Veal Gottliebocca

Main, Survivor: Kaôh Rōng

The Spice Girls said it best, when they said something something when two become one. Yes, as the title of the episode blatantly told us – it’s merge time!

Before that however, Scot continued his trend of alternating between being nice and evil every second episode, Tai was brutally assaulted by a chicken and everyone’s favourite ice cream entrepreneur was having his bulge sized up by the brawns.

I don’t know why they were doing it but Jason/Sarge/whatever-he-goes-by mentioned planting his seed, so I assume it was sexual.

Either way, Debbie was excited though highly unsurprised to have made the merge before the episode turned into High School with the beauties and the brawns ganging up on the brains.

Hell we even had Probst making smutty teen jokes like he is Jenna Maroney.

“Tai’s balls banging into each other … never good.”

“Nick with a lot of movement – his balls dancing all over the place.”

Sadly though, Neal’s body turned to puss and he saved the (rest of the) nerds when he was evacuated from the game … also saving someone from the indignity of being the merge boot, rendering immunity pointless and making this cruel jerk watching at home in Ponderosa cry.

I first met Neal in the early noughties while scamming rich people in Sausalito, when I ran into him while cruising the docks for semen seamen. While Neal was not interested, he did take me in and offered me room and shelter until I got back on my feet / found myself a sugar daddy.

I was in that really awkward early teenager phase at the time, so I wasn’t very successful with the sugar daddy – despite being very eager. Thankfully Neal was kind enough to give me a job at his ice cream shop and I was able to play an integral part in the success of Three Twins Ice Cream.

You’re welcome.

Anyway, Neal was in a pretty bad way when he made it to Ponderosa (as the first jury member – yay!), so I’m very thankful that I was on hand to provide him with the love and care that he needed.

As a respected witch doctor, I am a global leader on treating infections, major ailments and also reading auras, which while not necessary to this story, is a fun tidbit for you to mention around the water cooler the next time you have talk to your colleagues.

Shudder.

Anyway, as the single point of truth on effective infection treatment I can confirm that the only answer is alcohol – wipes, rubs or ingested, it does the trick. Even when it is cooked off like in my Veal Gottlieboca

 

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Veal, despite being the politically incorrect meat, is pretty delightful … particularly when wrapped in the salty goodness of prosciutto, cut with some lemon and doused in a splash liquor.

I mean, has medicine ever tasted this good? Aside from the one that tasted like cherry starburst when you were a kid, obviously.

Enjoy!

 

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Veal Gottliebocca
Serves: 3 or 6, depending on the size of the escalopes.

Ingredients
6 veal escalopes
6 sage leaves
6 prosciutto slices
¼ cup plain flour
2 tbsp olive oil
20 g butter
salt and pepper
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley
200ml marsala
½ lemon, juiced

Method
Beat the veal with the under side of a frying pan to even out their thickness. It is also great at helping you work through your post evacuation feelings.

Place a sage leaf on each steak, fold the steak in half and press together, wrap with a piece of prosciutto and lightly dust it all with flour.

Heat the olive oil and butter in a heavy-based frying pan and sauté quickly on one side until light golden. Season with salt, pepper and add the garlic and parsley.

Flip the steaks over, add the marsala and lemon juice and cook for another few minutes. Until the liquid reduces slightly and the veal is perfectly cooked.

Serve on a bed of mashed potatoes and avoid making eye contact with the various Survivor infections.

 

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Peter Baklavenstos

Baking, Dessert, Snack, Survivor: Kaôh Rōng, Sweets

Running into an ex is always awkward, but when it is seeing the person that broke your heart after getting them on the show … after they were just voted out is kinda satisfying.

Scrap that, it is fucking glorious.

This week we started with Petey trying to woo Tai into his third showmance in six episodes while over on Chanloh, part-time model Debbie and her adonis Nick engaged in, what on the island was, the filthiest and most explicit romance since Ozzy and Amanda in Micronesia.

Love, however, isn’t what we watch for … it is all about Probst making a series of ball puns while people were bobbing for them during the reward challenge. Once again, Aubrey continued to be the challenge beast of the season.

Peter spent most of the episode putting a target on his back and being paranoid, before a block almost took out Biden at the challenge. Thankfully he wasn’t evacuated, giving Aubrey another chance to shine when she literally crossed out Julia’s name and changed her vote to Peter.

I don’t know if it was due to budget cuts or they are trying to be green, but I’m thankfully there are limited pieces of parchment for drama’s sake.

I first met Petey on the impersonating circuit where he, obviously, was a Time Square Obama and I was any misc-dark haired celebrity with curls, but was most often recognised as Fred Savage, Ray Martin or aggressive Andy Samberg.

Pete and I, again obviously, fell into a torrid love affair bathed amongst the lights of Bro-ad-way (right near where, I assume, Reed cheated on Josh). Our loving relationship was so strong, he convinced me to don blackface (to upset my nemesis Harry Connick Jr. – he always refused my advances/to whisper my name) and play the Michelle to his Barack.

Mich (who I am also friends with) loved the idea and thankfully deemed my arms perfect enough to play her … lucky I invented that workout system with her in 2014. I must look at releasing it soon, if only I paid Todd Tucker for his work filming it.

Anyway, when I found out Pete was officially going to be on Survivor I quickly tried to call Probst and try to help pre-game for my lover, but his attitude got in the way (I’m team Biden on the circuit, not on the island) and we sadly went our separate ways.

While you may assume that I would handle a break-up with expletives, lighter-fluid and booze, that wasn’t the case when I reconnected with Pete in loser lodge … probably as I was so smug to see him just before the merge, meaning my break-up, once again proves that Kat Mr. Edorsson is a genius – who wants to date someone that doesn’t make the merge?

Thankfully I am very mature and rational and was kind enough to whip it out him up a nice batch of my (usually post-coital) Peter Baklaventos.

 

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Baklava, while time consuming, is one of the easiest sweets you can make but still looks impressive. Obviously this is my favourite kind of recipe – one that gives you the most bang for your buck … particularly if it is for a post bang meal.

Between the pastry, rosewater and sticky nuts dripping in a sweet, moist glaze … this is something you need to have in and around your mouth. ASAP.

Enjoy!

 

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Peter Baklavenstos
Makes: About 24 pieces.

Ingredients
250 gm each pistachios and walnuts, finely chopped
100 gm caster sugar
3 tsp ground cinnamon
200 gm butter, coarsely chopped
500 gm filo pastry
Honey syrup
300 gm caster sugar
125 gm honey
1 lemon, finely grated rind and juice only
1 cinnamon quill
4 drops rosewater

Method
Combine nuts, sugar and cinnamon in a bowl and set aside. Melt butter over low heat in a small saucepan, set aside and keep warm. Brush a 24x34cm baking dish with butter. Cut filo sheets to fit tray snugly and cover with a damp tea towel.

Preheat oven to 180°C.

Layer one-third of the filo pastry in tray, brushing butter between each layer. Yes this can be annoying and I generally avoid this set when making filo pies … but this is the one dish you kind of can’t avoid this step, sorry.

Spread half the nut mixture on top, repeat the process with the next third of filo, top with the remaining nuts and do the filo again. Once more, with feeling and refrigerate for about 20 minutes.

Remove from the fridge and cut the dish into 4cm diamonds with a sharp knife, making sure to get through all layers of filo and bake until golden and crisp, about 50 minutes. Cover loosely with foil if the top browns too quickly.

While in the oven, get onto the honey syrup by combining the sugar, honey, lemon rind, cinnamon and 300ml water in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Reduce heat to low, simmer for 20 minutes and the flavours have gloriously steeped in the liquid. Remove from heat, strain and stir through the lemon juice and rosewater and set aside.

Cool baklava for about 5 minutes and pour the syrup evenly over the pastry. Set aside at room temperature to cool completely … if you can. Then go crazy and devour it.

 

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Lemon Kurd Cobain

12th Annual Easter Meggstravaganza, Condiment, Dessert, Easter Meggstravaganza, Snack, Sweets

Let me tell you, when the lights were off I entertained Kurt Cobain … but that isn’t the point of today’s catch-up. It was all about Meggy.

As you’ve probably figured out thanks to basic deduction and the process of elimination, Kurty is this year’s hero in the meggstravaganza process and I’m hoping through the power of my time machine, he is able to give a posthumous-yet-still-alive-in-the-past boost to Meg’s career.

Kind of like how I brought him back to life, technically, through the use of my scientific brilliance.

It would come as no surprise to anyone, that I enjoyed (and still do with the latter) a very close friendship with Kurt and Courtney in the late 80s and 90s. Fun fact: I actually introduced the two after meeting Courtney in the gay clubs of Portland where I was turning tricks at the time. While in the later years of his life we shared an addiction to heroin, our friendship, first and foremost was built on trust, unconditional love and a passion for ELO.

As is the case with a lot of my friends, I ended up being Nirvana’s chief muses most famously inspiring Smells Like Teen Spirit with a love-letter I wrote to Kurt when I misunderstood his kindness.

Using the time machine to catch-up with my deceased friends is always bittersweet, but being able to see Kurt and Courtney at their happiest while she was pregnant with little Frances Bean was a true joy. Kurt was a bit confused as to why I was reviving Meg’s career, given that it was at her height in the early 90s and he assumed she would stay at the top of the A-list, but was very happy to be able to help out.

Proving, once again, why the reluctant voice of a generation is my hero.

After delicately explaining the situation with her poor 00s choices, I needed something nice and sweet to avoid any awkward butterfly effects from my stint in the past. Although I did attempt to thwart the future release of the abhorrently awful The Butterfly Effect. Thankfully I had a batch of my Lemon Kurd Cobain on hand to bring the fun!

 

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Lemon curd is quite possibly one of my favourite things, particularly when it is super tart and added to a pie. I was concerned about how meringue would hold up in the time-travel, so had to stick with eating it straight out of the jar with a spoon. And slathered on bread … but sadly not our bodies. Once again, I ruined my chance of forming a Love-Judd-Cobain throuple.

Enjoy!

 

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Lemon Kurd Cobain
Makes: About 2 cups.

Ingredients
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp finely grated lemon zest
⅔ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
8 large egg yolks
¼ tsp maldon salt
140g unsalted butter, diced into 1-2cm cubes

Method
Whisk together, sugar, zest, juice, yolks and salt in a medium saucepan. Place over medium heat and stir constantly until it thickens and can coat the back of a spoon. A couple of minutes.

Remove from heat and add butter, piece by piece, stirring well after each addition until melted, combined, smooth and thickened.

Pour curd through a fine sieve into a jar and cover with cling wrap directly on the top to avoid a skin forming. Refridgerate until cool before devouring.

 

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Calebonara Reynolds

Main, Pasta, Survivor: Kaôh Rōng

There are a lot of things I love about Jeff Probst, outside of his insane beauty. His number one though, has to be his ability to make all statements smutty (that makes me lust after him even more) … even when half the cast are dying around him.

Much as been mentioned online (read: reddit) about what could Kaoh Rong this season and this is where Cambodia hit back and answered.

After a brief stint of Obama being sad, we went straight into the reward challenge where Probst focused on finding balls and sticking things into holes before the drama hit.

Debbie was first to fall thanks to the blistering heat but as biological cooling mechanic is one of her past jobs, she was fine. As she was recovering, Cydney and and my dear friend and rumoured (started by me) lover Caleb Reynolds went down in quick succession, with the later sadly being taken out by Survivor’s version of the Red Wedding.

It was fucking scary but who hasn’t almost died just to earn a cup of coffee, amirite Gilmore Girls?

I first met Caleb while he was on a tour of duty, where I was doing a sexy version of the USO Show. Despite what surfaced during his appearance on Big Brother, Caleb has been nothing but supportive of my aggressive homosexuality the entire time we’ve been friends.

Make no mistakes, Caleb was in a very bad way when he was taken out of the game but thankfully I was on hand to look after him and nurse him back to health, with some Tai-style stolen kisses and a big bowl of my Calebonara Reynolds.

 

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Pasta is the ultimate comfort food, particularly with a delicate carbonara sauce and a good whack of parmesan cheese. But why have delicate and good, when you can add lemon and parsley to take it to the next level?

Exactly … and I mean, Caleb is back to full health, so yeah, case in point. It works. Enjoy!

 

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Calebonara Reynolds
Serves: 2 greedily, 4 appropriately.

Ingredients
150g pancetta, diced
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
455g dried linguine
4 large free-range egg yolks, preferably from Tai’s remaining chickens
100ml double cream
50g Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
1 lemon, zested
1 sprig fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
extra virgin olive oil

Method
Heat a lug of olive oil in large frying pan, add the pancetta and fry for a couple of minutes, until golden and crispy.

In the meantime, bring a large pot of salted water to the boil and cook the pasta to packet instructions. I know, I know, I should have made the pasta but it is a labour of love and I didn’t have time given I was nursing someone to health in Cambodia!

When the pasta is cooking, whisk together the egg yolks, cream, Parmesan, the lemon zest and parsley in a large bowl. When the pasta is ready, drain it and reserve a little of the cooking water. Place the pasta back in the pan (off the heat) and quickly stir through the egg mixture. Once it has delicately cooked, add the pancetta and toss everything together.

The goal is for the sauce to cook delicately, but if it ends up claggy, or say scrambled, add a few spoonfuls of the reserved cooking water to loosen it slightly.

Serve and sprinkle over / coat with a thick layer of parmesan and devour, happily … and healthily.

 

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Cinnamonica Seles Apples

Condiment, Side, Snack, Sweets

Straight up, I would like to dispel your knee-jerk assumptions from earlier in the week – I was not involved in the stabbing of Monica Seles … despite being a close friend of Steffi Graf. There is no proof, so don’t even try. I mean, the glove does not fit etc.

That being said, the tragically senseless and violent crime is what led to my first meeting with Monnie. You see, I was serving a community service term as a Candy Stripper (yes, stripper) in the German hospital where she was recuperating after the attack (I was drunk and disorderly at the same tournament the previous year as part of Steffi’s entourage, when I got into a premature fight with Brooke Shields).

Anyway, being a total sports fanatic I took Monnie under my wing and acted as her chief security and support. Plus, she also had great meds which I swapped out for placebos … thus her extended break to recover.

Despite the theft of the drugs being discovered (Monnie forgave me knowing I was an addict and supported me through rehab), we’ve been the closest of friends ever since, with me ghostwriting her memoir and advising her to make fantastic career choices like her forays into television with The Nanny and DWTS.

Monnie and I hadn’t seen each other in a couple of years so it was such a delight to catch up with her and participate in my personal favourite past-time, hitting tennis balls off the roof of my building at unsuspecting pedestrians below.

Let me just say, Mon still has it!

After such rigorous exercise, we were definitely in need of some simple sugars that we could pretend were healthy – enter my Cinnamonica Seles Apples.

 

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Cinnamon and sugar as quite possibly the greatest culinary combination, with apples and walnuts being a close second. Obviously when you chuck all the keys into a bowl at the kitchen swingers party and instead end up with a flavour orgy, things can’t go wrong.

Enjoy!

 

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Cinnamonica Seles Apples
Serves: 4.

Ingredients
2 royal gala apples
100g walnuts, chopped
1 lemon, juiced
2 tbsp butter
⅓ cup brown sugar
½ tsp ground cinnamon

Method
Core and thickly slice apples, leaving skin on. Toss in lemon juice.

Melt butter in a non-stick pan over a medium heat, add apples and walnuts. Cook, stirring until lightly golden, about 5 minutes.

Add brown sugar and cinnamon, cook until thickened, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and cover to keep warm.

 

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Jennifer Parmesanetti Buns

Baking, Side, Snack, Survivor: Kaôh Rōng

Call it what you will – brain snap, brain fart, complete mental collapse, non-mental giantism – but that doesn’t matter, all that does is that my dear, dear friend Jennifer Lanzetti had one and was swiftly sent packing.

As you could probably guess, Jenny and I first crossed paths many years ago while both of us were drug addicts. While she credits me with getting her addicted, I am very thankful to be able to credit her with getting me sober … well, one of the times at least.

After the first episode, Jen had set herself up well, squarely in the majority of the Luzon 2.0 / Matsing 3.0 tribe however proceeded to shoot herself in the foot and get herself sent into my loving arms at loser lodge. As much as I love Jen, I am glad that my almost sister and mental giant, Alecia Holden lived to see another day.

Maybe she sacrificed something to the embryos of fire on the beach?

While this week didn’t involve any worms trying to get intimate with brains (not the brains), the trees did get their revenge on Tai for last week by slashing his legs open. Lucky he had his dreamy pal, who can also walk on water, Caleb to make him feel good.

But that was all filler, the brawn tribe once again lost a hardcore physical challenge, I assume as a protest to the BvBvB concept while highlighting the fact that they are smarter than given credit for, and made their way back to my lover Jeff in the tribal council village (oh if the walls of those villas could talk).

Once there, Jen proceeded to shoot herself in the foot, face and knee-cap … repeatedly, like the creep my lover Paul Bettany played in The Da Vinci Code (our sex-tape – he was in character – inspired EL James to turn it into the straight-washed disaster known as 50 Shades).

With that, this tribal council marked the second time a grave-digger has made an epic blunder, leading to their departure. And once again, our marker-confused, mental giant, embryo helper lives to fight another day.

Who knows what that worm did to her brain – did it eat part of it? Was it trying to take her as a lover, like a puzzle laying down for Debbie? Was it telling her that my Jennifer Parmesanetti Buns were waiting for her in Ponderosa? That is the only thing that makes any sort of sense.

 

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These buns are like crack. I don’t know whether it the cheese, all the herbs or the pillowy dough, but these are good. Real good.

Fun fact: you actually missed the part of tribal where she offered to take off her clothes for the buns, to give her motivation to stay. It failed, but at least I had them waiting for her in Loser Lodge.

Enjoy!

 

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Jennifer Parmesanetti Buns
Makes: 16.

Ingredients
Dough
3 ½ cups plain flour
2 tsp coarse salt
¼ cup warm water
3 tbsp caster sugar
2 ¼ tsp active dry yeast
6 large eggs, room temperature
1 tsp lemon zest
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
3 tbsp sage, finely chopped
1 tbsp thyme, finely chopped
170g unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into 6 pieces

Baking
85g unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup Parmesan, grated
½ cup flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
20ml thyme, chopped
1 tsp lemon zest
½ tsp freshly ground pepper

Method
Dough
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and salt. In the bowl of a mixer, combine warm water, sugar, and yeast and leave stand to get all foamy and frothy, about five minutes.

Add eggs, zest, garlic, herbs and flour mixture to the foamy yeast mixture and beat with a dough hook on medium-high speed until dough pulls away from sides of bowl, about 5 minutes.

Beat in butter, one piece at a time, while beating until fully combined and dough is shiny and smooth, about 5 minutes more. Cover with cling wrap and leave to prove, like Alecia with the fire, until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Place in the fridge for an hour, punch down and return to the fridge for another hour.

Baking
In a bowl, combine everything but the butter.

Split the dough in half. Roll one of them out on a lightly floured surface into a large rectangle, about 30x15cm. Spread half the butter over dough, leaving a slight border, and sprinkle with half of cheese mixture, pressing it into the butter. Starting on a long side, roll the dough up to form a cylindrical shape and cut into eight equal disks. Place the disks on a lined baking sheet. Repeat the process with the remaining dough, cheese and butter – you know, all the remaining stuff.

Cover all of the rolls with cling wrap and leave to rise in a warm spot until doubled in bulk, about an hour or two.

Preheat oven to 190°C.

When the oven is at temperature, place the rolls in the oven and bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly and then devour. They are glorious warm.

* Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart.

 

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KeBarbra Streisand

Main, Oscar Gold, Oscar Gold MMXVI: Gold Interrupted, Party Food, Snack

After an evening of focusing solely on the music, I wanted to make a gateway into discussing the current crop of nominated acteurs. Who better than to make that jump than the funniest girl I am friends with, the one, the only and very dear to me Barbra.

I first connected with Babs in the late 50s – Stockard Channing would have been about 68, but I digress – when we were both young up-starts living a gypsy lifestyle in NY, waiting to make it big. There is nothing quite like the bond you form on the street other than the ones you form in prison, but again, I’ve digressed.

Babs and I would surf the couches in the evening, while trying to make it big during the day until she beat me in a singing contest in a bar in Greenwich Village, where I was too busy beating people off for money. She went to Broadway and I went to prison.

While I was in the clink for the best part of the 60s, Babs was never one to shy away from visiting and even plead my case to the parole board so that I could accompany her to witness her tied-Oscar glory in 1969. I mean, you can take the girl out of the streets but you can never take the street out of the girl.

It was such a hoot catching up with my Babs – she is just so humble, down-to-earth and accessible that being around her is never intimidating, when it really should be. I mean, she is a damn legend!

Obviously we agreed that while our dear Cate again knocked it out of the park, she is likely to end up as the second coming of Mez – being always invited to the party, but rarely the guest of honour. Yep – I’ve firmed up my Best Actress pick and what better way to officially board the Brie train than with a spicy, cheesy Kebarbra Streisand?

 

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Despite being a good Jewish girl, Babs is willing to go non-kosher for these glorious snacks. Spiced lamb, haloumi and capsicum cut with a hint of lemon – you better believe a star was born when I first made these!

Enjoy!

 

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Kebarbra Streisand
Makes: 10ish.

Ingredients
400g lamb, diced
2 tbsp fresh oregano, diced
1 lemon, zested and juiced
½ tsp ground cumin
¼ tsp ground chilli
⅓ cup olive oil
1 capsicum, cut into 1(ish)cm squares
250g haloumi, cut into 1(ish)cm cubes

Method
In a large bowl, combine the oregano, lemon zest and juice, cumin, chilli and olive oil. Add the lamb, stir, cover and place in the fridge to marinate for at least two hours to help it get as freaky as possible.

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Take the meat out of the fridge, grab a handful of metal skewers and thread with the ingredients, alternating between the lamb, haloumi and capsicum until they are all gone. I found I got about 8 skewers.

My metal skewers are a bizarre size for griddles and I live in an apartment so am without a barbecue, so I go the oven baked approach however if you heat up a griddle, cook the skewers a couple of minutes each side and they will be golden.

Lay the skewers on a lined baking sheet, drizzle with oil and bake for fifteen minutes or until golden and gorgeous.

 

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Basil Gnudi Dench

Main

Dame Judi ‘J-dawg’ Dench is an absolute, deadset legend of a person and is, quite frankly, the best gambling partner a young chap could ask for.

After working through her rage of being egged in the late 60s, Jude worked on fulfilling her My Fair Laddy fantasy by turning me into an upstanding citizen who wore pants that covered his arse. Sadly my powers were too strong for her and we went through a reverse of the tale, where I systematically worked through making Jude as debaucherous, raucous and offensive as possible.

That is where her love of black-market gambling first came about.

While some may argue that the awards season are an excuse for famous people to either turn up to receive trophies from aging journalists and critics that want a good photo-op or for them to masturbate about their gripping performances, Judes and I are firmly of the belief that aside from being more important than Nobel prizes etc. they are a fantastic betting opportunity.

Yes, we will always be team Cate, Kate and Fassy – for obvious (NSFW) reasons, with the last one – we have to follow the money during awards season and spent most of our catch-up discussing the pros and cons of each nominee and whose bookie had the better odds.

Obviously we needed serious sustenance for such a consequential discussion, enter stage left my Basil Gnudi Dench.

 

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Gnudi is gnocchi’s easier to make cousin, being that you don’t have to bother with mashing any potatoes … because let’s be honest, you never leave the potatoes to cool long enough and end up with third degree burns when rolling them. Or is that just me?

Either way, they were perfect for our catch-up as nothing says illegal gambling quite like a delicate dish with fresh basil, tangy lemon and creamy cheese.

Enjoy!

 

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Basil Gnudi Dench
Serves: 4.

Ingredients
2 large bunches of basil, leaves picked
250g ricotta
125g grated parmesan
2 large eggs, plus 1 eggstra yolk
100g plain flour, plus a little extra
Semolina, for dusting
15g butter
1 lemon
2 tsp chilli flakes
30g grated pecorino, to serve

Method
Heat a pan over a low heat and add a splash of water with two-thirds of the basil leaves and heat until wilted. Remove from the heat and allow to cool, squeezing out any excess water.

Chuck the leaves in a blender with about a quarter of the ricotta and blitz to a purée. Empty into a large bowl and combine with the remaining ricotta, parmesan and eggs, and whisk vigorously, until light and fluffy.

Fold the flour into the ricotta mixture using a large, metal spoon until it is soft and moist. If it is too wet (nothing suss), add a bit more flour and relax. Trust your judgement.

Meanwhile, spread a layer of semolina over a baking tray and fill a piping bag with a 1.5cm opening with the ricotta mixture. Pipe long strips of the gnudi the length of the tray, leaving about a centimetre in between.

Dust the strips with a thick layer of semolina, cut them into 2–3cm pieces, making sure they are well coated in the flour. Cover the tray with cling film and pop it in the fridge for a few hours or ideally overnight, but who ever remembers to do that?

To cook your gnudi, remove the tray from the fridge and let it to come up to room temperature.

While nature is heating things up again, melt the butter in a pan over a low heat and the reserved basil leaves. Cook for 1–2 minutes, until the butter starts to foam and the leaves have crisped up. Finely grate in the zest of the lemon, add the chilli flakes and season well. Remove from the heat to rest.

Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil over a medium heat and gently place the gnudi into the pan. When they float to the surface, they’re cooked.

Drain the gnudi and gently toss in the chilli lemon basil butter. Divide between bowls and serve with grated pecorino with lemon halves on the side to squeeze over.

 

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Abi-Maria GoMezze Plate

Main, Party Food, Side, Snack, Survivor: Cambodia - Second Chance

Let us all pause and have a moment silence as our dear, sweet, feisty Abi-Maria was once again booted a week before the finale. Albeit this time, in an episode marked by dueling golden showers and Demon Tasha aka DT.

Speaking of DT, she has had many moments of insufferability however it was the callous way she cut our beautiful friend Abi AND mocked the dreamiest castaway of the season Keith, that finally cemented her status as the most dislikable cast member. Probably ever.

And before you even start rumours, no, we had nothing to do with her “near” drowning.

Either way, welcome back to the fold, Dr Joe! What a shame Wigles couldn’t secure as much screen time in her triumphant return.

But I’ve digressed.

As you could easily assume, our history with our close friend Abi-Maria pre-dates her appearances on Survivor after meeting in our Nicki Minaj led anger management. Nicki saw the brilliant, calm natures we all possessed and bonded us like a sisterhood, thankfully without a weird pair of pants for us all to share.

We spent the following years being zen and hanging out before deciding that one if not all of us should compete on Survivor to get closer to Probst’s bed. As Abi was the only one eligible, we through all of our resources behind getting her on the show and rigging a cast of clowns for her to dominate.

Then Annelie and I met Malcolm and tragically for Abi (but wonderfully for us), we fell into bed with him and went about rigging the season with him in mind. We could go on but long story short, we went into court ordered sex therapy, were treated by Denise who then weaseled her way on to the season and stole the win from our true friends by whispering our names to Malcs during final immunity to spook him.

It was a rough few months after the truth came out to Abs, but we felt it only fair that we be dead to her for all the pain and heartache we had caused. Thankfully her kind heart shone through and she forgave us during the Anti-RC AGM.

Going into Second Chances, Abi had the odds stacked against her but thanks to her plucky determination and general charm, she was able to weave her way through the pre-merge game and a horror stint on Angkor to sit pretty behind her witch shield at the merge.

Sadly her sterling resume and on point voting record got the better of her and she was sent to our open arms in Ponderosa as a jury threat to devour our Abi-Maria GoMezze Plate!

 

Abi-Maria GoMezze Plate_1

 

Like Abi, the plate is spicy, sweet and everything you need in life and more. Well done sweet angel – we can’t wait to rig Heroes vs. Villains 2 for you!

Enjoy!

 

Abi-Maria GoMezze Plate_2

 

Abi-Maria GoMezze Plate
Serves: 6-8, or 1 blindsided juror, her emotionally unstable friends and Savage’s teen headwear.

Ingredients
Hummus
400g can of chickpeas, reserving some of the liquid
2 tsp tahini
1 garlic clove, crushed
½ tsp crushed sea salt
3 tbsp quality extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
Smoked paprika, to garnish
Parsley leaves, to garnish

Meatballs
1 kg beef mince
1 large red onion, grated
½ bunch dill, finely chopped
2 tbsp dried spearmint leaves
1 tbsp dried chilli
1 tsp cumin
1 cup short grain rice
1 tsp salt
50 ml olive oil
2 cups passata
1 lemon, juiced

Dolmades (thanks SBS, I had no idea)
220 grams long-grain rice (rinsed)
2 tsps ground allspice
1 tsp chili flakes (dried)
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp dried oregano
1 bunch mint leaves (chopped)
1/2 bunch Italian parsley leaves (chopped)
3 tomatoes (roughly chopped)
1 purple onion (finely chopped)
2 lemon (1 zested, 2 juiced, plus extra wedges, to serve)
80 vine leaves (soaked in cold water for 30 minutes)
185 ml olive oil
4 garlic cloves (peeled)

Lemon & Chili Potatoes
3 small potatoes
clove of garlic, crushed and chopped
1 tbsp chilli flakes
juice of one lemon
2-3 tbsp oil

Haloumi
500g haloumi
Olive oil, for frying
Lemon wedges, to serve
Salt and pepper

Roasted peppers, stripped
Olives
Pita, toasted and cut into strips

Method
Hummus
Rinse the chickpeas in cold water and blitz in a food processor with the tahini, crushed garlic, salt, lemon juice and a generous dash of the reserved chickpea liquid, slowly pouring oil in as you go.

When smooth and at the desired consistency, place into a serving dish. Drizzle with some more extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with paprika or finely chopped parsley leaves, for colour.

Meatballs
Preheat oven to 180C.

Combine the mince, onion, dill, spearmint, chilli, cumin, rice, salt and olive oil and roll into fat walnut sized balls and placing into a large baking dish.

Cover with the passata and bake for about 40 minutes until meat is cooked.

Remove from the oven and pour over the lemon juice and serve with some of the cooking liquid.

Dolmades
Cook rice in boiling salted water for 8 minutes or until par-cooked. Drain, refresh under cold running water, then drain again. Cool slightly.

Place rice, allspice, chilli flakes and powder, oregano, mint, parsley, tomatoes, onion and lemon zest in a bowl and mix to combine.

To assemble, place 2 heaped teaspoons of rice mixture in centre of a leaf (leaves should be 12 cm x 12 cm; layer 2 leaves if necessary). Fold in sides and roll up to enclose filling, then place upright in a saucepan. Repeat with remaining rice mixture and leaves, ensuring dolmades are snugly packed in pan.

Whisk lemon juice and oil in a bowl and pour over dolmades. Stuff garlic in between dolmades, then cover and cook over low heat for 1½ hours or until rice and leaves are tender (add extra oil or water if liquid has evaporated). Cool to room temperature, then refrigerate for at least 3 hours or until cold. Serve with extra lemon wedges.

Lemon & Chilli Potatoes
Preheat oven to 200C.

Finely slice potatoes into 5mm half-moon discs, coat in oil and bake in the oven for 15 minutes.

Sprinkle with garlic and chilli and bake for a further 5 minutes. Remove from the oven, pour over the lemon juice and add a good whack of salt and pepper.

Devour.

Haloumi
Cut haloumi into 5mm slices. Heat frying pan up and drizzle with olive oil. Cook haloumi for around 3 minutes, turning just once.

Serve and season with salt and pepper, squeezing lemon juice over the top.

Plating
Roasted peppers, stripped
Olives
Pita, toasted and cut into strips

 

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Gin Fizz Ansari

Drink, Treat Yo' Self Week

Every Queen, like Retta and myself, must have a King and you can not celebrate Treat Yo’ Self Week without its’ King, our dear friend and kindred bling spirit, Aziz Ansari.

I first connected with Aziz when we travelled back in time to join the Parks writer’s room in 2009 where I became his pet project where he tried to make my unending confidence and love of pop culture and excess likeable – or in the likeness of Tom Haverford.

Aziz, bless him, didn’t realise how hard that task would be – what with my passion for feuding and acid throwing – but he was committed to the project and by 2012 had succeed in making me a barely functioning adult that was tolerated in society.

Following Aziz’s success in transforming my life, we had planned to take the self-improvement system/cult global and rip of millions of people however Aziz being Aziz, was too successful selling out The Garden, writing books and starring in a hit sitcom to continue with the scheme.

Oh, plus he is super nice and thought the cult aspects I was pushing were wrong. Whatevs.

Being renowned foodies, Aziz and I try to stay abreast of the best on the scene – fun fact, I was an integral part of the insemination of The Food Club, however was disbarred after I misunderstood the context of the word insemination. Thankfully is Aziz is such a champ that he never held it against me so we still catch-up to discuss the scene, generally over my renowned Gin Fizz Ansari.

 

Gin Fizz Ansari_1

 

I first took to Gin when I discovered it was the liquor of choice of all the best, depressive writers, and realised I was desperately in need of any and all help to hone my craft. Knowing this, I took my gin fizz –  all light, tart and refreshing – over to help while Aziz was writing his book and needless to say, he was a fan.

Boozing with the boys? Treat. Yo’. SELF.

 

Gin Fizz Ansari_2

 

Gin Fizz Ansari
Makes: 1

Ingredients
shot of gin (or two, no judgement)
15ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
pinch caster sugar
½ cup soda water
lemon slice, to serve

Method
Place gin, lemon juice, caster sugar and soda water in a cocktail shaker. Unlike the name and Bond’s preference stir, otherwise you may end up with an explosion and who can be bothered cleaning when you could be drinking?

Pour into a glass. Guzzle.

 

As you can probably tell, we are very social but the fun isn’t only limited to celebrities! You can follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr and Google+.