Well now that hopefully all the new year’s resolutions have run their course, now is the time to try some fantastic wine. And if you’ve been busy out and about enjoying the Sydney Festival (psst, there’s only a few days to go!) and the fast festival feasts you may have come across Sydney Festival sponsors McGuigan Wines’ The Shortlist. It is a multi-award winning premium range and are limited edition wines that are individually numbered. Two of the wines are a The Shortlist Riesling (from Eden Valley in SA) and The Shortlist Cabernet Sauvignon (from Coonawarra in SA).
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January 28th, 2012 by Not Quite Nigella
When Mr NQN turned two years old, his authority as the head boy and one and only child was threatened by the addition of two sisters. To add insult to injury, one was a baby and garnered more attention while the other one was an adopted older sister who snatched place as the eldest sibling directing the traffic and family.
Poor Mr NQN was suddenly in no man’s land, with no schtick to cling onto-literally. And he didn’t like it one bit.
With his two new sisters, they visited Finland where his now older sister was quite sick and had to be weaned off her diet of sugar and junk food that was the cause of her intestinal distress. She was given the Elliott treatment of natural, raw vegan food. One of the items that they made to help sell her on the new diet was raw, vegan pancakes. They were made the evening before by their “mummi”, aka their grandmother and stored in the fridge for the next morning’s breakfast. Mr NQN went to sleep no doubt dreaming of these pancakes and so did his new older sister. Because by the time they woke up the next day they were gone. His new sister had snuck into the kitchen and eaten the entire family sized stack during the night!
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January 27th, 2012 by Not Quite Nigella
Ever passed by a place dozens of times on the way somewhere, pegging it in your mind for a longer, lingering glance but have never stopped in? That happens to me a lot in Sydney where a new, bright, shiny restaurant or cafe seems to emerge from the restaurant ether every few days or weeks or so. And whilst I have walked past The Winery many a time either in or out of Thomas Dux next door or on my way to another appointment I never quite made it in. Which meant that the suspended peacocks and Elvis room hadn’t excited me until today. And well of course taxidermy always gets me excited.
The Elvis room
Having a business meeting is always made that much more pleasurable when there is lunch or food involved. And when the people you are having the meeting with don’t mind you whipping out the camera and taking photos of the food well, all the better. Who am I kidding? I used to do it even before the blog 
We’ve ordered a selection of food to share among the six of us.
Crispy little fish White bait, chipotle & lime mayo $18
The entrees come out before long and little fishies are coated in a crunchy, light seasoning like a fine polenta and deep fried and served with a spicy chipotle and lime mayonnaise. They’re not bad and the fish flavour is quite pronounced on these and remind me of whiting (as opposed to the smaller whitebait that you can buy sometimes called nanata that are served in fritters).
Stuffed roasted mushrooms with ricotta, pinenuts & pesto $18.50
The stuffed roasted mushrooms are simple but well executed with a nice balance of flavours. There is milky, creamy ricotta and the pesto mushrooms are juicy and slightly addictive.
Brandied chicken liver pate & toasts $19
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January 26th, 2012 by Not Quite Nigella
“Honey do you mind vaccuming today?” I asked Mr NQN last Saturday.
“Errr okaaay….later” he said looking at me with a measure of suspicion. I’m sure he wondered how a perfectly lovely weekend day had suddenly turned hideous.
About twenty minutes later, I heard some expletives from the lounge room. “&*(&(&(!!” he yelled and then repeated it for good measure. “I’ve put out my neck!” he said woundedly.
“How? You were just sitting there on the couch playing on your phone!” I asked.
“I dunno, I just did” he said. And with that he limped off to the bedroom to sleep off the rest of the day.
Now, I’m not accusing him of faking it, I think that he had really hurt himself but I couldn’t help noting the coincidence in timing. Our plans to do the grocery shopping were aborted and I spent the rest of the day cleaning. And I was bored.
I decided that the weather was perfect for a spot of baking. If you remember last Saturday in Sydney, it was a summer day that was little cooler than usual so the oven heat wouldn’t be too much of an intrusion. Alas, as it was grocery shopping day, our fridge and pantry supplies were running low and I could only make one item that sat on my “to cook” list. One that I found on Jenny’s blog Practically Perfect.
It fit the brief exactly. I didn’t have any bread so I needed to make some for lunch. I had flour, salt, beer, cheese and green onions and it was a cinch as it didn’t require any kneading or proving at all. Just a stir of everything in a bowl and a stint in the oven and then we had our perfect bread for your Australian male specimen.
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January 25th, 2012 by Not Quite Nigella
I must admit that for the first two weeks of January I was in an unnatural state. I was mostly at home and not travelling. Which meant that I was cooking furiously and frantically and testing out dishes but it also meant that I was feeling a bit stir crazy cooped up at home. And I feel sorry for anyone that has met up with me during this time because I may have talked your ear off in excitement about being out and socialising. Oops, sorry about that!
One outing that had me excited all week, actually for several weeks ever since the invitation was issued was the Sydney Festival. Now I know events are popular and many of the ones that you want to go to sell out quickly. This evening we are going to see the performer Meow Meow in the incredible Spiegeltent (Queen Viv adores it and has described it to me in luscious detail). And before that we are going to hit one of the relatively new restaurants Sokyo, where Californian Japanese chef Chase Kojima creates modern Japanese food. Chase is the former worldwide chef of the Nobu restaurant chain.
Chase Kojima (left)
Part of The Darling hotel, the restaurant is dark, I was warned this although we are dining relatively early so that it isn’t pitch dark. There are lacquered surfaces, an expansive gleaming sushi bar where the freshest of fish glisten under the lights and ropes seem to be the predominant decorating theme. Service is very deferential as befits a Japanese restaurant and there is the requisite “Irasshaimase!!!” welcome greeting when we enter.
We’re dining from the festival menu and for $55 a head you get a choice of 2 courses out of a range of entree, main and dessert. A tip: desserts can be added for the a la carte price between $9-$12 each with the dessert platter at $25 so the best value is had by ordering the entree and main and adding on dessert if you want it. All come with a beverage, a wine from the festival sponsor McGuigan’s who are sponsoring the festival for the first time. The wine comes from their list of five premium limited release wines called “the Shortlist” or you get also get a bottle of still or sparkling Tasmanian rain water. The entree and main courses are from the regular menu whilst the dessert is created for the festival menu.
Tuna Umeshu served with McGuigan’s 2005 Riesling
The courses come out quickly to ensure that everyone makes their festival booking and we start with the tuna umeshu which has two parts to it-the tuna and a salad. The tuna has six luscious pieces of tuna sashimi topped with red vein sorrel and tiny cubes of lightly bitter choya umeshu. There is also “garlic soy umami” drizzled on top but the star is the tuna which is so lusciously good. I have an embarrassing time with the double ended chopsticks and struggle to pick up the jelly pieces. The simple mixed leaf salad with sesame salad dressing is another favourite at the table with many wondering how to make the dressing.
I always thought that everyone were red wine drinkers (or perhaps that’s just my friends) but here most people order the 2005 Eden Valley Riesling with the dark golden shade from the ageing process. So that we could try both, I ordered the McGuigan’s 2009 Barossa Valley GSM (grenache, shiraz and mourvedre) which is a popular Rhone Valley blend.
Lamb Chop Maple Miso
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January 24th, 2012 by Not Quite Nigella
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