Greenhouse by Joost: where sustainable practice and living meets the urban environment

Designer, horticulturalist and eco-friendly pop-up restaurateur extraordinaire, Joost Bakker has chosen Campbells Cove on glorious Sydney Harbour as the Sydney location for his ground-breaking venue.

Joost Bakker speaking at the Greenhouse launch

This eco-friendly restaurant is built using 100% recycled and recyclable materials. Think shipping containers and packing crates with straw bales for insulation. All furniture, light fittings, crockery, glasses and staff uniforms are also made from recycled and recyclable materials. It gets better … water is collected, waste is recycled and the generator runs on cooking oil.

First impressions are intriguing – shipping crates, strawberries growing up the exterior walls, herbs growing on the roof and a white walled interior covered with menu written in graffiti style, apparently by Joost, and completed in one night. Is there no end to this man’s talent?

I was delighted to officiate as MC at the launch and finally I got back there last week to see the venue completed and try the whole experience.

Greenhouse by Joost’s exterior during construction.

Now the outside is covered with strawberry plants.

The staff are lovely, from the gorgeous multi-talented maître’d (industrial designer by day and member of Joost’s hospitality team by night) and the cornucopia of friendly young’uns working the floor to the über chef-of-the-moment, Matt Stone, formerly of the Greenhouse in Perth.

Matt’s menu is short but well-crafted with a workable assortment of snacks, salads and bigger offerings. Many of the components – bread, pastries, pizza, yoghurt and butter – are made on site. The drinks list is also short with one red, one white, one beer and one cider for those who fancy the hard staff. All are served in glass jars.

The food presentation was as much fun as the venue, served either on pieces of recycled plywood or in wide-necked glass jars.

I loved the Wagyu on romesco, especially as it was a little used cut, girello – perfectly cooked beef (grass-fed of course) served sliced on a well-textured romesco sauce heady with smoked paprika. Mint added a lovely freshness to the quinoa and avocado salad. Oysters sang with freshness, the spiced cauliflower in a paper cone left me wanting more, the deep-fried school prawns were hot and crisp and you can’t go past the pizza of the day from the wood-fired oven.

Greenhouse by Joost’s interior.

The tables are made from old signs.

If you are a Sydneysider, my advice is get down there! This is a totally new concept which works because the food is so good. It’s an alternate view of the world and how we can co-exist sustainably. The bonus is the million dollar view and the soundtrack of water ebbing and flowing against the harbour wall. Go knowing you are learning vicariously how to make better food choices while, if you are like me, being equally thrilled by Joost’s flair and vision.

Greenhouse by Joost is open until the end of March 2011.

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.

Australian Pork masterclass

Back in October I blogged about how you could win with Australian Pork.

Even though everyone wins when eating or cooking with Australian Pork, one lucky taste.com.au reader, Fotini Starvridis, was a triple winner. She won a pork masterclass, a Brilliant Cut Knife and my three latest books: Just Add Spice, Lyndey Milan’s Best Collection and Balance. Matching Food and Wine, What Works and Why.

The pork masterclass was held a couple of weeks ago. Fotini and I had a lovely time getting to know each other while delighting in lots of porky goodness.

Prior to the masterclass, Fotini nominated roast pork (with crackling) and pork larb as two recipes she would like to cook with me. I added char siew and pork belly to bring the number of pork recipes to four and to demonstrate different cuts and cooking methods.

First up, we cooked Glass Crackling Pork Belly, adapted from a recipe by chef Michael Moore.

Glass Crackling Pork Belly

Click here for the Glass Crackling Pork Belly recipe. When you make this recipe, plan ahead as the rind (crackle) really benefits from two hours pre-salting to reduce moisture and ensure the resultant crackle is ‘glass-like’. I know the method is fairly lengthy (salting and then marinating), but I recommend you follow all the steps to achieve excellent crackle and tender meat, ever so lightly scented with Chinese five spice.

Next up we cooked the perennial Chinese favourite, Char Siew Pork which we later served with noodles and vegetables.

Char Siew Pork just out of the oven

I have been cooking this recipe for many years. The taste, texture and flavour belie the effortless method and store cupboard ingredients. Char Siew Pork is so versatile – we served it warm with noodles and baby bok choy but it is equally delicious the next day served cold, sliced with salad greens and a dash of chilli soy dressing. Cook it now to celebrate Chinese New Year!

Char Siew Pork with noodles and bok choy

Click here for the recipe on my main site.
The celebratory pork rack was next. We cooked Gingered Pork Rack, a recipe from Just Add Spice. This is a great dinner party recipe that can be prepared and cooked in under an hour. The 1kg rack (perfect for four serves) is roasted and while it rests, the sauce comes together in the pan juices with the addition of ginger, cinnamon, marmalade, orange segments and my favourite Indonesian soy sauce, Kecap Manis.

We served the Gingered Pork Rack with roasted potatoes and broccolini in a pool of the gingery orange sauce.

Gingered Rack of Pork

Click here for the recipe on my main site.

The last recipe of the day was one I cooked on my Brilliant Cut Knife dvd, Pork Larb, the ten minute wonder!

There are quite a few ingredients, but all are pretty easy to find at your local fruit and vegetable shop or Asian grocery store. The sweetness of the pork mince is the perfect carrier for these strong Asian flavours. For a more substantial dish, you can add reconstituted rice stick noodles, but don’t substitute the lettuce cups – they are the perfect serving vessel.

Click here for the recipe on my main site.

Day trip to Cabramatta

My long time friend Carol Selva Rajah has been hosting tours to Cabramatta for 20 years. I attended one of her first tours with my daughter Lucy – she was 5 years old and I recall she loved the Vietnamese duck soup. So it was fitting that I went along to celebrate Carol’s milestone late last year. Sadly Lucy lives in London now and couldn’t make it.

The group with Carol (in white) in the middle

We headed off bright and early on a Saturday morning and while some things at Cabramatta have changed since my first visit, many have stayed the same.  The bright towering displays of fresh produce are certainly the same.  Back then, of course, many of the herbs, fruit and vegetables sold in Cabramatta were alien to most of us, nowadays coriander is about as common as iceberg lettuce!

Carol at one of the vibrant fruit & vegetable stores

It was fabulous to have insider knowledge of where to go for the best of everything at Cabramatta and Carol didn’t disappoint.  I was especially enamoured with the produce.

Banana flowers – commonly used to made a salad with coconut cream and prawns

And the pork!

Behind the scenes at the pork roasting house

Then it was time for lunch at Lina Lam’s modern Vietnamese restaurant, Ban Truong (42 John Street, Cabramatta 2166 – telephone 02 9727 4492), where we met Dai Le, the former ABC journalist wife of Markus Lambert, PR Manager at Fairfield Council.

Margaret Fulton with Dai Lee

As you would expect lunch featured many new and innovative examples of Vietnamese cuisine.

Festive greetings!

Click here for my Christmas postcard which includes my food and wine (top seasonal cheer!) tips for an easy yet impressive Christmas as well as my highlights (there are a lot!) of 2010.

Wishing you a fabulous holiday season full of family, friends and good food and wine.

High five for Plumm Glassware

Have you heard of Plumm Glassware? Maybe not. Have you heard of Riedel Glassware? Probably. A great product with a great philosophy – the taste of wine changes depending on where it is delivered into the mouth, so different wines taste better with different glasses. Most wine shows like the Sydney Royal, judge using Riedel glasses finding they show up the qualities and faults in wine in a more superior way to XL5 tasting glasses. However, there are now a dizzying array of different glasses – which can be a bit confusing for the wine lover at home.

For over fifteen years some of the Plumm team worked for Riedel in Australia. However, Riedel have established an independent presence here now, so this team came up with Plumm and have launched their own range. Talk about learning from the master.

Plumm undertook extensive research with wine aficionados and wine makers around the globe. What they came up with is surprisingly simple. The Australian designed Plumm Glassware found they need only offer five glass shapes:

Simply called, left to right:

REDa – suitable for big reds – shiraz and cabernet
REDb – suitable for medium reds – pinot and merlot
WHITEa – suitable for crisp, fresh whites – sauvignon blanc and gewürztraminer
WHITEb – suitable medium whites – chardonnay, pinot gris/grigio
Sparkling – duh

Simple! And easy to recognise in the glass cabinet.

As well as being not new to glassware, Plumm are not new to the wine industry. They have interests in vineyards, wineries, distribution and wine retailing. Utilising these credentials, Plumm have designed a stylish range of glassware that works well over innumerable wine styles.

The Plumm ‘5’ are available in four different ranges:
Handmade Vintage (hand blown) – for special occasions
Vintage (machine made) – for every day
Glass (stemless) – great for cocktails and beer as well as desserts
Outdoors (unbreakable polycarbonate) – they look like the real thing

I know they will be on every well-dressed table this holiday season!