Alla Wolf Tasker – Lake House recipes

Alla Wolf Tasker at the Lake House, Daylesford

Executive chef at Daylesford mainstay the Lake House, Alla Wolf Tasker continues to raise the bar with her menu that relies heavily on fresh, seasonal local produce. She shares the recipes for some of the restaurant's favourites.

1. Honey and lavender ice cream
2. How to cook a yabby
3. Twice cooked pork belly
4. Ragout of wild mushrooms
5. Bullboar sausages with bacon and braised lentils

Honey and lavender ice cream
Our climate is perfect for growing lavender. You will come upon it in both stately and century-old rambling cottage gardens. Nowhere is it more beautifully showcased than at Lavandula, the Swiss Italian farm at Shepherd's Flat. Honey is also produced prolifically throughout the region. Stop by Des O'Toole’s place on Jubilee Lake Road in Daylesford or purchase some at one of the many local markets. In summer, lavender and honey make a splendid combination in this, the sweetest of ice creams.

(makes about 750mls)
500mls cream (36% fat)
1 sprig lavender
4 free range egg yolks
175 mls honey

Add lavender sprig to cream and heat to just below boiling point.

Remove from heat and allow to infuse for 30minutes. Remove lavender sprig.
Whisk egg yolks in a bowl until creamy. Bring cream back to the boil and pour in a steady stream over the yolks, continuing to whisk. When all cream has been added, pour the mix into a saucepan and cook over very gentle heat, stirring continuously until custard is cooked and it coats the spoon. A line traced with your finger across the custard coating the spoon should hold. The cooking should take about 8-10mins.

Immediately remove the pan from the heat and plunge the base into a few inches of cold water to stop any further cooking. Give the mixture a good stir and allow to cool completely.

Pour into a jug and refrigerate. When completely chilled pour into ice cream machine and churn until the consistency of whipped cream. Scrape into plastic container and freeze.

This ice cream benefits from being removed from the freezer and allowed to stand 10 – 15 mins before serving.
How to cook a yabby
There are plenty of yabbies about in our region in dams, lakes and rivers. We also have local folk who farm them for local tables and for export. The farmed variety are generally larger in size and have been purged for several days to remove their muddy taste. There are aficionados however who will say they just don’t taste the same. Compare them for yourself. Next time you’re picnicking by a local waterway, sink some meat on a string into the water near some rocks. Have a sieve or net handy to haul them out. Yabbies make great picnic fare.

To cook yabbies:
If you’re camping it will be more a case of straight into the pot. But if you’ve brought some home with you from the region, deal with them in the following way.

Keep yabbies anaesthetized by layering them with ice. Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil. Have ready a large bowl of ice and water.

Throw yabbies into the pot, about ten at a time for 3 mins if wishing to reheat or use any further cooking process. Otherwise cook for 4 mins. Remove from boiling water with a skimmer ladle and place straight into bowl of iced water to stop the cooking process. Drain and shell. Eat straight away or toss through a risotto or a salad of finely shaved fennel with fruity olive oil, ground pepper and lemon wedges. If wanting to serve in shell, slit along the back of the tail carapace with sharp scissors and remove the intestinal tract with a small knife. Peel back the shell a little, crack the claws. Serve with plenty of melted butter, salt freshly ground pepper and crusty bread.
Twice cooked pork belly
Eating pork from animals bred in good conditions is a revelation. In our region we have supplies of rare breed pork in the form of Wessex Saddlebacks.

(serves 6)
800gms skinned and boned pork belly in one piece
1 litre good quality stock (chicken or brown stock)
1 celery stick roughly chopped
6 carrots peeled and roughly chopped
2 medium onions roughly chopped
4 garlic cloves peeled
1 bay leaf
3 thyme sprigs

Soak the pork belly overnight in cold water. Drain the pork, then place it into a large saucepan. Blanch by covering with cold water and bringing to the boil. Drain the pork. Replace it in the saucepan, cover with stock and aromatic vegetables and herbs. Bring to a simmer, skim and cook on low heat for 3 hours, continuing to skim as necessary. Pork needs to remain covered with liquid. Add a little water if required during cooking. Remove saucepan from heat and leave pork to cool in the cooking liquid. Strain off cooking liquid, chill and degrease.
Wrap drained pork belly in cling film and place on a tray. Cover with a second tray and weight down with three or four cans or similarly heavy objects. Place in fridge and leave overnight.

When ready to serve, unwrap the belly and cut into 2cm slices. Season.

Heat a little butter over medium heat in a non stick pan.Fry prk belly pieces in batches until crisp and golden. Drain on kitchen paper. These are delicious served over cabbage oven braised with apple and carroway seed. Place the crisp sliced pork on the braised cabbage and serve at the table straight from the oven dish.

Regional wine match: Straws Lane Gewurtztraminer
Ragout of wild mushrooms
In autumn local forests yield slippery jacks (boletus luteus) and saffron milkcaps (lactarius deliciosus), otherwise most commonly referred to as Pine mushrooms. Paddocks are a rich source of the common field mushroom. In spring there are often morels from the sandier and more gravely soils of local bushland. Unless you are a skilled and long-term mushroom gatherer, it is inadvisable to go gathering. Seek local advice from those who know.

This recipe will work just as well with an assortment of cultivated mushrooms.

4 cups of fresh wild autumn mushrooms
One cup dried morels or other dried mushrooms, soaked for 20 minutes in very hot water and squeezed dry (retain the water.)
90-100g unsalted butter
2 medium shallots finely chopped
1 cup of chicken stock (or the retained mushroom soaking water passed through a fine sieve)
salt and freshly ground pepper.

Brush clean and quarter field mushrooms. Slippery jacks any larger than 4 or 5cms in diameter will need peeling. Trim stems and cut into 1-2 cms slices. Discard any overlarge or waterlogged saffron milkcaps. Brush off pine needles and dirt. Trim and slice.

In a sauté pan melt about one third of the butter. Sweat shallots for 3 to 4 minutes. Add morels and cook slowly for 2 to 3 minutes. Add stock or strained mushroom water and simmer partly covered until morels are tender – about 15mins.. Remove from heat and allow pan contents to cool. In another pan, heat the remaining butter over medium heat and add the mixed seasonal mushrooms. Saute for 5 minutes, stirring frequently or until cooked through. Add to the morels and their juice. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

When ready to use, reheat and serve as is, or swirl in 60mls of sour cream. Stir through, serve and garnish with chopped chives. Delicious on soft polenta or stirred through risotto.

Regional wine match: A merlot would be good.
Bullboar sausages with bacon and braised lentils
Bullboar sausages, a speciality of the Daylesford region, are a legacy of the original Swiss Italian settlers lured by the gold rush of the 1800s. Deciding to stay on they set about establishing vineyards, olive groves and building traditional stone buildings. These include Victoria's first macaroni factory in Hepburn Springs now open as a cafe and for tours, and Lavandula, the Swiss Italian farm in Shepherds Flat, as well as the many stone farm buildings at Yandoit.
Recipes for bullboars are closely guarded secrets of many local families. Most butchers of the region produce their own versions. A strongly flavoured pork and beef sausage redolent of red wine spices and garlic, they are best poached first, then grilled, barbecued or fried.

Cooking bullboars
Poach sausages in gently simmering water for 10mins or until they are completely set. They will still be raw in the middle. Cool. Refrigerate.
Peel off sausage skins. Gently pan fry, barbecue or even oven roast until hot and cooked right through (about 10mins on gentle heat).

The lentils (serves 4)
1 thick slice of smoked bacon cut into crosswise strips or lardons
1 small carrot,1/2 small onion,1 clove of garlic all finely chopped
sprig fresh thyme
3/4 cup Puy lentils, soaked overnight in water to cover
2 to 3 cups of chicken stock
butter

Sweat the lardons until they have rendered their fat. Reserve lardons. Drain fat from pan. Add diced vegetables and thyme. Cook slowly for 4-5minutes until just tender. Add drained lentils and enough stock to cover by a couple of cms. Bring liquid to a simmer and cook until lentils are tender, about 35min. Drain, remove thyme. Add lardons. Season and stir in a little butter.

Divide between 4 plates and serve the bullboars sliced over.