Full disclosure: I did not pay for this meal. Tognini’s and Rymill wines were kind enough to provide a group of Brisbane food blogger’s with a delicious 3-course meal and wine. However, these opinions are mine alone.
Tonight was the first time I felt like a bona fide blogger. Most of the time I feel like my words and pictures are just absorbed into the internet ether. My humble little blog isn’t reinventing the wheel, it just putters along in its own little corner of the net. However, tonight I was able to enjoy a fantastic dinner with a bunch of like-minded Brisbane foodies and bloggers. And it was my first “freebie”. I’ve finally made it! :p Don’t worry I won’t be giving up my day job any time soon…
Tognini’s started out as an Italian deli in Milton 17 years ago. Over the years it has grown and evolved – the Milton store grew larger, added a bistro and started serving lunch and breakfast. There are now 3 deli/bistros and the Spring Hill branch introduced dinner service in April this year.
Narelle Tognini was our kind hostess for the evening. We started out with a cheese platter. Tognini’s is the place in Brisbane for strong, stinky cheeses – many imported from Italy and France. Our platter had 3 of Narelle’s favourites – a soft washed rind from France (sadly the name escapes me…); a dolche Italian gorgonzola (delicious with fruit toast!); and Testun di Pecora Chestnut, a hard pecorino from Piemonte in Italy. Served with fruit bread, crackers, dried figs and candied cumquat, I could quite happily have called this dinner.
However, the chef had other plans! Our mains were served in enormous terracotta platters – even with 14 of us eating we barely made a dint! Pictured is the valpolicella risotto with Italian sausage and peas. This was smooth and rich from the sausage crumbled throughout. Unpictured is the creamy polenta with hickory smoked chicken (apparently I was incapable of taking a crisp picture, despite several attempts). This was my favourite dish of the night. I’ve never been a huge fan of polenta – whenever I’ve made it it’s been grainy and bland. This polenta may have changed my life. Unfortunately, one of the chefs (Jasper) explained the secret to its success – cream and butter. I don’t know why I was surprised…
Dessert was a simple, but beautifully balanced creme brulee. Is there anything more satisfying then cracking the sugar on a good creme brulee?
Throughout dinner we sampled two wines by Rymill. I believe the red was the 2004 MC2, which is a blend of Cabernet (Franc and Sauvignon) and Merlot. The white may have been the sbs – a Sauvignon Blanc and Semillion blend. I’m not a wine expert by any means but I enjoyed both.
In all honesty, tonight was really fabulous. It was exactly what I’m all about – hearty, rustic, wholesome food, made with love and eaten amidst good conversation.
Tognini’s Bistro Cafe Deli
Spring Hill Marketplace
Cnr Turbot and Boundary St
Spring Hill
Ph: 3831 5300
Web: http://www.togninis.com/bistrocafedeli.html
Just over a year ago J and I spent 4 months travelling around Europe. For 4 magical days we explored the hot, dusty, noisy, overwhelming souks and sights of Morocco. We attended a famous cooking class in Marrakech, we bought spices from the spice vendors in the souks and we purchased a clay tagine from a very persuasive old man! The tagine has been used a few times, and this was our most recent adventure with it.
This recipe was courtesy of the latest Marie-Claire, and it produces a slow-cooked lamb shank that is deliciously tender and falling off the bone. I don’t think the sauce was quite as effective when halved, so next time I would probably do a full amount of sauce, even if only using 2 lamb shanks. For that reason, I’ve reproduced the ingredients for the full recipe.
The slow-cooking caramelises the onions in the lamb juices and spices and produces a sweet sauce to accompany the shanks. It is very Moroccan in this way, as Moroccan food seems to favour the sweet-savory combination. The figs and walnuts are added in the last hour, and the figs become plump with the sauce, which is quite a lovely effect. However, I did feel the walnuts became a bit lost, so I would recommend adding some at the end for extra texture.
I served this dish with cous-cous cooked in stock and with a carmelised onion, cinnamon and sugar topping, however in hindsight I think it was too much sweetness for the dish. J suggested that the dish would be better accompanied by mashed potatoes, and I have to agree. For that reason, I haven’t put up the cous-cous recipe, although you’re obviously welcome to use your own discretion.
I’m sure you’ll see a trend over the next few weeks for hearty, warming winter dishes. In my opinion, slow-cooking when the mercury drops is one of life’s great pleasures!
Details
- :
20 min - :
150 min - :
2 h, 50 min
Ingredients - 2 Lamb shanks, fat trimmed
- 1 tbsp Olive oil, extra for brushing
- 2 larges Onions, each sliced into 4 inch discs then peeled
- 1 tsp Ground ginger
- 1 tsp Ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp Ground coriander
- 1 tsp Ground cumin
- 1 tsp caster sugar
- 4 strips Orange peel (avoid white pith)
- 2 Cinnamon sticks
- 500 mls Water
- pinch Saffron
- 10 Semi-dried figs
- handful Walnut halves
Directions
- Preheat oven to 180*.
- Season lamb shanks with salt and pepper.
- In a large dutch oven, heat olive oil over a medium heat.
- Lightly brown the lamb shanks all over.
- Remove the dutch oven from the heat and take the lamb out and put to one side.
- Layer the onions across the bottom of the dutch oven. Place the shanks on top. They will not be resting on the base of the dutch oven.
- Sprinkle the ground spices and sugar over the lamb shanks and onion.
- Tuck the orange peel and cinnamon sticks around the lamb.
- Pour the water into the dutch oven. Season with salt and pepper, then sprinkle in the saffron.
- Cover the dutch oven and bring to the boil on the stove.
- Once boiling, put the dutch oven into the pre-heated oven.
- Leave for 1.5hrs to cook.
- Remove from oven, add the figs and walnuts. You may need to add a bit more water at this point too.
- Continue cooking in the oven for another hour. The figs will absorb the juices and get plump. The sauce will get sticky - it's worth keeping an eye on it to make sure it doesn't burn.
- Serve with your side of choice - I would suggest mashed potatoes.
Unfortunately I can’t take credit for this recipe - this comes for the blog “For the love of cooking” and as she says, she has been perfecting it for 12 years now. I have to say, it’s a pretty great recipe.
Of course, I can’t seem to follow a recipe exactly, so here are my changes. Instead of stew meat I used beef mince. I used a whole red capsicum and a whole green one for both flavour and colour. I omitted the garlic powder as I don’t have any. I omitted the can of green chillies and instead added zucchini. I just used a small tub of tomato paste instead of tomato sauce. And I used 2 tins of kidney beans instead of other beans. If you’re a vegetarian, just omit the beef – I’ve made it several times without and it’s still lovely.
To serve, I added natural yoghurt, grated cheddar, sliced spring onions, and avocado mixed with lemon juice, salt and pepper. Usually I would serve with rice, but I had leftover cous-cous to use up. I topped with a healthy serve of corn chips for crunch.
This recipe makes at least 4 large man-sized serves, so we divided up the remain and froze it for a meal at a later date. I recommed you start this recipe early in the day so the flavours of the chilli have time to blend and develop. As the smells waft through the house it will be very difficult to resist scooping up a portion early but I promise it is worth the wait!
It’s getting pretty cold down here in the Southern hemisphere, and in such weather I am drawn to soups and stews and other such comfort food. Growing up, I had a period of time where for medical reasons I couldn’t eat much more than soup. I have memories of my late Nana making pumpkin soup for me, which I would slurp down with some bread well soaked in soup.
Last week, when I was feeling in need of a little comfort, I decided to try my hand at some pumpkin soup. To make it into a heartier meal, I decided to serve it with parmesan and rosemary scones. The results was a filling, warming, comforting meal on a cold Tuesday night.
I basically followed this recipe for pumpkin soup on Taste.com.au, with three changes. Firstly, I used celery instead of leek. Secondly, I used a sweet potato instead of a white potato and finally I used natural yoghurt instead of cream, as I prefer the tang of yoghurt (plus it’s far healthier!).
For the scones I found a recipe on the blog “Where’s the Beef?”, and followed it exactly. However, it made a lot of scones, more than we could eat in one sitting, so it might be worth halving the recipe.
This recipe is adapted from one of my favourite cookbooks – Amanda Hesser’s “Cooking for Mr Latte”. She calls it “Single Girl Salmon” and it is an example of how easy and satisfying it can be to cook yourself real meals – even if you’re only cooking for one. This one is on high rotation in our kitchen, because it’s quick, easy and tastes deliciously decadent with a glass of wine. The beauty of it is that it’s actually rather healthy! I actually credit this dish with my newly discovered taste for lentils – particularly puy lentils, the tiny little green lentils from France.
To me, this is the ultimate in comfort food – hearty and filling whilst still being healthy. It requires some thought and time in the kitchen, but certainly not hours – you can have it on the table in under 1 hr. It’s beautiful with a glass of wine (white is my preference), and even if you’re dining alone, you can take the time to enjoy this fabulous meal. Just because you are on your own for dinner, you don’t need to vegetate on the coach, scooping up icecream with potato chips, straight from the tub. You deserve a fresh, fragrant and soul-satisfying meal!
Ingredients - 1/3 cup Puy lentils (French green lentils)
- 1 clove Garlic
- 1 Bay leaf
- pinch Sea salt
- pinch Black pepper
- 2 tbsps Olive oil
- 1 tbsp White wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp Lemon juice
- 1 large Shallot, chopped
- pinch Sugar
- Salmon fillet, cut from centre
- 1 tsp Parsley, chopped
- Lemon wedge
Directions
- Rinse lentils. Add to a small saucepan, together with the garlic clove (just crushed with the flat of your knife) and bay leaf.
- Cover with water up to about 2-3cm above the lentils. Put the lid on, slightly askew to allow the steam to escape.
- Bring to a boil, then reduce heat so its is at a simmer.
- Cook until the lentils are just tender, about 15-20 minutes.
- Drain the lentils and put in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper.
- Pour in 1tbs of olive oil, vinegar and lemon juice. Gently stir through the lentils, so the seasonings blend well.
- Taste the lentils - you want them to be quite tangy. Add more lemon juice if needed.
- Place a small frypan over a medium heat. Add 1 tbs of olive oil and add the chopped shallots. Add a pinch of sugar and stir the shallots while they cook. The shallots should end up soft and caramelized. Transfer to a plate.
- Place the frypan back on the stove over a medium-high heat. Season the salmon with salt.
- Cook the salmon skin-side down in the pan. Cook according to taste - I like my salmon quite well done, even though that isn't terribly fashionable! After a few minutes, flip over and cook on the other side.
- To serve, spoon the lentils onto the plates. Lay your salmon on top and then sprinkle on the shallots.
- Garnish with parsley and a squeeze of lemon.
This is only my second foray into the world of panna cotta, and as I am a novice when it comes to all things gelatine I took a “softly softly” approach. This recipe is actually terribly simple, but it does require some patience in waiting for the gelatine to dissolve. It is very important not to boil the gelatine or else you’ll end up with clumps that don’t taste particularly appetising.
This is a cheat’s version of raspberry coulis – you simply heat some frozen raspberries with some sugar (in the microwave works perfectly well!) until they soften and blend together. I really love the visual contrast of the bright red raspberry sauce with the cream panna cotta, speckled with vanilla bean seeds. The panna cotta was appropriately “wobbly”, and it slipped easily down the throat. The vanilla bean was strong and added so much additional flavour – far superior to vanilla essence (not that I’m knocking vanilla essence – it certainly has its place!).
Ingredients - 1 whole Vanilla bean
- 300 mls Thickened cream
- 2/3 cup Milk
- 2 tsps Gelatine
- 2 tbsps Caster sugar
- 1 handful Raspberries (frozen are fine)
- 1-2 tsp Sugar
Directions
- Grease 4-6 ramekins with butter.
- Scrape vanilla bean seeds into a small saucepan, add cream and milk and pop in the vanilla bean pod. Stir to combine.
- Stand the cream mixture for 10 minutes - this allows all the flavours to infuse.
- Sprinkle gelatine and sugar over the cream mixture.
- Turn the stove onto low and stir the cream mixture steadily until the gelatine and sugar dissolve. It is very important not to boil - better to take a long time than to ruin it with impatience! You can tell when they are dissolve as the little lumps of gelatine will be gone when you look at the mixture on a spoon.
- Pour the mixture evenly into the prepared rammekins. Allow to cool to room temperature.
- Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 3 hours, or until set. You can leave overnight without any problems.
- Prepare the raspberry coulis - just a handful of raspberries with a teaspoon or so of sugar (to taste), and warm until the berries break down.
- You can serve the panna cotta in the ramekins if you wish, but for a bit of elegance, tip them out onto a plate and drizzle the raspberry coulis around. To extract more easily from the ramekins, try running a warm knife around the rim. I also found it helpful to keep the knife in on one side while tipping onto the plate, as this counteracts the suction effect.
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