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Campion & Curtis Newsletter - December 2005
Welcome to the December 2005 edition of the Campion and Curtis newsletter. Our focus in this edition is on the lead up to Christmas and all that it entails.
So plenty of ideas on great eating and drinking, plus a look at some the most recent cook book releases. Plus details of our Foodies Guide Awards and The Foodies'
Guide Big Day Out 2006. We've also included recipes for some of our favourite family Christmas foods. Enjoy!
Visit the Campion and Curtis website
Summer produce
Welcome to summer and an array of ingredients for great summer dining. We've already been getting into the season with apricots, nectarines and peaches appearing in
our fruit bowl. Cherries too have been excellent with the early fruit quite mild in flavour and becoming richer and juicier in recent taste tests, so enjoy them
while they last. Still on the fruit side of things watermelons, rockmelons and honeydew are all on the up and up and perfect to enjoy on a hot summer night.
Berries and currants are also beginning to shine while pineapples and passionfruit are also coming to the fore. For more savoury uses asparagus will continue right
through the next two months or so as will capsicums, zucchinis and zucchini flowers, peas and green beans. For summer salads consider avocadoes, tomatoes, cucumbers,
lettuces and radishes. All are at their peak of flavour and quality so enjoy them as much as you can.
Melbourne Farmers' Market
As our readers would be aware we're pretty keen on a visit to a good Farmers' Market. Melbourne is very well served with markets of this type and can be a
fantastic way to source the freshest ingredients for your festive season dining. Visit the pretty township of Talbot on December 18th from 10am ~ 2pm for their local market. They offer an array of local wines, handmade cupcakes, cheese,
fruit liqueurs, wood-fired breads, honey, olive oil, Christmas puddings, eggs, vegetable seedlings and home-grown fruit and vegetables. Collingwood Children's Farm
Farmers’ Market is on this Saturday 1Oth December and the second Saturday of every month at St Heliers Street, Abbotsford from 8.00 am – 1.00 pm.
For real convenience…many of the Collingwood stallholders will be at the next Veg Out St Kilda farmers’ market on Saturday 24th December, so you can get your orders in
at Collingwood and pick up in two weeks, saving fridge space and ensuring the freshest produce about! St Kilda Farmers' Market is at the Peanut Farm Oval, between
Chaucer & Spenser Streets, St Kilda from 8.00 am – 12.30 pm.
Martin Field newsletter
Freelancer Martin Field is a wine educator and has written about wine and food for many years. He produces a newsletter titled the E-Vine which takes
a fresh look at news of the local beer and wine industry, offers reviews of new releases and anything else that catches his attention. His most recent edition
focused on a recent trip overseas - Part 1 included tales of airport security, shedding pounds in London, a baguette, a wedge, and a tumbler of red in France,
Grand prix driving on European roads, 'bloody foreigners' in Paris and much more to entertain. We look forward to Part 2 in the weeks ahead
which will feature chateaux in St Emilion and Bordeaux, the city of San Francisco and the Napa Valley. Contact Martin by email on vitivinivino@hotmail.com to join his newsletter list.
Gabriel Gate at Prahran Market
Who says there's nothing free for foodies? Well known food author and chef Gabriel Gate has teamed up with the Prahran Market to present free Learn and Love Food
cooking demonstrations at Prahran Market on Friday 9th December at 12.30pm. Gabriel will provide some great ideas on preparing that special dish this Christmas,
using fresh market produce. He'll also be available to answer questions from the audience, provide recipes for the festive dishes he prepares as well as giveaways.
Prahran Market 163-185 Commercial Rd, South Yarra.
The Providores’ Market
News from Sydney in recent weeks focuses on the new Providores’ Market. Here some of the finest names in the
harbour city food scene; Matt Browns Greens, Seafood By Joto, a café aptly named Bite being run by Greg Doyle and Simon Johnson, have gathered to create a new foodies
shopping experience. Well worth a look to gather fantastic
ingredients for Christmas feasting or perhaps pencil in a visit for January when the silly season has passed. This is a must visit spot for all food lovers.
24A Ralph St, Alexandria. Tel 02 8244 8220.Open from 9am – 6pm Tuesday to Friday and 9am – 5pm Saturday.
Abbotsford Biscuits
While Jamie Oliver has received serious amounts of PR for his restaurants staffed with disadvantaged young people (including the newly planned outlet in Melbourne)
there are many others who work in similar situations in much quieter ways. Well known pastry queen Loretta Sartori has established Abbotsford Biscuits in conjunction
with Jesuit Social Services Gateway Program. The program engages “at risk” young people between the ages of 15-24 years to increase their capacity for social and economic
participation and to provide pathways towards vocational education, training and employment. Gateway’s Kitchen Program participants have been learning biscuit
production and their first range of products is now available. These hand-crafted biscuits, made under the guidance of Sartori, include Almond and Cinnamon Shortbread,
Traditional Shortbread, Hazelnut Crescents, Flourless Chocolate & Almond (bites, drops, Buttons), Coconut & Lemon Macaroons and Parmesan & Rosemary Puffs.
The biscuits can be purchased at 563 Victoria St, Abbotsford from Monday-Friday between 9.00am and 5.00pm. Orders can also be taken in person, by phone: 03 9429 0267 or
via email: loretta.sartori@jss.org.au. Credit card payment available. Your support at this time would make a great contribution to this fantastic effort.
New Books
Yes, it's that time of year when the publishing world goes into
a frenzy of new food releases. One of the most anticipated would have to be Saha, A Chef's Journey Through Lebanon and Syria by Greg and Lucy Malouf.
While few travellers would put
these two countries high on their 'must-visit' list Greg and Lucy along with photographer Matt Harvey and a few family members did just that on a month-long culinary
journey earlier this year, and the resulting book is outstanding. As the PR blurb says 'Greg Malouf returns to the land of his ancestors to explore its broad and
influential cuisine. Stretching from neighboring Persia throughout the Mediterranean to North Africa, the roots of Greg's culinary history are here in the land of his
forbears.' We couldn't have put it better ourselves except to say there's plenty of great summer reading and cooking to be had within these pages. Saha is one book we
highly recommend. RRP $69.95 (Hardie Grant Books). Disclaimer - Hardie Grant also publish all the Campion and Curtis titles.
The Cook's Book - Techniques and tips from the world's master chefs
is one of those encyclopedic titles which come along from time to time. The difference with this
one is it has been edited by Jill Norman who is both a food author in her own right and was the long-time editor of Elizabeth David's classic cookbooks, and now
literary trustee of the David Estate. Her position has allowed her contact with many of the worlds best chefs and she had encouraged them to contribute a chapter on
his or her own particular specialty. The global approach sees Feran Adria writing about foams, Peter Gordon on herbs and spices, Charlie Trotter on fish and shellfish,
Dan Lepard on bread, Ken Hom on Chinese cooking, Chris Manfield on Asian noodles and dumplings, David Thompson on Thai cooking, plus many more. Besides these experts
the book also succeeds with hundreds of how-to-do photographs spread across over 600 pages of text and recipes. A great overview of contemporary world cooking at its
very best. RRP $79.95 (DK Books)
It is really refreshing to read French by Damien Pignolet, especially in an era when many of the top selling food books promote the idea
they can put dinner on the table in five minutes. Pignolet has made his name in Sydney food circles over two and a half decades. Early times with Mogen Bay Esbensen at
the Pavilion on the Park, then with his wife Josephine he opened
Claude's at the top of Oxford Street and, since 1993, at the helm of Bistro Moncur. All through this culinary journey has been a strong classic French thread.
As Pignolet writes in his introduction after completing his Diploma of Hotel Management and Catering at William Angliss College "I was obsessed with everything French
and only wanted to cook in that style." Here he gets an opportunity to pass on his love of French cooking and as he writes "...in a world when everything has to happen
instantly, to demystify this fine craft by offering a manual for cooking slowly and carefully." And so he does with great clarity in chapters titled stocks and sauces,
entrees, salads, eggs, charcuterie and so on, finishing with the pastry kitchen. This is definitely a book to savor and enjoy for many years to come.
RRP $69.95 (Penguin Lantern)
While we've only gone to town on three titles here there are a number of others which are well worth looking out for while doing Christmas shopping.
Roast Figs Summer Snow by Diana Henry is a beauty and we've cooked a number of the dishes from it in recent weeks. It focuses on autumn
and winter cooking with recipes from Scandinavia, Russia, France, Italy, Ireland and England. Guy Grossi My Italian Heart is another great local release where this well know chef
has brought together the recipes he cooks for family and friends at home, rather that in the restaurant. This delicious recipe collection has been further enhanced with photography by Adrian
Lander and delightful illustrations from Mirka Mora. For those with a strong wine and food interest then have a good look at Balance - Matching Food and Wine by Lyndey Milan and
Colin Corney. 
Here the two authors look at what can be a considered a fairly dry subject and really bring it to life. It gives a great overview of the topic of matching food and wine then
provides flavour profiles of many classic grape varieties and suggests dishes that will best 'match' with them. Recipes are provided making this a great all-in-one
handbook for lovers of wine and food.
Recent Drinks
We've been in serious recipe testing mode in recent weeks which means there's no shortage of food to enjoy. This usually leads to a couple of great Saturday night
dinner parties for a few mates to 'taste test' the latest creations. Recently we hosted a dinner with two duck dishes and one pork dish for main course, so we
encouraged everyone attending to bring along a bottle of pinot noir and see if we could get a couple of great food and wine matches. From a large field of entrants we
were most impressed with Scotchmans Hill Norfolk Vineyard Pinot Noir 2000, the Six Foot Six Pinot Noir from Geelong
(especially as it's usually under $20), Somewhere Else Pint Noir from Tasmania,
Farr Rising Pinot Noir (also Geelong) and the much lauded Kooyong Meres Pinot Noir. On the night however most felt the
Gravitas pinot noir 2004 from Marlborough in New Zealand came in by a nose ahead of the other
wines. It had a beautiful intensity and complexity of cherries and berries with great length. With our duck and pork it was an absolute winner.
As it was a special night we also uncorked a few bottles of aged Australian whites, the most impressive of these were the 10 year old Pewsey Vale Riesling and an
8 year old Mitchelton Riesling. All in all a great time was had by all.
Dining Out
We've been fans of Bottega restaurant in the heart of Bourke Street, Melbourne since attending a celebration dinner there a few years ago. The restaurant has had
a makeover from designer Rick Davis in recent months so the invitation to join them for a celebration Spring Lunch matched with Craggy Range Wines was too good to refuse.
Chef Daniel Schelbert started us with a warm smoked eel salad with witlof, asparagus and herb pangrattato, then served a perfectly made vitello tonnato using the amazing
White Rocks veal from Western Australia and followed this up with a grilled Western Plains free range pork cutlet with braised chicory and apple. The wine matches were
particularly good starting with two of the 2005 Craggy Range Sauvignon Blancs and following this with the outstanding Craggy Range Te Muna Vineyard Chardonnay 2004 with
the veal. Although not usually taken by chardonnay this was a rare exception with the wine offering a seamless mix of flavour, texture and a hint of oak in a really
balanced manner. Definitely a wine to keep a look out for we'd suggest. The pick of the two reds served with the pork was the Craggy Range Gimblett Gravels Merlot 2004
from Hawkes Bay. Although still quite young it was a beautifully rich, concentrated wine, almost black in colour, with deep aromas of dark berries, spice, and
chocolate. A delicious experience on both the food and wine front here. Well done to all involved. Bottega is at 74 Bourke Street, Melbourne Tel 03 9654 2252.
Craggy Range website.
The Foodies' Guide Awards 2006
The Foodies' Guide is our annual look at the best food shopping experiences available in Melbourne and across regional Victoria. We have again included
our pick of the most amazing food experiences known as the Foodies' Guide Awards which are as follows:
Most Fabulous Bakery: Let them Eat Cake, South Melbourne
Outstanding Regional Bakery; Irrewarra Bakery & Cafe
Legendary Greengrocer: Damian Pike, Prahran Market
Outstanding Organics: The Green Grocer, Fitzroy North
Foodie Heaven: Cliffy's Emporium
Excellence in seafood: Clamms
Middle Eastern Wonder: Balha's Pastry
Published by Hardie Grant Books - RRP $26.95 paperback.
The Foodies' Guide Big Day Out 2006
If you're a visitor with one day in Melbourne or a local with the urge to explore, here's our suggested itinerary for a Foodies' Big Day Out -
a hedonistic day of pastries, chocolates, cheese, coffee, wine and books, and tantalising snacks in the city's top restaurants.
Queen Victoria Market - Coffee and fresh produce
Gas Eatery & Supplies - Amazing breakfast, especially the French toast.
Gelati Sky - Fab gelati, in particular the coco lime.
Cacao - Hot chocolate and passionfruit jellies
Baker D. Chirico - Incredible jam doughnuts
Donovan's - For a glass of champagne and bay views.
Pearl - Anything from bar menu.
Phillippa's - Unbeatable artisan breads.
Richmond Hill Cafe & Larder - Cheese and Stephanie's products.
Books for Cooks - The latest and rarest cook books.
Gertrude Street Enoteca - A coffee to keep your strength up.
Casa Iberica - Order a few slices of the delectable Spanish-style jamon.
Transport Public Bar - Take time out with a cleansing ale.
Ezard @ Adelphi - Order a serve of Japanese oyster shooters.
MoMo - Indulge in Greg Malouf's modern Middle Eastern cooking.
Melbourne Supper Club Bar - After a big day out, Melbourne Supper Club Bar is just the place to curl up into a big armchair.
Published by Hardie Grant Books - RRP $26.95 paperback.
Click here to visit the Campion and Curtis website We have also added a page featuring our cooking classes and food tours for corporate and social groups here.
We hope all of you have an enjoyable and relaxing Christmas and New Year. Cheers until 2006, Allan and Michele
Christmas pudding
This is the pudding recipe we have been making for years and no doubt will continue to make for years to come, as Christmas just wouldn't be the same without it.
This year my brother Peter in Canberra has taken on the pudding making role for the family and will be appearing with them a few days before Christmas. It uses stout to give it a delicious richness, which is the giveaway that it originated in Ireland, from where my family and I emigrated in 1973.
This mix makes two 1 kg (2 lb) puddings - one for the day itself and one to put away for mid-year Christmas. AC.
175 g (6 oz) self-raising flour
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice
450 g (15 oz) fresh breadcrumbs
700 g (22 oz) brown sugar
450 g (15 oz) currants
225 g (7 1/2 oz) raisins
225 g (7 1/2 oz) sultanas
100 g (3 1/2 oz) mixed peel or candied orange peel
50 g (1 3/4 oz) slivered almonds
Zest of 1 orange
Zest of 1 lemon
225 g (7 1/2 oz) margarine
3 medium eggs
65 ml (2 1/3 fl oz) brandy
275 ml (9 fl oz) Guinness
2 x 1 litre (1 2/3 pt) pudding bowls, buttered
Sift together flour and spices. Stir in breadcrumbs, brown sugar, currants, raisins, sultanas, mixed peel, almonds and citrus zest.
Melt margarine and mix with eggs, brandy, stout and margarine. Stir wet mix into dry mix, combining both fully.
It may look quite runny at this stage but will thicken in the refrigerator. Cover mixture and refrigerate overnight.
Preheat oven to 160 C (320 F).
Divide pudding mixture between two greased pudding bowls. Cover with buttered greaseproof paper and foil.
Tie down tightly with string under the rim of each pudding bowl or, easier still, use a large elastic band.
Place pudding bowls in a deep baking tray (use two trays if you need to) and pour hot water into the dish until it comes three-quarters of the way up the bowl.
Cover entire tray with a double layer of foil.
Place baking tray in the oven and cook for 3-4 hours.
Check water level from time to time and add more if needed. Test the puddings with a skewer as you would a cake, to make sure they are cooked.
Either serve while still hot or keep at room temperature for up to 6 months.
Serves 10.
Recipe from Every Day in the Kitchen by Allan Campion and Michele Curtis - (Hardie Grant Books RRP $29.95).
Christmas fruit mince pies
This recipe makes 1 1/2 dozen mince pies, which is perfect if you have to bring-a-plate to a friend's house for Christmas drinks.
75 g currants
90 g sultanas
1/2 apple, grated
40 g blanched almonds
40 g brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Zest of 1 lemon, chopped
Zest of 1 orange, chopped
1 tbsp brandy or rum
300 g (10 1/2 oz) plain flour
Pinch of salt
150 g (5 oz) butter, diced
3–4 tbsp cold water
Egg wash
2–3 tbsp caster sugar, additional
Preheat oven to 180C.
Combine fruits, nuts, sugar, spice, citrus zest and alcohol if using.
Stir well and set aside to macerate for 2 hours.
Sift flour with salt; rub in the butter to produce a breadcrumb texture.
Add enough water to bring pastry together and knead briefly.
Wrap in cling film and chill for 30 minutes.
Roll two-thirds of the pastry out on a lightly floured board.
Cut out 7.5 cm circles.
Lightly butter mini tart shells or mini muffin tins and place a pastry circle in each.
Press circles down gently with fingers.
Prick pastry with a fork.
Cook in the preheated oven for 6–8 minutes, or until pastry is dry and just beginning to colour.
Allow pastry shells to cool.
Fill shells with fruit mince.
Roll remaining pastry out and cut into 5 cm circles or stars and place on top of fruit mince.
Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with additional sugar.
Bake in preheated oven for 6–8 minutes, or until pastry tops are cooked.
Makes 18.
From Every Day in the Kitchen (Hardie Grant Books) $29.95