Cook @ Home - Orange Madeleines

So my instagram followers would have seen lots of photos of my madeleines, as I became a bit obsessed with these little delicate French cakes over the course of last year.  Finally here is the recipe I use most often.   I found this recipe a while ago from Le Delicieux and it's my absolute favourite one as a) it's so easy and b) these madeleines are so light and delicious!  I love making the batter the day ahead when I'm expecting guests, then after dinner I just grab my bowl of batter, fill the pans, bake the madeleines, and have impressive little cakes to serve with a cup of tea for dessert!  

Orange Madeleines

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup plain  flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 1/3 cup of caster sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• finely grated zest of 1 orange
• 2 tablespoons of freshly squeezed orange juice
• 80g of butter, melted

Method:

1) Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside
2) Using the whisk attachment,  add the sugar and orange zest to the mixer bowl and mix on the lowest setting until the sugar and zest are well combined (sugar becomes slightly orange!)
3) Add the eggs and whisk until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture becomes light and fluffy
4) With the mixer at its lowest setting, gently add the flour and vanilla extract, and mix until just combined
5) Add the melted butter and orange juice and again mix until just combined
6) Cover the bowl with glad wrap and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours (overnight if possible)
7) Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (355 Fahrenheit)
8) Grease your madeleine pan (I use butter), and fill with the batter to 2/3 full. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until cooked
9) Dust with icing sugar and serve

They are really quite easy and are soooooo very good with a cup of tea!

The trick to the pretty shell shaped is in the special madeleine pans which are quite readily available at most kitchenware sellers.

Filling the pan to 2/3 full will yield little delicate cakes.

Some people don't like the "hump" on their madeleines, others say it's not a true madeleine unless there's a hump!

Tips - 

• Madeleines are best eaten whilst warm, so take them out of the tin, cool slightly on a rack and serve them up straight away
• I use my KitchenAid to whip these up but it can easily be adapted for the Thermomix

Eat. @ Akachochin

33 Dukes Walk, South Wharf 3006 ph (03) 9245 9900

I have always wanted to visit Akachochin (named after the distinctively Japanese Red Lanterns) after seeing beautiful pictures of the food there on instagram.  I love shopping at South Wharf DFO, but for some reason had never figured out that South Wharf Promenade is just on the other side of the building!  We've been here for lunch a couple of times now, and to our delight we have found delicious, freshly prepared food and surprisingly kid friendly service.

On weekdays, Akachochin offers a $20 set lunch menu.  Essentially this is a Bento set with miso soup and steamed rice, with a side of yasai ohitashi (pickled vegetables), with an entree choice of either salmon or kingfish sashimi, and a choice of main.  Pictured below is the one with the grilled chicken with a spicy teriyaki sauce.  

The chicken was incredibly tender and the sauce was a perfect teriyaki sauce - not too salty, adequatetly sweet, with a hint of spiciness to make it interesting.  

Mini Me had the one with the grilled pork belly main.  I was really impressed that they thought to serve the sauce separately, as they were worried the sauce would be too spicy for children - something that I hadn't even thought of until they mentioned it! (Naughty Mummy!  Mini Me loved the sauce by the way, it wasn't too spicy for her!)

The other option for a main was a crumbed, fried fish fillet with a special tartare sauce.  There are also options available for vegetarians and for cold soba on the lunch menu.

On another occasion I tried the Fish Ochazuke ($15) from the regular menu, which was soy marinated sashimi on rice, served with hot green tea, wasabi, kizami-nori, spring onion and oshinko.  I quite liked this as a lunch, it felt like a bowlful of tasty, healthy Japanese comfort food.

We've also tried the Unagi Avacado Roll ($14 for 6 pieces).   I love unagi, and these rolls are a refreshing take, using cucumber as a wrap rather than nori.

We were fortunate enought to try their Nabeyaki Udon which was a special of the day during one of our visits.  A hot pot of udon topped with an abundance of seafood and a wonderful broth.

To be honest I had been really keen to try Akachochin but was worried that bringing kids there would be difficult, so was resigned to the fact it's one of those places I would eventually get to try on one of our rare dinner dates.  I'm really glad we tried lunch here, as the service was excellent and friendly, and we felt quite welcome (even the time we went as a party of 11, with 5 children, 3 of those 2 and under).  We kept the kids entertained at the table and got to enjoy some excellent freshly prepared Japanese food.  I'm already looking forward to my next shopping trip to South Wharf!

Toilet - Yes, spacious enough for a pram
Highchair - they have one!

Eat. @ Breakfast Thieves

Shop 1, 420 Gore St, Fitzroy 3065 ph (03) 9416 4884

Hey I'm back!  I've had a 6 week break from blogging as multiple happenings over the holiday period had kept me otherwise occupied, but welcome to 2013 and I am looking forward to a bigger and better year!  To start things off I wanted to write about a cafe that has truly *ahem* stolen our hearts in the last few months - Breakfast Thieves.  I've been a couple of times in the recent months, once for a break by myself while Bubs slept in the pram, and another with the whole gang during a busy Saturday school holiday brunching hour.  Apart from the delicious food and coffee, the thing that has kept, and will keep on bringing me back is the friendly service.

With my recent "healthier lifestyle" I have been drinking skinny mocha's when I've been out.   The mochas here have been really good despite the use of lower fat milk.  In an effort to prevent Macaron Monster from knocking over a bottle of juice, I of course knocked over MY cup of coffee!  The staff was very nice - they quickly helped me clean up, and before I knew it another cup of mocha appeared.  It was much appreciated!

Hubby's cappuccino came in pretty blue cup and even prettier latte art.

I tried The Breakfast Chain ($16) the first time I was here.  This was a mini smorgasbord of breakfast goodies including two perfectly boiled gooey eggs with brioche soldiers, a side of vanilla yogurt with house made granola, and a fruit based side.  This was in the form of a fruit crumble when I visited the first time, and a summer fruit panzanella the next.  It's a perfect meal for someone like me, who can never decide what to have, so a little of everything is very enticing!  

It's also great for kids, and Mini Me and Macaron Monster shared this on my second visit. 

So much fun and deliciousness dipping the brioche soldiers into the gooey eggy goodness.

It was past 11:30am and the lunch menu had also kicked you, so Hubby did not hesitate to order the Kazman Wagyu Burger ($17).  The patty had wagyu and water chestnut, and came with a fried egg, green mango slaw, in a toasted brioche bun, with a side of hand cut chips and wasabi mayo.  I'm not one for veggie filled, herby type burgers but I was surprised at how well this combo worked!  Hubby has voted this one of his all time favourite wagyu burgers (the other being the one from Ezard.)  We were both totally blown away by the awesome chips and dip.

I don't usually take pics of already eaten food (I seem to be doing it a bit in this post!) but this burger is crazy good and looked amazing to boot.

We finished off the meal with the Brioche Pan Perdu ($16), a brioche French toast served with  raspberry coulis soaked cherries, white chocolate mascarpone and candied pistachios.  Every bite was melt in the mouth buttery eggy goodness, then you get the sweet tang of the cherries and then bang, the crunch of the pistachio.  So, so good and I will definitely order this again!

The service was prompt, friendly and efficient, and the staff was most accommodating with our kids and prams and little accidents.  They even had some good old fashioned Little Golden Books lying around for the kids.

I have no doubt this will be a favourite of ours throughout 2013!

Toilets - Yes, spacious and kid friendly

Highchair - Yes

Eat. @ Mister Close

Shop 13, Midtown Plaza, 246 Bourke St, Melbourne CBD 3000 ph (03) 9654 7778

Mr Close is found in Midtown Plaza, near the entrance to the city branch of Daiso, and it's not where you expect a cool cafe with excellent coffee would be.  But it is exactly that, and more!  Firstly I HAD to know who Mr Close is/was, and a look at their website reveals that Mr Close was the Year 8 teacher that taught the lads who run this joint Geography.  (This brought back hilarious memories of MY Year 8 Geography teacher who used to wiggle his bum unintentionally every time he wrote on the blackboard, tehehe!)  Anyways Mr Close sounds like a cool dude who would "take you around the world", just as the "honest food" served here aims to do!

A mid morning visit meant I was having brunch again (Mummies don't get to eat breakfasts till late) so I ordered the aptly named Fast Breaker, a roll filled with housemade thyme mayo & relish, tomato, bacon, poached egg and toasted.  Yummy combo and I especially liked the thickly sliced bacon.

Of course I had my usual mocha which was lovely and smooth, with beautiful latte art.

Macaron Monster had already had breakfast (even if I don't get to eat in the morning I DO try and make sure my kids do!) so a hot chocolate was a treat.  

We shared a canele from Gâteaux de Bordeaux.  Oh I love these custardy soft but crispy things.    These ones are some of the best in Melbourne.  One is never enough! 

The cafe was spacious inside with room for prams.  There were no high chairs but the kids, even Bubs, did okay on the benches next to me.  On the other side of the cafe is another area with lower tables to sit, ideal for office workers in the area or uni students taking a break.

Lovely to see a great cafe bang smack in the middle of town.  We will definitely be back to try their other offerings.

Toilet - yes, in the centre
Highchair - not that I could find

Eat. @ Mr Hive Kitchen and Bar

8 Whiteman St, Southbank ph (03) 9292 8300

A little while ago Hubby and I realised that we hadn't been on a date night for 9 WHOLE MONTHS!!!  Life has been ultra busy for us this year with juggling our work, kids, illnesses and other commitments.  And now that we we have 3 kids it always feel extra difficult to organise babysitting.  An opportunity came up for us to go out by ourselves and we were crazy with excitement - a meal where (hopefully) there's no crying, food throwing, or threats of "no dessert unless dinner is finished"!  I looked through the long list of fine dining restaurants on my list and finally decided on Mr Hive Kitchen and Bar.  We had not had the opportunity to visit prior to its transformation from Maze.  I'm glad to say that it more than lives up to the hype and we had a fabulously night dining out.

We sipped on our lemonade and dry ginger as we try to narrow down what to order from the menu.  As you'll see we went a bit crazy with the ordering!

The first of our 3 shared entrees was Crispy Little Pigs ($18).  Moreish morsels of pork with interesting zesty sidekicks of watermelon.  If you order ahead they do a meal with a whole suckling pig which sounds very interesting.

Following that we had the Charred octopus share plate ($18)  which was perfectly cooked.   In particular I really enjoyed the black garlic used in this dish.  Such an interesting ingredient, I'm not usually a fan of garlic but this was really delicious, and the dish was very pretty to look at.

Cured Kingfish with fingerlimes and smoked yogurt ($16) was very fresh and light.

For mains we had a Braised Lamb ($33) special for the night which was very nice.  We slow cook a lot so it didn't feel like a very exciting dish for us in the end, but the soft lamb and the sauce made for a bit of a comfort food" dish.

The Venison ($38) was perfectly cooked to rare, and came with a delicious parsnip mash and braised red cabbage. 

Sides of chips and autumn greens ($9 each) completed our mains.

I must confess one of the reason I picked Mr Hive was due to all the beautiful pictures of their desserts I had seen on my instagram feed.  For this part of the meal we were moved to the dessert bar and watched their dessert chefs work their magic.  We continued the food frenzy and ordered 3 desserts!  I told you it's been ages since we'd been out without the kids, and we seriously ordered like adults who didn't know when their next decent meal would be!!!

We shared Mrs Hive's Chocolate Bar, with peanuts and caramel ($18).  Melt in the mouth dessert that Hubby and I both loved.  

I had the White chocolate, with, mango, basil and coconut ($16).  The basil sorbet was a surprise but went remarkably well with the other elements.  The coconut mousse was very light and refreshing.

There's a 15 minute wait for the raspberry souffle, understandably as this has to be made fresh in the oven.  A scoop of heavenly ice-cream plunged into the centre of the steaming souffle made this totally irresistible, although my stomach had been totally defeated by the amount of food I had consumed on the night.  Hubby battled on and thanks to this awesome version he has dropped some pretty heavy hints for me to move on to souffles for my next baking adventure!

Last but not least, cute little bottles of milk shake and truffles.  I must confess I am ashamed of not finishing this even though it was ultras delicious!  We were also sent home with little bags of handmade boiled lollies and treats for a sweet souvenir of the visit.

The service was attentive and accomodating, the ambience was lovely and the food was well thought out and delicious.  Throw into that a discount with the entertainment book and we had ourselves a pretty awesome date night meal!  I can't wait to go back and have the Dessert Degustation. Hmmmm!

PS - I just realised that I had forgotten to publish this post a few months ago.  The menu has recently changed into their Spring Menu, although many of the favourites like the Crispy Little Pig and the desserts remain unchanged.  The prices have gone up a little as compared to those quoted in this post.