Category Archives: brunch

Review – Palazzo Versace, Le Jardin – High Tea

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Every now and again, a touch of luxury for no reason is called for in life.  Society’s focus always seems to be on doing things for the betterment of body or mind – people will tell you that you’ll feel relaxed if you go for a run or read a book.  But, to me, it’s just as important to make time for the betterment of your soul.    Luxury for no reason is for the soul.

Luxury can take many forms.  Often for me, it takes the form of turning up my favourite tunes and dancing around the kitchen whilst cooking and singing, in a fashion which is all together too blushable to describe.  It’s an Occupational Health & Safety nightmare.  What can I say, I like to live dangerously.

By far, one of my favorite ways to find luxury is in my oldest and dearest friends.  There is luxury in sharing their company.  Time together is always full of heartfelt laughter and smiles which make my ears hurt!  Once we finished university, we couldn’t have gone on more distinct pathways – both in career choice and location.  So being separated makes time together a super-charged luxury.

Hubby and I are currently taking a week-long break on the Gold Coast, which is only an hour and a bit from Brisbane, our home town.  My gorgeous girlfriend, M, who is keeping a place marker for us in Brisbane, made the journey down to see me.  M is, hands-down, the warmest, sweetest and most luxurious friend a gal could have.  She has the same effect on an establishment as freshly baked muffins – you just can’t help but smile in her presence.  Plus, she always has the best ideas for fabulous places to go – this time it was High Tea at Palazzo Versace!

Name: Palazzo Versace, Le Jardin
Website: http://www.palazzoversace.com.au/le-jardin
Location:  Sea World Drive, Main Beach, Gold Coast, Queensland

I didn’t want to stick out like a sore thumb tourist by taking my grownup camera, so these photos are taken on my phone and therefore, just assume, it’s far more beautiful than this (which it was)!

high tea

What did we eat?  The Fashionista High Tea

Palazzo Versace Le Jardine

The menu read: Deliciously light scones with Bonne Maman preserves and whipped King Island double cream… and it’s no word of a lie.  They are deliciously light scones.  Bonne Maman jams are always a treat and I know of no better cream than King Island double cream.

Palazzo Versace Le Jardine

There was an assortment of lovely sandwiches, served with a roasted capsicum dip which was delicious.  The sandwiches were lovely and fresh.  A frequent issue that I find with high teas is that the finger sandwiches are often prepared in advance and therefore dry on top and soggy on the bottom.  These sandwiches did not suffer that fate.  They were fresh-as-a-daisy and delicious.  I particularly loved the thought which had obviously gone in to matching bread type with fillings.  For example, the multi-grain bread with brie, turkey and cranberry was a lovely texture match.

Palazzo Versace Le Jardine

The menu read: Heavenly selection of tailor made designer pastries, featuring cake pops, macarons, cupcakes, a fresh fruit tartlet and more.  And again – not a truer word were spoken.  This photo does not do the colour on this plate justice.

The luster dusted cupcakes were as delicious as they were pretty.  Full of cinnamon and other spices, they were light, fluffy and not too sweet.

We both agreed that the macarons were some of the best we’ve had.  They packed a beautiful berry punch.  The coffee éclair, lemon meringue tart, fruit tart and chocolate mouse filled chocolate sponge lamington were all delightful treats.  And the cake pops… oh the cake pops… who knew cake pops could have so much elegance?

I was well aware that the marble, no-expense-spared, ornate environment had me swooning well before the food came out.  Ordinarily I’d find that much marble and sparkle a bit over the top.  It is not a décor I’m generally drawn to.  But, it had been done with oodles of taste.  Plainly put, the place was beautiful.

I easily could have forgiven ordinary food for the experience of sitting in such a fabulous and comfortable spot.  But, there was no need to make excuses for the food.  Because the food, like the place, was a tasteful and elegant balance between extravagance and subtlety.  There was not a fault to find.

What did I drink? 

Pineapple Cardamom Crush

I considered having the more traditional champagne accompaniment to our high tea, however, as it happens, I’m not much into champagne.  But I do love to watch a good mixologist in action!

Palazzo Versace Le Jardine

A mix of Cognac, Chartreuse, pineapple, cardamom syrup and lemon juice.  It was delicious.  Cognac is not something I’m ordinarily drawn to, but pineapple juice is my holiday drink and thus, being on holidays, this was the drink for me.  I felt über sophisticated drinking this baby.  Although I could have done with a straw, but I’m willing to forgive this oversight.

Lady grey tea

A Ronnefeldt tea, this lady grey was a lovely floral tea, with hints of citrus.

Would I recommend it? 

Yes.  It exceeded my expectations and was the best high tea I’ve had.  The service could have been a tad more attentive – but I’m splitting hairs.  The food was sublime and it was a generous serving size for a high tea.
 Palazzo Versace Le JardineThis outing was a bit more luxury than is ordinary for me, but it made for a fabulous way to start the holiday… and gee it tasted good!

Lemon Curd

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Spring is a time for foraging farmers’ markets, whipping up wonderful treats and prancing along to picnics in the sun.  But, with summer and swimwear on the horizon, it’s also the time to unshackle the kitchen from nasty ingredients such as… and I hate to say it… butter.

So, when the gals and I got together to forage the farmers’ market and whip up wonderful treats, ahead of prancing along to our picnic in the sun – we found a recipe for lemon curd that was butter-free!  A much lighter alternative than the usual recipe… but it tasted good! I assure you!  Trust me, don’t be alarmist, it has all the good stuff – lemon and sugar and eggs!

In truth, this butter-free recipe was the sacrificial lamb, to allow us to gorge on other nasty treats like heavenly, gooey and stinky cheese, fig and nut bread and Jamón Serrano.  I like to think of this lemon curd as the carbon offset you can buy nowadays when booking flights.  Just a little something to make yourself feel better about the unintended consequences of your indulgence.

We found this treat-of-a-recipe on Food.com and we send our thanks to the contributor, Mandy, for sharing this gem.

Ingredients
1 cup fresh lemon juice (the recipe suggests you could make it on lime juice, and we added some fresh orange juice with the lemon and it was delicious)
grated zest of the lemons, oranges, or limes you use (avoid the white part, which is bitter)
1 scant cup of sugar
3 farm fresh eggs at room temperature (the bright orange colour of our curd came from the vibrant egg yolks we used)
seeds from 2 vanilla pods, or equivalent in extract or paste
sterilised jars for storage

In a small saucepan, over a medium heat, dissolve sugar into juice and add zest.
Lightly beat the eggs in a bowl. Whisking constantly, slowly pour the slightly cooled lemon/sugar syrup into the egg. Beat for 2 minutes then slowly transfer back into the slightly cooled saucepan.

Heat slowly over a low heat, stirring constantly, until it just starts to bubble at the edges and begins to thicken.  Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

Transfer to a container and store in the fridge.  Alternatively, if you’re looking to prolong the curd’s life, pour warm curd into warm sterilised jars and screw down the lid immediately, allowing it to cool sealed.

To sterilise jars, place clean jars and lids into an oven set between 90-120°C until hot.  Carefully remove from the oven and fill and seal whilst hot (or the same temperature as the curd).  I prefer jars with metal lids, that are plastic coated on the inside and have a visible dent on the top which, when sealed hot, sucks inwards and when opened pops out, as this popping is a surefire way to know the contents is fresh.

I’ve since used the remaining curd to fill a sponge cake with blueberries.  I’ll have to share that recipe with you soon because it was delicious, albeit, not summer swim-suit friendly (but, I guess you can’t have everything in life).

Check out these other interesting ways to use lemon curd:

Middle Eastern Dinner Party – Part 1 – Ratatouille-Style Briouats

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Middle Eastern filo rolls

We recently had a Middle Eastern themed dinner party.  For entrée, I served these tasty Ratatouille-Style Briouats (I understand it to be pronounced bree-wat).

This was a recipe I gleaned from Jamie Does.  I was very taken by the episode where Jamie Oliver went to Marrakesh.  It made my feet itchy.

One of the great things about cooking, is that you can travel from your dining room table.  We’re so fortunate to be able to get amazing spices and interesting international foods now days at the local deli.  This dish is described as Moroccan street food.

I’ve heard stories of my Opa going to Morocco in his younger years.  It would have been years before the movie Casablanca came out.  Whilst making this entrée I wondered to myself whether my Opa would have ever eaten something like this in a market place in those days.  It must have been a very adventurous time to be in Morocco.

Ingredients
2 tomatoes, halved
2 zucchinis, halved length-ways and sliced
1 onion, peeled and cut into 8 wedges
1 red capsicum, deseeded and roughly chopped
1 eggplant, halved length-ways and sliced
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
2-4 teaspoons of ras el hanout spice mix
a good glug of olive oil
salt and pepper
2 handfuls of breadcrumbs 
2 lemons, one juiced and one cut in quarters
8-16 sheets of filo pastry
2 teaspoons sesame seeds (optional)
100g melted butter
150g greek yoghurt
2 teaspoons harissa
coriander or parsley to serve

Serves 4-6

Preheat oven to 180°C (or 160°C fan forced).  Toss the prepared veg, garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper and spices together in a large roasting tray and bung that in the oven for 45 minutes or so, until everything is cooked through and deliciously golden.  You may want to visit the vegetables half way through that cooking time to give them another little toss, so they colour and cook evenly.

When the vegetables are ready, pull them out and let them cool until they are cool enough to handle and roughly chop them until they are well mixed but not mush.  In a bowl, combine the chopped, roasted vegetables and the juice of one of the lemons.  Taste for seasoning.

At this point, turn your oven up to 220°C (or 200°C fan forced).  

To roll the Briouats, wet and wring out a clean tea-towel to lay your filo pastry on, so it won’t become dry and brittle.  Next, take your filo pastry and lay 2-4 sheets on top of each other, brushing in-between each layer with melted butter (yum) or oil.

I then sprinkled a half a handful of breadcrumbs along one long side of the filo (leaving a 3cm border) and spooned the vegetable mixture along that line too.  Breadcrumbs weren’t in the original recipe, but I wanted to make sure the pastry remained crispy and breadcrumbs are great at absorbing any extra liquid in the filling.  It may sound odd, but I do the same for apple strudel as well (you don’t taste it and it works a treat).

Use the tea-towel to assist you in rolling the pastry into a cigar shape, tucking in the short sides as you go to seal it up.  Use more melted butter as glue.  Mine came out looking more like sausage rolls.  I was running a little late and I didn’t take as much time or care as perhaps I should have… but it tasted good!  However, you could roll them to be much smaller, and more delicate cigars.

Placing the rolls in a baking dish, I then brushed them liberally with the melted butter (is there any other way to brush butter onto pastry?!), and sprinkled with some sesame seeds and a bit of left over spice mix and put it in the oven for about 20 minutes, until all crispy and golden.  Keep an eye on them intermittently.

Serve with wedges of lemon, fresh herbs, and a pot of yoghurt swirled with hot harissa - delicious!

The genius thing about this for an entrée, is that you can par-cook the rolls and pop them back in the oven for final browning when your guests are having a welcome drink with nibbles.

Stay tuned for Middle Eastern Dinner Party – Part 2 – Chicken, Olive and Preserved Lemon Tagine (without a tagine)… and the grand finale of Part 3 – Almond Honey Spice Syrup Cake with Fig, Date and Apricot Compote.

Mother’s Day Roundup

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Mother’s Day is a little over a week away here in Australia.  I, unfortunately, don’t live in the same city as my mum, which often makes me quite sad.  My regular followers will probably have met my mum, via the comments she often makes on my posts.  I’m so lucky to have such an amazing and supportive mum.  No matter what I have pursued in my life, mum has stood strong with me.  From picking up the pieces after many-a-boy broke my heart, through to cooking all my favourite meals when I was sick, to make me feel better.

Over the years, mum has always been a source of strength for me.  She is, and has always been on my side (even when she probably shouldn’t have been).  And I have learnt so much from her.  My mum taught me how to love someone unconditionally.  Mum manages to love everyone unconditionally.  I’m not that generous.  But, I’m so lucky to know how to love the people who matter unconditionally, and that is a gift I will always be thankful to my mum for.

And, knock me over with a wet tram ticket – more and more I notice things in me that are mum all over.  And yes, that does sometime include the wearing of leopard print clothes!  :)

So, with Mother’s Day on the horizon, I thought I’d post a round up of all the great things I’ve seen about the blogger-sphere recently which I think would make great Mother’s Day craft and kitchen projects.  I’d make them all for Mum if I could!

Never ending flowers

Carnations have long represented Mother’s Day.  These beautiful carnations are made from tissue paper and will live on strong.

The Enchanted Gallery Blog has step by step instructions for how to make these cheerful, yet surprisingly simple to construct, blooms for your mum.

Fabric gift pouch

If you’ve got something small and special for your mum, why not wrap it in something as special as this?!

A Spoon Full of Sugar has drawn the strings on this magic little design.  I encourage you to check out this site, which has some great crafting gift ideas!  I’m sure any mum would love to receive a parcel which looked as beautiful as this.

Tee up something special for a tea-loving mum

This is just too beautiful – or to be correct about it - Too Stinkin’ Cute!  This blog, Too Stinkin’ Cute, has gone to town with an amazing collection of mum-loving ideas.   So many ideas that it was difficult to pick a favourite for this post!

My mum is more of a coffee drinker, to be honest.  But this idea could still work, you could make special, personalised packets of your mum’s favorite instant coffee!  Such a thoughtful, yet cost effective project.  If you bought some muslin and an amazing loose leaf tea, you could even make the tea bags.  Shhh… friends and family – look away! I love this idea so much that I think I’ll be using it for gifts in the future.

I know… you are probably wondering why there are so many craft ideas on a cooking blog!  Craft is my second love, after all.  But, now we get to the all important Mother’s Day food!

The ultimate Mother’s Day breakfast in bed

Hungry Happenings has the most delicious Mother’s Day breakfast in bed post this year!  Melon flowers, painted pastries and the sweetest eggs I’ve ever seen! 

Hungry Happenings has so much creativity!  The site is a one-stop-shop for any themed recipe you can think of, and more.

Homemade Nutella for breakfast

Who knew you could make Nutella from scratch? and serve it with sea salt? Genius.  I certainly had never thought of it, but what a great Mother’s Day treat!?

A Cup of Jo has many bright ideas for a Mother’s Day brunch and their recipe for Nutella is amazingly simple.  I can’t wait to try it.

Brush embroidery cakes

I’ve never tried it, but would love to.  Brush embroidery on cakes looks amazing.  Big Hungry Gnomes took a sugar craft class on brush embroidery earlier in the year and I’ve been thinking of trying it ever since.
Description: http://bighungrygnomes.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/dsc03277.jpg?w=300&h=200 Description: http://bighungrygnomes.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/dsc03278.jpg?w=300&h=200

Description: http://bighungrygnomes.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/dsc03280.jpg?w=300&h=200 Description: http://bighungrygnomes.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/dsc032721.jpg?w=300&h=200

I think Mother’s Day is the perfect excuse for anyone to try brush embroidery.  I’m sure my mum would love it.  Heck, who wouldn’t love being presented with a cake decorated in such a beautiful way?

I do hope this has given you some exciting ideas for Mother’s Day.  You still have 8 days to prepare!

I wish I could be back home to spoil mum this Mother’s Day, but it’s just not possible this time around.  This year is also my sister’s first mother’s day.  It’s early days really (less than 4 months in), but I can already see she is an amazing mum.  It seems unreal to me that she just knows how to be a great mum.  But then I think, how could she not be?  She learnt from the best.

 

Anzac inspired Breakfast Bars

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Inspired by today’s occasion (ANZAC Day) and by Nigella’s Breakfast Bars, today I’ve made ANZAC inspired Breakfast Bars (or muesli bars).

I’m a mess in the mornings, and so breakfast before I leave home is a rarity.  In an effort to be healthier (and with some buy-in to the urban legend that starting to eat breakfast in the mornings will actually see you lose weight), I’ve decided that I need an on-the-go alternative for the mornings.  Out of principle, I won’t drink those breakfast-in-a-popper things, or mix ‘shakes’.  So this is my new compromise.  I’m committed to losing weight by adding an extra meal to my day!  And that meal, this week, is going to be ANZAC inspired Breakfast Bars.

Ingredients
Dry
2 1/2 cups rolled oats (the old fashion ones, not any box with the word ‘instant’ or ‘quick’ on it)
1 cup of unsalted mixed seeds (I used a 1/3 of a cup each of: pumpkin, sunflower and sesame)
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup of unsalted macadamia nuts
100 g chopped dried pineapple
100 g chopped crystallized ginger

Wet
50 g of melted butter
50 ml (or 2 tablespoons) golden syrup
400 g can of skim sweetened condensed milk (breakfast isn’t as likely to make me thinner if I use the full cream version, is it?)

Useful equipment
large mixing bowl
a 29cm x 19cm disposable foil tray
latex gloves

Preheat your oven, fan forced, to 120°C (250°F) and grease a 29cm x 19cm disposable tray.

When I first learnt the trick of using disposable foil trays to bake in, it was a revolution to the baking/wash-up debate in our home.  Thank you Nigella for that golden tip.

Anzac breakfast bars, muesli bar

Put all the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl.

muesli bars

Then, put all your wet ingredients together.

muesli bars, breakfast bars, anzacs

Then pour your wet ingredients, in with your dry ingredients.

muesli bars

Now the fun part – mixing it all together.  The easiest way to do this is to put on some latex gloves and get scrunching.  At first it looks like the mix is too dry, but keep scrunching and it will come together.

muesli bars, breakfast bars, anzacs

Push it into the tray and put it in the oven for 1 hour.  After the hour is up, let it cool on a rack for 15 minutes.  Then remove from the tray and cut the bars up.  You should get around 16 pieces out of this size.

Anzac breakfast bars - muesli bars

Enjoy!

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