Degustation Part 1

There has been a lot written about degustation menus lately so I decided to go with my sister to try out the vegetarian degustation menu at ezard in Flinders Lane. We went to this restaurant for my birthday a couple of years ago, so we already knew it was a place with great food, ambience and service.

The degustation menu had eight official courses, though two extra dishes were thrown in somehow. The table was set with a dish of olive oil blended with rosemary and parmesan, and a dish with three herb blends. The first was a dried nori blend which had a slight fishy sea-like taste to it. The second was sweet at first but had a spicy aftertaste. That was my favourite. The third was distinctly unmemorable.

The starter to our degustation was a tofu shooter. Served in a shot glass, this contained sake and mirin which was flambeed to remove the alcohol, making it intensely sweet. Then wasabi and ginger were added to cut through the sweetness, followed by the addition of cube of silken tofu. This was served with a delicious nori roll chaser. I must admit I didn't down it all at once as I was savouring the flavour of the shot liquid. Yum.

The first course was served on the same tray as the starter in a little tea cup which held red miso soup, tiny cubes of tofu, spring onion and sesame. While it was good miso soup, it was nothing special. The second course started with an asian inspired gazpacho at the base, followed by avocado tempura, shaved picked fennel (tasting faintly of saurkraut) and a quinelle of cooling cucumber creme fraiche. The flavours in the gazpacho came through beautifully, as did the subtle cucumber flavour in the creme fraiche. The avocado was creamy, not losing any of its natural flavour in the short cooking time. I didn't particularly enjoy the fennel as it has a aniseed flavour that often overwhelms the tastebuds, but it gave a nice contrast to this dish.

Stay tuned for Degustation part 2!

Devilled Eggs

These are my first go at devilled eggs, from Jessica Seinfeld's much debated cookbook "Deceptively Delicious". The book's catch is that within every recipe is a hidden vegetable or fruit puree. These eggs are smuggling half a cup of pureed cauliflower in addition to 6 hard boiled egg yolks, mayonnaise, paprika and salt. Given that it is a cookbooked aimed at a child's palate I found the recipe bland and needed to add several dashes of cayenne to get it going.

As with most recipes where a filling goes into small packages, there was lots of egg mixture left over. This made a tasty lunch spread the next day with toasted bagel and sliced tomato.

Munchies in the Family

This beer-butt chicken is all thanks to Papa Munchie being given the responsibility of making Friday night dinner.

Perching atop a can of VB sits a spatchcock, with a delicate foil hat. The bird is rubbed with a seasoning mix containing primarily salt, pepper, brown sugar and oil. Some herbs are placed in the can which has been partially drained by the chef in question. The bird is then roasted sitting upright.

The result: A supremely moist chicken with no beer flavour whatsoever, and a delectable salty skin crust.

Chef Crutchy

In the pic are some adorable gingerbread bears from a sanitarium recipe using wholemeal flour and currants to decorate. Using some forethought, I had made the dough before we went on a cycling holiday. Unfortunately the holiday didn't turn out as great as the biscuits. After coming off my bike on a steep dirt road I ended up with a fractured sacrum and some nasty scratches and bruises. When we got back to Melbourne I was dying to cook, and rolling out and cutting out premade dough was my ability limit. The bear on the left is me with the now necessary crutches.