I’m nervous and have popped a Mintie into my mouth to steady my nerves. I had forgotten how enormous Minties are and instead end up chewing on it to try and make it softer, a seemingly impossible task at least for the first few seconds. Chris adjusts my P plate on the front of the car and we are off. And I’m driving a new car, a Yaris for the new Toyota launch and we are headed off to the Yarra Valley to Locale at De Bortoli estate to test it out and I’m a little bit petrified. And the giant lolly isn’t helping.
Chew
Gulp
Swallow
What Barbie might drive
Ahhh thats better! The Yarra Valley is one of those fabulous areas just one hour outside of Melbourne that along with Beechworth, Daylesford and the Queen Victoria markets makes me feel slightly sad that we don’t have. I take the one hour drive and test out the car. It’s quick and there is a soft acceleration which causes me some alarm at first but before you know it I’m driving it and relaxing!
Winemaker Steve Webber
We arrive at De Bortoli estate which sprawls over acres and acres. They are known for their Noble One botrytis dessert wine. The wine maker Steve Webber tells us of how they make wines and the don’t try to be everything to everybody. It is a family run business that started off in 1928 with Vittorio De Bortoli who arrived here and lived under a rainwater tank. He married Giuseppina De Bortoli shortly after, their son Deen in 1951 started expanding the business and now and there are four siblings that run the estate.
Chef Heath Dumesny
Chef Heath Dumesny has been cooking here for two and a half years first as a sous chef stepping up to head chef. Their garden area grows herbs and vegetables to supplement the restaurant. There’s all sorts of herbs, rainbow chard,purple carrots, zucchini, artichokes to name a few and they like to use the garden to help guide the menu. Even if the produce isn’t enough to cater for the whole restaurant, it helps them decide on the menu as what is growing in their garden is what is grown locally.
House made bread
We start on the bread which is a fabulously satisfying and moreish house baked ciabatta which has a layer of salty polenta giving it a nice crunch. There is also a crispy paper thin rosemary carta di musica and a herb cheese that is like a labne yogurt cheese and is spreadable-delicious!
Seasonal antipasto
Our first course is a share plate of seasonal antipasto. There are tender, thin spears of grilled asparagus, calabrese salami, torn pieces of milky buffalo mozzarella, some crumbly, flakey and fabulous cheese biscuits and some salty olives in a range of sizes. My favorites are the mozzarella and the cheese biscuits which I could eat by the handful.
Pan seared snapper fillet with fregola sarda and roast vegetable insalata and salsa verde
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January 29th, 2012 by Not Quite Nigella
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
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