Welcome to a Taste of Taste

Brian and I are passionate food lovers - we have created our own food lover's paradise - Taste Gourmet Grocer and Cafe at East Gosford on the NSW Central Coast. It's a gourmet grocer and provedore, a deli and hamper store and an award winning cafe, open 7 days. We'd love you to drop in an say hello - and join in our love affair with fabulous food!

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Coming up in April

The cooler wet Autumn weather is a great excuse to enjoy some comfort food and no one does comfort food better than the Italians. That’s the inspiration for this week’s special menu – our Taste of Italy menu is proving really popular and the slow roasted lamb shanks with more than just a hint of red wine are selling faster than we can cook them. We actually do slow cook them for up to eight hours so they literally fall off the bone! 
We have lots of macarons available too, fresh baked and so delicious, they really are addictive. If you haven’t tried them you really are missing out. We also have special take home packs which feature all seven delicious flavours! Mmmm!
TASTE OF ITALY MONTH -  April is our Taste of Italy month - enjoy all gourmet things Italian! We feature special Italian dishes on our menu, and we’ll have tastings each weekend of all things Italian. Come check out our new Italian foods for you to cook at home: pasta sauces, rustic Italian pasta, olives, tapenades and a new range of olive oils. Try our Autumn Italian Menu with lots of great pizza and antipasto! And in true Italian tradition, as always there is great coffee. 
Slow Roasted Lamb Shank with Mushrooms, Red Wine and Rosemary - A large tender lamb shank, slow roasted in red wine, mushroom, rosemary & tomato sauce with rice
Taste of Tuscany Melt - Basil pesto, salami, roasted capsicum, Spanish onion, sun-dried tomatoes & baby spinach topped with tasty cheese on thick sliced bread
Taste of Naples Supreme Pizza - A crispy individual base topped with pesto, salami, semi dried tomato, Spanish onion, olives, bacon and bocconcini
Taste of Sicily Antipasto Plate - Salami, chargrilled eggplant, semi dried tomatoes, marinated olives, chicken basil penne pasta salad, basil pesto and beetroot dip served with toasted sourdough
Taste of Venice Prawn and Salmon Seafood Pizza - Our crispy individual pizza base topped with avocado, tomato, prawns and mozzarella, finished with smoked salmon, rocket and lime and dill mayonnaise, served with our signature side salad
Mini Choc Dipped Gelato Cones - A selection of mini cones (3) filled with hand made gelato and each one dipped in chocolate! A real Italian treat!
Fig, Honey & Pistachio Ice Cream Stack - A pyramid stack with layers of our fabulous brandied fig, honey and pistachio ice-creams drizzled with preserved figs in syrup

RESTAURANT QUALITY SALMON AND BARRAMUNDI TO TAKE HOME!
For some time now we’ve been enjoying cooking restaurant quality Atlantic Salmon Fillet at home and they are sooo good, we’ve decided to share them with you. From this week, we have Atlantic Salmon fillets, about 200gms each, premium quality, for just $6.95 per piece. That’s great value - and it’s cheaper than some fish and chip shops are selling battered fish!  The fillets are vacuum packed, frozen and fully filleted. To cook, simply let thaw in the fridge for 3-4 hours then season with salt and pepper, Heat a pan with a dash of quality olive oil and cook skin side down until fish is opaque half thru, then turn and cook other side. Drizzle with lemon juice and serve. Everyone who has tried this great salmon has been back for more! It is a very simple, good value delicious dinner and a great standby to keep in the freezer.

 We’ve also added Barramundi fillets too, these are also about 200gms and can be cooked in the same way as the Salmon. In the next week we’ll be adding Flathead Fillets and Snapper Fillets as well, so start planning some delicious easy meals and in the meantime, come in and try the salmon and barramundi – you’ll be amazed at how good it is!

Pesto Crusted Salmon Fillets
1 cups fresh breadcrumbs
1/4 cup pesto
1 teaspoon Maldon/Murray River salt crystals
2 salmon steaks, skin on,
steamed broccolini +lemon to serve

Preheat oven to 200°C. Line a 6cm deep, 20cm x 28cm (base) baking dish with baking paper. Combine breadcrumbs, pesto and salt in a bowl. Place salmon, skin side down, in prepared dish. Sprinkle 1/2 cup crumb mixture over top of each, pressing on lightly with fingertips. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes (depending on fish thickness) or until cooked to your liking. Serve with broccolini and lemon wedges.

HAVE YOU GOT SEA SALT CRYSTALS IN YOUR PANTRY?
All the celebrity chefs have their favourites: Jamie’s is Maldon salt (from his beloved Essex); Nigella seems to go for Maldon or other sea salt too; Stefano di Pieri has tied his gondola to Murray River salt; Maeve O’Meara and her Food Lover’s Guide say Australian sea salt is “as good as you can get”; Neil Perry favours sea salt too, but despite their surfing theme, Ben and Curtis mostly go with plain old salt. So what’s with exotic salts?  The slight differences in looks and taste depend on the minute traces of various minerals and on how the different salts are made. Here’s a guide to our favourite salts!

MALDON SEA SALT - Maldon Sea Salt comes from Essex in England, and has large, flaky crystals. It’s made from seawater using only traditional natural methods and is a completely natural product, retaining valuable seawater trace elements such as magnesium and calcium. Maldon now has a smoked salt too! This a great for adding a smokey depth of flavour to everything from steaks to dips!

HORIZON CRYSTAL SALT FLAKES - Horizon Crystal Salt Flakes is an Australian product, also from an underground source of saline water (in northern Victoria). It has a full-bodied natural flavour that leaves no aftertaste or bitterness.

MURRAY RIVER GOURMET PINK SALT FLAKES - Murray River Gourmet Pink Salt Flakes were already a pantry favourite but they leapt to fame as the salt of choice in the Masterchef kitchens. This salt is harvested from pure underground saline waters in Australia's Murray/Darling River region. The naturally occurring minerals create a high quality salt with a unique flavour and appearance. Murray River Salt is tapped from pure underground saline waters that have been present for thousands of years in Australia's Murray Darling River region. To use this delicious salt at the table, place in a small finger bowl and crumble over food.

FALKSALT FLAVOURED SEA SALT -  From Sweden we have a new range of flavoured Salt Crystals! Falksalt make four flavours of Natural Sea Salt crystals, including Natural, Smoke, Rosemary and Chilli. The Rosemary is delicious sprinkled over oven roasted potatoes and the chilli adds a real dash to barramundi fillets. One of the most popular salts at the moment is Himalayan Natural Pint Salt! This salt is mined by hand, and stone ground. It is not processed with chemicals and has no preservatives and additives. As the name suggests it is mined in the mountains of the Himalayas and the colours ranges from white to deep red, mostly coming as natural pink!

ALL THESE SALTS ARE NOW IN STOCK!


EASTER WEEKEND 2011 - We are planning a really fun Easter and this year for the first time, we will be open every day over Easter including Good Friday. This year the holiday break combines with Anzac Day to create a super 5 day long weekend we we’ll be open every day from 9am - 4pm each day!

Celebrate your Easter with a visit to Taste Gourmet Grocer and Café. Bring your family and friends in for breakfast, brunch, lunch or coffee and enjoy our celebration of chocolate.


EASTER GIFT GIVING - We’ll have Easter Eggs, Easter gifts and baskets, a great selection of chocolates, great chocolate tastings, giveaways, competitions and more! We have gift packs of Easter Cup Cakes, macaroons, home style baked biscuits and biscotti and handmade chocolate truffles. We also have handmade dark chocolate clusters and Paddington and Dolci Doro handmade chocolates. Our Easter chocolates will be in store from Monday April 11

SCHOOL HOLIDAY FUN -  It’s also school holidays during April and we have a special promotion for the kids and remember we always have free colouring in!

ANZAC DAY - We will be opening from 9am - 4pm on ANZAC Day, Monday 25 April. All veterans and serving Defence Force personnel will receive their coffees free on ANZAC Day.

COMING UP IN MAY - May is going to be a huge month. We’ll be celebrating our 5th birthday with lots of great activities including competitions, special menus and prize giveaways. AND WE HAVE SOME BIG NEWS AND SOME SURPIRSES TOO! More about that in the coming weeks!

 Plus it’s Mother’s Day too, we’ll have special menus and free gifts for Mum during our special Mum's Week!  And Masterchef 2011 kicks off on May 1 and we’ll have a great Master Chef competition where you can win delicious prizes.

See you soon

Michele & Brian

No comments:

Post a Comment