Tom's Kitchen, Perth

Friday night, 8.30pm; FH Alphie and I decide to go in search of food, thinking that the late hour will mean we are more likely to get a table. Boy, were we wrong. We turned up at Andaluz Bar and Tapas in Howard Street to find a queue and two bouncers at the door. We quietly waited in line, only to find (once reaching the front) that the queue was for entry to the bar only and we would have to fight for a table once we were allowed in. The bouncer kindly let us in to see if we could find a seat, but one lap around the venue told us that it was unlikely, and to be honest, it was not the chilled wine bar we had hoped it would be.

Classic chilli mussels with house bread

After walking laps around the Perth CBD, we settled on a restaurant one block shy of our hotel (my poor feet....) in Shafto Lane, just across from Burger Bistro. Tom's Kitchen is a small-ish cafe-restaurant, serving 'classic European food in a comfortable setting' (their words, not mine). We were still chasing the tapas vibe, so we started with chilli mussels and garlic prawns to share, and planned to see how we felt before ordering something 'more substantial'. Hence, we held on to our menus, which seemed to cause no end of confusion to the lovely, but young, waitresses looking after the floor - we were asked on three separate occasions if we were ready to order, after placing our prawn & mussels order.

Garlic prawns and house made bread

Once the confusion had settled down, our faux-tapas (fapas?) arrived. I started with the prawns, which were a startling green colour (see above), but the result was super tasty, if a little over salted. The mountain of mussels arrived on our table with a bowl of water with a lemon slice, and a empty bowl for the shells - lucky we were at a table for 4! The mussels were tender and plentiful, with just the slightest hint of chilli, in a soupy tomato broth. Our biggest concern was that there wasn't enough bread to soak up all the juices that were left (on both dishes!).

House made gnocchi, chorizo and rosemary

Once the plates had been cleared, we started talking about the next 'course'. FH Alphie has his eye on the house made gnocchi, but was having trouble deciding between the baked four cheese and the chorizo and rosemary. He finally decided on the chorizo and rosemary, which was served with a tomato based sauce. The sauce was tasty, if a little low on rosemary, and the gnocchi was a bit too firm, but I like gnocchi to be quite light and fluffy.

Mixed mushroom ragout with porcini and buckwheat polenta

Already feeling quite full, I had ordered one of the smaller meals, a mixed mushroom ragout. And was pleasantly surprised to see a true mixture of mushrooms! So often 'mixed mushroom' simply means button and dried porcini mushrooms. I was treated to enoki, oyster and (what I think were) swiss brown mushrooms. And, it was surprisingly rich, tasty and filling for mushrooms.

Roasted roots

And, just to make sure we were totally full, FH Alphie ordered a side of roasted root vegetables.

-Alphie

Mum & Dad, penne with broccoli

Sorry for the lack of posts yesterday - we drove down to Victoria after work to spend the weekend with my parents. So dinner was eaten on the road, shh don't tell...

Today is a bit of a guest blog, courtesy of my Mum. I'm still blogging, but she cooked, and I took the photos.

The recipe is based on one in The Silver Spoon, orecchiette with broccoli, but modified (as all Mums do), to suit the ingredients she has. My parents grow a lot of their own produce, and this is a great recipe to use up the smaller heads that sprout from a broccoli plant once the main head has been harvested (they look a bit like broccolini).

Penne with broccoli

adapted from The Silver Spoon, pg 274

serves 4

• 800g broccoli florets
• 2tbs garlic olive oil
• splash chilli olive oil
• 4 anchovy fillets
• pinch chilli flakes
• 400g short pasta
• large handful finely grated parmesan

Boil pasta in a large pot of salted water until al dente.
Put broccoli florets in a microwave safe container with a splash of water. Steam in the microwave for 3-4 minutes, until bright green.
Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large fry pan over medium-high heat. Stir in anchovies and break up with spoon.
Drain the broccoli and add to the pan with the chilli, stir until heated through and coated with anchovy oil.
Stir the parmesan through the drained pasta, then add the broccoli, and stir until well combined.
Serve with cracked black pepper and extra parmesan.
-Alphie

Tuna pasta bake

Ok, so a bit of pasta overload here, but it's easy to eat one handed, which is a requirement in our house at the moment - FH Alphie has a busted wing.
 
This is something I have never cooked before, as it brings back bad memories from my childhood, as Tuna Mornay, as it was called in our house, had a long stint as my sisters FAVOURITE MEAL EVER, and we ate it at least once a week. It took me a long time to recover from that period in my life, however I think I am now over it. I saw a recipe for Creamy tuna and pea pasta bake in Super Food Ideas (SFI) magazine recently and it caught my interest (the fact that I even noticed suggests that I have recovered from the tuna mornay overload) and mentally filed it away for a future time.

This is a bit of a bastardised version of that recipe. The recipe in SFI used peas, and since FH Alfie has a thing against peas, and I made him eat them yesterday, I substituted that for baby spinach, the recipe also used evaporated milk, which I didn't have, and don't usually buy, so I made up a basic bechamel/white sauce instead.


FH Alphie rated it 7/10

Tuna pasta bake
(adapted from SFI, June 2010)
serves 6 hungry people

• 3 cups short pasta
• 1 head broccoli, cut into small florets
• 90g butter
• 1 or 2 onions, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 90g plain flour
• 2 heaped tsp mustard (seeded or smooth)
• 750ml milk
• 425g can tuna in springwater, drained and flaked
• 100g (approx) baby spinach
• 1 cup fresh breadcrumbs (or 1/2 cup dry breadcrumbs)
• 1 - 1 1/2 cups grated cheese (I used Colby)
• salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 170 degrees.

Cook pasta in a large saucepan of boiling salted water until tender. Add broccoli for the last 1-2 minutes of cooking. Drain, and set aside.

Meanwhile, melt butter in a medium saucepan, add onion and cook over medium heat until just soft, then add garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes. Stir in flour, and keep stirring until flour has 'cooked off' a bit, then stir through mustard. Add the milk slowly, stirring constantly to avoid lumps. Bring to the boil, stirring, then stand aside.

Combine pasta and broccoli, white sauce, tuna and spinach. Season and pour into a 3L ovenproof dish. Sprinkle with combined cheese and breadcrumbs.
 
Bake for 30 minutes until heated through and the top is golden.

One pot pasta

As promised, dinner tonight was 'one pot pasta'. I got the recipe from taste.com.au, but I think it was in delicious magazine first.

It is kind of reminiscent of a Bolognaise, or at least Bolognaise the way is it generally interpreted in Australia - rich, tomato-ey and meaty. Regardless, it is the perfect thing for a winter night, especially a lazy Sunday, because although it takes a while, you don't have to do much for most of that time, it just bubbles away, making the house smell delicious. Although the recipe says it serves 4, it looks like it would easily serve a small army, or 6 at least - after FH Alphie and I have eaten, there is always a lot more than half left. And, if you are the cook and washer-upper (which is my status, currently), you only dirty one knife, chopping board, pot & spoon. And the cupboards & floor, if, like me, you have an incident with the red wine...
One pot pasta
serves 4-6, see above.

• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 tbs rosemary leave, finely chopped
• 500g beef mince
• 250ml red wine
• 750ml beef stock
• 2 tbs tomato paste
• 500ml tomato passata
• 2 tsp caster sugar
• 1 bay leaf
• 500g small pasta shapes (shells are best, as they 'hold' the sauce, but any small shapes will do)
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1 tbs chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves
• parmesan, to serve

Heat oil in a large, heavy based saucepan (I used a cast iron Le Chasseur pot), and cook onion until soft (1-2 minutes). Add garlic & rosemary, and cook for 1 minute. Then add beef and cook for 5 minutes, or until browned.

Add the wine, stock, tomato paste, passata, sugar & bay leaf. Season, and bring to the boil, then cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

Add pasta and 25oml boiling water, and cook until pasta is al dente. Stir it frequently once the pasta is in because it will stick. Stir in peas and allow to heat through.

Stir through parsley, and serve with parmesan, and a glass of red wine!