Baked eggs tend to get a bad rap. And although there are a few bad versions
floating around, it is possible to cook eggs to perfection in the oven and
accompany with some pretty exciting flavors. This recipe comes from an Aussie
expat living in California, who has spent time getting down in the kitchen with
some genuine Mexican crew. It’s the real deal, and recommended as a lively
way to get your Saturday morning kick started. It’s also a great way to use up
corn chips, or tortilla from the night before. Enjoy.

Preheat oven to 180C

Soak the chiles in boiling water in a bowl for at least half an hour until they’re soft
(try to keep them entirely submerged the whole time). When they’re soft, tear out the
stems and remove seeds. Strain and set aside the water they were soaking in. Using a food
processer, blend the chiles, garlic, about a cup of water and some salt. It should be
reasonably smooth and not too thick.

Next up, coat the bottom of a frying pan in sunflower oil and heat well. Add the capsicum,
onion and zucchini. Sauté for about 2 minutes, add spices, and continue cooking on high heat
for another few minutes. Pour the chile sauce over the vegetables, and add a little bit more
oil, plus a tiny bit more salt, the sugar and the tomato paste. Stir well for a couple of
minutes. Slowly add the tortilla/chips, stirring the whole time. Taste for salt, you may
need to add some more.It should have a fairly spicy kick to it.

Using an appropriate dish to bake eggs in, fill with the tortilla and tomato mixture,
leaving enough room to crack an egg into.

Crack an egg in, and throw in a generous handful of cheese. Crack some black pepper over
the top. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes of so, or until the egg is just set and the filling
is piping hot. Finish with freshly chopped coriander.

*Also you may need to hunt down some of these ingredients, if you’re in Melbourne,
Casa Iberica and USA foods will be of great help to you.

It’s been said that Melbourne is a land of milk and honey.
And I’m pretty sure that’s not a reference to the 1984 John and Yoko
album of the same name. There’s no doubt it’s always becoming easier
to seek out interesting and unique products, made by people who have
a real connection with what they sell. Products like the honey hailing
from the rooftops of the Melbourne CBD, made by a group of committed
honey enthusiasts using old fashioned methods, producing old fashioned
honey that actually tastes AMAZING. And milk from Jonesy’s, a business
that’s part of a mini-revolution of sorts at the moment. Their products
promise superior quality; happier cows and happier farmers.

In order to achieve the layers in this cake, it’s essential to bake two
sheets of cake which will require you to bake two separate batches. You
will end up with a LOT of off cuts, they are for experimenting with, or
freezing for a rainy day. You will also require two cake rings, one with a
diameter of 125mm, and another 205mm. In addition to these you WILL need
acetate plastic film, available from art supply shops. Feel free to go down
your own path with different shaped cake rings too, square shapes would
look really neat, as a suggestion.

Before preparing the cake batter, line a 17 cm by 12 cm lamington tray
with baking paper. Preheat the oven to 180C.

Begin by sifting the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

Separate the eggs. Using a stand alone mixer on high speed, with a beater
attachment, whip the egg whites into stiff peaks. Rain in the sugar at the
end of this process and you should have a glossy stark white meringue.
Using a paddle attachment, mix on low speed incorporating the egg yolks,
one at a time. Keep the mixer on low and add ⅓ of the remaining dry
ingredients. Alternate with ⅓ of the buttermilk until everything is well
incorporated. Try not to over-mix, you want to keep the volume of the egg
whites without knocking too much air out of it.

Take this cake batter and pour into the lamington tin, smoothing the top
with a spatula. Let it sit for 5 minutes on a flat surface, as you want the
cake to rise as evenly as possible.

Pop it in the oven for 15 minutes, or until the top has turned a lovely
golden colour, and the middle springs back when poked. The cake should
have risen slightly too. If all is looking good, remove from the oven and
let cool for just a few minutes. Grab a fork and prick the cake all over.
Mix together the ingredients of the milky soak, and pour on top of the
cake. Allow to cool for another 5 minutes.

Now comes the fun part – grab the cake ring and cut out two large circles
and two smaller ones. Put the cake circles in a safe place while you mix
another batter, and bake another tray.

Once you have baked and cut out another tray of cake, gather your circles
together and put your cake rings on some baking paper, atop of a flat
wooden chopping board, or anything else that’s flat and will be ok to go
into the freezer. Using the acetate, line each cake ring on the inside.
The acetate will need to be high enough to support three layers of cake
with frosting, which will probably be about a cm or two thick in between
each layer.

For the frosting, start by creaming the butter and cream cheese together
in a stand alone mixer with paddle attachment. While this is happening,
melt the vegetable shortening in a pot on the stove or in the microwave.
Once the cream cheese and butter are light and voluptuous, add the melted
shortening a little at a time, mixing on a medium to high speed. Turn the
mixer down to low and stream in the glucose and vanilla. Crank the mixer
back up for another 2-3 minutes. Finally add the sugar and baking powder
and mix on low speed until completely incorporated. Flick the mixer back
up again to high, until the frosting is smooth and white.

Layer your cake by slotting in the first cake circle, followed by a layer
of frosting. Repeat until you have three layers of cake, and three layers
of frosting. Do the same with the smaller cake ring.

Put everything into the freezer for 12 hours so that the cake can
properly set. Once you have done this, pop the cake ring off, and
carefully unwrap the acetate. Viola! Your cake will be ready, and stable
enough for you to stack the small one on top of the bigger one. Let the
whole thing thaw in the fridge for an hour or two before serving.

There’s something pretty special about a cherry pie. It’s delicious for one.
It’s also iconic, having starred in many a TV show as well as some truly awful
90’s music. Dousing a cherry pie with brandy cream turns this diner classic
into a festive treat. The perfect end to a lazy lunch in the afternoon heat.
Merry Christmas to all!

Start with the pastry. Mix the sugar and plain flour together well with a
pinch of salt. Rub the butter into the dry mixture well with your hands
until the butter is completely broken up and incorporated.
Using a fork, mix well while adding the vinegar and water. Continue to add
small amounts of water until the dough comes together. Use your hands to
lightly bring it together and wrap in cling film tightly. Rest the pastry
in the fridge for two hours.

For the filling, pit the cherries and combine well with the sugar, egg
yolks and flour. Let sit for 10 minutes and drain off half of the liquid.
Take the pastry out of the fridge and roll out to a .5cm thickness. Line
the pie tin with pastry. Also roll out a second circle of pastry for the
top of the pie. Reserve the offcuts for a second pie, or another sweet
treat. Add the filling to the pie and run some eggwash around the edges.
Lastly, crumble the ricotta into the filling.

Attach the top circle of pastry and bake for 30 – 40 minutes until the pie
is cooked, and golden.

For the brandy cream, whip the cream until it is lightly beaten. Add egg
yolks, sugar and brandy and beat well. Taste and increase the booze if
needed.

The precise history of corned beef is not too clear, but somewhere
along the line the Irish have claimed at least some credit for this
criminally underrated cured meat. Particularly those Irish folk who
emigrated to America, where corned beef is scoffed down with much
enthusiasm on St Paddy’s day alongside spuds, boiled cabbage
and bacon. Here we’ve decided to swap the cabbage and bacon for
brussel sprouts and pancetta. We’ve also traded the pint of
Guinness for a long neck of Melbourne Bitter, as it’s got just the
right amount of sting to see you returning your knife and fork very
quickly to that delicious, delicious meat.

The corned beef will take a couple of hours, so begin with this.
Trim the beef of any messy bits of fat, and give a quick rinse under
cold water. Place in a pot and cover with cold water.  Throw in the
carrots, celery, bay leaves, peppercorns and onion. Bring to a boil
and simmer for a couple of hours, or until the beef is easily
pierced with a knife. Keep an eye on it as you’ll have to
top up the water every so often.

For the sprouts, bring a pot of well salted water to the boil.
Blanch them for 2 minutes and remove and rinse under some cold water
until cool. Dice the pancetta and fry in a very hot pan until crispy.
Set them aside, lower the heat slightly and saute the onion and garlic until
translucent. Remove the onion and garlic from the pan, turn the heat back
up and put the half of the sprouts in flat side down and caramlise the
outside a little. Watch that you don’t crowd the pan otherwise you
won’t get the lovely colour on the outside. Once the sprouts have all
had a turn in the pan, combine all the ingredients and throw in a generous
knob of salted butter until everything is combined and shiny.

For the spuds, quarter them and cook in salted water until soft.
Mash with generous amounts of cream, salt and white pepper.
Once tasting great, whip in a generous knob of butter.

For the white sauce, melt the 50g of butter in a pot and add the 50g of
plain flour. Whilst stirring with a wooden spoon, cook for 2 minutes on
it’s own. Take off the heat, and add 300mls of full cream milk. Put back
on heat and keep the mixture moving. If the sauce is too thick, use some of
the stock from the corned beef to thin it out a little. It will need to be
seasoned well with salt and pepper, and a squeeze of lemon juice.

What to do with a pumpkin? Pumpkin soup is nice, but a sweet
pumpkin pie is better. Winter is the perfect time for sourcing and
baking a pumpkin; the organic beauty we got to make this pie was
just $1.80 a kg. Melding it with sugar, oats, cream, and ginger nut
biscuits makes for a luscious dessert or a wicked afternoon snack.
This pie is loosely based on the notorious “Crack Pie”, found at the
Momofuku Milk Bar in NYC. And if you haven’t heard of that,
hop onto google cause chances are you haven’t fully come
to appreciate the power of the PIE.

Begin by roasting the pumpkin and letting it cool. Take half a pumpkin,
and chop it into decent sized chunks. Wrap tightly in foil and bake in
a moderate oven until the pumpkin is cooked completely through and soft.
Use these segments to make your pumpkin puree by blitzing them in a food
processor or blender until very smooth.

For the pie crust, combine the ginger snap biscuits, rolled oats, a tbsp
of sugar and a pinch of baking powder in a food processor. Pulse until
fine breadcrumb consistency. Tip into a mixing bowl and pour over 120 g of
melted butter. Incorporate well and press the mixture evenly into a pie
tin of your choice.

For the filling, combine the sugars, salt, milk powder and cornflour in a
mixer with a paddle attachment and mix until incorporated. Add the melted
butter with the speed on low for a couple of minutes until the mixture
is moist. Keep mixing on low and add the pumpkin until well combined.
Finally, add the egg yolks, one at a time until smooth and glossy.
Pour the filling into the pie crust and bake in an oven on 160C for 15
minutes. Hopefully by this stage the pie will have begun to set around the
outside. Now open the door and keep it ajar with a wooden spoon while the
middle sets a bit more. Keep it like this for another 10 minutes then turn
the oven off and let the pie cool in the oven. It won’t completely set in
the middle but that’s ok, it will firm up when cool.

Milk jam (dulce de leche) is a guaranteed food high. It’ll send
an otherwise reasonable person weak at the knees, scrambling for
extra spoonfuls out of the jar. Powerful stuff. And great on pancakes.
These pancakes are kind of halfway between the fluffy American
style and the super thin French crepe. Fluffy enough to stack
up on a plate, but still thin enough to wrap around your fork.

Combine dry ingredients. Make a well in the centre, and add the eggs.
Mix in the milk and water until smooth. Cling wrap this mixture and leave
it in the fridge overnight, for at least 12 hours. The longer you leave
it, the better. When it comes to cooking, incorporate the melted butter,
and free up with a little water if the mix is too thick. It should look
smooth and glossy. Cook in a hot pan with extra melted butter.

For Milk Jam, combine 1 litre of good quality cows milk with 800g of
caster sugar. Heat on the stove and simmer very gently for 4 – 5 hours,
stirring every half an hour to prevent a skin forming on top.
Lastly, the strawberries. Bring a sugar syrup to the boil with a vanilla
pod, halved. Throw a punnet of strawberries in and allow to cool in the
liquid. Remove strawberries and reduce by half. Once cooled completely
once again add the strawberries to the syrup, and store in the fridge.

The amazing thing about silken tofu is its soft jelly like texture.
It’s very fragile to work with, but somehow holds together perfectly
when deep fried. Dusting in flour and generous amounts of salt and
pepper creates a highly tasty and crunchy exterior, leaving the
inside sweet and silky smooth.

To fry the tofu, heat a wok or large saucepan with peanut oil to 160C.
Carefully lower segments of tofu into the hot oil and fry for around
3 or 4 minutes.

Arrange the salad as you wish. Thin segments are good.
Make sure everything is washed really well.
Use some soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and lemon juice to create
a tasty dipping condiment. Top plentifully with spring onions.

Wagyu beef comes from a deluxe breed of cattle that yields meat
prized for its rich, marbled quality. It’s quality stuff that costs a little
bit more, but makes for some pretty amazing eating. The good thing
about choosing a less sought after cut of wagyu is that it becomes
a little bit more affordable. Beef cheeks work extra well in a pie,
as there’s nothing like good quality meat cooked in extra buttery
pastry! And loads of tomato sauce, of course. Gimme.

Start by sweating the onion, garlic, carrots, celery, leek, and star
anise in a large pot for about 10 minutes. Remove from the pot. Turn up the
heat and caramelise the mushroom until golden, for around 5 minutes.
Take the mushrooms out and add a splash of water to the pot to deglaze.
Add this liquid to the vegetables.

Prepare the beef cheeks by cutting away any large bits of fat and sinew,
and chop into small bite size pieces. Return the pot to the heat, and
some more oil and throw the beef cheeks in a few pieces at a time to
brown up well. Set the meat aside and deglaze the pot with a hefty
splash of brandy and 250mls of red wine.

Once the liquid has reduced by half and the alcohol burnt off, add the
tin of tomatoes, 3 sprigs of thyme, a bay leaf, the beef cheek, and the
vegetables. If there’s not enough liquid to cover the meat, add a little
water. Put a lid on and simmer on a low heat until the meat is tender
but not falling apart. This should take anywhere between 2 – 3 hours.
Once the mixture is cooked, remove the beef cheek, set aside, and strain
the vegetables from the liquid. Put the liquid back on the heat and
reduce by half. Add the meat back to the liquid and season rigorously
with salt, white pepper, and a few splashes of malt vinegar.

This mix will make enough for about a dozen small party pies.

For the pastry, use the shortcrust for the bottom of the pies.
Allow the pastry to rest for 30 minutes after you’ve lined the pie
molds. Use puff pastry for the top of the pies. Glaze with egg wash
and bake in 180C oven for 20 – 30 minutes, or until the pastry
is golden and cooked through.

Beef ribs are highly underrated. And cheap. They require some
patience when cooking, but their amazing depth of flavour and beautiful
gelatinous texture  make the results totally worth it. This will taste great
with barbecued corn on the cob and some fresh lime wedges to cut through
the richness of the meat.

Turn the oven on to 150 ºC. Trim off any unwanted bits of fat and season the ribs very well,
giving them a good massage with olive oil and plenty of sea salt and cracked pepper. Place
them in a baking dish with the quartered onions, broken-up garlic, bay leaves and some
peppercorns. Top the dish up a couple of centimetres with chicken stock. Cook for up to 4
hours, turning over the ribs after 2½ hours to make sure there’s still liquid in the bottom of the
tray, and topping up with water or more chicken stock if it’s drying out.

For the chimichuri, combine all ingredients and season to taste with salt and lime juice.
And finally, for the barbecued corn, blanch the corn cobs briefly in salted boiling water and cook
on a very hot barbecue or griddle. Brush down with butter throughout the cooking process.

The holy grail of sweet, eggy, fluffy and crunchy goodness.
People obsess over good versions of these tarts, and rightly so.
The base should be thin, crunchy and slightly flaky, while the inside
remains sweet and fluffy with a dark caramelisation on top.
No soggy or chewy pastry, please.

For the pastry base, roll the puff pastry up lengthways,
like a fruit Roll-Up. Chill for 20 minutes then slice the pastry into
1 cm slices and spread them out into small pastry moulds.

For the custard filling, whisk the flour and ¼ cup of the milk in a medium
bowl until smooth, then set aside. Heat the sugar, cinnamon and water
in a small saucepan until just boiling. Meanwhile, bring the remaining
1 cup of milk to the boil in another small saucepan then remove quickly
from the heat. Whisk the hot milk into the flour mixture. Next, remove
the cinnamon stick and pour the sugar syrup in a thin stream into the
mixture, whisking briskly. Add the vanilla and stir for a minute until
very warm but not hot. Finally, whisk in the yolks.
Pour the custard into the pastry shells and cook for 15 minutes or so,
or until the tops are dark and caramelised.
Allow to cool slightly while preparing yourself a coffee.