FISHCAKES WITH TWO SALADS

My mum used to be a pretty good baker of cheesecake. She'd make regular cheesecake and chocolate cheesecake - often for birthdays. Sometimes she'd bake sponge cake. For some birthdays we kids would ask her to make tri-coloured sponge cake - a layer of strawberry, one of vanilla and one chocolate. I have become pretty good at making banana cake, made with lady finger bananas from our neighbours' farm. I don't think my mum ever made fish cakes for birthdays. I can't imagine ANY kid being happy to be served fish cakes for a birthday cake. It's a good thing it's nobody's birthday today, because I have cooked fish cakes. No candles. Just a squeeze of lemon juice, a dollop of aïoli, some cherry tomatoes and Lebanese cucumber.

FISHCAKES WITH TWO SALADS

SALMON PIZZA

There's something therapeutic about making pizza. A good pizza dough won't be rushed. You make the starter. You stop. You leave it to rise. You make the dough. You kneed it for 15 minutes. You stop. You leave it to rise. You punch it down. You leave it to rise again. You cut it, roll it and then, finally, you're ready to start making a pizza. Worth the effort? You bet.

SALMON PIZZA

CHORIZO WITH TOMATO & CANNELLINI SALAD

Billinudgel is a small town just south of here that used to be best known for its pub. The Billinudgel Pub opened in 1906 and was run by Ma Ring until her death at the age of 101. The pub is still an excellent reason to visit Billinudgel. Now there's another one - the Salumi Australia artisan smallgoods manufacturer established here a short while back. Salumi products are made using fabulous Bangalow and Kurobuta pork and traditional techniques. They make fresh pork sausages, dry Sardinian-style sausages, guanciale (cured pork jowl), salame, pancetta, cotechino and some rarities like strolghino, n'duja and sobrasada. I have used their great chorizos here. Nothing flash. Simply grilled over charcoal and served with a tomato and cannellini salad - and a mesclun salad on the side.

CHORIZO WITH TOMATO & CANNELLINI SALAD

DUCK CONFIT WITH PUY LENTILS AND BROAD BEAN PUREE

There's something decadent about confit. It's probably just all that saturated fat. The uncontrollable love of things that are bad for us. But there's no denying the soft lusciousness that the long low cooking in duck fat adds to the flesh. I cooked the Puy lentils in duck stock (naturally) with a little garlic and olive oil. And if you haven't tried broad bean purée, you're missing something special.

DUCK CONFIT WITH PUY LENTILS AND BROAD BEAN PUREE

LEG OF CHICKEN WITH PLANTAIN AND HABANERO MANGO SALSA

If you don't know plantains, let me describe them for you. They're bananas on steroids. Usually sold green, they're inedible when unripe - and impossible to skin. As they ripen, they remain a challenge. In the early stages of ripeness they are often sliced finely, fried and salted - and sold as chips. When the skin starts to go deep brown with black patches (so basically at the stage when you'd toss regular bananas), they are perfect. I cut of the ends, slice them lengthwise and sauté them in ghee. Once cooked, I peel them. they taste like banana - but with an extra citrusy tang. They're popular in Mexico and also on some Pacific islands. I have bought them from a fruit shop in Coolangatta and also from Fijian stall holders at the Homebush markets in Sydney.

LEG OF CHICKEN WITH PLANTAIN AND HABANERO MANGO SALSA

POTATO AND FETTA FRITTATA

How good are mandolines? I don't mean the musical kind - although these have their place. I had a teacher, Moose Morris, in primary school who played the mandolin. I recall he was always breaking strings. But that's not the instrument I'm talking about here. I mean the slicing kind. In sixty seconds I reduced a sebago potato to 100 translucent slices that formed the basis of this frittata. I arranged the slices in a sauté pan with a little butter and cooked until golden. Then I added 5 beaten eggs, salt, papper and slices of goat's milk fetta. Dead simple. A tomato salad on the side.

POTATO AND FETTA FRITTATA

CHICKEN WITH PEAS AND BEANS

OK, so the peas aren't your regular green peas, but chickpeas. And the beans aren't your regular green beans ... well, they ARE green, but not the green beans that you expect to see when someone says green beans. They're broad beans - which are broad and green. Except when they're mature. Then they go a pale yellow/green. Fiddly buggers, but definitely worth the effort of shelling, steaming, skinning and then heating again. That's a dollop of garlic jam on top of the thigh fillet.

CHICKEN WITH PEAS AND BEANS

BRAISED OXTAIL WITH DUTCH CREAM MASH

You'd think oxtail would be easy to get hold of. But no. Like so many other unglamorous cuts of meat, oxtail seems to be something that either gets exported or bought by restaurants. Our excellent butcher Paul had promised to get some oxtail for several months. He hadn't until now because he'd have to order a whole box of tails - and there just isn't the demand for them. Lucky for us, he now has a Japanese restaurant as a client - and they have oxtail on the menu. I bought a single tail - a perfect amount for 4 people. I cook it over two days. The first day it's dusted in four and browned, then slowly braised for 2 hours in oxtail stock (reserved from a previous cooking), red wine, a star anise, bay leaves and salt. It's refrigerated overnight. The next day I remove the crust of fat formed on top and then braise it slowly again for another couple of hours. Dutch cream potatoes make one of the best mashes - this with lots of Lurpak butter and milk.

BRAISED OXTAIL WITH DUTCH CREAM MASH

ROASTED VEGETABLES WITH HERB VINAIGRETTE AND AIOLI

I am an omnivore. There's nothing like a good plate of omnis. Don't get me wrong. I am often a piscivore. And carnivore. And sometimes an out and out herbi. I think this dish qualifies as omni, not herbi, because there are eggs in the aïoli. Am I also an aïolivore? And as an egg eater I guess that makes me an ovivore? I never was very good at Latin. Better at cooking. I don't recall if the recent census asked me to nominate my food preferences. But if it did, I'd have ticked the omnivore box. I've met a few people who are ambivalent to food - agnostivores. And others who seem to be anti food (well good food) - atheistivores.

ROASTED VEGETABLES WITH HERB VINAIGRETTE AND AIOLI

CHICKEN THIGH ON SOFT POLENTA WITH TOMATO SALSA AND MESCLUN

I have a soft spot for polenta. Especially soft polenta. I like firm polenta too. But I don't have a firm spot for it. I made this polenta with homemade chicken stock - and then served it with chicken thighs crusted in polenta and sautéed in corn oil. You get the sense there's a chicken & corn thing going on here? Well it's spoilt by the salsa. No chicken in this. No corn either. And no chicken in the mesclun. There is lamb's tongue lettuce. But no chicken.

CHICKEN THIGH ON SOFT POLENTA WITH TOMATO SALSA AND MESCLUN

STEAMED SPRING VEGETABLES WITH BROAD BEAN PUREE

There are two kinds of people in the world. This is for the other kind. As you can see, there's asparagus. Not everyone loves asparagus. There are Brussels sprouts. And a LOT of people have an issue with sprouts. And then there are broad beans. Again, not on many 'best vegetables ever' lists. Maybe it's because some people have only had them when they're too old and floury. Maybe because they've been served with the skin on - and the skin does them no favours. I did them two ways here - served steamed and then also puréed with extra virgin olive oil. A chef mate from Sydney, Steve Manfredi, introduced me to this method many years ago. If you've never had broad beans prepared this way, you're in for a treat ... unless you're one of the other kind of people in this world.

STEAMED SPRING VEGETABLES WITH BROAD BEAN PUREE

SWEETLIP WITH MANGO & HABANERO CHILLI SALSA

There's a TV fisherman in Australia by the name of Rex Hunt. Rex is best know for his quaint habit. Before releasing every fish he catches, Rex gives it a kiss on the lips. Actually, that's not totally accurate. I'm pretty sure he doesn't extend the lip kiss to sharks. Now this is a custom I'm happy to leave to Rex. I like eating fish. I have no desire to kiss them. If I did, I might be able to tell you if this species really does have sweet lips. I doubt it. I expect they're no less salty and fishy as other species, so I have to wonder how they came to be called sweetlip. It's early in the mango season here, when they still have a bit of an acidic tang to them - prefect for this salsa of mango, chilli, eschallots, coriander and lime juice.

SWEETLIP WITH MANGO & HABANERO CHILLI SALSA

KING PRAWNS WITH ASPARAGUS, BROAD BEANS AND SALSA VERDE

I bought a kilo of sensational big fat asparagus spears at Sydney's Flemington markets on Saturday. It's getting toward the end of the season, but these guys from Victoria are absolutely brilliant. So too the box of broad beans I also bought. I sautéed some local king prawns in ghee and finished the dish with salsa verde.

KING PRAWNS WITH ASPARAGUS, BROAD BEANS AND SALSA VERDE

ROASTED PORK BELLY WITH RED CABBAGE SALAD

Yes, it was only a week back that I did pork belly. It was so good, I had to do it again before it gets too warm for deeply satisfying roasts. This time it gets a bed of red cabbage macerated in a little olive oil and sherry vinegar with mashed anchovy, garlic and salt. Very simple.

ROASTED PORK BELLY WITH RED CABBAGE SALAD

COCONUT CRUSTED RED EMPEROR WITH CHIMICHURRI

A pan-Pacific thing going on here. Queensland reef fish with a mix of panko crumbs and coconut, served with an Argentine chimichurri. Doing my bit for international entente ... or is it just a simple muddle of flavours?

COCONUT CRUSTED RED EMPEROR WITH CHIMICHURRI

PENNE WITH BROCCOLI

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This is my idea of fast food. A couple of heads of broccoli, a few roma tomatoes, garlic, an anchovy fillet, olive oil, roasted chilli and salt. A decent pasta and aged parmesan. Fifteen minutes start to finish. I challenge Dominoes to get dinner on the table any faster.

PENNE WITH BROCCOLI