My mother in-law, who is a fantastic cook, commented this morning that if she could have only one cook book she would probably choose Matthew Evans' "The Real Food Companion". Today, I am basking in the after-glow of an intimate dinner for 75 with the Gourmet Farmer himself. Held last night at the wonderful Old Convent in Borenore, the dinner was part of Orange's annual Frost Fest. Matthew Evans is a former food critic for The Sydney Morning Herald who saw the light and moved to Cygnet in Tasmania to live a "real" life, grow his own organic produce, milk his own cows and eat his own animals. The entire move was documented in a great series called the Gourmet Farmer shown on SBS here in Australia. Last night's meal - featuring recipes from The Real Food Companion - was prepared by one of my favourite chef's in the region, Josie Chapman. It began with a simple wooden bread-board offering fresh Labna (yoghurt curd cheese), creamy, nutty hummus, wild olives and fresh bread, moved on to melt-in-your-mouth lamb shoulder braised with tomato and green olives (and served in rustic terracotta dishes by a local potter) and ended with "ye olde appley cakey" served with an old fashioned cornflour custard and hand made treacle ice cream. Wines were by local wine maker and former Australian Wine Maker of the Year, Philip Shaw. The atmosphere was magical - long communal tables set up in the old chapel, candle light reflecting sparkles onto the rough walls from an incongruous but delightful mirror ball suspended from the vaulted ceiling, a fire blazing, and the whisper of almost-snow outside. Conversation was loud, opinionated and entertaining - just as Julia Child would have liked it!
Matthew was on hand to talk about his philosophy on food - that it should be as organic, fresh, cruelty-free, seasonal and local as possible. He spoke about the "standardisation" of milk - that the milk we think of as pure and fresh has not only been homogenised and pasteurised, but it has also been put through an "ultra-filtration" process which pulls the milk apart into its various components before putting it back together again as...well... milk. He spoke about the irony of creating products such as mass produced cheeses that are so lacking in nutritional value that even bacteria cannot survive on them! He also spoke of the joys and frustrations of rearing his own animals on the farm in Tasmania. Turkeys, he said, were horrible animals to deal with, but "so good dead!". With apologies vegetarians, I think that would make a great title for his next book - "So Good Dead".
So, with my new copy of Matthew's book in hand, I am preparing a simple Lamb Shank and Pearl Barley Soup for dinner, served with fresh bread from Racine (Friday is bread day!). I also have a muslin lined sieve in the sink draining the whey from 1kg of full fat Greek-style yoghurt as I attempt to recreate his wonderful tangy Labna. I love having a new food hero!
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