jango

Hi Speedracer - this just happens to be what I make when I can't think what to make. Delicious. The key to a smooth sauce is to get it hot but not boiling hot. I think it's the acid in the tomatoes misbehaving when the cream hits it, so that's why your sauce wouldn't come together. There are ways around this by using a starch to make it blend better, as Malachi said, but it's easy to just control the heat. This is so fast to make that you have to have the pasta in the pot before starting the sauce. Take about 4-5 oz tomato paste and mix with some water (2 TBSP or more). It should have the consistancy of new ketchup. Have ready 2-3 T of olive oil, about 1/3 cup whipping cream, black pepper, 1-2 cloves minced garlic, and some chopped, fresh herbs. (Basil's the best but you can use marjoram with great results). Heat oil and tomato paste on medium heat. Stir. Do not get it too hot. Add a few grinds of pepper. Remove from heat and add enough cream to amalgamate the oil. Stir. Add minced garlic. Heat again until very warm but absolutely not bubbling. (Note: garlic does not cook - it warms up a bit). Pour sauce into fresh cooked fusilli pasta and stir. Serve garnished with a whole lot of fresh herbs. Usually I put parmesan cheese on pasta dishes but I don't on this one. But you can do what you like. - Jane

Not sure that I can add much to this because meals in Adelaide are usually with family, and in a choice between my sister's amazing cooking and a restaurant, the sister wins. However, last time (June) I had to take 19 people out to dinner and after much agonizing, chose Suree Thai in Hyde Park. This was good, and served the purpose. (I wanted a huge round table, to be able to bring our own wine, decent prices, good food of course, quiet for conversation and good parking). Food wise, it could stretch a bit I think. It seems too subdued, a little too westernized with the exception of an excellent larb (laarb) . I've since heard that Star of Siam would have been slightly better tastewise. [slight tangent alert: So far the only really excellent Thai restaurants I've been to are one in Darwin (Hanaman?) and a hole in the wall in Seattle]. Back to Adelaide - Has anyone been to The Melting Pot? I've had good reports on that, too. The buzz among my friends is Urban Bistro in Rose Park. I went here when it first opened, but didn't take any notes or nick the menu, so can't recall many details excepting that it was exciting. The chefs are two excellent, well known mainstays of the Adelaide food scene who are now married to each other - Spencer Cole (ex Stamford Grand) and Bethany Finn (ex Hilton - but the Brasserie(?) not Cheong's joint). The setting is a bit chilly for me - I hate hate hate minimalist -but the food is very inventive and, according to my friends who are rapidly becoming devotees, getting better with every new menu. Excellent service staff right from the getgo. I've eaten at Jarmer's which is a great place to take a staid and foodfussy Grandmother to. Very proper. Very good. Very frenchish. Warm decor. Good service. Toobloodyexpensive. Not a fan of Lungamere's in Glenelg. Extremely loud. I can't hear the food sing when my ears are hurting. The seafood was excellent. Good to take a nagging spouse to. Then you don't have to listen to them. Excellent reports are coming out about The Lion Hotel Dining Room. Considering what the Lion was in my student days in North Adelaide, I can't get my head around this. (Shiewie - Uni Adelaide?). d'Arry's Verandah let me down bigtime when I had to take some people to lunch. Food was reasonable, not particularly imaginative, but well executed. Fabulous view of the vineyards from every table. Service shocking on this occasion. Previous times have been excellent, but it's the last occasion which sticks in one's head. Salopian Inn is still outstandingly good. I just LOVE that wine cellar. New chef David Swain has taken over from Peter Hogg, and is doing great things. I just wish he wouldn't write a book for every plate. I really don't want to know what every little thing on the plate is. Just the essence will do - I'll work out the rest myself or ask the waiter. That's about it until next trip... - Jane

We hard-core amateurs should have made it clear from the outset of this discussion that "relaxed" and "demo" were hardly the kind of cooking classes or schools that we were discussing. Nor are night classes, classes that allow talking off-subject, classes that do not require uniforms, or wine guzzling mid-session.

More like 100%. As a graduate of a music conservatorium, I can say that all of my classmates were looking to a career in music after their completion, and no one entered it in the first place without many years experience as a musician. It was competitive but also free of charge so it didn't have to subsidize its existance with paying customers. I'm beginning to see your points through these music school analogies. (There seem to be a lot of musicians on this board. Have there been any threads on music/food parallels?)

BINGO!

There may even be more types. Kingfish is a bit of a vague name. My family aquacultures Yellowtail Kingfish in huge sea cages off the coast of South Australia. The other name for it is Hiramasa which is the white sushi you see in Japanese restaurants. It's also known as Gold Striped Amberjack (Seriola lalandi). This one is a very firm white fleshed fish - oil content varies. If we are not eating it raw, we cook it in the same ways that we cook tuna - and it can take a strong marinade and highly seasoned sauces. Extremely yummy fish. It shouldn't be bony at all.

When I read this, what jumped out at me were the memories of all the restaurants I've eaten at in the USA , Canada, Europe and Australia where the desserts were just appalling. And I thought of many desserts prepared by very competent amateurs which were stunningly good. In the final test (that is - the actual product) there is not such a stark contrast between most ordinary professional pastry chefs and very skillful, well-practised home cooks. For some odd reason, professional abilities among pastry chefs don't always result in consistantly fabulous desserts.

As an overly enthusiastic amateur who's taken some pretty tough courses alongside some experienced pros, I would say that it's a little premature and prejudicial to presume that all the pros are going to succeed and all the housewives look like blithering idiots. Sometimes it's a matter of attitude, innate talent, and willingness to learn which propels a student forward. If a "pro" is so busy stewing in resentment because his pigheaded ego has been shattered by the mere presence of such a lowly creature as a "housewife" in his class, he's just a snivelling little twerp. Sandra, great post. - Jane

We can get it here. Internet. Pretty colour. Bit sweet for my taste, but it was perfect paired with the spicy fish dish I'd cooked up.

Really? Wow. I can just imagine Olympic athletes coming up with elaborate ways to smuggle in live tuna so they can get a little "jolt" before a race... Actually it was the overwhelming bitterness which sent him leaping about. But, the overall effect was the same.

deleting double post

Did you get good information on what to do when you land your tuna? I have never heard of beginners killing and filleting their own tuna without an expert present to give assistance, so your request for info actually looked a bit alarming. It's a bit like someone asking the pastry guys how to serve 200 intricately decorated petit fours having never cooked a cake in his life. My family members are nearly all seafood catchers and exporters in Australia. Blue fin tuna is one of the fish. It takes a lot of skill to get sashimi quality tuna. The guys land the fish on foam rubber so that there is no bruising. They use the iki jime method of killing the tuna so that the fish is not stressed and the flesh is therefore superb quality. This is a spike which goes into the brain within seconds of it being landed. It has to then bleed for quite a while so that you don't get a single bit of black flesh. Maybe this will help regarding freshness: we always wait 24 hours to eat the tuna. We don't know why, but it just tastes better. Don't do something which one of my silly brothers did - 2 seconds after killing the tuna he quickly filleted a bit off and stuffed his mouth thinking that it would be the best fresh tuna in the world. He then leapt about the boat like a raving nincompoop - the flesh was full of adrenalin.

Thanks for answering. Fascinating and yes, it makes sense.

Why frozen butter? How does it release water more than just chilled butter?

They are worth every penny of that $25 lb, in my not so humble opinion. You may be able to get them cheaper directly from the grower, but he's pretty busy now being the height of the pepper season (he sells other kinds as well) so then again, perhaps not. They are the most wonderfully scrumptious little gems in the pepper world. There is no substitute - jalapenos aren't close in taste. The grower lives close to where I did, and we feasted on these treasures all summer long. He also kept me supplied with mulberries, the only source I could find in all of California. Lovely, lovely family with two drop dead gorgeous kids to educate.......do buy their peppers.

This is intriguing. Do you roast the chickpea flour when you use it in batter, like in vegetable bhajis?

No, no - my fault for leaping off into a tangent. Sorry. I will revisit your topic when I've eaten more at places headed by Brits. I've heard that Circa (Michael Lambie) puts on a great brekky. True? Yes, the country has amazing Asian food. The general availability of many esoteric ingredients is astonishing as well. Tamarind and fresh banana leaves in every dingbat corner store...marvellous. I agree with you on Southern USA food. But Southwestern food is a completely different story. I think it's a cuisine just waiting to explode here. I shall patiently wait and start growing the peppers in anticipation. Thanks for mentioning all those restaurants, Roger.

The Trifle itself is priceless. By the time someone has made the jello, done something with instant pudding, cut cake, assembled the lot, waited around for it to set or whatever it's doing in that 20 minutes, the instant cook could have made something edible in half the time.

Homely? Hmm. I'll have to think on that little morsel. There certainly is a current fad for stuff called "comfort food" there. At least there doesn't seem to be much of that here either in the restaurants or on the telly. Yes, Australians are missing a fantastic cuisine by ignoring real Mexican. Is there any hope?

Hi Lamington, Your posts have been fun to read over the last few weeks, especially your discovery about what to do with a yam bean. You are probably correct about the crossover to restaurant food from media hype. From what I've seen so far, the people who buy the popular books don't actually cook anyway. But they do eat, and many (too many) eaters come to a restaurant with a fairly limited set of expectations. Yes, there is definitely a more Mediterranean emphasis in Melbourne, especially Italian - understandably. After I recover from serious poblano chile withdrawals, I'm sure I will adapt. It's still quite a disappointing surprise that there doesn't seem to be any seriously good Mexican or Southwestern USA (muddy label that one) restaurants here. It could well be a consequence of the British wave of chefs here. Jane

I have some thoughts, but they are in the mulling stage. Or muddy stage. Having just returned to Oz after living in California for 22 years, the thing which really jumps out is how Britified the whole culinary scene is, from a popular point of view. That is, TV is full of Brit chefs, (I've never seen this Nigella lass before and being new on this site, I won't venture forth with vulgar brutality in my second post), the stores are full of Brit cookbooks, and many people in the trade are fresh out from the UK. I am yet to discover whether this is a good thing or a bad thing. I've eaten at too few restaurants to know if this has had a trickle down effect into what goes on your plate. What has surprised me so far is how the food lacks heat (chile heat) when it should be hot, lacks zing when it should zing, and how similiar many menus are. Whoops, I'm whining. Actually, I'm having a ball with the food. It's fabulous. But I prefer to cook it than go out to eat it. From your post, it sounds as if one should visit Sydney to get a Thai food fix. I was expecting more Thai and Vietnamese restaurants with excellent food, but they have eluded me. (Ah Mu - not either Thai or Viet, is fabulous though). I shall look forward to reading anything you have to say about this Brit influence, and will continue to comb the archives for suggestions for good eats. (That's where Ah Mu popped out - the laksa thread - thank you).

At the mention of curd, I have to venture out of lurkdom, barge into the eGullet party, and recommend passionfruit curd. In California, I used Perfect Puree concentrate since it's hard to find the real fruit. Now that I'm back in the land of passion, fruit that is, I'd use the fruit. It's particularly addictive if you add some concentrate after you've strained the cooked curd. Packs a mighty aromatic punch. Jane