Tonight Maggie and Simon demonstrate two different and very delicious ways to use Southern Rock Lobster before making the most of a selection of mouth watering mushrooms. Kangaroo Island is one of Maggie’s favourite destinations, its magnificent coastline and pristine waters provide an abundance of superb seafood for the locals.
On a recent trip Islander, Ian Somerfield, offered to show her just how fortunate they are. Ian has a two pot Rock lobster licence and regularly hauls up these magnificent creatures during the fishing season, which runs from November to May. On the day Maggie visited he’d caught a three and a half kilo monster which they proceeded to cook in seawater on beautiful ‘Browns beach’. Maggie was in heaven, this was a lobster as sweet and as fresh as you as you could possibly get! In the kitchen Maggie sets succulent pieces of lobster in a beautifully complimentary saffron tomato jelly. Served in delicate shot glasses the lightly tinted jellies with their suspended lobster pieces are finished perfectly with a dollop of home made mayonnaise. Simon combines his Rock Lobster with crab meat, chorizo, chicken, tomato and okra in a Gumbo, a dish Simon loves because it represents a melting pot of cultural influences.
Every spoonful of this dish is a different experience of textures and flavours with a surprise standout ingredient for Simon being the Okra that helps bind the dish together.
Southwest of Hobart lies the Huon Valley, an idyllic area celebrated not only got its spectacular scenery but also for the food produced there. Simon is charmed by the beauty of the valley but he’s keen to explore a strange and magical indoor realm hidden away in a large shed next to the mighty Huon River. He’s come to see the amazing range of speciality mushrooms grown here by microbiologist Warwick Gill and his team, and he quickly discovers that growing mushrooms is a rare and specialised art. Warwick tells Simon that shitake mushrooms in the wild grow mainly on dead logs in autumn, so in order to get shitake mushrooms to fruit you have to first create an artificial dead log. Warwick takes advantage of the Huon Valley’s existing industry, using by-product from the timber industry as the base for their “dead logs”, which imparts a delicate eucalyptus flavour that is valued by the Japanese. The next step is to “fool” the mushrooms into thinking its autumn, which is achieved through careful regulation of temperature, light and humidity. Simon is impressed by the sheer scale and ingenuity of the operation, but he’s really bowled over by the delicate flavour of the pink oyster mushrooms Warwick shares with him.
In the kitchen Simon makes a mushroom gratin and reflects on the French tradition where villagers would take their gratins to the baker at the end of the day and use the residual heat from the ovens to bake them. In Simon’s dish the Oyster mushrooms and the shimeji, along with the potato provide a lovely mix of colours and textures, while sage, parsley, garlic and lemon zest delivered in a buttery sauce help to compliment and carry the flavours of the different mushrooms. A juicy dish, Simon recommends it be served with some crusty bread. Maggie also uses mushrooms, combining button mushrooms with porcini mushrooms, walnuts, prosciutto and garlic in a blender to make a mushroom paste. The paste is then spread over the base of a sour cream pastry tart and topped with lightly sautéed mushrooms. It’s a simple, tasty way to use mushroom and the result is a dish that is all about bringing out the flavour of the fungi that were once hard to come by but are now readily available.
Recipes:
- Lobster Gumbo
- Lobster in saffron tomato jelly
- Mushroom and Potato Bake
- Mushroom, Prosciutto and Walnut Tart
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