I had the best fun yesterday cooking a long table lunch organised by my friend Vanessa for the pickers on the last day of picking the grapes for this year. Bangor is the most beautiful spot and the table looked stunning in the vineyard with the water views!  I also got to test 4 recipes from my new book that I am working on out on the public with awesome feedback! My friend Isobel who is making a gluten, nut and dairy free brownie also tested her product out and that was a hit too. It turned out to be a amazing day all the kids had a fun time playing and the wine was sensational as always.

The menu:

Seafood chowder & freshly baked bread
Fullham Oysters (fresh from the farm you can see from the vineyard)

Octopus with a Greek style salad & red wine vinegar dressing
Smoked Rannoch quail with a apple, walnut, blue cheese salad and honey mustard dressing
Seafood lasagne with fennel and tarragon
smoked salmon & local pinkeye salad

Apple & rhubarb Crumble cake
Brownies by Isobel
cream puffs with chocolate cream patiserre
poached pears with a red wine syrup
cheese Platters

 

 

You can buy quail direct from Rannoch Farm they do not have a shop so make sure you call Bruce to make sure he will be there.

Quail with a walnut, apple and blue cheese salad and honey mustard dressing

4 partially boned quail (leg and wing bone in) or smoked quail
2 cups of salad leaves
150 grams of blue cheese
100 grams walnuts
2 medium apples

Dressing
20 ml white wine vinegar
1 Tablespoon honey
1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
40 ml olive oil

To make the dressing mix all ingredients together (put them in a jar with a lid and give a good shake).

To cook quail, season with salt and pepper and seal both sides in a hot pan with a little oil, then finish cooking in a moderate oven(180 degrees) skin side down for about 10 minutes . Or skin side down on a medium heat on the BBQ with the lid closed for about 10 minutes. Or if you are using smoked quail just pull it all apart.

To make the salad, chop the walnuts and cheese and slice the apple, toss altogether with the leaves and half of the dressing. Serve immediately with the hot quail and the rest of the dressing on top of the quail.

 

please see my  work with me page to see if we can work together to promote your food business or product.

 

 

I hosted and catered for a food styling and photography workshop last weekend with Jennifer Jenner. Lots of work to organise- but so much fun!  At the Bream Creek farmers market (on every 1st Sunday of the month) the weekend before I purchased some goat back straps from leap farm, and Tongola goats cheese I can not remember the cheese name but it was soft like a chevre? Leap farms goat milk goes to Tongola dairy to be made into cheese. I bought wines from Bream Creek vineyard Sauvignon Blanc, and Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon and some ginger beer from Gillespies and honey from Tasman Honey who also supplied us with the beautiful honey comb in the pictures at the workshop.

During the week I found the most gorgeous location to hold the workshop a peaceful CWA hall in Highcroft with amazing light and beautiful tables. I also went on a mission to find a nice spot for a picnic and Scott Hanssen kindly let us set up in his beautiful orchard amongst the pear trees that are still full of fruit. His orchard is in white beach where you can buy fresh vegies and fruit from the farmgate on a honestly system and the apples and pears are always $3 for 2 kilo, this is especially great when the apples from the cool store are $6 when not in season at the supermarket!! Our veggies came from grown for taste in Saltwater river picked and delivered on Friday afternoon including baby carrots, gold and red beetroot, tomatoes & greens amongst other lovely fruits and vegies. My husband Brendan was sent on a octopus and fish mission. We collected fresh from the oyster farm Fullham oysters  which we collected with a bottle of their  sparkling wine from Bangor shed on the Saturday. Again I am reminded how lucky we are on the Tasman Peninsula with our amazing local produce!

 

We had a vegan guest attending so I created this tart for her
Thyme roast tomato, white bean and polenta tart.

2 cloves garlic
1 onion
2 rashers bacon (just kidding Denise!!)
750 ml veggie stock
180 grams polenta

2 cloves garlic
1 tin white beans
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper

500 grams tomatoes
2 tablespoon thyme
salt and pepper
olive oil

to cook the polenta: crush the garlic and finely dice the onion and saute in a dash of olive oil. add stock and bring to a gentle boil add polenta and stir well until well cooked (it should not feel gritty when rubbed between your fingers. season with salt and pepper and lay out in a tart dish to cool and set.

**Polenta is super easy in the thermomix I will post the directions soon I think I have another post on here somewhere??

to make the puree blend all the ingredients together in the food processor or thermomix

To roast the tomatoes cut them in half, drizzle with the finely chopped thyme, salt and pepper and a drizzle of olive oil in a 180 C oven for about 10 minutes so they are cooked but still firm. arrange the puree on top of the polenta and then the cooled tomatoes sprinkle with fresh chopped parsley and olive oil to serve. I served it cold but it would be nice warm too.

Pip and Ally having a tea break CWA style. Pip has a great blog with her sister Two Houses and Ally runs Huon Valley Meat Co and another local long time blogger Helen came to the workshop so lots of blogging and food chat and inspiration.

the beautiful vegetables form grown for taste made of all the meals amazing. This lunch was tomato tart, fresh baked bread, octopus & Greek style salad and a roast baby carrot and pumpkin salad.

Fullham oysters and sparkling wine in the early evening from Bangor Shed.

this was my dream dinner party set up, just a shame I did not pack the other 1300 fairy lights I own!

Leap farm beef in  fennel & pepper berry with a Tongola goats cheese, roast beetroot and halzelnut salad- recipe coming soon. Soy Balsamic marinated shark and Asian style salad and hot smoked salmon on a potato salad dressed with seed mustard and apple cider vinegar.

For breakfast the next morning I made French toast with salmon rashers, preparing it was another chance for some prep pics.

we also had baked apples made by JJ the recipe is on her site with toasted muesli for breakfast.

 

 

 

 

This muesli recipe is from my book The Real Food for Kids cookbooka

and you couldn’t spend a weekend with Arwen without her whipping up something amazing in the Thermomix, here she is making a blackberry, cucumber and sour cherry tea smoothie for breakfast.