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Pot luck: why it's great to bring a plate

Carla Grossetti

Choose dishes that can be prepared in advance and served from the dish they are cooked in, advises Fresh Catering's executive chef Marco Adler.
Choose dishes that can be prepared in advance and served from the dish they are cooked in, advises Fresh Catering's executive chef Marco Adler.Supplied

The expression "bring a plate" has long been common parlance in Australia, so much so it that appears on an Australian Migration Office list of slang that new arrivals need to know.

As a cultural tradition, it permeates picnics, barbecues, school events, even Christmas lunch. And increasingly it seems, the dinner party.

The bring-a-plate or pot-luck phenomenon is making a comeback as people entertain on tighter budgets or with greater time constraints.

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“Before the GFC, there was so much outlandish 'food porn' out there and I admit, I watch all those foodie shows because it's fun, but on the tail-end of that, there's been a shift toward simple interactions rather than home cooks enduring stress tests like making a croquembouche,” says food historian Andrew Junor.

Sydney based publicist Sophie Moll hosts and attends pot-luck parties on a regular basis. She says her busy working life often precludes her from hosting a six-course feast, so asking friends to make a contribution enables her to arrange social occasions more often.

“When I want to entertain I have no qualms about asking friends to bring a plate as none of us have hours to spare slaving in the kitchen,” says Moll.

“We've just started up a monthly mezze feast at work. We all bring a dish and we put it all together on a long office table and it's fantastic. Last month we had dips, cheeses, beautiful bread, an antipasti platter, gluten-free wraps, quinoa tabouli and cannoli. My church also has a pot-luck gathering after the Sunday service each week and it's such a fun, social way to eat,” she says.

Fresh Catering's executive chef Marco Adler says his approach when bringing a plate to a barbecue or dinner party is to keep it simple. He also advocates making dishes that can be prepared in advance and served from the dish they are cooked in.

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“I work in hospitality and the pot-luck idea seems to be a growing trend. If you look at it from an economic standpoint, it takes a lot of pressure off the host. Not everyone can afford to host an extravagant party, so it brings a bit of humbleness to the party,” says Adler, who was awarded Caterer of the Year in 2013, as well as Best Caterer at a Major Event.

In summer, Adler suggests packing fresh salads, seafood, prawns or desserts such as trifle or tiramisu. In the cooler months, he says heartier dishes such as braised shanks or pork belly paired with a beautiful Paris potato mash can be heated up on arrival and enjoyed.

“As for transporting food, if it's perishable, you should limit the amount of time it's not refrigerated and transport it in sealed, airtight containers,” he says.

Gloria Dall'alba, a Brisbane-based university lecturer has 11 siblings and says get-togethers with her extended family are made easier because they all share the burden of preparing food. Dall'alba dismisses the notion that it's bad form to ask people to bring a plate and claims it's part of her cultural heritage.

“I'm Italian and some of my earliest memories are of pot-luck parties where everyone would bring a plate. It is not just an atypical tradition because of the size of my family… it's part of the Australian way of life,” says Dall'alba.

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“Pot-luck parties do need some kind of structure – you don't want five trays of lasagne,” she says.

”Although it's less random, giving a theme, such as seafood, is still broad, so there is still an element of surprise.”

Junor, a PhD candidate in historical studies at Melbourne's Monash University researches Australian food culture and its place in popular memory.

Marco Adler's recipes:

Roast pork belly with braised arrocina beans and chorizo

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Serves 10

Start this recipe three days ahead.

2kg pork bellies, bone in, skin on

1 tbs cumin seeds

1 fennel bulb, diced

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400g carrots, diced

1 x 500g bunch of celery, diced

360g brown onions, diced

4 cloves of garlic, peeled, chopped finely

3 tbs of olive oil

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1kg morcilla sausages*

1 bayleaf fresh

1 tsp fresh thyme leaves

500g Spanich chorizo

1.5kg arrocina beans*

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2.5L good-quality chicken stock

Parsley to garnish

Brine

¼ cup table salt

¼ cup sugar

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Peeled whole garlic cloves, sprigs of rosemary, thyme, sage, lemons, peppercorns.

For the pork belly, place all the brine ingredients in 2L of water and refrigerate for three days. Soak the arrocina beans overnight.

Heat the oven to 200C.

Place a heavy based pot over a medium heat. Heat 4 tbs of oil and fry the fennel, carrots, celery and onions for about five minutes, or until onions are translucent.

Add the garlic, thyme and bay leaves and fry for another 5 minutes.

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Meanwhile, place a separate saucepan over a medium heat and fry the diced chorizo until golden, then set aside. Discard the oil.

Add the chorizo to the vegetables, along with the beans and cover with chicken stock. Bring to the boil and simmer until the beans are tender.

Remove the pork belly from the brine and rinse thoroughly. Dry well with paper towel, transfer to a large ovenproof dish and score the skin with a sharp knife. Drizzle with remaining olive oil and rub with the cumin, fennel and salt mix. Cook for about 1.5 to 2 hours and cook until the skin is crisp and golden.

* Arrocina beans are also called white American beans and are available at supermarkets. Ask your local butcher for morcilla sausages.

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Torte di Verona

Serves 10

Ingredients for mascarpone mixture:

4 eggs

80g caster sugar

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240g mascarpone

40ml marsala

700g pandoro biscuits*

Sugar Syrup (for soaking biscuits)

30g caster sugar

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30ml water

80ml marsala

Blueberry sauce

60g frozen blueberries

30g caster sugar

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40ml water

Garnish

40g flaked almonds

200ml whipped cream, to serve

Heat oven to 180C. Separate the egg whites and yolks. Beat the egg yolks with 80g caster sugar until thick and creamy. In a separate bowl, beat eggwhites until soft peaks form. Place marsala and mascarpone in a large mixing bowl and gently fold in both egg mixtures.

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To make a sugar syrup, combine 30g of caster sugar with 30ml of water in a large saucepan over a high heat and bring to the boil. Remove from heat and, when the sugar syrup has cooled, add 80ml of marsala.

Cut the pandoro into squares and pour over the above marsala sugar syrup.

Place a small pot over a medium heat and add 60g blueberries, 30g caster sugar and 40ml water, simmer gently until it has reduced to a sauce consistency.

Place flaked almonds on a tray lined with baking paper and toast in the oven until lightly golden. Remove from oven and set aside.

To assemble, place some mascarpone mixture into a glass and top with the soaked pandoro. Top again with mascarpone, a swirl of piped whipped cream and a drizzle of blueberry sauce and scatter with flaked almonds.

* Pandoro is a traditional Italian sweet bread and is available from supermarkets.

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