Hobart Farmers Market

It was a treat today to be at the official opening of the Hobart Farmer's Market. After taking Minnie my Munsterlander pup for a swim at nearby Kingston beach and a walk with my good friend John Burke and his dog Joe, it was ever so relaxing to stroll around the market after it was opened by local food identity Elaine Reeves and Green Senator Christine Milne.

The highlights of the day for me today were the beautiful Tasmanian raspberries and Cygnet SBS Gourmet Farmer Matthew Evan's Rare Foods produce. A close second were the preserved Kentish Cherries and Gooseberries from Colleen Graham and her husband, lovely old timers and neighbours of Rodney and Severine Dunn at the Agrarian Kitchen at Lachlan.

So dinner tonight was easy. Mary and I started with Matthew's pork rillette and Zum's sourdough bread, also from the market. The texture and flavour/seasoning balance of the rillette put it amongst the best I have ever tasted. But it was the pork and fennel sausages married with Matthew's Boston style baked beans that made the perfect Sunday night meal (coupled with a Chilean Rotschild family red).

The dessert tonight was my take on a Lindzertorte - made with a vanilla bean shortcrust pastry and filled with almond meal, eggs, butter and sugar and fresh raspberries soaked in Framboise Sauvage - a raspberry eau de vie. It worked a treat and was the perfect accompaniment to some chocolate icecream that had escaped my clean out of the freezer yesterday. Thank God for Sundays.