METHOD
Preheat oven to 170 degrees.
Peel and slice shallots 4 mm thick. Place in small bowl with the sultanas.
Put all pickle ingredients in a pot and bring to boil. Simmer 1 minute and then pour over sultana mix. Set aside to soak. Overnight is preferable but a few hours of pickling can sauce. Once the sultanas are visibly plump you're good to go.
Roast almonds in the oven until crisp and light brown on the inside. 6/10 minutes. Once cool chop up in the food processor until they are in the middle of chunky and fine. You could also just put in a clean t towel and smash with a pot. Saves washing up more dishes.
Read MoreSPRING MASTERCLASS
A day of demonstrations and foodie discussion with some of Australia’s top chefs including:
Andrew McConnell– Cutler & Co. Cumulus Inc, Supernormal, Rinky & Pinky, Melbourne
Matt Moran – ARIA, Barangaroo House, Chiswick, North Bondi Fish, Paddo Inn Grill, NSW
Hosted by Lake House Culinary Director Alla Wolf-Tasker in The Cooking School at Lake House. Day includes two demonstrations, recipes, tastings, baguette lunch, wine and refreshments.
11am - 3.30pm, 15 September
Lake House, King Street, Daylesford Tickets available at lakehouse.com.au
Life is fleeting... Even more reason to become lost. Lost in our region, lost in our work, lost in our family and friends, lost in ourselves. We
have seen snow. We have seen rain. We have felt the chilling cold. The dormancy of winter has made us appreciate the importance of respecting our seasonal foods and preserving what we can.
Spring is waking up and boldly reminding us how important all the seasons are.
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Catch Australia’s hardest hitting Hammond Organ Trio 'Cookin’ On 3 Burners' at Palais-Hepburn Friday, August 30th.
Hammond organist Jake (originally from Glenlyon), drummer Ivan, guitarist Dan and special guest Stella Angelico (from Ballarat) return home for an unforgettable performance that's sure to get you up and dancing. Joining the dots between Deep Funk, Raw Soul, Organ Jazz & Boogaloo; Cookin’ On 3 Burners is like poking your head through a time portal that stretches between the year you were born and the middle of next week.
August is here! Can you believe it? Just like that, the day's are getting longer and before we know it the festive season will be upon us. We've had such a wonderful response to the new team's first edition of Lost and this month we're going full steam ahead as we increase Lost to 64 pages - all chockablock full of reasons to get out and about and experience all our beautiful region has to offer.
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A spinning Curtin Mayfield record booms in the foyer, as Michael Lelliot dawdles between portraits of Hells Angel bikers, religious icons and bottles of rum. Mike, as his mates know him, has a way of making chaos feel natural.
“Should we take the Rolls Royce out drifting?” smiles Mike. A contagious larrikin, Mike has the figure of an NBA star, wears stick-n-poke tattoos and maintains a bushranger’s swagger.
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Tim Foster has learned the ways of Central Victoria in his five years running leading Kyneton restaurant Source Dining. Some days he turns up to work to find fresh produce left at the kitchen door – figs, sometimes, or maybe quince or lemons. “We won’t know who has left it. until a local is in having a meal and they’ll say, ‘Did you get that box I left for you?” he says. “It’s really lovely.”
There’s a delightful synchronicity that Foster finds himself embedded in a community upholding the old-fashioned food values. The promise of such a life is what originally lured him and wife Michelle to the area in 2013. “We grew up in South Australia – Coonawarra born and bred - but loved how the food scene in Victoria was so active and vibrant.”
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Hot chocolate is like a hug from the inside, reads a sign at Atelier Chocolat, at once summing up one of the joys of a Central Victorian winter (just add crackling fire, and maybe cake) as well as the attractions of chocolate in warm liquid form.
And you rest assured that this is no ordinary hot chocolate. Laetitia Hoffmann, who opened her charmingly bijou Trentham handmade chocolate shop at the end of March, is a devotee of the bean-to-bar school, in which the cocoa beans can be traced back to an ethical source.
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Put aside your hesitations and dig into this strawberry delight.
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Modern Daylesford is idyllic, welcoming and, though we rarely stop to appreciate it, safe. Now tranquil and a prime holiday destination, residents and visitors in the Daylesford region will find little enough reminders of the town’s tragic past. As a community, Daylesford coalesced slowly in response to the fortuitous discovery of gold in 1851. Like so many at the time, prospectors and miners from all over the world converged, hoping to make their fortune. At the heart, this history lies a tale of three young boys, lost to the unforgiving bushland of colonial Victoria.
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The word ceramics can be traced to the Greek keramos, meaning “potter’s clay.” In the foreground is the potter, humankind, who has left us with objects as vestiges of culture. Sometimes, as in the Nok peoples of Africa, ceramic objects are all that is left of a civilization—as though their spirit comes to life through our observance.
For Angie Izard the practice is a little more modest, she simply describes herself as a maker of things.
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Terrines, rillettes and pates are the holy trinity to any occasion that celebrates conversation and clinking coupes. For Cameron and Murvet McKenzie, the duo behind local small-goods favourite Max and Delilah, the essence of these rustic dishes is simple—for people to enjoy each other's company. For centuries, food has catered to that bond.
Murvet waltzes in, glowing with enthusiasm. We meet at Wine By The Country, the testing grounds for Max and Delilah. “Cameron was dead set against food names for the company,” smiles Murvet, “Max and Delilah are our two cats. Delilah passed away two years ago but Max is still kicking around.”
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Where we choose to live can sow the seeds for what it means to be a family. For Jeremy and Jeannie Quinn, building a home in Glenlyon set the foundations for life’s blind-sighted moments—the stuff memories are made from.
We meet at Jeremy and Jeannie’s latest property in Richmond, an architectural splendour of the late Victorian boom style, that was once owned by Eureka Stockade rebel turned politician Peter Lalor. “We’ve always lived in Richmond, so we’ve never really had a backyard,” explains Jeannie, “We had a bit to do with boomerang ranch because the girls love horse riding.”
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Now I know what you're thinking; July - we're in the depths of winter, the weather forecast is looking dismal, and the last long weekend for the foreseeable future is over and done with... life is looking pretty bleak. Well, I'm here is to tell you otherwise. We are so lucky to live in such an incredible part of Australia, so magically beautiful all 12 months of the year. In fact, Winter has got to be our absolute favourite season here in spa country. Whether it's a cold night spent by the fire with a glass of local pinot, or waking up on a frosty morning with the landscape shrouded in fog; there really is no better place to get Lost in Winter.
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The Daylesford Football & Netball Club in partnership with the Chill Out Festival is proud to be hosting the inaugural Daylesford Pride Cup against Newlyn FNC. Other than the Pride Cup football and netball games, the club will be hosting a ticketed sit down lunch with guest speakers, kids entertainment and information stands from a wide variety of organizations.
This event will be held Saturday, July 13, 9 am – 5 pm at the Daylesford Football Netball Club: Victoria Park, Daylesford.
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Synergy. If there is one word to describe the partnership between Tony De Marco and Theresa Albiloi it is synergy. Business and life partners, this dynamic couple met later in life, yet together they have already accomplished more than many would in a long lifetime. We meet them at The Oxford, a large former guest house they recently refurbished and added to their portfolio of luxury accommodation properties, The Houses Daylesford. The Oxford is massive and sleeps 24. The walls are lined with over 90 original charcoal drawings by artist Derek Erskine. The main room is dominated by an impressive non-sectional double-sided upholstered banquette. "It was made for a house in Caulfield," says Theresa. "It cost them tens of thousands of dollars." Tony jumps in, "we paid a lot less than that," he says with a laugh. "It took a lot of work to reassemble when it arrived."
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It is the middle of winter, yet the garden bears a plentiful bounty. Wood sorrel, chicory, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, Jerusalem artichokes, baby carrots. In the hothouse grows spicy red mizuna and the last of the bull horn peppers. This is Dairy Flat Farm, the kitchen garden of Alla Wolf Tasker's Lake House restaurant kitchen. It is part of Barcaldine House, a 15 ha property nestled in a bowl of rich volcanic soil at Musk. It is the realisation of a lifelong dream of the award-winning chef. "We have always had great produce from our growers," says Alla. "Now we are joining them. What is harvested in the morning is on the plates at lunchtime," she says. "There is nothing comparable on this planet to freshly picked vegetables."
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