LIFE L08

L8 THE AUSTRAL IAN F INANC IAL REV IEW MARCH 20 -22 ● 2009

FOOD

Fertile ground for seeds of a great ideaOne of the prize attributes of New Zealand’snewest luxury lodge, Otahuna, is a century-oldbotanic garden that is a veritable Eden for chefJimmy McIntyre. He has spent five years on theestate, recently overhauled at a cost of$8 million by owners Hall Cannon and MilesRefo from Manhattan. Cannon and Refoholidayed at the lodge a few years ago and sawan opportunity to restore the Queen Annemansion. They kept McIntyre and he has helpedbring a Relais & Chateau gong to the enterprise.Marguerite Winter talks to the talented chef.

Otahuna Lodge, near Christchurch,has a century-old botanic garden.

Photo courtesy Otahuna Lodge

I get to balance workand family because Idon’t need to work100 hours a weekChef Jimmy McIntyre

What ingredients from your heritagegarden are you cooking with now?The beginning of autumn and theend of summer are a special timein the Otahuna gardens as wehave the bounty of the summerplantings alongside the coolerevenings heralding the return ofthe mushroom season. We haveseven to eight tomato varieties attheir peak (see three-tomatogazpacho recipe, right) andhazelnuts are falling off the trees.We have had 4 kilograms ofporcini mushrooms so far fromunder the oaks. The mulberry treehas nearly finished its season; wejust have to beat the birds to thefruit. The chillies are justcolouring up and we are stillgetting plenty of zucchini andsquash blossoms – they’refantastic stuffed with a creamychevre and coated in a crisptempura batter with salsa vierge.Sweetcorn picked and eaten on theday makes a beautiful soup. Not tomention the potatoes, pumpkins,artichokes, gooseberries, quince,almonds, peaches, pears andapples and many many more.

What suppliers are you using fromthe Canterbury region, which has areputation for fine food and wine?We are lucky enough to have free-range organic ducks from a localproducer in Tai Tapu, our localvillage and a fantastic butcher whohelps butcher our own lamb, porkand beef. He also dry-cures andsmokes an amazing bacon. Wemake our own prosciutto andsausages. In the winter, we canbuy white and black truffles. Thiswill be my fourth year using localtruffles and we open the lodge upto casual diners, which is a treatfor locals and a great way for themto experience the Otahuna truffledinners. The most amazingsaffron comes from Central Otago,our southern neighbours.

Why a cooking career?My stepfather was a chef and Istarted annoying him and hischefs at the age of 11 years. I leftschool at 15 and went straight intothe kitchen full time. I wasn’tallowed to cook and had to washdishes for two years.

The best meal you ever cooked?That is a hard one because I feel

that as the seasons evolve andmore produce comes on, thecombination just gets better andbetter. It would be silly to sayevery dish is amazing, as everyday is different and not everythinggoes according to plan. However,I did this menu last week:Sweetcorn soup with avocado,lime and grilled tiger prawns;buffalo mozzarella with freshnectarine, prosciutto and rocket;braised canterbury duck leg,porcini mushroom tart withglazed carrots, green beans andhazelnuts; Whitestone Windsorblue with pear cheese; chocolateparfait with strawberry andmulberry salad.

Why is Otahuna a good place foryou at this stage of your career?I cook what I want using thefreshest produce. One of ourgardeners owns Tai Tapu heritageseeds and, as a result, we havemany varieties of heirloom andheritage vegetables, some of whichare very rare, not to mention tasty.I can open my kitchen windowsand listen to the birds and watchas native wood pigeons feed only afew metres away. I have anamazing sous chef, Jeremy. But,most important, I get to balancework and family because I don’tneed to work 100 hours a week.

Have you a favourite utensil?My zester – the amount of flavourI get out of a little citrus zest isincredible.

THREE-TOMATO GAZPACHO

Jimmy McIntyre uses GreenZebra, Gold Nugget (yellow) andBloody Butcher (red) tomatovarieties for this recipe. Allowone medium-sized tomato perperson for each of the threesoups. This will make enoughsoup for seconds. Core andquarter the three types oftomatoes and place them one typeat a time in an electric mixerfitted with a paddle. Add a littlesalt and turn the mixer to lowspeed. Run until the tomatoes arethoroughly broken into a pulpyslush. (Do not use a blender orfood processor as it will introduceair leaving a foamy meringue.)

Transfer the mixer’s contents toa food mill fitted with the finestplate and mill tomatoes into abowl. Load the mixer with thesecond batch of tomatoes,quartered and salted as before,and paddle as before. Set the firstbatch of milled tomatoes asideand transfer the second batch tothe food mill over a clean bowl.Process the third colour oftomatoes the same way.

When all three varieties arepureed, check their consistency.They will have different texturesand flavours.

To ensure the soups greetrather than invade each other,you may need to add a little coldwater to achieve a liquid that iseasily pourable without being toorunny.

To start, season each soup withsalt only. If you find the soupssatisfying as they are, refrigerate

them until fully chilled – at leastfour hours. Or you could place thebowls over crushed ice.

Corn Salsa1 cup fresh whole kernel corn,blackened3 firm avocados diced1 fresh chilli seeded and choppedfinely1 tsp salt2 tablespoons fresh corianderchopped2 red peppers finely dicedZest and juice of 1 limeGround black pepperMix together and correct theseasoning.

Scallop Ceviche4 scallopsZest and juice of 1 limeAllow one scallop per person:slice off the roe and discard, slicethe scallop in half horizontally,add the lime zest, juice and saltand pepper to taste. Marinate inthe refrigerator for an hour,gently turn once or twice.

To servePlace a tablespoon of corn salsainto the centre of each chilledsoup bowl and lay two slices ofscallop on top. Use two ladles andscoop up about 1⁄3 of a cup of twoof the soups and pour themevenly into the far side of thebowl, allowing them to flowtowards you. Ladle an equalamount of the third to the front ofthe bowl at the line where thefirst two meet.