[ Back ] [ Up ] [ Next ] August 2005
Cabramatta outing (clockwise)- wonton production, strange fruit, pho with wonton, live yabbies

A new omelet combination of tomatoes and salmon XO sauce was a fine lunch, though I think next time I might salt the tomatoes to extrude excess juicage. Bok choi and granary bread to accompany- fusion smusion.
I went a bit crazy at Vic's meats including the acquisition of a New Zealand hare. Not sure if it was farmed, but it was a decent specimen, though most likely un-hung. Hum. Anyway, since it was just for the two of us, I just roasted the saddle in the fire with a splash of olive oil to keep moist. Meanwhile, I part cooked a beetroot to have with some freshly grated horseradish. Should have left the beetroot raw I think; only had one so was more of a condiment. Anyway, the combination of anything smoked and horseradish is probably one of my most favourite things and this certainly hit the right spot, even if I did slightly over do the hare. Some very fine chips to accompany- parsnip and pink eye potatoes, I think some fresh olive oil helped.
The Black Chook- Shiraz/ Viognier- dense and perfumed and bloody good value So, you thought I had thrown the legs away, sacrilege!! No, the limbs I stewed with some whole veggies, celery, carrots and an onion, nothing fancy. After scanning a number of recipes, I decided that forcemeat balls just had to be done, in fact, Paul Bocuse recounted in Simon Hopkinson's article on hare inspired these offaly brutes. I put the liver, kidneys and cooked heart and lungs (forgot they were hiding in the thorax) through the fine mincer on the kenwood, along with some fatty smoked bacon. In the absence of shallots, I melted half a red onion in a little bacon fat. A big handful of breadcrumbs in the bowl (following through with these in the mincer helped expunge those precious meaty bits that refuse to budge), along with some grated lemon and chopped sage. I slightly over salted the whole thing forgetting the bacon was very dry. I had intended to fry these in some of the left over chicken/ goose fat from the roast, but Constance mentions deep frying them, and so they were, but in olive oil, just so healthy. Meanwhile, some potatoes and parsnip were steaming over the stock which was fiercely reducing. When this was reduced to a suitable ickiness, (indicated by a general 'welling up' from the pan rather than boiling per se), I introduced the broken up meat from one foreleg and one hind- the forcemeat balls were looking quite filling. To this I added some of mum's quince jelly, and some fresh cream. This was all further reduced until syrupy. The potatoes were mashed, and some fine beans boiled. OH MY LIFE, nirvana..................oh yes, the crispy balls tasted like mum's christmas stuffing. Weird.
Quelle excitamonto, the return of the quince, and I'm pleased to say that Fratelli Fresh provided the highly perfumed ones which I adore, though not as stinky as my mum's scrumped specimens, which filled the whole garage with their ketotic perfume. The first four I have made into membrillo. My usual habit is to boil up the peel and core separately then add it to the pulp mix, however, I wondered if it would make a jelly so I kept this separate and added 250g of sugar to the liquid. In fact it just went to a syrup, so may be I overshot the setting point. However the membrillo I poured into a cling film (glad wrap) lined dish and it has set very well. Bring on the cheese.
On our return from Wollongong we picked up a smoked ox-tail, which was one amongst a number of unusual smoked items including a split smoked marrow bone- for the discerning dog perchance? The butcher told us that they used to sell 30 lambs a week and now sold under ten, beef having taken over the Aussie palate. On enquiring about hogget he informed us that all the hogget and mutton goes to the middle east and then he recounted a great tale about how he used to go shooting for the introduced Russe deer (right) here in the Royal National Park. The guys would give the meat to a local Italian lady "because the Aussies didn't have a clue how to cook it", and they would return a few weeks later to have a nosh up, how cool. Back to the ox-tail. I stewed this one with a long frozen pigs trotter to attain a seriously unctuous stock. Removing the disintegrated vegies, I put in some canneloni beans to make a hearty stew. It was a bit bland, not even livened up by some rosemary butter. I did later add some roast tomato sauce (from Fratelli Fresh), some Hungarian paprika, fatty speck and some smoked veal/ beef sausage. This did the trick.
Rosenvale Semillion- 2004

We had bought a stack pasta at pasta fina, including some lasagna sheets which had been hanging around in the freezer. A big bunch spinach prompted the creation of a lasagna dish from Alistair Little, the only difference being a topping of béchamel rather than a crispy buttered pasta one, I think. Took bloody ages to make in the end, and I didn't even cook the sheets before hand which was prompted by the instructions- a bit odd for fresh stuff. The béchamel I made with 1.5L milk, celery, onion, carrot, 2 pieces of clove, then 75g flour and butter. I forgot the black pepper and we had run out of bay leaves. It seems tradition for me to boil over the milk, and this one almost kept that up. Luckily I had used an oversized pot. The spinach I steamed briefly. Layers of spinach, béchamel and pasta topped with a covering of béchamel, which I mad a little thinner to help avoid over drying of the pasta, and thus the whole dish. Some parmesan in the béchamel and then a liberal topping as well to go golden as demonstrated. Crusty sourdough, salad and some semillon.
Having asked for four partridges at Vic's meats, pheasants were offered as an alternative. However, I did not specify the fairly logical reduction in number bearing in mind the size. Never the less, we have been enjoying these plump and tender spoilt birds which funnily enough are reminiscent of the aromatic but un-gamey partridge. We got some red cabbage in the box this week, so it seemed a natural accompaniment  to have with a roast bird, which was once again done in the stove. The cabbage was chopped finely and slow fried/ stewed with some onion, cloves, cinnamon and jaggery.  I put some protective foil on it since the radiant heat can be a bit fierce which showed on the roast potatoes which got a bit over caramelised. Mum's quince jelly again, awesome.
Incidentally, the peppercorns did screw up the wine. At last we found some fresh green peppercorns in Cabramatta of course, Shona having been on the prowl since reading about them in the Sydney Morning Herald. I whizzed some up in the blender with shallot, olive oil and lemon juice, though I had to finish off in a pestle and mortar. I then gave the 'slop' a quick fry. The grass fed rump steaks I put into the fire which was a tad fierce and almost burnt the lovely fat coating. I was a bit disappointed that it had melted at all, I like a good covering of wibbly wobbly fat to help the flesh go down. Saying that, chips on the side here which are a bit much fat unless you've just done a few hours hard graft. I also put some mushrooms in the pan which did soak up the steak juice (and fat I suppose). 
Chasing the Ulladulla oyster Ulladulla oysters may well be the finest in the land, and it was a great shame that they elected to abstain from the Moore Park farmers market where we used to buy a bag of two dozen a regular basis. They were all the better for being unopened- thank god we shipped over that essential piece of kit- the oyster knife.

A trio of fish oct/ jew/ flathead, chips. .
Cock-a-leekie soup
Return of the quince and orange tart
There is a superb fish shop in Cabramatta, in fact, quite a number, but the one in 'number one' mall stands out with a stunning array of produce. On this occasion there were live spanner crabs. A tour with Vi, a Vietnamese Australian colleague, helped with the acquisition of some bizarre produce, including these frilly green beans to the right which I just boiled and served with a an anchovy/chili paste.