New What Katie Ate Cookbook

Sorry I've been missing from the blog since last week.  I've been busy working on a big post for Monday about a fantastic event I attended last Monday for Blentec Blenders at the Establishment Studio.  It's also first week of school hols here and that has also slowed me up.

I'll be back Monday with my new post, it's all ready, just waiting for the caterer from the event to get back to me with a recipe to share with you all.  In the meantime I wanted to leave you with a video by Katie Quinn Davies of the What Katie Ate blog promoting her new cookbook which went on sale yesterday.  The video is shot in some of the city laneways of Melbourne and I think I recognise Prahran Market which isn't far from my house.  It will give you a peek at my city.

I was very excited as the copy I ordered online arrived yesterday, earlier than I expected so I cooked the Lemon Chicken with Herbed Rice last night for dinner.


WKA BOOK BTS from Katie Quinn Davies on Vimeo.

Hope you enjoy the video, I'm going to Sydney in a couple of weeks to hear Katie talk about her food photography, she has been one of my biggest inspirations since I started food blogging.

See you Monday.

Catherine xx

The Little Veggie Patch Co.

Hello All,

Last weekend we cleared a patch of garden that was covered in weeds in anticipation of planting some vegetable seeds I picked up from the Little Veggie Patch Co. a few weeks ago.  

The Little Veggie Patch Co are a Melbourne based business that specialise in the design, installation and maintenance of chemical-free vegetable gardens.  They have a stylish nursery that makes vegetable gardening feel very cool.

They sell these packets of heirloom seeds and I'm totally in love with the packaging.

They have a book out about how to grow veggies in small spaces and their website is definitely worth a look for some inspiration.  I can almost taste the bruschetta now made with these beautiful home grown heirloom tomatoes, perfect for weekend brunch or lunch.  My daughter was off school sick today so had limited time to get this post up...but I'll include a bruschetta recipe here tomorrow.

Update:  As promised Bruschetta recipe follows, I made this bruschetta after school drop off so it was breakfast...so tasty and a perfect example of using a few ingredients but the best you can find to make something really simple and yummy.

Recipe

Toast some rustic, country style bread slices.

Rub toast once over with half a clove of garlic if you wish.

Drizzle with some olive oil and top with diced tomatoes mixed with basil, olive oil and some sea salt and pepper or

Sliced avocado, a squeeze of lemon and top with cannellini beans (from a tin & rinsed), salt, pepper and finish with a little drizzle of olive oil.

Pile filling on top of toast and savour the experience.

Catherine xx

Raspberry Muffins With Cream Cheese Filling

My sister was on holiday recently in Adelaide and told me about these beautiful muffins she had in a cafe there...raspberry with cream cheese in the middle.  "They were beautiful" she exclaimed when recounting highlights of her holiday.

I'm a cream cheese lover, (especially spread on bagels with jam).. so after some research on the internet came up with this version of the recipe.

The basic muffin mix is from Stephanie Alexander's Book The Cook's Companion.

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Raspberry Muffins With Cream Cheese Filling

Muffin Mixture

220g self raising flour, 1/2 cup castor sugar, 3/4 cup milk or buttermilk, 1 egg, 1/2 cup vegetable oil, 3/4 cup fresh or frozen raspberries.

Cream Cheese Filling

Approx 3-4 tablespoons cream cheese, 1/2 tsp lemon zest grated with a microplane or fine grater,

castor sugar to taste (until the cream cheese is sweet enough to your liking), approx 1 tablespoon of raspberries crushed.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees and place patty pans in muffin tin.

Mix sifted flour and castor sugar.  Combine milk, egg and oil in a separate bowl and whisk lightly. Make a well in the centre of dry ingredients, pour in liquid and raspberries and mix lightly.

In a small bowl place softened cream cheese, lemon zest, crushed raspberries, castor sugar and mix together.

Spoon batter into patty pans until two thirds full, place a teaspoon of cream cheese mixture on top then top with another tablespoon of mixture.

I wanted to make big muffins so filled the mixture up to the top of the muffin patty pan and got eight muffins.  I also used frozen raspberries.

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Catherine x

Welcome Spring

It's always an exciting time at the end of winter when the days turn sunny and we know Spring is on the way.  Fresh spring veggies like asparagus, peas, sugar snaps and zucchini start to appear in the stores and you can start to cook lighter style dishes.

Above is a spring tart I put together to celebrate the start of Spring and just to prove Spring makes everyone feel good my husband Nick remarked it looked like a "happy tart" when I showed it to him.  

The taste will make you happy too, my daughter Emma, the hand model in the photos and I..gobbled down a few slices after photographing it for lunch.

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For an Autumn Tart substitute the spring vegetables for pumpkin (slice or small dice part cook in the oven first), pine nuts, olives & crumbled fetta. 

Spring Tart

This tart is light and I've added some grated pecorino to add a bit of sharpness to the ricotta filling.  Make for a light lunch or serve with a salad and some crusty bread for a more substantial meal.

Makes 2 square tarts

2 sheets of puff pastry, 2 eggs, 250g ricotta cheese, 1/4 cup pecorino cheese grated, small handful basil leaves shredded, sea salt & pepper.

Your choice of spring vegetables, I used asparagus, fresh peas (blanched in boiling water for a minute), sugar snaps (cut in half horizontally) and zucchini shaved with a vegetable peeler.

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.

Place pastry sheet on baking paper and place on a tray.

Using the point of a knife, don't cut right through but score a 1cm, 1/2 inch border around the edge of the sheet of puff pastry and prick surface inside the square with a fork.  In a bowl whisk the eggs, mix in the ricotta, pecorino, shredded basil, salt and pepper.

Spread the ricotta mixture over the pastry within the square.  Arrange vegetables on top of the mixture and place in the oven for 20-25 minutes.  Drizzle with a little olive oil if desired.  Cut into squares and serve.
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Catherine x

Quick Trip To Adelaide

Hi everyone, got back from Adelaide last night and couldn't wait to show you a fantastic bistro we found there called The Store in Melbourne Road, North Adelaide.  

My family and I were in Adelaide for the weekend to visit family and stayed in an apartment in upmarket North Adelaide, an area I haven't visited before but loved.  Melbourne Street was the main street dotted with beautiful cafes and shops.

My daughter Hayley organised for us as a family to have breakfast at The Store on Father's Day.  Hayley rang, made the booking and secured us a beautiful table outdoors, it couldn't have been better.  The food and service was fab in a beautiful and relaxed setting you can only find in Adelaide.

The sun was shining and we decided to start breakfast off with a Mimosa champagne drink (champagne and orange juice) followed by avocado and danish fetta on rye with poached eggs for Emma and I, the big breakfast for Nick and the most gorgeous bowl of bircher muesli for Hayley, topped with half a miniature poached pear.

The interior was french bistro style, warm and inviting with lots of pictures, lamps and touches to make you feel welcome.  We'll definitely be going back there when next in Adelaide.

We all felt like an Indian meal the evening we arrived and with the power of google on an iphone tracked down Delhi Spice..The Curry Delight.  The food was delicious, authentic and reasonable and the restaurant unpretentious.  They don't have a website but their address is Shop 271A Oaklands Road, Marion, SA, Ph 8177 2355.

If you like organic food Wild Thyme was packed full of people every time I walked past.

On another note, two exciting things have happened to me recently.  I was offered a place at a blogging conference in Adelaide in November called Eat.Drink.Blog 3.  The conference is fully sponsored, there were only 70 places available and was oversubscribed by 55%.  On the Saturday afternoon I'm doing a food writing workshop with Dianne Jacobs of "Will Write For Food" fame.

The other exciting thing was being quoted in a wonderful article Mel Chesneau of Armoire, Pegs and Casserole wrote in Neet Magazine on Holly Becker of Decor8's Blogging Your Way course.  I've completed BYW1 and 2 and can't recommend Holly's online course enough if you'd like to know more check out the article in Neet which has just come out.  Thank you so much for including me Mel.

Catherine x