What I Cooked Last Night

Twenty years ago - or maybe it was thirty - no-one had ever heard of gnocchi until some Italian immigrants started importing shrink-wrapped packs of them and selling them in delis in the inner suburbs. I bought some of the earliest ones and quite liked them with napoli or bolognese sauce, but these days I make my own, because home-made ones make the manufactured ones taste like Deb instant mashed potato, which essentially is what they are. Now gnocchi are everywhere, especially in overpriced hipster cafes where I even came across one dish some years ago that was entitled 'gnoccho' because it was literally one on the plate. That was probably the last time I visited a hipster cafe. The sole gnoccho had an injection of arugula walnut pesto on it, and it costed $21, but without the dollar sign, to make it sound cheaper. But gnocchi are not the only Italian dumplings. There are also 'malfatti', which means 'badly made', because these dumplings tend to take ran...

Farmed salmon is either the best thing you can eat, or environmentally unsound depending on who you ask. Something about encroaching on unfarmed fishes' territory, or their residue spoils the water for the natives, or the farmed fish can escape . In the past a riposte such as the W. C. Fields quote about fish could blow these nonsensical theories out of the water but today any rational reply is met with a sanctimonious gaze through eyes that are slightly unsteady. Salmon with beurre blanc. The sauce Reduce 3/4 white wine to 1/4 white vinegar in a pan with a sprig of tarragon, a bay leaf, ten black peppercorns and a chopped spring shallot. Cool and strain. Place two tablespoons of this reduction into a pan with a tablespoon of cream. Reduce this by half and then gradually whisk pieces of cold, diced butter until thickened slightly. Add the juice of half a lemon, salt and pepper. The fish Cook salmon fillets gently in a pan with a little butter and lemon juice. The vegetab...

This is hard to watch, but incredible. Hard because they run the wrong way in Sydney (explanations are vague but New South Wales also tried to sabotage the southern colony by building their railways on a different gauge and playing a different ball game) but incredible because of the outcome. Either a barrier attendant was holding her late, or the starter let them go before she was settled, or she reared and nearly dropped Hugh Bowman; either way Winx came out four or five lengths behind the field. Her eventual overtaking of seven horses occurs in the last six hundred on the outside, despite being almost outfoxed at the post by stablemate Foxplay. But not quite! In a mirror event, Arrogate failed went down to his stablemate. Jockey Hugh Bowman repeated how I described Winx on Saturday, but it's hardly a unique claim: "She's a freak!"

Winx v. Arrogate : Winx hasn’t been beaten for more than two years and, after this weekend, she could even be rated the best galloper in the world if US champ Arrogate has his colours lowered again at Del Mar in California on Sunday morning. She's a freak: A recent university study identified Winx’s stride and, to be more precise, the frequency of her stride as a clue to her extraordinary ability. Winx’s stride length was measured at about 6.8m, which is longer than the average. The mighty mare takes about 170 strides per minute — compared to an average racehorse’s 140 per minute — which underlines her ability to sustain top speed for longer than her rivals. A longer stride at a faster frequency? That's freakish. Could we train humans to do that? Probably not - four legs v. two means there is some kind of a gearing phenomenon at play.

Three Glenn Campbell favourites, all of whom are Jimmy Webb compositions: 1. 'Galveston' 2. 'Wichita Lineman' and the lesser known: 3. 'Where's the Playground, Susie' and maybe this as well: But she'll just hear that phone keep on ringing Off the wall, that's all Read Jimmy Webb's tribute to Glenn Campbell.

1. Armenia has very nice views . 2. Archaeological surveyors found the world's earliest known leather shoe there in 2010. 3. An Armenian edged out Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan in an 'entertainer of the century poll' in 1998*. 4. Armenia was the first country to adopt Christianity as its state religion thanks to apostles Thaddeus and Bartholomew who preached there circa AD40, possibly due to the nice views. 5. Armenia's coat of arms bears an image of Mt Ararat, traditionally the place where Noah's Ark landed. 6. 'Armenian potatoes'. (See below.) * Armenian potatoes is one of the best side dishes you've never heard of. Or maybe you have. Maybe you cook it every week. But I'd never heard of it until I came across the recipe in an ancient cookbook. It takes old potatoes, dices them, turbocharges them with garlic and pairs the slow, sweet burn of paprika with the acid tang of tomato. Then it all fires up in the oven into a crunch-laden flav...

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It's always a thrill to find out something you didn't know. Today, Herald Sun economics reporter Paul Gilder revealed that: A Deloitte Access Economics report this week found Victoria's generation capacity had been reduced in the wake of the March closure of the Hazelwood power station. Ignorance-busting revelations to come include (a) most birds fly (b) sun rises in the east (c) KFC is delicious (d) the side with more points wins. It must be fun working at Deloitte. Get all your self-evident reports out of the way in the morning, and you've got all afternoon to sit around leveraging diversity .

Everyone talks the talk about supporting farmers but few walk the walk. It's all very well paying an extra forty cents for milk, but it's mere gesture purchasing if you then go to the next aisle and load up on Mutti passata, or any Italian tomato product for that matter. Mutti preaches a responsible approach to nature, so why spoil that by shipping the things halfway round the earth? I'm turning locavore one can at a time. Australian canned tomatoes including cherry tomatoes are sitting right next to the imports, so use them instead. Rigatoni with tomato, herbs and chick peas. Chop an onion finely, and cook in olive oil 1 until translucent. Add a crushed clove of garlic. While it's cooking, puree two cans of diced tomatoes. Add the pureed tomatoes, a dash of salt, a dash of sugar, a dash of chili pepper and half a teaspoon of dried basil to the onion. Cook gently. Add a little water if necessary to achieve a smooth, saucy consistency. Toss in half a can of c...

The Australian Football League is planning a return to its spiritual home, and will move its headquarters back to East Melbourne after 17 years in Docklands. AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan said the return to East Melbourne placed the AFL in the best position to play a leadership role in the nation's ethics. "2 Cathedral Place is not just a couple of drop punts from the MCG," he said, "but it also has a history of moral high ground which is a perfect fit with our corporate ethos." McLachlan was excited about the move, saying the additional building on the site could be utilised for special events. "St Patrick's Cathedral is the perfect location for media conferences," he said. "Its heritage-listed pulpit will allow me to be well-heard on a range of current issues," he added. McLachlan said it could also be used on Brownlow night to read votes, subject to the venue gaining a liquor licence. The former tenants of 2 Cathedral Place have b...

These books were common in the 1950s and early 1960s when they were imported from Britain for the huge Australian baby boomer market, then still in their infancy to early teens. They were often given as birthday or Christmas gifts; Lego, electronic devices and gift vouchers were yet to be invented. (However, there was Airfix.) Today they are hardly collectors' items but their retro illustration styles are of interest. I found the above example above in the Melbourne CBD's last second-hand bookstore, a goldmine in a basement off Flinders Street. You could spend a week in there and not get bored. I got Film Fun Annual 1955 home and opened it. Just before the title page was a feature common to older books. This was the 'This Book Belongs To ...' page, shown below. I looked closely at the inscribed name. Now, just a moment. That is not a common name. Could there have been two - or more - Ralph Doubells in Melbourne in 1955? Quite possibly. But somehow I doubt i...

"The first zucchini I saw I killed it with a hoe," goes the famous quote, complete with superfluous pronoun. Presumably the author gave up after his first kill, especially if he were to find Dave Barry's zucchini experience accurate: "You can't grow just one zucchini. Minutes after you plant a single seed, hundreds of zucchini will barge out of the ground and sprawl around the garden, menacing the other vegetables. At night, you will be able to hear the ground quake as more and more zucchinis erupt." The point is that more boring a vegetable is, the more jokes are written about them. But nobody laughs at the following recipe. Spiced zucchini stew with chick peas and olives. Fry a large chopped onion in olive oil until soft. Add two scored garlic cloves, a tablespoonful of grated orange zest, a teaspoonful of cummin and a half teaspoonful of dried crushed red pepper. Stir until well combined. Now add about a half kilogram of diced white zucchini, ...

A. Coles Tuna in Brine, 80c. B. Dine Tuna Slices in a Light Jus $1.89. Answer below. A is normal canned tuna. B is cat food.

I usually make lasagna from scratch but of the frozen ones from supermarkets, the Aldi 2kg pack is very good value at $8.99 and looks and tastes like the real thing. The front of the pack proclaims that it 'serves ten', so I put it to the test. I cut the cooked lasagne into sections and served them, and the children (age 11, 10 and 6) despatched these in minutes. Second serves disappeared likewise. Alex dropped out first, but she hadn't played two hours of football. It was a race to the finish for Thomas and William but William prevailed. The pack served three. Three children. But it was still excellent quality and good value: these children eat like horses. Or is the expression "I could eat a horse"? I can never remember. Another variation on the baked pasta category is one I have made many times over the years and may have posted once or twice in this blog. Baked giant pasta shells . You can find the large ones at Italian delis (such as T-Deli in Sydney...