Do you dare to Gougére?

Searching for new recipes is one of my all time favourite things to pass the time, actually finding something and making it is a rare occurrence.

Its easy to find reasons not to make something: not enough time; don’t want to have to go out to buy the ingredients; sounds laborious etc. Generally it boils down to laziness…not this time though!

Dorie Greenspan’s recipe for Gougéres sounded delicious, worth the effort and I already had the ingredients in my kitchen! The use of 5 eggs makes it an ideal feature for this blog. I also like that Dorie is an expat who has been asked for her recipe of a French dish! You can find the recipe by clicking this link:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Gougeres-361149

In the new house, we haven’t quite stocked up on kitchen things so I tried out two batches of Gougéres. The first batch were baked on a roasting tray and had a choux pastry texture – 7/10.

The second lot of Gougéres were baked in a muffin tin and although they rose nicely, it didn’t last too long out of the heat. They had more of a spongey texture – 6/10.

Highly recommended recipe!

Happy Chinese or Lunar New Year! Celebrations and eggs in Sydney

The celebrations for Chinese New Year began in Sydney on the 24th January and being a new Sydneysider I had to go and check them out. Venturing into the city on Sunday afternoon to catch a few lion dances, queue for Emperor’s Cream puffs in Chinatown and secure a spot for the Twilight Parade, I wore red to get into the spirit of things.

Earlier in the week I paid a visit to Pure Wholefoods in Manly.

 http://www.purewholefoods.com.au

It has a central location, indoor and outdoor seating, as well as selling a wide selection of certified organic fruit, veg, health foods and books. It has a green and brown interior with a forest print wall and an illustrated blackboard for specials. I found the staff fairly relaxed and informal though polite, despite coming across older reviews who said the staff were rather rude. The menu caters for vegan, vegetarian and raw diners, as well as the average omnivores. Soft music is played, like acoustic covers of Beatles tracks and Cyndi Lauper’s Time After Time

For lunch at Pure Wholefoods Manly I had Nasi Goreng:

• Brown rice with mixed green veg – The rice was supple and the vegetables were just right.
• Medium hot flavour with Chilli, Garlic, Ginger, Tamari, Coriander, Lemon and Shallots – A nice blend though not as complex as I had hoped
• Fried egg – firm white, not greasy, runny yolk that soaked into the rice.

6.5/10 Tasty fried egg but the overall flavour could have been more intense.