cooking classes

My flatmate has managed to overlook the many shortfalls of living with me (constant mood swings, short temper and general untidiness) and apparently seen a general positive - the opportunity to learn the basics of cooking.... 

Today's lesson - Asian style pan fried fish fillet.

After another busy day (not sure when they will stop) we dropped by the fish truck after work and picked up a fillet of Red Emperor and some fresh ingredients from the supermarket (it is Thursday, so yes I can say fresh).  This dish is so simple - all you need is a couple of fresh ingredients which highlight the flavours of good a good quality fish fillet.  

You'll need this:

1 x large fillet of firm fish (We used Red Emperor - my favourite type of white fleshed fish)

1 x large knob of butter

1 x red chilli, finely chopped

2 x cloves of garlic, minced

1 x large piece of ginger, minced

1 x bunch of coriander stalks, finely chopped

Salt and Pepper for seasoning

Light splash of Soy Sauce

Lemon, for serving

You'll need to do this:

Heat heavy based frying pan.  Add butter and heat until melted.  Add onion, garlic, chilli, coriander and fry for a couple of minutes. Season with salt and pepper.  Add fish and cook on first side for 4-5 minutes, making sure to cover in onion mixture.  Then turn and fry on second side for another 4-5 minutes.  Serve with a splash of soy sauce and a squeeze of lemon.

Serve with a simple leafy salad.

I will be the first to admit that I am a total novice when it comes to cooking fish and yes, I get a little daunted by cooking fish for anyone who I don't know too well!  But it actually is super easy and well worth all of my anxiety! 

Such a fresh and tasty dish that takes literally 15 minutes to prepare and cook.  A great option when time is such a valuable commodity.

Happy Eating!

Sam

fit for purpose!

Things you need to know:

• I am currently living in Port Hedland working in a home office (yes that brings with it some inherent difficulties that I am currently trying to come to terms with!);
• Over the past month or so we have been working away trying to set the place up to a suitable standard so that we can actually have clients come to visit (novel idea!); 
• During this time the place has resembled more of a bomb site than a functional workplace;
• Today we put the finishing touches on the past month's 'work in progress' - what a relief!

And I have to say, I never thought I would actually value sitting at a table (other than my desk) to eat and drink and do all those things one would normally do at a dining table as much as I do right now.  What a difference a table makes!!  Here's to introducing normality into my life!

To celebrate our newfound ability to be civilised I cooked pasta tossed through a ragu of Osso Bucco.  Kudos to Mum for this recipe as I stole it from her - a home cooked favourite during the colder months of the year.

You'll need this:

1.5 kg fresh tomatoes, diced

2 onions, finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 stalks of celery, finely chopped

2 carrots, finely chopped

4 tablespoons tomato paste

Large bunch of rosemary, coarsely chopped

2 teaspoons of ground chilli

1 litre chicken stock

plain (all-purpose) flour

Salt and pepper for seasoning

250gms butter

1.5 cups dry white wine

2 kg veal shanks

1kg of your favourite pasta - homemade pasta will make this dish!

Serves 6-8 hungry people.

You'll need to do this:

Heat half the butter in a heavy based, oven proof saucepan over medium heat.  Add the onion, garlic, celery and carrot and saute for 6-8 minutes, careful not to brown.  Stir through chilli and rosemary.  Add white wine and cook for about 3-4 minutes, until the wine reduces.  Add the tomatoes, tomato paste and stock.  Season with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, lightly dust each veal shank with the seasoned flour.  Add remaining butter to a shallow frying pan and fry off the shanks in batches to brown on each side.  Once browned, add to tomato mix.

Once veal is browned and added to tomato mix, place saucepan in a preheated oven (180 degrees celcius).  Cook for approximately 2 1/2 hours, or until the meat is tender enough to fall off the bone. Once cooked, pull meat and discard the bones.  Try not to break the meat up too much, as the chunkier (if that's a word), the better!

Once you are ready to eat, cook the pasta in boiling water as per the instructions on the packet (or until al dente if you are using the home-made version).  Stir pasta through the ragu, with a small amount of the cooking water to create a silky texture.

Taste for seasoning, and add salt / pepper as needed.

A meal fit for a celebration (oh, and Father's Day of course!).

Eating this tonight, as well as reading about my family's wonderful day back home, has made me v. homesick.  I am feeling the full distance of the continent that separates us right now!  Really wish I could be home with them all, as well as my darling GF!

Happy Eating!

Sam

returning to the table

It is time for me to return to Blog world to share my passion for food and the other finer things in life again!  It has been too long, and I miss the whole blogging experience!

I have seen some spectacular places over the past couple of months and eaten some (slash way too much) delicious food.  Can't wait to share these experiences with everyone!

Keep an eye out over the next couple of weeks for some new dishes that have consumed my time in the kitchen during my hiatus.  I am absolutely obsessed with curry at the moment and have a dream of opening a funky curry house up here in the Pilbara.  If only I can find the time.... Oh, and my love for authentic Italian dishes remains as strong as ever.

Will be posting a minimum of once a week.  The restored version of the table will represent a journal of my adventures and provide a source of food inspiration, all through my newfound love for photography.

Can't wait to see you all back here soon.

Happy eating!!

Sam

I'll just have a salad

 

Ok and some pork.... 

After an horrific week on a no-carb diet (and an overdose of Eddie Murphy's 'Raw'), tonight we salivated over tandoori veal and pork chops on the BBQ and my version of colelsaw.  The slaw is the hero of this dish and is a modern take on an Australian favourite - the perfect accompaniment for any BBQ.  

What a relief to be eating normal food again!!  Coupled with a local Cabernet from Margaret River, it was a fantastic bookend to another hectic week.

The secret is the dressing - made from crushed marinated feta, rather than the traditional mayonnaise...

You'll need this:-

1 x half green cabbage, finely shaved

1 x half red cabbage, finely shaved

1 x red onion, finely sliced

3 x sticks of celery, finely diced

1 x carrot, grated (this is an optional extra - not a favourite of the family on the east, but well received by newfound friends in the west)

Large handful of walnuts, roughly chopped

1 x green apple, chopped into fine match sticks

For the dressing:-

400g marinated feta (I use a Tasmanian feta bought from the supermarket, but if I could find the time I would marinate my own);

2 tablespoons of olive oil marinade from the feta

large glug of white balsamic

You'll need to do this:-

Add all prepared salad ingredients to a large salad bowl.  You'll need to be careful with the apple.  Only cut / add this at the last minute otherwise it will brown.

Prepare the dressing by adding the feta to a bowl and crushing with a fork to form a smooth paste.  Then gradually mix in the left over marinade and balsamic. 

Add dressing to vegetable mix and gently toss.  Sprinkle with some left over walnuts and serve.

I was going to add some mint and basil, but the not so trustworthy local supermarket was completely out of fresh herbs this afternoon.  Those of you lucky enough to have access to a 'normal' greengrocer, I suggest you add a handful of roughly chopped herbs to add some more depth to the salad.

We had the slaw with barbequed tandoori pork and veal cutlets.  Patak's tandoori paste is a life saver when you are strapped for time! The purists (which I would class myself) might be horified that I used paste from a jar, but sometimes this is all that I can muster - and why not when there is such a readily accessible substitute. 

To form the marinade, mix one jar of paste with 500ml of plain yoghurt and a squeeze of lemon.  Add meat and leave to marinade for a minimum of one hour.  Cook on a BBQ until ready and serve with another squeeze of lemon.

Another simple recipe- but the end result will always be well received....

Only two weeks until I am back on the east coast to spend some time with family and friends and to pack up my life for good.  Can't wait to see everyone, not least of which my young nephews!  I hope they remember who I am!!

Happy eating!

Sam

family favourites

Family Favourite # 3 - Gourmet Traveller Magazine's Annual Cookbook

I can't believe it is already that time of year again!!! At the supermarket last night I saw that there was a new edition of Gourmet Traveller and naturally I grabbed it from the shelf and threw it in the basket.  As I did so, I became even more excited by the fact that it was the double edition containing the Annual Cookbook.

The Annual Cookbook is a compilation of the best recipes from Gourmet Traveller throughout the year and is always an absolute cracker!  This year's edition is no different - especially the pasta section!  The first thing I will be checking when I call Mum tonight is to see if she has managed to get her hands on a copy....

Any Aussies out there who love to cook - I suggest you hop off to the local newsagent and pick up a copy.  You will not be disappointed!

Tonight it is seafood on the BBQ and oysters kilpatrick, before heading off to Broome for a long weekend. Should be a heap of fun!

Hope everyone has a cracking weekend!

Sam.

full as a goog!

Last weekend I dusted off the apron and finally rediscovered my cooking mojo - it has been a while since I actually had the time and occasion to cook anything of real substance.  Life in the desert has been a little bit hectic for the last fortnight and I have barely had time to sleep, let alone cook anything other than eggs, steak or a simple stir fry (v. boring I know!).

Given a small window of opportunity, I decided to make the most of Mum's care package and try out some of the recipes (with my own spin of course). 

I chose to cook Cafe Hanoi's Chicken Salad and the Caramel Pork Hotpot, followed by an adaptation (by adaptation I mean slightly overcooked, slash oddly shaped version) of Donna Hay's coconut cakes with dark chocolate glaze.   The food was amazing, as was the banter at the table with my newfound friends (am slightly relieved that we all get on so well as it could have been a little bit interesting if we hadn't, as 'living in each other's pockets' as mother would say is certainly an apt explanation of the arrangements here!).

The first hurdle to overcome with the Chicken salad was the fact that Cafe Hanoi's version of the dish is based on papaya.  I currently live in in the Pilbara.  Papaya is not the most readily available fruit in any main supermarket in Australia.  Need I have held any hope to find some here?? Certainly not. 

Anyway, I based mine on been sprouts and bulked the salad up with red onion and a couple of types of Chinese cabbage / greenery.  I also poached chicken breasts only and added star anise and a stick of cinnamon to the poaching broth to add some extra flavour.   I think I also used a fair bit more chilli as I was craving a bit of spice.  

The dressing was so tasty (zingy in fact - is that even a word???) and would be perfect for any fresh Asian salad.  Palm sugar, rice wine vinegar, chilli, lime juice, soy sauce and fish sauce.  I could have drunk the stuff!!

 

For main, we had crispy caramel pork belly served with Asian greens stir fried in ginger and garlic.  This was the first time I had cooked with pork belly, and I must say it certainly will not be the last.  Such a rich meal though and if you do have a crack at this recipe, make sure that you stop yourself from going for seconds (or, in fact, thirds).  You really need to control yourself - I know that your taste buds will want to cave at the temptation and go back for more, but you need to hold firm.  I didn't have the luxury of this advice and ate way too much - perhaps pork belly should be saved for a restaurant only indulgence where the portion control is taken out of your hands.

Such a simple recipe this one.  Simply remove the skin and roughly cut about a kilo of pork belly into 2-3cm cubes.  Marinate in a couple of large glugs of fish sauce, a large piece of ginger (finely sliced into match sticks) and a generous sprinkle of coarsely ground black pepper.  Marinate for a couple of hours.  Then simply add a cup of castor sugar to a pan on high heat and cook until browning starts to occur.  Add 2 cups of water to the sugar and stir until the sugar dissolves.  Add pork and cook for approx. 1 hour.  I left the pork on medium heat for about half an hour and then turned the heat up for the second half an hour to make sure the pork crisped up suitably.

The Asian greens where subtle and finished things off perfectly.

SO GOOD!  I loved this recipe - I reckon it has to go close to being the best thing I have cooked in a long while. 

Finally, we battled through the coconut cakes for dessert.  I attribute the struggle through dessert to the 74 helpings of pork belly, others blamed it on the salad.  Maybe they have self control and managed to say no to the 73rd and 74th...

This was my first foray into cakes without mum's watchful eye looking over my shoulder and providing advice. Slash directing.  Not a bad outcome but certainly some room for improvement!  Great recipe and I will definitely have another crack in the next couple of weeks to try and perfect. 


It turned out to be a bit of a feast, with a range of fresh, crisp, rich and subtle flavours alike.  I think we all gained at least a couple of kg's over the course of the night but had a fantastic time doing so.  Spending time cooking, having a kitchen party, listening to great music and talking crap with friends.  It's hard to beat nights like this.

The only downside - the strict exercise regime this week to work off all that food.  Mid-week already though, and I am still alive! Only a couple more days and then we can do it all again, this time in Broome!

Anyway, enough ramblings from me.

Happy Eating!!
Sam.

suggestions please

Now that I am a token Western Australian I feel like I need to get up to speed with the local foodie scene (outside of Hedland that is, because up here there isn't much on offer), which is difficult when you don't know too much about the place you are visiting. I have to fly to Perth tomorrow for work and have been scouting for a laid back restaurant / bar where I can occupy my time after work tomorrow night.    I have trowelled through the Gourmet Traveller lists, but all I can find is fine dining options....  Can anyone suggest a place (bearing in mind I love Italian food and red wine!)???  Falling short of that, I guess I will just have to walk the streets, the old fashioned way!  What did people do before they had the internet?!

Thanks!

Sam