All aboard for regional grazing
Australia's favourite food blogger Not Quite Nigella, aka Lorraine Elliott, visits Mildura where she meets a culinary legend and finds a regional city in love with food.
“Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?” says the man from the SES who is on the plane across the row from me on the small aircraft. He’s just waiting to get home to nearby Broken Hill but Mr NQN and I are excited for another reason. For our anniversary weekend, we’ll be meeting celebrity chef Stefano de Pieri and cruising the Murray River in a houseboat and seeing what else the Mildura and Murray River region offers.
We alight at Mildura and take the drive to where our houseboat is moored. Our home for the next two nights is the luxurious Sweet Indulgence a three bedroom, ten berth luxury houseboat from All Seasons Houseboats. There are three rooms with queen beds and two ensuites, a fully operational kitchen just like one on land, a dining room table and a large sun-drenched dining suite upstairs alongside a spa bath that could fit several in it. There is tea and instant coffee provided and filtered water although sugar and milk need to be brought in and, in the bathrooms, there are soap, shampoo and conditioner.
Mr NQN is the captain here as he has sailing experience and he undergoes the necessary lessons on how to manoeuvre the boat and park it. Most people that take the houseboats out drive them themselves (it’s fairly easy) but there is the option of having a driver should you need one.
There’s just a quick moment to freshen up before it’s time to head across the road to the Friday night Sunraysia markets. They’re usually held on a Sunday but the late sunshine means that they are also held some Friday nights. There are approximately 30-40 stalls selling a range of produce.
Much of it is made up of fresh fruit and vegetables as Mildura is part of the Riverina fruit bowl region. Table grapes, citrus, figs and a wide range of vegetables including some as interesting as an apple cucumber are sold. To eat these, you peel them and slice them much like a cucumber in a salad or sandwich although I found them very bitter.
A popular stand is the Mettwurst stand – the recipe is from the 1960s and Mettwurst is really one of those popular German items via South Australian that doesn’t really see its way around the rest of Australia. It’s a fermented meat sausage and comes in varieties like garlic, pistachio and several variations of chilli. Their store is about 160km away and regular customers make a beeline for a whole link or half link and know exactly what they want.
Plump figs steeped with honey and nuts are wrapped up and sold individually at the Mourquong Ridge Fine Foods stall. Trays of fat figs bursting at the seams are sold for $4 a tray. Spaghetti squash are harvested and organic fruit is also sold here. Large nets of oranges are hauled by burly customers while even larger nets of butternut squash anchor tent poles.
We mustn’t delay though because we are expected in the town centre, about five minute’s walk away from the houseboat and markets. Tonight is the start of the Arts Festival and the town of 60,000 people are buzzing. We’re headed to Stefano de Pieri’s newest venture, the Mildura Brewery. Stefano’s face beams down from posters around town and he is akin to a town mayor. He helped put Mildura on the map with his A Gondola on the Murray television series. He is warm and welcoming and surprisingly hands on. He is busy running around bringing dishes to tables and making sure that all guests are looked after.
The Mildura Brewery Pub is the former Astor Theatre and the bones of the structure are still there with a modern refurbishment. Stefano and his wife Donna opened it up as their own a few months ago. Stefano was born in Treviso near Venice in Italy and emigrated to Australia in 1974. He first landed in Melbourne where he took the unlikely turn of editor of Nuovo Paese, an Italian newspaper. After this he tried a stint working for the Department of Ethnic Affairs, working on immigration policy and almost running for a Labor Party seat. But it was disillusionment with the political system that saw him leave. Marrying Donna and moving to Mildura saw another change in his life when his father in law, Don Carrazza, who owned the Grand Hotel, asked for them to help.
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