Mushroom And Goat's Cheese Crepes

I'm a bit slow with getting this post up and running, but better late than never!

Tuesday this week was Pancake Day, so I wanted to cook pancakes of some sort to celebrate. The kids had an early morning pancake breakfast at school, so dinner was going to be the meal of the day that we got to eat them together. Not being much of a sweet person, I thought I'd go along the savoury route.

Mushroom and goat's cheese are a match made in heaven, and for a vegetarian dinner option, these were delicious!

This pancake recipe is the one that my Mum uses. We always grew up with thin pancakes, more in the style of crepes, rather than thick American ones. I find them much too doughy and heavy. Adding the soda water at the end helps to thin the batter and make the crepes nice and light. If you don't have any soda and don't want to open a new bottle, just use regular water.

Because you are rolling up these crepes with a filling, it doesn't matter if they are a bit wonky! Given I only make pancakes once or twice a year, mine are never particularly round. You can also make the crepes the day before you are going to eat them, as they store well in the fridge. Anything I can do to make dinner time a bit quicker and easier is always a winner!

Savoury crepes really are so versatile and you can fill them with anything you like. Chicken and mushroom in a white sauce, spinach and feta, roasted vegetables.............The options are endless! Experiment and find a combination that you like.

Mushroom And Goat's Cheese Crepes

For the crepes

1 1/4 cups plain flour

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups milk

1/2 cup soda water or regular water

Butter or oil spray for frying

Combine flour, eggs and milk into a smooth batter using a whisk. Set aside for at least 30 minutes.

Just before cooking, add the soda water and stir to combine.

Heat a crepe pan or frying pan over medium heat and brush with butter or spray lightly with oil.

Pour 1/3 cup mixture into the pan and swirl to coat the base evenly. You want crepes that are about 15-17cm in diameter and nice and thin.

When bubbles start to appear on the surface, flip with a spatula and cook the other side until lightly golden. Remove from the pan to a plate.

Repeat with the remaining mixture. You should get about 12 crepes.

Set aside to cool.

For the filling

20g butter

5 large field mushrooms, diced into medium sized pieces

1 small onion, diced

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

125g soft goat's cheese (I used the herbed one, but you could use a plain one too)

A handful of fresh thyme, finely chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat a large frypan on medium heat and add butter until it melts and starts to bubble.

Add onion, garlic and mushrooms and fry until the onion is lightly golden and the mushrooms have released their juices and are soft.

Add the thyme and season to taste. Continue cooking until all the liquid has evaporated. You don't want soggy crepes!

Set aside to cool.

To put together

Lay all the crepes out on a work surface. You might not need all of them, but it's easier to be prepared.

Lightly grease a large baking dish that will fit the rolled crepes.

Place a couple of spoonfuls of the mushroom mixture along the centre of each crepe, using up all the mixture. You want to be reasonably generous with the filling, but not so much that you can't roll them up.

Break the goat's cheese up into small pieces and scatter over the top of the mushroom mixture. Use as much or little as you like, making sure you keep some aside to put on the top when you bake them.

Roll each of the crepes up with the filling and place them seam side down in the baking dish.

Dot the top with the remaining goat's cheese.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

Bake the crepes for 15 to 20 minutes to just heat through and brown the edges of the crepes and the goat's cheese.

Serve with a light salad or vegies.

Enjoy!

And To Drink....

Slow cooked mushrooms match perfectly with a lovely Pinot Noir. All that beautiful funky flavour in the mushrooms complements the funky, but fruity, characters in the wine.

I must admit that I haven't really had many New Zealand Pinot Noir's and this one had been sitting in our cellar for a while. About time we opened it, I think!

A 2007 Ra Nui Pinot Noir from Marlborough on the South Island, this wine had a beautiful roundness and complexity to it. It was still beautiful and fruity with lots of cherry and black plum flavours, with a touch of spice. Being aged, it had lovely soft tannins and was nice and smooth. The fruit paired nicely with the mushrooms and the acidity in the goat's cheese. It really was a fantastic match.

Ra Nui make their wines organically and one of their vineyards has even been certified biodynamic. They use minimal intervention wine making, hand picking the grapes and whole bunch pressing.

In the more premium Estate grown Ra Nui range, they make a Pinot Noir, Gwurtztraminer, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.  They also make a very unique sounding Rosè, called Sexy Rexy, which is made from Syrah and Pinot Gris. In exceptional vintages Ra Nui also produce a limited edition single vineyard range. Currently a 2009 Syrah is available.

Now that I've tried their wines, I'll certainly be looking  out for them. The Rosè particularly sounds interesting. 

New Zealand really makes some wonderful wines and they certainly go far beyond the usual Sauvignon Blanc. It's time to explore more of the wines across the Tasman!

Caramelised Onion Pizza

When a big night of drinking is on the cards, you really need some substantial food to nibble on so that you don't get too tipsy!

Last night we went to the Kellermeister Melbourne wine tasting and tried 19 of their delicious wines. These wines covered  recent vintage Riesling and Pinot Gris, to the big boy reds - Shiraz, Grenache and Mataro. To finish off, there were some lovely sweeter styles.

As in previous years, the group of us going had all taken a couple of foodie items to share. Last night we had some beautiful cheese and fruit bread, zucchini fritters with a chilli/mint/yoghurt dipping sauce, charcuterie, antipasto and gorgeous lemongrass chicken. My contribution to the food was this beautiful caramelised onion, goat's cheese and rosemary pizza. Full of intense flavours, but light enough that it worked well with the range of wines that we tried.

We ate the pizza at room temperature, but it would be great served hot with a light rocket salad on the side. I like my pizza crust quite thin, so rolled this out to fit a large baking tray, but if you like the base a bit more doughy, then just use a smaller tray.

If you're not a fan of goat's cheese, then thin slices of a brie or camembert would be great too. You would probably only want to add the slices of cheese just as the pizza comes out of the oven, rather than baking it.

Caramelised Onion and Goat's Cheese Pizza

50g butter

3 large red onions, halved and thinly sliced

120g soft goat's cheese

1 Tbs rosemary sprigs

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat butter in a large frypan over medium heat until bubbling. 

Add the onion and cook for about 45 minutes, or until the onion is soft and caramelised. Stir regularly to stop the onion from sticking and burning. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Allow to cool.

Dough

1 1/2 tsp dry yeast

pinch sugar

3/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup oil (chilli or lemon infused, if you like)

2 cups plain flour

Combine yeast, sugar, 1/4 cup of flour and 1/4 cup lukewarm water in a small bowl and stir to combine.

Cover the bowl and stand in a warm place for 10-15 minutes, or until foamy.

Place the remaining flour, salt, oil, yeast mixture and 3/4 cup lukewarm water in a food processor and whiz until the mixture forms a ball and comes away cleanly from the side. Add a bit more flour if it seems too wet, or water if it seems to dry.

Turn the dough out into a lightly greased bowl, cover and leave in a warm place for about 1 1/2 hours or until doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.

Knock down the dough and turn on to a lightly floured bench.

Knead gently, then roll out until about 5mm thick.

Lightly spray a oven tray with oil and place the dough on the tray.

Bake the dough for 10 minutes, or until it starts to puff and turn a light golden brown.

Remove from the oven, top with an even layer of the onion, blob with goat's cheese and sprinkle with the rosemary sprigs.

Bake for another 10-15 minutes or until the base is golden and crisp.

Allow to cool for a few minutes, cut into large squares and enjoy with your favourite red wine!

Udder Delights Cheese

Last weekend I was in Adelaide for my Mum's birthday and was lucky enough to pick up an enormous pack of gorgeous Udder Delights Cheese. Udder Delights produces goat and cow's milk cheeses in the beautiful Adelaide Hills town of Lobethal, with their shop and cafe in Hahndorf.

Their range includes a goat curd, chèvre, goat camembert and brie and a goat blue. They also make a camembert, brie, double cream brie and Heysen blue from cow's milk.

My pack included a 1kg tub of the amazing goat curd, three 100g mixed goat brie and camembert and 500g of the Heysen blue. Paired with some crackers, dried fruit and nuts, it made the perfect cheese platter for the birthday party.

Unfortunately there was a big wedge of the blue, one camembert and half a tub of the curd left over that I just had to bring back home! As a result, we've been living on goat's cheese this week. Such a tough life, but someone has to do it!

I thought I'd share with you a couple of the salads and side dishes I've made this week and give you a couple of other suggestions of how to use goat's curd.

The Udder Delights curd is not too 'goaty', which means it is low in acidity and very creamy. It matches perfectly will all sorts of fruits and vegetables, so you can use it for sweet and savoury dishes. It is a great match in zucchini fritters, atop pasta, wrapped in prosciutto for an appetiser or on its own, spread onto fresh bread. Goat's curd on a pea and broad bean tart is a match made in heaven!

I have only made savoury meals this week, but will try something sweet next week. Goat's curd matches perfectly with fresh figs, ripe peaches and nectarines, if you wanted to make a dessert that wasn't overly sweet. It also bakes well into muffins, cakes or tarts. I think I might try a cheesecake or panna cotta.

For the first meal we had this week, I paired asparagus with the curd and served it with a nice steak, marinated in some red wine, garlic and pomegranate molasses. I also roasted some home grown potatoes with whole garlic cloves, lemon rind, lemon juice and a touch of chilli, for something different.

Tonight we had the zucchini and eggplant salad, served with panko crumbed snapper. Simple but very tasty.

I can't wait to finish the rest of the tub!

How would you eat your goat's cheese? I'd love to know how you enjoy this amazing product.

Asparagus With Goat's Curd

1 bunch of asparagus, woody ends removed

1/2 cup goat's curd

1 Tbs toasted pinenuts

A squeeze of lemon juice

A drizzle of extra virgin olive oil

A drizzle of pomegranate molasses

Freshly cracked black pepper

Place asparagus in a heat proof container and pour boiling water over it. Allow to sit for approx 1 minute, then drain.

Place blanched asparagus on a serving platter and sprinkle with pine nuts.

Decoratively blob the goat's curd over the asparagus.

Drizzle with oil, pomegranate molasses and a squeeze of lemon juice, to taste.

Finish with freshly ground black pepper.

Simple but delicious!

Chargrilled Eggplant And Zucchini With Goat's Curd and Pomegranate

1 zucchini

2 Lebanese eggplants

1 pomegranate

A handful of fresh parsley, coarsely chopped

A handful of fresh mint, coarsely chopped

Juice of 1 lemon

2 tsp verjuice

1 1/2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil plus extra for grilling

1/3 cup goat's curd

Salt and pepper to taste

Slice the zucchini and eggplant lengthways into roughly 5mm slices.
Place the eggplant in a colander and generously sprinkle with salt. Set aside for 15 mins to drain the bitter juices. Rinse the salt and pat dry.
Heat a chargrill pan or BBQ over medium heat.
Brush vegetable slices lightly with oil and chargrill until golden and tender. Remove to a plate and set aside.
For the dressing, combine lemon juice, verjuice, oil and salt and pepper to taste.
Pour half of the dressing over the eggplant and zucchini and toss to combine. Allow to absorb the dressing.
To remove the seeds from the pomegranate, cut it in half and then hold in an open palm over a bowl in the sink. Using a spoon, beat the skin side until all the seeds fall into the bowl. Remove any bits of the white pith that fall into the bowl.
To serve, drain vegetables from extra dressing and place on a platter. Top with chopped mint and parsley, pomegranate seeds and blobs of goat's curd. Drizzle with a little of the remaining dressing and a good grinding of black pepper.

Enjoy!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year and welcome to 2014!

Here's to a wonderful year ahead, full of good food, good wine and plenty of fun, laughter and adventures.

New Year's Eve has been a bit of a non-event in our house since having the kids, but just because we're not going out and partying, doesn't mean we can't still eat and drink well.

For the past few years I have cooked a special meal and we've had a nice bottle of champagne to go with it. This year was no exception.

We were going to have lobster and champagne, but with working during the day on New Year's Eve, I wasn't going to be able to get to the market to pick up fresh seafood. Instead we decided to do a number of small dishes which could be spread over a couple of hours and which would all go nicely with the champagne.

Hunting through our champagne collection, we chose a bottle of 2002 Bollinger La Grande Annee. After researching food matches, the final menu was a goat's cheese soufflé, ocean trout cakes wrapped in prosciutto with a lime aoili and roasted heirloom beetroot, onion and hazelnut salad.

There was definitely no shortage of good food and wine to finish 2013 and I'm hoping that the year ahead will involve plenty of happy dining moments. I hope you can join me on my adventures again this year!

The Bollinger was dry and yeasty, with beautiful acidity and fine bubbles, which just made you want to get into the party spirit. It was a smooth wine with plenty of fruity flavours still present, even though it was 11 years old.  The acidity in the Champagne matched perfectly with the creamy, cheesy goodness of the soufflé. Being a sparkling wine, rather than a table wine, made it much lighter and a better match for a light as air soufflé.

The saltiness of the prosciutto around the fish cakes also went well with the champagne. Charcuterie and champagne are always a wonderful match, so the fact that there was also some ocean trout in the mix, just complemented it further. The lime aioli brought some extra acidity to the richness of the fish but it didn't overpower the acidity of the wine.

Serving the fish cakes with the beetroot salad combined salty with sweet, earthy beetroot and roasted onion. The crunch of the roasted hazelnuts complemented the nuttiness in the champagne.

Overall, the three dishes went well with the Bollinger and I think they matched it's flavour profile perfectly. If only there was another bottle to enjoy!

Goat's Cheese Souffle

80g butter

60g plain flour

350ml warm milk

80g soft goats cheese

1 Tbs finely chopped parsley

3 egg yolks

2 Tbs parmesan cheese, finely grated

4 egg whites

Salt and pepper to taste

Grease 4 soufflé dishes or ramekins with butter.

Melt remaining butter in a saucepan.

Stir in the flour and cook over medium heat for 2 minutes, stirring frequently.

Slowly add the warm milk, a little at a time, to incorporate into the mixture without lumps.

Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for about 5 minutes.

Remove from the heat and stir through goats cheese, parmesan and parsley. Stir until the cheese melts and combines smoothly in the mixture.

Allow to cool for 10 minutes, then stir through the egg yolks until combined. Season to taste.

Beat egg whites in a clean bowl until thick and soft peaks form.

Fold quickly, but carefully, through the cheese mixture to keep the air in the egg white.

Divide the mixture evenly between the moulds, place on a baking tray and bake for about 25 minutes, or until golden and risen.

Roasted Heirloom Beetroot, Onion and Hazelnut Salad

1 red onion, cut into quarters

4 sprigs of thyme

4 cloves of garlic

10 baby heirloom beetroot 

Olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup hazelnuts

2 Tbs pickled radishes

A handful each of parsley and snow pea tendrils

1/2 tsp Dijon mustard

1 Tbs verjuice

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Salt to taste

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

Place onion on a large piece of foil with half the thyme and garlic. Drizzle with oil and a couple of grinds of salt and pepper.

Wrap the foil around the onion and place the package on a baking tray.

Peel and trim the beetroot and place on a second large piece of foil with the remaining thyme and garlic. Drizzle with oil and season to taste.

Wrap the foil around the beetroot and place the package on the same baking tray as the onion.

Roast the vegetables for 30 mins, or until the beetroot is tender. You might need to take the onion out of the oven a little bit earlier.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature.

While the vegetables are roasting, place the hazelnuts on a small ovenproof tray and roast for about 7 minutes or until the skins split and darken.

Remove from the oven and tip on to a clean tea towel. Rub the nuts in the tea towel to remove the skins. Set aside to cool.

For the vinaigrette, shake mustard, verjuice and oil in a small jar until thick and combined. Season with salt to taste.

To serve, sprinkle the parsley over a serving platter, then arrange the beetroot, onion and garlic over the top. Top with the roasted hazelnuts, pickled radish slices and snow pea tendrils. Drizzle with the vinaigrette and a grinding of black pepper.

Ocean Trout Cakes Wrapped With Proscuitto

500g ocean trout, skinned and pin boned

1 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp fish sauce

10 slices of prosciutto

Olive oil for frying

Rocket to serve

Combine trout, soy and fish sauce in a food processor and whiz until it is a coarse mince.

Refrigerate for 10 minutes to firm and then roll into small balls.

Cut prosciutto into halves, depending on the size of the slices, and wrap a strip around each ball.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

Heat a good drizzle of oil in a frypan and fry fish cakes for a minute on each side, until browned.

Transfer to a baking tray and then finish in the oven for about 5 minutes, or until the fish is cooked through.

Serve the fish cakes on a platter topped with rocket leaves and a dish of lime aioli for dipping.

Lime Aioli

4 egg yolks

1 Tbs white wine vinegar

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 clove of garlic, chopped

75ml olive oil

Zest and juice of 1 lime

Salt and pepper to taste

Place egg yolks, mustard, vinegar and garlic in a food processor and whiz until combined.

With the motor still running, add oil in a thin stream until combined.

Stir in lime juice and zest and season to taste.

Vanilla Panna Cotta With Honey Spice Apricots

To finish our special dinner, a vanilla panna cotta with honey and spice apricots went perfectly with a Vinden Estate 2007 Late Harvest Semillon. The wine wasn't overly sweet and sticky, being a late harvest, rather than a botrytis. There was still plenty of freshness in the fruit flavours and enough acidity that it cut through the creaminess of the panna cotta. A touch of apple and stone fruits complemented the apricots perfectly.

We bought this wine in the Hunter Valley 4 1/2 years ago when we stopped there on our way to Sydney. Vinden Estate is a boutique winery in Pokolbin, which produces a couple of red wines, but predominantly whites of the Hunter's signature Semillon and Chardonnay. We had been recommended it by a friend and were pleasantly surprised by how lovely their wines were. They are not readily available in bottle shops, so you might need to plan a weekend away to go and try them.

1 cup thickened cream

1/2 a vanilla pod, split in half

30g caster sugar

1 leaf gelatine

20g butter

1 stick cinnamon

2 star anise

4 cloves

6 apricots, halved and stones removed

15ml of brandy

1/4 cup honey

Combine cream, half the vanilla bean and sugar in a saucepan and bring to the boil.

Remove from the heat to infuse.

Soak the gelatine leaf in cold water until softened. Squeeze to remove excess water then stir through the hot cream mixture until dissolved.

Strain through a fine sieve into a jug.

Lightly oil 4 small moulds or tea cups using your finger.

Divide the cream mixture between the four cups and leave to set in the fridge overnight.

To make the apricots, heat butter, cinnamon, star anise, cloves and the other half of the vanilla bean in a frypan until the butter starts to melt.

Add the apricots cut side down and cook on low heat for 5 minutes, or until golden.

Carefully turn over and cook for another 5 minutes, or until soft.

Drizzle with the honey and brandy, cook for another minute or two, then remove from the heat to cool.

When ready to serve, gently scrape around the edge of the panna cotta to loosen it from the mould.

Turn upside down on to a plate and jiggle to allow it to drop.

Place 3 or 4 apricots on the side of the plate and drizzle with some of the honey brandy sauce.