In this week’s column: The Stag opens its doors with a new look and a very different menu, homemade stock you don’t need to simmer for 12 hours, art that looks good enough to eat, what to do with cumquats, and a feast of food and wine events.

Zucchini flowers, champers and caviar

Yes, stuffed zucchini blossoms will be on the menu when The Stag is officially launched tonight after its $2.5 million renovation.

Head chef Camillo Crugnale has designed a modern pub menu to match the The Stag’s contemporary copper and monochrome look, but a few of the dishes for which he has become famous over his 35 years as one of Adelaide’s best Italian chefs – such as vitello tonnato (veal slices with olive, tuna and caper sauce), crab pasta and stuffed zucchini blossoms – are part of the fare.

A place for a quiet drink before dinner at The Stag. Photo: Nat Rogers/InDaily

The Stag now has lots of options for non-meat eaters, says Crugnale.

“The menu is much more lady-like and fresh, with little bits and pieces from all over Europe – I would get murdered if I don’t have zucchini flowers for the ladies.

“I like to describe The Stag as a ‘neo bistro’.”

The charming Abdullah Daher (ex-Pranzo) is The Stag’s front-of-house manager, welcoming guests to the new Vardon dining room with a menu including scallops with asparagus, pork jowl and hazelnut zabaglione ($19.50); lacquered duck breast infused with cinnamon and star anise and served with an Arabica coffee glaze ($35.50); and pork rib eye with summer fruits, chorizo and Cinzano jus ($29.50).

The Vardon dining room at The Stag. Photo: Nat Rogers/InDaily

Upstairs, the Champagne bar will offer a caviar-inspired menu including Coffin Bay oysters with vodka and salmon caviar (five for $19.50) to go with a selection of French Champagnes.

The new menu also includes bar snacks such as handmade popcorn with Gascony butter (duck fat mixed with crushed garlic) and speck ($8), and casual bar items such as home-made beef pies and lamb sausage rolls (two for $8), a fillet-steak sandwich with Barossa bacon, onion, beetroot relish and chips ($18), and chicken parmigiana ($20).

There’s a simple but substantial weekend breakfast menu which can be enjoyed upstairs on the broad balcony looking east to the hills over Rymill Park and all the way up Rundle Street to the west.

New range of old-school stock

Adelaide cook Bree May. Photo: supplied

Local cook, good-food champion and 2014 My Kitchen Rules winner Bree May has released a range of natural chicken, beef and vegetable cooking stocks.

The stock is made from 100 per cent locally sourced free-range chicken, grass-fed beef and vegetables.

“I roast the bones until they’re caramelised and simmer the stock for 12 hours,” May explains. “Then I put each bottle through a pressure canner to make it pantry stable for 12 months.”

Under her Food According to Bree label, May also produces Chilli Ketchup, Smoked Ketchup and Curry Ketchup from her own spice blends. “I’m an old-school cook in today’s world. I like to cook in the traditional ways using traditional methods.”

May plans to expand her “eatables” product range further, “but I’m a wife and a mum as well, so it takes a bit of time”.

According to Bree stock. Photo: supplied

Painting food and wine

The 2016 Fleurieu Food + Wine Art Prize is a new component of the Fleurieu Art Prize which invites artists to submit paintings on a theme of food and/or wine.

The 2016 prize winner will receive $10,000 with the short-listed works exhibited at the McLaren Vale Visitor Centre and a range of wineries across the Fleurieu region from June 4 to July 29, 2016.

The Fleurieu Art Prize was established in 1998 by artist David Dridan, vigneron Greg Trott and businessman Tony Parkinson, and continues to attracts a national and international following. In 2016, it will relocate to the Anne and Gordon Samstag Museum of Art, where it will be presented to city audiences for the first time.

Entries for the Fleurieu Food + Wine Art Prize close on December 1. More information can be found here.

This week at the Adelaide Farmers’ Market – Cumquats

Nagami cumquats. Photo: supplied

Native to south Asia, the cumquat is a citrus fruit that looks like a miniature round (Marumi variety) or elongated (Nagami variety) orange. The best fruit is plump and bright in colour, with no green tinges, and has a nice firm skin without any blemishes.

Cumquats will keep for a few days at room temperature or can be stored for longer in an airtight container in the fridge. The tart and sweet flavour of the fruit makes it a tasty addition to salads or as an accompaniment to cheese. Cumquats also make great marmalades and jams, or can be caramelised and used as a topping for cakes, desserts or savoury dishes.

There are several ways to eat a fresh cumquat. The first is like a grape – skin and all. If you roll the fruit between your palms or fingers first, it releases the aromatic oils and softens it. Or the cumquat can be cut and the flesh inside scooped out.

Fresh cumquats from Bush Tucker Ice Cream are currently available at Prospect Farmers’ Market on Thursday afternoons from 3pm to 7pm. Prospect Farmers’ Market is located next to Prospect Town Hall on the corner of Vine Street Plaza and Prospect Road. Adelaide Showground Farmers’ Market is also held on Sundays from 9am to 1pm at Leader Street, Wayville.

What’s on?

Variety on King Wiliam lunch – October 23
Enjoy a three-course lunch by Bottega Rotolo, Ichitaro Dining, Faraja, Parisi’s, By Blackbird and Mulot’s Patisserie matched to Tomich Wines and Wicks Estate wines by the runway along King William Road at this year’s Adelaide Fashion Festival. Tickets are $140 per person. The menu and more information can be found here.

2015 Vale Brewing CheeseFest – October 23 to 25
Now in its 10th year, CheeseFest has grown from a grassroots fair celebrating cheese to a three-day festival with a national following where visitors immerse themselves in SA’s cheese culture with tastings, talks, cooking sessions and picnic trails. The full program and tickets are available here.

Lunch with BK Wines and Performance Anxiety – October 25
Adelaide Hills winemaker and ex-chef Brendon Keys is matching his spring-release wines to a creative menu at the Chihuahua Lunch Club, while thespians Amber McMahon and Sarah Giles provide the entertainment. Tickets are $89 per person. Booking inquiries here.

Howard’s Cook Off – October 25
Howard’s Cook Off is on again at the Duke of Brunswick Hotel in Gilbert Street. Current judge Professor Barbara Santich has suggested dill, chives, cress, fennel, tarragon, chervil, borage, mint, sorrel, lemon balm, sage, savoury, lavender, salad burnet, oregano, Vietnamese mint and lemongrass as possible ingredients. Recreational cooks are invited to submit their dishes for judging by 12.30pm with lunch to follow. More information is available from the Duke of Brunswick Hotel.

Wine and Writing – October 25
The SA Writers’ Centre’s literary luncheon at the Publishers Hotel features award-winning authors Cate Kennedy and Sean Williams performing live readings and discussing what it’s like to be a writer. The two-course lunch is open to the public. Tickets are $60 for members and $65 for non-members. More information can be found here.

Fermentation for Health Workshop – October 28
Gut Feeling and Dirty Girl Kitchen are holding a fermentation workshop to teach participants how to produce probiotic-rich fermented vegetables and beverages, including sauerkraut, kimchi, ginger beer and kombucha, at Entropy café in Thebarton. Cost is $65. More information can be found here.

Fresh Eyre to Clare – until October 31
In a regional collaboration between the Eyre Peninsula and the Clare Valley, a program of food and wine events showcasing seafood and Riesling will be held in the Clare Valley this month. A highlight of the program will be a large public event on the lawns at Sevenhill Cellars with live entertainment and a Riesling bar with more than 20 wineries pouring Rieslings matched to seafood dishes prepared by the regions’ chefs. The full event program can be found here.

The Great Food Rescue Race – November 6
OzHarvest has teamed up with Santos to launch The Great Food Rescue Race – a new way to get behind the work of OzHarvest, reducing food waste and feeding the hungry and homeless in Adelaide. Registration is $50 per person. For every team of five registering, OzHarvest can deliver an additional 500 meals.

Beer and Bubbles – November 7
This new boutique beer and sparkling laneway event in the East End will showcase more than 50 local craft beers, South Australian sparklings and a selection of international champagnes with tastings, street food and entertainment between 1pm and 6pm. Tickets are $35 per person. Bookings can be made here.

Langhorne Creek out of the barrel – November 7 and 8
This is Langhorne Creek’s annual springtime tasting event for new and special-release wines that are otherwise unavailable for tasting. Experience wine bottling at Angas Plains Wines, a wine and cheese-pairing masterclass at The Winehouse, food and wine and music at Bleasdale Wines, a pop-up tasting of Temple Bruer Organic Wine at the Langhorne Creek Memorial Hall and much more. See the full program here.

Picnic at Marble Hill – November 22
Tickets are now on sale for this one-day festival of artisan wine, food and music from the cool heart of the Adelaide Hills. A group of Adelaide Hills wineries and cider makers will showcase their drops alongside a range of local food producers against the stunning backdrop of the historic Marble Hill ruins. Proceeds go to the Cora Barclay Centre for deaf and hearing-impaired children, the Basket Range Primary School and the Cherryville CFS. Tickets are $15 for adults. More information here.

News, tips and information?

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