We’ve just finished a huge weekend hosting and cooking a Weekend Cooking Retreat. The guests arrive at 2pm on Friday and we started cooking with drinks at 5 PM and then spent the weekend cooking Friday dinner, Saturday Breakfast lunch and dinner and Sunday breakfast. We made everything from scratch, we shucked oysters, cleaned occy, filleted fish, smoked fish and our own stocks. We made pasta, pastry, croissants and sourdough and more. A fun and delicious weekend cooking around 30 recipes, favourite dishes from the bistro and cookbooks. And cooked new recipes from books in production. 

We cooked and enjoyed 

Starting with some snacks we had ready:

Smoked quail
Fish pate
blue and brie cheese
quince paste (recipe from Tasmania Pantry)

FRIDAY DINNER

Sour dough 
oysters 
bay trumpeter crudo
grilled quail, white bean hummus and bush chimichurri 
Seafood Paella (recipe celebrate cookbook)
Thai dressed crispy Boarfish
venison spiced baked quince and mulberry lavender relish (recipe Lavender Cookbook)
apple and blackberry pie (Tasmania Pantry cookbook)
ricotta, lavender and chocolate pie (Lavender Cookbook)

SATURDAY BREAKFAST

Sourdough fruit loaf with ricotta, apple and cinnamon 
Eggs baked in romesco sauce with chorizo and halumi cheese with sourdough

SATURDAY LUNCH

herb and garlic pull apart (Tasmania Pantry 2)
octopus, proscuttio, bean soup 
smoked fish pate 
baked Leather jacket 
Vietnamese Quail salad 

SATURDAY DINNER

Cob Loaf (celebrate cookbook)
pickled occy salad (seafood Everyday)
duck confit (Tasmania Pantry 2)
Hong Kong Parrot fish (Tasmania Pantry 2)
Beef cheeks with fresh pasta 
apple, herb stuffed mutton birds
rhubarb and lavender cream brulee (lavender cookbook)

Sunday Breakfast
croissants and scrambled eggs with smoked salmon and Brie

And Arwen whipped up a lavender and lime Basque cheesecake to finish with.

Seafood Cooking workshop February 27th .

We had a fun day at our Seafood cooking workshop yesterday cooking up an epic feast of seafood. The fish and oysters were alive the day before happy in the ocean. Lucky guests! 

We are taking workshops by demand this year, private groups bookings, or if you have a few interested in a date we will look at listing one on a day that suits you. Make a weekend out of it and team it up with a winter special in our lovely spa chalets on site or for groups and families at our Beach House in Eaglehawk Neck And we have our May cooking Retreat for those that want some more cooking than just a day workshop!

The guests Started with crayfish dip (seafood everyday) and macadamia, white choc and lavender cookies to go with coffee and tea on arrival

then we cooked:

a pull apart- with my own little ‘provincial herb’ mix, native oregano, native thyme, lavender, saltbush & rosemary and garlic and cheese.

Oysters natural with a Thai dipping sauce and salt and native pepper and saltbush.

Fish chowder

honey mustard broccoli smoked salmon salad

baked octopus

macadamia crusted trumpeter

trumpeter carpaccio

hong kong parrot fish

apple and blackberry pie