Jackman McRoss

I only have 3 words for this bakery....

OH MY GOODNESS!!!

Photo from here

Photo from here

What's not to LOVE about this place!!!! We went there for breakfast yesterday, and would you believe i forgot to take photos.. Oh well, it did happen, and it was very, very good... Situated in the very popular Battery Point, in amongst some great history, is the very popular Jackman McRoss bakery..

100% sour dough rye we took home.



Cornelian Bay

Great "time out" spot just out of the Hobart CBD, and a great place to inhale a French Vanilla Slice from the Hill St Grocer. You know how at supermarkets they put all the lollies and kids stuff at kids eye level?

Well, at the Hill St Grocer they put all the "adult" food at their eye level, right behind the counter!

Orecchiette pasta with peas, wood smoked bacon, roast tomatoes and cream

Bit of a long winded name for a dish, but believe me, this is fast to prepare and absolutely delicious.

We'd been away for the weekend and when we go back late afternoon we still had to prepare dinner for church (About twenty people) We were a little prepared, we'd done some groceries at Hill Street Grocer in Hobart, do yourself a favour, check them out!

Orecchiette Pasta with Cream, Smoky Bacon, Roast Tomatoes and Peas

Quantities are not that important, you just make it up as you go!

Pasta (We used shell pasta in lieu of the orecchiette)
Wood Smoked Bacon (Got this from Hill St grocer, you'll never go back to the dodgy "fake" supermarket bacon)

Frozen Peas

Tomatoes (Out the garden)

Cream
White Wine

Salt/Pepper

Pecorino (From Hill St as well)

Turn on the oven to high

Put a large pan of water on the stove

Halve or quarter the tomatoes, depending on size and place in the oven in a large tray

Place pasta in the boiling water, when it's boiling

Dice the bacon and fry in a pan

Grate the Pecorino, and add to the bacon

Add about 50ml white wine to the bacon mixture

Pour in cream

Drain the pasta when it's al dente and heat the peas in the boiling water

Remove tomatoes from the oven and place on a plate, and put the pasta into the tray.

Add the creamy bacon mixture, the peas and the tomatoes with all the delicious tomato juices

Give it a gentle stir and serve immediately with some bread (See next post)

Photo's aren't all that good. I made this same recipe for Christines dinner party. Katie took some great photos of this dish, you can see them here http://katiesteafortwo.blogspot.com/2011/03/surprise.html

Time to go home and grab a rod

Rivers rising, Friday frothies while fishing of our verandah

So we've had a bit of rain over the past few days, most notably 300mm+ at gray.. And all that water runs past our place eventually

Here's some photos Christine just sent

And here's one she took 20 minutes later.

The rivers not expected to peak till late afternoon, and if predictions are correct it will come up another 2.5 metres! Friday frothies on the vernadah with a fishing rod i reckon!!

Happy birthday finn

He's 2 today.... Happy Birthday little man..

Salmon Enchilada Kinda Thingies

So with all the salmon about at the moment, and them not being the greatest table fish but better than anything you buy from the supermarket, here's a recipe for y'all

Salmon Enchilada Kinda Thingies

1/2 kg salmon fillets, skinned and boned
Frozen peas and corn
Cheese
Bechamel sauce
Salt
Pepper
Chillies
Corn wraps or Mountain bread

Make a small quantity (i used 200ml milk and 50ml wine) bechamel sauce
Shallow fry (or you could poach) the salmon

Add the sauce, salmon, peas, corn, cheese, ckillies together and season to taste
Spread the mixture on part of your wrap and roll it up

Put in a baking tray, sprinkle with cheese and put in the oven to crisp up

Quaff with a cold white wine or a lager

Autumn Means.....

Preserving of course!! A years supply of green gage jam/sauce prepared earlier, and last night we made a few litres of tomato ketchup. Love it......

Tomato Ketchup (Adapted from Jamies recipe in At Home)
1 onion
Lots of tomatoes (I guess it was about 2kg)
Salt
Pepper
75 grams brown sugar
Basil
Parsley
Egyptian Spice Mix (Mixed Pepper, Cloves, All spice, Ginger, Rosebuds, Cardamom, Cinnamon, Nutmeg)
150ml Red Wine Vinegar

Chop and sautee the onion, basil, parsley and spice mix. While that's on the go, quarter the tomatoes and place in a non reactive pot and bring to the boil. Add the onion mixture to the tomatoes, add the brown sugar and vinegar. Simmer for about 15 minutes and then blend or whiz in the food processor. Retrun to the saucepan and reduce until you have the desired consistency and bottle in sterilized bottles... It's great!

Greengage Jam
1 kg greengage
500g sugar
Lemon juice

Halve and pit the green gages (Helen over the backfence doesn't do this, she just simmers the fruit whole and skims off the pips, I haven't tried that yet) Put them in a non reactive saucepan, and bring to the boil. Puree with a maullee (not the correct spelling?) or food processor. Add the sugar and lemon juice and simmer until a dollop put on a cold saucer sets to the desired consistency.

Now most jam recipes call for equal parts sugar to fruit, but this lot set with half the amount of sugar. We did add some unripe fruit, which apparently helps..Enjoy!

Public Holidays - The Perfect One?

OK, so not all public holidays are that great, but yesterdays was almost perfect for us. I got to go fishing, Christine went to the Glover art exhibition, we went with her but went to play in the park while her and Elise did some serioous critquing, and we got to do all these things together as a family...

Rolly Polly Action

Flying

Peekaboo (He's there)

Sulking

Playing

Admiring her husbands superb fishing skills

Piloting

Captain

Aaawwww

Friday Frothy (With a difference)

Some photo's of my Hallertau and Cluster hops before they were harvested yesterday

Finally found a good use for an Iphone

So i'm not a big fan of my Iphone as it turns out that as a business tool it's useless, as a phone it's OK, to access your emails it's great, and to take photos it's brilliant (with the hipstamatic app)

Check out our new climber

Probably not quite the garden variety you were expecting... Cheeky little fella, nothings safe anymore..

 

Friday Frothy # ??? Who knows?? It's been a while

Friday Frothy #6 (Sorry about that, i've been neglecting my duty to taste a different beer every Friday)

Up for review is my all time favourite ; Boags XXX Ale. I started drinking this when all my mates were drinking draught, because i liked the extra hoppiness. It's kinda stuck over the years. It's predictable you see, you know you're going to be met with a hoppy aroma as soon as you crack one open..

Flavour; Crisp, bitter, hoppy

Carbonation; Perfect carbonation at first pour, and great head retention

Colour; Golden

Price; Fantastically priced $37.50/Carton  Alcohol; 4.8%

Packaging; Simple plastic six pack retainer, easily identifiable Boags branding

Food Pairing: Oooohhhh, a ploughmans lunch for sure!!! Ashgrove farm cheese, particularly their mature cheddars, and some great sourdough bread...
Overall rating; 9/10...I love it.. Local, loads of flavour, crisp, clean, and great hop bitterness. It's almost the perfect beer

Life Will Pass You By

So here I was working in a confined space with a tiler (who happened to be one of my buddies from when i was about 8 and living at St Leonards and hadn't seen for about 20 years), reminiscing about the past when he commented on another bloke we used to hang around with. "Life will pass him by" was the tilers comment about a bloke who seems pre-occupied with making money...

Just a tilers thought for  the day....