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MOVIDA
SPANISH CULINARY ADVENTURES
Frank Camorra & Richard Cornish
Published by Murdoch Books, deluxe P/B $45.00
This is a wonderful book, a book for the passionate chef and home cook. Camorra’s food is the type of food that once you’ve got the hang of it you will find yourself using the book less and less, but it doesn’t mean you won’t return to it to re–read the exquisitely crafted text. Co–author, food journalist Richard Cornish has taken Camorra’s words, kept their enthusiasm and passion and crafted them into perfectly compatible passages that sit alongside the recipes. If you like a book that makes you cry Movida just might do it as there are some especially sentimental chapters. Try for instance p338. Curiously this old food is the food informal generation ’Y’ love to eat and the type of food we love to cook and eat. Nothing too structured, utterly seasonal, often grown by suppliers who have become close friends and of course family who feel some ownership in the success of Movida Bar de Tapas. Bold wine friendly fresh food combinations that are often embellished with the preserves of the seasonal glut, the magic of Spanish heritage that has transposed so smoothly to Australia Camorra’s food, whilst served in an Australian restaurant his food has not become Australianised.
Particularly wonderful are the references to the cross–cultural lists of suppliers that are part of the miracle of the migration and cooking in Australia. It was impossible not to smile at the resistance to chilled soup, Chilled almond soup with grape granita, now a signature dish at Movida Bar de Tapas, and remember the gallons of chilled soup we poured down the sink in the 80s until we realised it went pretty well with vodka after work. Chef/owners will always persist regardless of the cost until finally their customers realise what they are missing out on.
The recipes are deeply embedded in family history and culinary traditions that whilst they come from Spain, are not at all out of place in the Australian. Not everyone will share our enthusiasm for the images, but we have come to detest pictures of food meant to be rustic that has been given a designer look. Food that is cooked and served in the same implement as a matter of custom should never be shown tortured into submission lying in a dish that has never seen an oven or stovetop. It misses the point, not just of the food and flavours, but the reality of the style of food.
These are recipes from a restaurateur chef/owner, whose restaurants are always so packed with devotees its hard to get a seat and Camorra, despite the pressures of success and work maintains an intelligent equilibrium with a zest for life and fun that is ever present. The pastry section is spectacular.
We love this book!
Frank Camorra and Richard Cornish are working on a second book (title not fixed) that will be launched world–wide later this year, probably October or November.
read a review for Movida Bar de Tapas
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| GENIUS
AT WORKFrank Camorra — Movida Bar de Tapas Y Vino and Movida Next Door |
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INSPIRATION
: My staff who never fail to amaze me!
WEB
SITE : www.movida.com.au EMAIL
: reservations are not taken by email — email enquiries only
CHEF PROFILE :
Frank Camorra
Chef owner Movida Bar de Tapas Y Vino and Movida Next Door
Melbourne Australia
At a time when many of the world’s greatest chefs are choosing to follow an experimental style of cooking in the molecular vein, Frank Camorra and his team have stayed with traditional food, the food of his Spanish heritage. Camorra’s food is celebrated and loved by all who are lucky enough to experience it, and his restaurants enjoy a disparity of demographics that is the envy of every restaurant in Australia. Every generation loves Movida and Movida next Door.
It is a focus on traditional food that has finally been rewarded. Camorra currently holds the coveted title of Melbourne Age Good Food Guide’s Chef of the Year. His tiny restaurants are packed from the second they open until late at night. Keeping “Spanish hours” his restaurants celebrate the traditions of Camorra family and their Spanish heritage.
Financial success and fame has not been instantaneous for Camorra, and he retains a refreshing humility about his recent achievements. Given the humble nature of his establishments it is important to note that during the recent Melbourne Food and Wine Festival some of the world’s hottest chefs queued patiently for a seat. His food is the sum of his Spanish heritage. Camorra’s passion for food cannot be more poignantly put than his own words,
“Christmas in a Spanish Household
It’s funny, I look back on the Christmases from my childhood and I seem to remember a lot of legs. Legs of uncles and aunties who’d come around to our place on Christmas Eve to party. In Spain, the exchanging of presents happens on 6 January, Three Kings Day. When we moved to Australia this was amalgamated into Christmas Eve, so the traditional dinner and party and presents were all combined, which helped fuel the children’s excitement. We’d have a meal of pinchitos muronos (char grilled Moorish lamb skewers) and do the Aussie thing and have some gambas a la plancha (grilled garlic prawns) which dad would usually cook on the barbecue. We would also have Russian eggs……
We were allowed to stay up well past midnight.
Some time during the night, Uncle Rebola, who was considered by many to be quite an accomplished flamenco singer, would put on a performance and sing soulful cante hondo (deep and emotional songs). Mum would bring out her mantecados de alemendra and dad poured liberal shots of anis liqueur and brandy. However, the focus was never on the food. It was always on the family. Special attention was paid to the very young and our grandparents.
But the food was constant. As a child, it seemed like it was never-ending, like magically self-replenishing plates.
It was only when I was older that I realised how much hard work mum and dad put in; every year the food was consistently good and tasted just as good as it did the year before. It’s just the people who changed. This year was the first year our son Pepe spent Christmas with his Grandparents. Mum’s mantecados were exactly as I remember them and dad was just as liberal with his shots. But the smiles our little boy brought to their faces – sometimes I think mum and dad were going to burst they were smiling so much. I don’t think I can remember seeing them so happy.” P337 Movida
go to the review
The food of modern Australia has become the sum of migration, the journey of food and food culture over many continents to find a comfortable place amongst hundreds of different cuisines. The success of migration to Australia is in many ways remarkable, but then again, Australia is a nation of nations.
Connection, family and heritage play a dominant role in Camorra’s cooking, and what he has managed to retain is a zest for life that has seen him maintain a balance that keeps his enthusiasm bubbling to the top. He is the type of chef who will be working with his team, calling the pass, joking, pushing and laughing with the kitchen family, but what he has achieved is something most restaurateur chefs do not; Camorra has restaurants that work as well with him as without him……utterly remarkable!
Movida is powered by brilliantly trained staff who understand the mathematics of the restaurant floor. On a busy Sunday lunch, the dazzling front of house manager, kept a tiny table by the door, calculated every seat in multiples of two, never allowing a single diner to interrupt the flow or a single diner to escape. “A table for four, just a minute, have a drink, won’t be long”. Masterful. And when the night shift arrived it was more of the same, equally professional, equally loyal. The staff meal smelled wondrous, magical and it seemed to us that flavour, generosity and seasonality, combined with great wines and stirred with a blend of fun might just be the magical formula that is the sum of Movida.
Movida and Movida Next Door are wonderful testaments to food tradition. Ask any Melbournian with a love of food rich or poor, young or old, what their favourite restaurant is they will invariably name one of Camorra’s restaurants. We agree!
AO
FAVOURITE BOOKS
Roast chicken and other stories Simon Hopkinson
published by Ebury Publishing, UK (Random House Group)
la technique Jacques Pepin
published by Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers Inc. New York, USA
Classic Techniques of Italian Cooking Giulliano Bugialli
published by Simon & Schuster, New York, USA
from top to bottom — Frank Camorra and baby Pepe (image courtesy Murdoch Books, MOVIDA Spanish Culinary Adventures, Frank Camorra and Richard Cornish), street art Hosier Lane, Melbourne Australia, meatballs with squid, fab old and new world wines by the glass or bottle, Australia’s benchmark (maybe the world’s) caramel flan
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SOUTHERN ROCKLOBSTER TERRINE
with scallop mousse, sea urchin and cavolo nero and
Russian salad
Frank Camorra, Movida Bar de Tapas y Vino and Movida Next Door, Melbourne Australia
ServesCold entrée/appetizer 12–15 portions
Ingredients
Terrinna de Bogavante
1 live 1.5 – 2.5kg Southern Rocklobster
1L Rocklobster stock made in the traditional manner with lightly roasted Rocklobster shells and vegetable mirepoix
2 bunches of cavolo nero, washed and stalked and blanched in seasoned Rocklobster stock, briefly refreshed in an ice bath
1 small pinch of saffron
50ml cream
1 egg white (30g)
150g roe–on scallop meat
salt and black pepper to taste
100g sea urchin roe
Ensalada de Russa (Russian Salad)
brunoise wax potatoes, cooked in seasoned Rocklobster stock
brunoise carrots, cooked in seasoned Rocklobster stock
Fresh peas, cooked in seasoned Rocklobster stock
1 bunch of chives, finely chopped
white anchovies
50g pureed Rocklobster coral
100g aioli, recipe follows
red onion, brunoise
Aioli
3 egg yolks
10g of smooth Dijon mustard
60g white wine vinegar
200ml olive oil
200ml of vegetable oil
salt and pepper to taste
30g crustacean stock or 15g pureed Rocklobster coral to flavour the aioli
Method
Euthenase the Rocklobster humanely and remove the meat by your preferred method.
Lay out a double layer of cling film and sprinkle with EV olive oil, sea salt and black pepper. Place the Rocklobster tail on the cling film with the inside of the tail facing up. With a very sharp knife, butterfly the Rocklobster into an evenly thick rectangle. Dry the cavolo nero and then, covering the Rocklobster meat completely, layer the cavolo nero on top.
Infuse the saffron into the cream and chill the infusion. Keeping the scallops very cold, make the scallop mousse with the scallop meat, egg white and infused cream. Season to taste with sea salt and white pepper.
Leaving a 3cm working edge along one of the long edges or the roulade, spread the scallop mousse evenly over cavolo nero.
Layer the sea urchin in an even row in the centre of the mousse.
Lift one end of the Rocklobster with the cling film and roll creating a perfect cylinder. Twist each end of the cling film tightly to achieve a cylinder that is approximately 8cm diameter. Wrap a second time to secure the shape.
Pierce the roll with a few tiny pin–pricks and poach in the stock in a sous–vide bath for 12 minutes @ 90°C, or cook conventionally in the stock, sitting on a rack to avoid direct heat contact at 90°C for six minutes one side then turn and poach for a further six minutes the other side.
Carefully remove and cool in the chiller over night to firm the terrine.
To serve
Stir the Rocklobster coral into the aioli – this is best done at each service. For each portion, dress the Russian Salad components with aioli, taste and adjust the seasoning. Trim one end of the roll, and for each portion slice a 2cm thick round.
Place in the centre of the plate, garnish with more sea urchin roe and white anchovies, then sparingly sprinkle the terrine with the chardonnay vinegar, a touch of sea salt and a little freshly ground pepper. Serve immediately.
images — the fabulous terrine, rustic but complex individual flavours, that work brilliantly as a whole, artisan bread made by Melbourne’s finest bakers, bottom, the start of the day looking out of Movida onto the street art of Hosier Lane.
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We’ll be visiting the biodynamic garden of our friends at Rockford Wines (Barossa Valley, South Australia) and their chefs Alison Cribb and Michael Voumard, who garden and cook the lunches for their acclaimed Stonewall Table. One of Australia’s most remarkable and loved dining experiences their superb cooking is governed entirely by the seasons. A completely organic biodynamic garden the whole concept of the table is a sought after dining experience by any Australian with a love of great food and wine. It is not uncommon to find people have come from far flung places just to enjoy this very unique Australian dining experience.
left — Rockford Wines’ Krondorf Garden the dream of every great chef.
We’ll also have new Rocklobster appetiser recipes from the cold larder.
Light, delicious and interesting over a broad range of cultures
with complex salad dressings using EV Rocklobster Oil.
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| THIS
MONTH'S RECIPE ROCKLOBSTER EMPANADAS |
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Author Ann Oliver, Food Editor Southern Rocklobster Limited
www.annoliver.com TAPAS ANTIPASTO
What makes them special? Imagination? Sure! Appearance? Of course, but in the end it is freshness and taste. Something that looks fabulous but tastes ordinary just doesn’t leave the diner lusting to repeat the dining experience.
There is a tiny wine bar in Venice, Cantina Do Mori, one of Venice’s oldest, it is hidden in the tourist market area very close to the Rialto bridge. About the size of a small bedroom it is packed with Venetians. Every day they open the most amazing back vintage Italian wines and serve until finished just made antipasto.
It is seven years since we went to the wine bar but I salivate at the thought of the tiny flat onions that had been oven roasted with sugar, salt, pepper, fabulous EV olive oil until they were caramelised, drizzled with good balsamic and then secured with a toothpick they were topped with a squishy mild pickled green chilli and a perfect anchovy.
Oily, salty, sweet and a little sour from the onion, they were an exquisite match for the stunning earthy perfection of the 20–year–old Barolos the patron was opening that day. There have bee a lot of great meals since then, a lot of great food, but the perfection of that tiny treat remains memorable. Dining is about experience and taste and memory and season and tapas/antipasto in the true sense of the word are a celebration of all of that.
Cantina Do Mori
San Polo 429, Vaporetto-Haltestelle San Polo, 30121 Venezia
t +39 41 522 5401
no web site at this stage
ROCKLOBSTER EMPANADAS
Makes 27
for the empanada pastry
5g double action baking powder, available from most Asian/Chinese grocers
270g strong flour + little extra for rolling
5g fine sea salt
100g lard, cold and cut into pieces
50g white wine, cold
50g fino sherry, cold
for the Rocklobster filling — see note
135g green Rocklobster meat (leg and head meat is fine)
0.5g fine sea salt
.25g white pepper
6g white wine vinegar
30g Rocklobster stock, can be dirty stock
10g tapioca flour
other ingredients
roasted and peeled red capsicums, marinated in EV olive, seasoned with sea salt and black
pepper and finely minced organic garlic
roasted and smoke eggplant
chopped pumpkin or zucchini flowers
1 egg yolk
vegetable oil, or a mixture of EV olive oil and vegetable oil for deep–frying
90mm pastry cutter
1cm chisel sable paintbrush
Method
for the empanada pastry
In a Thermomix or food processor mix the baking powder, flour and salt. Add the lard and work in very quickly then add the liquid working just long enough to bring it together. Tip the mixture onto your pastry slab, knead together, wrap in plastic food wrap and rest for 30 minutes. Overworking ruins the texture of this pastry.
for the Rocklobster filling
Chop Rocklobster meat on pulse then work in the other ingredients on pulse. Scrape into a container and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before using.
Using as little flour as possible, roll the pastry out thinly and cut disks. Add 6g of the Rocklobster filling per empanada and a little of the other ingredients. Brush one half of each disk with egg yolk, push them together and pleat the tops. Keep covered with plastic food wrap while completing the full batch of dough. Provided you are sparing with the additional rolling flour it is possible to knead the dough together and roll again without any noticeable stretchiness or real change in the texture of the pastry.
Keep chilled until ready to serve. Fry into hot oil until golden, drain on paper towel, good by themselves by also terrific with ROCKLOBSTER OIL MAYONNAISE
note — this recipe stretches the Rocklobster a long way. If your budget allows, chunks of green leg meat that has been seasoned with sea salt and white pepper is really terrific. It is especially good rolled through a little EV olive oil and some finely minced ginger and garlic.
click on the images to go to the recipes
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| DEEP–FRIED ZUCCHINI FLOWERS FILLED WITH ROCKLOBSTER MOUSSELINE |
CHILLED ROCKLOBSTER CONSOMMÉ SPHERES |
ROCKLOBSTER CROQUETTA |
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 WINE
RECOMMENDATIONS |
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It is impossible to think of TAPAS without thinking of sherry because served lightly chilled it is the perfect match to the oily salty flavour profile found in many tapas. Sherry also copes brilliantly with vinegar in a way that few wine varietals do. Travelling in Spain is the opportunity to indulge in the breadth and depth of sherries available in their country of origin. In Spain tapas bars often serve a single item that they have crafted and perfected for years, but it is a sure bet their wine offerings will show no such pared back restraint.
In the recently released 2009 S. Pellegrino World’s Top 50 Restaurants the Spanish restaurant ElBulli was awarded number one for an unprecedented consecutive fourth year a brilliant achievement that deserves to be celebrated. On a recent visit to Melbourne Australia, chef and head of the ElBulli team Ferran Adrià gave us some tips for places they all like to eat in and around the Barcelona markets. “In the Mercat de la Boqueria a friend of mine has a little bar
Bar Pinotxo (Pinocchio), and then there is my brother Albert’s tapas bar,
Inopia Classic Bar, and the former head of the elBulli kitchen Albert Raurich and his partner Tamae Imachi who also used to be part of our team at elBulli have opened this place called
Dos Palillos (Two Chopsticks) which is an Asian tapas bar. It’s really good, we like it a lot!”
Delicately flavoured tapas that have a brush of chilli and a little brusque acidity in the form of lemon juice partner perfectly with Gewürztraminer and when it comes to creamier richer textures Chardonnay seems to slide into its own taking on deep-fried items. One of the greatest pleasures of tapas is the diversity of tastes and textures, that demand not a single wine, but many.
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SPAIN — JEREZ — SHERRY — Emilio Lustau Amontillado
Solera Reserva “Los Arcos” Emilio Lustau
93 points
Bright amber in colour. An attractive, nutty bouquet that offers nuances of apple and herb overlaying complex aldehyde notes. Very good intensity in the mouth, nutty complexity intermingled with exotic nuances of green apple and figs, a distinctive almond flavour provides further depth. Finishes dry with an excellent length of persistence and just a hint of alcohol warmth. Emilio Lustau Amontillado
Solera Reserva “Los Arcos” is a stunning match with ROCKLOBSTER EMPANADAS DC
About the author
Duane Coates BSc MSc(Oen) MBA
Winemaker, Coates Wines/Free Run Wine Consulting
mbl (+61) 0417 882 557
fax (+61) 08 8363 9925
Po Box 859 McLaren Vale 5171
www.coates-wines.com
Duane Coates will be adding reviews to CHEF NEWS from time to time. A highly regarded winemaker his ability to asses wine means that his opinion is highly respected. Duane is also in the last stages of his Masters of Wine studies having successfully passed the organoleptic stage he now has his dissertation to write. He will then join a very elite group of world wide wine experts of less than 300.
AUSTRALIA — TAMAR VALLEY, TASMANIA — GEWÜRZTRAMINER — 2006 Iron Pot Bay Gewürztraminer — Iron Pot Bay Wines
This brilliant wine is more than a match for its haughty Austrian cousins, snobbish because of their long lineage. Perfectly balanced the nuances of the wine open up with each sip, revealing like a practiced trantalising stripper new excitement as each layer is exposed. Floral on the nose, perfectly balanced with just the right amount of residual sugar to adore mild chilli and a long slow finish that leaves the drinker in no doubt about the excellence of this wine. The 06 Iron Pot Bay Gewurztraminer would make a brilliant aperitif on a hot summer’s day, but its ability to take a little chilli and a little complex savoury sweetness makes it a perfect match for CHILLED ROCKLOBSTER CONSOMMÉ SPHERES AO
AUSTRALIA — PICCADILLY VALLEY, ADELIDE HILLS, SOUTH AUSTRALIA — 2007 Michael Hall, Adelaide Hills Chardonnay — no web site at time of publication
We adore it when out of nowhere comes a wine that is so stupendous, so surprising that you just want to know everything about the winemaker and the wine. No web site, no listing in the white pages, no interstate Australian agents, even hard to find in South Australia where it is made, no export, in the Australian wine business for what is virtually an eye blink Michael Hall is rapidly becoming the darling of the Australian wine press. At a recent dinner for First Drop Wines “Spangled Mob” Bremerton Wine’s family member and winemaker Rebecca Wilson confidently stood her excellent pre–release reserve 2008 Bremerton Reserve Chardonnay Langhorne Creek against 2007 Michael Hall Adelaide Hills Piccadilly Valley Chardonnay, 2005 Leeuwin Estate Chardonnay and 2001 Leflaive Folatieres Puligny Montrachet.
We cooked some of the recipes featured in this CHEF NEWS, Empanada of Southern Rocklobster, Croquetta of Southern Rocklobster, lobster oil and lime mayonnaise, Southern Rocklobster broth, tomato and saffron, and a version of Steamed Southern Rocklobster custard minus of course the chilli oil. Each wine matched with a two–bite morsel. The croquetta with its gooey lobster laden soft centre and crisp crust in combination with the richness of the mayonnaise was an impressive match for Hall’s elegant steely Frenchy Australian Chardonnay. This miraculous wine is further proof of the benefits of wide travel and winemakers working in other countries. It did not come as a surprise that Hall has done many vintages in France including Domaine Leflaive, Meo–Camuzet, Vieux Telegraphe and Trevallon and in Australia Cullens, Giaconda, Henschke, Shaw and Smith, Coldstream Hills and Veritas. Hall also makes Sang de Pigeon. Barossa Shiraz Saigné 2008, Michael Hall and Eden Valley Syrah 2007, Flaxman’s Valley. We love the story — jewellery valuer for Sotheby’s in Geneva Hall spent his spare time visiting vineyards in France. In 2002, looking for a life change, he came to Australia to study wine science at Charles Sturt University, New South Wales Australia, graduated as dux in 2005 and currently works for Roclands Wines at Nuriootpa in the South Australian Barossa Valley where he also makes his wines. Mission statement “Complexity, elegance and balance. Quality at any cost.” We love that! AO
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