A Whole Lotta Love: The Wine Gippsland Awards 2024

The Gippsland wine scene was once relatively small and used to be a bit of a secret, but not anymore. I’ve heard on the grape vine that top-end Tokyo restaurants almost exclusively list Gippsland vintages as their sole Australian wines, and that a delegation of US wine writers are “only” going to Gippsland in Victoria this year to the vexation of other regions.

I was fortunate enough to attend both the judging and recent awards for the Westpac Gippsland Wine Show 2024. You might’ve heard it said: “Where there is no wine, there is no love.”  Well, there was a lot of love in the room at the awards, where I met some the legends, the rock stars and the upstarts of the Gippsland wine scene.

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Best Italian bread recipe ever: "Let them eat... bread!"

Hello You!

You probably thought I'd popped my clogs with the length of time between entries - over a year - and that I was now just a virtual ghost, LIVING ONLY AS A MEMORY OF FOOD ARTICLES ON THE INTERWEBS.

But no, the fleshy me still exists, even if there HAVE been a few close scrapes and a bit too much gourmandising.

The reason I haven't been here in a while is because I've been working on a new action adventure book titled 'the Cornerstone' (set in Italy) for the last couple of years.  That, and a kind of awareness that everybody is posting stuff all the time, so what's the point (?), there's ten years of articles here if you're interested.

That said, I had to make this note because I just made the best loaf of bread in my life, from dried sachet yeast, and it was superb and SIMPLE (after two years of keeping a starter alive and making sourdough).  Read on to get the best Italian bread loaf at home without the need to build a wood fired oven... and a pretty good baking themed joke at the end!

To make the bread, you will need:

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Let’s Make Pesto (Facciamo il pesto): a sneaky Genoese pasta dish for instant dinners... later

We were recently honoured at our little beach hut by a visit from our esteemed friends Sadie Jenkyn and Joseph (Joe) Staltari.  Apart from being kind, funny, intelligent, generous, good looking and terrific entertainment, they are both also (coincidentally) employees at iconic Melbourne mansion “Raheen” (of 'Power Without Glory' fame); Sadie being the head gardener, and Joe the head chef!

So what did we do while they visited?  Why, learn how to make pesto “properly”, of course, as well as having it served as it was designed to be in the Ligurian (or Genoese) fashion, with the traditional hand made pasta served with potatoes and beans.

See full method and photos below!

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Poached Pears Royale

By way of not forgetting you, dear reader, here’s my latest and a first for me; Poached Pears Royale. Serve with ice cream and a quick chocolate sauce. 😘

Click below for the recipe!

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Fred Bread: Learning to Make Sourdough

There’s stacks on the internet on how to make sourdough; this article references some of the better resources, gives my tips and cheats on doing it without all the equipment, and hints at the history of the rivalry between me and my sister Ange in the kitchen.  The whole thing started when I sent her a cartoon from the New Yorker, where a woman with a sourdough loaf is in front of the Wicked Witch’s mirror from Snow White, which tells her:

“Your sourdough smells great, it is true.  But there is a better baker here than you.”

My sister’s riposte?  Giving me my own starter, like a Slovakian wedding curse; i.e. giving the bride a crystal ornament she’ll have to keep on display and dust for the rest of her life.

So, let’s get dusting!

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Ice Cream Cake

 My wife, in the throes of a diet,  asked me in an unrelated question:

"What are we going to do for our 20th Wedding Anniversary?"

My reply?
"Eat ice cream cake."

Well, I'd had it with the calorie counting.

I said it flippantly, but it fired up everyone's imagination, and I was called upon to make one come the fateful day.

A first timer, I had to find out how one actually manufactures such a thing, having anxiety dreams the night before.  It was simple, but there are hazards.  So what did we learn?  Read on...



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South Wharf quicky lunch: Melbourne Cellar Door

 

http://www.melbournecellardoor.com.au/ 

A quick lunch while at the Melbourne Convention Centre, anyone?

How about the $12.50 prawn chili pasta, $6 (150ml) of wine... hard to beat (at Melbourne prices)!

Just thought you’d like to know...

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