Showing posts with label MasterChefAu. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MasterChefAu. Show all posts

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Top of the Pop(up)s

On Monday night we had a very unique experience at Bar H, a little stylish contemporary bar in Surry Hills. Tonight wasn't a normal night there but one when the kitchen was taken over by Mindy, Audra and Kylie - our favourite MasterChef girls! I was ecstatic to get a booking after feeling like I had left it a bit late for the "first in best dressed" booking policy so Audra's confirmation made my day! And how glad I was - such a fun evening and great food. It is a strange thing meeting the MasterChef girls. We know them so well like friends we have shared every evening for the last few months with so it didn't feel surprising when we walked in and there was Audra greeting everyone while Mindy and Kylie smiled and cooked in the open plan kitchen.

The service was fantastic and drinks were here in no time for my hubbie and I to toast to the meal to come. The little bowl of caramelised nuts and tiny crispy fish reminded me of snacks in the Philippines and Japan so I couldn't stop going back for another nibble! The girls greeted everyone and announced a family style menu. First up was a 3 pepper chicken served in a bag for everyone to dig in. The pepper hit was great and what succulent pieces of meat. We polished off our bag in no time and soon it was an amazing slow cooked beef short ribs in an Asian sauce with some Gai lan stir fried with garlic and chilli - some of our favourite flavour combinations. No sooner had we polished off the beef, but a Mapo Tofu (Grandmothers tofu) was presented. It looked fabulous, but I was worried I was going to have to eat this one alone, as Cam isn't a big tofu fan. I gave him a bit to try and he was hooked! The spiciness with the Chinese sausage and pork mince complemented the tofu perfectly and we finished our plate.

With our mouths still with that slight chilli burn, we were presented with an individual dessert with a number of components. There was a lychee granita - so sherbetty and with such great lychee flavour that it cleansed the palate beautifully before the black sesame ice cream and the coconut tapioca with fried won ton slivers to give a crispy texture. All the flavours worked so well as a great end to a fabulous meal - or so we thought!

Just before we got kicked out so they could prepare for the next sitting finally came a Szechuan Salt Chocolate Truffle and a home made fortune cookie! Now it truly was the end, and the girls calmly saw everyone off before I'm sure they rushed back to the stove to prepare for the next round!

It really was a night to remember, the food, the wonderful hostesses and the fun!

Sunday, June 24, 2012

My Dude Food Challenge

Duck and Mushroom Arancini with Spicy Saffron Mayo
MasterChef has its "Dude Food" Challenge tonight and I feel like I'm quite well practised in this type of food - way more than the delicate restaurant plating that is normally required.


The entree at our dinner party last night was a good example of hearty but fun snacky "Dude Food". My hubbie requested Arancini balls for his birthday, but with a day of activities planned, I promised it at the next dinner party we hosted. He is very proud of his risotto, which he slaves over for hours, so whilst I got to enjoy that for dinner on Friday night, we made double the dosage so we'd have enough for the risotto balls to serve to our guests as an entree. 

I've never made Arancini before but in my experience the rice in the centre is warm, soft and gooey whilst the breadcrumb is golden and crisp. I had my doubts about whether mine would be exactly that. A good tip of double crumbing though was the secret success factor and after deep frying the balls for a few minutes will golden, the crumb was crispy and the insides perfect -  scrumptious with the spicy saffron mayonnaise!

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