Food

I came across this recipe some years ago and it has become my favourite to move on to once I’m over the ‘sweet’ quince thing. It features Persian overtones, Moroccan influences and rich flavours that are perfect as the nights get colder.

The pipi is defined by a triangular shell and is found in the shallows of estuaries and beach sand flats. Pipis are very accessible to gather and for the next level of funk, we bring in the periwinkle. This dish is a bit of a celebration of all things shallow-water-gathering. Plus, the addition of potatoes and butter has never hurt a thing.

There’s nothing like an impending ‘state occasion’ such as Mother’s Day to bring out the wannabe cake-maker in me. While this recipe looks disturbingly long and convoluted, it’s actually very simple. The base recipe is a version of chocolate cake made with oil rather than butter. It produces a cake that is very moist but doesn’t have a tendency to ‘crumb’, which means it’s a delight to slice, fill and decorate.

I have never been a fruit guy, but my girlfriend is a fruit bat – we have a fig tree in the backyard and she’s out there every morning. Now I really appreciate eating a fig that is ripened straight from the tree, which has never come in contact with a fridge. The senses are different in this situation and the smells really kick. This recipe is about trying to capture that point of harvest, hence the use of the fig leaf to really heighten the scent that is almost reminiscent of green tea and coconut.

The tiny spud-pickers’ cottages dotted around the farms are testimony to a world where creature comforts were non-existent. And now at the beginning of May each year, when the harvest of potatoes is settling into full swing and the temperature is starting to drop, Trentham celebrates its heritage with a yearly Spudfest. So, to feel part of the local pride on May 5, here is a potato gnocchi dish, resplendent with brussels sprouts and hazelnuts – all things that thrive here in the hills of central Victoria.

This eggplant is a pretty classic Middle Eastern dish, similar to a baba ganoush. The eggplant picks up and holds the flavour of the smoke, while the skin protects it. This technique ends up both smoking and steaming the eggplant.

I grew up eating fantastic crepes. My mother was a dab hand at them, and I would wait at her elbow as she twisted and turned and rolled the batter around in her special crepe pans. Every so often she would flip a warm crepe onto my plate, on which I would squeeze lemon and sprinkle sugar, then roll it up and happily eat. Often she would be making a version of this recipe, something that obviously still lingers in my memory.

This dish came out of trying to think of new things to do with squid. My kitchens have always been intentionally limited by equipment. This technique came out of trying to use the protein as a carb. Slicing the squid like a noodle also opened up how it could take on different flavours, either from the land or the sea. The squid should always taste like squid, but you can easily sit other flavours with it.

Smoked cod and potato soup has become my favourite Easter tradition and one of my favourite soups. The flavour exchange between the cod, potatoes and garlic is one of life’s great pleasures and brings a richness to the somewhat sombre Good Friday offerings.

Tiramisu has a somewhat naff mass appeal – it’s a homely dessert that should be for everyone but the addition of raw egg, coffee and alcohol excludes children and some people from the pleasures. Bringing together two things that complete every meal – coffee and alcohol – it gives the diner the chance to indulge further without raising any suspicion.