SALMON AND CHINESE CABBAGE SALAD. LAMB, FIG AND CHICKPEA SALAD

Magic with leftovers. Some barbecued lamb sliced fine and mixed with chickpeas, figs, fine slices of Spanish onion with an olive oil & beetroot vinegar. Salmon mixed with Chinese cabbage macerated in fish sauce, sugar, red vinegar and lime juice, with peanuts.

SALMON AND CHINESE CABBAGE SALAD. LAMB, FIG AND CHICKPEA SALAD

WOK-SEARED SALMON WITH CHILLIES AND THAI BASIL. BOK CHOY WITH TIANJIN VEGETABLES

The anglicised Thai name for this dish is bplah salmon pad gkaprow. Bplah gets spelt all sorts of ways in English. So does gkaprow. Normally the salmon would be cut into large chunks, but I preferred to keep the fillets whole so they remained raw in the centre. This is based on a recipe included in the wonderful Dancing Shrimp by Kasma Loha-Unchit.

The Thais cook Chinese food.  This could be called cabbage 2 ways, because the earthenware tubs of preserved vegetables from Tianjin in China is a variety of cabbage, as is bok choy.

WOK-SEARED SALMON WITH CHILLIES AND THAI BASIL. BOK CHOY WITH TIANJIN VEGETABLES

POLLO ALLA DIAVOLA

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? I contemplated this whilst cooking this classic of the Italian kitchen. There are several ways to do this, but all recipes for pollo all diavola have one ingredient in common - chilli. I guess the association is the fiery heat of chilli supposedly linked to the fires of hell. This got me thinking. A popular party dish back in the 50s and 60s was devilled eggs. For those of you unfamiliar with these guys, they are halved hard-boiled eggs with the yolks mixed with mayonnaise and mustard and then spooned back into the hollow of the egg. Apparently the idea of stuffing eggs can be traced back to the Roman - although the word devilled was not used until maybe the 18th century. Anyway, if the word was supposed to indicate a spicy dish, those devilled eggs sure would have disappointed Satan. Not so this chook. The chillies I used were dried fiery little Thai chillies from the garden.

POLLO ALLA DIAVOLA

LAMB SALAD WITH TAHIHI VINAIGRETTE

I barbecued a leg of lamb on Australia Day (because a big bloke on TV told me it would be unAustralian if I didn't cook lamb). I used some leftover lamb in this simple salad. Because I used chickpeas in the salad, I was inspired to give it a vaguely middle eastern feeling with a vinaigrette of olive oil, lemon juice, tahihi, salt, pepper and coarsely ground coriander seeds.

LAMB SALAD WITH TAHIHI VINAIGRETTE

ROAST CHICKEN WITH HILBEH

In Yemen, roast chicken might be considered exotic. Hilbeh, on the other hand, is common. Common as roast chicken is here in Australia (although this one is uncommonly small halfway between a spatchcock and a fully grown chook). Here in Australia, kumera is common. What is less common is adding garlic jam to the cooked kumera before mashing. In Brussells, Brussells sprouts might be common. Common, but not necessarily popular. Not as popular as chocolate, which the Belgians do really well. Whilst Brussels sprouts are common, they are commonly boiled - which renders them ordinary. Less common is to fry them in a little butter, which gives them an uncommon richness. Walnut oil also works well with Brussels sprouts. Sump oil does not. I have no idea if Brussels sprouts are common in Yemen. Nor kumera.  I wonder what they eat in the House of Commons.

ROAST CHICKEN WITH HILBEH

CONFIT OF OCEAN TROUT WITH GOLDEN BEETROOT, HAZELNUTS & ROAST GARLIC AIOLI

Funny how these golden beetroot are not all golden. As the photo shows, some are a muted red. Oh well, tasty none the less. Maybe I imagine they are tastier than they are because I grew them. In honesty, though, they are not as tasty as the deep red varieties. Worth a shot, but I will not replant them. Great hazelnuts from Mudgee in central New South Wales. A wonderful beetroot-infused vinegar and Colonna lemon-infused olive oil plus a dollop of roast garlic aioli (and I want to know what has happened to the umlauts on my computer).

CONFIT OF OCEAN TROUT WITH GOLDEN BEETROOT, HAZELNUTS & ROAST GARLIC AIOLI

CHILES RELLENOS DE PICADILLO DE POLLO

This is a decidedly non classic version of a Mexican classic. For starters, picadillo is usually made with pork. Except for the substitution of chicken, this picadillo is otherwise traditional, with fried onion, blanched almonds, acitron etc. The second break with tradition is that the stuffed ancho chilli is usually coated in a light batter and fried. No batter in this version - because I have my boyish figure to think of. The sauce is authentic - tomato, garlic and onion blended and then added to hot lard with a pouch of bay, cloves and cinnamon. There are some interesting flavours and textures going on here - the chocolate & prune character of the mild ancho chilli matching the sweetness of the acitron. The tang of the sauce countering the richness of the chicken. The smoothness of the sauce a contrast to the crunch of almond.

CHILES RELLENOS DE PICADILLO DE POLLO

MAHI MAHI WITH ZHOUG & CHICKPEAS

Zhoug. Sounds like one of those cartoon exclamations. Zounds! Gazooks! Rattattattat! I am sure they have cartoons in Yemen. Maybe they use this word in Yemeni broadcasts of Yogi Bear. They also use it in Yemeni kitchens, where it is the name of a popular mix of leaves (usually coriander), cumin, pepper, garlic, oil and water amongst other things. I suck with a Middle Eastern theme, mixing chickpeas with tomato, preserved lemon, oil and lemon juice. Mahi mahi are moving along the coast at the moment and I bought this from a local fisherman at the weekly markets.

MAHI MAHI WITH ZHOUG & CHICKPEAS

TUNA ADOBADO WITH A TOMATO & ARTICHOKE SAUCE

Adobos are a staple of mexican cooking. They are generally pastes of dried chillies such as ancho, guajillo or chipotle with garlic and various spices and herbs - oregano, thyme, cinnamon, cloves, annatto seeds - and orange juice or a gentle vinegar, such as home-made pineapple or coconut vinegar. Sometimes the garlic and juice or vinegar are omitted and the dry mix is used as a rub on meat. I like it on tuna, which is about as close to meat as fish can get. If the fish is inspired by Mexico, the sauce is inspired by the invaders of Mexico. The Spanish use a LOT of artichokes. Here I have combined slices of cooked hearts with a puree of tomato, garlic, onion, olive oil and a small amount of sherry vinegar.

TUNA ADOBADO WITH A TOMATO & ARTICHOKE SAUCE

SALAD OF TEA SMOKED SALMON, FIGS AND MUSTARD FRUITS

I love tea smoking. But not smoking tea. I line a wok with foil. A half cup of raw rice, a half cup of jasmine tea leaves and a tablespoon of sugar. Cut a circle of greaseproof paper slightly smaller than a bamboo steamer, lay it in the bottom of the basket and place 2 or 3 salmon fillets in a single layer. Close and place on the wok over the smoking mix. Place over the wok burner and bring to low-medium heat. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes. Allow to cool whilst you make the salad. This one has mesclun, avocado (the first fuerte of the season from our tree), figs and fine slices of mustard fruit - in this case a small pear. (If you are unfamiliar with mustard fruits, they are fruits preserved in a mild mustard-flavoured syrup. A dressing of lemon-infused olive oil, wasabi and sushi vinegar.

SALAD OF TEA SMOKED SALMON, FIGS AND MUSTARD FRUITS

SWEET LIP WITH CABBAGE SALAD

Do sweet lips have sweet lips? I doubt it. Until I suck on a sweet lip’s lips, I won’t know for sure, but I doubt it. Sweet lips are also called red-throated emperors - and I can definitely see a red stripe. Well, pinkish. And not really on their throats - but near enough. Anyway, a lovely fish served on a bed of cabbage salad from a recipe by Australian food guru Stephanie Alexander.

SWEET LIP WITH CABBAGE SALAD

COCONUT CRUSTED SNAPPER WITH MANGO SALSA

Quintessential tropical flavours - part Mexican, part Australian.

Serves 4

4 SNAPPER FILLETS
1/2 CUP OF PANKO CRUMBS
1/4 CUP OF SHREDDED COCONUT
1 MANGO
1/4 FINELY DICED RED ONION
1/2 ORANGE HABANERO CHILLI
JUICE OF HALF A LIME

First, make the salsa. Peel and dice the mango. Remove seeds from the chilli and finely slice. Toss mango, onion and chilli together with lime juice. Heat some ghee (or half ghee, half grapeseed oil) in a pan over medium heat. Place crumbs and coconut in a clean plastic bag, add fish fillets, hold the bag closed  to trap some air inside and roll the bag around in your hands to coat the fillets well. Cook about 5 minutes on one side, then turn carefully and cook the other side. Cooking time might vary, depending on thickness of the fillets. You can test them by pressing lightly with your finger. They should no longer feel really soft - but stop the cooking before they are firm to the touch. I served this on a bed of black beans and roasted corn with a little agave syrup and lime juice.

COCONUT CRUSTED SNAPPER WITH MANGO SALSA

TATAKI OF TUNA WITH GOMADARE & TATSOI SALAD

Here is a great mix to put on tuna before searing it - wakame seaweed, black sesame seeds and szechuan pepper pulsed briefly in a spice grinder. The fish was seared in a very hot pan to colour the outside but keep the interior raw - but warm. I have described gomadare previously. A delicious and easy sauce. One of the stall holders at the weekly markets had great bunches of tatsoi pulled from the earth yesterday. Given a simple dressing of wasabi, light soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper.

TATAKI OF TUNA WITH GOMADARE & TATSOI SALAD

LAMB WITH VIETNAMESE MINT AND BASIL. CHICKEN WITH LEMONGRASS

Two simple stir-fries. Not classic Thai. Nor Vietnamese. Nor Laotian. Nor Cambodian. Nor Mongolian. But somewhere in there. Lamb with Vietnamese mint, two basils and green onion. Chicken with lemongrass, ginger, garlic, soy, fish sauce and crispy prawn chilli paste.

LAMB WITH VIETNAMESE MINT AND BASIL. CHICKEN WITH LEMONGRASS

LAMB CUTLETS WITH FLAGEOLETS GRATINEE

We had our neighbours to dinner last night. Tom and Wyn are in their late 70s. Tom is Irish. He moved to Australia in his teens, worked all over the country and then bought land here at Bilambil where he grew bananas and ran about 600 chickens. He sold a lot of the land and now has a small parcel of bananas. Wyn comes from Terranora across the valley where her family owned a dairy farm. We enjoy their company and especially listening to stories of the region many years ago. I thought I would do something simple. Lamb cutlets seemed like a good idea. For those of you overseas, we have had some pretty horrendous floods here. Roughly a fifth of Australia - about a fifth of mainland USA - under water. Apart from loss of lives and homes, many farms have also been inundated. Topsoil was washed into the sea. Feed and crops have disappeared. Transport has come to a standstill. The net result is that shelves are empty of fresh food and the food that is available is becoming very expensive. These cutlets were more expensive than usual - and things will get worse over the next months. My mum comes from a farming family. At 84, a lot of her cooking now is simple fare - what you might call country cooking. One dish that she cooks frequently is layers of onion and tomato covered in breadcrumbs and butter and baked. I had some flageolet beans I had cooked a couple of days ago and so I thought I would do a similar dish with the beans as the dominant ingredient. Want to try it? Put some fine slices of good butter (Lescure, Lurpak) on the bottom of a dish, spread slices of onion, some cooked flageolet beans, slices of tomato, more beans and more onion. Sprinkle breadcrumbs over the top (I used panko crumbs), season with salt and pepper and top with more butter. Bake at about 170C for an hour.

LAMB CUTLETS WITH FLAGEOLETS GRATINEE

POLENTA CRUSTED SNAPPER WITH GREEN OLIVE TAPENADE

In the beginning the mesoamericans grew corn. In the 16th century a bloke called Chris sailed from Spain and took some corn back to his masters - along with chocolate, avocado, sweet potato, tomato, zucchini, turkey and other goodies. The Italians saw that the Spanish were growing corn and thought they would grow it themselves. Some Italian got the idea of drying and grinding corn and then cooking it into a gruel, a soft corn porridge. Some Italians migrated to Australia after World War 2 and introduced their corn porridge, which they called polenta. And a cook called Greg decided to use the uncooked coarse-ground polenta as a crust on fish and chicken. That is centuries of history condensed into a few sentences.

POLENTA CRUSTED SNAPPER WITH GREEN OLIVE TAPENADE

CONFIT OF CHICKEN WITH PUY LENTILS & TRUFFLED BEETROOTS

OK, so confit of duck is magnificent. And confit of ocean trout (inspired by Tetsuya Wakuda) is equally brilliant. So I wanted to see how this cooking method worked with humble chook - well, not so humble, because I used a tasty chicken from Alstonville down the road. I made chicken stock with the frame, then used some of this stock to cook the lentils (after sweating finely diced eschallot and garlic). Some gloriously sweet baby beetroots from the markets. First roasted in foil with a little olive oil, then the skin rubbed off and mixed with a small amount of black truffle oil and beetroot vinegar. Really sublime and decadent dish. A perfect foil for a good NZ pinot.

CONFIT OF CHICKEN WITH PUY LENTILS & TRUFFLED BEETROOTS

SALMON WITH DILL CHIMICHURRI & ROYAL BLUE POTATO MASH

Back in the 90s, Patria was one of my favourite New York City restaurants. Opened by Douglas Rodriguez in the flatiron district, it presented a modern twist on classics from Puerto Rico, Cuba, Peru, Mexico, Venezuela and elsewhere down south. In a couple of the cookbooks by this terrific chef, he creates variations on the classic chimichurri - one with purple basil and this one with dill. I had not cooked with dill for a long time, but saw bunches at the markets this morning and I immediately thought of this sauce. In his recipe he uses flat parsley as well as dill. I did not have any parsley, but used the finely chopped tops of the baby carrots served here (also bought at the markets today). Royal blue potatoes are really creamy and have a fine layer of flesh tinged purple by the purple skin outside a core of pale yellow. They are great boiled whole and then mashed with a good butter (such as Lurpak), milk and a little grey sea salt. And they end up this pastel purple colour - and there are not enough purples in food. Nor black.

SALMON WITH DILL CHIMICHURRI & ROYAL BLUE POTATO MASH

ONE OF THE QUINTESSENTIAL HERBS OF THE MEXICAN KITCHEN

Epazote is one of the essential wild herbs of Mexican cuisine. I had never seen it in Australia until I discovered that a barefoot nurseryman in a mud house at Mudgeeraba was growing some. I planted some in pots and it now grows like a weed, popping up between pavers where seeds have fallen. I have saved seeds from past season and will do the same this year because I have an open order for 40-50 kilos of dried epazote leaves from a distributor - and anyone who knows epazote knows that 40-50 kilos of dried leaves is a MIGHTY LARGE amount of plants. I have test-dried some leaves and placed them in take-away food containers. The container weighs more than the contents. I reckon I have 10,000 seeds so far - and think I will need as many again to get this kind of crop. There is also the small problem of land on which to grow this crop. I somehow do not think they will fit on our 750 sq m plot of land. I might have to talk to Alan and Louise who have 300,000 acres in central Queensland. That is a problem for 2012.

ONE OF THE QUINTESSENTIAL HERBS OF THE MEXICAN KITCHEN

GENG LEUANG GAI LAI

If you have only had the prepared yellow Thai curry pastes available in Asian grocery stores, you will not be quite prepared for the onslaught of this paste. Easy to make, but not so easy for timid palates to handle, it is a classic of southern Thailand. It uses a lot of fresh turmeric (which colours EVERYTHING involved in the prep - chopping board, granite mortar & pestle, fingers), garlic, a heaped tablespoon of fish paste, red eschallots, galangal and 2 dozen potent little dried birds eye chillies. The fire of the paste is mitigated to some extent by the wonderful sweetness of the pineapple - but your mouth still knows it has been to unfamiliar places.

GENG LEUANG GAI LAI

SPAGHETTI WITH ZUCCHINI AND TOMATO

Whilst cooking this dish, I thought about how many Australians do not know how to pronounce bruschetta. Maybe it is the same where you live. A lot of people pronounce it brooshetta. I wonder if the same people pronounce this pasta as spajetty. Or maccheroni as macheroni, not mackeroni. Or zucchini as zoocheeny. Anyway, for those people here is a simple dish of spajetty with zoocheeny.

SPAGHETTI WITH ZUCCHINI AND TOMATO

PANKO CRUMBED BARRAMUNDI WITH CHOY SUM & GOMADARE

A Japanese/Chinese/Australian co-operative. Barramundi is one of the great fish species of Australia. Firm and red/blue/purple when raw, the fish becomes soft and white when cooked. Panko crumbs add a toasty crunch to the soft flesh. The choy sum (and there must be a Japanese name for this, but when I check translations, I see cabbage) is crisp, light and squeaky in its freshness. Gomadare (also spelled goma-dare) is a light Japanese sauce made from white sesame seeds, dashi, soy sauce, mirin, ginger and sake. Try this combination.

PANKO CRUMBED BARRAMUNDI WITH CHOY SUM & GOMADARE

KINGFISH WITH BLACK BEANS AND SMOKED CAPSICUM

This has to be pretty healthy. Like chocolate, ecstasy, sex and red wine. I know black beans are good for me. And fish is good for me. And capsicum is good for me. And the lettuces, baby spinach and avocado in the salad are good for me. And olive oil. And wine is good for me. So, all those folks who have told me over the years that I do not know what is good for me - I have proved you wrong. Again. Great fresh local yellowtail kingfish caught last night. Delicious.

KINGFISH WITH BLACK BEANS AND SMOKED CAPSICUM

SCHOOL PRAWN SALAD

What are school prawns when they get older? You would think they would become university prawns. You would be wrong. I do not know why. After school they become kings. Or bananas. Or tigers. At least, these are the common varieties of full-grown prawns here in Australia. Some people search out the biggest prawns they can find. I do the opposite. The smaller, the sweeter. IMO. Anyway, the fishmonger had some great school prawns today. If I were a licensed celebrant, I might say I married them with Sharwill avocados, mesclun and baby spinach. I also made another heirloom tomato salad. An alarmingly healthy meal.

SCHOOL PRAWN SALAD

BPLAH POW

Is English a wasteful language? Profligate? I never used to think so, but now I am not so sure. What has caused the rethink? A recipe name. There is a great fish dish in the equally great Thai cookbook, Dancing Shrimp by Kasma Loha-Unchit. The Thai name is Bplah Pow. Two words. I have no idea what they mean but I am pretty sure they are not an exact match for the English name for the same dish - charcoal-roasted striped bass in banana leaf served with hot-and-sour dipping sauce. We do not get striped bass here on the east coast of Australia - but we do get reef cod and there was some really handsome (if fish can ever qualify for that monicker) examples at the fishmonger. The fish is coated with a paste of white peppercorns, garlic, coriander root, oyster sauce and light soy sauce. The dipping sauce (which in this case was spooned over the top of the fish) has tiny Thai chillies from the garden, garlic, coriander root, lime juice, sugar and fermented red soy bean sauce.

BPLAH POW

THREE ZUCCHINI FRITTATA

A grower at the markets had several varieties of zucchini - pale green magdas, thin dark green Italianos and golden. Along with corn and beans, the squash family of vegetables were one of the staples of the mesoamericans. Like tomatoes, these were some of the first fruits and vegetables to be taken back to the old world by the Spanish invaders. Like tomatoes, they became a staple of the Mediterranean peoples. I had a lot of brilliantly-flavoured and coloured eggs from the Clarke family chooks at Crystal Creek and some organic quark from Barambah artisan cheesemakers. I picked some wild rocket from the garden and mixed it with mesclun and Sharwill avocado from the markets to make a great simple salad to serve with the frittata.

THREE ZUCCHINI FRITTATA

HEIRLOOM TOMATO SALAD

A tomato grower at the weekly markets had a table laden with wonderful tomatoes of diverse colours and shapes. Cherokee purples, snow whites, striped romas, brandywines, grosse lisses. I cooked a chicken in the kamado where it developed a brilliant smokiness from cooking over charcoal and also made a mesclun & avocado salad. But it was this platter of tomatoes that excited me most.

HEIRLOOM TOMATO SALAD