Gluten Free Food that Tastes Real

A gluten free mecca is the best description for this year's Coles Gluten Free Food & Allergy Expo at the Perth Convention Exhibition Centre. It's not often that a lifestyle expo offers some much FREE food, the sort that coeliac sufferers crave, such as the scrumptious biscuits, cakes and breads.



When the good folks at the Country Life Bakery stand handed over 3 FREE loaves of frozen Gluten Free breads from their range, Noodle Cook accepted greedily.

Well, it's greedy if you didn't share. So here are the leftovers, from the Low GI and White varieties. There's also a Multigrain version.



The white bread looks slightly yellow. The texture resembles that of quick bread, tea bread or soda bread, namely firm, dense and somewhat heavy. In some way, the bread reminds of home made sour bread without the tangy taste. Unlike soda bread, there is no unpleasant mouth feel.



The bread toasted well with a lovely golden colour and an aroma that rivalled any top cafe. On toasting, the bread softens on the inside while the outside remains firm and crisp. The crispness is not delicate like wheat bread. This texture is excellent for pain perdu and croutons for topping French onion soup. The low GI bread is truly filling: one slice can ruin dinner!






The packaging is clearly labelled for people who need to avoid gluten. The ingredients are listed together with food codes. Both loaves contain sulphites preservative (220).

You can find out more about the gluten free breads from the Country Life Bakery website or writing to 21 Hydrive Close, Dandenong, Victoria 3175.

If you need gluten free ideas, head over to Gluten Free Girl, the top food blog for coeliacs.

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Lost in Victorian Bush Fire

Dr Chris, where are you? Last night Channel 7 said you were missing. Now no longer. Lost.


Donate to RED CROSS Victorian Bushfire Appeal 2009.

Help Victorian Bush Fire Survivors

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Paper Chef 37 All In One Terrine

Paper Chef 37: Liver, cheese, oregano, chestnut
Everything goes into a terrine, and there you have Paper Chef 37. Where's the challenge??

... still to come pate pastries. Sadly the challenge was abandoned due to the bush fires in Victoria. The liver pate recipe is given below.

Finnish Liver Pate
Adapted from The Worldwide Gourmet

500 g ox liver
salt, water
2 tablespoons dry sherry
1 cup (100 g) dried light rye bread crumbs
300 mL whipping cream or substitute with milk and cream cheese
100 mL milk
4 tablespoons (60 g) water chestnut flour
2 onions, chopped
2 tablespoon butter
2 eggs

Seasonings:
2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 teaspoon ground ginger, optional
1 teaspoon marjoram or substitute oregano, optional

1. Cut the liver in 5 cm cubes. Remove membranes and tubes. Soak in lightly salted water for 30 minutes in the refrigerator. Drain and rinse well. Pat dry. Marinade in dry sherry for 30 minutes. Keep chill until ready to use.

2. Soak the bread crumbs in cream.

3. Whisk the milk and water chestnut flour until well blended. Strain into the soaked bread crumbs and mix well.

4. Saute the onion in butter until soft. Cool. Puree. Add to the bread crumbs mixture.

5. Puree the liver. Add seasoning.

6. Using a stick blender, blend the liver with the bread crumbs mixture.

7. Blend in the eggs.

8. Transfer the mixture to a terrine lined with baking paper. Place a cartouche over the terrine and then cover with foil.

9. Place the terrine in hot water bath in an oven preheated at 180 degrees Celsius. Reduce temperature and bake at 110 degrees Celsius for 2.5 hours. Cool.

10. Chill until required. Serve with lingonberry jam, such as "Lingonsylt" jelly from IKEA.

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Creme Brulee

To make make an attractive dessert, wrap chilled creme brulee in ready to eat cream cheese pastry made with toasted glutinous rice flour. Serve with a fruit sauce.

Creme Brulee
Adapted from Chubby Hubby

4 egg yolks (20 g each)
300 mL whipping cream
50 mL milk
50 g sugar
1 teaspoon water chestnut flour, optional, stablizer
1 teaspoon cocoa, optional for chocolate flavour
1 teaspoon wattleseed, optional for chocolate flavour
75 g fine brown sugar, optional, for crust

1. Combine everything except brown sugar. Whisk lightly to combine and dissolve the sugar.

2. Strain into a jug. The foam makes an attractive crust.

3. Pour into 6 small ramekins, or espresso cups. Use silicon bakeware for unmolded creme brulee.

4. Place in a hot water bath and bake at 110 degrees Celsius for 1-1.5 hours.

5. Remove from the oven and chill overnight. Freeze if using silicon bakeware to aid unmolding. If frozen, then thaw in the refrigerator 6 hours before serving.

6. To make the sugar crust, place the ramekins or espresso cup in an ice bath. Sprinkle the custard tops with brown sugar. Grill for 5 minutes in a preheated oven. Alternatively, use a brulee blowtorch. Omit this step if wrapping with pastry.

Cream Cheese Pastry
Adapted from Kuali

125 g toasted glutinous rice flour, available from oriental stores
180 ml milk
125 g icing sugar
60 g cream cheese
30 g melted butter (or 35 g whipping cream)
1/4 tsp salt
pinch ground lemon myrtle leave

1. Mix the ingredients to form a soft, pliable dough. Cover and rest for 20 minutes.

2. Divide into 30-40 gram portions depending on molds.

3. Roll out. Place a mound of filling and enclose before pushing into molds. If using pre-molded filling, wrap neatly and trim off excess.

4. Refrigerate or make close to serving. Best eaten within 2 hours, but can be refrigerated for up to 2 weeks.

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Paper Chef, the Alternative to Masterchef

Not everyone gets to star in TV shows like Masterchef Australia, and not everyone wants to be in a reality show for obvious reasons. There is an alternative: you can star in your own kitchen stadium, by participating in Paper Chef events, the internet equivalent of Iron Chef. This is a fun internet competition for anyone including professional chefs. It is your opportunity to boast of your cooking greatness (and failures) to the food bloggers around the world. You have one weekend to come up with a dish/menu that features 4 ingredients of which 3 comes from random selection from a list nominated by contestants and a 4th ingredient from the previous month's winner. Have fun!

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The Dream Kitchen

Everyone dreams of a spanking new kitchen, including Noodle Cook. The reality is, a serviceable 1950's style stove (made in 2000's), with cracked ceramic top, faulty heating elements and loose oven door, compares just a touch less ideal than Chubby Hubby's new kitchen. But dreams are cheap...

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Geoscientists Helping Geoscientists

Here are a few banners to earmark your website. For help setting up your Blogger web, please click on the comment link at the bottom of this post to leave a message. You can also leave a private message using the Contact page.

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Chilling Secrets

A successful self saucing ravioli starts with great tasting stocks and sauces. To enable the soup (or sauce) to hold inside the ravioli, the filling must be well chilled with the accompanying sauce stablized with gelatinous stock or gelatin. The principle behind the soup in the ravioli is the same as for Shanghai soup dumplings, xiao long bao.

The ORIGINAL recipe presented below is for a ravioli with a buttery French style sauce with a hint of Japanese ginger, lemon and green onion. The lemon myrtle is used in place of yuzu (native Japanese citrus) zest. Lemon myrtle is an Australian bush herb which you can obtain fresh by mail order from Tumbeela. In Perth, Zanthorrea Nursery stocks plants which grow well in pots. This recipe is a beautiful "fusion" dish which relies on sauces that take time to perfect. There should not be any overpowering garlic from the stock.

Lemon Myrtle Scented Self Saucing Ravioli

Wrappers
Dumpling skins, from oriental stores or make your own, or use homemade pasta sheets
Fresh herbs for decorating such as coriander, parsley, basil or oregano

Filling
1 chicken breast
1/4 cup julienned soaked black cloud ear fungus
1/4 cup enoki mushroom
1/4 cup julienned spring onion
1 tablespoon chiffonade fresh lemon myrtle leaves (finely slivered with leaf spine removed)
1/2 cup chicken veloute, chilled (recipe follows)
1/2 strong gelatinous chicken stock or white glace, chilled (recipe presented previously)
salt and pepper to taste

Poaching stock
chicken stock
shallot slices
ginger slices
garlic and fried shallot olive oil infusions, optional
salt to taste
handful of fresh lemon myrtle sprigs (or substitute with strips of lemon zest)

Accompanying Dressings
Peppercorn sauce or pepper jus flavoured with mountain pepperleaf and green onion
Olive oil infusions
Lemon myrtle white wine vinaigrette

Suggested side vegetables
Blanched asparagus, spring onion or beans

Garnish
Mustard sprouts
Spring onions
Shallots, thinly slices



To make the dish:

1. Moisten 2 dumpling skins with a damp tea towel. Place herb in a decorative pattern on one skin before covering with the second skin. Roll the assembled skins on a pasta machine (or with rolling pin) until single thickness again. Trim to shape with a pastry cutter. Cover with a dry tea towel and refrigerate until needed. If using fresh pasta sheets, check out Chef Chopper Dave's version with cheese, pear and duck glace.

2. Bring the stock for poaching to boil, then add the shallot and ginger. Season with salt and olive oil infusions of choice. Simmer for 5 minutes until aromatic. Add the lemon myrtle sprigs. Dip the chicken breast in the poaching liquid briefly and remove. Bring the liquid back to boil. Drop in the chicken breast and cover. Remove the pot from heat immediately. Let the chicken sit in the pot for 10 minutes. Remove the chicken and chill in the freezer immediately for a juicy tender texture. Do not worry if the the chicken is slightly under cook.

3. When the chicken is well chilled, dice or shred and add to the remaining filling ingredients. The veloute and gelatinous chicken stock must be stiff enough to cut with a knife. The ratio of veloute to chicken stock can be adjusted to allow for a more soupy or saucy dish depending on whether the dish is for starter or main course. Chill for 30 minutes until needed.

4. To assemble the ravioli, place tablespoons of chilled filling in rounded mounts in the centre of a wrapper. Moisten the edges and cover with another wrapper, carefully pressing out all the air. Keep refrigerated. May be stored frozen.

5. Bring the poaching liquid to boil. Carefully lower a ravioli into the pot using a skimmer. Boil for about 5 minutes until the ravioli starts floating off the skimmer. Cook until the sauce is heated through by which time, the ravioli skin will puff slightly with an air pouch showing. Remove to a warm plate.

6. To serve as a main course, arrange 3 ravioli in a stack like pancakes, or a single layer around a plate. Tuck side vegetables under the ravioli. Drizzle with dressing of choice around the plate. For a soup course, place one ravioli in each soup dish. Spoon in enough poaching liquid without immersing the ravioli. Drizzle dressing of choice over the ravioli. Garnish as desired.

Chicken Veloute (pronounced veh-loo-TAY)
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon plain flour
1 cup strong gelatinous chicken stock made with pork rind as a booster
1 teaspoon gelatin, optional
salt and pepper, to taste

1. Cook the flour in butter without browning until a roux (thickened paste) forms.
2. Bring chicken stock to the boil.
3. Add the gelatin.
4. Add the boiling stock to the roux while rapidly beating with a wooden spoon or whisk.
5. Simmer for 15 minutes for the flour to cook through for a smooth glossy sauce.
6. Adjust seasoning.

Note if the sauce is lumpy or grainy just add a bit more stock and simmer longer, or strain the sauce.

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"An Electronic Restaurant" - Take Two

Noodle: Computer wake up! Oh... it must have power outage overnight. Can't remember a thing and that red wine giving this headache. Let's try a cold BOOT.

Computer: Blink, blink, blink. New temporary files detected. Do you wish to open files?

Noodle: No way! Virus scan immediately!

Computer: No virus definition available. Press enter for file scan details.

Filename: Sarah Filesize: Slim Filetype: Masterchef Host
Filename: Gary Filesize: Medium Filetype: Food Critic/Mentor
Filename: George Filesize: Medium Filetype: Food Critic/Mentor
Filename: Mr Yummy Filesize: Extra large Filetype: Food Critic
Filename: Mike Filesize: Corrupted Filetype: Caricature

Noodle: Hey! They look familiar, like in my dreams last night! Where do the files come from??

Computer: You created them!

Noodle: I can't remember after that red wine. What are the files for?

Computer: Performance enhancement.

Noodle: Hmmmm, I'll just recompile and see...

Computer: Whiz, grunt, rumble, silence....Compilation completed. Press enter to display.

Noodle: Looks good. Good job computer. Let's get this published.


An Electronic Restaurant starring....

Host, food critics:
Sarah, Gary, George, Mr Yummy



... and now introducing the Judging Panel, the world's harshest critics, responsible for a world war zone in the home kitchen.

The junior judging team:
Ninja Nath, Cathy Roadrunner, Tiny Tom



... and
Princess, Chubby Chup



The senior Ladies judges:
Jetset Nan, Nutri Jan, Chairman, Super K



The senior Men judges:
Oz Grunt, Big Tom, Action Man



... the Hero and Villain:
A mini-series would not be one if there is no hero or villain! So here are Noodle Cook, the electronic Masterchef hero, and home food critic John the "secret reviewer" as the villain. John's "secret" visit, the first to this weblog, was recorded in the guestbook for all to see! John also keeps no secret how bad everybody else's cooking tastes!



...and last, but not least, the caricature, Mike.

The cast of "An Electronic Restaurant", Take Two, is asked a simple question:

What makes a successful electronic restaurant?

The junior judges:

Princess - NO peanuts, NO capsicum, NO tomato, NO green bits. Simple - it's gotta be cheese pizza!
Ninja Nath - NO peanuts and only if served with tomato sauce. It's the basics! You don't need maths and computer to work out that pizza oughta get on the menu!
Chubby Chup - only if there's plenty of it like pizza!
Tiny Tom - only if it makes you smart like pizza!
Cathy RoadRunner - only if it's fast like Cathy Freeman! I love olives and Parmesan like in pizza!

The senior judges:

Nutri Jan - only if healthy, low fat, low salt, taste and look like salad. Although boiling and steaming are OK
Jetset Nan - only if it's traditional Chinese and eaten with chop sticks
Super K - only when grace goes with the meal, amen
Big Tom - only if the meals cost more than $100 per head, and served to fine dining standards, using brand name produce
Oz Grunt - only if it's Australian and eaten with a fork!
Action Man - action speaks louder than words, but I say profit, profit, profit
Chairman - concur with all above, so long as there is strategic management in place, and re-engineering to evolving specifications, employing innovative marketing to direct targets, using quality management principles to evoke a total solution, and in collaboration with the workforce, and need I add more.

The responses are to be expected. Most judges believe that the key to success lies in good food that appeals to a large cross-section of diners, together with a high standard of service. The judges also noted good management, marketing, and a focus on profit as important factors.

What do the EXPERT food critics think?

John - only when I do the cooking myself!
Mike - anything which washes down well with a $100 bottle Barossa Valley red.
Gary - give it a French name and cook to le cordon bleu standards
George - if my Greek mama likes it, you've got it made
Mr Yummy - big on taste and lots of it!
Sarah - food sexy enough for a glossy magazine

Noodle Cook takes advice seriously and sets about improving the restaurant.



"South Park"-style cartoon characters created with "South Park Studio Version 2"

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Masterchef Secrets

This is the big day where professional chefs taste Noodle Cook's food, the long awaited privilege of having food critiqued by industry experts, an experience to die for for any wannabe Masterchef. No one cooks an untested dish, with an original recipe concocted after 11 hours of auditioning, on the day of a do or die judgement, except the one and only 2-minute Noodle Cook. With a dish aptly called "Secrets", the events of the day remain a secret for the time being.



With a pack of 2-minute noodles as part of contingency planning and a red packet for good luck, the enclosed money already spent on the audition food, Noodle Cook can't lose. For support, John the villain hangs around the neck in the form of a pearl necklet, a bit like a mill stone as the expression goes. Ominous, but perhaps not, as it has been John's expert destructive constructive criticism, that builds Noodle Cook's electronic cooking career, and it is John's cooking that develops the palate for traditional and classic dishes.



The ever well prepared Noodle Cook has already made a smooth lump free chicken veloute stabilized in gelatin. Hold on, is this a 2-minute shortcut waiting to be picked on by snobbish French trained judges? Yes and no. The quantity of chicken bones that went in the chicken stock even after boosting with pork rind gelatin from pork hock, was not strong enough. The veloute made with dilute chicken stock, butter, and flour still wobbles after chilling. This consistency is not stiff enough for the intended dish, so some gelatin is needed to make the veloute suitable for cutting when chilled.



A quick lick of the pot confirms the tastefulness with just a touch of seasoning when making up the dish. Wash the pot, pack everything, including mobile phone, and drive off to impress the judges. Did someone say "everything"? The pot sits drying on the kitchen sink wondering why it isn't starring on TV.

I N T E R M I S S I O N

Behind the scene, the battle for the chef hat in the home kitchen continues. Expert food critic, John (the villain in this blog) has the upper hand with over 20 years experience as "executive chef" in home cooking.

Noodle: I'm back from the audition with your field hat!

John: I should be the one at the audition with my 20 years experience!

Noodle: What do you reckon I should have cooked for the audition?

John: DUMPLINGS! Your dumplings are fantastic!

Noodle: So, I am no good at cooking anything else?

John: Says you!

Noodle: Of my cooking, what sort of dish do you enjoy?

John: FRENCH lamb shank in red wine. Not too keen on Persian pomegranate walnut chicken. You should have let me cover the cost of the audition and do something Asian-European.

French lamb means NO coriander

Noodle: What is Asian-European?

John: The Australian food we eat today. Mike's coming.

It looks like a long night of "geospeak" for the blokes over a bottle, perhaps 3 bottles, of $100 Barossa Valley shiraz. This is petrol that keeps geologists going.

Noodle: Hi Mike!

Mike: Your hair looks a mess, though your outfit in green and gold is very Australian.

The green top, which matches the colour of this blog, is made in France.

Noodle: You should hear about my day in front of the food experts. Ever since my younger days I knew I had something going after being disallowed in cooking competitions for being under age: I ended up in the "Open" section to compete with people 20 years older and won. Did you know what I cooked for the experts today?

John: DUMPLINGS!

Mike: Serve them up now!

With expectation of some great dish both eyed Noodle Cook greedily.

Noodle: I didn't bring the leftovers....

John: There are some in my freezer.

Noodle: What's the pasta sauce doing here?

A half emptied jar of Noodle Cook's caramelized semi dried tomato and onion sits on the kitchen bench.

Mike: I ate it for a snack. Fantastic, the greatest!

With the $100 wine as a perfect pairing? What a compliment!

Noodle: Does it taste Italian?

Mike: Yes, Italian, the top in the world! If it's not too late for Saturday night, wouldn't mind some dumplings, a meal perhaps....

Noodle: You are expecting me to cook as if its my job!

No answer implies affirmation. There are no shortage of enthusiastic tasters, nor any leftovers where Noodle Cook's famed cooking is concerned. A meal at short notice with disparate ingredients from somebody else's pantry becomes a breeze with universal and versatile noodles, THE essential pantry item. Even "hard arse" geologists develop a soft spot for noodles, especially when served Thai style with dumplings in 2 minutes flat.

The clock approaches midnight. What an amazing 2 days, when an electronic persona, the comical, 2-minute Noodle Cook, self proclaimed electronic Masterchef, comes alive, closely, eerily, unintentionally, mimicking the partly fictitious, over-dramatized story portrayed in "An Electronic Restaurant", of an individual's dream of owning a restaurant.

Noodle Cook, exhausted, under the effect of 1 egg cup of shiraz, falls asleep, like Dave, the robot in Steven Spielberg's Artificial Intelligence, a contented Pinocchio floating off to the place of dreams and desires.

Lights dim, power down, camera off. The computer needs a reboot to launch "An Electronic Restaurant" back into electronic reality when Noodle Cook wakes up in the morning with the computer programmer's tech hat on.

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