If you have been watching MasterChef Professionals, you may have seen the Italian challenge earlier this week.  There was a restaurant challenge and the challengers had to ensure one of their dishes included Barilla pasta.

The lovely people at Barilla decided to challenge me as well.  I received the recipes under embargo before the episode aired, and was challenged to choose one to cook, but add my own twist.

I couldn’t help myself and ended up playing around with both recipes, Orecchiette Vongole and Casarecce with Rabbit, Cavolo Nero, Almonds and olives.  I hate to blow my own horn, but I love my twists on both recipes.  My version of the rabbit rocked, and I will share it with you guys shortly, but today I share the Orecchiette recipe. Read more →

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Summer in Australia is hot, don’t let anybody tell you differently.  It’s also the time that we Aussies love to entertain.  Long BBQ’s at home, accompanied with cooling beverages, lasting until the heat of the day is put to bed by the arrival of evening.  Our hot Summer days do cry out for BBQs, but cooling dishes for entertaining are also an essential requisite for any serious home cooks’ repertoire.

Another recipe that I am not 100% sure when I nabbed it from, maybe Delicious?  I made these for Christmas Day 2012, but they are perfect for any entertaining occasion.  I made them as shots, but you could prepare larger versions as a cool entree to start a Summer dinner party.

Not sure if you like chilled soup?  Quite a few people are put off by the idea.  This is a great recipe to make and see if chilled soup is for you.  This recipe is full of flavour and the crab gives you the required texture to add some interest for your palate. Read more →

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It was a failed attempt to dine at Mr Wong that led us to The Morrison.  We had arrived at Mr Wong at 6.45pm on a Saturday and our party of 4 were advised that we would be lucky to get a table by 9pm.  They do not take dinner bookings for groups less than six.  Sayonara Mr Wong, and it was off to find an alternative dinner venue.

The Morrison is fairly new to Sydney’s dining scene.  It has been around three months since Fraser Short and Sean Connolly set up shop at the refurbished Brooklyn Hotel site.

We were lucky they were able to accommodate us, but we were told we had to vacate the table by 8.15pm.  Not a problem as long as they can feed us in one hour 20 minutes.

Menus come on clipboards and aren’t extensive, but their famed  oysters aren’t listed.  For oyster options you are advised to ‘see the board for oysters’  Not quite sure where ‘the board’ is, but didn’t ask as we weren’t interested in oysters.  I do love my oysters but we had overdosed the night before at the Sydney Cove Oyster Bar.

Due to our time constraint we ordered quickly.  The decision was made to order a few items from the ‘Shell and Bone’ section to share. Read more →

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My first visit to the Sydney Cove Oyster Barwas in the late 80′s.  The 1908 federation building had just been redeveloped as a restaurant  in time for Australia’s bicentennial in 1988.  I fell in love with the history of the building which was originally constructed for Burns Philip & Co workers as part of the wharf facilities, this included a public lavatory.  Yes, when you eat at the SCOB, you are eating at a heritage loo.  Trust me I love telling everyone I take there this fact.

As soon as the SCOB opened, my dad would take overseas colleagues there for lunch on the weekends when showing them around Sydney.  I too took on this trait when showing my overseas colleagues around Sydney.  It is in a brilliant location on Sydney Harbour.

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Prawn toast is a favourite of mine.  The crunch of biting through the crisp fried bread base and savouring the juicy prawn topping, truly scruptious.  Usually eaten just out of the wok, steam escaping from the prawn topping, usually up my nose as I take that first bite.

As much as I adore prawn toast, it really isn’t an everyday food, is it?.  Being fried in oil, the bread does do it’s fair share of soaking a bit of that oil up, no matter how well you drain it.  Healthy for you, this dish is not.

On the weekend once in a while I will make this as a treat for the boys, and of course as a treat for myself.  Simple finger food served with some sweet chilli sauce on the side.

I never order them these days when we eat out at Chinese restaurants.  I have often wondered if they are of those ‘Anglo’ dishes that are just there for those of us from non Chinese backgrounds.  They were a staple item I would always want to order as a child, but these days I always tend to order items a lot more interesting and unusual.  Read more →

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Aussies love prawns.  Due to a stupid Tourism Australia advertisement featuring Paul Hogan years ago my American readers may think we call them shrimp.  Nope, Aussies throw prawns on the barbie.  We never knew what a shrimp was until that ad was aired.

We love our prawns ever more so when it’s time to celebrate.  I can’t imagine Christmas or even New Years Eve without having some sort of prawn or oyster canapé being circulated.  So it only seems obvious to share this spiced prawn pappadam recipe after sharing my oysters three ways.

Not sure if you have ever noticed the chip style packets of pre-made pappadums which grace the Indian cuisine section of local supermarkets?  They are so handy and I have made great use of them in the past. Read more →

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The Boathouse is one of my favourite restaurants in Sydney for various reasons.  The gorgeous location on top of a converted boathouse that juts in to Blackwattle Bay.  The fully glassed in space that gives you views, no matter where you look or are seated, Anzac Bridge, Sydney skyline or the Sydney Fish Markets.  Then there of course is the pride they take in the produce they source for their patrons.

Which brings us to their oysters.  An incredible variety and all freshly shucked.  The majority of the oysters are Sydney Rock varieties from both the North and South coasts of NSW, but there are also a couple of Angasi and Coffin Bay varieties on the menu too.  Regular Belly Rumbles readers will know of my love affair with oysters.The Boathouse was established by Tony Papas and Robert Smallbone in 1997.  Does the name Tony Papas ring a bell?  Well it should.  Tony was Executive Chef and partner of The Bayswater Brasserie (now closed).  The Boathouse was the second restaurant to be opened by the Brasserie Group.  By the way, Tony is also responsible for bringing us Brasserie Bread along with Michael Klausen.  Did I just ring that bell for you? Read more →

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Oh yes, the first Christmas entertaining recipe for the season.  I am being proactive this year and will be sharing a few Christmas recipes with you.  Unlike the last couple of years where I have been unorganised and lazy.

I love oysters and I especially adore Sydney Rock Oysters.  What better way to celebrate Christmas than with some oysters and a glass of your favourite bubbly?  Oysters are perfect for pre-Christmas cocktail parties, and no I haven’t got a gig with an oyster association, I just love them! Read more →

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Kathlyn of Bake Like a Ninja was our Daring Cooks’ March 2011 hostess. Kathlyn challenges us to make two classic Peruvian dishes: Ceviche de Pescado from “Peruvian Cooking – Basic Recipes” by Annik Franco Barreau. And Papas Rellenas adapted from a home recipe by Kathlyn’s Spanish teacher, Mayra.

Wow I am a lazy girl and took the easy but also low fat free road on this challenge.  Trying to be really good about what goes in my mouth at the moment and as delicious as the papas rellenas looked in all their deep fried goodness I went for the fresh and healthy ceviche.

Ceviche is believed to have originated in Peru nearly 500 years ago.  It is believed that the original dish used the fermented juice of the banana passionfruit and then during the Inca period they started using chicha.  It was with the arrival of the Spanish that the locals switched to using citrus juice.

In the past I have only ever identified and eaten this style of dish with various Islands in the Pacific.  In Hawaii it is called poke and in Fiji it is called kokoda, but there are so many versions around the region. Read more →

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