Every so often I surprise Peter with another recipe resurrected from the culinary archives in my head. These recipes have to meet certain criteria, in that I will have made the dish many times in my life, but haven't yet prepared it for Peter; and I know that it's delicious enough to make him raise his eyebrows, nod his head and emit that low 'Mmmoaning' sound on first bite. A small stand of prunus adorned with pink and white butterflies fluttering on the breeze against a background of blue sky and branches of bronze. Behold, the sight of this, coupled with the scent of sweet blossom in the air – the promise of Spring. Every so often you find a treasure of a place where you feel so contended and relaxed, that you can gladly spend a morning or afternoon simply basking in the atmosphere and offerings. The old school house café in the New South Wales country town of Young is just that kind of place, and I'm delighted to tell you about it (and share the recipe for one of the most popular cakes on the menu) with you. A fat brown parcel sat on the kitchen bench right next to a plump celeriac and a good sized lemon picked fresh from one of the pots on the verandah. Inside the package was Luke Mangan's latest cookbook, Salt grill - fine dining for the whole family. Turning to the index first, I was delighted to find three recipes using celeriac. At the time, I didn't have ingredients at hand to prepare the braised beef cheeks with chocolate, jalapeño and baked celeriac; nor the seared spiced tuna with celeriac and apple remoulade. However, I did have a couple of beef cattleman's cutlets ready for the grill, so I switched on the new oven and, within a few minutes, the well oiled, seasoned celeriac went in for a long, slow bake. 'The wok is a miraculous pan, probably the most versatile cooking vessel ever created. [It will] will happily cook anything from an egg to a chicken... and has no need for design changes after centuries [and] millions of satisfied users.' 'The kitchen is not a factory, not a workshop of gadgets, it is the hub of the home, the source of joyful life,' writes Eric Rolls in his book, A Celebration of Food and Wine. 'The smells emanating from it attract the senses from all over the house, guests should see it at work. It is [a place] where sustenance is created [a place of] health, respect, comfort, excitement, expectation, satisfaction, wonder [and] imagination.' Accordingly to Ricky M. Gribling, the author of Smoking Food (Hyland House, 1997), there was a time when 'a good supply of smoked food often meant the difference between life and death... [and] the only method of storing meat successfully was to brine and smoke it.' Nowadays, it's a something of an art form and a Canberra-based duo, Charlie Costelloe and Peter Curry (pictured), have earned a swag of medals for their boutique smokehouse, Pialligo Farm at the Pialligo Estate vineyard. There’s a quiet, icy stillness in the air as I set out for a walk around the peninsula. I’m wearing sturdy boots and am rugged up like an eskimo, for it’s a dull grey Winter day. Although it's past noon, the sun is still hiding behind a doona of thick clouds. It’s just me, a few ducks, a swan, a lone cyclist and a couple of women power-walking in their lunch break. 'I'm going to spend the weekend baking,' I announced to Peter as we chatted on his return from a trip to Darwin. 'Oh, are you now,' he replied. 'And what are you going to bake for me?' he added, snuggling closer and proving that there is truth in the idiom that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. A whisked sponge boasts the most delicate texture of all cakes and can reflect the mark of a good cook. Indeed, it was sponge cakes that saved the day for cooks who entered the Royal Easter Show in 1948. According to a snippet in The Adelaide Advertiser on 25 March 1948, due to the less than perfect standard of entries the cookery section judges concluded that women were ‘poor cooks’ . |
Welcome...Üdvözölöm
Cooking and writing have been a lifelong passion. Join me as I share with you my favourite recipes; postcards and morsels from my travels; conversations with cookery writers and chefs; and news on food, cookbooks and cooking. - Liz Posmyk
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NB: I use Australian standard measuring cups and spoons in my recipes.
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