Day 25 - The Red Oak Pub, Sydney - Meat and Seafood Tasting Plates (Prawns w/ Tomato Confit)

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Another grastronomic, evening journey through Sydney's culinary underbelly.

My aussie buddy Richard is good for a number of things: directions, input on aussie culture, 20$ when I need it ... y'know, the important stuff you look for in a mate. lol He's also great for picking a good restaurant, and even BETTER for finding a good pub that also happens to have great food!

How else would us guys launch our night out on the town, other than at a local, award-winning pub that brews its own ale?! We weren't sure what the rest of the night would lead to, but we were happy to start out on full stomachs.


Keen to try as many beers as possible (but recognizing there ARE limits to those games), we bought "flights" of beer, something I've done before back in The Bier Market on Toronto's Esplanade. (Again: grreat way to taste a lot, without committing to full pints of unfamiliar beer brands)

Naturally we paired our beer flights with accompanying meat and seafood flight as well...

Two flights of beer and food later, we were both (amazingly) still hungry and keen to continue on to the night's next destination. (Is this the camera being blurry, or was the beer getting to us by that point in the night?)

Of the ten appetizer-sized dishes we tried, probably our favorite (albeit very small) was the Prawn served w/ Tomato Confit. Hardly man-food, but if you were to throw a party with a large invite list, and were committed to putting out snack food buffet-style, this is a good call. Plus, it sounds fancy ... "Tomato Confit" sounds much more difficult-to-prepare than "Roasted Tomatoes", no? For the prawns, simply pan-fry them, top with some cooled tomato confit, and garnish with a sprig of fresh thyme or coriander.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 pounds large plum tomatoes, quartered lengthwise, seeds and membranes removed
4 large fresh thyme sprigs
3 garlic cloves, unpeeled
1/2 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon coarse sea salt

For tomato confit:

Preheat oven to 300°F. Oil large rimmed baking sheet. Arrange tomatoes on baking sheet. Scatter thyme sprigs and garlic cloves over. Drizzle with 1/2 cup olive oil, then sprinkle with coarse sea salt. Bake tomatoes 45 minutes. Turn tomatoes over; continue to bake until tomatoes shrink slightly but are still plump and moist, 1-2 hours longer. Cool completely. Peel off skins.

(Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature before using.)