Alfresco Lunch

I always enjoy spending time with family and friends down the beach, fortunately they are all very patient, which is great when there is a need to take a quick pic!  I thought I would share one of our lunches.  I will blog on how to make a Paella in the future, not as difficult as you are lead to believe,  it's like doing anything, a high level of patience and common sense is more important than a high level of skill!
Fresh seafood and seasonal fruits are always are a great start.

Paella is a great starter as the weather gets cooler, the pans are easy to find, Casa Iberica in Hoddle Street, Collingwood has a large range of Spanish cooking items along with fantastic jamon, cheeses, white marinated sardines (boquerones) a personal favourite.  In Spain they are a popular tapas, eaten simply between good bread, yum!  Tapas bars in Spain are great fun, reasonably priced and full of variety, we went on crawl while in Spain, not a pub crawl as such more of a tapas one.  We went in search of the best tortilla, I must confess most of them were pretty good, but you never know what's around the next corner, needless to say we turned a lot of corners!

Paella, grilled eggplant, roasted peppers, vine ripened tomatoes, good bread and the obligatory glass of red.  


Definitely something to smile about!

Roast joint of Pork, not leg but the neck, very popular in Asian cooking as it has a good amount of fat which renders down during the cooking process and keeps the meat very moist.  I usually splash some hoisin sauce mixed with a little oil over the top.  As with all meat let it rest, covered for a least 20minutes, this gives the juices time to distribute through the joint, the result tender, moist delicious pork.  Pork neck is an economical cut, give it a try you'll be surprised with the results!