Good Food Month - Long Weekend Cooking + Eating

Since it's Good Food Month I am going to be posting mad about food, glorious.

Friday
Friday night starts with a walk around World Square and Chinatown. Bread Top for green tea red bean rolls and a pack of yeasty soft croissants. Easy Way for my new favourite combo of taro ice milk with coconut jelly. Stalked by an older creep, yuk. Then it was homemade burgers with lamb from the Farmer's Market, so good.

Homemade burgers = yum

Saturday
I'm inspired by Beverly to make filled baked rolls for a picnic with Marianna. Soft white rolls with the filling taken out, filled with mascarpone, sliced truss tomatoes and smoked trout, chopped oregano and topped with a fresh egg, then baked for 180C for 10-15 minutes, until the whites have set. So cute for a picnic.

Pre-oven

Picnicing can take it out of you

With the leftover croissants I decided I had to make bread croissant and butter chocolate pudding, and I have to say my own recipe is the best and easiest version ever. The great thing is you can use whatever leftover bread/pastry you have. Preheat the oven to 190C. In a large bowl add 2 cups of milk, 3 Tablespoons sugar, 3 eggs and 1 teaspoon of vanilla sugar (or a vanilla bean). Whisk together until well combined, and yes the sugar will disolve. Tear up 5-6 croissants and add to a baking dish (make sure you use a dish with high walls, as the pudding with rise). Pour over the custard. Throw in broken-up pieces of chocolate, some throughout, some on top. Bake for 30 minutes or until set. During the exruciating 10 minutes you should let it rest, boil the kettle, make a cup of tea and get a big bowl ready for this incredibly delicious, more-ish, comforting delight.

Is there a better word than pudding?

Sunday
On a day when you're planning a bender, you don't want to eat much. Maybe a fruit salad, maybe trying something macrobiotic super healthy at Macro. But in the queue, nervously eyeing the cabinet filled with micro sized, macro priced faux pizza and quiche, I just couldn't do it, so popped across the road to Simmone Logue. OK, here is Sydney's best kept secret I discovered: Simmone Logue does great things but is fairly expensive. Now, on the weekend, the Bondi Junction store does wholesale prices. Their pies, which are pretty damn good, are reduced to $3.50 and come with your choice of free mini pastry. I had the lamb and rosemary pie which was wonderful, with falling-off-the-bone lamb in a savoury sauce, and a mini apricot danish for dessert. Not light and easy, but definitely more-ish.

Go the pie

I also did osso bucco for the first time and it was so easy and so good. I even managed to cook it for three hours (ok, I took one piece out after two hours as the wait was driving me crazy).

Monday
Naturally no appetite after a big night, but stuffed ourselves silly at tapas at Captain Torres in the evening, followed by Max Brenner waffles and cinnamon hot chocolate. Talk about extremes!

Awesome jamon, sizzling scallops and
the best chorizo I've had in a while.
Sangria always goes down easily too.