There are some bits of produce that always seem to get a bad rap. Mostly, it's because along the highway of life experience, someone illegally dumped a bad experience in your path. Ignore these bad experiences and give these poor things a second chance:
Brussels Sprouts
Soggy, farty, slightly brown: The way most people remember the Brussels sprouts of their youth. Like many vegetables screwed over by nan, these beautiful vegetables have been mistreated for decades. Cooked properly, they're crunchy, nutty and take on other flavours really well. Right now, they're in season, so buy baby sprouts, and try this simple recipe:
Ingredients:
2 handfuls of Brussels sprouts (bottoms cut off, unless they're babies)
1 tbs butter
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp caraway seeds
Salt & pepper to taste
Method:
1. Preheat an oven to 220 degrees centigrade.
2. In a saucepan, par boil the sprouts for 30 seconds.
3. Heat butter in an ovenproof pan. Once it starts to melt, add the caraway seeds and garlic.
4. Once the seeds start to smell aromatic, add in the sprouts and stir fry them for 2 minutes.
5. Transfer the pan to the oven and bake for 20 minutes.
The result is crunchy, caramelised outsides, still green and firm on the inside. Nans are not compulsory.
Restaurant tip: Porteno does brilliant Brussels sprouts.
Chokos
Also called 'Dunny fruit'...mostly because once upon a time, every suburban outhouse and backyard was covered in them, this member of the gourd family fell into the unpopular category for its bland taste and (again) for being overcooked. After a few chef discussions online recently, I reckon they're due for a comeback. Chef Neil Perry recalls his dad's recipe from childhood: Lightly boil them, saute them in heaps of butter and lots of black pepper.
Restaurant tip: Chef Hayden McFarland from Melbourne's Jaques Reymond is doing a fantastic pheasant and choko dish: Pheasant with mild curried chokos, toasted brioche, lemon and mushrooms and a tamarind sauce.
Felix's chef Lauren Murdoch suggests doing them beer battered with aioli, cooked with lots butter, garlic and parsley (and don't we all love beer battered ANYTHING with aioli?).
Okra
We really don't eat enough of this very cool podded plant. Popular in African, Indian and the Caribbean. People generally get put off because of the unfamiliar texture, which can be soft and sort of slimy when cooked, and tastes somewhere between an eggplant and asparagus. It's great in soups and stews, for its thickening properties, otherwise, like most vegetables, the less you cook it, the better.
Friday, 27 May 2011
Sunday, 22 May 2011
road tripping for pies
Call me provincial, but one of the great joys in life when you're on a road trip is the humble pie*. From quality basics (beef pie) to the sublime and ridiculously good (and sometimes not so much), there are plenty of great pies to be found up and down the NSW coast. Here are a few you should check out:
Fredo's Famous Pies
Just 5kms from Kemsey on the Pacific Highway in Northern NSW, you'll find the tiny town of Frederickton and its famous pie shop, Fredo's. Established in 1993, this little shack should be part of every Splendour in the Grass pilgramage road trip and offers over 50 types of pies, pasties and rolls, 364 days a year.
Highlight flavours run the gamut between classic to gour-met, and include steak and pepper, apricot chicken, mongolian lamb, chilli beer & beef, and venison.
Bring a pen and make your mark on the awning - it's tradition.
www.fredopies.com.au
75 Macleay Street, Frederickton, NSW
Open 7 am to 7 pm - 364 days a year
Hayden's Pies
If you're headed down the South Coast of NSW, there are few roadside food finds that are better than Hayden's Pies, on the outskirts of Ulladulla. Discovered during a camping trip at Meroo Head, Hayden's is favoured by truckies, holiday makers and locals alike for their vast selection of cracking pies, all made with buttery pastry and quality ingredients. Aside from a solid beef pie, there's slow cooked kangaroo with roasted beetroot, butter chicken with a side of minted yoghurt, several respectable vegetarian options, and on Fridays, Atlantic salmon and prawn mornay with creamy leek sauce.
166 Princes Highway
Ulladulla NSW 2539
(02) 4455 7798
Berry Sourdough Bakery and Cafe
Ok, so while this place isn't strictly a pie joint, if you happen to be in the Southern Highlands, the Berry Sourdough Bakery and Cafe provides solace from bad coffee, refined white bread and hokey danishes. Run by Joost and Jelle Hilkemeije, this cute little joint lives just off the main road running through Berry, meaning it's slightly less touristy and a bit more chilled in vibe. Drop by early if you're after loaves of brioche or sourdough for the road, but the real gems are in the traiteur cabinet in form of delicate mushroom pithiviers (well, it's kind of like a fancy pie), and other savoury pastries as well as chocolate or lemon curd tarts and other sweet hits for the road trip playlist.
23 Prince Alfred St
Berry 2535 NSW
Honorable mentions:
The pie shop, Buladelah (Mid north coast, NSW)
Robertson Pie Shop, Robertson (Southern Highlands, NSW)
Trinity Bakery, Bathurst (Central West, NSW)
Something missing? Send me your suggestions on your favourite road trip food stops!
*Also, pastie, sausage roll, quiche and generally any savoury baked good.
Fredo's Famous Pies
Just 5kms from Kemsey on the Pacific Highway in Northern NSW, you'll find the tiny town of Frederickton and its famous pie shop, Fredo's. Established in 1993, this little shack should be part of every Splendour in the Grass pilgramage road trip and offers over 50 types of pies, pasties and rolls, 364 days a year.
Highlight flavours run the gamut between classic to gour-met, and include steak and pepper, apricot chicken, mongolian lamb, chilli beer & beef, and venison.
Bring a pen and make your mark on the awning - it's tradition.
www.fredopies.com.au
75 Macleay Street, Frederickton, NSW
Open 7 am to 7 pm - 364 days a year
Hayden's Pies
If you're headed down the South Coast of NSW, there are few roadside food finds that are better than Hayden's Pies, on the outskirts of Ulladulla. Discovered during a camping trip at Meroo Head, Hayden's is favoured by truckies, holiday makers and locals alike for their vast selection of cracking pies, all made with buttery pastry and quality ingredients. Aside from a solid beef pie, there's slow cooked kangaroo with roasted beetroot, butter chicken with a side of minted yoghurt, several respectable vegetarian options, and on Fridays, Atlantic salmon and prawn mornay with creamy leek sauce.
166 Princes Highway
Ulladulla NSW 2539
(02) 4455 7798
Berry Sourdough Bakery and Cafe
Ok, so while this place isn't strictly a pie joint, if you happen to be in the Southern Highlands, the Berry Sourdough Bakery and Cafe provides solace from bad coffee, refined white bread and hokey danishes. Run by Joost and Jelle Hilkemeije, this cute little joint lives just off the main road running through Berry, meaning it's slightly less touristy and a bit more chilled in vibe. Drop by early if you're after loaves of brioche or sourdough for the road, but the real gems are in the traiteur cabinet in form of delicate mushroom pithiviers (well, it's kind of like a fancy pie), and other savoury pastries as well as chocolate or lemon curd tarts and other sweet hits for the road trip playlist.
23 Prince Alfred St
Berry 2535 NSW
Honorable mentions:
The pie shop, Buladelah (Mid north coast, NSW)
Robertson Pie Shop, Robertson (Southern Highlands, NSW)
Trinity Bakery, Bathurst (Central West, NSW)
Something missing? Send me your suggestions on your favourite road trip food stops!
*Also, pastie, sausage roll, quiche and generally any savoury baked good.
Monday, 16 May 2011
korean
Korean food. There’s plenty of it in Sydney, but it seems that it’s yet to have its heyday, the same way Japanese, Vietnamese or Thai has had in the past decade or so.
Far from the less popular cousin of Chinese or Japanese food, Korean cuisine is full of brilliantly bold dishes, destined to make an impact on Australia’s cuisine culture, thanks to champions like Korean American chef David Chang, who have brought dishes like Ssam bo to the fore in the past few years. Here are a couple of great places to check out if you want to get the 411 on Korean.
The gu-E
A brand newcomer to the Dixon (eat) Street quarter, The gu-E is the little brother and next door neighbour to Arisun, the home of cracking Korean fried chicken, Arisun. Specialising in a degustation-style format – it’s perfect if you’re not sure what to order …just pick a price point and let them feed you. There’s everything from potato starch noodles to Korean BBQ of Wagyu beef – it’s chic modern Asian dining in the best way.
Shop 34, 1 Dixon St
Sydney NSW 2000
Ph: 9261 0888
Madang
This place should read ‘for a good time, call..’ It’s party town here every night, with hoards of cool young Koreans and savvy city dwellers hitting Madang for fun, casual Korean. Madang’s Pete Jo tells us the seafood pancake is a popular choice here, as is the BBQ at-the-table menu of seafood, beef and vegetables. There are spicy kimchi accompaniments, noodles a-go-go…just make sure you wash it all down with plenty of makguli..a kind of milky looking Korean rice wine.
BCD Tofu House
With the weather so cold right now, soup is the ticket to keep your toes warm. Specialising in authentic tofu soups including
Organic tofu, served with a heap of fresh ‘ban-chan’ (side dishes) of pickled vegetables and noodles…just decide on how spicy you want it to be.
There’s also speciality dishes of marinated raw crab in garlic red pepper sauce, bimbimbap (hot stone combination rice dish), bulgogi (marinated bbq meat) and more.
4 Rawson Street
Epping NSW 2121
(02) 9868 4300
http://bcdtofu.com/
Far from the less popular cousin of Chinese or Japanese food, Korean cuisine is full of brilliantly bold dishes, destined to make an impact on Australia’s cuisine culture, thanks to champions like Korean American chef David Chang, who have brought dishes like Ssam bo to the fore in the past few years. Here are a couple of great places to check out if you want to get the 411 on Korean.
The gu-E
A brand newcomer to the Dixon (eat) Street quarter, The gu-E is the little brother and next door neighbour to Arisun, the home of cracking Korean fried chicken, Arisun. Specialising in a degustation-style format – it’s perfect if you’re not sure what to order …just pick a price point and let them feed you. There’s everything from potato starch noodles to Korean BBQ of Wagyu beef – it’s chic modern Asian dining in the best way.
Shop 34, 1 Dixon St
Sydney NSW 2000
Ph: 9261 0888
Madang
This place should read ‘for a good time, call..’ It’s party town here every night, with hoards of cool young Koreans and savvy city dwellers hitting Madang for fun, casual Korean. Madang’s Pete Jo tells us the seafood pancake is a popular choice here, as is the BBQ at-the-table menu of seafood, beef and vegetables. There are spicy kimchi accompaniments, noodles a-go-go…just make sure you wash it all down with plenty of makguli..a kind of milky looking Korean rice wine.
BCD Tofu House
With the weather so cold right now, soup is the ticket to keep your toes warm. Specialising in authentic tofu soups including
Organic tofu, served with a heap of fresh ‘ban-chan’ (side dishes) of pickled vegetables and noodles…just decide on how spicy you want it to be.
There’s also speciality dishes of marinated raw crab in garlic red pepper sauce, bimbimbap (hot stone combination rice dish), bulgogi (marinated bbq meat) and more.
4 Rawson Street
Epping NSW 2121
(02) 9868 4300
http://bcdtofu.com/
Tuesday, 10 May 2011
ozharvest has a f*&^ing point
This morning, some of you may have noticed a leaked video that I put out on the interwebs. It featured chef Matt Moran losing his sh*t at a kitchen hand for throwing away perfectly good food in between takes on a TV set:
As it turns out, I have some apologising to do: I was in on it. Sorry.
It was for a good cause though:
As a way of highlighting the amount of food waste that happens in this country, OzHarvest enlisted Matt Moran to play a part in getting people to pay attention (...swear words included):
Says Matt: “I was more than happy to be involved in something so controversial if it meant that the message of food waste would be brought to the top of Australians’ minds. REAP is a simple concept started by leading food charity OzHarvest, who have already rescued millions of meals from going to waste and who have provided millions of people with fresh food that they normally would not have access to. It’s an F***ing great cause!”
Ronni Kahn, CEO and founder of OzHarvest said: “The issue of feeding those in need goes well beyond the areas we currently service which is Sydney, Canberra, Newcastle, Wollongong and more recently in Adelaide. We have been working hard to create ways to help regional areas where our yellow OzHarvest vans just don’t have the capability to reach on a day-to-day basis.”
Kahn said: “REAP provides regional areas with all the necessary tools that they need to rescue food and deliver it to the disadvantaged. On top of that, it also serves to stop good food from ending up as landfill.”
... so it seems this dummy spit was a worthwhile one, and one I'm really happy to have been asked to be involved in, too.
Check out the full TVC here.
For more information on REAP please visit www.reap.org.au and for information on OzHarvest please visit www.ozharvest.org
As it turns out, I have some apologising to do: I was in on it. Sorry.
It was for a good cause though:
As a way of highlighting the amount of food waste that happens in this country, OzHarvest enlisted Matt Moran to play a part in getting people to pay attention (...swear words included):
Says Matt: “I was more than happy to be involved in something so controversial if it meant that the message of food waste would be brought to the top of Australians’ minds. REAP is a simple concept started by leading food charity OzHarvest, who have already rescued millions of meals from going to waste and who have provided millions of people with fresh food that they normally would not have access to. It’s an F***ing great cause!”
Ronni Kahn, CEO and founder of OzHarvest said: “The issue of feeding those in need goes well beyond the areas we currently service which is Sydney, Canberra, Newcastle, Wollongong and more recently in Adelaide. We have been working hard to create ways to help regional areas where our yellow OzHarvest vans just don’t have the capability to reach on a day-to-day basis.”
Kahn said: “REAP provides regional areas with all the necessary tools that they need to rescue food and deliver it to the disadvantaged. On top of that, it also serves to stop good food from ending up as landfill.”
... so it seems this dummy spit was a worthwhile one, and one I'm really happy to have been asked to be involved in, too.
Check out the full TVC here.
For more information on REAP please visit www.reap.org.au and for information on OzHarvest please visit www.ozharvest.org
art vs food
The exhibition will run from June Tuesday 7 - Saturday 19, during which guests can dine within this unique work and experience Claude’s new a la carte and tasting menu.
DINNER WITH THE ARTIST
Guests are invited to support Jordana’s next work Close Encounters, by attending an intimate fundraising evening hosted by Claude’s Chui Lee Luk and Jordana Maisie.
Sunday June 12, 6.30pm
5 courses, matched wines $250
RSVP by Friday June 10: bookings@claudes.com.au
A special menu will be available throughout the exhibition period at exhibitionist prices:
5 courses ($110) or 8 courses ($135). Click here to book or find out more.
[client news]
Friday, 6 May 2011
old man pubs
The end of an era happens tonight. Much loved booze hang, live music venue and old man pub The Excelsior in Surry Hills is set to have its last hurrah tonight before handing over the keys to the Merivale Group, which plans to give the venue an overhaul, with TOYS Collective member and all-round star chef Dan Hong taking over the reins in the kitchen, giving it a Mexican fiesta flavour later this year.
Featuring $3 bubbly all day, jugs of beer at firesale prices and meat trays (yes, meat trays), supplied by none other than Hudson Meats, it's likely to be one hell of a shindig.
The Excelsior Hotel (for one last night)
64 Foveaux Street
Surry Hills NSW 2010
(02) 9211 4945
Other old man pub institutions that should be celebrated:
The Nelson
One of Australia's most famous pubs, but most wouldn't know it. Featured in almost every television commercial featuring a 'quinessential Australian pub', The Nelson features a huge oval-shaped bar, a ridiculous number of beers on tap and a classic pub food menu including a chicken parmie and great chips. Atmosphere like this takes a long time to cultivate. Soak it up.
232 Oxford Street
Bondi Junction NSW 2022
(02) 9389 6032
The Glenmore Hotel
An Australian institution since its inception in 1921, The Glenmore Hotel's old world charm and olde Sydney towne locations has meant that everyone from the original working class, to tourists and todays locals have appreciated this slice of pre World War II harbourside gold.
You'll find everything from hearty burgers to Australia's national pub food, salt and pepper squid, as well as bangers and mash and steak sambos here, plus a shedload of beers on tap..and don't forget that priceless rooftop real estate at sunset.
96 Cumberland Street
The Rocks NSW 2000
(02) 9247 4794
www.glenmorehotel.com.au
Featuring $3 bubbly all day, jugs of beer at firesale prices and meat trays (yes, meat trays), supplied by none other than Hudson Meats, it's likely to be one hell of a shindig.
The Excelsior Hotel (for one last night)
64 Foveaux Street
Surry Hills NSW 2010
(02) 9211 4945
Other old man pub institutions that should be celebrated:
The Nelson
One of Australia's most famous pubs, but most wouldn't know it. Featured in almost every television commercial featuring a 'quinessential Australian pub', The Nelson features a huge oval-shaped bar, a ridiculous number of beers on tap and a classic pub food menu including a chicken parmie and great chips. Atmosphere like this takes a long time to cultivate. Soak it up.
232 Oxford Street
Bondi Junction NSW 2022
(02) 9389 6032
The Glenmore Hotel
An Australian institution since its inception in 1921, The Glenmore Hotel's old world charm and olde Sydney towne locations has meant that everyone from the original working class, to tourists and todays locals have appreciated this slice of pre World War II harbourside gold.
You'll find everything from hearty burgers to Australia's national pub food, salt and pepper squid, as well as bangers and mash and steak sambos here, plus a shedload of beers on tap..and don't forget that priceless rooftop real estate at sunset.
96 Cumberland Street
The Rocks NSW 2000
(02) 9247 4794
www.glenmorehotel.com.au
Wednesday, 4 May 2011
[TOYS] collective in the(sydney)magazine
Pick up this month's issue, or to get started, click here.
Tuesday, 3 May 2011
claude's restaurant set to be transformed this june
Media Release
An iconic fine dining institution, filled with a foot of soil? Believe it.
Forget what you think about this Woollahra dining institution. Claude’s will be transformed this June, with the help of Berlin-based Australian installation artist Jordana Maisie. Together with Claude’s head chef and owner Chui Lee Luk, the pair is set to embark on a project that crosses creative boundaries, presenting a visceral experience unlike anything seen before in a restaurant space.
The work invites those who have always been curious about what lies beyond the locked door at 10 Oxford Street Woollahra, to let themselves in and see the space with new eyes, a move reflected in an evolution in Lee Luk’s cuisine, as well as the doing away of the locked door and buzzer.
Amplifying the concept of dining as an exciting, sensory experience, the work, Liminal Space, sees the audience enter an environment housing an amalgam of the electronic and the organic. Scattered LED light bulbs, connected by an intricate circuit of wires protrude from a carpet of soil that powers the work. Maisie designed this work to gently reframe the way we perceive, interact with and understand natural materials such as soil. The space encourages a calm, meaningful experience that underscores Chui’s new direction in cuisine.
While ushering in a new era of exciting, accessible cuisine, the work is also part of a fundraising effort to fuel Maisie's new work, Close Encounters, which will be unveiled at this year’s Splendour in the Grass festival.
Experience this unique creative partnership from June 7-18, when the public are invited to dine within the work, or to treat Claude’s as a gallery space, providing a platform from which to appreciate Lee Luk’s evolution in Claude’s cuisine.
For gallery opening hours, please check the Claude's website closer to the exhibition opening.
Claude’s Restaurant
10 Oxford Street
Woollahra
Jordana Maisie
Liminal Space, 2010, shown in Berlin
Image courtesy of the artist
180 x 800 x 200 cm
Electronic Installation
1300 Litres of soil, LED lights, copper, zinc-plated steel,
conduit wire, alligator clips, plastic pots, black plastic sheeting, timber.
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