The Fable Dining Room - A Culinary Celebration of Kanzi Apples

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Posted 2019-03-26 by Nadine Cresswell-Myatt ⇒ follow

You probably heard the crunch as I just bit into a Kanzi apple. To remind me of how good they are as I write this piece.

The little sticker on my apple says 'Kanzi - Seduce Life'. Well, this Kanzi apple has certainly seduced me. My object of desire has a beautiful blush of red and a tinge of green. It is so succulent that the juice is running down my chin.

The uniqueness comes from the fact that a Kanzi apple is a natural cross between a juicy gala apple but has the tanginess of a Braeburn. The inside flesh is snow white and so crisp it almost fizzes on your tongue like shaved ice.

And Kanzi, is an apt name for this fleeting seasonal apple as it means hidden treasure.

The short season is a bonus for the consumer because unlike some other apples' it means Kanzi apples are never kept in cold storage, So you get to eat them at the peak of perfection but only during the 12 week season. And that season starts now!

If reading this in March, you should find them in your supermarket until May. But if you miss out this year, you will have to wait until next year.

Kanzi is an orange pippin cultivar that was originally developed in Belgium and has been licensed to a limited number of Australian growers.

I am kicking myself I didn't make the Kanzi Apple Festival on March 16-17 at Sanders Apples celebrating the opening of the season with a family day that included a 2kg bag of picking your own Kanzi apples for the $10 entrance fee. Next year!

But I was fortunate enough to drop into Battunga Orchard in Hoddles Creek for a tour with some other food lovers.

Wandering around the orchard, we learnt from orchardist Laurie Thompson how Kanzi apples are never harvested by machines but rather handpicked, as even the top branches are quite reachable.
While you hear about fruit and vegetables being handpicked in advertising, in this case, the claim is absolutely true. A simple twist and the delicious apple is all yours.

The outing which was organised under the auspices of FCBA (Food Critics & Bloggers Australia) and we went on to the Fable Dining Room in the Yarra Valley where acclaimed chef Paul Cooper took over the restaurant in January of 2019.

Cooper has worked at high-profile restaurants all over the world, including Tom Aikens and Foliage at the Mandarin Oriental, London (both one Michelin Star), ABaC in Spain (two Michelin Stars), and Pied à Terre, London (two Michelin Stars). Locally he is known for his culinary wizardry at well-known restaurants including Matteo's and Bistrot d'Orsay, The Botanical and O'Connell's, before partnering with Erez Gordon to open Bishop Sessa in Surry Hills, Sydney in 2012.

It was a busy Sunday afternoon as it seems everyone from near and far has come to check out the culinary wizardry of this feted chef.

While we were seated inside, I noted some lovely outside tables under trees looking out over Blanchet Winery and Vineyards.

While busy, Paul Cooper still had the time and forethought to prepare us almost a degustation menu where each dish was inspired by ways you can use Kanzi apple in your own cooking.

Here is what we tasted and hopefully Paul's creations will provide you with some inspiration on how you too can cook with Kanzi apples.

We began with a creation of Fraser Island Crab, house cultured cream and cucumber that was then thatched with a roof of thin slices of raw Kanzi apple. An attractive and delicate beginning.

A pretty dish followed. The pale pinkish orange salmon had been cured with beetroot. The dish glowed with stunning natural colours. The salmon came on a bed of compressed Kanzi, avocado and ginger.

If I could have a favourite dish from the array, it was the Kanzi apple served lightly pickled (using apple cider vinegar) and then topped with Macedon duck 'bonito' that had been smoked dehydrated and then shaved into slithers. This was then topped with black, squid crackers. Such a novel dish with spurts of tartness from the pickled Kanzis and the crunch of the crackers.

Paul Cooper explained how Kanzi apples have textural integrity so they don't fall to mush when cooked.

His next creation was a testament to this. He had braised the Kanzi apples for 12-hours in red wine. Yet, it appeared on our plates as a wedge. It was served next to a pillar-box of pork belly that he had cooked on smoked Kanzi skins. There was something mesmerising about the spread of red on our plates from the liquid of the cooked apple. And, oh the crackling!

We finished off with a Kanzi terrine, burnt butter parfait and candied walnuts. While a dessert, it was the wonderful taste of the Kanzi apples that came through rather than any sugar and we finished with a Kanzi tart with fine, vanilla ice cream.

With their short season, I can't promise that Kanzi apples will be on the menu when you visit but I can promise you that Paul Cooper is doing astounding things with fresh local and seasonal produce.

The Fable Dining Room has an opening special of 3 courses (entree, main, dessert) for $49.00. Click here for the menu and their special. They also do a rather lovely Hemingway-inspired cocktail.