Wild Life Bakery

December 7, 2023

   

Michael is the primary connoisseur of bakeries in this house, typically picking up a loaf of sourdough after a morning run and sometimes a pastry treat as well. Wild Life Bakery has been one of his favourites over the past few years, and he went the extra step of delivering me a one-of-a-kind pastry while I was hidden away with COVID in the first week of December.

That was the week that Wild Life Bakery made a special suite of goods in collaboration with Melbourne Bushfood. I was treated to the vanilla slice: a thin, flaky, browned rye pastry spread with sweet and sour lilly pilly jam and filled with a thick, rich lemon myrtle custard. It was sublime, even at a time when my appetite was limited (though thankfully my taste buds were intact!). I ate it slowly for breakfast, with a huge cup of tea.

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Wild Life Bakery

90 Albert St, Brunswick East

8060 0547

https://shop.wildlifebakery.com/

Accessibility: Wild Life Bakery has a wide, flat entry and a low counter. Regular-height tables and backed chairs are medium-spaced but don't look very sturdy. Michael ordered and paid at a medium-height counter.

Banh Mi Nights

December 1, 2023

   

Michael noticed Banh Mi Nights when he was cycling down Sydney Rd looking for Good Days Hot Bread (it's across the street) and added it to his to-eat list. I grabbed us some takeaway lunch after an appointment nearby and, with only a couple of seats available, that's clearly what they're designed for. 

Banh Mi Nights has two veg*n options: mock duck and marinated tofu ($10 each), plus a small selection of sweet and drinks. While Good Days HB makes more-is-more banh mi (more variations, more garnishes and condiments, more cost), Banh Mi Nights sticks to the classics: white buns moderately filled with pickled carrot, cucumber, coriander, chunky red chilli on request and a flavoursome protein. It's the ideal light lunch. 

The staff checked whether I was strictly vegan before starting my order, so they're ready to get your dietary requirements right. Sadly I didn't have the set-up to transport Vietnamese iced coffees home, so we'll have to schedule a future visit with time for a close-by park picnic.

   

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Banh Mi Nights

647 Sydney Rd, Brunswick

menu

instagram page

Accessibility: There is a small lip on the door and a flat, spacious interior with just one table up against the wall. I ordered and paid at a low counter (pictured).

Latin baked tofu

November 27, 2023

   

I was all set to make us a dinner based around tofu chicharrones one Monday night, but had forgotten the crucial 'freeze and defrost the tofu' stage. This failure had an upside though, in prompting me to get out Viva Vegan and try something different from a book that we really love but seldom explore these days. I settled on this really simple Latin baked tofu, remembering how much we liked the other baked tofu recipes in the book.

This one is probably the simplest of the lot - a very simple marinade and 45 minutes or so of baking and you get a serve of chewy, tangy tofu, ready for whatever you have planned. We combined it with a serve of the silverbeet with raisins and capers recipe that we've made a bunch of times and popped everything in some tortillas. Perfect Monday night meal.

Latin baked tofu

(slightly adapted from Terry Hope Romero's Viva Vegan)

500g of firm tofu, sliced into ~1cm thick rectangles

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon tamari

marinade

1/2 cup white wine

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 tablespoon tamari

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon dried oregano

Preheat the oven to 200°C. 

Combine the olive oil and tamari in a baking tray (approx 30cm x 20cm, but whatever fits your tofu comfortably). Lay the tofu slices in the baking dish and press into the oil mixture, before flipping them over and repeating - you want them nicely coated. 

Bake the tofu for 20 minutes. 

Meanwhile, thoroughly combine all the marinade ingredients in a bowl. Flip the tofu rectangles and pour the marinade over the top, popping everything back in the over for another 25-30 minutes of baking. The marinade should thicken up or evaporate and the tofu should be firm and chewy. 

Serve, scooping out any leftover marinade for extra deliciousness.

Pasta shells with sweetcorn & green chilli

November 19, 2023

   

On a recent flick through One Pot, Pan, Planet this pasta recipe appealed to me for its warm-weather flavours: corn, basil, green chilli and ricotta. It uses one pot and one pan and, for the sake of the planet, I rounded up several ingredient quantities to suit how they're packaged locally.

There's a lot of washing and chopping involved, but not too much complication. My corn really didn't char as it was intended to, and I think I'll shift from our small-sized cast iron pan to our new-ish wok if I make this again. The basil leaves were gorgeous when dinner was served, but very bitter when I added them to leftovers, so I'll try picking them just one meal at a time.

With very little sauce involved and a dab of cool ricotta, this is a pasta dish that's almost as nice at room temperature as it is fresh and hot, so any leftovers can skip the microwave entirely.

Pasta shells with sweetcorn & green chilli

(slightly adapted from Anna Jones' One Pot, Pan, Planet) 

1 bunch silverbeet/chard, stalks and leaves separated and roughly chopped

2 green chillies, finely chopped

kernels from 3-4 corn cobs, or equivalent frozen kernels

500g packet small pasta shells

olive oil

salt and pepper

250g ricotta

zest and juice of 1 lemon

1 bunch basil, leaves picked

Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Chop the chard and chillies while you wait, and take the corn off the cob. (If you're using frozen corn, cover it with boiling water, then drain when thawed through.) When the water is ready, cook the pasta according to its directions.

While the pasta is cooking, set a frypan over medium heat and lightly cover the base with olive oil. Add the corn kernels and some salt and pepper, cooking until the kernels are tender and starting to brown (take them further than I did!).

Add the silverbeet stalks, cooking for a few minutes, then the silverbeet leaves and the chillies. Continue cooking and stirring regularly until the leaves have wilted.

When the pasta is ready, drain it but retain some of its water in a mug. In either the frypan or the pasta pot, stir the pasta and the corn-silverbeet mixture together. Stir in half the ricotta, and whatever amount of pasta water is needed to spread that ricotta across the pasta (very little, for me). Turn off the heat if you haven't already, and stir in the lemon zest and juice.

Spoon the pasta into bowls, garnishing with the basil leaves and remaining ricotta.

Eat Pierogi Make Love

November 18, 2023

   

One short week later, more pierogi! We noticed Eat Pierogi Make Love setting up shop on Lygon St as we were walking the neighbourhood and walked back for dinner very soon after. It's run by the Pierogi Pierogi team: I remember them best for their lockdown deliveries of frozen dumplings, but twitter also shows evidence that we've been following them around town for a decade.

Where Borsch, Vodka & Tears is dimly lit and cosy, EPML is bright and breezy with open windows onto the street and a courtyard out back. The food is colourful and veg-friendly (and the menu is well-marked for dietary requirements). Among the potato options, we chose and delighted in the gzik ($16, top right of photo): smashed potatoes fried to a crisp, topped generously with twarożek cheese then garnished with dill and pickled onions. We carved up the rainbow kalafior ($14, bottom right of photo), a baked head of cauliflower flavoured with the vegan house sauce and a Polish salsa. 

A plate of pierogi felt mandatory, so we ordered the kapusta pierogi ($22, centre left in the photo), which were stuffed with mushroom and sauerkraut, served on a thick beetroot-tinted sauce, and sprinkled with dill and teeny roasted carrot pieces. The ziemniak pierogi are likely to be a vegan favourite, stuffed with jalapeno, potato & vegan cheese, deep fried and garnished with vegan sour cream and dill. Meanwhile, I've got my eye on the cheesecake with red currant.

My one quibble is that in their commitment to vodka and beer, EPML neglected to list their non-alcoholic drinking options on the menu. This is particularly strange given that they make their own kompot from stewed and brewed Polish fruit.

As you can see in the photo below, Eat Pierogi Make Love has been enthusiastically attended in its opening weeks, and with food this fun and such a summer-friendly setting, I think we're all likely to return for more.

   

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Eat Pierogi Make Love

161 Lygon St, Brunswick East

0431 905 559

food for vodka; small plates, mains, pierogi & toppings; sides & desserts

instagram page

Accessibility: I think there is a flat entry with a shallow ramp (but will check next time I walk by!). Furniture inside is densely packed, a mixture of fixed booths and a high bar with backless stools; we didn't visit the outdoor courtyard or the toilets. We ordered and paid at the bar and received food to our table.

Borsch, Vodka & Tears IV

November 11, 2023 

   

We had a burst of fun visits to Polish restaurant Borsch, Vodka and Tears back in 2006-2007, our first year living in Melbourne, and it hasn't appeared on the blog since! This month we returned for dinner with my mum and her sister Carol, since it was an easy walk to the Astor. (We were there to see the 40th anniversary remaster of Stop Making Sense.)

A little, but not a lot, has changed at BV&T and why would it when they've carved out such a charming niche? The setting is cosy and a little folksy - I love their colourful, mismatched crockery. The menu runs to a dozen pages of alcohol, mostly vodka, with four pages of food tucked at the back (dietary requirements well marked). I figured out how we could best taste small portions of many things and everyone relished the sprawling spread.

The vegetarian Springtime Zakuski ($36) was our foundation: this platter served small samples of many roasted, marinated and pickled vegetables, croquettes and vegan meatballs, teeny blinis, plus a basket of breads, bagel and beetroot butter on the side. From there we added in a plate of Placki Potato Blintzes ($16, with sour cream and sauerkraut) and a dish of porcini & sauerkraut pierogi ($27.50). It was a feast of flavours, and we didn't really mind that we were out of time and stomach room for choc tops at the cinema.

   

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You can read about our one, two, three visits to BVT back in 2006-2007. Between then and now, it's generated positive reviews on blogs PIGGING OUT AROUND THE WORLD, Ichigo Shortcake, The Dodgy End, Sweet & Sour Fork, Eat Play Love Travel, and DANG IT WE LOVE FOOD.

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Borsch, Vodka & Tears

173 Chapel St, Windsor

9530 2694

menu: one, two

https://www.borschvodkaandtears.com/

Accessibility: There is one step up on entry and a narrow corridor through the restaurant. Tables are low, chairs have backs, and they're densely packed throughout the restaurant. It tends to be dimly lit and noisy. We didn't visit the toilets.

Oaty ginger crunch

November 10-11, 2023

   

One of Michael's running friends, Bayly, sent him home with a couple pieces of slice wrapped in foil and he kindly split them with me back at home. I'd never tasted anything quite like it! The base was dense and oaty, a bit like an ANZAC biscuit, while the twice-as-tall topping was sweet, fudgy and ginger flavoured. I think there were a few chopped pistachios sprinkled over it. This slice was ultra-buttery in the best possible way.

Bayly had explained to Michael that the slice is called Ginger Crunch, and it's well known across New Zealand. She gladly shared the version from Cloudy Kitchen she uses, and urged us to double the topping quantity. I obeyed when I gave it a go a few weeks later, timed specifically with a visit from my mum and her sister Carol.

The poor part of my timing was that I chose to make it late into an unusually hot night in Melbourne - I tried my best to stay patient but felt pretty flustered by the end. The topping is intended to be made in the last 5-10 minutes of the base baking but I took too long and the base over-browned (but didn't burn!) around the edges. Those edge pieces were pretty hard to bite into.

With all that extra topping, the quantity of slice was very large and I had to upsize on my baking dish. I should have upsized my baking paper (and possibly even double-lined the tray), because it was very difficult to detach from the pan. I stored the slice in the fridge but it was much easier to cut, and at its most perfect fudgy-buttery texture to eat, after a couple of hours at room temperature.

I sprinkled crystallised ginger over only half of the slice, because I wasn't sure how intensely gingery it would be. This was a good decision because Carol doesn't like 'bits', but I liked the textural contrast. A browse of Ginger Crunch online suggests that the rolled oats in the base aren't traditional either, but they're another welcome textural element for me.

With lots of butter and a dose of gluten, this recipe won't be for everyone, but I'll definitely make it again when there's occasion for it.

Oaty ginger crunch

(slightly adapted from a recipe at Cloudy Kitchen)

base

300g plain flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger

300g brown sugar

135g rolled oats

225g butter

90g golden syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla

topping

270g butter

250g golden syrup

4 tablespoons ground ginger

650g icing sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

crystallised ginger, chopped

Preheat an oven to 180°C. Line a 20cm x 30cm high-walled baking tray with baking paper, making sure there's plenty of overhang.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and ginger. Stir in the brown sugar and rolled oats until well combined. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt together the butter and golden syrup. Take it off the heat, stir in the vanilla, and then pour it all into the bowl of flour. Mix until well combined. Tip the mixture into the baking tray and spread it out until it's even. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until golden around the edges (I pushed mine a bit too far).

When there's 5-10 minutes to go on the base baking, start preparing the topping. Take the medium saucepan (no need to clean it) and set it back over medium heat. Melt together the butter and golden syrup. Whisk in the ginger. Sift in the icing sugar in batches and whisk it thoroughly to get rid of any lumps. Turn off the heat and stir in the vanilla. When the base is ready, pour over the topping and smooth it out. Sprinkle over the crystallised ginger and leave the slice at room temperature to set. 

You can store the slice in the fridge, but take it out for a couple of hours to soften before serving. It's challenging to cut when fridge cold!

Momo Central Brunswick

November 10, 2023

   

I've had my eye on Momo Central for a while - the Brunswick outlet is close to a couple of my healthcare providers, to the 'fancy' IGA, and to the former location of Samba's Jhol Momo. We met up there for dinner after work on a hot Friday evening when we couldn't face cooking. Though they have some beer on tap we were both glad for the non-alcoholic drinks selection, including a carbonated Himalayan lemonade with mint and black salt and a small mango lassi.

This bought us time to cool down and browse the menu in more detail. There were lots of dish names that I was unfamiliar with, but between a photo-menu of the highlights and some googling, I figured out our options. Chicken, beef, lamb and goat were common across the menu and there were often vegan altenatives. Gluten-free options were not clearly marked.

   

Of course, we had to have a decent shot at the momos, and agreed that the vegan momo platter ($28) was the best way to do that. All the momos seemed to have the same mostly-cabbage filling, but otherwise there were four variations: plain steamed, plain fried, steamed and topped with a fresh mix of onion, capsicum, tomato and chilli (which I think is called sadheko), fried and topped with hot sauce (which I think they call chilli). We enjoyed the filling and the spiciness, but the momo wrappers were not as tender or as crisp as we'd been hoping for. 

   

We were more impressed with our first experience of bara, a Nepalese style savoury lentil pancake ($12.50). We chose the version that included egg, and it arrived hot and aromatic just as we were dividing up our last couple of momos. It had a thin and crisp crust, a medium-dense, velvety interior, and a welcome spicy side sauce.

Staff at Momo Central Brunswick were friendly, and the atmosphere was casual and bright. Its varied menu of  slightly inconsistent dishes contrasts with the one-thing-done-well approach that Samba's Jhol Momo used to take. By coincidence, migrantmeals discussed Nepalese restaurants and momos today, and there's clearly more around for us to try. If there's one more thing in Momo Central's favour, it's their proximity to Luther's Sccops.

   

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Momo Central Brunswick

600 Sydney Rd, Brunswick

9193 1235

menu: one, two

facebook page

Accessibility: There is a step up at the door. Low tables and chairs with backs are densely packed inside, with a wide pathway through the middle. We ordered at the table and paid at a low counter. We didn't visit the toilets.

Crushed potatoes

November 3, 2023 

   

This is it! The final recipe that I resolved to cook from Six Seasons. We love potatoes and cubed roasted potatoes are on regular rotation in our kitchen, usually teamed with carrots, broccoli, and Quorn schnitzels. These crushed potatoes looked better, but I was skeptical about the extra work they'd require. I'm pleased to report that they're excellent and something we're likely to make again.

I think the key here it cutting the potatoes down to the size of a new potato, to ensure that they're tender within 30 minutes of baking. Then they just need a gentle smush with a fork and they go into a cast-iron pan of olive oil for browning and crunch, with a little garlic tossed in at the end.

We ate these potatoes alongside sausage rolls and Moroccan carrot salad (without the yoghurt). Since they're quite rich, I think they'd be even better with brighter, fresher platemates than pastry - a lemony green salad, or some braised tofu perhaps. It'll be a pleasure to test out a few different configurations.

Crushed potatoes

(slightly adapted from Six Seasons by Joshua McFadden & Martha Holmberg)

500g medium-starch potatoes

olive oil

2 cloves garlic

salt and pepper

Preheat an oven to 200°C. Lightly oil a baking tray. 

If the potatoes are large, chop them down to the size of new potatoes (halves or thirds for mine). Place them on the baking tray, sprinkle with salt and pepper and bake until tender, about 30 minutes.

Crush the potatoes with a fork so that they're closer to the shape of a thick patty. Pour about a 5mm depth of olive oil in a cast iron pan and heat it up. Add the potatoes one at a time - they should sizzle a bit. You may need to work in batches. When the potatoes are browned on the first side, flip them over. A minute before they're ready on the second side, crush some garlic into the pan and add more salt and pepper. Serve, hot and golden.

Gnocchi broccoli tray bake with lemon & cheese

 October 30, 2023

   

We wanted a really easy dinner for a school night and I googled around for a tray bake that would hit the spot. This Hetty recipe fit the bill perfectly - store bought gnocchi and some very basic trimmings, stirred together and popped in the oven. The recipe promises 10 minutes of prep and 20 minutes of cooking time and that's actually pretty spot on. The results are excellent too - especially if you get some decent gnocchi from the shops. The lemon, fennel and garlic keep things interesting - you could easily get away with skipping the pecorino for a vegan version of this. 

 

   

Gnocchi broccoli tray bake with lemon & cheese

(from this recipe by Hetty McKinnon on ABC Everyday)

1 large head of broccoli (about 500g)

1kg of packaged gnocchi

1 tablespoon fennel seeds

2 lemons, one thinly sliced and one cut into wedges

3 garlic cloves, minced

olive oil

leaves from a small bunch of parsley

50g pecorino, grated

salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 220°C.

Cut the broccoli into bite-sized florets, including the stem. 

In a large bowl, combine the broccoli, gnocchi, fennel seeds, garlic, sliced lemon and drizzle with a few tablespoons of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and stir everything together to make sure the flavours combine.

Spread the mixture out onto a couple of baking trays, trying to get everything into a flat layer. 

Roast for 20 minutes until the gnocchi has started to go golden and the lemon has caramelised. When it's done, stir through the parsley leaves and serve, topped with pecorino, a squeeze of lemon juice and a drizzle of olive oil.

Broad bean & pistachio pesto pasta

October 23, 2023 

   

If I'm going to get through my Six Seasons to-cook list any time soon, I knew I needed to tackle the broad bean dish while they're in season. Pesto pasta is in regular rotation here, but it's usually a faster version that involves a jar. I had the day off so I didn't mind taking the extra time to pod peas and blanch greens, and Michael pitched in with shopping and pesto-blending.

This recipe has a couple of techniques that I wouldn't otherwise think to try: briefly blanching basil to hold onto its vibrant green, and blanching garlic to soften its flavour. I liked both of these ideas, and they seemed to work well. Our pesto of broad beans, pistachios, basil and parmesan tasted bright and fresh and was a little chunkier than the jarred stuff. Our fettuccine was just fine and I imagine some fresh pasta would take this to another level again. Everything stayed green and gorgeous for lunches of leftovers.

Pesto invites adaptation, and I can imagine many other combinations of legume, green herbs and a nut working well. I'm not sure how often we'll repeat this dish as is, but it'll be a fun one to riff on.

Broad bean & pistachio pesto pasta

(slightly adapted from Six Seasons by Joshua McFadden & Martha Holmberg)

900g broad beans in their pods

1 1/2 cups basil leaves

4 cloves garlic

1 cup parsley

1/2 cup pistachios

salt and pepper

3/4 cup olive oil

1/2 teaspoon dried chilli flakes

500g fettuccine

1 1/2 cups grated parmesan

1 tablespoon butter

1/4 cup mint leaves

Set a large pot of water on the stove to boil. While that's heating up, remove the beans from their pods. Remove the basil leaves from their stems, and peel the garlic. Prepare a bowl of ice water.

When the water is boiling, blanch the beans for 30 seconds and then remove them from the water. Drop the basil leaves into the boiling water, remove them immediately and plunge them into the ice water. Drop 2 of the garlic cloves into the boiling water, blanch them for 1 minute, and then transfer them into the ice water with the basil. Discard the hot water.

Pull the basil and garlic out of the ice water and blot them dry on a clean tea towel. Peel the broad beans. Fill the large pot up with fresh water and bring it to the boil.

In a large food processor bowl, drop in half of the broad beans, the basil, blanched garlic, parsley, pistachios and some salt. Blend to a coarse puree. With a processor running, slowly pour in 1/2 cup olive oil.

When the water is boiling, cook the pasta according to its directions and then drain it. Heat 1/4 cup olive oil in the empty pasta pot and add the remaining garlic (minced or chopped) and the chilli flakes. Add in the pasta and a 1/2 to 1 cup of water. Stir in the butter, pesto, remaining broad beans and the parmesan. Serve, garnished with mint leaves.

Easy Vegan

October 15, 2023

   

A visit to IKEA is a good excuse for lunch in Richmond and we identified Easy Vegan as something new to us to try. It's a casual and comfortable family-run cafe serving Vietnamese-style dishes. Everything is obviously vegan, and the menu invites people with other dietary requirements to speak with the staff for extra info. There are almost three dozen dishes on offer, with most featuring mock meat but some sticking to tofu and vegetables.

   

We were served complimentary tea while we made some tough ordering decisions. Ultimately I went for the broken rice combo ($17) and a coconut drink ($7) and received a feast! The soup had the most deeply flavoured broth I recall tasting as a vegetarian. I was served lots of rice, pepper-crusted 'pork', a rich square of 'ham', fried 'egg', pickled carrot and daikon, fresh cucumber and tomato, and a generous bowl of dressing. Every bite was different, and every bite was a delight.

   

Michael chose the Beyond pho ($18), which featured more of that remarkable broth, Beyond brand mock meat, lots of noodles and all of the usual trimmings. He was so satisfied with this meal, he didn't even look toward my plate of fun for a taste.

Easy Vegan will be top of our dining list for all upcoming visits to Richmond, as there's so much more for us to try across their menu. It's conveniently just across the street from Minh Phat Supermarket, too! With a full and happy stomach, I kept my Minh Phat impulse buying in check this time - just a jar of kaya and a mock fish snuck home alongside a new wok.

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Easy Vegan

140 Victoria St, Richmond

0432 955 735

menu: one, two

facebook page

Accessibility: There is a small lip on the entry and a clear corridor through the centre of the restaurant. Furniture is solid, with low height tables and backed chairs. We ordered and paid at a low counter. We didn't visit the toilets.

Master Lanzhou Beef Noodle Bar II

October 14. 2023

   

It's time for another Lanzhou Noodle update! We made our first visit to the Chinatown outlet of Master Lanzhou Beef Noodle Bar between Wheeler Centre Spring Fling sessions with friends. We spent little time with the menu and went straight to our long-standing favourites from the other stores: a bowl of youpo noodles (~$15) and a cup of iced honey grapefruit tea (~$6) each.

Here are the differences we noticed between the Chinatown and Elizabeth St Noodle Bars:

• There's an option of paper menus and QR code-to-mobile phone-purchase, and we chose the latter.
• The upstairs seating at Chinatown is much more spacious and relaxed than any of the other bars we've visited.
• The kitchen is closed from view, so we miss the fun of witnessing the staff's expert noodle stretching.
• My noodles weren't quite as wide and consistent as I've previously encountered, but they arrived just as quickly.
• The toppings were a little sparser, especially the smoky chilli flakes.

Noodles and drinks have increased in price by a couple of dollars (inevitable in these economic times!) but these noodles are still solidly less than $20 and a firm CBD favourite for us. Time will tell whether we end up more loyal to the spicier, showier noodles of Elizabeth St or the relaxed atmosphere of Chinatown - I'll start a tally.

   

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You can also read about our visits to the now-closed Carlton outlet and the Elizabeth St Master Lanzhou.

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Master Lanzhou Beef Noodle Bar

244 Swanston St, Melbourne

9690 9998

youpo noodle ~$15
https://www.masterlanzhou.com.au/

Accessibility: Entry is flat and there is a clear corridor through the ground level, parting dense furniture. A second floor is accessed by stairs (we didn't notice a lift option) and has more spacious seating. We ordered and paid by phone at our table, and didn't visit the toilets.

Artichoke rolls

October 12, 2023

   

I'm predicting that this meal will be on repeat all summer! It's a simple, veg*n riff on the lobster rolls made across the north-east of the USA, contributed by Hetty Lui McKinnon to ABC Everyday. I've never tried or been particularly interested in eating lobster, but these lightly dressed artichoke hearts are right up my alley.

It's a recipe that's easy to shop for, fast to prepare, and just begging to be doubled. I ate my first roll for lunch, then went back to the supermarket in the afternoon for a second can of artichokes because I still had enough left over of all the other ingredients and I wanted to make sure that Michael could enjoy a couple of rolls too. My first batch of artichokes were a bit watery, so I was careful to squeeze some water out of the second batch and I've added that note to the recipe below.

McKinnon insists that the rolls should be toasted with margarine/butter. I went through the motions with my first one for the photo above (popping my roll under the grill instead of a frypan), expecting that I would skip the step with subsequent rolls. McKinnon is absolutely right - getting that bit of crispness and toastiness into an otherwise quite light and soft dish is worth the small extra effort. It's also a welcome bit of heat, given that the artichokes aren't cooked at all.

I feel compelled, then, to echo McKinnon's other suggestions. She reckons that you could mix some mashed chickpeas or dice avocado into the filling - both lovely ideas!

Artichoke rolls

(slightly adapted from a recipe by Hetty Lui McKinnon on ABC Everyday)

400g can artichoke hearts

1 stalk celery

1/2 cup mayonnaise (I tried Hellmann's vegan and like it a lot!)

1/4 cup dill, chopped

1-2 tablespoons chives, chopped

3/4 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

salt and pepper

4 soft long buns

2 tablespoons margarine

1 lemon, cut in wedges to serve

potato chips, to serve (I chose salt & vinegar)

Drain and rinse the artichoke hearts. Slice them into quarters and set them aside.

Finely dice the celery and drop it into a small-medium bowl. Add the mayonnaise, dill, chives, paprika, cayenne, garlic, salt and pepper. Stir everything together until well mixed. Gently squeeze any excess water out of the artichokes and add them to the mayonnaise mixture, folding them through until evenly coated but still holding together. 

Slice the buns lengthways in half and lightly spread the cut surfaces with margarine. Place the rolls cut-side-up under a grill until lightly toasted and smelling good. When they're ready, spoon the artichoke mixture onto the buns. Serve them with lemon wedges and potato chips on the side.

Cauliflower baked with currants, capers & pine nuts

October 5, 2023

   

I often have extra time to cook on Thursdays and I used this one to tick off another Six Seasons recipe. The original version involves soaking a cod for 12-24 hours and poaching it in milk, but I settled for a few capers sprinkled over the feature ingredient: cauliflower.

We have plenty of excellent baked cauliflower recipes already, but the cream/milk layer in this one is a bit different for us. We enjoyed the almost-cheesy flavour it added, but it seemed to interfere with getting the cauliflower properly tender and golden. Never mind! A topping of currants, capers, pine nuts and breadcrumbs added sweetness, nuttiness and extra crunch.

Since we weren't interested in the cod, I served the cauliflower alongside haloumi with roasted rhubarb and tomatoes. They made an excellent pair! I grilled the leftovers at home for subsequent lunches, but I would've been content also to eat them at room temperature if I'd been packing them for a work day.

   

Cauliflower baked with currants, capers & pine nuts

(adapted from a recipe in Six Seasons by Joshua McFadden and Martha Holmberg)

1/4 cup currants

1 head cauliflower, cut into florets

200mL sour cream (or heavy cream or crème fraîche)

1/2 cup milk or water

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon lemon zest

small handful parsley, roughly chopped

salt and pepper

1/4 cup capers

1/4 cup pine nuts

1/2 cup breadcrumbs 

Place the currants in a bowl and cover them with water, allowing them to soak for 30 minutes. Drain them.

Preheat an oven to 220°C. Place the cauliflower florets into a large, high-walled baking tray.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the sour cream and milk. Stir in the garlic, lemon zest and parsley, seasoning with salt and pepper. Pour the mixture across the cauliflower. Sprinkle over the currants, then the capers, then the pine nuts, then the breadcrumbs.

Bake until the cream is bubbling and the breadcrumbs have browned, 20-30 minutes.

New potato salad with soft-boiled eggs

September 17, 2023 

   

Due to the limited options near my workplace, I am rather fastidious about having food ready at home to pack for lunch. It was my motivation for shopping and preparing this salad on a Sunday morning, even though we had a big afternoon and dinner out planned.

It's a recipe from Six Seasons, a book that I'm strategically working through as the seasons permit. The new potatoes and sugar snap peas seemed right for spring, and the soft-boiled eggs promised the protein I'd need to call this a full meal. Otherwise I was pretty loose with the recipe and I suspect the lead author Josh McFadden was, too: his photograph showed cute little radish rounds that I couldn't see anywhere in the ingredients list. I liked the idea, though, and worked some sesame-soy pickled radishes into my version.

I took a lot of license with the other ingredients and proportions too: more potatoes, less lemon, no scallions, sardines, chilli flakes or mint (but a bit of leftover parsley). Perhaps it's barely the same recipe at all! At the very least, it preserves the trinity of potatoes, peas and eggs that I was originally attracted to.

McFadden recommends that soft-boiled eggs be eaten within 24 hours, so this four-serving size was just right for getting us through two meals before I moved onto other packed lunch plans.

New potato salad with soft-boiled eggs

(heavily adapted from a recipe in Six Seasons by Joshua McFadden and Martha Holmberg)

1/2 - 1 batch sesame-soy pickled radishes

~500g small new potatoes, scrubbed but not peeled

2-3 handfuls sugar snap peas, strings pulled off

zest and juice of 1 lemon

3 tablespoons parsley, roughly chopped

4 eggs, at room temperature

salt and pepper

Start with the radishes, slicing them up and getting them into their sugar-salt pickle mix.

Next, go for the potatoes. The aim is for large bite-sized chunks, so halve or third any potatoes that need it. Fill a large saucepan with water, add a generous dose of salt and the potatoes, and bring it all to the boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are tender but not falling apart, about 15 minutes.

While the potatoes are cooking, prepare the sugar snap peas, chopping any extra-large ones so that they're all on the generous end of bite-sized. Place them in a large bowl. Add the lemon juice and zest, parsley, and the potatoes when they're ready, stirring everything together. Add salt and pepper, to taste.

Time to soft-boil some eggs! Refill the saucepan with water and bring it to the boil. Gently lower in the eggs with a spoon, and boil them for 8 minutes. Get a bowl of ice water ready, and transfer the eggs into it when their time is up.

Finish off the radishes by squeezing off their pickling liquid and getting them dressed.

When the eggs are cool enough to handle, peel one for each person that's eating on the spot (I saved two eggs in their shells for our lunch the next day).

Scoop the potato-pea mixture into shallow bowls, add radish pickles and scrunched-up egg, and season with more salt and pepper to taste.

Potato salad with tamarind, coconut & cashews

September 3, 2023

   

Cindy picked this Meera Sodha recipe out for a friend's potluck picnic - it required just a few tweaks to tick everyone's dietary requirements (we cut the garlic and shallots out of the original), and it promised to be a full-flavoured variation on the bog standard picnic potato salad. I fumbled things a bit in the process - over-boiling my spuds, so the whole thing had less of a fancy potato salad vibe and more of a fancy mashed potato vibe. Luckily, it still tasted great - the curry leaves, tamarind, spices and coconut really elevating things and the cashews adding back some of the texture that I'd boiled away. I'll probably take another crack at this over this summer's picnic season, to see if I can come up with something more like the original photo. 

Potato salad with tamarind, coconut & cashews

(from this recipe on from Meera Sodha's Guardian column)

1kg baby new potatoes

3 tablespoons coconut oil

1 teaspoon black mustard seeds

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

10-15 fresh curry leaves

5 large shallots, peeled and sliced finely (we omitted these for FODMAP reasons)

3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed (and these)

1 tablespoon of minced ginger

2 green chillies, finely chopped

100g cashews

2-3 teaspoons tamarind paste

200ml coconut milk

salt to taste

Cut the spuds into bite-sized pieces (big ones I'd suggest, maybe just halved) and cook them in boiling water for about 10 minutes, until tender - I chopped mine quite small and so they were falling apart rather than tender by the time I rescued them from the pot. Drain them and put them aside to cool.

Heat the coconut oil in a large frying pan and add the mustard and cumin seeds along with the curry leaves. Once the seeds start to pop a bit, throw in the shallots and cook gently until they soften and start to brown - about 8 minutes. 

Add the garlic, ginger, chillies and cashews, and cook for a couple of minutes, stirring. Put the potatoes and salt in to the frying pan and cook on high for 5 minutes, turning the spuds once (you're trying to get them a bit crispy here, but mine were well and truly losing their structure at this point). 

Stir through the tamarind paste and coconut milk and cook for a few more minutes - the coconut milk is supposed to evaporate and leave everything with a kind of sticky glaze, but my spuds just drank it all up. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Fenton

August 27, 2023

   

Michael joined Tanaka Running Club a couple of months ago, which starts and finishes at Fenton on Rathdowne St. He said the menu looked pretty good, so we arranged for me to walk down (carrying a post-run jumper for him) for a Sunday brunch. Fenton's website shows their focus on sustainable Victorian produce and community contribution. The menu is majority vegetarian with a couple of vegan options marked (a spiced porridge and lunchtime salad), but less clarity for the gluten-free. There's many iterations of toast and eggs, with a couple of sweet options, with both typical and offbeat trimmings.

   

Michael often gravitates to a chilli scramble ($21), and this egg-based one was augmented with fermented chilli, pickled chilli, fried shallots and fresh herbs. Michael especially appreciated the acidic, pickley elements.

   

I looked beyond the Dutch Baby pancakes to the savoury French toast ($22), an excellent, not-too-eggy thick slice served with a generous wedge of avocado hidden by fresh kachumbari. This is pretty much my ideal savoury brunch food (raw onion notwithstanding!): a soft and carby base, something creamy, something fresh, in a medium-sized portion.

Service at Fenton was bright and capable. The menu has fairly typical pricing for a 2023 brunch, but the dishes had a little extra thought and quality than we usually encounter. We'll be back, for sure.

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Fenton

158 Rathdowne St, Carlton
9328 3401

menu

https://fenton-farmhouse.com/

Accessibility: Fenton has a flat entry and medium-to-densely packed tables and backed chairs, with a clear wide path to the counter. We ordered at our table and paid at a low counter. We didn't visit the toilets.

Black pepper tofu & eggplant

August 26, 2023

   

Cindy heard the See Also podcasters raving about this Smitten Kitchen twist on one of our favourite Ottolenghi dishes and was quick to pop it into our rotation. We've made the black pepper tofu for a bunch of special occasions, and this seemed like a less fiddly variant that incorporates a few more veggies without losing any of the punch that had us fall in love with the original version. 

It was exactly that - baking things first means that the eggplant is falling-apart-soft. Our tofu didn't really get crispy, but I think our baking trays got a bit crowded. It starts out looking like an astonishing amount of food, but everything shrinks down to a more appropriate, serves-4 kind of size. Cutting down on the pepper and fresh chilli and just adding a drizzle of chilli oil at the end is the perfect approach for our household, meaning each person can make their plate as intense as they want. Vegan version below - the original has butter instead of Nuttelex.

We served it straight up with rice, and a little bean stir-fry or something would still be a nice side to add, but it's pretty perfect on its own. I suspect we'll make this version a few more times before we go back to the original again!

Black pepper tofu & eggplant

(from this recipe on Smitten Kitchen)

500g firm tofu

1-2 eggplants (you want about 500g)

sunflower oil

1 tablespoon cornflour

4 tablespoons Nuttelex

1 medium red onion, sliced finely

5-6 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

1/2 cup tamari

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1-2 tablespoons ground black pepper

salt

chilli oil for serving

Preheat the oven to 220°C.  Cut the eggplant and tofu into rough 2cm cubes. 

Toss a tablespoon or two of oil with the eggplant cubes and a generous sprinkle of salt. Spread the eggplant on a baking tray or two with another drizzle of oil. Toss the tofu cubes with the cornflour and a bit more salt and spread those cubes out on the rest of your baking tray real estate (this was two very full baking trays for us, but all squeezed into one for Deb from Smitten Kitchen somehow). 

Roast for 20 minutes and then gently flip the tofu cubes and stir the eggplant around a bit before roasting for another 10 minutes. 

While everything is roasting, melt the Nuttelex in a large saucepan and gently cook the onion and garlic for 10 minutes or so, until it's beautiful and soft. Stir in the tamari, pepper and brown sugar and simmer for a few minutes. 

Stir the roasted eggplant and tofu back through the sauce and serve, over rice or breads or however you like!

One for the Crow II

August 26, 2023

   

I noticed that One for the Crow announced a new menu mid-winter, and we arranged to try it out with the Moody Noodles. The new menu is a fun mix of all-day breakfast, burgers, bowls and sandwiches, all vegan and with gluten-free options marked. 

Ordering the Lamb Open Bowl ($22) was a bit out of character for me, but I bet on a winner here! The mock lamb was well marinated and teamed with soft, sweet red onion. The accompanying Greek-style salad included a lovely, creamy fetta; I chose chips over quinoa, dipped them in the tzatziki, and folded whatever I could fit into the most pillowy-warm pita. It was a generous portion and it took me a long time to eat, but I relished every bite and let my friends have a few chips too.

   

Michael chose the more classic brunch dish of baked beans ($18) and added sausages and tempeh bacon ($5 each). The green garnishes of dill and salsa verde had the beans looking extra vibrant, and Michael gave them a tick for taste too.

There's plenty more on the menu that I'd love to try, but I'll be just as tempted to revisit that fabulous mock lamb.

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You can read about our first visit to One for the Crow here.

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One for the Crow 

9 Commercial St, Maidstone 

9080 1806 

food, drinks 

facebook page 

Accessibility: There is a small step on entry. Tables are regular height, chairs have backs, and they're quite densely arranged with a very wide pathway through the middle of the café. We ordered and paid at a high counter, and didn't visit the toilets.

Green miso bean soup

 August 18, 2023

   

One of my colleagues was eating this for lunch at work one day and I hassled her immediately for the recipe. She forwarded me a scrappy text version, but it turns out that it originates at Vegan Dinner Feed on Instagram, so jump over there if you want a sassy video version instead of our early 2000s blogspot approach. 

It's a super easy weeknight dinner that's loaded up with veggies and white beans and has some lovely creaminess from the blended cashews and great savoury flavours from the miso and nooch. The yoghurt/tahini topping is a must too, for a bit of acidity. Once you've stemmed your kale and chopped up your leeks and garlic, the whole thing comes together in no time. We served it with buttery bread, but I reckon it would be great with quinoa or rice too. 

Green miso bean soup

(from this recipe by Sophie Waplington from Soph's Plant Kitchen)

1 small bunch of kale, stems removed

1/2 cup of soaked cashews

2 tablespoons nooch

2-3 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons white miso paste

6 garlic cloves, minced

juice of 1 lemon

2 leeks, chopped finely

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground cumin

3 tins of butterbeans (including the liquid they come in)

salt and pepper

tahini yoghurt

2-3 tablespoons yoghurt

1 tablespoon tahini

juice of half a lemon

salt

Blanch the kale leaves for a minute or two and quickly run them under cold water. Blend them up with the cashews, nooch, 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, miso, half the garlic and the lemon juice. You can add a bit of water here to loosen things up if your blender isn't hitting the mark.

Heat the rest of the olive oil in a big pot and gently fry the leeks for about 10 minutes, with a big shake of salt. You want them to soften and caramelise a bit.

Add in the rest of the minced garlic and the cumin and coriander and continue to fry gently for a few minutes, before stirring in the beans and their liquid. Once that's all combined, stir the blended green mix in as well. Simmer gently for a few minutes while you stir your tahini yoghurt ingredients together. Season with salt and pepper and then serve, with a slice of buttered bread and a bit dollop of yoghurt mix on top. 

Bar Magnolia

August 17, 2023

   

We've known 295 Sydney Rd primarily as the spot that housed Maddox, and still hold dim memories of Empire Cafe Gallery before that. We didn't ever make it to Pogo for a sandwich before it was replaced by Bar Magnolia. Michael had his eye on the bar menu for a couple of months, but it took some complimentary instagram stories from Lidija before I paid proper attention. I booked us a table to stretch out those holiday vibes into our first working week back.

   

Magnolia has a seasonally shifting menu of share-friendly food with a decent proportion of well-marked vegetarian and vegan dishes. We ordered most of them, starting with Akimbo Bakery sourdough with whipped butter ($4 each).

   

I'm always up for artichokes when someone else is preparing them, and we liked these roasted artichoke hearts à la barigoule (i.e. braised in white wine, with vegetables, $12). Michael was excited for baby leeks ($20), served here as Poireaux vinaigrette (i.e. poached with a tarragon vinaigrette) and topped with smoked almonds.

   

The surprise star of our meal was probably the beetroot pavé ($24), myriad super-thin layers of golden beetroot compressed into a loaf slice, served with pear to bring out the sweetness and uplifted with horseradish.

   

Our most substantive savoury dish was a rich, flaky Jerusalem artichoke and chestnut tarte Tatin ($28), served with a salad of watercress, endive, cara cara orange and hazelnuts ($14).

   

I talked Michael out of ordering pommes frites in the name of dessert, and he had the appetite for us to order both sweets on offer: a perfectly portioned and caramelised crème brûlée ($12), and a prune and Armagnac clafoutis with crème épaisse ($18).

An abundant meal of French-style food is rare for veg*ns, so this was fun to try. The setting feels grown-up and special, but it's not so stuffy that it won't serve fries. We'll definitely keep it in mind when we're feeling fancy, now that our beloved Theodore's has closed.

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Bar Magnolia

295 Sydney Rd, Brunswick

a la carte menu, dessert, including cheese

https://www.barmagnolia.com.au/

Accessibility: Tables are closely packed but efforts have been made, including ramps replacing steps and a large unisex toilet with handrails. We ordered and paid at our table.

Sydney 2023

August 10-12, 2023

   

We had a strategic stop in Sydney on our way home from Brisbane - everything was timed perfectly for us to see The Weekend at Belvoir St Theatre (which is based on a novel I enjoyed very much). We haven't been to Sydney since 2019, and there's lots of old and new veg*n eating to enjoy, but this time around we stuck to venues that were convenient to our other activities.

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As if being present for The Weekend's short season wasn't good luck enough, our long-time food-blogging friend Gill had tickets for the same night! She recommended that we meet up for dinner at Flyover Fritterie before the show. At that early hour, we had the top floor of this contemporary vegetarian Indian restaurant to ourselves, although the ground floor looked full by the time we left.

Full marks to Flyover for offering six mocktails on their drinks list. Gill had their signature Thandaai ($10, right-most drink in the photo below right), a soy milk seasoned with almonds, watermelon seeds, rose, fennel, and chia seeds. Wary of the heat of the food to come, I ordered a passionfruit lassi with coconut yoghurt ($14, front-left drink in the photo below right), and Michael went for the house soda, flavoured with tamarind and raspberry ($9, back-left drink in the photo below right). 

To eat, there were fritters galore. The corn bhel puri ($20, photo below left) was a fresh and crunchy table favourite, with the coconut lime daal khichri ($24, photo above) coming a close second. Flyover also make fancy jaffles!

   

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Breakfasts were had a short walk from our accommodation, at Reuben Hills. It's a past favourite of Michael's and doesn't seem to have changed a whole lot. It's got an industrial look, emphasis on coffee, and an all-day menu that marks its veg*n and gluten-free options clearly.

We fell into typical roles: Michael went egg-heavy with soft-baked ones in spicy ranchero sauce ($23, pictured above left, with kale and goats curd), then scrambled ones ($22.50, pictured below left, with onion, chives and smashed avo). I scanned the sweet side of the menu, relishing the ricotta pancakes ($25, pictured above right, with raspberry and rhubarb compote, mascarpone, candied pecans and maple syrup) and downsizing to banana and walnut bread ($8.80, pictured below right) on our second visit. 

   

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We've been out of the loop on Shannon Martinez's ventures over the past few years - we've not properly visited Smith & Daughters since it moved (although we've stopped by the Deli to pick up sandwiches) and not crossed town for Lona Misa. Lona Misa sits within an Ovolo hotel, and so does Alibi in Sydney. The white cane felt out of step with Martinez's typically goth-punk vibes, but a few familiar items on the menu assured us we were in the right place.

   

With The Twin still front of mind, we ordered the focaccia starter ($12, front of photo above left), which was on the small side; we couldn't really taste the promised black garlic but the confit tomato and wakame-sprinkled ricotta were present and accounted for. We can always depend on Martinez for incredible croquettes ($18, back of photo above left), and these ones were flavoured with padron and (vegan) parmesan.

Michael was keen to revisit the cacio e pepe ($25, front of photo above right) and this was a well-seasoned, creamy portion. We balanced it out with charred broccolini ($16, back of photo above right) served with pickled radicchio, roasted hazelnuts, orange and aged balsamic vinaigrette. For dessert, it was always going to be quince filled doughnuts ($15, photo below). 

Alibi was a bit more formal and finicky than we usually expect from Martinez, but it was a special way to spend the last night of our interstate holiday.

   

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Between meals, we were busy! Not just with the theatre, but with three art exhibitions and an Aboriginal harbour heritage tour. (We passed the site of now-closed Bodhi several times, and remarked longingly upon it each time - the weather and our schedule would have been perfect for outdoor yum cha.) The veg*n wonders of King St will have to wait 'til next time.