The Quilted Teapot in New Norfolk has long had a reputation for its pies, always in small batches and never mass produced. So for the month-long Autumn Festival and its newly introduced Pie Trail, the quirky tea spot beside Arthur Square knew exactly what it was going to provide for hungry visitors.
The list of pies starts with Moroccan vegetable, Rendang goat curry, chicken and leek, and then one it calls military mince – just for starters. “Each day of the festival will see a different pie,” says Janine Clifford, “and we also will have sweet pies too!”
There’s sweet pies over at the Possum Shed in Westerway, too, which is appropriate considering the quantity of small fruits produced in the area. Here, Rene Rayner and her husband have taken advantage of the raspberries, blueberries and blackberries from his parents’ property, the Rock Hill Estate.
The abundance has made its way into the special fruit pies she’s making for the month of April and the Festival’s Pie Trail. The crust is a simple short pastry, but the filling is little short of brilliant. Rene has been here in Westerway for 15 years, after a long stint in Ballarat.
“I came fruit picking here … and just stayed,” she says. Down in Maydena, Mike and Jeanette Callow have gone to some trouble to source properly certified venison for their fresh pies.
“This is a good deal of work if you want to get it right,” she told the Gazette. “It’s not something to be rushed, and in this business, there’s only so many hours you’ve got in a day.”
Jeanette and her Mike have had a good March this year, largely because of the Red Bull mountain bike event, but otherwise it’s been a quiet tourist season. Their cafe is Fika Time, pronounced Feeka, which reflects Jeannette’s Swedish origins and a traditional food break time, usually involving cake.
Jeanette also does a very good strudel, which she’ll be promoting for next year’s Autumn Festival. The Gretna Green Hotel has also put its hand up for the Autumn Festival’s Pie Trail.
There at the bar, Veronica McCallion has created a couple of varieties of venison pies. For somebody who herself had never tasted venison, these are very, very good.
Drawing on venison from RE Clark, the New Norfolk butcher, she’s formulated a couple of beauties, including putting the deer with a cottage potato mix.
“While the cottage pie version is pretty fast cooking, the all-meat variety is a work of love, more than eight hours in a slow cooker,” she tells us.
And Veronica’s first editions are selling well, with more than 50 out the door in the first days of the Autumn Festival. Her job isn’t at the Gretna Green Hotel, but she does what they call ‘specialty things’ here at the pub. You can say that again!
