How to open Champagne

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This is a bit of a cheat’s post, as the video below I made a year ago and first posted on my old site, Eating Leeds.  However, I think it’s appropriate that, as we head in to Christmas and New Year, we have a bit of a reminder about how to open the bubbles on Christmas morning or New Year’s Eve!

If you can’t see yourself parting with the money to buy the real deal there are plenty of good home grown alternatives that cost a lot less.  My personal favourite at the moment is Blue Pyrenees Midnight Cuvee.  This retails for around the $25-30 mark and I’m sure there’ll be more than one bottle opened at Eating Adelaide HQ during the festive season.

A summary of the key points is below the video, in case you don’t have sound!

The key points are:

  • have the wine well chilled, as this reduces the pressure and the likelihood you’ll shower yourself or your guests in bubbly!
  • once you’ve removed the wire cage keep your hand over the cork at all times … there’s no guarantee it won’t fly off by itself
  • open the wine by holding the bottle at the base and keeping a firm grip on the cork.  Turn the bottle NOT the cork.
  • just in case, ensure you are not pointing the bottle at anyone or anything breakable – accidents happen and you don’t want to take out someone’s eye
  • when the cork does come out you want a gentle ‘phut’ sound not an explosion.  The best analogy I’ve heard is that it should sound like the sigh of a contented woman …
  • finally, pour your fizz into a flute (tall and thin glass) rather than a saucer (your bubbles will last longer) and keep the glass upright – you are NOT pouring a beer!  You’ll need to pour slowly (and maybe return to top up glasses) but it will keep with the sense of occasion.

Farina

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FARINA HAS CLOSED.

date of visit:  25 Nov 2009

Adelaide has no shortage of pizza and pasta places … cafés line Rundle Street and menus merge in to one another.  It’s such a shame because Italy offers such a wide range of variations on the pizza and pasta theme that I can never understand why anyone would want to limit their eating.

This made the discovery of Farina particularly refreshing.  Earlier this year, unable to secure a booking at another venue, a group of us booked at Farina by chance.  On that occasion, we shared pizzas and wrapped up with dessert but we all came away impressed with the food and the service.  After all, what other pizza place offers a white anchovy pizza? Or potato, rosemary, truffle and taleggio pizza?

Subsequent visits have allowed for a more thorough exploration of the menu:  I’ve worked my way through quince tarts, pastas, pizzas, and sundry main courses.  The most recent visit saw a return to the potato pizza, rich with truffle followed by a pappadelle with star anise braised rabbit, chilli, rosemary and mushroom which was delicious, even if, after the pizza I was unable to eat all of it.

On the same evening others at the table enjoyed rabbit liver pâté, pizza with pork and fennel sausage, capsicum, olive, asiago and chilli, and braised rabbit with soft polenta, as well as a side dish of gorgeous rosemary roasted potatoes. Between four of us we also worked our way through two bottles of very sensibly priced local Shiraz. No surprise then that, on this occasion, there was no space left for dessert!

I’ve eaten at Farina now several times and not only is the food consistently good but the service is infallibly efficient and friendly. In short, the experience has never been short of excellent.

As you might expect, a trip to Farina is not bargain-basement material, but it cannot be considered expensive. And let’s face it – if you are after Adelaide’s cheapest pasta you are probably not after star-anise braised rabbit at the same time. But, if you do want to eat some interesting and innovative Italian food and eat it in a stylish, relaxed venue then you should get yourself to Hindmarsh Square.

Contact:  Farina Kitchen & Bar, 39 Hindmarsh Square, Adelaide, SA, 5000, phone: (08) 8227 1007

Farina Kitchen and Bar

Excellent and innovative city centre Italian

Rating:4.5 stars

Easy Chocolate Cake

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The world’s cookbooks (and the internet) are awash with recipes for complicated cakes that look stunning and will take a good couple of hours to put together.

Those cakes are fantastic for events where you might want to showcase some baking talent but they won’t do if you want a slice of cake to take for lunch, or if you need to whip up a cake quickly without a trip to the supermarket.

This cake fills that slot perfectly.  It’s quick and if you cook or bake regularly you should have the ingredients to hand.  The recipe comes from a friend of my grandmother and this was the first cake I ever made ‘on my own’.   It is my contribution to this month’s Family Recipes hosted by the Life and Loves of Grumpy’s Honeybunch.

I always bake the cake in a kugelhopf tin but I’m sure a 20cm springform tin would do just as well.

Preheat the oven to 180C bake and grease your tin well.

Cream 50g of butter and 1 cup of caster sugar.  When well combined, add 2 eggs and beat well.  Then add 1 1/2 cups of self raising flour and 2 tbsp of cocoa.  The mixture will be quite stiff.  Mix 1/2 tsp of baking powder (or bicarb) with 1/2 cup of milk and add to the batter.  Beat until combined and finish by beating in 2 tbsp of boiling water.

Pour into your cake tin and bake for about half an hour – the cake should be well risen and a skewer should come out clean.

Leave the cake to cool in the tin for 5 or so minutes before tipping out on a rack.  When the cake is completely cool ice with your favourite icing or just dust with icing sugar.

If you’re lazy (like me!) and use a food processor like a Magimix the whole process, including the cleaning up, will take under an hour.  To me, that is the perfect emergency cake!