Aficionado

Maple Syrup & Vegemite Glazed Lamb Ham

2011-12-13T01:21:00.000+11:00

I'm Asian. I love freebies and I'm a sucker for good food.

The cunning pants at Meat & Livestock Australia and Hausmann have played me right into their hands with a sacrificial offering of Hay Valley lamb ham, gourmet mustard and sourdough tucked neatly into a red linen-lined basket. If Little Red Riding Hood had a hoarding habit and accepted her goodies in styrofoam boxes, we could very well be twins.

There was a lovely note slipped in beneath the bread, just in case I'd been struck by a sudden case of amnesia and forgotten the email I'd received two days prior confirming my availability to accept a perishable delivery from so and so.

"Thanks for all of your hard work - taking pictures of random things, chowing down on free food and taking more pictures, posting said pictures with delirious comments attached on a blog that nobody in their right mind would ever read. Lots of love from the seedy man in admin who signs notes under exotic female aliases to build customer rapport."

I'll pretend to be frank for a moment. I was intrigued yet dubious about the concept of lamb ham from the beginning for the following reasons:

1. I've never ever heard of 'lamb ham', thus is must be a terrible concoction of farce and nitrites. Perhaps past tasters in market research groups contracted botulism and were unable to speak of its delicious flavour and paralytic effects.

2. This so-called 'lamb ham' contains 20% less fat than the traditional porker. Since fat is flavour and a lubricating agent, the proportionally lower fat content of lamb would no doubt result in a despicable product with the dry and unpalatable texture and flavour profile of shredded cardboard.

3. Google Images reveals numerous pictures of lamb that appear about as appetising as a dinner party consisting of two girls and one cup.. minus the girls.

I don't normally say this because it never ever happens except maybe just this once ..but well.. I was wrong. Cured in maple syrup and smoked, it was as good as (if not better than) a traditional pork ham - unbelievably tender, succulent, oh so moist.

To enhance the subtle ingrained smoky sweetness, I sloshed together a fairly traditional ham glaze with maple syrup, Dijon mustard and cider vinegar. Hmm.. There wasn't anywhere near as much fat around the outside so I bypassed the scoring and clove studding and added a light dusting of allspice. Oh what the heck. Lamb is the epitome of the modern Australian diet. In went a blob of Vegemite.

A whole lot of basting, cursing, basting, peering, and basting later, the lamb ham was removed and allowed to rest for two hours. Admittedly I was upstairs watching an enthralling episode of Better Homes & Gardens but it needed to rest anyway. All that basting would have tired the little lamb out.

I dug out my biggest knife and sliced into the cooled meat with trepidation, but I needn't have worried. All of my niggling doubts and expectations flew out the window as the quivering pink flesh touched my lips. No words can describe the elation of discovering a ham that surpasses all other hams, or the Kodak moment when one tastes the first sliver of barely warm lamb that's been cured, smoked and basted for an hour with maple syrup and rich Vegemite. This is definitely a recipe that I'll be keeping in the books for next year, and possibly one to overthrow past traditions.

Maple Syrup & Vegemite Glazed Lamb Ham

1 x 2 kg Hay Valley lamb ham
200 g light brown sugar
60 g maple syrup (real maple syrup, none of that flavoured fake stuff)
60 g apple cider vinegar
50 g Dijon mustard
25 g Vegemite
1.5 tsp allspice, ground

Trim the skin off the lamb, leaving as much fat on as possible. Remove any visible sinew.
Cover the bone with foil to keep it nice and clean.
Leave for an hour or until it comes to room temperature.
Preheat the oven to 180˚C.
Chuck all of the remaining ingredients into a bowl and whisk until sugar is dissolved and Vegemite is thoroughly combined.
Place a rack over a tray and half-fill it with boiling water.
Place the lamb ham on top (make sure the water doesn't touch the lamb), covering loosely with foil.
Roast for 1 hour.
Remove the foil, top up the water and baste with maple syrup and Vegemite mixture.
Return to the oven and continue roasting for 40 - 50 minutes, basting lightly every 10 minutes or until a beautiful golden brown.
Stick a thermometer into the centre to make sure that the meat has reached 60˚C.
Remove tray from oven and rest for 2 hours before slicing.
Enjoy! :D

Cooking with Matt Kemp

2011-11-28T18:04:00.000+11:00

Matt Kemp of Montpellier Public House has very kindly allowed us to publish his recipe for the epigramme of veal breast with crushed carrots and jus that the superstar chef dished up to feed dozens of hungry locals at Barbecue Madness during Crave in October.

In Matt's own words, it's a fancy veal schnitzel and a damn good one at that. The meat is slow-cooked for hours with herbs and madeira until it's melt-in-the-mouth tender, then crumbed and fried for an irresistible textural juxtaposition. You can grab some of the Sydney basin's best veal at Feather and Bone and Victor Churchill.

PS. For all you grill masters out there, Meat & Livestock Australia is running a BBQ competition next month with the winner snagging an awesome TRIP TO AMERICA BABY! Details below. Happy cooking! :)

Café Sopra @ Walsh Bay

2011-11-26T11:30:00.001+11:00

This front's been quiet for a while. I like to imagine that it's the height of summer and I'm Juliette Van Der Becq, whisked away by the irritatingly seductive heartbreaker Alex Lippi for ten days of revealing secrets and a string of breathtakingly romantic events. Just two mysterious not-quite-strangers somewhere along the southern coast of France. Penniless in my current predicament, a French getaway (bodyguard included) is out of the question but perhaps a quick rendezvous with her Italian neighbour would not be entirely impossible...

Sopra is the ever popular daughter of the Fratelli Fresh family. Like Van Der Becq, she's kept within arms reach. You'll find her roaming about Waterloo, Potts Point, Bridge St and Walsh Bay but always under the watchful eye of a Fratelli.

As a Fratelli Fresh offspring, exceptional quality runs in the family and Café Sopra is no black sheep. A perpetually changing blackboard menu that features produce to reflect the seasons' best keeps the locals coming back for more. Avocados, cucumbers, beans, fresh basil, blueberries and tomatoes are just a taste of what's in store. Peruse the aisles as you wait for 6 o'clock to roll around but be sure you don't lose track of time or you may lose out on a table too.

It's terribly cold and dreary, and it's been drizzling since morning. It's one of those days where my knees creak like rickety stairs and I'd much rather stay in bed. Our trio rocks up at 5 past 6PM and barely ten minutes later the entire café is filled with upmarket suits and boobs. It seems like a different crowd down here but whatevs. I'm just here for the food.

The blackboard menu takes up an entire wall. Impressive. The only printed menu supplied at the table is the beverage list. Garganega, Mourvedre, Teroldego Rotaliano.. I have no idea what any of these fancy pants words mean so I pick a cocktail that's spelled out in plain English - Italian Sour. You can't go wrong with citrus and Aperol.

Diners linger between tables, carefully perusing the blackboard menu. Cucina Italiana means serious business.

Chicken liver pate is something that Chris has sworn to detest but the silky smooth mouthfeel and beautiful sweetness is enough to convince her otherwise. Accompanied by sliced cucumber, beans, cornichons and fine slivers of eschallot tossed in vinaigrette, it leaves a luxurious dish in perfect balance.

Dee's heard great things about the meatballs so we order one of those. It doesn't disappoint. Three oversized meatballs with personality to match perch above a delicate tangle of tagliatelle and a vibrant tomato sauce. It's a good thing we ordered these early on as halfway through our meal a waitress draws a thin line of chalk across the board. They've sold out.

My table mates ogle the blackboard special, mussel fusilli insalata. I'm not much of a fan of slippery mussels and spiral pasta but it's nice and my dining partners enjoy it.

A little plate-sized baked ocean trout arrives. It's been scored and sprinkled voraciously with a mint and marjoram confetti. I moisten my lips and my olfactory senses revel in the wafting aroma of its succulent pink flesh... Have I died and gone to heaven?

Since Spain, I've never been able to resist an opportunity to slip a few screaming white anchovies down my throat so we request a panzanella. For a bread salad it's pretty darn tasty. Chunky tomato and cucumber, fried ciabatta dredged in olive oil and torn basil, draped with white anchovies that continue to sing on the palate long after they're gone. Strangely enough, it makes the perfect palate cleanser and prelude to dessert.

We're totally stuffed but we can't leave without trying a dessert.. or two. The cannoli with honeycomb sounds mouthwatering and Dee has been pining after the blueberry swirl semifreddo since we sat down.

With a lightly salted honeycomb filling, the cannoli resembles a mango-scented Gaytime. I smoosh the chocolate pastry to bits with my spoon and find to my dismay that the honeycomb cream hasn't been piped all the way into the centre. It's a heartbreaking moment.

Poached blueberries tumble across two sticks of homemade semifreddo. Dee reckons it's a little icy. I reckon she's right. My guess is that raw blueberries were whizzed into the mix which would have added excess moisture and short of buying a super expensive machine to evaporate liquids at low temperatures under vacuum to retain fresh flavours, there's not much that can be done about it other than boiling the crap out of the blueberries first which would lend a cooked, jammy kind of taste. Nice taste, okay texture. Overall.. yeah nice.

A waitress floats past with a banoffee torte... What was I saying? Oh yes, that's definitely going on the to-do list next time...

Café Sopra @ Walsh Bay

fratellifresh.com.au

Bloodwood @ Newtown

2011-11-05T11:53:00.000+11:00

How do you define success? Is it enjoying life? Doing what you love? Making a contribution to society? Or perhaps, as Soren Reichelt says, it's 'a chicken dinner'.

Success in the dining scene is distinguished by customers revelling in momentary bliss, torn between leaving gracefully or lingering just a moment longer to scrape the very last morsel of pound cake drenched in quince anglaise from the bottom of the glass.

Bloodwood, Newtown - now there's a success story, a point of difference where one can find all of the above.

Love in amidst a chicken dinner.

Bloodwood Restaurant & Bar

416 King St, Newtown

(+61 2) 9557 7699

www.bloodwoodnewtown.com

Barbecue Madness

2011-10-07T01:15:00.000+11:00

Thanks to the people at MLA and ~~Horseman~~ Hausma nn Communications (neeeeigh! It's Hausmann NOT Horseman!), I got to spend a lovely Saturday morning down by the docks at the Sydney Morning Herald Growers' Market in Pyrmont to celebrate Barbecue Madness. What is that you say? Well if you replace 'madness' with 'super awesome deliciousness' the name pretty much speaks for itself.

An opening Crave event of course has to start with a bang. There were eleven Sydney chefs, eleven dishes, six barbecues, seven sittings, the highly respected David Tanis - cookbook author and head chef of Alice Waters's restaurant Chez Panisse in California, with two Southdown Lambs from Oberon slowly rotating over spits for five long tantalising hours thrown in.

I got to hang out with Matt Kemp for a bit (he's an ex-Banc boy who ran the highly successful Restaurant Balzac which has since closed and re-opened as Montpellier Public House). Nice guy. Awesome skills. While most other chefs had a supporting chef or apprentice by their side, Matt was all lonesome and a total gun behind the grill. He whipped up epigramme of veal breast with crushed carrots, watercress and madeira jus; a dish which he described as a playful rendition of a fancy veal schitzel. Gotta love the man! (A little birdy tells me that there's a recipe on the way!)

The remaining talent pool included: Alex Herbert (Bird Cow Fish), Alex Kearns (Glebe Point Diner and ex-Billy Kwong chef! What a small world this is), Dan Hong and Jowett Yu (Lotus & Ms G's), Darren Robertson (The Table Sessions), David Tsirekas (Xanthi), Joe Pavlovich (Glass Brasserie), my awesome ex-boss Kylie Kwong (Billy Kwong), Lauren Murdosh (Felix) and Martin Boetz (Longrain)...

... ... ...Sorry, I was just you know, reminiscing about all the mouth-watering dishes I got to stick my fingers into over the duration of the morning.. I love that it's held at the Pyrmont Growers' Market every year where the farmers, growers, bakers, artisan whatevers pride themselves on sourcing fresh, local and seasonal produce. It just fits in so well with the sustainability flag that was being waved around this year.

The importance of sourcing sustainable produce and supporting the people behind the sustainable agricultural movement is being dragged into the limelight in a timely fashion. An increasing number of Sydney chefs are on-board with boycotting GMOs, and sourcing local, seasonal produce but sustainably produced organic fruit and veg still only make up a tiny minority of the present market. We can change that you know. Consumers have the ULTIMATE POWER! Ask for it, demand it, buy as much as you can afford. It's damn delicious!

But back to serious business.. I just can't get over how succulent that spit-roasted Southdown lamb was... Droooool... There's no need to fret if you missed it. There are only 359 days to go before Barbecue Madness comes around again next year... Could someone please tell the woman upstairs to stop sobbing so loudly? It's distracting, and you can breathe a sigh of relief (I can't help being cruel sometimes). Crave Sydney International Food Festival runs for the entire month so there are plenty more opportunities to get some tasty meat in ya! :P~

www.cravesydney.com

Sydney Morning Herald Growers' Market

Pyrmont Bay Park, Pirrama Road

Pyrmont NSW 2009

see more delicious photos!

Got Beef?

2011-10-06T23:28:00.000+11:00

Sustainable development may seem like an oxymoron of sorts. Leading scientists like David Suzuki believe that infinite exponential growth is impossible, yet we continue to pursue it like our entire existence is ready to collapse the moment we slow down, even if only for a moment... Hmmm.. Something to ponder over...

It's an exciting time to be in the thick of learning all about environmental science and the flow-on effects of human activity. For the first time in human history, more people are now living in urban areas than anywhere else. While many of us may never see a productive plot bigger than a 2 x 4m terrace yard or splash knee-high through a spring stream teeming with fry, we all eat and agriculture is central to all of our lives whether we choose to acknowledge it or not.

Pick a supermarket. Any supermarket. Traipse down an aisle and already we're completely overwhelmed trying to make head or toe of the nutritional content of breakfast cereals let alone delve into the complex world of sustainable food production. Luckily we have Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) to do the dirty work for us. They invest bajillions of dollars a year into improving and refining the sustainability of our country's meat production.

MLA copped a fair bit of flack in recent months over the live export shit in Indonesia which is a little silly if you ask me. Solutions have to be culturally appropriate if they're going to work out in the long term without requiring constant babysitting. Jumping the gun would be like giving my 90 year-old grandpa (shrivelled hippocampus, dementia and all, who has taken to waltzing around his home naked) an iPad to read the paper with and then wondering why it's hiding in the dishwasher two months later. But anyway... As usual, MLA is a proud supporter of homegrown Aussie produce and soldiers on with what it does best - promoting sustainability and better industry practices.

With a global population of over 6 billion, we have a huge influence on the wellbeing of our habitat, and we have an inherent responsibility to minimise the environmental impact of our everyday lives. As an omnivorous species, each and every meal we consume provides another opportunity to support environmentally friendly practices and steer away from those that do more harm than good. According to food writer Richard Cornish, one of the most practical ways to eat more sustainably is to have a relationship with the butcher. Not on the side of course. The milk man would never get over it. Mortal enemies they are.

Jokes aside, Richie makes a solid point. Laughing at the occasional joke, smiling, asking about a favourite recipe and building a rapport with the people behind the counter allows you to sneak in special orders for butcher's cuts, beautiful sweet meats and things that may normally be harder to find like venison, wild rabbit, marrow, brains (if you swing that way), dry-aged beef and whatnot. An animal is killed every time we want to eat and what we don't buy gets pulped and goes into rubbish like pet food. Venture out of the pre-packaged cuts and experiment with lesser known parts. Give every part of the animal the respect that they deserve. Try something new! Be bold and daring!

Secondary cuts such as brisket, flat meats, neck, shin and shank are all beautiful and can be braised gently for hours and hours and hours until they're melt-in-the-mouth tender. As a general rule, darker parts of animals contain a higher level of myoglobin and are more flavoursome. They've had a bit more of a workout and take a little more love and care to prepare than overly popular (bland) cuts like steak and fillet, but they're more forgiving and the rewards can be bloody amazing. I promise you'll be pleasantly surprised and if you're lucky, you might feel the twinge of a warm and fuzzy feeling creeping into your belly after eating a little more sustainably. :)

Preserving Winter Fruit

2011-09-29T19:05:00.000+10:00

Hey you, yes you in the kitchen, holding that bowl of orange peels left from the bounty of winter citrus that were nurtured so lovingly by your favourite producer down at the weekend farmers' market. I can see what you're up to. You were planning to upend the entire contents into the waste bin that'll undoubtedly go into landfill and contribute to our already warming atmosphere weren't you?

Shake your head. Lie to me. That's right.

There's something else that we can do with these that'll add another awesome secret ingredient to your pantry and have your neighbours peeking over the fence with jealousy as you entertain your friends and family with beautifully perfumed renditions of Italian classics.

Preserved lemon is an ingredient that I know you're familiar with. Tangy. Robust. A burst of floral citrus and acidity all in one. It's proved to be quite versatile, contributing to some of the great culinary masterpieces and traditional peasant dishes of our time, providing a subtle backdrop or Kill Bill-style smack in the face.

Luckily for us, orange peels have just the same potential if not more. Google preserved oranges and what you'll find is 2.47 million images of sugar-laden, diabetes-inducing goodness. This is not what I'm suggesting.

Preserved orange peel

orange peel (with or without pith, whatever)
cheap rock salt (preferably local, organic and sustainably harvested)
aromatic spices and stuff
fresh orange juice/lemon juice/apple cider vinegar to cover

Pay close attention. This recipe is deceptively simple.

Stuff a sterilised jar with orange peel and handfuls of rock salt.

Throw some cinnamon quills or peppercorns or bay leaves or whatever in.

Cover with juice and/or vinegar.

Screw on the lid.

Chuck it in a dark place for a couple of months.

Jars must be stored in a cool, dark place as excessive heat and UV light can cause degradation of citric acid which is BAD. Reconstituted orange juice and any other non-fresh juice that is heat treated during processing should not be used as heat destroys acidity.

Fresh lemon juice has a pH that lies somewhere around 2-3, fresh orange juice typically has a pH of 3.5 and apple cider vinegar has a pH that falls between 4.25 and 5. For safe preservation, the pH should ideally be maintained below 4.6.

If using apple cider vinegar this can be achieved by mixing it with a substantial amount of lemon juice to increase the acidity. If you don't have citrus juice, you can try adding powdered citric acid (no more than 8% of liquid weight). Palm vinegar is an inappropriate dress to wear to this occasion. White vinegar will have you thrown out.

Preserved orange peel will take your dinner parties where they never dared. If a riot breaks out when you hit the bottom of the jar, don't blame us.

MasterChef Live Promo Deal!

2011-09-20T21:23:00.000+10:00

MasterChef Live is just around the corner and boy do I have something cool in store for you guys!

The lovely people who are running the show have provided me with a discount so tell your family, friends, frenemies, and spread the love!

Masterchef Live Ticket offer - Buy 2 adult tickets for ~~$60~~ $50 and family pass for ~~$99~~ $89!

Save ten bucks! Awesome! That's more money for food that's going into my belly!

Click here to book

And enter your promotional code MCL03 or call ticketek on 132 849 and quote the code.

MasterChef Live, the ultimate foodie’s event is back this year from 7-9^th October, Royal Hall of Industries & Hordern Pavilion, Moore Park.

This year it promises to be an even bigger cooking extravaganza with more masterclasses from judges Gary and George and Australia’s top chefs such as Kylie Kwong, Peter Gilmore, Adriano Zumbo, more free interactive hands-on cooking schools, Junior MasterChef workshops, and of course the chance to shop for amazing produce, fresh produce and cookware to help you become a MasterChef at home.

NEW for this year Contestant Friday - Contestants were so popular last year we have invited the favourites from all three series to host Friday along with some of Australia's top Chefs. See your favourite contestants from all three series battle it out in the Mystery Box Theatre, plus watch as they re-create their signature dishes in the Contestant Theatre over the three days. Plus on Saturday and Sunday see Gary and George take on the challenge in the Mystery box theatre.

See your favourite chefs, judges and contestants teach you all the tips and tricks you need to become a MAsterChef at home.

The line-up includes; Gary Mehigan, George Calombaris, Kylie Kwong, Peter Gilmore, Adriano Zumbo, Colin Fassnidge, Alessandro Pavoni, Vincent Gadan, Jacques Reymond, Anna Gare, Matt Kemp, Miguel Mastre, Dan Hong, Greg Doyle, Giovanni Pilu, Warren Turnbull, and Tony Bilson and many, many more.

Book tickets go to Mastercheflive.com.au

Early bird offer - Book in advance and included within the price is a copy of MasterChef Magazine valued at $4.95!!

Trading Music For Trees

2011-09-03T15:51:00.000+10:00

Just last weekend I was lucky enough to be invited along to photograph an event at CarriageWorks called MUSICFORTREES - a non-profit initiative run by local sustainability advocates to empower people to change the world with small actions. The graceful artists who in a few short hours managed to raise enough funds to plant 17,290 trees included: DJ Tom with his ultra-cool old-school gramophone, Andy Golledge (the amusing man with so much beard it got caught in his harmonica), John Dixon, Jay Cooper, gorgeous duo Elodie Sablier and Eleanor Maurri of Les Deux Violettes, and the incredibly stark and alluring Jordan Leser.

MUSICFORTREES is part of the United Nations Environment Programme Plant For The Planet: The Billion Tree Campaign and works in conjunction with Trees For The Future - a group that has been reforesting degraded land, and improving biodiversity and sustainability around the globe since 1989. It's incredibly humbling to be asked to work with some seriously talented people, designers and musicians alike. I'm still feeling slight disbelief a week later. It was only two years ago that I got my hands on a DSLR, much less learn how to use the darn thing. Amazing..

I've spent the last fortnight slowly making my way through a book called 2011 State of the world: Innovations that nourish the planet by The Worldwatch Institute and I've learned that famine and poverty in developing nations are not caused by a lack of food as widely believed, but rather, through gross mismanagement of resources and a turbid market. Food aid unfortunately is a bit like slapping a used bandaid on a broken leg and doesn't do much to address the root of the problem besides sustaining poverty-stricken people for another day. An influx of food aid from international sources can actually cause detriment to market pricing and devalue local produce, meaning poorer farmers have little incentive to grow more food. Genetically modified seeds and high-input monoculture are too expensive for African farmers to sustain, and synthetic chemical fertiliser and pesticide use only assists in accelerating soil degradation and water pollution. Fuel for cooking and heating is produced through the incineration of biomass including wood, animal dung, agricultural waste, etc. Not only does burning biomass result in smoke inhalation (the largest cause of death in children under 5 in developing countries), but it also limits the amount of organic matter available to return to the fields to maintain soil fertility .

To better the world and advance food security to include the 1 billion starving people in poorer nations requires a paradigm shift in political responsibility, clean energy production and a movement towards agroecological farming. Solar cookers allow women to potentially triple their income whilst drastically cutting back on the amount of time spent collecting firewood. A lower demand for fuel also equates to more organic matter that can be incorporated back into the soil, reducing the need for chemical input and increasing the natural suppression of disease through composting.

Trees play an almighty part in food security as well, and not just in developing nations like Africa. They provide shade and reduce water loss, assist in preventing rising groundwater and salinity (a massive problem in agriculture around the globe), shed leaves which add organic matter to soil, sequester atmospheric carbon, increase precipitation, reduce temperature, and can also provide an additional source of food; all of which are incredibly important if increased sustainability of agriculture and food security are to be pursued.

MUSICFORTREES holds a number of charity gigs a year. Make sure you check out their facebook page to stay updated on upcoming music-filled afternoons at CarriageWorks! :)

www.MUSICFORTREES.com

See more photos of the last MUSICFORTREES event...

Springing Back into Uni

2011-08-15T18:44:00.000+10:00

It's good to be back! Spring lambs abound (albeit in winter) to tantalise our taste buds with plenty of exciting new challenges ahead! Being a total nerd with no social life over the last six months really paid off although I think I may have set the bar a little too high. Hopefully, and with a little luck I'll be able to keep my GPA at 6.75 for at least one more semester.

This time around I'll be studying Biometry (some super boring and impossibly hard computer-based statistical unit), Resource Sustainability, Food Science 1 and Crop Production. Most are pretty interesting. One of them is unmentionable. Funny how the crappiest content-overloaded courses all begin with 'Bio'...

Food Science 1 looks like it'll be pretty exciting stuff. We get to make bread and yoghurt, compare taste, titration and brix results of fresh and commercial orange juice, we even get to visit a sake production plant! Crop production is by far my favourite though. Nothing beats being out in the field on a Friday morning with the sun's gently warming rays, knees deep in chalky soil tending to my mountain of kale and strawberries.

Resource Sustainability assessments sound terrible from what I've heard but I think it's something that is incredibly important to learn about. Where does our food and energy come from? Can we continue current practices well into the future? How can we minimise our carbon footprint? Are we able to find a balance between the growing human population and our ever increasing resource consumption?

There are some hot topics on the student discussion board and it seems like there are so many more aspects to consider than first thought when it comes to living sustainably. Sure, some of us can live the slow life on an isolated property with a tiny mud house, a swale and a food forest, but what about the rest of us? The global population is estimated to hit 9 billion people by 2050 and urban populations will soar. With increased housing, property sizes will shrink so what happens then?

In terms of the sustainability of our food production I think that the key aspect that we need to face up to, whether we live in urban or regional areas, is waste. Waste is created when fruit doesn't grow to be picture perfect, when tomatoes don't survive the long haul to the supermarket, when we peel back the husks of corn, when we're not quite sure what to do with that last mushroom or we leave an avocado sitting out for just a tad too long. It becomes an environmental problem when we chuck it all in a hole somewhere far, far away and it's left to produce toxic methane and leachate. Harvesting crops, burying excess in plastic and flushing the rest out to sea means that farmland is becoming degraded.

We're still years away from convincing people to think of human poop as a renewable resource but the answer seems fairly simple and straightforward. Why don't we have a separate bin to collect biodegradable household waste? If we could keep it separate and send it off to a processing plant to be turned into compost through the use of worms, bacteria or heat, then we'd have a crapload of organic matter to redistribute to improve nature strips or backyard gardens or farms or whatever. Is it really that hard to make such a small adaptation to a system that we already have firmly in place?

The Rocks Aroma Festival

2011-08-09T23:21:00.000+10:00

http://www.therocks.com/...

See more pictures here..

Tuesday Tasting Menu @ Duke Bistro

2011-08-01T18:56:00.000+10:00

I dined at Duke Bistro once before in late February. My memory of the event is a little shady - I'd had champagne at a friend's house and a few beers with the sexy blonde girls who I used to work two doors down from; before meeting work colleagues, dashing to the Duke for a quick drink, and then running off again to another party.

I remember lounging in the dark and sipping on a Penicillin, my senses awash with the warmth of smoky scotch and honey. Complimentary dishes arrived at our table, thanks to the magnetic pulling power of the very charming EggBert - ex-partner in crime to Mitch The Pasta Master from Sepia days. There was something with prawn and a bizarre seaweed I'd never seen before, slivers of cured ham of some description, a smoky soup with clams and fregola perhaps? Details are wishy washy at best. It was damn good though, and I've been dying to return ever since.

What a serendipitous moment to find an old friend slaving over the hot coals of my desires. Textural delights, meat mastery, edible flowers and housemade butter for crying out loud! This is love - the real thing, but beware. Kate Moss was here. This Duke is addictive.

Leather Jacket Cheek, Oyster, Cucumber

Duck Liver Parfait, Bread, Housemade Butter

King George Whiting Fish Finger Drinks List

Prawn, Pasta Pig Tail Tile, Bone Marrow

Boar Neck, Garlic Shoots Nasturtium, Goat's Cheese

White Miso Caramel Eclair Rhubarb & Rosemary Jelly, Mini Pavlova

http://www.dukebistro.com.au/

63 Flinders St

Darlinghurst, Sydney

Wintry Pumpkin Pie

2011-07-28T23:38:00.000+10:00

When one has close to a dozen pumpkins stacked in a corner of the kitchen, meal times become a game of finding ways to disguise pumpkin in anything and everything. As delicious as they may be, there are only so many times that I can eat variations of Parmesan-crusted pumpkin wedges (Gruyere and torn basil is an excellent combination by the way), baked oatmeal with pumpkin and maple-soaked raisins or chickpea-hiding-pumpkin-patties before I feel inclined to start pulling my hair out.

I've never had a proper pumpkin pie before (the orange-coloured cream masquerading as said pie at Cotton Duck doesn't count), so I thought I'd give that a go. I wanted a really beefed up version full of warming spices and wintry nuances so I scoured through my books for a few ideas which I mashed together into a single recipe.

Spices from a traditional American diner dessert - sweet potato pie were added and the amount of sugar scaled back to let the natural sweetness of the pumpkin sing. Instead of making a classic pie with flaky pastry, I cooked the pumpkin pie filling in jars and dished them up with homemade yoghurt, dried lemon peel and some shortbread biscuits infused with lemon and rosemary.

Dried lemon peel

1 lemon
100 g water
50 g castor sugar

Peel lemon with a vegetable peeler.
Remove white pith from the peel with a small, sharp knife.
Cut peel into thin strips about 2 mm wide.
Place water and sugar into a small pot and bring to the boil.
Add lemon peel and bring back to the boil.
Allow to simmer for 2 minutes.
Remove pot from heat and cool to room temperature.
Strain out the peel and drain well.
Spread peel onto a flat tray lined with baking paper or a silpat mat.
Dehydrate at 55ºC for 3-4 hours or until crisp.
Cool to room temperature.
Store in an airtight container.

Pumpkin pie

1 kg pumpkin, unpeeled
30 g olive oil
134 g castor sugar
3 g salt
2 g ground ginger
2 g ground cinnamon
1/2 g ground nutmeg
1/2 g ground allspice
4 g vanilla paste
7 g all-purpose flour
260 g evaporated milk
20 g water
10 g lemon juice
2 eggs

Slice pumpkin into 2cm thick wedges.
Brush with olive oil and roast at 200ºC for 40 mins or until pumpkin is cooked through and caramelised.
Remove from oven and set aside to cool to room temperature.
When cool to the touch, scrape away pumpkin flesh from skins and set aside in a bowl.
Discard skins.
Place 320 g of pumpkin flesh in a food processor with sugar, salt, spices, vanilla paste and flour.
Blend until smooth.
Whisk together evaporated milk, water, lemon juice and eggs in a bowl.
Add liquids to pumpkin mixture and blend to combine thoroughly.
Transfer to a jug and half fill 5 small 300 ml jars.
Place jars into a roasting tray and fill with boiling water.
Bake at 160ºC for 35 mins or until pumpkin is just set in the middle when shaken.
Transfer jars to a rack to cool slightly.
Serve with homemade yoghurt and a sprinkling of dried lemon zest.

Reflections at 25

2011-07-25T15:20:00.000+10:00

If my subconscious could speak, it would probably say this:

Happy birthday! Congratulations! You are now a quarter of a century old. Congratulations for making it through another year. Congratulations on your three high distinctions and 6.75 GPA. Congratulations for not failing. Congratulations for not hurting anyone this year. Congratulations for not living in a twenty-seven storey apartment. Don't you wish you did though sometimes? Don't you miss living alone? Being left alone? Don't you miss that great big window over the city - night lights illuminating everything in sight but that beneath? Feet dangling in the open air, just one step, just one push. Don't you wish you could relive that moment and do things differently? Take a leap of faith instead of picking up that phone. Don't you wish you could repeat all those moments of mistake? No. Don't go. Stay. I love you. What is it like to carry the world on your shoulders? What is it like on every birthday, every Christmas, every New Years Eve to feel a gaping expanse in your heart where her hand should be, connecting you to all of the things that are right in the world? What is it like to never feel content or forgiven, to ache from the emptiness that you created, to wish to rewind time to right the impossible? Today will be filled with meaningless congratulations. Only twenty-five years passed, and still a lifetime remaining.

A bastardised pumpkin recipe

2011-07-23T23:25:00.000+10:00

My first was an accident, a mishap, the result of unintentional volunteer seed spreading through unprotected contact. A certain somebody had thoughtfully deposited half of a mouldy supermarket pumpkin into the compost heap which, much to my annoyance, somehow lodged itself onto the prongs of my garden fork every time I turned the heap. After much cursing, It eventually disintegrated and I spread the compost around the base of my chilli plants as mulch. At this very moment, I had become the unwitting propagator of pumpkins.

The Chinese lady next door told me that pumpkins are ready to harvest once the white splotches turn a yellow, creamy colour. My dad the self-proclaimed 'expert' confirmed this but failed to mention that pumpkins require a few weeks to cure before eating. So excited about picking pumpkins was I, that I cracked one open immediately and made a big batch of soup that tasted like total ASS.

I thought I'd done something terribly wrong. Maybe pumpkins and chillies are not fitting companion plants and are instead, bitter instigators. Maybe pumpkins DETEST being watered with seaweed emulsion. I was full of self-doubt and loathing and distasteful pumpkin. I wept silently while the pile of pumpkins slowly grew.

A friend of mine offered me a copy of Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi after inadvertently ordering one too many online. When I chanced upon the recipe for 'Crusted pumpkin wedges with soured cream', the pumpkins too received a second chance, lest I be left with a mouldy collection as a permanent reminder of inadvertent mistakes.

Parmesan-crusted pumpkin wedges with yoghurt
a recipe adapted and completely bastardised from Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi

750 g pumpkin (skin on)
40 g Parmesan, finely grated
30 g white breadcrumbs
25 g unsalted butter, melted
26 g black Tuscan kale leaves, roughly chopped
7 g garlic, finely grated
3 g thyme leaves
1 1/2 g black pepper, coarsely ground
2 g salt
1 g ground cumin
1 g ground nutmeg
50 g olive oil

Cut the pumpkin into wedges 2cm thick.
Toss with olive oil to coat and arrange onto a tray lined with baking paper.
Bake for 20 minutes at 180ºC.
Toss all of the remaining ingredients together and press firmly onto the sliced pumpkin.
Return to oven for an additional 30 minutes until the pumpkin is cooked through and crust is golden.
Serve with a zesty natural or European style yoghurt.

Homemade yoghurt

2011-07-16T15:57:00.000+10:00

Clear blue skies and cool winter nights mean creamy potatoes baked in their jackets, slathered with butter and chives; lots of hugs from sexy stiletto-wearing friends to conserve body heat; and yoghurt-making over the gas heater when nippy weather leaves uncovered toes at risk of frostbite.

The results of culturing yoghurt at home can seem wildly unpredictable at times. Like all other aspects of cooking, yoghurt-making is very much a science. Every ingredient has a purpose and every action has a reaction. What is it they say? That the beating of a butterfly's wings can cause a hurricane ten thousand miles away.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm a little sentimental when it comes to dairy. I was once utterly infatuated with an adoring Spanish woman whose mother raised goats and produced queso de cabra in Cantabria, along the northern coast of Spain. Whenever she went to visit her mama, she'd return to Madrid nursing three small semi-hard goat's cheeses.

Somehow each of these cheeses would last for weeks despite turning up in creamy steak dressings and tomato salads. Occasionally we'd cut tiny slivers and savor the pungent aroma without distraction. The cheese was produced with lots of love and a precision that only comes with years of experience. There's something about artisan produce that commands absolute respect. The skills and patience required are admirable and often the passion needed to compete with mass production is unwavering.

I often wish that I had the know-how to produce cheeses. I've gotten as far as making curds for a sweet tart and ricotta for hotcakes but I fear that without any training, the only cheese I'd be successful in producing would be a new variety of a toxic, inedible sort used for biological warfare. Luckily I've found that making yoghurt at home is quite simple and satisfying results are always to be had.

Homemade yoghurt

1000 g full-cream milk
30 g dehydrated milk powder
75 g yoghurt starter (a good quality natural yoghurt containing live cultures - I like to use Meredith Dairy sheep's milk yoghurt)

Place milk in a small saucepan, add dehydrated milk powder and bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes to kill any bacteria present and denature as many proteins as possible (this results in a more thick and luscious yoghurt later).

Remove from heat and cool to 40ºC.

Add the yoghurt starter and stir well.

Pour the mixture into sterilised jars and seal.

Maintain temperature between 35 - 40ºC for about 6 - 8 hours or until yoghurt has set.

Remove from heat, cool to room temperature and refrigerate overnight before eating.

More starter can be added if you prefer a rather tangy yoghurt and the amount of dehydrated milk powder can be adjusted for a thicker or thinner consistency. Resulting whey can be stirred back into the yoghurt or poured off and reserved for making bread.

Caramelised white chocolate bubble cake

2011-07-12T03:39:00.000+10:00

It's been three weeks and barely a dent has been made in my ever growing list of things I'd like to do. The library books I borrowed in February are still collecting dust. I go to bed every night meaning to do more, and every morning I wake with dreams of escape.

If you want something done sometimes you have to do it yourself, but what if this is too much? Can I alone affect even one person? My doubts keep getting in the way, along with my tendency to put off the most simple of things like asking a gorgeous woman to a dinner at her suggestion. Fuck.

These last few weeks have been whiled away digging trenches in the garden, planting heirloom King Edward spuds, nibbling on freshly picked roquette salad leaves and providing my young plants with a heavy mulching of shredded pea straw to protect them against the oncoming frost. One more day to endure before I find out how my efforts fared.

I wish I could bury myself amongst the potatoes and somehow fast forward time to tomorrow. Will I pass? Will I fail? Will I be throwing up with excitement or trying to kick myself in the head? This waiting game is excruciating, even with the consolation of a soft and buttery homemade white chocolate cake worthy of cardiac arrest.

White chocolate sponge cake

185 g white chocolate buttons (Callebaut)
6 g unsalted butter
6 egg yolks
10 g all-purpose flour
4 egg whites
5 g vanilla paste
1 g cream of tartar
90 g castor sugar

Melt chocolate and butter over a bain marie.

Remove from heat and stir until smooth. Allow to cool slightly.

Whisk together egg yolks, flour and 20 g sugar.

Add melted chocolate to yolks and whisk to combine.

Whisk egg whites, vanilla and cream of tartar in a large bowl until medium peaks form.

Sprinkle in a little sugar at a time, whisking until all remaining sugar has been used; firm, glossy peaks have formed and sugar granules can no longer be felt in the meringue.

Add 1/3 of the meringue to the yolks and whisk to combine.

Add remaining meringue and fold together gently with a whisk.

Pour onto a heavy baking sheet lined with baking paper.

Bake at 140ºC for 12 minutes, rotating halfway.

Cool completely on the baking tray.

Place a sheet of baking paper over the top and flip upside down.

Gently prise off the first sheet of paper and set aside.

Dehydrated yoghurt

200 g natural yoghurt

Spread yoghurt onto the shiny side of a silpat/non-stick baking mat.

Dehydrate in oven with the door slightly ajar at 50ºC for 5 hours or until crisp.

Cool to room temperature.

Break into shards and store in an airtight container.

Malted milk honeycomb

70 g liquid glucose
185 g castor sugar
60 g water
12 g dehydrated milk powder
15 g malted milk powder
4 g baking soda

Heat glucose, sugar and water in a small pot to 160ºC.

Whisk together dehydrated milk, malted milk powder and baking soda in a small bowl.

Add powder to caramel and whisk until just combined.

Pour malted caramel into a large bowl lined with baking paper. (Caramel will bubble up and expand)

Set aside at room temperature for half an hour to set.

Remove paper and break apart into small chunks.

Store in an airtight container.

Custard buttercream base

300 g milk
4 g vanilla paste
5 egg yolks
240 g castor sugar
450 g unsalted butter, soft

Scald milk, vanilla and half of the sugar in a small pot.

Set aside for half an hour to infuse.

Cream egg yolks and remaining sugar.

Pour milk into the eggs a little at a time and whisk to combine.

Return to the pot and bring to a simmer to thicken, stirring continuously. (High amount of sugar will prevent egg from scrambling)

Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.

Whisk butter in an electric mixer to aerate.

Slowly add cooled custard and continue whisking until light and creamy.

Lemon buttercream

700 g custard buttercream
10 g lemon zest, finely grated (approx. 3-4 large lemons)

Add lemon zest to buttercream and whisk until fully incorporated.

Caramelised white chocolate buttercream

250 g custard buttercream
50 g white chocolate buttons
20 g milk

Spread chocolate onto a silpat mat and bake at 150ºC for 12 minutes, mixing every 3 minutes.

Heat milk with 35 g of caramelised white chocolate and bring to a simmer. (Eat the rest of the caramelised chocolate.. yummy)

Allow to cool to below 55ºC.

Add caramelised chocolate milk to buttercream and whisk until light and creamy.

To assemble:

Cover white chocolate sponge with lemon buttercream.

Crush a little malted milk honeycomb with a mortar and pestle and sprinkle over the buttercream.

Roll, using the baking paper underneath to support the sponge.

Refrigerate until firm.

Cover the sponge exterior with caramelised white chocolate buttercream.

Refrigerate until firm.

Tempered white chocolate bubbles

400 g white chocolate buttons

Melt chocolate over a bain marie, stirring with a spatula.

Bring to 45ºC.

Cool to 27ºC by spreading chocolate on the bench in a thin layer to cool quickly before scraping back into the bowl.

Return to bain marie for a few seconds until it reaches 31.5ºC.

Spread tempered chocolate over a sheet of intact bubble wrap that is large enough to cover the entire sponge.

To finish:

Place sponge into the middle of the bubble wrap sheet and bring the sides up.

Smooth down the bubble wrap, making sure all parts come into contact with the buttercream exterior.

Place on a tray and refrigerate until firm.

Remove bubble wrap carefully and turn upside-down for best presentation.

Serve at room temperature with shards of dehydrated yoghurt.

Dinner @ Billy Kwong

2011-06-15T19:34:00.000+10:00

After catching a glimpse of Kylie Kwong at Greenhouse by Joost on the preview of the Masterchef episode to be aired tonight, I thought it was about time I posted some of the pictures from my last dinner* at her two hatted restaurant Billy Kwong.

For all you Kylie Kwong fans out there, Organic Expo & Green Show has a signed copy of Kylie's latest book 'It Tastes Better' up for grabs. Entries close on June 30th so click, click, click away and get those entries in! Luckily for you, I already have a copy or I'd be keeping this one all to myself! :)

My friends and I are lucky enough to get a table at 6:30pm on a Wednesday night without the infamous wait. Complimentary homemade Chinese pickles are sent out while we peruse the menu. The banquet is recommended and we advise the waitress what our must-have dishes are so they can be incorporated into the super special menu prepared by Head Chef, Mat Lindsay.

Freshly shucked oysters steamed with ginger and shallots are delicately scented with sesame and coriander. Gently steamed, the oysters are provided with a little more substance and texture.

Sashimi of ocean trout and hiramasa kingfish are coupled with thin slivers of raw cucumber, pickled celery, radish sprouts and a redolent dashi-based dressing. The dish has changed over the years but this version is no doubt my absolute favourite. The flavours meld and diverge with every mouthful. It's fresh, fragrant, peppery, crisp and just a tad acidic to counter the luxuriously fatty ocean trout flesh.

Mat's garlic chive dumplings are a playful rendition of prawn har gow. The steamed dumplings are filled with nothing but Australian-caught prawns and they're incredibly sweet. The translucent wrappers are a light green from chlorophyll captured by steeping garlic chives.

Rice noodles filled with biodynamic beef brisket and black bean sauce is one of my favourite dishes. Beef brisket is braised for hours and caramelised with shiitake mushrooms, before filling sheets of rice noodles. Each rice noodle roll is shallow-fried in the wok to give it the beautifully crisp exterior to contrast with the soft and robust filling. Black beans give the sauce a good kick in the pants while the celery sprouts scattered over the top pair inextricably well with the beef and meaty mushrooms.

Steamed pancakes with Saskia Beer's black Berkshire pig isn't available today and I curse silently but Mat supplies us with something just as good, if not better - pancakes with roast duck, cucumber, shallot and spicy sesame seeds; and a salad of duck, fresh figs and celery.

Fried biodynamic eggs with tamari and homemade XO sauce was the standout dish during my last visit and they're just as I remembered. Warm and runny yolks nestled among crisp and feathery whites, all doused with a generous helping of sweet and meaty XO, sliced chillies, tamari and shallots. I don't usually eat much chilli but I'll always concede for these irresistible fried eggs.

Steamed bass groper with ginger and shallots, silken tofu with roasted tomatoes and dashi, steamed choy sum with organic tamari, and crispy Sichuan-peppered duck with blood plum sauce are followed by a platter of organic pineapple, passionfruit and a small saucer of dark Fairtrade chocolate.

I'm absolutely stuffed. I'm amazed that we're still able to stand up and my jeans aren't bursting at the seams.

Other recommendations: pork sung choi bao, white-cooked chicken, stir-fried South Australian vongole, steamed whole snapper, dry-fried green beans with miso and sesame.

* These comments are in no way biased ..I may have spent two years working for Kylie Kwong who also happens to be the most awesome boss in the whole world but that has absolutely no influence on my opinion of the food in any way whatsoever.

Billy Kwong
Shop 3, 355 Crown Street
Surry Hills, NSW

Australia 2010
ph: (02) 9332 3300

Winter in suburbia

2011-06-11T17:26:00.000+10:00

There are only four days remaining before my very first semester at uni is officially over. These last few months seem to have surged by at an unimaginable speed. My old life ended just yesterday but already it's almost incomprehensible to envision returning to the past.

For a short while I considered picking up work during the semester break or volunteering at a permaculture institute somewhere far away (Patagonia perhaps?) but heck.. I like being able to sleep in on weekdays and maybe I might actually be able to fix my bike and get through the pile of books that I've amassed on food security, vermiculture, manure and biodynamic principles.

An edible garden is such a beautiful thing. What was once an unassuming corner of the front yard has become an invaluable place to wander through when work becomes overwhelming, when I need to refocus, take my mind off all of the many things require urgent attention or are ridiculously stressful ..like cramming 32 chapters of biology for my final exam on Tuesday morning, or trying to forget that I almost died when an old bat tried to run me over at a pedestrian crossing in full daylight.

There is an immense satisfaction in knowing that my hands have created something that will provide endless pleasure from the ingredients that can be plucked at a whim only a few steps from the front door. Even in the dead of winter there are herbs flowing from every crevice, rhubarb sending out crimson red stalks, chillies so heavily laden that their lanky limbs are almost pressed to the ground, and a myriad of insects that are just waiting to be poked and prodded with mild bemusement.

I invited some new additions into the garden this month - sour morello cherry, gooseberry, marionberry and blueberry. They're not giving away any clues as to how they're doing (I suppose they've all hit their dormant state). Around them, garlic cloves are shooting, elderflower buds are bursting, basil flowers are setting seed, purple cabbages are growing at a snail's pace, giant yukomo snow peas are attempting to topple their bamboo trellis and a single spud is hopefully making its way to my letterbox all the way from Melbourne.

Milkwood Permaculture will be running a mushroom growing workshop later this month at Alexandria Park Community Centre which I'm looking forward to. I can't wait actually. I love mushrooms grilled with garlic butter and herbs or combined with snails and puff pastry in an escargot en croute. Learning how to grow exotic mushrooms at home under the bed will be another awesome project to attempt once this final exam is over and done with.

Hmm who knows.. Maybe all this crap I'm learning about dikaryotic mycelium and pilobolus sporangia will actually come in handy...

We've Got Waste

2011-05-29T22:28:00.000+10:00

One of my picture/poster ideas generated for the

Sustainable Campus Collective, UWS Hawkesbury

Waste is probably not something that is high on everyone's agenda. However, what happens to food waste or any biodegradable waste for that matter, is incredibly important.

Tiny little microorganisms that live in healthy soil are imperative in the decomposition process of organic matter and nutrient cycling. To put it simply, without these organisms soil virtually becomes a dead substance.

Every time crops are harvested, nutrients are removed from the soil. Without returning organic matter back to the soil, nutrient levels become depleted. When inorganic synthetic fertilisers are used, soil slowly becomes more acidic and more saline which is not conducive for flourishing microbes. When certain herbicides (such as those containing glyphosate) are used, soil life is wiped out altogether and the vicious cycle of synthetic fertiliser dependency ensues...

In order to create a sustainable 'closed loop' system, all we need to do is return biodegradable waste to the earth instead of burying it under tonnes of shit in landfill where it decomposes anaerobically, creating methane (which is over 20 times more toxic than CO2) and leachate (to join our lovely, pristine waterways). Whoever invented the flushing toilet will no doubt be remembered as the biggest dick in history.

Not only does returning organic matter to soil improve conditions for all-important nutrient cycling microorganisms, but it also reduces the need for chemical fertilisers and even some herbicides. In addition, increasing the organic matter content of soil improves its structure and water-holding capacity which means that less water is needed to maintain growth and plants fare much better in our quintessentially hot, dry Australian summers.

Our current systems seem so.. illogical.

Yes, change will require some effort but why ignore science and stick with methods that we are well aware are not only damaging but also impossible to continue indefinitely? Sustainable practices that incorporate a holistic view of environmental preservation and longevity should be the norm and not the exception as they are today.

I joined a student group called 'Sustainable Campus Collective' at the start of this semester and it's so damn frustrating. We can see what changes need to be made but the bureaucratic bullshit we have to deal with to get things done seems ridiculous and at times thoroughly disheartening. I sure wish things were less complex sometimes.

Dinner @ Sean's Panaroma

2011-05-29T21:33:00.000+10:00

Sean Moran, head chef and owner of Sean's Panaroma is part of a grassroots food movement that is quickly gaining pace. An increasing number of Aussie chefs have pledged their support for non-GM food as a result of environmental destruction and liability issues that companies like Bayer and Monsanto have left in their wake.

The man is a rarity. Unlike most chefs, Sean and his partner designed the restaurant with a closed loop system in mind. For fifteen years now, kitchen scraps have been composted and returned to their property to grow fruit and veg for the restaurant. Very cool, very cool indeed.

My most recent visit was for a work function, a BK tradition of sorts. Fortunately our visit to Sean's Panaroma was for both business and pleasure. Oh there were definitely unbridled sounds of pleasure. Between you and I, Sean's duck liver parfait is one of the most rich and irresistible morsels that may cross your palate in your life.

Don't go past the oysters either. Seafood generally seems to be more popular during the summer months however oysters are best enjoyed in winter as they spawn during warmer weather which causes them to become excessively creamy and lose their sharp, almost mineral taste.

Simple Mediterranean flavours and fresh, quality produce are what make the food at Sean's worth returning to time and time again. When an establishment has resident bakers and chefs who take the time to make their own bread and butter from scratch, you know that whatever you choose will have been nurtured and respected every step of the way.

Sean's Panaroma

270 Campbell Pde

Bondi Beach

NSW, 2026

ph: (02) 9365 4924

visit the website

Baked oatmeal, buttery pumpkin & maple-soaked raisins

2011-05-02T16:41:00.000+10:00

During my last stint as a chef, I spent a good many months stressing out and wondering when I'd have 'the moment of realisation'. When I looked around me I was constantly surrounded by people who knew exactly what they wanted to do and where they wanted to be in 10 years time. I had no fricking clue, I still don't know what I want for the future.

I do have one dream though. I want to do something to change the world (as I'm sure many other idealistic kids my age want to do) but let's be honest, I don't know how exactly so I don't think that we can categorise that dream as being feasible just yet. I suppose that's why it's called a dream. Another thing to pile up on the back burner to check on every now and then.

This recipe adapted from Erica Lea isn't going to change the world; but this spirited medley of baked oatmeal, buttery homegrown pumpkin, pecans and the occasional burst of maple-soaked raisins sure does make it a nicer place to be in.

Baked Oatmeal, Buttery Pumpkin & Maple-soaked Raisins

285 g pumpkin, (about 2 ribs of medium size) peeled
60 g unsalted butter, diced
80 g maple syrup
50 g golden raisins
200 g rolled oats
60 g pecans
6 g flaked sea salt
250 g milk
6 g vanilla bean paste
1 x 58 g egg

Preheat oven to 180ºC.
Slice pumpkin into 1cm thick pieces.
Place it into a 8 x 8" tin with 40 g butter and bake for 20 minutes.
While the pumpkin is cooking, gently heat raisins in a small pot with maple syrup and remaining butter until plump.
In a large bowl toss together the rolled oats, pecans and salt.
Whisk together the milk, vanilla and egg.
Pour maple-soaked raisins and milk into the bowl containing the oats and give everything a good stir.
When the pumpkin's 20 minute head start is up, spoon the mixture on top and bake for 30 minutes.
Best eaten straight from the oven with a big spoonful of sheep's milk yoghurt and extra maple syrup drizzled over.

Living with bees

2011-04-26T14:36:00.000+10:00

It's strange to think that winter is almost here. I'm secretly still hoping for summer to wake me up one morning and take me by surprise. Locked away in a sweaty restaurant kitchen, I think I somehow let the entire season pass by without realising and already we're nearing the end of another chilly Sydney autumn. Rust-coloured leaves are collecting underfoot and bees are getting ready to hunker down in their hives until spring.

I can't wait for spring. This year could be the one to welcome bees into the backyard! I finally made it to the natural beekeeping course run by Milkwood Permaculture in Alexandria, Sydney over a weekend with Tim Malfroy. Backyard beekeeping looks like a challenge but one that I think I'm ready for!

For Primary Production I had to choose an Australian agricultural industry and write a report about current issues and how it relates to the larger industry on a global scale. Having read a few articles about Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) leading to mysterious disappearances and endemic rate of bee deaths worldwide, my topic of choice was an almost instantaneous decision.

Imagine a world without bees. 80 percent of all flowering plants rely on insect pollination of which bees play an integral role. One book that I read (I think it may have been written by Eva Crane) identified 177 different crops of which rely on insect pollination for harvest, and another 60 or so that rely on insect pollination to produce seed and reproduce.

It's really scary to think that small and sometimes innocuous actions by us can have vast and far-reaching consequences, some of which we're probably not even aware of yet. Spraying plants with chemicals is a huge no-no that has somehow managed to become normalised over the last 50 years or so.

It's just amazing to think that people used to cover candy with vibrant lead paint. They had no idea of the health consequences because science at the time was not developed enough to detect every ill effect. We scorn the idiocy of mankind in its primitive state and yet we do the very same thing today. We douse our food, the soil and insects that we need for plants to continue thriving with all sorts of toxic concoctions without completely understanding what the hell we're doing to ourselves.

Imidacloprid is just one example of the latest variety of insecticide made available in Australia. The insecticide has been banned in four European countries since 2005 but we've seem to become so blase about chemical usage that we just don't give a shit. The systemic pesticide leaches into the soil where it stays for up to 3 years after a single spray application. It enters plants through the roots and travels to every part making leaves, stems, petals, seeds, pollen and nectar toxic. It kills bees on contact and it has been said that bees have died after drinking rainwater droplets on the leaf of an affected plant.

Neonicotinoids like imidacloprid cause nervous system disorders in people, disorientation or death in bees, paralysis in birds (perhaps this explains the mysterious phenomenon of birds falling from the sky in huge numbers), liver dysfunction in dogs and a hoard of other complications. Strange then that we're spraying the stuff on everything from stone fruit to vegetables, ornamental plants and turf.

We're quite lucky in the fact that CCD has not affected Australia with the same level of destruction as seen in Europe and the United States. This could possibly be due to the lack of varroa mite (a deadly blood-sucking insect that can transfer disease and weaken bees) in Australia so far but most beekeepers fear that it is only a matter of time before it catches up with us.

If we want to give our bees the best chance at survival now and far into the future, we need to think about the effects that our everyday actions have on the nation's primary pollinators. There are so many different pest control methods that don't require synthetic chemicals at all like beer snail-catchers, soap mite sprays and simple water+molasses concoctions that wipe out caterpillars by altering their osmosis gradient through sugar and water.

When spring comes around I'll be introducing a hive of bees into my backyard (fingers crossed). They'll help pollinate your fruit, flowers, vegetables and hopefully make lots of delicious, natural honey that I can share with you, my friends; so I ask that you help me to keep them healthy and safe. The next time you're outside in the garden and you pick up that spray.. Please think about the bees.

see more photos of natural beekeeping here..

Bloggers & beef assiettes

2011-04-20T17:21:00.000+10:00

It never ceases to amaze me how lucky we are in Australia. Despite the continent being one of the driest in the world, facing a constant uphill battle with wildly unpredictable weather; we still somehow manage to produce beef that is so damn good that there's enormous demand for it in over 100 countries worldwide.

We're the second largest exporter of beef after Brazil where cattle feed on GM soybeans and are linked to a myriad of issues stemming from deforestation of the Amazon and deformities caused by heavy pesticide use. In contrast, our industry is so heavily regulated that every single animal bred for the dinner table can be traced back to its grassroots, which for us means integrity and quality of produce. Strict quarantine measures also ensure that Aussie beef is free from scary derivatives of spongiform encephalopathies like 'mad cow' disease.

Before this beef dego I had absolutely no idea what it is that Meat & Livestock Australia does aside from publishing 'Chef's Special' and facilitating intercollegial meat judging with uni kids. As I've since discovered, they actually fund a lot of research and development projects geared towards improving grazing methods, animal welfare and sustainability. During dinner I also learned that grain-fed cattle eat loads of legume 'grains' like field peas and fava beans which all assist in nitrogen fixation, improving the soil without chemical fertilisers. A lot of the C4 grasses with increased efficiency for carbon sequestration like maize and sorghum which I mentioned in my last post, funnily enough, also come under 'grains' so although I still prefer grass-fed beef in terms of energy input and overall sustainability, I don't feel quite as guilty about eating Australian grain-fed beef anymore.

Unless you've been living under a metaphorical rock, you will know that red meat is good for the body's iron levels. Haem iron to be exact - the little cells that improve oxygen transportation through the blood. It really makes me wonder about the level of improvement when I'm tramping through dense undergrowth in the Hawkesbury after consuming nine courses of beef and there are six humongous killer leeches swinging from my ankles. We'll not mention the part about me screaming like a sissy, but anyway.. Aussie beef is not only healthy but it is an incredibly versatile ingredient too! The MLA degustation really highlighted different cooking methods and a wide array of matching flavour combinations that I never would have thought of.

To get the most tender result when using different cuts of beef, it's important to remember how collagen and elastin (the silvery sinew) react with heat. With long and slow braising, collagen breaks down into delicious gelatinous stuff (my favourite bits!) whereas any heat makes sinew become tough so it should be removed first.

Recipes can be found at corresponding blogs and more. Hopefully you'll be inspired to try creating some of these mouthwatering dishes at home!

First up from Sarah of Taste was a rich and comforting 'Beef and ale pie'. Crisp and buttery puff pastry concealed slow-braised beef shin, celery and caramelised carrot, melded for hours with the rich and malty, full-bodied virtues of Guinness.. I could go another one right now..

Anna's (Morsels and Musings) 'Achiote and tequila cured beef knuckle with pozole rojo' was cured for 24 hours in sugar and tequila then poached for 30 minutes at 100ºC. It reminded me of the corned beef sandwiches of my childhood but in this case with pointedly Mexican flair. Avocado, corn, tomato and baby coriander were laden over the cured beef, dotted with pozole and a wistful hint of smokiness.

'Seared sirloin, buttered roots, horseradish and wakame' by Aficionado (that's me!). The sirloin was cooked sous-vide (vacuum sealed and poached in a water bath), seared and served alongside baby beets poached in butter and dashi, pickled radish and celery, enoki mushrooms, daikon jelly, wakame seaweed, horseradish and fried lotus. Simple, clean, seasonal flavours, a flirtatious integration of textures and totally fantastic (being completely objective of course).

Warren's contribution of 'Thai beef salad with mint, peanuts and chilli dressing' made use of the flat meats coupled with cucumber 'spaghetti', tomato, chilli, peanut caramel (made with roasted peanuts and palm sugar) and tiny cubes of intense lemongrass jelly. A very robust, deconstructed adaptation of the traditional.

Ellie of Almost Bourdain created a hawker dish of 'Beef satay with spicy peanut sauce, rice cake and herb salad', unlike any satay I've ever had. Ridiculously tender marinated rump was served with compressed rice rolled in toasted coconut alongside a surprisingly irresistible salad of betel leaf and was a real eye-opener to the world of Asian cuisine that I've still yet to experience. I have no idea what betel leaf is but I've since decided that I'm going to find a way to grow it so I can have it every single day of the week.

From Fouad came 'Scotch fillet with moghrabiyeh', seared first then cooked sous-vide. Moghrabiyeh I learned, is a type of Lebanese couscous which was paired with chickpeas, carrot puree, pickled carrot, saffron-poached onion, beurre blanc, cumin, cardamom and caraway. Rich, smooth and creamy countered with just a hint of acidity for balance.

Trina the Gourmet Forager had a hand in creating this 'Pulled beef and pine mushroom cannelloni'. The chuck was wet-roasted for three to four hours with red wine, beef stock and dried mushrooms for intensity of flavour before being pulled apart and rolled in delicate sheets of pasta. Speck was added to the reduction to impart an element of smokiness and pine mushrooms roasted with garlic butter and oregano. Reminiscing about this dish, I can almost imagine the perfect setting by the edge of a woodland forest - a chequered picnic blanket spread amongst a sea of wildflowers, sipping on a lusty red and licking mushroom cream from my fingers under falling light..

Ex-chef and experienced foodie Rebecca of Inside Cuisine incorporated 'Braised beef in coffee with brandied cumquats and onion milk'. The blade was cooked for eighteen hours at 63ºC and wet-roasted to create a coffee 'crust', wrapped in a croustillant of brik pastry and shoestring potatoes for a juxtaposing textural crunch, and dished up with tantalisingly sweet and nutmeg-y onion soubise.

The Internet Chef - Bridget's 'Slow braised brisket with cauliflower cream and Pedro Ximenez muscatels' drew immediate parallels with a dish of braised beef cheek with unbelievably smooth and creamy cauliflower puree that I tried at Movida last year. Braised, pressed and glazed, it wasn't quite as soft and gelatinous as Frank Camorra's, but undulating bursts of sweetness and acidity from plump PX-soaked raisins countered with a crunchy dissection of pickled cauliflower elevated Bridget's dish to another level. If I wasn't in full-view I'd have no qualms about licking my plate squeaky clean.

This was the most disappointing dish of the night: Soren's 'Citrus terrine with yoghurt sorbet and poached rhubarb'. Yes it was tasty, refreshing, super delicious, palate-cleansing, tasty, did I mention it was damn tasty? But I was left with a gaping question.

Where's the bloody beef?

Many thanks to Meat & Livestock Australia, Hausmann Communications, Alison McIntosh, Anthony Puharich, Warren Turnbull and the awesome team at Assiette for making this event happen! :)

see more photos of the night here..

Grilling the producer

2011-04-09T09:34:00.000+10:00

A few weeks ago, I was invited (along with 7 other food bloggers) to participate in designing a dish to showcase Australian beef in a degustation dinner at Warren Turnbull's restaurant Assiette. I'll admit to feeling apprehensive at first. I was excited, a little shocked, and I wasn't sure what to expect or whether I'd be able to juggle yet another commitment. In the end I agreed of course. Who in their right mind would turn down an opportunity to coordinate a dish with one of Sydney's top chefs?

The concept of the dinner sponsored by Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA), is from 'paddock to plate' and the recipe that I spent last weekend tinkering with was a very simple, unadulterated one. Seared sirloin with butter-poached veg, pickled celery, horseradish and dashi.

I'm no master chef so it'll be interesting to see how Warren transforms my idea into something restaurant-worthy. If I could fish my hat out of the washing machine, I'd put it on and take it off to him. I have no idea how he designs such visually aesthetic dishes at his restaurant. As a chef, I find working with the components and constraints of someone else's recipe much easier. When let loose with no limitations how does one decide which direction to go in? I only spent a week in the library, poring over ancient cookery books and pulling my hair out, searching for some form of inspiration, yet this is something that Warren does on a regular, seasonal basis!

This upcoming event is both exciting and nerve-wracking. The guestlist includes Alison McIntosh, championed cattle producer; Anthony Puharich of Vic's Meat (leading national supplier) and Victor Churchill (possibly the best butcher shop in the entire Southern Hemisphere); and of course, a handful of wonderful people from MLA and Hausmann.

Having worked for Kylie Kwong who is a firm advocate of organic and biodynamic produce, I'm familiar with the ways in which chefs and suppliers approach the issue of food sustainability. Sydney Fish Market, for example, will not facilitate the sale of unsustainable seafood such as bluefin tuna, which has been overfished to such an extent that it is now classified as an endangered species.

Warren says: "Chefs are, and have always been, very resourceful in using every single last bit of produce they bring to the kitchen," which in isolation may not seem like much, but is in fact incredibly important. I visited a dairy farm this morning and learned that to feed the 2,000 resident Jersey cows, it takes over 20,000 acres of land. Imagine if everyone in Australia only ate steaks. Now imagine the waste it would create. Farmers would have to keep up with demand by increasing productivity through more intensive farming practices.

There are a few debates centred around beef - free-range versus non-grazing, grass-fed versus grain, etc. Interestingly, 3% of plants worldwide exhibit C4 photosynthesis which in layman's terms, means that they transpire less water and are more effective than other plants in carbon sequestration. Roughly half are grasses (including maize, millet, and sorghum) and contribute to 20-25% of primary production. So in a sense, by choosing locally produced grass-fed beef (over grain-fed), we're encouraging farmers to maintain agricultural carbon sinks in Australia.

I don't know much about the beef industry so I shot Alison a few questions to find out more:

1. What is your view of food sustainability in Australia - Is sustainable agriculture something that we should be concerned with?

Yes, we definitely need to be concerned with food sustainability and food security, which is, of course, directly related to sustainable agriculture. As an Australian farming family, our livelihood and our future depends on the sustainability of our farm. For us, sustainable agriculture means that we are able to produce good quality wholesome food for which we are paid a fair price, which in turn enables us to invest in improving the health of the environment on and around our farm. With sustainable agriculture, we will be able to have food sustainability and provide food security for Australians, and overseas markets. The Australian beef industry exports around two thirds of all beef produced - our markets want a safe, healthy product that has been produced in a healthy environment. With issues of climate change we need to be continually looking for more efficient systems of farming.

2. Have your views influenced the way your business operates?

Yes, we are certainly concerned with land sustainability and how we farm, this has evolved into the way we produce our cattle, and practices on farm have certainly changed a lot from the time my grandfather and great grandfather farmed here. For us, it's all about producing the highest quality beef that we can, naturally and sustainably, while maintaining and looking after our land. We also try to remain very much in touch with what our consumers and the market are wanting - and that is healthy food!!!

3. Are there any aspects that could be improved upon for the industry in general to become more sustainable? What are the obstacles?

Yes, our agricultural industries certainly have challenges ahead, and scientists and industry are continually working on these issues, but we certainly need to look at climate change, water efficiency and the like. Farmers are managers of Australia's land and we are producers of world food - it's a big job and a big responsibility - and we certainly need to be continually improving. There are so many variables and unknowns we face working in agriculture and these will always be our biggest challenges - climate, seasons, consumer demands, competition from other products, economy, cost of production and a whole lot more.

4. What can the average consumer do to support positive change in the industry?

The average consumer can be more aware of the food products they are buying, and can support Australian produce, by buying local produce. With this support farmers will be in a better position to continue to adopt change and meet the needs of the market. Just by understanding and educating themselves about Australian agriculture and food production I think consumers are better able to relate and understand how farmers produce food.

I think more should be taught in schools so that Australian children grow up knowing 'where their food comes from' and more about the systems that are used to produce it. Urban children particularly I think are unaware of agricultural systems and food production - they need to know that beef doesn't come from a pack.......!!

5. What is your favourite way(s) to enjoy beef?

For me, I don't think you can beat a good sirloin steak, cooked just to medium on the BBQ, with a little mustard and a good green leaf salad!

All eight blogger dishes will be revealed at dinner this coming Monday night so stay tuned to find out more. For the moment, Alison's words provide us with a concept that we could all do well by mulling over for a while. To propagate change we need to invest in what we believe, and support those who are the backbone of the movement towards a better future.

Hello Hawkesbury

2011-04-01T03:36:00.000+11:00

G'day from the outback!

I'm just kidding.. I did see a kangaroo at the train station last week but the Hawkesbury campus isn't that far.. Five weeks into the first semester and things are going swimmingly well. Despite 'Biology A' being perhaps more than just a little overwhelming (there are so many goddamn words and concepts to remember), I'm enjoying my course. I've met some very interesting and passionate people, teachers and students alike.

'Primary Production' practicals make Fridays the days that I look forward to the most. I've traded in my chef knife for a grafting knife and (fingers crossed) when Spring comes around, I'll be posting photos of finger lime buds shooting out of lemon rootstock! Aside from grafting, we've been learning about planting mediums, various methods of propagation, the importance of soil structure, etc. which we then get to apply out in the field.

Our plot (our = Roi + I) no. 11 contains bok choy, choy sum, pak choi, kohl rabi, basil, onion, chives; and also beetroot, silverbeet and celeriac (although I'm wondering if/when these will sprout). I couldn't help myself and interplanted the entire bed with snake beans, which we built a trellis for last week. When faced with a big box of open seed packets, I can't resist filling any extra space in our plot with as many bizarre plants as I can find. Roi is lovely for putting up with me! :b

Unfortunately I can't quite seem to work up the same excitement over canteen food. A caesar salad contains 38 grams of fat. Salad can make you fat. In comparison, McDonalds really is a healthy choice. Who would have thought. No wonder we're facing a bloody obesity epidemic.

Last night I discovered a packet of chickpeas that I'd launched into the darkest corner of the pantry oh.. probably 6 months ago. Anyway I thought it was about time that I cooked them so I tipped some into a bowl and left them soaking overnight. During a very boring lecture, I found a random recipe online for chickpea patties containing peanut butter and whole bunch of other terrifyingly fattening things which I omitted since I now have this grand idea of eating healthy. Or at least healthier.

No more fat salads for me thank you.

Chickpea & Pumpkin Patties

425 g cooked chickpeas, drained well
22 g parsley leaves
75 g breadcrumbs
1 egg
250 g pumpkin, diced
2 garlic cloves
120 g onion, finely diced
10 g olive oil
6 g sweet paprika
5 g ground cumin
115 g greek yoghurt
4 g lemon juice
1/2 cup plain flour for dusting

Bring pumpkin and garlic to the boil in a pan with water.
Simmer until cooked through.
Strain and cool.
Heat olive oil in a pan.
Add diced onion and a pinch of salt.
Sweat over medium heat (the onion, not you) until cooked through.
Add paprika and cumin.
Toast spices for a minute until fragrant.
Remove from heat and cool.
Throw the chickpeas, parsley, breadcrumbs, egg and garlic into a food processor and pulse until it binds together (a few whole chickpeas here and there doesn't matter).
Gently stir through pumpkin and onion.
Form into as many patties as you like, keeping them about 2.5 cm thick. (The thinner you make your patties, the more you increase the likelihood of them falling to bits before they reach the pan. You could even shape them into balls and then flatten them in the pan afterwards, although the sides won't be nearly as neat.)
Dredge both sides in flour.
Pan fry over medium heat (give them a gentle press with a spatula to maximise surface contact) with a little oil for 3 mins each side.

Stir together the yoghurt and lemon juice.

Season and serve.

Darling Mills Farm goes live!

2011-03-23T22:35:00.000+11:00

Steven Adey's Darling Mills Farm website is finally up and running! See if you can spot my photos in the gallery! :)

Hint: there are 4!

Click here to see pictures from a tour around Darling Mills Farm

Greenhouse by Joost

2011-03-19T13:54:00.000+11:00

http://greenhousebyjoost.com/

see more photos here..

A taste of Sydney

2011-03-14T21:55:00.000+11:00

see more photos of Taste here..

Defining sustainable food

2011-03-12T20:24:00.000+11:00

I met with a beautiful woman last week and while she was in the midst of getting me completely intoxicated, a friend of hers asked me what food sustainability means. I umm'd and ahh'd and blurted out a list of facts about increasing strains from a booming global population, peak oil and limited resources; without actually answering her question. Cycling to uni the next morning with a hangover, I considered her question a little differently under the glaring light of day.

I find it strange that in high school we all learn about the origin of the universe, the human body, how cells are the building blocks of life. We spend countless periods listening to teachers blab on and on about sex, food and nutrition (the three imperatives in my mind), but we don't learn about something which holds the same level of importance, and perhaps even a little more urgency - how to sustain life on Earth.

Somehow, despite my passion for the course that I'm undertaking (well.. maybe passion isn't quite the word I'm after to describe my feelings about biology) I never defined what food sustainability actually means. So what is this so-called 'food sustainability' that the media has suddenly latched onto and why is it important?

Under Key Programs, UWS describes food sustainability with the following:

By 2050 global food demand is forecast to be 70% greater than current levels. While this is a daunting challenge, it is only part of the story. At the same time that we face this global food challenge, the natural resources that underpin agricultural production; land, water, energy, and human capacity; are in decline, facing competition from other uses, and becoming more expensive.

Are you confused? I'm still confused. To understand what food sustainability is, we first need to define the concept of 'sustainable food'. My definition of which is:

'food produced in a holistic manner for the purpose of environmental health and longevity'

When I say the environment, I'm not just referring to trees and oh save the rainforests! No.

Plants, animals, people, microorganisms in the soil, entire ecosystems, water, air, earth; they're all important features of the environment.

Obviously environments can vary dramatically with spatial and temporal differences so we need to keep an open mind whilst also considering the effects of farming practices, waste management, logistics, integrated pest management, nutrient recycling, and so forth.

There are a number of key issues that we must tackle if we want a chance to sustain life on Earth for the many generations to come, and one that stands prominently as the easiest to change is the use of fertiliser.

Conventional farming relies heavily on inorganic synthetic fertilisers which are produced from finite sources, clearly a problem in itself if we want to continue with our system of conventional farming and continue using synthetic fertilisers indefinitely.

Nitrogen fertilisers build up and mineralise with the soil which causes acidification, making nutrients less accessible to plants and decreasing productivity. Nitrogen has a half-life of approximately 41 years (Wood 1995) so as you can imagine, the side-effects of using inorganic fertiliser can be rather long-lasting. Acidification doesn't stop at soil level however. Fertiliser continues to leach down through many soil horizons before making its way into aquatic systems; leading to excessively high levels of nitrogen, flourishing algae growth, depletion of oxygen and death of marine life (look up eutrophication and hypoxia for more information).

Synthetic fertilisers do not replenish organic material and other elements. Trace minerals present in fruit and vegetables have plummeted by almost 60% in the last few decades (Thomas, cited in Lawrence 2004, p. 213) and funnily enough, coinciding with the booming industrial revolution and rapid increase of fertiliser use over the past forty years. Without constantly replenishing organic material and through excessive tilling, conventional farming is accelerating the rate of soil erosion. Sooner or later, conventional farmland will be nothing but a dry dust bowl.

Conventional farming practices and the application of petrochemical fertilisers, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and insecticides to crops has had negative implications for the microflora which inhabit soil and colonise in organic matter. The diverse range of microorganisms recycle biochemical compounds and make nutrients and trace minerals available for plant intake. Much like the bacteria which live in our gut and attribute to good health, soil microflora is imperative for the regenerative health of soil.

Fortunately environmental issues have been allocated more importance as of late. Community allotments and 'green' structures are popping up all over the place; passionate permaculturalists (or permies as they like to be called) are spreading their knowledge of holistic management; and we have witnessed an influx of farmers from a younger generation, bringing with them simple ideals for the new world.

These are by no means enough to see us through the enormous challenges that lie ahead, it's merely a start.

Wood (1995, p. 137-140) said it best:

Surplus food production in developed countries together with increasing concern about the effects of agricultural practices on the environment are now prompting a critical evaluation of the long-term feasibility of high-input agriculture.. we are facing problems of unprecedented magnitude: such as how to feed an ever-increasing world population, how to protect the Earth's atmosphere. These are not solely environmental problems, they are issues which involve the fundamental relationship between human beings and the Earth.. Such strategies will involve a shift away from energy-intensive technologies to more knowledge-intensive technologies.. Biological agriculture aspires to a system in which the maintenance of soil fertility and the control of pests and diseases are achieved by the enhancement of natural processes and cycles.. This is a concept that is remarkably akin to that of sustainability.

Lawrence, F 2004, Not on the label: what really goes into the food on your plate, Penguin Books, England

Wood, M 1995, Environmental soil biology, 2nd edn, Blackie Academic & Professional, Glasgow

A Different String

2011-02-14T21:13:00.000+11:00

chilli ristra in the making

It's Valentine's Day today, there are one hundred and sixty-eight hours to the week, twenty-eight days of February in 2011 and only nine shifts before I leave the job I love.

It's about time I left. Life wasn't meant to be static. I'm trading in my full-time work for full-time study and it's a little scary stepping back out into the unknown.

I'm going to miss my awesome boss and the inspiring people who I've spent the last two and a half years with. My time here really helped me to discover what it is that I'm passionate about, and for that I'm most thankful.

I'm not leaving the food industry, merely wandering down the path less taken, admiring a newly completed scenic route.

It's going to be hard. I can see it being completely overwhelming - the house, the car, the mortgage, the weekend work, the forty plus hours of study per week, the self-motivation and dedication that I'll need to get through the next three years and come out sane.. and successful..

While some people might ask: "How long is a piece of string?", I want to analyse the damn thing before hurrying along to find out what lies at the other end.

Leaving you with words from Joel Salatin himself:


                               "May all your carrots grow long and straight,
                                may the foxes be struck blind by your chickens,
                               may your customers love cooking your food in their kitchens,
                               may the rains be gentle on your pastures,
                               may your fields grow with soil,
                                may your earthworms dance with celebration,
                                may the wind be always at your back,
                               your children rise up and call you blessed,
                                and may we all leave a better world than we found."

(Chef & soon-to-be Food Sustainability student @ UWS)

Giant Snow Pea Giveaway!

2011-01-23T11:43:00.000+11:00

beans in my backyard!

Over the last few months I've been quietly encouraging my friends and colleagues to become actively involved in the process of growing their own food. I think everyone has an appreciation for good food, but developing an appreciation for good produce really requires going out into the garden and giving it a go.

Having a kitchen garden that I can run out to whenever I want some fresh herbs to add to the pot is incredibly satisfying. I know where my food comes from and I know it's healthy. My salad leaves aren't doused with calcium chloride. They haven't been sitting in a bag for 2 days and transported from the other side of the country (or the world!) to reach my dinner table. I have black tuscan kale just begging to be picked; rambling nasturtiums providing ground cover and a bright, peppery addition to any salad. The apples I eat haven't been stored in a shed for 8 months. My bananas aren't artificially ripened with ethylene gas. I eat tomatoes when they're ripe and in season. I know what's in season.

I've worked for Matt Moran and now Kylie Kwong - top Aussie chefs who pride themselves on sourcing the best produce and letting it speak for itself, but before I tasted homegrown beets I had no idea they could taste so good! My beetroots are unbelievably sweet because they're eaten within hours of being picked and there's absolutely no comparison with store-bought produce. None whatsoever. Zilch.

Encouraging as many people as possible to try growing at least some of their own food is an important step in becoming self-sufficient and (fingers crossed) sustainable. Our grandparents grew food in Victory Gardens during the war and the great depression to offset costs so it can easily be done. I find it highly ridiculous that my generation has grown up thinking that food comes from a shop when we can all grow food for free!

I've never ever had a giveaway before, but (..and I did say this was going to be a year of good deeds didn't I?) if there's a time to get people gardening, it's now.

Send me a picture of your garden (it can be anything - a large styrofoam box filled with compost, a collection of pots, a reclaimed verge, etc.) along with a few words about why you would like to grow your own food and I will send you some fun seeds to get you started:

· Hon Tai Tsai - I have no idea how to pronounce this but it's a super tasty Asian green that you can't find in the shops and is delicious stir-fried
· Giant Red Mustard - gorgeous leafy vegetable that can be added raw to salads when small or left to grow for a more intense flavour
· Lazy Housewife Bean - a climbing bean that is easy to grow with high yield
· Giant Yukomo Snow Pea - succulent snow pea up to 14cm long with beautiful purple flowers

All of these awesome plants will produce seeds so you'll be able to grow these for the rest of your life and share them with your friends for free!

Don't forget to include your address! This offer is for Australian residents only and will continue for 3 months or until I run out of seeds, whichever comes first. Not open to NT or TAS due to quarantine.

Active Ingredient in Roundup Weedkiller Causes Cancer

2011-01-22T21:53:00.000+11:00

Revealed: the glyphosate research the GM soy lobby doesn't want you to read

Changes need to be made. Chemical applications containing glyphosate (the active ingredient in Roundup weedkiller) should be banned, period. Tell all of your friends to stop using any products containing glyphosate as they have been found to cause miscarriages, birth defects and childhood cancer.

A Fighting Chance..

2011-01-15T22:53:00.000+11:00

Food security is critical for the survival of mankind, yet we've all but acknowledged its immeasurable importance until now. Ask anyone on the street if they know what it means and they probably won't have a clue what you're banging on about. Since my last post, cities around the globe have already witnessed riots due to rising costs and food shortages.

I don't normally write about articles (Foreign Policy - The Great Food Crisis of 2011) that I come across on the web but I believe that education leads to change and that this is so absolutely fundamental to human life that we simply cannot ignore the facets of contention any longer. It's more important now than ever, that we take personal responsibility for the resources that we use and do what we can to minimise our 'footprint', so to speak.

Although the future might seem bleak and overwhelming, we can help ourselves and those in poverty to offset the rising cost of food by growing our own vegies instead of fussing needlessly over perfectly manicured (not to mention useless and superficial) front lawns.

Ps. check out Garden Girl TV for inspired gardening ideas and how-to videos.

Resolute Thoughts In Motion

2011-01-10T10:28:00.000+11:00

With Russia up in flames, and Pakistan and our very own Queensland under water; extensive losses of crops and livestock have propelled world food prices to a new high to a level not seen since the United Nations began compiling a monthly index in 1990. It is feared that rising food costs will spark new riots, mirroring those around the world that caused the death of 44 people in 2008.

With the current floods in Queensland, sugar cane growers are warning that production will be affected for the next three years. Australia is the fourth-largest exporter of wheat and the largest exporter of cooking coal. Both losses are expected to increase costs worldwide.

While people in less fortunate situations face serious hardships and food shortages ahead, the majority of us probably won't notice anything other than the inflated price of bananas, pineapples, sugar and meat. For my fellow food lovers it may not seem like much of an affliction, but in a world where peak oil looms closely up ahead, supply and demand of fresh food are wildly disproportionate and millions of people starve each day, I'm challenging myself to make 2011 a year of good deeds and I challenge you to do the same.

This year I'm going to:

· Ride my bike more often to stay fit and reduce my carbon emissions

· Grow more food to become less reliant on supermarkets that frankly do not stock the best produce, and why pay $2 for a bunch of herbs that has been sitting on the shelf for a week when a packet of seeds costs the same amount and can provide for a lifetime!

· Buy direct from the source where possible, so all profits go straight to the farmer/grower/producer and as they say: "FRESH IS BEST!"

· Recycle as much as possible - I save glass jars at work to use for my homemade preserves and at home I turn old newspapers into seedling pots that can be planted straight into the ground as is, eliminating transplant shock

· Compost as much as possible to prevent biodegradable products like paper and food from ending up in landfill where they produce methane and leachate

· Plan my meals to reduce waste and save money

· Use food waste to grow food via composting, food scraps decompose and return nutrients to the soil to fuel more growth

· Learn about permaculture and organic gardening methods without the use of harmful chemicals like Roundup

· Learn about beekeeping to prepare us for a future hive that will increase fruit and vegetable pollination within a 5km radius and hopefully provide our household and friends with delicious local honey!

Pulled Pork Pie

2010-12-27T17:40:00.000+11:00

Whenever I fall at your feet
Would you let your tears rain down on me
Whenever I fall..
Neil Finn, Crowded House

It's nights like these that I dread the most - when closely knit families gather together under one big roof to celebrate life, and friends toast one another around a tree with clinking glasses and warmed bellies. I feel lost. I feel empty. On nights like tonight I think about lost loves, white lies and aching truths. I sit by the window in the fleeting light with a mug of lukewarm tea and a lonely heart at my sleeve, and watch the world move slowly by.

Once upon a time, when I stared into those deep and endless pools of a soul's reflection flecked with green and brown, I could see myself older, still holding those same hands. There were some moments that I'll never forget: a freezing day in the underground metro, riding up the escalator with hands intertwined, soft and supple lips against my cheek; or another film night, falling asleep on the tiny couch (yet again) with reassuring arms around my waist and the warmth of breath against my neck. It's slightly depressing to open my eyes and realise that these memories are just that.. Memories.

Apparently time can heal all wounds but I'm still waiting for that day to pass. Tonight I just need to be alone. I need to immerse myself in a project that is productive but slow, something I can drag out all night to keep myself contained, a recipe that I can pour all of my love into with results that are both satisfying and reflective.

This is a completely new recipe for me. I had grand plans to do a long, slow braise with dried and podded lazy housewife beans from my garden but changed my mind at the last minute when I found a roll of puff pastry that I'd tucked deep into the freezer many months ago. Not counting the cherry pie with almond cream that I made this time last year, this was my first go at a savoury pie and I'm pretty chuffed with the results.

I collected all the bones and bits (head included) from a suckling pig that would normally find their way into the bin at work. After a quick blanch and a few hours of slow cooking, I picked the meat off the bones and used this to make the pie filling. Despite everyone in my family professing to dislike parsley, I made a parsley sauce anyway. It took me two nights of simmering and reducing, rolling and baking to make my pulled pork pie. I haven't received much feedback yet but I can confidently assume that it would be welcomed back with open arms and mouths seeing as there is nothing left aside from the polite, obligatory sliver and a scraping of sauce. Ho ho ho!

Braised Pork Bits

3.7 kg pork bones (head, bones, trotters)
3 carrots, sliced into 1" pieces
8 fresh bay leaves
5 g thyme, picked (reserve leaves for filling)
70 g parsley, picked (reserve leaves for sauce)
3 g star anise
4 cm cassia bark

Place bones in a large pot and cover with cold water.
Bring to the boil, discard water and rinse well to remove scum.
Cover with fresh water, add carrots, bay leaves, thyme stalks, parsley stalks, star anise and cassia.
Bring to the boil, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 2 hours and 20 minutes.
Remove pot from the heat and allow to cool.
Strain and reserve the stock
Pick meat from bones, discarding any cartilage, skin and fat.
Return bones to the stock and simmer for 4 hours.
Strain the stock and discard bones.
Reduce stock over low heat until only 240 g remains.

Roux

50 g unsalted butter
50 g all-purpose flour

Melt butter in a small saucepan.
Add flour and cook for 2 - 3 minutes over low heat.

Remove from heat and cool.

Store in the refrigerator.

Pulled Pork Filling

10 g vegetable oil
125 g brown onion, finely chopped
reserved thyme leaves (approx 3 g)
100 g white wine (I used an Australian Gewürztraminer)
240 g reserved pork cooking stock
50 g roux
30 twists of cracked black pepper
3 g sea salt flakes

Heat oil in a small saucepan and sweat off onion until translucent.
Add thyme and cook for another minute.
Add wine and reduce until almost dry.
Add pork cooking stock and bring to the boil.
Add roux and cook, stirring for 4 - 5 minutes until thickened.
Season with salt and pepper.
Mix through reserved pork meat.
Place on a tray and refrigerate until cold.

Assembling the Pie

375 g puff pastry
1 egg
2 Tbsp milk

Roll out puff pastry to about 4 mm thickness between two sheets of baking paper.
Place onto a tray and refrigerate until cold.
Use an 8" pie plate turned upside-down to mark the pie lid.
Place the remaining pastry over the plate and fill with the cold filling.
Whisk egg with milk to create an egg wash.
Brush egg wash onto the edges of the pastry.
Crimp the edges with the back of a knife.
Trim off excess pastry and cut out leaf decorations.
Stick leaves to pie lid with egg wash.
Brush the pie lid with egg wash.
Cut a few slits in the lid with a sharp knife to allow steam to escape while baking.
Bake at 200ºC for 10 minutes.
Reduce heat to 170ºC and bake for a further 30 minutes.
Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

Parsley sauce

300 g milk
5 g thyme
70 g brown onion, finely chopped
50 g roux
20 g reserved parsley leaves, chopped
1 g sea salt flakes
20 twists of cracked black pepper

Place milk, thyme and onion in a small saucepan.

Cover and simmer for 10 minutes to infuse.

Strain, discarding solids.

Add roux and cook for 4 minutes to thicken.
Add chopped parsley and cook for another minute.
Place in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.
Season and taste.

Goodbye Eveleigh!

2010-12-16T18:35:00.000+11:00

Hello World. It's been a busy month on the home front with scorching sun, sporadic hail and ravenous caterpillars. Changes are expected up ahead with cloudy weather clearing (hopefully) to beautiful blue skies. This Saturday will be the last chance for everyone to slurp down hot and slippery pork wontons at Eveleigh Farmers' Market from 8am - 1pm so keep your eyes peeled for the Billy Kwong stand and be sure to swing on by!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Wild Weeds & Waste

2010-12-03T18:15:00.000+11:00

A fly lands on the face of the artist behind Casula's Weedy Connection Tour but he is unperturbed as he ploughs through a list of dangers to native Australian wildlife caused by the application of Roundup. I try not to look too distracted as Diego Bonetto explains the cultural connections and employment of local weeds throughout history. It's not that I don't find all this information incredibly fascinating because I do. It's just that at this very present moment, there's a mysterious bug bite on my arm just below my elbow that is swelling to epic proportions.

Leading our intimate group around a small storage building to a spot where the fence line ends, the eucalypt trees part and the rushing river swells; Bonetto points to a common weed - edible plantain, enlightening us to its medicinal uses in Aboriginal culture.

Farther along, we pass through a field of wild fennel growing by the river bend. The bowing fronds brush against my hot skin with a feather-light touch. It's hot, it's muggy and the bloody flies are all over the place but standing here surrounded by overgrown weeds, it feels incredibly peaceful. It feels right. We're a million miles away from civilisation in a tiny pocket of Mother Nature's abode that has not yet fallen to the paradigm of human design.

Costa Georgiadis believes that the prevalence of convenience food is the bane of our existence. We're polluting the air when we drive to the shops, polluting the environment with non-recyclable packaging and slowly killing the earth by throwing away millions of dollars worth of food each year.

Researchers predict that 40 years from now, Australia will need to increase food production by a whopping 70%! With our increasing population, finite land and resources; it presents as a huge task to broaden the spectrum and adapt unconventional farming methods to urban landscapes.

Glen Op echoes a niggling thought in his presentation: 'Eating Liverpool' at The Garden Day, held at Casula Powerhouse Art Centre. "There's a lot of potential for us to grow food" he says, and a quick glimpse at Google Earth curbs any questions. Most people use their front and back yards to grow the occasional tree and a crapload of grass. We don't use grass and we sure as hell can't eat it so why aren't we growing our own food and taking advantage of the vast expanses of arable land around us?

By relying on big supermarket chains that care more about profit and quantity than quality, we're buying the short end of the stick. Our affluent society has become so engrossed with materialism and so far removed from the our origins. Sure my neighbour has a super expensive car and my cool friends all have the iPhone 4.2 but living this way is not sustainable. We're stripping the Earth of everything and giving only a minute portion back.

Costa challenges us with the problem of poo. Its more endearing term in the field is humanure and, with proper composting and decomposition, can safely return rich organic matter to the soil where it is needed to replenish all the nutrients that are extracted by the plants and animals that we eat. "Nearly a third of all household drinking water in the US is used to flush toilets" writes Joseph Jenkins, author of The Humanure Handbook. Costa's challenge is for us to devise a better way to manage our sewerage. Since 2008 Thames Water have been burning poop and methane derived from poo to generate electricity to offset their bill at the sewerage treatment plant. Sydney Water captures methane and ships treated 'biosolids' to farms around the Western Slopes of NSW. The website lists 3 simple ways to "help improve the quality of biosolids. These include:

· don't wash paint, pesticides, medicines or other chemicals down the sink or toilet. Put them in the bin or take them to a chemical collection point

· use low phosphorous or phosphorous-free detergents and pesticides, and only use the recommended amount of detergent for your washing machine and dishwasher

· don't pour grease, oil or milk down the sink.

By improving the quality of waste entering the wastewater, you ultimately improve what returns to the environment after treatment."

Although any steps towards sustainability are positive, I don't believe that it's enough to call it a victory for the human race any time soon. Perhaps when every household has one of these nifty machines in the garage next to the solar-powered hot water system and Google Earth reveals more food than grass, then maybe I'll change my mind.

Corn Bread, Avocado, Summer Salad

2010-11-17T14:08:00.000+11:00

Rolling up the driveway and peering at my garden through the car window after four weeks of absence filled me with apprehension. The black radishes I'd planted just before my departure had sky-rocketed and become a huge, impenetrable hedge. The purple podded peas were leaning precariously to one side, threatening to topple their support and smothering any rainbow chard that got in their way. Giant red mustard seemed desperate to flower, their leaves dotted with dull yellow spots. Beneath it all, dreaded onion weed had popped up everywhere and rambling nasturtiums had taken over once more.

Six weeks and buckets of sweat later, a new bed has been prepared and little Pasilla Bajio chilli seedlings have been planted out. Zebra tomatoes are now waist-high and about to bloom at any moment. Red Aztec corn are sprouting underneath the peach tree which, at this present moment is covered in recycled envelopes and paper bags. The old compost was spread over the garden to provide all the growing plants with extra nutrients and the new compost gets turned diligently with my super sturdy, super awesome Digadoo fork which I bought online after testing out their unbreakable hand trowel at the Gardening Australia Expo earlier in the year.

Along with the pruning and the weeding, the perpetual sowing and expanding, it feels extraordinarily satisfying to create a meal from what most people would see as nothing. An avocado, some maize flour, a few basic pantry items, sharp scissors and an open mind were all the ingredients I needed to make this simple Summer-y dish.

Corn Bread

165 g flour
140 g maize flour
12 g baking powder
5 g sea salt flakes
4 eggs
306 g milk
15 g light agave syrup
100 g unsalted butter, melted

Lightly brush a shallow 8" x 12" (20 x 30 cm) tin with a little melted butter.
Sift flour, maize flour, baking powder and salt together into a large bowl.
In a separate bowl, lightly whisk eggs, milk and agave syrup.
Pour over flour and whisk to incorporate.
Add remaining melted butter and whisk.
Pour batter into the greased tin and bake at 180ºC for 25 minutes or until golden.
Cool on a rack for 10 minutes before removing.

Avocado

130 g avocado, flesh only
18 g verjuice

Puree the avocado with verjuice.
Cover with clingfilm and refrigerate.

Salad Dressing

7 g garlic
16 g extra virgin olive oil
1 g light agave syrup
17 g verjuice
2 g sea salt flakes

Slice the garlic and let it steep in olive oil for an hour.
Whisk agave syrup, verjuice and salt in a small bowl.
Add olive oil and whisk to combine.
Discard garlic slices.

Summer Salad

5 g parsley, leaves only
4 g chervil, leaves only
2 g mint, leaves only
2 g nasturtium leaves
2 g nasturtium petals
1 g bronze fennel fronds
1 g giant red mustard flowers
20 g walnuts, toasted

Mix all ingredients and salad dressing together with light hands.

A Taste of Hangzhou

2010-11-09T00:17:00.000+11:00

The flowers of the field have dabbled their powdered cheeks;
The mountain grasses are bent level at the waist.
By the bamboo stream the last fragment of cloud
Blown by the wind slowly scatters away.
Li Po

I've been travelling around for a number of weeks - from Guangzhou to Hong Kong, Macau, back to Guangzhou, before Dali, Lijiang, Shangri-La, Kunming, Xishuangbanna, then Shanghai, Wuxi, Suzhou, Nanjing, Hangzhou and finally Longquan. I've taken a little time to recuperate and now I'm back in the blogging saddle! Well if you want to get technical, I left the saddle in Lijiang after riding through an escarpment in rainy weather, getting muddied up to my knees and singeing my clothes dry over a mound of flickering coals; but that's another story.

This wasn't my first trip to China. I've been twice before although the cultural progression and cosmopolitan development that have bridged the last twelve years left me a little bewildered at times. On my return to 'Paradise on Earth', better known as the city of Hangzhou where I'd spent a Summer of my childhood, I found it completely unrecognisable aside from the invariable view of West Lake. The apartment where my grandparents lived has been torn down and is overrun with thorny weeds, a supermarket franchise has replaced the local market where we once bought a chook that I tried to walk home on a leash, and the waterfront is now dotted with Starbucks, Häagen-Dazs, American car dealerships and French patisseries. Although I partly lust after the liveliness and romantic charm of the old city streets, it's incredible to realise just how much change has occurred in a country that everyone was once so fearful of being static.

At 6AM by the monumental red gates, women once stood beside carts selling steaming hot mantou (wheat buns filled with a mixture of pork or vegetables) - breakfast for the morning crowd. Nowadays, only the deep, rolling mist hangs over the lake at this hour. A couple jogs by on the narrow, zig-zagging path that juts out over the gently undulating water. At 7AM a marching band meets for morning practice in the square while park officials tend to flowering plants in the central display and an elderly man rollerblades around them in sweeping arcs. By 8AM the sun has risen high into the sky and peeks out from behind the perpetual clouds with a strangely orange glow. Everyone is out now it seems. Men stretching against pagoda railings, women dancing with folding fans against the backdrop of a silent wharf, and retirees practicing Tai Chi in large groups with music crooning from portable loudspeakers set down on the pavement.

Tiny wooden stalls mark the major tourist spots, stocked with ice blocks, ridiculous hats and boiled corn cobs (a popular street snack food). I'm told that up to a hundred people come to West Lake every day to have their wedding photographs taken and as I cycle past, I count five couples on one bridge dressed in Western-style wedding attire, waiting patiently for the photographer's attention. Not far ahead an expanse of lotus is growing along the banks, the huge green leaves like flat parasols basking in the sun's rays. If you're lucky you might discover a lone man pedalling fresh lotus seeds, prized for their cooling property, along the outskirts of the lake. Encased in their olive green exocarp, they're piled high into woven baskets and hefted onto shoulders in a bamboo balancing act.

Six interconnecting bridges form the Su Causeway, the arched stonework dating back to almost a millennium. Along the causeway ballast, elderly men with folding stools and fishing rods relax in the shade of osmanthus trees, enveloped by the entrancing perfume of fragrant silver laurels. When Spring comes it is said that the entire causeway is blanketed by peach blossoms. What a vision of romance I would imagine that to be - pink flowers scattered over cobbled paths; tourists dismounting their brightly coloured bicycles to ascend arched bridges, pausing briefly on the other side for a photo under weeping willow branches that dance lazily in the warm afternoon breeze.

The Su Causeway is not the only lasting legacy that Su Dongpo left Hangzhou before his death. He is attributed with the design of Dongpo rou - pork belly simmered over a low fire for hours in Zhejiang wine and many seasonings to produce a sweet, red meat that is both soft and mellow. Hangzhou's famous Longjing (Dragon Well) tea is used to cook an aromatic dish of silky shrimp, while dried osmanthus flowers are combined with lotus root starch and wild chestnuts to create a thick, sweetened soup. Grass carp thrive along the entire Eastern coast from Vietnam all the way to the Siberian-Chinese border. The species has been introduced to the Netherlands, New Zealand and the United States but not only is it handy as a biological control, it gets bonus points for being tasty too. West Lake Sour Fish is perhaps not the most palatable dish I've eaten but its origin lies entwined in a dramatic tale of love and vengeance, and is a characteristic example of classic Chinese cuisine.

The city's newest night market spans 1.4km on Zhongshan Nan Lu, a leisurely stroll away from Wushan Square which is situated at the base of the mountains. There are over 120 stalls featuring both Chinese and international foods, and many more selling silk purses and creepy, hooting chicken toys. Walking up and down the street I attach my sticky fingers to as much as I can possibly manage - flaky peanut pastry, black sesame rubber candy, freshly juiced sugar cane, steamed chicken wrapped in fragrant lotus leaf, chilli-salted BBQ yak, grilled Indian flatbread filled with banana, and a Portuguese egg tart.

One thing I learned in China is that nourishment is integral to daily life. We are constantly surrounded by food. Good cooking can be elusive sometimes, as I found to be the case in particular regions. There will often be tasteless grit masquerading as something better, but the existence of bad food is no reason to give up hope. Under the watch of a rigorous eye, often the ostensibly simple results in the most pleasing meal.

From 'The Art of Chinese Cuisine' by Hsiang Ju Lin and Tsuifeng Lin is a recipe for Dongpo pork. A simple recipe but one that requires the cook to have a clear understanding of the ingredients at hand to obtain the best result.

"..

Dongpo Pork is customarily served at the end of a meal with
bowls of rice. People sigh, shout and groan with happiness when
they see it. This is one of the pinnacles of gastronomy, and sums
up the appreciation of fat in Chinese cuisine.

Dongpo Pork

575 g belly pork in one piece
2 level tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon wine
2 spring onions
2 slices ginger

Trim pork into a precise square. Wash it and wipe it dry with a towel.
Rub it with salt and let it stand for about 2 hours. Discard the blood-
tinged liquid.
Bring 12 cups water to the boil and blanch the meat in it. Rinse it free
of scum and repeat the blanching with a fresh portion of boiling water.
Place the pork skin side up in a pot with a tight-fitting lid, adding soy
sauce, wine, spring onions, ginger and 2 tablespoons water. Bring to the
boil, then reduce the heat to very low and simmer for 2 hours, adding
a little more water if necessary. Keep the amount of liquid as small as
possible, and do not keep uncovering the pot to see how the pork is
progressing. Let it stew in its own juices.
Discard the spring onions and ginger. Place the square skin side down on
a dish of soup plate dimensions; add the juices and cover it very closely
with foil, cellophane or an overlapping plate. Steam it for 4 hours, until
the fat is tender and can be cut with a spoon. Invert the square so that
the fat is uppermost, and pour the juices around it carefully.

.."

Gone Travelling.. Back in a Month!

2010-09-11T09:10:00.000+10:00

How To Compost, Reduce Food Waste & Save The World

2010-08-23T21:32:00.000+10:00

As I've slowly learned the basics of growing food at home, I've become increasingly impassioned by the origins of my food and the process that it undergoes to reach the dinner table; however It wasn't until I transformed my front yard from a muddy bank into a tiny but thriving vegetable patch that I gave any thought to the path that food takes when it leaves the kitchen.

Since the 1950's when large scale supermarkets and centralised food production became the norm, we've lost some of what was once considered common knowledge. Nowadays you rarely see people tending to their vegetable garden out in the suburbs or picking edible wild 'weeds' by the roadside. My sister practically lives on dehydrated 2-minute noodles loaded with MSG; the girl next door can't eat anything with a recognisable face; a little boy who lives across the road believes that everything he needs to live a healthy life resides in a packet of crinkle-cut chips.

As a society we're spoiled rotten and our ethos has turned largely to materialism so it's no wonder that we're becoming increasingly detached from the origins of the very lifeblood of which sustains us. We've ceased to think of food as food should be. It's just another product that comes from only God knows where.

Food and paper, if left to nature, both decompose and return nutrients to the earth. It's terribly ironic then that food waste is the #1 least recycled material and it's absolutely horrendous to think that these two components combined, contribute to nearly 50% of all municipal solid waste. When buried in landfill, they're deprived of oxygen and begin the long process of anaerobic decomposition. This produces methane: a greenhouse gas, 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Food waste in landfill also results in something called leachate - a toxic chemical runoff which seeps deep into the earth to enter our drinking water.

Dumping food in landfill not only contributes to polluting our environment, but also detracts from precious nutrients that should be returned to the earth. Farmers are forced to use chemical fertilisers to replenish nutrients in the soil year after year, which itself poses a cataclysmic kaleidoscope of problems.

If you have a garden and even if you don't, there is something you can do. Reduce the amount of methane-producing waste you send off to join the millions of tons of compacted waste already in landfill. You can do this by composting your food scraps, plant debris, charcoal, paper, cardboard, toilet rolls, coffee grounds, even hair. Newspapers can be composted too since printing ink is soy-based nowadays. If in doubt, anything derived from something that was once living can be composted. In Sydney, 52% of the average household bin is compostable material. Some councils offer cheaper rates for rubbish disposal if you ask for a smaller garbage bin which could potentially be a huge money saver.

There are a few different options when it comes to compost.

The cheapest option (if you have a garden) is to mound up your scraps with grass clippings and dried leaves in one big pile. Thermophilic micro-organisms will heat up the pile and if you give it a mix (for aeration) once every week, in about 2 months you'll be left with a lovely rich compost. The heat produced with this method will effectively kill bacteria and weed seeds.

A compost tumbler is a fancy barrel fixed to a pivot that can be filled with material and aerated by spinning. It composts quickly but without reaching high temperatures.

Keeping a worm farm is a little more compact and neighbour friendly if you don't have a large garden space. All you have to do it place some moist coir (fibre from coconut shells) into the bottom, put a box of composting worms inside, give them some food scraps, a sprinkling of soil and a moist layer of newspaper over the top. Keep them out of the sun and rain. They'll eat their weight in scraps a day and any liquid produced can be diluted with 10 parts water and used to fertilise the veg.

The Bokashi Bucket is a relatively new system. Its design allows you to compost meat and fish which are usually avoided so as not to attract rodents or vermin. The bucket is able to be kept indoors or under the kitchen sink; the micro-organisms work anaerobically and the sawdust/bran mix sprinkled on top acts to absorb any unpleasant smells which may occur from the decomposing matter.

There is one more option that in my mind, is also the most efficient for home users:

"NatureMill brings home composting to the mainstream user. It is essentially a miniature in-vessel kitchen composting system. NatureMill delivers an answer to the problem of space and labor for both traditional composting.. Waste is collected right where it is generated—in the kitchen. A computer controls the temperature, air flow, moisture, and mixing to accelerate the process and eliminate the backbreaking work. Everything is fully self contained in a modern, attractive container. Just a few square feet of floor space is required. No special plumbing or electrical connections are needed, other than a standard electrical outlet.. Best of all, NatureMill provides home gardeners with a source of rich, organic compost. And there is something uniquely satisfying about witnessing the entire food chain: from the garden, to the dining table, and back to the garden again."

All of these systems work by employing either worms or micro-organisms or both, to turn carbon and nitrogen-rich waste into beautiful, dark compost that can be added back to the garden. The benefits of composting are many. Not only does it act as a fertiliser, but the addition of organic matter also improves soil structure which enhances moisture and nutrient retention, increasing microbial activity.

Composting eliminates methane production in landfill but digging compost into the garden goes further through a process called carbon sequestration - atmospheric carbon dioxide is trapped in organic matter and buried. All plants need carbon and with a more readily available source for them to tap into, they'll have more energy to grow.

Scientists are looking to sequester carbon to counter global warming on an industrial scale in the future but we don't have to wait for years to make a difference. Do your bit by simple composting and help save the world, at home.

An Old Love, Crumbled

2010-08-10T22:38:00.000+10:00

A few days ago I caught up with someone who was once a very special person in my life. Years have gone by since we last conversed but she's still the same striking, unconventional, deeply intelligent and self-possessed woman that I remember. It's strange - even after so much time apart we met again with the same comfort and ease. Amidst the frantic pace, I'd resigned myself long ago to the thought of never seeing her again. Together in the silences, sitting close enough to trace her hands, her face, her lips; I wanted so much to cast off my remaining inhibitions and blurt out "I've never stopped loving you".

Somewhere on the journey home I realised that occasionally a taste is required to remind ourselves of the things that we've always loved and momentarily forgotten.

After a long leave of absence, rhubarb crumble made a reappearance at the dining table to much delight, and perhaps, even a little surprise. It's been a while since I've given a humble crumble the time of day. I've come to consider it as a "fallback dessert" - possible to whip up with minimal ingredients and the most meager of tools.

Perhaps it was the crimson rhubarb, stems snipped from their crowns under drawing dusk; maybe the apples with their blanket of floral perfume were to blame, the mandarins, just fallen from their bowing branches; or the Madagascan vanilla, so sweet and seductive; that brought me back to appreciate this simple dessert.

Baked in the oven with a sprinkling of rapadura sugar for a boost of extra caramelisation and served while still warm with a zealous dollop of cold and tangy sheep's milk yoghurt, some old loves are truly worth pining for.

Rhubarb Crumble

a dozen stems of freshly picked rhubarb (20cm long)
1 fuji apple
2 mandarins, zested and juiced
castor sugar
unsalted butter
1 vanilla pod, split & scraped
all-purpose flour
a sprinkling of Murray River salt flakes
rapadura sugar
lots of sheep's milk yoghurt

Give the rhubarb a rinse and dry.

Finely slice stems and place in a small pot.

Dice the apple into small cubes and add to rhubarb.

Add mandarin juice to pot and cook over medium heat, stirring every now and then until apples have collapsed.

Add castor sugar to taste and cook for a few minutes until jammy.

Stir through mandarin zest and spoon into a ceramic dish.

Rub about half a cup of diced cold butter with a large pinch of castor sugar, a small pinch of salt, scraped vanilla seeds and enough flour to form a clumpy, breadcrumby consistency.

Sprinkle this over the rhubarb in a thick layer.

Sprinkle a little rapadura sugar over the crumble topping.

Bake for 30 minutes at 180ºC or until golden and bubbling.

Allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving with a generous amount of yoghurt.

Submitted for Grow Your Own - August 2010.

Fennel Salt Schiacciata

2010-07-27T20:20:00.000+10:00

I'm so depressed. Masterchef is over (again) and I've added another year to my life. It's not that I feel old because I don't - I've only turned 24. It's just that sometimes it feels like it all goes by so quickly. Woosh! There goes another year, and another, and another.. I don't feel like I've really done much besides work. I've yet to have the epiphanous moment, you know, the one when you finally realise what your lifelong dream has been all along.

I think I might like to be a food producer somewhere down the track. I love the idea of turning to the ways of the Old World. I read a tiny snippet in the paper last week about a new university course being offered in Britain - a year-long diploma on artisan foods. If only I had an extra 20,000 pounds sitting in the bank. I'd love to spend every single day up to my elbows in curd and learning how to make cheese or bread or smallgoods. Now that would be a dream come true.

A few weeks ago in masterclass, Michael Klausen of Brasserie Bread taught two lucky contestants how to make schiacciata. Its Italian name translates to 'crushed' and it is believed to have originated in Tuscany where during the grape harvest, crushed grapes are pressed into the dough along with olive oil, honey and salt. Like focaccia, schiacciata is a flatbread that is leavened with yeast and dimpled before baking over hot stones.

I know a few chefs who aren't too keen on Masterchef. It does make situations a bit awkward when a random weirdo guy comes into the kitchen to stare at us in the middle of dinner service with nothing to say except "Oh I cook too!". Okaaaay then.. I tend to think of it as more of a DIY show like Gardening Australia or Better homes and Gardens. I can pick up some new recipes and techniques from watching the show but I'm not a better cook until I actually give it a go.

After watching the episode online and with the kneading technique still fresh in my mind, I took Michael Klausen's suggestion to use fennel and set about making my fennel salt schiacciata. I used all-purpose flour which doesn't absorb as much liquid as high-protein baker's flour so my dough wasn't as wet as it was on the telly. It took 6 rounds of kneading and resting before the gluten in the dough was worked enough to form a thin membrane when stretched. Despite not having the right flour at hand, my schiacciata emerged from the oven deeply caramelised on the top, crunchy, salty, sweet and oh so aromatic. Mmm..

Fennel Salt Schiacciata

adapted from a recipe by Michael Klausen

420 g plain flour
10 g instant yeast
10 g sea salt
10 g extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for brushing
285 g water
10 g rapadura cane sugar
4 g sea salt flakes
4 g fennel seeds

Place flour in a large mixing bowl.

Place yeast on one side and salt on the other (salt will kill the yeast if they come into direct contact).

Add the oil and water and stir together until it forms a dough.

Transfer to a bench and knead for 5 minutes.

Cover with the bowl and rest for 2 minutes.

Repeat kneading and resting another 5 times.

Lightly grease a clean bowl and place the dough inside.

Cover with clingfilm or a damp cloth and prove for 1 hour.

Transfer to the bench and gently press to form a rectangle.

Visually divide the rectangular dough into thirds and fold both ends into the middle.

Press out a little to form a rectangle and fold into thirds again (this step promotes even yeast distribution within the dough).

Flip the dough so that the seam is on the bottom and return to the bowl.

Cover and prove for 30 minutes.

Divide dough into two equal pieces.

Place each dough piece onto a sheet of baking paper as large as your oven tray.

Using only your fingertips press both dough pieces into rectangles with rounded ends approximately 13cm x 25xm.

Push your fingertips into the dough, firmly and evenly to dimple the entire surface.

Brush liberally with olive oil, sprinkle 5 g of rapadura cane sugar, 2 g of sea salt flakes and 2 g of fennel seeds over each.

Cover with deep baking trays or clingfilm and prove for 30 minutes.

Place a heavy steel baking sheet into the lower section of the oven and preheat to 210ºC.

Slide one dough piece onto the hot oven tray and bake for 15 minutes.

Remove bread to a cooling rack.

Repeat with the second dough.