Happy Chinese New Year of the Dragon!

Chinese New Year starts on January 23, 2012 and it is the year of the Water Dragon.

If you were born in 1904, 1916, 1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000 or  2012 then you are born under the sign of the dragon.

The dragon is the only mythical creature in the Chinese zodiac and famous ``dragons’’ include Al Pacino, Bruce Lee, Calista Flockhart, Courtney Cox, Diana Krall, Fats Domino, Sigmund Freud, Gregory Peck, James Garner, Joan of Arc, John Lennon, Keanu Reeves, Liam Neeson, Martin Sheen, Mary Louise Parker, Matt Dillon, Nicolas Cage, Raquel Welch, Raul Julia, Reese Witherspoon, Ricardo Arjona, Russell Crowe, Salvador Dalí, Sandra Bullock, and Shirley Temple

According to the ancient annals no one compares to the Dragons when it comes to breathing fire.

They are showy, popular party animals who are full of life and enthusiasm. Never content to sit on the sidelines, Dragons are movers and shakers.

They make good talk-show hosts, artists, diplomats, priests and politicians. Invite a dragon to a party, but make sure you have a fire extinguisher handy!

Season’s Greetings from awokonthewildside.com

Wishing everyone Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind and a large piece of cake!

Have a wonderful Christmas and joyous New Year.

Please visit awokonthewildside.com for recipes, foodie news, book reviews and more!

Bon Appetit!

Conversations with ……………

 Guy Mirabella, chef and author of Hungry: Food from my heart.

 I was so impressed by Guy Mirabella when he presented his latest book, Hungry, at Books for Cooks in Fitzroy, that I drove to his café, ShopAteCafeandStore, at Mt Eliza to have lunch and chat with him.

Guy cooks from the heart and makes decisions from the heart.

``It seems cold to make decisions using my head rather than my heart and my heart has never let me down,’’ he said.

``I am an emotional person, I cook with love and I love the creativity of designing a menu and feeding my friends and customers.

``My menu changes with every season and often I get ideas in the same morning about what I will cook for that day.’’

After spending 25 years as a book designer, he opened the café 10 years ago.

Although he had always wanted to be a chef, he took the path of book designing first, mainly to please his parents, who wanted him to have a more conventional job.

``When I won my award for a book design that I did, I thought, right, now I can fulfil my dream of opening a café and doing what I really love,’’ he said, tears welling in his eyes.

So ShopAteCafeandStore was born, a stylish and friendly café that is an obvious favourite with the locals who were there in droves on the Saturday afternoon I visited.

His whole family is involved, with sister Rosa making some desserts and pastas and his mum Pina making her famous Italian doughnuts every Saturday.

There is al fresco dining on the pavement, an open kitchen, delectable fare in the display cabinets and a bookshelf with the books he wrote and designed.

Many of the recipes in Hungry are available at the café, such as the ricotta hotcakes with strawberries, yoghurt and maple syrup and the Sicilian style baked beans.

Born on the Mornington Peninsula, Guy and his siblings were taken to Sicily for six months by their parents when he was 13. to acquaint them with their heritage, and the trip left its indelible stamp on him.

``The way of life there, the food and the people made such an impact on me.

``I was struck by the land, its colours, how some of the people were dirt-poor, but still so happy,’’ he said.

On their last day there it snowed in the mountains and that day has always stayed in his memory.

Even today when he makes his napoli sauce it reminds him of the way his Auntie Rosa made it, with all the flavours of the earth, ripe tomatoes and the sun.

Hungry captures Guy’s spirit and creativity.

Interspersed with his favourite recipes are anecdotes, such as his trip to Sicily, the first time he saw a movie and when he set eyes on the Mona Lisa at the Louvre, all written from the heart.

Try the recipe for Double Trouble ice cream spiked with vodka and chilli in the recipe section of awokonthewildside.com

Then go to the café, meet Guy, have a meal and enjoy yourself.

 Buon appetito!

The details:

ShopAteCafeandStore

Shop 8/87 The Tower, Mt Eliza Way

Mt Eliza

Vic 3930

Tel 03 9787 0288

Hours: 8.15am to 4pm, Monday to Saturday (Business Hours).

Licensed

Hungry

Food from my heart by Guy Mirabella

Published by Plum

RRP $50

Available at ShopAte, Books for Cooks and book shops.

Royal Melbourne Show

Saturday, 24 September to Tuesday, 4 October 2011

At the Royal Melbourne Showgrounds,Epsom Rd, Ascot Vale

For Show information phone 1300 65 65 97

For tickets phone Ticketek on 13 28 49

This year there are even more reasons to attend Victoria’s largest annual community event, the Royal Melbourne Show.

• There is plenty of new  attractions  and  entertainment,  thousands  of animals and  even  more  free interactive activities and displays for everyone to enjoy and discover.
  
• Conducted by the Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria (RASV), the Royal Melbourne Show is Victoria’s largest and most iconic annual community event that brings the very best of the country to the city.
• This year’s Show has an abundance of great entertainment, fun interactive educational activities, plus animals and agriculture, horticulture, art and craft, food and wine, carnival rides, show bags and spectacular fireworks, just to mention a few.

Enjoy the Royal Melbourne Show!

Visit www.royalshow.com.au for more information.

Pet the baby animals at the Royal Melbourne Show.

Spring into spring at Taste of Melbourne 2011.

THIS year’s later date for Taste of Melbourne 2011 means the event will have a definite spring flavour in the menus of all the stunning restaurants taking part.

Included are such luminaries as St Katherine’s, Stokehouse, Sarti, The Millswyn, Mahjong Black, The European, The Kitchen Cat, Mezzo & Mr Bianco, Libertine & Le Traiteur and The Botanical, plus a few forthcoming surprises.

Cocktails will be a highlight this year as The Stokehouse, The Millswyn and Longrain shake, stir and muddle their way through cocktails from the classic to the modern.

The European teams up with City Wine Shop to present the best of oysters and bubbles, while the experts from Sensology - The Art of Cocktail Making teach how to make everyone’s all-time favourite!

There will be plenty of cooking demos, recipes and The Chef’s Table hosted by Australian Gourmet Traveller.

Meet and greet your favourite chefs and find out the secrets of their success.

Crowns, the official currency at Taste of Melbourne are used to purchase dishes from restaurants and drinks from bars.

1 Crown = $1 and dishes are priced between 8-12 Crowns.

Visitors can also use Crowns to buy exhibitor goodies, eliminating the need for carrying cash.

Crowns can be purchased in advance or on the day from the Taste Banks located around the event.

Save time queuing, go online at www.tasteofmelbourne.com.au and pre-purchase tickets and special offers

WHAT: Taste of Melbourne – Melbourne’s Ultimate Tasting Menu

WHEN: Thursday 15 September - Sunday 18 September 2011

WHERE: Royal Exhibition Building, Carlton Gardens, Nicholson St, Carlton

Advance Tickets start from $25.00 

Session Time                        Afternoon Session    Evening Session

Thursday 15 September                -                           5.30pm – 9.30pm

Friday 16 September            Noon – 4pm                 5.30pm – 9.30pm

Saturday 17 September      Noon – 4pm                 5.30pm – 9.30pm

Sunday 18 September         Noon – 5pm   

See you at Taste of Melbourne!

www.tasteofmelbourne.com.au


§ § § § § § §


Restaurant review

Lunch at St Katherine’s with culinary royalty.  

Restaurant: St Katherine’s

Where: 26 Cotham Rd, Kew, Victoria 3101

Phone: (03) 9207 7477

Email: admin@stkatherines.com.au

Web: www.stkatherines.com.au

Hours: every day from noon until late

Parking: Fenton Avenue nearby.

ST Katherine’s in Kew lived up to our highest expectations.

The brainchild of uber chefs George Calombaris and Shane Delia, the restaurant opened to high acclaim just weeks ago.

My lunch companion (known in some circles as culinary royalty!) and I stepped into a stylish dining room abuzz with happy diners eating their Turkish style corn on the cob, duck spring rolls, pides and more.

As Shane explained, St Katherine’s style is the sharing menu, showcasing modern Greek, Turkish and Middle Eastern cultures and food.

There is a custom made Turkish grill, wood fired oven and St Kat’s Upstairs, a 100-seat multi purpose room that can become your own private dining room.

Poached olives, pickled vegetables ($7.50) and bagilla ($8.50), crushed fava beans with marjoram and chilli, were excellent starters.

Waiter Parv was friendly and knowledgeable, explaining unfamiliar ingredients, where necessary.

The duck spring rolls ($15.50) was a clever take on the Asian variety.

Filled with shredded duck and bathed in a honey and cumin sauce, it had definite Middle Eastern flavours.

 The prawns on toast ($12.90), all crisp with sesame seeds coating a succulent prawn mix, was another winner.

See Shane’s recipe if you want to try this at home.

Shankliesh leaves dressed with hazelnuts and pomegranate seeds provided refreshing flavours.

The menu is a collaboration of chef-owners George, Shane and head chef Paul Dunlop.

Diners help themselves to cutlery from their tables and eat from plates created by Shane’s mother and mother-in-law.

From the wood-fired oven we sampled two pides or boat-shaped Turkish pizzas, one filled with a scrumptious mix of charred chicken, sumac, chickpeas and feta ($15) and the other with peppered figs, mint, ricotta and haloumi, which we found rather sweet.

We enjoyed the offerings from the Turkish grill, including the smoky king prawns with robust Aleppo pepper, the chargrilled swordfish fillets and Adana or lamb kebabs ($22.50).

Or you could choose Maltese pork sausages, barbecued quails or sticky pork belly.

Desserts are a blast from the past with old school Mr Whippy-type ice creams ($14.90), but with inspired toppings such as crushed baklava and cinnamon or chocolate, rosewater and Turkish delight.

Or opt for the watermelon and pine nut salad with delectable mint jelly and arak syrup.

I’ll just have to make a return visit for the Katherine’s fried chicken (KFC) and the ``disgusting dessert’’ inspired by favourite chocolate bars.

St Katherine’s is highly recommended for its innovative cuisine, welcoming ambience and reasonable prices.

Now try Shane’s recipe.

Prawns on Toast

Ingredients

500g green prawns, shelled and deveined
5g peeled ginger
1 clove garlic
½ red chilli
½ shallot
½ kaffir lime leaf, remove central vein
4 coriander roots
1 tsp salt flakes
2 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
100g sesame seeds
8 slices white bread

oil for deep frying

Method

Process all ingredients, except bread and sesame seeds, to a coarse paste in a food processor.

Cut crusts off bread, cut into 3 even rectangles.

Spread prawn mix evenly over the bread on one side only.

Dip prawn side in sesame seeds, and deep fry until golden brown

Drain well and serve with a salad of mint leaves, coriander and spring onion, dressed with ginger syrup

Ginger Syrup

Ingredients

2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp finely grated ginger
4 tbsp lemon juice
½ cup caster sugar
1 finely chopped chili (deseeded)

Method

In a pot, place the ginger, lemon juice and sugar and bring to the boil.

When sugar is dissolved, remove from heat.

When cool, add in soy and chili and mix well.

Conversations with ………..

Shane Delia of Maha, The Press Club, Hellenic Republic, PM 24 and now St Katherine’s in Kew.

I managed to pin down chef and entrepreneur Shane Delia for a quick interview at his basement restaurant Maha in Melbourne, in between his cheffing duties and frantic preparations for the opening of his and business partner George Calombaris’s new restaurant St Katherine’s in Kew.

Somehow Shane also managed to fit in a cooking demonstration with his mum Doris on the television program The Circle that same morning, promoting Mother’s Day.

``I think for two little fat wog boys from Melbourne, George and I have done pretty well and we’ve been blessed with everything that we’ve taken on board,’’ the irrepressible Shane said.

Of course all that success is the result of lots of hard work and Shane admits to being very ambitious and very focussed once he sets his goals.

``I come from a family of good cooks and never considered doing anything else in my life.

``My grandfather was an amazing cook and baker and there are four generations of bakers in my family, although I am the first one to cook professionally. My grandfather used to breed his own rabbits, grew vegetables in his backyard and cooked his own preserves,’’ he said.

``As a family we get together every Sunday and there are at least 50 people so I’m always surrounded by lots of food.

Born in Melbourne, Shane comes from a Maltese background and is married to Maha, whom the restaurant is named after.

He tries to spend as much time as possible with daughter Jayda, whose name is proudly tattooed on his right forearm.

He counts himself fortunate that he has a wonderful relationship with his business partners, including famous French chef Philippe Mouchel of PM 24.

``And we have great staff in the kitchens and front of house, who are more like an extended family,’’ he said.

Shane and George are not only business partners, but also good friends, who met as apprentices at The Sofitel in Melbourne.

``We always dreamed of opening our own place and what we have achieved so far has been beyond our wildest dreams,’’ he enthused.

St Katherine’s, in the family-focussed suburb of Kew, is the largest of the restaurants in their group. It is named after the patron saint of Shane’s family and also the church George was baptised in.

Apprentices George Calombaris and Shane Delia. Photo by Doris Delia.

The cuisine style there can be loosely termed as Ottoman, encompassing a contemporary sharing style menu, with modern Greek, Turkish and Middle Eastern influences.

``The food is affordable, showcasing honest flavours cooked with passion and soul,’’ Shane said.

For example there is the four-course banquet meal at $58 per person which guarantees that no one goes home hungry.

Check out the seven metre long charcoal grill and two metre long rotisserie.

Other options include a private dining room upstairs, an open kitchen and much more.

Check this website for a review on St Katherine’s soon.

St Katherine’s

26 Cotham Rd, Kew
Tel +61 (3) 9207 7477

Open every day for lunch, dinner and in between for snacks and drinks.

www.stkatherines.com.au

STOP PRESS!        

Electrolux Appetite for Excellence

Are you a young chef, restaurateur or waiter?

Applications are now open for the Electrolux Appetite for Excellence Awards for the young chef, young restaurateur and young waiter of the year.

Applications close on May 1, 2011 and can be downloaded by visiting appetiteforexcellence.com.au

Founded in 2005 by renowned chef Luke Mangan and Lucy Allon, the Young Chef Awards aimed to help nurture, inspire and encourage Australia’s hottest culinary talents.

Many leading Australian chefs, including Tetsuya Wakuda, Guy Grossi, Neil Perry and Peter Doyle, have been judges for Appetite for Excellence.

The Young Waiter and Young Restaurateur Awards were soon added.

``The Appetite for Excellence Awards provides opportunities for talented young professionals, to assist them in achieving their ultimate career goals,’’ Luke said.

This year Perth-born Michelin star chef Shane Osborn from Pied a Terre, London, will be returning to Australia as guest of honour for the Electrolux Appetite for Excellence awards.

Other judges include culinary greats such as Simon Denton co owner of Verge and Izakaya Den in Melbourne; Mark Best (Marque, Sydney) and associate judge Warren Turnbull (Assiette, District Dining, Sydney.

Who will be the next generation of Australian chefs, waiters and restaurateurs?

If you think you qualify, why not apply now?

Electrolux Appetite for Excellence is where both industry and food lovers alike can share their passions, a place where recipes are shared, opinions are discussed and producers open their doors.

Join me in supporting, developing and inspiring Australia’s young and   emerging talent.

www.appetiteforexcellence.com.au

Executive chef of Circa Jake Nicolson was a winner of the Appetite for Excellence Young Chef category in 2008..