Vicious Ange

On the weekend some girlfriends gathered together at Sails on the Bay in Elwood for a long lunch to celebrate the upcoming wedding of the lovely Megan. We had a table right by the window which was lovely, very nice looking out over the beach. The staff were very attentive though we found them to be very inflexible, any suggested menu variations we came up with were rejected totally, for example 2 of us were pregnant & really, really wanted the Seafood Melange yet being in the state we were in asked if we could swap the cold portion (all raw & on the forbidden list) for another entree. Given that this dish was $65.00 per person & the other entrees were all way under half this amount, we certainly wouldnt have been costing them any money yet they still refused, something that annoyed us a little but we moved on, made our selections & had a very enjoyable afternoon.

I started with the Antipasto selection which included Tabouleh & falafel, hummus, balsamic pumpkin, , lavosh, crumbed olives with fetta on chilli jam, pickled yellow beetroot, avacado mousse & a zuchini bread, all very good & the portions weren't too big so not too filling, I especially loved the yellow beetroot, it was beautifully sweet, I have never seen this before so wonder where you can buy it?

Next I had the crab ravioli as a main, it was served in a broth with some pickly type veggies on top - sorry cant remember exactly what they were, the dish was nice though a bit too much for a main course, the crab flavour ended up being a bit overwhelming & I think a stronger sauce/broth introducing some other flavours to the dish would have helped, someone else had this as an entree & thought it was perfect.

To finish off how could I resist the dark chocolate truffle torte,

Well I have a confession to make. If you have noticed that in the last few weeks my blogging has gone downhill somewhat & been quite erratic it’s because I’m Up the Duff & the last thing I have felt like doing was cooking! Believe me I could barely look at food let alone get home from work & prepare something tasty. So with a lot of help from Michael I have mainly been living on comfort food that has been pre prepared & stuck in the freezer so I could put it down & collapse on the couch after work. The worst of it seems to be over now & I have my appetite back & once again can stomach the thought of such things as vegetables & healthy food in general. So I’m slowly easing myself back in while I’m getting my energy back, hopefully before long I will be back to 100% normal. Michael prepared these burgers below so all I had to do was whack them in the frying pan & put it all together, he has been an angel. The recipe comes from Jamie’s Dinners & actually comes with some lovely homemade rosemary chips to which I said I don’t think so, maybe another time. Very, very tasty burgers, nice & juicy too without dripping & they held together very well as well.

The Ultimate Burger

1kg good minced steak
1 onion, peeled & finely chopped
olive oil
a pinch of cumin seeds
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
a handful of freshly grated parmesan cheese
1 heaped teaspoon English mustard
1 large free range egg
115g breadcrumbs
8 burger buns

In a big frying pan, slowly cook the onion in a little olive oil for about 5 minutes until softened but not coloured. Add the onion to the mince in a large bowl. Using a mortar & pestle, bash up the cumin & coriander seeds with a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper until fine & add to the meat. Then add the parmesan, mustard, egg & half the breadcrumbs and mix well. If the mixture is too sticky add a few more breadcrumbs.

Lay some greaseproof paper on a tray & sprinkle over some of the remaining breadcrumbs. Shape the meat into 8 fat burgers & place these on top of the crumbs on the tray. Sprinkle more crumbs on top & gently press down. The burgers are better if they are chilled before cooking so put them in the fridge for an hour or so.

When ready to cook, fry them in a little olive oil on a medium to high heat for about 8 to 10 minutes, turning occasionally. Serve on buns with anything you like, sauce, lettuce, tomato, some cheese, beetroot, egg, whatever…

My Mum & Dad had thought about it for ages & just couldn’t agree on anywhere to go for his birthday dinner. I have been wanting to try out The Brandon Hotel dining Room for ages & after seeing a write up in my local weekly magazine talking it up & mentioning it was the 3AW pub restaurant of the year I knew I could talk them into it, they love 3AW! I also knew that when they saw the menu they would be complaining that it was all too fancy, by the time I got them there it was too late & they were stuck with it & I managed to explain the choices in plain English with them & stopped them from moving into the public bar for a parma & chips.

I settled on the duck special of the day which was a crispy skinned duck leg confit on potato parsley with a fennel, rocket & artichoke salad & some roasted beetroot. I also convinced my mum to have this, she hasn’t been impressed with duck in the past so I told her to trust me, if it’s cooked well it’s delicious. Myself I tried very hard not to order the duck as I always end up with duck but I love it so much I just couldn’t resist, it was delicious too & my mum loved it as well. As you would expect the meat was falling off the bone & it had a lovely rich flavour, the salad was nice & fresh & perfect alongside the powerful duck flavours & the gnocchi great to mop it all up with. My dad had the steak with polenta which was very nice but he was a bit disappointed in the size, being much more used to huge servings, it was really perfect though as it didn’t spoil his appetite for the cake afterwards! Rob, my brother had the pot roasted chicken with pea puree which he declared absolutely excellent too. Lastly Michael had the chermoula lamb rump which he says was cooked very well (nice & pink inside) & overall was very impressed.

A great pub dining room with a lovely atmosphere, the tables are well spaced, lovely art work on the walls, a warm fireplace, very attentive & knowledgeable staff, all in all a very inviting place which I will be back to one day for more.

The Brandon Hotel
237 Station Street
Carlton
9347 232

For dinner the other night (wasnt able to upload photos yesterday so my weekend posts are a bit late sorry) I whipped up this dish which is amazingly quick, probably about 10 minutes all up if you are lucky. It is something I grew up cooking at home which we called carbonara, now I know that it’s not traditional but to me this is how it will always be & as well as being extremely quick its really yummy. For the pasta last night I used ‘Passion Pasta, hand made beetroot fettuccine’, we picked this up in Lorne the other weekend, cooks in 4 minutes & almost tastes like fresh pasta, highly recommended. The mushies I bought from Ceres yesterday, they were huge & so fresh the taste was amazing.

Pasta Carbonara (my family style)

Any long pasta, eg spaghetti, fettuccine, tagliatelle, etc
4 rashers bacon, chopped
Approx 4-6 large mushrooms, sliced
1 egg
cream
parmesan for serving

Firstly put your pasta pot of water on, when boiling cook the pasta as per instructions.
Meantime, fry the bacon in a little olive oil, then add the mushrooms & a little butter to the pan, salt the mushrooms while cooking. Drain the pasta when done & put back in the pot (off the heat), crack in an egg & stir while still hot, add the bacon & mushroom mix, a dash of cream & stir. Serve with parmesan

Sunday night I took Michael to this new restaurant in Aireys inlet which is run by Kosta Talimanidis, the guy who used to run the famous Koasta’s in Lorne, this is his new venture which I have heard much talk & praise about so couldn’t wait. Nothing disappointed form the moment we walked in, the décor is very bright, with white walls, painted with colourful murals here & there & bright bulbs hanging down around the bar area. The staff were very friendly, helpful & quick.

To start with we shared 2 entrees, 1st grilled soutzouk which for those of you who do not know what this is, is a spicy Turkish sausage, served with an eggplant jam, fantastic flavours that were perfect together. 2nd was some Kalimari in a light batter served simply with rocket & aioli, scrumptious.

For mains I had a roast pork shoulder (sorry abt the blurry photo), served with baked apples, pancetta & sage & Michael had some Grilled blue eye with a dill sauce & some greek salad. We also had some potatoes & a beetroot, rocket & yoghurt salad. I loved every mouthful of each dish. And of course we had to finish up with dessert, there was no way I was leaving without it! I went all traditional & had the almond, hazelnut & rosewater baklava which was huge & I’d have to say the best I’ve had & Michael had the slow roasted peaches with ottway ranges honey & Meredith sheeps milk yoghurt, again divine.

This is definitely one of those places I will have to visit again as would love to try every single item on the menu. Well done!

Last night I caught up with a few friends for dinner, Docklands was decided on & I suggested we try out Mecca Bah as had heard lots of good things about it. So I walked on over after work to meet the girls there. The décor was nice enough though nothing flash, we were seated on a simple table in the middle overlooking the water. The boys were not meeting us til later so we thought we would start slowly with a drink. We started off with a bottle of 04 Freycinet Riesling, from Tasmania which was recommended by the waitress when we enquired which of the Rieslings was dry & good of course, it was very fresh & not at all sweet (I can’t stand the sweeter style of some Rieslings), we all really enjoyed it & decided to stick with it all night, when you’re onto a good thing why change! A couple of glasses & we all started getting a bit tipsy so ordered the dips & bread which turned out to be hommos – a very dry version though still good, tzatziki, delicious & a fantastic Baba Ganoush, the smoky flavour was intense & I love them this way, all served with some Turkish bread, was a good start & soaked up some of the alcohol while we were drinking & waiting for the boys.

Michael soon arrived so we had one boy on board. A phone call determined that the last to arrive was still at least an hour away so we moved onto some mezze to share. We had Spicy Turkish kofte with yoghurt sauce - lovely, sweet potato felafels with tahini sauce - these were especially good & nice to try an old favourite with a bit of a difference, Lebanese sausages and spicy chickpeas & abeetroot & yoghurt salad – this salad sounds so simple yet was a real hit with all, it was fantastic, basically from what we could tell it combined rocket, roasted beetroot, an olive oil & vinegar dressing & the yoghurt, all of these flavours married together beautifully, will try & recreate this at home I think.

Ok so soon after the mezze we were through with the second bottle of wine & ready for another as well as the mains, one more phone call & we were assured that the missing person was only ½ an hour away so we could order the mains, yippee! I went for the Lamb Tagine with preserved lemon, green olive, harissa & couscous. This was served in a gorgeous traditional Tagine Dish which looked like it came straight out of the Bazaar, I must buy some of these one day when I have my dream kitchen & lots more cupboard space! The lamb was melt in the mouth falling apart & the dish on a whole was a great choice. Everyone else was happy with their choices as well.

As you can imagine their was not much room left after this though we still couldn’t resist sharing 3 scoops of ice cream as the flavours sounded divine. Date & Vanilla – very unusual & nice, Middle Eastern Halva ice-cream – this was a real surprise for me, I don’t usually like Halva & I think it must be the texture that disagreed as the same flavours in ice cream were sensational - a must try, lastly Turkish coffee ice-cream, as you can imagine very good also.

Overall it was a great meal, the service was excellent, prices not too high, would go back again & definitely recommend it.

PS – Sorry no pics, forgot the camera

Wednesday night we tried out Dish, another find in the Gourmet traveller restaurant guide.

Again the decor was lovely & the food beautifully presented & tasty

To start with I had Pan seared King prwans with salt Cod brandade, Jerusalem arthichoke puree, oyster mushrooms & deep fried grated beetroot which added a nice touch of colour.

This was followed with a Baked potato gnocchi with chorizo, confit of garlic & onion, primavera sauce & shaved peccorino, lovely flavours though way too much chorizo for my liking. Michael polished off all of my leftovers so it wasnt a problem though unfortunately for him I had shed one of my long blonde hairs in the dish & Michael got it stuck in his mouth, the sight off him open mouthed in this fine place trying to extract the stray hair had me in stictches for a long time, always nice to have such an unprepared belly laugh. After finally freeing his mouth of my locks he still dug in & finished the rest!

For dessert I had a warm white chocolate fondant with blood orange & vanilla bean sacue & fresh watermelon, absolutley luscious. I washed this down with an affotnini for something different. This was a cocktail of honey vodka, vanilla vodka, espresso & a dash of cream, yum, yum, yum, I will have to try & recreate that one at home for sure

Again if you're ever in Byron - put this one on the list