This, first and foremost, is a meal inspired by bruschettas: with a difference. Truffles.
I first cooked with truffles on Christmas 1999. Since then, I rarely have truffles since it is so costly and difficult to obtain.
Today, I was feeling inspired and went looking for truffles. I found a bottle of concentrated truffle oil (with chunky slices of truffles in olive oil) and a rich truffle paste containing coarsely chopped black summer truffles in olive oil. That bottle cost me AUD$35 and the truffle oil cost half of that, which when totaled, really annoyed my wallet.
Meanwhile, a friend of mine remarked that he hasn't found a great recipe combining mushrooms and fruits. I know of Asian salads that combine both to produce a tangy, spicy and zesty dish. However, I wanted to try something new: a marriage of mushrooms and fruit in a way that is good enough as a meal on its own.
So here it is... And, might I add, I have never enjoyed truffles this much in my entire life!
Ingredients
- Black summer truffle (finely chopped)
- Concentrated truffle oil (sliced truffles in olive oil)
- French loaf or bread roll
- Assorted mushrooms (flat, button, oyster, porcini, shiitake)
- Rockmelon (cantaloupe)
- Mango (optional)
- Tomato
- Spring onion
- Sea-salt
- Ground black pepper
Preparation
Chop rockmelon, mango, tomatoes and spring onions and place them aside.
Slice french loaf/bread roll into thick diagonal slices.
Heat fry-pan with concentrated truffle oil until it begins to simmer then keep heat low.
Place bread slices in pan and gently allow them to soak oil and turn golden brown. Turn over and do likewise.
Remove bread slices from pan, spread chopped truffles or truffle paste, then place in pre-heated oven and keep on low heat while preparing rest of meal.
Chop assorted mushrooms into coarse slices and place evenly over a large fry-pan with heated truffle oil. Cook mushrooms very slowly until they turn golden brown. Add sea-salt and black pepper to taste. The more types of mushrooms, the better. I recommend a combination of flat mushrooms, button mushrooms, porcini, shiitake and oyster mushrooms. The porcini and shiitake can be obtained dried, so need to be soaked in warm water then rinsed out before cooking.
When ready, remove sliced bread from oven, top with mushrooms, fruits, tomatoes and spring onions. Then enjoy!
Bruschettas are traditionally served with red wine; however, due to the delicate complexity of the truffles, I preferred a nice Gerwutztraminer from Alsace.
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Next> Recipe #15: Aromatic Dutch oven stew!
I wish I had a better picture of this; it was incredibly difficult to photograph.
Rainbow trout is like a mild version of salmon; trout and salmon share similarities in the colour and texture of the flesh, the richness of flavour, and the incredible ease with which to cook in a variety of ways.
A small trout is inexpensive, and when cooked whole, is very easy to serve and de-bone, leaving a lovely pink, rich, succulent flesh that tastes great on its own. Its skin is also very tasty, especially when baked to a lovely golden brown crispness.
Ingredients
- Whole rainbow trout
- Fresh mushroom
- Garlic
- White onion
- Mild to hot chili (Mexican is ideal)
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- Za'atar
- Sea-salt
- Coarse ground black pepper
- Parsley
Preparation
Rinse whole trout in salt water, dry thoroughly, then sprinkle and rub some salt over skin and allow to stand for at least half an hour.
Prepare chopped chili, garlic, onion and mushrooms. Stuff ingredients into fish and place over aluminium foil (triple layer) that's been shaped to envelop entire fish. Spread excess filling around fish. Add za'atar, sea-salt and black pepper to taste.
Place fish in foil on a tray in a pre-heated oven and bake for at least half an hour or until it turns golden brown. By now, the aromas of the garlic and onions would fill the oven and you know the fish is cooked.
To Serve
Remove fish in foil from oven and place on a heat-resistant plate. Serve with a simple pasta combining left-over ingredients quickly pan-fried with vegetables and garnish with parsley.
Complement with a zesty Marlborough (New Zealand) Sauvignon Blanc or a mildly oaked Chardonnay.
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My experiments with fish continues, this time with trevally, a medium- to firm-fleshed, flavoursome fish.
I have been fortunate enough to acquire a bottle of 1940 vintage port. Matured in wood for 32 years before being bottled in 1972, then allowed to age in the bottle. Unlike tawny port, vintage port does improve significantly with bottle ageing. While I have mentioned before that Australia's tawnies are amongst the best in the world, the finest vintage port without a doubt comes from Portugal. The port I acquired (pictured) comes in a really weird-looking bottle; hence the nickname I gave it...
A great thing about buying foreign wines in Australia is that it is quite easy to obtain aged wines cheaply at auction as they don't seem to attract the same degree of interest as say, premium Australian wines. At least, this is my experience when bidding at a particular auction house that specialises in a variety of collectables.
This particular port is soft and mellow, and when decanted, didn't have very much sediment or encrustation. Because it is sweet, cooking mushrooms in it caramelises them, turning them deep golden brown. However, the sweetness doesn't overpower at all; in fact, it complements the fish really well.
Of course, you don't need a 1940 vintage; any good vintage port will do as long as it isn't overpowering or too sweet.
The key here is experimentation. Feel free to try different things, be intuitive, and avoid being restricted by what others say. I have never been one for prescriptive cooking, which is why I don't specify measurements or quantities. I realise that this is a contentious matter amongst cooks and especially food critics. However, I am not a food critic. I just enjoy eating!
Of course, it is very important to cook ingredients in the right proportions and combinations to get the right chemistry. However, what is right for me may not be right for you. Which is why I feel that the best way is to do frequent taste checks, be open-minded, and, above all, trust your intuition.
Perhaps I really should call these "food suggestions" instead of "recipes" as that is what they really are: suggestions that you can try at home and feel that you're having gourmet meals at a fraction of what they would cost in a high-end restaurant.
Ingredients
- Fresh trevally fillet with skin on
- Vintage port
- Fresh mushrooms
- Baby boy choy
- Creamy butter (less salt or unsalted)
- Sea-salt
- Black pepper
Preparation
Rinse trevally fillets in salt water then dry thoroughly. Rub some salt on skin of fillet and allow to stand for a few minutes.
Heat butter in a fry-pan, toss in sliced mushrooms and allow to simmer until mushrooms turn slightly golden. Sprinkle salt and black pepper to taste.
Place trevally fillet in fry-pan, skinned side facing down then turn heat up slightly until skin begins to crisp.
When skin is crisp and golden, turn fillet over and allow other side to simmer until cooked. As simmering butter starts to brown at edges of pan, quickly toss some port over fish and mushrooms.
Mix in port thoroughly, stirring mushrooms continuously until they become caramelised.
Remove cooked fish from pan, then turn heat to high very briefly, toss in baby bok choy, turn off heat completely, then quickly remove vegetables to serve with fish.
To Serve
Place caramelised mushrooms and baby bok choy around trevally fillets, then garnish with parsley.
Complement with a zesty Sauvignon Blanc or if you prefer, a lightly oaked Chardonnay. Avoid overpoweringly oaked whites.
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Next> Recipe #13: Baked whole rainbow trout stuffed with chili, garlic, onion & mushroom
If you're wondering why this is called "happy", it's just a private joke: spodumene stoneware is all the rage these days, especially the tajines (which I have yet to acquire); few, however, know that spodumene is rich in lithium (which in its carbonate form has been used as a treatment for depression/bi-polar for ages).
Anyway, I think this spodumene casserole looks so attractive and easy to cook with. It can be cooked on range-tops, as well as convectional and microwave ovens.
Ingredients
- Macaroni
- Mushrooms
- White onion
- Garlic
- Butter or margarine
- Parsley
- Sea-salt
- Black pepper (coarse ground)
- Plain flour
Preparation
Boil water in a pot, add butter or margarine, mushrooms, chopped onions, parsley and garlic. Allow to simmer for half an hour. Add salt and black pepper to taste. Then add macaroni and boil until pasta is nearly cooked. Avoid too much macaroni as it will absorb water and expand further when in casserole.
Pour ingredients of pot into casserole. Don't overfill.
Mix flour with a little water, salt and butter or margarine until a thick dough-like consistency is achieved. Flatten and cut a round portion with a diameter that matches that of the casserole. Place dough over top of casserole. Ideally, it shouldn't be submerged by the soup.
Bake in pre-heated oven until dough turns golden brown.
To Serve
Place casserole on a heat-proof plate and serve!
The macaroni can be omitted if you just wish to have onion mushroom soup.
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Next> Recipe #12: Trevally in "weird" 1940 vintage port with baby bok choy & caramelised mushrooms sans cream
I have been thinking of making a creamy mushroom and port sauce for awhile, so when I found a bottle of Chateau Reynella 16 y.o. rare old tawny port, I thought it would be a good opportunity to try this.
So far, I have been extolling the virtues of French wines, although without a doubt, Australia produces some really great wines too. From experience, when it comes to tawny port, the absolute best I have tasted comes from Australia. Seppelt is world-renowned for their tawnies. But there are other great producers. Penfolds Great Grandfather port comes to mind, and Chateau Reynella's tawnies are amongst Australia's best. At less than AUD$10 a 375ml bottle, the 16 y.o. rare old tawny is an absolute bargain.
Oreo dory is an Australasian classic that is easy to prepare in many ways. I plan to experiment further with this fish. Like its John Dory counterpart from the northern hemisphere, oreo dory has a firm-textured, flavoursome flesh. That is why I felt it would go well with rare old tawny.
Ingredients
- Oreo dory fillets
- Rare old tawny port
- Olive oil
- Butter (unsalted)
- Fresh mushrooms
- Garlic
- White Onion
- Basil
- Parsley
- Salt
- Black pepper
Preparation
Heat up fry-pan with a little olive oil, chopped garlic and white onions. When they soften, add a generous chunk of butter and allow to simmer on low heat.
Toss in fresh mushrooms, spreading them evenly in a single layer over pan. Turn heat up and allow them to brown nicely. Add salt to taste.
When mushrooms have browned, push them to side of pan, so that there is room to place fish fillets evenly on pan. Again, don't overcrowd the fish. Fry slowly until bottom of fish is golden, then turn over and cook other side.
Just before fish is fully cooked, pour some cream, stir into mushrooms, then splash some tawny port. Mix ingredients in sauce, allowing it to bathe the fish as it cooks.
Turn off heat and quickly toss finely chopped basil and parsley over fish. Sprinkle a little black pepper if desired.
To Serve
Serve over a bed of pasta, then top with creamy mushroom port sauce and garnish with remainder of fresh chopped basil and parsley.
Complement with a medium- to full-bodied Chardonnay, or even a Pinot Noir. (I had mine with Chilean Pinot Noir, which was superb.)
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Next> Recipe #11: Happy onion mushroom macaroni in spodumene casserole topped with pastry
I love pork, so it is unusual that my first pork recipe comes at #9 in this blog. Nevertheless, here it is: pork prepared in a way that I have never done before.
The spices are fragrant, aromatic and uplifting: dukkah is an Egyptian spice blend, quite easily obtainable from spice shops; za'atar is Middle-Eastern, perhaps less easy to find in some places, although I think it is readily found if you browse the internet. (There are even recipes to make it.) I bought mine from Oxfam.
I don't know what inspired me to come up with this recipe; it was quite spontaneous. Pork is a very amicable meat, as I would put it, as it goes well with almost anything. It isn't overpowering in flavour, and quite easy to cook in a variety of ways. Depending on how it is cooked and the spices used, it can easily suit all sorts of palates, ranging from extremely spicy or sumptuously rich on one end, to mild and subtle on the other.
Ingredients
- Pork medallions
- Dukkah
- Za'atar
- Basil
- Rosemary
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- Salt
- Pepper
- Chili flakes
Preparation
Pre-season pork medallions by rubbing olive oil, and salt, followed by a modest amount of dukkah and za'atar. If you've never tried these spices before, start with just a little to get a sense of their flavours and aromas. Allow to sit for a few hours.
Pre-heat griller and when it is hot enough, place pork medallions. I prefer a grilling pan with ridges so that excess juices do not drain away but collect beneath the ridges.
Place rosemary leaves on medallions as they cook and allow pork to turn golden with brown grill lines. Then turn over and allow other side to cook.
When pork is almost fully cooked, toss basil into pan, then quickly remove. Be careful that they aren't overcooked.
To serve
Place pork medallions in serving plate, top with basil, a sprinkle of chili flakes and seal-salt to taste. Then pour excess juice collected from grilling pan. Add more fresh rosemary leaves if desired and garnish with fresh chopped parsley.
Complement with a light, earthy, aromatic white, such as Gerwutztraminer. Or if you prefer a little contrast, a complex White Burgundy would do well.
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Next> Recipe #10: Oreo Dory pan-fried with 16 y.o. rare old tawny port
We have such lovely Barramundi in Australia it is difficult to exclude them from home-cooked meals, especially since they're so easy to prepare.
This version is a variation of Recipe #1 with a significant difference: the addition of White Burgundy. Hence the name. This, coupled with a splash of lemon, gives a subtle, mellow tanginess which complements the rich textures of the fish.
Ingredients
- Barramundi fillets
- Creamy unsalted butter
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Garlic
- Lemon
- White Burgundy (I found a lovely inexpensive bottle of Saint-Véran which was excellent)
- Parsley
- Fried shallots
- Salt (sea salt is preferable)
- Ground black pepper
- Chili flakes
Preparation
Melt butter in a large flat fry-pan, add chopped garlic and allow to simmer in low heat.
Rub some sea-salt on barramundi fillets. Make sure they're dry; otherwise they won't brown properly.
When garlic is soft, gently place fillets evenly over simmering butter in fry-pan. Add a little ground black pepper, salt and chili flakes.
Keep heat low, allowing fillets to cook slowly. If it gets too hot, causing butter to overbrown, add some olive oil. (This shouldn't be necessary if the heat is kept low.)
Carefully turn over fillets, then briefly increase the heat and allow bottom side of fillets to brown gently.
When they turn golden, turn them over, squeeze some lemon, allowing the juice to seep into fish. Then splash White Burgundy and quickly turn down the heat again.
To Serve
Place barramundi fillets on a serving plate, pour butter-wine sauce over them, followed by garlic, then top with fried shallots, chili flakes and finely-chopped parsley.
I served mine over a bed of pasta, which I tossed into fry-pan with remaining butter-wine sauce and very briefly stir-fried.
Naturally, I complemented this meal with the Saint-Véran!
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Next> Recipe #9: Grilled pork medallions in dukkah, za'atar, basil, rosemary and parsley
Yes, I still have some chicken fillet left, so I decided to just go with th flow and cook whatever comes to mind.
I am still in my butter phase, simply because it has the loveliest richly aromatic smell while cooking and it makes me almost drool while preparing the food. It isn't always easy to cook with; a good thick solid fry-pan is best and low simmering heat prevents it from over-browning. Above all, it is necessary to be very patient and cook very slowly with butter.
Ingredients
- Chicken breast fillets
- Creamy unsalted butter
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- Fresh cream
- White wine (I used Sauvignon Blanc again)
- Garlic
- Mushrooms (optional)
- Chili flakes
- Parsley (optional)
- Salt
- Pasta
Pasta
As usual, boil water; add pasta, olive oil and salt and allow to simmer until pasta is cooked. Drain excess water and stir pasta until it is just right to serve.
Chili chicken in garlic, cream and white wine
Sliced the chicken fillets into strips, placed them in a warm fry-pan and allow them to dry very slowly. If necessary, drain excess water from chicken.
Add garlic (chopped coarsely or finely if preferred). Keep heat very low, then when ingredients are dry, place a generous chunk of butter and allow to simmer gently. Allow the garlic to be immersed in simmering butter and very slowly stir-fry. Garlic should begin to brown slightly. Toss in chili flakes and salt to taste. Allow to simmer further.
By now, chicken fillets should be starting to cook in simmering butter. They will begin to brown, as they have been allowed to warm and dry in pan before butter is added.
At this point, tilt pan back and forth, allowing butter to flow up and down, immersing its ingredients. Toss in chili flakes. Personally, I like enough chili to give the sauce a rich reddish-brown colour.
At this point, an egg may be added (just allow some space in the fry-pan) and fried in butter sunny-side up.
As butter begins to brown, don't allow it to dry completely. Splash some white wine and continue to tilt pan back and forth so that butter-wine sauce permeates the ingredients. If the chicken isn't browning sufficiently, tilt pan back and allow sauce to drain down and move fillets to top to allow them to slowly fry and brown further. If sauce dries too much, splash a little more wine, followed by fresh cream, just enough to enrich the sauce, before quickly turning down the heat.
At this point, an egg may be added (just allow some space in the fry-pan) and fried in butter sunny-side up.
To Serve
Place drained pasta on serving plate, then arrange chicken fillets on top, topped with a fried egg, if desired. Then pour garlic butter sauce over and allow to soak down. By now, the aromas should be so overwhelming that you just can't wait to serve. :)
I drank what was left of the Sauvignon Blanc, although I feel that a richer, more complex wine such as lightly oaked Chardonnay might be better suited.
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Next> Recipe #8: Barramundi Bourgogne
So I decided to cook the remaining salmon in my fridge, and combine it with rice instead of pasta.
This meal is super simple. So easy that I didn't have to think much about it in advance. I was wondering if I should include it here; however, the picture turned out rather nice so I thought, "Why not?"
Ingredients
- Fresh Tasmanian salmon fillets
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- Long-grain rice
- Garlic
- Onions (red or white)
- Chili flakes
- Cumin
- Paprika
- Salt
Deep-fried Tasmanian salmon
Heat olive oil in a pot/sauce-pan until it is simmering, just about to boil. Extra-virgin oil is thicker and takes a while to simmer; however, when it does, it is nice and hot for deep-frying.
Gently place fillets of salmon. I only had skinless salmon, although I would have preferred salmon fillets with skin to deep-fry as they crisp really well. If you're cooking with skinned salmon, it is a good idea to rub skin with salt then dry fillets before cooking.
Allow to simmer in olive oil until deep golden grown. You needn't turn over fillets if oil is sufficient to cover fillets; otherwise, simply tilt pot/pan back and forth to allow oil to gently cook fillets.
Fried rice
Stir-fry chopped garlic and onions in olive oil until brown.
Add cooked rice and mix. Cumin and paprika give colour and flavour, so if available, add generously.
Sprinkle salt to taste, turn up heat and very quickly fry ingredients.
To Serve
Place fried rice on plate and top with deep-fried salmon. Easy!
Complement with a zesty white. I had generic French Sauvignon Blanc which tasted more like Frascati, quite unexpectedly, which was rather refreshing when combined with spicy fried rice.
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Next> Recipe #7: Chili chicken butter-fried in garlic, cream and white wine
OK it is only my fifth recipe and I am still experimenting with what's in my fridge. There isn't much: fresh salmon and chicken breast fillets. Then a friend brought me some fresh Australasian snapper. Surprisingly, they cost as much as salmon: over AUD$10 for less than 300 gms.
Before I cook, I often try to visualize what ingredients I have and how I am going to put them together in a meal. This process could take a day or two. I normally go through phases: fish/pasta/white meats, etc., so expect to see a few more variations of this theme.
I start with something quite commonplace, mundane even. (This might not seem so to other people living elsewhere.) Like Australasian snapper. A favourite for fish and chips here. Easy to prepare and easy to cook: deep-friend in batter, grilled or just pan-fried.
I thought: OK I will fry the snapper in butter with a special sauce over plain boiled pasta. Then the ideas came flooding in and this is the result:
Ingredients
- Australasian snapper fillets
- Creamy butter
- Lemon (half will do)
- Fresh cream
- French Viognier (best is from Condrieu; however it is very expensive)
- Fresh mushrooms
- White onions
- Garlic
- Salt
- Black pepper
- Pasta
- Parsley
Pasta
Boil pasta in water, add olive oil and salt, then allow to simmer until pasta is cooked. Drain excess water.
Viognier sauce
Well, this is really a butter based creamy sauce of which Viognier is an ingredient.
Toss chopped onions and garlic into fry-pan, add butter and allow to simmer until onions and garlic begin to brown slightly. Then place mushrooms evenly over the pan, allowing them to brown nicely.
Move onions, garlic and mushrooms to edge of pan, leaving enough space to place fillets of snapper, evenly, without overcrowding, while keeping heat at simmering temperature. Cooking fish in butter can be tricky because if the heat is too high, the fish will stick to the pan and possibly get burned over overcooked. Tilt pan from side to side to allow fish to be immersed in butter, moving the fillets gently to ensure they don't stick to the pan. Don't worry if the fish doesn't brown. If cooked slowly, the surface with turn slightly golden. Carefully turn them over to cook other side.
As the butter sauce turns brown, squeeze half a lemon and continue simmering.
Then add a splash of Viognier, simmer for a few minutes, while adding more wine, in small measures. This prevents the sauce from drying up.
To Serve
When fish is cooked (and slightly golden brown), remove them from the pan.
Place them over bed of pasta.
Continue to simmer Viognier sauce, then add a little cream for texture and gently stir into mixture of mushrooms, onions and garlic. Add salt and black pepper to taste.
By now, the mushroom would be deep golden brown and the sauce rich, buttery and deliciously aromatic.
Pour sauce over fried fish and pasta, allowing it to soak down.
Sprinkle chopped parsley generously before serving.
Complement meal with a fresh French Viognier (preferably Condrieu).
A note on Viogniers: recently it has become an increasingly popular grape variety especially amongst boutique wineries in the New World. Australia has produced some outstanding examples, including some innovative Shiraz-Viognier blends. These blends, although potentially good when well-made, isn't on my list of great wines, to be honest. Viognier is like the white version of Pinot Noir: difficult to deal with; however, potentially turning out the best wines in the world. The reason why I prefer French Viognier is because the best producers bring out the subtle complexities of this grape, while balancing terroir with tradition. Condrieu is the apotheosis of this example of wine-making. Many New World styles, on the other hand, tend to be too blatantly fruit-driven or over-worked for my liking. Of course, there're many exceptions to this; however, I generally prefer to stick to the French style.
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Next> Recipe #6: Deep-fried Tasmanian salmon on fried rice
