Top Queensland chefs reveal favourite recipes from their childhoods

AS the weather turns a little more chilly it’s time to bring on the comfort food. Here top chefs reveal their favourite recipes.

There is nothing like recreating a homespun recipe to evoke the memories of a childhood lived innocently and simply in the comfort of good old-fashioned food. A selection of our top chefs recently delved in to their kitchen drawers to share some of the favourite recipes of their youth. The head chef of Jocelyn’s Provisions loved his mum’s fresh sponge cake. The owner of Tartufo, a popular fine Italian dining restaurant, remembers how he used to nurse tiny golden calzone inside napkins during a childhood spent in Naples. There is a classic coleslaw recipe handed down to a rising Queensland chef, who gave up as James and Erica Packer’s personal chef to set up Real Food Botanica in Red Hill. There is even a recipe for the quintessential Queensland treat – caramel slice – from the owner of much-loved Brisbane bakery Flour & Chocolate.

News_Image_File: Flour and Chocolate owner Lachlan Scott.

Lachlan Scott, Flour & chocolate, Morningside

When I was growing up, Mum and Dad cultivated cactuses. We had bus-loads of people at our house at Pittsworth in western Queensland on the weekends. We learnt to skate inside the greenhouse because it had a really big concrete floor and that is where I remember eating Grandma’s caramel slice.

She lived in Bonjean, where there were 12 people in a small farming community. My grandparents were barley, sorghum and linseed growers and
had 260ha.

Mum used to make Grandma’s caramel slice and I started making it two years ago. It was Mum’s special thing, but then Grandma gave us the recipe. Grandma’s name is Jean Kronk, but the recipe actually belonged to her friend Rhoda, so she calls it Rhoda Mathie’s slice, because every Thursday the women of Bonjean had a tennis and ladies day on the farm. All the women in the town tried to outdo each other. They would make it for Tupperware parties and wedding brunches. It is something we really enjoyed and something that is special to us. I think it is absolutely gorgeous.

Now I own Flour & Chocolate and every Thursday we have one of Grandma’s recipes.
In her cookbook, she actually calls it Cream Cheese Pie. It has two layers. One layer is lemon condensed milk and the top is set caramel. Grandma turns 90 on April 2.

News_Image_File: Lachlan Scott’s caramel slice. CARAMEL SLICE

Shortbread base

200g butter

90g sugar

245g flour

pinch salt

Blend butter and sugar to clear any lumps. Add flour and salt, and mix until evenly blended. Wrap in glad wrap and refrigerate overnight. Roll to fit lamington tray (30cm x 40cmx3.5 mm). Prick with a fork, return to fridge for 30 minutes. Bake at 150-160 for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

Middle layer

500g cream cheese

195g castor sugar

6 egg yolks

2 tsp vanilla extract

120ml fresh lemon juice

18g powdered gelatine

120ml warm water

Blend cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar and blend through. Scrape down sides to eliminate lumps. Add half of the yolks and mix. Scrape down, add rest and mix. Combine water and gelatine and warm in microwave or stove until gelatine dissolves. Add lemon Juice, vanilla and gelatine water to cream cheese mix and and blend, scrape down and pour onto the shortbread base. Place into the fridge to set.

Caramel layer

75g butter

260g condensed milk

60g golden syrup

100g brown sugar

160g warm water

18g powdered gelatine

Place gelatine and water together and warm until gelatine dissolves (as above). Gently bring butter, condensed milk, golden syrup and brown sugar to a simmer and slowly add water/gelatine mix while stirring with a whisk. Turn off heat and let it cool slightly before pouring over the set cream cheese base. Spread evenly and place in fridge to set. Slice into small inch by inch square pieces with a small paring knife. Enjoy!

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News_Image_File: Real Food Botanica’s Ali Hutley loves her pop’s sugarloaf and savoy salad with her nanna’s toasted fennel mayo

Ali Hutley, Real Food Botanica, Red Hill

We were private chefs for Erica and James Packer in Sydney and moved back to Brisbane last year to start our business and a family.

My husband Brett had been John Simmonds’ private chef, but in the last year he worked with me and the Packer family. I was with the Packers for five years and would travel with them to London, Colorado and Argentina. We would have stayed working with those families forever – they were beautiful. We moved back to Brisbane and, as it turned out, I was pregnant, so we were starting a business and having a baby. Our daughter Imogen was born in July last year.

We wanted to create fresh “real” food – not doing crazy new-age molecular gastronomy.
It is traditional food, because that is what I grew up with.

I love my nanna’s coleslaw with homemade mayonnaise and toasted fennel seeds. They were farmers, so they grew the cabbage themselves. I have memories of it tasting absolutely delicious.
It was always served on mismatched crockery. They grew savoy and sugarloaf cabbage but I added kale, which is Tuscan cabbage, to mine.

My grandparents owned a dairy farm in Gladfield near Warwick and we went there every Christmas Day.

My mum had four siblings and there are 25 grandchildren now. We would get out to the farm and there was always a big baked ham and the desserts were amazing. I remember being about five or six and eating her coleslaw. I always went back for seconds.

Nanna was always adjusting recipes in her recipe book. It is all handwritten and has notations. She died in 2011, at the age of 95.

News_Image_File: Pop’s sugarloaf and savoy salad with nanna’s toasted fennel mayo POP’S SUGARLOAF AND SAVOY SALAD WITH NANNA’S TOASTED FENNEL MAYO

Mayo

2 fresh free range egg yolks

2 tbs dijon mustard

2 tbs apple cider vinegar

1 heaped tbs fennel seed

500ml grape seed oil

sea salt

fresh cracked pepper

Roast and grind fennel seeds. Set aside to cool.

Whisk the egg yolks, mustard and one tablespoon of vinegar in bowl with one pinch of sea salt. Gradually add about half the oil, whisking continuously. As the oil and egg mixture emulsifies and thickens add the additional tablespoon of vinegar to thin it out and continue with the remaining quantity of oil. Fold through crushed fennel seeds and add a good amount of cracked pepper and season to taste.

Pop’s sugarloaf and savoy salad

1/2 sugarloaf cabbage

1/2 savoy cabbage

1 bunch tuscan cabbage or Kale

1/2 small red onion thinly sliced and soaked in water

Chives to garnish

Finely shred all vegetables. This can be done easily using a mandolin or food processor but using a big knife is just as simple. Combine the ingredients with a coating of Nanna’s homemade fennel seed mayonnaise. You can go liberally or sparingly depending on personal taste and don’t fear any left over mayonnaise will never go to waste. Lightly drop the cabbage salad into a loose heap in a beautiful bowl and serve cold and crisp on the table with a few chive spears for garnish. Use leftovers in a delicious fresh bread sandwich with sliced ham off the bone.

News_Image_File: Stuart Fisher with his grandma’s sponge cake.

Stuart Fischer, Jocelyn’s Provisions, New Farm

I grew up in Mitchelton in Brisbane but we lived in Taree in NSW when I was young.

My father’s mother used to own a smallgoods shop so my earliest memories were sweet treats such as boiled caramel.

Dad was the head baker at Cobbity Farm, which became Tip Top. He baked for the district before it moved to Sydney. When that happened, we moved to Brisbane and Dad started making boomerangs. He took over the business from my mother’s father.

I became a baker by accident. I quit school in Year 10 and was trying to get into a trade.

I needed money so I took a job as a kitchenhand at a bakery. Nine months later, they offered me an apprenticeship. I was 15 when I made my first cake for sale. But we always had sponge cake every Sunday for afternoon tea.

We were in the Salvation Army and I remember sitting around the table eating the cake and drinking soft drink before going to church.

It was always cream and passionfruit. It was always all eaten.

When Mum started working, she used to buy the sponge. She died last year. I had always meant to check with her how she did it. I found the recipe on a piece of old tattered paper. It was an important family tradition, so when my father had his birthday, I made it for him.

As Mum got older, if there was a special occasion, I would bake her a sponge cake. Her cake is the more traditional method of separating the eggs and then whipping the egg whites because you get a nice volume. Mum always used a hand-beater. Sometimes she made it with butter cream if we were going to a church function, but it was mostly made with fresh cream.

Mum was pretty rapt when I got my apprenticeship and I became Apprentice Pastry Chef of The Year in 1982 when I was 17.

News_Image_File: Moist sponge Cake. MOIST SPONGE CAKE

4 large eggs separated

1 cup caster sugar

1cup self raising flour

4 tbsp milk

3 tsp butter

Method

Preheat oven to 190 deg. Separate eggs, beat egg whites till stiff froth then slowly add yolks and beat for 5 minutes more. Then, slowly add caster sugar over 5-10 minutes. Put the milk and butter together and heat to melt butter. Set aside. Sift the flour and fold in until evenly mixed. Add the heated milk and butter slowly until all combined. Pour into greased tins. Put in oven turn oven down to 170 degrees. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Once baked, tip after one to two minutes while still hot to stop shrinkage. Makes 2 x 20cm sponges. Decorate with whipped cream

News_Image_File: Tony Percuoco of Tartufo whips up a comforting plate of calzone fritti.

Tony Percuoco, Tartufo, Fortitude Valley

I grew up in Naples and my father’s side of the family were always in the restaurant industry.

My great-grandfather sold fried calzone on the street outside his restaurant.

He gave it to people in a paper towel. Inside, there were four tables and he served pasta and beans. We lived on the other side of the city and on the weekend we used to go to the seaside
of Naples, where they sold octopus, little fried calzone, roasted mussels.

I remember walking along the harbour with my mum and dad and siblings. It was basically street food. It was beautiful weather in June/July, just before it got really hot in August. It was Dad’s only day off and the whole family jammed into the car. Everything had an association around food.

Dad was a pastry chef and was in a restaurant with my uncle, but Dad sold his share and property and we emigrated to Australia because he had enough of the mafia. We had to get picked up from school because kids would get kidnapped and you had to pay the ransom. We came out on a big boat and for the first few months, we basically hated Dad. But then we thanked him.

Nonna died in her 90s and out of six kids there are five of us in the restaurant industry.

After 40 years in Australia, Dad died, but I thank God he made the move. I think of him and my Nonna when I make the deep-fried calzone.
It is filled with fresh ricotta, salami, parmesan cheese and white pepper.

You can top it with fresh tomato and basil and extra virgin olive oil.

You can just eat them cold. I have a particular ricotta I use. I make the dough and roll it out with a pin, cut it out into circles, put a dollop of ricotta mixed with the salami. I fold it up and crimp it with a fork, let it rest and cook it in hot oil. It has to be fried in vegetable oil or any oil you can get up to 180 degrees.

News_Image_File: Tony Percuoco’s favourite, calzone fritti. CALZONE FRITTO

Calzone dough:

Ingredients:

325ml warm water

15ml fresh yeast

500g plain sifted flour

Method: Place the water and yeast in mixing bowl, add flour and mix on speed one until the dough forms together. Once the dough has been formed transfer into large bowl and cover with gladwrap. Allow the dough to rest for 6-7 hours.

Ricotta mixture:

250g fresh ricotta

50g smoked mozzarella (scarmorza)

50g grated parmesan cheese

50g finely diced salami (casalingo) preferably a mild salami

Pinch white pepper

Salt to taste

Method: Combine all ingredients in large bowl and mix well

To Assemble Calzone:

Roll dough with flour thinly on bench with rolling pin

Cut the dough with large round pastry cutters

Place a small ball of the mixture on each round of the dough

Fold the dough over and gently with fork press to seal together

Allow the calzone to rest on tray for a further 1-2 hours covered with gladwrap

Fry calzone in hot oil 180c until golden brown

Buon appetito!