Ultimate Potato chips

Having already covered the centerpiece of a Xmas meal, now I feel it important to start from the beginning. Any time there is a large group of people gathering in one place for the purpose of a meal, there is ALWAYS that period where everyone is standing around making chit chat and(from a chefs point of view) waiting to attack the spread before them. I personally hate this part. So canapes are something I think is essential in situations like this and always try to make something happen here.

These chips are something I thought would be a playful and unintimidating way to serve my family a very indulgent canape. Everyone loves potato chips, and I can assure you these were no exception, these finger sized bad boys were designed to appear simple and then twist your mind while you ate! They were triple cooked, first in chicken stock with alot of fresh bay leaves, then dried in front of a fan for 2 hours to create a crusty skin. Then fried in garlic oil at around 140C to make rich and golden, and finally finished in the oven to transform them into that crunchy chip with fluffy center that everyone dreams about secretly. On top I've piped a mixture of caramelised onion puree, finely diced Jamon Iberico, chopped parsley and Truffle oil. 16 people, 96 chips, 4:20 seconds.....proof........

Christmas Ham

When you think about Christmas lunch/dinner in Australia, one of the first things that springs to mind for most people is Ham. To have a glazed ham as the center piece of your Christmas day feast is wonderful and glorious thing, and having the whole family coming to my house I couldn't skimp on quality. I went straight for a leg of ham made from Kurabuta pork, a Japanese variety of black pig, Kura meaning 'black' and Buta being 'pork'. The meat of this animal is deliciously rich, slightly gamey and overall FUCKING delicious :)

After being glazed with a painfully 'Aussie' mix of macadamias, brown sugar, sweet chili and mustard that my grand mother had her heart set on, all that was left to do was consume....

White Truffles are AWSOME!

what can one say......when white truffles appear before you all sorts of evocative, arousing thoughts rush through your head. I always get a shiver when I smell the aroma they give off

Midnight Steak

When my lovely neighbours gave me a
pack of pre portioned beef fillet I instantly told myself I would say thank you by cooking something wonderful with it. Such a generous gift should be shown some respect after all! My plans were somewhat accelerated however when I returned home at midnight after a 16 hour day in the kitchen to hear my mother and brother talking about having some steak and asking if I would like some.....not realising exactly what meat they had in mind I said I might have a little bit. I was then asked if I would mind cooking said steak, which I had no problem with until I saw the meat in question!

With such little time and produce at hand(it was after 12 at night after all) to honour my commitment to this meat I decided simplicity was key. the meat was treated to a pan roasting and allowed to rest while I knocked up some saute potatoes with onions and confit garlic, but keeping in mind my feelings as to what this gift deserved the potatoes were finished with some truffle oil to transform our midnight snack into something quite indulgent. A pan Jus was quickly assembled with a little help from my friend mustard and finished with a monte of butter and E VOILA! midnight steak.......

Greek Flavours

Sometimes wanting to eat some vegetables can lead you down some wonderful paths. Alot of attention is shown to proteins, and the poor little veggies always seem to be sat beside like an after thought. I love the flavours, colours and textures that vegetables present. Treated with a little bit of respect and with a little bit of attention they can create a terrific dish all of their own. In this case I chose to make the protein play second fiddle and be the underlying flavour for the veg to shine. The flavours in this dish are largely Greek in nature, making it a great refreshing meal for a hot Australian night. Cauliflower florets, celery batons and diced onions were sweated in some garlic oil with ground coriander seed and finished with a touch of lemon juice. then tossed with spinach basil and mint. Cumin and confit garlic polenta helped to give body and richness and finally a few pieces of pan fried confit pork belly gave a nice crunch.

After such a wonderfully light but satisfying plate, I found myself wanting for something along the same path, so I decided to stay close to the Med and bring out a Zabaglione flavoured with cinnamon and lemon. Mango, apricots and blueberries were telling me they wanted to be under this blanket of Italian flavours, and who am I to argue with such knowledgeable fruits? So I happily obliged........

Wonderfully French

Sometimes simple French food gets bastardised so much that we tend to overlook certain dishes for fear of appearing 'common' and 'boring'. For me this has been the case with pepper steak for a long time. My reunion with this wonderfully simple french dish came about strangely enough due to a wanting for something to go with my accompaniments, a little backwards I know, but such is life sometimes.

A yearning for Aligot potatoes, the traditional elastic textured mash potato of the Lagioule region in France made with Cantele cheese, butter and garlic was the instigator on this occasion. Cantele being a little hard to obtain in Aus, I went for the closest resembling cheese I knew, Gruyere! I threw in my own little spin by using a bit of confit garlic and some of it's oil(as well as Lescure butter of course). Having some home made bacon on hand prompted me towards another french classic of pettit pois ala francais.

With all these classic french components in a main, how could I even consider moving away from that theme for dessert!

Being fortunate enough to have some white chocolate mousse begging to be used in my fridge, and some chocolate macaroons in the freezer, it was just a matter of finding something to tie them together. Vanilla braised blueberries with a touch of salt is one of my favourite things to eat with creamy desserts because they are sharp and cleansing while being completely at home with cream. After this meal, all I needed was a nap.......

sunday lunch continued

to complement the underlying simplicity of flavours in the pork dish, and continue with the theme of fresh flavours and textures, I thought it only fitting to have a sorbet course to cleanse our palates of pork fat with a lychee and a longon sorbet. After a few years as a pastry chef I tend to steer away from making desserts too sweet, Longons being a relative of Lychee with a wonderful savoury edge I managed to keep this course reasonably savoury.

To finish we had a white chocolate mousse with strawberries and pistachios macerated with a little icing sugar, a touch of lemon juice and raspberry vinegar. the crumbs on top are actually a by product(scraps) from making walnuts candied with cinnamon, which once again has a delightful savoury sweet dimension while being fantastically crunchy.