Alla's Journal

Welcome to late Autumn at Lake House
After some magnificent early Autumn weather – wintry temperatures appear to be here to stay.  As always Mother Nature catches us unaware, marching entirely to her own drum. No frosts yet, but hopes for a prolonged tomato harvest certainly appear to be dashed. Never mind, a surfeit of green tomatoes at our Wombat Hill Garden means chutney galore! Meantime, heirloom beets and beautiful pumpkins remain plentiful locally. We don scarves and boots to go mushrooming in local forests almost on a daily basis. Honour boxes with sacks of chestnuts can be spotted down local country lanes.

Quinces are abundant and there are still wild apples and pears – mostly ‘lost varieties’– to be picked. We’ve just finished a late bottling of jelly from apple and elderberries picked from local hedgerows. You’ll probably find it on the breakfast table. But our preserves are also available in our foyer and at Wombat Hill House. After a day out walking in the crisp country air, everyone is ready for more robust flavours and some slow cooking. Local goat provides flavour aplenty as do forest mushrooms, paired with soft egg. Wild rabbit is plentiful and perfect for a very non traditional cassoulet. Long cooked suckling pig (thanks Judy for your wonderful product) has the added robustness and heat of chilli and fermented beans. We are also sourcing some exceptional well aged grass fed beef.

Desserts showcase our local Autumn harvest. Local ewe’s milk yoghurt and goat’s milk curd, lush and herbaceous from abundant pasture, are used as flavour punctuations here and there. And of course there are the smoked eels from the Osbornes, trout from the Jones’ and traditional European smallgoods from the Jurcan family. Our milk and cream comes from Jonesy’s farm in Kerang and Naomi Ingleton supplies our cultured butter. Our tea list is mostly supplied by Southern Light Herbs in Maldon.

Welcome to our late Autumn table- we look forward to welcoming you.
Alla Wolf-Tasker AM
Executive Chef

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EARLY AUTUMN

"Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness..." Indeed the most beautiful of seasons.

But we need plenty of sun to ripen all the tomatoes in our gardens here and at Wombat Hill House. Pickled and chutneyed green tomatoes by the bucket full otherwise. Through the door from our local farmers, comes a steady and beautiful array of zucchini, squash, heirloom tomatoes, beetroot and carrots. Then there are eggplants, rare radishes, tiny beans - a plethora of herbs including shiso, bronze fennel, red sorrel and much more. We've harvested box after box of plums from our trees and used them in one guise or another in our menus. Angelinas and Satsumas are favourites. Nearby, hedgerows still offer pungent elderberries for glazes and sauces. Laden crabapple trees beckon. With all this abundance you can be sure there's a fair bit of bottling, jelly and jam making going on. A new and very beautiful apple and elderberry jelly is but one outcome. You'll find our preserves at breakfast, in the foyer and at Wombat Hill House.

Mind you, I'm already watching our quince trees with great anticipation. And there was much excitement at the discovery of early pine mushrooms in the forest after a recent bout of rain. With cooler nights and our nets no longer yielding the sort of abundance experienced in summer, local yabbies are now relegated to the occasional ‘special'. Although limited in number, they remain sweet and delicious.

Local ewe's milk yoghurt and goat's milk curd, lush and herbaceous from abundant pasture, are being used as flavour punctuations on dishes here and there. Judy Croagh's suckling pigs - slow cooked, are paired with Asian flavours on a dish finished with a steamed bun. The last local berries, peaches and the first apples, colour and flavour our menu. And of course there are the smoked eels from the Osbornes, trout from the Jones' and traditional European smallgoods from the Jurcan family. Our milk and cream comes from Jonesy's farm in Kerang and Naomi Ingleton supplies our cultured butter. Pastured beef is often from down the road in Gisborne.

Alla Wolf-Tasker AM

REGIONAL PRODUCER'S DAY AT LAKE HOUSE
SUNDAY 12th FEB 10 'til 4 $5 Entry

It's that time of year again - when we celebrate the region's bounty at our Annual Regional Producer’s Day.
For those who have never been – on this special day, we throw open the grounds of Lake House to a raft of our favourite local suppliers of food and wine.

In the Terrace Room, filled with food stalls and producers you'll want to have a chat to, I'll be hosting guest chef cooking demonstrations and foodie conversations. Want to know what to do with all those tomatoes, find out about rare breed meats, or understand the implications of GM? Then this will be the place to grab a seat. Hepburn Shire's Sustainability Award for 2012 will also be announced here.

Outside, more stalls will offer the opportunity to taste, shop and meet the producers. Tables will provide a place to sit and enjoy live music and delicious fare from the BBQ and wood fired oven. Great coffee from Vittoria and cider, beer and wine by the glass or bottle will be available all day. A marquee on the tennis court will house winemakers, brewers and cider makers as well as  wine commentary and blind tasting competitions run by wine writer Nick Stock. There are great prizes to be won.

Taste your way through the market.... fill your shopping bags.... relax with a spread for the afternoon, either undercover or in the gardens. Get involved in a conversation about food, wine, sustainable agriculture and health. And above all, come and say hello to:

Angelica Organic Farm, Aussie Truffle Dogs, Barfold Olives, Big Shed, Birthday Villa, Crisp Produce & Preserves, Curly Flat, Dolphin Brewery, Eastern Peake, Ellender Estate, Goldfields Farm House Cheese, Greenvale Farm, chooks, pheasant & quail, Guilford Vineyard, Herbal Lore Liquor, Holgate Brewhouse, Holy Goat Cheese, Istra SmallGoods, Janey Bee Biscuits, JCBee Honey, Kyneton Olive Products, Lithia Springs Olive Oil, Locavore books, MADGE, Michel’s Fine Biscuits, Mitchell Harris Wines, Mount Franklin Estate, Mount Franklin Organics, Oss Eels, Passing Clouds, Piper Street Food Co, Red Beard Bakery, Roy ( our favourite fruit guy!), Sher Wagyu, Spring Creek Organics, Stella’s Bread, Sutton Grange Winery, The Natural Spice Company, The Butter Factory, The Vintage Baker, Tonia Todman Roses, Twofold, Tony Butler Murray Cod, Trewella Farm, Tuki Trout & Lamb, Verde Providores, Warialda Galloway Beef, Wolf in Kitchen, Yapunyah Chooks, Zig Zag Wines & more....

I look forward to seeing you there.

Alla Wolf Tasker AM

Happy New Year to you all!

Beautiful summer skies have returned as I write and I'm pleased to say that the region's produce is now back on track with all our local artisan farmers predicting bumper crops. Seeing beautifully cared for produce rolling in through the door is a daily treat. Florian, from Mt Franklin organics, one of our primary suppliers, runs his place entirely on solar power. No cold storage, may make things more of a challenge, but for us it means that things have to be delivered the morning they are picked. You can't get fresher than that! And the raspberries coming from Yandoit, the peaches (and figs) from just down the road....

Our own gardens here at Lake House and at Wombat Hill House are also flourishing. I'm predicting a glut of heirloom tomatoes, baby beans, zucchini and much more.

Meantime - after almost 3 decades at Lake House - I am so very gratified to see significant awards and accolades still rolling in (see below). At the end of the day it's still what you, our guests think of us, that matters most. And indeed you are our best ambassadors. But for the team of young professionals here, who continue to carry the flag for good service and attention to detail - these accolades are a reward for their efforts and continued hard work. Well done everyone.
 
We look forward to sharing the regional bounty and our summer table with you.
Alla Wolf Tasker AM
Executive Chef/Co-proprietor