Allan Campion & Michele Curtis

Campion & Curtis Food and Wine Newsletter
August 2004

 Welcome to the August 2004 edition of the Campion and Curtis newsletter. We feel as if we've been in hibernation for the past few weeks - a mix of book deadlines and cold weather has meant we've rarely left the house. The end is in sight with manuscripts delivered and the sun appearing a little earlier each morning. We've put together a monthly newsletter that will bring us to the end of another winter and into spring. Bring it on we say!
Click here to visit the Campion and Curtis website
In-season
Late winter brings with it a few ingredients we are fond of. In the vegetable line we adore fennel, silverbeet, spinach, sweet potato and Asian greens at this time of year. While from the fruit selection the pick of the crop would have to be blood oranges, tangelos, sundowner apples, pink grapefruit, rhubarb and honey murcott mandarins.

Five fantastic things to do with citrus;

1. Make a tonic with tangelo juice, ginger and apple juice to get your morning off to a great start
2. Make marmalade with a blood oranges for a real taste sensation
3. Serve segments of pink grapefruit with pan-fried fish
4. Mix segments of blood orange, pink grapefruit and tangelo, top with a thin layer of pastry cream and brown under a grill
5. Send the children off to school with a tangelo in their lunchbox.

The Melbourne Food and Wine Festival
The Melbourne Food and Wine Festival have added a new winter event to its program which kicks off on August 27th. A 'hands on" theme will see winemakers, cheesemakers, brewers and chefs welcome festival participants to a real learning experience, rather than sit back and watch from the sidelines. The idea is to create an event where the emphasis is on the sharing of skills and techniques. Alongside this will be a restaurant week (30th August - 4th September) where $30.00 will get you two courses, a glass of wine and a coffee at one of many leading restaurants. Southgate's restaurants have teamed up with Mornington Peninsula winemakers to present a series of lunches (September 6th - 10th) at a $25.00 and $35.00 dollar price point. Also on offer is a series of panel discussions with topics such as do we have too many restaurants? Do we need or want to make raw milk cheeses and the ethics of food? In keeping with the Olympic spirit there is also a series of special dinners and demonstrations in a Greek Food & Wine Week. This could be just the thing to bring the foodies out of their winter hibernation! Full details on dates and bookings at the festival website Melbourne Food and Wine Festival - Winter Program

Spring Entertaining
Melbourne chef & food writer David Braim of braimfood at Prahran Market will be holding a hands-on "Spring Entertaining" cooking class. Watch him at work while he discusses & cooks (with your help) a variety of easy-entertaining, seasonal dishes, including starters, main course & dessert. Learn lots of little tricks of the trade along the way and take the recipes home with you. $80 per person, Tuesday August 31st. Bookings on 0412 804 000 or at braimfood@optusnet.com.au.

Set Sail
Join Gabriel Gate and Michael Broadbent MW as they sail through France, Spain and Portugal. Start in Paris with dinner and shopping in the markets then join the ship as it sets sail from Rouen to St Malo then via Bordeaux, Bilbao, Lisbon, Cadiz, Malaga, Barcelona and finally to Monte Carlo. Gabriel Gaté will host a cocktail party and dinner at sea, plus a surprise excursion ashore. Michael Broadbent MW and his son Bartholomew will be there for the wine and to host private Chateaux visits and tutored wine tastings in Bordeaux and an extensive port tasting in Lisbon. If you're free between 3rd and 18th September, this could be just the thing you need. Bookings on 1800 640 037 and at debra@cruisevacations.com.au

Go Sicily
Amanda Sutton from Global Grazing will accompany a small group of food adventurers on a 12 day food and wine tour, exploring modern and traditional Sicilian cuisine and meeting locals proud to share their stories. Highlights will be a wine tasting with a prince, a cooking class at Tenuta Gangivecchio and dinner with young chef Fabio Giuffre, who visited Australia last year, at Nni Lausta, his seafood restaurant on the island of Salina, pearl of the Aeolian archipelago. Tour is on from September 9th - 20th and bookings on 0400 991 078 or amanda_sutton@hotmail.com.

Heathcote Tasting
Andrew Wood of Divine magazine describes Heathcote as 'the hottest viticulture region in Australia at present'. After ten years of frenetic planting during the 1990s, there are now over twenty producers based in the area. It seems the region has finally come of age: the overall quality of the wines is seriously impressive, and they are far more diverse than most people realise. You can put this to the test when he hosts a tasting of approximately thirty wines including whites, reds and the famous Heathcote shiraz. Melbourne on Tuesday 17th August and Sydney on Thursday 19th August, $40.00 per person. Bookings on (03) 5422 7500 or go to divineonline.com.au

The Seasonal Produce Dairy 2005
Yes its that time of year again when the bookshop shelves are about to be filled with new releases from chefs, food and wine writers. Our news is the return of the Seasonal Produce Diary 2005 which many of you will be familiar with. After a four year absence it's back better than ever with all the features readers loved; monthly seasonal ingredient lists, recipes and food tips which put seasonal produce to good use and wine matching tips, plus market opening hours and food and wine festival dates from across the country. Greg Elms has put together a beautiful collection of images which bring our words to life. We've included a few 'sneak preview' recipes from the diary at the end of this newsletter. A special thank you to all those who kept asking us when the diary was returning, your persistence has paid off! The Seasonal Produce Diary 2005 will be officially released on the first day of 1st September. RRP $29.95 (Hardie Grant Books)

Vintage
Another book just released for those who enjoy the marriage of marriage of food and literature is titled Vintage - Celebrating Ten Years of the Mildura Writers Festival. We've been lucky enough to have been invited to cook at this event a few years back and it was one of the most enjoyable festivals we've ever been involved in. Our work consisted of preparing a middle eastern meal for 180 people, the pay off was the opportunity to meet some of Australia's best poets and writers. A good deal all round! Now with 10 years under it's belt two of the festival organisers Donata Carrazza and Paul Kane have gathered together the work of many of those who have appeared over that time - both cooks and writers alike. The result is a beautiful publication we're sure all food and poetry lovers will really enjoy. RRP $29.95 (Hardie Grant Books)

Food tours and classes in August
Convivial Times Verjuice masterclass with Maggie Beer, chefs table with David Tsirekas at Perama and bread making with Michael Klausen.
Queen Victoria Market Cooking School Keith Windsor with exotic Middle Eastern and Loretta Sartori showcasing food from the Veneto region and a pantry makeover with yours truly.
Cooking Co-ordinates The road to Morocco with Charmaine Solomon and breadmaking masterclass with Matthew Henry of Loui.
The Essential Ingredient Guy Grossi with signature dishes from Grossi Florentino and Rita Micali of Ladro and her not so traditional roasts.
Sydney Seafood School Seafood BBQ plus Moroccan dinner party food and a Thai shopping and cooking class.
Tony Tan Tony Tan cooks affordable seafood, hip vegetables and a Malaysian feast.
Gourmet Safaris Turkish food tour of Auburn and a Greek food tour of Marrickville.

Click here to visit the Campion and Curtis website.

 Spinach & haloumi fritters with beetroot salad
This mixture of salty haloumi fritters with a tangy yoghurt sauce and sweet beetroots is a sensation. If you're not too keen on deep-frying the fritters, you can spoon the mixture onto greased baking trays and bake them for 20 minutes in a 200 C preheated oven until golden brown and crispy. They won't be quite as crunchy, but still very good.

Spinach & haloumi fritters
100 g baby spinach leaves
60 ml (1/4 cup) water
60 ml (1/4 cup) milk
Pinch of salt
50 g butter
75 g (1/2 cup) plain flour
2-3 medium eggs
125 g grated haloumi cheese
1-2 tbsp grated parmesan
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Vegetable oil for cooking

Blanch spinach leaves in boiling water for 30 seconds to soften.
Refresh under cold water, drain well and then chop spinach roughly.
Place water, milk, salt and butter in a saucepan and bring to the boil.
Tip in flour, stir and return to a low heat.
Cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly, until mixture begins to come away from saucepan side.
Tip contents into food processor. Start processor, allowing mixture to cool slightly.
While this is happening break eggs into a jug and beat lightly.
Slowly add egg mix to pastry mixture, ensuring that eggs are well incorporated before adding more.
Continue adding eggs until the pastry is of a dropping consistency - not too runny.
Add cooked spinach, haloumi, parmesan, salt and pepper and mix until combined.
Set aside until ready to cook and serve the fritters.

Beetroot salad
4 large beetroots
1 tsp sumac, optional
1 red onion, thinly sliced
100 g wild rocket leaves
125 g (1/2 cup) natural yoghurt
1 tsp tahini
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 garlic clove, crushed
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Place beetroots in a large saucepan, cover with water and cook until tender, approx 30-40 minutes.
Drain and allow to cool. Peel and cut into halves, then thin wedges.
Toss sumac with onion and place in a large bowl with rocket.
Mix yoghurt with tahini, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper. Set aside until ready to serve.
Deep or shallow fry tablespoon amounts of batter. Drain well and sprinkle with salt.

Divide rocket mix between 6 shallow bowls.
Top with beetroot wedges and 5-6 fritters each. Drizzle yogurt dressing over fritters and serve.

Serves 6.

Wine Match
This is complex dish with its amazing combination of salty haloumi cheese, fresh beetroot and a tangy yoghurt dressing, requires a wine choice that is equally interesting in the glass. A recent vintage of fresh zesty riesling with fragrant citrus flavours would be ideal. Check out a bottle or two from Clonakilla, Mitchelton, Leeuwin Estate, Pewsey Vale, Howard Park, Mt Langhi or any of the other myriad of great riesling makers. Also excellent with this dish would be a pinot gris from either Piper's Brook, Giesen or T'Gallant or an imported wine from the home of pinot gris, Alsace in France.

Recipe from The Seasonal Produce Diary 2005 by Allan Campion and Michele Curtis - Released on September 1st.