KITCHEN EQUIPMENT CIRCA 1500 BC

My Mexican friends know what this is. For the rest of you, it's a lesson in durability and obsolescence. The metate (the gently curved rock on the bottom) and the mano (the stone baton on top) are essential pieces of Mexican kitchen equipment. They're essential today - just as they were 3500 years ago. They are made of bassalt. This one measures about 14 inches (34cm) wide by 17 inches (41cm) deep by 10 inches (24cm) high (at the back). It weighs about 25 kilos. It has three legs and slopes toward the front. It was/is used for grinding (mostly) dry ingredients. The most common were/are corn (to make tamales and tortillas) and cocoa beans (to make chocolate and mole). In Oaxaca (in southern Mexico) metates are often hand painted on their sides and given as wedding gifts. Once given, they become family heirlooms, passing from cook to cook. Today, many Mexican cooks use a food processor or blender. However, the end result is different. A metate and mano grind ingredients, whereas a processor or blender shreds.

KITCHEN EQUIPMENT CIRCA 1500 BC

ROAST CHICKEN WITH 2 VEG

I don't know about you, but when I see menu descriptions like roast chicken with 2 veg, I have memories of RSL clubs, country pubs, school dining rooms, hospitals, soup kitchens ... not that I have experience of all of these. Yes, roast chicken with 2 veg is an accurate description, but it doesn't really do it justice. The chicken is the front half of the Alstonville chicken cooked last night. I salted the skin and left it to draw out moisture, then patted it completely dry so the skin would crisp up nicely. One of the veg is steamed broccolini. The other is actually 2 veg in one - mashed Jerusalem artichokes and sebago potato. The glossy brown stuff on the left is garlic jam ... which might count as another vegetable. Or maybe not.

ROAST CHICKEN WITH 2 VEG

LEG OF CHICKEN WITH ROASTED CORN & KUMERA SALAD AND PICO DO GALLO SALSA

When I dropped in at Jack Sprat's, my local butcher, these chickens had just arrived. They are bred at Alstonville, a town south of here. Paul the butcher gets a delivery every week, usually on a Wednesday, but not always. It really depends on the mood of the farmer. These aren't certified organic chickens. Apparently the farmer couldn't be bothered getting his farm accredited. But it seems that his farming methods are totally organic. They are the best tasting chickens available around these parts. The only better chicken I've tasted in Australia is from the Mudgee farm of Angela and Carlo Colaiacomo of Sydney's AC Butchery. And the best chicken I've eaten ANYWHERE is in Mexico (mostly bought from the market at Prado Norte in Mexico City). These legs rest on a bed of roasted corn, kumera, maple syrup, pecan oil, lime juice, salt and coriander. I served a simple pico di gallo (cock's beak) salsa with it.

LEG OF CHICKEN WITH ROASTED CORN & KUMERA SALAD AND PICO DO GALLO SALSA

SPAGHETTI WITH SAUSAGE SAUCE

Sometimes you feel like pasta with a meat sauce, but don't have the 11/2 -2 hours needed to make a Bolognese or classic ragú. Here's a great substitute.

SAUSAGE SAUCE
(For 2)
Olive oil
2 large Italian pork and fennel sausages
3 Roma tomatoes, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
300 mls white wine
2 tablespoons tomato paste
Pinch of nutmeg
Salt
Pepper

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Squeeze the sausage mixture from the casings into the pan. Break up the meat with a spatula or fork. Cook, turning frequently, until browned. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook uncovered until the sauce has reduced by about half and thickened, which should take no more than 30 minutes. That's it.

SPAGHETTI WITH SAUSAGE SAUCE

KING PRAWN LAKSA

If you're Australian, you'll know laksas well. If you're Singaporean or Malaysian, you'll know them even better. I had my first laksa at the original Malaya restaurant on Sydney's George Street in 1973. At the same meal, I also had my first kapitan prawns, kway teow and sing chow chow mai. I don't know how many laksas I have had since then. I do know that when Peter Tan opened the Singapura in North Sydney, I was there for three of the first 4 services. Even if you know laksas well, you mightn't know that the long leaf shown here is laksa leaf - which is also called Vietnamese mint. It grows in the garden, which is handy, because it's one of those herbs that you don't need often and you don't need a lot of and when you do need it, you can never find it in stores. King prawns aren;t called king prawns because they're big or somehow regal. It's simply the name of this variety of prawn. Best thing to drink with a laksa? Beer.

KING PRAWN LAKSA

RED EMPEROR WITH ASPARAGUS AND BROAD BEAN PUREE

If you're not familiar with red emperor, it's a reef fish with mild and sweet, flaky flesh. Nothing flashy done with it here. Simply lightly coated in panko crumbs and sautéed in ghee. Served with steamed asparagus and a purée of steamed and skinned broad beans, extra virgin olive oil and salt. If you haven't tried broad beans prepared this way, give it again when they are next in season. This was a method I learnt many years ago from a chef mate, Steve Manfredi in Sydney - and I have been in love with it ever since.

RED EMPEROR WITH ASPARAGUS AND BROAD BEAN PUREE

KNIVES | TOJIRO FLASH CHEF'S KNIFE

Like a lot of foodie tragics, I buy the cookbooks of the world's best chefs. It doesn't matter that I am hopelessly ill-equipped to match their culinary genius. I can look at the photos and marvel at each component and the artistic composition on the plate. I can read the recipe and imagine how each component tastes, then imagine all of the flavours and textures working in harmony. There is one thing I can do that puts me on equal terms with a chef like Heston Blumenthal - and that is to use the same knife that he does. This is a Tojiro knife. It is constructed of 63 layers of Damascene laminated steel. The moment I held this knife, I knew it was something special. The balance and weight seemed perfect. It's hard to explain the pleasure from working with a knife like this - so I won't. Just trust me. It is a beautiful knife.

KNIVES | TOJIRO FLASH CHEF'S KNIFE

SALAD OF CHICKEN, CUCUMBER, HERBS AND ROASTED RICE

A typical - but not traditional - Thai salad. Smoked chicken, eschallots, cucumber, Thai basil, mint, coriander, chillies and Kaffir lime leaves with a dressing of palm sugar, crispy prawn chilli paste, lime juice and fish sauce, sprinkled with ground roasted rice after plating up.

SALAD OF CHICKEN, CUCUMBER, HERBS AND ROASTED RICE

KNIVES | SHUN SANTOKU

Caterers and amateur cooks have one advantage over professional chefs. Because we're working in our own kitchens or with one or two others in a borrowed kitchen, we can buy special knives that would be impractical for chefs. (Why? Because knives get knocked around in a commercial kitchen. They also get knocked off.) I have mostly bought German knives, sometimes French. However I have lusted after a Japanese knife since seeing some exquisite hand-made sashimi knives in Tokyo Mart in Sydney's Northbridge 20 years ago.
Those hand-made knives can easily costs $1000, even $2000. They are treasured for the fame of the knife maker (or sword maker, since the best Japanese knife makers were traditionally also sword makers), as much as for the craftsmanship on display in each knife. Shun knives don't have the history of some of the rarer knives made totally by hand. They have only been made since 2003. They're largely hand forged from 16 layers of steel. The handles are asymmetrically shaped and best suit a right handed cook. They are lighter in weight than equivalent European knives, but feel like an extension of your hand. The santoku shape is versatile and 12.5cm blade makes it a great knife for when a full 20cm or 27cm chef's knife is overkill.

KNIVES | SHUN SANTOKU

RISTRETTO

It's 3pm January 1, 2012. The year is 15 hours old. I didn't make any resolutions - but if I had, it would have been to take time to really enjoy life's simple pleasures. And here's what I have enjoyed so far today -
Waking up - the value of waking can't be over-estimated.
The unconditional love of a dog - and in this case it's not even our dog, but our neighbours'. He just happens to regard our home as part of his turf.
A walk by the beach - something we try to do several times a week, along Kirra, Greenmount, Snapper Rocks, Duranbar and the Tweed River.
Nature - like the poincianas covered in vermilion flowers, the rainbow lorikeets hanging like fruit from the grevillea, the water dragons sunning on the rocks, the cackles and chortles of friar birds, the smell of the sea ... and more.
Fresh fruit - like the mango we shared a while ago. Along with peaches, mangoes remind me of what's so special about summer.
Ristretto - coffee at its purest. In the book and film of Perfume, Jean Baptiste Grenouille spent a good part of his (misguided) career trying to distill the pure essence of all that he found (which included virgins - hence the 'misguided'). If he were to distill the essence of coffee, he would start with a ristretto.
If these were all the simple pleasures I experienced today, I'd be happy - but as I wrote, it's only 3pm and I have a feeling there are some more waiting to be (re)discovered in the hours ahead.

RISTRETTO

VEGETABLE SOUP WITH AIOLI

I don't make soup as often as I should. (I also don't drink enough water, but that's a different story.) I had bought some Jerusalem artichokes, asparagus and sebago potatoes at the markets. I always have home-made chicken stock in the freezer. And I had cooked some flageolet beans. That was pretty much all I needed to whip up this soup. I also had some home-made aïoli in the fridge, so a dollop of that went in after plating up and some toasted slices of Sonoma sourdough on the side and it's all done.

VEGETABLE SOUP WITH AIOLI

MOROCCAN BRAISED GOAT

Have you eaten goat? If of North African, Central Asian or Mexican background, I expect you have. If of European, North American, South East Asian or South Pacific backgrounds, possibly not. I think it tastes a little like lamb - but simultaneously richer yet more subtle than lamb. In Mexico we most frequently ate it roasted slowly over hot coals or as barbacoa (covered in a spiced chilli paste, wrapped in banana leaves and cooked for 4-5 hours over low heat). The spices in this Moroccan-inspired dish differ from those in a barbacoa - but there are some common spices (as you'd expect - the Spanish would have taken cinnamon, cumin, cloves and other Moorish spices when they invaded the Americas). I served it with ptitim - also called Israeli couscous.

MOROCCAN BRAISED GOAT