Karen Martini - Cooking at Home

This is a review I wrote for the website cheftalk.

Cooking at Home - Karen Martini

Modern Australian

Given so many of you on ChefTalk seemed to have heard little of our antipodean cook books I thought I would write a review of one of my most used cook books. Karen Martini is a chef and owner of two restaurants, as well as writing a weekly column and appearing on a couple of lifestyle programs. Her food is what we call modern Australian, a term which covers the many nationalities that we have here and the eclectic mix of food Australians enjoy. Some recipes remain authentic to their roots while others reflect a mingling of many influences. Usually all are reflected with a range of fresh produce.

In Australia because of our size its possible to buy most produce fresh all year round. In the North we have no summer or winter but a wet and a dry season, while in the South it is not unknown for snow to fall on Christmas day (N.B The equivalent of a northern hemisphere July day.). If we add to that range of produce a vast array of different nationalities and cuisines there is much to draw on and to expand anyone’s cooking repertoire.

The recipes in this book are based around Martini’s weekly recipes in a lifestyle insert in the Sunday paper. My favourite recipe is the lamb and eggplant Karhi curry. The taste is wonderful but I love it because it introduced me to a way of making a curry sauce without using any fat! This was a revelation as I was dieting at the time and was looking for low fat recipes, fortunately I am over that and would add full fat yogurt for the extra taste these days. The sauce is a blend of besan (chickpea) flour and water whisked together and then yogurt is whisked in to finish it off. It makes a rich velvety sauce that smells divine. Serving this slow cooked lamb curry with a fresh chutney beautiful.

This book also contains one of my all time favourite chicken recipes. Syrian Chicken with ginger, lemon and saffron, just thinking about it brings back fond memories. It is an ideal winter dish (southern hemisphere winter right now) and again the smell of the braise fills the kitchen. Essentially it is the subtle blend of spices cumin, turmeric and cinnamon with a pinch of saffron that just seems to complement the chicken perfectly. Served on rice or couscous it is a real family favourite.

Some of the other recipes and ideas in the book really grab attention, a delightful sauce for seafood made from a mixture of bread crumbs fresh herbs and capers blended with yogurt is a must to try. The kibbeh style ocean trout is also lovely, basically the raw fish is blended to a fine paste and mixed with burghul, sumac allspice and served with triangles of crusty bread. A lovely classic cheesecake is enhanced with fresh blue berries poached in red wine, a like it so much I experimented with a few different berries until my partner told me to cut it out. She was right some of my mixtures were odd.

In addition to these types of recipes there is a range of well-tested traditional recipes, Coq au vin, pot au feu, churros, caponata the list goes on. In short it is a really great collection of recipes that introduce some new elements but also provides traditional recipes to help the home cook who may not have ever tackled these dishes before. The book really reflects the range of cuisines and cooking styles in Australia it also highlights the Australian habit of mixing different styles and using local ingredients to make delicious food.