Sabbagh Patissery, Greenacre

So I don't have 20/20 vision, but I'm sure I can spot a patisserie sign faster than most people.

Despite rolling out the door of Lebanese restaurant Al Aseel, our bellies distended with falafel, lamb skewers and garlic yoghurt chicken, we found renewed energy (and appetite!) by the time we had stepped into the sweet syrupy surrounds of Sabbagh Patisserie (spelt with an inexplicable 'y' on the street signage).


Znoud el sit (ladies arms)

There's nothing quite like a counter stacked with pyramids of baklava to make me a little weak at the knees. As we marvel at the trays of syrup-glistening pastries, the pristine rows of icing sugar-dusted shortbread, the deep brown toasted hues of the kenefe semolina, it's all I can do to stop myself pressing my nose up against the glass like a kid in a lolly shop.


Shortbread


Boukaj baklava


Gift baskets


Baklava booty

I eventually come away with a tray of kenefe (to be blitzed on high in the microwave until the ricotta cheese middle is a stretchy goo) and my favourite baklava shapes: the boukaj pyramid and what I call the mini sausage rolls. Both have optimal nut and pastry ratios, that is, lots of nuts!

The baklava is good. Really good. I'm not a big fan of rosewater syrup, finding the floral overtones a little sickly and cloying. These are perfect for me. The pastry is sufficiently doused with syrup so as not to be dry but not overly sweet either. And the boukaj, I'm amazed by the multiple leaves of pastry that fan apart every so slightly. I try to count them but get cross-eyed after I hit twenty.

With each bite, there's a crisp shatter in the mouth as the pastry crumbles into smithereens. The filling of nuts is generous, with a strong taste of cashew. These are possibly better than my usual favourite, Rabeih. A topple of the baklava crown? I'd better go back, just to make sure.




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Sabbagh Patissery Lebanese Sweets
5/173 Waterloo Road, Greenacre, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9758 5020

Open 7 days 9am-11pm

Related GrabYourFork posts:
El Bahsa Sweets, Bankstown
Rabeih Sweets, Punchbowl (Aug07) and (Mar05)

Lemon shortbread and ginger shortbread

In addition to little cellophane bags of iced gingerbread men, I also made up little packages of shortbread. These were made using a piping bag - the somewhat stiff dough means it's much easier to pipe small amounts of dough at a time. I made two batches - one with lemon, the other with crystallised ginger, but you could substitute with vanilla essence if you prefer them plain.

Shortbread recipe

225g cold butter, cubed
150g (about 2/3 cup) caster sugar
250g (about 2 cups less 1 Tbsp) plain flour
50g (about 1/2 cup) rice flour
1 large egg

AND either
1 tsp vanilla extract
OR 1 Tbsp lemon rind
OR 1/3 cup roughly chopped glace ginger

Combine all ingredients into a food processor and pulse until the mixture comes together into a smooth dough. If making by hand, you would rub the cold butter into the plain flour, then knead in the rice flour, caster sugar, egg and flavouring.

Remove the dough from the food processor, and knead lightly on a flour-dusted surface. Place small amounts of dough into a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle (I used size 15) and pipe onto a tray lined with baking paper. The shortbread will spread slightly so leave a good gap between the biscuits.

Bake at 160C for 20-25 minutes or until the bottoms look cooked (mind your fingers!).

Related GrabYourFork posts:
Biscuits--coffee hazelnut w. dark choc
Biscuits--gingerbread men (Dec 08), (Dec 06) and (Dec 04)
Biscuits--gingernuts
Biscuits--green tea and almond
Biscuits--malt
Biscuits--malted milk w. Maltesers
Biscuits--peanut butter
Biscuits--peppermint dark choc

Christmas feasting (and the mother of all dinner parties)

And how was your Christmas?

For me, it involved two days of relentless (and totally selfless) gluttony. Two dinners were consumed on Christmas Eve, because I had to. First a casual affair at Mum's--leg ham, salads and roll-your-ownVietnamese goi cuon summer rolls.

At 10.30pm, I'm at cucina Veruca for a feast of glazed leg ham (ooh yum, that ginger marmalade glaze works a treat!), bo tai chanh raw beef salad, roast veggies and the bestest roast pork I've had this year. Made using a recipe by Karen Martini, the pork belly slab was simmered for 90 minutes, dried in the fridge for four hours and then roasted on high for an amazing pork crackling with meltingly tender fat-ribboned flesh.

11.30am Christmas Day: A family lunch of cold cuts, seafood and salad. I contribute my roast pumpkin salad with toasted almonds. After a frenzy of present unwrapping by impatient and very excited little 'uns, there's a decadent homemade chocolate tart of chocolate pastry and chocolate ganache filling (recipe by Serge Dansereau, execution by Mister Ed). We also manage a few iced gingerbread men and shortbread swirls (recipe to come) with cups of tea.

At 6pm, my digestive tract is treatening to go on strike by my eyes are wide with greed. I've managed to score an invite to Pig Flyin's Christmas dinner--he of orange souffle fame--and the sight in the kitchen is an amazing one indeed. One by one we watch he and K plate up dish after dish, a buffet table that is soon groaning with 16 (yes 16!) works of art.


Seared giant scallops paired with blood sausage or chorizo,
topped with hollandaise sauce and chervil

I'd always been sceptical about the pairing of scallops with blood sausage but this contrasting combination works wonderfully, the earthy heartiness of the blood sausage complementing the light and delicate sweetness of the scallop.


Homemade gravlax #1: salt-cured salmon with dill


Homemade gravlax #2: salt-cured salmon with lemongrass and chilli


Napkin-wrapped cutlery
(so very Donna Hay!)


Preparing the crab salad cornets


Cornets stuffed with hand-picked crab salad

The cornets were made by wrapping wonton sheets around cannoli horns
and then deep-frying until crisp. Such decadence! The crab was so sweet, the cornets were so crunchy and golden.


Stuffed cabbage rolls


Preparing the roast beef canapes


Crostini topped with rare roast beef slices, horseradish cream,
salted capers and grated lemon


Carving the Berkshire ham

A Berkshire ham! The G-man was a little confused about what this meant until I explained that Berkshire pigs, also known as Kurobuta pigs, are the wagyu of the pork world. Pig Flyin' took Veruca's tip and used ginger marmalade as the glaze and oh, what a masterful dish of perfection!


Berkshire pork glazed leg ham

The caramelised skin... ooh it was like a pork caramel lolly. Soft and chewy, it was salty, sweet and ooh so porky. If only they sold these wrapped in twists of paper by the bag! The pork itself was wonderfully moist and tender too with an amazing smoky flavour.


Le Creuset pots with homemade fruit chutneys

Chilled tomato soup with parmesan ice cream; and
almond milk with frozen white cherries

It's about this time that I start pinching myself to check I'm not dreaming. Tomato soup with parmesan ice cream? I could swear I'm in a dream about Iron Chef! But no, Pig Flyin' is dismissive of our gasps of wonder. "It's easy," he says, just melt the parmesan into cream, whisk in stiff egg whites and freeze." Uh-huh, I reply.

The chilled tomato soup is so cool and refreshing. There's also a parmesan biscuit (grated parmesan baked on Silpat sheets and then snapped into crackers) and the parmesan ice cream really does pack a frozen parmesan punch.

The almond milk was made by soaking blanched almonds in water, then blending to a pulp and squeezing out the juice. Thick and slightly tart, this was an aquired taste, although I did enjoy the frozen halves of white cherries at the bottom of the glass.


Confit of salmon dusted with ground Japanese mountain pepper
served on a bed of shaved fennel

Oh this looked very Tetsuya-style! The confit of salmon, cooked slowly in oil at a very low temperature, had a wonderfully firm texture. Pig Flyin' is a big fan of Japanese mountain pepper and I can see why. Sophisticatedly mild with nuances of lemon, there's none of the abrupt harshness one normally associates with traditional black pepper.


Greek salad, fresh beetroot salad and Israeli cous cous salad


Israeli cous cous salad (also known as mougrabieh)

This was the first time I'd tried mougrabieh, or Israeli cous cous. I loved its squeakiness, plump granules that felt like a cross between pasta and lentils.


Pan-frying calamari


Calamari ripieni - calamari stuffed with its own tentacles
served on a bed of French puy lentils
One word. Wow. I love calamari ripieni but could never fathom making my own. This was so tender, and I loved the toothsome texture of the puy lentils as well.


Buche creme citron framboise
Lemon curd, rasberry and italienne meringue log

The Buche de Noel was bought by X from Cafe Maison. This flavour is apparently the shop owner wife's favourite. X reports that the cafe is on Boundary St in Ruschcutters Bay/Darlinghurst, near the corner of Glenview St. The chocolate plaque was named with Saint-Germaine Patisserie.


Raspberry and white chocolate tiramisu

Pig Flyin' says he hasn't made much dessert--a raspberry and white chocolate tiramisu--and then he brings out homemade nougat! Cue gasps of shock and utter delight!


Homemade cranberry and pistachio nougat with ginger juice


Cranberry cupcakes with white chocolate icing

My cranberry cupcakes pale in comparison to Pig Flyin's efforts. But I don't care. I'm just so grateful I scored an invite!

And most impressive of all was the calm and peaceful state of the kitchen throughout the entire preparation time. Oh we're not worthy, Pig Flyin', but we're so very very glad we're your dinner party friends!


Related Grab Your Fork posts:
Stomachs Eleven Christmas - 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008

Christmas gingerbread

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

My kitchen certainly smelled a lot like Christmas this past week, with batches of gingerbread and shortbread filling the air with the gorgeous smell of ginger, golden syrup, lemon and butter.

A newly acquired icing kit finally got a workout on my gingerbread shapes, made using my usual tried-and-trusted gingerbread recipe. I think my royal icing was probably a little thicker than it should have been, but it was certainly fun decorating the gingerbread. In fact, I think the use of plain white icing is much more visually effective than our usual coloured icing efforts.

I made only a slight variation to the gingerbread recipe, reducing the brown sugar a little and replacing it with golden syrup to ensure extra crisp biscuits (my favourite!). For a triple batch of gingerbread (yes, I never bake by halves) I think you probably only need one egg white's worth of royal icing, maybe two but certainly not three (oops).



So as 2008 draws to a close, I wish you, dear reader, a wonderful Christmas that is spent with good friends and cherished family. May you celebrate with great food, great company and lots of laughter.


Related GrabYourFork posts:
Recipe: Gingerbread men
Making a gingerbread house

Al Aseel, Greenacre

So I've always had a soft spot for Lebanese food. I think it's the simplicity of the cuisine: charcoal meats, zingy salads and downy soft quarters of fluffy Lebanese bread. Perhaps the deep-fried falafel balls (mmm... deep-fried) also have something to do with it. And I love the creamy decadence of toum, the dip with a fiery garlic punch.

We head to Al Aseel in Greenacre to see if its reputation for good Lebanese food can possibly topple our long-time favourite, Jasmin in Lakemba.


Complimentary pickles

Al Aseel is quite a large eatery, huge glass windows offering a view of the laminate tables already filled with local families and friends. The floorstaff are young and female--daughters of the owner, we presume--dressed smartly in black polo shirts embroidered with the Al Aseel logo.

The ubiquitous plate of pickles (radish, jalapeno peppers, olives, pickles and tomato) is served promptly but we immediately notice the lack of onion and mint that is included at Jasmin. Missing also are the bowls of tahina and toum we usually receive at Jasmin. Yes, we're comparing everything today.


Fatteh $8.00
Chick peas, fried Lebanese bread, salt and yoghurt
topped with pinenuts and melted butter

Fatteh is Speedy's favourite dish, but we're disappointed by the one here. Lined on the bottom with a layer of deep-fried Lebanese bread, we find its oil gives an unpleasant residual film on the tongue, and the puree of chickpeas is simply that, not incorporated with yoghurt to a delicious creaminess like the one at Jasmin's.


Fattoush $7.00 (small)
Lettuce, tomato, eschallots, radish, parsley and
fried Lebanese bread with garlic dressed with grenadine and olive oil

Fattoush is a happier combination of fried Lebanese bread and lively fresh salad. We relish the crunchy chips contrasting with the slight bitterness of radish, the juiciness of cucumber and the crisp greenery of lettuce, eschallots and parsley.


Falafel $6.00
Chick peas and secret spices deep-fried in cotton seed oil
with tahini sauce (vegetarian)

Jasmin wins on the falafel too. Whilst golden on the outsides, the insides seem a little dry and crumbly, and not as vibrant green and moist as those at Jasmin's.


Laham mishwee (bbq lamb skewers) $13.00
3 skewers* of delicious bbq lamb
served on a bed of onions and garlic dip
(*the last skewer was served a few minutes later)

And then the meat arrives and things get very tricky.

The lamb. Wow. It's amazing. I've always tended the find the lamb at Jasmin is a little gamey and a touch on the chewy side. Here, it's amazingly tender. Veruca Salt and I fight over the barbecued onion wedges, grilled over charcoal until caramelised and sweet.

We're relieved to finally receive our cherish pot of toum too, although it seems a little stronger in garlic here, a harsh heat that means between the four of us we don't even manage to finish this tiny pot (usually at Jasmin we finish at least one refill).


Chicken breast lemon garlic (House Specialty) $15.00
3 skewered bbq marinated chicken breast
tossed in special garlic sauce served on a bed of onions

I'd been swayed by the words "House Specialty" to order the chicken breast lemon garlic, and boy I'm glad I did. Again the meat is meltingly tender, so much so I have to double-check with everyone that yes, we really are eating chicken breast! Usually I avoid chicken breast like the plague, having encountered so many dry ruins, but here its soft and juicy, bathed generously in a garlicky yoghurt sauce.

Verdict? Torn.

I want the toum, fatteh and falafel of Jasmin, and the lamb and chicken from Al Aseel.

So hard to choose!




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Al Aseel Lebanese Restaurant
4/173 Waterloo Road, Greenacre, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9758 6744

Open 7 days
Sunday to Thursday 9am-9pm
Friday and Saturday 9am-10pm
Public holidays 9am-10pm

Related GrabYourFork posts:
Lebanese--El-Manara
Lebanese--Emma's on Liberty
Lebanese--Jasmin, Lakemba
Lebanese--Jasmin I, Punchbowl
Lebanese--Rowda Ya Habibi (Mar07) and (Jul04)

Tokyo Ramen, Hornsby

Okonomiyaki pancake $4.50

We're on a search for good ramen. K and M have been eating their way through a list of Top 15 Ramen Dishes in Sydney--printed recently in a Japanese local mag--and now we're at Tokyo Ramen in the bustling Westfield Shopping Centre at Hornsby.

Tokyo Ramen is doing brisk business as well. In addition to the constant queue of people at the takeaway counter, there's a high rotation of noodle slurpers eating in, either perched on stools at the counter or huddled around the high-demand square tables.

Directly opposite is sister establishment, Tokyo Sushi, an island of rice and nori amidst the tides of shoppers, trolleys and dawdling children. The sushi looks good too, made fresh on site using a clever sushi machine that creates ready mats of rice that get handflipped onto nori sheets and then filled and rolled by the multi-tasking sushi staff.


Negimiso ramen $11.50 plus extra half-egg
Roast pork and shallots with a little chilli

But we're here for ramen. Most of us go for the negimiso ramen, a roast pork and shallot combination in a thick miso soup. We're surprised to find the porkstir-fried in a garlicky and spicy sauce, its residual oil a bit rich and heavy on the palate. Negi means leek, although in this case we end up with plenty of shallots. The stock is thick and almost opaque. It's quite spicy too with a heat that builds up as you near the bottom of the bowl.

We'd also ordered half a boiled egg as an extra, anticipating a delightful buttery moist egg yolk that the Japanese usually do so well. Today it's slightly overcooked, with a disappointing grey ring around the yolk.


Miso butter corn ramen $9.50
Roast pork and corn kernels with butter

M goes for something different with the miso butter corn ramen. The Japanese seem to love butter and corn, particularly on ramen. You can smell the butter as soon as the bowl hits the table. It's a Exxon-Valdez slick of melted butter that advances relentlessly toward anything in its path.

"Is it like drinking melted butter?" I ask. He nods slowly and reluctantly, a slight grimace on his face. This one's for hard core butter fans only.

The G-man orders the okonomiyaki pancake as an extra side dish. We dutifully help him finish it. It's been sitting in the hot display cabinet so it's a little thick and stodgy, although it goes down easily with the brown sauce and blob of mayo.



And my new trick for the day: watching M fold all the disposable chopstick sleeves into miniature chopstick rests. It's something I've never seen before although everyone else assures me this is soooooo what everyone does. I will do, from now on!

Final verdict? Ryo's Noodles still ahead by a slurp or two.


Are you a ramen fan? Where do you head when you're starvin' for ramen?




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Tokyo Ramen
Shop 1042
Hornsby Westfield Shopping Centre
236 Pacific Highway, Hornsby, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9987 2688

Related GrabYourFork posts:
Japanese ramen -- Ajisen Ramen, Haymarket
Japanese ramen -- Ichi Ban Boshi, Sydney (Feb08) and (Aug05)
Japanese ramen -- Menya Japan Noodle Bar, Haymarket
Japanese ramen -- Ramen Kan, Haymarket (Aug 05), (Nov 04)
Japanese ramen -- Ryo's Noodles, Crows Nest (Mar08), (Aug07) and (Jul07)
Japanese ramen -- Tokyo Ramen, Hornsby
Japanese ramen -- Zenya Noodle Bar, Eastwood

Eveleigh Christmas Farmers' Market

Oh yes, did your heart just skip a beat too?

It's moments like these that I realise that food really does rule my world. Heart racing, smile playing on my lips, there's almost an urge to pinch myself. Surely this must be a dream!

I'd forgotten that suckling pigs were advertised on the flyer for the Eveleigh Christmas Market. Just the idea of a Christmas Market in Sydney was novel enough to hook me in. The Eveleigh Markets, housed beneath a huge shelter in the old Carriageworks, are set to become the newest addition to the Sydney markets calendar in 2009. The promise of shelter and its handy location halfway between Redfern and Newtown, makes it an ideal location and a welcome arrival for food loving Sydneysiders.


Christmas trees

I made the short eight-minute stroll from Redfern Station, rows of fragrant pine trees greeting me at the entrance.


9.45am crowds

From the street, a short walk down steps (or take the ramp) to the first ever Eveleigh Markets, already heaving with happy Sydneysiders shopping to their stomach's content.


Bacon and eggs on the barbie


Eumundi Smokehouse


Poinsettias


Decorating the Christmas tree


Honey Christmas cakes from Blue Mountains Honey


Popes free range eggs


Giant chocolate dipped strawberries from Lush Berries


Cakes by Manna From Heaven


Christmas fruitmince tarts by Manna From Heaven


Chocolate coated puddings by Gumnut Chocolates


Chicken coops by Rent-a-chook


Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer cupcakes
by Sugar, Spice and All Things Nice


Ham Jam by Spoonfed Foods


Panforte by Bird Cow Fish restaurant

Two stalls which surprised me were Bird Cow Fish and Danks Street Depot. There was Bird Cow Fish owner and head chef, Alex Herbert, abandoning a Saturday lie-in to selling panforte and other Christmas goodies. There was no sign of Jared Ingersoll at the Danks Street Depot stall but you could buy his latest cookbook and a whole range of preserves that included onion marmalade, berry jams and bottled cherries. Is this a new means of marketing and raising brand awareness or have restaurants been so badly hit by the "global credit crunch" they're being forced to raise revenue by diversifying?


Batlow apples and juice


Biscuits by Healthy Food


Pigs on spits - Taralga Heritage Pork

But yes, it's the pigs on spits that stop me in my tracks. The smell of charcoal, the glisten of pork skin and the hypnotic rotation of those piggies round and round, makes me want to pull up a chair.


This piggy has a perky tail

Everyone else is similarly fascinated and surprisingly I don't see anyone freaking out at the sight of a whole pig impaled on a metal pole.



In fact everyone just looks hungry, and there's a constant queue of shoppers ready for an early lunch.




Carving the pig


Taralga Heritage pork spit-roasted $10.00
with homemade apple sauce and Iggy's bread

The pork is fantastic. Tender and soft, it's deliciously sweet and juicy. Alas there's not much crackling to be found - my two pieces of pig skin are disappointingly chewy with a disconcerting a abundance of hair, shaved to a prickly stubble but even I'm worried they might scratch my throat on the way down.

A huge spoonful of homemade apple sauce is surprisingly acidic with vinegar, perhaps overwhelming the flavour of the pork a bit too much, but the slice of Iggy's sourdough bread is perfect - crisp and chewy on the outside and dense but fluffy in the middle.


Banquet table decorated with festive pine needles and oranges

Another great idea is the communal banquet table close to the spit roast. The table decorations of pine needles and oranges are festive, natural and edible. Almost everyone concludes their lunch with an orange, and there's a lovely sense of community and sharing good food with others, even though everyone's sitting next to complete strangers.


Cherries and loquats from Windy Hill Orchards


Gingerbread houses from Cristina Flaksbard


Shortbread from The Biscuit Tree - the best shortbread in Sydney :)


Nectarines from Zavaglia Orchards


The very patient dairy cow


Hands-on milking demonstrations


Watching the milking


Freshly churned butter

I had a taste of the freshly churned butter, made from the milking done that morning. Light and fluffy, you could really taste the cream. There was no oily aftertaste or heaviness. In the warmth of a somewhat humid morning, the butter reported took 20 minutes to churn by hand, whereas on a cold winter's day it can take up to 90 minutes.


French garlic (front)


The biggest button squash I've ever seen
(with nearby lettuce for handy size comparison)




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The Eveleigh Christmas Farmers' Market was held on Saturday 13 December 2008, 8am-1pm.

From February 28, 2009, the undercover Eveleigh Farmers' Market will be held every Saturday.

Eveleigh Farmers' Market
Carriageworks
245 Wilson Street, Eveleigh, Sydney
Every Saturday from 28 February 2009