The Producers Lunch Forum at Quarter Twenty One celebrates the relationship between producer and chef, promotes sustainable farming and eating and brings it to the diner’s table.
Chef Justin North and Host Simon Marnie
And this time, the autumn lunch brought an additional element to the experience with guests dining in the company of nearly 20,000 bees in a beehive from Maya Sunny Hunny.
Beehive
Hosted by radio personality Simon Marnie, the menu embraced an autumn theme and showcased produce from Alto Olives from Crookwell, Bilpin Cider from the Blue Mountains, Melanda Park free range pork from the Hawkesbury River and Maya Sunny Honey from Mudgee in NSW.
Bilpin Cider
A refreshing spritzer-style cocktail of Bilpin Apple cider with apple juice, fresh apples, elderflower, lime and mint was served on arrival.
Epi and crostini
Wholegrain epi from the Bécasse Bakery, crostini and Alto Volos olives were served as appetisers.
Alto Olives
The olives were marinated in a little olive oil with orange, chilli, lemongrass and rosemary and placed in a sous-vide at 60ºC for about 4 to 5 hours which imparted the olives with a tender flesh and citrus flavours.
Introducing the first course, Chef Justin North explained that the inspiration behind the dish was the Alto Olive Oil hence it was created to enhance the flavours of the autumn vegetables.
Warm salad of autumn vegetables
The warm salad of autumn vegetables was slow-cooked in Alto olive oil with marinated confit blue eye. Using trevally cheeks, the head was spread in half and the cheeks are salted, confit and flaked. The dish was a delicate celebration of the olive oil which enhanced the flavours in the vegetables. The confit added saltiness and a lovely texture to the dish which was paired with a 2009 Nugan Estate“Frasca’s Lane Vineyard Chardonnay from the King Valley.
Robert Armstrong from Alto Olive Oil
Robert Armstrong from Alto Olive Oil explained that the point of difference of Australian olive oils lies in their freshness. Australia imports around 35 million litres of olive oil, some of which is incorrectly labelled. The Alto Estate grove is located near the township of Crookwell in NSW, a three-hour drive from Sydney.
Q21 Head Chef Michael Robinson
Quarter Twenty One Head Chef Michael Robinson introduced the next course, which is also the first part of a 40 kilo free range pig from Melanda Park Pork. A mosaic of pork shoulder, neck, smoked hock and pickled tongue with chilled cider consommé was a visual and textural dish with a breadth of flavours set to convert non-pork lovers.
Mosaic of pork
The dish was matched with Bilpin Original Cider.
Sean Prendergast
Sean Prendergast from Bilpin, whose business partner is a winemaker, explained that his cider is made primarily with Granny Smith apples, freshly crushed with a cold fermentation process. The cider contains no added sugar, artificial flavours or concentrates.
Bécasse Head Chef Monty Koludrovic
Continuing with the remaining cuts of pork, Bécasse Head Chef Monty Koludrovic introduced the next course, a delicious roast pork loin and belly with Jerusalem artichoke pear, celeriac and licorice with a light and tasty crackling.
Roast pork loin and belly
The dish was paired with 2010 Willoughby Park Shiraz, Denmark in Western Australia.
Matt Simmons of Melanda Park Pork
Matt Simmons of Melanda Park Free Range Pork spoke about his farm at Swallow Park Reach and how it is a fine example of sustainability in action.
Ironbark honey cream and mousseline
Ironbark honey cream and mousseline with compressed melon and melon sorbet put a sweet end to the lunch with Maya Sunny Honey. The dish was paired with 2008 Cookoothama Botrytis Semillon, Darlington Point in the Riverina, NSW.
Maya Wyszynski from Maya Sunny Honey with her apiarist father Andrew
In what was arguably the highlight of the event, Maya Wyszynski from Maya Sunny Honey explained how each unique jar of Iron Bark honeycomb is made with approximately 400 bees, a process that takes approximately one month. Her apiarist father, Andrew, comes from a line of bee keepers in Poland and the unique system on display is his own invention. Maya further explained that there are holes in the apparatus to allow the bees to breathe and they can remain there for three days.
Maya Sunny Honey
The Producers Lunch Forum was an initiative that started out at Bécasse in March 2009 by Justin North, current Ambassador to the Australian Year of the Farmer, to celebrate the diversity and excellence of Australian produce and to support local producers.
Much like the previous Producers Lunch Forum, guests are known to leave with renewed appreciation for the combined passion, effort and talent of producers and chefs that goes into making a memorable and fine dining experience.
The Quarter Twenty One Producers Lunch Forum runs every two months. More information in the website below.
Quarter Twenty One
www.quartertwentyone.com.au
Gourmantic attended the lunch on Tuesday 8 March 2012.
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[…] Twenty One Cookery School while the front of the store had delicious honeycomb on taste from Maya Sunny Honey. Their display of honey in glass jars with live bees in action was not to be […]
Wow, wow, wow! wish I was there what a sensational event and great choices to showcase the produce.
Those dishes look amazing Corinne… it’s 9 in the morning here and my stomach really wants it to be lunchtime (and to have one of those fantastic chefs cook me something, wink ). Sounds like another incredible event & I’m all for anything that supports sustainable farming!
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