Say "Cheese!"

This is a shot of our cheese trolley before it went out to the floor. I'm very lucky to be at a restaurant were cheese is an important part of the dinning experience. As you can see we usually run with 15 to 20 varieties. These will be a mix of both Australian and European cheeses. I particularly like the Australian goats cheese's but we have some fantastic imports. I buy a lot of my cheese from http://www.smellycheese.com.au. Mel looks after me there and she's always got lots of special lesser known cheeses to brighten up the board and filthy joke to make me laugh. Cheese is very expensive in Australia, especially the imported stuff, so I feel very lucky to be able to offer such a fine range. It's great watching the trolley go out full and then coming back with not much left, that means we might actually make some money on it. I just hope there's a little bit of runny Brillat Savarin for me to dip my warm bread in. Mmm..

1st & 3rd Courses of the Truffle Menu '08

Sorry I haven't managed to get the whole menu in 1 post but we seem to sell the menu in the middle of the busiest part of the service and I don't always have time to get the camera. However I'll try for the main and dessert this week. With the menu we've kept it very simple so that it's all about the truffle. The dishes are merely vehicles for these fabulous fungi. The first coarse is a truffle'd leek and potato veloute. We serve it with a little truffle'd pissaladiere on the side. The third coarse as you can see is an adaptation of the current scallop dish and again the simple flavours of a classic barigoule marry classically with the truffles. Three down, two to go.

Rib of Milk Fed Veal, Artickokes: Stuffed Globes and Smoked Jerusalem, Caper & Raisin Puree.

With the new Veal dish we've decided to bring back a bit of the old fashioned theatre to the dinning room. We cook the ribs sous-vide and colour them to order. The waiter then carves the rib from the bone table side and plates it for the guest. I think its important to keep some of the traditional techniques alive as they can so easily be forgotten in today's modern society.
The picture above is of the garnish which we plate in the kitchen. We smoke the Jerusalem artichokes, over vines and wine casks, after they are cooked and then puree them. The caper and raisin puree is a favourite of mine and the sweet, salty, sour flavours are necessary to cut through the richness of the meat and the puree. The stuffing for the globes is made from sweat breads, bone marrow, almonds, lemon zest, shallot and a little garlic and is well balanced against the sharp artichokes. The sauce is brought to life with a little jerez vinegar and brings everything together nicely.

Squid Ink bread....Cont.

Here's the first two dishes to come form my squid ink bread. I made a second batch with more butter, less ink and a little less water. The crumb was a little denser but still nice and light. We froze the loaf overnight and sliced it nice and thin. First we made crisp fingers and dressed them with a tartar of Hervey Bay scallops, sea urchin roe, yuzu/hazelnut emulsion and crisp garlic and baby onion rings. Quite delicious
Next we dried the bread around a canoli mould. when the tubes were nice and crisp we filled it with smoked bacon mousse and topped it with salmon caviar and a few micro herbs. I think this is the version were going to adapt. More to follow....

Coffin Bay Oysters, Shaved Foie Gras, Walnut Emulsion, Sorrel

This is the first coarse on our Gourmand Menu at the moment and has become one of the signature dishes at the restaurant. The oysters are shucked to order and then marinated in a hazelnut/walnut oil and sherry vinegar marinade. We then dress them with a walnut emulsion. The finishing touches are shaved foie gras, a sprinkling of toasted hazelnuts and some beautiful fragrant sorrel leaves. The dish sometimes comes with winter purslane when available.

Squid ink Bread

I decided this week to have some fun with squid ink. I've been wanting to make a squid ink bread for a while and today this was the first attempt. I was quite pleased with the results though tomorrow I will adjust the quantities a little. I based the recipe on a simple pain de mie recipe with the addition of the ink. I took out some of the butter; however on tasting the bread I feel that reducing the water to accommodate the added moisture from the ink would be better. The loaf had a fantastic crust and the crumb was quite light and moist.
I didn't have the proper mould to cook a pain de mie so I cooked the loaf first in a terrine mould and then finished it out of the mould.
I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the bread yet. I've thought of canapes with sea urchin, king crab sandwiches or maybe crisp croutons with 62 degree egg and chorizo puree. Not sure yet.
So this was a good start to a week of fun with squid ink. I'll let you know how I get on tomorrow.

62 degree Duck Egg, Glazed Girolles and Mousseron, Jamon and Parmesan.

This is one of my favourite dishes at the moment and is simply a plate filled with beautiful ingredients. The centre of the dish is the fantastic duck egg with its silky yolk that bursts and covers everything else in the bowl with a wave if richness and indulgence. We surround that with some tiny girolle and mousseron which we de-glaze with a little sherry vinegar and then glaze in a little veal jus. For good measure, and to add a little crunch, we toss in some delicate asparagus spears at the last moment. Then we twist in some wafer thin Iberian Jamon and some crunchy onion rings and Parmesan crisps. This would be great for breakfast, lunch or dinner and it makes a great second coarse on our truffle menu (add eggs stored with the truffles and lashings of freshly sliced W.A. truffles). Decadent, Rich and very very tasty.