BTO: When it pays to beat about the bush

Business Times - 28 Mar 2009

GUEST CHEF
When it pays to beat about the bush

To spice up your food with fresh flavours, try venturing into the bushlands of New Zealand for inspiration. By Audrey Phoon

 

MOST people wouldn't be able to tell a tamarillo from an armadillo, or a bite of piko piko from a certain brand of analgesic ointment. But not Glen Cooper - the executive sous chef of The Fullerton Hotel Singapore announces quite nonchalantly that he has tamarillos for breakfast.

 

Contrary to what you might think though, Cooper isn't a teeth-gnashing barbarian who rips into any living thing he sees. The New Zealander is actually a rather quiet man with a gentle manner; he just knows his native food. And he explains quite kindly that a tamarillo isn't a four-legged creature but rather 'a New Zealand tree tomato, with flesh almost like a mango but there are seeds in the middle'. To eat one, you just have to 'cut it in half, spread vanilla sugar on it and bake it in the oven'.

 

Piko piko, on the other hand, is a type of fern that's widely available in the bushlands of the Land of the Long White Cloud, shares Cooper, who is taking part in the Taste New Zealand festival which kicked off on Friday (for details visit www.newzealandinsingapore.com). It can be pan-fried or steamed and has a texture similar to green beans 'though they're not as sweet, more bitter really', he says.

 

Of course, some New Zealand food such as lamb, mussels and oysters are as familiar to global audiences' minds as they are to their mouths, but the chef isn't surprised that other fare from his country - especially that from the bush - remains foreign to most people. Indeed, he acknowledges that many New Zealanders are no more aware of what piko piko is than anyone else. 'It's just the Maori who have been using (such ingredients from the bush),' he explains. 'Only over the past few years has this food been marketed widely. Generally, the only people who know about it besides the Maori are the local hunters.'

 

The New Zealander himself admits that he only started working with bush food from his country 'a few years ago'. But he adds that the discovery is serving up a whole new plate of possibilities. Some of his current favourite ingredients, for instance, include horopito leaves that he crushes and uses as a marinade for meats, as in the recipe here, and the native fern kawa kawa which can be used as a seasoning.

 

The bush ingredients have really earthy flavours, which generally pair well with robust food from the land, notes the chef. 'It's like when you're cooking seafood, you use a lot of light seasoning like salt. It's important to match your flavours with the environment that the main ingredient came from.'

 

Bush fare and the better-known food aside, 'kikorangi cheese is great too', says Cooper. 'It's a sort of New Zealand blue that's great with beef and with walnuts. You can use it with quite sweet ingredients because the cheese is a bit bitter.' Then there's feijoa, a fruit that is 'not like anything else - it's quite acidic with a strange texture; you have to taste it to know what it is. Traditionally, you cut it in half and scoop it out with a teaspoon and eat it like that'.

 

Those keen to experiment with the more exotic New Zealand products will be happy to note that they are quite readily available here. Cooper recommends The Cellar Door at Bukit Timah Road (Tel 6469-7665) for items like the kikorangi and feijoa chutney, and he says that tamarillos can be found at Cold Storage supermarkets.

 

As a true citizen of a big wine-growing region, the chef also advocates having a nice glass of wine with all that food. He suggests pairing the recipe here with a Gibbston Valley pinot noir, while other favourites include Esk Valley cabernet sauvignons and merlot, and anything from Chard Farm 'up in the region where they shot The Lord of the Rings'.

 

A bottle of that plus a tamarillo or two, and who knows? You could be on your way to discovering one cuisine to rule them all.

 

Horopito-rubbed New Zealand tenderloin with warm vegetable salad, kikorangi and home-made tomato and chilli jam
Serves 4

 

For the beef:

4 New Zealand Angus beef tenderloins
(about 160g each)
Horopito to dust
Maldon sea salt
Cracked black pepper

 

1. Pre-heat oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Sprinkle horopito, salt and pepper on a small tray along with a little olive oil and roll beef through the seasoning mix to coat.

 

2. Heat a little oil in a medium-sized frying pan and sear beef until golden brown on the outside, then transfer to a clean tray.

 

3. Cook in oven for approximately 10 minutes to get a medium rare doneness (depending on the thickness of your beef), then remove and leave to rest in a warm place for another 10 minutes.

 

For the beetroot:

200g beetroot
30ml red wine vinegar
30g castor sugar
30ml water

 

1. Peel beetroot and cut into desired size.

 

2. Place beetroot, vinegar, sugar and water in a ziplock bag and steam for about 35 minutes. Leave the beetroot to rest in its jus when cooked.

 

For the potatoes:

500g agria potatoes
25g New Zealand butter
A few sprigs of thyme

 

1. Wash the potatoes thoroughly, then boil in salted water until almost cooked.

 

2. Remove potatoes from the water and slice into rings.

 

3. Fry rings in butter and thyme until golden brown, then season with a little salt and pepper.

 

For the mushrooms:

4 shitake mushrooms
2 oyster mushrooms
50g enoki mushrooms
20ml Telegraph Hill extra virgin olive oil
A pinch of Maldon sea salt
A pinch of ground white pepper

 

1. Slice shitake mushrooms into desired thickness, gently shred oyster mushrooms by hand and pull apart enokis.

 

2. Season with salt and pepper and toss with olive oil. Then lay on a flat baking tray and bake at 160 degrees Celsius for approximately 15 minutes.

 

For the asparagus:

12 spears asparagus
New Zealand butter to fry

 

1. Peel asparagus to reveal white flesh beneath, then drop in a pot of boiling water for a few seconds until asparagus is al dente.

 

2. Remove from boiling water and refresh in iced water. Before serving, glaze asparagus in a pan over medium heat with a little butter and season with salt and pepper.

 

For the tomato chilli jam:

100g whole tomatoes, peeled
6 red chillies, pureed
150ml fish sauce
2 tsp freshly ground anise seeds
50g castor sugar
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
200ml cider vinegar

 

1. Bring all ingredients to the boil, reduce heat and simmer until desired consistency is reached.

 

To garnish:

50g kikorangi blue cheese
A few toasted walnuts