July 28, 2019

Flower and herb Carta di Musica (Sardinian Crisp Bread)

  This summer my rooftop garden has an abundance of herbs and flowers and I am incorporating them into my food every way I can. I have already pressed them into sheets of pasta and now a similar treatment with this special bread crisps. Carta di Musica means music sheets in Italian. It describes a Sardinian crisp bread rolled so transparent that you could read music sheets through it. I am sure they mean opera... View Article

July 18, 2019

Rice Noodles Salad, peanuts, peanut dressing

      Sometimes nothing but a little Asian flavour would do and on those occasions I may make salad rolls, Sushi, Asian soup or a noodle salad. Here is a quick an easy version that you can adapt to what’s in your kitchen or what is in season. Enjoy Ingredients: 8 oz rice stick noodles Toppings: 1 carrot, 3 radishes, 1 celery rib , 3 asparagus, thinly sliced on a mandolin Parsley or cilantro, whole... View Article

July 17, 2019

Nasturtium butter and nasturtium salt

  This year we have a profusion of nasturtiums growing on our rooftop patio. They are edible (no pesticides here), and peppery flowers and leaves and can be incorporated as garnish or otherwise into food I cook. Here are a couple of simple ideas that are easy to execute and fun to make and serve.   Nasturtium butter Ingredients: 1 cup butter, softened to room temperature 3 tablespoons or so chopped nasturtium flowers About 3... View Article

July 16, 2019

Butternut Squash Ravioli, brown butter, walnut crumb, fried sage leaves, crisp shallots

    Butternut squash makes a delicious filling for ravioli and is classically served with brown butter and fried sage leaves. I made some changes to the tradition and combined it here with goat cheese in the filling and walnut crumb as topping for a nice crunchy element. Making the pasta at home is part of the adventure in making this recipe so I encourage you to try. I made egg pasta with 2 1/3... View Article

July 12, 2019

Pavlova with lemon curd, berries and whipped cream

Pavlova is an iconic Australian dessert and you find it on menus everywhere, not to mention every self respecting bakery. Traditional pavlova is a meringue base, crisp on the outside, marshmallowy inside, topped with cream and berries. Modern chefs have altered the presentation and you find it served in various ways. My favourite pavlova at a bakery was at Flour and Stone in Wooloomooloo in Sydney and one of the best restaurant pavlovas was at... View Article

July 11, 2019

A celebration of summer peas with yogurt-lemon dressing and mint oil

Hello everyone, it’s been a while. We returned from an epic four months stay in Australia and New Zealand earlier this spring and it’s been a whirl wind of activity ever since. I took a bit of a break from blogging but not from cooking and you can find all my new creations on Instagram on the links to the right (@oliveoilandlemons) and Facebook. I have been getting several request to post the recipes and... View Article

January 20, 2019

Sydney Cooking School: DYI Dumpling Cooking Class and Recipe

    As soon as we arrived in Sydney (and even before) I was looking for cooking classes teaching Asian cuisine. I was interested in Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Malaysian, whatever I could find. From watching hours of Masterchef Australia I knew that there is a major Asian influence on Australian cooking, likely because of the proximity to South East Asia. From watching the show it seemed like almost everyone knows how to cook Asian food... View Article

January 1, 2019

New year’s Eve 2019 at Sydney Opera House – you know I always have a story

    Spending New Year’s eve at the Sydney Opera House has been a bucket list item for a long time. This year we are spending four months down under, visiting Australia and New Zealand during their summer (our winter) season. Since we are here in December and in time for New Year’s Eve, I planned to view the iconic fireworks over the Sydney Harbour’s bridge from the other iconic landmark across from the bridge... View Article

December 28, 2018

Sydney – Carriageworks Market

As you probably know by now one of the first places I head to in a new city is the farmers market. Here in Sydney the question is which market to go to, as there are several. Coupled with Christmas markets now open everywhere, the list is rather long. One of the first markets I went to, other than the local one at nearby Kings Cross is Carriageworks. This market, formerly known as Eveleigh Farmers... View Article

December 22, 2018

Sydney – Woolloomooloo, Finger Wharf, dinner at Otto

    From our perch on top of the hill at Potts Point we venture down into different areas of the city mostly on foot and sometimes by train, easily clocking 10-14 km of walking a day. From our neighbourhood we can make our way down via a set of colonial steps knowns as the MacLeay step, creating a shortcut that takes us down to sea level in no time. Another set of stairs known... View Article

December 19, 2018

Sydney – The Opera House, Sydney Harbour Bridge and dinner at Bennelong

    The most iconic sights of Sydney are of course the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House. Although we got a glimpse of them on Friday from the hill where we stay, we waited until Sunday to get the full impact. Before we left for the trip I bought tickets for a Christmas concert at the Opera House and booked dinner at the iconic Bennelong restaurant, located  under one of the white sails... View Article

December 14, 2018

Down Under (and dinner at Billy Kwong)

    We have been in Australia for almost a week and are well into our Aussie routine. The flight here was long and involved having to change seats but I did get through it and after about 15 hours in the air landed at Sydney’s airport at 10:30 am in good spirit and ready to explore. Not so fast. The apartment we rented and paid for in full (non-refundable) did not live up to... View Article