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The one and only excuse for Chinese Whispers...
... if you grew up not realizing that your hearing was lost to the consonants like sh, ch, th, s, f, b, d, t,
... and your brain spent all that time interpreting vowels and body language,
... then, welcome to the world of selective hearing.
For now, eating in a restaurant with bionic ears is out of the question with all that loud whispering. Sob.
Beautiful autumn pears, often seen in paintings. Great fresh or caramelized. Pair well with strong cheeses, honey and mustard.
Caramelized Pear and Chicory Salad
The perfect entree for a French dinner. For each serve:
1 beurre bosc pear
2 t butter
6 chicory leaves
3 slices camembert
1 t pecorino or blue cheese, crumbled
6 cashew or pecan
1 t Dijon mustard
1 t lemon juice
1. Peel the pear. Cut into 5 mm thick slices.
2. Fry the slices in butter over medium heat until slightly caramelized. Remove from heat. Cool.
3. Arranged the pear slices on a serving plate. Add chicory, camembert and nuts. Sprinkle crumbled cheese.
4. Mix mustard and lemon juice together. Drizzle over the salad just before serving.
Simple, yet flavoursome. The key is to extract the flavours by careful frying to caramelize the ingredients.
Tomato Sauce
1 kg fresh tomatoes, peeled, chopped
or
1 x 425 g tinned tomatoes in juice
1 onion, finely chopped
1-2 garlic, finely chopped
3 T olive oil
1/2 t basil
1/4 t thyme
salt, pepper to taste
1. Using 1 T olive oil, fry the onion on gentle heat until light golden brown. Add more oil as needed. Allow around 30 minutes. Add garlic towards the end so as not to burn.
2. Remove the onion and garlic. Add remaining oil. Pour in the tomatoes and fry at high temperature until reduced. Lower temperature and fry until orange oil starts to separate and the mixture is thick. Return the onion and garlic.
3. Season with salt and pepper. Add herbs. Remove from heat.
Use the tomato sauce as a base for pasta sauce like marinara, and with chilli mussels.
Fettuccine Marinara
For 2 serves
300 g seafood (fish, prawn, mussel, squid)
2 t olive oil
1-2 c stock or water
1 batch tomato sauce as above
200 g fettuccine (dried)
1. Heat the olive oil in pan until smoking. Toss in the seafood and cook for 2 minutes until the flesh starts turning white. Remove.
2. Deglaze pan with stock or water.
3. Add tomato sauce. Cook until thickened.
4. In a separate pot boil the fettuccine for 10 minutes until cooked. Drain.
5. Add the seafood to the tomato sauce. Remove from heat and serve immediately over the fettuccine.
There are many ways of making Geman spaetzle noodles. The only way to make edible spaetzle according to John is by using his method which entails beating a batter to develop the gluten. The resultant noodles have a bite similar to al dente pasta. Here is a never blogged before method of making spaetzle which requires no special kitchen gadget.
1/3 c flour (approximately), for batter
1/4 c water
1/4 c flour, for dusting
Beat 1/3 c flour and 1/4 c water until the batter becomes stringy. Allow 5-10 minutes beating with a wooden spoon. When ready, the batter easily pulls into ribbons as pictured. Rest 30 minutes.
Place the remaining flour on a chopping board. Pour the batter over the flour.
Using a spatula, lift and slightly roll the batter lengthwise while patting in the flour.
Continue working with the spatula until all the flour is incorporated. The finished dough is soft and stretchy. 
Dust a knife with flour. Cut the dough crosswise into 1 cm thick strips.
Immediately after cutting, throw the noodle strips into rapidly boiling water. Cook for 5 minutes. Drain. Serve with sausage and sauerkraut.
Lady Florence Bjelke-Petersen, the wife of a former Queensland premier made famous the pumpkin scones. This is a rich version using sour cream for extra flavour.
150 g cooked pumpkin puree, see below
1 T (20 g) butter, melted or milk
125 g (1/2 c) sour cream
225 g (1.5 c) SR flour, sifted
pinch salt
1. Sift flour with salt.
2. Add cream, pumpkin and butter. Mix to a soft dough with a wooden spoon. Do not overwork.
3. Place dough on a floured surface. Using floured hands, pat dough out to 2 cm thickness.
4. Cut into 5 cm rounds.
5. Place on buttered baking tray.
6. Brush with milk.
7. Bake at 220 degrees Celsius for 10-15 minutes until golden and bottoms sound hollow when tapped.
Pumpkin Puree
Place 250 g of pumpkin in a glass bowl. Add 1 T of water. Cover. Microwave for 4 minutes until soft. Drain. Push through a sieve. Discard the skin. Yields about 150 g puree.
Birthday dinner prepared by "Masterchef" Noodle Cook at 5 star restaurant "39" in Sorrento.
Entree
Salad of caramelised Beurre Bosc pear, chicory, Camembert, blue cheese crumbs and nuts, dressed with lemon and Dijon mustard
Main
Assiette plate of roasted chicken with tarragon cream sauce, chicken mousse with creamy broccoli puree, honey glazed carrots and roasted potato and skins
Dessert
Apple tarte tatin smothered with buttery toffee sauce, served with creme fraiche
Everyone has one of those life changing moments. For Noodle Cook, and any masterchef wannabe, it has to be that memorable meal. It was the first French meal, eaten at Marcel's in the King Street tourist precinct, Toronto. Prices were great after the downturn from chicken flu and mad cow disease. Besides, no-one would pass up a fine dining restaurant meal after a conference field trip that went from west to east coast of Canada. Of course with John, the expert at food criticising, on hand to pay for the meal, it was too good an opportunity.
The difference with this meal was the ambience, complete with music and rustic French decor. Up until that moment in time on 27 July, 2003, fine dining was strictly for business with clients, and savouring the beautiful flavours built into the tiny squiggle of a well made sauce wasn't a privilege to enjoy while doing business.
Moules Poulette $8.75
Mussels in Chardonnay wine, herb and cream sauce
Noisettes d'agneau grillees, reduction de romarin et baie de genievre, mousseline de pommes de terre au pesto $19.50
Roasted lamb loin, with rosemary-juniper reduction and pesto mashed potato
Mille feuilles a la meringue avec une mousse a la mangue et coulis de framboises
Meringue mille feuilles filled with a mango mousse and served with a raspberry sauce
Escargots au basilic frais, ail roti, consomme de tomates et sauvignon blanc $8.75
Snails with fresh basil, roasted garlic, tomato sauvignon blanc broth
Saumon de l'Atlantique saute au fenouil et poivre, riz sauvage et beurre blanc aux fruits de la passion $19.50
Fennel-pepper seared Atlantic salmon fillet with wild rice pilaf and passion fruit beurre-blanc
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