Transformer, Embla, Nomad, Dinner by Heston, Yellow: eat your greens
Veggies. Once they were merely “good for you”, but how we’ve all moved on. These days, greens are your go-to recipe.
Veggies. Once they were merely “good for you”, but how we’ve all moved on.
These days, greens are your go-to recipe for anti-ageing. A bona-fide beauty treatment. Just look at Gwyneth Paltrow and co, slurping their green smoothies for breakfast; the honey-toned Yotam Ottolenghi with his sexy salads; and the foot soldiers of the wellness revolution, the gorgeous gals (and yes, they are almost invariably gals) earnestly telling us how to change our lives — and our waistlines — via their wholefood recipes in a million super-styled cookbooks.
Veggies have had a makeover. There’s beauty on the plate, too, as chefs wax lyrical about seasonal and sustainable and get serious about greens (it doesn’t hurt that veggies are gentler on their bottom line, as well).
Witness the dark, charry chunks of broccoli with lemon and miso at Embla, Melbourne; spiced cauliflower with cashew and wild rocket at Nomad, Sydney; braised celery with parmesan, roast radish and smoked walnuts at Dinner by Heston, Melbourne (a revival of an 18th-century dish); and the whole damn recently converted to vegetarian menu at Yellow, Sydney.
Because unless you have a private chef (see Paltrow, above), vegetarian cuisine is a good argument for dining out; at least if you want to eat at a certain posh-modern level. Just look at this recipe, below, for roasted Jerusalem artichokes with confit parsnips, truffled white onion puree, parsley oil, spring onion ash and chips, from on-trend Fitzroy restaurant Transformer: you’re not whipping it up after a hard day at the office, are you?
As a Christmas-in-July feast for the meat-averse, on the other hand, or a veggo dinner party complete with green apple ginger martinis …
Roasted Jerusalem artichokes, confit parsnips, truffled white onion puree, parsley oil, spring onion ash and chips (Serves 4 as an entree)
Parsnips and artichokes: 18 small Jerusalem artichokes (about 700g) | Salt and pepper, to taste | 2 large parsnips (about 600g) | 2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil | 1 1/3 cup grapeseed or another neutral oil | 1 teaspoon pink or black peppercorns | ½ teaspoon fennel seeds | ½ an orange, zested | A knob of butter | 2 tablespoons parsley and chives, chopped
Toss 16 of the artichokes in a little oil, salt and pepper. Roast in the oven at 180C for 45 minutes. Meanwhile, peel the parsnips. Chop off the top half (should be about 5cm long) and reserve the bottom half for making chips. Cut each of the parsnips into eight pieces lengthways. This should leave you with 16 wedges. Remove cores and discard. Combine 2/3 cup of olive oil with grapeseed oil. In a pot, heat the oil with the peppercorns, fennel seeds, orange zest and parsnips to 85C. Cover and let stand for 15 minutes, then remove the parsnips. You can keep the leftover oil to use again or to use in dressings, as it will be pleasantly infused. Heat a pan over high heat. Add the parsnips and a knob of butter. Allow the butter to brown and add the artichoke, herbs and salt and pepper. Drain on to a clean cloth or paper towel.
White onion puree: 2 tablespoons grapeseed or another neutral oil | 2 large white onions, sliced | A knob of butter | Salt and white pepper, to taste | Truffle oil, to taste
Heat grapeseed oil and cook the onion over a low to medium heat until it is soft and translucent. Do not allow the onion to brown. Drain off the excess liquid and blend until smooth. Add a knob of butter and the salt, pepper and truffle oil to taste. You can add back some of the excess liquid if the puree is too thick.
Parsley oil: ½ cup grapeseed or other neutral oil | 1 bunch of parsley, leaves picked, stems discarded | 1 silverbeet leaf, stem discarded, leaf roughly chopped
Heat oil to 85C, place parsley and silverbeet leaves and the oil in a blender and blend on high speed. If you have time, leave the leaves in the oil overnight or as long as possible. Strain the oil through a folded muslin cloth over a strainer. Allow the oil to pass through without squeezing it. Store unused oil in the freezer.
Spring onion ash: 3-4 spring onions, chopped
Roast a few spring onions in the oven at its highest temperature until the onions are completely black. Grind in a mortar and pestle of a spice grinder.
Chips: Leftover parsnips and artichokes | Oil, to fry | Salt
Slice the remaining artichokes and reserved parsnips about 1mm-2mm thick with a mandolin, knife or peeler. Heat the oil to 140C. Fry parsnips for one to two minutes or until golden brown. Fry the artichokes for a few minutes or until golden brown. Drain on paper towel and season with a little salt.
To serve: Place a spoonful of puree on each plate. Using the back of the spoon, smear the puree across one half of the plate. Try to curve the smear with the curve of the plate. Zigzag the artichoke across the smear. Stand the parsnips up, leaning them on the artichokes. Dress the veggies with the parsley oil. Sprinkle the ash across one-half of the vegies and one-half of the empty plate. Place four pieces of each chip throughout the veggies on each plate. Garnish with micro-celery if available.
Recipe and photos from Flavours of Urban Melbourne, Edition 2 — 120 restaurants, bars and cafes with their signature dishes, published by Smudge, out now.
Transformerfitzroy.com