Australian counterpart to Julie Le Clerc?

[johung]

Hi all,

I have been reading and using Julie Le Clerc's work for inspiration over the years. She often combines traditional Kiwi dishes (improvised by more international/lighter takes), some straight-from-overseas dishes, and some invented-in-NZ-using-newly-available-exotic-ingredients dishes together in her publications, for example, lamb shanks with field mushrooms, scallops in the half-shell with hazelnut pesto, etc are some of her sample dishes.

Is there someone that is her equivalent in Australia? On one hand, she's not heritage conventional like Alison Holst, using all Heinz/Watties-commercial-brand-canned-or-frozen-products and preparation a la food-in-a-minute style like Allyson Gofton, or contemporary heavily Kiwi-ized like Annabel Langheim, and yet she has not reached the Alice Waters or Shannon Bennett-level obsession with locally-raised-organic-prepared-from-scratch-and-must-match-in-season ingredients either.

I suspect Marie Claire's books or Karen Martini's two books would be pretty close, but I would welcome if there are other suggestions.

Edited August 24, 2008 by johung (log)

[Shinboners]

You could check out the following authors:

Philip Johnson, Bill Granger, Kylie Kwong, Neil Perry, Tegue Ezard, Jared Ingersoll, Stephanie Alexander, and Maggie Beer

[nickrey]

I know you excluded him but have you tried Shannon Bennett's My French Vue (Bistro Cooking at Home)?

He deliberately made it much more accessible and approachable than his other cookbook.

[johung]

I know you excluded him but have you tried Shannon Bennett's My French Vue (Bistro Cooking at Home)?

He deliberately made it much more accessible and approachable than his other cookbook.

←

Oh, both of Bennett's books are already on my bookshelf and I think his recipes are entertaining but probably feel a little too snotty to my liking. His in your face lecturing about organic GE-free local food is what makes it feel really awful to me. It is not as bad as Alice Waters, but I prefer Serge Dansereau at a similar level - more subtle, and less confrontational.

Edited August 25, 2008 by johung (log)

[johung]

You could check out the following authors:

Philip Johnson, Bill Granger, Kylie Kwong, Neil Perry, Tegue Ezard, Jared Ingersoll, Stephanie Alexander, and Maggie Beer

←

Thanks, and this is what I gather from reading Granger's books. He seems to be very similar to Le Clerc in the type of food he cooks.