It's a slogan that's been going on for yonks, and still rings true.
I was offered to sample the new sweet potato chips from McCain. Since I have a love for sweet potato chips, this seemed like a delicious offer.

The chips come in two varieties; crinkle cut and thin cut.
I took the crinkle cut variety over to my parent's house to share with them and my cousins. I figured crinkle cut is more fun and got everyone to help me sample.


Hamsley thought they tasted a bit like pumpkin; and since he and pumpkin aren't the greatest of friends he didn't pile the chips onto his plate like he would have with potato chips. The rest of us rather enjoyed them, although I will agree to a slight pumpkin taste initially, but after a few chips, it tastes more like sweet potato.
They take only 20 minutes in the oven, but due to oven tray shortage, I put two bags of chips on the one oven tray, and it took more time in the oven for them to crisp up nicely.



Then we tried the thin cut a couple of days later. We had been sent some tomato chutney, tzatiki and aioli as suggested condiments to try with the chips. I cracked open the aioli, and Hamsley was like a totally different person compared to the previous chip experience. The aioli was a fantastic accompaniment to the chips and we both couldn't stop gobbling them up. He didn't comment at all of a pumpkin taste and we almost had to fight for the last chips in the bowl!

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My friends were rather impressed too with my sushi, making this week's cookbook challenge a huge success. This was the picnic spread at the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra's free concert at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl. We were so lucky with the weather, unlike at Carols by Candlelight where we had torrential rain!

Sushi

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Ah... hor d'oeuvres week. The week I was least excited about, and fretting over what I could do. I looked at my bookshelf wondering which book had the magic answer, then I remembered about Donna Hay's, Instant Entertaining. After a flick through, I decided on the parmesan wafer salad as it looked easy, and interesting.

Then I nearly forgot I had to make a hor d'oeuvre. I was busy making butter chicken from scratch and ultimate chocolate Christmas puddings (which will be blogged soon!). It wasn't until Hamsley reminded me, that I got my act together.

It was an interesting flavour combination that had the table divided. Dad found the vinegar too over powering, mum thought the two types of cheese didn't really match up, whilst Hamsley and I found it a bit unusual, but felt that it all some how worked.

Would I make it again though? I think not. But had we not have set a hor d'oeuvres week, I would probably have never made this recipe!

 Parmesan Wafer Salad

1 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 red apples, thinly sliced
80g rocket leaves
1 1/2 tablepsoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
sea salt and cracked black pepper
150g goat's cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (355°F). Arrange 8 x 1 1/2 tablspoons of parmesan in circles on a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper and bake for 10 mintues or until crispy. Set aside to cool.

2. Toss the apple and rocket in the combined vinegar, oil, salt and pepper. Arrange on serving plates with goat's cheese and parmesan wafers.

Serves 4.

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Last night I hosted my 2nd dinner party, around this time last year I hosted my first dinner party. This year was also a success, bringing my closest high school friends together for a night of good food and company.

This year I went for a less stressful approach and got everyone to bring along a dish. We settled on the theme of "Wog" and allocated dishes for everyone to bring.

Alana and Adrian provided this lovely anti-pasto spread for everyone to nibble on whilst things were cooking in the oven. Complete with lovely fresh bread, bread sticks, prosciutto, bocconcini cheese, stuffed olives, marinated mushrooms and semi sun-dried tomatoes. It was a great way to get things going with everyone gathered around with a drink catching up on life.

For mains we had a lovely spread (apologies for terrible photos, all you can see is melted cheese and the lighting wasn't the best).

David and Chris brought along this lovely vegetarian lasagna. Although they were going to go with David's mum's recipe they had decided they didn't have enough time and adapted this "Cheat's Lasagna" which was vegetarian ravioli, sauce and cheese. It didn't matter that it was a cheat's version, it was so delicious. Nice and saucy and cheesy and everyone loved it.

Kiran also made a vegetarian dish, eggplant parma. Delicious eggplant in sauce, smothered in cheese. This was also very nice and fit in perfectly with the theme. An excellent effort since Kiran only really cooks Indian dishes. She is the opposite of Andre from Masterchef who only cooks Italian!
Nerdy Rob cooked this delicious chicken cacciatore. I believe this was his first cacciatore, however it was a massive success! The chicken was simply falling off the bone, and the sauce was so rich and full of goodies like olives and mushrooms. It worked perfectly with everything else.

David & Chris supplied this gorgeous salad. And thanks to Tristan for bringing along garlic bread even though he doesn't eat it!

Dessert was my course to take care of. David had jokingly said I should do petits fours, but of course I thought that was an awesome idea and simply had to do it.

The first petits fours I knew I was going to do my chocolate mousse. I knew all my friends loved it since I had served it to them before. So I bought these cute little espresso cups from the $2 shop (3 for $2!!) and divided the mousse among them.

I wanted to make them extra special for the dinner party so I topped them with Persian fairy floss. I had quite the adventure trying to find the stuff with David Jones not being able to get in stock for 6 months. I rang around a few gourmet food shops and finally tracked some down at Jones The Grocer. The next hard part was decided what flavour, I picked up pistachio and chocolate, but there was also vanilla, saffron and rose on offer.
The mousse however was a hit, everyone intrigued by said fairy floss.

The second petits fours was an simple and refreshing fruit skewer. I was going to add a few more fruits, but I thought I'd just keep it simple since there was so much on offer. I did some googling and got the idea to put them in shot glasses for presentation.

The third petits fours was a mini doughnut which I had made before. I decided to make these because I knew they were simple to make, they were bite sized as well so people could have room for them. And well, how cute do they look?

The final petits fours was going to be my biggest risk. Something I hadn't really tried before. Whilst I had attempted a lemon meringue pie before, I remember transporting it in my car and it just spilling everywhere. So I decided I'd give it a go again in smaller form. I was going to make the pastry but then realised how much of a task I had taken on doing 4 desserts and having to clean the house AND work so I cheated and bought the frozen tart shells. This also reminded me of MasterChef at the wedding when they used store bought shells, but I thought, "Hey, if they can do it, then so can I!"

I filled the tarts with Donna Hay's lemon curd recipe which was nice and sour, but not too sour. Then the meringue was from Gourmet Traveller magazine, and I thought this part was going to let me down. It was an Italian meringue which uses a sugar syrup instead of caster sugar when beating the egg whites. For this I bought a candy thermometer to monitor the temperature. LUCKILY for me they turned out well and I could pipe them just how I wanted. I tried to brown them with a small blow torch but that failed, so I popped them under the grill. I had a few MasterChef fail moments here, the blow torch one tasted of butane, and when I was trying to extra brown a few of the meringues my baking paper set on fire! Oh it was hilarious, however the fire was easily blown out and no one got hurt.
The Italian meringue was all marshmallowy inside, and the tarts were a huge hit. I thought everyone would go halves on the tart, but everyone had one tart each! They must have been good!
I would personally like to thank Alana, Adrian, David, Chris, Tristan, Kiran and Nerdy Rob for coming and each bringing something along. An extra shout out to Alana for giving me these goreous flowers and to Tristan for his lovely culinary gift!

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I don't know about the rest of you, but Melbourne has suddenly been hit with cold, miserable weather. The type where all you want to do is stay in bed with the electric blanket on and watch dvds. However, it is also good weather for soup!

This mug may look normal size but I assure you it is massive.
This warm, tasty soup will be my lunch for the rest of the week with some nice grainy toasted bread. Just the thing I'll need when I'm at work, especially because I won't have to wonder down the street to find lunch in the freezing cold!

The spices used provide a nice middle eastern flavour, and the kick of chilli will definitely help to warm me up. I have a feeling I will be making this soup quite a few times this winter!

Moroccan Sweet Potato, Carrot & Chickpea Soup
Annette Forrest (www.taste.com.au)

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large brown onion, roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 teaspoon ground coriander
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon chilli powder
600g orange sweet potato, peeled, diced
500g carrots, peeled, sliced
6 cups reduced-salt chicken stock
300g can chickpeas, drained, rinsed
1/2 small lemon, juiced
Turkish bread croutons (see note), to serve

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic. Cook, stirring often, for 3 minutes. Stir in coriander, cumin and chilli powder. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add sweet potato and carrot. Cook, stirring often, for 5 minutes. Add stock. Cover. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes.

2. Add chickpeas to soup and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes or until chickpeas are tender.

3. Blend soup, in batches, until smooth. Return to saucepan over medium-low heat. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Heat, stirring, until hot (do not boil). Ladle into bowls. Top with croutons. Sprinkle with pepper.

Serves 4.

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Valentine's Day... a load of rubbish if you ask me! I spent the evening with my man and some of my closest friends at a free Melbourne Symphony Orchestra performance at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl.

We had an excellent time, hogged a bit too much of the grass, and ate way too much.
We all brought along something to share. Iron Chef David with the help of Iron Chef Jason brought along an amazing dips and cheese spread. That's my man, Iron Chef Rob wearing a toe guard napkin so he didn't dip his feet in the food!


I made a ricotta, tomato and basil torte found on the Taste website. Iron Chef Jason has gone on record for saying "best tart ever". Not only does it look impressive, it tastes delicious too! Recipe is posted below for you all.
Perfect for picnics or lazy lunches in summer. Pre-cut made it easy and mess free.

Then during the interval we enjoyed some dessert.
Heart shaped cookies from Aldi, famously seen on Not Quite Nigella's blog last year. I wanted to do the cupcakes but I just didn't have time between work and going out.
And a little something special, heart shaped fruit on the fruit kebabs.


Ricotta, Tomato & Basil Torte
Taste Website

Prep Time: 25-85 mins
Cooking Time: 60 mins

Olive oil, to grease
500g fresh low-fat ricotta
100g creamy feta, crumbled
3 eggs
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 bunch fresh basil, leaves picked, finely shredded
375g grape tomatoes, halved
Fresh basil leaves, extra, to serve

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Lightly brush a 22cm (base measurement) springform pan with oil to grease. Release the base from the pan. Place a sheet of non-stick baking paper over the base allowing the sides to overhang. (This makes the tart easier to remove once cooked). Secure the base back into the pan.

2. Use an electric beater to beat the ricotta, feta, eggs and garlic in a bowl until smooth. Stir in the basil. Transfer the ricotta mixture to the prepared pan and use the back of a spoon to smooth the surface.

3. Arrange the tomato, cut-side up, on top of the ricotta mixture. Bake in oven for 1 hour or until set and golden. Set aside to cool completely. Place in the fridge for 1 hour or until firm.

4. Release the base from the pan. Use the paper to slide the torte onto a serving plate. Top with extra basil leaves to serve.

Serves 8.

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With Melbourne having an extreme heat wave I was prohibited from baking and heating up the house. With 3 consecutive days over 40 degrees, I was a bit of a sloth trying to stay cool.

Saturday night, a bunch of friends and myself went into the city for the 'Moonlight Cinema'. I'd usually bake something for dessert but opted for this much healthier and cooler option. Fruit kebabs! Much easier than a fruit platter and far less messier for those eating it.


Not only do they look good, they taste good (providing you have bought fresh, sweet produce). You can put just about anything on them. I opted for: watermelon, kiwi, mango, strawberry, rock melon and pineapple. You can serve with a chocolate sauce or a honey yogurt.

All you need is bamboo skewers and fruit. A great lunchbox idea for kids of all ages.

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Mid-week cooking this week changed location. My boy, Iron Chef Rob got hit by a car when he was out on his new bike. Whilst he is ok for now, just bruised up and stiff, I went over to his place and cooked for him and his family instead of mine!


This recipe was ripped out of an old issue of Notebook magazine, but it can also be found on the taste website here. It was a huge hit with the family. A very simple and fresh pasta. Usually I only like my pasta dripping in rich tomato sauce, but the fresh vegetables and balsamic vinegar was just as good. In fact I'd go as far as saying it was one of the most amazing pastas I've had in my life! That's quite a statement to make I know, but I will be looking forward to the next time I make it.


Marinated Tomato, Zucchini, Pine Nut & Ricotta Pasta

2 x 250g punnets grape tomatoes, halved
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 tbs shredded basil
2 tbs balsamic vinegar, plus extra to drizzle
1/4 cup (60ml) extra virgin olive oil
2 large zucchini, trimmed, thinly sliced diagonally
400g spaghetti
1/3 cup (50g) toasted pine nuts
1/2 cup basil leaves extra, torn
1/2 cup (125g) fresh ricotta, crumbled, to serve

1. Place the tomatoes, garlic, shredded basil, balsamic and 2 tbs of the oil in a small bowl. Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Set aside for 20 minutes to marinate.2

2. Meanwhile, place the zucchini in a bowl with remaining oil and season with salt and pepper. Gently toss in the oil to coat. Preheat a char-grill pan on high. Add zucchini and cook for 2 minutes each side or until lightly charred and tender. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.

3. Cook the pasta in a large saucepan of lightly salted boiling water following packet directions until al dente. Drain well.

4. Return pasta to the saucepan. Add the tomato mixture, zucchini, pine nuts and remaining basil. Season to taste with salt and pepper and toss to combine. Divide pasta among serving bowls, serve topped with ricotta and a drizzle of balsamic.

Serves 4

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On the weekend, Iron Chefs David, Jason, Rob and myself got together for a bit of cooking before a night out at the movies. We wanted something pretty basic so we could just prepare it, chuck it in the oven and relax a little. I thought some kind of pasta bake or cannelloni would be the best option for that. We choose a recipe on Taste.com.au for roast vegetable cannelloni.

This looked a little more interesting that your standard spinach and ricotta cannelloni, and it seemed pretty basic to make. However, what may seem simple actually took us 2.5 hours to make! We were having a good old laugh when we saw that the recipe preparation time stated 20 mins and cooking time 30 mins! The main thing that stuffed us up was the char-grilling of the vegetables. We didn't have a BBQ or grill, so we had to oven roast them which took longer.

Iron Chef Rob did most of the work, and they were a great success. So deliciously tasty accompanied by Iron Chef David's lovely garden salad. Another successful cook off complete!

Roast Vegetable Cannelloni Bake
Taste Website

1 medium zucchini, sliced thinly
150g chargrilled red capsicum, thinly sliced
80g chargrilled eggplant, drained and chopped
1/3 cup semi-dried tomatoes, drained and chopped
100g ricotta cheese
12 instant cannelloni tubes
570g jar pasta sauce
3/4 cup grated mozzarella cheese

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It's been a while since I last posted hasn't it?
Sorry, I've been a bit busy, I have been offered a new job which I will start at the end of the month, so interviews and things have been keeping me busy!

So, first post for the week is these delicious pumpkin and feta pies taken from the taste website.
Iron Chef David joined me on this one as we needed some vegetarian nibbles for the Wii night we were having.

These were so simple to make, Iron Chef Rob even got involved and cut up the pumpkin for us!
The perfect meat pie alternative for your vegetarian friends.

Open Roast Pumpkin & Feta Pies
Taken from www.taste.com.au

Makes 20
350g pumpkin, peeled, cut into 1cm cubes
2 tsp olive oil
3 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed
2 eggs
100ml light thickened cream
100g low-fat feta, crumbled

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Grease two 12-hole muffin pans. Place pumpkin on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. drizzle with oil and season. Roast for 20 minutes or until cooked.

2. Cut 20 rounds from the pastry sheets using a 6.5cm cutter. Press into muffin holes to cover base and a little of the sides. Whisk eggs and cream together. Divide pumpkin among rounds, top with 1 teaspoon of egg mixture, then sprinkle with feta. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden. Cool slightly, then turn out.

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This weekend Iron Chef David, Jason and Robert and I had a challenge: to try and make one of our favourite Thai dishes, Pad Thai.

We headed down to Doncaster Shopping Town yet again for another tea at T2. We had about 4 different recipes to choose from, so we decided to go with the one that required the least about of hard to find ingredients. After a nice cuppa tea we went on the hunt for our ingredients. We weren't too sure how well we would go with no Asian grocers in the the area.

First stop was a massive deli / green grocer / butcher, yet we couldn't find any bean sprouts or noodles. The only thing we did find was tofu.
Second stop was the Coles next door which also did not have any bean sprouts!
So luckily there was a Safeway that had beansprouts and all the other weird ingredients we thought we would have trouble finding; for example - tamarind paste.

When we got back home, David and I turned into the wives and got busy in the kitchen, whilst the 'husbands' were busy fiddling with the TV.

David began with liberating the tofu from it's tofu juice and chopping it up whilst I began on the sauce.
We ended up doubling the sauce quantity but it wasn't enough, so after the noodles had cooked we ended up making more. The sauce was pretty bland until we found some sweet chilli sauce in the pantry, which helped bring the dish to life.

As I plated up the noodles, David turned into a head chef and garnished the dishes before they were sent out of the kitchen. Our garnishes include: extra bean sprouts, ground peanuts (which we also had problems finding), coriander, spring onions and a wedge of lime.
The dish wasn't too hard to cook, and it tasted pretty good for our first attempt at cooking Pad Thai. My compliments to the chefs!


Pad Thai (Vegetarian)
Recipe taken from: http://thaifood.about.com/od/vegetarianthairecipes/r/padthaiveg.htm

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