Happy birthday to me ... at Two Naughty Chooks

It was recently my birthday ... okay, not so recently, since this post is very belated, but I did have a birthday. :-) As with all birthdays, it is our tradition to go out for a nice meal to a restaurant of my choosing (for my birthday) - The Boy chooses for his birthday!

This year, I picked what is now my current favorite restaurant - Two Naughty Chooks.

We discovered this restaurant last year when we went to a wine tasting dinner, and discovered how amazing the chefs at the restaurant were. This restaurant is owned and run by a husband and wife chef team, Wayne and Brooke Dermody.

Wayne used to work at the Margan Winery restaurant, which is reputed to be a very good restaurant in the region, though now that Wayne is not there, I don't think the food is as good.

As with wine, you follow the winemaker, so too when it comes to chefs and restaurants ... follow the chef!

Two Naughty Chooks offers a wide range of meals on their menu and while it is easy to pick three or four courses from the menu, I prefer to let Wayne surprise me. Of course, everything that comes out, even when I order the "Chef's Choice" is cooked fresh and also from the menu.

This time we went with a four course meal with 2 entrees each, 1 main and 1 dessert.

For entrees, because there were 2 for each of us, it meant that we were able to try out 4 entrees from the menu and we got:

• Mushroom dumplings with sesame soy dressing and chilli jam
• Seared confit chicken wing with corn veloute and romesco
• Beef carpaccio with egg, Parmesan, almonds, pangratatto and truffle balsamic
• Pan roasted langoustine, chimichurri and toasted brioche

Needless to say, these were all sensational.

Mains again were a surprise, and we each got a different one. This is great because is means we get to share and taste each others meals too. We got:

• Lamb rump with cous cous, pearl onions, spinach and jus
• Brisk pastry wrapped ham hock with smoked onion puree and creamed leek

Of course, both extremely tasty.

By the time we got to dessert, we were both pretty full but we found some room for it. For dessert, we ended up with:

• Zokoko chocolate parfait with brownie, crunchy almonds, and milk and mint sorbet
• Banana creme brulee with choc hazelnut purr pastry

It was incredible meal and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

We have a wedding anniversary coming up, I wonder if we'll go there again. I'm sure the menu would have changed as we are getting into the winter season now. :-)

Also, if you've seen my recent blog post about a creamy chicken and truffle pasta, this is where I get my truffle stuff from.

Let me know if you have a favorite restaurant that you love to go to for special ocassions. Be sure to post pictures for me to see either on Instagram or on my Daz In The Kitchen Facebook page.


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How to simmer without boiling over or burning ... guaranteed!!!

This is going to be a very short and simple post of a quick tip which works for me every single time!!

A lot of recipes will ask that you simmer something for 20 minutes on low heat or medium heat.

Very often, I'm pretty sure most of the time, actually, you will simmer the pot of whatever is cooking, be it soup, stew or sauce on the stove top. This can lead to the pot boiling over if it's too hot or burning if you forget to watch the pot.

What I do is I simmer in the oven.

Yes, you heard me right, I said simmer in the oven. :-)

Water boils at 100°C or 212°F, so I set my oven to between 100°C and 120°C or 212°F and 248°F to simmer whatever I am needing to simmer.

I heat up the oven to the correct temperature, and while that is happening, I get my pot of whatever I'm cooking on the stove and bring it to a boil on the stove.

Then, when it is boiling, I transfer the entire pot, covered with a lid, into the oven, and set the timer for it to simmer in the oven for whatever the duration is needed. Just remember to set your timer and get it out of the oven at the appropriate time. It's okay if you run over a little, it won't boil dry in the oven for a very long time.

A word of caution though - make sure that your pot is oven proof. Stainless steel pots are best for this, or cast iron. If you have a pot that has plastic or plastic like material parts, make sure that it can withstand the temperatures that you have set the oven to. I know that Scanpan can withstand up to 160°C or 320°F. You do not want your pot melting in the oven because it cannot withstand the heat.

I promise that this method of simmering is pretty foolproof. No need to check it and constantly watch it, just set the timer and let it go. No boiling over. No burning unless you forget about it and leave it for a long time, and even then, it would take hours and hours before all the liquid would evaporate.

The only caveat I make to that is the fact that if you are slow cooking something over 5 or 6 or more hours, then it will dry down a bit. Check it periodically (every 2 or 3 hours) just to make sure you still have enough moisture in it, and if not, just add a little more boiling water.

I hope you try this out and if you do, let me know how it works for you. :-)


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Creamy chicken and truffle pasta ... OMG!!! so AMAZING!!!

I have recently been on a truffle kick. It all started when we went to the Two Naughty Chooks for dinner and they served an INCREDIBLE truffle ravioli which just made my taste buds sing and dance in rapturous joy.

The restaurant also is the sole distributor for a range of truffle products from Umbria, Italy and on the night we were there, they were offering a small discount on truffle products, so I picked up a few things.

We started off by making scrambled eggs with truffle in it and even videoed the process. You can watch it here.

Being in a truffle mood and a pasta mood the other night, I decided to make a creamy pasta with truffle, but decided that some chicken would go well with it. I did not find a recipe on the interwebs, I just made it up. Fortunately for me, it turned out to be amazing and I seriously think it may be the best pasta dish I have ever made.

Here is what I came up with:

Ingredients:

• 3 pieces of chicken thigh, sliced thinly
• 1 brown onion, diced
• 1/2 jar of Porcini Mushrooms Cream with White Truffle 45 gr
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 200ml dry white wine
• 600ml thick cream
• 1 tablespoon of Masterfoods Season All spice
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 350gm spiral fusilli pasta

Instructions:

• Set water to boil to cook pasta. When water is boiling, put in pasta and cook for 8 minutes
• While water is coming to a boil, start cooking the sauce
• In a deep, large frying pan, heat up olive oil, then put in diced onions and start to saute for about a minute or two
• Add chicken to pan and start to cook. Add Masterfoods Season All and salt and pepper to taste
• When chicken is cooked but not browned, add white wine and bring to a boil
• Add cream and bring to a boil, simmer to reduce and thicken a little (it doesn't need to reduce a lot). Turn off heat
• Check the taste and add more salt and pepper if necessary. You don't want too much, as you don't want the sauce to overpower the truffle.
• By this time, the pasta should be ready, drain pasta
• Put drained pasta into the pan with the sauce and mix thoroughly
• Add the 1/2 jar of truffle into the pasta and mix thoroughly (make sure that the heat has been turned off at this point. You do not want to heat on the truffle as that will reduce the potency of the flavor and taste)
• Once the truffle is mixed through, serve and enjoy!!!

So, this turned out to be AMAZING, as I said earlier. The flavors were rich and exploding in my mouth. It was so good, both The Boy and I had seconds, which was way more food than we should be having, since we are both watching what and how much we eat. We made an exception for this dish! :-)

The Boy also blogged about what wine to go with the dish and you can read about it here.

If you are in Australia and interested in getting the truffle products, you can contact Wayne at Two Naughty Chooks. He'll be happy to help you out.

If you are not in Australia, it looks like you can purchase direct from Guiliano Tartufi's website directly.

Happy truffle eating!!!


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