BARRAMUNDI WITH CABBAGE SALAD, TOMATO RELISH & LIME MAYONNAISE

Five days in Sydney. A very nice meal with friends Clare and Steve at District Dining - which just happens to be on the first floor of a pub owned by another friend, Stan - and Stan, I hope the back operation went OK. So, not up for preparing anything flash tonight. I guess we all have days like this, even the best chefs in the world. A simple piece of really fresh fish, a couple of simple salads (Stephanie Alexander inspired cabbage salad) and some mayo.

BARRAMUNDI WITH CABBAGE SALAD, TOMATO RELISH & LIME MAYONNAISE

VERDURE IN BRODO

Vegetables in broth somehow sounds better in a foreign language, so here it is in Italian. Prefer it in Spanish? Verduras en caldo. Mandarin? 在湯的菜 (and I have to confess I am at the mercy of Babel Fish with this one). Whatever you call it, this is a basic stew. Or a lumpy soup. Just green and yellow vegetables - asparagus, butter beans, yellow zucchini and silverbeet with chicken stock, garlic, olive oil and puréed basil.

VERDURE IN BRODO

ADOBO CHICKEN WITH ROASTED CORN SALSA AND MORA CHILLI AIOLI

Some of you have seen our pantry. You will know how it is crammed with ingredients. You will also know that quite a few of the jars on the shelves contain chillies. I am not sure how many different chillies there are in there, but I would guess 30. Some of my favourites are the smoked chillies. There is the pasilla de Oaxaca which is thin-fleshed and has an intense smokiness from being smoked over fern fronds. There are the chipotles, which are thick-fleshed jalapenos smoked over mesquite wood. And there are the moras and moritas, which are serrano chillies given the same treatment. I made an adobo, a thick paste, based on some moras. I then blended some of this paste with a roast garlic aioli. The chook was marinated in the same adobo, but this time blended with coconut vinegar.

ADOBO CHICKEN WITH ROASTED CORN SALSA AND MORA CHILLI AIOLI

CHICKEN WITH EGGPLANT AND CRISPY PRAWN CHILLI PASTE

I like Thai food. I like a Thai condiment called Crispy Prawn Chilli in English. This is a brilliantly simple stir fry - peanut oil, eggplants and eschallot or onion fried for about 7-8 minutes. Light soy, strips of chicken thigh or breast, a teaspoon of crispy prawn chilli and a teaspoon of red curry paste, palm sugar, lime juice and fish sauce, Thai basil, mint and coriander. Fifteen minutes max.

CHICKEN WITH EGGPLANT AND CRISPY PRAWN CHILLI PASTE

COCONUT CRUMBED FLATHEAD WITH LIME AIOLI AND CHICKPEA SALAD

This was going to be a dish of flathead in panko crumbs. Then I thought of adding coconut to the crumbs. The coconut then gave me ideas of an aïoli made with lime juice. And both of these made me think of coastal Mexico (and come to think of it, a lot of Mexico is coastal - 9330 kms to be exact), so I made a salad of chickpeas (which were probably introduced to Mexico by the Spanish, who were introduced to them by the Moors), tomatoes (which originated in Mexico), chillies (also Mexican) and basil (which seems to have come from Persia). I think the same coconut coating would have also worked well with a mango salsa. Maybe next time.

COCONUT CRUMBED FLATHEAD WITH LIME AIOLI AND CHICKPEA SALAD

RED EMPEROR WITH PINTO BEANS AND YELOW CAPSICUM SALSA

If fish species were rated on a scale of 1 to 10 for good looks, red emperor would rate a 7 or 8. It is quite a handsome fish with pink skin and red bands up its head, on its flank, down its back and with crimson-tipped fins. Fish of 5 to 8 kg are fairly common in deeper channels around the Great Barrier Reef off the Queensland coast. The flesh is soft, snow white and mild in flavour. This got a bit of a Mexican treatment with a yellow capsicum salsa. A salad of mesclun and avocado with macadamia oil and lime juice. Very simple and healthy.

RED EMPEROR WITH PINTO BEANS AND YELOW CAPSICUM SALSA

EDIBLE ART

I sent my parents to Quay for their 60th wedding anniversary. They had a great night, remarking on the extraordinary food and the wonderful attention of the staff. I bought this book yesterday and I spent some time today flipping through its pages. What struck me is how Peter Gilmore has remained faithful to the ingredients and created plates of food that look like perfect expressions of nature - and yet there is artistry evident here that nature could not match. Each component of each dish is perfection in itself. And each of these perfect ingredients is assembled into sublime works of culinary art that I can study for minutes at a time. If you can get to Sydney and can get a table at the restaurant, go. If not, buy this book and dream. This is now the 3rd cookbook bought this year that has had a profound effect on me. The others are The Fat Duck Cookbook and NOMA. Can food get any better?

EDIBLE ART

SPAGHETTI WITH ZUCCHINI AND CHILLI OIL

I do not know about you, but there are times when I crave a simple bowl of pasta. I reckon this qualifies as simple. Onion and garlic sweated in chilli oil, sliced zucchini stirred through until starting to soften, then slices of San Marzano tomatoes (you could use other small tomatoes) and cooked another 2 minutes. Introduce this to your pasta and that is it. A grating of parmesan over the top, a rustic Italian red, some nice music in the background and good company in the foreground and I am happy.

SPAGHETTI WITH ZUCCHINI AND CHILLI OIL

TEA SMOKED SALMON ON GRILLED BRIOCHE WITH SMOKED TOMATO JAM & SILVERBEET

Have I mentioned I like smoky flavours? I have now. Some big fat shoulder fillets of salmon were given ten minutes over a mix of rice, sugar and jasmine tea. I also smoked some San Marzano tomatoes from the garden and made a jam with roasted garlic, ginger, chilli and other goodies. A slice of brioche grilled on a ribbed cast iron pan and some silverbeet cooked gently with olive oil and garlic.

TEA SMOKED SALMON ON GRILLED BRIOCHE WITH SMOKED TOMATO JAM & SILVERBEET

SALMON BELLY SASHIMI

I love how a single fillet of salmon can so readily yield two or more dishes. In this case, I bought fillets from the shoulder of a large fish. I used the choicest, fattest section for a main course of tea-smoked salmon on grilled brioche (which will be the next post). I cut off the belly flap and the fatty piece at the top of the fillet and then sliced these to serve as sashimi with champagne. These parts of the fish contain the most fat, much of which is visible as striations in the slices here. Apart from giving each slice drama, the fat is what makes salmon so good for us.

SALMON BELLY SASHIMI

PORK AND GREEN MANGO SALAD

I do like Thai style salads. Also Vietnamese, French, Italian, Chinese, Mexican, Lithuanian, Congolese, Peruvian, Icelandic, Lichtensteiner and Butanese. On second thoughts, scratch the Butanese. I have never eaten Butanese food, but a doco seen years ago put me off it for life. The staple seems to be a wheat gruel washed down with fermented tea with rancid yak butter stirred through it - for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Thanks but no thanks. Give me these combinations of soft, hard, sweet, salty, spicy, cooling, sharp and gentle any day.

PORK AND GREEN MANGO SALAD

BARBECUED TAMARIND CHICKEN. GAI LAN WITH OYSTER SAUCE

My life is not controlled by my taste buds. My life is not controlled by my taste buds. My life is not controlled by my taste buds. My life is not controlled by my taste buds ... it is no use. These mind exercises are not working. My life IS controlled by my taste buds. Tonight they felt like a trip to China. I marinated some chicken thighs in a mix of coriander seeds, light soy sauce, oyster sauce, tamarind, sugar, salt and rice vinegar. The gai lan was blanched, drained and then ordained with a mix of light soy, oyster sauce, sesame oil and sugar.

BARBECUED TAMARIND CHICKEN. GAI LAN WITH OYSTER SAUCE