TheTaste of the Huon Festival

Kris: It was a perfect day for the Taste of the Huon Festival. Nothing beats strolling around tasting amazing local food and booze. Sadly there were no craft beers available, so we settled for some Gillespie’s Ginger Beer and some cider from Captain Bligh’s and Tasmania Inn.

Caroline: I love pulled pork, it’s a classic American beer snack. The pulled pork roll from Fat Pig Farm was sweet, spicy and smoky, just the way I like it. The roll was fresh, but it could of used some classic smoky BBQ sauce on top. It was still really tasty though.

 Kris: Some Dry Apple and Blackberry Cider from Captain Bligh’s was a great match for the pulled pork roll. Apples are a classic match with pork, also the dryness and the carbonation of the cider cut through the sweet and smoky pork.

Kris: Next it was off to grab some tasty alcoholic Ginger Beer from Gillespie’s. I was thinking it would be a great match for the San Choi Bao served in a wasabi leaf from Red Velvet Lounge’s stand next to Captain Bligh’s.

Caroline: I love Gillespie’s Ginger Beer, especially on a warm and sunny day. It is a touch sweet, but has heaps of fresh ginger flavor and spice. It was a perfect match with the San Choi Bao from Red Velvet Lounge too.

Kris: Another day in Tasmanian paradise! It reminds me of why I have always wanted to live down here. Great local produce cooked perfectly, matched with some great local beverages. We also stopped in at the Home Hill cellar door on the drive home to taste some wine. The 2009 Pinot Noir and the Chardonnay were my two picks. Definitely worth stopping off if your traveling through the Huon Valley, 40 minutes south of Hobart.

 

Sashimi and Ginger Beer

Kris: Our friend Tom New, a winemaker at Ballendean in the Granite Belt, Queensland, sent us some bottles of his wines and ginger beer recently to sample. I thought I would match a dish with his Ginger Beer, Mille Plateux.

It is brewed with a champagne yeast, organic ginger and honey. It is dry, with a zippy, ginger spice and really refreshing. A great match for sashimi.

Kris: Sashimi is a simple and easy dish to make, as long as you have access to really fresh seafood. We got some beautiful Tasmanian salmon to match with the ginger beer.

 Caroline: as a side note, don’t you love those chopsticks??
they made eating the sashimi so much more fun for me.
Ok, sorry, girl moment done. Continue Kris…

Kris : I thinly sliced the salmon, added some lime zest, a few coriander sprouts and a few drops of sesame oil. Just dip a piece of salmon in a little bit of soy sauce and take a sip of the ginger beer. A simple and tasty combination.

Caroline: One of the things I love most about living in Tasmania is the awesome fresh seafood you can get. I never have to think twice about eating it raw. My only change would be not to have included wasabi in the soy sauce. The ginger beer  had enough spice that the wasabi was a bit overkill. Other wise, a perfect match! I must say I was skeptical, how could a ginger beer match and not overpower the subtlety of raw fish?  This ginger beer wasn’t too sweet and actually tasted like GINGER. YUM!!