Outback Steakhouse

Sometimes you just gotta have meat! The Outback Steakhouse at North Strathfield is part of an American chain of Australian themed restaurants and fitted the bill perfectly. It was a busy friday night and without a booking, we had a half our wait for our table.

All the mains here are ginormous and come with a side salad/soup and your choice of baked potato, mash potato, sweet potato, chips or steamed veggies.

Pumpkin soup, house salad and bread

Drover's Platter: Ribs and chicken breast with mash potato and cinnamon apples

I ordered the smaller portion (8 oz) of the Kakadu Prime Rib Roast with an extra half rack of ribs. The ribs were smothered in smokey BBQ sauce and were incredibly tender. The steak was was perfectly cooked to medium but was a little on the fatty side.

Kakadu Prime Rib Roast with half rack of ribs and potato mash

I didn't ask how my friends found their meals but seeing as they all finished with empty plates, I took that as a good sign.

The Nullarbor with baked sweet potato

Victoria's filet with chips

Barbie Chook 'N Bacon burger with chips

Torsten and Tanja's Wedding

Our friends Torsten and Tanja recently wedded on the cliffs of South Head. Although the sun was a little indisposed that day, the ceremony was beautiful - even the bits in German that we couldn't understand!

After the ceremony, we were water taxied to Clonny's for the reception. This is a quaint waterside restaurant overlooking The Spit in Clontarf. The tables were decorated with green satin table runners, sand, pebbles, shells and scented candles and in keeping with the green and cream theme of the bride and groom.

Served alternately, these were the entrees:

White cut chicken with wasabi noodle salad

Spiced chicken flatbread with chili jam and yoghurt relish

Mains:

Roast sirloin of beef with gratin potato, beans and mushroom glaze

Pan seared barramundi with gratin potato and veggies

And dessert:

Panna cotta with summer berry salad and savioradi

Tiramisu with raspberry coulis

Overall the food was delicious. I was only a little disappointed with my tiramisu which tasted like the panna cotta base with an added layer of sponge and cocoa. This was remedied by second dessert - wedding cake! This was three tiered with chocolate mud on top, strawberry in the middle and lemon curd cake on the bottom, representing the three colours of the German flag.

Wedding cake

Congratulations guys!

Carrot and Orange Cupcakes

And so the baking begins... More thesis writing means more baking! This time, carrot and orange cupcakes from a little cheapie I picked up in a Myer sale.


Ingredients:
115 g butter, softened
115 g light brown sugar
juice and rind of 1 small orange
2 large eggs, beaten
175 g carrots, grated
25 g walnuts, chopped (I doubled this)
125 g plain flour
1 tsp ground mixed spice
1 1/2 tsp baking powder

Beat the butter, sugar and orange rind until light and fluffy. Gradually add the eggs, beating well after each addition. Squeeze any excess liquid from the carrots and add to the mixture with the walnuts and orange juice. Mix well. Sift in the flour, mixed spice and baking powder then fold into the mixture. Spoon the mixture into 12 paper cases. Bake at 180 degreesC for 25 minutes.


For the icing:
280 g mascarpone cheese
4 tbsp icing sugar
grated rind of 1 large orange

Beat all the ingredients until well mixed. Spread icing on cold cupcakes.

These cupcakes are a little on the small side but deliciously moist and the creamy icing is divine!

Seafood Orgy at the Fish Markets

The Sydney Fish Markets never seem to have a lull period. Even after the xmas rush it seemed as busy as ever. As always, we went straight to Christie's Seafood and luckily arrived just in time to grab a much coveted table.


On the menu was seafood, seafood and more seafood!

First up, plump, juicy, briney oysters with a squirt of lemon.

Oysters naturale

This was followed by salmon sashimi, cut from near the belly so it was nice and oily.

Salmon sashimi

The baby abalone was cooked to perfection, tender and with a bit of bite.

Baby abalone steamed in ginger, green onions and soy

The scallops were topped with a delicious mix of garlic and chili.

Scallops with garlic and chili

To finish, mud crab flavoured with salt, chili, fried shallots and green onion. This was deep fried and so crispy that you could just crunch into the smaller bits of shell.

Salt and chili spiced crab

Nothing beats fresh seafood direct from the fish markets!

Mango Bread

Having gotten the idea in my head to make mango bread, I hunted down a recipe from the interweb and found one on the ABC website. I used slightly more than one cup of mango puree and also drained it somewhat as the mangoes were really juicy and I didn't want the bread to end up soggy. I also left out the sultanas.

The result was a deliciously moist and springy bread with a subtle mango flavour. Next time, I probably would add a bit more mango to boost the flavour and maybe add some passionfruit as the two go so well together!