FARM TALES EP. 4 WITH Gus Cadden

Over the first four episodes of FARM TALES, we collaborated with Mikey and Kez at Five Tales Farm in Piedmont, Victoria to show some of Melbourne’s most flavour-focused chefs a first hand farming experience. On the day, Gus grasped the nuance that goes into each pepper variety being grown at Five Tales Farm - Shishito, Fushimi, Cubanelle and Sandia de Hatch and how their looks, flavour and yield change throughout the early, peak and late stages of their seasons.

Back in the kitchen at Osteria Renata, plated up two seasonally focused dishes - blistered frying peppers, white bean fava and hot honey, then roasted cubanelle peppers stuffed with fregola, sausage and herbs, topped with cherry tomato vinaigrette. Both plates used peppers from Mikey and Kez that Gus harvested earlier that day. Check out his recipes below and watch the full FARM TALES episode ‘here’.

Blistered Frying Peppers, white bean fava and hot honey

INGREDIENTS

1kg shishito, fushimi and sandia de hatch peppers
2 each onions (diced)
2 garlic cloves (diced)
1 tin of cannellini beans (strained)
200ml full cream milk
200g butter
100ml enbom grey box honey
100ml water
25 ml happy little accidents sauvignon blanc vinegar
teaspoon of chilli flakes (dried)

METHOD

For the white bean fava:

Finely dice onion and garlic, sauté on low heat.Continue slowly until the onion and garlic is cooked through and transparent. Try your best to get no colour on your onion because this will impact the colour of the final puree.

Once soft, add the beans, milk and butter. Stir.

Bring this mix to a boil and cook for 5 minutes to reduce the liquid. Make sure to stir frequently to prevent any sticking.

Transfer this mix to a food processor or using a stick blender, blitz until very fine and smooth. Set aside.

For the hot honey:

In a pot, combine honey, chilli flake, vinegar and water. Bring to a boil.

Taste and adjust heat with more chill flake and acidity with more vinegar.

Strain and reserve.

To assemble:

Preheat oven to 220C and season peppers with sea salt.

Pop seasoned peppers in the hot oven for 8 minutes or until blistered.

Spoon the white bean fava on the plate first, then top with blistered pepper and finish with a hefty drizzle of hot honey.

Roasted cubanelle peppers stuffed with fregola, sausage and herbs, topped with cherry tomato vinaigrette

INGREDIENTS

8 large cubanelle peppers
500g pork mince
tablespoon fennel seeds (whole)
tablespoon chilli flakes (dried)
pinch black pepper (cracked)
2 splashes white wine
250g fregola sarda (raw weight)
1 each lemon (zest and juice)
150g butter
250g doncaster cherry tomato
50ml happy little accidents sauvignon blanc vinegar
100ml honest toil extra virgin olive oil

METHOD

For the cherry tomato vinaigrette:

Toss cherry tomatoes in olive oil and season with salt.

Roast cherry tomatoes in a very hot oven until blistered and split. Then remove from oven and leave to fully cool down.

Once cooled, mash up cherry tomatoes with a fork and then whisk with olive oil and vinegar to combine. Taste and adjust with sea salt. Keep aside.

For the fregola mix:

Combine and mix pork mince with fennel seeds, chilli flakes, black pepper and white wine. Now a sausage mix, store in the fridge.

Bring 2 litres of water to a boil, salt the water generously, add the fregola, and cook for 10 to 12 minutes. You want the fregola slightly undercooked from al dente. Drain, rinse lightly with cold water, and shake off as much residual moisture as possible. Keep aside.

Sauté the sausage mix in a heavy based pan until you get a really nice caramelisation, season with salt. Stop the cooking with a splash of white wine and this also will deglaze the pan.

Mix in the cooked fregola to the caramelised sausage mix. Turn down the heat and add the butter, lemon zest and juice. Stir well, then allow mix to cool.

Stuffing the peppers and cooking:

Preheat oven to 230C.

Cut off the tops of cubanelle peppers, just a few mm down, and remove the seeds and membrane. Make sure to reserve the tops.

Stuff the peppers with the fregola and sausage mix. Mash the mix deep down in the peppers with a spoon, making sure there are minimal air pockets.

To close the stuffed pepper, turn the pepper tops around acting as a lid with the stem as an anchor. Seal the peppers before roasting so nothing falls out as the peppers roast.

Line an oven tray with baking paper and place the stuffed peppers in a neat line, drizzle with olive oil over the top and season a pinch of sea salt.

Roast the peppers for 8 minutes.

To check they are done, the flesh of the pepper will have softened and has browned in some places.

To assemble:

Place two stuffed and roasted peppers on a plate, then spoon cherry tomatoes vinaigrette over top.