Great weekend in Orange with the Ross Hill Long Lunch for the Starlight Children’s Foundation going off and lots of money raised.

Friday started with a brilliant lunch at Peter and Terri Robson’s place, lush and green from the recent rain, 50 people sat outside and had a lovely lunch prepared by Josie the local caterer from the Old Convent.  At 1100 meters it is one of the highest vineyard sites in Australia and on a sunny day and no wind it was perfect to enjoy food and wine and the rolling hills down to the valley.

Saturday prep started in earnest at about 8 am.  It was a joint venture between Fratelli Fresh and Rockpool Bar & Grill to do lunch for 200 generous guests. Andy Bunn and Liz Conlon from Fratelli and Angel Fernandez and myself were ably assisted by Barry McDonald, who after some time away from the kitchen, acquitted himself admirably.  

Lunch started with locally baked bread and Andy’s delicious antipasto, plates of cabbage salad, green beans and pesto, tomato and mozzarella, roast pumpkin, coriander and chilli salad and platers of cured meats hit the tables with plenty of Ross Hill wines. 

The winery looked amazing ringed by wine barrels and with 5 long tables of 40 smack in the middle. 

We had decided to do a very country thing and have Meat pies with mushy peas, potato puree and house made tomato ketchup. Great idea but I forgot about the lack of real ovens. It was hell juggling all the pies between the two ovens that sort of worked and the 23 ovens that decided to be hot enough only to be warming ovens. In any case after about 40 minutes of hell, we did manage to get together a dish that didn’t look to bad and tasted great! In the end the day was saved by great flavours. 

For dessert Catherine Adams had sent up our wonderful strawberry and mascarpone cake and Barry topped off the cheese plates with apples picked fresh from the orchard that morning. 

It turned out to be a great day for charity with a lot of fantastic people putting in big sums of money for the auction items and others putting in money to cover all the other costs. I have to especially thank Alan Joyce from Qantas for supporting the auction with 2 tickets that brought big dollars, thank you Qantas for always supporting my charity endeavours. 

Also, big thanks to Greg Jones and Peter Robson and their families for a fantastic time for all, lots of Ross Hill wines in their wonderful winery and in the end an ability to put more smiles on lots of sick children’s faces…..everyone wins!!!

Neil Perry’s new outpost of his Melbourne steak house is set in a stunning green-marble building that evokes the Art Deco period. Mixologist Linden Pride celebrates a later era—the 1950s—with his version of the Moscow Mule, mixing vodka with fresh ginger and house-made ginger beer. The extensive bar menu includes Perry’s bacon-Gruyère wagyu cheeseburger. 

The Rockpool Bar & Grill Wagyu Burger