MILKBAR MEMORIES

BUY NOW!!

Excited & Nervous....

These are the two standard emotions which face off with against each other whenever I have a new book about to hit the shelves!

  

In just one short month my newest 'baby' MILKBAR MEMORIES will land and you'll have the opportunity to take a peek! And hopefully be more on the excited side and less nervous than me!

I reckon those of you who are fans of my book Grub -Favourite Food Memories ( a book I wrote almost 10 years ago now! eeek)  are going to DIG this - well at least I hope you do!  It's the cookbook of your childhood dreams... ;)

Even though I really, really want to - I'm not allowed to say ANYTHING more until the book is on sale or my publisher will beat me! 

Whilst I'll always encourage people to support your local bookstore - if you are going to buy online - do it with an Australian online bookstore.  

And on that.. I have some NEWS!!

 If you'd like to be one of the first to see Milkbar Memories  then please hop on over to Booktopia where they are offering an earlybird special for anyone who pre-orders a copy - an amazing 20% off the recommended retail price!  

I might have to buy some myself at that price! 

Anyway - I hope you like it! I'll be back to share more once MM is finally released!

Jane x

Bacon and Egg Rolls with Homemade BBQ Sauce

While I'm feeling generous  .... Here's another recipe from my cookbook 'Grub - Favourite Food Memories'.  It is easy to make excellent Bacon and Egg sangers at home when you know how to make your own quick and easy BBQ sauce !

serves 4

BARBECUE SAUCE
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 small brown onion, chopped
11/2 tablespoons tomato paste (concentrated purée)
1 tablespoon golden syrup  ( you can use maple too)
11/2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
pinch of cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon smoked sweet paprika
11/2 teaspoons mustard powder

6 long, thin slices of good-quality bacon
olive oil/ butter, for pan-frying
4 large eggs, at room temperature
2 large handfuls of baby rocket (arugula) leaves or baby English spinach
4 soft white bread rolls, split & buttered ( or you can spread with good quality mayo or aioli)


To make the barbecue sauce, heat the olive oil in a small saucepan over medium–high heat. Add the onion and sauté for 5 minutes, or until lightly golden. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for a few seconds, then add the golden syrup, Worcestershire sauce, cayenne pepper, paprika, mustard powder and 80 ml (21/2 fl oz/ 1/3 cup) water. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 8 minutes, or until thickened. Season to taste and set aside.

Cut the bacon into half-lengths. Brush a large frying pan with a little olive oil if your bacon is particularly lean ( this would never happen in my house - we like it streaky!) and place over high heat. Add the bacon and cook, turning occasionally, for 4–5 minutes, or until cooked to your liking.
When the bacon is almost ready, heat some butter in a  large, heavy-based frying pan over medium–high heat and carefully crack the eggs into the pan, keeping them well spaced so they don’t run into each other (use egg rings if you prefer). Fry the eggs until cooked to your liking — if you like your yolks runny like I do, especially when served in a roll, don’t flip the egg, just cook it without turning for 2–3 minutes, or until the white is fully set and the yolk is still a little wobbly.

Put some baby salad leaves on the bottom half of each bread roll and top each one with three pieces of bacon, an egg and a dollop of the barbecue sauce. Top with the bread roll lids and serve immediately. This one is best eaten with your hands!

*Image above by the seriously lovely Photographer Steve Brown and must not be replicated without permission.

Grub was published in 2007  by Murdoch Books and is now out of print. The rights to text and images have reverted to Jane Lawson.

Banana Bread with Brown Sugar Butter

For those who asked for the Banana Bread recipe from my book Grub  - here 'tis!
It's similar to the banana bread you have in Australian cafes and is great toasted with or without the brown sugar butter! Plain good quality butter works just as well.



BANANA BREAD RECIPE from GRUB by Jane Lawson
makes 1 loaf (serves 6–8)

150 g (51/2 oz) unsalted butter, chopped & slightly softened
115 g (4 oz/1/2 cup) caster (superfine) sugar
45 g (13/4 oz/1/4 cup) soft brown sugar
2 large eggs 250 g (9 oz/2 cups) plain (all-purpose) flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
11/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
5–6 (about 900 g/2 lb) very ripe bananas, mashed
1 teaspoon natural vanilla extract 125 g
(41/2 oz/1/2 cup) sour cream (you can use a good creamy yoghurt too)
50 g (13/4 oz/about 1/2 cup) walnuts, pecans or macadamia nuts, chopped, optional

BROWN SUGAR BUTTER
125 g (41/2 oz) unsalted butter, softened
45 g (13/4 oz/1/4 cup) dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon natural vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 160°C (315°F/Gas 2–3).
Grease the base of a loaf (bar) tin approximately 22 cm (81/2 inches) long, 9 cm (31/2 inches) wide and 9 cm (31/2 inches) deep. Line the base with baking paper.

Cream the butter with the caster sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time until well incorporated. Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon with a pinch of salt, then beat it into the butter mixture to form a thick batter.

Combine the banana, vanilla and sour cream and fold into the butter mixture, with the nuts if using, until just combined. Pour into the prepared tin and smooth over the top.

Bake for 11/4 hours, or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow to cool in the tin for 15 minutes, then invert onto a wire rack to cool to room temperature.

While the cake is cooling, make the brown sugar butter by beating the butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. (Do not refrigerate unless you are preparing the butter in advance, in which case remove it from the fridge before serving so it softens enough to spread easily.)

Thickly slice the banana bread using a bread knife or serrated knife. Toast and serve hot, spread with the brown sugar butter.

VARIATION: Top a slice of banana bread with thinly sliced banana, dollop with a little of the butter and place under a hot grill (broiler) until lightly golden.

Pssst... For those trying to eliminate/cut back on wheat flour there is another version here.  It used almond meal and potato flour etc but sometimes I replace them with coconut and coconut flour . Sometimes I add yoghurt, sometimes dates, or other nuts if not using almonds. Sometimes honey, sometimes maple syrup. A bit of chopped dark chocolate stirred through the batter is pretty damn good too.



*Image above by the seriously lovely Photographer Steve Brown
Grub was published in 2007  by Murdoch Books and is now out of print. Jane Lawson now owns the copyright of text and images which must not be used without permission. 

WIN a copy of ZENBU ZEN - Finding Food, Culture and Balance in Kyoto by Jane Lawson

Zenbu Zen takes you on a very personal 'armchair' escape to Kyoto, Japan with food and travel writer Jane Lawson. This book includes an informative, easy to read narrative with details about Japanese ingredients and plenty of authentic recipes.  

Plus the book is so beautifully designed and illustrated you won't be able to stop running your hands all over it! 

If you are interested in learning to cook and eat like the Japanese do at home and have an appreciation for the Japanese aesthetic you will love this book.

Lucky you! There is a copy up for grabs - all you have to do is this:

1. Go to the @zenbu_tours instagram page and follow if if you don't already

2. Find the image of the book cover above on the instagram thread and like it

3. Leave a word (plus #) under the photo on the instragram thread to describe what interests you most about Japan eg #Japanesetravel #japanesecuisine #food #zen #culture etc

That's it! 

You must enter by midnight AEST Friday 15 May 2015. 

All entries go in the hat and will be drawn on 16 May. 

Good Luck !

Win a copy of Snowflakes and Schnapps

Hello people of excellent taste who like to cook great food!

I'm giving you the chance to win a copy of my cookbook Snowflakes and Schnapps - the only book you need to get you through winter in style!

Just ask foodie Ann Brady who is currently cooking her way through the entire book, a HUGE effort and slightly crazy if I do say so myself - even I wouldn't attempt such a thing!  But I am so loving watching her recreate all my recipes and posting them to Facebook. (locate my facebook page if you want to take a peek) 

What fun - it's even made ME go back and cook a few things from it and her antics have inspired this giveaway - yep, it's Annie you need to thank if you win. 

OK, the rules are:

1. Go to my instragram page @janelawsonfood and follow it if you don't already (your still counted if you already like it!)

2. Find and 'Like' the image of the photo above 

3. Leave a one word comment (prefaced by a hashtag) describing something beautiful about winter eg #fireplace #snow #schnapps #soup #hot-toddies -you get the drift

That's it!

The competition closes midnight 01 May 2015 (AEST). 

All entries go into the hat. 

Good luck!

Japanese Winter Hotpot Cooking Class at Essential Ingredient Prahran

It seems a long way off I know and it is rather hot and humid right now in Australia to be thinking about such things but come July 18th 2015 you will surely be needing to warm your hearts and bellies with a little Japanese style winter comfort food?

The friendly people at The Essential Ingredient in Prahran have invited me to teach a hands-on class on Japanese winter hotpots and the like. Delicious and nutritious nabe and nimono are guaranteed to be at the centre of your winter table for years to come after you've been part of this fun and informative class.  

I'm about to head off into yet another Japanese winter so there's no doubt I'll be returning with a few new recipes tucked under my wing - might have to lock in several classes!!

Hope to see you there! Here's the link:

Jane Lawson's Japanese Winter Hotpot Class

 at Essential Ingredient Prahran

PSST !! Have you heard about EATLOVE??

If you haven't you need to go immediately and check out the site - it is packed with free recipes and other foodie tips and insights from top Australian chefs and food writers (and a few well loved international foodies too like Tessa Kiros!). It has just launched and is looking schmicko!

More and more content will be added in the coming weeks and months and my prediction is that it will  snowball into one of the most useful recipe sites around - the bonus being that all the recipes are triple tested with many of them straight from your favourite chef's own book or restaurant.

There are a bunch of very cool chefs on board already including Neil Perry, Luke Nguyen, Adriano Zumbo, Peter Gilmore, Frank Camorra, Leanne Kitchen, Rosa Mitchell, Matthew Evans, Nino Zoccali, Darren Purchese.... and cough... MOI of course! And that's just the beginning!

So PLEASE jump over to my page and follow me - and some of those other "celeb" chefs if you really have to.... but most importantly MEEEEEE if you like my stuff  -because I don't have a TV show or my own restaurant or mind-blowing store of sweet goodness to tie my name to so I really need your help not to look like Neddy-no-mates!!  But mainly because - I really want to share my love and knowledge of foodie culture and recipes with as many people as possible - "sharing is caring"!

So please help me out if you can by joining the Eatlove family and following my page. Very shortly there will be free, yes that's right - FREE recipes from my other books such as Yoshoku and Snowflakes and Schnapps!

Here's the link to my EATLOVE page. Go on  - do it now!!
Pretty Please.....

Jane xx

Zenbu Zen

Pssst! I'm a little bit excited to share this with you.  Its the cover of my new book - shortly I will finally see the finished product!

Zenbu Zen is due for release on 01 October 2012 - it seems so far away but not so long to wait in the scheme of things! Its been a long time in the making and its so wonderful to know that I will soon hold a hard copy in my hands for the very first time. 

Being in Japan for the last 8 months I have been working on digital files only  - so I haven't had a chance to feel real pages...  there is something so lovely about flicking through the pages of a hard copy book... That might make me sound a little old fashioned (and I get that a bunch of novels are easier to carry to your holiday destination on an electronic device than drag around in your luggage) but to me, there are few things more enjoyable than sitting quietly in your favourite corner of the sofa or perhaps under a shady tree with a cuppa or a glass of wine and pouring over the pages of a beautifully designed and well considered book.  Getting lost in a book's text or images and, in the case of a great cookbook, plotting and tagging all the recipes you want to sample and who you will share them with, is one of life's simple pleasures. 

The team who worked on the book have done such a great job to ensure my text stayed true, my recipes were beautifully photographed and that my own images of Japan were used in such an empathetic and stunning way.  I was so lucky to have Uber designer Reuben Crossman working his magic on this title as he did with Snowflakes and Schnapps. I can't thank him enough. The recipe images are as gorgeous as they are thanks to photographer Cath Muscat and the food itself was lovingly and so perfectly cooked for the shoot by the very lovely Olivia Andrews from Have you Eaten and Firetruck.. Keep an eye out for this one she is a very clever young miss! 

I am a lucky girl to have had such talented peeps working on my book. My words, although trimmed to fit, could not have been more respectfully edited by the gorgeous women who are Carla Grossetti and Katri Hilden. Thank you also to Laura from Murdoch Books for keeping it all ticking along. 

I will be updating my blog occasionally in the lead up to the release but in the meantime...

Here is the jacket blurb just to give you a taste:

"When bestselling author Jane Lawson finds herself burnt out professionally and personally, and anything but healthy, she retreats to Kyoto to find more balance in all aspects of her life. Through an immersion in Japanese culture and especially in its food, she slowly regains that equilibrium - the zen of the title. "Zenbu Zen" is her very personal journey of discovery, interspersed with well-explained and beautifully photographed recipes."

Key points: stunning food photography; detailed explanation of Japanese food and ingredients with more than 60 recipes; provides a unique insight into Japanese people and culture."

And here is a link to my facebook page where I will also be adding regular info on my Japanese life and the book  - please do hop over and "like" my page - that way I am sure to keep you in the loop. 

Cheers, Jane x

Red moon and quince

If you have been subscribing to my blog or even reading the occasional post, chances are you know I have a new book coming out next year which I am pretty excited about but also still need to keep a bit hush hush with in regards to content. Its a publicist's and publisher's nightmare to peak too soon! Needless to say it has something to do with Japan....   I'm clearly not giving away too much there..

I am just starting to play with recipe ideas for the following book .... and last Saturday night I shared some potential dishes with a few of my friends here in Kyoto.  It was a great night with encouraging thumbs up  all round and the whole evening was made so much more auspicious by glowing red of the full lunar eclipse (and the Karin/Quince).  Here's a sneak peak....

Yoshoku - Its BAAAAAAAAaaaaaaack..... ようしょく

My first born has been on sabbatical but has now returned with a colourful new frock! 

You can meet her from 01 February in Australia then she'll be flitting about in the UK from 01 March so keep an eye out will you? If you see her leaning on a shelf in a bookstore somewhere please carry her home and make sure she puts herself to good use in the kitchen??  

If you are new to Japanese cuisine and find it all a bit daunting this is a friendly way to jump on in.  The book shows you how to utilise traditional, often healthy, Japanese ingredients in more familiar "western" style recipes, using simple techniques.

The origins of Yoshoku cuisine stem from the opening of trading ports within Japan and consequently an  influx in available international foods in the 70's. The clever Japanese adapted these strange foreign foods to suit their own tastes, shaking it all up with ingredients and flavours both familiar and comforting to them - and doozo! a newly blended cuisine was born.  The cooking style went out of fashion for a while but is now making a comeback - becoming "cool" again with the young folk. 

Popular and old fashioned Yoshoku recipes include Omu-raisu (a thin omelette wrapped around seasoned rice), Katsu-Kare (pork cutlet curry) and Hambaagaa (hamburger) and while you will find a nod to this standard Yoshoku fare within the pages of the book  -it is really more about contemporary ideas and flavour combinations  - all easy to prepare and 'totemo oishii!!' (if I do say so myself...). If you missed out last time around - please look out for the re-release of 'Yoshoku' on February 01 2011. 

For those of you who already own a copy and have cooked from it I would love to hear your feedback.

My next book, on sale next year, will delve a little deeper into traditional cuisine and food culture - but more on that later. 

Yoshoku by Jane Lawson

Published by Murdoch Books 

Photography by Mikkel Vang

Styling by (the rather gorgeous and talented) Christine Rudolph

Chilled tofu and tomato salad

Pork with Nashi

Umeshu (plum wine) granita

and yes! sake cocktails! of course...

Itadakimasu!!!