Tag: Travel

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Snacks

My Australian Cheeseboard

It wouldn’t be Christmas without a decent cheeseboard. Travelling down under this year, I made a point that our choices would all be Australian-made.

Cheese here is heavily influenced by Europe. You will find versions of the most popular cheese from France, Italy and England that have been home-made in Australia. Alongside these are many small and independent producers experimenting with new styles and presentation.

You can see my selection for our Christmas Day meal in the photo above. Here are the ones that made my final cut, including further information and links to the producers, should you wish to find out more:

  • Endeavour Blue is from King Island Dairy, which is based on a small island in the Bass Strait between Tasmania and the Australian mainland. The island’s microclimate produces lush pasture, hence rich creamy milk and cheese. This blue is reminiscent of a good gorgonzola.
  • Gumleaf Smoked Cheddar from Bodalla Farm on the New South Wales coast, south of Sydney. Smoked in leaves of a gum tree, it is part of their Bush Tucker Cheese range. Thankfully, it doesn’t taste too strongly of eucalyptus, just good smoked cheddar!
  • Fresh Chevre Goat’s Cheese, dusted with ash, from Meredith Dairy in western Victoria. Ash helps balance acidity and develop a rind, while adding visual interest to your platter.
  • Brie from Udder Delights, an independent producer from Lobethal in the Adelaide Hills, South Australia.
  • Camembert, also from Udder Delights.

I also enjoyed a trip with family and friends to the Yarra Valley Dairy. Their range of goats cheeses are served as part of a sharing platter along with other delights like olives, cured meats, cornichons, home-made relishes and terrine, see my photo below.

The Yarra Valley is a major wine and cheese producing region of Victoria, in the hills north-east of Melbourne. Here is a photo I took of the vineyard and hills beyond, while stopped for some Cellar Door wine tasting at Yering Farm Wines.

A gourmet experience of rich and creamy cheese, fine wines, in a beautiful rural setting with sunny weather (it reached 37C!). All in all, a Beautiful Day. Time to add U2 to the ADK Spotify Playlist.

Categories
Sides

Chargrilled Sweet Veg with Feta & Balsamic

Christmas in Australia feels very different from the UK, coming in the middle of the summer. With temperature in the mid-20s C, the only ice you’ll need to deal with is the type that clinks in your martini glass as you relax on the sun deck. It’s more a case of barefoot on warm sand, than Jack Frost nipping at your toes. One definite advantage is having the barbecue as a cooking option while entertaining over the holiday period.

This dish is intended to be served as a vegetable side to a seasonal main, like turkey, fish or ham, and alongside roast potatoes. My photo below shows my prepped and skewered veg from the first time I made this. Since then, as you will see from the ingredients list below, I have added a few further types of veg.

My next photo shows the skewers cooking, alongside some meaty mains. The veg will soften and caramelise on the grill, the edges gently charring over the flame.

Once chargrilled, the sharpness of the feta cheese will complement the sweetness of the veg, with the balsamic vinegar giving just the right amount of sourness in the dressing. See my main photo above for the end result.

Servings

Alongside a seasonal roasted main like turkey, fish or ham, and roasted potatoes, this will serve as an extra side veg dish for up to 8 people.

Timings

15 mins prep, 20 mins grilling time.

You Will Need

  • 1 red, 1 green and 1 yellow pepper
  • 1 aubergine
  • 2 red onions
  • 2 courgettes
  • 1 butternut squash
  • oil to drizzle
  • 400g feta cheese
  • a good sprinkle of balsamic vinegar
  • 9 – 10 barbecue skewers
  • a bottle of craft beer to drink while bbq-ing (of course!)

Method

  1. Soak the skewers in cold water for about 10 mins. This will help stop them burning while cooking.
  2. While the skewers are soaking, cut the peppers and aubergine into pieces roughly 1-2cm square.
  3. Cut the courgettes into discs around 0.5 – 1 cm thick.
  4. Cut each of the red onions into 8 segments, so that each segment is still joined to the root end. This will help the onion layers hold together while cooking on the skewer.
  5. Peel the squash and discard the seeds and pith. Cut into cubes with sides roughly 1 – 2cm in size.
  6. Thread all the veg pieces on to wooden skewers and drizzle the oil over.
  7. Cut the feta into 1cm sided cubes, and set aside till the veg has cooked.
  8. Fire up the barbecue and, when it’s nice and hot, lay the skewers on the grill. Turn every so often until the veg has softened and the edges are nicely charred – likely to be around 20 mins.
  9. Remove from the grill. Scrape all the veg off into a warmed bowl, using a fork.
  10. Add the feta cubes and the balsamic, and give it a good stir so the ingredients are mixed well. See my main photo above for the end result.
  11. Serve alongside the rest of your meal.

Customise it!

Don’t have access to a barbecue? Or is it just a UK summer and too cold outside? Understood – I’ve been there lots of times! Not to worry – roast the veg in the oven at 180c for 30 mins, then mix with the feta and balsamic.

Talking of the weather, this post seems an appropriate time to add this Aussie classic to the ADK Playlist: Crowded House with Weather With You.

Whatever you’re cooking and wherever you are, have a great Christmas!

Categories
Blog Desserts

Wish Upon a Cupcake

Have you ever had an issue arise while staying in an Airbnb? I’m pleased to say this one, on our current stay in Australia, had a very happy ending.

Our suspicions were raised about ten minutes after switching on the oven, and finding that it simply wasn’t heating up. Were we doing something wrong? Was there a magical button on the control panel that we were stupidly failing to press? Everything else about the apartment had been perfect, so surely the issue lay with us?

A note to the host followed, seeking help and advice. This led to a visit by her to check it out, only to conclude that, yes, the oven was indeed broken. A technical repair visit would be required and, it being nearly Christmas, the visit could not be arranged before next week, after we have moved on to our next place.

Another first world problem! For a few days we would not be able to warm a pizza, or heat up a quiche. What would we do? Aghhh!

Thankfully, the host made a very prompt and kind gesture by way of apology. She informed us that, as a measure of goodwill, a substantial gift voucher was waiting for us behind the counter at local cake deli, Wish Upon a Cupcake.

We paid a visit there the next day and were impressed. My photos show some of the cakes available in the shop. They are all baked on the premises here in Watsonia, a suburb of Melbourne.

Here is the selection we chose with our gift voucher. We were very satisfied.

You see, despite the best of intentions, things just sometimes go wrong, and it really isn’t worth getting worked up about it. Most things can be resolved through prompt, effective service. Nearly everything can be made better with cake.

Even the little buddha in the apartment’s back garden seemed to approve.

So there you are – for Christmas time, a story to warm the heart. Even if it didn’t warm our kitchen.

This coming week, they’re forecasting temperatures rising to around 29C as we move out by the beach on Mornington Peninsula, where we’ll be joined by a wider group of family and friends in the lead-up to our Australian Christmas. Time for a feelgood song! Here’s Walking on Sunshine by Katrina & The Waves.

Categories
Blog

Keep Calm, Eat Ramen

Where to eat in the early evening before seeing the Melbourne production of the musical Hamilton?

This was today’s first world problem during my travels here in Australia. I’m now back from the wilderness (literally) for a few days to sample the cosmopolitan city life.

Handily, the city’s theatre district is close to Chinatown, which opened up a number of possibilities. A recommendation from my son (who is resident here), supported by a number of very positive online reviews, led us to Mr Ramen San.

I hadn’t really heard of Ramen before, but I now know it is a Japanese dish consisting of wheat noodles in broth, served with various meat or vegetable toppings. I opted for spicy chicken ramen, which came with toppings of spring onion, beansprouts, cabbage, seaweed and half a boiled egg (see my main photo).

I understand this may not sound the most tempting dish you’ve ever encountered, but take it from me – it was actually very tasty.

Given where we are in the world, it’s no surprise that Melbourne has sizable communities originating from all over south-eastern Asia. I believe this began with the discovery of gold in the mid-nineteenth century, when many Chinese in particular came here to join the prospectors. More recently, many others have followed, and Chinatown has grown up as a haven for not just Chinese, but Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese and other restaurants.

In a strange juxtaposition of cultures, Chinatown is currently decorated to celebrate Christmas – a giant toy soldier from the Nutcracker guarding the ornamental gates.

And as for Hamilton? I hadn’t seen or heard it before, but thoroughly enjoyed it. Written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, it is based around the story of the American War of Independence, interpreted from a black minority ethnic perspective. It’s a very modern musical, featuring soul and hip hop.

Regular followers will know that I cannot claim either of these as my own top musical genre. However, the show rips along at a fast pace, with great music and dynamic choreography. It is definitely worth a visit if you get the chance.

No prizes therefore for guessing the latest addition to the ADK Spotify Playlist. Here is one of the catchiest tracks My Shot.

Categories
Blog

Wild Wild Life

My first full week in Australia has been pretty wild. And I mean that literally.

After a few days in Melbourne to acclimatise and shake off jet lag, we headed south-east of the city to experience life in the remote, southernmost parts of Australia. First stop was Phillip Island, a delightful holiday island popular as a weekend getaway with Melburnians. We then moved on to a wilderness retreat in the State Park of Wilson’s Prom (short for Promontory).

These places are home to some of Australia’s most famous animals. My main photo shows a sleepy little koala resting above me in a gum tree, on Phillip Island.

My photo below shows a wallaby who came along looking interested in the barbecue I was cooking in the outback on Wilson’s Prom.

I also broke off from my barbecue to snap these kookaburras, laughing while perched in a nearby tree, at dusk.

The landscape and climate here shows nature at its wildest. We climbed the 558m high Mount Oberon for this view overlooking Norman Beach and Tidal River, the hub for visitors to Wilson’s Prom.

There seems to be an amazing, and practically deserted golden sands beach on every stretch of coastline. My photo below shows Sunderland Bay, taken at Surfie’s Point.

We have also waited patiently at sunset to watch Phillip Island’s penguin colony return from a day’s swimming and fishing, waddling in unison across the beach to the safety of their burrows. Also, as advised by Park Rangers, I’ve been taking care to protect the food for our barbecues from the visiting wombats.

With all of this wildlife, rugged coastline and amazing surf beach scenery, you may think I have become temporarily distracted from my usual focus on food. Well, there is probably some truth in that to be fair, but expect normal service to be resumed soon. Having said that, let me share with you this heavenly chocolate, peanut butter and almond slice I enjoyed at the Sanny Bakehouse in San Remo.

Choice of music this week has to be Talking Heads, with Wild Wild Life.

Categories
Blog

G’day Australia!

Well, I’ve made it. 13 and a half hours in the air with Qatar Airways, crossing 8 time zones, but I’ve made it. All of that on top of 6 and a half hours in the air, crossing 3 time zones, on the initial leg from London to Doha. I suppose I shouldn’t be that surprised that I’m feeling a little groggy with jet lag just now.

First impressions of Melbourne are that it’s a very interesting city, with lots of culture, sport, street art and cafes that take serving good food and coffee very seriously. I took a tram to Fed Square and walked down by the Yarra River to take the photo above, looking across to the Central Business District.

Weather was about 21C – it is just coming into the main summer here. Weirdly, this means that, with the UK summer just gone, I will experience two summers this year. Not that I’m complaining, of course.

I’ve been out for an initial walk around the food shops and cafes of trendy Prahran, where we’re staying, and sampled some of the alternative beach culture at coastal St. Kilda. Lots to like, and I’m looking forward to exploring much more of the city and Victoria state over the next couple of months. Plenty more posts to come!

For an initial cafe treat, I couldn’t resist this plate of Australia’s very own delicacy, Vegemite, with butter on thick sourdough toast, served with a cappucino. It tastes like marmite but with the texture of smooth peanut butter. I could be developing a taste for this…

Musical choice is a track from a musician who hails from this city, and who I have admired for many years. This is Jubilee Street by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

Categories
Blog

Falafel and Tahini Flatbread

One of the foods I have wanted to try, while in the Middle East, is falafels. I’m a fan, and was keen to see how they are prepared and cooked in this part of the world.

A spot of local research suggested an Egyptian Restaurant, the Khan Farouk Tarab Cafe was the place to visit. A hop on Doha’s excellent, state of the art metro, took us there. Having a number of impressive reviews, it certainly lived up to its reputation.

The restaurant is situated in the Katara Cultural Village part of Doha, another modern development impressive in size and quality, and which has clearly been built with a generous budget. It is the only place I can recall visiting where the streets are air conditioned from grilles in the pavements.

The restaurant specialised in Egyptian food. It was busy and doing a good trade, appearing to be popular with the local North African community. One of the upsides of Qatar’s policy of strict control of alcohol is that more restaurants and bars are family friendly, and this was certainly the case here.

I immediately liked the fact that there was a member of staff permanently stationed by a traditional clay oven, baking fresh flatbread that was then served to the tables warm.

It was inside one of these that my meal was served. The sliced falafel had a crunchy and golden coating, with a soft, green and spicy centre. It was mixed with crisp green salad and tahini dressing. Served with pickles, the whole sandwich was delicious (see main photo). Prices were reasonable once again – my meal cost 26 QAR which works out at under £6.

It’s been one of the pleasures of our time in Doha that we have been able to sample some genuine cuisine from across Africa, Asia and the Middle East, prepared and cooked by experts.

Today’s musical choice continues the Middle Eastern theme – here is Thief of Baghdad by The Teardrop Explodes.

Categories
Blog

Souq Waqif

Most of Doha’s development has taken place in the last few decades, funded with the money from the oil industry. The notable exception to this is Souq Waqif, the origin of which dates back to the early 20th Century. Doha was then a small coastal town with an industry in pearl diving. The Souq is where bedouins – the inhabitants of the deserts across Arabia – would come to trade food and textiles with the local people.

By the early 2000s, it was a little worse for wear and, with the focus very much on new development in the city, consideration was being given to its demolition. However, what now seems a very inspired decision was made in favour of renovation. It is now a popular destination for visitors to the city – particularly at the moment with people here from all over the globe for the Football World Cup.

A walk through the Souq is a joy for anyone who recalls the old Arabian Nights legends. The low level sandstone buildings, and narrow, meandering alleyways could be a theme park land, or film set from an Indiana Jones movie, until you remind yourself that this is actually the real thing.

A tiny shop door leads to a cavernous collection of colourful and richly textured carpets. Hey, maybe one of those might fly? Street traders sell bejewelled plates and ornaments. Could a genie be hiding inside one of those lamps, I wonder?

Colourful birds chirp from their cages. You can buy everything you could possibly need for your falconry hobby (including the falcons).

The Souq is a real experience for the senses. Our arrival coincided with the call to prayers echoing from the tower of the nearby mosque, mingling with the hubbub of the crowd and haggling from the stalls. The air is filled with the scents of burning incense and people smoking from the sheesha pipes at the pavement cafes. Then there are the aromas and colours from the spice market.

I had read about the spice market before coming here, and was looking forward to a visit. It is a whole subset of the Souq, with more shops than it seems possible could be sustained, selling every spice imaginable, along with nuts, dried fruits, seeds, loose tea and local sweets. The produce is mostly sourced from across the Middle East and Asia.

Everything is sold loose, so that you can buy as much or as little as you wish. The photos that follow give some impression.

It is also very reasonably priced. I bought about 300g of Qatari spices – a local mix of 9 different spices – for 3 QAR, working out about 60p (or under 1 US Dollar). I also bought some loose green tea from Iran.

We chose a pick and mix bag of local sweets to eat as we walked around – mostly comprising nougat, nuts, dates and often with bitter fruit jelly or rose petal coatings.

As regular followers will know, the Middle East is a stop for me on the way to spending some time in Australia. A plan is developing in my head to marinade chicken pieces in the Qatari spices mixed with yoghurt, and barbecue them on skewers for our family and guests on Christmas Day in the sun. Future posts will tell if that comes off!

As for musical choice, I was astounded to realise recently that one of my favourite all-time bands, Siouxsie and the Banshees, have yet to appear on the ADK Spotify Playlist. With this post, however, your time has come, Sioux. Cue Arabian Knights.

Categories
Blog

Hala Doha

This week I’ve arrived in the Middle East with my two sons, on my way to spending the winter months in Australia.

Doha, in Qatar, is a real mixture of the old and the new. My main photo shows the old – represented by a traditional wooden dhow boat used for pearl diving when the place was just a small coastal village – alongside the modern day skyscrapers of West Bay. The discovery of oil – and enough supplies of it for the next 200 years – has brought significant wealth and transformed the place out of all recognition.

My search to discover the local cuisine has led to a variety of cafes and restaurants specialising in food mainly from other parts of Asia. As the city has grown, it seems that people have travelled here to work, bringing their own tastes and styles of cooking with them. Consequently, many restaurants have sprouted up to use their skills and satisfy their appetites.

These next photos show a banquet we enjoyed in a Korean Restaurant. The appetiser comprises pickled root veg, kimchi (fermented cabbage and veg) and spiced cubes of tofu.

There are four dishes in the mains: pieces of chicken coated in spicy batter and deep fried; spiced tofu and beef in a doubenjiang (chilli bean) sauce, with a mound of steamed rice; bibimbap, which is fine sliced, marinaded (bulgogi) beef served with fried egg, veg and rice; and chicken and veg in sweet soy sauce.

The mix of tastes was amazing. I especially liked the variety of things they do with tofu – the complimentary starter was a bowl of soup with cubes of tofu in. In fact, the restaurant was actually called The Tofu House, in the Al Mansoura district where we are staying. This has given me lots of ideas for when I am next back in the ADK Kitchen, though that won’t be until well into 2023!

It was also very reasonably priced – 140 QAR for three, which works out about £10 per head. It is certainly possible to eat well and inexpensively in Qatar.

It’s an interesting time to be in Qatar, as the country is hosting the Football World Cup. There are people here from all over the world, making it easy to chat to friendly visitors from Canada, Japan, Egypt, Uganda, India and many, many more, as well as locals, particularly on the excellent, state of the art public transport system. It shows the power of international sport to bring people together and overcome any language or cultural barriers.

Choice of music for the ADK playlist is something from my listening on the way out here with Qatar Airways – Little Fluffy Clouds from The Orb reminds me of a comfortable and enjoyable 6 hour flight!

Categories
Mains Recipes

Parmesan Kohlrabi Steaks

Kohlrabi is a great vegetable to cook with. It has a texture that’s been described as a cross between a turnip and a water chestnut, which sounds about right.

Quite often you will see it in recipes that treat it like the poor relation – consigned to the margins of a meal, as a side dish, or have it grated into a salad along with other ingredients.

I felt it deserved its place in the spotlight, so this dish sees it firmly centre stage (or should that be centre plate?) as the star attraction. The crisp, juicy and crunchy texture it retains when cooked makes it suitable as a main, especially for anyone on a vegetarian, vegan or plant-based diet. I hope you will find it lives up to its billing!

It is actually quite simple to make. Cut a large disc-shaped slice of the kohlrabi that is about 1 – 2cm in thickness from the widest point (the equator, if you know what I mean). Trim off the peel, then cut it into about 6 pieces. Go for irregular shapes – you want each steak to be individual and the whole dish not to look uniform. Also, work in a number of angles and corners – these will crisp and caramelise as they roast.

Briefly place the steaks in a shallow pan with a little oil. Fry each steak on both sides for about 2 – 3 mins, then transfer to a roasting dish and place in the oven, heated to 180C. Let them roast for 30 mins, flipping them over half-way through.

Remove the dish from the oven and grate 40g of parmesan cheese (or vegan alternative if desired) over the steaks. Place back in the oven for a further 10 mins and let the cheese melt. The steaks will be browning up nicely as the photo below shows (I couldn’t resist a sneak peek in the oven to see how they were doing).

When complete, remove and serve with your choice of accompaniment. In my main photo you can see that I served this with savoury rice and steamed carrots. I served 3 steaks in one serving, making this a meal for 2.

If you like, you can make more servings, or have it again on another occasion, as you will only have used a fraction of that beautiful kohlrabi.

This is an exciting weekend for me, as I am setting off on my travels, spending the next couple of months in Australia, with some time in the Middle-East en route. I’ll be blogging here and tweeting (@differentkitch) along the way, so do please follow me on my journey. I welcome any comments and suggestions on places to visit and eat, food and drink I should try. This lovely track about global travel – Ramblin’ Man from Lemon Jelly – seems particularly appropriate today!