Pick up Your Fork

Late last year I attended the launch of Your Fork, a website started earlier this year to bring home cooks and eaters together. It's an interesting concept where home cooks are encouraged to register with the site as Cooks and prepare and sell home cooked meals to rival Dominoes or other takeaway restaurants. After placing an order earlier in the day from one of the registered home cooks, the team at Your Fork will pick up the meal from the cook and deliver it straight to your home.

It was an interesting gathering with several of the cooks giving us a taster of the cuisine we can expect from the dinner boxes that are advertised on the site. We sampled raw food, gluten free delights and some great hearty Egyptian dishes. Now on their site they have meals from Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Japan and Italy, and their goal is to expand their home cook network to represent many more countries.

It is a great concept and they've set it up to suit the cooks, as well as the diners who can expect authentic recipes from cuisines they're craving at a reasonable price, so instead of picking up the phone to the pizza place, why not have a different dish on your fork!

White Chocolate Mojito Cheesecake

I haven't joined the SABH hop for a while as I'm trying to cut down on the desserts that I was preparing, and even monthly was getting a bit too much for our waistlines but I thought, given the theme, I would hop back in!

My hubbie's favourite dessert is cheesecake. Probably Mango Cheesecake. With the mango season only just beginning, I was able to convince him that for a dinner party dessert, and for the Sweet Adventures Blog Hop hosted by Nic from Nic Cooks, it was time to try a different variety that's been on my list of recipes to try for ages (since I saw the recipe in Delicious Magazine in November 2009!): White Chocolate Mojito Cheesecake. It definitely had the kick and flavour of a mojito with the creaminess of a normal cheesecake. It was really simple to make, and because it didn't require baking, or even much cooling, was fantastic for making in the morning for the evening party.


White Chocolate Mojito Cheesecake (serves 6)

Ingredients

For the base
150g ginger biscuits
20g butter

For the filling
juice and zest of 3 limes
110g caster sugar
100ml Bacardi (or another kind of white rum)
1 cup of mint leaves
120g white chocolate
400g soft cream cheese
250g mascarpone

For serving
handful of pistachios
sprinkle of kitchen grade lavender (optional)

Method

• Melt the butter
  
• Whiz the ginger biscuits in a food processor, add the melted butter and pulse to combine
• Split the crumb mixture between 6 low ball glasses (or other serving glass) and put in the fridge to chill
• Bring sugar and 60 ml water to boil in a saucepan and let the mixture simmer for about 5 mins till it makes a syrup
• Add lime juice, zest, rum and mint and muddle with the end of a rolling pin to bruise the mint. Let this sit for 20 mins or so to infuse
• Melt the chocolate in a double boiler (a bowl over boiling water), then leave it to cool slightly - but not till it goes hard!
• Put the cheese in the cleaned food processor and whiz till they are
  
  creamy and combined. Pour in the strained mojito syrup and keep whizzing till it's mixed. Scrape in the white chocolate and whiz just a little till it's all combined.
• Spoon the cream mixture over the crumbs and chill in the fridge till ready to serve
• When it's time to serve sprinkle over edible lavender and some crushed pistachios (crush with a mortar & pestle, or put some in a plastic bag and bash with a rolling pin) - the real recipe suggested edible flowers, but I couldn't find any. They would look pretty!

What's for Dinner, Curtis?

As a chef stalker, I was so excited to meet Curtis Stone and have his new book, What's for Dinner? signed earlier this year. He's managing to muscle in between me and my thing with Jamie, and I've been cooking through a few of his recipes so far.

What I love about his book is the diversity - quick things, healthy things, not-so-healthy-but-very-yummy things, seasonal dishes, classics and new interpretations of old favourites so I wanted to show a few of his collection.

Chicken Cassoulet with Fennel and Bacon, with Endive and Shaved Fennel Salad

I have been trying to hide pulses in our dishes trying to trick my hubbie who claims to be not a big fan. This was an amazing dish for that and he even asked for seconds even after discovering that they were beans). I Apart from the chicken pieces being juicy and moist, the veg and bean concoction underneath was so flavourful. This was a great and cost effective low carb choice on a cool night.

Spiced Lamb Chops with Grilled Zucchini, Feta, and Olive Gremolata (served with Curtis' pickled onions)

I loved the simplicity of this dish, and it is great for preparing earlier and putting on the barbie when everyone is having a drink out on the balcony to admire the aroma - or in our case rushing to try to stop the smoke alarm beeping (think we need to clean the BBQ) The grilled zucchini is a good trick to make veg taste amazing; and with the onions and feta, this dish goes from a traditional meat and veg to a delicious, different but very healthy dinner.

Slow-Cooked Pulled Pork Sandwiches with 'Fireworks' Coleslaw (and Apple Bourbon Sauce)

This recipe, and in particular the sauce, are the reason to buy this book! I amended the slow cooked pork recipe for my slow cooker (I didn't basically the same but cooked it in the slow cooker for 8 hours instead of 2 1/2 which Curtis recommended. The pork falls apart, and it's the amazing sauce/chutney that puts it back together and makes an amazing sweet, tart, spicy sauce. Served with the coleslaw (where I substituted yoghurt for the mayo to make it healthier) this was a great dish for a posh night or casual night in!

Hope you can grab a copy of the book and try out a few. If you're anything like me, you'll love it! 

Tastes on my Travels

As I travel it has started to become clearer what type of restaurants I am drawn to. Of course, I love going to the classics and trying out the acclaimed chefs' places when in their home city, but what I've noticed as I browse through the restaurant recommendations I receive is that I'm drawn to a couple of things: I like quirky buildings or locations - restaurants in buildings converted from another purpose; I love the underdog - not the top restaurant in town, but the best new restaurants, off the beaten track ones; and I love interesting produce that's a bit different to the norm, but where the preparation isn't too out there with gels and soils etc. 

Recently, I've just come back from a few weeks work and play in North America - San Jose and Vancouver to be specific - where I found some restaurants I really enjoyed which fit some or all of the criteria!

Naglee Park Garage, San Jose

This recommendation came from a colleague who thought I'd love it! Of course I did. I watched a YouTube clip of the feature on Diners, Drive In's and Dives and was really excited to try it. Classic American burger and fries but with a twist! Perfect. Even better was the courtyard out to back of the converted garage in San Jose. We sat on long shared tables and relaxed on the summers evening enjoying the food, wine and music from a jazz band playing at the back. It was a great place to kick back and chill!

Wildebeest, Vancouver

I was really excited to go to Wildebeest in Vancouver. The menu looked so interesting when I was scouring websites for where to eat in Vancouver and wow! It delivered. I really enjoy the idea of share plates which are a little bigger than starter size but not as big as a main, so you can try quite a few things. These dishes were delicious with every bite packing a punch. We had a bunch of  things including bison tartare, so interesting and flavoursome; delectable quail with the hay still smoking; tender and melt-in-your-mouth beef shortrib. The restaurant had a great vibe contrasting to the quiet Gastown street outside when we left!

Fable Restaurant, Vancouver

Fable is another Vancouver favourite established a few years ago inspired by Top Chef Canada "restaurant wars." For a Monday night I didn't think we'd have trouble getting a table but this is a popular haunt and we just squeezed in for an early sitting! This was another colleague's recommendation (they really know me!) and it was fabulous. The highlight for me was the "canned tuna" - confit (I think) tuna with preserved lemons served in a "can" but the other dishes were delicious - perfectly cooked duck and lamb; clever potato crusted chicken and good old Steak Frites! 

 Ah, great food really makes a great holiday for me. And really makes me want to return to try some of the other menu items that I didn't pick - makes my travel wishlist that bit longer though!