food geek

The Ark of Taste

~ maireaddoyle ~ Leave a comment

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Back around the other side of the convent, Orlando and I entered the Ark of Taste. It was all quite mysterious: we queued for about ten minutes to get in, and stood in a dark confined space surrounded by red velvet curtains whilst a woman called Astrid explained what we were about to see.

The idea of the Ark of Taste is to try and protect some of the world’s food which are endangered. The International Ark Guidelines state that to be accepted onto the Ark of Taste all products must be:

– Outstanding in terms of taste
– Endangered or underthreat
– Related to or part of the history of a group of people
– Related to or part of the history of a place
– In limited production

Inside, we were given tasting implements (spoon, dipping stick etc.) and wandered from stand to stand tasting and hearing about the many foods which are endangered.

An elderly lady from the Australian Countrywomen’s Association explained that backing skills were being lost as so many people were too busy and relied on shop-bought cakes and sponge mixes instead of using the old methods. She patiently explained not to “go at your sponge mix like a bull at a gate” but to stir it gently so as not to remove the air from the mixture. Certainly the sample I tried was as light as a feather.

The aged beef was unbelievably tender and full of flavour. I asked the man what the ideal time was to hang beef, and how long the usual supermarket meat had been hung. His reply was that three to six weeks was a good time to age beef, whilst the stuff we buy in the supermarket was so fresh it was “still yelling” as he put it.

The leatherwood honey from Tasmania had a distinct smoky flavour to it. The rare smoked eelhad a distinctive and delicious taste.

A poignant stall showed Mount Emu cheese which used to be made in rural Victoria, by introducing a particular mould into the cheese making process. When the cheese-maker’s lease expired they had to move to new premises, and the new local council would not allow them to use this particular mould for health and safety reasons. Without it, the cheese was no longer special. The last of these amazing cheeses were manufactured in 2004, and the cheese maker has not gone out of business permanently. And we think that the EU has the monopoly on bureaucracy.

Orlando got chatting to a man called George from up near Albury on the border with NSW. He was there with his wife and daughter. The daughter had just graduated and was finding it as hard as we had to get a job in Melbourne, where who you know is more important that what you know. The man’s sister and brother-in-law had a stall in the Ark of Taste with locally-produced fortified wines, a fino, an amontillado and an oloroso. We tasted all three and Mena squirreled two of their tiny tasting glasses away in her pockets.

I tasted some real butter, made from the milk of a single jersey herd, and never frozen like the mass-produced butter we buy. What a completely different taste.

Slow Saturday

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Saturday started with a walk to the train station to meet Sam and Amanda for the trip to the annual Taste of Slow festival at Abbotsford Convent. We met up with Mena at Flinders Street, then managed to get on the wrong train: an express train to the slow food festival. We sat helpless as the train rushed past our destination station, before getting off some time later and flagging down a local bus heading back in the opposite direction. However, with our Slow attitudes firmly in place we did not worry.

The queue to get in was already lengthy. Sam (not a patient man) was anxious to get going, his Slow attitude already beginning to slip. The sun same and went and the weather looked changeable. In time we paid our money and got our plastic bracelets, and we were in.

The original intention was to do a leisurely circuit of the grounds, then get a coffee and make a plan. This was destroyed within moments of entering.

“Ooh, the beer tent.”
“Ooh, Mount Langi Ghiran winery.”
“What’s that over there?”
“Where is that amazing smell coming from?”

Within 15 minutes two people had glasses of wine and a platter of cheese in their hands, I had bought some Australian spices from Spice Bazaar for my Blog by Mail care package, and we were all looking longingly at the Angus Beef kebabs and mashed potatoes on the Tasmania stand.

 

Mena discovered a man from Northern Ireland selling steamed mussels and ordered some. She came back to our outdoor table with a dreamy smile, remembering his lovely accent. I went over to enquire, and ordered some too. I thought he was Canadian, perhaps from Nova Scotia. “It’s all the same”, remarked Mena. Then I asked him. He was Danish, and had spent a lot of time in California. How wrong could we have been? The mussels took forever, and were eaten in less than a minute, but they were divine washed down with a glass of All Saints shiraz.

Orlando and Sam disappeared and came back with Angus beef kebabs.

Sam and Amanda opened the cheese pack and an impromptu picnic ensued. Amanda had managed to nip back to the Mount Langi Ghiran winery tent and was drinking my favourite wine.

We managed to drag ourselves away to check out more stands, but Mena and I came back minutes later with prawn and barramundi fishcakes from the Queensland Slow Food tent. We tried the delicious Hope Bakery breads and promised to come back later and buy some (they sold out within three hours).

Around in the kitchen garden children played amongst the lettuce plants and more stalls nestled under the cloisters.

People sat and ate on hay bales. We bumped into my workmate Bernard and his wife. As the rain finally fell, we tasted the most divine chilli chutney from Susan Neville. I couldn’t resist a jar.

Next to her, more Tasmanian produce: soft cheese with capsicum, thyme and black pepper had to be purchased.

If only we’d bought that bread

Friday

~ maireaddoyle ~ Leave a comment

Our gourmet weekend started on Friday evening with a visit to our favourite local Vietnamese restaurant with friends. Thien An was the first local eatery Orlando and I visited when we moved here. Its multicoloured chairs and canteen feel were welcoming on a cold spring evening. Six of us squeezed in beside another couple, in such close proximity that the lady beside me formally introduced herself (Chris), and when leaving, thanked us for a lovely evening. There is no standing on ceremony here.

We chose Thien An’s famous Vietnamese rice paper rolls or spring rolls to start, then variously selected noodle soup or fried noodle dishes to follow. All the food was delicious, freshly made with the freshest of ingredients. We washed it all down with green tea served from stainless steel flasks to keep it warm.

your favourite sandwich fillings

~ maireaddoyle ~ Leave a comment

>Turkey and provolone with lettuce, tomato, onions and cucumber

Grainy brown bread, sliced buffalo mozz, sliced fresh tomatoes, a few chopped sundried tomatoes and avocado with lots of ground black pepper and a scrape of mayo on the bread

Turkey, with american chees, lettuce, onions, green peppers and tomato (no seasonings) on a footlong honey oat sub

Tuna with a little creamy mayonnaise, slices of tomato, boiled egg, a little tapenade and baby spinach leaves or roquette

Tinned tuna mixed with pizza express dressing, cherry toms black pepper in the sarnie with rocket

Roast lamb, mayo and salad (with pickled onions and cold sliced roast potato

Sandwich, smoked ham, strong cheddar, tomato relish with mayo and lettuce.

Avocado, mozarella,sundried tomatoes, basil and a tiny bit of olive oil

BLT, with proper back bacon and mayonnaise

Sun Dried Tomatoes, strong salami, and avocado with a little olive oil

Thick sliced bread, chips, salt and butter with Econa West Indian Hot Chilli Sauce

Although sometimes its mozzarella, tomato and basil, ideally with pesto.

“Club” bagel filling in itsaBagel (incl Chicken Breast, Mayonnaise, Red Onion Marmalade, Brie Cheese)

Ham, cheese, mustard, coleslaw

Cold – cheese salad (lettuce, cucumber and tomato) but must be mature cheedar and proper floppy lettuce (non of this iceberg stuff) with salad cream not mayo.

Chicken and Chorizo with Jalapeños and pepper sauce

Turkey, cranberry, cheese and rocket toasted

Cheese and salad. No tomoatoe but with Avocado and olives

Avocado, chicken, goats cheese, spinach

Avocado chicken salad

Bacon (heated), SWISS cheese and coleslaw

I think it has to be egg mayonnaise and crispy bacon

Fish fingers, cottage cheese & spring onion

Crayfish, Avocado & Salad

BLT

Strong Cheddar, a bit of chopped spring onion and mayonnaise

Toasted chicken, cheese, avocado on rye

Tuna, anchovies and black olives

Chicken, avocado and mayo

Cream cheese, smoked salmon and capers

Tuna and sweet corn mayo

BLT

Cold – Cheese, salad & pickle

Ham & Cheese with mayo

Egg mayonnaise

Egg mayonnaise

Sleeze and tickle (I think she means cheese and pickle!)

Bacon and egg from the roadside roach coach washed down with a big cuppa

And occasionally it’s smoked salmon and cream cheese.

Grilled crispy bacon and fried egg

Egg sandwiches made with Heinz salad cream not mayonnaise

Croissant, blue cheese (camboz or stilton) and granny smith apples thinly sliced.

Hot – hot lamb with mayo in a crusty roll

Vegemite and mature cheddar for me

Curried egg and lettuce

Egg & Lettuce

peanut butter and honey

chicken and bacon

Hot – Bacon and philidelphia

Tuna

Banana

Peanut butter

BACON

Roasted chicken

Coronation chicken

the humble sandwich

~ maireaddoyle ~ Leave a comment

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“Ask not what you can do for your country.

Ask what’s for lunch.”

Orson Welles

Given the name of my blog, I thought it fitting that my first non-recipe posting would be about a subject close to my own heart – the sandwich.

I’ve always been a bit of a cheap date. When presented with a world of amazing and delicious food, I will often find myself focusing on the bread or the potatoes or the rice. Not sure if it is something in my own family history, or the spectre of the Irish famine still hovering over me. Or maybe I just love bread.

We in the Western world have a terrible reputation. Unlike those Mediterranean countries where everybody stops for two hours at lunchtime, we are known for grabbing a sandwich at our desks without stopping our work.

Sad, it seems. But I don’t know. As somebody who spends most of her waking life obsessed with food, my lunchtime sandwich means a lot to me. It is an oasis of luxury and indulgence in a busy working day. I take my lunchtime sandwiches very seriously, and many of my friends have the same mindset.

So I did a quick poll amongst 55 of my closest friends, to see what they would say about the role of the humble sandwich in their lives. I got 55 clear answers to the question “What is your favourite sandwich?” but it was detail of those answers which told the most interesting tales.

With my analytical hat on, I did what any engineer would do given all this data: I put it all into a spreadsheet.

The most popular sandwich filling was cheese. Almost half of respondents chose cheese, and most people specified very clearly the type of cheese they wanted (cheddar or mature cheddar being the favourite). Next popular filling was bacon, followed closely by chicken.

In terms of additional ingredients, the surprise was that avocado was joint favourite with salad. Avocado is really popular here in Aus, but these responses came from all over the world.

Mayonnaise was by far the most popular condiment, which I guess is no surprise. However a small but vociferous number of people (all UK-based) made impassioned pleas for salad cream over mayonnaise.

Somebody once said “Life is like a sandwich – the more you add to it, the better it becomes.” The highest number of ingredients listed for one sandwich was six (four people had this) and the average was three.

Regional inconsistencies such as vegemite (an Australian living in London) and coronation chicken (UK) were nice to see. UK folks also love their egg mayonnaise. I have to say it is one thing I really miss here: proper egg mayonnaise seasoned with white pepper is divine, and not really seen here at all.

Only two people chose sweet sandwiches: we had peanut butter and honey, and banana. I was raised on banana sandwiches and I have to say they would be up there in my top five fillings, but it is so long now since I saw a banana I can barely remember what it would taste like. It is ironic that I will have to wait until I go home to Ireland to have bananas imported all the way from the West Indies, when I have been living in a country which has banana plants growing outside city buildings and can’t afford bananas. Cyclone Larry has a lot to answer for.

Around a fifth of respondents were very, very specific about their ingredients:

“proper floppy lettuce (none of this iceberg stuff)”
“must be cherry tomatoes”
“bacon and egg from the roadside roach coach washed down with a big cuppa”
“croissant, blue cheese (cambozola or stilton) and granny smith apples thinly sliced”
“egg sandwiches made with Heinz salad cream not mayonnaise”

Only a tiny number specified that they wanted their sandwiches hot or toasted (a surprise, as I love warm sandwiches), or clearly defined what type of bread they required.

The award for the weirdest sandwich goes to Victoria at work, simply because her ingredients wouldn’t be a normal or ubiquitous presence in my fridge:
“Roast lamb, pickled onion, cold sliced roast potato, mayo and salad”

The When Harry Met Sally award for the pickiest sandwich definition was difficult to decide as there were one or two prima donnas, but Katharine Haines won in the end:
“Cold – cheese salad (lettuce, cucumber and tomato) but must be mature cheddar and proper floppy lettuce (non of this iceberg stuff) with salad cream not mayo.”

Finally, the award for traditional sandwich with a twist goes to Marian Barretto with her unique rendition of the glorious chip butty:
“Thick sliced bread, chips, salt and butter with Encona West Indian Hot Chilli Sauce”

The full listing of responses are on a separate page in case you are in the market for new ideas.

Hope this has livened up your tastebuds a little, and given you some inspiration for your next lunchtime treat!

fettucini pollo e funghi

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>This is one of my favourite comfort foods, derived from a recipe first taught to me by my sister Annette. It is quick, easy an delicious, and anything but low fat, but the taste is divine: rich and creamy. Works just as well without the chicken.

Ingredients
500g chicken, diced
400g button mushrooms or sliced mushrooms
250g broccolli florets, chopped as small as you like (frozen works well)
1 small tin of Campbell’s condensed chicken soup
1 glass of milk
200g grated cheese
garlic
olive oil

Method
Fry the chicken pieces with the garlic and olive oil until golden brown.
Add the mushrooms and cook until soft.
Tip in the chicken soup and milk and stir until warmed up.
Add the broccolli and cook until soft (this will obviously take longer if using frozen).
At this point put your fettucini (or rigatoni or whatever) on to cook.
Throw in your grated cheese a bit at a time and stir in until melted to make the sauce as cheesy as you want.
Serve immediately with lots of freshly ground black pepper.