Salad of greens, fresh beetroot, green beans, walnuts, goat cheese

The dressing here was a light extra virgin olive oil and raspberry vinegar with a little salt. Diners never seem to be able to pick out the fruit in fruit vinegars; they add an elusive quality to a salad, and often a touch of welcome sweetness.

The salad was served with Christian Moreau‘s Vaudesir Chablis from 2009. The floral-vanilla oak increasingly overpowered the wine’s minerality, fruit (lemon, pineapple and nectarine/white peach), and attrative edge of vegetation, but it remained delicious, with its suitably austere yet balanced palate and long finish. It complimented the salad quite well. Interesting to note too, that a mouthful of greens+walnut+cheese prior to a sip of that Chablis was a far superior experience than if it followed a mouthful of salad that didn’t include walnut+cheese.

Braised pork belly, cauliflower cream, PX prunes, orange zest

Braised pork belly, cauliflower cream, PX prunes, orange zest

BBQed lamb loin with beans

BBQed lamb loin with beans

Chocolate semifreddo

White and dark chocolate semifreddo, PX raisins, hazelnut vanilla fudge

Visual recipes for the adept?

Pheasant and Quail Terrine, beetroot salad, raisin purée

Terrine: pheasant leg and breast, quail breast, chicken livers, prosciutto, seasoning, white wine.
Beetroot salad: grated fresh beetroot, dressing of red wine vinegar, lime juice, soy sauce and honey.
Raisin purée: plumped and puréed, plus verjus.

Paried fairly well with a very youthful, lemony and (unfortunately) only slightly toasty Roederer Brut 2005.

Scallop, baked pumpkin, fried chicken gyoza, green curry foam

Scallop, baked pumpkin, fried chicken gyoza, green curry foam (not shown)

Scallop: seared.
Pumpkin: baked in Sherry, garlic and ginger.
Gyoza: minced chicken, spring onion, garlic, ginger, soy sauce; poached then fried.
Foam (not shown): essentially a Thai green curry sauce that’s heavy on the aromatics (i.e., coconut milk flavoured with shrimp paste, fish sauce, lemon grass, garlic, ginger, galangal and kaffir lime).

I was pleased with this dish concept, and it proved one of the most popular dishes of the day. The flavours are classically complimentary and the dish offers a variety of textures. The gyoza needs to have the sufficient crunch (not executed to perfection here), and it seems lecithin may be foam-challenged when it comes to coconut milk, but otherwise successfully executed.

Condrieu, Burgundy

Prosciutto Mushroom, dill green beans, Bordelaise sauce

Proscuitto mushroom, dill green beans, Bordelaise sauce

Mushroom: slow baked with butter, garlic, thyme and white wine; formed into a cylinder wrapped in prosciutto.
Beans: fresh garden greens, poached and tossed in melted dill butter. (I recommend pairing dill and green beans.)
Bordelaise sauce: veal stock, red wine, shallot, marrow.

Domaine des Croix Beaune 1er Cru Bressandes 2006
Savoury cherry, almond, cherry wood and a little compost on the nose. Not a spectacular nose, but subtle and savoury. Well balanced, with pleasantly soft sandy tannins. Whole and gently expressive even if not impressive. Being neither fruit forward nor funky, and savoury in nature, this actually complimented the dish surprisingly better than many other Pinots might have.

Lamb Medallion, eggplant/aubergine purée, peas, mint, rosemary jus

Lamb Medallion, eggplant/aubergine purée, peas, mint, rosemary jus

Essentially a simplified version of this dish (or this dish). Execution suffered a little here. It’s important to have flavoursome eggplant/aubergine.

Tasmanian ‘Brie’, croutons, poached nectarine

Tasmanian 'Brie', croutons, poached nectarine

MSR Auslese Riesling

Persian pavlova, saffron meringue, cardamom cream, rose water strawberries, pistachios, rose petals

The saffron didn’t work here (though it’s possible the quality of the saffron was to blame), but otherwise a suitably delicate, light, summery dessert.

Lobster, shredded beetroot, beetroot essence, young leeks

The (unfortunately pre-cooked) lobster was warmed in beurre monté. Beetroot essence comprised beetroot juice, buerre monté, red wine vinegar, lemon juice. Blanched young/baby leeks. Fried shredded leeks (not shown) add a flavourful garnish.

Paired with Kumeu River Matés Vineyard Chardonnay 2007 (Auckland, New Zealand), I was worried that the wine would present too much acidity, but that concern was not borne out. Pale lemony yellow, the nose showed rotting vegetation, struck flint, sweet lemon, quince, and a white floral note. The seamless palate had great balance, integration, weight (not heavy like so many Aussie Chards) and good length. To criticise, the palate showed slightly lacking flavour concentration from the mid-palate and the wine was better drunk cooler than warmer (which was a shame) – with warmth, the oak became more obvious and the quince gave way to more floral aspects. But this is very good Chardonnay. I would quite likely think it a Burgundy if tasted blind. At A$60 it represents fantastic value against the best of Australian Chardonnays.

BBQ lamb, cumin eggplant/aubergine, jus, greens

BBQ lamb, spiced eggplant/aubergine, jus, greens

Lamb loin (eye meat only); eggplant/aubergine creamed with yoghurt and cumin; jus based on veal, red wine and the standard aromatics; baby rocket and mint dressed in sushi vinegar and just a touch of olive oil.

Paired with Wynns John Riddoch Cabernet Sauvignon 1988 (Coonawarra, Australia), which was slightly past its peak, but nevertheless showed a lovely nose of vegetable (like steamed snow pea), old leather boot, gentle spice box, a touch of menthol, and some fruit underneath. The palate has lovely medium weight (a refreshing 12.3% abv – why can’t more Aussie reds be picked at this kind of Baumé?!), good acidity, soft tannins, and the flavour of sour reds fruit (cranberry/redcurrant). The finish strangely holds its flavour on the front-mid palate and it’s a little short, but nevertheless enjoyable. A pleasant match with the lamb, with which the acidity, body and flavours were complementary.

Rum-flambéed pineapple, caramel, vanilla mascarpone

Rum-flambéed pineapple, caramel, vanilla mascarpone

Goat cheese and chive ravioli, tomato and basil vinaigrette
A classic flavour combo that just works so well. The “vinaigrette” is more like a light tomato based sauce with sharp acidity.

Goat cheese and chive ravioli, tomato and basil vinaigrette

Celeriac soup, beetroot and red wine emulsion
Rob Feenie’s combo concept-wise. It works pretty well.

Celeriac soup, beetroot and red wine emulsion

Lemon sole, Australian mountain pepper spice, carrot, parsley butter, garlic chips
Halibut, quatre épices rub, poached figs
Essentially two dishes in one, because I just love packing the flavour combos in.
Lemon sole remains a popular N. European fish, particularly in the UK. It’s a delicate fish with a great flavour, and it’s also cheaper than Dover Sole. It doesn’t (or “shouldn’t”) require much treatment, so here I served it with carrot in a parsley butter (coz carrot and parsley work well together, and parsley and butter work well with sole). The garlic crisp and mountain pepper were small touches to just provide some fun (the pepper is a native pepper berry from Tasmania that has quite a hot peppery flavour).
Halibut is amongst my favourite fish, quite unlike many fish due to its firm, almost meaty texture. This fish is great fried, and can take a bit of spice. The figs were essentially poached in port. These components worked surprisingly well together.

The above dishes were served with Bonneau du Martray‘s Corton-Charlemagne 2001. I not think this worked particularly well, but I am not a fan of BdM’s CC (the flavours just aren’t what I look for in white Burgundy) and I may also have been a little tired of it at the time too, since a friend had coincidentally served me blind a different vintage of the same wine a day or two prior. Perhaps I was biased because of this, though really I wouldn’t expect this wine to work with the above dishes particularly well anyway (this wine was opened for what it was, not for the match it might provide).

Lemon sole, Aussie mountain pepper spice, carrot, parsley butter, garlic chips; Halibut, quatre épices rub, poached figs

“Pepper, pita, feta”: stuffed peppers, feta sorbet, spiced fried pita
A wanted to play around with stuffed peppers. I tend to pack them with rice, herbs, tomato sauce and onion. I find they can work fantastically well with red wine if the acidity is kept high (add plenty of vinegar) and they contain Greek quantities of olive oil.

Paired with Château Lagrange St Julien 2003, with which it worked pretty well.

“Pepper, pita, feta”: stuffed peppers, feta sorbet, spiced fried pita

Roquefort cheese, poached pear, spiced toasted walnuts, sweet-wine-poaching reduction
I feel I’ve refined this composed cheese course dish pretty much to the point of perfection. The flavours just work so well together. The pear is poached in a syrup containing white wine and lemon juice, and the nuts are roasted with a little salt, cardamom, cinnamon (perhaps some black pepper or cumin).

I feel this dish pairs very well with a sweet Loire Chenin Blanc. In this case, IIRC, it was Baumard’s 1992 Quarts de Chaumes.

Roquefort cheese, poached pear, spiced toasted walnuts, sweet-wine-poaching reduction

Chocolate dèlice, salted caramel, peanut icecream
Evidently, presentation went a bit wayward.. the diners even joined me in the kitchen at the dish composition phase for some pretty funny cuts and constructions (not shown)… but it tasted pretty good if I do say so myself. Certainly a rich dessert.

Chocolate dèlice, salted caramel, peanut icecream

Haggis balls with whisky broth and neep powder

Sweet potato and coriander soup with rouille
It’s a great flavour combo. I did a garlic and herb rouille IIRC.

Green salad with honey-mustard vinaigrette

Salad prep

Green salad with honey-mustard vinaigrette

Prawn and salmon wontons in prawn bisque

Back in the days when Keiko reported more cooking than photography on her Nordljus blog, I was inspired by a Salmon and prawn tortellini in ginger prawn bisque dish she created. I made slight tweeks, but it’s essentially the same concept: salmon, prawn and basil filled wontons; the bisque is made with roasted prawn shells (very important) and the usual suspects (including a decent hit of ginger).

Wonton prep

Prawn and salmon wontons in prawn bisque

Smoked tofu and Guinness pie, crispy rice squares and spiced red lentils

This menu required an ovo-lacto vege main option (which I often think of anyway). This is my vege take on the classic beef and beerstyle pie, with a kind of spicy red lentil sauce instead of ketchup.

OR

Rack of venison, poached pears, wilted greens, celeriac purée and chocolate oil

This is a John Campbell (The Vineyard, Stockcross, UK) dish. I thought the dish an interesting composition (particularly with the inclusion of the pear) but taste-wise I wasn’t sure I was entirely convinced.

Wilted greens

Rack of venison

Selles-sur-Cher cheese with warm beetroot salad

I love goats cheese and I think it works well with beetroot. I was very pleased with my presentation development on this dish. The cheese is accompanied with roast beetroot batons, beetroot powder, lolla rossa (one of my fav lettuces) and a balsamic glaze.

Selles-sur-Cher cheese with warm beetroot salad

Pink grapefruit sorbet with gin and vanilla jus

Rob Feenie’s concept, and an absolutely fantastic combination! I like to throw in some candied peel for extra zest. This is made without pith (of course); simmered for 30 secs, chilled – repeated about 3 times; then finally simmered with sugar until reduced to desired coating.

Pink grapefruit sorbet with gin and vanilla jus

The French Laundry’s Île Flottante

This is a superb reinterpretation of the classic. The meringue is slow baked (in steam) so it’s extremely light. It’s then filled with chocolate mousse. The accompaniments are the classic crème anglaise, a chocolate tuile, bitter sweet chocolate shavings with salt, and mint oil.

The French Laundry’s Île Flottante