Take three: grapes, spinach and salmon recipes

Take three: grapes, spinach and salmon recipes from Paul Gaspa.

Recipes are from Paul Gaspa, executive chef at Montereys and Origins, Pan Pacific Perth hotel.

The festive season lingers but excess belongs to two weeks ago. Moving towards midsummer, clean, green and sharp are enticing food thoughts — never plain and never simply “good for you”.

Grapes, especially green, are tangy-sweet accom­paniments to fresh cheese (crumbly white chevre, triple-cream brie, pungent washed-rind or a rich blue); they bring sharp accents to green salads, with or without slivers of moist chicken, ­toasted nuts or seafood, and heighten interest in cream sauces lightly veiling salmon fillet or chic­ken breast. Never restricted to dessert, they’re surprisingly seductive when cooked.

Arthur Phillip brought grapes to Australia with the First Fleet in 1788, planting a small NSW vineyard from cuttings.

Riverland (SA), Sunraysia (Victoria) and Riverina (NSW) are our biggest table grape regions, but excellent grapes are grown in southeastern Queensland (Stanthorpe, for example), WA’s fruit bowl around Carnarvon, and even central NT (Alice Springs). The (cross-country) season, Novem­ber to May, peaks in February and March.

Table grapes are more likely to be at markets outside dedicated winegrowing regions, where they’re mostly an afterthought, such as Albany, WA (“Few and far between here,” says manager Ian Haines, “they all go for wine”), and Launceston, Tasmania (“Serious wine grapes down here,” says manager Curly Haslam-Coates).

However, succulent spinach is quite another thing; it’s in every market, often picked with morning dew still silvering its leaves. At Albany, Bev Shapland has “luxuriant, abundant” English spinach, also silverbeet and red chard. At Launceston, there’s just-picked spinach from Old School Farm, Laos Fresh Farm, Steve’s Vegies and Seven Springs Organic Farm.

Simple and pure alone, spinach is the vital ­ingredient in such classic dishes as eggs florentine and spanakopita (Greek spinach pie); it also provides a background with character for sympathetic additions, as in today’s recipe.

Salmon also has the personality to stand alone, yet shines with complementary add-ons. Andrew the Seafood Man (An Australian Affair, based at Gerringong, NSW) has Tasmanian Atlantic sal­mon at Warwick Farm Trackside most Saturdays and Foragers Markets, Bulli, most Sundays.

Thirty-year-old, family owned and run Huon Aquaculture supplies sustainably farmed Atlantic salmon from southern Tasmania to every state and territory the year round. It’s in Melbourne’s Queen Victoria, Prahran and Footscray markets and Sydney Fish Markets (Pyrmont).

After 30 years running his own fish shop at Lane Cove, John Mertzanakis (with four partners) operates the Aegean-blue tiled and painted Musumeci Seafoods (seven days, 6am-4pm, 363 days a year) at Sydney markets. He sells Huon Aquaculture sal­mon, as does Dimitri Hari (Transtasman Fisheries), also at Pyrmont.

In Tassie, Huon salmon is at most fish punts and wet fish stores, including Mako Fresh Fish seafood market, North Hobart, and Mures, wholesale fishmongers, Victoria Dock, Hobart. At Harvest Launceston, there’s hot smoked salmon from 41 Degrees South and salmon rillettes.

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PAUL GASPA’S RECIPES

Executive chef at Montereys and Origins, Pan Pacific Perth hotel, Gaspa has worked in leading kitchens in London, Sydney, Melbourne, Tokyo and at seven-star Burj al-Arab, Dubai.

GRAPES

I’m a big fan of fruit in my cooking and grapes are one of my favourites. They have been used in cooking for centuries but you very rarely actually see them cooked. This is perfect in a salad with blue cheese and walnuts, or on the side with duck or pork. Simple.

Roasted grapes

Mix 500g grapes of your choice, 30ml olive oil, leaves from 5 sprigs of thyme, pinch sea salt, pepper; roast 7 minutes at 190C; chill and enjoy.

ENGLISH SPINACH

I have great memories of spinach, picking it fresh from the garden in Kent. It had a bad run from chefs at one stage, about 10 years ago — used in dishes just for colour or maybe (along with the humble green bean) because they could not think of anything else to use. Anyway, I love it and the kids will love this also.

Spinach with ham and corn

Blanch 1kg English spinach in boiling salted water, refresh in iced water and squeeze dry. Heat a frying pan with a little olive oil, add 2 cloves garlic and 75g sliced ham in 5mm strips. Cook gently 2 minutes. Add spinach and saute till warmed through; finish with 100g tinned corn drained dry, salt and pepper.

SALMON

My wife is Japanese and whenever she cooks this dish at home it always amazes me how anything can taste this good; who would have thought, cooking with mayonnaise, but when you add miso it all makes sense.

Salmon parcel with miso

For two: place 60g each white cabbage and grated carrot, centred, on 30cm of aluminium foil. Add 300g salmon fillet (or two 150g pieces).

Mix together 3 tablespoons mayonnaise and 1 tablespoon miso; cover fish and vegetables with the mixture, season with salt. Fold foil to totally encase the fish. Bake on tray, in 180C oven, 10 minutes