A Shard in the Hand is Worth Two in the Bush.
Why we want our plates to look better than they taste and three humble offerings from me that probably do the opposite!
Last week saw a break in our warm, sunny summer. It came in the form of a rude sticky spell of humid; cyclonic weather. People were outraged and voiced their disapproval at any given chance. Eternally unconfrontational, I chimed into conversations with others who complained about the warm, wet week with things like “yeah, my hair is unplayable” and “no, not sleeping at night either, just too darned hot!” and “this weathers only good for mushrooms and yeast infections” but secretly I was pleased.
This might not be a popular reaction to having had the meteorological equivalent of a fat man cutting in on your slow dance with Mr Right but I’m over summer. My skin tells stories of long days basking in warm rays, sizzling like a rasher of streaky bacon; to the point that where there once was a healthy bronze glow; there is now a join the dots picture just waiting to happen. These days instead of racing for a sun lounger in the heat of the day I retreat; sloth like; into the cooler canopy to rest and re appear on dusk, when the heat is leaving the day and the light is forgiving!
I also love an excuse to sit on the couch in the middle of the day and watch tv. It feels so bad! A bit like kissing a cousin, I know I shouldn’t really; but justify it with “yeah, but I’m not going to do it all the time am I” Also there’s risk that you may get caught doing it during the day. Lord forbid should there be a witness to the slovenly act of daytime tv ingestion. I temper the shame of getting caught in two ways - 1. I always keep a basket of washing that needs folding next to me so it looks like I’m about to do something productive and 2. I watch things that look highbrow and pretend they’re educational.
One of my guilty daytime tv pleasures has been the discovery of Chefs Table on Netflix. It’s an intimate look at some of the best chefs on the planet, their past, their philosophy on life and food as well as exploration of the countries they live and work in. The production values are stunning and it’s a great watch. From Brazil, to Japan, to Russia, these chefs are the top of their game and have stars and attitudes to attest to it!
These mega chefs are like rock stars, a lot of them are stroppy quibblers who have a vision and are hell bent on getting there regardless of how many waitstaff they have to trample in order to do so! I find watching their intense focus while in creative mode mesmerising and I can almost feel the tension in the kitchens featured as the sous chefs go about their work gingerly as if something may detonate beneath them at any given time and blow them limb from limb! But their creations once plated are breathtaking.
The evolution of a plate of food is fascinating to me. In it’s simplest form, a meal should provide nourishment and anything else is a bonus. When did we get to the point we are at now? Why do we crave texture and beauty in something that is designed to fuel our bodies. There are shards and smears and blackened rings turning up on plates all over the world, in fact we expect them now! Is a shard less dessert a dessert at all? It’s not enough for food to simply taste fabulous it has to be ‘Insta worthy’ as well.
This idea that ‘we eat with our eyes first’ has been around since Cesar’s mum was packing his sammies and sending him off to the senate to play nicely with his mates. In fact that phrase and the idea of food being not solely for nourishment is attributed to Marcus Gavius Apicius, a wealthy Roman merchant and epicure who flourished in and around the first century and after whom was named one of the earliest cookbooks in recorded history. The recipes in this book are stunning; which is a reflection I guess on the surrounding landscape and the advanced civilisation that was Rome. They feature soft cheese, herbs and animal proteins like wild boar. My Instagram finger just twitches at the thought!
It turns out that Apicius was onto something with his theory too. As well as impressing the sandals off your toga clad guests at your dinner party with flashed up dishes there’s a deeper and more practical reason why we like food to look good.
That the vast majority of animal species have evolved a mouth that is situated close to their brain is no coincidence. Foraging – the search for nutritious foods – is one of the brain’s most important functions. In humans, this activity relies primarily on vision, especially when it comes to finding those foods that we are already familiar with. In fact, it has been suggested that trichromatic colour vision may originally have developed in primates as an adaptation that facilitated the selection of more energy-rich (and likely red) fruits from in-amongst the dark green forest canopy. A shard in the hand is worth two in the bush, maybe more if it’s surrounded by berries right?
And here we are, present day, where the ‘food beautiful’ trend is peaking. The situation has reached the point now that some chefs are considering whether to ban their customers from taking photographs of the dishes when they emerge from the kitchen while others have embraced the trend by providing diners with camera stands, even serving food on plates that spin 360°, thus allowing their customers to get the perfect shot every time.
My food style is one I refer to as ‘rustic’. This is a term that conjures up loaves of sourdough bread broken open steaming hot, warm bowls of stew full of nourishing home grown vegetables, cheese that is made from a happy black and white cow standing in a paddock chewing its cud and smiling.
Rustic is also the term used for food that is photographed by someone who came late to the party and doesn’t really have a great handle on Adobe light shop! I’m a function over form kind of girl in most things and the food I create is no exception.
The recipes I share may not always be aesthetically on top of their game (sometimes more Iggy Pop than Jennifer Aniston), they may not have the ‘razzle dazzle’ of the Instagram It-crowd but they will always be the best offering I can give you.
The whole point of this blog for me is to share food that is accessible, seasonal, simple, full of nutrients and always, always made with love so you; in turn; can sit at a table with people special to you and know it is your best offering too.
The recipes I’ve chosen to share this week are extremes in the looks stakes, but they all have great personalities!
The Mushroom Wellington is divine - a real good looker bound to get “oohs and ahhs” from an appreciative audience and made from field mushrooms which go hand in hand with the weather we’ve had lately. A bucket and a brisk walk over the farm has been producing the goods and the umami flavour of the mushies is such a gift.
The other recipe is for Pork Chops with Cider, Rosemary and Peach Sauce and is a cracker! The sauce is one that would be lovely on chicken as well and uses sweet peaches which are seasonal right now.
As a bonus (it’s so simple I hardly consider it a recipe) I’ve included a free form tart (the best kind in my opinion!) which shows off the tomatoes and leeks which are in my garden right now. This little tart is not the best looking at the dance but worth a spin round the floor for sure! If you don’t have leeks red onion will work just fine, make sure it is caramelised well so it’s nice and sweet. This is a great little number to have in your repertoire for a simple lunch or dinner.
Enjoy - Jax x
A Fast Little Tart
Ingredients
1 cup virgin olive oil
1 dry red chili
1 sheet Puff Pastry
1 cup cream cheese
2 medium leeks, sliced
2 cups Tomatoes, halved
Salt and pepper to taste
Thyme to taste
Method
Preheat oven to 180ºC/350ºF. Line a baking sheet with baking paper and set aside.
Prepare the Spicy Chilli Oil by placing the oil and the dry red chili in a small saucepan, and bring to boil for one minute. After that, remove from heat and let cool to room temperature. Store in an airtight bottle or jar.
Place the sliced tomatoes and leeks on an oven tray, season and drizzle with olive oil. Roast on 140 for one and a half hours until they are well caramelized.
Unfold the puff pastry and place it onto prepared baking sheet.
Use a sharp knife to score the perimeter of the dough 1-inch from the edge, making sure not to cut all the way through the dough. Prick pastry in a few places with a fork inside the scored rectangle so that the center of the pastry does not puff in the oven.
Spread the cream cheese on the pastry, arrange the sliced roasted leeks and the halved roasted tomatoes over the cheese. Drizzle everything with spicy chili oil, around 2 tablespoons, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Bake in oven for 15 minutes or until the edges of pastry are browned, puffed, and crisp. Let tart cool 10 minutes before cutting into pieces.
Mushroom Wellington
Ingredients
1 - 1.5kgs Mushrooms
3 cups baby spinach
2 cups cooked brown rice
2 onions finely chopped
Butter / coconut oil
2 garlic cloves crushed
Rosemary chopped 2 TBlsp
Mustard if you like – about 1 Tblsp
Method
In a large pan heat your oil or butter and add the onion. Cook it until it’s soft and starting to caramelise. Add your garlic and fry until it’s soft then pop in the rosemary, mushies and spinach. Cook this well until your mushrooms are nice and soft. If there’s a lot of juice you can drain some off and reserve it to use as sauce….we don’t want soggy bottoms on our Wellington ! Pop in some mustard if you’d like it and season with salt and pepper. Finally add the rice and mix well. Set aside to cool.
I use pre rolled flaky pastry and for this amount of filling I joined two pieces together. Add your filling in the middle. Fold over the opposite ends and then gently roll to enclose the filling. You may need to trim a little of the pastry in parts to minimize the layers and ensure even cooking.
Brush your beautiful Wellington with egg wash to glaze.
Cook at 180 for about 30 minutes until your pastry is golden gorgeous
Pork Chops in Cider, Rosemary, Wholegrain Mustard and Peach Sauce
Ingredients
1 1/2 tablespoon oil
salt and pepper, to taste
4 x pork loin chops
1 red onion, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon rosemary, finely chopped
½ cup of cider
1 tablespoon wholegrain mustard
500 gram ripe peaches, peeled, chopped
Method
Heat half the oil in a heavy frying pan. Season the chops and cook for around 4 minutes until each side is well browned. Cover with a lid or foil and set aside for 10 minutes.
In a separate pan, heat the remaining oil and cook the onion and rosemary until softened. Add the cider, mustard and peaches and bring to a simmer. Cook until sauce looks a little shiny.
Add the cooked chops (and that pan juice) to the pan, cover with sauce, and heat gently to a simmer – around 4 minutes. Serve the pork chops with the sauce spooned over the top.
Note: If you want to trim the fat off the chops, salt well on the skin side and grill them into crackling…..always a favourite !