Carrot and Fetta dip

Carrot and Fetta dip
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Ingredients
  • 5 medium carrots peeled and chopped
  • 5 medium carrots peeled and chopped
  • 2 tablespoon of olive oil
  • 2 tablespoon of olive oil
  • 1 clove of garlic, crushed
  • 1 clove of garlic, crushed
  • 2 teaspoons of cumin seeds
  • 2 teaspoons of cumin seeds
  • ¼ cup of feta
  • ¼ cup of feta
  • ¼ cup of lemon juice
  • ¼ cup of lemon juice
  • 2 teaspoons of honey
  • 2 teaspoons of honey
  • Fresh mint leaves
Instructions
  1. Boil the carrots until they are soft and cooked through and then drain.
  2. Add the olive oil to a pan and then toast the cumin seeds until aromatic. Turn the heat down and add the garlic and gently cook through until soft.
  3. Add all your ingredients to a blender and pulse until the mixture is smooth and well combined. Season to taste.
  4. Enjoy.

I don’t tend to have a lot of great recipe ideas for cooking with carrots. I tend to crunch on them raw while I am cooking dinner, or else roast them in a swirl of olive oil and sprinkle of sea salt in the oven until they are all soft on the inside with just the right amount of brown on the outside. My husband and I both discovered long ago (back when we used to cook together) that carrots steamed whole are somehow much tastier than carrots cut them into little sticks so occasionally we lash out and spend the time doing that also.

So this carrot recipe is a bit of a gem for those weekend nights when I want to do something just a little special. Yes it does rely on the excellent carrot companion of honey and mint and why shouldn’t it, when they go so well together. But it also brings in a few other flavours too such as the creamy saltiness of feta.

I also tend to go very overboard with some extra toasted cumin seeds sprinkled liberally over the top of the dip once it is finished. I crave a little peppery heat in most of my recipes these days and there is nothing so satisfying as the full flavoured crunch of a roasted cumin seed set against  the creamy backdrop of a dip.

This recipe has been sitting in my “drafts” box for so long now and I feel it is time it got to see the light of day.

So here it is, my carrot and feta dip.

Do let me know how you like to cook your carrots.
Carrot and fetta dip

Happy Eating.

Dani xx

Sandra’s Asparagus Tart

ASPARAGUS CHEESE & TOMATO TARTS

You know those awesome days where  you unexpectedly manage to make lunch plans with a friend? Well if you are cooking, you are going to love this recipe. Simple and tasty it makes great use of beautiful Victorian asparagus and also utilises a few store bought ingredients to excellent effect.

It comes to me directly from my kids Grandma. It was very popular in her kitchen and we ate in with her at her beautiful timber, formal dining table surrounded by her favourite books and with her thick shag pile carpet underneath, on many occasions.

Being thoughtful and always keen to spoil her Grandchildren, she usually had something else prepared for them. But these days I think my kids are old enough that they would enjoy eating this too.

 

Serves 4 for a light lunch.

 

2 sheets ready rolled butter puffed pastry

½ cup basil, cashew and parmesan dip

2 bunches asparagus

250 grams Gouda cheese, thinly sliced

2 tbs pine nuts

Olive oil

200 grams cherry tomatoes

Salt to season

Small bag of spinach & rocket salad mix.

Extra olive oil & balsamic vinegar for dressing.

 

Preheat oven to 200 C fan forced or 220 C.

Grease two oven trays.

 

Cut pastry sheets in half, place 4cm apart on tray.

Spread half the dip evenly over each sheet leaving a border.

 

Arrange the asparagus top to tail over the dip mixture. Top with Gouda and sprinkle with pine nuts.

 

Bake for about 15 minutes or until pastry is puffed and brown.

 

Meanwhile, place tomatoes on a small greased baking tray,

Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and roast in a hot oven for 5-10 minutes until wilted.

 

Top tarts with tomatoes and serve with the dressed salad leaves.

 

 

The recipe initially comes from the Australian Womens Weekly. You can find it here.  Thanks for the delicious idea and for all those wonderful lunches with Grandma.

Dani

 

 

 

 

 

     

Happy National Cake Day

National Cake Day.

What a splendid thing to celebrate.

The sweet, buttery goodness of a cake tends to bring such happiness when it is eaten and also when it is being made I think.

So what is your all time, favorite, most sumptuous and reliable cake recipe?

My late mother-in-law’s chocolate mud cake recipe is always popular and it is of course very precious too.

I am also a fan of Elisabeth David’s flourless chocolate cake recipe as it is gooey, very chocolatey and gluten- free.

These days though I am just pretty grateful and pleased when someone else makes me a cake to enjoy and so credit has to go to my beautiful sister Carolyn who is always whipping up something fabulous for us to enjoy over tea.

Dani xx

Matsumoto Celebrates 15 Years

Matsumoto Japanese restaurant in Brunswick celebrated its 15 year anniversary this week.

The family run business is owned and operated by Alice Chan and her family. Chef Fujimaki San is in the kitchen slicing sashimi & rolling sushi the authentic Japanese way.

Eat My Street was invited along to celebrate and enjoyed a night of excellent, authentic Japanese food and hospitality.

Highlights started early with the best Wakame I have ever eaten and an impressive “sushi boat.”

This is a restaurant loved by locals and a couple seated next to us told us they have been eating here weekly for years and that Matsumoto is a local hidden treasure. They were thrilled to be invited along with a group of loyal, local customers and this seems to epitomize everything great about Matsumoto.

Visit for authentic Japanese cuisine and be sure to try the excellent sushi, Chicken Katsu Curry, the teppanyaki and the shabu shabu.

Congratulations on 15 years in Melbourne.

Dani xx

The Details

Matsumoto Japanese Restaurant

48 Lygon St, Brunswick East.

www.matsumoto.com.au

Phone: 9380 9288

Wild Cattle Creek Estate

Wild Cattle Creek Estate

Wild Cattle Creek Estate

I had the pleasure of being invited to dine at Wild Cattle Creek Estate on behalf of the Australian Good Food Guide. We arrived at the Yarra Valley on a beautiful evening and were blown away with how beautiful the property was.

Wild Cattle Creek Estate has accommodation, vines, a tasting room as well as a restaurant. The wines here are crafted with locally sourced grapes all within 5 km from the restaurant and winery door, making this a very local winery.

The restaurant also follows along with this local theme, utilising local ingredients as much as possible.

The 1887 homestead accommodation is also part of the property.

Wild Cattle Creek Estate is recently under new ownership, but the retention of local staff has made for a smooth transition as they had a very good understanding of the menu. They were also very helpful in a warmly traditional way that can be hard to find these days.

Wild Cattle Creek Estate vineyardWild Cattle Creek Estate Wine glass

To the food.

Wild Cattle Creek Estate Dinner tableWild Cattle Creek Estate Dining Room

For entree we ordered the lamb and calamari. The shaved celeriac was a perfectly crunchy accompaniment to the perfectly cooked calamari and the deliciously creamy mash.

Calamari entree Wild Cattle Creek Estate Wild Cattle Creek Estate entree

For our main meal we tried the epically generous proportion of pork which our waitress had advised would have very good crackling. She was right. The accompanying purple potato mash was surprisingly creamy and added a great note of visual interest.

Our ruby red wine was light and sweet.

The polenta was the surprising star of the hearty chicken dish.

Wild Cattle Creek Estate ChickenWild Cattle Creek Estate Pork with celeriac and purple potato

At the time we visited the restaurant was without a permanent chef,  but the honest, tasty dishes stood up well under the hand of whoever was cooking it. This is food with few tricks but lots of simple pleasures.

We finished the night by ordering the dessert board which was another recommendation from our  waitress. It is apparently very popular and once it arrived I could see why. Layers of delicious sweet cakes and desserts, it looked as good as it tasted.

Wild Cattle Creek Estate dessert boardWild Cattle Creek Estate dessert platterWild Cattle Creek Estate dessert platter

Overall, the flavours and combinations at Wild Cattle Creek Estate were reliably good. This is comforting food to please the locals as well as tourists and overall this was a very enjoyable meal.


The details

Wild Cattle Creek Estate

473 Warburton Hwy, Seville

Phone: (03) 5964 4755

Veggie Patch Nasi Goreng

Veggie Patch Nasi Goreng

On a recent holiday to the South Coast of NSW, we stayed at an amazing Airbnb.  It had backyard views of the river and the ocean and we had our own little island that we could paddle over to when the tide was out. The sun woke us up early every morning as it washed the whole house in bright, white sunlight. There was a local bike path out the front and a private beach out the back and we spent a lot of our time just enjoying the view and the natural “playground” of parks and beaches. There are so many great benefits for choosing an Airbnb including that you get to live in locations that might otherwise be off limits.

One of the other benefits is that you often get to have a browse through someone else’s book collection.

I have noticed that the NSW folk love their Bill Granger recipes and on my recent visit to Minnamurra I spend some of my time cooking my way through his book.

This recipe for Veggie Patch Nasi Goreng is really inspired by his own recipe for Nasi Goreng but it was re-worked so that I could use up some of the fresh produce from my own veggie patch.

I hope you like it.

Veggie Patch Nasi Goreng Recipe

Veggie Patch Nasi Goreng Recipe

Servings 4

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
  • 6 spring onions finely chopped
  • 4 garlic cloves crushed
  • 1 long red chilli finely chopped
  • 1 baby cos lettuce (or 1/2 chopped cabbage is more traditional) finely chopped
  • 2 tablespoons of kecap manis
  • 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
  • 1/2 teaspoon of sugar
  • 4 cups of cooked rice
  • 4 eggs
  • 1/2 cucumber chopped
  • 1 lime cut into wedges
  • chilli sauce to serve

Recipe Notes

The lime is optional but I had a fruit bowl full of them and was definitely keen to add them to my own lunch.

Here is a photo to show you what it looks like. Sorry about the quality but I was on holiday!

The recipe is definitely improved by the addition of eggs with a runny yolk which I only managed to pull off for two of my dishes as I was cooking in an unfamiliar kitchen.

The yolk then will kind of run down into the rice dish and mix with the sauce and you will be delighted.

Happy Eating.

Dani xx

Just a couple more photos of paradise…..

Melbourne’s Best Food Bloggers and Writers

Melbourne’s Best Food Bloggers 

How do you decide on Melbourne’s Best Food Bloggers I hear you ask?

Well there are a lot of answers to that question these days and many of them can be found on Instagram.

My answer is little more complicated.

To me a good food blog is one that creates its own beautiful, interesting of informative content, posts unique and useful recipes and is reliant on food writing as well as lovely images.

Not many people are actually doing this kind of food blogging these days because it is time-consuming work that requires a lot of passion, creativity, time and commitment.

I have had the pleasure of meeting some of the people who still are blogging about food  and I have visited and read recipes from a lot more of them.

I thought I would compile a list of some of the best food bloggers in Melbourne so that you could find them too.

So here they are in no particular order.

Melbourne’s Best Food Bloggers 

Cafe Delites

Bake Play Smile

Thermobliss

Bake for Happy Kids

The Brick Kitchen

The World Loves Melbourne

Consider the Sauce

A Fork and a Pencil

My Goodness Kitchen

Veggie Mama

Sarah Cooks

The Spice Adventuress

The Somali Kitchen

Where’s the Beef?

Iron Chef Shellie

Eat My Street

Lisa Eats World

I Spy Plum Pie

Foodies Hut

Have I missed anyone? Is there a blog that you regularly visit for great food writing? Let me know and if they fit my criteria I will add them to my list.

If you were looking for something a little different then you might like my list of Melbourne’s best food Instagram accounts. 

Or for a list of Melbourne’s most prolific restaurant reviews you can visit Zomato.

Happy Eating.

Dani xx

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Dani B is a food blogger from Melbourne. She posts regular recipes and reviews and always enjoys learning something new.

Blood Orange Strawberries with Vanilla Ice-Cream & Praline Crumbs

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My favourite thing to cook is normally something new.

I definitely have my old favourites, sometimes on non-stop rotation, but there is nothing quite like learning a new skill and making something different and wonderful. I remember this exciting feeling as a teenager when I realised if I really wanted to eat something that I had longed after (Vanilla Slice come at me) then I could just make it myself. Continue reading

Embrace the cold. Restaurants with open fires in Melbourne and surrounds.

Restaurants with open fires in Melbourne

Restaurants with open fires in Melbourne

I love visiting a restaurant with a cosy, roaring fire in Winter and I suspect most Melburnians feel the same.

But where are your favourite restaurants with open fires in Melbourne and beyond?

When I am out and about I cannot help but take note of lovely little restaurants, cafes and hotels that I notice have a fire. Some are stylish and sleek and other rustic and homely but they all contribute to a great sense of ambiance in their location.

Here is a list of some of my favourites restaurants with open fires in Melbourne and beyond. Continue reading

White Chocolate and Berry Cheesecake

White Chocolate and Berry Cheesecake

The delicious white chocolate and berry cheesecake. A lovely fresh recipe featuring beautiful berries.

A good cheesecake recipes is such a home staple here in Australia don’t you think? Perfect for to take along to a BBQ and much loved by nearly everyone.

This recipe makes quite a light and creamy cake.

I really dislike a stodgy base and so you will need to have a light hand in preparing the base to this recipe. Start by leaving some of the biscuit crumb out of the mixture and only add it in if you want your base to be a little drier. Continue reading