Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Recipe - Rockpool Restaurant
Recipe - Rockpool Restaurant
Search for:
Search
Red Braised Pigeon with Prawn Stuffed Eggplant & Black Vinegar
Sauce
Red Braised Pigeon
4 baby pigeons, wing tips removed
Master stock
4 ½ litres water
375ml Chinese light soy sauce
375ml shaoxing (Chinese cooking wine)
250g yellow rock sugar
1 large knob ginger root, sliced
8 garlic cloves, roughly sliced
3 star anise
3 pieces cassia bark
½ bunch green shallot tops, rinsed
In a large pot, bring all the master stock ingredients to the boil. Reduce to a simmer
for 30 minutes and check the seasoning.
Bring a large pot of water to the boil and blanch the pigeons in boiling water for 1
minute then refresh in ice water. Scrub off mucus membrane.
Return the master stock to the boil, remove the pot from the heat and add the
pigeons. Place a small lid over them to ensure they are well submerged. Leave the
pigeons to steep for 18 minutes, then remove from the stock and place on a wire rack
to cool and dry out.
Prawn stuffing
3 green king prawns, peeled and minced
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 small knob ginger, finely chopped
2 shallots, cut into fine rounds
½ teaspoon caster sugar
½ teaspoon salt
www.rockpool.com.au/blog/tag/recipe/ 1/21
8/11/2010 Recipe | Rockpool Restaurant
½ teaspoon shaoxing (Chinese cooking wine)
½ teaspoon sesame oil
1 egg white, beaten to a soft peak
Combine all ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to the boil, reduce heat to a simmer
and reduce until the flavor intensifies and reduces by half.
Pigeon garnish
15g peeled ginger, 1mm dice
3 cloves garlic, 1mm dice
15g long red chilli, de-seeded and 1mm dice
10g shallot, thinly sliced in rounds
5g coriander leaf, thinly sliced
To Assemble
4 x 500g red braised baby pigeons, (squab)
4 portions prawn stuffed eggplant
500ml black vinegar sauce
40g garnish
4 cups of vegetable oil
www.rockpool.com.au/blog/tag/recipe/ 2/21
8/11/2010 Recipe | Rockpool Restaurant
Its getting cold outside. Time to heat things up indoors with a beautiful braise
of pork and chillies.
www.rockpool.com.au/blog/tag/recipe/ 3/21
8/11/2010 Recipe | Rockpool Restaurant
Serves 4
Melt the butter and a splash of oil in a wide pan over medium heat. Put the pork belly
into the pan in a single layer and season with sea salt. Cook the pork slowly, for
about 30 minutes, turning occasionally, until the meat is golden brown and most of
the fat has been rendered. Pour off and discard most of the fat.
Meanwhile, put the chillies in a bowl with 500 ml (17 fl oz/2 cups) boiling water and
allow to soak for about 30 minutes. Remove the chillies, reserving the water, and
chop roughly. Blend or process the chillies, garlic, cumin and the chilli water until
smooth. Add the chilli sauce, bay leaves and orange rind to the pork and stir with a
wooden spoon, scraping any brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. Reduce the
heat to low, cover and braise the meat for about 1-1/2 hours, or until it is very tender
and the sauce has thickened. Remove the bay leaves and orange rind and adjust the
seasoning if necessary.
Divide the pork among four large bowls and serve with steamed jasmine rice.
This recipe is from Neil’s cookbook Good Food. Signed copies available for purchase
www.rockpool.com.au/blog/tag/recipe/ 4/21
8/11/2010 Recipe
This recipe is from Neil’s cookbook Good | Rockpool
Food. Restaurant
Signed copies available for purchase
at Rockpool, Rockpool Bar & Grill and Spice Temple.
This omelette, in its’ wok fried version, is a Rockpool classic and appeared on the
restaurant menu for many years. The texture of the crab, egg and bean sprouts, and
the perfume of the sesame oil make this a truly wonderful taste and texture treat.
The crispy exterior, melting interior, and the crunchiness of the bean sprouts all
work so well together. Make sure the oil is very hot and smoking so that the eggs do
not soak up the oil.
It is served with steamed fragrant rice, bok choy and a spoonful of oyster sauce. This
recipe is enough to feed one but is best served as part of a banquet style meal.
Vegetable oil
3 small free range eggs, gently whisked
100g steamed spanner crab meat, free from any shell
100g bean sprouts
50g snowpea sprouts
6 no. Chinese yellow chives, washed & cut in 5cm lengths
Broth (see recipe below)
Steamed Jasmine rice, to serve
Bok choy, to serve
Oyster sauce, to serve
Preparation
Heat vegetable oil (about 6-8cm deep) in a wok. When oil begins to smoke, add egg.
The egg will puff up and bubble immediately, hit the egg bubbles with an egg slice to
knock out the air, cook for 10-15 seconds or until base of omelette is golden.
Remove from heat then drain excess oil from wok. Spoon crab along centre of
omelette and top with sprouts and chives. Roll one side over filling and roll omelette
over to form a cigar shape. Pour in broth and place wok back onto heat. Allow to
simmer for a minute to heat through crab and soften vegetables.
Remove the omelette from the wok with an egg lifter and place on a board. Trim off
the ends.
BROTH
2/3 cup fresh chicken stock
1 teaspoon light palm sugar, grated
2 table spoons yellow bean sauce|
www.rockpool.com.au/blog/tag/recipe/ 5/21
8/11/2010 Recipe | Rockpool Restaurant
Two drops of sesame oil
Preparation
To make the broth, combine all ingredients except sesame oil in a pot. Bring to boil,
ensure sugar has melted and remove from heat. Check balance of seasoning then add
sesame oil.
To serve:
Serve with freshly steamed Jasmine rice and bok choy. Place omelette in a large deep
bowl, pour over the hot broth and top with oyster sauce.
Tags: crab, First Class, International, mains, Neil Perry, Qantas, recipe, Rockpool
Consulting, Rockpool Sydney
Posted in Qantas, Recipes | 1 Comment »
The menus we write for International First and Business Class aren’t done in quite
www.rockpool.com.au/blog/tag/recipe/ 6/21
8/11/2010 Recipe | Rockpool Restaurant
the same way as a restaurant. There is a lot more forward planning involved to get
each dish onto the plate. It’s actually quite an amazing process that can begin up to
twelve months in advance of the menu flying. I am just in the middle of drafting up
the next lot of menus which will start flying from September next year; I write
eighteen First Class menus and forty-five Business Class menus which change four
times a year, with each new season.
The first part of this process is research. We scour through pages of magazines, from
Australia and other countries, check out what our four restaurants are doing, as well
as other restaurants in Sydney and overseas and review any new food books on the
scene. Neil has the most amazing cookbook collection I have ever seen. I chat to Neil,
Khan and Catherine (from RPB&G Sydney), Phil and Dave (from RP) and lots of other
people in the Rockpool family to get a sense of what is inspiring everyone at the
moment. My job is to try to reflect that passion in our First and Business Class
menus. We also spend time with our suppliers to find out about any new products we
might be interested in using as well as constantly be on the lookout for new and
interesting suppliers.
I will be recipe testing through December all the new dishes and ideas I have for the
drafted menus. These dishes are presented to Neil and the Rockpool Consulting
Team to assess the flavour profile as well as the look of the dish and if it’s appropriate
for our in-flight menus. There are some dishes that for various reasons will just never
work!
The next few months before testing is what we call ‘presentation season’. Twice a year
either myself or Roger, another Rockpool Consultant, head to Los Angeles, London,
Bangkok, Hong Kong and Singapore. During this time all of the new menus and
recipes are presented to us for quality purposes. We need to make sure they have
followed our recipes correctly and that premium products are being used. It also gives
us a chance to see what’s happening in the local food scene with visits to food
markets, restaurants and other suppliers. In-flight, we also have a chance to speak to
crew and check on how the food is going. It’s such a wonderful experience to see the
crew plating up a beautiful dish which was created up to twelve months earlier!
Our Spring menus from Australia have been running a month now and are getting
fabulous feedback. Our First Class menus from Sydney and Melbourne include
amazing Australian produce such as Italian salami made from free range pork from
Quattro Stelle; sustainable Spencer Gulf King Prawns managed by the South
Australian Research and Development Institute; Barossa Valley chicken which is free
range and fed on a vegetarian corn based diet; and Rangers Valley dry aged beef
which has been grain fed for 300 days with no growth hormones or antibiotics used.
All other these products reflect Neil’s passion for food and the belief that the
cornerstone of good cooking is great produce. Many of these products are used in his
restaurants and are generally regarded by industry professionals as brands that
support good methods of manufacturing which is better for the product and also for
the environment.
Here is a quick and easy recipe you can try at home this Spring as the weather
warms up and the days start to get longer.
www.rockpool.com.au/blog/tag/recipe/ 7/21
8/11/2010 Recipe | Rockpool Restaurant
SPENCER GULF KING PRAW N AND GREEN PAW PAW SALAD W ITH NAM JIM
DRESSING
Plump King Prawns from the Spencer Gulf on Australia’s South Eastern coastline are
served as part of a simple Thai inspired salad. Green pawpaw, cucumber, coriander,
Vietnamese mint and shallots, dressed with a Thai style dressing. The dressing has a
thick consistency and includes finely chopped garlic, fresh coriander, fish sauce,
palm sugar and red and green chillies.
The world’s largest known population of western king prawns is in Spencer Gulf. The
South Australian Research and Development Institute together with local fisheries in
the area have worked together to become one of the leading groups for managing
sustainability of seafood stocks within Spencer Gulf and major technological advances
have been made in the way the catch is handled. The prawns themselves are snap-
frozen at minus 32 degrees Celsius within minutes of coming out of the water,
locking in the freshness resulting in a firm and flavoursome product.
We recommend Healthy Boy or Squid brand fish sauce for this recipe.
Preparation
Place garlic, coriander root and sea salt in a mortar and pound with pestle. Do not
reduce to a paste. Remove and place in bowl. Dissolve palm sugar with fish sauce in
mortar with the pestle ensuring there are no lumps of sugar. Add garlic and
coriander mix back in along with chopped red and green chilli and stir well to
combine. Add in lime juice.
Taste and adjust if necessary, to ensure there is a balance of sweet, sour and
saltiness.
www.rockpool.com.au/blog/tag/recipe/ 8/21
8/11/2010 Recipe | Rockpool Restaurant
Preparation
Mix dry ingredients together. Add enough dressing to wet the salad well and mix
through thoroughly. Share between four plates and finish with prawns on top. Serve
immediately.
With all the exciting goings on at Rockpool, Spice Temple and Rockpool Bar & Grill,
Sydney and Melbourne, we’ve not really given Qantas any blog space of late.
Fear not, beautiful meals designed by Neil Perry and the Rockpool Consulting team
are still flying Qantas First and Business Class and as Winter draws near we thought
it high time we shared a recipe with you, a deliciously warming soup currently flying
Ex Sydney and Melbourne. When you eat this creamy, earthy chestnut soup think of
crisp Winter days bathed in pale golden light – food for the soul.
www.rockpool.com.au/blog/tag/recipe/ 9/21
8/11/2010 Recipe | Rockpool Restaurant
2 litres fresh chicken stock
2 bay leaves
2/3 cup single (pouring) cream
Freshly ground white pepper, to taste
Garlic croutons, to serve (recipe below )
Extra chopped fresh thyme leaves, to serve
In a large, heavy-based saucepan, over a low heat, melt the butter in the oil. Add the
garlic, onion, celery, thyme and salt and cook for 10 minutes until softened. Increase
heat, add wine and simmer for 1 minute.
Add chestnuts, potatoes, stock and bay leaves and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes
until potatoes and chestnuts are very soft and start breaking up.
Remove bay leaves, add cream and puree contents of pot until very smooth. If
necessary, add more chicken stock to achieve desired consistency.
Add pepper, check seasoning and adjust as necessary.
Garlic Croutons
3 slices day old sourdough bread
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 small garlic clove, finely chopped
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
Trim crusts from sourdough and chop bread into 1cm cubes. Scatter bread over
baking tray, drizzle with olive oil, add garlic, season with sea salt and pepper then
toss to combine. Bake croutons at 200C, tossing occasionally, until crisp and golden;
remove from oven and set aside to cool.
To Serve
Ladle piping hot chestnut soup into your favourite soup bowls. To each bowl add a
handful of golden garlic croutons and finish with a sprinkle of chopped fresh thyme
leaves.
www.rockpool.com.au/blog/tag/recipe/ 10/21
8/11/2010 Recipe | Rockpool Restaurant
Tags: A380, Business Class, chestnut, First Class, Neil Perry, Qantas, recipe,
Rockpool Consulting
Posted in Qantas, Recipes, Rockpool Sydney | No Comments »
A recipe straight from the Spice Temple menu, also featuring in our March 2009
newsletter.
www.rockpool.com.au/blog/tag/recipe/ 11/21
8/11/2010 Recipe | Rockpool Restaurant
Master Stock:
650ml Chinese cooking wine (Shaoxing)
225g rock sugar
315ml light soy sauce
3 litres water
50g ginger, chopped
15g garlic, sliced
15g green shallots, chopped
www.rockpool.com.au/blog/tag/recipe/ 12/21
8/11/2010 Recipe | Rockpool Restaurant
Lamb:
Trim the lamb shoulder of excess fat and place into the boiling master stock. Braise
the lamb until it is very tender, remove the pot from the heat and allow the lamb to
cool in the stock. Remove the lamb when cool and shred roughly with your fingers.
Place 100g of shredded lamb onto a plate and mix all other ingredients together.
Pour this mixture over the lamb and serve.
This delicious butter is ever-popular on the Rockpool Bar & Grill Melbourne menu,
make it at home and serve it on your favourite steak.
www.rockpool.com.au/blog/tag/recipe/ 13/21
8/11/2010 Recipe | Rockpool Restaurant
To make the butter, heat the oil in a frying pan and cook the onion and curry powder
over low heat until soft and fragrant. Set aside to cool.
Process all ingredients until just combined. Adjust the seasoning if necessary. Roll
butter into a 4cm diameter log, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm.
Any unused butter can be frozen if it is not going to be used within a week or so.
Tags: Neil Perry, Newsletter, recipe, Rockpool Bar & Grill Melbourne
Posted in Bar & Grill Melbourne, Recipes | 1 Comment »
XO Sauce
Friday, March 20th, 2009
XO Chilli Sauce
www.rockpool.com.au/blog/tag/recipe/ 15/21
8/11/2010 Recipe | Rockpool Restaurant
One of the really great things about going to Hong Kong is the XO chilli sauces made
by fine-dining Chinese restaurants there. All the chefs are showing off, of course – it
is their want to become the king of XO chilli sauce, so it has become a challenge as
to who makes the very best. XO chilli sauce is simply the top shelf of sauces, named
after XO Cognac. In other words, the house speciality, and the very best the house
can offer. I have never once had an XO sauce I thought not worthy of dipping a
dumpling into. These sauces may not even be that hot, but what they all have in
common is a marvellous blending of the most exotic dried ingredients and seasoning.
XO is great with seafood, as a dipping sauce, through stir-fries or dolloped on
steamed seafoods. One of my favourite Hong Kong meals is XO chilli with egg
noodles and lobster. Here is my XO sauce recipe for you to try:
XO SAUCE
Put the scallops on a plate and put the plate in a bamboo steamer over a pot or a wok
of rapidly boiling water, cover with the lid and steam for 10 minutes. Remove the
scallops from the steamer and, while still warm, shred with your fingers, separating
all the fibres.
Pound the shrimp until finely ground in a mortar with a pestle, or grind in a spice
grinder.
Put all the ingredients, except for the spring onions, in a large heavy-based pot and
cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 45 minutes, or until the sauce
loses its raw edge and turns deep red. Remove from the heat and let cool, then stir in
the spring onions.
Tags: Balance & Harmony, Neil Perry, recipe, Rockpool Sydney, Spice Temple
Posted in Recipes | 9 Comments »
www.rockpool.com.au/blog/tag/recipe/ 16/21
8/11/2010 Recipe | Rockpool Restaurant
This Thai classic is so easy to put together. Look for balance with the Nam Jim
dressing, if you like it really hot, dial up the other flavours so you get the heat with
the complexity. Most importantly, keep this very fresh tasting.
Dressing:
1 lemongrass stalk, tough outer leaves removed, chopped
1 long red chilli, deseeded and chopped
www.rockpool.com.au/blog/tag/recipe/ 17/21
8/11/2010 Recipe | Rockpool Restaurant
2 small wild green chillies, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon caster (superfine) sugar
2 tablespoons fish sauce
juice 3 limes
Method:
To make the marinade, mix together the oyster sauce, fish sauce, sugar and sesame
oil. Add the beef and refrigerate overnight to marinate. Remove from the fridge 2
hours before cooking.
To make the dressing, pound the lemongrass, chillies, garlic and sugar in a mortar
with a pestle to form a fine paste. Mix the fish sauce and lime juice together and
taste for balance.
Heat a grill or barbecue to hot, and cook the beef for about 2 minutes on each side
until it forms a good even crust. Remove from the heat and rest in a warm place for
10 minutes. Slice the beef thickly across the grain. Toss the beef, onion
and coriander leaves with some of the dressing.
Arrange the lettuce and beef on a serving plate and drizzle with any remaining
dressing. Sprinkle with the ground roast rice, give it a good grind of black pepper
and top with shredded Thai basil.
www.rockpool.com.au/blog/tag/recipe/ 18/21
8/11/2010 Recipe | Rockpool Restaurant
Annie is the first female chef in Italy to be awarded 3 Michelin stars. And she is not
only a great chef, but a truly beautiful person.
This morning we cooked up a storm over the wok (not her usual cooking receptacle)
for 9am with David and Kim… “stir fried chopped duck with coriander and black
vinegar” – a very simple recipe. There was a raised eyebrow or two at the amount of
chilli going into the wok, but I noticed Annie came back for seconds! It was great to
cook with her.
The recipe is below if you’d like to raise a few eyebrows of your own!
Stir fry the duck mince until it’s just cooked and remove from the wok. Stir fry the
ginger and garlic until fragrant, then add the onion, sun dried chilli and peanuts.
Deglaze wok with shaoxing, then add soy, sugar and black vinegar. Return the duck
to the wok and add the coriander stem, combine well and serve.
* All ingredients can be found in your local Chinatown supermarkets.
Tags: Channel Nine 9, mains, Mornings with David and Kim, Neil Perry, recipe, Spice
Temple, television appearances, Vittoria Coffee
Posted in Recipes, Spice Temple | No Comments »
« Older Entries
Archives
August 2010
www.rockpool.com.au/blog/tag/recipe/ 19/21
8/11/2010 Recipe | Rockpool Restaurant
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
restaurants
Rockpool
Rockpool Bar & Grill
Rockpool Bar & Grill Melbourne
Spice Temple Melbourne
Spice Temple Sydney
Categories
Bar & Grill Melbourne (28)
Bar & Grill Perth (4)
Bar & Grill Sydney (50)
Charity and Community (15)
Employment (5)
Letters to Neil (6)
Neil's Restaurant Stories (17)
Qantas (13)
Recipes (25)
Rockpool Sydney (56)
Spice Temple (34)
Spice Temple Melbourne (4)
The Waiting Room – Melbourne (2)
Uncategorized (18)
Wine (14)
www.rockpool.com.au/blog/tag/recipe/ 20/21
8/11/2010 Recipe | Rockpool Restaurant
Subscribe
www.rockpool.com.au/blog/tag/recipe/ 21/21