Radicchio Risotto

This is a back-blog. A dish that I have made in the recent past and not had time to post about. You might remember the duck dinner and the radicchio that I forgot to serve. Katie, over at Other People’s Food just happened to post a Liquorice and Radicchio Risotto she’d made around the same time, so I declared that I would make the same dish. Unfortunately, as Katie found, ground liquorice root was a little hard to come by. I was told by a lady at the markets that she hasn’t seen ground liquorice root for months. Katie couldn’t find it either and made do with liquorice extract. A national shortage maybe? So instead of using Katie’s recipe I made a basic lemon risotto and incorporated the radicchio as directed by Cook’s Companion.

I made a few mistake when cooking this risotto, namely forgetting to put the star ingredient in with the onion, before the rice. I didn’t realise until well after the first couple of ladles of stock. Nevermind, I briefly cooked the radicchio in a little oil and added it half way. The risotto still took on a brilliant pink colour. I’m not really sure that the radicchio lent much flavour as it still tasted like a plain lemon risotto to me. That’s not to say it wasn’t delicious, and I was the envy of my workmates when I took leftovers for lunch the next day. I was cooking for myself this particular evening and I had just enough rose, also leftover from the duck dinner, to have a glass with my meal.

So, here’s to leftovers, in many different forms.

Radicchio Risotto

1.5 l chicken stock
200 ml white wine
120 g unsalted butter
1 red onion, minced (although I used a brown onion, chopped and this worked out fine)
250 g finely sliced radicchio
2 cups arborio rice
salf & pepper
90 g grated parmesan
¼ cup chopped parsley
grated zest + juice of 1 lemon

Heat stock and wine, (I often use the microwave instead of dirtying another saucepan). In a heavy-based pan melt half the butter over gentle heat, sauté onion until softened and translucent then stir in radicchio. Add rice, raise heat to moderate and stir to ensure grains are coated with the butter. Add 1 cup of hot stock, simmer and stir constantly. Once liquid is absorbed continue adding, simmering and stirring, 1 cup at a time. After 15-20 minutes rice should be perfectly cooked. Remove from heat, season and add cheese, remaining butter, parsley and lemon juice/zest. Cover for 2 minutes then serve at once.

Serves 6

Mr Wolf, St Kilda

Karen Martini's creation if I'm right, this is what my friends SD & Newie would call “fancy pizza”. And coincidentally we all toddled off to Mr Wolf’s for SD & Newie’s farewell party. It was a sad and exciting occasion. Sad as two friends of mine are about to go overseas indefinitely and exciting because it spells new challenges for them AND means S-bo and I got to go to Mr Wolf. We went here the very first weekend I moved to Melbourne and loved it. But it’s not an everyday experience…they don’t call it “fancy pizza” for nothing.

I think I may have ordered the same pizza we had last time we went too…Pancetta (below). I can’t find it on the website’s menu but it had pancetta (obviously), mozzarella, basil I think, olives and chilli. Our first time to Mr Wolf I found the chilli a bit much so this time I asked them to tone it down a little. Unfortunately I then ended up with too little chilli. My mistake really. It’s not that I don’t like (moderately) spicy food; I’m just big on chilli overpowering other flavours. I should just build my tolerance.


S-bo had a special, Porcetta (top) (possibly dubious spelling here). The pizza consisted of pork, artichoke and lemon among other things. He was keen to try something different but wasn’t so sold on this. It was a little unconventional I guess, I think I liked it more than him.

There was a very different vibe on a Saturday night compared to the Sunday that we visited. Obviously, being busy, it wasn’t as relaxed. I remember the service first time round as being exceptional whilst this time it was simply adequate. The waitress was friendly and efficient, but did need chasing when drinks were empty. To be fair we were a difficult booking: large and early, arriving in dribs and drabs. The evening was far more about friends catching up and I’m sure service would have been its usual top notch if our objective was more about the food. I really don’t want to nit-pick the restaurant because the evening was great, but it does beg the question should service be of the same standard regardless of what night of the week you attend a restaurant?

Similarly the pizza wasn’t quite as good as I remembered, but then I did bland-down my pizza and on our first visit I was entirely in awe of all things Melbourne, having lived here for all of 1 ½ days. Don’t get me wrong, it’s exceptional pizza, fancy even, I just had particularly high standards on this occasion.

Mr Wolf does BYO on Tuesday nights, so I’m keen to head along and pair a bottle of Sangiovese that I’ve been hoarding for a while with a delectable pizza. They also have takeaway and home delivery.

Note: On second thoughts I may have had Calabrese on my first visit.... should return to compare and contrast me-thinks.

Mr Wolf
9-15 Inkerman St
St Kilda (03) 9534 0255

Flourless Orange Cake…aka Disaster Cake!

My workmate brought oranges back from his farm…perfect for making an orange cake. I have a great recipe for buttery orange cake, but this time decided I needed a new challenge. It seemed straight forward enough, but never underestimate the power of Ali’s baking disasters!

I’m not so keen on my oven. My mother has fought a bad oven for years until getting a new kitchen recently, so what did I do? Moved into a flat with a bad oven! No fan-forced for me. The element is on the bottom and the oven is about 20 degrees too hot I think. The first ever cake I made in this oven was a whisky, chocolate and raisin cake…expensive ingredients that all went in the bin when the outside was charcoal-burnt and the inside as uncooked as….. Anyway, it was uncooked!

The problem seems to be worse in cakes with low flour content. Usually I set the oven 20 degrees cooler than suggested and turn the cake regularly and it seems to work ok, just. Like the whisky, raisin and chocolate cake, the flourless orange cake browned very quickly on the surface and remained uncooked inside. I think I will try the cake again in a shallower tin…cook it quickly before it has a chance to brown. It really didn’t help that I left out the baking powder and madly tried to stir it in, with help from my flatmate, after the cake had been in the oven for 15 minutes.

Here’s the recipe, from Cooks Companion:
Interesting is the boiling of the oranges, filling my apartment with a beautiful, fresh citrus smell.


Claudia Roden’s Middle Eastern Orange Cake

2 large oranges
6 eggs, beaten
250 g ground almonds
250 g sugar
1 tsp baking powder

Boil oranges, barely covered with water, in a covered saucepan for 2 hours. Allow to cool, cut open, remove pips and chop roughly (including the rind).

Preheat oven to 190 degrees and butter/flour a 24 cm springform tin. Blend oranges and eggs thoroughly in a food processor. Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl then add the orange mixtures and whisk to combine. Pour batter into prepared tin and bake for 45 - 60 minutes. Cool in tin before gently turning out.

HHDD #12....Don't Forget to Vote!

Don't forget, you have 2 day's left to vote for your favourite Caesar Salad. Katie at Other People's Food has put together a great round-up. Pop along and check out all the scrumptious takes on Caesar Salad. Clearly there's more than one way to toss a salad!

Honey and Sesame Stir-fried Beef

Over the last two and a half years I’ve collected hundreds of recipe clippings. A recipe organizer from Kikki.K, given to me by AO’b and MB, has inspired me to work my way through the clippings, keeping what I like and discarding those that I will never cook again.

I’ve already cooked a few things that haven’t appeared on this blog, including lemon and orange delicious pudding and mushroom and white wine risotto. This post features a recipe I made last week, honey and sesame stir-fried beef. It’s a Christine Mansfield recipe published in the Good Weekend 20th Anniversary Issue, 2004. Uh huh, I have uncooked recipes from 2004.

I used a little too much chilli when making this, which masked the honey a bit. It’s an easy recipe to whip up and I served it with rice and steamed greens. The marinade is quick, meaning you can prepare it and forget it, perfect for starting before the gym and cooking and eating when you return, as I did.

Leftover beef, which formed my dinner the following night was delicious! The flavour enhanced, honey stronger and chilli weaker.

This week’s menu includes Chicken on Sweet Potato Rosti (Marie Claire) and Beef, rice noodles and snow peas. I’m also hoping to try Katie’s (Other People’s Food) Licorice and Radicchio Risotto, with the leftover raddichio from the duck dinner. Unfortunately I can’t find powdered licorice root. Katie used licorice drops, does anyone know of anything else that can be substituted in?

Back to the Honey and Sesame Stir-fried Beef:
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
2 tbsp light honey
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
3 red birdseye chillies
2 tbsp vegetable oil
500 g beef tenderloin fillet, thinly sliced
2 tsp white sesame seeds, lightly toasted
1 bunch chives cut into 5 cm lengths

Combine the first 7 ingredients with half the oil. Add beef slices, mix well and marinate for an hour.

Heat a large wok with half the remaining oil, add half the beef and marinade and toss over high heat so the beef sears and cooks quickly (chopsticks will help keep the beef strips separate). Repeat with the remaining oil, beef and marinade.

Sprinkle the sesame seeds and chives over the beef. The recipe suggests serving with rice, noodles or watercress salad.

Duck for Dinner Part II: Dessert

These little plum and almond cakes formed the dessert for the last week’s duck dinner. They were from the same article by Bill Granger in Good Living. Plums are out of season at the moment yet I had hoped to still source some. When I couldn’t I opted for strawberries, which worked amazingly well. The little cakes are very light, the almond meal gives a texture similar to friands yet without the heaviness you sometimes get. The batter is quite runny which can be disconcerting to start with. The great thing about this recipe is it can all be done by hand. Two bowls, a fork and a spoon make life a lot easier than pulling out the mix-master whilst trying to cook the rest of a meal...you might remember from Part I how disorganised I was so this was a Godsend.

Here’s what to do:

1 cup almond meal
1 ½ cups icing sugar, sifted
½ cup plain flour
150 g unsalted butter, melted
6 egg whites, beaten lightly with a fork
2 plums, halved, stone removed, sliced
1/3 cup flaked almonds
½ cup thick yoghurt
½ cup crème fraiche

Preheat oven to 180C. Grease ½ cup capacity muffin tin.
Combine dry ingredients together and add melted butters and beaten egg whites, stir until just combined.
Spoon the mixture into about 9 muffin holes and top with a few plum slices and the flaked almonds.
Bake for 20 minutes until golden and cooked through.
Combine yoghurt and crème fraiche and serve a dollop on warm cakes.

Laneway 3000: Winter Party

Apparently there was a laneway party on last night! Some friends and I tried to find it but we got side-tracked by food on Hardware Lane. We had every intention of going to the party but our stomachs won out.

We found ourselves at Aloi Na! A Thai place amongst many other Italian places. Hardware lane is an amazing place on a Friday night. Never in Sydney would so many people choose to dine outside in such temperatures. Unfortunately Aloi Na! wasn’t as vibrant as the setting. The food was what I’d been looking for at my last visit to a Thai restaurant, however not worth the price tag. The Massamun Curry was particularly amazing, the chicken with cashews nuts standard, run of the mill chicken with cashew nuts (what more can you expect) and the Pad Thai was apparently bad. Pad Thai was never my favourite dish, so I can’t claim to be an expert but my fellow diners were disappointed. An interesting wine list include Sticks Pinot Noir for a mere $25, surely that’s cheap for restaurant price, with a retail of around $16.

Two bottles of wine later we decided to check out the festivities. “VIP” after parties were being held at Golden Monkey, Horse Bazaar and Murmur. First we went to Apartment to search for some friends. Some poor barman dropped a bottle of Smirnoff on the bar and a suit got quite irate. These things happen and I have a nice little cut on my pinkie finger to prove it. We moved on to Murmur, but didn’t have any Eat Drink Winter brochures to get 2-for-1 cocktails. Never mind, instead we enjoyed an amazing playlist from the early 90s…Dire Straits, Gunners, Springsteen etc. I believe the DJ didn’t turn up so the guys behind the bar were having the time of their life controlling the CD player. Ok, so I don’t know that about the DJ for sure, but there was an empty deck in a corner and the guys behind the bar were controlling the tunes!

When 90s music got too much we made our way to Workshop for a final nightcap. Overall I got a well-rounded tour of more Melbourne laneways and bars, and I think that’s what the Winter in the City promotion is all about!


More photos to come.

Duck for Dinner

I could blog about so many aspects of this meal. “I’ve never cooked duck before” is just the start. There’s the discussion I had with a vegetarian colleague about eating your pets, just prior to buying the duck, then there’s my visit to Luv-A-Duck in Port Melbourne, which also seemed to highlight the “eating your pets” thing, with a cutesy duck as their logo. Surely such cuteness associated with their product is bad for business.

What about my search across Melbourne for redcurrant jelly, a problem I’ve encountered previously. My unsuccessful search for out-of-season plums? What about disorganization in the kitchen. Then there’s my apparent inability to cook celeriac and dessert that sticks to the pan. Not to mention my forgetfulness…oh yes, I forgot to put an ingredient on the plate.

Phew. Did I mention the reason for holding this meal? A desire to get through two years worth of uncooked recipe clippings, including a duck recipe, combined with a bottle of rose I was dying to drink. That’s probably a good place to start. And since that sentence needs no further explanation, I guess I’ve started. I should add that I picked up the wine when travelling around Hawkes Bay in New Zealand; a 2004 rose from Alpha Domus.

The meal was Cinnamon spiced duck with pink grapefruit and raddichio. Or not, as the forgotten ingredient was radicchio. I’d seen it a few weeks earlier at the South Melbourne Markets and yet, when I went to buy it I had to search, hard. But I found it. Sadly it’s still sitting in my fridge. I’m sure I can make something of it. Hard-to-find was a feature of this evening. Even pink grapefruits and celeriac, which have been everywhere I turn, mysteriously disappear when I’m being specific at the market. As for redcurrant jelly, I often searched for this in Canberra and it was never available in the supermarkets, except at Christmas time apparently. I’m sure Essential Ingredient had some, but that was a long way across town from where I lived. In this instance, Albert Park Deli had a lone bottle, tucked right up there behind the cranberry.

I can tell this is going to be a long post, let that be a warning. But I encourage you to keep reading because, whilst it all sounds disastrous, the duck turned out beautifully. The recipe is from Good Living, about this time a year ago, with thanks to Bill Granger. The duck breasts appeared quite lean (4 people, 4 breasts) and I scored the skin a couple of times before rubbing 1 tsp ground cinnamon and 2 tbsp brown sugar into the skin. I was just doing this as my guests arrived, my little trip to the deli had detoured to the expensive fruit shop to see if they’d magic-ed some plums and a quick duck into the IGA (get it?) for last minute ingredients. Nevermind, it was all hands on deck in the kitchen and Fogarty, bless her, said I remained very calm and collected.

The duck quacked its way into a hot pan, skin side down for 2 minutes, turn for 1 minute and then into the over for 10 (oo, there that talk of pets again).

A few things were going on while this duck business was unfolding. In a large pan I had 500 g of peeled potato and 500 g of peeled celeriac. Dessert was being plopped into a muffin pan and strawberries were being placed on-top, along with almonds.

Into the hot pan went 80 ml pink grapefruit juice and 2 tbsp redcurrant jelly. I was meant to whisk until it combined, but I occasionally gave it a half-hearted stir whilst doing other things. I was meant to simmer it for 3-4 minutes, but I left it till needed. AND, as I write this post, I realise I was meant to put 80 ml chicken stock in there too. Another forgotten ingredient!

I plopped some grapefruit segments on each plate, proceeded to mash the potato (cooked) and celeriac (uncooked) together with cream and butter. I don’t know what happened to the celeriac. It remained very fibrous, which makes me think it wasn’t quite right to begin with. So, I avoided the chunks and served very creamy, runny potato mash with a faint hint of celeriac. S-bo is a big fan of celeriac and has cooked it quite successfully, inspired by his Aunt Jane.

My guests were starving by this stage, so there was not a lot of time to take pictures. I snapped a couple quickly and I’m sure you’re used to my dodgy photography by now.

Sigh, it’s amazing what great company, great ingredients and great wine can do to a dinner party. Despite bombarding my guests with jobs, pots and pans and general kitchen chaos, the dinner turned out delightful. The duck was sensational and the sauce, minus the stock, perfect. I wouldn’t have it any other way. I think the grapefruit segments are just for show, because their flavour was a little too strong for the delicateness of brown sugar and cinnamon. I’d probably skip them next time. The duck was melt-in-your-mouth tender and I’ll have to make another visit to Luv-A-Duck to write a dedicated posting.

I think this posting has gotten long enough, so you’ll have to wait to here about dessert! I’ll leave you with the rest of the wine and a photo I took of the remaining pink grapefruit in the fruit-bowl after clean-up.


I haven't included the recipe here, if you would like a copy please email me and I'll happily oblige.

The Albert Park Hotel, again

Newsflash re: Albert Park Hotel. Epicure has published this review, claiming the pub tailors to the “upmarket inhabitants of top-tax bracket Albert Park”. Judging by the number of people who seem to pull over in their shiny cars and ask for directions to APH whilst I’m out walking, and the number of taxis going to and from APH, many patrons are not actually from Albert Park. Now I haven't lived in Albert Park for very long, but locals talk of a wonderful old, character-filled, local boozer, with good bar meals and great atmosphere. What happened to that place? Did it really exist before the re-fit or are “inhabitants of top-tax bracket Albert Park” getting nostalgic? I’d like to know. I’d also like to know who the patrons are too, are they truly Albert Park locals or if not, where are they from?

Do I have a chip on my shoulder? Not really, I’m just intrigued by this place. Yes the food is good and the wine list impressive, but otherwise it seems like a place to go just to be seen and network. Go for the food and bistro service, but personal preference dictates this is not my place for relaxed drinks with friends. Wood fire or not!

Koh Samui

The restaurant in Middle Park that is, not the location (I wish).

For my first three years in Sydney I lived in Newtown. As we lived on campus and ate the associated food, my friends and I often got takeaway. And what better place to be getting takeaway than Sydney's Thai Food capital. Consequently I have very high standards when it comes to Thai food. Although, I was a uni student and not eating in the finest establishments, so perhaps it's more appropriate to say I have very specific standards.

Koh Samui didn't quite match those standards, although it's clear that a lot of care goes into the dishes. To tell you the truth, I can't even remember the name of my dish. I'm sure it's loosely translated to flash-fried chicken with vegetables and tamarind. The word Maram seems to stick in my mind, or something similar. Kai (chicken?) Maram? Nevermind, the chicken was excellet; light with just a hint of peanut oil to satisfy the wicked side in me. The vegetables were standard (Australian) Thai fare, fresh and thinly sliced. S-bo had the Thai Chilli Squid which was well on the tough side.

Koh Samui seems to be reaching out with their menu, producing dishes that I don't associate with my lower-end-of-the-market Thai history. Things like Baby Snappper La Prik (deep fried whole baby snapper with special lime sauce) were not things I was privvy to at university. I was looking for my familiar Pad Prew Warn, of which I can't even remember how to spell, Satays and greasy spring rolls. There were spring rolls and they weren't greasy which, despite my previous statement, is a good thing. They were however a little light on filling.

I'm not saying bad things about Koh Samui because it's not a good place. It just didn't match my previous prejudies. The service is attentive and the atmosphere good, as long as they keep the music playing. Don't be misled by the Richardson St entrance. The tables seen from the front window were vacant and deserted, however out the back are more tables and more people in a nice modern, but not stark setting. The price is more than I would usually pay for Thai ($16-$26 for a main), with smaller portions. But there's that uni student again. Although, for that price in Newtown you could be getting some pretty damn amazing Thai food and excellent.

I guess I'll go back. Until I can find a Newtown Thai in Melbourne I'll always need something to satisfy my cravings.

251 Richardson St
Middle Park
(03) 9696 3080

Provincia, Albert Park

I’ve discussed earlier my dislike for eggs. This sometimes makes going out for breakfast difficult…if everyone else is eating eggs, what do I eat? I try and search out savoury options; bacon and mushrooms on sourdough, ham, cheese and tomato croissant etc. However I have a very sweet tooth, so often I give in and order something sugary, like pancakes.

Breakfast at Provincia is a pleasant surprise, the menu contains a lot of variety and maintains the strong Italian influences of lunch and dinner, for example carozza, a savoury French toast filled with mozzarella, tomato and basil.

Nevertheless, I still opted for sweet: breakfast pikelets with berries, mint and mascarpone cream. Some breakfast items are offered on weekends only, indicating to me that you’ll be getting wonderfully fresh ingredients.

The service is interesting. It’s definitely good, but I might also call it colloquial. Staff were suffering the after effects of the FA cup final the previous night and it was expected that we sympathize with them. Being a sports lover myself, we did. Regulars were treated with prejudice and everyone was treated as a regular, so it worked well. Andrea Faraone has done a wonderful job capturing Italy in food, interior and vibe. What’s more, the coffee is gooooood and served with a shot glass of soda water for cleaning the teeth afterwards.

Will I go back? Of course, I have to sample lunch and dinner now.

95 Victoria Avenue

Albert Park

(03) 9345 5260

HHDD #12: Caesar!

I’ve kept my eye on HHDD events for a while. Not long after I started blogging. Alas, I haven’t been in the position to enter. Until now…..

Katie has pitched the challenge of all things Caesar. I’ve never made a Caesar Salad before so I decided to run with it rather than incorporate key ingredients into another dish. Purists beware; my salad doesn’t contain egg (other than in the dressing) or anchovies because I don’t like them! Don’t like egg? Yup, that’s right. Put it in a cake or biscuits and I won’t bat an eyelid……Batter? Yes, I’ll eat raw egg in cake batter too, being the queen of bowl licking. However, put that egg in a quiche, frittata and other such egg-y concoctions and I’ll turn up my nose. It’s not for lack of trying. On Sunday I even had a bite of S’bo’s eggs benedict, but alas, eggs are still not for me.

As for the anchovies, according to Wikipedia, original Caesar salads didn’t contain anchovies, instead it was Worcestershire sauce that gave the distinctive flavour.

Anyway, on with the show. I pulled my recipe from Cooks Companion, special mention should also go to the lady at a South Melbourne Market Deli, who gave me my anchovies free because I only wanted two!

Caesar Salad with Sourdough Croutons

I will work from the dressing onwards. I rarely understand why cookbooks will give ingredients for dressings (and sauces etc.) last yet get you to make them first.

3 eggs
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 anchovy fillets
2 tsp mustard (I used seeded for aesthetic reasons, however the recommended is Dijon)
1 tsp lemon juice
1 ½ Tbsp red-wine vinegar (I upped the vinegar to make a sharper dressing)
1 Tbsp spoon grated parmesan cheese
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt & Pepper

S’bo was around to help so, being an egg eater, I put him in charge of boiling the eggs for exactly 4 minutes. I then whizzed them up a bit with my stick blender. I’m not fortunate enough to own a food processor…..yet. From here I added the garlic, anchovies, mustard, lemon juice, vinegar and parmesan. The recipe recommended I work them all to a paste before adding to the eggs, however I just blended like mad. The oil went in next, followed by salt and pepper to taste. This made about 2 cups.

For three people (+ next day’s lunch), I washed and chopped 2 cos lettuces and arranged them on plate. In a pan I cooked 4 rashers of bacon until crispy and then fried cubes of sourdough (I used 3 slices for 3 people). I tore up the bacon and scattered it with the croutons over the leaves. Next to come was the dressing, then some fresh parsely and finally, shavings of some great parmesan that I picked up a week or so earlier.

So there you have it, my first ever Caesar Salad AND my first HHDD. Thanks Katie for being a great inspiration.

Albert Park Hotel

What’s more important? Great food or great service? Well it doesn’t matter at Albert Park Hotel, because you get both. I’ve had the odd drink here, being one of the closest pubs to my place, and I’ve found it very trendy and consequently intimidating in a way that only slightly-less-trendy females like myself can understand. However, to step into the bistro at the rear is to step into another place. The décor is an eclectic mix of trendy, sophisticated and eccentric; from the stem-less Riedel glasses on each table, to the carpet taken straight from Grandma’s floor.

The thing that stands out from the beginning is the service and attention to detail. I called ahead and was told I didn’t need to book on this particular night. “Just turn up and we’ll look after you”. As we perused the menu a plate of (great) olives and grissini arrived at our table to keep us going. As tempted as I was by the zucchini flowers stuffed with fontina, artichokes and ricotta, we decided to skip straight to mains. The menu has a heavy seafood focus, with cuttlefish salad, sea scallops and smoked ocean trout amongst the entrée selection, and barramundi, kingfish and flounder amongst the mains.

I regularly opt for red meat when eating out however I bypassed lamb and steak for wild barramundi fillet, green papaya relish with crispy pork and roasted chilli sambal. S-bo ordered the roasted kingfish on celeriac mash with fennel, radish and fetta salad.

We took a little longer to decide on a wine, particularly considering the depth of the list. Did we want red or white? Sparkling? A whole bottle or perhaps a few glasses of a few wines? In the end, on the waiter’s recommendation, we chose a bottle of the Vavasour Pinot Gris from the Marlborough, NZ. There’s a good selection of wines by the glass if you’re just after a couple too.

Bread arrived on our table and meals came shortly after. I was about to say the fish seemed fresh, but in fact the whole plate was fresh. Lime juice gave the whole dish a lift and cut through the chilli. The green papaya relish didn’t have a distinctive flavour but that was more than compensated by the pork.

It’s a great feeling when you’ve eaten a beautiful meal and feel satisfied but not full. We thought it was such a nice feeling to enjoy our wine without our stomachs bursting that we skipped dessert and had some cheese instead. Of the three cheeses on offer, we ordered the Bleu Brebis La Memee. Not only did this come with crackers, it also came with semi-dried grapes (stewed? I’m not really sure what they were) and quince paste.

It was the perfect way to end such a delicious dinner. Albert Park Hotel will no longer be “the pub down the road where everyone’s trendy”, it’ll be “the pub down the road with the great bistro out back”.


Albert Park Hotel
Cnr Montague St & Dundas Place
Albert Park
ph. (03) 9690 5459

Eating in Melbourne on a Sunday Night

Back to N1 & N2's visit visit, their last night in town was Sunday and we went out to dinner. N1 was keen to head to hardware lane where we'd once had a great meal last year.

The Melbourne natives amongst us will say "there's nowhere open in the city on Sunday night" and to a large extent they're true. With this forewarning I searched a few books and found a smattering of places claiming to be open on a Sunday night...wrong! It might be rude-ish to be closed on a Sunday night (I guess everyone needs a night off) but to advertise you're open and then be closed! That's downright rude. Especially when you're supposedly a "Melbourne local" and therefore an all-knowing tour guide in your friend's eyes. Luckily N1 & N2 were very understanding of the fact that I couldn't click my fingers and find an open restaurant. N1 convinced us to try Hardware Lane just on the offchance.

As we walked off Bourke st, past the carpark everything looked pretty closed. But, just down a little further we were convinced we could see umbrellas. And is that music we could hear? Sure enough, Vons Restaurant and Bar was open and teeming. There was a band on one side of the alley and people eating under the comfort of heaters on the other. It was a food oasis for our hungry tummies. The vibrant atmosphere was a stark contrast to an otherwise closed city.

Apparently one can't be too choosey on a Sunday night in the city and Vons did all right. I ordered Osso Buco which was as lovely and tender as it should be. It also came with polenta which I'm not always so keen on, but this was so moist it was more than enjoyable. The flavour intensity of the sauce could have been a little sharper as things became quite bland towards the end of the dish.

Having made only a recent return to my blog I'm a little out of practice at taking photos without the flash, so you'll have to apply a little imagination to my images while I practice up a bit. I've also been forgetting to take my camera out and instead having to make do with a mobile phone camera (see post to come.....)

S-bo had lamb fillets, with red onion confit, polenta and baby peas, and N1 & N2 both had pasta. Whilst not groundbreaking, the food was good quality and generous. The service unfortuantely was a bit hot and cold. The floor manager was excellent however the waitstaff were a little scatty. Maybe there's a reason why Sunday is traditionally the night off in town. We took a little while to order and our waitress kept returning prematurely. Even a polite "we'll call you over" made no difference. Perhaps I'm being fickle, I know a few posts ago I was accusing staff of being too inattentive!


Our meals arrived together but N1 ordered carbonara and received calamari, so one dish had to be sent back anyway. These things happen, I guess "carbonara" and "calamari" sound sort of the same, but we were a bit annoyed when carbonara AND calamari arrived on our bill. The bill was more than expected and I just put it down to a Sunday loading. Luckily someone looked closer.

It was an unfortunate way to end an otherwise enjoyable evening. We left no tip, but I'm sure we'll be back if we want a meal in the city on Sunday night. Apparently Vons has been open on a Sunday only for a few weeks and are relying purely on word-of-mouth. Their website doesn't list Sunday opening times so call ahead to be sure.

Celebratory Lasagne

Last weekend the crew from work gathered together for a team dinner, to celebrate the completion of a project. We all pitched in, bringing mains, dessert, beer and wine. I volunteered to make lasagne for the obvious reason that it feeds many people. Unfortunately I'd forgotten how much work a lasagne is. There was the trip to the markets mid-week to source quality ingredients, the bolognese sauce made from scratch and the white sauce with it's associated stress (I'm paranoid of ruining white sauce yet I can't actually remember ever doing so). Then of course comes assembly and the grating of parmesan on top. Not to mention the transporting of this big bertha over to Bulk's house (my workmate hosting the dinner) for deployment to the oven.

Upon emergence from the oven the lasagne looked pretty good. So good that everyone tucked in before I had a chance to take a photo! I used a basic red wine bolognese sauce, preferring pancetta over bacon. I can't ever remember making such a large quantity and I was initially quite alarmed at how much reducing might be needed. Luckily it was good to go by the time I'd pottered around and made the white sauce (about an hour or so later). I think next time I'll make a cheese sauce instead of a basic white sauce for a little extra flavour. One of the main reasons I didn't do so was I didn't have enough time to grate any cheese.

Despite my grumblings above, I really enjoyed making the lasagne. But it brings me to the topic of shortcuts. Surely when cooking a lasagne for so many people it would make sense to simply use bottled pasta sauce instead of making bolognese from scratch. Packet grated cheese instead of white sauce? Yup, it would certainly be quicker, but there's a large part of me that stubbornly wont let go of making things from scratch. I'm sure everyone who likes to cook from scratch would agree, there's a lot of love going into scratch-made food. I refuse to accept that food from scratch is always better, often it takes much trial and error to get things right. And once that occurs, you become adventurous, tweak something here and there in the recipe, and the cycle starts again.

There's also the question of "how scratch is scratch?" Can I truly claim to have made the sauce from scratch when I used packet tomato paste and tinned tomatoes?

My ability to cook, write in this blog AND time-manage appears to be lacking (as evidenced by my sporadic postings). If I refuse to do anything but cook from scratch then I guess I should choose my recipes a little more thoughtfully. At least until my life calms down a little.......because that will happen soon, won't it?

Time for seconds anyone?

St Ali, South Melbourne

Such an appropriate name for a cafe don't you think? Personally I still find Melbourne's back alleys a novelty so I can't resist taking visitors down as many random streets as I know (the ones that I know lead somewhere funky that is). So when N1, my roommate and best friend from boarding school, and her boyfriend, N2 came down to Melbourne I took them here for lunch.

St Ali seems to be a known gem for South Melbourne's coffee lovers however I first heard about it only 2 weeks ago, over a few Friday night drinks. When I bumped into some fellow drinkers the next morning at the gym we decided to check it out over a post-gym coffee. I only stayed for coffee but I was most impressed, not to mention pleasantly caffeinated as I made my way home. (Note: Saturday gym is not a habit of mine. I often talk it up the night before over a wine or two but rarely do I back myself up!)

N1 & N2's visit seemed the perfect excuse to have lunch here. The atmosphere is great, with high warehouse ceilings, cement floors and clever usage of coffee sacks. I was particularly taken with the hessian mounted on wooden frames and hung as pictures. N1, who owns a homewares store in Goondiwindi, laughed and said she'd never be able to sell pictures like that because all the farmers would turn around and make them themselves. Still, how often do you see things at the market and say "I could make that" and then never do it! A few louds bangs echoed across from the walled-off half of the building just as we were ordering however the waiter managed to downplay the noise with his sense of humour.

Apparently St Ali takes a lot of influence from Yemen, including their namesake. There's a definite Middle Eastern and North African feel to the dishes but I would've never picked Yemen. Check out their website for more info on the namesake. I ordered pork and fennel sausages on pide, with tomato relish, chilli and roquette. The sausages were sensational. I thought the chilli overpowered some of the flavours however my tolerance to chilli can fluctuate so perhaps my tastebuds were feeling a little sensitive.

My fellow diners all had lamb. S'bo and N2 both had the lamb pizza (pictured) and thought it was good, quite a compliment from N2 really, who's mother has a lamb feedlot business in Goondi (check this link to abc). N1 had lamb kofta which looked great and was apparently delicious, although the portion seemed a little on the small size, perfect for a raining afternoon snack perhaps?

The prices for lunch are very reasonable, but I'm simply excited to have found a place in Melbourne where the coffee is comparable to my favourite roaster in Sydney, Campos. And, just round the corner! I hadn't even had a chance to look for somewhere yet, so the stumble-across makes it all the more sweeter!

St Ali

12-18 Yarra Place

South Melbourne

Ph. 9686 2990

Open for breakfast & lunch, 7 days.

Dante's Fitzroy

My friend Foges and I popped into Dante's Fitzroy on Saturday. Foges and I had driven over to explore Gertrude Street, just for something new. We were starving from the moment we parked the car and Dante's was the first place we came across. First impressions hinted at a lot of character, if only there were other customers around to support it. I checked the website before sitting to write this and felt like I was looking at a completely different restaurant. However the similarity between the speed of service and the speed at which they pull christmas promotions off their website indicated that I was indeed looking at the same place.

As I mentioned, we were starving! We sat for a few minutes and no menus arrived so Foges went and asked for some. We were told they'd bring some out, only to sit and watch a whole iced coffee being made before this happened. Once the menus arrived and we'd made our selection it took a lot of eyebrow raising at the waitress to have our order taken. Compliments to the chef as he must be able to tell a very interesting story. Eventually I walked over, interrupted and asked to order. Did I mention there was barely another customer in sight?

The food arrived and luckily it was just the thing for our hungry tummies. Foges and I decided to share a wrap of rare roast lamb, baba ghanoush and salad plus a plate of dips. The wrap and dips were pretty standard, although the lamb was quite tender for sandwich fare. The dips seemed to be lacking a little in garlic and the tzatziki had a faintly sweet lemon taste, almost as though lemon essence had been used instead of lemon juice. It was quite peculiar but faint enough for the tzatziki to still be my favourite over the hummus and baba ghanoush. The bread was particularly fresh as well as generous in serving size, a pleasant change from other bread-and-dip deals. The olives were also generously dished out, with a total of 10 fat, fleshy olives on our plate.

I'd be keen to check out Dante's when a few more customers are around to add atmosphere but I'm not sure I'd cross town for it again. Although, apparently Monday is magic night.........

Dante's Fitzroy
150-156 Gertrude Street(cnr Napier Street)

Fitzroy 3065
ph. 03 9417 2468

Cheese Workshop at Richmond Hill Cafe and Larder

A cheese workshop? No, not getting all messy making the stuff and washing and turning it, that’s left to Ryan Andrijich, our cheese leader, and his team. Our job was to taste, listen and learn. S’bo’s family bought us both a voucher for a Cheese Workshop at Richmond Hill Café and Larder as a Christmas present. The information sheet included words like “informal guided cheese tastings”, “benchmark examples of our matured cheeses” and “about cheese and wine matching”. Needless to say, when we fronted up to Bridge Road, my mouth was watering.

We turned up 15 minutes early for a complimentary glass of bubbly, an excellent way to shift from work to food. Warm attire is recommended and for good reason, as the cheese room was a cool 14 degrees, or thereabouts. What follows are my tasting notes, how the cheeses compared to my preconceptions/existing knowledge (which will reveal how little I actually knew about cheese) and the information given to us by Ryan.

First up were fresh cheeses. I’ve never taken much interest in Ricotta one way or the other, it was just something handy to put in tiramisu. Mungalli Creek Biodynamic Ricotta changed that! From QLD, this ricotta is made from full milk, which Ryan tells us is rare. Commercial products are made by extracting milk solids and as a by-product of other cheeses. Mungalli Creek is like the first press, or extra virgin olive oil version of ricotta, resulting in a creamier product perfect for dessert cooking. Baked figs anyone?

Holy Goat! The next cheese was good! Holy Goat La Luna Ring had a texture I wouldn’t normally associate with fresh cheeses, a little harder than expected and it seemed to break away almost like fresh coconut when bitten. Our notes said a “citric creaminess” and “nuttiness on the palate”. I was more interested in the crinkly mould, called Geotrichum, which was thin and subtly tasting. The cheese inside didn’t seem influenced by the mould so much, apparently a result of it being made as a ring not a tiny cheese, which is also available.

Prior to going to the class, if I had to pick a favourite style of cheese I’d have chosen white moulds. We compared an Australian white mould, Alcharinga to a French, Brie de Nangis. The Alcharinga was “camembert style” which is testament more to its shape and size than its taste (Camembert cheese should be no bigger than 12 cm diameter). Alcharinga was really distinguished by its strong, thick rind. I found the cheese inside quite mild in comparison. Brie de Nagis was a bit stronger than Alcharinga, especially in the back of the mouth. Our notes said vague mushroom characteristics and “steamed cauliflower which rich cream” which was surprisingly true.

Endangered cheese anyone? According to Ryan, Taleggio, that beautiful cheese that conjures up images of rich Italian food and red wine, may soon be affected by global warming. The very unique flavour of Taleggio is a result of cave maturation, drawing unique characteristics from surrounding snow. As the earth heats up, the snow may melt, forever changing the nature of the caves and the resulting cheese. Once you taste the cheese from Lombardy, Italy, you’ll be very motivated to cut down your greenhouse gas emissions. The other washed rind we tasted was Pont L’Évêque from Normandy, France. Imports from France are apparently meatier than those from Italy, which have more yeasty tones. Whilst I hadn’t heard of it before, Pont L’Évêque must be the cheese of the month as I’ve since seen it on offer at Dogs Bar, St Kilda and Albert Park Deli, within a weekend.

I was keen to try Rochefort, as there’s been so much hype about an unpasteurised cheese being available in Australia. Unfortunately it wasn’t on the evening’s menu, but we did get to try a different raw milk cheese, Marcel Petite Comté, which was actually my favourite of the evening. Whilst not pasteurised, the milk is heated up to 60°C before the cheese is matured in caves or old underground forts. It had a very nutty taste and I can’t wait to try this cheese again, my mouth is watering at the thought. The other hard cheese we tried was Tomme de Chevre. Interestingly Tomme indicates that milk is sources from several herds in an area and the cheese is made by a professional cheesemaker. This apparently results in a higher quality cheese. The flavours of the cheese were quite delicate compared to the Comté, salty but with a very smooth aftertaste.

And finally, to finish the night with a bang, we had some Blue Cheese. Here we got to try an alternative to Rochefort, Bleu de basque. We also had Colston Bassett Stilton (S’bo’s favourite) and washed it all down with a glass of Moscato. Our tasting notes had many descriptive words for these two; “intense syrupy” and “yeasty vegemite” for the Stilton and “nutty texture” and “sweet floral aftertaste” for the Bleu de basque, however I was too blown away by the complexity of these cheeses to come up with many specifics. There was just so much flavour in one bite. Importantly, we were still learning even this late in the evening. For instance, I wasn’t aware that blue cheeses are pierced by needles in order for the mould to grow in “veins”.

I was bursting with information by the end of the night, not to mention cheese. I refrained from eating too much bread so I didn’t get too full, which was lucky considering how much cheese alone I ate. Ryan’s knowledge was overwhelming at times, which only reinforced the fact we were being taught by someone passionate-always a plus. Whilst it was up to the individual to absorb as much about each cheese’s characteristics as they wanted, other information was provided in handy, take-home sheets. I did find it hard to keep up at times, but that’s not a problem really, just more time to concentrate on eating the cheese.

Richmond Hill Café and Larder has a few different cheese-themed workshops, including one more focused on matching cheese and wine. Importantly the cheese and wine workshops doesn’t look at quite as many cheeses as the cheese workshop alone. So if you’re keen to go make sure you choose the right course depending on whether you’re more into cheese or more into wine. Personally, I’d take the cheese!

RHCL
48 - 50 Bridge Rd
Richmond
(03) 9421 2808

How Red is My Beetroot!

I’ve never cooked with beetroot before and since I love it, both tinned and fresh, I thought it was time I tried. There’s nothing like chunks of beetroot in salad and I don’t think a burger is complete without a slice, even if it is tinned.

Last week I was flicking through my Fabulous Food Cookbook, a low-fat cookbook I picked up when I used to work for Fernwood Women’s Health Clubs. The recipes are quite yummy, although that’s probably because I usually skip the low fat options (evaporated milk in carbonara anyone?) and replace them with the real thing (mmm, cream). I came across a cucumber, beetroot and mint salad, so next trip to South Melbourne Markets included a couple of bunches of beetroot.

I find grating foods labour intensive, yet I always pick recipes that require things like grated zucchini, citrus zest and so on. Grating beetroot adds another dimension. Red fingers, red hands, red bench-tops, red everything! Not surprising, but there you have it. I trimmed and peeled and grated my way into a big red beetroot mess. Was the salad worth it? Probably, but that’s only because I managed to keep my clothes clean.

Other ingredients were 1 large cucumber, 1 red onion (although I used half and this was adequate), a tsp of salt, 2 Tbsp finely chopped mint, 1 tsp lemon rind (grating, again!), ½ cup lemon juice and 1 tsp sugar. Once the beetroot was grated and the chopped cucumber was salted and rinsed all that was left was to toss everything together.

S’bo, who’s also just relocated to Melbourne, and I ate the salad with some delicious lamb chops and natural yoghurt. The lemon flavour was a little too strong so next time I’d probably cut it back a bit. Overall I’ve tasted better beetroot salads, usually ones with nice, fatty chunks of goats cheese, although I very much enjoyed the leftovers for lunch the next day.

The beetroot fiesta didn’t stop there; I roasted the leftover beetroots the next night. I much preferred wrapping them in buttered foil than grating, although I think I could’ve washed them a little more thoroughly. I’m sure that faint earthy taste shouldn’t be there. I guess I’ve still got a little way to go when it comes to beetroot cooking, but something tells me I won’t give up just yet.

Cherrijam

Just before moving I was in Sydney and keen to have dinner with some close friends. Living in Canberra meant that I didn't get to see Sydney friends often and I imagined it would only be harder in Melbourne. We chose Cherrijam because of it's location, that is it's close to where some of my friends live, close to a train station for those further afield and close to the Sheaf on New South Head Road, just incase we decided to be silly and drink extra after dinner (we did!).

Location aside, I have been to Cherrijam before and quite liked it. This particular visit lifted the bar even higher. The menu is an ecclectic mix of tapas items and more substantial dishes, which is great for an informal yet classy meal with friends. The Middle East/North African decor downstairs works well, with the low tables in the open area leading to the bar at the back. I've never had reason to venture to the function areas upstairs but with names like the cigar lounge I'm thinking the theme may not follow.

I especially liked the blankets, draped over the furniture just incase diners get cold. If there's not enough? Just ask the staff and they'll fetch some more!

You've probably noticed by now that I have quite a few pictures and haven't referred to them. That's the curse of the neglected blog really. This meal took place back in November and my memory is a little fuzzy. Unfortunately the menus posted on the website don't correlate with what we ordered from, so there's no memory jogging available there. It hasn't changed in a little while either, which is something to bear in mind if you're planning on visiting and want a preview before you go.

I do remember that the turkish bread and dips (top) and the "turkish chips" (below) were snapped up very quickly. I'd take a stab at hummus (roasted red pepper maybe), baba ghannouj and beetroot, but I'd just be pulling popular dips out of the air. I do remember beautifully roasted garlic as a common theme and very creamy. Perhaps there's nothing wrong with my memory, maybe we just ate it all too quickly.

The pizza was my favourite and I do remember it. Spiced paprika scented lamb fillet with onion, rocket and persian feta. I love persian feta. The other popular favourite was beef tagine. And I know that my memory wouldn't help here-I was too busy scoffing pizza to really get a good taste of the tagine before it was all gone. Bottom? Multicultural antipasto maybe? The chorizo was a big winner; just enough spice to keep you going.

The final star of the night was the wine. Cherrijam has an adequate wine list, including their self-labelled cleanskin which we opted for. Nothing flash, just good easy drinking.

According to the website, Cherrijam is open for breakfast lunch and dinner.
16-18 Cross St.
Double Bay
ph. +61 2 9363 0555