Feeding My Family & Friends

Nothing makes me happier than cooking a long, shared lunch for family and friends, especially when it’s showcasing our magnificent region.

I’m very fortunate to call Barragunda Estate home, so when writing a menu I often find inspiration on our front door step. The Barragunda Collective offers bountiful vegetable boxes from Morning Penni, our resident organic farmers as well as seasonal orchard fruit, honey and regeneratively grazed meat direct to the public each week.

Whether I’m baking bread or pastries at home, you can be sure I will be using locally grown and milled Tuerong Farm flour. You can find the full flour range stocked at Torello alongside their irresistible sourdough loaves. Torello Farm is also my one stop shop for Peninsula based pantry items. My kitchen is never without a bottle of Cape Schanck olive oil, a jar of Southern Seagreens furikake or a punnet of Mushroom Forestry’s stunning shitakes.

Torello is truly the beating heart for our little farming community.

A long lunch during the warmer months wouldn’t be complete without some fresh local seafood. A stroll down Flinders pier to Harry’s mussel boat is a summer ritual for me, with the Peninsula Fresh Seafood van also being located nearby. During this time keep an eye out for whole fresh snapper, flathead and whiting which are all caught locally. As the water temperature changes in early autumn calamari season begins, and if you can get your hands on it fresh, the underrated Australian salmon is stunning smoked or cured.

From Flinders I like to head north into Red Hill, dropping into cellar doors along the way to stock up on a variety of our renowned maritime climate wines. Next stop is Main Ridge Dairy for goat cuddles and cheese! My favourites are their silky cashmere curd, but they also stock lots of tasty little larder goods to help complete your spread.

This short yet diverse loop around the Peninsula can create an abundant feast for your table.

Think big green salads full of fresh herbs & lettuce dolloped with goat’s curd, chunky summer pickles, grilled snapper seasoned with wakame furikake, large pots of mussels swimming in sun-drenched tomatoes followed by cheese & stone fruit drizzled in honey alongside big hunks of torn sourdough.

Cooking beautiful food really is effortless in a region as produce rich as ours…how lucky we are!