Fig, Prosciutto,Gorgonzola and Caramelised Onion Pizza

When I was young, I used to spend part of my summer holidays at my cousin's property, which was about 20 minutes from the centre of Orange in Borenore. My brother and I would be beside ourselves with excitement in the lead up to the trip which always included two weeks of swimming lessons at a school in Orange. Each morning my brother, cousins and I would show up for swimming class with four different colours of zinc cream on our faces (designs varied from day to day) and the only ones who willingly chose to wear swimming caps, like a bunch of psychedelic little eggs. People probably thought we looked completely nuts, but we thought we looked hilarious and we revelled in it. 
When we weren't putting on a show at swimming lessons, we were dashing around the property; playing in the shearing shed and sliding down the chute where the sheep go after being shorn, trying to feed apples to a couple of toothless old horses of my cousins (I was petrified of them), swimming in the dam and picking figs in the giant orchard.


These figs, I tell you, were the best figs I have ever tasted. Sweet, juicy, grassy and plentiful. We would pick them right off the tree as we rode our bikes through the orchard and then swing back around five minutes later for more. I will never forget those figs; we still talk about them. 

The figs I have photographed above were not like those of my childhood. I bought 3 punnets of them for $10. There were other figs next to the punnets that were sold separately. They looked amazing (and similar to the ones in my flashback) but were far more expensive. It was the week before pay day (and I had just splurged on some sensational Gorgonzola) and I was on a shoestring, so I went for quantity over quality.
I made a mistake. 
Out of three punnets, only six were somewhat OK to eat and the rest were pretty much fig slime as soon as I looked at them. So what to do with six figs that are on the turn? 
What I wanted to make were sweet little individual tarts, but what actually ended up being made was a big ol' tasty pizza. Along with the figs, I caramelised some onions with a little rosemary, added some creamy Gorgonzola and strips of prosciutto. The dough is a snap to make (and is great for kneading out fig-related buyers remorse) and only requires a little bit of waiting for the dough to rise.

15 minutes in the oven and you wouldn't have know that those figs were about to self-destruct, all the flavours melded together in a perfect combination of sweet and savoury. The next time I happen upon some crappy yet still edible figs, I am not going to lament about those perfect figs from my childhood. I am going to dig up a more recent memory and make this pizza.

Fig, Prosciutto, Gorgonzola and Caramelised Onion Pizza
I used this recipe from http://www.taste.com.au for my pizza base, and because I did not adapt it in any way, I have decided to leave it out in the recipe below. Use whatever basic dough recipe you are happy with, but this one works for me every time.


For the topping
Small handful of uncooked polenta
4 or 5 figs, sliced 
6 thin strips of prosciutto
Approx 200g Gorgonzola - or blue cheese you like
2 large onions, halved and then finely sliced
2 tbs butter
1 tsp olive oil
Approx 2 tbs of fresh, chopped rosemary
Approx 1 tbs honey
Approx 1 tbs balsamic vinegar
Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Preheat your oven to 220C and prepare your pizza tray (I used a rectangular baking tray) by scattering the polenta over the tray and lightly tapping the bottom to ensure that it is evenly dispersed across the tray.
2. Prepare your pizza dough according to this recipe or one of your choice.
3. While the dough is rising, add the butter and oil to a heavy based pan over a low to medium heat. Once the butter has melted, add the rosemary and onion and cook down for about 10-20 minutes, stirring occasionally and scraping the pan down to prevent the onion from catching and burning. Once done, transfer the onions to a bowl lined with paper towel. Set aside.
4. Assemble the figs, Gorgonzola, prosciutto, honey and balsamic vinegar.
5. Once your dough has risen, knead according to the recipe and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll your dough into your desired shape and place it carefully on your tray, gather the edges to form the crust.
6. Top the dough with the onion, spreading it out evenly over the base.
7. Arrange the figs, Gorgonzola and prosciutto over the onions and drizzle with the honey and balsamic. Season to taste.
8. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until the crusts have turned light brown and crispy.
9. Carefully take out of the oven and transfer the pizza to a board to slice up and eat.

Mushroom Sliders

We may not be getting much of a summer here in Sydney, but at least we still have Daylight Savings. With only a month left of Summer and the weather looking to be finally improving, I am making the most of it. I love getting home from work when it is still daylight, giving me time to go for a walk, tend to my potted-garden and, best of all, enjoy BBQ dinners on the deck while it is still light and the air is cool and breezy.


When the Australian Mushroom Growers Association approached me to come up with a recipe for their Summer Mushrooms campaign, I saw this as a massive challenge to create something that could be made ahead of time, could be thrown on the BBQ when I got in from work or made for a weekend BBQ with friends. Mushrooms are one of my favourite ingredients, I just love their funky earthiness and the fact that you can make so many dishes with them as you can see here. Who knew there were so many things to do with Mushrooms in Summer?

I decided to make these mushroom sliders as a vegetarian alternative to beef burger patties. I myself am more than happy to change it up and forego the flesh (on occasion) in favour of something herbivorous and I think that we could all do with a day or two in our week doing this, the problem is that some people feel that their meal isn't complete without meat. So I wanted to prove that even the most carnivorous of carnivores could bite into something a little bit different, and say something along the lines of "Huh, you wouldn't know there wasn't any meat in here"*

The first thing I had to do was to choose my mushroom. No delicate oyster mushrooms or whispy enokies here, what was needed was the biggest, meatiest mushroom I could find, the portobello. Half of the portobellos were minced into a tasty umami flavoured paste (to help with the binding) which also included anchovies (bet you were wondering when I was going to use these) as well as sage, thyme, garlic and tomato paste. 
To add some crunch to the mix, I added some toasted walnuts and bread crumbs. The rest of the mushrooms were diced and tossed through the mix raw along with an egg. 
I then shaped the mixture into small patties and stored them in the fridge for a couple of hours - to let the flavours mingle, get to know one another and to firm up ready for cooking.
Once they are done, go nuts with whatever topping you please; I topped this batch with caramelised onion, mustard, peppery watercress and a quail egg. Whatever you decide to top them with, these patties will definitely hold their own along side the steak, sausages and beef burgers at your next BBQ and most certainly won't leave you feeling like you are missing out on anything the carnivores are having.


* this was proclaimed to me by The Bearded Gamer Carnivore when he gave them a try. 

This post was proudly sponsored by The Mushroom Growers Association as part of their Summer Mushrooms Campaign. For more delicious Summer Mushroom recipes, head over here and get cooking while the days are still long. 


Mushroom Sliders
Makes approx 8 small slider patties or 4 large burgers
8 Dinner rolls
150g large portobello mushrooms, finely diced
150g large portobello mushrooms  (roughly chopped for the paste)
125 grams of walnuts, toasted and then finely chopped
1 cup breadcrumbs
1 egg lightly beaten
6 sage leaves
3 anchovies - (Edit) - Vegetarians, please omit this
2 garlic cloves
approx 2 tbsp thyme
2 tbsp tomato paste
salt and pepper to taste
Add the roughly chopped mushrooms, tomato paste, garlic, anchovies, sage and thyme to a food processor and blitz until you have a smooth paste.
To a large bowl, add the finely chopped mushrooms, breadcrumbs, eggs, walnuts and paste. Season to taste then mix to combine.
Roll the mixture into balls and press down to form a thick patty. Once you have done this with all the mix, put them on a plate and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours or overnight.
Over a medium-high heat on a well oiled BBQ plate or pan, cook the patties for about 3 minutes on each side.
Assemble your buns and fillings. 


Make sure you sit next to someone eating a giant steak and watch their eyes glaze over when they smell and see what you are munching on!

February Vintage Cocktail: The Avenue

I found the recipe for this month’s vintage cocktail in the e-book version of Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails from the Almagoozlum to the Zombie by Ted Haigh (as mentioned here).

The Avenue was first published in 1937 in the Cafe Royal Cocktail Book, which was the unofficial recipe guide of the United Kingdom Bartenders Guild.

There really doesn’t seem to be much of a story behind The Avenue (as far as I could tell); however, what seemed to attract people to make this particular cocktail is not the beautiful Calvados or the bourbon, but the supposedly rare mixers used.

The first one being real passionfruit juice; obtaining this simply involved me buying six passionfruit from the shops and passing it through a sieve to extract the juice - this step was almost too easy to bother writing about but I managed to cut two of my fingers badly when slicing the last passionfruit, that I felt it deserved a mention (mind your fingers!). 


The second mixer is Grenadine made with real pomegranate. The only grenadine that I was familiar with is the pomegranate-free, high corn syrup, fire-engine red concoction that rested at the bottom of my Vodka Sunrise circa 1997. After doing a check on Google, I managed to find out that real grenadine requires little more than pomegranate juice and sugar – which is pretty much sugar syrup with pom juice instead of water.

The only pomegranate juice that I could find at the time was pretty pricey at $10 a bottle, but I figured that I could make the grenadine and use the rest for healthy, antioxidant rich juice for breakfast for the rest of the week (this is my justification).

The third mixer is orange blossom water, which I already had in the cupboard – I love it; the smell, the taste, sometimes when I am feeling the urge I just stand there bottle in hand inhaling its soft fragrance.

The fact that Grenadine has been the most popular mixer since the 1920’s aside, I imagine that it would have been quite difficult to source passionfruit juice and especially orange blossom water back in 1937 when the recipe for The Avenue was published and therefore making this a rather special and rare cocktail indeed.

The taste is complex. Firstly, I could barely tell that there was any bourbon in it at all, which made me thankful that I only bought a mini bottle of Jack Daniels (as I had already spent so much on the Calvados and the pom juice already). What I could taste, however, was the orange blossom water, the grenadine and the calvados, all in perfect harmony with the tangy passionfruit juice which kept it from becoming too much like perfume. This is a seriously beautiful cocktail. I am not sure if it wins over The French 75 for me but it comes very close.

The Avenue
via Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails from the Almagoozlum to the Zombie by Ted Haigh, first published in the Cafe Royal Cocktail Book
1fl oz bourbon
1 fl oz Calvados
1 fl oz passionfruit juice
1 dash of real pomegranate grenadine
1 dash orange flower water
Shake in an iced cocktail shaker and strain into a cocktail glass.

Blackberry and Lime Yoghurt Cake

Generally when I decide to make something, I usually have chosen the key ingredient before I find a recipe or method for it.  For instance, if I were to spot a ripe, fragrant peach in the height of summer, my mind would begin to tick, cogs would start to turn and before I know it, I'd be buried up to my chin in recipe books. This time, however, the recipe came to me first.

The recipe was for a cake in the February issue of the Sydney Morning Herald's 'Sydney Magazine' by John Wilson who had adapted it from a Stephanie Alexander recipe.  I swear that the picture of this puckered and fruit laden cake actually winked at me and whispered in a soft and dreamy voice: "Aren't I pretty? Wouldn't you just love to bake me? Go on, you know you want to…"

The other beautiful thing about this recipe was the topping: eggs, sugar, cinnamon and butter drizzled all over the top. I was dying to see what that would be like.

So I ripped the recipe out and stashed it in my wallet until I found the perfect fruit to use with it - the recipe called for raspberries and nectarines but I was feeling creative.
I am a big fan of fruit-based desserts, especially ones that require you to bake it in some kind of cake batter. I love it that the fruit turns soft, sweet and transforms into something really special. 
I found my perfect key ingredient in the form of a big tub of blackberries. I have wanted to make something with blackberries for some time now and have been waiting for them to come into season. After buying them, I stashed them in the freezer until I was ready to get baking.

Then I ruined the cake.
I used the wrong sized tin, it was awful. I baked it for half an hour longer than I was meant to just to try and save it. Then it became burnt on the outside and still liquid in the middle. I would have taken a photo (because who doesn't love to see a disaster such as this) but I binned it before I could look at it any further.

I still had blackberries and cake on my mind so I went and got a couple more punnets; they didn't look as nice as the others but (eh,what can you do) they tasted lovely.
So once again, the ingredient was going to guide me to the recipe. And guide me it did, right to a recipe that I had bookmarked forever ago from Smitten Kitchen. This was a cake that wouldn't give me grief, a cake that contained yoghurt and limes, a cake that only required one bowl and contained only 2 eggs. This was a happy cake. 

Deb's (from Smitten Kitchen) recipe had used blackberries in the form of a beautiful sauce that she draped over the cake, but I was way over doing any extra work at this stage. So instead I just dropped my blackberries into the batter so that I could see that some would submerge below the surface whilst some would stay on top to create a most excellent effect. 

Yes, this cake turned out very well, no worries.

Blackberry and Lime Yoghurt Cake
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen
1 cup of plain, unsweetened yoghurt
1/3 cup of vegetable oil, I used rice bran oil
1 cup sugar
Zest from 2 limes
1/4 cup of lime juice
2 punnets of blackberries
2 eggs
1 2/3 cup of plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt

1. Preheat the oven to 180C and grease a 22cm cake tin. I used a spring-form tin so did not need to line it but if you don't have one of these, line the base with baking paper.
2. Add the yoghurt, sugar, lime juice, oil and zest from one of the limes to a mixing bowl. Whisk to combine
3. Add the eggs 1 at a time, whisking the first one in before adding the second one.
4. Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt directly into your wet ingredients, stir until just combined. Don't over stir.
5. Pour the batter into the cake tin and scatter the blackberries over the top, some will sink down.
6. Bake in the oven for 35 to 45 minutes depending on your oven or until a skewer comes out clean.
7. Cool the cake on a wire rack, then grate the zest from the remaining lime evenly over the top of the cake.
8. Finish with a dusting of icing sugar.