Lucy Liu Kitchen and Bar, Melbourne

Recently, I left my position to take up a new challenge.  For my leaving lunch, my team went to Lucy Liu Kitchen and Bar, an Asian restaurant off Oliver Lane in Melbourne.  The entrance to Lucy Liu is hidden away in an almost secret passage, so I was glad that Justine knew where it was.

The placemats at Lucy Liu all feature 3D animal prints - mine was the goldfish print at the top of this post.  The reverse side of the placement features the menu. 

We decided to go with the "Let Lucy Choose" option of 5 plates for $55 per person, with the son-in-law eggs as an added extra.

First up came the Kingfish Sashimi, served on sesame rice crackers:   

Next up was what I believe to be (read "I'm not quite sure") the sticky pork belly with coconut salad and chilli: 

The next dish was the son-in-law eggs, which came with a respectable amount of heat:

Next followed the sui mai prawn dumplings with red vinegar chilli oil (are you getting that there is a lot of chilli in these dishes?):

For a change of pace, we were served some fish - a pan-fried barramundi with fresh herbs: 

Here are the sides - steamed jasmine rice and spiced apple coleslaw:

The final dish is clearly beef, but exactly what the title of this dish is, I do not know because it does not feature in the online menu:

It was a big day, so all but one of us moved onto dessert.  Most of the group had the Vietnamese coffee icecream with the fried Chinese donut:

Never one to follow the crowd, I went for the banana fritters with roasted rice and coconut and vanilla bean icecream - definitely several steps up from the rather lewd looking specimens I have been served at suburban Asian restaurants:

The food at Lucy Lius was stupendous.  I am a huge fan of Asian food, so this place was right up my alley.  The service was efficient and friendly, and our little private dining area tucked away from the crowds was the perfect spot to chat:

Do I recommend Lucy Liu?  You betcha.  I would love to go back.

Lucy Liu Kitchen and Bar

22 Russell Street

Melbourne VIC 3000

Phone: 03 9639 5777

Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Fudge Frosting for Steve and Justine

Recently, my friends Steve and Justine celebrated their birthday.  I would be seeing both of them (separately) and wanted to make them cake, but I didn't want to make two separate cakes.  In comes the recipe for Chocolate Cake with Blackberry Buttercream Frosting from Lomelino's Cakes.  I made the full recipe for the base chocolate cake, and made five layers using my Wilton 6" layer cake tins.  I then made two cakes with two layers each.  Each layer was filled with strained raspberry jam and chocolate fudge frosting, then frosted all over with the fudge frosting before decorating.

Here is a peek inside one of the layers (this is the spare 5th layer):

The cake was delightfully moist from the sour cream in the recipe.

Steve's cake was decorated with Coles crunchy chocolate crackle balls, and Justine's cake was decorated with rainbow cachous  and a Dr Oetker wafer flower:

The recipe for the cake is as follows:

1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
2/3 cup sour cream
140g butter
2/3 cup white sugar
1/4 brown sugar (she used Muscovado sugar)
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius, and spray 5 x Wilton 6" shallow layer cake tins with oil.

Sift the flour, baking powder and baking soda together into a bowl and set aside.

Blend the cocoa with the sour cream in a bowl and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the butter, sugars and vanilla until light and fluffy/  Beat in the eggs, one at a time.

Fold the flour and sour cream mixtures into the batter alternately using a rubber spatula, and combine well.

Divide the batter evenly between the layer tins and bake for ~20 minutes or until cooked through.    

Invert the cakes onto wire racks to cool completely.

For the chocolate fudge frosting, I used the Crabapple Bakery recipe, available here.

To assemble, I warmed 1/2 cup of raspberry jam in the microwave for around 30 seconds, then strained it through a sieve to remove the seeds.  I topped two of the cake layers with the strained jam, then on top of that, I added some of the fudge frosting.  I then placed the second cake layer on top of each of the iced layers, then covered the outside of each cake with frosting ((I did two coats - a crumb coat and a final coat).  I then decorated the cakes as described above.

Each recipient said that they enjoyed their cake, so that was a win, despite some flaws in the execution. That's a win in my books!

Low Fat Macaroni Cheese

If you read this blog regularly, you will know that while I like my sweets, I try to keep my meals healthy.  This led me to search for a low fat recipe for macaroni cheese as a side to serve with dinner while my mother was staying with me.

I found this recipe for low fat macaroni cheese on Taste.com.  The recipe calls for bacon and parsley, which I left out, but I otherwise followed the recipe.  It was quick and easy to make, and sliced easily into convenient squares for serving.

This macaroni cheese was pretty good, but lacked a little oomph flavour wise.  Perhaps a sharper cheese or a dash of chilli or paprika would remedy this.  However, I would make this again.

EwE - Pumpkin Rice Pudding - Rice is Nice

For Eating with Ellie this week, Margaret chose the theme of Rice is Nice.  I am a stickler for rice pudding from way back, so I chose Ellie's Pumpkin Rice Pudding. 

This is exactly what it says on the tin - a healthy version of rice pudding with low fat milk, pumpkin and spiced with ginger and nutmeg.  We don't get tinned pumpkin here, so I just made my own mashed pumpkin.

This was quite good - I'd make it again.

To see what the others did with this week's theme, visit the LYL section of the EwE website.

Turkish Delight Cupcakes

A few birthdays ago, my lovely friend Kerry gave me a book aptly called Indulgence Cupcakes by Murdoch Books. I have not previously baked from this book for no reason other than that I overlooked it in favour of other tomes on baking.

However, a few days ago, I was flicking through it, looking for inspiration, when I found a recipe for Turkish Delight Cupcakes.  The same recipe is also online here.  What really grabbed my attention about these cupcakes is that they incorporated chunks of Turkish Delight chocolate bars.  I had three of these chocolate bars in my cupboard that I had bought for a project that never happened, so I thought this was a perfect way to use them up.  (The recipe coincidentally called for three bars of Turkish Delight.)

These cupcakes are a chocolate cupcake filled with chunks of chocolate coated Turkish Delight, and iced with a rose-flavoured icing.  They are indulgent but delicious.  I ran out of icing for the last 4 cupcakes (the recipe made 18 cupcakes), so I left them uniced.

If you or those close to you love Turkish Delight (which one flatmate years ago described to me as a "Dad's chocolate" - she clearly did not like it), then these cupcakes would be perfect.  (For the record, I am a fan of Turkish Delight, though not in an Edmund-obsessed kind of way.)

Particle Cafe, Avondale Heights

Recently, my friends V and C took me to breakfast/brunch at Particle Cafe at Avondale Heights to say thank you for me storing some things for them in my garage until they sorted out their new storage arrangements.

Particle is out of the way if you don't live in the area, but it is well worth seeking out.  It serves paleo cuisine, and it is all served beautifully - almost too good to eat.

My breakfast choice was the Rainbow Bircher Muesli ($13) pictured at the top of this post.  You can see how beautiful it was - underneath the flowers and other garnishes, the oats were a vibrant reddish colour from the fruit juice they were soaked in.  The dish also featured pear, hazelnuts, coconut yoghurt, dehydrated mandarin, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and dehydrated raspberry dust.


We also bought some sweeties to try - this paleo carrot cake:

and a paleo Persian love cake:

Flavour-wise, I liked the spicy carrot cake best, but both desserts were gorgeous.  However, noting that they are paleo, don't expect them to taste like the traditional versions of these treats.

If you live in the north of Melbourne or don't mind travelling to seek out a great place to eat, give Particle Café a go for some tasty, beautiful, healthy and non-boring food. 

Particle Café

1/47 Military Rd

Avondale Heights VIC 3034

 

Hairy Dieters' Chicken Tagine

I love a good tagine - spicy, aromatic and textural.  It is a fancy Middle eastern stew, and I am a fan.

I recently made The Hairy Dieter's Chicken Tagine.  This one had both olives and preserved lemon, which really up the flavour ratio with their sharp, distinctive flavours.  You can find the recipe online here.

I made this recipe even simpler by cooking it on high for 5 hours in my slow cooker.  This way, there was no pre-cooking - just throw everything into the slow cooker and switch it on.  Go out, do your thing, come home and dinner is served.  Brilliant!

If you like spicy stews, this recipe is definitely worth trying.