The Kiln, Ranelagh, Tasmania

The Kiln eatery offers a unique breakfast and lunch dining experience. Housed in a converted barn dating back to 1862, with the addition of the oast house or hop kiln tower that was built in 1911. The restaurant is super charming, great historic ambiance with a modern architectural twist. Located in Ranelagh, in Tasmania's stunning Huon Valley, and just a 3 minute drive from Huonville.  

Pistachio crust and oven roasted pumpkin, tahini custard 
and pomegranate. 

Great dish, after chatting with the chef the Jap pumpkin was roasted but not caramelised, the tahini was loosened with apple juice and then you can add some honey or maple syrup for sweetness to cut through the bitterness of the tahini.

They used honey and to me it was just a bit too sweet a style of honey or to much, so maybe try the maple syrup.

8 hour Cuban pork Mojo Marinade, Pulled Pork, Crackle Crumb

and pickled red onion. Never heard of Mojo so googled to find out - This signature marinade of Cuba, pronounced "MO HO", is just a mix of some citrus juice, fresh onion and garlic with some herbs and olive oil. This is one marinade that you will find in every Cuban household, though you will likely find each family has their own little variation. For example, some use olive oil, some don't depending on how fatty the meat is.

To finish we enjoyed the Apple Tarte Tatin

 

To go with desert we sipped a cheeky little Eau de Coing which is a French quince liqueur that was just like drinking quince paste! 

All great dishes at this eatery, the food outstanding! the ambiance welcoming yet stimulating and great staff all added to a really good dining experience.

Osteria @ Petty Sessions - Franklin - Tasmania

Such a peaceful spot overlooking the Huon River 

Salumi di Casa. (Cured meats from home)

The word Salumi in Italian is referring to all cured meats

Today it was served with pickled radish, pears and focaccia, the taste of the meats took me straight back to Italy.

Totani del Griglia -  ( Calamari Grilled ) 

Which read on the menu as -  Sitting on a Jerusalem artichokes and nduja veloute with a drizzle of olietto. On further investigation (Nduja is a spicy, spreadable pork sausage from the region of Calabria in Southern Italy.) ( Olietto was described to us as an oil infusion with garlic and herbs ) ( re the veloute, to me I just thought it was a puree ''a very good one" but not being a chef myself a did ask Mr Google!  so a sauce made from a roux of butter and flour with chicken, veal or pork stock.  So maybe its a case of a wrong name description on the menu or a mix of cooking styles, but at the end of the day would I order that dish again and that would be a very BIG yes.

I just loved this grilled calamari dish, the puree! was rich, earthy and had a great depth of flavour, truly delicious.

 

Salami Making

Great day was had making salami in Cygnet Tasmania

 

Cotolette - Hamburgers

Another of the scrummy dishes from the cooking class, these hamburger were from the leanest beef mince I have ever seen.

1 kg lean mince, garlic, 1 cup fresh bread crumbs (only good quality homemade bread, not commercial), 1 cup grated pecorino cheese,
     1 egg, 1/4 cup chopped parsley or mint, drizzle of olive oil 

with some salt and ground chilli.

Once all is mixed in a bowl you then make into hamburgers, for a leaner still mix add more bread crumbs.

Interesting Italian cooking method from our teacher was to put some onion, garlic, mushroom, herbs, salt and ground chilli with olive oil in a cold fry pan, cook from a cold start, put the hamburgers on top of the vegetable mix.

As the vegetable mix starts to cook, move the hamburgers under the mix, turning the hamburgers as cooked, by do it this way you don't overcook the garlic and onion, to finish add some marsala.

Peperoni Ripieni - Stuffed Capsicum

Using the same mince mix stuff vegies

Cook in the oven till the vegetables are soft and meat cooked.
Add some grated pecorino at the end of the cook and brown.

    The super productive vegetable patch at the cooking school.

Pollo Arrostito - Roast Chicken

Roast chicken Italian style with loads of vegies.

Chicken pieces, onion, garlic, celery & parsley leaves, carrots, pumpkin, potato, mushrooms, brussel spouts, can tomatoes with a bit of water, olive oil, sage or rosemary, salt & chilli.

Cook in a preheated 200 degrees oven for about 1 hour stirring a couple of times, sprinkle with pecorino cheese and serve.

Porchetta

Sandy and I attended our first cooking class since Covid started just over the hill from our beautiful Port Cygnet House, southern Tasmania. The menu was based around the Puglia region, southern Italy where we have been so lucky to have spent so many a day cooking and today we were transported back to southern Italy with the mouth watering aromas of roasting meats wafting in the air of this delightful country kitchen.

It was a great intense class full of information and Italian tips with several hearty winter dishes to make then sit in the elegant dining room and enjoy with a glass of wine and like minded cooks with great conversation.

Looking out the window as I tend to do at cooking classes taking in all that surrounds me was a real treat, 7 degrees this morning with a top of 10, so a wintery Tasmanian day for sure.

Our 1st dish is Porchetta, roasted pork belly roll, what moreish and scrummy Italian comfort food.

 Butterflied pork belly, score the rind and rub with chilli powder and coarse salt.

  Flip is over and coat the meat side with mustard, garlic, spring onions, grated pecorino cheese and herbs like thyme, sage, (soft leaves only). 

It is then tightly rolled, tied to secure and put in a lidded oven dish with white wine, olive oil, onion slices, and the stalks from the herbs and 2 dried bay leaves (bay leaves are too bitter if fresh!).

Into a preheated oven at 250 degs for 30 mins then reduce the heat to 160 degs and cook for a further 2 1/2 hours. Add some Dutch Cream potatoes (nice and buttery) to the sides of the dish approx. 1 hour before the end of the cook. 

Today's flavour was superb and it did transport us back to Italy! 

But, today we thought the Porchetta was too wet, our memories from Italy were a dry roasted pork roll with more cracking, today they also put mushrooms in the oven dish adding to the amount of liquid and as it all sat in the bottom of a low lidded oven dish it crackled on the top but stewed on the sides. 

Our solution would be to .... - the mushrooms put the pork roll on larger whole carrots and onions in a bigger taller lidded oven dish and uncover for the last bit of time to crackle and roast a bit more, (being carful not to dry out the meat) and cook for a couple more hours it was rushed today in a short cook and over crowded pan.

So it looks like we will need to have a practise at home.

The potatoes were just soooo buttery and yummy which I thought was just perfectly braised in the liquid and not brown roasted.

 So for a more roasted potato I think you could pull them out and finish them on a baking tray, personal choose.  

  

Pasta Puttanesca - Is one of my favorite pasta's

We had this pasta dish way back in April 2013 at Fontane Del Papa, 1 and 1/2 hour north east of Rome in the rolling hills covered with ancient olive tree above the port city of Cititavecchia ... now it is one of my favorite go to request for my beautiful Sandy to cook for me.

It is such a hugely fragrant sauce, the smells that waft through our kitchen takes me straight back to exciting days cooking in so many Italian kitchens. Puttanesca bursts with flavor and typical of many a good italian pasta, it is just so easy to prepare and if your are like me you  will be craving this pasta every other week. The super-fragrant sauce is made with a generous amount of cherry tomato, onion, garlic and black olives that will have you addicted right away. Traditional italians use anchovies, but after my throat incident in Italy I have a nervous phobia (in my head only) which to this day still plays silly mind games! 

Use canned tuna, the one with a chilly in it adds a little heat, be sparing with how much of the chilly you use if you are not a chilly person. 

But for me, the true star are the capers they add a briny saltiness to the dish. 

                                             Soooooooo YUM!!!

April 2023 - End of Covid Hibernation!

I'm back! 

My travel Blog, like so many others has been gathering cyber dust! so I thought it is now time to sit down and write just a few words about what's been happening in our world. God only knows that I have had ample time to do this prior to now but I just felt that I didn't want to put fingers to the keyboard. We all suffered through and so many are still suffering through the impact that Covid has had on and upturning our lives. 

So where (insert you own swear word!) has that 3 years and 3 months gone? and ... what a crazy ride we have all been on .... Good, bad and indifferent I would have to say. It certainly has given us all some time for reflection and even more time to reevaluate what's important in our own lives, our own stories and the impact on us and the people around us.

 

You who have followed my Italian Cooking Trip (extended gap year blog) would know my travel stories thus far. Now, travels will be defined as Pre Covid or post Covid.

Pre Covid we were flying back into Malaysia from Dubai early January 2020 after a cruise around Sri Lanka and up west coast of Indian when at Singapore airport we were greeted with a thermometer to the forehead to check our temps, at that point Sandy and I were impressed with what a proactive country about incoming passengers health but unaware of The Covid ! it was not until we arrived back into Australia later in January that we heard the news and then ... ours and everyone's worlds stood still.

My beautiful and oh so supportive wife of 36 years this coming Anzac Day (give the lady a massive medal) and I have been so lucky and privileged to be able to traveled the world and then in 2013 I started this travel Blog. 

We live in Tamworth, regional NSW Australia, where we were so lucky in the lockdowns as we have a big garden to wander and a great raised bed vege patch to keep us in some fresh produce, but our small boutique accommodation business The Retreat @ Froog Moore Park suffered greatly, it has bounced back but in a different format to that of pre Covid. So now it's time to rethink of what our new lives and future will look like. 

During Covid we built a holiday house in Cygnet, Tasmania ... probably not the best time to build with lock downs, lock outs and the rising cost of building materials, but we needed something to keep our creative minds busy.

So Port Cygnet House was born! Check it out www.portcygnethouse.com.au

Fun, quikey and fabulous! 

2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, adults only accommodation.

With great views over Port Cygnet and the boats bopping around on the water,

 so relaxing.

So with Port Cygnet House now completed and ready for people to enjoy it's time for Sandy and I to do some exploring around Australia, hit the roads again and continue extending our "gap year".

Where to and what to do now? 

Drink cocktails in fabulous Tasmania bars like here in The Birdcage in Hobart. 

Tag along for the ride ... Cheers Peter and Sandy XX