Thursday, September 01, 2005

Breakfast in Australia

I thought that I’d put together a range of breakfast ideas to show how innovative Australian ingredients can take a pedestrian menu to deliciously decadent heights. Incidentally, in the menu below, the Yakajirri is a spice mix made from bush tomatoes (akudjura) blended with garlic, Alpine pepper and dried conventional tomato flakes. Oz lemon is a lemon myrtle mix perfectly balanced for flavour with dried wild lime, lemon aspen and aniseed myrtle. It even makes a superb infusion either on its own or sprinkled over a good strong coffee (remember LA Story’s “I’ll have an espresso with a twist of lime”). The other reason to drink Oz lemon as a tea is when you’ve been out screaming all night at a bar and the throat’s a bit raw. It’ll heal a sore throat in just a few sips.

breakfast buffet

  • mini bagel with oven roasted tomatoes seasoned with Yakajirri topped with wild herb ricotta and basil
  • Tasmanian smoked salmon, rocket & crème fraiche frittata dusted with Oz lemon
  • traditional Burcher muesli with poached apple, rhubarb, King Island lemon myrtle and maple yoghurt, scorched almonds, served in a glass
  • coconut rice with wild lime syrup and fresh mango
  • mini Wildfire spiced bagel with ham, tasty cheese & Wattleseed mustard mayo
  • Aussie toast with Alpine pepper bread soaked in egg and served with sour cream and lemon aspen syrup
  • Belgian waffles drizzled in Wattleseed syrup with lemon myrtle and maple yoghurt
  • melon, watermelon, sweet corn, sago and thick vermicelli in fresh coconut milk with slivers of fresh coconut flesh seasoned with Oz lemon

cooked breakfast

  • mushroom, wattleseed & aniseed myrtle omelette with mintbush marinated fetta & wilted baby spinach
  • soft boiled truffled eggs in bowls with bacon & Alpine pepper sourdough toast soldiers
  • Oz lemon pancakes with riberry confit & snow sugar
  • Red Desert dusted potato latkes with smoked salmon, rocket & horseradish cream
  • lamb cutlets in Illawarra plum sauce with your choice of eggs
  • eggs Benedict with Yakajirri hollandaise with aniseed myrtle brioche
  • grilled pineapple slices seasoned with Alpine pepper and served with rosella yoghurt and an Oz lemon tuile and blueberries
Naturally, you can make the above ideas as glitzy or mundane as you like to suit the style of your café but whatever, you can bet your clients will rave about the food and flavours. I know this as fact because we get amazing feedback from the Australian cuisine promotions I run with my chef colleague, Benjamin Christie, in destinations all over the world. And there's the build up of interest and demand from Cherikoff Australian Ingredients and our on-line store.

This article first appeared in Cafe Biz magazine (Aug 05).