Ovens Valley, From Floods To Feasting

Last month the floods had retreated in the Ovens Valley and the feasting was in full swing at the biennial festival in Myrtleford.

As a judge it was really difficult to choose between the Trevisani tripe, the Vicentini polenta, the Calabrese spaghetti and then there was the Croatian grill and the Spanish paella.

Those dishes were being sold at the festival food stalls for $3-5 and were amongst more than a dozen offerings which co-judge Steve Flamsteed of King River Cafe and I tasted. After we had finally selected the spaghetti bolognese making the Calabrian stall the winner, Steve went on the judge the home made wines and I went to choose the "best use of local game, fish or local produce by a restaurant."

Buckland Valley goat all'arrabbiata with buckwheat and chestnut polenta, cooked by Patricia Simone , of Simone's of Bright, won that section. The day before, which had seen judging of preserves, vinegars, breads, lasagne, desserts and traditional home dishes, a quince crostada had won an honourable mention. The cook was 18 year old Nicole Fitzgerald, an apprentice for the past two years at Simone's.

With those two dishes tempting us to try more we mustered what appetite was left to visit Simone's for dinner. Her menu lists 12 entrees, 5 pasta dishes and 12 main courses. After a very full weekend of eating/judging, desserts didn't get a look in. The pudding section had attracted the most entries and the winner was a very rich cake, called The French Connection, submitted by Slovenian born, Anna Russell, owner-chef at Wangaratta's Scribblers Cafe.

Simone's is the restaurant at the Ovens Valley Motor Inn on the outskirts of Bright. The town is completely surrounded by mountains and the spring plants and trees are now in full flower. Patricia and husband George built the motel and opened the dining room in 1984 and two years ago opened Cafe Bacco in the main street of Bright.

Patricia comes from a family of cooks in Perugia where she learnt her craft from her mother and at the Technical Institute in that Umbrian city. After travelling and cooking in the U.K. and France Patricia came to Australia, worked as a kitchen hand/cook in Melbourne, then married and decided to settle in Bright. She travels regularly back to Perugia and her menu is filled with wonderful traditional dishes, including a slow cooked duck with tomatoes and fresh pappardelle..

It has taken some time for her to be able to put on the dishes she remembers from Italy, "it was very hard at first, I had to cook the commercial Italian dishes," she explained. "Now I can put on dishes using chicory (a chicken and quail broth with the chicory and tortellini), persimmon (in a 17th century recipe for a pheasant dressing) and lots of local produce which the farmers bring me. We preserve a lot -- artichokes, cherries, asparagus, chestnuts, pickled walnuts."

The salads and some of the sauces at Simone's are enriched by these preserves, particularly the generous Antipasto plate. And the Ovens Valley is certainly the area for preserves of all kinds and, for good salami. One thing which Patricia does not make but has in abundance is the local salami. It seems that every Italian family in the Myrtleford/Bright area (at least one third of the population are 1st or 2nd generation Italian) makes some they are proud of. We tasted and enjoyed heaps over the weekend.

Simone's phone 03 5755 2022

Click here for more about the Ovens Valley International Festival

Mietta O'Donnell

This first appeared in the Herald Sun on 10th November, 1998.
©Mietta's 1998.