I’ll just do a quick review for 1918, since they certainly had no shortage of customers when we visited.
It was a freezing cold night in the Barossa Valley and, even though we felt like we’d done nothing but eat all day, we needed something hearty to take away the chill.
For some reason we thought it was necessary to have bread to start (in fairness, it is baked fresh each day and served with parmesan olive oil), and then french fries as a side (the aioli was delicious). We ordered before we saw how big the mains were!
My main was the Fish of the Day. On the day in question, it was seared salmon served with zucchini fritters and a mandarin sauce. My salmon was cooked just how I like it (medium rare) and the zucchini fritters had a hint of Indian spice – I think perhaps coriander seeds. The mandarin sauce was a perfect foil to the salmon.
Unfortunately, J’s dish wasn’t quite as successful. He had the grilled lamb loin with merguez sausage, slow roasted onions, cavalo nero and cherry tomatoes. Although the portion was generous, he felt the lamb was a bit tough and the dish as a whole needed something to bring the different elements together. His words “it’s a bit boring”.
After all this food, we couldn’t bring ourselves to order dessert just yet…so we ran across to Foodland and bought some Maggie Beer icecream to enjoy later in the evening (what, I can’t go without dessert – I’m on holidays!).
1918 Bistro and Grill
94 Murray St
Tanunda SA
Ph: 08 8563 0405
Web: http://www.1918.com.au/
This is a lovely easy recipe and is beautiful with fresh green prawns. It’s a great mid-week recipe because it’s quite quick to prepare, and the sauce is smooth and silky. I think it’s a nice change from having a tomato based sauce.
This dish reminds me of an amazing scampi (small prawns) pasta we had in Venice. We had visited the amazing fish markets in Venice earlier in the day and had heard good things about the seafood at this restaurant. After some language confusion we were presented with an enormous serve of fresh, fragrant garlic and tomato scamp pasta. It was one of the best things I’ve ever eaten, and it was so simple. I’m still working on recreating the taste – it all turns upon the quality of your seafood.
Ingredients - 500 grams Pasta (I use spaghetti or linquine)
- 3 cloves Garlic, finely chopped
- 1 cup White wine
- 2 tbsps Butter (more if you want more sauce)
- 1 tbsp Olive oil
- 1 pinch Chilli flakes
- 20 Green prawns, peeled except for tails
- 5-6 Semi-dried tomatoes, chopped
- 1 tbsp Lemon juice
- 1 tsp Lemon zest
- 2 tbsps Parsley
- handful Cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 stalk Bok choy, chopped
- 1 tbsp Parmesan cheese, finely grated
Directions
- Cook the past in a large saucepan of boiling salted water. Reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water. Drain pasta and set aside to keep warm.
- Put oil in a frying pan with the garlic and heat gently over a low heat.
- When the oil is hot add the prawns, chilli and half the parsley. Increase the heat to high and cook for 2-3 minutes. Turn the prawns and cook through.
- Remove the prawns and set aside.
- Add the lemon juice and white wine to pan, allow to bubble and reduce for two minutes. At this point I added the semi-dried tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, bok choy and some pasta water and parmesan.
- Once the bok choy has cooked down a bit, stir in cold butter and lemon zest until you have a smooth sauce.
- Add the prawns and pasta and toss through sauce and heat through.
- Top with remaining parsley and some more grated parmesan cheese.
- Enjoy!
My two best friends generously gifted J and I with a voucher to Penfolds Magill Estate, knowing we were planning a holiday to Adelaide and the Barossa. We had no idea what to expect, although in true food blogger style I investigated the menu online beforehand.
Magill Estate is the Penfolds restaurant located in a suburb east of Adelaide. Adelaide is flat, so you are able to see quite far from the restaurant’s elevated location. We had dinner looking out on hundreds of twinkling lights. Unfortunately, the restaurant was lit for “mood” rather than great photographs – I apologise for the exceptionally poor quality of these shots.
The service was impeccable – I think you can tell you’re in a high-class establishment when you have separate wine, water and food waiters… As we were driving up to the Barossa that night, we decided to forgo the entrees and skip straight to dessert. Fortunately we were still treated to an amuse bouche.
At the outset, I have to say that as much as I admire chefs who use molecular gastronomy, it’s always seemed a bit pretentious to me. I’m a home cook – I tend to cook simple, hearty and delicious dishes and molecular gastronomy would do my head in if I were to attempt it. I can’t say Magill Estate is going to make me start attempting this sort of food, but I now understand what some of the fuss is about. Our amuse bouche was a divine combination of cream, cavier, dried trout flakes, broth and … tomato bubbles. I had to conceal a smirk when I heard this. But then I smelt them…and tasted them. The tomato flavour was so intense and concentrated and, even though the bubbles burst on your tongue, they managed to impart so much flavour to the dish. Tomato bubbles, where have you been my whole life?
For my main I ordered a chicken dish (unfortunately it’s not listed on the website and my memory fails me). Suffice to say, it was the most succulent and delicious chicken I’ve ever eaten. It’s worth mentioning also our side dish of green beans – perfectly cooked yet retaining some crunch, they were served with anchovy, garlic, ham and chilli. Divine.
Before dessert we were again treated to an amuse bouche. This time a pre-dessert of doughnut icecream, raspberry coulis, freeze-dried raspberries, chocolate-coffee dust and milk foam. Words cannot describe. Our waiter later told us that they actually make doughnuts on-site in the morning which they then incorporate into the icecream. The icecream was smooth so I have no idea how they do that!
Finally, my dessert was carrot cake. Of course, it was a bit more sophisticated than that! I had carrot-cake dirt, scattered with large chunks of steamed carrot (the only bit I didn’t really enjoy – I think they were a bit too large), sultanas and walnuts. It was served with lemon curd, orange bubbles and cheesecake icecream.
If you’re ever in Adelaide and looking for a high quality restaurant (and have the budget to match!), visit Magill Estate. It was easily one of the best meals of my life thus far.
Penfolds Magill Estate Restaurant
78 Penfold Rd
Magill SA
Ph: 08 8301 5551
Web: www.penfolds.com
My first foray into the world of dhal. I believe this is also my first Indian recipe on the blog!
I have one major gripe with this recipe – when followed exactly, the dhal tasted beautiful except it left a strange bitter aftertaste. We suspect it was the ginger – in the original recipe 2 tbs is thrown into the water without first being fried off, and I suspect this is what led to the strange aftertaste. So, in my version of the recipe I have suggested frying off the ginger and garlic slightly before throwing in with the lentils. Otherwise, this is an easy, tasty and filling winter recipe.
Roti was a new experience for me. The take-away lesson is that a desperately need a rolling pin. I was forced to use one of our drinking glasses, and let me tell you it is difficult to get think roti circles using that!
I have reproduced the full scale recipe – I halved it, but I found I had to add more water in order to get a malliable dough. I suspect this was because I used stoneground wholemeal flour instead of durum wheat flour.
Ingredients - 2 tbsps Peanut oil
- 1 large Onion, chopped
- 1 cup Dried red lentils, washed and any stones picked out
- 2 tbsps Fresh ginger, minced
- 1 tbsp Fresh garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp Mustard seeds
- 2 cloves
- 1 tsp Cracked black pepper
- pinch Salt
- 2 tbsps Cold butter (optional but worth it)
- Chopped coriander to taste
Directions
- Heat peanut oil in a saucepan over medium high heat.
- Once the oil is hot, add the onion and cook on medium until soft - you don't want to over-brown the onion.
- Remove the onion and throw in the ginger, garlic, mustard seeds and cloves. Fry off over a medium heat - again, you don't want to brown the garlic.
- Add the lentils and pepper and stir to combine.
- Add water to cover the lentils by about 2-3 cm (I stick my index finger in to the top of the lentils and fill until the water is up to my first joint.
- Bring the lentils to the boil. Adjust the heat so the mixture gently simmers.
- Cook until the lentils are tender, stirring occasionally. This will take about 15-20 minutes. You may need to add more water.
- Add a pinch of salt and pepper. The lentils should be saucy but not soupy.
- Remove the cloves from the pan. Add the onion.
- Stir in butter and taste and adjust seasoning.
- Garnish with coriander and serve with Roti.
Ingredients - 500 grams Durum wheat flour or stoneground wheat flour
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 200 mls Water
- 1 tbsp Vegetable oil
Directions
- In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, salt, water and oil. The mixture should start to pull away from the sides of the bowl.
- Turn the dough out onto a well floured surface.
- Knead the dough until smooth and pliable. This will probably take about 10 minutes.
- Divide the dough into 12 equal parts. Form into rounds in your hand and cover with a damp cloth.
- Flatten the balls with the palm of your hand, then use a rolling pin to roll out each piece into a 15-20cm round. It should be quite thin.
- Preheat an unoiled frying pan to medium high heat.
- Cook the roti for 1 minute before turning over, then turn again after another minute.
- The roti should develop some darker brown spots when finished.
- Serve warm with your dal.
My (soon to be) sister-in-law made this fantastic souffle for dessert the other night. It’s really easy, really rich and just delicious. The recipe below makes 1 large souffle, so just multiply by the number of people you’re serving (obviously!).
Thanks for sharing Lucy!
Ingredients - 25 grams Dark chocolate
- 1 tsp Cocoa powder
- 1 large Egg, separated
- 25 grams Caster sugar
- 1 tsp Grated orange zest
- 2 tsps Melted butter
- Caster sugar for sprinkling ramekins
Directions
- Melt the chocolate - a zap at a low temperature in the microwave will work, or else use a water bath on the stove.
- Prepare the ramekins - Brush with butter, stroking from bottom to top. Refrigerate then repeat the butter process. Coat with excess sugar, tip out the extra, then refrigerate until ready to put soufflé mix in.
- Add the cocoa, egg yolk and orange zest and mix well.
- In a separate bowl beat the egg white and slowly add the sugar until you get soft peaks.
- Add 1/3 of the egg white mix to the chocolate mix and mix gently, but not too cautiously.
- Add this chocolate mix back to the remaining egg white mix and fold very gently to keep in the air.
- Carefully pour into prepared soufflé ramekins.
- You can keep these in the fridge for a few hours before needed, they will just take a little longer to cook.
- Bake in a 180*C oven for about 15min or until risen, but still slightly wobbly.
- Serve with vanilla icecream.
Full disclosure: I did not pay for this meal. Tognini’s and Rymill wines were kind enough to provide a group of Brisbane food blogger’s with a delicious 3-course meal and wine. However, these opinions are mine alone.
Tonight was the first time I felt like a bona fide blogger. Most of the time I feel like my words and pictures are just absorbed into the internet ether. My humble little blog isn’t reinventing the wheel, it just putters along in its own little corner of the net. However, tonight I was able to enjoy a fantastic dinner with a bunch of like-minded Brisbane foodies and bloggers. And it was my first “freebie”. I’ve finally made it! :p Don’t worry I won’t be giving up my day job any time soon…
Tognini’s started out as an Italian deli in Milton 17 years ago. Over the years it has grown and evolved – the Milton store grew larger, added a bistro and started serving lunch and breakfast. There are now 3 deli/bistros and the Spring Hill branch introduced dinner service in April this year.
Narelle Tognini was our kind hostess for the evening. We started out with a cheese platter. Tognini’s is the place in Brisbane for strong, stinky cheeses – many imported from Italy and France. Our platter had 3 of Narelle’s favourites – a soft washed rind from France (sadly the name escapes me…); a dolche Italian gorgonzola (delicious with fruit toast!); and Testun di Pecora Chestnut, a hard pecorino from Piemonte in Italy. Served with fruit bread, crackers, dried figs and candied cumquat, I could quite happily have called this dinner.
However, the chef had other plans! Our mains were served in enormous terracotta platters – even with 14 of us eating we barely made a dint! Pictured is the valpolicella risotto with Italian sausage and peas. This was smooth and rich from the sausage crumbled throughout. Unpictured is the creamy polenta with hickory smoked chicken (apparently I was incapable of taking a crisp picture, despite several attempts). This was my favourite dish of the night. I’ve never been a huge fan of polenta – whenever I’ve made it it’s been grainy and bland. This polenta may have changed my life. Unfortunately, one of the chefs (Jasper) explained the secret to its success – cream and butter. I don’t know why I was surprised…
Dessert was a simple, but beautifully balanced creme brulee. Is there anything more satisfying then cracking the sugar on a good creme brulee?
Throughout dinner we sampled two wines by Rymill. I believe the red was the 2004 MC2, which is a blend of Cabernet (Franc and Sauvignon) and Merlot. The white may have been the sbs – a Sauvignon Blanc and Semillion blend. I’m not a wine expert by any means but I enjoyed both.
In all honesty, tonight was really fabulous. It was exactly what I’m all about – hearty, rustic, wholesome food, made with love and eaten amidst good conversation.
Tognini’s Bistro Cafe Deli
Spring Hill Marketplace
Cnr Turbot and Boundary St
Spring Hill
Ph: 3831 5300
Web: http://www.togninis.com/bistrocafedeli.html
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