Author: Alex

Tempo Cafe

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date of visit: Saturday 15 December 2012

It’s not often that Andy and I find ourselves wandering around the western end of town looking for morning tea. In fact, I’d say it’s pretty close to never. However, we’d been lucky enough to stay in town after our work Christmas do (has anyone noticed how Mexican seems to be a corporate Christmas party theme this year?!) and, the next morning, we took the opportunity to check out some shower heads in a city showroom (quite rock and roll, but when your shower is held together with limescale a somewhat necessary exercise).

This meant we were wandering along Hindley Street looking for a spot of morning tea. Tempo was pretty much the first place we came across that was open. The café is in the foyer of the ASO‘s Grainger Studio and I daresay that during term time and performance time it does a raging business. At about midday on a Saturday it’s very quiet.

We just ducked in for coffee and cake. While iced coffee wasn’t on the drinks board it was available and I also had a melting moment.

The iced coffees were awesome. At just $4.50 each they came in big (imperial) pint glasses and were simple: coffee, milk, ice, and ice cream. Have you ever noticed that the more someone stuffs around with an iced coffee the less good it gets? That was not a problem here.

The melting moment did the job too – although it was less impressive and exciting than the iced coffee!

The staff (there were two men working – one working the coffee machine and one doing front of house duties) were both really friendly and made sure they took the time to say goodbye when we left.

While we hardly undertook a comprehensive survey of what Tempo has to offer, it’s somewhere I’d definitely go back to.

Cafe Tempo on Urbanspoon

Pork Fillet with a Maple Balsamic Glaze

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The same weekend Andy announced he fancied quesadillas, he also decided he fancied some “glazed pork”. Hmmm, what cut of pork and what type of glaze?

These were questions to which he did not have answers. So I started trawling the internet for glazed pork recipes. Naturally, there are many variations on the honey and soy type glaze which I didn’t really feel like but when I came across a recipe for fillet (tenderloin for US & some UK readers) with a maple syrup and balsamic vinegar glaze I figured I’d give it a go.

I posted my recipe for baked ham on Eating Leeds (sorry, the images have all gone as I let my real hosting lapse) and this also makes use of balsamic vinegar and maple syrup so I knew this very scary sounding combination was going to work.

While I did mess around with most of the recipe (of course!) I kept the glaze as written. One big difference was that I kept my piece of pork fillet whole – I was concerned that cutting it into medallions and finishing the cooking in the oven was going to result in some seriously dry pork.

Because I like doing as much as possible ahead of time, I actually seared the seasoned pork fillet in the afternoon and set it aside.

The glaze is just 2 tbsp of olive oil, ⅓ cup of balsamic vinegar, ¼ cup of maple syrup, 2 cloves of garlic (crushed/finely chopped) and some finely chopped rosemary. You could also make this in advance and I think that would probably be preferable. I didn’t actually get time though.

When it came to cooking time, I sliced some onions and very gently fried them in the pan I’d seared the pork before adding the pork, spooning over some of the glaze and putting it into a hot (200°C) oven. While it’s cooking, pull it out every now and then, turn it over and spoon over some more glaze.

Cook until the pork is done to your liking (I think our piece took about 30 minutes to cook) – and if you’re not impatient, allowing it to rest (covered in tin foil) is always a good thing.

We served with mashed potatoes and lightly steamed asparagus. The glaze and onions from the pan makes a wonderful sauce/dressing.

This glaze would also work brilliantly with other cuts of pork – particularly pork chops.

San Remo Wholemeal Couscous

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With the weather warming up, and the festive season well and truly upon us, I know I’ll be making much greater use of couscous than I do during the winter. I love making couscous based salads because not only are they tasty but they’re a great way of bulking up a meal without resorting to foods that make you feel hot like potatoes and rice.

I’ve never really thought about the fact that ‘normal’ couscous is usually made from refined wheat but it is: it’s essentially white pasta. So many people will be pleased to know than San Remo has introduced a wholemeal couscous. Naturally, this version of couscous is higher in fibre than white, but San Remo is confident that people will buy the product based on its distinctive nutty taste.

In addition, the San Remo website has had a revamp: you can now create your own recipe book and search for recipes where pasta (or couscous!) is allowed to be the star. There’s plenty of information about the full range of San Remo products too.