The real ragu

I’ve blogged before about my fondness for comfort food and slow cooking. I think ragu is the ultimate winter recipe with the ultimate combination of comfort and slow cooking.

Like many traditional Italian recipes, there are seemingly endless ragu variations. My favourite version uses a mix of pork and veal mince (for flavor and sweetness), white wine, not too much tomato and a drop of milk at the end – definitely not your average spaghetti bolognaise!

The secret is long, slow cooking. I also love to add chicken livers with the meat but not everyone likes offal. I find short pasta works best with this sauce, but you could use whatever you have to hand.

As this is so good, my tip is to double the recipe and freeze half for later. As well as serving the ragu with pasta, use it to stuff cannelloni shells or as a lasagne filling.

Here is a link to the recipe on my main site.

Celebrating Sydney Royal Trophy winners and Champions on Kerri-Anne

Last week in my regular segment on Kerri-Anne (Thursdays at 9:40am) on the Nine Network I presented a selection of the newly crowned champion and trophy winners from the 2010/2011 Sydney Royal Wine, Fine Food and Cheese & Dairy Produce Shows. I combined a few of these products into a mouth-watering:

Striploin steak sourdough sandwich with walnut chilli dip and eggplant

 and

Crab, Potato & Leek Ravioli with truffle infused extra virgin olive oil

Click on the links below for the recipes on my main site:
Stockyard Striploin steak on Brasserie Bread Boulot with Hasham’s Walnut Chilli Dip and eggplant
Pasta Di Porto Crab, Potato & Leek Ravioli with Pukara Estate Truffle Infused Extra Virgin Olive Oil

I have a long history with the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW. I am a long time councillor and board member. This is my first year as Chair of the Sydney Royal Wine Show; formerly I was founding Chair of the Sydney Royal Fine Food Show. Australian producers enter thousands of products into the three Sydney Royal Shows each year. To maintain credibility and integrity, the products are judged by panels made up of industry experts, producers such as winemakers and educators and specialist media.

Here is a full list of the champion and trophy winning products featured on Kerri-Anne:

Sydney Royal Wine Show
Three time trophy winner (Macquarie Group Perpetual Trophy, Royal Agricultural Society of NSW Annual Prize for Best Semillon and Albert Chan Memorial Prize for Best White Wine of Show): 2005 Margaret Semillon, Peter Lehmann Wines. This true Barossa Semillon is named in honour of Peter Lehmann’s wife, Margaret. Released as a five year old wine, Margaret is a fruit driven, deliciously dry, white wine.

Sydney Royal Fine Food Show
Champion Oyster: Pristine Angasi, Pristine Oyster Farm. Brothers Brendan, Tony and Guidera have been farming oysters in Coffin Bay, South Australia for twenty years. The award-winning native angasi oyster is plump, sweet and strong tasting.

Champion Prawn: Crystal Bay Farm prawns 21/30. Grown by Seafarm, one of the largest prawn farming operations in Australia, sustainable Crystal Bay prawns are available all year as fresh-chilled, cooked and uncooked.

Champion Beef: Stockyard Gold Beef. Established in 1948, family owned and operated, Stockyard is one of Australia’s most reputable producers with an internationally recognised brand. The award winning, consistently tender and flavoursome Gold range is derived from Angus genetics, fed and cared for over 200 days and MSA graded to ensure superior eating quality.

Champion Deli Meat Gourmet Product: Barossa Fine Foods Duck Terrine. All Barossa Fine Foods’ products are 100% gluten-free and made from traditional recipes handed down through four generations.

Champion Flavour Infused Extra Virgin Olive Oil: Pukara Estate Truffle Infused Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Hunter Valley based multi-award winning Pukara Estate produces distinctive, sophisticated and flavoursome extra virgin olive oils and vinegars. The Truffle Infused oil is rich, earthy and decadent.

Champion Regional Food: Nicholson Fine Foods Euro Style Spiced Beetroot Finishing Vinegar. Nicholson Fine Foods is an artisan food company that creates and develops an eclectic range of products for professional chefs and home cooks alike. With spiced earthiness, the multi-purpose Euro style Spiced Beetroot Finishing Vinegar can be used to dress salads, barbecued meat, fish or chicken.

Champion Fancy Pasta: Pasta Di Porto’s Champion Crab, Potato & Leek Ravioli. Pasta Di Porto’s range is free of artificial colours, preservatives and flavour enhancers. Most ingredients are grown by local farmers and/or sourced nearby. Some are also certified organic. To maintain high quality and freshness, only small quantities are made.

Champion Sourdough or Artisan Bread: Brasserie Bread Boulot. As well as supplying numerous cafes, restaurants and delis, Brasserie Bread runs their own café, baking school and retail shop in Sydney’s Botany. Taking two days to make, the Boulot is a traditional round sourdough with ingredients that include 16 year old sourdough starter, organic flour and river salt.

Champion Bottled Beer: Matilda Bay Brewing Company Alpha Pale Ale. In 1984 a group of guys got together in Fremantle, Western Australia to make beer under the Matilda Bay Brewing Company brand. Alpha Pale Ale mirrors traditional English India Pale Ale yet with assertive bitterness and distinctive fruit and citrus aromas from local hops.

Champion Traditional Sausage: Avoca Beach Butchery's Australian Breakfast Sausage. Robbie Hunt from NSW Central Coast based Avoca Beach Butchery has a passion for quality meat. He produces a range of sausages with an emphasis on quality and versatility – suitable for the oven or barbecue.

Sydney Royal Cheese & Dairy Produce Show
Champion Butter: Fonterra Spreyton Duck River Premium Butter. Fonterra Spreyton, near Devonport is supplied with high quality cow’s milk from some of the best dairying land in Australia. The Duck River Brand is named after the Duck River near Smithton, where the factory was originally established in 1904.

Gold Medal Dip: Hasham’s Dips Walnut Chilli Dip. Established in 1998 Hasham’s Dips is a Cairns based family owned and operated business. Their variety of dips, tapenades, pesto and marinated vegetables are made from local produce, using traditional recipes. Turkish style Walnut Chilli Dip is made from fresh walnuts and hot chilli.

Celebrity dish … Michael Moore, owner of The Summit Restaurant and author of Moore to Food

Michael and I go way back to when he was a young pony-tailed chef and I was just moving from catering into the media. I have always been a big fan his food.  He is also one great guy. We cooked together after he joined Fresh on the Nine Network where I was co-host and until he stopped this year, we both present weekly cooking segments on Kerri-Anne on the same network.

Sydneysiders will know Michael’s restaurant – The Summit, on top of Australia Square.  This iconic restaurant recently opened a very special private dining room, Salon Privé by Champagne Taittinger. Michael has created bespoke menus for this beautifully designed

room with its 360 degree views of the city and Sydney Harbour.

Michael is also one the new resident chefs at Westfield in Pitt Street Mall, Sydney.  His venture EAT Deli Kitchen purports it to be the Australian home of the Reuben sandwich – that classic New York combo of salt beef, pickles and mustard on rye.  Michael’s version features Wagyu Salt Beef and is served hot.  I haven’t tried one yet but it’s on my food wish list for my next visit to Westfield.

As well as launching a new restaurant, late last year Michael launched his new book, Moore to Food (New Holland) where he shares his culinary secrets and presents recipes and tips for entertaining at home in a stylish, yet comprehensive manual format.  Definitely a book for anyone who loves to entertain.

With a 25 year plus career owning and running top restaurants in his native London and adopted Sydney, where he has been awarded a number of chefs’ hats from the Sydney Morning Herald’s Good Food Guide, Michael is certainly well qualified to be a celebrity dish.

Over to Michael: 

What is your earliest food memory: Making blackcurrant jam and rock cakes with my Nan back home in the U.K!

What is the strangest meal you’ve ever been served: Chickens feet and pigs bum (Andouillette sausage)

What is your signature dish: Twice cooked pork belly with roasted apple marmalade and glass crackling

What is your favourite cookbook: Marcella Hazan ‘Italian Cooking’

What do you never eat: Andouillette sausage

What are the five ingredients you would take to a desert island: Buffalo mozzarella, tomatoes, olive oil, bread, chocolate

What are you having for dinner tonight: Wagyu salt beef ‘Reuben’ sandwich on rye, swiss cheese, pickles, mustard mayonnaise

Thanks Michael. 

The details:

The Summit Restaurant

Level 47, Australia Square, 264 George Street, Sydney

Telephone 02 9247 9777

Email reservations@summitrestaurant.com.au

EAT Deli Kitchen

Level 5, Westfield Sydney

Pitt Street Mall, Sydney

Telephone 0423 441 220

It is love … a three course romantic dinner in 30 minutes

I prepared this simple, yet impressive three course romantic dinner on the Kerri Anne show on the 9 Network last Thursday. To quote a cliché: minimum effort for maximum effect. 

Easy is a word that best sums up this menu. The ingredients are easy to source, the recipes are easy to follow, all three courses are easy to eat and, last but not least (another cliché) the food is easy on the stomach. Oh, and easy on the eye too.

Oysters natural, served on the shell, is the first course. They should be freshly shucked. If you are unsure about shucking oysters, ask your fishmonger to release the hinge, but keep the top of the oyster attached. Why would anyone forgo the delicious liquor inside? The oysters are served simply with a squeeze of lemon and freshly ground black pepper. 

For mains, beautiful fillets of Regal King Salmon are wrapped in prosciutto and simply baked with asparagus spears.  Eight minutes in the oven and you are ready to serve.  

Dessert takes minutes too. Top seasonal fruit – I love a mixture of blueberries and raspberries – with light sour cream or crème fraîche, sprinkle with dark brown sugar and grill or blowtorch until golden and bubbling. Serve with a crisp biscuit or wafer.

Dinner is served.

Click on the links below for the recipes.
Oysters Natural
Regal Salmon with proscuitto and asparagus
Cheat's berry brulee


Happy Valentine’s Day.