COCHINITA PIBIL WITH RADISH & AVOCADO SALSA

Do radishes get a bad rap? I think so. They seem to be one of those forgotten vegetables, like turnips and Swedes. You see them often, but you just do not think about buying them. And then when you do buy some, there is a good chance they will sit in the vegetable crisper where they go soft (perverse, huh?). I have to confess I had neglected them until we lived in Mexico. There they seem to turn up often as a condiment to all sorts of classic dishes. So, here they are in a simple salsa of san marzano tomatoes from the garden, jalapenos and Sharwill avocados  from the markets. If you have never tasted cochinita pibil, do yourself a favour. There are recipes online - or look in a classic Mexican cookbook, like one of those by Diana Kennedy.

COCHINITA PIBIL WITH RADISH & AVOCADO SALSA

GLAZED CHICKEN WITH BABY TATSOI

This dish started when I saw these great bunches of baby tatsoi at the local shop. I made a marinade for the chicken that worked really well - sesame oil, light soy sauce, red vinegar, ground chilli, ground ginger and Asian caramel sauce (you could also use kechup manis). This mixture produces a glaze when grilled or barbecued that is reminiscent of Chinese barbecued duck or char siew.

GLAZED CHICKEN WITH BABY TATSOI

AMARANTH WITH PEANUTS

AMARANTH WITH PEANUTS

CHICKEN WITH BEANS & CORIANDER

Not quite Thai, not quite Chinese, not quite Indian. A pan Asian dish in the style of Gingerboy in Melbourne. Chicken, beans, green masala and green curry paste with lime juice, fish sauce, sugar and masses of coriander. Very cleansing.

CHICKEN WITH BEANS & CORIANDER

THE PERFECT SPAGHETTI BOLOGNESE

What is the perfect ragu alla bolognese? According to Wikipedia, the traditional recipe was registered in 1982 by the Bolognese delegation of Accademia Italiana della Cucina - and you have to embrace any country that establishes an academy to celebrate food. The registered recipe lists the ingredients as beef, pancetta, onions, carrot, celery, tomato paste, meat broth (or stock), white wine and milk or cream. That is the official line. The unofficial line is that even in Bologna, there is often chopped pork or pork sausage, sometimes chicken or rabbit. And you are also likely to find chicken or goose liver. Prosciutto and mushrooms are included in some recipes. Some people whip up a bolognese sauce in half an hour, but according to Marcella Hazan in "The Classic Italian Cookbook", the longer ragù alla bolognese cooks the better. A 5- or 6-hour simmer is not unusual. What is a cook to make of all this? Basically, the only things that the meat sauces in the Bologna style have in common is chopped (or minced) meats, white wine, onions and carrots. So, the question remains - what to include and what to leave out? For what it is worth, here is my recipe for a bolognese sauce. Is it perfect? You be the judge.

BOLOGNESE SAUCE

50 mls olive oil
350 gms finely diced brown onion
115 gms finely diced carrot
115 gms finely diced celery
1 teaspoon ground pepper
2 teaspoons salt
500gms coarsely minced (or finely chopped) pork
500gms coarsely minced (or finely chopped) veal
250gms coarsely chopped chicken livers
450 mls tomato sauce
400 mls beef or veal stock
225 mls white wine

Heat the oil over medium heat in a large saucepan. When rippling, add onions and cover. Cook, stirring occasionally, until light gold - about 15 to 20 minutes. Uncover and allow the onions to caramelise, which should take another 15 minutes. Add the other vegetables, pepper and salt and cook another 5 minutes. Add pork and veal. Break up with a fork or spoon and cook until it has changed colour. Add the livers and cook another 5 minutes. Add tomato sauce, about half the stock and the white wine. Stir it a few times and turn down to a gentle simmer. Cook it, uncovered, for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Add the rest of the stock and cook another 1 1/2 hours at least. The sauce should be reasonably thick and dry by this stage. If you like, you could add a little grated nutmeg at the end - but not essential. This will make enough sauce for 8 or 10 servings. It can be divided into 300-325 gm portions and frozen.

THE PERFECT SPAGHETTI BOLOGNESE

RED EMPEROR WITH MOGHRABIEH, KALE & HARISSA TOMATOES

I love how a single dish can be interpreted in different ways as it moves from country to country. The small grains of couscous so loved in Morocco and elsewhere in north Africa grow in size when produced in Israel and are called ptitim - or Israeli couscous in the western world. A short distance away in Lebanon, the same staple grows further in size and is known as moghrabieh. I quite like these big balls of wheat. Curly-leafed kale hales from the northern Mediterranean, having been recorded in Greece in the 4th century BC. Tomatoes of course are Mexican in origin, but are now most commonly associated with Italy. Red emperor is one of the great reef fish species of Australia. So the Pacific meets the Med and has a child.

RED EMPEROR WITH MOGHRABIEH, KALE & HARISSA TOMATOES

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

WILD BARRAMUNDI WITH CHAR-GRILLED WITLOF AND ASPARAGUS

Is chicory the vegetable equivalent of Tara (as in the United States of Tara)? It seems to have as many personalities. It certainly has more names. Chicory, witlof, French endive, witloof, radicchio, Belgian endive. The version we call witlof in Australia is grown in darkness to inhibit the development of colour on the leaves and is picked when still a tight bud of maybe 8 or 10 cm. I parboiled some spears of organic asparagus then plunged into ice to stop the cooking, before draining and drying. I halved the witlof and shook with some olive oil then grilled in a ribbed cast iron skillet, adding the asparagus after about 10 minutes to heat through. I bought these gorgeous fat fillets of wild barramundi in Brisbane this afternoon. They were seared, skin side down, over fairly high heat then moved to the oven to complete cooking. Murray River salt, pepper and lime juice over the top. A choice of tomato kasaundi or lime mayonnaise as condiment.

WILD BARRAMUNDI WITH CHAR-GRILLED WITLOF AND ASPARAGUS

TUNA WITH A DRY ADOBO, PINTO BEANS AND BABY HEIRLOOM TOMATOES

What could be more Mexican? Fish accompanied by three Mexican culinary gifts to the world - avocados, tomatoes and beans. Adobos are mostly wet. The mixtures vary, but they include a number of different dried chillies and often cinnamon, cloves, oregano, maybe annato, pepper, cumin. In the wet varieties, the dried chillies are softened on a griddle, then immersed in water to rehydrate. In these less common dry versions, the dried chillies and ground to a fine powder with the other spices and then rubbed into the fish (or chicken, pork or beef) before cooking. The local avocados are gorgeous at the moment - incredibly buttery and decadent as chocolate, another gift from Mexico.

TUNA WITH A DRY ADOBO, PINTO BEANS AND BABY HEIRLOOM TOMATOES

RIB OF WAGYU WITH GRILLED CHICORY & POTATO

Some times dishes taste brilliant but do not photograph that way - well, do not photograph that way in the completely incompetent hands of someone like me. So what you see here is a poorly art directed pile of red and brown stuff. I can tell you that it tasted sublime, even if the evidence does not support that claim. Good wagyu (and yes, there is some less than good stuff around) is extraordinary in its richness. Something about chicory that has been grilled. A sweetness comes out in the vegetable that is not evident when raw. A simple wild rocket salad and a good mustard was all that accompanied this.

RIB OF WAGYU WITH GRILLED CHICORY & POTATO

EGGPLANT AND REEF COD CURRY

A couple of ales at The Beach Hotel in Byron this afternoon. One eye on the TV screen, the other one elsewhere. Nice way to while away a couple of hours. This has nothing to do with dinner. Well, not directly. It did leave me feeling a bit tired, so dinner needed to be something simple - like this South Indian inspired curry of reef cod, eggplant, tamarind and coconut milk, amongst other stuff. That is enough writing for today. Off to take care of a glass of wine.

EGGPLANT AND REEF COD CURRY

PANKO CRUMBED CHICKEN WITH BEANS & BABY ZUCCHINI

Remember when zucchini flowers were a novelty? Neither do I. But I am pretty sure they were. At some point in time. I remember I used to buy big bunches of them in Mexico - and at my age, remembering anything beyond today is an achievement. For some reason, we only used to see male ones over there, whereas here it is almost always the female flowers with the fruit attached. We mostly see the long thin green variety of zucchini here. Occasionally the variegated spherical guys. It was a great surprise to see these baby yellow zucchini in the markets. This dish started with these great vegetables. I had to buy some chicken thighs for dinner last night. It seemed churlish to buy just 2, so I had a couple to use tonight. A couple of other things thrown in and that is dinner taken care of.

PANKO CRUMBED CHICKEN WITH BEANS & BABY ZUCCHINI