Everyone needs a Graham.

He's the chef at the Lincoln.

And he cooks with love.

How much love?

This much love.



They hang their meat at the Lincoln and this is the 21 day aged beef...the cut, rump.
Served with roasted beets, feta, mint, hazelnuts and drizzled in hazelnut oil.

It is pretty much a combination of everything I love.

Staff meal?
It pays to be called Fuzzball.

It appears

that a BROAST is happening at my house at the moment.

BROAST; a hipster invented compound noun.
Bro-roast.
Bros who roast.
Guys with skinny jeans sitting in the kitchen with vegetables, using cookie sheets as roasting trays and two legs of lamb which are being stuffed with herbs, that will probably dry out in the oven instead of cook, talking about macking on underaged girls. I'm not a self-proclaimed feminist, but at least I have dignity.

Me (returning from the market)- Dude, you know that beetroots take around three to four hours to cook...and those are huge.
Boy 1- Oh...well, we can microwave them.
Me- *facepalm*

I would take a photo, but I would also go for a run if it didn't just rain the entirety of the Seine on my head.

God help me.
Oh, and my knives! Oh, my knives! Enough to use exclamation marks for poignancy.

Here, watch a video of a NT pig eating grass instead.

Blood for your Blood?

My friends were doing a performance called After for the Streets of Melbourne festival over the weekend and I was their personal kitchen bitch for the time.

The first night saw a lot of clambering and hiking bags full of ingredients, fridge cramming and impromptu cooking.

I made a bastardisation of Borscht from the ingredients they had. I know, hiking bags full, and still no cabbage or oink-oink.

One of the reasons for the Borscht, other than these being the first ingredients found, that their hearts all exploded on CentrePlace. It only seemed fitting.

Borscht
Serves 6
(and then some)

1 lamb shank, salted
2 cloves of garlic
2 beetroots, trimmed and diced
1 large carrot, diced
1 large onion, diced
1 large leek, diced
1 large potato, diced
vegetable stock, to cover, and some extra
2 bay leaves
Salt
freshly cracked pepper
1/2 a bunch of parsley, chopped
yogurt


Seal the shank in a heavy pot, and reduce the heat. Add the garlic, onion, carrot, leek, potato and saute till translucent. Add the beetroot and cover with the vegetable stock and bay leaves. Bring to the boil and then simmer for 3 hours, skimming the scum off the top.
Scum bucket

When the shank is fork-tender, remove the meat from the bone, shred and return to the pot. Season to taste.
Stir in half the parsley.

Mix the yogurt with the rest of the parsley and dollop over the top of the soup when serving.

Before the Aftermath

So, tonight is strange. Stories and stories and stories, told and told and told.

So, it is only fitting that I murdered vegetables tonight.


Remember that stock you made yesterday? Well, heat it up and strain out the vegetables. Keep it hot.



This is kind of almost the mise en place. Here, there is diced garlic, and onion as well as risotto rice and Girgar butter.


And yes, I like to drink while cooking.


Melt the butter in a low heated pan with olive oil.


Add the onions and garlic and sweat.


Oh, and check it. Wrinkly beetroots that have been roasted in an oven for three hours at 160, wrapped in foil.


I peeled them. MURDER!!! Just look at the hands.


By now, the onions and garlic would have sweat. Add the Carnaroli rice and toss till it goes translucent.


Dice the beetroot. Yes, it is still bloody hot and burn-worthy.


RICE


ABSORBING


LIQUID


Add the beetroot when it is almost ready.


Grate some parmesan. You can see here that I got over the little ones and just started grating on the 'normal' size because it was going to melt anyways.


Add the butter and the parmesan.


Look, Dill...


Chop it finely.


Squeeze the juice of half a lemon


Over some washed rocket.


Add the dill to some yogurt and mix.



And, finally, plate it all up with the rocket and some lemon juice over the top, some of the dill yogurt and a few shaves of parmesan.
Usually this is redder, so it feels a bit weird.
Anywho, mix it all together and as my housemates say, eat the shit out of it.