Thyme sugar syrup

January 27, 2014

Thyme is usually sold in bigger bunches than recipes need, and I've found that thyme sugar syrup is an easy way to use up the leftovers. I must've come up with this idea after drinking thyme cocktails at Cafe Vue, then googled around to confirm that I needed nothing more than thyme, sugar and water.

I tend to use a lot more thyme than other online recipes recommend and then use my syrup sparingly - just a centimetre in the bottom of a glass, twice as much orange juice, topped up with ice cubes and soda water. Some day soon I'll try a boozy version with vodka, gin or Cointreau. I wonder what the syrup would be like on fruit salad, or waffles?

Thyme sugar syrup
(adapted from a recipe at imbibe)

1 cup sugar
1 cup water
20 sprigs thyme

Place all the ingredients in a saucepan. Simmer them over medium heat until the sugar is completely dissolved. Turn off the heat and allow the syrup to continue infusing as it cools to room temperature. Strain out the thyme sprigs and store the syrup in an airtight jar in the fridge.

Ottolenghi eggplant fest

January 25, 2014

Cindy returned from a couple of weeks away keen to get back into the kitchen and eating some veggie heavy dishes. We turned, inevitably, to Ottolenghi and came up with a couple of recipes to fill up our Saturday. 

Both dishes involved roasting eggplants over an open flame, not something I'd ever been brave enough to try before. It turns out to be reasonably straightforward - get your gas burners going and pop the eggplant on top, turning it every few minutes to ensure that the whole thing gets charred. The skin will blacken and start to peel, but you really need to give it a good 20 minutes of cooking - I got worried about over-cooking with the first one and found that much of the flesh under the blackened skin had yet to really soften up. If you do it right, the filling comes out really soft and takes only a bit of mushing to turn into a smooth paste.

The first of the dishes was Ottolenghi's slightly fancy take on baba ganoush, a roasted eggplant dip with a dash of tahini and lots of big fresh flavours from the veggies, pomegranate and herbs. Once you've roasted the eggplant, this is just a simple 'stir everything together' recipe, and it's well worth the effort. We smeared it on fresh bread for a very satisfying lunch.

The second dish was dinner - a lentil and eggplant dish with Ottolenghi's usual load of veggies and herbs to keep things interesting. The star here was the eggplant. It's incredibly simple, just roasted to an almost liquid softness and seasoned with vinegar and heaps of salt and pepper, but the smokiness and hint of vinegary sharpness really shine. The lentil base is good too - make sure you don't overcook the cubed veggies, a bit of texture amidst the soft lentils is key. 

We continue to find treasures tucked away in Plenty - these are a couple more that we'll be returning to in future.

Burnt eggplant with tahini

(a recipe from Yotam Ottolenghi's Plenty)

1 medium eggplant

1/4 cup tahini

1/4 cup water

2 teaspoons pomegranate molasses

juice of half a lemon

1 garlic clove, crushed

3 tablespoons parsley, chopped

1/2 cucumber, diced small

6 cherry tomatoes, halved

seeds from half a pomegranate

olive oil

salt and pepper

First up, roast the eggplant with the skin on. I talked a bit about how to do this above. Make sure you really blacken the skin and get the eggplant completely mushed. Halve the eggplant and scoop out the flesh. Drain the flesh in a colander for fifteen minutes or so.

Once it's drained, chop it up a bit so that it starts to turn into a paste. Pop it into a mixing bowl and add the tahini, water, pomegranate molasses, lemon juice, garlic and parsley and mix everything together well. 

Add the cucumber and tomatoes and stir them through. 

Season with salt and pepper and serve drizzled with a splash of olive oil and a sprinkle of the pomegranate seeds.

Lentils with grilled eggplant

(another recipe from Plenty, also available at The Guardian)

2 medium eggplants

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

200g puy lentils

3 small carrots

2 sticks of celery

1 bay leaf

3 sprigs thyme

1 small white onion, halved

3 tablespoons olive oil

10 cherry tomatoes, halved

1/2 teaspoon brown sugar

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

1 tablespoon chopped coriander

1/2 teaspoon dried dill

salt and pepper

yoghurt for dolloping

Preheat the oven to 140°C.

Roast the eggplants over a gas stove. Once the skins are completely blackened and the flesh has collapsed into softness, slice them open and scoop the soft innards out into a colander. Leave them to drain for 15 minutes, and then sprinkle them a heaps of salt and pepper and half a teaspoon of the vinegar.

While you're roasting the eggplants, get the lentils sorted. Put them in a saucepan with plenty of water, plus one of the carrots and half of a celery stick (both cut into big chunks) along with the bay leaf, thyme and onion. Bring it to the boil and simmer on low heat for about 25 minutes, until the lentils are cooked.

Drain the lentils and remove the veggie chunks and herbs. In a mixing bowl, combine the drained lentils and the rest of the vinegar, 2 tablespoons of olive oil and plenty of salt and pepper.

Cut the leftover carrot and celery into 1cm cubes and combine with the tomatoes, a tablespoon of olive oil, sugar and salt. Cook in the oven for about 20 minutes (if you time this right, you can have the veggies cooking while you simmer the lentils).

Add the cooked veggies, and the coriander, parsley and dill to the lentils and stir together. 

Serve by building a little pile of the lentil/veggie mix on a plate, topping it with a generous few blobs of the eggplant and then dolloping a few tablespoons of yoghurt and a drizzle of olive oil on top.

CERES cafe IV

January 25, 2014

Though we've visited several times, it seems that we haven't blogged about CERES since a flurry of three posts in 2008! We stopped by the rambling outdoor cafe for a Saturday breakfast before raiding their market produce, organic groceries and nursery, and we figured it was time for an update.

To be honest, it doesn't seem as if the menu has changed a lot since they introduced the Indonesian eggs. It's organic-focused and hippy-ish: free-range eggs and sourdough toast comes with hummus, beans or beetroot relish, there's quinoa in the salad and the display case is full of muffins. Vegan and gluten-free options are well-marked and abundant.

CERES cafe does seem to have streamlined their ordering system a little. Now we queue to place our orders rather than hoping desperately to catch the interest of staff from the haphazardly arranged  tables. Our food and hot drinks were prepared and delivered promptly and the staff looked less harried, even adding a smile or dropping a darlin' along the way.

Michael went back for the vegan adaptation of the Indonesian eggs ($15.60), a deceptively filling plate of brown rice piled with a herb-heavy salad, soy-marinated smoked tofu and a generous side of sambal.

I tried the equally vegan-friendly pumpkin, tofu and miso roll with a side of salad and tomato kasundi ($10.20). The filling was a little bland but the kasundi set it right, and I was mightily relieved to get flaky golden pastry and not the cardboardy stuff of some other co-op cafes. CERES also get top marks for a lightly dressed green leaf side salad full of sunflower and sesame seeds.

The only challenge of counter ordering is resisting the sweet treats on display. I was compelled to queue again for a vegan doughnut ($4.50) and final drink (soy flat white for Michael, $3.80, and dandelion latte for me, $4.50). The doughnut must've been sourdough-based, which worked well with the raw sugar crust.

CERES cafe is a lovely spot on a summer day with reliable, veg-friendly food; all the better if you have children and/or dogs in tow!

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You can also read about one, two, three of our previous visits to CERES cafe. Since then veg blogs Green Gourmet Giraffe, Vegematarian and In The Mood For Noodles have posted nice things about it, although CERES mistakenly served coeliac K glutenous toast.

Elsewhere there's been positive feedback on little eats, juganaut's foodie thoughts, Melbourne Cafes Photo Blog, Milk, Chai & Honey, TOT: HOT OR NOT, Purple Party People, The Hungry Grub, Melbourne Mum and adventures of the ordinary. Reviews are more mixed on Globe Troffer and 8ITES.

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CERES cafe
8 Lee St, Brunswick East
9389 0155
veg breakfasts $5.70-15.60
http://www.ceres.org.au/cafe/cafe.html

Accessibility: The cafe is open air and very spacious. Access to the medium-height counter is via half a dozen steps or a narrow and uneven path. We grabbed menus, ordered and paid at the counter, then our food was brought out to us. We haven't visited the toilets, though Johanna GGG reported that they're composting!

East Elevation V

Edit 02/01/2021: East Elevation is no longer trading as a cafe, but is available as a function venue.

January 24, 2014

East Elevation does terrific brunches, and we've enjoyed a couple of evening events there, so we were well pleased to know that they've extended their hours to dinner on Thursdays and Fridays. They're on the seasonally-responsive bandwagon (a fine wagon it is!) so the menu varies a bit from week to week. It's structured to share, starting with little olive bowls ($4) and working up to larger dishes, including a cheese platter ($21).

The best news is that it's as vegan- and gluten-free-friendly as the brunch menu. Across eleven items, seven had vegetarian (v)s, four had vegan (vg)s, and nine had gluten-free (gf)s. Our waiter suggested that we pick two and maybe order a third if we were still hungry, but with so much on offer we escalated immediately to three.

She didn't mention that we'd also be getting bread! Though it was tempting to use all the butter, I was better served saving my second piece for the extra dressing on the other plates.

For example, with this raw zucchini salad ($13). Though the zucchini itself was raw, the dish was warmed via white beans and 'melted' tomato. Some judicious seasoning and fresh herbs kept this dish lively and the tomato collapsed into the olive oil dressing, fairly begging me to soak it up in the bread.

The squacquerone cheese under these roasted carrots ($14) was surprisingly set and quite mild - I had no problem acquiring my share with a fork!

Mildness is less of a guarantee with Pimentos de Padron - we received nearly a dozen of them in a salt nest with our baked potatoes ($14) and engaged in chilli roulette. I lost, unable even to eat the plain potatoes or cool green sauce for some minutes.

We asked after dessert and, this being the home of Monsieur Truffe, we couldn't leave without trying it. The passionfruit tart (~$9) met our high expectations. There are chocolatey options too, of course, though on this night we satisfied ourselves with watching the chocolate churn next door.

Sadly there are no vegan desserts just now, but they promised that they're working on it. Once that's ticked off, we'll happily give them five stars. We love their relaxed and spacious layout, and the Beck-and-Britpop tunes of that night could have come straight from my own e-device. We've always had pleasant dealings with the staff. The food is as fresh-flavoured as it is brightly hued, and they've a knack for balancing simplicity and sophistication in their desserts.

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You can also read about two brunches and two special night time events we've enjoyed at East Elevation in the past.

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East Elevation
351 Lygon St, Brunswick East
9380 4915

veg dishes $4-21
http://eastelevation.com.au/

Accessibility: Excellent. A ramp on entry, great light, lots of space and spacious individual unisex toilets, at least one of which has disability signage. Ordering happens at the table and payment at a reasonably low counter.

Other Hobart favourites

January 15-20, 2014

With three MOFOs and one dark MOFO under our belts, we've accumulated a few favourite eating spots around Hobart that we look forward to revisiting each year. Here are quick updates on the ones we checked out this summer.

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I made a point of introducing Michael to Mo Mo Bubble Tea & Coffee House (now permanently closed), having lunched there during my solo winter trip. It hasn't changed a jot - massive, messy mock meat burgers ($8.90) and sugary fruit teas (from $3.50) are the definite vego highlights. The soy bounty burger had a nifty beefy-mushroom texture, but my loyalty lies with their fake fish.

(Read the full details in my previous post here.)

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Pigeon Hole has changed hands since we last breakfasted there, but we barely noticed. With the vegetarian beans gone there's not a lot to attract vegans, but the eggs en cocotte menu is near identical. Michael liked his tallegio, preserved lemon and lovage version ($12.90), though it was small and he was soon hungry for lunch. The chalkboard menu was completely absent of sweet options (not even muesli!) so I picked out a cheese and spinach calzone from the baked goods on display, and we later shared a cherry pastry. I liked their rustic approach to dough and ate with my hands.

(Read about our first visit to Pigeon Hole here.)

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We hit Chai Vegetarian Cuisine for a late lunch. Their display-box food ($11 per plate, pictured back) was far from its optimal texture by then but the spicy curry still had its appeal. I was glad that I returned for the spicy roll ($5, pictured front) - the faux pork was terrific.

(Read about my first time round at Chai here.)

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I have sworn off the Saturday Salamanca Market in favour of Sunday's Farm Gate Market. For late risers like us, it's worth skipping breakfast and feasting on site - I devoured an enormous haloumi burger one-handed while we waited for Michael's tofu burrito and takeaway coffee. The market has definitely grown in the past year and though there are butchers and cheesemongers, vegan options are also plentiful. We made sure to pick up olive oil-based soaps, home-made jams and tea for our house-sitter, a couple of the less-healthy treats from Mrs Rees, and half a kilo of cherries (those were gone within 24 hours).

(Here's my haul from my first time at the Farm Gate.)

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While we certainly consumed our fill of food and art in Hobart, we failed to squeeze in faves like Dumpling World, Garagistes and Thai Veggie Hutt. But there's always next summer, right?