Kazbah, Balmain

Shortly before my first foodbloggers meet at Adriano Zumbo, I sneakily went into Balmain with friends for a long awaited breakfast. Trying to organise groups larger than four can sometimes be a little hectic for me - more people juggling even more commitments usually means I have to book people further in advance than I would like (like a hairdresser’s appointment:S). Luckily for me, I managed to round up a small crowd for a catch up breakfast at Kazbah on Darling. Writing PhDs, work, sport and sleep are no excuses when there is a delicious 9.30am breakfast to be eaten! 9.30am is a horrid time for breakfast on a Sunday by the way, had the food not been so good, I’m sure the table would have rapidly descended into bleary eyed anarchy… Next time, I’ll be booking earlier for a later time.

Moroccan Mint Tea

While coffee, tea and interestingly, sangria are available to quench the early morning thirst, I chose to start my morning with soothing Moroccan mint tea. Served in miniature Bodums, the earthy and obviously minty tasting tea left me rejuvenated and calm, a stark contrast to the peppy zing I get when having my usual skinny cappuccino.

Breakfast Tagine

Lamb mince, Sucuk, Feta, Spinach, Capsicum, Caramelised Onion, Tomato and Eggs, served with Lebanese bread and Turkish Toast

I had long ago decided I would head to Kazbah to take advantage of the Middle Eastern influence and start my day with a Breakfast Tagine. Herr Mouttard and JJW joined me and together we chose the carnivorous version. It’s a hearty dish, layered with finely ground mince at the bottom, followed by the succulent onion, capsicum, and finally crowned with 2 large eggs and tomato. Despite it’s appearance on the menu listing I couldn’t taste or see any feta in mine:S The flavour explosion from one of these is a must try for those in Sydney. The rich meat itself has a subtle spice which intensifies as you continue to eat it and the richness of the runny yolked eggs are delicately cut by the sweetness of the onions and capsicum combined with the acidity of the tomato. The small tagine belies the dish’s capacity to satisfy the most famished of stomachs. I simply could not finish mine. The boys, while sporting empty tagines, were also sporting bloated bellies lol.

Breakfast Tagine (Vegetarian Option)

Pumpkin, Feta, Spinach, Caramelised Onion, Tomato and Eggs, served with Lebanese bread and Turkish Toast

Sindel chose the vegetarian option, which is exactly the same as the meat eaters version except that the meat is substituted by large hunks of tender pumpkin. Again no sight of feta, whose saltiness would have been complimentary with the rest of it… As always, Sindel graciously shared her food with me (she’s awesome), so I had a few pieces of pumpkin:) I preferred the vegetarian version to the meat and would order it next time round.

Poached eggs with salmon and baked tomato and a side of hollandaise sauce

Madam Saucy opted for a more traditional breakfast, feeling the urge towards the familiar. Her generous slice of toasted Turkish bread was topped with two perfectly poached eggs, seemingly never ending layers of smoked salmon and two giant baked tomato halves, sprinkled with freshly ground black pepper. True to her name, she also ordered a side of Hollandaise sauce. Unfortunately I didn’t get a photo of said sauce, but it was possibly the best Hollandaise sauce we have ever had. Served in a small dish, it was very thick, creamy with pepper speckled through it. Despite the small serve and three ravenous girls eager for more creamy goodness, it remained unfinished at the end of our meal, a testament to its unctuous and decadent nature. I recommend getting this on the side if you decide to order, it’s so rich I imagine it might be too sickening if served with your eggs…

French Toast, Bacon, Caramelised Figs, Double Cream, Apple Cinnamon Syrup

LadyChulie chose this indulgent dish. It looked so beautiful and the portion was massive, with her slice of French toast easily the thickest piece of toast I have ever seen served, piled high with the sweet figs and syrup and topped with rashers of chunky bacon. It was delicious!! If I had wanted to sweet breakfast, this would have been it. I tried to help her finish it, but struggling with my own meal, it too, lay unfinished at the end of the meal.

Crayons

The tabletops are covered with paper and we are thoughtfully provided with a small cup of crayons for the creatively inclined. During the chatter that continued long after the eating had finished, I created a masterpiece fit for a day care centre with these fat crayons lol.

With generous portions and high quality food, we had such an enjoyable breakfast that morning. Service was brisk but efficient and if you can gather a group of 8 or more, you can get a breakfast degustation :) It’s slightly pricier than a standard café breakfast but I think the food justifies the price, value was not an issue for me. Bookings are recommended for breakfast, but strangely enough, despite being told they could not fit us in any later than 9.30am, we saw many empty tables during our time there… Nevertheless, a fabulous breakfast option in Sydney, I do recommend:D


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Kazbah on Darling

379 Darling Street

Balmain, NSW, 2041

Phone: (02) 9555 7067

Fax: (02) 9810 5355

Opening Hours:Breakfast - Saturday, Sunday & Public Holidays - 9:00am - 3:00pm

Lunch - Saturday, Sunday & Public Holidays- 12:00pm - 3:00pm

Dinner - Wednesday to Saturday - 6:30pm - Late
http://www.kazbah.com.au/

Spanish Pork with Orange and Poppyseed Salad

At mine, miniature stacks of Delicious Magazine can be found adorning the numerous bookshelves that live in our house (we’re a household of voracious readers). I’m the type that actually reads recipe books for fun (lame, I know), so I find myself gravitating towards the monthly publications like Delicious to get a fix of new recipes and food porn photos. Since I’m temporarily out of Sydney, said cookbooks and Delicious mags are out of reach:( Never fear, bookstores are here!! I’ve decided to buy a new cookbook (and a Delicious mag of course) to tide me through this time and have chosen Valli Little’s (Delicious Food Editor) new cookbook called Faking It. This is the first book of hers I’ve bought so will update you all as I cook through it.

I adore fruit in my salads, so chose this salad recipe (saw oranges in fruit basket) to christen my Faking It journey. Not to mention I simply adore pork and wish I ate it more lol.

Overall a nicely balanced salad, with the sweetness of the pork, courtesy of the maple syrup in the marinade balanced out by the tangy orange and accentuated with a touch of spice from the chilli. The poppy seeds also add a nice touch both flavour and looks wise. I’d make it again.

Spanish Pork with Orange and Poppyseed Salad
Adapted from Faking It, Valli Little

Ingredients
Pork and Marinade
1 tbs smoked paprika
1 tsp cumin
Zest and juice of 1 orange
1/3 cup maple syrup/honey
1/3 cup tomato sauce
2 pork fillets (~500g each), trimmed, halved

Salad
2 oranges
1 telegraph cucumber/3 lebanese cucumbers, halved and sliced
2 long red chilles, seeds removed, finely chopped
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar/white wine vinegar
½ cup olive oil
2 tbs caster sugar
2 tbs poppyseeds
Coriander leaves (optional)

Method
Combine all ingredients for marinade in zip lock bag or non reactive bowl. Marinate pork for at least an hour or overnight (I did mine overnight).

Combine zest of one orange with vinegar, olive oil, caster sugar and poppyseeds to make the dressing.

To make the salad, peel the oranges, halving then cutting into slices, combine with cucumbers, chilli and coriander leaves if using. Set aside the dressing and salad.

Preheat the grill. In a frying pan cook the pork to seal, then place under grill for 5 – 10 min, turning regularly. Rest meat under aluminium foil for ~6 min, then slice.

To serve, divide salad into 4 plates, layer with pork, drizzle dressing on top.

Twelve, Newtown

Belated post. After another round of exams, the last for Madam Saucy, unless she wants that 3rd degree, my close girlfriends and I decided to have a long overdue catch up (and celebratory drinks) after our long self imposed study exiles. Another reason I just couldn’t wait for it all to be over was that I knew my great friends MedicineWoman and H would be coming from Brizvegas and Eden respectively to visit and celebrate the end of exams with us – aren’t they the best?!

Sindel and I kicked off our celebrations with a post exam bbq at our house, but emerged later to join the rest at Twelve on King St. I like the exterior look of Twelve as a restaurant, it’s huge glass front offers a peek not only at the fixtures, but allows people like me to spot friends inside:)

Antipasto Platter

Starting with the antipasto platter to share, we were lucky it consisted of mostly chargrilled veggies (MedicineWoman is vegan). The veggies tasted fresh and even though it’s not in the picture, there was large, crispy bread sticks to mop up all that dip:) Nothing spectacular but still a nice start. In the past I’ve also had the saganaki prawns as a starter and they were yum (not to mention the serving size was huge).

Lamb with Roasted Beetroot and Pumpkin, served with a Mint Jus

This dish was quite large. The meat was cooked well – tender and juicy, but I thought the beetroot could have been more flavoursome. The jus was a lovely compliment to the meat and Madam Saucy had no complaints with this meal.

On a side note, this restaurant is extremely noisy. There’s something about the acoustics of the place… It used to bother me but I guess I must be used to it now. If you touch underneath the table you can feel the foam they’ve added there to absorb the noise but I don’t think it does much. Note the noise never stops me from coming

Fresh fig, chilli and basil fettucine

Sindel and I voted for pasta. My usual pasta dish here is the fettucine with WA swimmer crab, champagne, parsley and marscapone, which is divine:) but that night I didn’t feel any desire for a seafood oriented dish. Instead I opted for Sindel’s old faithful, the fig, chilli and basil pasta. This wasn’t an entirely bad thing as I always stare at her plate and ask for bites when she has it anyway lol. The figs are gorgeously sweet, and the amount of chilli is just right, offset by the tiniest dash of cream. The combination of flavours was beautiful, although I do think it would benefit from less pasta and a more figs lol (that’s just me being cheeky and wanting mooooore!)

The staff here are just great, every time I’ve been here I’ve had an efficient, friendly waitperson and tonight was no exception. MedicineWoman needed to make some small adjustments for a pizza in order to accommodate her veganism and both the wait and kitchen staff were more than happy to switch menu items for her:) I didn’t manage to get a decent shot of this said pizza (apologies), but it looked fabulous:)

Italian pavlova with marcscapone and vincotto macerated black grapes

H joined us just in time for dessert – looking smashing as per usual. This dessert was the special on the night and H, Sindel and I shared it (Madam Saucy and MedicineWoman were done with food for the night). It looked beautiful, the pavlova was cooked to perfection and the creamy marscapone was deliciously sweet but not sickening. The grapes were large and juicy.

Overall I love coming to this restaurant. Not only is it close and convenient for me, it also offers something unique on a street that is undoubtedly dominated by thai food. Sure, it’s a little noisy, but I’ve always found the food and staff really enjoyable, PLUS the fact that it’s BYO, and there’s a Vintage Cellars next door :D


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Twelve
218 King St

Newtown, NSW, 2042
Phone (02) 9519 9412

http://www.twelvenewtown.com.au/

Sweet Potato and Salmon Quiche

What’s a girl to do when she’s got new tart/quiche pan and a whole stack of shortcrust pastry in the freezer? Earlier in the week, I made a Lime Tart, which was a complete disaster (but I’m still psyching myself up for another try lol), so to avoid another sweet gooey mess, I decided to go in the entirely opposite direction and make a quiche.

The last time I had quiche, it was in Paris, from a little boulangerie tucked away in one of the many enchanting streets that make up Montemarte. I remember marvelling over the sheer choice and beauty of these quiches, the French really do know how to bake:D Herr Moutarde and I bought some extra for travel food as we had a flight later that afternoon to Rome – yummy quiche sure as hell beats airplane food!

I found this recipe on the Taste website and was convinced by the number of positive reader comments at the bottom. I’ve made a few little changes to the recipe so for the original please check this link:)


Ingredients
1 ½ sheets of regular sized frozen shortcrust pastry or 1 if you’re using the larger size
250g orange sweet potato, peeled, cut into 2cm pieces
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 cups baby spinach
210g can red salmon, drained
1/2 cup low-fat feta cheese, crumbled
3 eggs
½ cup milk

Method
Make the quiche shell, by fitting the pastry into a greased flan tin (I used a 25cm one), and blind baking with either rice or baking weights in a 200˚C oven for 15 min, then baking a further 10 min without any weights to crisp.

Lightly toss sweet potato in olive oil or spray (any oil really, but please choose a plant/vegetable source) and bake at 200˚C for about 20 min until tender (may take longer or shorter depending on oven). Lower oven to 180˚C after the sweet potato and pastry shell are done.

Wilt baby spinach with garlic in a small amount of oil in pan.

Whisk together eggs and milk

Layer sweet potato, then baby spinach, salmon then feta cheese into the baked shell. Pour over egg mixture.

Bake in oven for ~40 min or until set (mine took about an hour…) Cool in pan for 10 min then release and slice:) Enjoy.

A really tasty recipe, I was a little apprehensive at first that it would be too fishy for me, but the combination of flavours works really well. We had it as a (very) quick lunch, while bustling around the house, multitasking:)