A taste of IDES

’Tis the season to entertain, relax with friends and family and recharge at the end of a busy year. For some this is a matter of keeping things as simple as possible, while others like to pull out all stops to make the time as special as possible. For others still, the season creates no end of challenges – what to make, what to do and how to leave a positively lasting impression on guests.

Enter celebrated chef and Audi ambassador, Peter Gunn. The mastermind behind IDES restaurant in Melbourne, and a chef who has honed his culinary craft since his teens and is now recognised as one of the country’s finest chefs. Okay, he’s originally from New Zealand, but we’ll claim him nonetheless.

Although the idea of attempting to emulate the success or prowess of a leading chef might seem the wrong way to tackle entertaining, aiming up with some help from the man himself might be the game changer you’re looking for. With some time up your sleeve over the break, this is the perfect opportunity to challenge yourself with a menu and accompanying recipes that Peter assures us are ‘achievable for the home cook’.

Sesame Bagel with Avocado & Goats Cheese, Green Chilli & Sorrel

Ingredients

4x Sesame Bagels

100g Avocado

100g Softened Butter

100g Goats Cheese

Sea Salt

Black Pepper

1x Green Chilli

1x Banana Shallot

24x leaves Sheep’s Sorrel

10g Sesame Seeds

Olive Oil

Technique

• Halve and toast bagels until golden
• Combine butter, goats cheese and avocado and whisk until smooth. Season with salt and black pepper. Reserve at room temperature in piping bag with star nozzle.
• Slice green chilli and shallots into rounds and rinse under cold water to remove some of their intensity
• Toast sesame seeds in a dry pan until golden
• To assemble, pipe avocado butter around the bottom of bagel and randomly top the avocado butter with green chilli, shallot and sorrel leaves. Dress lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with the toasted sesame seeds. Finish with bagel top.

Steamed Marron and Pickled Zucchini Salad

Ingredients

4x 250-300g live marron

Sea salt

Lemon juice

2x yellow zucchini

10g sea salt

250g white Wine Vinegar

100g caster sugar

1x tsp Yellow Mustard Powder

1x tsp Yellow Mustard Seeds

200g Pumpkin

50g Butter

50g American Mustard

Salt

10g Nigella Seeds

24x Chive Flowers

24x Garlic Flowers

Olive Oil

Technique

• Spike marrons through the head and steam whole for 8 minutes. Remove tail from shell and halve length-ways. Season with sea salt and lemon juice
• Bring vinegar, sugar, mustard seeds & mustard powder to the boil and remove from heat, leave to cool to room temperature
• Halve zucchinis length-ways and slice into 1cm-thick semi-circles
• Toss zucchini in sea salt and allow to sit for 10 minutes before rinsing off and patting dry
• Add zucchini to vinegar and mustard seed pickling mixture (best left for 24hrs before use)
• Dice the pumpkin into one-inch cubes and steam until tender - about 20 min. Combine the steamed pumpkin with the butter and American mustard and blend. Season with salt to taste
• Lightly toast nigella seeds in a dry pan
• To plate, spoon some puree onto the plate and sprinkle with toasted nigella seeds. Arrange the marron tails to the side of the puree and cover with zucchini. Top with garlic and chive flowers and dress lightly with olive oil

Roast Lamb Loin and Lovage Potatoes

Ingredients 

2x 350g Lamb Loins (backstrap), cap on

Sea Salt

Black Pepper

10g Cacao Nibs

10ml Oil

200g Small Chat Potatoes

1L Water

50g Sea Salt

200g Clarified Butter

80g lovage

50ml Oil

10x Large Lovage Leaves

Technique

• Remove most of the fat from the loins, leaving one small layer of fat. Season with salt and pepper and sear on all sides until golden. Roast in oven at 180c for 2 mins and allow to rest for 10 minutes
• Wash the potatoes and halve any large ones, then bring to boil in 1 litre of water and 50g salt – cooking until tender
• Make the lovage butter by heating the clarified butter and roughly chopping the lovage then combing and allowing to sit until cool
• Heat 50ml of oil to 150c and fry leaves until crisp. Drain on paper towel
• To serve, heat lovage butter and spoon a tablespoon over the lamb loin. Sprinkle with cacao nibs and sea salt. Toss potatoes in the remaining lovage butter and arrange neatly on plate. Top with crisp lovage leaves

Fresh & Dried Berries with Coconut Yoghurt, Strawberry Syrup and Anise Praline

Ingredients

200g coconut yoghurt

20g caster sugar

50g blueberries, randomly cut 

50g blackberries, randomly cut 

50g strawberries, randomly cut (half set aside for syrup)

10g dried blueberries

Macadamia oil

Chrysanthemums

Mint flowers

Sea salt

Praline

1 cup caster sugar

¼ cup water

2g star anise (or shop-bought star anise powder)

Technique

• Place the star anise into a pan and toast until fragrant
• Using a spice grinder, grind to a powder – *this could be substituted for store-bought anise powder, toasted in a pan until fragrant
• Place 1 cup of caster sugar to a clean, heavy-based pan
• Add ¼ cup of water and set over medium heat – resist the urge to stir and instead swirl and gently shake the pan back and forth to distribute the liquid and make sure the sugar melts evenly. Stirring the sugar causes recrystallisation and clumps to form, which is not what you want
• Once the sugar has melted into caramel and browned slightly, add the anise powder and remove from heat
• Immediately pour onto a tray lined with baking paper and leave to set as hard sheet
• Once hard, crush down with a grinder or mortar and pestle until crumbly

Strawberry Syrup

• In a bowl, mix together half of the cut strawberries with a tablespoon of caster sugar and allow to macerate for around half an hour
• Once macerated, use the back of a spoon or your hands to further break down the strawberries to a pulp
• Pass the pulp through a muslin cloth into another bowl and the result will be a vibrant strawberry syrup

Plating up

• Whisk the yoghurt and sugar together
• Pick chrysanthemums and mint flowers
• Spoon yoghurt into the bottom of a bowl and cover liberally with fresh berry mixture, sprinkle with dried blueberries and flowers. Dress with macadamia oil and strawberry coulis. Finally, crumble over the praline and finish with a light sprinkle of sea salt