Whatever the decision, the perfect winter-time accompaniments are a good cheese and an interesting biscuit to match.

Rosemary Gooch of Biscuits by Rosemary has provided this recipe for her mouth-watering fig and walnut biscotti.  Trading from her kitchen in the city, she sells gorgeous home-made biscotti, biscuits, shortbread, cakes and slices from the Farmers Market at Mt Claremont Primary School each Saturday between 08.30-11.30. Her fresh-baked, home-style products have been refined from a lifetime love of ‘mum’s recipe books’.

Fig and walnut biscotti

120g softened butter
220g white sugar
2 eggs
330g plain flour
2g baking powder
60g chopped dry figs
60g walnuts

Cream the butter and sugar together.  Add eggs.  Mix the flour and baking powder together.  Add  walnut and figs to the butter mix and fold through.  Add flour mix. Knead dough together (it will be sticky) and allow to rest for 30 minutes.  Form into 2 or 3 logs – dampen hands slightly if still sticky.  Bake for 30 minutes at 150C .  Let cool for 30 minutes then slice across width in 1cm slices and lay flat on a baking tray.  Cook until slightly brown and biscuit is firm.  Store in airtight container when cool.

Enjoy with a good strong cheese and a glass of the 2006 Treeton Special Blend.

John Simmonds

With a couple of bottle of warm Bulima lager at the end of the day, we were doing OK.

Then we ran out of fresh coffee.

Tim is an addict and I learnt in Boston that life is too short for bad coffee. We were down to an instant powder that had nothing to distinguish it except the guy on the can reaching ecstacy by drinking his morning mug. We failed to find excitement.

Then inspiration. At altitude and close to the equator, don’t they grow the stuff in places like this?

We were introduced us to a grower, and with prices at $2.50 per kilo for green beans, it was time to experiment. Wikipedia taught us the basics; Mathius, our cook, offered some experience.

His first batch was superb and we voted for a 2-3 day ‘aging’ to develop the best flavour. Then it was my turn. I was shown the process: a light tamp in the dolly-pot mortar to break the husk, a gentle flip in a basket to separate the broken husk onto the breeze, a careful removal of unbroken beans and then into a hot dry frying pan over an open fire.

The beans slowly darkened as I carefully stirred the pan to avoid burning. After ten minutes and with the first gentle aroma, I felt the job must be close. Oils sizzled out of the beans and began to darken the pan. Then disaster. The pan took on a life of its own and nothing I could do would stop the flames. Eventually extinguished, I had created the darkest of dark roasts with a strong front palate, back palate and nose of charcoal.

I retreated from the fire and handed the pan back. After dinner, Mathius brought in a tin of the finest local Arabica, freshly roast and ground. I gave my thanks and promised to try again. Can it really be that difficult?

John Simmonds

Across two weeks in Finland, spring had arrived.  The lake ice had melted and the last snow was fast vanishing from the high ground.

The birch and alder had come to bud and the woods echoed to the sound of nesting swans, woodpecker and cuckoo. The Arctic hare and fox were returning to their summer colours from the white of winter.

We took a weekend break in Oulu to catch up on communications.  Trusting to the Lonely Planet, we chose 1881 Uleaborg for dinner – an old wooden warehouse on the waterfront. With a choice of degustation or a la carte, it was hard to make up our minds.

Both of us chose the potato soup to start, with sliced shitake mushrooms, infused with truffle oil and foamed to the constency of a great cappuchino. For a pair of mushroom addicts, this was heaven

For the main meal, I chose fried breast of pidgeon with a bird comsommee and winter vegetable pot-au-feu and sour cream with fennel. The rare-cooked meat was perfecly matched to the aniseed of the fennel. Steve’s Arctic char poached in red wine, with fried lentils, vegetables in filo and beetroot sauce was a triumph.

The glass of 2007  Peter Lehmann Seven Surveys Grenache-Shiraz-Mourvèdre blend was a fine match to the richy flavoured pidgeon.  The Finns are lovers of fine reds and I look forward to introducing our wines into this most-approachable part of the Arctic.

The chef  was thankfully happy to share this beautiful soup recipe with me.  Thank you Johanna – I look forward to my next visit to your wonderful place!

Truffle flavoured Potato Soup with Shitake Mushroom Foam (for 4-6 persons)

For the soup:  Peel and slice 6 large firm potatoes into a pot. Add a mix of ‘runny’ cream and full-fat milk (your choice, depending on taste)  just to cover them up and simmer gently until cooked. Blend to a smooth texture, with a little extra milk if required. Flavour with salt, black pepper and 1 tablespoon of white truffle oil.

For the foam:  Simmer down 100ml of  fresh shitake mushrooms with 300ml of cream until there is one third of the cream remaining. Flavour with salt and black pepper. Blend the remaining mix, then add 50ml of non-fat milk and bring to the boil. Add a further 50ml of cold non-fat milk and whip air into the mushroom ‘soup’ with a small blender.

Place the potato soup into individual bowls. Add a few thin slices of shitake mushrooms on top of the warm soup and spoon the shitake mushroom foam on top.   A slash of grated nutmeg on top makes for an optional final touch.  Johanna’s suggestion is to

“Enjoy the soup with good spirit and nice people!”

And enjoy with a crisp white wine – perhaps the Treeton Estate 2008 Unwooded Chardonnay.

The secret of a great fish chowder is combining some ingredients that disintegrate into the soup and others that hold their form and texture.

Buying fish in Perth from the Crawley boatsheds caravan, I picked orange roughy fillet and one perfect swordfish steak.

Just past the Dawesville Cut, I pulled in to buy whiting fillets (perfect for the stock) and some local prawns. 

Two fresh loaves of olive ciabatta from the Lawley Bakery, purple Royal Blue potatoes and fresh parsley finished the shopping.

Ingredients (for 10 good servings)

1.5kg fish, cut into 3-4cm pieces

Optional: 0.5kg uncooked prawn flesh

0,5kg rindless bacon, cut into small strips

5 large onions, coarsely chopped

6-8 large potatoes, sliced to 0.5cm

Large bunch of parsley, chopped finely

Salt and a pinch of cayenne to taste. 

1-2 tablespoons  of flour.

Preparation time is maybe 25 minutes if you go slowly and enjoy the sunset.   In a (very) large saucepan, spread thin layers of the ingredients in the order: bacon, fish. onion, parsley, potato slices and then repeat.  Just cover the ingredients with water, bring to the boil and with the flame down to  a low simmer, you can walk away from the kitchen.  After 45 minutes, take a ladle of the stock and carefully blend the flour.  Pour this back into the saucepan and stir gently. Simmer gently for a further 10 minutes.

Serve at the table with your choice of bread and maybe a fresh green salad on the side.  White and red wines both go wonderfully with this dish:  I chose the 2008 Treeton Estate Chardonnay.

John Simmonds