Events

Mushroom Mania 2014 at The Highway

- Alex Prichard 1 Comment

20140708_202135

Disclaimer: My mushroom meal was paid for by the Australian Mushroom Growers Association (AMGA).

A couple of weeks ago I was approached by the AMGA to see if I was interested in joining them in promoting #mushroommania2014.

You may have noticed that there are relatively few recipes featuring mushrooms on this site. This is because no matter how much I like them (and I do, very much) Andy will not countenance them. Apparently, they taste of dirt. I guess they are one of those polarising ingredients.

However, they are super healthy, come in a variety of forms/shapes/flavours and are both flexible and extremely easy to use. At their simplest, raw and sliced into a green salad is an easy start and they often play a supporting role in a good beef and mushroom pie. And then there are dishes where the mushies themselves have the opportunity to shine. Of course, they are also ‘meat for vegetarians’ (I really hope I’m not the only person who remembers that ad!) and will often feature in a vegetarian menu.

This was one occasion where I didn’t feel bad about leaving Andy at home. I rustled up a couple of friends who were happy to eat mushrooms and we headed along to The Highway, which is supporting mushroom mania to the extent that Nick Finn, the head chef, has developed a mushroom month menu.

Due to quite a late booking for a school night (all three of us have small children so bed time came before food) so we passed on entrées. But for the record, I would definitely have chosen the truffle and taleggio polenta sticks.

All three of us ended up choosing the porcini gnocchi with blue cheese and white wine cream sauce (how much of a perfect winter dish does that sound?) with one of us opting to add prawns.

20140708_205251

This was a really well balanced dish. There are a lot of strong flavours at play here and getting them right, as well as getting the gnocchi right, is something that not all kitchens will get right. The gnocchi were light and pillowy and carried the sauce perfectly. There was enough sauce to coat the gnocchi but not drown them and the dish actually tasted of mushroom with the blue cheese adding a shot of piquancy.

20140708_213102

While we might have passed on entrée, we did find room for dessert and we all tried out the Mushroom Patch. The menu describes this as chocolate soil, pistachio sponge and caramel ice cream. It was decorated with mushroom caps that were a marshmallow/meringue hybrid. This dish really split the table – from the enthusiastic “I would definitely order this again!” to the much less sure “I don’t think I would …”. Personally, I’m not a fan of marshmallow so I would have loved the dish had the mushroom caps not been there. I would have loved it even more had it been a big slab of pistachio cake with chocolate sauce and caramel ice cream … Is that because I’m a piggy?

Yet again the Highway gets a big tick.

Now, if you like mushrooms and you’re active on social media, you have the opportunity to win yourself a $100 gift card during July. Just eat out (you do have to eat out) and enjoy a mushroom meal and then share it via Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

While this competition is open Australia wide, if you’re looking for some Adelaide based inspiration, you might want to suss out some of the following venues (thank you to the AGMA for these suggestions – I have not necessarily eaten at these places!): Vino Ristorante, Auge, Assaggio and Regattas. Of course, plenty of other restaurants and pubs will have mushrooms in at least one dish – so you really have no excuse!

What is your favourite mushroom meal?

The Highway
290 Anzac Highway
Plympton SA 5038
ph: 08 8297 8155

The Highway / HWY on Urbanspoon

Help #ForkCancer with The Longest Table

- Alex Prichard Leave a comment

Food Bloggers Dinner

I am sure that most people reading this page have had cancer touch their lives in some way. I was thinking about this idly this morning and without even trying came up with the names of seven people I know who have or have had cancer. You don’t need me to tell you that treatment is long winded, unpleasant and even if you’re lucky to be declared cancer free, it still hangs over you.

Which is probably not what you need to read on a Friday lunch time …

Of course, research into all facets of cancer is essential and costs money and this year The Hospital Research Foundation is running The Longest Table to encourage people to get together and raise that money. Host, or attend, a dinner on Saturday 28 June, get your mates to donate and job’s a good ‘un. You don’t even have to cook – you can go out.

And … if you want to go out, then you could do a lot worse than heading to the dinner being hosted by Redsalt at the Crowne Plaza (I dined there a couple of weeks ago – I can recommend it!). The meal is being spearheaded by bloggers and social media types and represents a great opportunity to both checkout Redsalt’s South Australian produce focussed menu AND garner yourself a bit of good karma and warm fuzzy feelings at the same time.

The menu is going to feature ingredients such as heirloom tomatoes, Coorong mullet and Kangaroo Island lamb (the full menu is posted on the Eating Adelaide Facebook page) and the ticket price includes your three course dinner, drinks and some sparkling company.

There are just 25 tickets available and they are priced at $120 each. To book, contact Chloe at The Longest Table (08 7002 0813).

And if you can’t head along to the dinner, consider donating through the Longest Table website.

Ignite Unley – Craft Brewery Afternoon

- Alex Prichard 1 Comment

Untitled

fun in the sun in Unley

date of event:  Saturday 22 February 2014

I honestly can’t remember which of the many emails that rest briefly in my inbox informed me that there was a craft brewery afternoon coming up in Unley. It was obviously one that I read though!

Ignite Unley has actually been a council of programme of summer events, each with a different theme and each free. The events started back in November so I appreciate that I’m very much behind the curve here.

It happened that on Saturday (the ‘craft beer’ themed day) we needed to be out and about anyway, so timing things to drop in and see what it was about was almost no effort at all. The events are held at the Soldiers Memorial Gardens, on the corner of Thomas Street and Unley Road (next door to the shopping centre that is opposite the Town Hall).

We arrived shortly before the 4pm kick off but the market stalls were all set up, a ‘drinking’ area (complete with security guards!) was cordoned off and music was playing. There were plenty of games and toys and tunnels and tents for little people and, while there might not have been quite enough chairs in the bar area initially, staff were on hand to sort this out.

The breweries that had set up shop were Gulf Brewery (based in Hahndorf), Prancing Pony (one of my favourites, based in Mount Barker), Birbeck’s and Barossa Valley Brewing, showcasing a range of beers and ciders. Birbeck’s Captain is very popular with me – if it weren’t quite so fizzy and served quite so cold it would almost qualify as a good session ale. It’s also very low in alcohol so it was perfect for anyone driving on the day.

Untitled

Birbeck’s Captain takes centre stage

As we were heading out for a curry (more on that later) we didn’t sample of any of the food on offer – but the toddler made good use of the play equipment (if you’ve never seen a three year old try to play badminton you should probably put it on your bucket list!) and we enjoyed sitting in the gardens and trying some new beers (well, that was Andy!).

It was a great use of public space and a really family friendly event. It would be lovely to see more councils put on events like this over the summer months: they’re a good way of fostering community spirit and a really obvious way for the council to participate in the lives of its ratepayers.*

The next Ignite Unley event is on Saturday 8 March – no food theme, but with a garden cinema from sunset. However, the Adelaide Fringe sees the same gardens host the Double Shot Unley Coffee Fiesta on Sunday 16 March (10am – 4pm) and on Saturday 5 April Ignite returns with wine and cheese.

I’d recommend checking out these events for yourself – even if you don’t live in the Unley area, the more successful they are, the more likely your own council will pick up on the idea!

*I’m aware our council rates pay for mundane, but very important, things like rubbish removal.  But seeing the money putting fun things in action is always good too!