Australians are an adventurous bunch of foodies. We love trying different cuisines and reinventing recipes. But where do we draw the line?

In the lead up to this year’s Good Food & Wine Shows we surveyed Australian foodies to learn more about their food loving ways and came out with some surprising results and some interesting food mash ups.

While they might be considered the most adventurous of the age-groups, when it comes to testing their taste buds it was found that Gen Y are actually more conservative than their Baby Boomer counterparts.

“It is a great surprise to see that the Baby Boomers are more adventurous than the Gen Y’s. Many Australians are retiring later and seeking new discoveries by joining food and wine clubs to re-engage and re-interpret food. We are also seeing a willingness to experiment more in the kitchen,” explains Event Director Louise Osborne.

“This year at the Good Food & Wine Show we encourage Gen Ys to join their parents in finding new food discoveries that inspires them to take back into their homes”.

The research also revealed while most Australians are open to a modern twist on an old favourite, Vegemite is off limits with none of those surveyed opting to change to Vegemite recipe. Sometimes you just can’t beat a classic!

To encourage more Australian foodies to take a food adventure, we sent our favourite MKR winners Sammy and Bella out to markets across Australia to tempt taste buds with a mashup feast, creating delicious dishes using unusual flavour combinations.

“We created some whacky recipes pairing ingredients that usually wouldn’t be seen together in one dish”, explains the dynamo duo.

Onlookers watched as the girls whipped up smoked speck with a coffee glaze, coriander cured kingfish with passion fruit, and chocolate beetroot cupcakes. These mouth-watering dishes were a huge success with visitors and even managed to tempt some of the more unadventurous eaters. Mission accomplished!

Go on your own food adventure and try one of Sammy and Bella’s mashup dishes at home:

CHOCOLATE BEETROOT CUPCAKES WITH GOATS CHEESE ICING 

Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

Chocolate beetroot cupcakes

500g/2 medium beets, roasted, peeled and puréed

120g unsalted butter melted

200g sugar

55g brown sugar

2 eggs

60ml milk

100g flour

65g cacao powder

1 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

Goat cheese icing

140 grams goats cheese at room temp

85g cream cheese at room temp

65g icing sugar

60ml maple syrup

Garnish

1 punnet beetroot cress

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 180°c. In a large bowl mix together the beet puree, butter, sugars, eggs and milk. In a medium bowl mix together the flour, cacao powder and salt. Add the dry ingredient to the wet ingredients and combine until you have a smooth batter. Fill muffin cups two thirds full and bake for 25 minutes, or until a tooth pick comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool
  2. Beat the cheeses together until smooth. Add in the powdered sugar and mix until smooth. Finally add the syrup and mix until blended evenly. Served cooled cupcakes with goat’s cheese icing and garnish with some beetroot cress.

 

SMOCKED SPECK, PICKLED MUSTARD SEED, COFFEE GLAZE

Makes 25

Ingredients

For the pickled mustard seeds (makes extra)

  • 100g yellow mustard seeds
  • 180ml water
  • 180ml rice vinegar
  • 50g sugar
  • 6g salt

For the coffee glaze:

  • 5 Tbsp espresso powder
  • ½ cup dark brown sugar
  • 150ml hot water
  • 50ml rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar

For the potato puree:

  • 250g potato
  • 100ml cream
  • salt

For the canapé:

  • 250g smoked speck, sliced into 0.5cm thick pieces (see note above)
  • 1 punnet mustard cress

Method

  1. For the pickled mustard seeds, place all ingredients in a pot and bring to a simmer. Cook for 45 minutes then allow to cool. If the seeds are still hard, add some water and cook until soft. Allow to cool.
  2. For the coffee glaze, place all ingredients in a pot and bring to the boil. Continue to simmer for 10 minutes, or until reduced slightly and thick. Allow to cool.
  3. For the puree, peel and boil the potato until tender. Drain, mash, mix with cream and season. Keep warm.
  4. Remove skin from speck. Slice into 25 chunks. Heat a non stick fry pan to medium-high, and fry the speck in batches until golden and crispy.
  5. To arrange the canapé, place a heaped teaspoon of the potato puree on an Asian spoon. Place a piece of speck on top (along with any cooking fats), and use a pastry brush to gleze the speck with the coffee glaze. Finally, top with ½ tsp of pickled mustard seed and some mustard cress

 

CORIANDER CURED KINGFISH, PASSIONFRUIT AND SHISO

Start this recipe 1 or 2 days before your event.

Makes 25

Ingredients

For the cure:

  • 1 heaped tsp ground coriander seed
  • 1 heaped Tbsp brown sugar
  • 1 heaped Tbsp non iodised salt
  • 250g sashimi grade kingfish

For the canapé:

  • 1 Tbsp extra light olive oil
  • 6 passionfruit
  • 2 heaped Tbsp shiso furikake (see note above)
  • 1 punnet shiso cress

Method

  1. For the cure, toast ground coriander seed in a dry pan until fragrant. Mix with sugar and salt. Tear off 2 pieces of cling film and layer on top of each other. Generously coat the fish in the curing mix and wrap tightly in the cling film, along with any leftover mix. Place in a container and refrigerate for 24 to 48 hours
  2. Remove passionfruit pulp and place in a pot. Bring to the boil then remove from heat and let cool.
  3. Once cured, remove the fish from it’s wrapping and rinse in cold water. Pat dry with paper towel. Cut into a neat, fine, even dice approx. 0.5cm square. Toss on olive oil.
  4. To arrange the canapé, place a scant teaspoon of passionfruit pulp on an Asian spon spoon. Top with a heaped teaspoon of the diced kingfish. Sprinkle with ¼ teaspoon of furikake, and garnish with some shiso cress.