Kangaroo Fillet with Basil oil and Caramelized Onion

This recipe is a lesson, more than anything, in how to cook perfect rare kangaroo. Most game is lean, and a long cooking time will result in dry, tough meat. The exception to this rule is game that is braised in a moist environment. But that is a completely different technique and I will deal with that at a later date.
Game that is cooked fast will result in meat that is tender, juicy and full of flavour. The important rules to remember:

• Keep the heat very high to seal the meat and brown it quickly.
  
• The meat will benefit from a long rest, after the initial searing. The result is meat that has a relaxed texture and an even distribution of juices.
  
• Salt the meat after the cooking is complete. I only apply this rule to game meat. Beef, pork etc, I usually salt just before cooking.
  

There are 3 components to this dish (or 4 if you also include the beetroot salad). It is certainly not a hard dish, but it is time consuming because of the long time required to caramelize the onions. They can, of course, be prepared in advance. However, the basil oil I would not prepare any earlier than required. You want to preserve as much fragrance and freshness as possible

Ingredients
Basil oil-
15g basil
1 green chilli (long and mild), deseeded
Sea salt
Black pepper
Pinch sugar
Extra virgin olive oil (mild)

Caramelized Onion-
2 large red onions
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
4 anchovy fillets, finely chopped
1 tsp cumin
2 tsp sugar

500g kangaroo fillets
Extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt
Fresh black pepper

Method

Basil oil-
Grind the basil leaves and green chilli in a mortar and pestle to a paste. Add enough oil to create a fluid condiment. Season with salt, pepper and sugar. Set aside.

Caramelized Onion-
Slice the onions 1cm thick. Place them in a wide saucepan with the olive oil, anchovy and cumin. Patience is required here (but not much effort). Over the lowest heat cook the onions for 1 hour, until soft and reduced. Cover the pan, so the onions sweat and braise in their own sweet juices. After 45 minutes add the sugar. During the process, stir from time to time and make sure the onions do not burn by adding small amounts of water. Keep warm.

Bring the kangaroo to room temperature. Rub the fillets with olive oil. Heat a pan over a very high heat. Sear the fillets for 1 minute each side. Wrap in a double layer of foil and leave to rest on a wooden board.
After 20 minutes, unwrap the kangaroo. Sear again over a high heat for 1 minute each side, to complete the cooking. The meat will be rare. Slice the meat. Arrange on a platter and season with salt and pepper. Drizzle over the basil oil and serve with the caramelized onion. Serves 2.

Note- I also serve a Beetroot and Horseradish salad. And by this I mean canned baby beetroots, drained, rinsed and sliced tossed with extra virgin olive oil and horseradish from a jar. I know this sounds lazy, but it works with all the other components. You can of course cook your own beets and use freshly grated horseradish.

My Sugo (Pure and Intense)

I don’t care what any Italian nonna tells you, this is the best and only way to make your own “sugo”. You wont find any garlic, onion, carrot, celery, wine, stock etc in this sauce. But it is truly important to use the best tomatoes. The ones pictured here were from the communal vegetable garden in my apartment block.
If you have never bothered to make your own sugo, I beg you to try. You will be very pleasantly surprised. In fact making this beautiful sauce is probably the only thing I look forward to in the summer.

Ingredients
2 kilos of beautiful red ripe tomatoes (not those insipid things from the supermarket)
Extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt
Fresh black pepper
Sugar
A few basil leaves

Method
Preheat the oven to 200c.
Lay out your tomatoes onto a roasting pan (or two) and drizzle over some oil.
Bake them for 30–45 minutes until the skins have split and they are tender within. Under any circumstances do NOT allow the tomatoes to caramelize! This is not the flavour you want your sugo to have.
Allow them to rest a little and cool down. Remove the blistered skins and discard. Place the tomatoes into a wide pan, along with any of the sweet juices.
Mash the tomatoes, I just use a potato masher, and over the lowest heat allow them to reduce to sauce consistency, about 30-45 minutes. It is really important to cook the sauce on the lowest heat because tomatoes have a high sugar content, and these sugars will burn if cooked over a high heat.
Season with salt, pepper and sugar. Throw in the basil leaves and a generous amount of olive oil.
You will be amazed of the purity and intensity of flavours this sauce has.
A divine balance of sweet and sour. Use it for pasta, pizza etc. Can be stored in the fridge for a few days

Peach and Basil Risotto

The weather here in Melbourne this past week has been unbelievably disgusting. Hot, humid and so over bearing that I have delegated all kitchen responsibilities to my husband . It has been an interesting time between my temper tantrums and my partners “womens weekly” style dinners… But we have survived and here I am!

The following recipe was an idea I wanted to try, after reading of it on a River Café menu. It is a very lovely risotto, but you do need to pay attention to the ingredients, otherwise you will end up with a peachy rice sludge. It took a couple of attempts before I got it right. Here are some suggestions that I discovered by trial and error:

• Make sure to use carnaroli rice.It doesn’t work so well with vialone nano (I haven’t tried it with Arborio).


• Use a good homemade meat stock. The first time I made this, I used vegetable stock and the final dish lacked body The second time I used pigeon stock (that’s what I had) and the result was much, much better


• You need beautiful just ripe peaches to stir through the final dish


• And choose a nice dry sparkling wine to use in your risotto (sweet sparkling is overkill)

The success of this dish lies in the delicate and subtle blending of sweet and savoury. So be prepared to taste as you go along. Parmesan and butter will offset the sweetness of the peaches. The sparkling wine and basil will bring forth the fragrance of the peach
I know this sounds like a strange dish, but it is lovely and I think many people will be surprised at how good, it actually is. I enjoyed it immensely.

Ingredients
1 small brown onion, finely chopped
A splash olive oil
200g carnaroli rice
100ml dry sparkling wine
Meat stock., heated
Ground cinnamon
Fresh white pepper
Sea salt
Parmesan cheeses
Unsalted butter
200g white peach, peeled and chopped (1cm)
Basil leaves (I like to use the tiny leaves from the bunch)

Method
Over a low heat, heat the olive oil and sauté the onion for 10minutes. Do not allow the onion to colour. Add the rice and toss it about for a few minutes. Add the wine, turn the heat to medium and allow the wine to absorb and reduce. Now begin to add the hot stock, ladle by ladle. Allow each ladleful of stock to be absorbed before adding the next ladleful. Give the rice a stir with every ladleful of stock. Season with cinnamon, salt and white pepper. Once the rice is aldente , turn off the heat. This risotto works better on the more compact side, rather than overly fluid and moist. Add a generous knob of butter, parmesan and the peaches. Stir everything through and serve immediately, topped with the tiny basil leaves. See my previous post for more information on risotto technique. Serves two, on a romantic summer evening.

Potato & Basil Ravioli

In hindsight, I think my happiest childhood memories are the ones I have of my grandmother. There isn’t much I actually recall of my childhood but I do remember making fresh pasta with her. As a child, this was definitely better than playing outside with the other kids. If I wasn’t helping then I was watching her for hours as she prepared delicious foods for the family. Every Sunday, we ate fresh pasta- tagliarni, tagliatelle, ravioli, cannelloni, or sometimes lasagne. The stuffed pasta was almost always filled with spinach, ricotta and meat. And was dressed with tomato sugo in which chicken or beef had been simmered until tender. The meat was served as a separate course. My grandmother made everything from scratch and as a child, I guess she just seemed like some sort of kitchen goddess (thanks Nigella).Not much has changed with me. I know what I would like to be doing (even on a nice day) and that’s cooking beautiful food. I made these yesterday. I found stuffing the pasta to be relaxing and very satisfying. But I don’t think I would attempt this for a crowd of people. My grandmother may be a goddess in that respect, so I leave that up to her. Cooking fiddly food for many people makes me very nervous indeed. But when making this for 2, it isn’t very involved or too time consuming. You can prepare them in advance and cook them when you are ready. And please do not be tempted to drown these in tomato sauce. You will kill the subtle flavours. All they need is a green, peppery olive oil and some parmesan cheese.

Ingredients
200g red skinned potatoes, whole and unpeeled
200g ricotta
10 g fresh basil leaves, finely chopped.
Fresh black pepper
Fresh white pepper
Salt
Extra virgin olive oil
Wonton wrappers (from asian food stores)
Freshly grated parmesan cheese

Preparing the filling
Start by steaming the potatoes, over boiling water until they are tender. About 30 minutes should do it.
In the meantime fork the ricotta in a bowl. Add to it the basil. The basil is crucial in this dish. Think of it as a main ingredient rather than a flavouring. You need plenty. I guess you could add as little or as much as you like but keep in mind that the potatoes and the ricotta are both bland and the basil offers a wonderful fragrant taste.
When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, peel them and then mash.
Add to the ricotta and season well with plenty of salt and both peppers. Once again, be generous with the seasoning and then finish it off with a splash of olive oil. You can make this filling as coarse or as smooth as you like. Mine was fairly smooth.
Allow to cool.

Assembling the ravioli
You will need 2 wonton wrappers per ravioli.
Place one wrapper on your work surface and with your finger wet the edges. Place one teaspoon of the filling in the center. Cover over with the second wrapper and using your hands press the edges together, expelling any air at the same time.
Using a fluted pastry wheel, trim the edges. If you don’t have a pastry wheel, just trim the edges with a knife. The finished parcel will be a 7 cm square, but you can make them any size. The smaller they are, the less filling you need.
Place them on a tea towel dusted with flour. I make 10 of these per person.

Cooking the ravioli
Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil. Add salt to the water and a splash of oil.
You may need to cook these in batches, depending on how many there are and how big your pot is. If that is the case, preheat your oven to the lowest setting. Boil the ravioli for about 1 minute once the water returns to the boil.
Lift them out with a perforated skimmer (do not pour them into a strainer) and tip them into an oiled ovenproof dish and keep warm in the oven whilst you cook the rest of the ravioli. Repeat as above until all are cooked.
Serve on individual flat plates, drizzled with olive oil and with sprinkles of pepper and parmesan cheese.
Note-If you are making this for 2 people you will definitely have left over filling and wrappers. Both freeze well.