Food Fair Fit for The Gods (of Education)

Never have I ever seen such an eager cohort of students partaking in the same subject with such an intense passion for what they are studying. Then again, never have I ever seen so much free food in one place in one time. I like to think both played a fair part in Friday's game.

For the food fair I chose to make French Pear and Hazelnut Tart. I remember having tried this dish whilst on exchange in France and being totally taken aback with not only how yummy but also how different it was. Pastry covered in a kind of hazelnut crust and baked pears with cinnamon wasn't something I'd had before but it didn't make it any less DELICIOUS, so the chance to bring it back to my Australian peers was a responsibility I did not take lightly.

the exact concoction I attempted 

Baking it was relatively easy thanks both to an easy to follow recipe and an unwillingness to fail. It even came out looking exactly like the picture! Unfortunately though, the tupperware container I had to transport my masterpiece was not big enough to fit the whole thing so I was forced to prematurely cut it up.

I noticed the biggest compliment of the day was if your dish was all gone when it came to packing up, so I felt as though I had done the dish justice. Either that or I simply did not make enough to warrant not being able to finish it. I'll go with the former though, I think. 

I have truly enjoyed this subject and am wholly grateful for its existence. To any tutors reading, thanks for your guidance I've had serious fun studying these past few weeks. Any prospective students reading who are tossing up doing this subject. Say yes. Just do it. Best decision ever. 

Naked For Who Now?!

Naked for Satan, enjoyed by many a hipster Fitzroy folk, not only for its interesting take on modern Slow Food, but also for its vast drinks and Spanish food menu. The interesting name sets a precedent for the dining experience to be had in the establishment.

It happened to be my best friends birthday last Wednesday, so I suggested we go to the rooftop for some drinks and nibbles (and also, selfishly, so I could have my dining experience for this blogpost).

Birthday Girl eye-ing off the nearest cocktail

Offering up 12 beers on tap, countless others in bottles, the biggest wine list I have ever seen in my short 21 years, and their infamous house-infused vodkas, with flavours ranging from Alpine Chocolate and Sugarcane to 'Naked Bitch' Chilli and Cherry or even Salted Caramel (!!!!!!).

We spent time both downstairs in the Pintxos and Vodka Bar and upstairs in the Naked in the Sky Bar. Downstairs we had a plethora of well thought out and original pintxos dishes, tallying up our toothpicks at the end and paying through their unusual honour system. Having questioned the staff on this rule, they told us that it actually worked quite well and that most paid for exactly what they ate.

Each and every pintos is $2 of deliciousness (cheap cheap)

We then proceeded upstairs where we were met with a share-plate bar menu. We ordered the crumbed eggplant covered in honey and blue cheese (YUM) and the grilled prawn skewers. The grilled prawn skewers were delicious but disappointingly few considering the price at $14.5, the eggplant was, however, easily in my top 5 restaurant dishes to date. The honey and blue cheese complimented the eggplant so well that I will probably, nay, definitely be regularly returning there so long I shall live. 

I'll be dreaming of you tonight, Eggplant

What I loved about Naked for Satan was that is wasn't claiming to be typically Spanish, or anything for that matter. The staff don't speak with spanish accents, nor are the menus (the majority) in spanish. The only claim of authority of being a Spanish restaurant is the experience one has with the food, and the new flavours you try with each different mouthful. The set-up works perfectly for the Melbournian demographic, which probably explains why even last Wednesday the place was packed and we struggled to find a table. 

Easy Peasy Torta Caprese

Did someone say flourless chocolate cake? No? Or am I just always thinking about it?

Either way, this beauty knocks the lucky tasters socks off without fail every time. Traditionally made with almonds or walnuts instead of flour and a whole lotta eggs, this speciality from the Isle of Capri in Italy, is truly delicious.

Was going to put a caption but I'm choosing to tell you I drooled at this photo instead

Torta Caprese has been named "uno dei pasticci più fortunati della storia" (one of history's most fortunate mistakes). This name cites one version of the cakes history, when a baker was filling and order for a chocolate cake and forgot to add flour, instead adding ground almonds, much to the customer's delight who loved the consistency of the cake and kept coming back for more. There are other stories as to how it came about but honestly I think we should all just be glad it exists now. 

Being a staple in every cake shop in the region, you can understand why its an important piece of heritage for the people of Capri, it is as important to them as the lamington is to us poor Aussies, who unfortunately don't have the same rich and interesting culture as those of Europe and therefore must result to calling spongecake rolled in chocolate icing and desiccated coconut a national treasure. I digress, I am getting off track. 


I love this man not only for the calm presence in his voice (an essential when baking) but also for his rad accent.

  Having researched recipes and the background of this dish, there were a lot of results coming from Australian sites. This kind of enthusiasm for the dish, along with its fairly accessible ingredients that western society is very used to eating and baking with (i.e. no 'weird', 'unknown' or 'that's a bit foreign' surprises) encourages the idea that it is being plated up all over the world in its original Italian form, which is just what that baker who originally made the mistake would have wanted. 

Raclette is Gouda-nough

Disclaimer: Ability to be accurate was forfeited thanks to cheese pun opportunity. Gouda has nothing to do with Raclette.

Raclette, a dish so important to France and French eating culture that it even has its own Australian .com.au website. My first and only experience with Raclette involved walking around the streets of Annecy in the South of France (ddaaaaaaaarling) after a 9 hour hike in search of food that was going to fill us to the brim. We walked past a restaurant that seemed to be serving literally melting wheels of cheese whose drips were falling onto various foods. It may have cost us our food budget for the week but it was 100% worth it. It may have been the dangerously empty levels of my stomach, but I have never felt so satisfied by a meal as I did by this Raclette.

Me having words with the Raclette - 'Please please just please bypass my thighs I beg of you'

Originally from Switzerland, the French along the south eastern border have taken it on as their very own and it is now considered a typical French delicacy. There are a few ways of eating Raclette, but in my opinion the best is that pictured above.

The name comes from the French word racler, meaning to scrape, making the way its pictured above the most traditional form of eating the dish. According to local myth, a group of farmers found some cheese they had dropped onto the hot stones and 'scraped' it off, discovering it was actually great, and the rest was, as they say, delicious history- (do they say that??). The majority of it being eaten in the mountainous regions of France, it is now recognised alongside the likes of fondue in terms of comfort food, the French eat it predominately in winter after a day on the slopes.

With the cheese one dines on baked potato, gherkins, dry cured meat, sliced peppers, salad greens and onions, which a lot more flavoursome than it sounds, promise.

The Raclette Australia website is surprisingly comprehensive and well updated (it welcomes you to 2015!), which encourages the idea that Raclette has truly found its way over here to Australia.

De Gazpacho No Hay Empacho

'of Gazpacho there is never too much'

What initially looks like warm tomato soup soon presents itself upon first spoonful as something entirely different. Gazpacho. An unlikely spanish delicacy that is believed, according to some, to have stemmed from the arrival of the Moors, with their introduction of an Arab soup consisting of bread, olive oil, water and garlic. According to others, though, it is believed to have been initiated with the arrival of the Romans. Either way, however, once in Spain it was a custom quickly snapped up by those in Andalusia, particularly in Cordoba and Seville.

Originally the soup was blended stale bread, olive oil, garlic and water. Almonds and whatever vegetables were available were also added. Over time, though the soup has become predominantly  tomato-based and in some regions is also served hot or warm.



Some examples of different ways of making Gazpacho

Nowadays, though, Gazpacho has become the generic term for cold, vegetable based soup in Spain and spread throughout the world. The general opinion is that Gazpacho is pivotal and central to Spanish culinary identity, with differing versions amongst various regions.

I asked a few friends and members of my family how they felt about blended bread soup (for lack of a better word), and most of them had never heard of it and were turned off by the thought nonetheless. Gazpacho isn't as prevalent as one would assume it should be, given Australia's similarities in climate during the warmer months. Even at spanish restaurants here it is not something that one sees all the time, perhaps because the restauranteurs know that it just hasn't quite yet caught on in Australia.