For those of you that missed out on the MoVida Bakery doughnut master classes, Veda Gilbert has written a great post on her blog The Hospitality Widow from the evening. You will find Michael’s not so secret recipe with photos and step by step instructions.

For those of you interested in future master classes (no dates have been established yet, however rumour has it that Michael is thinking Sourdough bread) you can register an expression of interest by sending an email to movidabakery@gmail.com and we will add you to our mailing list.

Photo by Marina Oliphant

In Spain’s Basque region, food on a stick is a popular bar snack, called pintxo. The Gilda is a classic version, with pickled guindilla peppers, white anchovies, and green olives on a toothpick. I have added a piece of tomato and the combination is fantastic with a beer.

Time:
< 30 mins
Difficulty:
Easy
Makes:
12
Special options:
Egg-free, Dairy-free, Gluten-free

Ingredients

4 roma tomatoes, peeled, seeded and cut into 2cm chunks

1 tsp sweet smoked paprika

12 white anchovies

1 handful flat-leaf parsley

12 guindilla peppers*

125g tinned Spanish olives stuffed

with anchovies

Extra virgin olive oil, to drizzle

Sea salt, to sprinkle

*Guindilla peppers are Spanish chillies, long and narrow with a slight curve. They are medium-hot with a sweet flavour and are sold green, pickled in white wine vinegar. You can buy them from good specialist delicatessens.

Method

Dust the tomato chunks with paprika. Drain the anchovies. Place five whole fresh parsley leaves on an anchovy, then loop the fish over to form a horseshoe shape. Skewer a guindilla onto one end of the toothpick. Follow with the anchovy, a piece of tomato and finish off with a stuffed olive. Repeat with remaining anchovies, guindillas, tomato and olives. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and then sprinkle with sea salt.

Check out our first review of MoVida Sydney written by Elizabeth Meryment.

ONE of the more interesting facts I’ve encountered lately is that more people visit the graffiti-filled laneway housing Melbourne’s MoVida restaurant annually than visit Phillip Island’s fairy penguins.

I love that. It proves people are more sensible than I thought. It also shows how much people love MoVida.

It has taken 10 years of pleading from Sydneysiders to get MoVida’s Frank Camorra to spread his wings north to open a Sydney branch of his beloved trio of venues.

It’s no small commitment from Camorra, who has relocated here for six months to open the restaurant and brought with him key Melbourne staff, including head chef James Campbell, part-MoVida owner and group general manager Andy McMahon and floor manager Andrew Jacoora.

They have taken over the old Cotton Duck site, remodelling it in warm yet effortlessly sophisticated style that takes the cliches out of Spanish dining. There are no flamenco dancer murals here; rather MoVida’s Spanishness comes from the warm wooden interior, the crockery that references Iberian earthenware and a seafood counter of crabs and fish, the likes of which you might see in Basque country. It’s lovely and it’s cool.

You can continue to read the full article here.

Porto Munios is a family operated company and its founder Antonio refers to seaweed as ‘Las Verduras del Mar’, quite simply translated as ‘sea vegetables’.

With a choice of hundreds of varieties to harvest in this underwater garden in Galicia, Antonio Muiños has built a sustainable industry around seaweed.

These vegetables come from the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean where they grow on the rocks and are hand harvested when each species is in season.

They are a high source of fibre, vitamins and minerals.

At MoVida, Robbo has put on a new dish using both salted and powdered seaweed served with a freshly shucked oyster, seaweed pearls, cucumber broth and sea lettuce.

Sea lettuce, (biological name ‘ulva rigida’) is an emerald green seaweed with sheet-like leaves. It grows in shallow areas which have good exposure to sunlight.

Photo by Maria Oliphant.

Pico de gallo, also called salsa fresco, is a vibrant, chunky sauce of tomatoes, onion, chilli and coriander, with a splash of lime bringing it all together. This salsa is fantastic with guacamole or in a taco with refried beans and grilled prawns. Here I have served it with a simple dish of grilled haloumi and barbecued paprika chicken.

Time:
30 mins – 1 hour
Difficulty:
Easy
Serves:
4
Special options:
Gluten-free

Ingredients

1 tbsp smoked paprika

1 tbsp vegetable oil

4 chicken breasts

4 large ripe tomatoes, diced

1 Spanish onion, finely diced

1/2 bunch coriander, leaf and stalk, washed and chopped

1 jalapeno chilli, finely diced

2 limes, juiced

400g haloumi cheese

Salt

Method

Mix paprika and oil in a bowl, add chicken, then mix well until coated. Cover bowl with clingwrap and leave to marinate for an hour.

Add tomatoes, onion, coriander, chilli and lime juice to a bowl and mix well. Heat barbecue. When hot, grill chicken until well-coloured on both sides and cooked through.

Cut haloumi into 4 even slices, grill for a few minutes on each side, then cut each slice into smaller pieces. Slice chicken breast in half lengthways and place on a plate.

Place haloumi around chicken, then spoon pico de gallo liberally over the chicken. Serve with dressed salad leaves.