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.

Scallops, cauliflower purée, Sherry-butter foam

Scallops: pan fried Tasmanian.
Purée: Cauliflower florets poached in milk and cream, then puréed and seasoned (white pepper, sea salt).
Sherry-butter foam: PX and Manzanilla Sherries, chicken stock, butter, a little thyme and lecithin.

It’s hard to beat the classics: scallops and cauliflower. When it comes to haute cuisine prep for cauliflower, a milk-cream purée has got to be amongst the best, if not the best. The foam adds some contrast in flavour, and works surprisingly well (though I have always been a fan of the scallop-Sherry fusion, and I think chicken is the best meat for scallop too).

Sea perch, parsnip purée, leek, parsley-lemon-butter sauce

Sea perch: pan fried Tasmanian. There are so many “sea perch” species on the Australian eastern seaboard that the term is a bit meaningless (like so many other common fish names), but essentially all the commercial species (of the genus Lutjanus) are delicate flavoured firm and flaky, white fleshed saltwater (estuarine) fish with low oil content.
Purée: as above, with parsnip in place of cauliflower.
Leek: blanched.
Sauce: sweated shallot, deglazed with Chardonnay and reduced; butter, parsley and lemon juice.

A combination on a hunch and whim, but it works very well (better than the scallop dish). The sweetness of the parnsip works well with the sauce, the leek flavours blend seamlessly, the lemon gives a little acidity to contrast the purée’s creaminess and sweetness, and all these flavours work with the sea perch. I will have to return to these flavour combos.

A Claude Cazals Champagne Cuvée Vive Grand Cru NV had a very fine bead, gentle aromas of flowers (heather) and chalk, and a lovely, well balanced, silky-textured palate with good progression. It did not clash with the above dishes, but niether the dishes nor the wine raised the sensations of each other. Then again, this Champagne was not so friendly with oysters either, so perhaps something altogether different would be best with it.

Apple soup, curried white chocolate foam

I was playing around with different ideas for soup and came up with this. I think the combination of apple, curry and white chocolate works well together.

Wine syrup poached apple with some acidity, creamy foam of vanilla white choc with Garam Masala style spicing.

Apple soup, curried white, chocolate foam

Tobacco Smoked Scallop and Chicken Liver Paté Wonton
PX truffle glaze, porcini foam, tarragon purée

This was inspired by Shola Olunloyo (Studio Kitchen) who has some absolutely amazing ideas. IIRC, he combined scallops, porcini and PX Sherry somehow.

I went my own way with a pan seared scallop, PX Sherry and truffle oil, porcini foam (extract of the mushrooms plus herbs and stock), and a tarragon/spinach/butter purée.

Tobacco Smoked Scallop and Chicken Liver Paté Wonton PX truffle glaze, porcini foam, tarragon purée

Fried John Dory
braised red cabbage, mustard sauce

Based on The French Laundry’s skate wing dish. This is floured (not battered) and shallow fried John Dory (a great fish!). The sauce is butter based and includes mire poix and grian mustard.

Fried John Dory, braised red cabbage, mustard sauce

Chinese-Style Braised Pork Belly
apple purée, braised fennel, caramel-soy sauce

As previously worked on, the pork belly is the traditional soy sauce/ginger/stock/rice wine/hoisin/spring onion style braise. Fennel braised in vinegar. Wine braised apple purée.

Chinese-Style Braised Pork Belly, apple purée, braised fennel, caramel-soy sauce

Slow Cooked Rib Eye
date miso, melted leeks, Stilton-horseradish sauce

Leeks slow cooked in butter, cider and stock. The miso works as a nice base note with the dates giving a sweetness. Old school British food lovers loved this one.

Slow Cooked Rib Eye, date miso, melted leeks, Stilton-horseradish sauce

Cheese
whipped Brie & croutons, poached apple encased St Agur & mustard

With the alcohol flowing I forgot to photograph this one. I like combining cheese and fruit and thought presenting a cheese that was “hidden” inside fruit would be interesting – the St Agur is encase in very thin rounds of wine syrup poached apple (a lot like a ravioli).

Chocolate peanut semifreddo
peanut tuile, dark caramel ice cream, chocolate paint

I am near obsessed with the flavours of dark chocolate, nuts and caramel, and am constantly look for ways to combine them.

The semifreddo sits on top of a brownie disc, and at mid-height has a layer of nuts and caramel.

Chocolate peanut semifreddo, peanut tuile, dark caramel ice cream, chocolate paint

Chocolate peanut semifreddo, peanut tuile, dark caramel ice cream, chocolate paint

White truffle custard with mushroom ragout

Based on the French Laundry’s, but with a mushroom ragout instead of their black truffle ragout. I like it this way because (i) mushroom and truffle is a natural combo for me that works well, (ii) it’s ovo-lacto vegetarian friendly, and (iii) mushrooms are cheaper than black tuffles but still taste great.

Pan seared scallops with a creamy soy-Madeira sauce, nori rice and spicy glazed vegetables

Caesar salad with creamy mustard dressing

I like to see Cos, crispy British bacon and well browned croutons.

Braised shin of beef on roast parsnip mash with melted leeks and Brandy beef-reduction

Brandy works so well in a reduction of shin of beef braising liquid.

Braised shin of beef on roast parsnip mash with melted leeks and Brandy beef-reduction

Roast pheasant with a beetroot-mulled wine reduction, chestnut sauce and braised cabbage

The pheasant was barded and stuffed (largely with sausage meat, which can be seen in the photo below). It’s so important to keep it moist while roasting. The chestnut sauce is basically sauted mire poix with Sherry and roast chestnuts added, then slightly thickened.

Roast pheasant with a beetroot-mulled wine reduction, chestnut sauce and braised cabbage

Chocolate tranche of Earl grey cream over bitter-sweet rich chocolate-orange Marquise over chocolate sponge with hard-caramel date

Assorted cheeses

Since this was a wine matching dinner and there were (going to be) a few dessert wine options, I wanted to offer a variety of desserts for diners to experiment with: fruit and toffee, creamy fruity mousses and rich dark chocolate.

Spiced poached apple and pear with toffee sauce

Marbled white chocolate and raspberry mousse with black pepper tuile

This has dried lemon and raspberry powders on top which add a nice piquancy. Black pepper provides an interesting combo with raspberry.

Chocolate tranche of Earl grey cream over bitter-sweet rich chocolate-orange Marquise over chocolate sponge with hard-caramel date

Dessert

Dessert

The first essentially became a “signature dish” of mine, except below it looks a little red…

Scallops with a soy-Madiera sauce and cayenne-honey veg

and the most recent version throws chopped nori through the rice:

Scallops with a soy-Madiera sauce and cayenne-honey veg

The sauce comprises soy sauce, Madeira, thyme and a little garlic. I like to use capsicum (bell pepper), zucchini (corgette) and carrot as the vegetables; they’re sauted in honey and cayenne.

I played around with “white” ingredients one winter:

"White colour theme"

Simply: seared scallops, salsify (cream poached method) and lychee.

Rob Feenie’s dish doesn’t look as good as it could here, but the flavours are a fantastic combo.

Rob Feenie's scallops with wilted spinach and a vanilla-saffron cream