Spring Dinner

by John Collins, Spring Dinner chef

The Kitchen Garden students worked all term to test, taste and refine the food menu for this year’s Spring Dinner. In the week leading up to the big event, many students came out of classes to turn endless boxes of produce into prepped food ready to be transformed into delectable dishes for our guests.

On the actual evening, the Kitchen Garden crew was joined by a host of other eager volunteers from Years 7 through to 12 to assist with plating up, serving food and cleaning. They did this with flair, eagerness and, in some cases, even elegance.

It can be pretty hectic behind the scenes during the service of the Spring Dinner but the students all rose to the occasion and did what needed to be done to ensure our guests had a great experience.

They were all buzzing with excitement about the feedback they were getting and sharing stories of interactions with the diners they were serving. It's always a great experience to be involved in… and we're already looking forward to 2019!

The Menu

Welcome to Preshil’s Caravanserai 2018 - a place for weary travellers to rest, share stories from the road and water their camels…

Stimulate your appetite by helping yourself to spiced nuts, olives and pickles.

Pistachio Soup

Remains of the pistachio along with nut-cracking tools were discovered by archaeologists in Israel's Hula Valley. They were dated to 780,000 years ago. Here we’ve used fresher ones to begin our evening with this Persian Pistachio Soup.

Mezze

Mezze comes from the Persian word for ‘taste’. Traditionally this is a course to be shared communally and, if necessary, messily. So feel free to dip and double dip and scoop and pass and reach and, most importantly, taste.  We have charred baba ganoush, parsnip skordalia, crushed broad beans, spiced labneh/shanklish balls and some very moorish mushrooms.

Arak Cured Kingfish

Arak is a spirit made from grape alcohol distilled with aniseed. The word itself means ‘sweat’, which is yuk! We shouldn’t have told you that as you’re about to eat this completely non-sweat-like dish of... Arak Cured Kingfish.

Vegetables, Nuts and Seeds

In the serai the cooks are nuts about nuts and seeds; in particular, using them to dress their vegetables. Sunflower cream dresses these slow roasted tamari butternut pumpkins, a sesame dressing adorns these fried cauliflower florets and honeyed pine nuts swim through this carrot tagine.

Lamb Shoulder

It wouldn’t be Spring Dinner without spring lamb. We’ve skipped the hangi this year and opted instead for the slow wood-fired flavours of the pizza oven to gently roast these shoulders and serve them on our own hummus, accompanied by jewelled quinoa, cucumbers and labneh.  (Many thanks to Cannings Free Range Butchers who generously donated the lamb.)

Persian Love Cake

Some stories suggest that this cake was originally

made by a woman to charm a Persian prince.

Legend also has it that the cake itself is enchanted. And why wouldn't it be? With hints of rose and cardamom, studded with nuts like pistachios and almonds, Persian love cake is love in every bite.