Easy canapes: Seared scallops

Can you believe it's the end of another decade? It seems like only yesterday we were welcoming in the noughties.

Tonight you'll find me around Sydney Harbour with 1.5 million of my closest friends. I've spent New Years Eve in New York Times Square and on London's Westminster Bridge beneath Big Ben, but I still rate the fireworks spectacular around Sydney Harbour as the best NYE party in the world.

And you can't have a party without canapes, right? I served these seared scallops at our family Christmas lunch, an easy recipe that takes minutes to prepare.

Happy New Year everyone! How will you be celebrating New Years Eve?


Easy seared scallops with ginger and soy

12 scallops
2 tablespoon light soy sauce
2 tablespoon Japanese rice vinegar
2.5 tablespoons caster sugar
2 teaspoons finely grated ginger
2 shallots finely sliced

Combine the light soy, rice vinegar, caster sugar and ginger in a bowl and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Taste and adjust the soy and vinegar if necessary. You may also add a little water if you prefer to dilute it.

Pat dry your scallops and sear in a hot saucepan with oil until browned. They should only take about thirty seconds to one minute to do. Take care not to overcrowd the pan and remember that the scallops will continue cooking after you remove them from the heat so aim for a little bit under.

Place each scallop onto a porcelain spoon, then pour over a little of the soy dressing and garnish with a sprinkle of shallots.

The Flute Bakery, Fyshwick Canberra

The Flute Bakery is in the last possible place you'd expect to find it. Tucked down a barren street lined with industrial estates in Fyshwick, it appears like a shimmering mirage of gustatory salvation.

Even then, the canvas awnings and outdoor seating reveal little of what lays within. We push open the door to find an elegant French patisserie, pies and quiches in the warmer, a gleaming glass cabinet filled with gateaux, tarts, brioche and pastries, and shelves of crusty baguettes and breads behind the counter.


Lamb and curry pie and chicken and tarragon with leek pie

The door to the bakery opens constantly as locals hurry in to purchase lunch or dessert, many of them milling in front of the pastry display with indecision. We've popped in for a quick lunch, queuing for counter service before transferring our goodies to a table down the back of the room.


Chicken and salad flute

The flute breads, from which the bakery takes its name, are sold plain or pre-assembled with a variety of fillings. Our merry crew settles down to a selection of filled flutes, pies and quiches, conversation momentarily replaced by the sound of satisfied chewing.


Pumpkin and asparagus quiche and chicken and tarragon with leek pie


Beef and red wine pie $4.50

I stick with the traditional beef and red wine pie, its flaky pastry holding generous chunks of slow-cooked beef enriched with a red wine sauce.




Inside the beef and red wine pie


Chocolate crossiant

We can't leave without trying dessert. The gateaux are refined and elegant, intricate shapes and layers garnished with chocolate tiles or fresh fruit. There is even a little plate of macarons on the front counter. I ask permission to take photos of the dessert cabinet but after some consultation am politely declined, although they are happy for me to photograph our own purchases.


Pear tart

A poached pear set in a pear-shaped puff pastry cut-out [top] illustrates the beauty of simplicity. We find the chocolate crossiant buttery yet light, a regal pear tart sweetened by a crisp base, and accented by a trail of crumbled pistachio and almond splinters.


Chocolate and hazelnut profiterole torte

The chocolate and hazelnut torte is crowned with a fluffy profiterole, dripping with chocolate. It's deceptively rich, satisfying the deepest of chocolate cravings.

The Flute leaves a merry tune in our hearts. If music be the food of love, play on.






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The Flute Bakery and Patisserie
8 Barrier Street, Fyshwick, Canberra, ACT
Tel: +61 (02) 6280 8001

Opening hours:
Monday to Friday 8am-3pm


Related Grab Your Fork posts:
Canberra - Au Lac Gourmet Vegetarian (Vietnamese)
Canberra - Le Rendezvous (Italian)
Canberra - Mecca Bah (Moroccan)
Canberra - My's Vietnamese Restaurant (Vietnamese)
Canberra - Pancake Parlour (breakfast)
Canberra - Senso Restaurant (truffle lunch)
Canberra - Silo Bakery

Silo Bakery, Kingston, Canberra

I'm not a morning person, but if there's one thing that I will wake up early for, it's food.

Work took me Canberra a couple of months ago (hello backlog), and if there was one place I was determined to visit it was Silo Bakery. It was surprisingly easy to convince my office colleagues to join me on post-work eating adventures - 'so where are we eating tonight, Helen?' they'd ask.

It was even better when I managed to swing our Canberra colleagues to head out for lunch in Kingston - Silo Bakery firmly in my sights. Unfortunately we had underestimated its popularity and arrived at 1pm to find out there was a half-hour wait for a table. We lunched elsewhere instead and returned for dessert.


Silo pastry counter

Silo Bakery is known for its artisan breads, pastries, cheese room and breakfasts. The flow of customers here is non-stop, and the dining area - mostly a long narrow stretch along one wall that extends to a back room - is filled with locals cradling cups of coffee, chatting with friends or engrossed in the newspaper.


Rhubarb danish

Flaky crossiants, buttery brioche and an army of tarts beckon us closer from the display case. We share a selection of sweets between us, including rhubarb danish, banana caramel tart, lemon tart and a chocolate and chestnut tart.


Banana caramel tart $5.50

The banana caramel tart is my favourite, a thick layer of dulce de leche beneath a caramelised plate of toffee, topped with a submerged raft of fresh banana.


Lemon tart $5.50

The lemon tart is zingy and light beneath a snowfall of icing sugar, more pronounced in flavour than the the chocolate and chestnut tart which is more cakey in texture with surprise finds of chestnut puree.


Chocolate chestnut tart $5.50

Our flight back to Sydney the next day leaves at 8.30am but I figure we can probably just squeeze in breakfast beforehand. This is how I come to be standing outside Silo Bakery at 6.50am on a cold Canberra morning, waiting for the shop to open.

To our surprise, we find ourselves joined by a dozen other locals, piling in as soon as the doors open and stocking up on fresh bread or ordering takeaway coffee.


Sourdough toast with jam $6

We settle in with menus at a table. The breakfast options are dizzyng, from the piperade Basque omelette with chorizo; to the Welsh rarebit, egg, sausage and spinach; and the baked eggs with washed rind cheese, celery and walnut toast.


Fried eggs, bacon and mushrooms $15

Between us we order the sourdough toast that is simple but rewarding, served with a slab of butter and a dish of chunky strawberry jam, and the fried eggs, bacon and mushroom, a bounty of protein and B vitamins on a plate.


Chilli jam, roasted tomatoes and poached eggs on bruschetta $15

I opt for the chilli jam, roasted tomatoes and poached on bruschetta. The poached eggs look rather promiscuous, perched across two slices of toasted sourdough, but it's the chilli jam that steals the show, surprising in its salty sweet intensity with a chilli after kick that lingers on the palate.


Silo Bakery walk-in cheese room

It's never too early in the morning for a stroll through the walk-in cheese room either. As soon as someone enters the cheese room, the escaping aromas of pungent blue cheeses slowly drifts across the dining room in tantalising tendrils.


Mothais sur Feuille goats cheese $18.50 each

There's an impressive collection of Australian and European cheeses, each stacked and labelled neatly on wooden shelves.


Truffle butter $20 each (available in truffle season only)

I want one of each, but resist - smelly cheese is never a good idea on a plane. I do leave with a souvenir - a sturdy loaf of Kingston white sourdough that sits very quietly in the overhead locker on the trip back home.


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Silo Bakery
36 Giles Street, Kingston, Canberra ACT
Tel: +61 (02) 6260 6060

Opening hours:
Open Tuesday to Saturday 7am-4pm
Breakfast 7am-11.30am
Lunch 11.30am-2.30pm (12pm-3pm on Saturday)

Lunch bookings are recommended

Related Grab Your Fork posts:
Canberra - Flute Bakery
Canberra - Le Rendezvous (Italian)
Canberra - Mecca Bah (Moroccan)
Canberra - My's Vietnamese Restaurant (Vietnamese)
Canberra - Pancake Parlour (breakfast)
Canberra - Senso Restaurant (truffle lunch)

Hugos Bar Pizza, Kings Cross

EDIT: Hugos Bar Pizza has closed

"Pizza?" Peter Evans asks, as he wends his way through the crowd at the launch of the Hugos Bar Pizza new private dining room.

"It's potato and lardo," he says, gesturing toward the thin crust pizza in his hand. "Basically it's potato and fat," he explains to those with blank expressions on their faces.

Potato and fat? Potato and fat? I would have called it potato and deliciousness. Potato and happiness. Potato and bliss. Luscious ribbons of pig backfat cured with rosemary and spices and heated until it melts between slivers of soft potato on a thin pizza crust.


David Evans and Peter Evans, co-owners of the Hugo Group

It's the second of three media nights at Hugos, showcasing the new private dining room behind the bar that was once a driveway. The long narrow space expands the dining room capacity from 80 to 120 seats.

Peter Evans takes the microphone first, laughing about the constant media mix-ups that confuse him with his brother David. He says that he is often asked whether he cooks in his restaurants, but admits that private functions and TV commitments prevent him from doing so. The cooking, he says, is more than adequately looked after by his Executive Chef for the Hugos Group, Massimo Mele.


Massimo Mele, Executive Chef for Hugos Group

Hugos Bar Pizza sits beneath Hugos Lounge in the suburb that never sleeps, Kings Cross. Its stylish surrounds - impressive backlit bar, low-set lounges and mood lighting - are backed up by snazzy cocktails and seriously good pizza. Hugos Bar Pizza has won the mantle of Best Pizza in Australia three times at the annual Australian Fine Food Show, and was awarded Best Pizza in the World at the New York Pizza Challenge in 2005.


Handmade grissini with cured meats

We were plied with an expansive tasting of dishes, many of which will feature on the new revised menu.


Giardiniera pickled seasoned vegetables


Cured Hiramasa kingfish with sweet and sour eggplant, pomegranate and saffron onions

The parade of antipasti seemed never ending, but my favourites were the cured Hiramasa kingfish - a mix of sweet and piquant with a slather of eggplant relish and brilliant ruby red pomegranate seeds, the hot and crisp-shelled arancini, and the tuna crostini, covered in delicate cubes of soft and yielding tuna dressed with lemon and chilli.


Arancini with pork ragu and scamorza and
fried calzone with buffalo ricotta, smoked ham and reggiano


Tuna crostini with chilli and lemon and
bruschetta with tomato and basil


Fregola with vongole


Slow roasted Rangers Valley grass fed rib eye

The huge hunk of Rangers Valley grass fed rib eye caught the attention of all diners as it was ceremoniously placed on each table.

Seared to a glorious juicy pink, Massimo explained that the steaks were cooked sous vide at 53C for three hours. The steaks were then finished in the pizza oven to create a caramelised crust. The meat was flavoursome, ribboned with fat, and melt-in-the-mouth tender.


Roasted potatoes with rosemary and garlic
and mixed garden salad


Rib eye bone

But the best part of any steak is the bone. Two of us on our table nabbed the bone and set about tearing the last shred of meat from every crevice, the fat from the edges, the marrow from the bone, the bits that were burnt. We clutched the bone in our hands, elbows on the table, big grins on our faces.


Tiramisu with amaretto

Dessert is just a bonus. We tunnel our spoons down into deep narrow glasses to find a boozy tiramisu made with not savoiardi sponge fingers, but crumbled amaretto - adding a sugary crunch.


Chocolate and hazelnut pizza with gelato

And to finish, Hugos famous chocolate and hazelnut pizza. This is easily the best version of this dessert pizza I've tasted, made with real chocolate shavings, splinters of toasted hazelnuts, slices of creamy banana and chocolate hazelnut paste on a light and crispy pizza. A scoop of vanilla gelato and a generous dusting of icing sugar sets off this dessert on the chopping board. We groan with pain, and then proceed to dig in.


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Hugos Bar Pizza Restaurant and Bar CLOSED
33 Bayswater Road, Kings Cross
Tel: +61 (02) 9332 1227

Opening hours:
Tuesday to Saturday 5pm - late
Sunday 3pm - late


Related Grab Your Fork posts:
Potts Point - Blancharu (Japanese)
Potts Point - Busshari (Japanese)
Potts Point - Doma Bohemian Beer Cafe (Czech)
Potts Point - Mere Catherine (French)
Potts Point - Prague Czech Beer Restaurant (Czech)

Easy entertaining: Holiday wreath bread

How was your Christmas? Mine was filled with ham, turkey, gravlax, pavlova, fruit cake and more. It was a weekend of feasting, but as Master Six intoned to me solemnly on Christmas morning, "Christmas is not about presents. It's about spending time with your family."

And so there was eating and drinking, and then jumping on the trampoline and playing Snap with the kids. Everyone brought a dish for Christmas lunch, and I arrived with two holiday wreath breads, an idea I'd been fascinated by ever since I'd had it at Billy's Christmas in July dinner.



I used Billy's recipe which was adapted from a recipe by Jamie Oliver to which I added my own alterations, rolling the dough in sesame seeds and pumpkin seeds for extra crunch and colour, and adding a tray of water at the bottom of the oven to give a crust. I also included the extra virgin olive oil that appears in the Jamie at Home recipe for this basic dough.



Holiday Wreath Bread
(based on recipes by A Table for Two and Jamie Oliver)

This is a great basic bread recipe that can be used to make pizza dough or bread. Shaping it into a holiday wreath bread is an easy way to impress your guests or host. You can roll the dough in any mix of sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, linseeds or sunflower seeds, but I think pumpkin seeds are the most festive, the green seeds looking just like leaves. Just before serving, pop the bread into a hot oven for a few minutes to warm.

1kg/ just over 2lbs strong bread flour (or use plain flour and 2 tablespoons of bread improver)
30g/1oz fresh yeast, 3 x 7g/¼oz sachets dried yeast or 4 teaspoons instant dried yeast granules
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon fine sea salt
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
625ml/1 pint warm water
extra flour for dusting
sesame seeds and/or pumpkin seeds

• If using a mixer with dough hook, combine the flour, yeast, sugar, salt and olive oil in a bowl. Turn on the mixer at a low speed and slowly add the water into the bowl. Continue mixing until all the ingredients have come together into a sticky dough.

• If making the dough by hand, place the flour onto a clean surface and make a large well in the centre. Pour half the water into the well, add the yeast, sugar, salt and olive oil and use your hand to slowly bring the inner wall of flour into the centre. Slowly add the rest of the water until all the flour has been incorporated into a sticky dough.

• Knead the dough on a clean floured surface for about five minutes until it starts to feel smooth and elastic. You may need to add a little more flour or water (flours vary and humidity can also affect doughs).

• Place the dough into a large lightly floured bowl and cover with clingfilm or a tea towel for the first prove. Leave the bowl in a warm draught-free spot for about an hour. My foolproof way to prove dough: I place the bowl in a sink filled with 5-10cm of warm water.

• When the dough has doubled in size, remove from the bowl and knead again on a floured surface. Split the dough into the size you prefer. I found the best size wreath is made using 2/3 of this dough, mainly because of the size of my oven and tray. Otherwise you can make two small wreaths by splitting the dough into two, or keep it whole for a giant wreath.

• Shape the dough into a bun shape and then use your fingers to poke a hole into the middle to create a donut. Stretch the dough out into a large ring - I found holding it vertically and allowing gravity to pull down the dough was most effective,

• Brush the surface of the dough lightly with water and then placed upside down on a tray covered with sesame seeds or pumpkin seeds. Gently move the dough around to make sure the surface is encrusted. You may wish to coat both sides with seeds (I did this on my next batch).

• Gently manouevre the dough ring to a floured tray (I used an upturned pizza tray) and allow to rest for thirty minutes.

• Preheat the oven to 230C/445F.

• After thirty minutes, the dough should have expanded and risen. Use a pair of scissors to make a deep-angled cut into the dough, and then lift the cut piece up and outward to create a fanned effect. Continue around the ring until complete.

• Bake the dough for about 25-30 minutes or until the loaves have turned golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool for about 30 minutes.

• Serve with lots of butter.
  

Stomachs Eleven: Christmas dinner

Christmas? It's about the three F's - food, family and friends. What's even better is when you are able to combine all three.

Over the past two years, our dinner party group Stomachs Eleven has taken turns to host a homemade meal, and these days our circle of friends has become more like a family. Someone's usually running late, the early birds will pitch in with last minute prep, and there's always plenty of heckling around the dinner table.

There is no doubt whose house we look forward to visiting most - Mr and Mrs Pig Flyin always put on a stupendous feast that somehow manages to again eclipse the bounty and beauty of our last experience. Our generous hosts volunteered to host a Christmas dinner, helped by Silverlily and Supermario. The meal was amazing, as delicious and exquisite as any meal in a hatted restaurant, but more so because it was handmade with love by friends, and eaten together as a family.


Personalised Christmas cookie place settings (made by Silverlily)


Iced cookies on the Christmas tree

We were tempted to eat them until we found out the biscuits had been sprayed with lacquer!


White anchovies coated in pistachio praline and bread crumbs (Bentley cookbook)

White anchovy sticks is a dish comes from the Bentley cookbook and was one of Mr and Mrs Pig Flyin's favourite dishes from the old Bentley menu. The pistachio praline adds an enticing crunch to the firm slivers of white anchovies.


Radish in pot (Noma recipe)

Radish in pot is one of Rene Redzepi's famed dishes at Noma. We stared slack-jawed at its presentation, each of us unwilling to plunder the first radish from its soil.


Plucking out a radish

Once we started of course, we had to will ourselves to stop. The raw crunch of radish was brilliant against the herbed yoghurt (made with a mix of herbs from Pig Flyin's garden) and a dual-textured soil made from hazelnut meal and Guinness (Noma recipe).


Radishes are tasty


Candle centrepiece by Silverlily


Plating the egg and ham


Candied parma ham on ham custard with ham glace

It's not Christmas Down Under unless you have a ham. Pig Flyin decided to incorporate ham into this elegant starter, an egg shell filled with a rich ham-infused custard and ham glace, topped with candied slices of parma ham.


Ham custard


Eel parfait


Supermario plating the soft boiled quail eggs


Silverlily plating the mussel and fregola salad


Eel parfait with quail egg, house-smoked mussels, fregola and seaweed

The eel parfait was as smooth as butter and the soft boiled quail egg was a sight to behold. I relished the chewiness of the fregola, a Sardinian version of Israeli couscous where the semolina dough is rolled into pearls and then toasted. It was paired well with the house-smoked mussels, seaweed fronds and mustard dressing.




Cuttlefish 'gnocchi' (Pier cookbook)

Mrs Pig Flyin spent several hours preparing this dish of cuttlefish 'gnocchi', curls of cuttlefish wrapped around prawns and garden herbs, then tied up individually in plastic and poached gently until barely cooked. The cuttlefish pillows were served in a vinaigrette made with its own ink.


Ravioli of scallop in crab consomme (Pier cookbook)


Pouring the crab consomme onto the ravioli


Ravioli of scallop in crab consomme (Pier cookbook)

This was probably my favourite dish of the night (the radishes were a close second). The ravioli of scallop was as slippery as satin, two paper-thin slivers sandwiched around a dice of tomato and tarragon. Ribbons of asparagus were painstaking shaved by Silverlily and the crab consomme (served in the cutest bottles) was aromatic and sweet.


Heirloom tomatoes


Purple and orange carrots


Quails in the forest

One look at the cauliflower trees (shaved by Silverlily using a mandolin) and all I could picture was a forest for foraging. We had much fun trying some of everything on the Moroccan-inspired platter.


Duck liver parfait cigars and caramelised figs


Heirloom tomatoes, rolled quail breast, fresh apricots, pickled red beets and golden beets,
pan-fried quail legs in ras el hanout, cranberry couscous, shaved cauliflower,
handmade pistachio paste with garlic and orange zest, and pickled quince gel


Christmas tree cookie on the Christmas tree


Mushrooms


Blow-torching the Italian meringue


Yule log (Bûche de Noël) with mushrooms

Yes the mushrooms were made from meringue! These looked so life-like we were all besotted. The mushrooms were the handiwork of Silverlily, who made two types of meringue - one with white sugar, the other with brown sugar - to create white and brown mushrooms.


Handsaw for the yule log


Yule log cross-section: chocolate mousse, praline feuillete and sour cherry compote

The yule log was the perfect festival end to the meal, and the bark pattern on the blow-torched meringue was very impressive.


Figs in bitter caramel amber

We still found room for figs, ripe and luscious, and coated with a gelee of bitter caramel amber.


Digestifs: Sesame shochu, perilla shochu and chilli plum wine

And as we sipped on dragon well tea and an interesting blend of Kusumi Troika tea (China, Ceylon and Indian teas flavoured with bergamot, orange and mandarin), we somehow managed to break into the liquor cabinet as well.

Mr and Mrs Pig Flyin were more than happy to share their stash of Japanese liquors, including a ferociously alcoholic but faintly nutty sesame shochu, a complex perilla shochu and a sweet-as-honey plum wine infused with a chilli kick.


It's Pig Flyin!

And so as we all gather with friends and family over the coming week, I hope that you have a very Merry Christmas filled with plenty of good food and cheer.

Eat well and eat often! You know I will be :)




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