Savour 2007 (Part 1)


Well, I am sure there were a few people glad that this is overwith.. and celebrated the success of the event with their feet up enjoying a glass of wine.

And deservedly so. While I had few disappointments, they mostly had to do with concurrent classes and my inability to physically be in two places at once. Also disappointing is the fact that it was months ago and I have been trying to get out an update ever since. So to avoid any further delay, here it is in 'small bites'.

Saturday began with a class on San Francisco comfort food. Nancy Oakes and her husband, Bruce Aidells, led the class talking about comfort food, its meaning to them and how it is represented at Boulevard, her award winning San Fran restaurant. There was some couple banter (not the warm and fuzzy stuff) and the audience got a rare sneak peek of a talented, busy couple who never get the time to cook together.

Nancy's philosophy is to use as local ingredients as possible and her mussel recipe truly suited the local green-lipped variety. They tasted nothing short of spectacular.

Next up was a treat, Geoff Lindsay and sous chef Adam d'Sylva gave a captivating expo of technique and talent with a serving of dishes from Lindsay's Melbourne restaurant, pearl. The session led through preparation ending with the tasting. Contented ooh-ing followed the entrée (shown here - a watermelon marinated feta & sunflower shoot salad with a clear tomato jelly), mains and the dessert, a (organic) rose petal ice cream sprinkled with fine diced turkish delight served on a bed of pashmak (aka persian fairy floss), added the ahh.


(Note: Pashmak is available at a few NZ gourmet shops and here by mail order.)

I think I'll have to second the many in attendance who will be seeing Guy Stanaway either on stage or on telly later on. This 23 year old hotshot (he fully deserves that descriptor - look at this amazing achievement!) presents himself well and is unnervingly calm under 'pressure' of the kitchen. Makes sense. Guy's mum was a popular caterer and his father, a lawyer (or so I overheard). In any case, the culinary wunderkind surely and truly has a long career ahead of him. And his class focussed on a favourite, lemons! Savoury uses of lemons.. pairing them with some of the spices I like in a tagine and to garnish. A recipe for one of his dishes appears in this months issue of cuisine.

Part 1/3

Comments

Shaun said…
Mary - I'm jealous! How great that you were able to go and savour "Savour". Thanks for the write-up. I thought for half a second about going, especially to hear Tamasin Day-Lewis, but decided against it to spend more time with friends as I don't see them as often as I should now that I have moved back to NZ. It is great that we have another NZ chef on the rise, someone to boost our profile a little more, instead of letting the pressure rest on poor Mr. Gordon, who must get tired waving the flag.
Barbara said…
I've read more about Guy Stanaway since you mentioned him when we were in Dunedin. Sounds like he will go far.
Mary said…
Hi Shaun ~ I had that second thought two years ago. Because it's biannual, I was a little more inclined to go. Tamasin Day-Lewis did a simple segment based around two dishes.. one of which was a lush white chocolate raspberry tart.
I'll second the company for Mr. Gordon. There are many candidates around who've done the hard yards already. Overall, it's just good to see more Kiwi chefs get some well deserved recognition.

Hi Barbara ~ I've been reading a few things too and was surprised that it has taken so long to filter out to the media. And you're right, Mr. Stanaway has an amazing opportunity for experience lying ahead of him, I wish him the best of it.
I've been wondering how this year's Savour NZ went - great to hear that you enjoyed it! I was there in 2005 and we were trying to plan a trip back to co-incide with this year's event but that had to be put on hold when one of the Husband's sisters got married in January. I've my fingers crossed for 2009 - perhaps we should have a bloggers meet up at it?!

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