Ricotta Festival 2024 - Review

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Posted 2024-03-18 by Jen ⇒ follow

Sun 17 Mar 2024

Images - Writers Own

If this year's ricotta festival is anything to go by, when next year's festival comes around, get in early and book your tickets as it sold out for 2024. My first one and in its fourth year, by public demand, this one included cooking demonstrations - yay. Held on the grounds of That's Amore Cheese , 66 Latitude Boulevard, Thomastown, it was a warm sunny day with not a cloud in sight. A little bit too warm for me at 30 degrees, but I survived. Around a 40 min drive for me from inner city Windsor, I thought parking was well organised as on-the-street parking was fully jam-packed. There was a carpark enclosure where you could park for $5 for the day - a 4 min walk away, with a separate enclosure for those with disability stickers, closer to, and almost next door to the event space.

I was surprised by how huge the festival was, and its popularity. There were people galore and arriving an hour after it started at 11am, the entertainment on the main stage was well underway. It could be seen as you got through the entry where tickets were being checked and validated. Each ticket holder was given a card voucher for their free serve of warm ricotta Calda, and a slice of bread - something I've never had before. It was very enjoyable, and I liked that it was hottish-warm like a soup if you get my gist. We then moved to the Cooking Demonstration tent to find Pia Gava about to demonstrate her ricotta gnocchi with cheese sauce and crispy pancetta as scheduled at 11.15am. My plus one and I watched most of it; but because we had just arrived, we wanted to have a good walk around the perimeter and check out all on offer.

On the outer realm was the 'marketplace' where you could buy some specialty items from Backyard Honey, Pistachio Papi and the likes. My plus one Jamie loved the pistachio paste and bought a jar to use on a variety of things as he loves to cook. We tasted two different ones; while one had the consistency of peanut butter spread, the other was a little more fluid and sweet. We preferred the spread. Other market shops included fashion, jewellery, rosaries, and so on, including a petting zoo and play area with play equipment for the children. Walking back around to the beginning, we passed rows of seating - long tables and benches for the masses to use to have their meals, plus tall crate-like tables for standing and eating, all undercover of umbrellas, away from the sun. Bins were dotted along the premises for use by the public, and to keep the space clean and tidy.

The second longer row was filled with food tents, leading up to the cooking demo tent where there were rows of chairs; though numbers were quite plentiful, nearly not enough for the crowd it attracted. That's Amore Cheese also had their walk-in shop open, where you could shop in person for their goodies. Walking past all the delicious aromas, it was a hard choice deciding what we wanted to eat. The pizzas looked good, the pork burgers with crusty crackling called to be salivated over, but in the end, we settled for gnocchi and a sausage wheel and salad. Naturally, we had a taste of each others, then settled for a coffee and went back to the cooking demo tent in time to catch Guy Grossi and his son at 12noon. Unfortunately, we couldn't stay for Darren Purchese, much as I absolutely would have loved to, but we had other commitments like an afternoon birthday party to go to.

Guy Grossi was entertaining to watch as he joked and regaled stories of his childhood, including his wife in parts, who was in the audience. Let me get straight to his Orecchiette with zucchini and ricotta with the wonderful aroma of cooking garlic wafting past my nostrils; I could not believe just how tasty that was. Absolutely loved it. At least three trays of samples came out, and though standing on the side, I wasn't going to miss out, and by the time the 2nd tray came out, I reached out and grabbed one to share with Jamie as it came towards us. I think I managed to grab the last of three - whew! Lucky me. Jamie is vowing to cook a version, armed with Grossi's secret that he added nutmeg and lemon to his, which is not in the recipe. I'm already salivating with anticipation. Today, I have to admit, I was searching out Guy Grossi recipes. I found old footage - an old version of his Orecchiette on SBS Food and enjoyed watching it. It was a great day, a well-organised and thought-out festival, especially parking with consideration for the disabled - as that could have been a clanger. If there was one little thing I'd change, it would be to have the food tents a little further apart from each other than it was, so each crowd lining up for their food at their chosen tent wasn't elbow to elbow. If they're going to keep bringing on the calibre of chefs/cooks they had at the festival, I'd make the cooking demo tent even bigger, because let's face it - most of us love watching celebrities cook and be face-to-face with them having that personal interaction is priceless.