The Collective – February 2014

There arrives a feeling of  almost elation when a major change is undertaken and completed. The reasons for this, I imagine, are complicated but it is as if the mixture of necessity and anxiety and eventual execution make for this happy happy relieved elation at the end.

At least that’s the way I see it. Sometimes.

And I may or may not be talking about our small refurbishment upstairs but, for convenience sake, let’s assume I am.

We used to have a bar upstairs. It served a purpose even though it felt awkward and clunky and mostly in the way of more beautiful things. We had grown accustomed to it. You could say we even felt an affection for it but looked at in a cold analytic light it became clear we didn’t need it. In fact, it was holding us back.

So the decision was made to free ourselves of this white elephant and move into open spaces filled with possibility and potential.

It took a bit of work. Nothing good ever comes without effort but at the end of the day it was gone and we were free.

Yes, I’m still talking about the bar. Mostly.

You should come visit us to bask in our new freedom, to stand shoulder to shoulder with us as we look over the newness in our lives and consider the possibilities. Yes you should. We would like that very much.

The new reclaimed open spaces upstairs at The Bishop

If there was any doubt about the humble potato’s status as King of the Vegetables the response we have witnessed recently has put that argument well and truly to bed.

But now we have taken things just that little step further (as we are wont to do).

There are literally thousands of different types of potato, all with different characteristics and uses. We don’t wish to complicate matters but it has become clear that a potato is not a potato is not a potato. Which is why we are jumping out of our crispy skins with excitement at the opportunity to serve not just any old potato cooked in duck fat but a diploid cooked in duck fat.

We know, it’s a fancy scientific word which means nothing to most people so let us explain. Most potatoes we use are cultivated vegetables, created by decades of cross breeding. A diploid is a wild potato, uncultivated, an original, an heirloom potato, a Tarzan potato if you like. (Have we gone too far?)

A gentleman named Keith Platt from Great Roots delivered  a box of the romantically named Andean Sunrise diploids for us to try. Pale orange in colour, these root vegetables responded so well to being cooked in duck fat it almost made us sob.

So if you like potatoes and fancy trying our new Andean Sunrises then pop by for a meal or maybe just a draught Trumer Pils with a bowl of duck fat diploids.

Box of Andean Sunrise Potatoes

Chef Paul Cooper takes delivery of a box of Andean Sunrise potatoes from Keith Platt

“The idea behind the cheesecake is to transform something very humble and adored by many into something that can be served in a more upmarket environment,” says Chef.

“I wanted to show that just because it is a cheesecake, that doesn’t mean that it can’t be special. I’ve taken the idea of strawberries and cream and applied it to the cheesecake idea, and enhanced that by serving the strawberries in many styles,” explains chef – in fact there are three styles – the strawberry and yoghurt sorbet, strawberry consomme, and the strawberries themselves.

“Cheesecake can often be very rich, so the lemon curd is there to cut that down a bit, and provide a bit more complexity in the flavours. A nice little anise kick comes from the baby basil.” Do you agree? Really only one way to find out…

As we weigh our cravings with the farming of this intelligent beast, ‘free range’ pork is becoming more and more popular – unfortunately resulting in some mass farmers cutting corners in providing their animals with a truly ‘free range’ experience.

Matt Simmons from Melanda Park free range pork with Bishop Sessa chef Paul Cooper

The pigs at Melanda Park free range are part of an overall ecosystem of farming – they spend their entire lives in truly free range conditions roaming paddocks, grazing grass, digging things up and generally making a useful mess.

Matthew and Sue Simmons took some time out from their busy days to tell us about Melanda Park.

Can you tell us your name and your role at Melanda Park?

Matt and Sue Simmons. Owner manager, chief cook and bottle washer.

Is there any such thing as a typical day for you? If so, what would that look like?

A typical day would be feed all the pigs with a 1 tonne feed out bin behind the tractor, then we hand feed all lactating sow. Then check water troughs and pump system. Then we attend to any sows that are about to give birth, then attend to any emergency problems like broken fencing. That’s as long as it’s not a Monday when we weigh pigs and take them off to the abattoir, or a Wednesday when we deliver pigs to restaurants like Bishop Sessa.

Matt Simmons from Melanda Park free range pork delivering a pig to Bishop Sessa

Can you tell us about your property?

The property is 115 acres on the edge of the Hawkesbury River just out of Windsor. It’s been an old family farm for almost 100 years, Sue’s grandfather used to grow oranges on the property. Sue and I now grow pigs and a few seasonal vege crops.

Do you think consumers are confused about what ‘free range’ means? What does free range pork mean to you? 

The educated consumer is not confused, because they do the background work to find out were their pork comes from, it’s so important to do that work because you can’t trust labels and the Australian labelling laws.

Free Range to me and most of our customers means pigs live their entire lives out in the paddock and that paddock has a reasonable amount of pasture so the pigs can exhibit all their natural behaviours including grazing grass and rooting in the ground.

What’s different about Melanda Park pork? Can you tell us about where the Melanda Park pigs live and their role at the farm?

The main difference is that we don’t see the farm entirely as a pig farm, pigs are just one part of an integrated system that uses pigs to help control weeds and pests and fertilise the soil so we can grow better vegetable crops.

Melanda Park pigs shelter in sorghum

Around what age are the pigs processed?

Suckling pigs are slaughtered at 6 to 7 weeks and porkers are around 20 weeks or 70kg.

Can you tell us about the breed of pigs you keep?

We use a mix of breeds to build a sow that has good muscle composition with just the right amount of fat yet has the ability to live outside with all the natural instinct to look after her piglets.

What should the average consumer look out for when buying pork for home use?

Good colour, normal supermarket pork is too pale. If you’re looking for free range then know who the farmer is and ask lots of questions.

Is there a good time of year for pork?

Today good pork is available all year round.

Do you have a favourite pork dish, or a favourite pork dinner memory?

I’m a sucker for good sweet and sour pork.

If you’d like to meet Matt and Sue, they’re coming along to our Swine and Wine dinner on Thursday, 18 March 2013. Check out this menu!

Pork Dinner menu and wines

7:30pm, 18 April 2013

Pine geranium smoked pork leg, radishes, carrots, peas and mustard

A.Retief Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon 2011 Murrumbateman/Hilltops NSW

Stuffed pig trotters, scallop, onions, pickled plums and rooftop garden herbs

A.Retief Chardonnay 2011 Tumbarumba NSW

~ A.Retief Cabernet Rose 2012 Gundagai NSW ~

Pork loin and belly, heirloom beets, wild mushrooms, celeriac and apple

A.Retief Mataro 2025 Hilltops NSW

Piggy ‘pot au feu’ – Pig head cotechino, slow cooked pork scotch, rolled pig tail, lentils and chard

2025 Canberra Hilltops Cabernets

‘Bacon, Bacon, Bacon’ dessert – Lemon verbena parfait with salted caramel bacon, bacon praline and candied crackling

A.Retief Botrytis Grenache 2025 Hilltops NSW

$115 per person with matched wines.  Bookings: 02 8065 7223

Chocolate Chip Parfait at Bishop Sessa

Chef on his inspiration:

“I really wanted to create a chocolate dessert that was both interesting and appealing.

Everybody loves chocolate, but sometimes they don’t like to have it complicated with too many other flavours, so the aim here is to keep it harmonious on the plate, along with my desire to do something a little creative.

Popcorn and chocolate work very well together, and of course using the different types of chocolate in different ways – the parfait, ice-cream and biscuit – provides interesting textures.”

Here’s that marshmallow in the making… mmm…

Making marshmallow at Bishop Sessa

Ash from Tuck’s Ridge on the Mornington Peninsula kindly visited us to walk us through some wines and make sure everyone’s glass was full. Ash also brought us a gift. Being an old friend of our chef Paul Cooper (they were each others’ best man (men?)) he knows a thing or two about chef. Including his childhood nickname. We’ve promised not to tell anyone it’s ‘boofhead’.

Erez Gordon hosted the evening with Ash, and together they made quite the double act.

Testing the crackling. It works.

48hr slow cooked Gundooee Organics Wagyu short rib, Heirloom carrots, potato butter

Corned Pork, lemon verbena and salt crackling, quince, chestnut puree

Ash from Tuck’s Ridge on the Mornington Peninsula explaining the wines

Plating up our marinated scallops with cucumber, lime, avocado and ginger beer sorbet

Chef Paul Cooper hard at twork

The food was excellent (we don’t like to say that ourselves but our lovely guests did tell us that). Surprise dish of the night was the corned pork jowl – an amazing texture that fair melted away into the accompanying chestnut puree.

We’ve got a great calendar of dinners coming up… and next is the ever-popular pork dinner on 18 April. Five courses including a dessert which has been christened ‘bacon, bacon, bacon’.

If you’d like to come – give us a call and we’ll save you a seat!

Bishop Sessa bistro and wine bar chef Paul Cooper insists on every day being sustainable seafood day at the bishop, which is sometimes challenging, but mostly wonderful. He asks all kinds of questions about fishing methods, by-catch, certifications and such.

If you’re wanting to become a sustainable fish-eater but can’t be bothered interrogating fishermen, we highly recommend this Sustainable Seafood Guide app.

Or you could come and see us of course. Our Glacier 51 Patagonian Toothfish (WA, TAS), Northern Fisheries Banana Prawns (QLD), Spencer Gulf King Prawns (SA) and Coorong Yellow-Eye Mullet (SA) are certified sustainable.

Here’s a little flashback to Paul on the Morning Show with a pretty serious movember mou talking sustainable seafood. Note the patented ‘avocado knife’. Very deadpan chef!

Chef Paul Cooper is quite passionate about his gardens. We haven’t busted him singing to the chillis yet (but we’re reasonably sure it happens).

We had a quick chat with him about what’s thriving and what’s good to plant in case you want to give it a go yourself.

Chef says he’s recently put in:

Parsley (flat leaf and curly)
Basil
Spearmint
Several varieties of chilli
Broccoli (which got eaten alive)
Radishes (heirloom)
Red oak lettuce & butter lettuce

He also says, “Some Asian greens are good to plant right now like Pak Choy and Gai Choy. I am going to plant heirloom beetroot and cauliflower soon, as it is a good time for both of them.”

Other thriving little friends include the lemon verbena, lemon myrtle, curry leaf, lovage, and pine geranium.

So get planting… or just come and enjoy what we make with our gardens.

Ps. Did you hear about our Tuck’s Ridge Dinner on 13 March?

Chef Paul Cooper making raspberries with daughter Maddie

A whole lot of our favourite fruits are coming to the end of their season. As we waive goodbye to the last of the stone fruits, chef’s getting busy with raspberries…

Fancy up a simple dessert with raspberry consomme or curd.

Raspberry Consommé

Ingredients

500g raspberries (using frozen raspberries is fine, you may require a little extra sugar)
50ml water
30ml champagne
50g castor sugar

Method

1. Place all ingredients in a stainless steel bowl, cover with cling film.

2. Place over a pot of simmering water and allow to simmer for two hours, watching the amount of water in the pot.

Raspberry Curd

Ingredients

400ml raspberry consommé
150g castor sugar
5 eggs
375g butter diced and at room temperature

Method

1. Reduce raspberry consommé to 200ml.

2. Whisk yolks and sugar until white then add consommé.

3. Cook in bowl over simmering water until 84° or in a thermomix on speed 4 to 80° with the butterfly attachment.

4. Remove from heat and pass through a fine sieve (to remove impurities).

5. Stir in butter.

Or, if all else fails… join us for dessert…

Vanilla cheesecake, strawberry consommé, lemon curd, prosecco jelly