Monday's Menu

It’s granola season at the hut. I struggle with eating breakfast during the week, I get bored easily, and I was so over porridge. I’d eat a mouthful and then not so subtly put the bowl down for Claudia to finish off (she loved me!) So last weekend I baked up a batch of Nigella’s granola (from Feast). What’s not to love about roasted Almonds, seeds, honey, and raisins? I made another batch yesterday but added some flaked coconut, pumpkin seeds and golden raisins as well. During the week we served it with strawberries, mango and rhubarb. Now I can't wait for breakfast.

As mentioned on Friday we took delivery of a box of goodies from Mount Gnomon farm. So pork dominated the menu all weekend. We’re not complaining though. Rob slow roasted the shoulder for three hours in the Weber on Saturday. Then yesterday we blasted it in our oven under the maxi-grill, that thing is wicked, I could see the skin blister! That crackling, I have to say, was perfectly cooked, shattering as you bit into it. It was then warmed up again in the Weber sitting on some sliced fennel, baby carrots and bay leaves, and served it with roast potatoes, the pork was deliciously juicy. Oh dear I’d better stop otherwise I might start drooling on the keyboard.

Finally, as it rained most of Saturday we were happily stuck inside, after lunch I fell asleep on the window seat with Claudia as a foot warmer, for several hours!

I thought I’d better do something worthwhile, so I measured out and chopped the dried fruit for two Christmas cakes (sultanas, currants, raisins, dried apricots and prunes).


Maybe the menu might have to be a little healthier this week (looking at what you eat all week is a bit of an eye opener) maybe even some salads and green vegetables! 

Top row: Scrambled eggs on Pigeon Hole sourdough toast, Granola with Greek yoghurt and strawberries, Italian sausages on mash with peas (an excuse to eat relish), creamy mushroom, bacon and pea fettuccine, spring vegetable risotto.

Middle row: Mount Gnomon bacon and egg roll, Sweet Envy jam doughnut and pecan sticky bun, Mount Gnomon chorizo, tomato and lentil risotto, dried fruit soaking in brandy for Christmas cakes, the roast pork shoulder (from guess who).

Bottom row: The pork served with roasted fennel and carrots, a pear poached in red wine, cinnamon, vanilla and thyme, our granola fresh out of the oven, this morning with rhubarb, gin and tonic season has started.

Monday's Menu

A varied selection this week-
Monday- was a silver beet duck egg omelette
Tuesday- Left over rump steak, was transformed into an open steak sandwich with kipfler potato chips.
Wednesday- we went out on a "date" lunch at  Tricycle. Rob had the most delicious pork, lemon and fennel meatballs on white bean mash, and I had a red lentil soup with mint and sumac. We couldn't resist a lemon curd cupcake with coffee either! Wednesday night we had lemon pasta. A quick no cook sauce (lemon juice, parmesan, yoghurt, egg yolks and parsley).
Thursday- the last of the steak on top of a vegetable soup.
Friday- after tackling a few house maintenance jobs it was quite late so we settled for crackers and cheese!
Saturday - We visited Sweet Envy, next time I'm going to get one of each of these biscuits, I always look at them and end up picking something else. Rob cooked a chicken on the Weber (flattened out) with just lemon, thyme and chilli, with some bbq'd Asparagus.
Sunday - I mentioned that we invited friends down for lunch, the weather was horrendous, but it didn't matter, we snacked on soy baked almonds, baked olives, and wagyu sausages with chutney. Then Rob quickly cooked the rump steak again, we served it on salad leaves and with some roasted kipflers.
We had a selection of incredibly ripe French cheeses and then finished off with a lemon meringue pie. We had a lovely afternoon (and evening!) chatting, eating and drinking.

So glad this week is a short week (Hobart Show day on Thursday). Am looking forward to a quiet day at the hut. How was your weekend?

Shhh, a little secret...

My secret will only be of interest to those of you who are lucky enough to live in Southern Tasmania, within driving distance of the patisserie Sweet Envy.
Last weekend we discovered Alistair Wise's potato bread.
This weekend we headed straight to Sweet Envy on Saturday morning.

Of course we meant only to buy the Potato bread.
But the guy serving us asked the question "have you tried the other breads?"
When we said no, he proceeded to describe all of the loaves.

Rob listened attentively, I watched for his reaction.
"we'll have one of each then!"

So we ended up with a lovely chewy ciabatta, a dense potato and bush honey sourdough and the potato bread. Oh and a lemon macaron and a pecan sticky bun.

Our pile of white paper bags on the countertop caught the attention of Alistair himself as he wandered in, he exclaimed "now that's the way to go!"
I recognised him from magazine photos, and I have to admit, I may have gushed just a little, when I told him how "amazing" the potato bread is. (Afterwards I thought I could have thought of something a bit better than amazing, obviously I have been watching too much of a certain reality cooking show at the moment!)

It's chewy, salty, buttery, crisp, like a giant chip with olives and rosemary.
Apparently it's better warm (according to the guy serving us), although we had to admit it didn't have a chance on getting anywhere near an oven before we were going to devour it.



Claudia approved too.

I had to share it with you- but please don't tell too many people!

Our weekend:

We made the most of an unseasonally warm weekend.
Lots of time outside at the block, we have started to move some pot plants (my lily collection) and some box plants for hedging (Claudia was starting to chew on the pots and the poor plants as well as bring them inside on the odd occasion).
Rob also started fixing up the back of the hut so that we can lay some weedmat and gravel as a path.

We stopped in at Sweet Envy on Saturday and bought a delicious Potato bread- salty, chewy, addictive. As well as a pecan sticky bun, a jam doughnut and two macarons. Sorry I didn't take any photos- but I think we'll be back there this weekend looking for that bread again!

Progress has been rapid at the hut site, after my poor me post last week. Sorry about that, sounds like everyone feels this way by the end of the build!
The builder is starting to whisper about occupancy certificates.
Most importantly they finally took delivery of the celery top cladding for the internal walls so they're up, and may I just say that the breezeway looks fantastic.





I can't resist sharing a photo of the view down our hallway either.


The new landscaping in front of the laundry hut, we'll have to encourage some grass to grow there, although that might prove tricky with the two mud puppies.

Hope you had a weekend as lovely as ours.