Coronation Chicken with Taglietelle
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| A good dish to share with friends. Easy to make Easy to eat. |
A WORLD OF FOOD FRIENDS,CAFE LIFE AND COMMUNITY ~ ALL SET IN THE GLORIOUS SURROUNDS OF HISTORIC ALBANY ~ HERE LIFE REALLY IS..... A BOWL OF CHERRIES
Friday, November 26, 2010
Saturday, November 20, 2010
New Beginnings
When mornings start early (sometimes way too early) uniforms, bags, school notes and the whole busy shebang ~ breakfast for Him and me has always been a precious time to catch up, plan, laugh and just be us. Without really realising it, over the years we've become breakfast buffs! Good really because it's led us to the best breakfast spots wherever we happen to be.
When we lived atop one of the Mounts, we discovered The Vancouver Cafe just below, hugging a corner of a pretty heritage house lined street.
Sublime Food! My personal quest for The Best Fruit Toast ended here ~ crammed with sweet dried fruit, nuts and tasty seeds, here was a party of a slice, sitting before me, and served with discs of spiced butter just to add to the fun! Visions of this toast would start invading my mind space just around the time the children would be exiting the car at the school gates!
Before long this was our regular haunt, and we were always rather charmed that the owner would often stop at our table for a little chat ~ making us feel very welcome.
It was during one of those exchanges that she asked what I did for a living, and on finding out that I was a writer, offered me a ticket to an upcoming event that was being held at the cafe, and asked me to write about it.
When I gave her that first piece I will never forget the genuine delight she expressed after reading it ~ This industry is choc a block with competitive talent, so it's unusual to find someone openly admire your work.
This woman was my friend now, she didn't know it yet, but she was!
Our mutual passion for all things culinary soon became apparent, after some weeks of creative, mainly food inspired chats, we agreed that the world needed a cookbook written by us! It's something we're still travelling towards.....
Meanwhile Alison thought that some kind of publication chronicling the community life that surrounds and is linked to the cafe, would be a unique way for her customers to be entertained and informed.
So it was that the Vancouver View was born.
When we lived atop one of the Mounts, we discovered The Vancouver Cafe just below, hugging a corner of a pretty heritage house lined street.
Sublime Food! My personal quest for The Best Fruit Toast ended here ~ crammed with sweet dried fruit, nuts and tasty seeds, here was a party of a slice, sitting before me, and served with discs of spiced butter just to add to the fun! Visions of this toast would start invading my mind space just around the time the children would be exiting the car at the school gates!
Before long this was our regular haunt, and we were always rather charmed that the owner would often stop at our table for a little chat ~ making us feel very welcome.
It was during one of those exchanges that she asked what I did for a living, and on finding out that I was a writer, offered me a ticket to an upcoming event that was being held at the cafe, and asked me to write about it.
When I gave her that first piece I will never forget the genuine delight she expressed after reading it ~ This industry is choc a block with competitive talent, so it's unusual to find someone openly admire your work.
This woman was my friend now, she didn't know it yet, but she was!
Our mutual passion for all things culinary soon became apparent, after some weeks of creative, mainly food inspired chats, we agreed that the world needed a cookbook written by us! It's something we're still travelling towards.....
Meanwhile Alison thought that some kind of publication chronicling the community life that surrounds and is linked to the cafe, would be a unique way for her customers to be entertained and informed.
So it was that the Vancouver View was born.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
THE CHOCOLATE PAGE
I couldn't leave it too long before I paid homage to the love of my life ~ sorry family ~ but some things are just undeniable!
So, here is the piece that appeared in Flourish. Part of the 'In Praise Of ' series of food articles...........
If it weren’t for the sun bean, our world would be a duller place for sure. For like the sun itself, a daily dose can bring light into your life and happiness into your heart.
Rebecca Commons takes a journey back to the time of the ancient Toltecs and discovers why this little bean was revered as much then as it is now.
________________________________________________________________________
It‘s wonderful how man discovers certain things by chance, and then works and improves it until it is firmly established within a society. The Toltecs, who lived in Mexico several thousand years ago, were familiar with the broad crown like trees that grew in their forests, producing blossom, leaf and fruit simultaneously. When the pods were ripe, they would burst open to reveal attractive bright pebble shaped beans. A local inhabitant out on a foraging trip might have bent down to look at them wondering if they could be eaten ~ they would have been hard but aromatic ~ he might have tried crushing them to make them easier to digest, and because of their high fat content, the paste he was left with would have been bitter but delicious. It seems to be a quirk of mankind that if something tastes good, it attracts attention and then effort is devoted to it. The Toltecs named their discovery ‘sun beans’, and their diet and presumably their happiness were now all the richer This was the original Cacao, which has grown since time immemorial in the tropical forests of the Americas.
Our word for chocolate comes from the Aztecs, who conquered the Toltecs in 1325. They discovered that ‘cacahuatl’, which was the name they gave to the sun beans, tasted mellower if left to ferment in the steamy heat of the forest floor. Rinsed and ground into a paste, here was the first ever step in the processing of cocoa as a popular food.
At various times throughout history, cocoa beans have been used as currency by the Mayans and Mexicans, but always the enduring attraction has been as a luxury food and later in the court of Montezuma, as a drink. This he supped surrounded by great pomp and ceremony and from weighty solid gold goblets ~ naturally!
Chocolate’s constant appearance, reinvention and adoration through the ages is as diverse and exuberant as the product itself. Several of the world’s supercentenarians have been passionately fond of chocolate. Jeanne Calment died in 1997 having habitually eaten around four kilos of dark chocolate a week, she was 122! It’s been used as important bribes between rival countries to promote peace. It’s been used as a focus for political resolutions, and as a status symbol to categorize and differentiate people. The innocent sun bean has even been included in royal dowries to win the most discerning husband! In fact, in 1660, when Maria Theresa of Spain came to marry Louis X1V, the Sun King, of France, she arrived with a servant whose sole function was to prepare her favourite chocolate drink. What luxury!
When you open a box of cocoa, close your eyes and recognise that unmistakable aroma ~ a gift from the New World to the Old World. Nothing was or is as mild and smooth as cocoa or chocolate, and yet its slight hint of bitterness is a superb finishing flourish.
‘Brown Gold’ is the name given to the product processed from those sun beans. Just as it takes painstaking effort to mine gold from the depths of the earth, for us to admire and enjoy, so it takes great industriousness to extract the brown essence from each bean. The prize, of course, is chocolate of the highest quality.
Chocolate is a confection to exult in! In recent years much has been made of its beneficial properties, firmly establishing it as an invitation to celebrate life. Food writer Donna Hay, sums it up with alacrity: " While chocolate may not exactly be able to solve all the world’s problems, I firmly believe that quantities of the almost mythological substance could have a profound impact on many a dicey international situation……,
so please indulge, and do your bit for world peace!’
So, here is the piece that appeared in Flourish. Part of the 'In Praise Of ' series of food articles...........
In Praise of the Sun Bean
Rebecca Commons takes a journey back to the time of the ancient Toltecs and discovers why this little bean was revered as much then as it is now.
________________________________________________________________________
It‘s wonderful how man discovers certain things by chance, and then works and improves it until it is firmly established within a society. The Toltecs, who lived in Mexico several thousand years ago, were familiar with the broad crown like trees that grew in their forests, producing blossom, leaf and fruit simultaneously. When the pods were ripe, they would burst open to reveal attractive bright pebble shaped beans. A local inhabitant out on a foraging trip might have bent down to look at them wondering if they could be eaten ~ they would have been hard but aromatic ~ he might have tried crushing them to make them easier to digest, and because of their high fat content, the paste he was left with would have been bitter but delicious. It seems to be a quirk of mankind that if something tastes good, it attracts attention and then effort is devoted to it. The Toltecs named their discovery ‘sun beans’, and their diet and presumably their happiness were now all the richer This was the original Cacao, which has grown since time immemorial in the tropical forests of the Americas.
Our word for chocolate comes from the Aztecs, who conquered the Toltecs in 1325. They discovered that ‘cacahuatl’, which was the name they gave to the sun beans, tasted mellower if left to ferment in the steamy heat of the forest floor. Rinsed and ground into a paste, here was the first ever step in the processing of cocoa as a popular food.
At various times throughout history, cocoa beans have been used as currency by the Mayans and Mexicans, but always the enduring attraction has been as a luxury food and later in the court of Montezuma, as a drink. This he supped surrounded by great pomp and ceremony and from weighty solid gold goblets ~ naturally!
Chocolate’s constant appearance, reinvention and adoration through the ages is as diverse and exuberant as the product itself. Several of the world’s supercentenarians have been passionately fond of chocolate. Jeanne Calment died in 1997 having habitually eaten around four kilos of dark chocolate a week, she was 122! It’s been used as important bribes between rival countries to promote peace. It’s been used as a focus for political resolutions, and as a status symbol to categorize and differentiate people. The innocent sun bean has even been included in royal dowries to win the most discerning husband! In fact, in 1660, when Maria Theresa of Spain came to marry Louis X1V, the Sun King, of France, she arrived with a servant whose sole function was to prepare her favourite chocolate drink. What luxury!
When you open a box of cocoa, close your eyes and recognise that unmistakable aroma ~ a gift from the New World to the Old World. Nothing was or is as mild and smooth as cocoa or chocolate, and yet its slight hint of bitterness is a superb finishing flourish.
‘Brown Gold’ is the name given to the product processed from those sun beans. Just as it takes painstaking effort to mine gold from the depths of the earth, for us to admire and enjoy, so it takes great industriousness to extract the brown essence from each bean. The prize, of course, is chocolate of the highest quality.
Chocolate is a confection to exult in! In recent years much has been made of its beneficial properties, firmly establishing it as an invitation to celebrate life. Food writer Donna Hay, sums it up with alacrity: " While chocolate may not exactly be able to solve all the world’s problems, I firmly believe that quantities of the almost mythological substance could have a profound impact on many a dicey international situation……,
so please indulge, and do your bit for world peace!’
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Foodie Friends and their Recipes
Simple Sweet Salty Salad
Fresh baby spinach.A ripe mango, and a block of Feta.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Friends and Simple Suppers
It's always great to run into Vanessa, she's always ready for a giggle, and loves food as much as I do. I was pacing the supermarket wondering what to feed the brood, when she appeared from the bread section! 'Nachos' she advised, 'That's what I'm doing tonight'
Sometimes It's just nice not to have to think, so I gathered up the ingredients and back in my kitchen got busy.
I made a rich tomato, chilli and red wine sauce, added minced beef and a variety of legumes and let it bubble away whilst I laid out the corn chips, grated some vintage cheddar and scooped the advocados.
In less than half an hour, everyone was tucking into a hearty plate of nachos, topped with sour cream, advos and melted cheese: Delectable. Thanks V!
We had a quick dance on our hats, and life was good
Alison's cooking skills are a bit of a legend, and when I tried her Chicken and pistachio terrine at the Melbourne Cup lunch at her Cafe, I was keen to replicate it (well actually, just somewhere close would do!) She's one of those clever instinctive cooks, so it was no use getting exact amounts out of her ~ but she did give me the general idea on how to put it all together.
I went for turkey, with a layer of chicken, pistachios throughout and wrapped in pancetta.
For my first attempt I was quite pleased, it looked good ~ I bathed it in a cranberry and white wine sauce and we had it warm with buttered asparagus. Lots of compliments from The Man of The House. The next day we had it with a mango salad, ~ it was a better looking terrine cold because you could see those pretty layers. Then who should come a knocking on my door, but Alison herself! I presented the doyenne of terrine with my effort, and although little was said: not a scrap was left........ I think I'll chose to interpret that in favourable way! ps: (Orange and blueberry friands for dessert ~ naturally!)
Sometimes It's just nice not to have to think, so I gathered up the ingredients and back in my kitchen got busy.
I made a rich tomato, chilli and red wine sauce, added minced beef and a variety of legumes and let it bubble away whilst I laid out the corn chips, grated some vintage cheddar and scooped the advocados.
In less than half an hour, everyone was tucking into a hearty plate of nachos, topped with sour cream, advos and melted cheese: Delectable. Thanks V!
We had a quick dance on our hats, and life was good
Alison's cooking skills are a bit of a legend, and when I tried her Chicken and pistachio terrine at the Melbourne Cup lunch at her Cafe, I was keen to replicate it (well actually, just somewhere close would do!) She's one of those clever instinctive cooks, so it was no use getting exact amounts out of her ~ but she did give me the general idea on how to put it all together.
I went for turkey, with a layer of chicken, pistachios throughout and wrapped in pancetta.
For my first attempt I was quite pleased, it looked good ~ I bathed it in a cranberry and white wine sauce and we had it warm with buttered asparagus. Lots of compliments from The Man of The House. The next day we had it with a mango salad, ~ it was a better looking terrine cold because you could see those pretty layers. Then who should come a knocking on my door, but Alison herself! I presented the doyenne of terrine with my effort, and although little was said: not a scrap was left........ I think I'll chose to interpret that in favourable way! ps: (Orange and blueberry friands for dessert ~ naturally!)
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
The Flourish Connection
Years ago, before we reached these sunny shores, a very clever psychic told me I would be living in Australia and working for a glossy magazine. (she told me lots of other things as well, but that's a different chapter!) When we settled in Perth I bombarded all the glossies with my articles, but to no avail ~ no one took freelancers. I wrote travel articles for The West Australian, and whilst that satisfied my writing gene, there was a distinct lack of gloss! At that time I did a lot of work with the Variety Club of WA, and one of the ladies there ran her own PR business: we became friends, and did a few joint projects. One of them was to report on, and experience the new Dolphin Discovery Centre in Bunbury. As providence would have it, a new women's magazine was just being launched in Perth, and the article I wrote about swimming with the dolphins was accepted by Jane, their lovely editor.
Here was my glossy. Flourish was a little different to most in that it didn't peddle on celebrities and gossip, but threw a more thoughtful slant on women's issues and interests. Flourish went from strength to strength, and I was pleased to become a regular contributor; somehow slipping into the role of food writer ~ no surprises there really!
Nowadays, Flourish has gone global, which is great news for women around the world: it is a vibrant online magazine, always packed with beauty and interest.
This week my newest article will be there. It's a look at one of my favourite foods ~ ice cream ~ in all it's frozen glory!
You can find Flourish on Facebook and Twitter, and their web link is http://www.flourishmagazine.com.au/ Subscribe and join the Flourish community!
Here was my glossy. Flourish was a little different to most in that it didn't peddle on celebrities and gossip, but threw a more thoughtful slant on women's issues and interests. Flourish went from strength to strength, and I was pleased to become a regular contributor; somehow slipping into the role of food writer ~ no surprises there really!
Nowadays, Flourish has gone global, which is great news for women around the world: it is a vibrant online magazine, always packed with beauty and interest.
This week my newest article will be there. It's a look at one of my favourite foods ~ ice cream ~ in all it's frozen glory!
You can find Flourish on Facebook and Twitter, and their web link is http://www.flourishmagazine.com.au/ Subscribe and join the Flourish community!
Sunday, November 7, 2010
For The Love of Cafes
One day we were pootling down a very nice street when we spied a rather graceful heritage building on a corner ~ ahha ! another cafe to be discovered.
Little did we know on that auspicious day, just how much this pretty place would come to mean to us, and the huge part it would play in our lives.
Cooking & Community
There's no doubt that this corner of the world is pretty gorgeous ~ our new house resides on an orange wattle lined street, and is in fact one of the first houses to be built in Albany ~ 1908 apparently ~ with lots of its original features, it's a quirky comfy nest for me and the brood.
Cooking
It's been a while since I indulged my love of feeding a crowd, but last week there was a meeting of creative minds, and I jumped at the chance to provide pretty food. The strawberry cup cakes looked dramatic on the black platter, with sprigs of crimson bottlebrush to set off the colours, the cake mixture was intensely vanilla. I made a beetrooot dip ~tasty with cumin and natural yoghut, and a cheddar, apple and caramelized onion mix for people to slather on little rounds of fresh bread. To compliment all these colours I needed yellow (yes I do colour co ordinate my food, can't help it!) So a big open plate omelette studded with spring onions and sweet potato did the job.
It was a very interesting meeting, and I felt gratified that there was continuous munching, lots of compliments and nothing at all left over!
Cooking
It's been a while since I indulged my love of feeding a crowd, but last week there was a meeting of creative minds, and I jumped at the chance to provide pretty food. The strawberry cup cakes looked dramatic on the black platter, with sprigs of crimson bottlebrush to set off the colours, the cake mixture was intensely vanilla. I made a beetrooot dip ~tasty with cumin and natural yoghut, and a cheddar, apple and caramelized onion mix for people to slather on little rounds of fresh bread. To compliment all these colours I needed yellow (yes I do colour co ordinate my food, can't help it!) So a big open plate omelette studded with spring onions and sweet potato did the job.
It was a very interesting meeting, and I felt gratified that there was continuous munching, lots of compliments and nothing at all left over!
Saturday, November 6, 2010
A Flurry of Friands
How funny life is ~ ages ago I had a go at making Friands, with various poor results. Then last Sunday we happened on a garage sale in a beautiful house overlooking the Sound.
The owners were an elderly couple who were ready to move to a Lifestyle Village ~ their wares were top quality and realistically priced.
There in the corner was a brand new friand tin ~ solid and serious! It was mine for a mere $4!
That tin must have carried a lucky vibe because when I went home and tried a recipe for lemon and coconut friands, they worked like a charm ~ moist lemon~ey, and that cute little shape: so professional: I was delighted!
I packed two up in a be~ribboned box and delivered them to that lovely couple, my luxury loving kids had one each and the remainder, posed prettily on a white platter with slices of lemon in our special Cafe a few doors down, where they sold like... well... hot cakes! (More about that cafe in the next post)
Anyway, since then, I've been trying different flavours, a batch always going to the Cafe, and it seems like there are some friand afficionados out there because they're getting snapped up.
There is a little dilemma attached to all this, so many egg yolks ~ what to do?
My answer was a luscious vanilla custard tart ~ that disappeared super quick too!
Orange and Blueberry for tomorrow, coffee and hazelnut next week ~ Right now Life is not only a bowl of cherries but a flurry of friands ~ oooh, almond and cherry would be nice!
The owners were an elderly couple who were ready to move to a Lifestyle Village ~ their wares were top quality and realistically priced.
There in the corner was a brand new friand tin ~ solid and serious! It was mine for a mere $4!
That tin must have carried a lucky vibe because when I went home and tried a recipe for lemon and coconut friands, they worked like a charm ~ moist lemon~ey, and that cute little shape: so professional: I was delighted!
I packed two up in a be~ribboned box and delivered them to that lovely couple, my luxury loving kids had one each and the remainder, posed prettily on a white platter with slices of lemon in our special Cafe a few doors down, where they sold like... well... hot cakes! (More about that cafe in the next post)
Anyway, since then, I've been trying different flavours, a batch always going to the Cafe, and it seems like there are some friand afficionados out there because they're getting snapped up.
There is a little dilemma attached to all this, so many egg yolks ~ what to do?
My answer was a luscious vanilla custard tart ~ that disappeared super quick too!
Orange and Blueberry for tomorrow, coffee and hazelnut next week ~ Right now Life is not only a bowl of cherries but a flurry of friands ~ oooh, almond and cherry would be nice!
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