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Lunch at Osteria Sanso

November 20th 2008 19:31
It is now about a year since the boy and I first decided to head to Osteria Sanso – a restaurant with a very good reputation which is located in the middle of nowhere between the Adelaide Hills and the Murraylands.

It is now just a few days since we actually went there.

Upon arrival, before we even ventured into the restaurant, I was in awe of the huge veggie patch which they had growing out the back. Peering through the carpark fence I could see lots and lots of herbs, as well as fruit trees and some climbing beans. I could not see any tomato plants, which leads me to believe that they had an even large veggie patch around the back somewhere out of view. As a believer in fresh, seasonal produce, this was certainly an auspicious start.

We were quickly seated in the verandah area where we enjoyed the warmth of the day and the gentle breeze. As an entrée we ordered an antipasto plate and a trio of crostini topped with a baked mushroom puree, chicken liver pate and fresh tomato and basil. The antipasto platter featured cured meats, roast capsicum, cheese and olives, as well as picked vegetables, which we obviously picked from their garden and home-made. Everything was delicious, and I’m sad to say I ate too much of these delicious morsels and then couldn’t eat all of my main…

The list of mains included a large pasta selection as well as grilled meats and some lighter options. I was tempted to order the quail, but decided that as I had heard excellent reports on their pasta I should go with what the restaurant is famous for.

I ordered a fettuccini with prawns dish which came with a light cream sauce. The boy ordered the macaroni ragu. Both dishes were melt-in-your-mouth sensations. The pasta was again, hand made and cooked to perfection. The richness of the ragu was fantastic and you could really taste the slow cooked meat, permeated throughout the sauce. The cream sauce was also very rich and very tasty – although, I was not able to finish it all.


….. but after a small intermission I was able to persuade my stomach to handle some gelati (it melts into the wholes you know…) I ordered two scoops of the baci and one lemon all over which were rich and refreshing at the same time.

My only disappointment with the meal was the choice of wines by the glass. Although Osteria Sanso boasts an extensive wine list, most of the choices are by the bottle only. My Longview Semillion Sauvignon Blanc, although delicious, was my only option for a glass of white wine (excepting the house white). But, this just adds to my desire to visit the restaurant again and being with me a group of gourmets.

Highly recommended.


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My Favourite Chocolate Chip Biscuits

November 19th 2008 19:07
This is my favourite chocolate chip biscuit recipe and whenever I make them I get tonnes of compliments (and then just a pile of crumbs left over).

One such compliment was received from a friend of our when he attended a party at our place a while ago. It was his 40th birthday last weekend so I baked him a box of biscuits for the occasion.


This recipe is taken from Stephanie Alexander’s The Cook’s Companion.

125g plain flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon bicarb of soda
120g roasted nuts
170g bittersweet chocolate, chopped
110g softened unsalted butter
1/3 cup caster sugar
1/3 cup raw or brown sugar
1 egg

Soft flour, salt and bicarbonate into a large bowl. Add nuts and chocolate. In an electiz mixer cream butter, caster sugar and brown sugar until pale and fluffy. Add egg, then fold in chocolate mixture. Form into two logs, about 2cm in diameter and wrap tightly in plastic film. Chill for one hour before baking.

Preheat oven to 175 degrees C and line a baking tray with baking paper. Unwrap logs and cut into 1.5cm thick slices. Place on baking tray, allowing room for spreading and bake for 12 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

I like to cook one log and freeze the other for later use. When freezing, to prevent the logs flattening on one side, slip it inside a cardboard tube from a roll of paper towel. Thaw at room temperature for 30 minutes before slicing.
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Collapsing onions

November 18th 2008 07:44
After several months of quietly growing in my soil, all of a sudden the stalks of my onions and garlic all fell down.

“Oh no!” I hear you say – but do not worry – this just means they are ready to eat.

When growing onions, it is important that you wait until the stalks have completely dried out before pulling them out of the ground. The next step is to pull up the plant and then leave them on a drying rack for a couple of days. The ‘rack’ should allow air flow all around the bulbs. I made this one very quickly out of rolled over chicken wire. I have grand plans to make one with little legs and everything at some stage... but it's just one of those things at the moment....

When drying out your onions be sure to keep an eye on the weather, you don’t want them getting rained on.

Another interesting onion fact (I bet you didn't think there were so many...) which I discovered only the other day, is that onions should not be kept in the dark as this encourages them to start growing.

Now, what to cook with my onions???
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Thai Green Chicken Curry

November 16th 2008 08:53
Thai green chicken curry can be as easy or as difficult to make as you feel like. On a Thursday night I like to make it easy.

A pre-packaged paste, some coconut milk and some chicken and veggies and you have a delicious meal ready to go in the same time that it takes you to cook the rice


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Braised Waxy Potatoes

November 10th 2008 10:09
Braised Kipflers

On the weekend we dug up our kipfler potatoes. As you can see by the pic, they’re not terribly big, but it is just their first year and our soil is particularly hard at the moment


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Eating Lolly

November 9th 2008 10:10
eating lolly
Eating Lolly by Corrie Hosking
What is your most powerful memory of food? I’ll bet is has something to do with your mother’s cooking when you were a child.

Eating Lolly, written by Corrie Hocking is the tale of Lolly, her mother and her grandmother. Through the generations, these women have used food as a way to show their emotion. For love, Lolly’s mother gives her treats and when Lolly reaches her teens and wants to rebel, she does it through a strict diet and avoids all that her mother serves her


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Warm Chicken Salad

November 8th 2008 01:09
warm chicken salad
Warm Chicken Salad
I suspect that everyone has their own version of warm chicken salad. I began making mine when I was about 17 and had started going to the local café for dinner with friends. I would order their version time and time again, and it wasn’t long before I decided that I could do a better job at home in the kitchen.

The basic ingredients for my salad are marinate chicken breast, cut into strips, red onion, which I sometimes choose to fry with the chicken, salad greens, tomato, cucumber and avocado. I then use a basic dressing of olive oil and balsamic to dress the salad and place the cooked chicken on top. It is easy, it is quick and it is healthy


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Pasta Leekie

November 5th 2008 10:12
I love to watch our leeks grow in the garden, but sometimes it is not terribly obvious what to do with them once they are matured. Leek and potato soup is a given and leeks tarts are also a favourite, but they are not the everyday meals I need to use up my supply.

Luckily I remember watching Jamie Oliver cook up a fantastic pasta sauce using leeks and pancetta which I was quite keen to try. I can’t remember the exact recipe, but my version of it goes something like this


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...or is it afternoon tea

November 4th 2008 07:49
I have a new contender for the best meal stakes. Perhaps it is not brunch, perhaps it is afternoon tea.

Afternoon tea allows as many options for sweet and savoury as brunch does, but there is an extra element of naughtiness that goes with it. Somewhere, not far from your immediate consciousness, is the thought that it will be dinner time soon and that you shouldn’t eat too much otherwise you won’t be able to fit in your vegetables


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An update on the impossible pie. It seems that this was a recipe which my dad discovered – of all things while reading a detective novel. He’s a little sketchy on the details, but the general idea was that as the detective investigated the murder cases, he would come across someone making a dish and then the recipe would follow! My dad remembers reading the chapter, and the recipe and thinking “That won’t work” and so he made it and it became an instant hit.

A quick google search reveals that there are many, many different forms of impossible pie, many of then savoury, quiche like dishes. They all look super easy, and very tasty – hmmm, perhaps a dish for my next lazy Tuesday night


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