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Archive for the ‘Food & Friends’ Category

Black Forest Smokehouse, Marrickville

Posted in Food & Friends, Frugal Living on June 16, 2014| 39 Comments »

We’ve only recently discovered the Black Forest Smokehouse in Marrickville.

Lorraine wrote about them years ago, but I never knew where they were until Al and I drove past the warehouse on our way to Double Roasters a few weeks ago. A couple of days later, Pete and I were in the area, and decided to see what they had on offer.

We bought a few items to try – pastrami, cacciatore salami and ham hocks – and were astonished at how reasonably priced they were – the pastrami was $15.50 a kilo, which meant the large 600g piece we bought cost us just $9. The salami was a tiny $3, and the ham hocks worked out at $4.80 each.

That night we had pastrami Cuban sandwiches for dinner (which used up only half the pastrami – an economical meal!), and a couple of days later, I made a large vat of pasta soup using one of the ham hocks. Pete was very impressed with the flavour – sometimes heavily smoked meats are too much for him – but the soup was delicious without being overly smoky or salty.

A week later, Maude and I went back for another visit, complete with a shopping list from the neighbours. I bought a large section of leg ham to try, as well as a piece of pastrami for Liz. One of the ham hocks went to June (who uses them in her Hungarian dishes) and Maude bought a kilo of turkey bacon ($12.50) to experiment with.

All the meats used are Australian, and cured in-house at the Marrickville warehouse. Maude and I demolished the rabbit and quail terrine between us – it was rich, spiked with pistachios and well seasoned with peppercorns – and the chorizos were absolutely superb grilled over our flaming pig.

We sometimes find cured meats overly salty, but every single Black Forest item we’ve tried so far has been well-balanced. We baked the flat leg ham with a quince jelly glaze and served it with sourdough focaccia and edamame – not a classic combination, but a big hit with my sons nonetheless.

The Black Forest Smokehouse is open on weekdays and accepts cash only. The lovely counter staff are particularly helpful, so do ask if you’re after something that isn’t on display.

As always, I don’t have any affiliation whatsoever with this company, I’m just a happy customer!

. . . . .

Black Forest Smokehouse
148 Victoria Rd
Marrickville  NSW  2204
Tel: (02) 9516 3210

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Pig On Fire!

Posted in Food & Friends, Recipes on June 8, 2014| 94 Comments »

My Pete turned 50 a little while ago.

It’s been a very low key affair. Rather than a large party, we’ve had a fortnight of lunches and dinners with close friends. I had to smile – I organised Pete’s 21st nearly three decades ago, and several of the folks who are now celebrating his 50th with us had been there.

Last night, Kevin, Carol, Nic and PeteV came over for dinner. We’ve all been friends since uni – it’s such a joy to have so much shared history! That morning, I’d announced that I wanted to go to Petersham to buy a terracotta pig. I’d seen them on my travels with Allison, and they were just too cute for words. They’re filled with drinking alcohol, set alight and chorizo sausages are then cooked over the flames.

Pete was, of course, sceptical – “Babe, that’s $22 for the pig, and then another $30 for grappa – all to cook $2 chorizos?”

However, he indulged me and off to Petersham we traipsed. And even he had to admit that it’s hard resist a face like this one…

I believe this is a Portuguese tradition – does anyone know if they also use these in Spain and Brazil? The chorizos are partially sliced so that they fan out a little when grilled, allowing the flavour of the alcohol to infuse the meat…

Our little piggy has a very satisfyingly round belly…

That night, we filled the pig with cooking rum (Pete drew the line at buying expensive alcohol for burning), placed the sliced chorizos on top, and set it on fire. It was spectacular, but we used far too much alcohol – the flames leapt up six inches in the air and, as the pork fat dripped into the the fire, the room filled with smoke. I had extinguisher and fire blanket on hand.

I opened the door to the hallway…and immediately set off the smoke detectors. It was certainly theatrical! But it was enormous fun, and the charred chorizos were absolutely delicious…

We bought our terracotta pig at Charlie’s Deli in Petersham, but they’re also available in the Portuguese butchers on the strip. They’re probably best used outdoors (she adds, sheepishly).

It’s a long weekend here in Australia – hope you’re all enjoying it as much as we are!

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Juggling

Posted in Cool Things, Food & Friends, Recipes on June 4, 2014| 56 Comments »

Recently, I received a text photo from my baby cousin Lih, with a note reminding me that I’d taught him to juggle fifteen years ago.

Back then, I actually could juggle, but I hadn’t picked up the beanbags for nearly a decade. I figured it was time to get back into it. Here’s my more recent, slightly tragic attempt…

I’ve decided I need to put in some serious practice, so that I can make another attempt at juggling clubs. The last time I tried, I threw the first club into the air…and it came straight back down on my head and nearly knocked me out. Uncle Mike has offered to coach me, so I’m going to try again.

Juggling is surprisingly easy – I’m nearly fifty, with truly rubbish hand-eye co-ordination, so if I can do it, then I reckon just about anyone can. This great video is a good place to start. Have fun!

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Tea Craft

Posted in Cool Things, Food & Friends, In My Kitchen on June 3, 2014| 55 Comments »

After a long hiatus, I’ve recently started drinking caffeinated tea again.

It began a few months ago when I was reading a fellow blogger’s In My Kitchen post about using Earl Grey for iced tea. From there, it’s evolved into a daily cup (or two) of hot Earl Grey, milk-free and sweetened with a little honey.

Last week, I was out and about with my foodie friend Allison. Our lunch dates often turn into road trips, as we drive our cars in convoy from one suburb to another, stopping to pick up goodies along the way. On our last adventure, we started at a new eatery in Marrickville, popped into Southern Cross supplies, then trekked out to the Portuguese shops in Petersham.

On the way, we stopped at Double Roasters in Marrickville. These guys take their coffee very seriously – apart from a selection of custom roasted beans for sale, they were also offering a rare single origin brew that Al was keen to try. It’s a testament to their graciousness that not a single eyebrow was raised when I sheepishly announced that I didn’t drink coffee. Instead, they sat us down and brought me a pot of the most amazing Earl Grey tea I’d ever tasted.

I discovered that the tea was blended locally by a Sydney based company called Tea Craft. The following morning, I hopped onto their website and placed an order – some Earl Grey for me, a bag of their signature Karavan blend to try, and Russian Caravan for Big Boy (my eldest son has strong opinions about tea). The order was placed at 9.23am, shipped at 9.38am, and delivered at 2pm. It’s hard not to be impressed with service like that!

Tea Craft products aren’t cheap, but the quality is superb. Their Earl Grey is aromatically flavoured with bergamot and blue cornflowers, and it’s a delicious, gentle brew (unlike the one I bought from T2 recently, which I found overly tannic and bitter). Big Boy loved the Russian Caravan. The Karavan blend is also very nice – it’s a mix of black and green teas flavoured with bergamot, peppermint and rose…

I was keen to try other teas from this company, but didn’t want to pay for a full bag of each, so I contacted them on Twitter and asked if they offered a sample pack. They replied instantly – they didn’t offer it as a standard product, but would be more than happy to put one together for me. I told them my budget and my drinking preferences (weak black teas or herbal teas, drunk without milk) and let them choose.

The next day, a silver bag of treasure arrived…

I don’t have any affiliation whatsoever with either of these companies, but I am biased – I like to support our homegrown, Sydney-based businesses as much as possible, particularly when they offer such great products and service!

. . . . .

Tea Craft
Tel: (+61) 1300 733 973
www.teacraft.com.au

. . . . .

Double Roasters / Wicks Park Cafe
199 Victoria Rd, Marrickville,
Sydney, NSW 2204
Tel: (02) 9572 7711
www.doubleroasters.com

. . . . .

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Farm City: A Book Review

Posted in Cool Things, Food & Friends, Musings on May 26, 2014| 23 Comments »

My friend Dan is eight years younger than I am, lives on the other side of the world, and is the closest I’ve ever come to finding a true kindred spirit. She’s the person I ring in the middle of the night when life goes pear-shaped, as she instinctively and intuitively understands how my brain (and heart) work. I love her to bits.

We have a regular “date” – we chat on the phone or over skype once a week. During a recent conversation, the topic of what we were reading came up. Dan was appalled by my current reading list, which apart from cookbooks is liberally sprinkled with dodgy romances, old detective novels and cheap self-help books (you’d think I’d have figured out by now that the books were discounted for a reason).

“What would Oprah think if she came to visit?”, she asked (since moving to America, Dan has become a member of the Church of Oprah).

And so, she made me buy a couple of new books. One of them, Farm City by Novella Carpenter, is absolutely brilliant – the best thing I’ve read all year. It’s about a young woman who sets up a community farm on a vacant plot of land in the middle of Oakland, California, in an district known as Ghost Town. As Wiki describes it, “the area is known for its violence and blight”.

In the midst of it all, with homeless people living in cars on the street, regular gunfights and shootings, and drugs being sold out in the open, Novella and her partner Bill convert the empty lot – basically as squatters – into a thriving and productive urban farm.

Her adventures go far beyond simply growing vegetables though, and vegans and vegetarians be warned, there’s a lot of livestock being grown and eaten within these pages.  She starts with fowl – she raises, kills and roasts her own turkey for Thanksgiving – and then moves onto rabbits, and then pigs (in the middle of the city!). It’s a steep learning curve for both of them, and a glorious read for the rest of us, offering well written prose, humour and above all, blinding honesty. I was torn between wanting to read it as quickly as I could to find out what happened next, and not wanting the story to end.

If you’re interested in Novella’s ongoing tale, she has a blog here. And if you’re after a great read – particularly if you’re interested in self-sufficiency and urban farming – then both Dan and I can highly recommend this book!

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