Plating Up

“One of the nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop what we are doing and devote our attention to eating.” Luciano Pavarotti

The anniversary of our move to Melbourne was cause to gather together friends both new and old for a celebration feast. In the whirlwind of a working life, it is so enjoyable to visit a friend’s home and share a meal. My parent’s dinner parties, both hosted and attended, were a regular fixture of my childhood Saturdays. Despite the increasing interest in food, the rise in Masterchefs and documentaries of extraordinary culinary feats, it appears that people have become more hesitant to play host and instead choose to meet out. Whilst this is good for the ever increasing restaurant scene, the art of entertaining is a fading star.

In my view, having friends for dinner is similar to a piece of string – the piece of string is as long as you like, and you choose how complicated your knots are. In reality, a dinner is really all about planning. I rarely have free time during the week, so my planning and preparation took place on weekends.

My preparations began one month from the date, with the setting of the menu. The existence of my extensive collection of food magazines and cook books was justified, as the merits of recipe after recipe were weighed up. The dinner party was a good reason to explore cooking with a new ingredient (hello truffle!) and also to make a new purchase (Kitchen Aid Ice Cream attachment). In constructing my menu, I searched for wintery flavours, but also sought to avoid building an overly heavy menu. I also focused on recipes which could be prepared prior to the evening which would mean the labour during the evening could be reduced.

 A Celebration Menu for Fifteen

·         Scallops with Saffron Crème

·         Mushroom Broth with Truffle and Tuscan Cabbage

·         Beetroot Ravioli with Sage Butter

·         Beef Cheek with Celeriac and Potato Mash

·         Lemon Orange Creamy Ice Cream and Blood Orange Sorbet

·         Chocolate Truffles and Cheeses

For the above, I based the broth on a Jacques Reymond recipe from his book ‘Cuisine de Temps’, Beetroot Ravioli mix from the SBS food magazine, ‘Feast’ issue 12, Maggie Beer’s beef cheek recipe available online here, Kitchen Aid ice cream recipes found in the Ice Cream attachment manual, and Gourmet Traveller’s chocolate truffles from their ‘Slow Food Cookbook’ of 2011. Scallops and saffron crème, Tuscan cabbage chips, mash and winter salads of my own creations.

The setting of the menu also involved the preparation of the shopping list. This is important, as it controls costs and portions, and ensures you don’t rush to the market and buy one of everything “in case you need it”, you don’t! Don’t partake in the last minute ingredient grab, this isn’t the ‘Price is Right’.

I broke down the dinner into the following tasks:

·         Ordering the beef cheeks from T.O.M.S and arranging delivery. This was necessary as I needed to marinate the cheeks the day before cooking;

·         Sourcing ingredients and items that would last the week, for example, potatoes, mineral water, pasta flour etc;

·         Picking up table decorations (in my case place tags, serviettes);

·         Making the ice cream and the sorbet; and

·         Making the chocolate truffles.

Fantastically orange fresh yolks



Lemon and Orange ice cream cooking away



Churn baby churn!



Truffles ready for refrigeration

Thursday – Friday

·         Beef cheeks are delivered, and marinating commenced Thursday night; and

·         Friday night, table is set up, cutlery and glasses washed and set out.



Marinating cheeks



Fantastic reason to use some lovely wedding gifts - Georg
Jensen water jug and salad bowl,
antique brass candles holders





Set and ready to go!

Saturday

·         Early trip to the South Melbourne Market for the fresh items predominately from Georgie’s Harvest and Aptus Seafood for the scallops, mushrooms, beetroots, crème fraiche, truffle, salad leaves etc;

·         Beef cheeks on to slow cook (from approximately 11 am);

·         Prepare the mushrooms broth;

·         Drinks on ice;

·         Make beetroot filling and pasta;

·         Mix the saffron and lemon juice into the crème fraiche;

·         Prepare potatoes and celeriac, and leave subsided in water (as late as possible, so you don’t lose too much flavour)

Browning, in preparation for slow cooking



The most amazing Victorian black truffle,
exclusively stocked at Georgie's Harvest



Slice, slice. Honey Brown Mushrooms from Tasmania
also from Georgie's Harvest

During the Evening

·         Grill the scallops, pipe on the saffron crème;

·         Oven bake the Tuscan cabbage;

·         Warm the mushroom broth and slice the truffle onto it;

·         Cook the ravioli and the sage butter;

·         Make the mash; and

·         Prepare side salads of mixed leaves and sliced radishes.

The end result

Plating up the scallops, slightly messy as the heat
melted the creme



Plating up, loving the truffle!



And on the table, dinnerware also wedding gifts -
Royal Doulton Signature Platinum



Beetroot ravioli



Beef cheeks

The beef cheeks worked perfectly, as Maggie Beer recipes normally do! The mushroom broth was delicious, but does require many mushrooms and much slicing. 

Lemon Orange Ice Cream and Blood Orange Sorbet




The army of dessert at the ready!

I was also happy with my ice cream and sorbet, for a first attempt with my new Kitchen Aid attachment, they were a little icy, but I was happy none the less. Chocolate truffles were also a hit. I really enjoyed the buzz of rapidly ‘plating up’ the dishes, working in a professional kitchen must be stressful and exhilarating all at once!

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what food is on the table, it’s the act of gathering friends in your home which is the fun part.  So next time, don’t meet at the local pub for a meal, get a little organised and host your friends. The effort is well worth it, and you’ll be repaid tenfold in the joy and appreciation of your guests.

What I’d change: I would not try to make 30 perfect beetroot ravioli again. Although delicious, it was very time consuming to make for fifteen people, even for a regular fresh pasta maker.

What I loved:  Having so many friends, from various walks of life, in our home. The deafening jokes and laughter. Laughing hysterically at a ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ reading by a guest taking the stage.

LG Kitchen School @ South Melbourne Market

Stall 90, Cecil Street, South

Melbourne Market

Recent Australian culinary trends haven’t been kind to the humble potato. Currently my Gen Y compatriots are more likely to dish up quinoa, freekah, polenta or couscous than a delicious creamy mash. The spud has become the enemy of the low carb dieter; the tracksuit pants of the vegetables, you’ll always turn to it for comfort but just not in front of your friends.

Perhaps the hunt for the latest trendy ingredient has created somewhat of an abyss of cooking skills regarding more traditional produce and many may be ignorant regarding just how good the potato can be. Last week I was very fortunate to be a guest at the LG Kitchen at the South Melbourne Market for a class on “Spud Heaven – Amazing Tasmanian seasonal potatoes; star of every dish” presented by Georgie Dragwidge of Georgie’s Harvest (remember her here) and chef Emma Mackay.

The LG Kitchen class is a good balance of a little hands on time and a lot of sampling of the dishes!  Our class of ten consisted of a mix of dedicated spud lovers, a couple of bloggers and a former Masterchef contestant. And unlike some cooking classes I’ve been to, this time I learnt a lot of useful things. The best tips I learnt included:

·    Always buy unwashed potatoes – the commercial washing process involves nasty detergents;

·    Boil your potatoes with their skins on, or else the flavour will leech out and your spud will become waterlogged;

·    If you have to rest cut potatoes before use, put them in cold water or they will discolour like apples;

·    Puree any soups containing potatoes if you wish to thicken the soup;

·    When cooking something in a French style, use white onions rather than brown; and

·    If you’re cooking anything with tomatoes, add brown sugar to the tomatoes to bring out the sweetness and reduce acidity.

 



Energetic Emma





LG screen gave you a bird's eye view of the action!
Check out the bowls of the different types of potatoes at the
top of the screen.



The basic key to spud success is choosing the correct variety for your purpose. Some are great for a creamy mash, some for roasting, some for a gratin, others are best for chips. For example, why mash your Kipfler when it is so much better roasted? And, if you don't know what you are going to cook, buy the Nicola potato - she's the best all rounder.

Our Tasmanian potato lesson plan consisted of: 

·     Seafood Chowder (Pink Eye potatoes)

·     Nicoise Salad (Pink Fir Apple potatoes)

·     Gnocchi Napoli (Blue Zhar and Viking potatoes)

·     Lamb Moussaka (Nicola potatoes)

·     Georgie’s Yia Yia’s skordalia (Blue Zhar potatoes)

Seafood Chowder





Nicoise Salad served with Emma's Tuna Cake
and Yia Yia's Skordalia



Many of the delicious potato varieties we used are hard to find and are definitely not going to be at your local supermarket, so pop down to Georgie’s Harvest at the South Melbourne Market for a visit and quiz her for the perfect potato for your dish.

 


Georgie's Yia Yia's Skordalia, Blue Zhar potatoes,
garlic and olive oil all from Georgie's Harvest

The food was absolutely delicious, and the gigantic portions cried out for over-indulgence. Aside from the fantastic food, a great aspect of the class was the interaction between class members both with each other and with Georgie and Emma. The class is a great way to meet with other like-minded "foodies", so don't be afraid to attend without your plus-one. In fact, it's hard to think of many ways this class could be improved, other than perhaps making the recipe notes a little more detailed, as some of the tips were not included in the notes.

After experiencing just how good gnocchi can be, I decided to try out my newly acquired skills. Emma and Georgie had taught me that hot potatoes are the key to good gnocchi; if the temperature is not above 70°C the starch in the potato will set. Also buy a potato ricer, it makes the process a lot quicker and means you don't burn your hands trying to mash the hot potato. I paired my gnocchi with a simple tomato sauce with Tasmanian Huon Valley mushrooms (also from Georgie's Harvest) and Pork Chorizo from T.O.Ms. I’m pleased to report my guests found that the results were delicious!





Gnocchi, my way.

I had a fantastic evening at the LG Kitchen cooking school, and as you can see from the photo above I've subsequently enjoyed recreating gnocchi at home. Perhaps rather than looking for the latest 'it' ingredient, we shouldn't lose sight of looking to create more with what we have at hand and sharpening our knowledge of, and cooking skills, using produce from our backyards.

Check out the very tempting class schedule here.  Upcoming classes feature topics as diverse as the celebration of truffles, Japanese fusion, inspirational dishes of Vietnam with Geoff Lindsay from Dandelion and a Spanish evening with Josep Espuga (who has worked in Mugaritz in San Sebastian - currently San Pellegrino's No.3 restaurant in the world!).  I'll be booking in fast!