Food preserving inspiration

Yesterday I attended a preserving foods masterclass at the Queen Vic Markets Cooking School with my sister. It was a fantastic class, presented by an inspiring and passionate chef; Domenic Marzano of Bouzy Rouge, Richmond. We learnt some great techniques for preserving including sardines, gravlax (salmon or ocean trout), mustard pears (yum!), sour onions, fruit, pasta and a few more. All the recipes were then presented for tasting, and the flavours were amazing.

Domenic with the amazing pavlova/preserved berries/mascarpone cream dessert creation. This was absolutely delicious!

Gravlax (cured in herb and salt mix) and salad on the left and sardines with sour onions on the right. Sorry for the messy plate, I should have taken the photo before we started eating it, but it was so appetising that I didn't think of taking a photo till half way through!

I will definitely be finding some time to make up a few of the delicious recipes we were provided with. Preserved fish probably wouldn't have been something I thought to do before, however after tasting the outcome, I look forward to giving it a go myself. And maybe even a night out at the Bouzy Rouge might be in order to sample Domenic's yummy cooking again...

On the topic of food. If anyone gets the ABC delicious magazine (October issue) my sister was the lucky winner of letter of the month! And I was the "sister" she went camping with when she made the blueberry scones (and they were scrumptious too!) It goes to show everybody has their 15 mins in the spotlight eventually.