Tasmanian Rhubarb tarty cake

I originally made this cake using plums, beautiful blood-red plums from right here in Tasmania of course and on the same day my friends visited from their Tunbridge abode with another variety of plums that they had stewed, not sure of the variety but they were more of a tomato red hue.  We ended up serving a splodge of the stewed plums alongside the slice of cake and it was all livened with a quality Tasmanian pure vanilla ice-cream. The reason this cake came out the first time like a tart is that I put less flour in it which made it flatter and I also poured some of the plum sauce over the top before baking, so it was quite moist, in fact the centre was similiar to the moistness of ‘frangipane’, the almond filling base of many tarts.

The rhubarb version is my latest adaption and I added some flaked almonds on top. The rhubarb came directly from the organic farm of our friends garden at Avoca, so I am staying on track with as many ingredients from this state as possible. This time I carefully measured the flour and it turned out closer to a tea cake and lasts around 3 days.

To cook the rhubarb:

I cut the rhubarb into lengths 100 cm and placed in an oven proof ceramic dish and sprinkled over 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1 tsp quatre epices (the French 4 basic cake and cookie spices) and about 2 cups honey. Keep in mind I cooked the whole bunch that you see in the basket. I added about 1/4 cup water only. I covered the rhubarb with foil and roasted for around half an hour in a pre-heated oven at 200 c. Let it cool in the dish.

Ingredients

2 large eggs – organic of course

175 g caster sugar, plus more for sprinkling on top of cake before it goes in oven

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

85 g unsalted butter

75 ml milk

125 g plain flour

2  1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 cup caster sugar

4 stalks rhubarb, roasted in oven

Here is the method:

Preheat oven to 200 c. Line the base and sides of a 24 cm round springform cake tin with baking paper.

Bring out the electric mixer here because you need to mix the eggs and sugar for a good 5 minutes or more until it is well mixed and creamy looking.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter, just before it melts, add the milk, this will help you to avoid burnt butter.

Sift the dry ingredients and add to the electric mixer whilst mixing, stopping the machine to check all the sides of the bowl. is all. Don’t over beat here but make sure the lumps are gone.

Now this is why you must preheat and line your tin in advance.

Quickly put the mixture into the cake tin and place the fruit carefully over the top, it may sink in so a fancy pattern is not necessary although try to keep the fruit evenly distributed. With the plum version I poured just a little of the juice over the cake. If you are using flaked almonds like I have in the picture, sprinkle the sugar first then add the almonds.

Place in the oven for 10 minutes on the 200 c and put a timer on. Lower the heat to 180 c and bake for around 20-25 minutes. Use a skewer to check if the cake set in the middle. Remove from oven, cool in the tin and sprinkle with icing sugar before serving. Plenty of fresh cream on the side is a must. We also added some rhubarb on the side. Roz

 

Tasmanian Blueberry Cheesecake

I would normally put recipes in the recipe tab but then people never know when I have added another so from now on they will go out as a post.

This cheesecake has been made twice in two weeks, that is a record for our house but it is the blueberry season. I mentioned it in an earlier blog on blueberries but finally have a photo so now I am providing the recipe. It serves a crowd (that means 10) I adapted this recipe from one by Rachel Allen an Irish food writer and teacher. Her butter for the base was not enough so I increased it.

Make it on the day you wish to serve it, of course leftovers in the fridge will still be welcomed next day.

Ingredients

100 g unsalted butter, melted

175 g dry biscuits, I use Marie digestives

175 g blueberries for inside the cheesecake

100 g blueberries for top or just go for a whole punnet

450 g cream cheese

150 g caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

4 eggs, lightly beaten

icing sugar to dust

Preparation: Preheat the oven to  180 c. Lightly grease the sides and base of a 24cm springform cake tin.

The real beginning: Chop the biscuits in a food processor or place in a plastic bag and bash them with a rolling-pin. Mix the biscuits with the melted butter and press into the base – not the sides of the tin. Pop in the fridge whilst you prepare the cheese mixture.

This is the easy part: Use an electric mixer if you are lazy otherwise a big fat wooden spoon. Beat the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and the eggs together in a large bowl until smooth.

Add the blueberries to the biscuit base and pour over the cheese mixture. Bake for around 40 minutes. It should be lightly browned around the edges and not too wobbly in the middle. Allow the tin to cool for at least 10 minutes before removing the sides of the spring-form pan. It does begin to separate but if not run a thin knife around the edges.

This is the fun bit, just before you are about to serve it, beat some double cream with just a tablespoon of caster sugar for further indulgence, it is a cheesecake so there is no going back. Arrange the blueberries on top, give it a light dust of icing sugar and watch everyone light up. I like this cheesecake eaten at room temperature but of course the cream can be beaten first and left in the fridge until you are ready to decorate the cake. Roz

 

Latris, a restaurant on the marina, St Helens, Tasmania

Ocean Trout

It has taken me a long time to get to Latris and it was at the invitation of friends that I finally made it for lunch. The restaurant’s position at the St Helens marina is perfect for boat watching in sunny weather and guess what, it was all grey skies and turgid sea on the day. We took a table at the window whilst the proprietor was finishing an endless task of cleaning the full length windows whilst balancing on a narrow ledge over the water, one slip and he was in for a spontaneous swim. We just had a quote for cleaning all the full length windows at our house inside and outside so obviously he was saving his couple of hundred dollars.

Classic flathead and chips

I decided I would write something about Latris as the last post I did on the nearby Margot restaurant received quite a few hits from people searching the net for much needed information on restaurants in the St Helens area.  The search engines threw up my blog’s mention of Margot, possibly because hardly anyone comes to St Helens and writes about the restaurants.

My order of bouillabaisse came in a light and thin cream sauce. Garnished on the top with only one small slice from a French Baguette and there was a dab of rouille (rouille is rust in French). This saffron garlicky sauce is usually a real flavour booster but there just was not enough of it. The dish included some pippis, that I love, and perfectly cooked trout and white fish fillets but certainly not nearly enough variety. A vital missing ingredient was parsley, this much-lauded dish from the Mediterranean should not leave the kitchen’s ‘pass’ without this classic herb.

Bouillabaise

All the other dishes our table ordered, were deemed a success special mention for the trout dish.  Don’t get me wrong, my main was enjoyable just missing a real depth of flavour. We chose the Derwent 08 Riesling – crisp, not overly fruity, it worked for our respective fried and creamy fish dishes.

They have an odd rule at lunchtime, Latris will not serve tap water, you have to buy water and since my other half does not drink alcohol, he was locked into ordering it. So a bottle of Ninth Island rainwater at $9.00 was suggested by the staff if we wanted water, an imperative really. We drink nothing but rainwater at Binalong Bay since we do not have ‘town water’ so for us the fancy bottle and label did not resonate, it hit the nerve in the hip pocket. Well I am speaking for our friends who were treating us. They were far too polite to make an issue of it as I am doing here.

Expensive rainwater

Creme Brulee

My dessert was on point, a crème brûlée with just the right texture and the almond bread wafers on the side were perfect for scooping out the leftovers.  The only improvement I would make is in the presentation, a little side plate on a black paper napkin is the kind if presentation my elderly aunt would serve.

Latris interior

This is a restaurant I will return to – lets hope they don’t take offence about the next remark. As long as I can look at the view and not the mundane and somewhat cold interior. The design -  what is wrong with it? I would throw out the commercial office plants and dress the tabletops with sheets of old-fashioned butchers paper, the kind you get with takeaway fish and chips. Any more ideas and they would have to pay me for it. Roz

 

Pancakes and Petanque in Binalong Bay

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Boules and crepes

Pancakes and Pétanque runs off the tongue more smoothly than Crêpes and Boules but there is not a lot of difference between either.

I wrote about the people who run the French Crêpes van when they first visited us at a public area at Binalong Bay each  Sunday evening. Sadly we learned soon after, that the Break of Day Council bureaucrats closed them down. We attended a Binalong Bay Ratepayers A.G.M and its attendant general meeting and the issue of the licence to hawk being revoked was raised by moi. The prevailing sentiment of the ratepayers was that the crêpe van and its operators should definitely be allowed back to our little hamlet. It went to the Council meeting the following week soon and the ‘hawker’ won the right to return but not without some opposition by the Mayor, even though he stated at our Ratepayers Meeting that he would look into it and gave us all to believe that he agreed that they should be allowed to operate in Binalong Bay.

Boules novice

Anyway the Council voted and one vote swayed the opinion in the affirmative which was enough to allow them to operate.

So we went down again on Sunday evening and duly ordered our crepes. We met some new neighbours over our crepes and a glass of BYO wine. Once again this is one of the reasons why this informal and inexpensive way to get together is of benefit to the locals.

We followed up our crepes with a game of Pétanque/Boules.

I am a complete newcomer to Boules and after playing the game on Sunday night looked up the rules!

The goal is, while standing with the feet together in a small circle, to throw hollow metal balls as close as possible to a small wooden ball called a cochonnet (jack). The game is normally played on hard dirt or gravel, but can also be played on grass or other surfaces.

The casual form of the game of Pétanque is played by about 17 million people in France, mostly during their summer vacations. Additionally, Pétanque clubs have arisen in cities throughout North America. Pétanque is seen as hip by many newcomers, old and young alike. So there is now a very hip branch in Binalong Bay.

We were given a set of boules by two very good friends for our very respective ’signficant’ birthdays when back in Brisbane so finally we will be able to get some use out of them and they will be returning on our next road trip to Binalong Bay.

It was a perfect evening and I took  photos of the sun setting in the west. Roz

Our Idyll

Minutes later

 

St Helens Oysters, learn to shuck!

Part of the experience we offer of staying with us in our beach house at Binalong Bay is learning to shuck oysters.

Having said that our guests do not always coincide with the best oyster season but when they do, we call in to the oyster farm on the road to Binalong Bay from St Helens to buy un-shucked oysters from Aqa Oysters.

If you visit Aqa’s website there is a lesson on shucking – it is not what works for me as they suggest putting the knife in the oyster at a 2.00 o’clock position, but if you persevere as I did you will soon find your own style.

According to Aqa, the local (Pacific) oysters here are known as Pittwater and St Helens. Aqa, Shed 2, 444 Binalong Bay Road, St Helens 7216. Office sthelens@aqaoysters.com.au
They describe the taste is initially salty followed by a sweet citrus rush aftertaste. I find that taste varies, depending on the weather. It is best to buy them when the water is freezing and I always ask for small ones over the big fat ones. I think they are better for swallowing whole and you get a mix of all the oyster meat and not just a gob full of cream.

But many like them fat and creamy. Reading Stasko’s Oyster book I was amused by the comment she included by British Novelist William Makepeace’s remark that after eat large oysters in Boston, he felt like he ‘had swallowed a baby’.

Visitors finding their style

OK so to date I managed to fob off shucking to others, but today I took a leap forward. I gave myself a pep talk – I am mad if I don’t take advantage of the local oysters to practice and acquire a new skill!

I have three oyster shuckers in the drawer to choose from and tested them to find one to suit my style.

First time shucker

The best way is to have a ledge to angle the hinge end of the oyster on. The raised edge of the sink’s drainer works well, I hold the oyster in my left hand in a tea towel and with my right hand prize the top shell at the hinge end and then work the knife around the edges and Voila! it is open.

Smooth shells

Hinge end

My best results came with the green handled shucker. It is a Bladerunner, Australian made in stainless steel and I bought it at the Log Cabin in Bicheno a beach side town south of here. Log Cabin Store, 59 Burgess Street Bicheno 7215. It is an old-fashioned general store and by the owners admission (Kevin and Sharon Gray) they are dinosaurs so no email or website.

I eat mine raw – naturel and when I want to add something else, I cannot go past the Tasmanian Wasabi dressing as a dipping sauce. Having said that I have enjoyed them cooked. Whilst in Portugal late last year I had oysters fried in tempura batter and served atop lemon sorbet. The texture of crunchy batter contrasted with the soft oyster inside, an absolute sensation that tickled my palate.

From my library in Brisbane I brought down the little book Oyster from Montparnasse to Greenwell Point written by Nicolette Stasko and I have taken it off the shelf for further reading. Although small, the book is brimming with ancedotes, history and carefully researched information. According to Stasko Tasmania’s shellfish industry has a Quality Assurance programme that ensures shellfish are grown in unpolluted waters and so oysters do not have to be purified prior to consumption. All good news as the flavour remains pure. Roz

 

Binalong Bay Fisherwoman

I have made a female friend here in Binalong Bay who loves to fish, every day if possible and I am now joining her regularly. Today she told other fisher-people that I will eat anything, well not quite I ventured to add.

Only a mother would love him

Many shells in the sea contain edible inhabitants but I decided after taking this one home and subjecting it to closer inspection that I would decline to eat it.  The eyes extend and its open large mouth was quite off-putting. You see the cooked version here and it still looks alive!  I had boiled the shell in water then when it cooled, coaxed it out.  The greyish oval shape in the bowl is the protective flat shell that shelters its head.

I did eat periwinkles I picked up off the beach, they are not so visually menacing. I soaked them in fresh water for a few hours then boiled them in a little salted water for a few minutes. After removing the protective shell on top, sliced and fried the meat in a little garlic, lemongrass and butter – utterly delicious. The official name of the Blue Periwinkle is Nodilittorina Unifasciata, how wonderfully Italian that sounds to me.

Local Periwinkle

My other experiment has been with Gummy Shark but it cannot be too experimental as according to one of my informers, the local restaurant Angasi has had it on the menu. It is sitting in the freezer as was advised by ‘veterans’ to keep it frozen for a week or so before using. I will give you an update when I cook it.

Abalone eating is not so experimental, Haliotis Rubra is Blacklip Abalone, once again a member of the sea-snail family, a gastropod mollusk. It is abundant around these parts but not being a diver I had to wait until a friendly and generous diver gave me some.

I removed them from the shell with a knife, next gave it a bash to tenderise the meat, some people have a cricket bat handy for the purpose, I only had a wooden rolling-pin. I washed the surface and used a brush to scrub the lips (edges) to remove the black that gives it its common name.

Inside and out Blacklip Abalone

The cooking part – I sliced it thinly and exposed it to the hot frying pan for only seconds. I chose to use simple asian style flavourings – see my mise en place ready so there is no delay when cooking the abalone as quickly as possible.

Mise en place

Steaming fish

I invested in a three tiered steamer and also have a new wok with its own steam tray so steaming has become very popular in my kitchen lately as it locks in all the flavours and not a bit of the fish is ever wasted. I am loving my new life fishing and cooking the results of my catch and our good friends generous donations to the cooking pot. Roz

Steamed Jackass Morwong

 

Blueberries in Tasmania

Gift of 6kg blueberries

My favourite colour for food is definitely not blue!!!! but I cannot ignore the blueberry season that has arrived in my part of the world. As an antioxident blueberries are right up there and I positively need all the antioxidants I can get.

However I did not welcome the latest research news on blueberries that tells us that we should never eat them with any milk products as that reduces their capacity as antioxidants. There is always something the food scientists discover with to stop you in your tracks and totally ruin your fun. I am sure food scientists, technologists or whatever they call themselves don’t go into the profession because they actually like food.

I had just made a blueberry cheesecake and for a tiny moment thought better about eating it. As if….

But I do take advice on occasion so I am on the hunt for recipes that do not combine them with milk products. In the meantime I will just have to press on and cook them up with whatever I fancy cos’ we have a more than our share at the moment.

Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes

Ignoring the advice just for the moment I cooked Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes yesterday after a morning out expending calories whilst fishing.

I am also partial to a blueberry muffin, I like the way they pop out all over the crust and inside they burst and bleed, in a good way of course. I had one in a bakery in Swansea, down the highway from here but the cake part was wet and soggy inside and when I asked if I could have another, was told that the baker cooked them the same way every day and they would all be the same. So now I ask everyone how ‘thoroughly’ cooked they are, before ordering one. I must be the only person who does so.

Blueberry sauce

On my quest for a good blueberry muffin I found the bakery JJ’s Bakery and Old Mill Cafe in Longford is reliable and I always score a properly cooked and well filled blueberry muffin there. Actually as country bakeries go, this one is good. There is even a wood fired pizza oven down the back so this store is always patronised by locals and food travellers like me.

Blueberries are relatively new to Australia and for more background the Blueberries growers association website fills you in.

About 9 varieties grow in the southern part of Australia but to me they do taste similar to me or having said that some are sweeter and some are tarty. Growers will disagree as they have more experience.

Growing Locations

I love the way blueberries look when teamed with raspberries and they share the same season so don’t let the opportunity go by. The huge yellow box of blueberries up top were a gift from a friend who knows we eat this blue food! Roz

 

Forage for veg in Avoca, Tasmania

On our way home after a day’s shopping trip to Launceston we stopped in Avoca, it is a small village that we normally drive straight through. We had slowed down as you must in towns, and noticed a small blackboard on the side of the road that advertised fresh vegetables and flowers. Even though it was late we figured the sign was still out so we took a detour.

Annie's cauliflower

At the gate, the owner Steve escorted us to the garden where his other half, Annie was still working. Annie asked us what we would like and immediately cut or pulled out the vegetables as we chose them.

Annie's garden

The town of Avoca was known as Camp Hill and St Paul’s Plains.  It is very small yet described by Tasmanians’ as a principal town in the Fingal Valley – on the Esk Highway that runs across Tasmania to the east. It is  27 ks in from the Midlands Highway and serves the communities of Royal George and Rossarden, places we are yet to discover.

In 1833 John Wedge, surveyor and explorer, named the town, having been inspired by the Thomas More poem ‘The Sweet Vale of Avoca’. Avoca’s namesake is in County Wicklow in Ireland.

There are a number historic colonial buildings including the Parish Hall, the Union Hotel. Our new friends in Avoca are living in the handsome Marlborough House, built in 1845, that is thought to have been designed by James Blackburn, the architect who built St Thomas’ Anglican Church designed in a Romanesque Revival style directly opposite theirs, and the church at Port Arthur. Steve has almost finished restoring Marlborough House inside.

Marlborough House cat

Heirloom carrots on 'heirloom' white glass dish bought at St Helen's Saturday market

Whilst I am always anxious to immediately cook fresh picked garden vegetables, Annie’s carrots are grown from heirloom seeds ‘Lubyana’ (Daucas carota var. sativa) that did not end up in a cooking pot for a few days but then I suppose the ones we buy in the shops are ancient, but not ancient in the romantic meaning of the word. When I cooked the carrots I served them simply with Tasmanian Kennebec potatoes and tiny French style lentils grown in Australia.  If anyone is growing lentils in Tasmania let me know! The lentils I bought are distributed by Raw Materials who also sell on-line.

I had purchased the ‘Puy’ Lentils in Launceston’s enticing food and wine store Alps & Amici 52 Abbott St, East Launceston TAS 7250  (03) 6331 1777 (no website to refer you to).

Annie and Steve have just gained permission to open a cafe in the adjoining school house building so watch this space for more info on Marlborough House Garden Cafe in Blenheim Street Avoca. Roz

 

Flip along for Crepes in Binalong Bay

Over the holiday period, Binalong Bay residents are visited by Crêpes Céleste, a travelling food van making and selling crêpes each Sunday evening at the little park on Main Road from 5 to 8pm or dusk. So we trotted down there on Sunday to sit out in the park with our BYO glasses and bottle of wine and placed our orders.

The Darwin

Crêpes Céleste are making as close to authentic thin French crépes as they can from either wheat or buckwheat flour but the fillings are adapted to suit different tastes. I chose a ‘Darwin’ crêpe that is actually an Indian lentil curry with spicy tomato sauce and grated coconut on the side. I chose the buckwheat flour version which I prefer as I do when I am in Paris at Breizh Cafe in Le Marais. So now for one night a week we have a little of Paris in Binalong Bay. Actually this speciality originated in Brittany not Paris. But to try to maintain my Tasmanian bias next week I may go for the smoked salmon filling as it will be closer to eating genuine Tasmanian food. A classic lemon crêpe is only $3.50 and the most expensive is around $8.00. French crepes of buckwheat flour at Breizh Cafe are likely to be called galettes de blé noir and come folded in on four sides to form a square, rather than rolled.

If Céleste added oysters it would definitely be a touch of Brittany in Binalong. But whichever way they come they are one of my favourite ‘western’ snack foods.

Just add oysters - Photo from Breizh Cafe

It was very relaxing – always the mood when someone else does the cooking! Children played happily nearby and a family set up a cricket match and between carbohydrates, the children burnt off some of their energy. Meanwhile we sipped and enjoyed our repast until the sun dimmed and brought with it a chilly breeze. Roz

 

Jellyfish inspire moulds

For the past few weeks jellyfish have appeared in the waters here in plague proportions, and today just below our house I found dozens of different sized jellyfish washed ashore. They were all fantastic in formation, size, colour and shape. There are many varieties of jellyfish in the ocean but in my opinion these ones, if they had vocal chords, would claim to have been the inspiration for early cooks in the creation of edible jelly.

Port Wine flavour?

Some of the jellyfish arrived in the same shade as the ‘Port Wine’ jelly that our parents favoured back in the 50’s.

Trying to avoid being stranded

Since 1995 there has been an unprecedented influx of jellyfish on the coastlines of Tasmania and I doubt from the evidence I have collected in these photos that it has abated.

Here are some important facts about the jellyfish – according to the experts, Dr Lisa Gershwin, QVMAG’s natural science curator and Dr Lisa Gershwin, QVMAG’s natural science curator ‘Cyanea capillata is a large medusoid jellyfish capable of inflicting painful stings to bathers. Its disc complex can be over half a metre in diameter and when alive it ranges in colour from bright pink to purple. Dead or dying specimens observed at or near the tideline are usually a light khaki brown. This sizeable invertebrate is, in many respects, a mysterious animal. Because its habitat is usually oceanic not a lot is known about its normal behaviour or life cycle. It seems likely that the El Nino influence on Pacific Ocean water temperatures is a significant factor in its local appearances.

Perfection of form

This primitive animal is virtually a large mouth, surrounded by many folds of prehensile tentacles suspended from the lower side of its broad disc. Additionally, eight bunches of long, translucent, spaghetti-like stinging tentacles hang, at regular intervals, from the disc’s periphery. There is a rudimentary nervous system which permits response to touch and taste, and also enables the animal to balance and swim. The stinging cells of C. capillata are called cnidoblasts and are unique in the Animal Kingdom. While it is possible to be stung by direct unwitting contact, the usual scenario is for swimmers to emerge from apparently clear water and experience a moderate to severe ‘nettle rash’ shortly afterwards. The reason is that stinging cells, detached from dead and dying jellyfish macerated by the surf, or attached to microscopic larval stages similarly distributed, remain potent for several days. Any exposed part of the body is susceptible, particularly the neck, chest and armpits. Cotton skivvies or rubber wet suits afford some protection. Stings on the face, especially the eyes, can be most unpleasant and often necessitate medical treatment. It is important not to rub the site of irritation which, in most adults, regresses after about an hour. If pain persists, a warm shower followed by swabbing the sting sites with household vinegar is usually quite effective. A degree of acclimatisation to C. capillata stings also occurs.’

I don’t think I will be able to eat jelly made from sugar crystals again without thinking of the battalion that were defeated on the shores today. Roz