Thoughts From Becca

I had a fairytale upbringing with time to play ... cubby houses in the lounge room ... summers jumping over the garden sprinkler ... ballet classes ... music lessons ... cooking for fun ... baking scones + ANZAC biscuits + caramel slice ... and my own personal fairy Starbright.   Before I went to school, or so mum always said, I would insist on getting on the bus ‘without her’, paying my own fare, and sitting at the back and pretending she wasn’t there. I didn’t realise the great gift I had been given. It wasn’t until I’d ‘grown up’, that I realised that my idyllic upbringing was not shared by all girls.  Because I am a Girl in Australia, I had the opportunity to travel to other countries, at first through exploring their cuisines. Later as an adult, I did ‘actually’ travel overseas. These were eye-opening experiences. While I was in Uzbekistan, for example, I was hugged by women, strangers, in the street, who ran to me with roses and smiles, to greet my independence. I...

I adore saffron. Sometime back I decided to play around and add saffron to a cake and came up with this recipe .   As it turns out, just today I read that saffron is used to make a traditional Christmas cake in Sweden for St Lucia Day, which is celebrated on 13th December. Legend has it that Lucia as a young girl, about to be a bride, gave her entire dowry to the poor of her village and admitted that she had become a Christian. She was accused of witchcraft and burned at the stake on December 13th, 304 A.D. (She is also the patron saint for Italian fisherman, and is said to guide them through a storm).   I've read that in all the Scandanavian countries, on St Lucia Day, breakfast is served at dawn, and is celebrated with saffron buns and gingerbread. My homage to St Lucia is this cake. Why not try serving it dusted with icing sugar to represent the white gown usually associated with the Italian medieval saint. And, in Australian summer of December 13th, seasonal fr...

Yesterday I took a jaunt to Sydney's newest (and oldest) retail butcher. I knew something was different as soon as I saw the window in Queen Street Woollahra. Paintly boldly is the motto: "If Pigs Could Fly". In the window is a small whole pig with wings and in the base of the display a bed of white feathers. This is no ordinary butchers. Father and son, Vic and Anthony Puharich are suppliers to many of Sydney's finest restaurants. "The Churchill's Butchery site has been a butcher shop since 1876, so it seemed only appropriate that we opened our flagship shop there" say Anthony Puharich, CEO of Vic's Premium Quality Meat . Anthony was kind enough to take time out of a busy Saturday to proudly yet humbly show me around the store. There's a fine range of goodies, including charcuterie, traiteur and rotisserie. Not sure if the secret's out yet but my favourite mustards and salts are also stocked there. There's even dessert. While we were...

This week was an exciting moment in the food blogging world as the movie Julie & Julia opened. (here in Australia we've still got a couple of months to wait though ... and my fingers are tapping the kitchen table impatiently). The movie features two stories: the memoirs of Julia Child and the story of food blogger Julie Powell cooking her way through Julia's recipes. One of the things I'm delighted about with the movie is that it features some of my French (classic) favourites. They've never gone out of style with me. They are the dishes I taught myself as a teenager and have been cooking ever since. Every winter since I first cooked this recipe, I've warmed family and friends with Boeuf Bourguignon. Here's my adaptation using mustard, not flour, for thickening. Where possible, for added depth of flavour, I prepare a day ahead of eating, and start preparations with the marinade the day before that. Boeuf Bourguignon 1.5 kg (3 1/2 lbs) casserole beef ...

I love sharing food with friends, and cooking for them, and there is no greater honour than being invited into a friend's home and having them cook in a labour of love to share with me. A couple of weeks ago I spent a leisurely Sunday lunch in the home of my friends Georgie and Janos. That day they treated me to homestyle Hungarian fare. I've never made Csipetke, and they've been kind enough to give me a lesson, shared here with you. They even took the photo.   Csipetke: home made pasta for soups   80g continental flour  1 small egg salt  Mix flour with egg and knead until firm dough forms. Sift a little flour on a hard surface and roll dough with a rolling pin until it is 1mm thick. Dip your fingers into flour and pinch small pieces from the dough (about 5mm x 5mm). Add small pieces of dough to boiling soup (such as gulyas soup) or boiling salty water. It is cooked when it comes to the surface (about 2 - 3 minutes).  If we're lucky maybe they'll share the...

Rhubarb and Apple Crumble with Mum's Crumble Topping Crumble is one of my favourite comfort foods. It's warming to the heart as well as the tummy in winter. In summer, I still serve crumble (with a change of seasonal fruit) and serve it at room temperature or cold. There's a couple of ways I make the fruit filling for the crumble, but I always use mum's crumble topping; this is the one we ate at home as kids. For the Topping In all honesty, while I don't remember ever measuring the ingredients, here's my attempt to recreate with measurements. There are four ingredients butter (125g or 4oz), brown sugar (1/2 cup), plain flour (1 cup), rolled oats (1 cup). - Mix the dry ingredients. Add the melted butter. Stir, and loosely sprinkle on top of the fruit mixture. - After a hint from Chef Luke Mangan , I've recently created a 'friends to dinner' variation by adding little chocolate nuggets (I used dark chocolate roughly chopped) to the crumble topping mix...