Seafood Bouillabaisse

On Good Friday this year I decided to cook Seafood Bouillabaisse for dinner, my first attempt at making this. I do love seafood but we don't often cook it at home due to cost and my partner's whinging (he's a red meat kinda man). I've always liked seafood chowder, stew and the likes so I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to use my excess tomatoes from my garden and make a hell of a seafood dish. I adapted a recipe from Taste.com.au and made some minor changes. To start with I went shopping late because of work so a lot of the seafood had already sold out by the time I got to the shops, not to mention the atrocious prices for Easter. 

Bouillabaisse is a French dish that originated from Marseille. I believe different fishes are used traditionally but as it is a stew, fish with firm meat would be ideal so it doesn't crumble and melt apart. It is also traditionally served with bread and rouille. It started out as a humble man's dish  but has since evolved into a regular on upper-class dining menus.

Ingredients serves 4:

1 baby fennel chopped finely

1 tbsp olive oil

1 large onion chopped finely

1 stalk celery chopped finely

3 cloves garlic minced

1 leek chopped finely

1/4 tsp firmly packed saffron threads

5 cups fish stock

1 kg ripened tomatoes peeled and chopped finely

1/2 orange peel

2 tbsp tomato paste

2 bay leaves

3 sprigs thyme

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1 star anise

500g green king prawns shelled and deveined

500g green lipped mussels

600g John Dory fillets cut to cubes

600g flake fillets cut to cubes

300g scallops

salt to taste

Thinly sliced baguette

Gruyere cheese

Method:

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan or pot over medium heat and add chopped fennel, leek, onion,  garlic and celery and saute until softened.
2. Meanwhile, combine saffron and 100mL of fish stock in a small bowl and set aside for 10 minutes.
3. Add tomato paste to the pan and stir well then add saffron mixture, tomatoes, bay leaves, star anise, thyme, cayenne pepper, orange peel and a pinch of salt. Pour the rest of the stock into the pan and mix well.
4. Toast some thin slices of baguette and top with grated Gruyere cheese. Place under the grill until cheese is melted.
5. Heat another pan with 125mL water and fry mussels over high heat for about 5 minutes or until shells open.
6. Add the fish to the stock, followed by prawns and lastly scallops making sure the seafood is submerged in the liquid. Cook for 5 minutes or until seafood is just cooked. 
7. Add the mussels to the pot and stir well. Turn off the heat and divide the bouillabaisse into 4 serves. Serve with toasted cheese baguette slices.

I hope you enjoy this dish. It was very wholesome and warming. Be careful not to overcook any of the seafood. The original recipe from Taste.com.au can be found here.

Ikea 6th Birthday Celebration

Hello foodies. Despite another post on Ikea, rest assured I don't work for them and am certainly not sponsored by them. Just excited and glad to be part of their fun activities. Ikea Adelaide turned 6 this year and for their birthday celebration they decided to hold a "Pyjama Party". What a brilliant idea! It was a 4 day party held from Thursday April 19 to Sunday April 22. During this period there were giveaways and free food. Yes, free food, that's how this story made it to this blog. Ikea Adelaide decided to set up four beds in the cafeteria area with vouchers on them. If you got the voucher you can purchase up to $25 worth of food from the cafeteria for free. The catch is, you have to eat in bed! Or on bed. Also, if you wore pyjamas to Ikea in those four days you received a $10 meal voucher. I was a bit embarrassed at first following some discouraging comments and thinking about the low likelihood of many people wearing PJs but I did anyway just for the fun of it. When I arrived at the door, by gosh there were a few in PJs! My mood was lifted and I can now take the "L" on my forehead off. It was fun and so many people were in the spirit. I loved it! (And the free meal).

Rare empty shot - The beds were actually taken, they're just queuing for food

We got the famous Ikea meatballs, Chicken Parmigiana and Rocky Road Chocolate Slice with a couple of drinks. Their Chicken Parmigiana was actually quite nice as the chicken was still moist and the topping was well seasoned. For $7.95 on a Thursday night it's a good feed. The Chocolate Slice was a nice dessert and still moist.

Me in my PJs eating in bed - Chicken Parmigiana $7.95 and Rocky Road Chocolate Slice $3.00

Thanks again Ikea for organizing such fun events. Our lives would be boring without it.

Tasting Australia

Tasting Australia is on again right here in South Australia where there is plenty of quality produce. This event is held by SA Tourism every two years and has a mighty good line up of chefs and people from the food industry attracting tens of thousands of foodies from around Australia. Being South Australia's biggest gastronomic festival, I'm pretty excited that it's in Adelaide and I don't have to travel (well except by car/bus)! Tasting Australia festival runs from 26 April to 3 May 2012 and I'm looking at the event calendar wishing I could attend everything. 

Some of the guest celebrities this year include Guy Grossi, George Calombaris, Andre Ursini,  Matt Moran, Matt Preston, Matt Stone, the charming Miguel Maestre, Pete Evans, our own Poh Ling Yeow and Maggie Beer, Stephanie Alexander and Sammy and Bella the winners of My Kitchen Rules 2011. 

I'm keen on a few things, firstly the Bank SA Feast for the Senses would be the perfect day out with families and friends with free entry and abundance of food and drink stalls as well as demonstrations. It's on Saturday 28 April and Sunday 29 April at Elder Park. Is anyone going?

Image source Tasting Australia

Secondly, I'd love to attend Spanish Sunday sessions with Miguel Maestre. It's Miguel, enough said. This one is held on 29 April at Mesa Lunga Restaurant on Gouger Street at $135pp. It's a tapas lunch with wine from Clare Valley. Otherwise, Locavore's Spanish Inquisition in Stirling on Tuesday May 1 which is an 8 course dinner with wines and a live paella cooking demonstration. Tickets are $175pp.

Image Source Daily Telegraph

I'm also thinking of attending the Food and Wine writing course but I'll have to see how I can work it around my work schedule. Also it's a bit of moola! Is anyone keen or has anyone done a similar course before? How did you find it? The course costs $440 and rungs from Thursday April 26 to Monday April 30.

As my partner is British, I'm pretty keen on the Best of British Dinner on Monday night 30 April at Intercontinental for $195pp featuring UK Chef of the year Mark Hix joined by Simon Bryant, Matthew Kemp and Jeremy Strode. I heard the meal promises some interesting combinations with calves tongue, eel, cheese and good old pudding on the menu. 

So, which event will you be attending? For more information visit Tasting Australia.

Burger Theory

Have you heard of Burger Theory? I hadn't until my friend posted on Facebook about catching the truck off Rundle Street one night - what do you mean catch the truck? I was intrigued, this felt novel. I want to be there! Burger Theory sells the idea of gourmet or quality fast food. It was started by two very bright gentlemen (whoever comes up with burger on the move is a genius!) Rob and Dan. The Burger Theory kitchen truck is a work of art in itself, covered in graffiti it's already enticing in its own way. The truck travels around to different locations in the city and only stops for 3 hours at a time, the exclusivity only makes you want it more. Coming from Malaysia I love the idea of good street food and this culture seems to be spreading right here in Adelaide with the burger boys setting high standards. No longer do we have to settle for soggy chips or cheap hot dogs. 

When we got there, a long line already formed and the aroma coming from the truck made me incredibly hungry. Their menu is simple. Two types of burgers, with or without fries and drinks. The boys in the truck are hard at work and every burger is made fresh. They use 100% Coorong Angus Beef and the boys ground the beef themselves to avoid unnecessary additives. We ordered one of each type of burger and got our food in less than 10 minutes. 

Piping hot

Burger No.1 - Iceberg lettuce, tomato, American cheese and Truck sauce  $8.00

When the burgers arrived it looked really good. They use Bread Top buns which are Asian style soft and fluffy buns with a subtle sweet taste. I love Bread Top so we're on to a winner, we have to be. I took a bite into this burger that people have been raving on about. I took another bite. And another bite. It was ah-maaaazing! The beef patty was juicy and flavoursome, the truck sauce was perfect. It is definitely one of the best burgers I've had. 

Burger No. 2 - Crispy pancetta, onion confit and Adelaide Blue cheese sauce $10.00

I then tried burger no. 2. Once again I was wowed by the juicy goodness of this beef patty that is so well seasoned and made. With pancetta and blue cheese this burger ala gourmet is de-lish. I loved both burgers but if I really really had to pick one I'd pick burger no. 1 because I love the crunch of lettuce and biting into juicy tomato. Burger no. 2 got a bit too salty for me. You can add fries and drink to your meal for $5.00

It looks like these boys have got it all down pat. They have a winning recipe and a winning formula too by the looks of the number of people queuing for their burger! I'm glad they started Burger Theory because quality street food and quality fast food is hard to find. It's great to see Adelaide starting to have such "luxury"!

Burger Theory
Check out the calendar on their website for locations

Easter Sunday brunch 2012

Happy Easter everyone! I hope you all had a fun time and the kids enjoyed their Easter hunt. We were at a family brunch where we ate and ate and got way too full. It was a shame we didn't get to the end of her menu but all festive seasons alike, there's always too much food.

Ikea cake

Clockwise from top left: Gazpacho, seafood chowder, Tiramisu with vanilla ice cream

Messing about at the table

Our Easter creation

Ikea Candlelight Dinner for Earth Hour

On the 31st of March 2012, I was very lucky to receive an invitation to Ikea Adelaide's first ever Candlelight dinner party for Earth Hour. In the past they've had all lights out for Earth Hour and the usual but this time, a very brilliant person or team came up with the idea of hosting a candlelight dinner party for 20 guests in their store. I must admit there were a few jokes thrown around about being served meatballs and chips but mostly there was anticipation, huge anticipation because it's never been done, I had no idea what it was going to be like and what they were going to do. Was it going to be at one of their show kitchen/dining rooms upstairs? Was it going to be in the cafeteria? Is it a sit down meal? A cocktail style celebration? All I knew for sure was there's food and candles involved. Either way I knew it was going to be unique and I was excited. 

Alex and Marie

When we got there I was trying to peek inside watching everyone busily setting up the place. I like what I see so far. Finally the doors opened at the main entrance and we were treated to canapes and pre-drinks with amazing music provided by Alex and Marie. At this point I think everyone realized we're not getting meatballs and this is going to be a fantastic night. We were welcomed and shown our way to the table. Getting there was magical. The staff had set up a runway of candles running past the check-outs and the hot dog and food sales section. The ambiance was amazing this photo does not do it justice. (note to self, start learning how to use new camera).

When we got to the table it was a beautiful surprise. I looked for my place card and found my seat at the end of the table - perfect for photo taking (yes!!). On each seat was an Ikea goodie bag filled with goodness. They'd gone through the effort of printing out menus and setting up the table so professionally. Then they brought out Wirra Wirra wines - it's gonna be a good night!

We started with Kaiser rolls and a tasting plate for entree as per menu above. Ikea have chosen to use organic and free-range produce for which I'm glad as they tasted divine. Every element was enjoyable to eat, the Salmon and shrimp terrine was rich and yummy, the Corn fritter went well with the beetroot and avocado. Last but not least, Lime and dark rum marinated chicken (rum?) it was tasty, tasty, tasty.

In between courses the chef came out to have a look. He must be feeling proud the plates were polished clean. For main we had Crusted fillet of beef served on a potato rosti with a port and lingonberry glaze, served with local organic seasonal vegetables. The potato rosti had lost all of its crunch probably from sitting at the bottom with the jus but it still tasted nice. I thought lingonberry was a nice touch for this Swedish inspired menu, very Ikea too. The beef fillet was very tender, I didn't have a steak knife and it still cut through like butter. It was cooked well, pink in the middle, full of beefy flavour and well seasoned like good steak should be. Can this get any better? They were bringing the food out from behind the 'hot dog kitchen'. If this was all made from the hot dog kitchen I'm pretty impressed.

By this time guests were starting to mingle. We were feeling relaxed, enjoying the music occasionally singing along (sorry guests!). Candles can really do wonders. I love candles. 

Dessert sounded appetizing and sweet. It was White wine and glogg poached pear with macerated fruit farce and cardamom shortbread. Where's the fruit farce? Inside the pear! It was a delightful surprised. The pear was poached well and the whole dish had a very Christmassy feel which is no wonder because Glogg is a Scandinavian Christmas wine (like mulled wine). The cardamom spiced shortbread helped neutralize the sweetness.

The night was coming to an end. The music seemed to get better, Marie had a beautiful voice and Alex was a talented guitarist. We were served UTZ coffees and teas with dark chocolate and some Swedish Easter chocolates. The time came for the last song of the night and we waved candles together with the staff and sang along. 

Rewind to when I got the call on Wednesday 28th of March, I was excited for all the right reasons. It was unique, magical and top quality dining. It was also something different  for the staff and I could tell they were excited and really wanted to make everything right. Well you did. I couldn't fault it. 

Alex, Leah and Jane were responsible for putting on a delicious feed. They are the regular kitchen staff at Ikea. Next time you get your meatballs, just remember this post and what they're capable of. 

The 'waiters' are current Ikea staff members Abbi, Sally, Andrew and Rob from different departments who've done a great job.

Thank you Andrew @ Ikea for making that call. Thank you whoever came up with the idea and most of all, thank you for a wonderful experience. The meal aside, I feel strongly about Earth's sustainability and also where our food comes from. It's nice to see that you celebrate that too.