Taking a Leek

I knew I had been a bit slack lately (slash unbelievably busy), but it wasn't until I finally cooked that I realised just how long it had been! Last night I was back in the kitchen and ready to make fresh pasta and cook Leeky Streaky Cheeky Freaky for Naomi to do my August review!

I was pretty excited about this for two reasons:

1. Naomi is a trained journalist so I feel I can trust her review and;

2. I had intended to cook this exact meal for Belle two weeks ago but we decided to get drunk and order pizza instead!

This recipe is one that Sian stole from Jamie Oliver (Jay as Sian has now started referring to him) and it seemed pretty interesting. I was nervous to go to the shop on my own as I wasn't entirely convinced I knew what a leek was but I did and it was all OK (and Sian came anyway).

Since Naomi was coming over, Sian and I bought some biscuits and dip to have out for when she arrived – only problem was, we’d finished it all before Naomi even got there and did not feel good about ourselves. This is the sort of royal treatment you receive when dining at The Fort!

I was making the pasta from scratch which was really fun as I had wanted to try this for some time but never had. Sian's basic theory is one egg for every 100g of flour. This didn't really work for me for some reason, so we added another yolk and a bit of oil to the mixture to help it stay together.

The Leek mixture wasn’t too complicated. We adjusted the amounts slightly, and couldn’t find parma ham so just used bacon, but I don’t think that matters. The recipe called for white wine, so I used some out of a goon bag we had on the balcony (I can only assume this was Ange’s).

By the time the leek mixture was simmering on the stove, the pasta had rested and I was ready to start rolling it through the machine. This was really fun. Sian had to show me how to do it, but it was really simple and fun to play with the dough and watch it change texture. Naomi got to experience just how bad I am at talking about one thing and concentrating on another – and the story that should have taken me five minutes to tell, quite literally took me maybe 45 minutes!

After we'd slow cooked the leeks with the bacon blanket on top, the next step is to cut up the bacon and put it back in the mixture with the cheese and stir it all up. Instead of chopping the bacon, I decided to chop my thumb. It was one of those weird ones where I literally watched the knife slicing my thumb. It’s a pretty deep cut and I’ve even managed to cut the nail which is not great. So, unfortunately I had to stand back and try to stop the insane amount of blood, while Sian finished cutting the bacon and served it all up. Naomi was not impressed with Sian’s serving skills, but it all looked and smelt really good to me.

The first bite I had I thought it was really salty (something I never think!) but after that I thought it was totally amazingly delicious. My pasta was so yum and totally different to dried pasta. I ate a shit load and then we had ice-cream and I ended up feeling sick (a good indication of how much I ate is that I put on a kilo in 24 hours)!

It was a nice night. Sian forgot how to make an inappropriate joke, Naomi got to have a go at rolling the pasta and we talked about farting and burping and dating and everyone we know (while Sian played Farkle – she’s obsessed and pathetic).

Tips: Have a go at making the pasta – it wasn’t hard and was really fun and so much more delicious than dried pasta.

Music: Gnarles barkley, Gorillaz, Gotye

They Call Me Caramelo

1 August 2011 - Keely's Show Winning Caramel Slice

I finally saw Keely last weekend and was able to get some recipes off her. Although I don't really eat much dessert I was super excited to have some 'show winning' recipes from a real life Kiama Show Girl (contestant)! So I was ready to attempt my second version of Caramel Slice - Keely's Show Winning Caramel Slice.

Conveniently, I had all the ingredients for this one, bar the condensed milk, so I sent Sian to the shops to get that while I got a massage (now writing it I realise I should have felt like some weird upper-class snob having people pamper me and do my shopping, but I actually felt really good about it at the time).

After a dinner of leftovers (Sian had PJ's burgers which she gave a big thumbs up) I got started on cooking my slice. Sian complained about everything, the cold, the music, the fact that she ate too much condensed milk and felt sick... everything! We soon started gossiping about everyone we know and we were much happier for it!

It all seemed pretty easy. I was kind of rough with my measurements as usual, but everything appeared to go to plan. After each stage it needed 15 minutes in the oven so in these blocks of time Sian and I sat down to play Yahtzee. The chocolate was slightly disastrous as the bowl was too hot to hold, so I was pouring it while holding the bowl in a tea towel. The tea towel then dragged in the chocolate I'd already poured. It was not my most coordinated effort ever! Needless to say both my pyjama top and the tea towel were covered in food and had to be thrown into the wash (not before I misplaced the hand towel and instead used my pyjama top for a replacement).

Anyway, it was all ok. I couldn't find my slice tin (potentially never had one) so cooked it in other dishes instead. It didn't make much difference, except that it was kind of hard to get out at the end. I of course took it to work and everyone scoffed it in seconds! What pigs! I got lots of compliments on it (partly because I asked for them, but also because it was delicious) and everyone seemed happy.

For my comparison of the two Caramel Slices, I was going to say this one wins out! However, I just looked at the recipes and they're almost identical, apart from about 20 grams of butter and 5 minutes in the oven. I think the reasons I liked this one better are as follows:

1. I forgot what the other one tasted like

2. Last time I cooked it in Mum and Dad’s oven and I think the caramel overcooked (although that recipe has it cooking 5 minutes less so I'm not sure how that works)

3. People at work will eat anything I bring them so their compliments made me think it was better than it was.

Tips: Don’t play Yahtzee with Sian, she's annoyingly good at it.

Music: Gotye (was totes uninspiring and boring)