Undercooked, Oversalted and Full of Fat

Are we the only ones?

Gloria and I have been enjoying the new TV cooking obsession, but we get more than a little annoyed with the way celebrity chefs dictate how food should be cooked.

Both of us like our meat to be well cooked – but the chefs insist that it needs to be practically dripping blood. Recently I realised why – bloody meat can be cooked in a matter of minutes. On the other hand, a good well-done steak according to their directions would take around 40 minutes to prepare.
Do the arithmetic. Rare (raw!) steak gets people in and out much more quickly, giving the restaurant a better turnover of customers.

The other gripe I have is the obsession with salt. They continually refer to seasoning the meal they are cooking. Or they complain if a contestant has not adequately "seasoned" their dish. What they mean is they personally like to throw tons of addictive salt into the food they are preparing.

When I eat a meal I prefer to taste the meat, the veggies, the herbs and spices. If I wanted them masked by salt I’m totally capable of picking up the salt pot from the table and sprinkling a bit (or a lot) on my own food.

And their idea of mashed potato is very misleading. It would be better named mashed butter with a hint of potato to hold it together! When I make mash I can actually taste the spuds – and THAT is what I want.

Last night at home, we had a vegetarian risotto created and prepared by Gloria. It had no butter and no salt. It was moist with a good consistency and tasted wonderful. We could actually taste individual ingredients like pumpkin and spinach...
And the best part is – I’ve been given leftovers for my lunch at work today.

Chocolate Beetroot Cake

This is one of my favourite cakes and one of the main reasons I grow my own beetroot. I'm not sure where Gloria found the recipe, but we've been enjoying it now for a few years.








CHOCOLATE BEETROOT CAKE






75 GRAMS COCOA POWDER
180 GRAMS PLAIN FLOUR
2 TEASPOONS BAKING POWDER
250 GRAMS CASTER SUGAR
250 GRAMS COOKED FRESH BEETROOT
3 LARGE EGGS
1 TEASPOON VANILLA EXTRACT
200 MLS CANOLA OIL
ICING SUGAR, TO DUST (OPTIONAL)

. PREHEAT OVEN TO 180 DEGREES CELCIUS
. LIGHTLY GREASE A 20CM ROUND OR SQUARE CAKE TIN.
. SIFT COCOA POWDER, FLOUR AND BAKING POWDER INTO A LARGE BOWL. STIR IN SUGAR AND SET ASIDE.
. PUREE BEETROOT IN A FOOD PROCESSOR, THEN ADD EGGS ONE AT A TIME, MIXING AFTER EACH ADDITION. ADD VANILLA AND OIL AND WHIZ UNTIL SMOOTH.
. MAKE A WELL IN THE CENTRE OF DRY INGREDIENTS, ADD BEETROOT MIXTURE AND LIGHTLY MIX.
. POUR INTO CAKE TIN AND BAKE FOR 50 – 60 MINUTES, OR UNTIL A SKEWER INSERTED INTO THE CENTRE COMES OUT CLEAN. THE CAKE MIGHT NOT RISE A GREAT DEAL, AND THE TOP WILL CRACK.
. REMOVE FROM OVEN AND COOL FOR 15 MINUTES IN PAN, THEN REMOVE TO A WIRE RACK TO COOL COMPLETELY.
. DUST WITH ICING SUGAR TO SERVE.

Kitchen to Garden

Several weeks ago I ordered “Chocolate & Zucchini” by Clotilde Dusoulier.
I came across the website of the same name by accident and loved the title. I couldn’t resist ordering the book from my local bookshop.
I picked it up on the weekend and don’t regret the impulsiveness of judging a book by its title. When I get the chance I intend to have a go at making her Beef Bourguignon: perhaps attracted by her use of chocolate in the recipe. The mere fact that I’ve been inspired to make a meal that needs to be prepared over a couple of days and requires more than three hours of cooking is a significant endorsement of this book, considering my cooking ventures to-date have been very limited.

Continuing with cooking related matters, the first series of Masterchef is over, and Julie came out as the winner. On the night of the final I think she was clearly the better of the two contestants despite the almost immediate claims of the result being rigged.

Overall I think Justine’s record throughout the series showed that she was more worthy of the title “Masterchef”, having won more of the shows challenges than any other contestant. The show’s format was not necessarily geared to finding the best chef/cook in the competition but was primarily focused on entertaining the viewer. That aim was certainly achieved considering the size of the regular audience which reportedly rose to a peak of 3.73 million for the finale.
Halfway through the last week the show also out-rated State of Origin football. Maybe next year the Blues and the Maroons should head for the kitchen for a cook-off if they want to regain their usual TV audience.

Finally, moving from the kitchen to the garden, the last part of my order from the Digger’s Club has arrived. Now I need to find the time to plant the following:

Blueberry ‘Northland’
Blueberry ‘Denise’
Chilean Guava x 2
Raspberry ‘Willamette’
Gooseberry ‘Roaring Lion’

I also received two free plants of Salvia Azurea and Comfrey.