Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2017 i Gourmet Traveller

BASTILLE DAY CELEBRATIONS Mushroom and thyme soup with Roquefort croutons (PICTURED; RECIPE P89) Coq au vin (RECIPE P45) Prune clafoutis (RECIPE P178) The French love matching savoury food with sweet wines at the beginning of the meal, and a rich, golden late-harvest pinot gris would be great with the earthiness of the mushrooms and salty kick of the cheese in the soup. Follow with whatever pinot noir you braised the coq in, and a glass of Armagnac with the pud. A LONG WINTER LUNCH Saffron spätzle with Morton Bay bugs (RECIPE P35) Furikake lamb rack with carrot-ginger purée (RECIPE P41) Mandarin and ginger syrup cake (PICTURED; RECIPE P95) The heady aroma of saffron and the sweetness of Moreton Bay bug meat suggest the exotic flavour and creamy texture of a…

SPIT-ROAST CHAR SIU PORK AND BAKED MILK BUNS Take a seat at the bar overlooking the rôtisserie and yakitori pit, order something from the thoroughly interesting drinks list, and get to grips with the pork buns. The thick slices of spit-roasted meat are served with fluffy milk buns and a trio of condiments: pickles, onion oil and house-made hoisin. The best kind of DIY. Shobosho, 17 Leigh St, Adelaide, SA, (08) 8366 2224, shobosho.com.au SAMANTHA TEAGUE ANAGO NIGIRI Produce of startling quality, eye-watering dexterity – all par for the course at top Tokyo sushi bars. But at Yasuda you get that plus biting and hilarious commentary from chef Naomichi Yasuda. The only thing better than his freshwater eel nigiri is seeing his biceps pop with bodybuilder ease whenever anyone asks…

“Grazing Down the Lachlan is a one-day moveable feast taking place on a spring afternoon in Forbes, in the central west of New South Wales. It’s a collaboration between myself and Mathew Lindsay of Ester. We’ve put together a grazing menu of seven courses to enjoy (drink in hand) during a meandering ramble along the banks of the Lachlan River. Our lunch follows in the tracks of a travelling stock route. These are the various trails that run throughout the Australian bush – they were a place for drovers to run cattle, and before European settlement these same paths may have been part of Aboriginal songlines, too. We want to reflect this intertwining of Aboriginal and early-settler history, so our menu will feature lots of local and native ingredients. The…

WHO For more than a decade, winemaker Sarah Gough has been producing Rhône-inspired wines at her family vineyard in Tabilk, in the Goulburn Valley region of Victoria. In 2011, however, an overly fruitful season saw the vigneron pursuing other ways to use her grapes. “It looked like the roussanne grapes weren’t going to ripen at all, so I decided to make verjuice instead,” she says. WHAT Verjuice is made from pressed unripe grapes. Unlike other acids, such as lemon juice or vinegar, a splash of verjuice can give everything from salad dressing to roasts “a refreshing zing without the aggressive bite,” says Gough. At Lûmé in Melbourne, verjuice is often used in cocktails instead of citrus. “We can batch them without worrying about ingredients going off or sediment forming in…

1 Stainless-steel chopsticks, $20 for five pairs, from Williams-Sonoma. 2 Acorn sterling silver and ebony chopsticks with rests (not pictured), $750 for two sets, from Georg Jensen. 3 “Uni” silver Japanese chopsticks, $130, from Pavillon Christofle. 4 Mixed “Solid Colour” chopsticks, $29.95 for five pairs, from The Bay Tree. 5 “Twist” chopsticks, $32, from The DEA Store. 6 Yoshino cedar chopsticks, $79 for 30 pairs, from Ginkgo Leaf. 7 Davin & Kesler maple-wood chopsticks with cocobolo rest, $38, from Peter’s of Kensington. 8 “Garden of Eden” ebony and rose gold Chinese chopsticks, $480, from Pavillon Christofle. 9 Aizome chopsticks, $29.95 for five pairs, from The Bay Tree. 10 “Galet” ebony and silver Japanese chopsticks, $240, from Pavillon Christofle. 11 Textured blue chopsticks, $5, from Made in Japan. Stockists p175.…

Roast carrots with honey, bee pollen and saffron Serves 4 as a side Preheat oven to 200C. Combine 3 bunches trimmed and scrubbed Dutch carrots or 4 coarsely chopped large carrots in a roasting pan with 1½ tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp honey and the finely grated rind of 1 lemon. Season to taste and roast until soft and caramelised (25-30 minutes for Dutch carrots; 35-40 minutes for regular carrots). Meanwhile, whisk the juice of ½ lemon in a bowl with 50ml olive oil, 1 tsp Dijon mustard, and ¼ tsp saffron threads soaked in 2 tsp hot water, and season to taste. Drizzle mxiure over roasted carrots, scatter with coarsely chopped mint, coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley and 1 tbsp bee pollen and serve warm. Quinoa and pumpkin pilaf with…

Out come the snacks: bang, bang, bang. Your fingers fly to the pumpkin scallops but they’re too hot to bite into straight away, so you go for the quarters of tomatillo. No salt, no cooking. Nothing except the smarts of a chef who thinks a piece of weird fruit complements all this other stuff beautifully. And he’s right. Then the gougères. The teeth go through a drift of Coolea cheese, shaved fine and piled high and fluffy, and then meet choux pastry, which gives way under the incisors to reveal green tomato. Bliss. Fine tart shells – little wafery biscuits of things – bear a ricotta filling topped with broccolini blossoms, sharpened with chardonnay vinegar: crunch, crunch, crunch. Circle back for the scallops, hot pucks of pumpkin in a crisp,…

Little local Little Andorra starts with great bones for a neighbourhood wine bar – corner shopfront, courtyard out back, street-side seating – then adds to it. There’s a well-priced list long on small Old World producers, plus locals such as Avani’s Amrit chardonnay. Service is perfectly pitched, and hits on the food side include decent steak, an even better tartare, cured trout, and a changing cheese selection. Little Andorra, 555 Nicholson St, Carlton North, (03) 9042 2255 All in the name And the truth-in-naming award goes to Very Good Falafel. Owners Louisa Allan and Shuki Rosenboim grind chickpeas grown by Allan’s farmer father in the Mallee and make falafel to an Israeli recipe from Rosenboim’s family. Best choice is the falafel plate (falafel, pickled cucumber, salad and warm Israeli-style fluffy…

“Ten years of being here and the connections we’ve made are coming to fruition.” Tasmania just became an even more exciting place to dine. Australia’s favourite cooking school, The Agrarian Kitchen in Lachlan, doesn’t just want to teach you to cook – it’s going to feed you, too. Barely a fortnight old, the Agrarian Kitchen Eatery & Store is a 60-seat restaurant and adjoining kitchen shop just seven clicks down the road from the highly rated cooking school, and 35 minutes’ drive north-west of Hobart. “We knew that the area sorely needed something,” says Agrarian Kitchen co-founder and GT regular Rodney Dunn. “We still get people all the time travelling out to the school just to eat. At least now we can say, ‘go back down the road to the…

Sam Christie remembers the first time he was struck by the density of the Tokyo food scene. The restaurateur and co-founder of Longrain was at the Tsukiji Fish Market when the scope of Japan’s culinary culture really hit him. “I couldn’t get over the amount of seafood, the hundreds of species of fish – there’s nothing like eating raw prawns for breakfast,” he says. “Just walking down the street is mind-boggling.” Tokyo, where Michelin-starred ramen is ordered via vending machine and nondescript buildings house floor upon floor of ultra-niche eateries, is perhaps the world’s greatest food city. But given its hundreds of thousands of restaurants, the language barrier and its famously impenetrable web of customs, it can be daunting for foreign restaurateurs. Not that it’s stopping Christie. Next month he…

“It makes travel more fun, going to new places and letting the multiplicity and variety of the world wash over me and maybe inspire me.” “George Saunders Has Written the Best Book You’ll Read This Year” proclaimed the headline in The New York Times. And with that, the publication in 2013 of Tenth of December catapulted Saunders from the ranks of well-regarded authors with several well-reviewed books and plenty of New Yorker stories to their name to a new league of literary renown. The arrival earlier this year of Lincoln in the Bardo, his first novel, has only served to add weight to the late David Foster Wallace’s assertion that George Saunders is the most exciting writer in America. As with Lincoln in the Bardo and the short stories that…

WINE INSIDER: LIINAA BERRY, THE CRAFERS HOTEL, ADELAIDE Tell us about your wine program. We have a small list of about 50 wines and a wine room, which people can explore, with more than 2,000 different labels, and we host wine dinners. Match of the moment? A pinot noir from BK Wines, which is savoury and spicy with notes of Campari, with our rich boeuf Bourguignon. Wine and music? I love listening to piano or violin, classics like Chopin, with wine – a beautiful old Burgundy from Domaine Ponsot, for instance. Winemaker to watch? Col McBryde of Adelina Wines, James Scott of Shiny Wine, and Charlotte Dalton from the Adelaide Hills. Her sémillon aged for 12 months on lees has a beautiful texture. The Crafers Hotel, 8 Main St,…

Soups deluxe Ham hock cheese toasties? Croûtons slathered with Roquefort? Simpático sidekicks make a meal out of soups. Main squeeze Mandarins step into the limelight to brighten midwinter meals with their sweet citrus zing. Good as gold Just about everything’s better with butter and with brown butter even more so, its nutty goodness bringing a rich warmth to sweet and savoury dishes alike. Pride of place Australia’s queen of Cantonese cuisine, Kylie Kwong, gives Australian-Chinese classics her bush-tucker twist. Go slow Put your feet up, and let the oven do the work. That’s the mantra of Low & Slow, a new cookbook to blanket the cold.…

Trout with brown butter, capers and garlic This classic combination of flavours also works well with flathead or skate. Keep the trout warm in a low oven as you cook; the fish should still be pink when served, so spooning hot butter over them is all that’s needed to finish them off. Prep time 35 mins, cook 25 mins Serves 4 200 gm green beans, trimmed 150 gm chilled unsalted butter, diced 4 plate-sized rainbow or brown trout, butterflied (see note) 2 tbsp salted baby capers, rinsed and drained 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced 1½ tbsp coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley Lemon cheeks, to serve 1 Preheat oven to lowest setting. Blanch beans in a saucepan of boiling water (3-4 minutes; see cook’s notes p176), then drain. 2 Heat 20gm butter…

BANGKOK Breakfast Roastology The popular coffee-roasting outfit opened its first café earlier this year in an elegant, light-filled space shared with a clothing boutique, and has been so busy it has run out of beans some days. Expect meticulously house-roasted coffee, single-origin and multi-blend from Thailand and beyond – try the award-winning Tha Song Yang beans from the north-west. Inventive iced drinks include a purple sweet-potato tea or latte, and bagels come with crowd-pleasing fillings such as cream cheese, ham, pickles and mustard. Ground floor, YJA Building, Sala Daeng Soi 1, Bangkok Power lunch Bombyx Named after the silkworm, this restaurant by Thai luxury silk company Jim Thompson is set in a windowless, cocoon-like space in a shopping mall. Admire walls lined by changing displays of silk art with a…

“The trips combine unique itineraries with the expert knowledge of Gourmet Traveller hosts to create truly memorable travel experiences.” — SARAH OAKES The team at Gourmet Traveller is excited to once again partner with luxury touring specialists APT to design six unforgettable journeys for 2018. Tailor-made to showcase history, culture and, of course, magical culinary moments, the itineraries promise to provide invaluable insight into each destination. With private expert-guided tours, specially designed one-off meals and exclusive first-hand experiences, the exceptional insider access makes for unique and inspiring adventures. Members of the Gourmet Traveller team will join the tours, hosting cooking demonstrations and sharing their invaluable knowledge, helping to bring the experiences to life. This exciting partnership brings travel opportunities not to be missed – once-in-a-lifetime journeys. 1 13-day Vietnam…

There are lots of things you need to know, peregrinos, before walking the Camino de Santiago. The fabled pilgrimage, also known as the Way of Saint James, has a network of routes across Spain, France and Portugal, and even more sources of information about how to tackle it. To get your trip off on the right foot, travel specialist UTracks has filtered through mountains of sometimes contradictory advice to compile A Quick Reference Guide to The Camino de Santiago. Available in print and online, the free booklet draws on the experience of seasoned walkers and covers all seven routes. Advice on what gear you’ll need, fitness grades and training is included, along with optimum times to embark and details of the scenery. utracks.com…

1 Chanel Rouge Coco Shine Lipstick in Golden Sand, $53. 2 Jac + Jack “Flume” skirt, $260. 3 Oroton “Ashbury” belt, $175. 4 RM Williams “The Yearling” boots, $545. 5 Joseph cotton-poplin shirt, $259, from Net-a-Porter. 6 Jac + Jack “Shue” coat, $799. 7 Bottega Veneta cashmere knit, $986, from Matches Fashion. 8 Karen Walker “Super Lunar” sunglasses, $306. 9 I Love Mr Mittens wool scarf, $339, from Matches Fashion. 10 Proenza Schouler “Hex” leather shoulder bag, $1,274, from Net-a-Porter. 11 Country Road “Luxe Waterfall” cardie, $299. 12 Akubra “Traveller” hat, $190. Stockists p175.…

Prune clafoutis Clafoutis, a deliciously light winter dessert, is typically filled with black cherries. We’ve used prunes soaked in brandy for a boozy flourish (or soak them in Armagnac, a classic combination in south-west France). Start this recipe a day ahead to macerate the prunes. Prep time 25 mins, cook 18 mins (plus soaking) Makes 4 140 gm pitted prunes 120 ml brandy 4 eggs 80 gm caster sugar 20 gm plain flour 225 ml pouring cream 1½ tbsp finely chopped blanched almonds Pure icing sugar, for dusting Vanilla-bean ice-cream, to serve (optional) 1 Place prunes and brandy in a bowl, cover and leave to soak overnight. Drain, reserving prunes and brandy separately. 2 Preheat oven to 180C and butter four ovenproof dessert bowls (15cm-18cm diameter). Separate 2 eggs, reserve…

Our health and education systems, our gun laws, the relative decorum of our elected officials on Twitter. I transplanted my family from Washington DC to Sydney just four weeks ago for the job of a lifetime, editing Gourmet Traveller. I’d spent two years away from home in America’s capital and felt catapulted back by an incredible new opportunity and a way out of an increasingly volatile place to be. Dining in America is exciting: New York is home to the current best restaurant in the world and Washington DC, just a short hop south, does a fine job of serving its diverse population of political wonks and exuberant tourists, but the day-to-day reality of living, eating, shopping and cooking in the US made me long for home. Our passion for…

Cue tears of joy: Sydney is about to be reunited with Moon Park’s fried chicken. After closing their esteemed modern Korean restaurant in September last year, Moon Park co-owners Ned Brooks, Ben Sears and Eun Hee An are getting the gang back together, and this time they’re open for breakfast, too. Paper Bird, slated to open this month, is an all-day east-Asian eatery that will take over the Bourke Street Bakery site in Potts Point. Brooks says the menu will be similar to Moon Park’s, “except the geographic catchment has been widened to include aspects of Japanese and Chinese cuisine, rather than strictly Korean flavours”. Chefs Sears and Hee An are back in the kitchen, and Brooks will resume his role on the floor. Expect around 10 options at breakfast…

The Empire Strikes Bax is a drink that’s sure to reawaken the Force. Bartender and Star Wars enthusiast Hayden Lambert created the cocktail while working at Matthew Bax’s famed Bar Americano in Melbourne, and it stuck. Now the cocktail – as much a digestif as an apéritif – is a staple at Lambert’s new Collingwood joint, Above Board. As at Americano, the bar is all about subtlety and has no visible branding. House spirits are poured from reused Hibiki whisky bottles and anything with a label is kept in a drawer. “A lot of people buy with their eyes rather than by what tastes better,” says Lambert. “At Above Board it’s all about the taste.” Above Board, 306 Smith St, Collingwood, Vic, aboveboardbar.com Combine 15ml Campari, 25ml Amaro Montenegro, 25ml…

“The spicy eggplant at Sydney’s Good Luck Pinbone is one of my favourites. Would you get the recipe?” Susan Ridge, Bowral, NSW Sichuan chilli eggplant with wood-ear fungus Prep time 20 mins, cook 20 mins Serves 4 1½ tsp Sichuan peppercorns 2 golden shallots (50gm), finely chopped Juice of ½ lemon ¾ tsp caster sugar 1 litre (4 cups) vegetable oil 1 eggplant (500gm), cut into 2cm pieces 2 tbsp chilli sauce (we used Lao Gan Ma) 2 tbsp shoyu (see note) 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar Pinch of white pepper 3 spring onions, 2 cut into 4cm lengths, 1 thinly sliced 100 gm (1 punnet) wood-ear fungus, torn 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced ¼ tsp sesame oil 1 long red chilli, thinly sliced ½ cup (loosely packed) coriander Steamed…

What is it? Bee pollen is food for young honeybees made by worker bees who collect pollen and compress in into tiny pellets to store in the hive. Why do we care? Bee pollen is touted by some as a superfood with amazing benefits – from promoting healthy hair and skin to curing an array of ailments, and plenty in between. These claims aren’t backed by science, but bee pollen certainly seems to be nutritious. We like it for its sticky crunch, and slightly floral, nutty and bittersweet flavour. It’s best used raw, scattered over dishes for a textural flourish – as a topping for porridge or muesli, say, or a finishing touch to savoury dishes such as carrots roasted with honey or a spiced quinoa pilaf. Where can I…

Indo sheen With a few notable exceptions, Sydney’s Indonesian restaurants exhibit a certain homogeneity of menu that’s all the more perplexing given the size and diversity of the archipelago. Hole-in-the-wall eatery Medan Ciak redresses the balance in a small but tasty way: a Malay-leaning menu that runs to rice with roast and barbecue pork, Sumatra’s take on char kway teow and exemplary nasi lemak. Medan Ciak, shop 3/460 Elizabeth St, Surry Hills, 0403 363 326 Pick up sticks The mostly Italian line-up of Haberfield’s Ramsay Street dining strip has divesified significantly with the arrival of a very fine yakitori bar. The quality of the charcoal-grilled chicken at Yakitori Jin, a sliver of a restaurant a few doors down from pizza landmark La Disfida, is consistently impressive, regardless of whether the…

1 TARTINE ALL DAY Elisabeth Prueitt (Penguin Random House, $64.99) Bread pudding with bacon and wild mushrooms. Slices of caramelised apple stacked to form a beehive. Bring a little of San Francisco’s Tartine Bakery to your home with the help of co-founder Elisabeth Prueitt. The cookbook reads like a conversation you’d have in a friend’s kitchen – unfussy, comforting and memorable. You’ll want to cook from it cover to cover. 2 AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 COCKTAILS Chad Parkhill (Hardie Grant Books, $29.99) Melbourne bartender Chad Parkhill has nailed cocktail-hour. Winter got you down? Mix a jug of Agua de Valencia, or the shouldn’t-work-but-does Jungle Bird from Malaysia: dark rum with Campari, pineapple juice and lime. There are 80 libations, each with its own history and graphic illustration by Melbourne’s…

“Truffles need animals – be they human, canine or pig – to dig them up and spread their spores, and their scent is the lure.” Eight years ago I set out to plant my own truffle patch – a hedged English garden with pristine rows of oak trees separated by rows of rich lawn. That’s the image the local truffle trade sold me on, anyway. Meanwhile, my instincts were screaming that to achieve the success of Mother Nature, it would make more sense to replicate how truffles are produced in the wild. I was told other things that ran counter to what I thought was common sense – needing herbicides to keep the weeds down for one thing, so that MJ, my Aussie shepherd, could better detect the pheromones truffles…

“Every now and then we’d meet old growers who told us what sounded like strange, almost mystical stories of very, very old vineyards.” Manuel Moraga Gutiérrez is a seventh-generation winemaker in the Bío Bío Valley in southern Chile. He harvests grapes from the vines his great-great-grandfather planted in 1776, and makes his wines in essentially the same way his ancestors did. The ancient, pre-phylloxera plantings of red país and white Moscatel vines grow big and strong in the rich volcanic soil, with no need for irrigation. The país is wild fermented in simple fashion: the grapes are de-stemmed and crushed into a large, 120-year-old vat made from a local beechwood called raulí, and the fruit is foot-stomped daily to extract colour and flavour, then bottled soon after fermentation, with no…

Chicken and egg noodle soup with ginger and chilli There’s something pleasingly complete about this restorative broth – using both the chicken and the egg makes sense somehow. A big bowl of this on a winter’s night will put the world to rights, especially when it’s drizzled with the roast chilli vinegar. Prep time 20 mins, cook 1½ hrs Serves 6 (pictured p82) 1 chicken (about 1.8kg), rinsed 200 ml Shaoxing wine 125 ml ( 1/2 cup) soy sauce 100 gm ginger, coarsely chopped 3 spring onions, coarsely chopped, plus extra thinly sliced to serve 1 head of garlic, halved 2 star anise 1 cinnamon quill Splash of white vinegar 6 eggs 375 gm fresh thin egg noodles Roasted sesame seeds, to serve Roast chilli vinegar 60 ml ( 1/4…

Chinese food can get a bad rap. But if I think of sweet and sour pork drowning in fluorescent, MSG-laden sauce thickened with cornflour, I can understand why. That’s not the kind of Chinese I want to cook or eat. Not only do I want my food to be fresher, I also want to use native produce to express who I am: a third-generation Australian and 29th-generation Chinese person. In Australia we have so many amazing indigenous plants and ingredients becoming more and more accessible, so why shouldn’t we use them? When I was growing up in Sydney we were the only Chinese people in our neighbourhood. We lived in North Epping, and my parents – who were gregarious creatures – would regularly have at least 15 guests around our…

THE KIMBERLEY BIG DAY OUT This winter El Questro Homestead is open for its 25th season, continuing a legacy established by an adventurous young English aristocrat, Will Burrell, who in 1991 bought the million-acre cattle station for a dollar an acre and began transforming it into a true destination, complete with suites, tents and bungalows. There have been more recent changes to this landmark – the property is now in American hands, and the drive from Kununurra (once something of an adventure itself) has been whittled down to 90 minutes now the Gibb River Road section is sealed, but the Homestead remains just as impressive as it was in Burrell’s day – a personalised outpost where 18 guests can dine by candlelight beside a deep gorge filled with crocodiles. For…

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“Bring your beard, tattoos and sockless shoes – there are lots of bars here” Timorous Beasties designer Glasgow’s bars, cafés and bistros are always in a state of flux, but a place where the square sausage* has gone full circle is The University Café (nothing to do with Glasgow University), an authentic Formica-clad café in the West End coming up to 100 years old and still serving chips, beans and pies (you can get square sausage, eggs and chips for £4.20). For a place to nurse a hangover, or for a taste of the new city, try Papercup on Great Western Road for good coffee and breakfasts – and it comes with sympathetic staff. A short stroll away is Cottonrake, an excellent bakery with a few tables. A…

ART AT ALTITUDE Art lovers have the chance to handle, collect and reuse artworks – not just view them – in Qantas business-class on international flights. For its Qantas Curates project, the airline selected striking works by 16 Australian artists to feature on amenity kits. They include the Pop Art-style Fairy Bread by Billie Justice Thomson and aerial photography by Tom Blachford. qantas.com.au FINNISH LINE Finland celebrates its centenary of independence this year, and Finnair has been studying old recipe books in preparation. Until next January, the airline will serve dishes that reflect the nation’s cultural history such as Baltic herring, Karelian stew and pies, a cep mushroom soup flavoured with cured elk, and rye bread, of course. Finland was the first country in the world to serve free school…

JOE WARWICK Eater, drinker, writer, editor and Scotch-egg enthusiast Joe Warwick has been a professionally overfed Londoner for 25 years. In that time he has seen the city’s restaurant scene flourish and grow. “Disappointed tourists stopped making jokes about London’s food a long time ago,” he says. “The only downside, if you can call it that, is that it’s now exhausting trying to keep up with all the new openings.” See his picks of the new places to stay and play in London in our Go List on page 129. MAX ADEY We threw a bagful of ingredients at Max Adey, and so quick were his reflexes not one hit the floor. In his first Fast column (on page 37) he turned them into eight meals to speed up your…

SYDNEY TO HOBART Chef Analiese Gregory has left Darlinghurst restaurant Bar Brosé to take over the kitchen at Hobart’s acclaimed Franklin in August. Gregory takes the reins from David Moyle, who is focusing on his Melbourne venture, Longsong. While plans for the new Franklin menu are a work in progress, a much larger kitchen – kitted out with static fridges for ageing fish, a wood-fired oven and a large cool room – will no doubt inspire. Gregory says house charcuterie could be on the cards, along with seafood and dishes to suit the cooler temperatures on the island. Meanwhile, the Brosé team has brought in chef Adam Wolfers (formerly of Yellow) for a two-month takeover. Expect to see more of the impressive Jewish-inspired fare Wolfers turned out at his recent…

If ever there was a Sydney restaurant dish to taste of triumph, Mjølner’s trencher would be it. The Viking-themed Sydney restaurant, which takes its name from Thor’s hammer (yes, really), wants to send its diners into the cold, dark night well fed. And that’s where the trencher comes in. The star of Mjølner’s bar menu, it’s a hollowed-out loaf of bread filled with rôtisserie meat – pork one week, short-rib the next, depending on what the kitchen has been carving. The meat is slow-cooked with extra dripping to form a chunky “but not at all Italian” ragù, says chef Tom Gripton. “It’s not just offal and offcuts,” he says. “It’s delicious meat and quite refined, and also zero waste.” The idea for the trencher came from the book Pillars of…

Pilu at Freshwater has been open for 13 years. What’s the key to running a successful kitchen, Giovanni? You need to look after your staff. I’m a firm believer in sitting down as a family to have two staff meals a day. It’s only Marilyn [Annecchini, Pilu’s wife and business partner] and I, so we’re only as good as our staff. What’s your go-to winter ingredient? There’s only a very short time when you can use blood oranges at their peak, but during that time we use them for anything and everything, from cocktails to dessert. One of the dishes I love is a dessert we’ve had on the menu since the restaurant opened, called seadas. It’s a Sardinian pastry filled with ricotta and sultanas, and it’s topped with honey…

1 Pumpkin, herbed ricotta and hazelnut bruschetta 2 Sausage, cavolo nero and chickpea minestrone 3 Steak with sweet and sour beetroot and horseradish crème fraîche 4 Roast duck, Brussels sprouts and noodles 5 Leek, mushroom and thyme risotto 6 Furikake lamb rack with carrot-ginger purée 7 Crisp-skin trout with grapefruit, walnut and radicchio salad 8 Baked rhubarb with orange and citrus mascarpone 1 Pumpkin, herbed ricotta and hazelnut bruschetta Sweet, sour, crunchy, peppery, creamy and fresh – this winter twist on the classic bruschetta makes an ideal light dinner. For a variation, swap the bread for pasta and the vincotto for parmesan. Serves 4 750 gm (about ½) butternut pumpkin, cut into 1cm chunks 3 tsp brown sugar 2 tbsp olive oil 8 thick slices rye sourdough bread 2 garlic…

Cooking with wine is a signature of French cuisine and probably nowhere more so than in Burgundy. Coq au vin, first recorded around 400 years ago, is a classic example, along with boeuf Bourguignonne. Coq au vin was originally a humble chicken stew made with a large rooster (le coq of the name), onions, carrots and sometimes celery, and braised with bacon in red Burgundy. The sauce is thickened partially with flour and then by reduction. It’s then garnished with small glazed onions and sautéed mushrooms. Of course, the journey from home kitchen to restaurant, as is usually the case, has meant the use of more sophisticated wine and the forsaking of the older, richly flavoured bird for a tender chicken. Bacon is essential. In France cooks use petit salé,…

Nobody’s arguing that Melbourne needs more Italian restaurants. Why would they? We’ve got it covered already. Basta. And then Project Forty Nine’s mushroom and chestnut raviolo lands. It’s irresistible, this precisely made pasta enclosing oyster and Swiss brown mushrooms, earthy-sweet chestnuts, ricotta and parmesan. The palm-sized parcel is topped with a jumble of grey, white and pink oyster mushrooms and sits in a clear, dark porcini brodo, parmesan oil droplets glistening on the surface. Texture, seasoning, respect for the mushroom, embracing the season – it’s all here. It seems there is room for one more Italian restaurant after all. Project Forty Nine has pedigree as well as addictive raviolo. It’s the latest, yes, project from husband and wife team Rocco Esposito and Lisa Pidutti, who a few years back ran…

1 HEAVENLY RIESLING 2015 Joh. Jos. Prüm Graacher Himmelreich Auslese Riesling, Mosel, $104 From one of the best vineyards, made by one of the best producers, in one of the best recent vintages in the Mosel, this is simply exquisite, eminently age-worthy riesling: rose petals and spice, focused and precise, endless perfumed aftertaste. Imported by bibendum.com.au 2 CLEAR CHOICE 2016 Pittnauer Pitt Nat, Burgenland, $48 While many pét-nats can be funky and cloudy (as a result of finishing fermentation in the bottle), some are remarkably fine, clean and fruity – like this one. Bring on the smoked salmon blinis. Imported by cellarhand.com.au 3 NORMAN INVASION 2015 Cyril Zangs Cidre Brut, Normandy, $34 Ever since I first tasted this outstanding example of the rich, fragrant, golden, Normandy-style cider a few years…

Mandarin and ginger syrup cake This riff on Claudia Roden’s Middle Eastern orange cake gets its gorgeous moist texture from boiled and puréed mandarins folded into the ginger-scented batter. It’s beautiful served warm from the oven, but equally enjoyable for a couple of days. Prep time 25 mins, cook 1 hr 50 mins (plus cooling) Serves 6-8 3 mandarins (about 95gm each), washed, unpeeled 4 eggs 270 gm (1¼ cups) caster sugar 90 gm melted butter 400 gm hazelnut meal 75 gm (½ cup) plain flour 2 tsp finely grated ginger 1/3 tsp baking powder Mandarin and ginger syrup 220 gm (1 cup) caster sugar 125 ml ( 1/2 cup) mandarin juice 1 tbsp julienne ginger 4 mandarins, peeled and thickly sliced crossways Juice of ½ lemon 1 Preheat oven…

Chipotle and chorizo chilli con carne Serves 4 (pictured p125) 2 tbsp olive oil 1 Spanish onion, finely chopped 2 garlic cloves, crushed 1 raw chorizo sausage, casing removed 1 tsp ground cumin 1 tsp smoked paprika 1 chipotle chilli in adobo (see note), chopped 1 bay leaf 400 gm canned crushed tomatoes 125 ml (½ cup) beef stock 500 gm chuck steak, cut into large pieces 110 gm (½ cup) dried black turtle beans, rinsed Juice of 1 lime 15 gm dark chocolate (60%-65% cocoa solids) 1 handful coriander leaves and stems, chopped, plus extra leaves to serve 1 tomato, chopped 1 avocado, chopped Steamed white rice, to serve 1 Heat the olive oil in a heavy-based saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until…

1 Epicure Travel Group Chefs call it “the new Paris”: explore fascination Poland, escorted by a concierge, a wine connoisseur and a chef. 8-19 September 2017; 12 places only. $11,499.EpicureTravelGroup.com 2 Harvey Norman Powered by a 700-watt motor, the Scraper Mixer, which wipes the sides and base of the bowl with every turn, makes it easy to create cakes, biscuits and more. $249.harveynorman.com.au 3 Maggie Beer Being in the loop never tasted so good. Join Maggie’s Food Club for the latest news, exclusive offers, monthly newsletter penned by Maggie herself and 20 per cen off your first online purchase. Join the club atmaggiebeer.com.au 4 Smeg’s Linear Collection celebrates the first element of design: the “line”. Unashamedly minimal, Linear is at home in the most modern of kitchens. With intuitive menus…

“If one of my kids harasses me during packing , I’ll forget something critical like my shoes or socks.” KRISTEN WHITTLE Director, Bates Smart Where do you travel regularly for work? “In Australia, it’s Melbourne to Sydney. Bates Smart is an architectural firm and has been based in Melbourne since the 1860s, and for the past 20 years we’ve had an office in Sydney. You can never underestimate the benefit of face-to-face meetings. Hong Kong and Singapore are the most regular international destinations. Both are hubs for the South East Asia property market, and we have a healthy and growing list of offshore clients.” How often are you away? “For international business trips, every three to six months; within Australia, every month. I have three young children who like me,…

Ice-skating rinks have been built in scenic spots in Brisbane, Canberra, Fremantle, and Sydney for the Winter Festival series until 17 July. For beachside ice-skating, glide to Bondi Ice Rink (until 16 July) and stay for the Bondi Feast winter festival (18-29 July). Catch the final days of Van Gogh and the Seasons at the National Gallery of Victoria until 9 July; the gallery is also hosting a series of live performances and conversations with artists at Unplugged Live 2017, held every Sunday afternoon until 23 July. Bastille Day celebrations extend for four days and nights at the Bastille Festival Sydney (13-16 July), when Circular Quay becomes a series of European villages. Eat pretzels, drink Beaujolais and watch French films in an open-air cinema. C’est magnifique.…

SILVER STORIES He paddled the Pacific for The Happy Isles of Oceania and caught trains across China for Riding the Iron Rooster. Now acclaimed travel writer Paul Theroux has his sights set on Silversea’s Silver Whisper. He’ll be aboard when it departs San Francisco on its 132-day world voyage in 2019 and, with other writers including Pico Iyer, he will contribute to an anthology of stories about The Tale of Tales voyage. silversea.com DOUBLE DOWN Some of the largest staterooms in river cruising are being built on the AmaMagna, a new luxury ship to be launched on the Danube in 2019 by APT and AmaWaterways. It will be twice as wide as the companies’ existing ships, with 97 staterooms of 27 square metres or more. A glass-enclosed restaurant, heated swimming…

MEASURES & EQUIPMENT * All cup and spoon measures are level and based on Australian metric measures. * Eggs have an average weight of 59gm unless otherwise specified. * Fruit and vegetables are washed, peeled and medium-sized unless otherwise specified. * Oven temperatures are for conventional ovens and need to be adjusted for fan-forced ovens. * Pans are medium-sized and heavy-based; cake tins are stainless steel, unless otherwise specified. COOKING TIPS * When seasoning food to taste, we use sea salt and freshly ground pepper unless otherwise specified. * To blanch an ingredient, cook it briefly in boiling water, then drain. To refresh it, plunge in plenty of iced water (this stops the cooking), then drain. * We recommend using free-range eggs, chicken and pork. We use female pork for…