One Good Meal

If you ask Shannon Martinez what the hardest part of enduring breast cancer treatment was, she doesn’t hesitate. “Definitely losing my tastebuds,” the chef says, “and although they are back now, there was a long period last year where I couldn’t taste anything. It was definitely a low point and very scary; my taste is the one thing I base my entire existence on.” The food she missed the most? Chilli. “I love chilli, but my tolerance is only slowly coming back. I’ve had to train myself again!”

During treatment, the founder of popular Melbourne vegan restaurants Smith & Daughters and Smith & Deli, decided to throw herself into an exciting new project; the result is the relaunch of her much-loved business and a move into a spacious new venue in Collingwood, which opened this week. “Thinking about the new venue was escapism from my cancer life. Starting a new project was a way to get motivated again. It had to work and that’s a driving force,” she says.

It was lucky then that this new venue, Smith & Daughters, took an immense amount of planning and organisation, not least because there’s an 80-seat restaurant, boutique supermarket and a large cafeteria-style area, all offering up freshly prepared vegan food. And while all of that kept the self-taught chef busy, it was the planning of the numerous vegan offerings that was the real challenge. “I had to write the menus without tastebuds, and although there is, of course, muscle memory from years of cooking, it still made me doubt myself,” she remembers. “I was grateful to have the chefs I have been working with for years, who knew my palette and could support me.”

With Smith & Daughters – which is one of the world’s largest vegan hubs – opening this month, the Melbourne-based chef spoke to T Australia about her love of food, the biggest myth about cooking vegan meals and what she hopes her customers feel when they visit her new venue.

Why is being vegan important to you?

“Firstly, food is my everything. it’s the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning, it’s my work, and it’s the first thing I do when I get home after working a double shift; it’s my life. When I first started specialising in vegan food in 2005, there was nothing out there, no books and very limited produce. To me, that challenge was exciting. [Veganism] ticks all the boxes, its heathy and I’m super aware of animal welfare. We have such a massive impact as chefs and the hospitality industry as a whole on the way people eat, I want to create food that people love and makes them feel good.”

When you were planning this new venue, you were also having treatment for breast cancer. How did that affect what you wanted to create?

“Not being able to leave my house because I was too sick gave me a lot of time to think about what was (and wasn’t) working with my business model and how I could fix it. The main thing we needed was just more space. As much as I love that the current Smith & Daughters is in a heritage-listed building, because of that we could never extend the kitchen or offer lunch as it was too in demand.”

What will excite people the most about this new vegan hub?

“Well, I’m most excited about how it will look. Smith & Daughters and Smith & Deli have always been and always will be independent; we’ve never had financial investment. But I see my businesses as my children, and now ‘my girls’ are growing from their grungy teens into a Vivienne Westwood, European glamour fantasy.  This time around I can finally show people the restaurant that has always been in my mind. It will be very reflective of my personality, style and food. It’s 100% me.”

What do you want people to feel when they make your recipes or eat your food?

“Love and confidence. I really have a simple approach to cooking, as I’m mostly self-taught, my food is all from the heart. I want to create food that is cosy, my ideal place for eating my food would be on the couch where you feel at home and relaxed. I also feel really lucky that I can bring back foods to people that may be taken for granted if they eat vegan. Food brings back so many memories to everyone. I always remember my grandmother’s house had such an amazing smell from her meals, and even now that she is gone, I can still remember that smell. When you become vegan that can sometimes be taken away from you, maybe you can’t eat that family recipe you once loved. I get to bring those memories back to people and that is a superpower I love.”

What is a misconception about vegan food that frustrates you?

“That it’s hard to make! People just need to convert recipes they have been doing their whole lives. There’s a replacement for everything, it can be easy.”

Tell us about this one-pot burrito rice recipe, why do you love it? Do you have any tips for making it?

“This is one of the most popular dishes to make from my Vegan with Bite book, people love a one-pot wonder! Vegan with Bite is all about debunking the idea that vegan cooking is hard; this dish is 30 minutes start to finish and not expensive to make at home. It’s garnished with corn chips (who doesn’t love that) and it makes heaps, so you can roll it into a burrito for the next day or even make it into a dip. It’s really delicious.”

Rick Stein began to consider sustainability in seafood in the 1970s. He had just opened his first harbour-side bistro, “The Seafood Restaurant”, in Cornwall, UK, and the effects of the growing popularity of seafood were starting to show. “After a couple of years or so, I noticed that the size and quantity of wild salmon coming in through the kitchen door from local fishermen was starting to decrease, the same with spiny lobsters,” says Stein. “Even then, I began to realise that certain species were being overfished.”

At the time, the fishing industry was just starting to expand its aquaculture and fish farming practices to fulfil demand. Since then, the global appetite for seafood has ensured that fish farming has overtaken wild catch to the extent that global aquaculture now produces 100 million tonnes of farmed seafood. (By comparison, in 1990 that figure was 17 million). Concurrently, of course, there has also been a strain on wild catch with an estimated 80% of global marine fish stocks fully exploited or overfished.

For Stein, this change in industry practice over the past few decades has meant he and his chefs (he runs 10 restaurants in England and two in Australia) have focused on building solid relationships with local producers, who operate sustainable practices. And that’s key, he says, for ensuring the best ingredients. “The onus isn’t on you [as a restaurant owner] to know it all but if you don’t know, you need to trust someone who does,” he explains. “Now, I’m very lucky in that I know many of the people that directly supply me with what they’ve caught or harvested.”

T Australia spoke to Rick Stein about sustainability in seafood, why Australians love fish pie and which wine to air with his famous recipe.

What’s your advice to restaurant owners who want to make sure there are serving sustainable food?

“Have a good relationship with your suppliers and inform. yourself with education. I am very happy to tell you how the produce came to me and who it was caught by because I believe in the product, and if I don’t know then I will ask someone who does. A fabulous book to add to your shelves is “Australian Fish & Seafood Cookbook” (Murdoch Books, $79.99) by John Susman, Anthony Huckstep, Sarah Swan, Stephen Hodges. Not only a great cookbook but a resource in seasonality, catching methods, identifiable features and sustainability.”

How does this translate to eating seafood in restaurants – what questions should we ask before ordering?

“It’s similar. [As a patron] you need to know where your seafood was caught and by what method. If you’re not sure on the sustainability of the product you need to ask if the restaurant is aware. Importantly, if you are not comfortable with their responses then be happy with the choice to not eat it.”

Your fish pie is famous in Australia, why do we love a fish pie, do you think?

“It’s a one-dish wonder! I think when you come to the restaurant you want the opportunity to try as much of the great seafood we have on offer and with the pie, it ticks all the boxes! Local fish, scallops, mussels, and prawns. What more could you want? This pie is always among one of the best-selling dishes in the restaurant, you can bet on that.”

What are your tips for making your fish pie recipe at home?

“Take your time and enjoy the process. I never want to rush a velouté because you will get out all the flavour and silkiness with the time you put in. And a hot pan to sear some nice flavour onto the fish, prawns and scallops is essential. Hot, fast and don’t cook it all the way through; leave it to the final bake in the oven to do the rest. I would pair this pie with a really nice, buttery chardonnay. Something that will stand up to the richness of the sauce.”

Rick Stein’s Famous Fish Pie

200g finely chopped onion
60g butter
1 quantity velouté made with 2 bay leaves, 1 crushed clove, 1 pinch freshly grated nutmeg (see below for recipe)
30g parmesan cheese, grated
50ml double cream
Juice of ½ lemon
Salt
500g mixed seafood: aim for ¾ fish fillet and ¼ shellfish or crustaceans, such as salmon, blue eye, snapper, prawns, scallops and mussels.
50g flour
30ml vegetable oil
10g butter
100g button mushrooms, thinly sliced
1tsp French mustard
1tsp truffle oil

For the crust
50g Japanese panko breadcrumbs or fresh breadcrumbs dried out for 10 minutes in a hot oven
30g melted butter

For the velouté
600ml fish stock
300ml milk
50g butter
50g flour

1. To make the velouté: Boil the stock and milk together. Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the flour and cook for about 2 minutes without colouring, stirring constantly. When it starts to smell nutty, add a third of the stock and milk texture, and keep stirring until it thickens and is completely smooth. Add another third and stir as before, then add the final third and when smooth, leave to simmer gently for about half an hour. If not using immediately, transfer to a lidded container and refrigerate when cool. You can keep it indefinitely in the fridge if you re-boil it every five days. It doesn’t freeze well.

2. To make the pie: Preheat the oven to 180’C/gas. Slow-cook the onion in the butter in a saucepan for 10 minutes.

3. Make the velouté, adding the bay leaves, clove, and nutmeg. Pour the velouté through a sieve into the sauteed onions and add the parmesan cheese, double cream, and lemon juice, add a little salt if necessary.

4. Cut the fish fillet into bite-size pieces, 3-4 cm long. Season with a little salt and turn over in the flour. Fry for 2-3 minutes in a frying pan over medium heat using the vegetable oil and butter.

5. Remove the fish to your pie dish. Fry the mushrooms in the same pan adding a little salt; stir in the mustard and add to the pie dish. Now add the shellfish or crustaceans to the pie dish. They can be raw or cooked, but if raw scallops or prawns are large, slice them in half. Drizzle the truffle oil over.

6. Pour the sauce over the fish. Mix the breadcrumbs with the melted butter, spread over the top. Bake for 10 minutes.

As a child, chef, author and TV personality Justine Schofield was infatuated with food; an obsession she attributes to her French heritage. “Food is life,” she says, “and it was ingrained in me as a young child that eating well is one life’s great pleasures.”

It’s the vivid memories of watching her grandmother and mother navigating the kitchen “so seamlessly” that have propelled Schofield to pursue a life ensconced in creating food. From her early days on the first series of Masterchef, where she made it to fourth place, to the nearly 700 episodes of her Network Ten cooking show, and the four best-selling books she’s produced (including her latest, “The Slow Cook“), Schofield is firmly established as a crowd favourite in the Australian food scene. And so are her easy-to-made and easy-to-consume recipes.

Here she shares her favourite winter comfort food recipe, Eggplant and Mushroom cottage pie; a vegetarian version of the classic meat-lover’s dish. (Challenging non-vegetarians is somewhat of a hobby for her.) “I’ve tested this a few times on my meat-fiend friends, without telling them they were having a vegetarian meal,” she explains. “They were completely blown away by the mushrooms and the eggplant ‘imitating’ meat.”

The secret, shs says, is that eggplant and mushroom are the “meatiest” of all the vegetables, so they effectively emulate meat. “It gives the ragu a lovely rich flavour because eggplant and mushroom are like sponges with the other ingredients, and they also pair nicely with the wine and the spices and herbs.”

Schofield admits that each season encourages her to try new dishes and to react to the way the weather makes her feel. “When the winter weather rolls in, the gears change on my style of cooking,” she says. “From fresh salads to hearty and rich dishes like cottage pies which are usually meat-based. This year, I wanted to take that concept and give classic winter dishes like this a veggie makeover without sacrificing on flavour. The main aim was to get all the meat lovers out there to enjoy this recipe just as much as a traditional cottage pie.”

Eggplant And Mushroom Cottage Pie

“We usually associate a hearty cottage pie with a meat filling but eggplant and mushroom make a great vegetable substitute,” explains Schofield. “This dish is not only loved by my vegetarian connoisseurs but by my meat-loving family and friends too.”

SERVES 6

• 30 g dried porcini mushrooms
• 2 eggplants (about 800 g), peeled and cut into 3 cm cubes
• salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper
• 125 ml (1/2 cup) olive oil 1 onion, chopped
• 1 carrot, grated
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 rosemary sprigs, leaves picked and chopped, plus extra to serve
• 400 g mixed mushrooms (such as button, shiitake, oyster), roughly chopped
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 250 ml (1 cup) red wine (such as shiraz or cabernet sauvignon)
• 400 g can whole peeled tomatoes, juices drained and tomatoes crushed
• 50 g walnuts, finely chopped 20 g parmesan, finely grated

MASH

• 6 desiree potatoes (about 1 kg), peeled and quartered
• salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper
• 50 g butter
• 180 ml (3/4 cup) milk

1. Soak the porcini mushrooms in 500 ml (2 cups) of hot water for 15 minutes to rehydrate.
2. Toss the eggplant and 1 tablespoon of salt together and stand in a colander for 30 minutes to soften and drain slightly. Rinse the salt off the eggplant, then pat dry with paper towel.
3. Heat a large, heavy-based sauté pan over high heat. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and half the eggplant and fry for 5–6 minutes until the eggplant is golden. Set aside on a plate and repeat with more oil and the rest of the eggplant. Add the remaining oil, the onion, carrot, garlic, chilli flakes, cinnamon and chopped rosemary and cook over medium heat for 3–4 minutes to soften. Stir in the mixed mushroom and coat in the onion mixture, then cook, stirring occasionally, for 3–4 minutes to soften and get some colour on the mushroom. Add the tomato paste and cook for
   2 minutes to darken slightly. Deglaze with the wine and simmer until reduced by at least one-third. Add the crushed tomatoes. Roughly chop the porcini and add along with the soaking liquid, leaving the sediment at the bottom of the bowl. Stir through.
4. Return the eggplant to the pan and add a pinch of pepper. Cover, reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 1 hour, or until the ragu is thick and rich.
5. Meanwhile, to make the mash, place the potato in a large saucepan, cover with cold water and add a good pinch of salt. Bring to the boil, then cook for 20 minutes until the potato is soft. Drain in a colander and allow the steam to dissipate. Return the potato to the pan and mash, then add the butter and mash through. Pour in the milk and whip with a wooden spoon until a smooth thick mash forms. Check the seasoning and add a pinch of pepper.
6. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Pour the eggplant ragu into a 2 litre capacity casserole dish. Dollop the mash over the top. Sprinkle over the walnuts and parmesan and scatter on the extra rosemary. Place the dish on a baking tray and bake for 25–30 minutes until golden on top.

.

Slow Cooker method:

Follow steps 1, 2 and 3. Pour the mushroom mixture into the slow cooker along with the eggplant. Season with salt and pepper, cover and cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 7–8 hours, or until the ragu is thick and rich.  Follow steps 5, 6 and 7

This recipe and other tasty recipes can be found in Justine’s latest book, The Slow Cook by Justine Schofield, Published by Plum ($39.99), Photography by Rob Palmer.

When Heidi Swanson’s mother died unexpectedly midway through the pandemic, she felt completely “upended”. Things only worsened when in that same week, her father suffered a cancer-related fracture, rendering him convalescent for several months. “It was all incredibly terrible, but one silver lining is that we all ended up under one roof for a few months, trying to help my dad recover,” says Swanson. “That meant cooking three meals a day for seven people!”

However, for the award-winning author and photographer that was more of a challenge than a task.  “You have to be able to celebrate your successes and learn from your failures without getting too frustrated,” she says. “Cooking is a realm where you’ll never stop learning. That’s part of its magic.”

With an emphasis on natural ingredients and whole foods, Swanson’s cooking (and her new book, Super Natural Simple: Whole-Food, Vegetarian Recipes for Real Life) prove that tasty feasts don’t have to be complicated. Here, she shares her favourite satisfying and simple Paprika-Spiced Mushroom Stew recipe with T Australia, as well as a colourful nutrient-packed Sunset Goji Nectar to accompany it.

Tell us, why do you love these recipes?

“They capture a lot of what I love about good food and eating. The stew is hearty, satisfying, simple and adaptable. For example, if you didn’t have rice on hand, swapping in thick noodles would also be brilliant. If you feel like you haven’t had any greens for the day, add a big handful of chopped kale. The Sunset Goji Nectar delivers high-impact colour, is packed with nutrients, and on the flavour front is very interesting. It rides an unusual line between tart and sweet that I love.”

What do you feel is the key to home cooking?

“You have to have a certain level of enthusiasm and curiosity. You have to want to source quality ingredients (and this doesn’t at all mean expensive). Some of my favourite ingredients to cook with can be found relatively inexpensively in bulk bins – organic grains, legumes, a rainbow of rices… I love to follow recipes, and at the same time I’m constantly experimenting with ideas, ingredients, and techniques.”

You mainly cook with whole foods and natural foods, why is that important to you?

“It’s such a rich realm! And the ingredients haven’t been fussed with too much. Natural foods and whole ingredients are powerful, beautiful, and offer up a wonderful palette of flavour and nutritional benefits. Unlike many processed foods, they haven’t had all the beneficial parts processed and stripped out.  Shopping, sourcing ingredients and cooking with natural foods is an important way to stay connected and maintain an understanding of what you’re eating.”

Over the past 12 months, during the pandemic, did you cook more or less?

“We always cook a lot, but last year was next level. Normally I hit up a farmers’ market a couple times a week, and the grocery store regularly. That schedule immediately went out the window. It quickly turned into a lot of cooking from the pantry, supplemented with produce from our garden.”

Paprika-Spiced Mushroom Stew

SERVES 6

3 tbsps extra-virgin olive oil
450g mushrooms (mix or single type of preference), chopped in 5mm – 1 cm pieces
1 ½ large brown onions, diced
1 ¼ tsps fine- grain sea salt, plus more to taste
1 tblsp smoked paprika
720ml water
240ml well-mixed, full-fat coconut milk
juice of 1 lemon
740g  cooked brown rice, warm
Plain Greek yoghurt, chopped fresh dill, to serve (optional)

1. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium– high heat. Add the mushrooms, onion and salt and sauté, stirring now and then, until the mushrooms release their liquid and it evaporates, about 10 minutes.

2. Stir in the paprika and cook for another minute. Add the water and coconut milk, bring to a simmer and cook for 3 minutes. Stir in the lemon juice, then taste and add more salt as needed.

3. Scoop the rice into bowls and ladle the soup over the top. A big dollop of yoghurt, lots of dill and cherry tomatoes to serve are all bonuses.

Variations: Add a few big handfuls of chopped or shredded cabbage to the pot after cooking the mushrooms but before adding the spices and broth. For less fat but the same amount of creamy, replace the coconut milk with cashew milk. To make fresh cashew milk, combine  155g raw cashews with 475ml water in a high-speed blender and purée until silky smooth.

Sunset Goji Nectar

SERVES 4

60g goji berries, soaked overnight
475ml unsweetened coconut water
ice cubes, to serve
freshly squeezed orange juice or blood orange juice

1. Drain the goji berries. Transfer them to a high-speed blender, add the coconut water and process until uniform and smooth.

2. Strain and serve over ice with a generous squeeze of citrus juice on top.

Chiu Chow Dumplings (Makes 25-30)

100g minced pork
50g preserved salted daikon (from Chinese grocers), rinsed and finely chopped
50g dried shrimp, soaked in hot water, rinsed and finely chopped
15g dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked until soft, squeezed out and diced
2 eschalots, finely chopped
1 tbsp light soy, plus extra to serve
1 tbsp rice wine
1 tsp oyster sauce
½ tsp sugar
Dash sesame oil
1 tsp tapioca flour mixed with 3 tbsp water
2-3 spring onions, finely chopped
50 g roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped
Small handful garlic chives, cut into 1 cm lengths
Chinese black vinegar (Chinkiang vinegar), to serve
Chilli sauce, to serve

Wrappers

125g wheat starch, plus extra for dusting
120g tapioca flour
1 tbsp vegetable oil, plus extra for greasing

1. Fry pork, daikon, dried shrimp, mushrooms and eschalot in 2 tbsp oil until fragrant.
2. Add soy sauce, rice wine, oyster sauce, sugar and sesame oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper, then stir in tapioca flour mixture.
3. Stir until filling begins to thicken, then add spring onions, peanuts and garlic chives. Transfer to a plate and leave to cool.
4. For the wrappers, combine wheat starch, tapioca flour and a pinch of salt in a bowl. Add oil to 300ml boiling water, then pour this into dry ingredients all at once, stirring quickly with a pair of chopsticks to incorporate the flour until a ball of dough forms.
5. Turn the hot dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and pliable. Cut dough in half, form into two cylinders and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Allow to rest for 10 minutes.
6. Lightly brush the bench with oil, then cut dough into 2.5cm pieces; you should have about 10-12 pieces. (It’s best to cut about 5 pieces at a time, and keep the rest under a damp tea towel so they remain soft and pliable.)
7. Working with one piece at a time, roll out dough with a well-oiled cleaver or rolling pin to form 9-10cm discs. Place a wrapper on your palm and spoon 2 tsp cooled filling into the centre. With your fingers, gather the edges of the wrapper to form a half moon, sealing the edges. Cover dumpling with a damp tea towel while you make the rest.
8. Place dumplings, about 3cm apart, in steamers lined with greaseproof paper and steam them over simmering water in a wok for about 6-8 minutes or until translucent (if you have a small steamer, do them in batches).
9. Serve with soy sauce, Chinese black vinegar or chilli sauce.