Tag Archives: Cooking

Maestral and Max Brenner

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On Thursday evening we met with friends and enjoyed dinner at Maestral Mediterranean and Seafood Restaurant in Cooleman Court in Weston. Our friends had not been there before, however, as thorough seafood lovers we couldn’t get past the Maestral seafood platter for two. Given there were four of us we also asked for the Stubica (Pan fried pork fillet stuffed with sweet dried prunes and served with a plum brandy cream sauce) and Cevapcici (Mixture of minced meats and Adriatic spices served with feta cheese/onions). The menu from my Evernote notebook can be found here.

After the main course we persuaded our dinner companions to have dessert at Max Brenner in Belconnen.

The service at Maestral is good. It’s warm and friendly. This is very popular restaurant in Canberra and so at times, the wait staff are run off their feet. It’s a smallish restaurant so the bathroom facilities are separate and you need to ask for a key. I would highly recommend Maestral to anyone living in or visiting Canberra.

The service at Max Brenner is variable and a lot depends on your timing. The local Hoyts cinema complex is situated close by. If a movie ends as you arrive finding a table can be a challenge. The service on Thursday night was mediocre. The person taking my requests was fine, she was happy and cheerful. The problem was the delivery of the four dishes. They came out one by one so that by the time the last dish arrived three of us had finished our dessert. That does not make for an enjoyable experience.

Stubica Pan fried pork fillet stuffed with sweet dried prunes and served with a plum brandy cream sauce

Cevapcici Mixture of minced meats and Adriatic spices served with feta cheese/onions

The platter for 2

My plate loaded up. The soft shelled crab is amazing.

My toffee waffle with chocolate and ice cream

Max Brenner Chocolate Bar on Urbanspoon

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My first Wagyu beef cooking experience

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Yesterday we went to Costco and bought some Wagyu beef.

Wagyu steak from Costco

This morning we started with homemade Eggs Benedict to prove a point about the niceness of runny yolks and a smooth Hollandaise sauce. While yesterday’s breakfast was nice, this was better.

Bron's Homemade Eggs Benedict. Runny yolks are good.

A lot of thought and some research went into preparing for this evening’s meal. Wagyu beef is an expensive investment. The returns in terms of delicious flavours need to be maximised through careful cooking. The last thing we wanted was for the meat to be mishandled in any way.

After reading many websites and articles, we agreed on this method http://www.evernote.com/shard/s183/sh/6d02cff7-25f4-4a37-84ad-453bfa366032/72e8c7be756eac09e6fe4edc9b06a67c This is a method advocated by the Internet Chef.

Without an induction stove top we worked out our plan of attack. The meat was chilled and then the board dressed Jamie Oliver style to apply the seasoning. One side was cooked for 90 seconds and the fillet was turned and placed on a low heat hob with the lid on for 45 minutes. After cooking it was rested for 10 minutes. During this time Bron prepared a Jamie Oliver horseradish mash and we also had asparagus and peas.

Just look at how beautiful this piece of meat looks. It's good enough to cut thinly and eat raw.

The rib eye fillet looks gorgeous. Unctuous, gorgeous, beautiful, YUM…

Seasoned after seasoning the board as per Jamie Oliver

Don’t worry, this is not too much salt.

Bron's plate

I dissected the lean fillet from the fatty deckle. Bron prefers the lean fillet and I love the fatty deckle. The lean fillet was delicious and went well with the horseradish mash and peas.

My plate

I love the fatty deckle and all its succulent juiciness. The sauce was simply a white wine reduction with a little Dijon mustard and cream in the beef’s pan juices.

The tastiest meat and fat I've ever had

The deckle meat is on the left. It was separated from the lean fillet by a nice piece of fat. The fat tasted amazing. It was not a ‘fatty’ texture at all. It melted in my mouth and was full of flavour.

Steamed pudding with chocolate cherry sauce

This is a Jamie Oliver recipe.

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Burrito sans tortilla at Jamison Zambrero

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We went and ordered lunch at Jamison Zambrero today. We’ve been interested in trying this place for some time and today presented as a good opportunity. Bron suggested looking at the menu on-line before going in and ordering. The on-line menu also provides a kilojoule counter for those interested in calorie counting.

If you’re interested in lowering your carbohydrate load you can order a burrito sans tortilla. I asked for lamb with guacamole and sour cream plus salad including jalapenos with a mild smoky chipotle sauce.

The food was served on a very shallow bed of rice in a cardboard tray and then covered in aluminium foil for takeaway customers.

I quite enjoyed mine although I don’t think it was worth $12. In addition, while it didn’t taste salty while I was eating it, I became very thirsty shortly afterwards.

Would I have one again? Yes probably, but it won’t be a regular meal.

Burrito sans tortilla from Zembrero Jamison

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Christmas with my kids, parents and one of my brothers

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For the last few years I’ve visited my girls the week before Christmas to spend the weekend and have our own special Christmas. It also coincides with my Mum’s birthday so it’s a joint celebration.

This year my youngest brother, Mr40 decided to make wonton soup for an entrée. Mr40 prides himself on this wonton soup however, we discovered he doesn’t follow Mum’s recipe to the letter. He doesn’t slap the pork mince. For more information check out My Mum’s wonton recipe and read what I’m talking about.

Mr40's wonton soup for our Christmas lunch entrée

It was pretty good.

If you thought I limited myself to this one small bowl you'd be mistaken.

Lunch was pretty good. In the morning I went out and bought prawns (tigers and kings) and then peeled them. Mum roasted chickens, made a potato bake, coleslaw, devilled eggs and a fantastic stuffing.

Christmas lunch

For dessert Mum made a sunken orange cake with a lovely orange sauce and ice cream.

Orange cake

You would think we couldn’t eat dinner. Well you’d be wrong.

A light dinner of cheese and fruit

This was then followed with rocky road made by Mr40′s wife.

Rocky road

After digesting dinner we slept and then woke this morning to Mum breakfast of French toast, bacon and scrambled eggs.

Breakast after a big feast. French toast, bacon and scrambled eggs.

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My succulent roast lamb shoulder

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It’s been a busy week, albeit a short week with a public holiday on Monday. Yesterday I spent most of the day at work trying to catch up. I didn’t get very far. Today I was going to do more but thankfully got caught up watching Bathurst and then the Wallabies play the Springboks.

This morning when I went grocery shopping I came across a bit of lamb shoulder. It’s not often you see shoulder amongst all the legs (maybe I don’t look hard enough). Like pork, I think the shoulder of a lamb is more succulent and juicy than the hind leg or rump.

Lamb shoulder

It was a bit expensive.

Price tag

I really love the feel of handling meat, especially when it’s room or better, body temperature.There’s nothing like feeling the muscle fibres and having a knife in your hand. I really like butterflying a leg of lamb and dissecting the muscle compartments with my fingers. My boning knife is my favourite tool when working with lamb.

Out of the plastic and with my favourite boning knife.

On the rack I tucked the shank underneath.

Lamb on a rack

I also wanted something indulgent to eat with my meat.

Potatoes, celery and and onion

And in the food processor they go

I wanted to top the potato bake with a crunchy crusty topping made from streaky bacon and breadcrumbs.

Coles streaky bacon

I am so happy Coles sells streaky bacon now.

The potato bake was pretty easy to assemble.

Potato bake before topping

I also use nutmeg and pepper. I should have used more salt in the vegetables.

Potato bake with breadcrumb bacon topping

Slow roasted lamb shoulder

I cooked this for three hours at 150 ℃. The meat was moist, tender and succulent.

Juicy lamb

Most of the fat was in the pan. The skin was crispy and the meat so tasty.

I know I haven't got greens on the plate yet.

My first time cooking salt and pepper chicken

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This meal was delicious. I think I may have used a little too much pepper but that’s not a bad thing.

I took 160 g (219 calories) of chicken thigh and cut it into bite sized pieces. I also diced a couple of cocktail potatoes 125 g (225 calories). I put a teaspoon of coarsely ground pepper, a teaspoon of finely ground white pepper, a teaspoon of cooking salt and a good shake of plain flour into a plastic bag. After lightly oiling the chicken and potatoes I shook them in the bag to coat the pieces with salt, pepper and flour. I put the chicken and potato onto a baking tray and put into a moderate to high oven for 20 minutes. I served with peas and carrots.

Salt and pepper chicken

Today’s food diary

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Today I managed to stay near my calorie ceiling.

Breakfast was a single egg.

Fried egg on toast

Then this morning at work a new work mate brought in macaroons her son made. They were delicious.

Chocolate macaroons

For lunch I had a really nice chicken breast, lettuce, aioli and avocado toasted sandwich.

Tonight I had a small rack of lamb (180 g) and some stir fried vegetables (200 g).

Rack of lamb

I hope to sleep well tonight.

Dinner in a saucepan

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I felt like vegetables but was pretty unmotivated. I watched Jamie Oliver do a 30 minute potato bake so I thought I could do it with a food processor.

I used a small potato, a small sweet potato, a large flat mushroom, a small onion, a dash of cream, some nutmeg and hot water. I brought this to a boil on the stove top and then whacked it into the oven for 30 minutes. Of course cheese was added at that point.

I cooked the steak blue because I like it that way. I thought it would be nice sliced and laid on top of the vegetable bake. It looks bad but tasted fine.

Rack of lamb dinner

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I felt like doing something extra for dinner tonight. The last couple of days at work have been pretty busy and while I still have more work to do tonight, I was wanting something nice for dinner.

I bought a small rack of lamb from Coles and put some vegetables on the plate. The lamb was browned on a saucepan and then put into a moderate over for 15 minutes.

To finish I had Weis mango and cream ice cream with chunks of Queensland nuts (Macadamia). With this I had some cinnamon donuts.