This week we’re focusing on delicious polenta, whether it be soft and creamy straight from the pot, or allowed to set, cut into shapes, brushed with olive oil and baked until crisp on the outside but with its trademark creaminess through the centre ....
The big flavours of gluten-free walnut crispbread, pickled carrots, spicy nduja and cucumbers with mustard and dill all combine to make an unusual but very delicious entrée ….
I really like this dish of Potted Prawns. It’s simple to make, delicious, a bit ‘old school’ and two of my favourite ingredients, prawns and butter, are the heroes. Use the best quality prawns and butter you can find and you’ll be assured of success ….
Ah, I know, I just know that you’re looking at the list of ingredients for Pan-Fried Prawns in Black Lime Butter and thinking ‘This isn’t for me’. But I encourage you to give it a go as it really is as easy as 123. And it’s really tasty ….
This handy recipe for little Smoked Trout Frittatas is one good reason on its own for keeping a packet of smoked trout in the fridge at all times. With some feta, eggs, a few herbs you can put together a healthy and quite delicious tray of bite-sized mouthfuls that would hit the spot perfectly with something cool and sparkling ….
These little Caponata Tarts are designed to make a very welcome appearance at a cocktail party or any other stand-up gathering. Drink in one hand. Delicious bite-sized flavour-bomb in the other, that’s it ….
We have taken a classic Chicken Liver Pâté and topped it with ruby-coloured Cassis Jelly to create this rich and satisfying dish ….
Burrata, that delicious creamy, soft, white Italian cheese, marries perfectly with a myriad of partners. It’s fabulous with prosciutto, salumi, ripe tomatoes tossed in olive oil, on a pizza, in a pasta and a little more unusually, but no less deliciously, in our recipe for Burrata with Edamame, Sweet Peas and Crunchy Chilli Shallots ….
This simple and healthy recipe for Green Soup with Peas, Mint and Broccoli was given to me by a dear neighbour who said even the teenage boys in her family were coming back for seconds ….
I always have capers and cornichons in the fridge and quite often a packet of smoked trout fillets. And sometimes a container of crème fraiche. When these provision stars align it takes no time at all to whip up this lovely, chilled dish ….
Do try this dish of squid and salsa as it’s a delicious combination. It’s just right for summer eating as it is light and fairly easy to prepare. So when the temperature begins to rise we’re sure you’ll be happy to have this on your plate …
This salty, sweet and chilli-flavoured dish using Cypriot-style cheese came about, inspired by an Australian chef with Greek roots, an American chef of world renown, the Mediterranean and the sunny shores of our beautiful Sydney harbour ….
Inspired by my favourite, old, French cookbook, I prepared this mussel dish. It is very simple to make, the quality of the result relying upon the use of the very best produce you can lay your hands on. And aren’t we fortunate in Australia to have such ingredients to indulge our appetites and fantasies? ….
This is a rustic looking, easy and tasty vegetarian dish has roasted butternut and tangy feta as the heroes ….
This dish of Seared Scallops with Speck and Cauliflower Cream came about after finding some large, very good-looking scallops at the fish market. Rolling them in speck then seemed like a good thing to do ….
For some time now I’ve taken to keeping a batch of our Revenge Cream Cheese Pastry in the freezer. Which means it's always on stand-by to make one of these quick and tasty Pizza Tarts. Roll it out, top it with good fresh flavours as we’ve suggested here - Tomato and Gruyere, Kabocha and Bacon, and Asparagus and Ham - and bake ….
Here’s our gluten-free Spinach Prosciutto and Ricotta Gnocchi. It’s a very easy and very tasty recipe which makes a perfect entrée or lunch dish when paired with some blistered cherry tomatoes, a dash of home-made tomato sauce, and/or a salad ….
This dish of pan-fried eggplant is marinated in soy and sweet vinegar and scattered with a selection of little flavour hits. It’s the bits that make the party but the eggplant that provides the tender heart ….
We’ve taken our Watermelon and Tomato Gazpacho, tweaked the recipe a bit then frozen it to create an accompaniment to fresh oysters. The flavours of the gazpacho and the brininess of the oysters are a great combination, we think ….
Christmas dinner is traditionally a tribute to pleasure and plenty, but there is something to be said for pacing ourselves. And this entrée of Tuna Tartare with Pickled Lemon could be just the way to begin ….
Our Antipasto Christmas Wreath is made of numerous cocktail sticks, offering tasty little morsels, which are then formed into a circle. All very festive looking, we hope ….
Flamiche aux Poireau is a classic French dish from Picardy, the region directly north of Paris. The word flamiche was originally Flemish for ‘cake’ but by the 18th century it had turned into a tart – specifically, as anyone who knows their pommes from their poireaux would tell you – a leek tart ….
I have fallen deeply in love with kabocha, the sweet, nutty Japanese pumpkin that’s called Kuri Kabocha in Japan, which means ‘nutty flavour.’ For a pumpkin it’s a revelation. (Are you starting to worry about me?) Add garlic, pepper, chilli and parmesan and you have a delicious stuffing for the seasonal delight that is zucchini flowers ….
As always, the very best produce needs to be used in our Sweet Chilli Prawns and Coconut Rice dish. (We know you know this but we like to press the point!) A good prawn is a thing of beauty. An old prawn is not! Similarly with the herbs and leaves. If they look good enough to stick in a vase then you have chosen the right bunches. No wilting greens here ….
Sake. Prawns. Ginger. Shitake. Yes, this recipe combines a number of classic Japanese flavours. We added some bean thread noodles and included a few coriander leaves thus taking the dish into the popular Pan-Asian realm ….
I’ve sometimes found clams problematic to serve due to the pesky and persistent grains of sand that no one likes to crunch upon, but now that I can buy them already de-sanded they’re regularly on my shopping list. This recipe of Braised Clams and Artichokes with Red Pepper Aioli is Iberian in origin and delicious as a light meal. As good quality, preserved or marinated artichokes and red peppers are now also available in good delis, it’s a quick and easy dish to make ….
Silken tofu is the star of today’s recipe, and what an intriguing ingredient it is, particularly given that it’s almost flavourless! Its appeal, apart from as an excellent vegetable-based form of protein, lies in its capacity to pick up and enhance the ingredients that accompany it and, of course, in its unusual texture ….
It might seem strange but we’ve only posted one other recipe for risotto on our blog. There are so many out there we’ve wondered if the world really needs another … until now. Our Asparagus and Pea Risotto with Stuffed Zucchini Flowers is a celebration of the spring vegetables that are abundant (and cheap) in our markets right now …
There are many versions of these Cevapi or Cevapcici - Skinless Sausages made throughout the Balkan countries although, since my only connection to these culinary traditions comes from the long-gone waitressing days, there’s no particular claim to authenticity here. What this recipe does promise, though, is very tasty meat, lots of flavour and super-simple preparation ….
Who doesn’t like a nice tart? Brunch or lunch, dinner or supper, a nice tart can be a pleasure. And this particular tart, with its delicious sweet and savoury combination, should hit the spot, whenever ….
This is a very quick entrée to prepare. The remoulade can be made the day before and the sauce days ahead. If your lovely fish monger will peel the prawns for you then you can whip this up in a flash ...
Our recipe this week is a lovely combination of rich, creamy pumpkin puree subtly spiced with ginger and Chinese five spice and topped with large, meaty field mushrooms and crispy fried sage leaves. ....
Deliciously succulent pasta tubes filled with aubergine, ricotta, spinach, parmesan and smoked Fior di Latte, topped and bottomed with home made tomato sauce ….. salivating yet? This week’s recipe is a home-cook’s dream as it can be prepared well ahead of time and gently reheated to serve topped with fresh basil leaves. It can be made in very large quantities for parties and freezes well ....
Dinner for a very dear friend’s birthday required a bit of thought. I wanted to cook her favourites but with a twist. She loves a corn curry I’ve been making for years but I didn’t want to serve a curry meal and so decided to convert the curry idea into a soup for entrée and make it a bit luxe for the celebration by garnishing with crayfish tails ....
This recipe is ideal for the thin edges or ends of large white fish fillets like ling or barramundi that are left over when you trim up serving portions, or if you happen to have fish of different kinds that you can mix together ....
This one ticks all the boxes. Gluten-free, organic, sustainable, low food miles, seasonal, community-minded, delicious and free. I’m referring to a bag of limes and avocados given to me by Rosie. The avocados came from a tree overhanging her backyard and the limes from one of her green-fingered friends ....
This update on the old Pease Pudding of Northern England is a very loose riff on the original. Instead of dried yellow split peas, soaked and boiled in the stock of a ham hock, this version takes bright green peas, aromatics and spices and turns them into beautifully light but very tasty semi-souffles ....
I love shopping in Japanese grocery stores. There are plenty of items with which to stock up the pantry, as well as loads of other intriguing goods to look at. Ume products. Noodles various. Seaweeds of all shapes. And dried mysterious things in beautifully designed packets ....
It’s early April in Sydney and we’re now heading down a slippery slope towards winter. Even though we haven’t exactly pulled out the woollies yet I did serve a warm salad last night rather than a chilled, summery one and we enjoyed the change ....
The most common melon in Spain is the Sapo de Piel, literally ‘toad skin’ melon, but it’s often called Christmas melon too because it keeps so well. It’s deliciously sweet when ripe, which is when the skin turns bright yellow between the characteristic dark green markings. It’s fairly freely available these days here too, although it’s most often simply called Spanish melon ....
Here we have put together an unusual combination of flavours, a bit of zing and a twist on an old favourite. This recipe is quick to put together and will add some wow factor to your table. The avocado, rocket, lime and jalapeno combination packs a mouth-watering punch. You’ll love it ....
The common garden or mixed salad can be a lovely and healthy dish to eat as long as everything is perky and fresh. But sometimes something more interesting is desired - an unusual combination of flavours, a bit of zing or a twist on an old favourite ....
When she was a girl my partner’s mother, Serena, spent a lot of time in Denmark, where she made good friends she kept for the rest of her life. Another legacy of her time there was this wonderful recipe for gravlax with dill sauce, which became a standby of hers, and ours, over the years ....
I’m a big fan of Melbourne chef Andrew McConnell and I thought I’d like to recreate a dish I’d read about from his new restaurant, Supernormal. I can guarantee that the following would be nothing like his original, but when I made it for our gang of friends recently, we all loved it – happily ignorant, of course, of what we were really missing ....
Australians love seafood and we often choose to eat it for special occasions. Oysters, prawns, crabs and lobsters are the favourites as the cash registers at fish markets over the Christmas period and Australia Day will attest. And yet there is a wealth of other seafood ....
Sashimi. Carpaccio. Ceviche. Words to get the mouth watering and that say fresh, light, healthy and delicious. All are classic and simple ways to prepare a piece of fish. And great to eat after the rich excesses of Christmas food, especially on a humid night during a Sydney summer ....
The dressing for this fresh and light prawn salad can be made the day before and stored in the fridge. The whole salad can be tossed together an hour or two before serving. The prawns will absorb the flavour of the dressing while the vegetables will retain their crunch ....
Here is our our Number Two Christmas Menu ..... well it's not quite on the table as you can see from the photo but it is certainly in our blog. It’s a more traditional menu than our earlier blog but still has a difference. Read on ....
This smoked salmon lasagne, served chilled, is a favourite oldie but a goodie recipe from Steve Manfreddi which we have adapted by using gluten-free lasagne sheets for the coeliacs amongst us but it works equally as well with wheat pasta. The tomato sauces and parsley and garlic salsa can be made two days ahead and the whole lasagne compiled and refrigerated the day before ....
On a recent excursion to the Tramsheds at Harold Park, a new food and restaurant complex in Sydney, I was impressed with the gathering of some top Sydney restaurant operators, new bakeries and groovy cafes and bars but what really caught my eye, in the supermarket no less, was a packet of gluten-free lasagne sheets ....
Yesterday, at the Food and Words 2016 seminar in the atmospheric Mint complex in Macquarie Street Sydney, we were encouraged to eat more vegetables and less meat. The thread of the presentations throughout the day stitched together ideas about local food, global systems, ethical production, health and sustainability. All interesting and important stuff....
The Gang got together recently for a small cocktail party to celebrate a ‘significant’ birthday by doing what we like to do best – catch up, hear some bad jokes, have some excellent drinks and eat some fabulous food. Of course the food had to fit the occasion and Caren decided she’d like to take the helm on that count....
Radicchio, like many of us, has to be helped along to retain its vibrancy. That lovely, trademark, red colour can only be achieved by inhibiting its exposure to light. Growers often put an inverted pot over their radicchio in the latter stages of growth to inhibit chlorophyll production and promote its lovely colour. If only it were so easy for the rest of us....
I have just spent a month in Europe in late spring, early summer. What a luxury. And what opportunities for eating fabulously ...
When my stepson and his Brazilian fiancée were recently married in our home, and I catered for the gluten-free reception for forty people, our entrée was a warm duck breast salad with roasted beetroot, walnuts, witlof and rocket drizzled with a magnificent, aged balsamic vinegar....
Both red capsicums and tomatoes are bountiful in the summertime in very many countries around the world, I know, but somehow this entree seemed such an Aussie summer one to me.
I’m very lucky to live near the Sydney fish markets. I try to time my shopping to avoid the weekend rush and the madness of the carpark, but in the middle of Chinese New Year...
Probably sounds very Mediterranean but this modest offering was the sole produce retrieved today from the few fruit trees we have growing on the Mid North Coast of NSW. And I mean the sole produce....
Set on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, and part of the grandly named Great Lakes region, Wallis Lake is well known for its oysters...
I make a lovely honey mousse – yes, I know I shouldn’t be saying it myself – but it has a really luscious but melting texture..