A rainy day of baking...

The weather this weekend was crazy. On Saturday, we had rain, hail, winds, intermixed with bursts of sunshine. The wood heater has been going flat out all weekend. The 15000L water tank we plumbed into half the roof a week ago is now half full. The vegie patch is happy (and a little battered).

After looking forward to spring so much this year, I rather enjoyed this weekend back in winter. I nested a little, baking, and making soup, and filling the house with warmth. I ran out to the garden to pick some salad greens and radishes between downpours, but mostly took an easy weekend. I also fed some king parrots that used our deck as shelter from the rain…

So food wise, first up I decided to bake a loaf of bread in the neglected bread maker. We prefer to make bread using our own hands but it does take a lot of time. This sunflower and burghul wholemeal bread recipe came with the bread maker, and was easy and reasonably good for a bread maker bread. It was a bit heavy though, maybe my yeast was a bit old and maybe my flour was too (have gone and bought fresh everything now)

Nathan then decided to make Anzac biscuits. We used Belinda Jefferies recipe from ‘Mix and Bake’, and the results were fabulous. Anzac biscuits are so easy to make, and were perfect for this rainy weekend (and for morning teas during the week if Nath doesn’t eat them all)

Back to the bread maker, I decided to make pizza for dinner. Using the recipe from the instruction manual, two thin based pizzas were made with absolutely no effort. The base is not as good as the base I prepared by hand using Maggie Beers recipe for the pissalidiere but it was reasonable.

For toppings I decided to try one of our favourites – potato and rosemary. I also dropped some garlic on it and drizzled a fair bit of olive oil and salt, and a little parmasen. It was pretty good, but would have been better if the base was better.

The other pizza was a tomato based pizza with pancetta, mushrooms, olives, sundried tomatoes, artichoke and mozzarella/ parmesan to finish. This was pretty good and not too heavy which was nice.
I served these with a fennel and anchovy salad.

Much too much baking for one day, and I am all carb-ed up now, but it was just what we felt like! Hopefully the next two weeks will fill our tank up so we can set the drip irrigation going for the vegies. So far we are just harvesting the quick green leafy vegies and radishes but the longer growing plants are looking good (apart from some pest problems).

Koukla Café, Daylesford

82 Vincent St, Daylesford VIC 3460

Last weekend we took a drive through the torrential rain towards Daylesford to visit some friends who had moved there. After a lazy afternoon of sausages and sitting on the front porch and enjoying the view, we decided to walk around the lake before heading back to Melbourne. I have been to Daylesford before, but all I have seen is the Hepburn springs and a highly recommended tarot reader with some girlfriends (and no, nothing she said came true). This afternoon in Daylesford was so peaceful- the weather had cleared a little but there were not too many people around, making the walk very quiet and private.

After the walk we decided to have dinner in Daylesford before the drive home. We debated trying the Lakehouse, a highly recommended restaurant that has consistently won accolades over the years as being the best country restaurant in Victoria. Realising that we were not in a mood for white tablecloths and formal service (and the distinct possibility we would not get a table), we decided to try something less formal. Strolling up and down Vincent St, the main street in Daylesford, we could not see too many places open. Considering what a roaring trade this town does from Melbourne weekenders, we were surprised. About to give up, we spied Frango and Frangos, a wine bar/ restaurant that looked promising. Walking closer to it I saw those damned white tablecloths and my heart dropped a little. On closer inspection, next door was a café/ pizza place called Koukla that looked more what I was craving – long wooden tables made from a dark rich wood, a wood fired pizza oven, and a comfortable atmosphere.

Settling in on a beautiful old table, amongst some mismatched furniture, we ordered food and some red wine. The night was cold for summer and the warmth from the wood fire was welcoming. The atmosphere was one not unlike something you would expect to see in the inner city of Melbourne, if a little quieter. In one corner was a group of girls on a hens night, but they were quietly enjoying their food.

We decided on a pizza to share, and a roast tomato and basil soup. I am not a big fan of tomato soups, but there was a basket of the most beautifully red ripe tomatoes on the front corner that made me want all things tomato. I asked Nathan to take the basket and run on the way out later that evening but he didn’t and my handbag was too small ;P I love the tomato season, it reminds me of my childhood when we grew tomatoes and would pick them off the vine and eat them, warm, sweet and juicy, with a smell that I never get from supermarket tomatoes.

I discovered that my phone takes photos and can end up on the computer. Bless technology; I think I am slowly getting it! Of course, I realised this halfway through the meal, so apologies for the half eaten photos but I have to share…

The soup was incredible. It had basil leaves scattered through it as well as some small potato chunks and was warm, sweet, and so so good. It was served with some good sourdough. I am inspired to try to replicate this at home, so hopefully will have something to show for this soon!
The pizza was a mushroom, caramelised onion and sage pizza. It possibly had some boccocini in it too. This pizza had a sourdough base according to the menu, and was just beautiful. Nath made the rather bold claim that this was better than the pizza at I carusi and D.O.C, and he might almost be right. The toppings were not too overpowering and the sage was a great flavour enhancer to the pizza.

After one glass of red and our mains I was feeling a little sleepy, but the dessert menu had caught my eye. Particularly the peach and mascarpone pizza. We ordered this to share, and by this time my phone had run out of battery so I have no photo to share. This was just beautiful. The sweetness and juice of the peaches cut through the heaviness of the mascarpone well. Oh god I want some now!

A perfect meal for a lazy cold summer day. The wine and food knocked me out as soon as I got in the car, and I slept like a baby until we got home. I am definitely coming back here next time I am in town.

DOC Pizza and Mozarella

295 Drummond Street, Carlton South

A couple of Fridays ago we decided to go to La Mamas in Carlton after work. La Mamas is a fantastic theatre in carlton which stages smaller and often more experimental theatre compared to something like the MTC - Melbourne Theatre Company (which a girlfriend and I are subscribers to), and also a lot more intimate as it is a lot smaller, so the actors usually make eye contact with you during the performance (which can be a little unsettling at first). The play we saw had one actor, some dolls, a pianist/ violinist and someone doing the lights, but I enjoyed it much more than the latest play from MTC... enough about that! After making plans to see a play, i deviously suggested that we try DOC, as i had read about it on other blogs and was rather interested in trying some fresh mozzarella and some reportedly good pizza...

So after our play we walked into DOC and asked for a table. After seating us, and giving us the menus, they then decided to tell us that we had to be out of there by 830pm. We are fast eaters so this was not a problem but I thought it was a bit strange to tell us after seating us. In the entry there was an old retro ham slicer with a massive ham on it that looked totally edible, and the room is one of those bare concrete walls and floors which while looking nice is not good for sound levels... as the night went on it got louder and louder, especially due to a table of very loud Italians near us.

The menu is printed on a large sheet of paper which on the back has a large map of Italy that points out where different food products in italy come from regionally. We are going to italy next year for our honeymoon so we spent some time planning our trip based on this information...

'ok, first we go to prociutto, followed by mozzarella and oooh, the anchovies and then maybe some parmagianna regiano...'

ok maybe not. Apparently the place is named after the DOC in italy- the Denominazione d'Origin Controliata which is the the Department responsible for setting the standards and controls for the control of cheese and wine and other food products, which is why the menu was focused on where each ingredient was sourced, which was a nice touch.

SO in true me style, we overordered in an attempt to try as many things as possible, seeing as they do not do half and half pizzas or change any toppings. For starters we got a lovely ball of Italian fresh mozarella, and chose as its accompaniment a shaved fennel, blood orange and anchovy salad. There was also the option of cured meats, salads and antipesto type sides but the fennel and anchovies where a perfect match to each other, and the cheese. They were also served with grissini sticks. This was a perfect starter, it was quite large and full of different flavours so it got us ready for the next course. It was also nice to see nathan enjoying the anchovies which he normally steers well clear of. The cheese was lovely, it would have been interesting to try the Aussie version, I guess it will be next time...

For pizzas we ordered a wild mushroom and truffle oil pizza, and a capricossa which had ham, artichokes, olives and capsicum as well as a salad of rocket, pear and pecorino. This was probably too much food for two but Nath always finishes everything up so i never feel too bad about over-ordering. The pizzas are fantastic - thin crisp base the way it should be and the toppings were not sparce but not over the top, allowing you to taste the flavours. Nathan found the truffle oil a bit too strong on the mushroom pizza but to be honest I didnt really notice it. The artichokes on the capricossa was a great touch, reminded me of an awesome pizza i ate in Rome about 5 years ago. Oh god i really want pizza now! The salad was a very large serve and had a lovely honey based dressing which paired well with the cheese. I had a glass of Red wine which I am so sorry to say i cannot rememeber what it was but it was Italian and was a very good match for the food... the waiter recommended it.

The service was swift if not maybe a little abrupt and the room was pumping when we left. The pizzas are a great alternative for i carusi and I wholeheartedly recommend it to all! Hopefully they buy some nice carpets or wall hanging to soften the sound a little but I must say, it is nice to finally have somewhere I want to eat in the Lygon street vicinity...