BARRAMUNDI WITH SNAKE BEANS

Noticed a few dishes with snake beans lately? They're in season here at the moment, they're young and haven't grown too thick and tasteless - which is how they seem to be late in the season. I gave them an Italian treatment with tomatoes and garlic. A simple dish - but then I'm a man of simple tastes.

BARRAMUNDI WITH SNAKE BEANS

TARRAGON CHICKEN WITH GRATIN DAUPHINOIS

Felt the need for something classically French - and it doesn't get much more classic than this. I bought a bunch of tarragon and some Dutch cream potatoes at the James Street Market in Brisbane this morning and this Alstonville chicken from Paul at Jack Sprat's Butchery yesterday. I know French women aren't supposed to get fat, but I can't see how they don't with all the butter in classic French cuisine. However, as they say, fat is good. Funny that potatoes are pommes de terre in France. All I can imagine is that the potatoes they first tasted must have been unusually sweet or the apples starchy and bland because otherwise I don't see they could see any similarity between pommes and pommes de terre.

TARRAGON CHICKEN WITH GRATIN DAUPHINOIS

SALMON WITH SPECK AND PARSNIP MASH

Lots of cuisines seem to do great things with pork belly. The Chinese do brilliant braises with soy sauce, star anise and other goodies. The Italians do pancetta. The English do streaky bacon, The Germans do speck. I like the subtle smokiness of speck. I roasted these lardons until they were crispy, which made a nice contrast to the parsnip/potato/parsley mash and the crisp/soft texture of the fish.

SALMON WITH SPECK AND PARSNIP MASH

BARBECUED CHICKEN WITH SALSA DE PASILLA DE OAXACA

Pasilla de Oaxaca chillies are a thin-skinned hot chilli that is smoked over fern fronds. Being a lover of all things smoked, I fell in love with them when I first tasted them during the month we spent in magic Oaxaca. I made this sauce using my basic salsa recipe of rehydrated chillies, tomatoes blistered over a gas flame, red onion, garlic and salt. I make variations on this salsa recipe with different chillies - guajillo, cascabel, serrano, mora - each with a unique flavour. I had some chimichurri left over from the other night, so used this as a marinade for the chicken. A bed a black beans, some local avocado and that was it.

BARBECUED CHICKEN WITH SALSA DE PASILLA DE OAXACA

SEARED TUNA SALAD

A vaguely middle eastern influence here. Tuna dusted with smoked paprika and seared. Chickpeas, steamed pumpkin, caramelised onion, baby capers, tomato and parsley. Lemon-infused olive oil and white wine vinegar.

SEARED TUNA SALAD

ADOBO TUNA WITH THAI BASIL CHIMICHURRI

Three parts Mexican, one part Argentine, one part Thai, one part French. The adobo is Mexican. So too the tomatoes. And the chillies in the adobo rub and the chimichurri originated in Mexico. Chimichurri is an Argentine concoction, often served with meat (what else in Argentina?). The green bean originates in France - which might explain why they're sometimes called French beans. Or maybe not. I made this version of chimichurri with Thai basil - for no other reason than there's a heap of it growing in the garden.

ADOBO TUNA WITH THAI BASIL CHIMICHURRI

DUCK CONFIT WITH ROASTED PUMPKIN AND SQUASH

The observant amongst you will have spotted duck confit from a couple of nights ago. I mentioned I bought this duck from the weekly markets. So, here is confit again. Did I buy a four-legged duck? A quadraduck? Or did I buy the back end of two ducks? Did I buy two left legs and two right legs? Are they pairs of legs off two ducks or four legs off four ducks? Are there now four one-legged ducks on the farm at Bangalow? Or two legless ducks? I'll ask the farmer on Saturday. In the meantime ...

DUCK CONFIT WITH ROASTED PUMPKIN AND SQUASH

YELLOW CURRY OF MACKEREL AND EGGPLANTS

The thing about mackerel is that it can dry out if overcooked - more so than most fish species. Tuna is another one. Cook it thoroughly and it's almost inedible. At least to me anyway. I was careful to cook the eggplant and reduce the sauce before turning the heat down and adding the fish so that it could cook really gently. As soon as it had lost its translucence, I turned off the heat. The result? Moist fish and a delicious Thai curry.

YELLOW CURRY OF MACKEREL AND EGGPLANTS

PORK AND DUCK LIVER TERRINE

Between high school and university I worked at a mailing centre. They had machines that folded direct response letters and put them in envelopes, which another guy and I would drive at dangerous speed to the post office to send off to recipients who weren't interested in the enclosed offer. I worked there for maybe two months. The highlight at the time was the office Christmas party, where they had wine and Dubonnet. I don't recall anything else being served. Dubonnet seemed a very random beverage to offer. I was 18 and like all 18 year olds would drink anything. I recall vomiting out the window of my mate's car as he drove me home. I have never drunk Dubonnet since. The moral? Make sure the first alcohol that gives you a hangover is something you will never miss. The other highlight of my stint at the mailing centre was that publishers Doubleday had their warehouse nearby and they offered us many of their titles at ridiculously low prices. I bought a copy of Elizabeth David's French Provincial Cooking for 20 cents. I still have it forty years later. I bought some duck livers and pork mince at the markets from a breeder with a farm near Bangalow. I immediately thought terrine. And so I opened French Provincial Cooking. So this terrine is based on a recipe for terrine de campagne. Here's what went into it - about 600 gms of pork mince, about the same weight of chopped duck livers and the same again of lightly smoked pork belly, cognac, vermouth, mace, pepper corns, juniper berries, garlic and salt. Put into a terrine and this into a bain marie and baked at 160C for 1 1/4 hours. Served with toasted slices of whole grain sour dough, cornichons and mesclun.

PORK AND DUCK LIVER TERRINE

OCEAN TROUT WITH AROMATIC MOGHRABIEH AND SPICED BEETROOT VINEGAR

What an extraordinary fish is ocean trout. My favourite part is the shoulder because the flesh is thick and because there's always the belly flap that makes sensational sashimi. The moghrabieh (which is simply a very fat couscous) was first boiled in chicken stock, then baked with pumpkin, butter and a little orange juice. The beetroot vinegar cuts through the natural fat of the fish beautifully. Heaven.

OCEAN TROUT WITH AROMATIC MOGHRABIEH AND SPICED BEETROOT VINEGAR

DUCK CONFIT WITH PARSNIP PUREE, BRUSSELS SPROUTS & HAZELNUTS

Great meal. Crap photo. Maybe it's the rain that started tonight. Maybe it's my eyes, which don't seem to be able to focus properly today. Fuzzy. But not logic. Anyway, I bought these duck legs from a man at the markets yesterday. He raises his ducks in pastures near Bangalow, about 45 minutes south of here. I always have some spiced duck fat in the freezer to do confit. There was something erotic in how perfectly the soft rich flesh of the duck, the nutty smoothness of the purée, crunch of sprouts and hazelnuts and a little hazelnut oil all worked together. Like a rowing eight. Or five, in this case.

DUCK CONFIT WITH PARSNIP PUREE, BRUSSELS SPROUTS & HAZELNUTS

SNAPPER WITH LEMON & GARLIC CHICKPEAS

The fisherman at our weekly markets had some snapper - big fat pieces from what was obviously a very large fish - one of those old snapper with the huge knob. And I'm not talking about sexual organs. I'm talking about that bulge on the forehead that old snapper get. Anyway, a great piece of fish that deserved a very simple technique so the flavours shine through. A colourful mesclun salad is out of shot. Somewhere.

SNAPPER WITH LEMON & GARLIC CHICKPEAS

BARRAMUNDI WITH KIPFLERS AND MUSTARD VINAIGRETTE

I didn't pay enough attention in science classes, so I can't explain why, but I've noticed that some fish species get firmer when cooked and others get softer. Barramundi is one of these.That can make it a tricky fish to cook and plate up, because a long fillet like this can easily break if mistreated. I know this looks a touch overdone. It isn't. Incredibly soft and moist inside, but a nutty crunch to the panko coating.

BARRAMUNDI WITH KIPFLERS AND MUSTARD VINAIGRETTE

SALMON WITH SALSA VERDE

In the deep clear waters off the coast of Tasmania, they breed salmon in enormous pens. They do this because Tasmania apparently has the clearest and least polluted waters on the planet. The fish that are harvested from these pens are beautiful. About 10 years ago, this salmon was exotic in Australia. For exotic, read expensive. However, it became so plentiful that like everything else that becomes plentiful, it became quite cheap. As for the salsa verde, this is more Italian than Spanish/Latino. Parsley, a little mint, anchovy, capers, cornichons, olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. Dead simple. A colourful mesclun on the side.

SALMON WITH SALSA VERDE

PUMPKIN, SAFFRON AND VERMOUTH RISOTTO

It's close to 30 years since I first tasted risotto. It was a champagne risotto in a restaurant in Mantova. I fell in love. Not the heavy breathing, lost for words kind. But unmistakably lerve. As soon as I returned from that trip, I cooked my first risotto. I think it might have been fennel. That is still one of my favourites. Since then I have done crab (another fave), porcini, pea, asparagus, pumpkin, beetroot, spring vegetables, seafood, squid ink ... well basically every possible variant. Our lovely elderly neighbours have been giving us pumpkins off their land lately. So I am making pumpkin soup, roasted pumpkin and tonight this risotto. Really rich Iranian saffron and a good splash of dry Noilly Prat.

PUMPKIN, SAFFRON AND VERMOUTH RISOTTO

BARBACOA

Barbacoa. The word looks a lot like barbecue. Most etymologists believe barbecue derived from barbacoa and can be traced back to the Taína people of what is now Cuba, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Jamaica and the Timucua of pre-Zimmer frame Florida. According to Wikipedia, barbacoa literally means sacred fire pit. Given the meat worship that happens around the modern BBQ, I think that's a perfect translation. The big difference today is that most Western barbecuing doesn't happen in a pit. However, in Mexico a barbacoa does still take place in a pit filled with burning coals, the meat wrapped in banana leaves, the whole thing covered and cooked slowly for hours. The traditional meat for barbacoa is goat. Lamb is also used. There is a famous pork dish cooked in a pit, called cochinita pibil, from the Yucatán. It seemed logical to partner this classic Mexican meat dish with another Mexican original - squash. Plus some home-made jalapeños en escabeche.

BARBACOA

OMELETTE OF JAPANESE MUSHROOMS

I've never bowed so much. I guess it's a result of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, but there are a whole lot more Japanese at the weekly markets. Some are simply collecting for relief efforts. But there were Japanese performers last week and there have been some young and enthusiastic and oh so polite Japanese guys these past two weeks who are selling various Asian mushrooms - mostly Japanese. Shiitake, enoki, shimeji, oyster, king. Anyway, these lovely lads bowed as I approached their stand. And I bowed back. Then the one who served me bowed when I asked for some shiitakes. And I returned the favour. Then he bowed again when I bought the shimeji. Naturally, I bowed right back. He bowed again when I asked for some enoki. I bowed once more. When I said that was all, he bowed again, and I bowed in return, simultaneously handing over some money. Which he accepted with a bow. I accepted his change with a bow. I said goodbye. He bowed. I bowed. A young couple passing the mushroom stall bowed. An elderly woman bowed. Or maybe she had a hunched back. I wasn't sure. I bowed a few more times and reversed away from their stall. I was afraid that if I turned my back, they'd bow once more and I'd miss it.

OMELETTE OF JAPANESE MUSHROOMS

CURRY OF SNAKE BEANS AND PUMPKIN

Thai. Ish. Casi Thai. Semi Thai. Mezzo Thai. Half Thai with pike. Call it what you will. There's a definite Thai influence. But it's not the full Thai. Thainy Thai? What is it about Thai that leads to puns? How many Thai restaurants do you know with really dodgy names like Bow Thai and Thaitanic and Thairific? I'm not sure this dish was Thairific. But it was good. The pumpkins aren't really pumpkins, but butternut squash. Same family. Cousins, maybe. The beans aren't snakes, either. No fangs. No poison glands. They don't eat rodents. But they're called snake beans.

CURRY OF SNAKE BEANS AND PUMPKIN

CAULIFLOWER SOUP WITH WHITE TRUFFLE OIL

What is it about the change of seasons that excites you? For me, it's new sports to watch. But it's especially the chance to prepare seasonal dishes and dishes that just don't work out of season. As the weather gets cooler (and, OK, 25C isn't that cool - but the nights are getting a little cooler), I start thinking of slow braises, soups and pies. So tonight I did this super smooth soup of cauliflower, onion and chicken stock with a swirl of white truffle oil. Kind of flash peasant food. A rat with a gold tooth.

CAULIFLOWER SOUP WITH WHITE TRUFFLE OIL

REEF COD WITH ROASTED VEGETABLES AND AIOLI

I've done enough variations on this fish/roasted veg theme that I've run out of new stuff to say. So here's an exercise from Kristin Linklater's book Freeing The Natural Voice - "With your neck and head back, find a warm pool of vibrations deep down at the bottom of the chasm, and with a lazy released sigh, warm the chest on "haa-aa-aaah."

REEF COD WITH ROASTED VEGETABLES AND AIOLI