The Graham Hotel. I cook – Dani Valent

i cook Christmas lunch
Interview: Dani Valent

The Graham Hotel owners Tony and Peter Giannakis and chef Perry Schagen work together to create a festive feast.
Ruler of the rotisserie Peter Giannakis beckons his chef. “Come on, Perry, your knife skills are better than mine,” he says. Perry Schagen steps up to the lamb with an impressive blade, pierces the crisp, citrus-scented skin, and eases the meat from the bone onto a platter. He swoons. “I better be careful not to drool,” says the chef of the Graham Hotel, owned by Peter and his twin brother Tony, at whose home we are gathered today. Most of Perry’s family are interstate or in his native Holland so he’s happily absorbed into the Giannakis whirl. “It’s hard to get a word in here, but I wouldn’t be working for them if I didn’t feel part of the family,” he says. “These guys have a genuine love for hospitality.”
For today’s Christmas meal, Schagen has prepared the elegant entrees and the festive dessert but there’s no argument about who is barbecue boss. “Peter prides himself on that contraption,” says Tony, gesturing at the spit. It’s all part of a strict delineation of responsibilities at the Giannakis family’s Christmas. One cousin does the turkey, a particular aunt makes the galaktobureko custard tart, and another relative is renowned for his tiramisu. “One year he didn’t do it and there was an uproar,” says Tony’s wife, Amanda.
Other family members drift to the back yard, drawn by the garlicky aroma and the sense that, after a whole morning of hypnotic spinning, the pay-off is nigh. “I lead a monastic morning, just me in the garden, then the lamb is done and all of a sudden it’s like a riot,” says Peter, equal parts dismissive and delighted. The cooking process may well be a snail’s race but the eating is an emergency. “Everyone must bring a plate, take their meat and eat it when it’s hot,” he instructs. “Nothing is worse than cold lamb.”
There’s no getting around the crucial place of food in this family. “Our ancestors were subsistence farmers in Kefalonia and the table was a celebration of the fruits of their labours,” says Peter. “My father would say you could measure his wealth by what’s in his pantry.” Tony takes up the tale. “When we were children, the focal point of every day was getting to the table. And we would hardly have started eating when Mum would sigh, ‘Now what am I going to make tomorrow?'” If wealth is a groaning table, leftovers must be the sign of great prosperity, which means the Giannakis family feels rich as royals on Boxing Day when the text messages start rolling in from friends. “Are the leftovers on yet?” they ask hopefully, and out comes the lamb again, warmed and stuffed in flatbread, a happy prolonging of the Christmas spirit.
Beetroot-cured salmon, smoked yoghurt, dill crisps
1 side Atlantic salmon, pin boned, skin on
125g sea-salt flakes
125g caster sugar
1 orange, zested
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 star anise, ground
1 tbsp coriander seeds, toasted and crushed
1 large beetroot, juiced, pulp reserved
Smoked buffalo yoghurt
200g buffalo yoghurt, such as Shaw River
1 cup hickory woodchips
sea salt

Dill potato crisps
4 desiree potatoes
3 tbsp salt
1 litre olive oil
2 tbsp fine sea salt, to serve
2 tbsp dill, chopped, to serve
Start a day ahead. To cure the salmon, combine salt, sugar, zest, garlic, spices and beetroot pulp and juice. Place the salmon, skin side down, into a dish that will fit it snugly. Bury salmon with curing mix. Marinate for 12 to 18 hours. Rinse curing mix away with cold water and pat dry.
For the yoghurt, use a wok with lid and round cake rack. Place yoghurt in a heatproof dish and refrigerate. (This prevents the yoghurt heating up too much during the smoking.) Soak woodchips in water for an hour, then drain. Line wok with foil, creating a nest for woodchips.
Heat wok until woodchips begin to smoke, then remove from heat. Place dish of yoghurt on cake rack over smoking woodchips and cover with lid for 10 minutes. Repeat smoking process three times, stirring the yoghurt each time to help the flavour permeate. Season.
Slice potatoes paper-thin. Place in cold water. Drain and rinse, then mix three tbsp salt in bowl of water. Soak potatoes in salty water for 30 minutes. Drain and rinse and drain again. Spread onto a tea towel to dry. Heat olive oil in deep-fryer to 185C. Fry potato slices in small batches. When pale gold, remove and drain on paper towels. Mix sea salt and dill to season.
Serve thinly sliced salmon with smoked yoghurt and crisps.
Serves 8-10

Oysters with cucumber salad and ginger mirin syrup
2 dozen oysters
Ginger mirin syrup
200ml mirin
1 tbsp fresh ginger, finely grated
30ml Stone’s ginger wine
1 tbsp white balsamic vinegar
Cucumber ribbon salad
3 tbsp dried wakame
1/2 long cucumber, peeled
2 tbsp pickled ginger, shredded
1/2 cup coriander leaves
1/2 cup mint leaves, torn
salt, to taste
ginger mirin dressing
caviar to garnish, optional
To make the syrup, place mirin and ginger in a small saucepan and simmer until it has reduced by half and become thick. Let it cool completely, then stir in the ginger wine and vinegar.
To make the salad, rehydrate the wakame in cold water for two minutes, then drain. Using a peeler, peel ribbons about 2cm wide from the cucumber, then cut ribbons into matchstick lengths. In a bowl, mix all ingredients together and lightly salt. Dress with enough mirin syrup to just moisten the salad.
Top oysters with a little salad and caviar, if wanted.
Serves 8

Lamb on a spit
15-18kg whole lamb (a healthy coat of fat is essential, otherwise the lamb will burn)
1 head garlic, peeled and cut into slivers
1 bunch dried oregano
100g cumin, freshly ground
300g salt
black pepper, to taste
olive oil
6 bags redgum charcoal
Marinade
1.5 litres lemon juice (reserve peel of 6 lemons)
300ml olive oil
100g cumin, freshly ground
dried oregano
1 tbsp garlic slivers
salt, to taste
Score the thick fat on the legs and insert slivers of garlic. Repeat around the shoulder and racks, pricking holes rather than slicing. Mix oregano, cumin, salt and pepper and rub over the lamb, including the belly cavity and into the incisions. Using a large pastry brush, coat the whole lamb, inside and out, with olive oil.
Truss the lamb onto the rotisserie rod. Fill the belly with the reserved lemon skins, oregano stalks and any leftover garlic slivers. Carefully sew shut the belly cavity.
Light the charcoal and let it burn until the coals begin to glow. The key is not to expose the lamb to aggressive heat that might burn it. Once the charcoal has reached optimum cooking temperature, mount the lamb and begin cooking. You want slow constant heat that gently cooks the lamb for about four hours.
Combine all the ingredients for the marinade and season with salt. During the whole cooking process, apply the marinade liberally and frequently. After four hours, the skin should be crisp with amazing zingy caramelisation from the lemon juice, and the meat falling away easily when prodded.
Reduce heat and rest lamb away from the coals for 30 minutes before carving.
Serves 20

Date, fig and walnut pudding with halva ice-cream
190g pitted dates, diced
190g dried figs, diced
600ml water
1 tsp bicarb soda
120g butter
190g brown sugar
190g caster sugar
2 eggs
500g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
190g chopped walnuts
In a small saucepan, gently simmer dates, figs and water until cooked to a paste. Remove from the heat and stir in the bicarb soda.
Cream butter and sugars then beat in the eggs one at a time. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder. Add the flour to the butter mixture then mix in the walnuts and the fruit paste. Spoon the mixture into individual, greased 1/2 cup ramekins and bake in a preheated oven at 175C for 20 to 30 minutes, or until a wooden skewer comes out clean when inserted.

Halva ice-cream
1 litre vanilla ice-cream
3 tbsp tahini
3 tbsp honey
handful pistachios, chopped
pashmak (Persian fairy floss), optional, to garnish
flowers, optional, to garnish
Allow ice-cream to soften slightly and stir through with tahini, honey and pistachios before refreezing.
Serve puddings with halva ice-cream, pashmak and flowers.
Makes about 20

Photography/ Mark Chew

the (melbourne) magazine. Issue no. 98

December 2012

2017-09-21T18:07:40+10:00

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