The Collective Cook

Roast Pork with Pedro Ximenez sauce

I stumbled across a nice twist tonight. I cooked the pork (rolled loin sourced from feather and bone, of course) in the usual manner, including placing it on a layer (8) fresh bay leaves while it cooked. After the pork was cooked, I rested it under alfoil for 2 hours. In the roasting pan I cooked 5 green apples (peeled, cored and halved) in the pan juices and bay leaves. This idea of roasting apples with pork I got from a Stephanie Alexander book some time ago. I added a tablespoon of brown sugar, sprinkled over the top, along with 3 or 4 cloves. After the apples had cooked, I removed them and then made a sauce in the pan. I had no wine open so what to deglaze the pan with? I opted for pedro ximenez, a sweet Spanish sherry that I love on ice-cream (an idea I got from Moro). The sherry was a fabulous complement to the sweetness of the apples, cloves and sugar. I added flour, chicken stock and some more brown sugar to balance the residual saltiness from the pork skin. It was a beautiful sauce that was magic on the pork, roasted apples and potatoes roasted in duck fat, garlic, rosemary and citrus zest ( a Jamie Oliver idea). Yum, I'll be doing this one again.

"Bagel Manhattan" - Badde Manors

Nearly 30 years ago when we lived in Glebe, unencumbered by anklebiters, we used to regularly eat at the Badde Manors cafe, an iconic little place on Glebe Pt road, near Sydney University, frequented by students and people not hankering for a federation cottage in Lane Cove anytime soon.

Badde Manors was vegetarian and inner-city with attitude. Peter Garrett, it was said, was prone to pop in for a late-night, after-gig bite, back in the radical past when he ran for the senate as a Nuclear Disarmamnet candidate and before he donned the suits and hoped the ALP might actually push ahead with an ETS. Everybody's got to learn sometime. Anyway, back in the day, being favoured by Pete certainly added to the street-cred. 

The Badde Manors food is still well worth the visit, but sadly one of my favourites has long since disappeared.

They used to do something called Bagel Manhattan. This may have been the first place I ever ate bagels. Though I've since had the opportunity to explore many bagel shops in New York I have never come across anything like the Badde Manors' creation. In today's obsession with authenticity, I think its outrageous inauthenticity just adds to its charm. Anyway, in Manhattan it is hard to go past good smoked salmon (lox) and cream cheese.

The bagel was split, toasted and spread with cream cheese or butter and filled with a fried egg (use a ring and make sure it is not still runny) and then spread with one of Australia's favourite condiments - sweet mustard pickles. Does that qualify as fusion food?

We still regularly eat this at home, for breakfast or a light meal. Really, it is a great vegetarian alternative to the egg and bacon roll - and just as comforting.

In Sydney, I get my bagels from the very estimable Bagel House. 

I have boiled and baked my own bagels at home, a great challenge and satisying when it goes well, but really life is too short.

While we tend to think New York when we think bagels, it originated in the Jewish community of Poland:

It was actually invented much earlier inKraków, Poland, as a competitor to the bublik, a lean bread of wheat flour designed for Lent. In the 16th and first half of the 17th centuries, the bajgiel became a staple of the Polish national diet.^[5]

There was a tradition among many observant Jewish families to make bagels on Saturday evenings at the conclusion of the Sabbath. Due to Jewish Sabbath restrictions, they were not permitted to cook during the period of the Sabbath and, compared with other types of bread, bagels could be baked very quickly as soon as it ended.

In the Brick Lane district and surrounding area of London, England, bagels, or as locally spelled "beigels" have been sold since the middle of the 19th century. They were often displayed in the windows of bakeries on vertical wooden dowels, up to a metre in length, on racks.

Bagels were brought to the United States by immigrant Jews, with a thriving business developing in New York City that was controlled for decades by Bagel Bakers Local 338, which had contracts with nearly all bagel bakeries in and around the city for its workers, who prepared all the bagels by hand. The bagel came into more general use throughout North America in the last quarter of the 20th century, at least partly due to the efforts of bagel baker Harry Lender and Florence Sender, who pioneered automated production and distribution of frozen bagels in the 1960s.^[8]

There are still a couple of "beigel" shops in Brick Lane in London's East End and they do a roaring trade and are well-worth a visit. You might even see Mr Sammy:

In the thick of this frenzied whirl of sweaty masculine endeavour – accompanied by the blare of the football on the radio, and raucous horseplay in different languages – stood Mr Sammy, a white-haired gentleman of diminutive stature, quietly taking the balls of dough and feeding them into the machine which delivers recognisable beigels on a conveyor belt at the other end, ready for immersion in hot water. In spite of the steamy hullabaloo in the kitchen, Mr Sammy carries an aura of calm, working at his own pace and, even at seventy-five years old, still pursues his ceaseless labours all through the night, long after the bakers have departed to their beds. Originally a baker, he has been working here since the beigel bakery opened at these premises in 1976, although he told me proudly that the Brick Lane Beigel Bakery superceded that of Lieberman’s fifty -five years ago. Today it is celebrated as the most visible legacy of the Jewish culture that once defined Spitalfields.

I like hot salt beef with mustard - a meal!

Bagels have been a constant in my life for decades, and it all started at Badde manors. That's the way it goes with food.

Moro's spanish tortilla

Moro is a wonderful restaurant in London. When we first ate there in 2007, we loved it so much we bought all three of their cookbooks to take home and add to our already large collection. This spanis tortilla is right up the front of the first of the Moro books: "Moro: the cookbook". The authors describe the tortilla as encapsulating much about Spanish food. With a little practice, it is simple to make and it is a real crowd pleaser. It can be served hot (but it has to cool a little to cut properly) or at room temperature. It goes well with other 'plates' like cold meats, cheeses, salads, dips and so on. I get more enthusiastic requests for this tortilla then just about anything else I cook.

One secret to the dish is the onions. You cook two large spanish onions (cut in half and thinly sliced) in 10 tablespoons of olive oil with a pinch of salt over a low heat (lower the better) for about 45 minutes or until they are golden and sweet-smelling. Be patient. You don't want them to crisp, but otherwise the longer you cook them the better really.When they are cooked drain the onions and reserve the oil. You cook the tortilla in the onion-infused oil and that really makes a difference, I believe.

The potatoes need to be soft but retain their shape - you don't want chips or mash. I use desiree or pontiac. Peel 700gms of potatoes, halve lengthwise and slice to 5mm thickness. Toss potatoes with 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Cook the potatoes in sunflower oil (or other light vegetable oil) at a simmer until tender. Drain (reserve oil for another time) and leave to cool.

Beat six eggs (I only use free range or organic, I love chooks) in a bowl briefly. Add the cooled potatoes and onions and stir gently until well-integrated. Taste and add a little pepper and some salt if needed.

Put three-quarters of the onion-infused oil in a 20cm pan and when it is hot (just starting to smoke) pour in the mixture while gently shaking the pan (this helps get an even distribution). A hot pan will prevent sticking. When the mixture is in the pan reduce the heat to low and cook for 3 - 5 minutes. the underside should be a dark golden brown, just a little short of actually being burnt.

Now comes the fun part. Cover the pan with a dinner plate and quickly (and smoothly) invert the tortilla onto the plate. I do this over the sink because the uncooked side of the tortilla can be a little runny. Some recipes suggest popping the tortilla under a griller or in the oven rather than turning it, but this is wrong! Successfully turning the tortilla will give you a small thrill of personal accomplishment. It also helps to give the tortilla its distinctive shape - and you want your tortilla to look authentic right?

Pour the remaining oil in the pan and turn up the heat. When it is starting to smoke again, slide the tortilla into the pan and with a spatula or similar make sure the edges are tucked in. Turn the heat down and cook for 3-5 minutes. Turn the tortilla out on to a clean plate - it's much easier this time. 

It will look magnificent in the middle of your table. Let it cool a little and then slice thinly.

By the way, Movida is a great spanish restaurant in Melbourne. We've got their book, too. Even closer to home, we love eating at firefly a tapas bar in Walsh Bay. I've also had several great lunches at the Cantina Bar and Grill on Sydney's Oxford street.