It was terrific cooking Spanish Cuisine last weekend, June 20th, 2026, and what an exceptional class it was with 2 Spaniards attending, thereby creating such an authentic mood in our cooking discussions, and the cooks all excelled! The dishes were so flavourful, the sofregit was a hit, a ‘flavour bomb’, and the Tarta de Santiago [...]
You know how much I love natural Murray River Salt flakes!I always carry some with me in a tiny bottle in my handbag. I never use the refined commercial table salts, so often found on the table in restaurants. This week I was very pleased to receive another delivery of these favoured Murray River Salt [...]
Dominique’s savoury vegetable cake, from her Domaine de l'Oiseau in Burgundy This is an unusual and delicious appetiser to enjoy, still warm from the oven, with pre-dinner drinks, or served with butter and a cup of coffee. This cake always brings back happy memories of my time in Burgundy with my daughter Yolanda, at [...]
Both Pâte Brissé and Pâte Sucrée are short cut pastry; Pâte Brissé is the same as Pâte Sucrée but without the sugar. Ingredients: 200g flour 100g cold, unsalted butter, cut into pieces 1 egg yolk ½ tsp salt, omit if using salted butter 3 tbsp, 45ml, ice cold water - or [...]
Some time ago I read about the ‘three holy birds’ of French cuisine, so named by Kate Hill, Kitchen in Camont, in Gascony, France. They are pheasant, duck and guinea fowl, which she also endearingly calls, the ‘three graces. Kate's ‘angels’, have hung in her kitchen and watched over her cooking in her famous kitchen [...]
Every so often I need to advertise for a 'Kitchen Steward' or kitchen assistant/helper to help me with cooking classes at Cooking on the Bay. My Kitchen Steward plays an important and valued role in contributing to the participant's enjoyment of the class. As those of you who have been here will appreciate. This time, [...]
Lemons are one of my favourite fruits, I use them almost every day; they are an indispensable part of my cooking. I just love having a large bowl of lemons decoratively gracing my kitchen bench. There is always a refreshing squeeze of lemon in my water glass; lemon juice is also very rich in anti-scorbutic [...]
Moules Marinière is one of the best-known classic French mussel dishes. The recipe hails from the wives of French sailors living along the northwest coast of Brittany, where most of France’s mussel catch is harvested. It is a typical French provincial bistro dish, in that these Bretagne sailors’ wives could afford to make a [...]
Years ago, as a small child in the May school holidays, my mother and I always drove to visit my grandparents at their farm in central Victoria. May meant it was mushroom time and so we would 'go mushrooming', usually on Sunday afternoons. Armed with a big bucket and small knife, we would drive out [...]
I do look forward to baking this cake in autumn when mandarins are at their peak; some varieties continue into June and winter, so there is still time for you to get into the kitchen and baking. The lusciousness of the pistachios and the sweetness of the mandarins, make a perfect and flavoursome match. The [...]
