Seven food trends for 2017

IF 2016 was the year of healthy food trends such as ancient grains, old-school techniques, sugar-free recipes and turmeric lattes, what can we expect in 2017?

Louise Edney, from Nourishing Nosh, runs fermentation workshops.

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IF 2016 was the year of healthy food trends such as ancient grains, old-school techniques, sugar-free recipes and turmeric lattes, what can we expect in 2017? Here are seven trends tipped to be hot this year.

CABBAGES ARE KING

Manly Daily columnist Ed Halmagyi says old-fashioned techniques will continue.

“Pickling is the one of the world’s oldest and most traditional ways of preserving food, and it adds both shelf-life and flavour,” he said. “Fermented foods of all kinds will be a big hit in 2017. If you need somewhere to start, have a crack at some homemade sauerkraut.”

Homemade sauerkraut is easy to make, cheap and has health benefits, Seaforth nutritionist Louise Edney said. “There is definitely a revival in homemade foods, we want our food with no nasties, and the only way to do that is to make it yourself,” she said.

“The move to fermented food improves gut health, it is high in fibre, full of vitamins B, C and K and probiotics.”

Louise Edney makes sauerkraut with a variety of vegetables and fruit.

Homemade sauerkraut doesn’t need any specialised equipment, although an airlock to release the CO2 is handy during fermentation, Ms Edney said.

Ingredients can be as simple as a kilo of finely grated cabbage, or a combination of other vegetables such as beetroot, carrot and fennel, a tablespoon of salt and flavourings like chilli, caraway or fennel seeds, she said.

Once the liquid is pressed out of the vegetables, it is put in jars, covered with cabbage leaves and left to ferment. Hot weather speeds up fermentation.

LEAF IT OUT

It seems we can’t get enough of healthy and nourishing Buddha bowls for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Halmagyi predicts salad bowls with an intriguing list of ingredients and zesty dressings could be one of the biggest cafe trends this year.

Banana Blossom has already carved out a niche in this market with its Asian-style salad bowls. Their bowls have been popular on the northern beaches since 2009, when Ben and Nat Thomas turned their Mona Vale Asian-style deli into a salad bar.

Embracing the philosophy Eat More Green, Banana Blossom evolved into a lunch stop offering customers nine healthy Asian salads. It opened its second outlet in Manly in 2012, Bondi followed, and the fourth opened in the new food court at Warringah Mall last year. The mix caters for all tastes, Mr Thomas said. “We’ve designed our salads to meet everyone’s needs,” he said.

Tokyo classic chicken, with green tea soba noodles, Asian herbs and creamy white sesame dressing remains one of the most popular salads on the menu.

Banana Blossom’s Tokyo chicken salad.

ALL IN THE BAG

To cook restaurant-quality food at home, Halmagyi recommends one method that is growing in popularity: sous-vide — cooking food in sealed bags in temperature-controlled water.

Trippas White Group’s executive chef Ashley Hughes has a melt-in-the-mouth salmon dish on the menu at Avalon on the Beach. It is cooked sous-vide. “The fish is cooked for one hour at 40 degrees, it is so soft you can cut it with your finger,” he said.

Cooking sous-vide creates consistency, he said. As well as cooking secondary cuts of meats, it is perfect for the 62-degree egg. “It is similar to a poached egg, at 62 degrees for an hour, the temperature sets the protein and the yolk and the white are the same consistency,” he said.

Halmagyi says a brand like Anova will get you started for less than $300.

Avalon on the Beach and its sous vide salmon.

GOING NATIVE

Jonah’s executive chef Logan Campbell reckons we’ll see more native ingredients on our plates.

Australia’s geographical isolation has given rise to ingredients that are unavailable elsewhere. “Anyone can do ice cream, but we have unique Australian ingredients,” he said. “As a food trend, they are going to become more popular.”

The chef uses Warrigal greens, Illawarra plums, pepper berries, lemon myrtle, salt bush wattle seeds and bush tomatoes, which are also known as kutjera.

Two ingredients — lemon myrtle and salt bush — featured on Jonah’s recent Australia Day party menu. Campbell created his menu featuring Northern Territory camel milk custard, salted caramel and papaya, and mini Golden Gaytimes.

Jonah’s NT camel milk custard prepared for Australia Day celebrations.

CHICKEN LICKIN’

The demand for rotisserie-cooked meat is on the rise. Manly Wharf Hotel introduced the cooking concept to its menu last year.

Head chef ‘Flick’, as she’s known, brines Bannockburn chooks in salt and butter and serves them as whole or half birds with locally-sourced milk buns, chunky chips, and gravy made from the roasting juices.

A second, more autumnal dish featuring rotisserie pork belly with salad of apple, fennel, walnuts, sweet potato puree and cider jus, should be added to the pub menu within the month.

Rotisserie chicken is on the Manly Wharf Hotel Hotel menu.

ALL STACKED UP

Fermentation and sous-vide may turn out to be new flavour sensations, but what were we cooking in 2016? Google has done the number crunching and pancakes came out as the most widely googled recipe. Pancakes were also the third most ‘how to’ instructive Google search.

They’re also a staple on peninsula cafe menus. Girdler’s Grind on Dee Why beach has turned traditional into trendy, serving almond milk, coconut and banana pancakes with pistachios, homemade ‘Goodtella’ berries and coconut yoghurt. Order pancakes at Bluewater in Manly and you’ll get a stack of buttermilk pancakes, fresh seasonal fruit, mascarpone and maple syrup topped with roasted almonds.

Buttermilk pancakes at Bluewater.

NAUGHTY, NAUGHTY

There is only so much cabbage anyone can take — but Halmagyi does have something naughty on the radar.

If cronuts and freakshakes have had their day, then Halmagyi has another calorific indulgent treat in his sights — the filled croissant. And, just like the cronut, it comes straight from New York.

“The hottest treats in NYC right now are flaky French butter croissants filled with a variety of custard flavours and artful adios like praline, choc-crackles and popping candy,” he said.

Expect to see filled croissants appearing in bakeries this year.

SIMPLE SAUERKRAUT

1.5kg vegetables, organic or chemical, pesticide free

20-30g good quality sea salt — I like to use Murray River pink salt

I like the following but please experiment

1. 1⁄2 red cabbage + 2 carrots + 1 bulb fennel + 1 beetroot + 1 teaspoon fennel or caraway seeds

2. 1⁄2 Savoy cabbage + 1 small pineapple + 2 tablespoons each freshly grated ginger & turmeric + 3 small red chillies, deseeded

3. 1 savoy cabbage + 2 grated new season apples + 2 tablespoons ginger

Equipment

• Large fermenting vessel: eg 1 litre jar with lid or fermenting crock, food safe plastic tub with lid • weight to sit on top of sauerkraut • gloves to protect your hands • muddler, heavy rolling pin or pestle • large sharp knife or food processor • chopping board • scales • funnel • large bowl in which to mix the vegetables • box in which to sit the fermenting vessel to catch any spills

Method

1. Rinse vegetables and peel if desired. Keep a couple of large cabbage leaves aside to cover vegetables. Remove the hard central core from cabbage and fennel. Weigh 1.5kg vegetables.

2. Slice, grate or shred the vegetables thinly and evenly. Transfer to the large bowl.

3. Sprinkle with salt and mix well with gloved hands. Squeeze the vegetables. Rest them for 10

minutes while prepping aromatics and cleaning the bench.

4. Massage or knead very firmly with your hands or pound with a wooden cocktail muddler to

release the water from the vegetables. This will take 5 — 10 minutes.

5. Once the vegetables have softened and there is a lot of liquid in the bowl (1 — 11⁄2cups), you

can transfer the vegetables to your fermenting vessel. Use the funnel to avoid spills.

6. Push the vegetables down with the muddler and top with more vegetables. Use multiple jars if

needed. Cover in the liquid and top with the leaf and weight so the vegetables are fully

submerged. If you do not have enough liquid, you need to knead harder or push down with the

muddler to release more.

7. Fasten with a lid (airlock optional.) Place the vessel in a box to catch any spills.

8. Taste and check every day, undoing lid to ensure gas is not building up too much (advantage of airlock is that gas is released without you needing to worry.) This can be a smelly process!

9. Allow to ferment in a warm dark place for 5 — 7 days.

10. Taste regularly with a clean spoon ensuring the veg are pushed back under the liquid.

11. Once the vegetables have fermented to your liking, refrigerate. The vegetables no longer need

to be submerged in liquid. They may discolour but this is not an issue.

12. Enjoy regularly starting with 1 tablespoon and building up to 2/ day. Remember to check with

your health care professional if you currently have health concerns. Histamines proliferate in

sauerkraut as it ages so it is best eaten young.

The next two-part fermentation workshop will commence March 16, and covers sauerkraut, kimchi, kombucha and kefir. Bookings, go to http://www.nourishingnosh.com.au/