Silvia Colloca of “Made in Italy” and “Silvia’s Italian” TV cooking show fame has recently released a brand new book of excellent recipes for baking.
I was lucky enough to receive a copy to review and I immediately started baking cakes and breads from it.
The book itself is broken into the following sections. Continue reading
Eat My Street Online Cooking Club
For years I have wanted to start my own cooking club.
I have a vision of a group of people all turning up somewhere simple and cosy bearing pots of pasta, crunchy bread and dishes of bubbling casserole. Everyone would share what they had already made before joining in the final preparations together.
My recent reading of Marlena De Blasi’s Umbrian Supper Club only made this desire more potent. If you haven’t read it, you should. I lingered slowly over each page, willing the story to go on for longer and pausing every few days to try out something new in my own kitchen. Continue reading
We’re all going on a coffee hunt.
I’m not scared.
What a beautiful day.
I was invited to attend a tour of the Jamaica Blue Roastery here in Melbourne. Led by World latte Judge Jeremy Regan. Jeremy has been traveling the world sourcing and selling coffee on behalf of Jamaica Blue for more than 18 years. To use his own words, he discovered early on in his career that he had “rather a good palate” when it came to coffee. He also has quite a passion for it and it was a delight to hear him talk about the why he thinks coffee holds a rather important place in our lives as a way to draw people together through ritual and community.
To an old man a cup of coffee is like the door post of an old house — it sustains and strengthens him.
Here in Australian we drink more than 3kg of coffee per person per year. For many of us it is part of our personal ritual and it helps create important daily moments of reflection and indulgence. The day never looks so promising as when we sit with that first hot cup of creamy coffee in our hands.
Jeremy took us on a tour of the Jamaica Blue coffee roastery and we saw the process the humble little coffee beans get through from when it first hits out shores, to when it arrives at a Jamaica Blue cafe.
Sort, clean, cupp, roast, degas, package, rest.
And they’re off.
An essential part of the coffee roasting process is patience and rest as the little brown bean needs time to degas. If time is not allowed for this then the end product will be too sour and it will not work well with the milk used to accompany it.
Rest little bean, rest.
Jamaica Blue sources their coffee beans from farmers in 6 different regions including East Timor and Brazil and Jeremy travels regularly to meet with farmers and owners of these co ops.
We also had the privilege of being involved in a mini barista class.
It was interesting to hear that often when tasting the beans at a co-op, the coffee is often roasted simply in a pan over an open fire and is served with lots and lots of sugar in order to sweeten up that coffee taste that we tend to love here in Melbourne.
So much of what we find to be a “good coffee” or good taste in general comes to us not just through our taste buds but also through our memories, our culture and our history.
So it is that in inner city Melbourne your coffee will come to you served less than scorchingly hot, in order to preserve the flavor of the milk.
But however you like your morning brew (I prefer to let my AeroPress work its magic, Jeremy likes his V60) there were still some great tips that I picked up on.
This month is caffeine appreciation month so show your coffee some love and maybe indulge in an extra cup or two to celebrate.
To find out more, visit www.jamaicablue.com.au
21 Great Australian food bloggers
It can be difficult to find a food blogger who is publishing beautiful written recipes and content online that will help an inspire you as you cook in your own kitchen.
But lucky me, I have been privileged enough to meet some really wonderful, dedicated food writers and bloggers. I love reading a lot of what they write too.
So here are some of my favourite bloggers from Australia who are writing about food and creating recipes online for us all to use.
If you know of an Australian food blogger who creates recipes on their own website then let me know and I can add them to my list.
21 great Australian food bloggers to follow online.
Simple recipes and everyday tales from the homestead of a vegetarian here in Melbourne.
A food and travel blog about good food. Amanda is based in Adelaide.
A food blog with hundreds of tried and tested dinner recipes that taste as good as they look.
Nagi is the Queen of Australian food blogging.
Restaurants, travel stories and recipes.
Lorraine has also published her own book.
Quick and easy sweet and savoury recipes to suit every taste and budget with Lucy.
Rediscover the pleasure of adding a splash of spice to your life in Melbourne.
A Sydney food, travel and design blog by Sarah.
One of the first food bloggers I ever discovered, Amanda creates simple recipes with bold flavours.
Easy family and thermomix recipes with Lauren.
Liz Posmyk shares her collection of recipes, recollections and reviews.
She also has her own book, The Barber from Budapest.
A Sydney based culinary blog by Sarah McCleary.
Bengali cuisine and Indian cuisine with Shyamali Sinha.
A cook book author and food and lifestyle photographer from Sydney.
Making as much food as possible from scratch and living a “quasi sustainable” life.
Sydney based blogger Sam bakes, eats, runs explore and look on the bright side of life.
Not technically food blogger but Bec does share a lot of great recipes from her Bake Club and cooking school in the South East of Melbourne.
A site relating to all things food and photography in Sydney Australia.
Katie also has her own book and writes and shoots for Delicious. What talent!
Writer, photographer and recipe develop Emma shares her gluten-free and vegetarian recipes as well as tips for organic gardening.
Waist line friendly recipes that are full of flavour with Karina.
Good food for a good life in Melbourne and beyond.
Dani creates recipes, posts reviews are writes about living well.
Good food and simple living with Jules the food scientist in country NSW.
Jules also runs a couple of courses online and has published her own book.
So there they are, 21 great Australian food bloggers to follow online.
Who is your favourite?
You might also like.
The best accounts by Melbourne foodies on Instagram.
Cooking 4 Kids Beaconsfield
Tucked behind Revival Cafe in the heat of Beaconsfield is the lovely Cooking 4 Kids studio. Owned and operated by Chef Meg White, Cooking 4 Kids aims to encourage, equip and inspire children to master some pretty impressive cooking skills. Eat My Street was invited along for a visit to check out how the classes run and to take a look around the Cooking 4 Kids studio.
We arrived bright and early on a Saturday morning to take part in the first class of the day. The class started with the min-chefs (kids) standing around the preparation table learning about what they would be cooking for the day and running through a few house rules. Students then got down to preparing and cooking their spinach and pumpkin pot pie. How happy do they look!?
After a little bit of time spent doing dishes and learning the importance of cleaning up after themselves, the students sit down with Meg at the communal table to learn all about what they have made. Meg has a great focus on understanding where food comes from and the health benefits of different ingredients and she shared all this information in a fun and interactive way.
I really loved taking a snoop around at some of the worksheets students had filled in.
I may have even learnt a couple of things about doughnuts. 🙁
Meg does a great job teaching the students and sharing her passion for nutrition, home made food. It was wonderful to see the way the kids were so enthusiastic about learning and cooking and how easily they picked up on these skills in the kitchen.
Meg is a natural in the kitchen and had her little group of chefs diligently paying attention and on task for the whole morning.
I was so impressed with how capable these students were and the end result of their labours looked and tasted delicious. What a great age for children to learn about where our food comes from, what is in and how to prepare and cook it; all essential life long skills.
Meg is a qualified chef with 17 years of experience in the hospitality industry- although she looks too young for this to be true! We asked her a few questions to find out a little bit more about why she started Cooking 4 Kids.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got started in your business?
From the age of four I knew I wanted to be a chef! At 14 I started my first part time job at a local restaurant and, I completely fell in love with all that hospitality had to offer. Upon leaving school, I deferred uni for a year to work… I never made it to uni!
I found a love for teaching children when I was living in Geelong, I volunteered at a local primary school through the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program. Cooking is something that all children can master, seeing the joy, confidence & self pride that they gain through being in the kitchen is incredibly rewarding.
I went form Geelong to Melbourne, where I worked as a head chef, before deciding to through caution to the wind & follow my passion for teaching kids. Whilst its been challenging a times, I wouldn’t trade it for the world… It’s by far the best & most rewarding chocice I’ve made. I’m grateful to all of the kids, families & friends of Cooking 4 Kids for allowing me into their lives & for believing in what I do.
2. What is your favourite recipe at the moment?
Autumn brings around foraging for mushrooms… I love them pan seared with butter, garlic & fresh thyme… perched upon a piece of chargrilled olive sourdough, drizzled with truffle oil & shaved pecorino.
3. Kitchen staples? Things you always have in your fridge and pantry?
Good quality olive oil, Mount Zero Olives being my favourite.
Fresh free range eggs from Seven acres farm.
Fresh herbs, an easy healthy way to add additional flavor to any meal.
Pink lake salt from Mount Zero Olives.
Plus loads of fresh fruit & vegetables.
4. Do you have a secret foodie vice?
Hot potato chips, though these days its more Kipfler potatoes… boiled, rubbed with coconut oil, then roasted until their skins are golden & crispy.
5. What was your most memorable meal?
Eaten about 14 years ago when visiting Adelaide… Pan seared potato & pumpkin gnocchi with burnt butter & sage… so simple, so tasty. (Sounds amazing!)
6. Can you tell us your favourite local restaurant or cafe?
I’ve taken a real liking to Spencer’s store in Gembrook. I love brunch. As a vegetarian it’s nice to be able to go out & have options.
8. Where do you get your inspiration for recipe ideas? Any favourite cook books, blogs, TV shows, chefs etc?
I love humble, home made, slow cooked food, this comes back to my grandparents. I spent a lot of time cooking with them as a child. Today I use a lot of their recipes as a base, adding new modern twists to make them more relevant today.
For more information and to see her upcoming classes take a look at Meg’s website.
or keep up to date by liking her Facebook page.
www.facebook.com/Cooking4KidsAu
Address: 3/24-26 Woods St, Beaconsfield VIC 3807
Phone:0455 552 000
Eat My Street is a website dedicated to “good food for the good life” in Melbourne and beyond. You can follow us on Facebook and Instagram or please sign up to keep up to date.
Last night I had the pleasure of being invited along to attend a cooking class at String and Salt Cooking School in Warragul.
Opened by Warragul locals Michelle and Dave 18 months ago, String and Salt operates as a beautiful homewares store by day and a warehouse style cooking school by night. Housed in a beautifully renovated building in the main street of Warragul, String and Salt is a little gem of a store that is loved by locals and visitors alike.
The range of classes on offer at String and Salt really excites; gluten-free, Malaysian, Sausage Making, Salami Making, South African, Dad’s in the Kitchen, The basics of Bread and more. Classes are taught by a variety of chefs and cooks.
Last night was “A Taste of the Peninsula” themed class, presented by Michael Demagistri of the newly established East. Bar and Dining in Mount Martha. Michael might be known to some of you from his time on MasterChef: The Professionals, where he made it into the top four before being eliminated.
To start the evening, Michael shared with us a little bit about his history and journey as a Chef. Highlights include his time working with Jacques Reymond, a 3 month stint at Noma and his role as head chef at the Sorrento Golf Club. Two weeks ago he realised his long-term dream of opening a restaurant in beautiful Mount Martha.
Michael’s passion is to make food from scratch, using natural produce with a touch of playfulness. He also likes to forage beach-side and what better place could there be to do this than the beautiful Mornington Peninsula.
Our menu for the evening was:
Seven Spiced Pumpkin Seeds
Scampi, brown butter snow, lemon powder and miso. This dish was melt in the mouth delicious and may have been my favourite.
Heirloom tomato, purple basil and burata salad.
Seafood Paella with clams, mussels, flathead, scallops, nasturtium and salt bush.
Creme brûlée with banana ice cream and crispy pearls.
All of the food was amazing and beautiful with multiple layers of flavour that really “zing” together on the plate.
String and Salt cooking school provides an elegantly casual environment to listen to the experts talk about their cooking, and to learn some tips on how to replicate the dishes at home. There were opportunities throughout the evening to “have a go” and there was a very hands on approach to smelling, tasting, and seeing all the produce that Michael had brought along (or foraged on his way) for the evening.
You never know what little piece of information you might pick up during a cooking class. I learnt
For more information on upcoming cooking classes and to make a booking visit
www.stringandsalt.com.au
I plan to visit again early next year for Michelle’s next cheese making class. It sounds amazing.
Maybe I will see you there.
Dani
Details
String and Salt Cooking School
Address: 42 Smith St, Warragul VIC 3820
Phone:(03) 5622 2119
Cost: Generally $90 – $125 for a 3- 4 hour class.
All classes include a shared meal around the String + Salt table.
To stay up to date with my food adventures please follow along on Facebook, or sign up here. Thanks so much for visiting. xx
Looking for other great things to do in Warragul? Why don’t you visit Big Spoon Little Spoon. www.eatmystreet.net/big-spoon-little-spoon 
Grill Mates American BBQ School
I don’t mean to be rude America, but you know us Aussies invented the BBQ right? Well, Okay, maybe we didn’t exactly invent it but we have perfected it. Right?
Well, after my Grill Mates American BBQ School class on Monday night, I am not so sure.
I attended the American barbecue Grill Mates class at Beer Deluxe in Hawthorn. It was hosted by McCormicks GrillMates and taught by the ever enthusiastic Pit master, Eric from the Melbourne BBQ School.
I was invited along with a number of other Melbourne food bloggers, to attend the Grill Mates American BBQ class and to enjoy a delicious three course meal. All of it cooked on the BBQ.
Some of the meat had been slowly cooking over hot coals since 8am that morning which really gives you a great indication of how amazing this food was.
Eric took us through a few different recipes using the new Grill Mates Amercian BBQ range.
These were both delicious and the addition of the caramelised onion to the Spinach Quesadillas, was genius.
I have not cooked with Brisket before but it was a lovely succulent cut of meat after being slow cooked over hot coals. The pulled pork was juicy and full of flavour and the Tennessee Baby Back Ribs were out. of. this. world.
Hands down the best ribs I have ever eaten.
We were also given tips on how to best cook and prepare an American Barbecue. Here is my brief summary for your reading pleasure.
The American BBQ class was fun and informative.. Showing your meat some love is more complicated than you might think, but well worth the effort.
Back to the question of who does the best BBQ. Heres a quick quiz to help you decide.
Ill drop a few key phrases to get you thinking and you have to match it to its BBQ country of origin; Australian or American.
Sausages
Smokin Texas Beef Ribs
Steak
12 hour cooked Beef Brisket
Chicken on a stick
Chipotle and roasted garlic chicken skewers.
Rissoles
Jalapeno and Cheddar BBQ chiken and spinach Quesadillas.
How did you go?
Ill leave it for you to decide. American BBQ or Aussie?
Whichever way you go, just remember this. Melbourne is known for its fantastic ability to take traditional foods from other counties, and make them our own. So even if the American barbecue might have a slight edge over the Aussie one, it won’t stay that way for long.
Happy Eating.
Dani Bee xx
Locavore Studio Lilydale
Chef Jessie Crossley is a local Melbourne girl who has been off to see the world and then come home to share what she knows at her new cooking school in Lilydale. Jessie has opened Locavore Studio in Lilydale, the Gateway to the stunning Yarra Valley. Locavore is a cooking school set in a beautiful studio. I recently visited as a guest of the Yarra Valley Food Group.
We were there to take a Yarra Valley themed cooking lesson and Jessie charmed us all from the moment we arrived with a tray of sparkling white wine and a tour around her cooking school.
She quickly got down to business and took us through the process of cooking four dishes based around the beautiful Yarra Valley produce that she had available. Continue reading
