PAULA – MY CHEF FOR THREE WEEKS.

It was Eberhard who met the bus from Sydney at Glen Aplin and brought Paula Snow to our home. Paula had contacted me from Boston in the USA and asked if she could come to me as a wwoofer. She had joined the WWOOF organization and discovered that Das Helwig Haus B&B was a host farm prepared to teach organic gardening and cookery skills to young international travelers who were Willing Workers on Organic Farms.

Over coffee, i discovered that she had studied cooking for three years at a culinary school, then worked under a senior chef at an Italian restaurant for two years and then under another senior chef in a  seafood restaurant for a further two years. Both restaurants were situated in the city of Washington.

“What prompted your trip to Australia? I asked.

“My Grandmother died and left me a small legacy on condition that I do something adventurous with the money. After three weeks with you, I’m heading to Cairns to go white water rafting, bungee jumping and scuba diving.”

“And why have you chosen to wwoof with us?”

“I read that you practised self-sufficiency and I want to learn ‘garden to table’ from you.”

Eberhard turned to me and asked, “What are we eating for lunch today?”

I laughed. “I’ve got a cook and a chef in the kitchen and you’re asking me what we will eat? Can’t the two of you work it out?”

Eberhard turned to Paul and suggested she surprise us.

I could see she didn’t know where to begin and recognised I must come to her rescue.

“We have some pork chops in the freezer. Paula, what would you serve with pork chops?”

“Well, I tend to think seasonally. Back home we are going into Fall and I would serve them with cabbage and brandied apple sauce.”

“Sounds delicious!” I pulled half a cabbage and four Granny Smith apples from the crisper. “What else will you need?”

“What about an onion?” I asked.

“Sure, that would be fine.”

“Come with me,” I instructed, “We’ll get an onion from the cold room and I’ll show you what else is available in the vegetable garden. It is the spring season here on the Granite Belt.”

We were strolling past a big clump of fennel when Paula fondled the leaves and asked, “Is this dill?”

“No, although it looks similar. Smell those leaves – you’ll smell aniseed – that’s fennel.”

“Oh, I used to cook fennel when i worked in the Italian restaurant. I could prepare some for lunch.”

“That’s a great idea. Fennel has grown in the part of the garden, self-seeding every year since we came here. It also grows like a wild weed all over the district.”

PAULA’S PORK CHOPS – serves 4

4 pork chops, 1 bulb fresh fennel, 1/2 head cabbage, 4 cooking apples, 1 medium onion, 4 tablespoons butter, 2 teaspoons caraway seeds, 2 tablespoons brandy, 2 tablespoons flour, 4 cups chicken or pork stock, 2 tablespoons olive oil, dash of sage, salt and pepper to taste.

Julienne fennel and to a pan with the butter on medium heat. Saute lightly, add 2 cups stock, salt and pepper. braise for thirty minutes or until tender.

Julienne cabbage. After the fennel has cooked for 20 minutes add the cabbage and caraway seeds.

Remove the apple cores and slice apples with the peel on. Remove outer skin and julienne the onion.

Place the apple and onion in a hot pan with a little oil and cook until well caramelised or a nice golden brown. Deglaze the pan with brandy, scraping the bottom with a wooden spoon. Transfer this sauce to another pan, adding 2 cups of stock and simmer on a low heat.

In the same pan as you cooked the apples, place pork chops with a little oil and brown on each side seasoning with sage, salt and pepper.

Remove chops from the pan and deglaze with some liquid from the fennel, scraping the bottom again. Add this liquid to the saucepan. Finally add to the sauce the remaining butter and flour. Whisk until smooth. Simmer sauce on low heat for 5 minutes.

Plate up the chops with servings of cabbage & fennel, apple & onion, before pouring some sauce over the meat. Enjoy your meal.

“This is one of my favourite recipes for pork because it keeps the meat moist and the flavours compliment each other well,” Paula explained. “Where I come from in the States this would be a perfect Fall meal using the fresh local produce of that season. When pork chops are mentioned this is the first recipe that comes to mind as an elegant simple home cooked dish.”

As promised, Paula remained in our home for three weeks during which time Eberhard taught her to bake a Black Forest Cake and sweet scones for a Devonshire Tea. From me she learnt to make pikelets, Anzac Biscuits and jams.

We discovered that when Paula worked as a chef in the seafood restaurant in Washington it was situated adjacent to the Treasury Building. Alan Greenspan had frequented the restaurant and Senator Teddy Kennedy regularly requested that Paula make for him his favourite fish cakes. Prior to becoming President of the USA, George W Bush had eaten a meal she prepared while his body guard observed her every movement. Paula’s ultimate feat in name dropping was to tell me she had cooked a meal for the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, scrutinised by his body guard. It was then plated up as two portions – one to be eaten immediately by his official food taster. Until Paula told me of this experience, I had thought food tasters belonged in medieval history.