Mirrool Creek Lamb

Sixth of April! There have been no posts since that date, shame on me. Still, I've been somewhat distracted by the hoard of lamb in my freezer. That's right, lamb, my favourite source of protein. And this is not just any lamb, believe me.

Sam Hayes from Mirrool Creek Lamb is a friend mine from Sydney and as a wedding gift she presented S-bo and I with seven cuts of fantastic lamb. Some might find meat a strange wedding gift, but if you're reading this blog you obviously like food as much as I do and I doubt you would even blink. As Mirrool Creek Lamb is a finalist in the 2010 Delicious produce awards S-bo and I feel very spoilt indeed.

Mirrool Creek Lamb comes from the Riverina region of NSW, an area renowned for high quality lamb production. All stock is bred free range and pasture fed, vital to ensuring the produce benefits from the unique soil, climate and rainfall conditions of the Riverina. Low stress handling throughout the lifecycle, particularly prior to processing, ensures exceptional quality and consistency. For more information check out Mirrool Creek Lamb's website.

All cuts come in a cryovac and will keep for 3-4 weeks in the refrigerator. The rack was prepared so finely, it was a pleasure to work with. A neat strip of muscle that could almost be described as elegant, with a fine edging of fat for flavour and moisture was an exciting prospect. The rack was seasoned and then seared before being roasted for 20 minutes in a medium oven. Homemade olive and rosemary tapenade formed a crust on the outside during cooking and filled the room with a mouth-watering smell.

Cooked to medium-rare, this was the most tender lamb I can remember eating, what's more, it tasted like lamb. That sounds like a funny claim to make, but too often I find lamb is either too light on flavour, or too strong, conjuring images of mutton at boarding school (fortunately those dark, dark days are behind me).

My first attempt at cooking this beautiful wedding present demonstrates how successful anyone can be in the kitchen when using good quality ingredients. What's more, I have 6 cuts to go. Dinner anyone?

If you're heading to Sydney you can find Mirrool Creek Lamb at various markets and food stores. Unfortunately there are no stockists here in Melbourne, instead you can sample this great produce at Longrain.

You can also find Mirrool Creek Lamb if you're lucky enough to be headed to Noosa Food and Wine Festival. As a finalist in the 2010 Delicious produce awards the lamb will be on display in the Grand Marquee on Saturday and Sunday and Martin Boetz from Longrain will be serving the lamb on his Spice Trail. And if you see Sam up there, send her my thanks!

Quinces

Three lovely quinces from our march long weekend on the peninsula. A little on the green side, I think poaching these might be the only option. Any thoughts?

Mr Wolf

It's been a little while since I've been to Mr Wolf in St Kilda, but it still holds a little piece of my heart. It was one of the first restaurants I went to in Melbourne upon moving here, it was where I took S-bo when he completed his last CA exam and it's where I had potato on a pizza for the first time ever. The patate pizza comes and goes as the menu shifts, but Mr Wolf is still getting it right.

Specials for the kiddies make the venue ideal for families; but, if you're not blessed with little angels you should choose to eat a but later. Whilst providing a laid-back, casual vibe, the marble table tops and timber interiors can also bounce sound around rather effectively.

Don't be fooled into thinking Mr Wolf is just about pizza, infact the antipasto items are so moreish you might not even make it to pizza. Mt Zero mixed olives are sophistacated nibbles, but why not consume an entire course worth of food? Crumbed eggplant fritters, served with lemon yoghurt mayonnaise, have a creamy texture inside a batter so light you'll believe its healthy, and the salted fish cakes dance to a similar tune.

The famous pizzas are supplemented by a few other options, including lasagne, a wet dish of the day and, on the night we visited, a nicoise salad special, which GB enjoyed. I stuck with the basics and, just like the patate pizza experience four years ago, this visited heralded an eating epiphany: I ate anchovy on a pizza and actually liked it! Diavolo (tomato, mozzarella, anchovies, olives, capers, chilli, oregano, basil) had no overpowering fishiness, instead a mild salty seafood flavour greeted this sceptical eater.

That's not to say I'm an anchovy convert, I'll definitely try anchovy on a pizza again but on this evening I was happy to stop at one piece, particularly when we'd ordered a few other winners. Signore Lupo (my pick; roast tomato, roast cauliflower, mozzarella, sausage, pancetta, chilli) was dominated by the chilli but had a wonderful chewy texture thanks to the sausage and mozzarella, and Funghi (porcini, roasted garlic paste, mozzarella, roast mushrooms, thyme) shifted the focus onto the fantastic Mr Wolf bases (also available in gluten free). Unfortunately, a chorizo pizza special had too many toppings and the flavours got a little lost, but hey, you win some, loose some. The chorizo itself was great, it could have been served on cardboard and I'd still be happy.

One unexpected winner, particularly given the quantity of pizzas with chilli on them, was the cabbage salad. A not-quite-coleslaw offering was GR's suggestion and thank goodness we obliged. Many a diner has been known to walk out the door with a copy of Karen Martini's Cooking at Home book just so they can make this salad at home.

We glossed over Mr Wolf's dessert menu as we had another dessert venue in mind (St Kilda, dessert? Melbourne foodies will know exactly where I mean). Still, we couldn't resist a scoop or two of Mr Wolf's vanilla icecream made with the deliciousness of Heilala Vanilla pods. Thanks to the kitchen for sorting this little sampler out for us ;-)

Melbourne Food and Wine Festival

Does anything get Melbourne foodies as excited as the annual food and wine festival? Probably not. But as I sit on a plane flying to Brisbane, in the process missing the much-hyped hawker street market, I can't help but feel on the outer.

Every year my full-time job, the one that funds this food obsession, seems to get in the way. This festival sees me travel to Sydney from 13-14 March for a friend's wedding, followed by a work trip from 16-17 March. I get a quick respite over the weekend then it's off to a week-long, residential management course.

Shouldn't the entire world stop during Melbourne's food and wine fest?

Melbourne hardly leads by example, packing a multitude of festivals into one little March. We've seen the madness of Moomba parade past and launch into the yarra and we're currently enjoying worldly flavours and washing it all down with wine. Some of you may even be wishing you hadn't indulged quite so much as you squeeze into the latest trend to attend the concurrent Melbourne Fashion Festival.

Once those obsessions wrap-up we can laugh our abs back into shape at the Melbourne comedy festival. But wait, want to know how to grow all the fabulous produce you enjoyed? If you miss the Metlink Edible Garden you can head along to the International Flower & Garden show or, in stark contrast, continue your decadence at the Australian Grand Prix.

Its no wonder we're all go, go, go. Its a callenge to juggle day-to-day commitments for some, throw a "what's on" calendar at people and the city is upside down with sensory overload. The Victorian Government's attempts to bring people to Melbourne yield polarised opinions due to taxpayer funding but there's no doubt such events add to the diversity of our city. I wonder if we'd have such a vibrant food scene without the help of festivals, events and celebrations which make the city such a popular place. I'm sure it'd have some impact.

So, I have 3 days to enjoy the festival and I'd better pack as much in as possible. I sometimes find the plethora of available options overwhelming and I always miss out on tickets to hot features. It certainly doesn't help that I'm reluctant to buy tickets too far out incase I need to travel. Although that attitude is clearly justified.

To all of you who are going to many events, right down to those attending just one, enjoy!

Tamar Valley Tasmania

Seven days in Tasmania. So much to eat and drink yet so little time. Planning a wedding didn't leave much time for planning a holiday in Tassie and scoping out scrumptious dining destinations. Still, one can achieve a lot with help from a tourist information centre and an iPhone, right? Wrong. Launceston's tourist centre boasted a few brochures about the Tamar Valley Wine route and that's it. What's more, mobile reception, and therefore iPhone internet access, deserted us mid way through day one. Oh!

Still, S-bo and I bravely ventured forward with our wine route brochure in hand. Our first destination was Velo, a great little winery that I have previously mentioned. What I didn't know back in 2009 was that the vineyard was originally planted in 1966 by Graham Wiltshire, who is not just a pioneer of wine in the Tamar Valley, but in the whole of Tasmania. Velo's reserve shiraz was a standout with rich flavours yet none of the brashness found in shiraz from hotter regions.

With longing eyes we bypassed Ninth Island. I knew we could taste the Ninth Island Wines just across the river at Pipers Brook (and at your local Victorian bottleshop) and we were far too early to enjoy lunch with Daniel Alps at Strathlynn. Poor timing became a feature of our trip, missing the much-hyped Angasi at Binalong Bay, new star Granite at Bicheno and Gourmet Traveller favourite Piermont at Swansea, despite staying at the resort. I guess chefs need days off too.

Instead we continued on to Rotherhythe, not a cellar door I would recommend due to their limited range, but we did have a rather interesting conversation about the importance of marriage, the local's reaction to the proposed Pulp Mill and other such meaning-of-life-musings. S-bo and I had decided not to visit any Gunns Ltd Wineries whilst in Tassie, as a stand against the pulp mill, but I'm still not sure if that was the right thing to say at Rotherythe.

To get back onto the topic of wine we aimed for Stoney Rise, which was actually the site of Rotherhythe's vines until Joe Holyman bought it and pulled out the existing cabernet savignon, planting Pinot Noir and Chardonnay instead. Two labels, Stoney Rise and Holyman, deliver wine made in two different ways. Stoney Rise presents easy drinking wines with the Pinot fermented in old oak and the chardonnay bottled early. On the other hand, the Holyman label aims to produce wines for cellaring, with more complex structures. I will be seeking out a bottle of the 08 Holyman Pinot Noir from Prince Wine Store here in South Melbourne. The only problem will be finding the discipline to cellar it for a few years (or more).

Many wineries from the Tamar have limited distribution on the mainland but developing a collection of your favourites isn't a problem, despite the baggage restrictions of cheaper airlines. Tasmanian Wineries will happily send mixed cases (or part thereof) for merely the cost of freight. Leaving a case at the last cellar door you visit will be met with a smile and "no problem". It cost us just $16 to freight our case back to Melbourne.

Fortunately we had prepared ourselves a picnic lunch before leaving Launceston, because enticing providores and delis were hard to come by, something I found surprising in a wine region. A quick trip to Goaty Hill, another of my stops from last year, revealed that the Clover Hill cellar door may have been open, a very rare event. Across the river into the Piper's River region, three wrong turns and lost mobile reception later we found the rumour to be untrue.

Still, we weren't too poorly done by when our consolation price was a visit to Jansz Jansz and a bottle to enjoy with our dinner.

Cottage Point Inn

So, after a nine month engagement, a fun-filled wedding and a 10 day honeymoon, I am back to the blog. But where to start after so long away?

It is tempting to skip straight to our 7 days in Tasmania, but our visit to Sydney's Cottage Point Inn deserves a mention. Whilst the boat ride from Palm Beach highlighted waterways more reminiscent of a QLD tourism campaign than Sydney's better known sights, the destination was far more important than the journey. A filling entree of house-smoked salmon, delicately layered into a terrine and served with scampi and basil mayonnaise kicked off a fabulous meal. If a rich start is not your thing, the pan fried Hawkesbury River squid with leek and squid ink risotto delivers just a much flavour, but in lighter form.

The menu is unsurprisingly seafood-you could almost imagine the fish was caught off the outdoor deck that morning. Duck leg confit was certainly tempting, but when in Rome! So instead I opted for pan fried ocean trout which flaked away beautifully to reveal a vibrant mango, chilli, cucumber and coriander salsa underneath. The citrus vanilla and hazelnut dressing was mostly citrus but overall the meal was a perfect follow on from my rich entree.

The boat allows a mere two hours or so to complete your courses, and you're encouraged to notify staff upon arrival if you want three. The caramel banana soufflé and citrus pannacotta, among others, failed to tempt me. Instead I opted for the palate cleanser from the degustation menu. A spherical scoop of strawberry sorbet served in a glass topped with Moet. I wouldn't have accepted anything less than French, it was our honeymoon afterall.

As we finished our Jules Taylor ’07 Pinot Gris, from an extensive international wine list, we peered from the deck to the water below and waited for our return boat-trip. Decadence might have increased had we taken the seaplane or stayed overnight, but I couldn’t think of a more relaxing, luxurious was to spend day 2 of the honeymoon.

Photo courtesy of Cottage Point Inn

Stewed Figs

For me the fig season all too often passes by in the blink of an eye. I seem to miss those precious few weeks (days) when figs are just right in terms of quality and price. It's a grey area, I feel, between figs that are early season and exorbitantly priced and figs that are late season and terrible quality. (Clearly I'm not blessed with a tree in my backyard).

I did happen to pick up a punnet a short time ago that was filled with plump, unblemished figs and I feasted on them for 3 days straight. I enjoyed figs, rocket and feta as a salad and figs with melted blue cheese alongside steak. The third night however saw the few remaining figs looking a little worse for wear. Clearly they needed cooking but I wanted something quick. My favourite fig dessert from a few years ago involved grilled fruit drizzled with redcurrant sauce, but this was a complex process of frying, grilling and then reducing the sauce.

To solve my problem I found this reciped for Stewed Figs, cut out from an ancient Good Weekend magazine (you'd expect nothing less from me surely). The use of basil was intriguing, but quite appropriate as my plant was bordering on going to seed and I was trying to use it as much as possible before trimming back. In the end the basil complimented the light sweetness of the overall dish and I enjoyed the last of my figs immensely.

150g sugar

200ml water

1cm piece ginger, peeled and julienned

1/2 lemon, zested

1/4 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped and removed

8 medium sized figs

6 basil leaves, torn

Good Greek yoghurt

Bring to a simmer the sugar, water, ginger, lemon zest and vanilla. Gently cook for 5 minutes to draw the aromatics from the spices.

Place the halved figs skin-side down into the hot syrup and cook for 5 minutes. Carefully turn the figs in the pan so that the flesh is facing down, add the torn basil leaves and cook for 5 more minutes.

If your figs are not completely ripe they may need a little more cooking. If overripe, take care they don't break apart and become pulpy. For presentation purposes the figs need to keep their figgy shape.

Let the cooked fruit cool and serve in a bowl with plenty of the cooking syrup and some yoghurt on the side.

Parap Markets, Darwin

Is this really a blog about Melbourne food? You may very well be wondering this as I write about eating in Perth, tasting in Tasmania and now drowning (in sweat) in Darwin. Darwin may not be quite so disgusting right now (weather wise), but back in February when I penned this post it was.

It is true, I have not had much time in Melbourne this year and this particular humid Saturday morning I found myself at the Parap Markets in Darwin. The top-end capital is known for being an Australian frontier from which South East Asia beckons. Furthermore, it is a melting pot of local cultures and of those that seep in from the north. Nowhere is this more evident that at Parap markets. Wander past the paintings from Arnhem Land and the over-priced pendents and the markets open out into tropical fruit heaven. Dragon fruit, paw paw, passionfruit and monkey bananas all compete for space while stall-holders slice up pineapple into snack size pieces.

I had not had a latte for four days, so I was naturally drawn to Just Coffee. Glance over the many blends of beans lining the counter while you wait for your fix. And fix it did… for about 5 minutes. The coffee was strong and bold however after only a few sips I realised this was a bad idea. As I sweated like someone who’d eaten too many chillies I decided that the varied fruit smoothies on offer would have been a smarter option. We live and learn.

After buying Morrocan Cous Cous, Pumpkin Ravioli and Beetroot and Feta salads to take home for lunch, I turned my attention back to the Asian influences. Gado Gado from Jakarta was sold alongside Thai Sweets and the steaming hawker food was a tempting mid-morning snack, despite the heat. As is standard for many of these markets in Australia all of the offerings were fried with nothing steamed in sight. Disappointingly the money bags, chicken satay and beef spring roles reminded me that all too often markets like this smell better than they taste. Nevertheless, the oppressive humidity, the vapours of wok-tossed meat and tropical fruit made me feel just for a second that I really was in a hybrid country of Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam, so close yet so far from Australia.

Goaty Hill Tasmania

A trip to Tassie last month saw The Foges and I spending a leisurely Saturday puttering around the Tamar Valley performing the delicate balancing act of wine tasting and hire car driving. Tamar Valley (north of Launceston) may well be known for Pinot Noir, with Ninth Island being the label you're most likely to see in your local bottleshop. However, as is so often the case in wine regions, it was the much smaller producers I enjoyed visiting the most. The passion that is evident in small cellar doors immediately generates a real enthusiasm for the wine.

Goaty Hill was our pick for lunch and you'd wonder why I've decided to rave about it on my blog when our cheese platter, although lovely, was reasonably run of the mill and there were only two wines on taste. No, I'm not raving because it's a sponsored post (it's not), I'm raving because this little Billie Goat is streaking ahead despite being reasonably young. Their riesling has won a swag of awards, including a gold medal for the 2008 vintage at the 2009 International Cool Climate Wine Show (Redhill). And their 2007 Pinot Noir vintage was sold out after taking home best Pinot from The Taste of Tasmania 08/09 Festival.

We got to taste the award winning 2008 Riesling which really left a crisp clean taste in the mouth. Not being so hot on "wine speak", I had to consult their website to tell you that this wine has grapefruit characters and hints of citrus.

What I don't need to read from the website is that the 2008 Pinot Noir had earthy flavours that took me right back to the first Pinot I ever tasted, which happened to be on the Mornington Penninsula (Stoniers I think...although there were a few by the end of the day). I really like the complex smokey, earthy flavours that the Mornington is so good at. Whilst I probably won't be cracking open the 08 Pinot I brought home for at least another year, there's definitely some great flavours even at this young age.

Goaty Hill has also just advertised to mailing list members their 2006 Museum Release Riesling. Again, more awards (incl. The International Riesling Challenge). How can you get your hands on this one? Well with only 50 cases released you'll just have to be on the mailing list (see their website). For interest's sake the 2008 Riesling and Pinot Noir are $19.95 and $27.95 respectively, and they do deliver to Victoria.

A brief mention also should go to Velo Wines who had a great Unwooded Chardonnay and sensational Reserve Shiraz. At the time of our visit they had just begun supplying Vue De Monde so, whilst they're not currently distributing anywhere else in Victoria, it's another label to keep your eye out for.

Eating in Perth. Part III

My last post from Perth is definitely worth writing up, despite the events taking place so many weeks ago. The final instalment starts with S-bo and I tripping out to Rottnest Island for the obligatory bike ride and snorkel. Not long before our trip I’d read a travel write-up of Rottnest, depicting it as a place where life moves slowly and effortlessly ambling is the way to go. Well they got the slow bit right. However we moved slow because of the endless hills to be cycled up, not because we were absorbed by any external pace. Armed with only a few pieces of fruit we thought it best to stop in Settlement for a quick coffee before setting out. I was shocked to see amongst the tiny cluster of shops a Red Rooster and a Subway. Call me idealistic but it just didn’t sit well with my idea of a grassroots holiday village. Consequently S-bo and I were keen to leave the fast food, and half of our average $4 coffees, behind us.

Fast forward 5 hours and we limped back to Settlement, our sore butts barely supporting the body’s quest for food. Enter the Quokka Arms Hotel. Newly refurbished, this pub is part family friendly leisure and, I would imagine as the evening creeps in, part Frat Beach Party, especially during the infamous leavers’ week. Whatever’s going on, the broad beach frontage allows you to choose a group whose vibe you approve and sit near. S-bo and I kicked back with beer, chips and pizza. Rottnest heaven (and the pizza wasn’t bad either).

The following day was my chance to finally chase down some of the places recommended to me. S-bo was playing golf and I realised time was too short to put a dent in the essay Matt (Abstract Gourmet) had emailed. Still, I thought I’d treat myself to a great lunch, and from the email it seemed like Balthazar or Must Wine Bar were the places for me. It was a toss up but I chose Must Wine Bar for two reasons. First, I got the impression it was a little more laid back and that appealed to me. Secondly, I have a friend who used to live in Mt Lawley and I wanted to check it out. I took a cursory glance at the street directory and thought “surely it’s not that far to walk from the station”. I should’ve taken a bus, but all of a sudden I was alone and could’ve been overseas for all I knew. I’d got the trains, I’d figured them out and knew how to buy tickets, when to get off etc etc.

I did not know how to walk from the station to Beaufort st. Which side of the station should I exit? Do I go left or right? Am I heading in the right direction? Where the hell are the people that live in this suburb, I need to ask directions. Phew. All on my own I eventually limped onto Beaufort st, my smart little lunching attire not suited to neighbourhood walking in Perth humidity. And yet where was the wine bar? I had forgotten to record the street number so I just walked some more. I walked and walked and nearly gave up. Sadly, when I finally got there I did. It was quite a large venue and it was completely empty. Now I trust Matt’s judgement and I knew the food would be good, but I couldn’t bring myself to eat alone when I was outnumbered by the waiters. Every cloud has a silver lining however and my blistered feet headed back up to Cantina.

Cantina was recommended a few times and I was a little surprised when I first walked past it. Perched on the edge of a shopping arcade it looked nothing more than a suburban sandwich café. However, stepping inside I was greeted by warm timber and distressed walls, an effortless rustic feel that really worked. Limited menu choices typed onto plain white paper suggest, although I’m guessing here, the menu changes often, making use of whatever produce is best at the time.

Ham and cheese ciabatta seemed a little plain for my lunching expedition and whilst the three panini’s on offer sounded delicious I reasoned there were plenty of good sandwiches in Melbourne. Clearly a venue that relies heavily on its char grill plate, the choice of three mains included a salad of char grilled local prawns or char grilled veal tongue in a green sauce. Despite these delectable offerings, how I could resist prosciutto that was labelled “the best from Italy”? Teamed with char grilled bread I agreed, until about half way through my generous serve. I realised that a whole plate of prosciutto to myself was a little over the top, and whilst it broke my heart, I did leave a few slices behind. Not to worry, extra bread and an olive oil that had more floral notes than bitey grasses helped the meal pass, as did the glass of 07 Bollini Pinot Grigio.

Bravo to Cantina for its laid back feel and service to match. And bonus points for pouring my wine at the table, just a small thing that showed this little Cantina is punching well above its neighbourhood café appearance. I was tempted to stay for coffee but I was determined to try at least one more of Matt’s recommendations. Enter Spring Espresso in Subiaco.

Why Spring when I was in Mt Lawley? Well I was keen for a wander through Subiaco and I certainly wasted some time in Simon Johnson’s along the way, although I had forgotten the trend of price tags there. Is it really expensive or am I spoilt by Melbourne’s food accessibility? Spring Espresso wasn’t quite what I had in mind for a mid afternoon coffee and cake but I liked it. Bright yellow walls scream “Wake Up”, and it’s all down to the business of getting coffee and moving on. I could see that this was many people’s ideal barista fix as they dashed to work each morning. So I grabbed a takeaway and ambled back to the station.

Thank you Matt, and everyone else who made suggestions, for helping me to find some of Perth’s gems. Even if I didn’t get to try many. Despite early eating times and higher-than-Melbourne prices it really is easy to make any meal enjoyable in a city as laid back as Perth.

To do, to drink, to cook, to spend

2009 began as the year of lists for me. Since January I’ve been jotting down in my diary “to-do”s, “to-read”s, “to-drink”s and so on. I have 2 diary pages full of wines to try already and an even larger list of books to read. Albums to listen to, restaurants to try (listed according to suburb) and the odd recipe have nearly all but filled the unused dates left behind in January.

Shortly I’m going to have to start a “recipes to cook” list too. I’ve always had a folder of clippings which I like to try before they are transferred to a more permanent collection, but now my delicious magazines are starting to stack up. The new edition arrived yesterday before I’d cooked anything from the last month’s. This is in part due to our trip to Perth and to S-bo playing a greater role in the kitchen while I partake in extra-curricular activities (sailing, pilates, tennis, touch football…how good is summer). I’m very thankful and fortunately he’s really enjoying it.

I’ve heard of people who cook practically everything in the magazine before the month is up and I wonder how I could justify buying such a range of ingredients, often exotic, every month. And this brings me back to my lists above. It’s all very well to have these lists, but they do tend to clash with my conservative spending tactics. I don’t deliberately set out to save money, I just can’t escape the values instilled from an early age by my bank manager father. Compared to my parents’ generation I live an extravagant lifestyle, however I think that by “Gen-Y” standards I really don’t spend much at all. I don’t buy new clothes every week and, more importantly, I really struggle to treat myself to dinner at a top restaurant for anything other than a very special occasion. Let alone order three courses. What kind of foodie am I? I love Melbourne’s liberal licensing laws and the great venues it fosters, but I miss Sydney’s BYO trend and the ability to have a great bottle of wine over dinner for half the price. I cling to restaurants in my area that do BYO every night of the week, as they are rare in my immediate surroundings.

Still, I think I will clutch these lists all year. I’ll know exactly what to pick up in the bottle shop on the way to a friend’s house for dinner and I’ll have perfect book ideas for birthday presents. What’s more, I’ll have ready access to restaurant ideas for those nights when you find yourself in the city, or a little-explored suburb, and can’t decide where to eat. Slowly, very slowly I’ll tick great restaurants off my list, only to have more added by the continuing life-cycle of Melbourne openings.

Cooking Pizza at Home

S-bo and I returned from Perth just over two weeks ago and were greeted at 2am by a house that was surely hotter than the outside temperature of 30 degrees. Our camelia ("Jen", shown below with SPF paper bag) was burnt and the herbs survived only thanks to the Foges and her watering visits.

What does one eat when the weather is so hot? Salads of course. Any food that requires no cooking and minimal time in the kitchen. Certainly you would be a fool to turn the oven up to 25o degrees and cook pizza, wouldn't you? Well call S-bo and I fools, but that's exactly what we did.

We've been talking about it for a while, this pizza making business. Postulating about all the money we'd save if Friday's takeaway pizza and wine turned into homemade pizza with cleanskin. So 2 weeks ago, armed with yeast and a rolling pin, we made our own dough to save dough. And what a success. We have a long way to go before they're perfect, and a pizza stone will probably be the first step, but this venture was a winner.

A simple recipe of 1 tsp sugar, 2 tsp dry yeast, 1 cup warm water, 450 g flour, 1 tsp salt and 60 ml olive oil got us underway. Although I imagine we should experiment with a few different dough recipes. As far as toppings go we've been pretty ad hoc, but the spicy salami has been a standout success.

So taken were we with making our own pizzas that we made them again the following weekend in the company of V. Also accompanying us was a bottle of 2002 Juniper Estate Cab Sav from Margaret River. As a result of the heatwave we came very close to losing some good bottles of wine we'd put aside. It was disappointing to discover all the bleeding corks however the recent events in Victoria helped keep our emotions in check. People have lost lives and homes and we simply lost a couple of bottles of wine. Although "lost"is a little dramatic. Our friends from Sydney Wine Centre have told us that, whilst it's not ideal, we just need to drink the wine within 6-12 months. I can handle 6 months of drinking our better wines! The Juniper was great, as was last night's 04 Cab Sav from Dominique Portet, thanks to N1&N2.

Wine and Music

I still have one more post to write about the trip to Perth. I have some random jottings in my diary to ensure I don't forget the details, all I need now is time to sit down and write it out. No easy task when I've since returned from WA, been to Tassie and back, and about to go to Darwin. But here is something I wrote whilst on the way to Perth, after reading the Australia Day Long Weekend edition of the Australian Financial Review.

Tim White wrote a brief, but intersting article in AFR about possible relationships between wine and music. One example was a session tasting Rose accompanied by Rachmaninov's Second Symphany (in E minor). Apparently an enjoyable combination. White mentions a researcher, Clark Smith, who, I would assume from the article, has investigated relationships between food and wine. Apparently his theory is that grape varieties respond differently in the presence of differing music styles. (I presume this refers to music being played whilst tasting, as opposed to serenading vines...)

The scientist in me is horrified at my secondary referncing for this post. Ideally I should search this Clark Smith guy and quote from the source. However I'm penning (literally) on a plane, with little (no) resources for research, and it has me wondering. Does music really affect the taste of wine or do we draw on common connotations shared by varieties and music alike. For example, drinking a clean, crisp Pinot Gris goes hand-in-hand with afternoon al fresco grazing, as does the laid back sounds of acoustic folk music. Thus one could clearly see a complimentary connection between the two.

I'd love to hear about your favourite wine and music combos. However whilst you are sitting back, sipping and listening, spare a thought for the victims of Australia's bushfire tragedy as we near 7 days on. Click here to donate to the Red Cross Victorian Bushfire Appeal or here to donate to Wildlife Victoria.

Eating in Perth. Part II

Having been back in sweltering Melbourne for 3 days Perth is now a cool memory and it is a full week since we enjoyed Australia Day Long weekend in the western capital. Of course we attended a wedding which was a highlight, but the weekend was also filled with some great eating.


Sunday morning Lovely & the Doctor took us to their neighbourhood brunch spot, John St cafe. Popular with the pram set, this place was busy and we were told to expect a 15 minute wait for a table. As it was a leisurely Sunday we didn't mind, until we noticed that those who came around the same time as us were not only seated, but eating. Checking in with the waitress
it was discovered that a devious bruncher had pretended to be us. Perhaps we should have hovered around the entrance instead of politely waiting near the coffee window. Perhaps the waitress should begin writing brief descriptions if she can't remember groups ie. 'Ali, 4, green shirt'. Either way the queue jumper is destined for bad karma I'm sure (our good karma came the next day when we jagged a prime parking spot at the beach).


I got the impression that John St Cafe is a bit of a "place to be" and you couldn't blame people for wanting to enjoy their weekend breakfast under such huge norfolk pines. The food on offer contained standard breakfast ingredients in both regular and not-so regular combinations, including the vegetarian stack (above) with hollondaise. My pick, being a non-egg eater, was the breakfast bagel, smeared with cold cream cheese, bacon cooked to perfection and a slightly-too slim wedge of avocado.

Despite the initial hiccup we left satisfied, a decent coffee under our belts to kick-start the day. It should be mentioned that a return visit yielded a weak, lukewarm coffee so lets hope the latter, rather than the former, is the exception.

The next day we were feeling a little slow after our friend's wedding the previous night but a quick dip at North Fremantle beach perked things up. Heading down to the centre of Fremantle we wandered around and explored the markets. I thought the fruit and veg looked especially vibrant and fresh, particularly as I'm becoming sceptical of the freshness of some produce I've been picking up at South Melbourne Markets. After a prolonged period inhaling the aromas of flavoured coffee, which I'm happy to smell but probably wouldn't drink, we felt it was our duty as out-of-towners to head down to Little Creatures Brewery.

I'd heard a lot of this place and certainly sampled their pale ale in the past, but I didn't really know what to expect. What I found was an energetic space into which a lot of time, effort and money has been poured to achieve the effortless. They did it well. Wooden tables, booths and schoolyard style steel chairs have been assembled as though the brewers stumbled upon an early 1980's government auction and thought "hey, lets buy this stuff and set up a bar in our massive shed".

We had our pick of tables,which I'm told is unheard of, so when it got a little warm outside we easily packed up and shifted inside. Fortunately this placed us under the care of a seemingly more competent waiter. We had a few beers, the famous frites with aioli and what S-bo claimed to be the best Nachos he's had! It's a huge call but I can't refute it. With beef, chunky guacamole and, of course, sour cream it offered a just-westernised dish, topped with the most amazing jalepenos to give that extra mexican zing.

Our day was destined to end at an Australia Day bbq but we were just to comfortable at Little Creatures. We bypassed the bbq and even the Triple J Hottest 100 countdown and eventually made our way home for more delayed telecast Australian Open.

Eating in Perth. Part I

I've had 4 days in Perth, or "Perff" as it was affectionately known by S-bo and I yesterday in honour of Australia Day, and only 2 to go. I received some great advice from Abstract Gourmet and Beyond Beeton about great places to try and I've also been shadowing Claire's November 08 trip (from Melbourne Gastronome) perhaps a little too closely. From Cottesloe fish & chips to the dingo flour sign and Fremantle markets. However despite that, I haven't actually been doing too much eating out. Kicking back instead at our friend's house enjoying wine, home-cooked meals and good company.

However there are a few highlights so far...

Friday night saw us land and head straight for a pre-wedding get-together at The Vic, a pub conveniently located next to the accomodation of most wedding guests. I really enjoyed kicking back in their beer garden drinking Redback beer, especially with slices of lemon. Unfortunately the pizza we ordered doesn't deserve mention, something tells me it's more a boozy, good-time pub rather than a top place for meals.

"The Vic"

We didn't stay too long as Lovely and the Doctor, our generous accomodation providers, had us booked in early Saturday morning to accompany them on a Swan Valley Wine Tour. Having decided Margaret River was a little far for this trip, we were eager to boat our way up the Swan and be picked up and ferried around the wineries by bus. In the past I've been sceptical of wine tours by bus, fearing that you only get taken to large, commercial wineries with a bunch of uni students or American tourists. However this was a great day out. Joining the boat in downtown Perth, with it's airline-style seating (complete with tray tables) we glided up the river, tasting some not-bad table wine courtesy of a couple of large commercial wineries. It was very pleasant and I was most impressed by the lovely Swan River.

Garbin Estate

Somewhere along the line we were greeted by Abi and we left boat for bus to visit 4 wineries, a brewery, a nougat company and a chocolate factory. Phew. We drank a lot of Chenin Blanc, Verdelho & Viognier from Garbin Estate, Jane Brook Estate, Jarrah Ridge and Edgecombe Brothers.

Edgecombe Brothers

At Jane Brook Estate the champenoise style of wine making was explained and I must confess that I didn't realise the huge difference between champenoise and other sparklings. We then had lunch (included) consisting of cold meats, salad, olives, bread & dips. The platter was beautifully presented with extremely fresh ingredients however we could have managed something a little more substantial with so much wine tasting.

Jarrah Ridge presented the best value wines, with their clean, crisp Chenin Blanc & Classic White selections for only $12 a bottle. Definitely our pick of the day for quality too as we also enjoyed their Reserve Shiraz & Shiraz Viognier.

The rest of the afternoon passed quickly. A super brief stop at Mondo Nougat stimulated our appetite for sweetness and it was on to the Margaret River Chocolate Factory, a branch located in the Swan Valley to capture more of the Perth market than is possible down south. Another whirlwind stop really, but don't forget to check our their sacks of chocolate buttons down the end of the counter for free tastings of their dark, milk and white chocolate.

Chaos at Margaret River Chocolate Factory

And finally the brewery consisting of beer and German Sausage (strangely accompanied by corn chips). Not much on our trip to Little Creatures (more to come...)

Feeling slightly tipsy with very full stomachs we headed back to Cottesloe where the boys enjoyed a dip. Incase we needed more alcohol we strolled up to The Cott for a beer, watching our first WA sunset over the water. The plan was to have Cottesloe fish and chips but we were feeling so unhealthy that we found ourselves ordering grilled snapper and salad from a burger joint who's name I don't remember. Four sleepy bodies then polished off our meal back at home with a bottle of Jarrah Ridge Chenin Blanc & the Australian Open. Zzzz......

The disaster that nearly was

After indulging over the Christmas break I’ve developed a bit of an afternoon sweet tooth. (I swear I didn’t have it before, those mid-afternoon chocolate bars were more a compulsion to spend than eat, promise.)

To satisfy this craving and to cook something nice for S-bo, instead of taunting him with yummy creations, only to take them to work morning teas, I decided to make a Mango and Coconut Cake (pictured) last week. Would you believe I still have a folder full of uncooked recipe clippings, after all that effort in 2007. This clipping is so old that I can’t even remember where it came from, all I know is it’s on the back of my faithful and popular Caramel Mudcake recipe.

So has it made the cut and gone into my permanent recipe collection? You betcha. I chose the cake because, apart from begging to be cooked for a very long time, it seemed appropriate for this time of year, with the summery flavours of mango and coconut. The cream cheese icing takes on the personality of yoghurt, and could even do with a little more mango nectar, while the coconut gives the cake a great crunchy texture.

So where is the disaster? You might be asking this question due to this posts title, but if you’re familiar with my baking style you’d probably be asking it anyway. The cake is missing an egg! I realised this about 2 minutes after the cake went into the oven. If I used particularly large, good quality eggs then I might not have panicked so much. However the eggs had been floating around the fridge since before Christmas and appeared to come from a 7-eleven or similar, not well known for free range, quality produce I’m sure. No offence to 7-eleven if I’m incorrect as this is my preferred place of purchase when I’m in a blind panic, half way through baking late on a Sunday evening, only to find no eggs in the fridge. Back to the present disaster though…

Two minutes into the oven (the cake, not me) and I’m wandering whether I can pull the cake out and stir in a beaten egg. I opted for no. Instead I wrung my hands for the entire 85 minutes, expecting to be rewarded with a strangely textured cake. Fortunately my 3 piddly eggs must have been sufficient, as the cake turned out fine.

Phew, I’ve made it through my 2nd post AND survived a baking disaster. This is definitely rebirth by fire. Email me if you would like the recipe.

Recipes Out My Ears

After a very long stint of nothingness I think it’s time to write again. Why? Because I like it. A swag of recipe books for Christmas will be enough to keep me busy, so why not throw in writing on top. I’ve already joked to S-bo that I need to go part time to ensure I can cook all these wonderful new ideas.

My haul included a subscription to ABC’s delicious. magazine, which in itself would be enough to keep me busy all year. However it comes complete with Valli Little’s new book Faking It. Top that up with Fast Food, a great little book which I always seemed to have on the shelf thanks to generous housemates. When S-bo moved in I lost access and have since been craving the salt & pepper chicken recipe within. Chinese Five Spice here I come! Completing the new collection, from my brother in London, is a hefty copy of Gordon Ramsay’s Sunday Lunch with bonus DVD, which I have yet to watch.

That’s not to mention the books Mum received which I’m sure I’ll borrow at some point: Two of Donna Hay’s Simple Essentials collection, “Fruit” and “Pasta, Rice & Noodles” (some great sushi ideas I’ve got my eye on).

This very lucky little cook can also add some beautiful homewares and handy kitchen gadgets to the Christmas bounty. S-bo and I both walked away from the Christmas tree with a chopping board and water jug each. Luckily all are sufficiently different to a) avoid the store return and b) have their own special place in our kitchen and on our table. A handheld beater will also make cooking easier. After the demise of my mixer last year I had saved enough money to buy something flash (ie a Kitchenaid) however the size of our kitchen means the money is still sitting in my bank account and will remain there until we have a larger kitchen. I thought I could make do with my food processor, and I did remarkably well considering my penchant for kitchen disasters, however beating egg whites just didn’t work.

And last but not least is the bbq cover. Late last year S-bo and I moved from the apartment to a small house so we could enjoy all things alfresco, with the bbq being high on the list. Unfortunately our super small bbq is a little hard to clean. There’s nothing like having to clean the bbq before you cook on it to send you scurrying back to the indoor frying pan. I flew home at Christmas armed with a raft of ideas to make my own bbq cover. As happens with all my home-time holiday projects, my mother had visions of being left to complete an impossibly ridiculous project on her own while I scurried back to the city. So she went out and bought me one. Thanks Mum ad Dad.

To begin writing again at this point in the year is a tough task to set myself as I have a very busy January ahead. Mum and Dad are staying at the moment, part of their annual Australian Open pilgrimage. Then Friday Sam and I are off to Perth for 6 days. We have a wedding to go to and lots of friends to catch up with, but I’m sure we’ll have some time to visit Perth’s “must eat” venues…let me know if you have any favourites.

Claypots, St Kilda

It's time for the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival and unfortunately I'm too busy to participate. Shock and horror I know, but my best friend, N1 is getting married next weekend and there's much to do. Not to mention the 4-day working weeks I've been enjoying as a result of hens trips away and the wedding itself. Every second weekend I seem to take Friday and Monday off so it's a high life.

Between dress fittings, shoe shopping and various other tasks for the bride, there hasn't been much time for food, so I was keenly anticipating a visit to Claypots in St Kilda last night. I am a relative seafood newbie, refusing to eat fish the entire first half of my life and only recently converting to prawns. So Claypots was going to be a challenge. I desperately wanted to go to see the place live up to it's reputation but did this mean I had to eat the slippery things that come from shells?

As I had tennis lessons 'til 8.30 I sent my dining companions along to deal with the stressful event of getting a table. I managed to swan up at 9pm, down half a beer and stroll straight in. Oh what an easy life. However it must be said the others didn't arrive until 8.30 and we were still seated by 9.30 (for those that don't know, Claypots does not take boookings).

The restaurant is a pure festival upon entry. Walk through the bar to see glum faces of people desperately seeking a table then it's straight past the kitchen with the evening's selections staring at you from the display. Continue and you're confronted with tables of noisy people criss-crossing arms to get at the communal seafood plates while jazz blares in the background. We were seated in a booth, carriage style complete with luggage rack overhead. The waitress then went through the complicated process of ordering: all fish comes with potato and bokchoy and is priced according to size, with the famous Claypots ideal as side dishes or entrees.

Now if you think you're happy to eat late and believe turning up at 8.30 for a 9.30/10 table is no problem, be warned that they do run out of fish, a testament to their freshness policy I'm sure. We were able to choose from Snapper and Dory. Not such a big deal when you can still choose citrus roasted snapper to share.

Our fish was preceeded by a giant king prawn each. You might think all king prawns are giant but I now know there are king prawns, and there are king prawns. Served with bread and dripping in garlic oil I think we had the latter. Now I hope I'm not being sacreligious but I wasn't overly taken with the claypots. A mixture of rice, fish, mussels and pippis meant that yes, I did eat the slimy things from shells. I did this in quite a brave fashion after the obligatory chew or swallow jokes but honestly, I couldn't taste much other than the cajun spices of one and the moroccan spices of the other. Not to worry, it was handy filler to supplement our sensational snapper. I honestly believe this rather large snapper had been eating citrus it's whole life such was the intensity of flavour. Eating fish skin has never been so enjoyable. Underneath the pearly flesh had ot be the seafood version of wagyu beef, surely. I've never had such wonderful fish before, not even my parent's neighbour's macadamia and coconut stuffed red emperor.

By the end of the night I may nearly been completely won over to the seafood side of life.

Orrechiette with rost peppers, preserved lemon and goat's curd

The observant among you will see that this dish is actually spirals with roast peppers, perserved lemon and goat's curd. I had previously bought the ingredients but not had a chance to get fresh orriechiette. When S-bo and I returned home from a weekend on an Echuca houseboat, we really didn't want to go to the supermarket. That's why I substituted spirals and frankly, it turned out well.

It's been a while since I've cooked a new recipe and this one was really really rewarding. It's effectively a warm tossed salad but the combination of extra virgin olive oil and goats cheese is very satisfying, even if they do take away many of the benefits of "salad". This was my second experience with preserved lemon too, and let me tell you, rinsing the lemon beforehand makes it a lot more palatable. Thanks to whoever gave me that tip. I love many things citrus and couldn't bear the thought that I wouldn't enjoy preserved lemon.

Like many of my "uncooked from the archives" recipes, this one came form an old Good Living clipping, back in the Sydney days. 31st Jan 2006 featured this recipe along with a profile of then-new Andrew Cibej's Surry Hills enoteca, Vini. If only I had've been. Next time Gadget.

This week sees the first round of ironchef for 2008 kicking off, so I've spent all evening researching dessert. Hopefully I can tell you all about it on Friday!

Orrechiette with roast peppers, preserved lemon and goat's curd
500 g orrechiette
240 g fresh goat's curd
1 large roasted, peeled and roughly chopped red pepper
1/4 preserved lemon, finely chopped
1/2 cup of both torn basil leaves and picked continental parsely
1/2 cup wild rocket
1 cup EVOO
60 g parmesan cheese, grated
Sea salt & Pepper
80 g black olive tapenade

Cook pasta in salted boiling water. Drain, reserving a small amount of cooking water. In a large bowl, toss together pasta, water and all other ingredients except tapenade. Place onto plates and top with tapenade.

Serves 4

Footscray Markets

Having lived in London, Sydney, Canberra and now Melbourne since leaving home, not to mention frequent travels throughout Europe at the ages of 18/19, I think of myself as being somewhat worldly. And yet, I know can still be very naive.

This was further reinforced on Saturday, which, funnily enough was Australia Day. Us Australians like to think of ourselves as multicultural but sometimes we rarely scratch the surface. Perhaps we are paracultural instead (yes, I think I just made that up, I mean many cultures running parallel). I am not a racist person but I really can be quite ignorant, perhaps as a result of growing up in the country, far from the multiculturalism of Sydney and Melbourne.

S-bo has recently moved in with me and we needed a vacuum cleaner. We also needed groceries for an Australia Day BBQ. Searching the location of Godfreys (an Australian vacuum cleaner shop) we saw that there is a Godfreys situated quite close to Footscray market. I know little of Melbourne's suburbs (in that sense I may be worldly but I'm not victorian-ly) but I did know that Footscray was, in a sense, similar to Sydney's Cabramatta. So I prepared myself for an exciting trip to Melbourne's pocket of South East Asia. I had visions of exotic fruit and vegetables with stallholders eager to explain the best ways to cook them. My naivety comes through here. I was expecting a market selling ethnic goods for the westerner. Instead I found a market catering to it's market: Australians of many different backgrounds, mostly ethnic. Perhaps some would not publicly admit to being so narrow minded, but I think if you're prepared to air your views on the internet then you should be honest.

I'd like to think that if I wasn't in a hurry I would have taken my time to explore the goods on offer and patiently caught the attention of the stallholder to ask questions. Instead I was looking for the familiar in unfamiliar territory and I wanted it quickly. What on earth is in Chinese Sausages? I just want skinny beef snags for the BBQ. Who in their right mind would buy those fish heads in the first place, Let alone sitting out in the open like that? And can people puh-lease stop pushing and shoving. All of this surrounded by people speaking different languages. Not one language, but many different languages. I'm sure this combines to make Footscray Markets great markets indeed, but at the end of the day, I admit I was out of my comfort zone and I panicked. I'm sure it's like any other market...don't make your first visit when you're in a hurry. I got fed up with South Melbourne market first time because I didn't know which places were "good" and felt I had to know exactly what I wanted before stepping up to the frantic deli counter. I'll know next time, thanks to the Foodies Guide to Melbourne, that T.H. Butcher has one of the broadest ranges, whilst Pelekand Deli could have sorted me out with Goat's curd. I'll be sure to not waste my next trip there and allow myself plenty of time.