Salted peanut caramel ~ more addictive than crack

A highly addictive and pleasingly simple confectionary that has delighted many of my customers and staff alike. I too am guilty of over-indulging in shards of its ruthless crunch and sweet salty balance. My teeth must curse me every time I make this, but it’s worth the extra effort in oral hygiene. A recent remark from one of my customers had me remembering just how first-rate this recipe is and how imperative it is that I share it with you.   “I gotta get me some of that salted peanut caramel. I read a review online that it’s more addictive than crack!”

My dad used to love this as a child, with the version he used to buy being somewhat more honeycomb-like in texture with the addition of baking soda which causes it to froth uncontrollably. This version looks good stacked in a large glass jar or makes great school fete treats, served in a brown paper bag with a ribbon. I’ve given you the recipe for a large glass jar full, but feel free to cut the recipe in half if 5 cups of sugar sounds like an overly daunting prospect.

Salted peanut caramel recipe

Ingredients:

5 cups of white sugar
2 cups of water
100 gms of butter
2 cups of roasted, salted skinless peanuts

Method:

Spray a large metal tray with non stick oil and then line it with baking paper.

Into a heavy bottomed pot place the sugar and water and heat on high or induction setting 8.

Allow the sugar and water to come to a gentle rolling boil and cook the mixture until the water evaporates and the sugar begins to turn a light caramel colour. This step should take about 15 minutes.

It pays to not walk away from the cooktop as you are waiting for the sugar to turn to caramel, as it “goes” fairly quickly and may surprise you at it’s speed at turning from white to caramel.

As soon as the sugar turns to caramel, remove immediately from the heat and add the butter, stirring through until smooth.
Beat in the peanuts and then carefully pour the mixture on to the lined metal tray.

If the caramel is thick, line the top of the caramel with more baking paper and carefully roll with a rolling pin to flatten, being extremely careful as the caramel is piping hot.

Allow the caramel to cool completely before snapping into rough pieces and consuming.

La Casa Restaurant or Ristorante is located at 271 Lyons Road Russell Lea .

Take a trip out to Suburban Russell Lea in Sydney’s Inner West and you may notice something unusual taking place. A certain rumbling if you will, a ground swell of epic proportions.  That rumbling that you feel is feet, feet  pounding the pavement and there all making a beeline for La Casa Restaurant.

What is it about La Casa Restaurant that has so many people barnstorming their way to this family run Italian ristorante for a mid-week dinner?

It’s Tuesday evening, mid January 6:30pm and La Casa Restaurant is packed. People of all demographics sit hunched over tables and banquets heaving with good old fashioned hospitality. By all accounts, the food here is good ~ nay, the food here is great. It’s honest. It’s tasty and it’s bountiful. It doesn’t have a  Michelin star, but then again who cares? This food makes you feel good. A goodness that develops in your soul and laughs its way into your belly. Food that makes you feel this warm and welcomed should be handing out Michelin stars.

La Casa Restaurant  ticks other boxes. Its friendly, it’s inviting, it has atmosphere, it has meatballs and it has Carmel Ruggeri.

But what  has made La Casa Restaurant such an overnight success?

Restaurateurs take note, this will be the single most important thing that you will read since they announced the allowance for 7-day trading. La Casa Restaurant  has social media.

Thanks to the tweeting by part owner Carmel Ruggeri aka @carmr  who also tweets under the guise @_lacasa, La Casa restaurant has the food media world at her feet. Within weeks of opening all the top food writers in the city in both traditional and new media had been in to sample and then write about Carm, Tony, Smiley and the La Casa Restaurant team which has been driving hoards of new traffic their way.  Carm’s online personality is so infectious that you can’t help but fall in love with her wit and good humor and its  that same personality, larger than life, that greets you at the front door of her establishment with a smile and a hug.

Carm keeps it real online and IRL ( in real life), she reaches out and engages everyone and anyone. She doesn’t spam you with unwanted broadcasts about special deals or offers and restautrant opening hours. She tweets about life, her life and the life as a restaurateur. You will see tweets about how wonderful her staff are with an accompanying picture of her chef in front of his much loved La Casa pizza oven. She shares a laugh or two with her dedicated friends and followers and engages new followers like they were old friends.

She has created an online persona that people just have to connect with ~ a marketers dream, And she does it with ease and with maximum results. By being herself, and being authentic  she has managed to do what many are still trying to work out, how to make money by utilsing  social media.

The official unofficial Queen of twitter has a great looking bottom line… amongst her other wonderful assests and is a living, breathing, operating example of how social media can  positively influence bums on seats and dollars in the till. As her following increases so shall her customer base because if your lucky enough to secure a table, you’re a guaranteed customer for life because Carm and the team know how to deliver the goods.

Now let’s get back to the food. We came, we ate and we kept on eating! Here’s a recipe kindly supplied by Carm of one the dishes we inhaled on our last visit to the restaurant. A delicious light and satisfiying prawn pasta that is worthy of sharing.

La Casa Restaurant Fettucine Gamberi

Ingredients

600g of fresh fettuccine
1 Tbsp of freshly chopped garlic
2-3 dried chillis ( to taste)
1  sprig of lemon thyme
A small handful of fresh basil leaves
1-2 Tbsp of verjuice
1 Tbsp of capers
A good slosh of extra virgin olive oil
Half a punnet of cherry tomatoes
24 green king prawns
100g of baby spinach

Sea salt and pepper

Method

Bring to the boil a large pot of  lightly salted water.

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan and saute the prawns for a couple of minutes. Add the garlic and chilli and mix through.

Toss in the capers, cherry tomatoes and verjuice and saute for a further minute.

Cook the pasta in the boiling water until al dente or firm to the bite. This should take 3-4 minutes. Drain the pasta and add to the pan along with the spinach and toss through.

Season well with salt and pepper, garnish with basil and serve immediately.

For other La Casa Restaurant recipes see Carmels fabulous 10 minute foodie recipe for Spiedini Alle Olive

A Life Lived Enjoying Everything…

In Moderation

I come from  humble farming stock. My grandparents on my mother’s side ( Grandpappy and Nana) ran a dairy farm in the idyllic Coromandel Peninsula in New Zealand’s Upper East Coast. You could say I have milk in my DNA, and more importantly, creamy New Zealand butter.

As many of my local friends can attest too,  one of my biggest homesick triggers is  New Zealand milk, cream, ice cream and butter. There is something kind of wonderful that goes into New Zealand dairy products that makes for exceptional baking and cooking. Heck, even the morning cereal tastes better when its swimming in New Zealand milk.

I put this exceptional quality down to all those golf course green fields, fresh air and happy farmers. The weather is perfect for creating lush pastures for stock to graze on and there’s enough open spaces for cows to frolic in the fields. We don’t do intensive farming of dairy cattle which makes for happy cows that still hold up traffic twice a day on many rural roads when the farmer is moving the herd  to the milking sheds.

My love for New Zealand butter started at a young age and has intensified since moving so far away from it. Thankfully I have tracked down a Sydney inner city supplier that has these blocks of gold for sale. I like to buy up as many as I can carry each time I visit the store so that I don’t run out in the middle of a banana cake making session.

I have added to my fridge a silver chalice, from which springs forth the elixir of life. Clarified butter has replaced canola  and grape-seed oil as my frying medium. This has been a revelation in my kitchen as I can now enjoy the flavor of butter at high temperatures!

Clarified butter or ‘Ghee’ as its known in Hindi is butter that has gone through a ridiculously simple clarification process to separate the protein or milk solids from the pure butter fat. The pure butter is then poured off  leaving the milk solids behind to be discarded. It’s these milk solids or protein that cause the butter to brown and burn at low temperatures. Pure butter on the other hand is now so resilient that you could even use it to deep fry with, not that I recommend wasting your clarified butter in that way.

Instead I recommend that you store it into your favorite small vessel and allow it to take pride in place in your fridge to use as a worthy replacement for oil. It can also be stored on the shelf provided it is in an airtight container. So if you must use a fat or oil to fry with, a small amount of clarified butter will work wonders on the end result.

Clarified Butter

Ingredients

1 block/1 pound/ 500gms of butter ~ some folks call for unsalted butter. Personally I prefer salted as it has better flavor.

Method

• On the lowest heat setting possible, place the butter into a heavy bottomed saucepan and ever so gently allow it to melt.
• Once the butter has completely melted, carefully pour the butter fat from the pan, making sure that the white milk fat stays behind in the pan to be disposed of.

Sounds pretty simple doesn’t it! Heres a few pointers to bear in mind when undertaking this calcification process.

• The trick here is to do it on such low temperature that the butter resists the need to bubble and splutter. A lot of bubbling and spluttering will have the reverse effect on what you are trying to achieve which is the separation of butter fat and protein or milk solids.
• If you allow the butter to melt gently the milk solids will sit on the bottom of the pan and all you need do is pour the melted butter fat directly from the pan for easy separation.
• An induction cook-top is one of the best ways to achieve a low heat setting. If you don’t have an induction cook-top you can try this little trick that works really well. Place a heavy bottomed frying pan on your cook-top on the lowest possible heat setting. Place the pot with butter into the frying pan and melt gently. The frying pan will act as a diffuser allowing the temperature of the cook-top to remain low and even. Splatter free butter!

Its been 16 hours and 4 minutes since my last bite.

Hello my name is Bridget and I am a choco-holic… AND LOVING IT!!!

I haven’t always been enamoured by the delights of chocolate consumption, and was more of a jellybean girl for most of my life. But thanks to a recent Chocolate Tour of Sydney that I was fortunate enough to attend, I’ve been caught by the chocolate bug… Hook, line and sinker.

This recipe is a beautiful example of why you should put chocolate on the top of your to do list, because at least you will get one thing done. But, if your worried about maintaining a balanced diet, hold your chocolate in both hands.

Still need more Chocolate? Join me in Sydney for a Chocolate Workshop and fall in love with Cacoa all over again!

The 10-min Chocolate Remarkable Puddings

Ingredients

Makes enough for 6 individual puddings

200g Good quality Rich dark bittersweet chocolate ~ I use one with 70% cocoa solids

4 large free range eggs ~ at room temperature

100g caster sugar

100g unsalted butter

1 Tbs hazelnut liquer

1 Tbs ground hazelnuts

Mascarpone to serve

Procedure

• Preheat the oven on fan cooking 200 C/ 400 F with shelf positioned in the middle of the oven
• Melt together the chocolate and butter on induction setting 2 or in a metal bowl resting over a pot of simmering water. Once the chocolate mixture is smooth and melted through, remove from the heat, add the hazelnut liquer and allow to cool slightly.
• Separate the yolks from the egg whites, and place into separate bowls.
• Whisk the egg whites a cake mixer until they for stiff peaks. This part is important so that our puddings get some nice height.
• Mix together the caster sugar and egg yolks and pour over the chocolate mixture, whisking until smooth.
• Very gently fold in the stiff egg whites, incorporating lightly and quickly. The mixture should still be streaky. Avoid over mixing as you will knock out all the air that was incorporated when the egg whites were whisked and this will prevent the puddings from rising.
• Spoon the mixture into 6 1/2 cup sized ramekins and bake for 10 minutes.
• The puddings should be just cooked on the outside and soft and mellow on the inside.
• Serve immediately with a sprinkle of hazelnuts and a dollop of mascarpone.

Proudly brought to you by The 10min Foodie

Christmas is a time of giving and receiving ~ a joyous time of showing those nearest and dearest how much they mean to you and how much you care.

Recently a work colleague of mine told me a wee story about just such an event. A very VERY close friend of his lovingly gave him a sandwich press for Christmas, rattling on constantly about how it had revoluntinized her life. She spoke  about how many incredible toasted sandwiches, panini and bagels she could make using her blessed sandwich press.

His answer to the aforementioned home appliance,”  Doesn’t the women know I’m gluten intolerant?!”

I had to chuckle, the look of confusion on his face was priceless, “Shes known me for over 25 years and hasn’t yet noticed my inability to digest gluten…?”

His situation got me thinking ~ when life hands you lemons, build a lemonade stand and  franchise it!

In other words , what  types of food aside from bread products could be successfully toasted, grilled, sandwiched and pressed in an unwanted Christmas present?

Let the Countdown commence!

Number 10

Stone Fruit

photo by skyseeker

Try grilling some fresh peaches, plums, apricots or nectarines on your sandwich press by cutting the fruit in half and removing the pip.  Place the fruit in a single layer on the press and close the lid gently but firmly.

When the fruit are nicely warmed through and grilled lightly, remove from the press and drizzle over some runny honey or add a sprinkle of brown sugar to brighten the flavour.

Number 9

Tomatoes

Photo by The Ewan

Tomatoes are great to throw in to the sandwich press. They are quick, easy to do and provided you are using ripe, juicy tomatoes, the flavours are superlative once they have been given a light toasting!

To “press” your tomatoes, remove any green tops and slice both ends off the tomato. Now cut  the tomato in half through the middle and season well with sea salt flakes, freshly ground black pepper and a splash of olive oil.

Lay the tomatoes in a single layer on your preheated sandwich press ~ and cook for 5-8 minutes dependant on size of tomatoes. You want the tomato to be still slightly firm and not to spongy, but well grilled and caramelised.

Number 8

Pork Loin Steaks

Boneless cuts of meat are easily cooked through in the sandwich press ~ and Pork Loin steaks are no exception and are exceptionally tasty!

When choosing your loin steaks ~ pick ones that are evenly sliced so that they cook through evenly on the press. Season well  with salt and black pepper before placing on the grill and cooking through until tender.

If your steaks have some fat on them, there’s no need to oil them before cooking, but if they are just meat, lightly massage some sesame oil in to the flesh before pressing. Serve with whole grain mustard, apple sauce or your favourite gravy.

Number 7

Zuchinni

The wonderful Zuchinni or courgette as its more widely known makes an appearance at Number 7 . These little darlings  need only be sliced length ways thinly, seasoned with sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper and lightly oiled before pressing lightly for 3-4 minutes.

When they are ready, carefully remove from the press and drizzle with some good extra virgin olive oil and squeeze over a tiny bit of fresh lemon juice.

Number 6

Lamb skewers

Skewers in general work exceptionally well on the sandwich press provided what you are skewering aren’t to big and chunky and they are all of similar size.

Lamb is a real specialty when skewered and grilled on the sandwich press and is made even more delectable if sprinkled with a few Middle Eastern flavours like z’aatar or harissa.

Number 5

Burger Patties

photo by pokpok313

I love the idea of homemade burgers ~ made even easier if you cook the pattie in the good old sandwich press.

It’s twice as fast as cooking it in the pan or on the grill as you have top heat and bottom heat getting the job done super fast for you.

For a touch of burger class, choose the best quality ground beef, lamb, turkey or chicken ~ organic and free range . Add your favourite spices, diced onion and loads of seasoning to make a tasty pattie that’s good for you and good for the environment.

Wrap the cooked pattie in a burger pan with lettuce, tomato, relish and mayo to complete the ensemble.

Number 4

Steak!

photo by FotoosVanRobin

It would be unbearably  hard to convert to vegetarianism if steak always came out looking like this!

A juicy piece of fine rib eye or sirloin given the right royal treatment on the sandwich press would have me weak at the knees.

Best advice when cooking your prime cut on the sandwich press is make sure the grill is preheated and hot. Massage a small amount of grape seed or vegetable oil into the flesh before placing in the press and firmly closing the lid. Cook for 6-8 minutes for  a  steak similar in size to the photo.

When you take the steak from the press, season well with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and wrap the steak in foil and allow to REST for 4-5 minutes to help to keep those juices inside the meat.

Number 3

Salmon or Ocean Trout

photo by jlastras

Oily Fish like Salmon and Trout work splendidly in the sandwich press. They are firm enough that they stay together on cooking, and have a high enough natural fat level that they cook tenderly in their own juices.

Dependant on the thickness of your  fillet, it wont take you long to cook your fish . For a 200gm slice I would recommend no longer than 6 minutes in your press, with 3-5 minutes for the fish to sit once you have removed it from the press to allow it extra time to continue to cook thanks to the heat that is trapped within its flesh.

Serve with a squeeze of lemon or lime juice, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and a few slivers of finley sliced chilli if you like it a little bit of heat under the collar.

Number 2

Eggplant

photo by Muffet

I have acquired somewhat of an addiction for eggplant cooked in the sandwich press. The grilling process helps to caramelise the vegetable and brings out the sweetness beautifully.

To cook simply cut the eggplant into even sized slices and oil generously with your favourite olive oil. Season well on both sides with salt and pepper before placing in the grill in a single layer and closing the lid firmly to squash the eggplant down a tad.

Cook for 4-5 minutes until the grill marks are prominent and the flesh has gone from white to brown. Serve in a  salad or as a side dish on their own. I like to dip mine in a miso dressing and eat with chopsticks.

And Drum roll please… The Number 1 food item to cook in a sandwich press that isn’t a sandwich …

Number 1

BACON!!!

I purposely left this photo big to celebrate the beauty of cooking bacon in a sandwich press.

If you are a lover and admirer of crispy bacon  in half the normal time it would take you to pan fry or grill it ~ the sandwich press is your new best friend.  It produces crispy pieces, removes some of the fat in the natural process of rendering as the bacon cooks and gives you a crunch and a tenderness all at the same time.

It is poetry for the bacon armored.

Choose streaky bacon for best results and lay the bacon in a single layer on a hot press and PRESS for 4-5 minute until cooked.

So here is my top 10… have I missed anything out???

What would you cook in your sandwich press??

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.

The fame that surrounds this scrambled egg recipe spreads from one corner of the globe to its significant other.

A recipe that has stood the test of time including a mere mention in the New York Times as being  “as light as the breath of an angel” and in the London Times as being “the best eggs in the world” .

The same online publication named the humble little  restaurant “bills” where the recipe began its journey of world domination as one of the “7 wonders of the food world” and I was fortunate to once been in charge of its stoves.

I can not take credit for its genius, but as head chef for  Bill Granger , the well known caretaker of this simple yet effective protein setting technique, I can most certainly whip you  up a batch ~ and I could probably do it with my eyes closed.

For a 45-seater restaurant in the heart of leafy Darlinghurst, Sydney Australia, it was not unusual for us to fuel the bellies of 350 patrons on a Saturday morning where they would begin queuing at 7am  for a  taste of the world famous scrambled eggs.

It was once home for breakfast to her royal highness, The Queen of daytime TV Oprah Winfrey, who along with Good Morning America, found it necessary to seek out and discover just what makes these eggs tick.

With a little care and attention, you can create your own Bill Grangers scrambled success at home, with just 3 ingredients, no need for queuing, a nod from “O”  and a gentle nudge.

The 10-min Foodie ~ Best Scrambled Eggs in the World.

Bills scrambled eggs ~ photo by reggie_l

Start with a clean bowl and a fork, and break into it 3 large organic free range eggs and 1/3 cup of full cream.

Yes, cream. Not milk, not light cream, not soy milk, not half and half. Pure, unadulterated full bodied cream. So despite risking stating the obvious, this is not an everyday food. It’s treat food at its most special.

Now using  a fork,  whisk  the eggs and cream together until no streaks are visible. It is not necessary at this point to be overly  ferocious  with your whisking as all you are attempting to do is to bring the 3 eggs and the cream harmoniously together  ~ minus the streaks.

Into a non stick pan ~ I can’t not stress the importance of a non stick pan here quite enough ~ Heat  a teaspoon of  butter on a medium-high temperature until the butter melts without browning it.

Once the butter has succumbed, sprinkle in a pinch and a half of of sea salt flakes and allow the salt a few seconds to begin to dissolve before introducing the eggs and cream to the butter and the pan.

Resist the urge at this point to stir the eggs. Allow the eggs 20 or so seconds to begin to set on the bottom of your non stick pan.

Once  a few bubbles begin to surface in the egg, turn the heat down to medium and gently, ever so gently begin to nudge the eggs around the pan ~ moving the cooked egg to allow the uncooked to settle on the base of the pan.

This entire process should take less than a minute, as once the egg has set all way round, invert the egg on to plate and serve immediately with super thick slices of crusty bread and an extra knob of butter for spreading thickly. Enjoy your scrambled egg recipe and let us know how it tastes

Watch this video for my updated version:

How to make the best scrambled eggs perfectly

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.