The Duxford » Menu

Hot Smoking

Thomas — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 11:44:40 +0000

I love hot smoking. Quick, effective, and a tonne of fun. These little chicken wings, deboned then brined, only took 5 minutes before they were finished off in the deep fryer. Smoking is a brilliant technique to practice, as the flavour it grants your subject transforms it from the routine and expected taste normally experienced to the rich and strangely familiar taste of F L A V O U R E D S M O K E. These chicken wings were hot smoked from a base that consisted of oolong tea leaves, dried shiitake mushrooms and basmati rice.

Hot Smoked Chicken Wings w Tomato Salad

Summer Dinner #4

Thomas — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 01:14:02 +0000

Some people may be quite incredulous to the fact that tearing apart animals and eating their flesh is quite enjoyable. For me, it ranks right up there with the same level of satisfaction you get after polishing off an entire peking duck or 3 dozen oysters. Or 20 McNuggets. Crustaceans scamper around the Earth’s seabeds withholding from human kind some of the most precious and addictive meat known to exist. I find simplicity serves these fellas best. Steamed or intelligibly tossed in a wok with some chilli jam, the less you do with these creatures the more you get out of them. At the other end of the seafood monarchy we find the sardine. Sometimes dismissed as bait and not even good enough, in the eyes of this particular fishmonger, for prime real estate behind the glass display cabinet but instead piled up in a blue container on the floor like an open casket at an empty funeral. They may be small and cheap, but that’s not a good enough reason to discriminate against the sardine, it’s funny but still no reason why you shouldn’t be chowing down on these little pilchards. BBQ a couple and thank me later, after all how could you not like a fish that was named after a Mediterranean island?

Blue Swimmers w Chilli Jam

Steamed Blue Swimmers w Rouille

School Prawns fried in Spiced Tea Butter w Pork Belly Toasts

BBQ’d Marinated Sardines w Tomato and Parsley

BBQ’d Celery and Watercress Salad

Summer Dinner #3

Thomas — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 02:39:14 +0000

Bloody hell, summer is nearly over. Better fire up the BBQ and make the most of the primo conditions. Portuguese style BBQ’d chooks are a crowd pleaser, and it’s not bloody hard to see why. Crisp, charcoaled skin smothered in piri piri hides a lucious white flesh that would make any cow ‘mooooo’. BBQing isn’t all about the meat, veg love the hot action too. Zucchinis and scallions, rubbed with a little olive oil and salt, take to the grills heat like butter on bread….magic. Speaking of bread….sopping up the chicken juice and piri piri with a focaccia laden with mascarpone was one of the most deliciously satisfying moments I’ve had all summer.

BBQ’d Piri Piri Chicken

Green Beans and Watercress w Ranch

BBQ’d Zucchini and Scallion Salad w Onion and Parsley Dressing

Mascarpone and Scallion Focaccia

Summer Dinner #2

Thomas — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 04:48:31 +0000

Our mate Joel (ripper of a dude) is having a little crisis. Recently he has become incredibly cautious as to what food groups compose his diet, which I found a little disturbing. My fears were only magnified when he told us the meat group had been put on hiatus. Shocking. I’m not saying you can’t enjoy a meal that is void of meat, but why would you bother to put yourself through such an awful regime for days/weeks on end. If you enjoy something, then enjoy it more. Joel, I hope you enjoyed that skirt you bloody legend, cos there’s plenty more where that came from champ.

Beef Skirt marinated in Soy, Mirin, Marjoram, Sage, Oregano, Garlic

Button Mushrooms, Apple and Kiwi Cream, Fresh Mint

Burrata, Ox Heart Tomatoes, Strawberries, Purple Cress

Baby Cos, Egg Scallion Dressing, Croutons

Roast Squash and Mache Salad

Iggy’s Bread w Shiso and Parmesan Butter

Summer Lunch

Thomas — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 23:55:45 +0000

Sydney’s weather throughout the summer has been more imbalanced than a one-legged vegans diet. However on the off occasion when the sun decides to endure a lengthy stint outdoors, we have opted to follow suit enjoying lunch out on the deck. Strawberries and burrata begin the meal, which is probably my favourite thing to eat right now, topped with a little baby chive and watercress salad. Fresh summer strawberries, macerated a touch, and creamy burrata are a brilliant way to start or end a nice shiny feast. The leftovers from the previous evening were turned into a deserving little dish that would please the socks off any man or beast.

Strawberries, Burrata, Baby Chives and Watercress

Lamp Rump, Confit Baby Onions, White Zucchini, Dashi Jelly, Snow Pea Sprouts

Summer Dinner #1

Thomas — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 03:18:12 +0000

It has been a while since we have hosted a dinner at The Duxford, mainly due to certain members schedules and sheer laziness. Sometimes the meals we enjoy most are the ones we cook for ourselves, for no guests results in minimal stress, less dishes to clean and especially no vegan moon units to worry about. This dinner was enjoyed out on the deck in the cool summer breeze amongst some sterling conversation, which goes hand in hand with the present company. A salad of golden grapes tomatoes, tiny purple grapes, pickled eschallots and snow pea shoots played nice along side the roast lamb rump, cold braised eggplant, asparagus salad and confit baby onion with dried shiso finished with a light dashi gravy.

Roast Lamb Rump, Cold Braised Eggplant, Asparagus Salad, Confit Baby Onion w Dried Shiso, Dashi Gravy

Golden Grape Tomatoes, Tiny Purple Grapes, Pickled Eshallots, Snow Pea Sprouts

Bouillabaisse ? ? ?

Thomas — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 08:18:05 +0000

Fish soup…..why on earth do we not see enough variations on Australian menus when we are surrounded by the ocean, which is home to some fantastic shellfish and finfish. I find fish soups can swing both ways, where on one hand you can have a strong, luxuriously rich bouillabaisse based demon and on the other, a light, delicate fairy of a consommé. Here is my attempt at the later, which Morgan McGlone (a serious dude) of the Flinders Inn currently has on his menu. I had the privilege of sampling the dish a couple months and could not get the idea out of my head. I love a good bouillabaisse, this is just a variation.

Bouillabaisse Soup w Steamed King Prawn, King Prawn Tartaré and Seared Scallops w Rouille Croutons

Christmas Leftovers

Thomas — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 08:22:55 +0000

I look forward to Christmas leftovers more than opening my presents, maybe even more so than the Christmas lunch itself. I’m not sure if I speak for the majority here, but who doesn’t crave a thick slice of leg ham, smothered with hot english and cranberry jelly, cuddled between nice bit of bread. This time round I went one step further. I suppose this is like a Christmas Banh Mi……minced turkey and ham, with cranberry jelly and duck liver paté folded through it……leftover prawns with a spicy cocktail sauce, pickled cucumber and carrot, baby spinach and snow pea sprouts. Now if I had to choose between that or opening a chrissy present containing another bloody pair Mossimo underwear……

Christmas Leftover Baguette

Summer Lunch

Thomas — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 06:13:57 +0000

I love doing lunch, I love the lunch vibe, I love lunch…..especially in summer. Victor Churchill in Woolahra is probably the finest retail destination in Australia right now. The service, the attention to detail, the atmosphere and the selection of meat, especially beef, will bring tears of joy to your fair eyes with every visit. I picked up a bad ass rib eye, grain fed and dry aged for 4 weeks on the premises. The 500g of heaven was roasted on a bed of onions with thyme, marjoram and garlic. Supporting the beef was a simple salad of heirloom tomatoes, radishes and brussel sprouts as well as some fries. The beef was smothered with café de paris and devoured on the deck with cold beers in the summer sun.

Roast Rib Eye, Roasting Onions

Heirloom Tomato, Radish, Brussel Sprouts

Fries

Fruit Salad

Thomas — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 08:58:46 +0000

I saw Pascal Barbot of L’Astrance do this, so simple yet the visual appeal along with the taste are insane. He made a jelly out of pink grapefruit then wrapped a sheet around a segment. I made the jelly out of creaming soda instead, and sat the little beauty in puddle of gin and grapefruit juice. Bloody summer all over it.