The Sydney restaurant Aria has been a high-end institution for two decades and to celebrate its 20th anniversary executive chef Joel Bickford has adapted three of its best-known dishes for challenge-hungry home cooks

Lobster and caviar brioche

Serves 6



Tail meat from 3 champagne lobsters (also known as barking crayfish)

5g finger lime pearls

5g sterling caviar



Brioche batter

30ml buttermilk

1 egg

Brioche (buy high quality from any store or bakery)

Beurre blanc

100ml noilly prat

50ml white wine vinegar

200g unsalted butter

Clean lobster tails and insert a skewer to keep them straight when cooking.

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Combine buttermilk and egg in a bowl. Cut the brioche into pieces 1cm and 6cm wide, using a ring cutter. Dip the brioche pieces into the batter, drain well, then toast the bread until golden.

To make beurre blanc bring noilly prat and vinegar to the boil and reduce by 1/3. Melt in a small amount of butter and boil for 10 seconds. Take pan off heat and slowly whisk in remaining butter. Season with salt.

To cook the lobster tails, place them in hot pan with oil and salt and cook them for approximately three minutes – until the inside is opaque.

To plate

Place toasted brioche down first. Then remove the skewer from the lobster tails and slice them into 1.5cm slices. Arrange neatly on top of the brioche, accounting for ½ a tail each portion.

Mix chives, finger lime and caviar into the beurre blanc, then dress the lobster tails with a good amount of the sauce. Finish with garlic flowers and nasturtium.

Maremma duck with beetroot and date

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Aria’s Maremma duck with beetroot and date. Photograph: Jana Langhorst

This dish is not for the faint of heart. It requires a few days forward planning as the duck’s glaze needs to be built up slowly in stages.

Serves 4

1 whole duck



Duck glaze

250ml sherry vinegar

250ml madeira

250 molasses

300g sugar

Date puree

400g dates

600g water

Slow-cooked beetroot

1 large beetroot, cut into eight cylinders, using an apple corer

Juice from leftover beetroot

Confit duck tongue

200g duck tongue

500g vegetable oil

Duck sauce

1L reduced chicken stock

400g duck bones

1 carrot

1 celery

200g reduced beetroot juice

To garnish

Nasturtium

Red leaf

Ask your butcher to break down the duck to the crown, or do it yourself. Blanch the duck in boiling water for one minute, then ice down. Once chilled, remove the duck from the water and leave it in the fridge to cool down and dry for at least 12 hours.

Combine the duck glaze ingredients into a pot and reduce them by 3/4 over a low heat. Leave the glaze to cool, then glaze the duck. You’ll need to glaze the duck about eight times, leaving each coat to dry for two to three hours in between. Once you’ve applied your final glaze, the skin should be a nice, dark gold colour.

Place the duck tongues in a small pot with oil, and warm them to approximately 130 degrees. Cook until they’re tender, and the cartilage in the centre of each tongue can be easily removed – usually about two hours.

Once the duck is glazed, start on the sauces and other components of the dish.

Place the dates and water into a pan, and cook them down until the water is almost gone and the dates are glazed. Blend the dates, pass them through a sieve to remove any lumps, then season them.

Make the duck sauce by caramelising the carrot, celery and bones in a pan, then add chicken stock. Cook down for 30 minutes then drain through a sieve, and add the beetroot juice.

Combine the beetroot cylinders with the juice from their trimmings and cook in a small pot on low heat until the cylinders are tender.

Heat a heavy pan and place the duck skin side down. Render down the duck crown until the skin is quite dark in colour, almost black.

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Once rendered, roast the duck in an oven set to 180 degrees for 10 minutes. Then rest for 30 minutes.

Slice the duck and serve with two cylinders of beetroot, a large spoonful of date puree and splotches of sauce, as shown in the picture above.

Chocolate and hazelnut souffle

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Aria’s chocolate and hazelnut souffle. Photograph: Jana Langhorst

Serves 6



Souffle base

200gm milk

35gm sugar

2(40gm) egg yolks

20gm flour

25gm cocoa powder

100gm dark chocolate chopped

Ramekin coating

75gm butter (very soft but not melted)

75gm cocoa powder

Souffle mixture

6 egg whites

50gm sugar

280gm souffle base

60gm hazelnuts finely chopped

To make the base:

In a small pot gently heat the milk. Meanwhile, in a heat-proof bowl, whisk together the yolks and sugar until pale, then whisk in the flour and cocoa powder. Pour the boiling milk over the yolk mix and whisk together. Return to pot and over medium heat cook the mixture until it thickens and bubbles, about one minute. Take off heat and whisk in the dark chocolate.

Spread a thick layer of butter inside six ramekins until completely coated, then dust the ramekins’ interior with coco powder. It’s very important the butter is spread all the way to the edge of the ramekin, so the mixture will stick to the mould.

To make the souffle

Whisk the egg whites until medium peak, then slowly add the sugar, whisking more briskly until stiff peaked.

In another bowl add the souffle base and whisk until smooth. Then delicately fold in one third of the whites, then add the rest, making sure to keep the mixture fluffy.

Divide the mixture between the six moulds. Use a spatula to scrap the top of each mould flat and sprinkle the hazelnuts over the top. Use your finger to clean the rim of each ramekin.

Heat your oven to 200C and bake the souffles for eight to 10 minutes. Serve straight from the oven.