Waste is my worst. Admittedly, I sometimes take this a little too far. But when I discovered that my milk had gone off, I put my frugalness to good use, googled (merely out of interest) how I could remedy this problem… and made some cottage cheese! The domestic goddess that I am

Ingredients:

• 1 L sour full cream milk
• squeeze of lemon or dash of vinegar
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 Tbs Greek yoghurt

Method:

• Pour sour milk into a saucepan.
• Turn heat up to medium and let the milk start heating up – but don’t let it boil.
• Remove from the heat and add lemon or vinegar and stir gently (this helps the curd and whey separate.)
• Pour through a colander lined with a piece of muslin/cheese cloth, gently squeezing the liquid out.
• You should be left with the curds which you place in a separate bowl, season to taste and add the yoghurt.
• My cottage cheese was a little watery so I added the yoghurt to give it body! It makes a small jar of cheese and goes beautifuly on a piece of toasted rye bread, with beetroot relish and a sprinkle of chives.

CEIRE’S KITCHEN EPISODE 5 (TEASER) IS HERE!!! I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate my birthday then by sharing this video with you! Special thanks to my fantastic co-star, crew, sponsors and the Werry family. Share the love, share Ceire’s Kitchen

I love trees. I love things that grow on trees. Since its winter here in Sydney and the leaves have all fallen off the trees (and collected in my back yard) I felt inspired to create this leafy salad – and simple is always best. Apart from the avocado, peas and fennel which I got from my fantastic local store Maloneys Grocer, Ill try not to feel too proud when I mention that the lettuce leaves, kale and mint are all from my garden 😉

ingredients:

• 1 baby gem lettuce
• 2 kale leaves
• ½ avo
• ¼ fennel bulb
• ½ cup green peas
• handful mint leaves
• handful pumpkin seeds
• red chilli, deseeded
• squeeze of lemon and drizzle of honey
• salt, cracked pepper, olive oil

 method:

• Once the lettuce and kale have been washed, detach the baby gem leaves and lay in a flat plate.
• Thinly slice the fennel, kale and avo and scatter them into the lettuce leaves.
• Sprinkle in the mint, peas, pumpkin seeds and finely diced chilli.
• To balance the flavours, squeeze in the juice of half a lemon along with a splash of olive oil and a drizzle of honey.
• Season to taste and enjoy with a fillet of salmon or roast chicken.

It’s a chilly winter evening in Sydney and after a long day of walking-my-feet-off at work, I couldn’t think of better answer to prayers than a glass of wine and a jam making session at Cornersmith Pickelry in Marickville. Cornersmith has quickly become a favourite among coffee lovers and good-food-hungry-city-slickers. ‘The Pickelry,’ which is where the homemade jams and jars of seasonal pickled veg are made, is an extension of the café and an indication that the community simply love what this husband-wife partnership has started.

Around the table we gathered and Alex shared with us the secret behind successful jam making. (My grandmother would have been very proud of how I was choosing to spend my Thursday evening). We were a mix of farmers, lecturers, media executives, actors, wanna-be chefs and lovers of all things sweet.

The chaos of fruit cutting and boiling, wine pouring and jar cleaning came to an end and we dipped some sourdough into the sticky quince jam as a way of congratulating our efforts… The recipient of this jam will be lucky indeed!

Quince and Apple Jam

(makes 4 to 5 jars of jam)

• 1 kg peeled, cored and cubed quinces
• 500g cored and cubed apples
• 3 cloves
• pinch of ground pepper
• 2L water
• 2 lemons zested and juiced
• 750g castor sugar

 Method:

• Put all chopped up fruit into a medium sized pot. Add water and spices and leave to cook on a low heat until the fruit has softened and starts to break down.
• Add sugar and dissolve by stirring. Add lemon juice and zest. Bring to the boil and stir occasionally to prevent burning.
• While jam is cooking and begins to thicken, give your jars a good wash and put into the oven at 110’C for 15 min.
• Take jars out using sterilized tongs (or superman fingers) and leave to cool for a minute or two. Spoon in your jam, wipe the rim clean, close with the lid (making sure its correctly sealed) and leave to store in a dark cupboard for up to 12 months.

Two things I love: Italians and polenta. Mix them together and you get cake!

This is a drop dead gorgeous recipe which has a course texture (like an unshaven Italian movie star) and the secret ingredient of olive oil and dessert wine. I was inspired by a Julia Busuttil recipe I saw on Tasty Tuesday and decided to try out this traditional Italian recipe on the crew of a short film I catered for recently. The cupcakes disappeared faster than the director could say “cut”. And I like to think that the entire film was a success because of them!

Pear and Polenta cake:
(preheat oven to 180C)

• 180g almonds
• 1 pear
• 80g plain flour
• 180g coarse polenta
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 3 eggs
• 120g caster sugar
• 130ml olive oil
• 1 orange: juice, and zest

Vin Santo syrup:

• 40g caster sugar
• 80ml Vin Santo wine
• pinch salt

Method:

• Grease and line a 20cm round cake tin.
• In a food processor, grind up the almonds and pear.
• In a large bowl, mix together the ground almonds and pear, flour, polenta, and baking powder. Stir to combine and set aside.
• In another bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until pale and creamy.
• Continue beating and slowly add the oil, orange juice and zest until all are combined.
• Add in the dry ingredients and mix well.
• Bake until golden (approximately 25 min).
• Cook up the syrup by placing all the ingredients on a pot on the stove, bring to the boil, stir continually until the sugar has been dissolved, allow to simmer for a few minutes until it has thickened slightly.
• Drizzle over the cake while still warm so that it seeps in.
• Dust with a dash of icing sugar or orange zest.
• Serve with mascarpone and watch the first installment of The Godfather.

One of my favourite, or rather one of the few phrases I am able to say in Italian with great gusto is: “rosso crudo.” It means ‘raw red’ and here at Jamie’s Italian, it refers to finely chopped raw, red tomatoes mixed with fresh herbs, which accompany particular meat dishes…

Why not accompany a curry?

The first friend I made when I moved to Sydney was Bibek. He is someone who is like family and he happens to make the best (and only) Nepalese curry I have ever tasted. We were having a celebratory dinner and as usual I was making a salad. Believe it or not, the rawness and crunchiness of this Italian inspired salad went perfectly well with Bibek’s curry.

Mix of culture, mix of food. Yes please.

Ingredients:

• head of Oak Leaf lettuce
• 2 ripe roma tomatoes (or punnet of ‘rainbow nation’ tomatoes)
• 1 green capsicum
• handful roasted seeds
• 1 de-seeded, finely chopped chilli

Wash and place lettuce in a bowl.

Chop the tomatoes into sixths and the capsicum lengthways.

Toss into the leaves and sprinkle over the seeds and chilli.

Squeeze in half a lemon and drizzle over some olive oil. Enjoy!

The best tomatoes we specially chose for Jamie to cook with…

So the reason I haven’t posted in a long while is because Jamie Oliver came over and cooked us dinner in my kitchen!

Only joking. That happened in my dream, sadly not in reality… Yet.

But I did meet him (three times) when he was in here in Sydney a couple of weeks ago. It was simply fantastic! I worked as one of his prep chef’s at The Ministry of Food‘s Kitchen Talk with Jamie, a cooking show that was hosted to celebrate the opening of a new Food Centre in the Western Suburbs of NSW, Australia. The Ministry of Food is a brilliant organization that was started by Jamie in the UK and aims to transform the way we think about food, and hopefully inspire us to eat differently: more simply, healthily… (He pretty much copied the idea behind Ceire’s Kitchen – but I’ll give him the credit – who could resist his charming British accent?)

(Top left) His backstage-ninja-chef’s. (Bottom and right) At Jamie’s Italian, waiting for our big boss to arrive

So, the day after the event – when I met him for the third time – I tried to wear my hair the same way, hoping that he’d recognise me and I could then mention “this cooking show on YouTube that I’d started because of being inspired by you, Jamie.” As I shook his hand in a slightly star struck way I fumbled my words as I over-enthusiastically said – “I’m one of your backstage ninja chef’s from yesterday!!” He replied, slightly confused at first, “Oh darling yes… of course, of course!” He politely accepted by business card and gave me a farewell wink…

Hand-made tortellini’s – only the best at Jamie’s Italian, Sydney

Another reason I’ve been a bit distant of late is because I’ve been getting some basic chef-training in Jamie’s Kitchen at Jamie’s Italian, Sydney. The dashing young talented chef’s have been incredibly patient with me and generous with their time. Apparently I was a distraction at first as I have an annoying habit of not being able to chop vegetables without singing a Frank Sinatra song, but they’ve been very tolerant, thanks guys.

My work in the kitchen has also been an incredible eye-opener into the intense, stressful and demanding work that chefs do, and the long hours that are required. So really, this post is about giving a big shout out to all the chef’s in the world. Thank you for doing what you do, for feeding us, and for cooking your food with love!

Having fun in the kitchen with these good-looking fella’s

Peaches are in season! And what better way to celebrate than by making this summery salad with fresh peaches and ricotta cheese.

• 200g mixed lettuce and rocket
• 1 peach thinly sliced
• 4 rashers of bacon (optional)
• 80g ricotta
• handful roasted pinenuts/pumpkin seeds
• ½ chilli thinly sliced
• drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar

When cooking the bacon, add half a teaspoon of sugar and a dash of balsamic vinegar – it caramelizes the bacon slightly and gives it an extra bit of love.

Toss the ingredients together, dress with olive oil and vinegar and sprinkle on the chilli. The freshness of the peaches with the creaminess of the ricotta are just perfect.

But careful with the chilli – I had dinner with a friend and her parents recently and thought I’d impress them by making this salad. I added too much chilli by mistake and at first there was polite silence as we all tried to contain the burning fire at the back of our throats. By the end of the meal we couldn’t contain it any longer and let out a good laugh at the silly mistake and how we couldn’t pick the chilli out because it had been so finely chopped!