“What's that Skip, you fancy something Italian?” Kangaroo Bolognese...

It's funny how some people react when you mention Kangaroo featuring in a dish you cooked or tried, I'm not entirely sure why, but it seems to divide, some love the idea whilst others appear perplexed. Sure I understand the notion of it being a national symbol; many seem to see kangaroos as cute and cuddly, up there alongside koalas for example, but there's some irony in the fact that neither are particularly like this most of the time in the wild. Not that koalas are eaten regularly, but I digress! Kangaroo seems a logical additional protein choice for a variety of reasons, but principally, alongside more familiar meats, such as beef, chicken, lamb etc, here is a relatively sustainable and low impact product. There is some argument about how sustainable, but there is no comparison between the relative environmental impact of cattle vs kangaroo.

From the consumers point of view this meat is interesting for a few reasons: it can be seared as steaks for a lean and flavoursome dish, and many prize the gamey quality of the meat. This high quality, it's leaness and flavour also suggest it would make excellent carpaccio. However for this dish I'm using a mince, the main concern with any preparation of roo remains ensuring the meat does not dry out due it's extreme leaness (for those unfamiliar with it think of venison). It's handy to use a little bit more oil or even use another fat or stock to maintain the delicacy of the meat.  For steaks, in the form of marinades and bastes; in this case a little more olive oil in the initial cooking process.

For this take on a dish possibly done to death, I feel the kangaroo brings such a wonderful depth of flavour and a welcome twist and sense of difference. It is also intentionally an easy one to prepare regardless of your skill level.  The nervous or novice can do this one and it's great for the pros when you want something good, but don't want to be slaving in the kitchen for hours.  I love cooking, just not all the time!

Ingredients



The dish goes nicely with a Cruickshank 2007 Shiraz...
(See it in the previous post)

 Olive oil

2 small to med onions

3 cloves garlic

500g kangaroo mince

½ tsp cumin

1 tsp mixed herbs

A little dried chilli

Good grind of black & white pepper

salt

1 tsp sugar

2 bay leaves dried (really a matter of taste, I'd use less if fresh)

Some of my superdupa pork belly stock! (beef stock is ok if you don't have the former) *

2 400g tins of tomato

a little quality red wine (2 dessert spoons approx)

parsley

parmesan cheese

Piling it all in the pot

Sweat off and lightly brown the onion in a little oil, throw in a little salt as this nears completion. Add your mince and garlic, cook until the meat is coloured through. pop the spices in and let this cook a little as you open the tins of tomato. Whack these and your stock in the mix and combine. You should have quite a lot of liquid, but this is good as I just let it all cook for a couple of hours and reduce gradually to a rich sauce, really the longer the better, but if your low on time turn the heat up. Right at the end of the process I add the small amount of wine as an essence to the sauce, it gives a lovely subtle lift to the flavour.  You may like to use the same wine you will serve with the food, if your having wine.  (Who makes statements like that?  Of course you shall have wine!) You can also check your seasoning at this point as well and adjust accordingly.

Mix through al dente cooked pasta of your choice, I like Fettucine, but the choice is between you and your pantry shelves.  Garnish with parsley and parmesan if desired.

*My Pork stock is the rendered material of an oven roasted piece of pork belly, there's onion, spices, wine and various other goodies that went into the roast originally, anyway I froze the remaining liquid and have been using it in sauces and other dishes to give depth and richness. It's great! If I don't use this or another “proper” stock, I've been using good quality stock cubes in recipes, this would be fine here.

Skippy rates it 5 stars ;)  Actually reflecting on it, the thought of Cannibalistic Kangaroos digging into this is somewhat disturbing, or the seed of a new horror film...  On that note, enjoy!

Ossobuco alla Sydney

Well this is definitely one of my favourite dishes for winter. It's rich, tasty and satisfying, with the best part being the ease of preparation. For this edition of the dish I had a collaborator, with my brother joining the fray. Full credit must go to him for the delicious mash we served with the meat and broth!

We improvised the recipe really, don't all the best rustic Italian farmhouse cooks? Anyhow the result is fairly faithful to the dish most of us know, with a few tweaks here and there. Interestingly there are really two main types of sauce you can go with: The modern version we know with a tomato base, onions, celery, carrots etc, and the much older Ossobuco bianco, which is primarily flavoured with bay leaf, cinnamon and gremolata. I always find it fascinating the extent to which we associate the tomato with Italian cooking, when in fact it is a rather recent addition, tomatoes arriving in Europe from South America in the late 1500's with the returning Spanish. Even from this point not being adopted into Italian cuisine on a large scale until the 17^th century.

In a nod to the older version of the dish, I started with a mix of spices including cumin, bay and cinnamon, I love the tomato richness as well so here's our take...

Ossobuco pieces, dusted in flour (as many as you need, 1 per serve)

2 onions

2-3 cloves of garlic

chilli flakes (few dashes to taste)

cracked black pepper ½ tsp

white pepper ½ tsp

mixed herbs 1-2 tsp

cumin ½ tsp

cinnamon ½ tsp

salt 1 tsp (to taste really)

sugar (again to get balance, to taste)

Rosemary 2 sprigs

Sundried tomatoes 150-200g

2-3 dried leaves, (use less if you have fresh, and of course these are always better!)

handful of chopped parsley

I also added about 75g of rendered sauce from a pork belly roast I made, and froze. It was a little like a stock base I guess, and you could use something similar or add some more stock to the mix of a type to your liking. The whole point is the depth of flavour in the finished dish.

red wine 250ml

water and/or stock (judge to cover the meat)

Tin of whole tomatoes 375g

2-3 carrots, roughly halved or chopped

Butter

Olive Oil

In a large, heavy pot, brown the meat in a little oil and butter, the more colour and caramelisation, all the better for the flavour later! When you are happy with this stage, throw in the chopped onions and garlic along with the herbs and spice (at this point I added my “Pork belly booster” and the sundried tomatoes).  Mix it all together and let the onion and garlic cook a little before adding the wine to deglaze the pan. At this point you can add the canned tomatoes, mix them through and then add the other liquid ingredients so everything is immersed. We simmered on a very low heat for about 5-6 hrs, obviously you can go shorter if time is tight, just simmer a bit faster. With the extra time you can go for a very low, barely bubbling simmer, everything cooks very slowly and is extremely tender. The carrots were added with about 2 hours to go and the lid removed for the last hour, to cook off a little liquid. Don't really reduce as your after a broth rather than a thickened sauce.

For the potatoes, quarter and boil in salted water until tender. We mashed with butter, salt, black and white pepper and a good handful of finely chopped parsley. If your adventurous a squeeze of lemon really lifts the mash, whipped through just before serving.

A flexible dish, my brother enjoyed this with a Guinness.  I on the other hand thought it sublime with a 2004 Adelaide Hills Nebbiolo, each to their own I guess but it worked nicely both ways. (I'd say try with the Piedmont expat though ;) ! )  There may have to be a review of this wine now...  

What else to say but a tasty, satisfying and glorious dish for the cool weather when something hearty is craved. I think it's so good you can do it anytime...