I hope your plans so far have allowed you a little time to enjoy the simple pleasures of Summer; a perfectly ripe peach, garden plucked strawberries or a midweek alfresco dinner. No doubt everyone has a rather long ‘to do’ list over the next couple of weeks but I’m hoping time with friends and delicious food is sitting at the top of it. I know we can help out with the later!
It has been such an exhilarating time leading up to Christmas having Fiona Roberts from Sydney, ex London, working with me for 6 weeks on Research and Development. To have Fiona come into the organisation and have the ability to ‘get into my head’ immediately with so little time spent together, showed a wonderful synchrony that had us instantly brainstorming immeasurable ideas. Fiona accomplished so much for me in formulating new ideas for new directions. Not only was she able to ‘read’ my palette and follow through my thoughts, she brought to the table original, creative (and delicious!) thoughts of her own. And after a very successful meeting with Neil Perry and the Qantas team at Rockpool, to present 8 new products that Fiona and I had been working on for business and first class (of which 5 were accepted) I hope it’s the start of many such sojourns for her in the Valley.
It really has been a time for foody visitors because as well as having Fiona in the Valley, I have just enjoyed time ( albeit brief ) with another of my food obsessed friends, Skye Gyngell who, you may recall from previous newsletters, runs the Petersham Cafe in Surrey in the UK.
My great friend (and publisher) Julie Gibbs organised to pick up Skye and her photographer Lisa Barker from the airport and drove them to the Valley for their first ever visit here.
We met at the Farm Shop and tasted lots of goodies, quickly went home to drop off luggage and then a trip to Angaston to Antiques and More at 24, the shop run by friends Aaron Penley and Graham Butler. A shopping frenzy of superb old treasures and then to home to cook and talk food incessantly.
I had some Kangaroo Island marron that I served with a basil butter, some small squid I poached in extra virgin olive oil with preserved lemon, onions, breadcrumbs, parsley and anchovies with a parsley salad. And a beautiful Barossa chook simply roasted with fresh garlic cloves, verjuice and a tarragon butter. To finish off, a great sabayon we mixed with fresh cream to have with poached nectarines in a sangiovese syrup. Always happy to jump in when it comes to food, Skye created a free form trifle by crushing some tiny Italian amaretti biscuits and layering all the ingredients. Finishing off with what was to be squares of verjuice jelly but as it hadn't set in time in was more like blobs of verjuice jelly!
And would you believe we talked food all night!
As part of the Adelaide Food awards on December 4th, Simon Wilkinson of the Advertiser asked if Simon Bryant and I would be interested in contributing the finger food for 70 or so guests. Simon offered to do the majority of the work from the Hilton kitchens with the concept that he and I would barbecue the balance of the food in front of the gathered throng. Seemed like a really easy idea so I took down 2 kg. of quail legs already in a marinade of extra virgin olive oil, preserved lemon and rosemary and proceeded to try to barbecue out on the roof of the Advertiser. Well, the wind was coming exactly into my face for the whole of the time and I cursed the idea roundly but a great night was had by all nevertheless! The wins of the night that stuck in my mind were:
Best Italian - Assagio
Best Restaurant - Bridgewater Mill
Best Chef - Timothy White of the Manse in North Adelaide
Best Regional Restaurant - Appellation of the Barossa
All very worthy of a visit!
Last month I discovered I had no idea just how beautiful Bang & Olufsen equipment is when I was asked to host a cocktail party in their store at David Jones. I was blown away with seeing episodes I had missed of ‘Cook and the Chef’ on their digital TV. I’d never thought I needed to upgrade my TV until then! Technology has never really been my ‘thing’ I must be honest, but combine that information and showcasing with delicious food and I’m there! Sarah Goodwin, my right hand in everything, pulled the evening together with my daughters Elli and Saskia. With Saskia in the kitchen preparing the nibbles for the cocktail party, Sarah was delegated to keep me out of the kitchen because I have to admit, I am a control freak and have the tendency to ‘take over’! We had plenty of Barossa wines on the night but also coerced everyone to try a glass of Desert Pearls, which was a great success, some of the guests decided it was so good they kept a glass in hand for the entire evening. As it was also the week that our new Duck and Vino Cotto Pate was released Australia-wide, we made sure Bang & Olufsen’s guests had the first glance of that too. All in all a most successful evening and not one fight in the family!
Best wishes for a delightful Christmas and New Year,
Speaking of helping out with delicious things.. you still have time to grab one of Maggie’s delectable Christmas puds. With a liberal dose of port and an extravagant amount of fruit these luscious puddings have a natural sweetness and true fruit flavour with no need for any sugar. Pass the brandy butter please!
We know exactly how to get around gift giving for the person who has everything.. Just grab a hamper with Maggie’s completely exclusive products. Tastes you can’t possibly get anywhere else!
With our recent glowing reports from Robert Parker we couldn’t wait until our new vintages were released. And now they have been. And they’re good. Really good.
Limited Release White Port.. oh, how to choose?
Congratulations to Audrey Wilson who is the very happy winner of our Cook and the Chef competition. Bravo Audrey, enjoy the bounty of goodies and the superb ( and completely unique ) collection of recipes. Watch this space for next year’s competition when The Cook and the Chef returns 14th February 2007!
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