The Perfect Australia Day Menu with Our Most-Loved Foods
The Perfect Australia Day Menu with Our Most-Loved Foods
by
Mireille Kilgour
There are some pretty awesome things about being an Australian, and January 26th is the perfect time to recognise them. An Australian…
is bred tough thanks to a constant threat of pain or death inflicted by the country's creatures
actually knows the meaning of "girt"
understands that "you" has a plural – "youse"
knows what a Hills Hoist is really for
thinks every town should have something BIG to attract tourists
thinks it's perfectly acceptable to have a criminal who wears an iron helmet as a national icon
abbreviates almost anything without thinking – "servo", "arvo", "chocky"
But the best thing? Australians love their food.
In Australia, sausage rolls and meat pies are staples, lamb chops reign supreme, salads often contain a fruit, bread is cooked on sticks, and no evening is complete without a Tim Tam. So this Australia Day, why not celebrate with a menu that's fitting?
Make your sausage rolls that bit more gourmet and that bit more Australian with the addition of kangaroo meat. They're delicious too!
Ingredients
445g ready-made frozen sour cream shortcrust pastry, thawed
500g kangaroo mince
2 eggs, one lightly beaten, the other reserved for glazing
2 tbs breadcrumbs
Salsa Verde
2 tsp baby salted capers, rinsed
4 baby cornichons, chopped
1 anchovy fillet
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 red chilli, de-seeded and chopped
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 cup chopped herbs (dill, basil, mint, parsley)
zest and juice of half a lemon
Method
Preheat oven to 180°C, lightly grease two baking trays and line with baking paper.
Place salsa verde ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth.
Add kangaroo mince, breadcrumbs and egg, season well and pulse to combine.
Roll out pastry on a floured surface to create two 18cm x 25cm rectangles.
Divide kangaroo mixture in half and shape down the centre of each rectangle. Encase the mixture, then brush the seam with egg glaze. Repeat the other side.
Place sausage rolls on prepared trays and chill for 30 minutes.
Divide the rolls into eight, snip each top three times, and brush the pastry with remaining egg.
Lamb is an Australian staple, and the perfect main event to serve on our national day. You'll get to fire up the BBQ, and the addition of pomegranate relish makes it distinctly summery.
Ingredients
8 lamb rib chops
½ cup pomegranate seeds
¼ cup black olives, chopped
¼ cup feta
5 tbs olive oil
2 tbs flat-leaf parsley, chopped
2 tsp fennel seeds, crushed
Method
Prepare a grill pan or BBQ for medium-high heat.
Toss together pomegranate seeds, olives, feta, parsley and 3 tablespoons of oil. Season to taste.
Rub lamb chops with remaining oil before rubbing with fennel seeds. Season a cook for four minutes each side.
Two of our favourite summer ingredients combine in this delicious salad.
Ingredients
1 ripe avocado, cut into small cubes
Juice of 1 lime
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 teaspoon wholegrain mustard
1 long red chilli, deseeded and sliced
100g rocket leaves
1 cup macadamia nuts, crushed
Method
In a small bowl, mix together lime juice, olive oil, garlic, mustard and sliced chilli to make the dressing.
Put the rocket in a large bowl, add the mango and avocado and the dressing and gently toss to combine.
There's nothing more Aussie than damper, but who really wants to eat the stuff unless you're camping and cooking it over a fire? To pay homage to the Aussie tradition but still offer something extremely tasty, try this gourmet take on it.
Ingredients
3 cups self-raising flour
1 ½ tsp cracked pepper
100g camembert cheese
90g butter, melted then cooled
⅔ cup milk
Method
(Note: Damper can be made by shaping onto sticks and then baking over an open fire, but on a hot summer's day, we recommend using the oven.)
Preheat oven to 210°C and lightly grease two baking trays.
Sift flour and a pinch of salt into a large bowl. Add pepper and camembert.
Combine butter, ½ cup of milk and ½ cup water in a jug. Make a well in the centre of the flour and gradually add milk mix, stirring as you go with a flat-bladed knife.
Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead until dough comes together.
Divide into 8 balls, slightly flatten, and place onto prepared trays.
Brush tops with remaining milk and taking a small, sharp knife, make three slits on each roll.
Bake for 12-15 minutes, swapping trays halfway through. Serve warm.
4 large eggs
½ cup caster sugar
65g cornflour
¼ cup good quality cocoa powder
1 tbs plain flour
1 tsp cream of tartar
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
50g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
Filling
100g butter, room temperature
150g chocolate, melted
3 cups icing sugar, sifted
1 tbs milk
1 packet Tim Tam biscuits, crushed
Preheat oven to 180°C and line two brownie tins or one large sheet cake tin with non-stick baking paper.
Whisk eggs and sugar with an electric mixer, whipping for at least six minutes.
Sift in flours, cocoa, cream of tartar and bicarb soda, then fold to combine.
Spoon into prepared tin/s and bake for around 10-12 minutes.
While cake is cooling, beat butter until light and fluffy before adding icing sugar. Add chocolate, crushed Tim Tams and milk, then sandwich between the two cakes. (If using one tray, cut cake in half.)
To make ganache, slowly heat cream in a small saucepan and pour over chocolate to melt. Stir, then pour over the cake.
Mireille Kilgour has been an entrepreneur for 35 years in the hospitality sector. French born, she has been an accomplished business owner and operator for a number of Sydney venues. Leading the industry with high profile institutions such as Lamrock Café Bondi, she has endless passion for the industry, and now has the pleasure of supporting restaurants to fill their tables with the new Good Food Gift Card program.