LEMON-SMOKED SALMON SALAD

I like trying new things. Things like adding preserved lemon to a smoker to see how it works with this salmon rubbed with coriander seeds and salt. Nice enough to want to do it again. Mixed with baby rocket leaves, warm pumpkin, avocado, caper vinaigrette and coriander leaves. 

LEMON-SMOKED SALMON SALAD

ADOBO RUBBED TUNA WITH SEARED TOMATO SALSA

There's a classic technique with tomatoes that I learnt in Mexico to add flavour to salsas. Hold each tomato over a naked flame until the skin blisters and blackens, then use the tomatoes as usual - typically mixed with finely chopped onion, garlic, chillies, salt and maybe lime juice. Some salsas call for fresh chillies - jalapeño, serrano or habanero. Others are based on rehydrated dried varieties - guajillo, pasilla, pasilla de oaxaca, cascabel, chiltepin, pequin, puya. I love them all. And each is better when the tomato skins are charred in this way.

ADOBO RUBBED TUNA WITH SEARED TOMATO SALSA

BEETROOT RISOTTO WITH GOATS CHEESE

Lots of sensational beetroot around at the moment. Four of them ended up in this risotto. The first beetroot risotto I tasted was in LA in the 90s. Henry Winkler was at the next table. I was surprised to see that his leather biker jacket had been replaced by a tweed hunting jacket. Fonzie had become an old man.  The beetroot risotto that day not only tasted brilliant, but I was transfixed by the glow-in-the-dark red on my plate. I've been making beetroot risotto ever since. As usual, a rich mode-made chicken stock. This time I added a tablespoon of beetroot vinegar, which livened up the taste. Goats cheese is a perfect foil for the beetroot.

BEETROOT RISOTTO WITH GOATS CHEESE

BLUE EYE WITH ASIAN FLAVOURS

Not a pretty dish, but tasty. All the usual Asian suspects here. Soy sauce and sesame sauce, garlic, ginger chillies, fried eschallots, coriander. Some nice blue eye fillets caught on about 60 kms off the coast by a boat operating out of Southport.

BLUE EYE WITH ASIAN FLAVOURS

CAULIFLOWER SOUP WITH HAZELNUTS AND WHITE TRUFFLE OIL

Comfort food for kings. Sweated onion, a really rich chicken stock,  head of caulifower, garlic and salt cooked and puréed. Coarsely chopped hazelnuts and a drizzle of white truffle oil. Voilà. As they might have said in the court of Louis XIV.

CAULIFLOWER SOUP WITH HAZELNUTS AND WHITE TRUFFLE OIL

FETTUCCINE CON SUGO DI SALSICCIE

You know there's a new diet launched every week and, well, I have my doubt about most of them. They seem to be quick fixes for people who need long fixes - drastic weight loss programs for people who need an attitude adjustment as far as food goes. Now I am sure there are diets in Italy. However, I'd be surprised if anyone indulges in them. Italians have been eating carb-rich food for centuries and don't seem to be suffering. I see no reason for them to change their ways now. So here's a bowl of carbs and protein.

FETTUCCINE CON SUGO DI SALSICCIE

CHICKEN TACOS WITH SERRANO SALSA

There are a lot of things I miss about Mexico. One of those is the corner taqueria. I liked the smell of the freshly cooked tacos, the design of the big cream machine that rolled out the discs of dough and cooked them. I loved the heat of the tacos through the paper in which they were wrapped. I loved the flavour of fresh tacos - incomparably better than the last-forever supermarket ones. I loved the fact that a kilo cost 3 1/2 pesos - about 30 cents. There is an upside to the lack of fresh tacos here in Australia. If I want some, I make them from scratch. Pretty simple, really - if you use the ready ground corn flour especially designed for tacos. 1 3/4 cups of masa harina to a cup of water. Divide into 15 golf ball spheres. Press in a taco press. Cook on a cast iron griddle.

CHICKEN TACOS WITH SERRANO SALSA

WILD BARRAMUNDI WITH BEETROOT LEAVES AND AIOLI

I bought a couple of bunches of beetroots yesterday. Just the day before, they had been minding their own business, resting in their subterranean refuge when a brutish hand grabbed them around the neck and yanked them into the blinding daylight. The leaves were still really fresh, so I decapitated the beetroots and gave the leaves a thorough wash. Then I simply squeezed out the excess water and sautéed them in a covered pan with olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper and lemon juice. The barramundi got a light coating of ground corn (polenta) and was pan-fried in a little grapeseed oil. Roast garlic aïoli and boiled kipflers.

WILD BARRAMUNDI WITH BEETROOT LEAVES AND AIOLI

ROAST CHICKEN WITH MOROCCAN FLAVOURS

Is Moroccan food a category, a style of cooking or a mix of ingredients peculiar to that country? Would a dish cooked in a tajine, but using star anise, ginger, soy sauce and Chinese red dates be embraced in Morocco? I'll leave that that the food philosophers. There's nothing traditionally Moroccan about this - but I think it would go down a treat in Marrakech. I placed a few wegdes of preserved lemon in the cavity and rubbed a little of the preserving oil into the skin, than sprinkled ground coriander seeds, cumin and pepper over the surface before roasting. The chicken was served on a bed of chickpeas, tomato, chilli, olive oil, garlic and lemon juice.

ROAST CHICKEN WITH MOROCCAN FLAVOURS

GINGERED PUMPKIN SOUP WITH QUARK

They don't come much simpler than this. Pumpkin, chicken stock, garlic, fresh ginger, a little turmeric and chilli powder gently boiled until the pumpkin is soft. Remove the ginger and purée the soup. Add salt and pepper to taste. After plating up, add a dollop of quark (I used a great rich version from the local Barambah Organics dairy).

GINGERED PUMPKIN SOUP WITH QUARK

ROASTED ROOT VEGETABLES WITH ROAST GARLIC AIOLI

Well. okay, pumpkin isn't a root vegetable. But its characteristics are close enough to qualify. The fact that it hugs the ground makes me think it wants to be IN the ground, and that's good enough for me. I bought some absolutely brilliant parsnips at the markets. Really, really fresh, white and crisp. Beetroot, kipfler potatoes and pumpkin from our neighbours.  I whipped up this aïoli this afternoon.

ROASTED ROOT VEGETABLES WITH ROAST GARLIC AIOLI

BARBECUED LEG OF CHICKEN WITH PUY LENTILS AND KUMERA MASH

Okay, Blogger is having another of its recent spate of technical issues, so until these are sorted, text and image will remain arse-about. Those of you paying attention will know I made stock from the frame of the chicken bought yesterday. I used some of this stock to cook the lentils tonight. I The chicken got a simple dusting of coarse Welsh salt and grapeseed oil before going into the barbecue.

BARBECUED LEG OF CHICKEN WITH PUY LENTILS AND KUMERA MASH

BREAST OF CHICKEN WITH MARINATED BABY FENNEL AND TWICE COOKED POTATOES

Alstonville chickens are a million miles from the bland rice-on-legs that passes for chicken in supermarkets. Breast with the skin on is a million miles from the dry nothingness of skinless breasts. I buy whole chooks, quarter them, use the breasts one day, the legs another and make chicken stock from the carcass. I did just that yesterday and I'm using some of the stock to make pumpkin soup (with deep coloured and richly flavoured pumpkins from our neighbours' property). I have saved a little stock in which I will cook Puy lentils to serve tonight. The baby fennel has been sliced really finely and marinated in grapeseed oil and lemon juice until soft.
Now, the potatoes - and if this isn't the best tasting potato dish you have tried, I'll be surprised.

TWICE COOKED POTATOES
You'll need -
POTATOES
CHICKEN STOCK
UNSALTED BUTTER
COARSE SEA OR RIVER SALT

Heat the oven to 140C. Gently poach cleaned whole Dutch cream (you could also use Nicolas or Bintjes) potatoes in home-made chicken stock (turning them over after about 30 minutes). Once cooked through, remove the potatoes with a slotted spoon and place in a shallow dish. Flatten each potato to about 3 cms with the back of a spatula. Place some good unsalted butter (Lurpak or similar) on top of each potato and sprinkle with coarse salt (fleur de sel, pink Murray) and bake at about 170C for about 45 minutes (or until the skin is the colour you see here).

BREAST OF CHICKEN WITH MARINATED BABY FENNEL AND TWICE COOKED POTATOES

BEEF CHEEK WITH DUTCH CREAM MASH

Why I love cooler weather - 1. Beef cheeks. 2. Oxtail. 3. Lamb shanks. 4. Barbacoa. 5 Cochinita pibil. 4. Homemade pies. 5. Soups. I braised these cheeks in cheek broth stock saved from last winter (red wine, veal glace, bay leaves, peppercorns, garlic). Cooked for 5 hours at 130C. Absolutely fell apart as soon as a knife got within 10 cms of the plate.

BEEF CHEEK WITH DUTCH CREAM MASH

SMOKED REEF COD & POTATO FRITTATA

A simple and quick school night dinner - well, simple because I had smoked this reef cod a few days ago. but then smoking isn't so hard, so even if I'd started from scratch it wouldn't have been a big deal. I used a smoking mix of rice grains, coriander seeds, sugar and peppercorns. If you haven't tried smoking foods, give it a go. You don't even need a smoker. Line a wok with foil (I fold two pieces together so they fit the wok and there's no gap), place the smoking mix in the lined wok and heat until the mix starts smoking. Meanwhile, place whatever you're smoking into a steaming basket. Turn the heat down, place the steaming basket on top and place wet tea towels around the basket to seal. Most fish fillets will take about 15 minutes.

SMOKED REEF COD & POTATO FRITTATA

CAJUN TUNA, BLACK BEANS WITH SMOKED GARLIC, STEAMED ASPARAGUS

By now you probably know I have a thing for smoky flavours. I also have a thing for sexy women. This is a different kind of thing. I was smoking some salmon and reef cod this afternoon and thought I'd add a few cloves of garlic to the smoker. Then I remembered I had these cooked black beans, so tonight I cooked these in a little olive oil along with a cup of black bean broth, two chopped smoked garlic cloves and some crushed roasted chillies. Once the broth had evaporated, I turned off the heat and let the beans rest until I needed them. I make a batch of Cajun spice mix every few months and rubbed some on this fat fillet of yellowfin tuna before searing it in a very hot pan - smoking hot, to keep the smoky theme going.

CAJUN TUNA, BLACK BEANS WITH SMOKED GARLIC, STEAMED ASPARAGUS

AGAVE SYRUP GLAZED CHICKEN WITH WARM PUMPKIN SALAD

Agave is brilliant. First, it produces tequila and mezcal. If that's all it produced, I'd be happy. It also produces miel de agave and agave syrup. The skin of the leaves is used to wrap food. Sisal is an agave that has traditionally been used to make twine. Anyway, I used some syrup on these supremes (the breast with half wing and skin). I steamed some pumpkin and mixed with roasted pine nuts, crisp speck, coriander, pecan oil and white wine vinegar. Served with a simple baby spinach salad.

AGAVE SYRUP GLAZED CHICKEN WITH WARM PUMPKIN SALAD

OCEAN TROUT WITH ROASTED VEGETABLES AND GARLIC JAM

I was in Brisbane yesterday morning, where I bought this gorgeous ocean trout at James Street Market. Two fat fillets with the skin on. These were seared in a very hot pan so the skin puffed up and crisped, but the flesh stayed basically raw, but warm. Some great pumpkin from our neighbours and beans from the local markets. I made this garlic jam with onions, a few spices and sugar. Fantastic condiment and a perfect foil for the fish. Talking of foil, I once studied fencing. I remember the fencing tutor suggested buying white cotton gloves. He suggested the inners that motorcyclists wear under their leather gloves. I found a bike shop and asked for a pair of inners. Something about my manner or appearance must have told the proprietor that I'm not a bike rider. He asked what I wanted the gloves for. I told him for fencing. He didn't seem surprised. He said he often got customers who wanted them for fencing - and bricklaying and concreting. I didn't have the courage to tell him that wasn't the kind of fencing I was doing.

OCEAN TROUT WITH ROASTED VEGETABLES AND GARLIC JAM