29 September 2012

ISRAELI INFLUENCE AT IMA CUISINE

I have just put some artichoke hearts on to poach. I bought them at the Matakana farmers’market this morning and hopefully my purchase is going to get 11 year old Remo a step closer to accompanying his parents to Viet Nam. He’s growing vegies at home to sell. These artichokes are going to be served to some visitors tonight as a simple entrée. I intend to serve them with vinaigrette, some toasted pine nuts and a few herbs. That’s all.

I am encouraged into such simplicity by a ‘chef’s dinner’ I ate at Ima Cuisine in Fort St, Auckland. Owner and chef Yael Shochat had just returned from Israel, and created a six course menu of utter simplicity. It was pure inspiration for me. From the first bite to the last the emphasis was not on any smart new tricks, just new ideas and combinations – minimalism springs to mind, and yet I know lots of thought and careful preparation had gone into our dinner.

We started with a single perfect strawberry. Yael had tossed it in balsamic and herbs, it was rolled in crushed sesame seeds. That got our taste buds working. It’s spring of course, so next up, asparagus. Everyone should be serving asparagus whenever they can now it‘s finally in abundance. We were served just two spears each (see what I mean about minimalist?) They were magnificent, wrapped in warqua pastry and served with fresh green basil oil. Warqua pastry is that paper thin, crunchy pastry that’s also used in making another middle eastern specialty, brik. Yael’s was a triumph.

Passionfruit and citrus ceviche came after that. Delightfully refreshing flavours with tiny strips of Hapuku, although the little hints of chilli almost but not quite, overpowered the delicacy of the dish. Yael showed me her new gadget acquired in Israel, a carrot-hollower-outerer (if you’d asked me I might have said it was an abortion instrument) and so had stuffed her spring carrots with something she called Arab beef. It was presented on a root vegetable soil as is the current trend, but her ‘soil’ was quite identifiable with lovely hazelnuts crushed to create added texture. Delicious and so unusual.

Not enough use is made of terakihi in restaurants and a lovely piece of fish, still sporting its skin, was pan-fried perfectly, sitting on a dollop of perfect potato puree with rich reduced shellfish saffron sauce and a garnish of slithers of the sweetest young snowpeas. We loved that course.

One lamb cutlet doesn’t sound much, but this one, coated in herbs and spices and sitting on a generous bed of rice, lentils, pinenuts, almonds and pistachios, and complemented by a totally delicious Moroccan beetroot salad, was a perfect size at that stage of the evening. We stripped the bone clean, as we should.

The final note, dessert, was quite dreamy. I am not a fan usually of halva but the halva parfait with a nugget of pistachio baklava and a round scoop of brilliant orange mandarin sorbet had me almost licking my plate. What a treat the evening was. $70 for that menu! And I forgot to say, we were thrilled to be looked after by Dominique from Gather & Hunt. How good is that?

Ima Cuisine, 57 Fort St, Auckland City, T 09 300 7252