Andre Ursini at his new Frome St restaurant Andre Ursini’s soft polenta with mushrooms in a clay pot at Andre’s Cucina and Polenta Bar Gabriella Cavuoto stirs the soft polenta Andre Ursini’s polenta with Italian sausage and tomato salsa Soft polenta served with napoletana sauce, fresh parmesan and basil from the European The European Café’s fried polenta with sautéed spinach, gorgonzola cheese and cream	Gabriella Cavuoto’s creamy soft polenta with mushrooms, walnuts and truffle oil at the European Café at Norwood RUSTIC CHARM FASHIONABLE POLENTA IS A STAPLE FROM WAY BACK WORDS KYLIE FLEMING PHOTOGRAPHS RUSSELL MILLARD Cupboard staple polenta has its roots in the peasant food history of northern Italy but it is making a comeback as a fashionable, versatile ingredient. The ultimate comfort food, polenta is a grain made of ground cornmeal (maize) which can be boiled and served soft and creamy, baked, grilled or fried. While it is bland on its own, it is tasty when served with a variety of sauces, meat, mushrooms, vegetables, beans and cheese - and it makes a great alternative to rice, potatoes or pasta. Former Masterchef contestant, Andre Ursini, wowed fans of the TV show with his creations such as his loose polenta and semolina with bug bisque and is continuing his dedication to the grain at the new Andre’s Cucina and Polenta Bar in Frome St. Andre wants Australians to consider polenta as an option in the same way they think of pasta and pizza. He is using polenta as a base for various sauces and ingredients which he serves in clay pots on wooden boards sourced from Pepperino in Melbourne. “Polenta is a northern Italian staple, it’s been more popular there than pasta for centuries,” he says. “People sometimes expect polenta to be stodgy or heavy and their experiences of it are often of the instant, coarse grain stuff which is horrible but I’m using the fine-grained polenta and cooking it out properly for a different consistency so it’s creamy and smooth. “The response has been excellent. People are really open to trying it…there are so many varieties I can cook with and I know how good it can be.” Andre’s polenta starts with the stuzzichini (small appetisers) of polenta fritters with chilli pecorino cheese, baked polenta with slow roasted cherry tomatoes and white anchovies or polenta-crusted cheese ravioli. The main course section also features creamy soft polenta with Italian sausage and tomato salsa or another version dressed with wilted spinach and gorgonzola cheese. While polenta plays a starring role, Andre’s menu features other dishes with a distinctly Italian flavour such as shaved bresaola (cured and air-dried beef) and rocket salad with sweet sherry vinaigrette, walnuts and herbed ricotta or toasted ciabatta bread with tuna in extra virgin olive oil, artichoke pate, mascarpone cream, capers and lemon. Polenta is nothing new to Gabriella Cavuoto, chef and owner of the European Café, who has been serving up the Italian classic since the popular Norwood café opened in 1979. “My mum would always make it, it is something I’ve been eating all my life, and the tradition used to be that the polenta was thrown on the marble table-top and we’d sit around and eat it straight from the table,” she says. “It’s been around for years so it’s not really fashionable to me…it’s peasant food which was very popular in wartime because it was readily available, very much like the English bread and butter pudding.” Gabby loves the versatility of polenta which takes on the flavours of any good sauce and her personal favourite hasn’t left the European’s menu for 20 years – polenta con spinaci. This polenta is combined with semolina which binds together well for frying in long slabs or chunky squares. The accompanying sauce is a rich combo of sautéed spinach, cream and gorgonzola cheese. Other signature dishes are a simple soft polenta with a rich napolitana sauce and fresh parmesan or another with whole mushrooms, truffle oil and walnuts. “Salsicce con polenta is another very traditional dish which we never take off the menu and is made with Italian pork sausages in onion and tomato salsa with sauteed spinach on crispy polenta,” she says. “Polenta is great, its uses are endless and you can follow the instructions on the pack. It’s not rocket science - making bread is a lot harder.”

Andre Ursini at his new Frome St restaurant

Andre Ursini’s soft polenta with mushrooms in a clay pot at Andre’s Cucina and Polenta Bar

Gabriella Cavuoto stirs the soft polenta

Andre Ursini’s polenta with Italian sausage and tomato salsa

Soft polenta served with napoletana sauce, fresh parmesan and basil from the European

The European Café’s fried polenta with sautéed spinach, gorgonzola cheese and cream

Gabriella Cavuoto’s creamy soft polenta with mushrooms, walnuts and truffle oil at the European Café at Norwood

RUSTIC CHARM

FASHIONABLE POLENTA IS A STAPLE FROM WAY BACK

WORDS KYLIE FLEMING
PHOTOGRAPHS RUSSELL MILLARD

Cupboard staple polenta has its roots in the peasant food history of northern Italy but it is making a comeback as a fashionable, versatile ingredient.

The ultimate comfort food, polenta is a grain made of ground cornmeal (maize) which can be boiled and served soft and creamy, baked, grilled or fried.

While it is bland on its own, it is tasty when served with a variety of sauces, meat, mushrooms, vegetables, beans and cheese - and it makes a great alternative to rice, potatoes or pasta.

Former Masterchef contestant, Andre Ursini, wowed fans of the TV show with his creations such as his loose polenta and semolina with bug bisque and is continuing his dedication to the grain at the new Andre’s Cucina and Polenta Bar in Frome St.

Andre wants Australians to consider polenta as an option in the same way they think of pasta and pizza. He is using polenta as a base for various sauces and ingredients which he serves in clay pots on wooden boards sourced from Pepperino in Melbourne.

“Polenta is a northern Italian staple, it’s been more popular there than pasta for centuries,” he says.

“People sometimes expect polenta to be stodgy or heavy and their experiences of it are often of the instant, coarse grain stuff which is horrible but I’m using the fine-grained polenta and cooking it out properly for a different consistency so it’s creamy and smooth.

“The response has been excellent. People are really open to trying it…there are so many varieties I can cook with and I know how good it can be.”

Andre’s polenta starts with the stuzzichini (small appetisers) of polenta fritters with chilli pecorino cheese, baked polenta with slow roasted cherry tomatoes and white anchovies or polenta-crusted cheese ravioli.

The main course section also features creamy soft polenta with Italian sausage and tomato salsa or another version dressed with wilted spinach and gorgonzola cheese. While polenta plays a starring role, Andre’s menu features other dishes with a distinctly Italian flavour such as shaved bresaola (cured and air-dried beef) and rocket salad with sweet sherry vinaigrette, walnuts and herbed ricotta or toasted ciabatta bread with tuna in extra virgin olive oil, artichoke pate, mascarpone cream, capers and lemon.

Polenta is nothing new to Gabriella Cavuoto, chef and owner of the European Café, who has been serving up the Italian classic since the popular Norwood café opened in 1979.

“My mum would always make it, it is something I’ve been eating all my life, and the tradition used to be that the polenta was thrown on the marble table-top and we’d sit around and eat it straight from the table,” she says.

“It’s been around for years so it’s not really fashionable to me…it’s peasant food which was very popular in wartime because it was readily available, very much like the English bread and butter pudding.”

Gabby loves the versatility of polenta which takes on the flavours of any good sauce and her personal favourite hasn’t left the European’s menu for 20 years – polenta con spinaci. This polenta is combined with semolina which binds together well for frying in long slabs or chunky squares. The accompanying sauce is a rich combo of sautéed spinach, cream and gorgonzola cheese.

Other signature dishes are a simple soft polenta with a rich napolitana sauce and fresh parmesan or another with whole mushrooms, truffle oil and walnuts.

“Salsicce con polenta is another very traditional dish which we never take off the menu and is made with Italian pork sausages in onion and tomato salsa with sauteed spinach on crispy polenta,” she says.

“Polenta is great, its uses are endless and you can follow the instructions on the pack. It’s not rocket science - making bread is a lot harder.”

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Chris Jarmer at Restaurant Air Chris Jarmer cooked salt and pepper Gulf prawns to match Coopers Clear beer Mark Ewan from Dragonfly Bar and Dining prepared black pepper and lemongrass beef to team with Maiden Ale beer Mark Ewan from Dragonfly in Victoria Square Kieren Mykyta at Hotel Tivoli, Pirie St	Kieren Mykyta from Hotel Tivoli cooked a chocolate and Guinness fondant which is ideal with stout TASTY BREW BEER IS BEST WHEN IT COMES TO ENHANCING THE DINING EXPERIENCE WORDS KYLIE FLEMING PHOTOGRAPHS RUSSELL MILLARD The humble beer is moving from the backyard barbie to the restaurant table as savvy diners swap their shiraz for stout in the pursuit of perfect food and beverage matches. Beer is a versatile, food-friendly drink with a broad flavour spectrum making it easy to match with most dishes. Bars and restaurants are paying more attention to creating interesting beer lists to rival the wine selection and chefs, who often unwind with a cleansing ale or two, are becoming increasingly imaginative when it comes to pairing the amber fluid with food. Chef Mark Ewan of Dragonfly Bar and Dining, in Victoria Square, took up the challenge of creating a dish to partner local brew Maiden Ale from the Brew Boys microbrewery at Croydon. “I settled on a black pepper and lemongrass beef fillet made with my own paste of black peppercorns, lemongrass, ginger, garlic, chilli, a little bit of oyster and soy sauces,” he says. “I really like the zingy, spicy sauce which goes well with the floral, spicy, caramel characters of this beer.” Mark says people are becoming more adventurous about marrying beers with food flavours. “Asahi draught beer with its clean, crisp flavours and edamame with its salty, chilli fragrant kick is a perfect bar snack team up,” he says. “A big, cold, frosty jug of WA’s Fat Yak Pale Ale makes me think of being in Kyoto in 2005 where I had beer served in huge pitchers while okonomi yaki (Japanese style pizza) was prepared on a hotplate in your booth – awesome!” Mark’s latest menu features Terra Rossa beef with a gorgonzola sauce and white polenta which he says would partner well with Trumer Pils pilsener from Austria. “It has a lovely creamy bitterness that would round out nicely with this rich gorgonzola-drenched dish.” Chris Jarmer, chef and owner of Restaurant Air, on North Terrace, partners his personal favourite, salt and pepper SA Gulf prawns, with Asian salad, lime and sweet chilli reduction with Coopers Clear, a full-strength, low-carbohydrate dry beer. “Any salt and pepper seafood or white meat goes really well with this light, crisp style of beer and the lime in the dish picks up on the citrus characters in the beer,” he says. Chris says lighter-style brews such as Coopers Clear also marry well with his Moroccan chicken with couscous, parsley, green olive, walnut and sultana salad or his signature Thai beef salad. “Beer is great fun in cooking…I recently made a beer jelly to serve with fresh berries and I also make a sticky beer sauce which is great with pancakes and adds a nice malty flavour, it’s toffee apple-ish.” Executive chef Kieren Mykyta of Hotel Tivoli, in Pirie St, loves dark beers and uses stout in his Guinness and chocolate fondant dessert which is made with Belgian Callebaut chocolate and served with vanilla semi-freddo, chocolate pencils and chocolate sauce. “It’s a nice winter warmer, like a self-saucing pudding, and the beer adds a bitter note so it’s a combination that really works,” he says. “Food is fun and should be played with a bit and stout or dark ales are two things - alcoholic and liquid – so it’s fun to experiment and use them as substitutes in recipes.” Kieren says beer can replace water or stock in red meat stews such as the classic Belgian Stew Beef Carbonnade. It can also be used in Sabayon, a light French dessert sauce, and sorbet (frozen dessert) and it works well in traditional Aussie pies. “It’s also great in French classics such as Chicken a la Biere, which uses stout, or add beer to sauces or gravy/ jus by reducing the beer down then building the sauce,” he says.

Chris Jarmer at Restaurant Air

Chris Jarmer cooked salt and pepper Gulf prawns to match Coopers Clear beer

Mark Ewan from Dragonfly Bar and Dining prepared black pepper and lemongrass beef to team with Maiden Ale beer

Mark Ewan from Dragonfly in Victoria Square

Kieren Mykyta at Hotel Tivoli,
Pirie St

Kieren Mykyta from Hotel Tivoli cooked a chocolate and Guinness fondant which is ideal with stout

TASTY BREW

BEER IS BEST WHEN IT COMES TO ENHANCING THE DINING EXPERIENCE

WORDS KYLIE FLEMING
PHOTOGRAPHS RUSSELL MILLARD

The humble beer is moving from the backyard barbie to the restaurant table as savvy diners swap their shiraz for stout in the pursuit of perfect food and beverage matches.

Beer is a versatile, food-friendly drink with a broad flavour spectrum making it easy to match with most dishes.

Bars and restaurants are paying more attention to creating interesting beer lists to rival the wine selection and chefs, who often unwind with a cleansing ale or two, are becoming increasingly imaginative when it comes to pairing the amber fluid with food.

Chef Mark Ewan of Dragonfly Bar and Dining, in Victoria Square, took up the challenge of creating a dish to partner local brew Maiden Ale from the Brew Boys microbrewery at Croydon.

“I settled on a black pepper and lemongrass beef fillet made with my own paste of black peppercorns, lemongrass, ginger, garlic, chilli, a little bit of oyster and soy sauces,” he says.

“I really like the zingy, spicy sauce which goes well with the floral, spicy, caramel characters of this beer.”

Mark says people are becoming more adventurous about marrying beers with food flavours.

“Asahi draught beer with its clean, crisp flavours and edamame with its salty, chilli fragrant kick is a perfect bar snack team up,” he says.

“A big, cold, frosty jug of WA’s Fat Yak Pale Ale makes me think of being in Kyoto in 2005 where I had beer served in huge pitchers while okonomi yaki (Japanese style pizza) was prepared on a hotplate in your booth – awesome!”

Mark’s latest menu features Terra Rossa beef with a gorgonzola sauce and white polenta which he says would partner well with Trumer Pils pilsener from Austria.

“It has a lovely creamy bitterness that would round out nicely with this rich gorgonzola-drenched dish.”

Chris Jarmer, chef and owner of Restaurant Air, on North Terrace, partners his personal favourite, salt and pepper SA Gulf prawns, with Asian salad, lime and sweet chilli reduction with Coopers Clear, a full-strength, low-carbohydrate dry beer.

“Any salt and pepper seafood or white meat goes really well with this light, crisp style of beer and the lime in the dish picks up on the citrus characters in the beer,” he says.

Chris says lighter-style brews such as Coopers Clear also marry well with his Moroccan chicken with couscous, parsley, green olive, walnut and sultana salad or his signature Thai beef salad.

“Beer is great fun in cooking…I recently made a beer jelly to serve with fresh berries and I also make a sticky beer sauce which is great with pancakes and adds a nice malty flavour, it’s toffee apple-ish.”

Executive chef Kieren Mykyta of Hotel Tivoli, in Pirie St, loves dark beers and uses stout in his Guinness and chocolate fondant dessert which is made with Belgian Callebaut chocolate and served with vanilla semi-freddo, chocolate pencils and chocolate sauce.

“It’s a nice winter warmer, like a self-saucing pudding, and the beer adds a bitter note so it’s a combination that really works,” he says.

“Food is fun and should be played with a bit and stout or dark ales are two things - alcoholic and liquid – so it’s fun to experiment and use them as substitutes in recipes.”

Kieren says beer can replace water or stock in red meat stews such as the classic Belgian Stew Beef Carbonnade.

It can also be used in Sabayon, a light French dessert sauce, and sorbet (frozen dessert) and it works well in traditional Aussie pies.

“It’s also great in French classics such as Chicken a la Biere, which uses stout, or add beer to sauces or gravy/ jus by reducing the beer down then building the sauce,” he says.

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Chef Michelle Rodgers at the Stanley Bridge Tavern Individual blueberry Cheesecake at The Haus Café Kitchen and Bar at Hahndorf Mushroom bruschetta with pan-fried mushrooms, pesto, onion jam, baby spinach and goat cheese at The Table at Stirling Trifle muesli at The Table Premium chargrilled beef and potato mash with rich jus at The Haus at Hahndorf Cherry cake at The Haus	Slow-cooked pork belly on cavalo nero with beets from Stanley Bridge Tavern at Verdun ALL-DAY MENU DINING OUT IN THE HILLS STARTS WITH BREAKFAST WORDS KYLIE FLEMING PHOTOGRAPHS RUSSELL MILLARD Cool winter days and chilly evenings are traditionally some of the best times to journey into the Adelaide Hills for winter-warming food and wine experiences. And regardless of the time of day, there’s a restaurant with a menu to suit. Start the day with breakfast at The Table at Stirling where chef/owner Michelle Campbell makes her famous muesli trifle with layers of muesli, yoghurt and fruits in a long glass with milk on the side. Or warm up with green eggs and ham with creamy scrambled eggs, basil pesto, baby spinach, bacon and toast. For breakfast with sublime city views, head to The Scenic Hotel at Norton Summit for a traditional brekkie of scrambled eggs with a tomato, onion and basil salsa or the classic eggs benedict. Lunch in the Hills can range from wholesome, fresh fare at the ever-popular Stirling Organic Market to modern, rustic bistro foods at Lisa Herbert’s Aldgate Providore. The Stirling Hotel’s Mallee Grill Restaurant, open for dinner during the week, offers a full gourmet lunch experience on Sundays with dishes such as veal rib eye with salsa verde potato mash, mustard horseradish relish and Shiraz black pepper glaze. Fine dining temple Petaluma Bridgewater Mill has a new menu by chef Le Tu Thai with wintry lunchtime offerings ranging from ox cheek pie with celeriac puree, figs and lager sauce to a dessert of dark chocolate pate with toasted vanilla brioche, poached pear and glace peanut nougat. The Lane Vineyard at Hahndorf, home to The Lane wines, is a sleek bistro with a menu designed to match the wines such as confit duck leg, seared breast with sour cherries and sauce soubise or beef with broad beans, garlic confit and pearl onions. The Haus, also at Hahndorf, is an all-day venue and great for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Kick off the day with bubble and squeak with poached egg or stay for lunch with modern German dish of Kassler chop with sauerkraut and boiled herb potatoes. Longview Vineyards at Macclesfield hosts popular Sunday tapas sessions with dishes to share including sweet pork and pimento empanadas with vincotto dressed cherry tomato, shallot and baby spinach salad or chicken, leek and jamon croquettes. Move from wine to beer at Lobethal Bierhaus micro brewery at Lobethal which is home to handcrafted beers and a family-friendly restaurant with an open fireplace - call in for a Hefeweizen beer and smoked duck on mushroom risotto cakes. Most Hills townships have cosy old pubs ideal for winter dining such as the historic Stanley Bridge Tavern at Verdun which has new owners - Marcus Ramsay, Michelle Rodgers, David Hooper and Ben Warren. Their winter menu features slow-cooked pork belly with beets, apples and cavalo nero or a black angus Scotch fillet with chargrilled bone marrow, jus and a mustard seed slaw. The Aldgate Pump Hotel is a Hills institution with pub grub such as their “Parmageddon” chicken schnitzel or more gourmet-oriented fare such as a chicken and chorizo risotto. Stirling’s Locavore has a new winter menu with local foods featuring strongly in lunch or dinner dishes such as Harris Smokehouse salmon filled with Woodside goats curd and potato salad or Hills meat purveyor Richard Gunner’s Berkshire pork chops with Beerenberg mustard, braised Lenswood apple and quandong glaze. Closer to the city, Jimmie’s on the Summit at Crafers is the best place for wood oven pizzas topped with Moroccan chicken; prawns and baked fetta or Turkish lamb pizza in addition to chef Che Zahra’s menu of home-cooked, funky bistro dishes.

Chef Michelle Rodgers at
the Stanley Bridge Tavern

Individual blueberry
Cheesecake at The Haus Café
Kitchen and Bar at Hahndorf

Mushroom bruschetta with pan-fried mushrooms, pesto, onion jam, baby spinach and goat cheese at The Table at Stirling

Trifle muesli at The Table

Premium chargrilled beef
and potato mash with rich
jus at The Haus at Hahndorf

Cherry cake at The Haus

Slow-cooked pork belly on cavalo nero with beets from Stanley Bridge Tavern at Verdun

ALL-DAY MENU

DINING OUT IN THE HILLS STARTS WITH BREAKFAST

WORDS KYLIE FLEMING
PHOTOGRAPHS RUSSELL MILLARD

Cool winter days and chilly evenings are traditionally some of the best times to journey into the Adelaide Hills for winter-warming food and wine experiences.

And regardless of the time of day, there’s a restaurant with a menu to suit.

Start the day with breakfast at The Table at Stirling where chef/owner Michelle Campbell makes her famous muesli trifle with layers of muesli, yoghurt and fruits in a long glass with milk on the side. Or warm up with green eggs and ham with creamy scrambled eggs, basil pesto, baby spinach, bacon and toast.

For breakfast with sublime city views, head to The Scenic Hotel at Norton Summit for a traditional brekkie of scrambled eggs with a tomato, onion and basil salsa or the classic eggs benedict.

Lunch in the Hills can range from wholesome, fresh fare at the ever-popular Stirling Organic Market to modern, rustic bistro foods at Lisa Herbert’s Aldgate Providore.

The Stirling Hotel’s Mallee Grill Restaurant, open for dinner during the week, offers a full gourmet lunch experience on Sundays with dishes such as veal rib eye with salsa verde potato mash, mustard horseradish relish and Shiraz black pepper glaze.

Fine dining temple Petaluma Bridgewater Mill has a new menu by chef Le Tu Thai with wintry lunchtime offerings ranging from ox cheek pie with celeriac puree, figs and lager sauce to a dessert of dark chocolate pate with toasted vanilla brioche, poached pear and glace peanut nougat.

The Lane Vineyard at Hahndorf, home to The Lane wines, is a sleek bistro with a menu designed to match the wines such as confit duck leg, seared breast with sour cherries and sauce soubise or beef with broad beans, garlic confit and pearl onions.

The Haus, also at Hahndorf, is an all-day venue and great for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Kick off the day with bubble and squeak with poached egg or stay for lunch with modern German dish of Kassler chop with sauerkraut and boiled herb potatoes.

Longview Vineyards at Macclesfield hosts popular Sunday tapas sessions with dishes to share including sweet pork and pimento empanadas with vincotto dressed cherry tomato, shallot and baby spinach salad or chicken, leek and jamon croquettes.

Move from wine to beer at Lobethal Bierhaus micro brewery at Lobethal which is home to handcrafted beers and a family-friendly restaurant with an open fireplace - call in for a Hefeweizen beer and smoked duck on mushroom risotto cakes.

Most Hills townships have cosy old pubs ideal for winter dining such as the historic Stanley Bridge Tavern at Verdun which has new owners - Marcus Ramsay, Michelle Rodgers, David Hooper and Ben Warren.

Their winter menu features slow-cooked pork belly with beets, apples and cavalo nero or a black angus Scotch fillet with chargrilled bone marrow, jus and a mustard seed slaw.

The Aldgate Pump Hotel is a Hills institution with pub grub such as their “Parmageddon” chicken schnitzel or more gourmet-oriented fare such as a chicken and chorizo risotto.

Stirling’s Locavore has a new winter menu with local foods featuring strongly in lunch or dinner dishes such as Harris Smokehouse salmon filled with Woodside goats curd and potato salad or Hills meat purveyor Richard Gunner’s Berkshire pork chops with Beerenberg mustard, braised Lenswood apple and quandong glaze.

Closer to the city, Jimmie’s on the Summit at Crafers is the best place for wood oven pizzas topped with Moroccan chicken; prawns and baked fetta or Turkish lamb pizza in addition to chef Che Zahra’s menu of home-cooked, funky bistro dishes.

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From Scratch Patisserie’s colourful macaroons A fruit tart from Au Matin Calme in Hutt St Almond, chocolate and rice bubble sweet from Au Matin Calme Lady finger sponge with cream cheese mousse from Au Matin Calme Anthony, Chakey and Guillaume from Au Matin Calme An apple Breton by From Scratch Patisserie	Edwina Peoples and Jonny Pisanelli of From Scratch Patisserie SUBLIME SWEETS BITE-SIZED CAKES AND PASTRIES TOO PRETTY TO IGNORE Europe’s grand patisseries and pasticcerias may be the traditional home of pastry chefs but Adelaide has several artisan bakers who are creating authentic and delicious sweet treats. From Scratch Patisserie is run by patissiers Edwina Peoples and her partner Jonny Pisanelli who sell their boutique pastries and desserts at the Adelaide Showground Farmers Market and Gilles Street Market. Edwina and Jonny make superb sfogliatelle, Italian shell-shaped layered Italian pastries traditionally filled with custard, financiers (small French cakes in plain or blueberry), cornetti pastries and zeppole (Italian doughnuts). Handmade tarts include apple breton or others topped with homemade caramelised figs and almonds or sour cherries. The quirky Chocberry Gilmore (a reference to the film Happy Gilmore) is a sweet chocolate pastry with chocolate filling, hazelnut custard and raspberry compote on top. Jonny says the “golf ball” is made of toasted coconut, folded through an Italian meringue, and then flamed with a blow torch. An authentic Castagnata is an Italian torte made with chestnuts, rosemary, pine nuts, and olive oil, while Edwina describes the whimsical Ugly Raspbetties as “so ugly but they taste so good”. Genuine macaroons are difficult to make but Edwina has perfected hers which are offered in a rainbow of colours and flavours (salted chocolate caramel, passionfruit, orange and Cointreau, strawberries and cream, apple pie and others). Edwina and Jonny, who already have full-time jobs in the food industry, are building From Scratch gradually but they have serious plans to open their own café in the not-too-distant future. They both agree it will be the perfect combination of their skills and passions. Jonny, who studied patisserie at Regency TAFE, works as a barista at Cibo and is heading to London in June to represent Australia in the tasting section of the World Barista Championships. Edwina is a fully qualified chef who cooked at Magill Estate Restaurant for five years followed by a stint at the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore and now bakes at Dough in the Central Market. “We’re still learning a lot, experimenting with our foods, trying new things and the markets are the perfect place to find out what people like the best,” Edwina says. From Scratch Patisserie is at Adelaide Showgrounds Farmers Markets, at Wayville, every Sunday from 9am to 1pm and Gilles Street Markets (next market is Sunday, May 16) Au Matin Calme (“morning calm” in French) in Hutt St is a newcomer to Adelaide’s patisserie scene. The charming tea lounge is run by Guillaume Blanc and Anthony Terve, who hail from France, and Chakey Kim of Korea who met when they were working in Melbourne. The two-storey café has a Parisian mood with sun-filled upstairs dining rooms painted in aquamarine or pale lemon with timber floors and furniture. Jazz music adds a calm ambience while baking aromas escape from the downstairs kitchen. The display cabinet is full of high-quality, house-baked sweet treats such as hazelnut and almond dacquoise, milk chocolate ganache and caramelised hazelnut paste. There are cheesecakes, finger lady sponge with cream cheese mousse and pastries filled with caramelised hazelnut paste with milk chocolate rice bubbles, or vanilla mousse. An array of glossy, glazed fruit tarts and freshly baked financiers in orange or raspberry would make a nice accompaniment to a pot of tea or “Secret French hot chocolate”. Pastry cheese pockets, croissants and quiche add a savoury edge. www.fromscratchpatisserie,com.au Au Matin Calme, 210 Hutt St, Adelaide More patisseries to visit: Muratti, 114b Prospect Rd, Prospect Whisk, 95 Goodwood Rd, Goodwood Mulots, 143a King William Rd, Hyde Park Cannelle Fine Foods, 123b Magill Rd, Magill Swedish Tarts, 40 Semaphore Rd, Semaphore Patisserie Royale, 64 Barnes Rd, Glynde

From Scratch Patisserie’s colourful macaroons

A fruit tart from Au Matin Calme in Hutt St

Almond, chocolate and rice bubble sweet from Au Matin Calme

Lady finger sponge with cream cheese mousse from Au Matin Calme

Anthony, Chakey and Guillaume from Au Matin Calme

An apple Breton by From Scratch Patisserie

Edwina Peoples and Jonny Pisanelli of From Scratch Patisserie

SUBLIME SWEETS

BITE-SIZED CAKES AND PASTRIES TOO PRETTY TO IGNORE

Europe’s grand patisseries and pasticcerias may be the traditional home of pastry chefs but Adelaide has several artisan bakers who are creating authentic and delicious sweet treats.
From Scratch Patisserie is run by patissiers Edwina Peoples and her partner Jonny Pisanelli who sell their boutique pastries and desserts at the Adelaide Showground Farmers Market and Gilles Street Market.
Edwina and Jonny make superb sfogliatelle, Italian shell-shaped layered Italian pastries traditionally filled with custard, financiers (small French cakes in plain or blueberry), cornetti pastries and zeppole (Italian doughnuts). Handmade tarts include apple breton or others topped with homemade caramelised figs and almonds or sour cherries. The quirky Chocberry Gilmore (a reference to the film Happy Gilmore) is a sweet chocolate pastry with chocolate filling, hazelnut custard and raspberry compote on top. Jonny says the “golf ball” is made of toasted coconut, folded through an Italian meringue, and then flamed with a blow torch.
An authentic Castagnata is an Italian torte made with chestnuts, rosemary, pine nuts, and olive oil, while Edwina describes the whimsical Ugly Raspbetties as “so ugly but they taste so good”.
Genuine macaroons are difficult to make but Edwina has perfected hers which are offered in a rainbow of colours and flavours (salted chocolate caramel, passionfruit, orange and Cointreau, strawberries and cream, apple pie and others).
Edwina and Jonny, who already have full-time jobs in the food industry, are building From Scratch gradually but they have serious plans to open their own café in the not-too-distant future. They both agree it will be the perfect combination of their skills and passions.
Jonny, who studied patisserie at Regency TAFE, works as a barista at Cibo and is heading to London in June to represent Australia in the tasting section of the World Barista Championships. Edwina is a fully qualified chef who cooked at Magill Estate Restaurant for five years followed by a stint at the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore and now bakes at Dough in the Central Market.
“We’re still learning a lot, experimenting with our foods, trying new things and the markets are the perfect place to find out what people like the best,” Edwina says.
From Scratch Patisserie is at Adelaide Showgrounds Farmers Markets, at Wayville, every Sunday from 9am to 1pm and Gilles Street Markets (next market is Sunday, May 16)
Au Matin Calme (“morning calm” in French) in Hutt St is a newcomer to Adelaide’s patisserie scene. The charming tea lounge is run by Guillaume Blanc and Anthony Terve, who hail from France, and Chakey Kim of Korea who met when they were working in Melbourne.
The two-storey café has a Parisian mood with sun-filled upstairs dining rooms painted in aquamarine or pale lemon with timber floors and furniture. Jazz music adds a calm ambience while baking aromas escape from the downstairs kitchen.
The display cabinet is full of high-quality, house-baked sweet treats such as hazelnut and almond dacquoise, milk chocolate ganache and caramelised hazelnut paste. There are cheesecakes, finger lady sponge with cream cheese mousse and pastries filled with caramelised hazelnut paste with milk chocolate rice bubbles, or vanilla mousse. An array of glossy, glazed fruit tarts and freshly baked financiers in orange or raspberry would make a nice accompaniment to a pot of tea or “Secret French hot chocolate”. Pastry cheese pockets, croissants and quiche add a savoury edge.

www.fromscratchpatisserie,com.au

Au Matin Calme, 210 Hutt St, Adelaide

More patisseries to visit:
Muratti, 114b Prospect Rd, Prospect
Whisk, 95 Goodwood Rd, Goodwood
Mulots, 143a King William Rd, Hyde Park
Cannelle Fine Foods, 123b Magill Rd, Magill
Swedish Tarts, 40 Semaphore Rd, Semaphore
Patisserie Royale, 64 Barnes Rd, Glynde

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Hay Valley lamb cutlets with
local heirloom tomatoes,
zucchini and olives from
Fino at Willunga

Sharon Romeo and David
Swain at Fino which
celebrates its fourth
birthday this month

A roasted vegetable frittata
at The Orchard Café at Aldinga

Organic watermelon with
Woodside goat’s curd, blood
orange, extra virgin olive oil,
chardonnay vinegar, cracked
pepper and fresh oregano
from The Orchard Café

Recipe from Kathy Larcombe
at The Orchard, Aldinga

PICK OF THE CROP

EARLY AUTUMN IS PERFECT FOR DINING IN MCLAREN VALE

Visit the McLaren Vale district sometime soon and you will literally be able to taste the arrival of autumn.
   Progressive chefs are working closely with the region’s farmers and growers to get the best possible produce for their menus, with supplies greatly influenced by the season.
   Fino, at Willunga, is one of the area’s most celebrated restaurants and has a philosophy based on provincial, market-fresh foods from local farmers.
   The menu evolves around what is available on the day so the restaurant can claim to be truly regional and seasonal.
   Fino, owned by front-of-house star Sharon Romeo and chef David Swain, marks its fourth anniversary this month.
Since the beginning, the pair has been insistent on using the abundant ingredients which surround them.
   A new autumn-flavoured dish combines Hay Valley lamb cutlets from the Fleurieu with local heirloom tomatoes, zucchini and olives (photo). Other parochial offerings are pan-fried local squid, cucumber, fennel and verdale olives while Fino always serves locally baked organic bread and McLaren Vale’s Diana Olive Oil (the Novello First Pressed Olive Oil).
   “We also get Kangaroo Island whole red mullet whenever we can and serve it with sauce piperade (a Basque sauce of onion, green peppers and tomatoes) and we love being able to get local hare from Meningie,” Sharon says.
   “At the moment we’re doing pan-fried quail with new season’s radicchio, white beans and, mos importantly our own figs from our tree… it’s a small tree so when we run out, we run out.”
   “That’s what we want to get across, that we have small windows of opportunity when we can get certain foods and that excites me, and it excites David too.”
   Sharon says one of Fino’s signature dishes also makes a perfect Easter dish - wild Coorong rabbit and boccalaro sausage, pork loin, confit rabbit salad and braised leeks.
   David sources local wild rabbit and makes the boccalaro sausage with rabbit thigh meat and house-cured pig’s cheek (guanciale), fresh herbs and toasted pinenuts wrapped in a duck neck skin.
   The pig’s cheek is cured using Sharon’s dad’s recipe with sweet smoky paprika, chilli, black pepper fennel seeds and salt.
   The Orchard at Aldinga also takes inspiration from bountiful Fleurieu foods with a menu which café owner Kerry Flanagan describes as “fresh, flavoursome, local and simple”.
   New chef Kathy Larcombe, who has worked in the region at d’Arry’s Veranda, McLarens on The Lake and The Victory Hotel, says she always writes her menu around seasonal produce.
   “You’d be a fool not to follow the seasons like now, figs are at their premium, and who doesn’t love a fresh fig wrapped in prosciutto and stuffed with gorgonzola?” she asks.
   Kathy favours local meats from Hamlet’s at Willunga and Ellis Butchers at McLaren Vale and uses her connections on Kangaroo Island to source top-quality oysters and whiting.
   “I’m also a herb fanatic and always, always use lots of fresh herbs which can add a little extra tang or extra dimension and are fantastic in salads or can make a dish in winter with slow braised foods,” she says.
   The Orchard’s popular Pickers Platter uses local ingredients in morsels such as lamb kibbi with cinnamon and mint yoghurt, chargrilled red peppers, bocconcini, Willunga chorizo with caramelised onion, grilled zucchini with lemon and oregano, rockmelon with prosciutto, marinated local olives and mushrooms with balsamic and thyme.

Others in the region:
The Kitchen Door at Penny’s Hill Winery – Chef Ben Sommariva’s new autumn menu features plenty of regional produce with dishes such as the all-local dish of mille feuille of beetroot chips with Hindmarsh Dairy Cumulus cheese and young salad leaves; a local pea and mint soup with pancetta crumble and twice-cooked Coorong Angas ox tail (Coorong Angas)with gourmet macaroni and cheese.
d’Arry’s Veranda – Chefs Peter Reschke and Nigel Rich offer an autumn menu with local goodies such as locally-caught salt and pepper squid with tatsoi, jellyfish salad and wasabi mayonnaise or desserts such a honey panna cotta with honeycomb and baked quince (from their own back yard)

www.fino.net.au
www.theorchardcafe.com.au

Slow cooked fennel, prawn
and prosciutto risotto

Ingredients
3 baby fennel bulbs, sliced finely
1 kg de-veined Spencer Gulf green prawn tails
500g arborio rice
250g sliced Hamlets (Willunga) prosciutto
1.5 litre chicken stock
200g shredded parmesan
100g shaved Grana Padano cheese
100g unsalted butter
1 large diced onion
1 cup of McLaren Vale dry white wine - Coriole Fiano would be ideal
100ml extra virgin olive oil - Diana Chef’s Blend (Willunga)
Sea salt and cracked black pepper

Method
Slowly cook fennel rubbed with extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper in oven at 150oC until tender. Place prosciutto on tray and bake until crisp. Sautee onion in butter; add rice, sautee then add wine and stock in gradual amounts. Add prawns just prior to rice being cooked. Then add shredded parmesan and stir through fennel. Dress with shaved parmesan and chopped parsley tops and drizzle with olive oil.

Serves 6

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A rich wot beef stew with East African spices, fosolia beans and carrots and tiket goman cabbage and carrot and traditional Ethiopian ingera bread from Zagol House at Hindmarsh Husband and wife team Nigist and Estifanos from East African restaurant Zagol House Narenge palaw seasoned chicken under basmati rice topped candied orange peelings, slivered almonds and pistachios from Parwana Afghani restaurant at Torrensville Fatima Ayubi with her parents Zelmai and Farida at Parwana Ashak dumplings filled with leek in lamb sauce and topped with yoghurt-mint dressing from Parwana	EXOTIC TASTES ADELAIDE’S DINING SCENE IS A MELTING POT OF FLAVOURS FROM AROUND THE WORLD Restaurants are a delicious reflection of a city’s cultural diversity and Adelaide definitely offers the world on a plate. The once-exotic Italian and Chinese cuisines have hit the mainstream as keen foodies search for new flavour experiences and ethnic cuisines. SA Restaurant and Catering head Sally Neville says the rising value of the Australian dollar and the surge in overseas travel is fuelling the growing interest in the foods of other cultures. “The access we have to recipes via the internet and the fact we can source other cultures’ food products at specialty stores or supermarkets is really driving an interest in cooking styles that were non-existent 20 years ago,” she says. Parwana is Adelaide’s first and only Afghani restaurant and is owned by the Ayubi family who came to Australia from Afghanistan in 1989. The family-run venue includes matriarch and head chef Farida and her husband Zelmai while one of their five daughters, Fatima, manages the restaurant. The menu offers classic Afghani dishes which are part of a distinctive cuisine influenced by neighbouring countries such as Russia, China, India and Pakistan. “People love our food because of the home-style flavours and they recognise the various spice flavours from other cuisines like Moroccan or Turkish but it all comes together differently in Afghani cuisine,” Fatima says. Popular dishes include ashak dumplings, in a delicate wonton-like skin filled with chopped leeks and served with a well-seasoned lamb sauce. The narenge palaw is a national dish with fragrant, perfectly cooked rice, candied orange peelings mixed in with slivered almonds and peeled pistachio pieces and chicken pieces while desserts include the colourful falooda layered icecream, saffron jelly, intense rose syrup and basil seeds. Adelaide’s only Sudanese restaurant is Babanusa at Prospect, owned by Eltahir Malik who came to Australia in 1983 from the Sudanese capital Khartoum (via Greece) where he trained as a civil engineer. Chef Eddie Ahmed also hails from Khartoum and cooks traditional Sudanese food with full-flavoured, not overly spicy dishes. Tasty homemade dips are served with kisra, traditional thin bread, while jagadig is Sudanese comfort food - spicy beef stew in a rich sauce served with fresh green spinach and black eye beans. Dilih is a beef rib dish served with tamarind sauce (damaa) and baladia salad (onion, cucumber, tomato and rocket). At Hindmarsh, Estifanos Hailu and wife Nigist Tensay run Zagol House with its cuisine from the Horn of Africa, namely the north-eastern countries of Ethiopia and Eritrea. The majority of the satisfying, home-style main courses are served with injera, which is pancake-like bread with a slightly sour taste which is used to mop up the dishes. Wot is the name for hot and spicy saucy dishes, while alicha is a milder version and tibs refers to sauteed or grilled meat or lamb. Estifanos says many exotic spices are used in Ethiopian cuisine such as fiery awaze, a paste made with mitmita (hot pepper powder), garlic and spices, berbere made with powdered chilli and other spices and kibbeh, a clarified butter infused with ginger garlic and spices - Parwana, 124B Henley Beach Rd Torrensville - Babanusa, www.babanusa.com.au - Zagol House, www.zagolhouse.com.au

A rich wot beef stew with East
African spices, fosolia beans
and carrots and tiket goman
cabbage and carrot and
traditional Ethiopian ingera
bread from Zagol House at
Hindmarsh

Husband and wife team Nigist
and Estifanos from East African
restaurant Zagol House

Narenge palaw seasoned chicken under basmati rice
topped candied orange
peelings, slivered almonds
and pistachios from Parwana
Afghani restaurant at Torrensville

Fatima Ayubi with her parents
Zelmai and Farida at Parwana

Ashak dumplings filled with leek
in lamb sauce and topped with
yoghurt-mint dressing from
Parwana

EXOTIC TASTES

ADELAIDE’S DINING SCENE IS A MELTING POT OF FLAVOURS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Restaurants are a delicious reflection of a city’s cultural diversity and Adelaide definitely offers the world on a plate.

The once-exotic Italian and Chinese cuisines have hit the mainstream as keen foodies search for new flavour experiences and ethnic cuisines.

SA Restaurant and Catering head Sally Neville says the rising value of the Australian dollar and the surge in overseas travel is fuelling the growing interest in the foods of other cultures.

“The access we have to recipes via the internet and the fact we can source other cultures’ food products at specialty stores or supermarkets is really driving an interest in cooking styles that were non-existent 20 years ago,” she says.

Parwana is Adelaide’s first and only Afghani restaurant and is owned by the Ayubi family who came to Australia from Afghanistan in 1989.

The family-run venue includes matriarch and head chef Farida and her husband Zelmai while one of their five daughters, Fatima, manages the restaurant.

The menu offers classic Afghani dishes which are part of a distinctive cuisine influenced by neighbouring countries such as Russia, China, India and Pakistan.

“People love our food because of the home-style flavours and they recognise the various spice flavours from other cuisines like Moroccan or Turkish but it all comes together differently in Afghani cuisine,” Fatima says.

Popular dishes include ashak dumplings, in a delicate wonton-like skin filled with chopped leeks and served with a well-seasoned lamb sauce. The narenge palaw is a national dish with fragrant, perfectly cooked rice, candied orange peelings mixed in with slivered almonds and peeled pistachio pieces and chicken pieces while desserts include the colourful falooda layered icecream, saffron jelly, intense rose syrup and basil seeds.

Adelaide’s only Sudanese restaurant is Babanusa at Prospect, owned by Eltahir Malik who came to Australia in 1983 from the Sudanese capital Khartoum (via Greece) where he trained as a civil engineer. Chef Eddie Ahmed also hails from Khartoum and cooks traditional Sudanese food with full-flavoured, not overly spicy dishes. Tasty homemade dips are served with kisra, traditional thin bread, while jagadig is Sudanese comfort food - spicy beef stew in a rich sauce served with fresh green spinach and black eye beans. Dilih is a beef rib dish served with tamarind sauce (damaa) and baladia salad (onion, cucumber, tomato and rocket).

At Hindmarsh, Estifanos Hailu and wife Nigist Tensay run Zagol House with its cuisine from the Horn of Africa, namely the north-eastern countries of Ethiopia and Eritrea. The majority of the satisfying, home-style main courses are served with injera, which is pancake-like bread with a slightly sour taste which is used to mop up the dishes. Wot is the name for hot and spicy saucy dishes, while alicha is a milder version and tibs refers to sauteed or grilled meat or lamb.

Estifanos says many exotic spices are used in Ethiopian cuisine such as fiery awaze, a paste made with mitmita (hot pepper powder), garlic and spices, berbere made with powdered chilli and other spices and kibbeh, a clarified butter infused with ginger garlic and spices

- Parwana, 124B Henley Beach Rd Torrensville

- Babanusa, www.babanusa.com.au

- Zagol House, www.zagolhouse.com.au

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GET SET TO SIZZLE

BARBECUING HAS LOST NONE OF ITS FLAVOUR

The traditional Aussie barbecue remains a great way to entertain over the summer months, providing the opportunity to get out of the kitchen and share an easy meal with friends.

When planning a barbie it seems there are four “S” essentials - sausages, steak, seafood and salads.

Some of the best local sausages are made by the Cimarosti Brothers - Steven, Phil and Gary – at their Colonel Light Gardens butchery. Their father Louis was a butcher in the West End of Adelaide about 40 years ago and his sons carry on the tradition.

The star snags include the signature West End original-style beef sausages which crop up on pub menus around town (the Prince Albert Hotel, Wright St, serves Cimarosti sausages with roasted vegetables, caramelised onion, gravy and tomato chutney).

Other sizzling favourites include award-winning continental Italian pork sausages, lamb and mint, pork and fennel, old English pork and the classic BBQ snag.

Steak may seem an easy option at first but there are plenty of pitfalls for novice barbecue cooks.

These can be solved with Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) cooking tips and techniques for achieving the best juicy steak.

To start, coat the meat in oil instead of adding oil to the barbecue grill or hotplate. Also, remember to post-season the steak rather than pre-salt. Don’t use salt in a marinade or rub mixture and then leave the meat to stand for several hours before cooking or the salt will draw out the juices, making the meat tough. And the biggest tip of all - cook on one side until moisture appears and be sure to turn once only.

Fresh seafood is another winner on the barbie and Michael Angelakis of Angelakis Bros says firmer-fleshed fish varieties such as swordfish steaks, marlin steaks and kingfish portions, are ideal for barbecuing as they hold their shape and texture.

He also suggests Atlantic salmon skewers or prawn shaslicks which need a minimum of preparation, mackerel cutlets or one of the great Greek traditions - barbecued octopus tentacles cooked on a char grill.

Michael’s key tips for barbecuing seafood include making sure the hot plate is very clean before heating up and, if the fish is sitting in a marinade, ensure it is well drained before cooking otherwise the portions can stew in the excess moisture while on the hot plate.

If the gas bottle at home has run out or you don’t feel like cleaning the barbie, then head to The British Hotel at North Adelaide where you can get a great cut of meat and cook it yourself on the impressive central barbecue.

The hotel sources high quality meats ( from Austral Meats) such as scotch fillet, sirloin, aged rump, kangaroo, chicken breast, T-bone, pork rib-eye or lamb backstrap.

Owner Richard Spalvins says the DIY barbie option is popular for bucks nights and with sporting clubs but admits more people choose to let talented chefs Melissa Grant and Tom Fox cook it for them in the kitchen.

Cimarosti Bros Colonel Light Meat and Smallgoods, Goodwood Rd, Daw Park

www.themainmeal.com.au

www.angelakis.com.au

The British Hotel, 58 Finniss St North Adelaide

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Soft meringue with passionfruit
curd and kaffir lime salad
from Spoon

Passionfruit berry triffle
from the Botanic Gardens
Restaurant

FRUIT BOUNTY

SEASONAL PRODUCE ADDS ZING TO FESTIVE DESSERTS

Summer brings a colourful bounty of juicy, sweet fruits including berries, mangoes, pineapples, melons and passionfruit which all shine brightly in festive desserts.

The seasonal fruits are ripe and ready for home cooks whipping up a trifle or inventive restaurant chefs who take dessert to the next level.

Chef Mark Cooper of Spoon by Aramis Vineyards, in Gouger St, embraces the onset of summer with its plentiful stone fruits, lychees, kiwi fruit and cherries.

“My desserts here this season are all designed to be flavour based and refreshing so you don’t walk out the door feeling six kilograms heavier after dinner,” he says.

One of his signature desserts is a reworking of the classic Aussie pavlova but with a modern Asian twist. Mark makes a soft meringue topped with a quenelle of passionfruit curd and served with finely diced rockmelon, honeydew melon and paw-paw with kaffir lime salad, lychee sorbet and chargrilled pineapple.

“Altogether it tastes like an Asian dessert but it has that link to a traditional pav,” he says.

He is also using summer berries in a pudding with house-made mango icecream and double cream. Fruit even makes an appearance in Mark’s Christmas-inspired Partridge in a Pear Tree main course – made with roasted pigeon breast, stewed pear, crisp parmesan and mandarin caffe latte.

At the Botanic Gardens Restaurant, head chef Dennis Leslie has created a lively summer menu which bursts with seasonality.

Dennis makes a cracker passionfruit berry trifle (see below) replacing sponge cake with panettone (Italian Christmas bread) soaked in fig syrup with layers of mascarpone cream, strawberries, berry compote, passionfruit curd topped with Italian meringue and poached figs.

Another personal favourite is Dennis’s vanilla semifreddo, a semi-frozen creamy vanilla dessert made with mixed peel soaked in brandy with figs reconstituted in red wine and Cognac with almond and cardamom tuille.

Dennis is part of a new team at the landmark Botanic Gardens restaurant which is now owned by Christopher Horner (ex-Magill Estate) and Steve Blanco (Enoteca and Blanco Catering).

Passionfruit and berry trifle (serves 4)

Recipe from Dennis Leslie at the Botanic Gardens Restaurant

1 small panettone

Passionfruit Curd

200ml passionfruit juice

100g unsalted butter

175g caster sugar

3 eggs, whisked and strained

Bring juice, butter and sugar to the boil, do not let it reduce, and stir in whisked eggs. Stir until it thickens. Do not let it boil or eggs will curdle.

Strain again to remove any lumps, cool in the fridge.

Mixed Berry Compote

150g frozen mixed berries

60g sugar

40g fresh strawberries

Defrost berries and drain off the juice, bring juice and sugar to the boil, reduce slightly and pour over berries. Once cool, add cut up strawberries.

Cream

100ml thickened cream

100g mascarpone

Whip together to a medium peak

Italian Meringue

50g egg white

100g caster sugar

Mix sugar with 70ml water and boil to bubble stage. When sugar is nearly ready, start whisking egg whites in mixer. When they get to medium peak, begin adding hot sugar slowly and when all is combined turn speed down until meringue cools.

Poached Fig

12 dried Turkish figs

400g sugar

500ml red wine

200ml port

200ml water

1 cinnamon stick

Place all the ingredients in a pot and bring to boil, then turn the heat down to simmer.

Add the figs and cook on low for 20 minutes. Allow to cool in their own juice.

Once all components are cool and ready, prepare glasses by lining the bottom with a slice of panettone soaked with the syrup from the figs.

Then line the glass with slices of strawberry and spoon in berry compote in the middle. Pipe a layer of passionfruit curd, then a layer of cream, then repeat once.

To top the trifle, pipe a small rosette of meringue and brown with a blow torch. To serve, finish with soaked figs.

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Hot Belgian chocolate at Steven
ter Horst’s studio at Norwood

Steven ter Horst’s Chantelle
chocolate made with chocolate
chill ganache enrobed in dark
chocolate and covered with cocoa

Steven ter Horst

Steven’s Elouise chocolate made with Gianduja, praline, milk
chocolate ganache wrapped in
dark chocolate and rolled in
toasted almonds

Choco-Vino marries chocolate
with wine at Hahndorf Hill
Winery, Hahndorf

RICH REWARDS

WITH ARTISAN MAKERS TURNING THEIR ATTENTION TO CHOCOLATE, THE SWEET TREAT HAS NEVER TASTED SO GOOD

Choosing chocolate used to be simple - Cadbury’s or Haigh’s – but a new breed of boutique producers is broadening our horizons with an array of ambrosial, hand-crafted chockies.

Adelaide’s Steven ter Horst is an artisan chocolatier who creates a stylish range of European-style chocolates at his Norwood studio which are named after the women in his life including Chantelle (his partner, artist Chantelle Giardina) which is dark chocolate chilli ganache enrobed in dark chocolate covered in cocoa.

Anneke, named after his Dutch/German mother, balances marzipan layered with spice ganache.

Others are filled with fresh raspberries, mandarin, lemon or kiwi fruit and Champagne.

“I’m a very small maker and what’s important to me is not being a mass producer, being able to use high quality ingredients and, knowing that we all eat with our eyes before our mouth, they have to have a visual aspect,” Steven says.

“I can’t roast my own cocoa beans so I source two premium Belgian couvertures and blend for the right flavour and the length on the palate.

“When you eat one of my chocolates, you need to taste the chocolate itself first, then the filling, and the final flavour needs to be chocolate again and linger for about 20 minutes.”

Steven, who studied at Melbourne’s Savour Chocolate and Patisserie School, uses local dairy products from Fleurieu Milk Company cream and B.-d. Farm Paris Creek, lemons from his dad’s Adelaide Hills property and raspberries, figs and oranges from the Wayville Farmers Market where he also has a stall.

“I don’t want to cheapen my product so I don’t for instance use orange oil because I want a true representation of the fresh fruit I’m using.”

Steven , who also loves cooking but didn’t want to be a chef, uses his natural foodie curiosity to explore interesting ideas such as such as his fleur de sel sea salt chocolate, another dark chocolate made with goat’s curd and lime or a current experiment teaming chocolate with Sichuan pepper and Chinese five spice chocolate.

Steven ter Horst chocolates are on the menu at Assaggio Ristorante and the new Assaggio Café, Citrus, Ciccolatte on Melbourne St, Felici in Rundle St and Goodine Bistro at Kurralta Park.
The world’s best chocolates are also on the menu at Hahndorf Hill Wines where owners Marc Dobson and Larry have created the new ChocoVino glass-enclosed tasting room which overlooks the vines.

Chocolate and wine matching ideas include the Hahndorf Hill Winery 2009 Pinot Grigio 2009 served with a gourmet Belgian chocolate with a cacao content of 52 per cent and infused with the flavours of Earl Grey tea.

“A gourmet chocolate allows you to actually taste the cacao from the bean and it engages all your senses and even surprises and challenges you … as with wine and olive oil, gourmet chocolate is best appreciated with an adult palate,” Marc said.
“More and more, the world’s top chocolate houses are focusing on single-origin chocolate which is based on the concept that good chocolate, as in fine wine, has the ability to reflect terroir – that unique combination of factors which reflect where the beans, or grapes, were grown.”

ChocoVino includes fine chocolates from Michel Cluizel in Paris and others crafted from beans grown in the most prized plantations on the planet including Amedei Chuao in a remote area of north Venezuela.

www.steventerhorst.com.au
www.hahndorfhillwinery.com.au

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Head waiter Nigel Bateman

Pure Suffolk lamb at Regoni’s bistro

PICK OF THE CROP

FRESH SPRING PRODUCE OFFERS A FLAVOUR BOOST TO ANY MENU

Seasonal produce is a reminder for us to leave the hearty casseroles and slow-cooked meals behind and look to lighter dishes for the warmer months ahead.

Home vegie patches, market stalls and greengrocers are all filling up with foods which thrive in spring. And while most of our favourite fresh fruit and vegetables are now accessible year-round, all produce still has a natural season when it flourishes, tastes best and produces the best crops.
Wendy Helps is the price and produce reporter for Adelaide Produce Market, SA’s centre for the distribution and marketing of fresh fruit
and vegetables.

“Stone fruits will start to appear in the next few weeks and mangoes will be in good supply this year, they will be a highlight,” she says.

“A lot more asparagus from Victoria is coming in, we don’t grow a lot of asparagus here, and it’s really good quality, beautiful stuff.
“There is always an apple and a pear variety for every season and spring brings lovely Sundowner apples and Corella pears.”

Other spring favourites include broad beans, artichokes, green peas, beans, tomatoes, sweetcorn, strawberries and citrus fruits such as mandarins, grapefruit and blood oranges.

Spring is also an ideal time to enjoy succulent lamb, according to Adelaide Hills meat producer and purveyor Richard Gunner.

Richard’s premium Suffolk sheep, known for their juiciness and flavour, are used either for branded Pure Suffolk Lamb which is best from November to July or as milk-fed lamb from August to November.

“Spring lamb is extra special as the grasses that the lambs are grazing are at their best in spring…and you are what you eat!” Richard says.

“In winter, grass is full of moisture and short, in summer it gets pretty dry and autumn grass is either non-existent or very, very short whereas in spring it’s abundant and has the perfect mix between how green and dry it is.

“Also most lambs are born around the same time and when spring comes around, they are at the perfect age of about four to seven months to be at their most juicy and tender.”

Richard says his favourite lamb cut at the moment is butterflied leg cooked slowly on a low heat and stopping when the inside of the thickest part of the leg is 60C on a meat thermometer.

“I am particularly loving Middle Eastern sumac spice as a flavour to go with lamb,” he says.

One local restaurant which favours Richard’s spring lamb is Rigoni’s Bistro, in Leigh St, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year and three years under the ownership of Aaron Martin and Tony Bailey (pictured).

Their spring menu includes a roast leg of pure Suffolk lamb with braised shoulder cannelloni, brussel sprouts, rocket and mint salsa verde, crisp fried shallots, fried parsley and jus (pictured).

“Italian food is all about the seasons, what’s best at various times, we follow those principles strongly here,” Tony says.

Spring ingredients are used throughout the menu such as a breakfast dish of watercress crepes with smoked trout, white asparagus, fresh herbs and rocket-mint-macadamia pesto. Poached eggs and spinach are served with a maltaise sauce - a hollandaise sauce made with blood oranges.

Broad beans star in a dish with roasted Berkshire pork belly while seasonal rhubarb features in a brulee with Granny Smith sorbet, chocolate sauce and pineapple chips.

www.feastfinefoods.com.au
www.rigonis.com.au

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Sharron Trinh from
Café Kowloon

Amy Zhou from Citi-Zen Chinese Restaurant

SHARING RITUAL

YUM CHA IS PROVING A POPULAR BRUNCH OPTION

Brunch is a great way to catch up with friends but for those wanting to branch out from the usual eggs and bacon-style menus, yum cha is an ideal alternative.

Yum cha means “to drink tea” in Cantonese and describes the tradition of small servings of different foods, or dim sum, served with Chinese tea.

The tradition dates back to the 10th century and the beginning of the Sung dynasty when street vendors established roadside tea houses to serve dim sum.

These days, yum cha in China is a mostly weekend tradition with families gathering to eat and drink in sessions which usually last from mid morning to mid afternoon.

The yum cha ritual has also taken off in Adelaide. It can be a hectic experience; the food is wheeled to the table on trolleys in steamers or on small plates and guests can pick up whatever they like. The items are stamped in price columns on an order sheet for each table and are totalled when you ask for your bill – it is usually a very affordable way to dine.

Citi-Zen Chinese Restaurant, in King William St, is known as one of the city’s best yum cha spots with chef Heng leading a special kitchen team dedicated to preparing the handmade morsels.
More than 90 varieties include prawn and scallop dumplings, snow white chicken feet, honey tripe and pan-fried water chestnut cake. Weekend sessions offer special dishes such as radish cakes with XO sauce.

Manager Amy Zhou says Citi-Zen’s signature dim sum dish is har gao, prawn dumplings, which are regarded as a good test of a yum cha chef’s skills.

“People judge it for how thick or thin the skin is - it must be thin and transparent and not too chewy but easy to pick up with chopsticks and it is pure prawn which has to be cooked perfectly,” she says.

Australians have wholeheartedly embraced yum cha in recent years and are willing to try some of the more authentic dishes such as chicken feet and beef tripe.

“Some people say ‘ooh, chicken feet, that’s disgusting’, but then if they are brave and try it, they always come back for it again and again,” Amy says.

Café Kowloon, in Gouger St, serves dim sum during the week but people line up to be part of the action on the weekends.

Manager Sharron Trinh says she loves the hustle and bustle of weekend yum cha and enjoys seeing it become a more mainstream family tradition for Australians.

“So many come in now and they bring their kids so they can experience a different culture , learn something and give them something different to eat other than McDonalds,” she says.

“It does get very crowded and it’s busy and it’s fun and not at all formal.”

Café Kowloon’s Hung Wong creates handmade dim sum dishes such as scallop dumplings, barbecue pork buns, steamed king prawn in rice pastry and Chinese custard tarts or lotus buns.

“Yum cha is so popular now and I think this growth has been helped along by the fact there are so many Asian students here now,” Hung says.

Tea is an intrinsic part of the yum cha experience and the most popular brews are the light, subtle jasmine or chrysanthemum teas or richer-flavoured varieties such as pu-erh, or Oolong.

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Ragini Dey from Dhaba
at The Spice Kitchen.

Manager Manoj Kundrapu
and head chef Bishnu Kharel
at The Village Indian
Restaurant.

Northern Indian-style lamb
shanks from The Village
Indian Restaurant

Moreton Bay bug masala
from TheVillage Indian Restaurant

Spice it up

ADD SOME WARMTH TO WINTER DINING
WITH A TRADITIONAL CURRY

Think classic winter fare and it is hard to go past Indian curry with its exotic colours, heady aromas and feisty flavours of spices such as cardamom, garam masala, cumin, cloves, mustard seeds and turmeric.

Curry is a favourite around the world and has a complex history. Ragini Dey from Dhaba at the Spice Kitchen, at Leabrook, voted best Indian restaurant in this year’s Restaurant and Catering Awards, says curry is largely a British invention.

Curry, as we know it in the western world, was actually invented during the Raj era when Britain colonised India. The Brits developed a fondness for Indian cuisine and took a powdered blend of spices home to use in their cooking and these stews evolved into the Anglicised dish of “curry”.

“People lump all Indian dishes into this one category of curry with a yellow gravy into which you put chicken, or pork or beef and the main ingredient is the only thing that changes, not the yellow saucy goo,” Ragini says.

“Different spices and different combinations of those spices are what makes curry…real Indian food has no place for a ubiquitous curry powder.”

While Ragini champions authenticity, she is also unafraid to introduce modern influences to her menus.

“Curry is not just a dish you can make completely out of the blue, it’s all steeped in tradition, but you can take elements of the dish and do things in a modern way,” she says.

“Everything evolves, Indian food is not the same as it was 500 years ago, so as long as I am not professing to rigidly recreate a particular recipe then I can chop and change a bit to suit today’s culture.

“I don’t completely break with tradition but can take that tradition into another dimension…there are so many new ingredients being used all the time, you can’t just go around with your eyes closed to new things.”

Ragini, whose restaurant turns 21 this year, shares the secrets of Indian food at her popular cooking classes held on the last Wednesday of each month.

Bishnu Kharel, chef and co-owner of The Village restaurant in Gouger St, agrees there’s more to Indian food than the clichéd hot curry.

“People think Indian cuisine is just hot vindaloo but it is far more diverse and curry is not necessarily hot either, depending where it’s from,” he says.

“It’s different spices from different regions, different everything, and we want to show all that difference here because I think it’s too limiting to just serve the same curries all the time as some places do.”

Bishnu worked for five years at the five-star Le Meridien Hotel, in Delhi, before coming to Australia where he cooked at the now-defunct Indian Brasserie, also in Gouger St.

He has teamed up with friend Manoj Kundrapu to open The Village with a menu which showcases dishes from various regions such as Lucknow, Hyderabad, Mangalore, Bengal, Kashmir and Punjab.

“Most people have either never seen some of these dishes or they have tasted them on travels and come here to experience what they had in India,” Bishnu says. “A couple were here recently who’d loved Goan fish curry in India and were very happy with my version.”

He says it’s never too early for curry – it even appears on The Village’s popular breakfast menu.

www.spicekitchen.com.au

www.thevillagerestaurant.com.au

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RUSTIC CHARM

FASHIONABLE POLENTA IS A STAPLE FROM WAY BACK

WORDS KYLIE FLEMING PHOTOGRAPHS RUSSELL MILLARD

TASTY BREW

BEER IS BEST WHEN IT COMES TO ENHANCING THE DINING EXPERIENCE WORDS KYLIE FLEMING PHOTOGRAPHS RUSSELL MILLARD

ALL-DAY MENU

DINING OUT IN THE HILLS STARTS WITH BREAKFAST WORDS KYLIE FLEMING PHOTOGRAPHS RUSSELL MILLARD

SUBLIME SWEETS

BITE-SIZED CAKES AND PASTRIES TOO PRETTY TO IGNORE

PICK OF THE CROP

EARLY AUTUMN IS PERFECT FOR DINING IN MCLAREN VALE

EXOTIC TASTES

GET SET TO SIZZLE

BARBECUING HAS LOST NONE OF ITS FLAVOUR

FRUIT BOUNTY

SEASONAL PRODUCE ADDS ZING TO FESTIVE DESSERTS

Passionfruit and berry trifle (serves 4)

Recipe from Dennis Leslie at the Botanic Gardens Restaurant

RICH REWARDS

WITH ARTISAN MAKERS TURNING THEIR ATTENTION TO CHOCOLATE, THE SWEET TREAT HAS NEVER TASTED SO GOOD

PICK OF THE CROP

FRESH SPRING PRODUCE OFFERS A FLAVOUR BOOST TO ANY MENU

SHARING RITUAL

YUM CHA IS PROVING A POPULAR BRUNCH OPTION

Spice it up

ADD SOME WARMTH TO WINTER DINING WITH A TRADITIONAL CURRY

WORDS KYLIE FLEMING
PHOTOGRAPHS RUSSELL MILLARD

BEER IS BEST WHEN IT COMES TO ENHANCING THE DINING EXPERIENCE

WORDS KYLIE FLEMING
PHOTOGRAPHS RUSSELL MILLARD

DINING OUT IN THE HILLS STARTS WITH BREAKFAST

WORDS KYLIE FLEMING
PHOTOGRAPHS RUSSELL MILLARD

ADD SOME WARMTH TO WINTER DINING
WITH A TRADITIONAL CURRY