Tag: Cooking Classes

CULINARY JEWELS OF SICILY – A Spring event at Waratah Hills Vineyard

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On Saturday, 20 September 2014  I will be at Waratah Hills Vineyard conducting a lunch time masterclass of Sicilian cooking .

Waratah Hills Vineyard is located on the road to the iconic Wilsons Promontory National Park. It is one of the southern most vineyards on the Australian mainland. The cool, maritime climate wine region is acknowledged as one of the best Pinot Noir producing areas in Australia.

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The owners are Judy and Neil Travers. They have a  simple philosophy is to do everything possible to produce grapes of the highest quality. The artisan approach to detail involves hand picking by clones in small batches at just the right intensity of ripeness.

Waratah Wine & hills 2

Waratah Hills Vineyard was planted 17 years ago in the burgundy style of low trellising and close planting.

It is a beautifully sited vineyard with two acres of Chardonnay planted on a north south slope and seven acres of Pinot Noir separated by a band of trees into two distinctly different areas of the property.

In 2012 Judy and Neil Travers we were delighted to receive the Victorian Tourism Minister’s Encouragement Award for New and Emerging Tourism Businesses.

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This is the information on the flyer:

Culinary jewels of Sicily

On Saturday, 20 September Waratah Hills Vineyard is hosting a lunch time masterclass of Sicilian cooking conducted by Marisa Raniolo Wilkins.

Marisa has written two books on Sicilian cooking; Sicilian Seafood Cooking and Small Fishy Bites.

She is a vivacious fusion of cultures and experience. Her food is very much driven by a curiosity of exploring her cultural origins. The recipes and ingredients of Sicily reflect the influences of the Mediterranean from ancient times to the modern day.

Born in Sicily and raised in Trieste before migrating to Australia with her parents, she regularly visits her extended family in Italy and Sicily; each visit adding to her knowledge of first-hand wonderful food experience.

Places are limited for this hands on three-course cooking, eating and drinking experience at $120 per head. Course notes and recipes are provided for you to take home.

Marisa portrait 2

The 20th September is in Spring and the menu will feature Spring produce and recipes.

I hope to see you there.

What could be better than a very pleasant experience in this beautiful  part of the world!

Check out their wines – you will not be disappointed:

Waratah Hills Winery

http://waratahhills.com.au/

Marisa

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SMALL FISHY BITES, MERCATO COOKING CLASS

Small Fishy Bites celebrates the diversity and versatility of seafood. These recipes recognize the popularity of serving small helpings with easy, casual and varied dishes.

Small morsels are convivial fare that can be shared at social gatherings or as an accompaniment to drinks. They are an easy and pleasant way to sample a range of flavors without the commitment to one entrée or the different courses.

Small Fishy Bites is my second book. Some of you may be familiar with my first book Sicilian Seafood Cooking which  includes 120 traditional Sicilian recipes for fish and its many accompaniments – first, second course dishes, sauces and contorni (side dishes).

 

The recipes in Small Fishy Bites reflect reflect the widening repertoire of cuisines we are exposed to in Australia, especially the Asian and Mediterranean flavors, especially Italian. In the above class at Mercato the emphasis will traditional Italian style antipasto – small fishy bites cuisine, accompanied by wine.

For convenience sake the menu for the cooking class has been divided into Starters, Entrées and Mains, but all the easily prepared dishes can be presented for any course – only the quantities may vary.

Some of the recipes from the book sampled on the night will be:

Scallops wrapped in prosciutto
White anchovy & sundried tomato leaf boats
Fish balls in a tomato salsa
Fish fillets rolled around a herb stuffing
Italian grilled prawns with a fried breadcrumb & herb garnish

Hope to see some of you at this event.
Marisa

MERCATO
625-627 Lower North East Road, Campbelltown , SA
Ph: 0883371808

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VIETNAM, LANTERN TOWN, HOI AN

This post is well overdue – I travelled in Vietnam for most of February and enjoyed Vietnamese food from both the simple street stalls and the more sophisticated “fusion” food served in many restaurants.
This post is a tribute to the kindness of strangers. It concerns a proprietor and Chef called Son Tran. His restaurant is called Lantern Town and it is in Hoi An on the central Vietnamese coast.
 Fresh spring rolls, pomelo salad with prawns, seared tuna (long tail).
Just like the rest of the world, simple traditional Vietnamese recipes have responded to trends and outside influences. With easier access to books and the internet, more opportunities to travel and engage with travellers, Vietnamese chefs are adapting and elaborating on age-old staples.
Long tail tuna.
 These are some photos of what Son cooked for us. The entire Lantern Town experience – the cooking and the eating – is one of the most enduring memories I will keep of Vietnam.
 Before cooking – fresh pieces of mango, wrapper in lattice rice paper.
Son’s specialises in adaptations of traditional Vietnamese dishes, applying modern twists to conventional ingredients.
Mango rolls dipped into batter made with coconut milk, rice flour, sugar, chocolate powder and then deep fried.
I met Son Tran in his restaurant over a lunchtime dish of his version of stuffed squid. My passion for food was evident and I told him about my Sicilian version of stuffed squid. Mine is stuffed with the principal ingredients of ricotta and almonds and is cooked in marsala, his was stuffed with cellophane noodles and prawns. He responded to my enthusiasm by offering to take me on a tour of the local Hoi An market and to personally cook a special dinner for me and my partner.
Buying prawns at the Hoi An market
Buying the fish, Son chose a piece of long fin tuna saying he prefers it to blue-fin or yellow-fin tunas because of its clear flesh and its flavour. He explained that long-fin (or Pacific albacore) is much paler than either of the other tunas. More importantly for me, it is sustainable, not threatened by over-fishing. It was a small fish and Son selected a section of fish towards the tail, weighing about 1kg, which he carefully carved off the bone, creating four individual fillets; he also removed the skin.
Filleting tuna.
The pomelo salad was made with segmented pomelo, carrots and prawns and had a dressing made with passion fruit pulp. The fresh spring rolls had prawns, carrot, cucumber mint, noodles and passionfruit pulp; they were accompanied by a pineapple, sugar and vinegar dipping sauce. The tuna was marinaded in lemongrass, shallots, basil, ginger, soy, oyster sauce; it was then seared over high heat; it was presented with a celery sauce. What I particularly like about Vietnamese food is the use of fresh herbs. 
 Son buying herbs.
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