STIR FRIED PRAWNS WITH CHOY SUM

A stir fry is about as simple as food gets. And this is about as simple as a stir fry gets. Prawns sautéed in peanut oil with crispy prawn chilli paste (from most Asian grocers), garlic and ginger. Steamed choy sum and light soy sauce added at the end and that's it.

STIR FRIED PRAWNS WITH CHOY SUM

MEZCAL CURED SALMON SALAD

I didn't do medicine. One reason is that I didn't do well enough to get into the Faculty of Medicine. I did get into architecture - but as far as I know, nobody has ever been cured by a building. I thought of this tonight because this is about the only curing I'm capable of now. I bought a salmon tail on Thursday and cured it in mezcal, sugar, salt and coriander seeds. Tonight I composed this salad (and a salad is all the composing I'm capable of, despite 6 years of piano lessons and a stint in the school choir). Black beans, Lebanese cucumber, baby roma tomatoes and baby spinach. Healthy, colourful ... but hardly enough to cure someone.

MEZCAL CURED SALMON SALAD

HOR MOK PLA

In Thailand, this steamed fish curry would be prepared in banana leaf cups. Our neighbours have a banana plantation and I can get banana leaves whenever I need them. However, we've had a bit of rain around here these past couple of days - enough to cause local flooding - and I wasn't in the mood for traipsing around in the mud to cut a leaf, so I made do with glass bowls. If you haven't had this at a Thai restaurant or cooked it yourself, give it a go. It's really quite simple. Ten minutes prep and 30 minutes cooking. It's a mix of finely sliced fish (I used barramundi), lime juice, fish sauce, palm sugar, red chilli paste, coconut milk and egg. I lined the base of the cooking vessels with Thai basil leaves, spooned in the mixture and steamed. That's kaffir lime and chilli on top.

HOR MOK PLA

BARRAMUNDI WITH MISO & GOMADARE SAUCE AND STEAMED BOK CHOY

I can't imagine any food more appropriate on Australia Day than something Asian.

BARRAMUNDI WITH MISO & GOMADARE SAUCE AND STEAMED BOK CHOY

OCEAN TROUT WITH TOMATO AND BASIL SALSA

There's a local fisherman at the weekly markets. He sells fish caught just off the coast here. He usually supplements his catch with a few other species from boats up and down the coast.  For the past few weeks he has had ocean trout - maybe my favourite fish. Nothing complicated about the way I've done this. Simply pan fried in a little grapeseed oil and a salsa of deliciously sweet local tomatoes and shredded basil.

OCEAN TROUT WITH TOMATO AND BASIL SALSA

DUCK CONFIT WITH ROAST KUMERA MASH AND SPICED BEETROOT

Ever made duck confit? Once you have located the duck fat you need, the dish is quite simple. I did the first stage (slow cooking the duck in a bath of fat) on Saturday. The final stage (heating and crisping the skin) takes 30 minutes. I also roasted the kumera in a slow oven (about 130C) until it was soft, then added butter, salt and pecan oil and puréed. The roasting intensifies the flavour of the kumera. The same technique works equally well with pumpkin, parsnip, carrots, Swedes, turnips or white sweet potato. I roasted the beetroots in foil, peeled, diced and mixed with hazelnut oil, beetroot vinegar and coarsely crushed hazelnuts.

DUCK CONFIT WITH ROAST KUMERA MASH AND SPICED BEETROOT

WAGYU RIB FILLET WITH TRUFFLED POMMES ANNA

Couldn't resist this 10+ marbled wagyu in Sydney. As befitting a great chunk of cow, I didn't do much to it - simply rubbed in a little olive oil and sprinkled with Tetsuya's truffled salt before searing in a cast iron pan. The potatoes also got a little truffle salt - along with an indecent amount of Lurpak butter. With all that richness, a simple mesclun salad seemed right - with EVOO/sherry vinegar/ Pommery mustard vinaigrette

WAGYU RIB FILLET WITH TRUFFLED POMMES ANNA

SPAGHETTI WITH HEIRLOOM TOMATOES AND SHAVED PARMESAN

Away for a few days, so a simple pasta on returning home. Spaghetti with olive oil, garlic, fresh heirloom tomatoes and shaved parmigiana reggiano.

SPAGHETTI WITH HEIRLOOM TOMATOES AND SHAVED PARMESAN

TUNA, CAPSICUM AND SUN-DRIED TOMATO PIZZA

There was a time in the 80s when there was a plague of sun-dried tomatoes. They were everywhere - on pasta, on pizza, in sandwiches and wraps, in pastes, in eardrums, in artwork, on military service, cricket fields, student protests ... and then we fell out of love with them. A shame, because when they're good they are very very good. But when they are bad, they are in supermarkets - usually overpowered by dried herbs (like a Subway store). I used a small amount of sun-dried tomatoes (1 1/2 per small pizza), along with yellowfin tuna, ripe red capsicum, baby capers and home-made tomato passato and pizza dough. That's it. Everything but the tuna and capers went into the oven from the start. The fish and capers were added 2 minutes from the end, just long enough to heat through.

TUNA, CAPSICUM AND SUN-DRIED TOMATO PIZZA

CHIPOTLE RUBBED TUNA WITH CORN SALSA AND HEIRLOOM TOMATOES

How Mexican is this? Fish, chilli, corn and tomatoes - basics of Mexican cuisine. If Columbus hadn't sailed to the Americas, someone else would have. If the Spanish hadn't colonised the continent, someone else would have. If they hadn't taken tomatoes, corn and chilli back to Europe, someone else would have. It's hard to imagine Italy without its tomatoes or polenta. It's hard to imagine Belgium or Switzerland without chocolate. It's hard to imagine summer without mango or avocado. All have their origins in Mexico and other countries of central america. This is yellowfin tuna, caught off Mooloolaba, a couple of hours' drive north of here.

CHIPOTLE RUBBED TUNA WITH CORN SALSA AND HEIRLOOM TOMATOES

OCEAN TROUT WITH PICKLED CABBAGE AND THAI CURRY REDUCTION

I don't mind admitting I have been reduced to tears once or twice in my life. I'm not sure what a curry gets reduced to, but here's a very simple sauce that works beautifully with the other components here.

THAI CURRY REDUCTION
2 teaspoons of yellow curry paste (you could also use laksa paste or red curry paste)
2 teaspoons of crispy prawn chilli paste (from Asian grocers)
4-5 tablespoons of coconut cream.

Put the three ingredients into a small saucepan and reduce over medium heat.

PICKLED CABBAGE
Fine slices of sugarloaf cabbage ( about 2 cups)
Teaspoon of salt
Teaspoon of sugar
Tablespoon of coconut vinegar
A few drops of sesame oil

Mix all ingredients and allow to macerate for about an hour

The skinned ocean trout was simply sautéed in grapeseed oil over medium-hi heat - but cooked only on the skin side. That's it. Give it a go.

OCEAN TROUT WITH PICKLED CABBAGE AND THAI CURRY REDUCTION

BARRAMUNDI WITH FLAGEOLET & TOMATO SALAD AND ROCKET

Very simple - both me and the dish. Panko-crumbed barramundi on a bed of flageolet beans and tomatoes with a caper vinaigrette. Wild rocket on top. Ten minutes prep. Ten minutes cooking. Fast food.

BARRAMUNDI WITH FLAGEOLET & TOMATO SALAD AND ROCKET