Down Under: King Island QLD, Cleveland and wine (VI)

De la munte mergem la mare azi, sa vedem o insula care face parte din Marea Bariera de Corali a Australiei, o insula la care se ajunge pe jos atunci cand se retrage marea. Si se retrage, nu gluma. 🙂 De acolo am cules primii mei corali, imprastiati peste tot si scoici de forme foarte interesante, am vazut gauri mici-mici in nisip de la racusori pe care aproape ca nu ii vezi cand mergi. Dar nu te musca, sunt draguti. Doar fug repede-repede, sa se ascunda.

E o experienta deosebita sa mergi pe o fasie destul de larga de nisip, prin mijlocul marii, pentru ca e reflux si se retrage marea. Si sa vezi totusi ca mai incolo e intinderea de apa. Insula e destul de mica, a fost adapost pentru o familie pentru o scurta perioada iar acum e rezervatie naturala pe care merita sa o vizitezi daca ajungi in Brisbane. Am avut parte de pescarusi care au incercat sa ne fure mancarea, rautaciosii, am vizitat si Cleveland, la intoarcere am vazut si o podgorie, Sirromet Winery, asa de intinsa ca ma intrebam totusi unde sunt viile, ca nu prea am vazut :)). In schimb e locul ideal pentru copii, sa zburde pe dealuri cat e ziua de lunga si sa se joace cu wallabies, o specie de cangur pitic, care e peste tot pe acolo. Am numarat pana la 7 pe o pajiste. Locul in sine e foarte prietenos si o placere sa te relaxezi toata ziua acolo. Dar punctul de atractie a ramas totusi King Island, loc din care am venit acasa cu jumatate de kg de scoici cred. 😉

Distractie placuta la mare!

 

 Pentru mai multe info, gasesti aici link-uri utile:

• King Island 1
• King Island 2

Vezi ca mai e King Island dar e langa Tasmania, aceasta pe care am vizita-o e in Queensland. Dar daca stau si ma gandesc bine, e plin de insule in Australia. Vezi-le pe toate daca ai timp. Si vezi ca mai sunt in Romania. Iti doresc sa ai propria ta insula!!! Daca nu, atunci propria ta zona de confort, ca o insula! 🙂

Cooking For Two

I would like to introduce you today to a new recipe I tried years ago in my beloved city, London. I got it from the book “Cooking for two”, published in 1996. What a reasonable title! And what a perfect day to cook, at the end of the week. Imagine yourself tired from the week. You don’t feel like looking at all. May be not a very difficult recipe. You would love some eggs too. Hmmm…ah…there is it…

Souffle omelette with mushroom sauce

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs, separated
• 1 tbsp water
• 2 tsp chopped fresh tarragon
• 20 g butter (lovely butter…)

For the mushroom sauce

• 60 g butter
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 125 g baby mushrooms, sliced
• 3 tsp plain flour
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 tsp French mustard
• 2 tsp chopped fresh tarragon

Method:

• Whisk egg yolks, water and tarragon in a large bowl until well combined.
• Beat egg whites in a small bowl with electric mixer until soft peaks form.
• Fold egg whites gently into egg yolk mixture in 2 batches.
• Heat half the butter in the omelette pan. Pour the half egg mixture into pan, cook omelette until lightly browned underneath.
• Place the pan under a hot grill until top of the omelette is just set.
• Slide the omelette onto plate, fold omelette in half, spoon over half the mushrooms sauce.
• Repeat with remaining butter, egg mixture and sauce.
• Mushroom sauce: heat the butter in a pan, add onion, garlic and mushrooms, cook stirring, until onion is soft. Add flour, cook stirring, until combined.
• Remove from heat, gradually stir in combined remaining ingredients, stir over heat until mixture boils and thickens. If you like to ease your work, you can make the sauce a day ahead.

Bon appetite, my love!

 

The Fruit That Blushes When You Cook It

This is a beautiful title for what comes next. I dared to take it from here as it is very romantic. Imagine a fruit that blushes. Wow! The recipe is a mixture of 2 other recipes: Spiced Quinces and  Paula Wolfert’s Slow-Baked Quince.  I thought of taking a bit of that  and a bit of the other and have a new recipe. I have tried this recipe some years ago, at home. I was convinced at that time that I am the best… in the kitchen, with all the good feed back I got from abroad and I wanted to impress my family. Well, they were impressed. What did you think? Sometimes they are sooo not. De gustibus non disputandum, that’s why. You can do this recipe now, in autumn, as you know, quinces are fruits of the autumn or anytime. I just think that another perfect time is in the winter, to aromatise the house delightfully. Oh, don’t forget. You fall in love doing this so watch out for the one you share with…

Spiced Quinces

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 2 medium quince
• 375 ml sweet wine
• 1 cinnamon quill
• 150 g sugar
• 1 clove
• 1 apple
• 1½ tablespoon lemon juice

Method:

• Preheat oven to 120˚C/ 250˚F.
• Peel and halve the quince. Using a sharp knife, core the quince halves. Reserve all the peel and trimmings.
• Combine the sugar, wine (or water, in case you don’t have wine or you don’t want to use alcohol), clove and lemon juice in a shallow baking dish, such as a casserole (preferably one with a lid). Stir with a whisk to dissolve the sugar.
• Add the reserved trimmings and the quince halves, cut side down.
• Peel the apple. Coarsely grate the apple over the quince halves, using a grater. This will prevent the quince from drying out while baking.
• Cover and bake for 5 to 7 hours until the fruit softens and turns pink or crimson. I was lucky to have them crimson.
• Have you fallen in love?

Bon appetite!

My Own

You want a quick, easy and simple recipe for chicken meat? Here is one that I make when I feel like and it is so tasty. It doesn’t need much labour and sweat in the kitchen, just a nice aroma floating in the house and outside. I recommend you close the doors and windows. 😉 So here it is:

Fried chicken breasts

Ingredients:

• 2 skinless chicken breasts, cut into 5-10 cm pieces
• salt
• pepper
• white wine (optional)
• butter (80-82% fat, unsalted preferably)
• oregano (or any other spice you like, optional too)

Method:

• Season the chicken with salt, pepper and spices.
• Heat in a medium pan about 2 tbsp of butter and a little splash of wine. When it is sizzling, add the chicken, cook stirring until golden brown, 2-3 minutes on each side. Repeat the action until you finish all the pieces and don’t forget to add more butter and wine when it is finished in the pan, in the process.
• Serve warm with boiled  or mashed potatoes with mint or any spice you prefer and a nice glass of white wine. I admit I don’t know much about wine so you can recommend me a special one that you think goes very well with this dish.

Bon appetite!