Leslie Shows’ fascinating technique reinvigorates the landscape, but with words, clippings and futuristic sci-fi tones. Check her out, here.
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The omelet is an oops-we’ve-run-out-of-everything lifesaver. If all you have are a few eggs sitting alone in the fridge, you have dinner, or breakfast. A traditional French omelet of two-to-three eggs per person should be beaten, cooked and served in 90 seconds, the experts say. In respect of this culinary folklore, have the filling completely ready before you cook the eggs. An omelette should be served baveuse, cooked by still soft, never well-done.
Ages 7-12: I heart eggs omelet
This is the height of culinary chic, seven-year-old Ava learns as she gently beats the eggs with a fork. This is the most essential basic skill for any budding chef and the cornerstone of French gastronomic tradition. If you can master the art of a perfect omelet, you can step proudly forward in any kitchen, knowing that you can create a masterpiece out of a few simple ingredients. “I don’t know about all that,” Ava says. “I just like eggs.”
4 eggs 1 bunch asparagus 2 teaspoons butter 1/3 cup freshly grated cheeseBeat the eggs with a fork just enough to blend the yolks and whites. Season to taste. Meanwhile, blanch the asparagus in a saucepan of boiling, salted water for 3-5 minutes. Refresh under cold water, cut stems in half and set aside. Melt the butter in a medium-sized non-stick pan over a medium heat, tilting the pan to film the base and sides with butter. When the butter starts to colour, pour in the eggs. With a fork, pull the edges of the egg towards the centre as it thickens. Let the liquid part run into the vacant spaces. Quickly repeat so there is no more liquid, but the eggs are still soft. Scatter the cheese and asparagus over the eggs. Lift the handle of the pan so the omelette rolls over itself and on to a warmed plate, then serve immediately. Serves 2.
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In the right hands, a culinary accident can become the next big dish or technique, writes Kate Gibbs.
Frank Epperson sat on his back porch mixing powdered soda and water with a stick. Aged 11, he was experimenting, as children do, in a bid to make a soft drink. Distracted, he wandered off, leaving the mixture in the cold all night. Returning to the porch the next morning, he found the mixture frozen solid. He pulled at the stick in the tub and, eureka, he had accidentally invented the Popsicle. It was 1905.
History is full of fortuitous accidents: penicillin, rayon, Scotchgard, Archimedes’ weight-to-volume ratio; each was discovered via serendipitous stumbling and each turned out to benefit, or at least comfort, mankind.
Article published in The Sydney Morning Herald’s Good Living today.. Read the full article here.
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From frozen pastry to Gravox and ready-to-go pouring custard, the modern Aussie woman may have returned to the kitchen, but is certainly not cooking like mum used to.
Cooking like mum is lost art: Article featured in the Sunday Telegraph.
Me and the wonderful MF, cooking up some things in her kitchen.
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This story appears in the NY Times. Amazing and personal tale about food developments in New Orleans, post Katrina.
EVERY morning Leah Chase hobbles out of her FEMA trailer and crosses the street to check on the tortuous effort to rebuild her historic restaurant, Dooky Chase.
Mrs. Chase, 83, is the nation’s most revered Creole chef. Since Hurricane Katrina soaked her restaurant with five feet of water, people with the best intentions have held gumbo fund-raisers for her. Volunteers from Viking, the stove company, sanitized every pot and spoon. Insurance checks, such as they were, have been cashed…
There are some lovely post-Katrina food developments. Chefs are cooking with a new dedication and using more local products. The city has its first taco trucks, set up to feed workers from Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America who are in town to help rebuild it…
FULL STORY here.
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In all seriousness, I’ve never in my life seen so many lemons and limes all in one place. At my sister’s property Melross, in Kangaroo Valley, this weekend, we picked boxes and boxes of citrus, and still at the end of the weekend the trees were heavy with fruit. To be honest my darling father did the best part of the job (on top of sorting lemons, limes, ruby grapefruit and lemonade limes into boxes). I’ve put a box outside my apartment building with a “please squeeze me” note for passers by, but still we each have at least a couple of boxes each to get through.
So today I’m making spiced lemon pickle, spicy and astringent and perfect with grilled meats. Recipe..
Spiced lemon pickle You can use limes when they are plentiful in place of the lemons. After about four weeks the pickle will be ready to eat – soft, mellow and a beautiful colour. Stored in a cool, dark place, this pickle will keep indefinitely.1 tablespoon allspice berries 2 teaspoons cardamom seeds 1 teaspoon coriander seeds zest and juice of 1 kg lemons 2 large or 4 small green chillies, seeded and finely chopped 60 g fresh green ginger, peeled and grated 500 g white onions, halved and thinly sliced 2½ cups white wine vinegar 3 cups sugar
1. Wrap the three spices in a piece of muslin and tie with kitchen string to secure. Place the rest of the ingredients except the sugar in a ceramic or stainless steel bowl and leave overnight.
2. Next day, tip the ingredients into a non-aluminium saucepan and gently simmer until the lemon slices are tender, about 1½ hours. Remove the spice bag, add the sugar and stir until dissolved. Boil over high heat 20 minutes, then spoon into hot sterilised jars and seal. Label and leave for at least a month before eating.
Meanwhile, when not citrus picking and just reading the newspapers on the deck – we all four-wheel drove up the Kangaroo Valley escarpment and lit a tiny fire for billy tea among the gum trees in the winter sun. All serenity until some guys came along on their bikes. But to be honest if you’re a boy with a bike this might just be paradise, and my sister and I secretly wanted a ride anyway.
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Daily news, delivered in the form of a doily. Saves me leaving tea rings on my newspaper, while also being usefully amusing. Doily news.
Peter Bruegger presented his moustache mugs as part of the London design week last year. The fine bone china mugs are available in six tache styles. I might enjoy effortlessly masquerading behind a moustache while drinking my green tea.
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Following ‘Trash to some, treasure to others’ in The Sydney Morning Herald, ABC radio (702) asked me to come in to their studios to speak with presenter Andrew Daddo on the issue of recycling online. The interview was live and we spoke for 30 mins or so.
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Feature article published in The Sydney Morning Herald today, ‘Trash to some, treasure to others’: Kate Gibbs reports on the recycling network where everything is free.
“It’s like a scene from an old western. A lone, dusty shape stands by the side of the road, ignored by passers-by. Its fate is decided as a carriage pulls up beside it. In this modern, urban version of the story, an old filing cabinet is no hero and it’s picked up in a garbage truck and consigned to landfill, to be buried and forgotten. But it didn’t have to be an unhappy ending. An increasing number of Australians are catching on to a global phenomenon in which used goods are happily picked up by resourceful pioneers.”
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Article published in The Sydney Morning Herald today: “More people are inventing ways to get what they want without spending a cent.” Words Kate Gibbs.
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