Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Feeling the Christmas love


A foodie ramble through Footscray: Melbourne Part One

Recently I had the great pleasure of a quick trip to Melbourne as a guest of Tourism Victoria as part of the Restaurant Australia campaign. The first part of the trip involved a brilliant trip around Footscray, a foodie melting pot to say the least, with the truly delightful Allan Campion. No stranger to the food scene, it was fascinating to wonder the streets sampling foods with this champion of all things local and Footscray. Allan runs Melbourne Food Experiences and I cannot recommend it highly enough if you are short on time and really want to get to know the backstreets and places to go in this area. I cant wait to go back.

It was also so great to catch up with the ever delightful Andre Chiang - one of the great chefs of our time on this trip. I'll be posting again this week with more pics and details of the amazing dinner we had at Press Projects, the experimental chefs table with Melbourne culinary stalwart George Colombaris. But for now here is a little taste of Footscray

Footscray





Monday, November 24, 2014

Poached chicken and blueberry salad with smoked almonds and sumac dressing


New York. I have so many things to thank you for. Firstly just for being you. And for Bergdorf's, Saks, the apple pie at Bubbies and the pastrami sandwich at Katz. But it is my undying obsession with chopped salads that I will forever thank you for. That and the multitude of flavours that mean you could eat one for lunch everyday of the week and still have options a century from now.
The chopped salad screams for glasses of chilled pink wine, long lunching with best friends, with the obligatory bread baskets, people watching and chatter that you never want to end.
This salad is the salad whisperer of chopped salads. So bright and so so pretty, just like your insides will be after you've eaten it. You might question the blueberries. Don't. You will almost certainly question the dukka, circa 1990 but stop judging me.  In the background of this salad it adds a delightful textural crunch and a little extra flavour kick. Besides, no one needs to know.
Ingredients (Serves 4)
2 large skinless chicken breasts
2 cups water
270ml coconut milk
250g blueberries
½ cup smoked almonds
2 tbsp dukka
1 red onion, peeled, very thinly sliced
1 bunch coriander, finely chopped
1 cup roasted sweet potato, chopped
1/2 cup Persian feta
Sumac dressing
1 tbsp sumac
60 ml (¼ cup)extra-virgin olive oil
Juice of ½ lemon
2 tbsp caramelised white balsamic (replace with 1-2 tsp white sugar if unavailable)
Method
Bring water and coconut milk to the simmer in a saucepan over medium heat. Add chicken, simmer over low heat for 5 minutes, then set aside to cool in the liquid (20-25 minutes). Just before serving, coarsely shred chicken.
Combine the almonds and dukka in a small bowl then place in a large serving platter. Add each of the remaining ingredients separately to the serving platter.
Combine the dressing ingredients in a small bowl, stirring to incorporate then spoon over the salad when you are ready to serve.

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Hello and some recipes for you

Hello hello,

Pheewwww it has been a while since an update. Bistronomy has been going along swimmingly and I am excited to let you know that as of January next year the French and German additions will be available. Woop woop hurrah - I should receive the translated versions shortly and I can't wait to see them, it has been a bit of a dream of mine to have a book translated. I'll be posting the regular weekly recipes here in between working on book 3 which is due out by Christmas next year - talk about planning ahead! 

Here are a few recipes for a feature I did for a Semillon wine matching feature in the always fantastic James Halliday Magazine. Enjoy!





I'm starting some food writing workshops with the Essential Ingredient in Rozelle - my local home away from home in November - should be a lot of fun.  

Food Writing – Katrina Meynink

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Presenter: Katrina Meynink
Date: 22/11/2014
Time: 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Location: The Essential Ingredient Cooking School Rozelle
Price: $95.00
Format: No Categories
Join Katrina Meynink in learning the secret to the perfect recipe! Sharing her knowledge of the industry and how she herself got into food writing, Katrina will guide you through crafting your own recipes while showing you techniques for using the senses in order to successfully write about food and cooking.
Learn about different styles of writing and how written style can affect your own output, be exposed to the writings of leaders in various areas of cooking expertise & gain insight into how you can turn your writing into a career with blogging, food journalism & even cookbook authoring!
All classes and events require closed-in shoes.

About The Chef

Katrina MeyninkKatrina Meynink is a freelance food writer and author. She regularly contributes to national and international food magazines and writes weekly for Fairfax’s Daily Life. Her first cookbook Kitchen Coquette (Allen & Unwin), was awarded Best First Cookbook (Australia) at the Gourmand World Food Cookbook Awards and her second cookbook Bistronomy: French Food Unbound was released in September this year with Murdoch Books.
Katrina has a Masters in Gastronomy from Le Cordon Bleu and the University of Adelaide, an Advanced Diploma in Taste from the University of Reims, France and Hautes Etudes du Gout, Paris as well as culinary training from Le Cordon Bleu and tertiary qualifications in journalism. Katrina has received numerous scholarships and grants for her writing from the James Beard Foundation and the Culinary Trust USA, most recently being awarded the highly coveted Julia Child Grant for Research.