BARRAMUNDI WITH SNAKE BEANS

Noticed a few dishes with snake beans lately? They're in season here at the moment, they're young and haven't grown too thick and tasteless - which is how they seem to be late in the season. I gave them an Italian treatment with tomatoes and garlic. A simple dish - but then I'm a man of simple tastes.

BARRAMUNDI WITH SNAKE BEANS

TARRAGON CHICKEN WITH GRATIN DAUPHINOIS

Felt the need for something classically French - and it doesn't get much more classic than this. I bought a bunch of tarragon and some Dutch cream potatoes at the James Street Market in Brisbane this morning and this Alstonville chicken from Paul at Jack Sprat's Butchery yesterday. I know French women aren't supposed to get fat, but I can't see how they don't with all the butter in classic French cuisine. However, as they say, fat is good. Funny that potatoes are pommes de terre in France. All I can imagine is that the potatoes they first tasted must have been unusually sweet or the apples starchy and bland because otherwise I don't see they could see any similarity between pommes and pommes de terre.

TARRAGON CHICKEN WITH GRATIN DAUPHINOIS

SALMON WITH SPECK AND PARSNIP MASH

Lots of cuisines seem to do great things with pork belly. The Chinese do brilliant braises with soy sauce, star anise and other goodies. The Italians do pancetta. The English do streaky bacon, The Germans do speck. I like the subtle smokiness of speck. I roasted these lardons until they were crispy, which made a nice contrast to the parsnip/potato/parsley mash and the crisp/soft texture of the fish.

SALMON WITH SPECK AND PARSNIP MASH

BARBECUED CHICKEN WITH SALSA DE PASILLA DE OAXACA

Pasilla de Oaxaca chillies are a thin-skinned hot chilli that is smoked over fern fronds. Being a lover of all things smoked, I fell in love with them when I first tasted them during the month we spent in magic Oaxaca. I made this sauce using my basic salsa recipe of rehydrated chillies, tomatoes blistered over a gas flame, red onion, garlic and salt. I make variations on this salsa recipe with different chillies - guajillo, cascabel, serrano, mora - each with a unique flavour. I had some chimichurri left over from the other night, so used this as a marinade for the chicken. A bed a black beans, some local avocado and that was it.

BARBECUED CHICKEN WITH SALSA DE PASILLA DE OAXACA

SEARED TUNA SALAD

A vaguely middle eastern influence here. Tuna dusted with smoked paprika and seared. Chickpeas, steamed pumpkin, caramelised onion, baby capers, tomato and parsley. Lemon-infused olive oil and white wine vinegar.

SEARED TUNA SALAD

ADOBO TUNA WITH THAI BASIL CHIMICHURRI

Three parts Mexican, one part Argentine, one part Thai, one part French. The adobo is Mexican. So too the tomatoes. And the chillies in the adobo rub and the chimichurri originated in Mexico. Chimichurri is an Argentine concoction, often served with meat (what else in Argentina?). The green bean originates in France - which might explain why they're sometimes called French beans. Or maybe not. I made this version of chimichurri with Thai basil - for no other reason than there's a heap of it growing in the garden.

ADOBO TUNA WITH THAI BASIL CHIMICHURRI

DUCK CONFIT WITH ROASTED PUMPKIN AND SQUASH

The observant amongst you will have spotted duck confit from a couple of nights ago. I mentioned I bought this duck from the weekly markets. So, here is confit again. Did I buy a four-legged duck? A quadraduck? Or did I buy the back end of two ducks? Did I buy two left legs and two right legs? Are they pairs of legs off two ducks or four legs off four ducks? Are there now four one-legged ducks on the farm at Bangalow? Or two legless ducks? I'll ask the farmer on Saturday. In the meantime ...

DUCK CONFIT WITH ROASTED PUMPKIN AND SQUASH

YELLOW CURRY OF MACKEREL AND EGGPLANTS

The thing about mackerel is that it can dry out if overcooked - more so than most fish species. Tuna is another one. Cook it thoroughly and it's almost inedible. At least to me anyway. I was careful to cook the eggplant and reduce the sauce before turning the heat down and adding the fish so that it could cook really gently. As soon as it had lost its translucence, I turned off the heat. The result? Moist fish and a delicious Thai curry.

YELLOW CURRY OF MACKEREL AND EGGPLANTS

PORK AND DUCK LIVER TERRINE

Between high school and university I worked at a mailing centre. They had machines that folded direct response letters and put them in envelopes, which another guy and I would drive at dangerous speed to the post office to send off to recipients who weren't interested in the enclosed offer. I worked there for maybe two months. The highlight at the time was the office Christmas party, where they had wine and Dubonnet. I don't recall anything else being served. Dubonnet seemed a very random beverage to offer. I was 18 and like all 18 year olds would drink anything. I recall vomiting out the window of my mate's car as he drove me home. I have never drunk Dubonnet since. The moral? Make sure the first alcohol that gives you a hangover is something you will never miss. The other highlight of my stint at the mailing centre was that publishers Doubleday had their warehouse nearby and they offered us many of their titles at ridiculously low prices. I bought a copy of Elizabeth David's French Provincial Cooking for 20 cents. I still have it forty years later. I bought some duck livers and pork mince at the markets from a breeder with a farm near Bangalow. I immediately thought terrine. And so I opened French Provincial Cooking. So this terrine is based on a recipe for terrine de campagne. Here's what went into it - about 600 gms of pork mince, about the same weight of chopped duck livers and the same again of lightly smoked pork belly, cognac, vermouth, mace, pepper corns, juniper berries, garlic and salt. Put into a terrine and this into a bain marie and baked at 160C for 1 1/4 hours. Served with toasted slices of whole grain sour dough, cornichons and mesclun.

PORK AND DUCK LIVER TERRINE

OCEAN TROUT WITH AROMATIC MOGHRABIEH AND SPICED BEETROOT VINEGAR

What an extraordinary fish is ocean trout. My favourite part is the shoulder because the flesh is thick and because there's always the belly flap that makes sensational sashimi. The moghrabieh (which is simply a very fat couscous) was first boiled in chicken stock, then baked with pumpkin, butter and a little orange juice. The beetroot vinegar cuts through the natural fat of the fish beautifully. Heaven.

OCEAN TROUT WITH AROMATIC MOGHRABIEH AND SPICED BEETROOT VINEGAR

DUCK CONFIT WITH PARSNIP PUREE, BRUSSELS SPROUTS & HAZELNUTS

Great meal. Crap photo. Maybe it's the rain that started tonight. Maybe it's my eyes, which don't seem to be able to focus properly today. Fuzzy. But not logic. Anyway, I bought these duck legs from a man at the markets yesterday. He raises his ducks in pastures near Bangalow, about 45 minutes south of here. I always have some spiced duck fat in the freezer to do confit. There was something erotic in how perfectly the soft rich flesh of the duck, the nutty smoothness of the purée, crunch of sprouts and hazelnuts and a little hazelnut oil all worked together. Like a rowing eight. Or five, in this case.

DUCK CONFIT WITH PARSNIP PUREE, BRUSSELS SPROUTS & HAZELNUTS

SNAPPER WITH LEMON & GARLIC CHICKPEAS

The fisherman at our weekly markets had some snapper - big fat pieces from what was obviously a very large fish - one of those old snapper with the huge knob. And I'm not talking about sexual organs. I'm talking about that bulge on the forehead that old snapper get. Anyway, a great piece of fish that deserved a very simple technique so the flavours shine through. A colourful mesclun salad is out of shot. Somewhere.

SNAPPER WITH LEMON & GARLIC CHICKPEAS