We thought we’d console ourselves with a visit back to the Red Velvet Lounge in Cygnet for another serving of their fabulous salt and pepper squid, this time with wine. We were suprised, when the dishes were brought out. You could almost say that it was another dish altogether, with not so well-prepared squid: it was thinner, chewier/tougher and the salt and pepper coating was sliding off. The salad was also not as good, missing the freshness, flavour and creativeness of the previous time. The accompanying dip/sauce this time was a potent asian style chilli / ketjap style dip, tasted good but it did not save the chewy squid.
I guess they must have another chef working the weekends. This change was all too clear.
However to Red Velvet Lounge’s credit, they still had a great atmosphere and offered great service. The waitress looking after us was friendly and very generous with her pouring of Chardonnay

And lastly, to our disappointment, Boks Butchery was closed…….but all is not lost, we’ll be back!

Wrong! In the the 11 and a half months that we been residing in the beautiful Apple Isle, we have consumed plenty of baked goods, and dined out in numerous establishments ranging from local fish and chip shops to fine dining restaurants in and around Hobart, along the East Coast, throughout the Channel area and the Huon Valley.

We are not smokers and thus our tastebuds cannot be blamed. But very often than not we often find the seasoning in the foods totally lacking. This is a serious oversight – why are Tasmanian chefs/cooks and or bakers too afraid to use that extra pinch of salt and or pepper? Do they even taste their food before the serve it? Do they have to adhere to some golden rule regarding how much salt is allowed to be used, or worse still, do not have functioning tastebuds?

Everything from hot chips, to scallop pies, lovingly prepared (but unseasoned) seafood chowders, breads, gourmet pizzas, salads, hot sauces, vegetable, meat and fish dishes…

And one final seasoning complaint for restaurants in particular: never leave your salt and pepper shakers to solidify into a cakey texture over the years – it looks bad, tastes bad and smacks of sheer laziness.

First very important step – pour yourself a glass of wine or drinking cider – have a sip, collect your ingredients together and get ready to create an easy, tasty dinner:

Rabbit in Cider

• 4 rabbit /pieces joints (locally farmed or caught is worth a try!)
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 50g salted butter
• 1 tbsp olive oil
  
• 1 x medium to large brown onion
• 1 x medium shallot
  
• 250ml dry cooking cider (local if you can find it!)
• 2 x sprigs fresh oregano (from your own garden)
• 4 x garlic cloves (or more to your taste, and they taste even better if home grown)
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
  
• 1 x tsp Dijon mustard

Pre-heat the oven at 180 C. Place flour, seasoned with salt and pepper, the rabbit pieces into a bowl. Mix and make sure the pieces are coated evenly. Heat an oven proof skillet and add to it half of the butter and the olive oil . When it becomes foamy, turn down the heat, and add two pieces of rabbit. Turn them intermittently and allow the pieces to reach a deep golden brown very slowly – making sure the butter does not burn.

When the rabbit pieces have browned sufficiently, remove them from the pan and set aside, discard the fat and add a little more of the remaining butter and olive oil. Allow the butter and oil to become foamy and repeat with the two remaning rabbit pieces. Leave the skillet on the hotplate, and add the remaining butter and oil to the skillet for the next step.

Thinly slice the onion and shallot, chop the garlic (in chunky little pieces so they don’t burn) and add them to the skillet. Put these into the skillet and fry until browned. Add 200ml of the cooking cider and whilst it sizzles, using a wooden spoon, deglaze and combine everything into a thick, rich sauce. Add the browned rabbit pieces, and roughly chopped oregano, the mustard, some more salt and freshly ground pepper. Cover the skillet and place it in the oven for approximately 40-50 minutes.

Whilst the rabbit bakes, you have plenty of time to make a sweet potato smash and fresh garden salad. Take one washed and peeled large sweet potato and two washed and peeled small white potatos and chop them up roughly – place into a microwave proof glass bowl. Pour in a little hot water and cover with lid or microwave proof plate. Allow to cook on high setting for approximately 10 minutes. When the cooking finishes, allow them to sit a further 10 minutes with cover on in the microwave.

Salad vegetables. If you don’t have them growing in your garden, try to get them from a local producer – not from a supermarket – those lack the full intense flavour of the real thing, and therefore are impossible to create a really tastylicious salad from. You can even grow lettuces, cherry tomatoes and fresh herbs in small pots on your balcony. It’s very much worth the effort!

We pulled on our gardening boots and plucked some organic lettuce, spring onions, parsely, basil, and cherry tomatoes. Chop the parsley and spring onion finely and throw in the salad bowl. Tear the basil and lettuce leaves roughly and throw them in as well. Followed by either whole or halved cherry tomatoes.

Make a simple cider dressing by adding 2 parts good extra virgin olive oil and 1 part cider vinegar. We used the tangy and aromatic cider vinegar made by the Swallow Cyder Works near Petchey’s Bay. Add one crushed organic garlic clove, salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste and a pinch of raw sugar – combine well.

Take the bowl of steaming hot sweet potato and white potato pieces and add a tablespoon of butter and a good splash of milk. Get a large fork and start smashing the pieces until they are more or less combined. Add salt and more pepper to taste. Garnish with fresh parsley. Pour two large glasses of cool climate riesling or cider, plate up and voila – bon appetit!

The salt and pepper squid dish was generous – with many long strips of perfectly fried, salt and pepper encrusted, tender squid layered over a (just plucked from the earth) fresh green salad, which was resting upon one of my all time favourties a French bean salad enhanced with zesty herbs and slices of lemon and lime. Our only regret, not ordering a nice white local wine to go with it. We weren’t sure about what wines they had to offer as there seemed to be no wine list available and the food menu was on a chalkboard. We left, stomachs smiling and spirits lifted, and vowed to return this week for another serving!

A relatively short walk away, was Boks Butchery. We had seen that name before in the various Channel and Huon Valley Classified publications and decided to have a gander. Beautifully and neatly presented cuts, sausages, and even smoked cheese. We went for the Lamb with Thyme and Wine sausages, the in-house made Chorizo, the plain farmed rabbit and the lamb loin chops. We bought nearly 2 kilos of quality meat and it cost under 25 dollars – such incredible value.

Last night, those lamb sausages were very smackilicious (not oozing in fat, plenty of finely minced lamb, with just enough thyme and no gristle!) and for tonight, the rabbit which we will cook with local cider from the Swallow Cyderworks. If the recipe turns out to be a couple of lip smacks worth, we’ll share it.

This breaking news story makes the Sydney Morning Herald Online before it makes Hobart’s Mercury. How very thoughtful of those folks at SMH to place this story in a Sydney based newspaper first, and a contact number for Crimestoppers for a crime that currently happening in HOBART!

Slingshot attacks target Tas vehicles
February 26, 2007 – 10:09PM Police suspect high-powered slingshots are being used to fire projectiles through the windows of vehicles and buildings in Hobart and surrounding suburbs.

The vandalism has been happening for two weeks and police fear for public safety.

“These incidents generally involve projectiles being used to smash the windows of buildings and vehicles and may involve the use of slingshots,” a police spokesman said.

“This type of offence can become a serious risk to public safety and police are seeking public assistance to catch the offenders.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 005 555.

© 2007 AAP

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Tassie is really starting to feel like home. I am starting to get that ever so slight adrenaline rush, when we are driving home, seeing the familiar buildings, beautiful landscapes full of characteristic trees and dramatic mountain ranges.

One very interesting aspect of living here is the antithesis of the natives: the greenies and the loggers. You see their cars parked next to each other at the local shopping centre – their bumper stickers increasingly vehement with phrases such as “Save a job, shoot a greenie” to “Save the Weld” (valley). I almost half expect them to clash at least verbally if they happen to meet up. Since we live in an area, which is basically a traditional stronghold for long-time wood industry workers, we have to hold off putting that “Save Tassie’s Forests” sticker on our car, from fear of being bullied about by a rifle wielding logger.

And being intimidated by the local folks is not an exaggeration. Friends of ours who have lived in the same area for five years, unknowingly trekked through private land and were confronted by a shot gun wielding land owner, whom at first they thought was a logger, redneck type, but who turned out to be a greenie with attitude. Told ya – anything goes.

The other observation we have made, is that trades and service people can be painfully s-l-o-w to take up your business. Anything from custom furniture producers to building contractors and mortgage agents. It can’t be coincidence, as these business are all varied and in different parts of southern Tasmania, but they still didn’t take seriously the transaction that occurs between client and service/product provider. We waited four and a half months for a table and chair package, of which they told us would require only two months tops.  We practically did the ground work for our mortgage agent.  We called for two weeks to many and various building contractors, many of whom didn’t seem to care, didn’t want to know, just couldn’t be bothered. Getting a plumber was an absolute miracle of the universe.

But for the minor inconvenience that these waiting times caused, it has all been worth it. We have our house almost the way we want it – we are on a waiting list for a sparky though…

Discovering new natural areas to escape it all, venues to eat well, and most importantly places to buy fantastic local produce such as local wines, cheeses, seafoods, vegetables and fruits has been a journey in itself. We have covered a lot of territory this way, and found a treasure trove of goodies. However, we have also found that local producers haven’t embraced local clientele so are often too quick to send the good stuff back to the mainland of Australia and elsewhere. Perhaps things will change in the future, and I certainly hope that more like-minded locals work together to create demand for these products. We hope to help raise the demand by featuring “Foodie Finds” and recipes. The same applies to wines, ciders and beers.

Speaking of food, we are also attempting to grow part of our own vegetables and fruits and occssionally source proteins (in the form of meat or fish) from the wild larder: freshwater eels, salmon, flathead, trout and perhaps local wild rabbits or local wild ducks. It’s partly self-sufficiency and partly an exciting lifestyle choice, but we have already started and we cannot wait for what’s to come.