It’s now 25 years since we opened Sean’s, our beachside restaurant and home away from home. Before we opened on the beach, we spent many weekends planting fruit trees, heirloom vegetables and herbs on just a few acres surrounding our cubbyhouse in the Blue Mountains – a nest that made us feel plain good by connecting us to each season – and held a dream that we could one day serve something we had grown at our restaurant table.
We’ve since upsized to a larger farm, and just as my van filled with compost buckets makes its twice-weekly trip from the restaurant to the farm, more and more harvests make a return trip back, to become the foundation to our simple, soulful cooking.
Sean Moran outside his Bondi restaurant, Sean’s (Photo: Ben Dearnley)
Like any small business, there have been incredible highs, and terrifying lows; I’ll never forget the feeling of shucking Sydney Rock oysters and frying school prawns for the legendary Alice Waters of Chez Panisse for her first meal in Sydney, sandwiching comfrey leaves with shavings of goat’s feta as fritters for the late AA Gill, or the joy of roasting a chook for everyone’s food hero, Maggie Beer, for the launch of her Maggie’s Harvest cookbook. Highlights that are as unique as the time our grease trap burst and oozed greasy sludge through the entire kitchen as we were serving the main course to a private dinner.
The dining room at Sean’s (Photo: Ben Dearnley)
Drama aside, it’s the day-to-day vibrancy of restaurant life that keeps me buoyant, the connections and relationships formed with regulars, the incredible team I have supporting me, and ultimately how our collective experience can (most of the time) make diners happy.
I still top up with weekly shops from Flemington markets, scour Sydney Fish Market for our seafood, and buy directly from other local producers and cheesemakers as much as I physically can, because I’m a visual cook; I need to see produce to be inspired to make a menu.
The recipes I’d like to share with you are more a taste of coastal summer cooking. The ingredients are not so specialised that you need a vegie patch of your own to cook them and, because many of the dishes can be prepared the day ahead, they hopefully will take a little pressure off – the cold poached Murray cod, for example, a show-stopper that couldn’t be simpler.
Cooking is as much about feel as it is taste, and as I would tell any cook following a recipe, if some other vegetable or piece of fruit seems just too good to resist, then follow your instinct.
Sean’s, 270 Campbell Pde, Bondi Beach, NSW, (02) 9365 4924, seanspanaroma.co
Freshly shucked oysters with tarragon dressing
Freshly shucked oysters with tarragon dressing
“The success of this lies entirely on shucking the oysters immediately before serving,” says Moran. “For a puritan all that’s needed then is a wedge of lemon, maybe, or another high note like tarragon or shallot vinegar. Allow four to six oysters per person, I prefer Sydney rocks to the larger Pacific oysters, and anything from Tasmania will surely rock your boat for pristine flavour.”
Chilled cucumber soup
“This cooling soup is ideal on those humid summer days when you need an inner-calming tonic, too,” says Moran. “Make it either the day prior to serving or early enough for it to chill. Embellish with whatever seafood you prefer, like smoked flakes of trout or salmon, crabmeat, barbecued prawns, seared scallops or oysters and all their briny juices. If you’re vegetarian, it’s equally satisfying served on its own.”
Heirloom tomato salad with feta, pistachio pesto and fried okra
Heirloom tomato salad with feta, pistachio pesto and fried okra
“If, like me, your first taste of okra was a scary, slimy affair, you probably divorced yourself from ever tasting it again. Fried crisp, however, it’s completely converting,” says Moran. “Its seedy crunch is great in a salad with softer textures; tomatoes make a fun springboard. I’m a sucker for heirloom anything, and the tomato family is a complete joy – if you can find them, green tigers are my favourite. Combined with pistachio pesto and basil, this salad brings the gentle calm of a summer garden onto your plate.”
Calamari fried in its ink with chilli aïoli
Calamari fried in its ink with chilli aïoli
“The idea of marinating calamari in its ink for frying dawned on me when I was once cleaning squid and accidentally pierced the ink sac, and ended up with a staining pool on my chopping board that needed mopping up,” says Moran. “Apart from the dramatic effect of the dark ink on the flesh, it also adds a lovely, almost sweet flavour.”
Poached Murray cod with dill
“Prepared a day ahead, then chilled, this is one of those summer-table centrepieces that is as easy to make as it is impressive,” says Moran. “Dill is the perfect friend for freshwater fish, and the nasturtiums surrounding the fish can make way for watercress or tiny lettuce hearts to mop up the dressing; potato salad or simple boiled potatoes are a welcome side, too. Murray cod becomes incredibly gelatinous as it cools; substitute a fattier fish, such as ocean trout or salmon, if you prefer a different style.” Start this recipe a day ahead to poach the Murray cod.
Corn shards with sesame salt
“I’m hooked on the Japanese sesame salt, gomasio,” says Moran. “I love using it to season anything from a pot of boiled brown rice to an avocado. With the sweetness of summer corn, it’s another hit. Once toasted, ground and cooled, it can be stored in an airtight jar for several days, so don’t be shy with the quantities.”
Tropical fruit up with coconut cream and finger lime jelly
Tropical fruit up with coconut cream and finger lime jelly
“This dish takes me right back to my childhood memories of tinned fruit in sweet syrup,” says Moran. “This grown-up version gets a lot of its sweetness from honey, which is mixed through a coconut and mascarpone cream, and the only other sugar in the dish comes from a finger lime jelly – made by extracting the fruit’s natural pectin. It also brings a joyful pop, a bit like the old glacé cherry on top of a sundae. Any fruit can be used in the base, provided it’s fragrant and perfectly ripe.”
