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Sunday lunch at home with Peter Gilmore

Peter Gilmore

Chef Peter Gilmore cooking in his home kitchen.
Chef Peter Gilmore cooking in his home kitchen.Christopher Pearce

Is it possible to make a Peter Gilmore dish with just four ingredients? Turns out, it is. You can make a Sunday lunch that is both showstopping and simple. Really.

Peter Gilmore. Gardener, abalone whisperer and The Good Food Guide 2019 Citi Chef of the Year. Gilmore's cookbooks Quay, Organum and, most recently, From the Earth showcase heirloom vegetables and the chef's visionary technique in beautiful detail. What's even rarer than a Kyoto red carrot, however, are recipes for what Gilmore loves cooking in his downtime, when the roasting rack comes out and tweezers remain holstered. Food made for family and friends and long tables at the weekend.

"I like to cook quick, high-impact dishes at home," says the Quay and Bennelong executive chef. "One of my favourite things is Korean noodle soup with kimchi, while in the summer it's nice to throw something on the verandah barbecue and serve it with a simple salad. Having central dishes on the table is a really nice thing to do – it's that element of sharing and passing the food that's lovely with family or a few friends."

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Good Food asked Gilmore to supply a collection of recipes to create a cracking family lunch and what follows is the chef's modern version of a traditional Sunday roast. "I love the idea of something celebratory hitting the table – like a rack of lamb, whole fish or beautiful roast chicken – and people can help themselves. Carving at the table is wonderful, too. People used to table-carve all the time and it's become a bit of a lost art."

Callan Boys

Chef Peter Gilmore's roast rack of lamb with rosemary salt recipe.
Chef Peter Gilmore's roast rack of lamb with rosemary salt recipe.Christopher Pearce

Roast rack of lamb

It's a bit old fashioned, but I find roasting a rack of lamb is a lovely thing to do. The anchovy, lemon and parsley butter stirred through the potatoes works really well with the lamb, too.

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INGREDIENTS

2 x 8-boned French lamb racks (ask your butcher to French trim your lamb racks)

2 heaped tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary

2 tsp fine sea salt

100ml olive oil

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METHOD

1. Preheat your oven to 200C. Mix the rosemary and sea salt together and lightly season the lamb racks with half the sea salt and rosemary.

2. Heat a heavy-based frying pan on the stove until hot. Add a drizzle of olive oil and place the lamb racks in the hot pan and sear all the sides. Once well coloured, remove the lamb racks and place on a cake rack in a roasting tray.

3. Roast the lamb in the oven for about 20-25 minutes. This should produce a medium rare to medium lamb rack. Remove from the oven, season with the remaining rosemary salt and drizzle with the remaining olive oil. Allow to rest for 10 minutes before serving. Place the lamb racks on a platter and garnish with fresh rosemary sprigs if available.

Serves 4

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Chef Peter Gilmore's steamed baby kipfler potatoes with anchovy, parsley and lemon butter recipe.
Chef Peter Gilmore's steamed baby kipfler potatoes with anchovy, parsley and lemon butter recipe.Christopher Pearce

Steamed baby kipfler potatoes with anchovy, parsley and lemon butter

Kipflers are just a really nice tasting potato, especially when they're young and simply boiled.

INGREDIENTS

1kg small kipfler potatoes, washed, with skin on

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100g unsalted butter

small bunch parsley

5 anchovy fillets

1 lemon

sea salt to taste

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1 tsp ground black pepper

METHOD

1. Place a large pot of water on the stove and bring to the boil. Add a couple of pinches of sea salt and boil the kipfler potatoes on a medium heat for about 20 minutes, or until tender.

2. Place the butter in a bowl and allow to soften. Finely chop the parsley and anchovy fillets and remove the zest of one lemon with a Microplane. Add the chopped anchovies, parsley and lemon zest to the butter, add a good pinch of sea salt and a teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper. Mix through the butter well.

3. When the potatoes are tender, drain them and place into a serving dish. Add the flavoured butter and mix well.

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Serves 4

Chef Peter Gilmore's spring pea and bean salad recipe.
Chef Peter Gilmore's spring pea and bean salad recipe.Christopher Pearce

Salad of spring peas, beans, goat's feta, pepitas

This salad makes the most of all the beautiful spring produce around at the moment. Reducing verjuice is something we do at Bennelong to give a nice bit of sweetness and acid to the dressing.

INGREDIENTS

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200ml semillon or other white wine-grape verjuice

1 eschallot finely diced

fine sea salt to taste

50ml extra virgin olive oil

100g small snowpeas

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100g sugar snap peas

50g Roman or flat beans

50g shelled peas

50g double shelled broad beans

50g roasted pepitas

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100g goat's feta

small bunch mint leaves

small bunch basil leaves

METHOD

1. Place the verjuice into a small saucepan and reduce over a high heat until 50 millilitres remains. Place the finely diced eschallot into a small bowl. Pour the reduced verjuice over the finely diced eschallot. Add a pinch of sea salt and mix well. Add the virgin olive oil, mix well and put aside.

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2. Top and tail the snow peas, snap peas and Roman beans. Bring a large pot of water to the boil and have a large pot of iced water standing by. Blanch all the peas and beans in the boiling water for one minute, strain and refresh in the iced water. Drain the iced water and place the peas and beans into a large bowl. Pour the dressing over and mix well. Place the peas and beans on a serving platter and lightly season with sea salt. Crumble over with the goat's feta, sprinkle over the roasted pepitas, garnish with mint and basil leaves.

Serves 4

Moscato D'asti granita with fresh raspberries and yoghurt

This is such a simple dessert that you can store in the freezer and forget about until it's time to eat. Serve it in any type of glass you like.

Photo: Supplied
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INGREDIENTS

500ml moscato d'Asti

200ml water

100g castor sugar

1 vanilla bean

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10 raspberries

2 punnets raspberries for garnish

200g Greek-style sweetened yoghurt

METHOD

1. To make the granita, place the moscato d'Asti, water and sugar into a saucepan. Add one split and scraped vanilla bean and 10 raspberries. Mix well with a whisk and lightly crush the raspberries. Place the saucepan over a high heat and bring to the boil. Boil for only one minute, turn off the heat and strain the mixture through a fine sieve into a shallow bowl or tray suitable to be placed in your freezer. Allow the liquid to cool completely, stir and place in your freezer.

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2. After about one hour stir the mixture and return to the freezer. Allow to set into solid ice overnight. The next day, using a fork, scrape the ice to form ice crystals. Return to the freezer and store until required.

3. To serve, layer granita, yoghurt and fresh raspberries in a serving glass. Serve immediately.

Serves 4

The Good Food Guide's second annual national edition, with hats awarded across Australia, was launched on October 8 with our presenting partners Vittoria Coffee and Citi. The Good Food Guide 2019 is on sale in newsagencies, bookstores and via thestore.com.au/gfg19 (delivery included), RRP $29.99.

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