Bubbles and Tea for Melbourne Food and Wine Festival

Yesterday, Tim and I went to the Bubbles and Tea event at Café Vic in the Arts Centre, Melbourne as part of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival.  For $45 a head, you received unlimited sparkling wine (bubbles), tea or coffee, a high tea tray and a dessert buffet.

We started with a glass each of Yarra Glen pink sparkling wine:

This was a lovely, sweet drop.  Tim subsequently tried the white version, which he found drier and not as sweet, and much preferred the pink.

Our high tea tray featured two scones each - one plain and one fruit:

I adore the golden glaze on top of the scones. I did find it odd that quite a few people didn't eat the scones, although they are an integral part of a high tea.  The scones could be liberally slathered with berry jam and cream, which was on every table:

On the bottom of our tea tray were two mini meat pies each - one shepherds pie and one beef pie:

My favourite was the shepherds pie with lamb mince and a potato crust.

As a high tea demands, the bottom tier of the tray also featured ribbon sandwiches in chicken and mayo, egg  and lettuce, and salmon with mustard and capers:

My favourite was the salmon; the chicken version was a little too chunky for my liking.  Oddly, the people on the table next door to us ate neither their scones nor their sandwiches, the two key components of a high tea.  It seemed a shame to me, but I guess it's their money and they can do as they please.

If you still had room after the high tea tray had been polished off (I didn't, but I made room), there was an extensive dessert buffet.  I tried a lemon curd filled, meringue topped éclair, a coffee macaron and a crème brulee: 

I was not a fan of the éclair, but I adored the crème brulee with its crunchy top and smooth as silk custard.

The very odd part about this high tea was that the tea part was very hard to procure.  The couple on the table next to us seemed to get coffees out of the blue, and they informed me that they had gone to the counter to order them.  I followed suit and was dismissed with the statement that the waitress in our section would take our order.  Problem was, there was no waitress in our section at all.  After seeing several more people mysteriously procure tea and coffee, I went back to the counter and spoke to a different person, who took my order.  Two cups (no pot) of English breakfast duly arrived after that: 

It would be usual for them to have taken our orders at the table when they delivered the tea trays.  It was therefore a little disappointing to only get tea as the last thing that I had, and only after two attempts to procure it.

Despite the irregularity with the tea service, Tim and I enjoyed our high tea experience. Special mention goes to the waitress who delivered the sparkling wine, who was smiling and friendly, and made us feel welcome. Taking high tea was a lovely way to spend a rather hot Melbourne afternoon, inside in the air conditioning and away from the Moomba crowds.

Bavarian Plum Cake (Zwetschgendatschi)

One of the best things about summer is the fruit that is available.  Summer fruit is plentiful, varied and features my personal favourites, mangoes and cherries.

Summer has sadly passed here for another year and we are into early autumn.  We are still getting some nice days, but the sun is rising much later, and the mornings and evenings are markedly cooler.

Plums are stone fruit that are at their peak in summer.  The last of the plums are still in the stores, so I decided to seize the day and buy some plums to make a recipe that I have longed to make since last August from Gesine Bullock-Prado's G Bakes! website.  The recipe is for Zwetschgendatschi, a Bavarian plum cake.   I would describe this cake as being more like a tart, as it comprises a pie dough base topped with nothing but sliced plums and sugar.

Some versions of Zwetschgendatschi feature a yeasted dough base instead of the pie dough, but personally, as a lover of pie over bread, I choose the pie dough base.  It is the easiest dough in the world to make - you just wazz everything up in the food processor, and the dough is pressed, not rolled, into the tart pan.  For the record, I left out the condensed milk and added ice water instead.

For the filling, I was unable to obtain damson plums, so I used dapple dandy pluots (yeah, crazy name!).  I also could not get the hang of separating the halves so that they still hang together at one end, like Gesine suggested, because I had to twist the two halves to get the stones out, which separated the halves completely.

I was pretty pleased with the end result:

This tart is not particularly sweet - in fact, it is slightly on the tart side.  However, I thought it was delicious, especially given how simple it was to make.

It is a long weekend for Labour Day here in Melbourne, so I am looking forward to relaxing and doing not much.  Have a great weekend folks.

FFWD - Two Tartines from Le Croix Rouge

For this week's French Friday with Dorie, I think it is more descriptive to borrow Trevor's description and tell you that it is "stuff on toast".  There - much easier to conceptualise than "two tartines from Le Croix Rouge", although I don't think Dorie's publishers would have allowed her to call it that.

At the top of this post, we have tartine number one, being the Norwegian one - whole wheat bread sliced thickly, toasted on one side, buttered (I used cream cheese) then topped with smoked salmon slices, capers, lemon, salt and pepper.

I loved this - something to definitely make again.

Tartine number two is the St Germain version - whole wheat bread sliced thickly, toasted on one side,  slathered with mayo, sprinkled with chopped gherkins and topped with thin slices of roast beef, and seasoned with salt and pepper:

Again, this was a winner.  I have negative thoughts about gherkins until I eat them, then I have no idea why I ever thought badly of them.  They are sweet and luscious, and add a nice textural element to this tartine.

There you have it -  stuff on toast two ways. To see what the other Doristas thought, visit the LYL section of the FFWD website.

Holgate Brewhouse, Woodend, Victoria

 

A couple of weekends ago, Tim and I spent the weekend in Woodend, a country town in the Macedon Ranges region of Victoria.  On our first night, we drove into town looking for a likely place for dinner.  We couldn't go past the prominent Holgate Brewhouse looming large on the main street.

 

The Holgate Brewhouse does gourmet pub grub, and has its own range of craft beers.

 

There is a great range of snacks and sharing plates at the Holgate Brewhouse.  Tim and I decided to start with one of those in the form of grilled chorizo, topped with parmesan ($10):

 

 
What's not to like about spicy grilled sausage?

Mains were a difficult choice, because I could have eaten everything on the menu.  In the end, Tim chose the generously portioned and exotic-sounding venison, duck and bacon burger with tomato, wild rocket, kasundi (no, I don't know what it is either), onion marmalade, cranberry mayo and chips ($20):  

 
This looked amazing, and Tim rather enjoyed it.  However, given its size, I was glad that I opted for the slightly less generous pork sausages with caramelised onion gravy and celeriac mash ($20):

 
See how rich that gravy looks?  If you can imagine how good that tastes, that's what it was like - superb.

We had a great night in the convivial farmhouse-themed atmosphere, with fast and efficient service from the bar staff.  If you happen to pass through Woodend, the Holgate Brewhouse is a great place for a meal and to have a relaxing time.

Holgate Brewhouse
79 High Street
Woodend, Victoria
Ph: +61 3 5427 2510

WWDH - Carrot and Parsnip Fritters with Goats Cheese

This week's Wednesday with Donna Hay dish was chosen by Chaya.  She selected Carrot and Parsnip Fritters with Marinated Goats Cheese.  The recipe for these fritters is available online here.

I made big fritters instead of the small ones in the recipe because I couldn't be bothered fussing around with heaps of small ones.  I also skipped the rocket.

I thought these fritters were a little bland - I think I should have maybe fried them a little longer, and added a little more seasoning. 

To see what Chaya, Sarah and Margaret thought of these fritters, visit their websites.

Chocolate and Stout Cake for Peter

Friday was my colleague Peter's last day.  To send him off on a high, I made a Chocolate and Stout Cake using this recipe from the BBC.

Here is the cake fresh out of the oven (you can see that it stuck a little on one edge):

I found that the cake slightly rose above my 9" inch pan, so I recommend using a deep pan or a 10" pan.

The icing was a bit of a nightmare to work with and required much hot water knifing to whip into shape:

I decorated the cake with chocolate rocks and writing icing rather than nuts.

The resulting cake is deep, dark and delicious: 

If you enjoy a rich chocolatey cake that is not overly sweet, this one is for you.

Ham and Egg Pie

I always find that "dishes that mother made" are comforting.  They remind me of a simpler time when Mum made all the meals.  One of the things that she made and still makes is a delicious ham and egg pie.  The recipe, originally for a bacon and egg pie, came from my kindergarten's cookbook, and it morphed into Mum's recipe through her changes.

I had a piece of ham that I wanted to use up, so I asked Mum to send me the recipe for her ham and egg pie.  I made my own change by replacing the shortcrust pastry with filo to lighten it up, and leaving out the tomato in the original recipe.

This pie is easy and quick to make with ingredients you are likely to have around the house, and makes a hearty meal.

 

 

To make this pie (as adapted by me), you will need:

 

4 sheets of filo pastry

25 g butter

200g piece of leg ham (or use 4 bacon rashers)

1 onion, finely chopped

3 beaten eggs

1 1/2 cups milk

salt, and pepper to taste

1 tablespoon mustard

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

 

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

 

Spray a 9" deep pie dish with cooking oil spray.  Place one sheet of filo into the base of the dish, then brush it with butter, place the next sheet of filo on top, and continue with the remaining two sheets in the same way.  Trim the pastry as necessary.

 

Chop the ham into small (~1") cubes.  Beat the eggs and milk together in a medium bowl, then stir through the ham, onion, salt, pepper and mustard.  (Also add chopped tomato if you like.)  Pour this mixture into the pastry-lined pie dish, then sprinkle the top with the grated cheese.

 

 Place the pie in the oven, and bake for 30-40 minutes or until set. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for around 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

 

You can eat this versatile pie warm or cold.  Serve it with a salad for an easy light meal.