The Boy is back in Town

Tapas Off

The most recent in a line-up of offs, (See Pie off, and Curry off) The Tapas Off was a roaring success, I think we have mastered the little bites of food and often for offs rather than large meals.

With 7 of us taking part there were many tasty morsels to be had, Starting with a Mezze plate (or is that more Turkish?) Slivers of melt in your mouth prosciutto, a crumbly mature Cheddar, olives, crusty bread, and Andrew had pickled Sardines which came out fantastic and octopus with not so much success!


L&T made stuffed mushrooms, My mum says "Life is too short to stuff mushrooms" Even if it takes a while theses were delish!


Andrew deep fried white bait, white bait are tasty but the tiny bones were a bit disconcerting, best when straight out of the hot oil.

The Boy made Empanadas, he even made the dough (pastry?) they actually turned out a little like Cornish pasties. very tasty.

Oh dear these were Bad. Andrew bought a Tapas book and this looked so strange we said he had to make them, Not sure what they were called but I believe the combination of dates, brandy, chili, and blue cheese wrapped in prosciutto, should never be touched again. disgusting.

Prawns wrapped in prosciutto a much better plan!

The Boy made Spicy meatballs cooked in a sofrito sauce. The meatballs had a hidden cheesy gooey centre. The boy did a practice run with these and did half with cheese and half without. once cooked you couldn't tell which were which and after my 4 for tea I had all non-cheese filled. For lunch and other 4 non-cheese filled. finally for lunch on day 2 I found a cheese filled one! delish. on the night they were all stuffed with cheese to avoid disappointment.

L&T cooked spicy chicken wings with a yogurt and turmeric oil dip (please correct me if I got that wrong) we all made a mess as we ate them. Really good.

L&T had slow roasted the Pork Belly on a bed of fennel at home and just warmed it up on the night, this was melt in the mouth succulent and juicy. I'm not usually a fan of pork belly because of how fatty it is, but the slow roasting had broken down the fat and just left beautiful meat.

Chris cooked up whole spicy paprika prawns, I believe there was a lot of butter involved in the cooking, really tasty prawn meat just waiting to pop out of their shells, I'm sure when I was up in Darwin someone showed me a trick to getting prawns out of the shell it was so easy and fast and simple and then i had a few more beers and now I can't remember it at all. Another messy dish!

Ah! my dish was a combination of 2 recipes. I was aiming for a frozen vodka gazpacho! I combined a frozen vodka tomato soup recipe and a gazpacho recipe and ended up with a savoury slushy that was really weird. A complete flop and not the palate cleanser I was aiming for!

Finally Karen russeled up a HUGE Paella, the special paella pan creates a crunch crust on the bottom as it cooks, I'd never seen paella made before, the main ingredients are sauted off in the pan and then the rice and stock are simmered together in the pan until the rice has absorbed all the stock. There are many rules about stiring to create the perfect cruncy bottom. Karens version was great but it was small portions all round as we had eaten quite a lot already!

Thanks guys for a fantastic evening, what shall the next off be?

The Stag, Rundle Street

Friday Late night shopping can really wear you out. We went looking for food on Rundle Street and decided to try The Stag I've had the cone of chips here before and loved the cone holder they bring to the table, It advertises itself as Adelaide's worst vegetarian restaurant, due to the quantity of meat on it's menu.

The boy went the Jucy Lucy ($20) at the recommendation of the girl behind the bar. The Jucy Lucy is a cheeseburger with the cheese inside the beef pattie.

I went the Chili Lime Chicken($26), Half a chicken marinated in Chili and Lime served with chips.

Unfortunately neither of us thought our food was great. The Jucy Lucy was really greasy, which I guess it to be expected but there was no salad or anything to cut the grease just bun-burger-bun. I was a little worried when I ordered the Chicken that it would be too big or too spicy, I asked the girl behind the bar if it was very spicy, her response of "I dunno" showed she couldn't care less. It arrived and was quite small and not spicy at all, it was a really sweet coating, and the flavour was only on the skin it hadn't made it into the meat at all, more like a glaze than a marinade.

I have to admit that the chicken was cooked well, nice, juicy and tender with a crispy skin. But very disappointing meal, afraid we won't be heading back.


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Kedgeree

When I first came to Adelaide I lived with the Boy and his parents., To say thank you for putting me up I decided to cook a Traditional Scottish tea, Kedgeree.

I love the Flavours, Colours and textures of Kedgeree, It’s a dish that when set on the table back home, you could promise we were wiping out the bowl at the end of the meal!

I headed up to the Fishmonger up in Blackwood and asked for Smoked Haddock, The Fishmonger looked at me as if I was insane and said “Ha-D-ock?” yes “Haddock!” “Ha-D-ock? No, Not heard of that one” I was flummoxed, I hadn’t been long in Australia and I hadn’t figured out, different hemisphere, different Fish! I bought some smoked cod that day and made not too bad a Kedgeree (nowhere near as good as Mum’s obviously) The boys Parents were delighted.


Could hardly believe my eyes when earlier last week I was passing Fish out of Water on King William Rd and saw Smoked Haddock, from the Harris Smokehouse, How could I resist?

The best Recipe I have seen for Kedgeree is in a Jamie Oliver book, but I don’t have that book and can’t remember the name. This time I used a Recipe from “The Breakfast Book” by Dianna Troy as a guideline.

240g cooked flaked smoked Haddock
240g cooked Rice
2 small onion (I used half an onion)
2tsp Turmeric (I used a small shake)
1 tsp Curry Powder
Juice of one Lemon (Skipped it, had none)
120g butter, (used a little bit to fry onion, not much and probably should have used less)
2 hard boiled Eggs (I used 3)


First I cooked my Fish, The only way I know how, Simmer it gently in milk.


Put the Eggs on to boil, and cook the rice.
Fry of the onion, gently over a low heat until translucent stir through the curry powder and Turmeric


Flake fish and stir through onion, stir through the same amount of Rice, Peal Egg Roughly chop and Add,


I add a good handful of Parsley and Coriander, The Coriander goes very well.


Finally serve with Lashings of Tomato Sauce on the side! The ultimate accompaniment.
This tastes of home and childhood, happy memories and family, what could be better.

Lamb Leftover

I needed a little pick me up happiness after a bad day at work.

I called the boy at his office and said we should go out for tea, he reminded me that our fridge is full of leftovers.

It’s amazing what you can do with leftovers when you actually try.


Leftover boiled potatoes roasted in hot olive oil seasoned with rosemary, thyme, dried basil and salt


Individual Cauliflower cheese – Cauliflower steamed in Microwave while I whisked up a cheese sauce with a big tablespoon of Dijon mustard, and a little parmesan.


Peas Steamed in Microwave


Leftover Lamb re-heated in Bisto and redwine sauce

This is one of the nicest meals we have had in ages (and we don’t eat bad)
It always helps when it’s joined with a nice bottle of bubbles.

McLaren Vale Wine Tour -d'Arenberg

A few weeks ago I awoke extremely early for a Sunday morning and headed out to McLaren Vale with a great group of friends to celebrate C's 33rd Birthday. Our first stop was d'Arenberg



d'Arenberg is located in a beautiful building, surrounded by vines. the Building is split in two, Restaurant on one side and most importantly the cellar door on the other. The cellar door is warmed by an open fire and has a very long bar to cater for the many samplers.


I've never seen so many wines on tasting in one cellar door. We did our best to try them all but with a whole day of wine drinking(ahem, Tasting) ahead after trying most of the whites I cherry picked a few reds to try.


I had a wonderful Idea that I would photograph all the really tasty ones and then I would have a record of which ones I liked!! The first to get photoed was the feral fox, Pinot Noir. Unfortunately my plan went out the window here as I took the photo before I tried it! The label was just so pretty.
It's strange, after years of buying cheap wine in bottle shops I had decided that the prettier the label the worse the wine (The worst wine I ever tried was in Edinburgh, I can't remember the name but it came in a metallic pink bottle and had a silhouette of a girl dancing, Very cool bottle very bad wine). If it's a good wine it doesn't need a fancy label to sell it.
I'm not sure if that works in Australia. This wine was tasty and the penguin wine guide gave it 91 points which is apparently a good thing.


Next up was The Wild Pixie, (95% Shiraz, 5% Roussanne) I'd never heard of the Roussanne grape before, I liked it. I also liked that the fruit are foot trod! just think of those purple toes!


This was my favorite from d'Arenberg The Derelict Vineyard, Grenache.
This was light and tasty with flavours that made your mouth watter. A vineyard was discovered overgrown and unattended, the vine was nursed back to life and this is the wine it produces. mmmm.


Lastly who can go past a bubbly red. Peppermint Paddock fills you with bubbles perfect on a summers day or in this case a cold autumns day warming up by the fire.



Thanks to Robyn's Southern Spirit Tours who were our guides and Drivers. Everyone had a great day definitely one to do again.

Ristorante Pinocchio, Unley Rd

Me and the boy headed out for Dinner the other night to Unley Road. I really fancied Asian food and there are a couple of nice restaurants there I fancy trying.

However the menu and fantastic atmosphere of Ristorante Pinocchio changed my mind and had me craving Italian instead.

The Restaurant is quite new to the Unley Strip (I think it used to be an internet cafe, but the renovations make it un-recognisable) The furniture is wonderfully solid, big heavy chairs selection of small and huge long tables make it perfect for couples or large groups. The fresh white walls are decorated with colourful Pinocchio paraphernalia of all shapes and sizes from days gone by.


It was a cold night so we started with a bottle of Italian red to warm us from the inside out! I think it was a Zinfandel although I can't quite remember, the Fruity blackcurenty flavours still linger strongly in my mind.


The menu was vast and so were our appetites! We ordered Antipasto 'La Fraschetta' for starter and both ordered Specials for main.


The Antipasto ($17.90) was a lovely way to start the meal, little tastes which left you longing for more. I'm not sure what the little fish were (Maybe sardines?) but the salty tang combined with the marinated mushrooms was fantastic! And the prosciutto was melt in the mouth but not wafer thin.


I tried an olive (which I thought was very brave!) and it wasn't as strong as others I've attempted but I'm just not an olive fan. I think the seeds are cardamon seeds? The boy likes them and did his best to eat our fair share!


The Salmon was a replacement for the Tuna special which had sold out (I liked that they had a replacement option available as often once it's gone it's gone...too bad!) The Salmon was grilled and served with a Truffle butter and steamed vegetables (we thought the waitress had said roasted veg so we didn't order a side of potatoes. and It was a little on the small side without ordering the side, next time we will know better).


I finally decided on the Umbricelli alla Bolognese ($24.00) Homemade pasta, like a thick spaghetti, tossed in a slow cooked veal and pork bolognese. mmmm. The pasta was quite al dente and had a really nice flavour to it, I'm not sure I've ever had homemade pasta before? The sauce had a lovely rich meaty flavour and not as tomato-y as I was expecting.

Definatly a place we will go back to.


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Pinocchio Ristorante
50 Unley Road (Opposite Boho)
Parkside
Tel: 0414157974
e-mail: edoterni@yahoo.it

Open Lunch- Tue-Fri 12.00 - 3.00pm
Dinner- Tue-Sat 6.00 - late

Breakfast at ETC (East Terrace Continental)

East Terrace Continental (ETC) is probably my favorate breakfast place in Adelaide.


The boy took me here when I first arrived in Adelaide. I ordered a ETC works, full breakfast, when it arrived I cut my first peice of bacon and my breafast ended up upside down on the floor. I started my very British appologising,"Oh dear, no it was my fault, dreadfully sorry..." when the waitress whisked it away and appeard a few moment s later with a new breakfast from the kitchen. I was so Impressed with the service I have recomended this place time and time again.


Today was no disapointment, We ordered breakfast at the front counter and impressivly quickly it arrived at the table.



I ordered the ETC Full breakfast.


The boy ordered the Mixed Grill


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East Terrace Continental
6 East Terrace
Adelaide 5000
Tel:08 8359 2255

Hours: 7am-4pm 7days
Breakfast: 7am-3.45 Lunch 11am-3.45