Peter Weir
A very very special dinner
As a private chef, every now and again I get to cook for someone I have always admired. And last week Tuesday, I was so so lucky to cook for the amazing and ultra talented Australian director, Peter Weir. Think Witness, Master and Commander, The Truman Show and my all time favourite - Picnic at Hanging Rock. For those of you who have seen Picnic at Hanging Rock, the film that ushered in a new era of Australian cinema, your will surely hear “ Miranda! Miranda!” as you read this. Peter Weir was guest of honour at the annual festival of the Cinematheque Francaise, the temple of French cinema, with a well deserved way overdue retrospective.
On the work front it’s been relatively quiet lately, so I leapt at the opportunity to be creative and, given the importance of the guest of honour, I went full guns blazing towards a ridiculously complicated menu. I work by myself most of the time but knew that it was going to be impossible to do this one on my own. Enter Tim, fellow cheffie who I met (yep, yet again) through the amazing therealemilyinparis (go listen to her new podcast on Motherhood - I’m not a mum but if I was, her chats with fellow mothers would be invaluable and provide much solace, especially to those who live in France). Tim is heavensent - an exceptionally skilled chef from Savannah, Georgia who worked at Grey, which featured in the gloriously filmed A Chef’s Table on Netflix and who recently arrived in Paris. Thank the kitchen gods that he was available to help and every fibre of me hopes it stays that way because it’s going to be a busy year!
But I digress, back to dinner for the great Peter Weir. Fired up with enthusiasm because I was allowed to do a fourth course (that’s a whole day of celebration for me) and knowing that Tim was on board, I hoofed to my favourite local market (I call anything on foot local) to see what was up. It’s at President Wilson (say it with a French accent, it sounds better!) and the produce is beyond a dream.
Produce as seen at President Wilson Market this week and Australian prawns !
It might just be one of the most beautiful markets in Paris, their presentation and attention to detail is next level. I should add that it’s also eye wateringly expensive.
I normally have a pretty clear idea of what I want to cook, but then I see the produce du jour and invariably change my mind. And yet again, I did what I always do! Inspired by the abundance of March, I imagined a menu designed to celebrate the arrival of spring - lots of green and white with a nod to a classic Australian treat for a bit of fun. A complete volte-face from what I had in mind when I arrived at the market, but like they say, only fools and dead men don’t change their minds! So this is where it landed:
The first course was prawns and lardo cooked on the habachi. Originally, I had wanted to pair it with a herb salad but I was rummaging through the fridge and found a jar of mango chutney made by my gorgeous friend Harriet, whose house I stay at when in Normandy. It was unexpected but it worked and the char from the habachi gave it depth and it proved to be a winner. To me this was a cheeky way to prepare prawns and mango, considered a quintessential Australian dish.
Next, the ode to spring! I steamed some delicious fat white asparagus, the first of the season, then pickled and pan fried some morel mushrooms to add some guts, added salted duck egg sauce (a mayonnaise of sorts) and rosemary flowers from my rooftop garden. And for me, another high point of early spring : ail des ours, wild garlic, in all its pungency. I used it both fresh and fermented (from last year’s harvest). I planted some on my rooftop garden last year and it has returned, which was a surprise - but a really happy one.
Onto the main course of beef with a sweetpea creme and carpetbag sauce. Carpet bag sauce I hear you say….. WTF? It’s a dish originating from the divinely named village of Mumbles in South Wales. It is traditionally a steak with a pocket cut into it, stuffed with oysters then closed with tooth picks and grilled. It was part of the fishermen’s daily diet, they must have eaten sooooo well! When I was growing up in Tasmania, one could find it at any decent pub along with schnitties, a parmie, a mixed grill or a Fishermans basket. That might sound like ##$$%%*!! to most people, but you will find it in just about any pub in Australia! So, beef and oysters was the game, with peas and spicy watercress, but I didn’t want to go full ‘bag’ and stuff the fillet. I decided to take the flavours and make it into a sauce instead. And use beef ribs instead of fillet steak because that’s what President Wilson had on offer! I braised them in the oven overnight (15 hours at 80C) only to wake up - on the day of the dinner - to find a pot of leather boots instead of unctuous, melting beef! Sacre bleu!! I upped the temperature to 150C and cooked them for a further 6 hours and whilst the leather softened to pleather - and I hate to write this - French beef is not great and it didn’t deliver the soft, fall off the bone beef that I was looking for. Don’t deport me! I had some Australian beef in reserve and used that instead. Tim worked his magic on the habachi and together we managed to pull together something that the rich meaty the sauce. It was fine but was not 100% happy. To be hones, I wish it had been more refined. Lessons learnt.
It all finished up with an olive oil and fennel seed mousse, dusted with a powder of mandarin skin, toasted fennel seeds, popcorn powder, a salad of blood orange and thinly sliced fennel nestled beside a quenelle of blood orange sorbet. Consensus from the table was that this was the highlight of the dinner. I wasn’t delighted with the shape of my quenelles, they were a little rough and they are a work in progress, but even I was happy with the tastes. This is proof that the tasting trumps the plating!
After dessert, the guests piled onto the balcony to watch the tower sparkle in all its glory. We served chocolates and coffee and Mr Weir came into the kitchen to say thank you. Overwhelmed.
Much of the photography that I feature here is taken by my fantastic and talented friend Jules - her photos really add to my musings and I couldn’t be happier to be working with her. She will be so important in making the cookbook happen. Please go look her up, not only is she talented but she is one cool woman and a mum to three gorgeous children. I love seeing her show her love for her kids through her photos of them.
Salted Duck Egg Yolk Sauce :
You can salt your own egg yolks but after nine years in China, I have gotten used to buying the salted ones that you can find in any good Chinese food store ( in Paris, Tang Freres is the most well known one and they have branches all over the city).
6 salted egg yolks from 6 duck eggs
30ml milk
6g of sea salt
A good inch of caster sugar
40g milk powder ( I used goats milk powder as that what I had on hand)
60g butter
Place the egg yolks, milk,, salt sugar and 20g of milk powder into a blender and puree until smooth.
Bring remaining milk powder and butter to the boil in a small saucepan, then allow to cool. Add this to the mix in the blender and mix on medium to high speed until the sauce is thick and emulsified and has the appearance of mayonnaise.
You can leave to cool, if not serving immediately but then be careful to bring the sauce to temperature as the sauce could split if it is heated to a too high temperature.
I am fortunate that I get to cook with amazing produce and in a a beautiful city like Paris. But that is not life for everyone and so in honour of reaching my fifth, yes FIFTH newsletter, I am setting 20% off new paid subscriptions and all profits will be donated to the World Central Kitchen, an organisation run by Jose Andres and whose work I very much admire. Those facing starvation in Gaza need their help and I will match all donations.