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Crispy anchovy bones
“We’re in the country. What do we do now?”
I needed advice but, of course, text didn’t even work on my increasingly dodgy Sony-Ericsson.
There I was stuck, not knowing what to do with my trousers falling down.
I still haven’t worked out why this keeps happening. I am wearing a belt and it is either something to do with me having lost weight and needing to go a notch tighter or because I have put on weight and my belly is pushing the trousers down. Perhaps it was caused because the only thing to do in the country is to eat, drink (as the driver, moderately) and pretend that I am The Stig on winding back roads.
At least I managed to wear the correct underwear for the prevailing conditions.
Saturday’s particular winding road brought me from Beechworth to Range in Myrtleford a restaurant attached to a motel on the Snow Road.
On reflection I may have lost weight as I spent a good deal of time dodging Jackie’s stabbing fork tines at Range as she demonstrated what she wanted to do with the squawking women in the corner.
The problem was that there was another woman squawking behind her and two large tables competing to make the most noise reflecting the noise to us poor couples at the other end.
For the country the service good although there were a couple of blips perhaps to do with their noisy handfuls that night.
Our bread arrived after my superb appetiser of a crispy deep friend anchovy skeleton served atop it’s cured flesh ($4).
I’d expected to have a very meaty weekend being the country but it is possible to eat well at Range as a vegetarian or at least eat only small amounts of meat. The chef, Michael Ryan who has a thing about teapots, has put together a really good menu with simply four appetisers, five starters, mains and puddings and three cheeses.
Beetroot carpaccio
Jak started with a Beetroot carpaccio, orange jelly, Kiewa Estate orange agrumato (orange olive oil), Mt Buffalo hazelnut praline, yoghurt, and tiny beetroot shoots ($17). It was very fresh and the orange/beetroot match works well.
Almost a teapot
I chose some meat I’m afraid, the chicken, local pumpkin, and soy bean tea ($19) which is a broth served in a teapot. The broth was rich and full of savoury umami flavours in which floated chicken dumplings, pumpkin and a generous helping of Soy Beans, which to me always feel like an injection of goodness.
Of course, Jak is a Queenslander and it is impossible for her to eat without meat, a crisp fatty as it should be slow cooked pork belly sitting on segments of roasted apple, an apple and pomegranate sauce and a refreshing shaved fennel salad ($30).
Pork belly
The crackling was paper thin and crispy, not chewy like it often ends up at home. The Pork fell apart at the touch of the fork tines (shortly before they were back in my face again).
I was looking forward to my Potato gnocchi which was tossed with cauliflower, almonds and sage ($26) because it came with King River Gold. It was a classy vegetarian dish but I was disappointed as it turned out King River Gold was not a drug but a local cheese a very tasty one melted into the gnocchi at that.
Gnocchi
It was also a very rich dish which I offset with my own salad of shaved fennel mixed in with apple, celeriac, almonds and feta ($12).
All this was astonishingly good food and astonishingly good value if you are used to City prices. But the wine list is even better with quality wines by the glass costing from $7 to $10.
Chocolate terrine
Now I had to do something drastic. I gambled that I’d lost weight and chose the chocolate terrine ($13) which I hoped would add some weight on to me and help me keep my trousers up. It didn’t as it was light rather than a solid lump coming with a delicate spiced banana mouse, some creme fraiche and some caramelized bananas that were so good I must try doing it at home.
It was time to finish with Ryan’s final teapot integrated with a cup de resistance and a peppermint tea.
Everything was just right and I didn’t need to eat a thing more, and that includes the ladybird in my tea.
The very cool teapot
Food Fascist
- More to come on the surprising amounts of insects we eat.
- Wii Fit not used for three weeks
- Also try Rinaldo’s, Simone’s, The Epicurian Centre, Bridge Road Brewery, Bright Brewery, Warden’s Fine Food. More to come on this soon.
- I’m surprised so much ocean fish is used out here and not moreMurray Cod (farmed) or trout. Cananybody explain?
- Is that bloke from menulog spamming you as well?
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{ 30 comments… read them below or add one }
The King River’s not like the Malawi Gold then Ed?
That sounds like some pretty scrumptious nosh! And yes, seems a few of us are getting that spam.
They made those blow torched bananas on Ready Steady Cook last week!
I’m getting heaps of spam, funny enough the comments drop off yet the readership and spam increases… go figure.
Jack
That’s so funny Ed, you have such a meat eaters view of “vegetarian”
Yep, I’m getting that spam too. That beetroot carpaccio looks great.
Ed, the beetroot looks amazing, I will make the gnocchi this weekend and do you need to borrow my blow torch for your bananas? Vida x
Grocer, Imagine how mellow I’d be then if it was!
Duncan, I would prefer it if they were honest about it and just said they were from menulog.
Jack,hey if i could figure it out I wouldn’t still be a hack.
AOF, I know I ate meat but my point is that you can eat vegetarian well here in the country. I’m eating small amounts of meat and was worried when i set out I’d be forced to eat huge slabs of beef which i wasn’t thankfully.
Claire, i’m going to try the Beet at home but I wonder if aeroplane jelly will work?
Vida, I may want it. I asked for a torch from my father-in-law who was a bridge builder and I ended up with a couple of oxyacetylene tanks. Last creme brulee was spot welded to the BBQ.
Millawa King River Gold is most definitely one of my favourite washed rind cheeses. Me likeee stinky.
I’ve heard that the drought has impacted on Murray Cod numbers and there are strict limits in taking wild ones - I think anglers are allowed one per day at a minimum size of 60cm.
‘menubog’ spam has hit me too, me no likee.
Ed, I know (hope?) you’re not serious about the jelly.
Anyhow… I recently got inventive with the old gelatine sachet (powdered as I couldn’t find sheets) and used it to solidify what i dubbed Apple & Mint Jelly to serve with lamb racks.
Worked a treat.
The whole lot looks delicious. The carpacchio set my tastebuds right off.
Dan and I are off to Simone’s in a few weeks time. Looking forward to seeing what Patrizia comes up with!
And yes…I have been equally menulogged, and adoptic’d as well. Urgh.
Millawa King River Gold.. noice. And the beetroot carpaccio looks divine!
I’ve been mealopia’d and adoptic’ded. The adpotic site isn’t actually too bad… and in the absence of TS, will have to do. Since its demise, and that of FPW, my stats have dropped right off.
Sticky, Me likee stinky too. I think most restaurants used the farmed Murray Cod because of that.
Grocer, you can hope.
Mellie, i was lucky enough to have reviewed Simone’s for the Gourmet Traveller Guide last year. I was realy impressed. Her pasta is some of the best I’ve eaten an the wine list has some locals at good prices - Giaconda if you’re looking to splash out. The Brewery is just over the road and worth a beer before hand. it was a cold night and they had a fire on. The smell of garlic pizza wafted out the door. It was great.
PG, we must have been on at the same time. I haven’t had the adpotic one yet and am also missing TS.
Ed, I suppose I looked at the dishes from the point of view of someone who can’t stomach dairy. If I didn’t eat seafood, being a non-meat eater, the options (country or city) can be very limited for me. The attitude of some places is a bit like my partner’s, Italian mother “She doesn’t eat meat, that’s ok I’ll make chicken cacciatore then!” The amount of places that make a vegetable soup with a chicken stock is another example of this thinking.
I don’t think being a vegetarians or non-meat eaters is about taking a moral high ground, it is usually a health or ethical decision. But there is a lack of awareness from many good food establishments about what makes a balanced vegetarian meal - the need for grains (other than wheat flour and the inevitable spaghetti with napoli sauce), beans, nuts and seeds or eggs to compensate for the lack of meat - not just veg with a splodge of dairy.
Do you think you could go Vegan for a week? (Thanks Lucy
(remember true vegans are also interested in what fines the wine they drink - which is frequently fish, egg or dairy)
Oh, yes, that carpaccio looks gorgeous. Little cubes of orange jelly look quite lovely…
I see AOF’s offered you the Vegan Challenge! Are you up for it at some stage?
AOF/Lucy I didn’t ask what he used in the Jelly but by the texture I think it may have been agar.
You know I don’t think I could do the Vegan challenge at all. It’s just too hard to cut out honey and dairy.
This has really got me thinking - stay tuned to food nazi, as I think there will be a food allergy awareness challenge in the wings…just as soon as I get the solstice cake round up posted, the market shopping done, smelt the daphne (really smelt it), fed the cats, gone to the library….
Just in case you felt left out here’s my Adoptic spam… from a woman with two ‘arrrrs’ in her name:
Dear Sticky Fingers,
I am writing to you from Adoptic, to invite you and your blogs to join our network. Adoptic is a free blog promotion platform that helps you exchange ideas with the members in your community. Using Adoptic, you can quickly create a “Snippet” of your blog posts, and show these Snippets on the blogs of your fellow bloggers.
For the Alpha phase of Adoptic, we are contacting environmental bloggers. We have selected a close community to try out our service. This way, you will be exchanging Snippets with bloggers that you are already connected to and you can share your discoveries and ideas with fellow bloggers effortlessly!
Among the blogs we are inviting for the environment community are:
Bring Your Own,Gruppie Girl, Eco-Runner, Green Me: Healthy and Green by the Day, Take Back the Filter, Have Fun - Do Good, 365 Days of Trash, Green Build Dog, and Every Day Trash
You can see an example of the Adoptic Snippet on the left column of the following blog:
http://www.fakeplasticfish.com/
Since we are in our Alpha phase, we hope you understand that you will be our first users. Therefore, your participation and feedback is very valuable to us.
I will shortly be sending you an invitation link that you can follow to sign up. Please feel free to e-mail me with any questions you have.
We look forward to having you in our community!
Thank you,
http://adoptic.com/signup?invitation=6a3249309c
Cheers,
Sarrah
I hate to be negative but in this case it is justified. On a recent visit to Range I thought the service was terrible, really unprofessional stuff.
The food that Ryan was sending out was fabulous but he was badly let down by the numbskulls on the floor. We had 3 different waiters that night.
When they took 20 minutes to get the cheese plate out to us we gave up and asked them to pack it into a box so we could take it away with us. At that stage they hadn’t even sliced the cheese, let alone organised the rest of the plate.
All this on a Saturday evening when the restaurant was perhaps just over half full.
Simone’s kicks their arse.
Ed, consider yourself Challenged http://confessionsofafoodnazi.blogspot.com/2008/06/up-for-challenge.html
If vegan is too hard maybe just vego. It is only one week. One little week!
AOF, I’m not going to do vegan because it is pointless as I’d only be doing it cosmetically and would be ignoring the political message as virtually every day I wear items of clothing made from dead animals. I believe I’m an omnivore and am not going to change that.
My point and headlines was just to point out that you could eat quite well vegetarian in the region and it surprised me. I didn’t eat the Pork.
This is typical, of my eating at home especially if I’m busy:
Tea with milk
Breakfast - grapefruit followed by porridge w milk. (or home made muesli w Goats yoghurt and stewed rhubarb w goats yoghurt) No sugar. Perhaps sourdough with honey.
Espresso. no sugar
Apple. handful of almonds/walnuts. Water
Greentea
Lunch: dahl and ginger rice (Bala’s) or Sandwich (leftover chicken w avocado or just cheese) or salad. Water.
Apple/orange. Nuts. Greentea
Water
Supper: Out 3-4 times a week.
In: typical roasted beetroots and knob-shaped carrots dressed with sherry vinegar and walnut oil. Walnuts. Salad leaves. Goats cheese. Pudding: fruit.
Sunday: Roast chicken plus loads of veggies
Wine: T’Gallant Octavius - totally unfiltered.
Hey Ed - I’m not attacking your lifestyle or choice - more about acknowledging that it got me off on a tangent. As I have stated in my blog - it isn’t about taking a high moral ground it is just that I am challenging people to eat differently for a week. This is from the perspective of food allergies and health issues which lead people down a different path dining wise.
Re: Your featured restaurant, I’d disagree that a couple of dishes that are meat free equals a great choice for vegetarians. To see what I mean, that is why I suggested you try living and eating out as a vego for a week (I agree being a vegan takes a heap of commitment but considering you think that the (easier) vegetarian eating options have improved in city and country I just wondered what it would be like from a carnivores perspective to make different choices for 7 days.
No sweat, just an idea open to one and all
AOF - I’m sure your challenge will be fascinating to watch. I find it curious though that those who eschew various foods complain that they have no choice when dining out. After all - allergies not withstanding - a prescribed abstinence from certain foods has been their choice to break from the norm. It is as though they do not comprehend that targeting the minority of diners is not fiscally viable for most venues.
For me, forsaking the items others avoid for health or various idiosyncratic reasons would likely leave me in a coma. I am an omnivore both for health reasons and as a matter of taste. I can’t ignore the fact that man has survived and evolved by taking sustenance from a variety of sources, but I do hold to not overly tampering with foodstuffs in the high turn over commercial manner, so as to retain the nutritional value.
To Ed’s point in his manifesto, here in Australia meat is the focus of the plate and it is time to change this. There was a time here when meat was cheap and abundant, with much less variety in terms of vegetables. At that time, Aussies leading a life that required higher amounts of daily physical exertion thrived on big serves of meat and the grand tradition of consuming baked items and sweets. Nowadays we are sedentary and simply need to place more focus on pulses, greens and fruit, while reducing the size of our meat and fish portions, along with cakes and dessert.
hear hear!
I’m feeling like am talking at cross-purposes here. But it turns out there is synchronicity afoot.
http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/food/story/0,,2286171,00.html
AOF, I’m tackling one thing at a time and fags are the priority right now.
Oh, Ed…I feel for you. I REALLY do.
Hardest thing I ever did, giving them up. I used to eat oranges, cut into wedges, in the afternoons when I wanted to smoke soooo badly. It does help. A little.
Good luck. Crossing all I can for you. Life without ‘em, seven years now, is good, very good, but it’s not an easy task!
Stick with giving up the fags. A mate of mine has been in real agony for the past 4 months and has just been diagnosed with Buegers disease in his toe. Apparently, they slice off a bit and wait, then off comes a bit more and so on. Once it reaches your hip…
Apparently, those warnings on the cigarette packets are true.
Lucy, the main difficulty is times like 1am friday evening when everybody else is smoking outside the Dogs Bar and I’m not. Or there’s the fact that I live with somebody who insists on smoking inside the house and when we go out to dinner keeps going outside to smoke leaving me on my own looking like a right lemon.
Neil, Funnily enough I have a dodgy toe although thankfully mine in just worn out. I’d like to se AOG get you to give up pork or goose fat.
Other than people who don’t want to hurt things with eyes and I suppose, a nervous system, I don’t see the point of vegetarianism. There is no doubt humans evolved eating meat and no one refuted Sam Neill when he said that our brains current size is due to our ancestors eating meat and if that is true, don’t we owe it to future generations to eat it? If you are talking about eating less meat, okay, I’m on board. However, if nature intended our species to eat meat, then isn’t being a vegetarian unnatural and only possible because of the way we have evolved?
Just a quick word about any inherent cruelty in eating animals. Mankind is the only species on the planet that takes any care about the way we slaughter other animals to minimize their pain and distress. But anyway, in the end, death is death, vegetarians kill things to survive too, no one has anything to feel guilty about.