My backyard looks out onto a paddock scattered with sheep. An espresso hit means a forty minute round trip in the car. Shopping for shoes? Well, that just doesn't happen. Moving to a region at least an hour from city civilization was not something I thought I'd be doing in my twenties. I keep telling Tim that we've done the sea change thing about 40 years too early, so maybe when we're seventy we'll get high-flying finance jobs in New York city. It took a while to adjust from my city girl ways (I'm still adjusting to the shoe shopping dilemma, but the withdrawal pains are getting less frequent).
My saving grace has been the discovery of a whole new community of regional food lovers, growers and producers. In fact last weekend's Slow Food Lunch at Fino has made me wonder why I ever missed the city at all. Fino is a small restaurant in the very tiny township of Willunga in McLaren Vale. It is unassuming, modest and quietly confident...words that describe the food, the restaurant and the people who run it. This is a place where you come to be fed. No choosing necessary. Simply sit, say hello to the irrepressible Sharon Romeo at front of house and let your appetite be satiated by David Swain in the kitchen. And why wouldn't you trust them when dishes like house-cured snapper brandade frequent the menu?
The stand out from Sunday's lunch, however, was what I call rabbit with pig in a duck (it's more eloquently explained in the menu below). The rabbit and cured pig's cheek had been stuffed into a duck's neck to form a seriously tasty sausage studded with fennel seeds and just a hint of chilli. It was served with tender shards of braised and poached rabbit meat that simply fell apart as they hit my tongue. The dish had so many components and yet the resulting flavour was simple and honest.
The final touch to this sunny McLaren Vale lunch was a blood plum tart that was perfectly matched with a local moscato.
And so my city girl heart has been stolen by the promise of more local lunches, dinners, conversations and food discoveries in this wine region by the sea. Forget shoe shopping withdrawals. If I live anywhere else I'm going to need a rehab stint to ween me off an addiction to rabbit with pork in duck.
I love your name for this dish! Also the plating is so wonderfully haphazard and inviting. Yummy.
Posted by: Christie | March 31, 2009 at 09:48 PM
The blood plum tart is a beautiful colour!
Posted by: Arwen from Hoglet K | April 02, 2009 at 09:30 AM
Hi Christie - that's what I love about Fino...the food deserves to be pretentious but it never is.
Hi Arwen - and it sure tasted beautiful as well :-)
Posted by: Hedonistic Hostess | April 02, 2009 at 01:08 PM
tell me that plum tart wasn't a single person's serve - it looks divine (and i'd imagine the moscato suited it perfectly).
and meat in meat? i'd take that over shoe shopping anyday.
Posted by: shez | April 02, 2009 at 01:30 PM
Well done Marion I really like how these articles where written! So jealous you live in a foodies Heaven!
Posted by: Angie | April 03, 2009 at 11:56 AM
Hi Shez - well I certainly could have devoured the whole thing, but we were very civilized and shared.
Hi Angie - you know you're welcome to come down to foodie heaven whenever you and Ricardo want to.
Posted by: Hedonistic Hostess | April 03, 2009 at 12:52 PM