By Jeremy Rochow
Published: Thursday, April 21, 2022
Updated: April 24, 2022 at 11:42 am
The confit and smoked lamb neck is placed on the plate with an elegance usually reserved for more sophisticated cuts of meat.
However, that doesn’t deter chef and owner of Topiary, Kane Pollard, who’s made a name for himself using less-common ingredients to create refined dishes that’ll make your tastebuds sing.
We’ve spent the morning at Kane’s Tea Tree Gully restaurant, first foraging for edible plants and then watching him prepare and cook his creation ‘lamb in the weeds’. The dish consists of a melt-in-your-mouth lamb neck, poached quince, hung yoghurt and an array of edible greens picked metres from the restaurant door.
“There’s no packaging (when you forage),” Kane says. “You’re getting the freshest in-season greens that you can possibly get your hands on, so it makes a huge difference to the end result.”
This delicious dish is no secret though. You can learn how to cook it in our video with Kane. The full recipes are below.
If you want to get a taste of Kane’s cooking, you can visit his restaurant at Newman’s Nursery or attend one of his events at Tasting Australia presented by RAA Travel.
Kane will join Tasting Australia Co-Director Karena Armstrong and fellow chef Ben Devlin to cook at Wasted – a four-course feast that has the ethos of reducing waste.
This event has inspired the tasty quince skin and core whisky sour featured in the video below.
For Kane, Tasting Australia is also a chance to step out of his restaurant and work with other people in hospitality.
“To be able to connect with other chefs at Tasting Australia gives you that time to be in a space you love being in and under that little bit of pressure,” says Kane.
“It’s a great way to bond with people who are passionate about what they do.”
Hosted at Goolwa’s Kuti Shack, Kane will also cook at In The Dunes during Tasting Australia, which features foraged ingredients from the Fleurieu Peninsula paired with sustainably sourced seafood.
Lamb in the weeds
Ingredients
4 lambs’ necks, boned
2L lamb fat or vegetable oil
1L natural yoghurt
2 quinces peeled and cheeked. Keep all leftovers.
1L water
500g white sugar
1 lemon cut in half
1 Tblp fennel seeds
8 stems of coastal rosemary
Weeds and herbs to garnish
Method
1. Bring lamb fat or oil and four stems of coastal rosemary up to about 90C.
2. Gently place the boned necks in the oil, allow to cook gently on the stove top or in a 90C oven until tender.
3. For the yoghurt, Hang in a muslin cloth lined strainer over a bowl overnight until firm.
4. Toast the fennel seeds in a pot on low heat until fragrant, add the water, sugar, lemon and quince cheeks.
5. Cook until ruby in colour, topping with water as required.
Quince trim whisky sour
Ingredients
Quince peels and cores from lamb recipe
2 whole quinces (we need 45ml juice per serve)
45ml 23rd Street Hybrid Whisky
1 egg yolk
4 cubes of ice
Marigold petals
Method
1. Place 45ml fresh quince juice, 45ml whisky, egg white and ice cubes in a cocktail shaker.
2. Shake hard to create a foamy, creamy cocktail.
3. Pour through a cocktail strainer to hold back the ice, garnish with fragrant petals.