Chipotle-brushed potato tian

December 25, 2021

   

I chose an artichoke and chickpea salad to eat on the side of our pumpkin and feta filo pie. I knew this would be enough food for us, really, but I thought it would be fun to make a potato side as well (and skip the potato cubes that I usually include in the salad). This tian is a super-easy but slow-cooking recipe that's been sitting among my bookmarks for years.

The premise is: assemble thinly sliced potatoes in a baking dish, brush them with adobo sauce and olive oil, bake until crispy on top and tender in the middle. As long as you're patient with the baking time, I think this is a near-foolproof method for a smoky, spicy comfort carb. I could work to improve my presentation by arranging the potato slices more carefully, but the flavour is all there regardless.

These potatoes added the perfect kick to varied but mildly-spiced lunch plate. The leftovers, reheated in the oven a day later, were even better!

   

Chipotle-brushed potato tian

(slightly adapted from a recipe on Oh My Veggies)

1-2 teaspoons adobo sauce from a jar of chipotles

3 tablespoons olive oil

5 medium Dutch cream potatoes

salt

Preheat an oven to 180°C. Whisk together the adobo sauce and olive oil in a small bowl. Brush the base and sides of a baking dish with the chipotle oil.

Peel the potatoes and slice them into rounds no more than 3mm thick - keep the pieces together in order for a prettier presentation. Arrange the potato slices in the baking dish so that they're standing up on their thin sides, firmly sandwiched together across the baking dish. Brush the tops of the potatoes with the remaining chipotle oil. Sprinkle over some salt.

Bake the potatoes for 75-90 minutes, until browned and crispy on top and tender in the centre. 

Pumpkin & feta filo pie

December 24-25, 2021

   

This year our Christmas day was small, casual and content, with no pressure to put on a big, fancy meal. But with time off from work, I was in the mood to do something fun in the kitchen and planned out some dishes a couple of days ahead. This Ottolenghi filo pie was simply plucked from my bookmarked recipes and formed the centrepiece of the meal - it's filled with a comforting, crowd-pleasing combination of pumpkin, feta, caramelised onion and sage.

There are a few phases to the recipe and I got a head start a day in advance, roasting the pumpkin in cinnamon and slowly caramelising the onions. This allowed me to focus on the construction of the pie during Christmas day. I had to trim my baking paper back to get the control I needed over the filo sheets, but it all came together and held together without too much drama. Though this recipe isn't vegan, I think it would be easy to adapt: the filo could be brushed with olive oil or melted margarine, and there are some terrific non-dairy feta cheeses available now.

The golden filo pastry makes a bit of a mess when it's time to slice the pie up, but I think it's the kind of crackly, tasty mess that enhances the sense of occasion.

   

Pumpkin & feta filo pie

(slightly adapted from an Ottolenghi recipe appearing in The Guardian)

375g packet filo pastry

90g butter, melted

30g caster sugar

filling

60mL olive oil

2 onions, peeled, halved and cut into 1/2 cm slices

salt and pepper

5g sage leaves, finely chopped

10g parsley, roughly chopped

150g feta, roughly crumbled

2 teaspoons lemon zest

1/2 butternut pumpkin (~650g), seeds and peel removed, cut into 1 1/2 cm-thick half-moons

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Set a frypan over medium heat and add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Add the onions and a little salt, and slowly cook the onions until they're very soft and caramelised - expect this to take around 40 minutes. Transfer the onions to a bowl, and stir in the herbs, feta, lemon zest, and a little salt and pepper.

Preheat an oven to 220°C while you slice up the pumpkin. Place the pumpkin pieces in a large baking tray, drizzle over 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and sprinkle over the cinnamon and some salt and pepper. Toss the pumpkin pieces around to get them coated in the oil, and bake them for up to 30 minutes, until tender.

Turn the oven down to 190°C. Line a springform cake tin with baking paper and brush it with the melted butter. Use a little more than half the filo pastry sheets to line the base and sides of the cake tin - brush each one with butter as they go in, sprinkle them with 1/2 teaspoon caster sugar, and stagger them around the tin so that the base is well covered, all the sides are covered, and the sheets extend beyond the top of the cake tin. This process should use up about half of the melted butter.

Arrange half of the pumpkin pieces across the base of the cake tin, breaking them up as needed to fit them into the spaces. Spread half of the onion-feta mixture over the top of the pumpkin. Repeat with the remaining pumpkin and onion-feta mixture. Scrunch another sheet of filo onto the top of the fillings and brush it with butter. Fold over a couple of the overhanging filo pieces, add another filo sheet and brush with more butter. Continue this process until all the overhanging filo is gathered up, and all the filo sheets and butter are used up.

Transfer the springform tin to a baking tray, and place it all in the oven to bake for 50 minutes. Gently remove the outer springform walls from the cake tin and bake the pie for a further 20 minutes, until it is golden brown all over. Allow the pie to cool for around 15 minutes before slicing and serving.  

Pineapple upside-down cake

December 24, 2021

   

I've been lucky to have my mum visiting from Queensland over the past month. She doesn't eat chocolate, so I planned a couple of cocoa-free treats to share while she's around. This pineapple cake was a recipe that came to mind, perhaps nudged to the surface by the pineapple mocktails we recently enjoyed. My past encounter with this cake was at a picnic celebrating our friend Erin's birthday about a year ago. Thankfully the recipe was easy to find online, as I knew it was created by long-time favourite Helen Goh.

On that first occasion I especially enjoyed the combination of fennel seeds and pineapple, but the fennel flavour got a bit lost in my cake. I may have ground the seeds up too finely (I used the spice grinder attachment on our food processor), but I'd also be game to double the quantity if I made the cake again. I also made some minor missteps in cutting the pineapple, such that I found myself tessellating arrow-shaped pieces and filling gaps with small triangles of pineapple. The cake baked just find in this configuration, but I suppose slicing it was a little more delicate. If I'd sliced my pineapple into neat rectangular batons as intended, it would be an easy one piece per cake slice. 

The cake was ready for afternoon tea just as Mum and her sister Carol arrived. It was gorgeously soft and warm, fragrant with orange rind, with caramelly brown sugar dripping off the pineapple. A day later, I popped the second half of the cake in a switched-off but still-warm oven while we went for a walk after Christmas lunch. We were rewarded with that just-baked cake experience all over again.

   

Pineapple upside-down cake

(a recipe by Helen Goh, posted on good food)

pineapple topping

80g brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 medium pineapple

cake batter

180g plain flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

100g butter, at room temperature

80g caster sugar

40g brown sugar

zest of 1 orange

2 eggs

150g sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat an oven to 175°C. Line a loaf tin with baking paper and spray it with oil. 

In a shallow bowl, stir together the sugar, fennel seeds and salt for the topping. Slice the bottom and top off the pineapple and stand it on one of these cut ends. Carefully remove the peel by slicing downwards around the pineapple, then tidy up any remaining peel, 'eyes' and rough bits using a small knife. Slice the pineapple in half vertically, and then lengthways into 2cm-thick rectangles (I think I mistakenly did this widthways). Trim away the core from each piece. Cut the rectangles into lengths that will fit the width of the loaf tin, and when you have enough to cover the tin base, you can keep the leftover pineapple to eat later. Roll the pineapple rectangles into the sugar mixture and set them out in the bottom of the loaf tin. Sprinkle any remaining sugar mixture over the top.

For the cake batter, sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a small bowl and set them aside. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugars together until fluffy. Add the orange zest, and beat in the eggs one at a time. Gradually beat in the flour mixture and sour cream in turns, then the finally the vanilla. Pour the batter into the loaf tin and smooth over the top. Bake the cake for 45-50 minutes, until it passes the skewer test. Allow it to cool for at least 15 minutes before upending the cake onto a serving plate, pineapple on the top. 

Louis

Update 15/06/2023: Louis has been replaced by Zetta's Pantry.

December 16, 2021

   

I was able to access a COVID vaccination booster at the Royal Exhibition Building earlier this month. It was a lovely day, the queue was short, and I had plenty of time to wander the neighbourhood and get some lunch. As I browsed Brunswick St, I noticed cafe seating on a side street and saw a sign for Louis. Friend of the blog Steph had recently recommended Louis and I was glad to have stumbled upon it!

Louis has been open 2-3 years, but quietly shifted to an all-vegetarian menu about a year ago - there are numerous, well-marked vegan and gluten-free options. It's full of fun brunch dishes and a couple of burgers with a 'more is more' philosophy. For example, the smashed avo is actualy a 'smooth yuzu avocado mousse' that comes with balsamic marinated cherry tomatoes, sriracha popping balls, feta, dukkah, lotus chips, beetroot tuile, and herb infused oil.

   

As I read the menu, I recalled that Steph especially recommended Louis to me for its sweet vegan brunches - there are equally over-the-top Lotus Biscoff French Toast and Spilt Tiramisu Garden Cup dishes! Alas, on this day I really did just want something more contained and savoury. The plant-based fish bao ($24) served that purpose nicely. They were stuffed so generously that it was impossible to eat them entirely by hand, with lots of pickly Asian slaw, cucumber and coriander giving freshness, a single seared, salty slice of mock-fish and a spoonful of sriracha mayonnaise in each bun.

This seemed like a nice little entrée to what Louis offers - I'm keen to return, hungrier, in the future.

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Most reviews of Louis seem to be freebies from 2018-2019, before the cafe was vegetarian, e.g. WHATEPIEATS, Suzie Scribbles, THEYCALLMEMAGGIE, Linnie Eats All The Food and A Chronicle of Gastronomy.

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Louis

93 Moor St, Fitzroy

9427 2423

menu

https://www.cafelouis.com.au/

Accessibility: Louis has a flat, wide entry. Furniture (low tables, chairs with backs, and benches) is variously spaced across the cafe. I ordered and paid at a low counter (see left side of top photo). Toilets are narrow, ungendered cubicles with a single shared basin. 

Brother Bon II

December 15, 2021

   

Throughout 2020 and 2021 we've been enjoying meals from Brother Bon in our home. They're one of the few restaurants that co-ordinated their own deliveries, and we could always plan out a delicious set of vegan dishes that would extend beyond dinner to a leftover lunch or two. Dark, locked-down nights with boxed foods don't make for the best photographs, so I didn't blog these meals.

The photos within this post aren't my best, either, but I just can't hold off any longer because Brother Bon now serves my favourite ever fish'n'chips!    

   

I ordered this once or twice as a delivery, and I just knew its texture would be even better when I had the opportunity to eat it straight from kitchen to table in the restaurant ($24.90). The vegan fish substitute is banana blossom, which is lighter and flakier than most of the gluten-based mock fishes I've known. The Brother Bon chefs apply a spice rub to the banana blossom before battering and frying it to a dark golden crisp.

   

Both the battered mock-fish and the accompanying chips have unusually good seasonings. I also appreciate that this meal comes with some side salad, mushy peas, tartare sauce and a wedge of lemon to break up the deep-fry-fest. I shared some of my fish around the table and boxed up half of the chips to take home.

   

While I was revelling in an all-time favourite meal, Michael had a very enjoyable Char Kway Teow ($22.50), choosing mock-chicken from the six (!) protein options on offer.

The Brother Bon team have made gradual improvements to their restaurant setting over the years - what once felt a bit like a food court is now more subtly lit and relaxed. The service is excellent, and the menu only seems to get better too. I'm hoping we have many more opportunities to eat in at Brother Bon in 2022.

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You can read about my first visit to Brother Bon here.

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Brother Bon

377-379 High St, Northcote

9077 1335

menu page 1, 2

https://www.brotherbon.com.au/

Accessibility: The front door is very wide and slides, floors are flat and tables are moderately spaced. We ordered at our table and paid at a low-ish counter. We haven't visited the toilets, but I previously spotted a disability-labelled unisex toilet down a wide corridor at the back of the building.