RIB OF BEEF, ROASTED FIELD MUSHROOMS, NICOLA MASH & CHIPOTLE ONION JAM

Our darling friend Clare staying for the weekend. Grabbed a couple of dry-aged ribs from our butcher, Paul. Very succulent meat from the Nolan farm near Gympie. Some great really fresh mushrooms at this morning's markets, along with the local watercress. Some nicola potatoes made a silky smooth mash. And an onion jam made this morning with balsamic vinegar, brown sugar, chipotles en adobo, garlic and fennel seeds.

RIB OF BEEF, ROASTED FIELD MUSHROOMS, NICOLA MASH & CHIPOTLE ONION JAM

GRILLED SPATCHCOCK WITH RED RICE

Food nomenclature sure is confusing. Here in Oz, baby chickens are sometimes sold under their French name, poussin. But they are also labelled spatchcock. In the UK, spatchcock refers to a chicken that has been been split and flattened, usually for grilling. Either way, this is spatchcock of sorts - a baby chicken with backbone removed so the two halves lie flat. Red rice is a classic Mexican thing. So is green rice. And white rice. The colours of the flag. The Mexicans probably got the idea from the Spanish. The Spanish got it from the Moors who controlled Spain for 700 years. The Moors got it from the Indians with whom they used to trade. The colour comes from a mix of tomatoes, onion & garlic blended smooth. The rice (long-grain - in this case, jasmine) is fried in a little corn oil. The tomato mix is added and cooked down. Then I added a rich home-made chicken stock and simmered it until the stock was absorbed and the rice fluffy & tender. Some chipotles en adobo and jalapenos en escabeche add a bit of a kick.

GRILLED SPATCHCOCK WITH RED RICE

BOUILLABAISSE

Orange roughy mightn't be the ugliest fish in the world. But it sure comes close. In Australia it is sometimes called deep sea perch. I prefer orange roughy. It a perfect description of its appearance. It belongs to the slimehead family of fish (you see, it just keeps getting worse). No wonder it hides in deep, cold ocean water - too embarrassed to venture near the surface. It doesn't turn up very often in fishmongers here in Australia, but is a great fish for bouillabaisse because it's bright white and holds its shape well when cooked in chunks. Some (like Joel Dean, Giorgio DeLuca & David Rosengarten of NY icon Dean & Deluca) reckon bouillabaisse is the best fish soup in the world. I reckon they're right. It can be served as a single dish (as I have done) or stretched out to 3 courses. It can contain fish, scallops, lobster, prawns and mussels. It can contain potato. This version has just three fishy ingredients - orange roughy, prawns and mussels (proper small black mussels, not the inferior green-lip mussels). You can serve it with or without a slice of bread and rouille. I served it with. A toasted slice of levain from Sydney's Sonoma bakery, rubbed with a clove of garlic and then spread with rouille, a paste of chilli, red capsicum, tomato paste and other goodies. The soup base is a stock made with (in this case) the frame of a barramundi, bruised fennel seeds, onion, dry vermouth, saffron threads, salt, pepper, garlic, red capsicum, dried orange peel and water. I did this in memory of a bouillabaisse I cooked on an aborted sailing trip with Stan and John, 2 good mates, when we sought shelter from a storm at Roslyn Bay in Queensland.

BOUILLABAISSE

PEANUT SAUCE FOR SATAY

125 GMS SKINNED ROASTED PEANUTS
3-4 ESCHALLOTS
2 CLOVES GARLIC
1/2 TEASPOON BLACHAN
2 TABLESOONS PEANUT OIL 
2-3 CANDLENUTS OR MACADAMIAS
1 STALK OF LEMONGRASS
2 HOT CHILLIES (OR 1 TEASPOON CHILLI POWDER)
1 TABLESPOON BROWN SUGAR
4 TABLESPOONS TAMARIND WATER
1/2 TEASPOON SALT
WATER

Peel and finely chop the eschallots. Peel and crush garlic. In a mortar & pestle pound the eschallots, garlic & blachan to a paste. Remove from mortar & set aside. Finely chop the tender part of the lemongrass. Pound this together with the candlenuts in mortar & pestle. Finely chop the chillies. Grind the peanuts in a spice mill or food processor until the consistency of chunky peanut paste. (Of course, you could make life simpler by using ready-made crunchy peanut paste - just make sure it's pure peanuts with no emulsifier, sugar, salt or added oil.) Heat the oil and fry the onion mix for 2-3 minutes until golden. Add lemongrass & candlenut mixture. Lower heat and add chillies, tamarind water, sugar, salt and peanuts with a little water (if the mixture is too dry to start, it could burn). Simmer, stirring frequently, for about 25 minutes - until the sauce is the consistency you like. Add more water as you go if it is looking too dry.

PEANUT SAUCE FOR SATAY

OCEAN TROUT WITH SWEET & SOUR BOK CHOY & CRISPY FISH SKIN

Ocean trout isn't salmon. I just felt the need to write that. Sure it looks like salmon, but it's flavour marks it as a member of the trout family. A really beautiful piece at the fishmonger's stall at the markets. I removed the skin, cut it into strips, salted it, dried it and fried it in corn oil. The fish was marinated in a mix of pickled chillies, fish sauce and sugar before being seared in ghee. The bok choy was washed, halved and cooked in a mix of rice vinegar and sugar. I bought a mix of sprouts from a local organic farm (coriander, soy bean, mung bean). These were mixed with fried slices of garlic, chopped roasted peanuts and sliced lemongrass, which were tossed with a couple of tablespoons of nuoc nam cham. Need the full recipe? Let me know.

OCEAN TROUT WITH SWEET & SOUR BOK CHOY & CRISPY FISH SKIN

KINGFISH WITH WASABI MASH, TEMPURA FENNEL & PONZU

What are your favourite potatoes for a mash? Mine are nicolas. These were put through a mouli which produces a great soft texture. The kingfish was caught off the local coast yesterday, bought from the fisherman at the market this morning. I'd never done fennel in a tempura batter until today. Pretty good - but could be better (which reminds me of a common comment on my school reports). Ponzu is simple to make and keeps forever.

KINGFISH WITH WASABI MASH, TEMPURA FENNEL & PONZU

PORK & PARSNIP POT PIE WITH BRAISED CABBAGE

Winter. Pies. Made for each other? This started with slow-braised shoulder of pork. Then I remembered I had some baby parsnips, so these were diced and browned in ghee. I decided to do a pot pie, because I liked the alliteration. The pastry is one of my favourites - and one that scares some people: lard pastry. I always have a large jar of this glorious and neglected shortening, home-rendered from pork fat. It makes brilliant pastry. The cabbage was slowly braised with eschallots, bay, juniper, salt, pepper and white wine. Delicious.

PORK & PARSNIP POT PIE WITH BRAISED CABBAGE

GOAT, FETTA, PUMPKIN & MUSTARD FRUIT PIZZA

A pizza to use some leftovers - roasted goat, fetta (the sheep's milk version, not the cow's milk one), pumpkin and mustard fruit. All on a pizza base from a John Lanzafame recipe.

GOAT, FETTA, PUMPKIN & MUSTARD FRUIT PIZZA

TRUFFLE SALAMI & GRUYERE PIZZA

I made the pizza base using a recipe from Sydney pizza guru John Lanzafame. Simplicity itself. This pizza has just three toppings. Some tomato (a can of peeled tomatoes blended smooth, grated gruyere and slices of truffled salami. I used gruyere rather than mozzarella because I reckon it works better with the truffle.

TRUFFLE SALAMI & GRUYERE PIZZA

SMOKED DUCK WITH PINEAPPLE & STAR ANISE CHUTNEY, ROASTED CORN, PUMPKIN, PECANS & TATSOI WITH A PECAN & MAPLE VINAIGRETTE

I smoke duck. It's better than crack. I didn't smoke this duck, however. It's readily available ready-smoked. It's OK cold, but better heated in a pan until the skin crisps and the flesh warms through. A local grower had some lovely tatsoi and a neighbour gave us a pumpkin. The pecans come from the valley over the hill. I gave a recipe for the pineapple & star anise chutney a few days ago. It's really a warm salad, served with a dressing of pecan oil, sherry vinegar & maple syrup. Works brilliantly with a Kiwi pinot noir.

SMOKED DUCK WITH PINEAPPLE & STAR ANISE CHUTNEY, ROASTED CORN, PUMPKIN, PECANS & TATSOI WITH A PECAN & MAPLE VINAIGRETTE

ROAST SHOULDER OF GOAT WITH NORTH AFRICAN FLAVOURS, MOGHRABIEH & FETTA-STUFFED ZUCCHINI FLOWERS

After a few days exploring Asian flavours, I felt the need to travel again. The caravan stopped in North Africa. I marinated a shoulder of goat in olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, thyme & allspice. This was then slow-roasted at 150C for a couple of hours, then uncovered and finished at 200C for about 45 minutes. The meat was soft, juicy and rich. One of the vendors at the local markets had male zucchini flowers. Here in Australia, it's more common to see female flowers attached to young fruit. I stuffed these with fetta, dipped them in a thin batter then in panko crumbs and shallow fried them in grapeseed oil. The whole lot was served on a bed of moghrabieh flavoured with preserved lemon. If you haven't encountered moghrabieh, you're in for a treat. They are a relative of couscous - basically pasta balls the size of ocean trout roe.

ROAST SHOULDER OF GOAT WITH NORTH AFRICAN FLAVOURS, MOGHRABIEH & FETTA-STUFFED ZUCCHINI FLOWERS

KAPITAN PRAWNS

I first ate at Sydney's Malaya Restaurant in 1973. Back then it was a basic room on George Street near Central Station. Linoleum on the floor, Formica on the tables, unfamiliar flavours on the plate. The Malaya changed over the years. They knocked a hole through to the neighbouring room. They put flock velvet wallpaper and mock antique carriage lamps on the walls. They started playing Al Martino & Frank Sinatra on the sound system. Thank god the food stayed the same. Two dishes that have always been on The Malaya's menu are kapitan prawns and kapitan chicken. I thought I'd have a go.



KAPITAN PRAWNS

Serves 4

24 GREEN PRAWNS
2 CANDLENUTS
3 RED THAI CHILLIES
2 CM SQUARE PIECE OF PRAWN PASTE
2 GARLIC CLOVES
2 STALKS OF LEMONGRASS
1 TEASPOON GROUND TURMERIC
4 TABLESPOONS PEANUT OIL
250 MLS COCONUT CREAM
2 TABLESPOONS TAMARIND PASTE
150 MLS WATER
PINCH OF SALT
1 TEASPOON SUGAR
1/2 CINNAMON QUILL
5 GREEN CARDAMOM PODS
FRIED SHALLOTS


Crush the candlenuts, chillies, garlic, prawn paste, lemongrass and turmeric to a paste. Heat the oil over medium heat. Add paste and fry until fragrant. Add coconut cream, tamarind paste & water and bring back to a simmer. Crack cardamom pods and add these and the cinnamon quill (put them into a herb cage or tie them in muslin to make it easy to remove them later), salt and sugar. Heat until reduced to a thick sauce, stirring frequently. Taste and add more salt or sugar as desired.

Shell and devein the prawns, leaving the tail section intact. Remove the cardamom and cinnamon from the sauce. Add prawns and cook. Place into a serving bowl and sprinkle fried shallots over the top.

KAPITAN PRAWNS

EGGPLANTS WITH PEANUTS & TAMARIND

I did this to accompany kapitan prawns - and because I had bought a couple of purple eggplants at the markets.











EGGPLANTS WITH PEANUTS & TAMARIND

Serves 2-3 as a side dish

2-4 LONG THIN EGGPLANTS, ROLL CUT INTO CHUNKS
1 ONION CUT LENGTHWISE INTO 8 WEDGES
2 TABLESPOONS PEANUT OIL
2 TABLESPOONS CHILLI OIL
2 TABLESPOONS SOY SAUCE
2 TABLESPOONS TAMARIND PASTE
1 TEASPOON PRAWN PASTE
1 CLOVE GARLIC, CHOPPED
HANDFUL OF ROASTED PEANUTS


Mix soy sauce, tamarind paste & prawn paste. Heat peanut & chilli oils in a wok over medium heat. Add eggplants & onions and fry until they start to brown. Add sauce & paste mix and garlic. Toss to cook through. Add peanuts and serve.

EGGPLANTS WITH PEANUTS & TAMARIND

PINAPPLE & STAR ANISE CHUTNEY

2 RIPE PINEAPPLES
450 GMS BROWN SUGAR
4 STAR ANISE
5 CM PIECE OF GINGER
1/2 CINNAMON QUILL
2 SMALL DRIED CHILLIES
PINCH OF SALT
150 MLS COCONUT VINEGAR
1 TEASPOON PECTIN (OPTIONAL)

Peel, core & dice the pineapple. Peel and julienne the ginger. Finely chop the chillies. Place the cinnamon & star anise into a herb cage or tie up in muslin. Place all ingredients (except pectin) into a saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring frequently to ensure the sugar is fully dissolved. Cook over moderate heat until the sauce reduces and thickens - about 20 minutes. (If it is still looking too thin, add the pectin to encourage thickening.) Place into sterilised jars and refrigerate. This will keep well for several months

PINAPPLE & STAR ANISE CHUTNEY

TWO CHIPOTLE CHILLI CONDIMENTS

 

CHIPOTLES EN ADOBO

This goes brilliantly with any barbecued meat. It can also be blended into a mayonnaise and added to some Mexican-flavoured soups or stews.

150 GRAMS CHIPOTLES MECOS

4 ANCHOS (SEEDS & STEMS REMOVED)

4 CLOVES OF GARLIC, CHOPPED

2 BAY LEAVES, CRUMBLED

3 SPRIGS OF FRESH MARJORAM (OR 1/2 TEASPOON DRIED)

3 SPRIGS OF FRESH THYME (OR 1/2 TEASPOON DRIED)

1/2 TEASPOON GROUND CUMIN SEEDS

150 MLS WATER

300 MLS COCONUT, RICE OR CIDER VINEGAR

2 TABLESPOONS CORN OIL

1 TABLESPOON SEA SALT

70 GRAMS DARK BROWN SUGAR

Rinse and dry the chillies. Place chipotles in a saucepan, cover with cold water and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes. Rest. Cover anchos with hot water in small saucepan and simmer 5 minutes. Rest. Put vinegar, 150 mls water, herbs, spices, garlic, 2 chipotles and the anchos in a blender. Blend to a textured sauce.

Heat the oil in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add sauce from the blender and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes. Add the rest of the chipotles, salt and sugar. Simmer for 5 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Allow to cool. Store in sealed glass jar in the refrigerator.

NOTE Chipotle chillies come in two varieties. Meco is the larger chilli with brown matt skin. There are others which are smaller and a deep red (sometimes called moras). Both are available from Mexican food sources. This keeps almost indefinitely. I often use any remaining sauce as the base for the next batch.

CHIPOTLE BBQ SAUCE

If you like your BBQ sauces hot and spicy, this is for you. You can buy chipotles en adobo from Mexican food sources. Or you can make your own using dried chipotle chillies (also from Mexican food sources) - using the recipe above.

50 MLS CANOLA OIL

1 1/2 CHOPPED WHITE OR RED ONION

5-6 CHOPPED GARLIC CLOVES

1 STICK OF CELERY, CHOPPED

175 MLS CIDER VINEGAR

300 ML BOTTLE OF TOMATO SAUCE OR KETCHUP

50 MLS WATER

2 TABLESPOONS WORCESTERSHIRE SAUCE

1 TABLESPOON LIQUID SMOKE

1 TABLESPOON SMOKED LA VERA PAPRIKA

1 1/2 TEASPOONS GROUND CUMIN

3 CHIPOTLE CHILLES EN ADOBO

3 TEASPOONS OF SEA SALT

Sweat the onion, garlic and celery in oil over moderate heat for 5 minutes. Add other ingredients and simmer for 20 minutes. Puree in blender or with hand blender at high speed until smooth (not food processor - too slow). Bottle and refrigerate.

TWO CHIPOTLE CHILLI CONDIMENTS

CARAMEL PORK WITH RED DATES, HOT & SOUR CABBAGE

The Chinese sure know how to cook pork belly. I made up this dish and it seemed to turn out OK. A base of Malaysian caramel sauce, black vinegar, rock sugar, star anise, ginger, green onion & five spice powder with some water. The pork belly dusted with rice flour and fried briefly, then braised in the strained stock with red dates - which aren't members of the date family. It was cooked in a sand clay pot, those great pots with glazed interiors and wire around the outside. The cabbage cut through the sweet richness of the pork nicely - ginger, light soy, sugar, shao xing and a little sesame oil to finish.

CARAMEL PORK WITH RED DATES, HOT & SOUR CABBAGE

CHICKEN SATAY

Does anyone in our so-called developed nations cook over coals any more? I ask because we've all become so used to gas BBQs that charcoal has almost become a relic. ALMOST. I decided to do sate and then decided I had to cook them over a charcoal fire. Sure, you need to get your fire going 45 minutes before you want to cook, but having tasted the chicken cooked this way, I'm convinced it isn't worth cooking sate any other way. Charcoal gives a heat that no heat beads can match. And real flame gives a flavour that gas flame can't match. I used one of those old mini Webers with the folding legs. If I didn't have that I would have bought the purpose-made long, thin satay cookers that are sold in markets.

CHICKEN SATAY

KALAMATA TAPENADE

(Makes about 2 cups)

250 GRAMS OF PITTED KALAMATA OLIVES

2 TEASPOONS OF FINELY CHOPPED GARLIC

1/4 OF A WHITE ONION, FINELY CHOPPED

4 ANCHOVY FILLETS

1TABLESPOON OF BABY CAPERS

1/4 TEASPOON OF GROUND CAYENNE CHILLIES

A FEW SPRIGS OF FRESH THYME

JUICE OF HALF A SMALL LEMON

50 MLS OF EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL

Check the olives to make sure there are no seeds. Pull the leaves off the sprigs of thyme. Place all the ingredients, except for the oil, in a blender. Pulse until the ingredients are mixed together but still chunky. Turn motor on low and drizzle oil into the blender until the ingredients are finely chopped, but not puréed. Refrigerate up to 2 weeks.

KALAMATA TAPENADE

SICHUAN CHILLI SAUCE

(Makes about 1 1/2 cups)

2 TABLESPOONS PEANUT OIL

4 CLOVES GARLIC

3CM PIECE OF GINGER

1 SMALL WHITE ONION

6 FRESH LONG RED (LA-JIAO OR CAYENNE) CHILLIES

70 MLS CHINESE RED VINEGAR

1 TABLESPOON OF SUGAR

2 TABLESPOONS OF TOMATO SAUCE

2 TABLESPOONS OF SHAOXING RICE WINE

2 TEASPOONS OF SEA SALT

50-100 MLS OF WATER

Peel and finely chop the garlic, ginger and onion. Remove the stems and seeds from the chillies and chop coarsely. Heat the oil over medium/high heat in a wide shallow pan. Add garlic and ginger and cook about 30 seconds. Add the onions and cook another minute, stirring frequently. Added the chopped chillies and the vinegar. Simmer for about 10 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and simmer another 5 minutes. Cool, then blend, adding sufficient water to achieve a smooth rich pouring sauce.

Keeps for several months in the fridge. Another great condiment to have on hand - for yum cha, steamed or poached chicken etc. Really fresh vibrant flavours with the ginger, red vinegar and sugar adding substance to the heat from the chillies

SICHUAN CHILLI SAUCE

ORANGE CAPSICUM PUREE

(Makes 2 cups)

1 SPANISH ONION

2 CLOVES OF GARLIC

2 TABLESPOONS OF CORN OIL

4 ORANGE CAPSICUMS (OR 3 YELLOW &1 RED CAPSICUM)

1/2 TEASPOON OF GROUND TURMERIC

1/2 TEASPOON OF GROUND YELLOW OR RED CAYENNE CHILLIES

1 TEASPOON OF SMOKED LA VERA PAPRIKA

150-200 MLS OF HOME MADE CHICKEN STOCK

Halve and coarsely slice the onions. Peel the garlic, seed and coarsely dice the capsicums. Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Sweat onion and garlic until translucent. Add capsicum, spices and about 150 mls of chicken stock (it has to be home made - I haven't yet found a bought one with comparable flavour). Cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for about an hour.

Allow to cool. Blend at high speed until smooth. Add more reserved cooking liquid or stock as needed.

This is a brilliant sauce to keep in the fridge. It will last 2-3 weeks. Simply heat it as needed. It works really well with grilled white fish, chicken or pork - with quinoa, for example.

ORANGE CAPSICUM PUREE

COCIDO

Does every nation have a national stew? In France it might be a toss-up between pot au feu and bouillabaisse. In Belgium, it would be carbonnade flamande. In Italy, maybe osso bucco. In Ireland, well, Irish stew. Numerous West African nations have a chicken & peanut stew - sometimes called palava. Cocido would be Spain's entrant in the stew stakes. Like most of these dishes, there are many variations. This one has no beef (which would be the meat used in the version from Madrid). It is made with chicken, ham hock and chorizos, all slow cooked in stock & white wine with onion, garlic, chickpeas and potato. Given that Spain is playing in the World Cup final, it seemed like an appropriate dish.

COCIDO

SALMON ADOBADO, ANCHO RICE, HERB & LEMON PUREE

There are many different recipes for adobos. All of the Mexican ones have dried chillies of some sort - anchos and guajillos are popular. Various spices, garlic, sometimes crushed annato seeds, usually vinegar. (Mexican vinegars tend to be low in acidity. Many cooks make their own from pineapple or banana skins.) I use coconut or palm vinegar. The paste lasts for quite a while in the fridge. Before use, I thin it with more vinegar and sugar or sometimes with orange juice. I like my salmon seared on the outside, raw but warmed through in the middle. The puree is simply coriander & green onions blended to smooth with a little salt and lemon-infused olive oil.

SALMON ADOBADO, ANCHO RICE, HERB & LEMON PUREE

BREAST OF CHICKEN WITH GREEN RICE CAKE & MAPLE CORN

Ah, what would we do without leftovers? The chook is the other half of the chook I cooked last night. There was some risotto verde left over from the previous night. I added an egg and some panko crumbs and sauteed it in ghee to make green rice cakes. I got some corn this afternoon which looked like it had been harvested perhaps yesterday. Sauteed that in corn oil with some maple syrup. A bit of wild rocket from the garden and there's dinner.

BREAST OF CHICKEN WITH GREEN RICE CAKE & MAPLE CORN

POLLO CON PIPIAN VERDE, ARROZ CON CHILE ANCHO

Classic Mexican fare tonight. For those of you unfamiliar with Mexican food, pipian verde is a thick sauce of hulled pumpkin seeds, green serrano chillies, epazote (a plant native to Mexico - which I am now growing here at home) and various other spices. (There's a good recipe for pipian in Zarela's Veracruz - link below.) The rice is from a Diana Kennedy recipe, which in turn is based on a recipe published in 1877 in a book called La Cocinera Poblana - the Puebla cook. It combines Mexican and Spanish ingredients - rice and saffron from Spain with ancho chillies from Mexico. I cooked the chicken in a Schlemmertopf. That's a proprietary name for a lidded clay pot made by the nattily-named Scheurich-Keramik company in Germany. Lots of cuisines have clay or terracotta cooking vessels. The great things about these is that the moisture in the terracotta keeps the chicken or whatever else you cook inside it moist.

POLLO CON PIPIAN VERDE, ARROZ CON CHILE ANCHO

RISOTTO VERDE

Some risottos are dry. They sit in a neat mound on the plate. Other risottos are wet and settle into the plate. There's no rule on what's right. If I'd cooked this a bit longer, more liquid would have evaporated and it would sit up. I didn't do that because I wanted to keep the bright green colour and this would have dulled with extended heating. The great thing about a green risotto is that you can pretty much put any green vegetables into it. In this case there are diced zucchinis & Brussels sprouts. The stock is chicken (home made, of course). At the end of the cooking process, I added a couple of cups of snow peas, beans & green onions which had been blended smooth with some chicken stock. Other vegetable that I'd consider would be broccoli & broccolini, rape, kale, silverbeet, spinach and cavolo nero. Some freshly grated grana padana was stirred through before serving, along with some good butter - Lurpak. A great way to get people who won't eat vegetables to eat vegetables.

RISOTTO VERDE

ROASTED CAULIFLOWER & GRUYERE SOUP WITH HAZELNUT OIL

Some soups are simple broths - delicate little things admired for their subtlety. Some are more robust. This is one of the latter - one of those big, boofy soups. Well as big and boofy as a soup can be - but not as big and boofy as a rib of beef. To add extra flavour to this, I broke the cauli into pieces, shook these with extra virgin olive oil and roasted them, along with a large onion and a few cloves of garlic. I then placed the roasted vegetables into a large saucepan with about 2 cups of home-made chicken stock, covered this and simmered it gently until everything was perfectly soft. I added salt and pepper, then pureed the lot until smooth. I grated a few tablespoons of gruyere into this and stirred it through. Finished with a drizzle of hazelnut oil in the bowl. Some crusty sourdough from Sydney's Sonoma Bakery. And that's it - a satisfying, simple, warming meal for winter. If you make stock regularly and keep some in the freezer, a soup like this is a cinch.

ROASTED CAULIFLOWER & GRUYERE SOUP WITH HAZELNUT OIL

WHOLE FISH WITH SAW-TOOTH CORIANDER

Luderick sounds like a character from Blackadder. Here in Australia it's often called blackfish. You don't see it in fish markets very often. It's not a species that's fished commercially. It lives in estuaries and bays and mostly eats seaweed. Occasionally worms. My grandfather used to fish for this down the road from his home in Sydney's Drummoyne. I was surprised to see our local fishmonger have this on his blackboard this morning. My guess is that a local fisherman caught more than he needed and sold them to the fish shop. Anyway, it's a great fish to cook simply like this. The fish was marinated for a half hour in a mix of light soy, palm sugar, fish sauce and tamarind water. Then patted dry inside and out before being deep fried in a wok of peanut oil. The oil was almost smoking. This ensured that the skin crisped up and the flesh virtually steamed inside. A squeeze of lime juice and a sprinkle of chopped saw-tooth coriander (culantro in Mexico, where it's also used). A salad of watercress with an Asian dressing. A crisp young riesling. Heaven.

WHOLE FISH WITH SAW-TOOTH CORIANDER

PRIK KING PRAWNS

Prik king is a Thai chilli paste. It isn't a million kilometres away from a typical red curry paste in composition. I could have called this prawns with peas and beans. I didn't. The peas are snow peas. The beans are snake beans. Snow peas aren't traditional Thai, but they had big bags of them at the fruit shop and the sweetness of these worked well against the other flavours going on here. Snake beans seem to be around for most of the year. They like warm climates, which is probably why they are grown in far north Queensland and the Northern Territory. They're best when they're young and not too thick.

PRIK KING PRAWNS

CRANBERRY & PECAN BRIOCHE PUDDING WITH CREME ANGLAISE

I don't do desserts. Maybe once every few years. This one came about because we had some friends to dinner and I just got the urge to serve something sweet at the end of the meal. I bought a brioche from the French baker at the markets. The pecans come from Tweed River Pecans over the hill. For the creme I used a vanilla pod that I also bought at the markets - from a woman with a farm in New Guinea. Even in the outdoor space of the market, the seductive aroma of the vanilla was discernible metres away from the stall.
Tweed River Pecans

CRANBERRY & PECAN BRIOCHE PUDDING WITH CREME ANGLAISE

MASTER STOCK PORK BELLY WITH WATERCRESS

Berkshires are an old breed of pig that virtually disappeared in Australia - and elsewhere - as people tried to breed the fat out of pork. That was a stupid mistake. The result is the crap that's sold by most butchers and all supermarkets - pork with no discernible flavour that becomes dry and tough with cooking. Here in Australia, it took the passion of people like Joe Byrne of Bangalow Sweet Pork to encourage breeders to return to some of the heritage breeds that carried a natural amount of fat. That fat meas that pork from these breeds behaves differently in the kitchen than standard pork. Its fat content allows the meat to retain succulence. Natural sugars in the flesh caramelise in a pan. The Berkshire is a black pig with short legs. Byron Bay Berkshire Pork is raised in the area between Ballina and Byron Bay in northern New South Wales. In Japan, kurobuta pork is produced from a pure strain of black Berkshires. It is as highly prized as the best Kobe beef and regarded as the best pork in the world. A Berkshire's belly flesh doesn't seem to be as thick as some other breeds, but it is beautifully flavoured. I braised a whole piece in master stock. The original stock dates back about 6 years. Every so often, as the quantity reduces, I supplement it with fresh ingredients. After each use, I strain and refrigerate what's left. I lift off any fat that has solidified on the surface and freeze the stock until I need it again. This piece of belly was cooked at 130C for six hours.
Bangalow Pork Berkshire pigs - Wikipedia

MASTER STOCK PORK BELLY WITH WATERCRESS

RIB OF BEEF WITH BALCK BEANS, ZUCCHINI & FIELD MUSHROOMS

This is more of the fabulous beef that Paul from Jack Sprat's has been dry-aging.I thought I'd give it some Mexican flavours. A bed of black beans finished in home-rendered pork lard. Lard is brilliant. Not healthy, just brilliant. There's no substitute - no matter what people might say. Vegetable shortening, butter, olive oil ... great in their proper places. But no stand-in for lard. The beef was rubbed with a dry adobo spice mix. Huge field mushrooms were roasted with olive oil and garlic. Zucchinis were sauteed in ghee. Pretty simple meal. Home Cooking 101.

RIB OF BEEF WITH BALCK BEANS, ZUCCHINI & FIELD MUSHROOMS

JEWFISH, RED QUINOA, BRUSSELS SPROUTS & DOUBLE SMOKED BACON

How did the jewfish get its name? According to the Oxford Dictionary, William Dampier (an early white visitor to Australia) is largely responsible. The dictionary quotes a 1697 book by Dampier - "A New Voyage Round the World" Whilst in Jamaica (a good number of years before Appleton rum was first produced on the island) Dampier happened across this fish. To quote his log, "The jew-fish is a very good fish, and I judge so called by the English because it has scales and fins, therefore a clean fish, according to the Levitical law, and the Jews at Jamaica buy them and eat them very freely. It is a very large fish, shaped much like a cod but a great deal bigger; one will weigh three, or four, or five hundredweight. It has a large head, with great fins and scales, as big as an half-crown, answerable to the bigness of his body. It is very sweet meat, and commonly fat. This fish lives among the rocks; there are plenty of them in the West Indies, about Jamaica and the coast of Caracas; but chiefly in these seas, especially more westward." The jewfish is also called mulloway in Australia. It is in season right now. I had some lovely jewfish prepared three ways at Flow restaurant in Tugun last week - and bought some at the fishmonger today. Here it sits on a bed of red quinoa - one of the so-called superfoods for all the goodness it possesses. I bought some double smoked bacon at the North Sydney growers market. It comes from the Tunkey property in Orange and is deliciously smoky without being salty. A drizzle of Colonna lemon-infused oil to finish.

JEWFISH, RED QUINOA, BRUSSELS SPROUTS & DOUBLE SMOKED BACON