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Bluefin Niçoise with Lemon & Pepper Mayonnaise

February 18, 2012 by Sam

Last Sunday was the best day tuna fishing I have ever had.

We left Hobart at 6am and headed South.  A few hours later we had the lines in the water and started to troll. I think it only took 3 mins and we had a quadruple hook up – was rather tricky with only 4 of us in the boat.  After that we decided that it would be more sensible to run 3 rods and while later we went to 2. The tuna were coming to the boat thick and fast and it didn’t take long for the seals to cotton on to what we were doing – there was quite a bit of tug of war going on, I think my arms are still sore! Once we had got our bag we headed for the shack where we had a cold beer waiting. A perfect day.

I think alone I have eaten about 5kg of tuna this week but I’m still not sick of it. We normally eat it by it’s self with a bit of soy and wasabi but by the end of the week we decided we need some vegetables so I made this salad.

Ingredients
300g Fresh Tuna
1/2 cup of Green Beans
2x Cos Lettuce Hearts
2x Tbs Caper Chopped Roughly
2x Tbs Red Onion Chopped Finely
3x Eggs
2x Tomatoes – quarted
4x Small Waxy Potatoes
1/2 Cup Sunflower Seed Oil
1/2 Cup Olive Oil
2x Egg Yolks
2x Tsp Horseradish
2x  Tsp White Vinegar
Juice of 2 Lemons
3 Tsp Cracked Black Pepper
Salt to taste

Mayo
In an electric whisk beat the egg yolks, horseradish, pinch of salt, and vinegar. The while whisking slowly add the oil. Now add the lemon and pepper to taste.

Salad
1. Soft boil the eggs, boil the potatoes and blanch the beans and set aside. Break up the cos hearts and dress with a bit of olive oil and salt. Plate up the cos, potatoes, beans, tomatoes and eggs.
2. Season the tuna and sear in a hot pan on all side – this should only take say 20 seconds on each side. The slice finely and place on top of the salad. Add the capers and onion on top of the tuna and add bit of the dressing.


Posted in Blog, Fish · Tagged , , , , , · 12 Comments

No Fish Today

February 10, 2012 by Sam

No fish today – mainly due to the guy in the top photo. He must have been pretty full by the time we pulled stumps. Sausages for tea it is then.


Posted in Blog, Other Stuff · Tagged , , , , , , , · 6 Comments

Truck Drivers Pasta

February 7, 2012 by Catherine

This summer we have been so lucky with fresh produce, the apricots were sweet and juicy and it looks like it is going to be equally as good for tomatoes. I don’t have a garden of my own but I raided my mum’s, she has an amazing basil patch and some really great tomatoes, and so wanted to do a nice simple recipe where you can just enjoy these fresh flavours.

I was given a copy of Giorgio Locatelli’s Made In Sicily for Christmas which is beautiful book and in it he describes a recipe called truck drivers pasta where essentially they would use whatever was around to toss through pasta, hence the name here.

Pasta
300 grams 00 flour
3 eggs (but mine were small so I used 4)

Put the flour on a bench surface and make a well in the middle, break in the eggs and with a fork gently break up the eggs and start mixing the flour in, once together as a dough kneed for 3 to 4 minutes until it feels smooth and silky. Cover in cling wrap and refrigerate for an hour.

Sauce
While you are waiting for this prepare your sauce. I chopped up one big clove of garlic and placed in it a bowl with a handful of yellow cherry tomatoes and six or seven small roma tomatoes chopped, a handful of chopped basil, pinch of sea salt, some grated strips of zucchini and a lug of good olive oil. Just let this sit and rest.

Put the pasta dough through the machine and perhaps make something a little fatter like linguini, I think I only took the pasta to 4 so it was still quite thick. Cook the pasta in some boiling salted water and then drain. Stir through the sauce and serve with some parmesan or pecorino.



Posted in Blog, Vegetables · Tagged , , , , · 4 Comments

Fishing the Other Day

February 2, 2012 by Sam

The other day we went for a fish out off Eaglehawk Neck and this fella showed up. He is a Blue Shark. Not exactly a prize catch, but we had fun hand feeding him and taking a few snaps. We did however manage to get a good feed of Stripey Trumpeter, but more on that later.


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MONA Market – MoMa

January 24, 2012 by Catherine

As some of you may or may not know last week Hobart was lucky enough to experience the Mona Foma festival which included on Saturday the grand opening of the Mona Market, MoMa! Described as a produce-based market where junky souvenirs are banned, one of the very lovely food curators Michelle Crawford contacted Sam and I a month or so ago to see if we would be interested in having an Island Menu stall. We thought about it but realised we didn’t actually have any products to sell…however we were most curious to visit and went along for the ribbon cutting (which was the most amazingly lovely ribbon – complete with carrots, dried pasta and tomatoes).

I gather some of the stalls will change over the course of the market (going every Saturday arvo until Easter) and I will definitely be going back. I missed out on the basil and lemon ice cream and I’m certain the pimms and strawberry jam I got from Michelle will have run out by next weekend! Michelle and co. did a great job in bringing it all together. It’s really good to have something a little different to visit.


Posted in Blog, Other Stuff · Tagged , , , , , · 7 Comments
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