Some of you know I had a bout of vertigo recently that really set me behind in my regular job. Orgasmic Chef is a labor of love but it doesn’t pay the bills so it must come after I’ve helped to put a roof over our heads. I’d gotten back into the swing of things and I felt a lump under my right arm – about the size of a baseball, so I was more than a little concerned. Turns out it was the beginning of shingles. Thankfully today there are drugs you can take if you get to it early enough but that’s where I’ve been. I didn’t want to say anything because I felt like a freakin’ hypochondriac.

Anyway, I’m back.  I go to a local cooking demonstration class every Friday and recently we had a guest presentation by David Bitton, a chef and entrepreneur visiting from Sydney.  He came to Australia after meeting some Australians in France where he began his life and quickly established himself as a good chef. Years later, he’s married with children and he and his wife have created Bitton Gourmet — heaps of wonderful sauces and spice blends.

David started his presentation with the best bruschetta I’ve tasted in a long time. Who knew that the combination of pears, goat cheese, onions and chives would make my mouth sing to the heavens? Certainly not me but that’s what happened!

Now that I look at the photos, maybe they don’t look as fantastic as I thought they did before I popped them into my mouth, but trust me.  You need to try these.  They are definitely orgasmic.

Preparations for the bruschetta take only a few minutes and then they’re popped in a big bowl. David mixed the cheese with the ingredients and then the he added some of his lemon dressing (he sells his products worldwide) and placed the mixture on some lovely toasted slices of baguette.

After they were plated he drizzled some of his orange jelly (more like a sauce to me) over the top.  If you would like to be a hero at your next gathering, try this.  Even if you have to make your own lemon dressing and orange jelly.  It’s worth the effort.

Now, here’s a trick for you that we learned at the demonstration.  How often have you cut a mango and wished it looked like the ones in the photos?  If you’re like me you cut down the side and then score the fruit (sometimes going through the skin) and then popping the little pieces off.  Well, here’s a new way that I’m dying to try.  It’s just beginning to be mango season and I couldn’t be happier.  I love love love mango.

Cut down the front and back of the mango to get the cheeks and then run the knife down the two edges.  You should have 4 pieces of mango.  Cut the large cheeks into two pieces lengthwise.

Now here’s the trick!  Get a large wine glass and take your piece of mango and put the skin of the mango to the outside of the glass and push down.  The mango falls into the wine glass in one piece and the skin goes down the side completely with no waste of mango.  (you won’t need to take a bath after licking the inside of the skin – or maybe I’m the only one who does that?)

How simple is that?

I hope to have a guest post from Anuradha from Bakerstreet.tv very soon.  I can’t wait for it to arrive.  She’s a fantastic baker.

Sensing a trend here?  I don’t know about anyone else but sometimes I get on a flavor kick and this time it’s Morocco.  The blend of spices, the end of winter, the texture of the food in my mouth — not sure what it is but we’re really enjoying the experimentation.

I had some eggplant jam a few weeks ago and have been dying to try it and yesterday was the day.  It was a good thing really because we had intended to have thick juicy beef filets for dinner.  I’d bought the meat, cut the steaks really thick and sat them on the counter to bring to room temperature.  I went to the sofa with my iPad to send some Twitter messages and then went back into the kitchen.  I put the grill pan on the stove to heat to sizzle and then turned around to get the steaks.  No steaks.

Small dog who has learned to jump was very damp around his mouth and looking VERY guilty.  Damn well he should!  I’d been looking forward to my steak all day long.  “Bad dog!!” didn’t make me feel one bit better.

But then…

We’d had a big dinner the night before and we’d had lunch so why not a dinner of dips with my fancy dancy eggplant jam and the other dips in the fridge?  Dinner was sorted.  I’ll admit that rather than tossing away the baked potatoes and asparagus, we ate those too.  Not very Moroccan but good.

Eggplant jam originates from Morocco but until recently had fallen out of favor with the younger generation.  The Jewish community in Morocco has kept the dish alive and its popularity is now spreading around the world and I can see why.  It’s absolutely delicious and it keeps in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. It’s sweet and tangy and goes well with heaps of dips.

I put the pizza stone in the oven.  Then I brushed some pita bread with olive oil on both sides and cut it into triangles with my pizza cutter.  Once the stone was hot, I put the “chips” on just until they started to turn brown and crunchy.

That was all dinner required.  Making the eggplant jam was really easy. Start by peeling and chopping the eggplant.  I like the little ones but I think any eggplant would work.

Then chop the onion and garlic and cook these three ingredients in batches because it looks like a lot but it reduces as it cooks.

When all the ingredients are soft, place all the batches back into the pan and add the paprika, cumin, turmeric and chilli and cook for only 30 seconds.

Then add the vinegar and brown sugar and stir well.  Reduce the heat and cook til most of the moisture has evaporated.  Stir in the salt and pepper to taste and the fresh herbs.

Eggplant jam is best at room temperature but it will keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.  It won’t last that long at my house.

Place the jam in a bowl and sprinkle with chopped parsley or coriander (cilantro) and serve with pita bread, pita chips or anything else you want to use as a shovel.  heh

There are times that we all need a light meal and this one is my go-to dish if we’ve overindulged the day before.  There are only so many cheesecakes, pavlovas, and big dinners that we can hold without exploding.  I did some celebrating for the 4th of July and felt we needed something light.  I made chilli prawns one night and the following night I made split pea with ham soup and crusty rolls.

While this dish isn’t the healthiest I make (it’s got butter in it) it’s wonderful to eat.  Mr. Orgasmic and I shopped together and we bought prawns (shrimp) without tails. I think this dish looks better with tails.  Never mind, it tasted great “tail-less”.

Once the rice is cooked (and yes, I do use a rice cooker) the meal takes less than 10 minutes to go from fridge to table.  I probably shouldn’t have posted this because it’s so easy but it IS orgasmic.

Melt the butter in a skillet and add the garlic. We like a LOT of garlic but if you’re not best friends with garlic, leave it out.  To me, eating is all about experiencing the joy of eating and anyone who holds their breath while they swallow something is off their rocker.

Cook the garlic on low heat for only a minute or two because frankly there’s nothing worse than burnt garlic in anything.  Just my opinion.  Toss in the prawns (shrimp) and stir fry in the butter til they turn pink and then pour in the sweet chilli sauce that has had a couple of drops of sesame oil and a dash of soy sauce mixed into it.

For my American friends this sweet chilli sauce is not the tomato based chili sauce you get in every grocery store.  Sweet chilli sauce is used in Asian cooking and you should be able to buy it in the Asian section or Asian grocery stores.

If you have it on hand you could put spring onions (shallots) or chillies in this dish too.

Here’s what you need:

 

 

I’m sure we’ve all eaten sweet Greek pastries made with kataifi pastry. I remember the annual Greek pastry sale in Knoxville, Tennessee where we bought baklava and something that looked like it but with pastry that looked like shredded wheat. We loved it but at the time I had no idea you could buy it frozen.

I went to a cooking class on using kataifa pastry recently and was expecting something sweet and yummy but arrived to find we were going to make cheese rolls.  My inner foodie was geared up for sweet so initially I was disappointed. Once I changed gears I began to look forward to biting into that cheesy goodness.

 

The only thing that’s not “dump in the bowl and stir” is grating the cheese.  A beginner cook can serve these to guests and look really clever.If the full recipe is too much for you as it was for us — there are only two of us and we weren’t entertaining, only gorging ourselves — then you can wrap the extras and freeze them before soaking in the custard mixture.

These are not quick rolls to make but they aren’t difficult. The rolls have to soak in the milk, cream and eggs for an hour before baking but making the rolls is quick-ish and the best bit is that you can make them ahead of time up to the point where you have to soak them.  This is an easy peasy wonderful appetizer that will wow your guests and won’t keep you from spending time with your friends.

On my plate ready to pick up and eat.  I will tell you that the baked pastry can be a bit crumbly so ladies,  if you’re well endowed, check the shelf after eating.  I had enough for a snack for later. 

Here’s the recipe:

Kataifi

 

 

Ever take a cooking class and you’re not sure that you’ll like it?  Yeah, me too.  I’m not a big fan of steamed dumplings.  Sure, I can eat them and I don’t gag or try to feed them to the dog but as far as orgasmic, well, nah.  So why would I sign up (and pay for) a class on how to make Gow Gee?  They’re really cute to look at and I love learning to cook all sorts of things.

It turns out that the dumplings I’ve had just weren’t seasoned to my liking because the gow gee we made in class as well as the ones we made at home were really  yummy and full of flavor.

I started by making the filling.  There’s quite a bit of chopping but there’s no pressure to hurry up so I took my time and here’s what it looked like before I started mixing.

After mixing all the ingredients with hoisin sauce and soy sauce, it looks like this

Now comes the fun part.  You can buy frozen gow gee pastry in most Asian food stores and it comes wrapped up in plastic and looks like this.  The trick is to separate the layers before you start filling and you won’t get gooey fingers all over the pastry.

Next get out the trusty pastry folder overrer – I’m sure it has a name but the ones I bought were in a set of three with Chinese writing so I’m clueless as to what the official name is.

Now this is where the fun begins.  Get a small bowl of water or a bowl of water with a bit of flour in it because you wet the edges of the pastry so it will stick together and your gow gee won’t end up gow gee whiz it’s all over the bottom of the pan.  Next time I make these it will be at a party and we can all help.

Put about a teaspoon of the gow gee filling into the middle of the pastry, wet the edges of the pastry and fold over and hold for a few seconds while the edges meld together to form a well sealed little dumpling.  Then it looks like this!

In addition to steaming you can deep fry them but that’s probably not the healthiest way to eat them.  Here’s the recipe!

 

 

This is a great appetizer or first course. My guests (and I) love it and it’s so easy anyone can do it and have it look spectacular on the plate. Most of this recipe can be made ahead and assembled and baked just before serving.

Sadly you’ll have to wait for a better photo because I deleted it by accident. I’ll take it when I make this again and I WILL be making this again.