Slow bird dinner – read and weep like I did…

I am and have always been a great procrastinator and it has never is the past come between me and good food, but alas, the day has come where my procrastinating ways has caused me great regret…

I had planned to go to the Slow Food Noosa, Slow Bird dinner held on Monday night at the Blue Angel Restaurant, but I procrastinated to a point that by the time I thought to book a seat they were well and truly booked out. Julie Shelton, guest speaker for the night, and I shared a late coffee about 2 hours before the dinner where the dinner was mentioned once again – I had only been reminded of this dinner at least half a dozen times. So after we made a scramble of last minute phone calls I resigned myself to the fact that if I was going to have duck for dinner that night I was going to have to cook it myself.

Oh well I thought, no biggie, not like I have any shortages on the dinner circuit – that was until I spoke to Julie the next morning and she described each course to me in mouthful by mouthful mouth-watering detail.

The Slow Bird dinner is essentially a celebration of the bird, as in poultry; duck, spatchcock, chicken and quail, all raised lovingly by Bendele Farm a free range poultry farm in Kilkivan renowned for its quality poultry. And this was not just a celebration of the premium cuts of the bird, it is a celebration of all of the bird as the menu below so clearly demonstrates; livers, hearts, gizzards, eggs, fat, etc. This concept, to me is fabulous. I myself always purchase the whole bird. In the instance of duck, instilled into me by Max Porter, the duck ambassador of the Sunshine Coast, I purchase a whole duck, cut away the breast, Maryland the legs, crackle the fat (duck crackling is to die for…), render the remaining fat for future use and boil up the frame and wings for stock. So I usually get 3 meals (for 2) out of my one bird.

Now duck is pretty much my favourite meal, and Bendele Farm duck at the top of my farmers’ market shopping list (you can buy poultry directly from the farm stall), so if duck is on the menu, count me in, I just need to make sure I don’t procrastinate that’s all…

To add insult to injury, upon my request, Julie was kind enough to email me the menu today with a note, “read and weep” which I thought particularly cruel and unfeeling but what I almost felt like doing.

I would now really like to share the menu you with you so you can see the diversity in which poultry can be presented.

First Course – Chef Katrina Ryan – Spirit House
Ma Hor – Caramelised chicken with mandarin and pineapple

Second Course – Chef Daniel Mosedale – Blue Angel
Confit duck breast stuffed with livers, hearts, gizzards and black pudding, cumquat chutney and upland cress

Third Course – Chef Belinda Tuckwel – Ma Mensa
Carbonara with wings – Duck egg pasta, braised squab, duck prosciutto and a quail’s egg

Fourth Course – Chef Nathan Nichol – River House
Char grilled quail, chorizo, cabernet sauvignon grapes, fennel and apple salad, sherry caramel

Dessert – Chef Damon Porter – Coconut Grove
Duck egg cream pot with goose fat cenci and rhubarb batons

Mouth watering? While all of the courses sounded fabulous (and I was assured that they were) I was particularly captured by the dessert. I had wondered what chef Damon Porter would come up with without being predictable and I was not disappointed. Apparently the duck egg cream pots were served in an actual duck egg that was secured to the dish and the cenci (Italian fried pastries) were fried in goose fat. Now that is not in the least bit predictable and apparently it was divine.

So I guess what is the purpose in telling you all about it, when it is clearly too late to do anything about it? Well, so I feel better – it’s off my chest now, and that there may be others out there that now regret not going also – that I am not alone, you know, a taking comfort in masses type thing! Also so you too can look out for the next Slow Food dinner, whatever and whenever it may be, which means I will have to be really quick next time around or I will miss out again if I keep telling people how fantastic these dinners are.

You can check out my Calendar to see what is on and where:
www.sunshinecoastregionalfood.com/localharvest/calendar

This post was written by Petra Frieser – Local Harvest
To find out more about the Sunshine Coast’s regional growers and producers visit:
www.localharvest.com.au

Rachael Bermingham Cook-off at Back to Nambour festival

Wow, what a great day the Back to Nambour Festival was last weekend! For those who didn’t get a chance to go – look out for it next year, it really was fantastic. My only regret was that I didn’t get a chance to get around the rest of the festival much because I was involved in the Local Harvest food demonstrations that were running most of the day, but from the raves I have heard the performances were just wonderful. I did sneak off for a moment to check out the unique cars from the Thumpers Car Club that were on display and say hello to the horses that were pulling the horse drawn carriages around throughout the day from the car park at least.

I was involved in the Local Harvest section where there were a number of local producers displaying and selling their products; Kin Kin Tea, Galeru, Auswana Coffee, Palato Gelato, Eumundi Strawberries and many more.

There were also quite a few cooking demonstrations. Rachel from Ninderry Kitchen kicked off the day whipping up some Guacamole and a mouth-watering Pumpkin Soup. Then Martha (Galeru) took centre stage and demonstrated an incredibly easy to make Davidson Plum Crumble. Martha used Davidson Plums, an Australian rainforest native which were grown on her property in Cooroy and which she herself uses in her innovative rainforest inspired cakes, though she did say that any tart fruit was suitable. I will try and scrounge up the recipe for a future blog.

Then came Laurent Vancam who has been setting local tuckshops on fire (not literally) with his fabulous ‘child friendly’ recipes which earned St John’s College a Tuckshop of the Year award. I loved Laurent’s energy and he is soooo passionate about good food and nutrition for children. In his demo he showed how a bag of chips at $2.75 equates to the same dollar value in fresh fruit. Of course it didn’t. Crushed stomped on chips filled two cups, where as the fruit filled 5 cups. I guess you had to be there to fully grasp what that means, but basically your dollar can go a lot further if you chose healthy options, the break down in price which Laurent so clearly demonstrated.

The highlight of the day however was Rachael Bermingham of ‘4 Ingredients’ fame, who delighted the crowd with her cook-off with MP Peter Wellington, a self confessed neophyte in the kitchen. It was a laugh a minute; Rachael is just gorgeous and had the crowd in stiches with her and Peter’s cooking antics. Councillors Jenny McKay and Paul Tatton also showed off their cooking skills making recipes from Rachael’s cook books using fresh locally grown strawberries. It was such great fun.

To finish off the day, Matilda Scarfe shared some South Africa culinary traditions as well as her Cape Malay Curry recipe from her latest cook book, ‘Cooking for Pleasure’ which I managed to sneak a taste of and it was delicious.
So to finish off my day I stocked up on herbal tea, the Cosmopolitan Cocktail Mix by Alchemy sodas (I was in desperate need of a ‘drink’), some olives by Olives Direct (got these really cool semi-dried chilli olives that went really well with the Cosmos) a huge punnet of strawberries and some local honey from the Beekeepers Club and I was set. Congratulations Nambour, it was great to be part of the Back to Nambour Festival and a big thanks to Sharon Stott for her help on the day and the festival committee for their amazing and tireless work in pulling together this great celebration of Nambour.

Rachael Bermingham and Peter Wellington cooking up a storm

This post was written by Petra Frieser – Local Harvest
To find out more about the Sunshine Coast’s regional growers and producers visit:
www.localharvest.com.au