Fit for a Baron..

Amongst the many wonderful events of late has been the Baron’s Lunch which I enjoyed contributing to on Sunday 7th October. The Barons of Barossa is a Wine Fraternity, founded in 1974 to promote the winemaking and viticulture industries of the Barossa and for the preservation of its heritage and traditions. In 1992 I was one of three women to be the first inducted as Barons, along with Hazel Mader (whom I reference in Maggie’s Table) and Helen Hill-Smith ( of Yalumba fame). This year for the lunch I teamed up with 3 newly appointed Barons; Michael Angelakis (fish merchant), Mark McNamara (Appellation’s Chef) and Peter Clarke (Vintner’s Chef) with each of us preparing a course for the feast. I chose beautifully fresh oysters and served them in their shell, setting them in a verjuice jelly with chervil, eschalotte and a tiny bit of lemon zest with an avocado salad. Louisa Rose of Yalumba winemaking fame, another new Baron, was responsible for the Yalumba Sauvignon Blanc I paired it with. Delicious, and just perfect for the warmer weather ahead.

Diary of a Bon Vivant cont..

I think I left off on the Friday morning in my last newsletter so here’s what happened from lunchtime onwards..

We had lunch in a great example of Parisian bistro..sat on small tables outside and had a really good meal. I had Tuna Nicoise then a tripe dish. The tripe was melt in the mouth luscious.


As we only finished lunch at 4 p.m. the thought of dining out was just too much. We cancelled our reservation at ‘Flora’, which from all accounts is a real shame as it is a true gastronomic experience. I’ve no regrets though as we’ll do that next time because you really must go to a restaurant hungry.

Instead we walked for several hours, the sun now shining in the late very early Paris summer afternoon and arrived back near the hotel about 7 p.m. and made a bee line for the oyster bar around the corner.

Seldom have I enjoyed oysters more. A truly stylish and tiny bar with such attention to detail. We shared a dozen oysters they opened for us from the coast near Bordeaux. They were large and ‘meaty’ and in perfect condition. They were served with brown bread; butter; lemon and a dish of red wine vinegar and eschalottes chopped very finely. Colin had a glass of Sancerre and I chose a Chablis. These were good wines (and that isn’t as common as you find it in Australia) and the marriage of the Chablis and oysters could not have been better. We sat for a while with that lingering irony flavour in the mouth that is so sustaining and thought ourselves fairly clever.

Then we undid it all because we thought we’d just slip into Mulot’s for a slice of foie gras and a bread roll to finish with but there were so many things to tempt us (all in the pursuit of knowledge of course!). As well as the foie gras we bought a slice of Pintade (guinea fowl) Terrine en croute; a Saucisson in Brioche and a few slices of tomato they had with some bocconcini.
To gild the lily earlier in the day we’d bought from Mulot’s a mille-feuille to have as an afternoon snack and hadn’t the time to eat it. So we shared this oozingly luscious ‘vanilla slice’, to coin an Aussie phrase, with as fine and crisp a puff pastry as I have ever eaten.

Considering this ‘picnic’ in the room, with a half bottle of red of course, was because we were too full to go to dinner, you can see that Paris can absolutely undo you!

The Cook and the Chef Takeaway..

To celebrate Maggie’s return to the screens for a second series of ‘The Cook and the Chef’ you will automatically go into the draw for a ' Cook and the Chef - Summer’ DVD with any online purchase over $80.00 for the month of October. Of course the DVD is now also available for you to purchase for your own collection. TV just got yummier!