Help #ForkCancer with The Longest Table

- Alex Prichard Leave a comment

Food Bloggers Dinner

I am sure that most people reading this page have had cancer touch their lives in some way. I was thinking about this idly this morning and without even trying came up with the names of seven people I know who have or have had cancer. You don’t need me to tell you that treatment is long winded, unpleasant and even if you’re lucky to be declared cancer free, it still hangs over you.

Which is probably not what you need to read on a Friday lunch time …

Of course, research into all facets of cancer is essential and costs money and this year The Hospital Research Foundation is running The Longest Table to encourage people to get together and raise that money. Host, or attend, a dinner on Saturday 28 June, get your mates to donate and job’s a good ‘un. You don’t even have to cook – you can go out.

And … if you want to go out, then you could do a lot worse than heading to the dinner being hosted by Redsalt at the Crowne Plaza (I dined there a couple of weeks ago – I can recommend it!). The meal is being spearheaded by bloggers and social media types and represents a great opportunity to both checkout Redsalt’s South Australian produce focussed menu AND garner yourself a bit of good karma and warm fuzzy feelings at the same time.

The menu is going to feature ingredients such as heirloom tomatoes, Coorong mullet and Kangaroo Island lamb (the full menu is posted on the Eating Adelaide Facebook page) and the ticket price includes your three course dinner, drinks and some sparkling company.

There are just 25 tickets available and they are priced at $120 each. To book, contact Chloe at The Longest Table (08 7002 0813).

And if you can’t head along to the dinner, consider donating through the Longest Table website.

Viva Espresso

- Alex Prichard Leave a comment

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date of visit: Wednesday 11 June 2014

I have worked in the CBD for almost five years now and never really written about my lunch (admittedly, someone writing about his/her lunch may be as interesting as the same person talking about their dreams …). When I worked full time I usually took my lunch (leftovers for the win!) and while I do now buy my lunch the two days I do work, I have been in something of a rut.

When I started a new job in December last year I had plans to explore new places but that never really got off the ground. However, one of my usual haunts has just put up the price of sandwiches AGAIN and I figure that $9 is far too much to be paying for the same old same old. Time to go hunting for something new.

Viva Espresso is only sort of new because it is actually very close to my work and where I head to buy my morning coffee. The coffee is excellent – I wouldn’t go back it if weren’t – and the staff are super friendly and efficient. You only have to be a repeat customer a few times before both your name and regular order are memorised. Even if there’s a bit of a coffee queue you don’t have to wait long (always important first thing in the morning).

I’d read some good things about the sandwiches so I figured that starting close to home was a good bet. The range of freshly made sandwiches at Viva is quite small (there’s a choice of about 6) but they all sound tasty and you get a choice of bread. I chose the beef and horseradish (with cheese, tomato, salad etc) option, on Turkish bread, partly because I love beef and horseradish but also in part because so often you get a really anaemic horseradish that you can barely taste.

The bad news is that the sandwich at Viva was $9.50, so I didn’t save myself any money. However, the sandwich was excellent. The horseradish had a good kick, the meat was moist and slightly pink and the salad and tomato was all fresh and crispy. I asked for the sandwich without mayonnaise and there was no mayo, so that’s also a big tick. The Turkish bread had good flavour (although I personally could have lived with more texture to it).

While I was waiting, someone near me was tucking in to the red lentil and vegetable soup and that looked amazing. It was a good size portion and that can also go on my lunch to-do list …

Viva also has a good range of sweet things and smaller savoury snacks so you’re well catered for, whatever you’re after.

If you are around Pirie Street, drop in for a coffee and make up your own mind!

Viva also roasts its own coffee and you can buy some to take home.

Viva Espresso
70 Pirie Street
Adelaide SA 5000
phone: 08 8232 8545

Viva Espresso on Urbanspoon

Basic Lemonade Scone Recipe

- Alex Prichard 1 Comment

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I haven’t made scones for absolutely ages. I can remember the last occasion I made them but I can’t quite place a date, so that means it was a long time ago.

A friend back in England, let’s call him Chris THOR (apparently Chris wasn’t rock & roll enough!), has been quizzing me on scones and what better way to answer the questions than to make them myself?

I do actually have a Green & Gold Cookbook, which I’m sure has the be-all and end-all of scone recipes, but I couldn’t exactly email that off to the other side of the world so I found this simple lemonade scone recipe and suggested he give it a try.

Goodness me – hasn’t there half been a flurry of questions ensuing from that suggestion! Chris THOR was thrown off (quite legitimately, in my opinion) by the fact that the recipe uses cup measures, rather than ‘proper’ measures. But, it does redeem itself by not mix and matching its weights and measures … and baking is all about ratios.

For the benefit of anyone reading who finds themselves frustrated by the use of the cup measure, here’s a brief explanation.

1 cup = 250 mL
(that’s a metric cup, of course, your cup may be a US customary cup then it’s 237 mL … or perhaps it’s a US legal cup and then it’s 240 mL and if it’s an Imperial cup then it’s 284 mL)

For reference, whenever I say ‘cup’ in a recipe on Eating Adelaide (and I do try to use it only for wet ingredients) I mean 250 mL.

I’d prefer dry ingredients always be weighed out but a metric cup is approximately 120 – 150 g of flour.

However, in the case of this recipe, I think we can roll with the cup measure because there are just three ingredients and it’s all about the ratios.

The real trick with scones (and this is something the original post goes into in a LOT of detail – I encourage you to read it if you’re not feeling confident) is to work VERY VERY lightly. You do not need to crack out fancy kitchen kit. You need a bowl, a cup measure and a knife. Simply cut the mixture together, tip it out on to the bench and pull it together with a very light touch. If you can avoid a rolling pin, do. And keep the dough quite high – the Internet Chef says 2.5 – 3 cm – I didn’t manage quite that high but mine still rose well and were lovely and light.

The real bonus with this recipe (besides the fact that it’s just THREE ingredients – have I already mentioned that?!) is that there is no baking powder in this recipe so you don’t end up with that nasty metallic flavour/feeling on the back of your teeth … even if you do eat two or three!

This recipe makes about 10 scones roughly 5 cm in diameter.  It’s easy to scale up – just keep the ratios the same and maintain your light touch!

Print
Basic Lemonade Scone Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1½ cups self raising flour
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ½ cup lemonade
  • ½ cup cream

Instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 220°C fan and place a small tray in to heat up.
  2. To make the scones, put the flour in a bowl, mix in the salt and then form a well.
  3. Add the lemonade and cream and mix it together by cutting through with an ordinary table knife.
  4. Once the mixture has come together (it will be crumbly), tip it out onto the bench and lightly work it together. You may not even need to put additional flour on the bench.
  5. Pat the dough into a disk about an inch thick (for the highest scones - thinner it will be OK but don't go flattening it out - it's not pastry!) and cut out your scones.
  6. Remove the heated tray from the oven, dust lightly with flour and put the scones on the tray.
  7. Place them touching each other for support as they rise.
  8. Lightly brush with milk (the original recipe suggests egg yolk and cream, but I already have egg whites which need using!) and bake for 12-15 minutes. In my oven, 12 minutes was spot on.
  9. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the tray a little before moving to a rack.
  10. Eat warm with jam and cream or buttered.
https://eatingadelaide.com/basic-lemonade-scone-recipe/