Devonport
ROASTED CAPRETTO ON POTATO PURÉE WITH FOREST MUSHROOMS AND RED WINE JUS
Capretto is milk fed goat but if you are unable to get this product you can substitute with lamb. Forest mushrooms are only available at certain times of the year but feel free to substitute with other types of mushrooms such as Swiss Browns.
To Serve 4
For the Capretto/Lamb
1 leg of Capretto or Small Leg of Lamb
1 Sprig of Rosemary
2 Garlic Cloves (Sliced into quarters)
Salt and Cracked Black Pepper
60ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Lay the leg of Capretto/Lamb on a roasting tray and insert your knife into the flesh ½ a dozen times and push the garlic and rosemary into the holes. Lather with the oil and season with salt and pepper. Pre heat the oven to 190˚c and roasted for 1 hour.
For the Potato Purée
300g Potatoes
30g Butter
30ml Thickened Cream
30ml Milk
Salt and Pepper
Peel the potatoes and cut into pieces. Boil in salted water until soft. Drain and push through a mouli or mash by hand with a masher. Put back into pot and add milk, cream and butter, season to taste and stir.
The Jus
Pour off the meat juices from the Capretto and skim off natural fats from the top. Put into a small pot, add equal quantities of dry red wine, reduce slightly and strain.
The Mushrooms
Take 4 Forrest mushrooms or large flat Swiss Brown mushrooms, leave the stem on and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and roast for 10 minutes
To Serve
Place equal amounts of the Potato purée onto 4 plates. Slice the Capretto/Lamb and arrange on top. Place 1 mushroom on top and pour the jus around.
The Chef: Troy Baggett
]]>Devonport
SALAD OF AVOCADO, SMOKED TASMANIAN SALMON, MIXED LEAVES, FETTA AND ROE
This salad is quick, easy to prepare and very tasty. It is fantastic with a glass of Sparkling and is a great Spring/Summer dish to either have on it’s own or as a starter before main course.
To Serve 4
240g Sliced Smoked Tasmanian Salmon
100g Mixed Mesclun Leaves
2 Whole Avocadoes
80g Marinated Fetta
4 teaspoons Salmon Roe
60mls Balsamic Dressing (45mls Extra Virgin Olive Oil mixed together with 15mls Balsamic Vinegar and a pinch of sea salt and cracked black pepper)
Wash the leaves and dress with the Balsamic dressing reserving a small amount of the dressing to garnish the plate.
Arrange the leaves on a flat plate.
Cut the avocado in half and remove the seed and shell. Place 1 half on each plate.
Lay 4 slices of smoked salmon over the top and garnish with fresh chervil.
Scatter with the fetta and roe and serve.
Chef: Troy Baggett
]]>Absence of fat is vital. Also the beef should have been aged in the fridge until it has an unhealthy-looking green tinge; do not rinse this off. The mild pong is essential.
1 large onion.
Peel it and chop it until your vision is blurred. Blow your nose and chop it some more.
Garlic
Use twice as much as you think is necessary and then double the quantity. Less than an entire bulb proves you’re a wimp. You can use fresh garlic, well crushed with a little salt and thrashed mercilessly in a mortar and pestle until it’s white and creamy and the aroma is enough to make hairdressers burst into tears at a range of 50 metres, or an entire jar of a proprietrary crushed variety.
1 heaped teaspoon ground coriander.
Lazy bastards buy it ready ground. Grind your own seeds (you’ll need at least a tablespoon of seeds) in a mortar and pass it through a medium sieve to take out the husks which, if left in, will spoil the texture in the same way as a handful of toenail clippings.
1 heaped teaspoon ground cumin seed.
Treat as above. Roasted cumin seed is better.
500ml beef stock
Make your own, unless you’re one of those feckless slobs who buys it in TetraPaks or, more criminally, in cube form. It has to be hot.
Chilli
Very much a matter of taste and bravado. Three to five long red chillis, chopped with the seeds in is the norm. Proprietary chopped chili in a jar is permissible. Use as much as you normally would and keep some more aside for fine tuning later.
1 tin coconut milk
2 tablespoons ghee or butter
50 ml canola or peanut oil
Salt (of course, whatever the doctor said)
1 teaspoon tamarind paste
1 tablespoon sugar
2 blocks frozen spinach, thawed, brought very briefly to the boil and then blended with its liquid to the consistency of the most disgusting pond slime you can remember
500g pre-cooked pinkeye potatoes, cubed
Put the ghee, oil and onion into a large, heavy frying pan and warm gently until the onion is soft and translucent. Add the garlic and chili. Keep the heat very low; if the mixture comes even close to burning, chuck it out and start again – otherwise it will be unpleasantly bitter.
When the chili vapour makes your eyes water, pour in the coconut milk, the ground spices, tamarind paste, sugar and half the stock. Wait until it simmers and turn the heat down. Add the meat, cover and simmer it as gently as possible for 40-45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Try it for tenderness and if the meat is still chewy, cook it a bit longer.
Simmer until the liquid is reduced by half and then add more hot stock. Adding cold stock will toughen the meat.
Add the salt to taste and simmer for a further 30 minutes. Then stir in the spinach and increase the heat until it bubbles and creates an interesting green splatter pattern all over the stove. Stir in the potatoes and turn off the heat, cover and let stand at least overnight.
Serve hot with rice and all the usual trimmings. Take care to garnish copiously with fresh chopped coriander, which will go some way to mitigate the vaporous consequences of digesting this combination of animal protein and concentrated choloropyll. Avoid public transport next day out of consideration for others. FB
]]>Cambridge
SAFFRON POACHED PEAR WITH VANILLA GOATS’ MILK YOGHURT PANNA COTTA
Panna cotta
150ml double cream
1 vanilla pod (incl seeds)
1 tsp grated orange zest
150g castor sugar
4 gelatine leaves (soaked in cold water)
600ml Westhaven Dairy’s goats’ milk yoghurt
350ml double cream, lightly whipped
Bring 150ml cream, vanilla pod, zest and sugar to the boil.
Remove from heat and add gelatine, stirring to dissolve.
Allow to cool and whisk in the yoghurt and lightly whipped cream.
Pour into dariole moulds and leave to set in the fridge.
Makes 14.
Poached Pear
4 Beurre Bosc pears
2L white wine (Meadowbank Chardonnay of course!)
1 pinch Tas-Saff saffron threads
1kg castor sugar
4 kaffir lime leaves
1 knob of ginger, peeled and sliced
2 star anise
2 cinnamon quills
zest of 1 orange
In a wide heavy based pan, bring all ingredients (except pears) to the boil, and remove from heat and stand, allowing to infuse. Peel pears and place into poaching liquid, and put back on the heat. Gently poach pears until a knife passes through the pear without resistance.
Leave pears to cool in poaching liquid, at room temperature.
To assemble the dessert, dip the panna cotta mould in hot water to loosen.
Turn out the panna cotta into a dish.
Place a pear next to the panna cotta and drizzle with poaching liquid.
Serves 4
]]>Even though their skin can be a little resistant to the bite, due to the delicate nature of their flesh they are picked under-ripe.
If you have the luxury of planning ahead, buy them 3 to 4 days before required and allow them to ripen and soften at room temperature.
They ripen from the inside out. When ripe they exude their distinctive aroma and the flesh gives to gentle pressure at the stem end. A ripe pear should be both juicy and of silken texture.
Avoid bruised fruit. The subtle sweetness of a velvety ripe pear is a delicious foil to the piquancy of a blue cheese, chevre or feta.
On the nutrition side, pears are non-allergenic, making them ideal for introducing solids to babies and for folk on elimination diets, are high in fibre and a great source of Vitamin C.
Producing less than 1% of Australia’s pears, those that we do grow are predominantly for the premium priced fresh fruit market and include the Bartlett, Packham, Beurre Bosc and Doyenne du Comice.
Bartlett This golden-skinned bell-shaped fruit has juicy sweet flesh with a pleasant musky taste. Equally delicious fresh, cooked or preserved.
Packham A large white fleshed juicy pear with pale yellow skin when ripe. Often irregularly shaped, this slow ripening fruit will need up to a week at room temperature to ripen if bought firm and green.
Beurre Bosc Like the Packham, it is slow ripening. This pale brown skinned fruit has an elongated shape and enjoys long slow poaching or baking.
Doyenne du Comice Justly labelled The Queen of Dessert Pears, the flesh of the Comice is velvet-smooth and juicy. Rounded and smooth the yellow tinted green skin boasts a speckled red blush
]]>Ranelagh
PEAR POACHED IN HOME HILL PINOT NOIR WITH BRIE
750 ml of pinot noir
165g (3/4 cup) caster sugar
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
1 star anise
2 wide strips of orange rind
10 small pears brie
Place 1 cup water and all ingredients except pears in a saucepan wide enough to hold pears standing upright in a single layer.
Stir over low heat until sugar dissolves, then bring to the boil and simmer for 3-4 minutes.
Remove and discard star anise.
Peel pears, leaving stem intact, then place upright in wine syrup, cover with a lid and simmer very gently for 40 minutes or until pears are tender when pierced with a skewer.
Cooking time will depend on ripeness of pears. Remove pears with a slotted spoon and transfer to a wide bowl.
Bring poaching liquid to the boil and simmer for 6-8 minutes or until reduced by half.
Pour syrup over pears and stand until cool, turning occasionally to maintain an even colour.
Remove brie from refrigerator 1 hour before serving.
Using a slotted spoon, remove pears from syrup, divide among shallow bowls and drizzle with a little syrup. Poaching the pears a day or two before serving and storing them in the syrup will help the fruit absorb the dark ruby colour.
Serves 10
]]>“Yes, that’s the secret. Then I knead the mix up to what I call the ‘limp stage’ … you know … until it is about the same as a man’s limp, you know what … before the event.
“Then I roll the dough out flat, cut it into circles with my Vegemite jar and bake them on a tray until they’re gold. And that’s it.”
]]>Coles bay
WHITE CHOCOLATE AND BLUEBERRY CRÉME BRULEE
1Ltr double cream
250g melted chocolate
50g caster sugar
8 egg yolks
1 vanilla bean
150g blueberries
Pre-heat oven to 150°C.
Split vanilla bean and scrape the seeds in to cream, bring to the boil.
In separate bowl mix sugar and egg yolks, add the hot cream and stir well, till mixture coats the back of spoon evenly. Strain mixture over white Chocolate and stir well again.
Evenly share the blueberries into ramekins and cover with brulee mix.
Arrange dishes in baking pan and pour enough hot water in the pan to come half way up the sides of the brulee dishes.
Bake for about 45 minutes.
Let custards cool in baking pan for a couple of hours and then place in the refrigerator until you need to serve.
Just before serving sprinkle with caster sugar and caramelize with a blow torch or under a very hot grill till sugar is brown in colour.
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Victoria Dock, Hobart
SCALLOP POCKETED BLUE EYE
800g fresh Blue Eye trevalla
8 scallops
12 bintje potatoes
half small pumpkin
300g beans
250g butter
1 orange
1 lime
quarter bunch dill
pepper to taste
baby capers & finely diced sundried tomatoes
Portion Blue Eye into four serves, cut a slit in each portion and place 2 scallops in each pocket.
Boil bintje potatoes, crush and deepfry until crispy. At the same time roast pumpkin until golden.
Melt butter and add orange juice and lime juice and zest from both, add dill and pepper and keep warm.
Grill Blue Eye until cooked, place potatoes, boiled beans and pumpkin on warm plate, put fish on top and pour butter sauce over the Blue Eye. Garnish with capers and tomato.
Serves 4
]]>Victoria Dock, Hobart
MURES LAIRD’S SALMON
Lightly smoked then grilled Tassal salmon served with a whiskey cream sauce on a Colcannon mash.
4 180g portions of hot-smoked salmon
3 cups mashed potato
150g crisp diced bacon
100g blanched white cabbage
2 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley
2 tbsp spring onions
30ml whiskey
100ml of cream
pinch saffron
juice of one lemon
chives finely sliced
salt and pepper
1 onion caramalised
8 peeled asparagus spears
16 beans
16 snow peas
Place Salmon on tray and gill under salamander.
Colcannon Mash
Fold together well the mashed potato, cabbage, bacon, parsley, spring onions, caramalised onions, salt and pepper. Reheat for 1-2 minutes just prior to serving.
Sauce
Heat a pan; add whiskey and flambé, add cream, lemon juice and saffron and reduce slightly. Add chives and salt and pepper to taste.
To Serve
Place mash on plate, blanche green vegetables and place on top. Place Salmon on top of the green vegetables and pour over the whiskey cream sauce. Garnish with chives.
Serves 4
Sandy Bay, Hobart
BOMBE ALASKA WITH BERRY COULIS
One serve
Building
Cut 2 disc of chocolate sponge
Cut one of them to fit the mould
Brush 20ml cassis syrup on sponge on the inside of the mould
Add 2 scoops of chocolate ice cream pushing down to compact it and leaving a small gap at the top so it can be filled with 20 ml of black currant coulis.
Place the remaining sponge disc on top pressing firmly and freeze
Meringue
Whisk 3 egg whites
50g castor sugar
25g icing sugar
Beat till peaks form spreading over turned out bomb Alaska.
Touching with knife to form the spiky effect.
Brown with gas gun or in a preheated oven .
Serve with King Island cream, berry coulis and flambé with brandy.
]]>Restaurant, Launceston
LIME GRILLED TREVALLA WITH GINGER WILTED ASIAN GREENS AND SAFFRON SABAYON
600g trevalla (in 150g fillet serves)
2tsp finely grated lime zest
1 cup plain flour seasoned with 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp pepper.
Take each portion of trevalla and coat with melted butter, then coat in plain flour seasoned with salt and pepper. Coat each portion with ½ tsp lime zest. Grill for 5-6 minutes until translucency is gone from fish.
Citrus salad
1 orange, 1 lime, 1 lemon, 1 ruby grapefruit
2 tsp fresh mint julienne
2 tsp fresh basil julienne
1 tsp finely diced coriander stalk
2 tsp diced red capsicum
Gently toss together with dressing (see below) to taste.
Citrus salad dressing
50ml coconut vinegar
25ml ginger juice
50g finely grated palm sugar
1 egg yolk
Whisk together until dissolved.
Ginger wilted Asian greens
2 bok choy sliced into 6 pieces each
120g fresh zucchini julienne
80g finely sliced brown onion
20g pickled ginger
Wilt together in a wok then add:
60ml sweet soy sauce
30ml medium dry sherry
20g butter
Toss until combined, butter melted and heated through.
Saffron/ lemongrass sabayon
1 pinch saffron threads
1tsp crushed ginger
1 crushed lemongrass stem
1tsp good quality tomato paste
1 cup water
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
2 Tbs castor sugar
4 egg yolks
Simmer all ingredients (except yolks) for 20 minutes to infuse the flavours. Cool and refrigerate then strain to remove solids. Put ½ cup of above reduction with 4 egg yolks and whisk over double boiler until light and fluffy, do not overcook or leave over heat once finished.
Place wilted Asian greens in centre of each of 4 plates, flood remainder of plate with sauce from greens.
Place Trevalla on wilted greens. Place salad on trevalla leaving dressing behind.
Top with sabayon and garnish with a shot glass of frozen granita on the side.
Serve immediately. Serves 4.
]]>Catering
CONFIT OF ABALONE WITH A WARM ASIAN SALAD
500g fresh abalone
500ml olive oil
500ml quality vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic
2 medium shallots
1/2 inch ginger
1 lebanese cucumber
1/2 lime 4 spring onions
2 bay leaves
1 sprig fresh rosemary
1 granny smith apple
100ml Waji’s Palm Sugar Dressing coriander
Abalone
Cut meat from shell with large spoon. Scrub off all black residue under running water.
Wrap meat in tea towel and tenderise gently with a heavy weight for 1-2 minutes. Rub abalone meat with salt.
The confit
Combine both oils, garlic, ginger, shallots, bay leaf and rosemary and bring to a gentle heat (around 70°C). Cook for 30 minutes.
Now add the whole abalone meat and bring back to 70°C. Turn off heat and let abalone infuse for 30-40 minutes.
After this time, remove abalone meat from the confit and slice finely.
Arrange on salad mix of finely chopped Lebanese cucumber, spring onion and apple mixed with palm sugar dressing. Garnish with coriander sprigs.
The abalone meat in the confit can be stored in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Serves 4
]]>They are based on the appearance and disappearance of important foods.
Pawenya Peena commences with the blooming of the wattles. It is the time when the air is thick with their scents and honey is plentiful. This is usually late in July or in August and continues into September.
Wengytellanyta begins with the return of the Yolla (the shearwater or muttonbirds) to rookeries all around Tasmania in the third week of September. When the Yolla leave, Tunna begins.
This is the commencement of the coldest time of the year, from April until the wattle bloom again, sometime in August. Such a seasonal conception, based on actual events, rather than fixed calendar days, keeps people in touch with nature.
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2 cups (250g) diced Swiss gruyère cheese, dusted well with 2 rounded teaspoons cornflour
Clove garlic
3/4 cup (200ml) white wine
Put fondue pot on a tray — it will save a lot of mess and you can take it off the flame if it gets too hot without danger to the table. Rub the inside of the fondue pot with the cut clove of garlic. Add wine.
Heat until air bubbles start to rise. Over low heat, add the cheese, a handful at a time, stirring until melted before adding more. If the mixture is heated too fast it goes stringy, so take care, and remove from the heat from time to time.
Guests stir with pieces of torn-off French bread, which they then eat.
I have omitted the traditional teaspoonful of Kirsch because good Kirsch is so expensive, and bad so horrible.
CHOCOLATE FONDUE
250g (8oz) dark chocolate, grated
4 tablespoons honey
1/2 cup thick cream
Melt honey in a thick fondue pot, then add the chocolate. Stir, and add cream.
Stir over a gentle heat until smooth and melted, dip cubes of pound cake, or sponge fingers, etc, in this.
Carefree Cooking, Elizabeth Godfrey, 1978
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