To stay at Orchard House in Autumn is to surround yourself with the very reason Maggie made the decision to nurture this beautiful orchard back to it’s full flavoured glory - the fruit! Autumn is not only the most colourful time of the year in Maggie’s orchard, but also the moment the whole year culminates its efforts in trees laden with the abundance of the season’s apples and pears. If ever there was a perfect time to spend a weekend in the middle of Maggie’s Barossa orchard, it’s now! Read the rest...
The aroma of onions frying immediately makes me feel hungry, no matter when I last ate. If pushed for a favourite, I would have to say that slow cooked onions are the most luscious of all; the transformation from crisp and sharp, to caramelised and sweet, is hard to credit. I love using warm caramelised onion to line a just baked, sour cream pastry case, dotted with goat’s cheese or gorgonzola. Caramelised onion makes a great base for a barbecued meal too, served with kangaroo fillet and soft polenta, for example- MB. Read the rest...
Maggie believes family traditions are made by sharing a well loved recipe or favourite ingredient, so she has handpicked a collection of gifts that are perfect to share with your Mum this Mother’s Day. Read the rest...
My Sparkling Chardonnay, while alcohol free, can still be matched to food in the same way that wine can, because we use traditional winemaking techniques to produce it. It is simply wine with the alcohol left aside. I always tend to match wine to my cooking because it is so seasonally influenced, but my Sparkling Chardonnay is so perfectly food-friendly, I feel like I can drink it with anything. Or even on its own for that matter. In particular though, I love teaming it with freshly shucked oysters, any fleshy white fish, or a perfectly ripe soft cheese- MB. Read the rest...
It seems Italy has sparked so many of my ongoing affections for seasonal produce, as once again, it was my time in Tuscany that gave me my first real experience of fennel. And when I say ‘real’ I mean, just picked, super thin shavings of new season fennel, served simply with extra virgin olive oil, fresh lime juice, salt and pepper – that wonderful sweetness and aniseed fragrance had me hooked at the first mouthful. I planted my first fennel seeds as soon as I arrived home that year, already tasting my very own home-grown fennel before it was in the ground! Read the rest...
