French Revolution

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Zucchini filled with peas, mint soaked prunes, paprika, ricotta and caramelised balsamic red onion.

S
Lemon roasted asparagus spears resting on a tarragon beetroot mash topped with grated macadamias.

M
Nutmeg and coriander flavoured cauliflower and buckwheat fritters topped with a chive and goat cheese spread and served with sweet capsicum relish.

D
Figs two ways: (1) Stuffed with cinnamon ricotta, sage and walnuts and grilled with honey. (2) Poached in an orange and mint glaze then served with an apricot cream and sweet pistachio dust.

Like what you see? All you need to do is send me an email...introduce yourself (name, age and what you do), tell me your favourite food and put together a pitch of why i should cook for you. Good luck!

Global Gobbler guest #2 - Cat

Name: Cat
Age: 24
Occupation: Creative genius – too good for acting school
Favourite food: Anything Thai
Why she deserves the Global Gobbler experience: I've eaten my way around the world, love everything involving food and i'm food critic waiting to happen!

The Verdict

I’ve been to a lot of places in the world and eaten a lot of different sorts of food but Denmark is somewhere I’ve never quite gotten to, nor have I any experience of Danish food, save for the token pastries, back in the good old gluten days.

I’m not convinced that Saturday nights meal has brought me any closer to experiencing the delights of Danish cuisine, however, I certainly experienced a creative array fusion dishes, containing many of my favourite foods presented in captivatingly adventurous ways.

My main criticism of Joel’s experimentation has nothing to do with the ingredients used- so many marvellous flavours ingeniously combined- it rather lies mainly in the presentation and portion sizes- small things I know, but definitely aspects worth perfecting for a special meal.

The soup was lovely and thick, delicately flavoured with thyme, and the sweetness of the fig and crunch of the walnuts gave great texture to the dish. The caramelized onion could perhaps have been finely sliced and stirred through rather than blended with the soup to make its presence more obvious. Perhaps try experimenting with another herb so that the thyme in the soup or garnish has something to complement it? Sage with the figs? Garnish with black cracked pepper and salt.

The hollowed cucumber certainly looked impressive when it was served, and I would have been impressed by anyone who could have managed a whole plate of this dish. Delicious, yes, but far too big- especially with the expectation of desert limiting my capacity to consume savoury items.

The filling of the cucumber was really interesting and inventive, the consistency could have been more solid for my taste, perhaps add more avocado? I liked the cucumber’s texture and colour in combination with the filling but perhaps find a way to combine the two in a way that makes it possible to finish the whole plate.

Chickpeas are a real favourite- especially when you can tell your host has gone to the trouble to do all the soaking themselves. The best part of this dish was the nigella seeds that add an interesting quality to the standard combination of spinach and chickpea.

The garnish-like addition of tomato was like a meal in itself- knowing my inability to consume large amounts of raw tomato I spread the garlic (yum!) mix across just a few slices of tomato. Slicing the tomato more thinly without altering the quantity of garlic used would look attractive and be more realistic for a small stomach! Maybe look for a larger variety of tomato that gives wide slices that can be thinly sliced.

Talk about saving the best till last! This desert is ingenious. All the flavours combine well to make a desert that is rich in flavour but not heavy- sweet but not sugary and seemingly decadent without being sinful.

My suggestion for these combinations would be to stir the macadamia nuts through the carob coconut oil mix rather than through the yoghurt and set in a conical shape. That way you can really get a good mouthful of the mix- and it draws the eye upward- which is uplifting for the spirit too! There should be more food feng-shui! The quantity of the yoghurt mix rather overpowered the carob part in the horizontal fashion that the desert was presented- literally smothering it, my preference would have been to drizzle a small amount of the lavender infused yoghurt as a sort of dressing that would complement the carob rather than compete with it. Top the conical mould with honey comb and garnish with lavender and I am in heaven!

Thanks Joel for combining great food and great conversation- and for inspiring me to get inventive in the kitchen, and really think seriously about the marathon!

xx

A Danish Delivery - RIP 18 December 2007

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Carrot, thyme and caramelised onion soup topped with shredded red cabbage, figs, walnuts, thyme and olive oil.

Chef Notes
The onions made the soup so sweet and combined with the figs I thought it may be a little overwhelming as an entrée but the cabbage cut through and gave it a surprising texture – maybe could’ve done with some sort of spice…nutmeg…paprika…




S
Hollowed cucumber filled with a cream of avocado, sage soaked raisins, lemon juice and zest, shallots, alfalfa sprouts and cinnamon and served with grated red radish, sesame seeds and raisin juice.

Chef Notes
Hollowing the cucumbers proved more difficult than I thought and ideally they would have been thinner. The filling didn’t quite achieve the taste I was expecting – next time either less raisins or more avocado – radish was a last minute addition some presentation value.







M
Thyme cooked chickpeas pan fried with nigella seeds, red onion, lemon juice and baby spinach. Served with thinly sliced roma tomatoes topped with roasted garlic fresh basil and olive oil paste.

Chef Notes
Nigella seeds made this dish – less dusty than cumin and not as sharp as caraway – a little more salt when frying the chickpeas would have been ideal. Tomatoes…perhaps could have been grilled with the garlic paste on top?


D
Lavender infused yogurt served on frozen carob, coconut oil and honey slice ganache and accompanied by a chunk of honeycomb and fresh lavender.

Chef Notes
Presentation was disappointing – I though the yogurt would have thickened more than it did but the taste of both ganache and yogurt was just what I wanted – macadamias could have been honey roasted maybe. Take II of the dish later that night when Cat had left turned out slightly better.

First cut followed by Take II

A Danish Delivery

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Carrot, thyme and caramelised onion soup topped with shredded red cabbage, figs, walnuts, thyme and olive oil.

M
Thyme cooked chickpeas pan fried with nigella seeds, red onion, lemon juice and baby spinach. Served with thinly sliced roma tomatoes topped with roasted garlic fresh basil and olive oil paste.

S
Hollowed cucumber filled with a cream of avocado, sage soaked raisins, lemon juice and zest, shallots, alfalfa sprouts and cinnamon and served with grated red radish, sesame seeds and raisin juice.

D
Lavender infused yogurt served on frozen carob, coconut oil and honey slice ganache and accompanied by a chunk of honeycomb and fresh lavender.

Denmark...hopefully there aren't any Danes who want a taste of home... Same process as last time - an email introducing yourself and telling me why I should cook for you and these once-off flavours could be yours to enjoy. Don't delay - globalgobbler@gmail.com

Global Gobbler guest #1 - Mary-Jo

Name: Mary-Jo
Age: 29
Occupation: Chinese medicine practicioner
Favourite food: Olives
Why she deserves the Global Gobbler experience: In exchange for all those needles and cups!

The Verdict

The photo at the start of the ‘Imagining India’ post isn’t the way I’d imagine India – I think Indian food and I think of dahl, curries, pappadums even. The India Joel imagines is fresher and more deconstructed, you can see and taste each separate ingredient, even as you appreciate their sometimes unconventional combining.

We started with a thin slice of nashi pear, its cool crunch contrasting with smooth blended avocado, cumin and tahini, topped with carrot, plump currants and spiked with mint leaves. This is visually appealing food, with bright colours more evocative of India than the food itself – bright orange carrot against avocado green and the white disc of pear

The side was visually spectacular. A pale red yoghurt accented by greens of cucumber and mint. It also tasted amazing, the roasted tomato and paprika yoghurt was the perfect accompaniment to thin ribbons of cucumber, red onion, mint, and sneaky green chilli lurking to give a cool heat. There were also cumin-roasted cashews, again a balance of smooth and crunchy, cool and hot, red and green.

I managed to eat both of my grilled eggplant steaks and the sweet potato mash flavoured with tamarind and coconut milk, though I was filling up at this point, maybe my fault for bringing wine and beer along! The texture of this course was great, the potatoes grated then slowly cooked rather than simply boiled and mashed yet remained creamy thanks to the coconut milk, and freshened by the fresh coriander garnish.

Dessert was so good I ate it all - what I thought was almond cake turned out to be lemon-infused millet with coconut shavings. Sweetness was provided by a slow-cooked sauce of crushed dates, cardamom, cumin, cinnamon, nutmeg and star anise that had spent all day simmering. The dessert maintain a fresh taste through the bed of fresh mint it was served on and the lemon zest garnish.

A lot of effort went into designing and creating this food, and all I had to do was appreciate it…. it was so good I even did the dishes! The outdoor setting was perfect for a Melbourne summer’s night, althoughthe mosquitos also had a tasty meal.

Global Gobbler is a once in a lifetime experience I (my belly in particular) won't forget in a hurry. Now to organise my ticket to India...

Imagining India - RIP 1 December 2007

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Canapé of nashi pear topped with cumin, avocado and tahini paste, finely grated carrot, mint tea soaked currants, fresh mint leaves and cumin.

Chef Notes
Went down well – was trying to go for something completely refreshing to start things off and the nashi and mint combined well. Perhaps a little too much tahini or the avocados were a little overripe. Maybe could have done with some sesame seeds.

S
Shaved cucumber, red onion, Vietnamese mint, lemon juice and green chilli salad set in a soup of yogurt and paprika roasted tomatoes and topped with cumin roasted cashews.

Chef Notes

Didn’t know how this would turn out – thought it might be too many flavours with the paprika, cumin and chilli – was perhaps fortunate to forget the grated turmeric although the strong orange would combined well with red soup and green salad. A little more chilli next time to so the experience isn’t comfortably mundane.

M
Slow roasted eggplant topped with a tamarind and coconut sweet potato puree and fresh coriander.

Chef Notes
Haven’t had much experience with tamarind and perhaps overdid it a bit… But the coconut milk and fresh coriander offset any over-powering sweetness.




















D
Lemon and coconut millet served on fresh mint leaves and topped with a reduction of dates, coconut milk, lemon juice, star anise, cinnamon, nutmeg, cumin, fennel seeds and cardamom pods.

Chef Notes
Was close to sweetening the millet with honey but glad I didn’t. The syrup had so many flavours that the 'bland' taste of millet was a perfect accompaniment. Fresh mint and lemon zest helped contrast the rich flavours.