Hotcakes, flapjacks, drop scones, pfannkuchen, griddle cakes,  crêpes, pikelets  or pancakes. It seems every nation on earth has their own version of sweet, savory, stuffed, thick or thin pancakes. Despite the numerous guises and flavor combinations that can be found on all four corners of the culinary planet, one thing remains constant across all borders, pancakes are comfort fodder for the masses.

Evidence of pancake creation can be linked back to prehistoric times, where a batter of milk, flour, egg and spice was prepared on searing hot stones  to resemble what we have come to expect the humble pancake to be today.   The great Roman gourmand and author Marcus Gavius Apicius wrote about a batter that incorporated pepper and honey, a version that would be worth giving a try some 2,000 years after he penned the recipe.

My history with this famed pan cooked batter does not stretch back as far as ancient Rome, but it does come after years of trial and error having   cooked and created hundreds of breakfast brunch stacks in many  professional  kitchens over the last 20+ years.

This pancake recipe is a cross between the New Zealand style pikelet and the North American pancake, a pikelet usually being smaller, thinner and sweeter than its star spangled cousin, the pancake.  This pancake recipe uses the addition of melted butter to give the edges a crisp quality and helps to make the texture short and flaky rather than stodgy.

Here are a few watch points to bear in mind when preparing and cooking your next stack:

Mix the dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately. This will help to achieve a uniform batter that is well incorporated and lump free.

Cool the melted butter before incorporating. Adding hot butter to the wet ingredients could scramble the egg yolks.

Allow the batter to rest for an hour before using, or better still make the batter  and rest overnight covered in the refrigerator. Resting will allow the gluten in the flour time to relax so the batter doesn’t become gluey when cooked. Take the Batter out of the fridge 30 minutes before you intend to use it.

Use butter to cook the pancakes, not oil. This will add to the overall flavor and will also help maintain the correct temperature in the pan whilst cooking the pancakes.  If the butter burns, the pan is too hot to add the mixture. Remove the pan from the heat and allow it to cool slightly before placing back on the heat and adding the batter. The best time to add the batter is when a bit of butter melts and sizzles without colour.  This will ensure the pancakes cook evenly with golden crisp edges.

My… Best Pancake Recipe

Ingredients

Makes 15 pancakes

100g butter – melted and cooled
1 3/4 cups of milk
1/4 cup of cream
2 egg yolks
2 cups of plain flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

Extra butter for frying

Method

Into a measuring jug  whisk together the milk, cream and eggs. Add the cooled butter and combine well.

Stir the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl and make a well in the centre. Slowly pour in the liquid ingredients, whisking continuously until a smooth pourable batter has formed.

Heat a skillet on medium heat or induction setting 6 with 1/2 teaspoon of butter until it sizzles.

Add a small ladle approx 60mls or 3 tablespoons of batter to the pan and allow to cook for 1 minute or until bubbles begin to form in the cake. Flip carefully and cook on the other side for a further 45 seconds.

Repeat the last 2 steps until all the mixture is used up, stacking the pancakes as you go.

Serve warm with all The usual suspects like maple or golden syrup, grilled bacon and fresh banana, stewed fruit, fresh berries, or cream and jam. For something a little different try mango cheeks with  grated palm sugar and yogurt, lemon juice and vanilla sugar, or grilled pineapple rounds with grated ginger.

The Olio Cafe Kopi Luwak Experience

I was unintentionally  introduced to Kopi luwak by Jack Nicholson. Not so much personally but by way of the movie The Bucket List where Jack Nicholson’s character is an eccentric millionaire, living out the last days of his life and doing all the things on his “to do list” before he ‘kicks the bucket’. Jack’s cantankerous character carries with him a gold thermos from which he pours Kopi Luwak ~ the most expensive coffee in the world and sips at his leisure to satisfy his caffeine cravings.

I had to wonder, what does the most expensive coffee in the world taste like? and what’s the hype that surrounds this famed brew? Curiosity killed the cat and in this case the cat then pooped the coffee beans.

Kopi or coffee luwak attributes its superior smoothness and taste to what happens in the Indonesian jungles. The cat sized nocturnal animal, the Asian Civet , is a lover of fine sweet coffee cherries. Using its highly attuned nose, it sniffs out and then eats only the sweetest coffee cherries straight from the tree. As the coffee beans are passing through its digestive tract the combination of enzymes naturally occurring in its gut help to break down the bitter proteins in the bean. The beans remain in tact whilst on its digestive journey and even begins a slight fermentation or malting process that helps to mellow out and achieve Kopi luwak’s distinct smooth and syrupy texture.

The Civet is a ‘territorial shitter’ (never thought I’d have the need to write that in an article)  which poops in clumps making bean collection for coffee farmers easier to manage.  The poop is then picked up, thoroughly and might I add meticulously cleaned, before being air dried and ready for sale. And sell it does! For anywhere between US $200-$1,200 a kilo. The worlds rarest and most expensive coffee. I had to get me some of that!

Fortunately my taste-buds were soon to be appeased. Nicholas Aspros of Olio Cafe and bar in Sydney’s St. Leonard’s along with boutique roaster Sam Gabrielian of Caffe Di Gabriel have formed an alliance and are serving up some of this rare brew at even rarer prices.

Kopi luwak has been known to sell  for up to $79USD  a cup. With that sort of price  being out of bounds for most coffee drinkers,  Nicholas of Olio Cafe  decided it was his mission to make great coffee accessible to a wider market. The Olio Cafe Kopi lewak experience is  priced to clear at only $9.00 AU a cup!

Considering the rarity of this coffee, $9.00 Australian is a minuscule amount to pay  for  the Kopi Luwak Experience which consists of a shot glass of lime and ginger soda to cleanse the  palate followed by  a cup of lewak brew~ served preferably neat or with a shot of milk ala picillo style. If your not one to take your coffee as an espresso, the boys are more than happy to construct it into flat white or latte but advise against it as the milk does dilute the superior taste of the coffee.

You can either sip your luwak as is or they supply a special type of cane  sugar for those of us that need a bit of sweetening. A delicious little petit four of chocolate, almond and ginger also awaits your dining pleasure. (recipe to accompany soon!)

Sam, the lovely Barista at Olio talks me through the process that goes into preparing the coffee machine for a luwak. First the machine, group head and areas surrounding the beans are washed down and cleaned. The group head is flushed with steaming water to remove any potential coffee grounds from the normal coffee supply. The Luwak beans sit majestically on the edge of the counter in there own private machine, where they are ground to order. The group heads are preheated before being filled with coffee grounds and extracted into small red espresso cups.

The delicious brew that awaits your taste buds has a smoothness that is velvety and rich with no hint of bitter aftertaste. Its ability to define itself on your palate leaves you wanting more than an espresso sized portion. Thankfully I wasnt supping alone and was able to enjoy some of 88′s picillo as well.

I have much to say about the merits of drinking such a delicious cup and when I’m only parting with a small amount of cash it makes for a more compelling story.  My brief encounter with  master roaster Sam Gabrielian was an inspirational journey through his love of all things coffee where he has commited his boutique roasting company to seeking out and sourcing some of the rarest and most unique coffee beans in the world.

With a supply of Kopi luwak only set to last for a couple more months, Sam and Nicholas have decided to continue selling rare brews and have a line up of fabulous coffees to keep the coffee afficiandos grinning. Mount Everest Supreme, Jamaican Blue Mountain and Hawaiian Kona are all on the coffee hit list and will be slowly rolled out at this St. Leonard’s oasis.

Olio Cafe and Bar is part of the Forum Center, Shop 1P1, 201-205 Pacific Highway, St. Leonard’s and are open Monday- Friday from 7am-9pm

Holy Goats Cheese on Toast Batman!

I’ve been playing around with a little canape dish for a few months now.

Testing, trialing and tasting ~ the trappings of a chef blogger. Constantly searching for improvement on look, feel and taste. Never one to settle for mediocrity, I was enjoying the journey I was on to achieve canape prefection.

The dish in question is a beautifully simple small bite of goats cheese and honey or “Cheese on toast” as I like to call it.

It sits classed as something between  a canape and  tapa’s dish and one that when I got right ~ the world rejoiced over.

I had been playing around with different goats cheese, searching for the perfect consistency and taste that would be bold enough to take on the fabulous Manuka honey I had paired it with, but gentle and creamy enough to sit unobstructed on the palate.

The first time I tried this dish with a soft goats curd from the Holy Goat family ~ I was simply taken. Breath taken.

And then when I read that Holy Goat had won the Presidents medal for outstanding food producer at the 2010 The Royal Agricultural Society of NSW (RAS), I was decidingly “kiddish’ and  extremly happy for their achievement!

The president of the the RAS Glen Dudley described Holy Goat’s ‘La Luna’ Cheese as “the best of the best” by awarding this 100% certified organic cheese the top honor at this years awards not only for the taste and structure of this delicious cheese, but also to recognize and reward them for their sustainable practices. The herds forage on native grasses, herbs and shrubs, resulting in happy goats that produce a high quality milk that is full of  depth and flavor.

To celebrate their incredible achievement I have posted below my Holy Goats Cheese on Toast (Batman) for your eating and cooking pleasure.

Cheese on Toast

Ingredients:

200g/7 oz  Soft Goats Cheese ( Holy Goat if you can get it ~ try Australia on a plate if you live outside of Victoria Australia)

5 crumpets ~ cut into  20 rounds with a 50cent size cookie cutter

2 Tbs of Manuka Honey ( or a rich dark honey blend of your choosing)

1 large free range egg ~ whisked lightly

50g/2 oz unbleached flour

1/2  cup of grapeseed oil

Methodology:

• With clean hands, portion the goats cheese into 20 large marble sized balls by  gently rolling the cheese between your palms. you don’t need to apply much pressure as the cheese is very soft, but rather use your palms to help develop the dainty balls.
• Once all the balls are evenly rolled, put them through the whisked egg  and then coat evenly with the flour.
• Place the balls into the fridge for a minimum of 30 minutes to firm up slightly as the natural heat from your hands would have softened them somewhat.
• Toast the crumpet rounds under the grill or broiler until lightly toasted and set aside and warm the honey in a small pot on the stove until runny.
• Heat the grapeseed in  a heavy bottomed medium sized frying pan until the temperature reaches 180C/350F or when a small piece of bread turns crispy when placed into the oil.
• Carefully lower the goats cheese balls into the hot oil ~ 5 at a time and fry until golden. This will only take 30-40 seconds. Remove from the oil with a slotted spoon and place the balls directly on to the crumpet rounds.
• Drizzle the cheese with some of the warm runny honey and secure with a small bamboo fork.
• Serve immediatly, while the cheese is still hot and the moment is still fresh!

Makes enough for 6-8 as a canape

Photo credits : Myriam Conrié-Thibault of MyTinerary and Mercedes.. Life as I Pictured

Through trial and error we are able to establish some exceptional dishes that we keep coming back to time and time again.

This is one of them.

Of all the guests I have put this dish in front of, plates have  come back licked clean ~ and sighs of contentment have echoed sweetly in my ears. To a chef, no other sound could be sweeter or more sincere.

The Beautiful Myriam

The beautiful photography was done by a very special lady ~ Myriam Thibault [@myriamthi] who’s post on a  recent breakfast I hosted with my partner @iconic88 was very humbling and moving. Read it here >> Bridget Cooks up a storm. Introducing Breakfast Degustation

Myriam conducts gourmet food and walking tours around Sydney and as a French x-pat also host tours to France! Her website Myitinaray is a food lovers paradise!

Ricotta Drop Scones with Poached Peaches and a Clove and Vanilla Butter

Please note that if peaches are out of season try substituting the peaches for poached pears or sweet baked apples. Fresh lady finger banana work nicely too.

Ingredients:

4 eggs ~ separated

1 cup of plain flour

½ tsp bicarb soda

¾ tsp cream of tartare

150g fresh ricotta

1 ¼ cups milk

150gms unsalted ~ softened but not melted

1 tsp vanilla paste or pure vanilla extract

1 tsp ground cloves

1 Tbs caster sugar

2 peaches ~  sliced in half round ways with seeds removed.

6 Tbs brown sugar

3 cinnamon quills

3 star anise

1.5 lts of water

Apple syrup for drizzling

Method:

• Firstly prepare the clove butter by mixing together the 100gms of the butter, ground cloves, vanilla and caster sugar in a bowl until well combined.
• Place the butter on top a large strip of glad wrap and roll up to make a thin sausage. Tie securely at both ends and place in the fridge to harden up for a couple of hours.

• Cook the peaches by bringing to the boil the water, brown sugar, cinnamon and star anise. Bring the liquid to the boil and reduce by 1 /3 before adding the peaches and cooking gently for 20 minutes until tender. Set aside and keep warm.

• Preheat the oven on fan cooking 180C for the ricotta drop scones

• Prepare the ricotta scone mixture by mixing together the egg yolks, ricotta and milk. Mix in the flour, baking soda and cream of tartar and add a pinch of salt.
• Whisk the egg whites in a clean bowl until they form stiff peaks and then carefully fold them through the ricotta mixture.

• Prepare a pan for frying by placing on to the heat  and melting a small knob of butter. DROP in Tbs full of the mixture ~ 2 Tbs makes one ricotta drop scone. You need to make enough drop scones for 3 per person.
• Carefully flip the scones and place in the oven to finish cooking for 5 minutes.

• To assemble, on to a deep bowl plate start with a poached peach and a dribble of apple syrup and then a few scones, add a few slices of the clove butter and another peach and top with a scone and butter slice. Top with a  dusting of icing sugar and a sprig of mint (optional)

Photo by powerbooktrance

The Wonder Breakfast When Your on the GO!

Sweet nothings  can deny me  my favourite way to start the day… OK my SECOND favourite way to start the day ~ wink wink nudge nudge, nuff said.

I’m consciously aware of the importance of a hearty breakfast in our daily diet, but up until this point it has  eluded me in the physical sense. I’m either to busy, to lethargic  or too busy being lethargic .

I craved something tangible … I quick fix.

Something that was swift to prepare and easy to digest, would fill me up and was light and SUPER tasty.

The day that my Banana and Manuka Honey Smoothie slid into my life is a day I will never forget. It sums up breakfast on the go for me like toast and marmalade  could never do.

And did I mention the health benefits???

So here comes the wavier first.  Though I’m no doctor, the ingredients that make up this smoothie are good for your heart, kidney’s and bones that will help to enhance your mood if your feeling a little flat.

Along with the wonders of the Banana as mentioned above, you also have the added benefits of calcium rich yogurt with its benefical bacteria and your favourite super food and mine ~ Manuka honey.

Manuka honey is fabulously exclusive, thanks to it  being produced by bees that collect pollen from the Manuka trees that grow on the East coast of New Zealand.

This particular honey has all the benefits of normal honey plus the added bonus of being antibacterial and antiviral. In fact, Manuka honey is medical grade honey ~ great for wound healing, burns, wrinkles, acne and a myrid of other ailments.

For those of you similar to myself who like the idea of drinking your yogurt and bananas rather than chewing them ~ this is the Breakfast treat for you!

Banana and Manuka Honey Smoothie

~makes enough for 1 large glass

1 Banana ~ ripe and smooth, best to avoid unripe bananas  in a smoothie as it wont be as creamy

2 Tbs Greek yogurt

2 tsp Manuka honey

350mls of chilled apple juice

Place all ingredients into a blender and whizz until nicely combined and oh so smooth ~ie.

Photo by Pink Sherbet Photography

Of all the culinary weapons in a 10min foodies arsenal, the humble egg is one of the most versatile and useful.

Once you have mastered the art of cooking an egg to its sublime perfection, its just a matter of adding a few delicious bells and whistles to take you to gourmet paradise.

In this episode of a 10min foodie I will share with you the secret to cooking perfect scrambled eggs that we will then take to new heights with the addition of  a few  flavorsome spices, which equals a delicious dinner in under 10 minutes.

Photo by basheertome

I suggest that you bookmark this post or save it somewhere on your desktop that is easily accessible in time of great need!!

I speak of course about the dreaded hangover, the morning after the night before when you feel like you’ve been run over by a bus- a bus full of inebriation!

Your body aches, your dizzy and irritable and your head is thumping as fast and loud as a freight train.

Instead of reaching for a cup of coffee and an aspirin, researchers have now confirmed that a good healthy dose of fried bacon sandwich is just the trick to get you back up and running…

And here I was thinking that Bacon sandwiches just tasted good the morning after! So now evidence is in that Bacon sandwiches are beneficial after one to many Zizzy Ballooba’s , I give you The Gourmet Bacon Sandwich with just the right amount of bacon and the perfect amount of sandwich to get rid of the crapulence.

Bridget’s Anti hangover Bacon Sandwich

2 thick slices of your favourite sandwich bread ( I am in love with Iggy’s Bread here in Sydney- its addictive!) 2 to 3 slices of a good quality streaky bacon. Its important here that you use a bacon that has an even amount of bacon to fat. The fat in the bacon helps to give it flavour and keep the sandwich moist.

Heat a pan to medium high with a drop of oil before adding the bacon slices and frying until crispy and golden, turning the slices over often. While the bacon cooks, toast the bread on both sides.

Spread a good layer of lemon aioli or your favourite mayo on to the bread slices and top with the fried bacon. Spoon on a bit of spicy tomato relish and finish with a small bunch of wild rocket or arugula leaves.

Season well with salt and pepper and top with the last slice of toast. Eat immediately while watching the following video…”the hangover” which should help perk you up straight away!

It was supposed to be the night they would never forget and quickly became the night that no one could remember…