BY Gugulethu Tshabalala
Chef T has made a name for himself as one of the sought-after chefs in Hawksbay region for his extensive range of cuisine that thrives on elevating simple ingredients and turning them into five-star dishes.
I’m a sous chef at Scenic Hotel group’s Napier Hotel in New Zealand. I work at a lovely, 118-room beachside hotel in the Hawksbay region. The region is also New Zealand’s top food and wine district.
I first arrived in New Zealand in 2014 after my in-service training at Southern Sun OR Tambo International Hotel. It was an all-expenses paid, 4-year internship organized by a travel agency. I then returned to SA to work at Singita Lodges for 2 years. I then moved to Cape Town for 3 years before being called by my old company to return to New Zealand and I’m enjoying my journey here.
New Zealand’s cuisine is totally different from South African cooking. However, over the years the food culture in the country has changed and there’s a bit of fusion as more South Africans emigrate here.
In the early days it was easy for determined chefs to break through into New Zealand’s market since cheffing was one of the essential skills needed. However, over the years this has changed as more international chefs come into the country to ply their trade and the demand outweighs the need.
Cheffing has always been my thing from a young age. I come from a very involved family that always participated in social activities. My aunts were always busy with societies and stokvels and I had help with food preparation. That is how I fell in love with food. At age 13, I was already cooking for my granny and replicating all the dishes she taught me. When it was time to make subject choices in high school, I chose subjects that would make it possible for me to be in the hospitality industry.
My career began at Southern Sun OR Tambo International Hotel with in-service training and blossomed from there. Watching flights land and take off daily gave me the edge to push myself to be inside one of those planes. I worked my way up from peeling vegetables to plating the food and creating the memorable dishes I put out today.
As a chef you are never too experienced or too old to learn something new, each day presents you with new learnings. Many chefs guided me along the path and enriched my career. The following stand out. Chef Song from Southern Sun OR Tambo International Airport; Chef Andrew Hayward former head chef at the Te Waonui Forest Retreat in New Zealand; Chef Liam Tomlin of Chefs Warehouse, which owns award-winning restaurants and Chef Benjamin Conradie, who runs the 5-star rated private nature reserve in Gansbaai, in the Western Cape, greatly influenced the direction of my career. My current head chef, chef Sandro Lobao trusts my experience and expertise and gives me the freedom to run the hotel.
I am a versatile cook and use the experience I gained from cooking for different cultures with different ingredients. I can make traditional food then flip to serve pub meals and create fine dining with wine pairing. I can turn a normal braai into a gourmet meal, as I have proven when I was a contestant of the Ultimate Braai Master season 6 and 7.
My approach to cooking is creating something amazing from everyday ingredients such as turning a simple carrot into a whole vegan dish. I take the simplest and cheapest cut of protein and turn it into something that tastes like the most expensive protein take guests’ dietary requirements and manipulate those ingredients to suit their needs.
My go-to summer dishes consist of fresh and easily accessible ingredients that anyone can cook at home. I love playing around with seafood like salmon, tuna, or trout and salads during summer and create light, fragrant, and elegant dishes.
I love making vetkoek or amagwinya and koeksisters for sentimental reasons that link me to my grandmother. She taught me to make dough for our family breakfast. I make and eat these South African delicacies to maintain the bond I had with her.
RECIPE
Surf and Turn with Tomato Risotto and Charred Onion Cups
For this recipe, I took a play on surf and turf which was a grilled Argentinian whole prawn (surf) and a beef sirloin steak (turf) and had a tomato risotto to tie it all together and finished off with some charred onion cups.
Preparing the prawns
Take a pair of scissors and cut at the back of the prawn from where the body starts to the end of the tail so you can remove the poop sack and run the prawns under the tap to remove any remaining dirt.
Make a marinade of olive oil, chopped garlic, salt, pepper, smoked paprika and some freshly chopped coriander.
Marinate the prawns and allow to chill in the fridge until needed.
Preparing the steak
Season your beef sirloin steak with salt and pepper and grill it on a non-stick pan for 3- 4 minutes on each side. Remove and let it rest for the same amount of time it cooked for.
Preparing the Risotto
Finely chop 1 onion, 4 garlic cloves, fresh they and sauté them on medium heat, gently cooking them until the onion becomes translucent.
Add Arborio rice and let it toast a bit with the onions before adding any liquid.
Once toasted, add 1 cup of white wine and allow to cook off while stirring continuously.
Once the liquid has evaporated, introduce any stock of your choice but since it is a surf and turf dish, I prefer using fish stock and continue to cook the risotto rice until it is aldente. At this point, you can add tomato puree with some butter and allow it to infuse with each other then to finish off the risotto add frozen peas parmesan and the zest of 1 lemon.
Preparing 3 charred onion cups
Cut your shallots in half with the skin on
On high heat, no oil at this stage, put your onion in the pan and allow them to get charred. Don’t be alarmed, it might get smokey. Introduce butter and a bit of oil and season with salt and pepper. Allow the onions to caramelize then add some white wine and let them simmer and cook through.
Grill your prawn for about 2 minutes on each side and start plating.
Start plating with risotto and your base and then arrange sliced steak on it, then add grilled prawns and finish by removing charred onion out of the skin and arranging them on the plate.
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