Great Southern Comfort - Southern Fish Recipes
What an encouraging sign it was, when I saw on a menu a ‘special' featuring that much-maligned and under-valued fish, the Australian salmon. The eating house was in Albany and the dish was a salad topped with smoked Australian salmon.
The boneless, skinless salmon had a light golden colour on the outside, clean white flesh on the inside, was moist and really flavoursome
It's a great way to add value to a product that has been traditionally regarded as giving very low return.
Jenny Jones of Albany seafood processor Allerton Seafoods is the driving force behind a whole range of smoked Great Southern fish. Jenny smokes a great range of South Coast fish catches, from Abalone to Whiting
About 527,000 tourists visited the Great Southern this past year, many seeking out Food and Wine Trails that lead them from region to region, sampling and tasting the best of the local wine and produce.
I am fortunate enough to be working on a regional Branding project based in Albany that means I spend a lot of time in the Great Southern meeting all kinds of food producers and suppliers, fishermen, farmers cooks, chefs, winemakers and other passionate ‘foodies'.
Regional Branding is focused on agricultural marketing, tourism and value-adding and is being used to increase the profitability of businesses across the state.
The project has seen the setting up of Regional Food Producing groups in Margaret River and the Great Southern, which will work on defining a brand image for their specific products, bringing together farmers, fishermen, food producers and manufacturers, tourism and wine industry folk and, of course, chefs.
For example, Mark Wallace, a 20-something young farmer from Mount Barker, has just taken out an award for ‘Innovation in Agriculture' for his salt-water aquaculture enterprise.
Mark, a third-generation sheep farmer, first became interested in the idea of rearing salt water fish when parts of his property became unusable due to salinity.
Now, eight excavated ponds hold around 2000 trout that will be served at cafes and restaurants in the region.
One day, every region of this fair state will have its own Food Producers Group and Food and Wine trail maps, linked in a jigsaw
Chefs play an integral role in the food supply chain and love nothing better than to be able to use prime fresh regional produce. They can influence their diners' perception of the foods and where they come from.
Visitors to our regions now ask about good farming or fishing management practices and sustainability of the product. Consumers world-wide are becoming more conscious of how their eating habits have a direct impact on the overall health of our planet.
Identifying the produce also gives a focus to the region. Examples that have been successful are Mount Barker free-range chicken, White Rocks Harvey veal, Amelia Park Dardanup lamb, Great Southern Porongorup prime beef, Exmouth prawns, Carnarvon scallops and Broome pearl meat.
Following are some recipes by some of the best chefs in the area (and featuring prime Great Southern produce) for you to try.
The Esplanade Oyster
Brad Anderson is head chef at Albany's premier hotel The Esplanade and is a passionate promoter of regional cuisine: this is reflected in his menus.
Ingredients
24 local King George Belon Albany oysters already shucked and cleaned
24 English spinach leaves, blanched and refreshed (dipped in boiling, then cold, water
100g sour cream
50g black caviar
Method
Remove oyster from shell and wrap one of the spinach leaves around it.
Place the oyster back into the shell, then top with a little sour cream and caviar
Serve the oysters on ice with a glass of Alkoomi's stunning riesling.
Malay Squid
Ingredients
500g fresh Great Southern Squid, cleaned and skin removed
Malay spice recipe
20g sweet paprika
5g sea salt
20g onion powder
20g garlic powder
10g cayenne pepper
20g ground thyme
100g plain flour
Olive oil (Alkoomi) for deep frying
Method
Mix all of the above ingredients together (in a pestle and mortar if you have one) then sieve to make sure the spice is well blended.
Slice the cleaned squid tubes, then dust in the Malay spice
In a medium hot pan lightly sear the squid pieces (about 1 minute maximum each side).
Remove squid from pan and just enjoy as is or serve over a salad of crisp greens tossed in a little lime or lemon juice and olive oil.
McSweeny's Seared 8-Spice Albany Tuna
(on a warm salad of Denmark asparagus, Chinese radish and tatsoi topped with a warm tamarind dressing)
McSweeney's Gourmet Denmark, situated in one of the South-West's most picturesque towns is a ‘ must stop, must eat' kind of place.
Hosts Matt and Phil both have cooking backgrounds which show in the quality of their great food, not to mention the best coffee in Denmark.
McSweeneys, established for six years, specializes in the supplying of high quality produce, both pre-prepared and in its raw state. It stocks as much local produce as possible, such as cheeses, relishes, pickles and some good quality olive oils.
Ingredients
1/4 tspn white pepper
1 tspn cinnamon
2 tspn curry powder
1 tspn cummin powder
2 tspn paprika
5 coriander seeds
2 cardamon seeds
1 clove
150mls Cloverdene organic yoghurt
600g southern bluefin tuna
16 fresh asparagus spears
I Chinese radish
250g fresh tatsoi (a Chinese vegetable like small-leaf spinach. Bok choi or pak choi could also be used)
Method
Combine all the spices and yoghurt together.
Completely coat the tuna with the mix and refrigerate overnight.
Quickly blanch in boiling water the asparagus and refresh (sit in cold water for 2 minutes).
Finely julienne (thinly slice) the radish and cover with cold water and set aside.
Dressing
400mls tamarind juice
60g shaved palm sugar
300ml lemon juice
100ml fish sauce
50ml sesame oil
20g unsalted butter
Method
Boil the palm sugar with the tamarind juice until sugar is dissolved. Place all the other ingredients in a food processor, slowly add the warm mix until well combined, set aside.
Assembling the dish
Quickly sear the tuna in a large hot pan, so the middle is still pink.
Remove from heat and rest in a warm place.
In a hot pan with a little olive oil, saute the asparagus, radish and tatsoi till wilted.
In a small saucepan heat and reduce the sauce a little (5 to 10 minutes) then swirl in cold butter and combine.
To serve, place hot vegetables in centre of plate, slice tuna and place on angle over vegetables and then drizzle with warm dressing.
Cajun Swordfish
(Jenny Jones, from Allerton Seafoods Albany)
Prep time 20 minutes, Cooking time 15 minutes, serves 4
Ingredients
1 tspn chilli powder
1 tbspn garlic salt
2 tbspn dried oregano
2 tbspn dried thyme
2 tspn sweet paprika
4 sword fish steaks around 250g each
30g butter melted
Method
Combine chilli powder, salt, oregano, thyme and paprika in a bowl.
Brush fish all over with melted butter, coat with spice mix.
Cook fish (sear) in a heavy based oiled frying pan or on bbq until steaks turn white. Best to slightly undercook, as fish will keep cooking for a few minutes once removed from heat.
Serve warm over a crisp salad with some blanched Denmark asparagus or a spicy salsa and some crunchy bread.
Troy's Grilled Great Southern Rainbow Trout
(on celeriac cream with cucumber)
Mount Barker's reputation for providing good food to match its excellent wines has just taken a gigantic leap with the opening of a new restaurant the Wright Chef. Troy Wright moved to Mount Barker for a change of lifestyle after training and working in some of the East Coast's premier restaurants and completing viticulture studies at TAFE.
It's hard to keep a good cook out of the kitchen and now Troy is rattling the pots and pans again.
Ingredients
4 fillets of rainbow trout
1 celeriac root, grated
10 cucumber balls cut with a scoop
200mls cream
100mls fish stock
celery leaves to garnish
Method
Grate celeriac and mix in pot with fish stock and cream, simmer on low heat until celeriac is tender.
Add cucumber balls and simmer a further 2-3 minutes, season to taste.
Lightly season and grill trout fillets in pan 3-4 minutes.
Place celeriac cream on plate in large pool, lay fish fillets on pool and scatter cucumber balls around fish. Garnish with celery leaves
Sharon's Swordfish with sweet chilli and citrus glaze topped with coriander butter
(Serves 4)
Sharon Bower, Arglye's Bistro's friendly proprietor, is a culinary ambassador to the town of Albany. Her cosy and comfortable Bistro has sweeping views across Princess Royal Harbour and the town jetty where the tuna boats dock.
Sharon says she has a developed a great rapport with the tuna fishers in Albany so fresh tuna and swordfish is available, weather and catch permitting.
Sharon shares one of her favourite recipes with us.
You could also use fish such as mackerel in this recipe
Ingredients
4 x 200 g swordfish steaks
1 large carrot cut julienne style (into fine matchsticks)
1 large zucchinni cut julienne
1/2 red capsicum cut julienne (de-seeded)
1/2 green capsicum cut julienne (de-seeeded)
1/2 yellow capsicum cut julienne (de-seeded)
1/2 cup sweet chilli sauce
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
350 g just softened butter
2 Tbspns fresh coriander leaves, chopped
Olive oil, flavoured with a little garlic and ginger
Method
Combine softened butter and coriander in a bowl and either put in a piping bag and pipe portions on greaseproof paper and harden in fridge or simply roll butter in foil and refrigerate.
Brush swordfish steaks with flavoured oil and chargrill on bbq, or in a heavy-based fry pan, or bake in a oven for around 10 minutes at 180oC.
Mix equal quantities of sweet chilli sauce and orange juice in saucepan and reduce slightly to a thicker consistency.
Lightly blanch strips of vegetables in boiling water for 1 minute until al dente (still with a little crunch).
These vegies can also be quickly sauteed or stir-fried.
Drain vegies and place in centre of a warm plate, place swordfish steak on top and drizzle with sweet chilli glaze.
Top with slice of coriander butter, sprinkle with fresh coriander leaves.
Sharon says the glaze can adapted to suit your palate by the adding of fresh lime or lemon juice.
Great Southern Wines
The Great Southern is on its way to being recognised as one of Australia's great wine-growing regions The region is capable of producing exceptional fruit from all the recognised varieties, in particular riesling, sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, shiraz and pinot noir and at their best are unbeatable.
With all the above recipes try a selection of Great Southern wines and in particular some crisp, flinty fruit-driven rieslings
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