Magic Robot Re-Booted

To Oscar in Port Fairy

The crunchy peppery stuff as you call it in the blood orange salad was radish fruit or seed pods that are delicious when young and moist. We let some of the garden produce go to seed and have found over the years that young seed pods are invariably excellent.



To Hamish in Springvale, yes I know discarding the first oyster water is controversial and Robot is pleased that you are now shucking like a pro.
With your mussel question Robot de-beards them by pulling the beard towards the pointy end thus using the shell as a cutter. If you pull the beard towards the big end you risk disembowelling the creature and killing it. Glad to see Dr.Karl K has debunked the myth that an unopened cooked mussel is not good. But he reinforces that a mussel that does not close is not worth cooking.


To Rhonda from Shepparton

The Tarama recipe came from a Greek deli that used to be in Lonsdale Street Melbourne in the early eighties. It is essentially a fish egg mayonnaise that I was told by the owner of the shop was served for best occasions only as it has no bread, potatoes or indeed any other filler. Robot also likes the ones with bread and potato but prefers this version
Secret revealed.
Take 1 table spoon of Tarama [usually salted grey mullet roe or cod’s roe]
1 tablespoon of raw chopped onion.
Only best fresh onions will do [not that you would use anything else], and one tablespoon of lemon juice.
Wizz them up in the food processor or mortar and pestle and drizzle and whisk in some good vegetable oil till nearly all the little dots of roe disappear. The mixture will be really thick like an aioli. Now the best bit, add 2 tablespoons of cold water and wizz again and to finish add a good extra virgin olive oil till all the dots of roe disappear. The water gives the mayonnaise a surprisingly light texture. These salted fish eggs hold and emulsify much more oil than hen’s eggs so a little salted roe goes a long way. This keeps for only about 2 days as the onion starts to breakdown.

Many other fish eggs and other entrails can be used for very exciting emulsions.
Or if you wish to be adventurous try sea urchins?

Or how about salmon roe? with just a touch of smoked salmon this gives a glorious pink fluffy paste excellent on a Christmas menu which segues perfectly to Mike….

To Mike from Geelong

The new Christmas class menus will be different each week otherwise we would just get too bored teaching and eating the same dishes week after week. A typical menu could include a simple home made Turkey ham that could be used hot or cold?
Some crayfish dishes that make the most of the whole animal like crayfish spring rolls, pork without a lot of hot fat [we’ll leave that for the hot fat footy snacks later]
Light but interesting salads, samphire for all the neophiliacs, black and red currants,
Oysters, ice creams, crab?
But mostly the classes will try to settle the anxiety factor leaving the cook with more than just the cooking sherry for assistance. Yes a good list of contacts for supplies also given.
The menus are equally suitable for any summer entertaining for all the Santa sceptics and the “happy holiday’ crowd.



To Desmond in Warnambool

The Pavlova roll is quite simple, recipe below. For the rolling just score the pav in lines to allow the pav to crack evenly when rolling on the baking paper.

Recipe originally sourced by Angela from Lorraine Robbins so all royalties to Lorraine please.
Serves about 10
4 large egg whites
250g white sugar
Half a cup of corn flour
1 table spoon of vinegar
125g boiling water

Whisk all up in a mixer with the balloon attachment till thick
Then slowly add another 125g of white sugar whisking on high.

Cook on baking paper at 130 celcius for one and a half hours.

Cool on rack score and roll.

We use a jamine tea or star anis crème Anglaise for filling with some cumquat syrup on top.

To Edwina from Cyberspace
We are still working on a replacement architectural solution to your son’s aversion to gingerbread.

And finally to Janet in the Private Room
The international man of mystery who arrived in the Mixmaster Bilong Jesus Christ was indeed a very happy camper. Name withheld as a privacy policy applies.

New Christmas Cooking Classes 2008

Towards an Australian Christmas

From November 10 all our Monday classes will be focussed on Christmas cooking with menus that hopefully give the cooks, as well as the guests time to relax, monster the relatives and generally not get too many knickers into too many twists.

The classes will cover planning the shopping and spreading the preparation time over a few days to minimise any anxiety that the cooks may have.

Cooks seem to get into such a dither about food at Christmas. In the last few years during Diane’s and my “civilian period” it’s been yabbies from the top dam or crayfish from Apollo Bay.

When I say top dam, I have to explain the top dam was where all the yabbies that survived the restaurant Sunday lunches were released over the years with a view to seeding this dam for later.
We forgot about them till the following Christmas time and of course they had bred up and grown to a rather good size. For many years they provided a simple solution to the focus of the Christmas feast.
This year there is hardly any water in the dams so any yabbies that may have dug-in for the dry will be spared.

Planning a Christmas lunch involves capturing the spirit of the occasion with dishes suited to our climate. Victoria with its Mediterranean climate and seasons reversed means that care has to be taken with some traditional English Christmas dishes. But with some clever planning a great spread can be enjoyed that both encapsulates the cultural background of your family while paying respect to the season, the market and the garden.

A worry free day can be achieved with good planning, and a few early market visits early to get acquainted with availability is essential.
Many suppliers are taking orders now especially if specialty poultry is involved. A good list of suppliers will also be available.
Each class will cover a multi course banquet that captures the sense of occasion in great style with a minimum of stress for all the participants.

Dates Christmas Cooking Classes
Mondays on November 10 November 17 November 24
December 8 and December 15
Times 9.30 for 10 am start finish about 3.30
$110 per person $100 per person for groups of 4 or more Bookings 03 52362276

.

Magic Robot Replies Again

Magic Robot Replies Again

To Anna C in Adelaide.

Robot opens oysters from the side towards the front not near the hinge. I find easier entry and more leverage this way. As to keeping the liquid Robot strongly advises you discard the water in the oyster but do not rinse. You will notice after about 5 minutes the shell will again be half full of what is called the second water.
The first water is great if you are eating them straight off the rocks but the water in commercially sold oysters may be over a week old and not that fresh, and you know what the oyster has been doing in his shell don’t you! So as Chairman Kaga says: Always discard the first water.


To David from Bambra

Robot’s irony meter is going off the scale. Recipe for the New Age Sausage roll is a secret. But ingredients are Dried bean curd skins, tapioca balls and Taiwanese layered biscuits. In answer to your reallyseriousbigquestion Robot is happy to report that very soon branded proprietary packaged ingredients will be duh-rigueur for any self respecting post modern restaurant pantry. And yes Robots will rule.
.

To Deborah from Tasmania yes now is the time to plant Tomatillos. Most good seed companies have them.

.

To Mathew in Sydney: Yes marsh samphire grows all along the coast here, the photo shows Marsh Samphire on the left, Purslane in the middle [plant now] and the one on the right is the one you had here in your oyster soup Marsh Samphire from our garden.

.

To Rahid from Melbourne the secret to not letting your lemon tart separate into 2 layers is to heat the filling to about body temperature before you pour it into the blind baked shell. You know it makes sense that’s why the Roo boys left it out of the otherwise brilliant recipe.

.

To Margaret from the Peninsula
The seared ocean trout is just like a gravadlax but instead of dill we use sweet smoked paprika and sear it on the base of the wood oven or you can use a very hot dry pan.

Robot must recharge the batteries so keep the questions coming. All questions answered but only those that are cleared for general consumption will be published.

Kids in the Kitchen

Kids in the Kitchen

As part of Kitchen Garden Week we had a visit from Teesdale primary school. The school has been involved with the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden program for about a year and already the these young children were comfortable with many foods that some children could find intimidating. There were no oo’s and ah’s when olive oil, garlic, goats cheese anchovies and many other ingredients were tasted.

Some families come to the restaurant and insist that their children won’t eat anything but say a pasta with tomato sauce.

I am always saddened by such requests, not because pasta with tomato sauce is not good, but because the children must be so alienated from the food of their parents that mealtimes at home would present quite a challenge and put barriers between them that could last a long time.
Quite often as the parents are tucking into the menu

I notice that the kids are asking for tastes from the normal food so at least we can inspire these youngsters by osmosis.

These children today from Teesdale Primary genuinely looked forward to making salads and eating all good green garden fare so the kitchen garden project and the practical cooking that goes with the scheme at their school has already broken down many prejudices.
Admittedly the menu Pizza, salad and ice cream could easily be provided from commercial sources. One of the things I wanted to demonstrate was how real pizza tastes when it’s made from simple fresh ingredients in a wood oven.

The salads were also freshly picked from whatever was in the garden. We had cauliflower, broccoli, radicchio, cos lettuce, green garlic, edible succulents [these were quite a hit] and a heritage red celery.

Needless to say vanilla and chocolate ice cream were to be certain favourites, but the chocolate was not sweet and still presented no obstacles to these young people.

.

No amount of rhetoric will convince a young child to eat anything that does not taste good, but if alternative home made choices are offered for food that is often bought from mass commercial sources the flavours will stay with them for when the time comes to make choices for their own families.

With good appetite they tucked in and a very good time was had by all.

This is a great project that would not be possible without the many volunteers that always drive such initiatives.

Nick [Santa] Haddow lives on Bruny Island

Xmas came early this year. Nick Haddow and his industrious little elves from the Bruny Island Cheese company sent us this little box of bliss this week.
Five extraordinary cheeses.

.

Diane and I sat down after work to explore this true artisan statement, but where to start…

1792 is the date that the French first set foot on Tasmanian soil. This cheese presented on a sliver of Huon pine filled the room with a vintage aroma that permeated our consciousness as we devoured its unctuous interior.
The inevitable question popped up, much discussed when the wine and the cheese give you that Gallic groove.

What if the French got established here first and stayed? Mmmm
Nick comes from an alternate cheese universe and 1792 is a key to the portal The link is bellow.

The next night we had a visit from cheese Gabriel named for the Angel messenger [Nick’s nomenclature is pure Haddow]
The milk comes from a herd of Toutenberg goats that graze high above the Huon valley. This cheese was alive and Gabriel’s message was clear. The box needed Norman Lindsay’s magical pudding spell cast upon it. More please.

.

Then came the Penny Dropping moment His name is C2 or C squared a Slow cheese traveling at the speed of light?
This will change the way cheese is made in this country forever.
[ask Nick to explain]

.

.

The following night in this scheherezade of cheese was for the Bastard. Half ewe’s milk half cow’s milk. And what a bastard it is when it was finished!

TOM and half a bottle of Farr’s Sangreal Pinot left over from the bytheglass stash will complete the set.

Tardis! take us to Bruny Island.

Click below

http://www.brunyislandcheese.com.au/

Is It Really A Restaurant?

Just back from Melbourne with a new jamon.

The menus at Sunnybrae are a slow evolving process based on the garden the market and whatever else happens to come in the back door of the kitchen.
I like to get ham, or indeed any meats at all, on the bone. When a ham is boned or vacuum packed I feel that some of the life and lots of the flavour seems to disappear into the ether.
The bread will be made with fresh local potatoes and about a third wholemeal spelt and Lauke Euro unbleached bakers flour. The potato gives a moist but light texture and the combination of flours allow for a thin but crisp crust.

.

The market provides a few new ingredients that may eventually make it on the menu. I found these extraordinary conch shells, they are alive, affordable and have sparked a curiosity: so a little experimentation is on the cards for staff lunch tomorrow. I have never cooked them before but the techniques for abalone may work? Any hints? I have a love of parsnips and have lately been making a veloute style soup with mussels from Portarlington. It’s a simple soup but care must be taken to get really young parsnips and to remove the hard core before cooking. The freshly cooked mussel-water gives the soup a wonderful depth of flavour.

Miner's lettuce from the garden will marry with radish as an accompaniment to the ham.

There are finally enough artichokes to think about a new dish. There is also enough asparagus to put them on as a set entrée. I will pair them with some shaved fennel and a few aromatics.
The main course will be young new season’s lamb that has been hung and dry aged for 21 days and slowly roasted in the wood oven. Leo Donati has hung it for me as I have found it hard to rely on the local suppliers to do the right thing. Ironically Leo gets his lamb from Herd’s from around here.
Roasting in front of a fire in a masonry oven is what roasting should be.

A closed oven is baking, quite different. The trick is to bake the bread then re-light the fire and get the temperature and timing right for the meats to be properly roasted and rested just when they are needed. That’s the joy of cooking in your own space. The set main course is always the one that we think fits into the whole 5 courses to best advantage. But there will also be choices for those that wish to stray… the simple dishes like plain fresh fish and grills you can always take for granted but for the non- conformists there will be rabbit, duck, Cotechino and a few special vegetarian choices

.

The garden is still very sparse but we have lots of sorell, some really great crossbred self seeded broccoli, lots of baby cos lettuce and radicchio, green garlic, rhubarb. The lovage has come back with a vengeance and I can see that the French tarragon has erupted in leaf again back from its winter hibernation. The spiced morello cherries will find a spot near the charcuterie.

Our soft dried tomatoes are nearly finished but the oil that they have been stored in will make a fine dressing [no I will not make a gelato from it, possibly in summer] but there is still an abundance of our sauce that seems to have been neglected in the larder. Our own dried prunes are running out as is the white peach Bellini mix for sorbet but the peach tree is again in flower.
All the scraps from the great truffle kerfuffle are stashed in our honey so the panna cotta will be dressed in mourning suits this week.

The menu is like a big sodoku or jigsaw each week to get the balance and flavours just right.
Tomorrow is for stocks, cleaning, pre-prep and more menu planning, Friday is all day picking, prep and final ring around for the fish and other seafood. The menu for the weekend is always written on Saturday morning just in case that kilo of morels just happens to materialise.
Sat and Sunday: all day with prep and service, Monday class or the garden.

But hey, don’t you just do two days a week?

GO CATS.

Balladonia Blues or The Whore's Pasta

For the start of the story

click Below http://sunnybraerestaurantandcookingschool.blogspot.com/search/label/Angelos%20sauce%20or%20how%20to%20cook%20Spaghetti%20Bolognese

Take Two

Balladonia Blues or The Whore’s Pasta

Woke up to the sound of pots rattling in the kitchen next to my room and realised that I was still in Kalgoorlie and out of a job.
Angelo and the publican had given me three days’ grace in the staff digs at Hannan’s, just enough time for the circus to get to town.
She had left a note by the bed six months before in Carlton.
A short classic: “gone to join the circus”
Circus Oz was quietly germinating from the ashes of the Pram Factory. This new performance art was to be physical; a circus without animals, left of centre, proudly Australian. The players needed to pay their dues and learn the ropes so she had joined the big-top at Circus Royale and hit the road. Thirty or so years later she would be setting up the now magnificent circus school at Swinburne Uni in Prahran.
Meanwhile a brave new restaurant scene was emerging in Melbourne from under the red velvet corset of a dozen pregnant reptilertaurants. The labour was going to be long and painful.
We were a disparate bunch of upstart cooks and waiters. The common cause was to liberate a few kitchens and dining rooms from the stranglehold of thick starchy liaisons, frozen muck served by bow-tied blokes with bad fake Franco- Latin accents. We already had our mentors. Bilson had left his mark at the Albion, Mietta and Tony had begun their journey. Hermann was at his peak.
We dreamed of eventually opening a place in the country with a big vegetable garden and in the meantime planted shallots (and other unobtainable vegetables and herbs) in the backyards of our shared household digs.
Jeremy had found a café for sale in Carlton less than 500 metres from Jack Canals seafood store. The fit-out was serious Austin Powers and we loved it. We could lightly send up the flocked wallpaper, cull the Victoriana and eventually add a coolroom to the tiny but well–set-up kitchen. We also added a private dining room, spruced up with an original French Degue egg chandelier and a killer deco dining suite that was pure Rhullman in Queensland maple and ebonised blackwood. It was so big that the architect owner had nowhere to put it and was dead-set on building a room next to his studio especially for it.
We could have it till he got his act together.
I bought two paintings from Barry Humphries via the High St dealers that had originally hung in the cocktail lounge of the Menzies Hotel and suddenly the industry began to come. The room had the X factor in spades.
We cooked postcards from China, veal, eggplants, giant live bugs cost fifty cents a kilo. Mains cost $3. We gave away the mineral water, wokked the vegetables and flirted with Asia. Jeremy had worked in a good grill in New York, I had had a week in a kitchen in Rabaul, Bruce was just a natural. It was a crime of passion.
Downes reviewed us after a tip off from Aiton and then la merde really hit le ventilateur. Booked solid for three months after a month’s trading. No one was prepared for the rush. We were making it up day by day. The plonge, just out of the nick, was in love with the Persian princess. The boss had come down with a mystery virus and was often confined to bed; the band next door didn’t know it but they were soon to be initialized. XS was the name of the game. Sunday lunches morphed from the after party at Trotters.

After 9 months it was time to hit the road.

.

Highwire and I were still mates, good mates I had the farewell note somewhere in the swag. The posters around Kalgoorlie declared Circus Royale was about to hit the goldfields.
After the caravans had tented up near the footy field I heard she had bailed out at Balladonia for a better offer. It would take another two years, an island, a crossword and a big cray before our paths would cross again.
My second encounter with Balladonia that day was at the dole shop. The notice said: “Grill Cook Wanted accommodation and transport into the site provided. Balladonia Roadhouse”.

I really wanted to see the desert.

The roadhouse was well-named, about as sad as any roadhouse could be. Small cold caravans for the kitchen staff next to the generator that kept the complete food supply deep-frozen and the staff awake all night.
We fried stuff, grilled stuff, sang a lot of songs into the morning watching the satellites and meteorites over the desert sky. All children of the road in a time when hitchhiking across the Nullarbor was a safe and wonderful adventure. Then the order came into the kitchen. Table five are all vegetarians!
Now that was quite an order from this room as most of the stuff we cooked was some sort of cryogenically held animal protein fried into next week or grilled beyond recognition straight from the freezer. But one look into the room told us these guys were serious oids. We asked them if they ate anchovies and proceeded to cook them the whore’s pasta, our usual staff dinner.
After service we saw their rigs-- Joe Cocker’s Band. It was in a time when semis carried the gear on the road, Joe and the band flew. The roadies were really roadies.
They took us to Fremantle, we thought we were off to Africa..


Pasta Puttanesca or The Whores’ Pasta

This classic store cupboard pasta sauce has its origins in the red light district of Trastevere Rome. The name puttana means prostitute.

Two rules:It has to be prepared in the time it takes the water to boil.And

No cheese is served with it.

Peeled tomatoes, black olives, anchovy fillets or better still saltedsardines (rinsed), capers, garlic, parsley, a pungent extra virgin olive oil, dried chillies.

You don’t need the quantities. The method would only confuse you, but start with the oil.

I like it with very fine aldente spaghetti with all the ingredients cut very small.

For the Authentic Gonzo Instruction video click below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKUkmYM4Lhk

Stephanies Kitchen Garden Charity Auction

Sunnybrae is pleased to be involved with Stephanie's Kitchen Garden Week charity auction. You can bid online at the link below for a table at many of Victoria's best restaurants.

Our enticement is a table for 6 on October 11th or 12th all bids go directly to the Kitchen garden Foundation.

Our partner school is Teesdale Primary School

and they will be making a visit to our garden in the next few days to bake pizze as well as picking all the ingredients for a special lunch.

I will also be making trips to the school to work with the students in their own garden and kitchen.

No sermons needed, whereever you go during this week it will help to make a great difference.

Details and bidding on the link below.

http://www.kitchengardenfoundation.org.au/

ANTS or accommodation near to sunnybrae

There are many fine hideaways, bed and breakfasts cottages and private houses available for short stays in the district. Most can be found at http://www.birregurra.com/ where all fine details are available. If unsure please ring and we can guide you further.
Here’s a short list from the closest to the furthest but still close enough to walk, within say a 2km radius from the restaurant. Most places will drive you to the restaurant and we can certainly drive you back to where you are staying.

We can also drive you back to the railway station if you came on the train....

..

Montalban

Pete & Jan Spring 0417 514807
Across the road from Sunnybrae [300 metres] in a fine modern Mount Gambier limestone villa details/link http://www.stayz.com.au/23724Well stocked kitchen, espresso machine. Orchard, outdoor dining space. Self contained.

Butlers Guest House

5236 2116 Jenny and Ross Fox

In Birregurra, a converted hospital, sleeps up to 16, home theatre [cinema no operations], big lounge for after lunch get-togethers and dinners. Great for bigger groups. Self Contained and Band B

Link http://www.butlersguesthouse.com.au/


...

68 Main Street

... Tony Wheeler 52362004

Very stylish modern renovated cottage next to and with access to, the owner’s exceptional gardens ‘Graton’.
Graham and Tony open the garden each year in the Victorian Open Garden Scheme. Cottage has all mod-cons short walk in to Birre.
Self Contained.
Link http://www.graton.com.au/

Elliminook

. Peter and Jill Faulkiner 52362080

National Trust listed heritage Bed and Breakfast, all en-suites, historic details, magnificent gardens. Link http://www.elliminook.com.au/

Asparagusta!

The first asparagus in our garden always gets away.

As the weather warms a vigilant eye is cast on the well-mulched bed that hides this herald of spring, but each year the first spears, cheeky and defiant shoot early as if to say ‘catch me if you can’. They grow at such a rate that if not picked within a day or so their real sweetness and tenderness is easily lost.
Asparagus is truly a vegetable where size does matter. None of your baby this and baby that, thick fat asparagus is prized. So much so that all the first grade product is exported. The marketing spin-doctors have even tried to sell us the idea that scrawny thin spears are the go.
Sometimes really fat asparagus is in the market at a very good price but you will notice a little bend at the top…rejected from export. Second grade but still wonderful. Look for tight young heads that have not started to open at all.
To start a bed you can buy two year old crowns but it will take another two seasons before it really starts to thicken up. But then, if you take care, the bed will keep you and your friends in fat tumescent spears for more than a decade.
Then you are faced with a different problem.
White? green? purple? or wild?
Do you eat them with butter or oil? Vinaigrette or Hollandaise? Grilled or poached? Soup or salad?
Whichever method you choose will have one thing in common- speed. They cook very quickly. Some cookbooks tell you to snap the top from the base and they will break at the point where they begin to be tender. I am a little greedier and cut them lower and peel the base of the stalk. Not only do you get more but also they will cook evenly and the top and button will be equally tender cooking at the same time. No need to tie them in bundles and cook them standing up in the pot.

White asparagus is prized by some; it is grown in deep mulch.
Thick white asparagus has to be peeled all the way as the skin can be very stringy. The purple is exceptionally tasty but turns green on cooking. Wild asparagus is usually an escapee from an old vegetable garden. I have only seen it in one spot around here near the old disused railway line that used to haul the logs to Birregurra from the Otways. It has a small tip is quite thin but has a wonderful strong flavour that only wild produce can give.
Asparagus goes well with eggs, cheeses like a Heidi Gruyere or Raclette.

But for me the best way to enjoy them is with a simple dressing. Butter with a touch of lemon? Olive oil? a touch of vinegar, sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Nothing to prove just great home grown ingredients simply served.

The broad beans are not far away!

.