 Most people would be familiar with 'Turbot au beurre blanc', a staple of French seafood cuisine. Some people might know of 'Raie au beurre noir'... Turns out, I don't like skate, probably the only fish I won't eat, but I like that sauce usually seven with capers. So, as I found a beautiful turbot chez De Costi at the Sydney Fish Market, I decided to treat it like skate... I prepared a salad of Red Cabbage, Pear, Fennel, Carrot and Persian Feta to put some colour back in the plate, just dressed with balsamic vinegar and EVOO from Alto Olives. So, here is the drill (ready to put your skates on?...)  As previously explained, use a frozen 60grams piece of Pepe Saya butterPrepare the salad first and plate right away, as the beurre noir and the cooking of the fish are very quick and will require all your attention... You will need two pans, one for the fish that you will just grill int olive oil and some butter to give it more colour, and one to prepare the "beurre noir", literally "black butter", but not too black, that's the secret and the tricky bit! As previously featured, use a 60 grams frozen piece of Pepe Saya butter (or any quality butter like Isigny, Lescure, Le Conquérant...) and melt it in the pan on top of some olive oil (I use Rosto Mellow evoo for cooking, available at Harris Farm Markets here). Use about 20 grams for the fish and reserve the balance for the beurre noir.  The turbot is cooked through and golden. Remove from heat but keep it warm in the pan To prepare the beurre noir, melt 40 grams of butter with a small amount of olive oil to prevent the butter to burn to quickly. Then turn the heat up until it foams and almost separate. At that point you can either throw the capers with some of their vinegar in the pan, or, as I did use some raspberry vinegar for a touch more "five star" deliciousness. This will coagulate the butter. Turn the heat down, add the capers and turn the heat off after a few moments - don't burn the capers basically...  A thing of beauty: foaming butter...and that smell!  Success! here is your beurre noir ready to serve...  Pour the beurre noir on the fish and serve immediately. Drink a nice Cardonnay with it, a Saint Véran in this case, the favourite of President Mitterrand
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 Before heading south to the Pyrénées, Le Tour de France ended up in Vannes last Sunday After wnndering through northern France and the coast of Normandy to end up in Le Havre, the Tour started stage 7 in Livarot. That in itself could be a story, but my dear subscribers would have read my story - 12 cheeses, 12 villages quite a while ago, so i will only give you a glimpse of it here.
This is another village in Normandy, not that far from Camembert or Pont l'Eveque. The Livarot cheese is the oldest in Normandy and is a soft, pungent, washed rind cheese made from cow's milk. It is both beloved and reviled for its earthy aroma. It was also referred in the past as "the meat of the poor" for its good nutritional values and also because it kept itself up to six months. It is quite easy to recognise on a platter with its orange colour and the five rings of straw, which has given its nickname of "le colonel". A rich red wine like a Pomerol or a Saint-Emilion would be an ideal match. I believe that some of the Barossa Valley reds would be quite a good match as well. SAINT-PIERRE AU BEURRE BLANC NANTAIS John Dory - Saint-Pierre at the Sydney Fish Markets My son Grégoire, who is rarely with us on Sundays these days, asked me to make him either turbot or John Dory, "with that butter sauce" for lunch. Lucky me, I found some big, beautiful Saint-Pierre, the French name for it at the Sydney Fish Market this morning, and only had to follow my Mum's recipe for the "beurre blanc" - that butter sauce... It was also fitting with the passage of the Tour through Brittany where this fish is abundant and Nantes where "beurre blanc" originated, is just on the South bank of the Loire, and Vannes is just a little further North.  I did add a few twists to the recipe, as I wanted to try my new Himalayan Salt Block bought at the Bastille Day Market (don't ask...) from my neighbours Salt Lamp Store, and also prepare some oyster mushrooms - pleurottes - with garlic and basil, a recipe I usually make with Champignons de Paris. Add some miniature Roma tomatoes for flavour and colour and "le tour best joué"... Ingredients per person: 200 grams of Turbot or John Dory 15-20 grams of rice - I used Randall Organic Long Grain Rice 4 miniature Roma tomatoes 1 shallot 1 garlic clove 1 stalk of basil 25 grams of oyster mushrooms 25 grams of butter - I used a combination of Lurpak unsalted and Pepe Saya Truffle Butter 1 table spoon of white wine vinegar 1 table spoon of white dry wine - I used a Macon Villages Chardonnay   The first thing to do is to heat up your salt block, on a small flame first, until the top is warm to the touch, and then full on to reach the cooking temperature of about 500 degrees Celsius. Then, boil some water for the rice and peel your shallots and garlic and prepare the mushrooms The Himalayan Salt Block is been heated on the gas flame and gives us a great show of colours Heat up some olive oil and slightly cook the shallots and the garlic  Then drop the mushrooms and the basil in, stir through and cook until moist  By then, the salt block should be hot enough so you can drop the tomatoes on it Now, it is time to start the "beurre blanc". For those of you that can read French - and my Mum's handwriting - then you are on your way. For the others (what's the name of someone who speaks only one language...) then here is the quite simple method "en images"  In a small pot, put the white wine vinegar, the wine and the finely cut shallots and heat up to boil  Once the liquid is reduced enough, and the shallots are cooked, incorporate the butter after putting the pot in a "bain-marie". Stir until the butter is completely melted  And then pass the butter to remove the shallots. Keep warm on the bain-marie until plating  In the meantime, cook the fish on the salt block. It takes longer than in a pan and the fish doesn't get dry during the 10 minutes it stayed on it. Turn it mid way  By now, your rice should be cooked and gained, your mushrooms kept warm in the oven, the butter on the bain-marie and the tomatoes and fish cooked to perfection of the salt block and you are ready to plate! Et voilà !  Serve the same wine you used for the "beurre blanc" to accompany your meal.  You could be even more "local" by using a Muscadet  The suckling pig roasting away on wood charcoals. Photo courtesy of Growers Market Instagram feed James Viles the youngest Australian Chef to receive two hats for his locavore restaurant Biota Dining in Bowral, in the Southern Highlands of NSW, was the guest of honoour at the SMH Growers Market in Pyrmont for this month. He was there (very...) early to start the fire and slow roast a whole 10kgs pig in time for the first demo at 8.30am. I was not there and almost missed the 10.00am session as I was recovering from two nights of debauchery, including first screening of son Grégoire first film as a director (Summer Nights) and another one as DoP (1919) , part of the Break program of Metroscreen, and family reunion with the Scottish side of the clan... I made it just in time to catch some leftover bits of this deliciously slow cooked cochon  After the battle....
James Viles explains to us and host PoRkStar Marketing Manager Mitch Edwards how the pig was cookedJames went on to prepare blood sausages - boudin noir - to an attentive but somehow bewildered crowd who were told that they could make this at home... A lot of collateral damage, including the host Mardi Gras outfit, happened, as fresh blood ended up splattered every where on stage and beyond. All this happened as a very cool and collected James was crumbing bread into a bowl, adding various spices and plenty salt, while telling us the story of his (young...) life and the genesis of Biota Dining. I have already reported on this, so I will refer you to my restaurants review page. Over time, James and myself have built a friendship based on a common passion for local produce and food. He has pushed the "locavore" concept to the hilt, as he grows his own herbs and vegetables on the 4-acre property and sources most other ingredients within a 25kms radius around Bowral. Exception are the selfish he brings from the South Coast and some wines, although most of them are from the region (Centennial Wines and Far Ago Hill, just to name the two I know personally). We have been foraging together and I have been gently threatened with an invitation to go hunting hare together... He is a passionate individual and very hard working Chef, who also treats his personnel very nicely, taking them in turn to such event, like Joel today, his Executive Chef. The boudin noir was absolutely stunning, one of the best I ever tasted, including the divine apple and boudin noir feuilleté at La Tassée in Lyon, a must go to place, and the black pudding experienced in Scotland, another outcome of the Auld Alliance...  Crumbing bread while entertaining the crowd  James and Mitch cracking Mardi Gras jokes while preparing the spices...  Here comes the fresh blood... fifty shades of red!  Joel helps James filling the natural casing for the boudin  Messier by the minute...not for the faint hearted!  James presenting the cooked boudin to the crowd as a new born baby...Cooked only for a few minutes at 80 degrees, just to coagulate the blood around the bread crumbs and encapsulate the spices  Cutting the boudin to fry it  They seem to like it...  Add some aioli...  Even this little girl will taste boudin noir and like it  It looks like a success! Well done James and Joel. And thanks to Mitch for being great host Somebody asked about the recipe for boudin blanc instead, and nobody on stage had a real clue, so I was asked to step in...You will find a good recipe by clicking the image above. Let's just say that the blood is replaced by white meat (pork, veal or chicken), the finest result coming from using veal ( not yearling...) and add cream to gel the ingredients together. When well made, this is a delicacy usually enjoyed as a second course (after oysters) for Christmas. It was invented in Champagne. Find the complete story by clicking the image below. A fish version and a specialty of Lyon is called quenelle and is even finer in texture and taste, best if one can find brochet a carnivorous river fish.  Boudin Blanc before cooking. Click the image for home made recipe  Boudin Blanc after cooking - Boudin blanc was invented in Champagne for Christmas. Click to learn more I did find the time after tasting the roasted pig to have a quick run through the market andd say hello to my good friends Steph Gourmet Foods, roi du saucisson, the Ocellos and their beautiful cheeses, Grower2u and their fabulous vegetables next to the Leppington Valley Farm who still had beautiful figs, Pepe Saya butter, Gina from Sweetness The Patisserie, Gilles Bonin Monsieur Garlic and in the process met Jenny and Cathy from new stallholders Garlicious Grown, sharing with Gilles and Victoria. I am sure we will see more of these nice ladies and great products.  Growers2u  Grower2u beautiful heirlom tomatoes  I bought some kifler potatoes from these people last week in North Sydney. Fabulous...  Figs are still in season and beautiful  Jenny (right) and Cathy from Garlicious Grown  The infatiguable team at Pepe Saya  The Ocello clan hard at work  Fromage  et dessert Next week, we will revisit the EQ (fox Studios) and Riverside Organic Markets, and we are also interviewing James Viles at Biota Dining over tapas tomorrow and Clément Chauvin at Les Bistronomes in Canberra on Tuesday afternoon, and staying for dinner and a review...Busy week!
 A busy North Sydney Market with a relaxed atmosphere enhanced by the Sentosa Trio I have not visited this monthly market in years! Organised by the Community Centre, it takes place every third Saturday of the month in the big open space behind the Council Chambers. Once a small affair of a dozen stalls, it is now comparable to Orange Grove or Everleigh in size and attendance. Also, some of the big names are attending like Pepe Saya and Dessertmakers, Pastabilities, Willowbrae Cheese and a raft of French or French related products and people. Robinvale and Pukara Olive Oils and Ocello just to name a few. Plenty organic products and vegetables, as well as meat producers or wholesalers. Obviously there are also a good choice of coffee makers and goodies to eat on the spot!  David from Willowbrae Cheese trying his French on this compatriot  Prince of the fresh garlic - Gilles Bonin  A very famous coffee shop and cooking school from Marrickville  Robinvale Estate from Mildura - EVOO - I bought the "Late Harvest" a delicate, still robust oil for salads
 Popular ham from Feather and Bone  Another real Frenchman, Jacques Wisdom of "Pardon My French" cooking croque-monsieur, gaufres & delicious madeleines  Beautiful setting with a magnificent jacaranda Et tout finit par des chansons |
 In Sydney - October 2019 AuthorBorn in France, well travelled, relocated to Sydney in 1997. Archives
October 2021
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