Japanese Knives and Sakai (The City of Knives!)

Of all the kitchen tools we have at our disposal, perhaps the most essential would be the humble knife. It is one of the most primal and simple tool that humans have devised. Ever since we crawled out of caves to fashioned an edge from stone, the knife has never left our sides. For the chef or foodie, the knife is the sexiest, most elegant piece of equipment in the kitchen. The perfect embodiment of form and function. It is the tool that we foodies/chefs are most protective of and most attached to. In the age of useless and overcomplicated kitchen gadgets, the knife remains one of the cornerstones of food preparation.

A Taste of ... Everything!

It was the eve of Australia Day and a text message came through:

"Mission accomplished. The package is en route."
"How does it look?" I responded.
"Stinky." came the reply "In a good way."

It was the culmination of a week's worth of planning prompted by a glimpse of possibilities....

Take One Cup of Flour ...

 ... and you have the basis of a very versatile biscuit!

I've been in a baking mood for a while. I had perfected my gingerbread biscuits (the hottest and most flavoursome according to those who tried them) and tackled espresso biscuits sandwiched with chocolate ganache. I was feeling adventurous and wanted to come up with an original recipe. Because the espresso biscuits had used real coffee grounds, I reasoned that real tea leaves might work in a buttery biscuit and loving the way mixed peel crystallises when baked, I decided Earl Grey might be a good match so I did a google search and lo and behold, I discovered that someone had got there before me. (Actually, several people had but this recipe was the first one I looked at and it sounded really simple so I chose to try it.)

As with all my baking, I couldn't just follow the recipe, I had to add my own touches, experimenting until I came up with a biscuit that is so fragrant that it is undeniably more-ish. One of the special ingredients is Herbie's Fragrant Sweet Spices. A blend of coriander, cassia, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ginger, poppy seeds, cloves, cardomom and rose petals and available from specialty stores, it's the perfect addition to most baked goods. I've resorted to ordering it in bulk direct from the online store - http://www.herbies.com.au/ where you can learn all about culinary and spice expert Ian Hemphill and the story of this supplier of all spices.
 

Linda's Earl Grey Tea Biscuits

Chouquettes

This should have been my inaugural post considering my nom de plume, but I had some difficulty in finding a recipe to work for me - better late than never right?

I was introduced to these sweet treats by my husband who was living in Paris at the time. Chouquettes were his favourite morning coffee/afternoon snack and depending on the boulangerie, were usually really cheap (a couple of euros for a bag of roughly ten chouquettes or sometimes they are sold by weight).

Chouquettes are really just egg-y, light choux pastries, usually covered in perle sucre - really more-ish as the only sweet taste comes from the little crunchy bits of sugar on the outside.




Since coming home to Sydney, I haven't been able to find these delightful little pastries anywhere! So I had to work out a way to make them myself ... With the help of Google of course! :)

Yabba Dabba Doo Man-Chops + Easy Tomato Chutney

Remember the opening intro to the Flintstones where they get drive-thru giant brontosaurus ribs that almost tip the car over. I so would have tackled this back in the stone ages and would love giant fries to match. Well my recent encounter with the "Man-Chop" reminded me of this very scene.