Cooking Class with George Birron, Sunnybrae Restaurant

As you may have noticed, I live for food. So you can imagine my joy when my husband gave me a cooking class for my birthday last year. Some women may take this the wrong way, but I know Aaron loves my cooking, and am sure his intention was for me to learn some new tricks to come home and tempt him with.
So, with the clock ticking down (quickly) on the arrival of our baby, I recruited my usual partner in crime for any cooking related caper, my mum - Jen, and off we headed to Sunnybrae Restaurant for the day.

I had not had the pleasure of going to Sunnybrae before, but I have heard it's superb reputation for fresh ingredients and long, lazy lunches. Situated about 45 minutes from Geelong, Sunnybrae is a lovely homestead just outside the quiet town of Birregurra. I couldn't help but be both jealous and inspired as we meandered up the driveway past the immense veggie patch and orchard.

We were greeted with a coffee and a smile from owner and head chef, George Birron, who would be our culinary guide for the day. As we chatted with the other attendants, we were 14 in all, we drank in the peaceful surroundings of the rural property, while awaiting George to return and discuss what we would be cooking for the day.
Based on seasonal produce, largely taken from their own property, the menu we would be cooking was as follows:

Farmhouse bread

Fresh garlic and sage cheese with radish and capers

Seared kingfish with taramasalata, cucumber and samphire

Lemon gnocchi with tomatoes and basil

Smoked paprika cured turkey

Tomatillo, eggplant and aptenia salsa

Apricot soufflé with nectarines and plums in a cardamon and honey liquer

And so the day unfolded as a combination of some observation and some participation, beginning with setting the bread to rise, making the cheese from scratch, curing the turkey before roasting it in the wood fired oven, and scouring the garden for some last minute ingredients. 

I was excited to experience some new ingredients (such as the samphire and aptenia - both edible varieties of the succulent, and tomatillo - an odd little morsel with a savoury flavour not too dissimilar to parmesan cheese), and new cooking techniques, like curing, cheese making and the soufflé.

 

  Clockwise from left: Tomatillos, bread making, collecting the ingredients for lunch, George and his never fail soufflé's, lunch begins

By about 1.30 all the talking and playing with food had made us restless and we sat down to lunch... which ended about 4pm.  

The food was beautiful. Great combinations of fresh ingredients cooked using a variety of techniques. 

The highlight for me, was the soufflé. George's fail safe recipe, that even allows for the oven door to be opened on occasion, was devine and paired beautifully with the stone fruits. 

I was also allowed a peek at the menu from the weekend before and it really looked incredible. I can't wait to bring Aaron back to share the Sunnybrae experience, though next time it will be to purely indulge in a leisurely lunch. 

This was a beautiful way to spend a day. Sunnybrae cooking classes run on Monday's. For more information see their blog http://sunnybraerestaurantandcookingschool.blogspot.com.au/ 

xx