BBQ, Whole Baby Snapper

Chermoula Marinated, BBQ, Whole Baby Snapper

4          Whole Gutted 500-600gm Baby Snapper

For Chermoula

2tbsp   Chopped coriander
3          Cloves
1½ tsp             Cumin, ground

1          Red Chilli
½tsp    Saffron threads
4tbsp   extra virgin olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
1½ tsp             Paprika
2tsp     salt

Method

In a food processor or blender, blend the ingredients for the chermoula to make a wet paste.

Using a pair of kitchen shears, or Sharp scissors, trim the fins from the top of the Snapper, the wings on the side, and the tail to neaten up (these will burn on the BBQ, so removing will prevent this). Alternatively, ask your fishmonger to do this.

Gently rub the chermoula mix over the fish to coat well, then refrigerate for 1 hour or overnight if you desire a stronger flavour.

Pre Heat BBQ

To cook.

The experienced BBQer

On the pre heated BBQ Grill, Place Cook Fish for 3-4 minutes on each side or until just cooked

For the less experienced

Wrap the fish individually in baking paper, and then tin foil, (this will prevent the fish from sticking to the BBQ), place directly on the grill and cook for 3-4 minutes on each side and rest for 1 minute. Take care when opening the Bag.

Serve with Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Lemon Wedges and a salad of your choice.

Christmas Pudding Recipe

This recipe is very simple to complete, takes minimal planning, and gives it a summer twist.
This recipe allows you to do individual puddings, or one large pudding, the size is up to you.
There is an alternative cooking method to this for those looking for a more traditional Christmas pudding, but I think this allows you to get everything desired in a pudding, moist, rich, full of fruit, and alcohol.
This is awesome with some creme anglais and a glass of cognac.
Any questions, or if you would like the traditional cooking method, I am happy to answer here or over twitter.

Christmas pudding
 

250 gm each	Dried raisins, sliced dried apricot and currants
100 gm	candied orange, finely chopped
200 ml	rum or brandy
250 gm	butter, plus extra for greasing
275 gm (1¼ cups)	firmly packed brown sugar
1	orange and 1 lemon, finely grated rind only
4	eggs, lightly whisked
150 gm (1 cup)	plain flour
½ tsp each	salt, mixed spice, nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon and bicarbonate of soda
60 gm (½ cup)	almond meal
140 gm (2 cups)	fresh breadcrumbs

Method

1	Combine dried fruit and candied orange in a bowl, scatter with rum or brandy, cover and stand overnight.
2	Beat together butter, sugar and rinds until pale and fluffy, then slowly beat in egg. Sieve together flour, salt, spices and bi-carb soda. Add to mixture in batches, alternating with soaked fruit mixture and almond meal. Stir through breadcrumbs.
3	Brush moulds with butter, line the base with a circle of baking paper and dust with flour. Pour pudding mixture into bowl and top with another circle of baking paper. Cover with two layers of foil
4	Cook in bain marie at 150C, for 45 minutes, or until cooked through.

Saint Peters Restaurant

I must admit, straight up, I am a little jealous of this place. The old Canary Club. maybe I am not keeping up with things as best as i should, but this is a site that I would love to get a hold of for myself, and i did not even know it was on the market. maybe I will get my own place in a few years....... ha, who am i kidding!
Maurice and Mariano have got themselves a great little sight. a quick little refurb from club into restaurant, and open the doors. i have no doubt that they will do more work in the next few months, but if you don't look too closely, the place does not need one.
Anyway, back to the point of the story, the food, November they are offering 50% of the food bill, wow!!
I am impressed straight from the start, this was a trick from Europe, when a place first opens, and they are training staff, gettying procedures set up and ironing out the kinks, a discount is offered, only fair considering the prices and level of professionalism?
Personally, I would do it differently, i dont know yet how, but differently.
Entree: the wife has the the South Aus King prawns, with lwmon, Mums parsley. baby capers, and white balsamic great dish, simple and clean, and as she is always so kind, offers me a taste. 8/10.
I have the Yabby Gyoza, with roasted beets, baby cucumber, shiso,and beetroot vinaigrette, again a lovely dish, components all compliment each other, but i did not see any sign of baby beetroot, and it was more of a tortelinni than a gyoza, adn the baby beets where un-peeled, this may have been the intention, but i felt a little mislead on the dish, and as lovely anf fresh as the dish was, if you say yabby gyoza, i want to see pan fried little dumplings, with discernible yabby flavour, call it what it is, tortelinni, and i would have been happier.  genorous 7/10 Both starters were served with a little seaweed and herb salad, it was a delightful little cleanser after out starters.
Main Courses arrive, and the the wife has the John Dory with mud crab, white asparagus, radish and Cinzano Bianco mayonaise, this looks to be a very clever dish fromthe outset, Dory is one of my favourite fish, it is clean, great flavour, and can hold its own with any nimber of combinations, and in this instance, proves the point, i did not even get a taste of this dish, but am told it was a beautiful dish.
I have the Ocean trout with cauliflower, dolcetto glaze, coral mushroom, and horseradish. It was beautiifully presented, with a crispy skin. To my liking, it was cooked a little too long on the flesh side, and not long enough on the skin side, to me, and in my kitchen, this is very important, if you cook it on the flesh, it dries it out, making it slightly chewy and stringy, sounds extreme, I know, but I would not serve it, cook it longer on the skin, and only for 30 seconds on the flesh in foaming butter, (I might do a demo on this sight in the near future). My other gripe with this dish is the dolcetto glaze, it was very sweet, a reduction of red wine always has a very tanic flavor that takes a lot of skill to work with, the alternative is to sweeten it. 6/10
I sound like I am being picky here, but I do not intend to, I really enjoyed myself, and the wines were very interesting indeed, a Contino Vermintino was delighful, at $13.00 a glass, and a chestnut hill pinot noir at $14 a glass was a great match for the trout.
Lets be honest 50% off the food for November, i think they are cutting themselves short, get in before they fill up!

London part 2

After time, you become accustomed to the hours and attitude that comes with the environment. It was not that long that i was asked to move to the larder section, not really the step up that I wanted, pastry section was good, but it required a different type of concentration. I wanted to get into the hot section, where you sweat, work hard, all the people on that side of the kitchen seemed so determined and committed. It was like you get to that side, and you have made it, not just someone who they would forget about in 2 months time.
Any way, back to Larder section, it was a minor step up, but i wanted more, so i called a few restaurants, including Tom Aitken, the 1 star that i had previously done a stage in. He was very keen to talk to me, so i made a time for my next day of, in 3 days time.
The next day at work, on larder, was an interesting day. Just after lunch service, the chef starts to head to the office, follwed by the junior sous. 1 minute later, i hear yelling, 'your only giving me 1 week's notice, a fucking commis gives me 1 weeks notice, are you fucking serious, fuck off now, go on, fuck off, don't waste my time.'
Another minute, and the now ex-junior sous comes to me and says goodbye, and runs out of the kitchen.
Another minute, later, and the chef comes to me and asks to talk to me in his office.
'yes chef' i reply
In his office he quickly explains to me that the chef resigned resigned, and only offered 1 weeks notice (it is standard to give 4 weeks for senior staff), and he said why......bla bla bla........fuck off. 'Would you like to step up to the meat section. It is the most important section in the kitchen, if you go down on that section, the whole kitchen goes down. Your always busy, and its fucking tough, are you up to the challenge'
'Absolutely' I say, 'its what i want'.
I was put on sauce that evening, under the guidance of the senior sous, it was tough, and i was completely lost, this kind of cooking meat was like no method I had ever used before, so much more intensive. you do not just throw the meat on the char grill, turn it with your tongs, and say yeah no worries mate. there are no tongue in this kitchen,  everything is turned gently, with a spoon, so as not to damage the appearance of the meat. Some is cooked in foaming butter, all about heat control, to much heat, and the butter burns, not enough, and heat meat just stews. other in buerre noisette, more problems here. The whole service, i had no idea what was going on. Every thing i did was checked by the senior sous, the temp of the meat, the seasoning of the food, And the carving of the meat had to be so precise, even slices, no sawing the meat.
So much to take in in one night.
I got through that night, and the next day was even harder, I had to start learning how to prep the section, the (i thought over the top method of mash potato. By the time i got to the end of that day, I was ruined.
The next day, my day off, i had arranged to talk with Tom, but i no longer wanted to leave, I new now that if i stayed, I would learn heaps, and I had the chance to make in this kitchen. this was the point, after 8 months, I new i had to talk my partner into staying in the U.K for longer. I new something good could come of this.
to be continued........

The Point, Albert Park

As seems to becoming a regular thing on a Sunday, our day started at the Albert Park hotel, for some bar snacks, and a bottle of wine. Our original intention was to eat at spice temple at crown for the second time, but a last minute change of mind saw us heading to the point. It had been about 6 months since my previous visit, not long, I know, but long enough for things to drastically change in a restaurant
.
This was not the case, the point is still doing the same style of food it is becoming known for, Scott Picket is doing a very good job here, but there is always room for improvement.

The entree arrive, we are sharing the suckling pig with rock lobster, and the salad of heirloom and organic vegetables. the suckling pig is very tender, with a soft crunch from the skin, the plates are artfully presented, but the initial problem is the temperature of the pork. It is cold. I work in kitchens, so i understand how this can happen, but at $29 for an entree, i do not expect it to happen. the flavour and texture of the dish are very good, safe, but good, i would like to see more rock lobster. 7/10
The heirloom and organic vegetables was a distinct disappointment, I wanted to love the dish but, so many issues, dont get me wrong, producing food at this level is very difficult, and when successful, an absolute delight to eat, so i wont go through all the problems, except to say, it need more flavor. 5/10

Main courses arrive, i had the Onkaparinga venison, and the wife had the new season lamb. The flavor on the venison is very nice, and it comes with a bonus potato gratin, again, it is a little on the cool sideand a touch under cooked, but still a very impressive dish, baby white asparagus, and sauce grand veneur, a huntsmans sauce, traditionally thickened with blood, (i dont know if this is the method used here)7.5/10
The new season lamb, I sadly did not get to try, but looked very nice, with sweetbread, brain, rump, and fillet.

The wine for the evening was an exceptionally good value, john duvel plexus, for only $63.
service at the Point is very friendly, staff have reasonable knowledge of the food, are efficient and friendly.

The point is a serious restaurant, and i always expect a good experience, but sadly, it does not quite live up to my expectations. Why do i keep going back? Lets call it hope!

The European

Ok, I have not been back in Melbourne all that long, about 16 months, and already i see a disturbing trend throughout the city, all the restaurants have pretty much the same menu. I know that is not entirely true, but the amount of dishes that appear keep appearing on different menu is starting to upset me.

This night, the wife and i share an entree, The octopus special for $25. The octopus was cooked sous vide for 6 hours (i think) before being grilled to order, served with cotechino, kipfler potato, and salsa verde. It could have been a nice dish, but 2 problems here, 1) the octopus, which we were told would be tender, was instead quite chewy. this is because it was served in lenghths, if cut shorter the fibres would be shorter, and voila, it would be more tender. Problem 2) the dish straight out of Thomas Keller's book, Under Pressure, with cotechino substituted for chorizo. Books are great, i own hundreds of cook books, but i do not copy a dish out of the book, use them for inspiration.  5/10

Course 2 for me was a veal holstein snitzel, with celeriac remoulade, fried egg, and white anchovie.
Holstein seems to be a bit of a trend at the moment, but thats fine, and in honesty, I think the European has been doing it for some time now. It should be a great dish, but the veal is overcooked, and for $42, i think a little more care should have been taken, that said, the flavours and textures were very good, and a very reasonable portion, the white anchovie not too overpowering, and a subtle celeriac remoulade to tie it together. For me, a little more mustard would have been great.    6/10

We opted to not have dessert, but insstead enjoy our wine, a great suggenstion from the sommelier, an Italian Nebbiolo (will come back with producer and vintage). it was surprisingly good value at $90. would recommend it. Suggestion and value for money 7/10

The place still has the European charm, but i would like to see it become a little better value for money. You still leave feeling like you have been robbed a bit, just like in Europe

2 years in London (part 1)

I will be honest about this, this is really the beginning of my career, and it was hard. Not just the cooking, but the life style as well. i say this is the beginning of my career, because it had the biggest influence on my current style.
I worked in a two Michelin starred restaurant, one of the best in London. I started at the bottom, making breads, and petite fours. Arrive at 7.00 in the morning, and start running, it was push push push for 5 hours until the start of Lunch service, it did not matter how many were booked, i was always in the shit, i had to bake 5 types of breads, 6 types of petite fours, make tuilles, and and help the pastry chef get ready for service because he was a complete idiot. How the hell was this guy running a pastry section in a 2 star restaurant. I was stuck in a hard place, help him get out of the shit, and let my section go down, or do my work, and he would go down, and then i get bollocked for not helping him, come on, i have only been working there for 3 weeks.
after about 1 1/2 months of this, one afternoon stands out to me. I sent up a tray of petite fours, and abou t20 minutes later the manager comes down, and passes to the head chef something small, he looks at me adn shows a small metal tart shell, (used to bake the filo for the pink praline tarts). He then passes it to the executive chef.

'What the fuck are you thinking, that is a fucking commis chef mistake, and you want to be a chef de partie, are you fucking happy, could you fucking eat that. Think your so fucking good don't you'
'No chef, sorry, wont happen again' i replied.
'I fucking hope it wont happen again, if it does you can fuck off'

I didn't know what to think. i was upset that i had let it go to the dining room, i was embarrassed, i was working 16 hours a day, 5 days a week, for what? to cop that?
The next day, i look at hte situation, i deserved it, we work those hours to produce a perfect experience for the customer, and who was i to stuff it up for the rest of the team.
After 3 months, the pastry chef resigned, thank god for that, i had had enough of him, he was so slow, and then i was asked to take over his role.
'Absolutely', it was what i was after, to start moving up in the kitchen.
Now this was an experience, i had not done a great deal of pastry work, but really wanted to learn. It got me going, It was not as hard as the Bread section, or maybe i was adapting more, but i started to get more organised, then after a week, on one busy service, the first pastry order came in, and i was determined to get it right, the pre dessert went up, and it took me about 25minutes to get the plates ready, for some reason i was running in circles, just couldn't fininsh the plate ups, the exec chef turned to me, and asked politely where the desserts were, i said up in 2 minutes chef. He turned to the sauce chef, and i overheard him say, i hope we dont have another ............. here.
That hurt me, I would have preferred a barrage of abuse, but comparing me to the previous pastry chef, i was embarrassed. Fuck me i was angry about it, but what could i do? I decided then that I needed to work harder, and prove him wrong.

to be continued.........