San Francisco garlic fries and beef burger.

Fries recipe here. Burger patty was just beef, egg, mustard, breadcrumbs, onion and Aleppo pepper, sandwiched between tasty cheese, tomato relish, mustard, mashed avocado, sauteed onions, tomatoes, pickles, tomato sauce and a soft white bun. Scrumptious.

The salt drenching can continue. Phew.

PT said to go the Wagyu Burger at Cafe Vue, so we did. I thought $15 was a touch pricey but my lordy lord...this humble fare was delicious and surprisingly filling too. The home made tomato sauce came in a cute little juice bottle and was so tasty, I practically inhaled the stuff and the chips were perfect; good portion, perfectly seasoned and cute presentation. Domus and I had been concerned of late that either a) Melbourne restaurants had really dropped the ball or b) we'd screwed up our palettes from salt-overload, but i'm pleased to say that Cafe Vue and their lovely staff (who don't have botox smiles plastered to their face or feel the need to refill your water between sips like the waiters at Pan Asia) have revived my Melbourne-dining-libido. Many thanks.

Lunch rocked.

Menu selection was tough. Dad doesn't eat seafood or pig or spices so all options either had to be dad-friendly or easy to separate out the bad bits. We decided to return to the open Swedish burger from last week's trial - huge success. Dad didn't even notice the ground caraway seeds. Think they were masked by Domus's beet-root mandolin skillfulness. Then we did the opposite colour thing with the tahini beans and asparagus and threw in a splash of summer with watermelon, haloumi, pomegranate, prawn and burghul salad. Each dish had completely unique flavors and was devoured in second and third rounds. No doubt everyone is now suffering with spary-wee and crimson poo.  Dessert was Autumn salad of pomegranate, pear and fig in rhubarb syrup. (see previous post for failed attempts at the rhubarb) with King Island vanilla yogurt. Mmmm, Food coma to the max.    

 

Green bean and asparagus recipe:
• green bean and asparagus salad with sesame dressing • 2 bunches asparagus 

• 250g green beans

• 1/4 cup Asian sesame paste or Tahini

• 2 tbs soy sauce

• 1 tbsp caster sugar

• 1 tbs rice wine vinegar'1 tsp finely grated ginger

• 2 red Asian eschalots thinly sliced

Blanch veg in boiling saulted water for 2-3 mins, then rinse with cold water. Stir paste, sauce, sugar, vinegar, ginger and 1 tbs water in a bowl to dissolve sugar. Drizzle greens with dressing and top with eschalots. I also put fried eschalots on top as well.

Be my valentine oh Swedish burger.

Had a very chilled out Valentines Day this year. Started off pumping iron at the gym - Domus worked me hard and now boob muscles ache. Then went for a little walk with the parentals and the bad-breath schnauzer (he loves possum poo and fish leftovers). Hit the Asian grocery shop in Bentleigh to stock up on asparagus and lamb back-straps and the work experience chick had the nerve to throw in a 500gm bag of rotten strawberries to reward me for my loyalty. Headed over to The Retreat in Brunswick for the afternoon. Big deal for me, I know. Had to pull over and let Don drive as I was already falling asleep on Kings Way and didn't want us to be a Feb road stat. Made it back safely and had a quick nana nap at 6:15pm so i'd be fresh and fancy for our dinner experiment, the Swedish open burger with beetroot salad from the Vodka and Schnapps cookbook. This is what Valentines Day is all about. x