Chefs

The Heat Is On

by Christine Salins on February 8, 2012

Culinary Olympics Practice RunEvery four years, there are the Olympic Games, the Paralympics and the Winter Olympics, but you might be surprised to know that there is also a Culinary Olympics. What’s more, it’s taken just as seriously, right down to the competitors marching into the stadium in their national teams.

The world’s largest professional competition for chefs and pâtissiers, the event is organised by the World Association of Chefs’ Societies, which represents more than 10 million chefs worldwide.

This year’s event will be held in Erfurt, Germany, from October 6 to 9. The Culinary Olympics have gained a reputation for setting trends and benchmarks, and to take out a medal in the competition is a very high honour.

Australia has a good track record in the competition, with both the junior and senior teams finishing in the top 10 in the world in the 22nd Culinary Olympics in 2008. The junior team came sixth with a gold and a silver medal, while the senior team finished ninth with two gold, one silver and a bronze.

Can this year’s Australian team top that? They’re certainly giving it their best shot, and after tasting the results of their second practice run, I think they’ll do a great job of defending our culinary reputation.

I was a guest of the National Press Club, which hosted Monday night’s dinner where Shane Keighley (Qld, Captain), Shannon Kellam (Qld), Steve Clarke (WA), Jennie Key (SA), Royston Clark (WA), Patrick Carlin (WA), Matt McBain (Vic, pastry team), Dan Hurley (ACT) and Che Tam Nguyen (WA) prepared the three-course menu they plan to do in Germany.

Australian Culinary TeamThey had spent the previous two days prepping at the National Convention Centre, whose executive chef, Mike Scheumann, is president of the ACT chapter of the Australian Culinary Federation.

The dinner was organised by the Federation to raise much-needed funds to send the team to Germany, as well as gain valuable feedback.

The three courses were incredibly intricate so it’s almost impossible to describe them without listing a huge number of ingredients, but here’s a summary of what we enjoyed:

EntreeEntrée: Lemon sole soufflé, kipfler potato and fennel pollen crisp, apple cured and smoked Tasmanian salmon (out of this world delicious!) and cucumber terrine.

Main DishMain dish: Dorper lamb loin wrapped in pancetta, milk-poached kidney, gremolata-crusted sweetbread, wild mushroom polenta, beetroot glazed shallot. (Beautifully matched with Serafino 2009 Shiraz from McLaren Vale.)

DessertDessert: Chocolate and raspberry bar, chocolate pudding, strawberry macaron (filled with strawberry gelato, a nice twist) and other yummy morsels.

According to team manager Patrick O’Brien, the team members were being assessed on Monday night as only six would be able to compete in the hot kitchen team in Germany, and they were looking for the “best fit”.

The selection process is, understandably, rigorous as the chefs will work in a five metre by four metre space, with just five hours to prepare a three-course meal for 110 people, as well as a buffet table displaying their work.

Other team members will have duties in the cold table team. All up, a total of 21 people will be going to Germany, with a full complement of senior, junior and pastry teams.

It’s a huge job raising sponsorship as the expense of getting three teams to Germany is enormous. According to the president of the Australian Culinary Federation, Peter Wright, they are about a quarter of the way towards their goal.

I’m sure they’d appreciate any extra help so do contact the Australian Culinary Foundation if you’d like to get involved.

Peter Wright has a broad vision of where he’d like to take the Culinary Federation. “One of our big goals is to drive the future of Australian culinary arts,” he said.

“We have a shortage of chefs in this country; what we’re trying to do is give these chefs an avenue to stay in the industry so they’ll be the leaders of the future.”

 

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Stumps Café @ International Cricket Hall of Fame

by Christine Salins on December 8, 2011

TwiceBakedSouffle

I have a confession to make. One of the reasons  I accepted the invitation to check out the International Cricket Hall of Fame was that it promised lunch.

I wouldn’t travel just anywhere for lunch, but this one sounded good – … “in the pavilion overlooking Bradman Oval … the very pitch where Sir Donald honed his skills …”

Count me in. Always love a good story told over a glass of wine.

As you’ll see from my post on the Hall of Fame and its new Bradman Gallery, I learnt a thing or two about cricket. But I also learnt how good the local food is, during a lunch prepared by Robin Murray.

Robin is the executive chef at nearby Centennial Vineyards and he and his wife Mandy are now also handling the catering at Stumps Café.

I loved his feather-light soufflé, the recipe for which follows. This twice-baked soufflé was made from feta cheese produced by Small Cow Farm, one of the great regional producers in the Southern Highlands.

It was followed by deliciously moist and juicy spatchcock roasted with thyme and served with a puree of organic parsnip, fricassee of carrot, bacon and locally produced mushrooms, chicken jus, and salsa verde made with herbs from the Stumps Café garden.

RobinMurrayOriginally from the highlands of Scotland (perhaps that’s why he feels so at home in the Southern Highlands), Robin trained in the UK and Europe and has been head chef in some of Australia’s leading restaurants.

He has worked at the Windsor Hotel and the Sofitel Hotel in Melbourne, and at venues at Federation Square, where a young George Calombaris was his apprentice.

He runs a cooking school at Centennial Vineyards and loves sourcing ingredients from local growers and producers. He is something of an expert in charcuterie and his pancetta and prosciutto are apparently second to none (unfortunately I haven’t had a chance to try these).

Robin says the space and facility at the  International Cricket Hall of Fame are cutting edge and he has some exciting plans that include a host of food and beverage events.

TWICE BAKED FETA AND PUMPKIN SOUFFLÉ

425 ml milk
30 grams onion
85 grams butter
85 grams flour
225 grams feta
200 grams cooked pumpkin
6 eggs, separated
1 tablespoon English mustard
300 ml cream
50 grams finely grated Parmesan
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 170 degrees C. Butter 8 small ramekins and dust with breadcrumbs. Prepare a bai-marie (a deep baking tray half full of water) already in the oven. Warm the milk with the onion and leave to infuse for 15 minutes. Make a roux by melting the butter in a saucepan and adding flour; cook gently for 2 minutes without colour. Remove the onion from the milk and add milk to the roux a third at a time, stirring continuously. When all the milk is added, cook for another minute. Remove the pan from the heat and add the feta, pumpkin, parsley and mustard.

Season to taste, then add the egg yolks. Transfer the mixture into a large bowl. Whip the egg whites until stiff, fold into mixture. Fill the ramekins two-thirds to allow the soufflé to rise. Place into bain-marie and cook for 25 to 30 minutes. Remove and cool for one hour. Remove from the ramekins and place upside down into ovenproof serving dishes, pour cream over the top and grated parmesan. Bake for about 10 minutes until golden brown and bubbling. Garnish and serve.

To garnish:
1 sliced apple
Handful of toasted walnuts
1 cup of rocket leaves
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Combine all ingredients and season.

Recipe courtesy of Robin Murray.

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Fishy Christmas

by Christine Salins on November 28, 2011

Watermelon Prawn Sashimi

There’s something deliciously fishy about Christmas. Thus was billed the cooking class that chef and cookbook author Kate McGhie conducted at Cooking Co-ordinates in Canberra’s Belconnen Fresh Food Markets.

Turning out a host of stylish dishes with consummate ease, Kate provided lots of wonderful tips for using seafood during the festive season.

Within minutes of the class beginning, she had whipped up her Watermelon Prawn “Sashimi”, a simple elegant starter  consisting of a cooked prawn sitting on top of a slice of watermelon drizzled with a syrup made from sugar, water, mirin, ginger and mint.

Even the colours spell Christmas, with the red of the watermelon and the green dill garnish.

Kate McGhie

Kate, who writes on food for the Herald-Sun in Melbourne, says she is happy to take shortcuts in preparing quick, easy dishes, but she never takes shortcuts with quality.

Although she trained as a chef in Switzerland, has worked in Italy, Thailand and Japan, and has made more than 30 trips to Morocco to familiarise herself with the cuisine, she says you don’t have to be a chef to turn out beautiful food: “You only have to have a good sharp knife.”

Kate’s second dish was an eye-catching plate with little chunks of raw tuna, small cubes of Bloody Mary jelly (made from tomato juice, Vodka, Worcestershire sauce and Tabasco), dainty balls of avocado, slices of radish and a scattering of micro herbs.

Tuna With Bloody Mary Jelly

This is one idea I’m looking forward to tinkering with, perhaps substituting some Bloody Mary sorbet for the jelly, and serving it differently – either in shot glasses or on white ceramic spoons. The possibilities are endless.

I loved the next dish, Pineapple Carpaccio with Thai Fish and Herb Salad, a great recipe for making a little fish go a long way. Slices of fresh pineapple are topped with a salad of Asian herbs, bean shoots, sliced kaffir lime leaves, chilli, shallots and shredded trout. A dressing of lime juice, fish sauce, palm sugar and chillies is drizzled over it.

Pineapple Carpaccio“This is the sort of dish that nothing can really go wrong with,” says Kate. “You must have harmony of flavours and you must have texture. You must have sweet, you must have sour. You must have crunch.”

Kate is an incredibly busy woman with enormous talent. As well as writing on food, she designs and hosts ‘cultural-cuisine’ tours for small groups.

She trained the first two Australian apprentice cooks to win gold medals at the 1984 and 1988 World Culinary Olympics in Frankfurt, Germany.

She has also written a wonderful cookbook, published by Hardie Grant Books and simply called COOK, that won some major international awards.

Kates Book

Seeing Kate at work in front of a class, it’s evident that she has a food stylist’s touch. She arranges everything on the plate so effortlessly.

As two of the Cooking Co-ordinates team – “Santa’s helpers” as she called them – hovered in the background, plating up the same dishes so the class could enjoy them, Kate turned out a few more dishes, including Hot Smoked Salmon with Hazelnut and Honey, Kipfler Potatoes with Smoked Salmon and Egg, and a Nori Fish Roll.

Cooking CoordinatesFor me, the dish of the day was her Maghreb Salad, a healthy, colourful dish that is a nod to her passion  for all things Moroccan.

Enjoy the recipe here and if you don’t have all the ingredients, consider substituting other grains and fruits.

Instead of black wheat, you could use quinoa or barley, and instead of sultanas, you could use currants, chopped dates, prunes or cranberries.

Kate urges people to play around with her recipes and have fun. “You’ve got to be able to put your own DNA onto the food you do.”

MAGHREB SALMON SALAD
Serves 6
1 cup bulghur
1 cup pearl cous cous
1 cup black wheatMaghreb Salmon Salad
350g salmon fillets
2 Italian tomatoes, diced
1 small red onion, finely sliced
½ cup chopped parsley
½ cup chopped mint
½ cup chopped coriander
2 tablespoons honey
½ cup orange juice
½ cup olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
½ cup toasted pine nuts
½ cup sultanas
Soak bulghur and cous cous according to packet directions. Cook wheat in boiling water until tender. Drain all three well. Poached salmon in water and when cool enough to handle, remove skin and break flesh into pieces. Put into a bowl with bulghur, cous cous, wheat, tomatoes, onion, herbs, pine nuts and sultanas. Whisk honey, orange juice and oil together with salt and pepper. Pour over ingredients in bowl and toss.

Recipe courtesy of Kate McGhie.

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