MAKE-OVER DAGGY DINNERS
From meat loaf to apricot chicken, everything old is being given a new twist for today, writes
WALDORF salad and prawn cocktails. Carpetbagger steak and crepes suzette. Just like facial hair, pocket squares and Brylcreem, what’s old is new again and dinner is no exception. Hip menus are strewn with old-school classics given a twist for today.
There’s a retro revival in full swing, but how to transform the daggy dinners of yesterday — apricot chicken and tuna mornay — into family favourites of today?
LOAFING AROUND
Matt Preston is a master of reinventing classics and making them cool — or at least making them delicious for today’s tastes. Over the years, the cookbook author and kitchen whiz has turned his hand to making meat loaf marvellous — forget about the solid grey block served with lumpy mash and say hello to chicken mince meat loaf with onion jam and a kranskyinspired version that oozes with melted cheese.
In his latest book Yummy,
Easy, Quick, he gives an Indian twist to chicken meat loaf thanks to tandoori paste and a mango chutney glaze. “There has been a huge wave of interest in revisiting retro classics but in a way that’s a bit more modern. This means making lighter versions but that still pack the same familiar flavour punch.”
For Matt’s meat loaf recipe, head to taste.com.au
WINNER WINNER
“It was definitely a staple when I was growing up,” says Sharlee Gibb of that ’80s classic one-pot wonder — apricot chicken.
But rather than use the packet of French onion soup mums around the country once relied on, the co-author of Mr &
Mrs Wilkinson includes dukkah and Promite in her modern version to give a salty depth to the sweet fruity sauce (pictured, photo by Patricia Niven).
Coating the chicken in flour and spices and browning the meat first adds depth of flavour before putting it in the oven, with tinned apricots adding juicy sweetness at the end.
“The kids love eating chicken drumsticks and I add cauliflower in there to sneak in some veg,” she says.
SHOW ME THE MORNAY
For Iki-Jime’s Sam Homan, the best way to update the bake that every Australian family has sat down to over the years is to source better quality produce.
A tuna mornay made from fresh yellowfin tuna, as opposed to tinned, Sam says will go far in creating a memorable meal. His version is a type of lasagne, with layers of thinly sliced potato interspersed with tuna and white cheese sauce. Sam suggests barbecuing the seasoned and olive oil-dressed potato slices — “this will give the dish a nice charred smoky flavour” — and then layering a ceramic dish with the potato, the tuna sliced into 5mm thick pieces, and the sauce, sprinkling the last layer with grated cheese. Cook gently in the oven (you don’t want to dry out/ overcook the fish) — test by inserting a knife into the centre and checking the temperature, you’re looking for it to be just above room temp. Blast under the grill to give the top a lovely golden gratineed finish.