Australian Dinner At Home

Nell is back from Australia and has settled in Richmond to finish school at VCU.

A visit home to Montclair for Spring break inspired us to revisit Australia with this "OZ" dinner.

The May 2007 issue of Bon Appetit - Where To Eat Now - covered Australian Cuisine in the article "the Wizardry of OZ "  which included several great recipes.

Here are the dishes we made, with wine pairing notes and tips on where to find ingredients.

Jill Dupleix, writes "Sometimes cultures collide in the most delicious way. Take Australia, where the food of British settlers has mixed with that of Greek and Italian immigrants and the cuisines of nearby Southeast Asia. Add to that the wide array of fresh seafood available on this island continent and a climate that yields all kinds of fruits and vegetables, all year long. And then there's the Australian attitude: No fussing, no over thinking, just bold, streamlined food made with the best ingredients available and a laser focus on flavor. Down Under, they have a name for this unlikely culinary equation: They call it Mod Oz cooking."

Sizzling Halloumi Cheese with Fava Beans and Mint

Halloumi, a firm mild Cypriot cheese popular in Greece, can be placed directly into a dry nonstick skillet or onto a grill and cooked. The outside will get brown and crisp; the inside will be soft and melted. Serve right away.  Recipe, Bon Appetit May 2007

Halloumi is available at Whole Foods in West Orange, NJ. If you ask for it don't be surprised if the people in the cheese department look at you with a blank stare and say they don't have it. Just go to the refrigerated section opposite the cheese department and search for it there.

We could not find fresh Fava Beans so substituted with frozen Lima Beans.

I paired this dish with an Australian Viognier by Deen De Bortoli of Victoria with this dish.  This bright refreshing wine went with the cheese and mint very well.

It has a glistening pale gold color and the typical Viognier aromas of bright pear, peach, citrus fruit and flowers. The minerally accents and bright orchard and pit fruit flavors combined with a gentle acidity gives the wine lift and focus.

The wine can be found at Home Liquors in Verona, Liquor Outlet in Boonton or Sparrow in Hoboken.

I love the broad and eclectic international influence in Australian cuisine. The fusion of flavors created by current "Mod Oz" chefs are truly unique. Flavors meld and compliment yet hold their original characteristics.

In this realm it is completely natural to go from the Greek flavors of the first dish to the Chinese tastes of this one:

Chinese Char Siu Grilled Lamb Chops,

The Lamb Chops came from Costco, Kirkland Brand, they are from Australia and are superb.

Another recipe from the Bon Appetit May issue. "Usually used on pork, the Chinese barbecue marinade called char siu gives a haunting sweetness to these chops, which are delicious with steamed bok choy. Ask your butcher to french (trim) the lamb chops for you.   Recipe

I found all the other ingredients, after some searching, including the Chinese five-spice powder at Whole Foods.

We also made the Salt and Pepper Oven Fries recipe which is a favorite. it has one odd ingredient called Shichimi Togarashi  that we found at East West Asian Supermarket, 67 Belleville Avenue , Bloomfield, NJ 07003, (973) 748-0030.

Of course we served sweet chili sauce with sour cream with the fries. See this post Sweet Chili Sauce The Ultimate Condiment - Tasting and Reviews.

Bok choy or sugar snap peas are great with this meal, we had peas as the bok choy was not looking good. Simply steamed and seasoned with ginger, garlic, and agave necter or an Asian spice blend like Goma Shio.

With these I served another Deen De Bortoli wine, a Petit Verdo that I found at an informal tasting at Home Liquors. It turned out to be a little too lively for complex flavors of the dishes. Good but too fruity. Next time I will try a Pinot Noir. We also Cabernet Shiraz , Bin 389 by Penfolds 2004. That was good, took a long time to open, breath. It was overpowering and would be better with steak. In place of this I will try a Shiraz alone from Mclaren Vale.

Many more recipes can be found here in the article "the Wizardry of OZ "

Our dessert, Chocolate-Caramel Slice, came from another article in the same issue, "Granger at the Grill", which featured Bill Granger one of Australia's hotest chefs and several of his favorite recipes.

With that I served a delicious dessert wine by Australian Peter Lehman, Barossa Botrytis Semillon. It is a sweet wine of amazing freshness, wonderful flavour and tantalizing complexity made by Chief Winemaker, Andrew Wigan.

A perfect ending to a wonderful meal.