Happy Friday!
You wouldn't believe it, but we have another Freebie Friday Double.
This week, it's all about cookbooks. Whether you use them as manuals, sources of inspiration, coffee table talk or bedtime stories -- in my case, all of the above -- you can never have enough cookbooks, especially FREE ones!
Prize #1:
Great, Grand and Famous Chefs and Their Signature Dishes
Do the names Thomas Keller, Alain Ducasse and Joel Robuchon make you tingle with excitement? Great, Grand and Famous have just published a 256-page colour book featuring interviews and recipes by these world-renowned chefs and more. This is not just a cookbook. A signature dish by each chef is the springboard for a biographical essay that focusses on the personality of these inspirational chefs and the secrets behind their success. Starting with 18th century chef Antonin Careme, the book progresses its way through a stellar line-up of chefs, each one contributing to the advancement toward what we know now as modern cuisine, incorporating technique, presentation, fusion, innovation and molecular gastronomy.
Australia's own Testuya Wakuda is featured alongside culinary luminaries Paul Bocuse, Michel Roux, Alice Waters, Raymond Blanc, Pierre Gagnaire, Daniel Boulud, Marco Pierre White, Gordon Ramsay, Ferran Adria and Heston Blumenthal.
For more information, check out the book preview.
THE PRIZE:
One copy of Great, Grand and Famous Chefs and Their Signature Dishes
RRP $49.99
This competition is open to Australian, New Zealand and Asia Pacific residents only.
HOW TO ENTER:
All you have to do is:
- Leave a comment on this post and tell us what's your signature dish?
- Send an email to grabyourforkfreebiefriday@yahoo.com.au with the subject heading "Signature dish" and include your full name and a copy of your published comment on this post.
The Great, Grand and Famous Chefs competition closes on Friday 27/11/09 at 5.30pm AEST. The winner will be announced on Grab Your Fork on Monday 30/11/09.
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Prize #2:
Lyndey Milan: The Best Collection
Do you want to cook fast, fabulous food? Food writer and presenter Lyndey Milan has gathered more than 150 of her favourite recipes in this 272-page cookbook. The focus is on easy entertaining with recipes organised by plating style, from finger food to small plates, large plates, sweet plates and chocolate plates. Recipes include Portuguese clams, Moroccan lamb, pear confit and chocolate truffles.
The kind folk from New Holland Publishers have offered one copy of this book to give away.
THE PRIZE:
One copy of Lyndey Milan: The Best Collection
RRP $49.95
This competition is open to Australian and New Zealand residents only.
HOW TO ENTER:
All you have to do is:
- Leave a comment on this post and tell us what do you, or have you, collected over the years? Stamps? Stickers? Movie tickets? Menus? Tell us all about it!
- Send an email to grabyourforkfreebiefriday@yahoo.com.au with the subject heading "Collection" and include your full name and a copy of your published comment on this post.
The Lyndey Milan: The Best Collection competition closes on Friday 27/11/09 at 5.30pm AEST. The winner will be announced on Grab Your Fork on Monday 30/11/09.
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Don't forget that entries close today, Friday 13/11/09 5.30pm, for two more Grab Your Fork competitions.
You could win:
a copy of Luke Nguyen's Songs of Sapa plus
a double pass to see The Boys Are Back.
Don't delay. Click on the links above to enter now!
wow - the first one looks great! My signature dish is probably osso bucco on soft polenta...yum!
ReplyDeleteI collect musical instruments from around the world. My collection includes cha cha's, bongo's, castanets, a Rhaba (not sure if I spelt that right), zampona, tambourine, spinning drum and a flute like instrument from Thailand that you spin on your chin which I can't remember the name of.
ReplyDeleteMy signature dish is a confit of 'going out to restaurants because I can't cook' with an 'I wish I could cook' veloute, followed by a dessert of humble pie.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a poor university student (20 years ago), my signature dish was Maggi 2 minute noodles, fried crisp in a fry pan with bacon bits, topped with cheese and wacked under the grill to brown. Accompanied by a haughty little cask wine. Or a bottle of TR2.
ReplyDeleteMy signature dish is my version of classic minestrone, made with soup pasta and swirled with fresh pesto to serve. So good my grandmother has co-opted it and passes it off as her own.
ReplyDeleteMy signature dish would have to be a flourless chocolate cake. I started making it many years ago and there have been many failures along the way ... water from the bain marie getting into the tin, the oven going off halfway through ... oops! It's too rich to have more than a small slice but makes a great dinner party dessert or birthday cake. I'd make it more often but then I'd need to exercise a lot more too ;)
ReplyDeleteMy signature dish is stir-fry noodles with spices. Why? Practise, from all the scraps my housemate has left over from his dishes. Its relatively simple to just check them all into a wok with some soy sauce, indian spice mix (unknown mix, shopkeeper won't tell me) and a hint of coriander with a fat handful of hokkien noodles fryed to a slight burnt consistency. Its essentially Leftovers Stir-fried and that doesn't stop my mates coming over to get some free food. Amazing how the original leftovers weren't that popular in the first place.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up with a mother who was an excellent cook, meant that I spent most of my formative years eating the food she made rather than attempting to replicate it. During my childhood, my signature dish would have been toast, as my mother didn't let me anywhere near the stove (letting me near the sink to wash the dirty pots was another story entirely).
ReplyDeleteIt's only in the last few years that I've begun to cautiously experiment with cooking. With a lot of practise (and a few culinary disasters), I've managed to create some decent curries, casseroles and desserts.
My favourite recipes are to do with pasta, though. Through my culinary efforts, I've learned that pasta recipes will generally never let you down. They're easy to cook, you can experiment with different herbs and flavours each time and people usually love eating pasta.
So my current signature dish is actually a pasta bake - cooked pasta baked in the oven with vegetables and layers of cheese, topped off with homemade sauce. Relatively simple, but still a long way away from the toast I used to proudly make as a young child. =)
Happy Friday!
ReplyDeleteI know it sounds really simple but my signature dish is a creamy bacon carbonara! Whenever we have dinner parties or get togethers on short notice I love to make this dish because its so easy and delicious. I always refrain from ordering it at restaurants because I always get disappointed if it doesn't taste the same as mine!
The item that I've collected over the years are memories! I take millions of photos of everything so I don't forget where I've been and who with. Also when I travel I like to collect postcards but I send them back home so I get to collect the stamps from the different countries as well!
ReplyDeleteSignature dish? Well, I wish my signature dish was any kind of rolled sushi featuring sweeeeet bbq'd eel, tempura prawn, fresh lushious yellowfin, crisp crab cake complete with lashings of tobiko. Alas, being part of minority and living inland (Au) seafood never travels long distances - if you know what I mean. So to help satiate the intense cravings rolled sushi produce on a regular basis (sushi-itis anyone?), my signature dish is rice. Oh yes, the plain old steamy goodness that is rice surely constitutes as a 'dish' right? Well whatever, I say so as I cook it every day and it dutifully lends itself to whatever savory/sweet concoction I create at whim.
ReplyDeleteGo rice. Yeah.
TGIF... What great prizes! Both books look pretty great though I'd like submit my entry for Lyndey Milan: The Best Collection.
ReplyDeleteI've been collecting buttons. It wasn't meant to be a collection. It simply stated off by keeping extra buttons which come with clothes I buy. But realistically, I'd never sew any buttons back but I kept on keeping them. Until recently I had no idea how much of them I've collected! It was the very first time I'd decided to sew a button back for one of my favorite cardigan and when I opened the box, there were way too many buttons that I couldn't even find the button I was looking for. I don't know what to do with them but to keep on putting new ones in...
My signature dish isn't fancy, but it's a winner: pumpkin pizza on homemade mixed grain dough. I substitute mashed roasted pumpkin for the pizza sauce, topping with avocado, ricotta, cherry tomatoes and fresh herbs. It's absolutely sublime and perfect food for any time of year.
ReplyDeleteSignature dish? A variation of Art Smith's 12 layer cake - only made with alternating layers of chocolate & caramel sponge cake instead of just vanilla sponge cakes. The chocolate sauce is also spiked with some liqueurs.
ReplyDeleteCollection... Probably books. Love them. My bookcases (multiple ones) take up more than half of my room.
My signature dish is beef rendang. The first time I cooked it for my in-laws, it was in the UK (they're English). When they had their first bite, they said it was "a tad on the hot side" (and that's putting it mildly) and promptly asked me how many chillies I had put in there. I thought I had better not tell them the truth, just to not freak them out, and said 10. They were quite shocked with the amount. In truth, I had put in 20 dried chillies and 20 birds-eye chillies! Till this day, I find it amazing that they actually managed to eat the dish at all. -- raine
ReplyDeleteLyndey Milan: The Best Collection.
ReplyDeleteI collect laksa recipes - from anywhere. There are so many slight differences between each of them. A bit of tumeric here, a bit of tamerind there!
for prize 1# my signature dish could just as easily be chorizo & chickpea soup or kimchi jjigae, but is more probably my all time fav breakfast: chilaquiles, a spicy mexican tortilla bake to cure any hangover: hhttp://morselsandmusings.blogspot.com/2009/01/chilaquiles-salsa-verde.html
ReplyDeletefor prize 2#, i am famous for collecting a whole manner of things. apart from the obvious like restaurant business cards, some of my more peculiar collections included lists of names and their etymology, 50+ flavours of "lip smackers" lip balm and . . . . gulp . . . . empty toilet rolls (don't ask!)
Prize #1 My signature dish is Pancetta Wrapped Cornish Hen with a Charizo Cornbread stuffing.
ReplyDeletePrize #2 I collect dvds, candles and soaps.
Signature Dish: whatever i come up w/ whats leftover on the fridge.. but aside from that different pasta cooked in different ways may it be asian or italian way of cooking :)
ReplyDeleteMy signature dish is beef curry, Japanese anime style.
ReplyDeleteThis actually comes from an episode of the affectionate parody series Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure. There's this guy named Kazuki and there are multiple women fighting over him, and they wage these wars by presenting him in one episode with several lovingly crafted bento.
All except for the cute robotic-type girl, who ruins everything by ripping open a pack of curry sauce over each bento.
That kind of made me decide that I had to learn how to make curry for my significant other. The recipe turned out better than even my wildest hopes would have it - I made a point of making it for several people, from my partner to my family. :)
Yeah, dorky signature dish is dorky, cute, and always made with love. Nothing's better than that on the table.
My signature dish is Duck in Orange Sauce (the french style) It was so liked the first year I cooked it for Christmas, it has been the Christmas dinner for the 10 yrs following. As far as I gather it is unlikely to change.
ReplyDeleteI use duck breast, instead of fighting with a whole duck, making the serving easier. I also use fresh oranges from my mothers backyard, much juicer than the shop bought ones. I also leave the squeezed flesh in the juice, excluding obviously seeds and pith, this adds a depth to the flavour that is missing in standard juice.
Hello, what lovely giveaways!
ReplyDeleteI think one's signature dish varies with the times, and is particularly dependent on one's target audience.
When I was growing up, my signature dish was a heart-shaped konnyaku jelly dessert. The boyfriends who received this surprise were all immensely touched, and the one who was most appreciative is well, now my husband.
Then, during the post marriage years where we tried to entertain friends at home, my signature dish was pan fried foie gras with sauteed apples. It was an easy dish to do, but suitably impressive.
Now, my most vocal food critics are my 4 year old and 1 year old. So, I would have to say my current signature dish is liguini with mushrooms and minced chicken in tomato sauce. It is always well received, and because I blend lots of vegetables into my home made sauce, it's very healthy too. It incorporates the kids' favourites - Evan (aged 4) loves mushrooms, and Chrissie (aged 1) likes anything with tomato. I enjoy making this dish almost as much as I enjoy seeing the kids wolf it down.
Collections need time, effort and discipline. I never found anything worthy of my time and effort, and so, I never collected anything until the kids came along. The kids grow so rapidly, that it seemed almost cruel not to document their progress with monthly photos (that I would collate into a montage).
ReplyDeleteSo now the kids' photo montage collection (with their accompanying baby clothes, shoes and accessories which I cannot bear to give away) is my most treasured possession.
my signature dish is squid sushi with black rice
ReplyDeletecheck it out here:
http://anarcist.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/img_2238a.png
I'm at a bit of a loss to come up with a proper 'collection' (I suspect I'm just not organised enough for that) but the closest I can get to one is the ever-expanding piles of cookbooks that line our bookshelves, our bedroom floor, the lounge room floor and the kitchen cupboards (I even found a few in the car the other day). We just renovated our house and I had special cupboards built into the kitchen to house them all, but by the time we finished building there were too many to fit...I am absolutely addicted and cannot imagine a day when I didn't turn to one for a little bit of food-spiration. I love a bit of good food porn, and if it's coupled with a few beautiful food ideas like Lindey is famous for, what could be better?
ReplyDeleteMy signature dish is butter chicken, taught to me by an Indian cooking teacher who previously ran a very delicious and successful local Indian takeaway. I've made a few modifications to the original recipe to suit my tastes, and I love it (as do my friends when I cook it for them!)
ReplyDeleteGreat blog- just found it today!
ReplyDeleteMy collection would definitely be recipes; torn out of magazines, scribbled on envelopes if I am not allowed tear up the mag, actual real life cookbooks, in my head...you get the picture!
Signature recipe would be a toss up between my vanilla rose cupcakes and my spiced coconut rice. I make up the dry spice, coconut and rice mix and store it in the pantry; the flavour really develops that way and it is super quick to make at a moment's notice.
When i was younger i used to collect phone cards that were used for phone cards. Looking over them today brings back memories of how different things were back in the days and how different communication is today!
ReplyDeleteMy signature dish is Moussaka.I've tweeked it so it doesn't drown in oil.
ReplyDeleteNow its perfect!!!
My signature dish which I have to say I haven't made in a while is a pan fried salmon fillet on a bed of oven roasted vine cherry tomatoes and topped with asparagus mash (cook in fish stock don't knock it till you've tried it)
ReplyDeleteI love collecting recipes. When I read the papers or magazines and come across any interesting and easy recipes that i think I can attempt, I will cut them out, copy them on bits of paper, even back of receipts - to add to my already fairly extensive collection. Now I surf blogs and other sites and simply bookmark them. Easier to collect, just online.
ReplyDeleteI would love to try for
ReplyDeletePrize #2: 'Lyndey Milan: The Best Collection' for my daughter and I would like to offer her signature dish. It is not complicated, nor is it what one would call 'gourmet' however her beautiful pork chop and apple casserole (which was passed down from her paternal grandmother) is alwyas a winner whenever she cooks it for family and friends alike.
OOOPPSS
ReplyDeleteMy bad fingers typed prize#2 Lyndey Milans: The Best Collection with the wrong comment!! mmmmmm must be coming to the end of another busy week.
I will add Prize#Lyndey Milans: The Best Collection' comment here now:
I have collected thimbles for many years, and where ever I travel I buy a souvenir of that country/city/state and my son has added many to the collection over the years.
I chose thimbles because they weren't so readily available as spoons, and I (ignorantly) thought that my collection would not go to the extreme in numbers......of course I was wrong, and I am now running out of area to display them
My signature dish would have to be White Chocolate Cheesecake with Strawberries.
ReplyDeleteIt's not a complicated recipe. But everyone loves it and I'm quite well known for it now amongst friends and family. The complete top of the cheesecake is covered in carefully arranged strawberries.
My signature dish is the Hong Kong style egg tart. Although it doesn't look prefect, all my friends loving it!!!!!
ReplyDelete[IMG]http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h116/dai_6_jai/10-02-09_1745.jpg[/IMG]