I was more than just a little excited to learn that Masterchef’s Jimmy Seervai would be attending the CurryFest this year.

As I have stated previously, curry is not my specialty, so the knowledge that Jimmy “The Curryman” himself was going to give three cooking demonstrations throughout the day was music to my ears. The demonstration I was most interested in was the Prawn Curry. On Masterchef the Crab Curry was Jimmy’s signature dish.  The prawn curry he was preparing for the festival was an adaptation of this dish.

Jimmy was born in Indian and moved to Australia when he was just two years old. He grew up with the aroma of spices both at home in the kitchen, and in the family business, a spice store located in Ryde.

The family are marketing there own blend of spices for various styles of curry.  I sampled Jimmy's Prawn curry and I purchased a selection of the blends so I could recreate some of "The Curryman" magic at home.

In person Jimmy has a huge personality, more so than came across on the Masterchef program. Throughout the demonstrations he was chatting constantly about the show, letting tidbits of gossip out of the bag, and keeping the audience enthralled both in the cooking and the story telling.

I had been curious to know who actually cooks in the family. Seems that Jimmy is not only the Masterchef of the family, he is the only chef in the Seervai household. He said his wife has cooked about five meals in the time they have been together, occasionally she will make the announcement that she will cook, but Jimmy will come home only to find that the meal had not eventuated.

At that point in the story telling he would stop cooking and look over the audience heads and say, “oh no, I think she may be here…. I feel that death stare”

As he was speaking the rice was being put on to cook, and the Paratha's were getting underway.

Jimmy's assistant Harvinder

He told a story of coming home from work with a leg of lamb and announcing to the wife.  “I’m going to make lamb for dinner tonight.” He then went into detail about all the delicious things he would do with the lamb. Now I would suspect the usual response for most wives would be, terrific, thanks sweetheart. Jimmy said “not my wife, her response was, but I don’t feel like lamb”. There were laughs all round, and then more laughs when Jimmy check again to see that his wife hadn’t yet arrived at the festival.

Not all the jokes were at the expense of his lovely wife.  There were stories about mishaps on the Masterchef show, jokes about Indians v’s Australian cricket, it just kept coming and the audience appreciated the sense of humour whilst they salivated at the gorgeous aromas.

So here it is Jimmys Prawn Curry check out the family spice blends.

Jimmy's Prawn Curry

Serves: 6 – 8 (or closer to 200 if you are doing a cooking demo)

Ingredients:
1 kilo green prawns
600 ml coconut milk
300ml of fish stock
20gms palm Sugar
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tbsp spoons soy sauce
5 whole dried Kashmiri chillies (mild)
1 bunch fresh coriander
¼ Tsp tamarind (block – found in Indian Shops)
2 tsp sea salt
2 large tomatoes
50 ml of mild peanut oil
1 fresh lemon juice

Curry Paste:
2 large brown onions
4 cloves garlic
1 stick lemon grass
1 bunch of coriander roots
1 small knob of fresh turmeric
6 lime leaves
2 small red chillies
4 large green chillies
1 very large bulb ginger
1 small bulb galangal
7 curry leaves

3 1/2 tablespoons of Jimmys Special blend curry

¼ cup water

Method:

Roughly chop all the ingredients for the curry paste.

In a large frying pan over a low to moderate heat add the curry paste ingredient and oil. Fry until a slight brown colour is reached.

At this stage Jimmy told another story which I particularly wanted to share because it highlighted to me the feeling of community that is Woolgoolga, and what I see as some of our non urban appeal as a town.

Jimmy telling the story about the missing ingredients

Jimmy commented that he always tries to buy local produce for these types of demonstrations.  He had been out sourcing ingredients at local stores only to find he was having difficulty locating some vital ingredients such as lemon grass, curry leaves, okra.  In desperation he said to a store owner. “Why can’t I locate these items?” the store owner answered, “because there is no need to stock them, everyone just grows their own.”

When I moved here from Sydney I had the same problem. I would complain to anyone who would listen “How can they not stock…” Now I find that I may not grow a particular item myself, but I always know who does, and I get it fresh out of the garden.

Seems Jimmy was privy to the same hospitality. Before the cooking demonstration a lady brought the remaining items Jimmy had needed for his dishes from her garden.

Yesterday I noticed bananas were $12 per kilo in the supermarket.  Naturally I couldn’t justify the purchase. When I got home I found a large hand of locally grown banana’s on my doorstep.

Back to the recipe, add the chopped tomatoes, dried chili, chopped fresh chili and half the coriander, allow the dish to cook down further.

Now did I mention the Seervai family has their own blend of spices on the market?? The next step is to combine the “Jimmy’s Curry Spice” with water to form a paste.  Add the paste to the frying pan, allow it to cook whilst stirring occasionally.

Pour 300mls coconut milk, fish stock, palm sugar, tamarind, fish sauce and soy sauce. Reduce the heat to a low simmer and cook the curry until the mixture starts to thicken slightly.

Jimmy hamming it up for the camera & entertaining the audience

Add the peeled and prepared prawns and cook until the prawns are just coloured.

Squeeze the juice if a lemon into the curry and add the remaining coconut milk and chopped coriander just prior to serving.

Serve with rice and paratha.

For more recipes from Jimmy http://www.jimmysspicekitchen.com.au/

Now pretending I am a Masterchef judge… the presentation may not have been quite up to Masterchef standards, given the paper plates and plastic utensils... just joking!

I didn’t hear a single complaint as everyone lined up to sample “the curry mans” dish. I would have liked to get a final image of the Prawn curry but as the masses swarmed I quickly retreated to safety.

After receiving an invitation to be a guest of “Cooking With Company” for their upcoming Slow Cooking Workshop I was excited to learn that we would be cooking produce from Raging River Wagyu.

I had sampled the beautiful product from Raging River at a Wagyu Degustation Dinner hosted by Opal Cove in Coffs Harbour.  The beef defies description; it has a rich melt in the mouth, buttery texture and is full of flavour.  The opportunity to attend a class at Cooking With Company, and learn how to cook this product properly was the ultimate treat for someone like me, who appreciates beautiful quality food, cooked to perfection.

Cooking With Company is located near Port Macquarie, 13km West of Wauchope.  The school is set on a magnificent 8.2 hectare farm, with sweeping views over the valley and bushland.  The citrus tree lined drive way leads you through the property and up to the kitchen. The majority of fresh produce we will be using in the class today has come fresh from the farm.

When I arrived I was greeted by Lyn Withers, the owner of the cooking school, and dedicated food lover.  Lyn has been supplying restaurants with organic produce from the farm for many years, and is passionate about using fresh, quality, local product. The school has grown out of this passion, and her love of teaching people to prepare and appreciate good food in a variety of styles.

Lyn showed me through to a professionally styled kitchen.  It was complete with industrial coolroom, commercial appliances and burners, but still with a lovely homey kitchen feel.  The eight participants for today’s slow cooking workshop were already assembled in the kitchen ready to begin.

Lyn introduced us to our chef for the day, the Head Chef from Cassegrain Wines, Lisa Ryan. I have dined at Cassegrain many times and the menu choices have always been absolutely delicious. This was a real honour, to be taught by the chef responsible for some of the great meals I have had whilst in the area. I had high expectations for this class, and I am already very impressed.

We were given our recipe booklet which included the days’ menu. As I ran through the list of dishes we would be preparing I was quite excited about the selection. All the dishes were completely different, so we will be learning alot of different techniques and sampling many different flavours.

Wagyu Carpaccio with 3 Citrus Aioli & Smoked Tomato

Grilled Wagyu, Hot & Sour Salad

Wagyu Rendang

Beef Wellington

Chocolate Tart with Preserved Tangelo 

It is a day for surprises for me and I find that Sue from “About Food” is also a hosting the day.  I had been hearing good things about her business and the quality of the fresh produce she stocks. It had been my intention to visit the store whilst I was in Port Macquarie so I was pleased to finally meet her.

Lisa started by giving us a quick lesson in pastry making as we commenced with the Chocolate Tart.  We learnt the correct technique to roll a pastry, and how to fix any cracks.  The group is jovial as we concentrate on what we are being shown, there is a bit of good natured ribbing amongst the ladies and friendly banter.

An hour into the lesson and we have baked the tart shell, and it is resting in the fridge ready for a chocolately filling.  We have marinated the Wagyu for the Thai Beef Salad. 

Next the meat gets seared on the grill and the put into the oven to continue the cooking process.

The salad leaves have been plated up ready for the Wagyu, and the eggplant sliced.  The hot and sour dressing has been made, and all that needs to be completed before lunch is to cook and slice the Wagyu.

We were given a lesson on trimming the Wagyu fillet.  Then we divided the meat into two portions for two Beef Wellington.

The next lesson was a quick talk on the technique behind smoking foods.  Lisa explained how she had smoked the tomatoes in paper bark for the Tomato Relish.  Lisa has already shared so many tips and techniques, and we are in complete awe of her knife skills.

We have begun to work up and appetite so we move onto preparing the appetiser. Lisa demonstrates how to cut paper thin slivers off a fillet of seared Wagyu for the Carpaccio.

The delicate slices of rare beef are arranged on a serving platter with the smoked tomato, and a citrus aioli made from the fruit off the farm.

We sampled the Carpaccio and the flavours were huge. It was the ideal appetizer for me, simple and fresh.  The delicate Wagyu was perfect with the smokey tomato, and the creamy citrus aioli finished the flavour nicely. Lisa suggested using the smokey tomato relish on oysters or even homemade hamburgers. This is definitely a technique I will be looking forward to trying at home.

Back to work, and we set about pounding turmeric, ginger and garlic in a mortar and pestle for our curry.  This dish is of particular interest to me, I love curries but they never taste right when I make them.

As we are preparing the spices and cooking them off in coconut oil I start to get an understanding of what I have been doing wrong. It is not one particular mistake, but a series of incorrect techniques and ingredients.  The aroma in the kitchen is divine when the beef is added to the spice paste. The remaining ingredients are added to the curry and the dish is allowed to simmer.

We move onto the filling for the Chocolate Tart. The ingredients are placed over a double boiler to melt and combine. We are using specific brands of chocolate with the appropriate cocoa content to ensure the finished tart has a lovely chocolate flavour and beautiful consistency.

The chocolate filling is added to the tart shell, and there is much discussion over who gets to lick the bowl when we are finished.

We are all having fun, joking and giggling like a bunch of girls. Although most of us have not met previously, the group is chatting as if we were all old friends.

Next we tackled the Beef Wellington.  After seeing the contestants on MasterChef attempt this dish I’d decided it would not be a dish I would probably ever try.  It looked absolutely delicious, but it did seem to be a lot of work with a big chance of failure. I was concerned my meat would be completely uncooked when I sliced the finished dish, or that my mushroom filling would make the pastry soggy. I am really pleased this dish is on the menu today.  I not only have opportunity to attempt the dish with supervision, but we are using the best cut of Wagyu, so it will be the ultimate Beef Wellington.

Lisa explains correct way to seal meat.  We all watch as she demonstrates sealing each surface of the Wagyu fillet to ensure we have no juice escaping from our pastry once the dish is complete.

Lisa stepped us through the frying off of the onion and mushroom, and getting the right consistency and seasoning.  She explains how to avoid the possible problems of soggy pastry.

We are making two Beef Wellingtons, one will be medium rare and the other cooked a little more, for the ladies who prefer it served in this manner.  Lisa takes the mystery out knowing what will be rare, medium or well done inside the pastry.  We are all a lot more confident of our skill in cooking the meat to perfection.

The chocolate tart is removed from the oven, and the whole group takes a big deep breath in to get the full sweet aroma. Mmm, there is a little bit of discussion on who can be trusted to stand next to the tart while the rest of the dishes are completed.

Our attention is turned back to the Beef Wellingtons. We probe the meat with a thermometre to test, and find we are ready to eat. All the dishes are completed and plated up.  I have been really impressed by Lisa’s ability to demystify some of the cooking techniques and her patience in explaining the use of more specialised ingredients, and cooking styles.  I am surprised that we have been able to complete quite a lot of dishes in a relatively small amount of time, and now there is a sumptuous banquet ready for us all to enjoy. Lyn is busy pouring red and white wine from Cassegrain Wines, and we are also offered fruit juice from the farm trees.

Everyone takes a seat at the dining room table to enjoy the beautiful dishes that have been created. The conversations are all about how much we’ve learnt today, our favourite dish, and which will be the first meal we try at home for the family. Some of the ladies are also sampling dishes they have not tried previously.

We all agree that the day is all about having fun with food, learning new techniques and creating dishes you wouldn’t otherwise attempt at home. The cooking class has taken everyone skills and interest in cooking to a new level.  I have met a great group of people who all have a similar interest in food and enjoyed a fantastic day cooking, laughing and eating.

In the background as I am writing, the aroma of the Beef Randang has completely filled the air, just as it had in the cooking class. The smell is sweet, spicy and deliciously rich. My dear husband requested that I put my lessons into practice, so I have chosen the Beef Rendang to prepare for dinner tonight. It is simmering away nicely, I have tasted the dish and the flavour is exactly right.

Thank you so much to everyone from Cooking With Company I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at the farm and participating in the Slow Cooking Class.