Lemon posset

December 3, 2011

We had some friends over for po' boys on Saturday night. It was all planned late and I didn't have time to make and freeze icecream, but this lemon posset recipe from Stonesoup looked like a nice alternative. It is maddeningly simple - dissolve sugar in cream, stir in lemon juice and chill in cups. I could only squeeze in five of the six instructed hours of refrigeration, but didn't imagine that would change the texture too much. As I shared the posset cups around, I offered mango, orange and cherries for dunking.

The top of the dessert had the same thick custardy texture as Jules' seemed to have in her picture. But as I dug down, I noticed it was much more watery at the bottom. When I mixed it all up it had the same texture as the heavy cream I used - lovely for submerging fruit in, though I kinda wished it was custardy all the way through. If I made this again, I think I'd experiment with a little cornflour or an egg yolk for some setting power. Either way, it's an elegant time-saving alternative to icecream.

Lemon posset
(adapted slightly from a recipe at Stonesoup)

600mL heavy cream
150g castor sugar
juice of 2 lemons
fresh fruit, to garnish

In a small-medium saucepan over medium heat, stir together the cream and sugar. Keep cooking them until the cream just starts to bubble and the sugar is completely dissolved. Remove the mixture from the heat and stir in the lemon juice. Divide the mixture between five small bowls or cups. Refrigerate for 6 hours, then serve with fresh fruit.

Snag Stand

January, 2016: We noticed from the tram the other day that Snag Stand appears to have closed, replaced by a Mr Burger outlet.
 
December 3, 2011

Melbourne Central's Swanston St side has been under much inconvenient construction in the past few months. Tram stops have been shifted, shops shut, pathways narrowed, and access for cyclists pretty much denied. At last it's all been resolved with a new more accessible tram stop and heaps of room for pedestrians. Bike lanes are well marked, though cyclists will no doubt be dodging and/or abusing wandering shoppers for a while yet. And Snag Stand has opened up on the corner.

I like me a vege dawg, but I didn't dare hope for more than a second that this grill-in-the-wall would sell me one. Oh, how wrong I was! Among Snag Stand's 'haute dogs' (a pun I mightily approve of) is a meatless sausage of potato, smoked apple and sage, served on a brioche roll with sautéed onions, rosemary mushrooms and truffle aioli ($9.90). While the brioche and truffle are affectations more than real  contributing components, this was darn good! A hearty snag, neither rubbery nor crumbly, with a lovely savoury flavour.

Michael took the build-your-own route, ordering his vege sausage wrapped in a 'rustic roll' and topped with sautéed onions and bbq sauce ($8.90); he would've liked more onions but was otherwise satisfied. We couldn't fit in chips, but they looked pretty good.

Snag Stand is happily extending dude food to the bleeding-heart veg*ns and gluten wusses of Melbourne. The sausages are vegan, gluten filler-free* and cooked on a separate grill to their fleshy counterparts; there's a coeliac option on the bread too. Lord of the Fries offers more diverse veg*n fast food round the corner, but Snag Stand will probably tempt us away on occasion.

*After further enquiry from Mandee, it turns out that the veg sausages aren't actually gluten-free. The gluten-free buns are vegan, but there's a lack of gluten-free stuff to put in them. The operations manager mentioned plans for new vegetarian sausages, so fingers crossed they're coeliac-friendly!

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new international students weren't wowed by the Snag Stand freebies they scored when it first opened. The bloggers at We Dare Food and Muddy Thrills are much bigger fans.

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Snag Stand
corner Latrobe and Swanston Sts
vegetarian hot dogs $6.90-9.90
http://snagstand.com.au/

Accessibility: Snag Stand opens directly onto the Swanston St footpath, which is reasonably flat and without too many obstructions. Ordering and pick-up occurs at a low-ish counter. The few tables available are high set.

L'atelier de Monsieur Truffe II

07/03/2013: The management team here has changed and the cafe is now known as East Elevation.

December 2, 2011

We had an ex-Melbournite and big Monsieur Truffe fan visiting last week and we decided she couldn't go back to Brisbane without trying the newish Truffe place up on Lygon Street. We loved it the first time we went and were both happy to start our workdays a bit late to squeeze in brekkie at 8am.

The menu has changed substantially since we first visited - neither of the dishes we had the first time remained. I decided to try out something sweet this time, the apricot and nectarine parcel, with baked leatherwood honey and ricotta and pistachios ($15).

I was expecting the parcel to be some sort of pastry-based treat, but instead it was actually a parcel - fruit wrapped in paper and (I guess) lightly poached. The apricots and nectarines were soft and ripe, swimming in a big puddle of juice. The little baked ricotta and honey slice was delicious, particularly in combination with the pistachio pieces on top. I didn't really find a good way to combine the two parts of this dish, although I think that they'd work pretty well together. So this was a bit awkward to eat - delicious, but not quite what I hoped for.

Cindy ordered the hotcakes (with Queensland strawberries, lemon syrup and almond & hazelnut praline, $15).

She raved about them - citrusy syrup, crunchy candied nuts and fresh strawberries all combined with perfect fluffy pancakes. They were so good that I didn't even get a bite.

L'atelier de Monsieur Truffe hit the mark again for us. The service was unsurprisingly good at 8am on a Friday (we were the only table there for the first half an hour or so), the coffees and teas were delicious and the takeaway pain au chocolat that I took with me was as wonderful as ever.

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Read about our first visit to L'atelier de Monsieur Truffe here. In the few months since we visited, adventures of the ordinary, polyphagia, green been food, Addictive and Consuming, Almost Always Ravenous, dear melbourne and Little thoughts have given it the thumbs up, while Everything is Edible, mmmays food blog and Miss Adriennely were less impressed.

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L'atelier de Monsieur Truffe
351 Lygon Street, Brunswick East
9380 4915
veg brekkies $6-16
http://monsieurtruffe.wordpress.com/

Accessibility: Excellent. A ramp on entry, great light, lots of space and a dedicated disabled toilet. Ordering happens at the table and payment at a reasonably low counter.

Date, rum & pecan icecream

November 27-28, 2011

I was on quite a dessert kick last weekend, turning out two batches of cupcakes and then this icecream. I was looking for an actual chocolate-less dessert as I browsed through The Perfect Scoop, and I picked this one because Michael's rather partial to rum and raisin flavoured sweets. He pitched in by bringing home a small bottle of Bundy Rum, a liquor best characterised by Rich Hall, and trashily appropriate since we ended up sharing the icecream with a bunch of Queenslanders.

Michael didn't bring home as much cream as the recipe required, yet I didn't attempt any substitutes for it, so this was a pretty intense dessert (the 3-scoop serving pictured above would satisfy 2-3 people!). In particular it was very boozy - if that's not your thing I'd suggest soaking the dates as directed (or replacing some of the rum with water, perhaps) and omitting the extra rum that goes into the custard. On this occasion it was my thing; I loved the way the dark rum stretched into the rich caramel of the dates and the yolk-heavy custard.

Date, rum & pecan icecream
(adapted slightly from a recipe in The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz)

80g dried dates
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons dark rum
115g pecans
200mL heavy cream
6 egg yolks
1 cup milk
2/3 cup castor sugar
big pinch salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chop the dates into chunks and place them in a small saucepan. Pour over 1/4 cup of dark rum. Bring to the boil, then take the saucepan off the heat and set the dates aside at room temperature for at least 4 hours.

Roughly chop the pecans and gently toast them (I did this in the oven).

In a large bowl (ideally one with a lid!), pour in the cream and set a sieve over the top.

Place the egg yolks in a small-medium bowl, whisking them to smoothness.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, mix together the milk, sugar and salt. Stir them together until everything's warm and the sugar is dissolved. Gradually pour the warmed milk into the egg yolks, whisking as you go. When it's all well mixed, transfer it back into the saucepan on medium heat. Stir the mixture constantly, scraping the bottom and sides of the saucepan to avoid burning and sticking, until the custard thickens.

Pour the custard through the sieve onto the cream. Whisk in the remaining 2 tablespoons of rum and the vanilla. Refrigerate the mixture for several hours, until thoroughly chilled.

Churn the icecream mixture in an icecream machine, according to the manufacturer's instructions. In the last few minutes of churning, add the dates and pecans to mix the through. Freeze the icecream for several hours, until firm and scoopable.

Milkwood

Edit 12/04/2026: Milkwood closed in 2025.

27 November, 2011

Sunday somehow became one of our laziest days of the year. We got up late and had plenty of time to try out somewhere new for brekkie. By the time we pulled ourselves together and pedalled lazily northwards, we were sitting down to eat after 11. Luxury.

Milkwood is part of the new hip Brunswick East scene clustering around Nicholson and Blythe. We'd previously only made it to New Day Rising, so had our pick of Milkwood, Piano Piano and Pope Joan to explore. Milkwood's veg-friendly menu tipped us in its direction - we were surprised we could turn up and grab a table without waiting. It's a lovely space - white walls and big windows give it an airy, light-filled vibe and there's a charming assortment of white chairs and stools around the variously sized tables and benches.

The menu (surely the only bacon-free breakfast cafe menu outside of vegetarian places) is loaded with delicious-sounding options: lemon thyme mushrooms on ricotta toast ($15.50), tomato butter beans on toast with feta and mint ($14.50), porridge with baked orange blossom rhubarb and toasted macadamia and brown sugar crumble ($11.50) and on and on. Vegans and coeliacs will do okay here as well - it's a pretty inclusive menu.

I went with something vegan: warm cannelini bean, lemon and rosemary mash on toast with avocado ($14.50).

What a breakfast! The beans are reminiscent of A Minor Place's classic Henry's beans: hearty simple and perfectly seasoned - I really need to try to make something like this at home. The toast was cripsy but soft in all the right places- I didn't ask where the bread they use comes from, but it was excellent. The avo was perfect as well - ripe without being squishy and gross. A really fantastic meal.

Cindy went savoury as well (I was really hoping she would order the porridge so I could sneak a taste), going with one of the specials: toasted baguette with scrambled eggs, roasted red capsicum, feta, dressed greens and basil ($13.50). She also grabbed one of the sides for us to share: smashed potato with lemon zest, feta and chives ($4).

I stole a good chunk of the spuds, which were soft and lemony and completely unnecessary (seriously, the regular meals here are a full-sized breakfast). Cindy's baguette was a success as well - nicely scrambled eggs, divine feta and some colourful and tasty vegies to liven things up. It comes wrapped up and ready to go - surely one of the best takeaway breakfast options in town.

We'd spent at least half of the meal eyeing off the glorious sweets cabinet at the front of Milkwood.

By the time we were ready to leave our resistance was gone - we took home a couple of treats, which were the perfect way to accompany the rest of our lazy Sunday.

We had friendly and efficient service and I enjoyed the soy flat whites they served up - Milkwood ticked a lot of boxes for us. We'll be back to sample more in the very near future.

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Lots of love for Milkwood from easy as vegan pie, Temasek, The Chronicles of Ms I-Hua, om-nom-nom.com, Hookturns (twice), Broken Lense, The f-word, The Quince Poacher, Tour de Clance and Eat This. Little lady liked the food, but wasn't impressed by the service.

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Milkwood
120 Nicholson Street, Brunswick East
9380 4062
breakfasts $4.50 - $15.50

Accessibility: There's a biggish step on the way in, and things are quite crowded inside. Ordering happens at the tables, but we paid at a high counter. We didn't check out the toilets.