"The vasty fields of France, or may we cram in here" Henry V

I love French cuisine. I think this may have started when I first went to Paris. Before that I didn't hadn't really known what French was. Then I was hit with the simple dishes filled with bold flavours, working together to create a dish rich in taste. Recently I took my husband over there  and he just could not get enough of the quality produce. For example the taste of a tomato. I know you're thinking a tomato?? But they are so red and full that they burst in your mouth and juice dribbles down your chin. This is what we had to contend with when looking for a French restaurant to remind us of our french experience.

And we found one.

Escargots

An excellent French restaurant on the coast......which we didn't think possible.
If you haven't been to Allure, in Currumbin, then you must pay this elegant restaurant a visit, and you might want to bring your credit card. You will want to try everything!

Allure is all things modern French.  A waitress with a beautiful French accent just rolling of the tongue. The decor is modern chic with vintage pieces oddly placed. It's a classic black and white, with polished silver frames, an odd assortment of lamps, vintage time pieces, hanging crystal chandeliers and silver ornate candles sticks glimmering in the ambient light. You won't know where to look it's so pretty and there is such  an attention to detail.
You can sit inside or outside, beside the heaters and potted cottage plants. Either way you'll be surrounded by candles, flowers and romance. A perfect place to come for a special occasion or a loved up dinner. Get into the good books perhaps?

Crumbed camembert

You will be given a palette cleanser to begin. We had a zucchini and asparagus cream shot that tasted delicious and prepared our gastronomy for what was to come. Richness. For our entree we chose the snails in garlic butter, underneath a layer of golden puff pastry. It was just like being in Paris again, except everything is so much cheaper over there. The snails were perfectly cooked and we couldn't get enough of the butter sauce. We have been here a number of times and other entrees worth recommending are the: crumbed camembert with chutney and the seared scallops served on bits of pork belly on a little spoon.

In between our meals the waiters then brought out a granita to prepare our taste buds for our next course.

The fillet mignon

For mains I ordered the duck in a cherry sauce, which came with crunchy snow peas and asparagus that still held all their flavour and colour and sauteed potatoes. The duck was a huge piece, with no bone, that melted in your mouth and had this crispy skin texture to it. It was perfectly cooked. The chef is so fussy here that he will make people wait if he is not happy with the dish he is creating and will start again, so you know you will always get quality and quantity. My husband ordered the fillet mignon, cooked medium rare with a crispy round of kessler bacon sauteed in a red wine jus with a side of potato gratin, mushrooms and broccolini (steamed to a bright green).

We have also had the lobster thermadore (an expensive special but such a classic french dish) and the chicken filled with lobster and prawn  in a creamy sauce. There is also a beautiful lamb rack.

The duck

Whatever you choose you will not have food envy!




Mains are roughly 30- 40 dollars each and so with an entree you are looking at 80-100 dollars, without wines or drinks added to that. I personally don't think this is expensive but everyone is different and it is worth it and it does really depend on what you choose to eat. We tend to get excited with the wine list and splurge, but I think you can also 'Bring your own wine too."

We have always been so full that we have not tried dessert but the profiteroles going past looked like the authentic french patisseries. I might need to try for that next time.

This restaurant has recently won a number of awards (Chef's hat) and is extremely popular so you will have to book.

Palette cleanser

If you have been here I would love to hear what you have thought of it!!  GC food authority

Strawberry fields

Strawberry jam tart with ricotta cream

What do strawberry tarts and camping have in question?  Nothing really. Except for the fact that I had to go Bear Grylly's style with 130, 17 year olds. In the wilderness. Sleeping in a tent on the ground. Carrying all our gear. Orienteering for our food.
All I could think about to be honest was my warm and soft pliable pillow (clothes bundles into a pillow sack does not cut it no matter what they say), curling up to my dog and feeling his warmth, eating hot chocolate fondue and sticky tarts loaded with sugar, wearing heels and clean clothes, hot water to shower in (endless)....and it continued.
Lucky for me some lovely teachers at work (who had intuition) had given me a necessary survival kit for my first 'camping experience.' This included a sleeping bag that dealt with -8 conditions (Thank god as it got to 1degrees) and a white snow bunny jacket with a furry hood, which I ended up sleeping in as well. Needless to say it wasn't exactly white when I returned it.
And so where does the Strawberry Tart come in you say? Well I used food to say how I felt..... which was damn appreciative and thankful for their words of wisdom and giving me much needed tools that I clearly did not have. And all in one pice too with no ticks or leeches....
So what better way to say Thanks than through a butter pastry, homemade sticky jam with a ricotta cream strawberry tart? Hopefully they'll like my gesture. Food always speaks from the heart.
Maybe you should lend me something and reap the yummy goodness.

  Cream                                                        Dough

250 ml thickened cream                       200g plain flour
50g icing sugar                                      30g almond meal
1 vanilla bean split/seeds scraped           55g icing sugar
1 orange zested                                     100g unsalted butter, chopped
400g fresh firm ricotta                               1 egg
1 punnet strawberries halved/hulled

Jam
500g strawberries, hulled
300g caster sugar
1 tbs lemon juice
1/2 granny smith apple peeled grated

To make dough, place all the dry ingredients and butter in a food processor and process to fine breadcrumbs. With motor running, add egg and process till it comes together.
Turn out dough onto a clean surface and shape into a flat rectangle. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30min.
For strawberry jam place all ingredients in a large saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer and cook for 50min (looks like setting). Cool completely.
Preheat oven to 180C. Roll dough between 2 sheets of baking paper till 3mm thick, then use to line a pan. Trim edges. Freeze for 15min.
Line tart shell with baking paper and bake blind for 10min (fill with rice/beans). Remove paper and beans and cook for another further 10min or until pastry is dry and golden. Cool.
To make cream use an electric mixer to whisk cream to soft peaks. Gradually add in icing sugar, vanilla, orange zest and whisk to combine. Transfer to a bowl and set aside. Crumble ricotta into a mixer and beat until smooth. Add cream mixture and whisk for one minute or until smooth.
Spoon the cooled jam (1/2) into tart shell, top with the cream and refrigerate. Top with strawberries and drizzle over jam.

THANK YOU

"if sack and sugar be a fault, God help the wicked" Henry IV

My favourite type of cheesecake is of the baked variety. Give me any cream cheese baked cheese cake over the normal ice-cream style any day. There's just something that is comforting in the texture of oven baked cream cheese crumbling in your mouth. Add a drizzle of honey, a sweet biscuit base and the nutty taste of Macadamias and you have a great concoction ready to impress.

I decided to make morning tea for my husband's work- I figure if they have to put up with him then they definitely deserve some kind of 'yum yum' as a surprise treat. Hence, the reason why I was up late searching for a quick and easy delicious recipe that would feed the "masses"  from my homemade cut out recipe cook book.

Voila a la Honey and Macadamia Baked Cheese cake!

I'd made this recipe before and it had exceeded expectations. I mean when people ask you where you bought the cheesecake from that's a compliment right? So Round 2 it was....

1 1/4 cups macadamia nuts roughly chopped
150g sweet plain biscuits (Nice)
100 g butter melted
500g cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup of honey
3 eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 160C. Grease and line spring form pan (22 cm). Place macadamias on tray and roast for 8-10 min or till golden. Cool.
Break biscuits and place in food processor till chopped. Add butter and process till combined. Press into base of pan and refrigerate till required.
You need the food processor again. Combine cream cheese, sugar and 1/4 cup honey in food processor. Process until smooth. Add eggs one at time, processing until well combined. Add sour cream and process till just combined.
Spread 2/3 of macadamias over biscuit base.  Drizzle with 2 tbs of honey. Then carefully pour cheesecake filling. Place on flat tray and bake for 50-60 min, or till you insert a skewer into the centre and it comes out clean.
Turn off oven and open door and allow it to cool in the oven. Cover and refrigerate for 3hrs.
Sprinkle remaining macadamias on top. Place remaining honey in microwave and zap to melt. Drizzle on top. BON!!!

The funny thing is that my husband is allergic to nuts and so he couldn't partake in the eating, but he scored some "brownie points" and said it was a success. I'm sure he probably told them he made it (snigger) and got me back! 

"If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world." -- J.R.R. Tolkien,

Good Mexican is quite hard to find! And by Mexican I don't mean that franchised burrito/nacho all soggy with a whole lot of cheese and sour cream dolloped on top and refried beans out of a can. I want fresh homemade salsa packed with punch and crunchy tortillas, all dressed with lime zest and coriander.
And finally I have found this Mexican bar, in Surfers Paradise of all places, in the QT hotel.


Stingrays lounge bar is a Baha Californian style bar, all things USA. It's a huge Industrial style bar area with lounges and bar tables/with stools overlooking a pool and an artificial inside grass area.  It serves some amazing Mexican food, not your traditional Aussie style. And later on at night it turns into a disco where you can kick up your heels to the latest top 40 music.

Tacos- guess which is what?

We went there on Sunday for lunch. On arrival we were given FREE homemade salsa with toasted salty tortilla chips that we just could not get enough of. Easily washed down with beer from the bar or the cocktails they also make. We then ordered some of the tacos- a slow cooked pork belly taco with shredded meat, red cabbage, apple, jalapenos and salsa verde on an open burrito, all crunch with a hint of spice, succulent meat and fresh produce (my personal favourite). We also ordered the BBQ chicken and chorizo taco with sweet potato, lathered in yoghurt. Seven dollars each is a bargain and surprisingly filling.
This was followed by a slider burger (mini) with chips. The Stingray slider- more pork belly with fried egg, kimchi sauce, cheddar cheese melted and county kettle chips on a toasted brioche bun. Amazing!!! If I could have fitted in the normal sized version I would have.

Also on the menu are pizzas, buffalo wings with blue cheese sauce (very American flavoursome), quesadillas (huge cheesy goodness) and more......check out their menu here. 


Also check out their specials. They are soon to be starting $12.50 lunch menus on Sunday afternoon. They have $3 taco night on Tuesdays and have $10 pizzas on Sunday as well.
Cannot wait to go back and start making this a regular haunt.




GC food authority eating once again

Holding the Pork down..

Well... Charmaine has gone out camping! Yeah... I know...?! Camping! With students so it's a good cause! So I'm holding the fort down with the dog or as the title says holding the pork down. Anyone would think that all I cook is pork, but that's not true. I cooked this little number on the weekend and not to boast but it was pretty damn gooooood. Pork belly seems to be the newish big thing, I put it in the same category as Aoli - everyone is putting it on their menu and giving it their own slant. I cooked Audra from Masterchef's little ditty - Braised Pork Belly with Hokkien noodles and a boiled egg. The recipe can be found at
http://www.masterchef.com.au/recipes/braised-pork-belly-soft-boiled-egg-and-handmade-noodles.htm
 Couple of notes - I was sceptical about not crisping up the crackling because let's just face it, crackling is the business and pork belly just rocks the most crackling, I tried to plead with Charmaine to allow me to give the crackling the once over with duck fat and crisp-en it up,  but we agreed to cook it as the recipe says. To my amazement it was the correct decision! It really was nice. Check out the juice just ooooozing out of the succulent pork belly! :)

- Why make your own noodles? Just invest some of your hard earned currency and purchase some fresh hokkiens from the supermarket, they will do the trick.
- I added some of our home grown Pak Choy to the dish to get my vegetable fix and it added a nice little touch.

All in all a great little recipe,  that is not too complicated and will impress your friends! Peace out, Foxy!