Category: Australia


Jan
2015

Drunk Food – The Meat Pie Floater

categories: Adelaide, Australia, Meat Pie, Soup
Meat Pie Floater

I guess each culture has a food they like to eat when drunk.  The Brits for instance love a curry when they are five sheets to the wind.  Closer to home, we in Melbourne like nothing better than a kebab or its Greek cousin, the souvlaki.  Ahhhh….greasy meaty goodness wrapped in pita bread…deeelicious  whatever you call it.  There was also a spate, back in the 1990’s of mobile hot dog vendors but they were a passing fad.  Nothing beats the 3:00am drunken kebab.  Not in this town anyway.

So ubiquitous is the post pub/club kebab run that I assumed it was a national pass-time.  Oh, so wrong.  A few years ago I ventured across the border into South Australian territory for a wedding.  Post-wedding we ventured into the casino and post-casino we ran into one of the weirdest instances of drunk food I have ever seen.  Which of course, in celebration of the month of crazy and Australia Day (January 26th) I am going to replicate here.  We’ll return to that in a moment.

But first, Adelaide. It’s a weird place.  City of Churches and bizarre serial killings.  And before anyone from South Australia gets their knicks in a knot.  It is true. Dexter said so.

And…the very second I typed Adelaide and serial killers, the little app that I have that tells me about related content brought up an article on a body found in a wheelie bin.  You can fool some of the people some of the time South Australia but the internet will not be fooled.  I on the other hand….did I say I lived in Melbourne?  I meant Sydney.  Or Perth.  Yeah, Perth.  It’s even further away and in the opposite direction.  Yep, I definitely live in Perth.  Just in case you are thinking about crossing any boundaries with your serial killer ways, take a leaf from the Village People and Go West.

Meat PieBut I digress, we’re here to talk about food.  Australian food  to boot. The picture above shows one of the classic legendary Australian dishes.  The Meat Pie.  Second possibly only to the Vegemite Sandwich as THE Australian dish.

We love to eat our meat pies with a bit of….and now here’s some Aussie slang for you….a bit of  “dead horse”.  And no, not in that ooky, literal European way.  “Dead horse” is Australian rhyming slang for tomato sauce.  That would be ketchup to my American friends.

And in Melbourne Perth this is how we eat our pies. Just as pies.  With ketchup.  Lovehearts optional.

Meat Pie With Sauce
Meat Pie With Sauce

And, if we have soup…lets just say a rather hearty pea and ham soup.  We have it like this.  Just soup.  Maybe with some crusty bread. Or a crouton.

Pea And Ham Soup
Pea And Chorizo Soup

Let us now return to the street outside the Adelaide casino at 3:00am.

The BF had gone over to the van to get us each a kebab. He came back empty handed and shaking his head.  “It’s not kebabs.  It’s pies and soup.”

“Ewww…who wants soup at this time of night.  But I’ll have a pie. ”

“No, it’s not pies and soup.  It’s pies IN soup”

I honestly did not believe him.  Until I wandered over to take a look.

And sure enough….pies in pea soup…..

This is drunk food in Adelaide.  Seriously.  Loveheart optional.

And if you don’t believe me, here’s some independent confirmation.

Meat Pie Floater
Meat Pie Floater

I told you they were freaky over there.

I would love to tell you that I tried this and despite all my Victorian West Australian prejudices it was awesome.

Meat Pie Floater jpg
Meat Pie Floater jpg

Except it wasn’t.

It wasn’t as repulsive as I thought it would be.  But it was definitely a whole that was a lot less than the sum of its parts. And nowhere near as good as a kebab.

Maybe you need to be drunk to enjoy it.

If you want to try this delight for yourself, you can find a recipe for a Beef and Shiraz Pie here.  I have used this recipe before and it is a beauty, however I just bought the ones I used for this.  I made the soup though and it was really good.  I subbed in chorizo for the more traditional ham and it made the soup super tasty! Recipe below.

I am looking forward to a long weekend celebrating Australia Day. Just not with a meat pie floater….

Have a great week where ever you are!!!  I would also love to know what constitutes drunk food in your neck o’ the woods.  Drop me a comment….

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Pea and Chorizo Soup

Pea And Chorizo Soup
Print Recipe

A delicious hearty take on a pea and ham soup – a classic winter warmer

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 3 chorizo sausages, removed from their casing and diced
  • 2 carrots, peeled, diced
  • 2 sticks of celery, peeled, diced
  • 1 onion chopped finely
  • 2 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
  • 300g green split peas
  • 2litres cold water
  • Salt and Pepper

To Serve

  • Warm bread rolls or a meat pie and sauce

Instructions

  1. Rinse the split peas under cold running water until the water runs clear. Drain.
  2. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the chorizo and cook until the meat is browned. Add the carrots, celery, onions and garlic and cook, stirring occaisionally, until the onions are softened.
  3. Add the split peas and water. Bring to the boil over high heat.
  4. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer, covered for about an hour or until the split peas are cooked.
  5. Allow to cool slightly then process the mixture to your desired level of “chunkyness” either using a stick blender or by processing small batches of the mix in a blender.
  6. Season with salt & pepper.
  7. Serve with warm bread rolls if you are normal or with a pie and sauce floating in the centre if you are not.

Notes

  • I like my soup fairly chunky so I usually only put about a third of it in the blender.

 


Oct
2012

Retro Food For Modern Times: The Floral Foraged Feast

categories: Edible Flowers, Foraging, Melbourne, Salad, Something New

What we’re going to do right here is go back, way back, back into time…

Today we are leaving behind those heady patchouli scented days of the ’70’s to take a step back to some really retro food and talk about my experience as a food forager! Food foraging has been around for as long as people have been around and basically involves making lots of deliciousness out of stuff that is growing wild around you…well, that’s my definition…if you want to get more technical, try google!   When most people think about foraging, they probably imagine it being done in the country however urban foraging is becoming increasingly popular.

Part of my birthday resolutions this year was to do something new each month –  which is why a few Sundays ago, I found myself sipping a Cleavers smoothie with a group of strangers.  I was taking part in an Edible Weeds Walk run by Very Edible Gardens (www.VeryEdibleGardens.com).  The smoothie was really good and set the tone for what was a very pleasant and informative few hours.  During that time we were taught to identify a number of so-called weeds and learned how these could be used both as medicine and as food.

The setting was amazing, an urban farm, virtually under the domes of the Russian Orthodox Church in Brunswick. And  a glorious day to boot….one of the first real signs that Spring was on its way.

It was also just a short stroll away from the CERES environmental park and the Merri Creek Bike Track.

Mind, you, the setting did have some drawbacks, on my way back to my car, I was quite happily strolling along, enjoying the lovely view, the sunshine and my solitude, when I came across this sign, and suddenly the fact that I was alone in this large  parkland became a little bit frightening!

However, I made it home safely and was able to use my new-found knowledge to make this lovely floral foraged salad!  For my salad I used:

Angled Onion – stalks and flowers:

There are literally thousands of these plants growing by our local creek and whilst I had previously noticed the strong smell of onions around them, I had no idea they were edible. They have an onion flavour, much like chives.

Wild Brassica – leaves and flowers:

This too is prolific in my local area. The leaves taste like supercharged cabbage It can give you that nose tickle you get when you eat mustard.  The flowers are much milder and added some colour to the salad.

Nasturtium – leaves and flowers

These were growing in my garden but the flowers are pretty and added some colour.  The leaves have a peppery flavour.  Since then, I have seen nasturtiums growing in the wild so this wasn’t too cheaty!

Dandelion leaves. 

These are quite bitter.  Adam,  our guide on the walk, said that even if you do not like these the first time you have them, to persevere with them as the taste really does grow on you.  Also, the bitterness is very cleansing.  I didn’t mind them in my salad but I was light handed, not only due to Adam’s caution but also because the park I was foraging in had just been mown and the leaves were not that easy to come by! 

Along with these foraged ingredients, to make my salad, I added some lettuce and some avocado, some thinly sliced radish and a few cherry tomatoes.  I also made a very simple lemon and oil dressing as I really wanted to be able to taste the different leaves and flowers.  Here are the ingredients:

This was a very tasty salad which, I will definitely be making again.  I think I was right to err on the side of caution with the dandelion leaves.  I chopped these up quite finely so whilst there was a slight underlying bitterness in some bites it was certainly not unpleasant and added a depth to the salad.  How pretty and fresh does this look?  I also took advantage of one of first really warm days and ate this outside….Voila!

The foraging itself was great fun, I really enjoyed walking through the park and identifying and choosing the weeds for my salad.  There is also something incredibly gratifying about picking and eating your own produce, whether you have grown it or foraged it.  In fact, foraging is a little bit more fun because it feels like you’re doing something a little bit naughty!

But really, cooking with things I have grown (or foraged) makes me feel connected to the earth and the environment in a way that shop brought produce can never do. Who knew I was such a hippy?  And now for my inner risk manager – if this post inspires you to commence your own adventures in foraging, I would really suggest doing a group exercise like I did – not all plants are good for you and many can actually cause you harm.  Having advice from a knowledgeable person like Adam could be the difference between a totally fun and enriching experience and one that leaves you very ill indeed!

Sorry Oscar, none left for you!

Adam, who lead our walk, has also written a  fab book:

This can be purchased at the following

http://www.eatthatweed.com/edible-weeds-book/

There are a number of other books and other resources on foraging you could use as well.  Here is a link to an article from Gourmet Traveller but most libraries and book shops will have something on the topic plus there is an abundance of info on the internet.

http://gourmettraveller.com.au/how-to-forage.html

I will be experimenting with more foraged finds over the next few months. I would like to try a cooked option next.  I don’t think the ngled onions will be in season much longer so before they disappear I’m thinking a stir fry with some of the wild brassica, some  chilli, ginger and garlic may be in order.  This would be delicious as a side dish or tossed through some noodles as a lovely vegetarian main meal.

In the meantime if you make something lovely out of  foraged foods, please let me know and….enjoy!