Lemongrass beef stir fry

Thai style lemongrass beef stir fry - Serves 4

Fragrant and light, with hints of kaffir lime

Best served with Jasmine rice and crisp iceberg lettuce

Preparation time 15-20 minutes

Cooking time 10 minutes

Ingredients

~10cm lemongrass, finely chopped

~2cm x 1 cm ginger - finely chopped

2-3 cloves garlic crushed

2 birds eye chillies (Adjust to taste)

4-6 kaffir lime leaves - chopped roughly

1/2 juice from lime

Zest from 1/2 lime

2 tablespoons fish sauce 

(If you think you were a little overzealous with the fish sauce, you can save it with a bit of water to dilute)

1/2 cube palm sugar, grated

~1-2 tablespoons canola oil to coat the beef and marinate

400g beef stir fry strips/scotch fillet 

Salt and pepper

Method

1. Chop up lemongrass, ginger, garlic, chillies and kaffir lime leaves - add to bowl. 
2. Add beef and mix through with the lime juice, zest, oil, and fish sauce. If you think you were a little overzealous with the fish sauce, add some water to dilute. Grate some palm sugar over the top.
3. Set aside for at least 30 minutes at room temperature
4. To achieve that chargrilled flavour - cook on non-stick fry pan with no oil. Line beef across pan, one layer and turn beef as cooks and achieves that crispy, dark colour. You may need to do batches, depending on the size of your pan.

To add some crunch - you can get some iceberg lettuce leaves and wrap the rice or rice vermicelli and beef in a roll - like a rice paper roll! :)

Alternatively you can chop up the lettuce and serve salad like - with rice vermicelli instead of rice.

Enjoy x

Noble Monks

Homemade toasted granola with rhubarb compote and poached pears

Bargain $7! I think it was missing the greek style yoghurt which would have definitely hit the spot!

Coffee is amazing! But of course it would be, pretty sure its supplied by the best in town!!

In regional country towns you can be lucky to get just a good Thai restaurant.

Shepparton is lucky to to boast a few good cafes and restaurants, but sadly the variety is limited.

So when something new comes to town, we're on it like bees to honey.

Noble Monks is locally owned and brings a Melbourne-like vibe to town.

Within the last week I have had the luxury of being able to go for brunch, dinner and drinks.

The walls are bare, red brick with a bike, moose head and a couple of posters that line the walls.

The ceilings are high, and there is a tree in the centre of one of the tables. (yes thats right, a real, live tree, the concept is good, but can be impractical when trying to talk across the table).

Apart from the bar stools and benches, there are some comfy recliners to chill out for Friday night drinks and black leather couches to sit around and share finger food.

Service is pub style, order at the bar kinda thing. Meals are fairly cheap, around the $15-25 mark and a fairly good range of beer, wine and spirits.

Overall, I was fairly impressed with the food. Finally portion sizes that are appropriate.

You don't feel overfull, just right.

Flavours are good and food is cooked just right.

I think this place is still finding its niche, "Am I a bar, Am I a tapas bar, Am I for brunch..."

Definitely worth the visit and worth waiting to find out what type of establishment this place finds itself.

Dead Man Espresso

Finally... the weekend has arrived and this girl needs to debrief, unwind and just forget the week just gone. What better way to start the day with the most important and favourite meal of the day!

Time to meet...

Dead Man Espresso

A little cafe in the back streets of South Melbourne (and i think potentially around the corner from an up class brothel? But that story is for another time).

This place is packed out, inside, outside and on the street. (So definitely book!)

The verandah has bar stools and a couple of little stainless steel tables, under scrumptiously warm heaters!

The coffee is a mixture of african blends and looks like it is changed regularly.

Potato rosti with poached egg, avocado and smoked salmon ~$17

A twist on your brekkie hash brown, this fried baby has got the goodness of potato and i think some chives too! The drizzle of pesto just ties it all together! 

It was the perfect size to fill me up and satisfied!

Pretty soy cap - so creamy and velvety. What I wish all cappuccino's should be...

Definitely worth coming back at lunch, for a beer and some more rustic food!

Tea rooms to alley ways to Taiwanese...

Hopetoun Tea Room - Where ladies do tea in absolute pleasure and indulgence.

You can find this gem in the Block Arcade on Collins street.

I was just walking past and stopped, mesmerised in baked good beauty. 

The variety of baked foods felt like you were looking into Willy Wonka's cousin's baked good factory!

The line was too long, but I think I will definitely be looking to lunch here with the ladies!

 

Bourke Street laneway 

 In Sydney we would call this an 'alleyway' where you would find the homeless, drug dealers or those looking for some lovin'

Melbourne on the other hand actually utilise these spaces for the good of man kind!

Cute little pictures around the place - very japanese style

Some examples "Paul Frank... is not your friend"

"Make love, not babies"

Peko Peko

Crispy chicken box!!! (ok you almost need to say this in a Japanese accent.. it's sooo good)

Rice is alright, your typical fried rice. But hello crispy chicken (hit me with the asian accent!)

This stuff is delicious! I taste chinese 5 spice, garlic, perhaps coriander with corn flour, pepper and deep fried!! Man the Colonel has got some competition.

The rest of the menu seems fairly average, a good mix of Chinese and Japanese style dishes, price is moderate $8-10 for a main meal.

Doing Melbourne like a tourist - Part 2

Googling, city searching, timeout , three-thousand and good food guiding it, I found Heirloom.

A modern Japanese Izakaya and sake bar (aka place to drink and eat). It is a fusion between traditional Japanese and French cuisine. I was drawn to this place because the foodlooked remarkable, however when I arrived, ambience is what truly lacked. The ceilings were high, it was cold and it felt that we were the only ones dining, even tho the majority of tables were filled.

Green tea ice-cream with soy sauce macaroon - (yes thats right folks, soy sauce flavour!) This was the most exciting flavour I have come across. It was sweet, but in a starchy kinda way. The biscuit was a little dry but you hardly notice because the flavour just takes over!

Last day in Melbourne, time to soak up some cultural-ness.

But first stop, brekkie.

Wandering the streets of Melbourne, just before the rain hit we found Caboose Canteen.

A little rustic cafe with a hint of modernism on Swanston st, right next to Brunettis (Perfect for dessert afterwards if it was another time of the day).

The coffee is not too bad, a little on the bitter side but seeing as it is fair trade coffee, it kinda makes you feel good that you are supporting the good guys of food!

The menu here is seasonal, so you know that the ingredients will be fresh and not over priced for something that doesn't grow this time of year. 

Grilled corn fritters with spicy tomato chutney and avocado salsa - Perfect portion size, well cooked, it didn't have that squishy, doughy taste that some corn fritters can have. The tomato chutney was definitely made in house, and all in combination together it was scrumptious way to star the day. But if you are a bit on the sensitive side to spice, be wary of the salsa!

$ Price - was about $15.00

Ganache chocolate macaroons - My love affair for macaroons continues...

Lavender, Green tea, raspberry, cappuccino, lemon and pistachio.

I think I have found my new favourite macaroon place. Although they macaroons are less uniform in size, the fillings are just devine. You really can taste the flavour, the filling is very moist and lives up the texture of ganache - thick and creamy. 

$ Price - $15.50 for 6 (about average price)

Doing Melbourne like a tourist... part 1

Showing off Melbourne to my friend from Sydney, I wanted to showcase some of my favourites.

Where better to start than Degraves Espresso?

I fell in love with this place one cold afternoon, looking for a quick bite. I was thoroughly satisfied with their super delicious french toast with strawberries and maple syrup! Finally a truly sweet french toast, none of that bacon business!

This place doesn't need a website, it is blogged about like crazy because food lovers know that Degraves Espresso is a must!

This time I thought I should branch out and try something new...

Green Eggs and Smoked salmon on sourdough - a twist on an old favourite. 

Decent serving of salmon with scrambled eggs with ?coriander/parsley and a dash of chilli

Mmm and that sourdough... give me more carbs!!! 

Breakfast bruschetta with extra chorizo - a bitey branchy meal, with a perfectly poached egg

Again, really generous serve of chorizo

Masterchef 2012 begins!

There were feelings of despair when it had already hit March and there was no sign of Masterchef returning 2012... but alas, it has started this May and certainly seems that this year they have a much bigger budget to play with.

I love this pic - you can tell that George really does love his food <3

It is portrayed the Australia paved the way for the international MasterChef phenomenon, and I would have to agree. After watching the original, British version you will understand why. Surprisingly the Brits avoid the drama and juicy stuff and just focus purely on the cooking... yeaaa... I can watch Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall for that! I wanna bitch, gossip, cry and laugh with these people! Give me drama!

So far, we have met a mixed bag of characters. Sadly my favourite was eliminated after the French challenge. The asian interpreter dude, man this guy has tears on tap! I love that just a reality tv show, can elicit such emotion! 

I think this early in the competition, we are still getting to know the contestants - but when week 10 comes we will surely have our favourites.