Mother's Day

Are you showing the love this Mother's Day? Our best waitress in the restaurant, Val (aka Mum) won't be getting much love this Mother's Day. As this is our busiest day of the year at Lou Miranda Estate Restaurant she will be too busy working to realise that she has missed out on the lashings of love.

When we were younger we would surprise mum with pancakes in bed (and a mess in the kitchen) for the special day just reserved for her. The excitement of hearing the batter sizzle in the pan and the mixture puff up forms one of my first Mother's Day memories. As the youngest in our family I wasn't allowed to be near the stove so I would have a small step ladder and peer over my sisters shoulders while they prepared the meal.

Rekindling my childhood memories here is the recipes for Mother's Day pancakes (and they taste pretty good any other day of the year).

PANCAKES

2 cups S.R. Flour

1⁄2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon bicarb soda

4 tablespoon caster sugar

1⁄2 teaspoon cream of tartar

2 eggs

2 teaspoon soft butter

1 cup sour milk

vanilla

golden syrup
Copha or olive oil for cooking

Mix all the ingredients together with a mix master. Place a smaller amount of copha or olive oil in a warm frying pan. Scoop a soup ladle full of the batter into the warm frying pan. The first few pancakes will either be undercooked or overcooked, these are called testers and are souly reserved for the chef, depending on the heat adjust your burner so the pancakes form a golden brown crust. This recipe will make a really thick batter to get a more runny consistency add extra milk. If you add too much milk the batter won't hold together, the consistency should be similar to golden syrup.

Mum normally likes to eat her pancakes with maple syrup and ice cream whilst my personal preference is with lemon juice and sugar. Other options are strawberries and cream, maple syrup and crispy fried bacon, jam and cream, poached fruits, goodness the list goes on and on.

www.loumirandaestate.com.au

Leone Brut Prestige

Barossa Winter Dinner @ Lou Miranda Estate

Lou Miranda Estate invites you to join us for a four course dinner on Saturday 21st May 2011 to celebrate Winter in the Barossa.

Date: Saturday 21st May 2011
Location: Lou Miranda Estate, Rowland Flat
Time: first seating at 6:30, last seating at 8:00
Cost: $65.00pp (4 courses, not including drinks)
Bookings essential: please call 8524 4537 or email victoria@loumirandaestate.com.au
payment must be made with the booking.

The Menu
Warm fragrant citrus olives and a rosemary & parmesan flowerpot scroll with olive butter

Starters
Lamb cigars with mint, chilli & lime vinegarette
Barbecued scallops wrapped in prociutto on a bed of braised lentils
Squid tube stuffed with fetta lemon & parsley served with lemon voulte and tomato chutney

Entree
Prawn ravioli with mascarpone, lime & ginger with creamy pea and saffron sauce topped with smoked salmon

Main
Chicken breast stuffed with ricotta, orange blossom & baby spinach wrapped in prociutto served with & a maplecomb, peas & salami

Dessert
Quince & walnut cake with baked honey quince and mascarpone
Leone 2008 Botrytis Semillon

Coffee & tea

http://www.loumirandaestate.com.au/

Everything Barossa

We have just received a wonderful recommendation from the Everything Barossa Blog. It is a great website created by Tania Shirgwin on all things in and about the Barossa. So if you are planing a visit to the Barossa or would like to get connected with Barossa businesses you definately need to put this one high on your links.

http://www.loumirandaestate.com.au/

New Winter Menu at Miranda Restaurant @ Lou Miranda Estate

Miranda Restaurant in the Barossa Valley will be serving their new winter menu from the weekend of the April 16, 2010.

Situated in beautiful surroundings arched windows which frame the wineries cellar door. The views from the windows are of vines dating back to the start of the 19th century. Miranda Restaurant is sure to impress group of holidaying friends, a family lunch or a casual business meeting.

Now in it's 6th year of changing the menu has become a way for our Restaurant to express changing trends and showcase the availability of fresh produce. The winter menu incorporates home style cooking with an Italian touch You will find Walnut & sage flowerpot loafs baked daily along with Corn bread served with minted peas and heartwarming Beef espresso pie.
By using family recipes (with some modern adjustments by the chef Alison Short) Nonna's beef ragu we are re-creating the homestyle food for our patrons. We have also introduced some new starter dishes to share at the table or to be enjoyed in the lounge area with a glass of vino.
Click here to see the new menu to titillate your taste buds.

Open 7 days a week for lunch from 11:00 to 3:00 please call 8524 4537 to make a booking.

Urbanspoon

Lou Miranda Estate Restaurat now has a listing on Urbanspoon.

Lou Miranda Estate Restaurant on Urbanspoon

I was playing with a friends iPod on the weekend and she has an 'app' called Urbanspoon. I had a lot of fun shaking the phone, yes I did write shaking, to search for different restaurants. It works like a Pokies machine, every time you shake the phone it scrolls through a list of restaurants. It is a cool little program that allows you to search for different restaurants by either region, price range or cusine.

If you get a chance you can click on the link above to vote if you enjoy eating at Lou Miranda Estate Restaurant.

What will they think of next...

Degustation wine dinners in May

Over two nights the Aqua Dining group of restaurants will host a degustation wine dinner featuring the wines of Lou Miranda Estate. Choose from two picture perfect locations. At each venue the head chef will turn out a perfectly matched multi course menu to accompany the wines. Lou Miranda will speak on the night about each of his wines.

To view the delicious menus please click here

Aqua Dining
Wednesday 5th May 2010
7.00pm- 11.00pm
$125.00 per guest
Bookings essential
Ph 02 9964 9998
reservations@aquadining.com.au

Paul and Northcliff Streets, Milsons Point 2061


Ripples Sydney Wharf
Thursday 6 May 2010
7.00pm- 11.00pm
$95.00 per guest
Bookings essential
Ph 02 9571 1999
sydneywharf@ripplecafe.com.au

Sydney Wharf / Wharf 9, 56 Pirrama Rd, Pyrmont 2009

It’s prune season

Every year some friends, Amanda & Steve from Griffith come over to Adelaide to visit and they always bring a box a prunes. The gift of food (and wine) are the best gifts to give, they always bring so much job – especially to me. I couldn’t tell you my favourite foods because I’m very happy to try everything but there are a few things I really enjoy, and prunes is on that list.

The prunes we have been given are from the DeRossi’s farm, they dry them after harvesting. I usually marinade them in Leone Tawny Rum Liquor, the prunes absorb the liquor and grow nice and juicy and are absolutely delicious to eat straight from the jar or with ice cream.

If you have more time on your hands maybe you could try this delicious recipe.

Chocolate, prune & pecan torte

4 egg whites
1/3 cup caster sugar
1 cup pecans, finely chopped
1 cup pitted prunes, finely chopped
200 ml Leone Tawny Rum Liquor
200g quality dark chocolate, finely chopped
3 tablespoons corn flour

Marinade the prunes in the Leone Tawny Rum Liquor overnight, the prunes should be completely covered with the Tawny Rum Liquor.

Preheat oven to 200C. Greases and line the base of a 22cm round spring form tin.

In a large bowl, whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt, gradually add the caster sugar, a little at a time, beating until the mixture holds stiff, glossy peaks. Mix the pecans, chocolate and corn flour together. Drain the prunes from the Tawny Rum Liquor, set aside the Tawny Rum Liquor. Gently but thoroughly fold in the pecans and chocolates into the egg whites alternatively mix in the prunes. Spoon the mixture into the tin, smoothing the top evenly.

Bake for 45 minutes until the top is a dark brown colour. Allow the torte to cool in the pan on a wire rack before running a knife around the edge and turning it out onto a cake plate. Cool the torte and serve with whipped cream. If you whip the cream with a few spoonfuls of the left over Tawny Rum Liquor and some icing sugar it will have a really rich and tasty consistency.

New York Times - Where to go in 2008

Coming in at Number 51 on the New York Times list of destinations in 2008 is the Barossa Valley. On a list that includes romantic holiday destinations, must do shopping trips and names culinary delights from all over the world, its exciting to see that the Barossa Valley rates with the best of them.

51. BAROSSA VALLEY, AUSTRALIA

'The world's love affair with shiraz is bringing wine spectators to Australia's Barossa Valley. The hilly region is home to some of the world's oldest shiraz vines, some dating back to the 1840s. And if the more than 60 wineries aren't enough, Barossa also offers an artisanal cheese trail, and nearby Adelaide is a foodie destination in its own right."

Extract taken from the New York Times.

Winter Menu 2008

Its a very exciting time at the winery, we are just finishing up vintage (which was fantastic). Now preparing the 2008 whites for bottling and we have just released our new winter menu.

Every six months we review our menu adjusting it according to the season. We keep the old favourites such as gorgonzola gnocchi, caesar pizza and salt & pepper squid, but we also add some new and exciting dishes to tantalise the taste buds. When people ask what are our favourites it's hard to choose! There is the pear and brie stack (pictured above), baked avocado, honey mustard chicken, lamb normandy pie and the classic grilled beef in shiraz glaze with yum mash potato and a baked field mushroom.

This winter we have also explored some traditional Italian pasta dishes with an Australian twist, you can't miss the sweet potato gnocchi, duck ragu or shredded veal salsa.

My mouth is watering as I write this (we are having lamb roast for dinner, lucky its a few minutes off being served). Check out the new menu here.