle of maple syrup.

Take a deep breath and dive in!




This week’s Weekend Herb Blogging is hosted by Laurie at Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska. Check out her site in a couple of days to see the full round up of herb and vegetable recipes from around the globe.

journeys with my thermos

With all this talk about lunch lately – I thought it was time to discuss essential gadgets for eating on the go. When it comes to food on the run, my one and only is the humble thermos flask.

You may have noticed that not a single recipe on the site uses the miraculous “kitchen TV”. I have not been taught to salivate, Pavlovian like, at the ping of at microwave. I don’t like what they do to the texture of food nor wish to trust my health to one for the sake of so-called convenience, let’s leave it at that.

So, enter the thermos. This simple device keeps food and drinks hot or cold. It means you can eat when you are out and about without a power source or any other equipment. It is the ultimate recyclable food or beverage container.

Here are a few notable uses of mine:

Thermos porridge: Think cooking oatmeal conventionally takes too long or is too messy to clean up? Try this simple recipe I got from a hippy book written in the 70’s.

Before going to bed, first warm your thermos with some boiling water for about 10 minutes. Take 1/2-1 cup whole rolled oats and twice as much boiling water (or boiling milk of some kind) and pour into a wide-mouthed thermos. You can add sultanas or dried cranberries if you like, a little cinnamon or nutmeg – whatever accoutrements suit your palate. Screw the lid on well. You can wrap it in a towel too if you want extra insulation if it is somewhere cold.

In the morning – wherever you are – simply pour out the contents (into the handy bowl/cup that sits on the top if you are away from home). Voila – porridge. A healthy, warm, sustaining breakfast of champions.

Soup in the snow: I used to go out with a snow bunny. I will be forever grateful for him taking me on my first trip to Lake Mountain. For a kiwi who’d only skied downhill before, cross country skiing amongst the gum trees, on a blue skied winter's day was one of the most beautiful experiences I have had in Australia. What made it even better was the trusty thermos.

The night before I made a pot of hearty bean and vegetable soup. Getting up at the crack of dawn, I heated the pot on the stovetop while I showered the sleep from my eyes and donned my thermal clothing. Once again I warmed the thermos, poured in the aromatic soup and headed off in the car a few hours out of Melbourne to the snow. I can assure you that after a morning of falling on my derriere, soup has never tasted so good! He did his part by carrying one of those blue thermal mats for us to sit on and we dined amongst the snow gums. The perfect winter picnic.

Some people have even be known to take soup to work for lunch.

Pre-theatre drinks: In the final days of the docks before it became an artificial city, some of the old buildings that once stored cargo were put to a good use as a venue for dance parties and theatre. One spring evening I caught the tram down to see a performance with a friend and sat on the edge of the old docks with a flask of perfectly cool cocktails – brandy, freshly squeezed orange juice and ice. Very pleasant and ultimately more memorable than the show.


The thermos was invented in 1892. I wonder if the microwave oven will be so widely used and loved 115 years on from it's inception?

three tasty new things

Some tasty cross-posting

When I decided I was long overdue for an artist date this week, it wasn’t necessarily food that I had in mind. The mission that came up with for my morning off was to go to 3 new places. 3 new experiences in my hometown.

It wasn’t til I completed my joyful task – did I pick the common theme.

I started with breakfast somewhere new (for me at least) at Café Rosamond in Fitzroy. I’d read mixed reviews and figured it was probably going to be a love or hate kind of place. I followed the breakfast blog’s instruction to follow the tapeworm – but really it was the large sign “Rosamond” on the wall and the cute young men lounging in the doorway that gave it away. To give the place a chance, I deliberately choose a quiet morning. I rocked up for a leisurely breakfast to find a handful of 20-30-something women writing at their tables. Just my kind of place - quiet and unpretentious, on a Monday at least. Contrary to the review that denigrated the service, the women behind the counter were darlings. There was a touch of kiwi in having to go up to the counter to order but the staff did wander around asking if you wanted more coffee. Speaking of which the coffee was fine and as for the food - the scrambled eggs and avocado salad on crunchy wholesome toast, made me come out a fan. They get extra marks with dealing nicely with the dairy intolerant breakfaster.

Next was a little op shopping (thrift shops). For this to fall into the ‘new’ category it had to be one I’d never gone to, despite the fact that in my student days I thought I’d covered every one in a 5km radius. So I took myself off to Kew figuring it to be a comfortable enough suburb to offer some goodies. And it did. I highly recommend the one tucked just off High Street, next to the Anglican church. There were genuine bargains to be had as well as some good quality wares crammed into the tiny space. If you are after new knits – there are pristine scarves and beanies for young and old. The layettes made me wish I had a little one to bundle them into. For the crafting folk, or those wanting to scan the classic cover shots, there were hoards of old knitting and sewing patterns. If you have a royal family fetish there is a perfect stash of pictorial books hiding down the end of the shop. I walked away with a small, green glass bowl, perfect to sit ripe purple plums in or a carrot salad. But I cursed my non-carnivorous ways as the priciest item in the shop was crying to be bought – a genuine tongue press anyone?

Inspired by the avocado salad at breakfast, which was dressed with sherry vinegar, I knew I’d have to made a beeline to an as yet unexperienced foodie (sorry the F word – I’ll put a dollar in the swear jar) mecca – Leo’s Fine Foods, also in Kew. $85 later I exited with the bottle of vinegar and goodness knows what else but it was the most pleasurable supermarket experience I have had in a long time. They have a great range of fresh breads, exotic spices and most things in between.

Anyone else up for 3 new things?

leftovers #2 – chilli beans

Years ago my friend Pixie told me she thought about me whenever she made chilli beans. I must have gone through a mad chilli phase back in the days when I soaked and cooked the kidney beans from scratch. I suspect ‘101 ways with beans’ marks a long phase in my shared house years. Sadly, I tend to make up a batch only one or two times a year now. Who knows why we go through such phases in cooking. Last week the SE all bunged up with a cold requested chilli beans. I was thinking a nice healing soup with shitake mushrooms, Chinese greens, chilli and lime – but no it was beans please, so I took on the task at hand with more than a whiff of nostalgia.

I don’t know why I haven’t posted such a recipe before, but Summer beans is very similar – just swap the olives and rosemary with chilli, coriander and cumin.

I made a large pot to get us through a few days and it was a real hit. Tomato and spicy, with the beans for ballast. But no matter how much I like something the first time round, I get bored with repeats. For brunch the next day I heated leftover chilli beans in a small fry pan, adding a little water to loosen the sauce. Once they’d started to heat I slid in an egg to poach – just leave it on low and be patient. About 10 minutes of the merest simmering in the bean sauce delivered a baked egg delight – kind of Huevos Rancheros plus beans. Carefully slide the beans and egg intact on top of a toasted tortilla or in this case a thick, gluten-free flatbread that I was road testing from my local convenience store.

It’s a toss up what was better – straight chili beans with brown rice the night before or this heartening brunch the next day. Regardless, I’ll try not to leave it so long between pots of chili next time


don't you think the egg looks a bit like a map of Australia? Darn it, I should have sold it on Ebay!

breakfast pizza

Ok so I'm not quite back in the saddle yet in the kitchen but I'm trying little tricks.

My brief was to go to the Vic Market this morning as usual, but to look at it like a tourist. Instead of charging around the stalls as I always do - today I stopped for breakfast. Not my usual tofu and vegetable nori roll from Tofu Trek today - it had to be different and hot. I've too often been dissappointed with Invita, which is the closest fit for my dietary requirements. So in tourist mode I hit the take away food stalls in the Dairy Hall. If I was a carnivore the kransky's with onion would have been an obvious choice.

What caught my eye was Colour of Earth (Shop 97-98 Dairy Section). I'd had a nifty piadina there before, it had been creative but never lured me back. Eying off the mini pizzas, I innocently asked "Do you have any without cheese?" There was a Western Australian sardine creation with chilli and tomato that seemed a little strong for the hour of day, instead as if reading my mind he answered "We've got a potato one - how about that? Olives? Sundried tomato? Black pepper? Rosemary?" Perfect!

A few minutes later it popped hot out of the oven, the base thin and crispy without being dry. The flavours were great and the only thing I'd add to it in future would be garlic.

I sat down at a chilly outdoor table, a fellow shopper was looking for a seat and I was happy to share. A pleasant chat and back to shopping.

It's nice to be a traveller in your own city sometimes.

Easter eggs

A few days in my own space to muse on the meaning of life, catch up with friends, eat, drink and be merry. Home alone I tend to graze. Most mornings I have sat in the sun under the grapevine reading or writing, while leisurely plucking warm grapes from the vine for sustanence. After a while my tummy starts to rumble for something more substantial, so it has been a great time to play with brunch. Experimental cooking for one!

Some highlights:

Cross-cultural eggs

What country lies half way between Ireland and Mexico? I don’t know but I think I’ve just invented their national breakfast dish.

Scrub a potato (peel it if you really want but with organic spuds it’s a pity to waste the goodness). Cube and start shallow frying in olive oil in a fry pan.

Add some diced onion, a little bit of chilli (enough to warm rather than bite), cumin and a generous amount of garlic.

When the potato has softened, pour in enough crushed fresh or canned tomato to make it a little stew-like but not a soup. Season with salt and pepper. Add some green olives or fresh coriander if it takes your fancy.

Once the tomato has married all the flavours make an indentation or two in the delicious vegetable concoction and slip in some eggs to poach. Keep the heat on low and be patient. When the egg is set to your desired poaching consistency carefully plate up without breaking the yolk.


breakfast fish and chips

The potato for breakfast theme continues - this time a little more traditionally.

Thinly slice a potato or two and cook in one layer in a hot pan til crispy.

Scramble eggs your favourite way.

Take a few slices of the best quality smoked salmon you can afford.

Drain the potato on paper towels and assemble on the plate with the eggs and salmon. My favourite way to eat this is to put a piece of salmon on a crispy potato slice and top with a little of the creamy scrambled eggs and eat like a canapé.



Have a good holiday.

Sunday sunny Sunday

With a last weekend together before fleeing to respective families in far flung Antipodean cities, the Significant Eater and I had a day of total laziness planned. It began with waking far too early, but that tends to happen with big kids when presents are concerned. An espresso supped while gifts were exchanged in bed, then some bubbles (a very reasonable breakfast drop – Yellowglen Vintage cremant), while nibbling plump ripe cherries and delicious vegan truffles. Booja Booja make the most extraordinary chocolates, so creamy it’s hard to believe that no dairy has graced them. These little beauties featured banana and cognac, incredible decadence in a poplar wood box.

Once the sparking wine was finished in the bath, a simple second breakfast of a boiled egg and casalinga toast was taken in the garden. The weather gods were kind – a mid 20c day, clear sky and no smoke haze, perfect for picnicking. The basket dusted off and an effortless feast assembled: a delicious salad, dips from A1 bakery, some leftover steamed vegetables in satay sauce, mangoes and a bottle of chilled pinot noir rose.



On a rug with some cushions for comfort five hours of total indulgence were had in the local park. Under the dappled light of a large tree we chatted, ate, read books and watched the world go by. The wine went down so well, another had to be procured. I am certain that rose is the perfect picnic drop.

“I can’t believe how relaxing this is, so perfect”, the S.E uttered more than once.

A slightly early solstice greeting one and all. May you have many pleasant picnics in the months to come.


Another smoked trout salad

Smoked trout fillet, diced into decent sized pieces
Blanched asparagus
Fennel, sliced with tops reserved to garnish
Cucumber, sliced
Tomatoes, quartered
Marinated artichoke hearts, quartered
Capers, if salted – remember to rehydrate
Rocket

Vinaigrette or dressing of your choice

Assemble salad, undressed, toss in a bowl then transfer to suitable container to transport. Remember to pack the dressing in a screw top jar. Pack on ice.

Journeying around the web for breakfast

I am a great lover of breakfast. Weekdays require a certain amount of ballast to get me through 6 hours til the next meal. Oats are the queen of sustenance, if you treat them right. Weekends and days off mean fruit if I want to graze, eggs for slow leisurely breakfasting, miso if I need something light but healing.

For something different it may be savoury toppings on sourdough bread – tahini, avocado and lemon juice is nostalgic. For the hippy-deluxe version I add finely sliced radish, chunks of black olives and a sprinkling of alfalfa sprouts to crown the avocado. Sometimes when the sun has ripened them I like tomatoes, sliced and popped back under the griller with lashings of freshly ground black pepper or slowly stewed with garlic and onions. Mushrooms sautéed til the juices run, with a little pepper, parsley and lemon juice. Boiled eggs, chopped with sun dried tomato, spring onions and good quality mayonnaise. Life is too short for a dab of something out of a jar from the supermarket!

Today, being a leisurely holiday in these parts (in a nation obsessed with sport, a city is given a day off for a horse race), I am up for anything. Cruising by Morsels and Musings Anna has paid homage to the joys of breakfast. I am not a huge fan of sweetness for my first meal unless its luscious fruit, but a warm bowl of goodness catches my eye. At 28 cooks breakfast couscous seems just the treat for an inclement holiday.

Follow their recipe – or as I did use the template to create your own version.

Breakfast Couscous Basics
Ratio of grain to liquid =1 3/4 cups fluid: 1/2 cup couscous
handful of dried fruit(s)
sweetness
spices

Bring to a boil. Turn off heat. Sit for 10 minutes

Breakfast Couscous Food Nazi Style
1/2 soy milk:1/2 water
dried cranberries
cinnamon and nutmeg finely grated
rice malt syrup (just a little)

Bring the couscous to a boil in the above concoction.
Turn the heat off, place the lid and go and have a shower.
Top with slices of fresh mango.
Dress optional, but this is a dish that can be eaten easily in bed, the grains deliciously plumped, moist and clinging to the spoon!

Hope your horse is a winner. Even better, forget the flutter and donate to your favourite charity instead.

Avena sativa

Breakfast has always been one of my favourite meals – but let’s be honest, choosing between breakfast, lunch and dinner is a bit like picking your favourite child. I love them all!

About 70% of the time, oats are the key ingredient. They are perfect little “nerve pills” to help you start the day in a state of calm. But this little grain is so frequently misunderstood or misrepresented.

What do I mean? Chew on hard toasted muesli, with shards of indigestible, baked fibre coated in oil and sugar and you might give your jaw a great workout, but you aren’t doing your gut or nutrition levels any favour. Likewise the poor, raw oat, splashed with milk is as appealing as chaff.

Oats crave moisture. Not only does it soften the grain into a succulent mouthful, but it releases all the vitamins and minerals which are otherwise bound up by phytates. It is no act of chance that the Scots slowly cooked their oats to make a salty porridge, on a cold Highland morning. Nor the invention of muesli, as a mixture of oats and fruit, soaked over night in buttermilk.

For years I’d make up my own batches of muesli. In a large container I’d shake together a generous portion of oats combined with chopped nuts, seeds and dried fruit. I’d soak it in soy milk, to be greeted in the morning with a greyish concoction spiced with nuts and fruit.

However, I’ve gone a bit minimalist here at Chez Food Nazi. With so much fresh fruit, it seemed a waste to load myself up with the dried variety. I also found (thanks to a little ‘silent reflux’) that the nuts would start me coughing. So my latest ‘muesli’, is a changeable feast of sorts, sans nuts, with fruit of the day. Here’s this mornings delight.

Bircher-style soaked oats

1 large handful of rolled oats
a few dried cranberries (just because it’s my latest sweet treat)
Soy milk (or apple juice, rice milk, oat milk or even cow juice)

Soak in a covered bowl overnight, or if you have an hour to spare between waking and eating, just do it in the morning.

Before serving – grate half an apple and slice a golden kiwi*. Stir through and eat.

* Choose your favourite seasonal fruit, just 1 or 2 is enough. Passionfruit and mango in summer, fresh berries, peaches…