SWEET LIP, BUDIN DE ELOTE, SALSA DE JITOMATE SIERRA DE PUEBLA

Budín de elote is a wonderful simple dish from México - a mixture of puréed fresh corn, milk, butter, eggs, salt and pepper baked in a dish lined with breadcrumbs. It goes brilliantly with this equally simple salsa - puréed tomatoes, garlic, onion, red serrano chillies cooked in a little lard or corn oil until the raw garlic flavour have dissipated.

SWEET LIP, BUDIN DE ELOTE, SALSA DE JITOMATE SIERRA DE PUEBLA

PUMPKIN RISOTTO

If I had a dollar for every risotto I've cooked I'd be quite wealthy. Not Donald Trump wealthy, but comfortable. I cooked my first in 1982, after tasting my first risotto in Mantova. I have lost track of the different risottos I have cooked ... no, I'll have a go at remembering them. Milanese, squid ink, porcini, fennel, radicchio, champagne, primavera, crab, risi e bisi, prawn, asparagus, pumpkin, beetroot, sherry, gorgonzola, scallop ... there are more, but I can't recall them right now. I have done pumpkin man times. This was the best. Why? A richer chicken stock, deeper flavoured pumpkin, a good dose of Noilly Prat, a pinch of nutmeg, another pinch of Spanish saffron strands ... I think each element contributed to the end result. Oh, and good Carnaroli rice and 3 year old parmigiano reggiano.

PUMPKIN RISOTTO

THAI SALAD OF TEA-SMOKED SALMON, PORK SKIN AND HERBS

Ever have those days when, in a quiet moment, you take stock of where your life is right now and think "there's something missing"? Well I had one today. Rather than wallow in self-pity, I decided to do something about it. Yes, I haven't been cooking or eating enough Thai food - and I had to fix the situation before it got completely out of hand and dragged me down into its black hole. The first taste of this salad, the chillies, fish sauce and lime juice assailing the taste buds, the smokiness of the fish, crunch of pandan-flavoured pork crackling and peanuts, the enthusiastic freshness of eschallots, mint and coriander ... ah, I felt better straight away. The world is a much better place this morning.

THAI SALAD OF TEA-SMOKED SALMON, PORK SKIN AND HERBS

WARM SALAD OF STEAMED VEGETABLES WITH AIOLI

Is 'warm salad' just another way of saying tepid vegetables? Is it an invention of chefs who can't get vegetables to the table while they're still hot? If chefs are honest, shouldn't we really have menu items like warm beef pie salad, warm pumpkin soup salad and warm sizzling steak salad? Should hot pots be renamed warm salad pots? Thai hot and sour soup renamed warm and sour salad soup? I'll leave you to wrestle with that one. In the meantime, here's a warm salad of steamed flat beans, asparagus and cauliflower - served with warm aïoli salad.

WARM SALAD OF STEAMED VEGETABLES WITH AIOLI

FRITTATA OF CHICKEN, FETTA, POTATO AND CARAMELISED TOMATOES

Got eggs? Got frittata. It's that simple. Simpler than sudoku. Simpler than a reef knot. Simpler than Ulysses - no, that's not right. LOTS of things are simpler than Ulysses. Simpler than a rugby league player ... that's more like it. So this version has small dices of potato, chunks of fetta, small pieces of poached chicken and these small tomatoes that were slowly roasted with salt, sugar and olive oil until they collapsed into this sweet, jammy intensely tomato-y gorgeousness.

FRITTATA OF CHICKEN, FETTA, POTATO AND CARAMELISED TOMATOES

CONE BAY BARRAMUNDI, CAVOLO NERO, POLENTA AND AIOLI

Australian fish gets an Italian make-over. This great barramundi comes from Cone Bay near Dampier. It's cavolo nero season right now down here in Oz. There are big bunches of the stuff in the markets. Some people don't like cavolo nero. Usually those who don't also have a problem with other greens that have the potential to be bitter - radicchio, for example. I learned something about our sensitivity to bitterness when talking to a naturopath last year. It seems that people who find food bitter more than likely have an acidic body. Get your alkalinity in order and food doesn't taste so bitter - not sure about the science behind this, but it's true.

CONE BAY BARRAMUNDI, CAVOLO NERO, POLENTA AND AIOLI

BRINED LEG OF CHICKEN, BRAISED RED CABBAGE, POTATO WEDGES AND SALSA VERDE

If you haven't had a go at brining chicken, do it. Best with a whole bird, it also works with legs like this. Place the chicken in a tight-fitting deep bowl with a cup of salt and water to cover. Leave for six hours, drain and dry the chicken then roast as usual. The brining adds tenderness to the flesh and saltiness (naturally). it also helps the skin crisp nicely. And sweet slow-braised red cabbage and wedges of sebago potatoes which were sliced and gently boiled until just soft, drained, dried, rolled in butter then roasted.

BRINED LEG OF CHICKEN, BRAISED RED CABBAGE, POTATO WEDGES AND SALSA VERDE

BARRAMUNDI WITH BABY BOK CHOY AND CHILLI JAM

Here's a great way to cook bok choy - grate about a tablespoon of fresh galangal, slice a couple of chillies, chop a couple of cloves of garlic. Heat a little peanut oil, light soy sauce and a few drops of sesame oil in a wok over low heat, Add halved bok choy and the galangal, garlic and chillies. Cover with a lid and cook, turning a few times, until done. In the meantime, sear the fish in a hot pan. I use grape seed oil for its neutral flavour. I spooned over some chilli jam, rich with fish sauce, ginger and prawn paste - reduced to sticky perfection.

BARRAMUNDI WITH BABY BOK CHOY AND CHILLI JAM

YELLOW FIN TUNA, BORLOTTI BEANS AND ZUCCHINI

Not much to explain here. Slowly cooked borlotti beans (slowly cooked because that's the only way these guys will cook), sautéed zucchini and seared tuna. I guess you'd call it basic Italian - if it weren't for the fact that borlotti beans originated in Colombia and zucchini were developed from the squash family that also came from the New World.

YELLOW FIN TUNA, BORLOTTI BEANS AND ZUCCHINI

GRAVLAX, ROCKET, MIZUNA AND PARSLEY VINAIGRETTE

Having bought salmon for a dinner that was cancelled because the guest of honour was sick, I needed to think of ways to use the fish. I smoked some over chai, dried orange peel, sugar and rice. The rest got turned into gravlax - marinated in sugar,  salt, vodka and garlic. The transformation that takes place over 24 hours is remarkable. The sugar and salt suck the moisture out of the fish, the colour deepens and the vodka penetrates the flesh. I used a sushi knife to slice the fish translucently fine and draped sheets of it over this mix of wild rocket and mizuna from the markets, the made a dressing of parsley, capers, salt, olive oil and white balsamic vinegar. Perfect for a mild evening and the first taste of spring weather.

GRAVLAX, ROCKET, MIZUNA AND PARSLEY VINAIGRETTE

ROAST LEG OF MUTTON, ROASTED CAULIFLOWER PUREE, RED CABBAGE AND AIOLI

I guess it doesn't matter that most of what is sold as lamb isn't lamb. Way back, Australians ate a lot of mutton - and seemed to be quite happy with it. Then some marketing person got the idea that mutton connoted very rich meat that some people found a bit too much and so it was decided that sheep meat should be sold as lamb. Never mind that the animal was beyond the true lamb stage of its life when it met its maker. Anyway, this leg was definitely too big for a lamb - and too rich, with a funkiness that true baby lamb never has. I brushed cauliflower with olive oil and roasted it before pureeing - which intensifies the flavour and adds a nutty complexity. The cabbage was braised with Chinese red vinegar, brown sugar, balsamic vinegar, juniper, garlic and bay.

ROAST LEG OF MUTTON, ROASTED CAULIFLOWER PUREE, RED CABBAGE AND AIOLI

DIVER WHITING, ASPARAGUS, BEANS, ZUCCHINI AND TAPENADE

We have a fish species here in Australia called diver whiting. I don't know about you, but to me the adjective diver seems superfluous. It's a fish. Of course it dives. Why not swimming whiting? Anyway, these baby fillets of baby members of the whiting clan got a coating of panko crumbs and then got sautéed in ghee and draped over a bed of roasted green vegetables with a tapenade spooned over the top.

DIVER WHITING, ASPARAGUS, BEANS, ZUCCHINI AND TAPENADE

CAMARONES AL AJO, ARROZ A LA MEXICANA

A little trip back to México. I don't know about you, but I hadn't really figured on Mexicans being big rice eaters. How wrong I was. Mind you, I hadn't really thought of México being a big sushi stronghold and I was wrong on that count as well. In fact, I saw something in México that I hadn't (and still haven't) seen here in Australia - a fresh sushi stand in the middle of a supermarket where sushi were rolled to order. So back to the rice. It's mostly white - but it is often red and sometimes green. The red version is coloured by puréed tomato. The green version gets its colour from puréed coriander and sometimes green serrano chillies and occasionally also baby spinach.

CAMARONES AL AJO, ARROZ A LA MEXICANA