VEG (almost)

Gee whiz, doesn't time fly... Sunday was Xmas day and soon I'll be hitting my mid 20s! Nothing like a quarter-life crisis to throw into the mix. I've been a busy little bee recently and will only tease you with une salade.


Zucchini and Green Bean Salad with Tahini dressing

I'm partial to a nice macro shot, and this veggie creation

Serves 4

Ingredientsss

Salad

2 tbspn olive oil

3 medium zucchinis (400g) sliced thinly into rounds

Juice 1/2 lemon

1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

125g french beans

4 handfuls of salad leaves

12-18 oven dried tomatoes (chuck in halved tomatoes in oven at 100 deg C with some sugar, thyme sprigs, bay leaves, olive oil and some S & P for as long as you can muster). Alternatively, use semi-dried tomatoes

Handful of shredded mint (optional)

3 chicken thigh fillets (optional, for the carnivore in each of us)

Dressing

1/2 garlic clove, crushed with coarse salt

2 tbspn light tahini (sesame seed paste)

Zest and juice of 1/2 lemon

Juice 1/2 orange

1/2 tbspn honey

2 tbspn olive oil

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preparation

• Pan fry sliced chicken thighs in olive oil and salt and pepper. Note: add the oil etc to the chicken before putting in the pan. Once cooked, set aside
• Heat 2 tbspn olive oil in a large pan over high heat and cook the zucchini slices in batches, until tender and browned on both sides. Transfer to a bowl once cooked and season with S & P, lemon juice and chilli. Toss together well
• Bring a pan of salted water to the boil. Tip in French beans, return to boil and blanch beans quickly (but depending if you like them crunchy or soggy and limp, lol)
• Drain beans and rinse in cold water  to stop coooking and refresh. Drain and pat dry, add to zucchini
• For the dressing: put the crushed garlic into a small bowl with the tahini, lemon zest and juice, orange juice, honey and some black pepper. Stir well. If the dressing is thick and grainy, thin with 1 tbspn of water at a time. Stir in olive oil and season to taste
• Assembly: spread salad leaves in the serving dish, scatter over zucchini and beans, tomatoes and shredded mint. Top with chicken pieces and dress generously. Et voila!

It's a little 'rustic' but I'm not complaining. This photo was taken literally about 5 secs before I launched in. The dressing tastes awesome and the salad itself has the right balance of texture and flavour. Props to Hugh

This plate of deliciousness was conjured by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, of the River Cottage empire (coming in a close second to Jamie's diabolical plan for world domination). Restaurant openings (and closures, for that matter) have been gracing our media all year - Jamie's Italian in Pitt St is no exception. Pity, it's not exceptional, according to grand master Durack [13/20]. 


I first heard about Hugh when I watched an ep of his River Cottage series. It was a rerun from 50 billion years ago but I thought it was rather charming, especially the huge garden that supplies the restaurant fresh fruit/veg/herbs bit. The English countryside is always a winner too. I bought this cookbook, cheap as chips off the interweb and it has served me well. Who knew there are so many ways with the humble bean, or beetroot! Btw, the baby beet tarte tatin looks fan-freakin'-tastic. There are plenty of recipes to whet your appetite for greens, but I usually add a smatter of meat (like pan-fried chicken pieces par example) for something more substantial . There really  aren't any rules so cook what and how you feel like!

When Hughie cut off his luscious locks (see his former glory here), I must admit I was a little shocked and appalled. It was akin to Enrique Iglesias having his face mole lasered off...it's not like we didn't notice! Source Le Delicieux

Another list: What I like about Hugh F-W

His honesty: a bit corny I know. F-W is not a trained chef but has made a profession out of his passion. There is none of the pomp or pretence that comes with your Ferrans, Hestons or Redzepis - many of whom have become too big for their boots.

He doesn't want you to sous vide anything

His food philosophy: he is a big believer in cooking and eating more vegetables (hence, the vegetarian cookbook) but is definitely not veggo (see this installment). Yotam Ottolenghi, a UK chef is on the same page with Plenty (def on my wish list). True, it 'tis the usual, sourcing the freshest in-season ingredients yada yada (rant) but it all rings true.

Hugh F-W's hair, in the early days (pre-2011) - see caption above. It became a sort of trademark for him and signified his hobo-esque image of "the farmer who could cook". Well nevermind, now he just looks like your average joe in a cabbage suit...

Dapper as anything. If ever you are in some sort of culinary crisis or in need of some comic relief. ..this is your man. Source The Guardian

Happy silly season! Peace out.

Snapshot: Beba Y Cene

You've got to love Sunday nights out in Surry Hills. Here we came for some not-so-posh nosh at the restaurant attached to The Carrington corner pub. It has recently undergone refurbishment and acquired a Spanish inspired tapas menu. Gotta love the share plates people. It's a great excuse to try a little bit of this and that...

Le dining room: pretty cosy. Maybe I'm just getting old but I found it to be quite noisy, especially as the punters became progressively more drunken. The pub carry-on was only a corridor away too. I'm not really used to shouting across a lil' 80cm table. Photo credit: Concrete Playground

Recommended: Morcilla stuffed squid with tomato salsa. That's black pudding to the uninitiated...YUM. There's your iron intake, sorted.

We ordered the squid along with Media Noche - a glorified ham and cheese toastie (unbeknownst to us) and the torn salt cod, olives & tomato Russian salad (good, but needed more leafy greens). And what's a Spanish meal without sangria? Breakfast.

The salad add-on following meat overload. Quite tasty, but more cress please! Photo credit: The Carrington

Churros con Chocolate i.e. chocolate dipped fat sticks. These were alright (a'ight), although they probably look better than they taste. They were fried to an absolute crisp, all shell and no fluffiness on the inside. They should take a leaf out of Donut Kings book... :o

How and why did Terry Durack rate this joint 15/20? I'm a bit puzzled myself, that is quite generous in my opinion. Granted, the food was passable 'pub grub' and the prices were reasonable. If you want real, authentic Spanish food (and not an Aussie rendition), hit up Liverpool St (THAT's where it's at). Over and out ;)

A Walk in the Park

Okay, so maybe not. The weather is absolutely miserable on this Labour Day long weekend in Sydney. But that's fine, eating out still counts as eating in, right? The start of this month marks my mum's birthday, which is the perfect excuse to visit yet another restaurant that's sprung up in recent times.

Gastro Park has been getting a lot of favourable press lately, Monsieur Durack awarded it 16/20 which is as good as it gets from him (short of being Sepia). At the helm of this new venture is Grant King, previously head chef of Pier restaurant. These days who you work for is critical. Your reputation and resume precede you...if you are the protegee/chef spawn/chefling (yes, i'm talking about grown men here) of so and so with more hats than you are years old - you must be good.    

What's your type? The logo reminds me of an ink political cartoonist - who exactly i couldn't tell you. 

The location however is another story. Two years back, the Potts Point site was home to Blanco, a casual diner owned by the crew of Bistro Moncur. Funnily enough, the family and I made the pilgrimage (all 400m away) to Blanco when it existed, at this time of year for the very same occasion! It was a'ight - i remember ordering a soft shelled crab club sandwich (so predictable). Since then, the restaurant had been reincarnated as Steak Haus (why Haus is better than House, I don't know), yet another specialty steak place in a niche that is already saturated. Basically, this place has been changing hands too frequently to bode well. 

The original group that did the refurbishment did the bulk of the work to convert the space into a restaurant. The work done by Debra Cronin Design for Gastro Park was largely cosmetic. A lot of vintage pieces have been thrown in to house weirdly growing plant life and the restaurant is dotted by wartime-esque lamps that are more for show than function. I half expected them to flicker on/off and sway in the breeze that was blowing outside. I'm sure i've complained about the low lighting in restaurants these days, my eyes were going bad just fine anyway. Just when I thought, "Could they possibly make it dimmer?" Yes, they can! (Not the most inventive political slogan was it) The restaurant was made darker in the middle of our sitting...just what we needed.

Interiors by Debra Cronin Design. This is place is dark even during the middle of the day! I guess the black on black doesn't help too much. Photo credit: The Australian

The restaurant management team consists of a Francophile and a Scandinavian (methinks), one the consummate professional, the other a bit of a joker. At one time, the waiter was 'steering' my brother's dessert plate at the table and pouring water into his glass from half a metre away. We had a bit of entertainment both in and outside the restaurant. There was a shindig going down in the alleyway neighbouring. A red carpet into a club was walked by a group of old(er) ladies arriving in a stretch hummer (gross @ the car), a cross dressing man (those ain't no lady's legs) and  a fire-twirling stilt walker. Am i hallucinating here? It was absolutely mind boggling! Apparently weird stuff happens in this neck of the woods.

Exhibits A, B and C: the cheese selection sitting pretty under glass domes. Photo credit: Debra Cronin Design

The menu was a simple A4 affair with quite a limited selection of dishes. There were only 4 mains (we just had to order one of each), none of which were vegetarian. There were some in the entrees though which i'm sure they make concessions for. The 'snacks' menu was quite extensive though and the table next to us seemed to be going for the 'one of everything' option turning the meal into an unofficial degustation. I approve.


Now, to the main event! 


As you all well know, my philosophy is always to try something that I wouldn't normally have at home, and boy oh boy did i pick right. For his first solo venture, King has really let the creative juices flow. Dappling into molecular gastronomy and erring between the weird and wonderful, the technicality and sheer involvement of each dish is astounding. The waiters lost me after liquid nitrogen, my foodie brain exploded.


To prove or disprove the critics, I had to order the dish that everyone was talking about. My fellow diners and I decided to be diplomatic and order one of the four mains each. I chose the snapper and was pleasantly surprised by the fantasticality of the textures on the plate. Namely, the bubbly black calamari squid skin that reminds me of a posh prawn cracker. The snapper fillet was generous and cooked well, and crowned by its own crispy fish scales. This was a rather brave choice but i admire the adventurous spirit, especially when catering for a largely anglo (i.e. not Asian-willing-to-eat-or-try-everything) demographic. The 'crunch factor' of the scales was fine although they did tend to scratch on the way down...let's hope they didn't cause any permanent damage (that would suck). The other elements did a fine job of supporting the lead. The squid ink sauce was silky smooth, and was pleasantly reminiscent of the sea (with a subtle tinge of salt) and the calamari strips were delicate and chewy. All in all, a real beauty.

Oh la la: crispy scaled snapper, smoked potato puree quinelle, calamari crackling, ink sauce. Talk about wow factor!

The other mains on the night were a lamb loin, beef fillet and groper (misspelt 'grouper' on the menu - tut). I must say that the latter dish was a bit too stingy in terms of portion size (my mother needs the protein, if anything). As they say, we eat with our eyes and the plating of the beef fillet was a little clumsy, it tended towards a home style-look. Call it rustic if you will, but it won't fly in a two-hatter. These are relatively minor notes however, on dishes in which the flavours soared.

Pretty as a picture: Loin of lamb, cauliflower couscous, wild french mushrooms, jus gras. Aren't the baby chanterelles just lovely?

The sides of potato mash and green leaf salad were more than acceptable. The salad ignited a new interest of witlof for me. This has previously been an 'occasion' vegetable, with each piece costing ~$1, last i checked. It's sort of like the vegetable cousin of pear. The bread we received was a sour rye (it tasted of health), served on a black slate tile with a smear of freshly churned butter and sea salt. It was a bit unorthodox, having two tiles in the centre instead of individual plates (conducive to a crumb trail falling across the table) but we managed to deal. 


The highlight of the night was definitely the dessert course. I ordered the Nitro pav (that must be liquid nitrogen right...?)
which was a dead-set winner. It left the meringues of supermarket ill-fame for dead. I was amazed at the soft mallowy texture and utter lack of sweetness (hooray!). And hidden from view is the guava sorbet, that is tucked in the centre - a nice touch. This tropical treat was worth the wait, and the crystal plates are utterly gorgeous. The chocolate dessert and pain perdu were also polished off quite nicely (not a skerrick was left)! The cracking of the chocolate orb with a spoon was very reminiscent of the Quay snow-egg (one day, you will be mine...)

Looks can be deceiving: okay, so it looks like a drowning fish...(exactly). Nitro pavlova filled with guava sorbet, pineapple pieces at the base and coconut foam

Other worldly: this dessert looks like a solar system model. White chocolate shell with molten white and milk chocolate inside, honeycomb cubes, mandarin sphere, cookies & cream

With any luck, Gastro Park will be able to outlive its predecessors at the Potts Point address. It's all guns blazing as SMH's Good Food Guide 2012 awarded the restaurant 2 chef's hats on debut. In its first year of existence, Gastro Park has striven(?) to break the mould of the table-clothed institutions of Sydney dining. What we needed was a bit of spice and excitement and I think we've been rewarded handsomely. Thanks for reading.