And I'm back... and a truffle Mac n Cheese

Wowsers, I haven't added to this 'blog' for quite some time.  I do use it quite a bit for my own personal reference - particularly when I'm hunting for an old favourite recipe and need to remember if it's 1 cup or 1 and a half, you know, that kinda thing.

So much has happened since I last posted.  There's been this thing going on - COVID-19 which has meant that we've been inside our houses, cooking up a storm.  I know lots of people have been making sourdough bread (yeah, sorry - that wasn't me but my husband kept us carb loaded!) and I know that many of us have sought comfort in food.

As a 'hey I'm back to the blog' I thought I would share my all time favourite winter comfort meal - Miss Mardi's Mac n Cheese.  What makes this meal different from your usual mac n cheese?  The addition of leeks, vermouth, cauliflower and truffle butter... it's a bit lighter with the addition of the cauliflower but still hits the spot!

I always make this with the philosophy of "that looks about right and that's enough" so I don't really measure anything but here are my tips if you are keen to try at home.

• I break down a head of cauliflower into small florets
• Sweat down 1 brown onion and a sliced leek - finish off the cooking with a splash of good dry white vermouth - I use Martini brand extra dry
• Cook about half a bag of spiral macaroni (about 250 to 300 grams).  I always cook mine in salted water for about half the time it says on the pack - so about 5 minutes
• Make the white sauce - start of with a traditional roux (butter and flour, then add milk).  For this version I used truffle butter - totally decadent!  Also I use skim milk, I know, I know but it is what we have in the house and seriously I prefer the less creamy sauce, it kinda allows the flavours to do their thing
• Flavours for the mac sauce - I add a combo of sweet Hungarian paprika, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, small amount of chili powder, mustard powder, white pepper and salt. This is all eyeballed but generally speaking, go light on the 'hot' flavours and heavy on the mustard.
• Mix sauce with leek, onion, cauliflower etc - stir through with this your grated cheese mixture.  I use about a cup and a half of a premixed grated cheese combo of cheddar, Parmesan and mozzarella.
• Pop in a container or two and top with some extra cheddar, sprinkle some panko breadcrumbs on top and add small little squares of truffle butter on top (maybe about 5 - don't go crazy!!)
• Into the oven it goes at about 200 degrees celsius for approx 25 - 30 mins.  keep an eye on it for brownness.

Serve with some fresh parsley, hot sauce if that's your thing and additional truffle oil if you want that really earthiness.

Ps. that is me pointing at the specks of black truffle - delicious!!!

Cauliflower and Leek Soup Recipe

Sometimes you make a soup that just tastes amazing!  This was one of those soups.  Inspired by the fact that  there were a bunch of veggies that needed to be used in my fridge, this creamy soup was super tasty!

For this soup I used:

A whole head of cauliflower

2 small leeks, trimmed to white and light green sections

1 small brown onion

4 small potatoes, peeled and chopped into chunky cubes

veggie stock to cover

3 -4 rashers of bacon

olive oil

butter

To serve:

cream

chopped parsley

salt and pepper

How to:

• lightly sweat down the leeks and onion in a pot with a dollop of olive oil and a little bit of butter.
• add the chopped cauliflower and potatoes and stir to lightly cook and coat in butter and oil (a couple of minutes)
• add stock to cover and lightly simmer for approximately 20 minutes.
• while soup is simmering, cook bacon to your liking.  I tend to grill mine in the full rashers, then chop up afterwards.
• Use a stick blender to blend to a smooth consistency.  I don't like mine too smooth, but this is up to you!
• serve in a bowl, top with bacon, chopped parsley and a drizzle of cream.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

This is a great meal with a side of crusty bread or even garlic bread during those super cold months.  Even my husband claimed that this was "more delicious than he thought it was going to be".  Really?!  Yes, he was pleasantly surprised!

Chocolate Chip Cookies...

Every now and then, I get a craving for a delicious, sweet and chocolatey choc chip cookie.  It has to be slightly chewy and with a good amount of chocolate chips in it.

Yesterday, I pulled out my Kitchenaid mixer in the morning and whipped up these cookies.  The recipe makes about 36 cookies, maybe a little less, depending on how big you make them.

You will need:

• 250g butter softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup caster sugar
• 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 & 1/4 cup plain flour
• 1 teaspoon bicarb soda
• 375g chocolate chips, your choice of dark or milk or a combo!

 How to!

1. preheat oven to 180 degree Celsius and prepare oven trays.
2. beat butter, vanilla and sugars with an electric mixer, you are wanting to cream them together.  When they get going, add the egg and mix until light and fluffy.  
3. Transfer sugar mixtures to a larger bowl and sift in the flour and bicarb soda.  Do this in 2 batches, working one cup in at a time with a wooden spoon.  The mixture will be quite stiff so you will be giving your arm a work out!
4. Add the choc chips and mix well.
5. Roll out tablespoons of the mixture into balls in your hand and place about 5cm apart on trays.  The cookies will spread!  Bake for about 15 minutes.
6. Carefully cool cookies on trays.  They will be golden around the edge and still a little soft in the middle.
7. Store in an airtight container, however, they won't last long!

Enjoy these cookies with coffee or just for a sweet treat.  You can play around with the type of chocolate chips or even add in some nuts, have fun with it!

Happy Easter...

Bacon and egg breakfast tart.

For most of us, Easter is a long weekend.  Lots of relaxing times and catching up with family and friends.  For me its about cooking some delicious treats and staying inside being cozy, watching films and knitting.

lounging in my hand knitted socks.

Although Melbourne's weather has been very up and down, I've still gone towards comfort this weekend in my hand knitted socks and tasty simple treats.

So I hope that you have a wonderful Easter and that it is relaxing with loads of tasty treats too!

Pearl's Burgers in San Francisco...

Snapshot of the Pearl's Burger website.

So while I may of been eating a whole lot of pizza in New York City, I have definitely been eating quite a few burgers in San Francisco.  We actually have a list of burger joints that we are wanting to visit while we are here and are slowly making it through the list - I mean, can you eat burgers for breakfast, lunch and dinner?!

Menu snapshot from the Pearl's website.

We stumbled across Pearl's Deluxe Burgers as it is super close to where we are staying in San Francisco and I have to say that I am impressed!  It is no frills, super fresh and super delicious.  I had the mini beef burger with cheddar cheese and bacon (OMG - such crispy and delicious bacon!), with mayo, lettuce, onion and tomato.  Mark went for the next size up, which I decided was a little too much for me to handle.  Their fries are great too, really crispy and they have sweet potato, regular as well as some onion fries too.

Our delicious burgers and fries... yeah, we ate here for breakfast!

I love that they come in the little red plastic baskets too, very cute.  Our Pearl's Deluxe Burger experience has been so good that we have actually eaten there twice!  Check out their website for the full menu, and naturally if you are in San Francisco, visit for a burger, you won't be disappointed!