Don’t forget the fruit: sweet and sour flavours make it a winter menu must-have
/“I love fruit – I think every chef should look at using it as much as they do vegies on the menu,” says Claire van Vuuren, chef/owner of Bloodwood Restaurant & Bar in Sydney’s Newtown. She argues fruit used fresh in season is at its peak in terms of flavour complexity, ideal for imparting tartness, sweet and sour notes to dishes.
Claire Van Vuuren
Claire is also a keen proponent of fermenting fruit and using it in savoury dishes in place of extra sugar. “We’re just coming to the finish of kumquat season, which I love – I buy them by the case, and the most recent dish I’ve added to the menu was a pork schnitzel with kumquat achar, which is a hot, sweet and sour South African condiment made with spices, oil, vinegar and pickled kumquats.”
Dates are another favourite, with Claire making liberal use of them in sauce bases. “They give a creamy sweetness and richness – we don’t even call them out as an ingredient a lot of the time, but they’re terrific for adding an extra layer of flavour. Dates, brussels sprouts and bacon are my dream flavour combo!”
“Sometimes chefs get hung up on citrus fruits, but there’s so much more to explore”
Fresh Mango Custard with Strawberry Granita - Bloodwood
Claire is also fond of rhubarb, whether sweet, pickled or raw: “It’s one of my top go-to fruits – rhubarb, sugar and ginger makes a perfect base. Autumn, which we’ve just come out of, is quince season and that’s another fantastic choice which you can use in chilli sauce and vinegar – if you add the right amount of vinegar, sugar and salt to quince you end up with a rich ketchup style flavour.
“The interesting thing about quince is that to a certain extent it takes on the flavour of whatever you pair it with – it has an underlying smoothness and silkiness of texture, and if you cook it just right you get this luscious, luminous sweetness and savouriness. Sometimes chefs get hung up on citrus fruits, but there’s so much more to explore. I also recommend you use the entire fruit – char up the skin, blend it up and it can add a whole other dimension to your dish.”
Persimmon with Radicchio, pickled grapes and wild roquette - Bloodwood
Visitors to Bloodwood will also find plenty of fruit in sauce and relish accompaniments to savoury dishes on the menu – “a bit of lime salt, chilli and pineapple is the perfect complement to a piece of pork, and whenever it’s grape season, which is peak time right now, I pickle them in brown sugar, vinegar, garlic and bay thyme and that goes literally with any dish. Persimmons are about to end but I always look forward to them – they’re wonderful to use in place of pears, you can jazz up your dishes and they also make really nice dressings and a really rich sweet and sour sauce when cooked down.”
“It’s quite beautiful to watch fruits ferment naturally ... they’re doing their own thing and you just manage the process”
Pomegranate, pistachio, za’atar, molasses lathered in mt zero olive oil - bloodwood
Claire says fermenting fruit is a skill that’s relatively easy to pick up. “If you like pickling and preserving, then lactofermentation is a natural progression – it’s quite beautiful to watch fruits ferment naturally, it feels like they’re doing their own thing and you just manage the process.
“And with fruit it happens so quickly – especially if you can manipulate the temperature, such as by bottling in jars and then putting them through a dishwasher cycle. As a chef it’s fun to watch something slowly change – it’s a bit like winemaking or watching breads rise, it’s the whole process of taking a natural ingredient and manipulating it into something else.
“My advice is ‘don’t forget the fruit’ – whenever something is in season you should use it, firstly for taste and secondly for price, because seasonal is always cheaper. We are spoilt for choice here with the variety we have – and there are so many iconic dishes like apricot chicken and plum duck that have stood the test of time. That’s because fruit is among the most satisfying of flavours.”
Native fruits making a massive comeback
Markus werner
Markus Werner, Corporate Executive Chef at Delaware North Australia, says more varieties of fruit are being used than ever before. “Where in the past we might have just used lemons in all our dressings, now there are so many types of citrus fruits coming in. From blood oranges in dressings and blends, to limes as a marinade with tuna in ceviche, and all the different types of grapefruits we’re now seeing. We’re using a lot of fruits to tenderise meats – papaya and kiwi fruit are ideal for steaks and we’re using more in the stir fry area as well.”
Markus adds that in the winter months, condiments like pear and apple chutney are the ideal accompaniment to cheeseboards and ploughman’s platters. “We also recently had a kangaroo burger on the menu, with beetroot and pineapple included in the filling – a typical Northern Queensland style presentation which was a big hit.”
Davidson Plum Lamingtons - Delaware north
He says native fruits are making a massive comeback right now. “Back in the eighties there was a wave that came and went, but now the new wave of native products is here to stay. I haven’t seen a menu recently which doesn’t use finger limes somewhere – they’re even in cocktails! Just this week we had a mantri fruit and kangaroo appetiser, we have lamingtons rolled in Davidson plum jam – admittedly we’ve been focusing on native fruit more heavily than usual because of the Indigenous Round at Mindil Beach Casino Resort in Darwin, but they really are becoming staples on every menu.”
“I haven’t seen a menu recently which doesn’t use finger limes somewhere – they’re even in cocktails!”
Markus adds the quality of our local fruit is still the envy of much of the rest of the world – “this year the strawberries aren’t quite as good as they used to be, but they’re still fantastic in a salad. Just yesterday I chopped some honeydew into a green salad and it’s so underrated – these and melons are really flavourful additions to salad and impart a freshness that you can’t beat.”
Pears are the perfect winter fruit
GARY JOHNSON
Gary Johnson, Chef Ambassador to Bega Foodservice and much in demand as a consultant to the pub and club sector, says fresh pears are the perfect winter fruit. “I love roasting them in a little olive oil, sugar and a sprinkle of salt – you get that umami effect with the sugar and salt combo. They’re delicious with whipped goat’s cheese on a savoury tart and a little wattleseed – you get that earthy, coffee kind of flavour. Roasted pears are a terrific accompaniment to anything savoury – a warm salad with roasted pear and prosciutto, perhaps with a sherry and native honey vinaigrette, is just fabulous. Peaches are out of season right now, but you can pickle them and they go great with braised pork belly, which is a delicious warming dish for the winter months.
“Green apple paired with native finger lime is another favourite – you can julienne the apples in the mandolin, put some beautiful finger lime through them and you get the wonderful colour of those pink berries from the finger lime, almost like caviar. Again, you can season these with a little sugar, salt and cracked pepper – I squash them a little to bruise them and let them marinate in their own juice, then squeeze that off and it’s a great garnish on grilled fish or any white meat, or even as a side to some nice croquettes.”
“A beautiful baked lemon myrtle tart with a Davidson plum dust gives great colour and fabulous flavour contrast as well”
Gary is fond of innovative approaches to the use of native ingredients on the menu: “When it comes to Davidson plums or quandongs, you can freeze dry them, then crush them into a powder and dust them over desserts. A beautiful baked lemon myrtle tart with a Davidson plum dust gives great colour, and that acid punch imparts a fabulous flavour contrast as well. You can even dehydrate some mandarin peel and grind it into a powder – it gives a little colour and a lovely citrus bitterness to desserts, sauces or even an infusion into pasta dough.
roasted pear, wattleseed and goats cheese salad - Gary Johnson
He’s also keen on poaching fruits during winter. “You can use seasonal fruits like peaches or apricots – or quince, which you can use in a native tea syrup made with sugar, rosella, lemon myrtle and hibiscus. That will give you a nice colour and it could be served with a panna cotta or a delicious ice cream that you’ve made as well.”
Pairing berries and beetroots in winter salads is another of his recommendations. “I love beetroot because it has such an earthy flavour, and if you pair it with some macerated blueberries or blackberries you can make a truly delicious salad. I usually use a couscous base with a goat’s cheese curd – you can add your own sides, like grilled prawns, chicken or some warm braised lamb.”
