ALL ABOUT EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL

I opened a small bottle of extra virgin olive oil, which I recently purchased, and it tasted very bitter – very disappointing. Nor can you tell from its colour (photo of three samples of extra virgin olive oils in my pantry), and this is the point, you can never ascertain how good it is going to be until you taste it.

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I also find that there is confusion about types of olive oil. For example many of those people who buy ‘light’ oil think that this oil is lighter in calories – this is not the case.

Olive oil is essentially a fruit juice and like any good fruit juice, it tastes best when it’s fresh and the fruit is ripe and in good condition.

Unlike wine, olive oil doesn’t really mature or improve with age, although a couple of months after it’s been pressed and bottled, the oil may “open up”, drop its veil of sediment and become a little more aromatic.

The other important thing to remember about olive oil is that while it can be called a juice it is also a fat and will oxidise if it is exposed to too much heat, air and sunlight. Oxidised oil tastes rancid, so it is best to keep your oils in a cool, dark place.

Olive oils differ in quality, colour, flavour and aroma.I use olive oil for all my cooking and lots of it, but I don’t use expensive, high quality oil for frying or cooking, because the flavours of the ingredients would overpower the taste and fragrance of the oil. Rather I choose different oils for different purposes, saving my best oils to complement the flavours of ingredients, especially those I serve raw, so the taste of the oil can be appreciated.

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In all my recipes I always use extra virgin olive oil

Looking beyond the obvious sexual allusions, the description of an olive oil as “pure”, “virgin” and “extra virgin” really does raise the question about which oils are which?

In simple terms extra virgin olive oil is the finest and fruitiest of oils. In recent years the objective qualities for grading olive oil have been developed by the International Olive Oil Commission (IOOC)

According to the IOOC criteria, to be classified as extra virgin, an oil has to be free of impurities, with no flaws in flavour or aroma, and be produced at temperatures below 28 degrees Celsius. Extra virgin the oil must also have a free fatty acid content below 1 per cent.

Why are temperature and acidity important? Both are indicators of quality. A low percentage of free fatty acid is a sign that the oil comes from sound, fresh, ripe fruit. Extracting oil at higher temperatures, accelerates the breakdown of the beneficial anti-oxidant compounds in the oil, reducing the oils natural protection against oxidation. Higher temperatures also evaporate some of the more volatile aromatic flavours of the oil, robbing it of its more complex and subtle fragrances.

Virgin olive is next in the rankings. This oil must also be free of flaws in flavour and aroma, but has a higher free fatty acid content of between 1 and 2 percent.

Pure olive oil rates lowest, although it should still have an acceptable flavour and aroma without flaws and an oleic acidity below 3.3 percent.

But rather than being produced by a centrifuge or a pressing method, pure olive oil is more likely to have been produced by the treating the oil with solvents such as caustic soda through a process known as “”, which in effect turns the oil into soap before it is dissolved, distilled and re-constituted which involves extremely high temperatures.

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These days, especially in Australia and increasingly in Europe, olive oil is being produced and marketed in accordance with standards set down by the IOOC.

The IOOC is also a vigorous advocate of truth in labelling.

Most virgin and extra virgin olive oils are also labelled on the bottle as “first, cold pressed”.

The way most oils, and that includes quality extra virgin oils, are produced these days, “first, cold pressed” is a meaningless marketing phrase, that harks back to another time when olives were crushed to a paste that was then spread on mats which were stacked in layers and pressed.

Under that system, after the pressing had produced as much oil as possible, the paste and mats were doused in hot water to release any oil still in the paste and extract the very last of the drops from a second or even a third pressing.

These days, such a method is too labour intensive and too slow for commercial olive oil production. Now producers tend to rely on continuous centrifugal extraction machines where the olives are poured in one end, milled to a paste, pressed under centrifugal force, and then separated into oil and water, leaving a dried pulp to be disposed of later.

The temperature of these continuous presses can be regulated easily and the best results are obtained at around 28 degrees celsius, a comfortable room temperature, that is anything but cold, but promotes oil flow and doesn’t evaporate the aromatic flavours of the oil.

My advice is to always put a new oil to the taste test. It should certainly not taste rancid, metallic or have a slack, fatty flavour. A good oil should be fruity and balanced, with a hint of peppery bite on the back of the throat.

The bulk of the oil I buy is in 3 or 4 litre tins and it is labelled Extra Virgin Olive Oil. I use this oil every day in all my cooking, to braise, bake, fry, marinate, and sauté; for preserving and pickling, and even to oil my baking tins. This is the oil I use when I don’t want the flavour to dominate the other ingredients.

I also buy a variety of quality extra virgin olive oils that come in bottles. These oils are much more expensive than the oil I buy in bulk tins. A fine 375ml bottle may cost as much as or more than a 4 litre tin, because the flavour is stronger and fruitier and greater care may have been taken with picking and processing the fruit. These are my best oils. I save these for salads and other cold dishes or to trickle over bread or hot dishes just before serving so the rich flavour can be fully appreciated.

There is so much good olive oil now produced in Australia.

PORK, SALUMI (Smallgoods). Tasting Australia

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Some of you may remember the film/documentary about bizarre local rituals called Mondo Cane (literally translated as a dog’s world – 1962). This is a collection of disconnected snippets from around the world on rather repellent cultural customs and ritual practices, among which there is one showing the slaughter of pigs in New Guinea and an other of Asians who eat dog meat.

In Adelaide I attended a Tasting Australia event called Mondo Di Carne, held at Rosa Matto’s cooking school – Rosa has been the queen of Italian cooking in Adelaide for many years.

Vincenzo Garreffa is a famous butcher from Western Australia and Mondo Di Carne is the name of his business. Vincenzo seems to have a good sense of humour (having spent five hours with him at the workshop) and I hope that he intentionally named his business with the film in mind, however he is also very serious about his meat – he bought all of his own meat to the event including a small suckling pig which was 3-4 weeks old and weighed 5.2 kilos.

As a participant I learned the fundamentals of Italian smallgoods manufacturing – how to make and prepare fresh sausages, capocollo, pancetta, salamini – these are small dried sausages, also called cacciatori (a cacciatore is a hunter and this type of small sized salami were ideal for a long day’s hunt).

I was not expecting a piglet, but there it was. Vincenzo boned it and stuffed it with three whole pork fillets (it had to be flesh as tender as the piglet), blanched almonds and a few slices of pork liver. Salt, pepper, extra virgin olive oil and rosemary are a must. I have written about roasted suckling pig once before (a different recipe). As you can see he had trouble fitting it in the oven; there is a drip plate underneath.

And we all ate it and it tasted wonderful, and I kept on telling myself that there is no difference between slaughtering and eating a mother pig and a baby pig.  Those of you who may be thinking that you might like to try cooking a baby pig, can have one dispatched to you by Vincenzo within 24 hours. As for the price, it will cost you as much as a large pig, so you may think again.

Here are some of the photos:

It was a piggy weekend. On Sunday I also attended A Word of Mouth session called: Is Spanish the new French?

And pork features strongly in Spanish cuisine. I heard chef and co-owner Frank Camorra from Movida ( in Melbourne) and his travelling companion and writer Richard Cornish (books = Movida and Movida Rustica) discuss the delights of travelling and eating pork with writer John Barlowe . John, an Englishman, lives in Galicia, with his Spanish wife and two sons and in the book we encounter his travels and his experiences of eating every bit of the pig. (Book = Everything  But the Squeal, recently republished by Wakefield Press.)

I feel all pigged out.

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TAGLIOLINI CU SUCU RI SICCI –TAGLIERINI COL SUGO DI SEPPIE (Pasta with a cuttlefish sauce and carrot and potato)

Calamari is the Italian word for squid and it refers to those species of squid with long side fins; those with relatively shorter side fins are seppie (cuttlefish).

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Calamari, cuttlefish and squid

This recipe is for seppie (ink fish) , but  squid is much easier to buy in Australia although the two species are sometimes sold interchangeably and sold as calamari.  They are found right around the Australian coast and are available year round.

Commercially they are wild-caught mainly by seafloor trawling and many end up as by catch in nets. Squid jags are a favourite with recreational fishers. They generally are a fast growing species and for this reason are considered sustainable.

In Australia squid was once only used for bait and be very cheaply priced, but unfortunately, too many people have come to appreciate it and the price has gone up significantly.

Many of the rings and tubes sold are imported. There is also local product and this may not have been frozen, but the flesh can be tough – usually they are from much bigger squids than I would generally buy. Unfortunately the tentacles (very tasty) are generally removed for easier processing and packing in ice, ready for export.

I am very spoiled when I buy squid  from my fish vendor at Happy Tuna in the Queen Victoria Market where I shop.  It is so fresh that it could easily be eaten raw or needs very little cooking. My favourite vendors always select for me small and medium sized squid, which they know I prefer. The photo is from the fish market in Siracusa, Sicilia and it shows the common size for squid sold in Italy.

This recipe is a wet pasta dish – a common consistency for Sicilian soups which generally contain a large amount of pasta. What I like about this recipe (from Mazara del Vallo, on the west coast of Sicily) is the addition of carrot and potato – two very popular ingredients in Australia, but not so popular in pasta dishes in Sicily.  The squid used are young, small cuttlefish or squid – the smaller ones are considered more tender.

In the original recipe the taglierini (fresh pasta cut into thin strips, tagghiarini is the Sicilian term). These are made without eggs, perhaps this was once due to poverty or scarcity, rather than choice, but the practice of making pasta without eggs In Sicily has remained. If buying commercially made pasta, use thin ribbon pasta. (When the pasta is coiled like in the photo, the shapes are sometimes called nidi – nests of pasta.)

 

INGREDIENTS
taglierini, 600g
squid or cuttlefish, 1.5kg
carrot, 1 diced (small)
potato, 1 diced (small)
onion, 1 chopped finely
extra virgin olive oil, 1 cup
white wine, ½ cup (optional)
red tomatoes, 500g, peeled and chopped
garlic, 2 cloves, chopped
parsley, 1 cup cut finely
basil, 7-10 leaves
salt
chili flakes and/or grated pecorino (optional) to taste.

PROCESSES

Sauté the onion in ½ cup of oil, add the potato and carrot and when the ingredients begin to brown add the garlic. Add the tomatoes, a little salt, and the parsley and over medium evaporate some of the juices.  Check that the potatoes and carrots are cooked and if they are not, add some liquid (water or wine) and cook for a little longer and do not drain.
Cook the pasta.
Sauté the squid in ½ cup of oil – use a separate, wide fry pan (it cannot be overcrowded or it will stew). Toss the squid around in the pan on high heat for a few minutes, add a little salt, wine and seasoning and evaporate.
Add the squid to the vegetable mixture.
Combine the pasta with the sauce. Add the basil leaves and serve.
Sprinkle with chili flakes and/or grated cheese.
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PASTA CON FINOCCHIO (Pasta and fennel – preferably wild)

 

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No it is not wild fennel, it just looks like it.

I found this bunch of fennel at one of my favourite stalls in the Queen Victoria market this week.  Apart from many other vegetables, I always buy my cime di rape, radicchio, chicory, kale, broadbeans, coloured cauli, violet eggplants – name any of the out of the norm vegetables and this is where I go: to Gus and Carmel’s. I even bought some milkweed this morning. This is where I also buy my vlita – another weed.

At the end of the fennel season (and it is well and truly this in Victoria, Australia) the fennel plant (called Florentine fennel) produces some flat bulbs, which never mature.

My friend Libby who grows fennel in her wonderful garden in the Adelaide Hills first alerted me to these flat bulbs last year – at the time we thought that this would be very suitable to use with pasta con le sarde which includes wild fennel as one of the ingredients. After speaking to her I saw some bunches of these small flat bulbs for sale at the Queen Victoria Melbourne Market. And here they were again for sale today. I spoke to the vendor (Gus) who said that rather than wasting them he thought that he could try to sell bunches of them. This fennel may become very marketable – good on you Gus.

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Gus is Calabrese. He knows that I like to use this type of fennel for my Sicilian pasta con le sarde, but he told me how he uses the fennel to make a pasta sauce and he uses anchovies.

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He slices the whole plant finely (the green fronds and non-developed bulbs) and cooks it all in some boiling water with a little salt. Then he drains it well.

Anchovies are the secret ingredient.

In a large frypan dissolve a few chopped anchovies in some hot extra virgin olive oil (the anchovies are crushed using a wooden or metal spoon until they melt in the oil).

Add the garlic (chilli is optional). Add the cooked fennel and toss it in extra virgin olive oil and flavours. This is your pasta sauce.

Sicilians would select bucatini. Calabresi would like to be Sicilians so they would as well.

Present the pasta dressed with the fennel, topped with toasted breadcrumbs (the alternative to grated cheese not only in Sicily, but obviously also in Calabria).

For bread crubs: use 1-3 day old white bread (crusty bread, sourdough or pasta dura).

Remove crust, break into pieces, place into a food processor and make into coarse crumbs. They can be crumbled with fingertips or grated. The term for breadcrumbs, in Italian is pane grattugiato/ grattato – it means grated bread.

Heat about ½ cup of extra virgin olive oil in a frying pan and add 1 cup of coarse breadcrumbs (see above). Stir continuously on low temperature until an even, golden brown.

Obviously if you do not have access to someone who has fennel growing in their garden, or to wild fennel, or to Gus and Carmel’s stall you may need to use bulb fennel with as much green frond as you can get. Nearly as good, but not quite!!

I also bought this garlic at the same time- not bad.

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SEPPIE IN UMIDO CON POLENTA (Cuttlefish or Squid With Black Ink And Polenta from Trieste)

In Australia squid and cuttlefish is often sold interchangeably.
Both squid and cuttlefish have the potential to contain ink sacs in their bodies, but cuttlefish seems to contain more ink and is preferred for ‘black ink’ dishes in Italy, especially in coastal towns around the Adriatic.  As you can see in the photo seppie are often covered with ink when they are sold.

Squid can be as well, but rarely have I seen this in Australia (we like things clean and white!)

This photo was taken by my nephew very recently in the fish market in Venice. They are seppie (cuttlefish).  Fresche means fresh, senza sabbia means without sand in Italian.

If you have ever cleaned squid or cuttlefish you may have found a pea like swelling filled with black ink in some of the cavities, but some come with an empty ink bladder. If you have ever fished for squid, the moment you try to lift them out of the water, most squid will squirt a cloud of dark brown ink in their attempt to get away.

The ink is not harmful to eat (It was once used as the artist’s pigment, sepia).

You may need to buy ink separately – you will need 3-6 ink sacs for this recipe.

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In Venice and in Trieste seppie are cooked in umido (braised) in wine and in their own ink and served with polenta (a very popular dish). As a child living in Trieste this was my favourite dish, especially when served with left over fried polenta. In Triestino (dialect from Trieste) they are called sepe in umido co la polenta –this dish is still very popular in the trattorie in Trieste, many of them are found in Trieste vecchia (the old part of Trieste).

The seppie in umido become the dressing for the polenta (popular in the north of Italy, by many eaten more often than pasta and preferred to pasta).

INGREDIENTS
cuttlefish or squid, 2k
white onion, sliced thinly
parsley, ½ bunch, chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper
garlic, 2 cloves, chopped
extra virgin olive oil, ½ cup
dry white wine, ¾ cup

 

PROCESSES

Clean cuttlefish or squid: discard the eyes and beaks, separate heads from bodies and, cut off tentacles and set aside. Pull out hard transparent cartilage from bodies and discard. Cut bodies lengthwise to open and carefully remove the ink sacs and set aside. Remove and discard entrails. Rinse cuttlefish or squid under cold running water.
Slice fish and tentacles into large strips (they will shrink).
Heat oil in a large pan with lid over medium heat.
Add onions and garlic and sauté till golden. Add cuttlefish and reserved tentacles and sauté, add parsley and keep on stirring for about 10 mins.
Add wine and evaporate for a few minutes.
Mix the ink sacs in ½ cup of water, press on the ink sacs with the back of a spoon on the side of the cup to break the skin and release the black ink.
Add the water and ink to the braise.
Cover the pan, reduce heat to low, and cook, stirring occasionally, until fish is very tender for about 30 mins.
If there is too much liquid, uncover pan for the last 5 minutes of cooking to reduce and thicken the sauce.

Serve with plain polenta – no cheese, no milk. Traditional polenta is made with plain water.

POLENTA

There is instant polenta and original polenta. Instructions for cooking it are generally on the packet.Generally the ratio is 1 ½ cups yellow polenta to 4 cups water, salt to taste.Original polenta will take about 30 minutes.
PROCESSES
In a heavy saucepan sift the cornmeal into the pan with water and salt. On medium eat bring to the boil. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon with a long handle. Reduce the heat to low. You will need to stir constantly until the polenta is smooth and thick and pulls away from the sides of the pan.
Pour out the polenta onto a wooden board and with a spatula, shape it into a round shape (to resemble a cake) and allow it to rest 10 minutes.
Cut the polenta into thick slices, place one slice on each plate and top with the seppie in umido.
Slices of left over polenta taste wonderful fried in extra virgin olive oil. The surface of the polenta will develop a crosta (a golden brown crust). Delightful!!
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For the Sicilian version of Pasta with Black ink sauce see earlier post:

GELO DI LIMONE (Sicilian Jellied Lemon)

As well as gelo di mellone (made with watermelon juice), Sicilians make gelo do mandorla (made with almond milk), gelo di cannella ( made with cinnamon and water) and gello di limone ( made with lemon juice). It can also be called, Biancomangiare.

It is thickened with corn flour and stirred like custard till it solidifies. There is nothing to it, but surprisingly it turns out to be quite delicious.

This photo is of a gelo di limone, one of the many Sicilian specialties one of my relatives has made for me.

500ml fresh lemon juice
500ml of water and the peel of the lemons soaked in the water for 24 hours
300g sugar
4 level tablespoons arrowroot or corn flour
2-3tbsp limoncello (optional)
Mix the corn flour with a little water and make a smooth paste.
Mix all of the other ingredients together in a small saucepan and heat gently – keep on stirring until it thickens.
Remove from the heat, add the limoncello and pour into a wetted mould (or individual serving glasses)
Leave to cool, then chill in the fridge for several hours.
Sicilians eat it plain but it is a nice accompaniment to strawberries or poached cumquats (sugar syrup).
SEE RECIPES:

 

EASTER IN SICILY – A SICILIAN FEAST IN RAGUSA – Recipes and Giuggiulena

It has been a while since I have had an Easter in Sicily and I am feeling very nostalgic. This year, a large group of my relatives in Ragusa are all going to celebrate lunch at Stefania and Aurelio’s country house, just outside Ragusa and I wish I could be with them.The country house is a stable which in the 18 Century belonged to a local Baron called La Rocca.

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Stefania and Aurelio bought the property several years ago (it also has a few surrounding buildings and land) and they are slowly converting it into a beautiful holiday home. They are using local artisans to recreate and restore many features in the original style and character. As much as possible they have kept its original outside appearance and interior features, especially the original carved wooden ceiling.

I do miss my relatives (and the feast that they will be sharing), but I also miss Spring in Sicily.

In Sicily, spring is the start of everything. It is the time when the island comes alive – flowers bloom, vines sprout and vegetables ripen. Spring is the celebration of life, which in cultural and religious terms is expressed in Easter. In Sicily Primavera (Spring) and Pasqua (Easter) are a fusion of nature and culture, family and food.

The ancient Greeks (once settlers in Sicily) also marked spring and – like the Christian Easter – their myth celebrated another resurrection from the dead through the legend of Persephone.

The Greeks considered Sicily to be Persephone’s island because, according to the myth, Pluto, the god of Hades, who imprisoned her in his underworld realm, abducted Persephone from the Sicilian town of Enna.

So Persephone’s grieving mother, the goddess Demeter, (goddess of agriculture) plunged the island into a barren winter, until Zeus, the father of the gods, struck a bargain with Pluto to let Persephone to return to land of the living for six months of the year. So it is that when Persephone is released from Hades, Demeter allowed the world to thaw and bloom before her daughter must once again return to Pluto and Hades.

The pagan traditions were slightly transformed and unofficially accepted into the rites surrounding devotion to the Christian saints. Offerings of bread, cheeses, and sweets, associated with pagan harvest rituals, are common in many of the present-day festivals.

Some of the foods the relatives will be eating are on my previous posts.

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Here are the links:
There will also be baked capretto (kid) and wild spring greens collected from their property and sauteed in virgin olive oil and garlic  (see top photos, taken at one of the other family feasts in the country house).
SCACCE – A focaccia-like stuffed bread
Franca will make scacce and sguogghiu (alternatives to scacce)

They will be buying cassata from the pasticceria (pastry shop) and making cassatedde. In Ragusa (and nearby Modica) these are little baked tarts with a pastry bottom and a ricotta, sugar, egg and cinnamon. Some add candied orange.

In the rest of Sicily, cassatedde are ravioli like pastries and fried.

Picture of cassatedde:

The pasta will be a must. Zia Niluzza will be making gnucchateddi (causunedda) all night for so many people!( She never takes off her jewellery when making pasta). She may even make large ricotta ravioli with a strong ragu made with pork and conserva (strong tomato paste).

And there will be homemade liquers: Nocello (made with green walnuts) and Mandarinetto (made with green mandarins)

And small sweets: Cotogniata (quince paste) rolled in sugar and Giuggiulena (or sesame seed torrone). It is also called Cubbaita and is said to be a legacy from the Arabs who lived in Sicily.

Giuggiulena, recipe:

INGREDIENTS

1k honey, 1 k sesame seeds, 4 cups sugar, ½ teaspoon of each: cinnamon, cloves, grated orange peel.

PROCESSES

Melt the sugar in a large saucepan on very low heat, when sugar is melted add honey. Add sesame seeds and aromatics mix well. Remove the torrone from the heat quickly (or the sesame seeds my burn). Let cool slightly.
Pour mixture onto a tray with baking paper or a marble that has been coated with oil. Spread evenly and quickly before the torrone hardens, cut into rectangular pieces before it cools and store in airtight containers.

 

Photos of Stefania and Aurelio’s country house:

Aurelio with one of his horses on the property.

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One of the many lunches at the property. On this occasion the local cheese makers were invited…..this is why there are all those men at the table. They bought cheeses for us to taste.

 

SUSTAINABLE FISH MENU, Food and Wine Festival

At an event at The Melbourne Food and Wine Festival I was telling a person how I try only to eat sustainable fish.

She could not imagine this – her favourite fish are tuna, swordfish (these fish are overfished), Atlantic salmon and Ocean trout (both are farmed in aquaculture cages and are of conservation concern). She also liked scallops and was surprised to hear about the damaging effects of the way that most scallops are harvested – by seafloor trawling and dredging and these methods damage seafood beds and habitats.

Cooking and eating sustainable fish does not have to be boring. Last week as part of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival I ate at these two venues.

These are photographs of a few of the sustainable fish dishes I ate at both places.

Cafe Vue at Heide, Heide Museum of Art, 7 Templestowe Road, Bulleen.
this featured a contemporary version of several dishes from Sundays Kitchen: Food and Living at Heide, based on the reminiscences of friends and intimates about the hospitality of John and Sunday Reed at Heide,

(I ate at a number of restaurants during this event, but I remain very impresssed by the food and the fabulous wine list at Cafe Vue at Heide. The first photo (above) is the Tomato Consomme (clear) with a small terrine made from crab and avocado.
The second photo (above) is the Sea Bream with large couscous (heavily flavoured with citrus).

The Terrace @ Royal Botanic Gardens was the venue for the event Imagine a World without Seafood (The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) Sustainable Seafood).

This featured an interactive cooking competition some of Melbourne’s best apprentice chefs showcasing a creative approach to cooking with sustainable seafood.

ACF’ is developing a new and exciting sustainable living initiative making it easy for people to choose sustainable seafood.

The menu focused on specific species of fish in specific regions where sustainable practices are used by the producer. For example the way that most prawns are harvested is by seafloor trawling. The fishery which provided the Western king prawns uses management and harvesting techniques that ensure that the prawns are caught in an ecologically sustainable way.

These photos beginning with the top one are:
Barramundi (Cone Bay) with a Thai salad.

Prawns (Spencer Gulf) with green and yellow mango, pomegranate and avocado guacamole and tamarind aioli.

Tortellini of olive oil braised Barramundi (Cone Bay) with soft herbs and tartare beurre blanc.

Crispy, deep fried Yellow-eye mullet (wild caught in the Coorong) with a chermouala dipping sauce on a bed of rocket. See feature photo.

 

DOLOMITI (Menu/ Melbourne Food and wine Festival)

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On Monday, 15th March I attended a dinner at Society Restaurant, Melbourne.

Massimiliano Ferraiuolo is a chef (originally from Naples) who is visiting from Italy for a week’s residence at Society Restaurant and cooking each evening. The event is part of The Melbourne Food and Wine Festival and is called Around Italy in 7 Days – Travel north to south with a different gastronomic journey each night.

As you know, there is no such thing as Italian food, you have to specify the region and this event began with a menu with dishes from the Dolomiti, a group of impressive mountains in the eastern section of the northern Italian Alps. Living in Trieste as a child I know and visited the nearby towns Sappada and Corina D’Ampezzo, where I ate rustic food in trattorie.

This was not what I remember eating in the trattorie (domestic traditional), but I was not disappointed. The food was of high quality, very professional, adventurous and modern, beautifully presented on the plate and with the flavours and ingredients faithful to the region. I say modern, because the duck and the venison fillet were served rare (as is in let’ s say the France tradition).  The service was excellent .There was also generosity with the wine – the glasses kept on being filled.

The event first advertised Sicily as the final destination. Unfortunately diners will need to make do with evenings in Naples (Chef’s home town so this should be good) Sardegna and Puglia.

Massimiliano, grazie. 

Mi e`piaciuto tutto quello che hai preparato e ho apprezzato la difficoltà che hai avuto per trovare i prodotti adatti. . Forse quello che mi è piaciuto di piu’, è stato il baccalà mantecato – lo mangiavo spesso a Trieste….  e quegli gnocchetti Tirolesi. 

Complimenti a tutti in cucina. (And all staff).
Marisa
LE DOLOMITI
 
Monday 15 March, 2010
This is the menu (there were choices), and these are the photos:
ANTIPASTI
  • Pan seared duck with asparagus and artichokes.
  • Venetian dried cod with pea mousse and rye bread (photo).
 
 
PRIMI 
  • Ravioli filled with ricotta and ravioli filled with porcini mushrooms and veal
  • Tyrolean dumplings, with fondant cream cheese sauce and shallow fried proscuitto di Parma (photo).
SECONDI
  • Venison fillet pan seared with autumn vegetables (photo).
  • Venison shanks (slow cooked) in a red wine jus with cherries, potatoes and black pepper.
DOLCI 
  • Warm apple strudel with vanilla ice cream and crème anglaise
  • Pistachio crème brulee with lemon and olive oil ice cream and fresh fruit.
PER FINIRE
  • Fresh berries and nuts dipped in bitter chocolate, an amaretto and some caramels.

(It was even covered with snow (icing sugar) from the Mountains. See feature photo.

SIMILARITIES BEWEEN THAI AND SICILIAN FOOD

My blog is called All Things Sicilian And More, but how about if the ‘more’ is Thai, and not in Sicily or Australia, but in London.

My friend who is living in London for a while seems to be eating her way around  the city. Last week she went to Australian chef, David Thompson’s Nahm (the first Michelin-starred Thai restaurant in Europe).

This is the email she sent me:

Really a good meal at Nahm – the food was excellent, very complex flavours and mix of flavours without too much chilli to kill the tastebuds!

He also sticks to Thai style of eating so everything gets served at once with rice – we had a double boiled ox tail soup with really sweet and still quite firm winter melon, Scottish scallop and coconut salad (shaved coconut flesh) as well as a coconut based sauce, crab and pork stir fry with young bamboo (asparagus thickness bamboo) and a red quail curry.  Then, a black ash and sticky rice pudding (burnt coconut husk mixed in with rice flour to make thick, thumb length black noodles that were then steamed and served on a bed of shaved coconut flesh). Wonderful combination of sweet and salty flavours and sticky and crunchy textures.

Many years ago I remember first eating in Darley Street Thai, David Thompson’s restaurant in Sydney.

I had already bought his first book, Classic Thai Cuisine, published in 1993 – loved the book, loved the food, loved the experience.

I still have this book and read with interest his introduction to the section called Main Courses. Here he has much to say about the style and combination of flavours, method of cooking and textures of a Thai meal. In this post I am reproducing from the book what he has written under three of the sub-headings: a Thai meal, Salads and Curries. Reading my friend’s description of the meal( above), David Thompson seems to have clearly achieved this.

 

From the book Classic Thai Cuisine:

A THAI MEAL IS NOT just a combination of textures and flavours within one dish, but a compilation of all the dishes to be served. There should be no duplication or repetition, but a balance. Not every dish should be served hot, nor should there be too many curries. Complex dishes should be accompanied by simpler ones so that the palate is not overwhelmed or cloyed. This is indicative of the manner in which Thais approach their food: different contrasting flavours, combined with variously textured garnishes that are then blended with rice. It is the compilation of so many small but powerfully flavoured dishes that entertain the palate and avoid tedious repetition.

SALADS

Thai cuisine is a contrast of seasonings: hot, sweet, sour, salty and occasionally bitter flavours combine to achieve rot chart where all flavours are in harmony, and none is unintentionally overwhelming. This is nowhere more apparent than in Thai salads, whether one as elusive and delicate as the Saeng Wa of Prawns or as robust and searing as a Larp from the North‑east.

It is of paramount importance to use the best, freshest ingredients available. Use good‑quality alternatives rather than second‑rate specified ingredients. In Thai salads, the contrasts and interplays of acids and salts would quickly reveal an inferior choice. Having purchased the produce, it is now up to the skill of the cook to treat and season it correctly. This can only be achieved by knowing the individual flavours of the ingredients being used, and the outcome when combining them. Taste the food as it is being assembled and rectify any imbalances before serving.

CURRIES

Curries are the food most associated with Thai cuisine. Originally from southern India, they were cooked in ghee and were heavy with dried spices. The Thais lightened them with the substitution of coconut cream and the addition of fresh spices such as galangal, lemongrass and kaffir lime zest. It is these fresh ingredients that give Thai curries their remarkable character. It is therefore essential to use fresh ingredients wherever possible. Dried or tired ingredients will make for a curry empty in flavour, hollow to taste.’

At first it may not appear that there are very many similarities between Thai and Sicilian food, but there are, and I have highlighted these in the text. The very sound advice also appears to be applicable to any other cuisine if we wish to present a meal which shows respect for the ingredients, is balanced and beautifully and intuitively handled.

This all applies to all Italian cuisine as well.