What we are eating and drinking

A great little Austrian Riesling we discovered at our Friday lunch last week.

No over bearing floral or mineral tones that you might find say in a Aussie Rieslings just a nice clean palate with a soft lingering finish.
Very enjoyable!

Another little wine that appeared at our Friday Lunch.

Delicate nose of candied fruit peel and lemon zest . Palate nice and clean with great acidity...fabulous food wine. Was a definite hit amongst the staff and went beautifully with Virginia's Tri Colour Minestrone soup.

The 2004 Ferrous Pinot had a nose of dark cherries, liquorice and five spice.

The palate had great acid and an unctuous (read oily) mouthfeel.  Sour cherries were prominent.

Nicki's Mum was over from New Zealand recently and stepped up for Soup Friday duties for the week with her delicious Pea & Ham soup.  Here's the recipe (serves 8-10 people):

1 large onion chopped
few sticks of celery chopped
Olive oil
1 Tbsp curry (or more to taste)
2 cups split green peas
ham bones (to taste)
approx 2L water (or enough to cover bacon bones)

Heat oil and cook onion and celery.  Then add curry powder.  Put in ham bones and split green peas, then cover with water.  Bring to the boil and simmer until the peas go mushy.  (If ham isn't soft and falling off the bones, take out and cook some more).

If you don't like lumps, put in the blender and whizz till smooth.  If not, eat as is.

Ingredients:-
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 onion - chopped
2 cloves of garlic crushed
1 tablespoon grated ginger
1 cup dried red lentils – rinsed
1 litre of water
1-2 table spoons red curry paste – I used Carmella’s Indian style curry paste “ Kasoundi” – this is made locally.
Beef stock powder – to taste
Natural yogurt to serve. ( you can add coriander also)

Cook oil, onion, garlic & ginger until onion is soft. Add curry paste & cook until fragrant. Add water, stock & lentils.
Bring to the boil, then simmer until soup reduces/thickens & lentils are cooked, approx 20mins or so.

Serve with a dollop of natural yogurt & coriander if desired.

1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 - 2 tablespoons olive oil
2 stalks celery, diced
1 carrot, peeled and diced
1 potato, peeled and diced
1/2 sweet potato, peeled and diced
6 cobs corn
1 litre vegetable or chicken stock
1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes
chopped fresh parsley and freshly ground pepper, to garnish

Sauté the onion and garlic in the oil for 5 minutes in a large saucepan. Add celery, carrot, potato and sweet potato, and sauté for a further 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, boil the corn cobs in a large pot of salted water for 5 minutes. Remove the cobs, reserving 1 cup of the cooking water. Use a knife to cut the kernels from the cob.

Add the corn kernels, stock, chilli and reserved cooking water to the vegetables in the pan. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 20 minutes or until the vegetables are soft. Puree the soup to desired consistency.

Serve garnished with chopped parsley and freshly ground pepper.

Serves 4 - 6

Sue Mason - Perth


750g sweet potato peeled and sliced
1-3/4 cups chicken stock
1 cup water
1 teaspoon ground coriander
¼ teaspoon dried crushed chilli
½ teaspoon sugar
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon chives


Combine sweet potato, chicken stock, water, coriander, chilli, sugar and salt in a large saucepan. Simmer covered for 20 minutes until potatoes are tender.

Puree mixture in food processor and stir in lime juice.

Reheat before serving – garnish with chives.


Depending on the sweet potatoes, this soup can be quite thick – I often add more water once pureed.

(serves 4)

2 cups Cous Cous
2 cups boiling water
2 tsp butter
1 cup coriander
1 cup parsley
1/2 cup mint
4 Tbsp preserved lemon (chopped)
4 tomatoes (chopped)
6 Tbsp olive oil
400 grams of can chick peas
1 red onion (chopped)

Pour boiling water over Cous Cous and butter & let stand for 20 minutes.

Break up lumps with a fork.

Add all other ingredients to the Cous Cous and mix.

Season with salt and pepper.