Australia Day

Char Siu Lamb with Caramel Rice (Delicious magazine, Feb 2007)

Normally we don't do anything special to mark Australia Day - its a public holiday and so means a sleep in and we usually go and watch the fireworks in the evening but that is it. This year, however, I decided to break out and cook an aussie meal. But what is an aussie meal? Is it bush tucker, meat pies, lamb roast, barbecued sausages, seafood,....? Then there is the result of multiculturalism and the fusion of Mediterranean, Asian, and European foods and cooking methods.

After flicking through the latest issue of Delicious magazine I settled on Char Siu lamb with caramel rice. Australian lamb with an Asian twist - reflecting how Australia has evolved over the years and the acceptance of other cultures' foods. Of course for dessert it was a given - despite all the debate for and against - it had to be pavlova!

The lamb racks (6 x 3-cutlet Frenched lamb racks) had to be marinaded overnight in a mixture of char siu sauce, honey and lime juice. The following day the lamb was cooked for 1-2mins each side to brown before putting in a roasting pan, pouring over the rest of the marinade and roast for about 20mins (15mins for medium-rare; I prefer my meat cooked a little more inside). After resting the meat for 5mins, you then slice into cutlets and serve with the caramel rice and pan juices (not that I had a lot of pan juices left - it tended to caramelise).

For the Caramel rice, I boiled the jasmine rice the night before. However, after reading Kitchen basics by Matthew Evans (restaurant reviewer for the Sydney Morning Herald and one-time chef, trainer and recipe writer), I shouldn't be using the 'bodgie' method of boiling rice in loads of water, but instead I should be steaming it. In fact he recommends owning a rice cooker.

The following day, and while the lamb cutlets were roasting, I fried a mixture of 2 beaten eggs in a hot wok, then removed and chopped roughly and set aside. I added some more oil, ginger, garlic and brown sugar and stir fried for 1 minute until it had caramelised. 200g of sliced shitake mushrooms were added and stir fried for another minute before adding the rice and soy sauce. Finally I added back the chopped egg and some sliced spring onions (these were sliced on the diagonal).

It was finger licking good, literally, as it was easier to pick up the cutlets with your fingers rather than battle with a knife and fork.

Pavlova with Yoghurt Cream and Berries (Bill Granger - Every day)

Was I asking for trouble by attempting a pavlova? I decided to risk it anyway! Pavlovas are actually pretty straightforward to make - its the beating together of the egg whites and sugar that posed the biggest problem for me. I only possess handheld beaters and by the time I was incorporating the last of the castor sugar (a tablespoon at a time exhorts Bill) the mixture had grown immensely. In fact I had to transfer the mixture from the original bowl to a larger one and i still had problems. I knew that the sugar hadn't been entirely beaten in to the mixture and this shows in the final results with some crystallisation and 'bleeding'.

It cooked 80mins in a fairly cool oven and then left for another hour or so in the oven with the door left ajar. It looked like a pavlova! However it was coming apart in places. The cream was whipped and then 1/2 cup of natural yoghurt was folded through - this gives the cream some 'tang'. I wasn't sure how this would go and if anyone would pick it up (no-one else in the house professes to like yoghurt) but it worked and no, no-one noticed! I think it works well with the sweetness of the pavlova. Bill only uses strawberries in his recipe but i decided to diversify and added strawberries, blackberries and blueberries. It was delicious!