"Beast on a Block" at The Point

"A Taste of New Season's Lamb"

Myself and a few other lucky bloggers (Thanh, Claire, Jackie, Neil, Elliot, Ed, Jess and Cam Smith from RRR) were invited along to Scott Pickett's first bloggers' event: "Beast on a Block", which was held last night at The Point in Albert Park. Scott is the executive chef at The Point, has his own blog, and as we discovered, is a really, really nice guy. I was greatly looking forward to the event, but not quite sure what to expect. The invite said we'd see a whole lamb get broken down (awesome!), participate in a cook-off (scary!) and then have a meal (yay!).

The Point
Aquatic Drive
Albert Park Lake
VIC 3206
(03) 9682-5566
Website

We started off with intros, drinks, and a chat about blogging and the restaurant scene. Then we were taken on a tour of the kitchen and meat fridges, with Scott talking us through how the kitchen is set up, and how he sources and hangs/ages the meat.
Left: small meat fridge downstairs.The bigger ones are lambs. The small dark ones are hares.
Right: show fridge upstairs - lots of beef.

Then it was back to the dining room, where Scott got down to the business of breaking down the lamb. But first, let's take a moment to admire the knives. Ooh... shiny...
Knives!! You will notice that the bottom knife is a Wusthof - my favourite brand of knife. The 2nd one from the top was bought in Kappabashi Kitchen Town!

We also had Kumamoto oysters to nibble on as we watched.

The lamb was quite young, 6-8 weeks, and was very small overall. I was actually amazed by how many different cuts he got out of the lamb. The little lamb chops and fillets were so cute!

Below is the whole lamb broken down, after being brought into the kitchen. Vegetarians look away now. How cool does the crown-roast look!
I'm not sure what the prawn dish is - it was an order for another table.

Rather than getting us to participate in the proposed cook-off (which would have delayed the eating!), Scott got us to jump into the kitchen in pairs, with each pair watching a different course get prepared.

Thanh and I went in to watch the first course, and I scored an extra piece of confit flash-grilled king salmon, heh heh.

We didn't get an actual menu; rather, each of us was given a list of the main ingredient in each course (e.g. king salmon, marron, pineapple etc.), so that we could guess the ingredients and discuss the different components of each dish. Such a great idea.

Let's go course by course. The following descriptions are from the notes I was hastily scribbling down during the meal. (It's not nerdy, we were all given notepads). Apologies if I've made any mistakes or missed anything out!


KING SALMON

"Confit King Salmon, Potage Parmentier and 3 different eggs"
The salmon (from NZ) was lightly cured in salt and sugar for an hour, then confit in grapeseed oil. The 3 eggs were soft-boiled quails egg, salmon roe and Osetra caviar (!!!). It was served with a quenelle of Meredith goat's curd, and a Chinese Lantern flower petal.

Into this bowl of deliciousness our waiter poured a hot potato and leek soup (the potage parmentier)...

I loved this course - the salty flavours of the salmon and caviar and the tangy goats curd worked so well against the mild-flavoured soup, which itself was rich and creamy.


CHICKEN

"Caramelised stuffed chicken wing, pumpkin gnocchi, emulsion of potato and black truffle"

Scott said the starting point for him creating this dish was the classic chicken & mushroom combination.

The chicken wing (centre cut) was completely boned and formed into that small log shape, and topped with the potato/black truffle emulsion and a trompette de la mort (black mushroom). I thought the gnocchi was more like a blini than a gnocchi, and it had been crispy roasted. The black sauce was a field mushroom and butter puree, with squid ink for that dramatic black colour. Wow.


MARRON

"Butter poached Western Australian marron, foie gras parfait, brioche crumbs and sauternes reduction"
The black flecks on the marron are flakes of Cypriot black salt, and the small squares are apple jelly. More of those Chinese lantern petals too - aren't they pretty? I also enjoyed this course (I think by this stage we can safely assume I loved all the courses so I'll stop repeating myself), but I found the foie gras parfait a little rich, and could only eat about 3/4 of it (sorrrry!!!). It was great with the jelly and marron, but too intense to be eaten by itself once I'd finished everything else on the plate. The jelly was a wonderful touch, and really lightened up the dish.

Elliot actually got a separate course, because the last time he visited The Point he'd ordered the marron. His kingfish and eel terrine was beautifully presented, but I will leave it for him to blog.


LAMB

"A Taste of New Season's Lamb"

You'll have seen this photo at the top of the post. But check it out... I've labelled it!!! (Yes, I'm a dork).


This was absolutely gorgeously presented, and if you do happen to get down to The Point while the new season lamb is in (Spring usually), I wholeheartedly recommend you order it. I don't think I've ever had lamb this tender. I worked my way from the outside in, saving the lamb chop for last.

Some closeups:
Top: The organic single clove of garlic which was confit (or is it fondant?). It was very mild in flavour, and quite soft. The texture actually reminded me of potato.
Middle: Sticky glazed tender lamb shank with fondant potato.
Bottom: Crumbed brain. I didn't know what it was when I bit into it, which is probably a good thing, so there was no mental hesitation about it. It was very rich (not surprising, as one serving gives you 709% of your daily cholesterol needs), but surprisingly light and easy to eat.


PRE-DESSERT

"Vodka and Cranberry Jelly, lemon and blood orange granita"

The green is basil foam, and the granita was made with San Pellegrino aranciata rosso and limonata soft drink. The pre-dessert was delightfully refreshing, but unfortunately I could only have a few spoonfuls as I was driving that night.


PINEAPPLE

Dessert was either pineapple or chocolate. At first I was hoping for chocolate, but once I tasted the pineapple, I was very, very happy.

"Caramelised pineapple crumble, coconut cream and anise myrtle"
The pinapple is cooked 2 ways - one is blowtorched, the other is cooked sous-vide with 1 chilli, and then pan-caramelized. The clear jellies are ginger, and the tiny green leaves are lemon balm shoots. There were 2 tuilles filled with coconut foam, and the black dots are licorice "microdots", to give a hint of licorice flavour. There were also biscuit crumbs sprinkled over. I'm not entirely sure what the ice-cream was; I think someone at our table suggested it was yoghurt?


CHOCOLATE

"Valrhona chocolate and chestnut tortellini, coffee ice-cream and tonka bean foam"

No, I didn't have 2 desserts - this one was Thanh's. (Although I did steal one of his tortellini, heheh). The tortellini was filled with chocolate and chestnut, and was gorgeous! I didn't realise they would be soft (they looked like set dark chocolate to me), and it was a total surprise to bite into one, realise it was soft and have the filling come through as well. Beautiful. There were also pieces of caramelized pear, some pistachios, and a quenelle of chocolate-chestnut mousse. I've since learned that tonka beans are banned for consumption in the USA by the FDA, which makes this dessert even more badass.


POST-DESSERT

Some small bites to have with coffee.
Not sure what the jelly on the left is. The pink one was a musk-flavoured marshmallow/meringue, and on the right was a salted-caramel chocolate.

I was going to take just half of the salted-caramel chocolate, but I couldn't cut through it with my spoon, so I just *had* to take the whole thing.

We also got wine with our courses, each carefully selected by The Point's somellier, but being such a wine-noob I can't remember exactly what they all were. I do remember we had a chardonnay with the king salmon, a German riesling (yay!) with the marron, a bordeaux with the lamb, a muscat beaumes de venise with the pineapple, and a pedro xeminez with the chocolate. Again, I was being a responsible driver so could only have a couple of sips of each. Note to self: Take a cab when going to a nice restaurant!!

It was an absolutely brilliant night and a real treat. Not only was the food absolutely delicious, but Scott put so much thought into making it a really interesting and interactive event. It was lovely to catch up with the bloggers again too. I enjoyed the whole evening so much, I've already decided I'm bringing my family back for my birthday next year. FYI, I've looked it up, and a 7-course tasting menu at The Point is $95 PP ($155 if you get matching wines), which I think would be well worth it.

Thank-you so much to Scott for organising and hosting this great event!

Sarah dined courtesy of The Point, with thanks to Scott Pickett.

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Tonkatsu Time - ハ人の和風お昼ご飯

Tonkatsu! (No sauce)
トンカツ(ソースぬぎで)

Despite my love for Japan, and many years of study (so many kanji and "未来の夢"の作文!), I very rarely cook Japanese food myself. I used to make oyako-don and sukiyaki occasionally, but that was B.B. (Before Blog), if you can imagine such a time. However, since my bro and his girlfriend Su came back from a holiday to Japan, they have been cooking it quite a bit. Cold soba noodles, full Japanese breakfasts, that sort of thing. Even natto (blergh). Inspired, I decided to make a Japanese-style lunch when we had our friends over last weekend.


A Japanese-Style Lunch for 8

Zaru Soba / ざるそば
Gyoza / 餃子
Tonkatsu with Cabbage and Rice / トンカツ、キャベツサラダ、ご飯
Taiyaki / たい焼

The preparation involved a pretty expensive shop at Fuji-mart, and 2 un-stressful hours before the lunch. In the morning, I cooked and chilled the soba, sliced the cabbage, made the dough/custard for the taiyaki and crumbed the pork (see previous post). Susu came over an hour in advance to assemble her gyoza, and our friends arrived right on time. (With a slab of Sapporo - thank-you to Justin & Megan!)

A very crowded table

We started off eating the soba and gyoza. We had the noodles with soba sauce (bottled) and finely chopped spring onions. Normally you'd have wasabi too, but we'd run out, so people started dipping into the super-hot mustard I'd made for the tonkatsu to get that wasabi-like hit. I love zaru-soba; it is so delicious and refreshing.

Clockwise from front: spring onions, gyoza dipping sauce, mustard sauce for tonkatsu

Mmm... gyoza...

After that, I got up and started a-frying!


The meat is pork loin. Sometimes it's sold as "butterfly pork", and if so you'll need to cut it down the middle to get single pieces.

Whilst I love, love, love deep-fried food (tonkatsu, tempura, even KFC), I rarely deep-fry at home. Obvious health reasons aside, deep-frying is a total pain in the A**. The painful splatters, the huge amount of oil you have to dispose of, the fact that your hair will stink for days afterwards.

There is a wonderful moment when all the meat is fried, and you can turn off the gas and the noisy kitchen exhaust and just appreciate the gorgeousness of the crunchy fried golden-brown goodness.

Aah....
Letting the pork sit on a rack stops it from going soggy, and gives you maximum crunch. Unfortunately I didn't have those funky individual little grills that you get in restaurants in Japan, so made do with a baking tray and cooling rack.

I sliced each crunchy little piece of pork into strips, and brought the whole lot to the table, so each guest could take a re-assembled chop. Sandra & Su took care of rice-scooping duties. And then it was tonkatsu time!

Tonkatsu, tonkatsu sauce (Bulldog brand, from a bottle), cabbage salad, rice, and mustard sauce.

The only sauce that didn't come out of a bottle (don't judge me, it's the way Japanese housewives do it! :P) was the hot mustard sauce. I seem to remember always having a super-hot mustard sauce with tonkatsu, but couldn't find a recipe for it anywhere. I improvised, mixing together English mustard with finely grated ginger and soy sauce. (Similar to the dipping sauce Nigella suggests to go with her salmon with shitake mushrooms and greens from Nigella Bites). It worked a treat!

The sesame dressing was really delicious, and was very well received by my friend George, who ate more cabbage than the rest of us put together! Mmm.. cabbage.
Sesame dressing. It's hyaku-paasento kin no goma da yo!

After we recovered a bit, it was time for taiyaki. I'd planned on making just redbean and custard, but then got requests for apple, nutella, kaya...


It was so much fun, making the taiyaki and giving them out straight from the pan! (Watch out, that kaya gets SCALDING hot!) Best investment ever.

ポニョみたいよ！

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How to have a great Japanese lunch party...

Start with a slab of Sapporo beer...

Get Su to make her famous Gyoza...

Get out the taiyaki pan...

And make a whole lot of crumbed pork...

Full post to come soon!!

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Rainbow Coffee!!

Look what I found at the Asian grocer!!!!!!!!!

Inside door of our bar fridge. Yes, I drink coke zero, and I'll thank you not to judge!

It's finally here! My beloved Boss Coffee Rainbow Mountain Blend!! (You may remember it from my '07 trip to Japan, where it came out of vending machines WARM!) Saw it at a Korean grocery today, and had to snap up 6 cans. What an impulse buy. At $3.79 a pop they are expensive, more expensive than my morning latte, but I just couldn't resist. And they look so much cooler than the red bulls/V's that my co-workers drink.

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Nigella Lawson's Spinach, Ricotta and Bulgur Wheat Pie

A homemade pie just screams domestic goddess. This was my vegetarian offering for the lunch we hosted on Sunday, and I was incredibly pleased with how it turned out, especially considering that I was so distracted and making a zillion other things at once. It's kinda like a vegetarian version of a pork pie - all crumbly pastry and high sides.

It comes from Nigella's How to be a Domestic Goddess, one of my favourite baking books. It's more well-known for its sweet recipes, but deserves equal attention for its delectable savouries (e.g. lamachun, courgette and chickpea filo pie, garlic and parsley hearthbreads...)

For this pie, you start by making shortcrust pastry (using Nigella's super-easy freezer method), and then lazily stir together all the ingredients for the filling. The most strenuous part of the whole process is squeezing all the excess liquid out of the defrosted (frozen) spinach and soaked bulgar wheat. It's a pain, but it's got to be done, otherwise you'll have a soggy-bottomed pie.

I was pleasantly surprised by the texture of the filling - it was firm and not soggy at all.


I think it could look quite smart without a separate piece of pastry on top - just by folding over the excess base pastry around the sides. (You'd probably need a larger piece than I used though; I think a one-inch border would look best). Anyway, this time I followed the recipe to the letter, placing a smaller disc of pastry on top, folding the edges over and sealing them down with a fork. Then brush with eggwash, and bake!

Nigella writes that she likes this pie best 25 minutes after it's come out of the oven, and with all the hustle and bustle of Sunday, it was about that much time before I managed to slice into it.


It was a little crumbly, but each slice held its shape really well. The pastry also tasted great and had a wonderful short texture (I love Nigella's pastry method!). My only issue with the pie is that it was a little bland - I forgot ricotta is like a black hole for flavour, absorbing the flavour of anything near it. When I make this again, I'll definitely double all the seasoning ingredients (salt, pepper, cayenne, lemon zest, thyme), and fold through some cubes of feta. I wouldn't go so far as to replace all the ricotta with feta, as it might affect the texture of the finished pie.

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A Fun Sunday Lunch for 15

Woah. I cannot believe we cooked so much. What started as a casual Sunday lunch for a few friends turned into a 2-day cooking extravaganza. Typical. Well, I didn't expect everyone to actually say yes! (But I'm very glad they all did.) Sandra and I planned the menu a week in advance, did the big shop on Saturday arvo, and we cooked all Saturday night and Sunday morning.


A Fun Sunday Lunch for 15

Aubergine, Yoghurt and Saffron Dip (Nigella's Feast)
Tzatziki
Pita Bread, Crackers

Chicken Wings with Curry-lime Butter (Tyler Florence's Tyler's Ultimate)
Juicy Beef Skewers with Sour-cream, Chive & Horseradish Dip (Nigella Express)
Spinach, Ricotta and Bulgar Wheat Pie (How to be a Domestic Goddess)

German Potato Salad
Chickpea Salad (Tessa Kiros' Falling Cloudberries)
Superfood Salad

Mille Feuille
Erdbeerkuchen


Let's go through the menu item by item...


Dips and Crackers
Left: Tzatziki. Right: Aubergine, Saffron and Yoghurt Dip

I've made that eggplant dip quite a few times, and find it a delicious and interesting alternative to babaganoush. (Even eggplant-haters like this, so I'm very happy with it). We got a bag of 4 big eggplants for $1 at Vic market. Tzatziki was made with excess ingredients from the other recipes - Greek yoghurt, cucumber, garlic and coriander.


Superfood Salad
Have made it before, repeatedly, and will make it again. This time we omitted the feta, because the chickpea salad also contains it. I've noticed that trendy young things like this salad a lot. Must be all the antioxidants.


German Potato Salad (Chickpea Salad in background)
The secret ingredient is bacon fat. I used kipfler potatoes this time (only $2.50 a kilo at Vic Market!!!!), which were perfect, as they cooked all the way through without getting the least bit mushy. If budget and time permits, I will use kipflers for all my future potato salads.


Juicy Beef Skewers with Sour Cream and Chives Dipping Sauce
Duncan really liked these skewers, even though I told him they were a Nigella recipe, hehe. You marinate cubes of rump steak overnight (horseradish, port, Worcestershire sauce, rosemary, oil, red wine vinegar), then skewer them and grill.

The amazingly delicious dip that went with was super-easy - stir together sour cream, chives, spring onions, horseradish and dijon. Delish! We have a bit of that dipping sauce leftover, and I would LOVE eat it on a baked potato.


The Ultimate Chicken Wings with Curry-Lime Butter
If it's a self-proclaimed "Ultimate" recipe, you know it's gotta be Tyler. You bake chicken wings until crispy, and toss them in a mixture of softened butter, yellow Thai curry paste, lime juice, honey and soy. (Use wingettes unless you want people gnawing at them messily).


Spinach, Ricotta and Bulgur Wheat Pie
We had one confirmed veggo coming, and although he's really easy-going about it, I love any excuse to bake a pie. I was so pleased with it I will be writing a separate post about it this week! Nigella rules.


Everyone who RSVP'd turned up, and even more importantly, came hungry. (This included one of our maybes, Wes, and I was thrilled that he came!)

Midway through the arvo.

The weather was quite nice, so a few of us were able to sit outside (Yay, Winter is over!).

My plate:
I found it interesting that most people arranged their plate in the same way: beef skewer in the middle, salads on one side, pie and chicken on the other.


Mille Feuille

You've seen it before: here. This time I couldn't be bothered making my own pastry, so bought 2 packets of Carême brand. It was pretty good, but very very buttery (some might say greasy) and rose way too much, even though I docked the pastry like crazy.


Apparently you can avoid the super-high rising by baking the pastry with a tray on top to weigh it down. It was too late for that, so I split the pastry in half lengthways.

I made the crème pâtissière in the morning. I wanted to assemble the whole thing before my friends arrived so that it would all look pretty and perfect, but ran out of time. Oops. I just whacked it all together when everyone was there and we were hanging around talking. Relaxed! And massive bowls of custard seem to provide a good talking point, I've found. Lots of people just really like custard.

On a side note: it's good not to get too stressed out about making everything perfect, as something (even something small) is bound to go wrong when you're cooking for a group. If you have friends who will judge you, well, you need to find new friends, hehe.


Erdbeerkuchen
Sandra baked this, using her German mama's recipe, and a sachet of Tortenguss to glaze it. I've made this before, using a Victoria sponge as the base. However, the echt version is a Biskuitteig, i.e. a plain sponge, which is lighter and less buttery than a Vic sponge. It's rather like a softer version of a savoiardi biscuit. Best cake for summer lunches!

Duncan brought these delicious little hazelnut shortbreads, each of which encased a whole hazelnut. I would have eaten them all if I weren't already full of potatoes and chicken. A tiny hint of saltiness in them really enhanced the flavour. They would be great with coffee.

We don't t have too many leftovers (YAY!), mainly thanks to 3 of my friends who have massive appetites (really Rugare, I was impressed!!!), and one friend of mine who was hungover and needed all the bacony carbs he could get. The only foods I grossly misjudged were the beef skewers (not enough), and the eggplant dip (way too much). Note to self: stop doubling the quantity of dip! No-one eats more than a few mouthfuls!

Big thanks to everyone for the wonderful company, and to my bro and Su for doing so much cleaning (and the much-needed mid-morning lattes!). With all these leftovers, I won't need to cook for days, weeeeeeee!

There are still a few dishes left, so off I go! Goodnight everybody.

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Mid-week Dinner Party

When we catch up with my good friend Adri, we usually end up somewhere like Glenny or Box Hill for dodgy dumplings and fried noodles. Last week, however, I felt like something altogether more special, so decided to cook dinner at my house.

I wanted to make something relaxed and simple (no spinning sugar or boning pheasants for me!), but still a bit different from what I've been cooking lately.


A relaxed, yet special mid-week supper for 3

Lemon and Thyme Roast Chicken
Lemon-roasted potatoes
Petits Pois à La Française
Heavenly Cheesecake with Balsamic strawberries


The chicken and potato recipe are from Tyler Florence's Dinner at My Place. I picked up a super-cheap (remaindered) copy at a discount bookstore the other day. I find it strange that Tyler never really took off here in Australia - his recipes are great! His shows are pretty good too, although he does talk a lot. And loudly.

The menu suggested in the book is entitled "Winner Winner Chicken Dinner", and contains a rotisserie roast chicken (I don't own a rotisserie, so a normal roast chicken it was), with roasted potatoes and a butter lettuce/pea salad. I wasn't too sure about the salad, so I ended up making the always-pleasing petits pois à la française.

For dessert, I took the opportunity to make a dessert I've wanted to for ages - Joanna Weinberg's deconstructed cheesecake from the book Relish. Like me, Adri is a big fan of crunchy cheesecake bases, so I knew it would be perfect.

It was all quite straightforward to make - I did the shopping the day before, and started cooking when I got home (luckily I had an early finish, and was home by 5!), and had time to set the table and have a shower before Adri arrived just after 8.

A tip from Joanna Weinberg - set the table first, so your guest(s) feel welcome even if the food is not ready. Work has been pretty stressful lately, so I wanted to create a welcoming and relaxing atmosphere. (Placemats and napkins were a gift from my bro and Su for my birthday last year.)

But back to the food. I started in the arvo by making the cheesecake. The base is just crushed digestive biscuits (McVities rule!), mixed with melted butter. I always add a dash of cinnamon to cheesecake bases for a lovely homely aroma. You bake it for 10 minutes, and then let it cool and set in the fridge.
I made the topping at this time too - beating together equal weights of Greek yoghurt and cream cheese (the recipe calls for mascarpone, but that was way too expensive), and some castor sugar. I added the seeds of a vanilla bean as well. I waited 'til the last minute to assemble it though, to make sure the base stayed lovely and crisp.

For the fruity topping I chopped up a punnet of strawberries, added some balsamic vinegar and castor sugar, and let it sit in the fridge to enhance their glowing rubied shine.

The chicken, when not made on a rotisserie, is your regular roast chicken - stuffed with garlic, thyme, bay leaves and lemon, and roasted right on top of the potatoes. The potatoes themselves had rosemary, oil, thyme and a few lemon wedges added. After the 1.5 hours roasting (which gave me much-needed time to relax!), the potatoes that were sitting directly under the chicken were quite soggy, and there was a lot of fat in the bottom of the tray. So while the chicken was resting, I put the potatoes in a separate tray, and then back in the oven to crisp up.


Peas! Cooked with sliced lettuce, spring onions and stock. Yum yum.

And here we have the winner winner chicken dinner:

(Playing with the new SLR - focused at the front, fuzzy at the back - yay!)

After dinner and much chitchat we got up to prepare the cheesecake. Adri described the cheesecake as "heavenly", and I much preferred that description to the wanky "deconstructed cheesecake", hehe.

It does look quite heavenly, with the billowing clouds of vanilla cream.

We then piled the juicy strawberry pieces on top and dug in.

Wow, wow, wow! It was amazing! The crunchy base, the rich creamy topping, the sharp strawberries. I'm glad we assembled it at the last minute, as the strawberries started bleeding into the cream, making it look rather unattractive. It was so easy to make, and rather elegant, in a messy and relaxed kinda way.


All up the ingredients for the dinner cost $40, which was pretty good going considering we'd easily spend that much if the 3 of us were to go out for dinner.

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