Australian wines have improved steadily over the last two decades and have gradually won converts in this country. Now it appears that Australian cooking will follow the same path. My friend Bryan Miller, former restaurant critic for The New York Times, spent a month eating his way around the country last summer and told me there were remarkable similarities in what avant-garde chefs here and there are producing in their kitchens.
Australia, of course, is blessed with a rich supply of magnificent seafood and some curious land creatures. It was, for a very long time, cursed with the misguided English sensibility toward vegetables and meat: The longer you cook either, the better it is for the food and for you.
Well, in support of Miller’s findings, you need not look beyond a stunningly illustrated cookbook called “A Taste of Australia: The Bathers Pavilion Cookbook” (Ten Speed Press, $27.95) to be convinced that the culinary scene has changed dramatically. The restaurant, created from an old bathhouse on a beach in Sidney, has a wonderfully informal, eclectic look, and the food created by chef Genevieve Harris and owner Victoria Alexander has the same attributes.
The recipe presentation begins with something called “morning food,” a wonderful concept for those of us who don’t breakfast early and don’t like packaged cereal. The rice pudding that follows is from this section, though it also can be a dessert. A strikingly simple soup that combines Jerusalem artichokes and oysters caught my eye, as did the Indian-inspired tandoori marinated snapper in the fish section.
Whether it’s called fusion cuisine or not, elements of the cooking of various Asian nations (coconut milk, the tandoori marinade, Thai lemon grass, and the inevitable chili peppers among them) are here along with familiar European cheeses, cuts of meat and comfort foods, including mashed potatoes. Even vicariously, I’m enjoying repeated visits to The Bathers Pavilion.
The following three recipes could become a dinner party menu.
JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE AND OYSTER SOUP
Six servings
1 3/4 pounds Jerusalem artichokes
1 medium onion
2/3 cup butter
3 dozen shucked oysters and their liquor
4 cups fish stock *
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons snipped chives
* A flavorful stock is essential to the success of this recipe. Buy 2 pounds of bones and/or heads from firm-fleshed whitefish and simmer them with 6 cups of water, 2 green onions, a 1-inch piece of fresh ginger and 1/2 teaspoon of peppercorns for 25 minutes. Strain and discard the solids. Alternatively, combine a 10-ounce bottle of clam juice, 2 cups of low-sodium vegetable broth and 1 cup of water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes.
1. Peel and roughly chop the artichokes and onion. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over low heat, add the artichokes and onion and cook until the onion is soft and translucent, 5 to 8 minutes.
2. Remove the oysters from their container and pour the liquor through a sieve into a bowl. Add the oysters to the pan and cook for 2 minutes. Add the oyster liquor and
the fish stock. Bring the liquid to a boil, lower heat to a simmer and cook until the artichokes are soft, about 20 minutes.
3. Pure the mixture in a food processor or blender in batches as necessary. Reheat the soup and season to taste with salt and pepper. If too thick, add additional fish stock or water. Serve in bowls, garnished with the chives.
TANDOORI MARINATED SNAPPER WITH MINT AND YOGURT SAUCE
Four servings
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
4 cloves garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 medium tomato, quartered,
seeded and coarsely chopped
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 tablespoon white vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons natural plain yogurt, plus 11Z3 cups
1/2 tablespoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon powdered or ground
fennel seed
1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil, plus 1 tablespoon
4 snapper fillets, 6 ounces each
4 shallots, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 large Anaheim pepper, seeded and coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
1/4 cup cilantro leaves
1/2 cup fresh mint leaves
2 tablespoons Asian fish sauce
1. Make the marinade. Toast the coriander seeds in a dry frying pan and grind them. Place in a food processor or blender and add the garlic, ginger, tomato, turmeric, vinegar, 1 1/2 tablespoons yogurt, chili powder, fennel and 1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil. Process until consistency is somewhere between a paste and a sauce. Smear both sides of the fillets with this mixture and set aside.
2. Make the sauce. Clean the processor or blender bowl. Place the shallots, pepper, sugar, minced ginger, cilantro, mint leaves and fish sauce in the bowl and process to a smooth paste. Transfer to a mixing bowl and stir in the 1 1/3 cups yogurt. Set aside. (Recipe may be done up to 2 hours ahead to this point. Cover and refrigerate the fish.)
3. When ready to cook, heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a skillet large enough to hold the fillets in a single layer. Pan-fry the fillets over medium heat, turning once, about 8 minutes. Transfer to warm plates and spoon sauce over or beside the fish. Serve with rice and pass extra sauce in a sauceboat.
CREAMED VANILLA RICE
Six to eight servings
2 cups short grain rice
2 tablespoons butter
6 to 7 cups milk
2 vanilla beans, split
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup dried apricots
1/2 cup golden raisins
Toasted slivered almonds and
whipping cream
1. Soak the rice in water for 30 minutes, then rinse it under running water. Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat and add the rice. Simmer for a few minutes, stirring, so that the rice does not stick to the pan. Add the milk (using the larger quantity if you like creamy rice), vanilla beans and sugar. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until almost cooked, 12 to 15 minutes.
2. While the rice is cooking, chop the apricots into a fine dice. Add the apricots and raisins to the almost cooked rice, then continue cooking until it is soft and creamy, about 5 minutes more. Remove vanilla beans.
3. Serve warm or at room temperature topped with a scattering of almonds. Pass the whipping cream in a sauceboat.
