Local dish among best for vegetarians

CHEF: Simon Green is a finalist for the 2015 New Zealand Vegetarian Dish Challenge.PHOTO/GEORGE NOVAK

Trinity Wharf's executive chef Simon Green is a finalist in this year's New Zealand Vegetarian Dish Challenge.

Mr Green, who has been a chef for 28 years, created the confit baby potato, cauliflower mousse with autumn baby vegetables for the Dinner category of the competition. Mr Green, who said he was elated to be named as a finalist, had entered the competition on two other occasions but this was the first as a finalist.

You can be just as creative with vegetables as with meat or fish-based meals.

Simon Green

Vegetables were under utilised and had so much to offer with different flavours, colours and textures, he said. "You can be just as creative with vegetables as with meat or fish-based meals."

In his finalist dish he used the humble potato as the signature ingredient. "If you think about doing a non-vegetarian dish, you always have a protein either meat or a fish and you always have a starch content either being potatoes, kumara, pasta or rice.

"When you do a vegetarian dish, it is difficult because you don't have that piece of fish or meat, or a piece of something. It's a plate of vegetables. So we took the potato and made it the star of the dish like you would with a rump of lamb or salmon steak. Making it the main component rather than a side component."

Mr Green said his consideration for the nutritional value might have been one of the reasons his dish had been chosen as a finalist this year. Taste, presentation, overall size and portion size of the dish and the nutritional value were judged, he said.

His dish was also matched with a vegan wine. Most customers were surprised to find that most wines were not vegetarian or vegan, he said. "Most wines are clarified with eggs, some red wines were clarified with blood and some are actually clarified with fish bones. Egg, blood and fish bones appear in quite a lot of wines."

Mr Green said he was elated he was finalist for this year's competition. "It's really great exposure for the hotel and me and myself and the kitchen."

Mr Green has been a chef for 28 years and had been cooking for Halo at Trinity Wharf for four-and-half-years.