16 March 2008

It was a Berry good time...


When a friend offered me to stay at his house in Kiama on the South Coast of Sydney for a week of relaxation after leaving a stressful job, it was a relatively easy decision. Going on holidays of course means there is even more time to indulge in good food and there were plenty of opportunities in the midst of my relaxing to enjoy some good food on the South Coast.

Each day started with an invigorating one hour walk on Seven Mile Beach – near the town of Gerroa. It didn't take me long to realize there’s a great café overlooking the ocean called Seahaven, which actually received an award from Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide for best regional café in NSW. They do a good big breakfast including a vegetarian version. As I had some time on my hands I did manage to get there for afternoon tea as well and sampled a very delicious passionfruit hazelnut torte. For those of you reading my blog who don’t know, I’m somewhat of a chocolate fiend and find it very difficult to go past any chocolate dish on the menu. Clearly the fresh air of the South Coast was playing with my senses and I was tempted to try something a little different and I must confess I wasn’t at all disappointed. The hazelnut layers sandwiched between some fluffy fresh cream (and I'm not a lover of fresh cream either) were lovely and light and not overly sweet which compensated for the passionfruit syrup on top.

Being the good tourist, I had to take in all the sights so I took a drive to a small town called Berry which is around 15 minutes from Kiama. It’s a quaint little place with lots of gift shops and good cafes to sample. It was in Berry that I discovered the Woodfired Sourdough Bakery which is located on one of the back streets of Berry. And what a find it was – with a gentle bustling ambience and polished wooden floors I was treated to my all time favourite ‘pain au chocolat’ – it’s chocolate what can I say! I also picked up some lovely chocolate (again) and pear tarts which were absolutely perfect for dessert that evening. However, it was the bread that really impressed me. Having spent a number of years in Germany, the Germans did a good job in instilling into me what constitutes a good loaf. My expectations are high and I’m constantly reminded by my German friends in Sydney about the poor bread baking skills of the Australians but this place does a respectable range of sourdough breads. The Berry Sourdough is delicious although probably still doesn’t meet my German friends’ standards although I'll get back to you on that. The Woodfired Sourdough Bakery is a great place to sit and read the morning paper but if you happen to lose your car keys as I did when I was leaving, you’ll find the staff to be extraordinarily helpful and they remind you of the good things I miss from my childhood of living in small town where people are friendly and go out of their way to help you – I’ll be going back for sure if not for the food definitely for the relaxed country style service.


After all those treats, a walk along Weri Beach in Gerringong in the late afternoon is a perfect way to end the day. The amazing thing about the South Coast is you have the place to yourself – hardly bumping into another soul which is what I love when I’m doing my walks – it’s my own kind of meditation. Afterwards, you can head to the Weri Beach Fish Shop which is a really down to earth fish & chip shop where you can grab your fish & chips and sit by the water and enjoy the views. I had a lovely battered piece of Snapper and they do the chips (aka fries) nice and crispy just the way I like them.

I did manage to do some cooking of my own as well including sourcing some local ingredients to make a delicious pesto which I served with Tagliatelle and shaved zucchini and broccoli. I call this Pesto my Twisted Traditional Pesto because it's got a slight twist but still traditional in its ingredients. It's true garlic is not always in a traditional pesto but it does tend to give your pesto more bite which is a quality I love. In this receipe I have created, I roasted the garlic for around 10-15 minutes in a hot oven. Leave the skin on the garlic clove and that way it will crisp up and you simply ooze out the garlic pulp. Your kitchen will smell divine while roasting garlic. The other ingredient I like to roast is the pine nuts. Personally I'm not much of a fan of raw pine nuts but roasted these guys are divine and their flavour is stronger. I tend to just throw my pine nuts in a saucepan without any oil as nuts contain enough of their own oils to not allow them stick to the pan. Keep an eye on the pine nuts as they have a habit of burning right at the end.

Twisted Traditional Pesto

2 bunches of basil leaves
75 gm of pine nuts (roasted)
1 handful of good quality parmesan cheese freshly grated
2-3 cloves of garlic (roasted)
A good pesto is so easy to make. Place all ingredients in the food processor and slowly add enough olive oil to give the pesto the right consistency. Simple but delicious when it’s fresh.

This was such a fantastic food week – can’t wait until I have my next holiday on the South Coast!
See you next time!
Heidi