New week, new country, new dish.
Keeping the momentum going, it’s time to cook something from a land down under… where women glow and men thunder. I hear there’s also thunder, so uhm… I guess we better run, we better take cover ¯\_(ใ)_/¯ ๐ถ
Songs aside… this week I cooked a dish (and a dessert!) from the faraway land of: ¡ษแดlษษนสsn∀ ๐
Country
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. It’s the sixth-largest country in the world and the largest in Oceania.
It’s also considered a megadiverse country, and its size gives it a wide variety of landscapes and climates—ranging from deserts in the interior to tropical rainforests along the coast.
Australia’s written history began with Dutch exploration in the 17th century. British colonization started in 1788 with the establishment of the penal colony of New South Wales. By the late 19th century, multiple colonies had formed and eventually federated in 1901, creating the Commonwealth of Australia. Over time, the country gained full legislative independence, finalized with the Australia Acts of 1986.
Today, Australia is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary democracy, made up of six states and ten territories. It’s considered a middle power and is part of major international groups like the United Nations, the G20, the OECD, the World Trade Organization, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, the Pacific Islands Forum, the Pacific Community and the Commonwealth of Nations.
Cuisine
Indigenous Australians traditionally lived on native fauna and flora, known as bush tucker. Since the 1970s, these ingredients—like lemon myrtle, macadamia nuts, and even kangaroo meat—have gained popularity among non-Indigenous Australians.
With colonization came strong British and Irish culinary influence. You can still see that today in dishes like fish and chips and the iconic Australian meat pie, which evolved from the British steak pie. Chinese migration also contributed, creating a unique Australian-Chinese cuisine.
Fun fact: Australia is also a major wine producer, especially in the cooler southern regions.
Chosen Dish
As you read above, kangaroo meat is actually quite common in Australia, and for a moment I seriously considered trying it…
But yeah—no luck finding it here in CDMX. Not sure if I was more relieved or disappointed.
So instead, I went with what’s considered an absolute Australian classic: the meat pie.
At first, I was a bit skeptical since it felt more like a British dish than an Australian one. But after digging a bit deeper, I realized Australia really made it their own—and it’s loved by Aussies everywhere. That was enough to convince me.
Getting Ready
This week I’m switching things up and putting the “Getting Ready” section before the ingredients—because honestly, the pie structure is the trickiest part.
Most recipes I found only explain how to make the filling and assume you’ll either buy the pastry or already know how to make it. Except one recipe—the one I ended up using—which gave three options:
• Make your own pastry
• Use frozen sheets
• Use refrigerated crusts
Since this is a cooking challenge, I went all in and made my own pastry. But I’m including all options so you can choose your own adventure.
Because the pastry is technically secondary (but also essential), I left its full instructions at the end instead of mixing everything together.
Ingredients
Pie Base – CHOOSE ONE:
• 1 1/2 batches homemade shortcrust pastry
• 3 frozen shortcrust pastry sheets, thawed (300g/10oz)
• 2 refrigerated pie crusts
Pie Lid:
• 3 frozen puff pastry sheets, just thawed (300g/10oz)
• 1 egg, lightly whisked
Filling:
• 1.25 kg (2.5 lb) beef chuck, cut into cubes
• 1/2 tsp each salt & pepper
• 2–3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 5 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 cups (315 ml) beef stock
• 3 cups (750 ml) dry red wine
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tsp ground black pepper
• 2 bay leaves
Prerequisites
None.
Just a note that, if you’re making your own pastry, you can prepare it while the filling simmers and cools—or even make it a day in advance and keep it chilled. Totally up to you.
Preparation
Filling:
1. Season beef with salt and pepper.
2. Heat oil in a large pot over high heat. Brown beef in batches, then set aside.
3. Lower heat to medium-high. Cook onion and garlic for about 3 minutes.
4. Add flour and stir well.
5. Gradually add beef stock while stirring. Then add wine, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, pepper, and bay leaves.
6. Return beef to the pot, cover, and let it simmer gently.
7. Cook for 1 hour 45 minutes. Remove lid and simmer another 30–45 minutes until the beef is tender and the sauce thickens.
8. Let the filling cool.
Pastry:
1. Preheat oven to 180°C / 350°F.
2. Cut pastry rounds and place them into pie tins (don’t stretch them).
3. Line with parchment paper and fill with pie weights.
4. Bake for 20 minutes, take them out and remove weights, then bake 5 more minutes until lightly golden.
Assemble:
1. Fill pies with cooled filling.
2. Cut puff pastry lids slightly larger than the base.
3. Brush edges with egg, place lids on top, and seal.
4. Brush tops with egg and cut a small slit in the center.
5. Bake for 30 minutes until golden and puffed.
6. Devour immediately (ketchup optional but encouraged).
Extra Surprise!
Why not finish things off with a dessert?
While looking up Australian recipes, I found something simple, nostalgic, and surprisingly fun: Fairy Bread.
Basically, the ultimate kids party snack… but honestly, adults can enjoy it too. I definitely did.
Ingredients:
• White bread
• Butter
• Colorful sprinkles
Preparation:
1. Butter the bread.
2. Add sprinkles (or press the bread butter-side down into them).
3. Slice into triangles and enjoy!
The Result
I don’t know if I lose credibility by saying this every week… but damn, it was good ๐คฃ
And if I’m being completely honest, I was even more surprised by my homemade crust.
The filling definitely took its time, but it was very easy to prepare. The combination of wine, beef stock, and Worcestershire sauce gave the meat such a deep, rich flavor. And it’s absolutely key to let it simmer for at least 1 hour 40 minutes—otherwise the meat won’t get that tender, fall-apart texture you’re looking for.
I’ve heard chefs say that the secret to a great dish is a great sauce… and this one proved them right once again.
As for the pastry—like I mentioned before—I made it myself, and wow. It turned out way better than I expected. It was buttery, firm enough to hold its shape like a proper pie base, but still soft enough to not feel dry or heavy. Honestly, it hit that perfect balance.
Putting everything together was incredibly satisfying. I decided to make small individual pies, and ended up with 17 of them—more than enough for me and my guests that day.
Now, about the fairy bread… that was more for fun than anything else. When I first served it, my guests looked at it like “that’s it?”
But that’s kind of the whole point.
Yeah, it’s just bread with butter and sprinkles—but it looks fun, it’s sweet, and let’s be real… who doesn’t enjoy a simple piece of bread with something sweet/sugary on top?
I’ll definitely be bringing fairy bread back for random fun moments.
What Did I Learn
My favorite part of every post.
First of all, I’m starting to understand why flour has been such a fundamental ingredient in human history—and why it still is today.
By now, I’ve made several recipes that use all-purpose flour, and every single one has turned out completely different. That’s what makes it so fascinating. As long as flour is the base, it can become almost anything depending on what you mix it with—cakes, tortillas, pie crusts, sourdough bread… the possibilities are endless.
I used to think things like pie crust required some special kind of flour because I always bought them pre-made. But nope—turns out regular flour can do way more than I gave it credit for.
Another thing I learned is just how many tools exist to make cooking easier. For example, I discovered pie weights—used to keep the dough from puffing up or forming air bubbles while baking so the base stays flat.
And apparently, there’s a whole variety of them… even ceramic ones.
Moments like this make me realize how many kitchen tools I’m still missing. Luckily, there are workarounds—like using rice or dried beans instead.
But still… getting actual pie weights wouldn’t be a bad idea ๐
Enough being upside down—time to flip things back up and head to another European country.
We’re getting close to finishing the countries with the letter A!
Next stop: Austria ๐ฆ๐น
Oh… and I didn’t forget! Here are the pastry instructions:
Ingredients
• 350g / 12oz plain flour
• Pinch of salt
• 170g / 6oz butter, cubed
• 5–6 tbsp cold water
Preparation
1. In a large bowl, mix the flour and salt, then add the butter cubes.
2. Rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs, with no large lumps remaining. Work quickly to avoid it becoming greasy.
3. Using a knife, mix in just enough cold water to bring the dough together. Start with 1–2 tablespoons and add more only if needed.
4. Gently knead the dough on a clean surface until it just comes together into a smooth ball. Handle it as little as possible.
5. (Alternative) Use a food processor: pulse flour, salt, and butter, then slowly add water until the dough forms.
6. Wrap in cling film and chill for 30 minutes before using.
7. Alternatively, roll it out immediately, line your tin, and chill the pastry case for 30 minutes before baking.
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I missed last week, which means I’m already running behind! But fear not because I’m back to put things back on track and continue our culinary journey, back to Europe. This time, we travel to a small territory tucked between Spain and France to discover: Andorra!
Time doesn’t stop, and if I don’t want to take an eternity to finish this challenge, I really have to keep cooking as often as possible. For this one, we travel from Europe to the big Africa!
Let’s cook something from Algeria.
The clock keeps ticking, and it’s time to continue with the second country on the list; we now go from the Middle East to Southeast Europe: let’s explore Albania!
September is an important month in Mexico because it’s when Mexican Independence is celebrated, and while this happens only on September 16th, the whole month is full of typical food and dishes available only in this period. For example the famous “Chile en Nogada”.
What is a chile en nogada?
Yeah… it’s no secret that we, Mexican love chiles, and this one is amazing.
It basically is a poblano chile stuffed with picadillo topped with a walnut-based creamy sauce called nogada (hence the name) and pomegranate seeds.
What is picadillo? Another Spanish word for another dish, made of shredded meat, aromatics, fruits and spices.
All this together make up the perfect chile en nogada.
This is in general words what it is, you can always search for a recipe online to see what exactly has, and maybe try to prepare one.
Or… you can search for a place that prepares chiles en nogada just like I did this weekend.
The Place
Searching online we found this place called “Casa Tijuana Project” near Tijuana’s soccer stadium.
It is a small place, which feels more like a home because of how small it is and the cozy decoration.
I liked how every table was different from one another.
The menu is not too big. It is actually simple, but creative and from what I read, it keeps changing through the seasons.
This time we were seated on the newly renovated second floor.
The Dish
Obviously, I had chile en nogada as the main dish, but before I get to that, I first got a soup I’ve been craving for a while.
I ordered a Mexican noodle soup or sopa de fideos in Spanish.
This is also a classic Mexican dish and every Abuela knows how to make it. It’s just the pasta in a tomato and chipotle broth, and this version also had northern potatoes and a piece of dry meat.
It did not disappoint me.
And the star of the evening:
Like I mentioned at the beginning of the post, this recipe is not hard, but it’s tricky due to the ingredients for the picadillo inside the chile, and those to make the sauce.
It also takes skill to prepare the inside of the chile so it is not spicy.
I can confidently say this Chile was perfect. It wasn't spicy at all, the stuffing had the right ingredients, the sauce on top was sweet and not too liquid. And the best, the size was more than perfect, in fact, it was bigger than expected.
While I arrived at this place because I was searching specifically for a chile en nogada, my experience was great and delicious that it left me wanting to come back and try something else, because sadly the chile en nogada was a season special dish and last Sunday was the last day available in the menu for this year.
But the rest of the menu certainly looks amazing…
Fun fact: this dish is tied to the independence of Mexico since it is said they were prepared for the first time to entertain the future emperor Agustรญn de Iturbide when he arrived to Puebla after the signing of the Treaty of Cรณrdoba.
I had to make a quick stop at Mexico City and Instagram knew
exactly where to send me. Well, it didn’t exactly show me, but it showed my
girl and she knows those things that make me easily excited.
By now you should know I love food, and I hope this is the
same reason why you read me. But sometimes the place is as exciting as the food
served in that place. This time I was more excited for the place than the food,
but it was equally delicious.
The place
Located inside “Parque Interlomas” in State of Mexico, we
have “Train Bistro”, and as you may imagine from the name, the theme is all about
trains!
According to the webpage description, it has the looks of a train station from Europe in the 40s. The whole thing feels as if you were
inside a train station, the seats resemble train station benches, some tables
made out of luggage. But this isn’t the best part.
What makes this restaurant so cool, and unique in the whole
American continent is that it has several computer-controlled trains that go
from the kitchen, stretch throughout the whole restaurant, there are five
bridges, and the tracks end at each table. Yes, the trains deliver the food.
With that single sentence I was sold and I had the urge to go.
How it works?
There are still waiters in the place, but they will take
your order, occasionally ask how everything’s going, and bring those things
that a train can’t deliver. Other than that, once you choose what you want to
drink and your meal, it’s only a matter of waiting for the train to arrive. It
automatically stops at your table, and once everybody takes their dish/drink,
it slowly backs up and returns to the kitchen.
What about the food?
The restaurant defines the style as casual gourmet, which
basically means: the food you can find in any other regular restaurant, just
presented nicely.
For example, for breakfasts, it offers the classics: fruits bowls, pancakes,
chilaquiles, enchiladas, bagels, and eggs. For entries, potatoes in different forms, soups and creams,
and salads. For the main dish, they have pizzas, sandwiches, burgers and hot
dogs.
So, nothing extraordinary or something you may not expect,
but still, it’s nicely presented, it has great flavour and feels fresh… and come
on, it arrives on a train!
You can check the full menu on their webpage.
What did I have?
This visit we had the “Cubos Mikado” to start, which are a
mix of breaded cheeses chipotle mayo and carrots. And as the main dish, I ordered a
pulled pork sandwich. And for dessert, a cinnamon roll which comes with red
fruits and a chocolate bunny.
Again, nothing too fancy, but it was tasty and fresh. The meat in my sandwich was soft as you might expect from pulled pork.
This place is not really for trying something different, it’s
about having a nice experience. I loved the theme and was fascinated by the
trains running across the whole place carrying drinks and food, so if you have
kids they’ll love this place 100%.
And of course, you can buy train sets before you leave.
I am not visiting as many places as I would like to, because you know, we are still in the middle of a pandemic
But there was once place I've been craving for a while, and sadly I am not in the Uber Eats service area, so I had to mask up, and go early.
I've known this place for a few years, and I love its desserts.
The Place
It's called "Donut Bar", and it is not hard to guess what they sell.In case you didn't catch it, they sell donuts. But it's Donut BAR because on weekends they also serve… beer. At least in the primary location.
The original and first location is in San Diego's downtown:
Then they opened the second one in Las Vegas, and recently the owner opened the concept to franchise it, so in the last year and a half, more or less, they opened 5 new locations, which you can see on their website.
Today I went to the one in Eastlake, Chula Vista, because it's the closest to me.
All locations open every day: Monday thru Friday at 7am, weekends at 8am. They close supposedly at 2pm, but actually close when they are sold out, which happens before noon.
On weekends they open again in the evening, they call it the encore, to offer more donuts and the beer bar (at least in the Downtown location).
This place has become famous over the years because of all the flavours they offer. Check some of their Instagram photos:
My all-time favourite is the maple-bacon one:
You can see a lot more deliciousness on their official Instagram page.
The Chosen donut…s
This time I was welcomed by a new one I haven't seen before. The apple crumble donut with bacon ๐คค๐ฅ
The bread genuinely tasted like apple and cinnamon. It has bits of apple complementing the experience, and of course, bacon on top (life's always better with bacon!).
And took a second donut for tomorrow's breakfast… or tonight's dinner, depending on my will power.
This is the "Homer" because it looks like the iconic donut from "The Simpsons":
What makes these donuts great are a couple of things. The size, they are enormous, they're a bit bigger than my hand and trust me, I have no princess's hands.
Their freshness, all donuts are prepared the same day in the morning, and they sell out every day. It is guaranteed you will eat a fresh, recently made, thick but soft donut every time you go.
And even when you see a lot of colours and decorations, they're not overly sweet. Obviously, they're sweet, but in the right amount. They do not come close to how sweet are the, for example, Krispy Kreme ones. Those are sugar with some bread.
These have a perfect balance.
Except the one filled with whipped cream… can't defend that one. But even that one has fresh strawberries, so it's not bad at all.
These are my favourite donuts in the world, and everyone who I've taken there shares my opinion.
A few copies have popped out, but they come nothing close to the original. If there's one location near you, you must try them. And better go in the morning because they really sell out fast.
This place has an 11 out of 10. Easily.
Stay safe and remember to stay home if you don't need to go out.
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