Caponata (Sicilian Eggplant Stew)

Since my mum started growing eggplants & doesn’t really use that many herself, I am always on the lookout for new ways to cook them. This is a lovely recipe from Jamie Oliver’s Italy, he says it can be eaten as a cold starter or a warm side, we served it along side some meat & mash. I also tried out the leftovers from the fridge cold as suggested but I think the lovely warm wintery flavours are lost & I will continue to heat it up to eat nice & hot. The eggplant is lovely & creamy & as always the tomatoes are lovely with it. The olives, capers & vinegar all blend in nicely to give it a slightly sour flavour which is nice for something a bit different.

Caponata (Sicilian Eggplant Stew)

Olive oil
2 nice large purple eggplants, cut into large chunks
1 heaped teaspoon dried oregano
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 small red onion, peeled & finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled & finely sliced
a small bunch of fresh flat leaf parsley, leaves picked & stalks finely chopped
2 tablespoons salted capers, rinsed, soaked & drained
a handful of green olives, stones removed
2-3 tablespoons herb vinegar
5 large ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped
optional: 2 tablespoons slivered almonds, lightly toasted

In a large frying pan, pour in a couple of glugs of olive oil & place over heat. Add the eggplant & oregano, season with a little salt & toss around so the eggplant is evenly coated with oil. Cook on high heat for about 4-5 minutes, giving the pan a shake every now & then. When the eggplant is nice & golden all over, add the onion, garlic & parsley stalks & continue cooking for another couple of minutes. Feel free to add a little more oil to the pan if it’s getting too dry. Throw in the drained capers and the olives & drizzle over the vinegar. When all the vinegar has evaporated, add the tomatoes & simmer for about 15 minutes or until tender. Taste before serving & season if needed with salt & pepper & a little more vinegar. Drizzle with some good olive oil & serve sprinkled with the chopped parsley leaves & almonds if you like.

Chicken Tagine with Green Olives & Preserved Lemon

Every week my mum comes over to my place for a day to spend time with Chloe & to help me out. To thank her for her help I cook up a big dinner for both my mum & my dad & I try to cook up dishes that they have never tried & would not try without my prodding. This week was the fancy sounding tagine which is really quite simple, I served it with couscous, another ingredient they have never tried. This recipe is from Gourmet Traveller & was a big hit, I loved it as I usually love all tagines & surprisingly my parents both loved it too, even the couscous which they thought they would hate. Next week polenta has been requested so I hope they love that just as much.

Chicken Tagine with Green Olives & Preserved Lemon

2 tablespoons Ghee
6 chicken marylands, thighs & drumsticks separated
2 large onions, coarsely grated
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
¼ teaspoon (firmly packed) saffron threads
1 teaspoon ground ginger
4 black peppercorns
½ teaspoon sweet paprika
1 stick of cinnamon
2 cups chicken stock
50gm preserved lemon (about 3 pieces), flesh discarded & rind thinly sliced
150g queen green olives (about 12) pitted
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped flat leaf parsley
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped coriander
Couscous & crusty bread to serve

Heat ghee in a tagine or heavy based casserole, add chicken pieces & cook over high heat, turning, until golden. Then add onion, garlic & spices, and cook over medium heat, stirring to coat chicken pieces for 3 minutes or until fragrant. Add stock & 1 ½ cups water, turning chicken pieces once during cooking, for 40 minutes or until chicken is tender & meat almost falling off the bone.

Using a slotted spoon, transfer chicken to an oven tray & discard cinnamon. Bring sauce to a boil, and simmer for 12 minutes or until reduced by a quarter. Return chicken to pan, add preserved lemon, olives & herbs, and cook over a medium heat for 5 minutes or until chicken is heated through, then season to taste with sea salt & freshly ground black pepper. Serve with couscous & crusty flat bread.

Spicy Roast Pumpkin, Feta & Olive Salad

This is a gorgeous salad to make for lunch or you could even stretch it to dinner as we did by adding a steak or the like on the side. It is another winner from Bill Grangers Bills Food. I know I’ve said it before but I really am loving everything I make from his books & this is no exception. The pumpkin is fantastic with the spices & the dressing really just makes the whole dish & pulls it all together.

Spicy Roast Pumpkin, Feta & Olive Salad

3 tablespoons olive oil
½ teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
800g pumpkin, cut into 2cm cubes
100g baby spinach leaves
150g marinated feta, drained & crumbled
20 Kalamata olives, pitted

Dressing
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
60ml extra virgin olive oil
1 French shallot, finely sliced (optional)

Preheat oven to 220c. Place olive oil, cumin, cayenne pepper, salt & pepper in a bowl & stir to combine. Add the pumpkin & stir to coat. Transfer to a roasting pan & bake for 30 minutes, or until the pumpkin is tender & slightly caramelized.

Whisk all the dressing ingredients together in a bowl until combined.

Divide the spinach between four serving plates & scatter pumpkin, feta & olives over the top. Drizzle each with dressing.

Lamb Cutlets & Greek Salad

This dinner is a week late, I had the lamb sitting in the fridge all nicely marinated when I went into labour last week. My mum suggested freezing them, marinade & all so that’s what Michael did & now we have finally cooked them up. From Nigella Lawson’s Forever Summer. The freezing did no harm & the lamb was beautifully tender & the marinade provided great flavour. The Greek salad on the side was yum too with a nice twist on the traditional.

Lamb Cutlets with Yoghurt & Cumin

450-500g Greek yoghurt
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 large onion
1 head garlic
1 teaspoon Maldon salt
20 lamb cutlets

Empty the yoghurt into a large shallow dish (big enough to fit all of the chops in) & then stir in the cumin. Peel & roughly chop the onion and add it. Break the head of garlic into cloves, peel them & squash them slightly just by pressing on them with the flat of a heavy

The Ultimate Greek Salad

1 red onion
1 tablespoon dried oregano
black pepper
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
200ml extra virgin olive oil
5 good tomatoes
1 teaspoon caster sugar
pinch of maldon salt
1 large cos lettuce
1 bulb fennel
125g pitted black olives
400g feta cheese
juice of half a lemon

Peel & finely slice the red onion then sprinkle over the oregano and grind over some black pepper. Pour in the vinegar & oil & toss well, cover with cling film & leave to step for at least 2 hours. Cut the tomatoes into quarters, then cut each quarter into quarters (always lengthwise) again, so that you have a collection of very fine segments. Sprinkle with the sugar & a pinch of salt & leave while you get on with the rest. Wash the lettuce, tear into large pieces & place in a salad bowl. Slice the fennel & add that, then the olives & feta cut or crumbled into large chunks & toss well. Now add the tomatoes, the red onion in its dressing & the lemon juice. Toss gently so that everything is well combined.

knife, then stir into the yoghurt along with the salt. Add the cutlets & stir well. Cover with cling film & put in the fridge for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Heat a ridged grill pan & then take the cutlets out of the marinade, wipe with some kitchen towel. Fry for a few minutes each side until cooked to your liking.

Woodstock, North Fitzroy

The other night the family were off to the movies & we needed a simple & quick bite to eat beforehand. My suggestion was Woodstock which is a family run little Italian place on Nicholson street. The menu consists entirely of pizza’s – Italian style, thin crust with lovely toppings, such as prosciutto & porcini, and it’s all in Italian too which the staff are happy to translae for you. There is always a specials board that has a couple of home made pasta’s of the day plus some fish & maybe some meat dishes. Last night for example there was roast goat, crumbed veal, calamari, garfish, a pesto filled agnoletti & a linguine marinara to name a couple of the specials. There is a limited wine list & byo is $10 corkage a bottle.

The few times I have been there, there are always crumbed, stuffed olives on the specials too & being a huge fan of these delectable morsels I always order some to start with. The rest of the family were a bit dubious but were soon won over & loved them as much as I do. I chose the marinara as I wasn’t in a pizza mood, the serve was huge, lots of pasta with a couple of mussles, a few prawns, some scallops & squid thrown into a tomato based sauce, very tasty though a bit on the salty side so beware if you're not a salt fan. There was also so much that Michael got half of mine, he ordered the agnoletti which was fantastic but in contrast to mine the serving was really quite small & definitely not enough to fill a grown man. We didn’t go for dessert as we were in a hurry so not sure what was on offer though there was a gelati bar at the counter so at the least one could expect a bowl of ice cream to finish off. All in all a great Italian place for a quick & simple feed though the prices are a bit on the highish side for such simple fair, ie pizza’s about $20 each & you do need one per person so if you can live with that give it a go.

Woodstock
612 Nicholson street
North Fitzroy
Ph: 9481 8122

Sails on the Bay, Elwood

On the weekend some girlfriends gathered together at Sails on the Bay in Elwood for a long lunch to celebrate the upcoming wedding of the lovely Megan. We had a table right by the window which was lovely, very nice looking out over the beach. The staff were very attentive though we found them to be very inflexible, any suggested menu variations we came up with were rejected totally, for example 2 of us were pregnant & really, really wanted the Seafood Melange yet being in the state we were in asked if we could swap the cold portion (all raw & on the forbidden list) for another entree. Given that this dish was $65.00 per person & the other entrees were all way under half this amount, we certainly wouldnt have been costing them any money yet they still refused, something that annoyed us a little but we moved on, made our selections & had a very enjoyable afternoon.

I started with the Antipasto selection which included Tabouleh & falafel, hummus, balsamic pumpkin, , lavosh, crumbed olives with fetta on chilli jam, pickled yellow beetroot, avacado mousse & a zuchini bread, all very good & the portions weren't too big so not too filling, I especially loved the yellow beetroot, it was beautifully sweet, I have never seen this before so wonder where you can buy it?

Next I had the crab ravioli as a main, it was served in a broth with some pickly type veggies on top - sorry cant remember exactly what they were, the dish was nice though a bit too much for a main course, the crab flavour ended up being a bit overwhelming & I think a stronger sauce/broth introducing some other flavours to the dish would have helped, someone else had this as an entree & thought it was perfect.

To finish off how could I resist the dark chocolate truffle torte,

with raspberry coulis & white chocolate sorbet, the top section was nice & light & almost moussy & of course the raspberry coulis was perfect with chocolate as berry flavours always are. The white chocolate sorbet was ok but I couldnt really taste the choc flavour in it.

All in all a nice setting to enjoy an afternoon with the girls

Sails on the Bay

15 Elwood Foreshore, Elwood
9525 6933

Bar Lourinha - Spanish Tapas in Melbourne

Bar Lourinha is a wonderful newish Spanish/Portuguese style bar tucked away in Little Collins street run by Matt McConnell, ex Berardo's Noosa, Diningroom 211, Hairy Canary. The bar is tiny, with a couple of communal tables and a bar surrounded by tall bar stools to sit & while away the night on. There’s also a little couch area at the frnt area which is where we chose to sat, being preggers I didn’t fancy houts on a ba stool this time! The décor worked for me, an odd mix of paintings, a lit up reindeer on the wall, and odd bits & pieces, not overly crowded.

The drinks menu had plenty on offer, though sadly I didn’t get to sample any of the promised delights, no cocktails, no apertifs, etc, just a bottle of wine for us to share, which was very nice indeed though I cant remember what it was as the girls did the choosing tonight assisted by our very friendly & knowledgeable waitress. The food menu consists of maybe 15 or so sharing dishes which all sound mouth watering, very hard to choose really. There were 3 of us gilrs eating last night & the dishes we chose were more than enough to satusify our appetities. While choosing our fare we had a plate of cracked grren olives which were very good. Then we started with the yellowtail kingfish "pancetta", salt cured and dressed with lemon oil, fresh thyme and slivers of red onion, a great melt in your mouth dish with the onions & dressing proving just ther ight amount of flavour for the delicate fish slices. Next was a plate of vine grilled sardines over a fennel salad, followed by a great salad of buffalo mozzarella with crispy jamon – how can you go wrong with these two ingedients – it was superb. This was followed by some delicious roasted mushrroms in a creamy garlic sauce.

To finish off with we had the par-cooked, whole smoked chorizo sausage finished over brandy spirit flamed at the table. A couple of minutes on the flames (which sadly my photo hasn’t picked up very well) and our sausage is done & ready to eat, it was fabulous, nice & spicy & love that flame grilled taste & quite a produciton really!

After all of this we still had a little room for dessert of course, there was no way I was missing out on churros. So we shared the churros (long sugar coated Spanish doughnuts which have to be sampled if you have never tasted these delights before), they were served with a caramel type flavoured dipping sauce rather than the usual chocolate I have normally seen, fantastic & I could have had the whole serve to myself. We also tried a dish of pomegranate crema (? Think this is what it was called) with a pistachio praline, again delightful.

All in all this place highly impressed me & is one to keep card handy for.

Bar Lourinha
37 Little Collins Street
Melbourne
03 9663 7890
Mon-Wed, noon-11pm; Thu and Fri, noon-1am; Sat, 4pm-1am
www.barlourinha.com.au

The Age Harvest Picnic at Werribee Park

On this gorgeous Melbourne day I headed out to the Age Harvest Picnic at Werribee Park with Michael & my parents. We got there at about 10 so we got a good park & a good spot to set up on the lawn. It’s a beautiful setting & there were heaps of stalls filled with goodies. You can see in my photo how packed it ended up being by about lunch time. Some of the treats I bought to take home were Basil infused olive oil from Barfold Olives, some very refreshing Ginger & green Apple Fruit Soda cordial – made to an ancient tradition with fresh fruit, no preservatives, colours or artificial flavourings, Goldfields ‘Kamarooka’ honey, lot’s of jams from Marcia’s Munchies, hand made with natural ingredients – they were all so good I couldn’t decide so bough them all cherry, raspberry, tangelo marmalade & apricot, Some quince paste & stunning Virtuous Vanilla plum jam from Olive Branch preserves – though I don’t know what was virtuous about it – I thought it was wicked! I also tried lots of great bickies & sweets which I didn’t buy any of as at the moment I’m too busy making my own all the time. I had a small tub of chicken & seafood Paella from The Paella Pan - who do paella party catering – sounds interesting & the dish was yummy, some fantastic ginger ice cream from Irrewarra Natural Ice cream & tried some of Micahel’s Red Duck beer – very refreshing also. I love these events & today was the perfect day fro it, even managed to escape with minimal sun burn.

Pink-Eye potato, olive and Caper Salad

Being of both Polish & Lithuanian background I am a very big fan of the humble potato & am always looking for new ways to dress it. I love anything from a simple mash, a hearty baked spud jammed packed with tasty fillings, crispy roast ones & of course a great potato salad. My all time favourite potato salad is the family recipe which I have eaten my whole life, its pretty much boiled potatoes, peeled, mixed with chopped onion, boiled eggs, tons of mayo & some salt & pepper, very simple yet very tasty. Occasionally however I do like to try something different so the other night I tried Ben O’Donoghue’s take on the dish from the surfing the menu cook book of series 1. It was great, the olives & capers added a nice zing to the dish. Very repeatable, we served it alongside a good steak for a quick & simple meal.

Pink-Eye Potato, Olive and Caper Salad

1kg pink eye potatoes
½ garlic clove
salt
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped flat leaf parsley
100g baby capers
200g pitted large green olives
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
100ml extra virgin olive oil
freshly ground pepper
finely peeled zest of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons white celery leaves

Place the potatoes in a large pan & cover with cold water. Add salt, bring to the boil & simmer until tender, about 20 minutes depending on the size. In a large mortar smash the garlic with a little sea salt, then add the parsley & roughly smash. Add the capers & olives and do the same to give a coarse, roughly broken up texture.

Peel & cut the potatoes in half while still hot. Add the vinegar & oil. Cool fro 10 minutes, then add the olive & parsley mixture. Season with salt & pepper & toss through the zest, celery leaves & remaining parsley.

I Carusi Pizza

Well this little Pizza place that you would not even notice unless looking really hard for has to be Melbourne’s best kept secret. The place is always jam packed full of people so don’t even think about turning up without a booking. The menu consists purely of pizza (apart from a couple of salads & some olives). It’s lovely & warm inside, some nice music playing in the background & dimly lit so quite atmospheric. Michael & I were seated opposite the pizza production line last night which was fascinating. I swear these guys could win a world record they crank them out so fast. We had a small pizza each, they come in either 10 or 13 inch, we really should have had the large as they are very thin based so not over filling especially for a man & someone eating for 2. Michael had the Genovese, tomato, goats cheese, pesto, roasted peppers & prosciutto. I had the Greg Oregano, tomato, prosciutto, rocket & Parmeggiano. Sorry about the crappy photos, not sure what was going on with the camera last night so you will have to trust me that these were divine & there are so many fantastic sounding combinations that you just want to order every single one. They have dessert pizzas too which sadly we didn’t have time for last night as we had to rush home to watch The Pies have a mighty win over Port Adelaide, maybe next time. Do yourself a favour & get down here fast.

I Carusi Pizza
46a Holmes Street
Brunswick East
9386 5522
BYO & Cash only

Pollo Alla Cacciatora (Hunter’s Chicken Stew)

Michael cooked up this lovely dish for dinner with only a little help from me. I varied the recipe slightly in that firstly I had bought chicken thigh fillets instead of pieces on the bone as the recipe called for as I always find these work well & you end up with a nicer result in the end. Also I didn’t have any Chianti on hand so rather than go out & buy a bottle I used something from my already plentiful wine collection, went with a Sangiovese in the end having no idea what to substitute the Chianti for. This seemed to work well & didn’t cause any disasters. The recipe comes from Jamie Oliver’s Italy & as usual with his recipes it was sensational! I have made this dish before from other recipes & this was definitely the best, I think the baking in the oven was what did it, the intensity of all of the flavours, combined with the chicken so tender it was falling apart made for a mouth watering feast. I seem to have got one part wrong though, according to Jamie it should have been I who cooked this after my man spent a hard day out in the countryside, oh well! And seeing as how it is still Winter we served this with a good size helping of mash rather than the suggested salads. Fantastico!

Pollo Alla Cacciatora (Hunter’s Chicken Stew)

Cacciatore means ‘hunter’, so this is obviously the type of food that a
hunter’s wife cooks for her fella when he gets home from a hard morning
spent in the countryside. This is also a great dish for big parties, as it
looks after itself in the oven.

1 x 2kg / 4lb chicken, jointed, or use the equivalent amount of chicken
pieces
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
8 bay leaves
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
3 cloves of garlic, peeled (1 crushed, 2 sliced)
½ a bottle of chianti
flour, for dusting
extra virgin olive oil
6 anchovy fillets
a handful of green or black olives, stoned
2 x 400g tins of good-quality plum tomatoes

Season the chicken pieces with
salt and freshly ground black pepper and put them into a bowl. Add the bay
leaves and rosemary sprigs and the crushed clove of garlic and cover with the
wine. Leave to marinate for at least an hour, but preferably overnight in the
fridge.

Preheat your oven to 180c / 350F / gas 4. Drain the chicken,
reserving the marinade, and pat dry with kitchen paper. Dust the chicken pieces
with flour and shake off any excess. Heat an ovenproof pan, add a splash of
olive oil, fry the chicken pieces until browned lightly all over and put to one
side.

Place the pan back on the heat and add the sliced garlic. Fry
gently until golden brown, then add the anchovies, olives, tomatoes (broken up
with a wooden spoon) and the chicken pieces with the reserved marinade. Bring to
the boil, cover with a lid or a double thickness layer of foil and bake in the
preheated oven for 1 ½ hours.

Skim off any oil that’s collect on top of
the sauce, then stir, taste and add a little salt and pepper if necessary.
Remove the bay leaves and rosemary sprigs, and serve with a salad, or some
cannellini beans, and plenty of Chianti.

Iliana Pizza

Normally I wouldn’t do a post on take away pizza so this is an exception. I thought I just had to let everyone know that the best take away pizza in Brunswick comes from Iliana on Nicholson street. They have a great thin crispy base & the toppings are perfect, never overdone & they even use real ham, pretty amazing stuff wouldn’t you say? Last night I ordered half Aussie & half vegetarian, this way I can fool myself into believing I am eating healthy food. I don’t normally go for Aussie but theirs is suberb, lovely chunks of just crispy bacon & the egg gets right in there, its sensational. As for the veggie, you can prob see its topped full of onions, zucchini, mushies, capsicum & olives as well as the usual tomato & cheese. They also have a range of Gourmet pizzas as well as pasta (pretty good too) & even some burgers & fish & stuff, have never strayed that far form the pizza or occasional pasta myself. Anyway if you live in the area make this your local, you won’t be sorry!

Iliana
128 Nicholson Street
East Brunswick
9381 0404

Small Block, East Brunswick - Brekky

Sunday morning breakfast at Small Block in Brunswick. Once again we felt like a morning walk & what better way to do it than with a brekky stop in the middle. I’ve been here many times before & never disappointed. The place is always packed & usually a wait on the stairs is the way to go before scoring a table. Today we were lucky & there was a table available outside & the sun was shining so it was actually nice, even for a winters day. The only problem today was that a few customers were letting their dogs run riot off their leashes & they all seemed to want to jump on me or slap me with their tails, not the cafes fault but really wish dog owners would keep their pets under control especially if they are bugging the other customers.

Today I had the baked eggs with tomato, chorizo & saffron ragout, this was served with some toast & was delicious, have never tried this dish before, the eggs on top were delicious & even though baked still nice & gooey. Underneath was a lovely mix of tomatoes, chorizo, onions, saffron & olives, great combination. Michael had the scrambled eggs with pesto & fetta, I’ve had this before & it’s a great full of flavour egg scramble. To drink as well as coffees I had a Phoenix Organic apple & pear juice from New Zealand, these are great juices so try one if you ever come across them. Anyway all in all I love Small block & have never had a bad feed here, I think its all excellent quality & the choices are a bit different from the usual which gets another thumbs up for the place too. Friendly staff & quick service complete the picture.

Small Block
130 Lygon Street
Brunswick East
9381 2244

Sizzled Haloumi with sundried tomatoes & home made pesto

Today my good friend Elise came over for lunch. She is studying Bowen therapy at the moment so the deal was she got to practice & ‘do my husband’ while I cooked up some yummy lunch for us all. Michael was very relaxed after the therapy & I’m looking forward to my turn next though I don’t know if we can leave the lunch to Michael, better prepare something in advance I think! For dessert I was finally making a tarte tatin (see next post) so I wanted lunch to be nice & light so I threw together this salad inspired by a recipe in a mag some time back, cant remember which one. I used some fantastic King Island Haloumi that I picked up from the Vic market & served it with a wonderful St Andrews seed & sprout wood fired oven loaf which I bought from the baker himself over at Ceres this morning. I also made my own pesto for the recipe following Jamie Oliver’s advice in Jamie’s Dinners & served the whole lot on a bed of rocket. It was all great though the rocket & olives probably weren’t necessary, I ate most of my cheese on torn chunks of bread with the pesto sauce, god I love Haloumi. The leftover pesto will make a very quick meal tonight too stirred through some pasta, might even leave that one to the hubby.

Sizzled Haloumi with sundried tomatoes & home made pesto

12 vine ripened cherry tomatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus ½ tablespoon to coat tomatoes
Leaves form 4 thyme sprigs
4 sundried tomatoes, finely sliced
250g haloumi, rinsed, cut into slices
Handful of kalamata olives
Basil leaves to serve

Pesto Sauce
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon pesto
1 tablespoon baby capers, rinsed

Heat the oven to 180c. Coat the cherry tomatoes with 1 teaspoon olive oil, scatter with thyme leaves & sea salt & black pepper to taste, then bake for 15 minutes or so until soft but still retaining their shape.

To make the pesto sauce, mix the oil, capers & pesto together in a bowl.

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a non stick grill pan over high heat. When very hot, sizzle the cheese slices until browned on each side.

Arrange ingredients over rocket on a plate & serve drizzled with pesto sauce.

Pesto

½ a clove of garlic
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
3 good handfuls of basil, leaves picked & chopped
a handful of pine nuts, very lightly toasted
a good handful of freshly grated parmesan cheese
extra virgin olive oil
a squeeze of lemon juice

Pond the garlic with a pinch of salt & the basil leaves in a pestle & mortar, or pulse in a food processor (I used the processor). Add the pine nuts & pound again. Turn into a bowl & add half the parmesan. Stir gently and add sone olive oil – you need just enough to bind the sauce & get it too an oozy consistency. Season to taste, then add most of the remaining cheese, pour in more oil & taste again, keep adding until you are happy with the taste & consistency. Add the lemon juice at the end to give it a bit of a twang, this last step is optional – I go for it as love the extra zesty flavour it gives.

L'Osteria & Happy Birthday to me!

After a week of birthday celebrations, last night was my night. I decided to take everyone to my favourite local Italian restaurant, L’Osteria in North Fitzroy. I love this place & their stuffed olives are the best, you may have noticed that I have a thing for stuffed olives & when I went to Ladro a couple of weeks back to find they had taken them off the menu I was devastated, luckily this place still had them so I promptly ordered a few servings for all to share. They are green olives stuffed with veal pork & parmigiano then crumbed & fried, sensational! Next we had some miniature vegetarian arancini which were lovely. For my main I had pappardelle alla ragu di salsiccia di finocchio, which translated is beautiful hand made pasta with a ragu of fennel sausages, tomato & radicchio, fantastic combination, the fennel flavour really came through quite strongly & I love the aniseed taste so very good for me. We didn’t have dessert tonight as my mum had bought a cake to have back at home.

Most of the pastas are homemade here & the menu changes seasonally so I never get bored with the choice. They also do pizza which I have not yet tried though I hear it is also pretty good. Highly recommended place to go, everyone was very impressed & I will be back there soon to try some more of the Autumn menu before it changes.

L’Osteria
616 Nicholson Street
North Fitzroy
Ph (03) 9489 6302

Movida

Last night I caught up with Megan & Rach for dinner at Movida, which is a fantastic little tapas bar tucked away in a laneway in the city. They do dinner in 2 sittings, either 6 or 8.30, so if you do the 6 you have to get out fast & if you do the later session you can settle in & relax. As we were all going straight from work we did the 6.00 session as last time I went for the later one we were all very drunk by the time we got there, not very good at restraining myself from the bubbly whilst waiting! The menu is divided between tapas (small dishes) & racions (slightly bigger dishes) that are designed to share. You can also have a banquet. I love eating this way as it means you get to try so much more of whats on offer. Last night was no exception with 3 hungry girls not afraid to eat! The huge selection we tried last night was as follows:

Bread with Olive oil
Ensalada Valencia – Valencian Salad, endive, orange, palm hearts, & Manzanillo olives
Croqueta - Fried croquette flavoured with chicken & garlic chives
Tortilla de Patatas – confit potato & onion omelette
Setas Asado Con Jerez – Oven roasted portabello Mushrooms finished with sherry vinegar
Gambas A La sidra – whole prawns cooked in terracotta with Asturian cider
Chicken Speical – cant remember the exact flavours, was braised with an almond meal breading
Costilla Con Sobrasada - Roasted lamb cutlet encased in a Catalan pork & paprika pate
Vierna, Jamon Y Espuma – Half shell scallop oven baked with jamon & potato foam

Churros – Rich hot drinking chocolate & Spanish doughnuts & Ganache Caliente Con Turron, Hot chocolate ganache pudding with vanilla bean ice cream & nougat

Everything was absolutely yummy as you can see form the photos, the salad which the waiter suggested was really good & a bit different, the croquettes absolutely melted in your mouth, the mushrooms didn’t look much but were very tasty, the chicken special was delicious, in fact it was all lip smacking good. I had also heard that the churros for dessert were to die for so of course I had to try them along with the ganache which we shared between the 3 of us, of my God, as Rach put it, you could come here for dessert alone. The dipping chocolate was so thick & rich & good, it was a shame we ran out of dippin doughnuts & had to leave some & the ganache was exceptionally good too.

All in all it was really, really good & lots more to try in future visits, the menu changes regulary too so always something new to try. Very highly recommended, just remember it is very popular so book at least a week in advance

Movida
1 Hosier Lane, Melbourne
Ph: (03) 9663 3038
www.movida.com.au
Open 7 days 12pm to Late

Jims Greek Tavern – Michaels Birthday

To celebrate Michaels birthday (and his sister Julie born on the same day), we had a great meal at Jims Tavern in Collingwood with the whole family. This place has been here for what seems forever to me, though is actually about 28 years. I have been here many times in the past & when you need something not too fancy – Michael has a very fussy & plain eating brother & dad, it’s just perfect. It’s nice to go somewhere where there are no menus & you can just leave the decisions in the waiter’s hands after indicating your preference for meat, seafood, etc, nice to be able to just enjoy the night & know that a feast will soon be served up. Jim’s is byo & you will not be given a wine glass & instead are left to use the simple water glasses provided, I do not have a problem with this as I’m not hear for a fancy restaurant just good simple food. The décor also is simple taverna style, tables covered with paper tablecloths & very simple crockery/cutlery, the atmosphere makes up for it though, always packed, bustling and noisy with conversation of the diners around you enjoying them selves. Last night was no exception, to start with we had the fairly conventional platters of dips, olives & veggies, saganaki & bbq octopus with baskets overflowing full of warm soft bread to eat it all up with. The dips were very good, the fried cheese with a squeeze of lemon was superb, I could eat slabs of this all by myself I love it so much & the octopus had that lovely charcoal flavour that I love. Next we had some huge grilled prawns, calamari, grilled blue-eye fillets, succulent lamb chops & some shaved lamb with onions & of course Greek salad on the side. The meal was thoroughly enjoyed by all, even the fussy ones! After all of this food we were stuffed silly though so retired back to my place to squeeze in some birthday cake. I would definitely recommend this place to all.

Jims Greek Tavern
32 Johnston St
Collingwood, VIC 3066
Daily 6:00pm-12:00am
Tel: (03) 9419-3827
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Ladro

Last night I went along to the Melbourne Affordable Art show with some girlfriends & had a magnificent time admiring most of the work, laughing in disbelief at others & not understanding the rest! Managed to pick up a piece I am very happy with too so as soon as that decision was made we started on some champagne while wandering around, lucky I had no money left by then as it all looks like the perfect piece for the lounge room wall after 2 glasses of bubbly!

So after working up quite an appetite wandering around & spending all my pennies we headed down to Yeltza for a glass of wine while waiting for our 9.30 table at Ladro which I managed to get them to squeeze us in for. Yeltza was a hive of activity & even the main bar area was becoming packed by the time we left, Thursday night was up & running. I hear they have a great beer garden hidden out the back where you can get some great food, will have to remember to check it out next summer. Great place for a drink anytime of night though.

Next was Ladro, this was the 3rd time I’ve been & finally I managed to bring my camera along. To start with we had some marinated mushrooms which are divine. We couldn’t have the stuffed olives which are to die for as they have been taken off the menu, when I demanded to know why it was explained that they were so good that they couldn’t get people to order any of their other appetisers so they had to go, can you believe it, hopefully they will come back one day? Next I ordered the same thing I have had each time I’ve been as I cant go past it, Duck Ravioli with a lentil sauce (sorry about the blurry photo again!), I love duck, love ravioli, love lentils so have can I not order this, next time I promise to try very hard so I can sample some of their other dishes which I’m sure are all fantastic too. The ravioli is superb, very simple flavours & not rich at all yet in all works wonderfully together. The girls shared the puttanesca pizza which was topped with tomato sauce, cherry tomatoes, anchovies, capers & olives, very good. The pizza are huge, the base is ultra thin & crispy & cooked to perfection in a wood fired oven. The girls were kind enough to share some with me (as I did mine with them) & tasted very yum. On the side we had a mixed leaf salad as there were some specimens included that I was yet to try, chicory, radicchio, rocket, fennel & witlof, think that was all, very nice & simple with a light dressing. I had never seen chicory before & we couldn’t identify it so our lovely friendly very knowledgeable waiter pointed it out for us & even bought us out a whole leaf which you can see I took a photo of for all those others out there as ignorant as me. Was nice, a bit on the bitter side along with the radicchio but mixed with the rest was not too much for me. This was all washed down with some nice Italian Chianti that was recommended.

Anyway after all this food you would think that we would be stuffed right? Wrong, we did a lot of walking around that exhibition floor so dessert to share was called for, a small piece of pistachio nougat & crepes filled with vanilla custard & peaches finished off the night perfectly.

The place is nice & cozy with a modern look & very warm on a cold blustery night like it was & I will say it again our waiter was perfect, attentive, funny & had an answer for us on anything we needed to know & we were an inquisitive bunch last night let me tell you. If you haven’t been seriously give it a go, just remember to book ahead as its very small & always packed

Ladro
224 Gertrude Street
Fitzroy VIC 3065
Ph: 9415 7575

Rustic Olive Bread

Flicking through the latest Gourmet Traveller which I rec’d last night in the mail I noticed this recipe for Rustic Olive Bread & thought it would be great to give it a go. I haven’t baked much bread & love olive bread so thought it was about time I tried to make my own & it should go well with the risotto I’m making for Michael’s mum & sister Julie for dinner tonight.

The recipe is adapted from Stephanie Alexanders in the Cooks Companion so I grabbed that off the shelf & compared the differences. The ingredients are exactly the same & only the method is slightly different. Stephanie’s says to knead the dough on an oiled workbench & the magazine’s says floured. I ended up going with floured as the mixture was quite sticky & felt it needed the extra though as I said I really don’t have much experience so could be wrong. Apart from that Stephanie suggests different shapes you can bake it in, loaf or focaccia.

For the olives I used 2/3 kalamata from a jar that I bought at the supermarket & then when they ran out for the last third I used delicious herb & garlic kalamata olives by Nicolas of Dimboola, I picked these up at the Vic produce market last weekend.

I also kneaded by hand rather than using my electric mixer.

The end result was delicious & will definitely be playing with more bread again soon

Rustic Olive Bread

600gm unbleached ‘00’ (strong) flour
1 tablespoon instant dried yeast
150gm pitted black olives (such as Kalamata) roughly chopped
2 teaspoons finely chopped rosemary
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Sift flour, yeast & salt into a large bowl, stir through olives & rosemary, make a well in the centre & add combined oil & 300ml warm water. Stir to combine. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface & knead with oiled hands (or transfer to an electric mixer with bread hooks) for 15 minutes or until dough is smooth & elastic. Transfr to a lightly oiled bowl, turn to coat, cover with a clean tea towel and stand in a draught free palce for 15 minutes or until doubles in size.

Transfer dough to am oiled baking tray & flatten into a 2-3cm thick rectangle, scatter with sea salt flakes, drizzle with olive oil & rest for 30 minutes. Bake at 220c for 20 minutes or until brown & crisp.

Wedding Anniversary picnic, Lorne

For our 1st wedding anniversary today Michael planned a nice romantic picnic, we picked a spot just off the Great Ocean Road in Lorne, overlooking the waves crashing onto the shore. To celebrate Michael finally put the bottle of 1995 Dom Perignon on ice, it was gorgeous, there is definitely something special about good French champagne, I mean just the thought of it is romantic so luckily it tastes bloody good too!



To go with the champas we had a fine selection of produce that we picked out from the local deli/fruit & veg shop, Yarra Valley fig & Almond paste, Maffra longhorn vintage cheddar, some lovely Cobram estate Olive oil & Malouf’s Classic Egyptian dukkah, dips, kalamata olives, olive bread & a crusty French stick from the bakery, roast chicken, crackers, tomatoes, rocket, grapes, strawberries, chocolate coated apricots, really it was a feast fit for a Queen & no expense was spared. This all made for a luscious romantic day out with my love in a gorgeous setting, Thank you Michael!