Cook with Bern

cook

WITH BERN THE CHEF www.bernthechef.com.au

Bern the Chef

is a local caterer who has been in the Lane Cove area for over 15 years. She has worked in many corporate catering positions as well as operating a small business. Bern loves catering and the freedom that clients give her to do what she does best. Cooking is her forte and Bern loves the classics as well as keeping up to date with the latest food trends. www.bernthechef.com.au

Mother’s Day Treats

Autumn bliss There’s nothing quite like walking into a warm home with aromas of baked puddings and a roast dinner. With more time spent inside, the change of season provides the perfect excuse to try new recipes. BY BERNADETTE KENNEALY. There are many ways to let your mum feel the love on May 9th.

Some may wish the house to be tidy - but not of Cooking is great for so many reasons, whether it be therapy; to crack open that great red wine; or to grab a bunch of their own doing, and certainly with no fights, or to enjoy a cup of tea which is hot ‘til the last sip. An friends on a weekend afternoon for nourishment, a laugh and a bowl of comfort. afternoon on the couch with a favourite book and silence. Walking past the butcher’s daily offerings, are there meat cuts you wish you knew how to use? Perhaps skirt steak, pork If a morning cafe brunch is your ideal - please organise it in cheeks or chicken Maryland? Pork cheeks are one of my favourites and my ears prick up every time I hear of a new recipe. advance. Every cafe will be inundated with lost looking family The version below would be delicious with rice noodles and broth and is best made the morning of, or even the day before. members trying to nab a seat outside at 10am that Sunday. Alternatively, a plan with details nutted out the day before could be very relaxing. Set the table the night before. Mandarin and Ginger If it’s brunch, a beautiful fruit platter, freshly-baked muffins, a savoury quiche/frittata and croissants from a French Patisserie. Chicken Maryland with Pork Cheeks • Oil for frying • 3 onions, finely chopped Pink Lady Apples are in season now. Try this baked breakfast crumble recipe. Made the day before and reheated with a dollop of Greek yoghurt and a few pomegranate seeds would look very pretty. Bacon and Polenta • Spice rub • 1 tblspn sea salt My friend Annabelle’s Spicy Nut recipe These spicy nuts go very well with a Gin & Tonic, and make a lovely gift with posh ribbon. • 4 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped • 2 carrots, roughly chopped. Pecan & Pink Lady Apple Crumble APPLE COMPOTE • 8 pink lady apples (approx 1 kilo) • 1 tblspn smoked paprika • 1 tblspn ground cumin • 4 springs fresh thyme leaves • 1 egg white • 850g (about 6 cups) nuts • 55g castor (superfine) sugar • ½ cup brown sugar • 6 pork cheeks - approx 1 kilo • 4 tbsp cornflour for thickening • 1 tspn dry mustard powder• 2 tsp fine salt • 1 cup water • 1 tsp vanilla extract (or substitute with beef cheeks) • 2 inches ginger, peel and slice • Juice & zest from 1 lemon • 1 tsp cinnamon • 1 tspn ground white pepper • 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper • 1 tsp curry powder • 1/2 cup light soy sauce • 500mls chicken stock • ½ tsp nutmeg • A pinch of sea salt Peel and core your apples, cut into thin slices. Toss apples into a saucepan with brown sugar, cornflour, water, lemon zest and Any meat cooked on the bone has more flavour. Although it does • ½ tsp ground cumin • ½ tsp ground cinnamon • ½ tsp cayenne pepper • 1/4 cup Shaoxing wine juice, vanilla extract, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. take longer to cook, the flavour intensity is worth it! • pinch of ground cloves • 3 pieces dried mandarin peel Bring apples to boil, reduce heat to a simmer to cook. Continue This recipe is based on feeding 6 people. Work on one Maryland Preheat oven to 160C and line baking trays with (Asian grocer) simmering until apples are desired consistency (approx 30 per person, skin on. baking paper. In a large bowl, whisk the egg white • 2 whole star anise minutes total). Pour into a 2L ceramic baking dish. to stiff peaks, then add the nuts and stir through until they’re evenly coated. Mix all the remaining CRUMBLE • 2 dried red chillies (or to taste) ingredients together in a small bowl, then add to • 1 cup oats • 2 cinnamon sticks• 1/4 cup almond meal Mix all spice ingredients together in a bowl. Slash the the bowl of nuts and stir until every nut is covered • 1 tspn white peppercorns • 2 tblspn dark soy sauce • 2 tblspn brown sugar • 1/2 cup pecans coarsely chopped • 1/4 cup brown sugar • 1 pinch of sea salt • 1/4 cup butter melted (or use coconut oil for dairy-free) Prepare your crumble topping. In a mixing bowl add oats, chicken legs, place a couple of slashes on the thigh and then rub the spices into all the nooks and crannies. Place onto a tray in a single layer and refrigerate for a couple of hours. Add a couple of wedge cut Spanish onions, 4 smashed whole in the spice mixture. Tip the nuts onto your baking trays, spreading them out in a single layer – this is important, because a crowded nut is a soggy nut, and you • 6 mandarins, whole almond flour (ground almonds), pecans, coconut sugar, and salt. garlic cloves, 1 punnet of cherry tomatoes (whole), and one want these babies to be crispy. If in doubt, grab Melt butter in a saucepan/microwave and pour over the crumble orange cut into quarters. Drizzle with olive oil and place another tray. Bake until they are a nice deep topping. Mix well. Sprinkle over your apple mixture lightly. Leave into a medium hot oven (160 degrees). golden colour – this should take around 15–30 Sauté onions in a heavy based pot with oil for 4-5 minutes in the fridge overnight. Preheat oven to 160 degrees, and bake Roast for 30 to 40 minutes. minutes. As they cool, their spicy coating will set 14 TVO until translucent. Add the trimmed pork cheeks and brown on each side. Add the ginger, carrot and aromatic spices and cook stirring for another 3 minutes until the whole pot is fragrant. Add the stock and Shaoxing wine, transfer into an oven dish, cover and slow cook on 140 degrees for 2 hours. Add the whole mandarins, the dark soy and brown sugar, for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with thick greek yoghurt, a drizzle of honey and fresh pomegranate seeds. As that is roasting, sauté a couple of chopped bacon rashers in a heavy based pot. Add 2 cups of polenta and 1 litre of chicken stock, working quickly until a soft porridge consistency. Turn the heat off and cover. Leave for 5 minutes to absorb and soften, add 100gms butter, freshly chopped parsley and 100gms cheddar cheese. hard and crunchy. Into an airtight jar, they keep about two weeks.

Up, Up and Away

Our travel expert Adrienne finally boards a plane…

I’m on my way to Perth, my first flight in 13 months - and I’m a little nervous, my excitement tempered by the trepidation I experienced 50 years ago. My decades of learned experiences, wherein I took more flights per year than I rode buses, are in the cloud somewhere. In limbo. By Adrienne Witteman.

Several of our group of 40 golfers have already landed in Perth and I’ve not heard a word, save for a messaged pic of one happy camper with cocktail in hand. So things must be in order. Most will arrive today, Sunday 18 April. And at midnight tonight WA will open its borders to Queenslanders so they too, on the verge of being non-starters but 72 hours ago, will also arrive albeit a day later. Thus barring any east coast outbreaks of Covid, we are set for a happy eight day sojourn. So far so good.

Check-in is a breeze. The airport is still relatively uncrowded and there are plenty of working self-check in and baggage drop terminals. However, there are few staff on the ground and there’s a longish queue for assisted check-in. Some things never change. Almost everyone is wearing masks, and social distancing is easy with so few people. So far so good.

Seats in the lounge are Covidspaced. It fills, but not to crowded status. Free newspapers are now passé but there is still a complimentary, now plastic wrapped, considerably skinnier version of the QF magazine –stamped Please Don’t Leave This On The Plane. Self-serve food and beverage are fond memories as we wait in albeit short queues for service from behind Perspex screens. So far so good.

The boarding queue resembles days of old. There is seldom more than half a metre between queuing parties though the snake seems considerably shorter. The aerobridge appears less crowded than previously so entry is controlled. So far it’s okay.

Once on board we are requested to stay in our seats, with no more than two to gather near the toilets. The CSM advises that masks are to be worn throughout the flight and this is strictly monitored in economy but half the business cabin remain maskless after the meal service and are not admonished by the crew. Of course, flight crew remains masked at all times. Service is efficient and competent without any overt friendliness, almost robotic in its delivery. Masks mask smiles. I miss this. Any sneezing or coughing is muted. So far it’s okay.

Welcome to Perth. A few minutes before touchdown we are advised to have our G2G (Good to Go) passes ready. Also that passengers will disembark in groups as specified by the WA Police. Today it’s 50 at a time and so all of business and then some from economy exit, 10 minutes later another 50 and so on. Planes cannot disembark until police and health are ready. Clearly pay the extra for upfront economy seats if you must get off quicker. Masks are compulsory in the airport and we are urged to maintain a safe distance.

A PPE-clad nurse squirts a compulsory dose of sanitiser and watches us clean our hands. Another without PPE takes our temperature and we are then directed to a booth for G2G scanning. I am asked if I have been overseas in the last 14 days (I wish!) and my husband, if he has been overseas or to Queensland. It’s a no for both of us and we are off to collect our luggage. Things are definitely getting better! 15 minutes later we leave the terminal and grab the first taxi, a nonetoo-clean vehicle that reeks of cigarette smoke. Welcome to Perth indeed. The driver has to pay $4.00 to leave the airport, gold coins only as there is no pass system in place for taxis. How antiquated. He complains about the lack of business for the last six months and I remind him, possibly a touch unsympathetically, that you get what you vote for … “Ah but we have been kept safe”. I reply that NSW has too but without shutting down the state. This ends that thread of conversation. 30 minutes later we are in our hotel room, mostly unpacked, with a cup of tea brewing. It feels good to have flown again, and to be back in Perth – even though I still harbour fears that any outbreak back east could see us committed to our room for 14 days. I tell myself to think positively, for my industry relies on consumer confidence to travel. And I begin to look forward to my flight to Queensland in May.

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