Salted Buttered Popcorn Macarons

Brûlée Times

"Can anyone help me load this thing?" I said, as I scanned the instructions which were very vague. The two men scurry over to help me. They look more baffled than I do. 

"Don't worry, I've got it!"... And I load her up... Then, I become invincible. This thing is powerful, I could destroy whole villages with this baby... The gentle hissing noise as you turn the valve, then FWAAAAAAAA, a glorious blue flame shoots out of her, annihilating everything in its path; the chef's brûlée torch. 

I have made Crème Brûlée before, but I used to just caramelise the sugar under the grill. Boring! Now I wield a culinary weapon and burn the devil out of it. Warning: these torches are hard to use. I think I put too thick-a-layer of sugar on the top and did not quite achieve that perfect melting state... But it was still crackly and delicious. 

Ingredients

375ml thickened cream

1 vanilla bean, split in half

dash of vanilla extract

6 egg yolks

80g caster sugar

brown sugar to top

Method

1) Preheat oven to 150 degrees C.

2) Place cream into saucepan. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the cream and throw in the bean too and splash in a bit of vanilla extract. Place on medium heat until it begins to boil and then take it off the heat immediately.

3) With a wire whisk, whip the egg yolks with the caster sugar until thick and pale. 

4) Remove the vanilla bean from the hot cream mixture and slowly add the cream to the egg mixture, a little at a time, beating well after each addition. 

5) Pour mixture into ramekins (this quantity filled 3 large ramekins) and place in a baking tray. Pour boiling water into the baking tray until it reaches halfway up the side of the ramekins and then bake in the oven for around half an hour or until the custard only has a slight wobble remaining in the middle.

6) Cool for about ten minutes before placing in the fridge to set for at least two hours.

7) When ready to serve, carefully and evenly sprinkle and pat a thin layer of brown sugar atop each brûlée and caramelise under the grill or unleash your blowtorch of awesomeness upon them, until the sugar has melted and formed a lovely hard top. Enjoy.

Vanilla and Cinnamon Rice Pudding

Rice Pudding: creamy, warm, soul-satisfying. This simple recipe is perfect to whip up these glorious May nights. 

Ingredients
1 litre milk
3/4 cup aborio rice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cinnamon stick
1 vanilla bean
1 cup caster sugar

Method
1) Place milk, rice, salt, vanilla bean (seeds scraped out and pod too) and cinnamon stick in a saucepan and heat over medium heat, continually stirring for around 20 minutes or until the rice is soft and the mixture thick. You must stand over and watch and stir otherwise it will stick to the bottom of the pan and burn.

2) Add sugar and continue to simmer for a further couple of minutes, still stirring. Turn off the heat.

3) Serve whilst warm. Add poached fruit if you like. I added peach and pear. Delicious!

Thai Chicken Noodle Soup

With the evenings now crisp and the promise of winter in the air, soup is on the menu. This Thai-inspired soup is full of flavour and freshness and is perfect to ward off the tickle you think you feel in your throat.

This recipe yields two small serves or one mammoth serve - I am still suffering the consequences of eating it all. So. Very. Full.

Ingredients
splash of olive oil
1 long red chilli, cut finely
2 cloves garlic, crushed
500mL chicken stock
one chicken thigh fillet cut into small pieces
thumb-size piece of ginger, chopped finely
one portion of noodles (rice, udon, egg, whatever you prefer)
juice of one lime
tablespoon fish sauce
bok choy leaves
coriander to garnish

Method
1) Splash some olive oil into the bottom of a saucepan. Add the chilli and garlic and cook until fragrant. This only takes a minute or so. Be careful not to burn the garlic.

2) Add the stock, cover and bring to the boil. Add the chicken pieces and simmer with the lid on until cooked through.

3) Add in the ginger, noodles, lime juice, fish sauce and bok choy and simmer for another 3 or so minutes.

4) Top with fresh coriander. Enjoy.

Raspberry Tart

I told you it was tart weather... I also made so much sweet pastry and frangipane the other day that I could not have it going to waste. This tart is simply, pastry, frangipane and fresh raspberries dotted on top. Simple and fabulous.

Yo Sushi

Sometimes the thought of going out on a Saturday night is enough to keep you firmly rooted on your couch in front of Law and Order SVU; the noise, the crowds, the lack of parking spots, the waiting time for a table... But the thought of sitting at home with no food is just too terrible, so you venture out. 

Beecroft is a quiet neck of the woods, especially on a Saturday night. Perfect. Yo Sushi is a new Japanese place in the arcade and our 7.30pm arrival gives us half an hour until closing time. Yep. Really rockin' here in Beecroft, but you know what? That's ok. Yesterday, I spent the day watching a doco on Prince Charles, baking a raspberry tart and knitting, so I'm well into my seventies. 

The staff is friendly and assures us that they won't be closing around us. 

The pork Gyoza were scrummy. A bargain for only $7.

I am not the biggest fan of tempura, but this was the best tempura I have ever had. It was so light and audibly crispy.

The hallmark of a fine Japanese establishment is its sashimi. The sashimi was super - fresh and dense. Again, a steal for only $10.

Yo Sushi will definitely be getting another visit from us soon. Next time: udon, sushi and katsu.

Strawberry Tarts

Beautiful strawberry tarts from Edd Kimber's book The Boy Who Bakes. I have made these once before, and they are a force to be reckoned with. For some reason, tarts have been on the menu of late... Perhaps it's tartlicious weather.

"Delicious! Mmmmmm." - words spoken by a fan of the said strawberry tart.

Sweet Pastry

275g plain flour

25g ground almonds

50g icing sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

seeds from 1/2 vanilla pod

175g unsalted butter

1 tablespoon iced water

1) Pulse the flour, ground almonds, icing sugar and salt together in a food processor to combine. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla pod and add to the flour mixture.

2) Pulse the butter into the flour until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs - it's ok to have a few lumps.

3) Mix the egg yolks and the iced water and add to the mixture, pulsing until the dough just starts to come together. Add a little more water if the dough is not coming together.

4) Knead the dough lightly until uniform on your work surface. Shape into 2 discs and wrap in cling film and chill for at least 30 minutes.

Strawberry Tarts

170g unsalted butter at room temperature, plus extra for greasing

170g caster sugar

4 eggs

280g ground almonds

200g strawberry jam (I make my own quick jam - strawberries, sugar and lemon juice in a pan)

150g strawberries, sliced, diced or however you'd like them to appear on top

flour for dusting

1) Lightly grease eight 10cm individual tart tins and set aside. Remove the chilled pastry from the fridge and allow it to rest for 10 minutes. Lightly flour the work surface and the rolling pin and roll out the pastry until 3 - 4mm thick. Cut out rounds of pastry about 14cm in diameter and gently press into the tins. Trim off the excess pastry and chill for 15 minutes. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C.

2) To make the frangipane filling, beat the butter and sugar together until fluffy. Beat in the  eggs one at at imd until wholly combined, then stir in the almonds.

3) Line each tin with a piece of baking paper and fill with a layer of baking beans or rice. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove the paper and the beans then bake for a further 10 minutes or until the tarts start to turn golden. Reduce the oven to 180 degrees C.

4) Remove the tarts from the oven and divide the jam evenly among the tarts. Add the frangipane, spreading evenly across the pastry cases. Top with the strawberries. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes or until the frangipane filling has turned a light golden brown. Allow to cool and then dust with icing sugar or, as I did, drizzle with melted chocolate.