Mamma Agata – Simple and Genuine

We are planning a trip to Italy in a year’s time, which is keeping Jo very busy as she surfs the net looking for as much information as she can find about the place, its culture and most importantly its food.  Whilst doing this she came across a site for a cooking school on the Amalfi Coast, which is one of the areas I have indicated I very much want to see and experience.  The cooking school, known as Mamma Agata’s is perched high up on the side of a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, it would be an experience just to visit the property it looks so beautiful.  She keeps nagging me, can we go, have you had look, nag nag nag, so eventually I went and had look at the site and some of the food they prepare there, and I have to agree with Jo it does look fantastic. 

Whilst looking around on the site I found they had released the third edition of a cook book titled “Mamma Agata – Simple and Genuine” and it was available from their web site.  I could not resist so ordered one there and then, it arrived a few days later personally autographed by Mamma and the family with the words “Cucinare con amore in Jack's cucina”, which translates to “Cook with love in Jack’s kitchen!”

I sat down and had a look through the recipes one night last week, then handed the book to Jo and had her pick out 3 recipes to make up a 3 course meal, as I handed her the book I told her I think you really only need to pick the main because I know what you will want for the other two courses, a little while later she gave me the three courses, the only surprise being her main course, Stuffed Squid, the entrée  and dessert as I had predicted were to be Sautéed Mussels and Clams and an Apple Tart, know her too well!

Sautéed Mussels and Clams

A very simple entrée, but oh so satisfying, mussels and clams sautéed in garlic and olive oil finished with a squeeze of lemon, very more-ish, served up with crusty garlic ciabbata YUM YUM

Stuffed Squid

Another very simple to prepare dish, packed full of flavour, finished in a tomato puree cooked up with the left over stuffing, beautiful fresh flavours, accompanied by a Mediterranean styled salad, so glad I brought too many squid, took the left over’s for lunch on Monday and had all the office looking on in envy as I devoured my lunch!

Mama Agata’s Apple Tart

If I never made this tart again, I can promise you I will certainly be using the pastry recipe again, unbelievably good!  But then so was the filling, I was feeling a little guilty putting this together, felt like I was cheating on my Mother and Grandma, as I have made their apple pie recipe so many times and I love it, always will, but I am going to have to find room for this recipe too, it is so amazing.

So we have celebrated a year to go until our holiday in true Italian style, with good food, really good food, made with love for the one I love, now there is just 364 days to go, can’t wait!

As you can see by the photo's Jo did a great job setting the scene for our evening, she also picked out an amazing bottle of wine for us to enjoy with our meal, an Autumn Red from one of our favourite Swan Valley wineries Windy Creek, a top drop from a top little winery!

Check out Mamma Agata's Cooking School web pages

Fillaudeau’s Cafe, Pinelli's Winery Caversham

Being such a beautiful day, Jo and I ventured over to the Swan Valley on Sunday to pick up a few stores and to have a bite to eat, our first stop being Pinelli Wines in Bennett St Caversham.

Pinelli's has been a long time favourite for us and we have been eagerly anticipating the opening of their new restaurant, so we were very pleased to find on arriving at the winery, that not had they finally opened the restaurant, but they were in full swing, with around 30 people seated for lunch when we arrived.

A bit of background history…

I met Daniel Pinelli in the late 1990’s when he came to work a summer at my workplace, whilst he was a uni student studying Mechanical Engineering.  Dan’s fellow student and mate Brett, had been assigned to work with me that summer as I travelled around various regions of Western Australia collecting road data.  Brett was the envy of all his mates that summer, he landed the best assignment and experience, as he not only travelled around the state, but was paid overtime each day as he did so.  On the days when we were not out in the field, Dan would come and see Brett in my office and practically begged me to arrange for him to accompany me on a field trip, with a little gentle persuasion of his manager, we managed to pull it off and Dan came away for a week on the road.  On our return, Dan rocked up at my house in Riverton with a box of fruit, vegetables and bottles of wine and port from the family business, which was my first experience with Pinelli wines.

Then a few years later, a mutual friend was invited to Dan’s wedding, he was marrying a girl Belinda, that just happened to work with us, when my friend told me of the invitation she had added that she would have to find someone to be her partner for the night, I put my hand up and so was fortunate enough to attend and enjoy watching and celebrating, Dan marrying the girl of his dreams.

Since that time, Dan has given away Mechanical Engineering, went back to uni to study viniculture, fathered two beautiful children and is now working with his brother Robert in the family business making fantastic wines.

Knowing the restaurant was getting close to opening, I popped in to see Belinda in her office a week or so ago, she confirmed they were close to opening, but would not commit to dates or anything like that, she just told me of the plans and the fact that they were looking forward to opening, though I think she was just a little bit nervous too.

Fillaudeau’s  

The restaurant, being run by a French-born Chef Manu Fillaudeau and his Perth born wife Jasmin, has been constructed from rammed earth, opens out to beautiful wide veranda’s, surrounded by the Pinelli vines and lush green lawns, it is a very relaxing setting, tastefully decorated with lots of natural timber furniture and flooring, it is a nice place to be.

We had had a late breakfast and thought we would be eating a little latter in the day, however after finding a nice outdoor table available and having a quick look at the menu, decided we would stay and ordered a shared seafood platter, consisting of a fish terrine, chilli mussels, garlic prawns, grilled squid and bread.  

We ordered a 2007 Family Reserve Chenin Blanc to enjoy with the meal, and enjoy we did, I have come to love the Chenin Blanc’s from the Swan Valley and this is amongst the best of them, if only I did not have to drive home!

The platter was absolutely YUM YUM, the only thing I was wanting was more bread, which I ordered eventually, so as to mop up the chilli sauce and the juices left behind after we had devoured the prawns and squid, the chilli sauce was unbelievably good, the bite of chilli was just enough to satisfy me without being over powering, I really regretted having to share the plate, I could easily have found room to polish it off by myself, very Moorish!

The atmosphere of the place was totally relaxing, the day was glorious sunshine with a gentle breeze blowing through the veranda, which helped intensify the experience, the other customers around us must have felt the same as no one seemed to be in a hurry to rush off, it was really lovely.

I did not want to go, and so asked to see the dessert menu, Jo quickly piped up and said she would not have dessert, then having seen Panacotta on the menu promptly ordered one, I ordered port poached pears and vanilla ice cream.  Both desserts were awesome, a perfect way to finish the meal, I think I could become addicted to pears poached in port.

When I spoke with Belinda, she had expressed a concern of how things might run and how long before they would have an efficiently running restaurant, well I can say given they were on their fourth day of having been opened, I was impressed, they are a young team and being so new, there were quite a few people wanting to say hello and discuss how things were going for them.  But I estimated that they had close to fifty through for lunch whilst we were there, and it was done without any noticeable anxiety, the staff were very pleasant, the food came out in reasonable time and piping hot, and oh so delicious, we will be back and soon, got my eye on some duck!

Dinner for three and a day in the bush

Last night Jo invited a work colleague to dinner, for which I prepared a three course meal, photographing each course in readiness for my blog, so I was most disappointed when I got to the bit where I take the card out of the camera as there was no card, therefore no photo’s for the blog, bugger!  I did manage to get a shot of dessert which was panettone custard pudding with cream.
For the entrée I flattened out pork medallions with a mallet then spread my roasted apple sauce over the top, roll them up and coated with egg and panko breadcrumbs.  It was a different entrée, strange probably in fact, the idea for it came as I ventured around IGA Cedric St and once I thought of it I had to try it out, it was very nice but think it would have been better as part of a main course than an entrée. For the main course I made chicken involtiini with the Wicked Step Mother’s Egg plant and Capsicum relish and feta cheese, wrapped in prosciutto.
This dish is quickly becoming my signature dish, Jo finds it orgasmic and I think our dinner guest felt much the same, the girls from Windy Creek Winery gave me the idea for the dish when I brought the relish, I took their idea and added my own touches and it is by far the tastiest meal this household has experienced, I am just so annoyed not to have photo’s as it looked amazing on the plate.

I went for a drive in the country today, all the way to Narrogin for a meeting, it took me a little over three hours to make the journey, this included stopping along the way to walk in the Glen Eagle Forrest as I took a few photo’s, so by the time I arrived in Narrogin I was well and truly ready for a nice cup of coffee and a quick bite before my meeting.

I happened across a small café, that did not look anything fantastic from the outside, but they had a sign out the front advertising a dinner service for Friday evening.  I ventured inside and ordered coffee, then notice an interesting Passionfruit and Butter cake, I placed my order and took a seat on a very comfortable leather couch, the coffee arrived about five minutes later and it was good coffee, it didn’t matter about the cake that much now as the coffee was so good.  A few minutes later the waitress arrived with my cake, and I was blown away with the presentation, it looked awesome, as it so happened I had my camera as I was reviewing the photo’s I had taken on my way down, so I could not resist but to take a shot of my cake.

I learnt later that the coffee shop is owned and run by a young married couple, whom had met on a walk trail somewhere in the USA, apparently they kept crossing paths along this walk and a relationship blossomed.  He is American, she is a Narrogin local, the chap has a passion for food and cooking and it was he who plated the cake, I was so impressed, I think I may have to arrange a weekend to Narrogin now so I can attend one of his dinner services, now that could be fun!

Braised Rabbit with Speck and Mushrooms

Having been out of the kitchen for a few days I was keen to get in and do something today, sitting around doing nothing has been so boring, and I was feeling pretty good today, still a little stiff but the pain was bearable.  Now 4 hours later I am wondering if maybe I went a little too hard, the back has gone into a bit of a spasm and is very uncomfortable, hopefully a good night’s sleep will fix that and I will be right in the morning.

I started out slowly really, knocking together some individual servings of Panettone Pudding, very easy dessert to put together that always goes down well here, these little beauties are basically a classier version of bread and butter pudding, and they’re very tasty and very more-ish!

For the main course tonight I went with a Manu Feidel’s recipe for Braised Rabbit with Speck and Mushrooms, from his cook book “Manu’s French Kitchen”.  I love cooking and eating rabbit and this recipe had lots of interest in that there are several steps to go through, where you are building flavours all the way to the table and the flavours on the plate were fantastic.  My son Michael, has told me a couple of times of a rabbit stew he likes to cook, that actually fulfils two course’s of a meal, firstly a soup from the juices the rabbit is stewed in and then the main course being the rabbit and vegetables.  On tasting the sauce in this dish, I thought that had there been a little more of the juices you could do the same with this dish, the juice or sauce was so full of flavour, I will confess, I had to lift the plate to my lips after I had finished the meat and veg tonight the sauce was that good.

Manu’s serving suggestion for the meal was to do a creamy mash potato or polenta and whilst I was tempted to go with his suggestion, I decided to use up some of the vegetables that may have otherwise been wasted if they were not used soon, so we enjoyed out rabbit with roasted Kipfler potatoes, sweet potatoes and baby carrots and some steamed Brussels sprouts, the perfect meal for a cold winter’s night!

One aspect of tonight's dish I loved was when I had too add brandy to the pot and then ignite it, I think seeing a brandy flame in a pot fills any cooks heart with joy, I know it did mine!

And how's this for a gourmet lunch tomorrow?

Dinner for two

 We have been quite busy on the weekends for the past few months, so when it appeared we had nothing planned for this weekend Jo asked that we leave it that way so we could just chill by ourselves and not have to worry about rushing off anywhere. 

It turned out to be a good call, as Jo had an enormous week at work and as she drops me to work, it meant we were both having very long days, thankfully for me I did not have to endure some of the stress that went with Jo’s job this week.

As we were spending the night at home did not mean it could not be a little bit special, so to spoil the girl just a wee bit, I prepared a three course meal for her dinner, a dinner for two!

On the menu tonight we had

Pumpkin Soup

Veal Rib Eye with Eggplant Salad, Creamy Mashed Potato
and a Red Wine Tomato Sauce

Crème Caramel, served with Villa Tinto Dessert Wine

Jo as usual did a beautiful job preparing the table, choosing a red on white theme, she says was inspired by the red shirt I was wearing whilst I prepared the meal.  The centre piece being a bouquet of red and white roses, which teamed very nicely with the little glass candles, she had placed at either end of the table.  Jo always manages to bring something from past special occasions to the table, on this occasion it was these candles which brought back wonderful memories of the wedding of our good friends Dennis and Tracey.

I think we are both hoping that the upcoming week is somewhat quieter, we have at least a long weekend to look forward too, which will in itself be a busy weekend, but for this weekend we have enjoyed some quality time together, shared a beautiful meal, not to mention some great wine.
So hopefully if it does become a bit hectic at work, we will be able to reflect back on some nice moments from our dinner for two, and that will helps us get through!

Pumpkin Soup

Veal Rib Eye with Eggplant Salad, Creamy Mashed Potato

and a Red Wine Tomato Sauce

Crème Caramel, served with Villa Tinto Dessert Wine