PETER GORDON : A CULINARY JOURNEY

by Peter Gordon, with photography by Jean Cazals.

Published by Penguin Group (NZ) RRP$70

Growing up in a small town in New Zealand, Peter Gordon didn’t discover avocadoes or sushi until he moved to Australia in his late teens. From there he travelled to Asia where a whole new culinary world opened before his eyes.
Often dubbed the ‘father of Fusion cuisine’ — a culinary style that integrates various regional flavours and cooking techniques in order to create innovative new tastes — Peter reveals in Peter Gordon: A Culinary Journey how he developed his unique culinary philosophy, influenced by his travels around the world, exploring different cuisines, foods, tastes and cooking ideas.
Illustrated with stunning photography from renowned photographer Jean Cazals, Peter takes us on a journey through Asia, Europe and the Pacific and presents 80 delicious recipes plus the key ingredients that epitomise Fusion cuisine.

‘The style of food I love cooking, the food that is my life’s passion and which, ultimately, I find the most exciting and rewarding of all, is Fusion cuisine.’ - Peter Gordon

A handsome, delicious book - it really is mouth-watering - which The Bookman is thrilled to add to his kitchen cookery bookshelf.

About the author
UK based, Peter Gordon co-owns The Providores and Tapa Room in London with Michael McGrath, consults to Istanbul’s Changa and Muzedechanga restaurants, and has a signature restaurant, dine by Peter Gordon, and Bellota tapas bar in Auckland, New Zealand.

Peter has published five cookbooks previously. Peter Gordon: A Culinary Journey is his signature cookbook. He has also appeared on various TV programmes on BBC, Discovery, Channel 4 and the Carlton Food Network, as well as on networks in New Zealand and the US and writes for a number of publications around the world.

For further details see http://www.peter-gordon.net/.

About the photographer

Jean Cazals is a London-based food photographer. He shoots from his studio based in Notting Hill when he isn’t travelling overseas for his international clients. His approach is clean, graphic and moody, based on natural light, and elegant styling and food presentation. Jean’s time is divided between editorial, advertising and books.

EVENTS
To celebrate the release of his book, Peter will be in New Zealand conducting a series of luncheon events held in association with NZ House & Garden magazine in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.
For more information see http://www.penguin.co.nz/.

Auckland in-store book signing at Cook the Books,

81 Ponsonby Rd, Ponsonby

Saturday 3 October, 12.00-12.30pmph (09) 360 6513

Auckland in-store book signing at Sabato

57 Normanby Rd, Mt Eden

Saturday 3 October, 1.00-1.30pmph

(09) 630 8751

Auckland luncheon at dine by Peter Gordon

In association with NZ House & Garden

SkyCity Grand Hotel

Monday 5 October and Tuesday 6 October, 12.30–2.30pm

Cost: $75 per person

To book contact: Sarah McDonald,(09) 363 7039 or emailmailto:emailsarah.mcdonald@skycity.co.nz

Christchurch luncheon at Canterbury Tales RestaurantIn association with NZ House & Garden Crowne Plaza

Wednesday October 7, 12.30–2.30pm

Cost: $75 per person

To book contact: Michelle Hodge,(03) 371 0716 or emailmailto:emailexecsec@crowneplazachristchurch.co.nz

Wellington luncheon at Shed 5

In association with NZ House & Garden

Thursday 8 October, 12.30–2.30pm

Cost: $65 per person, $95 with matching wines

To book contact: Astrid Cottereau,(04) 916 4235 or email astrid@shed5.co.nz

Wellington in-store book signing at Moore Wilson

Cnr Tory & College StsThursday

8th October, 3.30-4.00pmph (04) 384 9906

Footnote:

The Bookman is especially fond (huge understatement) of roast pork belly and has it whenever he spots it on a menu. Peter Gordon's Five-spice roast crispy pork belly is the best he has ever eaten and with kind permission of Peter and his publishers he is pleased to reproduce below the recipe from the new book

Five-spice roast crispy pork belly with apple & sweet potato mash, roast shallots & coriander salsa verde

Pork belly, roasted like this, is always a favourite at any restaurant I’ve cooked at. I guess people find it hard and fiddly to prepare at home, so tend to eat it when they dine out. Sweet potatoes and apples aren’t naturally occurring bed fellows, but I think they’re a match made in heaven – the sourness from the apples works as a lovely foil to the rich buttery potatoes, and the combination goes so well with the pork. The coriander salsa verde gives the whole dish a South-East Asian feel and the freshness that coriander offers again works well with the fatty belly. At work, leftover trimmings from this get blitzed up in a food processor and cooked out with coconut milk, chilli paste, gapi (shrimp paste) and fish sauce to be served on betel leaves as a tasty canapé. Or we cut the trim into cubes and braise it briefly with star anise, soy and boiled potatoes – for the best staff meal ever.

For 8

2 kg pork belly, rib bones removed
3 Tbsp five-spice
5 large carrots, peeled and halved lengthways
8–16 banana shallots (depending on their size)
4 star anise, roughly crushed
15 ml (1 Tbsp) sesame oil
45 ml (3 Tbsp) olive oil
700 g potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks
700 g sweet potatoes, peeled and halved lengthways
150 g butter
3 Granny Smith apples
1 Tbsp rosemary (or sage) leaves, roughly chopped
4 Tbsp grain mustard
3 Tbsp capers, drained or rinsed and roughly chopped
zest and juice of 2 limes
a small handful of coriander, leaves and stem, shredded

Score the rind and fat of the belly in lines 1 cm or less apart, avoiding cutting down into the flesh. A Stanley knife, or a sharp boning knife is the best thing to use for this – or ask your butcher to do it. Mix the five-spice with 50 g of fine salt and rub this into the skin side of the belly. Place in a deep plastic container or casserole, skin side facing down and leave for 20 minutes in a cool place. Pour on enough cold water to cover by 2 cm (although the belly may float) and place in the fridge for 24–48 hours.

When you’re ready, take the belly from the brine and discard the brine. Turn the oven to 190 ºC. Line a roasting dish with baking parchment and lay the carrots in it side by side to form a trivet large enough to hold the belly. Sit the belly on top, skin side facing up, pour on 200 ml of water and roast for 2 hours or so, until the skin has bubbled up and become golden and crispy. You can in fact serve the pork at this stage straight from the oven, but what we do in the restaurant is slightly more time-consuming. Place the cooked belly on a clean tray lined with baking parchment, sit a sheet of paper on top of the belly and sit another tray on top. Balance a 2–3 kg weight on top (a few saucepans are good, or some bottled water or canned chickpeas!) to flatten the belly a little, without actually crushing it. Leave it to cool then place in the fridge, minus the weights, and it’ll be ready the next day. At this point the belly will keep for 4–5 days in the fridge. The next day take it from the fridge and cut it into 8–16 even-sized portions – using a serrated knife makes it a lot easier. Turn the oven to 180 ºC.

Place the shallots in a roasting dish with the star anise, sesame oil and 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, then pour in 120 ml of hot water. Roast in the lower part of the oven until you can easily insert a skewer through the shallots – around 45 minutes to an hour. After 20 minutes, you’ll need to cook the pork belly. Heat up a heavy-based pan and drizzle in a few teaspoons of vegetable oil.

Place the belly pieces in, skin side down, and cook over medium–high heat until the crackling begins to blister and pop – be careful as it can splatter a little. If the skin side of the belly is uneven and won’t cook as in the photo then simply press it down into the pan using the back of a pair of tongs or something similar.

Flip it over and cook for a minute on the flesh side. If you can’t fit all of the pieces into the pan at once then cook them in batches. Tip out any excess fat from the pan, otherwise it will be really smoky in the oven. Place the pan, if it’s ovenproof, into the upper part of the oven (or transfer it to a roasting dish lined with baking parchment) and roast for 30 minutes or so, at which point the skin will be lovely and crisp and the flesh tender.

While the belly is roasting boil the potatoes and sweet potatoes in a pot of lightly salted water until cooked – you can also make this using only kumara. Once cooked, drain and return to the pot. While that’s cooking heat the butter in a pan and cook to a nut-brown colour. Peel the apples if you want to (it’s not necessary) and cut into quarters. Remove the seeds and chop each quarter into 4–5 chunks.

Add to the nut-brown butter along with the rosemary, put a lid on, and cook over medium heat until the apples have stewed down and most of the juice has evaporated, stirring from time to time. Mash this into the potatoes and season with salt and pepper. To make the coriander salsa verde, mix the mustard into the remaining olive oil along with the capers, lime zest and juice and a little salt, then stir in the coriander.

To serve: Divide the mash and the roast shallots amongst your plates and place one or two chunks of roast pork belly alongside, then simply drizzle with the salsa verde and any roasting juices from the roast shallots.

EXTRACT COPYRIGHT DETAILS

An extract from Peter Gordon: A Culinary Journey with photography by Jean Cazals. Published by Penguin Group NZ. RRP $70.00. Available at all good booksellers nationwide. Copyright © Peter Gordon and Jean Cazals, 2009.