When chef, author and television presenter Karen Martini is somewhere new, the first place she hits is the farmer’s market.
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So when she was in town for Festivale last week, it made sense for Martini to visit Harvest Launceston to get a feel for Tasmania and collect the extra ingredients she needed for her Cooking in the Park session.
“One of the things I do when I travel is I head straight for a market, especially a farmer’s market. If you really want to know what is going on in a community and what’s grown locally, and you’re in a new city, you can always get good coffee and food to go at a market,” she said.
“I also look forward to talking with people. You get a good feel for the place.”
Martini barbecued Nichols ethical free range chicken and served it with a salad containing Shima Wasabi and fresh vegetables, herbs, spices and dressing ingredients from Harvest Launceston during her Cooking in the Park session on Sunday.
“[At Harvest] I’m expecting to see some different greens, root vegetables or Asian-inspired greens I know grow well here that I haven’t actually been able to get my hands on in Melbourne,” Martini said.
“I will be inspired by Tasmanian produce. You can’t pre-predict it, but I know I’ll be inspired and there will be something special around the corner,” she said.
One of the things I do when I travel is I head straight for a market.
- Karen Martini
When people speak to Martini about cooking she said they were usually after a few key pointers.
“They want inspiration or new techniques on getting a whole heap of flavour into something that doesn’t take forever,” she said.
“It’s amazing how much flavour you can get in with a particular spice combination.”
A favourite combination is fennel, pepper, cumin and garlic mashed together – and a considerable amount of it.
“I think people are a little bit scared to use too much, but you need to be generous with those ingredients to fast-track flavour,” Martini said.
Dry spices are a staple ingredient for the Melbourne-based chef.
“My go-tos are usually down the spice path. People can transform something they cook all the time into another dish,” she said.
“Even your basic old roast chicken – I found some Mexican oregano and some smoky paprika, fennel and a little bit of dried chilli and I put that all over the chicken with a heap of salt and butter under the skin and it was a whole next-level flavour.”