Cheat’s Chocolate Mousse and Banana Ice Cream
You’ve heard of four ingredient recipes, right? Let me introduce you to one and two ingredient recipes. The first is a chocolate mousse that only uses chocolate and water and the second is a banana ice cream that only uses bananas.
In the spirit of the shortness of these recipes I will make this quick…
David Chang’s Ramen from Lucky Peach
Maybe you’ve heard of charismatic Korean-American chef, David Chang. You might be accused of living under a rock if you haven’t. His much-hyped Momofuku (translation = Lucky Peach) restaurants in New York are notoriously difficult to secure a reservation at. His first restaurant Momofuku Noodle Bar opened in 2003. Chang took exclusivity to new heights in 2008 with Momofuku Ko, a 12-seat 2-Michelin starred eatery with an online-only reservation system that allows bookings only six days in advance. Momofuku Ssam Bar and Momofuku Milk Bar (whose ‘Crack Pie’ is currently being trademarked) opened within the same year. After publishing the Momofuku cookbook in 2009 he established Má Pêche and another two Milk Bar outposts followed. More locally and most recently he appeared in this year’s Masterchef.
Inspired by visits to Australia, Chang will be opening a Sydney restaurant in the revamped Star Casino called Momofuku Seiōbo (pronounced say-oh-boh, being the Japanese queen goddess of the west) at the end of the year. Another two restaurants in Toronto are scheduled to open in 2012.
A lover of noodles, pork buns and expletives, Chang’s enthusiasm for understanding and making the most of our senses while cooking and eating sees him on endless journeys of experimentation and scientific discovery.
Fish Supper
It’s been a while since I cooked a whole fish. In fact it’s been a while since I cooked a whole anything. Boneless fillets are just so easy with the kids, but there’s a certain sense of accomplishment in getting your way around a whole piece of fish without swallowing a bone.
We are so accustomed to having food delivered to us, quite literally, on a tray, in a bag, prepped and ready for the pan or oven that cooking whole piece of anything is as close as supermarket, even market, shoppers get to catching our own dinner. Being a giant leap away from knowing the origin of the food in our trolleys, eating whole fish gives the impression of it being a step closer, albeit in a superficial way.
Chilli Trepidations
Brrrr! The chill factor is extreme for this time of the year don’t you think? I don’t know about you, but autumn seemed to pass in the blink of an eye. I’m into winter comfort food in a big way already, with lots of recipes popping into my head that involve slow cooking on the stove top or a bit of spice to heat us up from the inside out.
Out of pure ignorance, I was once completely terrified of all foods hot. If there was the slightest hint of chilli I’d got for another item on the menu. Heat in food is just something I didn’t grow up with and with only movie references to practical jokes involving chilli as my reference; I came to the conclusion that it was to be avoided at all costs. Worse, I equated anything with spice or pepper to be ‘hot’ and as such any foods including such items were blacklisted.
Over time, I started to get an inkling that I was missing out. There were just so many delicious-smelling meals I’d refuse all because of an unsubstantiated fear. With the encouragement of friends, I started on working on overcoming my trepidation by introducing some not-so-hot foods, one of which was a mild laksa. It was love at first slurp.
Hunters & Gatherers
A funny thing happened a couple of weeks ago. I received a message from a Twitter friend who had won a competition through our local ABC radio station to take 10 friends to the Hunter Valley for a day of feasting… and I was one of the 10 names she put forward. Hells bells! Before I knew it I was on a road trip to culinary heaven with some people I’d never met before (in real life).
Wine, cheese, chorizo, olive oil, duck. In that order…
