Crab salad, cucumber jelly

Chicken liver paté, raspberries, caramelised onion, toast

Barramundi, asparagus, lemon butter, candied lemon and lime zest

Grilled chicken, glutinous rice, kale, Indonesian-style jus

Lamb fillet, pumpkin mash, candied eggplant/aubergine, grilled pepper/capsicum, griddled spring onion, Kalamata olives, balsamic jus

Perfect with Pierre Gaillard Saint Joseph 2011.

Crottin de Chavignol, Comté, croutons, cinnamon sugared almonds, Christmas relish

Lavender and orange blossom honey icecream, pomegranate seeds, toffee pistachios, pomegranate molasses

White truffle custard, mushroom ragu

From the first time I made Thomas Keller’s white truffle custards I served them with a mushroom “ragu” rather than Keller’s black truffle “ragu” of veal stock base. I feel mushroom and truffle is a good combo, and never looked back: porcini, chicken stock, perhaps a little vinegar, but no truffle (afterall, the custard is already truffled). I must try Keller’s version one day, but these aren’t bad nevertheless.

Vanilla-star anise buttered lobster, white wine mussels, lime oysters

Vanilla-star anise buttered lobster, white wine mussels, lime oysters

Lobster: warmed in a clarified butter that has been infused with vanilla and star anise.
Mussels: it’s hard to beat the classic French version, so I didn’t try – mussels steamed in a sauce of white wine, shallots and butter.
Oysters: just lime zest and a little lime juice.

Duck Salad

Duck Salad: duck confit, roast kumra, butter bean purée, crispy bacon, mâche, raspberry vinegar

Using only extra virgin olive oil to confit the duck at 90-95°C (195-203°F) yielded a soft texture. The bean purée was prepared by rehydrating dry beans, boiling the beans in herbs (rosemary, bay and thyme), purée-ing, and reducing the purée.
The combination was interesting, but I’d drop the kumra/sweet potato in future.

Lamb medallion, eggplant purée, mint salad, lamb jus

Lamb medallion, eggplant purée, mint salad, lamb jus

Essentially the same dish concept as this or this, which has become a standard for me. It perfectly suits the use of quality Australian lamb and eggplant/aubergine.
Eggplant: roasted to soft, then finished on the BBQ to add a smokiness before being being puréed, having a little yoghurt added, and reduced to the appropriate consistency.
Mint salad: young mint leaves, dressed in a little rice wine vinegar.
Lamb jus: a standard lamb stock, reduced.
Lamb: BBQed loin meat (only) from the rib – I feel it’s the perfect cut for this.

Cheese

Manchego, Comté, English crackers, fresh walnuts, quince paste

Like any quality ingredient, good cheese (and at over A$100/kg it better be!) needs little doing to it/accompanying it.

Carpaccio of summer fruits

Carpaccio of summer fruits

Thinly sliced white peaches and white nectarines, dusted in vanilla sugar ground to a powder, splashed with lime juice, and chilled, with a few cherry pieces for contrast. Stone fruit paradise. (Essentially, this is just a refinement of this previous execution, wherein the tangelo didn’t work.)

Strawberry and Rhubarb Trifle

Strawberry and Rhubarb Trifle: fresh strawberries, crème anglaise, stewed rhubarb, rhubarb jelly, ginger 'crumbles'

The height of British summer translated to a rainy Australian summer’s day.

Duck

BBQed duck, rice, pear, Indonesian jus, salad

BBQed duck: kaffir lime leaf wrapped BBQed duck breast.
Rice: spiced (cinnamon, ginger) sushi/glutinous rice with lemon juice.
Pear: poached in white wine, lemon juice, touch of star anise; fried off in butter, BBQed.
Indonesian jus: caramelised onion, duck stock, galangal, kaffir lime leaf, lemongrass, palm sugar, garlic, star anise; infused and reduced.
Salad: carrot, celery, green bean, sushi vinegar and mirin.

In a multi-course, in retrospect, I’d drop the salad and up the rice spice.

Matched single blind for me:
Lucy Margaux Jim’s Vineyard Pinot Noir 2010, Adelaide Hills, Australia
Farr Rising Pinot Noir 2009, Geelong, Australia

Cheese
Composed cheese courses are heavenly. Croutons – with plenty of olive oil and salt and baked to achieve decent Maillard – with a Brie/Camembert style cheese.

Tasmanian Heritage Red Square, poached pear, crouton, spiced walnuts

Crab salad with lemon balm pseudo-Vichyssoise

Crab meat, avocado, rocket/Cos, cucumber (not in photo) – all to fine dice/loose chiffonade – and a dressing of mayo, mustard and a light vinegar (like cider or rice wine), and some olive oil to maybe loosen it a little, just works so well.

Not strictly a Vichyssoise, because it was thinner (lacked the potato), but otherwise as per the classic.

I thought the lemon balm would be an interesting take (the lemon-seafood stretch isn’t hard), but I’m not sure it works so well with the avocado. Interpretations for this dish are endless… time to do another rethink.

The “kebab” is pounded pork mince with soy sauce, fish sauce, lemongrass, garlic and chilli added.
This is then wrapped in a lettuce leaf (I prefer something like oak leaf for texture and flavour) with herbs (Vietnamese mint/coriander (i.e., Persicaria odorata) and European mint – I have also found lemon balm to work particularly well).

Vietnamese-style BBQ pork kebabs with herbs in lettuce

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

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