May 11 2016
From its humble and ancient past; virtually unknown beyond country farmhouses, Verjuice has become a staple ingredient in home kitchens and industry enterprises across Australia and internationally, due in large part to Maggie becoming the first in the world to produce it commercially. As Maggie explains, “I can’t honestly tell you how many times I came across the magic word ‘verjuice’ before I looked it up. And then the penny dropped. This was the obvious product for us to make as vignerons and for me to use in cooking." Read the rest...
May 09 2016
Established over a century ago, Maggie’s Barossa orchard is made up of a collection of 2000 trees including heirloom apples and pears, all bursting with the kind of flavour many of us might remember from our childhood; real flavour, and that’s exactly what you’ll find filling each of her cider bottles. Read the rest...
May 06 2016
The wonderful thing about growing your own apples besides the superior, just-picked flavour difference, is the incredible choice that awaits any keen gardener. Far beyond the readily available Jonathon and Red Delicious, is an array of varieties that offer an apple for every taste and recipe. And anyone with a small garden, or even a balcony, need not feel left out with new compact varieties, such as ‘Ballerina’, able to be grown in a pot and still produce a generous amount of fruit for a family- Maggie. Read the rest...
May 05 2016
May’s Sunday Lunch menu definitely has Mother’s day in mind, and for me that means food that is delicious and seasonally based, but it also means food that is easy to cook and able to be made ahead of time where possible. This takes the pressure off the day and enables everyone to be part of creating a truly beautiful shared table for your Mum. To begin with, a glass of Sparkling Chardonnay or Sparkling Ruby Cabernet, followed by a perfectly easy Slow Roasted Oyster Blade, that I love to serve with Onion Cream and Braised Cavalo Nero. And to finish, somethings truly celebrate the rhubarb season, and to make the most of the very last of the strawberries, Rhubarb, Strawberries and Creme Fraiche. Happy Mother’s Day to all the Mums!- MB. Read the rest...
May 04 2016
Flat leaf parsley is the herb I use most often in my cooking. But it wasn’t always that way. In fact for many years I refused to use it at all after seeing it disrespectfully draped over a tired slice of orange, relegated to garnish-only status, on almost every restaurant plate in the 1970s. All that changed though when we bought our cottage and I discovered an established patch of parsley, verdant and prolific, and impossible to ignore from a culinary point of view for someone like me, who had always cooked with what was at hand. I had found the perfect compromise for my distaste of curly leaf parsley in its sweeter, nuttier tasting cousin, and my love of flat leaf parsley began- MB. Read the rest...
