Mozzarella salad

I love this recipe its so basic and simple and can be whipped out and made in just a few minutes. This could be after work,made as a snack a small simple dinner or entree preparing for a feast. I make this dish often in summer cause its not too heavy but still has a nice grunt to it without being too rich, also sometimes i just can't be fucked making something complicated after slaving away in the office.

What you need:

tomato's
basil leaves
Spanish onion
red wine vinegar
good extra virgin olive oil
sea salt
cracked pepper
and most of all buffalo mozzarella (can be found in most decent deli's and even the odd supermarket but be careful with supermarkets as they will often charge $10 for about 100g which is around double in relation to most delis)

steps:
cut tomato into around 50-100mm slices depending on taste
slice mozzarella into roughly same thickness as tomato
thinly slice the onion
ground up pepper and salt if you need too(i lost my salt and pepper grinders after moving so just been using mortar and pestle out of nothing but pure laziness)

then just layer them as follows:
tomato,mozzarella,basil leaf then repeat.
Place onion on edge of the cheese and will rest between that and the tomato
drizzle with olive oil and some red wine vinegar
season with a pinch of sea salt and cracked pepper.

Eat!!

If you want you can always add some prosciutto in between and it tastes damn fine too.

I have served this up with a pesto i made and also a little balsamic reduction they really work a treat with this too.

Entre,tapas y vinos

On a nice Sunday night whilst having a stroll in jess's new hood and having a look for some no fuss good take away when I walked past a sign Which grabbed my attention "entre tapas y vinos"

^note: Not the actuall sign but it looks the same forgot to take pic

and thought to myself "gee I like all those things" so I turn my now perked up eyes towards the menu at the front and read such delights as "goats cheese lollipops" "quail in soy glaze" lots of things with truffle,jamon and foie gras so now my attention has been gained(which with A.D.D is no easy feat) I also notice how low the prices are compared to other tapas bars in the higher end scale. It all seems to be good be true at this point and start casting doubt as the place is completely empty despite quite a packed street. The only people I can see is a small group of 3 out the front and just as my fear begins to take control I'm comforted in the fact it's a face I have seen a few times before then Jess whispers in my ear that's it's one of the chefs from vue de monde and my appetite steadily starts building up again. We take our seats at the front so we catch watch all the lovely St kilda bogans walk past. It's a very relaxed atmosphere even if we are now the only people in here. The decor is nice wooden tables and seats, no white linen here, also has a cool piece of street art of a bull fighter.


Once we have relaxed ourselves under the heaters we get given our menus and start deciding on what we want, we decided on goats cheese lollipops($7 for 2)
The quail in soy glaze with spring onion and asparagus and the scallops with foie gras,jamon,truffle and artichoke foam for now.We get two anchovies to start our appetite and boy they very salty but still nice.Next up we had goats cheese lollipops and they were so nice and delicate the first thing you notice is the toasted almond aroma. Once eaten, the goats cheese just melts in your mouth, it's a similar texture and Taste to a soft chevre but has a more earthy flavour to it and I'm assured it's Spanish not french


One of the nice little touches with the free bread was the truffle butter it came with ,we actually had finely grated chunks of truffle spun through the rich butter.It's little things like this that make this place special.



Next was served was theLovely quail($7)it was in two parts the leg and the delicate juicy breast it was cooked in a soy glaze and served with caramelised spring onion and some asparagus.It was cooked perfectly so juicy and tender and not the least bit dry. The spring onion gives the dish a little of sweetness and the sauce was delightful it wasn't a stock standard soy glaze it had huge flavour.I could eat this again and again when quail is done right its always "yeah that was decent" but this really did go above beyond for me and re establish my love for quail.





Next up was the scallops(Japanese jumbo scallop,crispy Spanish ham,foie gras,black truffle and artichoke foam $15 for 2 units) pan seared(i presume) and slightly caramelised but once again not overcooked just perfect . The dish had great texture and a real balancing act of flavours which work so well(scallops and pork are just meant to be) when you bite into the crispiness of the ham is then struck with the earthiness of the fresh truffle then the slight creaminess of the foie and once you reach the scallop its still soft with the slightly caramelised edge and then soft smooth center its like foodie wanker heaven.


Then we had my favourite piece of meat The pork belly(cripsy pork belly served with apple to chef taste and perigordini sauce $14 for a decent serve too) Now i just have to say i am biased when it comes to pork belly and think all pork belly is amazing. Having said that this baby is a stand out from the rest its good simple flavours and isnt over spiced,herbed or anything that could make it bad for that matter. The dish the meat just speaks for itself its juicy and creamy fat and just melts in your mouth and the crackling is to die for its that crispy sharp crunch that you long for in a crackling its over salted,soft and oily its just perfect clean tasting crunchy crackling.Also might point out this dish was also accompied by a cider i have never had or seen before and it just packed a punch full of flavour and was utterly moreish with each sip.


When then followed this all off with some jamón ibérico($20) served with crispy bread that was rubbed in with tomato and garlic but i also kept putting truffle butter on it too,come to think of it i think i just put the truffle butter on everything i had just for the hell of it.

All and all this is a great place with a amazing chef that has created a gem in a otherwise boring little strips of places i wouldnt normally visit. I cant highly recomend this place enough it really is a star. P.s if this is all a little wack looking im sorry i did this on my iphone my laptop is being a piece of shit and if i did this on my ps3 it would take forever.