Matt Moran is one of Australia’s most celebrated chefs for a reason. His food is simple, delicious, and makes the most of the incredible produce that we Aussies are lucky enough to have access to.
This September, Matt Moran will be the headliner at Western Sydney’s premier food festival – Parklands Food Fest – which returns for the 9th year, with a 2020 spin. The event, happening Saturday, September 5th, will be broadcast from a virtual kitchen via live streams, giving you the chance to cook along as Matt whips up some of his favourite spring recipes from the comfort of your kitchen.
Below, we’re sharing one of Matt’s favorite recipes for spring, using local, seasonal ingredients, along with his tips for optimising what’s out there. Bon appétit!
Matt Moran’s Tips For Optimising Local Ingredients
Fresh is best: Fresh local ingredients will really make your meals shine. Support local farmers and buy ingredients from your local farmers market or urban farm, or grow your own backyard herb and veggie garden – it’s a great way to always have fresh ingredients at your fingertips.
Seasonal is key: Buying local ingredients that are currently in season in your area means they will have travelled less food miles, and will be as fresh, and as delicious as possible.
Fight food waste: Plan your meals for the week in advance of your grocery shop, or get inventive and try to make meals out of what you already have. Turn meat offcuts into a dip, old fruit into jam, or use bones and unused veggies to make stock to season your future meals.
Pan-Roasted Barramundi Fillet, Blistered Cherry Tomatoes Recipe
Serves 6
Preparation time 10 minutes
Cooking time 10 – 15 minutes
Ingredients
2 sides (whole fillets) barramundi
500 g cherry tomatoes
2 eschalots, peeled and sliced
½ bunch oregano, leaves picked
150mls extra virgin olive oil
60mls sherry vinegar
60mls grapeseed oil
50 g salted butter, diced
squeeze of lemon juice
1 lemon, cut into wedges
Directions
Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees
Using a sharp knife, trim the belly from the barramundi fillets, remove any bones from the top of the fillets and tidy up any scrap edges (keep the belly and any excess trim for barra-masalata – see separate recipes). Turn the fillet so it is skin-side up and run your knife gently up and down the skin to remove any scales. Turn the fillet back to flesh side up and using a sharp knife, cut into portion of around 200g each.
Place the cherry tomatoes onto a lined baking tray, drizzle with a splash of olive oil and place into the pre-heated oven for 5-10 mins or until the tomatoes have just started to burst and blister. Remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly.
Turn oven to 180 degrees for the barramundi.
In a small saucepan, heat 2 tbs of the olive oil and over a medium heat sweat off the sliced eschalots until tender and translucent. Remove from the heat and pour over the tomatoes. Add picked oregano leaves and sherry vinegar. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
To cook the barramundi, place a fry pan on a high heat and add the grapeseed oil. Season each of the barramundi fillets with salt and pepper. Once the oil is hot, place the barramundi fillets onto the fry pan skin side down, making sure you do not overcrowd the pan and lose heat as you will not get a crisp skin. Cook for 2-3mins then place the fry pan into the pre-heated oven and cook for a further 4-5mins until the fish is just cooked through. Remove from oven and place on a medium heat. Add the salted butter and allow to brown. Turn the fillet skin side up and using a spoon, coat the fish in the browned butter. Finish with lemon juice. Remove the fillets from the pan.
To serve, place the barramundi onto a serving plate, spoon over the blistered cherry tomatoes and serve with lemon wedges.
