Mountain Road Merchants

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I hated mushrooms for years. So much so that I use to gag every time I cooked them. However I was told by a boss one day that I cooked the best mushrooms. 🤔
So I started paying attention to other people’s cooking techniques vs mine. This also meant I had to start eating mushrooms to taste the difference. I soon learnt that controlled heat, good salt, garlic, a bit of acid (ie lemon or vinegar) and LOTS of butter was key.
Now I can’t get enough of them and have them on the menu pretty much annually.

SALUMI

Gearing up for Melbourne cup salumi & charcuterie boards with some NEW & SPECIAL stock coming in.

Now stocking
smoked cotto salami
wild venison & gin botanicals salumi
saussicon sec

and a couple more to be released shortly.

These delicious cured meats will be paired with wild olives, picked figs and our very own aged quince paste.

Sounds interesting?

You don’t have to wait till November, give us a buzz and we will hook you up with some of the best the eastern seaboard has to offer.

NEW PRODUCT

Garth & I are over the moon to announce we are now stocking crazyhorsecoffeeco

We love working with our local community of artisan producers and seriously these guys know how to roast and brew a bloody good cup of awesomeness.

For those with their heads in the sand in the gong, Crazy Horse Coffee Co is situated in Fairy Meadow. We will be stocking their seasonal espresso blend and a couple of their cheeky single origins.

🍜 RAMEN NOODLES🍜

Ramen is a staple in our house.

Not too thick, not too thin and the right amount of chewiness.
I have been known to make my own noodles, however to be honest I’m not really good at it. Thankfully .organic makes a superior organic product right here in Australia, Victoria to be exact. The Japanese 🇯🇵 way.

We stock ramen, soba (mix of buckwheat & wheat flower) and udon noodles for all your needs. Be it to add to soup, stir fry or cold salad.

You really can taste the difference

SPRING BREAKY

As it starts to warm up it’s time to mix up your breakfast bowl.

We make ALL our granolas in house using premium Australian grown nuts, oats and local honeys mixed with some imported ingredients. The dream is it to be 100% Aussie grown but baby steps to start.

We make
- classic fruit and nut
- spiced macadamia crunch
- nutty spice buckwheat our gluten free offering.

All are made in our signature spice blend of cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, vanilla, orange & rose blended with local honey.

Available in store and on line

We are taking a short break from Friday 20th till Monday 23rd.

That means if you want something to eat there is only 2 days left this week to get your fill and the online store will be open but nothing will be shipped until Tuesday 24th.

When we get back we will launch a new spring menu, and have some super exciting news to share. But till then ya just have to wait.

HARISSA LAMB 🐑 SAUSAGE ROLL

This is one of my favourite rolls, not necessarily to make but certainly to EAT.

I use my own harissa paste and put a good dash of orange juice and a sprinkle of rose. With one bite you will be transported to Marakesh. Seriously no sauce required.

They will be in the hot box week long along side
- classic beef
And
- pumpkin, fennel, roasted chickpea and ricotta

SHARING IS CARING

One of the things I ❤️ about food is SHARING.

I feel like so many people these days are so busy they forgot that the time we eat is also the time we can be connecting with our friends and family.

We can be laughing, we can cry, we can BE present for eachother.

Food may be FUEL, but it is also much more than this.

BROWN SAUCE

Always reminds me of my grandfather that would flood just about anything with it, especially his mash.

I’ve been in a hunt for a good one for a while and thanks to churchfarmgeneralstore the search is over.

This sauce is made in small batches in the Northern Rivers of NSW, using local ingredients.

Rich, with a bit of a kick this is sauce deserves to be in your kitchen.

So excited to have this now on the shelves not only in store but most importantly in my OWN kitchen pantry.

FOOD TRAVELS

I found this cracker the other day and got a bit nostalgic about my travels of South America.

This is a food market in Buenos Aires. I was completely overwhelmed by not only the variety of produce but also the prices.

At the time I was travelling solo and planned on working whenever I needed more money, however I was so inspired by what I could buy to cook I ended up cooking for my fellow backpackers instead. This way I got to buy and eat so much amazing local produce and share it with my fellow traveler’s.

I guess nothing much has changed. I’m still travelling when I can to food locations and cooking for people.

POP UP 📣

I will be heading to PK this Saturday for a kitchen pop up.
I will be set up early arvo ready to fill those snack cravings and then into the night.

MENU HIGHLIGHTS
⭐️ porabello mushrooms, silver beet, beetroot humus chickpea crunch
⭐️pork neck, Kim chi, pineapple chutney, crispy onion
⭐️coffee braised brisket, chive cream, salsa verde & crispy garlic

And of course I will bring something sweet

🥦🍄🧀

One of my favourite combos for a savoury muffin.

Great as is or toasted with butter, even better with a poached egg.

I use a mix of broccoli stem and head but also a bunch of leaf as well. When it’s blanched it goes down a treat with a hint of lemon.

I put these in my kids lunch boxes now as another way to give them veggies and another alternative to the sambo.

Available while stock lasts

PIE OF THE WEEK

Coffee braised brisket & wild mushroom

These are tasty little suckers, so much so I took a few home for dinner on the weekend. Even the kids ate them without a fuss.

I add a hint of samplecoffee to my braising stock to cut thru the richness of the brisket and add another depth of flavour. It pairs beautifully with the earthiness of porcini, Swiss brown and portobello mushrooms.

These bad boys will be in the 🔥 hot box all week and if you want to take some home a I few left in the freezer.

FATHERS DAY is fast approaching.
Get him something he will enjoy over time, like a jar of spicy chilli dilly pickles from the rockstars ACIDE in Naarm or KALIs chocolate coated coffee beans.

Taster than a tie and more enjoyable than a trip to Bunnings.

Shop online or in store

MERINGUE

A good meringue is a little like magic—airy, delicate, and perfectly sweet.

Meringue is a light, airy dessert made from whipped egg whites and sugar, often baked until crisp. It's used in some the best well know desserts like pavlova, bomb Alaska, semi freddo and of course a lemon meringue pie.

There are three main types of meringue:

French Meringue: The simplest and most common, made by whipping sugar into egg whites. It's usually baked for a crisp texture, think a Pav.

Swiss Meringue: Egg whites and sugar are gently heated over a water bath while whisking, then whipped until stiff. It’s smooth, glossy, and stable, often used for buttercream.

Italian Meringue: Hot sugar syrup is slowly poured into beaten egg whites, creating a dense and silky meringue. It's the most stable and is often used for pies or frostings.

I tend to usually make Italian meringues as they are a little bit more forgiving, especially when baking in humidity. And lets face it a meringue tantrum is up there with a breakfast chef having an egg tantrum.

SAVOURY MUFFINS
have roots in the 19th century, when English muffins, a yeast-leavened bread, became popular in England. Unlike the sweet American versions, these were often served as a base for savoury toppings like eggs, cheese, or meats, leading to the creation of savoury variations.
I bake ALOT off savoury muffins at the shop as they are the perfect afternoon snack, go perfectly with soup and of course my favourite breakfast at the moment served with a fried egg and my harissa.

This weeks flavours are
- Mushroom, broccoli & fetta
- Pumpkin, onion jam & ricotta

Only available at the shop

45/341 Crown St, Wollongong, downstairs

Mon & Tue 10 - 2.30
Wed to Fri 10 - 4

Julie Child once said “Everything tastes better with butter”, and I seriously couldn’t agree more.

I use ALOT of butter in my cooking.

It’s so rich, nutty and warm when cooked I find comfort in its smell. From the delicate sweetness as it melts, to nutty and savoury the darker it gets.
And then there is the delicate nuances from the different cultured butters and regions they come from. Not all milks taste the same so why not our butter.

I use a couple of different butters in the shop, some for cooking, some for baking and of course some to lather on fresh bread.
For someone who has a pretty severe lactose intolerance I have a bit of an unhealthy LOVE affair of all things dairy, especially cultured butter, but who could blame me really, as there is really no such thing as too much butter.

SLOW and low baby

Having a tiny kitchen, minimal equipment and a shoe string budget means I HAVE to be inventive with my food choices.

Let’s face it, lesser known/used cuts of meat, time and seasonal produce is all MY BAG BABY.

Currently I’m using a lot of neck, ribs and tails.
As for fruit and veg all the orange hues are shining bright.

Carrots are extra sweet, pumpkins are a plenty, citrus especially mandarins are insanely good and fragrant and rosemary is taking over the garden.

This is lamb all prepped ready for stock and time in the oven. Later I will pick, use some for sandwich specials at the shop but mostly for pies. That’s if I don’t take it home and eat it for dinner.

FISHY memories

Mackerel steaks where a regular on our menu growing up, it was one of the first things I learnt to cook. Just push on the bone, if it wiggles take it off the heat.
My grandfather would soak salted cod in milk in our bath tub, he would eat with eggs, on toast. It would stink out the house. Later I found out that when you soak it, you should add onion to the mix to help with the odour.
My aunty made fish patties with potatoes and serve it with some kind of homemade chutney. She would fry a couple of dozen off at a time and I remember munching on them cold late at night.

And there were always jars of some kind of pickled mollusc in the fridge. Some dad or my grandfather would buy or pickle themselves.

As a mum I won’t to give my kids amazing food family memories, but I prefer to soak my cod in a bucket and not the bath. Though thinking about it now I reckon the look on their face would be wild if I did soak fish in the bath 🤣😆🤣

I always knew my aunties sausage rolls were the best.
And for years I could never understand why none stood up to them. My dad would joke “they just use different types of lips and arseholes in their mix”. A young gullible me wondered why there were lips in my snag roll.

I’m going to leave this snippet of my childhood memory here for you to ponder.

And FYI there are NO lips or arseholes in my sausage rolls but there is a WHOLE LOTTA 💔 LOVE

These are the pumpkin, carrot, ricotta & smoked almond rolls that I will be serving at .pk tomorrow for the yard sale and at the shop next week.

🐑 🍷🥧

Tomorrow is the last chance to wrap ya lips around one of these bad boys.

Slow braised lamb, veg, juniper berry & and hefty glug of red wine.

I use a mix of leg, neck, and ribs. It’s a bit more of a d@ around to pick all the bones out but you get such an amazing flavour profile.