Pizza Margharita

Pizza Margharita, originally uploaded by tunaranch.

Pizza Margarita, with onions just because I felt like it.

The star is the slow roasted Roma tomatoes, and I cheated by using Lebanese bread for a quick thin base.

Not counting time spent roasting tomatoes, this would have taken about 5 minutes to assemble and finish under the grill. Seriously, you have no excuse for eating two minute noodles any more.

Vanilla Bean Semifreddo with Strawberries

If Strawberries and Cream were to evolve, it would probably turn into something like this:

 

Home-made vanilla bean semifreddo, with sugared strawberry slices.

I learned how to make these strawberries (layer of sliced strawberries, sprinkle castor sugar, another layer of strawberries, more sugar ad nauseum) at a pancake breakfast at a friend's place. You'll end up with some really nice sweet, yet tart strawberries, with a nice pool of juice at the bottom.

This is a very simple, do ahead dessert that is guaranteed to impress.

How To Cook Poppadums (Properly)

I was asked by a friend recently for tips on how to cook poppadums. Well, the short answer is you have to fry them. If you want the long answer, read on.

Now, let's first consider how not to do it: Microwave. Don't even think about it. Yes, I know that the packet contains microwave directions, but it's nothing more than a marketing ploy for lazy people.

So now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's talk about how to do it properly. I.e., fry them:

1. Heat some oil, about 1 cm deep.
2. Chuck in a small piece of poppadums. When it crisps and rises to the surface, your oil is hot enough to fry.
3. Fry papadums, one at a time. They should pretty much go in and out. Take it out as soon as it's done. (It'll brown ever so slightly, and possibly curl, depending on the type). This should take seconds.

That's pretty much it. You can go through a whole packet in a matter of minutes. I prefer to break them in half, makes them a little easier to handle.  If you have chopstick skills, this can be a good time to make use of them.

Note that these instructions don't apply to North Indian poppadums (the type you get at tandoori restaurants). These big, white poppadums with seeds in them just need to be toasted on a pan. Again, do not microwave!

Enjoy.

Smoke Points Of Various Cooking Oils

In handy graph format:

Naturally, results will vary as how your oil gets will depend on what utensils you're using. Results can also vary slightly depending on the refining process used for that particular oil.

Data culled from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoke_point.

Brisbane Full Moon

Brisbane full moon, as shot September 3rd, 2009. Spent the better part of an hour, with the laptop tethered to the camera, camera tethered to the balcony (Glad I got that Gorillpod now!).

Seems f/16 was the sweet spot. Any slower, and the shutter speed wasn't fast enough to stop motion blur. Funny that. When you're looking at it with the naked eye, it doesn't really feel like it's moving, but it's quite a different story at 400mm, I suppose.