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Meaty Goodness!

Meat Review – Naked Lady Vineyard

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Living in a tiny town like Rylstone it is very much the case that there is only a finite amount of places to go out to eat.  For great Mexican there is always Pepino’s and for a decent burger there is The Globe.  However there are not many other venues, let alone secluded little café’s the romance the object of your affections.

This Valentines Day I did something that I don’t usually do.  Being a relatively blokey Hobby Farmer I tend to stick to only 3 drinks in my life: coffee, water and beer.  Wine does not come up on my radar except for something I sometimes I have to drink a glass of at weddings.  There is red that gives me a headache, and white that I find bearable.  There is the extend of my grand knowledge of crushed grapes.  So I don’t generally do Wineries.

So this Valentines’ Day I stepped out of my comfort zone and took my wife to one of the few other places to eat around here – Naked Lady Vineyard.

First off, – misleading name for the place.  Upon arrival, unlike Confest, there were no naked ladies.  Not a one!  No nubile wenches bereft of clothing lying around on a chaise’lounge or splashing about in fountains.  It was in fact a lovely little winery a few minutes outside of Rylstone with a big barnlike structure in the center.  So whilst there were no naked women, at least it meant I could look about in a relaxed fashion without my wife saying ‘Are you staring at that woman’s breasts?!’

Wine tasting was $5.  For that you get to taste 5 or so different wines on the menu, and if you buy a bottle that $5 is taken off the price.  My wife quite enjoyed doing this and I did try a glass myself, even if only I could go for the cheap laugh of sniffing it, swilling it around in my mouth and then looking for a bucket to spit it into.

My wife ended up purchasing two wines.  I tried the white which was very nice.  The red (according to her) was nice too.  And… um… it was wine?  Phew!  Pushed my wine knowledge to the hilt with that one!

What goes well with wine?  Cheese apparently.  What goes well with cheese?  MEAT!  Though to be fair meat goes well with everything (I always thought Vegans might be happier if they wrapped their soy burgers in a bit of bacon).  And much like Bootleggers, you could order a platter for two that had multiple cheeses and at least four kind of meat.

Classed as an Antipasto Platter (I’ve always been pro-pasto but that’s just me) this platter came with spicy chorizo, huge slices of cured ham, prosciutto and salami slices.  It came with a variety of cheeses with varying bite, as well as pickles, chutneys, olives, strawberries, crackers and freshly baked bread goods.

Despite having swapped to beer at this point (they had 3 standard varieties) all of this did go very well hand in hand with the wines on offer.  Indeed my wife and I quite happily grazed on the platter for nearly an hour as we chatted, drank, enjoyed the peaceful surrounds and the rare treat of each other’s company without our kids in tow.

 

So if you are a meat enthusiast, cheese enthusiast, wine enthusiast or even just want to have somewhere different to go to your usual pub or restaurant, I highly recommend Naked Lady Vineyard.  And who knows, buy your partner enough bottles of vino and you might get to see a naked lady after all 😉

 

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Meat Review: Bootleggers Platter for Two

Meat Review: Pepino’s Mexican Restaurant

Meat Review: Southern Style Chicken Burger

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meaty Goodness!

Burger Review #7: Southern Style Chicken Burger

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Yea-haw! Fried chicken! Get me some grits, a banjo and a bottle of moonshine and I’m in hog heavan, boy-howdy!

I love fried chicken. But so few places serve it these days because it is so unhealthy. You can get crumbed chicken anywhere, but not it’s fried friend. You can always go to a KFC I guess, but whereas it was my favourite food as a teenager I can’t stand the oily filth that it is has degenerated into over the decades.

So I was pretty chuffed when I took the family out for a relaxing lunch on a surprisingly mild winters day to The Globe Hotel in Rylstone and saw on their lunch menu Southern Style Chicken Burger.

This was a good sized burger with a very big chicken breast inside. And with burgers, like with all facets of life, the bigger the breast the better! This one certainly added to the height of the burger considerably.

There was a bit much slaw on the bottom for my liking but it really wasn’t too much and between it and the crispiness of the chicken it meant this burger had a lot of crunch value.

There was quite a bit of bacon popped in to the burger, and although it was quite fatty it was still pretty nice. There was your requisite tomato and onion, some cheese the menu didn’t mention, but it was the ‘special sauce’ that was the real stand out – for both good and ill – of the condiments.

It was hard to pin down what the special sauce actually was. Something like a sweetened ranch dressing but with a little bit of spice thrown in to give it a kick. While it was really nice and added some much needed moisture to what would otherwise be a dry burger, it was it’s distribution that let it down. On one side of the burger there was hardly any, leaving you wanting more. On the other side of the burger there was way too much, so much so you couldn’t taste anything else. In the middle it was perfect. Obviously whoever made the burger squirted it on top of the chicken without regard for evenness, which really detracted around the outer edges from what was otherwise a damn tasty feed.

So if you find yourself at The Globe and see it on the menu, I heartily recommend you give this burger a try. At $16 it’s not particularly cheap, but given its size and the amount of chips that come with it you will definitely leave full. Just hope they get that sauce distribution right.

 

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Burger Review #6: The E-I-E-I-O Burger

Burger Review #5:  The BAB Burger

Meat Review: Rump & Ribs in Rylstone

Meaty Goodness!

Meat Recipe #10 – Duck Egg & Venison Chorizo Omelette

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Like many great recipies, this one came about by accident.  I had forgotten to defrost a brisket and there were no other obvious meals in the house so I gathered up what I could find in order to feed the family.  The result was surprisingly good!

So without further ado, here is now to make a family sized Duck Egg & Venison Chorizo Omelette.

 

Ingredients:

*7 Large Duck Eggs

*300gm Venison Chorizo

*Handful of Mushrooms

*Handful of grated Tasty Cheese

*Handful of fresh Coriander

*1 Red Capsicum

*2 Shallots

*Some freshly picked Rosemary

*Salt & Pepper

*3 Teaspoons of olive oil

 

Preparation

*Chop the mushrooms, capsicum, shallots and chorizo and place into a bowl

*Chop the coriander

*Beat the eggs and mix in some salt and pepper

*Preheat the oven to 250

*Heat the oil to a high temperature in a frypan

 

Method

*Fry the mushrooms, capsicum, shallots and chorizo in the pan until the juices from the chorizo run.  Set aside.

*Throw in the rosemary until it sizzles and starts to curl.

*Lower the heat, then put in the eggs.  Immediately add all the other ingredients. Briefly mix.

*Remove from the stovetop just as the eggs thicken and pour the mixture into a shallow baking dish.  Place in the oven for 10 minutes or until it starts to brown.

*Remove from oven. Serve.

 

 

And that’s it!  An unlikely combination of ingredients which nonetheless adds up to a delicious meal that all your family will enjoy!

 

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Meat Recipe #6 – Chimichangas

Meat Recipe #7 – Tunnbrödsrulle

Meaty Goodness!

Meat Recipe #6 – Chimichangas: the easy, healthy and family friendly way

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Ah, Chimichangas – the favorite food of Deadpool.  What a chimichanga consists of is essentially an American version of a Mexican recipe.  As in you take a Mexican burrito and then, in that all too common American fashion, you deep fry the hell outta it!

 

Now that sounds like it’s right up the alley of yours truly, and that it is!  But you read the title – healthy and family friendly.  What’s that you say – ‘You bloody sell out Trev!’? Well the problem of being part of a family is  I never used to get to cook chimichangas as they were too unhealthy for my wife and too spicy for my kids.  So the recipe I’m going to share with you today is the less spicy and healthy (well – not healthy per se – healthier than usual would be more accurate) way to make them.  Plus my version is a lot less hassle!

It’s Chimichanga time!

Ingredients

*1 x Old El Paso burrito kit – low fat version

(should contain 8 small tortillas, cooking seasoning and salsa)

*500gms of extra-lean beef mince.

*1 x 400gm can of Mexican style beans

(these already have the garlic and mild Mexican spices you need in them so don’t drain the can)

*1 x onion

*½ a red capsicum

*½ a green capsicum

*½ a cup of rice

*½ a lettuce

*2 cups of water

*1 cup of grated cheese

*Sour cream

*2 liters of rice bran oil

(has a very high smoke point and makes for low-calorie absorption, making it perfect for healthier deep frying)

 

Cooking Instructions

Step 1: Prepare your ingredients.  Slice the capsicum and dice the onion.  Put a small amount of the oil in a frying pan and the rest into your deep fryer.  Put the deep fryer on a low heat.  Shred lettuce.  Boil 1 cup of water for rice.

Step 2: Lightly fry mince until pinkness recedes.  Add capsicum, onion, beans, cooking seasoning and 1 cup of water.  Simmer over a low heat, stirring occasionally.

Step 3: Put rice on to boil.  Take shredded lettuce and put down a layer on each plate.  Nuke tortillas.  Turn up deep fryer to high.

Step 4: Spoon mince mix into tortillas.  Roll tortillas up and hold closed with a toothpick.

Step 5: One at a time, deep fry the burritos for about 2 minutes apiece.

Step 6: Take rice off boil and drain.  Put chimichangas on top of lettuce.  Top with cheese, salsa and sour cream.  Add rice to sides of chimichangas.

 

And there you have it, about the healthiest version of a chimichanga you are likely to ever have! If you want the proper version then you can always throw in some jalapenos, cumin and garlic and replace the Mexican-style beans with refried ones.  Enjoy!

 

Got a different Chimichanga recipe?  Would love to read it in the comments section below!

Random Reviews

Tourist Spot Review – Cheeseworld

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Multiverse theory states that if it is possible for a world to exist then somewhere it must exist. That there are many parallel universes to our own, consisting of worlds different than that on which we live.

Consider Cheeseworld – a world comprised entirely of cheese.  What would we find there?  Would the moon indeed be made of cheese?  Would the Earth be made out of a Hard Dry Jack for the various cheese creatures to walk and graze upon.  Imagine if you will herds of majestic Goat and Yak cheeses grazing under the Peppercon cheddar trees by a flowing river of Runny Blue.

Would the people there have the different nationalities that we have?  Would there be the Swiss Cheese people?  Would the American Cheese people be policing the rest of Cheeseworld?  Would the Regal Blend which is headed by the Red Windsor stand proud in the nation of Aged English Cheddar?

Would people worship the great Gouda in the sky?

 

I set out in search of the mythical Cheeseworld, the entrance to which was rumored to be found at the end of the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia.  My thoughts chased themselves in circles and my hands visibly shook at the idea of finding an inter-dimensional portal through which I may enter this world of cheese and explore a strange and alien new land.

Instead I found a tourist stop in Allansford consisting of a café, cheese shop and little museum.

Worst. Interdimensional Portal. Ever.

No cheese people.  Not even people dressed up as cheese characters!  No Tommy Nooka from the Mighty Boosh with his cheese head or Montgomery Jack from Rescue Rangers.  The walls are made of brick instead of brie.  I come to the sad conclusion that this will not be a grand adventure into the unknown but decide to make the best of it.

 

Cheeseworld consists of a café, which has distinctly average food (though the Cheeseworld Cheeseburger is excellent – read the review HERE).  Next to this is a little shop area which has one isle of cheese related products such as cheese boards and cheese slicers but the rest is made up of the usual touristy crap they sell people from overseas on coach tours.  Behind this is the proper cheese area.  There is a tasting bar with 5 types of cheese on offer and a fridge along the back row with quite a decent selection of cheeses to choose from.  My wife stopped my purchasing of the Buffalo’s Milk Cheese but I did get away with purchasing some Wild Wasabi Cheese which has a real bite and goes well with beer.  We also picked up some of the Warrnambool Heritage Creamy Colby that had been damn nice from the tasting area as well as Lochard Camembert.  They also sold a lot of foods that go well with cheese such as kabana, various German sausages and of course wine.

 

Behind Cheeseworld is the Cheese Museum.  Some of the equipment showed how they made cheese in the days of yesteryear while a lot of the other stuff was just the same as I have out behind my shed – old farming tools they had salvaged and put up on the wall.

How the cavemen used to make cheese

 

So is Cheeseworld worth visiting?

Look, it aint great.  The café is pretty crap and for a place called Cheeseworld you would expect something… well… more cheesy (but in a good way).  Most vineyards put on a better show and I don’t know of any that call themselves Wineworld.  But if you are driving along the Great Ocean Road or, like us, having a little holiday in close-by Warrnambool then it’s a distraction for half an hour.