HEARTH AND SOUL
GATHER FAMILY AND FRIENDS TOGETHER AND COOK UP A MEAL TO CHASE THE CHILL AWAY — THIS IS COMFORT FOOD AT ITS BEST.
From brisket and a haloumi roast to a pear and ginger upside down cake, this is the ultimate in comfort food.
THAI RED CURRY SWEET POTATO SOUP
Serves 4
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 large red onion (300g), chopped 2 tablespoons red curry paste 2 teaspoons finely chopped, trimmed coriander roots
1kg orange sweet potato, cut into chunks 1 litre (4 cups) vegetable stock 1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon lime juice
2 teaspoons brown sugar
270ml can coconut cream
Heat the oil in a large heavy-based saucepan over medium-high heat; cook onion, stirring, for 5 minutes or until softened. Add the curry paste and coriander roots; cook, stirring, for 1 minute or until fragrant.
Add sweet potato, stock and 1 cup (250ml) water; bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to low; cook, covered, for 15 minutes or until sweet potato is tender. Remove from heat; stand for 5 minutes. Add fish sauce, juice and sugar. Blend soup until smooth using a stick blender, or mash with a potato masher or fork.
Add ¾ cup of the coconut cream; stir over medium heat until hot. Season to taste. Top the soup with the remaining coconut cream and serve.
Do ahead by making the soup at home to the end of the blending process and freeze in an airtight container. Transport the frozen soup, thaw and reheat, then add the coconut cream and continue. Serve with grilled sourdough.
COFFEE AND CARDAMOM BRISKET
Serves 6
You will need to start this recipe a day ahead. 2 teaspoons cumin seeds
2 teaspoons coriander seeds
½ teaspoon cardamom seeds 2 tablespoons ground coffee
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1.5kg piece beef brisket, excess fat trimmed 1 cup (250ml) beef stock
1 tablespoon lime juice
½ teaspoon sea salt flakes
1 teaspoon caster sugar
1 small red onion (100g), sliced thinly
½ cup (50g) walnuts, roasted, chopped 100g Persian fetta, crumbled
Toast seeds in a small dry frying pan over medium heat for 1 minute or until fragrant. Using a mortar and pestle or small blender, pound or blend to a powder. Place 1 teaspoon of the spice mix and 1 teaspoon of the coffee in a small bowl; reserve for serving. Combine the remaining coffee and the brown sugar with the remaining spice mix; season.
Rub the spice mix over the beef in a large bowl. Cover; refrigerate overnight.
Preheat the oven to 150°C. Oil a medium roasting pan. Place beef and stock in pan; cover with foil. Roast beef, turning pan halfway through cooking, for 5 hours or until beef is very tender; beef should be falling apart and easy to shred with two forks.
Meanwhile, combine juice, salt and caster sugar in a small bowl, add onion; mix well. Stand for 10 minutes; drain. Slice and coarsely shred the brisket; sprinkle with the reserved spice mix.
Top beef with pickled onions, walnuts and fetta, and serve.
Due to the coffee, the spice rub will be very dark once roasted; however, it will not taste burnt. The rub can be made in a large quantity and stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 months. Serve brisket with potato fries or roast pumpkin, pickles and a green salad. Leftovers make a delicious sandwich filling with smoky hot or barbecue sauce.
ROASTED SNAPPER WITH PICKLE MAYONNAISE
Serves 2
400g potatoes
6 whole cloves garlic, unpeeled 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 2 whole baby snapper (600g), cleaned 2 medium lemons (280g), sliced thinly ⅓ cup fresh dill sprigs
¼ cup (75g) mayonnaise
2 tablespoons cucumber pickles, chopped
Wash unpeeled potatoes, pat dry; cut into wedges. Combine potato wedges, garlic and 1 tablespoon of the oil on a large piece of foil; season.
Seal parcel. Place parcel on glowing coals. Cook potatoes for 45 minutes or until cooked through.
Meanwhile, score fish skin at 2cm intervals on each side. Fill fish cavities with half the lemon and half the dill; season. Heat the remaining oil in a heavy-based frying pan or on a barbecue flat plate. Cook fish for 5 minutes on each side or until fish are cooked through. Cook remaining lemon slices for 1 minute on each side or until browned lightly.
Combine mayonnaise and pickles in a small bowl.
Top fish with grilled lemon and remaining dill. Serve with potato wedges, garlic and pickle mayonnaise.
BROCCOLI HALOUMI ROAST WITH SALSA VERDE
Serves 6
3 small heads (750g) broccoli 8 shallots, quartered
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup (200g) pearl barley
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon fennel seeds, bruised 400g haloumi, cut into 5mm thick slices ½ cup (75g) pomegranate seeds
¼ cup (40g) pine nuts, toasted
SALSA VERDE
¾ cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves ½ cup fresh mint leaves
1 small clove garlic, crushed 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar ⅓ cup (80ml) extra virgin olive oil
Preheat oven to 200°C. Trim broccoli stems; halve each head lengthways. Thinly slice stems; toss stems and shallots with half the oil in a large roasting pan. Roast for 5 minutes.
Cook broccoli head halves in a large saucepan of salted boiling water for 2 minutes or until just soft enough to insert haloumi between florets. Remove from the water with tongs; drain well.
Add barley to same pan of boiling water. Reduce heat to low; simmer, covered, for 25 minutes or until tender. Drain well.
Meanwhile, rub broccoli head halves with remaining olive oil, ground cumin and fennel seeds. Insert haloumi slices between florets. Place on shallots in roasting pan; season. Roast for 30 minutes or until broccoli florets and shallots are tender and haloumi slices are golden.
Make salsa verde.
Add barley to roasting pan with broccoli mixture; toss well with pan juices.
Top with pomegranate seeds and pine nuts; drizzle with salsa verde.
SALSA VERDE Blend or process herbs, garlic, mustard and vinegar to a coarse paste. Transfer to a small bowl; stir in oil to combine.
PEAR AND GINGER UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE
Serves 8
3 medium (630g) beurre bosc pears 1½ cups (330g) firmly packed brown sugar 1 cup (250ml) vegetable oil
2 teaspoons finely grated orange rind 2 teaspoons finely grated fresh ginger 3 eggs
2½ cups (375g) plain flour
2½ teaspoons baking powder
½ cup (125ml) milk
ORANGE-CINNAMON SYRUP
⅓ cup (80ml) strained orange juice 60g (2oz) butter
1 cup (220g) firmly packed brown sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Preheat the oven to 220°C. Grease and line a 24cm round cake pan.
Make orange-cinnamon syrup. Peel and core pears; cut each into eight wedges. Arrange wedges in a decorative pattern on the base of the pan; pour syrup over pears. Beat sugar, oil, rind, ginger and eggs in a bowl with an electric mixer. Gently add combined sifted flour and baking powder, then milk. Pour batter over pears.
Bake cake for 10 minutes. Reduce oven to 180°C; bake for a further 55 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Cool cake completely in the pan; carefully turn out onto a platter.
ORANGE-CINNAMON SYRUP
Place ingredients in a small saucepan; bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium; simmer for 3 minutes or until thickened slightly. Cool.
QUINCE GALETTE
Serves 6
3 medium quince (1kg)
¾ cup (165g) caster sugar
1½ cups (375ml) red wine
1 cinnamon stick
1 vanilla bean, split lengthways
6 sheets fillo pastry
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil ⅓ cup (75g) caster sugar, extra 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
⅓ cup (40g) almond meal
¼ cup (40g) roasted almonds, chopped 2 teaspoons icing sugar (optional)
1 cup (280g) Greek-style yoghurt
Preheat the oven to 150°C. Peel the quince; reserve half the peel. Cut the quince into quarters, do not core. Place caster sugar, 3 cups (750ml) water, wine, cinnamon and vanilla bean in a large cast-iron casserole dish or flameproof ovenproof dish over medium heat; stir until sugar dissolves. Add quince and reserved peel, bring to the boil; cover with a piece of baking paper, then cover tightly with foil or a lid (make sure quince is submerged in the liquid).
Bake quince, turning twice, for 5 hours or until quince are tender and deep red in colour. Leave quince in syrup to cool.
Remove quince from syrup with a slotted spoon. Cut cores from quince; cut each quarter in half lengthways. Strain syrup; discard solids. Reserve 2 cups (500ml) of the syrup. Return quince to remaining syrup; stand until required. Place reserved syrup in a medium saucepan over medium heat; simmer for 20 minutes or until thickened. Cool.
Preheat oven to 210°C. Grease a large oven tray; place the tray in the oven while heating. Layer pastry sheets in alternate directions, on a large piece of baking paper, brushing each layer with some of the oil.
Combine the extra caster sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl; reserve 2 tablespoons. Combine almond meal with the remaining cinnamon sugar. Sprinkle almond mixture over pastry leaving a 10cm border.
Place drained quince on almond mixture, fold pastry edge over quince. Transfer galette, on baking paper, to preheated tray. Brush pastry with remaining oil; sprinkle pastry with reserved cinnamon sugar.
Bake galette for 20 minutes or until pastry is golden. Drizzle with most of the syrup; sprinkle with chopped almonds. Dust with sifted icing sugar.
Serve galette with yoghurt drizzled with the remaining syrup.