Pulled pork, crackling, potato salad, gherkins, coleslaw, bun.

You may remember my slow-roasted pork dinner, which saw me buy 2 gorgeous yet incredibly expensive pork shoulders, only to stash one in the freezer without cooking it. I have a bad habit of carefully storing meats and leftovers in the freezer, only to forget about them completely. It is usually only several months later that I re-discover them, frostbitten beyond recognition, and shamefully chuck them out. I was determined not to let this happen to such a lovely piece of meat, and rapidly organised another lunch!

I'd been wanting to make Southern-style pulled pork for a while, (i.e. slow roasted pork served with BBQ sauce and coleslaw in a bun!), and thought this would be a good opportunity to try it. About a week before the lunch, I kinda invited another 6 people (oops), so ended up buying another pork shoulder and getting everyone to chip in $10 towards the cost of said pork.


Pulled Pork for 12

Pulled Pork with Crackling
(Homemade) BBQ Sauce
Potato Salad
Coleslaw
Mac & Cheese
Cornichons and White Baps

Coffee Frappuccinos
Cherry and Apple Pie


Traditionally, pulled pork is slow cooked, then pulled apart and mixed with barbecue sauce. The saucy pork pieces are then eaten in white buns with coleslaw. (This is what my google research told me - I'm sure different places in the States have their own traditions). However, for some reason that I cannot fathom, when researching pulled pork nowhere did I ever find reference to crackling. I didn't want to miss out on crackling, so I cooked the pork exactly the same way as last time (see here), and made some of Tyler Florence's Ultimate BBQ sauce to go with. It is so delicious.

The table:

And now for some closeups!
This is the crackling. Although I love making crackling, I'm not that into actually eating it, and never have more than one or two bites. My friends and family, however, are craazy about it!


These pork shoulders had a much higher fat-to-meat ratio than the previous one, hence the rather alarming amount of crackling above. No-one seemed to be complaining though, haha.

And now the sides:

Above: Mac & Cheese, below Coleslaw

"Tolan's Mum's Potato Salad"

All the sides are from Tyler's Ultimate, and both the mac & cheese and coleslaw have been made before and are family favourites. (And no, Duncan, I do not have a secret crush on Tyler - It's not my fault his recipes are just awesome!!) I'd never made his potato salad before, as I usually prefer the mayo-free and bacon heavy Kartoffelsalat that is famous throughout Lampertheim. I really liked this one though - it has a tangy mayo dressing and contains grated hardboiled eggs which give a great texture.

After we demolished the lunch (I cannot believe we ate all of that meat!), Sandra & I started working on some refreshments. It was a hot day, about 37C from memory, so realising that it would be too hot for coffee, we made frappucinos!

We had brewed a pot of coffee in the morning and let it cool in the fridge all day. Into the blender went the cold coffee, ice-cubes, milk, sugar and ice-cream. Ta-dah! Refreshing and reviving slushy goodness.

Then it was time for dessert, the cherry and apple pie that I previously posted about. Silly me, thinking that people wouldn't want much dessert after a huge lunch, only made a thin 24-cm pie. This meant enough for one slice per person, with one slice left over. (I have one crazy friend who doesn't like cherries, wtf, so he didn't have any).


I totally misjudged my friends' appetites, because we absolutely ripped through the pie, and only the fastest person got that lucky last slice.

On the other hand, we had heaps of coleslaw and potato salad leftover (even though the recipe says they'll serve 6-8 people). Crazytown!

Note to self: Halve the salads, double the pie.

Pie is totally my thing. Sweet, savoury, chocolate, fruit-filled, vegetarian or full of chunky meaty goodness. If there's pastry and a filling, I'm there.

This cherry and apple pie was dessert for a lunch we had at my house on the weekend, the theme of which was southern food! I wasn't sure what to make for dessert, but when I saw a jar of morello cherries in the pantry, I knew that cherry pie was the answer. You may remember I made Nigella's cherry pie nearly four (!!!) years ago as part of my How to Eat project. It was so wonderful; I can't believe it's been 4 years since I last made it!

I made the pastry and pie on the day of the lunch, and put it in the oven as we were sitting down to eat. Despite using Nigella's fabulous freeze-the-fat-and-flour technique, this very rich shortcrust pastry (2 egg yolks) is exceedingly delicate and very difficult to roll out. It took me 2 attempt to get the rough and ramshackle version you see above.

I also seem to have misplaced my 20-cm shallow pie tin, so I used a larger one, and had to roll the pastry out very thinly to get it to fit! The recipe calls for a paste of cherry juice/melted butter/flour and sugar, but before adding this paste or the fruit, I sprinkled in a few spoonfuls of almond meal in the base. I didn't want the super-thin pastry to get soggy.


The jar of cherries stated in the recipe didn't nearly fill the tin, so we added an apple, chopped up and sautéed. (Thank-you Sandra!)

Here I am attempting to patch the lid on neatly.

And after about 40 minutes baking...


I breathed a huge sigh of relief when I managed to slide the pie onto a serving platter intact! The pastry was very short and crumbly - definitely worth the painstaking rolling and re-rolling! I would have liked there to be more filling and a slightly thicker pastry. (A substantial pie is a good pie). Next time I will definitely increase quantities if I still can't find my 20-cm pie tin.

The recipe made 12 modest portions, which worked out well because we had 12 guests. However, one of my friends inexplicably doesn't like cherries and didn't have any pie. What the? Oh well, this just left everyone else fighting over the remaining slice, hehe.

A la modeeeee!

Tutto Bene is still one of my favourite restaurants. After many years and many visits, they still produce reliably delicious Italian food, at a reasonable price and with good service. We visited on Australia Day Eve, for a relaxed and casual dinner before seeing Nine (which was horribly painful to watch, but at least we were full and happy!)

Tutto Bene
Mid Level Southgate
Melbourne
Vic 3006
(03) 9696 3334
Website

When we made the booking, we were told that we could definitely have a 6pm table, but we may have to leave before 8, due to lots of bookings for the tennis. As we were prepared for this, and the food came out speedily, this was definitely not a problem. In fact, I think it was very considerate of them to tell us when we booked!

Woo! Go Melbourne.

For drinks, I had an aperol spritz - aperol and sparkling wine. (I tweeted about this, and then re-created it at home for our Australia Day BBQ the next day - divine!)

Lovely drink. Plus you can see me tweeting in the background.

For starters, we shared the mozzarella special - burrata with fresh pea puree and cherry tomatoes. The little leaves you see scattered on the plate tasted like very fresh coriander, but I'm not sure what they actually were.
Mozzarella special - $18.50

Love the pea puree swirl - they've certainly got a bit more cheffy since the last time I visited!

I'd never had burrata before, but was very keen to try it. The outside is normal mozzarella, whereas the inside is a mixture of mozzarella and cream, giving it a very soft, almost liquid centre.

It was absolutely delicious, intensely milky and soft. It was fabulous with the herbs, peas, tomatoes and bread. And a generous sprinkling of salt!

You can't go to Tutto Bene without having a risotto...

But first, let's check out this funky risotto spoon!

I've noticed that they seem to change at least one aspect of the plates and cutlery almost every time I visit. (April '07, September 07, April '08, Feb 09... and those are just the visits I've blogged, hehe.)

For myself, I ordered a new addition to the menu - risotto with prosecco and scallops. (If you can't tell, I'm a sucker for any type of sparkling wine.

Risotto with prosecco and scallops - $28.50

Although it looked great and had perfect texture, I was slightly disappointed with this one, as it was a little bland for my taste.

I was suffering some serious plate-envy when I saw Sandra's mushroom risotto!

Risotto ai funghi misti - $22.00

Classic. I love how there's such a huge variety of different mushrooms in there.

After all of that deliciousness, there was still heaps of time, but alas, no room for dessert, so all that was left was a leisurely walk up to the cinema!

Check out this beautiful pavlova that my niece made! I love how the strawberries are piled up majestically on top. What a great way to spend Australia day. As I'm sure almost all of the country did, we had a BBQ today to celebrate.


We kept it very simple, with 3 meats - Frikadellen, cevapcici and sausages. Cevapcici are Eastern European skinless sausages, which we made in a similar manner to the Frikadellen, but with lots of spices and no bread inside.

The drink in the wine glass is a campari spritz, my version of Tutto Bene's aperol spritz. It's just campari and sparkling wine with a slice of orange. It's so refreshing! My drink of the summer. I also made a kid-friendly version for my nephew Darren, by pouring blood orange soft drink into a big wine glass with a slice of orange.

We also made a block of grilled feta, a big plate of grilled onions, some German potato salad, and a very light cucumber and tomato salad.

White bread, onions, sausage and tomato sauce. How Austraay-yan can you get?

And then it was time for dessert. Cheryl's pavlova was perfect, with a great balance between bland cream, sweet fluffy centre and crispy shell.


Happy Australia Day everybody!!!!!!!!!

Pretty much every time I go out to eat, the little Canon IXUS is whipped out and photos are duly taken. Whether or not these pictures actually make it to the blog is another matter entirely... (I know, bad blogger!!) With that in mind, I would like to share with you some different foodie-ventures from the end of last year.


Duke's Coffee Roasters
169 Chapel St
Windsor VIC 3181
(03) 9521-4884


We visited here a few months back, when I was on the prowl for an excellent coffee. As the name suggests, they do roast their own coffee. My cappuccino (below), didn't quite live up to expectations. It was a bit weak, and on the cold side. And yes, I realise coffees aren't supposed to be blindingly hot, but I found it still too cold - as if it had been sitting on the bench just a touch too long before being brought over.


A few weeks later at the Beast on a Block event, I happened to mention this to Ed, who suggested that they may have still been getting their coffee balance right, as they were still new when I visited.

They had a great range of panini and baguettes though, with delicious fillings, and Andrew's bacon and ham.
Mmm.. a whole fridge full of Andrew's ham, bacon and sausages. I so want that fridge!

Panini with buffalo mozzarella, pesto and pepperonata - $14

I don't think you can go wrong with a combo like that. I loved the little bowl of olives too!

Crispy pancetta and scrambled egg with hollandaise - $12

This baguette, however, was the star of the show. The baguette didn't look too impressive at first - the bread was what I would describe as "Asian bakery style", i.e. super soft and white - but the whole thing worked so well! The pancetta was incredibly crispy, with creamy scrambled eggs and a generous portion of lemony hollandaise. Wow!


Suckling pig and Rice, Johnston Street Fiesta

I am embarrassed to say I don't remember what this dish is called, or what country it comes from. As I was walking down Johnston street I saw massive trays of suckling pig and could not think any further. If anyone can help me out with a name, (and a recipe!) I would be most appreciative!


As you can kinda see in the photo, the dish consists of a massive tray, with burnished crackling wrapped around a filling of rice and tender pork pieces. It was a bit expensive at $14 a portion (what is with festival prices?!), but I couldn't resist.

With each portion came a nice big piece of crackling - which, unfortunately, was too hard to bite - and a funky white round doughy thing (again, apologies for my food amnesia!). The star of the show was the salty rice and pork mixture. The rice was a bit soft and sticky (yum yum), with big chunks of meltingly soft pork all the way through.


Buick's Cafe
732 Burke Rd
Camberwell VIC 3124
(03) 9882-8877

Buick's cafe is a new cafe on the station end of Burke road, Camberwell. We popped in one weekend when I was craving pasta but too lazy to cook. (It happens sometimes!)

From memory the lasagne was about $14? It came with a generous heaping of tomato sauce on the side, which was nice, but made the overall lasagne a bit too sour for me. I am *all* about the creamy bechamel.

Generous side salad

The lasagne wasn't hot all the way through, so I asked them to heat it up a bit more. It wasn't thoroughly cold on the inside, just warmish. It wasn't a huge deal for me - I also make lasagne myself, and I know it's hard reheat slices properly without the edges curling and going feral. Anyway, the dude who worked there was very nice and apologetic, reheated it straight away and put some extra sauce on it to make it look pretty again. This time it was piping hot. In fact, it was thermonuclear.

He also offered me a free pastry to make up for it! I chose a fresh cream eclair. Emphasis on the word "fresh" - both cream and choux were very fresh and delicious. Hmm... maybe I should have just ordered 3 of them for lunch, hehehe.

Cafe Vue
401 St Kilda Rd
Melbourne VIC 3004
(03) 9866-8055

I popped in a few weeks before Christmas for a quick pre-work brunch. One of the benefits of doing a late shift! I was surprised *not* to run into Adrian here, haha. (I previously visited 401, and blogged about it here).

My brunch started off with a nice, soothing cup of Mariage Frères Marco Polo tea...

This is where I fell in love with these cups! Dad bought them for me for Christmas, yay! (They can be ordered from this website).

I had a rather lovely croque-monsieur with Kurobuta ham - very well priced at $6.50.

It looked as though it might be dry, but in fact it had a great balance of white bread, ham, cheese and just-the-right amount of sauce in between.

Here's to a year full of exciting foodie-ventures!

Frikadellen mit Schafskäsefüllung, Kartoffelbrei, jungen Erbsen und Möhren

Or rissoles filled with feta, mashed potatoes, peas and carrots. Somehow it sounds a lot more inviting in German! Even though it's the closest translation, I am actually loath to refer to these delicious meat-and-feta-patties-of-deliciousness as "rissoles". The word "rissole" always makes me think of those burnt and tasteless balls of meat that we would eat on school camp. Despite being an Aussie staple, rissoles were never something I ate at home - I think it's more an Anglo-Aussie food?

The similar-yet-different Frikadellen are a staple of German home cooking (Heidi Klum even made them on the Ellen show once!), and never having eaten them before, I thought that they would taste, well, like rissoles.

When Sandra suggested we make Frikadellen for our post-Christmas BBQ spectacular, I can't say I was too keen. However, we did have a good deal of mince in the freezer, and I wasn't up for making anything else from scratch, so I gave them a go.

I followed the recipe for Frikadellen mit Schafskäsefüllung in my new Dr. Oetker Schul Koch Buch. This book (which I got for Christmas), is seriously awesome. It's like a German version of Cookery the Australian Way, with heaps of basic recipes. You may remember we made them with lamb mince and stuffed them with cubes of feta, and oh my GOD they were good!!! They were juicy and tasty and crunchy - way better than rissoles or normal burgers. The recipe includes a bread roll, which you soak in cold water before adding to the mince. This makes the finished Frikadellen juicy and bouncy.

After the BBQ I was totally craving them all week. I made them again for dinner a few days later, this time served with carrots, peas, mashed potato, and sauteéd onions.

The recipe for the Frikadellen is posted below (with step-by-step pictures - get excited people). The onions were simply sliced and cooked slowly in butter until soft and melty, and the carrots and peas were cooked according to a basic recipe in the book. You sauteé the peas and chopped carrots in a little butter, add a splash of vegetable stock, cover and cook for 5 minutes. To serve, you sprinkle with some parsley, salt and pepper. Ta-dah!

It was such a delicious dinner, and I can see myself making Frikadellen again and again.



Frikadellen mit Schafskäsefüllung
From Dr Oetker's Schul Koch Buch, translated by me

1 day-old bread roll or 1 large slice of stale bread
2 onions
1 chilli
2 springs fresh oregano
600g minced lamb
1 egg
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 tsp Sweet Paprika
100g feta, cut into 1cm cubes
Oil for frying

Soak the bread roll in cold water. Peel the onions and finely chop. Finely chop the chilli. Heat 2 tbs oil in a pan, add the onions and chilli and cook for 2-3 minutes until soft and translucent. Set aside in a bowl and leave to cool.

To the onions, add the oregano, lamb, egg and paprika. Season with salt and pepper. Squeeze the excess water from the bread roll and add it to the lamb. Mix it all together with your hands. Yes, it feels gross, but persevere because the finished product is really yum! (I can imagine Nigella squelching the mixture together and saying "ooh lovely", but it sure doesn't feel lovely when you do it yourself!)


Form the meat into patties, and stuff each patty with one cube of feta. Try and make sure that the feta is completely enclosed by the meat.


Place the raw Frikadellen in the fridge for 30 minutes or so to firm up.


Fry the balls in hot oil for about 4 minutes a side, or until cooked.


While you are frying the remainder of the mixture, leave any cooked Frikadellen on a rack over paper towels. This will stop them going soggy!