Best of Gretta Anna with Martin Teplitzky, The 1
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- ISBN:
- 9781921383656
- 9781921383656
- Category:
- General cookery & recipes
- Format:
- Hardback
- Publication Date:
- 25-03-2015
- Publisher:
- Penguin Australia Pty Ltd
- Edition:
- 1st Edition
- Pages:
- 296
- Dimensions (mm):
- 297x222x25mm
- Weight:
- 1.51kg
Foreword
When I arrived in Australia over thirty years ago, my first impression of the food here was pretty grim. The exotic ingredients I had been used to shopping for on a daily basis in London were few and far between, and so were good restaurants. I assumed that the most interesting food was cooked in people's homes, but even there my experiences were disappointing.
Not long after, a friend gave me a copy of the first Gretta Anna cookbook – it was honestly a revelation.
I signed up for several of Gretta's cooking classes, held at her Harry Seidler-designed home in Wahroonga.
The day would start with morning tea, always with a homemade cake in the garden, where you were invited to wander and view her husband David's wonderful orchid collection. The classes were fun and informative, with lots of tips and tricks, and everything so beautifully decorated. In fact, it was the first time I had seen edible flowers used to garnish both sweet and savoury dishes. Gretta truly was way ahead of her time.
I can still remember the first time we were invited to dinner at their home – Gretta served the most beautifully cooked racks of lamb, followed by sticky toffee pudding (don't forget this was the 80s, so even that dish was new for its time). The meal was perfect in its simplicity and, matched with wines from David's impressive cellar, it was a truly memorable evening. I also remember attending a special family party where Gretta had on the menu whole poached fish and char-grilled meats with Ottolenghi-style salads. For dessert, there were huge jars filled with fruits macerated in eau de vie with freshly churned ice cream and sorbet.
Everything was done with such style, and of course, was utterly delicious.
Unfortunately we lost touch after I sold the shop, so I was sad when I read that Gretta had passed away. I called in to see David to offer my condolences. By this time my career path had led me to my role as Food Director with delicious. magazine, and I was keen to write a story about Gretta and her influence on Australian food. While we chatted and David shared stories and photographs of their wonderful life together, he happened to mention that their youngest son, Martin, was living and working in Italy at a beautiful villa and cooking school. I had been a regular at Martin's restaurant, Bon Cafard, in the 80s, but had never actually met him – although I felt like I knew him from the wonderful picture of Martin and Gretta in the early pages of her first book.
As fate would have it, my travels took me very close to the area of Piedmont where he was working, so I got in touch and arranged to go and shoot a story with him. After the day's shooting we sat enjoying a glass of wine, and came up with the idea of running a week-long cooking school together at the La Villa hotel in Piedmont the following year.
We have now been lucky enough to hold two of what have become known as the 'delicious weeks', where twenty guests join us for cooking classes, truffle hunts, market visits, great restaurants, and Martin and I cooking up a storm in the kitchen.
It was during our first week in Italy that Martin shared with me his plans for this new book to celebrate his mother's wonderful recipes from both her books, plus sixty new ones, all updated to meet today's demands, as well as some of his own that I knew were fantastic, having had the opportunity to cook alongside him in the kitchen.
To see the book now in print is very special. To me, a truly delicious recipe has to have a provenance, a story behind it as to what inspired it, where and how it was created and just why it works. Gretta Anna was a master at this craft, and now Martin has followed in her footsteps.
This is not just a book of recipes – it is a legacy of one of the truly great Australian food writers of our time and her son, a great chef himself, and a truly nice guy who I am proud to call a friend.
This book is a keeper. A book of its time. It will take pride of place in my kitchen and I hope that you too will have as much pleasure cooking from it as I know I will.
Mile High Pavlova
300 ml thickened cream, whipped
Meringue
8 egg whites
pinch of salt

400 g caster sugar

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
Lemon Curd
180 g unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups (330 g) caster sugar
grated zest and juice of 4 lemons
4 eggs

4 egg yolks
Sugar-Stained Glass
2/3 cup (150 g) caster sugar

1/3 cup (75 g) fine brown sugar
- To make the lemon curd, place the butter, sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan and begin to melt over medium heat, stirring with a whisk.
- Gently beat the 4 eggs and 4 egg yolks together with a whisk. Pour into the saucepan and stir continually until the eggs are cooked and the curd has thickened. This will take about 10 minutes. Be careful that your heat is not too high as you run the risk of the eggs curdling.
- Pour the curd into a bowl and mix in the lemon zest. Place plastic film on the surface of the curd to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate. It will keep for a week to 10 days in the refrigerator.
- To make the sugar-stained glass shards, line a baking tray with baking paper. Use a fine sieve to sprinkle the caster sugar evenly over the top, then spread the brown sugar randomly over that. Place under a hot grill or in a hot (200°C) oven and heat for approximately 10–15 minutes until the sugars have caramelised and appear clear.
- Remove from the grill or oven and allow to cool and harden, then lightly drop the tray on your work surface to shatter the sugar-stained glass into random shards. Set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 120°C and line two baking trays with baking paper.
- Using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites with the salt until stiff peaks form. Gradually add the sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, allowing the mixture to become stiff and glossy. Halfway through adding the sugar, mix in the vinegar and vanilla.
- Carefully pipe or spread the meringue into five or six mounds on the baking trays, about 2.5 cm high and about 20 cm in diameter. If you’re using a piping bag, start in the middle and work your way out, making sure there are no gaps.
- Bake for 1 hour, or until the meringues are crisp but not coloured, then turn off the oven and leave to cool (in the oven) for about 1 hour.
- To assemble your pavlova, place the first meringue layer onto a serving plate and spread a thin layer of lemon curd evenly over it. Spread a thin layer of whipped cream on top.
- Place your second meringue layer carefully on top of the cream and repeat with a layer of curd and cream. Repeat until you have used all meringue layers. With the final layer of meringue, place dollops of whipped cream randomly on top and place your sugar-stained glass shards into them.
Smoked Salmon And Crab Quiche
Serves 1225 g butter
25 ml olive oil
3 large white onions, chopped
300 ml milk
300 ml pure cream
1/4 cup (35 g) plain flour
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
175 g crabmeat, picked over
300 g smoked salmon, diced
6 spring onions, finely chopped
40 g sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1 tablespoon thyme leaves or 1 teaspoon dried thyme
chopped parsley, to garnish
Short Pastry
1 1/3 cups (200 g) plain flour
pinch of salt
100 g butter, chopped into small pieces
1 tablespoon iced water
- To make the pastry, sift the flour into a bowl and add the salt. Add the butter and, using your fingertips, rub the butter into the flour until all the lumps are removed and the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the water and stir to combine.
- Tip the mixture out onto your work surface and lightly knead until it comes together into a dough, then wrap in plastic film and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C.
- Roll out the pastry between two sheets of baking paper, then peel off the top layer of paper and turn the pastry upside-down as you line a greased 30 cm tart tin with it, pressing the pastry into the sides, and leaving enough overhanging to allow for shrinkage. The other piece of baking paper will be on top. Weigh it down with baking beans or rice and bake in the oven for 10–15 minutes or until the pastry has set and begun to colour. Remove the paper and let the tart case cool before filling.
- Don’t pre-bake the pastry too far in advance or cracks will form and you will have to mend these with a little leftover pastry.
- To make the filling, heat the butter and oil in a frying pan over medium heat and sauté the onion until very brown. Drain through a sieve. Place the milk and cream in a saucepan and gently warm over low heat. Beat in the flour with a whisk until combined. Add the onion and season with salt and pepper.
- Mix together the crab, smoked salmon, spring onion, cheese and thyme in a small bowl and fold through the cream mixture.
- Pour the filling into the partly pre-baked tart case and bake for about 50 minutes until it has set.
- Serve sprinkled with chopped parsley.
Q&A with Martin Teplitzky
What I’m reading right now… The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas.My favourite book growing up (why?)… The Wind in the Willows. I loved the vivid imagery of the animals’ world conjured up in the writing and could imagine myself there on the river bank with Mole and Ratty.
My all time favourite book is (why?)… On the Road by Jack Kerouac. Somehow it just seemed to sum up my generation.
The book I would recommend everyone to read (why?)… Catch 22. There is no other book like it and the insanity within it is all too familiar.
The book I wish I wrote… Life on Earth by David Attenborough. What goes on in the natural world is truly mind blowing.
My guilty reading pleasure is… I don’t feel guilty about anything I read, but sometimes wish I hadn’t bothered.
The book on my bookshelf that I have never read… Enduring Love by Ian McEwen.
The book that never should have been turned into a film… Where do I begin.
I’ll never forget… My mother.
My favourite place is… Anywhere near the ocean.
The most dangerous thing I have ever done is… Jump off a sailing boat in a force nine gale to try and fix the steering.
The first time I… Went scuba diving I almost forgot to breathe the experience was so breathtaking.
I regret… Nothing. You can’t change what you’ve done, only what you do.
I remember… Only half of what I would like to.
The one piece of advice I should have listened to but didn’t… I forget.
I love… Watching animals in their natural habitat.
I hate… Cruelty on any level.
I wish… For a saner, fairer, more tolerant world.
I can’t say no to… Eating out.
Yesterday, I… Bought a bicycle.
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Reviews
1 Review
All the recipes are easy to follow, without 50 ingredients, and great tips for how to achieve the same results.
I attended Greta Anna's cooking school when I could only boil eggs (hard at that) & she inspired me to love cooking, adapt recipes & prevent disasters. I even went on to run a catering business, as did the two friends I attended with. This book will do the same for you.
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