A sustainable Christmas with Josh Niland
The Australian chef talks about Christmas at home in Sydney and offers tips on cooking and eating sensibly
JOSH NILAND made his name as a fish butcher – mastering the art of carving whole fish in a way where nothing goes to waste. That skill propelled his restaurant Saint Peter in Sydney into the limelight and this year, he opened his first overseas restaurant, Fysh, in the new Singapore Edition hotel.
With the festive holidays underway, BT Luxe caught up with Niland to share his Christmas plans and simple recipes that the home cook can prepare at home.
When you were growing up, was sustainability important in your family?
Absolutely. As kids, we were told to not be wasteful and to have a mindset of eating leftovers as well as maximising the use of a single product – whether that was a whole chicken or turning leftover roast lamb into fritters the next day. Mum and Dad also showed my sister and me the importance of composting in the small garden we had at home.
What was Christmas like for you when you were young?
Christmas Day traditions started with opening presents really early, going to church in the morning, then driving to my grandparents’ house for a traditional “hot roast lunch”. Then a long drive back to my other grandparents’ in the afternoon, where we would play cricket all afternoon and eventually have more of a cold style Christmas dinner of ham, prawns, salads and Pavlova.
Your cooking philosophy revolves around using every single part of the fish in your restaurants. Do you have any advice for home cooks on how they can follow your example?
My advice to home cooks is to start slow and apply this thinking to one or two things, rather than feel you need to overhaul your whole pantry in one day.
Start with a whole chicken, instead of just the thigh. If cutting it into a multitude of cuts is impractical, then cook the bird whole. Eat what you need for that meal, and the following day, take the leftover meat and mix it with mayonnaise for sandwiches. Or take the meat off the bone once cooked, then re-roast the bone and make a nice stock with vegetables that can be eaten with noodles and the remaining meat for a complete meal.
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You don’t have to be limited to chicken; it could be for a whole fish or even vegetables as well.
By doing what you do, do you hope to inspire young chefs to do the same?
Absolutely. The ambition has always been to not only inspire my team, but the broader community of cooks around the world. I believe innovation and creativity are born out of having a problem, and the problem that all chefs face is that we work with a finite product that is increasingly expensive and requires skilled hands to achieve a desirable outcome.
What’s the inspiration behind the Christmas menu that you have created for us?
It’s actually inspired by what we would usually have at Christmastime. My wife’s grandmother makes this delicious egg tart that is full of boiled eggs, creme fraiche, onions and caviar, so the egg tart was definitely inspired by her dip.
SEE ALSO
The radicchio is more a reference to the idea that vegetables don’t have to play second fiddle on the Christmas table, as it can stand on its own. Using fruits and nuts in the sweet and sour dressing makes it more Christmassy!
The grilled Aquna Murray cod is such a celebratory dish where the skin is as crunchy as pork skin, and the collars and head are like the juicy wings and meaty thighs of a roast turkey.
How do you celebrate Christmas, and what are your plans this year?
We celebrate Christmas Day firstly with presents at home with the kids, then we’re off to church and a long lunch with the family. That’s followed by a Boxing Day filled with food, family and hopefully a moment of rest and recovery.
Christmas tends to be a time of excess and yes, wastefulness. Do you have some practical tips on how to enjoy a sustainable Christmas?
Of course, always plan the big Christmas lunch or dinner, but at the same time, plan for the days to follow. Look at ideas now for how good a Christmas ham soup could be, using the bone and skin of the ham leg. Add the shells from cooked crabs or prawns into a batch of laksa, or even round up the last of the Christmas pudding and fold it through some store-bought ice cream for an insanely good Christmas pudding ice cream.
Biggest tip, though, is to buy only what you can consume, be responsible and, worst case, if you have leftovers, share the love with a neighbour.
Christmas menu
- Whole barbecued Aquna Murray cod with smoked eel gremolata
- Oxheart tomato and white peach salad
- Radicchio, cherry and hazelnuts
Whole barbecued Aquna Murray cod
- 1 whole Aquna Murray cod, 800 g, gutted and scaled
- 100 ml extra virgin olive oil
- Sea salt
- Black pepper
It is important when you take the cod out of the packaging you purchase it in, to firstly wipe it thoroughly inside and out and then transfer it to a wire rack. Place it in the refrigerator, and allow the fan in the fridge to dry the skin out overnight.
The next day, place the whole cod in the centre of a cutting board and begin to scissor the fins from the top of the fish and from the collars on both sides.
Prepare the charcoal grill. Make sure it is hot and the charcoal has cooked down to hot embers. Divide the coals across the floor of the charcoal grill to create a cooler side and a more intense side.
Remove the fish from the refrigerator at least 30 minutes before cooking. Brush the skin and head with a little oil and season liberally with salt flakes.
Place the body of the fish, skin side down, on a cake rack that sits on the grill bars over a high heat. Cook for three minutes on each side or until nicely coloured, then move it to the cooler side of the grill.
Cook the body for about 10 minutes on both sides, or until a probe thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the fish reaches 42 degrees Celsius at its thickest part. Remove from the heat and set the wire rack over a tray to rest.
Smoked eel gremolata
- 100 g good-quality hot-smoked eel, bones removed
- 4 lemons, juiced and zest grated
- 100 g finely grated horseradish
- 300 ml extra virgin olive oil
- Sea salt
- Black pepper
- 60 g Italian leaf parsley
Place the eel meat, lemon zest, garlic, horseradish and olive oil in a bowl. Stir to combine, then season to taste with salt, pepper and some lemon juice. Set aside at room temperature.
Oxheart tomato and white peach salad
- 3 large oxheart tomatoes
- 3 ripe white peaches
- 175 ml extra virgin olive oil
- 50 ml chardonnay or white wine vinegar with a pinch of sugar
- Sea salt
- Black pepper
Slice the tomatoes and peaches in a similar size. Combine the olive oil and vinegar in a bowl. Season the tomatoes well with salt and pepper and arrange on a plate with the peaches.
Whisk the dressing to combine, then spoon over the tomatoes and peaches.
Radicchio, cherry and hazelnuts
1 head radicchio, cut in half 6 Nicoise olives 12 cherries, halved 1 tsp tiny salted capers, rinsed 12 roasted hazelnuts, halved 1 tbsp agrodulce 1 tbsp hazelnut tahini Extra virgin olive oil and salt Brush the radicchio and cherries with olive oil and season with salt. Grill in Josper oven till tender and well toasted. Stir the grilled cherries, hazelnuts, capers, olives and agrodulce together. Use a squeeze bottle to dispense the tahini on a plate. Top with the radicchio and spoon the dressing over and around it.
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