Dov Cafe + the Urban Food Safari, Potts Point

I've never really gotten into Sydney's CRAVE food festival. In fact until a few years ago I didn't even know that it existed. I thought the Night Noodle Markets in Hyde Park were just a "thing" that happened every year for my eating pleasure. And now I know about the event I've found a lot of the CRAVE events quite pricey - other than the free events like Parramatta Lanes that is.

One event caught my eye this year though - the Urban Food Safari which offered a visit to some of Potts Points urban edible gardens. The event was being organised by Tim Petersen from Cafe Dov in Potts Point and my balcony gardening hero, Indira Naidoo. And even better is that most of the proceeds of our tour went to the Wayside Chapel.

The tour began at Cafe Dov, which seemed fortuitous as I've wanted to go there for brunch since well, since forever! I was a regular at their old location in Darlinghurst but hadn't been for brunch in their new Potts Point Digs.

I meet up with fellow tour goers and twitter friends @foodsasmedicine (Gabi) and @thefrenchwench (Sandra) - and our brunch kicks off with a glass of bubbles (a gal could get used to this at brunch) followed by coffees all round.

My brunch buddy Gabi orders a lovely looking lentil + beetroot salad with apple, goats cheese and walnut praline ($12.50 for a small plate).  It looks so fresh and hearty...something I'm keen to try on my next visit.  This time I was swayed by the slow braised lamb with beetroot, mint, roasted potatoes ($16.00).  This was a rich and warming dish with strong flavour of the lamb offset by the freshness of the zesty beetroot.

The French Wench sticks to her Frenchy roots and orders a big bowl of Kinkawooka mussels in white wine and garlic broth ($18 for a large bowl).  We all take advantage of her side plate of crusty bread - which is perfect for sopping up the juices of my lamb dish.

I know I sound a bit fan girl when I talk about Indira, but without her blog +  book - I'd still be sitting on my butt looking at a stark, ugly and inedible balcony. She inspired me to take an interest in something that was achievable, attainable, interesting, challenging + fun. I feel like my balcony garden has opened up a whole new world of interest and learning - which is a wonderful way to feel after sitting in an office job for 18 years wondering what it was all about. I finally have a hobby that I LOVE (besides food blogging and eating of course).

The first thing I notice about Indira’s balcony (apart from the KILLER VIEW) is that it’s really pretty small – much smaller than I thought actually. This makes the fact that last she harvested 70kgs of food from the space last year even more impressive. It just goes to show you can grow food anywhere...from a window sill to a small inner-city balcony.

I also noticed that Indira’s balcony was so well PLANNED. Everything seemed to have a home – unlike my garden where I just keep adding stuff. So much stuff in fact that it’s almost impossible to get out to our clothes line. I’ve tended to add things higgledy-piggledy and the pots +  plants just keep growing. Indira has managed to fit a HUGE Curryleaf Tree onto her tiny balcony – impressive considering I can hardly fit a bucket on mine these days.

After the tour of Indira's balcony our little group heads over to the Wayside Chapel to check out their AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING rooftop garden. This garden is an inspiration...a truly beautiful urban green space!

Our group is the 2nd to arrive so we have about an hour to explore and chat to the garden workers here. The rooftop is like a garden wonderland - so much to see, touch smell. So much to learn (if only my brain was bigger to retain all this new information). What's been done with what is essentially a boring old city rooftop is really outstanding and aspirational and just goes to show (again) that everyone can create a little bit of edible green in their world.

Photo on the left from Indira at Saucy Onion

I've become a bit obsessed with bees lately.  Since my zucchini growing escapades I fully understand that we NEED bees to pollinate our plants, I mean I can't be out there with a paintbrush each morning helping the zucchinis have sex! So I was VERY excited to get up close and personal with some of the bees in the Wayside hive. They are fascinating to watch and so important to our food security too. The beekeeper here was VERY knowledgeable and happily answered all our buzzy-bee questions.

The Wayside Chapel also have quite a few worm farms on their rooftop. I'd love have a worm farm on my balcony but a) I don't have any room left and b) it's just a bit hot for them on our north facing balcony.  It just seems like such a good way to dispose of kitchen scraps and reduce our landfill at the same time. And the output...worm wee is GREAT for gardens.

After our hour or so on the Wayside Chapel rooftop we collect our bounty of fresh fruit + veggies and head back to the Dov garden for a feast!

The kitchen crew at Dov whip up some pretty impressive treats for our edible garden afternoon tea. My favourite is probably a lovely fluffy white-bread sandwich of edible greens.  So simple yet so flavoursome and the greens are just so crunchy and so fresh!! I'm also pretty fond of the lemon cupcakes - the recipe is from Indira's book - that are sprinkled with candied lemons from Indira's balcony.

Photo in the middle from Indira at Saucy Onion

This was a WONDERFUL afternoon. I learnt so much and met so many like minded people. I really enjoyed the community spirit around the communtiy gardens in Potts Point and would love for a like-minded community to develop in my suburb.  One day.

And I even (briefly) got to meet Claudia Karvan who is an ambassador for the Wayside Chapel AND the lucky owner of FOUR beehives! Jealous.

Photos on the right from Indira at Saucy Onion.
Top right: Claudia Karvan, Tim Petersen (Cafe Dov) and Indira Naidoo.
Bottom right: our big happy tour group on the Wayside rooftop.

Cafe Dove is at 130 Victoria Street, Potts Point. Phone them on 9368 0600.

Balcony Garden: Green Villages Talk

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to score a seat at the freebie gardening talk that the City of Sydney's "Green Villages" was holding at the Botanical Gardens. And even better than a free gardening talk is the that my balcony gardening HERO, Indira Naidoo, was one of the presenters. Squee *fan girl moment*.

Indira writes the blog Saucy Onion where she writes about gardening on her 13th floor balcony in Potts Point. Her garden is AMAZING - last year she harvested 70kgs of produce off her tiny twenty meter square balcony. And before she began gardening on her balcony she was a newbie gardener...just like me!

She's also the author of The Edible Balcony - an interesting and fun guide on how to get your own little patch of green urban paradise happening on your balcony. I've found this book INVALUABLE in getting my own garden happening...and it even provides recipes to give struggling cooks like me ideas of just what to do with ALL THAT LETTUCE that just keeps growing.

Indira was such a engaging speaker - I think everyone in the room fell in love with her as she shared funny anecdotes about her gardening efforts.  The worms in her worm-farm as referred to as her pets (that's city living folks - any living creature is a "pet" when you're not allowed to have a dog), stories are told about troublesome eggplants and jatz crackers are shared topped with her lovely basil pesto (basil direct from the garden thank you very much).

I took away some good tips from the talk:

• put your pots on a movable support/base, so you can move your plants around as you need to (too sunny/shady - just wheel your plants to another spot)
• if your pots are directly on the ground it's worth putting them on a piece of wood to stop the soil heating up from the bottom
• use pots made of light material - you don't want you balcony to collapse under the massive weight of pots + soil
• you can pretty much grow anything in a pot - you just need to try
• when you edibles start to flower (like chives for example) it's best to leave the flowers to attract bees (though some flowers like chives go nicely in a salad)
• bees are YOUR FRIEND! There are plants, such a zucchinis, that require bees in order to pollinate the fruit.
• it's important that you "feed" your soil with something like Seasol. Soil is a living thing full of micro-organisms that are essential for healthy plant growth.
• because your potting mix/soil has these micro-organisms make sure you wear gloves (and don't breathe it in) 
• you can "maybe" reuse your soil once (possibly twice if you're a stooge like me) however growing plants in the soil/potting mix depletes all the micro-organisms. Pretty soon your soil is just "dead". 
• so, if you can afford to start each new plant off with new (organic) potting mix
• the "dead" dirt can just go into your green waste recycling bin
•  because space is limited in your balcony once a plant is done fruiting for the season (like tomatoes for example) rip it out and plant something new.

We also had a chat from the Foundation + Friends of the Botanic Gardens who spoke to us about the botanical gardens and other stuff like "seed saving" which you can only do from Heirloom produce (so saving seeds from the plants you grow).  They also very kindly gave each person at the talk a seeding to take home - I was lucky enough to be given Thyme AND Rosemary...hopefully this rosemary will last the distance this time.

The last speaker was another gardening blogger (and permaculturist) Celia Mcauley of Balcony Garden Dreaming. Celia had a lot of technical knowledge but really pushed that our gardens such be a dreamy and welcome respite from our hectic city lives. Her big tip, put a chair on your balcony, sit down and enjoy your green space (oh, and much sure you mulch to keep the moisture in your pots).

Green Villages has a host of various workshops on offer. Check them out!

Vego Cooking Class (and Giveaway) - Hopewood Health Retreat, Wallacia

Miss Piggy attend the Hopewood Health Retreat cooking class as a guest of Hopewood. THANKS!

Part of my becoming an “ethical carnivore” is about wanting to eat less meat.  I want to plan my part in reducing the demands on the meat production industry (it’s this HUGE demand after all that’s led to factory farming in the first place), and also because we really shouldn’t be eating meat every single day - it's not so good for your insides.

I want to be able to cook more vegetarian meals at home, but I really REALLY struggle in cooking a meal that doesn’t have meat as the main star.  My mind draws a mental blank at a dinner that doesn’t involve meat. I find this kind of astounding really considering I was a vegetarian for quite a number of years in my early 20s. I mean what did I eat???  I was FAT(ter) back then so I was obvious eating something.

So with all of that in mind I was STOKED when VegeTARAian and I were invited to attend a Vegetarian cooking class at Hopepood Health Retreat, in the rural residential suburb of Wallacia. Where’s Wallacia I hear you ask? Why it’s in Western Sydney of course...where ALL the good stuff is.

Hopewood has been operating as health retreat for 52 years in a gorgeous old art-deco building that was formerly a guest house.  The focus here is on rejuvenating body, mind and soul. It’s not  a flash resort where you’ll find the Kardashians hiding out and “detoxing”...it’s where regular people go to restore some equilibrium in their lives and just “get away from it all”.  You can come for a day and partake in all the activities, stay overnight...or for as long as you want really. It’s such a tranquil place I imagine the guests find it hard to leave.

I had monstrous amounts of envy over Hopewoods kitchen garden!

The cooking class is run by Hopewood’s head chef, John Estival – who is one of the nicest guys you’re ever going to meet.

John isn’t a vegetarian, but he took on the gig at Hopewood as it was a professional challenge, and he is clearly very passionate about food, health and nutrition. John really drilled into us the importance of eating food that is in season.  Apples that have been stored in Colesworth freezer for 10 months have no nutritional value to us...we may as well be eating dirt. His food message is similar to that of Michael Pollan – eat fresh food, avoid processed foods, don’t eat too much meat, eat mostly greens. Throughout the class he was constantly giving us tips on how to best retrain the nutritional value in our food – DON’T PEEL THE SKIN OFF YOUR FRUIT and VEGIES PEOPLE, it’s where all the good stuff is.

The cooking class was part demonstration, part hands on - a style that I've come to like as I've realised half the fun of learning to cook is getting your hands dirty (after washing them first of course). We start off by making a batch of Coconut + Tahini Balls which we'll eat with dessert later in the night. These type of things are a good option for when then 3pm munchies hit at work - better than chocolate or a packet of chips, and just as tasty.

We each take part in preparing our entree of Stuffed Mushrooms with a Feta, Spinach + Nut filling.  I make Stuffed Mushies at home fairly regularly (with bacon of course *tut tut*) but John suggests using the filling to stuff zucchinis, tomatoes and even capsicums.  As you all know from my constant Zucchini Tweets - I'm growing a monster crop of (five) zucchinis on my balcony so I'm glad to have another idea of what to do with them.

The main meal was a delicious Vegetable + Lentil Curry crammed to the hilt with fresh spices, carrots, potatoes and celeriac (that weird blobby vegetable that smells like celery but which I had NO idea what to do with). I've always been daunted by curry recipes that list a million different fresh spices that you need to grate, chop, grind, blend, whoosh, whiz and smash - but honestly it just didn't seem to be all that hard and the results were well worth the bit of extra effort.

And what meal would be complete without dessert - especially a dessert that involves ice-cream?  This was no ordinary ice-cream mind you, it contained no eggs and no diary - just frozen strawberries + bananas that are blended together with a splash of coconut milk, honey and vanilla extract. So simple - so TASTY!

And now (drum roll please) it's time for a giveaway - the second ever on my blog. I came away from the Hopewood cooking class with an extra copy of the hopewood@home cookbook that I'd like to give to one of my readers.  To enter simply leave a comment below telling me what your favourite vegetarian dish is to cook. The winner will be the person with who I think the tastiest sounding dish. I'll probably be bugging you all to send me your recipes too! I'll pick a winner 2 weeks after this publication date of this post.

Hopewood Health Retreat is at 103 Greendale Road, Wallacia.  Phone them on (02) 4773 8401.

Parma, Surry Hills

Miss Piggy attended the cooking class + lunch as a guest of Parma.

I was lucky enough to be invited to an Italian cooking class at the newly opened Parma restaurant in Surry Hills. It seems that Sydney restaurants are continuing on their mission to teach me how to cook and I think some of the lessons may be rubbing off as I think after this class I'm give making pasta at home a whirl!  Yes, really!

The class is run for a group of bloggers by Italian head-chef Alessandro Vinci-Cannava whose personality can only be described as larger than life. He's such a fun guy that I imagine working in his kitchen would be a hoot!  Rumour has it that he was a regular on the Peruvian version of Ready, Steady Cook when he was living in Peru.

Half the class learnt how to make pizza dough, but I was more interested in seeing how to make your own pasta.  I've seen pasta being made before in another class and it set the seed that perhaps it wasn't that hard...I just needed to see it in action again. 

Whilst this class was mostly demonstration in terms of cooking the sauces, we got a chance to get our hands dirty with some pasta dough.  Alessandro has been cooking for such a long time that he could tell just by looking out our doughs if they were too wet, too dry or just right (mine wasn't just right - but was easily fixed)! I'd never really clcoked before that there are eggs in pasta (der, I know) - and it made me realise I need to be aware and ask if a restuarant uses free-range eggs in their pasta (Parma didn't at the time of this class but now do - yay).

Next step was to roll out some pasta using their you-beaut pasta machine (tho Alessandro said we could use a rolling pin if we didn't want to invest in a pasta machine straight up).  I loved the feel of working with the pasta. It went from a big gloopy mess to a smooth ball of dough and then turned into a silky soft sheet of pasta that I just wanted to bury my face in.

And of course pasta isn't pasta without a delcious sauce to go with it.  Alessandro whipped up three beautiful sauces - all of which I think I could russel up at home: a swordfish puttanesca, a beautiful burnt butter sage sauce, and a simple pea + goats cheese sauce.  The pea + goats sauce was mixed with the tagliatelle and then wrapped in eggplant and baked in the oven. 

Ta da - look at our feast! Whilst the ricotta filled ravioli was beautiful I think I'm going to keeps things simple and try my hand at a simple tagliatelle with either the burnt butter sage sauce OR the puttanesca. Or maybe I'll make both.

Parma is at 285A Crown Street, Surry Hills.  Phone them on 9332 4974.

Alio Restaurant, Surry Hills

I continue my quest to move beyond cooking toast for dinner and enrol in a cooking class at Alio Restaurant in Surry Hills with VegeTARArian. Well, Tara enrolled us...but I went with her. And it was FUN! And I learnt...stuff. Stuff about cooking.

The class is run by Chef Dan and Tracy (one of the co-owners). They have a great rapport and their fun banter throughout the night gives me an idea of what it would be like to work in a professional kitchen.

Alio has a dedicated area in the  downstairs of their restaurant just for the cooking classes.  It's a great space - a large workbench + stovetop with enough room for us all to comformably sit around and watch the saucepan action.  At the back of the room there are communal tables where we get to enjoy the spoils of Dan and Tracy's hard work.

I LOVE demonstration style workshops so this style of learning suited me down to a tee.  Dan and Stacy were making us a full-on Italian Feast and I probably won't attempt to make everything from the class at home, but I was REALLY surprised at how EASY the Focaccia Bread was to make.  I had no idea making bread could be so simple...and it was incredibly delicious. The warmed olives were another simple dish - something I love eating and that would be super easy to whip up at home. And the Witlof Salad with Persian Feta + Pears...hello my new favourite salad! 

And the stuff I wouldn't make at home because I value my mental health too much?  

Risotto. I've tried to make stove-top risotto before and these guys made it look easy, but it just never ends well for me.  I cheat and add ALL the stock then bake it in the oven until it is Risotto-like. The homemade pasta was DELICIOUS, but seemed like a lot of work...maybe one day. Maybe.

The simple tomato sauce that accompanied the pasta was amazing, really easy so I'll be giving this (or something like it) a whirl at home. And the Tiramasu...it was beyond delicious. It's converted me to really enjoying this as a dessert...which is major as I've never enjoyed it in the past. Will I make it home? Nope - I'm giong to come back to Alio and eat here.

Alio is at 5 Baptist Street, Redfern.  Phone them on 8394 9368.

Paella Cooking Class at Extra Virgin Fine Foods, Crows Nest

Miss Piggy attended the Paella cooking class as a guest of Extra Virgin Find Foods.

It seems that the Chefs of Sydney are taking pity on me and my self-confessed lack of cooking skills. The invitation to attend a Paella cooking class at Extra Virgin Fine Foods in Crows Nest comes as my third such invitation in as many months. Pretty soon I'll be able to put away the 2 minute noodles and cook some "real food" (seriously though, I can cook a little bit, I just get a bit flummoxed when things have too many ingredients or steps in the recipe).

Owner Mauricio Moreno (picture thanks to Helen Lear PR).

Owner Mauricio Moreno is a Uruguayan native who grew up in Western Sydney and his passion for Spanish food comes across loud and clear as he happily chats to us.  In addition to the restaurant in Crows Nest he also has a little bit of a deli happening in store (as well as an online store) which stocks various spices, pastes and small goods.  I'm particular taken with the Sangria mix - DIY Sangria in less than 20 seconds. Ole!

It's only after we're ushered into the kitchen to meet Head Chef, Vincent that I realise this is a hands-on cooking class - unlike the many demonstration classes I've been to this year!  I'm expected to cook my own lunch AND photograph it as well. This is too much for me to cope with and I quickly defer all cooking to my cooking-buddy VegeTARAian to I can take happy snaps.  Somehow though we end up having Chef Vincent do most of cooking for us. Nice work team.

 So without further adieu, let me take you on a photographical journey of Chef Vincent's cooking!

We begin by cooking the seafood in a hot hot hot Paella pan - each seafood has its separate turn in the pan.

In go the muscles (make sure they all open so you don't die) and then a Soffrito (which you can buy on line) is added to the pan (once all the seafood is removed).

In goes the special rice and Tara stirs whilst I take blurry photos.

Stock is added to the pan - Vegetarian for us on this occasion, but the others have a veal/vege stock to work with. Their Paella also has a generous portion of Chorizo.

A pinch (or two) of Spanish Paprika is added and the pan goes in and out of the oven a few times with more stock being added each time.

Set the stove on fire (surprisingly this wasn't my fault - I was on the other side of the kitchen) and char some lemon on the grill (THIS is a great tip - it makes the lemon extra juicy and it's perfect squeezed over the finished Paella).

The Paella is dressed with all the delicious seafood and we sit down to eat - really really delicious! The pre-prepared Soffrito certainly makes cooking Paella a much quicker and easier proposition.

Enjoy a few extra tasty morsels that we learnt how to cook during the class.

Once again I've been invited into somebodies professional kitchen and once again I'm overwhelmed by how willingly chefs and restaurant owners open their kitchens to show us the ropes.  It's an absolute privilege to be given this opportuntiy - for these people to give up their free time and let me get under their feet, nose about and ask all sorts of questions.

Extra Virgin Fine Foods is at 17 Alexander Street, Crows Nest. Phone them on 9436 0733. Visit their website for information class times and products available at their online store.