Chef Jordan Toft’s Christmas menu
The leading chef drew on memories of his own family festivities on the NSW coast to create a Christmas menu exclusively for WISH.
When Jordan Toft talks about his Christmas Day feast, it makes me want to pull up a chair and join his family table regardless of any relative I may offend.
The Sydney chef describes a lunch with his family at a beloved and much-visited beachside holiday shack on the NSW South Coast, a big dining table covered with brown paper, oysters and prawns placed down the middle, and everyone helping themselves in between glasses of bubbly, great conversation and laughter.
The table sits beneath the shade of overgrown plum trees in the garden. There is hand-cut glassware, linen napkins, mismatched plates and cutlery the family has collected in the house over the decades. It is an abundant meal but relaxed. Effortless elegance.
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“Christmases were always a thrown-together mixture of Australian seafood, oysters and prawns, and then summer fruit like mangoes and cherries,” he recalls. “There was an abundance of seafood and then something roasted, and then, depending on the weather, salads or more roasted vegetables. In my family you were also allowed to eat as many prawns as you liked as long as you could peel them. I was the baby in the family so my mum would always help me get a bit of a head start.”
Toft, who oversees some of Sydney’s top fine-dining restaurants – Mimi’s at Coogee Pavilion and Bert’s Brasserie and Bar at The Newport – in his role as executive chef at Merivale, has crafted a festive menu inspired by his own family Christmases exclusively for WISH. He has also drawn on his international experiences as a chef to build on the food of his childhood.
“Goose became a thing for me after I saw it in the markets of Northern Italy in the middle of winter when I was working as a private chef,” he explains. “It is rich and decadent, and I thought it could be my family’s new tradition. Other new influences have also come from my partner, who is Russian, and we drink more vodka than we used to drink. Caviar has also made its way onto my table.”
Toft has been cooking since he was 15, leaving school in Year 10 to get an apprenticeship after discovering the joy of making people good food when he mastered a decent omelette at the ripe old age of seven. He had a few false starts (including a failed interview at Planet Hollywood where the recruiters said he looked 11 instead of 15), but he found his feet working for legendary chef Peter Doyle and his award-winning restaurant Est. An overseas stint was next, in which he spent time in Europe.
“I ran a luxury chalet in the French Alps and it gave me an opportunity to live the culinary fairytale,” he says. “I got to go to the boulangerie first thing in the morning and get the bread I couldn’t eat here. I got to experience things I had read about for 10 years, to taste real butter, to go to the butchery and see more than just sausages and lamb cutlets, see every cut imaginable.”
It was in France that Toft visited his first three Michelin starred restaurant – run by chef Michel Bras – and there he realised the power of the whole experience of dining, not just the food. “It was where experience really began to define me as a chef,” he tells WISH over coffee at Ash Street Cellars in Sydney’s CBD. “I can tell you maybe a couple of the dishes I had at Michel Bras, but what I can tell you is the experience of it all – the welcome, the arrival, the smells, the juniper, the lavender, the honey from the bees, the sheep’s milk yoghurt from a local farm.”
It was this idea of satisfying all the senses that shaped what Toft has gone on to do since, with a restaurant in LA called Eveleigh, and then after being enticed home by Justin Hemmes to oversee the complete overall of the Coogee Pavilion and it’s crown jewel, Mimi’s. “I wanted it to be a new way of looking at fine dining,” he explains. “Led by a vision of creating good food that is more about experience than a formal, stiff-backed, eight-course degustation menu. A sum of all the parts makes for a good table and good evening rather than a pretentious environment. Effortless elegance for the guests.”
What Toft wants to create with Mimi’s – and the WISH Christmas menu – is something that hits all the senses, that has people pause to appreciate the food, the wine, the setting, the company. “It may only be a breath, but you can actually see them sit them back in their chair and go, this is one of those bankable moments in life where it is pretty good; they need to savour this for when times are not so good,” he says. “I want to create that moment of decompression with what I do, the food being incredible, the service amazing, and everything elevated to that next level.”
OYSTERS WITH BLACK PEPPER GRANITA
Oysters on Christmas, yes! Please don’t buy pre-shucked oysters – they are washed and dull and nothing like the briny brightness you get when you learn to shuck your own. It is a skill you will have for life and worth the associated danger. Here, we pair them with a refreshing and zingy granita for a warm summer day.
100ml champagne or sparkling wine
100ml water
20ml white wine vinegar
20 ml lemon juice
3g freshly (coarsely) cracked black pepper
Two dozen unshucked Sydney rock oysters
Combine all ingredients except oysters, then transfer to a shallow container and freeze. Scrape the ice crystals until you have a flaky frozen granita. Top freshly shucked rock oysters right before eating.
YABBY SLIDERS
I love serving up the first round of lunch and placing everything on the table for the family to sit down and go for it. Peeling, shucking and dressing your own yabbies gets everyone into the Christmas spirit and leads to conversations, the opening of bottles and clinking of glasses. The table set with the food itself gets the conviviality happening in my home.
Handful of sea salt
1 lemon
10 sticks wild fennel tops
Bay leaves
2kg live yabbies
Bring three litres of water to boil. Heavily salt the water, halve the lemon, slice one half and juice the other, add slices and juice to the water. Add fennel tops, a few bay leaves and bring to a boil. Place yabbies into boiling water and allow to come back to the boil for three minutes. Strain and rinse in a little cold water to stop the cooking. Serve in the middle of the table with extra sea salt, fennel pollen aioli, white rolls, lemon wedges and lashings of butter. A vase of fresh herbs makes a great addition.
FENNEL POLLEN AIOLI
This is a nice twist on your standard aioli using fragrant wild fennel pollen. Christmas time sees the wild fennel, by the coast, flowering a bright yellow. This pollen can be used to sprinkle through your aioli. It can be purchased from a quality grocer.
2 egg yolks
1 garlic clove, chopped very finely
1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon of chardonnay vinegar
200ml vegetable oil
100ml olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste
Pinch of wild fennel pollen
Add egg yolks, garlic, mustard, and vinegar to a bowl. Whisk together while adding the oils in a thin stream. Once all the oil is added it should be a thick, velvety consistency. Season with fennel pollen, salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste.
BLACK LIP ABALONE, BACON & BAY LEAF SKEWER
These little snacks are Australia’s answer to pigs in a blanket, with an oceanic twist. Make a double batch as they go quickly and will keep the hungry family at bay while you’re getting lunch finished.
1x 300g black lip abalone, cleaned
15 thinly sliced rashers of streaky bacon
8 x 20cm bay leaf stalks
Pan-fry abalone in butter, turning from time to time, until firm to the touch. Allow to cool then slice thinly. Remove all but a few leaves from the bay leaf stalks and sharpen the thickest end with a small knife. Skewer the bacon and abalone, one after the other, until all are used. Grill skewers over hot coals whilst basting them with a little glaze until lightly crisp.
GRILLED SOUTHERN CALAMARI WITH SALMORIGLIO
Seafood cooked on coals comes from the Australian in me and this simple recipe sends delicious summer smells through the air. Charred squid paired with this herby salsa and squeezes of lemon screams summer holiday at home.
1 bunch parsley
50g dried oregano
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 small chilli, finely diced
1 tablespoon toasted fennel seeds
1 whole lemon juiced
200ml olive oil
50ml water
2kg southern calamari, skinned and gutted
Finely chop parsley. Put all ingredients into a bowl and combine. Taste for seasoning. Aim for a balance between salty, acidic and the freshness of the herbs. Set aside. Grill whole calamari and tentacles over hot coals until just charred. Dress with salmoriglio.
ROMAINE RIBS, MUSTARD AND VERJUS DRESSING
2 large romaine/cos rib lettuce
1 white onion, sliced and rinsed in cold water
1 bunch tarragon, leaves picked
1/2 bunch chives, snipped
Black pepper, freshly ground
Verjus and mustard dressing
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
30ml verjus
100ml olive oil
50ml grapeseed oil
Whisk mustard and verjus together. Add a pinch of salt. Slowly whisk oils into the verjus mix to make a thick dressing. In large mixing bowl, combine lettuce ribs, sliced white onion and tarragon leaves. Add dressing and season to taste. Plate up in your favourite bowl.
GOOSE WITH CAVIAR
Goose is a rich and decadent bird. It is harder to find here but worth the effort. I became enamoured with it during many years living in Northern Italy during cold winters and it has now become a staple on Christmas Day. I prefer to cook it slowly so it also renders in its own fat and falls off the bone. Pulled into meaty hunks and served next to potatoes roasted in goose fat is rich and rewarding. Serve with some umami caviar on the crunchy skin.
1 x 3.5kg goose
1/2 bunch thyme
1 head garlic
100ml verjus
Salt and pepper
Caviar, to serve
Preparation begins a few days before Christmas when you remove the goose from the fridge and dry it using paper towel. Over the sink, carefully pour a full kettle of boiling water over the skin. It will tighten and smooth. Place uncovered on a rack and oven tray in the fridge to continue to dry. This will help give you a crispy-skin finish.
On Christmas Day, preheat the oven to 220C. Stuff the goose with thyme and garlic and spritz the cavity with verjus. Season the skin and inside with salt and pepper and place in the oven. Reduce heat to 110C and cook for four hours. Baste the bird with its own fat while straining off excess fat to cook the potatoes. When the goose is soft and gives at the thigh, turn up the heat to 230C to crisp and brown the skin a little. Carve and pull the meat from the frame to serve on the table. Add lashings of caviar to chunks of skin for an added indulgence.
ROAST GOOSE FAT SPUDS
2kg sebago potatoes
200g goose fat or duck fat (whichever is available)
10 sprigs of thyme
1 head garlic, skin on, cloves lightly cracked
Sea salt and cracked black pepper
Wash and peel potatoes. Cut them into large, even pieces, making sure they are not too small. Simmer in salted water until just tender when poked with a skewer. Gently drain through a colander and lightly roughen the edges by swirling around (this will help them become crispy and golden); set aside. Preheat oven to 200C. Pour the leftover goose or duck fat from roasting your bird, plus and extra if needed, into a baking tray, place the potatoes, garlic cloves and thyme along with a healthy pinch of sea salt and cracked black pepper on. Roast until golden brown (45-55 minutes), shaking the tray regularly during cooking for an even crisp.
BUTTERSCOTCH SUMMER FRUIT WITH MARSALA SABAYON
Dessert on Christmas Day needs to be fresh and use the best produce summer has to offer. Mangoes, peaches and cherries do this for me. Warm the fruit slightly in a rich caramel to add some depth and finish it with a luminous velvety Marsala sabayon. Torching it adds another marshmallow-y touch to this delicious dessert. Serve with Russian tea biscuits.
80g caster sugar
8 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
Pinch salt
5 tablespoons good quality Marsala
3 peaches
3 mangoes
20 cherries
200g caster sugar
20g butter
50ml sweet wine
Over a lightly simmering pot of water, whisk together sabayon ingredients, except marsala, vigorously so you are dissolving the sugar while incorporating air. Whisk until the mixture is thick and you can form a figure eight in it. Remove from the heat from time to time to avoid scrambling the mix or it getting too hot. This takes 10-20 minutes. Remove from the heat and add marsala. Slice cheeks off the mangoes and remove the skin. Halve the peaches and leave the cherries alone. Set the fruit aside. Heat sugar in a heavy-based pan over a medium-high heat and swirl until it becomes a rich caramel. Place peaches and mangoes into the caramel, cut side down, along with the cherries and butter. Carefully add the sweet wine and remove from the heat, allowing to bubble and warm through. Spoon the marsala sabayon over the fruit and ‘torch’ under the grill, or use a blowtorch.
RUSSIAN TEA BISCUITS
240g soft butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
120g icing sugar
530g plain flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
170g chopped walnuts
Icing sugar for dusting
Preheat your oven to 170C. Using a paddle attachment on your stand mixer, cream together butter, vanilla extract and icing sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually mix in the flour and salt followed by the walnuts. Chill dough in the fridge for 30 minutes to firm up. Form dough into small balls or your desired shape, and place onto a tray lined with baking paper. Bake at 170C for 10-12 minutes or just until the cookies start to turn light golden-brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Generously dust with icing sugar.
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