Home Cook: Tasting Australia’s Paul Henry
In the lead-up to Tasting Australia, creative director Paul Henry takes a break from fine-tuning the festival program to let us know what happens inside his own kitchen and shares a favourite recipe.
Tasting Australia creative director Paul Henry.
Sine 1997, Tasting Australia has attracted an international audience to experience South Australia’s paddock-to-plate food culture.
UK-born wine writer and marketer Henry, when visiting Adelaide (including the Central Market) for the first time in the 1990s, said he believed South Australian food and wine was equal to the best the US, France and Italy had to offer.
He offers some insight into his interest in food (and wine) in this second instalment of InDaily’s Home Cook series.
In the kitchen I am …
Impossibly bossy.
The fridge is nearly empty – what do you do cook for dinner?
I always have courgettes and mint in the garden, so courgettes sautéed in oil, [with] ripped mint, salt and pepper. Add feta or pecorino if you are feeling lucky!
Most useful cooking tool?
An 8-inch cook’s knife. My greatest indulgence is a handmade Damascus-steel knife. I spent more on it than my car.
Three essential grocery items?
Easy – good olive oil, sea salt and fresh lemons.
How did you learn to cook?
Through trial, error and necessity – I went to an English boarding school so it was either learn to cook or starve.
Favourite restaurant?
Le Baratin in Paris – an old-school bistro with a killer wine list and new-school service. Nothing succeeds like courage, ambition and simplicity.
Favourite recipe?
2kg Goolwa pipis
500g Pangkarra linguine
Paris Creek butter
Chilli
Garlic
Olive oil
Sea salt
Parsley
Bottle of Jericho Fume Blanc
Steam the mussels in a splash of wine and some sautéed garlic; add chopped chilli, a knob of butter and a handful of torn flat-leaf parsley. Muddle.
Decant into al dente linguine. Correct with butter, salt, half a juiced lemon and a twist of pepper. Fill glass and repeat. Happy days!
Paul Henry joins co-director Simon Bryant and patron Maggie Beer in setting the direction for the 2016 Tasting Australia event, which runs from May 1 to May 8.
Read InDaily’s first Home Cook interview with Adelaide Writers’ Week director Laura Kroetsch here.
