Bric-a-Brac

What is your favourite kind of shop?

I love bric-a-brac or junk shops, those dusty, cluttered places filled with other people's cast-offs, where burnt orange 1970s lamps sit beside hand-made pictures frames on antique roll top desks. Every visit to such shops is an adventure - you never know what treasure you might find. 

Proper antique shops that take themselves seriously are so much less interesting, despite their glorious smell of linseed and beeswax polish.

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Jerk Marinade

This is an incredible spicy, citrusy, flavorful marinade for chicken, shrimp or pork. I know it looks like a lot of ingredients but you probably have most of them already.  Get them together and make this.  It's so, so good.  The scotch bonnet pepper is super spicy but tastes great with everything.  Spice up your veggies and roast them with the jerk marinade. 

Jerk Marinade Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 scotch bonnet pepper
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 tablespoon ginger, grated
• 2 green onions
• 1 tablespoon thyme, chopped
• 2 tsp. allspice
• 3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 2 tablespoons white vinegar
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon dark rum
• 1/2 orange, juice and zest
• 1 lime, juice and zest

Directions

1. Puree everything in a food processor. Use with chicken, pork, shrimp, veggies, whatever. Spicy and yum!

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Friday Coffee with Friends

When we lived in Melbourne I had coffee with a group of friends every Friday morning.  Most of us met when our eldest children were in the same class in their first year of school. We discussed relationships and kids, jobs and local events - all the things ordinarily discussed by mums over a cup of coffee.  I still miss Alison, Sue, Margaret, Nada and Anne.  I sometimes wish I had a time machine to go back to those wonderful times when our children were small.

When we decided to move to Adelaide in 2008 I wondered if I would ever make new friends as good as my coffee friends in Melbourne.

I remember entering my younger children's new primary school at the end of their first day of school in Adelaide.  It was a cold, bleak August day and I walked into the schoolyard anxiously bracing myself to speak to someone, anyone, and introduce myself.  I had encouraged my children to try to make friends, and I knew that I had to make an effort also.

The first person I spoke to was Chris, who introduced me to her sister Carly.  They invited me to join a group of their friends who regularly met for coffee.  I had heard that Adelaide people could be unfriendly and insular, but this was not my experience.  This lovely group of women welcomed me with great kindness and generosity.

In the five years since we moved to Adelaide, Chris and Carly have become two of my dearest friends.  We still meet for coffee on a Friday morning, along with Gill, Emma, and Andrea.  Sometimes we are joined by Char, Amanda, Lisa and others.

I am so grateful to my current coffee friends and coffee friends from days gone by.  They have smoothed my pathway through motherhood and and provided much-needed friendship and encouragement.

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Peach Blueberry Crumble

Desserts with fruit just seem so much healthier, don't they.  I know there is a lot of sugar but this crumble is packed with fruit and an oatmeal topping.  

I thought about putting this into individual dishes but ended up just throwing it all in a big pan.  Not as pretty but it seemed to work fine. 

I think that peaches are my favorite fruit.  Paired with blueberries, this was an excellent dessert.  Somewhat healthy too. 

Blueberry Peach Crumble

Adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod

2 cups blueberries
2 1/2 cups peeled and sliced peaches (5-6 peaches)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup flour (I used gluten free)

For the crumble topping:

1/2 cup flour (I used gluten free)
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
6 tablespoons cold butter, diced

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2. In a large bowl, combine blueberries, sliced peaches, lemon juice, lemon zest, vanilla extract, granulated sugar, and flour. Gently toss until fruit is well coated. Let the fruit mixture sit while you prepare the crumble topping.

3. For the crumble topping: in a large bowl, combine the flour, oatmeal, brown sugar, granulated sugar, salt, and cinnamon. Stir together. Mix in the butter with your fingers until the mixture comes together and you have big crumbles.

4. Put the fruit mixture in a 9 x 13 in. pan or you can put it in individual ramekins.  Sprinkle the crumble mixture evenly over the fruit. Place the pan on a baking sheet pan lined with parchment paper and bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until the tops are browned and crisp and the juices are bubbly. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Calories calculated from calorieking.com. Some numbers are approximate and rounded.

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Peaches turns one

“Peaches” is not the 1^stname we thought of. We infact ran through nearly 100 of them, scraping at each of them- Tiranga, 3 Rascals and what not, till finally we landed at “Peaches”, shares Raghu.  Hailing from a family where his father was into business, Raghu met up with 2 other friends and after much brainstorming they decided to start the restaurant and see where it is headed.

They were 3 guys who were excited, passionate and wanted to do something new. Subsequently, they met with Chef Kaushik [Eatitude] who helped transform their idea into reality and get going on the restaurant. 

After much deliberation, the trio decided to start a “Pure vegetarian” restaurant, esp since Velachery was an up and coming locality and pure veg is a cuisine that will work here. Locality was one thing they dint really have to deliberate over, and they knew there was going to be no compromise on quality of food they served either. Once the idea was in place, plans were drawn, they did a survey over 40days among people they knew and got them to test out the menu as well [12^th to 19^th Sep 2012]. On 20^th Sep 2012 is when the doors opened…

The menu too went through various stages, from being extensive, it was narrowed down, and over time a few dishes were chopped off the list, while others were added in. The restaurant was slowly evolving and getting ready to open the doors to the market. And today, they are a year and 2 months old.  Today, they can serve 58 covers and are proud owners of the 1800 sq ft restaurant.

Targetting families who enjoy Indian food, and who are open to world cuisine, they designed the menu and kept coming up with new innovative dishes and festivals. Earlier this year, they had the Burrito eating contest, where a 2kg burrito was to be eaten in the shortest time. And now, they have launched Sizzlers, about 5 of them. We wonder what they are going to come up with next…

Venkatesh manages the kitchen and back end while Raghu manages the front and marketing aspect of the restaurant [thanks to his experience in marketing & servicing].

Some of their signature dishes which we got to taste were

Starters : Bread Mozzarella Sticks, Malai paneer tikka, Aatish-e-aloo and the Mushroom crostini followed by Phuket Paneer and Schezwan baby corn.

Drinks: Florida Sunrise and Lime mint cooker

Mains: It was raining sizzlers- there was the Oriental Sizzler, Italian sizzler, Tandoori Sizzler, Chettinad Sizzler and finally the Big Fat peaches Sizzler. The best of the lot was the Chettinad and Oriental Sizzler. The amazing thing about each of these Sizzlers was that the items on each of them was different, even the wedges and side of vegetables. There was the veg cutlet to the masala vada, the Chinese fried rice+noodles to Indian Biryani and the Italian gentle flavoured vegetables. These should make their way into the menu long term!!

Desserts: Hot chocolate fudge sundae, Banana boat and Mango sundae... 

Here’s wishing them a great journey ahead!!! Next time you are around Velachery and in the mood for some good food, albeit vegetarian, head straight down the road next to Phoenix mall about 2kms to Peaches [above Andhra Bank]

You can read my earlier review here

 Peaches

No.81, 9th Cross Street,
Rajalakshmi Nagar, 
100 Feet by Pass Road, 
Velachery, Chennai, 
Tamil Nadu 600042
Ph- 044 4201 9454

Disclaimer:
The reviews posted on this blog are based on my personal experience. Also remember that restaurants and eat outs sometimes change with time, so does their food and service. So, kindly consider these factors while visiting the places. Remember, no two palates are the same. Bon Appétit  :-) 

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Buffalo Chicken Grilled Cheese Sandwich

I remember grilled cheese night as a kid. It was just me, my dad and my brothers.  My dad would cut the crust off of two sides of the bread.  He'd stagger the pieces of bread so we wouldn't have as much crust on the sandwich.  So nice, right?

One of my brothers would butter the bread, the other would open up cheese slices. Yup, we used the cheese in the little plastic packages. I was the oldest so I'd be the one actually making the grilled cheese. Our little assembly line was fun and resulted in one of my favorite dinners.  

Well, my tastes have changed a bit over the years.  We no longer use the processed american cheese and I like to keep all the crust on the bread.  I also enjoy a little kick with my sandwiches, know what I mean?  

This has a lot more than just cheese on these sandwiches but it's still a grilled cheese to me.  This is ooey gooey cheesy but with a buffalo kick with the chicken.  The veggies give it that bit of freshness and bite.  So, so good. Looks like we might have to start a new grilled cheese tradition around here. 

Buffalo Chicken Grilled Cheese Sandwich
Adapted from Closet Cooking

2 cups cooked shredded chicken
1/2 cup Franks buffalo sauce
1/2 cup Ranch dressing
1/2 cup carrot, grated
1/2 cup celery, sliced
4 cups cheddar cheese
butter for the bread

Mix the chicken, hot sauce, ranch, carrot, celery and onion in a bowl. 

Butter the outside of each slice of bread. Throw bread on a hot pan, butter side down.  Top with a pile of shredded cheese, then a scoop of the buffalo chicken salad and then more cheese. Top with the other piece of bread, butter size up. Carefully flip sandwich until golden brown on both sides an ooey gooey all over.  



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Every Year

Every year at the start of November I decide that I am going to simplify Christmas. Instead of turkey and ham, Christmas pudding and home-made fruit mince pies, I will serve a suitably summery seafood platter followed by a fruit platter or pavlova.

Then suddenly, in late November or early December, some ancestral spirit (my grandmother, perhaps) possesses me and I long to make Christmas cake, Christmas pudding and home-made fruit mince.  Without these things, Christmas just isn't Christmas. (We'll have seafood and pavlova as well, but they won't be the main event.)

As recently as yesterday I was still planning a simplified Christmas, but today the spirit struck.  The Christmas pudding is made and simmering on the stove and if time allows tonight, I might even make a batch of Gran's fruit mince.

Ready to boil

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