The sauces
A good apple sauce is a must for the table, says Jemma Whiteman
(Lankan Filling Station, Sydney). To make hers, she drizzles quarters of
apple with honey, adds a knob of butter, then roasts them until the apple
is very tender and the honey is caramelised. Then, she roughly mashes the
apple with a fork to keep some texture. As an alternative to gravy, Michael
West suggests a herb sauce: blend two bunches of parsley, a bunch of
mint and a bunch of chives with Dijon mustard, white wine vinegar
and a slug of olive oil to bring it together, then season with salt.
For a twist on cranberry sauce, Joey Astorga does a Davidson’s
plum sauce with roasted fennel, Pedro Ximénez, red wine,
merlot vinegar and thyme.The roast potatoes
The secret to those perfectly crisp potatoes? According
to the chefs, you need to par-boil them, then chill,
which gives the starches time to set. Lil McCabe
suggests using a “hard” potato, like Desiree, cut into
wedges, while Jacqui Challinor (Nomad, Sydney) goes
with steaming whole sebago potatoes then breaking
them into pieces before letting them dry out in the
fridge. Tossing potatoes in salt, Olsson’s Fleur de Sel
or Celtic sea salt, say, with olive oil is a popular way
to go, although Palisa Anderson (Boon Cafe, Sydney)
does hers in a mix of butter and duck fat. Joey Astorga
(Paperbark, Sydney) recommends swapping traditional
herbs such as thyme and rosemary for native Australian
ingredients like lemon myrtle leaves pilfered from your
local community garden (toss them in halfway through
cooking). Temperature-wise, Michael West, Joey
Astorga, Khanh Nguyen (Sunda, Melbourne) and
Challinor all suggest banging your potatoes into a hot
oven of 200-220°C for that perfect crunch and colour.Butter under the skin will help with crispness, juiciness and
flavour, as will cooking the turkey on top of vegetables.The gravy
For unbeatable gravy, Lil McCabe suggests putting the roasting
tray from the turkey straight onto the stovetop and deglazing: once
it’s hot, add a splash or two of red wine and scrape the residue
stuck to the tray. Add the same amount of veal jus and heat until
reduced by half to create a rich, thick gravy. Jemma Whiteman’s
secret ingredient to use in place of the red wine is Stone’s Green
Ginger Wine. Khanh Nguyen, meanwhile, says homemade stock will
make all the difference, and really boost the flavour of your gravy- he makes his from chicken wings and a mix of vegetables. For the
non-traditionalists, Palisa Anderson eschews gravy entirely in favour
of her mum’s special smoky chilli sauce: “it goes with everything.” ➤
The roast vegetables
Jessi Singh (Don’t Tell Aunty, Sydney) says the best
way to roast vegetables is to par-boil them before tossing
them with lots of olive oil, dried herbs, crushed garlic
and sliced red onion, then baking for half an hour at
175°C. His favourites are cauliflower, sweet potato,
kipflers, Brussels sprouts and butternut squash. For
a twist, serve them with a dressing of Greek yoghurt,
lime juice, maple syrup, olive oil and black lava salt.25WORDS HARRIET DAVIDSON.
GOURMET TRAVELLER