Top chefs Sandercock, Herbert, Muir and Blake go alfresco
Alfresco dining can be as exciting as it is practical. Four favourite foodies serve up some inspiration.
It’s the time of the year when the dining table just seems wrong … unless it’s hauled on to the terrace or into the garden under the trees. But why not take your food even further into the great outdoors? The long, languid days of January are just made for alfresco grazing on the beach, in the park, at a casual pool party or just hanging around your favourite breezy bar.
Not content to simply pack the same old salad sarnies or throw the usual snags on the barbie (though, ahem, there’s nothing wrong with that), we asked four of our favourite foodies — experts in the kind of nosh you can hold in one hand — for some tips and inspiration. Et voila: an imaginary folding table laden with delights, from bloody mary oyster shooters and pork pies to banh mi and beef tagliata.
And please go to Recipes, in Life, to read a handful of their favourite recipes. Now get out there … and don’t forget the bottle opener!
DAMIAN SANDERCOCK
Co-owner, Piper Street Food Co, Kyneton,
Victoria
I grew up eating outdoors. My parents ran the restaurant at Waterfall Gully National Park in South Australia, so my sister Bec and I had a lot of freedom to explore the surrounding park.
Most of our meals were eaten there — whether it was a Sunnyboy “borrowed” from mum and dad’s kiosk, a finger bun from the Balfour’s delivery man or our favourite: one of mum’s traditional English pork pies.
I still love eating outdoors — in fact the inspiration for Piper St Food Co was an alfresco lunch in Paris when my wife Bryanna and I travelled around Europe in 1999-2000. We lived in the Latin Quarter and spent our days wandering through markets and laneways brimming with saucisson, hares, terrines and cheeses. Charcuterie is the best picnic food. All the hard work has been done for you, it’s eaten cold and it travels well.
When I’m picnicking with my family (we have five kids aged 13, 11, nine, seven and five) it’s all about lots of shade, a cricket set, plenty of cold water, paper towels and a simple menu. Pork pies (recipe Page 4) are obviously a family favourite. We also pack sauce gribiche, apples, cheddar, pickles and maybe a bottle of ale or a rose. And we make sure we have a bottle opener.
The Botanical Gardens in Kyneton are a favourite picnic spot — lots of room for cricket, and the river winds through it. There’s plenty of shade from the ancient oak trees and it’s close to work if we need more rillettes or pate. I still have a soft spot for the Adelaide Hills: we used to have big family get-togethers in the beautiful Belair National Park.
And this month, when we take the kids for a break closer to home in Bright, I’m planning a picnic by the Ovens River.
For a picnic
Always remember to take:
• A sharp knife for apples, whittling, cheese and terrines; and a corkscrew. I like the Opinel — they even make a cheese knife with a corkscrew in the handle
• Paper towel or a tea towel. Good for cleaning up, wrapping knives or glasses, wearing as bibs
• Plenty of cold water
• A bag to carry all your rubbish
ALEX HERBERT
Chef and curator of Giant Picnics at Barangaroo, Sydney
Picnic
Take a large spread of food to share. Always take a few clean containers for the leftovers … and pillows
• Terrine, country style and chunky, with loads of cold butter and sourdough bread
• Yoghurt and harissa chicken legs, barbecued
• Freshly cooked king prawns
• Old-fashioned potato salad with dill and sour cream
• Tomato, oregano and onion salad
• Iceberg lettuces freshly washed and really cold and ready to be sliced on the spot, with salad dressing added at the last moment
• Warm garlic bread in foil
• A big cheese like Holy Goat La Luna, and fruit
• A mixture of cupcakes: chocolate and carrot and walnut with cream cheese frosting
Beach
Prepare ahead — something that’s all wrapped and ready to go means no sand in the mix. If you can’t do fish and chips I’d go poached flaked salmon and coleslaw in soft buttered rolls, fresh and cold straight from the Esky in foil packages.
Pool party
Canapes are great. Small things you can graze on all afternoon between dips and sips. You don’t want to eat a heavy meal and swim. Try:
• Mini soft tacos with crab, chilli, coriander, cucumber and avocado
• Asparagus and cucumber sandwiches
• Chicken chipolatas with aioli
• Thai betel leaves in piles with a bowl of spiced minced pork, shallots, mint, coriander and sweet fish sauce. Get people to help themselves
• Fresh fruit from a big, really big champagne bucket with ice
• Mango cheeks and shards of watermelon, cherries
ROBERTA MUIR
Sydney Seafood School
I love eating outdoors. We have a long table in the garden that seats 18 and this is where we do most of our summer entertaining — Christmas lunch and New Year’s Eve dinner in our garden have become quite a tradition.
The trick to keeping it as stress-free as possible is all in the planning. Well ahead of guests arriving, I arrange stacks of plates, cutlery, serviettes and rows of glasses, stock the sink with ice, beer, wine and soft drinks and line up the Aperol and Campari … then when guests arrive we put out a few platters of food, fire up the barbie and relax.
Picnic
For tuna (or salmon) tartare on croutons: combine diced sashimi-grade tuna or salmon with chives, salted capers, black pepper, grated lemon zest and creme fraiche (this travels well in a plastic container in an Esky). Spread on croutons made from slices of sourdough baguette brushed with olive oil and crisped in the oven — also easy to transport in a plastic container.
Beach
Finger food’s best for the beach and Vietnamese rice paper rolls are easy to prepare ahead of time and transport well, with a small plastic tub of dipping sauce. And who doesn’t love cold chook?
My steeped chicken with spicy slaw was inspired by a classic way of poaching whole fish — basically you pop it in the pot, bring it to the boil, take it off the heat, cover it and walk away until it cools down … by which time it’s perfectly cooked. It gives a more succulent result than any other method I know.
As poached chicken can be a little dull on its own, I added a spicy coleslaw to liven things up. A loaf of crusty bread doesn’t go astray either.
And the leftover stock is the perfect base for a delicious soup.
Pool party
Next time you fire up the barbie, think Italian! Beef tagliata with salsa verde (recipe Page 4) is quick and versatile. And the salsa verde is a great sauce to have in your repertoire. It’s delicious drizzled over just about everything — prawns, poultry and vegetables as well as steak.
For bloody mary oyster shooters, take along a Thermos of bloody mary mixture (10 parts tomato juice to 1 part — or more — vodka with a splash of worcestershire sauce and lemon juice and a dash of tabasco sauce, salt and pepper) and container of freshly shucked oysters. On arrival, decant to a jug and arrange oysters on crushed ice. Pour shots of bloody mary and top each one with an oyster.
Bottoms up!
sydneyfishmarket.com.au
Roberta’s blog: food-wine-travel.com
ANDREW BLAKE
Co-owner, Blakes Feast Catering, Melbourne
Anything with kids requires adaptability. Fire up the barbecue and give the kids mini dogs made with quality chipolatas and perhaps a homemade barbecue sauce. For the adults it has to be banh mi: crusty Vietnamese rolls, pate, grilled pork belly (pre-roasted and crisped on the barbie), pickled slaw, cucumber, chilli, coriander and hoisin or sriracha. Win-win!
Picnic
I love a long, lazy afternoon spread. Charcuterie to start, including duck liver parfait, chilli-pickled vegetables and sourdough baguettes. Then some king prawns (peeled at home) with wasabi mayo, followed by shimeji mushroom and taleggio mini tarts. Go a som tam salad with shredded grilled fish and some barbecue lamb cutlets with tzatziki. A nice oozy French brie and condiments is a great finish.
Beach
You need something portable that avoids a potential wind gust/sand disaster. How about simple or extravagant salads, individually packed in noodle boxes or plastic containers. Think barbecue chicken, Cypriot grain salad or kipfler potato, home-smoked salmon, grilled corn, coriander and chipotle. If you do a leaf-based salad, pack the vinaigrette separately for last-minute dressing.
Pool party
Has to be ribs. Get good meaty baby back ribs (I get mine from Son Butcher in Victoria Street, Richmond) and do them properly.
Remove the membrane and give the ribs a good dry rub. Sit for a couple of hours and then smoke (indirectly if possible) over wood or charcoal. Low and slow is the mantra here. The temperature should be somewhere between 107C and 120C and should take four to six hours. Brush with a homemade barbecue sauce and caramelise on a barbecue before serving. These are so worth the trouble and will blow any oven-braised or electric smoker ribs out of the water.
For everything you will ever need to know about ribs and brisket, go to amazingribs.com.
FAVOURITE OUTDOOR EATERIES
DAMIAN SANDERCOCK
Hanging Rock Cafe, Kyneton: Sit in the shadow of this incredible formation. Good regional menu, coffee and wines. Great walks and space to relax.
Major Tom’s, Kyneton: The town’s best burgers and courtyard. Great live music and margaritas, too.
Sarti, Melbourne: A hidden, shady courtyard offering great value Italian food in the CBD.
Opera Bar, Sydney: The ever-impressive Opera Bar (pictured) is very hard to go past for that view, the service and a dozen oysters and glass of champagne.
ROBERTA MUIR
Pilu at Akuna Bay, Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park: Sardinian chef Giovanni Pilu has just taken over the function centre at the marina and is opening every Sunday for lunch with a $65 set menu of antipasto and three shared courses. Giovanni’s home-style Italian menu and the stunning views of Pittwater from the outdoor deck are just what I want for a long, lazy Sunday lunch.
Chiosco by Ormeggio, Mosman, NSW: Great casual Italian food ideal for sharing on a marina overlooking Middle Harbour (with chef Alessandro Pavoni, pictured). Sydney in summer doesn’t get much better than this.
Efendy, Balmain, NSW: Although this Turkish restaurant is housed in a lovely old two-storey house, it also has a large, shady courtyard at the front, perfect for alfresco dining — especially when they set up the charcoal grill in the courtyard to cook kebabs for lunch.
ANDREW BLAKE
Byron Beach Cafe: For breakfast with champagne (pictured).
Sailor’s Thai, Sydney: Lunch on the rear landing (pineapple curry of mussels is amazing).