Chik's Crib

11 November 2017

Warragul, Moyarra and Loch (Prom Country) - BEST DAY TRIP

Warragul November 11, 2017 0

It's strange how little-known Warragul or Prom Country are as road trip destinations. I can't remember the last time I had so much fun on a day trip! Our trip was packed with a bustling farmer's market, a cheese farm and a local distillery producing small batches of top-quality gins and beers. I never knew such gems could be found so close to home. They really should be more popular!

We headed off bright and early at 8am and reached Warragul in good time just over an hour later. Warragul hosts a Farmer's Market on the third Saturday of every month, and farmers and craftsmen gather from neighbouring counties to display their wares. From award-winning olive oils to fresh loaves of breads, from vegetables plucked on the same day to premium cuts of angus beef, there's a little of something for everyone.

The smell of food greets us from the first step into the market: there's the rich unmistakable scent of roasted coffee. The promising sizzle of wedges and fried chicken gives a sense of warmth to the atmosphere, and the quick deft movements of the crepe-seller adds to the hustle and bustle of the market. Near the middle, a man makes brisk business selling chai lattes, and people walk from stall to stall clutching his porcelain cups as they take in the rest of the market. Score one for his eco-friendliness, and another for his mad skills juggling counter-duty while watching over his boiling vats and prepping the orders of chai lattes. I bought a loaf of bread from Cannibal Creek Bakehouse, and was immediately rewarded with a beaming smile. A milkshake caravan advertises the use of (and sale of) the locally-produced Gippsland Jersey Milk (2L for $4.50), and reading about this farmer-owned, up-and-coming milk producer gave a deep urge to buy a bottle in solidarity of their ideals.

Even as the dark clouds in the sky occasionally threatened to send a burst of shower down onto the market grounds, the market continued to draw a crowd. A guitarist serenaded the passers-by as we weaved in and out through the market-goers, and the occasional Christmas advertisement stood in stark contrast to the Halloween decorations of nearby stalls.

The concurrent craft fair running alongside the farmer market showcases calligraphy, garden decorations and various knick-knacks - TY's visiting friend was particularly intrigued by the gemstone stall, and R and J were similarly tickled by the collection of fossils. A gathering of people tapping on drums in the corner of the fair provided a jolly tempo to the atmosphere. All in all, the gathering of hobbyists, farmers and musicians transformed the park of Warragul into a vibrant piece of real estate once a month.

Warragul Farmers' Market
Civic Park, Warragul.
Opening hours 830-1pm, 2P street parking available.

We didn't end up going to the Vintage Craft Park, but they're only a six minutes drive away over at Copelands Rd and showcases functional vintage farm equipment and recreational steam trains available for a ride. Picnic and BBQ facilities are available on-site too.

Vintage Craft Park
Copelands Rd, Warragul VIC 3820, Australia

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Moyarra is about an hour's drive away from Warragul. Gently lush peaks of hills sat in the horizon on the drive over, stretched out as far as the eye can see. Herds of cows and sheep peacefully graze by the side of the hills, blissfully unaware of the grey clouds gathering overhead.

Although the cows turned to give us a suspicious look as we rolled to a stop in front of them. In dusk, all anyone can see will be their skull-like features. Just in time for Halloween!

J's powerful BMW engine made better time on the hills than mine, but we eventually reached the cheese farm just in time for a spot of lunch at the picturesque Prom Country Cheese Farm.

Ploughman's Platter ($30)

The Local Platter ($45)

There were several tasting platters to choose from, and served alongside cuts of meat from a nearby organic pork farm. Because it's easy to get overwhelmed by the variety on the platter, each platter comes with tasting notes and a suggestion on which cheeses to start off from. The options on the platter may vary from day-to-day, depending on what is available, but the excellent quality of the cheeses we had, some from cows, others from sheep or goats, is a testament to their craft. I particularly enjoyed their Cheviot, a hard cheese made from sheep milk with a sharp, mature undertone. The Merricks Mist is a cow's cheese with a soft, creamy, melting centre, and was a favourite of J and R. Blue cheese aficionados, like TY's friend, would adore the Venus Blue, their signature, multi-award, blue mould sheep cheese that swept the 2017 Australian Grand Dairy Awards and took home the trophy in "The Best of Goat's, Sheep's and Buffalo milk cheese" category.

During the meal, local craft beers are available on request. And post-meal? Feel free to walk out to the back and entertain yourself with the puppy sheepdog-in-training and the lambs, which are quick to nuzzle an outstretched hand and chew playfully on your knuckles.

Prom Country Cheese Farm
Open weekends and holidays 10am-5pm
275 Andersons Inlet Rd, Moyarra VIC 3951
Website: Prom Country Cheese

Milk for the cheese, cold-cuts and olives are sourced from Wattlebank Park Farm, Grassvale Farms and Fish Creek Mount of Olives.

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The town of Loch is 15 minutes from Moyarra, and it may be my new favourite place in Australia. We came for the local Loch Brewery & Distillery, but ended up spending more time than anticipated exploring the idyllic town.

We were greeted by the friendly matron of the boutique distillery, who sat us in a comfortable corner. During the tasting glasses (3 types of gin, $15), she guided us expertly through her products from the distillery. She spoke at length regarding each step of the distillation process, and highlighted the botanical notes in each of her gin. She even brought out a selection of spices and encouraged us to spot the character of each spice during the tasting.

J and I were the designated drivers and were stuck with the selection from the non-alcoholic sections (the Ginger Beer was excellent!), but it's still nice to see the love and pride in her work.

It is late enough in the year that we really should be clearing our stock of liquor from the cellar, but TY and EJ couldn't resist buying a bottle of Loch Gin Liqeur ($68), where it stands now proudly between the Hendrick's and Four Pillars Gin.

TY also had the Tasting Paddle (4 glasses of beer) - hand-brewed in the style of traditional English ales. The quality of the brew impressed TY (who normally expresses a preference for hop beers over the traditional dark, malty English brews.) From behind the counter, the matron proudly demonstrated her manual handpump and how the 17th century design of the beer engine worked to dispense ale from their cask ale selection.

Whiskey is another product that they are in the middle of distilling, although the next batch is only scheduled to have completed aging in March 2018. Keep a lookout for it!

The verdict? Just a couple of hours after we left Loch, and TY is already making plans to return. Just over an hour's drive from Melbourne city, it makes a trip to Loch immensely rewarding, and it's puzzling how little known this brewery is. Remember: when this distillery explode in popularity, you heard it here first...

Loch Brewery and Distillery

Opening hours 11am-4pm, streetside parking available

44 Victoria Rd, Loch VIC 3945

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Nary a few metres from the brewery's storefront, hidden gems and whimsiness abound its neighboring stores along the street. Yakkity Yak is a handicrafts shop that TY's friend made a beeline for; I entered to find him in an engrossing conversation with the shop-owner about her lovely Tibetan Singing Bowl collection and their application on meditation. Not far down the street is The Rustic Cacao Factory, which brews a mean pot of rich, full-flavored hot chocolate. Diana, the Spanish-speaking owner, was busying around the store, but between rushing from one place to another, came by to engage us in conversation about her selection of cacao beans. She sources her beans from Peru, and proudly showed us a jar of cacao nibs and snapped open her vanilla pods for us to have a whiff.

Hot chocolate aside, the cafe also carries a selection of house-made artisan jams and peanut butter. I didn't help myself to the samples of the jams, but I did helped myself to a small scoop of their peanut butter, which was smooth and intensely-flavoured. Move over Skippy! The Croatian store-hand also recommended the chilli peanut butter, and the spiciness kicked in at the after-taste. I wasn't in the market for a spicy challenge every morning for breakfast, but the taste and texture of the chilli peanut butter was remarkable. Another big feature of the store products is their chilli section: they make a range of chilli sauces from a mild one to a potent brew comprising of the top five spiciest substance on earth. I didn't do a taste-test and I'll take their word for it. For people interested in Croatian or Spanish cuisine, they'll be starting a series of cooking classes, so watch this space.

*************** UPDATE ***************
It's barely been a fortnight and already we returned to Loch. Them gins ain't going to drink themselves... The lady-owner of Loch Distillery remembered us (!) and we settled in at our usual table. (Surely, I get to call it our usual table by now?) The distillery encourages customers to bring local produces into the store to pair with their alcohols, and the matron personally recommended Bassine Specialty Cheeses and Prom Country Cheese Farm (as above). Howler Brewing Company in Lang Lang was also recommended. We couldn't make the opening hours for most of these places, but TY's sharp eyes caught a sign for Caldermeade Farm & Cafe on the drive to Loch, and we made a stopover for hot food. It does a pretty brisk business even to the last hour, and evidently, even the Chinese leader Xi Jinping visited the farm in 2010 and gifted a set of hand-painted silk scrolls. The food wasn't much to write home about, but I loved loved loved the milk they were selling (Coach House Dairy, 2L for $3). We carted it for an hour back to Melbourne, and no regrets. Stalking their webpage, it seems that the milk recently bagged Silver at the 2017 Sydney Royal Cheese and Dairy Show too.

Caldermeade Farm & Cafe
4385 S Gippsland Hwy, Caldermeade VIC 3984
Opening hours 9-5 daily

03 November 2017

Kahlua Ice Cream Recipe (Ben & Jerry's)

Recipe November 03, 2017 0

Spring had officially arrived since September, but the weather here remains ever so flighty. Warm nights spread through the city of Melbourne here and again, breaking the remnants of the long chill of winter. The window-rattling howls of winter winds had vanished, replaced by balmy gusts of spring that gently tease at the edges of our scarves - a necessity in even in the crisp of the mid-spring morning air.

Slowly but surely, Melbourne marches inexorably towards summer. As the temperature soars, I've dusted off my ice cream machine and brought it back to life, where it now residing happily in the pantry, churning out small batches of ice cream. The pitfall of constantly making ice cream is the egg whites in my freezer that builds up insidiously. At last count, I have about eight frozen egg whites, all awaiting a future attempt at a Munavalgekook or macaroon recipe. Luckily, this Kahlua recipe from Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Recipe book charmingly uses the entire egg, which mitigates the stress of having to add yet another egg white to my collection. It's a simple recipe, and thanks to the alcoholic content, provides a smooth and silky texture not unlike soft serve even after overnight in the freezer. Highly recommended.

Kahlua Ice Cream Recipe

INGREDIENTS 1 large egg
40g sugar - original 70g,
235g (1 cup) heavy cream
120g (1/2 cup) milk
140g (1/2 cup) Kahlua

STEPS1. In a large bowl, whisk the egg, sugar, heavy cream and milk together until combined.
2. Add the kahlua and whisk to combine.
3. Chill the mixture thoroughly, then churn in an ice cream machine as per the manufacturer's instructions.

NOTE
The original sugar quantity was 70g, but in the absence of a contrasting bitterness from chocolate fudge (as from the original recipe), 70g was just too sweet. I revised the sugar quantity to 40g to compensate.

VARIATIONS
Kahlua-Ameretto
Substitute 1/4 cup of kahlua for 1/4 cup ameretto

Kahlua Almond Fudge
Do the recipe as per above. 5 minutes before the ice cream is done in the ice cream machine, add the 3/4 cups roasted whole almonds (pre-chilled in fridge, salted or unsalted.) When the ice cream is ready, layer the ice cream in a container with 1 cup of fudge sauce (cold). Work fast to prevent the fudge from mixing with the melted ice cream and becoming chocolate ice cream!

30 October 2017

Pumpkin Pie Recipe

Recipe October 30, 2017 0

This is my first forage into pies this year, and just in time for Halloween too! In previous years, I've made Chez Panisse's Almond Tarts before, as well as this easy French Tart Dough Recipe, both of which make an easy pie dough that don't require a rolling pin. (Luckily too, because I don't have one.) I thought in the spirit of Halloween, I should tackle something that had been scaring me off for the longest time: pie dough that requires a rolling pin.

Whenever I think of rolling pie dough, it's the combination of many small factors jumbling in my head, which makes my head hurt and my heart quop. I don't have a rolling pin, I don't have a clean surface for rolling dough, I don't know the sweet spot amount of flour to sprinkle to make the equipment non-stick while rolling without creating a stiff dough... (Usually, by this stage, I'd withdrawn my hand from the flour cupboard and would go for the gin instead.)

The weather has been warming up of late, but a recent cool spell during this Halloween period made cutting chilled butter into flour easy as ... well, pie. The recipe does require a little prepping effort, and I roasted pumpkins to make puree a day before, as well as made the pie dough prior. Everything else was a breeze thereafter. I rolled the dough out with a thermos flask in no time, and a handheld immersion blender made quick work of the pie filling.

I harbored a little apprehension as I cut a wedge of pie for myself; it was my first time making this after all. But as I cooked the pie filling, the strong smell of the spices carry the promise of holiday, and the addition of brandy released a cathartic warmth throughout the kitchen. The worry was for naught: the pie filling was like a rich spice-laden custard, and perfect for Halloween.

Pic by R

Pumpkin Pie Recipe

Makes one 9-inch (23cm) pie
Adapted from David Lebovitz's recipe
The original recipe comes with instructions for a majestic swooping marshmallow topping, which I was going to attempt until my handheld mixer inexplicably broke. David suggests that canned pumpkin can be used to cut down the work involved, but making pumpkin puree is really easy: bake the quartered pumpkin at 170C until soft enough until a fork goes in without resistance, then scrap out and mash.

INGREDIENTS
Pie Crust
175g (1 1/4 cups) flour
2 teaspoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
115g (4 ounces) unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
3-4 tablespoons ice water

Pumpkin Pie Filling
425g (1 3/4 cups) pumpkin or butternut squash puree
250ml (1 cup) heavy cream
125ml (1/2 cup) milk
3 eggs, at room temperature
160g (3/4 cups) packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
Pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoon Cognac or brandy

STEPS
Pie Dough
1. Mix flour, sugar, and salt. Add chilled butter and mix into the flour mixture until the butter is in small pieces the size of a pea. (Use a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or a food processor, or by hand as you rub the flour into the butter with your finger tips, or a pastry blender).

2. Add 3 tablespoons of ice water and mix until the dough comes together. Add more water as necessary. Turn the dough out onto a clean flat surface and give it a few turns with your hands. Shape it into a disc, wrap in cling wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour. As the dough is refrigerating, prepare the pumpkin filling (see below).

3. Between two pieces of baking paper (or lightly flour the table and the rolling pin), roll out the dough until about 33cm (13 inches) in diameter. Dust off the excess flour and transfer it to a pie plate. Crimp the excess dough from the rim of the pie plate, and prick the bottom of the pie dough with the tines of a fork.

4. Preheat the oven to 190C (375F). Line the inside of the pie dough with aluminum foil and fill halfway with beans, rice, or pie weights. Bake for about 15-20 minutes until the edges are a golden brown, then lift out the aluminium foil with the weights, and bake until the inside is nicely browned, about another 5 to 8 minutes. Remove from the oven and turn the temperature down to 180C (350F).

Pie Filling
1.Blend all ingredients together, either in a blender or with an immersion mixer in a pot.

2. Gently warm the filling over a small fire, scrapping the bottom constantly, just until it’s warm to the touch. Do not overheat as eggs scramble around 60C (140F). Remove from fire.

3. Reheat gently just as the pie crust finishes baking.

Putting Crust and Filling Together

1. Ladle the warm filling into the prebaked pie shell. Bake at 180C for 40-50 minutes, just until when you jiggle the pie, the centre of the pie has just set and is only slightly jiggly. Let pie cool completely on wire rack. Overbaking would result in a cracked pie surface as the pie cools.

NOTE
Once cool, the pie can be chilled (for up to two days), or left at room temperature for serving.

26 October 2017

Sweet Potato Cake Recipe

Recipe October 26, 2017 0

Happy Halloween! When I thought of Halloween last year, disjointed memories come to me. It was around the week when our district's electricity got knocked out by a faulty electric grid late in the night, plunging the residential halls, as well as most of our campus, into a sudden darkness. Unable to study, and frankly, sick of studying by that time, we decided to explore the blacked-out campus by way of torchlight. The buildings, cloaked in darkness, lent our usual path the air of unfamiliarity, and the harsh flare of emergency lamps threw up startling shadows onto the shrubbery. It was dark and gusty, and rain from a previous shower kept the grass damp and the pavements shimmering. But the stars were brighter than I've seen before, bringing to the dark night a paradoxical serenity. What a night! - and perhaps, the scariest part of that story was that a year had passed us since then.

Halloween seems to be a predominantly US tradition, and nobody elsewhere seems to think that it's a big deal. Small pockets of community, for example where R stays in Singapore, do seem make an annual event out of it, but it doesn't seem to be a national celebration in either Singapore or Australia. When Halloween decorations started appearing some houses around my neighbourhood, perhaps it's a sign that we should stock up on candy for hopeful trick-or-treaters? Last year, a group of us did a Halloween dinner where I brought a Pumpkin Cake, and this year, we're doing the a potluck again, this time with a Halloween theme dress-up. Maybe we can go treat-and-treating too after dinner?

Pic by rainer

Ever since my trip to Jinshan Old Street in Taiwan, I had developed a new-found appreciation for what one can do with root vegetables. The region of Jinshan heavily exports sweet potato and yam. Walking down the streets of Jinshan, root vegetables play a big role in many of their restaurant dishes, and many of their pastry stores feature them prominently even in desserts. We were plied with heaps of delicious pastries, from Western pull-apart breads to flaky Asian-style pastries - you name it, they have it, and with root vegetables to boot. There's an annual competition featuring Taiwan's most creative pastry, and the overall winner was naturally from Jinshan.

Traditional Chinese desserts uses plenty of root vegetables, but it's one thing to make sweet soup-based desserts, and another in western-style cakes. There's plenty of carrot cake recipes, and pumpkin cakes alongside, but for the most part, my search for such recipes has yield surprisingly few results.

While rifling through the Brown Betty's Cookbook, I paused at the Only for Eliza cake - one of their best-selling cakes, and finally, a cake based on sweet potato! Because life can't be easy, I neglected to take down the recipe, confident in my knowledge that I should be able to find a recipe floating online... which, of course, I couldn't find one. Drat! Luckily, I found a similar recipe from Amy, and gave it a go.

Well, it took a couple of attempts. On my first go, I attempted to make a cake in the Brown Betty's Bakery style - a cake taller than it is wide, towering majestically with frosting between every layer. A stainless steel tin which I normally used to brew hot drinks was used to make the cake. Unfortunately, I should have baked the cake layers in several batches instead of one big go, because once I sawed through my giant tall cake into layers, the bottom and middle layers were too moist to withstand the weight and collapsed into a not-altogether-attractive pile. Also, I frosted the cake before it cooled thoroughly, and the buttercream melted into a greasy puddle. If I was aiming to build a towering cake, it looked like someone had applied a wrecking ball to the structure. Mea culpa. But to the credit of the recipe, the ruinous pile tasted good enough for the cake to be devoured in no time. The second attempt, I baked in a regular square pan.

HOLIDAY SWEET POTATO CAKE

Recipe adapted from Amy from She Wears Many Hats
Makes one two-tiered 9-inch cake

Sweet potato puree is relatively easy to do: 2kg raw sweet potatoes makes about 750g. Bake whole raw sweet potatoes skin-on at 160C for about 45 minutes, until a fork goes in all the way through. Remove skin and process until smooth. Puree can be passed through a metal sieve for a smoother consistency, which I recommend. I also find that the taste of flour gets accentuated in cakes that have been kept in the fridge, which I dislike. I kept the quantity of flour as per the original recipe - 350g - but would look to adjust it to 300g the next time I bake. (Although I'd not tried the adjusted ratio, so would not recommend it yet. Watch this space!)

INGREDIENTS

350g (2 1/2 cups) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground ginger
226g (16 tablespoons/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
400g (2 cups) granulated sugar
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
550g (2 1/2 cups) mashed cooked sweet potatoes, cooled (about 4-5 sweet potatoes)
245g (1 cup) whole buttermilk (substitute 1 tbsp of lemon/vinegar + milk, and let stand for 5 minutes)

STEPS
1. Preheat oven to 175C (350F). Butter and flour two 9-inch cake pans, and line the bottoms with baking paper. If adding lemon/vinegar to milk, do so now.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and ginger together. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar on medium-high for 4-5 minutes until the mixture lightens and becomes creamy. Add beaten eggs, one at a time, beating between each addition. Continue to beat on medium-high for 1-2 minutes until combined and fluffy. Add vanilla and sweet potatoes and mix until smooth.

4. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture into the butter mixture, then 1/3 of the buttermilk. Alternate between the flour and milk into the butter mixture, stirring well after each addition. Beat on low speed until just incorporated.

5. Divide batter evenly between the cake pans. Bake at 175C for 35-45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean with no batter attached. Let cool in pan completely before frosting.

NOTE
Online sources for a cup of mashed cooked sweet potato ranges from 200g to 328g, which has a wider range than I like. Given that yogurt and heavy cream is about 1 cup to 235g, I guesstimated 1 cup of sweet potato puree to be about 220g.

20 October 2017

Breizoz French Crêperie

Review October 20, 2017 0

Breizoz French Crêperie is a homey joint along the streets of Fitzroy serving up hot fresh crêpes. There is the usual sweet dessert crêpes available, as well as a selection of savoury galettes (a type of crêpe made with buckwheat flour, which makes a crisper texture.) As we walked through the doors, the warmth of the restaurant was a welcome reprieve from the cold spring air. The unmistakable sizzle of the batter on the hot iron pan mingling with the smell of rich melting butter is a heady combination.

Hot mulled wine, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic versions, are available in winter. Perhaps the alcohol helps to cut through the richness of their crêpes? I came with my family on a late Friday night after dinner, and was pleasantly surprised to see a number of tables available.

Because we were stuffed from dinner and were just after a light dessert, we ordered two crepes to share amongst the five of us. Salted Butter Caramel is a concept that's everywhere, but not all salted butter caramel are created equal, and most are invariably too sweet. The crêpes here though were perfectly balanced, with the right touch of sweetness and a ting of saltiness shining through.

The Banana and Chocolate Crêpe was generously stuffed with banana and drizzled with chocolate sauce, but again, the sweetness of the overall dish was perfectly balanced.