Australians are fortunate in so many ways. Indeed, to be a cook in this wonderful country is both a privilege and a pleasure.
The abundance of natural good food makes the Australian food industry one of the most self-sufficient in the world. There are plentiful supplies of meat, grains, fruits and vegetables, dairy produce and seafood available throughout the year. Furthermore, there is an excellent wine industry, which produces world-class quality wines and liqueurs.
In Australian Heritage Cookbook, this beautifully illustrated cookbook caters for every occasion: from spontaneous entertaining and family cooking to extravagant dinner parties. Australians love to entertain and our marvellous climate lends itself perfectly to both casual and formal entertaining.
Released this month, New Holland Publishers and The Buzz Group are helping Glam Adelaide readers try before they buy with three fantastic recipes to sample this Christmas: a Honey Roast Pork, a Potato Salad with Bacon and Boiled Eggs, and Grandma’s Chocolate Cake. If you thought you had your holiday menu prepared, think again!
Honey Roast Pork (page 40)
Serves 6
3 hours
- 2–2.5 kg boneless pork leg
- 3⁄4 cup honey
- 1 tablespoon freshly chopped chilli (optional)
- zest of 1 lemon
- 1 kg potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges
- 1 1⁄2 teaspoons lemon pepper
- 1 teaspoon freshly crushed garlic
- 1⁄4 cup oil
- ⅓ cup water
- 1 head radicchio lettuce
To make the glaze, combine the honey, chilli and lemon zest. Brush the surface of the meat generously with the glaze.
Refrigerate, covered, until ready to use. Stand at room temperature for 20 minutes before cooking.
Place the potato wedges in a foil tray. Mix the lemon pepper, garlic, oil and water together. Pour over the potatoes.
Cut the radicchio in half lengthwise. Cut each half into 3 wedges. Insert a small bamboo skewer from the centre of outside edge to the centre of the thin wedge edge to keep them from falling apart.
Prepare a covered barbeque for indirect-heat cooking, charcoal to medium high and gas to high, turned down to medium when the food is placed in.
Place the meat on the well-oiled bars over the drip tray. Place the potatoes next to the roast over indirect heat. Brush the roast with the glaze, close the cover and cook for 60 minutes.
Move the tray of potatoes over the direct heat and turn the potatoes. Brush the roast again with glaze, close hood and continue to cook for 1 hour, brushing the roast with glaze every 15 minutes.
When the potatoes are browned, remove and keep hot. The roast is cooked when the juices run clear when pricked with a skewer, or the internal temperature on a meat thermometer is about 68°C for medium–well done. Remove roast onto a platter. Rest for 15 minutes.
Reheat the potatoes. Brush both sides of the radicchio wedges with the marinade and grill over direct heat for 3–5 minutes, brushing with the glaze. Serve.
Potato Salad with Bacon and Boiled Eggs (page 161)
Serves 4-6
30-45 minutes
- 5 kg chat potatoes, whole and unpeeled
- 3 bacon rashers, rind and excess fat removed and diced
- 185 g sour cream
- 125 g whole-egg mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon wholegrain mustard
- 1 small red onion, finely diced
- 1 bunch chives, finely chopped
- salt and pepper, to season
- cherry tomatoes, quartered
- 4 hard-boiled eggs
Put the potatoes in a large saucepan, cover with water and pinch of salt.
Place the saucepan over medium heat and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and cook the potatoes until tender.
Once the potatoes are cooked, drain and let them steam dry. Once cool to the touch, quarter.
Meanwhile, cook the bacon in a frying pan over medium heat until crispy. Remove the bacon from the pan and drain on paper towel.
Fry the tomatoes in the same pan until browned.
In a small bowl, mix together the sour cream, mayonnaise, wholegrain mustard, and onion.
In a serving bowl, add the potato and combine with the sour cream and mayo mixture. Sprinkle with the bacon, tomatoes and chives. Top with the boiled eggs.
Grandma’s Chocolate Cake (page 270)
Makes 1
1 hour
- ½ cup butter, softened
- 2 cups caster sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1½ cups plain flour
- 1¾ teaspoons baking powder
- 5 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 1 cup buttermilk
Chocolate Sour-Cream Filling
- 1¼ cups bittersweet chocolate, broken into pieces
- ½ cup chopped butter
- 3 cups icing sugar, sifted
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1 cup raspberry jam
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Place the butter, caster sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract in a bowl and beat until light and fluffy. Sift together the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder.
Fold the flour mixture and the buttermilk, alternately, into the butter mixture. Divide the mixture between 4 greased and lined 23cm round cake pans and bake for 25 minutes or until the cakes are cooked when tested with a skewer. Turn cakes onto wire racks to cool.
To make the filling, place the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water and heat, stirring, until the mixture is smooth. Remove the bowl from the pan. Add the icing sugar and sour cream and mix until smooth.
To assemble the cake, place 1 cake on a serving plate, spread with the jam and top with some filling. Top with a second cake, some more jam and some filling. Repeat the layers to use all the cakes and jam. Finish with a layer of cake and spread the remaining filling over the top and sides of the cake.
Australian Heritage Cookbook, New Holland Publishers RRP $39.99 available from all good book retailers or online www.newhollandpublishers.com.
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