I have a story for you. It’s a story about Neil Perry, the well renowned Australian chef.
Mr Perry had several restaurants running at this particular time and he had just opened an upscale Asian eatery on Crown Street in Surry Hills and it was ‘the place to go’. My friend Lizzie was about to celebrate a birthday and we decided that ‘the place to go’ was the place we were going to go.
It was a peculiar evening, the staff were very odd. I had the Maitre De raise her hand to me (as in stop) when I tried to get to the bar, we were constantly talked down to and they kept our bottles of wine off our table and neglected to fill them consistently. Oh lordy! this was a major mistake with us (‘a man is not a camel!’ exclaimed the birthday girl when she reflected on the evening ). The food, however, was exceptional and after our delicious meal we headed off with very mixed feelings.
I was so disturbed by the evening that I thought I would send Mr Perry an email – I said that his staff did not do any justice to his chef or his reputation and although I loved all of his restaurants, I would reconsider going back to this particular one. I did not expect to hear anything back but no less than two hours after sending my email I received a phone call from My Perry himself. I was shocked to say the least. He apologised for my experience, told me to come back (on the house of course), he was gracious and thankful that I bothered to write what I did. I didn’t go back in the end, it wasn’t a deliberate choice it just never happened but my opinion of the pony-tailed chef rose immensely and now I would be more than happy to go to any of his restaurants knowing that he has pride in what he does and is passionate about his business and his patrons.
So now I am going to move on to his recipe for Macaroni and Cheese – a Neil Perry masterpiece. This is no two bit Mac and Cheese that you can throw together in a couple of minutes. It is a combination of well chosen ingredients that turn this ordinary and everyday dish into a spectacular one.
300 grams/11 ounces of dried macaroni
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
50 gram/1.8 ounce piece of bacon, finely chopped
400 mls of pouring cream
200 grams/7 ounces of Gruyere, coarsely grated
100 grams/3.5 ounces of Cheddar, coarsely grated
1 clove of garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons of Dijon mustard
½ teaspoon of sweet paprika
2 tablespoons of dried breadcrumbs (see Note)
2 tablespoons of finely grated parmesan
½ cup of loosely packed flat leaf parsley, thinly sliced
Preheat your oven to 200c/400f. Cook the macaroni in plenty of boiling salted water until al dente. Drain and refresh in iced water.
Heat oil in a heavy based saucepan and cook bacon over a medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes or until golden. Remove bacon and drain on absorbant paper. Drain oil from pan. Add cream to pan and bring to the boil over a medium heat. Reduce heat to low, add the Gruyere, Cheddar, garlic, mustard and paprika and simmer stirring continually for around 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the sauce thickened. Add the bacon and macaroni, season to taste with sea salt and ground white pepper and stir to combine.
Divide mixture between 4 15cm gratin dishes and sprinkle with breadcrumbs and parmesan. Bake for 10 – 15 minutes or until golden. Scatter with parsley and serve immediately.
Note: I prefer to make my own breadcrumbs for this recipe. I toast whatever bread I have on hand and then give it a quick whizz in the blender to break it up. I do find that artisan bread works better than your standard everyday white loaf.
Source: Neil Perry for Australian Gourmet Traveller, November 2006
© 2010, Michelle. All rights reserved.
