Our Trip to Australia, Part Five - A Picnic at Bangor with Chef Sarah Glover
Among my favorite memories from this recent trip to Australia - sitting on a beautiful countryside by a roaring campfire, enjoying a lovely meal with friends and family.
During our stay in Tasmania, Alexis, Jude, Truman, Pamela and I visited Bangor, an historic 15-thousand acre farm and vineyard located on the Forestier Peninsula in the southeast region of the island state. Our delicious feast was conceived and prepared by chef and author, Sarah Glover. We enjoyed fresh seafood and just picked farm vegetables and fruits. It was a most relaxing and delightful outing for us all.
Enjoy these photos.
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- Wouldn’t you like to be treated to an outdoor picnic like this when you’re traveling around an exotic place like Tasmania? Well-known Australian chef, Sarah Glover, invited us and friends to a lunch entirely cooked over open fire at Bangor. It was utterly delicious.
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- Tasmania is becoming a more important agricultural state – growing everything from ordinary vegetables to extraordinary fruit, such as bing cherries and apricots.
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- Many of the vegetables we had for lunch were picked right here in the expansive fields of the farm.
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- The ride to our picnic location was over dirt roads through fields of luscious hay bales and grazing sheep.
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- Here are just some of Bangor’s well-cared for superfine merino sheep grazing in their paddock.
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- Sarah brought everything we needed for the picnic.
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- Her Land Rover Defender is outfitted with stoves, ice boxes, and lots of room for chairs, dishes and other cooking supplies.
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- Here is the side of the 4WD vehicle complete with a serving window.
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- And in just a few moments, she had a gorgeous table set with linens, glassware, and china.
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- The children spent some time exploring the promontory. Truman and Jude love to explore and Bangor looks out onto both Blackman and Norfolk Bays, so the sweeping views were breathtaking.
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- Sarah then showed me and the kids all the foraged vegetables, fruits and seafood that she had collected that morning. Truman was curious about the octopus – here he is holding it.
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- Abalone is a common name for any of a group of small to very large sea snails.
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- The thick shell is composed of mother-of-pearl, which in many species is highly iridescent, with a range of strong, changeable colors. This abalone is covered in sea growth.
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- We also had three beautiful lobsters.
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- And sea urchins – another popular delicacy in many parts of the world.
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- After our fire was started, Sarah had the children nail the salmon to a log, so it could be cooked.
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- Under the fish, Sarah placed many herbs and made deep cuts through the skin to the backbone and stood the log up vertically along the fire. The radiant heat cooked it slowly and perfectly.
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- Tripods were set up for a grill and cast iron pots. And as the salmon cooked, the skillets and pots were heated over the fire.
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- Alexis, Pamela and Jude watched everything closely, while Truman and I learned how to clean abalone and urchins.
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- Truman was entrusted with a knife to split the lobsters and clean them well. He is an excellent chopper.
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- Next to cook – steamed potatoes strained over steam water, quartered and fried in butter.
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- Jude was entrusted with all the ingredients to make an apricot cake.
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- First she creamed the butter, added sugar, flour, milk, and a little bit of baking powder. Sarah forgot to bring eggs but that did not phase her one bit – she simply added more milk.
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- Jude broke apart the apricots with her fingers to remove the stones, and then put the halves in the pots – everything was so fresh.
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- The pot was covered, placed on the tripod over the fire, and then the top was filled with hot coals. The fire cooked it perfectly.
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- Truman did great cleaning and seasoning the lobsters. They were all placed shell down in a skillet to cook slowly over the coals.
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- Rosemary was added to the potatoes along with salt and pepper. My job was to make sure these potatoes were perfect also.
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- While waiting for the meal to finish, we all walked around the property and down a steep cliff to the small, private beach. Truman tripped and bruised his legs and arms, but he was just fine – recovered quickly as young, energetic boys do, and continued with the walk.
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- While walking, we saw these pointed rocks – they reminded me of a view from St. Bart’s in the Caribbean.
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- Once back at our campfire, Sarah and I posed for this nice photo near our cooking foods.
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- The salmon is almost cooked.
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- Sarah made herb pesto and used it to flavor the lobsters.
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- Sarah also served fresh garden fava beans with the octopus, which was cut into one-inch pieces, and seared with herbs and butter.
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- Everything was cooked to perfection. The abalone was cooked quickly in butter and devoured as the appetizer.
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- The fish was kept on the log. Here is Sarah’s boyfriend, Nick, and Bangor’s owner, Matt Dunbabin, carrying it to the buffet.
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- Here’s Sarah making a fresh green salad with sesame dressing.
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- And here is our buffet – so beautiful and so very delicious.
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- We also had a pinot gris wine from Bangor, a pinot noir, and a sparkling wine that tasted like great champagne.
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- And finally, our dessert made by Jude – this apricot cake was so good it tasted like steamed pudding.
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- Here I am with Sarah, Matt and his family – wife, Vanessa Dunbabin, and sons Henry and William. Thank you for such a lovely time at Bangor, and for the delicious food we shared. Please get a copy of Sarah’s book, WILD Adventure Cookbook – you’ll love it. https://www.amazon.com/Wild-Adventure-Cookbook-Sarah-Glover/dp/3791384937
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