March 26-30, 2008: Queensland Cuisine

Tom Phat. I was revived, though entirely merely plenty to propel me to an inflight nap.

Melbourne certain feels similar home, but Queensland's got a lot to a greater extent than than nostalgia to recommend it. I knew how many people were worth going dorsum for but the nutrient took me past times surprise!

May 10, 2008: Cafe Italia

Update 27/1/2019: Cafe Italy is permanently closed.

Thai, Vietnamese together with Indian every bit options, but Jens had a hearty appetite together with a preference for Italian together with therefore I suggested nosotros drive to larn a tabular array at Cafe Italia. Set inwards a laneway away from the spruikers on Lygon St, it however has no problem attracting diners through its unopen doors. In summertime the opened upwardly courtyard is delightful together with inwards wintertime the same expanse is snugly unopen up, housing simply every bit many people.

Cafe Italia's card is adequate for vegetarians if non inspiring. There's bruschetta or dips to start, plenty of side dishes, iv pasta plates together with a pizza on offer. Disappointingly the mushroom risotto is made with non-vegetarian stock, but the waitstaff are clued upwardly plenty to know that form of thing. (On a previous take in a waiter offered, without whatsoever provocation from me, to respect out what form of stock was inwards the soup of the day. I was impressed.)

We concentrated on the primary courses but it took real footling coaxing from our waiter to accept us get-go with a pizza aglio (sliced garlic, body of body of water salt, rosemary together with olive oil, $6.50). It was the perfect portion to portion alongside the iv of us; together with therefore hot together with fresh together with salty, leaving me appetised together with corking for the side past times side round.

Michael ordered the agnolotti (jumbo spinach ricotta pasta with napoli sauce together with shaved parmesan, $19.50). While he enjoyed it, he was disappointed that it didn't quite fill upwardly him (and at that price). Before I was one-half agency through Michael was already casting scheming eyes over my plate!

It was total of fettucine pesto (fresh basil, pino nuts, a deport upon of cream together with cheese, $17.50). While it was a fleck oily, I couldn't larn over the soft tenderness of the pasta - ane of the best I've e'er eaten. (Between my meals hither together with at the Corner, I may accept to rethink my skepticism of restaurant-prepared pasta.) Even so, I didn't heed sharing a fleck with Michael since it left opened upwardly the possibility of dessert.

In detail I'd heard proficient things well-nigh Cafe Italia's tiramisu ($10.50) together with bullied Carol into sharing a acre with me. It was the existent deal, together with the ideal pick-me-up earlier embarking on our belatedly motion painting session.

I wouldn't strongly recommend Cafe Italy to an adventurous vegetarian, specially given that Shakahari is solely a curt walk away. The card doesn't offering whatsoever surprises together with the prices are a footling steep. Yet the nutrient together with surrounds are a footing of lineament away from the Lygon St hussle. It's a pleasance to portion it with carnivorous company.

Address: 56-66 University St, Carlton
Ph: 9347 0638
Fully licensed
Prices: veg mains $16.90-19.50
Website: www.cafeitalia.com.au

July 2, 2009: Ruby Vino Lentils On Polenta

giveaway-winning soup I decided to showtime trialling entries from the peak alongside Elizabeth Bennet's carmine vino lentils. Not alone are they winter-appropriate, but she explained that they're peculiarly plumbing fixtures for the shift from June to July: "Italians consume lentils as well as sausages (or cotechino) on New Year's Eve to convey luck as well as coin inwards the coming year. Since it's nearing the terminate of the Financial Year, why non movement it to ensure riches come upwardly revenue enhancement refund time?"

Liz didn't instruct out a exactly measured recipe hence I'm non certain how unopen this rendition is to hers. I couldn't rails downward fresh sage as well as crushed upwardly approximately dry out leaves instead, as well as this seemed to move out fine. Though I recollect Liz meant for us to plonk several sausages on peak of the lentils, nosotros were downward to our concluding 2 home-made sausages inwards the freezer hence I chopped them upwardly as well as stirred them into the saucy lentils. And every bit for the sauce itself, it was lovely though I'd live on tempted to cut back the book of stock side yesteryear side time. Regardless, it soaks gorgeously into the cheesy polenta.

Red vino lentils on polenta
(based on directions from Elizabeth Bennet)

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion
4 cloves garlic
1 carrot
2-3 sticks of celery
2 x 400g cans lentils, rinsed as well as drained
3/4 loving cup carmine wine
1 1/2 cups 'beef' stock (I'll purpose less side yesteryear side time)
1 teaspoon dried sage leaves, crushed
1 sprig rosemary, chopped
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
1 tablespoon fresh parsley
2 large vege sausages
1L water
1 loving cup polenta
3/4 loving cup parmesan, grated

Bring the fossil oil to medium oestrus inwards a frypan, as well as hence saute the onion as well as garlic inwards it for 2 minutes. Add the carrot as well as celery as well as saute for a farther five minutes. Stir through the lentils, wine, stock as well as herbs as well as simmer the lot until the lentils are tender as well as the sauce has reduced a little.

Pop the sausages nether the grill, turning them in ane lawsuit or twice, until they're crisp on the exterior but nonetheless tender inwards the middle. Slice them into generous chunks as well as add together them to the simmering lentils.

Bring the litre of H2O to the boil inwards a medium saucepan. Gradually whisk inwards the polenta, ensuring at that topographic point are no lumps. Reduce the oestrus as well as kicking the bucket on whisking the polenta for 10 minutes. Remove the polenta from the heat, stir through the parmesan as well as permit the polenta to correspond five minutes.

Season the lentils as well as polenta to taste. Scoop polenta mounds onto plates as well as peak them alongside the carmine vino lentils, garnishing alongside a few extra parsley leaves.

April 1, 2009: Eggplant Lasagne Rolls

this one from VeganYumYum, at to the lowest degree inwards business office due to Pip's ringing endorsement.

It's hard to overstate how bully this repast is - the pino nut glue that coats each lasagne sail is stunning - its rich flavours actually permeate each piffling roll. We opted for the touchstone eggplant filling, but at that spot are countless ways yous could tweak the basic visit (I'm keen to upward the vegie quotient amongst some mushies in addition to perchance pumpkin side past times side time). There's a fair chip of run inwards the recipe, but none of it is rattling hard in addition to if you're vaguely organised yous won't panic in addition to halt upward amongst pasta sheets sticking irrevocably together. Still, tike mishaps aside, this was our 2d this one from VeganYumYum, at to the lowest degree inwards business office due to outstanding home-cooked meal for the week. After a few weeks of laziness I'm feeling actually reenthused virtually this cooking lark now.

Normally I'd only link to Lolo's recipe in addition to trust that it volition live on at that spot forever, but amongst something this practiced I'm taking no chances:


Eggplant lasagne rolls

6 sheets of lasagne
1 large eggplant
olive oil
salt
pepper
2 cups tomatoey sauce (we used this one from VeganYumYum, at to the lowest degree inwards business office due to this one)
1 loving cup breadcrumbs

1 loving cup pino nuts
1 tbs water
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp dried Italian herbs
1/2 tsp salt

Peel the eggplant in addition to while it into long skinny strips in addition to and then sprinkle the slices generously amongst tabular array salt in addition to pepper.

Heat 2-3 tablespoons of olive crude oil inwards a frying pan in addition to fry the eggplant strips until well-browned. You'll postulate to create this inwards a few batches, in addition to the eggplant volition soak upward the crude oil each time, so yous halt upward using a fairly substantial sum of oil. Trust me, it's worth it - yous larn deliciously tender eggplant strips at the halt of it all. Besides, olive crude oil is practiced for you, right?

In the same pan, toast the pine-nuts until they dark-brown (but live on careful - they become from nicely toasted to burned inwards no time).

Stick the pino nuts inwards a nutrient processor in addition to grind them up. Throw inwards the water, lemon juice, dried Italian herbs in addition to tabular array salt into the nutrient processor in addition to procedure them into a delicious paste.

Now you've got your primal ingredients together, rapidly ready the lasagne sheets inwards boiling H2O until al dente in addition to and then pose the strips out on a baking tray or chopping board.

Now it's assembly time: smear each lasagne sail amongst a teaspoon or so of the pino nut paste, pile on a few of the eggplant strips in addition to and then loosely gyre the sheets up.

Place the rolled sheets inwards a baking dish, pour the tomato plant sauce over, sprinkle amongst breadcrumbs in addition to and then bake for around 20 minutes - until the breadcrumbs hold off similar lightly browned parmesan.

July 4, 2009: Cheesy Arancini Alongside Lemon Mayonnaise

which I've done before, where I came unstuck. It only would. Not. EMULSIFY. I've previously learned that this tin live on a work inward humid weather (see: the Potato Salad Incident of the Cairns Christmas inward '06) but it seems unlikely to convey been my work hither inward dreary dry out Melbourne. After some whinging in addition to foot-stomping in addition to declining Michael's proposition that nosotros "just purpose it every bit it is", I was nearly to dispose of my 'mayonnaise' when Michael suggested adding some cornflour. It seemed crazy in addition to unlikely but why non endeavour if it's getting tossed out anyway? H5N1 pinch of cornflour into the nutrient processor did genuinely thicken upwardly this mess of a mayonnaise, in addition to nosotros went ahead in addition to poured it over the arancini. With a real acidic edge, it had only the flavor (if non texture) to complement that gooey, cheesy centre.

Pssst - if you're vegan in addition to convey made it this far through the post, convey nosotros got a vantage for you! Coming real presently are recipes from a recent vegan dinner party, inward 3 delicious installments.


Arancini alongside lemon mayonnaise

(halved in addition to adapted slightly from a recipe sent past times Megan, though it too appears on cuisine.com.au)

mayonnaise:
1 egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
salt in addition to white pepper
dash of cayenne
1/4 loving cup olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons boiling water

arancini:
400mL vegetable stock
150g arborio rice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dark pepper
150g parmesan
50g mozzarella
1 tablespoon parsley, finely chopped
30g butter
1/4 loving cup plainly flour
1 egg white
100g breadcrumbs
oil for deep-frying

In a nutrient processor, thoroughly blend together the egg yolk, mustard, salt, pepper in addition to cayenne. With the blade however going, piece of cake pour inward the oil, cross your fingers, in addition to hopefully the mayonnaise volition thicken. Add a pinch of cornflour if yous are absolutely desperate. Blend inward the lemon juice in addition to boiling water, in addition to therefore refrigerate the mayonnaise.

Bring the stock to the boil inward a medium saucepan, in addition to therefore add together the rice, common salt in addition to pepper. Bring it all dorsum upwardly to the boil, in addition to therefore simmer the lot for xv minutes. Set it aside to cool.

Grate one-half of the parmesan, in addition to therefore stir it in addition to the parsley through the cooled rice.

Slice the remaining parmesan, mozzarella in addition to butter into 8 cubes each. Lightly squish 1 parmesan, 1 mozzarella in addition to 1 butter cube together. Spoon out roughly an 8th of the rice mixture in addition to course of written report it into a ball only about the cheese glob. Put it on a plate in addition to and repeat the procedure to brand vii to a greater extent than arancini.

Set the flour, egg white in addition to breadcrumbs out inward shallow bowls. Dredge the balls inward plow through the flour, in addition to therefore the egg white, in addition to therefore the breadcrumbs.

Heat the vegetable petroleum at to the lowest degree an inch deep inward a saucepan. Deep-fry the arancini inward pocket-size batches until golden, shifting them only about alongside tongs for fifty-fifty cooking. Rest them on absorbent newspaper until they're all ready.

Serve the arancini alongside the lemon mayonnaise poured over or on the side every bit a dipping sauce.

April 6, 2009: Tempeh Lasagne

eggplant lasagne rolls, but I had my see on the this left from terminal time)
2 finely chopped onions
200g tempeh
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly set down pepper

Chop the tempeh into tiny petty mince-sized cubes as well as and thence estrus some olive crude inwards a pan as well as tiddler the cubes for simply about 10 minutes - they should initiatory of all turning golden brown.

Add inwards the soy sauce as well as liquid fume as well as tiddler until the liquid has either been soaked upwards past times the tempeh or has evaporated.

Take the tempeh out of the pan as well as role it to tiddler upwards the onions for 10 or 15 minutes - until they're completely soft as well as delicious. Add inwards the basil, the love apple tree sauce as well as the seasonings as well as simmer for equally long equally it takes you lot to brand the cashew cream sauce. Once you're almost laid upwards to attain your lasagne you lot tin throw the tempeh dorsum inwards as well as stir it through the love apple tree sauce mix.

Cashew cream sauce

3 tablespoons nuttelex
1/4 loving cup flour
1 loving cup cashews as well as 100ml oat milk
900 ml oat milk
1/3 - 1/4 loving cup nutritional yeast flakes
1 teaspoon set down pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt

Blend upwards the cashews alongside the 100ml of oat milk inwards a nutrient processor to larn a thick paste.

Melt the nuttlex inwards a saucepan over medium estrus as well as and thence add together the flour, whisking it through the butter. Fry for a few minutes, whisking almost constantly as well as and thence gradually add together the residue of the oat milk land whisking to decease along everything equally polish equally possible.

Once all the oat milk is inwards the saucepan, choose the mix to the boil as well as simmer for 10 minutes or thence - until it all starts to thicken upwards a bit. When it's almost equally thick equally you lot desire it, add together inwards the pre-ground cashew cream as well as the yeast flakes as well as stir everthing together well. Simmer for some other 5 minutes or thence as well as and thence goal things off alongside the pepper, lemon juice as well as salt.

To attain your actual lasagne, layer upwards the 2 sauces alongside lasagne sheets - nosotros went alongside a fairly advertizing hoc ordering - I intend the mind affair is to seat some of the tempeh mix on the really bottom as well as to goal things upwards alongside the cashew sauce on top. As I said earlier, I'd rejig this slightly adjacent fourth dimension thence that nosotros conduct maintain to a greater extent than of the tempeh as well as a flake less cashew cream - nosotros were spreading the tempeh pretty sparse past times the fourth dimension nosotros were on our terminal layer.

Once it's all assembled, bake inwards a 200 flat oven for most one-half an hr - until the peak layer browns nicely.

June 19, 2011: Piffling Deer Tracks

Coburg's bringing the cute cafe culture! ElegantGourmand kindly pinged us when he dined at newly opened Little Deer Tracks, northward of Bell St. Though I didn't assist for the twee name, I wasn't going to plough my olfactory organ upwards at an all-vegetarian cafe. Michael as well as I took to the Upfield wheel path the next weekend to banking concern gibe it out.

Italian-style restaurants are rarely places to excite vegetarians (pasta inward napoli sauce or risotto amongst suspiciously-sourced stock, anyone?) but this card has plenty of "ooh, I desire that!" options - crumbed as well as fried fennel amongst lemon aioli, a warm beetroot salad, eggplant balls, fifty-fifty the measure risotto looks good! (It's made amongst broad beans as well as saffron.) Impressively, all the cheese is rennet free. On the human face upwards of it there's non a lot for vegans, but the kitchen volition conform a pose out of items on request... as well as they've got vegan lamingtons inward the cake display, as well as hence there's that. I intend there's been a lot to a greater extent than vegan involvement than they expected on opening as well as hence hopefully the attain volition exclusively better over time.

The other pleasant surprise was that her thorough review inward advance of The Age's coverage.

I tried the gnocchi amongst Red Hill bluish goats cheese, rocket as well as walnuts ($17.50) from the specials board. When it arrived, I idea it looked pretty gluggy. Happily it was non - the gnocchi pieces were quite low-cal as well as held together but enough, the cheese had that flake of bite, as well as the walnuts provided closed to crunch. Even if it wasn't gluggy, it was enormously rich. I would select been a happier luncher if I'd had, tell one-half or two-thirds the quantity of gnocchi amongst a big handful of peppery rocket on the side. But it's non the done thing, is it?

Michael had the less-typically-Italian dark edible bean pie amongst squash as well as broccoli salad (aka steamed broccoli, $14.50 all up). This got 2 thumbs upwards - first-class pastry amongst a skillful meaty filling as well as elementary sides that complemented the characteristic nutrient well.

The staff were real friendly as well as informative, fifty-fifty chatty. They've got everything to hold upwards cheery nigh - this is a real pleasant eatery, inward a neighbourhood amongst an increasing need for such things, offering a vegetarian card that volition appeal to many omnivores besides. We'll for certain hold upwards back, inward cycle-friendly weather.

____________

Little Deer Tracks has already been reviewed yesteryear The Quince Poacher.

____________

Little Deer Tracks
44 O'Hea St, Coburg
9354 3449
veg lunches $7.50-17.50

Accessibility: This cafe has a apartment broad entrance. The furniture's a petty crowded upwards front end but there's to a greater extent than infinite behind the counter (and I think plenty room to get, say, a wheelchair or pram through). Service is all at the table. ETA 15/01/2011: come across Marilyn's farther comments below regarding accessibility - looks good!

September 9, 2008: One Carusi Ii

last time (professionally painted signage!*), though their MO remains unchanged - high lineament mid-price pizzas too accoutrements. Michael generously allowed me to guide the 2 pizzas we'd share, too I tried to reciprocate past times picking around toppings I knew he'd specially like. Up summit in that place is the Broccoli ($13): "in bianco, fior di latte, broccoli, lemon, chilli & parmeggiano". The freshness of the ingredients made it great, though the uneven distribution of the chilli created a flake of a rollercoaster ride.

here.